<img class="gwt-Image" src="/photo/42708108.cms" /> 
 One look at <keyword id="2521490" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Man-Booker-2014">Man Booker 2014</keyword> finalists, and you would see it has fairly accommodated <keyword id="2521491" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="British-Writers">British writers</keyword>, with a dash of American <keyword id="6404409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="writers">writers</keyword>, with a hint of an Australian writer, and a Scottish one – just to keep the flavours from bursting out too loud. This year, <keyword id="651566" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Man-Booker">Man Booker</keyword> organisers had said once that the list was getting as ‘diverse’ as it can. 
 
While English as a language has been traversing through unknown terrains, appropriating expressions from native hinterlands as its own, gaining newer dimensions, the competition between genuine vs borrowed is getting even hotter. 
 Indian-origin <keyword id="628756" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Neel-Mukherjee">Neel Mukherjee</keyword>, who is more aptly called a British citizen, has made a cut. And so has Tasmania’s Richard Flanagan. Ali Smith’s How to be both and Joshua Ferris’ To Rise Again at a Decent Hour make it to the list too. American authors Joshua Ferris and Karen Joy Fowler have been sending joy-waves through their country’s literary clubs. Diversity, did we hear? 
 
Two major publishing houses who are allies now, are responsible for five of the six publications in the shortlist. Now, now, now…that’s called an eye for talent and a surefire shot at picking writers who are certain to grab the headlines. Because, once a Booker finalist, is always a celebrated writer! 
 
In any case, this year’s finalists pack some genuine expressions in their works. English has been a language that has been some sort of a laboratory for experiment of expressions. A writer is often in search of newer expressions to transfer the sum of his experiences. 
 
Whether it is Neel Mukherjee’s family saga set in Kolkata in the 1960s, or Flangan focusing on Australian PoWs being used as forced labour on the Burma Death Railway, or Jacobson’s for his ‘J’ where flitting images of past and the progressive imagination of those phases create a dangerous concoction of schemas – English as a language has surely been reaching its potential since long. 
 
With three British writers, two Americans and an Australian to keep the scale from tipping against the intent of the Booker Committee which had said it would open doors to writers of any nationality in its over four and half decades of history. There is another perspective to the works that are being selected for the shortlist of Man Booker prize 2014. When you look at the works, they are varied and not really set in the ‘English’ identity. Some jar as works, some simply mesmerise. 
 
Opening Booker doors to English writers from other nationalities like India was to introduce more character into the works dealing with fractured consciousness till late. Will this prompt writers from other languages to turn towards English? 
 
After all, no matter how recluse a writer is; who does not want his/her works to cross the borders of his country and be accessed by millions and millions who are looking for some fresh expressions? Why not? Literature is, after all, a medium to change minds, to wipe out biases, to incite feelings that may help empathy. In the war torn borders, and the ever tense world that’s chasing some elusive happiness, a writer is an artist who can create newer spaces in the minds of the reader. 
 
Mukherjee’s The Lives of Others sounds like he has borrowed the title from a film. The experience that’s transferred from his work is close to the experience that all countries in transition from old to new are facing. It’s relevant across the geographical borders. 
 
If Mukherjee manages to win the title and take home the purse of £ 72,000, Kolkata will yet again be the final word on literature from India that could be represented in the west. It would further encourage more and more writers who could have found expressions in their mother-tongue which happens to be Bengali, to think, speak and write in English. 
 
Will Man Booker do any good to authors and winners? It’s always a double edged sword that is bound to cut both ways. An author who nurses the ambition of reaching far and beyond, high and higher, prizes like Man Booker do hold a lot of promise. 
 
It is difficult to say whether the Man Booker Foundation opened gates first to authors of different nationalities writing in English, or the authors claimed the space first and Man Booker Committee merely acknowledged the fact that literary works in English were coming mostly from people who were from different identities than the ones who were conventionally considered eligible. 
 
In an egg first or chicken, kind of situation the loss may be more than evident in the coming years. By opening gates, Man Booker may stand to gain a lot with works from different nationalities pouring into its quarters, but what would be ruined is the writers writing in their mother tongue. That would be a death blow to some native languages.

Man Booker: Embracing A New Language, Casting Expressions In A Different Mold

<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-business-insider-interview"><img src="https://static.businessinsider.com/image/548f4bd36bb3f7856846bc79-1200-75/tbi-interviewfull-width-post-page-no-logo.png" alt="" width="1200" height="74" border="0" /></a><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/588092d8f10a9a1d008b8fb2-1804/ap17012743521426.jpg" alt="John Hickenlooper" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="John Hickenlooper." />APColorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.</div></div></div>DAVOS, Switzerland - As some of the world's most influential people wrestled with the implications of President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum this past week, a new face in US <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword> grabbed their attention.Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper served as a representative of the Democratic Party's future here, just <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-speech-davos-trump-russia-2017-1" target="_blank">as outgoing Vice President Joe Biden</a> and Secretary of State John Kerry represented the past.If this gathering is any indication, Hickenlooper may be on the verge of building buzz as a 2020 hopeful. Several attendees pointed to him as someone who could rescue the party after its disastrous 2016 losses.One former Obama administration official suggested he could be a Democratic version of Trump - both because of his quirky, off-the-cuff nature (as seen in a campaign ad <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/gubernatorial-candidate-takes-shower-tv-ad-11473113" target="_blank">during which he takes a shower</a>) and a laser focus on middle-class jobs and economic growth.Hickenlooper has experience in both the private and the public sectors. He <a href="http://www.westword.com/restaurants/how-wynkoop-brewing-almost-wasnt-the-oldest-brewpub-in-colorado-5747151" target="_blank">opened Colorado's first brewpub</a> and served as a popular mayor of Denver, Colorado's largest city. As governor, he has overseen the state's challenge of federal law on the legalization of marijuana for recreational use (an initiative he was at first against but on which he has since changed his views) and spearheaded a push for significant gun reforms after the deadly 2012 mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora.Business Insider spoke with Hickenlooper at Davos. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.Brett LoGiurato: What's the mood here at Davos this year, given the inauguration of Donald Trump?John Hickenlooper: It's definitely a different energy. It's a little more somber.LoGiurato: As a prominent Democratic governor, what are you looking for from the president? Do you see areas where you can work with him? Where are areas where you want your state legislature to try to insulate yourself from things he might try to do?<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/587e9388f10a9a2a768b59ff-2400/undefined" alt="trump pence" data-mce-source="Spencer Platt/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="President-elect Donald Trump stands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence at a news conference at Trump Tower on January 11, 2017 in New York City." />Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesPresident-elect Donald Trump stands with Vice President-elect Mike Pence at a news conference.</div></div></div>Hickenlooper: Well, I may not have voted for the president, but I'm an American first. My entire administration is going to do everything we can to make him as successful as we can. We're going to try to be active, strong partners with the federal government. That being said, we went through a great deal of work to expand Medicaid to a large number of people in Colorado. We cut our percentage of people who had no insurance - we <a href="http://www.cpr.org/news/story/colorado-uninsured-rate-drops-record-low" target="_blank">cut it in half</a>. We're going to work really hard to protect that as much as we can, make sure that we have the support from the federal government to continue making sure people have basic rights, basic elemental healthcare.Also, I look at some of the things that the president will do around cutting red tape, reducing bureaucracy, helping entrepreneurs, helping businesses grow more rapidly, more access to capital - I'm all for it. That's all stuff that I've been trying to do in Colorado.LoGiurato One area in particular that seems <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/prospective-trump-attorney-general-jeff-sessions-on-weed-2016-11" target="_blank">ripe for a clash</a> is on marijuana legalization. Have you spoken with Trump's pick for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions? Do you have a read on how he'll approach the issue, both with your state and moving forward more broadly?Hickenlooper: I have not talked to Sen. Sessions. I know that our two US senators, Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner - we have a Republican [Gardner] and a Democrat - are both very focused on this. We look at it as one of the ways in which states are laboratories of democracy.People don't realize that almost two-thirds of the population in the United States lives in a state where either medical or recreational marijuana are now legal. Two-thirds of the country. We're looking at it as kind of a 10th Amendment, states'-rights issue. Although marijuana might be the wrong example for that. Medicaid is a better example. It's one of the rare times where Democratic governors are saying, "Hey, states' rights." We don't want the federal government coming in and telling us how to do our environmental remediation or how we're going to do our healthcare.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58750293f10a9a2a768b4877-2400/rtx2ybse 1.jpg" alt="Jeff Sessions" data-mce-source="Kevin Lamarque/Reuters" data-mce-caption="Jeff Sessions." />Kevin Lamarque/ReutersSen. Jeff Sessions, nominee for attorney general.</div></div></div>LoGiurato: Do you think marijuana will at least be decriminalized on a federal level?Hickenlooper: Well, we'll see. We've made a tremendous amount of progress in terms of creating a regulatory system from scratch [in Colorado]. If I had a magic wand when it first passed three years ago, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-hickenlooper-marijuana-20160516-20160516-snap-story.html" target="_blank">I would've reversed it</a>. You don't want to be in conflict with federal law.That being said, we've now gone three years, and our voters passed it by 55-45. We've made a lot of headway. And if I had that magic wand now, I'd wait a year or two. If we do this well enough, we should see a dramatic reduction in the number of drug dealers out there. You take away a big chunk of the product flow, you're going to need fewer salesmen. And there's been no spike in usage. There's been no spike in <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/2016/06/20/marijuana-use-colorado-teens-marijuana-no-increase/" target="_blank">young people, of teenagers, using it</a>.We now have - again, in a $27 billion budget, $125 million of tax revenue isn't that significant, but it is money that we can use for people with drug addictions and for rehabilitating people that slipped off the tracks. Those are programs that are hard to find money for outside of the marijuana-tax revenue.LoGiurato: Marijuana prices <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-17/as-pot-prices-plunge-growers-scramble-to-cut-production-costs" target="_blank">are tumbling</a> amid a growing legal supply. Do you have plans to address that on a taxation level?<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58809f1dee14b61c008b8c90-1817/ap16162788727225.jpg" alt="John Hickenlooper" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="John Hickenlooper." />APColorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.</div></div></div>Hickenlooper: We'd like to get the tax level to the point - we want the price to go down, because that's how you get rid of the black market. And we still have - some of the laws in the state of Colorado, at least, people had the ability to grow up to 99 plants as caregivers. It's crazy. How do you tell the gray market from the black market? So we're tightening up a lot of those rules to make sure we can control and regulate the whole system much more tightly.LoGiurato: I want to talk about the future of the Democratic Party. I keep hearing your name come up as a savior in 2020. What's your read on what went wrong in 2016 and the early steps the party has taken to rectify its losses? And are you supporting anyone to be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pete-buttigieg-vision-positions-dnc-chair-2017-1" target="_blank">chair of the Democratic National Committee</a>?Hickenlooper: [Laughs at 2020 mention.] We had a very strong relationship with the Department of Labor, so [Tom Perez] was a pretty easy choice for me [to be DNC chair]. We're doing an apprenticeship program that I think is one of the most exciting things we've ever worked on. I just came from a meeting with Microsoft and LinkedIn - Allen Blue and Brad Smith - and they're both going to help finance this. We're also using LinkedIn to partner with. How do you get people who've lost their professions into new professions? It's its own story someday!But I think the political reality for the Democratic Party is, you know, there are two sides. There's one side saying that we weren't liberal enough and another side saying we're too liberal. I think they're both right.The Democratic Party is always going to be the party of civil rights and fairness - everybody gets an equal, fair shot at the American dream. And we're going to be the party that really fights to protect planet Earth - enjoy whatever time we're going to get!But at the same time, there's nothing wrong with the Democratic Party that talks more about - and more loudly about - jobs, and cutting red tape, and bureaucracy, making it easier for entrepreneurs to start jobs, making it easier for businesses to grow and create more jobs. That has historically been the wheelhouse of the Democratic Party. Even as we continue to carry the banner of civil rights and environmental justice, we've also got to focus on many, many people - for them, life starts with a good job.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57704fa191058436008cbca6-2400" alt="tom perez" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst" data-mce-caption="Tom Perez at an annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus dinner in 2014." />REUTERS/Jonathan ErnstTom Perez at an annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus dinner in 2014.</div></div></div>LoGiurato: I assume you want to continue to be a loud voice in the future of the Democratic Party. Do you have any plans as we head into the 2018 and 2020 cycles?Hickenlooper: Nope. I'm not starting a PAC. I'm not going out there and putting together a phantom campaign. In two years, I think the workforce stuff we're working on in Colorado really has the potential to be a national model, so I want to put a lot of energy into that.We're trying to make - have for the last four or five years - trying to make Colorado the healthiest state. So we're rolling out a lot - we'll have an interactive map of every single hiking trail in the state of Colorado. Everything there is. You'll be able to go out and, while you're hiking, you can meet up with other people on the trail, you can see other people's photographs. You can come back 20 years later and click on the map and see all the pictures you took. It's a pretty exciting thing that hopefully will get people out walking. We're trying to put together kind of a governor's fitness council to get every single kid walking at least once a day.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58809dffee14b618038b8c8d-1778/ap16252843099556.jpg" alt="John Hickenlooper" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper rappels down a downtown high-rise building as part of the Over The Edge fundraiser, which benefits the Cancer League of Colorado" />APColorado Gov. John Hickenlooper rappels down a downtown high-rise building as part of the Over The Edge fundraiser, which benefits the Cancer League of Colorado.</div></div></div>LoGiurato: On that note, you've been the mayor of a large city. A lot of the issues you talk about, and that the Democratic Party cares about, start at the local level. The party has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-democratic-party-losses-2017-1" target="_blank">suffered massive losses, however, on state and local levels</a> recently. Do you think that is important start for the party's future leaders?Hickenlooper: Almost all government starts at a very local level at some point. And so I look at that experience as some of the hardest but some of the most exciting stuff I've done in public life. I think it's valuable. Now, does that mean everybody has to be a mayor? I don't know.You talk to Cory Booker - I'll bet you anything that he'll go back and say that when he was mayor of Newark, [he had] some of the most challenging times, but also some of the most rewarding times. Mayors of big cities - we cherish it, but it's a steep hill. We love it. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-president-barack-obama-full-farewell-speech-transcript-2017-1">Watch President Obama's full farewell speech</a></h3> <div> <div> <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="dhZGJ1ODE6ttQBcNA3FJsTia8qV9dOo7" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> <script> if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; } RunFunctions.push(function() { var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'dhZGJ1ODE6ttQBcNA3FJsTia8qV9dOo7',{ autoplay: 'false' }); }); </script> <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div> </div> <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script> </div>

Our exclusive with Colorado's colorful, rising-star governor, the man some Davos elites say could lead Democrats in 2020

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="39222" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="denver">Denver</keyword>'s Support Team Assisted Response program responds to nonviolent calls for help in the city.</li><li>It sends health care workers in response to crisis calls, not <keyword id="11098" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="police">police</keyword> officers.</li><li>In the first six months, the STAR team responded to 748 calls. No one they helped was arrested.</li></ul>During the first six months of the Support Team Assisted Response (STAR) program, Denver health professionals responded to 748 incidents. None of the calls required police assistance or ended in someone being arrested, according to a report <a href="https://denverite.com/2021/02/02/in-the-first-six-months-of-health-care-professionals-replacing-police-officers-no-one-they-encountered-was-arrested/">published by the local news website, Denverite</a>.The <keyword id="2000076" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="STAR-program">STAR program</keyword> was created in 2020 as an alternative response team dedicated to assisting people who have mental-health issues. It also provides crisis help to those experiencing depression, poverty, homelessness, and substance abuse.Before the program, calls to 911 in Denver were directed to the police or a hospital. STAR created a third path to dispatch certain calls to support providers rather than to the police.The STAR team is not designed to act on violent situations, according to the report. Using seven approved nature codes, STAR responds to reports of assistance: an intoxicated person, suicidal series, welfare checks, indecent exposure, trespassing, and syringe disposal.During the first six months of the program, a civilian team traveled around the city in a van from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, <a href="https://denverite.com/2021/02/02/in-the-first-six-months-of-health-care-professionals-replacing-police-officers-no-one-they-encountered-was-arrested/">providing assistance to those in high-demand areas</a>.Denver Chief of Police Paul Pazen told <a href="https://denverite.com/2021/02/02/in-the-first-six-months-of-health-care-professionals-replacing-police-officers-no-one-they-encountered-was-arrested/">Denverite</a> the program frees up officers to fight crime."I want the police department to focus on police issues," Pazen told the <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> outlet. "We have more than enough work with regards to violent crime, property crime, and traffic safety, and if something like STAR or any other support system can lighten the load on <keyword id="6354774" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mental-health">mental health</keyword> calls for service, substance abuse calls for service, and low-level issues, that frees up law enforcement to address crime issues."The program started during the rise of police brutality protests last year. Denver has seen protests against police brutality for the killings of Marvin Booker and Michael Marshall.In 2010, Denver sheriff's deputies at a detention center <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/14/denver-marvin-booker-police-brutality-family-award">tased Booker while he was handcuffed</a>.In 2015, Marshall <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2018/03/21/michael-marshall-death-unacceptable-denver-city-council-members/">died after choking on his own vomit</a> while being restrained by officers. He was suffering from a psychotic episode at the time of his death.Insider's Haven Orecchio-Egresitz interviewed <a href="https://www.insider.com/mothers-called-911-sons-in-crisis-shot-them-dead-2020-10">five mothers whose sons have died at the hands of police officers</a> responding to mental-health calls. When Taun Hall's son, Miles, started showing signs of mental illness, <a href="https://www.insider.com/miles-halls-killed-by-police-california-2020-11">she tried to build a relationship with the local police</a> to assure them that her son, a Black man in a rich white neighborhood, was not a threat.On June 2, 2019, she called 911. She said her son was experiencing a delusion and had broken a door.Hall told Insider that when the police arrived, Miles was in the street holding a long metal pry bar that he had been using to garden. They shot him dead. He was 23.After an unsuccessful attempt to get her 18-year-old son involuntarily committed for treatment, Mary Wilsey <a href="https://www.insider.com/cop-said-i-dont-have-time-shooting-keith-vidal-2020-11">turned to 911</a> to assist with his mental-health crisis.Her son, Keith Vidal, had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was in a mental-health crisis. She tried to have him hospitalized on December 27, 2014, but a nurse turned him away after telling her that he wasn't having thoughts about harming himself or others.A week later during a 911 dispatch call, two officers responded to a call from Vidal's stepfather. They attempted to de-escalate the situation until a plainclothes officer came five minutes later.Detective Bryon Vassey of the nearby Southport Police Department walked in and said "I don't have time for this," before shooting Vidal, Wilsey told Insider. He died soon after.In 2015, police records indicated about 25% of the people the police fatally shot were experiencing a mental-health crisis, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/police-mentally-ill-deaths/2020/10/17/8dd5bcf6-0245-11eb-b7ed-141dd88560ea_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Post reported</a>. As of mid-October this year, that figure was nearly 20%.The mothers who spoke with Insider said if they were put in the situation again, they would not call 911 for assistance in a mental-health emergency, no matter how desperate they felt.

Denver is starting a new program replacing police officers with health care workers to help people in crisis

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="9184798" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gregory-mcmichael">Gregory McMichael</keyword>, who is charged in the killing of unarmed black jogger <keyword id="9174117" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ahmaud-arbery">Ahmaud Arbery</keyword>, worked in <keyword id="691011" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="law-enforcement">law enforcement</keyword> for more than 30 years before retiring in 2019.</li><li>Business Insider reviewed McMichael's personnel files from the Brunswick District Attorney's office, where he worked until last spring. </li><li>Records showed that McMichael worked as an investigator for years without the required firearms and deadly force training before it was discovered by the office.</li><li>His boss, Jackie Johnson, visited the state's training director to seek a waiver for McMichael in 2014.</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><a href="https://www.insider.com/this-is-what-we-know-about-gregory-and-travis-mcmichael-2020-5">Gregory McMichael, the 64-year-old former law enforcement officer</a> charged in the February killing of Ahmaud <keyword id="9205007" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="arbery">Arbery</keyword>, worked for years without the required deadly force and firearms training, his personnel records show. <a href="https://www.insider.com/ahmaud-arbery-shooting-killed-jogging-travis-gregory-mcmichael-georgia-justice-2020-5">Ahmaud Arbery</a> was shot dead on February 23 while jogging in a <keyword id="6385073" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="georgia">Georgia</keyword> neighborhood after a run-in with Gregory McMichael and his son Travis. At the time of Arbery's death, McMichael told police that he and his son pursued the unarmed jogger in a truck while carrying guns to make a citizens arrest because they believed he looked like a break-in suspect. But even when McMichael worked in local law enforcement, he went for years without the required firearms and deadly force training, according to records reviewed by Insider. A memo from April 2014 indicated that Glynn County District Attorney Jackie Johnson had learned McMichael, an investigator in her office, didn't complete his <a href="https://www.fletc.gov/post-certification">Peace Officer Standards Training</a> — including the required firearms and deadly force qualifications — for 2005, 2006, 2009, and 2010. When Johnson learned of his lapse in required training, she visited the office of the state's POST Director Mitch Jones, who ultimately granted McMichael a waiver for the training. He told his boss in a letter that was included in his files that the reason he had fell behind on training was health issues related to his heart, difficulties involving his teenage daughter, and his wife's cancer treatment. "This situation has been a great embarrassment to me and to investigator McMichael," Johnson wrote to Jones in April 2014. "It has negatively impacted my office, and I have taken measures to ensure that this doesn't happen again. Please accept my sincere apology." <h2>McMichaels was stripped of his "law enforcement" status early last year</h2>Despite that embarrassment, McMichael continued to work as an investigator for five more years until retiring last spring, records show. For reasons unclear, McMichael's POST certification was suspended in February 2019 and he was reassigned to the Camden County District Attorney's office, about an hour away, and was no longer allowed to work in a "law enforcement" capacity, records show. "Mr. McMichael will not carry a firearm or badge, nor will he operate any vehicle that would be construed as being law enforcement in nature," a February 2019 memo signed by Glynn County DA Office Administrator Mark Spaulding said.McMichael was a police officer at the Glynn County Police Department from 1982 to 1989. He was hired by the District Attorney's office in 1995, according to the county's human resources department.When interviewed by Insider last week, Spaulding offered without prompting that investigators in Georgia, unlike other states, don't have arrest powers. He also said he was otherwise unfamiliar with McMichael's specific work history. Insider was unable to reach Spaulding of the Glynn County District Attorney's office Wednesday morning. On February 23, not even a year after he retired, McMichael found himself being interviewed by local police after his son, Travis, shot Arbery — a black man — dead as he was on a jog through their neighborhood. Gregory McMichael told police that they had been attempting to make a citizen's arrest because they believed he looked like a suspect responsible for a string of break-ins. However, <a href="https://thebrunswicknews.com/news/local_news/dispatcher-what-was-he-doing-wrong/article_fe51cdd4-3bb6-5815-9dec-ddcdc8f879f8.html">The Brunswick News reported</a> that only one burglary was reported in the area from the start of 2020 to the day Arbery died. The sole item stolen was a gun from Travis McMichael's unlocked pickup truck.The McMichaels were eventually arrested on May 8, after a trending video surfaced that recorded Arbery's shooting death. Two Glynn County commissioners — Allen Booker and Peter Murphy — recently said that responding officers wanted to arrest the McMichaels at the time of the incident, but were blocked by Johnson."The police at the scene went to her, saying they were ready to arrest both of them. These were the police at the scene who had done the investigation," Booker told <a href="https://www.ajc.com/news/local/watch-gbi-updates-following-arrests-ahmaud-arbery-shooting/1aJbZe2uL9HrndjyWYjB2L/">The Atlanta Journal-Constitution</a>. "She shut them down to protect her friend [Gregory] McMichael."Johnson, who eventually recused herself from the case, denied that this ever happened.The McMichaels remain held without bond at the Glynn County jail, a spokeswoman told Insider Wednesday.They are charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in Arbery's killing.<ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/ahmaud-arbery-travis-gregory-mcmichaels-arrest-probable-cause-investigators-2020-5">Investigators who arrested a father and son in connection with the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery say 'probable cause was clear to our agents pretty quickly'</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/gregory-mcmichael-travis-mcmichael-arrested-for-ahmaud-arbery-killing-2020-5">Gregory and Travis McMichael arrested in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, who was shot dead while jogging unarmed in Georgia</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/lawyer-ahmaud-arbery-father-arrest-shooters-2020-5">2 men were arrested in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. The attorney for Arbery's father says if it were Arbery and his father who killed a white jogger they would have been arrested on the spot.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/who-is-ahmaud-arbery-gunned-down-in-georgia-2020-5">Family and friends of shooting victim Ahmaud Arbery are honoring his life with a 2.23-mile run after public outrage over his death led to 2 arrests</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/lebron-james-enraged-by-ahmaud-arbery-shooting-were-hunted-everyday-2020-5">LeBron James enraged by the shooting death of an unarmed 25-year-old black man in southern Georgia, says: 'We're literally hunted everyday'</a></li></ul>Read the original article on <a href="https://www.insider.com/gregory-mcmichael-worked-for-years-without-deadly-force-training-2020-5">Insider</a>

Gregory McMichael, who is charged in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, worked for years in DA Jackie Johnson's office without the required deadly force training

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword> said it would defend "freedom of expression" as Indian authorities requested bans. </li><li>But activists and journalists were subject to temporary bans and limitations of their accounts.</li><li>One said Twitter "could stand up to the president of their country but were getting bullied here."</li></ul>Twitter is in a predicament in <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="100" keywordseo="India">India</keyword>. It is caught between the demands of an increasingly authoritarian government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a global outcry - spurred by tweets from <a href="https://twitter.com/rihanna/status/1356625889602199552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1356625889602199552%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fworld-asia-india-559148584858">singer Rihanna</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/GretaThunberg/status/1356694884615340037?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1356694884615340037%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hindustantimes.com%2Findia-news%2Fafter-rihanna-greta-thunberg-extends-support-to-farmers-protest-101612319959694.htmlhtml">climate activist Greta Thunberg</a> - to protect the tens of thousands of farmers who have gathered in Delhi to protest new agricultural laws.As it wrestles with what to do under intense scrutiny, journalists and activists have been among those caught up in the standoff.The Caravan, a prestigious magazine that <a href="https://caravanmagazine.in/politics/the-bjp-and-delhi-police-hand-in-the-delhi-violence">publishes confrontational, longform journalism</a> reflects its predicament. Just one week after Twitter censored the Caravan's accounts at the Indian Government's request, the magazine received <a href="https://thewire.in/media/caravan-magazine-wins-louis-m-lyons-award-for-its-indispensable-reporting-on-india">a prestigious award from Harvard University's Nieman Foundation, </a>that praised its "unique and uncompromising coverage of the erosion of human rights, social justice, and democracy."The standoff grew as worldwide interest intensified. <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_in/topics/company/2020/twitters-response-indian-government.html">Twitter issued a statement </a>on February 10 saying it had banned those who violated its rules but only "temporarily complied" with the Indian Government's specific requests for bans, later restoring those accounts.It added it restricted some accounts but only within India."In keeping with our principles of defending protected speech and freedom of expression, we have not taken any action on accounts that consist of news media entities, journalists, activists, and politicians," Twitter said.Caravan's executive editor Vinod Jose told Insider that the block, which stopped people in India accessing its Hindi and English language accounts, felt "targeted" as the publication has aggressively criticized the government.But he said he was surprised that Twitter had briefly complied given it had <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html">permanently deleted</a> Donald Trump's account for inciting the Capitol Hill riots three weeks earlier.<div type="image" title="Vinod Jose" height="1887" width="2516" msid="81211244" hostid="261"></div>"My first thought was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com.au/twitter-trump-banned-bolsonaro-modi-india-brazil-populists-2021-1">they could stand up to the president of their country</a> but were getting bullied here," he added.He added the ban helped generate publicity for the magazine, which has since launched <a href="https://twitter.com/thecaravanindia/status/1362669498185093120">a subscription drive</a> fronted by Man Booker Prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy.As well as requesting Twitter bans, the Indian authorities have also moved against prominent voices because of their tweets.On January 30, Jose and six other journalists, including top news anchor Rajdeep Sardesai, had complaints filed against them accusing them of criminal sedition for tweeting about the alleged fatal shooting of a protestor, whose death was later revealed to have been an accident. The charge can carry a sentence of<a href="https://devgan.in/ipc/section/124A/"> life imprisonment</a>. Their arrests <a href="https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/sc-stays-arrest-shashi-tharoor-rajdeep-sardesai-and-others-sedition-case-143067">were subsequently stayed by</a> the top court on February 9. This was not an isolated incident. A freelance journalist <a href="https://thewire.in/rights/prashant-kanojia-arrested-tweets-uttar-pradesh-police-transit-remand">spent a month</a> in jail last year over a tweet that authorities said had disrupted communal harmony. On February 15, police charged a 22-year-old <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/climate-activist-disha-ravi-arrested-for-being-the-toolkit-editor-of-indias-farmers-protests/articleshow/80920349.cms">climate activist</a> with sedition for circulating a toolkit that Thunberg had tweeted.Inji Pennu, a Kerala-born tech blogger who lives in Florida and monitors <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword> trends in India, told Insider it would be a "privilege" for anyone to "post on a social media platform and escape without having a complaint slapped against you."Political commentator <a href="https://twitter.com/sanjukta">Sanjukta Basu</a> also had her Twitter targeted on February 1, when she woke up to see her account was invisible inside India. She told Insider she initially thought a tweet about <a href="https://www.newslaundry.com/2021/02/10/arrested-before-he-could-perform-how-munawar-faruqui-spent-a-month-in-jail">the arrest of a stand up comic</a> must have prompted it. But she deduced from media reports that her account was blocked because she had used the hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide, that spread the false claim Modi was planning mass murder.Basu told Insider her tweet didn't endorse the claim but was "examining Twitter's illogical trends and had listed some trending hashtags."She believed her vocal criticism of Modi's government had prompted the ban. After her account was restored, she tweeted about the surge in followers she had, saying: "More they bully you, more you grow."Asked how the episode left her feeling about Twitter, she said: "They stood up to the Indian government because of a regime change in the US. It doesn't want to be seen siding with an authoritarian government in a developing country."Raheel Khurseed, a journalist who was Twitter India's head of Politics, Policy and Government from 2014 to 2018, agreed Joe Biden replacing Donald Trump meant there was now a US President who was "ideologically more aligned with Twitter's position on free speech"."The fact that [the Biden administration] would want to hold the same standards elsewhere in the world gives Twitter some amount of immunity as it tries to apply the same standards elsewhere in the world," he told Insider. After Twitter's public statement of defiance, Ravi Shankar, the justice and technology minister, told India's parliament that laws would be tightened to make social media companies more compliant. "We will not tolerate the misuse of social media for fake news," he said."I politely remind the companies, whether it is Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or WhatsApp or anyone, they are free to work in India, do business, but they need to respect the Indian Constitution."Twitter reportedly met with Indian Government officials earlier this month and had taken down 97% of the accounts authorities had requested. The <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/india/better-communication-with-govt-twitter-to-restructure-india-team-7184892/">Indian Express reported</a> it told authorities it would restructure its India team so there were more senior managers in the country to handle compliance issues.Khurseed said it was an "interesting moment in Twitter's journey in India"."The government, of course, has its own ideas about how these platforms need to run and whether they implement that on a policy level," he said, adding it "remains to be seen" what will change.He said Twitter might make new appointments and restructure its team but added there were discussions since his time there working about "making policy teams immune to government interference".He added: "I think this is the right time to restart those conversations."Twitter declined to comment, referring Insider to its February 10 statement.

Twitter 'stood up' to Trump but was 'bullied' in India, says a journalist who was caught up in the platform's standoff with Modi

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/591b8976e559f199048b5e9e-2400/ap17114675943334.jpg" alt="marijuana protest" data-mce-source="Alex Brandon/AP" data-mce-caption="A man holds up a joint during a rally to support the legalization of marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, April 24, 2017. Smoking pot in public remains illegal everywhere in Washington." />Alex Brandon/APA man holds up a joint during a rally to support the legalization of marijuana on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, April 24, 2017. Smoking pot in public remains illegal everywhere in Washington.</div></div></div><ul><li>64% Americans support marijuana legalization</li><li>It's a record high since the question was first polled in 1969</li><li>A majority of Republicans support legalization for the first time </li></ul><hr />Support for legalizing marijuana just reached a record high, with the vast majority of Americans favoring legalizing the drug, according to <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/221018/record-high-support-legalizing-marijuana.aspx?g_source=Politics&amp;g_medium=newsfeed&amp;g_campaign=tiles">a new Gallup poll</a> released Wednesday.64% of Americans support legalizing marijuana for both recreational and medicinal use, the highest support since Gallup first asked the question in 1969. To put that in perspective, only 12% of Americans supported legalization that year.The poll also marks another milestone: It's the first time the majority of Republicans support marijuana legalization, with 51% indicating that they'd like to see the end of federal prohibition. When the question was polled last year, only 43% of Republicans indicated they were in favor of legalization. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59f0e4b73e9d2521008b5181-720/z5yikdjpeqgkl21lc2bsa.png" alt="Gallup marijuana poll" data-mce-source="Gallup" data-link="http://news.gallup.com/poll/221018/record-high-support-legalizing-marijuana.aspx?g_source=Politics&amp;g_medium=newsfeed&amp;g_campaign=tiles" /><a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/221018/record-high-support-legalizing-marijuana.aspx?g_source=Politics&amp;g_medium=newsfeed&amp;g_campaign=tiles">Gallup</a></div></div></div>As for Democrats, 72% support legalization, up from 67% when Gallup polled the question last year, and 67% of independents support legalization as well.However, support for legalization among independents actually fell by three percentage points since last year, when 70% indicated they were in favor of legalization.Legal marijuana now has equal support to gay marriage among Americans, Gallup notes. "The trajectory of Americans' views on marijuana is similar to that of their views on <a href="http://news.gallup.com/poll/210566/support-gay-marriage-edges-new-high.aspx?g_source=link_newsv9&amp;g_campaign=item_221018&amp;g_medium=copy">same-sex marriage</a> over the past couple of decades. On both issues, about a quarter supported legalization in the late 1990s, and today 64% favor each," Gallup writes in its analysis of the poll. Gay marriage had vast public support before any action was taken on the federal level. The Supreme Court ruled to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/supreme-court-gay-marriage-ruling-2015-6">legalize gay marriage</a> nationwide in 2014. Activists from within the marijuana-legalization community celebrated the poll results."Marijuana legalization is far more popular than Jeff Sessions or Donald Trump and will survive them both," Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, said in a statement. "Instead of wasting limited law enforcement resources trying to stop successful state-level legalization initiatives, US officials should listen to the clear, bipartisan message the public is sending them, and support federal marijuana reform as well."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e7be28ddd0631d008b5251-2000/marijuana.jpg" alt="Marijuana" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Andres Stapff" data-mce-caption="Marijuana plants are seen in an indoor marijuana plantation." />REUTERS/Andres StapffMarijuana plants are seen in an indoor marijuana plantation.</div></div></div>Tom Angell, founder of Marijuana Majority, a cannabis advocacy group, told Business Insider in a statement that it would be "politically disastrous," for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to initiate a crackdown on state-legal marijuana businesses. Sen. Cory Booker, the New Jersey Democrat, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/cory-booker-introduced-a-bill-to-end-the-federal-ban-on-marijuana-2017-8">introduced</a> the Marijuana Justice Act in August to end federal marijuana prohibition. Sessions, an outspoken opponent of legal marijuana, said during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week that he thinks there should be "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-sessions-more-medical-marijuana-growers-for-research-2017-10">healthy competition</a>," among growers of medicinal-grade marijuana for research, though he has hinted <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sessions-says-he-will-enforce-federal-weed-laws-2017-3">at cracking down on state-legal</a> marijuana enterprises.Marijuana, both medicinal and recreational, is considered an illegal Schedule 1 drug by the federal government. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/where-is-marijuana-legal-2016-11">29 states</a>, however, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/quarter-of-americans-could-have-legal-weed-after-election-day-2016-11">have legalized</a> some form of medical marijuana and allow doctors to prescribe the drug to patients. "Attorney General Jeff Sessions could find himself out of step with his own party if the current trends continue," Gallup noted. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/john-mccain-awarded-liberty-medal-warns-against-spurious-nationalism-2017-10">McCain warns against the rise of nationalism in a passionate speech after being awarded the Liberty Medal</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/09EHQDvZ-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Support for marijuana legalization reaches a record high - and even a majority of Republicans back it

How Kobe Bryant's tragic death rocked the sports world and put a spotlight on grieving a public icon

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d445761100a2424b06efe4a-2019/2019-08-01t061830z1lynxnpef702dprtroptp4usa-election-debate.jpg" border="0" alt="Former Vice President Joe Biden approaches U.S. Senator Kamala Harris during a commercial break on the second night of the second 2020 Democratic U.S. presidential debate in Detroit, Michigan, July 31, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson " data-mce-source="Reuters" data-mce-caption="Former Vice President Biden approaches U.S. Senator Harris during a commercial break on the second night of the second U.S. 2020 presidential Democratic candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan, U.S." />ReutersFormer Vice President Biden approaches U.S. Senator Harris during a commercial break on the second night of the second U.S. 2020 presidential Democratic candidates debate in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Sen. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-kamala-harris-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3">Kamala Harris</a> has skyrocketed to the top of the Democratic field in recent weeks, but got a taste of the flipside of being at the front of the pack during the second round of Democratic debates on July 31.</li><li>Harris is drawing on her history in law enforcement to brand herself as a no-nonsense "progressive prosecutor," the best poised to directly take on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-donald-trump-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4">President Donald Trump</a> in 2020. </li><li>But while Harris' prosecutorial training has helped her expertly take down her rivals, her nearly 30-year long record as a prosecutor has proven to be a double-edged sword in her quest for the presidency. </li><li>At the debate, Rep. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-tulsi-gabbard-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4">Tulsi Gabbard</a> of Hawaii directly confronted Harris over her record of cracking down on nonviolent crime and fighting to keep prisoners suspected of having been wrongfully convicted locked up. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.</a></li></ul>Sen. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-kamala-harris-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3">Kamala Harris</a> has skyrocketed to the top of the Democratic field in recent weeks, but got a taste of the flipside of being at the front of the pack during the second round of Democratic debates on July 31, when she weathered attacks from all sides over her career as a prosecutor. Harris, who has served as the junior senator from California since 2016, entered the race in January 2019 to a great deal of fanfare. In her relatively short time in the Senate, Harris made a name for herself with her pointed and aggressive questioning of nominees that come before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The California senator previously served as California's attorney general and the district attorney of San Francisco and is drawing on her history in law enforcement to brand herself as a no-nonsense "progressive prosecutor," the best poised to directly take on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-donald-trump-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4">President Donald Trump</a> in 2020. While her level of support and buzz around her campaign stagnated for a few months, she saw her poll numbers and fundraising surge with a targeted attack on former Vice President <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-joe-biden-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3">Joe Biden</a> over his long and controversial record on racial justice issues, including his vehement opposition to busing as a tool of integration. The week before the debate, Biden <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/19/us/politics/biden-segregationists.html">discussed his work with infamously pro-segregation Senators</a> at a fundraiser, saying, "I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. He never called me 'boy,' he always called me 'son,'" Biden said. "Well guess what? At least there was some civility. We got things done."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-spars-with-biden-calls-comments-race-personal-and-hurtful-2019-6">'It was hurtful to hear you talk': Kamala Harris denounces Joe Biden's work with pro-segregation senators in tense exchange</a>At the June debate, Harris put her prosecutorial chops on display and strategically knocked down Biden, one of her top rivals among the Democratic primary electorate and among the critical bloc of African-American voters. "I do not believe you are a racist, and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground, but it's personal and it was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country," she said. "There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day," Harris added. "That little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats."But while Harris' prosecutorial training helps her expertly take down her rivals, her nearly 30-year long record as a prosecutor has proven to be a double-edged sword in her quest for the presidency. <h2>Harris' controversial history is coming to light</h2>Despite breaking barriers as a woman of color in the legal system, Harris has been heavily scrutinized over her own history as a tough prosecutor, which included everything from defending the death penalty, controversial criminal penalties for truant parents, and ignoring possibly exculpatory evidence in wrongful conviction cases. In an <a href="https://reason.com/2019/06/03/kamala-harris-is-a-cop-who-wants-to-be-president/">in-depth July feature for Reason magazine</a>, journalist Elizabeth Nolan summarized Harris' record as speaking of "racial justice and liberal values" but at the same time, fighting "for more aggressive prosecution not just of violent criminals but of people who committed misdemeanors and 'quality of life' crimes."And <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/kamala-harris-criminal-justice.html">in a January New York Times op-ed</a>, law professor Lara Bazelon excoriated Harris' record, writing, "Harris fought tooth and nail to uphold wrongful convictions that had been secured through official misconduct."While Harris has largely avoided being directly confronted over her record on criminal justice, Rep. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-tulsi-gabbard-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4">Tulsi Gabbard</a> of Hawaii flipped the switch.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tulsi-gabbard-slams-kamala-harris-criminal-justice-democratic-debate-2019-7">'You owe them an apology': Tulsi Gabbard ripped into Kamala Harris at the Democratic debate over her controversial record on criminal justice</a>"I'm concerned about this record of Senator Harris. She put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana," Gabbard said (<a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Fact-checking-the-Democratic-debate-attacks-14275081.php">A fact-check from the San Francisco Chronicle</a> found that Harris' number of successful marijuana prosecutions during her tenure as AG was closer to 2,000). Gabbard continued to run through a list of the thornier parts of Harris' record, saying, "she blocked evidence that would have freed an innocent man from death row. She kept people in prison beyond their sentences to use them as cheap labor for the state of California, and she fought to keep cash bail system in place that impacts poor people in the worst kind of way."In her critique, Gabbard was referring to the case of Kevin Cooper, a man convicted of a quadruple-murder in 1983 and sentenced to death row. Harris initially refused to use advanced DNA testing to determine whether he had been wrongfully convicted until New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/11/opinion/kevin-cooper-jerry-brown-death-row.html">wrote a long feature about the case last year</a>. California's Governor Gavin Newsom has since ordered new DNA testing to take place, and Cooper remains on death row. And in 2014, Harris' office wrote a memo arguing that the release of low-level offenders in California prisons "would severely impact fire camp participation," a program in which prison inmates fight wildfires. Her campaign <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/kamala-harris-ag-office-tried-to-keep-inmates-locked-up-for-cheap-labor">told the Daily Beast</a> that Harris was "shocked and troubled" attorneys in her office made that argument and told them not to argue the position in the future. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5d4485e4100a24163c7c9c76-2400/5d4240d0100a2402cd60f003-2560-1280.jpg" border="0" alt="Democratic presidential hopeful US Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district Tulsi Gabbard delivers her opening statement during the second round of the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season" data-mce-source="Jim Watson / AFP / Getty" data-mce-caption="Democratic presidential hopeful US Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district Tulsi Gabbard delivers her opening statement during the second round of the second Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season" data-link="https://www.businessinsider.com/tulsi-gabbard-slams-kamala-harris-criminal-justice-democratic-debate-2019-7" /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tulsi-gabbard-slams-kamala-harris-criminal-justice-democratic-debate-2019-7">Jim Watson / AFP / Getty</a>Democratic presidential hopeful US Representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district Tulsi Gabbard.</div></div></div><h2>Harris is finding she can't have her cake and eat it too</h2>Harris, clearly taken aback by Gabbard's attack, gave a vague defense of her record full of buzzwords without addressing any of the specific cases or points Gabbard brought up."I did the work of significantly reforming the criminal justice system of the state of 40 million people which became a national model," Harris said, adding, "I am proud of making a decision to not just give fancy speeches or be in a legislative body and give speeches on the floor, but doing the work of being in the position to use the power that I had to reform a system that is badly in need of reform.""When you were in a position to make a difference and an impact in these people's lives, you did not," Gabbard shot back. "There's no excuse for that and the people who suffered under your reign as a prosecutor, you owe them an apology."Harris' rebuttal to Gabbard didn't come until after the debate, when she slammed the Hawaii congresswoman over Gabbard's controversial 2017 meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, and her refusal to condemn him as a war criminal who, among things, is accused of using chemical weapons on his own citizens. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-tulsi-gabbard-square-off-on-criminal-justice-syria-2019-8">Kamala Harris and Tulsi Gabbard went after each other without mercy in Detroit. Both had a point.</a>While Harris was smart to point out Gabbard's own questionable history on fundamental issues of justice, she didn't give a satisfactory answer or explanation to many of the critiques of her record that Gabbard raised. At the beginning of the debate, Harris <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/7/31/20749558/democratic-debate-joe-biden-kamala-harris-health-care">also stumbled in defending her healthcare plan</a>, which would implement a government-run Medicare for All healthcare system over a 10-year timeline with a role for private insurers to compete in it, against criticisms from Biden that it would rely on successor implementing it and lead to tax increases.And Harris' own controversial history on the matter meant she couldn't attack Biden over the decades-long tough-on-crime crusade he pursued as a member of the US Senate, ceding that ground to Sen. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-cory-booker-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3">Cory Booker,</a> who successfully took Biden to task on his role pushing punitive criminal justice legislation. If Harris is running for a president as a "progressive prosecutor," there's no doubt her rivals will begin zeroing in on the issues raised by Gabbard, Bazelon, and Nolan Brown, including criticisms that she covered up misconduct by a corrupt lab technician, fought to keep <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/17/opinion/kamala-harris-criminal-justice.html">other possibly wrongful convicted prisoners</a> locked up, aggressively prosecuted cases under California's three-strikes law, and cracked down many nonviolent and 'quality of life' offenses, including truancy and sex work.There's still about six months to go before the first votes in the Democratic primary are cast, but Harris is finding that as her stature in the field is rising, she can't have it both ways when it comes to criminal justice.Read more:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/don-lemon-kamala-harris-doj-would-prosecute-trump-democratic-debate-2019-8" data-analytics-position="1">CNN anchor Don Lemon confronted Kamala Harris at the Democratic debate over her previous statements saying that if she's president, she'll have the DOJ prosecute Trump</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/kamala-harris-supported-raising-cash-bail-costs-district-attorney-2004-2019-3">Kamala Harris once pushed for steeper cash bail costs, saying 'people come to San Francisco to commit crimes because it's cheaper to do it'</a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/winners-losers-second-democratic-debate-night-two-detroit-2019-7" data-analytics-position="2">Here are the winners and losers of night 2 of the 2020 Democratic presidential debates in Detroit</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-flag-how-to-fold-technique-presidential-candidate-seth-moulton-2019-7">How to properly fold the American flag, according to presidential candidate Rep. Seth Moulton</a></h3> <div> <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/k1YnpPjH-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script> </div> </div>

Kamala Harris is learning that being a frontrunner in a crowded field means everyone's coming for you

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5332dc74eab8ea9343147c46-1200-924/outkast-3.jpg" border="0" alt="Outkast" />Getty</div></div></div>Chicago music festival Lollapalooza <a href="http://www.lollapalooza.com/2014-lineup/" target="_blank">announced its 2014 lineup</a> for August 1-3, and it's pretty good.
Eminem, Outkast, Kings of Leon, Calvin Harris, Skrillex and Arctic Monkeys headline the 130 acts playing over the course of the three-day festival, which returns to Chicago's Grant Park for the tenth year in a row.
The rest of the list includes a diverse roster of performers, from Lorde and The Avett Brothers to rapper Nas and DJ Sebastian Ingrosso.
But good luck getting tickets, as three-day passes sold out within an hour of going on sale Wednesday morning.
A limited number of single day passes will be available today, March 26th, starting at 11 a.m. EST. VIP and platinum packages are also still available. 
Check out the full lineup of acts below:
<ul>
<li>Eminem</li>
<li>Outkast</li>
<li>Kings of Leon</li>
<li>Arctic Monkeys</li>
<li>Calvin Harris</li>
<li>Skrillex</li>
<li>Lorde</li>
<li>Foster the People</li>
<li>The Avett Brothers</li>
<li>Zedd</li>
<li>Krewella</li>
<li>Sebastian Ingrosso</li>
<li>Above &amp; Beyond</li>
<li>Nas</li>
<li>Childish Gambino</li>
<li>Broken Bells</li>
<li>Spoon</li>
<li>Cage the Elephant</li>
<li>Interpol</li>
<li>The Head and the Heart</li>
<li>Young the Giant</li>
<li>Lykke Li</li>
<li>Chase &amp; Status</li>
<li>Chance the Rapper</li>
<li>Phantogram</li>
<li>cut/copy</li>
<li>Flosstradamus</li>
<li>Chvrches</li>
<li>Fitz &amp; the Tantrums</li>
<li>Chromeo</li>
<li>The Glitch Mob</li>
<li>Grouplove</li>
<li>Darkside</li>
<li>Portugal the Man</li>
<li>Gramatik</li>
<li>The 1975</li>
<li>Dimitri Vegas &amp; Like Mike</li>
<li>Jenny Lewis</li>
<li>Rebelution</li>
<li>AFI</li>
<li>Manchester Orchestra</li>
<li>Glen Hansard</li>
<li>J. Roddy Walston &amp; The Business</li>
<li>John Butler Trio</li>
<li>Gesaffelstein</li>
<li>The Kooks</li>
<li>Martin Garrix</li>
<li>Flume</li>
<li>Rudimental</li>
<li>Phosphorescent</li>
<li>Trombone Shorty &amp; Orleans Avenue</li>
<li>Iggy Azalea</li>
<li>Duke Dumont</li>
<li>Run the Jewels</li>
<li>Bombay Bicycle Club</li>
<li>Temper Trap</li>
<li>Airborne Toxic Event</li>
<li>Warpaint</li>
<li>Joachim Garraud</li>
<li>London Grammar</li>
<li>Kodaline</li>
<li>Typhoon</li>
<li>White Denim</li>
<li>Sander Kleinenberg</li>
<li>Z-Trip</li>
<li>Delta Rae</li>
<li>Lucius</li>
<li>Kate Nash</li>
<li>RAC</li>
<li>Blood Orange</li>
<li>Vance Joy</li>
<li>GTA</li>
<li>Perry/Etty vs Joachim Garraud</li>
<li>Rich Homie Quan</li>
<li>Jhené Aiko</li>
<li>Jagwar Ma</li>
<li>Parquet Courts</li>
<li>Kongos</li>
<li>Temples</li>
<li>Small Pools</li>
<li>NONONO</li>
<li>Vic Mensa</li>
<li>Jungle</li>
<li>Gemini Club</li>
<li>Francisca Valenzuela</li>
<li>Wildcat! Wildcat!</li>
<li>Crizzly</li>
<li>Into It Over It</li>
<li>PAPA</li>
<li>Bomba Estéreo</li>
<li>Courtney Barnett</li>
<li>The Districts Bleachers</li>
<li>San Fermin</li>
<li>Robust</li>
<li>Bear Hands</li>
<li>Roadkill</li>
<li>Ghost Choir</li>
<li>Royal Blood</li>
<li>Kausea</li>
<li>Brillz</li>
<li>Ratking</li>
<li>Bronze Radio Return</li>
<li>Jacob Plant</li>
<li>Meg Myers</li>
<li>Lindsay Lowend</li>
<li>The So S Glos</li>
<li>Joywave</li>
<li>Betty Who</li>
<li>Cash Cash</li>
<li>Desert Noises</li>
<li>Fly Golden Eagle</li>
<li>Bebe Rexha</li>
<li>Jon Batiste and Stay Human</li>
<li>Crass Mammoth</li>
<li>Wallpaper</li>
<li>Benjamin Booker</li>
<li>Cardiknox</li>
<li>DUGAS</li>
<li>The Last Internationale</li>
<li>Space Capone</li>
<li>Bagheera</li>
<li>Johnnyswim</li>
<li>Plastic Visions</li>
<li>Of Verona</li>
<li>Charlie Hirsch</li>
<li>Oyinda</li>
<li>Highly Suspect</li>
<li>Anna Lunoe</li>
<li>Rocky Business</li>
</ul>

Outkast, Kings Of Leon, Eminem Headline Lollapalooza Lineup - Already Sold Out

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53c94281ecad0404387ee55f-360-480/david_mitchell_by_kubik.jpg?maxX=480" border="0" alt="novelist David Mitchell" width="480" /><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:David_Mitchell_by_Kubik.JPG">Wikimedia Commons</a>David Mitchell</div></div>British novelist <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DavidMitchellAuthor">David Mitchell</a> is an expert when it comes to characters, but not writing 140 characters at a time. Nevertheless, he's written his latest work for Twitter, publishing the short story in 140-character tweets because that's how he wants you to read it.
Mitchell, whose novels "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Number9Dream-David-Mitchell/dp/0812966929">number9dream</a>" and "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Atlas-Novel-David-Mitchell/dp/0375507256">Cloud Atlas</a>" were shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize, admitted he's not a huge fan of Twitter. "I'm not really a social media animal," he told the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/globalnews">BBC World Service</a> radio station. "I like my privacy. Post Snowden we know that there's enough people to want to take our privacy away without voluntarily helping them. I don't want to add to this ocean of trivia and irrelevance."
Mitchell only created a Twitter account in the first place after his publicist convinced him that it would help promote his upcoming novel "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Bone-Clocks-A-Novel/dp/1400065674">The Bone Clocks</a>." But he wanted to offer his Twitter followers something more. "It still kind of bothered me a little bit that I was using this Arab Spring-sized technology just to basically say, 'Hi, I'm going off on the road, come and see me, buy my book.' It just seemed a bit cheesy, really, so I thought, 'How can I find a use for it?'" 
The story, "The Right Sort," is narrated by a teen tripping on his mother's Valium pills for the first time. The boy's experience of the world on Valium is "a sequence of nice little throbs and pulses," which he likes because it's more orderly, Mitchell said. "Those are the tweets. He's basically thinking in tweets because of the Valium."
He admits publishing his short story on Twitter is a clever marketing tool for his unrelated upcoming novel. But Mitchell also hopes his short bursts of tweets will provide a stronger reading experience than the traditional method. 
"With Twitter it's less like a balloon flight where you look down and see the text and more like sort of a train ride with a very narrow window through rapidly changing landscapes and tunnels," he said. "You can't see it all at once."
"The Right Sort" will be comprised of 280 tweets over the course of a week, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/14/david-mitchell-publishes-short-story-twitter">The Guardian reports</a>. Mitchell has been tweeting since early this week and will continue posting bursts of 20 tweets each day through the weekend.
Here's one of his recent tweets.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">
I wait. Silence. Just my breaths, the empty passage, running down the side. The brambles move like hungry underwater things.
- David Mitchell (@david_mitchell) <a href="https://twitter.com/david_mitchell/statuses/490016118593966080">July 18, 2014</a></blockquote>
Mitchell admitted writing his short story for a Twitter audience was challenging. He compared the narrow confines of a 140-character tweet to a straight jacket, but acknowledged that it helped him write a story that was new for him.

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