Weekly Review
A 36-year-old man in San Diego was arrested for setting four homeless men on fire, killing three of them. A husband and wife from North Carolina were arrested after attacking each other with pizza rolls, a Kentucky woman was charged with assault after hitting her husband over the head with a burrito and stabbing him, and a Florida woman was accused of hitting her boyfriend with her baby, which, a witness said, she “swung like a bat.” Read more...
An officer in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, fatally shot a 32-year-old black cafeteria supervisor named Philando Castile during a traffic stop. The immediate aftermath of the shooting was streamed on Facebook by Castile’s girlfriend, who was in the car with him, along with her four-year-old daughter. “He was reaching for his wallet,” she said, “and the officer just shot him.”[1] In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, two police officers shot and killed Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man whom they had tasered and pinned to the ground outside a convenience store.[2] At a Dallas protest organized in response to the shootings, a gunman armed with an assault rifle fatally shot five police officers and fled to a parking garage, where he was killed by a robot carrying explosives.[3] A white North Carolina man who fired a pistol at a sheriff’s deputy was arrested without injury, and in Bristol, Tennessee, a black man upset by police violence opened fire on cars driving on a local freeway, killing one motorist before being shot and arrested by police. “I ain’t condoning nothing,” said the suspect’s brother. “But frustration, we can all understand that.”[4][5] Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Canada, and the United Arab Emirates warned travelers to the United States to avoid large gatherings.[6] FBI Director James Comey announced that Hillary Clinton had sent or received 110 emails that contained classified information over her private server, but didn’t recommend that the Justice Department pursue criminal charges.[7] The Democratic Party revised its platform to support a pathway to marijuana legalization, and Donald Trump praised Saddam Hussein for his alleged ability to effectively fight terrorists. “He did that,” said Trump, “so good.”[8][9]
After seven years of investigation, the U.K. government’s Chilcot inquiry released a 2.6-million-word report on the Iraq War, finding that the invasion was launched based on fabricated intelligence that might have been inspired by the 1996 action film The Rock.[10][11] Suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a Shia shrine north of Baghdad, killing at least 37 people; renewed fighting broke out between rival factions in Juba, South Sudan, killing more than 300 people; and the White House announced that the Islamic State was losing the war on Twitter.[12][13][14] A Cyprus hotel that promises visitors a “diverse range of shows, fun and activities” apologized to guests after employees dressed in dark clothing burst into the dining room shooting fake guns.[15] Seven members of a gang in Los Angeles were indicted for firebombing a public-housing complex, and a 100-resident tent city in Victoria, British Columbia, was ordered to be evacuated under suspicion of gang activity.[16][17] A 36-year-old man in San Diego was arrested for setting four homeless men on fire, killing three of them.[18] A husband and wife from North Carolina were arrested after attacking each other with pizza rolls, a Kentucky woman was charged with assault after hitting her husband over the head with a burrito and stabbing him, and a Florida woman was accused of hitting her boyfriend with her baby, which, a witness said, she “swung like a bat.”[19][20][21]
Gambia, Tanzania, and the U.S. state of Virginia banned child marriage.[22][23] Parents in Denver discovered that their children’s Cub Scout camp was sponsored by Hooters after viewing Facebook photos of the kids posing with Hooters waitresses. “I’m like, ‘Are they wearing Hooters visors?’” said one mother.[24] Microsoft apologized after a recruiter sent an email to interns promising an evening of “hella noms,” “lots of dranks,” and the “best beats.” “HELL YES TO GETTING LIT ON A MONDAY NIGHT,” it read.[25] Police in the Northern Territory of Australia warned users of the mobile game Pokémon Go to stay out of a police station that the game encouraged users to visit. “You don’t actually have to step inside in order to gain the pokéballs,” read a police statement.[26] A Wyoming teenager playing the same game discovered a dead body in the Wind River, and muggers in Missouri were using the app to lure potential victims.[27][28] Timmonsville, South Carolina, passed an ordinance that would fine anyone wearing sagging pants up to $600, and the Danish government was criticized for the difficulty of its new citizenship test, which asks questions related to Danish films, the 16th-century astronomer Tycho Brahe, and the composer Carl Nielsen.[29][30] The Georgia Supreme Court ruled in favor of a KKK chapter’s attempt to participate in the state’s “Adopt-A-Highway” program.[31] In Indonesia, twelve people died during a three-day, 13-mile-long traffic jam at an intersection nicknamed Brexit, and in Italy a Northern Irish jockey was kicked in the face by a horse and then run over by the ambulance sent to help him.[32][33] Sixteen people were injured during Pamplona’s Running of the Bulls, a man was killed during a bull run near Valencia, and a professional Spanish bullfighter was gored to death on live television.[34][35] A group of Buddhist monks on Prince Edward Island purchased over 600 pounds of live lobsters and set them free in the ocean.[36] In Boston, a cab driver returned the $187,786.75 cash inheritance of a homeless man who left his backpack in the cab. “I’m going to do what I always said I’m going to do,” said the heir of his future plans. “Die in Prague.”[37]
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