A US government investigation has found that Myanmar’s military waged a planned and coordinated campaign of mass killings, gang rapes and other atrocities against the nation’s Rohingya Muslim minority.
The State Department report, reviewed by Reuters news agency ahead of its expected release on Monday, could be used to justify further US sanctions against Myanmar authorities, said US officials.
But the report stopped short of describing the crackdown as genocide or crimes against humanity.
The findings were based on more than a 1,000 interviews of Rohingya men and women in refugee camps in neighboring Bangladesh, where more than 700,000 Rohingya have fled after a military campaign last year in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.
“The survey reveals that the recent violence in northern Rakhine state was extreme, large-scale, widespread, and seemingly geared toward both terrorizing the population and driving out the Rohingya residents,” said the 20-page report.
“The scope and scale of the military’s operations indicate they were well-planned and coordinated,” it added.
Survivors narrated in harrowing detail what they had witnessed, including soldiers killing infants and small children, the shooting of unarmed men, and victims buried alive or thrown into pits of mass graves.
They described widespread sexual assault and rape of Rohingya women by Myanmar’s military, often carried out in public.
One witness described how four Rohingya girls were abducted, tied up and raped for three days. They were left heavily bleeding and “half dead”, he said, according to the report.
The State Department report coincided with the US pledging $185m in aid for Rohingya refugees.
On Monday, US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley announced the new funding for food, water, healthcare and other critical aid during a ministerial meeting on Myanmar crisis on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York.
The US report comes nearly a month after a team of UN investigators issued its own report, accusing Myanmar’s military of acting with “genocidal intent” and calling for the country’s commander-in-chief and five generals to be tried by the International Criminal Court.
‘No right to interfere’
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s military chief on Monday warned against foreign interference as world leaders gather at the UN to find ways to hold the country’s powerful generals accountable for atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.
In his first public comments since the UN fact-finding report, Min Aung Hlaing said Myanmar abided by UN pacts, but warned that “talks to meddle in internal affairs” may cause “misunderstanding”.
“As countries set different standards and norms, any country, organization and group has no right to interfere in and make decision(s) over sovereignty of a country,” Min Aung Hlaing said in comments reported in English on his website.
Min Aung Hlaing also shrugged off demands from UN investigators for the army to withdraw from politics in Myanmar, where it remains hugely influential despite a nominal transition to civilian rule in 2011.
In a letter to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, Christine Blasey Ford wrote, “Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions, while many years ago, were serious and have had a lasting impact on my life.” | Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Christine Blasey Ford told Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) in a personal letter penned Saturday that her sole motivation in bringing a sexual assault allegation against Brett Kavanaugh is “to tell the truth” about what the Supreme Court nominee did.
Ford’s letter to Grassley, released Monday, comes as Republicans ratchet up their defense of President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee by portraying the multiple sexual misconduct claims against him as part of a Democratic smear campaign. The 51-year-old California-based professor sought to counter any depiction of her actions as politically motivated in her note to the Judiciary chairman.
Story Continued Below
“Mr. Kavanaugh’s actions, while many years ago, were serious and have had a lasting impact on my life,” Ford wrote to Grassley. “I thought that knowledge of his actions could be useful for you and those in charge of choosing among the various candidates. My original intent was first and foremost to be a helpful citizen – in a confidential way that would minimize collateral damage to all families and friends involved.”
Grassley’s office declined to release the letter when asked on Sunday, although Ford’s legal team had consented to its release. The Iowa Republican responded directly to Ford in a letter released Monday, describing himself as “committed to fair and respectful treatment of you, as you’ve requested,” and adding a handwritten postscript that “I look forward to your testimony.”
Grassley also used his letter to Ford to renew long-running complaints about Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) decision to keep a close hold on the professor’s initial letter about Kavanaugh out of what Feinstein has described as respectfulness for Ford’s interest in confidentiality.
“I take letters from individuals seriously and over a long period of time have demonstrated a commitment to handling personal or sensitive information in a confidential manner,” Grassley wrote.
Republicans and Ford’s legal team conducted talks throughout the weekend on the parameters for Thursday’s remarkable scheduled hearing on her allegation that Kavanaugh tried to force himself on her when both were in high school.
The GOP expects to have the option of using staff attorneys to question Ford, a Grassley spokesman said — a strategy that could insulate some of their members from the harmful optics of an all-male Republican membership on Judiciary grilling Kavanaugh’s accuser. Ford’s legal team, however, has not publicly commented Monday on the status of those talks.
In her letter to Grassley, however, Ford underscored her desire to testify on Thursday in what has quickly become the most consequential hearing of the Trump administration.
“While I am frightened, please know, my fear will not hold me back from testifying and you will be provided with answers to all of your questions. I ask for fair and respectful treatment,” Ford wrote.
Image: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket Via Getty Images
By Karissa Bell and Pete Pachal
It’s been 20 years since Google Search first arrived on the web, and the company is updating its core product with a slew of new features for the anniversary.
The throughline for the features is AI. Google Search now anticipates and customizes much of your search experience automatically, and it also uses AI on the back end to do things like create relevant clips from videos. Another clear focus is mobile, mobile, mobile. At the event in San Francisco, where Google announced the new features, virtually every slide showed how the new tools would look on a smartphone, not a desktop.
First there’s the new Activity Card, which appears as a thin strip above your results. Expanding the card will show you related searches as well as previous searches you’ve performed on the same topic.
Also new is Collections, which let you save and organize searches around specific topics, in effect “Pinterest-ifying” search. You can grab anything that appears in your Activity Card and add it to a Collection.
The Google “feed” — a stream of information cards about your interests that appears in some of Google’s apps — is getting a revamp. Now called Discover, it has more granular controls over content that appears, and new topic headings that explain why you’re seeing what you’re seeing. Some bilingual users may like that Discover can surface content in multiple languages, starting with English and Spanish. The Discover feed will roll out to the Google homepage for all mobile users.
If you’re a fan of the Stories format, Google has good news: It’s “doubling down” on Stories in search, including AMP Stories.
Featured Videos is another new feature. Now, when your search surfaces video, Google will automatically generate preview clips for those videos, using AI to find the most relevant parts of the clip.
Image Search is improved with a new ranking algorithm to help ensure image results are relevant. Also improving image results is Google Lens integration, which can scan the image (or part of it) and tell you more about it. Of course, that’s AI-powered, too, so your mileage will probably vary quite a bit.
Lots of people use Google Search in emergencies, and Google has new tools for that, too, including an AI-based flood prediction model, which should give users more accurate and timely flood alerts. It’s rolling out first in India.
Finally, Google has a new job search tool called Pathways, which doesn’t just point you to job listings but also training programs. It’s first rolling out in Virginia.
Google Search’s new features acknowledge how people search today, giving them a smarter toolset. They’ll also make it harder for competitors like Bing to keep up. But one feature Google Search can’t ever add is freedom from Google — the only feature that matters to those wary of the company’s growing ad and information engine, which these features are sure to help fuel.
Snapchat announced this week it’s partnering with Amazon to offer users a new image-based shopping feature. The company says it plans to start testing the feature today, and will be rolling it out slowly to all users.
For those with the new product search feature, just snap a photo of something you want to buy — like a bottle of makeup or running shoes — and on the Snapchat home screen, different options to buy the product or something similar will appear in a pop-up menu from Amazon’s online store.
Want something you see? Just Snap and buy it.
Image: snap
It’s almost too simple, especially if all your payment and shipping information is already stored and ready to go within Amazon.
The partnership was rumored back in July, and it’s rolling out this week to select U.S. users as a first attempt at an in-app shopping feature. Apparently Snapchat users are really into e-commerce and online impulse buys.
It also works if you point the app’s camera at a barcode, if you really know what you want.
Now you can pose in front of an Amazon Echo Look and the augmented reality features of Snapchat will help you spend all of the money you’ve saved. For Snap, that’s a lot of shopping bags if its 70 million daily AR lenses users start using the camera to search for (and buy) new clothes, cosmetics, and household items with the app.
After a second straight double-digit loss, the New England Patriots are no longer favored to win Super Bowl LIII.
According to OddsShark, the Los Angeles Rams are alone as favorites with a 4-1 chance to bring home a title after their 3-0 start. The Patriots remain high at 8-1 odds despite their 1-2 record.
The Kansas City Chiefs continue to jump in the minds of fans and oddsmakers and are now 9-1.
Odds to Win Super Bowl 53 (As of Sept. 24)
Los Angeles Rams: 4-1
New England Patriots: 8-1
Kansas City Chiefs: 9-1
Philadelphia Eagles: 11-1
Minnesota Vikings: 12-1
Jacksonville Jaguars: 12-1
New Orleans Saints: 14-1
Pittsburgh Steelers: 16-1
Green Bay Packers: 18-1
Atlanta Falcons: 25-1
Los Angeles Chargers: 25-1
Chicago Bears: 25-1
Carolina Panthers: 28-1
Baltimore Ravens: 28-1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 33-1
Denver Broncos: 40-1
Cincinnati Bengals: 40-1
Miami Dolphins: 40-1
Washington Redskins: 40-1
Dallas Cowboys: 50-1
Houston Texans: 50-1
Seattle Seahawks: 50-1
Tennessee Titans: 50-1
New York Giants: 66-1
Detroit Lions: 66-1
San Francisco 49ers: 80-1
Indianapolis Colts: 80-1
Cleveland Browns: 80-1
Oakland Raiders: 125-1
New York Jets: 150-1
Buffalo Bills: 200-1
Arizona Cardinals: 500-1
Week 3 was big for the Chiefs, who jumped over four teams after a 38-27 win over the San Francisco 49ers at Arrowhead Stadium. Patrick Mahomes is starting to show his first two weeks weren’t flukes and that this offense might be nearly unstoppable.
However, oddsmakers seemed to more or less ignore several results from Sunday.
The Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills had double-digit wins over the Patriots, Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings, respectively. Still, all three are much lower in the latest odds than their recent foes.
Perhaps this could be a lesson not to overreact to one week, or it could be a good chance to get some value from teams on the rise.
Meanwhile, the biggest drop comes from the 49ers, who went from 28-1 after Week 2 to 80-1 on Monday. Jimmy Garoppolo went down with what appears to be asignificant knee injury, and if the quarterback is done for the year, the team’s chances of competing could go down in flames.
Ready for an epic day of perfectly timed moments? Ready to shake up your weekend brunch plans? First, gather as many dogs (and their owners) as you can find. Next, mix with plenty of squeaky toys, an obstacle course, and pancakes —which double as frisbees! Add two professional photographers shooting with the Canon EOS Rebel T7i. Alert the pup-arazzi.
On a recent Saturday morning in Brooklyn, Mashable and Canon invited the dogs of New York City to experience a one-of-a-kind “dog photo park” MashMeet. First, we warmed up our cameras and our canines with a photo shoot at North Brooklyn Farms. As dogs ran agility courses on the field, BMX bikers practiced their tricks on the nearby track. Everyone was getting hungry, so we decided to make them work for their breakfast — and create some epic pancake Frisbee shots in the process.
IN THE ZONE
From the farm, we followed giant chalked paw prints one block over to Industria Studios, where doors opened to welcome guests and passersby-with-pups. Chefs whipped up a pancake brunch, replete with three flavors of dog-friendly options for discerning palettes.
Some pups lined up to get their portraits taken by professional photographer Stacey Axelrod. Others headed straight for the Demo Zone to play, romp, and test their agility in an obstacle course. Canon experts were on hand to demonstrate how to use the different modes on the DSLR, as dog parents eagerly snapped all the action using the Rebel T7i.
A great entry-level camera, the Rebel T7i gives photographers a choice between simple automatic modes such as Portrait and Sports, as well as the ability to play around with the more professional modes —Tv and Av — in a simple way, explained onscreen with animations.
Sports Mode was a favorite for dog owners looking to capture their pups jumping and playing, as was Tv, a setting that allows the user to adjust shutter speed — ideal for capturing mid-motion, action freeze frames. “This camera shoots six frames per second, which is pretty awesome, because dogs move really fast,” explained professional dog photographer Alex Hopes.
Jason and Emily Coyne brought their Jack Russell-pitbull mix, Fitzie, to the event. “She’s living her best life right now,” Jason said, gesturing at Fitzie happily gnawing on a camera-shaped chew toy. “We’d be interested in something that would help us take better dog photos,” Emily added.
According to his dad Richard White, Wellington the golden retriever is typically a “difficult model” who struggles to sit still. Equipped with the right camera, White said he was able to capture some good shots of Wellington in Sports Mode, as well as experimenting with Av, a setting that allows you to manipulate the depth of field by adjusting aperture. “This makes me look like a better photographer [than my smartphone],” he said, laughing. “I’ll become an Instagram star.”
Speaking of which, the goldendoodle Instagram mafia was off-leash and living large: Samson (@samsonthedood), Teddy (@Teddygramnyc), and Theo (@TheoDoodleBear) all rolled up with their moms for a late morning playdate.
Samson’s owner, Jessica, uses a smartphone for her dog’s wildly popular Insta account, but is thinking about upgrading to the Rebel T7i. “Samson,” she said, “with his eyes, is very human, and I feel like a DSLR would capture those details better [than a smartphone].”
Williamsburg local Jesse Lepow and his four-year-old boxer mix, Lucy, were all about the Portrait Zone. When asked what kinds of photos he aspires to take of Lucy, he said, “Something that makes my parents go ‘Aww.’” Lepow is facing a typical Millennial qualm from his parents: “They want me to be married, so they’re like, Okay, as long as you have a dog, and she’s really cute,” he laughed.
Lepow and Lucy are setting off soon on a road trip out west in his RV, and he’s definitely hoping to capture some great photos during that adventure.
Whether hitting the road for a cross-country journey or just heading out to walk your dog around the block, the Canon EOS Rebel T7i will help you shoot for greatness and never miss a perfectly timed moment.
It’s been a wild ride on the Rod Rosenstein rollercoaster.
On Monday morning, the internet turned into a five-alarm dumpster fire when it was reported Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had resigned from his position. But then, as minutes and hours ticked by, it turned out he was still in his position after all.
Axios kicked things off by reporting that Rosenstein offered his resignation to Trump chief-of-staff John Kelly in anticipation of being fired anyway. Then came contradictory reports that Rosenstein was heading to the White House and expected to be fired and would fight any attempt to resign. And then there was … just utter confusion as the minutes gave way to hours and there was no sign of a resolution.
Finally, after two hours of chaos, during which reports surfaced that Rosenstein had met with Kelly and then gone right to another meeting, the White House put out a statement that Rosenstein would meet with Trump on Thursday. (Buckle up, because that’s the same day the woman who accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of an attempted sexual assault in high school will testify before the Senate.)
This all follows the New York Times‘ bombshell report last week that Rosenstein had discussed secretly taping Trump and even advocated invoking the 25th Amendment. The biggest impact of Rosenstein’s would-be resignation or firing is that it would clear a path for President Trump to appoint a new deputy AG who could follow Trump’s directive to shut down Robert Mueller’s far-reaching investigation into possible collusion between the Trump team and Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
Except it hasn’t happened… yet.
Needless to say, this extreme case of newsbomb-induced whiplash caused Twitter to experience a meltdown the likes of which we don’t often see — even in a news cycle as wild as this one. And it did serve as a sizable distraction to the ongoing Kavanaugh accusations, which may have been the intended effect.
People were utterly confused by the competing, conflicting reports and a simple desire to just know what the hell was happening. But after the smoke cleared, we processed our brush with a constitutional crisis in the only way we know how:
Apparently Rosenstein told White House, “I will resign,” but he meant it only sarcastically…..
Porzingis, who was addressing reporters as part of Knicks media day, said he plans on being back in the lineup as soon as possible but not until he is “110 percent.”
“There’s no timetable yet,” Porzingis said. “Whenever I’m ready, I’m going to be back.
“I’m getting itchy, and I want to be back on the court as soon as possible. But it won’t happen until I am 110 percent and medically cleared.”
Porzingis suffered a torn ACL in February, setting the stage for a retooling in New York. The Knicks have one of the worst three or four rosters in the Eastern Conference without Porzingis, and many of their players could be on borrowed time with the franchise. New York fancies itself a contender for top-flight free agents next summer and would likely jettison anyone aside from Porzingis, Kevin Knox and its 2019 first-round pick to make room.
The relative lack of urgency for this season means the Knicks can be conservative with Porzingis. There is no need to rush back the franchise face when the team will probably be out of playoff contention before he could be back in the lineup.
Porzingis said during the media session he is running some but has not been cleared to sprint.
“The best way to describe him is he’s the future of the NBA,” Fizdale told reporters of Porzingis. “Look around who’s playing [deep in the postseason]. They all got guys super long, super athletic, super skilled, super tough-minded. He fits all of the qualities of a megastar and a guy who can really propel a franchise forward to high places.”
Porzingis averaged 22.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per night in 48 games during the 2017-18 season. The Knicks are expected to allow Porzingis to hit restricted free agency next summer to preserve cap space to sign other free agents.
The Philadelphia Flyers revealed its new mascot Gritty — and he will haunt you for the rest of your foreseeable days.
The scraggly, googly-eyed, orange-haired mascot was made public Monday morning, and looks like the result of an unholy union between the Babadook and a Muppet from Fraggle Rock.
Gritty is probably the last thing anyone needs, or wants to see at any sports arena. But hey, here we are.
Though, perhaps worse than the mascot’s appearance is his name. According to the Flyers’ website, Gritty got his, uh, unique nickname “for possessing an attitude so similar to the team he follows.”
That makes sense, I suppose. But the website also contains some additional and somewhat troubling information regarding Gritty’s backstory, like the fact that his father was a “bully,” he eats ice straight from the Zamboni machine, and has a voracious love of hot dogs.
Really makes you wonder whose job it is to create mascots, and whether or not they’re OK.
Naturally, the internet has been having some pretty strong reactions to Gritty’s reveal, wavering from frightened to slightly less frightened, calling Gritty both “nightmare fuel” and “an absolute dream haunter.”
The sports blog Crossing Broad even published an article titled, “The Flyers’ New Mascot Is Here To Murder You.” And, honestly, I don’t know that they’re wrong.
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy There’s vomit on his sweater already, mascot Gritty
Welp, looks like Gritty’s here to stay. Here’s hoping he cheers the Flyers onto victory and is unable to enter into our unconscious without our consent.
Stacks cleans up a messy desktop • Gallery View is great for working with images • Screenshots are much improved • Dark Mode is
Some features are extremely niche • No support for Macs older than 2012
You could ignore the myriad new features in macOS Mojave, but at least one of them is guaranteed to improve your day-to-day Mac experience.
Sitting down to write this review of macOS Mojave, I thought about which new feature is my favorite, and which is my least favorite. Then I realized I haven’t actually thought about new features in macOS in this way for years. Thinking back to Sierra and High Sierra, I could barely name any new feature, let alone the best and worst of the bunch.
So if there’s one thing Apple can be sure of when it officially releases macOS Mojave to Mac users today, it’s that they’ll notice. Mojave has lots of new stuff both under the hood and on the dashboard — I’d challenge any Mac user to use this update for a few days and not have strong opinions on it.
MacOS 10.14 Mojave is positively loaded with new stuff, especially for power users, and I covered most of the new stuff in my preview of the OS back in June. Dark Mode is by far the most obvious, but the Stacks tool for cleaning up your Desktop and the new way the OS handles screenshots are both top-level features that will make a difference in most users’ everyday workflow.
Feature-wise, virtually all of the changes are optional. While the new features are all intended to simplify and improve your Mac experience, they’re almost all additive — you can choose to ignore them, and you’ll still be able to use your Mac just as before, more or less.
I don’t know why you’d want to, though. I’d be surprised if, within Mojave’s myriad new features, you don’t find at least one that makes you more efficient, streamlines a key process, or is just more aesthetically pleasing. For me, it wasn’t just one — I found five. Of course, there’s also at least one feature that’s pretty pointless (looking at you, Continuity Camera), but like I said, no one’s holding a water-pistol emoji to my head to use it.
Which Macs can run Mojave?
Image: Lili Sams/Mashable
First things first: Before you get excited for Mojave, you should make sure your Mac can run it. For most users, all you need to do is go to “About this Mac” and click on the “Software Update…” button, which launches the Mac App Store. On Sept. 24 or a little afterward, if your Mac can run Mojave, it will alert you that the update is available.
Specifically, though, Apple says Mojave will run on the following machines:
MacBook (early 2015 or later)
MacBook Air (mid 2012 or later)
MacBook Pro (mid 2012 or later)
Mac Mini (late 2012 or later)
iMac (late 2012 or later)
iMac Pro (all models)
Mac Pro (late 2013, plus mid 2010 or mid 2012 models with recommended Metal-capable graphics processor, including MSI Gaming Radeon RX 560 and Sapphire Radeon PULSE RX 580)
That’s a bit less than the last OS, High Sierra, which could run on some Macs dating back to 2009. Hardly surprising, but if you’re still running a Mac from eight years ago and you’re doing anything other than running a word processor, you might want to think about upgrading.
Now that you know whether or not your Mac can handle the upgrade, here are the 5 best features of macOS Mojave.
1. Gallery view
Image: Pete Pachal / mashable
What it is: There’s a new option for how to view the contents of a folder in the Finder: Gallery View, which shows the icon or preview of the selected file enlarged in the window, with the rest of the folder contents shown as a thumbnail strip below. You can navigate the thumbnails with the left and right arrow keys, and the previews load lightning-fast as you do.
Why it makes all the difference: If dealing with photography or artwork is part of your daily workflow, you’ll love Gallery view. I often have to choose between multiple similar photos to put in a story, which typically means toggling back and forth from Preview when I’m deciding which one to use. I much prefer Mojave’s solution, which keeps it all in the Finder and thus doesn’t slow me down.
How it could be even better: If Gallery view was an option when selecting “Open” in an app.
2. Advanced screenshots
Image: pete pachal / mashable
What it is: Now when you take a screenshot (with either Shift-Command-3 or the partial-screen option, Shift-Command-4), the thumbnail appears briefly in the corner, letting you click on it to mark it up, if you wish. There’s also a new shortcut, Shift-Command-5, which gives options for capturing specific windows and doing a screen recording.
Why it makes all the difference: We always appreciated how simple the Mac made screenshots, but this feature takes a cue from the iPhone, where marking up screengrabs has become more the norm. The new method also acknowledges that screen recordings are a useful, down-and-dirty tool for capturing clips or sending a quick how-to demo to a friend.
How it could be even better: Auto-archiving, maybe?
3. Quick Actions
Image: pete pachal / mashable
What it is: Macs have had Quick Look — where you hit the space bar on a file to see it up close in its own window — for a long time, but to do anything other than look, you needed to open Preview. No longer. Now you can rotate images or mark them up, edit PDFs, and more… all without leaving the Finder.
Why it makes all the difference: The fewer steps, the better. Before Mojave, editing or even marking up an image usually involved firing up Preview or an image editor to do your dirty work. Now, just hit the space bar, boom-boom, done. Apple wisely tied this directly with the new screenshots, calling up Quick Actions the moment you click on the thumbnail you just captured.
How it could be even better: An emoji sticker tool wouldn’t hurt.
4. Dark Mode
Image: pete pachal / mashable
Image: pete pachal / mashable
What it is: Long a dream of power users, macOS finally supports a full-fledged Dark Mode, which alters the desktop theme so menus become white-on-black (more accurately, very very dark gray), the default desktop shifts to a night desert landscape, and everything generally gets easier on the eyes.
Why it makes all the difference: I can’t get excited about Dark Mode the way developers and some gamers do, but I will admit it looks pretty cool, especially on the space gray MacBook Pros. I wish even one of my third-party apps supported it, especially Chrome (though there are certainly plenty of dark themes in the Chrome Web Store), but even with just the Finder going dark, it makes a huge difference.
How it could be even better: Private Safari windows need a new visual indicator since they now look just like regular ones in Dark Mode.
5. Stacks
Image: Pete pachal / mashable
What it is: A chaotic Desktop full of screenshots, PDFs, and more will no longer be a badge of honor when you have Stacks, which automatically cleans up your clutter into neat quasi-folders. One click on a stack and it expands, revealing the clutter when you need to track down something, but your Desktop remains clear, recovering valuable peace of mind.
Why it makes all the difference: Stacks doesn’t mean all that much to me, but that’s because I’m the exception to the rule: I clear out my clutter regularly. But with Mojave, I feel less guilty about missing my weekly “Clear Desktop/Empty Downloads” ritual. The point, I suppose, is such rituals are supposed to get less and less necessary, which I think is something called progress.
How it could be even better: More ways to pinpoint specific items in an out-of-control Stack, like an easy within-stack search tool.