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The car-sharing company Car2Go has temporarily suspended operations in Chicago following the reported theft of 100 cars off its platform. While the exact details are hazy, it appears that as-of-yet undetermined individuals fraudulently used the company’s app to gain access to Car2Go vehicles and then make their dastardly escape.
News of the theft was first reported by CBS Chicago investigative reporter Brad Edwards, who tweeted that “[as] many as 100 Mercedes / high-end cars missing / stolen,” and that “[many] being used to commit crimes.”
When reached for comment, a Car2Go spokesperson insisted that there was no hack, but confirmed that there is a pretty big problem.
“Since this is an ongoing investigation, the only thing I can confirm right now is that there was no ‘hack,’” the spokesperson told Mashable via email. “This is an instance of fraud, isolated to Chicago, and we are currently working with law enforcement. None of our member’s personal or confidential information has been compromised.”
Well, at least there’s that.
When pressed, the spokesperson confirmed that, yes, “100 vehicles were compromised.”
Image: screenshot / car2go
We reached out to the Chicago Police Department for additional details, but received no response as of press time. However, Edwards tweeted a statement from police that helps fill in some of the gaps.
“The Chicago Police Department was alerted by a car rental company that some of their vehicles may have been rented by deceptive or fraudulent means through a mobile app,” read the statement in part. “Due to the information provided by the company, numerous vehicles have been recovered and persons of interest are being questioned.”
A question from Mashable about what type of cars were stolen — Car2Go offers Mercedes-Benz in addition to smart cars — went unanswered by the company spokesperson. But we have a hunch.
So be on the lookout for a Car2Go-branded Mercedes-Benz or two cruising the streets of Chicago, and keep in mind that they may represent the fruits of the sharing economy — just not the kind we’ve come to expect.
Even before the 2019 offseason got underway, the AFC North was shaping up nicely this season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2013, Lamar Jackson energized the Baltimore Ravens in the second half of 2018 after taking over for Joe Flacco, and the Cleveland Browns won seven games after going 4-44 in the preceding three seasons.
All three teams were pretty active over the last few months, providing even more intrigue.
Nobody did more in the NFL to excite their fanbase than the Browns. Cleveland acquired Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon from the New York Giants and signed Sheldon Richardson to a three-year, $37 million deal.
By adding Beckham to the mix, the Browns offense is basically approaching Madden-like proportions.
… That’s pretty good. And the defensive talent’s not bad either.
“It’s going to be exciting,” Baker Mayfield told reporters. “We’ve got two LSU Tigers we’re throwing to, and obviously, we have a lot more talent, too. So it’s going to be a thing where you pick your poison.”
Cleveland has gone from the perennial doormat in the AFC North to the betting favorite (7-5), according to Vegas Insider.
Just as the Browns are on the rise, the Steelers may be heading in the opposite direction.
In September, Bleacher Report’s Mike Freeman wrote a piece critical of head coach Mike Tomlin, arguing Tomlin had effectively lost the locker room. Pittsburgh proceeded to go 9-6-1, the first time since 2013 it failed to get to double digits in wins.
Few expected Le’Veon Bell to return to the Steelers after he sat out the 2018 season, and he eventually signed with the New York Jets. The trade of Antonio Brown was a little more surprising, even though he had requested a move elsewhere in January. It felt like cooler heads would prevail by the summer. Instead, Brown is a member of the Oakland Raiders.
James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster were Pro Bowlers in 2018, but Pittsburgh is essentially asking them to replicate the production of two players who were the best at their respective positions.
After they finished 13th in defensive efficiency, per Football Outsiders, the Steelers have done little to improve their defense as well. While the team’s Super Bowl window isn’t shut, it may be slowly closing.
The Ravens will have the luxury of a full season with Jackson as the starter.
He threw for 1,201 yards and six touchdowns while running for 695 yards and five scores as a rookie. Jackson ended the year on a sour note with his performance in Baltimore’s AFC Wild Card Round defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers, but that shouldn’t dampen the enthusiasm around his potential in 2019.
Baltimore lost Eric Weddle, Terrell Suggs and C.J. Mosley to free agency. Weddle’s departure was addressed by signing Earl Thomas, while the Ravens have failed so far to make corresponding moves with regard to Suggs and Mosley. Together, their exits shouldn’t be a crushing blow for what was one of the NFL’s best defenses.
In general, one could make a strong case for any of the Browns, Steelers or Ravens to take the AFC North crown.
The Cincinnati Bengals are the lone exception.
Firing Marvin Lewis was the right move because the team was beginning to stagnate. By hiring Zac Taylor, a 35-year-old first-time head coach, the Bengals appear to be building more for the future rather than hoping to compete in 2019.
Most Anticipated Matchup: Green Bay Packers at Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8
Speaking of teams that had stagnated, the Green Bay Packers didn’t even wait for the 2018 season to end before firing Mike McCarthy. Joe Philbin served as the interim head coach before the Packers hired Matt LaFleur as McCarthy’s permanent replacement.
Trent Dilfer @DilfersDimes
Matt LaFleur is Mike McCarthy before McCarthy stopped grinding. Both smart, creative offensivey, great pedigrees and strong leadership traits. Most importantly HE WILL COACH AARON HARD!
Instead of transforming the roster, the Packers opted for more incremental moves this offseason. They signed Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith and Adrian Amos to strengthen a defense that fell well short of expectations.
And that was the right approach. A coaching change should do wonders for this roster, which has the pieces to contend for a Super Bowl.
Hosting the Packers will be a great test for the Kansas City Chiefs defense.
While you can’t blame the defense solely for Kansas City’s loss in the AFC Championship Game, the New England Patriots’ game-winning drive in overtime was predictable because the Chiefs couldn’t stop anybody all year. The team allowed 405.5 yards per game, second-most in the NFL, and finished 26th in defensive efficiency.
The Chiefs responded by firing defensive coordinator Bob Sutton and bringing in Steve Spagnuolo. They also signed Tyrann Mathieu as a replacement for Eric Berry, the latter of whom missed nearly all of the last two seasons.
Kim described the missile development as one ‘of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army. [KCNA via Reuters]
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supervised the test-firing of a new type of “tactical guided weapon” in a move that could be an attempt to register the country’s displeasure with currently deadlocked nuclear talks with the United States.
The country’s state media, KCNA, reported on Thursday that the “advantages” of the weapon were “the peculiar mode of guiding flight and the load of a powerful warhead”.
The report also said that the North Korean leader described its development as one “of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People’s Army”.
KCNA added that Wednesday’s test was “conducted in various modes of firing at different targets” and that Kim “guided the test-fire”.
Trump says sanctions on North Korea to stay in place
The announcement comes a day after a US monitor, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said activity had been detected at North Korea’s main nuclear site. It suggested Pyongyang may be reprocessing radioactive material into bomb fuel since the collapse of a February summit with the United States in Vietnam.
That meeting, the second between US President Donald Trump and Kim, ended abruptly without agreement on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.
Since then, North Korea has said it is mulling options for its diplomacy with the US, and Kim said last week he was open to talks with Trump only if Washington came with the “proper attitude”.
The White House said it was aware of the report and had no comment. The Pentagon said it was aware of the reports but has no information to provide at this point.
“Kim is trying to make a statement to the Trump administration that his military potential is growing by the day,” said Center for the National Interest analyst Harry Kazianis.
“His regime is becoming frustrated with Washington’s lack of flexibility in recent negotiations.”
Last November, KCNA reported that Kim oversaw the testing of a “newly developed ultramodern tactical weapon” months after his first meeting with Trump.
It was the first official report of a weapons test by North Korea since it began negotiations with Washington over its nuclear and missile programme.
North Korea must deliver ‘blow’ to those imposing sanctions
A president accustomed to friendly coverage from the network has been finding things to complain about of late.
Many viewers of Monday night’s Fox News town hall with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders saw a left-wing candidate in the hot seat on a network known for its tight relationship with President Donald Trump.
But Trump himself saw something else: sinister forces at his favorite news network aligning against him. Trump complained twice about the event on Twitter over the next day, griping about an allegedly pro-Sanders audience and charging that the anchors had sucked up to one of his 2020 rivals.
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The political class may marvel at Trump’s perceived control over Fox, which liberal critics have likened to a propaganda outlet. But the president’s complaints suggest he’s frustrated that he doesn’t have enough. In particular, Trump has repeatedly aimed Twitter barbs at the network’s news anchors, griping that they are insufficiently enthusiastic about his agenda.
“So weird to watch Crazy Bernie on @Fox News,” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning, the day after Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha McCallum hosted Sanders for an hour. “Not surprisingly, @BretBaier and the ‘audience’ was so smiley and nice. Very strange,” he wrote. Trump went on to question why the network had recently hired the former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile as a political analyst. He complained that the audience had been packed with Sanders fans while his supporters were stranded outside, asking: “What’s with @FoxNews?”
With the network, Trump is picking at an open wound. Long-fraught relations between the news side of Fox and its opinion arm have grown more tense in the Trump era, according to people familiar with the network’s dynamics. Some of the network’s news anchors question what they see as the pro-Trump cheerleading of their opinion-driven primetime colleagues. The opinion hosts say they draw bigger ratings and make more money for the network—and criticize their news colleagues for not breaking news. One primetime employee also casually referred to the news side of the network as “the resistance.”
“I don’t think he views Fox as a monolith. He’s upset with certain personalities on Fox News,” said a former senior White House official.
The official recalled hearing Trump criticize news anchors like Neil Cavuto and Shepard Smith when he worked in the White House. In March, Trump slammed Smith—perhaps the network’s most critical voice when it comes to the president—as Fox’s “lowest rated anchor” and said that he, along with two weekend news hosts, “should be working” at CNN.
As it happens, Smith has also come under fire from perhaps Trump’s top booster at the network, the host Sean Hannity. “I like Shep, but he’s so anti-Trump,” Hannity complained on his radio show in July 2017.
Trump has also come to the rescue of at least one friendly opinion host whom he felt was mistreated. Last month, he urged Fox to bring back host Jeanine Pirro from her brief suspension over comments appearing to question the patriotism of a Muslim member of Congress. He also tweeted that the network should “[s]top working soooo hard on being politically correct, which will only bring you down.”
Former White House officials say that—thanks in part to the mostly-fawning coverage Trump has enjoyed from the likes of Hannity and his fellow primetime hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham—the president, who sometimes spends hours a day watching Fox, has in effect become spoiled, and highly sensitive to any unkind words on a network he seeks out as an affirming refuge in a largely hostile media environment.
It’s the “same reason that he thinks everyone at the Washington Post is doing Jeff Bezos’ bidding,” said the same former official. Trump feels that “if you have a strong leader at the top, like Fox does with [co-chairman Rupert] Murdoch that they should just be falling in line and they shouldn’t be any question about this.”
Asked for comment on Trump’s relationship with Fox, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told POLITICO: “We expect all of the news to be fair and accurate and not trying to drive the liberal agenda. It’s astonishing that the country is doing so well yet the coverage of the president is 90% negative. … We just wish the media cared more about the great things happening than they did about attacking the president and palace intrigue.”
Another former White House official noted that Trump has criticized Fox for the network’s coverage of him before, and that he complained about their coverage of his early 2016 presidential campaign, when he thought the network was friendlier to GOP candidates like Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.
The former official added that the network will inevitably be covering the crowded Democratic primary field as the 2020 campaign occupies more space in the news environment. “Part of it is realizing he’s not the only game in town anymore,” this person said.
While the president is a frequent guest on Fox, he tends to stick to interviews with friendlier personalities like prime-time opinion hosts Hannity and Tucker Carlson, or the network’s “Fox & Friends” morning show, which he watches regularly and where he receives consistently positive coverage. Hannity alone has conducted eight television interviews with the president, more than all other television networks in their entirety.
By contrast, it has been more than 300 days since Bret Baier—considered one of the network’s most balanced figures—landed an interview with the president.
“We’d love to have you on a town hall soon — or even an interview on @SpecialReport —it’s been awhile. We cover all sides,” Baier tweeted in reply to Trump’s complaints about Fox on Tuesday.
A Fox News spokesperson pointed POLITICO to several instances where the network’s opinion hosts have pushed back on Trump. They include an early 2017 instance when Hannity chided Trump for tweeting too often and a December segment in which Ingraham challenged Trump’s claim that he is already building a border wall, saying, “There’s no wall!”
Rebutting Trump’s charge that the Sanders town hall audience was improperly picked, FOX News also pointed to a report by the Pennsylvania newspaper The Morning Call which reported that Fox had “reached out to various political and local groups in the area and mined requests to attend after it publicly announced the event.”
Some former Trump White House officials argued that Trump’s ire poses a threat to the network, which has long been the highest-rated among the cable news channels.
“President Trump’s criticism of Fox News is a clear and present danger for the network,” said Andy Hemming, former rapid response director for the Trump White House. “The president knows Fox News viewers are far more loyal to him than the network, meaning he can push those supporters to more overtly friendly outlets like One America News Network or Newsmax with just a couple of tweets and some extra access. It also goes without saying that the financial implications for these networks are massive.”
A Fox spokesperson noted in response that the network’s ratings remain strong and that ratings for the Sanders town hall were the highest yet of any town hall featuring a 2020 Democratic candidate televised by a cable news network, including ones by rivals CNN and MSNBC.
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Verizon is making it both cheaper and more expensive to buy a new phone with the carrier. It all depends on how you choose to purchase.
As CNET reports, starting tomorrow the upgrade and activation fees for purchases completed in stores or over the phone are increasing from $30 to $40. Verizon sees this as offering a “full service experience” and therefore warrants the additional cost for anyone who wants that experience.
If you balk at the idea of paying the extra $10, Verizon is one step ahead of you. Deciding to purchase online or using the My Verizon app used to cost $30, but that’s being reduced to $20 from tomorrow.
Clearly, Verizon is trying to encourage online upgrades which require less resources and therefore are cheaper for the company to carry out. Online activations can also be handled much more quickly, therefore increasing the number of customers and therefore fees that can be grabbed each day.
The fee changes follow Verizon Prepaid getting cheaper last year and come at a time when 5G rollouts are starting to happen. Verizon is planning to launch 5G in 30 cities this year, with Chicago and Minneapolis already served using the Moto Z3. Americans also think Verizon is leading in 5G, so the company is probably expecting a lot of new customers and upgrades this year.
If you were planning an in-store or over the phone purchase with Verizon today, it’s going to be cheaper to wait until tomorrow and do it online instead. If you must do it using the “full service experience” then do it today before the fees increase.
After years of writing about foldable phone rumors and concepts and leaks, I finally got to hold Samsung’s highly anticipated Galaxy Fold and try out its bendable display — crease and all — and I have to say, it definitely scores a 100 on hype. In a saturated market where all phones essentially look and work the same, the Galaxy Fold was refreshing.
As someone who’s maybe been the most critical of foldable phones, I was surprised by how polished the phone was. For a first-generation product, the Galaxy Fold felt more finished than I expected it be.
Unfortunately, at the very moment I was fawning over the new form factor like a little boy, reviewers who were a few days into testing the Galaxy Fold learned the device might not be as durable or reliable as Samsung claims.
For a phone that costs $1,980, that’s pretty concerning.
It’s weird to say this, but it’s been a very long time since I pulled a new phone out of its box and genuinely had no words.
After finally processing the fact that foldable phones are real and I had one in my hand, I found myself repeatedly saying variations of “this is nuts” and “this is wild” and “wow.”
It’s one thing to look at images and video of the Galaxy Fold, but something different to hold it in your hands. Unlike the Royole FlexPai, which can only be described as a terrible, half-assed attempt at a foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold is the complete opposite.
The Galaxy Fold feels more finished than any foldable phone I’ve seen so far.
Image: RAYMOND WONG / MASHABLE
Closed up, the smooth glass and metal body feel as premium as a Galaxy S10. Yes, the phone’s tall, skinny, thick (about the thickness of two iPhones), and a little heavy, but it doesn’t feel cheap. Some have likened the closed-up Galaxy Fold to a TV remote and I have to agree.
The hinge is the most attractive on any foldable phone we’ve seen.
There is a gap when the Fold is, um, folded, though.
Image: RAYMOND WONG / MASHABLE
I’m not sure the Galaxy Fold feels like nearly $2,000 worth of phone, but it definitely feels more expensive than a crude foldable device like the FlexPai. I can tell you this much: The Galaxy Fold’s hinge looks elegant and opens smoothly compared to the FlexPai’s literally crunchy-sounding hinge.
I did a quick front pocket test in my jeans and, honestly, the Galaxy Fold didn’t bulge much. Skinny jeans, however, might not be as forgiving.
The outside screen is small, tall, and skinny, but not the worst.
Image: RAYMOND WONG / MASHABLE
A lot of people have complained about the 4.6-inch display on the outside of the phone, saying it’s too small, and too skinny, and it’s surrounded by thick bezels on all four sides. This is all true, but I suspect most people won’t be using the outside screen much. I realized I didn’t pay much attention to it because the interior 7.3-inch screen was so much more captivating.
When unfolded, the Galaxy Fold’s tablet-sized screen is wondrous. It feels like an impossible mind trick. I kept opening and closing and the device just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
Surprisingly, the thing that I expected to dislike the most about the display — the crease running down the middle — wasn’t as bad as it looked in photos and video. At certain angles, the crease is visible for sure and I could feel it if I ran a finger directly along it while applying a little bit of pressure, but I stopped noticing it almost immediately after I started opening apps in full screen and running multiple apps simultaneously.
Three apps running at once. You can also “float” a few more apps on top in their own windows.
Image: RAYMOND WONG / MASHABLE
Most impressive was a feature called “app continuity” which let me expand an app from the smaller outside screen to the larger tablet-sized display when I opened up the Fold. I was impressed at how quickly it worked. There was no waiting for an app to “move” between screens — it just worked like you’d expect it to. The responsiveness was no doubt the work the Fold’s powerful Snapdragon 855 chip and 12GB of RAM.
The Galaxy Fold is especially immersive for reading and gaming.
Image: RAYMOND WONG / MASHABLE
It’s unreal to be able to watch a YouTube video without having to squint and still be able to flick through the comments section below. It felt more immersive playing a 3D racing game like Asphalt 9. Google Maps didn’t feel so cramped. Reading articles felt roomier, as if I was using a Kindle or iPad mini.
The Galaxy Fold has the same triple cameras as the S10: wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto.
Image: raymond wong / mashable
Even the cameras are really good. The Galaxy Fold has six cameras in total: three on the back, two inside, and one on the outside of the smaller screen.
As far as I could tell, the three rear cameras are the same as the ones on the S10 phones: 12-megapixel wide, 16-megapixel ultra-wide, and 12-megapixel 2x telephoto lenses.
The inside cameras consist of a 10-megapixel camera and 8-megapixel depth camera like on the S10+. And above the outside screen is a 10-megapixel selfie camera.
Shooting photos with the Fold feels like you’re framing reality.
Image: raymond wong / mashable
But even though the cameras are the same as on the S10, using the Fold to shoot photos felt different because the viewfinder is so much larger on the inside screen. As cheesy as it sounds, shooting with such a big viewfinder felt less like taking a photo and more like framing reality.
Is the Galaxy Fold worth $1,980?
Image: RAYMOND WONG / MASHABLE
As much as I liked the Galaxy Fold, let’s be clear: It hasn’t convinced me that foldable phones are the future.
Samsung’s new foldable device left a great first impression — rightfully so since it’s a new form factor and we’ve never seen anything like it before — and it did cross off some of the things all foldable phones need to overcome such as the crease, how software works, and thickness, but durability remains a big concern.
With the crease comes the question of durability… how many unfolds will it be able to endure? How durable is a display that you’ll fold and unfold hundreds of times a day?
It’s bad enough to have a single dead pixel on a screen on a $1,000 phone. What happens if the pixels along the crease start to die? Can any phone maker guarantee the pixels along a screen’s crease will be good for years to come?
Samsung says it stress-tested the Galaxy Fold to be able to withstand up to 200,000 folds, but several review units seeded to reviewers have broken within days of being unboxed.
Reviewers broke their Fold screens after peeling off the “polymer adhesive” — meant to prevent scratches — because it looked like a pre-installed screen protector. Particles got stuck underneath the display. For one person, half the interior display just straight up freaked out. It all shows the Galaxy Fold is very much a “version 1.0” device.
It’s unclear if these are issues that only affect the review units provided to journalists or if retail models will have the same problems as well. A Samsung representative told me reviewers received European versions of the Galaxy Fold to test and it’s possible the U.S. versions might not have the same issues — we won’t know how widespread the defects are until customers get their phones starting on April 26.
With so many early issues, I remain skeptical about foldable phones. They’re no doubt very cool and the Galaxy Fold really works — it folds and unfolds and the multi-app experience is surprisingly solid — but ultimately, durability will make or break the product category.
Brad Stevens says Al Horford is going to “try to give it a go” tonight. He will go through warmups and see where things are after that. Horford was listed as questionable with an illness.
Brad Stevens says Al Horford is going to “try to give it a go” tonight. He will go through warmups and see where things are after that. Horford was listed as questionable with an illness.
Democrats are in an uproar after the White House and Department of Justice officials appear to be coordinating ahead of the release of the special counsel’s report. | Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Lawmakers are accusing the attorney general of trying to spin Mueller’s findings.
House Democrats exploded in anger Wednesday over Attorney General William Barr’s plans to roll out special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, accusing the Justice Department of trying to spin the report’s contents and protect President Donald Trump.
Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning to review the report, which will include redactions. The report will then be delivered to Congress between 11 a.m. and 12 p.m., the department confirmed.
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The decision came amid reports that DOJ officials have already discussed Mueller’s findings with the White House, which only served to further inflamed tensions.
“I’m deeply troubled by reports that the WH is being briefed on the Mueller report AHEAD of its release,” tweeted House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler. “This is wrong,” Nadler added.
A Senate aide confirmed that lawmakers don’t expect to receive Mueller’s report until 11 a.m. on Thursday — after Barr and Rosenstein’s press conference — and a discussion about providing a less-redacted version to Congress won’t begin until Friday. Mueller‘s probe focused on Russia’s attempt to interfere in the 2016 election and whether any associates of Trump aided the scheme.
“Why is William Barr holding a press conference if not to (once again) try and frame the Special Counsel’s findings,” tweeted Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee. “Just release the full report and let the American people judge for themselves!”
Neither Mueller nor anyone else from the special counsel’s prosecution team will be in attendance at the Barr press conference, Mueller spokesman Peter Carr told POLITICO.
Carr, however, said he will be at the presser in his capacity as a member of the DOJ public affairs office, which he recently returned to as the Mueller probe concluded to handle criminal cases.
Democrats were also incensed that Trump, in a radio interview, revealed Barr’s press event minutes before the Justice Department officially announced it — another suggestion that the White House and Justice Department were coordinating ahead of the report’s public release.
A DOJ spokeswoman later said the press conference was not Trump’s idea. Trump said in the same interview that he might hold his own press event afterward.
“I can’t imagine DOJ didn’t brief the White House about the press conference,” said a source familiar with the president’s legal strategy.
“Pretty convenient of the attorney general to take questions on the report before anyone has a chance to read the report,” Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.), a Judiciary Committee member, wrote on Twitter.
The uproar came as The New York Times reported that DOJ officials have had “numerous conversations” with White House lawyers about Mueller’s conclusions, though the report was vague about how much the Justice Department had told the White House beyond the top-line conclusions Barr released more than 3 weeks ago.
Barr has already been under fire from Democrats for his handling of the Mueller investigation. In his four-page summary of the report’s primary conclusions, the attorney general said Mueller uncovered evidence that Trump obstructed justice, but Barr decided against charging Trump with a crime.
In two Capitol Hill hearings last week, Barr did not answer questions about the Justice Department’s coordination or contact with the White House.
“So-called Attorney General is presiding over a dog and pony show,” tweeted House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries. “Here is a thought. Release the Mueller report tomorrow morning and keep your mouth shut. You have ZERO credibility.”
Democrats’ complaints arrived just as the Justice Department confirmed plans to allow “a limited number of members of Congress and their staff” to view a version of the Mueller report “without certain redactions.”
But rather than give these lawmakers a copy, DOJ officials said in a court filing they would “secure this version of the report in an appropriate setting” only available to these few lawmakers and aides.
Barr has indicated he intends to redact four categories of information from the report: grand jury evidence, classified information, evidence related to ongoing investigations and information that could be embarrassing to “peripheral third parties.” Lawmakers have argued they should see the entire report and that Republicans received access to nearly all of those categories of information in their own efforts to probe the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation.
Justice Department officials also indicated that if Congress seeks its own version of the less-redacted report, they’ll lean on federal District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson — who is presiding over the pending trial of longtime Trump associate Roger Stone — to determine what to do next.
In a court filing in Stone’s case, prosecutors said they would seek her guidance should Congress ask for the report, and they sense a “reasonable likelihood” that its contents will become public.
Nadler is expected to issue a subpoena as soon as Friday or Monday for the full report and all of its underlying evidence and grand jury information.
On Wednesday (April 17), BTS scored another major accomplishment when the Korean group made Time‘s list of the 100 most influential people of 2019. Singer Halsey — who is featured on the group’s latest single, “Boy With Love” — penned a heartfelt note for the septet in honor of their latest career milestone. In it, she captures BTS and their global appeal in one simple sentence: “Behind those three letters are seven astounding young men who believe that music is stronger than the barriers of language.”
It’s a statement that was furthered echoed by the sheer enormity of the group’s global press conference the night before. Over 150 media outlets from around the world submitted over 500 questions for the press conference — including MTV News — which was both attended by Korean media and live streamed on YouTube for international press and fans. Topics included their most recent album (Map of the Soul: Persona), collaborating with Ed Sheeran on “Make It Right,” whether they find their unprecedented success to be invigorating or intimidating, and, of course, Halsey.
According to rapper Suga, in conceptualizing Persona around the themes of “love and interest about you [the fans], joy of the small things,” it was important for them to collaborate with “an artist who was able to express a variety of emotions, and we believed Halsey was appropriate for this.”
“We first met two years ago, and we felt that our passion in music connected,” he added for the group.
And it was a mutual thing. In a separate video screened for press, Halsey noted how BTS’ passion for their music and their fans made her want to work with them, crossing oceans and timezones to film the music video in Korea alongside the group. (She even learned part of the choreography — a first for the pop star.) “They are an absolutely amazing group who put so much love and so much dedication into everything they do,” she said. And that admiration extended behind the scenes when BTS, specifically dancers Jimin and J-Hope, helped Halsey work through the choreography on set. “They were so nice and encouraging and they made me feel like I could really do it if I put my mind to it.”
There’s also the fact that Halsey and BTS both have a unique relationship with their dedicated fans, who have seen them rise from industry underdogs to reigning pop royalty without losing the parts of them — their candor, humor, passion for social issues, and ability to speak to the anxieties of their generation through music — that make them special. Or, as Halsey said of the key to BTS’ success: “When an artist loves their art, it makes it last forever.”
That respect for one another and their art is what makes a collaboration like “Boy With Luv” so effortlessly seamless. A feature is a transaction between artists — a play for more radio spins and a higher chance at chart success. For BTS, collaborating with a Western artist like Halsey — who has two No. 1 singles under her belt — makes a lot of sense as they try to break into the only thing that has eluded them on their journey thus far: U.S. radio. For a self-described BTS fan like Halsey, the opportunity to collaborate with the biggest group in the world is a no-brainer. (Just ask Troye Sivan.) Still, I’d hardly call Halsey’s contribution to “Boy With Luv” a feature; it’s a collaboration in the truest sense of the word — a rich cultural exchange between artists that finds Halsey harmonizing in Korean on the hook and BTS adapting her fizzy pop to their own fluid style.
Big Hit Entertainment
A lot of that has to do with how they approached the song as a collaborative effort. Halsey brings her own perspective to the track — which finds the seven young men of BTS waxing poetic over minutiae of someone’s day — with her signature airy vocals and punchy ad-libs like “I want it!”
“Working with BTS was really special because it’s a lot different that what it’s like when I’m making music alone,” Halsey described. “There are so many individuals in a group, and you have to take each of their personal styles into account.
It was really cool to come together and do something that reflects all of us. It’s a really special marriage of music in America and music in Korea that’s now music for the world.”
As the musical landscape becomes more culturally diverse, a song like “Boy With Luv” sets a precedent for the future of artist collaborations — a future in which hearing BTS and Halsey sing in Korean or Bad Bunny and Drake croon in Spanish won’t seem so novel. Because music is its own universal language, a mellifluous form of communication. To truly understand it one needs only to open up their mind.
![Kim described the missile development as one 'of very weighty significance in increasing the combat power of the People's Army. [KCNA via Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2019/4/17/4208c86d71e346a5a8c628c5fcfbffb8_18.jpg "North Korea conducts tests for 'tactical guided weapon': report")
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