The U.S. Air Force Is Buying New F-15s After All: The F-15X will complement the F-22 and F-35 in tomorrow's aerial battlefields: #USAirForce #Boeing 🇺🇸👍 https://t.co/JbS1Rhl3Dv
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) February 21, 2019
David and Louise Turpin, a couple accused of torturing, starving and keeping their 13 children captive in their Perris home, have pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts, including one count of torture. https://t.co/ACMb80XF2P
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 22, 2019
The Turpin siblings were tortured and abused by their parents for years in ways so extreme, prosecutors said, it appeared to have caused malnutrition, cognitive impairment and nerve damage in some of them.
Since being freed last year from a Perris home, the 13 siblings have had to rebuild their lives.
All that time, they have also had to contend with the prospect of a trial — of being called to testify and having to relive, in front of their parents and the public, the horrific treatment they suffered, said Jack Osborn, an attorney who represents the adult children.
“The issue of their parents’ trial has always been weighing heavy with them,” Osborn said.
So the siblings were relieved to learn earlier this month that their parents, David and Louise Turpin, had each agreed to plead guilty to 14 felony charges, ending the prospect of a trial, Osborn said.
The Turpins entered those pleas Friday during a short hearing in Riverside County Superior Court. They are expected to be sentenced in April to 25 years to life in prison, Riverside County Dist. Atty. Mike Hestrin said.
The charges include one count of torture, four of false imprisonment, six of cruelty to adult dependents and three of willful child cruelty.
Hestrin told the siblings, now ages 3 to 30, about the plea agreement during a meeting this month at his Riverside offices.
“It was a very good day for them to be all together,” Hestrin said, recalling the meeting during a news conference Friday.
The story of the abuse the Turpin children suffered made headlines around the world and left their neighbors struggling to understand how the cruelty could have gone unnoticed for so long.
Prosecutors have said the couple subjected their children to abuse and neglect for years, dating back to when the family lived in Texas in the 1990s and continuing after they moved to California several years ago.
It was brought to an end by the brave act of their then-17-year-old daughter who, early one morning in January 2018, summoned the courage to climb out a window and call 911 to ask for help.
The girl told a dispatcher that her little sisters were chained up, that they would wake up crying at night, and that they wanted her to “call somebody and tell them.”
When deputies entered the Turpin home on Muir Woods Road, they discovered a nightmarish scene, including two young girls who had been chained to their bed for weeks.
The chains were punishment for stealing candy, investigators were later told.
Twelve of the 13 siblings were so frail and malnourished that deputies at first assumed they were all minors; they later learned that seven were adults. The youngest child, a toddler, appeared to have been spared the lack of food, prosecutors said.
Deputies arrested the couple, and shortly after, Riverside County prosecutors filed dozens of charges against them related to allegations of abuse, captivity and torture of the children. Additional charges of child abuse were later filed against both parents, along with a charge of felony assault against Louise Turpin and a perjury count against David Turpin.
In June, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz ordered the couple to stand trial after finding sufficient evidence to support 49 of 50 charges.
The Turpins initially pleaded not guilty to all charges last year.
Prosecutors had been gathering evidence and preparing for trial, but after continued conversations with the defense, Hestrin said the Turpins opted for a plea agreement.
“This is among the worst, most aggravated child abuse cases that I have ever seen or been involved in in my career as a prosecutor,” he said.
Hestrin said he had hoped to spare the children any further trauma that might come with a trial...
As Amy Klobuchar joins the 2020 U.S. presidential race, former aides say she was not just demanding but often dehumanizing, the steward of a work environment colored by volatility and distrust https://t.co/65VushRbKX
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 22, 2019
This reporting by @mattfleg and @melbournecoal is based on interviews with more than 2 dozen former Klobuchar staff members and internal emails https://t.co/65VushRbKX pic.twitter.com/uqty2kNLIo
— The New York Times (@nytimes) February 22, 2019
This is part of our coverage examining the leadership, judgment and professional conduct of candidates. We recently wrote about the Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign and complaints by female and black staffers, Joe Biden’s paid speeches and Kamala Harris’s actions as a prosecutor.
— Patrick Healy (@patrickhealynyt) February 22, 2019
Of the 6 senators running, Klobuchar has the highest turnover rate in staff. We reached out to aides from over the years to talk about her as a boss. This follows other reporting about her policy views on Medicare for all and her decision to run as a heartland candidate.
— Patrick Healy (@patrickhealynyt) February 22, 2019
— Patrick Healy (@patrickhealynyt) February 22, 2019
— Patrick Healy (@patrickhealynyt) February 22, 2019
— Patrick Healy (@patrickhealynyt) February 22, 2019
Whoops! https://t.co/mv8QpcakZW— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) February 22, 2019
I'm not proud of role I’ve played in toxic public debate. I plan to change, says columnist @KirstenPowers. https://t.co/USJCKr9xql
— USA TODAY Opinion (@usatodayopinion) February 19, 2019
We need to have humility and realize that there but for the grace of God go I. It’s easy to delude yourself that you would never do whatever today’s designated bad person is accused of doing. But don’t be so sure. Given the wrong circumstances, people would be surprised at what they are capable of doing.She attacked Nicholas Sandmann, and when the fact exonerated him, she hedged and doubled down. I predicted she'd regret it, and I was right.
We also need to recognize what we are doing: It’s called scapegoating.
In the Bible, a scapegoat was an animal burdened with the sins of others through a ritual, then driven away. This is in effect what our society does when we designate certain people to bear our collective sins. Once it's discovered that a person behaved in a racist, homophobic or misogynist way — often in the distant past — she is banished from society, creating a sense that something has been accomplished. That somehow there has been atoning because someone was punished.
This creates two problems: First, the systemic problem still exists. Second, one person is not responsible for the sins of everyone. People should not be treated as disposable and banished in perpetuity with no path to restoration with society. Would you want that to happen to you?
It’s critical to remember that people simply are not the sum of their worst moments in life. Go back through your life and write down every terrible thing you have done or said, and now imagine a video of it is on the internet. Would you want that to be the record of your life? Don’t underestimate the power of denial. I frequently hear people who I knew to be homophobic 20 years ago express indignance over anyone who doesn’t support same-sex marriage today with no sense of self-awareness...
CNN staffers are upset and confused about the network’s decision to hire GOP operative Sarah Isgur to oversee its 2020 campaign reporting: “It’s extremely demoralizing for everyone here" https://t.co/4fQSKc6IF2
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) February 19, 2019
In this country, our society is dedicated to protecting children regardless of the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, or the caps they wear. Washington Post did not care about protecting Nick Sandmann. The Post just cared about being the first & loudest media bully.
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) February 19, 2019
Washington Post recklessly ignored basic journalist standards because it was eager to advance its biased agenda against @realDonaldTrump by impugning individuals perceived to be his supporters. Nick Sandmann was perceived as an easy target. He is 16. Inexcusable on every level.
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) February 19, 2019
Nick Sandmann is 16-years of age, 5’9” in height and weighs 115 pounds. The school field trip to the Nation’s capital was the first out-of-state trip Nick had ever taken without being with his family. He did nothing to deserve being attacked, vilified & bullied. Nothing.
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) February 20, 2019
Laura Loomer Organizing Mass Protest at Twitter HQ, Social Media Blackout https://t.co/qeJ4U4fOM6— Big League Politics (@bigleaguepol) February 18, 2019
NEW: Inside look at the 2020 GOP playbook: Paint Democrats as socialists, baby-killers and anti-Semites. “Socialism is the greatest vulnerability by far that the House Democrats have,” the NRCC chairman told me. https://t.co/KAtd9G5D5p— Sheryl Gay Stolberg (@SherylNYT) February 17, 2019
The new S-word in politics.
— Janet Hook (@hookjan) February 18, 2019
https://t.co/43Bdq2YLac via @markzbarabak & @melaniemason
When Democrats unveiled their “Green New Deal” to fight climate change, the Republican response was swift and strikingly uniform.Keep reading.
“A socialist wish list,” said a spokesman for the national party.
“The socialist Democrats are off to a great start!” exclaimed a spokesman for the GOP’s congressional campaign committee.
“Socialism may begin with the best of intentions, but it always ends with the Gestapo,” chimed in Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, invoking Winston Churchill.
The echo was no accident. Rather, it marked a purposeful shift in rhetoric and political strategy as President Trump and his party increasingly focus on his reelection and wield the S-word, socialism, as their preferred weapon.
The president faces an uphill battle — his poll numbers are some of the worst in history and he just faced a drubbing in November’s midterm election. One way to boost Trump’s prospects is to shift the focus from his turbulent tenure to his eventual opponent and his frightful portrayal of that alternative.
The effort began with his State of the Union speech. “We are born free, and we will stay free. Tonight, we renew our resolve that America will never be a socialist country,” he said, in what has quickly become a campaign staple.
It is both an old and new tactic.
The president’s political rise has been replete with dark and scary imagery and perceived threats of his own making. Marauding street gangs. Rapists, drug dealers, murderers spilling across the country’s border with Mexico. By invoking a socialist threat, he summons — at least for those of a certain age — the whiff of Red Menace, bread lines and an assault on democracy and the country’s foundational free-enterprise system.
“It’s the sense of something foreign, something un-American,” said Stephanie Mudge, a UC Davis sociologist and author of a book on left-of-center politics in the U.S. and abroad.
It also divides Democrats in a way emotional issues such as immigration, abortion and gun control generally do not.
For many younger Americans — saddled with college debt, struggling to find an affordable place to live — socialism has a more benign connotation, promising a fairer distribution of wealth and greater economic opportunity. A Gallup Poll in August found that 51% of Americans between the ages of 19 and 29 had a positive view of socialism, compared with 45% in that age group who viewed capitalism in a favorable light.
“They don’t have the legacy of the Cold War and that narrative about the West, freedom and capitalism versus the Soviet Union and authoritarian communism,” said Maria Svart, national director of the Democratic Socialists of America and, at age 38, a millennial voter.
She welcomes a debate over socialism as a chance to discuss social justice and economic inequality and ways to achieve both. “It’s absolutely the moment to shine,” Svart said. “The more people that hear our message, the better.”
That is not, however, a view that is widely shared, even among Democrats.
Peter Hart cited a September NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll he conducted that overall found strongly positive sentiments toward capitalism and negative views of socialism — attitudes, he said, that could undermine support for popular Democratic positions like expanding healthcare coverage and fighting climate change if Trump manages to define the terms of the debate...
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