Imagine a Conference Full of Conspiracy Theorists. Sponsored by a Prison Company. At a Trump Resort.
A Donald Trump campaign rally on August 6, 2019Jason Whitman/AP Last year, a group of far-right fringe agitators and conspiracy theorists set out to create a pro-Trump political conference in DC for people just like them. Headliners for the American Priority Conference included Trump whisperer Roger Stone, before he was indicted for lying to Congress,…
A Homeless Singer’s Viral Video Lands Her an Offer From a Grammy-Nominated Producer
Screenshot of video from LAPDHQ/Twitter Welcome to Recharge, a weekly newsletter full of stories that will energize your inner hellraiser. See more editions and sign up here. Emily Zamourka says she learned to sing by imitating opera performers on TV while growing up in Russia. Decades later, with her belongings beside her, she began singing…
A Radical Approach to Helping Former Prisoners Start Over: Let Them Into Your Home
Sabina Crocette and London Croudy in the backyard of Crocette’s West Oakland townhouse. Cayce CliffordWhen she first got out, little things like crossing the street were difficult for London Croudy. “When you’re in prison, the only thing you’re thinking about is going home. You plan all these things in your mind, and then all of…
The Beltway Sniper Is Now the Center of a Debate About Juvenile Lifers
Lee Boyd Malvo leaves a pretrial hearing in Fairfax in December 2002 Luke Frazza/AFP/Getty Images Lee Boyd Malvo was only 17 when he stepped into a blue Chevy with his 41-year-old mentor, John Allen Muhammad, and launched a shooting spree that terrorized the greater Washington, DC, area for three weeks in 2002. Over multiple attacks,…
Democrats Say They Want to End Mass Incarceration. There’s No Way They’ll Do What’s Needed to Get There.
LightFieldStudios/Getty In his criminal justice proposal, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Cory Booker (D-N.J.) has said he would grant clemency to 17,000 federal inmates serving time for nonviolent drug-related offenses. He proposed this idea in June, as part of his plan to end mass incarceration in the United States. Shrinking the enormous US prison population has become a standard…
Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Still Feels Unbelievable. According to an Expert, It Isn’t.
Uma Sanghvi/Palm Beach Post via AP More than a week after Jeffrey Epstein’s shocking death, which on Friday the New York City medical examiner concluded was a suicide by hanging, it still feels somewhat unbelievable. Even if you’re not in the camp of Trumpian conspiracies, there are a slew of legitimate questions about the the…