Apr 9, 2018

Justice indicts seven people from classified ads site Backpage.com

Screenshot of backpage.com

The Justice Department has indicted seven people affiliated with the classified ads website Backpage.com on a combined 93 counts, including facilitating prostitution and engaging in money laundering. A message appeared on the site Friday saying authorities had seized it.

The bigger picture: Backpage.com has been the subject of allegations that it facilitates illicit sex-trafficking. But some activists worry the shutdown puts sex workers who use the site in danger. Congress recently passed an anti-sex-trafficking bill that holds online platforms liable for hosting content that facilitates sex trafficking.

Read the indictment:

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Axios
Updated 46 mins ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 12:30 a.m. ET: 33,560,877 — Total deaths: 1,006,564 — Total recoveries: 23,297,593 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 12:30 a.m. ET: 7,190,036 — Total deaths: 205,974— Total recoveries: 2,809,674 — Total tests: 103,155,189 — Map.
  3. Health: Americans won't take Trump's word on the vaccine, Axios-Ipsos poll finds.
  4. Politics: 7 former FDA commissioners say Trump is undermining agency's credibility
  5. States: NYC's coronavirus positivity rate spikes to highest since June.
  6. Sports: Tennessee Titans close facility amid NFL's first coronavirus outbreak.
  7. World: U.K. beats previous record for new coronavirus cases.
  8. Work: United States of burnout — Asian American unemployment spikes amid pandemic
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Mike Allen, author of AM
Updated 1 hour ago - Politics & Policy

The first Trump v. Biden presidential debate was a hot mess

Photos: Jim Watson and Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

This debate was like the country: Everybody’s talking. Nobody’s listening. Nothing is learned. It’s a mess.

  • We were told President Trump would be savage. Turned out, that was a gross understatement. Even the moderator, Fox News' Chris Wallace, got bulldozed.

Why it matters: Honestly, who the hell knows?

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Fadel Allassan
2 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Pundits react to a chaotic debate: “What a dark event we just witnessed”

The first presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden in Cleveland on Tuesday night was a shouting match, punctuated by interruptions and hallmarked by name-calling.

Why it matters: If Trump aimed to make the debate as chaotic as possible with a torrent of disruptions, he succeeded. Pundits struggled to make sense of what they saw, and it's tough to imagine that the American people were able to either.

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