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Groton Daily Independent
Friday, July 28, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 028 ~ 31 of 54
He also met members of an international anti-gang task force at an event where an FBI agent described MS-13 as a highly coordinated and well-organized gang whose imprisoned leaders order violence in the U.S. from their prisons in El Salvador.
MS-13 is an international criminal enterprise with tens of thousands of members in several Central Ameri- can countries and many U.S. states. The gang originated in immigrant communities in Los Angeles in the 1980s then entrenched itself in Central America when its leaders were deported.
It’s known for hacking and stabbing victims with machetes, drug dealing, prostitution and other rackets. Its recruits are middle- and high-school students predominantly in immigrant communities, and those who try to leave risk violent retribution, law enforcement of cials have said.
MS-13 members have been accused in a spate of bloodshed that included the massacre of four young men in a Long Island, New York, park and the killing of a suspected gang rival inside a deli. The violence has drawn attention from members of Congress and Trump, who has boasted about efforts to arrest and deport MS-13 members across the United States.
For Sessions, the anti-gang mission was a way to show his priorities are Trump’s priorities after days of being upbraided by the president in the most public fashion.
In Washington, lawmakers from both parties moved on efforts to prevent the dismissal of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a development that might be made easier if Sessions were moved aside.
Graham is working on legislation that would block the ring of special counsels without judicial review. Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, among several senators involved in the effort, said the bill would protect Mueller and other special counsels. He said ring Mueller “would precipitate a restorm that would be unprecedented in proportions.”
Sessions recused himself from the investigation into election meddling after he acknowledged meeting with Russia’s ambassador during the campaign.
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Jalonick reported from Washington
On anniversary of war, young North Koreans talk of tensions By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — Are the United States and North Korea moving closer to another war?
Though often referred to as the “Forgotten War” in the United States, it is anything but forgotten in North Korea. The July 27 anniversary of the Korean War armistice is celebrated as a major national holiday called “Victory in the Fatherland Liberation War Day” and is the culmination of “Anti-American Imperialist Month,” which begins on June 23, the day the 1950-53 Korean War began.
As young North Koreans took to plazas and public spaces across the capital on Thursday to join in mass dancing and other celebrations, The Associated Press asked several university students what they thought of the possibility that another war could break out in their lifetime.
Not surprisingly, their answers closely re ect the North Korean government’s of cial statements. From one, the suggestion that peace talks might work.
From another, a vow to kill every last American imperialist.
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Kim Hyo Sim, 21, student at Pyongyang City Commercial College:
“The U.S. is always putting sanctions on our country and is always trying to isolate us. But just as we won a victory under the leadership of our generalissimos (in the Korean War), we will win under the wise leadership of Marshal Kim Jong Un. I’d say our two countries are now under the same conditions of war as in the past, so I think the situation then and now isn’t so different. Even though we don’t want to have a war with anyone, if the U.S. provokes a war with our country we will surely win.”
“Our country’s national defenses have been strengthened and the U.S. has been viciously clinging to sanctions, so I think there is much more of a possibility of the U.S. provoking us now. But I’m also very con dent of victory.”