| THE BIG STORY
Amy Klobuchar’s New Hampshire surge might really be happening
Part of the calculus for any candidate in the primaries is the surge: you want to catch the right buzz at the right time. Surge too early, and it peters out and the momentum switches to someone else.
Pundits have been predicting Amy Klobuchar’s rise in the Democratic primary for months, as she argued for her “electability” in states Democrats desperately need in November. For months, though, there was little sign among voters of that surge. Polls remained stagnant.
But before today’s primary in New Hampshire, there’s serious evidence the Minnesota senator is surging at the right time: record-sized crowds, impressive fundraising hauls, and polls that suddenly show her in third place, ahead of Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden.
If Klobuchar finishes third or even fourth today, it would likely have serious consequences for other Democrats.
The one Democrat who isn’t likely to worry about her rise: Bernie Sanders, who is not competing for the same voters and is watching his closest competition scramble among themselves.
Drew Angerer / Getty Images STAYING ON TOP OF THIS The ACLU slammed a facial recognition company that scrapes photos from Instagram and Facebook
Clearview AI has been in the news a lot lately.
The facial recognition company, which claims to have a database of more than 3 billion photos scraped from websites and social media, has been telling potential law enforcement clients that a review of its software based on “methodology used by the American Civil Liberties Union” says the software is stunningly accurate.
But the ACLU is not having it. The advocacy group said that claim is highly misleading and noted that Clearview's effort to mimic the methodology of its 2018 facial recognition study was a misguided attempt in “manufacturing endorsements.”
The ACLU called Clearview’s report “absurd,” and said it “demonstrates that Clearview simply does not understand the harms of its technology in law enforcement hands.”
SNAPSHOTS An aspiring metal musician pleaded guilty to setting fire to black churches. Holden Matthews, 22, admitted to setting fire to three Louisiana Baptist churches because of the religious character of the buildings, in a bid to raise his profile as a metal musician, the US Attorney's Office announced.
A white supremacist pleaded guilty to plotting attacks on a synagogue and a gay bar. Conor Climo, 24, told investigators he was a white supremacist and “wanted to do attacks against racial and religious groups he hated.”
A model denied luring a woman to Harvey Weinstein’s hotel bathroom, where he allegedly assaulted her. Claudia Salinas said she was never in a hotel suite with Weinstein and Lauren Marie Young, one of his alleged victims.
Vanessa Bryant spoke out about how she’s grieving the deaths of husband Kobe and daughter Gianna. Vanessa posted an emotional tribute, writing, “It’s like I’m trying to process Kobe being gone but my body refuses to accept my Gigi will never come back to me. It feels wrong.”
SHIPPED TO GUATEMALA Two gay immigrants left everything for safety in the US. Instead, they were sent to Guatemala.
Pablo and Josué have similar stories. Pablo fled El Salvador to escape the danger of being a gay man. Josué left Honduras after receiving threats for being gay. They both made the dangerous journey to the US-Mexico border.
What they did not know was they were wading into the front lines of an unprecedented effort by the Trump administration to dissuade immigrants from El Salvador and Honduras from seeking asylum in the US.
Under a new program, immigrants were told they could no longer gain protection in the US. They would have to settle in Guatemala, a country also racked by poverty, violence, and instability, whose own citizens made up a sizable portion of those arrested at the southern border last year.
For some asylum officers, the idea that asylum-seekers are being sent to a country where more than 200,000 of its own citizens fled to the US–Mexico border last year is shocking. Read Hamed Aleaziz’s deep dive into the consequences of this new program. SHARON CHOI FOR PRESIDENT There’s a ton of love and memes for Sharon Choi, the interpreter for Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho
This awards season, as Parasite racked up the wins, Sharon Choi became a fixture. She’s the interpreter who accompanied Bong Joon-Ho onstage for every acceptance speech, and in the process she’s picked up legions of fans.
Choi, who is an aspiring filmmaker, is the subject of tons of online love and memes, and they’re all so incredibly wholesome.
Let yourself be guided by your instinct for kindness today, Elamin P.S. If you like this newsletter, help keep our reporting free for all. Support BuzzFeed News by becoming a member here. (Monthly memberships are available worldwide). 📝 This letter was edited and brought to you by Elamin Abdelmahmoud and BuzzFeed News. You can always reach us here.
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