“This is my favorite place,” says Daniel DeSure, gesturing to the stretch of Exposition Boulevard in Crenshaw that he’s lived in and worked on for the last 12 years. Behind an olive-and-black graphic facade, the 42-year-old creative director and entrepreneur runs Commonwealth Projects, a creative agency called on by the likes of Nike, Saint Laurent, MoCA and USC to develop genre-bending installations, design books and re-imagine entire brands.

More recently this spot has also become host to a skate shop and store for DeSure’s 5-year-old side project, the zine-turned-clothing-line Total Luxury Spa that is on the cusp of becoming streetwear’s newest household name.

After years of executing visions for others, DeSure and his partner, Hassan Rahim, launched Total Luxury Spa in 2014 as a means of more direct creative output. “There just felt like a little bit of a disconnect. Why can’t the work that I’m doing during the day speak one-on-one to what I care about?” DeSure remembered thinking. The name “Spa” was chosen to conjure visions of replenishment. “I always think of books and culture and things that we’re working on as the things that I feel filled by,” DeSure said.

The two started by creating zines for local artists who were outside the purview of gallery and museum representation. Those zines made for cheap and easy distribution — but T-shirts, they found, were even better forms of communication. “They’re a quick way to get a design out in the world and onto people who move around the world,” DeSure said.

Against black, white and tie-dye fabrics, Spa T-shirts advertise fake shows for artists including jazz musician Sun Ra and the cellist and singer-songwriter Kelsey Lu. Others feature the phrase “Crenshaw Wellness,” an umbrella term for the earnest messages of Afrofuturism, meditation and mindfulness delivered in ironic clip art fonts. “Healing plants for hurt landscapes,” reads one T-shirt. “Your worries washed away,” reads another.

DeSure and Rahim utilized Spa as a means of rejuvenating their neighborhood. The clothes are made in L.A. and designed, modeled and photographed by members of the Crenshaw community. And, to reverse the sins of capitalism, Spa gives more than it takes, infusing the neighborhood with resources, guidance, opportunity and careers. “I always think about culture as this thing that a lot of times is taken from, meaning people take the aesthetic of other people, but it’s all about how you ante into a system,” DeSure said. “There’s a way to give back to a system to actually make it better.”

He added: “When we make a Crenshaw Wellness shirt, we mean it. Wellness should be here. How do we make it here?”

Using funds from Commonwealth Projects, he opened his studio to the neighborhood for free weekly meditation classes, which are now held every Monday at the Underground Museum. He helped kick off a children’s meditation program at Hillcrest Elementary School and hopes to open another this year. In search of additional ways to be helpful, he looked to the skate park across the street for guidance: “Everyone takes care of each other there. [Kids are] being taken care of by their peers. I’ve always respected that.”

DeSure asked some of the young local skaters to share their opinions. “We would sit down and talk and just kind of chop it up,” he remembered. Conversations would cover their personal, professional and entrepreneurial aspirations, and always pose the question: What does the neighborhood need?

The first conclusion: “It’s not the easiest place to find healthy, inexpensive food.” Spa responded in a shirt dedicated to the local vegan restaurant Mr. Wisdom, which was closing. The T-shirt featured the owner’s face and borrowed language from a sign hand-painted in the restaurant: “You are entering the spiritual zone. Please turn off all radios and negative thoughts.” The shirt was bought by skaters around the globe, Vogue editors, the Kardashian coterie. Whether or not they understood what the shirt represented, 50% of the profits went to the restaurateur.

The kids, now 20-somethings, developed their own response: a streetwear, skate and juice brand called Tropics. Named for the once-tree-covered neighborhood dividing Baldwin Hills from Crenshaw, the juice company enables the young men to not only nourish their community, but also to learn and teach one another how to build a brand and run a business.

Since launching in 2015 with the help of DeSure’s mentorship, funding and office space, Tropics has partnered with Sambazon, staged pop-ups at the Felix Art Fair and the Santa Monica Airport Barker Hangar, and held public conversations with Alice Waters and the late Jonathan Gold about food inequality.

They design their own skate decks and T-shirts featuring their company’s name written in a font made out of pieces of fruit hand-drawn by Tropics co-founder Preston Summers. Next, they hope to open a permanent juice shop on Jefferson and are in talks to bring a farmers’ market to the neighborhood by the end of the year.

DeSure is creating strategies to address gentrification, economic inequality, and headline anxiety. Perhaps a T-shirt could change them. Streetwear’s power has always laid with its community, but, to date, no streetwear brand has empowered its community so directly.

“It’s our way of trying to create more balance and fairness,” DeSure said. It’s enough that Spa shirts look good and have been worn by style-setters, but, said DeSure, “our approach gets people to engage with bigger issues that we’re all reading about every day in the paper. The bigger we can make that push, the more effect it will have.”

ANCHORAGE — 

The digital memory card in a torture killing in Alaska’s biggest city ended up leading police right to a suspect, first when the killer lost the memory card labeled “Homicide at midtown Marriott” that contained video of the dying woman.

Then came an even more innocuous blunder: The killer spoke on the tape in a distinctive, very un-Alaskan accent.

When a woman found the memory card on the street and turned it over to police, what detectives saw was horrific. At one point, the killer complained to the victim, whose face was swollen and bloodied: “My hand’s getting tired.” Then he stomped on her throat with his right foot.

Amid the footage, a clue: The man spoke in an “English sounding accent,” and detectives recalled Brian Steven Smith, a 48-year-old South African, from another investigation, the details of which they have not disclosed.

They arrested Smith, who has pleaded not guilty in the September killing of 30-year-old Kathleen Henry, an Alaska Native woman. During his interrogation, police say, he confessed to shooting another Alaska Native woman. Police won’t say whether there may be other victims.

Anchorage has a diverse population — more than 200 languages are spoken in the school system — and it’s not uncommon to hear Russian, Yupik or Hmong accents.

But South African accents aren’t common, certainly not after the summer tourist season. Just a fraction of the city’s foreign-born population comes from Africa, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Authorities identified the second victim as Veronica Abouchuk, who was 52 when her family reported her missing in February. The family last saw her in July 2018, police said.

Smith told police where he left Abouchuk’s body. It was in an area near where state troopers recovered a skull with a bullet wound earlier this year.

He pleaded not guilty to a second set of charges in court Monday, and bail was set at $2 million.

Several family members of the slain woman were sobbing and had to leave the courtroom when Smith was brought in.

After the hearing, Abouchuk’s niece, Tatauq Ruma, said she has questions for Smith.

“Why did he do it?” she said.

Her “Auntie Veronica,” a Yupik, grew up in the small community of Saint Michael, on the state’s western Bering Sea coast. She eventually moved to Anchorage, where she taught her niece how to make breaded chicken by using crumbled cornflakes.

Veronica Abouchuk had four children before she became homeless, a lifestyle she embraced.

The last time they spoke, Abouchuk told her niece she liked being homeless.

“She didn’t say why. She was just happy that she was homeless and that she was OK with that,” Ruma said.

She was full of life, Ruma said. “She’s just a very sweet lady. She loved her kids. She loved everyone. I really miss her.”

After the women were killed, their bodies were dumped along roads outside of Anchorage “like unwanted trash,” the state says in a memorandum seeking $2-million bail on the more than a dozen counts Smith faces, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder and evidence tampering. If convicted and found to have committed substantial torture in the Henry case, he will be sentenced to a mandatory 99 years. Alaska doesn’t have the death penalty.

“These were two Alaska Native women,” Anchorage Deputy District Attorney Brittany Dunlop told a recent news conference. “And I know that hits home here in Alaska, and we’re cognizant of that. We treat them with dignity and respect.”

Joanne Sakar and Natasha Gamache held a silent protest to highlight what Gamache called Alaska’s history of not properly investigating, prosecuting or sentencing perpetrators of crimes against Alaska Native woman.

They had red hands painted on their faces, to represent the silencing of indigenous women.

“There’s a movement called Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women that seeks to highlight the level of violence that’s perpetrated against indigenous women and how nationally our criminal justice system isn’t taking it seriously. So I’m here today to showcase that,” Gamache said.

Police have released little information beyond what is in court documents. Anchorage Police Chief Justin Doll said there’s no evidence of a public safety threat.

In seeking the high bail, prosecutors cited Smith’s ties to South Africa.

“He poses a significant public safety risk, especially to the vulnerable, homeless women currently living on the streets of Anchorage,” a bail memo said.

Authorities said Smith came to Alaska about five years ago and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in September.

Five years ago, he married Stephanie Bissland of Anchorage. She was visiting family members in Virginia when Anchorage detectives approached her and told her of her husband’s arrest in the first homicide.

She told Anchorage television station KTUU that last month, Smith reported his vehicle had been vandalized and that his wallet, documents and a briefcase with phones and other electronics had been taken. She said it wasn’t unusual for Smith to have memory cards lying around from cameras and other gear he would work on and sell but said she never saw any of them labeled.

She didn’t return messages from the Associated Press seeking comment.

Smith’s attorney, Dan Lowery, an assistant public defender, said he does not comment on pending cases.

KABUL, Afghanistan — 

The Taliban stormed a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 15 policemen in the latest attack by insurgents, an Afghan provincial official said Tuesday.

The multipronged attack on the checkpoint in the Ali Abad district of northern Kunduz province began late Monday night and set off an hours-long gun battle, according to Ghulam Rabani Rabani, a provincial council member. Along with the 15 policemen killed, two other officers were wounded, he said.

The attack came as Afghan troops have been battling the Taliban for the last few weeks in Kunduz’s Dashti Archi and Imam Sahib districts, Rabani added. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the checkpoint attack.

The Taliban have a strong presence in Kunduz and are in control in several of the province’s districts.

The provincial capital, the city of Kunduz, briefly fell to the Taliban in 2015, before the insurgents withdrew in the face of a NATO-backed Afghan offensive. The city is a strategic crossroads with easy access to much of northern Afghanistan as well as the country’s capital, Kabul, about 200 miles away.

The Taliban pushed back into the city center again a year later, briefly raising their flag before gradually being driven out again. In August, the insurgents launched another attempt to overrun the city but were repelled.

The Taliban now control nearly half of Afghanistan and have been relentless in their near-daily attacks targeting Afghan security forces, attacks that inflict heavy casualties. The fighting has also killed scores of civilians.

President Trump, since his 2016 presidential campaign, has spoken of a need to withdraw U.S. troops from the “endless war” in Afghanistan. He has complained that the U.S. has been serving as policemen in Afghanistan and says that’s not the American military’s job.

The U.S. has about 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan as part of the American-led coalition. U.S. forces are training and advising Afghan forces and conducting counter-terrorism operations against extremists.

Trump had ordered a troop withdrawal in conjunction with the peace talks that would have left about 8,600 American forces in the country.

Last month, U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad had a preliminary peace deal with the Taliban, but a surge in Taliban violence and the death of an American soldier prompted Trump to cancel a secret Camp David meeting where the peace deal would have been finalized, and to declare the tentative agreement dead.

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LONDON — 

British lawmakers from across the political spectrum are expected to challenge Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s drive to push his European Union divorce bill through the House of Commons in three days, potentially scuttling plans to deliver Brexit by Oct. 31.

The bill faces two votes Tuesday, with lawmakers first being asked to approve it in principle, followed by a vote on the government’s schedule for debate and possible amendments.

“If this House backs this legislation, if we ratify this new deal … we can get Brexit done and move our country on,” Johnson said as he opened debate in the House of Commons.

“We can turn the page and allow this Parliament and this country to begin to heal and unite.”

While many analysts expect the bill to be approved, lawmakers may reject the three-day timetable because of concerns it doesn’t provide enough time for scrutiny.

“Unless you are prepared to contemplate more expansive debate, there is not the slightest possibility of considering the deal that has been obtained within the time available,” Ken Clarke, a senior lawmaker recently ousted from Johnson’s Conservative Party, told the Guardian newspaper.

The showdown comes just nine days before Britain’s scheduled departure date. Johnson’s government had sought a “straight up-and-down vote” Monday on the agreement he struck last week with the 27 other EU nations laying out the terms of Britain’s exit.

But the speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, refused to allow it because lawmakers voted to delay approving the Brexit deal on Saturday, and parliamentary rules bar the same measure from being considered a second time during a session of Parliament unless something has changed.

Bercow’s ruling plunged the tortuous Brexit process back into grimly familiar territory. The government must now try to implement its Plan B — attempt to pass a Brexit-implementing bill through Britain’s fractious Parliament before the country’s scheduled Oct. 31 departure date.

Opposition lawmakers plan to seek amendments that could substantially alter the bill, for example by adding a requirement that the Brexit deal be put to voters in a new referendum. The government says such an amendment would wreck its legislation and it will withdraw the bill if the opposition plan succeeds.

European Council President Donald Tusk said EU leaders “will decide in coming days” whether to grant Britain another extension to the deadline for leaving the bloc, but said their decision depends on developments in London.

Tusk said Tuesday that the decision on prolonging Brexit for three months after Oct. 31. “will very much depend on what the British Parliament decides or doesn’t decide.”

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As Sen. Elizabeth Warren has surged in the 2020 polls, she has made more aggressive moves to quash the lingering controversy around her past claims of Native American ancestry.

But some vocal critics in the Native American community, specifically the Cherokee Nation, are not yet satisfied.

In roughly a week’s time, Warren released a 9,000-word plan on tribal rights that was twice the size of any other plan from her campaign, took down a poorly received video of her family’s ancestral history, and offered her most high-profile apology to date at the first-ever Native American-centered presidential forum.

“Now, before I go any further in this, I want to say this: Like anyone who’s been honest with themselves, I know that I have made mistakes,” Warren said at the outset of her appearance last week. “I am sorry for harm I have caused. I have listened, and I have learned a lot. And I am grateful for the many conversations that we’ve had together.”

The Democratic presidential candidate was warmly received by the audience and by native leaders onstage before they redirected the conversation to her policy positions.

But this wasn’t enough for some prominent Native Americans who have been pushing Warren to have a more fulsome public dialogue for years.

POLITICO reached out to a dozen of her critics, some of whom have been following the controversy since her first Senate run in 2012. A handful have said they can’t vote for the senator — in the primary or the general election. But others are hedging and waiting for a sign Warren has heard their concerns. The recent apology, they said, was not that sign.

“It’s a good strategy for her, but it doesn’t address the central issue of Cherokee sovereignty: How will you repair the harm you have caused? She has not even admitted what that harm was,” Cherokee citizen and educator Joseph Pierce said.

Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle tweeted Warren should have said this instead: “My family and I are White. … It was … my privilege to never question what my parents told me. … Those of us who falsely claim Native identity undermine this fight” for sovereignty.

Warren has privately apologized to Cherokee leaders, met with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and been advised by Native American friends and colleagues, such as Rep. Deb Haaland, one of the first two Native American women to serve in Congress. She said only tribal nations determine citizenship. At a New Hampshire town hall in July, she told an audience member she shouldn’t have identified as Native American, she is not a citizen of a tribe and she is not a person of color.

But tribal citizens like Nagle and Pierce said the senator’s public mistake needs a more public rectification, one that includes a sit-down with the senator to air their grievances and have a back-and-forth.

A Warren spokeswoman wrote to POLITICO that the senator is committed to protecting tribal sovereignty and upholding the federal trust responsibility with tribal nations. Warren, she added, has worked closely with Indian Country on issues like housing, the opioid epidemic, and the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women.

“Her campaign put forward a comprehensive set of proposals to honor the federal government’s obligations to Tribal Nations and empower indigenous communities,” she wrote. “Elizabeth has worked to be a good partner to Indian Country and she will do the same as president."

Some former critics have over recent months seen Warren as a stronger ally.

Julian Brave NoiseCat, member of the Canim Lake Band, has applauded Warren for rebuilding relationships in the native community. He found it encouraging the senator opened with an apology at the Native American presidential forum and used the term “harm.”

“Some of the things people want her to say — it’s hard for me to imagine any politician saying that verbatim,” he said. “We should stop providing fodder to that. You don’t have to vote for her.”

NoiseCat added: “I’m also not Cherokee or one of her toughest critics. I always saw opportunity for her beyond the mishandling.”

Gyasi Ross, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, told The Stranger, a Seattle-based alternative newspaper, that Warren’s robust policy platform “rights so many wrongs, if it’s executed properly, of course."

For still-wary community members, Warren’s recent policy reveal did make some waves. She became the first candidate to call for an “Oliphant fix,” which would subject nonnatives to tribal criminal jurisdiction if they commit crimes on tribal land. She also proposed a Cabinet-level position for Native American affairs.

Pierce called Warren’s plan a major step in the right direction. Cherokee journalist Jen Deerinwater said it would be great to see the original case — Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe — overturned. Kiowa author and political activist Cole DeLaune said her platform has some commendable promises.

However, they also said they’re unsure the senator would follow through on those promises as president. And that’s because she hasn’t given them the apology or conversation they need, critics said.

Kim TallBear, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of South Dakota, said any Democrat will be as good or relatively uninformed as another on Native American policy issues. DeLaune said former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro and Sen. Bernie Sanders have intriguing platforms, too.

These concerns aren’t new and Native American critics have been vocal about what they want to hear, particularly on Twitter, Nagle told POLITICO.

“What I fear most is that if she does become the nominee, then it’s going to be this ugly front-and-center issue where basically native identity is going to be weaponized,” she said. “If Warren doesn’t take care of this issue in the primary stage, I don’t think she’s going to be able to handle it in a general election against Trump.”

While Warren’s past claims of ancestry have dogged her for years, the controversy multiplied when President Donald Trump seized on it, labeling her “Pocahontas.” The Massachusetts senator tried to defuse the situation in October by releasing the results of a DNA test that showed some evidence of ancestry. But the video and media rollout was largely seen as ham-handed. It may not be a deciding factor for her candidacy, but it still threatens to diminish her standing with primary voters.

Many Native American have said they are increasingly worried about tribal sovereignty. They say people still misunderstand native identity as a race instead of a political status. And they’re irked about loose definitions that lead to scandals such as the one unearthed by a recent Los Angeles Times investigation that found white entrepreneurs claiming Cherokee heritage had won more than $300 million in contracts meant for minority-owned businesses.

That’s why Warren’s heritage claim is an issue, said Twila Barnes, a well-known Cherokee genealogist who first looked into the senator’s ancestry seven years ago.

“She put it on the national stage. It focuses on her. She’s a public face of it,” Barnes said.

Because Native Americans aren’t a monolith, Warren has seen statements of support, opposition and indifference from people outside her most vocal critics for how she handled the DNA test aftermath.

Heads of native voting rights group Four Directions and the National Congress of American Indians said Warren’s DNA test was not an issue compared with other day-to-day issues Native Americans face.

Haaland, who partnered with Warren on legislation to address the underfunding of federal programs to help Native Americans, said last Monday that journalists “feed the president’s racism” when they ask about Warren’s ancestry.

But efforts to equate opinions against Warren with the “radical Trumpian right,” as Pierce puts it, rub critics the wrong way.

“Indian Country shouldn’t be censuring people, especially Cherokee people, demanding she recognize the harm she’s done,” he said. “The left really needs to grapple with the truth of why it hasn’t taken these claims seriously.”

LAS VEGAS — With two sets of debates and six months of fundraising finished, a new stage is opening in the Democratic presidential primary: The summer slog.

For six weeks until the next debate, in mid-September, candidates will shift their focus more completely to the early primary states, grinding through a ritualistic run of picnics, forums, and party fundraisers: The Wing Ding, the Iowa State Fair, the Summer Sizzler, Londonderry’s Old Home Days.

For the frontrunners, the rigors of a month full of intimate, often less scripted public appearances will present a significant test. But the weaker contenders will also come under considerable pressure. Some will likely begin running out of money or will fail to qualify for the next set of debates, culling the now-sprawling field.

It was at the Iowa State Fair in 2011 that Mitt Romney perilously told a heckler: “Corporations are people.” Republicans Tommy Thompson and Tim Pawlenty abandoned their presidential campaigns that year after a weak showing in the Ames Straw Poll, before the GOP discontinued the tradition.

Four years later in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton welcomed summer with her moving rope line to keep reporters at bay, reinforcing her campaign’s imperious image.

“The political landscape in Iowa is full of corn, soybeans and landmines,” said Dave Nagle, a former Iowa congressman and state Democratic party chairman. “An offhanded comment when a candidate is tired, a flippant remark can be blown way out of proportion and put a candidate significantly behind.”

Or as the progressive consultant Rebecca Katz put it, “There’s plenty of chances to fuck this all up.”

“All of these moments with candidates have been pretty controlled” so far in the campaign, said Katz, who advised Cynthia Nixon in her primary campaign against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year. “But now we’re getting into the quote, unquote fun part, and you’re going to see them out there with people really talking, and who knows what will happen.”

The campaign’s summer push began in 108-degree heat over the weekend in Las Vegas, where 19 candidates were drawn to a labor forum, then held competing rallies and events at senior centers, restaurants and churches in the city and suburban Henderson.

The herd will migrate this week to Iowa and its Wing Ding dinner and state fair — speaking to raucous crowds and meeting with supporters, but also contending with fried food and hecklers.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign will focus much of its effort over the next six weeks building its organization in the four early primary states, with the candidate planning a spate of public appearances. Such in-person visits are vital to locking in support reflected in current polls, while also allowing Biden to road test and fine tune his campaign messages before public attention turns more completely to 2020 after Labor Day, a Biden adviser told POLITICO.

Sen. Kamala Harris, who has been slower than some candidates to establish a presence in Iowa, is planning a five-day bus tour through the state to assert herself there. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are both planning to aggressively campaign in Iowa and other early primary states. Several campaigns are beginning to internally discuss television advertising, after President Donald Trump aired a 30-second ad during the Democratic debates last week criticizing Democrats for “proposing a free taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants.”

“Somehow these debates sort of stultified the race in some ways,” said Paul Maslin, a top Democratic pollster. “We’re in the middle of summer, and starting to get into late summer, and I don’t think any major candidate … has start to spend serious money in Iowa yet, or South Carolina or New Hampshire for that matter.”

He said, “I think these debates were a weird kind of death trap for most of these [campaigns] … I think now it’s going to start becoming much more of a fight about Iowa and New Hampshire.”

Initial polling following the second round of debates suggested little movement in public opinion polls. And most observers — including advisers to several campaigns — do not expect significant swings in public opinion before the next debates.

It is not impossible, however, and candidates will try. Twenty years ago, Bill Bradley used a furious summer of campaigning in New Hampshire to pull even with or overtake Al Gore in state polls, putting a scare into Gore’s campaign. Mark Longabaugh, who ran Bradley’s campaign in the state, called August “a dynamite time to gain ground in Iowa and New Hampshire … It’s a good opportunity to connect to some of those voters.”

In 2007, then-Sen. Barack Obama used the summer of the off-election year to add policy heft to his campaign, proposing tax cuts for the middle class and announcing a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq. But it was still a slog for the future president, who entered August 2007 about 15 percentage points behind Clinton.

In the “dog days of summer,” said Doug Herman, a Democratic strategist who worked for Obama in New Hampshire in 2007, “It was a slog. We had trouble getting people to show up.”

“You’ve got people focused on vacation, and in Iowa they’re going to the state fair. And I guarantee you they’re not going because of the Soapbox,” he said. “There’s opportunity for stealth, under the radar movement. But it’s going to be because you’re organizing, and you’re doing it at a retail level.”

Free of debate preparation, candidates can focus on staffing, fundraising and on messaging that is not dictated by confrontation with other candidates. Michael Ceraso, who was South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s New Hampshire director before leaving the campaign last week, called August “a good month to get the house in order, scale, hire, put their efficiencies in place.”

Ceraso, who said he is leaving presidential politics to focus on advocacy work around mental health, said what a candidate accomplishes in August “is a huge part of the campaign’s DNA.”

In Las Vegas on Saturday, Julián Castro, the former Obama Cabinet secretary and former mayor of San Antonio, said his campaign is “keeping our head down and just getting stronger and stronger and stronger in this race.”

For many candidates, August will remain a rush to qualify for the September debates. On Friday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar became the eighth candidate to announce that she had met the polling and donor thresholds required ahead of an Aug. 28 deadline.

Marc Farinella, who ran Obama’s North Carolina campaign in 2008, said, “The way most campaigns end is your accountant calls you and says you’re out of money. So, the second-tier candidates need to find a way to hold on … The summer is likely to be a tough time. It’s often a slow fundraising time anyway.”

He said, “The whole environment is such that there’s likely going to be a lot of stasis. Things are likely frozen for a bit.”

Jaime Harrison, associate chair of the Democratic National Committee and a former South Carolina state party chair, said, “The question is whether dollars start to dry up … and you get folks who drop out before the official announcement of the next debate [qualifiers] in order to save face.”

Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, one of many candidates who has not yet qualified for the September debate, joked to reporters over the weekend at an event in Las Vegas, “As soon as all of you put SteveBullock.com as part of the story, I’m sure we’ll get the donors.”

But he downplayed the significance of qualifying, saying it is voters in early primary states — “like here in Nevada” — who winnow the field.

In his answer, Bullock avoided a common gaffe.

As Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said when asked what advice he would give to candidates about campaigning in his early primary state, “The first thing they need to do to appeal to the people of Nevada is understand that it’s pronounced Nev-AD-a.”

Alex Thompson and Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.

Inbal Dror bridal autumn 2020. Image credits: GoRunway.com

For the autumn 2020 bridal season, fashion buyer Helen Rodrigues of Helen Rodrigues Bridal took to New York City for a series of shows that served to set the tone for the 2020 bride. While in the bustling city, Rodrigues took note of all the trends that you can expect to see at every wedding you’re invited to attend. 

From floral details and botanical influences, to puffy sleeves which served as a nod to the 1980s and an abundance of oversized bows, the likes of designers Lee Grebenau, Inbal Dror and Monique Lhuillier set out to impress. And it seems that is exactly what they did, given that they were cited by Rodrigues as the season’s standouts.

To brush up on all you need to know about the bridal autumn 2020 season, the New York City-based fashion week’s overall mood and the top trends you need to start taking note of, scroll on to find out what Rodrigues thinks the 2020 bride will be wearing on her big day.

What were the standout shows for you and why?
“The standout shows for me were Lee Grebenau, Inbal Dror and Monique Lhuillier. The designers created a presence on the runway or during their presentation through their different use of drama. Monique’s hand designed floral/botanical fabrics left you breathless. They were light and airy and inspired by the amazing Italian wedding destination of Lake Como. Pure romance.

Lee [stood out] by her use of pearls in both her gown detail and headpieces designed by Keren Wolf. The inspiration of the colour and shape of a pearl enabled a modern twist. Her collection was inspired by one of nature’s treasured gemstone, the pearl. The pearl is a symbol of perfection, beauty, and purity. I adore her use of the pearl as her inspiration for the collection and the way in which she used her fabric to mimic the shape of the pearl. The classic, pure elegance with the modern twist of sheer cut-out panels in the bodice, the puffy billowing sleeves and the accessories of belts to highlight the female form and waist. The uniqueness each gown brings.

Inbal [stood out] for her glamorous gowns accessorised by dramatic headpieces. Inbal’s inspiration derives from her belief that the bride glows on her wedding day with a halo, making her the center of a spiritual event. She is a symbol of devotion and tradition. Her dress reflects the eternal feelings she emanates with a shiny and magical look. She said she wants her brides to look heavenly on this most important day of her life.”

Inbal Dror bridal autumn 2020. Image credit: GoRunway.com

“The overall feel was the move away from overtly sexy gowns with sheerness and lace. The feel was more feminine with many light and airy fabrics being used. This creates more movement in the gowns and a deepened feel of romanticism. A move back to timeless elegance and classic style with a modern twist.

There was more intricate detail especially with the use of pearls and botanical prints. The exuberance of colour/prints will allow the 2020 bride to embrace their individual style and leave a lasting impression. Inspired by nature be it breathtaking florals, or rare gemstones like the pearl. As no two pearls are the same, they are unique. This is what Lee has encapsulated in her collection. Each dress is one-of-a-kind, timeless and classic. Again allowing the 2020 bride to showcase their individual style.”

Monique Lhuillier bridal autumn 2020. Image credit: courtesy of Monique Lhuillier

“[I] can see the influence of street fashion in bridal, and the floral/botanical fabric[s], so brides don’t need to keep the traditional look. Sheer panels in the bodice, billowing sleeves, pearl embellishment, clean lines, dramatic veils to add wow factor to gowns that are more simple and elegant, fuller skirts and pant suits [were also seen].”

Monique Lhuillier bridal autumn 2020. Image credit: courtesy of Monique Lhuillier

“New trends that I noticed included billowing sleeves adding to the romance of a wedding. There was definitely an air and lightness to the collections which has not been seen for a long time. A move from the lace and sheerness to more romance.

Puff sleeves which were a clear nod to the 1980s and Lady Diana’s dress. This has certainly not been something showcased in the 20 years I have had my store. Pearls were [also] huge. They were used as embellishments to gowns, veils and headpieces. The uniqueness of the pearl has inspired so many designers.”

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22nd Oct 2019

Huge congratulations are in order for actress Shay Mitchell, who just gave birth to her first child with her boyfriend of almost three years, Matte Babel.

Taking to Instagram to break the exciting news, Mitchell posted a photo of her own hand holding the tiny hand of her newborn, accompanying our first look at her baby with the sweet caption “Never letting go…”

Of course, it wasn’t long before the congratulations came rolling into her comments section, with her Pretty Little Liars co-stars Troian Bellisario and Sasha Pieterse sending their well wishes to the new mother, with Bellisario—who too welcomed her first child a year ago—calling her and her baby the “most beautiful babe and mother”, and Pieterse exclaiming “So happy for you!! Congratulations mama”.

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Fellow actresses Claire Holt, Vanessa Hudgens and Nikki Reed also reached out to the You actress to communicate their own love-filled congratulations.

Of course, being the social media mogul that she is, in addition to being an actress, her Instagram reveal proved only the beginning of her birth tale. Having launched her YouTube Originals series titled Almost Ready alongside her Instagram announcement declaring that she was pregnant with her first child, Mitchell confessed that after hiding her pregnancy for many months, she was ready to share her experience.

“When you’re in the public eye there are some things you want to keep a secret until you feel ready,” she says in the video. “This for me has been the hardest. It’s gonna be really fun and awesome when I’m not trying to hide it anymore.” And not hide she absolutely did.

In the latest instalment of her pregnancy-focused web series, called My Labour and Delivery, the 32-year-old’s first words in the video were “oh my god, my water’s breaking”, filming herself entering the very early stages of her labour looking as perplexed as ever.

From there, we follow a pre-birth Mitchell in real-time through her long-winded labour journey, from arrival at the hospital, to mild complications, to the eventual birth a total of 33 hours later.

With the camera off Mitchell herself, she shared the audio from the birth moment itself, including her daughter’s very first cries. The bonafide YouTuber that she is, the actress switched the camera back on not long after the birth, sharing with us all her first days as a parent, toasting the birth with Babel.

With no word on what her newborn daughter’s name is, with her recent social media activity considered, we’re betting that not only is her name set to be revealed very soon, but it’s also equally likely we’ll get another glimpse at her baby very soon.

The Spurs boss claims he felt better about his team in previous years, despite their strong start to the 2018-19 campaign

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino insists that his team are still some way short of being genuine contenders for the Premier League title.

Spurs are fifth in the table after nine matches, having won seven games overall and their last four on the bounce, which has left them five points behind leaders Liverpool with a game in hand.

The Lilywhites have the opportunity to close that gap back to two on Monday night when they take on Manchester City at Wembley, in the biggest clash of the week.

Pochettino’s men have ground out narrow wins recently despite not being at their best, which is traditionally the hallmark of title contenders, however, the Argentine boss has revealed that he is far from happy.

“The season so far, it’s strange because my feeling is the worst feeling I’ve had in the five years that I’ve been here,” Pochettino told reporters. “It’s the worst. My feeling, but it’s the best start ever for the club in the Premier League. It’s strange, no?

“I don’t know, it’s so difficult to explain because many things happen, I am disappointed we are still waiting for the new stadium when the expectation was to be there at the beginning of the season.

“I don’t know, many things happened in the summer, many things that make myself not in my best mood or best humour. I know I always have a good relationship with you [the press] but my feeling is not the best feeling, I had better feeling in previous seasons.”

The 46-year-old head coach has obviously been affected by Tottenham’s recent failures in the Champions League, as a 2-2 draw against PSV last week left them needing a miraculous turnaround in their final three group games to qualify for the next round.

Pochettino continued by stressing the fact that despite his team’s perceived success, they have still yet to win any silverware, bemoaning their recent failures in big matches which have ultimately cost them a shot at glory.

“I think, like a team, we still didn’t win nothing,” He added. “We fail but we achieve. And of course always when we arrive at like a final game, we always fail.

“It’s about learning to compete. It’s about learning to be better. It’s about changing something we need to do different.

“Or maybe we are never going to learn because we have some quality but we cannot cross this level. I prefer to think that we will learn more and we need more time to improve as a team. 

“Still we are not showing that level to be a real contender. That is my opinion.”

“Today we need to fix other problems and different circumstances that happen that don’t help the team or the club to only be focused on winning titles.”

The ex-England defender has pointed out that the Red Devils have won more than Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal combined since Sir Alex Ferguson retired

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has defended manager Jose Mourinho amid recent criticism and calls for him to lose his job.

The Red Devils find themselves 10th in the Premier League, seven points behind the Champions League spots with nine matches of the season played, yet the former England defender has backed the Portuguese to turn things around.

Indeed, he believes it would be counterproductive to axe the former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss at this juncture, despite calls from ex-players and supporters that the time is right for him to go.

“Forget everything else. If Jose Mourinho left Manchester United today then in his two-and-a-half years he will have won two major trophies, lost an FA Cup final, finished second in the league and qualified for the Champions League two seasons running,” he said, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.

“And had the best finish in the Premier League since Sir Alex retired. If Jose left today he would tell that story. And we are looking at it from the point of view of perfection.

“If you had said they would have this three-year period when I was a United fan as a kid, I would have snatched your hand off. In my childhood we won two FA Cups in 11 years!

“It doesn’t help that Man City and Liverpool are doing so well. So there are a lot of factors.

“It is only a period in a 20-year management career and I think Jose will be successful again.”

Neville has stressed the importance of not measuring every Manchester United manager against the achievements of Sir Alex Ferguson, who led the club through a long period of success.

“I do get Jose Mourinho’s part of it as well when he says: ‘Hang on a second, let’s not rewrite history’,” he added.

“He’s compared to history, and he should be. Even if you compare it to his own record. He would only compare it to his own record and history. In some ways he won’t be accepting what’s happening at the moment, but if we’re being balanced – and I’m thinking partly as a fan – you’ve got to look back at the bigger picture.

“In my 43 years of living, this is not an unsuccessful period. This is not an unsuccessful period in Manchester United’s 100-plus year history. This is an unsuccessful period compared to the glory years. And the glory years should be where we measure the club by, always. Fans, media and pundits. But we should all have perspective as well.”

He also stressed that the Red Devils remain far more successful than many of their rivals.

“When you think about Manchester United in the bad times – and this seems a bad time – the club still wins trophies,” he said.

“If you look at the last five years since Sir Alex finished, an FA Cup, a Europa League, a League Cup, and FA Cup final, that’s three trophies in five years since Sir Alex Ferguson left. Liverpool haven’t won a trophy, Tottenham haven’t won a trophy, Arsenal: two cups. Manchester United are more successful than all of them.”