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Suspect in the Colorado Springs LGBTQ club shooting will be held without bond as prosecutors work to finalize formal charges | CNN

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Suspect in the Colorado Springs LGBTQ club shooting will be held without bond as prosecutors work to finalize formal charges | CNN



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The 22-year-old accused of finishing up a mass taking pictures over the weekend at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, will stay held with out bond following a courtroom look Wednesday.

Anderson Lee Aldrich, showing in courtroom by way of video convention for the primary time for the reason that assault that left 5 lifeless and greater than a dozen injured, answered a couple of questions in a barely audible voice. Aldrich, whose attorneys say makes use of they/them pronouns, acknowledged that they had watched a video about their rights and mentioned that they had no questions.

Formal prices are anticipated on the subsequent courtroom listening to, set for December 6, Colorado’s Fourth Judicial District Legal professional Michael Allen mentioned. Aldrich can be anticipated to look then in individual, he mentioned, including the date may change.

Preliminary prices embody 5 counts of first-degree homicide and 5 counts of a bias-motivated crime – elsewhere referred to as a hate crime – inflicting bodily harm, per El Paso County Courtroom’s on-line docket.

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“We’ll be reviewing all the proof and making the suitable submitting choices on the acceptable time,” Allen mentioned.

Forward of the listening to, attorneys for Aldrich submitted a courtroom submitting stating the suspect identifies as nonbinary. “They use they-them pronouns, and for the needs of all formal filings, will probably be addressed as Mx. Aldrich,” the courtroom doc famous.

Requested after the listening to in regards to the potential affect on the case of the defendant’s nonbinary distinction, Allen mentioned: “To us, his authorized definition on this continuing is the defendant,” including, “It has no affect on the best way that I prosecute this case.”

The prosecutor declined to touch upon the motive for the crime or the investigation.

“I would like them to know that we’re going to be the voice for the victims within the courtroom and that we are going to be combating alongside them throughout this complete course of,” Allen mentioned of the victims’ households.

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The general public defender’s workplace is representing Aldrich and has declined all requests for remark, citing workplace coverage.

Because the investigation and authorized course of proceed, survivors and family members of these killed are processing the sentiments of shock and grief after a enjoyable night time of drag performances and dancing turned violent at Membership Q, a venue referred to as a secure area for the LGBTQ group.

The US has recorded greater than 600 mass shootings thus far this 12 months, in line with the Gun Violence Archive, which like CNN defines such incidents as these with at the very least 4 slain or injured, not together with the shooter.

Daniel Aston, Raymond Inexperienced Vance, Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh and Derrick Rump had been killed within the assault at Membership Q – some whereas working a Saturday night time shift and others whereas having fun with the night time’s occasions. Not less than 19 others had been injured, most by gunshots, police have mentioned.

Aldrich entered the nightclub simply earlier than midnight armed with an AR-style weapon and a handgun and instantly started taking pictures, police mentioned.

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“From the quantity of pictures that originally went off when he got here into the membership, I actually thought it was a number of folks taking pictures,” clubgoer Gil Rodriguez instructed CNN on Monday.

The suspect was rapidly taken down and contained by two patrons till police arrived, which officers say doubtless prevented extra folks from being killed or injured.

Richard Fierro, an Military veteran who was celebrating a birthday on the membership with household and associates, tackled Aldrich to the bottom and used the suspect’s handgun to hit them repeatedly, Fierro instructed CNN. One other individual jumped in to assist and pushed the rifle out of Aldrich’s attain, Fierro mentioned.

Shortly after, Aldrich was taken into custody and hospitalized. On Tuesday, the suspect was transferred to the El Paso County Jail.

Whereas homicide prices will provide the longest sentencing choices, Allen mentioned he expects extra prices on prime of these.

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“Colorado has biased-motivated crime statutes, which most individuals perceive as hate crimes. We’re positively that, based mostly on the details concerned on this case,” Allen mentioned. “And if there’s proof to cost it, we’ll completely cost these as properly.”

Further prices of menacing are additionally doable, Colorado Legal professional Basic Phil Weiser mentioned.

“Each single one that was there at Membership Q is a sufferer of 1 crime or one other,” Weiser instructed CNN on Tuesday.

“It’s actually vital that we’re in a position to honor the victims and to have the ability to name out this crime for what it actually seems to be, which is a hate crime motivated by who folks had been,” he added.

As authorities attempt to nail down a motive behind the taking pictures, new info has come to gentle in regards to the suspect’s upbringing and questions have been raised about why earlier prices towards Aldrich had been dropped.

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Aldrich was born below the title Nicholas Brink and legally modified the title in 2015.

That very same 12 months, Aldrich skilled cyberbullying on a parody web site that comprises images of Aldrich and makes use of offensive slurs to mock the then-teen’s weight and accuse Aldrich of participating in criminality, in line with an rising portrait of the alleged shooter pieced collectively by CNN.

The web page, which was first reported by the Washington Publish, continues to be energetic. 

Based on a relative, the suspect’s main caretaker was his grandmother, who declined CNN’s request for an interview. Aldrich ended up below her supervision when their mom struggled with a string of arrests and associated psychological well being evaluations, in line with courtroom information and an interview with a member of the family. 

Laura Voepel, Aldrich’s mom, referred to as police final 12 months and reported Aldrich had entered the Colorado Springs home she was renting a room in and threatened her with a do-it-yourself bomb.

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2021 video seems to indicate Colorado membership taking pictures suspect ranting about police

Video obtained by CNN confirmed Aldrich apparently ranting in regards to the police throughout the incident and difficult them to breach the house.

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“I’ve received the f**king sh*theads outdoors, have a look at that, they’ve received a bead on me,” Aldrich says on the video, pointing the digicam at a window with blinds protecting it. “You see that proper there? F**king sh*theads received their f**king rifles out.”

Later within the video, Aldrich says, “In the event that they breach, I’mma f**king blow it to holy hell.”

The video ends with Aldrich delivering what looks as if a message to regulation enforcement outdoors: “So, uh, go forward and are available on in, boys! Let’s f**king see it!”

The video doesn’t really present any officers outdoors the home, and it’s not clear from the video whether or not Aldrich had any weapons in the home.

A number of hours after the preliminary police name, the native sheriff division’s disaster negotiations unit was in a position to get Aldrich to depart the home. Authorities didn’t discover any explosives within the house, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned.

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Police Chief Adrian Vasquez gives an update about the Club Q shooting investigation Monday at the Police Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Aldrich was arrested and booked into the El Paso County Jail on two counts of felony menacing and three counts of first-degree kidnapping, in line with a 2021 information launch from the sheriff’s workplace.

It was not instantly clear how the bomb risk case was resolved; the Colorado Springs Gazette reported the district legal professional’s workplace mentioned no formal prices had been pursued within the case. The district legal professional’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark from CNN.

Aldrich bought the 2 weapons introduced Saturday night time to Membership Q, regulation enforcement sources instructed CNN this week. However it’s not clear whether or not the AR-style rifle and handgun had been bought earlier than or after the 2021 case.

Aldrich’s arrest in connection to the bomb risk wouldn’t have proven up in background checks as a result of the case was by no means adjudicated, the fees had been dropped and the information had been sealed. It’s unclear what prompted the sealing of the information.

With the taking pictures occurring simply days earlier than Thanksgiving, some households that had been planning vacation gatherings are actually reeling from the affect of the violence.

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Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Ashely Paugh, Derrick Rump and Raymond Green Vance

These are the 5 individuals who died within the Membership Q taking pictures

“We’re a metropolis in mourning, however we’re a metropolis in restoration,” Mayor John Suthers instructed CNN on Tuesday. “The one message that we now have to convey is that the actions of this lone particular person: … Don’t outline our group. What ought to outline our group is how we reply to it.”

Residents, survivors and family members of the victims have supported one another by way of vigils, ceremonies and monetary contributions, Suthers mentioned.

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“(Membership Q) was really a secure haven, and we need to make certain these kinds of issues live on sooner or later,” Suthers mentioned.

A Thanksgiving dinner for the LGBTQ group – which was held at Membership Q – will happen as a substitute at Pikes Peak Metropolitan Neighborhood Church, CNN affiliate KRDO reported.

Jason Plata, a church consultant, referred to as Thursday’s dinner an area “to interrupt bread with one another and be capable of keep in mind our associates that we’ve misplaced and a few of our associates which might be nonetheless combating.”

A survivor named Anthony, who declined to offer his final title, mentioned whereas “the group is robust, and we are going to get by way of this,” he now feels unsafe.

“I will probably be uncomfortable going wherever for a very long time,” Anthony mentioned throughout a information convention whereas nonetheless hospitalized Tuesday, KRDO reported.

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Requested what he would say to the accused shooter, Anthony mentioned he would inform Aldrich, “Why don’t you meet any person and get to know their true coronary heart earlier than passing judgment?”

The suspect, Anthony mentioned, “harmed numerous pure, true hearts, and I don’t know in the event that they’ll ever be the identical.”

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Naval Academy Takes Steps to End Diversity Policies in Books and Admissions

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Naval Academy Takes Steps to End Diversity Policies in Books and Admissions

The Pentagon and U.S. Naval Academy are proceeding with actions in support of the Trump administration’s push to eliminate “woke” initiatives throughout the federal government.

The U.S. Naval Academy said it had ended its use of affirmative action in admissions, reversing a policy it previously defended as essential for diversity and national security, according to a federal court filing on Friday. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office has ordered the Naval Academy to identify books related to so-called diversity, equity and inclusion themes that are housed in the school’s Nimitz Library, and to remove them from circulation.

This week, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy decisions, Mr. Hegseth’s office became aware that the nation’s military service academies did not believe that President Trump’s Jan. 29 executive order to end “radical indoctrination” in kindergarten through 12th-grade classrooms applied to them, as they are colleges. The defense secretary’s office informed the Naval Academy that Mr. Hegseth’s intent was for the order to apply to the academies, and that the secretary expected compliance.

“The U.S. Naval Academy is fully committed to executing and implementing all directives outlined in executive orders issued by the president and is currently reviewing the Nimitz Library collection to ensure compliance,” said Cmdr. Tim Hawkins, a Navy spokesman. “The Navy is carrying out these actions with utmost professionalism, efficiency, and in alignment with national security objectives.”

The academy’s library in Annapolis, Md., houses roughly 590,000 print books, 322 databases, and more than 5,000 print journals and magazines, Commander Hawkins said.

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The court filing on the admissions policy, submitted by the Naval Academy, the Department of Defense, Mr. Hegseth and other officials, states that the Naval Academy changed its admissions policy in February in response to federal directives prohibiting the practice of considering race, ethnicity and sex during the admissions process.

The Naval Academy superintendent issued revised internal guidance on Feb. 14, stating that would not be happening, according to the filing. The superintendent, Vice Admiral Yvette M. David, reaffirmed this change on Wednesday, when she testified before a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“At no time are race, sex or ethnicity considered in the qualification of a candidate,” she said. The Naval Academy did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the admissions policy on Friday.

Thus far, the review of Nimitz Library’s holdings has identified 900 books that may run afoul of the defense secretary’s verbal order. According to a second defense official, they include “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.,” “Einstein on Race and Racism,” and a biography on Jackie Robinson.

Mr. Hegseth is scheduled to visit the Naval Academy on Tuesday and to speak to the Brigade of Midshipmen. It is unclear whether the secretary expects the books to be removed before his arrival.

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Defense officials said they were unaware whether the United States Military Academy at West Point, the United States Air Force Academy or the United States Coast Guard Academy had received similar orders, or whether the military’s graduate schools, such as the Naval War College and the Army’s Command and General Staff College, were expected to comply.

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Anti-Americanism is a mug’s game

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Anti-Americanism is a mug’s game

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Perhaps there is one simple reason why Donald Trump’s agenda is so hostile to Europe. Trump responds to flattery. Europe offers him almost none.

Even as European leaders sometimes try to massage the world’s most thin-skinned man, their publics make no secret of their contempt. Among voters in France, Germany and Spain, two-thirds say that Trump’s election has made the world less safe. Europe is too rowdy for sycophancy.

Trump surely notices this, just as he surely noticed the balloon of a giant orange baby flown on his state visit to London in 2019. His policies — imposing tariffs, threatening Greenland, shredding climate action, betraying Gaza and Ukraine — could hardly be better targeted as payback.

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The temptation for Europeans is to go further: to vent not only at him, but America itself. It’s a short jump from decrying the US president as a dictatorial moron to decrying the public who elected him. In February, Canadian ice-hockey fans booed the US national anthem; “Make America Go Away” has made a great baseball cap. But otherwise, anti-Americanism has been notable by its absence.

Compare this to the years of George W Bush, the president who claimed he was misunderestimated before choking on a pretzel, when Americans were routinely mocked as fat, ignorant and arrogant. New Yorkers on holiday were made to feel personally responsible for war crimes. On the eve of the Iraq war, Europeans joked about the difference between yoghurt and Americans. The punchline: after a while, yoghurt develops some culture. 

The then French president, Jacques Chirac, liked to say that he had a simple principle in foreign affairs: “I see what the Americans are doing and I do the opposite. That way, I’m sure to be right.” How they chuckled. This was the zenith not just of anti-American Islamist terrorism, but of anti-imperialist Latin American populists such as Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales.

But anti-Americanism has changed in 2025. Jokes about nationality don’t land as comfortably now. It’s rightly unfashionable to blame citizens for their governments, especially if the Americans we are most likely to encounter are despairing Democrats. 

Anyway, Netflix and social media have bound us all together. You can’t really dismiss American culture when you choose to consume it daily. Go to Paris today, and see how readily people speak English. Go to London, and puzzle at the number of NFL fans. Judging by JD Vance’s and Pete Hegseth’s Signal messages, the Trump team is more anti-European than Europeans are anti-American.

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Those repelled by Elon Musk’s X have moved to another West Coast-based network, Bluesky. European car buyers boycott Tesla but would buy a good American alternative. Just as the most effective takedowns of Bush came from an American filmmaker, Michael Moore, the best critiques of Trump and Musk will probably also come from the US itself. America is both thesis and antithesis. 

Diplomatically too, anti-Americanism doesn’t fit the moment. Trump has reconciled with one regime that was fanatically anti-American under Bush — that is, Putin’s Russia — and even makes sporadic gestures to chavista Venezuela. Europeans are hardly in anti-imperial mood: they want American protection, not withdrawal.

The lesson of the Bush years is that presidential idiocy is temporary. Five and a half years after invading Iraq, America elected Barack Obama as president. Anti-Americanism is akin to amputating your broken leg, instead of waiting for it to heal. 

But if it’s wrong to conflate Americans and their president, it’s wrong to disentangle them entirely. Trump reflects half of America. He reflects a society where a democratic majority is prepared to tolerate mass shootings and a warped political system. America provides so much of the world’s cultural backdrop that we sometimes mistake it for our own country. It is not, even when a Democrat is president. 

Just last spring, during Joe Biden’s presidency, the US was seen unfavourably by at least half the public in Greece, Singapore and Australia, and by more than 40 per cent in Britain and Canada. The next time pollsters ask the question, they will doubtless find record western disillusion. 

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Europeans — and Canadians and others — are realising that we have our own values and not long to stand up for them. Boycott Philadelphia cream cheese if it makes you feel better. But most Europeans see that the times are now too serious for knee-jerk anti-Americanism.

Henry Mance is the FT’s chief features writer

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Hundreds of anti-Musk protests are planned at Tesla locations worldwide this weekend

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Hundreds of anti-Musk protests are planned at Tesla locations worldwide this weekend

Protesters showed up outside a Tesla showroom and service center in the North Hollywood area of Los Angeles on Saturday, March 15, 2025.

Richard Vogel/AP


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Richard Vogel/AP

Tesla facilities worldwide have been the target of protests objecting to Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s influential role in the Trump administration. This weekend, organizers who have been leading peaceful protests in recent weeks are staging what they hope to be their biggest day yet.

As part of the “Tesla Takedown” campaign, hundreds of nonviolent demonstrations are planned to take place across the U.S. on Saturday. Organizers are calling it a “global day of action” with a goal of 500 protests worldwide.

For weeks, the movement’s organizers have been encouraging people to boycott the EV maker by selling their Tesla cars and stocks. According to Tesla Takedown, thousands of grassroots groups and individuals worldwide are driving the decentralized effort.

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Tesla Takedown organizers say the movement is fueled by anger over Musk’s slashing of the federal government, and that it aims to hit the billionaire where it hurts — the electric vehicle company that’s become his main source of wealth.

Joel Lava, who has been helping lead Tesla Takedown protests in Los Angeles, says Musk’s work to dismantle government agencies and workforce through the unofficially named DOGE initiative is the primary motivator for the movement’s members.

“He’s spearheading DOGE, which is spearheading our country’s destruction — literally destroying our country’s infrastructure,” Lava said. “Therefore, we are taking direct aim at his power, which is his wealth, which is Tesla.” 

Musk critics point to a litany of other grievances, including his attacks on diversity, a gesture he made on the Inauguration Day stage that was widely interpreted to be a Nazi salute, and his support for far-right parties.

Musk and the White House did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.

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Since Musk’s political turn, Tesla sales have slumped, and investors have grown uneasy. But market analysts question how much the dip in Tesla sales and shares can be pinned on its CEO’s actions. Tesla has been losing market share to EV competitors for years. And the stock price has fallen in anticipation of auto tariffs. But Trump administration’s recently announced 25% import tariffs on cars made outside the U.S. could give the stock a welcome boost; auto industry analysts say that among domestic carmakers, Tesla will be the least impacted by the tariffs.

Some of the anti-Musk backlash has been violent. Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations across the U.S. and in Europe have been the target of arson and vandalism. Some have taken to spray-painting swastikas on Tesla sedans and Cybertrucks.

Tesla Takedown movement, organizers say its participants are exercising their right to peacefully protest and that they oppose violence and property destruction.

But Musk did not make that distinction when he went after Valerie Costa, a community activist who has helped organize recent peaceful protests in the Seattle area as part of the Tesla Takedown demonstrations.

Musk, in a post on X earlier this month, accused Costa of “committing crimes,” without giving evidence or specific allegations. That was after he claimed that an environmental activist group she cofounded was backed by the ActBlue, a fundraising platform for Democrats.

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Costa told NPR that the accusations were false, and that Musk supporters subsequently targeted her in direct messages that included threats of physical violence.

“When one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful person in the world is saying you’ve committed a crime, it doesn’t matter what the truth is,” Costa said.

Tesla Takedown organizers who say they want to chip away at Musk’s power, and that starts with tarnishing Tesla’s brand.

“Trump only likes [Musk] because he’s rich,” Lava, the LA-based organizer, said. “If suddenly Musk becomes just another boring, low-end billionaire, Trump will dump him too, and that will also show the power we have as people to effect change.”

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