Latest news with #ElSalvadorean
Boston Globe
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
In ‘The Accountant 2′, Ben Affleck crunches more than numbers
What makes Christian great at both jobs? He possesses the power to do thousands of calculations in his head, and to see patterns where mere mortals cannot. This is due to him being blessed with Hollywood's version of autism, which automatically makes you an amazing savant who talks like an emotionless robot. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) in THE ACCOUNTANT 2. (Amazon MGM Studios) Amazon MGM Studios Advertisement I'm tired of this stereotypical depiction of autism. It's as if Hollywood has to assign superpowers to people on the spectrum in order for them to be accepted by mainstream audiences. While it's often amusing to watch a blank-faced Affleck dislocate shoulders after explaining how much it's going to hurt, other scenes are not so funny. Take an early sequence where he rigs a speed dating service app so all the women are assigned to his table at the meetup. 'The Accountant 2″ goes through an entire montage of Christian alienating the women, intercut with a scene of him walking the stunned event planners through how he gamed the system. Advertisement On a more positive note, Christian's nonverbal handler, Justine (Allison Robertson takes over the role; Alison Wright returns as her computer generated voice) and her crew are all neurodivergent experts who assist him with surveillance, hacking and finding pertinent information in a preternaturally quick fashion. They're the usual team you'd find in movies like this and the 'Mission: Impossible' series. Representation matters, but I question the downside of the monolithic representation Hollywood affords the autistic. Anais (Daniella Pineda) and Ray King (J.K. Simmons) in THE ACCOUNTANT 2. (Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios) Warrick Page/Amazon MGM Studios But I digress. In this sequel, the siblings are thrown into another violent caper. This one involves the mysterious death that opens the film. Treasury director Ray King (J.K. Simmons, reprising his role) meets a mysterious blonde woman named Anais (Daniella Pineda) whose deadly evasion skills prove she's some kind of government operative and assassin. King ends up shot to death, but before a different set of goons gun him down, he writes 'find the accountant' on his arm. King's death is part of a bigger conspiracy that involves the kidnapping of an El Salvadorean boy and the disappearance of his parents. His murder case is assigned to FBI agent Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson). She follows King's advice and calls the accountant, but she's repulsed by the rule-breaking tactics of the Wolff brothers. While I'm complaining about tired tropes in movies, please indulge me one more. Medina's character is the spoilsport woman cliché who always tells the hero that he shouldn't do the one thing you came to see him do. This nagging character is usually in biopics about 'great men,' and is so played out that you can find TikTok videos of female comedians mocking the character mercilessly. Addai-Robinson's talents deserve better. Advertisement Christian Wolff (Ben Affleck) and Brax (Jon Bernthal) in THE ACCOUNTANT 2. (Amazon MGM Studios) Amazon MGM Studios 'The Accountant 2″ is at its best and most entertaining when dealing with the bickering brothers Wolff. It's been eight years since they've seen each other (the same distance between 'Accountant' films), and old gripes re-emerge. Bernthal is excellent as the more emotional counterpoint to Affleck, and the two play that chemistry to great comic effect. Both are lonely man-children trying to show brotherly love in the only ways they can. Their arguments provide a welcome diversion while we await the film's violent, bullet-filled climax. Meanwhile, a scene where Christian cuts loose in a line dance has the potential to be cringeworthy, but the two actors turn it into a sweet bonding moment. While the film's way of dealing with mental issues is iffy, there's one intriguing plotline involving a woman whose head trauma made her an amoral and extremely affective killer. It would be a spoiler to reveal the true identity of this character, so I'll just say that she drives the action in unexpected ways, leading to a coda that I wish were better executed. You don't need Christian Wolff's powers of deduction to predict the inevitable 'The Accountant 3.' That is, if the box office balances the books. ★★1/2 THE ACCOUNTANT 2 Directed by Gavin O'Connor. Written by Bill Dubuque. Starring Ben Affleck, Jon Bernthal, Cynthia Addai-Robinson, J.K. Simmons, Daniella Pineda, Allison Robertson, Alison Wright. At AMC Boston Common, Landmark Kendall Square, Alamo Drafthouse Seaport, AMC Causeway, suburbs. 132 min. R (the bottom line shows violence and profanity) Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court Needs to ‘Show Some Backbone' and Stop Trump-Ordered Deportations, Former DOJ Prosecutor Says
If the Supreme Court doesn't take 'drastic steps' to stop President Trump's illegal deportations, 'we really won't have a country left,' Andrew Weissmann, former lead prosecutor for the Department of Justice said in a grim message on Monday. Trump has not only refused to comply with the Supreme Court's unanimous decision uphold a trial judge's order to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. after sending him to an El Salvadorean prison, on Monday he told the country's president Nayib Bukele that it was time to start deporting U.S. citizens or 'homegrown criminals' as well. Speaking on 'Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace,' Weissmann said, 'It is now going to be up to the Supreme Court to actually show some steel and backbone, to find that this is in violation of their order and take as drastic steps as they can — and ideally again, unanimously — about what is happening here. Or we really won't have a country left.' Weissmann added, 'This really is the Rubicon that I was hoping we would never, ever get to.' He mentioned a fellow panelist, former Judge of the United States Court of Appeals, J. Michael Luttig, saying, 'Judge Luttig correctly said this was going to happen — and it has.' Luttig issued a dire warning that Trump is setting the stage to deport anyone who opposes him. 'What Donald Trump is doing today to other residents and citizens of the United States, he could do to any one of us. And the American people must understand that Donald Trump is willing and fully prepared to grab off the street and deport any person in this country that he believes ought not be here. And that includes any of us.' 'You are all taking my breath away with the clarity of your pronouncements,' said Wallace. 'The View' co-host Whoopi Goldberg warned viewers about the legality of deportations in March, saying, 'the next one they take could be you.' Watch the segment in the embedded video above. The post Supreme Court Needs to 'Show Some Backbone' and Stop Trump-Ordered Deportations, Former DOJ Prosecutor Says appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stephen Miller Hijacks Oval Office Meeting to Rant about Deported Dad
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller went on an Oval Office tirade about why a father who was wrongly deported to El Salvador should not be returned to the United States. Invited to talk by Donald Trump, Miller launched into an attack on the American media, saying it was 'arrogant' to claim the administration should tell El Salvador how to treat its own citizens. He insisted that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, still languishing in a grim top security prison in the Central American country, was a proven member of MS-13, the feared El Salvadorean criminal gang. 'Under our law, he's not even allowed to be present in the United States, and had to be returned because of the foreign terrorist designation,' he said on Monday. Although the Justice Department has acknowledged a mistake in rounding up Garcia, his hopes of being allowed back to his home in Maryland suffered a huge blow. First, Miller insisted America had no say in Garcia's plight. And then El Salvador President Nayib Bukele claimed it was 'preposterous' to consider sending the father of a young child back to the U.S. 'How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? Of course I'm not going to do it,' he said, adding: 'We're not very fond of releasing terrorists.' Miller said a district court judge, Judge Paula Xinis, wanted the administration to 'kidnap' Garcia and bring him back to the U.S. He added that the Supreme Court reversed that decision by a unanimous 9-0 majority, stating 'clearly that neither the Secretary of State nor the President could be compelled by anybody to forcibly retrieve a citizen of El Salvador from El Salvador who, again, is a member of MS-13, which, as I'm sure you understand, rapes little girls, murders women, murders children and engages in the most nefarious activities in the world. 'And I can promise you, if he was your neighbor, you would move away.' Miller claimed that if El Salvador sent Garcia back, he could be deported a second time.' 'That is a the president of El Salvador,' added Miller, pointing at Bukele sitting on a chair next to Trump and saying that any further questions on Garcia's fate should be directed at him. According to court filings, Garcia has never been charged criminally in the U.S. or El Salvador and Justice Department officials have acknowledged the existence of an immigration order barring him from being deported to El Salvador. While an immigration judge found in 2019 that Garcia was a member of MS-13, he denies the charge, saying it was based on one 'unsubstantiated' claim that involved him wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and a hoodie. He came illegally into the country 15 years ago but was granted protection from being deported for his own safety. The Supreme Court found the deportation was illegal and ordered the administration to 'effectuate' his return, but Trump's advisors have repeatedly said it is not in their jurisdiction. Right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk called Miller's rant a 'masterclass,' adding: 'Everyone needs to watch Stephen Miller's real-time factcheck on the truth about the MS-13 illegal gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia that was deported to El Salvador.' Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said he planned to travel to El Salvador if Garcia is not returned. 'Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia never should have been abducted and illegally deported, and the courts have made clear: the Administration must bring him home, now. However, since the Trump Administration appears to be ignoring these court mandates, we need to take additional action,' he said in a statement. After Miller spoke, Secretary of State Marco Rubio added: 'I don't understand what the confusion is.' He claimed the country's foreign policy should be 'conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court'. Trump said he planned to deport 'as many as possible' to El Salvador. He said that could include 'home-grown' criminals and he told Bukele the president has 'gotta build about 5 more places' in addition to his maximum security 'terrorist' prison.
CBC
14-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
El Salvador's president dismisses question about returning Maryland resident to U.S. as 'preposterous'
El Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele, in Washington for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, took a question Monday about returning Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who U.S. court filings have admitted was deported in an administrative error. Bukele dismissed the question as 'preposterous' and suggested he would not release Garcia, a citizen of El Salvador who Bukele described without evidence as a 'terrorist,' in that country, either.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Yahoo
Everything to Know About the Rachel Morin Murder Investigation
Originally appeared on E! Online On Aug. 5, 2023, went out for an early-evening walk along a well-trafficked trail in Bel Air, Md., and never came home. Ten months later, Victor Martinez-Hernandez was arrested for her murder—and the news that an undocumented El Salvadorean immigrant was allegedly responsible turned Morin's case into a political lightning rod. Amid the defense's stated concerns that their client won't be able to get a fair trial, and after their request for a change of venue was denied, the trial is underway, with opening statements expected to begin April 4. He "asserts his innocence and looks forward to his day in court," assistant public defenders Marcus Jenkins, Sawyer Hicks and Tara LeCompte told the Baltimore Banner before jury selection kicked off April 1. "There are many unanswered questions in this case and we are prepared to hold the State to its burden." But rabid national interest aside, at the heart of the case was a 37-year-old mother of five whose family wants from E! Online Influencer Lindsay Dewey's 22-Month-Old Son Dies After Mirror Falls on Him Sean 'Diddy' Combs Lawsuit Dismissed After Accuser Doesn't Identify Herself Malcolm in the Middle's Erik Per Sullivan Seen for the First Time 18 Years 'I'm tired from all of this, going through all of this really wears you down, physically and emotionally,' Matt McMahon, the father of Morin's eldest child, told Baltimore's Fox 45 News. Her then-boyfriend Richard Tobin and her 19- and -14-year-old daughters were due to testify, according to McMahon, who added, "I see this as an opportunity to stand up for Rachel, defend her, stand up for themselves. So for them, I feel that it's extremely healing to be part of the process." Martinez-Hernandez, 24, is charged with first- and second-degree murder, first- and second-degree rape, a third-degree sex offense and kidnapping. He's facing a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Here is how the investigation into Morin's death unfolded from the beginning: A passerby called 911 shortly after 1 p.m. on Aug. 6, 2023, to report finding a woman's body off to the side of the Ma & Pa (as in Maryland and Pennsylvania) Trail, according to Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler, turning what had been an hours-long missing person search for Morin into a homicide investigation. The 37-year-old mother of five was last seen at 6 p.m. on Aug. 5 and her boyfriend reported her missing at 11:23 p.m., Gahler said during an Aug. 6 news conference. Investigators found Morin's car parked in a lot at the trailhead, where the boyfriend indicated the vehicle would be, the sheriff continued, and his office issued a public notice that was shared more than 11,000 times. "That's been a good side of social media," Gahler noted. "The bad side is, there's also been a lot of false or early information shared that we don't want to see. We don't want to see false news out there." But when it came to Morin's case, which he called a "very active criminal investigation," Gahler said, "If you think you have just the smallest tidbit of information, you saw something in this young lady's travels yesterday, to the trail, on the trail, investigators would like to talk to you." At that time, the sheriff added, they had no suspects and he could not definitively say there was no further threat to the community. "Right now," he said, "detectives continue to work the case as aggressively as they possibly can, and we will leave no stone unturned." Characterizing the trail as a generally safe place that was important to their town, he advised those using it to stay vigilant and pay attention to their surroundings. Yet they were sure that Morin was the victim of foul play, Gahler calling what happened to Morin a "violent homicide." "It was more than obviously apparent to police officers and our detectives who came up that this was not an accidental injury— somebody out exercising who's fallen down and sustained a fatal injury," the sheriff told Fox News Digital. "This was not something that was was the action of one or more persons who took her life in a criminal homicide—an egregious, horrific act in what is very otherwise...a very, very safe area." There were 10 detectives assigned to Morin's case, Gahler shared in an Aug. 10, 2023, video posted to the Harford County Sheriff's Facebook page. Along with forensic investigators and crime analysts, they were working "around the clock" to piece together "the hours, minutes and seconds" leading up to her death. Gahler said some of the hundreds of tips that came in had been "promising and tremendous in advancing the investigation and bringing us closer to getting the answers that we need, the answers that Rachel's family needs and the answers that this community needs." And since many people had asked, the sheriff said, his reply was yes, they had interviewed Rachel's boyfriend, "along with many other people who are close to Rachel. That is the way an investigation is conducted. We start with people in her close inner circle" and go from there. "Together," Gahler concluded, "we will solve this crime and find this heinous coward who took Rachel Morin from her family and friends." Authorities encouraged anyone with information to come forward, though they also reminded people to be prudent when it came to discussing the case publicly, particularly online. "If people are putting false information out there or guesses out there, coming up with their own theories of what happened and people are running with that, that can distract our investigation," Harford Sheriff's Col. William Davis told NBC affiliate WBAL on Aug. 11, 2023. "Because if people have leads, we're going to follow up on those leads, and we want our detectives focused on things that are actual facts and not things that are made up by other people." Also on Aug. 11, the sheriff's office shared that detectives had identified and contacted five people who were walking their dogs on the trail between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. the night Morin was headed to the trail and may have been among the last to see her alive. Authorities encouraged anyone with information to come forward, though they also reminded people to be prudent when it came to discussing the case publicly, particularly online. "If people are putting false information out there or guesses out there, coming up with their own theories of what happened and people are running with that, that can distract our investigation," Harford Sheriff's Col. William Davis told NBC affiliate WBAL on Aug. 11, 2023. "Because if people have leads, we're going to follow up on those leads, and we want our detectives focused on things that are actual facts and not things that are made up by other people." Also on Aug. 11, the sheriff's office shared that detectives had identified and contacted five people who were walking their dogs on the trail between 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. the night Morin was headed to the trail and may have been among the last to see her alive. In the meantime, authorities increased patrols along the Ma & Pa Trail, Sheriff Gahler telling WBAL, "Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event." County officials also acknowledged the clamor for cameras to be installed along the trail, a portion of which goes through a tunnel. "It's unfortunate that it takes a tragedy for us to recognize our vulnerabilities and address those," Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly told WBAL on Aug. 15. "I want the trail to be used," he said. "I want it to remain the wonderful asset that it is for our community, and recognize in order to maintain that wonderful asset. We're going to have to put the money into putting the cameras there and maintaining an appropriate level of safety." In the meantime, authorities increased patrols along the Ma & Pa Trail, Sheriff Gahler telling WBAL, "Not knowing whether this was a targeted event specific to Rachel, we are going to aware, be thinking there could be somebody out here and this is a random event." County officials also acknowledged the clamor for cameras to be installed along the trail, a portion of which goes through a tunnel. "It's unfortunate that it takes a tragedy for us to recognize our vulnerabilities and address those," Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly told WBAL on Aug. 15. "I want the trail to be used," he said. "I want it to remain the wonderful asset that it is for our community, and recognize in order to maintain that wonderful asset. We're going to have to put the money into putting the cameras there and maintaining an appropriate level of safety." The person responsible for Rachel's death "could be someone who came to learn that routine and knew where she might be at that time, or it could be a random person," Gahler told Fox News Digital on Aug. 8, noting that the victim led an active lifestyle and "it wasn't unusual for her to be out." On Aug. 17, Col. Davis told reporters that DNA found at the Morin crime scene had been analyzed by Maryland State Police and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), where it matched evidence collected from a March home invasion in Los Angeles, during which a young girl was assaulted. They had not yet identified the suspect, Davis said at a news conference, but they believed the figure seen on doorbell cam footage obtained by the LAPD from the house where the alleged assault occurred is their guy. So far, he explained, the DNA hadn't shown up in any other law enforcement database (from a prior arrest, etc.) and they were working with experts from the FBI crime lab to further analyze the sample. The doorbell footage, which is posted on the Harford County Sheriff's social media accounts, shows a man wearing pants but no shirt (he appears to be carrying a piece of clothing) leaving through the front door of the house. From their analysis of the video and witness observations, Davis said, they were looking for a male of Hispanic descent in his early-to-mid-20s, height approximately 5-foot-9 and weighing about 160 pounds. "We know nothing about him," Davis said, "other than he was in L.A. and committed that crime in March, and was here in August, and we believe him to be the murderer of Rachel Morin." "This was not an accidentally [sic] death, and she did not go willingly, and she deserves a funeral worthy of her beauty," sister Rebekah Morin wrote on a GoFundMe page she set up for funeral expenses and Rachel's kids, which ultimately raised more than $56,000. "If there are any remaining funds, they will go towards things her five children may need." The family also planned a memorial walk on the Ma & Pa Trail for the morning of Aug. 19 "so we can grieve the tragic loss of a woman who was so full of life," Rebekah wrote on Facebook. "Please join us as we pray and mourn for our beloved Rachel." On June 15, 2024, Martinez-Hernandez was arrested at a bar in Tulsa, Okla., and taken into custody, where he has remained since. "So far, we have learned that the suspect, now pictured on the screens, is a 23-year-old citizen of El Salvador who illegally crossed the border into the United States in February of 2023" after committing another murder, Gahler said at a press conference. And once he was in the U.S. "and likely emboldened by his anonymity," the sheriff continued, "he brutally attacked a 9-year-old girl and her mother during a home invasion in March of 2023 in Los Angeles." It turned out his DNA was linked to the samples taken from the L.A. and Maryland crime scenes, according to FBI special agent Bill DelBagno, head of the agency's Baltimore Field Office. "Our investigative genetic genealogy team in Baltimore worked countless hours to identify the suspect by using crime scene DNA and tracing that DNA to potential family members," DelBagno told reporters. "Investigators even traveled to El Salvador as part of their efforts to identify this killer." Suffice it to say, Morin's family had been following the investigation extremely closely and continued to do so once an arrest was made. "To see him on TV when we had the bail review hearing across the street is so different when you have him in the room," Morin family attorney Randolph Rice told CBS Baltimore after an October hearing during which the trial was postponed from December until April. "His hands are shackled, his feet are shackled, he's wearing the striped black and white jumpsuit. To be in the same room with the man who is alleged to have killed your daughter, it's just a very emotional day." As for the defense's request to delay the proceedings, Rice said, "You're looking at 10 months of evidence. The state has had this since the day Rachel was found and they've been collecting evidence. The defense is three months and three days, four days into this so they've got a lot of catch-up to do." "This was not an accidentally [sic] death, and she did not go willingly, and she deserves a funeral worthy of her beauty," sister Rebekah Morin wrote on a GoFundMe page she set up for funeral expenses and Rachel's kids, which ultimately raised more than $56,000. "If there are any remaining funds, they will go towards things her five children may need." The family also planned a memorial walk on the Ma & Pa Trail for the morning of Aug. 19 "so we can grieve the tragic loss of a woman who was so full of life," Rebekah wrote on Facebook. "Please join us as we pray and mourn for our beloved Rachel." Mom Patty Morin wrote on Facebook, per CBS News Baltimore, "If you have experienced the loss of a dear loved one, then you know how hard it can be to express the pain that you feel in your heart. When it's sudden and tragic, your mind looks for ways to cope. As a mom, I appreciate the outpouring of love and support from family, friends, and the worldwide community that grieves with me for my young daughter. Thank you for caring. Truly." A celebration of life was held Aug. 27 at Greater Grace Church of Baltimore. "Rachel just didn't deserve this," McMahon, the father of Morin's eldest child (who, he said, was expecting her first child), told CBS Baltimore in October after the postponement hearing. "We shouldn't have to be here. But at the end of the day, it's a good day because this is a day for justice for Rachel." As the trial grew closer, he invited anyone attending to support Morin's family to wear pink and green, the favorite colors of her teen daughters who will be testifying. (Originally published Aug. 19, 2023, at 5 a.m. PT)
