Eric Rogers, Dave Osborn and Susan Miller, USA TODAY Network
Published 9:12 p.m. ET Aug. 26, 2018 | Updated 9:58 p.m. ET Aug. 26, 2018
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Multiple fatalities occurred in a shooting at a Madden 19 tournament in Jacksonville, Fla. USA TODAY
JACKSONVILLE – Customers come to the Chicago Pizza and Sports Grille to sip beers, talk sports and indulge in deep-dish pies and other pub grub.
On Sunday, the calm of a weekend afternoon at the riverfront hangout was shattered when gunfire ripped through the air and a stampede to escape ensued — many scrambling from a gaming parlor at the back of the restaurant.
Witnesses described a harrowing scene before three people, including the gunman, were dead and 11 were injured in a storm of bullets.
Braheem Johnson, a cook at the grill, caught a glimpse of the shooter, whom he described as a young male of average build who fired into the crowd using a large caliber handgun with a laser sight attachment.
“I just heard shots and I looked at the window and I see him,” Johnson said. “Dude came in there, basically like, to kill … He was just in his rampage mode.”
Johnson barricaded himself and some customers in the restaurant and grabbed a pair of kitchen knives. “If you come into this kitchen, you’re bound to get stabbed,” Johnson said he told the gunman.
Sunday evening, Sheriff Mike Williams said the shooter was believed to be David Katz, 24, of Baltimore. He said the FBI was searching the man’s home as part of the investigation.
Marquis Williams told the Associated Press he and his girlfriend, Taylor Poindexter, were ordering pizza at the restaurant when shots erupted.
“Initially we thought it was a balloon popping, but there weren’t any balloons in the room. Then we heard repeat shots and we took off running.”
Williams participated in the gaming tournament earlier that Sunday, he said. Gamers sit in chairs in front of monitors with headsets to play popular games such as Fortnite or Madden NFL 19.
The path to the restroom at the restaurant would take customers through the gaming parlor, called the GLHF Game Bar. Both spaces are located at an entertainment complex called Jacksonville Landing.
Later Sunday, a few city blocks away from the shooting scene, local residents bemoaned the notion that their beloved “boardwalk” was tarnished forever.
“Now I won’t bring my 5-year-old over there,” said Jesse Santiago of Jacksonville. “That place usually has a lot of kids in it. I just got my boardwalk ruined.”
Chris Haight wondered why someone would even think to bring a handgun to a video game tournament. “I can’t get past the fact that a grown man was playing video games, which I’m OK with, but now three people are dead and others are injured because he got mad and decided to pull out a gun.”
Bartender Adam Kenneway at nearby Spliff’s Gastro Pub said he arrived for his shift a few hours after the shooting to find his restaurant was on lockdown.
“That video game area is hardcore, not like an arcade,” he said. “It’s a very tight-knit community and people were coming from all around for this tournament.”
Contributing: David Osborn and John Torres, USA TODAY Network; The Associated Press
The following article contains spoilers for the season finale of HBO’s Sharp Objects and its post-credit scene.
First of all, if anyone happened to miss the post-credits scene in Sharp Objects, that’s OK. It’s tacked on waayyy at the end of the credits after the production company stingers and it’s entirely forgivable that the ending was so traumatizing as to dissuade people from watching to the end.
That said, definitely watch it.
The spooky scene shows Amma Crellin (presumably in flashback) standing at the edge of the woods in a white dress, staring at the camera as if to lure it to follow her into the forest. Even though the scene is only a few seconds long, it confirms a few things about her short-lived career as Wind Gap’s resident child-killer.
Amma’s white dress makes her resemble the Woman in White, the local legend that 8-year-old James Capisi claimed took victim Natalie Keene from a park. Camille interviews James about what he saw, but the Chief of Police tells her to discount his statement because the Capisi family aren’t well regarded in the town.
As an aside, Chief Vickery is the worst cop ever, right? Like he’s 0-2 when it comes to catching murderers and both of those murderers lived in the same house.
The post-credits scene also makes a few of Amma’s throwaway lines reflexively sinister, including the time she told Camille she stopped being friends with Natalie and Ann because they still wanted to do “kid stuff” like play in the woods — it’s possible Amma told Natalie she wanted to play with her again, which probably sounded great to Natalie, who had recently lost her best friend to the killer.
For anyone hoping for a longer scene that explained more about what Amma did and what happened to her after, the scene may come as a bit of a disappointment. Sharp Objects seems content to let a few of its mysteries lie, such as whether or not Amma had help in pulling Natalie and Ann’s teeth out, and how she moved Natalie’s body to the windowsill in the center of town (signs point to her friends helping her but there’s no confirmation of their involvement).
Still, the post-credit does add some creepy context to Amma’s clearly pre-meditated and heinous crimes and definitely places her as one of TV’s most terrifying teens.
George Bates was GB’s joint top scorer with 17 points
Great Britain men’s wheelchair basketball team created history with victory over the USA in the final of the World Championship in Hamburg.
The GB team claimed a 79-62 win over the Rio Paralympic champions for their first global gold medal.
George Bates and Harry Brown led the GB scoring with 17 points apiece.
“From the build-up we were confident we could win this tournament,” Brown told BBC Sport.
“All the pressure was on the USA today. We knew if we played our game we would come out on top.”
The sides had met in the pool stage with the USA winning 66-59, but the GB players were confident they could turn the tables in the final.
There was never more than a basket or two in it in the opening quarter and in a tough, physical encounter, GB led by eight points in the second quarter – 38-30 – before the USA brought it back to 38-33 at the interval.
GB continued to maintain their advantage with coach Haj Bhania showing faith in his starting five of Brown, captain Phil Pratt, Gregg Warburton, Lee Manning and Simon Brown while Bates also came in to make a big impact in the second half.
They held firm and pulled away in the latter stages to spark scenes of jubilation among the players and fans.
Warburton was later named as the most valuable player of the tournament – a huge honour for the 21-year-old from Leigh who took up the sport as a 10-year-old.
“This is the start of something great,” added Pratt.
“I’ve just played against Matt Scott and Steve Sterio who were among my idols growing up – I watched hours of clips of them and now I have played against them and beaten them in a World Championship final. It is ridiculous.
“We have been working hard to get to this stage and the belief in the team has been so high. We definitely believed we could win.
“This is the first time we have ever been in this situation. We aren’t the underdogs anymore and we will now have a different mindset as we build towards Tokyo.”
GB lost 56-40 to the Netherlands in the women’s final on Saturday.
Co-captain Helen Freeman, who was a star performer in the historic semi-final win over Germany, was named on the women’s All-Star team.
The man, who was identified by Atlanta Police officer Lisa Bender as Anthony Charles Thomas Maxwell, 26, apparently wanted an up-close and personal look at the first family of hip-hop.
The Carters were walking off the stage after they brought the house down with “Apes—” at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium when Maxwell jumped on the stage, wearing a white jersey. He approached Jay-Z and made contact with him, Bender said.
He didn’t get too far: Backup dancers and security guards jumped to restrain the overzealous fan.
USA TODAY has reached out to the couple’s representatives for comment.
Here’s how the moment unfolded:
The tour issued a statement to multiple outlets, including CNN and E! News: “At the end of last night’s show, we had an intoxicated male enter the stage. At this point, we had a controlled evacuation of all crew on the stage in order to safely defuse the situation.”
One concertgoer tweeted: “The fight at the end!!! I need help dissecting this!!!”
Beyonce’s spokeswoman Yvette Noel-Schure said the singer and Jay-Z were unharmed.
“Thank you to all the fans for your concern. They are fine and looking forward to the show tomorrow,” Noel-Schure wrote on Instagram, along with a picture of the couple onstage.
Maxwell was treated for minor injuries and issued a citation for disorderly conduct before being released, Bender said. However, police have added a charge of simple battery.
Beyonce and Jay-Z are set to hit the stage in Atlanta again Sunday night. Let’s hope this concert has a different ending.
Senator John McCain devoted his life to serving our country. USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Amid the weekend’s outpouring of tributes to Sen. John McCain, President Donald Trump’s brief, 21-word tweet spoke volumes.
Since the start of his presidential campaign in 2015, when he said McCain’s more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam didn’t make him a war hero, Trump hasn’t liked McCain. “I like people who weren’t captured,” he said then.
The feeling was mutual. McCain complained in 2015 that Trump “fired up the crazies” in his home state of Arizona over illegal immigration. A month before the election, McCain withdrew his support after Trump was caught on tape speaking in lewd fashion about assaulting women.
Over the years, Trump called McCain “very weak” on immigration, “foul-mouthed” and “a dummy.” McCain has referred to the president as “poorly informed,” “impulsive” and a proponent of “spurious, half-baked nationalism.”
Any hope of rapprochement was dashed last year when McCain cast the deciding vote against the president’s plan to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law. Trump regularly castigated the senator at political rallies after that, imitating McCain’s famous thumbs-down vote.
In recent months, the enmity between the two Republicans only intensified. McCain decided Trump should not be invited to his funeral, where Obama and former President George W. Bush are expected to speak, according to The New York Times.
When Trump met with and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in July, even inviting him to the White House, McCain had had enough. He called it “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”
“The damage inflicted by President Trump’s naivete, egotism, false equivalence and sympathy for autocrats is difficult to calculate,” McCain said at the time.
Just two weeks ago, Trump signed a defense authorization bill named for McCain without uttering the senator’s name. He had criticized McCain’s leadership on veterans issues.
Trump’s tweet Saturday said: “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” There was no comment on McCain the war hero, six-term senator or presidential nominee.
My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!
On Sunday, the only way to read Trump’s mind on McCain was by omission. Flags over the White House were lowered to half-staff but without any proclamation. No formal statement about McCain’s death was delivered.
Instead, the president tweeted about the strong economy and retweeted his disdain for the Justice Department, the FBI and his attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Then he went to his golf club in Sterling, Virginia.
The reactions from others in the administration were warmer toward McCain, who died Saturday at 81 after a year-long battle with brain cancer.
“Our thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathy to the McCain Family. Thank you Senator McCain for your service to the nation,” first lady Melania Trump tweeted.
“Karen and I send our deepest condolences to Cindy and the entire McCain family on the passing of Senator John McCain. We honor his lifetime of service to this nation in our military and in public life. His family and friends will be in our prayers. God bless John McCain,” Vice President Pence tweeted.
McCain, known for his fierce independence and willingness to reach across the aisle, earned praise immediately after his death from former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, and Republican and Democratic congressional leaders alike.
“John McCain was a man of deep conviction and a patriot of the highest order,” said Bush, who defeated McCain to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2000. “He was a public servant in the finest traditions of our country. And to me, he was a friend whom I’ll deeply miss.”
Obama, who defeated McCain for the presidency eight years later, said: “Few of us have been tested the way John once was or required to show the kind of courage that he did. But all of us can aspire to the courage to put the greater good above our own. At John’s best, he showed us what that means.”
John McCain died on Saturday after a year-long struggle with brain cancer.
He was an undisputed war hero and a Republican Senator with a complicated history as a legislator. McCain stood for a more principled brand of conservatism than many of his modern G.O.P. peers, and often expressed his distaste for the street-fighting and mud-slinging that defines Trumpism.
Over the years, McCain earned a reputation for breaking ranks from his fellow Republicans. He didn’t always cast his votes in ways that more left-leaning thinkers would have preferred, but in his words at least he took care to show respect and consideration for the views of his colleagues across the aisle.
Those qualities in particular became an increasingly refreshing presence in a post-2016 political atmosphere that’s largely been defined by partisan bickering and below-the-belt scheming. McCain served with honor, even at a time when fewer and fewer of his colleagues can say the same.
Prior to entering politics — a career that included more than 30 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, as well as a competitive presidential campaign in 2008 against Barack Obama — McCain was a military man. He joined the U.S. Navy in the late ’50s and became a pilot.
Over the years, McCain earned a reputation for breaking ranks from fellow Republicans.
McCain didn’t see his first combat assignment until 1967, when the Vietnam War was in full swing. Less than a year into his service — during his 23rd bombing run — McCain’s plane was shot down and he was captured by North Vietnamese forces. He then spent the next five and a half years as a prisoner of war, until his release in 1973.
He continued to serve in the years after his release, eventually taking on the role of the U.S. Navy’s liaison to the Senate. McCain retired in 1981 as a highly decorated captain. During his time in the Navy, he earned two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Bronze Star Medals, two Purple Hearts, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and a Prisoner of War Medal.
This handful of paragraphs doesn’t fully capture McCain’s long and illustrious career. It should, however, give you the sense of a man who devoted his life to serving his country — which McCain certainly did.
He’s better remembered by the words of those who knew him. There are plenty of those to go around today as the McCain’s family, friends, colleagues, and even political rivals have taken to social media to share their touching remembrances of the departed Senator.
My heart is broken. I am so lucky to have lived the adventure of loving this incredible man for 38 years. He passed the way he lived, on his own terms, surrounded by the people he loved, in the the place he loved best.
George H. W. Bush: “John McCain was a patriot of the highest order, a public servant of rarest courage. Few sacrificed more for, or contributed more to, the welfare of his fellow citizens” pic.twitter.com/unGdPH0eyT
.@SenJohnMcCain lived a life of service to his country, from his heroism in the Navy to 35 years in Congress. He was a tough politician, a trusted colleague, and there will simply never be another like him. My thoughts and prayers are with Cindy and his entire family.
It’s also worth reading this thoughtful remembrance of McCain penned by his fellow Arizona Senator, Jeff Flake. Here’s an excerpt:
Life’s last mile took John to his beloved ranch in northern Arizona. It was there a few months ago where we sat for an hour or so, just the two of us, watching Oak Creek gently ripple under the shade of giant cottonwood trees. He named the birds singing above us in the branches. He quoted lines from the novels he loved. We reminisced about the past, of personalities come and gone. He spoke wistfully of those he admired and expressed optimism that such leaders would rise up in the future.
And now, in a way that would probably have him making wisecracks, we are wistful for John McCain. We may never see his like again, but it is his reflection of America that we need now more than ever. He was far too self-deprecating to ever have thought of himself as just such a towering figure, so I will go ahead and say it. He showed us who we are and who we can be when we are at our best. And he devoted his life to service and to the exalted idea of America that was bigger and better than him. Bigger than us all. His fidelity to that idea, and his idealism in balancing fierce political battles with a determination to always see the good and find the humanity in his opponents is an example that transcended politics and made him the man that he was.
Andy Murray pulled out of this year’s Wimbledon on the eve of the Championships
2018 US Open
Dates: 27 August-9 September Venue: Flushing Meadows, New York Coverage: Live radio coverage on BBC Radio 5 live text commentaries on the BBC Sport website
Andy Murray is one of four Britons starting their US Open campaigns when the fourth and final major of the year begins in New York on Monday.
The 31-year-old Scot makes his Grand Slam return against Australia’s James Duckworth on the new Louis Armstrong Stadium about 18:00 BST.
British number one Kyle Edmund meets Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi at 16:00, while Cameron Norrie also plays on court 13 against Jordan Thompson at about 20:30.
Heather Watson faces Russian Ekaterina Makarova on court four about 18:00.
Johanna Konta, Britain’s fifth representative, plays French sixth seed Caroline Garcia on Tuesday.
Six-time champion Serena Williams opens the night session at 7pm local time (00:00 BST) on Arthur Ashe Stadium – Flushing Meadows’ imposing 23,700-seater main court – following an on-court performance by American pop star Kelly Clarkson as part of the tournament’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
Following Williams’ match against Poland’s Magda Linette, world number one Rafael Nadal opens the defence of his men’s singles title against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.
Former champion Stan Wawrinka starts the day session on Ashe against eighth seed Grigor Dimitrov, with women’s top seed Simona Halep playing on Armstrong before Murray’s match.
Defending champion Sloane Stephens follows Murray on Armstrong, the 14,000-capacity secondary show court which has been rebuilt with a retractable roof and reopens this year, when she plays Russia’s Evgeniya Rodina.
Andy Murray met the media at the new Louis Armstrong Stadium on Friday
Konta and Edmund lead British hopes
Konta is the only Briton to have gained direct entry to the women’s draw by virtue of her ranking, but is outside of the seedings after a year during which she has tumbled down the rankings to 46th.
The 27-year-old was the seventh seed at Flushing Meadows last year and could have ended the tournament as the world number one, but lost to unseeded Serb Aleksandra Krunic in the first round.
She has struggled for consistent form since being beaten by Venus Williams in last year’s Wimbledon semi-finals, losing five matches in a row at the end of the year and reaching just one final in 2018.
The American hard-court season has given her some positivity going into the US Open, Konta inflicting a career-worst defeat on Serena Williams in San Jose before beating Grand Slam winners Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka in Montreal.
Johanna Konta took less than an hour to win 6-1 6-0 against Serena Williams last month
Edmund, the highest-ranked Briton in either draw and seeded 16th at the US Open, is looking to at least match his run to the last 16 two years ago.
The 23-year-old Yorkshireman has only managed one victory in three tournaments on the American hard courts, leading to him accepting a wildcard at the Winston-Salem Open, where he lost in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Norrie is the only other Briton to gain direct entry into the main draw, while Watson earned her place on Friday following three victories in qualifying.
Murray comeback set for stern test
Scot Murray pulled out of this year’s Wimbledon on the eve of the Championships, saying he was not ready to compete in five-set matches following surgery in January.
The former world number one, who won his first Slam title at the US Open in 2012, is now ranked 378th in the world but will compete at Flushing Meadows because of his protected ranking.
Murray has played tournaments in Washington and Cincinnati in preparation for the fourth and final major of the tennis season.
He won three matches at the Citi Open in Washington, including a second-round victory over new British number one Edmund, but lost to France’s world number 17 Lucas Pouille in the first round at Cincinnati.
Djokovic aims to equal Sampras tally
Rafael Nadal beat Kevin Anderson in last year’s final to win his third US Open title
Murray is one of seven former US Open champions in the men’s field and all – except perhaps the Briton and wildcard Stan Wawrinka, who is also returning from long-term injury – are expected to be among the main challengers.
Novak Djokovic: After winning his 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last month, the 31-year-old Serb is the favourite to win on his return to Flushing Meadows.
He missed the tournament last year with an elbow injury but his triumphs at SW19 and Cincinnati – where he beat Roger Federer to complete the career ‘Golden Masters’ – show he has recaptured his best form.
Now the sixth seed hopes to match the Grand Slam tally of Pete Sampras, whom he describes as his “biggest role model”.
Rafael Nadal: The world number one has only played in the Rogers Cup since his semi-final defeat by Djokovic at Wimbledon – and won the title.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion pulled out of the Cincinnati Masters last week, saying he wanted to rest his body before the US Open.
Roger Federer: Like Nadal, the 37-year-old Swiss has been smart with his scheduling as he continues to defy the ageing process.
The world number two, a 20-time Grand Slam winner, made his comeback at Cincinnati, reaching the final in his first outing since Wimbledon.
Juan Martin del Potro: When the giant Argentine won the US Open as a 20-year-old in 2009, many expected him to challenge for more Slams over the following years.
His career has been hampered by serious wrist injuries but he has battled back and reached a career-high third in the rankings last week.
Marin Cilic: The 2014 champion has won five matches in his two tournaments on the hard courts, losing to Rafael Nadal in Toronto and Djokovic in Cincinnati.
Williams ‘not going to New York to lose’
Despite reaching the Wimbledon final, where she lost to Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams says she is still at the start of a “long comeback”.
The 23-time Grand Slam champion is seeded 17th at Flushing Meadows, moving up from her world ranking of 26 to take into account tournaments she missed while she was pregnant with daughter Olympia, who was born last September.
Williams fell to the heaviest defeat of her career against Konta in San Jose last month, later revealing she discovered shortly before the match that the man convicted of killing her half-sister had been released on parole.
The 36-year-old American is bidding for a seventh US Open title.
“I’m not going in there thinking I’m going to lose. That’s not being Serena. That’s being someone else,” she said.
Which other women will challenge?
Simona Halep lost to Kiki Bertens in the final of the Cincinnati Masters on Sunday
Simona Halep: The world number one lifted her first Grand Slam trophy at the French Open in June which, according to the legendary Martina Navratilova, has increased the 26-year-old Romanian’s confidence and belief. However the Romanian’s preparation has been disrupted by a heel injury that forced her withdrawal from the final warm-up event in Connecticut.
“I think Halep’s new confidence and attitude are going to make her more proactive during rallies, and that’s going to help her to play better on the US Open hard courts,” Navratilova told the WTA.
Sloane Stephens: The defending champion has a formidable record on the North American hard courts, having won 32 matches and lost eight on the surface in the past year.
The 25-year-old American, who is ranked third in the world, is aiming to become only the fourth woman to retain the title since 2000 after the Williams sisters and Kim Clijsters.
Angelique Kerber: Current form and past pedigree mark out the Wimbledon champion as one of the main contenders.
Only Halep stands above of her in the year-to-date rankings as the 30-year-old German continues her renaissance under Konta’s former coach Wim Fissette, and the 2016 champion has already shown she can win at Flushing Meadows.
Caroline Wozniacki: Like Halep, the world number two won her first Slam this year – with victory at the Australian Open in January. But she has been unable to build on that in recent months.
An early exit at Wimbledon has been followed by a knee injury which forced the 28-year-old Dane to retire during the recent Cincinnati Masters – not the ideal build-up as she aims to go one better than runner-up finishes in 2009 and 2014.
Schedule of play (all start times BST)
Monday, 27 August: Round one (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Tuesday, 28 August: Round one (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Wednesday, 29 August: Round two (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Thursday, 30 August: Round two (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Friday, 31 August: Round three (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Saturday, 1 September: Round three (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Sunday, 2 September: Round four (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Monday, 3 September: Round four (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Tuesday, 4 September: Quarter-finals (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Wednesday, 5 September: Quarter-finals (day session 16:00, night session 00:00)
Pope Francis said at the start of a visit to Ireland on Saturday that he shares the outrage of rank-and-file Catholics over the failure of church authorities to punish the “repugnant crimes” of priests who raped and molested children. (Aug. 25) AP
Pope Francis should resign for his “sinful conduct” in covering up sexual abuse allegations against Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a retired Vatican diplomat says.
Francis had recently become pope in 2013 when he asked Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò his thoughts on McCarrick, Viganò says in a damning, 11-page open letter published Sunday.
“I don’t know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but there is a dossier this thick about him,” Viganò said he told the pope in 2013. “He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests.”
Viganò, who was serving as the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S., told Francis that his predecessor, Pope Benedict, had ordered McCarrick to leave the seminary where he was living and withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.
Viganò, 77, was a hard-line conservative pillar at the Vatican before retiring in 2016. He said Francis dropped the sanctions against McCarrick, a well-known liberal by church standards, and “continued to cover for him.” McCarrick resigned last month amid claims of sexual abuse of an altar boy and seminarians.
The Vatican had no immediate comment on Viganò’s claims but has said the pope acted quickly once he learned that McCarrick was facing credible claims. Francis addressed the global sexual abuse scandal Saturday in a speech in Ireland, where outrage over abuses there have overwhelmed coverage of the pope’s visit.
“The failure of … bishops, religious superiors, priests and others to adequately address these repugnant crimes has rightly given rise to outrage and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community,” the pope said. “I myself share these sentiments.”
John Thavis, a former Catholic News Service reporter and author of The Vatican Diaries, says Viganò’s letter doesn’t explain how McCarrick was able to continue his high-profile work in the church at the end of Benedict’s reign if he had truly been admonished by the former pope. He noted that Viganò’s source on Benedict’s actions against McCarrick were based on second-hand information.
Thavis also noted that Viganò “blindsided” Francis two years ago when, during the pope’s U.S. visit, Viganò set up a controversial meeting between the pope and a court clerk in Kentucky who had refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
“The tone of the letter and its content resemble a political hit piece on the pope,” Thavis said. “Sadly, the sex abuse crisis is being used as political leverage by some factions in the church.”
Father Jame Bretzke, a theology professor at Marquette University, noted that conservatives such as Viganò found their influence diminished when Francis became pope.
“While Viganò was not explicitly fired, he very clearly was ‘replaced’ and he has long been known as a fierce opponent of Pope Francis,” Bretzke said.
That said, the letter calls for a detailed response from the pope, Thavis said.
“I know of no other instance in modern times where a (former) high-ranking church officials has publicly called on the pope to resign,” Thavis said.
Viganò wrote that too many people have been “deeply scandalized by the abominable and sacrilegious behavior of the former Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick; by the grave, disconcerting and sinful conduct of Pope Francis” and by many pastors who remained silent.
“Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example to cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them,” Viganò wrote.
Gather your coins, folks. Another opportunity to own a piece of Apple history is coming soon.
This September, an Apple-1 computer is going on sale to the highest bidder. While you might not want to rely on it for your day-to-day needs, the Apple-1 — designed by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak in the 1970s — is fully operable.
Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen restored the machine earlier this summer, and has officially given this particular computer an above average 8.5/10 rating. Auctioneers at Invaluable are expecting this computer to go for anywhere from $300,000-$400,000, but before you reach for your wallet it’s worth noting that previous sales of different versions of the Apple-1 have fetched everywhere from $130,000 to over $800,000, per MacRumors.
According to auction details, the set includes the original Apple-1 board along with manuals, keyboard, video monitor and more.
Over the years, manyofthesecomputers have been auctioned off — but of the 200 made, there are reportedly only around 60-70 units left. So if you’re itching to get your hands on any of the remaining computers, time is ticking.
The actual sale will occur at a WeWorks in Boston on Sept. 25th, at 1:00 p.m ET, but until then you can watch a video of the computer here.
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