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President Trump...Foiled mass shootings...Rudy Giuliani...Officer shootings...Wildfires

view in browser Thursday 08.22.19 Oh, no! It looks like something went wrong with our e-mail delivery this morning. If you missed today's 5 Things, we sincerely apologize! Here's a copy. We ironed out the kinks, so everything should be back to normal tomorrow. Thank you for your understanding. Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. By AJ Willingham President Trump    Donald Trump's week of unusually controversial and contradictory statements rolls on. The President yesterday told reporters he is "seriously" considering ending US birthright citizenship, even though such a move would face immediate legal challenge and is at odds with Supreme Court precedent and, well, the 14th Amendment. This is far from the first time Trump has talked about ending the process by which babies born in the country automatically become citizens, and such hard-line anti-immigration proposals are popular with his base. What might not play as well? Using messianic language -- about yourself. Speaking to reporters at the White House about trade relations with China, Trump paused and pointed to the heavens, saying, "I'm the chosen one." He'd earlier thanked a conspiracy theorist who described him as being like the King of Israel and said Jews "love him like the second coming of God." He also joked to a group of veterans about giving himself the Medal of Honor, which recognizes the highest levels of military valor.   Foiled mass shootings     The aftershocks of this month's mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso continue to reverberate in frightening ways. At least 28 people have been arrested over threats to commit mass attacks since the pair of shootings a few weeks ago. A significant number of these threats have come from teenagers making violent promises from the perceived anonymity of the internet, and several more credible threats were racially motivated: A 35-year-old man was arrested in Seattle after threatening to kill people and calling for the "extermination" of Hispanics, and a self-described white nationalist threatened to attack an Ohio-area Jewish center. After the two shootings in early August, the FBI announced it would ask agency offices nationwide to conduct new threat assessments to hopefully thwart more mass attacks. The agency said in a statement it was concerned extremists would see the attacks as an opportunity to "engage in similar acts of violence."   Rudy Giuliani    It appears Rudy Giuliani is still invested in getting the Ukrainian government to investigate President Trump's political enemies. The former New York City mayor said he spoke with a Ukrainian official about 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden's possible role in that government's dismissal of a prosecutor who investigated Biden's son. Giuliani has directly pursued Ukrainian investigations into American politics for the better part of a year now, although he claims he hasn't done so at Trump's request. As for how that relates to the Biden situation, Giuliani has long been pressuring Ukraine to investigate a 2016 call Biden made to remove a prosecutor who at one point had been investigating a Ukrainian natural gas company connected to Biden's son, Hunter.   Officer shootings In the last seven days, there have been several shootings of police spanning five states, from California to Pennsylvania. Luckily, none was fatal, but the cases have caught national attention and demonstrate the range of dangers officers face. The incidents unfolded in varying ways: a routine traffic stop in Texas, a deputy targeted by a sniper in California, a standoff in Missouri and a search warrant execution gone wrong in Illinois. Last week, police serving a narcotics warrant in Philadelphia were ambushed by a barrage of gunfire that left six officers wounded and sparked an eight-hour standoff; the suspect was eventually arrested.   Wildfires   Forest fires are ravaging two very different parts of the world. In Alaska, the McKinley Fire has now spread to more than 4,300 acres and destroyed at least 80 structures. It's one of more than 50 wildfires burning throughout the country right now (summer is peak wildfire season in the US.) An even more ominous blaze is tearing through the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Fires are raging at a record rate in the region, and scientists warn that it could strike a devastating blow to the fight against climate change. The Amazon is the largest rainforest on the planet and produces 20% of the oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. As trees fall to the fires, so too does the source of that oxygen. The forest is also home to uncountable species of plants and animals, all threatened by the blaze. There have been 72,843 fires in Brazil this year, with more than half in the Amazon region. That's more than 80% more than the same period last year.   Advertisement People are talking about these. Read up. Join in. People are irked that ex-Trump press secretary Sean Spicer will be on 'Dancing with the Stars' Something tells us it's not because they're concerned about his foxtrot.  Bird or bunny? Optical illusion stymies the Internet  Or at least, the part of the internet that definitely needs glasses. Don't bother sharing that message warning people about an Instagram privacy policy change It's a hoax. The XFL releases 8 new team names and logos  You could probably tell a lot about a person by which logo they pick as their favorite. (The Dragons, obviously!) Crazy cat ladies are not actually a thing, says study  Don't listen to them, crazy cat ladies. You are real, and you are fabulous.  A New Hampshire town opened a 50-year-old time capsule to reveal absolutely nothing  Why is this headline so bleak yet so relatable?   $1 trillion The federal budget deficit the Congressional Budget Office predicts Americans will be facing in the fiscal year 2020 Corporate leaders have a responsibility to protect their employees, their customers and their communities. There should never be any misunderstanding again of what the intention is of someone who walks into Walmart with a gun.   Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, encouraging companies like Walmart to stop allowing open carry of firearms in their stores From guitars to goals in less than 3 days  Behold, a stadium's incredible transformation -- and the staggering number of people that are needed to pull it off. (Click here to view.) 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