Rep. Steve King (R-IA) was reportedly unable to say whether he believes whites are superior to nonwhites when pressed on the issue by an Iowa resident on Tuesday. When asked if he thought “a white society is superior to a nonwhite society,” King dodged the question, according to The New York Times. “I don’t have an answer for that. That’s so hypothetical,” he was quoted as saying. “I’ll say this, America is not a white society—it has never been a completely white society. We came here and joined the Native Americans.” King reportedly continued by saying that people of any color could be “raised to be American as any other” and emphasized that all humans were “created in God’s image.” The woman who asked the question, 63-year-old Mary Lavelle, told the Times she asked King the question out of concern that his rhetoric “resembled” those of the Christchurch shooter. When pressed on this, King reportedly claimed the shooter's views were “inconsistent” and he “mixed and matched ideologies” in his manifesto. “He also likely used the same words that [Chinese leader] Mao [Zedong] used,” King said.

Using highly potent cannabis on a daily basis greatly increases the chances of a person developing psychotic disorders like schizophrenia and paranoia, according to a new study. Research published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal on Tuesday found that those who use “high potency” marijuana every day are four times more likely to suffer a psychotic episode than those who have never used the drug. The scientists behind the study defined “high potency” cannabis as any product containing more than 10 percent THC. London, Paris, and Amsterdam—places where high potency weed is more readily available—are said to have recorded higher rates of recent psychosis cases. The study found that one out of every five new cases of psychosis in 11 European cities, along with one in Brazil, were linked to the daily use of weed. One out of every 10 new cases were attributed to high potency cannabis. “This is more evidence that the link between cannabis and psychosis matters,” Krista Lisdahl, a clinical neuropsychologist at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, who did not take part in the study, told NPR of the findings.

One day before a Lion Air flight crashed in Indonesia late last year, killing all 189 on board, an off-duty pilot identified a malfunction on the plane and was able to fix it—the same malfunction thought to have caused the subsequent crash. Sources told Bloomberg the off-duty pilot happened to be sitting in the cockpit when the Boeing 737 Max 8’s flight-control system experienced a malfunction. The pilot reportedly knew how to fix the issue because the remedy was “part of a checklist that all pilots are required to memorize.” The next day, the same plane with a different crew reportedly faced the same malfunction—but crashed into the Java Sea. The presence of a third pilot was reportedly not included in Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee’s November report about the crash. “All the data and information that we have on the flight and the aircraft have been submitted to the Indonesian NTSC,” Lion Air spokesman Danang Prihantoro told the news outlet. “We can’t provide additional comment at this stage due the ongoing investigation on the accident.” Boeing and Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee reportedly declined to comment. Less than five months after the Indonesia plane crash, another Boeing 737 Max 8 crashed in Ethiopia, killing 57 people. The tragedy prompted several countries to ground the plane model and President Trump to declare an “emergency order” to stop its use by U.S. airlines.

The lawyer for the 16-year-old girl attached to multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein's plea deal told The Miami Herald that prosecutors lied to the presiding judge at Epstein's sentencing. Robert Josefsberg, who represented the 16-year-old involved in Epstein's deal, claimed that neither he nor his client was informed that their case was part of the mysteriously lenient plea deal. “I was never told that any of my 16 victim clients were part of Epstein’s charges in state court,’’ Josefsberg said. “I can tell you that when the judge asked the prosecutor whether the victims were informed, and she said that they were, that mine were not.’’ At Epstein's sentencing, Circuit Court Judge Deborah Dale Pucillo asked Assistant State Attorney Lanna Beholavek if “all the victims” agreed with the terms of the deal. Beholavek replied, “Yes.”

Josefsberg's client, now 31-years-old, was reportedly assaulted repeatedly and brutally. Despite close to three dozen girls reportedly being involved in the case, Epstein only received a general solicitation charge and one count of procuring someone under the age of 18 for prostitution. The multimillionaire was also reportedly given federal immunity as part of the deal, which was green-lighted by then-Miami U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta—who is currently Labor Secretary.

Mark Bittman, a former food writer for The New York Times, has been accused of stealing the logo and name of a volunteer-run publication devoted to women, trans, and non-binary people to launch a new online food magazine. Just hours after The New York Times wrote about the debut of Bittman’s new publication, called “Salty,” the food writer was called out on social media by the creators of Salty World, which posted images side by side of the two publications’ logos. Both feature the word “Salty” in a thick, dark pink font set against a light pink background. Salty World, which describes itself as a “feminist, sex, dating, and relationship newsletter” called out Bittman and Medium, which hosts his new publication, saying its logo and name had been “stolen.” “When Medium and Bittman invest in and launch “a ‘new’ platform called Salty,” the group wrote, “with an eerily similar logo and led by an old white dude no less, and which is ALSO exhalted [sic] with a profile in the NYT.. we think ‘HMMMMM. Something is awry here.” Bittman acknowledged the “mistake” on Instagram and promised to resolve the issue. “This was a mistake (stupid, but honest), and we’re working on changing our name and logo right now,” he wrote.

Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told MSNBC that he considered taping a phone call with President Trump after the president made an “odd” request of him a few months after taking office. Speaking to MSNBC's Ari Melber late Tuesday, Bharara said Trump had made a series of friendly overtures to him when he was still president-elect which “seemed odd to me.” But the possibility of taping Trump came up, he said, after Trump apparently bypassed the usual protocols and tried to set up a phone conversation with Bharara in March 2017, when he was still the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. “There was no heads up about it, there was no indication of what the topic would be,” he said.

“We actually considered—and it sounds not as crazy as it did back then cause now we know about Michael Cohen recording the president, and Omarosa recording the president—we considered … taping the president in that phone call.” He said he “had a certain amount of mistrust” about the proposed phone conversation, given that Trump was already facing scrutiny in the Southern District. Bharara also said he believed that outgoing Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein was not joking when he suggested wearing a recording device to secretly tape Trump when he visited the White House. “I tend to believe that he was not joking because there has been a certain kind of conduct that happens,” he said, adding that recording Trump would have been a safeguard against “untruths” and a way to protect “your own integrity.”

Australian internet providers have blocked 4chan and other websites for continuing to host the video from the Christchurch attack, 9News reports. Telstra, a provider, said it blocked websites including “4chan, 8chan and Voat, the blog Zerohedge and video hosting platform Liveleak.” “We understand this may inconvenience some legitimate users of these sites, but these are extreme circumstances and we feel this is the right thing to do,” Telstra executive Nikos Katinakis said in a statement. Other providers, like Optus and Vodafone, didn't say which websites they have blocked but the same websites reportedly failed to load on their networks Tuesday afternoon. Vodafone reportedly said it came to the decision “independently,” adding that the Christchurch attack was “an extreme case which we think requires an extraordinary response.” Optus told 9News it blocked the websites after “reflecting on community expectations.” A spokesman for Australia’s eSafety commissioner said it did not provide “any direction or advice” to the providers regarding blocking access to the sites. Liveleak, in a statement, said it did not want to be the “vehicle of choice” for those who want to carry out the “most terrible of events,” like the Christchurch shooting. The man behind the attack, which left 50 dead, broadcasted the attack live on his Facebook page and posted a manifesto about his motivations on social media.

The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug to treat postpartum depression but it could cost up to $35,000, The Washington Post reports. The new drug, brexanolone, would also reportedly require new mothers to be linked to an IV for “60 continuous hours” and under the supervision of a health care professional because the FDA found some women lost consciousness if they received too high of a dose. Manufacturer Sage Therapeutics estimated that the drug, marketed as Zulresso, could cost between $20,000 and $35,000 for one course of treatment. Despite the steep price and the intensive administration of the drug, Zulresso is said to relieve women of postpartum depression quickly, with effects lasting at least a month. According to the Post, postpartum depression affects about 400,000 women in the U.S. every year and could make new mothers feel worthless, guilty, or have thoughts of suicide—all of which prevent bonding with the newborn child. Sage is also reportedly developing another drug to treat postpartum depression through a once-daily pill, which could be a “blockbuster” if approved by the FDA.

An 80-year-old California conman allegedly bilked $250,000 from donors by creating fake political action committees in the name of candidates including Beto O’Rourke and Bernie Sanders. Federal prosecutors say John Pierre Dupont used at least some of the cash to buy himself a Mercedes-Benz and pay his rent. A criminal complaint filed in New York says Dupont registered Businessmen for a Businessman President PAC, Democrats for Congress PAC and Foundation for Sanity in Politics PAC with the Federal Elections Commission and created websites like Sanders2016Campaign.com and Beto4Senate.org—but never gave any of the donations to the real campaigns. According to NBC News, Dupont has a long criminal history that includes several prison stretches, a jailbreak and a stint as a fugitive.