America's Transportation Infrastructure Act, approved by a Senate committee this week, includes $10 billion to prevent and mitigate the effects of climate change.
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Thursday, August 1, 2019
Wednesday, July 31, 2019
Software to empower workers on the factory floor
Manufacturers are constantly tweaking their processes to get rid of waste and improve productivity. As such, the software they use should be as nimble and responsive as the operations on their factory floors.
Instead, much of the software in today’s factories is static. In many cases, it’s developed by an outside company to work in a broad range of factories, and implemented from the top down by executives who know software can help but don’t know how best to adopt it.
That’s where MIT spinout Tulip comes in. The company has developed a customizable manufacturing app platform that connects people, machines, and sensors to help optimize processes on a shop floor. Tulip’s apps provide workers with interactive instructions, quality checks, and a way to easily communicate with managers if something is wrong.
Managers, in turn, can make changes or additions to the apps in real-time and use Tulip’s analytics dashboard to pinpoint problems with machines and assembly processes.
“With this notion of agile manufacturing [in which changes are constant], you need your software to match the philosophical process you’re using to improve your organization,” says Tulip co-founder and CTO Rony Kubat ’01, SM ’08, PhD ’12. “With our platform, we’re empowering the manufacturing engineers on the line to make changes themselves. That’s in contrast to the traditional way of making manufacturing software. It’s a bottom-up kind of thing.”
Tulip, founded by Kubat and CEO Natan Linder SM ’11, PhD ’17, is currently working with multiple Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies operating in 13 different countries, including Bosch, Jabil, and Kohler. Tulip’s customers make everything from shoes to jewelry, medical devices, and consumer electronics.
With the platform’s scalable design, Kubat says it can help factories of any size, as long as they employ people on the shop floor.
In that way, Tulip’s tools are empowering workers in an industry that has historically trended toward automation. As the company continues building out its platform — including adding machine vision and machine learning capabilities — it hopes to continue encouraging manufacturers to see people as an indispensable resource.
A new approach to manufacturing software
In 2012, Kubat was pursuing his PhD in the MIT Media Lab’s Fluid Interface group when he met Linder, then a graduate student. During their research, several Media Lab member companies gave the founders tours of their factory floors and introduced them to some of the production challenges they were grappling with.
“The Media Lab is such a special place,” Kubat says. “You have this contrast of an antidisciplinary mentality, where you’re putting faculty from completely different walks of life in the same building, giving it this creative wildness that is really invigorating, plus this grounding in the real world that comes from the member organizations that are part of the Media Lab.”
During those factory tours, the founders noticed similar problems across industries.
“The typical way manufacturing software is deployed is in these multiyear cycles,” Kubat says. “You sign a multimillion dollar contract that’s going to overhaul everything, and you get three years to deploy it all, and you get your screens in the end that everyone isn’t really happy with because they solve yesterday’s problems. We’re bringing a more modern approach to software development for manufacturing.”
In 2014, just as Linder completed his PhD research, the founders decided to start Tulip. (Linder would later return to MIT to defend his thesis.) Relying on their personal savings for funding, they recruited a team of students from MIT’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and began building a prototype for New Balance, a Media Lab member company that has factories in New England.
“We worked really closely with the first customers to do super fast iterations to make these proofs of concept that we’d try to deploy as quickly as possible,” Kubat says. “That approach isn’t new from a software perspective — deploy fast and iterate — but it is new for the manufacturing software world.”
An engine for manufacturing
The app-based platform the founders eventually built out has little in common with the sweeping software implementations that traditionally upend factory operations for better or worse. Tulip’s apps can be installed in just one workstation then scaled up as needed.
The apps can also be designed by managers with no coding experience, over the course of an afternoon. Typically they can use Tulip’s app templates, which can be customized for common tasks like guiding a worker through an assembly process or completing a checklist.
Workers using the apps on the shop floor can submit comments on their interactive screens to do things like point out defects. Those comments are sent directly to the manager, who can make changes to the apps remotely.
“It’s a data-driven opportunity to engage the operators on the line, to gain some ownership over the process,” Kubat says.
The apps are integrated with machines and tools on the factory floor through Tulip’s router-like gateways. Those gateways also sync with sensors and cameras to give managers data from both humans and machines. All that information helps managers find bottlenecks and other factors holding back productivity.
Workers, meanwhile, are given real-time feedback on their actions from the cameras, which are usually trained on the part as it’s being assembled or on the bins the workers are reaching into. If a worker assembles a part improperly, for example, Tulip’s camera can detect the mistake, and its app can alert the worker to the error, presenting instructions on fixing it.
A demonstration of a worker assembling a part wrong, Tulip's sensors detecting the error, and then Tulip's app providing instructions for correcting the mistake.
Such quality checks can be sprinkled throughout a production line. That’s a big upgrade over traditional methods for data collection in factories, which often include a stopwatch and a clipboard, the founders say.
“That process is expensive,” Kubat says of traditional data collection methods. “It’s also biased, because when you’re being observed you might behave differently. It’s also a sampling of things, not the true picture. Our take is that all of that execution data should be something you get for free from a system that gives you additional value.”
The data Tulip collects are channeled into its analytics dashboard, which can be used to make customized tables displaying certain metrics to managers and shop floor workers.
In April, the company launched its first machine vision feature, which further helps workers minimize mistakes and improve productivity. Those objectives are in line with Tulip’s broader goal of empowering workers in factories rather than replacing them.
“We’re helping companies launch products faster and improve efficiency,” Kubat says. “That means, because you can reduce the cost of making products with people, you push back the [pressure of] automation. You don’t need automation to give you quality at scale. This has the potential to really change the dynamics of how products are delivered to the public.”
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‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ star Apollo Nida re-released to Philly halfway house
Real Housewives of Atlanta star Apollo Nida has once again been released from prison, he now resides in a Philadelphia halfway house.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirms the transfer of Nida to the halfway facility.
The reality star was originally released to the halfway home on June 5. The Blast reports the star was re-arrested after he violated the terms of his parole. The rule break resulted in being taken into custody at the Phidalephia Federal Court House.
Nida was sentenced to 96 months in prison in 2014 for conspiracy to commit mail, wire and bank fraud. In addition to his sentence, Nida is required to pay $1.9 million in restitution. In March, a federal judge reduced his sentence from 96 months to 84 months.
Nida’s fame rose as he appeared with his ex-wife Phaedra Parks on the Bravo series Real Housewives of Atlanta. The divorce between the two played out while Nida was behind bars.
Around the original release in June, Nida was spotted with his fiancée Sherien Almufti near the halfway home. He and Almufti have been together since 2017 and she reportedly made multiple visits to Nida during his prison stints. The Blast reports thatt Almufti will work as a real estate agent in the Philadelphia area.
As for Parks, the RHOA ish-stirrer also has a new bae, the DailyMail has linked her to Have and the Have Nots actor Medina Islam.
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Kenya Moore’s ex, Matt Jordan arrested for aggravated assault on girlfriend
Fans of Real Housewives of Atlanta may remember the hard time Kenya Moore had with Matt Jordan, and now looks like her instincts were right.
The former beauty queen kicked her man to the curb after he demonstrated aggressive behavior and now he has been arrested in Arizona on multiage charges after allegedly punching his current girlfriend int he face.
According to reports, Jordan was booked for trespassing and three separate charges including aggravated assault, theft, and threatening/intimidating with damage to property. His bail was set at $3,250 and he’s reportedly still in custody.
Kenya Moore warns women how to spot signs of domestic abuse
TMZ obtained the arrest report and claim it details a violent altercation between Matt Jordan and his current girlfriend, Valerie Bell. She claims he punched her in the face at a Denny’s parking lot on Saturday morning in front of a witness who is backing her story.
Jordan had already left the scene when police arrived, but circled back to Bell’s home that night, where he was picked up and arrested for trespassing. He reportedly had an outstanding warrant stemming from an incident in April, leading to the three additional charges.
EXCLUSIVE: Kenya Moore on domestic violence PSA & Kim’s nasty fertility digs
Back when they were dating, Kenya Moore was disturbed by Jordan’s explosive temper which led him to kick in her glass door at one point. She obtained a restraining order against him in 2017 after claiming he threatened her and harassed her repeatedly.
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Gucci hires Black executive, Renée Tirado, as diversity chief after racist designs spark backlash
Gucci has tapped the talent of a Black executive who will take over as its diversity chief, following widespread criticism for selling a “blackface” sweater and complaints of cultural or racial insensitivity.
—In wake of blackface scandals, Spike Lee calls for boycott of Prada, Gucci—
Renée Tirado will lead the fashion house as its diversity chief, The Daily Mail reports.
Tirado will work to restore the brand’s image after it faced harsh backlash for promoting a $890 black sweater with bright bold lips. It was ridiculed on social media as insensitive and racist.
Gucci was also slammed for creating a turban for fashion that offended members of the Sikh community who wear them faithfully for religious reasons.
Many celebrities have called for people to fallback from the luxury brand. And T.I. and Waka Flocka Flame have also encouraged people to start supporting black-owned fashion designers and labels.
“I gotta get rid of all the Gucci I have at home. I’m not supporting their brand anymore,” 50 Cent wrote on Instagram previously.
—Dapper Dan to meet with Gucci head in Harlem about scandal—
Since the fallout, Gucci created a multicultural design scholarship program, a diversity and inclusion awareness program and a global exchange program, the outlet reports.
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This Organization is Focused on Creating a National Black Tech Ecosystem
Black Tech Mecca, an organization based out of Chicago, recently received two grants to help expand their vision of creating a national black tech ecosystem.
The first grant awarded was from the Surdna Foundation whose mission is to support social justice reform, healthy environments, inclusive economies, and thriving cultures across the United States. The grant will support the building of an API tool that will make it easier for Black Tech Mecca to assess various cities’ black tech ecosystems, according to a recent press release.
The tool will allow the organization to quickly scale the assessment work that they have been performing in order to understand whether they have been effective in closing the digital divide and eradicating tech disparities for black people in the U.S. In the next five years, they will have accumulated enough data in both urban and rural cities across the U.S. to validate their case.
The next grant awarded was the Inclusion Open Grant launched by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. This grant will help build the National Black Tech Ecosystem Builder Association to support organizations that are committed to strengthening black tech entrepreneurs and tech innovators, STEM/CS educators and professionals, and tech startup policy advocates.
“We are compelled by the efforts of our BTE builders—especially black tech startup support organizations—who work hard to obtain the fundamental resources needed to ensure our community participates in the innovation economy,” stated CEO and co-founder Fabian Elliott in the press release.
The overarching goal is to assist and encourage all of the top black tech organizations to work together to build a unified and national black tech ecosystem to successfully and culturally guide black communities into unknown tech markets, STEM arenas, and AI/Big Data futures.
If your organization qualifies as such, you may fill out this form to find out how Black Tech Mecca can better support you.
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VIDEO: Two Mississippi cops choke and taser Black man as pregnant girlfriend records brutal encounter
TheGrio has launched a special series called #BlackonBlue to examine the relationship between law enforcement and African-Americans. Our reporters and videographers will investigate police brutality and corruption while also exploring local and national efforts to improve policing in our communities. Join the conversation, or share your own story, using the hashtag #BlackonBlue.
An intense scuffle between a Black motorist and two Mississippi Highway Patrol officers was caught on video after the troopers tried to assault the driver for speeding.
—RACIST PRANK: TSA workers suspended after hanging stuffed monkeys from a noose—
In the video, Robert Morton appears to ask one trooper about why he was being detained as he stood behind his vehicle on the side of a road.
Morton and the patrolman go back and forth and at one point the officer tells him that he’s being detained for speeding and resisting arrest for Morton’s refusal to put his hands behind his back, The Daily Mail reports.
“You’re being arrested for speeding but now you are being arrested for resisting arrest,” the officer tells Morton on the video.
Morton’s fiancé, Porsha Shields records and urgently instructs him to be still as he objects to the officer’s various requests.
Things soon heat up and the officer pulls out a taser and aims it squarely at Morton and orders him to get on the ground, as Shields screams in the distance.
Shields says on video that the officer’s various requests asking Morton to get down, then asking him to take out his ID is being done to “mess” with the man.
When backup arrives on the scene, another officer grabs Morton by the neck, choking him and then both officers wrestle him to the ground.
“Y’all ain’t got to do all that,” Shields screams multiple times.
—Rihanna makes history as first woman of color to helm own fashion line with LVMH—
Shields took to Facebook to explain the circumstances surrounding the arrest saying that she believes when she told the officer that she was pregnant, that’s when he got aggressive. She said she was slammed and mishandled too.
“I truly felt that I should have never told him I was pregnant because it seemed like he became more aggressive,” Shields told local reporters. “And, what hurts the most is knowing that my four-year-old son witnessed me screaming, crying and getting assaulted as this event will psychologically impact us forever.”
Morton was ultimately charged with speeding, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, seat belt violation, failure to provide identification and to add insult to injury, he was slapped with a $35 charge for damaging a cop’s whistle.
Shields was also charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
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Model who worked with Rihanna under fire for posting transphobic comments and lying about being transgender
Model Carissa Pinkston, who previously worked for Marc Jacobs and Rihanna‘s Fenty fashion line, had a lot going for her but blew her big shot after getting caught in a lie about being trans after posting transphobic remarks.
—Rihanna makes history as first woman of color to helm own fashion line with LVMH—
Pinkston found herself in a world of trouble online when transphobic comments surfaced of the model criticizing the women and men who identify as trans.
Pinkston, who posts as Rissa Danielle, reportedly went on a rant and posted a series of offensive posts about trans individuals including one which read: “Being transgender does not make you a woman.”
She ended another post saying, “In a biological context there are females and males,” The Daily Mail reports.
Her criticism got her cut from her modeling agency Elite Model Management.
In response to the critics who blasted Pinkston for being insensitive, she tried desperately to calm the waters by creating a lie that she actually was a transgender woman who transitioned when she was young.
Pinkston wrote: “I wasn’t ready to come out about it yet, but today I got fired and I’ve been receiving hate mail and death threats ever since, so I’m being forced to tell the truth. I’m Transgender.”
“I transitioned at a very young age and I’ve lived my Life as a Female ever since,” the 20-year-old falsely claimed.
“It’s been very hard to keep this secret but what I said about Trans-Women is a direct reflection of my inner insecurities and I have since come to realize that I am a Woman…WE ALL ARE!”
Pinkston has since deleted that comment after she was called out for her lie by a former friend who cast doubt that Pinkston was trans.
“I’ve seen baby pictures of [Carissa], I’ve seen her fully naked, I’ve been around this women long enough to fully know her,” Aleece Wilson, a model who previously worked with Pinkston for a Nike campaign wrote. “We have many trans friends this conversation would have definitely been brought up.”
—RACIST PRANK: TSA workers suspended after hanging stuffed monkeys from a noose—
After she was called out, Pinkston took to social media to apologize and beg for forgiveness. She also clarified that she was indeed born female and was not trans.
“I apologize for any transphobic remark I’ve ever made towards the Trans community,” she wrote. “I panicked and I thought if I came out as Trans that I could somehow make things better for myself but it appears I’ve only made things worse.
“I’m truly sorry. I’m only 20 and I’m human. I make mistakes but I refuse to let them define me. I hope you all can forgive me and move on from this because I’m so much more than this incident and I’m not a coward.”
Pinkston also later deleted her apology.
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RACIST PRANK: TSA workers suspended after hanging stuffed monkeys from a noose
Two Miami International Airport TSA workers have been suspended after being accused of engaging in a racist prank by tying a noose to two stuffed monkeys.
—Trump sends US presidential envoy to Sweden for A$AP Rocky’s trial—
Three other TSA workers discovered the dolls and noose on display July 21 near a baggage screening area and reported the incident to a manager.
According to CNN, a manager tried to downplay the offensive display, “saying it wasn’t racist, it was just a joke.”
A TSA who spoke on condition of anonymity to the outlet said the display was placed prominently in an area is staffed with mostly Hispanic and Black workers. He said he believes it was deliberately put there to insult them.
TSA released a statement about the shocking incident and condemned the racist act..
“TSA Officers immediately reported it to TSA Management. The display was immediately removed and an investigation was launched into who was responsible for the unacceptable behavior.
“TSA does not tolerate racist or offensive behavior and those found responsible will be held accountable for their actions. “
The workers involved have been placed on leave pending a full investigation, TSA confirmed.
—Birmingham man suspected of shooting 4-year-old girl in the head in police custody—
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A history of racism is woven into the US presidency
When President Donald Trump drew widespread condemnation for describing a majority-black congressional district as a “rat and rodent infested mess” and for tweets targeting four Democratic congresswomen of color, it was not the first time a U.S. president attracted such attention.
Throughout American history, presidents have uttered comments, issued decisions and made public and private moves that critics said were racist, either at the time or in later generations. The presidents did so both before taking office and during their time in the White House.
Many of the early presidents, George Washington to Zachary Taylor, owned black slaves and held power when African Americans, Native Americans and Latinos did not have the right to vote or serve on juries and could be refused service in public accommodations. They often repeated racist views that were commonly held in their times, even when challenged by scholars or civil rights leaders.
Before he became the nation’s third president, Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.” But in his only book, “Notes on the State of Virginia,” published in 1785, the future president expressed a series of beliefs about African Americans that would be seen today as racist.
He wrote that blacks were cursed with “a very strong and disagreeable odor” and were incapable of producing art and poetry. And though he said he believed slavery was immoral, he owned slaves and, historians say, carried on a sexual relationship with at least one of them, Sally Hemings. If every black slave were ever freed, he wrote, they should be deported since he believed blacks and whites could not live together peacefully.
Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president, was also a slaveholder from the South. Before he became president, he offered in an 1804 advertisement $50 for the return of a runaway slave and $10 extra “for every hundred lashes any person will give him, to the amount of 300.” In Jon Meacham’s 2008 book “American Lion: Andrew Jackson and the White House,” Meacham wrote that Jackson owned around 150 slaves and freed none of them in his will.
As president, Jackson allowed his postmaster general to let Southerners seize anti-slavery publications, in direct violation of the First Amendment. He called the abolitionist pamphlets urging black equality “unconstitutional and wicked.”
Jackson is widely vilified today among Native Americans for his role in forcibly removing indigenous people from their land, especially for the Trail of Tears. The removal of the Cherokee people from Georgia led to thousands of deaths.
“The philanthropist will rejoice that the remnant of that ill-fated race has been at length placed beyond the reach of injury or oppression,” Jackson said in his farewell address.
The Virginia-born Woodrow Wilson worked to keep blacks out of Princeton University while serving as that school’s president. When he became president of the U.S., the Democrat refused to reverse the segregation of civil service, though he had won the White House with the support of some African American men.
In 1915, Wilson sparked outrage by screening the racist film “The Birth of a Nation” at the White House. The silent movie was the retelling of Reconstruction through the eyes of the Ku Klux Klan. The movie portrayed the KKK as heroes and African Americans as uncivilized.
“No explanation or apology followed” after the screening, Patty O’Toole wrote in “The Moralist: Woodrow Wilson and the World He Made.”
Wilson appeared oblivious during the “Red Summer” of 1919 — a time when communities across the country saw white mobs attack African Americans, resulting in hundreds of deaths. He spoke out against lynching but did not use the federal government’s resources to stop the violence.
Democrat Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency in 1963 after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and sought to push a civil rights bill amid demonstrations by African Americans. Johnson famously convinced skeptical lawmakers to support the measure and gave a passionate speech about his days as a teacher in Mexican American schools to urge Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act.
But according to tapes of his private conversations, Johnson routinely used racist epithets to describe African Americans and some blacks he appointed to key positions.
His successor, Republican Richard Nixon, also regularly used racist epithets while in office in private conversations.
“We’re going to (place) more of these little Negro bastards on the welfare rolls at $2,400 a family,” Nixon once said about what he saw as lax work requirements. Nixon also made derogatory remarks about Jews, Mexican Americans, Italian Americans and Irish Americans.
As with Johnson, many of Nixon’s remarks were unknown to the general public until tapes of White House conversations were released decades later.
Recently the Nixon Presidential Library released an October 1971 phone conversation between Nixon and then California Gov. Ronald Reagan, another future president, The Atlantic reported Tuesday . Reagan in venting his frustration with United Nations delegates who voted against the U.S. dropped some racist language.
“Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said. “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries — damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes.”
Nixon began laughing hard.
Reagan would launch his 1980 general election presidential campaign in Mississippi’s Neshoba County — a place where three civil rights activists were murdered in 1964.
Reagan ignored the criticism of his visit and told a cheering crowd of white supporters, “I believe in states’ rights.”
___
This story replaces a previous version to correct the spelling of The Atlantic.
___
Russell Contreras is a member of The Associated Press’ race and ethnicity team. Follow him on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/russcontreras .
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Trump sends US presidential envoy to Sweden for A$AP Rocky’s trial
American rapper A$AP Rocky pleaded not guilty to assault as his trial in Sweden opened Tuesday, a month after a street fight that landed him in jail and became a topic of U.S.-Swedish diplomacy.
Rocky, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, is accused with two others of beating a 19-year-old man in Stockholm on June 30. Prosecutors played video footage in court that showed Mayers throwing a young man to the ground.
Wearing sweatpants and a green T-shirt in court, Mayers, 30, pleaded not guilty to an assault charge that carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison. He says he acted in self-defense.
The Grammy-nominated artist’s extended detention prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to personally intervene on his behalf earlier this month. Mayers nevertheless remained behind bars, angering Trump.
Swedish news agency TT said Trump sent the U.S. special presidential envoy for hostage affairs to Stockholm to monitor the court proceedings and to show support for Mayers.
The special envoy, Ambassador Robert O’Brien, was seen at Stockholm District Court in the morning. A biographical statement on the State Department’s website says O’Brien “leads the U.S. government’s diplomatic efforts on overseas hostage-related matters.”
“He works closely with the families of American hostages and advises the senior leadership of the U.S. Government on hostage issues,” the website states.
A senior U.S. official in Washington described O’Brien’s presence as part of an effort to convey Trump’s concern about the case, support American citizens “and, to, hopefully, bring them home.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because they were not authorized to discuss it by name.
Fellow rapper RZA (RIHZ’-uh) of the Wu-Tang Clan told The Associated Press on Friday he was concerned about A$AP Rocky and “disappointed that a judge cannot discern that this is not a man you hold hostage.”
A$AP Rocky’s mother, Renee Black, also attended the proceedings. She said beforehand she was convinced her son is not guilty, “This is a nightmare,” Black was quoted by Swedish media as saying.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers presented competing narratives on the trial’s opening day of what happened the night of the fight.
Prosecutors said 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari and a friend got into an argument with Mayers and one of his bodyguards near a fast-food restaurant where the rapper’s entourage had eaten.
Mayers has published videos on his Instagram account that showed him repeatedly pleading with the two to stop following him and his associates.
Defense lawyer Slobodan Jovicic stressed Tuesday that the rapper and his entourage “didn’t want any trouble” and alleged that Jafari and his friend had exhibited “aggressive and deeply provocative behavior.”
A$AP Rocky previously encountered violent situations because of his fame and “there are some people who don’t always wish him well.” Jovicic said.
“He’s has been harassed in the past. In this case, the bodyguard made the assessment that these people should move on … and not to come close,” the lawyer said.
Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Mayers and the two other men thought to be part of his entourage beat and kicked Jafari while he was on the ground.
Jafari also was hit with parts of or a whole bottle, they alleged. The court file includes photos of Jafari’s cuts, bruises and blood-stained clothes.
Another lawyer representing A$AP Rocky in Sweden, Martin Persson, told public broadcaster SVT he would present evidence showing “no bottle has been used to hit or injure anyone.”
Any physical aggression by Mayers and his co-defendants was “within the limits of the law,” Persson said.
The trial is expected to continue with witness testimony on Thursday and could run through Friday, Stockholm District Court.
Mayers, along with two men thought to be members of his entourage, was jailed on July 3 and remains in custody.
His case has drawn the attention of American celebrities and Mayers’ fellow recording artists, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Justin Bieber. A social media campaign for his release, #JusticeForRocky, was created soon after his arrest.
Trump also weighed in, asking for a phone call with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven and offering to personally guarantee A$AP Rocky’s bail. The two leaders spoke, and the prime minister’s spokeswoman said Lofven stressed he couldn’t interfere in a legal case.
Sweden doesn’t have a bail system, so Mayers stayed behind bars despite Trump’s vouching for him. After prosecutors filed charges Thursday, Trump took to Twitter to criticize Lofven “for being unable to act.”
“Give A$AP Rocky his FREEDOM,” Trump added. “We do so much for Sweden but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Sweden should focus on its real crime problem! #FreeRocky.”
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