“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” stayed on a strong glide path in North American theaters, taking in an estimated $73.6 million for the three-day weekend, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.
The Disney film, marketed as a grand finale of the nine-film “Skywalker Saga,” has had mixed reviews and was down considerably from last weekend’s lofty $177.4 million opening.
But it has compiled a strong domestic total of $364.5 million.
It again maintained a big lead over the No. 2 film, Sony’s “Jumanji: The Next Level,” an action sequel starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart, which had $34.4 million in North American ticket sales for the Friday-through-Sunday period.
In third for the second straight week was Disney’s “Frozen II,” at $17 million. The animated musical film has Broadway star Idina Menzel voicing Queen Elsa in her latest adventures.
Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel “Little Women” has been brought to the screen many times — no fewer than seven, by Variety’s count — but the new version from director Greta Gerwig has drawn strong reviews and netted $16.2 million to place fourth in its debut this weekend.
The film stars Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, Timothee Chalamet, Emma Watson and Laura Dern, in the story of the joys and struggles of four sisters during the US Civil War.
In fifth was new Fox/Disney release “Spies in Disguise,” at $13.4 million. The animated children’s film features the voices of Will Smith and Tom Holland.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
“Knives Out” ($9.9 million)
“Uncut Gems” ($9.4 million)
“Bombshell” ($4.8 million)
“Cats” ($4.8 million)
“Richard Jewell” ($3 million)
 

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Two people are dead and a third critically wounded after a gunman opened fire during services at a church near Fort Worth, Texas, Sunday.
Police say two of the victims died on the way to the hospital.
It is not clear if the shooter was killed or is the wounded man. The shooter has not been identified and his motive is unknown.
Sunday’s shooting at the West Freeway Church of Christ in the Forth Worth suburb of White Settlement was seen on a live YouTube feed.
“Places of worship are meant to be sacred and I am grateful for the church members who acted quickly to take down the shooter and help prevent further loss of life,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Twitter, adding that his heart goes out to the victims and families of “the evil act of violence.”

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The U.S. carried out military strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting a militia blamed for an attack that killed an American contractor, a Defense Department spokesman said Sunday.
U.S. forces conducted “precision defensive strikes” against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia, spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.
The U.S. blames the militia for a rocket barrage Friday that killed a U.S. defense contractor at a military compound near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.
Officials said attackers fired as many as 30 rockets in Friday’s assault.
The Defense Department gave no details immediately on how the strikes were conducted. It said the U.S. hit three of the militia’s sites in Iraq and two in Syria, including weapon caches and the militia’s command and control bases.
Hoffman said the U.S. strikes will weaken the group’s ability to carry out future attacks on Americans and their Iraqi government allies.
Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades, a separate force from the Lebanese group Hezbollah, operate under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.
A senior member of the Popular Mobilization Forces, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media, said at at least 12 fighters with the Hezbollah Brigades had died in U.S. strikes along the Iraq and Syria border. His account could not immediately be independently confirmed.
 
 

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White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said Sunday he did not want to speculate about North Korea and its threat of “Christmas gift,” but added the U.S. would be “very disappointed” if Pyongyang tested a long-range or nuclear missile.
During an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” O’Brien said the country would take appropriate action as a leading military and economic power if North Korea went ahead with such a test.
O’Brien added Washington has many “tools in its tool kit” to respond.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during the 5th Plenary Meeting of the 7th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) in this undated photo released on Dec. 28, 2019 by North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).“We’ll reserve judgment but the United States will take action as we do in these situations,” he said. “If Kim Jong Un takes that approach we’ll be extraordinarily disappointed and we’ll demonstrate that disappointment.”
North Korea had warned of a “Christmas gift” if the U.S. didn’t meet an end of year deadline to soften its stance on nuclear talks that have been stalled since February
U.S.  officials  have been on alert for a potential long-range missile test since the North Korean warning.  
Though Christmas holiday has passed and North Korea did not deliver the so-called “Christmas gift” to the United States,  U.S.-North Korea tensions appear far from resolved.

North Korea’s nuclear program was the “most difficult challenge in the world” when President Donald Trump took office in January 2017, O’Brien told ABC News.
He also suggested that Trump’s strategy of “face-to-face” diplomacy may have forced North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to reconsider.
Talks about North Korea’s denuclearization have been largely deadlocked since a second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi collapsed at the start of this year.
 
 
 

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The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a telephone conversation initiated by the Russian side, has thanked U.S. President Donald Trump “for information transmitted via the special services that helped prevent the commission of terrorist acts in Russia.”
There was no immediate confirmation from the U.S. side.
The call also reportedly included discussion of “a set of issues of mutual interest,” according to the official Kremlin website.
Both leaders, Putin’s office said, agreed “to continue bilateral cooperation in the fight against terrorism.”
No other details were provided.
 

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An Iraqi general said Sunday that security has been beefed up around the Ain al-Asad air base, a sprawling complex in the western Anbar desert that hosts U.S. forces, following a series of attacks.
Maj. Gen. Raad Mahmoud told The Associated Press that investigations were still underway to determine who was behind the unclaimed attacks on bases across Iraq, including one earlier this month in which five rockets landed inside Ain al-Asad.
A U.S. defense contractor was killed Friday in a rocket attack at a different Iraqi military compound near Kirkuk where U.S. service members are based. Several American and Iraqi troops were also wounded
U.S. officials said the attack involved as many as 30 rockets. U.S. officials have for the most part blamed Iran-backed fighters for these attacks.
Iraq has been roiled since Oct. 1 by anti-government protests that have left more than 450 people dead. The vast majority of those who died were demonstrators killed by security forces firing tear gas and live ammunition. The mass uprisings prompted the resignation of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi late last month.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command announced Sunday the start of a military operation to pursue the remnants of the Islamic State group in five different areas in the country.
The eighth phase of the operation, code named “Will of Victory,” would cover areas in Mosul, Kirkuk, Diyala, Salahaddin, and al-Jazeera provinces.
The paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces and local tribal militias are also participating in the operations, with air cover from the Iraqi air force and the Coalition air force, according to a statement issued Sunday.
Iraq declared victory over IS two years ago, but they still carry out sporadic attacks in parts of the country.
 

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Greece wants to be included in U.N.-sponsored talks in January on the Libya conflict, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Sunday, as tensions escalate with neighbors Turkey over the issue.
Libya has become another diplomatic front for Greece and Turkey as the traditional rivals jostle over Mediterranean maritime rights and the competing camps in the North African country’s conflict.
“We do not want a source of instability in our neighborhood. Therefore we want a say in developments in Libya,” Mitsotakis told To Vima weekly in an interview.
“We want to be part of the solution in Libya, as it concerns us too,” he said.
The U.N. has said an international conference will be held next month in Berlin to pave the way for a political solution to Libya’s ongoing conflict.
Libya has been beset by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations in the east and the west vying for power.
“I have requested, and will do so again with greater insistence, that we participate in the Berlin process,” Mitsotakis said.
In November, Ankara signed a contentious maritime and military deal with the embattled U.N.-recognized government in Tripoli.
Greece immediately rejected it as baseless, arguing that Turkey and Libya share no maritime border.
“[Libya] is our natural maritime neighbor, not Turkey’s,” Mitsotakis said on Sunday.
The Turkish deal lays claim to much of the Mediterranean for energy exploration, conflicting with rival claims by Greece and Cyprus.
At the same time, Turkey is stepping up military aid to Tripoli, which is battling the forces of military strongman Khalifa Haftar for control of the capital.
 

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Halting production from Iraq’s southern Nassiriya oilfield on Saturday by protesters will not affect the country’s exports and production operations, the oil ministry said on Sunday.
Iraq will use additional output from southern oilfields in Basra to make up for the missing shipments from Nassiriya field and the closure of field’s operations are temporary, the ministry said in a statement.
A senior manager at the state-run Basra Oil Co. said they can increase production from Majnoon southern and other small oilfields operated by the state-run company.

FILE – Iraqi demonstrators take part in the ongoing anti-government protests,in Nassiriya, Iraq, Nov. 28, 2019.The incident marks the first time protesters have shut an entire oilfield, though they have blocked entrances to refineries and ports in the past.
No foreign companies operate at the Nassiriya oilfield and state-run teams are managing the operations.
Production operations at Nassiriya, which produces 80,000-85,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd), were stopped after protesters closed roads and prevented workers from reaching the field, said the ministry statement.
Protesters broke into Iraq’s southern Nassiriya oilfield on Saturday and forced employees to cut off electricity from its control station, taking the field offline.
 

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Sydney’s iconic New Year’s Eve fireworks will go ahead despite the wildfire crisis to show the world Australia’s resiliency, the prime minister said, while authorities on Sunday braced for conditions to deteriorate with high temperatures. 
Prime Minister Scott Morrison also announced financial support for some volunteer firefighters in New South Wales, the state worst hit by wildfires ravaging the nation. 
“The world looks at Sydney every single year and they look at our vibrancy, they look at our passion, they look at our success,” he said. “In the midst of the challenges that we face, subject to the safety considerations, I can think of no better time to express to the world just how optimistic and positive we are as a country.”
The City of Sydney Council gave the green light although fire authorities warned that the fireworks could be canceled if catastrophic conditions are declared.
Morrison said that eligible volunteer firefighters will receive 300 Australian dollars ($209) a day, up to AU$6,000 ($4,190) in total, if called out to battle blazes for more than 10 days. The compensation focused on people who are self-employed or work for small and medium businesses.
“The early and prolonged nature of this fire season has made a call beyond what is typically made on our volunteer firefighters,” he said. 
Morrison, who has been under pressure since taking a much criticized family vacation to Hawaii during the wildfire crisis, announced last week that volunteer firefighters from the federal public sector will receive paid leave entitlements.
The opposition Labor party has been pressing the government to consider widespread compensation for volunteer firefighters.
“A lot of everyone’s stunned, a lot of time away from work,” said Sean Warren, a volunteer firefighter for about seven years. “A lot of people are using up their annual leave as well. A lot of people are just missing their families … they’ve skipped Christmas with their families and their grandchildren. So yeah, it’s a wide extreme of sacrifice that people have been putting in.”
Morrison said the compensation was necessary so that the New South Wales fires commissioner is in a position to continue to call out the volunteer force. 
The program is expected to cost AU$50 million ($34.9 million) but will be uncapped with the first AU$10 million ($6.9 million) being made available next month. Morrison said it would be offered to other states and territories requesting help.
Wildfires have also flared in Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.
New South Wales, the country’s most populous state, has received the brunt of the wildfire catastrophe, which has killed nine people nationwide and razed more than 1,000 homes in the past few months.
High temperatures in the country’s east are expected until the new year. Sydney’s western suburbs were set to hit 41 degrees Celsius (106 Fahrenheit) Sunday before peaking at 44 C (111 F) on Tuesday.
Fire danger in Sydney and northern New South Wales is currently at very high. 
New South Wales Rural Fire Services Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said 85 fires were still burning across the state with almost half of them not contained.
“We’ve got some deteriorating weather conditions over the coming days, particularly Monday and worsening through to Tuesday,” he said.
An emergency warning was issued Sunday for Victoria’s east as conditions worsen. Melbourne, the state’s capital, was set to reach 43 C (109 F) on Monday.

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Scientists are scrambling to understand why thousands of dead mussels are turning up in several rivers across the United States, including one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots. 
The rapid decline of the pheasant shell mussel in Appalachia’s Clinch River may be part of a mass die-off, with consequences for entire ecosystems.
Like White-nose syndrome, which has devastated North American bats, or chytrid disease, which has ravaged amphibian populations around the world, experts worry that the mussel deaths could be the beginning of a widespread species collapse. 

In this Oct. 17, 2019 photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, biologist Jordan Richard pries open a pheasant shell mussel from the Clinch River near Wallen Bend, Tenn.Unsung workers
As beloved woodland creatures go, freshwater mussels are near the bottom of the list. 
But they perform a critical service. One of these unheralded bivalves can filter roughly 40 liters of water per day, removing algae, bacteria, chemicals, silt and other undesirables from waterways.
They clean the water for everything else that lives in or depends on unpolluted rivers and streams, from fish and plants to city water supplies. 
“Mussels are the Rodney Dangerfield of wildlife,” said Tony Goldberg, a veterinary epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin. “They don’t get no respect,” he added, referencing a quote by the  U.S. comedian. “They do so much and we don’t even know they’re there,” Goldberg added.
The Clinch River, flowing through the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and Tennessee, is home to 46 species of freshwater mussels, along with 133 fish species. 
 
Over the last three years, populations of the pheasant shell mussel, one of the larger and more abundant species, have tumbled. 
“We go out in the river and see hundreds if not thousands of dead and dying mussels scattered all over the mussel shoals,” said Jordan Richard, endangered species biologist with the  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 
Richard says one stretch of river his group studies has lost 85% of its pheasant shells since 2016. 
International mystery
Researchers in Ohio, North Carolina, Oregon and elsewhere are reporting mass mussel die-offs, too. Some European scientists say they may be seeing the same thing.
It’s not clear why it’s happening. While pollution, dam building and invasive species all have taken a toll on mussels around the world, Richard says the current die-offs look different.
“There’s this specific subset of mystery cases where we have a lot of different kinds of mussels living in the same place together, and then one species suddenly just drops out and you see them all dying very rapidly,” he said. 
That sounds like a disease. That’s why Goldberg is involved. As a wildlife disease hunter, he has studied mysterious deaths of  largemouth bass, West Nile virus in American robins, chimps catching colds from people, and more.
But unlike White-nose syndrome or  chytrid disease, in which a single pathogen has wiped out millions of creatures across vast distances, Goldberg does not think a single germ is responsible for all the mussel die-offs. Instead, he thinks something else may be weakening the mussels and making them susceptible to infection.
“There’s probably some underlying ultimate cause, like climate change or disturbance of habitat near rivers. Something is linking these that we can’t figure out yet,” he said.
Mussels are having a tough time even without any possible new disease, Richard said, with increasing weather extremes from climate change.
“They’ve adapted to periods of drought and periods of flood, and they can recover from that,” he said. “But when you suddenly have these crazy events back to back to back, mix that with water quality changes, pollution, river  impoundments, all that — that just takes a toll on mussels in general. 
“And then now, if we’re looking at a potential emerging disease issue,” that could be the last straw, he said.

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Freweini Bebrahtu has been named 2019’s CNN Hero of the Year. She’s being recognized for producing a patented, reusable menstrual pad for girls in her native Ethiopia where menstruation can still be considered taboo. VOA’s Salem Solomon has this story.

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The first one occurred 19 days into the new year when a man used an ax to kill four family members, including his infant daughter. Five months later, 12 people were killed in a workplace shooting in Virginia. Twenty-two more died at a Walmart in El Paso in August. 
 
A database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University shows that there were more mass killings in 2019 than in any other year dating to at least the 1970s, punctuated by a chilling succession of deadly rampages during the summer. 
 
In all, there were 41 mass killings, defined as when four or more people are killed, excluding the perpetrator. Of those, 33 were mass shootings. More than 210 people were killed. 
 
Most of the mass killings barely became national news, failing to resonate among the general public because they didn’t spill into public places like massacres in El Paso and Odessa, Texas; Dayton, Ohio; Virginia Beach, Virginia; and Jersey City, New Jersey. 
 
Most of the killings involved people who knew each other — family disputes, drug or gang violence, or people with beefs who directed their anger at co-workers or relatives. 

FILE – Family and friends watch as the casket of Virginia Beach shooting victim Katherine Nixon is wheeled to a hearse after a funeral service at St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in Virginia Beach, Va., June 6, 2019.In many cases, what set off the perpetrator remains a mystery. 
 
That’s the case with the very first mass killing of 2019, when a 42-year-old man took an ax and stabbed to death his mother, stepfather, girlfriend and 9-month-old daughter in Clackamas County, Oregon. Two others, a roommate and an 8-year-old girl, escaped; the rampage ended when responding police fatally shot the killer. 
 
The perpetrator had had occasional run-ins with police over the years, but what drove him to attack his family remains unknown. He had just gotten a job training mechanics at an auto dealership, and despite occasional arguments with his relatives, most said there was nothing out of the ordinary that raised significant red flags. 
 
The incident in Oregon was one of 18 mass killings in which family members were slain, and one of six that didn’t involve a gun. Among other trends in 2019: 
 
— The 41 mass killings were the most in a single year since the AP/USA Today and Northeastern database began tracking such events back to 2006, but other research going back to the 1970s shows no other year with as many mass slayings. The second-most killings in a year prior to 2019 was 38 in 2006. 
 
— The total of 211 people killed in this year’s cases is still eclipsed by the 224 victims in 2017, when the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history took place in Las Vegas. 
 
— California, with some of the most strict gun laws in the country, had the most mass slayings, with eight. But nearly half of U.S. states experienced a mass slaying, from big cities like New York to tiny towns like Elkmont, Alabama, with a population of just under 475 people. 
 
— Firearms were the weapons used in all but eight of the mass killings. Other weapons included knives and axes, and at least twice, the perpetrator set a mobile home on fire, killing those inside. 
 
— Nine mass shootings occurred in public places. Other mass killings occurred in homes, workplaces or bars. 
James Densley, a criminologist and professor at Metropolitan State University in Minnesota, said the AP/USA Today/Northeastern database confirms and mirrors what his own research into exclusively mass shootings has shown. 

FILE – Demonstrators gather to protest after a mass shooting that occurred in Dayton, Ohio, Aug. 7, 2019.“What makes this even more exceptional is that mass killings are going up at a time when general homicides, overall homicides, are going down,” Densley said. “As a percentage of homicides, these mass killings are also accounting for more deaths.” 
 
He believes it’s partially a byproduct of an “angry and frustrated time” that we are living in. Densley also said crime tends to go in waves, with the 1970s and 1980s seeing a number of serial killers, the 1990s marked by school shootings and child abductions, and the early 2000s dominated by concerns over terrorism. 
 
“This seems to be the age of mass shootings,” Densley said. 
 
He and James Alan Fox, a criminologist and professor at Northeastern University, also expressed worries about the “contagion effect,” the focus on mass killings fueling other mass killings. 
 
“These are still rare events. Clearly the risk is low but the fear is high,” Fox said. “What fuels contagion is fear.” 
 
The mass shootings this year include the three in August in Texas and Dayton that stirred fresh urgency, especially among Democratic presidential candidates, to restrict access to firearms. 
 
While the large death tolls attracted much of the attention, the killings inflicted a mental and physical toll on dozens of others. The database does not have a complete count of victims who were wounded, but among the three mass shootings in August alone, more than 65 people were injured. 
 
Daniel Munoz, 28, of Odessa was caught in the crossfire of the shooting that took place over a 10-mile (16-kilometer) stretch in West Texas. He was on his way to meet a friend at a bar when he saw a gunman and the barrel of a firearm. Instinctively, he got down just as his car was sprayed with bullets. 

FILE – Law enforcement officials process the crime scene, Sept. 1, 2019, in Odessa, Texas, from a shooting that ended with the alleged attacker being shot dead by police in a stolen mail van, right.Munoz, who moved to Texas about a year ago to work in the oil industry, said he had actually been on edge since the Walmart shooting, which took place just 28 days earlier and about 300 miles (480 kilometers) away, worried that a shooting could happen anywhere at any time. 
 
He remembers calling his mother after the El Paso shooting to encourage her to have a firearm at home or with her in case she needed to defend herself. He would say the same to friends, telling them before they went to a Walmart to take a firearm in case they needed to protect themselves or others during an attack. 
 
“You can’t just always assume you’re safe. In that moment, as soon as the El Paso shooting happened, I was on edge,” Munoz said. 
 
Adding to his anxiety is that, as a convicted felon, he’s prohibited from possessing a firearm. 
 
A few weeks later, as he sat behind the wheel of his car, he spotted the driver of an approaching car wielding a firearm. 
 
“My worst nightmare became a reality,” he said. “I’m the middle of a gunfight and I have no way to defend myself.” 
 
In the months since, the self-described social butterfly steers clear of crowds and can only tolerate so much socializing. He still drives the same car, still riddled with bullet holes on the side panels, a bullet hole in the headrest of the passenger seat and the words “evidence” scrawled on the doors. His shoulder remains pocked with bullet fragments. 

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President Donald Trump retweeted, then deleted, a post that included the alleged name of the anonymous whistleblower whose complaint ultimately led to Trump’s impeachment by the House. 
 
Just before midnight Friday, Trump retweeted a message from Twitter user @Surfermom77, an account that claims to be a woman named Sophia who lives in California. The account shows some indications of automation, including an unusually high amount of activity and profile pictures featuring stock images from the internet. 
 
By Saturday morning, the post had been removed from Trump’s feed, though it could still be found in other ways, including on a website that logs every presidential tweet. 
 
While Trump has repeatedly backed efforts to unmask the whistleblower, his retweet marks the first time he has directly sent the alleged name into the Twitter feed of his 68 million followers. 
 
Unmasking the whistleblower, who works in the intelligence field, could violate federal protection laws that have historically been supported by both parties. 
Phone conversation
 
The whistleblower filed a complaint in August about one of Trump’s telephone conversations with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other dealings with the Eastern European nation. The complaint prompted House Democrats to launch a probe that ended with Trump’s impeachment earlier this month. The matter now heads to the Senate, where the Republican majority is expected to acquit the president. 

FILE – President Donald Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the InterContinental Barclay New York hotel during the U.N. General Assembly, Sept. 25, 2019, in New York.The central points from the whistleblower’s complaint were confirmed during the House impeachment hearings by a string of diplomats and other career officials, many of whom testified in public. The White House also released an account of Trump’s July 25 phone call with Zelenskiy, in which he asks for help investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee. 
 
Speculation about the whistleblower’s identity has been circulating in conservative media and on social media for months. 
 
U.S. whistleblower laws exist to protect the identity and careers of people who bring forward accusations of wrongdoing by government officials. The Associated Press typically does not reveal the identity of whistleblowers. 
 
The White House had no comment Saturday on the president’s retweet or why it was removed. 
President’s position
 
Trump insists he did nothing wrong in his dealings with Ukraine and has asserted that the whistleblower made up the complaint, despite its corroboration by other officials. Trump also argues that he has a right to face his accuser and has called on the whistleblower to step forward. 
 
For months, an array of right-wing personalities, amateur pro-Trump internet sleuths and some conservative news outlets have published what they claim to be details about the whistleblower, including name and career history. The president himself has also been inching closer to outing the individual; earlier this week, Trump shared a tweet linking to a Washington Examiner article that included the alleged name. 
 
Still, his retweet Friday night went a step further — directly sending the name into the feeds of his 68 million followers. 
 
@Surfermom77, the Twitter handle on the post Trump retweeted, describes herself as a “100%Trump Supporter” and California resident. The account had nearly 79,000 followers as of Saturday afternoon. Some of its previous posts have denounced Islam and sharply criticized former President Barack Obama and other Democrats. 

FILE – The logo for Twitter is displayed above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Feb. 8, 2018.@Surfermom77 has displayed some hallmarks of a Twitter bot, an automated account. A recent profile picture on the account, for instance, is a stock photo of a woman in business attire that is available for use online. 
 
That photo was removed Saturday and replaced with an image of Trump. 
 
A deeper look at @Surfermom77’s account shows the user previously used two other stock photos as profile pictures, including one of a model wearing an orange hat used by a hat retailer. 
 
@Surfermom77 has also tweeted far more than typical users, more than 170,000 times since the account was activated in 2013. @Surfermom77 has posted, on average, 72 tweets a day, according to Nir Hauser, chief technology officer at VineSight, a technology firm that tracks online misinformation. 
 
“That’s not something most humans are doing,” Hauser said. 
 
While many bots only repost benign information like cat photos, others have been used to spread disinformation or polarizing claims, as Russian bots did in the leadup to the 2016 election. 
 Many jobs
In past years, @Surfermom77 has described herself as a teacher, historian, documentary author and model. Attempts to reach the person behind the account by telephone on Saturday were unsuccessful. An email address could not be found. 
 
Facebook has a policy banning posts that name the alleged whistleblower. But Twitter, which doesn’t have such a rule, has not removed the tweet from @Supermom77 or tweets from others who have named the alleged whistleblower. 
 
“The tweet you referenced is not a violation of the Twitter rules,” the company wrote in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. 
 
Some details about the whistleblower that have been published online by Trump’s supporters have been inaccurate or misrepresented. 
 
For example, a photo shared widely on social media last month was circulated by Facebook, Reddit and Twitter users who wrongly claimed it showed the whistleblower with Obama’s staffers outside the White House as Trump moved in. 
 
The individual in the photo actually was R. David Edelman, a former special assistant to Obama on economic and tech policy. Edelman debunked the claim on his Twitter account and told the AP he received threats online as a result of the false claims. 
‘Completely inappropriate’
 
Michael German, an FBI whistleblower who left the agency after reporting allegations of mismanagement in counterterrorism cases, said outing government whistleblowers not only puts them at personal risk but also discourages other government officials from stepping forward to expose possible wrongdoing. 
 
German, now a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, said the ease with which the alleged whistleblower’s identity has been spread online shows the need for greater legal protections for whistleblowers. 
 
He added that it’s “completely inappropriate for the president of the United States to be engaged in any type of behavior that could harm a whistleblower.” 

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