8 votes

Weekly US politics news and updates thread - week of April 3

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Tags: usa, politics, recurring.weekly

This thread is posted weekly - please try to post all relevant US political content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Extremely significant events may warrant a separate topic, but almost all should be posted in here.

This is an inherently political thread; please try to avoid antagonistic arguments and bickering matches. Comment threads that devolve into unproductive arguments may be removed so that the overall topic is able to continue.

9 comments

  1. Omnicrola
    (edited )
    Link
    Live updates on Donald Trump turning himself in to NY authorities : https://www.npr.org/live-updates/trump-indictment-arraignment-arrest-new-york Trump has been indicted, and has been charged with...

    Live updates on Donald Trump turning himself in to NY authorities : https://www.npr.org/live-updates/trump-indictment-arraignment-arrest-new-york

    Trump has been indicted, and has been charged with 34 felonies. Full document here : https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-Indictment.pdf

    All 34 charges are "falsifying business records in the first degree", and all seem to deal with checks, ledger entries, and invoices detailing transactions between Trump, Cohen, and Trump Organization.

    6 votes
  2. [6]
    Omnicrola
    (edited )
    Link
    Tennessee House Republicans expel 2 young Black Democrats for gun protests after Covenant School shooting EDIT : Updated article title

    Tennessee Legislature readies for day of protests ahead of vote to oust three Democratic lawmakers
    Tennessee House Republicans expel 2 young Black Democrats for gun protests after Covenant School shooting

    Last Thursday, the trio interrupted a floor session by using a megaphone to call for more gun control, days after a shooter killed six people, including three 9-year-olds, at a Nashville private school.

    Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton called the lawmakers “insurrectionists” and is leading the charge to eject the Democrats.

    EDIT : Updated article title

    6 votes
    1. [5]
      cfabbro
      Link Parent
      That article has been updated in the wake of the expulsions. The title is now "Tennessee House Republicans expel 2 young Black Democrats for gun protests after Covenant School shooting" and has...

      That article has been updated in the wake of the expulsions. The title is now "Tennessee House Republicans expel 2 young Black Democrats for gun protests after Covenant School shooting" and has more updated information.

      4 votes
      1. [4]
        Omnicrola
        Link Parent
        The level of hypocrisy is just unfathomable. Someone has literally killed multiple people including children, and this is somehow more acceptable and less worthy of swift legislative action than...

        The level of hypocrisy is just unfathomable. Someone has literally killed multiple people including children, and this is somehow more acceptable and less worthy of swift legislative action than someone speaking out of turn?!

        4 votes
        1. [3]
          skybrian
          Link Parent
          It’s hardball politics. The Republican majority is doing this because they can. According to the article, the rules are being inconsistently applied. But I’m having trouble following your argument...

          It’s hardball politics. The Republican majority is doing this because they can. According to the article, the rules are being inconsistently applied.

          But I’m having trouble following your argument about hypocrisy. It seems like a legislature’s rules for its own members don’t have much to do with whatever legislation it might pass for responding to urgent problems?

          1. [2]
            Omnicrola
            Link Parent
            My leveling of hypocrisy was specifically aimed at the difference between how speedily they addressed the two subjects. The speed and single-minded drive with which they addressed the "issue" of...

            My leveling of hypocrisy was specifically aimed at the difference between how speedily they addressed the two subjects. The speed and single-minded drive with which they addressed the "issue" of some of their members disrupting their quiet capital chamber is impressive from the perspective of how fast things often move in state legislatures. Contrasted with the unwillingness to even engage with the issue of children being shot in school, much less dig into the problem and try to find a solution, it's infuriating.

            While I acknowledge that there is a vast difference in the complexity of the two things I'm describing, the unwillingness to even set the legislative body into motion to even attempt to address the issue, seems hypocritical. Maybe that's not the right word to use here, but the contrast just struck me as particularly irksome.

            6 votes
            1. skybrian
              Link Parent
              Okay, thank you for explaining.

              Okay, thank you for explaining.

              1 vote
  3. AugustusFerdinand
    Link
    Gov. Greg Abbott announces he will push to pardon Daniel Perry who was convicted of murder

    Gov. Greg Abbott announces he will push to pardon Daniel Perry who was convicted of murder

    Perry, an Army sergeant, was working as an Uber driver in Austin on the night of July 25, 2020, when he ran a red light at the intersection of Fourth Street and Congress Avenue and drove into a Black Lives Matter march before stopping.

    Foster, carrying an AK-47 rifle, was among a group of protesters who approached his car. Perry told police that Foster threatened him by raising the barrel of his rifle at him, so he shot him five times with a .357 revolver through the window of his car before driving away.

    Perry’s defense team argued that he acted in self-defense, but prosecutors contended that Perry instigated what happened. They highlighted a series of social media posts and Facebook messages in which Perry made statements that they said indicated his state of mind, such as he might “kill a few people on my way to work. They are rioting outside my apartment complex.”

    A friend responded, “Can you legally do so?” Perry replied, “If they attack me or try to pull me out of my car then yes.”

    3 votes
  4. nukeman
    Link
    Judges' dueling decisions put access to a key abortion drug in jeopardy nationwide

    Judges' dueling decisions put access to a key abortion drug in jeopardy nationwide

    Federal judges in two states issued contradictory decisions Friday evening that could drastically impact access to a drug used in nearly all medication abortions in the U.S.

    In Texas, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that the Food and Drug Administration improperly approved the abortion pill mifepristone more than 20 years ago. A coalition of anti-abortion rights groups called the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine sued the FDA last year. The judge issued a nationwide injunction pausing the FDA's approval, which is set to take effect in seven days.

    Within hours of that decision, U.S. District Judge Thomas O. Rice issued a ruling in a separate case in Washington state. That lawsuit filed by a coalition of Democratic attorneys general in 17 states and the District of Columbia sought to block the FDA from pulling the drug from the market.

    Rice's decision blocks the FDA from "altering the status quo and rights as it relates to the availability of Mifepristone."

    2 votes