Friday, April 7, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.
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Joe is always busy.
This Administration has been hitting the road for the Investing in America Tour – highlighting how President Biden’s agenda is changing our future.
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 6, 2023
Here’s a quick recap.@POTUS has traveled to NC and MN to discuss the manufacturing boom happening under his leadership. 🏗️ pic.twitter.com/cndjEXu0GN
Three kids and three officials gunned down in yet another mass shooting.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 6, 2023
And what are GOP officials focused on?
Punishing lawmakers who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action.
It's shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent. https://t.co/NB9gSdFI9h
Biden's Title IX proposal would make broad, transgender sports bans illegal.
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Jill is always busy.
Jill Biden accepts tulip named for her by the Netherlands.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tulip lovers have a new variety to choose from and it’s named for Jill Biden.
The first lady accepted her “Jill Biden” tulip from André Haspels, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United States, during a ceremony at his official residence on Wednesday. The flower is reddish orange with fringed petals.
Biden delivered a toast and said she was honored to participate in the tradition.
“In this happy time, let these tulips’ dazzling orange be a reminder of the many springs our nations have shared, and be a beacon for the friendships we continue to strengthen today,” she said, according to her office.
The Dutch have named tulips after seven U.S. first ladies, starting in the late 1800s with Frances Folsom Cleveland, the wife of President Grover Cleveland.
Most recently, President George W. Bush’s wife, Laura, accepted her tulip in 2004. (ABC News, Associated Press).
Jill Biden to Lead U.S. Delegation at King Charles' Coronation.
First lady Dr. Jill Biden will be leading the U.S. delegation attending King Charles' coronation next month.
On Tuesday, the White House confirmed that President Joe Biden will not be in attendance and that he had informed the King that his wife, 71, will be attending the historical event on behalf of the United States.
"President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with King Charles III, underscoring the strength of the relationship between our countries and the friendship between our people," a readout of the call released by the White House read. "The President congratulated the King on his upcoming Coronation and informed him that First Lady Jill Biden looks forward to attending on behalf of the United States."
The readout also confirmed that the president, 80, hopes to plan another visit to the U.K. at a later date. "The President also conveyed his desire to meet with the King in the United Kingdom at a future date," the readout stated.
On Wednesday, the White House confirmed that the president will begin a four-day trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland in Belfast on April 11. Charles' coronation is due to take place at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6. (People).
One more thing. The First Lady will be at a coronation of not only King Charles, but his wife, who will be known as Queen.
Coronation invitations issued by King Charles and 'Queen Camilla.’
The ornately illustrated invitation, sent to about 2,000 guests, is from "King Charles III and Queen Camilla.”
The invitation for the 6 May coronation, printed on recycled paper, shows the coronation will mark a change in how Camilla is titled. (BBC).
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Red States gone wild.
We are learning GOP politicians everywhere fear discussion and dissent. They are willing to stop Democracy and eliminate voters rights too. They are willing to allow deaths and eliminate personal freedoms. Trump, DeSantis are not alone.
Red State Tennessee battles young people and Democracy.
As Young People March for Their Lives, Tennessee Crushes Dissent and Overrides Democracy.
NASHVILLE — Yesterday the eyes of the country were on the indictment of a former president, along with the all too real possibility that political or public chaos would erupt as a result. Here in Tennessee, we were watching a different kind of chaos unfold as our state government doubled down on its love affair with guns, even in the immediate aftermath of a horrific school shooting. I wish I could tell you that guns were the worst of it.
Last Thursday, in the wake of the shooting, peaceful protesters at the Tennessee State Capitol rallied for gun reform. Activists waved signs in the statehouse gallery, and Representatives Justin Jones, Gloria Johnson and Justin J. Pearson, all Democrats, led them in chants from the House floor during breaks. Between bills, the lawmakers also approached the podium to speak. They did not wait to be formally recognized.
On Monday, statehouse Republicans stripped all three of their committee memberships and deactivated their ID badges. The Democrats “did knowingly and intentionally bring disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives,” the formal resolutions against them read. Tomorrow, the House will vote on whether to expel the three lawmakers for talking out of turn.
On Monday at 10:13 a.m., one week to the minute after a shooter armed with military-style weapons entered the church-affiliated Covenant School and murdered three children and three adults, more than 7,000 Nashville students staged a walkout to demand gun reform. It was a sight to behold: Vanderbilt University studentsmarching down one street, Belmont University studentsmarching down another, all of them joining a large crowd of high school and college students from around town. They were determined to speak as one voice directly to their government — to the only people with any power to reduce the risks they take just by going to class.
No place in this firearm-besotted country is safe from gun violence, but Tennessee students are at particular risk, and not just in school. They live in a state with some of the nation’s most permissive gun laws, as well as the highest rate of gun theft — and perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the highest rates of gun deaths.
The guns that killed the children and staff members at Covenant last week were all purchased legally, despite the fact that the shooter was being treated for an emotional disorder. If Tennessee had enacted a red-flag law before now, it’s fair to believe that six deeply mourned members of the Covenant community would still be alive. Countless others would be, too.
Until yesterday, when the judiciary committee of the State Senate voted to postpone all gun-related legislation — including a red-flag law jointly proposed by Senator Jeff Yarbro and House member Caleb Hemmer, both Democrats — the Tennessee General Assembly showed every sign of turning Nashville’s school shooting into an opportunity to weaken gun safety in the state even further.
The shamelessness on display was breathtaking. “If there is a firearm out there that you’re comfortable being shot with, please show me which one it is,” a Republican state representative said to student protesters. Presumably he meant that banning assault-style guns wouldn’t prevent students from being shot with other kinds of guns, but that’s not much of an argument coming from a pro-gun legislator who opposes red-flag laws.
These repeated demonstrations for gun safety legislation were the context in which the Republican supermajority of the Tennessee House moved to expel Mr. Jones, Ms. Johnson and Mr. Pearson from the statehouse. But the three Democrats had more than public sentiment on their side. They had more, even, than moral authority on their side. They also had a practical reason for flouting chamber rules: “Our mics were cut off throughout the week whenever we tried to bring up the issue of gun violence,” Mr. Jones told WKRN.
Disenfranchisement of liberal voters is nothing new in the state of Tennessee, but what the G.O.P is trying to do to these Democrats goes well beyond disenfranchisement. To remove legitimately elected officials from the chamber to which voters sent them — and to do so precisely because those officials were representing the wishes of voters — is nothing short of authoritarianism. And the Republican supermajority in the Tennessee General Assembly has the votes to do it. (Margaret Renkl, New York Times).
The Tennessee House expelled Democrats Justin Jones and Justin Pearson. It’s unprecedented and undemocratic.
Republicans voted to remove Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, two Black men, but declined to expel Rep. Gloria Johnson, a white woman.
In a rare and shocking move, the Tennessee state legislature voted to expel Democratic Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both Black men, for protesting for gun control. They declined to expel Rep. Gloria Johnson, a white woman, who had engaged in a similar action, however.
By a 72-25 vote, the Republican-dominant legislature voted to remove Jones from office, and by a 69-26 vote, they moved to do the same with Pearson. The vote to expel Johnson failed 65-30. The effort — which needed a two-thirds majority to pass, or a 66 vote threshold — is unprecedented.
It’s also undemocratic. Jones and Pearson were expelled not for breaking the law, but after leading student activists in gun control chants from the House floor. In the process, tens of thousands of voters who they represent in Nashville and Memphis, respectively, were disenfranchised.
House Republicans justified their actions by saying that Jones and Pearson — along with Johnson — “knowingly and intentionally [brought] disorder and dishonor to the House of Representatives” and that their chants broke chamber rules. The Democratic lawmakers acknowledged that they did violate certain rules around decorum, but argued they did so to speak out on behalf of their constituents who are frustrated by the lack of action on gun control.
Last week, Johnson, Pearson, and Jones joined thousands of students and parents who marched to the Capitol to call for gun reforms after three children and three adults were killed in a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville. At one point, Jones and Pearson spoke on the House floor using bullhorns while accompanied by Johnson. Because they hadn’t been recognized to speak, the move was deemed a breach of the chamber’s rules.
The legislature’s decision to expel Jones and Pearson, but not Johnson, was said to be tied to the specifics of her role in the protest, and also seems to be the latest example of white Republican lawmakers in Tennessee targeting Black political power. According to The Tennessean, two attorneys who defended Johnson noted that she did not use the bullhorn to lead chants, though she stood alongside Jones and Pearson in support.
Multiple lawmakers called out the racist nature of the vote. “You cannot ignore the racial dynamic of what happened today. Two young Black lawmakers get expelled and the one white woman does not?” Pearson said afterwards. (Vox).
To repeat, the President responded to this atrocity in Tennessee last night too - here is the full statement from the White House.
Statement from President Joe Biden on Expulsion of Tennessee Lawmakers for Acting on Gun Safety.
Last week, three more students and three school officials were gunned down in yet another tragic mass shooting in Nashville. On Monday, 7,000 Tennesseans, many of them students, marched to their state capitol to call on their lawmakers to take action and keep them safe.
Instead, state Republican lawmakers called votes today to expel three Democratic legislators who stood in solidarity with students and families and helped lift their voices. Today’s expulsion of lawmakers who engaged in peaceful protest is shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent. Rather than debating the merits of the issue, these Republican lawmakers have chosen to punish, silence, and expel duly-elected representatives of the people of Tennessee.
A strong majority of Americans want lawmakers to act on commonsense gun safety reforms that we know will save lives. But instead, we’ve continued to see Republican officials across America double down on dangerous bills that make our schools, places of worship, and communities less safe. Our kids continue to pay the price.
Congress must ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines, require safe storage of firearms, eliminate gun manufacturers’ immunity from liability, and require background checks for all gun sales, and state officials must do the same.
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Read the full letter, signed by 200+ state legislators in support of the Tennessee 3 https://t.co/eVxxqogL6a pic.twitter.com/RBa38vYtBG
— State Innovation Exchange (SiX) (@stateinnovation) April 6, 2023
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In Kansas, ban of Trans girls in sports leads to law allowing genital inspections in schools.
Kansas Lawmakers Override Governor's Veto On Bill To Check Genitals Of Kids Playing Sports | the deep dive
With the successful override of [Kansas] Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a transgender student athlete ban, transgender girls are now barred from participating in women’s sports from kindergarten through college.
The veto was overridden by a vote of 84-40 in the House and 28-12 in the Senate on Wednesday. Both chambers barely made the two-thirds majority needed to override Kelly’s March veto, the third year in a row.
Kansas is now the 20th state to enact a ban on transgender student athletes.
From elementary school to college, children are required to engage in school activities according on the gender assigned to them at birth. Difficulties could include requiring them to undergo genital examinations or providing a birth certificate as verification of the child’s gender.
“It sort of breaks my heart,” Kelly said. “It certainly is disappointing. I know that there’s some legislators for whom this was a very, very hard vote, and one that I think they will regret as they look back on their time in the Legislature.” (Deep Dive).
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New controversy around Clarence Thomas.
For decades, Justice Clarence Thomas has secretly accepted luxury trips from a major Republican donor, newly obtained documents and interviews show.
— ProPublica (@propublica) April 6, 2023
The extent and frequency of these apparent gifts to Thomas has no known precedent in modern SCOTUS history... 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/ROuGuyD6r6
4/ In June 2019, Thomas boarded Crow's private jet to Indonesia for 9 days of island-hopping on Crow's yacht.
— ProPublica (@propublica) April 6, 2023
Had Thomas chartered the jet and yacht himself, it could have cost him over $500K. pic.twitter.com/nLK3V67yh7
Touch 👇 to watch.
oh come ON lol https://t.co/43SYI1ylan
— Brendan Karet (@bad_takes) April 6, 2023
Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire.
For over 20 years, Supreme Justice Clarence Thomas has Been treated to luxury vacations by …
billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow.
IN LATE JUNE 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.
If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary: He was on vacation with real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too.
To read the full ground-breaking journalism which exposed the shocking ethical violations by the Supreme Court Justice, click here.
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New York D.A. Alvin Bragg won’t put up with GOP nonsense.
https://twitter.com/krassenstein/status/1644066416792936448?s=61&t=I_Od53CbnPTsbLcD0baXPg_______________________
Howard University is a wise institution.
https://twitter.com/marsha_vivinate/status/1643803068226519041?s=61&t=I_Od53CbnPTsbLcD0baXPg_______________________