Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., warned fellow Republicans on Tuesday that American democracy faces a threat it has “never seen before” in a defiant floor speech on the eve of a vote that is expected to result in her removal from the role of House Republican Conference Chair.

Cheney, who lost support from fellow GOP leaders in recent weeks amid a public feud with former President Donald Trump, said her stand was driven by a “reverence for the rule of law.” In a scathing six-minute speech, the Wyoming Republican said Trump “risks inciting further violence” and had “misled” millions of Americans with disproven claims that the results of the 2020 presidential election were fraudulent.

“This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans,” Cheney said. “Remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I will not participate in that. I will not sit back and watch in silence while others lead our party down a path that abandons the rule of law and joins the former president’s crusade to undermine our democracy.”

House Republicans are expected to vote Wednesday to oust Cheney from the party’s No. 3 leadership position and replace her with Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, a prominent Trump ally. Top Republicans, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, have expressed support for Stefanik in recent days.

In her floor speech, Cheney warned that efforts to damage confidence in the democratic system would undermine the rule of law at home and hurt America’s standing on the international stage.

“As the party of Reagan, Republicans have championed democracy, won the Cold War and defeated the Soviet communists,” Cheney said. “Today, America is on the cusp of another Cold War – this time with communist China. Attacks against our democratic process and the rule of law empower our adversaries and feed communist propaganda that American democracy is a failure. We must speak the truth.”

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Cheney emerged as one of Trump’s most prominent critics within the GOP following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. She was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump on a single charge of incitement of insurrection.

The lawmaker’s public feud with Trump raised concerns among House GOP leaders about her ability to serve effectively as conference chair, a position that dictates party messaging, ahead of the crucial 2022 midterm election.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/liz-cheney-defiant-floor-speech-house-gop-vote-to-oust-her-as-conference-chair

The United States called on Israel and Palestinians to de-escalate the explosive conflict ravaging infrastructure and incurring a mounting death toll on territory held by both sides.

“We call on all sides to exercise restraint, exercise calm,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday. “The United States will continue to remain engaged with senior Israeli officials and Palestinian leadership in the days and weeks ahead.”

But he warned there may be only so much Washington could do.

“The United States is doing what we can,” Price said, “knowing that…our ability in certain situations is going to be, in some cases, limited.”

Price emphasized that “Israel has the right to defend itself and to respond to rocket attacks” and “the Palestinian people also have the right to safety and security, just as Israelis do.”

While he referred to the rocket attacks by Palestinian movements Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a form of “horrific terrorist attack,” he declined to respond to journalists’ questions on whether the U.S. considered Israeli airstrikes in Gaza to be acceptable.

The death toll, estimated by each side, is said to include 30 Palestinians, by the Gaza-based Ministry of Health, and two Israelis, according to the Israel Defense Forces. Scores more have been injured.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that President Joe Biden‘s “support for Israel’s security—for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people—is fundamental and will never waiver.”

She also said that the U.S. leader was in talks with top officials from both sides of the deadly feud.

“[Biden] has directed his team to engage intensively with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, as well as leaders throughout the Middle East,” Psaki told reporters Tuesday. “His team is communicating a clear and consistent message in support of de-escalation, and that is our primary focus.”

The White House also later released a readout of a call between national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his Israeli counterpart Meir Ben Shabbat.

Sullivan “condemned the ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem and Tel Aviv,” “conveyed the President’s unwavering support for Israel’s security and for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people, while protecting civilians,” and “also conveyed the United States’ encouragement of steps toward restoring a sustainable calm.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke with his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi, later releasing a readout in which the top U.S. diplomat said he “expressed his concerns regarding rocket attacks on Israel and his condolences for the lives lost as a result.”

The two men “also discussed the violence in Jerusalem, in particular on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount and in Sheikh Jarrah,” a dispute seen as the catalyst for what has spiralled into some of the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence in years. Blinken “reiterated his call on all parties to deescalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence, which has claimed the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including children” and “emphasized the need for Israelis and Palestinians to be able to live in safety and security, as well as enjoy equal measures of freedom, security, prosperity, and democracy.”

Biden, for his part, has yet to issue any public remarks himself, and the two belligerents seemed set on intensifying the fight rather than cooling down.

One of the latest barrages by Hamas sent what it estimated to be 130 rockets toward the metropolitan city of Tel Aviv in response to an Israeli air raid that took down an entire apartment building. The IDF claimed the multi-story structure “housed military intelligence, research and development offices” belonging to Hamas.

This adds to some 630 rockets fired by the Palestinian fighters and over 100 airstrikes conducted by up to 80 Israeli aircraft, according to the latest IDF count provided to Newsweek.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a televised address warning that both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad would pay a “very heavy price for their belligerence” and that “their blood is on their own hands.” The conflict, he said, “will take time.”

Rockets sirens continue to sound regularly in Israel, especially in Ashkelon and areas close to the Gaza Strip. The IDF also continued to conduct aerial operations.

“Over the last several hours, the IDF has struck a number of significant terror targets and terror operatives across the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli armed forces said in a statement sent to Newsweek. “The strikes are continuing at this time.”

Rockets are launched from Gaza City, controlled by the Palestinian Hamas movement, in response to an Israeli air strike on a 12-story building in the city, towards the coastal city of Tel Aviv, on May 11.
ANAS BABA/AFP/Getty Images

Israelis and Palestinians have been locked in an intractable conflict over territory since the end of the United Kingdom’s post-Ottoman Empire colonial mandate and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 on land also claimed by Palestinians. In the decades since, Israel has fought with both Palestinian groups as well as other Arab forces and nations backing Palestinian claims within Israel’s proclaimed borders, which have increasingly eroded Palestinian control through conflict and settlement over the years.

The latest unrest erupted as Israelis attempted to evict Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of the sacred city of Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians consider their capital. The situation escalated rapidly with an Israeli crackdown on massive Palestinian demonstrations and a storming of the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque, a move that Hamas said motivated its ongoing rocket assault.

“The reason for the demonstrations and the firing of the rocket is trying to deter the Israeli occupation and its settlers and extremist Knesset Members who insist on desecrating Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is the third holiest place for all Muslims around the world and the holiest site for us as the Palestinians,” a Hamas spokesperson recently told Newsweek. “In addition, to deter the Israeli authorities who have been working along with the settlers’ organizations to expel the Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah from their homes and replace them with settlers.”

The U.S. and Israel consider Hamas to be a terrorist organization. The group has received calls of support from Turkey and Iran, which has supplied the organization with weapons technology.

Arab countries, including the six with which Israel has diplomatic ties, have largely condemned Israel’s actions in regards to the Sheikh Jarrah dispute and the raid on Al-Aqsa. On Tuesday, the 22-nation Arab League condemned Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza as well.

Mayhem appeared to be extending elsewhere in Israel as well, as rival communities took to the streets. The mayor of the mixed city of Lod told The Times of Israel that there has been “a complete loss of control” around him, warning that “a civil war has erupted.”

The U.S. has played a key mediating role between Israelis and Palestinians in past decades, including in the 1993 Oslo Accords that set the stage for modern relations between Israel and Palestinian leadership represented today by Palestine National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The accords ultimately fell apart at the turn of the century, however, and efforts to establish peace were further stymied by a 2006 rift between Abbas’ leading Fatah party and Hamas, which saw widespread gains that ultimately helped to establish its control over Gaza.

The two Palestinian factions remain at odds to this day despite successive reconciliation attempts. Abbas announced late last month that he was postponing what would have been the first Palestinian elections in the nearly 15 years since the original falling out, fueling further tensions with Hamas.

U.S. relations with Palestinian leadership were severed during the administration of former President Donald Trump, who aligned himself closely with Israel by recognizing Jerusalem as the country’s capital and moving the U.S. embassy despite the Palestinian counterclaims to the contested city. Biden has sought to carefully balance rebuilding ties with the Palestinian side while also maintaining the alliance with Israel.

U.S. officials have also offered some security assurances to Israel as the Biden administration pursues ongoing talks in Vienna geared toward a potential reentry into a nuclear deal reached with Iran and other major world powers in 2015 but abandoned three years ago under Trump.

Smoke billows from an Israeli airstrike on the Hanadi compound in Gaza, the city and coastal enclave in which the Palestinian Hamas movement is based, on May 11. Israel said the building was used by the group to house military operations, while Hamas said it was a residential structure.
MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images

This is a developing news story. More information will be added as it becomes available.

Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/us-says-it-has-limited-ability-stop-raging-israeli-palestinian-conflict-1590652


Caitlyn Jenner speaks at the 4th Annual Women’s March LA: Women Rising at Pershing Square on January 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, Cali. | Sarah Morris/Getty Images

California

OAKLAND — Republican gubernatorial candidate Caitlyn Jenner told CNN this week that she never voted for president in the November 2020 election and opted to golf instead because she “couldn’t get excited” about the dozen measures on the California ballot. For someone seeking support in the upcoming recall, it was a head-turning statement.

Then came the head-scratcher: Los Angeles County records show she actually did cast a ballot last fall.

POLITICO reported last month that Jenner did not vote in nearly two-thirds of the elections in which she was eligible since 2000. After Jenner’s latest comments to CNN aired Tuesday morning, a representative of the registrar’s office reconfirmed to POLITICO that Jenner voted — with documentation.

The issue arose when CNN’s Dana Bash asked Jenner this week if she had voted for former President Donald Trump in last year’s election. Jenner is relying on former Trump aides for campaign strategy, but she had broken with the Republican president in 2018 over his positions on transgender issues.

“I didn’t even vote,” Jenner told Bash in a wide-ranging interview at her home in Malibu. “Out here in California, it’s like, why vote for a Republican president? It’s just not going to work. I mean, it’s overwhelming.”

But Jenner didn’t stop there. Asked further if she voted on downticket races, she said she did not and suggested she didn’t participate at all.

“It was voting day, and I thought, the only thing out here in California that I worry about, which affects people, is the propositions that were out there,” Jenner said. “And I didn’t see any propositions that I really had one side or the other. And so it was Election Day. And I just couldn’t get excited about it. And I just wound up going to play golf and I said, eh, I’m not doing that.”

California voters considered 12 ballot measures in November during a campaign that set new records for overall spending. Proposals affected the future of cash bail, affirmative action, gig workers, rent control and criminal sentencing, among other topics.

Jenner’s campaign would not comment on the record when asked about the conflicting accounts Tuesday and only spoke on background.

Despite Jenner giving the impression she opted out of the election entirely and played golf on Election Day — and that she only worries about state propositions but chose not to consider those as well — a spokesperson said that Jenner voted on “some local issues.” The spokesperson said Jenner was responding to a question about whom she chose for president in 2020 and said that she didn’t support any candidate.

Jenner’s city of Malibu had a City Council contest and a hotel tax increase measure on the November ballot. Los Angeles County had a competitive district attorney’s race and a measure to direct more county funds to social services.

Her claim to be a non-voter in that seminal 2020 election was baffling for a gubernatorial candidate trying to establish her political credibility, especially since records show she did participate in the contest. And it remains unclear why her statements conflict with the records.

Some political insiders speculated the candidate, speaking off the cuff, may have wanted to distance herself from Trump on CNN. Or that she possibly couldn’t keep her elections straight.

Tim Rosales, a GOP strategist, said he’s heard many candidates over the years claim to have voted when they hadn’t — and got caught because voting records are public.

“But I’ve never heard it the opposite way, where somebody said that I didn’t vote” and they actually did, he said.

“I can imagine, having been on the inside of these types of high profile campaigns, you’ve got a lot of a lot of people scrambling right now,” Rosales added.

A new poll from the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies shows registered voters are opposing the California recall by a margin of 49-35.

But when asked to select a replacement candidate should the recall succeed, registered voters prefer more experienced GOP candidates over Jenner. Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and former 2018 Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox each have 22 percent support from registered voters, while former Rep. Doug Ose has 14 percent. Democrats for now have opted against running a candidate in the free-for-all ballot out of concern that it would detract from overall opposition to the recall.

Jenner, meanwhile, is far behind at 6 percent in the first major poll since she announced her candidacy in late March.

“This is not someone who is serious about public life. If she were, she would know there is record of who votes — and who doesn’t,” said Claremont McKenna College professor Jack Pitney, a former GOP campaign operative. “She hasn’t said anything even remotely sensible. It’s a reality show, and she likes attention. This gets her attention. Mission accomplished.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/05/11/jenner-says-she-didnt-vote-in-2020-but-records-show-she-did-1381459

A federal judge has dismissed the National Rifle Association’s bankruptcy case, leaving the powerful gun-rights group to face a lawsuit from New York state that accuses it of financial abuses.

The judge sitting in Dallas was tasked with deciding whether the NRA should be allowed to incorporate in Texas instead of New York, where the state is suing in an effort to disband the group. Though headquartered in Virginia, the NRA was chartered as a nonprofit in New York in 1871 and is incorporated in the state.

Judge Harlin Hale said in a written order on Tuesday that he was dismissing the case because he found the NRA’s attempt to claim bankruptcy in New York was not filed in good faith.

“The court believes the NRA’s purpose in filing bankruptcy is less like a traditional bankruptcy case in which a debtor is faced with financial difficulties or a judgment that it cannot satisfy” Hale wrote, “and more like cases in which courts have found bankruptcy was filed to gain an unfair advantage in litigation or to avoid a regulatory scheme.”

His decision followed 11 days of testimony and arguments. Lawyers for New York and the NRA’s former advertising agency grilled the group’s embattled top executive, Wayne LaPierre, who acknowledged putting the NRA into Chapter 11 bankruptcy without the knowledge or assent of most of its board and other top officers.

“Excluding so many people from the process of deciding to file for bankruptcy, including the vast majority of the board of directors, the chief financial officer, and the general counsel, is nothing less than shocking,” the judge added.

Phillip Journey, an NRA board member and Kansas judge who had sought to have an examiner appointed to investigate the group’s leadership, was concise about Hale’s judgment: “1 word, disappointed,” he wrote in a text message.

LaPierre pledged in a statement to continue to fight for gun rights.

“Although we are disappointed in some aspects of the decision, there is no change in the overall direction of our association, its programs, or its second amendment advocacy,” LaPierre said via the NRA’s Twitter account.

“Today is ultimately about our members those who stand courageously with the NRA in defense of constitutional freedom. We remain an independent organization that can chart its own course, even as we remain in New York to confront our adversaries.”

Lawyers for New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, argued that the case was an attempt by the NRA leadership to escape accountability for using the group’s coffers as their personal piggybank. But the NRA’s attorneys said it was a legitimate effort to avoid a political attack by James, who is a Democrat.

LaPierre testified that he kept the bankruptcy largely secret to prevent leaks from the group’s 76-member board, which is divided in its support for him.

Hale dismissed the NRA’s case without prejudice, meaning the group can refile it. However, he warned that in doing so the NRA’s leaders would risk losing control.

The judge wrote that if the case is refiled, he would immediately take up “concerns about disclosure, transparency, secrecy, conflicts of interest” between NRA officials and their bankruptcy legal team. He said that the lawyers “unusual involvement” in the NRA’s affairs raised concerns that the group “could not fulfil the fiduciary duty” and might lead him to appoint a trustee to oversee it.

Hale noted the NRA could still pursue other legal steps to incorporate in Texas, but James said such a move would require her approval and that seemed unlikely.

The NRA declared bankruptcy in January, five months after James’s office sued seeking its dissolution following allegations that executives illegally diverted tens of millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts and other questionable expenditures.

James is New York’s chief law enforcement officer and has regulatory power over nonprofit organisations incorporated in the state. She sued the NRA last August, saying at the time that the “breadth and the depth of the corruption and the illegality” at the NRA justified its closure.

During a news conference after the ruling, James said she read transcripts of LaPierre’s testimony, which was “filled with contradictions”.

She reiterated that she intends to see the NRA dissolved, which ultimately would be decided by a judge, not the attorney general. The discovery process in her lawsuit is ongoing, James said, and she expects a trial to happen sometime in 2022.

“There are individuals and officers who are using the NRA as their personal piggy bank and they need to be held accountable,” James said.

The NRA’s financial standing has been upended by the coronavirus pandemic, but there was consensus during the bankruptcy trial that it remains financially sound

Last year, the group laid off dozens of employees, cancelled its national convention and scuttled fundraising. The NRA’s bankruptcy filing listed between $100m and $500m in assets and the same range in liabilities.

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/12/judge-dismisses-nra-bankruptcy-case-in-blow-for-us-gun-lobby

The vehicle, he said, matched the make and model and license plate of Hernandez’s vehicle, a black GMC Acadia. Hernandez, 40, has been missing since April 17. 

“Our condolences go out to the family as they go through a painful time of waiting for a positive identification,” Deese said. 

He said he could not comment on whether the unidentified body showed signs of foul play. 

Deese said police gathered information with the FBI that led them to the small man-made lake in Pearland’s Shadow Creek Ranch subdivision. There, near the intersection of Reflection Bay and North Clear Lake, officers found evidence that a vehicle struck a curb and entered the body of water, Deese said. 

He said the dive team was called and quickly located the vehicle at the bottom of the lake, which ranges in depth from 8 to 15 feet. Deese said the SUV appeared to have been in the water since Hernandez was first reported missing. 

Officers noted damage on the SUV consistent with striking a curb, Deese said. Investigators believe the crash likely occurred in the early-morning hours, when “no one would have heard anything,” he said.

Pearland police will lead the investigation into the death. 

“We won’t definitively say the search for Erica Hernandez is over, because there is a process that still needs to be followed,” Deese said. 

Source Article from https://www.houstonchronicle.com/neighborhood/pearland/article/Person-found-dead-in-vehicle-recovered-in-small-16169303.php

In New Delhi on Monday, family members cremate the body of a person who died after contracting COVID-19.

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In New Delhi on Monday, family members cremate the body of a person who died after contracting COVID-19.

Mayank Makhija/NurPhoto via Getty Images

MUMBAI, India — Outside an upscale Indian hospital last week, Baljeet Asthana put her phone on selfie mode, propped her eyeglasses on her head so she could stare directly into the camera, and hit record.

Through a white polka-dot mask, she described her family’s ordeal: Her 82-year-old mother was inside the hospital “struggling for her life,” Asthana said. Her mother desperately needed an intensive care unit bed, but the hospital — Fortis Hospital, one of the best-equipped private facilities in the capital, New Delhi — was full. Officials told the family to look for an ICU bed elsewhere.

“My mother is slowly dying,” reads her tweet accompanying her video.

Near the end of her video, Asthana addresses Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as Delhi’s chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal. She asks them for advice on where she should take her dying mother and closes with a chilling request.

“If you cannot advise me, sir, I would request you to legalize mercy killing in India, because you have no idea what the common citizen of India is going through at the moment,” Asthana says into the camera. “We are struggling to get basic things like oxygen, medicines, hospitals. Please legalize mercy killing in India.”

“Let us die with dignity,” she adds. “Thank you very much. Jai Hind” — long live India — she says.

At a cremation ground in New Delhi on Tuesday, relatives wearing personal protective equipment mourn during the cremation of a family member who died after contracting COVID-19.

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Asthana’s video is one of the more polite and restrained expressions of anger that have been boiling in India as the country records the world’s highest daily tallies of coronavirus infections. There have also been more profane outbursts on social media and in-person arguments as people’s frustration mounts.

Authorities have confirmed more than 300,000 coronavirus cases daily for nearly three weeks. On Friday, they confirmed 414,188 new cases, a global record since the coronavirus pandemic began. And scientists say the real numbers are likely much higher.

India’s health system has collapsed. There are shortages of hospital beds, medical oxygen, antiviral drugs and vaccines. People are dying in hospital parking lots, unable to get care, or at home, unable to get an ambulance. Many Indians say they feel abandoned by their government.

Citizens are increasingly directing their outrage at Modi himself. His pre-pandemic slogan, Aatmanirbhar Bharat — Hindi for “self-reliant India” — no longer resonates in a country now struggling to process tons of international coronavirus relief supplies landing daily at New Delhi’s airport. India’s neighbors, including Bangladesh and Bhutan, which had just months ago been recipients of COVID-19 vaccines donated by India, are now sending aid in the other direction.

Anger is growing against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi amid surging coronavirus cases. At least one poll has logged a decline in his public approval rating.

Kiyoshi Ota/AFP via Getty Images


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Kiyoshi Ota/AFP via Getty Images

These scenes challenge the idea of India that Modi sought to sell: a proud new global power with an ancient Hindu culture and a booming economy that had put its impoverished past behind it.

India’s quick descent into COVID-19 chaos, along with the resulting public ire, may now amount to the biggest challenge yet for the country’s most powerful and popular leader in decades. Observers say they’ve never seen such anger against Modi, and at least one poll has logged a decline in his support.

Mixed messages from Modi

The prime minister hasn’t given a televised speech to the nation since April 20. That was when he ruled out another nationwide lockdown (he had previously imposed one in March 2020) but urged Indians to take precautions to halt the coronavirus’s spread.

“Discipline is needed to win the battle against corona,” Modi said, asking Indians to stay at home if they can. “With your courage, patience and discipline, the country will leave no stone unturned. Together we’ll change the conditions.”

But three days earlier, Modi had held a massive political rally with thousands of attendees in West Bengal, a state that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to win in local elections.

“In every direction, all I can see is people! You are wonderful!” Modi exclaimed to the crowd.

That day, India confirmed 234,692 new coronavirus cases — more than 20 times its daily tallies from late January and early February. Nevertheless, there were few masks and scant social distancing in Modi’s crowd. At the time, West Bengal had none of the pandemic restrictions reimposed in some other Indian regions.

For weeks, Modi’s Hindu nationalist government had also refused to halt the huge Kumbh Mela pilgrimage, in which millions of people gathered to bathe in the Ganges River throughout April. An Indian investigative magazine has since reported that a state official who urged that the pilgrimage be restricted was summarily fired by Modi’s government. (Modi later advised that the festival wrap up early, but by then, thousands of pilgrims had already tested positive for the coronavirus and at least one religious leader died.)

Naga sadhus (Hindu holy men) take a holy dip in the Ganges River during the Kumbh Mela festival in Haridwar, India, on April 12.

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“Politics overrode any concern about the health crisis that was unfolding,” says Yamini Aiyar, president of the Centre for Policy Research, a Delhi think tank.

About six weeks before Modi’s April 20 televised speech to the nation, his health minister had declared that India was in the “endgame” of the pandemic. Case numbers had been creeping up, but officials didn’t want to believe it, Aiyar says.

“There was a sense that we had crossed the hump and Indian exceptionalism was winning the day,” she says. “As [a] consequence, many crucial lessons we could and should have learned — what we needed to do to strengthen the health system and prepare for a second wave — were simply not learned.”

When cases plummeted this winter, India disassembled extra coronavirus wards it had set up in 2020. It made no additional efforts to stockpile medical oxygen and antiviral drugs — which are now in severe shortage. Indian diplomats celebrated the country’s role in exporting COVID-19 vaccines, but the government didn’t order enough to be manufactured and distributed to the domestic population.

Aiyar says the government failed to bolster a public health system that’s already one of the world’s weakest, even in the best of times. India invests less in public health in proportion to its economy than many other large countries like Brazil and the United States.

Criticism from within the party

As thousands of Indians die of COVID-19 every day, even some of Modi’s staunchest supporters are angry with him. Some of the governing party’s social media forums are buzzing with criticism.

In India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, a lawyer who has worked for the Bharatiya Janata Party for nearly two decades told local media he’ll never support Modi again.

“This government has failed us,” Arun Goyal said. “I just saw a patient die right in front of me. We’re all on our own now.”

His mother-in-law had a severe case of COVID-19, he said. He took her from hospital to hospital in what has become an all-too-familiar tale: Hospitals didn’t have room, and his mother-in-law died.

Patient Adila Ebadi, 58, who has been suffering from the coronavirus, is treated by volunteers at a makeshift clinic providing free oxygen outside the Gurdwara Damdama Sahib in New Delhi on May 3. India is struggling with shortages of oxygen for patients as well as shortages of medicine and hospital beds.

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Patient Adila Ebadi, 58, who has been suffering from the coronavirus, is treated by volunteers at a makeshift clinic providing free oxygen outside the Gurdwara Damdama Sahib in New Delhi on May 3. India is struggling with shortages of oxygen for patients as well as shortages of medicine and hospital beds.

Rebecca Conway/Getty Images

“I’m ashamed to call myself a BJP worker,” Goyal said.

NPR contacted seven spokespeople for Modi’s government or party to comment on the criticism. Two were sick with COVID-19. Another said he didn’t want to talk. Four others did not respond to interview requests.

Meanwhile, the government has been asking Twitter and Facebook to block certain posts it deems as critical of its handling of the pandemic.

India’s external affairs minister, S. Jaishankar, has addressed some of the criticism. “When a pandemic hits a society very hard, there are questions, there are arguments. There is a lot of second-guessing,” Jaishankar told reporters May 5 in London. “You know, ‘You should have seen it coming,’ ‘We could have told you so,’ etc. — it’s not unique to India.”

Jaishankar was in London last week for a meeting with foreign ministers from the G-7 advanced economies. (Although not in the G-7, India and several other nonmember countries were invited.) Some Indians were surprised Jaishankar would travel abroad during such a crisis. (While India is on the United Kingdom’s travel ban “red list” of countries with high coronavirus rates, diplomats are exempt.)

While in London, two members of his delegation tested positive for the coronavirus. So the whole Indian team had to self-isolate and participate in those meetings virtually — which, as many Indians pointed out on Twitter, they could have just done from India. Photos have since emerged showing that the delegation did not self-isolate and still held meetings in groups without masks — prompting more angry tweets from observers back home.

Dip in the polls

In the end, Modi’s party did not win the elections in West Bengal that he had campaigned for so aggressively. Out of five Indian regions that held local elections in April, the BJP retained political control in only one, the northeast state of Assam. But it’s unclear whether voters penalized the party for its pandemic response, because the voting was held in several stages, with some ballots cast in late March and early April, before the extent of the current coronavirus wave was clear.

On May 5, the national BJP president, J.P. Nadda, held a news conference in West Bengal to talk about post-election violence in which some of the BJP’s poll workers were allegedly attacked by supporters of a rival party. He was asked about COVID-19 and whether the party and prime minister were concerned about it.

“We are equally concerned and we are fighting it. Prime Minister Modi is taking meetings, discussing, taking very proactive steps,” Nadda told reporters.

Still, Modi’s pandemic response has struck many Indians as inadequate, observers say. Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C., says he hasn’t seen this level of outrage at Modi at any time since the prime minister was first elected in 2014.

“It’s the ferocity of the virus, coupled with what people perceive as mismanagement, as a lack of empathy, as a prime minister who’s usually leading from the front but seems to be receding into the background,” Vaishnav says.

Under a tent installed along a roadside in Ghaziabad, India, a patient breathes with the help of oxygen provided by a gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs, amid the coronavirus pandemic on May 2.

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That’s surprising for a leader who has so centralized power. Modi has been India’s most popular prime minister in decades. He was reelected in 2019 with an absolute majority in both houses of Parliament.

Modi’s approval rating didn’t budge much when India’s economy shrank 24% last spring under a nationwide coronavirus lockdown. Nor did it falter after a border standoff with China and clashes with Chinese troops that killed 20 Indian soldiers last year. Nor even when Modi abolished most of India’s bank notes in 2016 during his so-called demonetization policy, which most economists now say was a debacle.

While political opinion polling in India is often unreliable, a poll by the data analytics company Morning Consult shows Modi’s approval rating fell in April. The poll tracks similar ratings for 13 global leaders. Modi remains the most popular, compared with President Biden, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and 10 other global leaders. But Modi’s approval rating dropped from 74% on March 31 to 65% on May 4. Similarly, his disapproval rating rose from 20% to 29% over that same period.

But Modi is also a master of reinvention, Vaishnav says. And the next national election is still three years away.

“One of his greatest skills is the ability to spin a yarn, to shape a narrative. In 2014, he [was democratically elected] on the promise of reforming India’s governance and revitalizing the economy. Five years later when he was up for reelection, he hadn’t fulfilled those promises and instead he campaigned on welfare programs and nationalism,” Vaishnav says. “So come 2024, you can bet that he will have reinvented the narrative once again.”

Arguments roll on

In the meantime, as India breaks world records for daily coronavirus cases and its death toll mounts, shock across the country is turning to sorrow, and sorrow is turning to more anger.

Opposition politicians have tried to capitalize on that anger. Rahul Gandhi, head of the opposition Congress party, tweeted Monday that if Modi’s government had “done its job, it wouldn’t have come to this.”

Anger and political arguments could focus next on Uttar Pradesh, a state where COVID-19 is raging. Next year, the state will hold legislative elections — which will be a key test for Modi, whose close confidant is the head of the state’s government.

Last month, a political argument broke out at a crematorium in Uttar Pradesh.

Video filmed at a crematorium in the city of Meerut and posted to Twitter on April 30 shows an argument between a family that had just cremated their loved one, who died of COVID-19, and another man who interrupts the family and scolds them for bemoaning the government. He tries to convince them that none of this is the government’s fault. They all wave their fingers at one another, as funeral pyres burn around them.

One man pleads with the other: “Let’s just not argue! Not here, not now. Not in this, of all places,” he says.

NPR producer Sushmita Pathak contributed to this report from Hyderabad, India.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995446333/this-government-has-failed-us-anger-rises-in-india-over-pm-modis-covid-response

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed into law a bill that sets limits on the amounts by which local governments can cut police departments’ budgets, arguing the movement to “defund” police seeks “to vilify the men and women who leave their families and put their lives on the line to protect” Peach State residents.

Kemp, a Republican, signed the legislation on Friday at the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office gun range in Bethlehem, with sheriffs and police chiefs by his side. Rep. Houston Gaines, an Athens Republican and the bill’s sponsor, told Fox News on Tuesday he was “proud.”

“This important measure will ensure that the ‘defund the police’ movement doesn’t take a foothold here in Georgia and will stop radical, out-of-control local governments from slashing police budgets and putting public safety at risk,” he said in a statement to Fox News. “This National Police Week, we’re grateful here in Georgia for our men and women in law enforcement — and we back the blue.”

GEORGIA LAWMAKERS PASS BILL TO SET ‘DEFUND POLICE’ LIMITS: ‘PUTTING FAMILIES IN THOSE COMMUNITIES AT RISK’

The law will bar local governments from cutting police department budgets beyond a certain percentage and takes effect on July 1.

In this Wednesday, June 10, 2020, file photo, a man walk across a “Defund Police” written in front of the Atlanta Police Department Headquarters. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Georgia is now one of the only states in the country with such law enforcement agency protections, Gaines’ office said. A similar measure has become law in Florida, while other states are considering them.

COUSIN OF SLAIN DELAWARE COP RAILS AGAINST MEDIA, POLITICIANS OVER DEFUNDING POLICE, QUALIFIED IMMUNITY

The law prohibits county governments from decreasing a police department’s annual budget by more than 5% of the previous fiscal year’s funding. But it would also carry certain parameters as to when such limits might no longer apply. For instance, it would not apply if the county’s revenue that year decreased by more than 5%, and cities and counties with fewer than 25 officers are exempt.

Atlanta and Athens-Clarke County officials debated but rejected plans to cut or redirect spending following racial injustice protests last year. The death of George Floyd launched demonstrations that were also fueled by the death of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta and several other individuals across the country.

The measure is a rejection of arguments by protesters nationwide that minority communities are suffering from overpolicing. The critics argue that governments should spend less on law enforcement and more on social services to address problems.

But Kemp, speaking at Friday’s signing, said it was unfair to “condemn and demonize” police officers.

“This far-left movement will endanger our communities and our law enforcement officers,” he said, “and leave our most vulnerable at risk.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/georgia-law-defund-police-limits-governor-kemp

Rather than fighting to hold onto her post, Ms. Cheney has embraced her downfall, offering herself as a cautionary tale in what she is portraying as a battle for the soul of the Republican Party. Emphasizing that framing Tuesday night, Ms. Cheney wore a replica pin of George Washington’s battle flag as she spoke on the House floor.

A former State Department official, Ms. Cheney invoked the parallels between what unfolded at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and her work in authoritarian countries to explain why she was so determined to publicly condemn the attempted insurrection.

“Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution,” Ms. Cheney said. “Our duty is clear. Every one of us, who has sworn the oath must act to prevent the unraveling of our democracy. This is not about policy. This is not about partisanship. This is about our duty as Americans.”

As a replacement for the Wyoming Republican, leaders have united behind Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, a onetime moderate whose fealty to Mr. Trump and backing of his false narrative of a stolen election have earned her broad support from the party’s rank-and-file that Ms. Cheney, as a lifelong conservative, no longer commands. It represents a remarkable arc for Ms. Cheney, the daughter of a conservative dynasty who was once spoken of as a future House speaker and now stands on the cusp of being relegated to the political wilderness.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/us/politics/liz-cheney-speech-house.html

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/11/middleeast/israel-gaza-airstrikes-rockets-intl/index.html

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre at the group’s annual meeting in Dallas in May 2018. A secretive figure, LaPierre makes few public appearances outside of carefully scripted speeches.

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images


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Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre at the group’s annual meeting in Dallas in May 2018. A secretive figure, LaPierre makes few public appearances outside of carefully scripted speeches.

Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Updated at 6:43 pm ET

A federal bankruptcy judge dismissed an effort by the National Rifle Association to declare bankruptcy on Tuesday, ruling that the gun rights group had not filed the case in good faith.

The ruling slams the door on the NRA’s attempt to use bankruptcy laws to evade New York officials seeking to dissolve the organization. In his decision, the federal judge said that “using this bankruptcy case to address a regulatory enforcement problem” was not a permitted use of bankruptcy.

The bankruptcy trial had paused other legal challenges the NRA had been facing, but this decision returns the group to its confrontation with the New York attorney general, who is seeking to shut it down over alleged “fraud and abuse.”

“The @NRA does not get to dictate if and where it will answer for its actions, and our case will continue in New York court,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a tweet after the ruling. “We sued the NRA to put an end to its fraud and abuse, and now we will continue our work to hold the organization accountable.”

During the trial, the NRA said it had enough money to pay its creditors. Instead, it declared bankruptcy for a tactical reason: to avoid the reach of the New York attorney general. Last year, the attorney general sought a court’s approval to dissolve the NRA, alleging a wide variety of financial misconduct, chiefly by the NRA’s top executive: CEO Wayne LaPierre.

In response to the judge’s dismissal, the NRA said that it had taken steps to improve internal financial controls and would continue to pursue its gun rights mission.

“Although we are disappointed in some aspects of the decision, there is no change in the overall direction of our Association, its programs, or its Second Amendment advocacy,” LaPierre said in a statement. “We remain an independent organization that can chart its own course… The NRA will keep fighting, as we’ve done for 150 years.”

The NRA had argued during the case it was being persecuted for its political views. The group asked a federal bankruptcy judge to halt its other legal cases and allow it to reorganize in Texas, where it might be out of the reach of New York’s attorney general.

“In the parlance of bankruptcy, we have a predatory lender who is seeking to foreclose on our assets,” argued Greg Garman, an attorney representing the NRA.

But the monthlong trial had the side effect of putting into the public record details of personal spending by senior NRA officials. It also painted the picture of an organization in crisis, with some of the sharpest criticism coming from current or former organization insiders.

Testimony included examples of the nonprofit organization’s tax-exempt funds being used for wedding expenses, private jet travel and exotic getaways. For example, LaPierre’s private travel consultant, who was paid $26,000 a month to cater to him personally, testified about how LaPierre instructed her to alter travel invoices for private jets so as to hide their true destinations.

The trial also gave a rare look into the behavior of LaPierre, who has led the controversial organization for almost 30 years. A secretive figure, LaPierre makes few public appearances outside of carefully scripted speeches.

During questioning, he admitted to annual trips to the Bahamas, where he would stay on a luxury yacht belonging to an NRA vendor — a conflict of interest he did not disclose at the time, which testimony and court proceedings showed was in contravention of NRA policy. Instead, he justified the Caribbean trips to the court as a “security retreat” that was necessary for his safety and that of his family members.

LaPierre appeared to irritate the judge overseeing the case repeatedly by rambling on, talking about his privileged conversations with his attorneys and not directly answering questions.

“I’m about to say something I’ve said for a day and a half now. Can you answer the questions that are asked?” the judge asked LaPierre at one point. “Do you understand that I’ve said that to you more than a dozen times over the last day?”

“Yes, sir, your honor. I’m sorry, I’m — I’m doing my best,” LaPierre responded.

The NRA claims it is financially sound, but investigations and litigation have hampered the group. Information provided during the trial indicated that in a span of less than three years, the organization had spent $72 million on its primary law firm alone. For context, the group took in $291 million in revenue in 2019, the most recent year for which there are public records available.

Since 2019, when infighting among NRA officials burst into public view with the dramatic resignation of its then-President Oliver North, the NRA has careened from crisis to crisis. A number of NRA board members have resigned in protest as tales of alleged executive misconduct have surfaced. The NRA severed its relationship with its key advertising firm, Ackerman McQueen, leading to costly lawsuits and the airing of yet more dirty laundry.

With the bankruptcy case dismissed, the NRA now returns to its prior state of vulnerability: fighting for its survival against a New York attorney general who seeks to shut the whole organization down.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995934682/judge-dismisses-nra-bankruptcy-case-heightening-risk-for-dissolution-of-group

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Dr. Anthony Fauci sparred once again at a Senate hearing Tuesday, this time over the funding of the controversial Wuhan Institute of Virology — the Chinese lab that is believed to have played a role in the initial outbreak of COVID-19.

Fauci and Paul have come to verbal blows before over both COVID-19 and related restrictions such as lockdowns and mask-wearing. On Tuesday, Paul zeroed in on gain of function research — which works on making pathogens deadlier or more easily transmissible. He alleged that a U.S. virologist had been working with the Chinese institute on such research and said it was funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH).

CNN’S BRIANNA KEILAR CALLS RAND PAUL AN ‘A–‘ AGAIN FOR QUESTIONING FAUCI 

“Dr. Fauci, do you still support funding of the NIH funding of the lab in Wuhan?” he asked the NIH chief.

“Senator Paul, with all due respect, you are entirely, entirely and completely incorrect,” a clearly irritated Fauci shot back. “The NIH has not ever and does not now fund gain of function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

He said that the doctor in question does not conduct gain of function research, and if he does, it is in line with guidelines and conducted in North Carolina, not China.

Paul pressed on, saying it is gain of function and that the Wuhan Institute was previously funded through a sub grant. Fauci replied that it would have been irresponsible of the U.S. not to have investigated the bat viruses and their serology in China, of which COVID was one.

ERNST PRESSES CHINA ON WHETHER COVID ORIGINATED FROM WUHAN LAB: ‘THE WORLD DESERVES ANSWERS’ 

“Or perhaps it would be irresponsible to send it to the Chinese government that we may not be able to trust with this knowledge and with this incredibly dangerous viruses,” Paul interrupted, before accusing Fauci of supporting gain of function — a claim Fauci then called “incorrect.”

Moving to suspicions that the COVID-19 virus originated after experimentation from the Wuhan Institute in 2019, Paul cited reporting that the top doctor in Wuhan wasn’t sure if it was a virus that had escaped the lab.

“Will you in front of this group categorically say that the COVID-19 virus could not have occurred by serial passage in a laboratory?” Paul asked Fauci.

Fauci did not explicitly rule out such a possibility: “I do not have any accounting of what the Chinese may have done, and I’m fully in favor of any further investigation of what went on in China,” he said. “However, I will repeat again, the NIH and NIAID categorically has not funded gain of function research to be conducted in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

WUHAN ‘LAB LEAK’ CORONAVIRUS THEORY IN FOCUS AS HOUSE REPUBLICANS DEMAND ANSWERS

While U.S. officials during the Trump administration believed the virus may have originated from the lab, some experts have doubted that explanation. But so far, investigations have been hampered by a secretive Chinese regime.

The World Health Organization (WHO) sent a team to Wuhan to investigate the outbreak earlier this year, but even the Biden administration — which has been less hawkish on the WHO and China than the prior administration — has expressed concern about Chinese interference.

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“We have deep concerns about the way in which the early findings of the COVID-19 investigation were communicated and questions about the process used to reach them,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a lengthy statement. “It is imperative that this report be independent, with expert findings free from intervention or alteration by the Chinese government.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rand-paul-fauci-covid-origins-funding-wuhan-lab

Killer endorsement.

House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney has earned the support of convicted felon-turned-Twitter pundit O.J. Simpson, amid the fight of her political life.

Cheney (R-Wyo.), the No. 3 Republican in the House, earned the Juice’s respect because she “stands up for truth.”

Simpson offered his kind words via video posted to Twitter Monday, noting that at first, “I gotta admit, I was not a fan of Liz Cheney.”

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m 50-50 on her politics, but I didn’t like her. And then I just realized recently, the reason I didn’t like her had to do with her father, probably my least favorite politician of my adult life, former Vice President Dick Cheney,” he continued.

Rep. Liz Cheney’s comments regarding the former president and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot have put her at odds with her GOP colleagues.
Getty Images

“Then I saw a show the other day and I saw a quote by Voltaire and it said that patriotism was the enemy of mankind,” Simpson said, noting the quote incorrectly.

The actual quote from the French writer reads, “It is lamentable that to be a good patriot, one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind.”

Simpson went on to say that while thinking about the quote, he “somehow started thinking about the Republican Party.”

“It’s seems that that big truth and honesty, seems to be the enemy of many of these Republican politicians,” he continued. “And Liz Cheney stands up for the truth, that’s got her a lot of heat.”

“She may lose her position in the party, she may even lose her career as a politician, but that is something to be admired. Standing up for the truth, that’s something I know her father wouldn’t have done so, right now I’m kind of a fan of Liz Cheney,” he closed.

O.J. Simpson said Cheney “stands up for truth.”
Getty Images

Simpson, a once-revered football player and public figure, was acquitted of the 1994 murder of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, though he lost a civil suit which was repeatedly upheld in appeals courts holding him liable for the deaths.

He also did nine years in prison for armed robbery and kidnapping in Nevada.

The No. 3 House Republican survived an attempt to oust her from leadership in February over her vote to impeach President Donald Trump.

Her standing with GOP colleagues has weakened since then, though, as members grew frustrated with her continued comments regarding the former president and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Her split with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on the scope of a 9/11-style commission on the riot, as well as her revealing exclusively to The Post that she was mulling a 2024 White House bid, also drew the ire of leadership.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was caught saying he had lost confidence in Cheney.
Getty Images

McCarthy was caught on a hot mic last Tuesday saying, “I think she’s got real problems. I’ve had it with … I’ve had it with her. You know, I’ve lost confidence.”

This weekend he went further, formally endorsing Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) for the job.

McCarthy notified House Republicans in a letter Monday that he would move forward on a vote on the top leadership position this Wednesday.

“This is no time to take our eye off the ball. If we are to succeed in stopping the radical Democrat agenda from destroying our country, these internal conflicts need to be resolved so as to not detract from the efforts of our collective team.”

“Having heard from so many of you in recent days, it’s clear that we need to make a change,” he wrote, referencing Republicans’ goal to take back the House and Senate in 2022. 

Stefanik has the backing of House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) as well as Trump.

Cheney survived an attempt to oust her from leadership in February over her impeachment vote.
Getty Images

In a statement to The Post last week, Scalise spokeswoman Lauren Fine explained the decision as one about keeping Republicans’ priorities in check.

Since then, Trump has doubled down on his opposition to “warmonger” Cheney keeping her leadership post or her House seat, releasing statement after statement knocking the embattled Wyoming lawmaker.

“The House GOP has a massive opportunity to upgrade this week from warmonger Liz Cheney to gifted communicator Elise Stefanik. Elise has intelligence, an endorsement from American Patriot Brandon Judd and the National Border Patrol Council, she has an A+ from the NRA, and she loves our Veterans,” he said in a statement Monday.

For her part, Cheney has stood by her positions, arguing in a Washington Post op-ed last week, “History is watching. Our children are watching. We must be brave enough to defend the basic principles that underpin and protect our freedom and our democratic process.

“I am committed to doing that, no matter what the short-term political consequences might be.”

Source Article from https://nypost.com/2021/05/11/o-j-simpson-stands-by-liz-cheney-amid-gop-reckoning/

Investigators believe Long’s killing spree started at Youngs Asian Massage near Acworth, where he shot five people, killing four. Ashley Yaun, 33, Paul Andre Michels, 54, Xiaojie Tan, 49, and Daoyou Feng, 44, all died from their injuries.

From there, Long is accused of driving 30 miles to Atlanta, where he again targeted spas, police have said.

ExploreSpa shooting survivor stood face-to-face with gunman, begged for mercy

Atlanta officers were called to a report of a robbery at the Gold Spa, located at 1916 Piedmont Road. Inside, officers found three women dead from gunshot wounds, according to Sgt. John Chafee. While investigating that incident, officers were told shots were fired across the street at the Aromatherapy Spa. There, investigators found another woman shot to death.

Yong Ae Yue, 63, Soon Chung Park, 74, Suncha Kim, 69, and Hyun Jung Grant, 51, were killed in the Atlanta businesses.

Credit: Family photos

Credit: Family photos

Later that night, Long was arrested in Crisp County, about 150 miles south of Atlanta. He was later charged with murder in both Cherokee and Fulton counties. After his arrest, Long told investigators he was overwhelmed by what he described as a sexual addiction at odds with his religious beliefs, authorities said.

Though Willis filed paperwork Tuesday to seek the death penalty, only one Georgia jury has handed down a death sentence during the past seven years. That occurred in April 2019 when a Gwinnett County jury sentenced Tiffany Moss to die by lethal injection for starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter to death, then trying to burn the child’s corpse inside a trash can. In that case, Moss represented herself as her own lawyer and put up no defense.

ExploreWhat we know about the spa shooting victims

And Willis herself has publicly spoken out against capital punishment. The former chief deputy in the Fulton DA’s office, who ousted her former boss Paul Howard, said on the campaign trail that none of the hundreds of murders she had prosecuted were appropriate for the death penalty.

But Tuesday, Willis said the facts in this case warrant the death penalty.

Willis also intends to pursue hate crime charges, the first time it will happen in Fulton, she said. Of the eight people killed, six were Asian women, prompting many to believe the crimes were racially motivated.

Credit: Christina Matacotta

Credit: Christina Matacotta

Georgia’s hate law went into effect in June and provides sentencing guidelines for anyone convicted of targeting a victim based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability or physical disability.

If Long is convicted of a felony and the crime is found to be motivated by hate, a judge could impose additional penalties. Someone convicted of committing a hate crime would face at least two additional years for a felony and a fine up to $5,000.

In Cherokee, Wallace declined to speak publicly, but she released an emailed statement.

“The charges in this indictment were determined based on a comprehensive investigation of Robert Aaron Long and the mass shooting that occurred at Youngs Asian Massage in Woodstock,” Wallace said. “The investigation was conducted by federal and local law enforcement agencies, in conjunction with the Cherokee County District Attorney’s Office. Today we have taken another step forward in seeking justice for the victims of this crime and for their family members.”

Long remains in the Cherokee jail, where he is being held without bond. He will face arraignments in both counties, but those hearings have not been scheduled.

— Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this article.

THE STORY SO FAR

March 16: Eight people were killed at shootings at three spas in Cherokee and Fulton counties. The first shootings happened shortly before 5 p.m. near Acworth. About an hour later, two more shootings were reported at spas on Piedmont Road. Later that night, police arrested the suspect, Robert Aaron Long.

March 17: At a joint news conference, Atlanta police and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office announced Long had been charged with eight counts of murder. He was being held at the Cherokee jail.

Tuesday: A Fulton County grand jury indicted Long on four counts of murder. Fulton DA Fani Willis also filed documents to seek the death penalty and charge Long with hate crimes. Later Tuesday, a Cherokee County grand jury also indicted Long on four counts of murder.

Source Article from https://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-suspect-in-atlanta-spa-shootings-indicted-da-will-seek-death-penalty/DNYM2B3XPBCLVCUXIGK4DHS5II/

The poll surveyed 10,289 people between April 29 and May 5 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Opposition to the recall has grown as Newsom recovers politically somewhat and as Democrats begin to take more seriously the first gubernatorial recall since 2003 when former Gov. Gray Davis was removed in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The state’s budget has also been buoyed by its pandemic-resistant tech sector, highly progressive tax structure and an approximately $26 billion windfall from the recent federal relief package.

Newsom on Monday said the state was projecting an astonishing $76 billion budget surplus — and a plan to send hundreds of dollars back to millions of Californians. Those checks could potentially arrive shortly before residents are set to cast their ballots on the recall question.

That could be a boon for Newsom, who has faced blowback over his unmasked dinner with lobbyists at the tony French Laundry and for some of the longest Covid-19 school shutdowns in the nation, as well as strict closures on businesses and churches.

Slightly more than half — 52 percent — of respondents approved of Newsom’s job performance, a modest increase from January though appreciably below his high-water mark from last year.

The poll also shows little voter interest for Republican Caitlyn Jenner’s candidacy at this point. Just 6 percent of respondents said they supported the idea of the former Olympic gold medalist-turned-reality star replacing Newsom.

The survey was conducted after Jenner officially jumped into the crowded field on April 24, though the first-time candidate laid low in the days after that initial buzz and has recently emerged for two national TV interviews — on Fox News and CNN, respectively.

By contrast, two other major Republican candidates, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and businessman John Cox — Newsom’s 2018 general election opponent — each had support from roughly one-fifth to replace the sitting governor.

Democrats have a steep voter registration advantage over Republicans in California, although the GOP is banking on enthusiasm from recall supporters to offset part of that gap.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/11/gavin-newsom-recall-opposition-grows-486973

  • Israel and Hamas exchanged fire amid new clashes between Palestinians and the Israeli police.
  • The Democrat Andrew Yang weighed in on the issue, tweeting his support for Israel on Monday night.
  • Yang’s comments got support from Republicans like Sen. Ted Cruz, Meghan McCain, and Stephen Miller.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Andrew Yang tweeted in support of Israel amid the country’s latest unrest with Palestinians on Monday, provoking anger from fellow liberals and support from top Republicans.

Yang, a Democrat who is running to be mayor of New York City, tweeted late Monday that he was “standing with the people of Israel who are coming under bombardment attacks” and condemned “Hamas terrorists,” referring to the Palestinian militant group that controls the Gaza Strip.

“The people of NYC will always stand with our brothers and sisters in Israel who face down terrorism and persevere,” Yang tweeted.

Many found Yang’s pro-Israel statement distasteful, including the comedian David Cross, who tweeted “nope” in response.

The US military whistleblower Chelsea Manning also tweeted: “Yikes.”

Bishop Talbert Swan, president of the Springfield, Massachusetts, chapter of the NAACP, said: “The systemic oppression, institutional discrimination, and violent persecution of Palestinians are crimes against humanity. It is wicked, evil, and inhumane.”

The hashtag #YangSupportsGenocide also trended overnight.

But Yang’s tweet also earned him praise from Republicans, who traditionally support a strong relationship between the US and Israel.

“Bravo to Yang for opposing the rabidly pro-Hamas & anti-Israel attacks from fellow Dems Omar & Tlaib,” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas tweeted in response to Yang’s tweet, referring to the progressive Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who have both voiced support for Palestinians amid the renewed violence.

Stephen Miller, who worked as a senior advisor to former President Donald Trump, tweeted that Yang was “exactly right,” while Meghan McCain retweeted Yang’s tweet with the hashtag “#YANGGANG.”

The latest clashes between the Israelis and the Palestinians date back to the start of Ramadan last month, when Israel moved to block some Palestinian gatherings.

In the ensuing weeks, there have been regular fights between the Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in and around Jerusalem’s Old City.

Fire from Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Tuesday.

Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)


The violence escalated to cross-border fire exchanges on Monday, with Hamas firing more than 200 rockets into Israel, and Israel conducting airstrikes on Gaza in response.

According to the Associated Press, 24 Palestinians — including nine children — have been killed in the Gaza airstrikes since sundown Monday, and six Israeli civilians were injured when one of the Hamas rockets hit an apartment building across the border.

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/andrew-yang-pro-israel-treat-republicans-ted-cruz-stephen-miller-cheer-on-2021-5

Relatives of students who attend a school in the Russian city of Kazan, where a gunman opened fire on Tuesday, killing several students and at least one teacher and injuring more than 20 others.

Yegor Aleyev/Yegor Aleyev/TASS


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Yegor Aleyev/Yegor Aleyev/TASS

Relatives of students who attend a school in the Russian city of Kazan, where a gunman opened fire on Tuesday, killing several students and at least one teacher and injuring more than 20 others.

Yegor Aleyev/Yegor Aleyev/TASS

A gunman in the Russian city of Kazan opened fire at a school early Tuesday, killing at least seven students and a teacher and injuring 21 others, Russian officials said.

The governor of Tatarstan, an oil-rich, Muslim-majority region where Kazan is the capital, said those killed in the attack were eighth-grade students at Kazan’s School No. 175.

“We have lost seven children … four boys and three girls,” Rustam Minnikhanov told state TV, according to Reuters.

He said a 19-year-old “terrorist” who was “officially registered as a gun owner” had been arrested in the attack, according to Reuters. Minnikhanov said it wasn’t clear yet whether the gunman had accomplices or acted alone.

The gunman was identified by Russian media, who said he was a former student and had announced his intention to carry out the attack on social media.

Earlier, state news agency RIA Novosti reported 11 dead and said at least two students died when they jumped from a third-floor window in an apparent attempt to escape the gunman.

Kazan is located about 450 miles east of Moscow. Officials there said 21 people were hospitalized with wounds after the attack, including 18 children — six of them in intensive care — and three adults.

Police said they had opened an investigation into the attack.

While school shootings in Russia are relatively rare, there have been several in recent years – mostly carried out by students. In 2018, a student at a school in Russian-annexed Crimea killed 19 people before taking his own life.

President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the relatives of the victims and ordered his government to tighten the country’s already strict gun laws even more.

This is a developing story. Some things reported by the media will later turn out to be wrong. We will focus on reports from police officials and other authorities, credible news outlets and reporters who are at the scene. We will update as the situation develops.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/05/11/995777095/at-least-8-dead-in-school-shooting-in-russia

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel unleashed new airstrikes on Gaza early Tuesday, hitting the high-rise home of a Hamas field commander and two border tunnels dug by militants, as Hamas and other armed groups fired dozens of rockets toward Israel. The escalation in the conflict was sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem.

Since sundown Monday when the cross-border attacks began, 24 Palestinians — including nine children — were killed in Gaza, most by airstrikes, Gaza health officials said. The Israeli military said 15 of the dead were militants. During the same period, Gaza militants fired more than 250 rockets toward Israel, injuring six Israeli civilians in a direct hit on an apartment building.

In a further sign of rising tensions, Israel signaled it is widening its military campaign. The military said it is sending troop reinforcements to the Gaza border and the defense minister ordered the mobilization of 5,000 reserve soldiers.

In the past, cross-border fighting between Israel and Hamas, the group that rules Gaza, would typically end after a few days, often helped by behind-the-scenes mediation by Qatar, Egypt and others. It was not clear if such a resolution would come this time.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that fighting could “continue for some time.” Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli military spokesman, told reporters Tuesday that the military was in “the early stages” of strikes against Gaza targets that it had planned well in advance.

The overnight rockets and airstrikes were preceded by hours of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces, including dramatic confrontations at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a sacred site to both Jews and Muslims. In fighting in the contested city and across the West Bank, more than 700 Palestinians were hurt, including nearly 500 who were treated at hospitals.

In a sign of widening unrest, hundreds of residents of Arab communities across Israel staged overnight demonstrations — denouncing the recent actions of Israeli security forces against Palestinians — in one of the largest protests by Palestinian citizens in Israel in recent years.

The escalation comes at a time of political limbo in Israel.

Netanyahu has been acting as a caretaker prime minister since an inconclusive parliamentary election in March. He tried and failed to form a coalition government with his hard-line and ultra-Orthodox allies, and the task was handed to his political rivals last week. One of those rivals is Israel’s defense minister who is overseeing the Gaza campaign. It is not clear if and to what extent the toxic political atmosphere is spilling over into military decision-making, though the rival camps have unanimously expressed support for striking Hamas hard.

Israeli media have reported that the new round of violence is slowing efforts by Netanyahu’s rivals to form a ruling coalition among parties with a broad range of ideologies, but a shared goal of toppling Netanyahu. The support of an Arab-backed party with Islamist roots is key for the anti-Netanyahu bloc’s efforts. The party’s leader, Mansour Abbas, has essentially said he’ll work with whatever political camp offers the most improvements in Arab communities, but the current tensions might deter him from joining a coalition, at least for now.

The current round of violence in Jerusalem coincided with the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in mid-April. Critics say heavy-handed police measures helped stoke nightly unrest, including a decision to temporarily seal off a popular gathering spot where Palestinian residents would meet after evening prayers. Another flashpoint was the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are under treat of eviction by Jewish settlers.

Over the weekend, confrontations erupted at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which is the third holiest site of Islam and the holiest site in Judaism.

For four successive days, Israel police fired tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets at Palestinians in the compound who hurled stones and chairs. Hundreds of Palestinians were hurt, requiring treatment at hospitals. Two dozen officers were also injured. At times, police fired stun grenades into the carpeted mosque.

On Monday evening, Hamas began firing rockets from Gaza, setting off air raid sirens as far as Jerusalem, after giving Israel a deadline to withdraw Israeli security forces from the compound. From there on, the escalation was rapid.

Conricus, the army spokesman, said Gaza militants fired more than 250 rockets at Israel, with about one-third falling short and landing in Gaza.

The army said that a rocket landed a direct hit on a seven-story apartment block in the coastal Israeli city of Ashkelon. Photos and videos from the scene showed a large hole in the side of the building. Israeli paramedic service Magen David Adom said it treated six people injured in the rocket strike. Two were hospitalized in moderate condition.

Conricus said the military hit 130 targets in Gaza, including the high-rise home of a Hamas field commander and two tunnels militants were digging under the border with Israel. In all, Israel killed 15 militants, Conricus said. He said Israel’s new system of concrete barriers and electronic sensors, intended to thwart tunnel digging, has proven effective.

He did not address Gaza Health Ministry reports that nine children were among 24 Palestinians killed overnight.

In Gaza, most of the deaths were attributed to airstrikes. However, seven of the deaths were members of a single family, including three children, who died in an explosion in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun and it was not clear if the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike or errant rocket.

More than 100 Gazans were wounded in the airstrikes, the Health Ministry said.

In one, an Israeli missile hit the upper floors of an apartment building in the Shati refugee camp on the edge of Gaza City early Tuesday, killing two men and a woman inside, according to health officials.

Israel had struck scores of Gaza homes in its 2014 war with Hamas, arguing it was aiming at militants, but also killing many civilians. The practice drew broad international condemnation at the time.

Israel’s tactics in Jerusalem have drawn angry reactions from the Muslim world.

Regional power house Saudi Arabia said in a statement that it condemns in the strongest terms what it said were attacks by Israeli forces against the sanctity of Al-Aqsa and the safety of its worshippers. The Saudi Foreign Ministry called Tuesday on the international community to hold Israeli forces responsible for any escalation.

Separately, the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation is holding an emergency meeting of its permanent representatives in Jiddah to discuss the tensions.

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Laub reported from the West Bank. Associated Press writer Ilan Ben Zion contributed from Jerusalem.

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Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/world-news-hamas-middle-east-israel-ad7d5a99e382dcdd3e5df45f33be1b43

President BidenJoe BidenSanders: Reinstating SALT deduction ‘sends a terrible, terrible message’ GOP braces for wild week with momentous vote Shining a light on COINTELPRO’s dangerous legacy MORE sat down with Sen. Joe ManchinJoe ManchinDemocrats hit crucial stretch as filibuster fight looms Biden’s elitist work-family policy won’t work for most families The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Emergent BioSolutions – Upbeat jobs data, relaxed COVID-19 restrictions offer rosier US picture MORE (D-W.Va.) on Monday to discuss the administration’s proposed $4 trillion spending package, which the moderate-minded lawmaker has floated busting up.

Manchin said Biden didn’t take a position on if the proposal should be passed as one piece as opposed to two or more as some Democrats are pushing for, but indicated the issue came up as part of their sit-down at the White House.

“We talked about basically, are we going to do one, or do two or do three, things of that sort. Making sure we look at things that need to be done in traditional and human infrastructure, things of that sort,” the senator told reporters at the Capitol after the meeting.

But asked if Biden expressed a preference on passing his plan as one bill or breaking it up, Manchin replied, “Not really.”

“He just wants to get things accomplished. Gang I’m telling you, in his heart of hearts, he’s all about let’s be fair and move this country forward,” he added.

Manchin is key to getting Biden’s proposal, which is a combined $2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan and a $1.8 trillion plan for families, passed through Congress.

Democrats expect they are likely to pass most, if not all, of the plan through reconciliation, a budget process that allows them to avoid the 60-vote filibuster.

That makes Manchin’s support essential in the evenly divided 50-50 Senate. He already helped sink Neera TandenNeera TandenManchin touts rating as ‘most bipartisan senator’ Manchin says he doesn’t support DC statehood, election reform bills Manchin floats breaking up Biden’s infrastructure proposal MORE‘s nomination to head the Office of Management and Budget, held Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus bill in limbo for hours and has repeatedly and strongly come out against eliminating the legislative filibuster despite growing support within his party for such a step.

And there are already tension points on the spending plan.

Biden has pitched increasing the corporate tax rate to 28 percent to help cover the cost of his $4 trillion proposal. Manchin, however, has warned that he thinks that is too high but that he would support a 25 percent tax rate for corporations.

Manchin, speaking to reporters on Monday, said he and the president got into discussions about how to pay for the bill but, asked specifically about the corporate tax rate, he said they didn’t get into details.

“He understands and he’s up on everything, trust me, he knows what’s going on. He’s well versed in what’s going on, and he understands,” Manchin said.

Pressed on the size of the package, Manchin added that Biden didn’t put out a “drop dead figure” but wanted to “make sure we meet that need” for Americans.

“I think in good faith we start working and finding out through a process where it goes into the committee, comes to the floor with amendments and what we end up with,” he said.

The meeting with Manchin is one of several that Biden is having with lawmakers this week. He’ll meet with the top four congressional leaders on Wednesday and a group of GOP senators on Thursday about infrastructure.

Sen. Shelley Moore CapitoShelley Wellons Moore CapitoDemocrats hit crucial stretch as filibuster fight looms Biden to meet with GOP senators amid infrastructure push Biden pitches infrastructure plan in red state Louisiana MORE (R-W.Va.) led a group of Republicans in drafting a $568 billion infrastructure framework last month, though Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellGOP braces for wild week with momentous vote GOP divided over expected Cheney ouster Sunday shows – White House COVID-19 response coordinator says US is ‘turning the corner’ MORE (R-Ky.) has floated that Republicans could go up to $800 billion.

That still leaves Republicans and Biden far apart on both the spending levels and how to pay for it.

Manchin has floated breaking up Biden’s package and focusing first on “core” infrastructure such as roads, bridges, rail and broadband that could get enough votes to defeat a filibuster.

“What we think the greatest need we have now, that can be done in a bipartisan way, is conventional infrastructure whether it’s the water, sewer, roads, bridges, internet — things that we know need to be repaired, be fixed,” he said at a press conference late last month. 

“Why don’t you take the greatest need that we have and do it on something that we all agree on?” Manchin added.

He said during a West Virginia radio interview late last month that he thought $2.3 trillion as one package is too large. 

“In one chunk? Absolutely,” Manchin said. “I think we should look at what we call conventional infrastructure.”

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/552761-manchin-biden-huddle-amid-talk-of-breaking-up-4t-package

Explosions were heard overhead during Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst’s appearance on “Special Report” as the terrorist organization Hamas continued to fire off rockets into Israel late Monday. 

YINGST: Those rockets continue to be fired into Southern Israel at this moment, all along the Gaza Strip. Overhead we can hear Israeli drones and fighter jets. Israel is preparing their retaliation against the factions there.

Monday marked Jerusalem day. A national holiday that commemorates Israel taking over east Jerusalem in 1967. The city was also the first target for factions inside Gaza who this evening fired six rockets towards it. The barrage was the first of more than a hundred rockets fired into Israel by Hamas and Islamic Jihads who say they will support Palestinian resistance at all costs.

“We will not tolerate harm to our territory, to our capitol, to our citizens or to our soldiers. He who attacks us will pay a heavy price,” the words by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu already starting to ring true across Gaza. 

At least 20 people are dead from Israeli retaliation, some of them are children. How does this all end? That’s the big question here tonight. There is a possibility for an Egyptian-led cease-fire negotiation but that negotiation could take days. 

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Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/rockets-explode-overhead-during-segment-as-hamas-continues-to-fire-missiles-into-israel

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/05/10/liz-cheney-kevin-mccarthy-says-house-gop-vote-conference-chair/4946452001/