• At least 26 states on Friday filed or joined lawsuits opposing President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate.
  • “This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise,” said a filing by a coalition of 11 states.
  • The White House on Thursday made official its plan to require vaccines for employees of big companies.

More than half of US states on Friday filed or joined lawsuits opposing President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for employees of large companies. 

Twenty-six states cosigned four petitions, amounting to perhaps the most sweeping legal challenge to pandemic-era safety requirements since Biden took office. Three Democrat-led states are among the 26.

The lawsuits, filed in four federal appeals courts, take aim at Biden’s requirement that all companies with more than 100 employees mandate COVID-19 vaccines for their staff, or implement weekly testing. 

“This mandate is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unwise,” said a lawsuit filed by Missouri and 10 other states in the US Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit.

The states said in the filing that Biden’s mandate “will cause injuries and hardship to working families, inflict economic disruption and staffing shortages on the states and private employers, and impose even greater strains on struggling labor markets and supply chains.”

Biden’s mandate, which would affect about two of every three private-sector workers, was officially rolled out on Thursday. It is set to take effect January 4.

The lawsuits argue that the federal government doesn’t have the constitutional authority to put a vaccine mandate in place. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) also lacks the statutory authority to enforce it, they say. The issue should be left to states to decide, they argue.

“States have been leading the fight against COVID-19 from the start of the pandemic,” said Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, one of several Democratic leaders to join the suits. “It is too late to impose a federal standard now that we have already developed systems and strategies that are tailored for our specific needs.”

At least one lawsuit argues that Biden’s requirements have been “shoe-horned” into workplace safety statutes. 

The White House on Friday pushed back against that characterization, saying it wanted to be “crystal clear” that the requirement was a workplace-safety measure, not a vaccine mandate. 

“That would be, on its face, incorrect,” Karine Jean-Pierre, principal deputy press secretary, told reporters in a briefing. “As has been explicit for months, it is a standard for a safe workplace to either comply with weekly testing or to be vaccinated.”

Missouri was joined in its Eighth Circuit petition by Arizona, Nebraska, Montana, Arkansas, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, New Hampshire, and Wyoming.

Kentucky filed in the Sixth Circuit with Idaho, Kansas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia.

Texas filed a petition in the Fifth Circuit, joined by Louisiana, South Carolina, Utah, and Mississippi.

Georgia filed in the Eleventh Circuit with Florida and Alabama. 

At least two other lawsuits were filed last week against the Biden administration’s vaccine requirements. Mississippi on Thursday joined a separate lawsuit with Louisiana and Indiana. And Florida, which had announced plans to sue in October, filed a solo complaint in US District Court in Tampa.

“We started with fifteen days to slow the spread and now it’s, ‘Get jabbed or lose your job,'” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a press conference, adding that the OSHA requirement was “500 pages” of government bureaucracy.

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/vaccine-mandate-biden-covid-19-states-sue-unconstitutional-2021-11

BERLIN (AP) — A knife attack on a high-speed train in Germany left three people severely wounded, the Bavarian Red Cross said Saturday. Police said a man has been arrested in connection with the morning attack.

The train, one of Germany’s high-speed ICE trains, was traveling between the Bavarian cities of Regensburg and Nuremberg at the time of the attack. A spokesperson for the Bavarian Red Cross, which had 110 responders at the scene, said the organization processed three “severely injured” people.

A 27-year-old Syrian man was arrested in Seubersdorf, where the train stopped after the attack, Bavarian state police told The Associated Press. The injured people came from the Regensburg and nearby Passau areas, state police said.

In addition, 200 to 300 other people from the train were taken off and brought to a nearby location, the Bavarian Red Cross spokesperson said.

Local police told The Associated Press they received a call about the attack around 9 a.m.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said the background behind the “terrible” attack was “still unclear.” He said people in Seubersdorf, a municipality 473 kilometers (294 miles) south of Berlin, faced no “acute danger.”

“I hope that those injured and those who witnessed this will recover quickly and completely,” Seehofer said.

A spokesperson for the German railway network confirmed that the station in Seubersdorf was closed and that train travel between Regensburg and Nuremberg was suspended. Long-distance train service has since been rerouted via the nearby city of Ingolstadt.

Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/europe-germany-nuremberg-2f7cd4d47381d35a515e86ef17849322

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California said in a statement: “President Biden understands the critical need to build a climate-resilient future.” He added that the new funding will “bolster our clean transportation infrastructure, help mitigate some of the worst impacts of climate change, and accelerate new projects that will create thousands of jobs.”

Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, had urged Republicans to oppose the bill, and Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the minority whip, warned that the spending “is going to induce more inflation.” But 13 House Republicans crossed party lines to help pass the measure.

And Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, a Republican and the chairman of the National Governors Association, commended Congress “for setting aside partisan differences to pass a bill that works for the American people.”

With nearly $600 billion in new federal aid to improve highways, bridges, dams, public transit, rail, ports, airports, water quality and broadband over 10 years, the legislation is a once-in-a-generation chance to overhaul the nation’s public works system. And it offers a rare opportunity for states that for decades have been forced to balance huge short-term backlogs of repairs and upgrades against larger, longer-term projects and needs.

The federal outlay, while less generous than President Biden initially proposed, is still immense by any measure. According to the White House, the transportation aid alone is the largest federal investment in transit history and the largest federal investment in passenger rail since the creation of Amtrak in 1971.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/06/us/states-infrastructure-bill-funding.html

EXCLUSIVE: Former President Donald Trump said Democrats put him “on the ballot” in Virginia, saying they “played it wrong.” Trump also touted GOP Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin as a “very good candidate.”

In an exclusive interview with Fox News, the former president said that Youngkin’s upset win in Virginia’s gubernatorial election this week over Democratic challenger Terry McAuliffe was in part due to Trump’s endorsement.

YOUNGKIN VICTORY DEALS ANOTHER BLOW TO BIDEN, AS AGENDA STALLS IN CONGRESS

“If you look at what happened in Virginia, it’s very interesting. They used my name — the Democrats — so much that they ended up losing,” Trump told Fox News. “One of the reasons [McAuliffe] lost is because he kept saying Trump, Trump, Trump.

“And the greatest base in the history of politics came out at a level that they never would have if he wasn’t so foolish — and I’m using a nice word — foolish,” Trump continued. “He was a terrible candidate on the Democrat side, and Glenn was a very good candidate and a gracious candidate.” 

Trump told Fox News that Youngkin called him the morning after the election and “really thanked me because he understood the importance of what we did.”

“So, it helped him a lot with the nomination, and it helped him a lot with the win,” Trump said, referring to his endorsement of Youngkin. “And the Democrats played it wrong because they went after Trump.

“They put me on the ballot. The Democrats put me on the ballot.” 

Trump pointed to the final weeks of Virginia’s gubernatorial race, with McAuliffe campaigning with former President Barack Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Biden and more.

GOP SEES YOUNGKIN’S VIRGINIA VICTORY AS A BLUEPRINT TO WIN BACK CONGRESS IN 2022

“They brought in everybody they could bring in,” Trump said. “It was a great victory in a state that, I happen to think, is much more red than they think, OK? I don’t really see that as a fully blue state.” 

In response to Obama’s appearance on the campaign trail, Trump said Virginians “don’t have time to be wasting on these phony, trumped-up culture wars.”

“This fake outrage that right-wing media pedals to juice their ratings, and the fact that he’s willing to go along with it instead of talking about serious problems that actually affect serious people? That’s a shame,” Obama said. “That’s not what this election’s about. That’s not what you need, Virginia.”

Former President Obama campaigns with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe at Virginia Commonwealth University Oct. 23, 2021 in Richmond, Va. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

When asked about Obama’s remarks Friday, Trump said: “Well, I think they’re phony comments.”

“When you hear that, look, they did very, very badly in Virginia. They did very, very badly, frankly, in New Jersey. It is an incredible thing to see,” Trump added. “But what happened in Virginia was quite unthinkable.” 

Trump said he thought Republicans “gave up” Virginia “long before they should have.”

OPINION: NEWT GINGRICH: SIX KEY LESSONS FOR REPUBLICANS FROM THE 2021 ELECTIONS

“The people of Virginia are angry, and the reason we won that state — number one — we had a good candidate and a nice guy and somebody who was really, very gracious,” Trump said. “But you also had the MAGA voters come out in force because they’re tired of it, and they voted, and they made the difference.”

Virginia Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin tosses a signed basketball to supporters at an election-night party in Chantilly, Va., early Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021, after he defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe. 
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Trump’s comments come after Youngkin secured a victory in traditionally blue Virginia, a state Biden won by 10 points in 2020. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Republicans Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares also declared victory in Virginia in the lieutenant governor and attorney general races, respectively. The GOP had not won a statewide election since 2009.

In New Jersey, Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy narrowly edged Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli. Biden won the state of New Jersey by 16 points in 2020.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-virginia-governor-race-democrats-played-it-wrong

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — An oil tanker exploded near Sierra Leone’s capital, killing at least 92 people and severely injuring dozens of others after large crowds gathered to collect leaking fuel, officials and witnesses said Saturday.

The explosion took place late Friday after a bus struck the tanker in Wellington, a suburb just to the east of Freetown.

The mortuary at Connaught Hospital reported 92 bodies had been brought in by Saturday morning. About 30 severely burned victims were not expected to survive, according to staff member Foday Musa.

Injured people whose clothes had burned off in the fire that followed the explosion lay naked on stretchers as nurses attended to them Saturday.

Video obtained by The Associated Press of the explosion’s aftermath showed a giant fireball burning in the night sky as some survivors with severe burns cried out in pain. Charred remains of the victims lay strewn at the scene awaiting transport to mortuaries.

President Julius Maada Bio, who was in Scotland attending the United Nations climate talks Saturday, deplored the “horrendous loss of life.”

“My profound sympathies with families who have lost loved ones and those who have been maimed as a result,” he tweeted.

Vice President Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh visited two hospitals overnight and said Sierra Leone’s National Disaster Management Agency and others would “work tirelessly” in the wake of the emergency.

“We are all deeply saddened by this national tragedy, and it is indeed a difficult time for our country,” he said on his Facebook page.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/11/06/1053162519/sierra-leone-oil-tanker-explosion

After a daylong standoff, Democrats set aside divisions between progressives and centrists to pass a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, a package of highway, broadband and other infrastructure improvements, sending it to US President Joe Biden to sign into law.

The 228 to 206 vote is a substantial triumph for Biden’s Democrats, who have bickered for months over the ambitious spending bills that make up the bulk of his domestic agenda.

Biden’s administration will now oversee the biggest upgrade of America’s roads, railways and other transportation infrastructure in a generation, which he has promised will create jobs and boost US competitiveness.

Democrats still have much work to do on the second pillar of Biden’s domestic programme: a sweeping expansion of the social safety net and programmes to fight climate change.

At a price tag of $1.75 trillion, that package would be the biggest expansion of the US safety net since the 1960s, but the party has struggled to unite behind it.

Democratic leaders had hoped to pass both bills out of the House on Friday, but postponed action after centrists demanded a nonpartisan accounting of its costs – a process that could take weeks.

After hours of closed-door meetings, a group of centrists promised to vote for the bill by November 20 – as long as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that its costs lined up with White House estimates.

The House planned a procedural vote on that package later on Friday.

“Welcome to my world. This is the Democratic Party,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters earlier in the day. “We are not a lockstep party.”

The standoff came just days after Democrats suffered losses in closely watched state elections, raising concerns that they may lose control of Congress next year.

Midterm election worries

Biden called lawmakers to urge them to pass the transportation package, which has already won approval in the Senate.

The infrastructure bill passed with the support of 13 Republicans, fulfilling Biden’s promise of passing some bipartisan legislation.

The phrase “infrastructure week” had become a Washington punchline during his predecessor Donald Trump’s four years in the White House, when plans to focus on those investments were repeatedly derailed by scandals and political wranglings.

The party is eager to show it can move forward on the president’s agenda and fend off challenges in the 2022 midterm elections in which Republicans will seek to regain control of both chambers of Congress, which they lost to the Democrats under Trump.

Congress also faces a looming December 3 deadline to avert a politically embarrassing government shutdown and an economically catastrophic default on the federal government’s debt.

With razor thin majorities in Congress and a united Republican opposition, Democrats need unity to pass legislation.

The infrastructure bill, which passed the Senate in August with 19 Republican votes, will fund a massive upgrade of America’s roads, bridges, airports, seaports and rail systems, while also expanding broadband internet service.

The “Build Back Better” package includes provisions on childcare and preschool, eldercare, healthcare, prescription drug pricing and immigration.

It would also bolster the credibility of Biden’s pledge to halve US greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2030 during the UN climate conference taking place in Glasgow, Scotland.

Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/6/update-10-u-s-democrats-pass-1-trln-infrastructure-bill-ending-daylong-standoff

Glenn Youngkin, the Republican victor in this week’s election for governor in Virginia, reacted angrily to a report which said his 17-year-old son twice tried to vote in the contest.

Responding to the Washington Post on Friday, a spokesman for Youngkin said: “It’s unfortunate that while Glenn attempts to unite the commonwealth around his positive message of better schools, safer streets, a lower cost of living and more jobs, his political opponents – mad that they suffered historic losses this year – are pitching opposition research on a 17-year-old kid.”

The Post did not name Youngkin’s young kin, because he is a minor. It quoted a local elections official as saying the boy tried to vote once on Tuesday, then came back 20 minutes later and tried again, saying a friend the same age had been allowed to do so.

The official, Jennifer Chanty, said she told him: “I don’t know what occurred with your friend but you are not registered to vote today. You’re welcome to register, but you will not be voting today.”

The paper identified Chanty as a Democrat. She said the Youngkins were not registered to vote in her precinct and added: “It was just weird. He was very insistent that he wanted to vote in this election and I said, ‘Well, you’re not old enough.’”

She also said: “Teenagers do stupid things. I’ll chalk it up to that. I’ll believe that first before anything else.”

Youngkin’s spokesman said the governor-elect’s son “honestly misunderstood Virginia election law and simply asked polling officials if he was eligible to vote. When informed he was not, he went to school.”

Elections officials told the Post no laws were broken.

Youngkin won a startling victory in Virginia, beating the Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a former governor and close Clinton ally who led for most of the race.

The Republican successfully distanced himself from Donald Trump, not least physically as the former president stayed away from the state.

Youngkin acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory over Trump last year, but Democrats accused him of flirting with Trump’s lies about voter fraud.

Most strenuously, critics accused Youngkin of using dog-whistle tactics to appeal to white voters, particularly in focusing on education and critical race theory.

Critical race theory is an academic discipline that examines the ways in which racism operates in US laws and society. It is not taught in Virginia schools. Regardless, Youngkin promised to ban it.

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/nov/06/glenn-youngkin-son-vote-virginia-washington-post

Greta Thunberg, the 18-year-old Swedish climate activist whose school strike inspired young people the world over to take action on climate change, criticized world leaders on Friday for allowing the “exploitation of people and nature.”

“The leaders are not doing nothing,” Ms. Thunberg said, addressing a crowd of thousands marching in Glasgow outside the United Nations climate summit. “They are actively creating loopholes, shaping frameworks to benefit themselves to continue profiting from this destructive system.”

One of the most recognizable climate activists in the world, Ms. Thunberg has painted a gloomy portrait of the summit in Glasgow, where officials from around the world are trying to reach agreements to reduce emissions and keep the average global temperature from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels by the end of this century.

Speaking on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday, Ms. Thunberg said that COP26 was “sort of turning into a greenwash campaign, a P.R. campaign,” for business leaders and politicians to pretend that they are taking action on global warming without following through.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/05/world/europe/cop26-greta-thunberg.html

And in 2017 over 1,000 people were killed after heavy rains led to a mudslide that swept through the city, leaving around 3,000 people homeless.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59188753

  • Jurors heard opening statements in the murder trial of three men charged with shooting Ahmaud Arbery.
  • As graphic footage of the shooting was played for the jurors by prosecutors, Arbery’s mom cried in the courtroom.
  • The defense called the shooting “justified” while the prosecution called the killing an “attack.”

The man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery with a shotgun believes he was “justified” in pulling the trigger, his attorney said Friday, during opening statements in the Georgia murder trial for the three men accused of killing the 25-year-old Black man.

“The evidence shows overwhelmingly that Travis McMichael” — one of the three white men on trial — “honestly and lawfully attempted to detain Ahmaud Arbery according to the law and shot and killed him in self-defense,” McMichael’s lawyer, Bob Rubin, told the nearly all-white jury in Glynn County Superior Court in Brunswick.

McMichael, a 35-year-old former member of the US Coast Guard, along with his dad, ex-police officer Gregory McMichael, age 65, and neighbor William “Roddie” Bryan, 52, face felony charges of murder, aggravated assault, and false imprisonment for the February 23, 2020, shooting death of Arbery in the Georgia neighborhood of Satilla Shores.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty in the case. They have claimed that they believed Arbery was a burglar and that they were attempting to make a citizen’s arrest — a Georgia law that was later repealed in the wake of the shooting.

If convicted they could face life in prison.

“At the time the shots are fired, Travis McMichael reasonably believes because Ahmaud Arbery is on him aggressively, swinging wildly, grabbing hold of him, grabbing hold of the gun, reasonably believes, he is justified in firing his weapon knowing it’s gonna’ kill him, it’s going to at least hurt him, he knows that,” Rubin said.

Rubin added that Travis McMichael had “no choice” to shoot “because if this guy gets his gun, he’s dead or his dad’s dead.”

During opening statements by both the defense and the prosecution, jurors heard how the McMichaels — armed with a shotgun and a handgun — went after Arbery in a pickup truck when Gregory McMichael saw Arbery running through their neighborhood that February afternoon.

Bryan joined the pursuit in his own pickup truck and later captured a cellphone video showing Travis McMichael shooting Arbery dead on a residential street.

As the graphic footage was played for the jurors by prosecutors, Arbery’s mom cried out loud in the courtroom.

“In this case, all three of these defendants did everything they did based on assumptions — not on facts, not on evidence — assumptions,” lead prosecutor Senior District Attorney Linda Dunikoski told the jurors.

The prosecutor said the defendants “made decisions in their driveways based on those assumptions that took a young man’s life.”

Dunikoski said Arbery was “under attack” as the three defendants — who she said were “complete strangers” to Arbery — chased after the young man and used their pickup trucks as “lethal weapons” in an attempt to hit Arbery several times and force him off the road.

“How do you know this was an attack?” Dunikoski rhetorically asked the court. “Greg McMichael said it perfect — ‘Mr. Arbery was trapped like a rat,’ that’s what he told the police.”

“All three trapped him like a rat between their two pickup trucks,” Dunikoski said, adding, “They worsened the entire situation by threatening to kill him.”

She continued, “These three defendants committed four felonies against Mr. Arbery and it all started when Greg McMichael saw him running down the street.”

Source Article from https://www.insider.com/opening-statements-trial-for-those-accused-of-murdering-ahmaud-arbery-2021-11

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Democratic leaders in Virginia conceded Friday that Republicans have won control of the House of Delegates.

The Associated Press has not called all of Virginia’s House races yet. But the concession means Republicans would complete an elections sweep in which they also reclaimed the offices of governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general.

House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn issued a statement acknowledging the GOP majority shortly after Democratic Del. Martha Mugler conceded defeat in a tight race against Republican challenger A.C. Cordoza in the 91st House district, located in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region. With Mugler’s concession, Republicans now expect to hold at least 51 seats in the 100-member chamber.

“While the results of the election were not in our favor, our work for the people of Virginia goes on,” said Filler-Corn.

Garren Shipley, a spokesman for House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert, said Filler-Corn called Gilbert on Friday. “The House Republican caucus appreciates her pledge to a smooth transition to the incoming majority,” Shipley said.

The GOP victories are being seen as a backlash against a Democratic majority that has pushed through a series of progressive reforms over the past two years, including the repeal of the death penalty, a loosening of abortion restrictions and the legalization of marijuana.

Democrats hold a slim 21-19 majority in the Senate. Senators are not up for reelection until 2023.

Tuesday’s marquee race in Virginia was the governor’s contest, in which Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin defeated former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The GOP also captured the lieutenant governor’s office after Republican Winsome Sears beat Democrat Hala Ayala, and the attorney general’s office with Republican Jason Miyares’ victory over Democratic two-term incumbent Mark Herring. Sears will become the state’s first female lieutenant governor and the first woman of color to win statewide office in Virginia.

Youngkin’s victory and the near-defeat of New Jersey’s Democratic governor have sparked fears that Democrats are on course to lose control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.

Democrats held a 55-45 majority heading into the election Tuesday.

Republicans had controlled the House since 2000, but Democrats won back 15 GOP-held seats in 2017, helped by voter hostility toward then-President Donald Trump. In 2019, Democrats took full control of the legislature by wiping out slim Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

Among the surprise wins this year was that by Republican Kim Taylor over three-term incumbent Democratic Del. Lashrecse Aird in the 63rd District, which gave Republicans their 50th seat on Wednesday. Aird claimed victory late Tuesday, but a late surge by Taylor gave her a 741-vote win.

Democrat Wendy Gooditis won reelection to her third term in District 10, defeating Republican challenger Nick Clemente, a political newcomer. Gooditis’ northern Virginia district includes parts of fast-growing Loudoun County and rural areas in Clarke and Frederick counties.

___

Associated Press writer Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report.

Copyright
© 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

Source Article from https://wtop.com/virginia/2021/11/virginia-dems-concede-defeat-say-republicans-control-house/

  • Opening statements in the trial over Ahmaud Arbery’s killing began Friday. 
  • After a 12-day jury selection process, just one Black man made it onto the jury. 
  • Legal experts explained to Insider a loophole that allows lawyers to craft mostly-white juries. 

A nearly all-white jury will decide the fate of three white men accused of chasing down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man whose family says he was just out for a jog, in February 2020. 

After a long selection process which lasted two-and-a-half weeks and ended Wednesday, a single Black man made it onto the jury in a Georgia county where about a quarter of the population is Black or African American. 

Prosecutors complained that 11 Black potential jurors had been eliminated because of their race, and even Judge Timothy Walmsley said in court that there seemed to be evidence of “intentional discrimination.” But the case went forward anyway on Friday with opening statements. 

Insider spoke to legal experts who said that the defense had a significant advantage in the jury selection process, and explained why the judge proceeded with the case after expressing reservations. 

How jurors are selected 

Ahmaud Arbery.

Marcus Arbery/Handout via REUTERS


A pool of potential jurors is whittled down to a final jury through a process called voir dire, where jurors are questioned on matters relevant to the case and either eliminated “for cause” or with a “peremptory challenge,” Vanderbilt law professor Chris Slobogin and defense attorney Julius Kim explained.

A potential juror can be eliminated for cause by admitting during this process that they can’t be fair or impartial during the trial, while prosecutors and defense attorneys can use a peremptory challenge to eliminate a potential juror without stating a reason, the experts said.

Each side gets a limited number of peremptory challenges, however. The rules differ from state to state, but according to Georgia law, each defendant gets nine peremptory challenges, and the prosecution gets an equal number. 

Judges have the ability to adjust the number of preemptory challenges each side gets, however, according to Slobogin.

In the Arbery case, the defense got 24 peremptory challenges and the prosecution got 12, as the Thomasville Times-Enterprise reported. Slobogin said this gave the defense a considerable advantage in eliminating people it didn’t want on the jury. 

The loophole allowing lawyers to shape mostly-white juries

Peremptory challenges can be reviewed, however, especially if lawyers on the opposing side see a pattern in the race of dismissed jurors. 

Prosecutors in the Arbery case complained to the judge when the final jury was set, triggering a so-called “Batson” challenge. The challenge is named after the Supreme Court decision, Batson v. Kentucky, which banned the use of peremptory challenges motivated by race. 

Under Batson, if a judge agrees that there appears to have been racial discrimination, then the side that is accused of discriminating needs to explain why they eliminated a potential juror, according to Kim. The explanation must be “race neutral” and “genuine,” but it doesn’t have to be as strong as a “for cause” strike, Slobogin said.

Later Supreme Court rulings have held that the explanation can be “silly or superstitious, implausible or fantastic,” according to Slobogin.

In the Arbery case, the judge agreed that there appeared to be intentional discrimination. But after the defense gave explanations for why they dismissed the Black potential jurors, the judge said that their answers were enough to warrant a preemptory challenge. 

Kim said that the judge could have brought back the dismissed jurors or started the jury selection process all over again if he didn’t find the defense’s explanations sufficient.

Having heard the defense’s explanations for dismissing the Black potential jurors, Slobogin said one could argue that the defense was “acting in good faith” by using their peremptory challenges on those jurors, and that the judge made the right decision to accept those explanations and proceed to trial.  

Slobogin gave the examples of two Black women who were dismissed from the jury, one for saying “the whole case is about racism” and the other for saying she thought Arbery’s killing “was wrong.” 

“Neither of those explanations would probably be enough to remove those jurors for cause, but they are enough to remove them under Batson,” he explained. 

Still, the racial make-up of the jury “doesn’t look good” from an outside perspective, Slobogin said, while Kim said it makes him “nervous” that so few minorities are on the jury. 

Source Article from https://www.insider.com/why-ahmaud-arbery-case-has-mostly-white-jury-2021-11

“At a certain point, we’ve got to trust one another,” said progressive Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.).

“The level of trust is blinking red in Congress, both among members as well as with American people,” added Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), a centrist leader.

Liberals, led by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, checked their phones at the door and huddled for several hours in a House office building as they debated what to do. Biden phoned in, speaking with both Jayapal and then the larger caucus on speakerphone, as he urged them to support Democratic leaders’ plan to vote on the infrastructure bill Friday night.

“If our Blue Dog colleagues put up a yes vote on a rule and put out an assurance that is sufficiently airtight, like backed by the President of the United States, is that an option? Is there an alternative to an actual vote on the bill?” said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), summarizing the debate within the CPC. “That is the conversation we’re having right now.”

Meanwhile, Pelosi was in a room just off the House chamber as she and her staff worked through a list of members who were opposed to the current strategy. Some of the holdouts received calls not just from the speaker and fellow Democrats, but from union groups back home urging them to vote in favor.

Democrats’ Friday night dash to try to push the infrastructure bill over the finish line — more than three months after the bipartisan legislation passed the Senate — capped off a dizzying day for the party. Pelosi and her lieutenants, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, kicked off the day confident they would have enough votes within the fractious caucus to both clear the infrastructure bill and send the much larger social and climate package to the Senate.

The effort, if successful, would’ve been a remarkable feat for Democratic leaders after months of public infighting between the party’s centrists and liberals threatened to derail — and then thwart — Biden’s domestic agenda.

The months of tumult have not been without significant cost — from Biden’s plunging poll numbers to an election night thrashing this week that saw Republicans triumph in deep-blue areas, foreshadowing a potentially disastrous midterm for the party next year.

But instead of coming together after their ballot box bruising this week, Democrats are set to again delay a vote on their $1.75 trillion party-line measure and turn their sights to just the $550 billion Senate-passed infrastructure bill — bending to the demands of their most vocal centrists in a last-ditch attempt to deliver at least one legislative win for Biden.

Democrats still planned to advance their broader $1.75 trillion climate and social safety net bill, set for passage without GOP votes, but it would only be a procedural move. And that’s not enough for many progressives.

The convoluted maneuver, first suggested by senior members of the Congressional Black Caucus, quickly became a problem for Democratic leaders. While they initially believed the move could cost them some liberal votes for the bipartisan infrastructure bill, they believed they could make up most of those from the GOP side of the aisle.

CBC Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) summed up the strategy: “Jim Clyburn came to me this morning and we sat down and we thought an initial dialogue might be good. To say, let’s vote on the rule to Build Back Better. At least you’re putting it out there … It’s a start. Is it the best solution? I don’t know.”

“I think it was the starting point,” Beatty added. “I really didn’t think about what would happen along the way.”

Pelosi quickly pivoted to the new strategy, which she announced to the caucus in a Friday afternoon letter. But no sooner did she do that than a panoply of progressives dug in and refused to go along, trapping Democratic leaders in a game of factional Whack-a-Mole.

“I’m a no,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.). When asked if she’d change her own stance against separating the two bills on the floor, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) replied “absolutely not.”

It remains unclear how many progressives ultimately back the infrastructure bill during a Friday night floor vote. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said that “I’m open to all possibilities and I’m open to giving the leadership a hearing.” Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) signaled he’d support the bipartisan plan, but only if both bills passed on the same day.

Pelosi herself predicted a “large number of members of the progressive caucus” who are prepared to vote yes on infrastructure Friday night.

Members on Pelosi’s left flank have insisted for months that the social spending bill move together with the infrastructure proposal, and liberal opposition, helped scuttle previous attempts to move the infrastructure bill forward over the last two months.

It’s unlikely enough Republicans would be able to make up the difference if the expected number of progressives defect during a planned floor vote on the infrastructure package. Past GOP whip counts had Republican yes votes hovering around 10 for the Senate-passed measure, though some have privately warned the numbers could change if Democrats kept delaying the vote.

Democrats are still in talks about exactly when they would vote on passage of the social spending bill, although Pelosi and other top Democrats vowed to do so before Thanksgiving if possible. Nonetheless, an official budgetary analysis on potential costs may not come until Thanksgiving week.

Many in the caucus were baffled by the moderates’ resistance to pass the massive social spending bill. They argued it wasn’t the final version anyway, since the Senate was all but sure to make changes.

But for most centrist holdouts, that was exactly the problem: Democrats such as Murphy and Reps. Jared Golden (D-Maine) and Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) have been beating the drum for weeks that they won’t vote for any legislation that can’t pass the Senate.

Doing so, they warned, would amount to a politically toxic vote on a sprawling bill packed with new spending and tax changes, only to see it be shredded by Senate centrists or be plucked from the bill by the chamber’s budget rulekeeper.

Nancy Vu contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/05/house-democrats-infrastructure-vote-wait-megabill-519731

The first man shot and killed by Kyle Rittenhouse on the streets of Kenosha was acting “belligerently” that night but did not appear to pose a serious threat to anyone, a witness testified Friday at Rittenhouse’s murder trial. 

Jason Lackowski, a former Marine who said he took an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle to Kenosha last year to help protect property during violent protests against racial injustice, said Joseph Rosenbaum “asked very bluntly to shoot him” and took a few “false steppings … to entice someone to do something.” 

Lackowski got up from the witness stand and demonstrated what he called “false stepping.” He took a small step and slight lurch forward, then stopped. 

Jason Lackowski takes the witness stand and testifies during Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021.
(Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool)

KYLE RITTENHOUSE TRIAL: JURORS SEE VIDEOS SHOWING VIOLENT UNREST, MOMENTS LEADING UP TO FATAL SHOOTING 

But Lackowski, who was called as a witness by the prosecution, said he viewed Rosenbaum as a “babbling idiot” and turned his back and ignored him. 

His testimony showed a contrast between how the experienced military veteran viewed Rosenbaum and earlier testimony that Rittenhouse — who was 17 at the time — may have perceived Rosenbaum as a threat. 

Rittenhouse, now 18, is charged with shooting three men, two fatally, in the summer of 2020. The one-time police youth cadet had gone to Kenosha with an AR-style rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to safeguard property from the demonstrations that broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer. 

Rittenhouse is White, as were those he shot. Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed, while his lawyer has argued that he acted in self-defense, suggesting among other things that Rittenhouse feared his weapon would be taken away and used against him. 

On Thursday, Richie McGinniss, who was recording events on a cellphone that night for the conservative website The Daily Caller, testified that Rosenbaum chased Rittenhouse and was gunned down as he lunged for the young man’s rifle. 

“I think it was very clear to me that he was reaching specifically for the weapon,” McGinniss said. 

Kenosha Police Detective Martin Howard testifies during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021.
(Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool)

Also Thursday, Ryan Balch, a former Army infantryman who carried an AR-style rifle that night and walked around patrolling the streets with Rittenhouse, testified that Rosenbaum was “hyperaggressive and acting out in a violent manner,” including trying to set fires and throwing rocks. 

Balch said he got between Rosenbaum and another man while Rosenbaum was trying to start a fire, and Rosenbaum got angry, shouting, “If I catch any of you guys alone tonight I’m going to f—- kill you!” 

Balch said Rittenhouse was within earshot and that he believed the threat was aimed at both of them. 

The killing of Rosenbaum, 36, has emerged as one of the most crucial and disputed moments of the night. It is one of the few moments not clearly captured on video. 

According to testimony, Rosenbaum was unarmed and did not hurt anyone that night. 

His killing set in motion the bloodshed that followed moments later. Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, 26, a protester from Silver Lake, Wisconsin, who was seen on bystander video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard. 

Rittenhouse then wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, a protester from West Allis, Wisconsin, who had a gun in his hand as he stepped toward Rittenhouse. 

Rittenhouse could get life in prison if convicted in the politically and racially polarizing case that has stirred furious debate over self-defense, vigilantism, the right to bear arms and the racial unrest that erupted around the U.S. after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and other cases like it. 

Ryan Balch testifies during Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021.
(Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool))

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Before court resumed Friday, the judge granted the request of a pregnant juror to be dismissed because she was experiencing discomfort. She was the second juror dismissed: A retired man was dropped from the case Thursday after making a joke about Blake’s shooting. 

Eighteen people remain on the panel: Twelve will be designated to decide the case; the rest are alternates. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-witness-man-shot-acting-belligerently

Andrew Cuomo’s arraignment was postponed Friday until January after the Albany County district attorney told the court that the misdemeanor sex-crime complaint against the former New York governor is “potentially defective.”

The district attorney, David Soares, told the judge in Albany City court that the complaint was “unilaterally and inexplicably filed” in the middle of an investigation by his office, and that it excluded key testimony from the alleged victim.

The complaint was filed in late October, two months after Cuomo resigned as New York’s governor following a damning report from the office of Attorney General Letitia James detailing multiple accusations of sexual harassment from nearly a dozen women. James announced last week that she will run for governor in 2022.

The complaint accused Cuomo, 63, of forcible touching, a Class A misdemeanor. Cuomo could face up to a year in prison, or to up to three years of probation, if convicted.

The former governor was set to be arraigned in the afternoon on Nov. 17. But that initial court appearance was pushed to Jan. 7, after Soares asked for a 60-day adjournment in order to address a number of issues with the case — including that Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple “unilaterally and inexplicably filed a complaint in this Court” in the midst of the DA’s investigation.

“Unfortunately the filings in this matter are potentially defective,” Soares wrote in a letter to Judge Holly Trexler dated Thursday.

Specifically, “the police-officer-complainant failed to include a sworn statement by the victim such that the People could proceed with a prosecution on these papers,” Soares wrote.

“What was included with the complaint was a portion of a transcript of the victim’s statement given in a separate proceeding,” the DA explained, “but that portion excluded an oath, and, even more troubling, excluded other portions of her testimony where she described the very same acts described in the complaint.”

Part of the complaint also “misstates the relevant law,” Soares wrote.

He asked Trexler for the delay in light of the complexity of the case, citing “hundreds of hours of videotaped testimony that must be reviewed and provided to” Cuomo.

The temporary adjournment, Soares wrote, would “reduce the risk of a procedural dismissal of this case.”

Apple told reporters last week that he had also planned for the complaint to be filed at a later date, after he had a chance to talk to Soares and Cuomo’s lawyer.

“We kind of got sandbagged ourselves,” Apple said. “Everything moved too fast … We were expecting the documents to be reviewed. We weren’t expecting a five-minute turnaround.”

But Apple maintained that regardless of the timing issues, “it’s a solid case.”

Soares communications director Cecilia Walsh confirmed that Trexler granted the postponement, but declined CNBC’s request for further comment. An attorney for Cuomo did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/05/andrew-cuomo-court-date-delayed-after-prosecutor-warns-of-defective-sex-crime-complaint.html