04/11/23
Good morning! It’s Tuesday, April 11th.
National Pet Day.
Congrats Ruth, you got another one. Another day that’s all about you.
Way to earn it.
And now, the news.
Shooting in Louisville
As we do in America, we’re starting with another tragic shooting, as four people were killed by a 23-year-old employee of the bank where the shooting took place. Nine others, including two police officers, were injured. Three, including one police officer, are still in critical condition.
The shooting was live-streamed at the time, but police have taken down the footage.
Info is still coming out but the shooter, who is also dead, was previously notified he was going to be fired and wrote a note that he was going to shoot at the bank.
One of the victims was a close friend of Kentucky governor Andy Beshear.
Last month, Kentucky lawmakers passed a bill to make Kentucky a 2nd Amendment sanctuary state, prohibiting state and local law enforcement agencies from enforcing a federal gun, ammunition, or accessories ban in the state.
After the Governor failed neither sign nor veto the bill, it became a law on March 28th.
Justin Jones Will Return to Statehouse
-via AP News
After being expelled last week, Justin Jones, was unanimously voted BACK to the Statehouse by the Nashville governing council.
Outside the courthouse, before the vote, Jones told his supporters: “When they tried to bury us, they didn’t realize we were seeds.” (A quote from Janel Spencer-Levy’s “Seeds”
Now, since we know what things were like for these young Black lawmakers before the expulsion (which is to say – exactly as abhorrently racist as you would think the state that created the KKK and never expelled any Klan members would be), who knows what it will be like when Jones returns to work.
Awkwardly, probably.
But if you’ve been watching Jones since he first stood on the floor with the other two statehouse reps, you know something that a lot of people in Nashville knew before then… Justin Jones is here to make a difference. He is here to improve the lives of everyone in Tennessee. Thursday’s vote was never going to be the end of his story, and Monday’s vote is proof of that.
Justin Pearson could be reinstated tomorrow.
Rutgers Faculty Going on Strike
-via AP News
Thousands of professors, part-time lecturers, and graduate students at Rutgers went on strike on Monday, the first in the school’s 257-year history.
257 years old! Wild. I remember when it first opened.
The strike comes after contract talks, which have been going on since July, hit a stalemate.
Continued Chaos Around Mifepristone
-via NY Times
After two different rulings came down on Friday and threw the future of the abortion pill mifepristone into a big ol monocle emoji of confusion, things are… still up in the air.
More than 400 pharmaceutical and biotech companies issued a fire letter against the Texas judge’s ruling that said the drug wasn’t safe.
It is. And the reason we know that is because it’s been called safe for more than two decades.
The ruling out of Texas was given a seven-day stay.
The pharma docs, et all, who issued the letter warn that this ruling doesn’t just threaten the life of this (objectively safe) medicine, but puts all drugs up for debate, as the court overturned the approval without any real evidence that it wasn’t safe.
Which is…. You know… like we don’t want non-scientists to make scientist decisions.
Dalai Lama Apologizes
-via NBC News
I’m gonna tell you right now – this story is gross.
The Dalai Lama issued an apology on Monday after a video surfaced of him asking a young boy to, “suck my tongue.”
Now, I didn’t even want to cover this story but part of the point of this news show is to… well the biggest point is to tell you about the news. But beyond that, is to make it so that you know what people are talking about when they randomly reference something in the news. And this will for sure be referenced. Even though I feel VERY uncomfortable talking about it.
Now, to clarify… according to the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, sticking out one’s tongue is a sign of respect or agreement and was often used as a greeting in traditional Tibetan culture. So, let’s also be careful when we’re talking about this story. But there is a difference between sticking out your tongue and what the Dalai Lama said, so there’s that. I don’t even know what I’m trying to say here, except that this is something that happened today and now we all know.
Virginia Grand Jury Indicts 6-Year-Old Shooter’s Mom
-via The Guardian
In, “yeah no, that makes sense actually,” news… a grand jury in Virginia indicted the mom of the six-year-old who took a gun to school and shot his teacher.
She’s been charged with crimes related to felony child neglect and firearms possession.
As a reminder, the boy will not face criminal charges.
And that’s it, that’s the news.
I’m proud of pets. They put up with so much (for example, do you know how many photoshoots Ruth has to go through, on a daily basis??).
It’s also National Ranch Water Day, which is GREAT because it’s also taco Tuesday and a ranch water with tacos? Sign me up!
But more than that. More than a spicy ranch water with shrimp tacos (which is really saying something)…. I’m proud of you.