Two Perps In A Pod
December 6, 2021
The Good News
- 101-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor will attend the 80th memorial service thanks to his daughter and dozens of kind strangers (CNN)
- Negro League baseball players earn spots in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (CNN)
“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them.” – James Baldwin
The Right Loves To Bear Arms
Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) must have thought it humorous to place a photo of his family, all holding large guns, on this year’s holiday card along with the message: “Merry Christmas! ps. Santa, please bring ammo.” Massie tweeted out his “greeting” on Saturday, four days after 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley used his new Christmas present — an assault weapon with a large ammo magazine — to kill four classmates and wound seven others at Michigan’s Oxford High School outside Detroit.
Ethan’s dad, James Crumbley, bought him the 9mm Sig Sauer semiautomatic pistol right after Thanksgiving. The following Monday, a teacher saw Ethan searching online for ammunition on his phone. School officials called Ethan’s mom, Jennifer, then emailed both parents, with no response. Jennifer did exchange texts with her son, saying: “LOL I’m not mad at you. You have to learn not to get caught.”
Tuesday morning Ethan’s teacher found a note he’d written, with drawings of a gun, a bleeding person with two bullet holes, and a laughing emoji. James and Jennifer were urgently called to the school’s office; Ethan was sent in with his backpack. The principal showed the parents the ominous note, ordering them to take Ethan home and get him into counseling. The Crumbleys didn’t ask about the gun or look in their son’s backpack. When they left without Ethan, he returned to class. The shooting spree began shortly thereafter. Ethan surrendered and is charged on 24 counts, including terrorism and first-degree murder. His parents disappeared for days, but were found hiding in a warehouse and arrested Saturday morning. They each face four counts of involuntary manslaughter for allowing their son access to a handgun while ignoring glaring warnings of his potentially violent behavior.
It’s not just that some House Republicans undervalue empathy and appropriateness. Massie’s display of cruelty, heartlessness, and extremism has come to define today’s GOP. Almost weekly one Republican representative or another says or does something stunningly callous, with little rebuke from the right. Last week Lauren Boebert (R-CO) openly showed her anti-Muslim bigotry toward her colleague, Ilhan Omar (D-Minn). Before that, it was Arizonan Paul Gosar’s cartoon video depicting him killing Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene’s barrage of bigotry and extremism.
Massie’s holiday message was condemned by several Democratic representatives, including Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, who said: “Aren’t we in the season of peace and goodwill? What a repulsive, violent message especially in a week when we lost 4 students to gun violence…. Instead of wishing for ammo, how about working for gun safety so all our kids can be home for the holidays?” Contrastingly, Boebert tweeted enthusiastically: “That’s my kind of Christmas card!” (NBC, CNN, NYT, Axios)
A Vlad State Of Affairs
- Tensions have been escalating between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s military buildup on the Ukrainian border, which is seen as a sign of a potential invasion. Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin will be speaking in a video call on Tuesday.
- White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Saturday that Biden will press U.S. concerns about Russian military activities on the border and “reaffirm the United States’ support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin will be expressing concerns of his own, including any move to admit Ukraine into the NATO military alliance. Peskov added that “the presidents will decide themselves” how long their talk will last.
- The last known call between the leaders was in July, when Biden pressed Putin to rein in Russia-based criminal hacking gangs launching ransomware attacks against the U.S. At the time, Biden said the U.S. would take any necessary steps to protect critical infrastructure from such attacks. However, the ransomware attacks have continued, although arguably on a less alarming basis. (ABC News)
Health Officials Sentenced In Jordan
- On Sunday, a Jordanian court sentenced five senior health officials to three years in jail. The former director of a major state hospital west of Jordan’s capital, and four of his senior aides, had been held liable for the deaths of 10 patients being treated for COVID-19 last March. The patients died when staff failed to act after oxygen in a coronavirus ward ran out for nearly an hour.
- The disaster, which politicians and local activists said exposed gross negligence in the state health system during a spike in infections, sparked anti-government protests across many cities and provincial towns. The health minister resigned hours after the incident, and in a public apology, Prime Minister Bisher al Khasawneh said his government bore full responsibility for the incident.
- Police had to be deployed after the deaths to hold back hundreds of angry relatives and protesters who were encircling the hospital compound. King Abdullah made a royal visit and publicly scolded health officials in the corridor of the hospital in an effort to defuse tensions. (Reuters)
Additional World News
- Smoldering debris, mud hinder Indonesia volcano rescue (AP)
- India Nagaland: Security forces kill 13 civilians amid ambush blunder (BBC)
- 21 nations, EU express concern over reported killings, disappearances of former Afghan security force members (The Hill)
- Britain tightens testing for inbound travellers, adds Nigeria to red list (Reuters)
- Germany: incoming minister advises against Christmas travel (AP)
- Five dead after Myanmar security forces ram car into Yangon protest (Reuters)
- On Syria’s Ruins, a Drug Empire Flourishes (NYT, $)
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Two Perps In A Pod
- Last Tuesday, CNN suspended primetime anchor Chris Cuomo, 51, for trying to help his older brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, fight allegations of sexual misconduct. On Saturday, the network announced it had fired the younger Cuomo due to “additional information” that had come to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense.
- It’s now being reported that days before CNN announced Chris’ firing, he had been hit with a new allegation of sexual harassment. Debra Katz, attorney for the accuser, said her client decided to come forward after the New York attorney general’s office released evidence showing that Chris had taken a much more active role than previously thought in strategizing and helping to craft a response to the allegations Andrew is facing.
- Katz said her client had been “disgusted” by Chris’ on-air “hypocrisy” in trying to discredit the women who were leveling accusations against Andrew. Katz said she contacted CNN last Wednesday to relay her own client’s allegations against Chris for “serious sexual misconduct.” (Guardian)
Political Giant Bob Dole Has Died
- Bob Dole, 98, one of the most durable political figures in recent memory, died Sunday. He had announced in February he was beginning treatment for Stage IV lung cancer. Dole was the plain-spoken son of the Kansas prairie, who overcame Dust Bowl deprivation and grievous battle wounds to become Senate majority leader and the last of the WWII generation to win the Republican party’s nomination for president.
- He ran for the White House three times and was finally nominated in 1996, only to lose to Bill Clinton. He had been nominated for vice-president in 1976, running alongside Gerald Ford; they were defeated by Jimmy Carter.
- Dole spent 25 years in the Senate, and was the party’s longest-serving leader until Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell surpassed that record in June 2018. Dole was a gentleman and a pragmatic conservative, who would frequently reach across the aisle to broker a compromise. He was considered a great friend by many, and especially known for his dignity, commitment to public service, and droll one-liners. (NYT)
Additional USA News
- Honolulu shut down its largest water source in Oahu due to reported contamination of Navy well near Pearl Harbor (CNN)
- A blizzard warning in Hawaii but no snow yet in Denver, in unusual December weather (NPR)
- Trump double negative: Twitter sees proof positive of no electoral fraud (Guardian)
- Analysis | The most-vaccinated big counties in America are beating the worst of the coronavirus (WaPo, $)
- Why the threat to Roe may not save Democrats in 2022 (Politico)
- Former senator David Perdue to challenge incumbent Brian Kemp for Georgia governor (WaPo, $)
- Supreme Court justices on abortion, during confirmation and from the bench (Politico)
Do No Arm
- A 57-year-old Italian dentist was so determined to avoid getting a COVID vaccination that his future patients may be his fellow prisoners. A nurse in the northern city of Biella said the man appeared last Thursday to get a coronavirus shot, which as of Monday was required to get into restaurants, cinemas, theaters, and other venues in Italy.
- But when the nurse felt the man’s “arm” it was “cold and gummy and the color was too light.” At first, she thought the man was an amputee and had just presented the wrong arm for inoculation. But when she lifted his shirt, she saw the arm was actually silicone. “I understood immediately that the man was trying to avoid the vaccination by using a silicone prosthetic, into which he hoped that I would inject the drug, unaware,” she said.
- The man admitted he had already been suspended from work because of his refusal to get vaccinated, which Italy requires for all medical personnel. The nurse said the man was courteous and left the vaccination center after the failed attempt. But on second thought, the nurse said she and others at the center realized this wasn’t just a surreal situation, but “a real attempt at fraud.” So she turned the paperwork over to her supervisor, who gave it to prosecutors to evaluate for possible criminal charges. (AP)
Additional Reads
- A plumber found cash and checks stashed in a wall at Joel Osteen’s Houston mega-church (CNN)
- Tiny living Pac-Man robots have learned how to reproduce (CNN)
- The Movement to Hold AI Accountable Gains More Steam (Ars Technica)
- New dinosaur discovered with a bizarre ‘club like’ tail featuring seven pairs of bladed spikes to fight off predators (Yahoo)
- Climate Change Data Deluge Has Scientists Scrambling for Solutions (WSJ)
- Why Do People Make (and Watch) 5-Hour ‘iCarly’ Analysis Videos? (Wired)
- How to see the comet Leonard as it nears Earth in coming days (NPR)