News Dump for Apr. 19, 2024

US

Pathetic little man-baby.
Futurism – Trump Has an Aide Who Follows Him Around With a Wireless Printer to Print Out ‘Good News From the Internet’
https://futurism.com/the-byte/trump-aide-wireless-printer-good-news

AP – 12 jurors have been picked for Donald Trump’s hush money trial. Selection of alternates is ongoing
A jury of 12 people was seated Thursday in former President Donald Trump’s history-making hush money trial, propelling the proceedings closer to opening statements and the start of weeks of dramatic testimony. The court quickly turned to selecting alternate jurors, with the process on track to wrap up by the end of the week. Prosecutors could begin presenting their case early next week.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-manhattan-stormy-daniels-michael-cohen-b514cb52bb31a82579cb827c40166173

CNN – WATCH: Hear what Trump said minutes after jury was seated in hush money trial
CNN’s Daniel Dale fact-checks remarks former President Donald Trump made outside court minutes after a full jury has been seated in his New York hush money case, paving the way for the trial to begin.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2024/04/18/trump-speaks-ny-hush-money-trial-jury-seated-daniel-dale-digvid-lead.cnn

NBC – Multistate 911 outage shows fragility of systems, experts say
Lumen Technologies, a telecommunications company based in Louisiana, said the outage was due to an issue installing a single light pole.
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/multistate-911-outage-shows-fragility-systems-experts-say-rcna148475

WAPO – The U.S. just changed how it manages a tenth of its land
The Interior Department rule puts conservation and clean energy development on par with drilling, mining and resource extraction on federal lands for the first time
https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/04/18/biden-public-lands-conservation-rule/

AP – Kansas GOP congressman Jake LaTurner is not running again, citing family reasons
Two-term Republican U.S. Rep. Jake LaTurner is not running for reelection this year in his GOP-leaning eastern Kansas district so that he can spend more time with his four young children, he announced Thursday. LaTurner is among nearly two dozen Republicans in the U.S. House who are not running again or seeking another office.
https://apnews.com/article/congress-kansas-republican-laturner-retiring-4b080bfe5bd79168c44f6690dc892762

Guardian – House Republican cites threats and swatting of family as reasons for quitting
Mike Gallagher, a representative from Wisconsin, is stepping down on 19 April, before the end of his term.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/18/mike-gallagher-congress-quits-threats-swatting

CNN – TikTok is in the hot seat once again in Washington
TikTok is again facing an imminent threat from Congress. On Wednesday, House Republicans added a hot-button bill that could lead to a nationwide TikTok ban to a wide-ranging foreign aid package intended to help Israel and Ukraine.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/18/tech/tiktok-ban-congress/index.html

AP – Sweeping gun legislation approved by Maine lawmakers after deadliest shooting in state history
The Maine Legislature approved sweeping gun safety legislation including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people before adjourning Thursday morning, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history.
https://apnews.com/article/maine-legislature-mass-shooting-gun-control-938ed48aa36cfa3ab364a72556e1abd3

Ha! Marge’s BF must have been so confused.
Daily Beast – MAGA Media Learns in Real-Time That NYC Isn’t a Dystopian Hellscape
“I thought I would see a little more chaos on the streets than, um, from what I’ve been told. And I didn’t see as much as I thought I would,” RSBN host Brian Glenn said this week.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-media-learns-in-real-time-that-nyc-isnt-a-dystopian-hellscape

NBC – Nicole Shanahan pumps $2 million into RFK Jr. campaign after joining ticket
As a vice presidential candidate, the Bay Area lawyer and entrepreneur can spend unlimited amounts of her own money on the campaign.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/nicole-shanahan-pumps-2-million-rfk-jr-campaign-joining-ticket-rcna148438

AP – Trump loses bid to halt Jan. 6 lawsuits while he fights criminal charges in the 2020 election case
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington denied defense lawyers’ request to put the civil cases seeking to hold Trump responsible for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on hold while the criminal case accusing him of conspiring to overturn his election defeat to President Joe Biden plays out.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-capitol-riot-jan-6-civil-lawsuits-7f80a140e728247ea5ec8db9d4d46eb2

AP – Emergency rooms refused to treat pregnant women, leaving one to miscarry in a lobby restroom
Complaints that pregnant women were turned away from U.S. emergency rooms spiked in 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, federal documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal. The cases raise alarms about the state of emergency pregnancy care in the U.S., especially in states that enacted strict abortion laws and sparked confusion around the treatment doctors can provide.
https://apnews.com/article/pregnancy-emergency-care-abortion-supreme-court-roe-9ce6c87c8fc653c840654de1ae5f7a1c

CNN – Maryland high school student arrested after authorities discovered a 129-page document detailing school shooting plan, police say
A Maryland high school student was arrested and charged with threat of mass violence after police say they discovered evidence revealing the teen had plans to commit a school shooting, authorities said Thursday. The arrest on Wednesday came after authorities discovered a 129-page document they say was written by 18-year-old Alex Ye, the Montgomery County Department of Police (MCPD) said in a news release Thursday.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/18/us/maryland-student-school-shooting-threat/index.html

WAPO – Turning Point Action official resigns after accusation of election-related fraud
State Rep. Austin Smith, top leader of the national conservative group Turning Point Action, which has amplified false claims of election fraud by former president Donald Trump and others, resigned Thursday after being accused of forging voter signatures on official paperwork so that he could run for reelection in the Arizona House.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/04/18/austin-smith-turning-point-action-election-fraud/

NBC – Judge denies Trump co-defendants’ motions to dismiss charges in classified documents case
One co-defendant’s lawyers asked this month for five charges against him to be dismissed, while another’s requested that all charges against their client be tossed out.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/judge-denies-trump-co-defendants-motions-dismiss-charges-classified-do-rcna148505

WTAF?!
NOLA – Louisiana lawmakers vote to remove lunch breaks for child workers, cut unemployment benefits
A House committee approved the bill along with others to reduce unemployment benefits and workers’ compensation wages.
https://www.nola.com/news/politics/legislature/la-lawmakers-vote-to-remove-lunch-breaks-for-child-workers/article_ef234692-fd9e-11ee-99f5-771c7366107a.html

Okay what juvenile thought that acronym up?
Freedom Caucus on alert for possible moves against it by GOP leaders
The Floor Action Response Team, shorthanded as “FART,” aims to guard against an unannounced request to pass resolutions that would limit the group’s leverage.
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2024/04/18/congress/hfc-on-alert-00153097

Hahahahaha!
CNN – Trump Media warns Nasdaq of suspected market manipulation
Trump Media, the parent company of the former president’s Truth Social, alerted Nasdaq Inc. on Thursday of what the company suspects is illegal activity driving down the price of its shares. In a letter to the exchange, Devin Nunes, the CEO of Trump Media (DJT), laid out what he believes could be deemed “naked” short selling.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/19/markets/trump-media-nasdaq-suspected-market-manipulation/index.html

NPR – House foreign aid bills advance with Democrats’ help; Johnson may still be in peril
The House Rules Committee has voted 9-3 to advance a package of bills providing aid to Israel, Ukraine, and other allies, after Democrats took the rare step of supporting a procedural vote for Republican bills. Republican Reps. Chip Roy, Thomas Massie and Ralph Norman voted against the rule, out of anger that assistance to Ukraine was not paired with conservative border security provisions, as House Speaker Mike Johnson had previously pushed to do.
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/19/1245557540/house-aid-bills-ukraine-israel-funding-democrats-johnson

Lawsuit? He should be incarcerated!
NBC – Ex-Indiana teacher accused of encouraging classmates to beat up 7-year-old with disabilities
A lawsuit from the child’s mother alleges the teacher recorded an incident on his cellphone.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ex-indiana-teacher-accused-encouraging-classmates-beat-7-year-old-disa-rcna148469

Politico – Appeals court upholds conviction of GOP operative who steered Russian money to Trump camp
Jesse Benton played leading roles in the presidential campaigns of Ron and Rand Paul and worked briefly as Mitch McConnell’s campaign manager.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/19/trump-russian-money-appeals-court-00153339
PDF: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24556644-benton

DOJ – White Supremacist Leader Sentenced to 44 Months in Prison for Conspiring to Make Death Threats Against Brooklyn Journalist
Earlier today, at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn, Nicholas Welker, also known as “King ov Wrath,” was sentenced by United States District Judge Pamela K. Chen to 44 months’ imprisonment for conspiring to make death threats. Welker, the leader of Feuerkrieg Division (“FKD”), an international racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (“RMVE”) group, which translates to “War Fire,” posted death threats against a Brooklyn-based journalist (the “Journalist”) so that the Journalist would stop reporting on the Neo-Nazi group.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/white-supremacist-leader-sentenced-44-months-prison-conspiring-make-death-threats

ABC – Matt Gaetz attended 2017 party where minor and drugs were present, woman’s sworn statement obtained by Congress claims
The Ethics panel is questioning witnesses about allegations involving Gaetz.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/matt-gaetz-attended-2017-party-minor-drugs-present/story?id=109324572

CNN – Gosar becomes third House GOP member to back effort to oust Johnson from speakership
Rep. Paul Gosar on Friday signed on to the effort to remove Speaker Mike Johnson from his job, the Arizona Republican announced in a news release, becoming the third member to do so.
https://us.cnn.com/2024/04/19/politics/paul-gosar-mike-johnson-house-gop/index.html

ABC – House Democrats help Johnson avoid defeat on foreign aid bills, despite GOP defections
Final votes are set for Saturday, but a third Republican threatened to oust him.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-votes-advance-foreign-aid-bills-despite-gop/story?id=109423163

NBC – Jury selection in Trump’s hush money trial completed during tense day in court
Just as the remaining alternates were selected, a man set himself on fire inside the designated protest area outside of the courthouse where the trial was unfolding.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/alternate-jurors-key-legal-arguments-tap-trump-hush-money-trial-rcna148479

So mobby.
Politico – Trump campaign says it will deploy thousands of election workers to monitor poll sites
Former President Donald Trump’s political operation said Thursday that it plans to deploy more than 100,000 attorneys and volunteers across battleground states to monitor — and potentially challenge — vote counting in November.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/19/trump-campaign-election-monitoring-00153217

WORLD

AP – US vetoes widely supported resolution backing full UN membership for Palestine
The United States vetoed a widely backed U.N. resolution Thursday that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for Palestine, a goal the Palestinians have long sought and Israel has worked to prevent.
https://apnews.com/article/un-vote-palestinian-membership-us-veto-8d8ad60d8576b5ab9e70d2f8bf7e2881

CNN – 270 million people are living on sinking land in China’s major cities, new study finds
Land is sinking underneath millions of peoples’ feet in China’s major cities due to human activities, putting the country’s coastal areas more at risk of flooding and rising sea levels, new research shows. Nearly half of China’s urban areas comprising 29% of the country’s population are sinking faster than 3 millimeters (about 0.12 inches) per year, according to the study published Thursday in the journal Science. That’s 270 million people living on sinking land.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/18/climate/china-sinking-cities/index.html

WSJ – Russia Jails Scientist Who Developed Hypersonic Technologies After Treason Conviction
Alexander Kuranov is one of at least a dozen scientists accused of treason in Russia in recent years.
https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russian-scientist-alexander-kuranov-jailed-treason-ac0c6254

WAPO – Israel carries out strike in Iran, Israeli official says
The Israeli military carried out a strike inside Iran in retaliation for a barrage of missiles and drones launched last weekend, an Israeli official said Friday. It was not clear what damage the apparently limited strike caused, but the official — who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters — said it was intended to signal to Iran that Israel had the ability to strike inside the country.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/19/israel-iran-hamas-war-news-gaza-palestine/

WAPO – Russia ramps up weapons production, using mass quantity to outgun Ukraine
Russia has managed to overcome its initial losses in Ukraine by putting factories into overdrive to make older but reliable weapons and ammunition.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/19/russia-weapons-production-ukraine-war/

Slava Ukraini
Politico – Ukraine successfully shoots down first Russian strategic bomber
Ukraine succeeded for the first time in shooting down a Tu–22M3 strategic bomber, used by Russia to bomb Ukraine from a distance, the Ukrainian air force said in a statement Friday. The Russian defense ministry said the bomber crashed as it was returning from a mission in Ukraine “due to technical malfunction.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-strategic-bomber-russia-attack-missiles-drones/

TEXAS

Texas Tribune – Proposed changes to state Medicaid plans could shake up health coverage for 1.8 million low-income Texans
The move, which has not been finalized, would drop three large health plans run for two decades by nonprofit children’s hospitals.
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/18/texas-medicaid-provider-contracts/

The Hill – Texas AG Ken Paxton fails to block Houston’s basic income plan
Is it a violation of the Texas Constitution for a city to give money to its low-income residents? On Thursday, a Texas state court judge answered with a definitive “no” — the first ruling in what is shaping up to be a long legal fight over that question.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4603601-texas-ag-ken-paxton-houstons-basic-income-plan/

CBS – 10-year-old Texas boy linked to murder of a man that took place two years ago, according to officials
The child told investigators he didn’t know the victim and the attack was unprovoked.
https://www.cbs19.tv/article/news/local/10-year-old-murder-child-gonzales-county/273-ef3e7a31-8bd0-4c7f-baee-1bcc84fc15a1

Lone Star Left – Billionaire Republican vs. Billionaire Republican
In this latest episode of Republican-on-Republican violence, two of the most prominent oligarchs in Texas square off for a head-to-head match. Before we get into it, we need a little context.
https://www.lonestarleft.com/p/billionaire-republican-vs-billionaire

MISC

Good lord!
Axios – Ozempic’s latest reported side effect: pregnancy
An increasing number of women are reporting unplanned pregnancies — even among those who’ve struggled with fertility — while taking popular anti-obesity and diabetes drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic.
https://www.axios.com/2024/04/18/ozempic-pregnancy-weight-loss-drugs-fertility-report