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Tonight beginning at 8pm ET/5pm PT, our Long National Nightmare will be televised.
- The now-famous January 6th committee will begin conducting hearings to investigate the origins and implications of last year’s attempted coup, and will hopefully end up with a few more of Trump’s goons in handcuffs. The hearings will harken back to the first and second Trump impeachment hearings (ah, memories!), with testimony from key witnesses, new video evidence, and committee members presenting their arguments. The smoking gun that everyone is looking for is, of course, whether evidence can prove a direct line between former President Trump and the insurrection, apart from just incitement. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) says such evidence indeed exists and will be presented for the world to see.
- Congressional Republicans’ cooperation with the commission has been, let’s say, mixed. At the time of the insurrection Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was the third-highest-ranking Republican in the House, but now her position as the top Republican on the January 6th Committee, and refusal to accept Trump’s Big Lie, might ultimately cost her the next election. Despite an imploring column today in The Atlantic, former Vice President Mike Pence is not, in fact, worthy of some sort of adoring praise. In fact, a new statement from former Secretary of Education and real-life Disney villain Betsy DeVos, Pence flatly rejected the idea of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Trump from office after the insurrection.
- Not to be outdone, the New York Times released new audio of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy telling his GOP colleagues on January 11th, “We cannot just sweep this under the rug,” before sweeping it under the rug. A few months ago, texts between Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows emerged suggesting the Senator’s eager willingness to help overturn the election result, which Lee has since vehemently denied, but new court documents released today cast serious doubts on that refutation. There are just too many heroes in the Republican Party to jail.
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Speaking of heroes, Republican gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley was arrested today by the FBI for his involvement in the January 6th sedition boys’-day-out.
- Federal investigators uncovered an array of footage and photos in which Kelley is depicted in sunglasses and a backwards baseball cap (you know, like a cool guy) waving the crowd of rioters towards the stairs of the Capitol building. Kelley then used his own phone to capture video of the insurrectionists “assaulting and pushing past U.S. Capitol police officers.”
- He faces up to one year in prison or a fine of $100,000. Kelley rose to prominence in the Michigan governor’s race by being an anti-mask, pro-gun cool guy who was all-in on pedaling the Big Lie of election fraud, and has never made a secret of his presence at the insurrection.
It’s unclear why the FBI decided to move against Kelley now, but we’re not complaining.
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Tommy and Ben interview Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the state of democracy, gun control, Ukraine and the best comedians in Canada. Then they cover the Summit of the Americas, the latest from Ukraine, President Biden’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia, why Jared Kushner could be in trouble, how Poland is showing what a post Roe America might look like, why confidence is waning in British PM Boris Johnson, lasers and the Platinum Jubilee got weird.
To listen, head to the Pod Save The World feed today!
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At the urging of Congress members and various civil rights groups, the Justice Department announced today that it is opening an investigation into the Louisiana State Police, after reviewing video footage of a series of unrelated incidents in which LSP officers brutalized Black drivers. The video that has garnered the most attention and public outcry involves a particularly violent incident in 2019, where an unarmed man named Ronald Greene was physically beaten, stunned, and dragged on the ground as he pleaded and apologized for failing to stop during a high-speed chase. Greene died shortly thereafter, and state police initially reported that he was killed on impact in a crash, but they denied repeated requests to release the video. An Associated Press investigation revealed that Greene’s arrest was one of more than a dozen over the past decade in which Louisiana state troopers or their superiors ignored or concealed evidence of excessive force.
The case in Louisiana is the latest DOJ investigation of police departments under Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has opened similar inquests into law enforcement in Phoenix, Arizona, Mount Vernon, New York, as well as the highly-publicized Minneapolis related to the death of George Floyd, and in Louisville, Kentucky, following the death of Breonna Taylor. Ideally, such investigations lead to court-approved changes in police department operations to reduce civil rights violations. To prevent further loss of innocent life, that simply must happen.
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Take Action Today: Protect Trans Youth
Lawmakers have introduced and advanced bills targeting transgender youth in state legislatures across the country – putting 2022 on track to be another horrific, record-setting year for attacks on trans rights, especially trans youth rights.
ACLU lawyers and advocates are monitoring and fighting back against these gratuitous attacks – but we need supporters like you to join the fight as well. Sign our petition today to protect trans youth.
Here's where some of the latest threats are unfolding:
- Texas: Trans youth and their families have had to face the terror of being subjected to invasive and threatening investigations simply for receiving medically-necessary care to affirm their genders.
- Arizona: Multiple anti-trans bills have been pushed in Arizona, including a healthcare ban for trans youth and a bill excluding trans girls from participating in sports at the grade school, high school, or collegiate level.
- Florida: Governor DeSantis signed a law banning any discussion of LGBTQ youth from classrooms, and his Department of Health issued fact-free guidance contradicting medical experts and federal guidelines for medical providers working with transgender youth.
- South Dakota: South Dakota passed the first anti-trans bill of 2022, which bans transgender girls from being able to play on sports teams that affirm their gender.
These bills represent a nationwide, coordinated campaign to push trans people out of public life. To be clear, these bills will not stop youth from being trans. They only make it harder to access the support, education, and community that all young people need. It's a cruel and needless assault on the health and safety of kids just trying to grow up – and that's why the ACLU is pushing back relentlessly. Will you join us?
With strength,
The ACLU Team
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- Texas parents are suing Governor Abbott over his sadistic directive to investigate gender-affirming parents of trans children for child abuse after horrific instances of attempted suicide and increased harassment.
- In a developing story, three people have been killed in a shooting in Smithsburg, MD, according to the Gov. Larry Hogan.
- New Jersey resident and TV charlatan Dr. Mehmet Oz won the Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary by a razor-thin, 951 vote margin after a days-long statewide recount. He will face off against the Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman in November to determine who will take the seat of extremely lame duck, Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA).
- Sterling Jewelers, which owns Jared and Kay Jewelers, settled a class-action lawsuit for discriminating against tens of thousands of female employees in pay and promotional practices, resulting in a $175 million payout to plaintiffs. As the jingle goes, “Every kiss begins wi… PAY US FAIRLY, YOU BASTARDS” throws mic through amp.
- President Biden went on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night to discuss gun violence and, weirdly, ended up praising Mitch McConnell. Joe: Please, help us out here.
- Hundreds of flights have been canceled due to pilot shortages, as airlines scramble to hire some 12,000 pilots ahead of the busy summer travel season.
- Iran has started removing 27 surveillance cameras from nuclear sites across the country, which the head of a United Nations watchdog group called a potential “fatal blow” to the already-tenuous Iran Nuclear Deal.
- FTC Chair Lina Khan says the agency is pushing a robust agenda to safeguard children’s online privacy.
- Facebook announced that while it does not allow gun sales on its platform, they will only boot a user after 10(!) violations of that statute. Ah, yes, the classic 10-strikes-then-make-a-new-profile rule.
- A Russian-backed separatist court sentenced two Britons and one Moroccan man to death for acting as foreign fighters on the side of Ukraine.
- In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court sided with a border agent charged with excessive force, which will make it harder to sue federal agents for violating one’s Constitutional rights in the future. Thanks for playing this week’s edition of “How Many Civil Rights Can! We! Lose?!”
- With the US hosting the Summit of the Americas for the first time since 1994, President Biden called for “unity” while a few notable diplomats, including the President of Mexico, skipped the summit in protest.
- The Los Angeles Angels baseball team tried to curb their 13-game losing streak by playing a different Nickleback (yes, Nickleback) song before each batter, but it sadly did not prove fruitful.
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In an all-too-familiar chain of events, the House has passed sweeping gun legislation that is now expected to die in the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gaveled the passage of the Protect Our Kids Act, which would raise the minimum age to purchase an assault rifle from 18 to 21, bar the sale of large-capacity magazines, and institute new rules that dictate proper at-home gun storage. The legislation passed with a frankly-embarrassing but altogether unsurprising 223-204 vote, with only 5 Republicans voting for, and disgustingly, two Democrats, Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) and Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-OR), voting against. Longtime gun control advocate Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) said he believes there are 10 Republicans who will join their Democratic colleagues to vote for the legislation by the end of the week. Similarly, we believe that Mercury in retrograde explains why we had a bad week! Believing in crazy stuff can be nice!
The House bill was passed on the heels of House Oversight Committee hearings in which parents of children killed in last month’s shootings in Buffalo, NY, and Uvalde, TX testified, imploring congress to act and meaningfully address the gun violence epidemic once and for all. There is some evidence that the tide [said with informed caution] may finally be turning. A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll details that Americans consider controlling gun violence more important than protecting gun rights by the widest margin in a decade. Adding to mounting pressure, CEOs from over 200 major companies including DoorDash, Levi Strauss, Lululemon Athletica and Unilever, signed a letter urging the Senate to pass gun violence prevention legislation. Maybe Republicans will actually listen now that their favorite children have written to them.
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