The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    In the News

    [CRIME News] Dozens of gang members arrested amid investigation of ‘cartel-style’ mass shooting in CA

    Dozens of gang members were arrested and illegal guns and drugs seized during a four-day operation in Central California, the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.

    The arrests were part of an ongoing investigation into the “Goshen Massacre,” for a “cartel-style” shooting that left six people dead, including a young mother and her 10-month-old son, on January 16. Authorities say the shooting may have been the result of a conflict with members of the Sureños, a rival gang.

    A total of 97 homes were searched, 26 suspects arrested and 18 arrest warrants served during the operation. Multiple firearms and some controlled substances were also seized, a release from the sheriff’s office said [....]

    PREVIOUS CRIME News thread HERE, covering Feb. 2-24

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    What the Data Says About the Military's Recruiting Crisis

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    Chinese fighter jet confronts US Navy plane with CNN crew aboard

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    Biden has appointed 105 federal judges, outpacing Trump, Obama and Bush

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    Iran Nuclear Inspectors Find Uranium Enriched to 84% Purity
    • IAEA probes accumulation of material just shy of bomb-grade
    • Inspectors are preparing quarterly safeguards report on Iran
    •  

    International atomic monitors in Iran last week detected uranium enriched to levels just below that needed for a nuclear weapon, according to two senior diplomats, underscoring the risk that the country’s unrestrained atomic activities could prompt a new crisis.

    The International Atomic Energy Agency  is trying to clarify how Iran accumulated uranium enriched to 84% purity — the highest level found by inspectors in the country to date, and a concentration just 6% below what’s needed for a weapon. Iran had previously told the IAEA that its centrifuges were configured to enrich uranium to a 60% level of purity [....]

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    Oregon, a hotbed of extremism, seeks to curb paramilitaries

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    Putin is staring at defeat in his gas war with Europe

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    Senator Fetterman hospitalized to treat clinical depression

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    "Trump’s Supreme Court Picks Are Not Quite What You Think"

    By David Lat & Zachary B. Shemtob @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 1

    David Lat (@DavidLat), a former federal law clerk and prosecutor, writes “Original Jurisdiction,” a Substack newsletter about law and the legal profession. Zachary B. Shemtob is a former federal law clerk and practicing lawyer.

    [....] Opponents of abortion got what they wanted when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the ramifications of that decision can’t be overstated. But did Mr. Trump get the rest of what he wanted from the justices he appointed?

    Almost six years after the first appointment, we can begin to form an answer: not entirely. While conservative, none of his three appointments are nearly as conservative — nor as consistently conservative — as Justices Thomas and Alito. The Trump appointees are also not as unified as they might initially appear.[....]

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    Senators reintroduce bipartisan bill to codify Roe

    By Joseph Choi @TheHill.com, Feb. 9

    A bipartisan group of senators reintroduced a bill to codify abortion protections on Thursday following President Biden’s call on Congress to pass legislation ensuring abortion access in his State of the Union address.

    Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) reintroduced the Reproductive Freedom for All Act, which would block states from enacting laws that would impose an “undue burden” on previability abortions and protect access to contraception.

    The senators previously introduced the bill in August, with Kaine calling it a “bipartisan compromise” to ensure reproductive freedom.

    Throughout 2022, Democratic attempts to advance legislation that would enshrine access to abortions into federal law failed to advance in the evenly split Senate. Republicans in support of abortion access objected to what they felt were over-encompassing bills, while moderate Democrats Sinema, who recently changed her party affiliation, and Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) opposed abolishing the filibuster in order to pass the proposed laws [....]

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    An Even Deadlier Pandemic Could Soon Be Here

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    Biden weighs border deal that would deport non-Mexicans to Mexico

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    Calls To 'Close the Border' in Response to Fentanyl Deaths Are Misguided

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    Earthquake death toll tops 7,700 in Turkey and Syria as race for survivors continues

    Earthquake death toll tops 7,200 in Turkey and Syria as race for survivors continues https://t.co/2ozB3txeV9 - via NPR pic.twitter.com/cxCi9ROABu

    — Verdant Square Radio (@VSNRadio) February 7, 2023
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    Fiery train derailment in East Palestine, OH, leads to forced evacuation

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    Meet the candidates running in the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court primary

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    Karen Bass’ mission: Get 17,000 people off the streets of Los Angeles in a year

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    Democrats Overhaul Party’s Primary Calendar, Upending a Political Tradition

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    Latin America Makes Little Progress Against Corruption

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    [+ ASSORTED UFO UPDATES!]Suspected Chinese spy balloon found over northern U.S.

    “The high-altitude balloon was spotted over Billings, Montana, on Wednesday. It flew over the Aleutian Islands, through Canada, and into Montana.

    A senior defense official said the balloon is still over the U.S. but declined to say where it is now.”

    https://t.co/U4O4B19Wcq https://t.co/pzouWY4eJT

    — Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) February 2, 2023
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    [CRIME News] What do we want police body cams to do?

    PREVIOUS CRIME NEWS thread here, covering 1/7 thru 2/1. Also, on mass shootings and related controversies, see: Can we stop with the narrative about how it's all about fueling the anger of white right-wingers now?

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    PG&E Ordered to Stand Trial for Deadly 2020 California Wildfire

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    [Where is the GOP headed?] House Ousts Ilhan Omar From Foreign Affairs Panel as G.O.P. Exacts Revenge

    In a highly politicized vote, the Republican-led chamber criticized Ms. Omar’s statements about Israel, exacting retribution for the removal of G.O.P. members when Democrats held the majority.

    By Karoun Demirjian @ NYTimes.com, Feb. 2

    [....] The 218 to 211 party-line vote, with one member voting “present,” settled a partisan score that has been festering since 2021, when the House, then controlled by Democrats, stripped Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Paul Gosar of Arizona of their committee assignments for social media posts in which they endorsed violence against Democrats.

    The removal of Ms. Omar delivered on a threat that Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California made at the time to retaliate if his party took the House majority by removing Democrats whom Republicans regarded as unfit to serve on committees. Last week, he unilaterally removed Representatives Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell, both of California, from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where membership is appointed and thus not subject to a vote.

    Mr. McCarthy’s decision to force the removal of Ms. Omar, a step that some of his rank-and-file resisted, in the earliest days of his new majority demonstrated his determination to ingratiate himself with the hard-right Republican base, which has made the Somali-born Ms. Omar a target for some of its most vicious attacks [....]

    PREVIOUS THREAD IS HERE

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    Lula Can't Tell Vladimir from Volodymyr

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    ‘Terrorism Has Returned’: Pakistan Grapples With Attack That Left 101 Dead

    Christina Goldbaum, Salman Masood and Zia ur-Rehman reporting -

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