The man doused himself w/a liquid around 1:35PM ET in Collect Pond Park, across the street from the courthouse. Onlookers screamed as bright orange flames engulfed the man. It was unclear what motivated his action.
In a spasm of anger, 3 #FarRight#Republicans on the #RulesCommittee, which controls what #legislation comes to the #House floor, refused to back rule needed to bring up the #aid bill, putting it on track to die in cmte. But every Democrat on the panel stepped in to save it in extraordinary breach of custom.
The #FarRightlawmakers won their seats on the #RulesCommittee as part of a deal made by fmr speaker #KevinMcCarthy, who haggled w/ #ultraconservatives opposing his leadership & only agreed to back him after he gave them critical leverage. They refused to support the measure to bring up the #aid package bc it wouldn’t allow a vote on #extremism#border security they prioritize over #Ukraine.
"There is a growing sense of two competing political universes in America. President Biden and the Democrats are doing the hard work of governing the country while Trump and MAGA extremists are play-acting in the pretend world of performative politics.
Governing is hard. Stoking outrage with lies is easy."
"The lack of right of reply for groups that fall under the new definition [of extremism] shows the UK government is using it for political point scoring and playing to the populist gallery, rather than any meaningful attempt to protect public safety."
As the new extremism definition hasn't been introduced through UK legislation and Parliamentary scrutiny, there's room for confusion over its application by public bodies.
This may result in even more people being swept under the Prevent programme for surveillance and data misuse.
The redefinition of extremism adds to the authoritarian lurch of recent years in the UK, as seen in restrictions on the right to protest, sweeping new police powers and the censorship of online expression.
We're left asking whose free speech is protected and who must keep quiet under the threat of being labelled an extremist?
“[...] in all cases, anti-abortion movements exhibit an incremental strategy: they pursue a particular legal change, but, once they obtain it, the conflict is not settled. On the contrary, each victory galvanizes pro-life activists to raise the threshold and engage in new battles.”
"While once again taking credit for the end of Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion, Donald Trump nonetheless tried to distance himself on Monday from the most extreme anti-abortion positions of his party in an explicit effort to 'win elections.'
The purported abortion position Trump peddled in a video posted Monday on Truth Social is unrealistic, unworkable, and unpopular. Don’t fall for it."
Trump said Fri that a Colorado woman #convicted of 4 federal misdemeanor charges related to the Jan 6, 2021 #insurrection l is a “patriot” & shared a link on social media where people can donate money to help defray her legal expenses.
#US#Judge Royce C. #Lamberth is the latest in broad, public push by #FederalJudges against #Jan6#revisionism [Another] #Republican-appointed judge said he plans to send a written response to supporters of a Jan 6 rioter who claimed that he did nothing wrong, warning the man’s friends & family members that justifying #PoliticalViolence risks further #violence in a “vicious cycle” that “rots republics.”
In an unusual step, #US District #Judge Royce C. #Lamberth filed on the #public#docket the statement he prepared to sentence #TaylorJamesJohnatakis to >7 yrs in #prison. Even more atypically, he said he would order his clerk to mail copies to 20 people who wrote letters supporting the defendant — the first time he had done so in his 37-yr career — to explain his reasoning.
“January 6 must not become a precedent for further #violence against #political opponents or governmental institutions,” Judge #Lamberth wrote. “This is not normal. This cannot become normal. We as a #community, we as a #society, we as a country cannot condone the #normalization of the January 6 Capitol riot.”