Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had a fiery exchange with reporters Friday about the House’s ongoing dilemma, blaming Democratic members for bringing “chaos to Congress.”...
The boy killed Sonic employee Matthew Davis in May in Keene, Tex., after the 12-year-old’s uncle got into a fight over urinating at the chain’s parking lot, police said.
A 13-year-old Texas boy has been found “the equivalent of guilty” in the murder of a Sonic restaurant worker with an AR-style rifle after the child’s uncle got into a fight with the employee, according to authorities.
The boy was arrested on May 13 after police received calls about a shooting at the Sonic Drive-In in Keene, Tex., about 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth, according to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office. The boy, who was 12 at the time of the shooting, was found “delinquent,” which is the equivalent to guilty in juvenile court, of a murder charge on Oct. 5. The boy, who is from Fort Worth but hasn’t been publicly identified because of his age, was convicted after nearly seven hours of deliberation, the sheriff’s office announced Sunday.
The boy is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday, the sheriff’s office said. A juvenile convicted of murder in Texas could face up to 40 years in prison, according to state attorneys.
Police say the incident unfolded when the boy’s uncle, Angel Gomez, started urinating in the parking lot of the Sonic on the night of May 13. Matthew Davis, a 32-year-old Sonic employee, confronted Gomez, 20, for “being disorderly in the parking lot,” and the argument between them got physical, according to the Keene Police Department.
Then, Gomez’s nephew, who was sitting in the back seat of the car, retrieved an AR-style .22 rifle and shot Davis at least six times, according to police.
“A confrontation between two adults became physical at which point the 12-year-old boy got out of the vehicle and fired multiple shots, striking the victim,” the sheriff’s office said on Sunday.
Davis was airlifted to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
By the time police arrived at about 9:40 p.m., the boy, Gomez and the boy’s aunt had fled the scene, according to the sheriff’s office. Gomez later returned to the scene of the crime and was arrested, the Keene Police Department said in a news release. Authorities found the boy in Rio Vista, Tex., about 13 miles south of the Sonic in Keene, and took him into custody.
Gomez is also charged with murder. It’s unclear whether he has an attorney, and court records were not available to determine the status of his case. If he’s convicted, Gomez could face a sentence of five to 99 years in prison.
These events are symptoms of the deeper malaise in America’s dysfunctional health-care system. The country spends about $4.3trn a year on keeping citizens in good nick. That is equivalent to 17% of gdp, twice as much as the average in other rich economies. And yet American adults live shorter lives and American infants die more often than in similarly affluent places. Pharmaceutical firms and hospitals attract much of the public ire for the inflated costs. Much less attention is paid to a small number of middlemen who extract far bigger rents from the system’s complexity.
Over the past decade these firms have quietly increased their presence in America’s vast health-care industry. They do not make drugs and have not, until recently, treated patients. They are the intermediaries—insurers, pharmacies, drug distributors and pharmacy-benefit managers (pbms)—sitting between patients and their treatments. In 2022 the combined revenue of the nine biggest middlemen—call them big health—equated to around 45% of America’s health-care bill, up from 25% in 2013. Big health accounts for eight of the top 25 companies by revenue in the s&p 500 index of America’s leading stocks, compared with four for big tech and none for big pharma.
Asked about fraud in the race — in which President Joe Biden defeated former president Donald Trump with 306 electoral college votes — the popular voice assistant said it was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,” citing Rumble, a video-streaming service favored by conservatives....
Hey Alexa, only conservatives love to be lied to. All the rest of us dislike being lied to, and we think that the people who love to be lied to are the dumbest of the dumb. And an AI that lies is a useless piece of garbage.
Researchers from The University of Queensland and Harvard Medical School, in a collaborative global study, have discovered that one in two people will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime. Professors John McGrath of UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute and Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medic
Hospitals nationwide are dropping Medicare Advantage plans due to excessive prior authorization denial rates and slow payments from insurers. Scripps and St. Ch
The House GOP Didn’t Just Reject Jim Jordan, They Made Him Squirm (www.thedailybeast.com)
For once, the center actually held and Team Normal beat Team MAGA in the fight to find a new House Speaker.
Trump attorney Sidney Powell pleads guilty in Georgia election subversion case | CNN Politics (www.cnn.com)
Former Donald Trump attorney Sidney Powell has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election subversion case, one day before her trial was set to start....
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Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) had a fiery exchange with reporters Friday about the House’s ongoing dilemma, blaming Democratic members for bringing “chaos to Congress.”...
Texas boy, 13, convicted for killing Sonic worker with AR-style rifle (www.washingtonpost.com)
The boy killed Sonic employee Matthew Davis in May in Keene, Tex., after the 12-year-old’s uncle got into a fight over urinating at the chain’s parking lot, police said.
Lindsey Graham: We’re in a religious war here and I am with Israel. Do whatever the hell you have to do, to defend yourself. Level the place. (twitter.com)
Who profits most from America’s baffling health-care system? (webcache.googleusercontent.com)
Amazon’s Alexa has been claiming the 2020 U.S. election was stolen (www.washingtonpost.com)
Asked about fraud in the race — in which President Joe Biden defeated former president Donald Trump with 306 electoral college votes — the popular voice assistant said it was “stolen by a massive amount of election fraud,” citing Rumble, a video-streaming service favored by conservatives....
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Former White House Aide Cassidy Hutchinson Says Trump Threw His Food ‘Once or Twice a Week’ (www.rollingstone.com)
“Sometimes there’d be a week or so lull, but then there would be a bad news story”
Study Reveals That 50% of the World’s Population Will Have a Mental Health Disorder by Age 75 (scitechdaily.com)
Researchers from The University of Queensland and Harvard Medical School, in a collaborative global study, have discovered that one in two people will develop a mental health disorder in their lifetime. Professors John McGrath of UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute and Ronald Kessler of Harvard Medic
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Trump co-defendant pleads guilty in Georgia election case (www.nbcnews.com)
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Host Sean Hannity assiduously shielded his audience from the facts.
Hospitals are dropping Medicare Advantage left and right (www.beckershospitalreview.com)
Hospitals nationwide are dropping Medicare Advantage plans due to excessive prior authorization denial rates and slow payments from insurers. Scripps and St. Ch