FIRE: “Residents of Belleair Beach in Florida can now gather on public property for “political” events — even if the group is larger than nine people. FIRE wrote the Belleair Beach city council last March concerning its now-repealed ordinance banning “commercial, political, or organized” events of 10 or more people on public property. In other words, the…
“Far-Right Extremists Are Organizing an Armed Convoy to the Texas Border”
Wired: “A retired US Army lieutenant colonel is organizing an armed convoy next week to the Texas border to, he says, hunt down migrants crossing into the US from Mexico. Hundreds of people already say they are coordinating travel plans for the convoy on Telegram as tensions continue to rise between the state and federal government over…
“Ballot initiative to legalize abortion in Arkansas advances; signature gathering to soon begin”
AR Advocate: “Arkansans in November will vote on whether to enshrine abortion rights into the state Constitution if supporters can collect enough signatures in the next five months. Arkansas’ attorney general on Tuesday certified a third draft of a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee a limited right to abortion in the state. The Arkansas Abortion…
“Biden woos Black voters in a changing South”
Reuters: “Democrats have no chance of winning South Carolina in November, but the state is pivotal to Joe Biden‘s reelection anyway. Democrats hope South Carolina‘s new role as host of the party’s first official primary on Feb. 3 will bolster support among Black voters. Top party officials also see it as a springboard to an audacious new strategy: retaking the American South…
Looking at NC’s Psychedelic “Renaissance”
The Assembly: “To his three young daughters, Cruz indeed explains his profession as that of a wizard, albeit one with a salt-and-pepper goatee instead of a long white beard. “They know Daddy goes on journeys, that he works together with people who are trying to heal, who are trying to grow,” he said. To the…
“‘Textbook’ Execution or Botched One? Alabama Case Leaves Sides Divided.”
NY Times: “A day after Alabama became the first state to execute a prisoner with nitrogen gas, officials vowed on Friday to continue using the method in executions despite witnesses’ accounts that the prisoner writhed on the gurney for at least two minutes. Two very different accounts of the execution emerged from the state’s death…
“After a Botched Execution, Alabama Is Trying an Untested Method”
NY Times: “It was Nov. 17, 2022, and Kenneth Smith was lying on a gurney inside Alabama’s execution chamber, his arms and legs strapped down as he waited to be put to death. Mr. Smith, who had been on death row for more than a quarter-century after being convicted of murdering a woman, recalled thanking…
“Texas Had More Than 26K Rape-Related Pregnancies”
Political Wire: ““Texas saw an estimated 26,313 rape-related pregnancies during the 16 months after the state outlawed all abortions, with no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association,” the Houston Chronicle reports.”
“Ex-Florida GOP Chair Won’t Be Charged with Rape”
Political Wire: ““Sarasota Police aren’t filing rape charges against former Florida GOP Chair Christian Ziegler but have asked the State Attorney’s Office to review a related investigation into potential video voyeurism by Ziegler,” the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports.”
“Plan for $400 million monkey-breeding facility in southwest Georgia draws protest”
FOX16: “Some local residents and an animal-rights group are protesting plans for a monkey-breeding facility in southwest Georgia. Opponents on Tuesday urged the Bainbridge City Council to block plans by a company called Safer Human Medicine to build a $396 million complex that would eventually hold up to 30,000 long-tailed macaques that would be sold…