U.S. News

On Monday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the issue of curbing gun violence in the United States — which has essentially been lying dormant since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — could be whisked back into the forefront with the Sacramento shooting that left a half dozen people dead.

"In 2019, two-thirds of Californians were concerned about a mass shooting where they lived, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Last year, only half were. Nationally, even though gun deaths are on the rise, Gallup found that support for stricter gun laws dipped to its lowest point (52%) since 2014," said the report. "But more attention could be drawn to gun safety — at least in California — after Sunday’s mass shooting in Sacramento that killed six and wounded 12."

Populism has long been an issue advocated by the left, focusing on benefiting "the people" over the top one percent or the "elites." Conservatives have tried to adopt their own version of the philosophy, but they've hit a wall in that they're actually more supportive of corporations and the elites.

Writing for the Daily Beast, Ben Burgis highlighted the recent vote to cap the cost of insulin at $35 as the perfect example that conservative populism was a lie. The loudest MAGA supporters all voted against the bill.

On Monday's edition of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," reporter Christiane Amanpour argued that the increasingly brutal war crimes against Ukraine by Russian forces, including the Bucha massacre, are being driven by Vladimir Putin's personal hatred for the Ukrainians as they refuse to submit to his will.

"I want to talk about what you have been seeing in Kharkiv," said Cooper. "But first, I am wondering what you think the implications are of what we have now been witnessing from Bucha. You've, of course, covered the horrors of Bosnia leaders ultimately brought to justice there. Do you see that happening here?"

Comedian Jason Selvig has followed several right-wing fans as they stage protests or attend rallies. While in Michigan over the weekend for one of Donald Trump's rallies, he captured one woman who said she wants Russia's Vladimir Putin to be president over President Joe Biden.

When asked why she loves Putin so much, she rambled about Nazis, seemingly confused. She alleges that Nazis went to Ukraine after World War II and that Putin is getting a bum rap. According to her, George Bush was a Nazi from World War II. The elder Bush actually joined the Navy as an aviator the day he turned 18 to go fight in World War II against the Nazis. He was ultimately stationed in the Pacific theater, flying 58 attack missions.

On Monday, the New Jersey Globe reported that a Republican candidate for Congress wants to run on the ballot with the words "Let's Go Brand*n — FJB" appearing alongside his name, but that the New Jersey Secretary of State, Tayesha Way, may reject this.

"Robert Shapiro, a perennial candidate who has run for a variety of state and local offices over the years and who has set his sights this year on a primary challenge to Rep. Chris Smith (R-Manchester), submitted 203 signatures today — just barely over the 200-signature threshold and leaving him vulnerable to petition challenge," reported Joey Fox.

The Department of Justice has come under fire in the past several weeks over the fact that Attorney General Merrick Garland hasn't moved on so many of the details uncovered by the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6.

Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance explained that because the DOJ acted so poorly during Donald Trump's administration, the American people seem to want some assurances that what is happening is just and true.

On Monday, Axios reported that the U.S. Supreme Court handed criminal justice reform advocates a rare and historic win, making it easier for defendants to sue police officers over civil rights violations.

"The Supreme Court ruled Monday that former criminal defendants who sue law enforcement for a wrongful arrest don't need to prove that they were innocent of the offenses they were charged with, only that their underlying cases ended without a conviction," reported Shawna Chen. "The 6-3 decision is a 'major win for plaintiffs in police accountability cases,' Law360 notes. It will make it easier to pursue lawsuits under the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable seizures."

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has spent the past several weeks describing LGBTQ people as sexual predators or "groomers" of future victims. But behind closed doors, DeSantis is trying to hide public documents about someone who is actually linked to a federal sex trafficking investigation, Click Orlando said.

Halsey Beshears, DeSantis' former appointee to chair Florida’s business licensing agency was subpoenaed by the ongoing investigation involving Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and former tax collector Joel Greenberg, according to Politico. The probe is looking into, among other things, whether there were Venmo payments to at least one underage girl for sex. Gaetz has denied it and said he gave her money for school.

In court documents filed in the Southern District of Florida, former President Donald Trump demanded that Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks be disqualified from his case because he was appointed to the bench 25 years ago by former President Bill Clinton.

"Hillary Clinton acted as First Lady of the United States, during the time of the Judge's nomination," the court document explained.

On Monday, The Intercept reported that a planned new internal communications app at Amazon to facilitate conversations between workers on the warehouse floor will have a number of banned keywords, blocking employees from even mentioning the word "union" — and a number of other phrases associated with workplace dissatisfaction or common grievances.

"The major goal of the program, Amazon’s head of worldwide consumer business, Dave Clark, said, was to reduce employee attrition by fostering happiness among workers — and also productivity," reported Ken Klippenstein. "But company officials also warned of what they called 'the dark side of social media' and decided to actively monitor posts in order to ensure a 'positive community.'"

Over the weekend, it was revealed that the White House diarist noticed in the days leading to Jan. 6 former President Donald Trump's office began providing less and less detail about his daily behavior.

The White House has a non-partisan staffer who is there to gather all of the records to capture every movement of the president, as part of the Presidential Records Act. One detail, however, is that those records are then approved by a senior White House official. So, if there were records and they were destroyed, that's illegal.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has struggled with her story attempting to blame President Joe Biden for the high cost of fuel in the U.S. While many leaders have legitimate concerns, Blackburn can't quite get the GOP talking points correct.

In a previous appearance, Blackburn blamed Biden for stopping the production of the Keystone XL Pipeline that would have delivered oil from Canada into the United States.

The infamous slap leveled across comedian Chris Rock's face by the hand of Will Smith has brought forth some significant backlash for the actor, and now he faces the possibility of having some of his upcoming projects canceled, The Sun reports.

Hollywood insiders say a bidding war for a movie based on Smith's bestselling autobiography "Will," is now effectively over after Netflix and Apple pulled their bids following the Oscar slap. Also, plans for a fourth installment of the "Bad Boys" franchise have been shelved, as well as a new Netflix project and involved the actor.