“Less than 48 hours into the new Trump administration, one of Tennessee politics’s most recent controversies has reached the national stage thanks to the nomination of former Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn as Deputy Secretary of Education. From the COVID era to her 2023 resignation, Schwinn racked up an avalanche of negative press from local conservative and liberal outlets while serving as a lightning rod for Tennessee’s grassroots conservative movement. During the pandemic, Schwinn faced a lawsuit from Moms for Liberty after she granted a waiver for an English Language Arts curriculum called ‘Wit & Wisdom’ that had failed a state review twice for backdooring CRT concepts into lesson plans for elementary school students. Her support for CRT led to numerous clashes with the state legislature, including its 2020 decision to remove the Commissioner of Education as a voting member of the Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission.” (01/22/25)
“A judge declared a mistrial Wednesday after jurors said they were deadlocked in the case of a former worker at New Hampshire’s youth detention center charged with raping a 14-year-old boy in 1998. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict in the trial of Stephen Murphy, 55, of Danvers, Massachusetts, marking the second mistrial connected to abuse allegations at state-run youth facilities. Jurors first indicated they were at an impasse Wednesday morning, their second day of deliberations. … Murphy, who was charged with aggravated felonious sexual assault, was accused of helping to carry a 14-year-old boy to a stairwell at the Youth Development Center in Manchester and then raping him while coworkers restrained the teen.” (01/22/25)
“A bid to free five elephants from a Colorado zoo has been rejected after a court ruled elephants are not people. An animal rights group argued Missy, Kimba, Lucky, LouLou and Jambo were effectively imprisoned at the zoo, and had filed to have them moved to an elephant sanctuary. It tried to bring a habeas corpus claim on behalf of the animals – a legal process which allows a person to challenge their detention in court. The Colorado Supreme Court said the matter boiled down to ‘whether an elephant is a person’ and therefore had the same liberty rights as a human — ultimately deciding that they did not.” (01/22/25)
“All week, we are focused on the new executive actions President Trump is putting forward rapid-fire. But I’m also interested in the actions Trump is obligated to complete, as part of the natural course of the government. One of the most important will be what he does with the ongoing effort to reduce prescription drug prices for tens of millions of Americans. As president, Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act, and one of its bigger inflation-reducing elements was enabling Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies. This law has survived every effort to overturn it in court, and while it’s only gotten started, it expands as time goes on. Ten drugs were selected for the first round, producing lower prices by up to 79 percent and an estimated government savings of $6 billion in year one when the prices become effective, as well as $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket savings for seniors.” (01/22/25)
“Sen. Chris Murphy [D-CT] disrupted Senate Republicans’ plans to quickly confirm President Donald Trump’s national security nominees on Tuesday night when he objected to bypassing lengthy procedural votes that are routinely skipped. ‘Unfortunately, we were at the point of almost having a consent agreement to have a vote on the confirmation of John Ratcliffe to be the CIA director tomorrow. Not today, not yesterday, when it should have happened, but tomorrow,’ Senate Republican Conference Chairman Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said on the chamber floor. ‘But the senator from Connecticut has decided to object at the last minute.’ ‘I don’t really understand the objection to Mr. Ratcliffe. He was confirmed by the Senate to be the director of National intelligence. He was fully vetted through the bipartisan process in the Senate Intelligence Committee. We voted him out yesterday on a 14 to 3 vote,’ Cotton, also the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, continued.” (01/22/25)
“It did not take long for the litigation lollapalooza to light up. Within hours of his inauguration, roughly two dozen states sued President Donald Trump over his executive order denying automatic citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are here illegally [sic]. The various state attorneys general who are suing dismissed his action as a flagrantly unlawful assault on the Constitution, while confidently assuring us that the president’s order would be struck down in court under the plain meaning of the 14th Amendment. Not so fast. As I explained Tuesday morning on Fox News, Trump has a credible and defensible argument that the amendment was never intended to apply to people who broke the law by coming here fraudulently or illegally.” [editor’s note: The 14th Amendment was ratified when it was still generally recognized that it is impossible to come here “fraudulently or illegally” – TLK] (01/22/25)
“CNN boss Mark Thompson reportedly plans to announce mass layoffs Thursday – just days after he warned top on-air talent including Jake Tapper and Anderson Cooper that they ought to avoid ‘pre-judging’ President Donald Trump. The ratings-challenge cable news pioneer will lay off hundreds of employees as it refocuses the business around a global digital audience, CNBC reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The job cuts come as CNN, owned by Warner Bros Discovery, looks to rearrange its linear TV lineup and build out digital subscription products, CNBC said, adding that it will help CNN lower production costs and consolidate teams. Some shows produced in New York or Washington may move to Atlanta, where production can be done more cheaply, the report said.” (01/22/25)
“In anticipation of a second Donald Trump administration, which would have likely thwarted their effort to phase out the sales of big diesel trucks, California regulators withdrew waiver and authorization requests that were pending approval from the Environmental Protection Agency. The withdrawal grants President Trump an early victory against California, as the two are expected to clash over emissions standards and climate policies. The California Air Resources Board announced last week that it’s continuing to improve the state’s air quality and reduce harmful pollutants with other programs but has withdrawn four requests it had submitted to the EPA, including one to phase out sales of new diesel-powered semitrailers and buses by 2036 in California.” (01/22/25)
“It was the day before Trump’s inauguration, and his fans were being tested. First, by the fact that all of the regular MAGA faithful who had flocked to D.C. in the tens of thousands had found out, as soon as they arrived, that the inauguration was effectively canceled. The news fell like a series of depressing dominos: First the swearing-in ceremony was moved inside, where only a handful of VIPs could see it; then, the parade was canceled, because it would be too chilly; and then, in what seemed like a final ‘fuck you’, the inaugural committee ordered all of the large video screens removed from the National Mall, so that even if people did want to go stand out in the cold on the big day, they wouldn’t have anything to look at.” (01/21/25)
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Linda Feldmann
“Inauguration Day, every four years, is like no other in the U.S. capital. Even in the winter chill, the crowds on the National Mall can number in the hundreds of thousands – or more. Anticipation is in the air. People from all over have come to witness the launch of a new presidential term, promptly at noon on Jan. 20. I’ve seen my share of inaugurations over the years, sometimes from the viewing stands right below the Capitol Building, sometimes from the fringes of the Mall, sometimes on TV. It’s always exciting, especially when a new party takes over and a hallmark of American democracy goes on full display: the peaceful transfer of power. Often, the most memorable aspect of an inauguration isn’t the actual swearing-in or the parade down Pennsylvania Avenue or the celebratory balls.” (01/20/25)
