As both parties get a head start on prepping for tense 2024 elections, Democrats are headed towards the middle of the road and/or the right about things like crime, oil drilling and immigration.
What the Health
The latest COVID numbers: 104M total cases & 1M total deaths (+206K & +3K from last week) in the US.
The headlines:
Suicide rates among Black trans and nonbinary youth are causing concerns.
Those infected with COVID have a 5-10% chance of developing long COVID.
Things that don’t make no sense: Black patients dress up and change their speech with medical professionals to prevent bias.
Keeping Up with Biden & Harris
Climate activists fear the POTUS is on the verge of green lighting a new oil project in Alaska. If you recall, he pledged to do the opposite (aka prevent new oil projects on federal lands) during his 2020 campaign.
Sources claim the Biden Administration is on the verge of going back to the Trump-era practice of detaining migrant families at the border. Biden allegedly plans to detain families who cross illegally for so many days while the previous president’s goal was to detain them indefinitely.
Party leaders want Democrats to stop dragging Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 elections. They might have a point there since Harris seems to stay out of the way (for better and for worse).
Biden plans to hold those responsible for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank responsible.
Congress, What’s Good?
In a rare case of complete unity, the House voted unanimously to declassify information about COVID’s origins. The bill is now headed to Biden’s desk as the Senate also passed it unanimously a few days earlier.
The Senate overwhelmingly voted to overturn a DC law that reduced mandatory minimums for some criminal offenses. 31 Democrats sided with Republicans on the issue, leading to an 81-14 vote on the matter. This bill is also headed to Biden for signature.
The Senate grilled the CEO of Norfolk Southern on that toxic train derailment in Ohio…while another of the company’s trains derailed in Alabama.
In committee meetings this week:
Public safety in the wake of the SCOTUS’ decision that applicants don’t need “proper cause” for concealed carry licenses in NY
Public transportation and transit infrastructure
Social Justice Round Up
The Black community in Atlanta is continuing its protest of ‘cop city,’ an 85-acre police training facility intended to be built on the south east side of the city.
Jackson, MS, the 2nd Blackest city in the country, is under threat of being taken over by white lawmakers. The city’s mayor says the state wasn’t to “colonize” the city because they know they’d never obtain such power through an actual election.
The City of Memphis has finished investigating itself and determined that the brutality Tyre Nichols faced was due to the actions of a few bad apples (most of whom were fired and/or disciplined) and not due to systemic practices that encourage that type of conduct. We call bullshit, but okay. The DOJ is carrying out its investigation next.
Speaking of Tyre, a judge is temporarily blocking an additional 20 hours of film evidence in favor of the officers who killed him.
Around the Diaspora
The president of Tunisia is inciting discrimination and violence against sub-Saharan migrants after he claims they’re causing increased violence within his country. He also believes the migrants are coming to Tunisia as part of a scheme intended to “change the demographic make-up” of his nation and to convert it into “just another African country that doesn’t belong to the Arab and Islamic nations anymore.” Whew. The delusion be real.
Caribbean nations sign a treaty to help protect the biodiversity in their waters from harmful human activity.
Barbados is establishing an embassy in Ireland.
Getting to the Money
Y’all better come go up here and get you one of these: Gabrielle Union is awarding $75K in grants and mentorship to Black women-owned businesses.
Buying Black
Did y’all know most edge controls, which so so many of us love, are made with toxic, harmful ingredients? Bask & Lather Co. did and came up with a solution to that problem. Check out their Strong Hold Edge Control, which only contains natural products and is free of parabens and drying products that can cause hair breakage.
Culture that Pops
A monument of Harriet Tubman replaces that of ol’ colonizing-ass Christopher Columbus in Newark, NJ. Good for us all.
Tyler Perry and Byron Allen might be entering a bidding war to make BET Black-owned again.
Howard received a $1M grant to further its mechanical engineering program.