Top Stories Today – July 17, 2019
Top Stories Today – July 17, 2019
US House condemns Trump
The US House of Representatives has voted to condemn President Donald Trump after a series of attacks aimed at four congresswomen. The symbolic resolution denounced Trump’s “racist comments that have legitimized fear and hatred of New Americans and people of color”. Trump had been accused of racism and xenophobia for telling the members of congress to leave the country. The president has since tweeted: “I don’t have a Racist bone in my body!”
Tuesday’s debate in the Democratic-controlled chamber was a highly polarized debate, with various Republicans insisting the vote itself was a breach of decorum. It passed by 240 votes to 187. Four Republicans and the House’s sole independent, former Republican lawmaker Justin Amash, joined all 235 Democrats to approve the resolution The four Republicans were Texas congressman Will Hurd (the party’s only African American representative), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pennsylvania), Fred Upton (Michigan) and Susan Brooks (Indiana). BBC
US congressman files impeachment against Trump
Rep. Al Green filed articles of impeachment against President Trump on Tuesday night, triggering a contentious vote in the coming days to confront an issue that has bitterly divided the Democratic Party. The Texas congressman, who notified Democratic leaders of his decision on Tuesday, said the House must impeach Trump for racist remarks suggesting four minority congresswoman “go back” to their ancestral countries as well as other comments made in the past.
“Donald John Trump has, by his statements, brought the high office of the President of the United States in contempt, ridicule, disgrace and disrepute, has sown discord among the people of the United States, has demonstrated that he is unfit to be President, and has betrayed his trust as President of the United States to the manifest injury of the people of the United States, and has committed a high misdemeanor in office,” Green read from his resolution on the House floor Tuesday night. The Washington Post
What federal data showed during opioid crisis
Newly released federal data shows how drugmakers and distributors increased shipments of opioid painkillers across the US as the nation’s addiction crisis accelerated from 2006 to 2012. The data, released this week by a federal court in Ohio as part of a far-reaching opioids case, shows that companies distributed 8.4 billion hydrocodone and oxycodone pills to commercial pharmacies in 2006 and 12.6 billion in 2012. That’s an increase of over 50%.
Over that seven-year period, 76 billion pills were distributed in all, according to an analysis by The Washington Post, which had sued along with another outlet, HD Media, to obtain the data. During the same timeframe, prescription opioids contributed to more than 100,000 deaths in the US, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Associated Press
Iran backtracks on missile remarks
Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that his country has no choice but to manufacture missiles for defense purposes — comments that reflect more backtracking after a remark by the top diplomat suggesting the missiles could be up for negotiations. Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with NBC News that aired earlier this week that if the US wants to talk about Iran’s missiles, it needs “first to stop selling all these weapons, including missiles, to our region.”
Iran has long rejected negotiations over its ballistic missile program, which remains under the control of the Iranian paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The foreign minister’s remarks suggested a possible opening for talks as tensions remain high between Tehran and Washington. The Associated Press
Former supreme court justice John Paul Stevens dies at 99
John Paul Stevens, the bow-tied, independent-thinking, Republican-nominated justice who unexpectedly emerged as the Supreme Court’s leading liberal, died Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after suffering a stroke Monday. He was 99. During nearly 35 years on the court, Stevens stood for the freedom and dignity of individuals, be they students or immigrants or prisoners. He acted to limit the death penalty, squelch official prayer in schools, establish gay rights, promote racial equality and preserve legal abortion. He protected the rights of crime suspects and illegal immigrants facing deportation.
He influenced fellow justices to give foreign terrorism suspects held for years at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval base the right to plead for their release in US courts. Stevens served more than twice the average tenure for a justice, and was only the second to mark his 90th birthday on the high court. From his appointment by President Gerald Ford in 1975 through his retirement in June 2010, he shaped decisions that touched countless aspects of American life. The Voice of America
Planned Parenthood president removed by board
Planned Parenthood on Tuesday removed its president after less than a year in the job, seeking new leadership at a time when abortion rights have come under increasing attack from statehouses and Republicans in Washington. The sudden ouster reflected a widening disagreement between the president, Leana Wen, and the board of directors over her management style and which direction to steer one of the nation’s leading women’s reproductive rights groups.
Her departure followed a series of negotiations that appeared to end acrimoniously on Tuesday. In a Twitter post, Dr. Wen said her fate had been decided at a “secret meeting,” which the organization disputed. She later issued a statement saying she was “leaving because the new board chairs and I have philosophical differences over the direction and future of Planned Parenthood.” The New York Times