Remick announces he "can't support" un-amended gun control bill
Sunday, March 10th, 2024
Senator Rick Remick (D-LA), one of the most conservative Democrats in the upper chamber, said that he could not support a White House-backed gun control bill without amendments during an appearance on Meet the Press.
"I think any attempts to fix our nation's problem with violent crime should focus on making sure criminals don't get their hands on guns, not on policing law-abiding gun owners," Remick said when asked about a bill that recently passed the Democrat-controlled House on a largely party-line vote. "I can't support any bill that unnecessarily encumbers Louisiana gun owners like myself that spends time focusing on the size of magazines rather than keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and those who are mentally unwell."
Remick is the second Democrat, after Alaska's Bill Forrestal, to publicly criticize the move of the House Democratic majority to exceed President Seaborn's request for new gun control legislation laid out in last month's State of the Union address by including language that would ban high-capacity magazines. Senate Minority Leader Cody Riley (R-AL) said that his caucus "stands united" against new attempts at what he called a "back door way to reintroduce an assault weapons ban."
Senate Majority Whip Sarah O'Brien (D-VT) said that negotiations over the bill were "ongoing", and did not address questions over Remick's comments or the odds of the bill's passage.
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Sunday, 10 March 2024
UN: Haitian situation "beyond untenable"
The United Nations described the situation in the Caribbean nation of Haiti as "beyond untenable" as civil society has collapsed in large parts of the country due to a breakdown in the country's government and brutal, daring attacks by gangs that have paralyzed the nation.
UN Secretary-General Kwame Tainegbe described the situation there with those words after the international organization released a report indicating that nearly 3,000 pregnant women could be cut off from vital health services in the capital city of Port-au-Prince, thanks to gang attacks both in the city and causing the closure of the country's ports and airports. Several nations, including both the United Kingdom and United States, have ordered the evacuation of their country's embassies as a result of the state of lawlessness in Port-au-Prince. The Dominican Republic, Haiti's neighbor on the island of Hispaniola, has closed the border, containing the chaos at the expense of preventing Haitians from fleeing the violence.
Acting President Jean-René Sicot, who took power last year after his predecessor Michel Philippe resigned, has made public appeals to the international community for support. Sicot has seen protests against his continued tenure in office as a result of the elections to elect a permanent replacement for Philippe being repeatedly delayed as a result of the country's instability following the February 2023 earthquake that left 2,500 Haitians dead and devastated infrastructure across the nation.
US Secretary of State Paris Stray reiterated the American government's offer of logistical support ahead of an emergency meeting of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) leaders on Monday for any international stabilization force in Haiti, but stopped short of offering direct American military assistance to restore order.
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Sunday, March 10th 2024
Aldridge to be new Australian PM
Canberra— Deputy prime minister Adrian Aldridge will succeed to the top job after no other candidates stood to contest the leadership of the Australian Labor Party, clearing the way for him to become prime minister of Australia.
The new prime minister-designate issued a statement thanking Labor supporters for an "overwhelming mandate" to assume leadership of the party and pledged to invigorate the party ahead of the next election, expected to be held later this year. Prime Minister Dominic Rogers had announced his intent to resign this year owing to what he called the "exacting toll" of leadership on himself and his family.
Aldridge, who will succeed Rogers as both leader of the Labor Party and prime minister, has served as his deputy since the latter took power in 2018. He is a member of the Labor Right faction, whose members are typically more pro-free market and socially conservative than members of Rogers' own Labor Left faction. While the two men are on different sides of Labor's factional divide, they are reported to have had a good working relationship, with Aldridge frequently acting as prime minister when Rogers was out of the country.
Aldridge will meet with Governor-General Ken Morris in the morning local time to receive his commission and begin to form a government. He will be the first new Australian prime minister to take office since the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the ascension of King Charles III. Despite his self-description as a "staunch republican", he has expressed little support for a public referendum on the monarchy, saying that supporters of a republic would first need to agree upon a model for selecting a new head of state before he would endorse a referendum on the issue.
Aldridge (photo: G. Pearce)
