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Two common-sense proposals that would reduce school shootings significantly

Ten years after the unimaginable Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 26 people dead, including 20 children, the unimaginable happened again in Uvalde, Texas: Nineteen boys and girls were executed in their classroom, along with two teachers, by a shooter under the age of 21. Police reportedly were almost criminally slow in responding, even going so far as to prevent a Border Patrol tactical team from going in. 

The response has been exactly what one would expect politically: On the left, a call for stricter gun-control measures and expanded gun-buyer background checks; on the right, a call to address mental illness and pledges to defend the Second Amendment at all costs. 

“As a nation, we have to ask, when in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” President Biden said earlier this week. “When in God’s name will we do what we all know in our gut needs to be done?” 

“Inevitably, when there’s a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it, you see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said. “That doesn’t work. It’s not effective. It doesn’t prevent crime.” Cruz will attend a National Rifle Association convention in Texas over the weekend — an event that should have been postponed out of respect for Uvalde’s devastated families.

You already know what happens from here: Each side will pump up the rhetoric to inspire their bases. Social media will be dominated by argument, changing no minds in the process, all in an attempt to place blame or to portray one party or the other as dangerous monsters. Some quarters of cable news will run segment after segment also seeking to place blame on one political party or the other. The country’s division will hit new levels, if that’s possible. 

And then, when the news cycle takes the story out to sea, very little will change in terms of policy or solutions. Very little.

If looking for middle ground – and there is some to work with – perhaps we should look at two areas: (1) Universal enhanced human security and (2) reducing the chances of a shooter buying a gun without stepping on the Second Amendment. 

Regarding the first proposal, why don’t we place retired police officers, retired military or even active-duty police behind bulletproof glass at one entry point to every school in the country? If this costs a few billion dollars per year, so be it. Our children cannot be under constant threat or fear of being soft targets for the mentally unstable, especially someone who could look nine-year-olds in the eye and execute them. In a world of multitrillion-dollar budgets, this should be a no-brainer. 

If a shooter wants to enter a school, he’ll first have to deal with this trained officer, protected by bulletproof glass. The officer can then call for backup while the school remains unbreached. 

Is this proposal foolproof? Of course not. Nothing really is. At Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, for example, a door was propped open by a teacher, allowing the gunman to enter the school.

As for some common ground on gun control, it’s paramount to note that in almost every instance of a school shooting, the shooter was under age 21. That was the case with Columbine in 1999, with Sandy Hook in 2012 — and now with Uvalde, where the shooter purchased two rifles just after his 18th birthday. 

If a person needs to wait until he or she is 21 to have a drink legally, then there should be no problem having to wait until they’re 21 to have a rifle legally. A common counterargument to this is that a person can serve in the military and be issued a gun under age 21. But these people are properly trained in firearms, in a controlled environment. It’s not much of an argument at all. 

Can a person still steal or borrow a gun under this proposal? Of course. Again, nothing is foolproof, making the first of these two proposals even more critical. 

If these two things are done, we won’t eradicate school shootings completely, but they can be significantly reduced. There have been 27 school shootings thus far in 2022. At this pace, we’re looking at 60-65 school shootings this year. 

Our leaders in Washington can’t afford to wait another second to act. They need to find the middle ground and apply common sense. And if Congress cannot act, then individual states – right down to each school district – should. Our children and parents across the country deserve nothing less. 

Joe Concha is a media and politics columnist.

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Why significant gun restrictions are unlikely to pass Congress

If there’s one thing members of both parties agree on it is this: Congress is unlikely to pass significant gun control legislation, even after two shocking mass shootings in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas that targeted Black people and children.

Lawmakers are engaging in conversations behind the scenes on a menu of smaller measures — including red flag laws that would keep guns out of the hands of individuals perceived as a danger to themselves and others and expanded background checks.

But there is deep cynicism that efforts will extend beyond that, even after 19 children and two educators were killed in an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas — one week after another shooter attacked shoppers at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo.

There are a number of reasons for the pessimism, most of which go back decades.

The first is the filibuster in the Senate.

Assuming all Democrats are on board, 10 Republicans will be needed to overcome a legislative filibuster — a high bar in a politically polarized nation.

The filibuster over the course of American history has held up a litany of issues — including civil rights legislation in the 1950s and 1960s.

Sixty votes are still needed to pass significant legislation through the Senate, and Democrats do not have 50 votes on their side of the aisle to “go nuclear” and end the filibuster on their own.

Money and lobbying are also playing an influence.

Democrats say Republicans remain tied down by the gun lobby and firearm manufacturers.

“The gun manufacturers and their friends kind of have a lock on Republicans,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told The Hill when asked about the largest impediments to Congress passing gun legislation.

He said he believes gun manufacturers are “driving interest groups and activists,” adding “I think their financial muscle is perverting our politics.”

“[The] gun lobby has backed, and some would say bought, a lot of opposition to gun violence prevention,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told The Hill. “They are less powerful than they were but they still have the fear factor. They can intimidate.”

The NRA has lobbied hard for decades to stop even narrow restrictions on guns; the group’s leader on Friday called gun ownership a “fundamental human right.”

The NRA’s grip on some GOP members of Congress appears to remain intact despite its financial prestige waning over the years. The pro-gun lobbying group has been embroiled in a legal battle with the New York State attorney general for years, which has in-part chipped away at its monetary resources. Other pro-firearm organizations have picked up steam amid the NRA’s decline.

But the group’s continued clout was reflected in part by the GOP heavyweights who attended its annual meeting on Friday even after the horrific shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

The speakers included former President Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R). Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) pulled out of his in-person speech to instead hold a press conference in Uvalde. He did, however, address the group through a prerecorded video.

The nation’s very political system is another hurdle.

In the House, most members are more worried about their primary opponent than their rival from the other party in the general election.

Gerrymandered districts have only made that matter worse.

The fact that it is an election year is another problem. Republicans who might consider a shift on guns given the tragedies in Buffalo and Uvalde would have to worry about a conservative challenge, in a number of cases, very soon.

“My Republican colleagues, many of them, live in fear of a primary. And what’s behind the primary? Often the gun lobby,” Blumenthal said.

There are also real differences between the parties over the substance of gun control legislation.

“The Constitution, Second Amendment is a big impediment. And a lot of us believe in the Constitution, I hope you do too,” retiring Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said when asked what is preventing gun measures from passing.

He told reporters he has “had guns all my life, I’ve never misused them,” adding “I’d hope nobody would, but some will.”

“What you try to do when you deal with a problem as horrific as this is strike a balance between respecting people’s constitutional rights and public safety,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) told reporters. “And we do that in many other contexts, but none more important than this.”

Sweeping gun reforms — such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines — are as a result very unlikely in the current climate, even one transformed by tragedy.

A handful of Republicans do appear open to striking a deal this time around on narrower issues. But the GOP is putting more of a focus on measures to “harden” security at schools and address mental health, signaling little interest in big gun reforms.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden to host New Zealand leader at White House

President Biden will host New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the White House on Tuesday, the first visit of a leader from the South Pacific island nation since 2014 that comes amid mounting tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.

Biden and Ardern will discuss the existing partnership between the U.S. and New Zealand as well as their desire for a free and open Indo-Pacific region, according to a White House statement. They will also “discuss strengthening cooperation to support the Pacific Islands region” and economic matters.

The visit comes about a week after Biden’s trip to East Asia, where he met with leaders from Australia, Japan and India to discuss China’s buildup of artificial islands and naval bases and its partnership with other nations in the region to create military installations.

China has also grown increasingly hostile toward Taiwan, a sovereign island nation off the coast the government in Beijing still sees as historically part of the mainland. Biden increased the tensions last weekend when he said the U.S. would respond militarily to any Chinese aggression on Taiwan, even though the White House quickly said there was no change in the U.S. policy of not intervening.

The meeting with Ardern also comes after the Biden administration unveiled the Indo-Pacific economic framework, which seeks to deepen trade ties between the U.S. and several nations in the region with which it aligns. The White House said the president will discuss the framework with Ardern, who is also set to talk with U.S. senators about trade and tourism during her visit.

Officials said the two leaders will also talk about the climate crisis, ways to tackle terrorism and the “radicalization to violence both off and online.”

The U.S. is still reeling from a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where a lone gunman shot and killed 19 children and two adults. New Zealand is no stranger to violence, either, after a gunman opened fire at two mosques in Christchurch in 2019, killing at least 50 people.

Authorities said the Texas and New Zealand shooters — in what is becoming an increasingly common trend among mass shooters — both posted disturbing content in chat forums and social media sites before the massacres.

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Sun Belt cities boom as major cities bleed population

More than half of American cities registered a loss of population over the last year as people flocked to suburbs and exurbs in what demographers say is among the first signs that pandemic-era attitudes have shifted for good.

New figures from the U.S. Census Bureau and the real estate tracking firm Zillow show that smaller suburbs were more likely to add new population over the last year, at the expense of the big metropolitan cities they border.

The two cities that registered the fastest growth in the last year, Georgetown and Leander, Texas, are both suburbs of Austin. In both cases, their populations grew by 10 percentage points. New Braunfels, south of Austin and north of San Antonio, saw its population grow to 98,857, up 8.3 percent from last year.

The Phoenix suburbs of Queen Creek, Buckeye and Maricopa, along with exurban Casa Grande, all landed among the ten fastest growing cities. So did North Port, Fla., between Sarasota and Fort Myers, and Spring Hill, Tenn., south of Nashville.

Boise, Idaho, added just 1,617 residents last year, but three suburbs — Meridian, Caldwell and Nampa — each saw their populations grow by more than 5 percent.

San Antonio, Phoenix, Fort Worth and Port St. Lucie, Fla., all added more than 10,000 residents in the last year, more than any other place in the country, as Americans continue to flock to Sun Belt states. Those cities are large enough that their overall population increases did not land them on the list of fastest growing.

The Census Bureau population figures show that some of the nation’s largest cities also registered the largest population declines last year. More than 305,000 people moved out of New York City, a larger total population decline than any other city. San Francisco registered the largest population decrease by percentage, dropping 6.3 percent for a decline of 54,000 people.

Los Angeles and Chicago each lost more than 40,000 residents. Among the nation’s ten largest cities, only San Antonio and Phoenix grew.

At the same time, suburban areas outside those major metropolitan cities are among the hottest housing markets in the country, according to data from Zillow.

While Seattle’s population dropped by 4,200 residents last year, two of the five most popular real estate markets in the country are in Seattle’s northern suburbs of Edmonds and Woodinville. The populations of Washington, D.C. and Alexandria, Va., both dropped, but Burke, Va., just outside the Capitol Beltway, ranked as the second-hottest market in the country.

Suburbs of Denver, Tampa, Los Angeles, Atlanta and St. Louis were also among the most popular markets; among their metro areas, only Tampa grew last year.

For the first time in recent memory, housing prices in many close-in suburbs have been rising faster than have prices in core urban areas, sad Nicole Bachaud, an economist at Zillow.

“People don’t necessarily have to live close to work anymore, and that really opened the door,” Bachaud said in an interview Friday. “Now that we’re entering the third year of the pandemic, people are making those longer term decisions now that they have that clarity.”

In total, 424 of the 795 American cities with more than 50,000 residents lost population in the last year.
Some demographers said they were unsurprised by the drop in urban populations and the shift to the suburbs.

“When Covid hit, deaths in some urban cores went up, while births diminished modestly. Thus, there was less natural increase and less immigration,” said Kenneth Johnson, a demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. “In contrast, domestic outmigration from many urban cores picked up because more people were leaving — in some cases for rural areas, or small cities — and the influx of young people to the cores likely slowed.”

Six of those 795 large cities registered more than 100,000 residents for the first time, according to Census Bureau figures: Along with Goodyear and Buckeye, Ariz., the populations of Bend, Ore., Fishers and Carmel, Ind., and Tuscaloosa, Ala., are now measured in six figures.

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The pandemic broke welfare. Here’s how states can fix it

The federal COVID public health emergency isn’t ending anytime soon, yet states should start preparing now for that time. Federal pandemic rules, which prohibit states from requiring work or ensuring integrity in welfare programs, will depart with the emergency. As early as October, states will be able to reform welfare to strengthen their economies, protect taxpayers, and better provide for the truly vulnerable. Governors, in particular, must lay the groundwork to act quickly.

Consider food stamps. In March 2020, Congress blocked states from enacting work requirements for able-bodied adults without dependents for the duration of the public health emergency. This policy exempted people ages 18 to 49 from having to find employment, which quickly became indefensible as the recession ended and the economy rebounded. It is now contributing to America’s labor shortage of 11.5 million workers.

While the end of the emergency will lift the federal suspension on work requirements, it will not automatically restore them. That’s a decision states must make. Pre-pandemic, 17 states had full work requirements; the remainder had full or partial federal waivers. While some states will be tempted to use or abuse these waivers, doing so will only stifle their economies and keep the labor shortage going. States instead should devise plans to reimplement work requirements and put able-bodied adults on the path to self-sufficiency.

They also should go a step further with “employment and training” requirements for food stamp recipients. These policies apply to able-bodied adults between 18 and 59 with school-age kids. With children in school during the day, they have greater flexibility to pursue work, but the majority are currently unemployed or under-employed. With an employment and training requirement, they would sign up for job coaching, workforce development initiatives, or similar programs. They also could simply re-enter the workforce. This policy alone could help end the worker shortage.

The Biden administration is likely to oppose such measures. It may offer work requirement waivers to states, despite the clear need for workers. It may encourage states to slow-roll the reimplementation of work requirements. But governors who want to boost their economies and empower constituents should ignore Washington and put work before welfare.

Another needed reform opportunity involves Medicaid, which currently had roughly 77 million enrollees in 2021. At the start of the pandemic, Congress effectively kept states from removing ineligible people from Medicaid rolls by offering them higher payment rates. The result is a loss of integrity in a program that already had an improper payment rate of nearly 25 percent pre-pandemic. If states continue to accept federal funding, they cannot remove these individuals until the public health emergency ends.

Removing ineligible people from Medicaid takes time, which is why governors should begin the administrative preparations now. Ideally, states should begin collecting evidence for removal immediately, if they haven’t already. If they start now, it’s reasonable to expect them to restore Medicaid’s program integrity within three months of the emergency’s lifting. That could begin reeling in the runaway Medicaid program before the end of this year.

Unfortunately, the Biden administration wants to keep ineligible people on Medicaid rolls. On March 3, it issued guidance declaring that states have 12 to 14 months after the public health emergency ends to remove ineligible individuals. If the emergency is lifted this fall, that means states might not restore program integrity until late 2023. The administration casts this as ensuring “continuous coverage,” even though it is a fundamental corruption of Medicaid.

Fortunately, states can ignore this guidance, which has no basis in federal law. They also have a clear financial reason to move ahead with reform. Higher federal payments will disappear with the emergency’s conclusion, meaning states suddenly will be on the hook for ineligible enrollees. That leaves more burden on taxpayers and less money for vulnerable people who need Medicaid. If states don’t want to wait until the emergency is lifted, they can opt out of the higher federal payments and begin removing ineligible recipients immediately.

Washington has forced a dangerous and unprecedented welfare experiment on states for the past two years. It has driven people out of the workforce and into government dependency, while weakening already overburdened welfare programs. When it comes, the end of the public health emergency will provide an opening to restore reason to welfare. States should be prepared to seize this reform opportunity.

Sam Adolphsen is policy director at the Foundation for Government Accountability and previously served as chief operating officer at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services from 2014 to 2017. Follow him on Twitter @SamAdolphsen.

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Pervasive malaise may be the Democrats’ biggest midterm challenge

For Democrats, the national forecast keeps going from bad to worse.

Consumer prices are rising. President Biden’s approval rating is falling. Mass shootings are endemic. Race relations are strained. Baby formula is scarce. The Democrats’ legislative agenda is on the rocks. And party leaders — from the White House to Capitol Hill — have limited power to exact the reforms they consider crucial for righting the listing ship. 

While the midterm cycle was always expected to pose steep challenges for the president’s party, the steady stream of bleak developments — to include a bloody shooting war in Europe, a volatile economy at home, and a stubborn pandemic that’s everywhere — has soured the public mood and exacerbated the difficulties facing Democratic leaders as they fight to maintain razor-thin majorities at the polls in November.

And those are just the near-term anxieties. 

For many Democrats, the troubles extend well beyond their midterm prospects to include creeping concerns that Congress’s inability to enact foundational reforms — including efforts to protect voting rights, curb gun violence and tackle racist extremism — means the country risks backsliding to a place where civil rights go unprotected and violent bigotry goes unchecked. 

In the eyes of these lawmakers, democracy itself is under threat from the enduring right-wing lie that the 2020 election was “stolen.”

Women’s rights are under threat from a conservative-leaning Supreme Court that appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.

And civil rights are newly at risk from a rise in violent extremism, which surfaced again this month in Buffalo, N.Y., where a white teenager promoting racist conspiracy theories was charged with shooting 13 people in a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood. Ten of them died.

The combination has rattled many Democrats, who fear that much of the social progress of the last half century is under threat of slipping away. And perhaps no one is voicing the sense of despondency as loudly as Rep. Jim Clyburn (S.C.), the Democratic whip and civil rights veteran, who warned recently that “the country is in danger of imploding.” 

“I thought in difficult times that this too shall pass. I’m not too sure anymore. I’m really not,” he told The Washington Post earlier this month. 

“Democracy is in danger of disintegrating, and I don’t know why people feel that this country is insulated from the historical trends,” he continued. “This stuff is dangerous. But maybe autocracy is the future of the country.” 

Last week, Clyburn tempered his pessimism slightly, saying he retains hope in the country’s future. But citing the writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., he also warned that, in the eternal battle between those of good faith and bad, the latter for the moment appears to be winning. 

“There are a lot of people of goodwill in our country. There are a lot of people of ill-will in the country. Now the question is, which group will prevail?” Clyburn said Tuesday in a phone interview. “The group that prevails will be the one that makes the best use of their time. And right now the people of goodwill seem to be afraid of their own shadows.”

Fueling perceptions that the country is spinning out of control, another mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where 19 fourth-grade students and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman bearing an assault rifle, stunned the nation last week. 

The burst of violence has sparked yet another national debate over the country’s gun laws and the reasons why the U.S. is unique in the world when it comes to shooting massacres. But while lawmakers of both parties have teamed up in search of a legislative response, Democrats aren’t holding their breath for support from GOP lawmakers, who are overwhelmingly opposed to virtually any new restriction on the sale or possession of firearms. 

“I’ll believe that there are Republicans in the Senate who are ready to attack gun violence head on when I see it,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). “And not before.” 

The pervasive sense of volatility surrounding current events is taking its toll on public attitudes about the general direction of the country. A new CBS News survey, conducted after the Buffalo shooting but before the Uvalde massacre, found that just 26 percent of voters think things in America are going “very well” or “somewhat well,” versus 74 percent who think they’re going “very badly” or “somewhat badly.” The plurality of respondents, 41 percent, ticked the “very badly” box. 

It’s not that Democrats have no victories to claim. Biden, in his first weeks in office, pushed through a massive coronavirus relief package. And last year, Congress sent him a bipartisan infrastructure bill that constituted the largest new public works spending in decades. 

Additionally, workers’ wages are up; unemployment is down to pre-pandemic levels; and the economy last year grew at its fastest rate in almost four decades. A report issued last week from the Federal Reserve found that 78 percent of Americans reported themselves to be financially stable at the end of last year, a record high.  

Still, the good economic news has been largely overshadowed by the bad. Inflation has spiked at a rate not seen in decades, eclipsing the wage gains. Gas prices are above $4 per gallon in most of the country just as the summer driving season is set to begin. The baby formula crisis has fueled parental anxieties. And major pieces of Biden’s agenda have stalled, including proposals to protect voting rights, overhaul policing, and expand background checks prior to gun sales, all of which were blocked by Republican opposition. 

Perhaps most notably, the president also failed to move an enormous education and climate package — legislation blocked by Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), a moderate West Virginia Democrat with close ties to the fossil fuel industry. 

The series of impasses has fed perceptions that Democrats, despite controlling the Senate, House and White House, can’t get anything done. The CBS poll found that only 36 percent of voters deemed them to be “effective.” 

Through it all, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has remained unbowed, arguing that Democrats will overcome any sense of national malaise to keep control of the House in November’s midterms. They’ll do it, she says, by focusing on “kitchen table issues” — not only related to the economy, but also to include defending women’s rights to abortion. 

“We’ll have a non-menacing message that is progressive and bold. … And we will win,” she said last week on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program.  “It is absolutely essential for our country. Our democracy is on the ballot.”

In the eyes of Republicans, meanwhile, the flood of tough news is simple evidence of poor governance by Democrats, who control both the White House and Congress. And GOP campaign strategists have been quick to blame every negative trend — particularly the spike in inflation and a rise in crime — on Biden and his party.

“Democrats are right to acknowledge they are in a difficult political environment,” said Mike Berg, spokesman for the House GOP’s campaign arm. “They’ve done a horrible job running the government and voters have noticed.” 

Democratic leaders are quick to blame Congress’s legislative stalemates on Republican “obstructionism,” accusing GOP leaders of opposing virtually everything Biden proposes for the simple purpose of denying their White House adversary a political victory. And with expectations that Roe could fall, they’re hoping to use the threat to women’s reproductive freedoms to highlight for voters yet another stark distinction between the two parties. 

“The divide between the two parties right now is that Republicans would use government to further their extremist goals; and Democrats are using government right now to help make people’s lives better,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

Aris Folley and Mychael Schnell contributed reporting. 

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WNBA players’ union calls for renewed attention on Brittney Griner 100 days into Russian detention

The WNBA players’ union (WNBPA) on Saturday called on President Biden to “use all available resources” to free Phoenix Mercury player Brittney Griner, who has been in Russian detention for 100 days.

“There is so much heartbreak and hurt in our country right now. @POTUS, please use all available resources to get #BrittneyGriner home. We need something to rally around and build upon,” the union tweeted.

Russian officials detained Griner for possession of vape cartridges containing hashish oil in early March, shortly after the country’s invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Griner’s detention was extended to May 19 in mid-March before being extended another 30 days earlier this month. Since then, Russia has barred the U.S. embassy in Moscow from visiting Griner multiple times, which the embassy called “unacceptable” a week and a half ago.

“Brittney Griner is our teammate, our friend, and our sister,” wrote the WNBPA on Saturday. “Right now, BG is an American citizen who has been wrongfully detained in Russia for 100 days.”

The union called on fellow athletes to sign petitions and speak out about Griner’s detention and on the public to urge the Biden Administration to take action on her return to the U.S.

“And yes, we’re going to have the pay equity conversation,” the WNBPA added.

“We’re going to talk about Betting on Women and Investing in Women’s sports so athletes like BG don’t have to risk their health and safety playing basketball year round to make a living,” the post elaborated.

It continued: “We recognize that the wrongful detainment of one of our own is a pay equity issue. We cannot hide it or spin it. We have to own it because the sooner we do that, the closer we get to addressing the issue.”

“GET OUR SISTER HOME!” the WNBPA implored.

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Trump blasts Cheney for 'loving endless, nonsensical, bloody wars'

Former President Trump blasted Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney (R) for “loving endless, nonsensical, bloody wars” at his rally in Casper, Wyo., on Saturday evening.

“The Cheneys are diehard globalists and warmongers who have been plunging us into new conflicts for decades, spilling American blood and spending American treasure all over the world,” Trump said.

“That’s why Liz Cheney voted no on bringing our troops back home from Syria, where they didn’t even want to have us,” he added, referencing Cheney’s break with Trump over his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria in 2019 ahead of a planned Turkish incursion, which she called “a catastrophic mistake” at the time.

“Cheney is at the front of the parade trying to get us to go into wars with Russia or anyone else that wants to bite,” Trump said.

Cheney has backed U.S. efforts to support Ukraine amid the Russian invasion, co-writing an op-ed for The Washington Post with Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) earlier this month in which the lawmakers urged the U.S. to continuee providing military aid to the country. In contrast, Trump criticized lawmakers in recent weeks for voting to provide $40 billion in military aid for Ukraine while “America’s parents are struggling to even feed their children” amid an ongoing national baby formula shortage.

Trump’s remarks at the rally followed a speech from Cheney’s primary challenger Harriet Hageman, whom Trump has endorsed and stumped for at the event.

Both Trump and Hageman called Cheney a “RINO,” which stands for “Republican In Name Only.”

Cheney has been a frequent critic of Trump. She pushed back on his baseless claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, and following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was one of 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach him. She now serves as one of two Republicans on the lower chamber’s select committee investigating the attack, which Trump also criticized her for during his rally on Saturday.

This comes after Cheney officially launched her bid for reelection on Thursday, saying that the race is “a fight we must win.”

“Some things have to matter,” she said in her announcement video. “American freedom, the rule of law, our founding principles, the foundations of our republic matter. What we do in this election in Wyoming matters.”

However, Trump insisted at the rally that “Liz Cheney is about ‘America last,’” bashing her over foreign policy, border security and election integrity.

“She’s the face of the Washington swamp and the same failed foreign policy of the Clintons, Bushes, the Obamas, the Bidens and the entire sick political establishment,” Trump said of Cheney.

The Republican primary in Wyoming will occur on August 16, 2022.

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Children among 31 killed at church fair stampede in Nigeria

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A stampede Saturday at a church charity event in southern Nigeria left 31 people dead and seven injured, police told The Associated Press, a shocking development at a program that aimed to offer hope to the needy. One witness said the dead included a pregnant woman and many children.

The stampede at the event organized by the Kings Assembly Pentecostal church in Rivers state involved people who came to the church’s annual “Shop for Free” charity program, according to Grace Iringe-Koko, a police spokeswoman.

Such events are common in Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, where more than 80 million people live in poverty, according to government statistics.

Saturday’s charity program was supposed to begin at 9 a.m. but dozens arrived as early as 5 a.m. to secure their place in line, Iringe-Koko said. Somehow the locked gate was broken open, creating a stampede, she said.

Godwin Tepikor from Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency said first responders were able to evacuate the bodies of those trampled to death and bring them to the morgue. Security forces cordoned off the area.

Dozens of residents later thronged the scene, mourning the dead and offering any assistance they could to emergency workers. Doctors and emergency workers treated some of the injured as they lay in the open field. Videos from the scene showed the clothing, shoes and other items meant for the beneficiaries.

One witness who only identified himself as Daniel said “there were so many children” among the dead. Five of the dead children were from one mother, he told the AP, adding that a pregnant woman also lost her life.

Some church members were attacked and injured by relatives of the victims after the stampede, according to witness Christopher Eze. The church declined to comment on the situation.

The police spokeswoman said the seven injured were “responding to treatment.”

The “Shop for Free” event was suspended while authorities investigated how the stampede occurred.

Nigeria has seen similar stampedes in the past.

Twenty-four people died at an overcrowded church gathering in the southeastern state of Anambra in 2013, while at least 16 people were killed in 2014 when a crowd got out of control during a screening for government jobs in the nation’s capital, Abuja.

—

Associated Press journalist Hilary Uguru in Warri, Nigeria, contributed.

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