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Nevada GOP gubernatorial hopefuls debate gun violence, southern border

Five of Nevada’s Republican gubernatorial candidates came face-to-face on the debate stage in Las Vegas on Wednesday touching on issues ranging from this week’s school shooting in Texas to migrants crossing the southern border.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, former Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nevada), North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee (R), former professional boxer Joey Gilbert, and venture capitalist Guy Norah addressed a number of issues including border security, inflation, population growth, water conservation, and crime.

The candidates were asked to react to the shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two adults dead.

All five of the candidates pointed to mental health as a common denominator in recent mass shootings and cited school safety as a priority in the effort to combat school safety.

“This is the 27th school shooting this year,” Heller said, pointing to rising violence in Clark County schools. 

“We are fortunate we haven’t had this kind of tragedy occur at our school district here in Las Vegas,” Heller said.

Lombardo differentiated himself from the other candidates, saying he did not support constitutional carry without mandatory training. 

“I also support background checks, not universal, but regular background checks, associated with removing an individual who is prohibited and may or not possess a gun,” Lombardo said.

The flow of migrants over the southern border was also a top issue for the candidates, who were asked whether they would send Nevada National Guards members to the border.

Lombardo, whose campaign is zeroing in on a law and order message, said he would not send troops to the border, arguing it was the federal government’s responsibility.

“What we need to do is force the hand of the federal government,” he said.

However, other candidates said they would make sending troops to the border a priority.

“Migrants are going to overwhelm us,” Lee said. “I would put my National Guardsmen at the border to slow down the surge of immigration. We need to make sure they are coming here legally.”

The candidates were also questioned about their views on abortion ahead of the impending Supreme Court decision surrounding Roe v. Wade.  All five candidates called themselves “pro-life.”

“I am proud of the fact that we have two Supreme Court justices back in Washington, DC who are going to vote to overturn Roe v. Wade–Kavanaugh and Gorsuch,” Heller said, noting that he voted for them to be confirmed when he was in the Senate.

Heller’s position on the procedure has changed over the years, but the former senator has recently voiced a conservative, anti-abortion view. While abortion is written into Nevada law, Heller said he would work to make it a pro-life state.

Gilbert said he would like to see abortion laws pushed back to 20 weeks in the state, while Lee said there is not a system in place in Nevada to give expectant mothers another option besides the procedure.

The debate was hosted by Nextsar affiliate 8 News Now in Las Vegas.

A total of 15 Republican candidates have filed to run against incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) in November. Nevada’s gubernatorial election will be one of the more closely watched in the country. The non-partisan Cook Political Report rates the race as a “toss-up.”

Lombardo is seen as the frontrunner in the race, based on fundraising and polling. An 8 News Now/The Hill/Emerson College poll released earlier this month showed Lombardo with 32.5 percent support of likely GOP voters, while Gilbert received 14.2 percent of the vote. Heller came in third with 11 percent support, while Lee received 9.5 percent support.

The Clark County Sheriff has also received former President Trump’s endorsement in the race, which Lombardo touted on Wednesday.

“For all practical purposes this primary is over,” Lombardo said. “I’m leading in all the polls. I have the endorsement of President Donald Trump.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Student-led gun control group planning nationwide protests, march on DC

Students and youth organizers with the March for Our Lives gun control movement are planning nationwide protests following the Texas elementary school shooting, including a march on Washington, D.C., on June 11.

Organizers and activists also plan to meet with lawmakers in the Capitol from June 7 to June 10 to push for universal background checks, according to the group’s website.

“Our message and ask is simple: no longer will we be held hostage by our lawmakers and no longer will we tolerate feeling unsafe in our communities,” the group wrote on the website.

“Regardless of what party you stand for, if you do not support lifesaving measures like universal background checks, we will pledge to vote against you this fall and in future elections. “

March for Our Lives has several other protests planned around the country from San Francisco, Calif., to Greenville, S.C. There will also be a protest in front of the convention center where the National Rifle Association (NRA) is hosting a conference in Houston, Texas later this week, about 300 miles from the scene of the deadly shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

March For Our Lives is a youth-led movement advocating for an end to what they say is an “epidemic of gun violence,” which was formed in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting in 2018.

After the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, March For Our Lives organized one of the largest protests against gun violence ever, mobilizing millions of people across the nation. The group has continued to expand its message and voter outreach efforts in elections.

Officials say the 18-year-old suspect in the Texas shooting on Tuesday entered Robb Elementary School and killed 19 children and two adults, spurring renewed cries for gun control as Americans grapples with yet another tragedy.

President Biden on Wednesday said the “Second Amendment is not absolute” as he pushed for more gun control in the wake of the shooting.

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is telling colleagues that they will have the opportunity to vote on amendments to curb gun-related violence if Republicans agree to a debate on a domestic terrorism bill, which passed the House on a party-line vote.  

March for Our Lives proposes a multi-pronged approach to end gun violence: more proactively addressing poverty and mental health, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and holding the gun industry and lobbyists more accountable.

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden says 'second amendment is not absolute' after Texas shooting

President Biden on Wednesday called for more gun control after a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school left 19 children and two adults dead, arguing in a White House address that the “second amendment is not absolute.”

Biden asked “when in God’s name will we do what needs to be done” about the “amount of carnage that goes on in this country,” as he pushed for what he called “common sense” gun control laws in the wake of one of the nation’s worst shootings.

“While they clearly will not prevent every tragedy, we know certain ones will have significant impact and have no negative impact on the Second Amendment,” Biden said of gun control laws, according to a video shared by the Associated Press.

“The Second Amendment is not absolute. When it was passed you couldn’t own a cannon, you couldn’t own certain kinds of weapons. There’s just always been limitations.”

The president’s comments drew intense criticism from conservatives and gun rights activists, who noted the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms includes the words “shall not be infringed”. One Florida senator earlier on Wednesday tweeted at Biden, “try to take our guns and you’ll learn why the Second Amendment was written in the first place.”

The shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde ignited a firestorm, coming just 10 days after a mass shooting at a supermarket store in Buffalo, New York. The 18-year-old Texas gunman purchased two AR-15-style rifles legally before opening fire at the elementary school.

Democrats in Congress renewed calls to pass major gun control legislation, such as an expanded background check bill stalled in the House and a federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.

Biden, who helped pass the federal assault weapons ban while he was a senator, on Wednesday said he was astonished that the gunman walked into a store and purchased “weapons of war designed and marketed to kill.”

The president also appeared to call out gun rights lobbyist groups such as the National Rifle Association (NRA), which is set to hold a conference this week in Houston, around 300 miles from the scene of the shooting.

“Where’s the backbone? Where’s the courage to stand up to a very powerful lobby?” Biden asked. “We’re here today for the same purpose to come together and say, ‘Enough.'”

Source: TEST FEED1

Colin Kaepernick holds first NFL workout since 2017

Free-agent quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick, whose career was halted in 2016 after leading racial justice protests, has reportedly completed his first workout with a league team since 2017.

Sources told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that the 34-year-old quarterback worked out for the Las Vegas Raiders. ESPN had also reported on the scheduled workout.

Kaepernick is well acquainted with the Las Vegas area, having played college football at the University of Nevada before getting drafted into the NFL in 2011. 

Raiders owner Mark Davis said last month that he would welcome Kaepernick “with open arms” to his team, but adding the decision lies with the Raiders’ coaches and executives.

“I believe in Colin Kaepernick,” Davis said in an interview with NBC’s Sports Bay Area affiliate. “He deserves every chance in the world to become a quarterback in the National Football League. I still stand by it. If our coaches and general manager want to bring him in or want him to be the quarterback on this team, I would welcome him with open arms.” 

Kaepernick recently said he has  “unfinished business” in the league  during an appearance on the “I Am Athlete” podcast. It’s been five years since Colin Kapernick has played professional football. 

“You had those dreams from when you’re a kid. I’m [gonna] be a NFL player and I’m gonna win a Super Bowl. And for me, I have unfinished business on that front,” Kaepernick told the hosts. 

The Raiders, who were once owned by Davis’s father, Al Davis, have a well-documented history of giving minorities a chance to succeed in the league, hiring the first Latino and Black head football coaches in history in Hall of Famers Tom Flores and Art Shell. The team also hired Amy Trask to be the first women chief executive in the league’s modern history.

The Raiders inked star quarterback Derek Carr to a three-year extension earlier this year and have backup quarterbacks Jarrett Stidham and Nick Mullens on their current depth chart, ESPN noted. 

Kaepernick, who played professionally for the San Francisco 49ers, sparked controversy in 2016 for kneeling during the national anthem at multiple games to raise awareness on police brutality and racial inequality in the U.S. 

Former President Trump referred to Kaepernick’s protest in a 2017 speech at a rally where he called on league owners to punish players who protested during the national anthem. 

The league, which has pushed a more social justice/activism agenda since Kaepernick’s protest, tried to conduct a league-wide workout for Kaepernick in 2019 but he backed out over a waiver the league wanted him to sign and staged his own workout at a high school football field.

Kaepernick, who recently received an honorary degree from Morgan State University, also settled a grievance with the NFL in 2019 for $10 million, alleging that the league colluded to keep him unsigned due to his political beliefs and views.

Source: TEST FEED1

NAACP urges Abbott to skip this week's NRA conference

The NAACP is urging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to skip his scheduled appearance at the National Rifle Association (NRA) conference this week in wake of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. 

“You say you ‘don’t know the answer’ to the endless, senseless school shootings. We have the answer: gun regulations. Where do you begin? By skipping this week’s National Rifle Association conference,” NAACP president Derrick Johnson wrote in a letter to Abbott on Wednesday. 

“Mass shootings are preventable. The evidence is undebatable: it is far too easy to access assault rifles in the United States, and certainly in Texas,” Johnson added. “The overwhelming majority of Americans want common-sense gun control, yet the NRA’s position on the Second Amendment offers no room for compromise and ambiguity.”

Johnson tells Abbott that appearing at the NRA conference, slated to begin in Houston later this week, would be wrong, as Texas mourns the 19 schoolchildren and two teachers gunned down in a classroom.

“Governor, your attendance at the event right after 19 innocent children were murdered by a gun sends a message that guns are more important than the lives you represent. Which is more important to you?” Johnson asked Abbott. 

“We implore you to make the right decision. Do not attend. Instead, with grave urgency, enact common-sense gun control measures in your state that will save countless innocent lives, including those of children,” Johnson concluded in his letter. 

The Hill has reached out to Abbott’s office for comment on the NAACP’s letter.

Abbott, who opposes gun control measures, issued a statement on Tuesday saying that “Texans are grieving for the victims of this senseless crime & for the community of Uvalde.”

Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke (D) called on Abbott earlier in the day skip his appearance at the NRA summit, which is also slated for appearances from former President Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). 

“Governor Abbott, if you have any decency, you will immediately withdraw from this weekend’s NRA convention and urge them to hold it anywhere but Texas,” O’Rourke tweeted.

Trump said Wednesday he would still speak at the conference.

“America needs real solutions and real leadership in this moment, not politicians and partnership,” Trump said in a post made on his social media platform Truth Social.

“That’s why I will keep my longtime commitment to speak in Texas at the NRA Convention and deliver an important address to America. In the meantime, we all continue to pray for the victims, their families, and for our entire nation – we are all in this together!”

In a previous statement, Johnson pressed lawmakers to take legislative action on gun rights, saying “Don’t just post a tweet, pass a bill.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Oklahoma governor signs law banning abortion at conception, becomes strictest in the US

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law Wednesday that bans abortion at conception in his state, the strictest anti-abortion law in the nation.

Stitt signed House Bill 4327, which prohibits physicians from performing abortions at any point in a pregnancy, unless it is necessary to save the pregnant woman’s life.

The new law immediately went into effect after Stitt signed it.

“I promised Oklahomans that as governor I would sign every piece of pro-life legislation that came across my desk and I am proud to keep that promise today,” he said in a statement.

“From the moment life begins at conception is when we have a responsibility as human beings to do everything we can to protect that baby’s life and the life of the mother. That is what I believe and that is what the majority of Oklahomans believe. If other states want to pass different laws, that is their right, but in Oklahoma we will always stand up for life.”

The law also includes an exemption if the pregnancy is the result of rape, sexual assault or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.

Private citizens, under the new law, can file civil lawsuits up to $10,000 against anyone who performs or assists in performing an abortion. However, it does not allow the woman seeking an abortion to be sued.

“There can be no higher cause for you and I to address in this body, Madam Speaker, than the protection of innocent unborn life,” said Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, said last week as lawmakers debated the legislation before it passed in the House on a 73-16 vote.

Opponents sounded off as well, pointing out what they described as an inconsistent message when it comes to valuing life.

“If you’re preborn, you’re all good,” Rep. Mickey Dollens, D-Oklahoma City, said. “If you’re pre-K, good freaking luck if you’re born in Oklahoma. Good luck with an underfunded foster care system born into underfunded school system.”

The Oklahoma Legislature passed several anti-abortion bills this legislative session.

Stitt signed Senate Bill 612 into law earlier this year, and Senate Bill 1503 into law earlier this month.

SB 612 makes it a felony for doctors to perform abortions. Doctors who perform abortions face up to 10 years in prison and up to $100,000 in fines. It goes into effect in late August.

SB 1503, also known as the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act, is a Texas-style anti-abortion law that opens up physicians to civil lawsuits if they perform abortions after cardiac activity can be detected in an embryo – around six weeks of pregnancy. It immediately went into effect after Stitt signed it.

Pro-choice opponents of the Oklahoma Heartbeat Act have tried to prevent the law from going into effect, but the Oklahoma State Supreme Court said no to an injunction while waiting to hear suits filed against the law.

Source: TEST FEED1

Zelensky rips Kissinger over suggestion Ukraine cede territory to Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday slammed former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for suggesting earlier this week that Ukraine cede some territory to Russia in the name of peace.

In a Wednesday address, Zelensky said Kissinger “emerges from the deep past and says that a piece of Ukraine should be given to Russia” and “Mr. Kissinger’s calendar is not 2022, but 1938” — a reference to the Munich Agreement, which allowed for Nazi Germany to annex land in western Czechoslovakia.

“Behind all these geopolitical speculations of those who advise Ukraine to give away something to Russia, ‘great geopoliticians’ are always unwilling to see ordinary people,” Zelensky said. “Millions of those who actually live in the territory they propose to exchange for the illusion of peace. You must always see people.”

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Monday, the 98-year-old Kissinger said “negotiations on peace need to begin” between Moscow and Kyiv, and that “ideally, the dividing line should return the status quo ante.”

Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and fomented separatist movements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the regions independent before moving troops into Ukraine and launching a full-scale assault.

With Russia having at least temporarily scaled back its ambitions of seizing Kyiv, many believe Putin would at least want to secure control of some of the eastern regions before ending the war.

Zelensky on Wednesday said he would not heed to “those who are in a hurry for another meeting with the dictator,” in a reference to Putin.

“No matter what the Russian state does, there is always someone who says: let’s take its interests into account. This year in Davos it was heard again,” he said. “Despite thousands of Russian missiles hitting Ukraine. Despite tens of thousands of Ukrainians killed.”

Russia invaded Ukraine in part because Putin feared the expanding reach of the 30-member security block NATO, which Ukraine had shown an increasing interest in joining. However, more than three months into the war, Putin’s aggression has inspired high-security Nordic nations Finland and Sweden to move to join the Western security alliance.

After a series of Russian losses stalled offensives, NATO has said Ukraine can win the war the against Russia.

Zelensky has vowed Ukraine will fight “until it regains all its territories” and in his latest address, said “all those who defend the state are resisting the extremely fierce offensive of Russian troops in the east.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Cuban president says he won't attend Summit of the Americas

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said Wednesday that “under no circumstances” will he attend the Summit of the Americas set to be held in Los Angeles in June.

In a thread on Twitter, Díaz-Canel said “it is known that the United States had conceived early on that the Summit of the Americas would not be inclusive.”

“I can assure you that, under no circumstances, will I attend,” wrote Díaz-Canel.

“As it has happened often times in the past, the voice of #Cuba will be heard at the Ninth Summit of the Americas,” he added.

The Biden administration, which is organizing the summit, has yet to announce a formal guest list, but Latin American leaders have asked for every head of government in the Western Hemisphere to be included.

Cuban officials — and many of their Latin American allies — have denounced the United States’s expected exclusion of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua from the guest list.

Earlier this month, the State Department’s top official for the Western Hemisphere, Brian Nichols, said in an interview he did not expect the United States to issue invitations either to the leaders of Cuba and Nicaragua, nor to the de facto president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.

U.S. allies in the region, particularly Mexico, reacted negatively to the impending exclusion of leaders who are either not signatories or have openly disdained the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who’s celebrated reciprocal visits with Díaz-Canel, said he will miss the event and instead send Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard if Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are excluded.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has said he will attend the summit, Reuters reported on Wednesday, ending weeks of speculation he was planning to skip it.

Bolsonaro, a right wing populist who’s up for reelection, rarely sees eye to eye with the pro-Cuba governments in other large Latin American countries like Mexico or Argentina.

Argentine President Alberto Fernández said earlier this month that he will attend the summit, but he echoed López Obrador’s demands that all leaders be invited.

The Summit of the Americas has been held more or less every three years since 1994, and Cuba’s presence has at times led to discomfort between the United States and other Latin American countries.

In 2015 U.S. officials tried to pressure Panama to refrain from inviting then-President Raúl Castro, and in 2002 former Mexican President Vicente Fox got tangled up in a web of diplomatic faux pas in trying to host both Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro and former U.S. President George W. Bush.

Díaz-Canel in his Twitter thread accused the United States of again pressuring Latin American and Caribbean allies to attend the summit despite the expected shortened guest list.

“It is also known that the United States has been engaged in intensive efforts and has exercised brutal pressures to demobilize the just and firm claims of the majority of the countries of the region demanding that the Summit should be inclusive,” wrote Díaz-Canel.

“We appreciate the courageous and dignified standing adopted by the countries that have raised their voices against exclusions.”

“We share the position adopted by the leaders of the region who have firmly stated that all countries should be invited on an equal footing,” he added.

Source: TEST FEED1

Zelensky calls for 'total help' as Russia advances in Ukraine's east

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called for “total help” from other counties as Russian forces continue to advance in the eastern region of Ukraine amid Moscow’s ongoing invasion of the country. 

In an address, Zelensky stressed Ukraine’s need for aid from other countries, saying that Russian forces have significantly more equipment and soldiers than Ukraine in some places and adding that Moscow’s “desire to fight still remains.”

“The Armed Forces of Ukraine, our intelligence and all those who defend the state are resisting the extremely fierce offensive of Russian troops in the east. In some areas, the enemy is substantially superior in terms of equipment, number of soldiers,” Zelensky said. “The Russian authorities have made an illustrative decision – they have allowed to hire older people for contract service. That is, they no longer have enough young people, but the desire to fight still remains.” 

“It still takes time to discourage them from this. We still need the help of partners, especially weapons for Ukraine. Total help! No exceptions, no restrictions. Enough to win,” Zelensky continued. “That’s what those who really value people are talking about.”

Zelensky also said in his address that he is grateful for those who spoke to him about such aid, specifically referencing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he made remarks earlier in the day. 

“And I am grateful to everyone who spoke about it, including in Davos. Who talks about it in the media and in the capitals of leading countries,” Zelensky said.

“Despite pressure from all those stuck in the XX century, when the interests of nations were indeed often traded for attempts to appease the appetites of dictators,” he added, referencing former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s suggestion at the World Economic Forum that Ukraine’s borders should return to where they were prior to the start of the Russian invasion.

Zelensky’s address comes after President Biden last week signed into law a $40 billion aid package for Ukraine that will provide the embattled country with security, humanitarian and economic assistance.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began in February, has killed thousands on both sides and led 6.6 million Ukrainians to flee the country.

Source: TEST FEED1