Chauvin Found Guilty – Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty over the death of George Floyd, who was pinned on the ground with Chauvin’s knee on his neck for over 8 eight minutes. The jury in the trial found him guilty on all three charges he was accused of – second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and a manslaughter charge. While the charges could land Chauvin in prison for decades, it is more likely he would get the recommended, shorter sentences for someone who has not been previously charged with a felony, which would amount to a total of 14.5 years in jail if the sentences run concurrently. Since the verdict was announced, Democrats and other liberals have said tried pushing other instances of police shootings as racist, including one this week in Columbus, Ohio, when a white officer shot a 16-year-old black girl who was about to stab another black girl.
Vaccinations Drop For First Time Since Feb – The number of vaccinations given each day in the United States has dropped off for the first time since February. Approximately 3 million people received vaccines each day this week, an 11% decrease from the week before. It isn’t yet completely clear why vaccinations have dropped off, although some speculate that it could either be because of vaccine hesitancy or people who have already had COVID unwilling to get vaccinated at this point. The halt of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over blood-clotting concerns has not affected supply issues and the decrease in vaccinations cannot be attributed to it, although it may have increased hesitancy to get a vaccine.
SCOTUS Rejects Challenge to Juvenile Life Sentences – The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines to reject a challenge to life sentences without parole being handed to juveniles. The ruling affirms a lower court’s decision to give a life sentence without parole to Brett Jones, who stabbed and killed his grandfather during a dispute when he was 15.
House Passes Bill to Make DC a State – The House of Representatives this week voted to approve a bill that would make the District of Columbia the 51st US state. The bill, introduced by Democrats who clearly know that DC would vote Democrat in every election, has no chance of passing in the Senate.
Jobless Claims Hit Lowest Number for Pandemic – The number of Americans filing initial unemployment claims fell this to 547,000, a high number but still the lowest weekly jobless benefits claims since the pandemic began last March. The decrease in initial unemployment claims is heartening, but the relatively high number shows the difficulty people and the economy in general are having in bouncing back from the economic crash precipitated by the COVID crisis.
Biden Pledges to Cut US Emissions in Half – President Joe Biden opened a climate summit this week with a pledge to decrease US pollutant emissions by up to 52% by 2030, similar to pledges made by other US allies around the globe. Republicans say the plan would end up hurting American businesses who would be required to completely revamp their operations and would not help the goal of decreasing pollution throughout the world, because the countries who spew out the most pollution, such as China and India, are continuing to do so unabated.
NY Subway Bomber Sentenced – A terrorist whose attempt to explode a bomb in a New York City subway station in 2017 failed miserably, was sentenced to life in prison by a judge on Thursday. Akayed Ullah detonated a pipe bomb near the Port Authority Bus Terminal, but only injured himself as the bomb didn’t explode as he expected. The attempted bombing came about a month after Sayfullo Saipov, another terrorist, killed eight people in Lower Manhattan in a truck attack.