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☆ Opinion: Top secrets come spilling out
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Richard Galant | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

We’re looking back at the strongest, smartest opinion takes of the week from CNN and other outlets. Writing for CNN Opinion, Rep. Justin Pearson noted, “This should be a chastening moment for revanchist forces in Tennessee’s legislature and across the country. Over the long haul, the undemocratic machinations employed to oust us from office are destined to fail. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once famously said that the moral arc of the universe bends toward justice. “As a Jewish historian,” Perry wrote, “I worry about the tension between preserving the memory of past hardships while not locking our entire history into a tale of oppression.

☆ Opinion: The revolving door access to state secrets has to end
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Brett Bruen | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

The US national security team is once more ignominiously living out the line made famous by pop star Britney Spears after finding itself back in the uncomfortable position of watching state secrets ping-pong around the internet. As a veteran of the National Security Council and State Department, I have a couple of ideas about what we need to change to get Spears’ song off repeat. Indeed, whatever the cause of this latest breach, it should galvanize us to shut the revolving door of access to our most sensitive secrets. For starters, there should be a minimum time commitment from those appointed to high political office. This turnover creates massive disruptions and gaps in our national security structure.

The state's 21-year age minimum, enacted as part of a 2003 gun control law, had been challenged in a 2021 lawsuit by three gun rights groups - Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, Firearms Policy Coalition and Second Amendment Foundation - and three individuals. The plaintiffs argued in their lawsuit that the age minimum violated the Second Amendment because 18- to 20-year-olds were permitted to possess guns at the time of the United States' founding. Menendez wrote that she had "reservations" about the historical analysis demanded by the Supreme Court, noting that "judges are not historians." Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a 21-year age minimum for handgun purchases in Florida, based on 19th-century laws, but said those laws only concerned gun sales, not the right to carry guns. Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Senators relaunch bill seeking to force Supreme Court to televise sessions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a leading Republican senator on Thursday reintroduced a bill that seeks to compel the Supreme Court to televise its open court sessions live. A Supreme Court spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Supreme Court long has refused to allow cameras — TV or still — into oral arguments for cases or other proceedings. The new low was reached months after the Supreme Court finished a term considered one of the most controversial and consequential, marked by two rulings in particular. Durbin cited both cases in a statement Thursday calling for televised Supreme Court sessions.

Feb 4 (Reuters) - A federal law prohibiting marijuana users from possessing firearms is unconstitutional, a federal judge in Oklahoma has concluded, citing last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that significantly expanded gun rights. "The mere use of marijuana carries none of the characteristics that the Nation's history and tradition of firearms regulation supports," Wyrick wrote. She called marijuana the most commonly used drug illegal at the federal level. Circuit Court of Appeals cited that decision in declaring unconstitutional a federal law barring people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms. Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Sandra MalerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ People under domestic violence orders can own guns -U.S. appeals court rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Jonathan Stempel | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Feb 2 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Thursday declared unconstitutional a federal law making it a crime for people under domestic violence restraining orders to own firearms. Circuit Court of Appeals is the latest victory for gun rights advocates since a Supreme Court decision last June granting a broad right for people to carry firearms outside the home. In Thursday's decision, Circuit Judge Cory Wilson said banning people under domestic violence restraining orders from owning firearms "embodies salutory policy goals meant to protect vulnerable people in our society." Rahimi had been under a restraining order since Feb. 2020, following his alleged assault of a former girlfriend. It had upheld the federal law last June 8, just over two weeks before the Bruen decision, but withdrew its opinion and ordered additional briefing.

☆ Syracuse University is preparing to revoke Rudy Giuliani's honorary law degree
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Syracuse University is preparing to implement a process for revoking honorary degrees. "Now that we're moving to implement, we have to wait to formally introduce it through committees and the University Senate." These recommendations were submitted to Syverud and the University Senate, and were combined into a report presented to the Board. The University is reviewing the resolution recently passed by the University Senate to rescind Rudy Giuliani's honorary degree." Apart from Syracuse University — President Joe Biden is a graduate of the Syracuse University College of Law, incidentally — the hold-outs include St. John Fisher University in New York, Loyola University Maryland, The Citadel in South Carolina, and Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

☆ China-Canada clash between Xi and Trudeau reminds autocrats what the free world is like
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-19 | by ( Brett Bruen | Brett Bruen Was The Director Of Global Engagement In The Obama White House | A Career American Diplomat. He Currently Runs Crisis Communications Agency The Global Situation Room | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

Then there were the reported leaks about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau taking China’s President Xi Jinping to task for alleged malicious meddling in his country’s elections. What these leaders most detest, as evidenced by Xi’s videotaped temper tantrum with Trudeau, is transparency. Leaders like Xi and Putin are starting to realize their limits, along with the liabilities that come with surrounding themselves with sycophants. What these leaders most detest, as evidenced by Xi’s videotaped temper tantrum with Trudeau, is transparency. Obama held three times as many joint press conferences with world leaders at this point in his presidency.

An oft-overlooked consequence of this is how relaxing gun laws prevents police officers from doing their jobs properly. An oft-overlooked consequence of this is how relaxing gun laws prevents police officers from doing their jobs properly. That’s a bad combination when there is little doubt that America is facing a gun violence crisis. This spike in gun violence comes amid skyrocketing gun sales. Gun violence is both a public safety and a health hazard that deserves the full attention of all who seek to preserve life.

☆ Biden faces scrutiny about America's future as he heads abroad
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Peter Nicholas | Peter Nicholas Is A Senior National Political Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

For the world leaders meeting with Biden over the next week, there’s no assurance that he'll be the president they’ll be dealing with for the next six years. The U.S. is unnerved by Chinese military exercises that threaten Taiwan and raise the specter of a future invasion. “Tuesday was a good day for America, a good day for democracy,” Biden said Thursday at a Democratic National Committee event. Another reason that Biden might find the trip more gratifying is that he averted the midterm wipeout that sitting presidents normally endure. Biden’s midterm test went much better.

☆ Analysis: U.S. Republicans aim at Ukraine aid but unlikely to block it
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

All 57 House votes against a bill providing more than $40 billion for Ukraine in May came from Republicans. Anderson said some Republicans have viewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's administration as corrupt since Trump's first impeachment trial. House Democrats voted to impeach Trump in 2019 on charges he held up military aid for Kyiv to put pressure on Zelenskiy to investigate one of Biden's sons. Several defense industry executives said they viewed the Republican comments on Ukraine aid as political rhetoric ahead of the midterms, not a threat. A Reuters/Ipsos opinion survey this month showed 73% of Americans felt the United States should continue to support Kyiv.

Oct 13 (Reuters) - A federal judge in West Virginia has ruled that a federal ban on possessing a gun with its serial number removed is unconstitutional, the first such ruling since the U.S. Supreme Court dramatically expanded gun rights in June. The decision came in a criminal case charging a man, Randy Price, with illegally possessing a gun with the serial number removed that was found in his car. The judge dismissed that charge, though Price is still charged with illegally possessing the gun after being convicted of previous felonies. The federal law in question prohibits anyone from transporting a gun with the serial number removed across state lines, or from possessing such a gun if it has ever been transported across state lines. Serial numbers, first required by the federal Gun Control Act of 1968, are intended to prevent illegal gun sales and make it easier to solve crimes by allowing individual guns to be traced.

☆ Judge OKs NY weapons ban in Times Square and other 'sensitive' places — but calls the underlying law 'doomed'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-01 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

A judge let New York ban guns in 'sensitive' locations, but called the underlying law legally 'doomed.' Gun lobbies are fighting the NY law, enacted after a June Supreme Court decision expanded gun rights. The law bans guns in "sensitive" places like Times Square, parks, theaters, and houses of worship, and re-tightens concealed carry permit restrictions that had been loosened by the Supreme Court in June. But in the Bruen case, the Supreme Court found any such limits on the right to "bear arms" unconstitutional. Both gun lobby groups promised to continue to fight the New York law.

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