SHERO on Sunday
Welcome to a lightning-fast comprehensive recap of the week's biggest events for May 13th-May 19th, 2024.
Recently, I made a big decision to make all of my posts here on SHERO free and available for everyone. My goal is to grow SHERO into a place where anyone can go to check in on what they may have missed, or what they need to know. I want this newsletter to be a first stop for everyone who needs answers they can trust. We can grow now if we work together — your involvement in helping to provide independent journalism for everyone is essential.
I’d like to welcome everyone to my Sunday Recap, which was previously behind a paywall, but will now be free to everyone. This is where you can quickly check in to review the week with a minimal time commitment, and make sure you did not miss anything. I also provide several links to more detail on each issue from credible and free sources if you want to dive deeper on any issue. SHERO on Sunday is the place to get caught up with all of the major events of the week before we are on to next week. Welcome!
Quick reminder: this kind of newsletter model, which will now provide free, reliable independent journalism that connects the political and legal dots to everyone, only works if subscribers support our work with paid subscriptions. Consider upgrading your weekend by investing in SHERO today.
Gun Violence This Week
There were eight separate mass shooting incidents in the United States this past week, where ten people were killed and 32 were injured. Here at SHERO, we document all mass shooting incidents for the week every Sunday, so please take a moment to review them and remember to keep up the fight for sensible gun reform.
Sunday, May 12, 2024: Northborough, Massachusetts
Sunday, May 12, 2024: Atlanta, Georgia
Sunday, May 12, 2024: Tallahassee, Florida
Sunday, May 12, 2024: St. Louis, Missouri
Saturday, May 18, 2024: Chicago, Illinois
Saturday, May 18, 2024: Sarasota, Florida
Saturday, May 18, 2024: Columbus, Ohio
Sunday, May 19, 2024: Savannah, Georgia
Cybercrime by foreign perpetrators surged in Germany in 2023, rising by 28% over the previous year, data showed, at a time of heightened anxiety in Europe over suspected Russian hackers and spies in the run-up to elections. For more on this issue in the United States, read:
A new report released this week by the Associated Press found that in hundreds of deaths where police officers in the United States used force meant to stop someone without killing them, officers violated well-known guidelines for safely restraining and subduing people — not simply once or twice, but multiple times.
Seven months into the war, Israeli troops are back to fighting north of the Gaza Strip, in areas that were supposed to have been cleared months ago, highlighting growing questions about the government's declared goal of eliminating Hamas.
On Monday, Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen began his testimony in Trump’s criminal fraud trial, telling jurors that the Presumptive Republican Presidential Candidate personally approved a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, to silence the story of a sexual encounter, in order to protect Trump’s 2016 campaign.
The Los Angeles County Probation Department announced Monday that it has put 66 of its officers on administrative leave in the past five months for alleged offenses including excessive force, sexual abuse and drug possession.
President Joe Biden imposed major new tariffs on Tuesday for Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum and medical equipment meant to stop the Chinese government subsidies that give them an unfair advantage in global trade.
The US will stand by Ukraine until its security sovereignty is guaranteed, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged on Tuesday in a visit to Kyiv, at a time when Russia is mounting fresh attacks in Ukraine’s eastern region.
On Tuesday, United States House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared in a Manhattan court to amplify Trump’s defense during his criminal trial, and turn the Republican Party against the federal and state legal systems that are foundational to the US government as a cornerstone of democracy.
Protesters against the war between Israel and Hamas were voluntarily taking down their tents in Harvard Yard on Tuesday after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment, bringing a peaceful end to the kinds of demonstrations that were broken up by police on other campuses.
The country of Georgia’s parliament passed a law on Tuesday that threatens media freedom and the country’s aspirations to join the European Union. The law would require media, nongovernmental organizations and other nonprofits to register as “pursuing the interests of a foreign power” if they receive more than 20% of funding from abroad.
The Biden administration disclosed a new package for a $1 billion weapons sale to Israel on Tuesday consisting of 3,500 bombs after pausing bomb transfers to keep Israel from using those particular munitions in its offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The Justice Department told a federal judge on Tuesday that Boeing has violated a settlement that allowed the company to avoid criminal prosecution after two deadly crashes involving its 737 Max aircraft more than five years ago.
Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, was shot multiple times and gravely wounded on Wednesday after a political event, in an attempted assassination that shocked the small country and reverberated across Europe.
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on Wednesday agreed to hold two campaign debates — the first on June 27 hosted by CNN and the second on Sept. 10 hosted by ABC — setting the stage for the first presidential face-off in just weeks. You can read more about this here:
In a win for the Democratic Party, the US Supreme Court ordered the State of Louisiana on Wednesday to hold congressional elections in 2024 using a House map with a second mostly Black district, despite a lower-court ruling that called the map an illegal racial gerrymander.
On Wednesday, attorneys for Donald Trump filed an appeal with New York’s highest court to intervene in his fight over a gag order that has seen him fined $10,000 and threatened with jail for violating a ban on commenting about witnesses, jurors and others connected to his hush money criminal trial.
Michael Cohen returned to the witness stand on Thursday to face a full day of cross-examination by Donald Trump’s attorneys, where they attacked his credibility in the criminal hush money trial.
On Thursday, President Joe Biden asserted executive privilege over audio recordings of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur, the Republican federal prosecutor who declined to recommend charges against him over his handling of classified documents.
Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders and three other party leaders agreed on a coalition deal early Thursday that veers the Netherlands toward the hard right, capping a half year of tumultuous negotiations that still left unclear who would become prime minister.
It was reported on Thursday that in the weeks following the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, United States Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s wife had purposely flown a US flag upside down at their home — a support signal by the the “Stop the Steal” movement who falsely claimed the 2020 election had been stolen from Donald Trump — following a dispute with a neighbor over anti-Trump yard signs.
A photo of the Alito home after the Jan. 6 attacks in 2021. (Image via screen grab) The US Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding mechanism in a challenge brought by the payday loan industry, handing a victory to Joe Biden’s administration and a setback to conservative critics.
John Eastman, one time attorney for former president Donald Trump, was arraigned in Arizona on Friday on charges related to a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results in that state.
On Friday, David DePape, the man who attacked Nancy Pelosi's husband, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for assault and attempted kidnapping of a federal official.
Rudy Giuliani, who for weeks had evaded Arizona officials’ efforts to deliver notice of his indictment in that state’s election fraud case, was finally served in Florida on Friday night at his 80th birthday party after openly taunting the Arizona Attorney General on social media.
A helicopter with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on board suffered a "crash landing" on Sunday, state media reported, with weather conditions complicating rescue efforts. While Raisi's condition is unclear, at least 40 rescue teams, including drones and search dogs, have been deployed in the rescue.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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