SHERO on Sunday

Welcome to a lightning-fast comprehensive recap of the week's biggest events for May 20th-May 26th, 2024.

Donald Trump was booed and jeered at the Libertarian Party's national convention in Washington, DC on Saturday, May 25, 2024. (Photo by Brian Snyder/via Getty Images)

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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. I would also encourage you to check in with my X Twitter feed, as we are expecting some big US Supreme Court decisions over the next five weeks.

On Saturday night, The Libertarian Party, which emphasizes small government and individual freedoms and typically gains 3% or less of the national vote, hosted Donald Trump at their national conference in Washington, DC. The crowd booed the former president through most of his speech, and did not respond well to digs at President Biden — something that Trump is not used to. This recent debacle gives me hope, not just because it gave Trump some much needed embarrassment, but also because it gives us a better idea of how independent voters in critical swing states might be voting in November.

Here is a clip below and a link to the full speech here:

Gun Violence This Week

There were eight separate mass shooting incidents in the United States this past week, where seven people were killed and 33 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. 

1. Monday, May 20, 2024: Detroit, Michigan

2. Tuesday, May 21, 2024: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

3. Tuesday, May 21, 2024: Chicago, Illinois

4. Wednesday, May 22, 2024: Chester, Pennsylvania

5. Thursday, May 23, 2024: Newark, New Jersey

6. Friday, May 24, 2024: Pembroke Township, Illinois

7. Saturday, May 25, 2024: St. Paul, Minnesota

8. Saturday, May 25, 2024: Fort Pierce, Florida

• A new Reuters/Ipsos poll published this week found that two out of three Americans say they are concerned that political violence could follow the Nov. 5 election rematch between Democratic President Joe Biden and his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.

• This week it was revealed that an “Appeal to Heaven” flag, which has origins dating to the Revolutionary War, but is now associated with Christian nationalism and efforts to overturn President Biden's election win, was seen flying outside Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s New Jersey beach home last Summer.

• Conservative group Moms for Liberty will spend more than $3 million on a multi-state advertising blitz specifically targeting voters in Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Wisconsin, to increase its membership and increase Trump voters before November.

• The US Department of Justice sued the State of Oklahoma on Tuesday over a law that makes it a crime — punishable by up to two years in prison — to live in the state without legal status — similar laws passed in Texas and Iowa already are facing challenges from the Department of Justice.

• Donald Trump’s attorneys rested his case in Trump’s criminal trial on Tuesday, without the former president himself testifying.

  

• The Republican National Committee, headquartered in Washington, DC, was under lockdown on Wednesday morning after someone sent vials of blood to the building.

• Ireland, Spain and Norway announced on Wednesday that they would recognize a Palestinian State starting on May 28 and in response, Israel's foreign minister ordered the immediate return of the Israeli ambassadors from those countries for consultation.

• Nikki Haley said Wednesday that she will be voting for Donald Trump in the general election — a notable show of support given their intense and often personal rivalry during the Republican primary calendar.

• Nineteen families, whose loved ones were killed or hurt in the Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting, announced on Wednesday they've reached a settlement with the city and county of Uvalde for a total of $2 million.

• The White House approved $7.7 billion of student debt cancellation for 160,500 more borrowers on Wednesday, part of its ongoing effort to provide relief after the Supreme Court last year blocked President Biden's plan for broad-based college loan forgiveness. Check here to see if you qualify.

  

• A Michigan dairy worker was diagnosed with bird flu on Wednesday, making it the second human case associated with an outbreak in US dairy cows.

• China launched "punishment" drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to "separatist acts", sending up heavily armed warplanes and staging mock attacks as state media denounced newly inaugurated President Lai Ching-te.

• The US Supreme Court on Thursday maintained the lines of a congressional district in South Carolina that a lower court had invalidated as an unlawful racial gerrymander, delivering a win to Republicans in the state.

• Hunter Biden is scheduled to stand trial on federal tax charges in September after a judge on Wednesday granted his request to delay the California trial that had been approaching next month.

  

• In an effort to help Arizonans who might need to receive legal abortions from their doctors over the next several months when nearly all abortions will be temporarily banned, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law on Thursday that will allow Arizona doctors to have practicing rights in his state.

• In the first case involving Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a $6 million fine and more than two dozen criminal charges on Thursday for Steven Kramer, the political consultant who sent artificial intelligence-generated robocalls mimicking President Joe Biden’s voice to voters ahead of New Hampshire’s presidential primary.

• Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Thursday appealed a ruling in Georgia dismissing some of the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and other defendants in that election interference case.

• Louisiana lawmakers passed legislation on Thursday that designates abortion pills Mifepristone and Misoprostol as dangerous controlled substances. They will now be listed as Schedule IV drugs under the state's Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law, making the basic reproductive medication more regulated than opioids. For more on this issue, read:

• The Department of Justice and 30 accompanying states have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, alleging that it has a monopoly in the live-ticketing industry that enables it to illegally suppress competition.

• Several Uvalde families are suing Daniel Defense, the gun company whose AR-15 style rifle an 18-year-old gunman used to kill 19 children and two teachers and injure several others at Robb Elementary two years ago. On Friday, the family members of victims also filed a separate lawsuit against California-based companies Meta — the parent company of Instagram and Facebook — and Activision, whose best-selling video game Call of Duty features Daniel Defense guns.

• A massive landslide in Papua New Guinea on Friday has claimed the lives of more than 670 people as emergency responders and traumatized relatives gave up hope that any survivors would now be found in the 150 homes that were buried.

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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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