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Enough is Enough! O’Rourke Confronts Gov. Abbott during the Uvalde Press Conference

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“You’re all doing nothing,” O’Rourke said to Texas officials who were giving updates on the mass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school.

UVALDE, Texas ― In a stunning moment on Wednesday, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) confronted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) over gun control policy at a press conference where officials were giving updates on the mass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school.

“You’re doing nothing. You’re all doing nothing,” O’Rourke told the officials assembled on the stage.

UVALDE, Texas ― In a stunning moment on Wednesday, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) confronted Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) over gun control policy at a press conference where officials were giving updates on the mass shooting at an Uvalde elementary school.

“You’re doing nothing. You’re all doing nothing,” O’Rourke told the officials assembled on the stage.

One of them repeatedly shouted back, “Sir, you are out of line!”

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) told O’Rourke he was “an embarrassment.”

An 18-year-old ran into Robb Elementary School in the small west Texas town on Tuesday, killing 19 children and two teachers with an AR-15 rifle. Seventeen more were injured, Abbott said earlier at the press conference. The man, who was killed by responding officers, had shot his grandmother in the face before driving over to the school. He posted his intentions to Facebook shortly before the rampage, Abbott said.

As Abbott finished his remarks and introduced Patrick, O’Rourke approached the stage to interrupt. His initial remarks were drowned out by crosstalk from different attendees ― some cheering him and many others jeering.

O’Rourke made a clear comment directed at Abbott while law enforcement moved to escort him out.

“This is on you,” O’Rourke said. “Until you choose to do something different, this will continue to happen. Somebody needs to stand up for the children of this state or they will continue to be killed just like they were killed in Uvalde yesterday.”

A man standing near O’Rourke interjected: “This is propaganda, bro. Get out of here. You’re trash, man.”

As O’Rourke exited, some of his supporters chanted, “Let him speak!” One person asked, “How about the First Amendment?”

The Republican elected officials at the dais criticized O’Rourke with varying degrees of subtlety once he was out of the room.

“There will be plenty of time to discuss and analyze what happened yesterday,” Patrick said.

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) concurred. “Mayor, I’m sorry you had to witness that outburst,” Phelan said to Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin. “Now is not the time to politicize pain and suffering.”

In his initial remarks, Abbott had acknowledged that “people are rightfully angry about what’s happened,” but did not offer gun policy solutions. “Now more than ever,” Abbot said, what the Uvalde community needs “is our love.”

“What they need is uplifting from all of our fellow Texans and all of our fellow Americans,” the governor said. “And let me emphasize something that I know you all know, but the reality is as horrible as what happened, it could’ve been worse. The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do.”

Abbott called for better mental health care in the west Texas region. But when asked by a reporter whether he would reconsider accepting federal funds to expand Medicaid to that end, he said no.

Patrick similarly suggested there was little policy action that could be taken, saying, “Evil will always walk among us.”

“In times like this, I’ve seen it … in these other shootings, Sutherland Springs, El Paso, Odessa, Santa Fe, it’s God that brings a community together,” he added, referencing previous mass shootings in the state. “It’s God that heals a community.”

Following the outburst, Abbott criticized the relatively strict gun control policies of states with the nation’s larges cities, including California, Illinois and New York.

“There are, quote, real gun laws in Chicago,” Abbott said, then claimed such measures do not work. “Hate to say this, but there are more people who were shot every weekend in Chicago than there are in schools in Texas.”

Chicago has strict gun control laws, but nearby states like Indiana do not, which allows people to easily access weapons.

Outside the venue, O’Rourke continued his call for stronger gun control measures and better access to mental health care.

“Now is the time to stop the next shooting,” he said. “Right after Santa Fe high school was the time to stop the next shooting. Right after El Paso was the time to stop the next shooting. Right after Midland, Odessa was the time to stop the next shooting.”

“In each case, we say, ‘This isn’t the time.’ Now is the time.”

Culled from the HUFFPOST

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Interracial Relationship: Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Shots Back at Haters

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Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Says ‘I’m Done Being Memed For Being In An Interracial Relationship’ In Response To Hate Comments

Phoebe Gates is shutting down racist comments about her relationship.

The daughter of billionaire tech giant Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda Gates is experiencing backlash on social media.

The 20-year-old went public with her boyfriend, Robert Ross, in May 2022. The two Stanford students appear throughout each other’s social media, and the comments get ugly. Most of the online trolls fixate on the fact that Ross is Black. They even allude to the fact that he is dating Gates for her money and status.

Gates recently sat down with The Information, and the outlet asked her about going public with her relationship as an influencer. Her response was heavier than simply dealing with her 200,000 Instagram and 64,000 TikTok followers.

“It’s 2023. I’m done being memed for being in an interracial relationship,” she said.

Their first post dates back to October 2022, with the two pictured at a friend’s wedding. The second post is a moment in front of a fireplace during New Year’s Eve.

Bill Gates and Phoebe Gates

Bill Gates and Phoebe Gates

Further within the interview, Gates says “the misconceptions and conspiracy theories about my family and my relationship with my boyfriend” is the worst part of her social media popularity.

The post Bill Gates’ Daughter, Phoebe, Says ‘I’m Done Being Memed For Being In An Interracial Relationship’ In Response To Hate Comments appeared first on Blavity.

Gates also reveled she is aware that most of the attention she is getting, whatever negative or positive, is because of her last name.

“I’m pretty realistic that people start following me because of my family name,” she said. “And people probably find it funny to see my dad being a goof and playing.”

Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe fires back at racist trolls, posts another snap  with black boyfriend | Daily Mail Online

She continued, “People have a lot of preconceptions about me, so TikTok has been a chance for me to tell my own story and also use the attention my family name might bring to spotlight issues that are important to me, like women’s health and sustainable fashion.”

The Seattle, Washington native noted she wasn’t even allowed to have a cell phone until she was 14 years old.

Gates welcomes the onlookers, no matter what made them follow her; she just hopes they stick around.

“But once they follow me, they stick around, and I think some of that is because of the issues that I post about, like women’s health. I like to bring audiences along to the events I go to, my life at college, what’s front of mind for me, that kind of stuff.”

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6 Nigerian states drop suit to void presidential vote result

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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Six states in Nigeria on Friday night withdrew a suit asking the Supreme Court to void the result of the just-concluded presidential election, the latest twist in several challenges facing the ruling party’s victory in the vote.

The states — led by governors in the main opposition party, which finished second in last weekend’s election — had accused Nigeria’s electoral commission of failing to follow its own rules and election laws in conducting the vote and announcing a winner, according to court documents.

Election results from the 176,000 polling units are required to be transmitted to the commission’s portal, which the opposition says didn’t happen.

But the states withdrew the suit from the court in a joint notice of discontinuance filed on Friday night. They did not give a reason for withdrawing the challenge.

Bola Tinubu of the ruling party received 37% of the vote to win the election, which other candidates, including second-place candidate Atiku Abubakar and third-place finisher Peter Obi, say they will challenge in court.

The states — Sokoto, Adamawa, Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Delta and Edo — had said they wanted the Supreme Court to declare that the results of the presidential election “were invalid, null and void, and of no effect whatsoever.”

Nigeria’s electoral law says an election can be invalidated only if it’s proven that the Independent National Electoral Commission largely didn’t follow the law and acted in ways that could have changed the result. None of Nigeria’s presidential election results has ever been overturned by the Supreme Court.

However, the latest court challenge was unique, lawyers said, citing the legal provision that voting results must be transmitted to the electoral body’s portal.

“Having not complied with that requirement, I believe the integrity of the entire process is questionable,” said Inibehe Effiong, a lawyer in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja. No matter what the precedent shows, the court does not have other options, he added.

Separately, the Supreme Court extended the deadline until the end of the year for the government to finish switching out old currency for new bank notes. The swap has created a cash shortage because there aren’t enough redesigned notes to go around in the cash-reliant country. The crisis has stirred violence, daylong lines at banks and business closures.

A seven-member justice panel said Friday that the program’s implementation broke the law and directed the old banknotes of 200 naira (43 U.S. cents), 500 naira ($1.08) and 1,000 naira ($2.16) to stay legal tender until Dec. 31 before being replaced with the redesigned cash.

The central bank did not immediately comment on the directive from the court. In the past, it has been accused of disobeying court orders.

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Nigerian senator tells UK organ harvesting trial of scam fears

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Nigeria’s former deputy senate president on trial in London for allegedly plotting to harvest a street trader’s kidney for his sick daughter told the court on Tuesday he feared he was being “scammed”.

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, daughter Sonia, 25, and a doctor, Obinna Obeta, 50, are accused of conspiring to exploit the man for his body part.

Lawyers for the four previously told the trial at London’s central criminal court, also known as the Old Bailey, the alleged victim was acting “altruistically”.

The kidney was allegedly intended for Sonia, who remains on dialysis with a renal condition, in return for up to £7,000 ($8,430) and the promise of a new life in Britain for the 21-year-old trader.

Giving evidence in his defence, Ike Ekweremadu was asked about an invoice for £8,000 he received via his brother Diwe from a consultant doctor.

Defence lawyer Martin Hicks asked: “Why not at this stage say we are being scammed Dr Obeta, end of, stop?”

“My daughter’s life was on the line so if we stop we will be putting my daughter’s life in danger. So we just keep moving,” Ekweremadu replied.

“Everybody was obviously taking advantage of my daughter’s ill health,” he added.

Ike Ekweremadu is a senator for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party for Enugu state in southeast Nigeria. He has been held in custody in the UK since his arrest. His wife and daughter are on conditional bail.

In Britain, it is legal to donate a kidney, but not for reward. Prosecutors say regardless of whether the Lagos street trader gave his consent, a crime was committed by the wealthy Nigerians.

The accuser — who cannot be named — is said to have gone to UK police after finally refusing to consent to the procedure, following preliminary tests at a north London hospital in February 2022.

– ‘Scary’ condition –

A consultant doctor at the London hospital said the young man had “limited understanding” of why he was there and was “visibly relieved” on being told the transplant would not go ahead, prosecutor Hugh Davies said.

Ike Ekweremadu told the court on Monday Sonia was doing a masters degree at Newcastle University when she started experiencing “swollen limbs” in December 2019.

She was later diagnosed with a “kidney issue”, which caused her “distress”, and withdrew from her studies after she “collapsed” in class.

Ekweremadu said his daughter’s deteriorating condition was “scary”, adding: “Medicines she was getting (were) not essentially working, so her situation was getting worse.”

The prosecutor earlier said the young man had been coached to give false answers to doctors at the British hospital, and Sonia was “singing from the same hymn sheet” to create a fake family history linking the pair as cousins.

The Ekweremadus and the doctor are accused of conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view to exploitation, under UK legislation on modern slavery.

Obeta allegedly managed the process in Nigeria, having himself undergone a kidney transplant in Britain with an organ donated by a “cousin” in 2021, the court was previously told.

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