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Ted Cruz booed by a Texas audience as he proposes putting more police officers in schools

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2 years ago

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Ted Cruz was booed by a Texas audience when he said his plan to end school shootings is putting more police officers in schools

  • Ted Cruz was met with a booing audience when he said his plan to stop school shootings is putting more police in schools.
  • Cruz commented on gun control efforts and the Uvalde school shooting at the Texas Tribune Festival.
  • A responsive audience jeered at Cruz at some points, demanding age restrictions on assault weapons.

Sen. Ted Cruz was met with boos from a Texas audience when he said that his plan to combat school shootings is placing more police officers in schools.

Cruz spoke about guns and other contentious topics at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin on Saturday, where he was met with a responsive audience.

“Whenever you have a mass murder … you have Democrats in Washington, the step they immediately go to is we need to take away firearms from law-abiding citizens,” Cruz said, prompting sparse applause. “OK, you can clap for that except for the minor problem that it doesn’t work. If the objective is to stop these crimes, gun control is singularly ineffective.”

Cruz argued that gun control measures punish “law-abiding citizens” instead of criminals, though the audience seemed to disagree with him at some points.

“If you want to stop crime,” Cruz said, “you target the bad guys. You target the criminals, the felons, the fugitives. You prosecute them, you put them in jail, you get them off the streets, and you also enhance security at vulnerable targets.”

Cruz has made similar comments before in defense of the National Rifle Association, which he said “stands up for the rights of every American,” Business Insider previously reported. Cruz has received the most donations from gun rights groups among other Texas lawmakers, according to Axios.

“Two weeks ago, I stood on the Senate floor and tried to pass legislation I’ve introduced that would double the number of police officers in school,” Cruz said to a crowd of boos. “If we want to keep our kids safe, and I desperately want to keep our kids safe, the most effective step we can do is to have police officers there to protect them who can intercept a mass murderer before he gets into the school and stop them.”

Cruz was met with more yells from the audience, this time specifically about the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in May that left 19 elementary schoolers and two teachers dead. A total of 376 law enforcement officers responded to the shooting, though the gunman remained at large for over an hour. An interim report on the police response found that responding officers “failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety,” Insider previously reported.Cruz said that the Uvalde shooter was successful in his efforts because he was able to get into the school through an unlocked door, but members of the audience continued to yell back at him.

“Look, if you have a solution to stop the deranged evil murderers, I’d love to hear it. My solution is to throw them in jail,” Cruz said. “Stop them before they commit these crimes. There are some we won’t know about beforehand, and the single best step to stop them is to have armed officers on campus that can stop them before they kill our kids.”

“But look, instead you guys can instead sing kumbaya with them and hope they’ll just stop, but what you’re proposing doesn’t work,” Cruz added.

“Eighteen-year-old boys don’t need an AR-15,” someone from the audience yelled, prompting applause.

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‘I’ll bring my plane… I plan on keeping it for another four years’ – Biden on second debate with Trump

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3 days ago

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May 16, 2024

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President Biden and former President Trump agreed to hold a second debate Sept. 10 hosted by ABC News.

The two candidates had already accepted an invitation earlier Wednesday to attend a CNN debate on June 27, and both confirmed later in the day on social media that they plan to attend the ABC debate in September.

“I’ve also received and accepted an invitation to a debate hosted by ABC on Tuesday, September 10th,” Biden posted on the social platform X. “Trump says he’ll arrange his own transportation. I’ll bring my plane, too. I plan on keeping it for another four years.”

Biden, of course, is referring to the presidential jet, Air Force One.

“It is my great honor to accept the CNN Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST PRESIDENT in the History of the United States and a true Threat to Democracy, on June 27th,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Likewise, I accept the ABC News Debate against Crooked Joe on September 10th.”

It marked a whirlwind few hours that started with Biden’s campaign publicly proposing two deabtes in June and September and ended with both candidates agreeing to a date and host.

ABC News had planned to host a GOP primary debate in New Hampshire, but it was canceled after Trump and Nikki Haley said they would not attend. Martha Raddatz of ABC co-moderated one of the 2016 presidential debates; the network did not host a debate in 2020.

The candidates have chosen to go around the Commission on Presidential Debates, the organization that has arranged the showdowns dating back to 1988.

Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon suggested working with outlets that hosted GOP primary debates in 2016 and Democratic primary debates in 2020 to avoid any perceptions of bias.

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Nigerian officials probe plan to marry off scores of female orphans

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3 days ago

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May 15, 2024

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ABUJA, NIGERIA — Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Women Affairs says it is investigating a plan by a lawmaker in central Niger state to marry off some 100 female orphans of unknown ages later this month.

Speaker of the Niger State Assembly Abdulmalik Sarkin-Daji announced the mass wedding last week but called off the ceremony following widespread outrage.

Minister of Women Affairs Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, speaking to journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, condemned the plans.

Kennedy-Ohanenye said she had petitioned the police and filed a lawsuit to stop the marriages pending an investigation to ascertain the age of the orphans and whether they consented to the marriages.

“This is totally unacceptable by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and by the government” of Nigeria, she said.

Last week, Sarkin-Daji announced his support for the mass wedding of the orphans, whose relatives were killed during attacks by armed bandits. He said it was part of his support to his constituents following an appeal for wedding funding by local traditional and religious leaders.

The mass wedding had been scheduled for May 24.

“That support I intend to give for the marriage of those orphans, I’m withdrawing it,” he said. “The parents can have the support [money], if they wish, let them go ahead and marry them off. As it is right now, I’m not threatened by the action of the minister.”

Despite national laws prohibiting it, forced or arranged marriage is a common phenomenon in Nigeria, especially among rural communities in the predominantly Muslim north, where religious and cultural norms such as polygamy favor the practice.

Poor families often use forced marriage to ease financial pressure, and the European Union Agency for Asylum says girls who refuse could face repercussions such as neglect, ostracism, physical assault and rape.

Raquel Kasham Daniel escaped being married off as a teenager when her father died and now runs a nonprofit helping children, especially less-privileged girls, get a formal education for free.

She said the ability of women to avoid forced marriage in Nigeria depends on their income and education.

“I was 16 when I lost my dad and I was almost married off, but then I ran away from home. And that gave me the opportunity to complete my education, and now I have a better life,” Daniel said.

“So, the reason why I prioritize education is to make sure that other girls have access to quality schooling so that it will help them make informed decisions about their lives. Education not only increases our awareness as girls about our rights but also enhances our prospects for higher income earning,” she said.

Thirty percent of girls in Nigeria are married before they turn 18, according to Girls Not Brides, a global network of more than 1,400 civil society groups working to end child marriage.

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Shell investigates smoke near Gbaran oil facility in Nigeria

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3 days ago

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May 15, 2024

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YENAGOA, Nigeria, May 14 (Reuters) – Oil major Shell is investigating reports of smoke early Tuesday near its Gbaran Ubie oil and gas facility in Nigeria’s coastal Bayelsa state, a spokesperson said after residents reported hearing explosions and seeing smoke near the area.
The incident would not immediately lead to an operational shut-in, the Shell spokesperson said.
A fire was reported around 0600 GMT by residents in the nearby community, who said blasts were heard where pipeline repair works had been ongoing.
The Gbaran facility, which began operations in 2010, is by far the most important Nigeria LNG gas feedstock project, processing almost 2 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day.
“We are actively monitoring reports of smoke detected near our Gbaran Central Processing Facility in Bayelsa State. While the source appears to be external to our facility, we are in close communication with regulatory authorities to look into the incident and ensure the safety of the surrounding communities,” a Shell spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
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Shell did not immediately respond to the accounts of residents in the area.
Resident Ovie Ogbuku told Reuters: “At about 7 a.m. I heard the sound so deafeningly and it shook the foundation of the earth and we ran for our dear lives. The result is the thick smoke you are seeing now.”
Another resident Uche Ede said; “We have no idea of the cause of the explosion but we are grateful no life was lost because it was far away from homes.”
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Land operations in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta are prone to sabotage, theft, and pipeline vandalism, forcing oil majors to exit such fields to focus on deepwater drilling.

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