Vegas Mayor: What Kind of People Are Growing Up in This World?
Just a month after the deadly mass shooting in Vegas, the country mourns again.
“What kind of people are growing up in this world, and in this country?” That's one of the first thoughts that crossed Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman's mind as she reflected on the most recent assault Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
35 days ago a gunman opened fire in her city, killing 58 people and injuring more than 500 concertgoers. This weekend, another man killed 26 and injured 20 in the small town in Texas.
And while many politicians and pundits react and call for stronger gun laws, Goodman says that these shootings, two of three that occurred within the last 17 months, may not have been stopped by different laws and aren't reflective of the majority of people in this country.
“You have to realize these are individual people, perpetrators. There’s something wrong with them,” she said during the interview with Cheddar. She adds that “it’s probably the publicity that they get out of it that makes them do these things.”
President Donald Trump also addressed the fatal Texas shooting on Sunday, sending his thoughts and prayers to victims and families and dismissing the idea that the shooting should immediately reignite the gun debate.
“I think that mental health is the problem here,” the commander-in-chief said, addressing the nation from his five-country Asia trip. The president said that the shooter was a “very deranged individual, [with] a lot of problems over a long period of time,” adding that it was a bit too soon to discuss gun control laws.
But not everyone is content with the language that some politicians are using to address the recent tragedies.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said that while warm wishes are nice, leaders are elected to lead. He blames the lack of action on fear and encouraged elected officials to “do something.”
“They are afraid to act because they are afraid of three letters. You know what those three letters are? NRA,” he said in a statement. “It’s political fear.”
Still, Mayor Goodman states that the majority of the people who live in this country are peaceful and can handle their guns. She argued that if the country took guns away, people with mental illness will still be able to find the weapons on the black market.
As for Vegas’ recovery, the mayor said the city is moving along.
“We practice all the time,” she said. “Life goes on here.”
As President Biden travels to Europe this week amid Russia's ongoing invasion of its neighbor Ukraine, former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and former Bush administration State Department official David Tafuri, joined Cheddar News to discuss the president's stop in Brussels, Belgium, to coordinate with NATO leaders efforts to dissuade Russian President Putin's war. "The maintenance of sanctions and increasingly ratcheting up the sanctions is what he thinks will cause a country like Russia to back off," Tafuri said of Biden. "And so he's committed to that strategy."
John Logan, Director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University, joined Cheddar News to discuss the growing unionization push by employees at Starbucks and Amazon, and the wider implications of employee organization at these big companies.
Cheddar's Arielle Hixson sat down with five Black women making history as part of the Biden administration's communications team. Karine Jean-Pierre, the principal deputy press secretary; Khanya Brann, the chief of staff to Kate Bedingfield; Amanda Finney, the chief of staff to Jen Psaki; Erica Loewe, the director of African American media; and Rykia Dorsey, the senior regional communications director, shared their stories.
President Biden has embarked on a crucial trip to meet with allies in Belgium and Poland to discuss new sanctions on Russia as it continues to wage war on Ukraine. The president will seek to address the growing humanitarian crisis out of Ukraine, demonstrate a united Western front against Russia, and reassure Ukraine that it has support from the U.S. Joel Rubin, Former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State & President of the Washington Strategy Group, breaks down what to expect from the President's crucial visit to Europe.
Catching you up on what you need to know Mar 24, 2022, with NATO meeting updates, Ukraine retaking suburbs around Kyiv, the spread of omicron subvariant BA.2 in China, Google Pay launching a third-party billing option, and a 16-year-old is suspected of being the Lapsus$ mastermind behind hacks of Microsoft and others.
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to its lowest level in 52 years as the U.S. job market continues to show strength in the midst of rising costs and an ongoing virus pandemic.
Alicia Garza joined Cheddar News to talk about the Black Futures Lab where serves as founder and principal. The non-profit organization seeks to develop grassroots power in the Black community with projects like the Black Census, which takes into account the granular experiences of the demographic. "What we know about Black folks and the reason that we decided to focus on black communities again, it's because we're being left out and left behind their stories being told about us without our input and without our shaping," she said. "If we want a robust democracy in this country, we have to change that equation." Garza also touched on issues around voter suppression and the midterm elections.
Sean O'Hara, President of Pacer ETF's, explains why investors who were down after Jerome Powell's remarks on inflation Monday were more optimistic on Tuesday as the major indexes ended the day near session highs.
