Aftermath: Rushdie Has Lost Sight in One Eye, Use of Hand After Attack, Agent Says

Author Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one of his hands as a result of an attack in August, his agent said.

Rushdie “lost the sight of one eye,” his agent Andrew Wylie told the Spanish paper El Pais on Saturday. “He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”

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Nancy Pelosi Justifies Not Passing Bill to Increase Security to Supreme Court Justices: ‘No One Is in Danger’

Despite the arrest Wednesday of an armed man who allegedly claimed he intended to kill Justice Brett Kavanaugh, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended not passing a House bill seeking to increase security for the justices’ homes, and gruffly responded to a reporter, “I don’t know what you’re talking about … nobody is in danger.”

On Thursday – just one day after 26-year-old Nicholas John Roske was arrested near Kavanaugh’s home and then charged with attempted murder of a Supreme Court justice – Pelosi was about to leave her weekly press conference when she responded brusquely to a reporter who shouted out to her, “You said the justices are protected, but there was an attempt on Justice Kavanaugh’s life.”

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House Passes Bill Mandating Death or Life Imprisonment Without Parole for First Degree Murder of Law Enforcement, First Responders

The Tennessee House passed a bill mandating death or life imprisonment without parole for the first degree murder of law enforcement and first responders. The bill would elevate the intentional targeting and murdering of first responders to an act of terrorism. It passed without opposition, 88 to 0. 

Two amendments moved to strengthen the language of the bill. One amendment noted that defendants who receive life sentence can’t be eligible for parole consideration until they’ve served 51 years. The other amendment added to the definitions of terrorism to offer further protections to law enforcement and first responders. Both amendments were adopted.

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Metro Nashville Council Member Wants People Not Wearing a Mask to Be Charged with Murder or Attempted Murder

Metro Nashville At-Large Council Member Sharon Hurt said Wednesday during a virtual meeting of the Joint Public Safety and Health Committee that there should be stronger legislation for those not wearing masks and suggested they be charged with murder or attempted murder.

Hurt said that she works for an organization that, “If they pass the virus, then they are tried for murder or attempted murder.”

Hurt thinks the same standard should apply to the general public.

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Emmanuel Aranda, Who Threw 5-Year-Old Boy Over Mall of America Balcony, Receives 19-Year Prison Sentence

by Neetu Chandak   The man who threw a 5-year-old boy over the Mall of America’s third-floor balcony in April was given a 19-year prison sentence Monday. Emmanuel Aranda, 24, pleaded guilty in May for attempted murder. The 40-foot fall left the boy, known publicly as Landen, with head trauma and broken bones. Landen and his parents did not appear in court Monday, but offered statements read in court by prosecutor Cheri Townsend, NBC News reported. “Your act was evil and selfish,” the boy’s father said in his statement. “You chose to listen to the worst parts of yourself that day. That is where your impact on us stops. You will take nothing more from us.” Aranda told investigators he was “looking for somebody to kill” on April 12 and was looking to kill another person at the mall, according to The Associated Press. He chose Landen when the previous plan did not “work out.” “God will judge you someday and I have peace with that,” his mother’s statement said, NBC reported. Prosecutors let go of an aggravated-circumstances component to the charge that could have made Aranda’s prison sentence 20 years instead of 19. Aranda could be on parole in 12 years if his behavior is good along…

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