Michigan school shooter, 15, charged as adult – National & International News – THU 2Dec2021

Michigan school shooter, 15, charged as adult; charges possible for parents. Four states give unemployment benefits to vaccine holdouts. Blinken tries to head off Russia-Ukraine hostilities.

NATIONAL NEWS

Michigan school shooter, 15, charged as adult

On Tuesday afternoon, investigators say Oxford High School student Ethan Crumbley, 15, loaded his semi-automatic 9mm Sig Sauer handgun in a school bathroom before embarking on a shooting rampage. Crumbley fired more than 30 rounds, eventually killing four fellow students and seriously injuring 7 others.

Sheriff’s deputies in Oakland County, MI, say Crumbley made no statement after being taken into custody. He invoked his 5th Amendment rights at the instruction of his parents. Nevertheless, Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald has charged Crumbley as an adult with four counts of first-degree murder, which requires premeditation. McDonald has a mountain of evidence demonstrating that Crumbley’s had planned his crimes. This includes a video of Crumbley from the night before the shooting and a journal recovered from his backpack, both of which discussed a desire to kill fellow students. McDonald says that premeditation “isn’t even a close call”.

McDonald also hinted at another piece of evidence that had apparently come to light before the shooting. She did not say specifically what it was but said “I can assure you it was troubling. It was disturbing and unfortunately he was allowed to go back to class”.

Charges for teen’s parents?

McDonald also implied that her office will be “swiftly” deciding whether to bring charges against Crumbley’s parents as well. Crumbley’s father James purchased the weapon on Friday, just 4 days before the shooting. Teachers had called James and Crumbley’s mother, Jennifer, to the school on Tuesday morning to discuss their son’s disturbing behavior. This was mere hours before the shooting spree.

McDonald did not hint at what charges they were considering for Crumbley’s parents. But Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says the state currently has no laws that specifically penalize parents in such cases. However, Nessel says she believes it would be appropriate to punish parents who allow a mentally-disturbed child unfettered access to a weapon. “Theoretically, she says, “I don’t think it would be a huge stretch to charge the parents with involuntary manslaughter under those circumstances”.

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Four states guaranteeing unemployment benefits for vaccine holdouts

In most states, employees who lose jobs for refusing to abide by their employer’s vaccine policy are not eligible for unemployment benefits without a health or religious exemption. Unemployment benefits do not generally apply to employees who quit or were “fired for cause”. Anne Paxton of the Unemployment Law Project in Washington state explains that these benefits are intended “for people who are unemployed through no fault of their own”.

But Iowa, Tennessee, Florida, and Kansas are changing their rules on “cause” to carve out a specific exemption for those who have been fired or left their jobs due to vaccine requirements. Ironically, of these four states, only Kansas did not end federal unemployment benefits early before the federal expiration in September. Given this, Paxton says, “It’s very hard to regard this particular move as being based on anything much more than political reasons”.

Dorit Reiss of UC Hastings College of Law, says these states are essentially “offering a financial benefit for not vaccinating”. These states could more broadly guarantee unemployment benefits for anyone who falls afoul of company policies. Instead, Reiss says states are creating a specific clause to benefit vaccine holdouts. By doing this, Reiss says they are “sending a message that vaccines are not important. And that’s a bad message”.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Blinken tries to head off Russia-Ukraine hostilities

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Stockholm, Sweden, today. The talks centered on a build-up of Russian military assets on the Ukrainian border. For several weeks, U.S. intelligence has been monitoring about 100,000 Russian troops within striking distance of Ukraine.

Russia does not dispute the intelligence accounts but says that it is not the aggressor. Instead, they claim to see a threat in Ukraine’s accumulation of forces on its border with Russia. The tensions are part of a broader power struggle between Russia and NATO. Ukraine is a NATO partner but not a full member. That means there are limits to the military support NATO is likely to offer in the event of a Russian invasion.

Blinken warned that Russia would pay a price in the form of steep economic sanctions for any aggression against Ukraine. Blinken also warned Ukraine to exercise restraint and that Russia would likely attempt goad Ukraine into a military confrontation.

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