Happy Thursday and first day of October! Welcome back to Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. Let’s break down the latest news.
Tennessee execution halted after apparent failure….Tennessee has temporarily halted scheduled executions and ordered a third-party review after Christa Pike, the only woman on the state’s death row, appeared to remain alive after an attempted lethal injection Wednesday night. Witnesses reported hearing Pike breathing and snoring for nearly an hour after the drugs were administered before she was taken to a hospital. Gov. Bill Lee said the state followed its established protocol but needs to determine why the execution did not proceed as expected. The execution came after a last-minute legal battle over Pike’s claims that her history of childhood sexual abuse and PTSD had not been adequately considered. The Supreme Court had allowed the execution to proceed in a 6-3 decision.
Common Sense Takeaway: What a disaster. If the state is going to take someone’s life, the bare minimum should be that it can actually carry out the execution safely and according to its own protocol. This should force a serious reckoning over the death penalty and the safeguards surrounding it.
Family of Renee Good sues over fatal ICE shooting….The family of Renee Good, a Minneapolis mother of three who was fatally shot by an ICE agent in January, has filed two federal lawsuits against the U.S. government and several senior Trump administration officials. The lawsuits allege excessive use of force and civil rights violations, while federal officials have maintained that the ICE agent acted in self-defense. The family says it is seeking accountability after months without answers about the shooting. The lawsuits name ICE agent Jonathan Ross, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Tom Homan and others as defendants.
Common Sense Takeaway: Good for them. This is completely justified. Renee was not a threat to the ICE agents—as seen on video—who mercilessly took her life. Her family and her child deserve justice for her senseless death—and Jonathan Ross, as well as Miller, Noem, and Homan need to be held accountable for their lack of training and reckless use of force.
Paxton says Trump convention hurt his campaign….Texas GOP Senate nominee Ken Paxton reportedly told donors at a private fundraiser that President Trump’s Republican midterm convention in Dallas hurt his campaign, saying, “the numbers … dropped” after the event. The recording, published by The New York Times, appears to capture Paxton acknowledging political fallout from the convention, though the question preceding his response is unclear. Paxton’s campaign called the recording “manipulated nonsense” and disputed the characterization. Trump has strongly backed Paxton and has said the convention helped his campaign.
Common Sense Takeaway: Yikes. Cats out of the bag. It would be such a shame if we shared this everywhere everyday until Election Day, and Donald Trump knew the truth about his best buddy betraying him. Definitely don’t keep sharing this or Ken Paxton will be very, very sad!
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading Common Sense with Ally Sammarco. See you tomorrow.
— Ally
Tennessee Justice system is absolutely incompetent What a grim miscarriage of the sentence of "Death By Injection" performed by that state today