Pelosi moves to create select panel to probe Capitol attack
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday unveiled a bill to create a select committee with subpoena power and no deadline to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, and is considering choosing a Republican as one of her eight appointees to the 13-member panel.
After Senate Republicans blocked creation of an independent commission, Pelosi announced last week that she would act to form the panel of lawmakers to investigate the causes of the attack by a mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters and what can be done to prevent similar violence in the future.
“It is imperative that we establish the truth of that day and ensure such an attack cannot again happen,” Pelosi said in a statement. “The select committee will investigate and report upon the facts and causes of the attack and report recommendations for preventing any future assault.”
There was no immediate comment on Pelosi’s bill from House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy through his spokesmen.
The bill, which is expected to get a vote on the floor of the House Wednesday, allows Pelosi to pick the panel’s chairman,who would have the power to issue subpoenas, after consultation with the ranking Republican member, and order the taking of depositions or testimony. She also would appoint the members of the panel, five of whom would be picked “after consultation with the minority leader.”
—Bloomberg News
At least 77 people shot in weekend violence in Chicago, including 17 in two mass shootings
CHICAGO — When a barrage of gunshots rang out Sunday night along a busy commercial strip of the South Shore community, a 15-year-old ran for his life.
Even when he was shot in the leg, he was so determined to get away from the gunfire that he kept running for at least a block,according to his mother.
“Whoever is outside when the (expletive) is going down is going to get shot down. Dad, mama, grandmama, kids, it don’t matter,” the woman told the Chicago Tribune in a telephone interview Monday. “These people trigger-happy. They shoot everyone they see, innocent bystander or not.”
The teen was among six people shot — including a woman who died — near East 71st Street and South Chappel Avenue shortly before9 p.m. Sunday. Then about two hours later, and roughly 5 miles west, 11 more people were struck by gunfire in the Marquette Park neighborhood, a shooting that claimed the life of another woman.
They were the latest mass shootings to rock Chicago at a time when the city continues to struggle with violence. From Friday afternoon through early Monday morning, 77 people were shot across Chicago, seven of them fatally, according to Tribune data.
Since the first of the year, Chicago has recorded 326 homicides, which is three more than at the same time last year, according to Chicago police statistics through Sunday. But shootings, where at least one victim was shot fatally or nonfatally, have jumped by nearly 12%, to 1,489 from 1,333.
And mass shootings appear to involve more victims this year than during the past five years, according to data from the University of Chicago Crime and Education labs. It was not immediately clear whether a change in the type of weapons being used or some other factor could be at work.
—Chicago Tribune
North Korea highlights Kim’s weight loss as food shortage builds
North Koreans broke down in tears over seeing a dramatically thinner Kim Jong Un, state TV cited a citizen as saying, allowing rare comments on the leader’s health that could also help build support as he seeks to revive a sickly economy.
People “were most heartbroken when they saw the emaciated figure of the respected comrade general,” a Pyongyang citizen told Korean Central Television in comments broadcast Friday. “Everyone says that tears came out naturally,” said the man, whose name wasn’t given.
Kim, 37, returned to the public eye in June cutting a much thinner figure after being absent for most of May. During one appearance this month, he issued a rare warning that the “food situation is now getting tense.” The warning comes at a time of the year when food stocks typically run low and the bulk of this year’s harvest hasn’t yet been brought in.
By allowing comment on Kim’s weight, North Korea’s propaganda apparatus addressed a subject obvious to anyone watching the leader. It also supported a familiar theme in the myth-making of regime leaders, who are often portrayed as being so people-focused that they risk their own well-being.
“It is hard to say what caused Kim’s weight loss, or what his health conditions are, but right now they are using it for propaganda purposes, specifically to highlight his hard work and sacrifice to improve the people’s living standards,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a nonresident fellow with the 38 North Program at the Stimson Center.
The propaganda line has endured despite the ruling Kim family acquiring a massive fortune, palatial residences, a world-leading cognac collection and a luxury armored train used for rare trips abroad.
—Bloomberg News
