American terrorists, deadly allergies, and Iowa caucuses

The President signs a defense spending bill into law with a controversial provision regarding terrorists attached, a local girl dies due to a peanut allergy, and the the Iowa caucuses were super close. Week in Review!

January 6, 2012; 6:00 AM • by Ross Catrow

Saturday

President Obama signed the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012) into law on Saturday. The NDAA provides $662 billion of defense funding that is bundled with some controversial bits of law pertaining to “detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists.” Section 1021 of the bill would allow for suspected American terrorists to be held indefinitely without trial. The President has said he’ll never do such a thing, but can’t promise anything about future administrations. Here’s his words on the matter:

I have signed this bill despite having serious reservations with certain provisions that regulate the detention, interrogation, and prosecution of suspected terrorists…I want to clarify that my Administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a Nation.”

Obama signs defense bill, pledges to maintain legal rights of U.S. citizens; The Washington Post

Sunday

There were 37 homicides in the city of Richmond City in 2011. This is down from 2010’s (and 2009’s) total of 41. January (7), September (7), and December (4) were the year’s most deadly months.

Homicides by month; 2011

Richmond Homicides in ’11; RVANews

Monday

A seven-year-old Hopkins elementary student died after she suffered an allergic reaction to a peanut product. An emergency call was placed around 2:30pm, but by the time EMS arrived the girl was already in cardiac arrest. She was pronounced dead at CJW Medical Center. While Chesterfield County has food-allergy policies in place, this quote from the girl’s mother is particularly damning:

At the beginning of this school year, the mother said she tried to give the clinical aid an EpiPen for emergencies, but she said she was declined and told to keep it at home.

Family: Child dies in school from peanut allergic reaction; CBS6

Tuesday

Mitt Romney “won” Tuesday’s Iowa Republican caucuses by just eight votes. EIGHT VOTES. Romney ended the evening with 30,015 votes, while Rick Santorum finished with 30,007. Ron Paul came in a “distant” third with 26,219 votes.

The fact that what eight people in Iowa think has such an national impact (or has such national notoriety) blows my mind.

Up next is the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday (January 10th). Five Thirty Eight has an excellent polling/prediction page, if that’s your sort of thing. Of course, [some people], think horse race journalism is part of what’s wrong with this country’s politics.

Iowa Republican caucuses, 2012; Wikipedia

Wednesday

VCU lost at home to a super red-hot Georgia State team. This is a pretty big bummer to the Ram faithful and also a surprising home loss. Although the game marked the 10th straight sellout, breaking the previous CAA record set in 2002 by UNCW. The Rams are currently 11-4, and they return to the Siegel Center on January 12th to face JMU.