Border Chief Resigns Amid Sex Tourism Accusations

Two members of Congress have been missing for over a month, a racist livestreamer is now facing attempted murder charges, and Mississippi’s governor canceled its redistricting session

Good afternoon. I’m Ryan Rose, and this is AlterNet America.

The Border Patrol chief has resigned after reports that he bragged to colleagues about paying for sex in Colombia and Thailand. Two members of Congress, one Democrat and one Republican, have been missing for over a month. A racist livestreamer is now facing attempted murder charges after a shooting at a Tennessee courthouse.. And Mississippi’s governor canceled its redistricting session while threatening the state’s only Black congressman by name.

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Now, let’s get into it.

Border Chief Resigns After Reports He Bragged About Buying Sex Abroad

The man who spent the last sixteen months telling America he was stopping human trafficking allegedly spent a decade as one of its customers.

Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks announced Thursday that he is retiring, effective immediately. His resignation comes after a Washington Examiner investigation found that he “bragged” to colleagues about paying for sex with prostitutes while traveling in Colombia and Thailand over the course of a decade.

One former Border Patrol agent said that Banks is “going to third-world countries to take advantage of poor women.” Banks’s behavior was said to have been investigated by CBP officials twice, including last year, but the investigation ended abruptly while Noem was in office.

Banks denied wrongdoing. He then resigned effective immediately, went on Fox News to declare the border the most secure in history, and said it was time to go enjoy his family and ranch.

Banks’ departure marks the third high-profile turnover within DHS in two months. Trump fired Secretary Kristi Noem in March following months of controversy, meaning Markwayne Mullin has been on the job for two months and has already outlasted two predecessors.

Congress Has a Missing Persons Problem

Congress currently has two members who have simply stopped showing up, which, in fairness, is hard to notice when the ones who do show up aren’t doing much either.

Representative Frederica Wilson has yet to explain why she hasn’t voted on a single issue since April 17. The Florida Democrat has been missing in action for weeks, though her team has been busy keeping her social media active and curated.

In one bizarre post flagged on X by Capitol Hill correspondent Jamie Dupree, Wilson’s team reused photographs of her from an October event, in an attempt to suggest that the lawmaker was still mingling with her constituents.

Wilson is not alone. Last month, there was significant stir over the prolonged absence of New Jersey Republican Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. Journalists, his constituents, and Republican allies attempted to contact him for weeks. Nothing worked until House Speaker Mike Johnson phoned him in late April, learning that Kean had been struggling with an unspecified “personal health matter.”

Meanwhile, both of these seats matter. Wilson faces a primary challenge from Christine Sanon-Jules Olivo, a small-business owner with ties to the NAACP, running to unseat her in the district’s Democratic primary on August 18. Kean’s district is a top target for Democrats, who have a crowded primary full of well-funded candidates.

Neither have voted in weeks, but their constituents certainly will in November.

We don’t take weeks off without explanation. We don’t have staff posting old photos to cover for us. We just write the news and send it to you. A paid subscription keeps that going.

A Racist Livestreamer Went to a Courthouse and Shot Himself

Dalton Eatherly built an online following by calling Black people racial slurs on camera. On Wednesday, he took that act to a Tennessee courthouse, got into a confrontation, and ended up on a stretcher after shooting himself. He is now facing attempted murder charges.

Eatherly, who goes by “Chud the Builder” online, is facing multiple charges including attempted murder after a confrontation with another man outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville.

He told TMZ he was jumped outside the courthouse, prompting him to fire in what he claims was self-defense. He also told TMZ he accidentally shot himself. He livestreamed the incident while speaking with emergency personnel. “Did I shoot myself or did I graze it?” he asked a first responder in the video.

It penetrated. We’ll leave it there.

Eatherly was charged and booked for criminal attempt to commit murder, employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault, and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon.

Days earlier, Eatherly had been kicked out of a restaurant and arrested in Nashville on charges of theft of services, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. He had refused to pay his $371.55 bill.

So in the span of one week: skipped out on a check, got arrested, got released on bond, went to a courthouse, shot himself, and is now facing attempted murder charges. This is what the pipeline looks like at the end.

Mississippi Won't Redistrict This Month, But Hold Your Applause

Mississippi’s redistricting session got canceled this week, which is good news for democracy and bad news for Tate Reeves, who had to settle for threatening a Black congressman by name instead.

The Mississippi governor announced Wednesday that he will cancel a special legislative session to redraw the state’s Supreme Court districts set for next week. The state will redraw its four congressional districts at some point, but Reeves noted it would be difficult to do so in time for the upcoming midterm election, and doing so could actually hurt Republicans in the long run.

So the session is off, but not because anyone had second thoughts about morality.

Reeves was adamant about going after Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson’s hold on Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District. “The tenure of Congressman Bennie Thompson reigning terror on the 2nd Congressional District is over,” Reeves said. “It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.”

Bennie Thompson has represented that district since 1993. His “reign of terror” consists largely of chairing the January 6th committee and doing constituent services.

Trump had pushed Reeves to add congressional redistricting to the agenda, writing in a Truth Social post that states should not conduct elections under unconstitutional maps simply for the “convenience” of state legislatures. Reeves, to his credit, did the math and didn’t like what he found.

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POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ the controversial Florida migrant detention facility, expected to close. Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention facility — built on a swamp runway, surrounded by alligators, denounced for inhumane conditions, and sued into partial compliance — is expected to close this summer. Ron DeSantis said it “served its purpose,” which is one way to describe a cage in the Everglades that cost millions of dollars and lost in court repeatedly.

Senators introduce ban on lawmakers becoming lobbyists. Rick Scott and Elizabeth Warren, two senators who agree on approximately nothing, have introduced a bipartisan bill that would permanently ban members of Congress from becoming lobbyists after they leave office. It faces a steep path to becoming law, which is a polite way of saying the people who would have to vote for it are the same people it would affect.

New House Resolution Would Dismantle DHS and Defund Trump’s War Machine. Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez introduced a 32-page House resolution this week calling to dismantle DHS entirely and abolish ICE. It has virtually zero chance of coming to the floor for a vote in the GOP-controlled House. The good news is that it puts every member of Congress on the record about whether they think the agency that has killed at least eight people in its custody this year alone deserves more money or less of it.

Iowa governor signs bill that will make it easier to get cancer screenings. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a law this week requiring that doctors who want to screen a patient for cancer no longer need to ask insurance companies for permission first. Iowa has one of the highest cancer rates in the country, and prior authorizations were taking several weeks to approve or deny. The law also prohibits insurers from using artificial intelligence as the sole basis for denying a claim.