Vox Sentences: 6 police officers indicted in the Freddie Gray case

"All night, all day, we will fight for Freddie Gray"

Clockwise from top left: Officer Caesar Goodson, Jr., Officer Garrett Miller, Officer Edward Nero, Sgt. Alicia White, Lt. Brian Rice, and Officer William Porter. (Baltimore Police Department)

• Six Baltimore police officers have been indicted by a grand jury in the death of Freddie Gray.

  [Vox / Jenée Desmond-Harris]

• Gray, whose death sparked protests and some rioting, suffered a fatal spinal cord injury while being tossed around in the back of a police van, while shackled by his hands and feet but not seatbelted.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

• The charges were first announced by State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby on May 1, but have been amended; reckless endangerment was added to all cases, and false imprisonment charges removed.

  [Vox / German Lopez]

• Here's the full list of indictments:

  [ABC News / Christian Schaffer]

(ABC News / Christian Schaffer)

• "8th amendment" means that misconduct in office charges carry "any sentence which does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment."

  [Baltimore City State's Attorney]

• Caesar Goodson (top left corner in the above image), who drove the van that transported Gray, is the only one charged with murder; three others are charged with manslaughter, and all six are charged with assault, misconduct in office, and reckless endangerment.

  [Baltimore Sun / Justin Fenton]

• Specifically, Goodson stands accused of "depraved heart murder," meaning he displayed a "callous disregard for human life" that resulted in someone's death. Other examples of depraved heart murder include, say, firing into a crowded room or driving a car into a parade route.

  [Vox / Jenée Desmond-Harris]

• Jenée Desmond-Harris has a great primer on State's Attorney Mosby, whose speedy, aggressive action in the case is a marked contrast to prosecutors in Ferguson, Missouri, in the Michael Brown case or Staten Island in the Eric Garner case.

  [Vox / Jenée Desmond-Harris]

Trans-Pacific Rim

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), whose support helped fast track break a filibuster. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

• Legislation to provide fast track authority to President Obama in negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal has beaten a Senate filibuster.

  [Vox / Timothy B. Lee]

• Trade Promotion Authority or "fast track" enables Obama to receive an up-or-down vote on the deal he negotiates without worrying about congressional amendments screwing it up.

  [Vox / Timothy B. Lee]

• 49 Republicans and 13 Democrats voted for the deal, while five Republicans and 33 Democrats voted against.

  [Washington Post / Paul Kane and Mike DeBonis]

• The measure had previously lost a filibuster vote last Tuesday; that time, every Republican voted for the deal, and all but one Democrat (Tom Carper of Delaware) voted against.

  [NYT / Jonathan Weisman]

• Key to passing the deal was a promise Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ensuring a vote on reauthorizing the Export-Import Bank.

  [Christian Science Monitor / Francine Kiefer]

• Washington State, which Cantwell represents, has thousands of jobs at Boeing plants that depend on loans from the Ex-Im Bank, and she'd hoped to tie its reauthorization to the trade bill, but McConnell will apparently let her tie it to another must-pass bill in the future.

  [Washington Post / Paul Kane and Mike DeBonis]

• McConnell, like many Republicans, opposes the Ex-Im Bank, seeing it as a form of corporate welfare in which the federal government gives preferable loans to foreign companies buying goods from certain US businesses.

  [Vox / Ezra Klein]

• The thirteen Democratic "yes" votes: Cantwell, Carper, Patty Murray (WA), Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Claire McCaskill (MO), Dianne Feinstein (CA), Heidi Heitkamp (ND), Chris Coons (DE), Mark Warner (VA), Michael Bennet (CO), Tim Kaine (VA), Bill Nelson (FL), and Ron Wyden (OR), who is the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, which oversees trade deals.

  [The Hill / Jordain Carney]

• The five Republican "no" votes: Susan Collins (ME), Richard Shelby (AL), Jeff Sessions (AL), Mike Lee (UT), and Rand Paul (KY).

Sing-alongs and flag ceremonies for all

The deputy CIA director during Iran-Contra thinks that gay people might be moral enough for the Boy Scouts. (William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

• Boy Scouts of America president Robert Gates has called for an end to the organization's policy opposing gay troop leaders.

  [Vox / Margarita Noriega]

• While the Boy Scouts don't have an outright ban, their membership policy states they "do not grant membership to individuals who are open or avowed homosexuals or who engage in behavior that would become a distraction to the mission of the BSA."

  [Boy Scouts of America]

• During his time as Secretary of Defense under President Obama, Gates was involved in ending the "don't ask, don't tell" policy banning gay, lesbian, and bi people from serving in the military.

  [NYT / Erik Eckholm]

• But his actual remarks didn't appeal to any moral reason for ending the ban; instead, he emphasized that state anti-discrimination measures might force the group's hand, saying, "We must deal with the world as it is, not as we might wish it to be."

  [Boy Scouts of America]

• The implication being, of course, that he might wish the world weren't so eager to ensure employment equality for LGBT people.

• Zach Wahls — executive director of Scouts for Equality, a group of former Boy Scouts who support ending the anti-gay policy — described the speech as "another step forward."

  [Washington Post / Sandhya Somashekhar]

Misc.

• Bendable TVs: they're a thing.

  [Business Insider / Lisa Eadidicco]

• Designer Colin Gibson explains how he made the incredible cars of Mad Max: Fury Road.

  [Vulture / John Horn]

• Are free markets ruining garbage in New York City?

  [New Yorker / Jillian Keenan]

• 44 percent of 21- to 27-year-old Americans have never tried Budweiser, apparently do not live in America.

  [Eater / Cynthia Correa]

Verbatim

• "We loved the idea of her realizing her purpose in life right as she ran out of time."

  [Matthew Weiner on Betty Draper, via NYT / Jeremy Egner]

• "In the language of science, calling results 'incredibly nice' is not a compliment—it’s tantamount to accusing a researcher of being cavalier, or even of fabricating findings."

  [Nautilus / Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky]

• "'Have a nice life!' While each of Derryk’s ex-girlfriends were upset by the abruptness of the breakup, studies have shown that nearly all of them have gone on to lead wonderful, full lives as a result of his signature breakup text."

  [Reductress / Colleen Claes]

• "At various intervals, Ms. Swift disappeared offstage and the huge screen showed clips of some of her well-known friends — Selena Gomez, Karlie Kloss, Lena Dunham, the sisters of the band Haim, and more — singing her praises. It was a public service announcement for the healing powers of female friendship."

  [NYT / Jon Caramanica]

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