Vox Sentences: Nearly a week after Parkland, gun violence protests are only growing

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Unlike with past mass shootings, conversations about ending gun violence aren’t fading quickly after Parkland; Donald Trump Jr. opens some new Trump properties in India.

The Parkland shooting isn’t fading quickly

Don Juan Moore/Getty Images

• Nearly a week after a gunman shot and killed 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, sustained outrage from survivors and families is still very much dominating the national conversation. [David Weigel and Wesley Lowery]
• Wednesday saw mass protests in Florida as some high school students staged a walkout from classes to rally on the lawn of the state capitol building in Tallahassee. Students in the Washington, DC, area also staged protests outside the White House and on Capitol Hill. [Atlantic / Alan Taylor]
• On Wednesday, President Donald Trump also held a White House listening session on gun violence and fielded an impassioned plea from a Parkland parent to do something to end further mass shootings. [NYT / Julie Hirschfeld Davis]
• Whereas other news cycles usually move on quickly from mass shootings like the ones in Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas, last year, attention to Parkland is staying strong. Vox’s Alvin Chang analyzed news coverage and Google searches and found Parkland and gun control have had real staying power. [Vox / Alvin Chang]
• That’s in large part due to the persistence of some of the teenage survivors at the Florida high school, who are organizing on a mass level to end gun violence. [BuzzFeed / Remy Smidt]
• Joining with national activist groups, students are planning two more large events in March: a national school walkout on March 14 and a national protest in DC on March 24. [Vox / German Lopez]
• In addition to dealing with a fresh tragedy that happened barely a week ago, many of the young students speaking out are also being targeted by right-wing conspiracy websites, which are accusing them of being paid actors. [NBC News / Daniel Arkin and Ben Popken]
• The students’ main ask is for Congress and President Trump to pass gun control legislation. Since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, Congress has not passed any new gun control bills, even though more than 100 have come up for debate. [Vox / Ella Nilsen]

Donald Trump Jr.’s “choose-your-own-ethics” adventure in India

• Donald Trump Jr. is mixing real estate business and official state business on a week-long trip to India. And it’s raising a lot of new questions about the Trump family’s international conflicts of interest. [Vox / Zeeshan Aleem]
• The main purpose of the trip is for the younger Trump to launch a bunch of new Trump-branded luxury apartments in locations including Kolkata, Delhi, and Gurgaon. And the Trump Organization is trying to entice new renters with the promise of a dinner and conversation with the president’s son. [Financial Times / Kiran Stacey]
• Trump Jr. is also going to a business summit in New Delhi on Friday. He’s slated to give a speech shortly before India’s prime minister, called “Reshaping Indo-Pacific Ties: The New Era of Cooperation.” However, the US State Department is adamant that it’s not an official government speech, saying Trump is giving it as a private citizen. [HuffPost India / S.V. Dáte]
• The India projects were in the works before Trump became president, but they still raise ethical and conflict-of-interest concerns. Trump Jr. has pushed back on those concerns, saying it’s ”nonsense” that his family is making money off his father’s presidency. [Associated Press]

Miscellaneous

• Taco Bell has eclipsed Burger King in popularity, making it the fourth-largest restaurant brand in America. [Bloomberg / Leslie Patton]
• A British woman found out the hard way not to mess with public servants when she left a nasty note on an ambulance, only to be arrested and charged with a public order offense. [Washington Post / Lindsey Bever]
• If the Olympics have you itching to try out a new sport, why not curling? This guide will tell you where to learn. [Mental Floss / Michele Debczak]
• In “what are they doing now” news, millennials are apparently proposing to one another with rings stuck inside avocados. [Today / Erica Chayes Wida]

Verbatim

“You think I’m going to cover that gorgeous dress up with a coat and scarf?” [Jennifer Lawrence defends her right to be cold as she faces criticism for wearing a sleeveless dress in cold weather / Facebook]

Watch this: When the only way to go free is to plead guilty

A confounding case in Baltimore shows just how far prosecutors will go to keep a win on the books. [YouTube / Ranjani Chakraborty]

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