Arraignment Homer: Just Some Gold Paint On A Pile of Shit
So news has it some old white crook, carnival barker and GOP pol who's been arrested more often than he's been elected just got hauled into court in Miami for stealing copious top-secret government documents, lying about it and hoarding them "like a deranged squirrel," most cringingly in a pimped-out bathroom at his trashy golf club. The attendant circus, both cheesy and chilling, featured a small crowd of "MAGA misfits." It felt very old. Dear God, isn't it time to cancel this show?
The 49-page indictment of abuffoonish president, ghastly human being and longtime national security threat charged him with willfully holding onto government documents outlining U.S. nuclear secrets, military vulnerabilities and possible defense plans in violation of the Espionage Act, and repeatedly conspiring to obstruct justice. Reading "like a Coen brothers script," it also reveals a petty, stupid, insecure narcissist so clueless he's recorded trying to fill the big hole at his hollow center by showing off to rich strangers the country's covert plans to attack Iran if needed as tokens of what a big shot he once was, telling his attorneys, "I don't want anybody looking through my boxes," and, when faced with multiple subpoenas seeking his child-like "bad documents," asking, "Wouldn't it be better if we just told them we don't have anything here?" Having committed so many crimes he's been compared to the multi-felonious Homer Simpson, he proved no match for Jack Smith who, not there to play, let the damning, detailed indictment speak for itself. Announcing the charges, Smith simply said, "We have one set of laws, and they apply to everyone."
Still, Trump raged and lied: Smith was a "thug" and "Radical Right Lunatic" who "planted information in the boxes," also "Clinton socks," "election interference," and "This is like Stalinist whatever" by Biden's "corrupt DOJ," though it's actually by a jury of ordinary Americans. "SEE YOU IN MIAMI ON TUESDAY!!!" he declaimed as a complicit GOP stayed silent, babbled in defense - Rep. Byron Donalds said it's all good 'cause "there are 33 bathrooms at Mar-a-Lago" - or unconscionably, irresponsibly ranted about "a war phase" in "spy-speak." Given the rhetoric, law enforcement prepped armed cops to handle a MAGA crowd of 50,000; given the heat and reality that MAGA is loud but dwindling, perhaps a few hundred flag-draped cultists turned up. Among them: an Uncle Sam on a hoverboard singing Rocket Man, a couple of white women wearing "Blacks For Trump" t-shirts, a Cuban father/son - "Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president" - and a guy flaunting a pig's head on a pike - "Sometimes you just have to be bold" - blustering, "This corruption will not stand. We're all just enjoying this beautiful moment before we win again.”
In the end, there was a muted perp walk, the jubilant report, "Trump is under arrest and in federal custody," the news Jack Smith, front-row through the proceedings, stared him down without a peep from the perp. But nobody saw it thanks to a news blackout in the courtroom, part of DOJ treatment deemed "too soft to be described as 'kid gloves'...more like 'carried about while in a tub of body temperature Jell-O.'" Despite a repoued not guilty plea, there was no mug shot, no bail, no travel restrictions for a guy with a private plane charged with violating the Espionage Act who got a pass on almost 200 of the 300 documents he stole. And there was all that breathless coverage, "more statesman than fugitive": The helicopter footage of the creeping motorcade, the attorney "yelling alternative facts," the Fox pundits pivoting to the fiction of Biden's bribery scheme and Hunter's starting the Ukraine War, "ruling the news cycle, but none of the downsides of public humiliation, sitting in court and taking his medicine (in) a court of law, the last redoubt where evidence, facts and truth are still the bottom line."
But he was soon back courting Hispanic voters at a restaurant where he stopped "to hug his Cuban people." The grim defendant in the sketches faded, the fake populist beamed, the cameras clicked, the "customers," reportedly fans he bused in, sang "Happy Birthday." "Some birthday," he said. (Some pig). Then he flew to Bedminster for a speech: "The 2023 version of the Gettysburg Address, surely." For many, what lingered was the image of that tacky, secret-stashed bathroom, what The Rude Punditcalls "some trailer park shit" with its fake marble, whorehouse chandelier, "Dollar General chic" shower curtain - as with all things Trump, "just some gold paint on a pile of shit," embarrassing and dangerous. "The nation should be ashamed it allowed his election," he writes, "it allowed him to roam free for so long, it didn't rise up and vomit him out." As his motorcade neared the courtroom, a protester in an inmate costume with a "LOCK HIM UP" sign jumped out and was led away by police. Dominic Santana came to the U.S. from Cuba as a child, ran a New York eatery for years and retired in Miami. "A fellow New-Yorker can spot a rat a mile away,” he said. "Frankly, he should’ve been locked up ages ago.”
U.S. government documents stashed in white-trash, pimped-out bathroom at Mar-A-Lago
Photo by DOJ via Getty Images
In 'Climate-Wrecking' Reversal, Shell Ditches Plans for Oil Production Cut and Hikes Dividend
Shell announced Wednesday that it is raising payouts to wealthy shareholders and scrapping plans to cut oil production by up to 2% annually, a move that environmental groups said lays bare the futility of relying on fossil fuel corporations to voluntarily curb their climate-destroying activities.
The London-based company, which more than doubled its annual profits last year, said in a press release that it now intends to "achieve cash flow longevity" by keeping oil production stable until 2030 and boosting gas production, even as scientists say a rapid phaseout of fossil fuels is necessary to avert global climate destruction.
"It is unacceptable that Shell is betting on even more short-term returns to appease shareholders," said Sjoukje van Oosterhout, Climate Case Shell's lead researcher. "Shell is now throwing in the towel on reducing oil production and even scaling up gas production."
Shell also announced Wednesday that it is hiking its dividend by 15%, a change that's set to take effect this quarter. In an additional gift to shareholders, the company said it plans to buy back at least $5 billion of its own stock in the second half of 2023.
"Record profits, off the back of the energy crisis, should be boosting up green investment," Jonathan Noronha-Gant, a senior campaigner at Global Witness, said in a statement Wednesday. "Instead it's shareholder pay-outs and a doubling down on climate-wrecking fossil fuels."
Shell had previously said its oil and gas production would fall by 1-2% each year through 2030. But as Bloombergreported, Shell justified the newly announced shift by claiming it "achieved its initial output-reduction plan—announced in 2021 amid a focus on cutting carbon emissions—faster than anticipated."
Noronha-Gant called Shell's announcement a "climate bombshell" that "exposes the hollowness behind the setting of such a target."
"It will always be profit over people and planet for polluters," Noronha-Gant said Wednesday. "Shell simply cannot be trusted—with either their own meager targets or our futures."
Others responded with similar outrage. Climate scientist Bill McGuire wrote on Twitter that Shell CEO Wael Sawan "knows exactly what the consequences of this decision are."
"People will die—are already dying," McGuire tweeted. "I want to see him jailed—along with all the other CEOs who have been unequivocally complicit in crimes against humanity. And so should you."
\u201cWe can\u2019t rely on oil companies that knowingly caused the #ClimateCrisis to do the right thing voluntarily\u2026 \n\nIf they have to decide between their economic bottom line and the survival of our communities, their greed will win out every time.\nhttps://t.co/3hm25DQugh\u201d— Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) \ud83c\udf3b (@Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) \ud83c\udf3b) 1686742435
Shell's announcement comes weeks after Carbon Brief released an analysis highlighting the oil giant's tacit admission that limiting warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century means an "immediate end to fossil fuel growth."
"Shell had previously claimed that oil and gas production could rise for another decade, even as warming was limited to 1.5°C," Carbon Brief observed. "The dramatic shift in its new 'Energy Security Scenarios' is not explicitly acknowledged, but... is hidden in plain sight."
"The immediate end to fossil fuel growth in Shell’s new 1.5°C scenario marks a dramatic shift from its earlier work, which had squared the circle between limiting warming to 1.5°C and continuing to expand oil and gas production by invoking implausibly-large forest expansion," Carbon Brief added.
Shell insisted Wednesday that it is "aiming to achieve near-zero methane emissions by 2030" and "net-zero emissions by 2050," but research released earlier this week showed that such commitments are often meaningless because companies rarely outline specific steps they plan to take to achieve their stated targets.
Last month, Friends of the Earth Netherlands published a report accusing Shell of overstating its spending on renewable energy solutions by including "the sale of flowers and sandwiches at its gas stations" in the total, along with "biofuels with a high carbon footprint."
"The company continues to contribute to catastrophic climate change," the group concluded.
Tesla Leads Industry for Crashes and Deaths Involving Driver-Assistance Tech
Cars using Tesla's Autopilot mode have been involved with 736 crashes causing 17 deaths since 2019, an analysis from The Washington Postrevealed Saturday.
The Post said that their numbers, taken from National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data, were higher than previously reported and reflected a significant uptick in both crashes, serious injuries, and deaths over the last four years.
"Tesla is having more severe—and fatal—crashes than people in a normal data set," former NHTSA senior safety adviser Missy Cummings, who is now a professor at George Mason University's College of Engineering and Computing, told The Washington Post of the findings.
\u201cNEW: Tesla crashes in Autopilot nearly have nearly tripled in the past year, government data says. The latest tally is 736 crashes, 17 fatalities. \n"Tesla is having more severe \u2014 and fatal \u2014 crashes than people in a normal data set."\nhttps://t.co/u8F9ucDz3s w/ @jeremybmerrill\u201d— Faiz Siddiqui (@Faiz Siddiqui) 1686415071
NHTSA began monitoring crashes involving vehicles using driver-assistance technology in 2021, after a federal order mandating companies report these incidents. The fact that a crash occurred does not mean the new technology was to blame, NHTSA said.
Tesla by far leads the industry in both crashes and deaths involving driver-assistance technology, accounting for the "vast majority" of the first and "almost all" of the latter, The Washington Post observed. A graph shared by the Post shows Tesla's bar towering over all other car makers combined.
"Those complaining about the media focusing too much on Tesla crashes should examine this graph," David Zipper, a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School who focuses on mobility, cities, and technology, tweeted in response to the findings.
\u201cNew WaPo story links Tesla Autopilot to 736 crashes & 17 deaths. That's *far* more than other carmakers'' driver assistance tech -- combined.\n\nThose complaining about the media focusing too much on Tesla crashes should examine this graph. \n\nhttps://t.co/KxQL0sP7l3\u201d— David Zipper (@David Zipper) 1686399259
Tesla CEO Elon Musk did not respond to requests for comment from the Post or Insider. In the past, Musk has said that cars in Autopilot mode are safer than those entirely controlled by humans.
"At the point of which you believe that adding autonomy reduces injury and death, I think you have a moral obligation to deploy it even though you're going to get sued and blamed by a lot of people," Musk said in 2022, as the Post reported.
However, experts told the Post that Musk's decision to push the new tech—such as the expansion of Full Self Driving—could be a factor in the number of incidents.
"The fact that… anybody and everybody can have it… Is it reasonable to expect that might be leading to increased accident rates? Sure, absolutely."
"The fact that… anybody and everybody can have it… Is it reasonable to expect that might be leading to increased accident rates? Sure, absolutely." Cummings said.
Other experts have cast doubt on Tesla's ability to deliver a fully self-driving car, as the company has repeatedly promised, tellingInsider that the technology still makes too many errors.
"Tesla keeps saying next year, and I still don't see any reason to believe that promise," Phil Koopman, an engineering professor and autonomous vehicle expert at Carnegie Mellon University, told Insider. "There's no reason to believe that something magic will happen this year that failed to happen the year before and the year before and the year before."
This isn't the first time that Musk's attempts to roll out innovations have raised safety concerns. A SpaceX rocket launch in April caused an explosion that sent a dust cloud much farther than the company had predicted, coating communities in particulates and threatening endangered species.
'Playing With Human Lives': Los Angeles Mayor Rips GOP Texas Gov. Over Migrant Stunt
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday night announced that his state had dropped off its "first" busload of migrants in Los Angeles, the latest move by a right-wing governor to ship vulnerable asylum-seekers to a distant Democratic-led jurisdiction.
"It is abhorrent that an American elected official is using human beings as pawns in his cheap political games," the city's progressive mayor, Karen Bass, said in a statement condemning Abbott.
The arrival of 42 migrants, including eight children, at L.A. Union Station "did not catch us off guard, nor will it intimidate us," said Bass. "Shortly after I took office, I directed city departments to begin planning in the event Los Angeles was on the receiving end of a despicable stunt that Republican governors have grown so fond of."
"Now, it's time to execute our plan," she added. "Our emergency management, police, fire, and other departments were able to find out about the incoming arrival while the bus was on its way and were already mobilized along with nonprofit partners before the bus arrived."
Jorge-Mario Cabrera, communications director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights-Los Angeles (CHIRLA), was at Union Station when the bus arrived from McAllen, Texas. He told the Los Angeles Times that the passengers were forced to endure a 23-hour bus ride without food.
"Los Angeles is not a city motivated by hate or fear, and we absolutely will not be swayed or moved by petty politicians playing with human lives."
It remains unclear whether everyone aboard made the trip voluntarily or knew the final destination of the bus. Lindsay Toczylowski, executive director of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said her team is working to determine whether migrants provided informed consent or were unlawfully detained.
Cabrera said CHIRLA "had been tipped off Tuesday night about the migrants' pending arrival," the Times reported. "He said the travelers originated from Venezuela, Guatemala, and Honduras, with two of African descent. One of the Guatemalan migrants has a court date scheduled in New York, he added."
"That's where the cruelty of this process is unbounded," Cabrera explained. "That's why Los Angeles made sure that we were coordinated and prepared to deal with the human beings behind this political charade."
The migrants were taken to a welcoming center at a nearby church, where they were able to rest, eat, and speak with attorneys. As Cabrera put it, "We know that they're traumatized and they need a number of services."
Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez (D-1) said that "the church was serving as a triage center, with nonprofit organizations and the Community Investment for Families Department among those on hand," the Times reported. "Hernandez said migrants were getting services, and some were being connected with relatives."
According to the newspaper, "The city's Emergency Operations Center was activated Wednesday afternoon to assist in coordinating city, county, and state partners, along with local community organizations."
\u201cThis evening, more than 40 people were sent by the Governor of Texas to our City of Los Angeles.\n\nShortly after I took office, I directed City Departments to begin planning for an event like this.\n\nThis did not catch us off guard.\n\nWe are now executing our plan. 1/3\u201d— Mayor Karen Bass (@Mayor Karen Bass) 1686795379
Hernandez noted that "months-old babies" were among those put on the bus by Abbott. The people involved "were essentially dehumanized," said Hernandez. "They were used by a weak politician as a political stunt."
Her fellow councilmember, Kevin De León (D-14), also denounced Abbott for engaging in "heartless exploitation." While the move was "not shocking," the city official said in a statement, it reflects "a tremendous lack of leadership."
Abbott has previously come under fire for his interstate migrant busing scheme. Since it was launched in April 2022, more than 21,600 people have been transported from Texas to Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, and now Los Angeles.
In a statement, Abbott claimed that "Texas' small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun... because of President Joe Biden's refusal to secure the border."
Data released earlier this month showed that unauthorized crossings of the U.S.-Mexico border are at their lowest point since the start of the Biden administration.
"We are a city that seeks to treat all people with dignity and compassion."
Since the White House imposed new asylum restrictions that went into effect when Title 42 ended on May 11, the number of people stopped by Border Patrol each day has plummeted from more than 10,000 to roughly 3,000. In addition, the number of people waiting in northern Mexico prior to immigrating to the U.S. appears to be falling.
Undermining Abbott's dubious accusations of inaction at the border, immigrant rights groups have condemned Biden's crackdown on asylum-seekers, saying the president's new ban deepens the bipartisan abandonment of international human rights law set in motion by the Trump administration.
Abbott is not the only far-right governor to dump migrants in Democratic-led jurisdictions in the past year.
Last September, Florida governor and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis organized flights of nearly 50 South American asylum-seekers from San Antonio, Texas to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, prompting a lawsuit and a criminal investigation into whether people were "lured... under false pretenses." The Bexar County Sheriff's Office recently recommended criminal charges over the Martha's Vineyard flights.
After DeSantis flew additional migrants to Sacramento earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) threatened to slap the "small, pathetic man" with kidnapping charges.
Abbott, for his part, vowed Wednesday to continue shipping people across the country, saying that "Los Angeles is a major city that migrants seek to go to, particularly now that its city leaders approved its self-declared sanctuary city status."
In response, Bass said: "Los Angeles is not a city motivated by hate or fear, and we absolutely will not be swayed or moved by petty politicians playing with human lives. We are a city that seeks to treat all people with dignity and compassion."
'Haven't Enough of Us Died Yet?': Polish Protest Death of Woman Denied Abortion
Abortion rights activists chanted "stop killing us" as they marched through several communities in Poland on Wednesday over the death of a pregnant woman who should have been offered a legal abortion, according to a government ombudsman.
In Poland, abortions are only permitted in cases of rape or incest, or to protect the health or life of a pregnant person. Since the October 2020 ruling that outlawed nearly all abortions in the European nation took effect the following January, protests have erupted in response to the deaths of pregnant women including Izabela in September 2021 and Agnieszka T. in January 2022.
The new demonstrations follow the death of Dorota Lalik last month. The 33-year-old, who was five months pregnant, sought medical care because her water broke. She was told to lie with her legs up and died of septic shock three days after being admitted to Pope John Paul II hospital in Nowy Targ.
The Associated Pressnoted that "it is a hospital in a deeply conservative region of the mostly Catholic nation. The hospital contains relics of the late Polish pope and Polish media have reported that it never performs abortions on principle."
\u201cAnother woman in Poland has died because of "pro-life" laws. She was 5 months pregnant, her water broke, and she went to a Catholic hospital. Instead of treating her, doctors told her to lie with her legs up to reconstitute her fluid. She died of sepsis.\nhttps://t.co/466ZY2srNx\u201d— Jill Filipovic (@Jill Filipovic) 1686752044
"No one told us that we had practically no chance for a healthy baby… The entire time they were giving us false hope that everything will be OK… that [in the worst case] the child will be premature," Lalik's husband told Polish media, according toThe Guardian. "No one gave us the choice or the chance to save Dorota, because no one told us her life was at risk."
During a Monday press conference, Reutersreported, Bartlomiej Chmielowiec, the Polish patients' rights ombudsman, said that Lalik's "rights have been violated, the right to provide health services in accordance with current medical knowledge has been violated, the patient's right to having services provided with due diligence has been violated."
Politicopointed out that while Poland's health ministry announced Monday it had "appointed a team to develop guidelines for medical facilities on how to proceed in situations where there may be indications for termination of pregnancy," Lalik's death has provoked fresh calls for reviewing the law, including from the Polish Chamber of Physicians.
\u201cAbortion rights activists marched through Warsaw and several cities in Poland, after the death of a pregnant woman whose family believes she could have survived if she had been offered treatment https://t.co/Q6NrA6USJS\u201d— Reuters (@Reuters) 1686785400
Lalik "is at least the seventh woman known to have died as a result of pregnancy complications since the tightening of the abortion law under a Constitutional Tribunal ruling in October 2020," reportedNotes From Poland.
As the Kraków-based outlet detailed:
Protests took place in around 40 towns and cities under the slogan "Not one more." Protesters waved placards saying "A state cursed, not blessed," "Pregnancy by choice, not by terror," and "Women's Hell." Some held up photographs and names of Dorota and other pregnant women who have died in hospital.
"Dorota from Nowy Targ is dead because Poland's anti-abortion law kills and makes doctors into political minions instead of healthcare experts," wrote the organizers of the protests. "Haven't enough of us died yet?"
Lempart tied Lalik's death to others in the past few years, and stressed that "it is difficult to say that this situation is just the fault of the government when doctors are refusing to perform abortions permitted by the law in cases when not only the health is endangered but even life."
"Since the protests in 2020 everybody in Poland knows the number to Abortion Without Borders," she said of a group that provides abortion pills. "But not everyone realized that if you're pregnant and you go to a Polish hospital you might not leave alive. That you have to go prepared; you need to have a number to a lawyer and contacts with the media ready, and you have to keep fighting and arguing and not believe a single word anyone says because you might not stay alive."
\u201cDorota was 33. 3 weeks ago, she died of a septic shock after being denied abortion care. This is not just a tragedy, but consequence of harmful politics.\n\nFundamental rights and rule of law are under attack in Poland. \n\nSolidarity with brave Polish people standing up to this \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa\u201d— Terry Reintke (@Terry Reintke) 1686760174
Poland's strict abortion policy has been sharply condemned across Europe and beyond—including in the United States, where reproductive rights are also under attack, particularly in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court reversingRoe v. Wade last year.
As U.S. states dominated by anti-choice Republican policymakers continue to enact new abortion restrictions, American patients are also enduring hospital experiences in which their lives are further endangered by doctors declining to provide legal care.
Ukraine Dam Disaster Is the 'Horrific Price of War on People,' Says UN Chief
With a renewed call for peace, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres is warning that the destruction of a huge dam in a Russian-controlled area of southern Ukraine "will have grave and far-reaching consequences" for people in the region, as officials Wednesday took stock of the incredible damage.
Speaking from New York Tuesday, Guterres said the U.N. could not independently verify how the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant dam in Kherson was destroyed in what the world body called "the most significant incident of damage to civilian infrastructure since the start of the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine" in February 2022.
"But one thing is clear," the U.N. chief asserted, "this is another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine."
\u201cMy statement on the destruction in the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam in Ukraine today.\u201d— Ant\u00f3nio Guterres (@Ant\u00f3nio Guterres) 1686089949
Noting that at least 16,000 people have already lost their homes due to the dam's destruction, Guterres called the disaster "yet another example of the horrific price of war on people."
"The floodgates of suffering have been overflowing for more than a year, and that must stop," he said, adding that "above all, I appeal for a just peace, in line with the U.N. Charter, international law, and the resolutions of the General Assembly."
Also speaking Tuesday, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths said that the dam's destruction "will have grave and far-reaching consequences for thousands of people in southern Ukraine," while noting that "Ukrainian authorities have reported that at least 40 settlements in Kherson are already flooded or partially flooded, a number which is expected to rise."
\u201cThe #Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine lost a vital source of cooling water when the Kakhovka dam was breached on Tuesday. Though reactors are offline, safety concerns persist.\n\nLearn more in @NucSafetyUCS\u2019s recent paper in @BulletinAtomic\u27a1\ufe0fhttps://t.co/XLj3IKCX9e\u201d— Union of Concerned Scientists (@Union of Concerned Scientists) 1686081272
The International Atomic Energy Agency—the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog—warned Tuesday that the dam's destruction has already caused a "significant' drop in water levels in the reservoir that supplies the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant. ZNPP—Europe's largest nuclear power plant—was shelled by Russian forces in March 2022 during fighting for control of the facility, located in the eastern town of Enerhodar.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi further warned that the "absence of cooling water in the essential cooling water systems for an extended period of time would cause fuel melt and inoperability of the plant's emergency diesel generators," although he added that there is no "immediate" safety risk.
Human rights groups echoed many of the U.N.'s concerns. Marie Struthers, Amnesty International's regional director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement that "the human and environmental cost of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam is a huge humanitarian disaster, and the international community must unite to bring those responsible to justice."
\u201cThe destruction of Kakhovka dam is posing a catastrophic risk to many civilians in Ukraine.\u201d— Amnesty International USA (@Amnesty International USA) 1686146460
"The rules of international humanitarian law specifically protect dams, due to the dangers their destruction poses to civilians," Struthers added. "The destruction of the Kakhovka dam is a catastrophe that endangers the life, safety, and well-being of tens if not hundreds of thousands of people living within range of the flood waters. It is literally an open floodgate for catastrophic human and environmental disaster."
Robert Wood, the U.S. alternate representative for special political affairs at the U.N., on Tuesday called the dam's destruction "yet another casualty in Russia's brutal, full-scale invasion of Ukraine."
"I want to make absolutely clear: It was Russia that started this war, it was Russia that occupied this area of Ukraine, and it was Russian forces that took over the dam illegally last year and have been occupying ever since," Wood continued.
\u201cSix + years ago, a U.S. Special Operations unit struck a dam in Syria...\n\nWorth revisiting this reporting today:\u201d— Azmat Khan (@Azmat Khan) 1686079958
"To be clear: Deliberate attacks on civilian objects are prohibited by the law of war," added the American, whose country's military has deliberately attacked countless civilian targets during wartime, including the Tabqa dam in Syria in 2017.
Ukraine and Russia blame each other for blowing up the Kakhovka dam, with Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian U.N. ambassador, accusing Moscow of committing "a terrorist act against Ukrainian critical infrastructure" and Vassiliy Nebenzia, his Russian counterpart, charging Kyiv with perpetrating "an unthinkable crime."
Ohio High Court Rules Special Election Threatening Ballot Initiatives Can Go Forward
Republicans' "true motivation, aside from their insatiable desire for power, is to stop women from having the reproductive freedom that we so deserve," said one state lawmaker.
The Ohio Supreme Court's right-wing majority on Friday handed down a ruling that critics said will ultimately make it more difficult for residents to participate in popular democracy by introducing ballot initiatives in future elections—including the one coming up in November, in which reproductive rights advocates aim to hold a referendum on abortion rights.
The court ruled 4-3 in favor of allowing a special election scheduled for August 8 to go forward, even though Republican Gov. Mike DeWine signed a law earlier this year banning August elections in most cases.
The majority said that the state Constitution "authorizes the General Assembly to impose or direct a special election in furtherance of a proposed constitutional amendment."
In the election, Ohioans will vote on a proposal put forward by Republican legislators to increase the threshold needed to amend the state Constitution via referendum from a simple majority to 60%. The proposal would also make it harder for voters to get citizen-led initiatives onto ballots.
"If it passes, the measure would dramatically curtail a tool of direct democracy that has existed in the state for more than a century," wrote Cameron Joseph at Bolts earlier this month.
Mia Lewis, associate director of Common Cause Ohio, told the outlet that the Republican proposal is "an attempt to fool voters into giving away their power."
The special election, which is being held at a time of year that's typically plagued by low voter turnout, will take place as abortion rights advocates are pushing to hold a referendum during the November elections on whether to enshrine the right to abortion care in Ohio's Constitution. States including California and Michigan have affirmed that abortion is a constitutional right since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade a year ago.
\u201cThis means that Ohio *will* have a critically important election on August 8.\n\nSo, why? Republicans are rushing the vote to get ahead of a potential initiative on abortion rights on the November ballot, & make it harder for that to pass in advance. See:\n\nhttps://t.co/YTaZusNj5t\u201d— Taniel (@Taniel) 1686925710
"Their true motivation" for holding the August election, Ohio House Minority Whip Jessica Miranda (D-28) told Bolts, "aside from their insatiable desire for power, is to stop women from having the reproductive freedom that we so deserve."
Ohio Republicans have joined GOP lawmakers in several other states in attempting to make it harder for ballot measures to be put to a popular vote. Arkansas Republicans passed a law earlier this year making it harder for residents to place proposals on ballots and the Utah GOP passed a similar law in 2021.
Abortion is currently legal in Ohio up to 22 weeks of pregnancy, but Republicans have attempted to ban the procedure at six weeks of pregnancy.
A poll by Baldwin Wallace University last year found that 59% of Ohio residents supported a constitutional amendment that would enshrine abortion access as a right for all Ohioans.
Kelly Hall, executive director of the pro-democracy group Fairness Project, said the question being put to voters in August "is a blatant attempt to undermine direct democracy and diminish voters' rights to make their own decisions on issues that matter to them."
"Despite this unfortunate ruling," Hall said, "we’re confident in the strong, pro-democracy coalition that has formed" to mobilize against the Republican proposal.
Senate Dems Revive Bill to Fix Nation's 'Broken' US Childcare System
"Just like investments in roads, bridges, and broadband, investments in childcare are critical for families and the success of our entire economy," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Stressing "the need to rebuild a stronger, more robust, and more equitable childcare system," progressive U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden and Elizabeth Warren on Thursday reintroduced a bill to improve access to quality, affordable childcare—one of multiple childcare bills unveiled in Congress in recent days.
The Building Childcare for a Better Future Act would increase mandatory childcare funding for the Childcare Entitlement to States (CCES) program by $6.45 billion to $10 billion per year and boosts the share of CCES funds that go to Native American tribes and U.S. territories. The bill would also appropriate $5 billion in annual CCES grant funding to improve the childcare "workforce, supply, quality, and access in areas of particular need."
"Emergency funding helped many providers stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic, but clearly long-term funding is urgently needed," a summary of the proposed legislation states. "This bill addresses the childcare gap by providing new, permanent funding so that states, tribes, and territories have the critical resources they need to develop a childcare infrastructure that better serves all families."
According to data released this week by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, U.S. childcare costs have soared 220% since 1990 to an average of over $10,000 in 2021. That's about 10% of a couple's average income or 35% of a single parent's earnings. Around 1 in 6 Black and Latino children ages 5 and under lived with a relative who had to quit, change, or turn down a job due to childcare issues in 2021, according to the report.
\u201cThe inaccessibility of child care disproportionately affects women, single parents, families of color, immigrant families and those who live in poverty, experts say. https://t.co/DN5w3umDR5\u201d— Axios (@Axios) 1686863285
Wyden (D-Ore.), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement that "the childcare system is the backbone of the American economy, allowing working parents to do their jobs and provide for their families. Yet, right now, so many families don't have access to affordable, quality childcare and are forced to make impossible decisions."
"America can and should do better by prioritizing investments to make childcare more available and strengthen its workforce with better pay and more training opportunities," he added. "An investment in a more equitable childcare system is an investment in working families and the American economy. We can't afford to wait."
Warren (D-Mass.) asserted that "just like investments in roads, bridges, and broadband, investments in childcare are critical for families and the success of our entire economy."
"I have long said that childcare is infrastructure and the Building Childcare for a Better Future Act will help secure a strong, long-lasting federal investment in childcare to raise wages for workers and ensure affordable and accessible childcare for all," she added.
"The Building Childcare for a Better Future Act will help secure a strong, long-lasting federal investment in childcare to raise wages for workers and ensure affordable and accessible childcare for all."
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)—who, along with Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), co-sponsored the bill—said that "America's economy has roared back from the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic, but we're stymied by a broken childcare system that is keeping parents, especially moms, from joining the workforce."
"Our Building Childcare for a Better Future Act would strengthen our nation's childcare system by investing in permanent funding to better attract and retain top-notch early educators while lowering costs and increasing access for families," Whitehouse added.
The revived Building Childcare for a Better Future Act was unveiled a day after the bipartisan Expanding Childcare in Rural America (ECRA) Act of 2023 was introduced by Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Smith, Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and several House lawmakers from both sides of the aisle.
The ECRA would direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture to "authorize and prioritize projects that address the availability, quality, and cost of childcare in agricultural and rural communities" through an array of programs and grants.
Earlier this year, Warren and other lawmakers introduced the Childcare for Every Community Act, under which around half of U.S. families would pay no more than $10 per day on childcare. According to May polling from Data for Progress, 4 in 5 U.S. voters support the measure.
\u201cWatch as Rachel from Seattle talks about a dilemma so many working parents face: whether to leave the workforce instead of struggling to afford child care.\n\nWe've got to pass my transformative child care bill, which would limit the typical family's child care costs to ~$10/day.\u201d— Senator Patty Murray (@Senator Patty Murray) 1686437880
Meanwhile, state legislatures have been moving in opposite directions on the childcare issue. For example, a Democrat-sponsored bill to boost quality, affordable childcare was passed by Maine's Senate this week, while Republicans in Ohio are seeking to strip hundreds of millions of dollars in childcare funding from the state's new two-year budget.
Last month, Sanders and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) warned in a report that the U.S. childcare system—already among the worst and least affordable across developed nations—could be "pushed closer to the brink of collapse" if Congress does not act before most of the $24 billion in emergency federal funding under the pandemic-era Childcare Stabilization Grant runs out on September 30.
In Victory for 'Bodily Autonomy and Freedom,' Iowa Supreme Court Rejects Abortion Ban
"With this ruling, thousands of patients seeking care in the state and beyond can continue to receive the necessary, lifesaving care that they need," said one advocate.
Reproductive rights advocates applauded a ruling handed down Friday by the Iowa Supreme Court that upheld an injunction against a 2018 law that would have made abortion care illegal before many people even know they are pregnant—but noted that federal protections are needed to make crucial healthcare accessible to everyone in the U.S., regardless of "which state you live in."
"Your ZIP code shouldn't determine who controls your uterus," said Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States. "Each person deserves control of their body, and Iowans have that right, based on today's court decision."
The high court ruled 3-3, declining to lift a 2019 injunction that was handed down by a district court against the 2018 six-week abortion ban. A majority ruling was required to end the injunction.
"It would be ironic and troubling for our court to become the first state Supreme Court in the nation to hold that trash set out in a garbage can for collection is entitled to more constitutional protection than a woman's interest in autonomy and dominion over her own body."
Abortion now remains legal in Iowa up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, but because the court ruled based on concerns about procedure—saying that Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds' appeal to a district court decision upholding the injunction was too late—the Iowa Legislature could still draft new legislation banning abortion at six weeks.
"The decision today affirmed the district court ruling by operation of law, leaving the decision undisturbed," said Rita Bettis Austen, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa. "The district court rightly rejected the state's unprecedented legal maneuvers to try to ban abortion in our state. This law was dangerous, cruel, and unconstitutional when the district court blocked it four years ago, and it's still dangerous, cruel, and unconstitutional today. Many Iowans were depending on the outcome of the case today, and we are celebrating the preservation of our freedom, health, and safety.”
Justice Thomas Waterman wrote in his opinion that Reynolds' administration "failed to establish that the district court acted illegally" and referenced a 2021 state Supreme Court ruling that prohibited police officers from searching a resident's trash without a warrant.
"It would be ironic and troubling for our court to become the first state Supreme Court in the nation to hold that trash set out in a garbage can for collection is entitled to more constitutional protection than a woman's interest in autonomy and dominion over her own body," said Waterman.
Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, noted that Iowa "has served as a critical access point" for people across the Midwest since the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court overturnedRoe v. Wade a year ago.
"With this ruling, thousands of patients seeking care in the state and beyond can continue to receive the necessary, lifesaving care that they need. This is a victory for Iowans' bodily autonomy and freedom, and Planned Parenthood remains committed to defending patients' fundamental right to an abortion," said McGill Johnson.
\u201cThis is an important win for women in Iowa, Wisconsin, and across the Midwest, preserving greater regional access to abortion.\n\nAbortion is healthcare and should be accessible to all who need it, regardless of what state they live in.\u201d— Rep. Mark Pocan (@Rep. Mark Pocan) 1686931937
U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) called the ruling "great news."
"Abortion is healthcare and must be accessible in every corner of our country," said Jayapal, who has spoken openly about her own abortion. "I won't stop fighting for federal protections so that all Americans can make their own healthcare decisions."
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