Archive by Author

More than 6 in 10 say it's important for midterm candidates to support abortion access: poll

More than six in 10 Americans say it’s important that candidates running for Congress in this year’s midterms support abortion access, according to a new Morning Consult-Politico poll published Monday.

About 62 percent of respondents to the survey said it was very important or somewhat important to support candidates in the 2022 elections who support abortion access. Another 29 percent said it was not too important or not important at all, while 9 percent had no opinion.

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on Friday, leaving abortion rights entirely up to the states for the first time in nearly 50 years. Around half of states are expected to ban or severely limit access to abortion in the wake of the ruling.

In the Morning Consult-Politico poll, 59 percent agree abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 34 percent who say it should be illegal in all or most cases.

The midterm elections come amid a myriad of issues in the U.S. outside of abortion access, including skyrocketing inflation, supply chain disruptions and a string of deadly mass shootings. President Biden has seen his approval ratings sink precipitously over the economic crises.

High gas prices and a 40-year high inflation rate are campaign issues Republicans are seizing on ahead of November, knowing Americans are likely to blame the party in power when the economy is in turmoil.

Some 39 percent of Americans say they will support a candidate who agrees with their stance on abortion, even if they disagree with the candidate on other issues, according to the poll.

About 52 percent of Americans strongly support or somewhat support Congress taking up a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade into law, while 31 percent of Americans oppose it.

The Morning Consult-Politico poll was conducted from June 24 to June 25 among 2,005 registered voters. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.

Source: TEST FEED1

Trump touts endorsed Arizona Senate candidate in new video

Arizona Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters released a video on Monday showing him alongside former President Trump, who repeatedly praised Masters’s candidacy.

Trump endorsed Masters earlier this month in his August primary race against four other Republicans, with the winner facing incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) in November in what is expected to be a close race.

“Blake Masters is an incredible person, a very smart guy and an ‘America First’ fighter,” Trump said in the video. “I endorse Blake because he will protect our border, he stands for life and he’s strong on election fraud. Frankly, he’s strong on everything needed to keep Arizona first.”

Trump’s mention of Masters’s anti-abortion stance comes in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday that overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion.

In Arizona, providers have stopped providing abortions since the landmark case was struck down, citing a pre-Roe law still on the books that bans most abortions. A separate Arizona law that bans abortions at 15 weeks is set to soon go into effect.

Trump in the video took aim at two of Masters’s most formidable opponents, businessman Jim Lamon and Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. 

“Mark Brnovich and Jim Lamon on the other hand will only let you down,” Trump said. “Blake Masters has my complete and total endorsement.”

The former president had previously torn into Brnovich for not alleging that mass fraud took place in Arizona’s election in 2020, when President Biden won the state.

Brnovich said in a report this spring that Maricopa County’s 2020 election results had “serious vulnerabilities” but did not allege mass fraud. 

Masters, meanwhile, has aligned himself with Trump’s false claim of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. 

With just more than a month until the primary election on Aug. 2, the Republican campaigns have gone scorched-earth, with millions of dollars having been poured into the race.

Masters is backed by PayPal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel, who has pumped more than $13 million into the race.

Lamon had already loaned his campaign $13 million as of the end of the first quarter of 2022. 

Whoever wins the primary will face a tough general election campaign, challenging an incumbent who flipped the seat blue in 2020.

Democrats are hoping to hold the seat in November as the party seeks to maintain its razor-thin majority in the Senate. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the contest as a “toss up.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Biden, NOAA announce new actions on illegal fishing

President Biden on Monday signed a national security memo aimed at addressing illegal fishing in international waters.

The memo seeks to increase international coordination to address labor issues in the fishing industry and remove labor abuses from the supply chain, according to a White House fact sheet.

It also aims to restrict the market for the products of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and forced labor.

During this week’s United Nations (U.N.) Ocean Conference, the Biden administration is also poised to announce an alliance with the United Kingdom and Canada to combat fishing that is illegal or goes unreported.

In conjunction with the memo, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Monday issued a proposed rule to address forced labor and other labor rights issues in the seafood industry. 

Under the new rule, “we are making our definition of IUU fishing consistent with that of the [U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization],” a National Security Council official told reporters on a press call Monday. 

This proposal will allow U.S. officials to craft definitions that incorporate both the use of forced labor and comparable fishing laws between the U.S. and other nations, an official said.

Meanwhile, a U.S. interagency working group comprised of 21 federal agencies is currently finalizing a five-year plan to address IUU fishing, officials said on the call.

The group will work with Ecuador, Panama, Senegal, Taiwan and Vietnam, according to the official, who said each of them has “expressed a willingness to work with the United States to combat IUU fishing in their countries.” The plan is set for release by the end of July.

Industry and lawmakers have long pushed the Biden administration to take action on illegal fishing, calling it a national security and economic issue.

Earlier this month, Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) urged Biden to “send a clear message on the world stage that the U.S. is a leader in addressing illegal fishing and forced labor by announcing new regulations for illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing” ahead of the conference.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Reopening Florida corals to fishing defies science and economics

In the waters off Florida’s Atlantic coast stands a wonder of nature that few people would expect to find: an old-growth forest. Some 50 miles east of Daytona and in 230 to 325 feet of water, the ivory tree coral Oculina varicosa grows in dense thickets — the only place this coral species is found on Earth. Scientific core sampling from some mounds of Oculina has dated them at 1,000 to 1,500 years old, and the tallest among them reaches 115 feet in height. Similar to other deeper-water corals, Oculina grows slowly, only 1.6 centimeters a year.

And like a forest on land, the Oculina reef is teeming with other life, including black sea bass, speckled hind, Warsaw grouper and deep-sea sponges — one reason why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries), the agency responsible for the stewardship of marine resources, identified this underwater forest as a Habitat Area of Particular Concern in 1984 and made it off-limits to fishing gear that could damage these fragile corals. In 2014, the agency expanded the area to encompass newly discovered mounds of coral.

So, it is bewildering that NOAA Fisheries is now considering a request from the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council — which proposes fisheries regulations in the region — to open the area for the rock shrimp fishery to bottom trawl. Such a move would threaten the existence of these ancient corals.

Extensive and well-documented damage from rock shrimp trawling was the primary reason NOAA Fisheries protected the area in the first place. While fishermen claim they won’t trawl on the corals — only nearby — the strong and unpredictable currents here make it difficult for fishermen to control exactly where their gear goes and impossible for them to guarantee they won’t damage or destroy corals. Even if they managed to avoid the corals, the trawling would still kick up sediment plumes that could travel significant distances on currents and blanket the corals, blocking their feeding mechanism and suffocating them.

The council’s request is not supported by science. Both the council’s coral advisory panel and its habitat protection and ecosystem-based management advisory panel recommended keeping protections in place and presented evidence that rolling back restrictions would cause long-term damage to the coral ecosystem there.

And other regions in the country have made steady gains in protecting deep-sea coral — including Alaska, along the Pacific Coast, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mid-Atlantic and New England — which makes the South Atlantic Council’s latest proposal even more puzzling.

The council claims it is following direction from a May 2020 executive order, issued by then-President Donald Trump, to expand commercial fishing opportunities for the purpose of economic growth and global competitiveness. Yet the most profitable year for the rock shrimp fishery since 2009 was 2017 — three years after the closure went into effect. That could be because protecting the places fish feed, reproduce and shelter actually helps fish populations thrive.

Destroying the very habitat that supports fish populations to catch more fish is not only shortsighted and counterproductive, it also runs counter to the objectives of the country’s primary fisheries conservation and management law, the Magnuson-Stevens Act. One of the core tenets of the Magnuson-Stevens Act is that fishery managers should prevent overfishing and rebuild depleted fish populations so that our country can enjoy the optimum yield from these renewable natural resources. Removing protections for Oculina corals would degrade the essential habitat for a number of fish NOAA Fisheries lists as overfished — among them red snapper, gage and snowy groupers, and red porgy — which would hamstring efforts to recover these vulnerable populations.

Losing these rare corals could also mean the extinction of yet undiscovered species. Scientists found this Oculina forest in 1975, and it remains, like much of the deep ocean, largely unexplored. Discoveries in other deep-sea coral communities around the world have included compounds to treat cancer and other medical conditions.

Removing protections for deep-sea Oculina corals would also be out of step with the Biden-Harris administration’s vision. Based on policy initiatives to date, the administration understands the increasing threats to marine ecosystems due to climate change, the value of science, and the importance of conservation — to nature, the economy, and Americans’ well-being. Management changes that could result in the destruction of these Oculina corals would directly undermine directions from the Biden-Harris administration, including the America the Beautiful initiative, which aims to increase resilience and maintain biodiversity by conserving 30 percent of America’s lands and waters by 2030.

Fortunately, members of this administration — NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit, NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad, and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo — have a chance to correct this misguided proposal. NOAA Fisheries is accepting comments on the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s proposal through June 28.

The Pew Charitable Trusts will be officially opposing this measure and invites others to do the same. Preserving this remarkable Oculina forest and habitat would benefit the ecosystem and the future of fishing and wildlife for generations to come.

Jennifer Browning leads The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Conserving Marine Life in the U.S. project.

Source: TEST FEED1

Most say cost of living is holding them back from American dream

Rising costs are pinching the pockets of Americans, leading most in a new survey to say the cost of living expenses is keeping them from achieving the American dream.  

A new nationally representative survey from Wallet Hub shows many Americans are dealing with financial uncertainties heading into the Fourth of July holiday, with only 56 percent saying they feel financially independent.  

When asked what was holding them back from living the American dream, 62 percent of those surveyed said the cost of living, while fewer than 20 percent said their income was their main obstacle. 

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. 

Gas prices nationwide are currently falling from recent highs that were above $5 per gallon. Yet data shows consumers are paying on average $4.89 per gallon at the pump.  

Further, federal data indicates rent prices are increasing, with costs rising in May by 5 percent from last year, and an analysis from Redfin noted the median home price in the U.S. is up by 14.6 percent from the previous year, at more than $430,000.  

More than 59 percent of homes sold in May went for more than their listing price.  

Americans planning to celebrate the Fourth of July will also see increasing prices. A new analysis from the American Farm Bureau Federation shows the costs of the average cookout will increase by 17 percent.  

The Wallet Hub survey found that nearly two-thirds of Americans plan on spending less for celebrations this year, and most do not plan on holiday shopping. Yet a majority surveyed view saving money as more patriotic than spending.  

The survey was conducted online, measuring a nationally representative sample of 350 U.S. adults. 

READ MORE STORIES FROM CHANGING AMERICA 

HERE’S THE AGE WHEN AMERICANS GET THE LEAST AMOUNT OF SLEEP 

MOST AMERICANS AGREE THAT TRANSGENDER MEN AND WOMEN ARE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST: POLL 

WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT THE NEW NOVAVAX VACCINE FOR COVID-19 

ABORTIONS IN THE US INCREASED IN 2020, REVERSING A MORE THAN 30-YEAR DECLINE 

LIZZO REMOVES ‘HARMFUL WORD’ FROM SONG: ‘I NEVER WANT TO PROMOTE DEROGATORY LANGUAGE’ 

Source: TEST FEED1

Lawsuit challenges Florida 'Stop WOKE Act'

A lawsuit filed this month in federal court alleges that a new Florida law designed to “fight back against woke indoctrination” by barring employers and educators from addressing concepts like race, sex and religion violates free speech rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

In a lawsuit filed June 22, the nonprofit organization Protect Democracy challenges the legality of Florida’s Individual Freedom Act, otherwise known as the “Stop WOKE Act,” where woke is used as an acronym for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”

The measure, signed into law in April by the state’s Republican governor Ron DeSantis, prevents Florida workplaces and schools from requiring training or instruction that may make some people feel they bear “personal responsibility” for historic wrongdoings because of their race, sex or national origin.

Proponents of the law, which is set to take effect Friday, have argued that the measure will make classrooms and businesses more inclusive by removing from the equation concepts like race and gender, which they claim have been used by liberals to make white people feel guilty.

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

“In Florida, we will not let the far-left woke agenda take over our schools and workplaces,” DeSantis said during a signing ceremony in April. “There is no place for indoctrination or discrimination in Florida.”

In the Protect Democracy complaint, filed on behalf of Florida companies Honeyfund, Whitespace Consulting and Collective Concepts, as well as diversity trainer Chevara Orrin, plaintiffs allege that the law violates their Constitutional rights.

“This lawsuit challenges Florida’s use of state authority to stifle speech with which those in power  disagree — a clear violation of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit reads.

“Our First Amendment right to speak and receive facts is what makes our system of self-government work,” Shalini Agarwal, counsel at Protect Democracy, said in a statement. “In a diverse democracy like ours, it’s particularly damaging for the government to chill conversations about how to create workplaces and businesses that are welcoming to all.”

The lawsuit also argues that the “Stop WOKE Act” violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and is overbroad and void for vagueness because its exact prohibitions are not clearly defined.

“It is unclear what training language would rise to the level of intending to cause employees to ‘feel guilt, anguish, or other forms of psychological distress,’ leaving enforcement ripe for arbitrary application,” the complaint reads.

On Monday, a federal judge rejected another lawsuit filed in April that sought to temporarily block the law’s enforcement. The complaint had also challenged the Florida Department of Education’s ban on critical race theory, which DeSantis and his allies have called “state-sanctioned racism.”

The department last year said critical race theory, which addresses systemic racism in the U.S., belongs in the same category as Holocaust denial and other “theories that distort historical events.”

Source: TEST FEED1

July 4th cookout costs 17 percent higher this year

 
Americans can expect to pay more for their Independence Day cookouts this year as soaring inflation and supply chain snags continue.  

A new American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) survey found the average cost of a cookout is up 17 percent from 2021. Americans will pay about $69.68 for a cookout for 10 people, an increase of about $10 from the year prior.  

Prices of ground beef, chicken breasts, pork chops, pork and beans, lemonade and other products have seen significant increases.  

Economists from the AFBF attributed food and supply price hikes are due to ongoing supply chain disruptions, inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.  

“Despite higher food prices, the supply chain disruptions and inflation have made farm supplies more expensive; like consumers, farmers are price-takers not price-makers,” American Farm Bureau Federation Chief Economist Roger Cryan said in a statement.  

America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news.

“Bottom line, in many cases the higher prices farmers are being paid aren’t covering the increase in their farm expenses. The cost of fuel is up and fertilizer prices have tripled.”  

The survey found the retail price for 2 pounds of ground beef increased by 36 percent from last year to about $11.12, while the average price of 2 pounds of chicken breasts increased 33 percent to $8.99. The price of three pounds of center cut pork chops increased 31 percent to $15.26. The cost of fresh-squeezed lemonade increased 22 percent from last year, while potato salad is 19 percent more expensive and hamburger buns about 16 percent more costly.  

Some key cookout goods did see a drop in price from 2021. The cost of two pints of strawberries fell 16 percent, while a pound of sliced cheese fell 13 percent and a 16-ounce bag of potato chips fell 4 percent.  

Meanwhile, a recent WalletHub survey found Americans are feeling the sting of inflation and are planning to spend less on July 4 celebrations this year. Two thirds of Americans surveyed said they plan to spend less money this Fourth of July compared to last year and 57 percent said inflation is affecting their holiday plans.  

Source: TEST FEED1

White House to resume free public tours July 19

The White House will resume a full operating schedule of free public tours of the complex on July 19, the Biden administration announced on Monday.

The tours will take place Tuesdays through Saturdays and be available from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The news of a full operating schedule follows the White House resuming free public tours on Fridays and Saturdays on April 15. Before that, White House tours had largely been suspended since March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The tours are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis and can be requested through a constituent’s member of Congress or through congressional tour coordinators from the House or Senate.

Face coverings will be made available but for those who take the tours but will be optional. Additionally, the White House said it “reserves the right to adjust availability of the public tours as necessary to adhere to the latest health guidance” and will be closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation.

The White House this year opened its gardens back up to public tours for the annual long weekend event that was canceled for two years. Tickets to the spring garden tours on April 9 and 10 on the South Grounds were also free and were distributed by the National Park Service.

Source: TEST FEED1

Giuliani says video of supermarket incident 'a little deceptive'

Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Monday that a video of an incident in a Staten Island supermarket, which was initially described as an attack against the former New York City mayor, was “probably is a little deceptive.”

Giuliani claims that he was almost knocked over when ShopRite employee Daniel Gill slapped him on the back Sunday. However, a video that circulated online shows the former mayor barely move when the hand makes contact with his back, and then quickly turn to face Gill as a woman strokes his back.

“And all of a sudden without any warning was hit very, very hard on the back, to such an extent that it knocked me forward about two steps,” Giuliani said of the incident during a press conference on Monday.

“I got hit as if a boulder hit me,” he added.

“People around me helped me. People around me secured the person who did it. The videotape that you see probably is a little deceptive because it just shows that hand on my back.”

The New York Police Department (NYPD) told The Hill on Sunday that Giuliani was slapped in the “mid-back” by the ShopRite employee while on the campaign trail for his son Andrew Giuliani’s gubernatorial campaign. 

Giuliani also expressed his displeasure over Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon (D) downgrading the 39-year-old Gill’s charges in the incident.

Initial charges of second-degree assault for assaulting a person over the age of 65 years old were changed to misdemeanor charges of assault in the third degree, menacing in the third degree, and harassment in the second degree, according to New York’s ABC affiliate WABC.

Gill has been released ahead of his scheduled hearing on August 17.

Giuliani said he believed Gill hit him because of his “pro-life” stance on abortion, with the incident coming just two days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion. 

In a statement on Sunday, Andrew Giuliani said that the attack on his father hit close to home, but was part of a wider problem of crime and violence in the city.

“The assault on my father, America’s Mayor, was over politics,” he said. “We will not be intimidated by left wing attacks. As governor I will stand up for law and order so that New Yorkers feel safe again.”

Source: TEST FEED1