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Herschel Walker says he wants total ban on abortion: 'There's no exception in my mind'

Georgia Senate candidate and former football star Herschel Walker said Wednesday he supports abortion bans without any exceptions for rape or life of the mother. 

“There’s no exception in my mind,” Walker told reporters after a campaign speech. “Like I say, I believe in life. I believe in life.”

Reached for comment, Walker’s campaign told The Hill he “is pro-life and will not apologize for that.”

Georgia’s 2022 primary is set for Tuesday, with all signs pointing to Walker cruising to a smooth victory for the Republican nomination to face off against Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) in November. 

Abortion has become a hot topic in the midterms after Politico leaked a draft opinion showing that the Supreme Court is set to overturn Roe v. Wade. The document was not the final ruling on the matter, which will be released this summer. 

Congressional Democrats have attempted to pass a bill that would codify Roe v. Wade, but it was blocked in the Senate by Republicans and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.).

If the case is overturned, laws regarding abortion would largely be up to individual states.

Walker’s adamant anti-abortion stances comes weeks after he was endorsed by the National Right to Life. 

“Herschel Walker will be a most effective champion for unborn babies and their mothers in Washington and he has demonstrated the passion and perseverance it takes to win the critically important Georgia Senate race,” Carol Tobias, the organization’s president, said. 

“Georgia deserves a pro-life senator like Herschel Walker who is committed to building a culture of life,” Tobias added. “Walker’s stance for life stands in stark contrast to the out-of-touch record of Warnock who supports abortion for any reason until birth.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Nick Saban apologizes after back-and-forth with Jimbo Fisher

The Southeastern Conference spring meetings will be held in person for the first time since 2019 in a little less than two weeks.

It is unlikely two of the league’s superstar coaches will be chumming around Destin, Florida, together.

Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher called Nick Saban a “narcissist” on Thursday after the Alabama coach accused the rival Aggies of using name, image and likeness deals to land their top-ranked recruiting classes. Saban apologized a few hours later but generally stuck to his stance and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey followed soon after with a public reprimand for both.

So much for a quiet offseason.

The public spat is perhaps the ugliest display of the growing angst among college coaches who are wrestling with two big changes: the NIL compensation era that launched last July and its impact on recruiting, and the ease with which players can now transfer. Both have upset the landscape veteran coaches are used to, leading to complaints and now scathing accusations.

Less than 24 hours after Saban said Texas A&M was essentially “buying” players, Fisher called an impromptu news conference to blast college football’s most accomplished coach and his former boss at LSU.

“It’s despicable that a reputable head coach can come out and say this when he doesn’t get his way or things don’t go his way,” Fisher said in College Station, Texas. “The narcissist in him doesn’t allow those things to happen — it’s ridiculous — when he’s not on top. And the parity in college football he’s been talking about? Go talk to coaches who have coached for him. You’ll find out all the parity. Go dig into wherever he’s been.”

Texas A&M had the consensus No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2022 after beating Alabama during the regular season. The Tide’s class was No. 2. In his session with reporters, which lasted about 10 minutes, Fisher declared: “We never bought anybody, no rules are broken. Nothing was done wrong.”

Saban said he has reached out to Fisher but “never got a response.” He apologized for singling anybody out but stood by the gist of his message about booster-backed collectives helping to recruit players.

“I feel bad about it. But I’m not changing my philosophy,” Saban said on SiriusXM radio. “I look at the betterment of college football. What is good for the game?”

When asked if he wanted to address the conflict with Fisher at the upcoming SEC meetings, Saban said he’s hoping to work on big-picture issues.

“I really wasn’t saying that anybody did anything illegal in using name, image and likeness,” Saban said. “I didn’t say that. That was something that was assumed by what I said, which was not really what I meant. Nor was it what I said. There’s nothing illegal about doing this. It’s the system that allows you to do it. And that’s the issue that I have.”

Sankey issued a “public reprimand” for both coaches, but acknowledged there’s “tremendous frustration” about the lack of consistency in NIL rules in different states.

“The membership of the Southeastern Conference has established expectations for conduct and sportsmanship that were not met last night nor today,” Sankey said.

The Crimson Tide lost to the Aggies in 2021, but went on to win the SEC championship and play for the national title. The Aggies finished 8-4 in their fourth season under Fisher, who, like Saban, is among the highest-paid coaches in the game at more than $9 million per season.

Saban, who has won six national championships and is widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game, has called the current state of affairs unsustainable. At an event in Birmingham, Alabama, earlier this week he said some schools were spending “tons of money to get players.”

“We were second in recruiting last year. A&M was first. A&M bought every player on their team. Made a deal for name, image and likeness. We didn’t buy one player,” Saban said Wednesday night.

Fisher was an assistant under Saban in the early 2000s at LSU, working as offensive coordinator on the Tigers’ 2003 national title team. That relationship appears to be badly damaged now.

“We’re done,” Fisher said. “He showed you who he is. He’s the greatest ever, huh? When you got all the advantages, it’s easy.”

He said Saban’s comments were insulting to Texas A&M and the families of the players who signed with the Aggies.

Texas A&M plays at Alabama on Oct. 8, but Fisher and Saban won’t have to wait that long to cross paths with the SEC meetings just around the corner.

“I don’t cheat. I don’t lie. If you did my old man slapped me across the face. Maybe someone should have slapped [Saban],” Fisher said.

The 56-year-old Fisher won a national championship in 2013 as head coach at Florida State before receiving a 10-year contract for $75 million to leave Tallahassee for Texas A&M in 2017. Fisher was hired to deliver a title to a program that has not won a national championship since 1939 despite its deep-pocketed boosters, resources and access to talent.

Aggies athletic director Ross Bjork echoed Fisher’s defense of the program and said he believes some rivals might feel threatened that A&M is finally starting to put the pieces in place to reach its potential.

“So, why we’re the target, is that a threat to the power system of college football? SEC? State of Texas?” he asked. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask all the other people why they’re talking about A&M so much.”

The NCAA lifted most of its rules barring athletes from earning money from sponsorship and endorsement deals last July, but there are concerns among many in college sports that NIL deals are being used as recruiting inducements and de facto pay-for-play. Last week, the NCAA issued guidance to Division I members to clarify rules against boosters being involved in recruiting.

This was the second time this year Fisher issued a fiery public defense of his program. In February, he went off on competitors who were pushing rumors that Texas A&M had spent $30 million on NIL deals to secure one the highest-rated recruiting classes in history.

The 70-year-old Saban didn’t stop at just Texas A&M during is speaking engagement Wednesday night. He also mentioned Jackson State and Miami in his critique of NIL.

Jackson State coach Deion Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, landed one of the top recruits in the country in cornerback Travis Hunter, who had been committed to Florida State until a signing-day flip in December.

Sanders has denied Hunter received any impermissible deals before signing and told Andscape.com that he would like to have a public conversation with Saban about the accusations.

“I still love him. I admire him. I respect him. He’s the magna cum laude of college football and that’s what it’s going to be because he’s earned that,” Sanders said. “But he took a left when he should’ve stayed right. I’m sure he’ll get back on course. I ain’t tripping.”

As for Fisher, he said he’s looking forward to the Destin meetings.

“I don’t mind confrontation. Lived with it my whole life,” Fisher said. “Kind of like it myself. Backing away from it isn’t the way I was raised.”

Source: TEST FEED1

US, Ukraine need to agree on goals

“Victory is beginning,” Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, told the nation’s people one recent evening.

That’s surely good news for the besieged nation, for the United States and its allies, and for all those who hope to send a strong message to Russian’s Vladimir Putin and other would-be global aggressors.

It also reflects justifiable optimism as Russia’s advance stalls in the east due to manpower and equipment losses, the West provides increasingly powerful weapons to Kyiv, and Ukraine retakes territory that Russia seized in earlier days of the war. Russia’s military, meanwhile, is suffering from declining morale; a retired Russian colonel recently told Russian state TV that “the situation [for Russia] will clearly get worse,” and prospects of a Russian default on its foreign debt are growing. The European Union, meanwhile, has announced plans to wean Europe off of Russian energy, and a more united NATO is now planning to add Finland and Sweden as members.

But these successes beg an important question that could divide Ukraine from the West, and divide the West itself — especially if Ukraine continues to make gains on the ground while sanctions increasingly batter Russia’s economy: What, precisely, constitutes “victory”?

This is no small matter because, all else being equal, military coalitions benefit from shared goals and suffer from the lack thereof. Perhaps no nation has learned that lesson more over the years than the United States.

The allies of World War II were driven by the shared goal of thoroughly defeating Germany and Japan and forcing their surrenders, rather than negotiating settlements with either one. During the Persian Gulf War of 1991, the U.S.-led coalition was united around the goal of forcing Iraq’s exit from Kuwait, rather than overthrowing Saddam Hussein. In both cases, unity helped drive success.

By contrast, President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur famously clashed over the U.S. goal in Korea after Truman sent troops there in 1950. And the nation’s leaders soon split over our goal in Vietnam after President Johnson militarized the U.S. effort. In both cases, the dissensus helped nourish stalemate.

So, what does President Zelensky mean by “victory?” He seeks not only to retain all of Ukraine as it stood before Russia’s invasion of Feb. 24, but also to retake the Crimean Peninsula that Russia invaded in 2014 and later annexed.

Asked how America would define success, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a somewhat different take: that Ukraine “remain a sovereign… democratic country” that can “protect its sovereign territory,” and that Russia be “weakened” enough that it “can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”

In one sense, Kyiv and Washington are more in sync than it might appear. After all, the United States and its allies regard Russia’s annexation of Crimea as, in the words of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, an “illegal seizure and ongoing occupation.” Reflecting that sentiment, the foreign ministers of G-7 nations vowed in a joint statement last week to “uphold our engagement in the support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, including Crimea, and all states.”

The question is what happens if, buoyed by continuing battlefield gains, Zelensky puts his military where his mouth is and pursues the altogether justifiable — indeed, laudable — goal of recapturing Crimea, which Putin now regards as Russian territory.

How would Washington respond? Would we continue to provide Kyiv with powerful weapons for what would increasingly be a confrontation on Russian-annexed soil — even if it raised the risks that a more vulnerable Putin resorted to chemical or nuclear weapons? Would we, on the other hand, opt out and remain on the sidelines if Russia were battering Ukraine in Crimea?

The United States has made its share of mistakes by sending mixed signals in the midst of military confrontations.

When, in 1956, a populist uprising against Soviet domination gathered steam in Hungary, Radio Free Europe’s broadcasts into Hungary suggested that Washington would provide military support for the protestors. When Moscow sent troops to quell the uprising and Washington held back, the Hungarian people were sorely disappointed and remained embittered for years to come.

After the U.S.-led military coalition ousted Iraq from Kuwait in 1991, President George H. W. Bush suggested that Washington would provide support for an effort by Iraq’s military and people to topple Saddam. When Shi’ites in the south and Kurds in the north launched insurrections, however, the United States rebuffed their calls for help and Saddam suppressed the uprisings in brutal fashion.

Are the United States and its allies willing to pay the price, assume the risks, and support Ukrainian efforts not only to restore the borders of Feb. 23 but also retake Crimea? They may be. But let’s make sure there’s no misunderstanding on that score in Kyiv, Washington, or the capitals of our NATO allies.

Lawrence J. Haas, senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council, is the author of “The Kennedys in the World: How Jack, Bobby, and Ted Remade America’s Empire,” from Potomac Books.

Source: TEST FEED1

This week's must-watch moments on Capitol Hill

This week on Capitol Hill, lawmakers responded to a racist shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y., supermarket on Saturday.

Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) and Congressional Black Caucus chairwoman Rep. Joyce Beatty (Ohio), called out Republican colleagues for harboring racist sentiment that they claim stoke extremist acts of domestic terrorism. Republicans dismissed the accusations, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell affirming “racism of any sort is abhorrent in America.”

Lawmakers continued to respond to the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that could overturn federal abortion protections and the ongoing baby formula shortage.

Watch the video above for more must-watch moments on Capitol Hill.

Source: TEST FEED1

Suspect in Dave Chappelle incident facing charges of attempted murder in separate case

A man who allegedly attacked comedian Dave Chappelle at the beginning of May has been charged in a separate case for attempted murder of his roommate. 

Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón said on Thursday that Isaiah Lee is facing one count of attempted murder. 

The charge is related to an alleged stabbing of his roommate back in December, months before his alleged assault on Chapelle. 

The office says the incident occurred on Dec. 2 when a fight broke out at a transitional housing apartment. A person who previously reported the incident said the media reports regarding Chappelle’s case helped them identify Lee for this case.

“The publicity generated by the attack on Mr. Chappelle helped police solve this crime,” said Gascón. “The incident that occurred at the Hollywood Bowl was misdemeanor conduct and rightfully referred to the City Attorney’s Office. Based on the nature and severity of the December attack, Mr. Lee is now facing felony charges which my office will prosecute.”

Lee pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder charge and will appear before a judge on June 2.

The incident preceded Lee allegedly tackling Chappelle on stage at the Hollywood Bowl while the comedian was performing. Lee was holding a replica gun that could eject a blade.

Lee was charged with assault with a deadly weapon over the incident.

Source: TEST FEED1

Sweden and Finland: From alongside NATO to inside NATO

In the space of some six weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin successfully upended 208 years of Swedish history. Sweden had been non-aligned since 1814. If the NATO legislatures grant their approval, that no longer will be the case. Together with Finland, Sweden would become a full-fledged member of the alliance.

During the past decade or so, while a majority of the Finnish public swung round in favor of joining NATO, Swedish public opinion remained considerably more ambivalent. In particular, whereas the Moderate Party, Sweden’s leading conservative party, has outspokenly supported NATO membership, the ruling Social Democrats has been reluctant to get ahead of public opinion. Indeed, despite making it clear that it considered NATO membership a viable option, Finnish governments during those years likewise hesitated to launch a formal application process.

All that changed with Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine. And once Finland applied, Stockholm felt it could not be the only Nordic country to remain outside NATO.

In the past several days, a senior Swedish official pointed out to me that six weeks is indeed a very short time to reverse a centuries-old policy. It is true that Sweden already is well-integrated with NATO. Its forces have jointly exercised with NATO as a major alliance partner. Moreover, since the early 2010s it has developed an increasingly close relationship with both Helsinki and Washington; in May 2018, Sweden and Finland signed a memorandum of agreement with the United States to increase defense cooperation among the three countries. In addition, under Article 42.7 of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty, it is committed to employ “all means” in its power to any fellow European Union (EU) member state that becomes a “victim of armed aggression on its territory.” Moreover, Sweden’s deployment of a military presence on the Baltic island of Gotland certainly enhances Western deterrence against possible Russian aggression.

Nevertheless, as the official pointed out to me, the Swedish government recognizes that by joining NATO it will now take on the additional commitment to come to the defense of 30 — 31 when Finland joins — other countries under the terms of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. And its military, as well as civilian bureaucracy, which only months ago was not structured to function as a formal NATO ally, now will have to respond to the demands of a far speedier admittance process than has governed previous rounds of NATO expansion.

Sweden has committed itself to a significant increase in defense spending. With the consent of all its major parties, it plans to reach NATO’s target of 2 percent of GDP by 2028. With a technically advanced, highly professional military, Sweden’s entry into NATO would enhance the alliance’s posture in northern Europe significantly.

At the same time, however, Stockholm would like to see an increased and more frequent American presence in the Baltics. Such a presence would further underscore NATO’s deterrent in the region, particularly vis-à-vis Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave, which bristles with firepower including nuclear weapons. 

There is, of course, the possibility that despite the enthusiastic reception that the U.S. and most NATO states have granted to Stockholm and Helsinki, the alliance might not necessarily accept their applications. The governments of all 30 NATO states must approve the applications for membership, and not all of them are equally excited about the potential new entrants.

In particular, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has conditioned his approval on Sweden’s releasing to Turkey some 30 members of the Kurdish extremist PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) organization. Both Turkey and the United States have branded the PKK as a terrorist group, but my Swedish interlocutor made it clear that his country is not yet prepared to release these people to the tender mercies of the Turkish prison system.

Perhaps Putin’s rather low-key reaction to the Finnish and Swedish announcements was due to his anticipation that Turkey would block their accession over the PKK issue. As with his invasion of Ukraine, however, he may be guilty of a serious miscalculation again. Erdoğan might be satisfied with other forms of compensation, such as Washington’s permitting Turkey to rejoin the F-35 program, from which it was removed after Ankara’s purchase of Russian S-400 surface-to-air missiles.

Alternatively, the Turkish president may simply withdraw his veto, given Turkey’s concern about potential Russian dominance of the northern Black Sea. Indeed, Ankara has provided critical support for Ukraine — not only with its supply of highly effective Bayraktar drones but also by refusing Russian warships entry into the Black Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles. Erdoğan may conclude that adding the two states to the alliance enhances NATO’s overall deterrent, on its southern flank as much as on its northern one.

Hopefully, the process of admitting Finland and Sweden to NATO will not drag on. In the interim, America and Britain have issued security guarantees to both countries, even as their defense cooperation with America proceeds apace. And when the two states ultimately do join the alliance that Putin has worked so hard — and failed — to sunder, he will have only himself to blame.

Dov S. Zakheim is a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and vice chairman of the board for the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He was under secretary of Defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the Department of Defense from 2001 to 2004 and a deputy under secretary of Defense from 1985 to 1987.

Source: TEST FEED1

De Blasio launches bid for New York House seat

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) announced on Friday that he would be running for Congress.

“The polls shows people are hurting. They need help. They need help fast, and they need leaders who can actually get them help now and know how to do it. I do know how to do it from years of serving the people of this city,” de Blasio said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“And so today I’m declaring my candidacy for Congress in the 10th Congressional District of New York.”

New York’s primary is set for June 28. 

DEVELOPING

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Paul responds to McConnell, says opposition to Ukraine aid is 'common sense'

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of 11 Senate Republicans to vote against the $40 billion aid package to Ukraine, responded to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) comments describing Paul an “isolationist” following his vote against the package, saying his opposition is “common sense.”

“Opposing big government spending is not isolationism, it’s common sense. Our country faces an inflation crisis and adding more debt now is a mistake,” Paul said in a statement.

Paul was responding to remarks that McConnell made during a Fox News interview on Thursday, in which he claimed that Paul represented a “tiny percentage of” Senate Republicans while speaking about the Republicans who voted against the Ukrainian aid package.

Paul was among 11 Republicans to vote against the $40 billion aid package to Ukraine, along with Sens. Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), John Boozman (Ark.), Mike Braun (Ind.), Mike Crapo (Idaho), Bill Hagerty (Tenn.), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Mike Lee (Utah), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Roger Marshall (Kan.) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.).

“My colleague Senator Paul has always been basically an isolationist. He’s proud of it and believes that’s where America ought to be. That is a tiny percentage of the Senate Republican Conference. We only had 11 votes against the package. I predict we will have even fewer votes opposed to the admission of Finland and Sweden into NATO,” McConnell told Fox News anchor Bret Baier.

“There’s always been a strand of isolationism in our party, but it’s not anywhere near the dominant view, which was expressed in the vote that we had today and will be expressed again when we vote on the admission of Finland and Sweden into NATO,” he added.  

Still, the aid package had overwhelming support by both Republicans and Democrats in both chambers in Congress. President Biden is expected to sign the legislation soon.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Trevor Reed on surviving Russian imprisonment: 'I wouldn't let myself hope'

Former Marine Trevor Reed has given his first interview since he was released from Russia, saying he “wouldn’t let myself hope” during his nearly three-year imprisonment.

Last month, the Biden administration secured the release of Reed, who they say was wrongfully detained after he spent more than 900 days in a Russian prison.

“And a lot of people are not going to like what I’m gonna say about this, but I kind of viewed their — having hope as being a weakness,” Reed said about one his detainment in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that is set to air on Sunday. “So I did not wanna have that hope of, like, me, you know, being released somehow and then have that taken from me.”

“I wouldn’t let myself hope,” he added, saying he would stay up for multiple days at a time due to fear that he might be killed.

Reed told Tapper that at one point in the detainment he was in a cell with seven other prisoners.

“The psychiatric treatment facility, I was in there with seven other prisoners in a cell,” Reed said. “They all had severe, psychological health issues — most of ’em. So, over 50 percent of them in that cell were in there for murder. Or, like, multiple murders, sexual assault and murder — just really disturbed individuals.”

“There was blood all over the walls there — where prisoners had killed themselves, or killed other prisoners, or attempted to do that,” Reed added in a preview clip released by CNN on Friday. “The toilet’s just a hole in the floor. And there’s, you know, crap everywhere, all over the floor, on the walls. There’s people in there also that walk around that look like zombies.”

Reed was arrested in 2019 for allegedly assaulting an officer while he was drunk, an event Reed does not remember. He was sentenced to nine years in prison.

The Biden administration was able to secure his release in a prisoner exchange, giving Russia back citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving a sentence for drug charges.

Reed’s family advocated for his cause for years, meeting with President Biden in March to discuss their son’s imprisonment. 

A senior administration official said at the time of Reed’s release that negotiations had been accelerated due to fears his health was deteriorating. 

“Trevor has been wrongfully detained for a ‘crime’ the U.S. Ambassador to Russia has said ‘obviously did not occur’ and our family has been living a nightmare,” Joey and Paula Reed said in a statement when his release was announced. “Today, our prayers have been answered and Trevor is safely on his way back to the United States.”

Source: TEST FEED1