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Juan Williams: Hillary Clinton can rescue Democrats in the midterms

Democrats need a strong voice ready to fight to restore women’s rights, now that the Supreme Court has struck down Roe v. Wade. 

There’s only one Hillary Clinton. 

Right-wingers on the Supreme Court rescinding the constitutional right to abortion “is incredibly dangerous and it is not just about a woman’s right to choose. It is about much more than that,” Clinton told CBS News back in May, when a draft version of Friday’s decision emerged. 

“Any American who says, ‘Look, I’m not a woman, this doesn’t affect me. I’m not Black, that doesn’t affect me. I’m not gay, that doesn’t affect me’ — once you allow this kind of extreme power to take hold you have no idea who they will come for next,” she said. 

Go, Hillary. 

Unlike most Democrats at a loss for a midterms message, Clinton knows how to deal with the far-right’s bullying. 

The GOP’s media echo chamber long ago demonized her. She still beat Donald Trump in the popular vote in 2016.  

Now it is her turn to lash the GOP extremists for ending nationwide abortion rights, putting more guns on the streets, punishing corporations for supporting gay rights, and dismissing history lessons on race as upsetting to white children. 

Clinton is exactly the right person to put steel in the Democrats’ spine and bring attention to the reality that “Ultra-MAGA” Republicans, as President Biden calls them, are tearing apart the nation. 

The Supreme Court justices last week acted as political enforcers for extremist views that are far out of line with public opinion on abortion and gun safety.  

They opened the door to women losing control over their lives without the right to have an abortion. They also gave a pass to more violent shootings on the streets by striking down a New York safeguard that required people who want to carry a firearm in public to demonstrate a specific need. 

These decisions amount to a political powerplay by former President Trump’s three nominees. 

Biden measures his words about the far-right out of fear of being charged with further polarizing the country. 

So let Hillary roar her message to suburban, white women who will be key to deciding the outcome of the midterms. 

She already bragged back in April that Biden and congressional Democrats have had a “lot of good accomplishments,” in the last two years, including passage of a long-delayed infrastructure bill to strengthen America’s roads, bridges, and electricity grids. 

She is pumping up Democrats for passing the financial aid package that kept many families afloat through the pandemic. 

Without a strong voice like Clinton’s, those Democratic accomplishments get drowned out by Republican culture wars centered on hatred of transgender children, fictions about whites being replaced, and the embrace of the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. 

Clinton has the added potential to change the national conversation by scolding social media sites, newspapers and television networks for attempting even-handed treatment of both parties, even though one party is now an autocratic cult complicit in a violent insurrection against the U.S. government. 

“I don’t think the media is doing its job, to be honest,” she recently told Harry Lambert of the British publication The New Statesman. 

She added that, “the mainstream media hasn’t yet caught up to the reality we live in. They are much too reluctant to stand up for the truth in the face of massive lying — to call a lie a lie — to be on record as saying that we are in a struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, and it can’t just be business as usual.” 

In a separate interview with Edward Luce of the Financial Times, Clinton even called out fellow Democrats for the excesses of “woke politics.” She labeled it as a distraction that feeds right-wing media’s distorted image of mainstream Democrats.  

“We are standing on the precipice of losing our democracy, and everything that everybody else cares about then goes out the window,” Clinton said. 

“Look, the most important thing is to win the next election. The alternative is so frightening that whatever does not help you win should not be a priority.” 

Clinton is feeding a hunger aroused in April by Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D). The little-known politician went viral by firing back at GOP lies about Michigan Democrats wanting to “groom and sexualize” children because they favored laws allowing teachers to address sexuality. 

Calling herself a “straight, white, Christian, married, suburban mom,” McMorrow stood in the state capitol and called out the GOP attack as “absolute nonsense.”  

Speaking with fire in her voice she said: “I want every child in this state to feel seen, heard and supported, not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white and Christian.” 

This is the model for Clinton. 

The U.S. needs “leaders who endeavor to bring out the best in us, not the worst, who don’t play to our fears, but help us address them,” Clinton said in Britain. 

In her Financial Times interview, Clinton specifically warned Democrats not to fall victim to Republican claims that Democrats want to defund the police. 

“It doesn’t even pass the common-sense politics test not to believe that [police are necessary, and should be accountable],” she explained, adding “politics should be the art of addition not subtraction.”  

Keep talking and talk louder, Hillary!  

Juan Williams is an author, and a political analyst for Fox News Channel. 

Source: TEST FEED1

How bad actors are using tech platforms to sexually exploit, traffic Ukrainian women

Bad actors are leveraging social media groups and communications apps to sexually exploit and traffick Ukrainians seeking shelter and information, amplifying concerns about those dangers in an already high-risk region.

As the war continues and millions of Ukrainians, especially women and children, transition to border nations, potential traffickers are using the same digital spaces where refugees are looking for assistance to spread misinformation or pose as well-meaning volunteers to house those fleeing the conflict. Experts say tech companies could be doing more to protect Ukrainians from those threats amid an apparent rise in demand for trafficking victims from the besieged country.

“I find it really heartbreaking that at the moment when so many people are trying to protect vulnerable women and children, one of the first measurable reactions to the crisis was that men were going online in record breaking numbers trying to figure out how to sexually access those women,” said Val Richey, special representative and co-ordinator for combatting trafficking in human beings at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). 

Data on upticks in human trafficking of Ukrainian women are only starting to emerge since Russia invaded four months ago. But a Thomson Reuters analysis found spikes across Europe for terms related to online demand for sex with Ukrainian women as news about the war spread across Europe. 

The analysis found a 200 percent increase in Google searches for “Ukrainian escorts” in the U.K. between Feb. 27 and March 5 compared to the prior six months. The term “Ukrainian porn” increased 600 percent in Spain, and 130 percent in Poland over the same period. 

A similar trend was seen with search spikes in Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France and Switzerland, according to the Thomson Reuters analysis. 

“European women, Eastern European woman, Ukrainian women, are already at risk, and often are lured and groomed and recruited into sex trafficking. So you put crisis on top of that, and now you have a recipe for increased spikes of demand for human trafficking,” said Heather C. Fischer, senior advisor for Human Rights Crimes at Thomson Reuters. 

“This might seem innocuous at first to the outside observer, but these trends can actually provide sort of an impetus for traffickers to capitalize the demand,” Fischer added. 

For example, of 38 men arrested for buying sex in Sweden in March as part of a police operation, investigators found 30 were specifically trying to access Ukrainian women, Sweden’s state-controlled station reported. In Ireland, an escort service website advertised access to Ukrainian escorts, according to screenshots provided by Thomson Reuters. 

“It’s just really unfortunate as globally people are wondering how they can rush headlong to supporting some of the most vulnerable people, there was a pocket of society who are asking the opposite question, which is, ‘how can I exploit women and children coming from Ukraine?’ So that’s very alarming for us,” Fischer said. 

In the earlier days of the war, traffickers would pose physically at the border as volunteers seeking to give refugees rides or safe shelter. But as those activities were acknowledged and policy and volunteer groups began looking out for traffickers, those groups moved to a “much more aggressive” online presence, said Erol Yayboke, director and senior fellow with the International Security Program and director of the Project on Fragility and Mobility at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). 

Instead of offering false assistance in person at the border, potential traffickers started infiltrating organically formed online groups to impersonate volunteers. 

Diana Shore, the administrator of the volunteer Facebook group Rooms for Ukrainians in the UK, ran into the obstacle of possible traffickers and trolls after launching the page to connect Ukrainians with housing in the U.K. in early March. 

Just nine days after launching her page, the U.K. government offered visa options to allow volunteers to open their homes to Ukrainian refugees, and action on the page “skyrocketed,” she said. Currently, the private group has more than 29,000 members. 

Resources like Shore’s page are key to not only matching refugees with volunteers, but also providing information. Informal networks including Facebook groups, Telegram chats and Viber chats remain the main source of information for fleeing Ukrainians about their options as refugees, according to an assessment published by VOICE and HIAS that included interviews with women forcibly leaving Ukraine. 

But without tools in place from Facebook, the job of wading through bad actors and potential traffickers is left largely up to the volunteer administrators.

“Facebook can do better than this. [On] the average dating site you can verify somebody,” Shore said. 

“You know that the person is verified and you know their location. So it can’t be somebody posing to be a Ukrainian guest who’s actually living in Russia, or somebody who’s saying they’ve got a house in Manchester, whose actual location is Saudi Arabia,” she added. 

Group administrators notice “red flags” from certain accounts, she said, including ones that target lone young women or seem “too good to be true,” describing themselves either as a “wealthy family” or offering access to an “elite life” with “work available in return.” 

The group administrators look through all reported posts from the group and choose to remove, keep or hide them after reviewing. But their ability to effectively moderate depends on their available time and ability to learn how to do so “on the fly,” Shore said. 

“It would have made a lot of difference if Facebook actually just used the software which is already out there to verify identity, especially as unfortunately, this was a life threatening situation, with huge risk to both parties.”

Shore said the group faced obstacles with exploitative users on both ends — people posing as volunteers offering safe housing to target refugees, as well as Ukrainians who “may not have the best motives for coming” and seeking housing through the group. 

In addition to features for verifying users, Shore said Facebook could offer options for a group to limit membership to a specific geographical region or location filters so only people in relevant regions could access the group. 

She also said the company could consider putting in place “hours of operation” limits, which could allow a group to limit content from being posted overnight when administrators are asleep and may not notice content that would typically be removed. 

A spokesperson for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said attempts by “a small number of people to exploit these groups to abuse those seeking safety is something we’re taking very seriously, and we’ll take action on any content which violates our policies.” 

“The UK Government is responsible for determining who is eligible and ultimately able to house refugees under this scheme and we encourage everyone who is taking part to follow the Government’s guidance,” the spokesperson said in a statement. 

The tech giant has taken other measures since the start of the war to attempt to keep Ukrainian users safe. For example, the company added Ukraine to a list of countries that let users lock their profiles. This bars users who are not friends with them from zooming in on, sharing or downloading their full-size profile picture and from seeing photos and posts on their timeline. 

Google also has some protections in place to mitigate concerns about trafficking. The company’s policies prevent sexually explicit content from appearing in predictions on its auto-complete search function. Additionally, in certain countries, including Ukraine, Google displays a box at the top of search results about support for trafficking victims if a user searches for terms related to seeking help for such threats. The company is looking to expand on those resources. 

European Union authorities are also targeting traffickers online. Law enforcement from 14 EU member states participated in a hackathon in May focused on posts offering help to refugees for transportation, accomodation or work. The hackathon identified nine suspected human traffickers and nine possible victims, and initiated 15 new investigations.

Experts recommended that tech companies collaborate with organizations that work to combat trafficking to help guide their efforts to ensure their tools aren’t used to enable it. 

“Tech platforms need to really reflect on how their tools can be used for good or bad reasons and then bring in expertise that’s going to help them decide what may be a risk factor,” said Mendy Marsh, co-founder and executive director of VOICE.

“There’s so much that could be done, that they have to take the time to actually go through that and question the use of the platform and to really dig into how it may be manipulated,” she added. 

One way companies can take action would be to provide labels or disclaimers on posts containing information about assistance for Ukraine, similar to the labels social media platforms have put in place for posts containing information about COVID-19, Yayboke said. 

Companies can also run ads that point users towards hotlines or other helpful information if they search for terms related to seeking help for trafficking, Richey said. 

They could also take a more assertive step to disable search results for certain terms, such as “Ukrainian escorts,” Richey said. 

“I think tech companies are interested in figuring out how to respond. And what we need to do is link their technical knowledge with our trafficking knowledge, and put that all together into a coordinated response,” he said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Experts see risk with little upside in Biden's gas tax break

Experts are warning that President Biden’s proposed gas tax holiday would do little to defray pain at the pump and actively take a toll on infrastructure and the environment.

The 18-cent federal tax, which Biden has said should be suspended for three months amid steep gas prices, is “very little money” for individuals, said Beverly Moran, professor of law emerita at Vanderbilt Law School.  

“It just doesn’t make any sense. If the government wants to do something to help people who are having problems with their, you know, the cost of gas, they can send out another check to people,” Moran told The Hill in an interview. “They aren’t even considering how they’re going to stop companies from just eating up the difference … keeping the same price and just pocketing the tax.” 

Modeling by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania indicates that a gas tax suspension from July to September would only mean a per capita spending reduction of $4.79 to $14.31, depending on location, but would reduce overall government revenues by about $6 billion.

Progressive Democrats in Congress, meanwhile, are doubling down on their push for a windfall profits tax on oil companies which would be returned to consumers, arguing this would provide the greatest relief for consumers. 

“I think the gas tax is a smaller, somewhat half measure,” Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), the sponsor of one of two oil windfall profits tax bills, told The Hill. “Decreasing the amount of taxes that fossil fuel or fossil fuel companies have to pay doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s going to lower costs. And it doesn’t mean it’s going to lower costs as much as we need to lower costs.”

Moran agreed that the idea would be more effective than a break in the gas tax.

“Last time there was a windfall profits tax, it was [the presidency of] Richard Nixon, and that says a whole lot, that now Richard Nixon is a liberal in United States politics,” she said.

“Yeah, there should be a windfall profits tax.”

On a Tuesday night call announcing the president’s official backing of a gas tax holiday, White House officials were noncommittal on the prospect of Biden also supporting a windfall profits tax. 

Ahead of Biden’s announcement, congressional proponents of such a tax, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had expressed hope that Biden, who has sharply criticized oil companies for posting record profits amid the price surge, was on their wavelength.  

“The problem with repealing an 18 cents gas tax is it feeds into a far right narrative that the problem is government, not Big Oil gouging consumers,” Khanna tweeted Wednesday after Biden came out in favor of the suspension. 

Meanwhile, the idea of a gas tax pause has also drawn criticism over its potential effects on infrastructure and the environment.

In a letter last week, before Biden announced his support, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) wrote that the revenues lost could threaten the goals of the bipartisan infrastructure bill Biden signed last year. 

“Delaying, or cancelling outright, the projects this legislation makes possible will waste a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rebuild and renew America, and leave future generations holding the bag for long overdue repairs and improvements,” he wrote. 

A suspension could also have environmental implications, according to Beia Spiller, transportation program director and fellow at Resources for the Future.  

“There’s a lot of evidence out there that shows that when gasoline prices increase, people choose to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle than they had,” Spiller told The Hill in an interview. Even if a suspension was short-lived and had little effect on what consumers actually pay, she said, “you will have a short-run, change in demand relative to [if there was] no gasoline tax holiday… so if you didn’t have the gasoline tax holiday, we would see better changes and changes in driving patterns.” 

A further complication is the potential political hurdle of restoring the tax after suspending it, said Robert Weiner, a professor of international finance, economics and strategy at George Washington University.  

“If you have a gas tax holiday, it might be hard to put the gas tax [back] once the crisis has receded,” Weiner told The Hill in an interview. “In general, gas taxes are very unpopular. I think there’s a real risk that we will end up with a permanent holiday on the gas tax, and the roads won’t be as well-maintained as they are now because it’s not clear where the money will come from.” 

The gas tax holiday appears to stand little chance of passing Congress, where members on both sides have expressed skepticism.

The administration has taken several other steps aimed at reducing gas prices, including removing seasonal restrictions on the sale of higher-ethanol fuel blends and the largest-ever release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.  

Ultimately, Weiner said, the only thing that may stabilize prices in the long term is a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine.

“The genie is basically out of the bottle,” he said, “The only way to put the genie back in the bottle is to have an end to the Ukraine conflict.” 

“Gas prices are high because there’s much less gasoline available,” Weiner added. There’s less gasoline available because there’s an embargo on Russian oil, and it’s kind of as simple as that.”

Source: TEST FEED1

Why Biden has filled his administration with mayors

When Labor Secretary Marty Walsh runs into Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg or Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack during Biden administration meetings and events, they’ll greet one another as “mayor.”

When Vice President Harris spots Walsh, she’ll refer to him as “mayor.”

“Mayors in this administration, we can handle a whole bunch of issues,” Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, said in an interview.

President Biden has stocked his administration with former mayors. 

Buttigieg is the former mayor of South Bend, Ind. Marcia Fudge, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), served eight years as mayor of Warrensville Heights, Ohio, before running for Congress.

Vilsack was mayor of Mount Pleasant, Iowa before eventually becoming governor. Mitch Landrieu, the former mayor of New Orleans, is now Biden’s infrastructure czar. And Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, is Biden’s ambassador to Japan.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms will become the latest mayor to join the ranks of the Biden administration when she joins the West Wing as a senior adviser to the president and head of the Office of Public Engagement in the coming days.

Officials say Biden, a former county council member, values the experience of mayors, who are forced to deal directly with the granular problems Americans face every day and who can communicate plainly to the public.

“He wants to know how people feel on the ground. Mayors are the kind of people who have cut their teeth on exactly those kinds of problems,” Landrieu said in an interview.

It’s not uncommon for a former mayor to serve in a president’s Cabinet. Julian Castro served as mayor of San Antonio before joining the Obama administration as HUD secretary.

But Biden seems to have a particular affinity for bringing former city leaders into his administration.

“I think it has everything to do with him wanting to solve problems,” Landrieu said.

The former New Orleans mayor argued mayors are well equipped to execute plans and implement policy since the job of leading a city requires delivering results. He also argued the variety of positions held by former mayors reflects the versatility required of a mayor, who might have to deal with public safety one day, road closures another day and promote a small business the next day.

Frank Scott, Jr, mayor of Little Rock, Ark., and president of the African American Mayors Association, argued mayors are particularly familiar with many of the issues that happen to be most pressing for the Biden administration as it enters the summer, including infrastructure and day-to-day issues like high prices.

“We’re close to the ground, whether in the barber shop, the beauty salon, the grocery store, gas station, church. They’re going to ask questions. They’re going to want to know the answer,” Scott said. “We can’t run away from the people. So oftentimes we are able to have a greater understanding and temperature of the climate that may be brewing.”

Walsh, who left his role as Boston mayor to join the Biden administration, cited the urgency that comes with being mayor as a particularly useful skill in the federal government. 

That urgency stands in contrast to the pace of Washington, D.C., Walsh said, where things are often tied up in the process of legislating and rule-making. 

“I think the president acknowledges that mayors don’t have time to sit down and ponder about the issue,” Walsh said. “They have to respond instantly. Whether it’s on homelessness, or schools, or policing, or fire or public works. A snowstorm isn’t going to wait five days for us to get our act together.”

Biden’s admiration for mayors has come through during his meetings with city leaders since being elected president. During the presidential transition, Biden held a virtual meeting with members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors to pledge his support during a bleak period in the coronavirus pandemic.

The president spoke in January at the Conference of Mayors annual gathering in Washington, D.C., where he credited city leaders with carrying “the quality of the people’s lives on your shoulders.”

Biden served two years on the New Castle, Del., County Council before running for Senate. He often jokes with mayors and other local officials that he ran for federal office because being a local politician was “too hard” because people “know where you live.”

But those who work with Biden in the White House believe he’s retained his appreciation for the details that affect people’s day-to-day lives.

Landrieu recalled talking with Biden about infrastructure investments in trains. Biden would mention how the tracks curve in a particular town in Delaware, Landrieu said, and ask for specific updates about what kind of machinery is needed for a project and how train service can best be sped up in that part of town.

“People tease him about being just regular Joe,” Landrieu said. “He is in fact exactly who he says he is. He wants to be able to communicate on the ground, and mayors are forced to do that every day.”

Source: TEST FEED1

DeSantis builds national profile out of Trump’s view

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is carefully cultivating a national network of support amid speculation of a 2024 presidential bid, even as he continues to downplay any notion that he has political ambitions beyond his home state.  

The rising Republican star has amassed more than $100 million for his reelection campaign, a sum more on par with that of top-tier presidential contenders than a candidate for governor. He’s met with donors in South Carolina, stumped for Republican Senate candidate Adam Laxalt in Nevada and attended fundraisers in several states.  

But DeSantis has also been careful to avoid many of the moves typical of someone weighing a run for the White House. Unlike other prospective candidates like Nikki Haley or Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), DeSantis hasn’t yet traveled to early primary and caucus states like New Hampshire or Iowa, nor has he weighed in extensively on midterm campaigns outside of his home state. 

Multiple Republican strategists and operatives described DeSantis’s strategy as both brash and calculated, noting that he appears intent on cultivating his reputation among conservatives nationally while being careful to avoid any move that could put him directly in former President Donald Trump’s crosshairs. 

“It’s like everything else in Republican politics in this country. It all comes down to how you deal with Trump,” Keith Naughton, a veteran Republican strategist, said. “If he was out campaigning, then Trump has more of a license to attack him and to really knock him down directly.” 

“As long as DeSantis is just running for reelection and doing this passive aggressive 2024 campaign — because he is running — Trump has a hard time going after him.” 

Despite Trump’s preeminence among Republicans — he has repeatedly claimed that he would easily beat DeSantis in a 2024 primary matchup — there are signs that DeSantis could actually challenge that status.  

A University of New Hampshire Granite State Poll released this week showed him pulling ahead of Trump among likely GOP primary voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state. He also topped Trump in the Western Conservative Summit’s 2024 straw poll earlier this month, marking the second year in a row that he finished in the top spot. 

Andrew Smith, the director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said that Trump’s slide in the Granite State Poll is “part of a typical pattern.” While he remains perhaps the best-known figure in the Republican Party, voters often begin to look at other potential contenders as the presidential primaries draw nearer.  

With DeSantis regularly grabbing headlines, that pattern appears to be playing out in his favor. 

“A party’s losing candidate in the prior election is typically the best-known person in their party,” he said. “As the primary gets closer, new candidates emerge and attract more media attention, and therefore more voter attention, than the losing candidate from the previous election.” 

DeSantis has brushed off questions about his future political ambitions. In an interview on Fox News earlier this month, DeSantis said that it would be “futile” to keep asking him about a potential White House bid. Asked if he would still run for president if Trump mounts another campaign, DeSantis didn’t offer up any ground. 

“Nice try,” he said. 

For now, DeSantis maintains that his primary focus is winning reelection this year, though with his massive war chest and a largely positive job approval rating, he appears well on his way to a second term in the governor’s mansion. He’s booked some $2.4 million in ad reservations through November, with the first spot set to debut next month. 

But for a governor seeking reelection, DeSantis’s public schedule can look unusual at times. 

He’s raised money in states like Wisconsin and California, attended Nebraska’s annual “Steak Fry” – a conservative gathering hosted by Gov. Pete Ricketts – alongside other prospective presidential candidates and has spent more time attacking President Biden than either of the top Democrats challenging him for the governor’s mansion this year. 

Trump has reportedly griped privately about DeSantis’s growing national clout, though both he and DeSantis have denied rumors that their relationship has grown rocky. 

But in one notable change from the past, Politico reported this week that the Florida governor has no plans to seek Trump’s endorsement ahead of the November election.  

One Republican donor who has given to both Trump and DeSantis said that the Florida governor had built up his own brand enough to forgo a Trump endorsement, calling it a “calculated decision.” 

“He’s smart enough to know that if he gets too close to him, if he asks for the endorsement, he’s going to get sucked into all of Trump’s nonsense and all the demands,” said the donor, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about the matter.  

A former Trump aide said that the former president would almost certainly endorse DeSantis if he sought it out, but added that “it would come with some strings attached.” 

“I think he still wants to hear that DeSantis won’t run if he does,” the aide said. “I don’t know if that’s part of it, but I think DeSantis has the right idea. He’s got enough of a reputation now to where the endorsement just doesn’t matter as much.” 

In 2018, when DeSantis first sought the governor’s mansion, Trump’s endorsement helped him overcome what once appeared to be a longshot primary campaign against former state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.  

Since then, however, DeSantis has transformed himself into a political heavyweight in his own right.  

He earned praise from conservatives for his laissez-faire approach to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as for his efforts to crack down on alleged censorship by social media companies. He has also emerged as a leading Republican voice against the teaching of so-called critical race theory in schools and has built a reputation as an opponent of what conservatives dub “woke” culture. 

Naughton said that DeSantis’s focus on his work as governor has already given him a leg up over most of his potential competitors in a 2024 presidential matchup.  

Other would-be candidates – former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo or Haley, among others – are either not currently serving in public office or relegated to the minority in the Senate, Naughton said. DeSantis, by contrast, has a built-in megaphone in the governorship. 

“Where DeSantis is — he’s got this great voter base in Florida,” Naughton said. “He’s an elected official, he’s an executive, he’s actually doing things and he’s kind of captured Republican imagination.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Majority of Americans are concerned Roe decision will be used to overturn other rights: poll

A majority of Americans are concerned that the the Supreme Court’s bombshell decision to overturn Roe v. Wade will be used as the basis to overturn other rights, according to a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll.

A majority of respondents were also against the decision, which most said was motivated by politics rather than the law.

Fifty-six percent of respondents expressed concern that the ruling would be used as a basis to overturn past decisions upholding rights including birth control and same-sex marriage, compared to 41 percent who did not share that view.

By a 57 percent to 36 percent margin, respondents said the ruling was politically motivated. And 56 percent of Americans disapprove of the ruling, compared to 40 percent who approve.

The poll also found that 78 percent of Democrats said they were more likely to vote in November’s midterms because of the decision, 24 percent higher than Republicans.

“What the court did is clearly outside the mainstream of public opinion, and that is reflected again in the NPR poll,” the organization said of its survey, which has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.

Justice Clarence Thomas issued a concurrent opinion in the majority, calling on the Supreme Court to reconsider “due process precedents,” such as rulings protecting access to contraceptives, LGBTQ rights and interracial marriage.

That decision has struck fear in Democrats about how far the conservative court might be willing to go.

However, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday said Justice Samuel Alito “set the right tone” by writing in his majority opinion that other Supreme Court decisions are not in jeopardy.

“He said nothing in this decision puts those cases at risk. The reason he decided that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided is because it deals with the potential for life,” the senator said during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday”

Of Democrats polled, 9 out of 10 reported a negative view of the ruling, as well as a slim majority of independents (53%).

While the majority of men and women are against the decision, a slightly higher percentage of women oppose it (59 percent to 54 percent).

The poll results echo findings from a CBS News-YouGov poll released Sunday, in which 59 percent of respondents reported disapproval of the ruling and 41 percent said they approved. Additionally, 52 percent of voters said the decision was a “step backward” and 31 percent viewed it as a “step forward.”

The NPR/NewsHour/Marist poll, conducted Friday to Saturday, has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Source: TEST FEED1

Tensions erupt at abortion protests with arrests, clashes

Tensions erupted between police and demonstrators during protests over the weekend in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortions. 

A number of GOP-led states, mostly in the South and Midwest, quickly implemented laws banning or restricting abortions, while many Democrat-led states have moved forward with measures to protect abortion access.

While many protests were peaceful, protesters were arrested in states including South Carolina and Oregon after the Friday decision, while police also used force while confronting demonstrators in states such as Arizona and California.

Six demonstrators arrested in South Carolina 

Six demonstrators were arrested on charges stemming from interfering with police, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest during protests in Greenville.

In a statement on Sunday, the Greenville Police Department (GPD) said that its officers monitored separate pro and anti-abortion demonstrations in the city. 

The department added that about 400 to 500 people showed up for the demonstration, saying that arrests happened when some demonstrators interfered with the arrest of another protester.

“On several occasions, officers had to address people in the roadway and parties from one side trying to go over to another,” the department said in a statement to The Hill. 

“The picket was deemed an unlawful assembly, and officers dispersed both sides,” GPD added.

Ten demonstrators arrested in Oregon 

Oregon authorities said they arrested ten protesters who were a part of a large crowd in what has been called a “night of rage” on Friday night. 

In a statement, Eugene Police Department (EPD) said that protesters and police clashed at a local medical center, where a crowd of some 75 people had gathered wearing all-black clothing, with some picking up rocks and wearing gas masks.

“An officer used a public address system to admonish the group of more than 75 people that they were committing disorderly conduct and were subject to arrest,” the department said in a news release. 

“This had no effect on the crowd and they advanced closer to officers. Unknown people in the crowd threw smoke bombs at officers along with several filled water bottles.” 

Authorities said that some protesters resisted, leading officers to shoot inert pepper balls at demonstrators’ feet. 

Nine people were charged with disorderly conduct, with one being additionally charged with escape in the third degree and resisting arrest. Another demonstrator was charged with harassment. 

Rhode Island candidate ends campaign after protest incident

Jeann Lugo (R), a local police officer, was seen on video striking Jennifer Rourke (D), his opponent in a state Senate race, at a Roe v. Wade protest on Friday. 

Rourke wrote on Twitter that Lugo had “violently attacked” her, saying, “This is what it is to be a Black woman running for office. I won’t give up.”

In a statement, the Providence Police Department (PPD) said that Lugo has been placed on administrative leave with pay as it investigates the matter.

The department also said that Lugo was charged with simple assault and disorderly conduct. Lugo said in his own statement that the incident was “very chaotic”. 

“As an officer that swore to protect and serve our communities, I, unfortunately, saw myself in a situation that no individual should see themselves in,” Lugo told the Boston Globe.  “I stepped in to protect someone that a group of agitators was attacking.”

However, Lugo on Saturday announced he was ending his Senate campaign.

Tear gas used against protesters in Arizona

Arizona state troopers launched tear gas canisters at thousands of protesters gathers outside the state capitol building on Friday night.

Officials and protesters issues conflicting narratives about what led to the police action, according to the Washington Post.

Republican Senate President Karen Fann described the protest as an attempted insurrection, while protest leaders call it an overreaction against a crowd made up mostly of people opposed to the Supreme Court’s decision.

Republican Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita took videos of the scene and told the Associated Press the protesters were trying to break the windows into the Capitol building.

“There was no other conclusion than they were interested in being violent,” she said. “I have no other takeaway than that. 

Rep. Athena Salman (D) said on Twitter that those gassed were peaceful, noting that many of her Democratic colleagues recently voted to raise police pay.

“Some even called it historic,” she wrote. “Remember that every time the cops gas peaceful protesters.”

Actress Jodie Sweetin shoved by police at protest in LA

Actress Jodie Sweetin, known for her portrayal of Stephanie Tanner on the hit television sitcom “Full House,” was shoved by authorities during an abortion protest on Sunday. 

A video surfaced online showed the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) blocking a group of demonstrators at a highway, where a couple of officers are seen pushing back Sweetin, 40, who was holding a megaphone, onto the ground. 

In a statement, LAPD told NBC Los Angeles that officers responding to the scene were trying to prevent the group from overtaking the 101 freeway. 

“The force used will be evaluated against the LAPD’s policy and procedure,” the department said in a statement. 

In a statement through her publicist, Sweetin said that she will continue to fight for rights, NBC Los Angeles reported.

“Our activism will continue until our voices are heard and action is taken. This will not deter us, we will continue fighting for our rights. We are not free until ALL of us are free,” she said.

Source: TEST FEED1

Green Day frontman says he's renouncing US citizenship: 'I’m not kidding'

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said that he plans to renounce his U.S citizenship following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

During his band’s performance at the London Stadium on Friday, Armstrong, who has been the punk rock band’s frontman since 1987, told the audience he’d be spending more time on their side of the Atlantic.

“F— America, I’m f—ing renouncing my citizenship,” the “American Idiot” singer told the crowd. “I’m f—ing coming here.” 

“There’s just too much f—ing stupid in the world to go back to that miserable f—ing excuse for a country,” Armstrong added. “Oh, I’m not kidding. You’re going to get a lot of me in the coming days.”

Armstrong continued berating the U.S. during his band’s show in Huddersfield, England the following day, saying “f— the Supreme Court of America” and calling its justices “pricks,” according to the Daily Mail.

Armstrong is among a host of celebrities and musicians who have lambasted the high court’s decision to overturn the decades-old constitutional right to abortion.

Pop star Olivia Rodrigo called out the conservative justices by name during her performance over the weekend at the U.K.’s Glastonbury music festival.

“This song goes out to the justices: Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh. We hate you!,” the “Driver’s License” singer said during a festival performance. 

Source: TEST FEED1

G7 leaders joke about stripping to outdo bare-chested Putin

The leaders of the Group of Seven nations chuckled about stripping off their clothes for photographs on Sunday to outdo Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has often appeared shirtless in images disseminated by the Kremlin.

During the first day of the three-day G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau could be heard on a video joking about their impending photoshoot.

“Jackets on? Jackets off? Shall we take our clothes off?” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson asked other leaders sitting around a table. “We all have to show that we’re tougher than Putin.” 

“We’re going to get the bare-chested horseback riding display,” Trudeau quipped, referencing a widely shared photo of Putin. 

“There you go! There you go! We’ve got to show them our pecs!” Johnson responded.

Putin’s predilection for going shirtless doing outdoors activities is part of his carefully crafted strongman image. The Russian president is also an accomplished Taekwondo practitioner.

Russia was kicked out of what was previously called the G8 in 2014 following its initial invasion of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. 

The current G7 nations include the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, and Japan. 

President Biden announced Sunday that the group will impose new import bans on Russian gold as a punishment for Moscow’s going invasion of Ukraine.

Biden spent Sunday morning meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and later participated in a working lunch with other leaders.  

A White House readout of Biden’s meeting with Scholz indicated Ukraine was a main topic of conversation.

“The leaders underlined their commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as their continued provision of military, economic, humanitarian, and diplomatic support to help Ukraine defend its democracy against Russian aggression,” the White House readout said. “The leaders also discussed efforts to alleviate the impacts of Russia’s war in Ukraine on global food and energy security.” 

Source: TEST FEED1