babylonsister

babylonsister's Journal

February 18, 2021

Tennessee Bill Would Give Fathers Veto Over Abortion

Of course, two men.

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/18/tennessee-bill-would-give-fathers-veto-over-abortion/

Tennessee Bill Would Give Fathers Veto Over Abortion
February 18, 2021 at 8:03 am EST By Taegan Goddard

“In an effort to further restrict abortion in Tennessee, two Tennessee lawmakers have introduced legislation that would allow a father to deny an abortion without the pregnant woman’s consent,” the Tennessean reports.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2021/02/18/tennessee-bill-would-grant-fathers-veto-power-over-abortion/6763159002/
SB494/HB1079, sponsored by Sen. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon and Rep. Jerry Sexton, R-Bean Station, would give a man who gets a woman pregnant the veto power to an abortion by petitioning a court for an injunction against the procedure.

February 18, 2021

Trump Frets Foes Will Be 'Suing Me for the Rest of My Life'

Suck it up, you guilty mf.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-frets-foes-will-be-suing-me-for-the-rest-of-my-life?ref=home

Trump Frets Foes Will Be ‘Suing Me for the Rest of My Life’
BACK TO REALITY
Though the riot was the culmination of Trump’s months of attempts to overturn the election, it’s hardly the only incident that may have left the ex-president legally exposed.
Asawin Suebsaeng
Senior Political Reporter
Adam Rawnsley
Senior Researcher
Published Feb. 18, 2021 4:58AM ET

snip//

But with the Senate trial in the rearview, Trump is now confronting a whole range of other legal dramas during his immediate post-presidency. No longer shielded by the considerable legal protection of the Oval Office, Trump has privately bemoaned that his foes are going to be investigating or “suing me for the rest of my life,” according to one person who’s discussed the matter with him in the past few weeks.

snip//

The power of the incumbency also afforded former President Trump the ability to dodge negative consequences for his alleged history of sexual violence and harassment. Another source close to Trump says that the ex-president continues to occasionally complain about the Me Too movement, decrying it as one of the more destructive movements to gain national traction during his one term in the White House.

A lawsuit filed by former journalist E. Jean Carroll claiming Trump defamed her by calling her a liar—after she accused Trump of raping her in a New York department store in the 1990s—is still pending. Under Attorney General Bill Barr, the Justice Department tried to remove the case from state court and place it in federal court where department lawyers would handle the case on Trump’s behalf.

Further, during the entirety of the Trump administration, Summer Zervos, once a contestant on Trump’s now-defunct NBC reality TV show The Apprentice, had been trying to depose Trump in a defamation lawsuit. Toward the end of the 2016 presidential election, Zervos publicly accused the then-Republican nominee of sexually assaulting her, grabbing her breasts, and “thrust[ing]” his “genitals” at her. While he was in office, the official position of the White House was that the many women who had gone on-record to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct or assault were simply lying.

Early last year, a court in New York paused the lawsuit, thus postponing any potential deposition of the then-sitting president of the United States. But last week, Zervos and her attorney formally asked a judge to allow her to continue with her suit, given that he can no longer claim protections of the highest office in the land that his lawyers had long said shielded him from this deposition.

“[The] Defendant now is no longer President. As a result, Defendant’s appeal is moot,” Zervos’ lawyer argued in the new filing.

February 18, 2021

DeSantis Threatens to Pull Vaccine From Neighborhoods That Complain

Who made him king?
https://www.thedailybeast.com/florida-gov-ron-desantis-accused-of-giving-preferential-covid-19-vaccine-access?ref=home

DeSantis Threatens to Pull Vaccine From Neighborhoods That Complain
PRIVILEGED CLIENTS
Arya Hodjat
Breaking News Intern
Updated Feb. 17, 2021 3:59PM ET /
Published Feb. 17, 2021 11:45AM ET
Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty

Two of Florida’s newest vaccine clinics have something in common: they’re both in wealthy, white areas, and they both have ties to allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis. As the Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported Tuesday, the state recently established two pop-up vaccine clinics: one in the state’s Manatee County, exclusively available to residents of zip codes represented by county commissioner Vanessa Baugh, a top DeSantis ally; and one in Charlotte County, in a gated community developed by former Republican state senator Pat Neal, who wrote in a press release that DeSantis had reached out to him personally. In a statement, a spokesperson for DeSantis told the Herald-Tribune that “the goal is to vaccinate as many seniors as efficiently as possible, and working with senior living communities is a common sense approach, both administratively and logistically.”

According to the Sun-Sentinel, DeSantis responded to the allegations of favoritism on Wednesday by threatening to pull vaccines from the county altogether. “If Manatee County doesn’t like us doing this, we are totally fine with putting this in counties that want it,” he said. “I wouldn’t be complaining.”

February 18, 2021

Legislators Move to Strip Cuomo of Pandemic Powers

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/17/legislators-move-to-strip-cuomo-of-pandemic-powers/

Legislators Move to Strip Cuomo of Pandemic Powers
February 17, 2021 at 8:52 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

“The Democratic leaders of the New York State Senate are moving to strip Gov. Andrew Cuomo of unilateral emergency powers granted during the pandemic, setting up a remarkable rebuke for the governor from members of his own party,” the New York Times reports.

“The Senate’s measures, which could be voted on as soon as next week, underscore the deepening division between Mr. Cuomo and state lawmakers since the governor admitted to intentionally withholding critical data on virus-related deaths from the Legislature.”

“The moves came even as it emerged that the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York had opened an inquiry into the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic.”

February 17, 2021

Eric Boehlert: 70% of GOP voters support Covid relief --the entire Republican Party opposes it

70% of GOP voters support Covid relief —the entire Republican Party opposes it
Unity
Eric Boehlert
1 hr ago

While the Beltway press continues to wring its hands over the fact that President Joe Biden likely won't get any Republican support passing the massive, $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill now being readied in Congress, journalists are missing the bigger, more important story.

Instead of framing it around how Republicans are squaring off with the new Democratic president, the story ought to be about how the GOP, so driven to block Biden wins, remains so out of touch with its own voters who overwhelmingly back the Covid bill. At a time when the press is demanding Beltway "unity," Biden is actually producing it by championing a fervently, almost historically, popular piece of legislation.

Inside the Beltway, the bill is depicted as being divisive because virtually no Republicans will support it. That in turn is putting political pressure on the new Democratic president because he promised to bring the country together; he promised to craft bipartisan compromises, according to the preferred media narrative.

The press insists that Biden's welcome call for unity following a bloody insurrection inside the U.S. Capitol last month means that any policy push by him is divisive, because Republicans oppose it. But what's so often left out of the day-to-day coverage over the political jockeying surrounding the Covid bill is that the Republican Party remains out of step with its own voters, and it's Biden who has the pulse of the nation.

As is custom with the D.C. media, the entire onus of bipartisanship is placed on Democrats, who are responsible for breaking the Capitol fever, which is fueled by obstructionist Republicans. The GOP today is committed to uniformly opposing Biden, just as it was committed to opposing President Barack Obama. That's the real story of Covid relief politics, and how Republicans will soon have to go on the record opposing a bill that's overwhelmingly popular, even among Republican voters.

more...

https://pressrun.media/p/70-of-gop-voters-support-covid-relief

February 17, 2021

Texas Officials Have No Idea When Millions of People Will Have Their Power Restored

https://www.thedailybeast.com/texas-officials-have-no-idea-when-millions-of-people-will-have-their-power-restored?ref=home

Texas Officials Have No Idea When Millions of People Will Have Their Power Restored
IN THE DARK
Jamie Ross
Reporter
Published Feb. 17, 2021 6:56AM ET
Ron Jenkins/Getty

Millions of people in Texas are still without power as a record-shattering and life-threatening winter storm blasts their state—and they’ve been told that there’s no fixed end in sight. Bill Magness, president of ERCOT, the nonprofit that oversees the state’s electric grid, appeared on NBC 5 on Tuesday to explain himself as he faces mounting criticism. While he said bringing people back online is his top priority, Magness admitted that he doesn’t have the info to tell people when they can expect to have their power back and be able to heat their homes, saying he cannot “tell you honestly that it’s going to be ‘X’ number of people on a certain date.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hit out at ERCOT, saying it had “been anything but reliable over the past 48 hours,” and adding: “They are not providing clear answers to me or to the public... And the public has a right to know.” Meanwhile, the Texas Tribune reported that parents in Texas are being forced to burn their belongings in fireplaces to keep their children warm.

February 16, 2021

Atlantic City Hotel Special Offers 'Front Seat' to Demo of Former Trump Plaza

https://www.thedailybeast.com/atlantic-city-hotel-special-offers-front-seat-to-demo-of-former-trump-plaza

Atlantic City Hotel Special Offers ‘Front Seat’ to Demo of Former Trump Plaza
‘STIFFED A LOT OF PEOPLE’
Ana Lucia Murillo
Breaking News/Cheat Sheet Intern
Published Feb. 16, 2021 1:53PM ET
Saul Loeb/Getty

Caesars Atlantic City is offering a discount for visitors who want to watch the hotel tower of the former Trump Plaza across the street get blown up on Wednesday. The “Stay and View” special comes with champagne and late check-out on the morning of the scheduled demolition, promising a “front seat to Atlantic City history.” The structure, part of the Trump Plaza, has been vacant since 2014. Trump at one point had four businesses in Atlantic City, all of which have now been either sold or shut down. “This is the fitting end of Trump’s era,” Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small Sr. told USA Today, adding that Trump “stiffed a lot of people and was selfish.”

February 16, 2021

NAACP Sues Trump and Giuliani

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/16/naacp-sues-trump-and-giuliani/

NAACP Sues Trump and Giuliani
February 16, 2021 at 10:24 am EST By Taegan Goddard

“The NAACP on Tuesday morning filed a federal lawsuit against former President Donald Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, claiming that they violated a 19th century statute when they tried to prevent the certification of the election on Jan. 6,” the New York Times reports.

“The civil rights organization brought the suit on behalf of Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). Other Democrats in Congress — including Reps. Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) — are expected to join as plaintiffs in the coming weeks.”

Politico: “The lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning in Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Trump and Giuliani, in collaboration with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, conspired to incite the riots to keep Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. It claims they did so in violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era statute designed to protect both formerly enslaved African Americans and lawmakers in Congress from white supremacist violence.”

February 16, 2021

"...we did not send him there to do the right thing..."

Says so much...

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/16/quote-of-the-day-2810/

Quote of the Day
February 16, 2021 at 12:19 pm EST By Taegan Goddard

“We did not send him there to vote his conscience, we did not send him there to do the right thing, whatever he said he was doing. We sent him there to represent us, and we feel very strongly that he did not represent us.”

— Dave Ball, Washington County Pennsylvania GOP chair, on voting to censure Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) for his impeachment vote to convict Donald Trump.

February 16, 2021

Vigorous Preparation Returns to White House

As it should be; makes me happy!!

https://politicalwire.com/2021/02/16/vigorous-preparation-returns-to-white-house/

Vigorous Preparation Returns to White House
February 16, 2021 at 6:58 am EST By Taegan Goddard

“A new-old ritual is taking shape in the Biden White House, one that starts with bulky briefing packages, war-gaming the ‘what-ifs,’ and Oval Office discussions about how to talk to this or that particular U.S. ally or adversary,” the AP reports.

“Twelve times since he took office, President Joe Biden has dialed up a world leader after reinstituting what was a long-held White House standard mothballed by Donald Trump: vigorous preparation. Gone are unnecessary digressions and over-the-top cajoling or haranguing of fellow heads of state.”

Profile Information

Gender: Female
Hometown: NY
Home country: US
Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
Number of posts: 171,056

« Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next »