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Arizona Republicans Mock Protesters After Killing Abortion Ban Repeal

Arizona Republicans Mock Protesters After Killing Abortion Ban Repeal

Republicans in the Arizona legislature weren't afraid to do an endzone dance after voting to keep a Civil War-era law on the books that effectively bans all abortions in the Grand Canyon State.

According to Talking Points Memo reporter Kate Riga, Rep. David Livingston (R) "applauded his supporters" in the gallery overlooking the House of Representatives and raised his fists in a celebratory fashion after the vote to repeal the law failed on party lines. House Majority Whip Teresa Martinez (R) reportedly mouthed the words "we got you" to others in the gallery who were advocating for repeal, and even gave them a mocking thumbs-up gesture.

"They were posing for their far-right base," Assistant House Minority Leader Oscar De Los Santos (D) told Talking Points Memo.

Wednesday marked Democrats' fourth unsuccessful attempt in two weeks to repeal the law, which was passed when Arizona was still a territory that had not yet officially joined the U.S. and before women had the right to vote. The state already had a strict 15-week abortion ban in place before the Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled to uphold the far more stringent law from 1864.

"In light of this Opinion, physicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman’s life, are illegal, and that additional criminal and regulatory sanctions may apply to abortions performed after fifteen weeks’ gestation," Justice John Lopez wrote on behalf of the GOP-aligned majority.

The 1864 law, which remains on the books, allows for the punishment of abortion providers who help individuals terminate their pregnancies. Any provider who performs the procedure faces a prison sentence of anywhere from two to five years under the 19th century legislation. Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) clarified her office would not prosecute abortion providers under that law.

"Make no mistake, by effectively striking down a law passed this century and replacing it with one from 160 years ago, the Court has risked the health and lives of Arizonans," Mayes stated, adding that the "decision to reimpose a law from a time when Arizona wasn't a state, the Civil War was raging, and women couldn't even vote will go down in history as a stain on our state."

That 1864 law is likely to mobilize large amounts of Democratic voters to turn out in the 2024 election in the Grand Canyon State, which may end up deciding partisan control of the House, Senate and White House in November. Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake — who ran a failed campaign for governor in 2022 — previously praised the anti-abortion law as "great," before eventually condemning it as "out of step with Arizonans." She has called on Governor Katie Hobbs (D) and the GOP-controlled legislature to pass a work-around.

If Republicans aim to recapture the U.S. Senate, they'll need a net gain of two seats in November. This will require flipping seats like Arizona's, where outgoing Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) declined to seek another term in office. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), the likely Democratic nominee, is currently leading in polls with RealClearPolitics showing him ahead of Lake by an average of six points.

Arizona narrowly went blue in 2020, with President Joe Biden taking the state's Electoral College votes with less than 11,000 total votes. That margin could widen with abortion rights on the ballot, as that issue has led to stunning Republican losses even in red states like Kansas, Kentucky and Montana in 2022, and Ohio in 2023.

Click here to read Talking Points Memo's full report.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Teacher Placed On Leave After Allegation Of Mock Hanging

Teacher Placed On Leave After Allegation Of Mock Hanging

By Paloma Esquivel, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — A California charter school teacher has been placed on leave after allegedly singling out an African-American student to demonstrate a hanging during a class trip.

Scharrell Jackson says a teacher at Oxford Preparatory Academy in Mission Viejo volunteered her 14-year-old son, the only African-American in his class, to participate in a simulated hanging during a living history field trip about the Civil War.

“I don’t think any child, especially an African-American child, given our heritage … should be called to participate in that,” Jackson said.

“If a child chooses to participate, so be it. But my child did not make that choice.”

Keith Fink, the attorney for the Orange County school, said the teacher was placed on leave, and an investigation was conducted and is now complete. He declined to say whether the teacher would return to the job, saying only that another instructor is now in the classroom and that “the school year is almost over.”

“A field trip that was designed with the best of intentions to educate the students about a very important period in U.S. History is being falsely turned into some sort of racial event,” Fink said in an email.

“You can ask any of the students that were on the field trip, the parent chaperons or the employee from Riley’s Farm — all will tell you that the student was not asked to do this.”

James Riley, chief executive of Riley’s Farm in Yucaipa, Calif., where the school field trip took place, said in a statement that the demonstration was about military discipline and the punishment soldiers faced for desertion. During the session, a historian asked the teacher to pick children to participate “who like drama and who can speak before a group of people.”

During the demonstration, the historian holds a noose as a prop.

“It is NEVER put over a child’s head,” the statement said. “We understand, of course, that certain images (the Confederate States flag and uniform, for example) can be seen as offensive to some groups. However, there is simply no way to conduct a living history teaching experience without using the clothing and props of the era.”

Jackson said whether the noose was placed over her son’s head is beside the point.

“I think that particular station and them having a child put their head in the noose, whether they put it in there or not is irrelevant, the bottom line is to have an African-American boy stand up there … lacks judgment. Period,” she said.

Jackson said she learned about the incident the day after the late April field trip, when her son did not want to go to school and said he did not believe his teacher liked him. She said the alleged incident is not the first time her son has been subjected to racial insensitivity from the teacher.

Jackson took her concerns to the Orange County Human Relations Commission, whose members are appointed by the Board of Supervisors and OC League of Cities to deal with issues of prejudice and discrimination in the county. Executive Director Rusty Kennedy met with Jackson and the school’s principal the day after the incident.

The noose is particularly fraught as a symbol of hate toward African Americans, Kennedy said. “To use them lightly, make fun of them, we all need to know better than that.

“Only 2% of the population in Orange County is African American. There needs to be some awareness,” he said.

Jackson said the school should have handled her concerns with more sensitivity. She initially complained to the school’s principal the day after the incident, but the teacher was not placed on leave until she reached out to representatives of the Capistrano Unified School District, which approves charter schools to operate in the district, she said.

“The educational institution is supposed to be a place where not only children go to learn but they are supposed to be able to build their self-esteem, to build their character,” Jackson said.

Fink, the school’s attorney, said the incident has  been blown out of proportion.

“The mother who was not present at the event has made numerous false statements to the media,” he said in an email. “The whole issue her(e) should be a non issue. Field trips are wonderful outings where all students have the ability for a culturally enriching experience.”

GOP Candidates Agree: Why Attack Mitt Romney When You Can Make Fun Of Herman Cain?

Last night’s Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire — it was hosted by Bloomberg/Washington Post and focused on economics — should have been a dangerous one for Mitt Romney: He is the runaway frontrunner, especially after New Jersey Governor Chris Christie endorsed him earlier in the day — and the “Occupy Wall Street” protests have opened up new space for attacks that the one-time private equity executive is out of touch.

But the former Massachusetts governor may just be as untouchable as his perfect head of hair. As he looked on, the rest of the Republican field seemed content to pile on former pizza executive and longshot candidate Herman Cain’s wacky “9-9-9” tax plan. “They see Herman Cain rising and rising and rising, and he’s the one collecting all the votes,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz told The National Memo.

Romney was grilled about his support for the 2008 bailout of Wall Street (a major cause of suspicion from the tea party base), and whether a European economic collapse would prod him to take the same kinds of action that the Bush Administration took in late 2008. “Action had to be taken,” he said, before delivering some mild criticism of how the money was spent and describing his Ivy League advisers.

By framing his support for the bailout in terms of protecting “American currency,” Romney may have deflected some attacks from the likes of Texas Governor Rick Perry. “It was the best answer he’s given on that topic so far,” said Luntz. “Wall Street is increasingly unpopular.”

The rise of Cain, however, clearly has the also-rans in the Republican field more concerned than the financier campaigning in their midst. Perry attacked Cain’s tax plan — as did Rick Santorum — and Michele Bachmann even made a reference to Satan’s favorite number. “When you take the 9-9-9 plan and turn it upside down,” she said. “I think the devil’s in the details.”

As Luntz — who has run on-air focus groups for Fox News that often result in what seems like a disproportionate number of Cain supporters — pointed out, Cain’s recent surges in the polls and his emergence as an actual force who could surprise in Iowa have made him a much more existential threat to the campaigns that are trying to rely on the momentum of the Tea Party. “It’s easy to get votes from a candidate when they just switch to a candidate,” Luntz said. By going after the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, the GOP last night proved that everyone, except for Romney, is shooting for second place and hoping for the best.

Bill Clinton Mocks GOP ‘Climate Deniers’ At Global Meeting

Hosting heads of state from Norway, Mali, Slovenia, Bangladesh, as well as the head of the European Community and several other nations to discuss climate change, Bill Clinton was anything but diplomatic at the opening session of the Clinton Global Initiative on Tuesday morning. Answering a question from the audience about what ordinary citizens can do to make a difference, the former president replied, “If you’re an American, the best thing you can do is to make it politically unacceptable for people to engage in denial. … I mean, it makes us — we look like a joke, right? You can’t win the nomination of one of the major parties in the country if you admit that the scientists are right?”

He admonished the crowd — and many thousands more watching a live webcast — to educate their fellow citizens, whom he said don’t understand that combating climate change with energy conservation measures is “good for the economy and good for the planet.” “If you listen to Rush Limbaugh, who tells you that climate change is a hoax, and if you don’t know better, if you haven’t seen better,” then people will continue to ignore science. “You have to change the experience of people.”

Moreover, he said, if the United States decided to pursue a truly ambitious strategy of conservation retrofitting in older buildings, “we could create a million new jobs” in construction “very quickly.” In keeping with Clinton Global Initiative’s action plan, Clinton then brought two major American labor leaders up to discuss a massive commitment of pension funds that will steer fresh investment toward that very goal. Joining the former president on stage were AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who have been working in collaboration with Clinton’s organization and the Center for American Progress to move as much as $10 billion in pension assets into energy-efficiency projects nationwide. Over the past three months, the AFL-CIO and AFT leaders have brought several other unions into this project, including public employees, service employees, and firefighters, along with public employee pension funds in California — all of which control billions of dollars. The California teachers and public employee funds have already directed over a billion dollars toward specific green infrastructure projects.

As the former president explained, retrofitting homes, office buildings, schools, and other structures to enhance energy savings is not only a sound financial investment but also the most labor-intensive way to “produce” energy — creating thousands more jobs per megawatt than building a nuclear or coal plant, for instance. “This is a huge deal,” said Clinton, who added that he hopes the labor movement’s innovative investments would help to unlock the trillions of dollars currently held back from investment by banks and corporations in the U.S., which should be putting people to work instead of lying fallow.