Tag: kamala harris
President Joe Biden

Biden Marks Roe Anniversary With New Abortion Protections (And A Stinging Ad)

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are commemorating the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade, kicking off what will be a year-long campaign to put abortion and reproductive health rights at the forefront in 2024. That includes the White House announcing new steps to strengthen protections and access to contraception, abortion medication, and emergency abortions at hospitals, facing Donald Trump and his packed Supreme Court head on.

It also includes blasting out this 60-second ad featuring Dr. Austin Dennard, an OB/GYN and a mother of three, who fled the state to get an abortion. The fetus she was carrying had a fatal deformity and carrying it potentially threatened her life.

“In Texas, you are forced to carry that pregnancy, and that is because of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade,” Dennard says in the ad. “The choice was completely taken away. I was to continue my pregnancy, putting my life at risk,” she continued. “It’s every woman’s worst nightmare, and it was absolutely unbearable.”

Biden’s statement on the anniversary of Roe makes the stakes of this election clear: Abortion opponents want women in every state to be subjected to what Dennard faced. “Even as Americans—from Ohio to Kentucky to Michigan to Kansas to California—have resoundingly rejected attempts to limit reproductive freedom, Republican elected officials continue to push for a national ban and devastating new restrictions across the country.”

It also puts forced birth advocates on the spot. They want a national abortion ban, but they know that saying that out loud is a political suicide. Even at Friday’s March for Life, prominent lawmakers and activists steered clear from talking about abortion bans, or even from taking a victory lap at having finally succeeded in overturning Roe. Instead, many talked about efforts to divert federal funding to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers, trying to put a caring face on forcing people to carry unwanted, often dangerous, pregnancies.

“This is a critical time to help all moms who are facing unplanned pregnancies,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at the rally. “To work with foster children and help families who are adopting, to volunteer and assist at our vital pregnancy resource center and maternity homes, and to reach out a renewed hand of compassion and to speak truth and love.” Right, it’s all about compassion and love with the GOP.

Biden and Harris aren’t going to let Republicans get away with that, rhetorically or in terms of policy. The measures the White House unveiled expanded access to contraception, guaranteed access to the abortion pill, and a new task force dedicated to enforcing the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires hospitals to provide “stabilizing” health care for patients in emergency situations, including labor. That care, the Biden administration maintains, includes abortion.

That puts the administration at loggerheads with the Trump-packed Supreme Court, which will hear a proposed law from the state of Idaho prosecuting emergency room doctors who provide abortions in the course of stabilizing patients. The Justice Department is preparing to argue the law at the Supreme Court later this year.

Biden is also taking the court on by announcing he is “directing further efforts to support patients, providers, and pharmacies who wish to legally access, prescribe, or provide medication abortion.” The court will decide on restrictions on that access—even in states where abortion remains legal—later this year.

Meanwhile, Harris is kicking off her “Reproductive Freedoms Tour” of swing states starting Monday in Wisconsin. She’s taking the fight to Trump in a speech previewed by Politico: “He made a decision to take your freedoms, and it is a decision he does not regret. Just two weeks ago, he said, that for years, ‘they were trying to get Roe v. Wade terminated.’ And then he bragged, ‘I did it, and I’m proud to have done it.’”

“He is proud,” Harris continues. “Proud that women across our nation are suffering? Proud that women have been robbed of a fundamental freedom? That doctors could be thrown in prison for caring for patients? That young women today have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers?”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Kevin McCarthy

Why Speaker McCarthy May Suffer Newt Gingrich's Dismal 1998 Fate

In a Friday, September 22 op-ed published by Truthout, University of California at Davis lecturer and columnist Sasha Abramsky argues that "it's hard to see, given current polling on the issue," how the GOP's attempt to impeach President Joe Biden "will meaningfully hurt him," and that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) political reputation could plummet the way ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich's did in the 1990s during ex-President Bill Clinton's presidency.

The columnist writes:

When [investigative counsel Kenneth] Starr's office discovered that Clinton had sexual relations with [ex-White House intern Monica] Lewinsky, and when Clinton subsequently dissembled in answering intimate questions about his sex life, Gingrich pounced, with the House voting to open an impeachment inquiry in the early fall of 1998. Two months later, after a 14-hour debate, the House voted in favor of articles of impeachment against the president.


By then, however, the public had grown restive, wanting Congress to focus on issues other than what the majority of voters came to see as fishing expeditions against the president. In the midterm elections, which were held one month into the impeachment inquiry, the Republicans underperformed: Although they clung onto their majority, the party lost enough seats to render Gingrich's job untenable. Soon afterward, he lost the speakership. In February 1999, after a short trial, the Senate voted not to convict Clinton on the two articles of impeachment the House had delivered to them. When he left office, two years later, Clinton's popularity rating was a stunning 66 percent, the highest of any outgoing president since Harry Truman.

Abramsky then notes, "A quarter century on, the GOP is engaged in a similar fishing expedition against President Biden, and "it's somewhat easier to see how McCarthy's speakership might end up suffering much the same fate as did Gingrich's in the late '90s."

He adds, "Only eight percent of voters have a very favorable opinion of McCarthy, and another 22 percent have a somewhat favorable view of him. The remaining 70 percent either dislike the man or, despite his being second in line to the presidency after Vice President Kamala Harris, don't know enough about him to have an opinion."

Abramsky emphasizes, "History contains a salutary lesson for McCarthy as to how this could all potentially go terribly wrong for him."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Donald Trump

Trumps Roasted For Attacking Manhattan Judge's Daughter

Hours ahead of former President Donald Trump's Tuesday arraignment on 34 felony charges filed by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the right-wing outlet Breitbart published a story about New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan's daughter Loren's history as a staffer for Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden's 2020 White House runs.

"According to Merchan's archived LinkedIn account, she worked as the 'Director of Digital Persuasion' for 'Kamala Harris For The People' from February 2019 through December 2019 — which was during the 2020 presidential election," wrote Breitbart. "And according to the company's website, the 'Biden-Harris' campaign was also a client."

Merchan is overseeing Bragg's case against Trump, and there is no indication that he is biased.

Nonetheless, at 9:52 a.m., Trump fell into a digital rage:

VERY UNFAIR VENUE, WITH SOME AREAS THAT VOTED 1% REPUBLICAN. THIS CASE SHOULD BE MOVED TO NEARBY STATEN ISLAND - WOULD BE A VERY FAIR AND SECURE LOCATION FOR THE TRIAL. ADDITIONALLY, THE HIGHLY PARTISAN JUDGE & HIS FAMILY ARE WELL KNOWN TRUMP HATERS. HE WAS AN UNFAIR DISASTER ON A PREVIOUS TRUMP RELATED CASE, WOULDN’T RECUSE, GAVE HORRIBLE JURY INSTRUCTIONS, & IMPOSSIBLE TO DEAL WITH DURING THE WITCH HUNT TRIAL. HIS DAUGHTER WORKED FOR 'KAMALA' & NOW THE BIDEN-HARRIS CAMPAIGN. KANGAROO COURT!!!

Democratic strategist Larry Huynh noticed Trump's rant and shared it on Twitter.

"WOW: Trump just posted this picture from mud rag Breitbart of his own judge's daughter," Hyunh stated, condemning Trump's attack as "Corrupt. Damning. Disgusting."

Trump's sons also reacted to Breitbart 's piece.

"They are all hand-picked. It is all pre-arranged. This corruption is on a different level," Eric complained.

"Seems relevant… yet another connection in this hand-picked Democrat show trial," Donald Junior whined. "The BS never ends folks."

Observers on social media were unsurprised by Trump's antics, which fit into his long-established pattern of hostility toward Merchan and other jurists. The comment threads thusly reflected that.

2023 Better not suck: "My thought: He's trying to get the Judge to withdraw for conflict of interest. If Trump's lawyers can prove the Judge now has personal feelings towards Trump, that judge is gone and the case is delayed. Totally disgusting mob-boss behavior."

FARCE NEWS CHANNEL: "Not sure if you're aware, your dad committed a lot of crimes. Kind of like your charity crime, but many more than that and way worse."

Pittsburgh Liberal: "Nah your Father is just a criminal."

Just Mary: "Do you never shrink from lying? You're too late cupcake..... daddy's getting indicted & there's absolutely nothing you can do about it. Now let's talk about stealing foundation $$$......"

Luke Zaleski: "The same playbook every time Trump's 8 stages of guilty: 1) I didn't do it. 2) I didn't do anything wrong. 3) I didn't do anything illegal. 4) The people accusing me are guilty. 5) The law is illegal. 6) Prove it! 7) What happened didn't happen. 8) It's fine, I did it; I'll do it again."

Scott Carty: "You are 'very sad. very, very sad.' Put the cocaine down. (But thank you for doing one more idiotic thing that doesn't help yer daddy)."

Matt Ortega: "Totally weird that Clarence Thomas' wife was part of the attempt to overthrow the government and involved in the cases Thomas rules on, huh? Oh, you're not talking about that?"

RealHouseWifeOfMichigan: "She has nothing to do with this and it's not her fault. Maybe daddy shouldn't have broken the law… you drugged-up clown."

Jules Morgan: "This is sickening, but typical of you and your criminal family. Instead of attacking the merits, you're attacking the judge's daughter. Your behavior is shameful and disgusting. You and your family will never see the inside of the White House again."

Jan Ebbinge: "I know of a daughter who got a job in the White House, because her dad was president. And she then abused that job to make millions for herself and her family."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Bidens Report $600k In 2021 Income, Paid $150K Taxes

Bidens Report $600k In 2021 Income, Paid $150K Taxes

Washington (AFP) - US President Joe Biden -- who pledged transparency around his personal finances while in office -- and his wife Jill Biden reported a bit more than $600,000 on their federal tax returns for 2021, the White House said Friday.

The couple paid $150,439 in taxes on $610,702, for a tax rate of 24.6 percent, the White House said.

In publishing their tax information, the president and first lady -- the first to work outside the White House, as a professor -- are bringing back a custom dating back to the 1970s but interrupted by previous president Donald Trump.

Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff declared a 2021 income of $1.6 million on their federal returns, and paid a tax rate of 31.6 percent, or $523,371.