U.S. Politics, Elections & Culture issues

[kompir]

Biden and his handlers are facing a day of reckoning like never before in US history.

[Carlin]

The "Summit of the Americas" was just held in the US for the first time since 1994, with Biden as host, and it was boycotted by the leaders of Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Bolivia, and El Salvador. Biden was excoriated by the leaders of Argentina and Belize. Seems under-reported

https://mobile.twitter.com/mtracey/status/1535665903467122689

[kompir]

This is interesting:

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Washington: A draft opinion suggests the US Supreme Court could be poised to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade case that legalised abortion nationwide, according to a Politico report.

A decision to overrule Roe would lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states and could have huge ramifications for this year’s elections. But it’s unclear if the draft represents the court’s final word on the matter — opinions often change in ways big and small in the drafting process

Whatever the outcome, the Politico report represents an extremely rare breach of the court’s secretive deliberation process, and on a case of surpassing importance.

“Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” the draft opinion states. It was signed by Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the court’s 6-3 conservative majority, and appointed by former president George W. Bush.

The document was labelled a “1st Draft” of the “Opinion of the Court” in a case challenging Mississippi’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks, a case known as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organisation.

The court is expected to rule on the case before its term ends in late June or early July.

The draft opinion states there is no constitutional right to abortion services and would allow individual states to regulate the procedure more heavily or to ban it outright.

“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” it states, referring to the 1992 case Planned Parenthood v Casey that affirmed Roe’s finding of a constitutional right to abortion services but allowed states to place some constraints on the practice.

“It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”

A Supreme Court spokeswoman said the court had no comment.

Politico said only that it received “a copy of the draft opinion from a person familiar with the court’s proceedings in the Mississippi case along with other details supporting the authenticity of the document”.

The draft opinion strongly suggests that when the justices met in private shortly after arguments in the case on December 1, at least five voted to overrule Roe and Casey, and Alito was assigned the task of writing the court’s majority opinion.

Votes and opinions in a case aren’t final until a decision is announced or, in a change wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, posted on the court’s website.

The report comes amid a legislative push to restrict abortion in several Republican-led states — Oklahoma being the most recent — even before the court issues its decision. Critics of those measures have said low-income women will disproportionately bear the burden of the new restrictions.

The leak jumpstarted the intense political reverberations that the high court’s ultimate decision was expected to have in the midterm election year. Already, politicians on both sides of the aisle were seizing on the report to fundraise and energise their supporters on either side of the hot-button issue.

Hundreds of abortion rights supporters gathered in anger at the US Supreme Court after news of the leak broke.

“The first line in the draft is that this is a moral issue,” Annie McDonnell, 19, a student at George Washington University, said, referring to the draft opinion. “If it’s a moral issue, you shouldn’t be depriving us of our choice.”

“Justices get out of my vagina,” one sign held aloft read. “I love someone who had an abortion,” read another.

The crowd was interspersed with a smaller number of anti-abortion activists, including some with drums and guitars chanting, “Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Roe v Wade has got to go.”

An AP-NORC poll in December found that Democrats increasingly see protecting abortion rights as a high priority for the government.

Other polling shows relatively few Americans want to see Roe overturned. In 2020, AP VoteCast found that 69 per cent of voters in the presidential election said the Supreme Court should leave the Roe v. Wade decision as is; just 29 per cent said the court should overturn the decision.

In general, AP-NORC polling finds a majority of the public favours abortion being legal in most or all cases.

Still, when asked about abortion policy generally, Americans have nuanced attitudes on the issue, and many don’t think that abortion should be possible after the first trimester or that women should be able to obtain a legal abortion for any reason.

The landmark Roe v Wade decision has been disputed and contested many times over the five decades since it was handed down.

In that time abortion has emerged a central issue in American politics, dividing progressives - which typically supports a woman’s right to choose - from conservatives, which equate the procedure to a crime. Importantly, it has also served as a galvanising issue for religious voters courted by Republicans.

Alito, in the draft, said the court can’t predict how the public might react and shouldn’t try. “We cannot allow our decisions to be affected by any extraneous influences such as concern about the public’s reaction to our work,” Alito wrote in the draft opinion, according to Politico.

In December, all six conservative justices signalled that they would uphold the Mississippi law, and five asked questions that suggested that overruling Roe and Casey was a possibility.

Only Chief Justice John Roberts seemed prepared to take the smaller step of upholding the 15-week ban, though that too would be a significant weakening of abortion rights.

Until now, the court has allowed states to regulate but not ban abortion before the point of viability, around 24 weeks.

The court’s three liberal justices seemed likely to be in dissent.

Twenty-six states are certain or likely to ban abortion if Roe v Wade is overturned, according to the pro-abortion rights think tank the Guttmacher Institute.

Of those, 22 states already have total or near-total bans on the books that are currently blocked by Roe, aside from Texas. The state’s law banning it after six weeks has already been allowed to go into effect by the Supreme Court due to its unusual civil enforcement structure. Four more states are considered likely to quickly pass bans if Roe is overturned.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia, meanwhile, have protected access to abortion in state law.

This year, anticipating a decision overturning or gutting Roe, eight conservative states have already moved to restrict abortion rights. Oklahoma, for example, passed several bills in recent weeks, including one that goes into effect this northern summer making it a felony to perform an abortion. Like many anti-abortion bills passed in GOP-led states this year, it does not have exceptions for rape or incest, only to save the life of the mother.

Seven Democratic-leaning states protected or expanded access to the procedure, including California, which has passed legislation making the procedure less expensive and is considering other bills to make itself an “abortion sanctuary” if Roe is overturned.

The draft looked legitimate to some followers of the court.

Veteran Supreme Court lawyer Neal Katyal, who worked as a clerk to Justice Stephen Breyer and therefore has been in a position to see drafts, wrote on Twitter: “There are lots of signals the opinion is legit. The length and depth of analysis, would be very hard to fake. It says it is written by Alito and definitely sounds like him.”

Opinions about the expected ruling were split along partisan lines. US Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren said: “An extremist Supreme Court is poised to overturn #RoeVWade and impose its far-right, unpopular views on the entire country. ”

Republican Senator Tom Cotton said: “The Supreme Court & the DOJ must get to the bottom of this leak immediately using every investigative tool necessary.”

https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-america/leaked-us-supreme-court-decision-suggests-majority-set-to-overturn-roe-v-wade-politico-reports-20220503-p5ai2m.html

[kompir]

https://technofog.substack.com/p/us-intelligence-operations-against?s=w

Too big to copy/pasta.

[kompir]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1493828010151014403

[Soldier of Macedon]

https://www.alvinbragg.com/priorities

Based on his lifetime of experience fighting for justice, equality and fairness, Alvin will make the office the progressive leader it should be on criminal justice reform.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/man...-growing-crime

Manhattan’s newly sworn-in district attorney reportedly told his staff he does not intend to prosecute several crimes, including resisting arrest.....Alvin Bragg, a former federal prosecutor sworn in as Manhattan District Attorney on Jan. 1, sent guidance to his office calling for the "decriminalization/non prosecution" for crimes including marijuana possession, turnstile jumping, trespassing, resisting arrest, interfering with an arrest and prostitution. Additionally, the guidance says the DA’s office will "not seek carceral sentence other than for homicide" or "class B violent felony in which a deadly weapon causes serious injury, domestic violence felonies" with some exceptions in "extraordinary circumstances." The memo argues that "reserving incarceration for matters involving significant harm will make us safer." Bragg’s office also says it will request a maximum of 20 years in prison for all crimes that don’t have a life-in-prison option and will never seek life without parole in any case regardless of how heinous. Pretrial detention, according to Bragg's office, will only be recommended in "very serious cases."

https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-...iminal-history

The man who reportedly pushed an Asian woman to her death from a New York City subway platform has a long criminal history dating back decades, according to police. "He does have in the past three emotionally disturbed encounters with us that we have documented," NYPD Assistant Chief Jason Wilcox said at a Saturday press conference. "He does have a criminal background. He was on parole at one time. He did have a parole warrant, and we're still looking into that," Wilcox added.

https://www.foxnews.com/media/christ...merican-crimes

Jackie Wong, a member of the neighborhood group Concerned Citizens of East Broadway, blasted New York City officials for systematic failures, after 35-year-old Christina Yuna Lee was stabbed to death in her apartment.....Lee is the latest victim of Asian descent killed in a series of random attacks in New York City and the latest example of violent crime committed by a repeat offender suspect.....The suspect was identified as 25-year-old Assamad Nash by The Post.....Nash had three open cases against him at the time of the alleged murder, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office told Fox News Digital. The suspect in the stabbing was arrested for assault, resisting arrest, possession of synthetic marijuana, and other crimes in the last few months.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/psa...sian-americans

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday blamed "hate-filled rhetoric and language" around the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic as a driving force behind an uptick in hate crimes against Asian Americans....."There's no question that some of the damaging rhetoric we saw during the prior administration — calling COVID 'the Wuhan virus' or other things — led to perceptions of the Asian American community that are inaccurate, unfair, have elevated threats against Asian Americans," Psaki said last March from the briefing room.

Sure, those animals were Trump-supporters who were thinking Asians + Wuhan + COVID when they murdered those two innocent ladies. It had nothing to do with them being drug-fucked criminals who saw easy targets, or progressive policies that allowed them the freedom to commit such crimes. Seriously, is there anybody in the Biden admin that isn't totally pathetic?

[Risto the Great]

Of course there are - and I would put covid in that category (among others). But this strikes at the very heart of what America is supposedly about. I don't know if there can ever be another American nationalistic movie ever again. I think it peaked at "Team America: World Police" by the way.

Meanwhile, the Chinese bestselling movie at the moment is one about a Chinese victory over the USA in "The battle at lake Changjin".

[kompir]

There are even bigger crimes and treasonous activities Risto that are getting zero air time on any platform.

[Risto the Great]

Read this and let me know if anything is a lie:

[Soldier of Macedon]

Looks like Trump was right about the nefarious activities of his opponents during 2016 and beyond. Tucker sums it up. All futile. None of the driving forces will be held accountable. Instead, some are now working for the Biden administration. And still rambling on about Russia. "Democracy" at work. Amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb-fQTm_fP0

[Soldier of Macedon]

Florida is a state with a sane governor that understands parents' rights and objections to having their 6-year old children taught about "gender and sexual orientation." The most important job for schools that have children in those developmental ages is to teach them language, math, etc. Instead, these agenda-driven monsters are hellbent on ruining the minds of an entire generation by encouraging boys to identify as girls and vice versa. This is what happens with leftist government overreach.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bid...n-gay-children

President Biden criticized a controversial bill making its way through the Florida legislature that addresses conversations teachers have with their students about gender and sexual orientation. "I want every member of the LGBTQI+ community — especially the kids who will be impacted by this hateful bill — to know that you are loved and accepted just as you are," the president tweeted Tuesday. "I have your back, and my Administration will continue to fight for the protections and safety you deserve."...........The Senate Education Committee in Florida approved SB 1834, which critics have dubbed the "don’t say 'gay' bill," which says schools "may not encourage discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.".........In a press conference Tuesday, DeSantis said he has not yet seen any bill but that he supports the rights of parents to be involved in what their children are being taught in schools........DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw told Fox News that the media has adopted an "entirely false" narrative about the proposed legislation. "There is nothing in this bill preventing anyone from ‘saying gay’," Pushaw said. "It's about age-appropriate education on gender and sexual orientation."

[Soldier of Macedon]

LoL
You would think they could also offer a used laptop with every crack pipe though ....

Interesting. Get hammered directly and vicariously at the same time.

[Risto the Great]

Perhaps his son came up with the idea.

LoL
You would think they could also offer a used laptop with every crack pipe though ....

[Soldier of Macedon]

Biden's Health and Human Services department is reportedly considering a program that would use taxpayer money to fund and distribute drug paraphernalia. Apparently, giving poor Americans in low-income areas unmitigated access to crack pipes is part of his broader strategy for "racial equity." Perhaps his son came up with the idea.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bla...e-distribution

The Washington Free Beacon initially reported on the program, noting that the department would prioritize applicants in "underserved communities" as defined under one of President Biden's executive orders. An HHS spokesperson reportedly told the Beacon that the grants would fund smoking kits with pipes for users to smoke crystal methamphetamine, crack cocaine and "any illicit substances." The grant document references Biden's executive order 13985, titled "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government."

[Soldier of Macedon]

What was most surprising about the January 6th "anniversary", as if it needed to be commemorated as such (it was barely a riot), was Ted Cruise, the Republican senator saying it was a terrorist act. Tucker Carlson called him out on his show for it and Ted, realising he fucked up, went on Tucker's show to try and explain himself the very next day. He tried to explain his brain fart by saying it was "sloppy" of him to use the word "terrorist" to describe the events of January 6th and that he didn't really mean it to which Tucker shred him to pieces. Ted Cruise is apparently a lawyer who is acutely aware that words carry meaning and that he would never choose to use such a loaded word as "terrorist". "So why did you say it?" was Tucker's question to Ted. His response was pathetic and killed off any credibility he may have had thus far with conservatives.

Some democrats were comparing the incident of January 6 with 9/11 and Pearl Harbour. One even drew some weird connection with Nazi concentration camps. A disgraceful trivialisation of what people had to endure in the past. Some of the things that happened that day were wrong, but they are so desperate to highlight this one disruptive event carried out by conservatives, where no building was burnt and no person was killed by the people who entered the capital, and where there is credible evidence that an infiltrator was instigating the crowd - a crowd supposedly made up of insurrectionists. Yet, for months prior, American cities were under duress, buildings were on fire and people were killed by rioting mobs aligned with the left. These people, of course, were characterised as peaceful protesters. Go figure. Tucker Carlson's documentary on the incident of January 6 is revealing. I was disappointed in Ted Cruz. I thought he showed a lot of thick skin to get over the distasteful exchanges he had with Trump during the primaries for the 2016 elections and he actually worked constructively with the latter thereafter. That earned him respect, but his recent comments were pathetic and he was rightly called out by Tucker Carlson.