May Day News

Thanks to two Republicans, the Arizona Senate overturned the 1864 law banning almost all abortions after the House voted against it last week. The return to a 15-week abortion ban comes 90 days after the end of the legislative session, still not identified, with a legal stay on the 1864 law until June 27. Up for election this November, GOP senators T.J. Shope and Shawnna Bolick, wife of a state Supreme Court justice who voted to reinstate the 1864 law, joined Democrats in a 16-14 vote to repeal the law. In a Times-Sienna poll, 59 percent of Arizona’s registered voters want abortion to be mostly or always legal.

Still searching for publicity, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) continues her mission to remove MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) from Speaker, but RNC Co-chair Mike Whatley, an election denier, begged her to drop her goal. He emphasized party unity and told her that removing Johnson is “not helpful.” Greene told him that the party could rebound from a leadership switch before the election less than seven months away. Her action also defies wishes expressed by Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) and annoys others in DDT’s circle. Another senior GOP official warned of consequences for Greene if she remains outside the team.

Opposing last year’s executive order from President Joe Biden, the House approved a bill, 214-199, to reinstate drilling rights on 13 million acres in the Arctic National Wildlife. Reps. Mary Peltola (D-AK) and Morgan Griffith (R-VA) voted “present.” Originally Peltola co-sponsored the bill but said she couldn’t support the provision to “nullify” a climate resilience area in the state, home to caribou herds, wolves, and over 200 species of birds along with the Gwich’in people’s sacred land. The land was set aside in the 1920s for the Navy’s emergency oil and wildlife for wildlife including caribou herds and polar bears.

The House also passed a bill supposedly cracking down on college campus antisemitism which Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) labeled as a “ridiculous hate speech bill.” He said he was against antisemitism, “but this legislation is written without regard for the Constitution, common sense, or even the common understanding of the meaning of words. The Gospel itself would meet the definition of antisemitism under the terms of this bill!” The bill requires the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism which includes “claims of Jews killing Jesus.” Greene said the bill makes people guilty if they believe “the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.” Almost two dozen Republicans voted against the bill.

Democrats again saved the Antisemitism Awareness Act that passed 320 to 91 that some saw as an effort to divide their party instead of combatting antisemitism. Almost two dozen Republicans voted against the bill that some Democrats saw as an effort to divide their party instead of combating antisemitism. Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA), who voted for the bill, said a message about antisemitism should be “more united” and that the bill would go nowhere in the Senate. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a Jewish progressive and constitutional expert, said he voted for the bill “on the theory that it’s basically meaningless and harmless.” He called it “just one more superficial ‘gotcha’ bill.”

As a reaction to campus protests against the Israel war, the bill is seen as repressing free speech, conflating criticism of the state of Israel and Zionism with antisemitism. The ACLU pointed out that federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), another House Jewish member, said the definition is too broad. Typical definitions of “antisemitism” omit the fact that Palestinians and other Arabs are also Semites.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) slammed Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, declaring it is “loaded with bad policy and wasteful spending that will ultimately worsen inflation, expand government, and hurt the middle-class.” Yet the law gave him almost $315,000 for his car dealership to install a 261.9-kilowatt solar panel array, annually saving the firm $23,700. His Democratic opponent, Department of Defense legislative analyst Preston Nouri, is demanding that Kelly return the grant funds.

A member of the Federal Elections Commission board, Trey Trainor, has a campaign sign for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on his front lawn while a finance complaint against Cruz is pending before the FEC. Cruz is accused of funneling advertising revenue from his podcast to his super PAC. In 2011, the FEC rules were changed to permit commissioners the right to engage in political activities, and DDT-appointed Trainor is opposed to campaign finance regulations.

The far-right group United Sovereign Americans, election deniers, has a plan to overturn a Biden win in 2024 based on the 1965 Voting Rights Act. According to the group, the law allows them to challenge the eligibility of voters. If any vote is found ineligible, all voters are disenfranchised, according to their reading of the law. The group plans to file lawsuits in multiple states based on errors in the voter rolls. One mistake prevents a state from certifying federal elections.  

Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) latest salvo against DA Merrick Garland misses its target. In a letter to Garland, Jordan attacked Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg for hiring former DOJ official Matthew Colangelo as senior counsel in DDT’s criminal trial about business fraud with Stormy Daniels’ hush money. Jordan asks for “information and documents related to Mr. Colangelo’s employment,” claiming politicization.

In Utah, Layne Bangerter is threatened with removal as the GOP lieutenant government candidate choice. Although he grew up in the state, he has not lived in Utah for the past five years, a state law requirement for candidate. He and his chosen gubernatorial running mate, Phil Lyman, filed a lawsuit against Lt. Gov. Henderson and Director of Election Ryan Cowley, claiming that Henderson’s office “wrongfully interfered” with their campaign. Republicans chose Lyman over incumbent Gov. Spencer Cox. Bangerter moved away from Utah after living there for 30 years and didn’t return from Idaho until 2021.

The FDA maintains that the migration of bird flu to cows is not serious, but a dairy veterinarian in Amarillo caring for cows sick with H5N1 said several dairy workers, including those not in contact with sick cows, have become ill. According to Dr. Barb Petersen, symptoms include “high fever, sweating at night, chills, lower back pain [and] vomiting and diarrhea. They also tended to have pretty severe conjunctivitis and swelling of their eyelids.” They weren’t tested for H5N1, however.

The World Health Organization warns of a mutating virus with an “extraordinarily high” mortality rate seen in humans; influenza is likely to spur our next pandemic. Bird flu is not only in other domesticated animals but also in wild mammals such as sea lions, foxes, and dolphins. Until recently, the USDA failed to submit bird flu sequence data to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data. Media focused on rising prices of eggs instead of dangers of mutating diseases and how factory farm conditions contribute to them.

Forty-one Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants have directly dumped 371 million pounds of toxic pollutants into U.S. rivers and lakes used for drinking water, fishing, and recreation during the last five years threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife, and human health. The 87 billion gallons of wastewater contained blood, bacteria, and animal feces. In the Midwest, industrial agriculture contributes to algae blooms with nitrogen and phosphorus clogging water infrastructure, worsening respiratory conditions such as asthma, and causing marine life to suffocate and die from depleted oxygen. Phosphorus has no federal limit, and almost all the over 5,000 meat and poultry processing plants are exempt from water regulations.

Nebraska’s Gov. Jim Pillen’s family owns one of the biggest pork companies in the U.S. Last year, he called a Chinese-born journalist a “communist” for exposing serious water quality violations at his hog farms. This year, the state supreme court ruled that the environmental agency could charge her investigative news outlet tens of thousands of dollars for a public records request about nitrates. Tyson plants are also close to critical habitats for endangered or threatened species, like the whooping cranes down to only 15 birds in the 1940s and still numbering only 500.

Since 24 states legalized cannabis for recreational purposes and another 14 for medical purposes, Biden’s administration hopes to reclassify it to Schedule 3 instead of Schedule 1, comparable to heroin, methamphetamines, and LSD, based on a recommendation by the Department of Health and Human Services. The proposal must be published in the Federal Register before a 60-day public comment period and then reviewed by an administrative law judge who might hold a hearing before approval. Schedule 3 substances include Tylenol, codeine, steroids, and testosterone. The change would save business taxes where the drug is legal, allowing them to deduct ordinary business expenses and help shrink the black market on the product. Cannabis has been a Schedule 1 drug since the enactment of the Controlled Substances Act in 1970 under Richard Nixon; California was the first state to legalize medical cannabis in 1996.

The Methodist Church has joined modern times by repealing its ban on LGBTQ+ clergy in an overwhelming majority of delegates. They also voted against penalties for performing same-sex weddings. Conservatives opposed to LGBTQ+ acceptance have founded the Global Methodist Church.

In another Boeing safety fiasco, a Delta jet’s emergency slide fell off soon after the commercial plane took off from a New York airport. The bizarre coincidence is that it was discovered two days later outside the home of a lawyer in Belle Harbor, Queens, whose firm is suing the manufacturer over safety issues.  

Senate Impeachment Trial, Other News around the Nation

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) may have violated his gag order by reposting a Fox host’s attack against potential jurors. Jesse Watters stated:

“They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge in order to get on the Trump Jury.”

The gag order blocks DDT from making “public statements about any prospective juror or any juror,” according to CNN’s Erin Burnett. DDT is also complaining about not have “unlimited” strikes of potential jurors. New York permits an unlimited number for cause, but the judge presiding over the case, Juan Merchan, decides whether that cause is worthy of a strike.

Each side has ten peremptory challenges each because the case is for a Class E felony.  Thus far, each side has used six of these ten, DDT for a woman who posted a celebration of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win on Facebook. DDT’s trial skipped Wednesday while the judge attends to other cases; it resumes tomorrow. Merchan hopes to have jury selection completed by Friday and hold opening statements on Monday. A conviction could put DDT into prison for four years.

The Senate used Wednesday for its impeachment trial for DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. It was finished in three hours. Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), conducting the trial, swore in the senators as jurors who dismissed both House articles of impeachment against Mayorkas. The trial concluded before House impeachment managers could present arguments. At the beginning of the trial, Schumer gave time for debate and the chance to create an impeachment committee. During discussion on the procedural points, Republicans tried to make extended remarks, blaming Mayorkas and Democrats for large numbers of migrants at the southern border, but Murray repeatedly interceded. Impeachment conviction would have required 67 votes.

Eric Schmitt (R-MO) objected to Schumer’s motions and demanded a full trial that required unanimous support. His action quickly closed down the trial, and congressional Republicans were furious about the outcome, using the opportunity to campaign against Biden.

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) brought the objection to the first charge of refusing to comply with the law, declaring it was unconstitutional because the House had no evidence that it was a high crime or misdemeanor as required by Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution. The vote was on party lines with 51-48, Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voting present. GOP senators tried to delay Schumer’s motion to dismiss by trying to send the Senate into closed session for debating the charges, adjournment until April 30, and tabling Schumer’s objections. All motions lost by a party-line vote of 51-49. Democrats also rejected a proposal for an impeachment committee. Voting against the second article charging Mayorkas with “breach of public trust,” Democrats again declared it unconstitutional. 

Conservatives should be outraged with Israelis who destroyed over 5,000 “children,” as conservatives call them, in a strike on Gaza’s largest fertility clinic last December. At least nine clinics in Gaza have collected and fertilized women’s eggs with sperm before freezing the embryos.

Arizona’s legislature returned on Wednesday after hiding for a week, again voting against repealing the 1864 anti-abortion law.  Cathi Herrod, president of Center for Arizona Policy Action, told them not to overturn the law, and Republican lawmakers are more afraid of her than of Deposed Donald Trump (DDT). Opposing her means losing the primary, but supporting her may mean losing the slim two-person GOP majority next year.

Kari Lake, who still refuses to admit that she lost the 2022 gubernatorial election in Arizona, first supported the complete ban on abortion in the 1864 law and then said the legislature should overturn it. The GOP candidate for U.S. Senate from the state has come up with another solution—just “travel three hours” if they want to have an abortion. Lake also told an audience to “strap on a Glock” before the election.

Both Texas and Idaho abortion bans are colliding with the almost 40-year-old federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requiring hospitals to treat and stabilize all patients having a medical emergency. The Biden administration is suing Idaho for its violation of EMTALA, and Texas is suing the Biden administration with the claim that the use of EMTALA is an end-run around state abortion bans. The Supreme Court will hear the Idaho case on April 24, the day before it hears DDT’s immunity case.  

In a victory for free speech, a federal judge ruled against Texas AG Ken Paxton’s probe of Media Matters, described as misleading and heavy-handed. Paxton’s lawsuit against Media Matters, claims that it violated Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which forbids “disparaging the goods, services, or business of another by false or misleading representation of facts.” He also demanded documents from Media Matters which the judge blocked because Media Matters called it invasive and a First Amendment violation. DDT’s anti-immigrant aide encouraged Missouri’s AG to also probe Media Matters for fraud, and Elon Musk urged GOP AGs to harass their critics and stifle reporting about X, according to Media Matters.

Paxton is also suing Harris County, home of Houston, to block its program using federal funds to give the poorest 1,900 households monthly payments of $500 for 18 months. Conservatives objected to it, and Paxton called it “unconstitutional.” In Texas, Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso County have already used the program.

In Tuesday’s special election, Michigan Democrats won full control of the state government with two candidates erasing the tie of 54-54 since November when two Democratic representatives vacated their seats to become mayors in their hometowns.

After a rash of state anti-LGBTQ+ bills went into law during the past few years, the trend seems to be reversing. Despite the introduction of a plethora of bills, southern states such as Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, and West Virginia ended this year’s legislative sessions with either one or no new bills, creating a feeling of hope. In the U.S., 59 percent of Republicans support nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people although trans people still bear the brunt of harassment.   

A three-judge panel from the 4^th Circuit Court also voted 2-1 to overturn the West Virginia law barring transgender athletes from competing on girls’ and women’s sports teams in public schools and colleges on the basis of Title IX. The dissent came from a George W. Bush appointment. The case was about a 13-year-old trans girl who wanted to run on the girls’ cross-country and track teams at her middle school. The ACLU argued that the girl had no physical advantages over other competing girls because she had not gone through male puberty. West Virginia is one of 24 states passing similar laws. Some of the laws, including those in Arizona, Idaho, Ohio, and Utah, are blocked by temporary injunctions. In New York, a judge is permitting AG Letitia James to challenge a Nassau County executive order barring trans girls from participating in its 100+ sports facilities.

The Supreme Court refuses to consider a challenge from MyPillow’s founder and election denier Mike Lindell to the FBI seizure of his cellphone at a restaurant drive-through. Three lower court rulings had gone against Lindell’s request. The phone was seized in an investigation to breach voting system technology in Mesa County (CO). Lindell claimed freedom of speech, but the 8^th Circuit Court disagreed, stating that his objective was to hamper federal prosecution. Two voting machine companies are also suing Lindell for defamation; his lawyers quit because he didn’t pay their bills. A Lindell sycophant is driving around Arizona and using lies to push the agenda of eliminating mail-in voting and counting all ballots by hand on the night of the November election. Hand-counts can be inaccurate, untrustworthy, and delayed, adding chaos to election-denying.

Governors of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are also using lies to block UAW unionization for auto plants.

Wisconsin’s GOP has hired Andrew Iverson as its executive director in preparation for the July GOP national convention in Milwaukee. Iverson promoted lies about fraud in the 2020 election, calling for people to “fan the flames.” He was a leader in DDT’s campaign and the RNC.

A House Oversight committee meeting on China devolved into a shouting match after Chair James Comer (R-KY) brought up President Joe Biden’s impeachment. Comer accused Biden of making millions of dollars from writing his book, and Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-MD) asked Comer to “tell America” what crime Comer is using for impeachment. Comer used his typical response, “You’re about to find out very soon.” He repeated his evidence-free statement that Biden and his son Hunter were financially compromised by foreign governments and that China “bribed Joe Biden and his family with $9 million.” Raskin asked:

“If Biden took a bribe, why aren’t you impeaching him?”

Comer said, “Who says we’re not?” and Raskin called his bluff by offering an impeachment vote, something that Comer continually refuses to do. The two members also argued about DDT’s financial dealings with foreign governments when he was in the White House, taking $5 million for rental from the Chinese at DDT’s properties. Comer snapped that Raskin and his fellow Democrats had “an obsession with Russia and Trump” and told him, “you need therapy, Mr. Raskin.” Reportedly, Comer is writing a book about Biden’s impeachment inquiry.

In the House, MAGA Mike Johnson (R-LA) is trying to figure out how to keep his position after Tom Massie (R-KY) joined Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to oust him as Speaker while passing important foreign aid funding with the help of Democrats. Nothing was settled on Wednesday.

DDT Cult Roundup before His First Trial This Coming Week

Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) bragged about that he “broke Roe v. Wade” while he was in the White House, but he’s running from the effects on his presidential campaign after the Arizona Supreme Court put an 1864 abortion ban into current law. Friday, he told state legislators to adjust the law “as fast as possible,” adding that abortion bans are “now up to the states.” Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said she is “pretty tired of cleaning up Donald Trump’s messes in Arizona,” calling it “political opportunism from these folks who wanted this.”

DDT’s stance on abortion has changed 15 times in the last 25 years from claiming he was pro-choice in 1999 to hitting a low point during his 2016 campaign with his assertion that women having abortions should be punished and that he will end Roe v Wade with his Supreme Court appointments. He has lied about Planned Parenthood providing abortions and attended the 2020 Right to Life rally in Washington, D.C. where he told the audience he would “veto any legislation that weakens pro-life policies or that encourages the destruction of human life.” As Republicans started losing elections, DDT tried to avoid stating opinions, finally declaring states should make their own decisions.

The stock price for Truth Social is another DDT loser after the merger with a shell company on March 26. Since then, the value has dropped from over $79 a share to $32.50. DDT owns almost 79 million shares, meaning he loses $79 million for every point it goes down—a loss thus far of almost $3.7 billion. His shares are still valued at over $2.5 billion but may be shrinking. Forbes warned investors not to purchase Truth Social shares and removed DDT from the top 400 wealthiest people because his wealth dropped to $4.8 billion, 659^th in the world. DDT launched a paranoid attack at the publication and blames  New York AG Letitia James. Bloomberg also dropped DDT off its 500 wealthiest people in the world.

Last week, DDT tried to stop the decline in price by encouraging his followers to purchase shares if they “believe in putting America First and want to Make America Great Again,” but his begging did no good. Wall Street is now betting on Truth Social to fail, known as “shorting” stock. An excellent article on MAGAites shows them buying stocks out of devotion to DDT and losing their savings.

DDT has promised to release Wall Street from “burdensome regulations” that Democrats expanded to save the U.S. from a recession, similar to the 2008 global banking meltdown. He also plans to scale back protections for small-scale investors and borrowers while allowing companies to raise money with less scrutiny. Another DDT idea is curtailing the Dodd-Frank Act instated after 2008 to reduce systemic risk.

In another attempt to make money, DDT moved on from selling Bibles to holding up a copy of a 1990  Playboy magazine with himself on the cover for his followers at a Saudi Arabia LIV golf event in Miami.

James Comer, searching for dirt against Hunter and Joe Biden, has ignored these facts about DDT and his family:

Ivanka secured 41 patents and 16 trademarks from China.

Jared got $2 billion from Mohammad Bin Salman, received a security clearance although the CIA rejected his paperwork, and made $640 million while working in the White House.

Jared and Ivanka used a private email account from one of DDT’s corporate servers while they were working in the White House.

DDT paid off a $20 million debt to a Korean company but didn’t put it on his financial disclosure statements, faces 10 counts of obstruction of justice that the AG lied about until the statute of limitations ran out, signed a secret letter of intent for developing a $1 billion resort tower in downtown Moscow while running for president, asked his friend Roger Stone get a foreigner to release stolen emails from his opponents’ campaign manager to district from his tape supporting sexual assault, tried to extort a foreign president into finding where the real “DNC” server is, announced a sham investigation of Hunter Biden Russian disinformation, received 38 trademarks in China while in the White House, made over $200 million from international business deals while he was in the White House, and stole gifts from foreign governments that were supposed to be left with the government when he left office.

New York – Civil Business Fraud Costs:

An investigation into the company providing DDT’s bond for $175 million reveals more and more unethical practices, and AG James may start collection efforts to seize DDT’s assets.   The judge is holding a hearing on April 22 to determine the validity of DDT’s bond because the necessary paperwork from Knight Specialty Insurance Company (KSIC) is incomplete. The money covering the bond is in the Cayman Islands, problematic for several reasons.

New York – Criminal Business Fraud/Hush Money to Stormy Daniels to Interfere with 2016 Election:

Judge Juan Merchan rejected DDT’s fourth motion this week for a trial delay, the last one over “prejudicial” pretrial media coverage. DDT pointed out that he couldn’t have a fair trial, and Merchan pointed out that DDT had spread the publicity himself. Merchan also said that the publicity wouldn’t change if he postponed the trial. The trial is scheduled to begin with jury selection on April 15.

New York prosecutors charge DDT with covering up former lawyer Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet before the 2016 Election Day about their sexual election a decade earlier soon after Melania Trump had given birth to DDT’s and her son, Barron. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll, 64 percent describe the charges in the business fraud case to be at least somewhat serious, compared to 34 percent who don’t see the charges as serious. The other three criminal cases are even more serious.  

Merchan has indicated that this case is far more than hush money, that it’s a third election interference case because the purpose of his falsifying business records was to influence the 2016 presidential election. Aaron Blake explains:

“What we also have is an alleged plot to illegally obscure damaging information to benefit the winning candidate in a very close election. And given how close that election was, it’s hardly ridiculous to wonder what effects this alleged crime may have had on the country’s course.”

Prosecutors and lawyers must select 12 jurors and six alternates from the hundreds of prospective jurors summoned to the courthouse. DDT also said that he “would testify, absolutely” at the trial although he backs out every time he makes that declaration.

DDT could lose his voting rights if he is convicted.

Florida – DDT’s Taking Classified Documents:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/14/politics/hush-money-trial-trump/index.html    DDT’s latest stall in the trial about his mishandling classified documents is that he’s too busy with his New York trial to review evidence although he’s had it for months. Further stalling the trial about DDT’s mishandling classified documents in Florida, DDT’s pet judge Aileen Cannon held a hearing about dropping charges for his co-defendants Walt Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira instead of ruling on the motion. Prosecutors claim the indictment information is sufficient and they don’t need to provide the evidence they will use in the proceedings. Cannon seemed to agree but didn’t give a formal opinion. Her inexperience is becoming more and more obvious from many unanswered questions, including the trial date.  

After months of dithering, Cannon finally consented to conceal DDT witnesses names, keeping names and identifying information under seal. She did rule that the substance of witness statements can be made public in filings and criticized what she called poorly made legal arguments by special counsel Jack Smith. He had argued that publicized information would lead to harassment and possible intimidation of witnesses.

One of Smith’s witnesses may be Evan Corcoran, one of the original team for DDT’s handling of classified documents. Corcoran has resigned. DDT allegedly told Corcoran not to search DDT’s Mar-a-Lago office for classified documents, persuading him and other attorneys to lie to the DOJ so that he could keep the materials. Corcoran kept memos tracking his interactions with DDT, explaining how DDT schemed to undermine a subpoena from prosecutors.

Supreme Court Decisions for DDT:

On April 16, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could erase one of DDT’s biggest charges and toss hundreds of January 6 insurrection convictions. The law banning the obstruction of an official proceeding has been used to charge 330 defendants in the insurrection. The plaintiff is arguing about the meaning of otherwise. Fourteen district court judges upheld charges for obstructing an official proceeding in the insurrection by defining “otherwise” as “in a different manner”; a DDT-appointed judge differed in opinion during an appeal with the argument that the plaintiff had not tampered with official documents or records as part of the attack.

Other DDT Bits:

In considering criteria for vice-president, DDT cares nothing about their presidential abilities—just whether they can raise money for his campaign.

Believing that votes for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will take them from President Joe Biden and not himself, DDT is saying that he would vote for RFK if he were a Democrat, perhaps because of their similarities.

In response to Republicans wanting to rename Dulles Airport for DDT, Democrats introduced a bill to rename the Miami Federal Correctional Institution in Florida as the “Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution.” Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) stated that this prison is the closest one to Mar-a-Lago.

House Solves One Crisis, Israel Causes Another

Iran Retaliates against Israeli Attack:

Israel has a history of poking at groups and countries until they fight back. For years, Israelis tried to make Palestinians miserable enough that they would desert Gaza and the West Bank until a militant group fought back. The question is whether Israel bit off too much by attacking the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria on April 1, killing seven military officers including a top commander. On April 13, Iran launched over 200 drones toward Israel after seizing a Portuguese-flagged cargo ship with links to Israel in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s “defensive systems” were deployed, Israeli airspaces have been shut down, and schools are closing. Gatherings over 1,000 people are limited in some areas, and dozens of Israeli combat planes are airborne for monitoring.  Worried that a counterattack could target U.S. troops in the Middle East, the U.S. began last week to dispatch more ships and warplanes to the region. The U.S. has shot down some of the drones, and Israel intercepted most of the others.

U.S. House Peacefully Passes Surveillance Act:

After much drama, publicity, and months-long stalling , the House reauthorized the FISA package by 273-147 with 147 Republicans and 126 Democrats voting in favor of the reauthorization, and 59 Republicans and 88 Democrats voting against it. The renewal was for two years instead of the former five years, but it did include Section 702 permitting warrantless surveillance of foreigners. Earlier this week, 19 House Republicans had tried to follow DDT’s order, “KILL FISA.”

Section 702 provides about 60 percent of intelligence in the president’s daily briefing. The deadline for reauthorization is April 19, but a majority of the senators support the bills. Some GOP senators are furious about Deposed Donald Trump (DDT) trying to destroy the FISA extension to remove intelligence agencies from the ability to spy on U.S. adversaries and terrorists. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) maintained that loss of FISA would cripple U.S. intelligence gathering. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said that without FISA, “we’d go dark on a lot of threats.”

A proposed amendment to the FISA bill requiring warrants for domestic communications caught in foreign surveillance operations lost by 212-212 with 86 Republicans and 126 Democrats voting against it. Hardline conservatives enraged by their GOP colleagues who opposed the amendment, including Speaker Johnson who voted in favor of the final FISA package, threatened to campaign against them. After the FISA bill passed, hardliners blocked its transmission to the Senate, postponing its sending to the upper chamber until the House’s return on Monday. Johnson said he supported FISA because he received more confidential information about Section 702 after he became Speaker.

The House faces many challenging high-pressure issues—repairing the Key Bridge in Baltimore, expanding the child tax credit, determining a possible TikTok bill, reauthorizing the FAA, finishing a rail-safety bill, and, of course, readying the impeachment case against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. But the rules committee has a Monday schedule for bills that they consider more important to send to the full House floor:

• H.R. 6192 — Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act
• H.R. 7673 — Liberty in Laundry Act
• H.R. 7645 — Clothes Dryers Reliability Act
• H.R. 7637 — Refrigerator Freedom Act
• H.R. 7626 — Affordable Air Conditioning Act
• H.R. 7700 — Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act

These bills are intended to oppose energy efficiency and increase climate change, similar to the GOP hysteria over gas stoves, low-flush toilets, and light bulbs. Republicans know that the Senate won’t bother with the bills, but the GOP uses them in their presidential campaigning for DDT and their own fundraising. Steve Benen writes that Republicans ignore important issues because “that work (a) is difficult; (b) requires real legislative work; and (c) necessitates meaningful, bipartisan solutions.”

The FISA deal was done in time for Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson to fly to his meeting with DDT at Mar-a-Lago where the two of them continued to promote the “big lie” about a stolen election in 2020, another important campaign issue for DDT. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), strongly supported by DDT, has a motion to vacate Johnson’s position as speaker, but during the Mar-a-Lago visit with Johnson, DDT supported the Speaker, saying “he’s doing a really good job.” DDT and Johnson plan a bill to prevent non-citizens from voting, already encased in federal law, by requiring proof of citizenship. In 2016, DDT claimed that 3-5 million non-citizens voted against him; a study found about 30 ballots from illegal votes. DDT lost that election to Hillary Clinton by 3 million popular votes.

On Fox’s The Five, co-host Richard Fowler said that DDT’s and Johnson’s voter fraud claims had “no evidence,” citing the highly conservative Heritage Foundation’s database reporting “fewer than 50 cases of noncitizens voting in elections since 2002. According to a 1996 law, any non-citizen attempting to vote in a federal election commits a felony, is heavily fined, and potentially be deported.

Asked about DDT’s support for Johnson, Greene said DDT “loves me.” Greene also bought Truth Social stocks almost 30 months ago but won’t say that happened to those shares.

Pro-Choice Rulings Differ in States:

One of Supreme Court Justice Antonio Scalia’s conservative achievements before he suddenly died in 2016 was the 2014 Burwell v. Hobby Lobby ruling that permitted religious, anti-abortion employers the right to refuse coverage of contraception in their employee health insurance. Ironically, a three-judge panel from an appellate court used that decision to support abortion rights in Indiana. The opinion determined that the state’s abortion ban infringes on religious beliefs of plaintiffs of faith and Jewish Hoosiers for Choice that a fetus is part of a woman’s body and not an independent being with its own rights.

Opposing the Hobby Lobby decision, the state said the plaintiffs were not entitled to religious protection, but the court cited the Supreme Court ruling as a decisive precedent. Like health insurance, abortion is a “mandatory religious ritual,” according to the opinion. An appeal would go to the Indiana Supreme Court. Elizabeth Sepper, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, called the decision “enormously significant,” showing “what an even-handed application of religious liberty doctrine looks like.” The case could fight the religious right’s opinion that it can impose its beliefs on everyone.

In Arizona, four state Supreme Court Justices reinstated an 1864 law banning abortions. Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who criticized the decision, had expanded the court from five to seven justices in 2016 and appointed the four justices who banned abortion. One of his five appointees abstained, and both Republicans nominated by GOP Gov. Jan Brewer voted against the decision. Voters decide to retain or reject judges two years after their appointments and every following six years. Two of Ducey’s justices are up for reelection this year. The wife of one justice supporting the law, Shawna Bolick, is running for state Senate in November and called on the legislature to repeal the law. The ballot also has a citizens initiative to put abortion rights into the state constitution.

William Jones, author of the 1864 Arizona anti-abortion bill, was married at least four times, all his wives under 15. At that time, the age of consent was nine years old. He abandoned his first wife and their children in Missouri; he abducted his second wife, a 12-year-old Mexican girl; he abandoned his third wife, 15 at the time of their marriage, when he moved to Hawaii in 1865 and took another 15-year-old bride. Jones tried to become a delegate to the Confederate Congress when the Southern states seceded and took refuge in Mexico after pro-Confederate forces were driven from most of the Southwest. The Union Army, considering him a traitor, blocked his return until early 1864 when he took an oath to support the U.S., seven months before the establishment of the first territorial legislature and he was elected Speaker of the 18-member lower house.

In 1870, The first territorial census was 9,658 residents other than non-citizen Native Americans, much larger than the earlier population in 1864 before the transcontinental railroad and the westward migration after the end of the Civil War. Because women couldn’t vote, the actual number of voters could have been about 1,000. During a 43-day session, their representatives voting on a 400-page package may not have been aware of the abortion ban, instead focusing on building the state capitol and six roads as well as obtaining federal funds to deal with Navaho and other tribes. Other legislative business was granting two divorces, one to the post surgeon at a military post and the other to a legislative member who claimed to be lured into marriage “by fraudulent concealment of criminal facts. Those are the people and the situation for Arizona’s 1864 law now used in 2024.

Until 1864, abortions were permitted until after “quickening” when women felt fetal movement, between 16 and 21 weeks. In 1864, Arizona’s 27 white male legislators used opposition to women and immigrants to rule on women’s bodies. Male physicians resented midwives at that time, considering them competitors, and used reproductive rights and health care to gain decision-making power. At the same time, birthrates among American-born women were drastically falling while the influx of Catholic immigrants rapidly rose. The result was a xenophobic fear of “replacement” by these immigrants. By the end of the 19^th century, every state and territory criminalized abortion because of the American Medical Association. Over a century later, the AMA believes that early termination of a pregnancy is between a doctor and patient, not recognized by conservative lawmakers.