List of All Articles with Tag 'us politics'

Michigan's Democratic-controlled state legislature gave final approval this week to a pair of bills that would ban so-called conversion therapy for minors, joining other blue states in advancing protections for the LGBTQ community this legislative session.

A federal judge in Kentucky has issued a preliminary injunction that partially blocks a sweeping state law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth, joining several other federal court decisions that have temporarily blocked or struck down a wave of similar laws. The decision from US District Judge David J Hale on 28 June – one day before the law was set to go into effect – follows a legal challenge from a group of seven trans children and their families arguing that the law unconstitutionally singles out trans kids from the healthcare they can receive. They also argued that the law unconstitutionally restricts a parent’s right to make medical decisions for their children. Senate Bill 150 prohibits doctors from providing hormone therapies and puberty blockers to trans minors – treatments that Judge Hale notes “are medically appropriate and necessary for some transgender children under the evidence-based standard of care accepted by all major medical organizations in the United States.” “These drugs have a long history of safe use in minors for various conditions. It is undisputed that puberty-blockers and hormones are not given to prepubertal children with gender dysphoria,” he wrote. Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said the decision is a “huge relief” for the families at the centre of the lawsuit. “We are grateful that the court carefully considered all of the evidence and recognized that there is no support for this dangerous and unprecedented law,” she added. The law, denounced as one of the most far-reaching state-level measures targeting LGBT+ people amid an explosion of similar proposals across the US, was initially struck down by Democratic Governor Andy Beshear. A week later, lawmakers in the state’s Republican-controlled legislature voted to override his veto. The law also determines which bathrooms and locker rooms students can use and prohibits students from using pronouns and names other than those assigned at birth. It also prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, adopting elements of what critics have called “Don’t Say Gay” language introduced in similar legislation across the US. Those elements of the law are preserved; the lawsuit solely focused on provisions of the law impacting healthcare. State senator Karen Berg – whose trans son died by suicide weeks before this year’s legislative session – drove opposition to the bill over the last several months. During legislative debate, she denounced the “absolute willful, intentional hate for a small group of people, who are the weakest and the most vulnerable among us.” By the end of May, state lawmakers this year had introduced more than 500 bills impacting LGBT+ people, including 220 bills specifically targeting trans and nonbinary Americans, according to an analysis from the Human Rights Campaign. More than a dozen states have enacted laws or policies banning affirming healthcare for young trans people. But federal judges in several states have struck down or temporarily blocked similar laws with a series of rulings that refute evidence from Republican officials and their arguments against widely accepted medical guidance. Last week, a federal judge in Arkansas permanently struck down the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, finding that the law violates the constitutional rights of trans patients, their families and health providers. Read More She lost her transgender son to suicide. She isn’t giving up fighting for him Transgender teen defends trans rights in Senate testimony: ‘These are human rights hanging in the balance’

It's not so much a contrast but an amplification of Trump policies that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hopes will get him the Republican nomination.

A Rhode Island state senator was arrested in Cranston last week for allegedly keying a car with a “Biden sucks” bumper sticker, local police said in a statement. State Sen Joshua Miller, a Democrat who has served in the state senate for nearly two decades, was captured on surveillance footage allegedly keying the vehicle in the parking lot of the Garden City Center. According to the police statement, the vehicle’s passenger said he heard a scratching noise and saw Miller with his keys in his hands while walking back to their car. When police caught up with Mr Miller several hours after the incident, he denied keying the car and he believed the vehicle owner was a conservative activist who had been stalking him at the statehouse for his role in promoting gun safety legislation. Mr Miller in February sponsored a bill to ban the purchase, sale, and transfer of assault weapons in the state. “Is this maniac who yelled at me in the car next to me?” Mr Miller asked the police officer who detained him in a body camera footage released by the Cranston Police Department. Mr Miller then offered his explanation of events, telling the officer that the vehicle owner called out his name. “He was blocking my way, saying that I scratched his car, I didn’t scratch his car,” Mr Miller said. “I’m a state senator, I think he recognized me. I think he’s one of the gun nuts.” Mr Miller then told the officer that Colonel Michael Winquist was aware that he has been stalked in recent months by people opposed to his political activities. In a statement on the incident, however, the Cranston Police Department wrote that “Mr Miller never reported any threats to Colonel Winquist or any member of the Cranston Police Department.” After police officers viewed the surveillance footage, Mr Miller was arrested for vandalism/malicious injury to property and charged with a misdemeanor. When questioned again, the police statement said, Mr Miller said the vehicle owner was “daring me” to key the car. He was later arraigned and released on a $1,000 bond. He is due back in court on July 18 for a rearraignment. “Nobody is above the law, including those who make and enforce the laws,” Mr Winquist said in a statement. “The Officers who handled this investigation did so with fairness, integrity, and without preferential treatment. I would expect no less from the fine men and women of the Cranston Police Department.” The Independent has reached out to Mr Miller’s office for comment. Read More Man's death awaiting trial on charges he killed his mother at sea was not suspicious, autopsy says The Great Grift: More than $200 billion in COVID-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog says LOCALIZE IT: E-cigarettes are pouring into the US despite FDA crackdown

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has tapped Patrick "P.J." Lechleitner, a career official, to serve in an acting capacity as the new leader of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a notice sent to congressional staffers.

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team suffered a setback on Tuesday as a federal judge commented that his argument for moving a trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records out of state court was “far-fetched”. The comments from Judge Alvin Hellerstein were reported by NBC 4; the criminal prosecution is one of two the former president is now embroiled in as his legal entanglements continue to worsen. Mr Trump is accused in New York of falsifying business records dozens of times with the purpose of hiding a well-reported hush money scheme in which he supposedly paid his former attorney to recompense payments that the attorney, Michael Cohen, made to adult film star Stormy Daniels and other women with tales of alleged extramarital affairs with his boss. The former president has denied both the allegations of extramarital affairs as well as his own supposed role in covering them up; his ex-attorney Cohen, however, has explained his boss’s role in the scheme. Mr Trump’s attorneys had sought to see the case moved from court in New York state to a federal jurisdiction, as part of an effort to see the case dismissed on grounds that he supposedly made the payments in 2017 as part of his work as president. On Tuesday, Mr Hellerstein appeared to scoff at that argument. “It sounds a little far fetched, but that's the argument,” Mr Hellerstein reportedly said. He is set to make a final ruling on this matter within two weeks. He also added that as of yet, the Trump attorneys had provided “no reason to believe that an equal measure of justice could not be rendered by the state court”, and given no convincing evidence or arguments to support the idea that there was a “relationship to any official act of the president” and the payments. Mr Trump’s attorneys are defending him from more than 60 felony counts over two indictments; the ex-president is also accused of illegally retaining classified materials and other presidential documents at his resort at Mar-a-Lago. The ex-president continues to insist that the prosecutions are part of a political effort against him even as that argument appears to be losing traction among some establishment Republicans. Read More Biden touts his economic record in fiery speech: ‘Guess what – Bidenomics is working’ Trump’s latest defence in the classified documents case: ‘Bravado’ Chris Christie attacks Trump for diverting campaign funds to legal battles: ‘Cheapest SOB I’ve ever met’ DeSantis supporter blames Trump camp for leaking racist and antisemitic messages ‘Any Republican not named Trump’: Paul Ryan says former president is only candidate who would lose to Biden Liz Cheney lays out damning problem with US politics: ‘We’re electing idiots’

Former President Donald Trump is dominating cable airwaves, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is betting on Iowa and South Carolina, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is blanketing New Hampshire as candidates tailor their ad spending with the 2024 presidential race heating up.

President Joe Biden touted his economic record amid continuing dissatisfaction among Americans with the state of the US economy by saying his policies have proven effective. Mr Biden delivered a fiery speech on Wednesday in Chicago where he sought to flip a term that the Wall Street Journal outlets have used against him--Bidenomics--into a plus. “I didn’t come up with the name, I really didn’t, I’m not offended by it,” he said. “I’m happy to call it Bidenomics.” The president, who is seeking re-election in 2024, said that the US economy has largely recovered from the recession caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and had sought to refute Republican economics. “Guess what? Bidenomics is working,” he said to applause. “When I took office, the pandemic was raging and the economy was reeling. Supply chains were broken. Millions of people were unemployed.” Despite low unemployment, many Americans continue to see inflation as a top priority. A survey from the Pew Research Center last week showed that 52 per cent of Democrats and 77 per cent of Republicans say inflation is still a “very big problem.” Mr Biden sought to soothe those concerns by saying he continues to prioritise lowering prices and noted how inflation is less than half of what it was one year ago. “Bringing down inflation remains one of my top priorities today,” he said. Mr Biden also mentioned the progress that his signature Inflation Reduction Act has made, such as allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices. “We’ve been trying to get this done for decades and this time we finally beat big pharma for the first time,” he said. Mr Biden also touted how the law is aiding red states like West Virginia, the home of conservative Democratic Sen Joe Manchin, who has vocally criticised the Biden administration’s implementation of the law as he weighs whether to seek re-election in a staunchly Republican state. The president also touted the expansion of rural broadband, specifically naming Sen Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who opposed the measure previously. “To no one’s surprise, it’s bringing along some converts,” he said. “People strenuously opposed voting against it when we had this going on. This was going to bankrupt America.” Mr Biden’s speech is one of his first outlining his economic doctrine as he seeks to create a contrast between himself and Republican presidential candidates. “This vision is a fundamental break from the economic theory that has failed America's middle class for decades: It’s called trickle-down economics,” he said, describing the economic theory that argues that cutting taxes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations would lead to wealth spreading to the middle-class and low-income Americans. “The trickle-down approach failed the middle class. It failed America.” He also sought to show that he could accomplish what his predecessor and would-be 2024 challenger former president Donald Trump could not achieve by passing the bipartisan infrastructure law. “Remember infrastructure week? Infrastructure week became infrastructure week and week and week and it never happened,” he said, a reference to the fact that the Trump administration regularly touted “infrastructure week.” “We got infrastructure decade done right off the bat.” Mr Biden also planned to continue to shore up cash for his re-election effort and shortly after the event, headed to a fundraiser at the J.W. Marriott’s Grand Ballroom that same day. Read More What next for Biden’s billion dollar broadband expansion? Watch as Biden makes statement on economic policy in Chicago Watch as Biden makes statement on economic policy in Chicago Cambodian leader Hun Sen, a huge Facebook fan, says he is jumping ship to Telegram Paul Ryan says Trump is only Republican candidate who would lose to Biden in 2024

The Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly made several last-minute changes to the 12-week abortion ban it passed earlier this year in an effort to stave off a legal challenge. The state’s abortion ban, which is set to take effect on 1 July, is being challenged in court. That lawsuit, attorneys said, was the main factor behind the Republican majority’s decision to introduce an amendment to an unrelated Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) bill that effectively amends the abortion ban. ”The General Assembly is working to pass and enact, with or without the Governor’s signature, a technical and conforming bill to make changes to clarify and address most, if not all, aspects of Plaintiffs’ claims about the Act,” W Ellis Boyle, an attorney for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger, wrote in a legal filing on Tuesday. The amendment to the DHHS bill, House Bill 190, directly addresses a number of the concerns outlined in the lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of the South Atlantic and a number of other organisations. For instance, the lawsuit argues that a provision of the abortion ban stating that it is illegal “after the twelfth week of a woman’s pregnancy to advise, procure, or cause a miscarriage or abortion” violates the Constitution by preventing people from legally providing information about how a person could get legal abortion care in another state. In response, the amendment to HB 190 removes the word “advise” from the text of the abortion ban. The amendment also seeks to clean up a section on the regulation of medication abortion — which is banned after 10 weeks, not 12 — by deleting language that physicians prescribing medication abortions would have to verify that a pregnancy is no more than “70 days” old. Backers of the lawsuit, who are seeking a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the abortion ban from taking effect on 1 July, do not believe that the changes to the ban proposed amendment to HB 190 go so far as to eliminate the need for the restraining order. “If those amendments are passed, they may remedy some of the constitutional violations that Plaintiffs allege,” North Carolina attorney general Josh Stein, nominally the defendant in the suit, wrote in a court filing reported by CNN. “But unless and until the current law is repealed or significantly amended, immediate injunctive relief is necessary to avoid a due-process violation.” Mr Stein, a Democrat, has said he does not intend to defend parts of the abortion ban his office believes are unconstitutional. Mr Stein wrote that even if the amendments pass, they would still “fail to make clear that doctors in North Carolina can help their patients obtain abortions out of state.” It is not yet clear whether Gov Roy Cooper, also a Democrat, intends to sign HB 190 or not. Mr Cooper vetoed the abortion ban, but saw his veto overriden by Republican supermajorities in the legislature. The fact that North Carolina is in the position of dealing with a 12-week abortion ban at all is a surprise: when the legislative session started, the Republicans did not have the votes needed to override a veto of an abotion bill. That changed, however, when Rep Tricia Cotham — a Democrat representing a heavily Democratic seat in the Charlotte area — suddenly switched her party affiliation and gave the Republicans the final vote needed to override Mr Cooper’s veto. Read More North Carolina Republicans censure Sen Thom Tillis for backing LGBT+ rights One year after Roe v Wade fell, anti-abortion laws threaten millions. The battle for access is far from over

The Justice Department announced a sweeping enforcement effort Wednesday aimed at health care, telemedicine and illegal prescription schemes totaling of $2.5 billion in alleged fraud.

Hakeem Jeffries is staging a takeover of the New York Democratic Party. HIs future as U.S. House Speaker may depend on it; he needs five more seats to take the majority in 2024, and six of the most vulnerable seats are held by Republicans in New York.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, a devoted and very active user of Facebook — on which he has posted everything from photos of his grandchildren to threats against his political enemies — said Wednesday that he will no longer upload to the platform and will instead depend on the Telegram app to get his message across. Telegram is a popular messaging app that also has a blogging tool called “channels.” In Russia and some of the neighboring countries, it is actively used both by government officials and opposition activists for communicating with mass audiences. Telegram played an important role in coordinating unprecedented anti-government protests in Belarus in 2020, and currently serves as a major source of news about Russia’s war in Ukraine. The 70-year-old year Hun Sen is listed as having 14 million Facebook followers, though critics have suggested a large number are merely “ghost” accounts purchased in bulk from so-called “click farms,” an assertion the long-serving prime minister has repeatedly denied. The Facebook accounts of Joe Biden and Donald Trump by comparison boast 11 million and 34 million followers, respectively, though the United States has about 20 times the population of Cambodia. Hun Sen officially launched his Facebook page on Sept. 20, 2015, after his fierce political rival, opposition leader Sam Rainsy, effectively demonstrated how it could be used to mobilize support. Hun Sen is noted as a canny and sometimes ruthless politician, and has since then managed to drive his rival into exile and neutralize all his challengers, even though Cambodia is a nominally democratic state. Hun Sen said he is giving up Facebook for Telegram because he believes the latter is more effective for communicating. In a Telegram post on Wednesday he said it will be easier for him to get his message out when he is traveling in other countries that officially ban Facebook use. China, the top ally of his government, is also the biggest country with a Facebook ban. Hun Sen has 855,000 followers so far on Telegram, where he appears to have started posting in mid-May. It is also possible that Hun Sen’s social media loyalty switch has to do with controversy over remarks he posted earlier this year on Facebook that in theory could see him get at least temporarily banned from the platform. As the country’s top leader for 38 years, he has earned a reputation for heated rhetoric, and in January, speaking at a road construction ceremony, he decried opposition politicians who accused his ruling Cambodian People’s Paty of stealing votes. “There are only two options. One is to use legal means and the other is to use a stick,” the prime minister said. “Either you face legal action in court, or I rally (the Cambodian) People’s Party people for a demonstration and beat you up.” His remarks were spoken on Facebook Live and kept online as a video. Perhaps because of heightened consciousness about the power of social media to inflame and trigger violence in such countries as India and Myanmar, and because the remarks were made ahead of a general election in Cambodia this July, complaints about his words were lodged with Facebook’s parent company, Meta. Facebook’s moderators declined to recommend action against Hun Sen, judging that his position as a national leader made his remarks newsworthy and therefore not subject to punishment despite their provocative nature. However, the case was forwarded in March to Meta’s Oversight Board, a group of independent experts that is empowered to render an overriding judgment that could limit Hun Sen’s Facebook activities. They may issue a decision in the next few weeks. The case is being closely watched as an indicator of where Facebook will draw the line in countries with volatile political situations. Hun Sen said his Facebook account will remain online but he will no longer actively post to it. He urged people looking for news from him to check YouTube and his Instagram account as well as Telegram, and said he has ordered his office to establish a TikTok account to allow him to communicate with his country’s youth.. ___ Peck reported from Bangkok. Dasha Litvinova contributed from Tallinn, Estonia. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Cambodian lawmakers approve changes to election law that disqualify candidates who don't vote Trump’s latest defence in the classified documents case: ‘Bravado’ Trump gives ‘bravado’ defence for secret papers tape as he sues E Jean Carroll – live