JD Vance calls out Harris donor who doubled down on Biden’s ‘garbage’ comment
Former President Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, called out how one of Kamala Harris’ “biggest donors is doubling down on calling half the country ‘garbage.’” Vinod Khosla, co-founder of the giant tech company Sun Microsystems, wrote on X “Garbage is an understatement for MAGA extremists.” He responded to a story by the Associated Press titled, “Biden suggests Trump supporters are ‘garbage’ after comic’s insult of Puerto Rico.” “Will Kamala and her campaign return his contributions?” Vance wrote Wednesday. “Or will they continue to insult half of the country for the sin of thinking Kamala Harris isn’t good at her job?” Khosla is a billionaire and Democratic megadonor. In June, he gave $413,000 to the Harris Action Fund, a political action committee that supports the vice president. He previously donated $100,000 to the PAC in June 2023 and made two separate $3,300 donations to the Biden for President campaign, which Harris took over after President Biden withdrew from the election. KAMALA HARRIS SILENT AFTER BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT ABOUT TRUMP SUPPORTERS The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Harris addressed Biden’s controversial remark Wednesday, telling reporters that the president “clarified his comments.” “I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for,” she said, adding that Biden called her the night before but his remarks didn’t come up. Biden sparked controversy during a Zoom call on Tuesday with Voto Latino, one of the largest Latino voter and civic outreach organizations in the U.S. On the call, Biden was asked about a comment made Sunday during a Trump rally at Madison Square Garden in which comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” BIDEN CALLS TRUMP SUPPORTERS ‘GARBAGE’ DURING HARRIS CAMPAIGN EVENT AS VP PROMISES UNITY AT ELLIPSE RALLY “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. Amid backlash, Biden claimed he was referring to only Hinchcliffe, and the White House released a transcript of the call that said “supporter’s,” in the possessive. TRUMP HAS ANOTHER RESPONSE TO BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ COMMENT ABOUT GOP SUPPORTERS “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden posted on X. Though Harris has not commented on Biden’s remark, her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, discussed it on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday. “The president’s clarified his remarks, but let’s be very clear. The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone as a part of this. Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric is what needs to end. He called this a garbage country and continues on from ‘the enemy within.’ What you heard Vice President Harris say and what I say is, there’s a place for all of us here, and I think that’s the one. She’s running for president. She’s making the message and she delivered that speech on the Ellipse that showed what we can be as a country,” said Walz. “So, I think America knows the direction we’re going. She’s laid out a new way forward, and that’s what we’re going to do for the next six days and then the next eight years after that.” Fox News Digital’s Scott McDonald contributed to this report.
Supreme Court temporarily halts lower court ruling ordering 1,600 voters back on Virginia voter rolls
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to take up an emergency challenge from Virginia, temporarily halting a federal judge’s decision that ordered it to reinstate hundreds of potential noncitizens to the state’s voter rolls. The decision is a victory for Gov. Glenn Youngkin and comes just days after the state of Virginia filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to halt a lower court decision ordering it to restore the names of some 1,600 individuals to its voter rolls. At the heart of the case is whether Virginia’s voter removal process violates a so-called quiet period under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), or a federal law requiring states to halt all “systematic” voter roll maintenance for a 90-day period before a federal election. That argument pitted the Department of Justice — which sued the state over its removal program earlier this month — against Youngkin, who insisted the state’s process is “individualized” and conducted in accordance with state and federal law. With just days until the election, the court’s decision is expected to be under the microscope. 26 REPUBLICAN ATTORNEYS GENERAL JOIN VIRGINIA IN PETITIONING SUPREME COURT TO RULE ON VOTER ROLL Virginia’s voter roll maintenance program was implemented in August and compares the state Department of Motor Vehicles’ list of self-identified noncitizens to its list of registered voters. Individuals without citizenship were flagged and informed that their voter registration would be canceled unless they could prove their citizenship in 14 days. The Justice Department argued that the removals were conducted too close to the Nov. 5 elections and violated the NVRA’s quiet period provision, a decision backed by a U.S. judge in Alexandria, who ordered Virginia last week to halt its removals and to reinstate the registrations of all 1,600 removed individuals. Justice Department officials also cited concerns in their lawsuit that eligible votes may have incorrectly been removed from the rolls without adequate notice or with enough time to correct the mistake. YOUNGKIN VOWS TO APPEAL ‘TO SCOTUS’ AFTER US JUDGE ORDERS 1,600 VOTERS BACK ON BALLOT In the state’s petition to the Supreme Court, Virginia Attorney General Jason S. Miyares objected to the lawsuit and subsequent court ruling on several grounds. First, he argued the NVRA does not extend to “self-identified noncitizens” in the state – adopting a more narrow reading of the law than the Justice Department and one that he said could render the primary basis for the lawsuit obsolete. Second, he argued that if the NVRA does apply, the state still has an “individualized process” of removing voters that is conducted by the Department of Motor Vehicles and directly by local registration offices. Late Monday, attorneys general from all 26 Republican-led states joined Virginia in filing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, backing its assertion that the removal program was conducted on an “individualized” basis, and further, that the Justice Department’s reading of the protections granted under NVRA are overly broad and do not apply to noncitizens. Attorneys urged the court to grant Virginia’s emergency motion and “restore the status quo,” noting that doing so “would comply with the law and enable Virginia to ensure that noncitizens do not vote in the upcoming election.” “This Court should reject Respondents’ effort to change the rules in the middle of the game and restore the status quo ante,” they wrote. “The Constitution leaves decisions about voter qualifications to the people of Virginia. And the people of Virginia have decided that noncitizens are not permitted to vote.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Alabama man who threatened Fani Willis sentenced to 21 months in prison, issues tearful apology
An Alabama man who left threatening phone messages for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and the county sheriff last summer because he was angry over an investigation into former President Donald Trump was sentenced Tuesday to nearly two years in prison. Arthur Ray Hanson II, of Huntsville, made the phone calls just over a week before Trump and 18 others were indicted in Fulton County in August 2023 over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Federal prosecutors say Hanson left voicemails laced with profanity and racial slurs for Willis and Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat. U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee in Atlanta said he found Hanson’s behavior “appalling” and that the victims’ fear was “real and legitimate.” He sentenced Hanson to serve a year and nine months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He also ordered Hanson to pay a fine of $7,500. FANI WILLIS ASKS GEORGIA APPEALS COURT TO RESTORE 6 CHARGES AGAINST TRUMP, CO-DEFENDANTS Hanson had pleaded guilty in June to leaving threatening phone messages. Speaking for nearly 10 minutes during Tuesday’s hearing, Hanson was tearful as he apologized to Willis and Labat. “I’m truly sorry for making those phone calls,” he said. “That is not who I am.” Willis told the judge that the threats left her fearing not only for herself but for the lives of her daughters and her father. Before she’s the district attorney, she’s a mom, she told the judge: “Mom was really scared.” Labat also briefly addressed the court, saying the threats exposed his family to “the ugly side of the job.” Defense attorney Tyler Wolas told the judge that Hanson has a history of abusing alcohol. In pushing for a lesser sentence, he also said Hanson suffers from grand mal seizures and, after his arrest, he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Wolas noted that Hanson had completed an anger management course and is regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Three of Hanson’s friends and his 19-year-old son told the judge that he is a good and generous person and that those phone calls don’t reflect the man they know. Hanson said he had been drinking and didn’t remember leaving the messages. He said he was “repulsed and sickened” when he heard the recordings. He said he is not racist, though he acknowledged it might sound that way, and said Willis and Labat did not deserve to be threatened. He used to be someone who was a regular commenter online and allowed himself to get caught up in a “social media frenzy,” he said, adding that he has given up social media and stopped drinking. The Fulton County indictment on Aug. 14, 2023, was the fourth criminal case brought against Trump in a matter of months and was widely anticipated. When reporters asked shortly before it was returned whether Trump would have a mug shot taken if he was charged, the sheriff said, “Unless someone tells me differently, we are following our normal practices and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mug shot ready for you.” Hanson called the Fulton County government customer service line and left voicemails for the prosecutor and the sheriff on Aug. 6, 2023. Prosecutors included transcripts of the messages in a sentencing memo submitted to the court. In a message for Willis, Hanson warned her to watch out, that she won’t always have people around who can protect her and that there would be moments when she would be vulnerable. “When you charge Trump on that fourth indictment, anytime you’re alone, be looking over your shoulder,” he said, according to the transcript. In the message for Labat, Hanson threatened the sheriff, warning him not to take a mug shot of Trump. “I’m just telling you that if you take a mugshot of the president and you’re the reason it happened, some bad (expletive)’s probably gonna happen to you,” the voice message said, according to court records. Hanson’s attorneys had asked that he be sentenced to probation and community service or to home confinement rather than prison. They noted that his 19-year-old son lives with him and that his mother has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and has little time left to live. Prosecutor Bret Hobson called Hanson’s crime “incredibly serious” and said he caused real harm to the victims and their families. He asked for the sentence that was given, which was at the low end of federal sentencing guidelines. He argued that anyone who considers threatening a public official “needs to think prison is a possibility.” Boulee said he would have given Hanson a longer sentence, but he took into account what his lawyers and loved ones said, as well as prosecutors’ recommendation. But he made clear that he found Hanson’s behavior unacceptable. “To add insult to injury, you not only attacked them for doing their job, you attacked them because of the color of the skin,” Boulee said. He said the racial slurs in the messages were an “attempt to make them feel low and less valued.” Willis said after the hearing that she had forgiven Hanson. She said it was important that the judge mentioned the racist nature of the threats so that Black people know they can come into a courtroom and feel protected. Willis is running for re-election, and the case against Trump is largely on hold while a pretrial appeal is pending. But when asked whether she plans to continue her prosecution if Trump wins next month’s presidential election, Willis said she plans to “continue to prosecute every single case in my office.”
Trump, Harris will make final pitch to North Carolina voters in overlapping rallies on Wednesday
Former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will hold overlapping rallies in North Carolina on Wednesday, amid recent polling that indicates a tight race in the battleground state. Harris is expected to speak at 12:30 p.m. EST in Raleigh, just moments before Trump will take the stage in Rocky Mountain at 1 p.m. EST. The dueling candidates’ back-to-back rallies, held just six days before Election Day, will take place at locations roughly 60 miles apart. Nearly 3.2 million early votes have already been cast in the Old North State as of Tuesday, according to the State’s Board of Elections, representing 40.7% of the state’s registered voter population. MOMENTUM SHIFTS AGAINST KAMALA HARRIS JUST DAYS BEFORE ELECTION AND HERE’S WHY A Marist Poll survey, released on Oct. 24, found that Trump is leading Harris by 2 percentage points among likely voters in North Carolina, 50% to 48%. TRUMP, HARRIS NECK AND NECK IN BATTLEGROUND STATES ARIZONA, GEORGIA, NORTH CAROLINA The survey also found Trump leading the Democratic nominee among Independent voters, 53% to 42%. The poll was conducted Oct. 17-22 among 1,513 North Carolina adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points. “With 16 Electoral College votes, North Carolina could help offset Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes in the scramble to get to 270,” Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion, said alongside the polling results. “But Trump has carried North Carolina both in 2016 and 2020. The outcome this time may hinge on whether Robinson, the GOP candidate for governor who significantly trails, dampens Republican enthusiasm with an adverse impact on Trump’s effort.” Quinnipiac University also released a poll, a week prior, that showed Harris with a slight lead over Trump, 49% to 47%. Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver received 1% of the vote in the survey. The survey was conducted from Oct. 10-14 with 1,031 likely voters in North Carolina questioned and a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Harris and Trump have been barnstorming battleground states in the weeks leading up to the election, and both campaigns have put a heavy focus on North Carolina in the race to win the state’s 16 key electoral votes. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Politics and starvation: Gaza learns of Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA
Until this morning, 38-year-old Hussam Abu Ghaban had not heard of the Israeli Knesset’s decision to ban the UN agency responsible for his family’s welfare. Now, with the Israeli Knesset passing two bills banning the agency from Israel and choking off its ability to work in Gaza, the family does not know what to do. Someone in the nearby camp operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) had mentioned it, but Abu Ghaban had not known about what turned out to be an overwhelming Knesset vote in favour of the ban despite international outrage. ‘People would go hungry’ The concern on Abu Ghaban’s face was unavoidable as he weighed the news. He, his wife Ola and their eight children had fled Shati refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip in early November to the relatively safe vicinity of a camp at Deir el-Balah maintained by UNRWA. Hussam Abu Ghaban, 38, Deir el-Balah, Gaza [Hussein Owda/UNRWA] Overcrowded and painfully under-resourced as the camp is, it represents some small support to the 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza. “UNRWA ‘s support has been crucial,” Abu Ghaban told a translator. “They provide essential services such as health, education and food, as well as managing the camp,” he said, outlining how the family of 10, reduced to living in a tent, relied upon the UN agency for the dwindling number of essentials that make it through the Israeli checkpoints. Abu Ghaban did not know how the family would survive without the support the UN agency has given generations of them since they were uprooted from their village of Hiribya to make way for the new state of Israel in the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe). The Abu Ghaban family in Deir el-Balah displacement camp. As a family, they have been displaced since 1948 [Hussein Owda/UNRWA] Since then, barred by Israel from returning, their displacement has become generational. Abu Ghaban struggled to imagine life under Israel’s brutal assaults on Gaza without the support of the UN. “Refugees would struggle to survive,” he said. “People would go hungry, and that could lead to increased violence,” he said of an enclave he described as already gripped by hunger, fear and instability. Life is already difficult, he said. There had not been space in the official camp when they arrived. Now they exist on its periphery, though still under the care of the UN. Abu Ghaban pointed to the plastic sheet UNRWA had provided to cover their tent. He still had nothing to make the rough dirt floor safe for his children, the youngest just six. Life in Deir el-Balah is hard enough for the young, Abu Ghaban explained. “They’re now forced to focus just on survival, but I can see they still remember their previous life. UNRWA’s recreational activities help ease some of the strain. “The children still express their hopes through drawing,” he said, pointing to the rough childlike sketch on the tent’s wall of a family going home. Drawing on the tent where the Abu Ghaban family takes shelter, Deir el-Balah [Hussein Owda/UNRWA] The impotence of aid The legislation that may well stop much of the aid provided to the Abu Ghaban family will become law 90 days after Israel’s foreign minister informs the UN. Moreover, with no alternative humanitarian agency earmarked in the legislation to replace the UNRWA, the consequences for those trapped in Gaza stand to be catastrophic. Within the enclave, UNRWA acts as what its spokesperson Jonathan Fowler described as the “backbone” of the international humanitarian operation in Gaza. Without UNRWA, that aid operation in Gaza would unravel, he said. In Gaza, the situation has never been more desperate. In the northern reaches, with access strictly controlled by the Israeli military, famine looms over everyone as international concerns over a siege of the area, denied by the Israeli government, continue to grow. epa11581588 Internally displaced Palestinians attend a gathering to collect food donated by a charity, in Khan Younis camp on September 3, 2024 [Haitham Imad/EPA] Should UNRWA’s ability to operate within the territory be halted, the delivery of the limited assistance that still penetrates parts of Gaza would also grind to a halt, Fowler told Al Jazeera. “Such a move by a UN member state against a UN General Assembly-mandated organisation is unprecedented and dangerous,” Fowler said. “It … violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law… [and it] would be a setback to sustainable peace efforts and to reaching a diplomatic solution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” he added. “Failing to push back against attempts to intimidate and undermine the United Nations in the occupied Palestinian territory will eventually compromise humanitarian and human rights work worldwide.” The politics of hunger Israel’s longstanding campaign against UNRWA has escalated during Israel’s war on Gaza and includes a list of as yet unevidenced accusations of supporting Hamas’s fighters. Throughout, UNWRA has strained to work on the ground in Gaza to help mitigate the effects of an Israeli military campaign deemed by the International Court of Justice in its January ruling a potential case of genocide. Nevertheless, in the face of international pressure, unparallelled during the 13 months of total war on Gaza, the Israeli Knesset voted overwhelmingly to ban the agency, potentially collapsing the entire fragile network of aid that has so far managed to sustain what remains of Gaza’s population. Even Israel’s closest ally the United States has recognised the seriousness of the situation. Speaking earlier this week, a State Department official acknowledged both the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, especially its north, and UNRWA’s role in mitigating it. One of the drafters of Israel’s legislation banning UNRWA, Yulia Malinovsky, dismissed the concerns of the US, which has provided Israel with unflinching diplomatic cover and weaponry throughout its war on Gaza, as representing unacceptable interference in Israel’s internal affairs. A screengrab shows Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speaking at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on July 17, 2024 [AFPTV/AFP] “I congratulate and thank the members of
Kamala Harris’s pursuit of Republican voters may backfire
As the United States presidential election nears, Vice President Kamala Harris has escalated outreach to Republican voters. Over the past several weeks, she has been accompanied by former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney at campaign events in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin and more recently by former President George W Bush’s daughter, Barbara. On October 16 after Harris held an event with former Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania, she gave an interview to Fox News, saying: “I invite ideas, whether it be from the Republicans who are supporting me, who were just on stage with me minutes ago, and the business sector and others who can contribute to the decisions that I make.” Many prominent Republicans have endorsed Harris, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, and late Senator John McCain’s son Jim. She has also gained the approval of 200 staffers of former Republican presidential nominees. Trying to encourage this momentum, Harris’s campaign even established Republicans for Harris chapters in several swing states. However, Harris’s pursuit of Republican voters may not bring the results she hopes. At the grassroots level, things remain hopelessly polarised. Prominent endorsements notwithstanding, few members of the opposition party will cross “enemy lines” to back Harris. In fact, her rightward sway may actually cost her more Democratic votes than the Republican ones she gains. In a poll released on October 25, just 4 percent of Republicans said they intended to vote for Harris. The same percentage of Democrats said they would vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump. In other words, Democrats for Trump are just as much of a thing as Republicans for Harris. This makes the prediction that “millions of Republicans” will cast a ballot for Kamala Harris utterly fanciful. Some may argue that Harris is trying to sway Republican voters specifically in swing states. But even there, the numbers do not differ dramatically. According to New York Times/Siena polls, Harris is winning 7 percent of registered Republicans in Arizona while 6 percent of the state’s Democrats back Trump. In Pennsylvania, these numbers are 12 percent and 10 percent respectively. In Nevada, Harris is getting 6 percent of registered Republicans and Trump is getting 10 percent of the Democrats. The margin of error for all these polls is 3 to 4 percent. While Harris is running after the few Republican voters who may flip, she is alienating many others on the progressive side. According to the Pew Research Center, progressives constitute roughly 12 percent of the Democratic base. The millions of votes who went for Senator Bernie Sanders, a prominent progressive, in the Democratic primaries in 2016 suggest this group may be even larger. Harris’s swing to the right is definitely not well received by progressives. Her promise to sign “the toughest bipartisan border” bill in decades has earned rebukes from immigration advocates. Likewise, her unequivocal support for Israeli aggression is a cold shoulder to proponents of peace and basic human rights. On healthcare, after endorsing universal coverage during her 2020 run, Harris has now stopped well short of that. Given their political commitments, progressive leftists won’t flip to Trump, but they may vote for a third party or stay home, which would hurt Harris, especially in the battleground states. Chasing Republicans is, therefore, unwise. And history proves it. Democrats pursued them hard in 2016 as well. Before that presidential election, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer claimed that: “For every blue-collar Democrat we lose in western Pennsylvania, we will pick up two moderate Republicans in the suburbs in Philadelphia, and you can repeat that in Ohio and Illinois and Wisconsin.” Needless to say, Schumer was wrong. Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton lost to Trump in a historic, humiliating upset. The only state Schumer mentioned that Clinton won was Illinois, a Democratic stronghold that also happens to be where she was born. As the former secretary of state campaigned in deeply red states like Nebraska, her “blue wall” crumbled. No Democrat since Walter Mondale in 1984 had lost Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. And that was the biggest loss in American presidential history with Mondale only winning his home state of Minnesota. Harris would have had a higher chance of winning if she had not pursued voters whom she cannot win and instead focused on those whom she can: independents and progressives and key groups within them. A recent poll from AtlasIntel shows Trump ahead with independents by 8.5 points. The two most important issues for independents are the economy and crime, and Harris could have easily appealed to them on these points without swinging so far to the right and chasing after endorsements from neoconservatives and others on the hard right. Furthermore, independents also embrace positions that are more moderate. Independents overwhelmingly favour marriage equality, expansion of Medicare and marijuana legalisation – issues that progressives also care about. Harris could have also won back some progressives by walking back some of her right-wing rhetoric and changing her posture on US foreign policy and more specifically, Israel. Like her running mate, Tim Waltz, Harris has been fully in Israel’s corner. She has refused to distance herself from the complicity of President Joe Biden’s administration in Israeli militarism, occupation and terror. That complicity has only mounted in recent weeks as the White House, which she is part of, oversees Israel’s “General’s Plan” of ethnically cleansing northern Gaza through bombing, starvation and expulsion of civilians. Biden’s last-ditch effort to push for a short-term truce and release of Israeli-American captives would not change voters’ perceptions of where Harris stands. This aggressive posture has especially alienated Arab and Muslim Americans. The latter accounted for under 1.5 percent of registered voters in 2022, but their distribution gives them disproportionate power, which they already demonstrated with the uncommitted movement they led during the Democratic primaries. While people tend to focus on Michigan, Muslim voters are also a significant group in Georgia and Arizona. Their numbers far outstrip Biden’s razor-thin margin of victory in those states in 2020. Even
Iraqi Kurdistan’s ruling KDP wins delayed elections
Disputes between the major parties – KDP and PUK – could complicate the formation of a new government. The ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) has come first in parliamentary elections in the semiautonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq. The KDP won 39 seats in the 100-seat parliament, the election commission said on Wednesday, putting it at the helm of the next regional government. The KDP’s historical rival and junior coalition partner in government, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), came second in the October 20 elections with 23 seats, the commission said at a news conference. The largest Kurdish opposition party, New Generation, came a distant third with 15 seats. The commission said voter turnout was 72 percent, up from the 59 percent reported in the previous election in 2018. The elections were originally planned for 2022, but the polls were repeatedly delayed by disputes between the KDP and the PUK. Ongoing disputes between the rivals could complicate the formation of a new government. The KDP and PUK, which have been sharing power since 1992, are likely to continue governing together, but the results suggest that former Kurdistan Regional Government President Masoud Barzani’s KDP will take a dominant position. The new parliament must elect a president and prime minister, posts that are now held by KDP figures Nechirvan Barzani and his cousin Masrour Barzani, respectively. Adblock test (Why?)
Biden says he wants to take pro-Trump comedian who made Puerto Rico joke ‘for a swim’
President Biden says he wants to take pro-Trump comedian Tony Hinchliffe ‘for a swim’ following the comic’s controversial remarks at Sunday’s Trump campaign rally at Madison Square Garden. Biden made the off-the-cuff comment at Baltimore’s harbor in Maryland on Tuesday while promoting the effects of large spending bills under his administration. “I’m proud to announce more than $3 billion in funding from my Inflation Reduction Act to help clean up and modernize ports in 27 different states and territories from Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and beyond — including, yes, Puerto Rico,” Biden said to the applauding crowd before making the throwaway comment. KAMALA HARRIS CAMPAIGN SILENT AFTER BIDEN’S ‘GARBAGE’ GAFFE REFERRING TO TRUMP SUPPORTERS “I’d like to take that guy for a swim out there, anyway,” Biden added, referring to Hinchliffe, as the audience chuckled. “Steny’s looking at me, ‘Don’t get going Joe, don’t get going Joe, slow up,’” Biden said, referring to Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md, before getting back to his speech. Biden did not elaborate about what he might do on the swim. After a wry smile and brief pause, Biden got back on script and continued his speech. Biden’s taunt at Hinchliffe mirrored the 46th president’s jabs at former President Trump in 2016 when Biden said, “I wish we were in high school — I could take him behind the gym.” Hinchiffe made jokes at Sunday’s massive rally mocking different ethnic groups, with one joke referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean.” The controversy has swirled for days with Democrats pouncing on the joke targeting Puerto Rico voters to get out and vote for Vice President Harris. The Trump campaign quickly distanced itself from the joke after it was made. Biden’s remarks about Hinchliffe came hours before he appeared to disparage Trump supporters during a virtual Harris campaign call with Voto Latino, a non-profit group which encourages young Hispanic and Latino voters to register to vote and become more politically involved. “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it is un-American.” The comment quickly went viral and sparked swift condemnation from critics. “This is disgusting,” Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance reacted. “Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country. There’s no excuse for this. I hope [Americans] reject it.” The White House tried to clean up the comment by sending out a transcript adding an apostrophe to indicate Biden was only speaking about one supporter, not all: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.” Biden attempted to clarify his comments on social media as only directed at one supporter. “Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it,” Biden wrote on X. “His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation.” Trump himself reacted to the “terrible” comment while speaking at a rally in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “Remember Hillary? She said ‘deplorable’ and then said ‘irredeemable,’ right? But she said ‘deplorable.’ That didn’t work out. ‘Garbage’ I think is worse,” Trump said to his supporters. “But he doesn’t know — you have to please forgive him. Please forgive him. For he not knoweth what he said.” “And I’m convinced he likes me more than he likes Kamala,” Trump quipped. Fox News’ Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
Major pro-life group knocks on 4 million doors in 2024 swing states
FIRST ON FOX: Susan B. Anthony Pro-life America, a group that seeks to “end abortion” in the United States, has knocked on 4 million doors in swing states to reach voters they say can be persuaded to oppose candidates and ballot initiatives that would expand abortion access. Earlier this year, the group set out an ambitious goal of raising and spending $92 million to boost candidates for office who advocate for laws restricting abortion. Now, Susan B. Anthony Pro-life America representatives say they have met that goal and have a strong ground game in key battleground states, where volunteers are making the case that Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris is too extreme on abortion. Rachel Schroder, a Hillsdale College senior who volunteered as a canvasser and deployed to Milwaukee, Wisc., for three days, told Fox News Digital in an interview that voters were open to changing who they support when engaged conversationally, face-to-face. “We know that Kamala Harris and [Wisconsin Democratic Senator] Tammy Baldwin both have refused to set any sort of limits on when abortions can be done in pregnancy, even when a baby is fully developed, can live outside the womb and can see and hear its mom’s voice,” said Schroder, adding that Baldwin voted against a GOP-backed bill to require medical care for babies who survive an attempted abortion. MAJOR PRO-LIFE GROUP LAYS OUT AGRESSIVE PLANS FOR 2024 ELECTIONS: LARGEST GROUND GAME YET’ “This is way too extreme for Wisconsin. This is way too extreme for America. And we’re just here to inform voters so that they can make the commonsense choice when they go to the ballots in November.” Reached for comment, Baldwin spokesman Andrew Mamo said the Wisconsin senator is “proud to champion the Women’s Health Protection Act which would restore the protections afforded by Roe v Wade ensuring women, not politicians like Eric Hovde, can make their own decisions about their health care.” More than one million students like Schroder participated in Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s voter contact program, the group’s largest ever. National Field Team Director Patricia Miles said the group has reached more than 10 million low-turnout and persuadable voters in eight battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the aforementioned Wisconsin. Similar to that of other advocacy groups throughout the United States, SBA Pro-Life America has reached voters through a variety of means like digital, messaging, mail and phones. Abortion was tied with immigration for second-place as the most important issue for voters in the 2024 cycle, according to a recent New York Times/Siena College survey. Twenty-seven percent of voters said the economy ranked as their chief concern, and immigration and abortion followed at 15 percent each. 2024 SHOWDOWN: HARRIS, TRUMP HOLD DUELING TEXAS RALLIES TO HAMMER HOME THESE KEY ISSUES The stakes are high this November since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, permitting states to enact their own laws governing abortion. Republican lawmakers have sought to restrict the procedure, calling it immoral to kill an unborn baby. Several Democratic states have expanded abortion access, arguing that the government should not exert control over women’s bodies and that the decision to terminate a pregnancy rests solely with women and their doctors. Ten states have abortion-related ballot measures this year, including Arizona and Florida, where voters will decide if the right to terminate a pregnancy should be constitutionally protected. Support for expanding abortion rights has crossed party lines. Voters in red states including Kansas and Ohio have previously given majority approval to ballot measures that enshrined abortion rights, dealing stinging blows to the pro-life movement. TRUMP, HARRIS DEAD EVEN IN NATIONAL POLL, WITH JUST ONE IN FOUR SAYING COUNTRY HEADED IN RIGHT DIRECTION “When we see states like Kansas who are supporting abortion in their state constitutions, it’s deeply troubling because we know that every baby cradled in their mother’s womb deserves to be cradled in their parent’s arms,” said Schroder. But she remains hopeful that when women in crisis pregnancies are shown the resources available to them through groups like SBA Pro Life America, they will choose not to abort. “I see a pro-life future because I see so many other students like myself who are willing to sacrifice their school breaks to defend life. I see my community. I see my friends. I see my family saying this is important to us and it’s not just important to us, but this is an issue the American people are paying attention to. And I think the American people is a deeply compassionate people.” The Harris campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Six in 10 Democrats say Israel bears ‘a lot’ of responsibility for Gaza war: AP poll
American voters worry that the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas will escalate into a larger regional conflict in the Middle East, a new poll finds. While Democrats and Republicans both agree that the ongoing war is a problem and both are wary of U.S. involvement in the Middle East, there’s a stark partisan divide over who is to blame for escalating the conflict, according to the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey. The poll was conducted before Israel launched airstrikes on military bases in Iran on Friday. About 6 in 10 voters overall say the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, the Iranian government and the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah share “a lot” of responsibility for escalating the war. Roughly 4 in 10 assign blame to the Israeli government and only about 2 in 10 say the U.S. government has “a lot” of responsibility, the Associated Press reported. But breaking the numbers down by party affiliation reveals a big gap between the left and right. About 6 in 10 Democrats say the Israeli government bears “a lot” of responsibility for escalating the conflict in Gaza – a similar number of Democrats say Hamas bears “a lot” of responsibility – while only about 1 in 4 Republicans assign “a lot” of blame to Israel. ISRAEL’S STRIKE ON IRAN TOOK OUT MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEMS, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC ‘IS ESSENTIALLY NAKED’ The conflict in the Middle East has become a major campaign issue as former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris attempt to win over Muslim and Jewish voters in battleground states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. About half of voters are “extremely” or “very” worried about a wider war in the Middle East. Though fewer voters – 4 in 10 – are concerned that the U.S. will be drawn into the conflict. The poll finds that a majority of voters (55%) support economic sanctions on Iran, which U.S. officials recognize as the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East. However, Americans are evenly divided on whether the U.S. should supply Israel’s military with weapons and voters are more likely to oppose sending U.S. aid to Israel’s military, according to the AP. ISRAEL BEGINS RETALIATORY STRIKES AGAINST IRAN FOLLOWING MISSILE BARRAGE TARGETING ISRAELIS There is bipartisan opposition to deploying U.S. troops in the Middle East to assist Israel. Nearly half of voters oppose putting American boots on the ground in Gaza, while just 2 in 10 voters favor sending soldiers to fight with Israel. About another 2 in 10 had a neutral view, the AP reported. The Biden-Harris administration has continued to apply pressure on Israel and Hamas for a cease-fire for more than a year now, with little success. IT WAS ‘WISE’ FOR ISRAEL TO NOT STRIKE IRANIAN OIL, NUCLEAR FACILITIES, SAYS FORMER USS COLE COMMANDER About half of American voters think the U.S. is “doing as much as it can” to broker a cease-fire deal between Israel, Hamas and Hezbollah. Three in 10 say the U.S. could be doing more, while roughly 2 in 10 voters say the U.S. should be doing less. Again, there is a partisan split on how the U.S. should approach the conflict. Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say the U.S. should be less involved in cease-fire negotiations. About 3 in 10 GOP voters say the U.S. should do less, but just 1 in 10 Democrats say the same. About 6 in 10 Democrats say the U.S. is doing what it can, compared to about 4 in 10 Republicans. Democrats, Republicans and independents are about equally likely to say the U.S. could be doing more. The AP-NORC poll of 1,072 adults was conducted Oct. 11-14, 2024 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points. The Associated Press contributed to this report.