NDA MPs to hold meeting in Parliament’s Central Hall today
On Thursday, senior BJP leaders, including Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh, held extensive discussions as the party began efforts to form the new government.
Brandon Herrera to request recount in primary runoff against U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales
Herrera said he doesn’t expect the results to change, “but I feel I owe it to my volunteers, voters, and supporters to leave no stone unturned.”
Netanyahu reportedly set to address Congress on July 24
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address a joint meeting of Congress on July 24, according to two people familiar with the matter. Congressional leaders last week formally invited Netanyahu to come speak, delivering the most recent show of wartime support for the longtime ally despite mounting political divisions over Israel’s military assault on Hamas in Gaza. But the date of the speech had been in flux. It has now been set for July 24, according to the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss private planning. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, along with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, signed the letter extending the invitation to Netanyahu. They said the offer was intended to “highlight America’s solidarity with Israel.” NETANYAHU INVITED TO ADDRESS CONGRESS AS BIDEN URGES HAMAS TO TAKE ISRAEL PEACE OFFER Netanyahu’s appearance before a growingly divided Congress is sure to be contentious and met with plenty of protests both inside the Capitol from lawmakers and outside by pro-Palestinian protesters. And it will put on stark display the growing election-year divisions among Democrats over the prime minister’s prosecution of the monthslong war against Hamas. Democratic lawmakers most critical of Netanyahu’s strategy are expected to be no-shows for the address. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont, said: “Netanyahu is a war criminal. I certainly will not attend.” Netanyahu’s visit to the Capitol also comes as the relationship between President Joe Biden and the leader of the Jewish state has frayed in recent months. Biden has privately and publicly criticized Netanyahu’s handling of the war and criticized the Israeli government for not letting more humanitarian into Gaza. Late last week, Biden announced a proposed agreement to end the fighting in Gaza, putting growing pressure on Netanyahu to accept the deal. Many Israelis have been urging him to embrace the terms, but his far-right allies have threatened to leave his coalition government if he does. Netanyahu called a permanent cease-fire in Gaza a “nonstarter” until long-standing conditions for ending the war are met, appearing to undermine the proposal that Biden described as an Israeli one. Johnson first suggested inviting the Israeli leader, saying it would be “a great honor of mine” to invite him. His move came soon after Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., delivered a stinging rebuke of Netanyahu in a lengthy speech on the Senate floor. Schumer said in the speech that Netanyahu had “lost his way” amid the Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza. Even so, Schumer had said he would join in the invitation because “our relationship with Israel is ironclad and transcends any one prime minister or president.”
State rejects health insurers’ pleas to halt plan that will shake up coverage for 1.8 million Texans
Affected Texans who receive Medicaid coverage would be shifted to new insurers next year if the state health and human services agency sticks to its plan. It’s now up to the executive commissioner to make a final decision.
Elderly pro-life activist sentenced to prison after abortion clinic demonstration
An elderly woman from Massachusetts was recently sentenced to prison following a 2020 pro-life demonstration at an abortion clinic. Kingston resident Paula “Paulette” Harlow, 75, was handed a two-year prison sentence May 31 over an October 2020 incident that involved her and fellow pro-life activists blocking an abortion clinic. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Harlow and 10 other pro-life activists were charged with “civil rights conspiracy and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act violations.” “[The defendants] forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said. “Once the blockade was established, they live-streamed their activities. “As the evidence at trial showed, the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to create a blockade at the reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services.” TRUMP SAYS ABORTION SHOULD BE DECIDED BY THE STATES, ‘WILL OF THE PEOPLE’ Blocking abortion clinics is a violation of the FACE Act, which was signed into law by President Clinton in 1994. In an interview with Fox News Digital, Harlow explained that she has been on house arrest in recent weeks and expects to know soon if she needs to surrender to authorities. Harlow said the 2020 incident took place at a clinic run by Dr. Cesare Santangelo, a doctor who has been accused of conducting late-term abortions. She described the demonstration as peaceful. “We were there to intervene, to put our lives on the line, to intervene … between the death of the child and the abortionist, peacefully,” she said. “[We were] there trying to talk to the mother. … They feel forced into it for whatever their circumstances are. So, we need to try to surround them with love, with support.” Harlow, a Catholic, explained that she became pro-life when she saw Lennart Nilsson’s photograph of an 18-week-old fetus published in Life magazine in 1965. MAJOR PRO-LIFE GROUP LAYS OUT AGGRESSIVE PLANS FOR 2024 ELECTIONS: ‘LARGEST GROUND GAME YET’ “I saw the light [when] I saw the pictures in Life magazine that Nilsson did,” she said. “The children, they have no voice, and they’re hidden. That is as poor as you can get. You can’t even protect your own life. “We have to make them visible and make them heard.” Speaking to Fox News Digital, Paulette’s husband, John Harlow, said he was distraught over the legal situation. “It’s devastating, what they’re doing — the whole trial and sentence and everything,” he said. “But my wife doesn’t want the focus to be on her. The real outrage is the fact that children are being aborted. “We’re all concerned about her. I told the judge I’d go to jail for her if I could. … But we’re in this together, and we wish the outcome had been different. But it is what it is.” FORMER POP STAR SHARES ABORTION REGRET: ‘I HAVE A GRAMMY BUT NONE OF IT WILL BRING MY CHILDREN BACK’ Harlow, who has extensive medical issues, worries incarceration could further cause her health to decline. “I’m 76, and I have a lot of conditions,” she said. “Incarceration would be detrimental because I won’t have access to the things I have now. And I won’t have John, who’s here just helping me with everything. “There’s a lot to take care of.” Harlow also told Fox News Digital her sister Jean is in jail over the same incident. HERE ARE THE TOP 4 MOMENTS FROM THE 2024 MARCH FOR LIFE “I consider it an incredible honor,” she said. “And I considered going to court an incredible honor. And I was really very grateful when I came out of court because not everybody has the opportunity to do that. And it was wonderful.” Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ for comment, but officials did not respond.
Fox News Politics: Declinin’ Biden?
Welcome to Fox News’ Politics newsletter with the latest political news from Washington D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail. What’s happening… – Biden gives speech near the beaches of Normandy to commemorate D-Day – Kamala Harris’ late night appearance interrupted by anti-Israel demonstrator – Hunter Biden was back in court where his sister-in-law and ex-lover testified about his addiction… and hers Ex-Biden administration staffer Michael LaRosa called out “faux outrage” from Democrats after a bombshell Wall Street Journal story from Wednesday revealed that President Biden is showing “signs of slipping” in private meetings. “The faux outrage over the use of blind sources is especially rich coming from political staffers in both parties,” LaRosa wrote in a social media post responding to Democratic lawmakers who attacked “anonymous” Republican sources quoted by the Journal. “The NYT, the WSJ, the WAPO are not extensions of the Democratic Party and nor should they be,” LaRosa declared. Biden’s recent gaffes and misstatements have come under scrutiny as the campaign heats up, and as he prepares to debate former President Trump in June. BIDEN IN DECLINE? White House urged Dems to tout Biden’s sharpness ahead of WSJ report …Read more ‘NO COMMENT’: FBI still mum on Hunter Biden laptop …Read more ‘C’MON NOW’: Ex-Biden staffer calls out Democrats for ‘faux outrage’ over article about aging president …Read more D-DAY WARNING: Biden, speaking near beaches of Normandy, urges world to support Ukraine against Russia …Read more UP IN THE AIR: House lawmakers are using this jaw-dropping way to commemorate D-Day in Normandy …Read more RED FLAG: GOP House candidate’s legal work for CCP-tied company scrutinized …Read more ‘WREAKING HAVOC’: GOP rep identifies understated fallout from border crisis …Read more ‘DISGRACED ISOLATIONISTS’: McConnell ties WWII tensions to current day with dire warning …Read more ‘MAGA NIGHTMARE’ Dem candidate floats ‘re-education camp’ for Trump voters …Read more FIRING BACK: War of words erupts between Trump VP contender Donalds and top Democrats over his ‘Jim Crow’ comment …Read more ‘INACTION’: Kamala Harris appearance on Kimmel show disrupted by anti-Israel protesters …Read more VETTING UNDERWAY: Trump campaign accelerates vetting of potential running mates …Read more LOW ENERGY: Republicans eye Biden energy policies as weak spot in race to keep House …Read more DECISION TIME: Arizona voters will decide fate of Texas-style border law at the ballot box …Read more ‘RUSSIAN PLAYBOOK’: Video goes viral of media pundits previously casting doubt on Hunter laptop …Read more LOVE AND DRUGS: Hunter Biden returned to court after whirlwind day of testimony from exes …Read more EXPANDED HEARING: Trump classified docs judge expands hearing to consider ‘unlawful’ appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith …Read more DECLARING ‘INDEPENDENCE’: Youngkin pulls VA out of CA green pact …Read more SORE LOSER: Did Hillary Clinton just compare Trump to the Nazis on D-Day? …Read more ‘MAN OF GREAT PRINCIPLE’: Reagan’s principles, patriotism remembered 20 years after his death …Read more Subscribe now to get Fox News Politics newsletter in your inbox. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on FoxNews.com.
Trump VP contender leads GOP effort to reach Black voters as Biden loses grip
South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott’s aligned PAC is spearheading a campaign to reach Black voters ahead of the election as concerns grow over President Biden’s popularity with the demographic credited with winning him the presidency in 2020. The Great Opportunity PAC unveiled a $14.3 million plan to court Black and Hispanic voters in battleground states ahead of the general election. “The Republican Party has, I think … a good sense and a good marketing machine and, frankly, a good microphone and someone who is good at speaking into that microphone,” Scott said of former President Trump, the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee. OBAMA STRESSES CRITICAL DEM SENATE MAJORITY FOR APPOINTING PREFERRED JUDGES “We have a real strong opportunity to make this election unlike the previous election,” he emphasized in a briefing on the strategy. PAC Executive Director Jennifer DeCasper outlined in a memo Thursday that “Control of the White House, Senate and House could come down to less than 100K votes across a half dozen states.” MCCONNELL TAKES AIM AT ‘ISOLATIONIST’ COLLEAGUES IN SCATHING D-DAY ESSAY She noted that, over time, there have been natural and incremental shifts in the voting behavior of Black and Hispanic voters. However, she claimed, “We have not made the investment necessary to earn and win this vote.” This comes as Biden’s campaign grapples with trying to maintain its minority supporters, a significant number of whom are dissatisfied with the current economic climate. A recent Fox News Poll showed the president with the support of 72% of Black voters. While the number is an increase from 66% in February, it is still below the 79% he had prior to getting elected in 2020. The campaign has appeared to acknowledge this issue, launching initiatives to specifically target minority voters and courting them across the country. ‘MISLEADING’ DEM CONTRACEPTION BILL FAILS KEY VOTE AS GOP SLAMS BROAD PROPOSAL Scott’s PAC revealed that its new campaign will be a “full-scale, 360-degree communications and voter contact plan targeting swing and low-propensity Black and brown voters.” The group’s largest investment — $9 million — will go toward direct voter contact. The plan also includes significant spending on earned and paid media, survey research, data and analytics, operations and legal. With this initiative, DeCasper said the goal is to “target, persuade, and turnout low-propensity and swing Black and Hispanic voters in target Presidential and Senate states.” The plan will incorporate various events with influential surrogates, such as elected officials. It will also rely on “canvassing, digital marketing, direct mail and targeted paid advertising.” JON TESTER CAMPAIGN ADMITS ‘HARD TRUTH’ SENATE RACE WILL BE EXPENSIVE AND CLOSE According to DeCasper, if Trump raised his margin with non-college-educated voters by two points and non-white voters by just three points, “he’d win five additional states, bringing him to a 297-241 victory in the Electoral College.” She also said the change would affect several key Senate races. “President Trump has done a really good job of trying to figure out how to get in front of voters in unique ways and unique places that has not been done before,” Scott explained. “I’ve been talking about this for years, that we have to go where we’re not invited. We have just not had enough candidates doing that in the party.” Scott is notably on Trump’s short list of potential running mates in the November presidential election. “Thanks to Bidenflation and Bidenomics, Black voters are worse off today than they were under President Trump,” DeCasper wrote in the memo. “But this is not enough for us to automatically break historic voting patterns.” Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
New York Democrat congressional candidate suggests MAGA supporters go to ‘re-education camp’
EXCLUSIVE: The New York Democratic congressional candidate running against GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik suggested “MAGA” supporters should attend a “re-education camp” after the 2024 election — even if Democrats see a “resounding blue wave.” Paula Collins, who is running against Stefanik, R-N.Y., in New York’s 21st congressional district, made the comments during a public Zoom Townhall this week, where she appeared to admit that “re-education” would be controversial. “Even if we were to have a resounding blue wave come through, as many of us would like, putting it all back together again after we’ve gone through this MAGA nightmare and re-educating basically, which, that sounds like a rather, a re-education camp. I don’t think we really want call it that,” she said during the Zoom townhall. “I’m sure we can find another way to phrase it.” STEFANIK FILES ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST TRUMP TRIAL JUDGE, CITES DAUGHTER’S WORK FOR GROUP PROMOTING DEMS In an email to Fox News Digital, Collins explained her comments. “We currently have lawmakers, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, who mis-quote or mis-understand the law,” Collins told Fox News Digital. “Even if MAGA were to be resoundingly defeated, we would need to engage in widespread civics education, which both red and blue voters acknowledge has been slipping in recent years.” Collins said “the goal would be such that regular citizens could understand the process by which the state courts process matters, compared to the federal court circuit, and so forth.” “Rep. Elise Stefanik does not show a good understanding of the court structure in her home state of New York,” Collins continued. Collins pointed to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Trump, in which he was found guilty on all counts of falsifying business records. Collins said that trial and the charges are “a state matter, not a federal matter.” Collins said Stefanik’s “outcry bespeaks a lack of basic civics education, as well as a basic lack of respect for the state supreme court system in her home State of New York.” SOME FORMER ‘NEVER TRUMP’ VOTERS NOW SAY THEY’RE BACKING GOP NOMINEE AFTER HIS CONVICTION “Similarly, many voters have misunderstandings and lack of regard for basic judicial systems that underscore the need for civics education,” Collins said. Senior advisor to Elise Stefanik, Alex DeGrasse, however, said Collins’ comments would be seen as offensive to many Republicans. “This radical New York City Democrat Socialist who literally is renting a bed and breakfast room in NY-21 was caught on tape saying she wants to force Trump voters through ‘re-education camps,’” he said. “Everyone knows she will be defeated by Elise Stefanik by a historic margin.” DeGrasse added that “this is yet another reason why President Trump, Elise Stefanik, and voters in Upstate and across America will clean the Democrats’ clocks at the ballot box this November.” DeGrasse was referring to Collins’ being from New York City. Collins has said that before the spring of 2024, she lived full time in New York City. Collins is a New York cannabis tax attorney. According to election documents, Collins is based out of her law office, the Law Office of Paula Collins, PLLC in New York City. She currently rents a room in a rental housing unit in Canton, N.Y. to claim residency in the district. Collins has never voted in the district.
Rights advocates slam Biden’s ‘draconian’ asylum curbs at US-Mexico border
Immigrant rights advocates have slammed President Joe Biden’s new curbs on asylum at the United States-Mexico border, describing the policy as “the most draconian” move since the Democrat entered the White House in 2021. During a news conference on Thursday, Azadeh Erfani, a senior policy analyst at the National Immigrant Justice Center, said Biden’s recent executive order violates both US and international law because it will send people with viable asylum claims back to harm. “Any person, including families with children, who seeks asylum between US ports of entry” will be affected by the new regulations, Erfani said. “This applies right now — in the middle of a global displacement crisis, the worst we’ve seen since World War II — and will decimate asylum access in the foreseeable future.” Biden’s executive order, which came into effect in the early hours of Wednesday, allows his administration to stop processing asylum claims if the number of irregular crossings at the US-Mexico border surpasses an average of 2,500 per day for a week. The order allows for certain exemptions, including for unaccompanied minors and people determined to be victims of human trafficking. “This action will help us gain control of our border and restore order [to] the process,” Biden told reporters as he announced the measures. But seeking asylum is a right under both US and international law — no matter how people enter US territory. Biden himself campaigned on a pledge to uphold the country’s “moral responsibility” at the border and enforce immigration laws with dignity. In a 2019 social media post criticising his predecessor Donald Trump’s anti-immigration stance, Biden promised “not turn away those fleeing violence, war & poverty”. Trump is fighting tooth & nail to deny those fleeing dangerous situations their right to seek asylum in our nation. We should uphold our moral responsibility & enforce our immigration laws with dignity—not turn away those fleeing violence, war, & poverty. https://t.co/1CVPP3sJo3 — Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 26, 2019 But as the number of migrants and asylum seekers trying to enter the US at the Mexico border skyrocketed last year, the Democratic president has been under pressure from Republicans to take a tougher stance on unauthorised crossings. This week’s order comes five months before Biden is set to face off against Trump in November’s presidential election, a race that is expected to be close. The executive order also coincides with a new rule from the Department of Homeland Security and the US Attorney General that also tightens asylum procedures. The new rule implements three changes to existing asylum policy. Crucially, it scraps a requirement that US immigration officers must inform people of their right to seek asylum and ask whether they fear persecution, according to a fact sheet prepared by the American Immigration Council. Instead, asylum seekers now need to express a fear of persecution themselves or inform US officers that they want to seek asylum, something advocates refer to as the “shout test”. Only then would they get a “credible fear interview”, where asylum applicants are expected to demonstrate a need for protection. The Biden administration’s new rule also increases the threshold that applicants need to meet during the interview to be eligible for asylum. “As of this week, the Biden administration has allowed for these interviews to happen within as little as four hours of peoples’ entry [to the US], while raising the standard,” said Erfani at the National Immigrant Justice Center. The purpose, Erfani said, is “for people to fail these screenings and get deported as fast as possible”. Deadly risks Human rights advocates across the US have warned that the executive order and the finalised rule will force asylum seekers back to dangerous situations in their home countries or in Mexican border towns. Chelsea Sachau, the managing attorney for Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project’s Border Action Team, has worked with asylum seekers on the southern border in Arizona and said the rule would return people to “violence, danger and possibly death”. “This rule will likely lead to vulnerable families being deported every day to small, remote towns in the [Mexican] state of Sonora that are ruled by cartels and have active violent conflicts occurring in them,” she said during Thursday’s news conference. Rights groups have long documented the myriad risks migrants and asylum seekers face in Mexican border communities, including torture, sexual violence, extortion, kidnappings and killings. Sachau also noted that the US port of entry known as Nogales is the only place for about 1,300km (800 miles) in Arizona where asylum seekers can get US immigration appointments through an app known as CBP One. She said some of her clients have had to wait for seven or eight months, if not longer, for a CBP One appointment — and she warned that the new executive order could lead to even longer wait times. “People will grow ever more desperate. We’ve seen [with] other border policies that, when people are forced into desperate circumstances, they will be forced to make heart-wrenching decisions,” Sachau said. “They may feel they need to send their children ahead as unaccompanied minors for their own safety, or they may try to cross the border again — this time in more remote or more dangerous areas.” Biden’s order, she added, won’t prevent people from taking such journeys in search of safety, but “will beget more border-crossing under more dangerous circumstances”. Adblock test (Why?)
US seeks to block Houthi revenues in possible threat to Yemen truce: Report
Latest pressure campaign comes as US says peace plan cannot move forward if Red Sea attacks persist, Bloomberg reports. The United States and its allies are increasingly seeking to block funds from reaching Yemen’s Houthi group, a push that could jeapordise United Nations-led efforts to end the civil war in the country, Bloomberg News has reported. According to the report published on Thursday, Washington is looking to block major parts of a UN peace plan that the warring parties in Yemen adopted in December unless the Houthis cease their attacks on international shipping lanes. That includes $1.5bn to be paid by Saudi Arabia to civil servants in Houthi-controlled areas, as per the UN roadmap, Bloomberg reported, citing an unidentified source. An anonymous State Department official told Bloomberg that agreements tied to the UN plan can only proceed if the Houthis stop their attacks, while adding that the US still supports peace in Yemen. The Houthis have been attacking ships in the Red Sea and firing missiles and drones at Israeli targets in a show of support for Palestinians in Gaza, drawing anger from US President Joe Biden’s administration. The US and its allies have been bombing Houthi targets in Yemen since January, but the military campaign has not deterred Houthi attacks. The Houthis pledged to continue targeting Israel-linked ships as long as the war on Gaza, which has killed at least 36,654 Palestinians, goes on. Most recently, on Thursday, the group said it targeted two vessels at Israel’s Haifa port. Banks ordered closed in Houthi territory In March 2015, a Saudi-led military coalition launched what would become a years-long offensive in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government against the Iran-allied Houthis who had taken over the Yemeni capital, Sanaa. The fighting, which set off a major humanitarian crisis, turned into a protracted conflict, with the Houthis staying in control in Sanaa and other major population centres, and the Saudi-backed government remaining in the southern city of Aden. The warring parties in April 2022 agreed to a ceasefire, which expired in October of that year. But the fighting has largely been paused amid diplomatic efforts to find a lasting resolution to the conflict. The December UN roadmap included the “implementation of a nationwide ceasefire, payment of public sector salaries, resuming oil exports, opening of roads in Taiz and other parts of Yemen” and the easing of remaining restrictions on Sanaa Airport and Hodeidah Port. Still, tensions between the Houthis and the internationally recognised government have remained high, especially over economic issues. The US push to squeeze the Houthis’ finances risks exacerbating them further. In January, the Biden administration designated the Houthis as “global terrorists” over their Red Sea attacks, a move that enabled sweeping financial sanctions against the group. According to Bloomberg’s report on Thursday, the latest US effort comes as the Central Bank of Yemen, which remains under the Saudi-backed government’s control, moved to suspend operations at banks in Houthi-controlled areas, including Sanaa. The central bank’s governor cited a failure to comply with orders for all financial institutions to move their headquarters to Aden. The action is expected to stifle Houthi access to foreign currency and dry up the liquidity of the group. It was done with the support of the US and Western allies, Bloomberg reported, citing four people with direct knowledge of the situation. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi had called the move against Sanaa-based banks an “American effort for the benefit of Israel”, adding that the US is trying to drag Saudi Arabia into that initiative. “It’s a dangerous game – a game of adding fuel to the fire,” Al-Houthi said last month. The office of the UN’s special office to Yemen, led by Hans Grundberg, has repeatedly said the Houthi Red Sea attacks and “related international military responses in Yemen” threaten the fragile truce in Yemen. After years of war, Yemen continues to face one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to the UN, with more than 18 million people in need of aid and more than 17 million food insecure. About 4.5 million people in the country remain displaced. Meanwhile, stop-start payments of public sector salaries have hastened the collapse of healthcare, sanitation, water and education services, according to the UN. Adblock test (Why?)