Trump says abortion should be up to US states, avoids backing national ban
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said the issue of abortion access should be left up to states to decide, eschewing calls from within his party to support a nationwide ban on the procedure in the United States. In a video posted on his Truth Social platform on Monday, the former US president said he was “proudly the person responsible” for overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark legal precedent that had guaranteed abortion rights on the national level for decades. The US Supreme Court, bolstered by a 6-3 conservative majority that included several Trump appointees, overturned Roe v Wade in June 2022. That put the question of abortion access largely in the hands of individual states to decide, though some anti-abortion activists have pushed for a nationwide ban to be implemented. “The states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land,” Trump said in Monday’s video. “Many states will be different,” he said, adding that, “At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people.” Reproductive rights are expected to be a central issue heading into November’s presidential election, which is set to pit Trump against his Democratic Party rival, President Joe Biden. Biden has made defending access to reproductive healthcare a central plank of his re-election campaign, condemning Trump and Republican Party lawmakers for supporting the end of Roe v Wade. Conservatives had spent decades trying to overturn the 1973 legal precedent, and several Republican-led US states enacted strict limits on abortion after the Supreme Court’s decision nearly two years ago, in a case known as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization. But abortion has become an Achilles heel for the Republican Party, as polls show abortion bans and restrictions are unpopular and most Americans want to protect access to the procedure. The Pew Research Center reported in April 2023 — nearly a year after Roe was overturned — that 62 percent of Americans said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with 36 percent who said it should be illegal. Looking along partisan lines, the survey found that 84 percent of Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 40 percent of Republicans or right-leaning independents said the same. NEW from @JoeBiden on Trump’s abortion comments >> “Trump is scrambling. He’s worried that since he’s the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald. They will. pic.twitter.com/PHSIvITw1z — Ammar Moussa (@ammarmufasa) April 8, 2024 November’s election is expected to be hard fought, and experts say Trump could risk losing votes in critical swing states if he were to come out strongly in favour of a national abortion ban. Jeanette Hoffman, a Republican political consultant, told the Reuters news agency that “leaving abortion to the states is [Trump’s] way of punting on the issue”. “Now that the primary is over, there’s nothing to be gained from proposing a national abortion ban, as he’ll lose support from voters in many swing states,” Hoffman said. Trump’s comments on Monday drew criticism from anti-abortion groups in the US, however. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the anti-abortion group Susan B Anthony Pro-Life America, said the organisation was “deeply disappointed” by Trump’s position. The Supreme Court’s 2022 decision “clearly allows both states and Congress to act”, she said in a statement. “Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats.” Senator Lindsey Graham, a top Republican and ally of the former president, also said he disagreed with Trump’s stance. “I will continue to advocate that there should be a national minimum standard limiting abortion at fifteen weeks,” Graham wrote on the social media platform X. Meanwhile, Biden slammed his predecessor for making “it clear once again today that he is — more than anyone in America — the person responsible for ending Roe v Wade”. “Trump is scrambling,” Biden said in a statement. “He’s worried that since he’s the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald. They will.” Adblock test (Why?)
UN Security Council refers Palestine’s full membership bid to committee
Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour urges Security Council to ‘elevate itself to implementing the global consensus on the two-state solution’. The United Nations Security Council president has referred the Palestinian Authority’s (PA’s) application for Palestine to become a full member of the world body to its membership committee. The 15-member committee is expected to make a decision about Palestine’s status this month, said Vanessa Frazier, Malta’s UN ambassador, who also proposed that the committee meet on Monday to consider the application. Malta is president of the Security Council for April. Palestinian UN envoy Riyad Mansour told reporters in New York that the PA sincerely hoped that after 12 years as an observer state at the UN, the Security Council would “elevate itself to implementing the global consensus on the two-state solution by admitting the state of Palestine for full membership”. Last week, the PA formally asked for renewed consideration by the Security Council of its 2011 application to become a full member of the world body. The Palestinians are a non-member observer state at the UN, the same status as the Holy See. Reporting from UN headquarters in New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said the PA’s membership bid was “moving forward” and highlighted that this is a significant and symbolic moment for Palestine. “This is only the second time that Palestine has been able to get this far in their bid for full UN membership. The last time was 2011 when it essentially failed in the Security Council standing committee due to a threat by the US to veto it if it ever came to a vote,” he noted. He added that for any country to become a full member of the UN, the international body’s charter says the country’s membership first has to be approved by the Security Council and then it would need to get the support of two-thirds of the 190 members of the UN General Assembly. “It is believed that Palestine has the support in the General Assembly. That is pretty much widely accepted. The issue is in the Security Council, … where any of the five permanent members could veto it, and this would then stop the process,” Elizondo said. Security Council approval requires at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by the United States, Russia, China, France or Britain. Earlier on Monday, the Security Council met behind closed doors to discuss the letter from the PA. Mansour told Reuters last week that the aim was for the council to make a decision at an April 18 ministerial meeting on the Middle East. Israel’s UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, said recognition of a Palestinian state would be a threat to Israel’s national security. “Granting the Palestinian statehood is not only a blatant violation of the UN Charter, it also violates the fundamental principle that everyone can understand of reaching a solution, a lasting solution, at the negotiating table,” Erdan told reporters on Monday. “The UN has been sabotaging peace in the Middle East for years, but today marks the beginning of the point of no return,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Pence blasts Trump’s ‘slap in the face’ announcement on key issue for Christian voters
Former Vice President Mike Pence is taking aim at his two-time running mate over his long-awaited announcement on abortion. Pence charged on Monday that former President Trump’s decision not to support a federal ban on abortion is a “retreat on the Right to Life” and “a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans.” The former vice president’s statement came a couple hours after Trump took credit for the decision two years ago by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, which had legalized abortion nationwide. But Trump declined to support the push by social conservatives to ban abortion at the federal level and emphasized his support for states determining their own laws for abortion so long as there are exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. WHAT TRUMP SAID IN HIS HIGHLY ANTICIPATED ABORTION ANNOUNCEMENT “The states will determine by vote, or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land – in this case, the law of the state,” Trump said in video posted on social media. “Many states will be different. Many states will have a different number of weeks… at the end of the day it is all about the will of the people.” WHAT TOP REPUBLICANS ARE SAYING ABOUT TRUMP’S ABORTION ANNOUNCEMENT Pence, who’s long been a champion for evangelical voters, pushed for a federal abortion ban last year as he ran for the Republican presidential nomination, as part of a field of roughly a dozen GOP candidates who unsuccessfully challenged Trump. In a statement on social media, Pence argued, “President Trump’s retreat on the Right to Life is a slap in the face to the millions of pro-life Americans who voted for him in 2016 and 2020. By nominating and standing by the confirmation of conservative justices, the Trump-Pence Administration helped send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs and gave the pro-life movement the opportunity to compassionately support women and unborn children.” The former vice president lamented that “too many Republican politicians are all too ready to wash their hands of the battle for life.” And he emphasized that “however much our Republican nominee or other candidates seek to marginalize the cause of life, I know pro-life Americans will never relent until we see the sanctity of life restored to the center of American law in every state in this country.” Asked for a response to the criticism from Pence, Trump campaign spokesman Steve Cheung replied, “Who?” Pence was far from the only high-profile Republican to criticize the former president. And a leading anti-abortion group also wasn’t pleased with Trump’s announcement. Majorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life, said she was “deeply disappointed” by Trump’s announcement on Monday, arguing his statement was a victory for Democrats. “Saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy,” Dannenfelser emphasized. “If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.” The blockbuster Supreme Court ruling nearly two years ago not only moved the divisive issue back to the states, but it forced Republicans to play plenty of defense in elections across the country, as a party that’s nearly entirely “pro-life” has had to deal with an electorate where a majority of Americans support at least some form of abortion access. In the wake of the Supreme Court move, Republican-dominated states have implemented a new wave of restrictions on abortion, including Florida’s six-week ban. As Democrats target Trump and other Republicans over the divisive issue, the former president has tried to thread the needle on abortion. As he did on Monday, Trump regularly takes credit on the campaign trail for appointing the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, and touts that he’s the “most pro-life president in American history.” But he has also repeatedly criticized fellow Republicans for taking a hard-line stance on the issue, blaming candidates who did not allow for exceptions in cases of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is at risk, for the GOP’s setbacks in the 2022 midterm elections. On the campaign trail during his White House run, Pence repeatedly highlighted, “I’m pro-life and I don’t apologize for it.” And he told reporters in Iowa in August, “I reject the notion that standing for the sanctity of life is a political loser.” A month later, after Trump declined to support Florida’s controversial six-week abortion ban, Pence in a Fox News interview, accused the former president of “backing away” from the anti-abortion cause. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Pro-life conservatives are ‘disappointed’ in Trump’s new abortion policy, but stick by him: ‘Only one option’
Conservative groups backing former president Donald Trump in his re-election bid say they are “deeply disappointed” with his official position on abortion unveiled Monday, but it won’t deter their support in November. The former president and presumptive GOP nominee in a video posted on Truth Social Monday morning said he cemented his position on the controversial issue, saying that abortion access should be a states’ issue and didn’t endorse a national, federal limitation — like a 15-week ban. Pro-life interest groups who have endorsed Trump expressed disappointment at his announcement, but it appears unlikely to sway their support in consideration of Trump’s overall stance compared to Biden’s extreme abortion policy. “The reality of a stark choice between President Biden who supports abortion: any number, any reason, up until birth, all paid for by the taxpayer and President Trump: who gave us three Constitutionalist justices, 220 lower court judges, appointees who support life and the overturn of Roe v. Wade has my endorsement and support in November for President,” said Penny Nance, CEO of Concerned Women for America (CWA), who said she “favors federal limits on abortion.” TRUMP SAYS ABORTION SHOULD BE DECIDED BY THE STATES, ‘WILL OF THE PEOPLE’ Trump explicitly affirmed his support for in vitro fertilization (IVF) and emphasized his support for states determining their own laws for abortion so long as there are exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. “The Republican Party should always be on the side of the miracle of life and the side of mothers, fathers and their beautiful babies. IVF is an important part of that,” Trump said. “The states will determine by vote, or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land — in this case, the law of the state,” Trump said. Many states will be different. Many states will have a different number of weeks… at the end of the day it is all about the will of the people.” Trump reiterated that he was proud of the role he played in overturning Roe v. Wade, saying legal scholars on “both sides” had been in favor of the move. EXPERT CALLS INTO QUESTION PENTAGON’S ABORTION TRAVEL POLICY, CALLS IT A ‘REPUDIATION’ OF ‘WOKE IDEOLOGY’ Which is true— even late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg said of the ruling that “doctrinal limbs too swiftly shaped, experience teaches, may prove unstable.” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said while they are “deeply disappointed” in Trump’s position, the group will “work tirelessly to defeat President Biden and extreme congressional Democrats.” “Unborn children and their mothers deserve national protections and national advocacy from the brutality of the abortion industry,” she said. “The Dobbs decision clearly allows both states and Congress to act.” She added that “saying the issue is ‘back to the states’ cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. If successful, they will wipe out states’ rights.” Since the Dobbs decision, factions in both parties in Congress have pushed legislation to address abortion. Some in the GOP camp seeking a 15-week limitation, and some Democrats on the other side of the aisle wishing to “codify” Roe v. Wade with virtually limitless abortion access nationwide. Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, said “there remains an urgent need to advocate for the unborn at the federal level.” She noted that Democrats recently tried to enact federal legislation like “the deceptively titled Women’s Health Protection Act which would cancel every states’ ability to limit abortion through all nine months of pregnancy, and erases existing pro-life protections for vulnerable women and children nationwide.” Trump’s position aligns with what more libertarian-leaning groups have endorsed in favor of federalism following the fall of Roe. Jeffrey Miron, vice president of research at the Cato Institute, wrote in July of 2022 that “under the Libertarian Land approach, each state chooses its own policies, which allows for variety and experimentation; more importantly, it avoids the coercion implicit in a federal approach. Everyone can try to influence policy in their own state, or move.” “A key aspect of federalism is that its policy implications align imperfectly with both liberal and conservative views. Thus both perspectives will be unhappy, but with more freedom to choose their preferred combination of policies,” Miron wrote. “That is the best way to accommodate the inevitable differences in views on these and other difficult issues,” he said. Brian Burch, president of CatholicVote, said that “while federal legislation on abortion policy is challenging at present, we are confident that a Trump administration will be staffed with pro-life personnel committed to pro-life policies, including conscience rights, limits on taxpayer funding of abortion, and protections for pro-life states.” MAJOR PRO-LIFE GROUP LAYS OUT AGGRESSIVE PLANS FOR 2024 ELECTIONS: ‘LARGEST GROUND GAME YET’ “President Trump’s latest statement also reflects the electoral minefield created by Democrat abortion fanaticism. The fact remains that pro-life voters need to win elections to protect mothers and children,” he said. “Democrats are now preparing a billion-dollar election year barrage with radical abortion as its centerpiece. While Trump did not commit to any specific pro-life policies, he notably will not stand in the way of states that have acted to protect innocent children from the violent abortion industry,” he added. “[N]o woman should face an unexpected pregnancy alone. We believe a new whole government approach encouraging and supporting pregnant women to keep their children can be advanced under a new Trump administration,” he said. “The contrast between Joe Biden and the Democrats and President Trump is unmistakable. Pro-life voters have only one option in November.”
Wisconsin Gov. Evers vetoes bill to let teens work without parental consent
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers on Monday vetoed a Republican bill that would have allowed 14- and 15-year-olds in Wisconsin to work without getting consent from their parents or a state permit. Evers vetoed the bill that passed the Legislature with all Republicans in support and Democrats against it. The proposal came amid a wider push by state lawmakers to roll back child labor laws and despite the efforts of federal investigators to crack down on a surge in child labor violations nationally. NEW WISCONSIN LAW REQUIRES TEACHING OF HMONG, ASIAN-AMERICAN HISTORY IN SCHOOLS “Asking more kids to work is not a serious plan or solution to address our statewide workforce issues,” Evers said in his veto message. Evers said he vetoed the bill because he objected to eliminating a process that ensures children are protected from employers who may exploit them or subject them to dangerous conditions. Republicans don’t have the votes to override the veto. Republican supporters said the change would have eliminated red tape for employers and teenage job applicants and bolster the state’s workforce. But opponents, including organized labor, said that without a work permit system, there is no way for the state to help protect the health and safety of children who wish to work. The proposal would not have changed state law governing how many hours minors can work or prohibiting them from working dangerous jobs. Evers vetoed the bill at a meeting of the Wisconsin State Council of Machinists in Madison. Stephanie Bloomingdale, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, praised the veto. “The important work permit process for 14- and 15-year-olds keeps parents’ rights intact and helps kids stay safe on the job,” she said in a statement. “The dangerous push to weaken child labor law in Wisconsin and across the country comes at a time when more children are harmed at work or work hazardous jobs.” In 2017, then-Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill passed by fellow Republicans in the Legislature that eliminated the work permit requirements for 16- and 17-year-olds. The bill Evers vetoed would have expanded the exemption to 14- and 15-year-olds. Evers also vetoed a bill last year that would have let 14- and 15-year-olds work later hours during the summer.
White House responds after Pope Francis condemns ‘gender theory,’ affirms Biden’s support for trans community
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced questions about Pope Francis’ declaration condemning gender theory on Monday, ultimately affirming President Biden’s support for the transgender community. A reporter pressed Jean-Pierre regarding the Pope’s Monday document, which formally reaffirms and expands on the Catholic Church’s assertion that attempts to alter an individual’s immutable gender are ultimately misguided attempts to play God. Jean-Pierre declined to say what Biden thought of the document specifically, but added that he does support the transgender community. “We are pleased to see that the document… furthered the Vatican’s call to ensure that LGBTQ+ are protected from violence and imprisonment around the world. However, the president will continue to be an advocate for the rights, safety and dignity of the LGBTQ+ community, including transgender people here in the U.S.,” Jean-Pierre said in response to a reporter who asked for a response to the document. “What about the more specific comments about gender theory and transgender individuals?” a reporter pressed. DONALD TRUMP IS SELLING $60 ‘GOD BLESS THE USA’ BIBLES AHEAD OF EASTER “I’m going to be really careful. The president’s role to litigate internal Church policy, that’s not his role, so I’m gonna be super careful there,” Jean-Pierre said. “But I can speak to the president’s stance, and he’s always been very clear on the importance of protecting or having protections for the transgender community and the broader LGBTQ+ community, and that’s been very clear since day one of his administration.” CHRISTIAN LEADERS REACT TO TRUMP’S ‘GOD BLESS THE USA’ BIBLES: ‘MORE TRUMP THAN BIBLE?’ Francis’ Monday declaration, called “Dignitas Infinita,” addressed over a dozen individual issues of the modern day through the lens of scripture and church teaching, including abortion, human trafficking, poverty, euthanasia, the death penalty and more. Latin for “Infinite Dignity,” the document was released after more than five years in development by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) and focuses on threats to human dignity in the modern world. GOP ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE POSITION ON DISCARDING IVF EMBRYOS AMID PRO-LIFE STANCES “Regarding gender theory, whose scientific coherence is the subject of considerable debate among experts, the Church recalls that human life in all its dimensions, both physical and spiritual, is a gift from God,” the document states. “This gift is to be accepted with gratitude and placed at the service of the good. Desiring a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes, apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God, entering into competition with the true God of love revealed to us in the Gospel.” It’s not a new stance for the church — Pope Francis, forced to confront the rapid rise of gender ideology in recent years, has previously called it one of the world’s “most dangerous ideological colonizations.” The document continues: “Another prominent aspect of gender theory is that it intends to deny the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings: sexual difference. This foundational difference is not only the greatest imaginable difference but is also the most beautiful and most powerful of them. In the male-female couple, this difference achieves the most marvelous of reciprocities. It thus becomes the source of that miracle that never ceases to surprise us: the arrival of new human beings in the world.” The document also reaffirms the Church’s teachings on abortion and elaborates on its long-standing ethical criticisms of surrogate pregnancies, for which the pope recently called for a worldwide ban. Fox News’ Timothy H. J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.
NJ county clerks withdraw appeals to primary ballot ruling
New Jersey county clerks have withdrawn their appeals to a federal court ruling requiring them to redraw primary election ballots that some argued favored candidates backed by the state’s Democratic Party. The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals based in Philadelphia dismissed the appeals on Friday in response to the clerks’ action. U.S. Judge Zahid Quraishi had ordered Democrats to scrap a ballot that listed party-endorsed candidates together in a bracketed group on the ballot — commonly called the county line — while listing others outside the bracket. New Jersey is the only state to set its primary ballots in this way. LANDMARK NJ BALLOT REDESIGN RULING ASKED TO BE PUT ON HOLD Democratic Rep. Andy Kim filed the lawsuit as part of his bid for the Senate seat held by indicted Sen. Bob Menendez, who said he would not run in the primary. Republicans will not be affected by Quraishi’s order; the judge said it applies only to Democrats and only to the June 4 election. Asked why she dropped her appeal, one of the clerks, Hunterdon County Clerk Mary Melfi responded, “I just want to move forward. That’s what my focus is.” The Associated Press left a text message with Kim’s spokesperson seeking comment Monday. What exactly will happen in future primaries isn’t clear. Democratic and Republican legislative leaders have issued joint statements saying they plan to consider legislation but they haven’t specified just what that will look like. Kim and two other Democratic candidates sued in federal court to block the county line primary system. He and many others in New Jersey politics contend that such a system gives the candidates who appear in the ballot’s bracketed column an unfair advantage, while relegating candidates not backed by the party to “ballot Siberia.” When he filed the suit, Kim’s major opponent in the race for Menendez’s Senate seat was Tammy Murphy, wife of Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. Kim argued that because Murphy earned the backing of powerful county party leaders in populous areas, she was unfairly given a favorable ballot position. Murphy has since dropped out of the race, leaving Kim as a dominant candidate. Nonetheless, Kim has pledged to continue fighting the county line system.
Trump makes endorsement in race for GOP Rep. Gallagher’s congressional seat
The former owner of a northeastern Wisconsin dinosaur-themed gas station chain was expected to announce a run for Congress in a heavily Republican district on Monday after receiving the endorsement of Donald Trump over the weekend. Tony Wied, who owned six Dino Stop gas stations and convenience stores, was expected to join the race for the open 8th Congressional District seat caused by the surprise early retirement of Rep. Mike Gallagher. Two other Republicans and one Democrat have already announced their candidacies. The primary is Aug. 13. ABORTION PROVIDER IS FIRST DEM TO ENTER RACE FOR WISCONSIN REP. GALLAGHER’S SEAT Wied attended Trump’s rally in Green Bay last week. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel obtained a photograph of a document titled “Tony Wied for Congress — WI08” that included biographical information about Wied. Trump on Sunday posted his endorsement of Wied on social media, even though he has yet to officially enter the race. Wied is expected to do that at an event Monday night in Green Bay. “After selling his highly successful Oil and Gas Business, Tony Wied has decided to run for Congress in Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District,” Trump wrote on his social media platform, misspelling Wied’s last name. Wied sold his Dino Stop chain to a Denver-based company in 2022. Trump called on Republican Roger Roth, a former state senator from Appleton, to drop out of the race. Roth endorsed Trump when he announced his latest run for Congress, after he declined to get behind him in 2022 when asked if he would back a Trump run for president in 2024. “Tony is running against RINO Roger Roth, who is a ‘clone’ of Paul Ryan, and no friend to MAGA — He should drop out of the Race NOW,” Trump wrote. “As your next Congressman, Tony will work hard to Unleash American Energy, Stop Inflation, Secure our Border, Support our Military / Vets, and Protect our always under siege Second Amendment.” Roth, in a statement Monday, highlighted his service with the Wisconsin Air National Guard and recommitted to Trump. “As the only veteran in this race, I know what it means to serve,” Roth said. “My wife and I Iook at our country, and for the sake of our children, know we have to fight to preserve and protect what makes America great. I will win this race and help win Wisconsin for Donald Trump this November.” Roth has been racking up his own endorsements from conservatives, including former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. State Sen. Andre Jacque, of De Pere, is also running as a Republican. Dr. Kristin Lyerly, also from De Pere, is the only announced Democratic candidate. Another Republican and Trump-backer, GOP consultant Alex Bruesewitz, had been considering a run. Bruesewitz said in a text message Monday that he had been planning to run until he met Wied. “I strongly encouraged him to plan for a run,” Bruesewitz said. “I believe he is a 10/10 candidate.” Bruesewitz said he would working as an adviser on Wied’s campaign. Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District is solidly Republican, but Democrats have vowed to make it competitive. Trump won the district by 16 percentage points in 2020, even though he lost the state by less than a point to President Joe Biden. Gallagher won reelection three times by no fewer than 25 points. The district includes the cities of Appleton and Green Bay, Door County and covers mostly rural areas north through Marinette.
Eid in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Dubai, Qatar on April 10: When will Eid be celebrated in India?
In India, the moon sighting is scheduled for April 10.
Public safety group finds FBI violent crime data is higher than initially reported
FIRST ON FOX: An independent group of law enforcement officials and analysts claim violent crime rates are much higher than figures reported by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its 2023 violent crime statistics. The Coalition for Law Order and Safety released its April 2024 report called “Assessing America’s Crime Crises: Trends, Causes, and Consequences,” and identified four potential causes for the increase in crime in most major cities across the U.S.: de-policing, de-carceration, de-prosecution and politicization of the criminal justice system. The lead authors of the report are Mark Morgan, former assistant FBI director and acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Trump administration, and Sean Kennedy, an attorney for the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund. The new report reveals three major findings: that the U.S. faces a public safety crisis beset by high crime and an increasingly dysfunctional justice system; that crime has risen dramatically over the past few years and may be worse than some official statistics claim; and that although preliminary 2023 FBI data shows a decline in many offenses, violent and serious crime remains heightened compared to 2019 data. Researchers wrote, “to say crime is down is like descending from a tall peak and standing on a high bluff, saying you are closer to the ground – a true but misleading statement.” CALIFORNIA DEMS WANT TO BLOCK BILL THAT WOULD RECRIMINALIZE LOITERING AS PROSTITUTION SPIRALS IN BIG CITIES The report coincides with a March 2024 Gallup poll which found that nearly 80% of Americans say they personally worry about crime and violence “a great deal or fair amount,” placing it ahead of other issues and on par with inflation. “Americans’ support for greater law enforcement and stiffer criminal penalties has increased as polls show that the public believes crime has risen, and they feel less safe,” the report noted. Through aggregated data sets directly from more than 70 of the nation’s largest police departments and victim surveys, researchers claim violent crime has been “substantially elevated in major cities” compared to pre-2020 levels. The group’s research also showed that due to significant under-reporting of certain crimes, the FBI’s official data doesn’t completely capture the full snapshot of crime in the U.S. “There’s a series of caveats attached to the FBI data that the FBI doesn’t make as clear as they should,” Sean Kennedy, one of the lead researchers, told Fox News Digital in an interview. STATE MAKES RETAIL THEFT A FELONY AS ORGANIZED CRIME PROLIFERATES Kennedy said that, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 George Floyd riots, several police departments redefined the classifications for certain violent crimes and transitioned away from a decades-old recording system. “If you classify something as an aggravated assault, it’s a violent crime or a felony, but if you classify it as a simple assault, it’s then a misdemeanor and a non-violent crime,” Kennedy said. “That is a world of difference when it comes to how the media is going to portray whether or not your department is fighting violent crime.” However, the police are not the only ones appearing to under-report. Businesses and individuals who are victims of violent crimes have also shown a pattern of reluctance when it comes to calling the police. The Loss Prevention Research Council’s survey of retailers sheds light on the reasons behind the lack of reporting. The study shows that typically, business owners tend to harbor the belief that police will not respond promptly or investigate crimes, and prosecutors will not pursue charges against the perpetrators. “It is difficult to measure how much crime is underreported, often ‘downcharged,’ by law enforcement since the number of reported crimes reflects the categorizations of police agencies themselves,” the researchers wrote. ‘BURGLARY TOURISM’ PLAGUES SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AS UNVETTED FOREIGNERS RAID LUXE HOUSES “FBI data is taken as gospel truth, when the FBI itself puts a series of footnotes all over their own data,” Kennedy said. In 2019, 89% of municipal police departments – spanning about 97% of the population – submitted crime data to the FBI. To compensate for incomplete data, the FBI will fill in gaps using “inferred” statistics, the report notes. However, by 2021, less than 63% of departments spanning across 65% of the population submitted crime data. Several big cities – Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago – did not submit crime data at all to the FBI last year. When reached on Monday, the FBI said it had no comment on an external report. It noted that participation in the Uniform Crime Reporting program is voluntary – the UCR program is how the FBI collects crime data from local law enforcement agencies. Yet this month, officials in the New Orleans Police Department announced they had under-reported sex crime data that was filed to the FBI in 2021 and 2022. In 2014, a Los Angeles Times investigation found that the Los Angeles Police Department had “systematically downgraded” serious violent crime offenses to minor offenses between 2005 and 2014. Researchers added, “There is no evidence that police agencies or reporting authorities consistently or persistently engage in such misreporting or manipulation, but it represents an unknowable data gap between actual crime levels and official statistics.” ZERO CASH BAIL TO BLAME FOR ‘BRAZEN’ SMASH AND GRAB ROBBERIES IN LA, POLICE UNION SAYS CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The report places the blame for the high crime rate on soft-on-crime initiatives, which falls in line with several states backpedaling course on so-called soft-on-crime policies. In the last year, Democratic lawmakers in California and New York have begun introducing bills to restore stricter penalties for certain violent crimes.