Chicago residents speak out against migrants welcomed by city: ‘Junking up our country’
Angry Chicago residents railed against local leaders at a city council meeting Wednesday as tensions run high over the national illegal immigrant crisis. City and state officials have approved hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to feed, clothe and house more than 35,000 migrants who have been transported to Chicago and its suburbs in the past year and a half. The overwhelming influx of people has drained city resources and upset residents who told council members they have neglected needy American communities in favor of foreign asylum seekers. “All this asylum-seeking lie, all this about refugees – no, no no. What’s happening is they’re emptying out the dregs of their jails into the United States and to our communities,” one Chicago resident said during public comments at Wednesday’s meeting. “They’re junking up our country. And yeah, we feel some kind of way about it because it’s our country,” the resident said. “We’re going to get them out of our communities because they don’t deserve to be there.” COLORADO TOWN UNANIMOUSLY DECLARES NON-SANCTUARY STATUS AS NEARBY DENVER GRAPPLES WITH MIGRANTS: ‘NO ROOM’ Another speaker demanded “not another dollar for illegals” after Illinois’ Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker announced plans to allocate an additional $252 million to support Chicago’s response to the migrant crisis. “If the crisis is so bad, the city council members who are so concerned should donate their salaries to the cause like a real public servant should,” the woman said. SPEAKER JOHNSON HIGHLIGHTS 100 STORIES OF ‘DANGERS AND DESTRUCTION’ OF ‘BIDEN BORDER CATASTROPHE’ Pritzker has pledged around $182 million in state funds for Chicago while Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has committed up to $70 million more in a joint funding plan to ensure migrants sent to the city from Texas have access to wraparound services and health care. Those funds come on top of the state committing $160 million in November to illegal immigrants for “welcome, shelter, and independence.” That commitment was in addition to the $478 million the state has spent since the start of the response, according to the governor’s office. TEXAS HAS SPENT NEARLY $150M BUSSING MIGRANTS TO ‘SANCTUARY’ CITIES: REPORT Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza has launched a public website to track state spending on the migrant crisis and provide transparency for taxpayers interested in how their hard-earned money is being spent. More than 35,000 migrants have been transported to Chicago and its suburbs over the past year and a half. Despite this influx, recent data from the city indicates a decline in the number of migrants staying at shelters, with figures dropping to their lowest point in months, according to Fox 32 Chicago. As of last week, the number of migrants in shelters has fallen below 13,000, marking a decrease from peaks observed in mid- and early January, when the count reached nearly 15,000. The joint funding announcement came after state, county and city teams estimated that around $321 million is needed to maintain shelter and services this calendar year, on top of previously committed funding. Mayor Brandon Johnson and the city of Chicago are still on the hook for about $70 million to cover costs associated with providing services for illegal immigrants. Asked about the needed funds last week, Johnson told reporters there are a “number of matters that need to be worked through,” according to NBC Chicago. Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.
Trump comparing himself to Navalny lacks ‘common decency,’ former rival Hutchinson says
Former Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson called former President Donald Trump “offensive” for comparing himself to deceased Russian activist Alexei Navalny. Hutchinson reacted to the former president’s words in an interview with CNN’s John Berman, saying the comment lacked “common decency.” “Well, it’s offensive to me. And there should be common decency, first of all. A respect for Alexei Navalny, that gave his life for freedom and fighting against a dictator. There should be respect for that,” said Hutchinson. WATCH: TRUMP CONDEMNS ALEXEI NAVALNY’S DEATH AS ‘HORRIBLE THING’ AFTER FACING SHARP BACKLASH FROM HALEY Hutchinson continued, “And there should also be a clear understanding that Putin is responsible, and that Putin is bad for Russia. He’s bad for anybody that loves freedom, and the United States should be having a clear voice.” Trump wrote on social media following the news of Navalny’s death that the mysterious passing “has made me more and more aware of what’s happening in our country. It is a slow, steady progression with crooked radical left politicians and prosecutors and judges.” The comment received strong backlash from those inside and outside the Republican Party, with many calling the remarks tone deaf. HALEY CONDEMNS TRUMP’S REACTION TO NAVALNY DEATH: HE ‘PUT US ALL IN DANGER’ Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley claimed Trump’s comments were intentionally and obviously self-serving. “This is on the heels of Trump saying that he would encourage Putin to invade any NATO countries that didn’t pull their weight – and now the only comment he’s going to make about Navalny is not hitting Putin for murdering him, not praising Navalny for fighting the corruption that was happening in Russia. But instead he’s going to compare himself to Navalny and the victim that he is in his court cases?” she said. CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Trump again addressed the suspicious death while participating in a Greenville, South Carolina, town hall hosted by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham just days ahead of the state’s Republican presidential primary – striking a more sympathetic tone. “Navalny – a very sad situation. He was very brave because he went back [to Russia] when he could have stayed away,” Trump said when asked about the outrage from world leaders surrounding Navalny’s death, as well as claims by his opponents that he doesn’t care about human rights and freedom. Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz, Brandon Gillespie, and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
‘Everybody’s broke’: Americans reveal their top issues ahead of the 2024 election
Americans in the nation’s capital shared the most important issues impacting their 2024 election vote, with most telling Fox News that the economy was among their top priorities. “I think people are really concerned about the economy,” Sibusiso, a New Yorker, told Fox News. “Just make sure that the economy is in great shape. I think that that’s what everybody needs right now.” WATCH MORE FOX NEWS DIGITAL ORIGINALS HERE Over the summer, President Biden started touting Bidenomics — a term created to promote his administration’s work to rebuild the economy following the pandemic. But despite recent job growth numbers and cooling inflation after hitting a 40-year high in June 2022, 55% of registered voters preferred former President Trump to handle the economy compared to 33% favoring Biden, according to an NBC News poll of 1,000 registered voters published on Feb. 4. ‘TIME THAT MAYBE HE STEP DOWN’: AMERICANS GRADE BIDEN AFTER CHARLAMAGNE BRANDS HIM AN ‘UNINSPIRING CANDIDATE’ Inflation is “too high, and everybody’s broke,” Reginald, of Los Angeles, said. “It’s like we’re going back to the ‘20s and ’30s again. This is not making America great again, that’s for sure.” High costs have remained a concern for some Americans, particularly as prices rose in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Prices climbed 3.1% from the same time last year, and inflation remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Others told Fox News women’s rights, border security and climate change were among their top voting issues. “Our border is an issue,” Lori, a Texas native, told Fox News. “I feel like our border is not secure, and we need to secure that.” NEW YORK TWIN BROTHERS GO VIRAL ON TIKTOK FOR HILARIOUS VIDEOS ON INFLATION: ‘YOU GOT TO WORK HARD’ Sarah, from Boston, said abortion access was a top factor in her voting decisions. “The most important issues are just to keep everybody’s rights intact,” Sue, also from Boston, said. “I think women’s rights, reproductive rights, are hugely important.” Several voters told Fox News they prioritized a functioning government when considering their 2024 election decisions. I want “sanity,” Katherine, from Virginia, said. Allie, of Washington, D.C., shared a similar sentiment. “I’m just looking for stability,” she said. “We need to keep things operating and functioning.”
Russia classifies Sen Lindsey Graham as a ‘terrorist’ after reaction to Navalny death
Russia has officially added Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to a list of “terrorists and extremists” after the GOP firebrand condemned the Russian government for the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny this week. Russia’s state financial watchdog, which handles the “terrorist and extremist” list, announced Graham’s addition on Tuesday. Graham blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for Navalny’s death this weekend, and he also called for the U.S. to add Russia to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. “Navalny was one of the bravest people I ever met. When he went back to Russia he had to know he was going to be killed by Putin, and he was murdered by Putin,” Graham said in a Sunday interview with CBS. “President Biden told Putin, if something happens to Navalny, you’re going to pay a price. President Biden, I agree with you, the price they should pay is to make Russia a state sponsor of terrorism,” he added. STATE DEPARTMENT SAYS ‘MAJOR SANCTIONS PACKAGE’ COMING TO HOLD RUSSIA ‘ACCOUNTABLE FOR NAVALNY’S DEATH’ Graham reacted to the move with humor on social media, writing on Tuesday evening, “There goes all my rubles!” FBI INFORMANT WHO LIED ABOUT BIDENS’ TIES TO UKRAINIAN ENERGY COMPANY HAD HIGH-LEVEL RUSSIAN CONTACTS: DOJ “I call your ‘terrorists and extremists’ bid and raise you ‘State Sponsor of Terrorism under U.S. law.’ Believe it or not, 2024 is going to be a bad year for Putin’s Russia,” he added. Graham’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Graham has a long history of antagonizing Russia, particularly since the country invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In May of last year, Russia issued a warrant for Graham’s arrest. That incident followed a video interview in which Graham noted that “the Russians are dying” and described the U.S. military assistance to the country as “the best money we’ve ever spent.” Graham said he considered the arrest warrant to be a “Badge of Honor.” “To know that my commitment to Ukraine has drawn the ire of Putin’s regime brings me immense joy. I will continue to stand with and for Ukraine’s freedom until every Russian soldier is expelled from Ukrainian territory,” Graham said in a statement at the time.
Biden campaign trolls Trump’s ‘weakest operation in … history’ amid lagging campaign cash
FIRST ON FOX: President Biden’s re-election campaign is pulling no punches in trolling former President Donald Trump following its “historic” cash-on-hand announcement and massive fundraising haul for the month of January. The Biden campaign said Monday it raised more than $42 million last month and has $130 million in cash-on-hand across all of its joint-fundraising committees — a figure the president’s re-election team is touting as “the highest total amassed by any Democratic candidate in history” at this point in the election cycle. Those numbers compare to just $30 million cash-on-hand reported by the Trump campaign at the end of January, although his campaign has not yet released its fundraising numbers for the month. TRUMP EXPECTED TO HAUL IN $6M AT SOUTH CAROLINA FUNDRAISER: ‘THE PRIMARY IS OVER’ “It’s been a tough couple of weeks if you are Donald Trump and also like money,” Biden campaign official Ammar Moussa told Fox News Digital. “The RNC had its worst fundraising year in decades, is hemorrhaging cash, and now Trump enters the general election with the weakest operation in recent history.” “While Trump and the RNC burn cash paying for Trump’s …challenges, our campaign is proud of its historic war chest whose funds are going to reach the voters who will decide this election this November,” he added, referencing Trump’s numerous legal defenses being waged in Washington, D.C., Miami and Atlanta courtrooms. Last year, Trump’s campaign fundraising apparatus shelled out $50 million to cover the cost of those legal bills, contributing to Biden’s financial upper-hand. WATCH: TRUMP CONDEMNS ALEXEI NAVALNY’S DEATH AS ‘HORRIBLE THING’ AFTER FACING SHARP BACKLASH FROM HALEY However, Trump’s campaign is pointing to his edge in early general election polls that show him leading or statistically tied with Biden, as well as what they say is the inflow of money from everyday Americans ready for a change. “President Trump’s campaign is fueled by small dollar donors across the country from every background who are sick and tired of Crooked Joe Biden’s record-high inflation, wide open border invasion, crime and chaos,” Trump campaign national press secretary Karolina Leavitt told Fox News Digital. “Voters don’t want four more years of misery and destruction, and that’s why President Trump is dominating Biden in every single battleground poll,” she added. Biden’s cash advantage also comes just weeks after Fox News Digital reported on the cash problems and swing-state disarray being faced by the Republican National Committee (RNC) as its rival, the Democratic National Committee (DNC), held nearly three times the cash-on-hand to start the election year. Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Kentucky Republican says early childhood education is the answer to workforce, childcare crises
A Republican lawmaker on Tuesday promoted his ambitious plan to bolster early childhood education as a way to head off a looming crisis once pandemic-era federal aid dries up for the childcare sector. Kentucky state Sen. Danny Carroll pitched his legislation at a Senate committee meeting as lawmakers delved into an issue that he says carries short- and long-term implications. A lack of childcare keeps some parents from working, contributing to low workforce participation rates. Reinforcing early childhood education builds a strong foundation that contributes to student success later in life, Carroll said. “We must take advantage of this crisis that we’re about to face and we must transform the way that we think about early childhood education and the meaning of this,” Carroll told the committee. “It’s not babysitting. It’s not childcare. It’s not daycare. It’s education.” KENTUCKY HOUSE DELIVERS $1.3B EDUCATION FUNDING INCREASE BUT OMITS UNIVERSAL PRE-K The Senate Families and Children Committee took no vote Tuesday on the sweeping measure — a week after Carroll unveiled the proposal. Carroll, who chairs the committee, said he hoped a committee vote could come next week. Much of the discussion, he said, revolves around the bill’s price tag — currently pegged at $300 million over the next two fiscal years. “You look at the totality of this issue, it’s worth the investment,” Carroll told reporters after the meeting. Senators are currently reviewing the two-year state spending plan approved by the House and will eventually present their own version. The final budget details will be hashed out in a conference committee of House and Senate leaders. The GOP has supermajorities in both chambers. Republican state Sen. Julie Raque Adams said she was impressed by the bill’s comprehensive approach, pointing to its potential impact on getting more Kentuckians into the workforce. “You hear from every sector of society that they have workforce challenges,” she said. “And we’re never going to fix those workforce challenges until we solve this critical piece of childcare.” The bill comes amid uncertain times nationwide for childcare providers and parents. The $24 billion of pandemic aid that Congress passed in 2021 for childcare businesses is drying up. Republican state lawmakers across the country have responded by embracing plans to support child care. Still, the largest investments in child care have come from Democratic lawmakers. In New Mexico, the state is covering childcare for most children under 5 using a trust funded by oil and natural gas production. In Vermont, Democratic lawmakers overrode the GOP governor’s veto to pass a payroll tax hike to fund child care subsidies. Kentucky has lost about half of its childcare providers in the past decade and risks losing more once the federal aid evaporates, necessitating the need for the state to step in with help, Carroll said. “For once, I want Kentucky to be the one that gets out in front and sets the example for this entire nation,” he told the committee. “And we have an opportunity to do that.” Carroll’s bill has drawn praise from advocates for business and children. His measure, dubbed the Horizons Act, would include state support for childcare centers and families struggling to afford childcare. It would create funds meant to help increase the availability of early childhood education services and to foster innovations in early childhood education. As part of the initiative, the state community and technical college system would offer an associate degree in early childhood education entrepreneurship, to prepare more people to operate childcare centers. Carroll’s early childhood proposal stands in contrast to one championed by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear. The governor has proposed providing preschool for every 4-year-old in Kentucky. His budget plan included $172 million each year of the two-year budget to accomplish that. The program would extend preschool education to an estimated 34,000 additional 4-year-olds, freeing up space for more younger children in childcare centers, he said. His proposals have made no headway in the GOP-dominated legislature. On Tuesday, state Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander, a key member of Beshear’s administration, touted the governor’s universal pre-K plan at the committee hearing while also praising lawmakers for focusing on the issue of early childhood education. “Investing in these kids is exactly what we should be doing as a commonwealth,” he said.
Republican party infighting escalates in Ohio as March primary nears
Despite wielding power in both chambers of the state Legislature, Ohio’s Republican lawmakers are far from coasting through this election season as incumbents face challengers from their own party in the midst of a bitter GOP power struggle. Next month’s primary will likely be used to further wage the infighting that’s been steady in the state House since 2023, when a contentious House speaker race split the lower chamber’s Republicans. Even though GOP lawmakers hold supermajorities in both chambers, the Legislature succeeded in setting a record last year for the lowest number of bills passed since the 1950s. Democrats are deciding a few contested primaries themselves, but even newly drawn Statehouse maps backed by both parties make it all but impossible for them to gain the majority in 2024. OHIO’S MARCH 19 PRIMARY: EARLY VOTING BEGINS WEDNESDAY, REGISTRATION CLOSING TUESDAY All 99 seats in the Ohio House are up for grabs this year, as are 16 of the 33 seats in the Senate. GOP House Speaker Jason Stephens won the speakership with the vote of 32 Democrats and 21 state House Republicans in January 2023. Nearly half of those Republicans are facing opponents in the primary March 19. The rival camp, which supported Rep. Derek Merrin, a Monclova Republican, for speaker, dubbed those Republicans and Stephens, who voted for himself, the “Blue 22.” Those 22 have since been censured by the Ohio Republican Party, and the Merrin contingent has been drumming up support for their challengers. As the House leader, Stephens has power over what legislation comes before the full chamber. He also controls over $3 million in campaign funds for his caucus through the Ohio House Republican Alliance. Merrin and his supporters are trying to change that via an ongoing lawsuit that would wrest that control away. And while Merrin is term-limited and Stephens is unopposed in the primary, the current speaker still has a fight ahead of him. Current Senate President Matt Huffman, who is also term-limited, is running for the House and does not face a primary opponent. Huffman has openly touted his desire to be speaker if elected, which is likely given the red nature of his Allen County district. The Lima Republican has also donated to the Merrin camp incumbents, and some of Huffman’s fellow conservative senators have publicly endorsed several of Stephens’ supporters’ challengers. If the number of Stephens’ supporters dwindle, he could fail to keep the coveted speaker role. For now, Stephens is sitting comfortably on the alliance’s millions and nearly $760,000 in his personal campaign account. Huffman’s account stands at nearly $713,000. Hamilton County Republican Rep. Bill Seitz decided not to seek reelection after a decades-long career in the Legislature. Vying for his seat are Democrats Stefanie Hawk and Daniel Voynovich, and lone Republican Mike Odioso — all from Cincinnati. Former GOP Rep. Bob Young’s Summit County seat is also wide open following his resignation from the House last summer after he was found guilty of domestic violence against his wife in October of last year. Jack Daniels, a Republican from Akron, and Mary Stormer, a Republican from New Franklin, will face off for the GOP nominations. Jim Colopy, of Akron, is the only Democrat running for the seat. Incumbent Rep. Elliot Forhan is currently under investigation for alleged violent and erratic behavior toward lawmakers, statehouse staff and constituents. He failed to win the endorsement of Cuyahoga County’s Democratic party and has faced criticism from his community. Forhan is widely expected not to win his district’s primary and is facing several challengers, including Cleveland-area Democrats Angel Washington and Eric Synenberg. Republican Joshua Malovasic is also running. Rep. Dave Dobos, a Columbus-area conservative, announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection. Dobos came under fire when it was revealed that he had never graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as he’s claimed for decades and failed to disclose over $1 million in debt as part of a business dispute back in 2014. GOP SENATE CANDIDATE IN BATTLEGROUND STATE RAILS AGAINST VULNERABLE DEM INCUMBENT: ‘OUT OF TOUCH’ Three Democrats are vying for Dobos’ seat: Ahmet Ali and Mark Sigrist, both of Grove City, and Sarah Pomeroy, of Columbus. Two Republicans, Shafi Ahmed, of Columbus, and Brian Garvine, of Grove City, are also on the primary ballot. While the House is boasting some of the more closely watched races this year, one district in the Senate has some eyes turned to it, as it could give the minority Democrats another seat. The Dayton-area district is now leaning more blue than previous years after the bipartisan redrawing of Statehouse maps, setting up a more exciting Democratic primary fight. The incumbent, Republican Sen. Niraj Antani, is not seeking reelection and is instead running for Congress. Looking to fill the seat are Democrats Jyl Hall, of Kettering, and Jocelyn Rhynard, of Dayton, as well as current Rep. Willis Blackshear, also of Dayton. The one Republican on the primary ballot is Charlotte McGuire.
Why has the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that embryos are ‘children’?
The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a decision that has drawn criticism from the White House and the top US infertility association. Here is more about last week’s ruling and its implications for fertility treatment in Alabama. What has the Alabama court ruled about embryos? Three couples filed a lawsuit against a fertility clinic after their frozen embryos for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) were destroyed. The embryos, stored in a cryogenic nursery, were destroyed by a patient who wandered into the nursery and accidentally dropped several of them on the floor. A lower court ruled the embryos could not be defined as people or children and dismissed the wrongful death claim. However, in a 7-2 ruling, the all-Republican Alabama Supreme Court disagreed. Citing Bible verses and an 1872 state law called the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act, Justice Jay Mitchell declared parents may sue over the death of a child regardless of whether the child is born or unborn. Mitchell said the court had previously ruled that fetuses killed while a woman is pregnant are covered under the same act and nothing excludes “extrauterine children from the act’s coverage”. What are frozen embryos? IVF is an assisted reproduction method in which eggs are removed from the ovaries and fertilised with sperm outside the body. The resulting embryos can be frozen through a process called cryopreservation and then saved for later use. The embryos can be placed in a woman’s uterus to cause pregnancy. This treatment method is used by couples who have been unable to conceive due to health issues in either the male or female partner. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution says a person is a citizen when they are born. This implies an unborn fetus does not have the same rights as a citizen. In the 1970s, lawyers representing Texas in the landmark Roe v Wade abortion case before the US Supreme Court argued that a fetus is a person, entitled to the rights detailed under the 14th Amendment. In 1973, the court ruled that Texas was wrong and the constitution protected a right to abortion. However, when Roe v Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022, many states quickly introduced laws to ban abortion. Not all these abortion laws establish fetal personhood or the idea that fetuses have the same rights as fully developed, born children. Many also do not specify if an embryo, which does not develop into a fetus until the end of the 10th week of pregnancy, is included in this. Now, it seems, Alabama has decided it should be. What are critics of the ruling saying? The Alabama ruling is “a cause of great concern for anyone that cares about people’s reproductive rights and abortion care”, said Dana Sussman, deputy executive director of Pregnancy Justice, an advocacy organisation for reproductive rights. She called the decision a “natural extension of the march toward fetal personhood”. The Medical Association of the State of Alabama warned in a brief to the court of the possible detrimental impact of the ruling on IVF treatment in Alabama. The ruling could possibly substantially increase the costs associated with IVF, it explained. The fear of being sued may result in Alabama’s fertility clinics closing and fertility specialists moving to other states, potentially making fertility treatments such as IVF inaccessible to people in Alabama. Could this ruling have an impact on reproductive healthcare in Alabama? The ruling could potentially impact fertility treatments and the freezing of embryos, which had previously been considered property by the courts. “This ruling is stating that a fertilised egg, which is a clump of cells, is now a person. It really puts into question the practice of IVF,” Barbara Collura, CEO of Resolve: The National Infertility Association, told The Associated Press. In a statement, Resolve described the decision as a “terrifying development for the 1-in-6 people impacted by infertility” who could be helped by in vitro fertilisation. As an immediate result of the ruling, at least one Alabama fertility clinic has been instructed by their affiliated hospital to pause IVF treatment, according to Sean Tipton, a spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Dr Paula Amato, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said a decision to treat frozen fertilised eggs as the legal equivalent of a child or gestating fetus could limit the availability of modern health care. “No healthcare provider will be willing to provide treatments if those treatments may lead to civil or criminal charges,” Amato said. “Without IVF, I would have to probably go through several more miscarriages before I even had an option of having a baby that is my own,” said 26-year-old Gabby Goidel, who had been pursuing IVF treatment in Alabama. What is the ethical case? While some Americans believe that embryos are children, many researchers, scientists, doctors and academics do not agree. Ethics studies assert that what makes us human is our brain, which gives us consciousness. “The fertilised egg is a clump of cells with no brain,” wrote Michael S Gazzaniga, a cognitive neuroscience professor at Dartmouth College, in his book The Ethical Brain. Gazzaniga added that no sustainable or complex nervous system is in place until about six months of gestation. Jonathan Crane, a professor of bioethics and Jewish thought at the Center for Ethics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, said in an interview with an Ohio publication in 2018 that embryos are not equivalent to humans and can develop into fetuses only inside the uterus. How have reproductive healthcare laws affected other states? After Roe v Wade was overturned, 24 US states had enacted laws designed to ban all or nearly all abortions by January 2023. In North Dakota and Wisconsin, abortion is not available at all, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a global research organisation for reproductive rights. While the overturning of Roe v Wade brought a storm of abortion bans across the US, it
Israeli parliament backs Netanyahu’s rejection of a Palestinian state
Lawmakers vote to support PM’s rejection of any ‘unilateral’ recognition of a Palestinian state. Israeli lawmakers have voted to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of any “unilateral” recognition of a Palestinian state as international calls have grown for the revival of Palestinian statehood negotiations. Wednesday’s symbolic declaration, issued during Israel’s war on Gaza, also received backing from members of the opposition with 99 of 120 lawmakers voting in support, a Knesset spokesperson said. The Israeli position is that any permanent accord with the Palestinians must be reached through direct negotiations between the two sides and not by international dictates. That is despite Netanyahu openly stating his opposition to a Palestinian state, and presenting himself to the Israeli public as a bulwark against any such state. No talks on Palestinian statehood talks have been held since 2014, when Israel refused to accept a state encompassing all of the Palestinian territory illegally occupied by Israel. “The Knesset came together in an overwhelming majority against the attempt to impose on us the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would not only fail to bring peace but would endanger the state of Israel,” Netanyahu said. The vote was condemned by the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, which accused Israel of holding the rights of the Palestinian people hostage by occupation of territories where Palestinians seek to establish a state. “The ministry reaffirms that the State of Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations and its recognition by other nations does not require permission from Netanyahu,” it said in a statement. Willem Marx, reporting from occupied East Jerusalem, said that over the past few weeks, there have been calls from senior figures worldwide for Palestinian statehood to be recognised as part of any long-term agreement to bring the current bloodshed to an end. “What we saw just a few days ago from Israel’s cabinet was a vote that was symbolic, saying that they would reject the establishment, the recognition of a Palestinian state if it was forced upon Israel from outside of Israel,” Marx said, referring to the international pressure on Israel to end its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory and agree to a two-state solution. “In terms of the symbolism [regarding Wednesday’s parliamentary vote], this was designed as a message from Netanyahu, as he made clear, to send to the world that Israelis are united on this specific issue of Palestinian statehood being imposed upon them by external powers.” Little progress has been made towards achieving a two-state solution – establishing a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza alongside Israel – since the signing of the interim Oslo Accords in the early 1990s. Among the obstacles impeding Palestinian statehood are expanding illegal Israeli settlements in territories Israel captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The settlements, which in many areas cut Palestinian communities off from each other, are regarded as a violation of international law. The two-state solution has long been a core Western policy in the region. Since the outbreak in October of the latest Gaza war, the United States has been trying to promote steps towards the creation of a Palestinian state as part of a broader Middle East deal that would include Saudi Arabia and other Arab states officially normalising relations with Israel. However, many critics point out that Israel’s actions towards Palestinians – most notably the expansion of the settlements – has made any prospect of a sovereign Palestinian state impossible and a one-state future, whether that be a continuation of the occupation or a state with equal rights for all, more of a reality. Adblock test (Why?)
Haley’s campaign a giant step for GOP women, but bigger still for Trump
With polls showing Nikki Haley trailing Donald Trump by a wide margin heading into this weekend’s South Carolina Republican primary, many political analysts characterise the vote as Haley’s last stand in her quixotic bid to win the party’s 2024 presidential nomination. Regardless of the result, however, scholars have said that Haley’s campaign is a historic one. By outdistancing a field dominated by men to effectively challenge the immensely popular Trump, she has moved women one step closer to political parity in electoral politics. Polls indicate that Trump is leading Haley by as many as 36 percentage points heading into Saturday’s South Carolina primary, even though Haley is a native and former governor of the Palmetto State. And while winning the South Carolina primary would open the door for Trump to capture the party’s nomination outright when 15 states hold their primaries simultaneously next month, Haley’s campaign has, at least in theory, charted a path to remain in the race until Super Tuesday, which could give the former United Nations ambassador an advantage in the 2028 presidential ballot. Haley, for her part, has pledged to remain in the race despite the odds. Speaking at her alma mater, Clemson University, on Tuesday, she said, “Some of you — perhaps a few of you in the media — came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race,” she said. “Well, I’m not. Far from it.” Haley’s emergence as the last woman standing in what was a crowded race stands in stark contrast to candidates like former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and ex-Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who styled themselves as “anti-Trump” candidates. Conversely, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis hewed close to Trump in both style and substance before dropping out in January, after failing to distinguish himself from the frontrunner and presumptive nominee. Haley, on the other hand, has staked out a middle ground, portraying herself as a would-be “accountant” in the White House, and consequently a calming alternative to Trump’s four years of “chaos”. Initially circumspect in her criticism, Haley has turned up the heat as the GOP field has narrowed, attacking Trump’s efforts to insert loyalists in the Republican National Convention, highlighting his rising stack of legal troubles, and taking more direct aim at Trump’s “insecurity” and temper tantrums. Her policy proposals, however, are not substantively different from her former boss, and as recently as this month, Haley told reporters in South Carolina that her campaign is not an “anti-Trump movement”, according to the Washington Post. Part of Haley’s strategy is to walk a tightrope when it comes to addressing her gender and Indian ancestry in a modern Republican party that is slow to change, Kelly Dittmar, director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, told Al Jazeera. For instance, Dittmar said that Haley has, in many ways, leaned into her role as the rare woman in a Republican presidential race, but she has not necessarily portrayed gender as a “point of merit”, underscoring the conservative “idea that somehow hearing about gender and racial identity is anti-meritocratic … and [Republicans] don’t play into identity politics.” “If you go back to Hillary Clinton in 2016, she used to say, ‘I’m not asking you to vote for me because I’m a woman, I’m asking you to vote for me on the merits. But one of those merits is I’m a woman,’” Dittmar said. In contrast, Haley has used gendered imagery to boost “masculine credentials” and an image of male toughness that still resonates in the party, repeatedly referring to her high-heeled shoes as “ammunition”. In the advertisement launching her campaign, she proclaimed, “When you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.” Moreover, on the issue of race, Haley has tacked to the right, consistent with Trump’s own views, sparking controversy by failing to cite slavery as a reason for the US Civil War. And she has repeated a regular Republican line, most recently in an interview in late January. “I don’t think America’s racist,” she said. “I think we have racism in America.” A historical benchmark In turn, Trump’s attacks on Haley suggest that there remains a tolerance – if not appetite – for racism and sexism among his supporters, Dittmar said. In January, Trump referred to Haley as “birdbrained” and “not presidential timber”. Trump has amplified the conspiracy that Haley, who is of Indian descent, was not born in the US, redolent of a tactic known as “birtherism” which he championed during Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, falsely alleging that the nation’s first African American president was born in Kenya, and was therefore ineligible to run for president. The former president has also referred to Haley as “Nimbra”, an apparent debasement of her first name, Nimarata (Nikki, the name she uses, is her middle name). Many have said that Trump’s remarks are hardly surprising for a candidate who had previously bragged about sexually assaulting women, derided his 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton as a “nasty woman” who did not look presidential and suggested in 2015 that a female debate moderator had “blood coming out of her whatever”. While such attacks have come to be seen as part and parcel of a Trump campaign, Dittmar noted that studies have regularly indicated high measures of “hostile sexism” and “racial resentment” among his supporters. “It is not surprising that Trump would use sexist or racist language or strategies, because that’s actually been beneficial for him to mobilise a lot of these voters,” Dittmar told Al Jazeera. “[Nikki Haley] brings that out, but perhaps to his advantage, at least among his base”. Haley has fought back, launching the National Women for Nikki Coalition, a 50-state effort that many see as a last-ditch effort to energise the voting bloc. And while it may ultimately be a matter of too little, too late, Haley’s staying power in the race represents a historical benchmark for a political party that has traditionally been dominated by white men. And