US imposes sanctions on four Israeli settlers over West Bank violence
Washington, DC – The United States has imposed sanctions on several Israeli settlers for attacking Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, accusing them of undermining stability and security in Israel and the Palestinian territories. The announcement on Thursday comes amid increasing pressure on President Joe Biden over his unwavering support for Israel’s war on Gaza as he campaigns for re-election in November. The sanctions target David Chai Chasdai, Einan Tanjil and Yinon Levi, who are accused of assaulting and intimidating Palestinians. They also target Shalom Zickerman, who is accused of assaulting Israeli activists. The sanctions will freeze the individuals’ assets in the US and restrict financial dealings with them. Earlier, Axios reported that the Biden administration had considered sanctioning ultranationalist government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, but decided against the move. “There are no plans to target with sanctions Israeli government officials at this time,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Thursday, adding that the US informed the Israeli government before announcing the sanctions. The White House also announced a new decree to penalise perpetrators of “extremist settler violence” in the West Bank. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement that settler violence “poses a grave threat to peace, security, and stability in the West Bank, Israel, and the Middle East region, and threatens the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States”. The executive order coincides with Biden’s visit on Thursday to Michigan, a Midwestern swing state that is home to a large Arab American community. Netanyahu responds Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to reject the US move, saying that the overwhelming majority of West Bank settlers are “law-abiding citizens”. “Israel acts against all Israelis who break the law, everywhere; therefore, exceptional measures are unnecessary,” his office said in a statement. Reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford cited Palestinians as saying that Israeli authorities do not hold settlers accountable for attacks. “In many, many incidents, we see settlers acting with either the tacit support or the actual physical support of the Israeli military in these attacks,” Stratford said. The announcement comes as the Biden administration continues to work to secure $14bn in additional aid to the Israeli government, whose forces often accompany and protect settlers during their attacks on Palestinians. Israeli authorities rarely prosecute suspects in violence against Palestinians. Last month, Israeli settlers and an off-duty police officer fatally shot 17-year-old Palestinian American Tawfiq Ajaq in the West Bank, according to his family. The Biden administration has called for an investigation into the case, but Israeli authorities have not made any arrests in the killing of the US teenager. Raids by Israeli settlers and soldiers against West Bank towns and villages have increased since the outbreak of the war on Gaza on October 7, killing hundreds of Palestinians. “This [executive order] will allow the United States to issue financial sanctions against those directing or participating in certain actions, including acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidating civilians to cause them to leave their homes, destroying or seizing property, or engaging in terrorist activity in the West Bank,” Sullivan said. In the same statement, the US national security adviser emphasised Washington’s support for what he called “Israel’s right to defend itself”. Despite growing calls for a ceasefire globally, and mounting evidence of Israeli abuses, the Biden administration has pushed on with its support for the war on Gaza, arguing that Hamas must be eliminated. Washington says it has been in discussions with Israel to minimise civilian casualties and allow more aid into Gaza. But Biden has so far resisted calls to use his administration’s assistance to Israel as leverage to pressure the US ally to end rights violations against Palestinians. Israeli leaders – including Netanyahu – have been openly defying the Biden administration in their vocal rejection of the establishment of a Palestinian state. “Good that Biden will impose targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians,” human rights advocate Kenneth Roth wrote in a social media post. “Now how about conditioning [or stopping] military aid and arms sales to Israel until it stops bombing and besieging Palestinian civilians in Gaza.” CAIR urges targeting Israeli officials The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an advocacy group, also played down the significance of the sanctions, saying that Biden should penalise Israeli officials responsible for settler violence and end US support for the war on Gaza. “It makes no sense for the Biden administration to oppose killing Palestinian civilians in the West Bank while enabling the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza,” CAIR said in a statement. For his part, Abed Ayoub, executive director at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), called the sanctions “empty”, saying that they are far from groundbreaking. Ayoub said the White House sees the sanctions as a “safe way” to appeal to some voters who are angry over Biden’s backing for the war on Gaza. “That’s the intent of all of this. That’s why it was released today during Biden’s trip to Michigan,” Ayoub told Al Jazeera. He added that targeting a few individual settlers risks normalising the broader settlement movement and called for stricter measures to ensure accountability. “We know that many of these settlers are American. Open those settlers up the civil and criminal liability in the US,” he said. Adblock test (Why?)
Oregon Supreme Court stops 10 GOP lawmakers from running for re-election, siding with Democrat’s ballot ban
The Oregon Supreme Court decided on Thursday that 10 Republican state senators who participated in a record-long boycott last summer to block bills extending access to abortion for minors, transgender procedures and medical intervention, as well as another measure on ghost guns, cannot seek re-election this year. The Oregon Senate Republican Caucus charged that the “Democrat-stacked supreme court sides with Democrats and union cronies on Measure 113 despite plain language of Constitution.” The caucus stressed that the state high court’s decision is “effectively ending the service of 10 Republican senators, who represent one-third of the Oregon Senate.” The ruling upholds Democratic Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade’s announcement last August to disqualify the 10 lawmakers from the ballot under a measure aimed at stopping such boycotts. Measure 113, passed by voters in 2022, amended the state constitution to bar lawmakers from re-election if they have more than 10 unexcused absences. Last year’s boycott lasted six weeks – the longest in state history – and stalled hundreds of bills. Five lawmakers sued over the secretary of state’s decision – Sens. Tim Knopp, Daniel Bonham, Suzanne Weber, Dennis Linthicum and Lynn Findley. They were among the 10 GOP senators who racked up more than 10 absences. IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE INTRODUCES BILL THAT COULD LIMIT 14TH AMENDMENT BALLOT CHALLENGES AGAINST TRUMP “We obviously disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling. But more importantly, we are deeply disturbed by the chilling impact this decision will have to crush dissent,” Senate Republican Leader Knopp said Thursday. “I’m disappointed but can’t say I’m surprised that a court of judges appointed solely by Gov. [Kate] Brown and Gov. [Tina] Kotek would rule in favor of political rhetoric rather than their own precedent. The only winners in this case are Democrat politicians and their union backers,” Weber added. “Every legal mind I’ve heard from, regardless of political leanings, has affirmed that when there is only one interpretation for the plain language of the law, that is final,” Bonham added. “The language incorporated into the Oregon Constitution was clear and yet the Supreme Court ruled that voter intent, which cannot be determined by any metric, supersedes the Constitution. There is no justice in a political court.” In deciding to remove the GOP lawmakers from the ballot, Griffin-Valade had directed her office’s elections division to implement an administrative rule based on her stance. During oral arguments before the Oregon Supreme Court in December, attorneys for the senators and the state wrestled over the grammar and syntax of the language that was added to the state constitution after Measure 113 was approved by voters. The amendment says a lawmaker is not allowed to run “for the term following the election after the member’s current term is completed.” The senators claimed the amendment meant they could seek another term, since a senator’s term ends in January while elections are held the previous November. They argue the penalty doesn’t take effect immediately, but rather, after they’ve served another term. The two sides also wrestled with the slight differences in wording that appeared on the actual ballot that voters filled out and the text of the measure as included in the voters’ pamphlet. The ballot said the result of a vote in favor of the measure would disqualify legislators with 10 or more unexcused absences from holding office for the “term following current term of office.” It did not include the word “election,” as the text of the measure that appeared in the pamphlet did. What appeared in the pamphlet was ultimately added to the state constitution. GOP LAWMAKERS BARRED FROM RE-ELECTION IN OREGON AFTER 6-WEEK WALKOUT, STATE SECRETARY SAYS The state argued that in casting a “yes” vote in support of the measure, voters intended that legislators with that many absences be barred from running after their current term is up. All parties in the suit had sought clarity on the issue before the March 2024 filing deadline for candidates who want to run in this year’s election. Oregon voters approved Measure 113 by a wide margin following Republican walkouts in the Legislature in 2019, 2020 and 2021, according to the Associated Press. The 2023 walkout, which paralyzed the Legislature for weeks in preventing the state Senate from reaching a two-thirds quorum, ended after concessions from Democrats on a sweeping bill related to expanding access to abortion for minors and transgender procedures and medical intervention that Republicans had deemed too extreme and an affront to parental rights. The initial measure would have allowed doctors to provide abortions regardless of a patient’s age, with medical providers not required to notify the parents of a minor in certain cases. As part of the deal to end the walkout, Democrats agreed to change language concerning parental notifications for abortion. Under the compromise, if an abortion provider believes notifying the parents of a patient under 15 years old would not be in that patient’s best interest, the physician would not have to notify the parents – but would need another provider to concur. However, no second opinion would be needed if involving a parent or guardian would lead to the abuse or neglect of the patient. Democrats said the measure will still ensure abortion access and protect caregivers from measures restricting abortion or sex reassignment procedures passed by other states. It will also require that health insurance covers “medically necessary” sex reassignment procedures for treating gender dysphoria. Democrats also agreed to drop several amendments to a bill that would punish the manufacture or transfer of undetectable firearms. The now-removed clauses would have increased the purchasing age from 18 to 21 for semiautomatic rifles and placed more limits on concealed carry. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
ATF whistleblowers sound alarm on Biden admin proposal that effectively bans private gun sales: report
Whistleblowers at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are sounding the alarm on a reported 1,300-page draft document that allegedly justifies a proposed rule that would effectively ban private gun sales, according to a watchdog group. “The fact that inside ATF sources are blowing the whistle on this draft rule is an indication of what a difficult position it would put the ATF in. ATF agents did not sign up to go after law-abiding citizens for private sales protected under the Second Amendment of the Constitution,” Tristan Leavitt, president of watchdog group Empower Oversight, said in a press release Wednesday. The group sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and ATF Director Steven M. Dettelbach on Wednesday morning to demand answers and documents about whistleblower claims that the agency is preparing to propose a rule requiring background checks for most, or even all, gun sales. The letter details that the group learned through “two sources in the ATF that at the direction of the White House, the ATF has drafted a 1,300-page document in support of a rule that would effectively ban private sales of firearms from one citizen to another by requiring background checks for every sale.” NRA TORCHES BIDEN ADMIN FOR PLAN TO CHANGE RULES FOR GUN BUYERS, SELLERS The letter comes after the Biden administration advocated for stricter gun control, including in August when the ATF introduced ATF2022R-17. Otherwise, known as “Definition of ‘Engaged in the Business’ as a Dealer in Firearms,” that proposed rule would amend the agency’s regulations and incorporate provisions of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, a gun control law signed by President Biden in 2022. BIDEN VOWS TO BAN ASSAULT WEAPONS ‘COME HELL OR HIGH WATER’ The watchdog reported that the current draft document is reportedly being overseen by Senior Policy Counsel Eric Epstein, who previously worked as the Phoenix field office’s division counsel in a precursor operation to “Fast and Furious.” “Such an expansive rule that treats all private citizens the same as federal firearms licensees would circumvent the separation of powers in the Constitution, which grants ‘all legislative Powers’ to Congress while requiring that the President ‘take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.’ To the extent such a rule prevents the private sale of firearms, it would also clearly violate the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which declares that “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,’” Leavitt wrote. BIDEN’S PROPOSED BUDGET WOULD THROW BILLIONS AT ATF AMID CONTROVERSIAL NEW GUN OWNERSHIP RULES Peter J. Forcelli, retired deputy assistant director of the ATF, told Fox News that he doesn’t necessarily disagree with a rule requiring Americans to go through the federal firearms license process to sell a gun to a family member or friend, but he also noted that “the reality is bad guys still get guns.” “People will now have … an additional step and utilize a licensed gun dealer to make those transactions if this comes into play,” Forcelli told Fox News’ William La Jeunesse. “… We have a problem with violent crime in the country right now. We have a lot of individuals who are misusing firearms that are not being prosecuted. And I think that this director’s time would be better served by pressuring those United States attorney’s offices that aren’t doing their job to go out there and effectively prosecute cases involving violent criminals.” When asked for comment on the watchdog group’s letter, the ATF directed Fox News to information on the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. “The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), enacted June 25, 2022, amended the definition of engaging in the business of dealing in firearms to include all persons who devote time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular course of trade or business to predominantly earn a profit through the repetitive purchase and sale of firearms,” the ATF said in comment. BIDEN SIGNS GUN CONTROL BILL IN WAKE OF DEADLY MASS SHOOTINGS: ‘LIVES WILL BE SAVED’ “The proposed rule would amend the regulations applicable to the Gun Control Act by, among other things, conforming those regulations to the new BSCA definition and clarifying the conduct that presumptively requires a license under the amended definition,” the statement continued, adding that “unlicensed dealing undermines the public-safety measures required for” federal firearm licensees. The watchdog group’s letter is demanding records and communications about the plan, including from the White House and Epstein. “The lessons of the Ruby Ridge and Waco standoffs should make clear that attempting to enforce such an expansive regulation could endanger countless ATF field agents who are forced to serve as the face of the Biden Administration in going after private firearms owners for constitutionally-protected firearms sales,” the letter adds.
Redistricting reports due in case poised to reshape Wisconsin Legislature
Eagerly awaited redistricting reports that will recommend new maps expected to reshape the balance of power in the Wisconsin Legislature are due to the state Supreme Court on Thursday. The political stakes are huge in the battleground state where Republicans have had a firm grip on the Legislature since 2011 even as Democrats have won statewide elections, including for governor in 2018 and 2022. Four of the past six presidential victors in Wisconsin have been decided by less than a point. Under maps first enacted by Republicans in 2011, and then again in 2022 with few changes, the GOP has increased its hold on the Legislature, largely blocking major policy initiatives of Gov. Tony Evers and Democratic lawmakers for the past five years. DEMS TURN TO STATE COURTS AS POLITICAL ‘WEAPON’ AMID 2024’S GERRYMANDER BLITZ: EXPERTS The victory last year by a liberal candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court, who called the current Republican maps “rigged,” cleared the path for the court’s ruling in December that the maps are unconstitutional because districts are not contiguous as required by law. The court ordered new maps with contiguous district, but also said they must not favor one party over another. Republicans have indicated that they plan an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing due process violations, but it’s not clear when that would come. The consultants reviewed proposed maps submitted by Evers, fellow Democrats, Republicans, academics and others that would reduce the Republican majorities that sit at 64-35 in the Assembly and 22-10 in the Senate. The consultants on Thursday could recommend adopting one of those proposals, some variation of them, or completely different maps. It ultimately will be up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, with a 4-3 liberal majority, to decide which maps to enact. The state elections commission has said that must be done by March 15 to meet deadlines for candidates running in the fall. Evers on Tuesday vetoed a last-ditch effort by Republicans to enact new lines to avoid the court ordering maps. Republicans largely adopted the Evers maps but moved some lines to reduce the number of GOP incumbents who would have to face one another in the new districts. Evers rejected it, calling it another attempt by Republicans to gerrymander the districts in their favor. Under most of the newly proposed maps, Republicans would retain their majorities in the Legislature, but the margin would be significantly tightened, judging by an analysis by a Marquette University researcher. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has also been asked by Democrats to take up a challenge to the state’s congressional district lines. That lawsuit argues the court’s decision to order new state legislative maps opens the door to challenging the congressional map. Republicans hold five of the state’s eight congressional seats. The moves in Wisconsin come as litigation continues in more than dozen states over U.S. House and state legislative districts that were enacted after the 2020 census.
Large majority of illegal border crossings shift to Arizona and California, pivoting away from Texas
A large majority of illegal crossings at the southern border are now happening in Arizona and California, shifting away from Texas counties. Sources with U.S. Customs and Border Protection told Fox News that over the last week of January, Border Patrol apprehended 32,809 illegal immigrants. Per CBP sources, 23,576 of them – 71.8% – were in Arizona and California. Notably, the numbers in Texas’ Del Rio sector, which includes Eagle Pass, have fallen off a cliff. In December, the sector saw days of 3,000-4,000 illegal crossings per day. Over the last week, it has averaged around just 200. The shift could be attributed to two reasons. MAYORKAS, BLINKEN TO MEET WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT TO TALK MIGRANT CRISIS AMID MASSIVE NUMBERS, NEW CARAVAN Texas has locked things down on their side of the border, and Mexico has increased enforcement against migrants arriving in the Mexican state of Coahuila following Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Mexico in December. Mexico is now suddenly stopping migrants from boarding trains, and is removing migrants from their northern border down to their southern border following that meeting. And the migrants who do cross there now find a very unwelcoming posture from the state of Texas with legions of soldiers, troopers and razor wire, as well as the threat of arrest. It is unknown what the U.S. offered Mexico in return for this cooperation. According to the State Department, Blinken joined Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and White House Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall at a meeting in Mexico City with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to “discuss unprecedented irregular migration in the Western Hemisphere and identify ways Mexico and the United States will address border security challenges, including actions to enable the reopening of key ports of entry across our shared border.” SUPREME COURT SIDES WITH BIDEN IN TEXAS BORDER RAZOR WIRE CASE; BORDER PATROL UNION BLASTS DECISION Blinken, according to the State Department readout, was to “reaffirm the United States’ commitment to the Los Angeles Declaration for Migration and Protection, and underscore the urgent need for lawful pathways and additional enforcement actions by partners throughout the region.” However, the Mexican government enforcement has not happened in other areas of the border, and Border Patrol’s San Diego sector and Tucson, Arizona, sector are now seeing the most activity. For instance, on Wednesday, CBP sources told Fox News there were 5,240 Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal immigrants at the southern border. The sources said 3,854 of them – 73.5% – were in Arizona and California for that day. The sources said none of the figures include CBP ports of entry/CBP One App or gotaways. The numbers represent only recorded Border Patrol apprehensions. Border security has taken center stage in numerous states and in Congress, where Republicans are conditioning aid to Ukraine on a border security deal, and pushing to impeach Mayorkas. President Biden has said that he would shut down the border if given the emergency authority to do so as part of a deal, but Republicans say the president already has the power to do it. The Biden administration was handed a win by the Supreme Court last week in a decision allowing Border Patrol agents to cut concertina razor-wire that Texas had installed along the border near Eagle Pass while litigation continues. Part of the escalating standoff between the Biden administration and Texas over immigration enforcement, the Texas Military Department last month seized control of a city-owned Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, which had become one of the busiest spots for illegal crossings, and wouldn’t let federal agents enter. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem offered to send personnel and other support to bolster Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s security efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Biden sanctions Israeli settlers in West Bank after shooting of US teen
President Biden imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank on Thursday after a 17-year-old American citizen was shot and killed there last month. A White House announcement of the executive order states that “extremist settler violence” reached record levels in the West Bank in 2023. The sanctions will ban dozens of settlers and their families from traveling to or conducting business in the U.S. The order specifically applies to settlers who make “acts or threats of violence against civilians, intimidate civilians to cause them to leave their homes, destroy or seize property, or engage in terrorist activity in the West Bank.” The move comes after 17-year-old Abdel Jabbar, a U.S. citizen, was allegedly shot and killed by an Israeli settler while visiting the West Bank last month. Jabbar’s family says he was visiting the area in order to learn more about his Palestinian heritage. TRUMP ADMIN CUT FUNDING TO UN AGENCY NOW ACCUSED OF PARTICIPATING IN HAMAS ATTACK ‘FOR REASON’: REP. MCCAUL Jabbar was killed while driving a vehicle with his friend, 16-year-old Mohammed Salameh. At least 10 shots were fired through the rear of the vehicle, striking Jabbar and causing the vehicle to flip over. Salameh survived and claims the shooting was unprovoked. Israeli police said the shooting targeted people “purportedly engaged in rock-throwing activities along Highway 60.” Police have not identified the shooter, but said the incident involved an off-duty police officer, a soldier and a civilian. Jabbar’s father rejected claims that his son was throwing rocks toward the road, but added that even if he was, “So what?” “If they were throwing rocks 150 meters to the street, what is it going to do to a tank? Or to a jeep? Or to a car full of soldiers? You’re gonna shoot the car 10 times because a guy threw a rock?” the father, Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, told NBC News. The State Department imposed other visa restrictions on West Bank settlers in December. Biden’s administration has leaned heavily on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to crack down on the group. UN CALLS ON COUNTRIES TO RESUME UNRWA FUNDING DESPITE REPORT EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATED IN OCT 7 MASSACRE “The United States has consistently opposed actions that undermine stability in the West Bank, including attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians, and Palestinian attacks against Israelis,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement. “We have underscored to the Israeli government the need to do more to hold accountable extremist settlers who have committed violent attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank. As President Biden has repeatedly said, those attacks are unacceptable,” he added. One member of Netanyahu’s government responded to Biden’s move with derision on Thursday. Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Smotrich claimed that accusations of violence by settlers was an “antisemitic lie.” AUSTRIA SUSPENDS PAYMENTS TO UNRWA AMID ISRAELI ALLEGATIONS UN WORKERS HELPED, CELEBRATED HAMAS Smotrich vowed to continue pushing settlements in the West Bank, adding “if the price is the imposition of American sanctions on me – so be it.” Israeli Defense Secretary Yoav Gallant announced that the country’s military would ban the reconstruction of Israeli settlements in Gaza following the war. A few Israeli politicians had called for the settlements to be rebuilt after they were originally dismantled when Israel ceded the territory in 2005.
Pepper spray used on Kentucky juveniles nearly 74 times more than in adult federal prisons, report finds
Kentucky’s juvenile justice system has lingering problems with the use of force and isolation techniques and has done little to implement a 2017 state audit’s suggestions for improvement, according to a report released Wednesday. The new report from Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball says the state’s juvenile detention centers lack clear policies concerning the use of isolation cells, Tasers and pepper spray, and have significant staffing problems. It also found that Department of Juvenile Justice staffers were using pepper spray at a rate nearly 74 times higher than it is used in adult federal prisons. A federal lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges that two teen girls were kept in isolation cells for weeks in unsanitary conditions at a youth facility in Adair County in 2022. That same year, the detention center was the site of a riot that began when a juvenile assaulted a staff member. Another federal lawsuit was filed this week by a woman who said that as a 17-year-old, she spent a month in an isolation cell at the Adair facility in 2022. KENTUCKY KIDS COULD SOON FACE CLASSROOM CELL PHONE BAN THANKS TO ‘COMMON SENSE’ BILL: ‘GET DISTRACTIONS OUT’ The auditor’s review was requested last year by state lawmakers. “The state of the Department of Juvenile Justice has been a concern across the Commonwealth and a legislative priority over the past several years,” Ball said in a statement Wednesday. Ball blamed Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration for “disorganization across facilities, and as a result, the unacceptably poor treatment of Kentucky youth.” Beshear earlier this month criticized a Kentucky House budget proposal for lacking funding for new female-only juvenile justice centers. The auditor’s report, labeled a “performance assessment,” found that the Juvenile Justice department’s “practices for isolation are inconsistently defined, applied and in conflict with nationally-recognized best practices.” The department’s use of force policies are also “poorly deployed and defined,” it said. The report said the findings from the 2017 audit have largely not been addressed, including concerns of overuse of solitary confinement, low medical care standards and the poor quality of the policy manual. Beshear initiated a new state policy for juvenile offenders last year that places male juveniles charged with serious crimes in a high-security facility. The policy replaced a decades-old regional system that put juveniles in facilities based on where they live.
Nikki Haley says Texas can secede from the United States: ‘that’s their decision to make’
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley stumbled through a question about whether the state of Texas has a right to secede from the United States, and she claimed that it is “their decision to make.” During an interview on “The Breakfast Club” podcast, Charlamagne tha God asked the 2024 presidential hopeful if she would “use force against Texas if they would try to secede from the Union over the border issue?” Charlamagne referenced a 2010 interview with Haley saying the U.S. Constitution allows for states to secede. “I believe in states’ rights. I believe that everything should be as close to the people to decide,” Haley said, adding that she supported Gov. Greg Abbott’s razor wire fencing measure to protect his state amid the growing border crisis. When pressed about the issue of secession, Haley said that, “If Texas decides they want to do that, they can do that. If that whole state says we don’t want to be part of America anymore. I mean, that’s their decision to make.” TEXAS GOVERNOR DOING ‘EXACTLY RIGHT THING’ AMID CONSTITUTIONAL BATTLE OVER BORDER ENFORCEMENT: LEGAL EXPERTS “I don’t think government needs to tell people how to live, how to do anything. I mean, I think that we need to let freedom live,” Haley added. “I think you know, states are going to make decisions, but let’s talk about what’s reality. Texas isn’t going to…seceed. I mean, that’s not something that they’re going to do,” Haley said. Texas is currently in a standoff with the Biden administration over the state’s razor wire fence along Eagle Pass that has seen record migrant crossings in recent months. The Supreme Court ruled that, temporarily while the case continues in lower courts, the federal government can cut down the fence and Texas can keep building it. After the controversial 5-4 decision last week, rumors swirled about how tensions would escalate between the Lone Star state and the federal government. FLORIDA GOV. RON DESANTIS TO SEND HUNDREDS OF NATIONAL GUARD TROOPS TO ASSIST GOV. ABBOTT AT SOUTHERN BORDER Gov. Abbot said he would invoke Article 1, Section 10, which he says was “triggered” by Biden’s inaction at the border. That constitutional provision says, “No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.” However, the Constitution does not allow for any state to secede from the Union, even Texas. The Texas Tribune wrote, “Even before Texas formally rejoined the nation, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that secession had never been legal, and that, even during the rebellion, Texas continued to be a state.” When Texas rejoined the Union in 1845, its annexation resolution said that Texas could, in the future, choose to divide itself into “New States of convenient size not exceeding four in number, in addition to said State of Texas.” HOW NIKKI HALEY BURNED BRIDGES IN SOUTH CAROLINA–AND STILL PULLS PUNCHES AGAINST TRUMP However, the language of the resolution merely says that Texas could be split into five new states. It says nothing about splitting apart from the United States. Only Congress has the power to admit new states to the Union, which last occurred in 1959 with the admission of Alaska and Hawaii, the Tribune notes. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia put the issue to rest when he was asked by a screenwriter in 2006 whether there was a legal basis for secession. “The answer is clear,” Scalia wrote. “If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, ‘one Nation, indivisible.’)”
Indiana lawmakers forge ahead with plan to make child care more affordable
Indiana lawmakers’ plan to prioritize legislation that would make child care more available and affordable is largely on track as they near a key deadline in this year’s legislative session, though Democrats warn that financial support in the state’s next budget would be essential to meeting those goals. The Legislature would need to pass bills through at least one chamber by Tuesday to keep them alive for the session, but lawmakers often alter or add proposals to other legislation before the session ends in mid-March. Indiana is among a number of states proposing legislative solutions this year to tackle the availability and affordability of child care, with a few measures seeking to undo regulations and incentivize business clearing early deadlines in the Republican-controlled General Assembly. INDIANA COUNTY JUDGE STRIKES DOWN ‘UNCONSTITUTIONAL’ VOTING LAW IN FAVOR OF GOP SENATE HOPEFUL The average cost for child care in Indiana is $166 per week, according to Brighter Futures Indiana, a partnership between the state’s Family and Social Services Administration and the nonprofit Early Learning Indiana. The younger the child, the more expensive the care. Senate and House Republicans, and Gov. Eric Holcomb listed improving access and affordability as a top priority for this session. Senators approved an agenda item Tuesday with bipartisan support meant to address accessibility to care. The bill would expand eligibility to a child care subsidy program for employees of the field with kids of their own. Lawmakers in Colorado and Nebraska have introduced similar measures. In Nebraska, the state is looking to implement a program that would cover 100% of child care costs for professionals in the field. The Indiana bill would also lower the minimum age of child care workers to 18 and, in some instances, to 16. Child care organizations and other business groups support the proposal. Holcomb does as well, and has included parts of it in his own annual agenda. Supporters say the lack of affordable child care in Indiana keeps people out of all corners of the workforce. “It is an infrastructure issue for the state of Indiana,” Republican state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, who authored the bill, told lawmakers Tuesday. “It affects every aspect of our economy.” Although Democratic lawmakers supported the bill in its floor vote, they said attention must remain on the issue into next year, when the state creates a new budget. Another bill awaiting a Senate vote before Tuesday’s deadline would provide property tax exemptions in varying degree for for-profit centers and companies that establish on-site child care for their employees. US JUDGE ORDERS INDIANA TO STRIKE PROVISION FROM ‘DISCRIMINATORY’ DRIVER’S LICENSE LAW Across the Statehouse, lawmakers want to roll back some regulations on child care providers. A Republican-backed bill would make a facility license good for three years, up from two, and allow certain child care programs in schools to be exempt from licensure. It also would let child care centers in residential homes increase their hours and serve up to eight children, instead of six. The bill advanced to the Senate on Tuesday. State Rep. Vanessa Summers, a Democrat, said in a statement that she was “horrified” by the bill’s advancement. “Rolling back regulations is not the answer – making real investments in child care infrastructure is the answer,” Summers said. “I am extremely disappointed in this body’s willingness to put children in harm’s way.” Republican leaders have said undoing some operational requirements eases burdens on the businesses.
Biden repeats dubious claim about son’s death in call to fallen service member’s family: ‘The nerve’
President Biden repeated a dubious claim about the death of his son, Beau Biden, during a call with the parents of a U.S. service member who was recently killed in an attack on a base in Jordan near the border with Syria. While speaking on Tuesday to the parents of 24-year-old Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, who lost her life in an Iran-backed drone strike this month in northeast Jordan that killed three service members total and injured 25 others, Biden said he lost his son to the war in Iraq. During the call, which was first shared by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Biden told Shawn Sanders and Oneida Oliver-Sanders that their daughter was being posthumously promoted to sergeant. “Oh wow, that is the best news I’ve heard today, thank you so much,” Oliver-Sanders said as she and her husband were brought to tears. “You don’t know how much that means to us.” BIDEN DRAWS CRITICISM AS HE REPEATS FALSE CLAIM THAT SON BEAU DIED IN IRAQ: ‘CONTINUED MANGLING OF THE TRUTH’ “Oh, well, I tell you what, it means a lot to me,” Biden responded. “My son spent a year in Iraq; that’s how I lost him.” In contrast to his claims, Beau Biden died from glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer, in May 2015 at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. Beau served a tour in Iraq from 2008 to 2009. President Biden maintains that his son’s illness may have been caused by toxic burn pits in Iraq, but on several occasions, he spoke about his son dying in Iraq. “I lost my son — we lost our son in Iraq,” Biden claimed in June 2023 during a speech at Nash Community College in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Biden also made the same claim about his son’s death a month earlier, in May 2023, while speaking to Marines stationed in Japan. Biden made the same false claim about his son Beau in 2022, telling a crowd in Colorado that his son “lost his life in Iraq.” “I say this as a father of a man who won the Bronze Star, the Conspicuous Service Medal, and lost his life in Iraq,” Biden said during a speech near Vail, Colorado, at the time. CRITICS LASH OUT AT BIDEN AFTER ATTACK KILLS 3 US SERVICE MEMBERS IN JORDAN: ‘HIT IRAN NOW’ Biden also referenced his son in a 2019 speech. “[Because] of exposure to burn pits, in my view — I can’t prove it yet — he came back with stage four glioblastoma. Eighteen months he lived, knowing he was going to die.” Sanders was one of three U.S. service members who died during a Jan. 28 drone strike that targeted Army soldiers based in northern Jordan near the Syrian border at a base known as Tower 22, which has been in support of the counter-ISIS mission for year. The two other service members who lost their lives in the attack were 46-year-old Sergeant William Jerome Rivers, of Carrollton, Georgia, and 23-year-old Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, of Savannah, Georgia. The three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers were assigned to the 718th Engineer Company, 926th Engineer Battalion, 926th Engineer Brigade in Fort Moore, Georgia. Highlighting the president’s call with Sanders’ parents, Curtis Houck, the managing editor of NewsBusters for the Media Research Center, questioned “the nerve of” Biden to invoke the name and death of his son. “Of course Biden called one of the three families who lost their child in the Iran-backed drone attack annnnd he made it all about Beau, claiming he’s been in their exact same position,” Houck wrote in a post to X. “The nerve of this guy….” The White House said President Biden was briefed Sunday morning by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer about the attack, which marked a significant escalation as it’s the first time U.S. troops have been killed by enemy fire in the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began on Oct. 7. Biden promised on Sunday to “hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner [of] our choosing” but said the U.S. wasn’t seeking to get into another conflict in the Middle East. Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie Jeffrey Clark, Danielle Wallace, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.