Feds promise a fight for abortion rights

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed the state's controversial new election bill into law today, after months of battles with Democrats, who fled the state in an attempt to block the legislation. The Texas law is the latest—but surely not the last—restrictive new state bill to pass in the name of "election integrity," and it puts even greater pressure on Congress to push through its own legislation to provide greater federal protections to voters. So far, Democrats have met with unified resistance from Republicans that has stymied such efforts and led to calls for the Senate filibuster to be eliminated altogether, or to be narrowly suspended in order to allow votes on pending democracy bills to pass with a simple majority. What do you think? Are you in favor of filibuster reform or not? Why? Let us know ([link removed]) . Have a great week, everyone. —Melissa Amour, Managing Editor

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** Messing with Texas?
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said yesterday that the Department of Justice is "urgently" exploring ways to challenge Texas' strict new abortion law, but did not specify what options are being considered. The statement came days after the U.S. Supreme Court denied Texas abortion providers an emergency injunction against the law, which bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity can be detected, typically around six weeks into pregnancy. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the constitutionality of the law. ([link removed])
* — The Texas law allows private citizens to sue providers and others suspected of helping women get what are now illegal abortions. Signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott in May, it relies on private citizens to enforce it, thus skirting the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that has constitutionally protected abortion rights for nearly 50 years. ([link removed])
*
* — Garland says federal officials will protect those seeking to obtain or provide an abortion by relying on the decades-old Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. That federal law bans threats of force or physical obstruction against those pursuing such services. Garland said DOJ officials have contacted U.S. attorneys' offices and FBI field offices to "discuss our enforcement authorities." ([link removed])
*
* — Some abortion rights advocates worry that other state legislatures may follow in Texas' footsteps. Democrats have signaled a fight to come. President Biden denounced the Texas law last week, saying, "My administration is deeply committed to the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade nearly five decades ago and will protect and defend that right." Stay tuned. —The Texas Tribune ([link removed])

MORE: Republicans are not celebrating the Texas abortion law. Here's why —Newsweek ([link removed])


** 'I think they should take it very seriously'
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Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has serious concerns about the upcoming "Justice for J6" demonstration planned for Sept. 18 in Washington, D.C. Intelligence agencies have revealed that extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are planning to descend on the nation's capital for the far-right rally, and the city is bracing for a possible repeat of the violence that followed the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" event on Jan. 6. McCabe said yesterday that law enforcement needs to take the intel surrounding the gathering in support of the jailed insurrectionists "more seriously than they took the same sort of intelligence that they likely saw on Jan. 5." However, he added that law enforcement has "a few factors leaning in their favor" this time. "[I]t looks like…our law enforcement partners are well prepared for this one," McCabe said. "[And] you don't have a sitting president actively fanning the flames." —
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MORE: GOP shouldn't have House majority if pushing conspiracies and lies, Kinzinger says —NBC News ([link removed])


** WaPo Ed Board: New indictments show progress toward accountability
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"America's history is stained by killings of Black men being ignored, papered over, and covered up. Elijah McClain, a massage therapist who loved animals and played the violin, and Ahmaud Arbery, a former high school football standout who loved to run, came distressingly close to being added to that list of the forgotten. … Tragically, it took the death of another Black man—George Floyd, murdered by a Minneapolis police officer months after Arbery and McClain were killed—to force a national reckoning about racial injustices, and an increased willingness to face the truth of these earlier deaths." —The Washington Post ([link removed])

MORE: Ex-prosecutor indicted for misconduct in Ahmaud Arbery death —SF Gate ([link removed])


** Russia strikes again
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The Russian government's attempts to interfere in foreign electoral politics are continuing. This time, Germany is the target. German officials accuse Moscow of trying to steal data from federal and state lawmakers ahead of its parliamentary election on Sept. 26. Germany's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Andrea Sasse said a hacker outfit called Ghostwriter has been launching conventional cyberattacks, along with disinformation and influence operations. The activities can be attributed to "cyber-actors of the Russian state and, specifically, Russia's GRU military intelligence service," according to Sasse. Combined with ongoing interference by Russian state broadcaster RT, whose German-language service has for years emphasized divisive issues such as migration, the latest activity is "a danger to the security of the Federal Republic of Germany and for the process of democratic decision-making," says Sasse. —The Washington Post
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MORE: Russia blocks voting website linked to Navalny ahead of elections —The Hill ([link removed])
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** Boot: In defense of American foreign policy
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"The establishment is vilified for a 20-year commitment to Afghanistan that unraveled in a few days. But the events of August show precisely why presidents of both parties stayed in Afghanistan. It wasn't because they were trying to build the Switzerland of Central Asia. It was because they knew that a complete U.S. withdrawal would lead to a takeover by the same Taliban regime that had allowed its territory to be a staging ground for the 9/11 attacks. National security leaders, generals in particular, are now reviled for not winning the war, but that was never the mission. Learning from Vietnam, policymakers soon realized that it would be too hard to extinguish an entrenched insurgency with cross-border support. So they settled for not losing rather than winning. … It is too early to know who was right: the presidents who kept U.S. forces in Afghanistan (Bush and Obama) or the ones (Trump and Biden) who pulled them out. If the worst in Afghanistan has already happened, then the withdrawal
will be vindicated, and the 20-year war will be judged a terrible waste of money and lives. But if the worst is still to come—in particular, if Afghanistan once again becomes a haven for terrorism—then the commitment to Afghanistan will look better than it does at the moment." —Max Boot in ([link removed]) The Washington Post ([link removed])

Max Boot is the Jeane J. Kirkpatrick senior fellow for national security studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

MORE: U.S. top diplomat Blinken visits Qatar in wake of Taliban takeover —Al Jazeera ([link removed])


** Focus on Afghanistan
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As the United Nations reported today that basic services are beginning to collapse in Afghanistan, with aid supplies and food starting to run out, the Taliban announced the formation of a hardline interim government for the country. Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, who has been leader of the group's Shura or Leadership Council for about two decades, was named prime minister. His deputy will be Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who led the Taliban delegation in peace talks in Qatar. Two senior figures in the Haqqani Network, a U.S.-designated terror group aligned with the Taliban and al Qaeda, also will be part of the interim government. Both have been sanctioned by the U.S. and the UN. —CNN ([link removed])
* — The U.S. facilitated the departure of four more American citizens from Afghanistan—the first since the withdrawal of U.S. troops last week—via an overland route to a third country yesterday. They are a woman and her three children from Amarillo, Texas, according to Rep. Markwayne Mullin, who has been assisting an American nonprofit-funded group of former special forces, military, contractors, and others who are working to get Americans and special immigrant visa holders out of Afghanistan. —CNN ([link removed])
*
* — The Taliban has renewed its vow to let at-risk Afghans and foreign nationals "freely depart" the country, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He said today that Washington is working with the Taliban to facilitate additional charter flights from the Afghan capital. Since U.S. troops departed, the Taliban took over the Kabul airport, which has been largely closed. Qatar, where the Taliban has its international diplomatic base, has been in talks with Taliban leadership over the airport's reopening, expected within a day or two. —Deutsche Welle ([link removed])

1. — In the meantime, multiple planes meant to ferry hundreds of people, including American citizens and green card holders, have spent days parked on an airstrip at a separate airport in northern Afghanistan. Rep. Michael McCaul said the Taliban was not letting the planes depart until its "demands" were met, possibly in the form of "cash or legitimacy as the government of Afghanistan." Among the hundreds of stranded travelers are members of nongovernmental organizations, journalists, and women at risk. —NPR ([link removed])

MORE: Biden Administration vows to help 500 Afghan journalists with U.S.-funded media outlets stranded in Kabul —NBC News ([link removed])


** Reich, Sahami & Weinstein: Democracy vs disruption
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"The ability of our government to digest digital innovations—and to respond nimbly and pragmatically to the problems they create—is essential to the health of American society. … Coming to terms with the impact of technology is nothing new. The race between disruption and democracy goes on. But now it's time for democracy to pick up the pace." —Rob Reich, Mehran Sahami & Jeremy Weinstein in ([link removed]) The Atlantic ([link removed])

Rob Reich is a professor of political science at Stanford University, the director of the Center for Ethics in Society, and the associate director of the Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence. Mehran Sahami is a professor of computer science and an associate chair for education in the computer science department at Stanford University. Jeremy Weinstein is a professor of political science and a senior fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research at Stanford University.

MORE: Amazon and Reddit take steps in fight against online misinformation —USA Today ([link removed])

The Trump presidency will no doubt go down in history as one of the worst. However, the left is little better than Trump followers when they refuse to acknowledge any mistakes. Few on either side of the aisle argue with winding down the war in Afghanistan. The problem is the way it was executed. As a politician, President Biden must claim that all his decisions were correct and things went as well as anyone could expect. Military experts and outsiders almost all disagree. The withdrawal was a disaster that President Trump, President Biden, and others played a role in. If all Americans line up behind their man or their party and point fingers, we will learn nothing. —Kerry J., Utah
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT TODAY'S STORIES ([link removed])


** The views expressed in "What's Your Take?" are submitted by readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff or the Stand Up Republic Foundation.
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Got feedback about THE TOPLINE? Send it to Melissa Amour, Managing Editor, at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .
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