We’ve been on a high these past few days since congressional Democrats finally seemed to get their shit together, and about how mad that makes Republicans, but the grim reality is millions of Americans can no longer access reproductive health care.
 

• In the face of such steep obstacles, Democrats (and even in one case a blue-state Republican) are working to fight back at the local, state, and federal level. Starting from the top, president Joe Biden has nominated a lawyer who represented the Mississippi health clinic at the heart of the Dobbs decision to become a federal appeals-court judge. Nominating young(ish) liberal judges to the federal bench is necessary to offset the hundreds of ultra-conservative judges the Trump administration confirmed to lifetime appointments during his single term.

• Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the Indiana OB-GYN who treated a 10-year-old rape victim who was forced to cross state lines when she was barred from obtaining an abortion in Ohio, has been in the crosshairs of conservative media and anti-abortion movement ever since news of the case went national. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita (R-IN) is still pursuing an investigation against her, in a probe that, to borrow a phrase beloved by our foes, is nothing more than a witch hunt. Harassment and even murder of abortion providers is not new, but we are in a new legal landscape that has emboldened many anti-choice activists in horrifying ways.

• They’re also spreading relentless, false messaging to portray the horrors they’ve unleashed as NBD. Catherine Glenn Foster, president of the anti-abortion group Americans United for Life (lol) told a House committee that the 10-year-old Ohio girl’s case would have fallen under exceptions to the state’s total abortion ban, and a number of prominent Ohio Republicans have parroted this talking point as well, but it’s just not true. Conservatives have also claimed that abortions to treat ectopic pregnancies are “still legal in every state,” but that’s not exactly true either. The laws in many anti-choice states are so punitive towards doctors and patients alike that in some cases, women have already been refused care in these exact situations.

The gruesome scenarios these anti-choice laws have created has led to usual conservative flippancy, but also some unexpected allies. 

• Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito emerged publicly for the first time since penning the dubious opinion that overturned Roe to deliver a speech at Notre Dame Law School. Alito thumbed his nose at the myriad foreign leaders who publicly criticized the Dobbs decision, and focused his attention mostly on his feeling that religious liberty is “under attack” (you gotta be fucking kidding me). He said that religion “promotes domestic tranquility” and “American experience illustrates that well.” Serious question: can this man read? What exactly is he smoking?
   

• On the other hand, state level efforts have continued. Gov. Tom Wolf (D-PA) has sued state Republicans over the package of anti-abortion constitutional amendments they began to pursue in the wake of the Dobbs decision. Even Gov. Charlie Baker (R-MA) signed a bill today that broadens access to abortion in the state and helps shield providers from out-of-state prosecution. The Democratically-held state legislature sent that bill to his desk, but Baker himself signed a similar Executive Order enshrining abortion protections shortly after the June SCOTUS decision. Two nuns (!) of the Ursuline Sisters Order in Kansas wrote a letter published in the Kansas City Star opposing a forthcoming ballot initiative that would remove right to abortion from the state constitution, despite support of the initiative from their local archbishop. We frankly love to see a little Catholic infighting for a good cause!

Constituents and lawmakers alike must constantly balance dozens of political issues, but winning back reproductive rights we’ve lost, and protecting the ones we still have, is of particular urgency, because it’s clear anti-choice legislators show no signs of stopping.

The final episode of Mother Country Radicals is out now. Throughout this 10 episode series, host Zayd Ayers Dohrn takes us back to the 1970s, when his parents and their young friends in the Weather Underground Organization declared war on the United States government. He explores the progressive reasons and deadly consequences of this monumental time in history. 

You can binge all 10 episodes of Mother Country Radicals right now on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

If you can believe it, a major banking institution may not have the best interests of the average American at heart. In a June 17 email leaked to the Intercept, head of global economics research for Bank of America Securities Ethan Harris said, “By the end of next year, we hope the ratio of job openings to unemployed is down to the more normal highs of the last business cycle.” The hope from Bank of America, it seems, is that more people will be unemployed and workers will have lost their rare moment of bargaining power. Of course “worker leverage” is all relative, as the federal minimum wage has not been raised in 13 years, which has repercussions all the way up the wage ladder, and most reliable analysts agree that the inflation we’re seeing today is more attributable to the pandemic and ensuing supply-chain issues than to wages that are “too high,” and this is to say nothing of the significant effect that record corporate profits have had on inflation. Most of us know that massive corporations and financial institutions do not want to see average workers thrive, but every now and again we get to hear them say the quiet part out loud.

Congressional Dems are planning to call Congress back to vote on the major spending bill agreed upon by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and old ironsides Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) the week of August 8. 

Former NFL tight end Kevin Ware was charged yestersay with the murder of his girlfriend. 

Two new studies provide more evidence supporting the theory that coronavirus spread to humans at a Wuhan wet market, rather than after “escaping from a Chinese lab.” 

New York state and the city of San Francisco, CA, have declared health emergencies over outbreaks of monkeypox. 

A scathing new report from a disability rights watchdog group alleges systemic abuse and neglect at the Psychiatric Institute of Washington D.C., which advocates say has left some patients traumatized and injured at the hands of staff.

Mesa County, CO, clerk and MAGA nutjob Tina Peters has raised over $250,000 and will thus get a recount for her recent losing campaign for Colorado Secretary of State. Nice to see the Big Lie go local!

The death toll from flooding in Appalachia has risen to 16, amid ongoing reports of devastation to the region. 

Pope Francis concludes his apology tour of Canada today in Nunavut near the Arctic Circle, the former site of a Catholic-run residential school where cultural genocide against Inuit children took place. 

The CDC detected a potentially deadly strain of bacteria in the soil and water on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, its first appearance in the U.S. I don’t know who to file this complaint with but I think we’re good on deadly, highly-infectious diseases for now!!

Disgraced former president Trump is using the presidential seal at the golf tournament he’s hosting in New Jersey, which is highly unethical at best and fully against the law at worst, but of course when have either of those ever stopped him?

Over the past few years, national media has focused intently on the “uptick in crime” in major American cities, with a particular focus on New York. Many New Yorkers experience cognitive dissonance from national headlines screaming about crime, when they don't have evidence of it in their everyday lives. So where does the disconnect originate? The panic is largely drummed up by the national media itself, which has has harped on several high-profile incidents in the subways or high-traffic tourist areas, obscuring the fact that crime in New York City remains at one of its lowest points in decades. But you wouldn’t know that from headlines like “New Yorkers Don’t Feel Safe At Home Anymore” which CNN ran earlier this year. There has been an increase in crime since the pandemic began, as is the case in essentially every community in America, with the highest concentration in disinvested and structurally disadvantaged communities. But addressing poverty as a root cause of crime is unpalatable to many lawmakers, or those with a financial stake in its perpetuation. As the report in Bloomberg notes: “Incidents of violent crime remain at historic lows in New York City. But people’s views on guns and crime are often more influenced by what they see and hear, rather than by hard numbers.” People will not feel safer by simply being informed that violent crime numbers are still at historic lows, but in order for their feelings to change, the national media has a responsibility to stop creating panic for ratings.

Take Action Today: Protect Clean Air & Water
 

The Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that every level of government is working to make sure there isn’t a harmful amount of pollutants in the air we breathe and the Clean Water Act regulates our water quality.  
 

The EPA is about to open rule-makings for the Clean Air Act and has an open comment period for the Clean Water Act, and it’s key that we push them right now to cut pollution and protect our communities, health, and environment. Engagement from people like you makes it clear to the EPA that we won’t accept anything less than clear air and water. Tell the EPA to work as quickly as possible to restore our clean air and water protections. 
 

We need to use every tool possible for action, because the news hasn’t been good lately: 

• The Supreme Court issued a detrimental ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, which limits the EPA’s ability to regulate climate pollution at power plants

• Hopes are fading for Congressional climate action

• The Biden administration needs to get serious about carrying out its responsibilities under our nation’s bedrock environmental laws
   

But right now, the EPA can take steps to enforce stronger rules to protect clean air and clean water. Earthjustice is strengthening protections for the air we breathe and the water we drink and holding polluters accountable when they violate these protections. Join Earthjustice today to urge the EPA to strengthen clean air and clean water protections. 

Robb Elementary School principal Mandy Gutierrez has been fully reinstated after being placed on administrative leave with pay on Monday, amid widespread criticism over her suspension. 

The Biden administration will begin offering updated COVID-19 booster shots in September, expected to provide increased protection from various subvariants. 

Polling numbers are trending up for Democrats, which is great news as we move closer to the fall campaign. 

Remember on Wednesday when we told you about Olivia Julianna, the 19 year-old Florida abortion rights advocate who raised over $300,000 in repro rights donations after absolute doorknob Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) bodyshamed her? Well as of today, the sum is up to over $1.3 million. 

And as if we needed to tell you, Beyoncé dropped a new album.