Trump-packed appeals court strikes down law banning domestic abusers from owning guns
In a huge blow to the safety of American women, a federal appeals court packed with Trump- and Reagan-appointed judges vacated the conviction of a Texas man who was barred from having guns after being issued a restraining order for stalking and harassing his ex-girlfriend. He also fired a slew of shots outside a Whataburger because his friend's credit card was declined. The court then laughably claimed that the federal law banning domestic abusers from having guns was an “outlier that our ancestors would never have accepted," which is a ridiculous argument given that our "ancestors" couldn't even conceive of the killing power of an AR-15 rifle. America has 70% of all the femicides in the developed world; an average of 70 women are shot and killed EVERY MONTH by an intimate partner. Not only are these radical right-wing courts stripping women of their bodily autonomy, they're deliberately allowing the coercive power of potential male violence to trap them in relationships and putting their lives at risk for making their own decisions.
Take Action: Kick Marjorie Taylor Greene out of Congress for promoting dangerous white supremacist conspiracies!
VIDEO OF THE DAY: Kevin McCarthy screws himself over with dangerous debt ceiling threat
In a sound bite directed squarely at the radical right-wing members of his own party to whom he sold his soul in exchange for the speaker's gavel, McCarthy went before reporters and promised never to pass a "clean" bill to raise the debt ceiling, all but admitting that Republicans would rather tank the economy than meet existing financial obligations already signed into law by Congress.
Take Action: Tell Congress to codify our right to contraception!
Republicans pull DISASTROUS stunt in the House
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Gross.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez excoriates House GOP with impassioned defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar
The congresswoman from the Bronx left it all on the floor as she blasted Republicans for their hypocritical, hyperpartisan vote to remove Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee, calling their disgusting maneuver what it truly is: an attack on women of color in Congress by a power-drunk GOP to collect trophies to show off to their racist, misogynistic base.
Take Action: Tell the DOJ to challenge EVERY abortion ban in the country!
First sweeping federal gun crime report in 20 years released
The most expansive federal report in over two decades on guns and crime shows a shrinking turnaround between the time a gun was purchased and when it was recovered from a crime scene, indicating firearms bought legally are more quickly being used in crimes across the country. Also, why has it taken 20-plus years for a report on gun crime to be... oh that's right, because any such report would undermine the NRA's bullshit narrative that legally purchased guns don't kill people, and we can't have that!
Take Action: Tell Congress to ban assault weapons!
Matt Gaetz humiliated in committee as "Pledge" ploy backfires instantly
The accused sex trafficker thought he had an "own-the-libs" moment in the bag when he proposed starting every meeting of the House Judiciary Committee with the Pledge of Allegiance, but then Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline offered an amendment to Gaetz’s proposal banning committee members who have ever supported an insurrection from leading the recitation of the pledge — leaving Gaetz dumbfounded and struggling for a comeback.
Take Action: Expel the congressmen who tried to get Trump pardons for their role in Jan. 6th!
20 GOP attorneys general warn drug store chains not to sell abortion pills
In the latest sign yet that the dismantling of Roe v. Wade by extremist conservative justices on the Supreme Court was just Republicans' opening attack on reproductive rights, red state attorneys general are laying the groundwork for an all-out ban on abortion pills. Don't expect them to stop there, as the holy grail of outlawing contraception for women would be within reach were this move to succeed.
Radical Republicans won't stop at banning abortion
Americans for Contraception: It's painfully clear that the extremist GOP's ultimate goal is to take away every tool a woman has to exercise agency over her own body — even contraception. Justice Clarence Thomas immediately set his sights on contraception as soon as Roe v. Wade was overturned, and anti-abortion zealots are already filing a slew of lawsuits attacking contraception as a form of abortion. We need to start fighting back NOW. Can you chip in to help protect our reproductive rights?
Millions of SNAP food aid recipients to face significant reductions
As of March 1, 2023, COVID-19-related emergency benefits included in the SNAP food assistance program since shortly after the onset of the pandemic will end entirely, cutting monthly payment amounts by a national average of $82 per month per recipient. 42 million Americans receive SNAP aid, including struggling working families, Americans with severe disabilities, veterans, and vulnerable senior citizens living on fixed incomes.
Potential mass shooting thwarted in Hollywood, though cops later backtrack
The LAPD claimed it foiled a mass shooting when officers seized several high-powered weapons as well as a cache of ammunition and protective tactical gear from a man accused by neighbors of making criminal threats. Authorities later walked that claim back, saying there was no direct evidence a shooting was imminent — because, in America, it's perfectly normal for one person to build an arsenal just for shits and giggles that would make a Navy Seal blush.
GOP governor secretly supports Medicaid expansion despite opposing it publicly
Mississippi Republican Governor Tate Reeves has some 'splaining to do after the former chancellor of the University of Mississippi revealed that Reeves personally told him that expanding Medicaid would be a tremendous benefit to his state, but that he couldn't do it because the backlash from his own party would cost him his office. Why do the right thing for hundreds of thousands of constituents when doing the wrong thing serves your own, selfish interest?
Extremist Israeli group aiding anti-Palestinian hate-crime convicts halts US fundraising
An AP and Shomrim investigation discovered that a radical Israeli group has been using a Jewish charity in the United States to raise money for the worst far-right political killers in Israeli prisons, including Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, an extremist ultra-Orthodox man who fatally stabbed a 16-year-old Israeli girl at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade in 2015, and other men who have murdered Palestinians in cold blood.
America, the beautiful?
What a wonderful world?
Hope...
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Today’s Action: Tell Congress to raise the debt ceiling!
The virulently anti-Biden GOP seems dead set on fighting against literally any legislative progress whatsoever, and apparently, they’re willing to tank the US economy in the process. Republicans are once again refusing to raise the debt ceiling — a move they never mind making when they control the White House, it should be noted. Their latest demands include extreme cuts to crucial social programs, and the standoff could wreak havoc on both the American and larger global economies. The longer House Republicans stall, the more damage they will exact on the faith and credit of the US government.
During a recent speech at the White House, President Biden rightfully pointed out that approximately a quarter of all US debt amassed over the past two centuries accrued during Trump’s single term in office. In just four years, Republicans willfully exploded our national debt, lifting the debt ceiling three separate times in the process. But now, with their razor-thin House majority running in full obstruction mode against President Biden, they’ve suddenly rediscovered their zeal and affinity for fiscal responsibility. Just another example of the sheer selfishness of today’s GOP, putting party politics above the American people once again.
House Republicans have a duty to their constituents to protect the US economy from collapsing instead of throwing millions of jobs down the drain. We need our elected officials investing in the American people, not playing political games at our expense. Call (202-224-3121) or write your representatives and demand they raise the debt ceiling immediately!
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