Politics
Hey folks. I just want to check in with the community about a post that was recently removed. My intention is absolutely not to create drama or stir anything up, but I'd like to make sure you all understand my reasoning for removing the post. Also, I'm aware that I'm not as good at articulating these kinds of things as some of our folks, so don't expect a classic Beehaw philosophy post here. The post in questions was a link to a twitter thread providing evidence of the IRL identity of "comic" "artist" stonetoss, who is unquestionably a huge piece of shit and a neo-nazi, or at least something so indistinguishable from one that the difference is meaningless. The post provoked some discussion in the Mod chat and several of us, myself included, were on the fence about it. I understand that there are arguments both for and against naming and calling out people like stonetoss. I find arguments in both directions somewhat convincing, but ultimately the thing that a number of us expressed was that the act of calling someone like this out and potentially exposing them to harassment or real-world consequences for their views might be morally defensible, it didn't *feel* like Beehaw was the right place for it. We really want Beehaw to be a place that is *constructive* and *kind*, and that this type of doxxing/callout didn't seem to fit our vision what what we want Beehaw to be. At the same time, we're all very conscious that it would be easy for this kind of thinking to lead to tone policing and respectability politics, and that is also something we want to be careful to avoid. All this to say that I made what I think was the best decision in the moment for the overall health of [!politics](https://beehaw.org/c/politics) as a community, as I saw it. On a personal note, I find that our Politics community is one of the communities that is most prone to falling into some of the traps that Beehaw was created to avoid. That's very understandable - politics are something that cause real and immediate harm and stress in a lot of folks' lives; they're complicated, contentious, and often make us feel powerless. I'd like to remind folks as we move into the general election season in the US, though, to remember the founding principles of Beehaw when discussing these topics, no matter how stressful they may be: remember the human, assume good faith in others, and above all, be(e) nice. Thanks, TheRtRevKaiser
Few of you might know today it is election day for the Republic of Moldova. Moldovans have to elect the president, as well as answer to the question of whether Moldova should change its Constitution for a future EU membership. While the election results seem to be pretty clear in favor of the current, pro-european president Maia Sandu:  Things are different regarding the vote for the referendum:  The "Da" yellow bar, for someone who does know a bit of Russian, means yes (*Da* is actually one of the few words that Romanian and the Slavic languages have in common). The blue bar on the right means *No* and as you can see is a bit longer as of now. These are just the preliminary results, as votes are being counted as we speak. The hope comes from the urban centers, where votes are still to be counted, and more people support the European direction than the rural areas (Although at the current growth rate, the Yes camp doesn't seem to be hitting the 50%+1 mark) and the diaspora which has a solid majority in favor of the revision of the constitution:  As I understood, the diaspora vote will only account for something like 5-10% of the total result (which is a bummer, since the diaspora has increased a lot in the latest years), it will not be the average (I'll update this part of the post if things are different). Why is this important? ---------- Moldova is a small country, sandwiched between the war-torn Ukraine, and the already EU and NATO member Romania. Its current land and some more which is part of Ukraine, (also known as Bessarabia) belonged to the medieval-era Principality of Moldova, which lost it to the Tsarist (Russian) Empire in 1812. That Moldova later united with Wallachia to form the modern-day Romania in 1859. After WWI, Bessarabia united with Romania and stayed so until the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact between Nazi Germany and the USSR in 1939, when Romania retreated its administration following a Soviet ultimatum. The current borders of modern Moldova were drawn by them, as it was only an administrative province. Nowadays, compared to Ukraine and Georgia, Moldova is the EU candidate in Eastern Europe which is the most advanced on the path to accession. The referendum has currently passed the threshold for validation, which means that enough people have voted, irrespective of their option. If the majority of the votes are no, it will be a huge blow to Maia Sandu and her pro-European program. Besides that, the economic situation might get worse with some foreign investors fleeing the country. It is highly likely that Maia Sandu herself will even lose the elections in the 2nd turn - which would bring even more trouble for Moldova and for Ukraine, which already has two hostile neighbors (Russia and Belarus). If the referendum does pass, but with a small majority, there will be room for contestation, and it will be a huge headache going forward. **It is necessary that the referendum will pass with an as high percent of *Yes* votes as possible, in order to eliminate any doubt concerning the European integration of Moldova**. If you've reached all the way here reading this, thank you! Here in Romania it is 01:28 AM Monday morning, just like in Moldova, so the polling stations have closed a while ago (my Friendica node also seems to currently have a 2-hour delay, so you might see this post even later when I'm already sleeping). But across the Atlantic, voting booths should still be open. As anyone has seen with the Brexit, the results of a referendum can hardly be overturned, if at all. If you have any friend or acquitance from Moldova, go tell them to go out there and vote, and vote **Yes** no matter the other option they're choosing for president (I hope they vote for Maia Sandu tho, but I believe in the free will of the others). There is no way one could choose "No", absolutely no way! By choosing this, they will choose for their country to have relations **with a country under international embargo**. Source of the pics/realtime info: [Referendum](https://pv.cec.md/cec-template-referendum-results.html), [Presidential Elections](https://pv.cec.md/cec-template-presidential-results.html) (it's basically the same page but I made it easier for you since it's only in Romanian and Russian. To view the diaspora votes select *Externe* in the drop-down above the map of Moldova.
www.404media.co
Here’s how it works: In areas of Michigan with large numbers of Arab and Muslim voters, Future Coalition PAC is running digital ads about how Vice President Kamala Harris is a staunch and unyielding supporter of Israel. “Kamala and Doug, America’s pro-Israel power couple,” the narrator of one of the group’s ads declares after discussing Israel’s “noble fight against the radical terrorists in Gaza.” One mail item from the group says Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, “leans on Jewish husband Doug Emhoff to advise on high-level pro-Israel policies.” Many Jewish Democrats have argued that, among other qualities, the ads’ focus on second gentleman Doug Emhoff is antisemitic. That component of the advertising blitz reprises a well-known, though not exactly common, bit of campaign dark arts: Highlight a quality you claim to see as positive or negative, knowing the intended audience will have the opposite takeaway. But it’s the second component of Future Coalition PAC’s advertising that really raises its cynicism to new heights. The group is simultaneously targeting Pennsylvania’s Jewish voters with advertisements claiming Harris has been “pandering” to Palestinians.
www.cnbc.com
- China’s latest efforts to influence the outcome of U.S. elections is shifting away from the presidential race and toward state and local candidates. - “Russia, China, and Iran are largely looking to sow discord in the U.S., but China is probably the most strategic of the three,” said the former executive director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. - Local and state elections have become prime targets for Chinese interference because they receive far less scrutiny than national races, making it easier for China’s influence campaigns to fly under the radar. [...] Disinformation is one of China’s primary tools to influence U.S. elections, with the aim of creating a fragmented political environment that weakens both national resilience and cybersecurity efforts. “These operations are often subtle, planting stories or memes that spark debate and controversy, with the goal of distracting from international matters and reducing U.S. influence abroad,” said Javad Abed, professor of information systems at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. “**These actors most likely judge that amplifying controversial issues and rhetoric that seeks to divide Americans can serve their interests by making the U.S. and its democratic system look weak and by keeping the U.S. government distracted with internal issues instead of pushing back on their hostile behavior globally**,” said U.S. intelligence officials during a recent election security briefing. One example of China’s influence operations is its use of disinformation campaigns designed to exploit divisive issues such as immigration, racial justice, and economic inequality. Abed explained that China uses online platforms to circulate misleading narratives about U.S. border challenges or social justice movements, such as the George Floyd protests. By manipulating public discourse, experts said China seeks to amplify discord on sensitive topics while diverting attention from international matters. [...] Another notable Chinese-led operation is **Spamouflage, or Dragonbridge, which has been active since at least 2017. This campaign leverages thousands of fake accounts on more than 50 platforms to infiltrate political conversations in the U.S., spreading propaganda and divisive messages while discrediting politicians.** Spamouflage’s ability to penetrate local and national dialogues highlights the scale of China’s long-term influence strategy. [...] “We’ve seen these informational operations used in conjunction with demonstrations to encourage acts of violence and to have people begin targeting election officials and government officials,” said John Cohen, [executive director of the Program for Countering Hybrid Threats at the Center for Internet Security].
www.rollingstone.com
During the final full month of Donald Trump’s first and potentially only term in the White House [...] he was also hosting a series of meetings and phone calls to decide whether or not a man should be put to death before Christmas. The U.S. government had executed just three federal prisoners in the 60 years prior to 2020. In a six-month span during Trump’s final year in office, he and Attorney General Bill Barr’s Justice Department put to death 13 inmates, in what defense attorneys and criminal justice activists described as a “bloodbath” and historic “killing spree.” One of those inmates was a man named Brandon Bernard, who at a young age had been involved in a grisly double murder. In the years since his incarceration, Bernard had become an international cause célèbre of anti-death-penalty advocates — including major celebrities like Kim Kardashian — many of whom felt he was an exemplar of remorse and deserved clemency. But as Trump sat in the White House, holding Bernard’s fate in the palm of his hand, he had a pressing question for his staff, according to a former Trump administration official and another source intimately familiar with the matter: Trump wanted to know if one of the murder victim’s parents, who were urging him to allow the scheduled execution to go forward, had voted for him. At the same time, he was refusing to hear pleas from Kardashian on Bernard’s behalf — all because he saw her social-media post celebrating Joe Biden’s victory over Trump. Bernard was executed on Dec. 10, at a federal facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. [...] The former president using whether Americans support him or not to make life-or-death decisions is an actual, serious prescription for federal policies that reaches far beyond just one inmate and one execution. In recent weeks, Trump has been explicitly campaigning on a platform of turbo-charging that attitude in regard to how a second Trump administration would help or not help his fellow Americans — including in dire emergency scenarios. The former president has on multiple occasions down the stretch of the 2024 campaign threatened to withhold federal disaster relief from California — putting the lives of its citizens at risk — unless the state’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, gives in to his demands. He made the threat as recently as last weekend during a rally in California’s Coachella Valley, telling supporters that if Newsom doesn’t get on board with Trump’s water policy, “we’re not giving any of that fire money that we send you all the time for all the fire, forest fires that you have. It’s not hard to do.” “We’ll force it down his throat,” Trump said. [...]
phys.org
cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3914045 > Here is the study: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp1274 > > Most people in most countries state that they wish to have a democratic government. But the definition of democracy has been constantly contested. Without understanding what people really mean by democracy, the concept is vulnerable to being exploited by dictators and anti-democratic politicians for their own ends. > > [...] > > A new research study led by the University of Oxford, National University of Singapore, and Emory University has now shed light on the question: "How do people around the world define democracy?" > > The study surveyed over 6,000 people from the United States, Italy, Egypt, India, Thailand, and Japan- countries with highly different political regimes, democratic histories, geographic regions, levels of development, and cultural backgrounds. The study explored how people prioritize nine different attributes in their understanding of what makes a country democratic, using examples of hypothetical countries. > > [...] > > - Overwhelmingly, participants were significantly more likely to view countries that select their leaders through **free and fair elections** as more democratic than countries without elections. > > - Participants were also significantly more likely to view countries with **strong protections for civil liberties** as more democratic compared with countries without such protections. > > - The relevance of these was consistent regardless of people's age, gender, education, minority status, or political ideology. > > - **After elections and liberties, the two most important attributes were gender equality, then economic equality**. Countries in which men and women have equal rights are more likely to be seen as democratic than countries with highly unequal gender rights. Relative equality between the rich and poor (compared with high inequality) also increased the likelihood that a country was seen as more democratic. > > - Then, countries where leaders must respect the legislature and courts' authority in decision making were more likely to be perceived as more democratic compared with countries in which the leader frequently bypasses the legislative and judicial branches when making decisions. > > - **In contrast, the researchers found little evidence of an "authoritarian" redefinition of democracy taking root anywhere.** Even within authoritarian countries such as Egypt or Thailand, democracy was still perceived as being rooted in elections and liberties.
www.bbc.com
With two American astronauts stuck onboard the International Space Station until 2025, how will they vote in this November's US election? --- (video, 1 min)
www.motherjones.com
Right for America, a super PAC financed by a handful of billionaires that supports Donald Trump, recently released an ad that promotes Trump’s various tax proposals and celebrates American workers, particularly those who put in overtime. It’s full of photos and videos supposedly showing overtime workers—the “hardest working citizens in our country”—including a welder, a truck driver, and a hospital worker. Yet many of these shots are stock footage or photos of workers in foreign countries, and the ad is misleading overall, leaving out Trump’s past opposition to compensating employees who work overtime. [...] There are two ridiculous aspects to the ad: The depiction of Trump as a champion of overtime workers and its incorporation of images of non-American workers. When Trump was president, his administration cut back a rule proposed by the Obama administration to compel businesses to provide overtime compensation to about 4.1 million workers. The Trump Labor Department rule covered only 1.3 million, screwing nearly 3 million American workers. [...] And as a businessman, Trump has been no champion of overtime workers. At a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, last month, Trump discussed his experience as a businessman with overtime. “I know a lot about overtime,” he said. “I hated to give overtime.” He recalled that he would employ new workers to replace those who were supposed to work overtime. “I shouldn’t say this,” he added, “but I’d get other people in. I wouldn’t pay. I hated it.” [...]
phys.org
The medical community increasingly acknowledges voting as a crucial social determinants of health (SDOH), framing it as a significant public health concern. This relationship between voting and health is reciprocal: a person's health can impact their ability to vote, while the act of voting can also impact health outcomes. SDOH encompasses factors such as income, access to nutritious food, reliable transportation, and safe and affordable housing -all critical components of these non-medical determinants that shape health care outcomes. Addressing these social factors is essential for improving overall health and ensuring equitable access to health care for all individuals. Physician's Weekly groups the SDOH into five domains influencing health: Economic Stability, Education Access and Quality, Health care Access and Quality, Neighborhood and Built Environment, and Social and Community Context.
phys.org
As get-out-the-vote efforts hit high gear nationwide, a team of sociologists, political scientists and nonprofits in select states are focused on reaching out to some of the more than two million people with felony convictions who may not realize they have the legal right to vote. UCLA sociology professor Naomi Sugie, along with colleagues from UC Irvine, UC Berkeley School of Law and Stanford University, analyzed the voting obstacles that persist for this population during the Nov. 2022 election and have released their findings in a study published in the October issue of Punishment and Society. This fall, the researchers are continuing to monitor barriers alongside the Project VOICES team, short for Voter Outreach In Communities Experiencing System-Involvement, who are engaged in a massive outreach effort ahead of the upcoming 2024 election.
democracyjournal.org
The United States faces elections viewed as illegitimate, skyrocketing threats against elected politicians and election officials, and hate crime rates that are now among the highest in this century. What is causing this turmoil, and how do the thousands of people and organizations working to advance democracy help the country get out of this cycle of distrust, hatred, and violence that is convulsing our political and civic life? The U.S. is testing the waters of a political realignment, as political parties see new opportunities amidst shifts in the country’s demography, economics, and public opinion. The peculiarities of America’s political system mean that this fight for new voters is incentivizing violence and electoral manipulation, just as earlier realignments did. Many on the left hope that the current crisis will end if a Democratic Party that is consistently committed to democracy and the rule of law wins decisively for a significant period of time, cementing a majority that is too solid to be undermined by the MAGA faction’s dirty tricks and threats. While necessary, that will not be sufficient. Violence and electoral suppression are likely to continue until the parties complete their realignment in such a way that stirring our nation’s core fissure of racial and ethnic hatred is no longer a useful way for Republicans to generate votes, write Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where she focuses on troubled democracies facing violence and polarization, and Brendan Hartnett, research associate at Longwell Partners.
[Last 30 minutes of the town-hall](https://youtu.be/bDZgox580B0?t=7447)
www.cnn.com
“I think the bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people. Radical left lunatics,” Trump said told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo in an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “I think it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen,” he added.
popular.info
> A Texas county has mandated public libraries move a well-regarded children's book documenting the mistreatment of Native Americans in New England — Colonization and the Wampanoag Story — from the "non-fiction" section to "fiction." The decision was made after the government of Montgomery County, under pressure from right-wing activists, removed librarians from the process of reviewing children's books and replaced them with a "Citizens Review Committee." Colonization and the Wampanoag Story was "challenged" by an unknown person on September 10, 2024. The Committee responded by ordering that the book be moved to the fiction section of public libraries in Montgomery County by October 17, 2024, according to public records obtained by the Texas Freedom To Read Project shared with Popular Information. > > The author of Colonization and the Wampanoag Story is Linda Coombs, a "historian from the Wampanoag Tribe." Coombs spent three decades working at the Wampanoag Indigenous Program, an initiative to preserve the history of the Wampanoag people. The book is published by Penguin Random House, which describes the book as "[t]he true story of the Indigenous Nations of the American Northeast, including the Wampanoag nation and others, and their history up to present day." --- > The move to reclassify Colonization and the Wampanoag Story comes after a controversial decision last March to remove librarians from the decision-making process when a children's book carried by Montgomery County is challenged. Previously, there was an advisory committee comprised of five librarians and five community members. As a result of the change, the librarians were removed from the Committee, and the determinations of the new Committee, which consisted of five non-librarians, became binding.
www.theguardian.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21396125 > Stephen Starr in Hamtramck, Michigan > Mon 14 Oct 2024 11.00 EDT
theconversation.com
Foreign influence campaigns, or information operations, have been widespread in the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Influence campaigns are large-scale efforts to shift public opinion, push false narratives or change behaviors among a target population. Russia, China, Iran, Israel and other nations have run these campaigns by exploiting social bots, influencers, media companies and generative AI. [...] [Influence campaigns include] which researchers call inauthentic coordinated behavior. [They] identify clusters of social media accounts that post in a synchronized fashion, amplify the same groups of users, share identical sets of links, images or hashtags, or perform suspiciously similar sequences of actions. [...] [Researchers] have uncovered many examples of coordinated inauthentic behavior. For example, we found accounts that flood the network with tens or hundreds of thousands of posts in a single day. The same campaign can post a message with one account and then have other accounts that its organizers also control “like” and “unlike” it hundreds of times in a short time span. Once the campaign achieves its objective, all these messages can be deleted to evade detection. Using these tricks, foreign governments and their agents can manipulate social media algorithms that determine what is trending and what is engaging to decide what users see in their feeds. [...] One technique increasingly being used is creating and managing armies of fake accounts with generative artificial intelligence. [Researchers] estimate that at least 10,000 accounts like these were active daily on the platform, and that was before X CEO Elon Musk dramatically cut the platform’s trust and safety teams. We also identified a network of 1,140 bots that used ChatGPT to generate humanlike content to promote fake news websites and cryptocurrency scams. In addition to posting machine-generated content, harmful comments and stolen images, these bots engaged with each other and with humans through replies and retweets. [...] These insights suggest that social media platforms should engage in more – not less – content moderation to identify and hinder manipulation campaigns and thereby increase their users’ resilience to the campaigns. The platforms can do this by making it more difficult for malicious agents to create fake accounts and to post automatically. They can also challenge accounts that post at very high rates to prove that they are human. They can add friction in combination with educational efforts, such as nudging users to reshare accurate information. And they can educate users about their vulnerability to deceptive AI-generated content. [...] These types of content moderation would protect, rather than censor, free speech in the modern public squares. The right of free speech is not a right of exposure, and since people’s attention is limited, influence operations can be, in effect, a form of censorship by making authentic voices and opinions less visible.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Barack Obama had frank words for Black men who may be considering sitting out the election. “Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” he said Thursday to Harris-Walz campaign volunteers and officials at a field office in Pittsburgh. America’s first Black president touched a nerve among Democrats worried about Vice President Kamala Harris’ chances of becoming the second. Harris is counting on Black turnout in battleground states such as Pennsylvania in her tight race with Republican Donald Trump, who has focused on energizing men of all races and tried to make inroads with Black men in particular. Obama’s comments belie that Black men still overwhelmingly back Harris. But her campaign and allies have worked hard trying to shore up support with this critical group of voters — and addressing questions about potential misogyny. Black Americans are the most Democratic-leaning racial demographic in the country, with Black men being outpaced only by Black women in their support for Democrats.
MADISON, Wisconsin — On an oppressively hot August day in downtown Madison, the signs of this famously liberal city’s progressive activism are everywhere. Buildings are draped in pride flags and Black Lives Matter signs are prominently displayed on storefronts. A musty bookstore advertises revolutionary titles and newspaper clippings of rallies against Donald Trump. A fancy restaurant features a graphic of a raised Black fist in its window, with chalk outside on the sidewalk reading “solidarity forever.” Yet the Green Party, which bills itself as an independent political party that has the best interests of self-described leftists at heart, is nowhere to be found. It has no storefronts, no candidates running for local office, no relationship with the politically active UW-Madison campus, which has almost 50,000 students. Where it does have purchase is in the nightmares of local Democrats, who are deeply afraid of the effect the third party might have here in November. As one of the seven presidential battleground states, Wisconsin is a critical brick in the so-called Blue Wall, the term for the run of Rust Belt states that are essential to Kamala Harris’ chances of winning the presidency. It’s a deeply divided state that’s become notorious for its razor-thin margins of victory — a place where statewide elections are so close that even tenths of a percentage point matter. Against that backdrop, the Green Party looms very large this year.
www.nj.com
We all knew that Jill Stein was running as a spoiler, but to have someone on her team openly admit that? They're openly aiding and abetting the rise of fascism in the U.S.
I struggled with which community to put this in, but ultimately: When a presidential candidate tries to stop a movie about himself from being released, that's politics. I've got my ticket for the first showing in town!
[Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20241009132039/https://apnews.com/article/trump-god-bless-usa-biblechina-32a80611605d4052d8238064bbcace4c) Global trade records [...] show a printing company in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou shipped close to 120,000 of the Bibles to the United States between early February and late March. The estimated value of the three separate shipments was $342,000, or less than $3 per Bible, according to databases that use customs data to track exports and imports. The minimum price for the Trump-backed Bible is $59.99, putting the potential sales revenue at about $7 million. The Trump Bible’s connection to China, which has not been previously reported, reveals a deep divide between the former president’s harsh anti-China rhetoric and his rush to cash in while campaigning. [...] Trump didn’t say where the “God Bless the USA” Bibles are printed, or what they cost; a copy hand-signed by the former president sells for $1,000. Trump also didn’t disclose how much he earns per sale. [...] The Bibles are sold exclusively through a website that states it is not affiliated with any political campaign nor is it owned or controlled by Trump. [...] The website states that Trump’s name and image are used under a paid license from CIC Ventures, a company Trump reported owning in his most recent financial disclosure. CIC Ventures earned $300,000 in Bible sales royalties, according to the disclosure. It’s unclear what period that covers or how much Trump received in additional payments since the disclosure was released in August. [...] For years, Trump has castigated Beijing as an obstacle to America’s economic success [...] But Trump also has an eye on his personal finances. Pitching Bibles is one of a dizzying number of for-profit ventures he’s launched or promoted, including diamond-encrusted watches, sneakers, photo books, cryptocurrency and digital trading cards. [...] “You have to assume that everything that the individual does is being done as a candidate and so that any money that flows through to him benefits him as a candidate,” Claire Finkelstein [founder of the nonpartisan Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law and a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania] said. “Suppose Vladimir Putin were to buy a Trump watch. Is that a campaign finance violation? I would think so.” Selling Bibles, she added, “strikes me as a profoundly problematic mixing of religion and state.” [...] As president, Trump would be in a position to influence policies and markets to benefit businesses in which he and his family have financial stakes. While president, his administration exempted Bibles and other religious texts from tariffs imposed on billions of dollars of Chinese goods [...] The Chinese printing company confirms shipments.
> The primary group supporting Amendment 4, Floridians Protecting Freedom, is running television ads supporting its passage. One such ad is a first-personal narrative of a woman named Caroline who was diagnosed with brain cancer while pregnant with her second child. "The doctors knew that if I did not end my pregnancy, I would lose my baby, I would lose my life, and my daughter would lose her mom," Caroline says in the ad. "Florida has now banned abortion, even in cases like mine." Caroline urges voters to support Amendment 4 to "protect women like me." > > On October 3, the Florida Department of Health sent a letter to Mark Higgins, the General Manager of WFLA, Tampa's NBC affiliate. The letter, sent by Florida Department of Health General Counsel John Wilson, claimed that airing the ad violates Florida law. Wilson cites Florida's law against "sanitary nuisance," which prohibits "the commission of any act… by which… the health and lives of individuals… may be endangered." Wilson argues that WFLA's decision to air the ad could "threaten or impair the health and lives of women." Wilson advised Higgins that, now that he has been notified that the ad is creating a "sanitary nuisance," WFLA must stop airing it within 24 hours. Failure to do so, Wilson writes, would be a crime punishable by up to 60 days in prison under Florida law. The letter was first reported by investigative reporter Jason Garcia.
itep.org
[Archived version](http://web.archive.org/web/20241008234019/https://itep.org/a-distributional-analysis-of-donald-trumps-tax-plan-2024/) Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has proposed a wide variety of tax policy changes. Taken together, these proposals would, on average, lead to a tax cut for the richest 5 percent of Americans and a tax increase for all other income groups, an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) has found. If these proposals were in effect in 2026, **the richest 1 percent would receive an average tax cut of about $36,300 and the next richest 4 percent would receive an average tax cut of about $7,200. All other groups would see a tax increase with the hike on the middle 20 percent at about $1,500 and the increase on the lowest-income 20 percent of Americans at about $800.** [...] Trump has offered several tax proposals, which are all included in these estimates: - Extending the temporary provisions in Trump’s 2017 tax law that will otherwise expire at the end of 2025, except for the $10,000 cap on State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions, which Trump says he would not extend - Exempting certain types of income from taxes (overtime pay, tips, and Social Security benefits) - Reducing the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 20 percent and then further reducing it to 15 percent for “companies that make their product in America” - Repealing tax credits enacted as part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act that provide incentives for the production and use of green energy - Imposing a new 20 percent tariff on imported goods, with a higher rate of 60 percent for goods from China [...] Measured as a share of income, the tax increases faced by most Americans would fall hardest on working-class families. [...] **The middle 20 percent of Americans would face a tax increase equal to 2.1 percent of their income, while the poorest 20 percent of Americans would face a tax increase equal to 4.8 percent of their income – all while the top 5 percent get a tax cut.**
Don't think most Invidious instances work any more, but you should be able to watch on [FreeTube](https://freetubeapp.io/).
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a decision barring emergency abortions that violate the law in Texas, which has one of the country’s strictest abortion bans. The justices did not detail their reasoning for keeping in place a lower court order that said hospitals cannot be required to provide pregnancy terminations if they would break Texas law. There were no publicly noted dissents. The decision comes weeks before a presidential election where abortion has been a key issue after the high court’s 2022 decision overturning the nationwide right to abortion. The justices rebuffed a Biden administration push to throw out the lower court order. The administration argues that under federal law hospitals must perform abortions if needed in cases where a pregnant patient’s health or life is at serious risk, even in states where it’s banned.
www.cbsnews.com
Today's the deadline for AK, AZ, AR, FL, GA, IN, KY, LA, MS, NM, OH, RI, SC, TN, TX. In addition to the obvious, we are voting for: State constitutional rights to abortion in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada, and South Dakota. Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin have initiatives on the ballot to ban noncitizens from voting. It's already illegal, but the initiatives will probably be used to harass and disenfranchise minorities and activists, if they pass. Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, D.C., Alaska, and Missouri will vote to adopt or prohibit ranked choice voting. Alaska, California, Massachusetts, and Missouri will vote to adopt a $15-18 minimum wage. And so on. [Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/2024_ballot_measures) has a complete list. [Go register to vote](https://www.vote.org/), or check your registration if you've already registered.