Law & Crime – Page 129 – The Tarbabys Blog

How Paramount buried a Vice documentary on Ron DeSantis at Guantanamo Bay

Semafor

How Paramount buried a Vice documentary on Ron DeSantis at Guantanamo Bay

Max Tani – July 20, 2023

The Scoop

Showtime slated “The Guantanamo Candidate,” a 30 minute-long episode of its Vice documentary series, for May 28.

The episode opens with a shot of the outside the US prison complex at the southern tip of Cuba, where Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis served as a lawyer from March 2006 to January 2007.

Vice reporters had secured on camera interviews with a former detainee, Mansoor Adayfi, and a guard at the prison, staff sergeant Joe Hickman. Both said they remembered seeing DeSantis at the prison during a controversial detainee hunger strike. The Vice crew traveled to Guantanamo Bay to attempt to try to speak to military staff, and made several attempts to ask DeSantis about the allegations directly, eventually confronting him at a press conference in Israel, according to a detailed description provided to Semafor.

But Showtime viewers who turned on their televisions May 28 never saw the episode. (They were treated to a re-run of the scripted drama Yellowjackets.)

Showtime and Vice cited “scheduling” in a statement after The Hollywood Reporter noticed the missing episode.

But in fact, two people familiar with the incident said, the Paramount-owned cable channel ditched the DeSantis episode over fears of the political consequences. One person briefed on the decision told Semafor that the company’s Washington lobbyist, DeDe Lea, raised concerns about the piece.

Showtime declined to comment on the decision to pull the episode.

“We not only stand behind our rigorous reporting but are proud of the incredible journalism showcased in this story,” a spokesperson for Vice, Elise Flick, told Semafor.

Know More

The politicized decision to kill the DeSantis episode came as Showtime’s parent company, Paramount, cut costs to reflect a gloomy streaming business. The company folded a diminished Showtime under the streaming umbrella Paramount+, and laid off a wave of staffers, including the executive who greenlit prestige unscripted shows and documentaries.

The new president Chris McCarthy, has a background in less expensive reality TV.

But the first sign of trouble for the DeSantis episode came on only Thursday, May 25 days before it was set to air.

The episode had already been vetted by Vice’s internal legal team, and returned by Showtime executives without any requests for changes. Both Showtime and Vice had already sent around promotional materials and screeners for the episode to reporters.

On Showtime’s site, the network said the episode contained allegations from “former detainees that he was present at force-feedings that were condemned as torture by the UN” raised the “role of Navy JAGs in the investigation of the detainee deaths.”

But just four days before the show was set to air, Vice received a note from Showtime’s post-production staff, which normally focuses on issues like color and sound. The production team told Vice “the broader network group teams are taking a deeper internal look at this Sunday’s episode, which will delay its premiere.”

Vice, which had just declared bankruptcy and was desperate to save anything it could, proceeded delicately. Subrata De, Vice’s EVP and global head of programming and documentary, and Vice’s showrunner Beverly Chase, sent a note to the production team at Showtime asking for more details. They told employees they would return to the DeSantis piece later in the season.

The new Showtime team didn’t respond to their inquiries, people familiar with the situation said. And Showtime quickly scrubbed promotion of the episode from its website.

When the Hollywood Reporter broke the news a week later that the episode had been shelved, Vice asked that the two sides work together to draft joint statements to give to reporters, and a spokesperson told reporters that “we are very much still in discussion about the scheduling of this episode. We are proud of our reporting and of our continuing partnership with Showtime.”

But within days, it became clear that Showtime was not still in discussion about the scheduling of the episode. Executives at the network stopped communicating with editorial employees at Vice including De and Chase. And immediately after the seventh episode aired, the company filed a motion in bankruptcy court to opt out of its contract to pay Vice.

Max’s view

Showtime’s decision to kill the DeSantis story has gotten lost amid the two companies’ other woes — Vice’s bankruptcy, Paramount’s scramble to cut expensive original programming.

But the episode is in fact a rare, and serious, glimpse at how a big media company killed a potentially controversial story. Perhaps they had reason to be fearful: DeSantis showed that he was willing to take on a much bigger and more influential media company, Disney.

And that kind of decision is made far more likely by the fragile state of the television business, where “the challenges are greater than I had anticipated,” as Disney CEO Bob Iger said earlier this month.

Both Vice and Paramount have spent the last several months sharply reducing costs, laying off staff and gutting the operations that produced critically-acclaimed work. And Vice’s bankruptcy presented a good opportunity for Showtime to claw back at least several million dollars at a moment when it is on a much tighter budgetary leash within Paramount.

When Vice was at the top of the world, Showtime executives may have thought twice about canceling an episode it didn’t particularly care for. Of course, Showtime wasn’t the distributor of the Vice docuseries at its peak. That would be HBO, which unceremoniously parted ways with the Vice weekly years ago when its parent company gave a similar edict: Trim the fat. And with it, the risk.

The View From Tallahassee

DeSantis has declined to discuss his time at Guantanamo recently, but the Washington Post reported that he discussed it in previous interviews. He had advised guards they could force-feed prisoners, he said.

He said in 2018 that he learned from the hunger strikes that detainees “are using things like detainee abuse offensively against us. It was a tactic, technique and procedure.”

Notable

“DeSantis had little authority to address these crises as a 27-year-old lieutenant at a notorious facility micromanaged from Washington. But it was a formative period for a career-minded officer who had enlisted hoping for a deployment to Guantánamo Bay, where he would come face to face with the realities of America’s least conventional war,” McClatchy reported.
DeSantis was present for the investigation of three apparent detainee suicides whose circumstances remain in dispute, The Guardian wrote.
“DeSantis was stationed at Guantanamo during a year marked by riots, hunger strikes and death,” according to the Independent.
Vice is now looking for a new home for the series, according to THR.

Donald Trump’s death wish for Hunter Biden

Salon

Donald Trump’s death wish for Hunter Biden

Chauncey DeVega – July 20, 2023

Donald Trump; Hunter Biden Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images

Donald Trump continues to threaten death, murder, and other mayhem upon his “enemies” or any individual(s) or group(s) who dare to oppose him and the neofascist MAGA movement. Last week, in a post on his Truth Social disinformation platform, Trump wished death upon Hunter Biden because President Joe Biden’s son was able to enter a plea deal in response to minor federal tax crimes.

Weiss is a COWARD, a smaller version of Bill Barr, who never had the courage to do what everyone knows should have been done. He gave out a traffic ticket instead of a death sentence. Because of the two Democrat Senators in Delaware, they got to choose and/or approve him. Maybe the judge presiding will have the courage and intellect to break up this cesspool of crime. The collusion and corruption is beyond description. TWO TIERS OF JUSTICE!

Trump’s death wish for Hunter Biden comes several weeks after Trump shared what he believed to be the address of former President Barack Obama’s home in Washington D.C. on his Truth Social platform. Trump’s intent was obvious: he wanted one of his cultists to assassinate or otherwise commit acts of serious violence against Barack Obama and likely his family. Trump would (almost) get his wish, when one of his followers, who was armed with several guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, apparently attempted to gain access to Obama. The man, named Taylor Taranto, bragged online about his plans to assassinate Obama. Taranto was also a participant in the Jan. 6 coup attempt and attack on the Capitol. Fortunately, the Secret Service stopped the would-be assassin before he could follow through on his nefarious plans.

The accused assassin was arraigned in a D.C. court where a judge showed him much more mercy and empathy than he likely deserves. However, Judge Zia Faruqui was correct when he said, with regret, that Taranto was following Trump’s “orders” when he allegedly targeted Obama.

As a practical matter, why would Donald Trump stop making violent threats?

As FBI agent Clarice Starling says of the serial killer known as Buffalo Bill in the film “The Silence of the Lambs”, “He’s got a real taste for it now, and he’s getting better at his work.”

Until very recently, Trump has never been held seriously responsible for his decades-long public crime spree that includes sexual assault as confirmed in the E. Jean Carrol civil case and a panoply of other antisocial and antihuman behavior. Trump attempted a coup on Jan. 6 that involved a lethal assault by his followers on the Capitol. He has repeatedly bragged about being able to kill someone in broad daylight and get away with it because of his popularity. At his rallies and other events Trump repeatedly encouraged his followers to engage in acts of violence against journalists, the news media, Black Lives Matters protesters, “Antifa” and others deemed to be “the enemy” because they are “not real Americans” like his MAGA followers.

Trump has publicly threatened, both explicitly and implicitly, the lives and safety of President Biden, Hillary Clinton, Special Counsel Jack Smith, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and the prosecutors and law enforcement who are trying to hold him accountable for his crimes. Trump’s main 2024 presidential campaign message is a promise that if elected there will be a “final battle”, a reign of terror and revenge against the Democrats, liberals, progressives and any other Americans who oppose the neofascist MAGA movement.

Of course, Trump’s violent and other pathological behavior has not disqualified or otherwise seriously hurt his quest to be the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee. In fact, the party and its voters are ever more united behind Donald Trump where his criminality and other aberrant behavior has made him more popular and not less.

The mainstream American news media largely ignored Taranto’s attempt to assassinate Barack Obama. Predictably, the news media did much the same in response to Donald Trump’s wishing death upon Hunter Biden.

Earlier this week, the New York Times reported on Trump and his cabal’s plans to eliminate any and all opposition to the regime through the normal process of institutional checks and balances by civil servants, the rule of law, and other democratic institutions if he takes back the White House in the 2024 Election. Trump would in essence become an American dictator. If such a nightmare scenario were to materialize, then a man who has a demonstrated and proven attraction to and capacity to engage in violence and destruction would have almost free rein to follow through on his most dark and evil impulses.

Trump cannot achieve his revolutionary goal of destroying America’s multiracial, pluralistic democracy – and the Constitutional order more broadly – by himself. He needs a political party, a movement and other allies and forces to achieve such an outcome. On this, historian Heather Cox Richardson warns in a recent issue of her newsletter how the Republican Party “appears to have fully embraced the antidemocratic ideology advanced by authoritarian leaders like Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán”:

They claim that the tenets of democracy—equality before the law, free speech, academic freedom, a market-based economy, immigration, and so on—weaken a nation by destroying a “traditional” society based in patriarchy and Christianity.
Instead of democracy, they have called for “illiberal” or “Christian” democracy, which uses the government to enforce their beliefs in a Christian, patriarchal order.

Trump leads a fascist-authoritarian-fake right-wing populist cult of personality. As such, Trump exerts a powerful if not inexorable amount of influence and control over his followers which translates into his violent impulses and behavior spreading across American society like a plague.

New research by The Lincoln Democracy Institute on political polarization and violence in the Age of Trump and beyond reinforces how severe America’s democracy crisis really is:

The survey found that extremism is born out of increasing polarization and the normalizing of extremist rhetoric. The right and left deal with their competing worldviews by directing their anger at the “other side”. Long-standing generational divides further feed into this: the baby boomers are more likely to be extremist and have ideological divides than any other generation. Other divides include generational experiences such as the end of the Cold War, relationships with technology, and the propensity to embrace cultural change.
This is all being fed by a new right wing media ecosystem that plays off the fears of its viewers and pushes them towards radicalization. Particularly troublesome is the new right extremist media that promotes election denialism and frequently pushes false narratives designed to anger their audience and the MAGA base.
“As the electorate is becoming more politically extremist, and some are radicalizing the threat of violence is growing exponentially,” said Trygve Olson, Survey author and Lincoln Democracy Institute Senior Advisor. “The lack of belief that a fair election is possible in 2024 is setting the stage for wholesale rejection of the results that could lead to violence during and after the election. This is a critical moment for democracy and it is imperative that the nation respond to the moment by supporting our democratic institutions and calling out bad actors.”

Donald Trump is 77 years old. He is not going to change. The greater concern in terms of American society and what happens in the years and decades to come – independent of Trump – is how the American people as a whole, the mainstream news media, and too many political elites have become so quickly used to and habituated to a former president, one of the most powerful people in the country, who routinely if not a daily basis threatens violence, death, mayhem and other harm upon his “enemies” in the rival political party and across society.

After the horrors of the Holocaust and World War II, social psychologists spent much time and energy trying to determine how an entire democratic and cosmopolitan society like Germany can quite literally go mad, intoxicated by violence and hatred in what would become a project of self-destruction.

One does not have to look to the past or abroad for answers: The Age of Trump and the rise of American neofascism is providing a direct and personal lesson in real-time for the American people in how such horrors unfold and become normalized.

In an attempt to find some clarity during these horrible years, I have repeatedly returned to Milton Mayer’s important book “They Thought They Were Free: The Germans 1933-45.” The following two passages have proven to be remarkably helpful:

“But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D….”
“In the body politic as in the body personal, nonresistance to the milder indulgences paves the way for nonresistance to the deadlier.”

The Trumpocene and what it birthed has done great harm to us as individuals, collectively, and as a society.

We the Americans are very sick right now and most don’t even realize it. This includes the many tens of millions of Americans in the MAGA movement, the Republican fascists, and the larger white right who are very sick but believe that they are in fact healthy. The human mind’s capacity for denial and delusion is that extreme.

Grocery prices are bringing many Florida residents to their wit’s end. What can we do?

Pensacola News Journal

Grocery prices are bringing many Florida residents to their wit’s end. What can we do?

Edward Bunch III, Pensacola News Journal – July 20, 2023

High food costs are stretching the budgets of consumers across Florida. In the face of inflation, housing issues and insurance crisis, many residents have enough on their plates before ringing up their usual groceries for more expensive receipts than they are accustomed to.

Residents of Pensacola are likely no stranger to the slow uptick on prices that inflation has created. Price fluctuation of gas, food and more commodities have been an issue so important that it’s become a mainstay in the policymaking platforms for local, state and national public official candidates. Across the state, Floridians are receiving the short end of the stick and scrambling to find solutions.

Wage problems and inflation: Pensacola’s wages lag behind national average as Florida becomes inflation hotspot

What is the inflation rate?

Inflation in the U.S. stood at 3% in June, its lowest point since early 2021 when the world was still reeling from the complications of the pandemic. Despite this, Florida’s inflation rate remains above its peers at 6.9% in the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach areas. Data outside of these areas, including Pensacola, were not included in the report.

Data provided by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress indicates that Florida’s inflation rates surpassed the national average nearly two years ago in November 2021. The state has maintained its position relative to the rest of the country.

In May 2022, workers in the Pensacola area had an average hourly wage of $24.37 compared to the national average of $29.76, an 18% discrepancy.

How expensive are groceries in Florida?

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s 2020-21 consumer survey shows that the average Floridian spends nearly $7,000 on groceries, with meats, fruits and vegetables being the most expensive products bought from the store.

Floridians are also spending double the amount of money for groceries than they spend on food outside of their home. According to the same survey, food is the third-highest expense for Floridians behind costs for transportation and housing.

Despite food and groceries being the most crucial product for consumers everywhere, housing remains the biggest expense for Floridians and has likely become the highest priority.

Squatter’s rights? Many have vacated one Florida homeless camp, but may invoke squatter’s rights at another

How bad is the homeless problem in Florida?

Florida’s homeless population totaled at nearly 26,000 individuals last year, third-highest number in the nation according to the Annual Homelessness Assessment Report and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Research conducted for the U.S. Census determined that Florida had surpassed Idaho in 2022 to become the fastest-growing state in the nation, a distinction Florida hasn’t earned since 1957. Despite Florida’s population increasing by 1.9%, the costs of living and inflation rates across the state could suggest that many newcomers may struggle with maintaining their standard of life soon after arrival.

Much of Florida’s housing inventory was scooped up following the implementation of low-interest rates which allowed many to purchase their first home or refinance their existing one. This drove up home prices, another factor in the current housing crisis.

Considering the issues brought about by the insurance industry’s recent decisions regarding policy holders and their ability to remain insured while living in Florida, the implications of dealing with inflation on multiple fronts has the potential to be debilitating for residents.

Will grocery prices go down this year?

According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, grocery prices have risen by four percent since May 2022. Despite the livelihood of families being a priority for Florida’s government officials, it is unclear whether there will be meaningful reductions in the price of groceries across the state.

A recent protest was planned by truckers with a distaste for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent immigration bill SB1718 that could have crippled the state’s food distribution network. Although the protest bore little fruit due to many of the truckers needing the hours, some are questioning what state officials plan to do to combat the issue without fanning the flames.

How can I get affordable groceries?

Here are some ways shoppers can save on groceries:

Join reward programs for perks like cashback or member-exclusive deals. Chains like Publix and Target have free-to-join programs which allow you to clip digital coupons and eventually personalizes them to your needs and usual items.
Speaking of coupons, utilizing both digital and physical coupons can save you extra as well. Buy one, get one offers can help stock up your shelves for an extended period of time.
Check often for sales, either seasonal or markup, that can offer similar buy one, get one deals.
If possible, purchasing a membership at stores like Sam’s Club or BJ’s can save time and money intended for your next groceries trip. Buying in bulk can feel expensive upfront, but families can save in the long run even with the membership costs. Sam’s Club has two membership levels with varying perks that costs either $50 or $110 annually. BJ’s also has two membership options that cost $55 and $110 respectively. Both stores offer a credit card alongside its higher-priced membership option that rewards you with two percent cashback from purchases at the store and more helpful perks.
Freezing food is an effective way to store food for longer periods of time. If a sale or bulk purchase is more than one can handle at the moment, saving it for later is better than letting it spoil.
Buy fruits and vegetables while they’re in season, making them more nutritious and cheaper overall.
Take advantage of cheaper generic items, they often have the same ingredients as their name brand counterparts.
Comparing prices across stores can save you money at your preferred grocer with a price-matching system.
Re-grow vegetables like celery, potatoes and green/white onion at home and slowly take them off your grocery list.
Don’t buy food items that were prepared previously before being packaged. Not only are they more expensive, sometimes they are prepared due to being close to unsafe for sale. Items like meat, vegetables and cheese are cheaper before being prepared into something else.
Make a budget that you can reference or stick to in order to shop smarter.
If you’re not much of a chef, many restaurants and fast-food chains have implemented rewards systems for purchases that may save consumers some money in the long run.

What are Florida’s public officials doing about inflation?

DeSantis signed the ‘Live Local Act’ earlier this year to incentivize new housing development and assist more Floridians with getting access to housing in their communities.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida, lays blame for inflation at the feet of the president. “With the Biden administration overspending, the principal mandate for Republicans is to curb inflation,” Gaetz said in an interview with NewsNation.

Nearly two years after Texas’ six-week abortion ban, more infants are dying

CNN

Nearly two years after Texas’ six-week abortion ban, more infants are dying

Isabelle Chapman – July 20, 2023

Texas’ abortion restrictions – some of the strictest in the country – may be fueling a sudden spike in infant mortality as women are forced to carry nonviable pregnancies to term.

Some 2,200 infants died in Texas in 2022 – an increase of 227 deaths, or 11.5%, over the previous year, according to preliminary infant mortality data from the Texas Department of State Health Services that CNN obtained through a public records request. Infant deaths caused by severe genetic and birth defects rose by 21.6%. That spike reversed a nearly decade-long decline. Between 2014 and 2021, infant deaths had fallen by nearly 15%.

In 2021, Texas banned abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy. When the Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights the following summer, a trigger law in the state banned all abortions other than those intended to protect the life of the mother.

The increase in deaths could partly be explained by the fact that more babies are being born in Texas. One recent report found that in the final nine months of 2022, the state saw nearly 10,000 more births than expected prior to its abortion ban – an estimated 3% increase.

But multiple obstetrician-gynecologists who focus on high-risk pregnancies told CNN that Texas’ strict abortion laws likely contributed to the uptick in infant deaths.

“We all knew the infant mortality rate would go up, because many of these terminations were for pregnancies that don’t turn into healthy normal kids,” said Dr. Erika Werner, the chair of obstetrics and gynecology at Tufts Medical Center. “It’s exactly what we all were concerned about.”

The issue of forcing women to carry out terminal and often high-risk pregnancies is at the core of a lawsuit filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights, with several women – who suffered difficult pregnancies or infant deaths shortly after giving birth – testifying in Travis County court this week.

One witness became so emotional while testifying Wednesday that she began to vomit on the stand.

After the court called a recess she explained that the reaction is a response to the emotional trauma she endured: “I vomit when there’s certain parts that happen that kind of just makes my body remember.”

Another sobbed as she described feeling afraid to visit a Texas doctor after receiving an abortion out of state. A third spoke tearfully about waiting for her baby’s heart to stop beating so her doctors could provide an abortion she desperately needed.

Prior to the recent abortion restrictions, Texas banned the procedure after 20 weeks. This law gave parents more time to learn crucial information about a fetus’s brain formation and organ development, which doctors begin to test for at around 15 weeks.

Samantha Casiano, a plaintiff in the suit filed against Texas, wished she’d had more time to make the decision.

“If I was able to get the abortion with that time, I think it would have meant a lot to me because my daughter wouldn’t have suffered,” Casiano told CNN after testifying Wednesday.

‘You have no options’

Anti-abortion demonstrators gather in the rotunda at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, in March of 2021. - Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/AP — Anti-abortion demonstrators gather in the rotunda at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, in March of 2021. – Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/AP

When Casiano was 20 weeks pregnant, a routine scan came back with devastating news: Her baby would be stillborn or die shortly after birth.

The fetus had anencephaly, a rare birth defect that keeps the brain and skull from developing during pregnancy. Babies with this condition are often stillborn, though they sometimes live a few hours or days. Many women around the country who face the prospect choose abortion, two obstetrician-gynecologists told CNN.

But Casiano lived in Texas, where state legislators had recently banned most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. She couldn’t afford to travel out of the state for the procedure.

“You have no options. You will have to go through with your pregnancy,” Casiano’s doctor told her, she claimed in the lawsuit.

In March, Casiano gave birth to her daughter Halo. After gasping for air for four hours, the baby died, Casiano said during her testimony on Wednesday.

“All she could do was fight to try to get air. I had to watch my daughter go from being pink to red to purple. From being warm to cold,” said Casiano. “I just kept telling myself and my baby that I’m so sorry that this had to happen to you.”

Casiano and 14 others – including two doctors – are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. They allege the abortion ban has denied them or their patients access to necessary obstetrical care. The plaintiffs are asking the courts to clarify when doctors can make medical exceptions to the state’s ban.

Casiano and two other plaintiffs testified Wednesday about hoping to deliver healthy babies but instead learning their lives or pregnancies were in danger.

Plaintiffs Anna Zargarian, Lauren Miller, Lauren Hall, and Amanda Zurawski at the Texas State Capitol after filing a lawsuit on behalf of Texans harmed by the state's abortion ban on March 7 in Austin, Texas. - Rick Kern/Getty Images/FILE — Plaintiffs Anna Zargarian, Lauren Miller, Lauren Hall, and Amanda Zurawski at the Texas State Capitol after filing a lawsuit on behalf of Texans harmed by the state’s abortion ban on March 7 in Austin, Texas. – Rick Kern/Getty Images/FILE

“This was just supposed to be a scan day,” Casiano told the court. “It escalated to me finding out my daughter was going to die.”

Lawyers representing the state argued Wednesday that the plaintiffs’ doctors were to blame, saying they misinterpreted the law and failed to provide adequate care for such high-risk pregnancies.

“Plaintiffs will not and cannot provide any evidence of any medical provider in the state of Texas being prosecuted or otherwise penalized for performance of an abortion using the emergency medical exemption,” a lawyer said during the state’s opening statement.

Kylie Beaton, another plaintiff, also had to watch her baby die. Beaton, who didn’t testify this week, learned during a 20-week scan that something was wrong with her baby’s brain, according to the suit.

The doctor diagnosed the fetus with alobar holoprosencephaly, a condition where the two hemispheres of the brain don’t properly divide. Babies with this condition are often stillborn or die soon after birth.

Beaton’s doctor told her he couldn’t provide an abortion unless she was severely ill, or the fetus’s heart stopped. Beaton and her husband sought to obtain an abortion out of state. However, the fetus’s head was enlarged due to its condition, and the only clinic that would perform an abortion charged up to $15,000. Beaton and her husband couldn’t afford it.

Instead, Beaton gave birth to a son she named Grant. The baby cried constantly, wouldn’t eat, and couldn’t be held upright for fear it would put too much pressure on his head, according to the suit. Four days later, Grant died.

Maternal mortality

Amanda Zurawski of Austin, Texas, center, is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. - Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP — Amanda Zurawski of Austin, Texas, center, is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. – Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP

Experts say that abortion bans in states like Texas lead to increased risk for both babies and mothers.

Maternal mortality has long been a top concern for doctors and health-rights activists. Even before the Supreme Court decision, the United States had the highest maternal mortality rate among wealthy nations, one study found.

Amanda Zurawski, the lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, testified Wednesday that her water broke 18 weeks into her pregnancy, putting her at high risk for a life-threatening infection. Zurawski’s baby likely wouldn’t survive.

But the fetus still had a heartbeat, and so doctors said they were unable to terminate the pregnancy. She received an emergency abortion only after her condition worsened and she went into septic shock.

Zurawski described during Wednesday’s hearing how her family visited the hospital, fearing it would be the last time they would see her. Zurawski has argued that had she been able to obtain an abortion, her life wouldn’t have been in jeopardy in the same way.

“I blame the people who support these bans,” Zurawski said.

Zurawski previously said the language in Texas’ abortion laws is “incredibly vague, and it leaves doctors grappling with what they can and cannot do, what health care they can and cannot provide.”

Pregnancy is dangerous, and forcing a woman to carry a non-viable pregnancy to term is unnecessarily risky when it’s clear the baby will not survive, argued Dr. Mae-Lan Winchester, an Ohio maternal-fetal medicine specialist.

“Pregnancy is one of the most dangerous things a person will ever go through,” Winchester said. “Putting yourself through that risk without any benefit of taking a baby home at the end, it’s … risking maternal morbidity and mortality for nothing.”

CNN’s Casey Tolan and Daniel A. Medina contributed to this report.

Precious: Biden uses clips of Marjorie Taylor Greene speech for new campaign ad

CNN

Biden uses clips of Marjorie Taylor Greene speech for new campaign ad

Shania Shelton – July 19, 2023

Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg/Getty Images

President Joe Biden on Tuesday posted a campaign ad promoting his legislative wins by using clips from a recent speech GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene gave at the Turning Point Action Conference where she compared Biden to Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

“Joe Biden had the largest public investment in social infrastructure and environmental programs, that is actually finishing what FDR started, that LBJ expanded on, and Joe Biden is attempting to complete,” Greene said in the video set to cheerful music.

The ad continues with another clip from the speech Greene gave over the weekend in which she explains the Biden administration’s investments. “Programs to address education, medical care, urban problems, rural poverty, transportation, Medicare, Medicaid labor unions, and he still is working on it,” Greene said.

In response to Greene’s speech, the White House tweeted on Monday: “Caught us. President Biden is working to make life easier for hardworking families.”

The congresswoman from Georgia – who was recently ejected from the House Freedom Caucus – tweeted on Tuesday, “This is really what Joe Biden approves,” in response to the campaign ad alongside a longer clip of her speech. In the new clip, she discusses economics in the country, explaining that “we are now $32 trillion in debt with record high homelessness, 40-year record inflation.”

The Biden administration has been promoting “Bidenomics” over the past few weeks – an economic theory which rejects the idea of “trickle-down” policies in favor of focusing on the middle class. It is expected to be a centerpiece of Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign.

The president first embraced the idea in June at a time when the administration was searching for a solution to Americans’ negative perception of the economy and a vehicle to take credit for an economy that is increasingly trending in the right direction.

Kansas Republicans have managed to sink nearly as low as infamous and heartless duke

The Kansas City Star

Kansas Republicans have managed to sink nearly as low as infamous and heartless duke

Charles Hammer – July 19, 2023

I was impelled to write this column by a recent history book: “Samuel Pepys and the Strange Wrecking of the Gloucester,” by Nigel Pickford.

The war frigate Gloucester sank in 1682 during a storm off the British coast, imperiling not just its lowly crew but many nobles and — above all — James, Duke of York, who would soon be King of England. James escaped through the frigate’s big rear windows into his own lifeboat.

The tale reminded me of a column I wrote nearly five years ago. In it, I praised Kansas Republican leaders for being more generous to the poor than were the British grandees who starved millions in the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s, forcing scurvy-ravaged millions more onto “ghost ships” sailing for America. Our Kansas Republicans are better people than Sir Charles Trevelyn, the British official who cheered the Potato Famine on.

“The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson,” Sir Charles wrote. “That calamity must not be too much mitigated. …The real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people.”

OK, but just how much better are today’s Republican leaders? In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, millionaire President Donald Trump tweeted moral criticism of the suffering Puerto Ricans.

“They want everything done for them,” he groused.

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley once justified cutting estate taxes on the rich as a way to honor “the people that are investing, as opposed to those that are just spending every darn penny they have, whether it’s on booze or women or movies.”

Every darn penny they have? Precisely because of Kansas Republicans, our poor folks have few pennies to blow on women and booze. We stand as a stingy island in the middle of four surrounding states — three of them Republican — that have raised the minimum wage above the lousy national $7.25 hourly.

Citizens of Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma dodged past their leaders with initiative petitions that permitted a vote on the issue. These same three — against the will of fulminating Republican politicians — also voted to expand Medicaid to help the poor.

But in miserly Republican Kansas, we don’t tolerate voter initiatives. Nor do we suffer throwing more money away on doctors for the poor. Kansas stands rock solid among America’s 10 states that refuse to expand Medicaid. It was killed once by the Kansas senate, a second time when vetoed by then Gov. Sam Brownback. An aide to Brownback, Melika Willoughby, explained:

“This isn’t just bad policy, this is morally reprehensible…”

Morals again. Morals are very important to Republicans.

Here’s one good thing about Kansas legislators: By stiffing our own poor folks, Republicans helped fund care for the needy in the 40 states that did expand Medicaid. Our Kansas legislators thus have nobly given away billions in free federal dollars to lavish on health care for the poor of other states.

Republicans demand poor folks work a job to get care under Medicaid. But if a single mother with two children earns $8,751 a year, we cut her off because she is too rich.

So how moral were those fancy rich Britons in 1682 as the frigate Gloucester battled the raging Atlantic ocean? As I said, the Duke of York escaped through the frigate’s rear windows into his own lifeboat, leading Sir John Berry later to write:

“His highness took as many persons of quality with him in the boat as she could carry.”

Persons of quality. Of course. Nearly all of the “quality” was saved. An estimated 130 to 250 others drowned.

“But here I cannot pass in silence,” one observer later wrote, “that those that could swim made up to the Boat where the Duke was, and grappled on the sides thereof, endeavoring to get into it, but their hands were ordered to be cut off…and thereby they were deprived not only of getting into the Boats that came from other Ships, but also of the ability of swimming.”

Surely, then, our Kansas Republican legislators must be better than that.

Or are they?

Opinion: I’m a conservative who’s waiting for Republicans to come to their senses

CNN – Opinion

Opinion: I’m a conservative who’s waiting for Republicans to come to their senses

Yaffa Fredrick – July 19, 2023

Editor’s Note: Adam Kinzinger is a CNN senior political commentator and a former Republican congressman from Illinois. He served 10 years on the House foreign affairs committee. Kinzinger is also a lieutenant colonel and pilot in the Air National Guard. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

Traditionally committed to national security, global stability and law and order, my Republican Party — yes, I am still a Republican — is now weakening on all three fronts. In doing so, it is fulfilling the cliche that extremists on the right and left eventually come together, like a snake eating its tail.

Adam Kinzinger - CNN — Adam Kinzinger – CNN

That’s not only bad for America, but bad for the prospects of the GOP — particularly in light of the fact that the party’s leading 2024 presidential contender is currently under both federal and state indictment and facing further potential charges in Washington, DC, and Georgia (all of which he denies wrongdoing in).

The radical right has embraced positions on these bedrock Republican principles to try to lock in the support of the most fervent members of the base. But these stances will almost certainly doom them with the moderates and swing voters who turned out for President Joe Biden in 2020. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better way to ensure that the GOP won’t win back the presidency.

Let’s start with the GOP’s decision to insert culture wars into a bill — the National Defense Authorization Act — that funds every function of the Defense Department, in a manner that all but guaranteed alienating a voting majority in America.

Among other maneuvers, the extreme conservatives in the House want to ban a Defense Department policy that covers travel costs for service members who must seek abortions out of state, extending an existing provision that provides funds to those who must get specialized care not available near their posts. The Pentagon put this extension in place when some states limited or banned abortion access after the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion last year.

How do I know this amendment is politically toxic? First, over the last several years, there has been steady public support for abortion rights, which now includes more than one-third of all Republicans, according to Pew Research Center. Second, there’s the unseemly effort to stop funding for the military with an amendment that has nothing to do with defense. Granted, others try to attach similar off-topic amendments to bills. But they are not usually as likely to torpedo getting necessary funds to the Pentagon.

Thanks to overwhelming GOP support, the anti-abortion travel reimbursement amendment made it into the House bill. Republicans also added limits on transgender care and prohibitions on programs related to diversity. All three fit the extreme right movement’s so-called “anti-woke” agenda, which seeks to block the government from supporting various groups of Americans on the basis of race, sexual orientation and gender identity.

GOP presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has made anti-wokeness, opposition to abortion and criticism of rights for transgender people central to his appeal to primary voters, but there’s little evidence that his stand will win over people in a general election. And House members who cling to his message in an effort to win primary voters may very well suffer defeat in a general election.

Unfortunately, further extremist (and self-defeating) mischief is taking place in the Senate, where Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has put a hold on military nominations. Under the Senate’s arcane rules, Tuberville has been blocking consideration of some 265 military officers for several months. His reason? The Defense Department’s travel support for service members seeking out-of-state abortion services.

Tuberville’s grandstanding won’t persuade the Senate to change the Pentagon policy, but as an Air National Guard lieutenant colonel, I can tell you that blocking promotions is bad for the smooth operation of the chain of command at the heart of America’s national security structure. It’s also bad for morale. And it’s personally insulting to the men and women who are willing to sacrifice so much for this country.

But these culture war issues aren’t the only threat this crowd of extremists is posing to global stability. Last week, they tried unsuccessfully to tie up the defense bill by trying to scale back US aid to Ukraine by hundreds of millions of dollars.

As much of the world understands, Ukraine is in a fight for its life against a Russian military that invaded in February 2022. The Russian attack was unprovoked and pitted the much larger country, run by the autocratic leader Vladimir Putin, against a democracy that has thus far been able to defend itself, thanks in large part to US aid.

The defense of democracy has long been a conservative ideal, and that includes standing with our allies under attack. It’s hard to see the opposition to aid as anything other than the betrayal of an ally and friend.

Although the House ultimately voted down the amendment to limit aid to Ukraine, the fact that it was even introduced shows just how out of step much of the Republican Party is with the public on the issue of Ukraine. According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll from last month, 65% of Americans support the US arming Ukraine — including 81% of Democrats, 56% of Republicans and 57% of independents. In that same poll, large majorities of Americans said they would support a US presidential candidate who would continue to provide strong military aid to Ukraine.

And then there’s the hostility these GOP extremists are directing at law enforcement, traditionally a wellspring of Republican support. This newfound animosity was on full view last week when FBI Director Christopher Wray appeared before the House Judiciary Committee.

Committee Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio and several equally exercised Republicans members attacked a “weaponized” bureau for serving as an anti-conservative attack dog. Jordan and others have been using this word — “weaponization” — to argue, without solid evidence, that the federal government in general is pursuing an anti-conservative agenda. Echoing leftists who call for defunding the police, the House’s right-wing extremists want to slash the FBI’s budget.

The attacks on Wray revolved around hot-button campaign issues, including the investigations into former President Donald Trump’s handling of top-secret documents, the plea agreement in the case of Hunter Biden’s tax crimes and the FBI’s surveillance efforts. At one point, finger-pointing Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said the FBI “deserves better than you” to Wray.

Following Trump’s example, Wray’s congressional interrogators treated him with the disrespect you might expect from members of the radical left in the 1960s. I’m certain that as they mimicked the former president, they were attempting to court his voters; but I saw House members leading their party into a political wilderness where moderate voices may just join Democrats to end the GOP’s control of the House.

It is a display of sheer political malpractice for any Republican to suggest cutting FBI funding. While the left-wing’s call to “defund” the police has been much derided, a Gallup poll from last October found rising public support for the FBI. The agency is now seen favorably by 79% of Democrats — and 50% of Americans overall.

As appalling and politically misguided as the far-right’s behavior has been, most Republicans in both the House and Senate have not been inclined to oppose it directly. They obviously fear losing the support of Trump and his followers. But I think this choice is short-sighted and may ultimately backfire.

Despite his lead in the polls, Trump does not have a lock on the 2024 presidential nomination. He did not win the presidency the last time he ran, and it’s clear that he has been a drag on GOP senators and representatives who have campaigned in the years since.

On this evidence, I’d say that the extremists are hurting, not helping, the national Republican Party. At some point, more and more normal Republicans will see the damage they are doing. In the meantime, conservatives like me will wait for our party to come to its senses.

Texas ranked worst state to live in the US, see where other states stand

USA Today

Texas ranked worst state to live in the US, see where other states stand

Amethyst Martinez and Isabelle Butera – July 19, 2023

How does life in your state compare to the rest of America?

CNBC released its rankings of the best and worst states to live in the United States last week.

Its rankings come from the network’s yearly research on the best states for business in 2023. One of the 10 criteria for the list is Life, Health & Inclusion, from which CNBC determines the best and worst states to live.

CNBC allots 350 possible points to each state, measuring categories such as per capita crime rates, environmental quality, health care and worker protections.

The research also examines anti-discrimination laws, voting rights and access to childcare. Surveys indicate a large percentage of women consider reproductive rights in deciding where they are willing to live and work, so CNBC includes abortion laws in this category.

In an aerial vies, buildings in the Dallas skyline are illuminated in blue Thursday, April 9, 2020. Cities and buildings across the nation were lighted in blue to show support for those fighting COVID-19. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP) ORG XMIT: TXDAM321

Texas ranked the worst state to live in the US

Texas has received the number one spot on a not-so-pleasant list: The top 10 worst places in America to live and work in 2023.

While Texas landed at number six on CNBC’s yearly America’s Top States for Business study, the state scored significantly low in one category: Life, Health & Inclusion. Factors in this category include:

crime rates
environmental quality
health care
quality and availability of childcare
inclusiveness in state laws such as reproductive rights, protections against discrimination and voting rights.

Texas received 53 out of 350 points for its 2023 Life, Health & Inclusion score, giving it an F in its Top States grade and the lowest nationwide, securing its number one spot on the list.

CNBC did mention the boom in economic opportunity across the state. In the overall Top States for Business study, Texas received sixth place, with North Carolina taking the number one spot.

Top 10 worst states to live and work

The rest of the states that landed on the top 10 worst states to live and work for 2023 were:

Texas
Oklahoma
Louisiana
South Carolina and Alabama (tie)
—
Missouri
Indiana
Tennessee
Arkansas
Florida

Vermont ranked the best state to live in the US

By contrast, Vermont won the acclaimed spot of the best place to live. Residents are statistically more stress-free and healthy. With the beautiful Green Mountains, Vermont offers the best air quality in the United States. The state provides the most accessible childcare, broad anti-discrimination protections and easy access to voting.

CNBC gave Vermont an A+ in Life, Health and Inclusion. The state’s largest weakness is worker protections, which are less stringent compared to some other states.

Top 10 best states to live and work

Vermont
Maine
New Jersey
Minnesota
Hawaii
Oregon
Washington
Massachusetts and Colorado (tie)
—
Connecticut

America’s top states for Business

CNBC examines on 86 metrics in 10 broad categories of business competitiveness when assigning its rankings. The research examines the workforce, infrastructure, cost of doing business, state laws and education, among other criteria.

Here is CNBC’s ranking for 2023.

North Carolina
Virginia
Tennessee
Georgia
Minnesota
Texas
Washington
Florida
Utah
Michigan

DeSantis has boasted about people flocking to Florida, but the transplants have helped the state reach inflation levels that are twice as high as the national average

Insider

DeSantis has boasted about people flocking to Florida, but the transplants have helped the state reach inflation levels that are twice as high as the national average

Kelsey Vlamis – July 18, 2023

An aerial view of Coconut Grove, Florida. — Coconut Grove, a neighborhood in Miami, Florida.Demetrius Theune/Getty Images

Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, but inflation is also booming there.
Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach had the highest inflation of any large metro area in April.
High inflation and home insurance prices are among the costs that transplants may not anticipate.

Florida is hot.

It’s currently experiencing the scorching heat impacting many US states and for years it’s been among the hottest places to move.

But it’s also become a hotspot for inflation.

Some areas of the Sunshine State face the highest inflation rates in the US, even more than twice as high as the national average, which hit 3% in June, the lowest since early 2021.

The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-West Palm Beach metro area had a rate of 9% for the year that ended in April, according to the Consumer Price Index. It was the highest rate of any metro area with more than 2.5 million residents. The area’s inflation rate was also high for the year that ended in June, at 6.9%. Another Florida metro area, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, had an inflation rate of 7.3% for the year that ended in May.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has blasted President Joe Biden over inflation.

He has also bragged that leftist ideologies in other states have pushed people away and driven them to Florida, but the state in part has its recent transplants to thank for the rising prices.

Amanda Phalin, an economist at the University of Florida, told CBS Miami that the state’s growing population and increased demand for housing have driven up prices. “A lot of people are still coming to Florida because the economy is really strong, and many like the fact that we don’t have an income tax like in New York, for example,” she said.

Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, but residents moving for perceived economic benefits may not realize the impact of higher prices. There’s also another cost of moving to Florida that transplants may not anticipate: steep homeowners insurance.

The Guardian reported the state is facing a crisis thanks to skyrocketing premiums for hurricane coverage. A 68-year-old resident who has lived in Florida for 30 years told the outlet if her homeowner insurance premium rises any more she “may have to sell up and move to another state.”

Dad Shares The Honest Moment When He Realized He Didn’t Want To Raise His 4-Year-Old Daughter In America Anymore

Your Tango

Dad Shares The Honest Moment When He Realized He Didn’t Want To Raise His 4-Year-Old Daughter In America Anymore

Nia Tipton – July 18, 2023

A dad candidly opened up about the moment he realized he didn’t want to stay in America and raise his child.

In a TikTok video, Luna Ashley filmed her husband’s opinion on how he felt about America after explaining that he had been hesitant to move abroad and leave their hometown in St. Louis, Missouri. However, after taking a trip to a European country, it didn’t take Ashley’s husband long to change his mind.

He shared that the lack of safety in America convinced him to raise his 4-year-old daughter out of the country.

In Ashley’s video, she explained that her husband had been on the fence about moving to Spain, while she had been expressing interest in moving out of the country for some time now. “He did not want to move abroad. What changed your mind?” Ashley asked her husband while the two sat in their car.

Before deciding to move to Spain, Ashley and her husband had taken a trip to the country to visit. While they were there, her husband witnessed something that immediately changed his perspective about living in America.

He recalled the two of them being at a crowded coffee shop in Spain, and originally being from St. Louis, her husband had been a bit nervous about the crowd. “There’s a ton of people walking around. Being from St. Louis, that’s not a very comfortable place for me to be in,” he said.

Probably sensing her husband’s nerves, he recalled Ashley turning toward him and telling him that no one in this crowd has any guns. “You turn to me and say, ‘Have you seen all these people?’ And you’re like, ‘None of them have guns.'”

As soon as he heard his wife say that, he instantly realized that the fear of gun violence in America was something that had weighed heavily on his chest as someone who had grown up in the country and was now raising his 4-year-old daughter in it too.

“I realized this weight that I had been carrying around my whole life wasn’t necessary. Like what we think is normal is not normal,” he continued.

The laws surrounding owning a firearm are vastly different in Spain compared to Missouri.

When it comes to citizens being able to own a gun, the laws in place are not similar in the slightest between Spain and St. Louis, Missouri.

Spain has some of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in the world and people in the country are only allowed to own a handgun if they are in verifiable danger. On top of that, the possession of machine guns, submachine guns, and any other kind of automatic weapons is strictly forbidden except for military personnel in Spain.

When it comes to Missouri, the state is a permitless carry state as well as a shall-issue state. There is no permit, background check, or firearms registration required when buying a handgun from a private individual.

There is also a growing number of people in America who feel unsafe in the country. According to data acquired by SafeWise, the United States’ rate of high daily concern about safety jumped three points in 2021 — from 47% to 50%.

Following suit, the percentage of Americans who feel safe in their state fell five points year over year, from 55% in 2020 to 50% in 2021.

In the comments section, many people shared the same opinion about feeling unsafe living in America.

“We lived in Japan for 3 years. Feeling safe in any neighborhood or at any time of day or night was amazing,” one TikTok user shared.

Another user added, “For real though! Now that my kid is starting kindergarten, I feel even more anxiety. I’m desperate to find a way out.”

“Been on a vacation in the UK for a month, and I’m convinced that even if I don’t move here right away, I will be moving here once I have kids,” a third user pointed out.

A fourth user chimed in, “We currently live in Germany and it took about a month to realize that that’s what felt better. Like just feeling safe is such a relief!”

Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.