USA News and Discussions

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[Time_Traveller]

America’s Far Right Is Calling for Civil War in Ireland

DEC 1, 2023

“Ireland is on the brink of civil war,” white nationalist Nick Fuentes declared Monday during his show on Rumble. “It’s going to be ugly.”

Ireland is not on the brink of a civil war, but riots did break out in Dublin last week following a stabbing outside a school that left three children and two adults hospitalized. Despite an unknown attack motive, the situation spiraled.

Ireland’s far-right community quickly claimed that this proved immigrants pose an inherent danger to Irish society: Within minutes of the stabbing, far-right Telegram channels lit up with questions about the attacker’s ethnicity. It was eventually reported that the attacker was a naturalized Irish citizen who came to Ireland from Algeria in 2003. Less than two hours later, well-known figures within the Irish far-right community were organizing their followers to meet up in Dublin’s city center that evening. The riots quickly turned violent with police cars, buses, and trams set on fire. Dozens of shops were looted, and a number of police officers were injured. In total, 34 people were arrested on November 23.

Ireland’s own far-right community, like the far-right in the US, has been fueling anti-immigrant sentiments in the country for years. And this dark international alliance of far-right, anti-asylum American and Irish influencers is unsurprising. During his show, Fuentes, the leader of the America First movement, said that Conor McGregor, an Irish MMA star who called for war in Ireland in response to a report that noncitizens could vote in Irish elections prior to last week’s Dublin riot, should “rise up.”

McGregor, Fuentes said, needed to “salvage the country because it’s either going to be the Irish or it’s going to be the blacks … only one side is going to come out of this alive.”

https://www.wired.com/story/far-right-c ... civil-war/

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[firestar464]

Looks like the article was deleted, and the WaPress isn't a good source anyway.

Fortunately Politico also covers this.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/0 ... r-00129753

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Representative Kevin McCarthy, the Ousted Speaker, Announces He’s Leaving Congress
by Scott Wong and Sahil Kapur
December 6, 2023

Introduction:

(NBC) WASHINGTON — Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who this fall became the first speaker to be ousted from power in the middle of a congressional term, said Wednesday he will resign from office at the end of this month.

His exit is a blow to his successor, Speaker Mike Johnson, and House Republicans, further cutting the already narrow GOP majority and making passing legislation in 2024 even more challenging.

"No matter the odds, or personal cost, we did the right thing. That may seem out of fashion in Washington these days, but delivering results for the American people is still celebrated across the country," McCarthy, R-Calif., wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.

“It is in this spirit that I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started,” he said.

"I will continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office," McCarthy added. "The Republican Party is expanding every day, and I am committed to lending my experience to support the next generation of leaders."

Read more here: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congr ... na128139

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Adults can now legally possess and grow marijuana in Ohio - but there's nowhere to buy it
https://apnews.com/article/ohio-legaliz ... 9f491b3995

By SAMANTHA HENDRICKSON and JULIE CARR SMYTH
Updated 12:15 PM CST, December 7, 2023

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohioans woke up Thursday in a land of recreational marijuana limbo, in which adults can legally grow and possess cannabis at home, but cannot legally buy it.

That combination of factors related to a citizen-initiated statue voters approved in November “is a recipe for disaster,” Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday night. He urged passage of a compromise bill setting parameters for carrying out Issue 2. The 11th-hour deal managed to make it through the Ohio Senate on the eve of the new law’s effective date, but not through the Ohio House, which — insistent there’s no rush— opted to adjourn.

DeWine predicted that black market sales would flourish in the state, making fentanyl- or pesticide-laced marijuana products more accessible and endangering Ohioans, including children who could be subjected to second-hand pot smoke at this holiday season’s festivities.

One regulator quipped that growing marijuana without being able to legally buy it must require “immaculate conception.”

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Final round of student debt relief talks begin as Biden doubles down on loan forgiveness

Source: USA Today

Published 5:11 a.m. ET Dec. 11, 2023 | Updated 5:11 a.m. ET Dec. 11, 2023

This is it. More than a year after President Joe Biden first tried to make good on a campaign promise to cancel student loan debt, the final contours of his second attempt should become clear this week.

Biden’s original plan for large-scale student loan forgiveness was undone by the Supreme Court in June. It would have canceled up to $20,000 in loan debt and affected as many as 40 million people, or almost every person with federal student loans nationwide.

After the ruling, Biden said he would employ a committee of stakeholders from higher education, loan servicers and borrowers among them, who would use a process called negotiated rulemaking, or neg reg, to draft a new plan for loan forgiveness.

The committee has met several times already, with its final meeting on Monday and Tuesday. By the end of it, the the group has to sort out which student loan forgiveness ideas it can get behind unanimously. Then, the Education Department has to write a version for the public to react to, a plan the agency has said will be guided by any proposals everyone on the committee agrees upon, which is called consensus.

Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/edu ... 772913007/

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Texas Supreme Court Rules Against Kate Cox, a Woman Who Filed a Lawsuit to Get an Abortion, as She Heads Out of State for the Procedure
by Sarah Gray, Associated Press
December 11, 2023

Introduction:

(MSN) The Texas Supreme Court ruled against Kate Cox, a woman who filed a lawsuit in Texas after being denied an abortion. The ruling, on Monday evening, came three days after the court temporarily halted a lower judge's ruling that gave Cox permission to get an abortion.

Cox, whose fetus has a fatal condition, left the state to get an abortion elsewhere before the state Supreme Court on Monday rejected her unprecedented challenge of one of the most restrictive bans in the US.

The 31-year-old mother of two had spent nearly a week seeking court permission in Texas to end her pregnancy, but her attorney said she could not wait any longer and left the state. Her baby has a condition known as trisomy 18, which has low survival rates, and her lawsuit argued that continuing the pregnancy jeopardized both her health and ability to have more children.

Texas' abortion ban makes narrow exceptions when the life of the mother is in danger but not for fetal anomalies. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that Cox had not shown that any of the complications in her pregnancy rose to the level of threatening her life.

"Her health is on the line. She's been in and out of the emergency room and she couldn't wait any longer," said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which was representing Cox.

Read more here and view a local TV news report on this matter: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texa ... AA1lmjln

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As the Republican war on women continues...

Kate Cox Case Shows Why Women Can’t Rely on Legal Exceptions to Abortion Bans
by Li Zhou
December 12, 2023

Introduction:

(Vox) The Texas Supreme Court has ruled against Kate Cox, a 31-year-old woman who sought an abortion in the state. Previously, Cox argued that the lethal condition impacting her fetus and health risks she’d face during the pregnancy meant she qualified for the exemptions outlined in Texas’s abortion ban. The court decision, which comes after Cox left Texas to obtain an abortion, sets a disturbing new precedent in a state that already has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the country.

It’s a notable ruling because it further narrows what Texas law considers medical exceptions to its abortion ban, and could have implications for other states with similar policies. Currently, abortion is broadly banned in the state, and there are limited exceptions for conditions that endanger the life of the mother or that cause “substantial impairment” of bodily functions. Given how opaque the law is, it was not clear exactly what those exceptions entailed, and though the court didn’t explicitly clarify that ambiguity in its ruling, its decision suggests that health challenges like those Cox faced — including risks to future pregnancies — don’t qualify for the exemption.

“Some difficulties in pregnancy … even serious ones, do not pose the heightened risks to the mother the exception encompasses,” the court concluded, noting that Cox’s doctor hadn’t effectively affirmed that the complications she could face — including threats to future fertility — reached the threshold for an exception to the ban.

The justices also maintained existing uncertainty when it came to providers’ prerogative to conduct abortions in the state. Some providers have refrained from giving abortion care due to fear of legal consequences: Medical professionals found in violation of Texas’s abortion law can face up to 99 years in prison as well as large fines, while those who are found to have aided in providing abortion access can face civil suits.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/23997727/kate-cox- ... tion-ban

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Supreme Court to decide whether to restrict abortion drug nationwide

By Devan Cole and Ariane de Vogue, CNN

The Supreme Court said Wednesday it will consider whether to restrict access to a widely used abortion drug -- even in states where the procedure is still allowed. ... The case concerns the drug mifepristone that -- when coupled with another drug -- is one of the most common abortion methods in the United States.

The decision means the conservative-leaning court will again wade into the abortion debate after overturning Roe v. Wade last year, altering the landscape of abortion rights nationwide and triggering more than half the states to outlaw or severely restrict the procedure. ... The new case could be decided by July, inserting the Supreme Court into the middle of the presidential election, where abortion access is once again a key issue.

For now, mifepristone remains available and not subject to restrictions the lower courts have said should be imposed on its use. The high court determined in April that access to the drug would remain unchanged until the appeals process finishes.

The Biden administration and a manufacturer of the drug are asking the justices to reverse a federal appeals court decision that, if allowed to go into effect, would restrict access to the drug. At the same time, groups and doctors that oppose abortion want the justices to go even further than a conservative federal appeals court did and hold that the initial 2000 approval of the drug was also unlawful.

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Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/13/politics ... index.html

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U.S. homelessness up 12% to highest reported level as rents soar and pandemic aid lapses

The United States experienced a dramatic 12% increase in homelessness as soaring rents and a decline in pandemic assistance combined to put housing out of reach for more Americans, federal officials said Friday.

About 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness, the highest number since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007 to count the homeless population. The total in the January count represents an increase of about 70,650 homeless people compared with a year earlier.

The latest estimate also indicated that people becoming homeless for the first time were behind much of the increase, and it ended a downward trend in family homelessness that began in 2012.

“This data underscores the urgent need for support for proven solutions and strategies that help people quickly exit homelessness and that prevent homelessness in the first place,” House and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a prepared statement.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... 2cb2&ei=16

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