“Miscarriages in Gaza Have Increased 300% Under Israeli Bombing. This is horrific beyond words. We need a ceasefire.”

A new pro-forced pregnancy proposal in the South Carolina General Assembly that would make people who obtain abortion care eligible for the death penalty was portrayed as coming from the fringes of the Republican Party by one GOP lawmaker—but with 21 state Republicans backing the legislation, critics said the idea is representative of the party's anti-choice agenda.

Proposed by state Rep. Rob Harris, the South Carolina Prenatal Equal Protection Act of 2023 would amend the state's criminal code to give a zygote, or fertilized egg, "equal protection under the homicide laws of the state"—meaning obtaining an abortion could be punishable by the death penalty.

The bill does not include an exception for people whose pregnancies result from rape or incest, and political commentator Brian Tyler Cohen noted its language is vague enough to suggest that some people who suffer miscarriages could become eligible for the death penalty.

The exceptions provided by Harris include only people who are "compelled" by others to have an abortion against their will or people whose continued pregnancies carry the threat of "imminent death or great bodily injury," although numerous cases since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade have demonstrated how exceptions to protect a pregnant person's life often put their safety at risk.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), a rape survivor, spoke on the House floor last Friday about the bill and warned that its lack of exceptions for rape survivors was part of a "deeply disturbing" trend.

"To see this debate go to the dark places, the dark edges," said Mace, "has been deeply disturbing to me as a woman, as a female legislator, as a mom, and as a victim of rape."

But with nearly two dozen co-sponsors, said human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid, the proposal appears to come from the "horrifically mainstream 'pro-life' GOP."

"It's not just one lone extremist," wrote Tessa Stuart at Rolling Stone.

Harris and his co-sponsors—seven of whom have requested to have their names removed from the legislation as it's garnered national attention—are just the latest policymakers to propose punishments for people who obtain abortions. Alabama's Attorney General said in January that residents should be prosecuted for taking abortion pills, and former President Donald Trump said as a presidential candidate in 2016 that "there has to be some form of punishment" for abortion patients before walking back the statement.

A number of Texas lawmakers have proposed making people who obtain abortions eligible for capital punishment in recent years.

"If this surprises you," said historian Diana Butler Bass of the South Carolina proposal, "you haven't been paying attention."

Exactly 14 years ago today—on July 24, 2009—the minimum wage was set at $7.25 while top 1% were worth $5T. Today, billionaire wealth is $45T+, meanwhile the min wage is still $7.25. This is what generational wage theft looks like. Pay workers. Tax billionaires. #RaiseTheWage

[@QasimRashid]

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNB4aXq8/?k=1

Transcript: With all the terribleness happening in the world right now I’ve got two amazing pieces of good news that I wanted to share with you guys.

As many of you know I am the executive director of Common Purpose, an organization designed to elect more women and people of color.

This week two more of our candidates won their primary elections.

Nabeela Syed won in Illinois 51st house district. She’s only 23 years old, she ran as a progressive, took no corporate money, and won with 72% of the vote against an established democrat.

Racheal Ventura won in the 43rd Illinois state senate district. Racheal likewise took no corporate money, was funded only by the people and despite being outspent 14 to 1 she still won.

I’m sharing this because I know I always talk about activating and organizing and electing people who will fight for working families. I wanted to show it’s not just lip service it actually works.

We need you in the fight. Go to the link in my bio, join our email list and if you can donate today is the last day of the quarter. Every bit helps, $5 or $1000. We need you. Let’s continue to save our democracy one election at a time.

End transcript.

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Airing today…author, activist, and attorney Qasim Rashid joins us this week on Civic Cipher to discuss his campaign for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District

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What the ever living fuck is wrong with y’all.

In the photo I’m sharing is the Supreme Court Justices, two of which are women, Barrette and Kagan. They photoshopped them into( and I apologize if I got them mixed up) in either niqabs or burqas.

And I know it was a fucking white liberal that photoshopped it. But a white Pulitzer winner shared it.

This is islamphobic as fuck. Why demonize Muslim women who chose to wear veils.

If you spoke to people who are Muslim, who lived in these cultures and countries where veilling is very much a practice, you’d understand the difference between culture vs religion.

And it’s not a left or right thing because both sides will weaponize practices that is probably only practice in select regions ( and I can’t really speak on it but still.)

And the person replying @QasimRashid( Twitter and I think he has a TikTok as well). Pointed out that this is just blaming Islam and/ or Muslims for right wing pseudo-Christian extremism.

Moscow Marge.

“Per Geneva Conventions on war, it is illegal to take occupied land for purposes that do not benefit the people living there, or to force out the local population. Yet, Israel is evicting 1,000 Palestinians from their own homes. This act is unconscionable.”

NAACP Travel Advisory for the State of Missouri

Dave Whamond, Toronto Star

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

In the New York Times yesterday, Luke Broadwater and Jonathan Swan reported that one of the reasons House speaker Kevin McCarthy handed access to more than 40,000 hours of video from the U.S. Capitol from January 6, 2021, to Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson was that McCarthy had promised the far right that he would revisit that event but did not want to have the Republican Congress tied to the effort. His political advisors say swing voters want to move forward. In the longer term, today’s Republicans are out of step with the majority of Americans on issues like LGBTQ rights, climate change, gun safety, and abortion. Although Republicans are pushing draconian laws to end all abortion access, today Public Religion Research Institute (PPRI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, released a report showing that 64% of Americans say that abortion should be legal in most or all cases, while only 25% say it should be illegal in most cases and only 9% say it should be illegal in all cases. Less than half the residents in every state and in Washington, D.C., supported overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, as the Supreme Court did with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision of last June. In a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, yesterday, Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) echoed Trump’s “American Carnage” inaugural address with his description of today’s America as one full of misery and hopelessness. Florida governor Ron DeSantis traveled this week to New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago to insist those Democratic-led cities were crime-ridden, although as human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid pointed out, Florida has a 19% higher rape rate, 66% higher murder rate, and 280% higher burglary rate than New York. Another study released yesterday by the Anti-Defamation League, which specializes in civil rights law, noted that domestic extremist mass killings have increased “greatly” in the past 12 years. But while murders by Islamic extremists, for example, have been falling, all the extremist killings in 2022 were committed by right-wing adherents, with 21 of 25 murders linked to white supremacists. President Biden’s poll numbers are up to 46% in general and 49% with registered voters. Perhaps more to the point is that in Tuesday’s four special elections, Democrats outperformed expectations by significant margins. There are many reasons for these Democratic gains—abortion rights key among them—but it is possible that voters like the Democrats’ vision of a hopeful future and a realistic means to get there rather than Republicans’ condemnation of the present and vow to claw back a mythological past.

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

حمدان بن محمد يصدر قراراً بتشكيل مجلس إدارة نادي شباب الأهلي-دبي :

أصدر سمو الشيخ حمدان بن محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم، ولي عهد دبي، بصفته رئيس نادي شباب الأهلي – دبي، القرار رقم 3 لسنة 2023 بشأن تشكيل مجلس إدارة نادي شباب الأهلي – دبي برئاسة الشيخ محمد بن راشد بن محمد بن راشد آل مكتوم.

ويضم مجلس الإدارة معالي خليفة سعيد سليمان نائباً للرئيس، والأعضاء: محمد أحمد المري، وعمر حمد بو شهاب، وهشام عبد الله القاسم، وطلال أحمد الشنقيطي، وفهد عبد الرحمن الحساوي، وعلي محمد المطوع، وسعيد محمد القرقاوي.

ووفقاً للقرار، يستمر مجلس الإدارة في أداء مهامه لمدة أربع سنوات قابلة للتجديد لمدد مماثلة، فيما حددت المادة الثانية من القرار بأن يمارس مجلس الإدارة صلاحياته ومسؤولياته وفقاً لأحكام القرار رقم (1) لسنة 2022 بشأن حوكمة الأندية الرياضية في إمارة دبي والتشريعات المعمول بها لدى مجلس دبي الرياضي، على أن يُعمل بالقرار من تاريخ صدوره.

Hamdan bin Mohammed issues Resolution on the Board of Directors of Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai Club :

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and President of Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai Club, has issued Resolution No. 3 of 2023 regarding the new Board of Directors of Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai Club. The Board will be chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The new Board’s members include His Excellency Khalifa Saeed Sulaiman, the Deputy Chairman of the Board; Mohammed Ahmed Al Marri; Omar Hamad Bu Shahab; Hisham Abdulla Al Qasim; Tilal Ahmed Al Shanqeeti; Fahad Abdul Rahman Al Hassawi; Ali Mohammed Al Matawa and Saeed Mohammed Al Gergawi.

The Board will serve for a renewable term of four years.  Article No. 2 of the Resolution states that the Board of Directors of the Club will carry out its responsibilities according to Resolution No. 1 of 2022, regarding Sports Clubs Governance in the Emirate of Dubai, and legislations applied by the Dubai Sports Council (DSC). The Resolution is effective from the date of its issuance.

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