August 17, 2023

Thursday, August 17, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.

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Joe is always busy.

Biden hosts an event to celebrate the enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act at the White House in Washington, September 13, 2022.

• US President Joe Biden marks the first anniversary of signing his signature clean energy legislation called the Inflation Reduction Act [IRA] by leading a campaign to better explain what, exactly, it does. (Reuters).

Remember - every House Republican voted against the IRA.

Tuesday.

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Minding the gap.

Yesterday was Mothers’ Equal Pay Day, and new research shows that wage equality is still an average of 26 cents away. For every dollar that a working father earns, full-time working moms, on average, make only 74 cents, with considerable variation across states and racial categories. USA Today

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The Biden Administration tries to “bring our people home.”

Paul Whelan tells family he had ‘long, frank’ talk with Sec. Blinken about Russian detention.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke by phone on Wednesday with American Paul Whelan, who is being held in a remote prison camp in Russia, a source familiar told CNN.

The top US diplomat told Whelan to “keep the faith and we’re doing everything we can to bring you home as soon as possible,” the source said of the call. This the second time Blinken has spoken to Whelan, who has been detained in Russia for more than four years, the source said. The other call between Whelan and Blinken happened on December 30, another source familiar told CNN.

Whelan, who is deemed wrongly detained by the US government, is able to make calls from his prison camp in Mordovia, but the source would not get into further details about how the call to Blinken came about.

Paul Whelan told his parents that “he was able to have a long, frank conversation with Secretary Blinken,” his brother David Whelan told CNN Wednesday. David Whelan did not have further details about the call.

“I think that Secretary Blinken has obviously sent a message and that message is for Paul and for our family, that the US government is continuing to advocate for Paul and his release,” David Whelan said later on CNN’s “The Lead.”

“I think it’s also a message for the Kremlin that the US government hasn’t let up and in fact, their lead foreign policy person is willing to call a prisoner, which is, I think, astounding,” he added.

The conversation comes as the Biden administration continues to reiterate to Russia the serious proposal that they put on the table for Whelan’s release more than eight months ago. Russia has not responded in a substantive way, two administration officials told CNN.

Despite the Whelan proposal “absolutely” still being one that the United States considers a live offer, explained one senior administration official, the lack of a substantive Russian response – along with the wrongful detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich earlier this year – has forced the US to continue efforts to search for another offer to put on the table.

The senior administration official said that it “remains a necessity that we figure out how to resolve this.”

“If we can’t make it happen based on what’s available to us now, we’ll need to figure out what that takes so we can bring our people home,” the official said.

The Biden administration continues to scour the globe for offers that could entice Russia to release both of the wrongfully detained Americans, as CNN reported earlier this year. The US does not currently have any high-level Russian spies in its custody, current and former US officials say, driving the need to turn to allies for help. (CNN).

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The GOP fight against medical abortion goes on.

Court rules to restrict mifepristone but no changes until Supreme Court rules.

A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that mifepristone, one of two pills used in medication abortions, should not be prescribed past seven weeks of pregnancy or via telemedicine. However, a previous stay by the Supreme Court means this won't go into effect right away.

The pills will remain on the market in states where abortion is legal and available by telemedicine and mail for the time being.

In a 93-page ruling, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans sided with plaintiffs that want to restrict use of mifepristone, a pill used in medication abortions.

The Alliance Defending Freedom, which brought the case, cheered the opinion.

"This is a significant victory for the doctors and medical associations we represent and, more importantly, the health and safety of women," says Erin Hawley, the senior counsel with the Alliance Defending Freedom.

The federal Department of Justice is defending the Food and Drug Administration in the case. A spokesperson for DOJ said the department strongly disagrees with the ruling and is looking for the Supreme Court to review it.

If the Supreme Court hears the case in the fall, it will likely rule in spring 2024. Its stay likely would remain in effect until it rules. (NPR).

Statement by Vice President Harris on 5th Circuit Decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA.

We strongly disagree with today’s decision from the Fifth Circuit in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, which would impose medically unnecessary barriers to safe and effective FDA-approved medication. Despite this ruling, mifepristone remains broadly available due to the Supreme Court’s stay.
 
As I have continually said, this lawsuit is a threat to a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body and another step towards the ultimate goal of a nationwide abortion ban. It endangers our entire system of drug approval and regulation by undermining the independent, expert judgment of the FDA. Americans across the country should be able look in their medicine cabinets and know that FDA-approved medication prescribed by a doctor will remain available. This decision stands between doctors and their patients.
 
The Biden-Harris Administration will continue our efforts to protect access to abortion and defend the FDA in the courts. The President and I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to make decisions about her own health care.
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The Latest Poll on 2024 and on Trump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are deeply divided along party lines in their views of President Donald Trump’s actions in the most recent criminal cases brought against him, a new poll shows, with about half saying his alleged attempt to interfere in Georgia’s 2020 vote count was illegal.

The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which was conducted before Monday’s charges in the Georgia case, also shows that about half of Americans — 53% — approve of the Justice Department indicting Trump over his efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election.

The poll finds 85% of Democrats approve of the criminal charges brought Aug. 2 by Special Counsel Jack Smith, compared with 47% of independents and just 16% of Republicans. Overall, 3 in 10 Americans disapprove, including about two-thirds of Republicans.

The survey suggests that the unprecedented indictments of a former president have done little to shake up a fundamental divide in the electorate: The majority of Americans disapprove of Trump, but he remains popular within the GOP.

Overall, 35% of Americans have a favorable view of Trump and 62% unfavorable.

Among Republicans, though, seven in 10 view the former president favorably, and about 6 in 10 say they want him to make another run for the White House.

The poll was conducted Aug. 10-14 , before Trump and 18 of his allies were indicted Monday in Georgia over their efforts to overturn the state’s election results but with strong indications that charges were imminent. At the time of the survey, 51% of U.S. adults believed Trump acted illegally in that case, including 16% of Republicans. That’s consistent with an AP-NORC poll conducted in June.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and says the charges against him are politically motivated as he seeks a rematch against Democratic President Joe Biden.

Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults — 17% — say they have “a great deal” of confidence in the people running the Justice Department. The low level of confidence spans the political spectrum, with just 26% of Democrats, 14% of independents and 7% of Republicans saying they have a great deal of confidence in the federal law enforcement agency. About half of Americans have “only some” confidence in DOJ, while about a third have “hardly any confidence at all.” Republicans are much more likely than Democrats to have hardly any confidence in the Justice Department, 48% to 18%.

“Trump is obviously running for president and the sitting administration is pushing to have their political rival arrested and put in jail,” said Cary Arnold, a 56-year-old Republican from Eldersburg, Maryland. “Just on the surface that’s a very, very bad look. That’s something that you would expect to see in third world countries that are run by dictators.”

Trump’s actions did not cross the line to merit criminal charges, he said.

“I have not seen anything that seemed to be illegal,” Arnold said. “I know people have said that he did things illegally, but none of the things that they’ve said make any sense.”

Trump has been indicted four times since April, but Americans do not view the indictments equally.

While about half believe Trump did something illegal when it comes to the Jan. 6 insurrection and the Georgia charges, along with the case involving classified documents found at his home in Florida, only about one-third say Trump acted illegally in allegedly covering up hush money payments to a woman who said he had an affair with her. That was the basis for charges Trump faces in New York City brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Overall, Americans say that Trump’s actions after the 2020 presidential election did more to threaten democracy than to defend it, 54% to 19%. One-quarter of U.S. adults say he did neither. Republicans are split on the impact of Trump’s decisions: 43% say he defended democracy, while 23% say he threatened it. About a third of Republicans say he neither defended nor threatened democracy.

“Trump and a lot of his supporters are saying, ‘They’re just using this to get at him in the election,’” said David Biggar, a 60-year-old Republican from Navarre, Florida who twice voted against Trump. “I think he’s being targeted because he did stuff that he needs to be tried for.”

Americans largely disagree with Trump’s contention that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Seven in 10 say that Biden was legitimately elected president, a number that’s been consistent in the last year. But among Republicans, 57% say Biden’s election was illegitimate, compared with 32% of independents and 2% of Democrats.

Treasa Howell, a 58-year-old Republican from Springfield, Missouri, said a lot of the accusations against Trump ring true, but she believes they’re motivated more by politics than justice and Trump is being singled out.

“I honestly don’t feel like anybody in the political arena plays 100% fair,” Howell said. “I feel like it was a political indictment, but I absolutely believe it’s true. And that’s my problem with Trump.”

But if Trump wins the GOP nomination and faces a rematch against Biden, she’ll reluctantly vote for him, she said. (Associated Press).

One more thing.

The poll found that 64% of Americans say they definitely or probably would not vote for Trump in the 2024 general election.

Also, keep in mind that in 2020, Biden won 51.3 percent of the votes cast, to Trump’s 46.8 percent of the votes cast.

Therefore, in what fantasy do Republicans imagine that 4.5% of Biden’s 81,283,098 voters will shift to Trump?

And remember that,though a New York Times poll of the 2024 election cycle said that 43 percent of registered voters say they will support Biden, and 43 percent say they will back Trump, this is not a tie. 14% of registered voters couldn't make up their minds. Do the Republicans imagine that 7.1% of these voters will shift to Trump!

Sleep well, Possums! We know we must fight as if Biden is behind, but Biden-Harris will win.

You may want to watch this 👇 too. Additional information that we learn as the indictments against Trump and his Allies build will surely not be a magnet for voters.

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Violence is directed at law enforcement personnel in conjunction with Georgia indictment against Trump and 18 others.

Trump supporters post names and addresses of Georgia grand jurors online.

The purported names and addresses of members of the grand jury that indicted Donald Trump and 18 of his co-defendants on state racketeering charges this week have been posted on a fringe website that often features violent rhetoric, NBC News has learned.

NBC News is choosing not to name the website featuring the addresses to avoid further spreading the information.

The Fulton County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment. District Attorney Fani Willis faced racist threats ahead of the return of the indictment, and additional security measures were put in place, with some employees being allowed to work from home.

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The World Cup.

How England crashed Australia's party to reach a World Cup final.

It started as a night full of optimism in Sydney as thousands flooded into Stadium Australia desperate to see their team create history - but England had other ideas.

England arrived this time, not with hope, but with expectation, despite experiencing heartache in previous back-to-back Women's World Cup semi-finals.

Memories of defeats by Japan in 2015 and the USA in 2019 were cast aside - any doubts the Lionesses would not succeed this time disappeared as they played with swagger and composure, producing arguably their greatest-ever performance in the 3-1 win over the Matildas.

As the higher-ranked side and the European champions, England would in theory have underwhelmed if they had lost. But in practice, the task was much tougher - they had to overcome serious injuries and adapt throughout the tournament before meeting fierce Australian opposition.

In the end, the performance they produced was a culmination of two years' worth of sensational growth under manager Sarina Wiegman, whose status as the world's best is unquestionable.

Having led England to Euro 2022 glory last summer on home soil, the Dutchwoman will now coach in a fourth successive major tournament final. Before joining England, she led the Netherlands to the Euro 2017 title and runners-up spot at the 2019 World Cup.

The squad have evolved under her leadership from being near-misses and contenders to relentless winners and tournament favourites.

'Matildas Mania' had taken over Australia during their World Cup run, with their success dominating the front and back pages of every national newspaper. The momentum they had built en route to the semi-finals made for a carnival atmosphere in Sydney on Wednesday.

Streets were painted in green and yellow, supporters queued for hours to get into fan parks across the city and there were barely any shops left selling merchandise, with most stock sold out.

The match was sold out too; 75,784 fans piled into the stadium, most of them booing the England players as they emerged for the warm-ups, and then belting out their national anthem with pride.

But England were not fazed by any of it. They have lived in the bubble of their base camp out in Terrigal, an hour from Sydney, for the duration of the tournament and they arrived for the semi-final apparently oblivious to the hostility of the home crowd.

A crunching tackle from Keira Walsh on Australia's superstar Sam Kerr within two minutes set the tone. The next 15 minutes was a masterclass in killing momentum.

Whatever feverish excitement had built throughout the week, England dampened quickly as they controlled possession, broke up play and frustrated the home crowd by taking their time over set-pieces.

A few half-chances came Australia's way - Kerr raced through on goal and was offside when goalkeeper Mary Earps blocked her strike - but England brushed them off instantly.

At the other end, Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo's flourishing partnership up front caused havoc for Australia as they linked up instinctively, creating chances and terrifying the hosts' defence.

It was not a surprise when the Lionesses took the lead through Ella Toone, someone synonymous with the big stage; she is the first England player to score in a major tournament quarter-final, semi-final and final.

The deafening roars that had greeted the Matildas on their entrance at Stadium Australia were quietened by half-time but England did not become complacent. They had been here before, they knew the score.

The fierce pressure promised by Australia arrived in the second half. Kerr burst into life, pouncing on England's lost possession and scoring a sublime long-range goal to make it 1-1.

In past semi-finals, this may have been the moment England's players began to doubt themselves. But this is a squad built on resilience and lifted with unwavering belief.

Another goal would come - they knew it would - and when the moment arrived, Hemp did not hesitate.

"I just want to be fearless, I want to show what I can do on the biggest stage," she said afterwards, having earlier stated England's intentions to go all the way in the tournament.

By the time Hemp linked up with Russo to add England's third, Australia's balloon had burst.

Meanwhile, England were creating more history, having come through a test that required steeliness and experience, yet the scenes of celebration at full-time were short-lived.

The Lionesses allowed themselves just a few minutes of dancing and applause, greeted by another rendition of Sweet Caroline by the travelling support, before heading down the tunnel. Job done.

While England gathered momentum during their successful Euro 2022 campaign, feeding off the memorable scenes of celebration after each victory in front of a home crowd, they have done the opposite here in Australia, having to navigate each match as if they were making their way across a board game of snakes and ladders, picking themselves up if they had an unexpected fall and finding a different route.

It has felt less like a party and more like a mission.

If this England team can reach the final without their captain Leah Williamson, the Euro 2022 top goalscorer Beth Mead, playmaker Fran Kirby - all out through injury - while also dealing with an injury scare to instrumental midfielder Keira Walsh and a two-match suspension for Lauren James during the competition, there is no reason why they cannot go all the way.

And while Australia absorbs the pain of defeat and the missed opportunity of a lifetime, England supporters are now believing that this team could be champions again. (BBC Sports).

England plays Spain. Sunday. 5 am ET.

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One more thing.

The 2023 women's World Cup is the gayest tournament in history (and no one’s batting an eyelid).

An American fan wears a Pride flag during the World Cup match between the United States and the Netherlands in Wellington, New Zealand, last month.

SYDNEY — There are several superlatives one could use to describe this year’s women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. It’s been really well-attended and really exciting to watch. And it’s really, really gay.

There are about 100 openly LGBTQ+ players and coaches across the tournament’s expanded 32 teams, according to counts by LGBTQ+publications. One of those, Autostraddle, noted that the tournament “just might be the most openly queer sporting event in history.”

The impact for the queer community — not just here but around the world — can’t be underestimated, said Beau Newell, Pride in sport national program manager with ACON, an LGBTQ+ health not-for-profit.

“These women in the World Cup currently, they’re the catalyst for change. These athletes are proving that they can be their authentic selves and that doesn’t compromise their success,” he said.

At the most recent men’s World Cup, in Qatar last year, there were no openly gay players. But in the women’s game, openly queer players have become an integral part of the sport.
Co-host Australia appears to be the team with the most gay players, with more than half of their squad of 23 openly LGBTQ+, including captain and star Sam Kerr. The striker’s relationship with U.S. player Kristie Mewis is among the most well-known in the soccer world.
In February, the Matildas, as the Australian women’s team is called, donned rainbow jerseys to celebrate Sydney WorldPride while playing Spain at the Cup of Nations.
“To wear the rainbow colors, something that I’ve always been really proud and passionate about, is really special,” Kerr said in a video statement at the time. “In being myself, being true to who I am and being really open with everyone about who I am, I hope the message that’s received by the public is a really positive one.”

Other high-profile players who are out and proud include Megan Rapinoe of the United States, Marta of Brazil and England’s Rachel Daly. Pernille Harder of Denmark and Magdalena Eriksson of Sweden have been a couple since 2014.

At the men’s elite club level, Australia’s A-League player Josh Cavallo, English Football League One’s Blackpool FC forward Jake Daniels and Czech midfielder Jakub Jankto, who has signed into Italy’s Serie A, are among the few players to have publicly come out in recent years.

Videos explaining the relationships between the players on various teams have lit up lesbian TikTok.

In stadium seats across the two countries, excited conversations go something like this: “Did you know that Dutch midfielder is dating a defender for Australia, whose top midfielder is engaged to her former teammate in the Swedish league, and one of the Swedish defenders is with an Italian player?”

This kind of visibility is important for gay fans.

Divina Blanca-Jackson, a 27-year-old lesbian Matildas fan living in Melbourne, said the players were examples of representation where their sexuality was part of, but not their whole, public identity.

She has been a particular fan of Ireland’s Katie McCabe and Ruesha Littlejohn, a former couple — and, after her star quarterfinal performance against France, Australia’s goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold.

“When you look at the media and you see queer people, often the whole storyline becomes about them coming out and facing homophobia,” she said. “And that stuff is important, but it’s also really important to see people who are just queer and living their life.

“If I had seen this when I was younger, it would have made the journey a lot easier,” she said. “Because I would have been able to look on the screens and see that queer people are able to be happy and live normal lives — normal in the way that they have friends and family who love them, and they’re successful in their career.”

The atmosphere at this tournament is a stark contrast to the most recent men’s World Cup, held in a country where homosexuality is illegal.

When seven clubs initially committed to wearing “OneLove” rainbow armbands while playing in Qatar in support of LGBTQ+ rights, FIFA said players who did so could get yellow cards.

At the women’s tournament, the “OneLove” armbands remain banned. FIFA allowed players to wear eight “unity” armbands supporting various causes, including one to “unite for inclusion” with a rainbow design.

Murray Drummond, director of the Sport, Health, Activity, Performance and Exercise Research Center at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, said the visibility of gay players at the women’s World Cup “highlights the significant issues that we have in men’s sports.”

“We’re really still struggling to come to terms with different forms of masculinity among men,” he said.

In some ways, playing soccer and being openly LGBTQ+ are a natural pairing. They have both often involved challenging gender norms and expectations for women, said Jen Peden, president of LGBTQ+ women’s soccer club the Flying Bats in Sydney.

In England, women could not play on grounds owned by the country’s Football Association members between 1921 and 1970, after the organization ruled the sport was “quite unsuitable for females.” In fellow soccer-mad nation Brazil, it was illegal for women to play between 1941 and 1979.

Peden said pushing against the traditional rules of femininity was part of the appeal for some queer women. “It’s an opportunity to be quite physical — to really be in your body, in a sense — and not feel constrained,” she said.

“To not have to conform to strictures and gender norms that are otherwise often placed on women — it can be an appeal to escape that.”

The Flying Bats was established in 1985; Peden joined in the mid-2000s. Through the game, she found a community — and a wife.

For a long time, supporting women’s soccer was a niche activity within Australia. Not this year.

“To see so much of the wider community get behind this group of players who are able to be authentic, and out, and not have to pretend they’re someone they’re not, is fantastic,” Peden said. (Washington Post).