-Madison Cawthorn winding up for a great point on the House floor
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President Biden roundly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine during Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, finding a rare moment of Bipartisan Unity before the GOP’s best and brightest started getting antsy.
- Biden began his speech with a message of support for the Ukrainian resistance: “Six days ago, Russia’s Vladimir Putin sought to shake the very foundations of the free world, thinking he could make it bend to his menacing ways. But he badly miscalculated. He thought he could roll into Ukraine and the world would roll over. Instead, he met with a wall of strength he never anticipated or imagined. He met the Ukrainian people.” Biden’s introduction of Ukraine’s ambassador, Oksana Markarova, elicited a standing ovation from lawmakers of both parties, many of them wearing blue and yellow in a show of solidarity.
- Turning back to the U.S. economy, Biden touted his historic job gains (prompting the New York Times fact-checking department to bare its ass, for some reason) and initiatives to boost domestic manufacturing. Biden also delivered a new pitch for the urgent climate and social programs in the
Build Back Better Act Untitled A+ Reconciliation Bill, reframing them as measures to counter inflation by lowering health-care, child-care, and energy costs.
- Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told reporters after the speech that he wasn’t impressed (“I’ve never found out that you can lower costs by spending more”), but on Wednesday finally outlined the kind of bill he would support. He’s down for lowering prescription drug prices and tax reforms—the ones that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) opposes, haha—and using that revenue to reduce the debt and pay for climate provisions. It’s not the best package possible (families living in poverty because the expanded child tax credit expired would like a word), but it’s a start.
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Biden also highlighted the country’s progress against COVID, and previewed the White House’s new pandemic strategy.
- Addressing a largely maskless (but COVID-tested) House chamber, Biden outlined a plan for the country’s “new moment” in the fight against COVID, with a focus on a “test to treat” initiative that will give people antiviral pills right away if they test positive at certain pharmacies and clinics. The plan also calls for expanding genomic surveillance to catch new variants early, ramping up vaccinations worldwide, and preventing more shutdowns or school closures. Biden also announced that Americans can order more free rapid tests starting next week, since nearly half of them have gone unclaimed.
- Biden brought up other stalled legislation like democracy reform (RIP) and gun control (gone too soon), and delighted centrist Democrats with sections on securing the southern border and funding the police. Republicans were less enthused, a couple of them noisily: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tried to get a “build the wall” chant going during the immigration section, and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) classily heckled Biden as he spoke about helping veterans who were exposed to toxic burn pits, just as he brought up his late son Beau Biden’s cancer. Brave, heroic stuff.
Biden’s speech was centered around enormously popular proposals, and it shows: 78 percent of viewers approved of the speech, according to a CBS News poll, and 67 percent said it made them feel “optimistic.” People who tuned in were more likely to be Biden supporters, but they got an important reminder of why they voted for him in the first place.
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This week on Keep It, Ira and Louis discuss what the SAG Awards means for the Oscar race, Instagram activism, and Sam Elliott’s disdain for The Power of the Dog. Plus, Blindspots returns with the Joseph Gordon-Levitt films Ira and Louis missed — The Dark Knight Rises and Snowden — and Joseph himself joins us to discuss his new series Super Pumped and his decades-long career. New episodes of Keep It drop every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.
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Russian forces on Wednesday claimed to have captured the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, which, if true, would mark the first major city to fall under Russian control since the invasion began. (At least one Ukrainian official refuted those reports, while others have confirmed it. The fog of war is…foggy.) Russia has scaled up its attacks on urban areas, and Ukraine's State Emergency Service said that more than 2,000 civilians have been killed. More than 800,000 people have now fled the country, with many foreign nationals and minorities facing racial discrimination as they try to leave. The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia’s invasion, demanding that Moscow withdraw its military forces, and the Justice Department has launched a new task force to enforce sanctions against Russian oligarchs. The Biden administration reportedly plans to dramatically expand the list of oligarchs who fall under its purview.
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- The Senate will hold confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson from March 21 to March 24, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin announced Wednesday.
- An Oath Keeper has pled guilty to seditious conspiracy charges in the January 6 insurrection, and will cooperate with federal prosecutors.
- Then-President Donald Trump had multiple phone calls on January 6 with Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who pressured the Justice Department to open an investigation into election fraud, according to the January 6 committee’s latest round of subpoenas.
- Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) revealed that he's still dealing with long COVID, as he introduced a bill to fund research into long-term symptoms and treatments: “I tell people it feels like all my nerves have had like five cups of coffee.”
- Meanwhile, here’s Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) bullying college students to take their masks off, out of deep respect for bodily autonomy and personal choice.
- Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R-TX) campaign sees investigations for the parents of trans kids as a huge political boost, a view as mistaken as it is repulsive.
- Israel’s Supreme Court has suspended the evictions of four Palestinian families from their homes in Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, for now.
- Disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), who is not currently running for anything, has spent $369,000 on ads casting himself as the victim of a political hit job.
- Girl Scouts trying to sell cookies are increasingly getting harassed by full-grown adults about healthy eating, the price of cookies these days, and anti-choice conspiracy theories. The fabric of society is wearing thin (mint).
- A Florida teen who rejected Elon Musk’s $5,000 offer to quit tracking his private jet has launched new Twitter accounts that track the flights of Russian oligarchs.
- A huge piece of space junk will crash into the far side of the moon on Friday and is expected to form a new crater. Apologies and/or congratulations to the moon.
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Progressive Democrats had a big cool night in Tuesday’s Texas primaries. In the 28th District, Jessica Cisneros was able to deny incumbent Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) 50 percent of the vote, forcing a runoff election. (Cueller beat her in the 2020 primary outright, by less than 3,000 votes.) Progressive Jasmine Crockett will also head to a runoff in the 30th District, and former Austin city council member Greg Casar won by a wide margin in the 35th District, which will almost certainly send him to Congress. Trump-backed candidates also had a big night in the GOP primaries, unfortunately, but most of them either didn’t have a challenger or would likely have won anyway. Trump’s endorsement wasn’t enough to keep Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) out of a runoff: He’ll go up against Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush (son of Jeb!) in May. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) won the GOP gubernatorial nomination, and will hopefully have the pleasure of losing to Beto O’Rourke.
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Tell Biden to Reunite Separated Families Now
The Biden administration recently broke off negotiations to compensate the families that were separated at the border by Trump's cruel and systemic separation practice.
By abandoning negotiations to help these impacted children and families heal, the Biden administration will have to defend the family separation practice in court.
This is not a partisan issue. Every one should be concerned with helping these families. Tell President Biden to reunite all separated families and provide relief to help them heal.
The U.S. government deliberately abused young children. And while thousands have been reunited as a result of ACLU litigation, many remain separated – and all children have suffered irreparable trauma.
There's no room for the Biden administration to choose politics over families in the way they have with these negotiations – and that's why we must do everything we can to hold them accountable.
Add your name to our petition and demand resources and relief for these families now.
Thanks for your action,
The ACLU Team
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The UN has agreed to create the first-ever legally binding global treaty aimed at reining in plastic pollution, which would include curbing plastic production itself.
A Travis County, TX, judge has temporarily blocked the state from launching child abuse investigations into the parents of trans youth.
A Maryland House committee has voted down a bill that would’ve banned trans students from playing on school sports teams.
Twenty-four openly LGTBQ candidates won their primaries on Tuesday, a Texas record.
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