9/18/22

By Aditi Jha

On Thursday, President Biden said that we must fight white supremacy and hate in a White House summit on hate-based violence called United We Stand. "We need to say clearly and forcefully, white supremacy, all forms of hate... have no place in America. As to those who say, we bring this up, we just divide the country; bring it up, we silence it, instead of remaining silenced. For in silence, wounds deepen. It's about power and profit. Too much hate that's extremist violence has been allowed to fester and grow," Biden said, acknowledging that intelligence agencies found white supremacist violence to be the greatest domestic terrorist threat today. This comes after Biden's Philadelphia speech in which he said that MAGA Republicans threaten democracy. "America must choose: to move forward or to move backwards. To build the future or obsess about the past. To be a nation of hope and unity and optimism, or a nation of fear, division and of darkness. MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies." Tech companies are also working to stop hate-based violence, including YouTube, Twitch, Microsoft and Meta. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, around 50 migrants landed in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts by plane from San Antonio, Texas. The flights were paid for by Florida Gov. Ron deSantis. NPR confirms that they were "transported by Florida under a state program that was funded by legislature earlier this year." Additionally new evidence shows that the migrants were told they were being sent to Boston, not Martha's Vineyard. A spokesman from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's office said "Our office has had conversations with Governor DeSantis and his team about supporting our busing strategy to provide much-needed relief to our overwhelmed and overrun border communities." State Representative Dylan Fernandes, who represents Martha's Vineyard, called it an "incredibly inhumane and depraved" thing to do. "We have the governor of Florida ... hatching a secret plot to send immigrant families like cattle on an airplane. Ship them women and children to a place they weren't told where they were going and never alerted local officials and people on the ground here that they were coming." DeSantis has previously signed legislation against undocumented immigrants. The governor of California, Gavin Newsom and the only Democratic state cabinet member of Florida Nikki Fried requested that the Department of Justice launch an investigation into DeSantis' transportation of migrants out of Florida.

Senator Lindsey Graham introduced a federal ban on abortions at 15 weeks in the Senate, even though polls have consistently shown that a majority of voters oppose ending federal protections on abortion. He said that "We are trying to basically normalize America here. If we stay on this and keep talking about it maybe in a decade this will be law." Many federally elected Republicans have said states should decide the issue of abortion. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell commented that "It takes 60 votes in the Senate for either side to prevail on this issue. So I think the democratic process on this issue is going to work out at the state level." The White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wrote in a statement that the White House is working to increase abortion rights. "Republicans in Congress are focused on taking rights away from millions of women," she wrote. "The President and the Vice President are fighting for progress, while Republicans are fighting to take us back." In Indiana, an abortion ban has been passed. It includes some "carefully negotiated exceptions to address some of the unthinkable circumstances a woman or unborn child might face." The law will be challenged in state court by ACLU, Planned Parenthood and others. The hearing is set for September 19th. The law went into effect on the 15th.

That's the news for today! Stay safe!