Tag: Kamala Harris

NKorea test launches missiles on eve of Harris trip to Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters on Wednesday, its neighbors said, a day before U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris is to visit South Korea.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that the North Korean missiles lifted off 10 minutes apart on Wednesday afternoon from its capital region and flew toward the waters off its east coast.

Japanese Vice Defense Minister Toshiro Ino said Japan’s military also detected the launches and that the weapons flew in an irregular trajectory.

Ino said that “North Korea’s repeated missile firings amid (Russia’s) invasion of Ukraine is impermissible.” The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea’s provocations would only deepen its international isolation while pushing South Korea and the United States to strengthen their deterrence.

The launches follow a missile test by North Korea earlier this week.

Harris is to arrive in South Korea on Thursday for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol and other officials. She also is to visit the tense border with North Korea, in what U.S. officials call an attempt to underscore the strength of the U.S.-South Korean alliance and the U.S. commitment to “stand beside” South Korea in the face of any North Korea threats.

U.S. and South Korean navy ships were also conducting drills off South Korea’s east coast in a show of force against North Korea.

The four-day exercise, which began Monday, involves the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. It is the first training exercise by the allies involving a U.S. aircraft carrier near the Korean Peninsula since 2017.

South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises often draw a furious response from North Korea, which views them as an invasion rehearsal. A short-range North Korean missile launched Sunday was seen as a response to the U.S.-South Korean training.

South Korea and Japan estimated that the North Korean missiles fired Wednesday flew 300-360 kilometers (185-220 miles) with a maximum altitude of 30-50 kilometers (19-30 miles). The low trajectories resembled the flight of the missile fired on Sunday, which some analysts said was likely a nuclear-capable, highly maneuverable weapon modeled after Russia’s Iskander missile.

In recent years, North Korea has been adding Iskander-like missiles and other solid-fuel weapons to its arsenal. Some experts say the weapons are designed to carry battlefield nuclear warheads to counter the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the United States, which stations about 28,500 troops in the South.

North Korea has dialed up its missile testing activities to a record pace in 2022, launching more than 30 ballistic weapons, including its first intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017. North Korea’s Sunan area where Wednesday’s launches occurred was the site of various missile tests this year, including two ICBMs.

Earlier this month, North Korea adopted a new law authorizing the preemptive use of nuclear weapons in some situations, as it continues to escalate its nuclear doctrine. U.S. and South Korean officials have also said the North may soon conduct its first nuclear test in five years.

North Korea’s torrid run of weapons tests this year is seen as exploiting divides in the United Nations Security Council over Russia’s war against Ukrain300300e and the U.S.-China rivalry. In May, China and Russia vetoed a U.S.-led bid to impose new sanctions on North Korea over its ballistic missile tests this year, which violate U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Earlier Wednesday, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers that a North Korean nuclear test could happen between mid-October and early November.

According to some lawmakers who attended the meeting, the National Intelligence Service said if the test occurs, it is likely to come after China, North Korea’s last major ally, holds a key Communist Party congress on Oct. 16 but before the United States votes in midterm elections on Nov. 7.

The spy service also said North Korea recently began administering COVID-19 vaccines to its people for the first time, Yoo Sang-bum, one of the lawmakers present at the briefing, said without elaborating.

Earlier this month, leader Kim Jong Un told his country’s rubber-stamp parliament that North Korea would begin its rollout of vaccines. In August, he made a widely disputed claim that his country had overcome its first COVID-19 outbreak and ordered an easing of pandemic-related restrictions.

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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

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September 28, 2022
US has sent $8.28 billion in pandemic funds to local lenders

WASHINGTON (AP) — On the same day the Federal Reserve gave a sobering report on the U.S. economy’s trajectory, administration officials highlighted how they have kept some of the nation’s smallest businesses afloat through the pandemic.

Roughly $8.28 billion in relief funds have been disbursed to 162 community financial institutions across the country, through Treasury’s Emergency Capitol Investment Program, officials said Wednesday.

Those financial institutions in turn offer loans to micro and small businesses.

The funding regime, abbreviated ECIP, is one of several pandemic relief programs meant to support community financial institutions — which provide loans, grants, and other assistance to small and minority-owned businesses that have difficulty getting funding from traditional banks.

“There is almost $9 billion on the ground right now” for community banks and lenders, Vice President Kamala Harris said on a call with reporters.

Roughly 96 percent of Black-owned businesses are sole proprietorships and single employee companies. They have the hardest time finding funding and are often the first type of businesses impacted during economic downturns.

On the call with reporters, Harris and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen highlighted some of the program recipients, including Native American Bank, which recently got a $10 million loan to finance an opioid addiction treatment facility in North Dakota, and a Georgia bank that recently gave a $650,000 working capital loan to an Atlanta-based, Black-owned affordable housing developer.

Mississippi, Louisiana, North Carolina, California, and Texas have received some of the biggest contributions.

“We’ve long known that too many Americans face significant barriers to participation in our financial system,” Yellen said. “I’m pleased that we’ve reached a milestone in our work to increase capital to these underserved communities.”

There were a record 5.4 million applications for new businesses filed in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, surpassing the previous peak in 2020 of 4.4 million.

Of that number, a growing share are sole proprietors and businesses without other employees.

“Frankly, a lot of businesses are just recovering from Covid,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said on the call. He said that community banks “really do incredible work in reaching small businesses.”

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Associated Press reporter Mae Anderson contributed to this report.

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September 26, 2022
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

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Posts misrepresent Biden 2020 campaign committee filing

CLAIM: President Joe Biden has officially filed for reelection with the Federal Election Commission.

THE FACTS: Biden has not formally filed for reelection, social media users are misrepresenting an updated administrative document that was recently filed with the FEC by his principal 2020 presidential campaign committee. “BREAKING REPORT: (NOT PARODY) Joe Biden Has Officially Filed to RUN FOR RE-ELECTION in 2024,” one Twitter user wrote on Tuesday. The tweet was shared over 1,900 times. “Joe Robinette Biden has just officially filed for Reelection with the Federal Election Committee today – running again with Kamala Harris as his Vice President,” an Instagram user wrote, also on Tuesday. But Biden has not officially declared his candidacy for reelection, according to FEC filings. Biden’s principal campaign committee for the 2020 general election, titled Biden for President, filed a statement of organization form on Tuesday. But this form is different from a statement of candidacy form, which would indicate a candidate is officially running. “These claims that he’s declared for 2024 are flatly untrue based on these filings,” said Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The new filing amended the committee’s statement of organization to “reflect new treasurer information,” said Judith Ingram, a spokesperson for the FEC. Presidential candidates file statements of candidacy for election cycles that they are participating in, and Biden has not filed such a form for the 2024 election cycle, she said. A Democratic National Committee official confirmed that the campaign committee’s filing is “not a re-election filing.” “This is just updating the form to change the treasurer name because the former treasurer is taking a government job,” the official said in an email. A candidate filing by the Biden campaign on the FEC website would be the “clearest indicator that Biden has ‘officially’ launched a reelection campaign,” Barry Burden, founding director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Elections Research Center, wrote in an email to the AP. But this hasn’t happened yet. Candidates can also become official candidates in the eyes of the FEC if they raise or spend more than $5,000, according to the agency. The 2020 Biden campaign committee is still active to process minor financial transactions, which is similar to what other presidential campaigns have done, according to Burden.

— Associated Press writer Josh Kelety in Phoenix contributed this report.

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UK didn’t change guidance on COVID vaccines and pregnancies

CLAIM: The U.K. government recently changed its COVID-19 vaccine guidance to advise against Pfizer’s shot for pregnant and breastfeeding people.

THE FACTS: The guidance has not changed. Social media users are misrepresenting a section of a summary report about Pfizer’s shot that was published by the U.K.’s medical regulatory agency in 2020. Posts circulating widely in recent days spread the false assertion that Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot isn’t safe for pregnancies and wrongly claimed that the U.K. government has conceded as much. “The UK now admits it’s not safe for pregnant women to get the vaccine,” reads a tweet that garnered more than 1,300 likes. But the U.K. government is in support of, not against, vaccinating pregnant people, health officials confirmed. The social media posts pointed to a screenshot of a “Toxicity conclusions” section from an online report titled, “Summary of the Public Assessment Report for COVID-19 Vaccine Pfizer/BioNTech.” That report was published by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in 2020 as part of the vaccine’s initial authorization process and was last updated on Aug. 16. The “Toxicity conclusions” section suggested that those who were pregnant or breastfeeding not be vaccinated, but also said that the recommendations “reflect the absence of data at the present time and do not reflect a specific finding of concern.” However, that specific section was reflective of what was known nearly two years ago when the vaccine was first rolling out — and before additional data became available. “The text referred to in social media posts comes from the Public Assessment Report (PAR) which reflects our assessment at the time of approval for the vaccine (2 December 2020),” the MHRA said in a statement provided to The Associated Press. “Since then new data has come to light (both non-clinical and post-authorisation ‘real world’ data) which supports the updated advice on vaccinating those who are pregnant and breastfeeding.” An archived version of the same page from December 2020 also confirms that the “Toxicity conclusions” section has remained the same. The MHRA specifically notes elsewhere online that the COVID-19 vaccines, including Pfizer’s, are safe for those who are pregnant and breastfeeding. Dr. Victoria Male, a lecturer in reproductive immunology at Imperial College London, told the AP that the confusion appeared to stem from the Aug. 16 update to the Pfizer documents. But that change dealt with information on booster shots, she said, as a note on a connected page indicates. Male also said that the U.K. government’s advice on COVID-19 vaccines and pregnancies hasn’t changed. “Since April 2021, the UK government has offered the COVID vaccine during pregnancy,” Male said in an email. “Since December 2021, pregnancy has been considered a priority condition for vaccination, because we know that COVID infection in pregnancy can cause stillbirth and preterm birth, and that vaccination protects against these and is safe in pregnancy.” An independent advisory group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, recommended in July that pregnant people who have been previously vaccinated be offered an autumn booster.

— Associated Press writers Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia and Sophia Tulp in New York contributed this report. ___

Video shows water tanker for bank, not Mississippi governor’s mansion

CLAIM: A video shows a tanker truck outside the governor’s mansion in Jackson, Mississippi, supplying the residence with water amid the city’s water crisis.

THE FACTS: The tanker, which is parked across the street from the governor’s mansion, is there as a standby solution for the headquarters of a bank at that location. In the six-second video, the tanker can be seen parked on North West Street in downtown Jackson before the camera pans across the street to the governor’s mansion. The widely-shared clip has sparked outrage among social media users as the city works to restore water pressure, while many residents remain reliant on water distribution centers. “There is currently no running water in Jackson, Mississippi,” one Twitter user wrote. “The heat index is over 100 degrees. Schools are closed. People can’t cook, clean, drink, or bathe. But at least @tatereeves has a giant water truck providing him with clean water at the governor’s mansion.” The tweet garnered nearly 8,000 shares and nearly 18,000 likes. But the water tanker is for the headquarters of Trustmark Bank, located across the street from the governor’s mansion, according to Danny Shows, president and CEO of 4D Solutions, the emergency preparedness company that provided the vehicle. He told the AP that “by no means” was the tanker delivering water to the governor’s mansion. Shows explained that the water tanker is a back-up solution for the building, in case Jackson’s downtown area completely loses water pressure. Melanie Morgan, director of corporate communications and marketing for Trustmark, confirmed that the bank brought in the water tanker for its building “out of abundance of caution.” She told the AP that the tanker does not contain potable drinking water and is intended for building services such as air conditioning and restroom facilities. “We’ve engaged a contractor to bring in the tanker for us in order to keep our building operational,” Morgan said, adding that the bank wants to be able to relieve pressure on the city’s water system if necessary. She confirmed that the water tanker remains at the bank’s headquarters next to the governor’s mansion, but said that because the building still has “more than adequate water pressure,” the tanker has not yet been used. Shelby Wilcher, Tates’ press secretary, wrote in an email to the AP that the water tanker “is not supporting the Governor’s Mansion or any other state assets.” She added that the residence gets its water from the Jackson water system and that many businesses have brought in their own tankers. Jackson’s water system partially failed early this week due to flooding that exacerbated long-standing problems in one of the city’s two water-treatment plants, the AP reported. Reeves declared a state of emergency in Jackson on Tuesday, while President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Mississippi as a whole the same day.

— Associated Press writer Melissa Goldin in New York contributed this report. ___

New York law doesn’t ban minors from buying whipped cream

CLAIM: A New York law that aims to crack down on nitrous oxide abuse makes it illegal for anyone under age 21 to purchase a can of whipped cream.

THE FACTS: The law doesn’t apply to store-bought, disposable whipped cream cans, meaning customers of any age can still legally purchase canned whipped cream in New York stores without having to show identification. Social media users, news outlets and operators of grocery and convenience stores have in recent days misinterpreted a year-old New York law aimed at cracking down on recreational use of the gas nitrous oxide. Commonly called laughing gas, nitrous oxide is used as a sedative in some medical situations and can also be used as a whipping agent for culinary purposes. However, the gas is also often inhaled from metal cartridges — so-called “whippits” — to induce a euphoric effect, despite serious health risks. The New York law, which went into effect in November, attempted to make it harder for minors to access such cartridges by prohibiting New York businesses from selling the small, gas-containing metal capsules to anyone under 21. But language in the bill describing the cartridges as “whipped cream chargers” led to widespread confusion. “New York recently passed a state law that prohibits anyone under age 21 to purchase a can of whipped cream,” wrote one popular Twitter account. The post linked to a news article making the same claim, and was shared nearly 5,000 times. The claim was further spread through headlines and stories in dozens of news outlets as some grocery store operators recently began enforcing what they believed was language that required them to ask for identification before selling whipped cream canisters, such as Reddi-wip, to customers. However, the law doesn’t apply to these types of canisters, Sen. Joseph Addabbo, the Democrat who sponsored the bill, confirmed to the AP. “Anyone can buy, without being carded or ID’d, a can of Reddi-wip or any other canister of whipped cream,” Addabbo told the AP. “What a minor can’t buy is the two-inch whipped cream charger, or cartridge that is filled with nitrous oxide.” The bill amends New York general business law, and adds a new section that defines the term “whipped cream charger” as “a steel cylinder or cartridge filled with nitrous oxide, that is commonly used in a whipped cream dispenser.” Reusable whipped cream dispensers, like the ones found in restaurants or coffee shops, are powered by such metal cartridges. But those chargers are not found inside the disposable whipped cream cans that are sold in most grocery stores. Disposable whipped cream cans contain a combination of cream and nitrous oxide that’s expelled under pressure through the bottle’s nozzle.

— Sophia Tulp

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September 23, 2022
How Do You Actually Stop the Steal?

Preventing the next attempt to overturn an election is a bit like playing whack-a-mole. Plug one gap in the nation’s rickety, interlocking system for counting votes—say, by ensuring that a power-hungry vice president cannot unilaterally declare his or her ticket the winner—and another pest seems to materialize immediately.

Congress is confronting this reality as it tries to rewrite a 135-year-old law governing the final, fraught act of certifying the Electoral College results—the very statute that former President Donald Trump used as a pretext to demand that then–Vice President Mike Pence anoint him the victor on January 6, 2021. Last month, a bipartisan group of senators announced, to substantial fanfare, that it had reached an agreement to revise the 1887 Electoral Count Act. But closing off every path to subversion is proving to be a tricky task.

The legislation is modest in scope; its aims are not. The proposal’s authors believe that its enactment is necessary to guarantee that the violent insurrection that occurred last time around does not become a quadrennial affair. “That happened. It was real. It was not a visit from friends back home,” Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Congress’s most famous centrist and a co-sponsor of the bill, testified Wednesday at a hearing on the measure. “And we have a duty to ensure that it never happens again.”

Election-law experts across both parties agree that the Senate proposal, known as the Electoral Count Reform Act, would resolve legal ambiguities that Trump and his allies tried to exploit before the transfer of power. As written, the bill would clarify that the vice president, regardless of party, has only a ministerial role in presiding over Congress’s certification of the Electoral College vote. The proposal would also make it harder for members of Congress to raise objections to a state’s electors; doing so would require support of at least one-fifth of the members in each chamber, rather than just one in both the House and the Senate, as it stands now. Another provision seeks to head off rogue state legislatures by ensuring that they respect the outcome of their popular vote as determined by the laws that were in place at the time of the election.

Read: Kamala Harris might have to stop the steal

The proposed changes “set us on a path to reform that represents an extraordinary bipartisan achievement,” Bob Bauer, a longtime Democratic election lawyer who served as White House counsel in the Obama administration, told the Senate Rules Committee. “The proposals before the committee represent a vast improvement over existing law. There can be no question about that—none whatsoever.”

Actually, there were a few questions. Appearing on the same panel, another Democratic lawyer, Norm Eisen, conceded that the Electoral Count Reform Act marked “a significant step forward” in efforts to thwart another attempt to overturn the presidential election. But he warned that, as written, the proposal “could invite unwelcome manipulation.” Eisen highlighted a pair of provisions that he said could be exploited by governors trying to ignore or outright reject the popular vote in their state.

One would set a six-day window to challenge the certification of an election by a governor. The goal is to ensure that legal disputes are resolved in time for the Electoral College to meet in December and then for Congress to certify the results in January. But, Eisen pointed out, that time frame could actually play to the advantage of a governor who certified the wrong winner rather than the candidate who clearly won his or her state’s election. “It just doesn’t work,” he told the committee.

Another provision Eisen flagged would bar states from declaring a “failed election” while allowing them to change or extend their elections because of “extraordinary and catastrophic events.” The point is to give states some flexibility to alter elections for legitimate reasons, as in the case of a terrorist attack or a natural disaster; the attacks of September 11, 2001, for example, occurred on a pivotal election day as New Yorkers prepared to choose their next mayor. (New York City postponed its primary by two weeks.) The bill, however, doesn’t clearly define what constitutes “extraordinary and catastrophic events.” That, too, presents an opportunity for “mischief” by election-denying state officials, Eisen warned. What if a governor alleged, without evidence, rampant voter fraud and deemed that “an extraordinary event” that warranted a re-vote?

Eisen’s concerns are shared by another prominent Democratic election lawyer, Marc Elias, who successfully fought in court many of the challenges that Trump and other Republicans brought against the 2020 results. Part of their complaint is the bill’s narrow scope: In order to win Republican support for any changes to election law, Democrats had to jettison their much broader dreams of enacting stronger protections for voting rights and minimum federal standards for access to the polls.

But Eisen and Elias are also highlighting a potential flaw with the new proposal that may be impossible for Congress to fully rectify. For instance, the bill seeks to reduce the chances that the vice president, Congress, or a rogue secretary of state will mess around with or overturn election results. In doing so, however, the legislation grants more authority to governors to certify a state’s electors. What if the sitting governor is corrupt? As Eisen was testifying Wednesday, vote counters in Arizona were determining whether Republicans had nominated one of the nation’s most steadfast election conspiracy theorists, Kari Lake, as the state’s next governor. In Pennsylvania, the GOP has already given its nod to a Trump loyalist, Doug Mastriano, who marched to the Capitol on January 6.

The bill’s bipartisan support increases its chances of passage, and during the hearing, lawmakers in both parties seemed open to some revisions. “It’s a good start, but like every important bill, the initial version has some areas that need development,” Eisen, who served as a House counsel for the Democrats during Trump’s first impeachment, told me afterward. Some provisions, he said, “do pose risk if they are not fixed.”

Nine Republicans are already backing the legislation in the Senate, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has praised the effort, suggesting that the bill will have enough votes to overcome a filibuster if Democrats fall in line. Each party has reasons to vote for it. Democrats want to prevent Trump and his allies from trying again to overturn a defeat, while Republicans fear a scenario in which Vice President Kamala Harris plays a decisive role when presiding over Congress on January 6, 2025. Senator Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, a Republican, said there was “a sense of urgency” to act before the next presidential campaign begins. “My personal feeling is we need to button this up before the end of the year,” she said at the hearing.

Yet among Democrats, there remains some pause, as senators recognize a need to adopt a compromise while lamenting the new bill’s limitations. “The text didn’t exploit itself,” Senator Alex Padilla, a Democrat of California, said at one point during the hearing, referring to the flaws in the 1887 Electoral Count Act. “People did. The former president did. Senators, members of Congress did.”

Congress is fond of loopholes—closing them, opening them, preserving them. And even the strongest defenders of the Electoral Count Reform Act acknowledged that the proposal was not entirely free of them. “No law can prevent all mischief,” Derek Muller, a professor at the University of Iowa, told me. The question lawmakers must answer in the coming months is whether this new attempt to fortify America’s elections stops more mischief than it inspires.

Russell Berman

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August 5, 2022
Harris becomes first woman to deliver commencement address at West Point | CNN Politics

CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday became the first woman to deliver a commencement address at the graduation ceremony at the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, warning graduates they were “an increasingly unsettled world where long standing principles are at risk.”

In the history-making speech, Harris discussed themes of global security and prosperity, arguing that America’s democratic ideals “inspire billions.”

“In the face of all these challenges, America plays a singular role of leadership,” the vice president told the graduates. “Cadets, global security and global prosperity depend on the leadership of the United States of America. And a strong America remains indispensable to the world.”

Taking aim at Russian aggression in Ukraine, Harris called Moscow’s unprovoked invasion “an attack on international rules and norms that have served as the foundation of international security and prosperity for generations.” She also slammed China for “modernizing its military and threatening both the freedom of the seas and rules of international commerce.”

Harris’ comments come as President Joe Biden is seeking a second White House term next year. To date, the pair has leaned heavily on a message of saving democratic values at home and strengthening alliances abroad, even as relations with Russia and China remain contentious.

During Biden’s trip to the G7 summit earlier this month, the group of industrialized nations agreed to counter China’s “malign practices” and “coercion” and pledged to choke off Russia’s ability to finance and fuel its war.

“To the Class of 2023: You join the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen,” Harris said Saturday. “And in years to come, I promise you, you will be tried, and you will be tested.”

“And I am so very confident that you will rise to each occasion. Whatever comes your way. You are ready. And you are ready because you are true leaders of character.”

Harris previously made history in 2021 as the first woman to give a commencement address at the US Naval Academy. Last year, she spoke at the US Coast Guard Academy’s graduation ceremony.

Biden is expected to address graduates at the US Air Force Academy on June 1.

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April 12, 2021
Biden marks anniversary of Dobbs decision by calling on Congress to ‘restore the protections of Roe v. Wade’ | CNN Politics

CNN
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President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris joined a trio of key reproductive rights activist groups to mark the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs Supreme Court decision Friday, highlighting what’s expected to be a major Biden campaign plank for the 2024 presidential election.

“MAGA Republicans made clear that they don’t intend to stop with the Dobbs decision. No, they won’t, until they get a national ban on abortion,” Biden said, promising to issue a veto if a national ban is ever passed by Congress.

The Biden administration and campaign have been making an all-hands-on-deck push for reproductive rights messaging this week ahead of Saturday’s anniversary of the ruling that overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade, harnessing the moment on an issue that animated voters in 2022 and they believe will do so again in 2024.

“Since that dark June day last year, each of you has worked tirelessly to fight back. In the Dobbs decision, the court, particularly – practically, dared the women of America to be heard,” Biden said.

Biden and Harris held the event with three reproductive rights groups – EMILYs List, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and Planned Parenthood Action Fund – that announced they have endorsed the Biden-Harris campaign in the reelection push.

“Your support was critical last time around. And we were so grateful for it,” Biden said, noting the organizing efforts of all three groups and how important that will be for his reelection push.

Along with other recent endorsements from unions and climate activists, the backing of the reproductive rights groups Friday illustrates the central core of Biden’s reelection push.

“Over the last week or so we’ve seen extraordinary support from three of the most important voices in the country coming together to get behind this campaign – organized labor, climate leaders, and all of you,” Biden said at the Mayflower hotel in Washington, DC.

Friday’s event comes after Harris held a roundtable conversation on reproductive rights on MSNBC Tuesday and is also set to give a major speech on the Saturday anniversary in Charlotte, North Carolina.

And first lady Dr. Jill Biden hosted an emotional conversation Tuesday with four women who shared their stories of how the Dobbs decision and subsequent state bans on abortion impacted their own medical care.

“The Dobbs decision was devastating, and Joe is doing everything he can do to fight back,” the first lady said. “But the only way that we can ensure that every woman has the fundamental freedoms she deserves is for Congress to make the protections of Roe v. Wade the law of the land once again.”

While there are limited steps Biden can take at the executive level, he has signed multiple executive orders aimed at shoring up access to abortion rights and called on Congress to codify Roe v. Wade.

On Friday, the president will sign an executive order strengthening access to contraception, the Biden administration told CNN. The executive order directs the secretary of Treasury, secretary of Labor, and secretary of Health and Human Services to consider guidance guaranteeing private health insurance under the Affordable Care Act covers all FDA-approved methods of contraception, in contrast to current guidance, which only mandates coverage for one contraceptive product per FDA category.

But there is no action he can take to restore the nationwide right to an abortion.

Still, the Biden campaign believes that reproductive rights will be a key motivator for voters, with imagery of abortion rights protesters figuring prominently in the first seconds of Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign launch video.

In the 2022 midterm elections, about 27% of voters cited abortion as the issue most important to them, according to the preliminary results of the national and state exit polls conducted for CNN and other news networks by Edison Research.

The event also comes as the campaign begins to build coalitions and momentum around key issues important to Democratic voters. Last week, Biden attended an event rolling out an endorsement from four major environmental groups. He also held an event with gun safety activists in Connecticut. And over the weekend, he touted support from leading unions with remarks focused on the economy.

Nearly one year ago, in the moments after the Supreme Court’s historic ruling, Biden said he was stunned by the “extreme” decision.

“With Roe gone, let’s be very clear: The health and life of women in this nation are now at risk,” he warned in remarks at the White House.

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April 12, 2021
Harris accuses ‘so-called leaders’ of pushing propaganda and waging culture wars in fiery Florida speech | CNN Politics

CNN
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Vice President Kamala Harris went headfirst into flashpoint culture war issues Friday when she slammed Florida Republicans for the state Board of Education’s newly approved set of standards for teaching Black history, accusing “so-called leaders” of pushing propaganda and willfully misleading children.

It’s the latest example of Harris acting as a rapid response voice for the administration, quickly deploying around the country in the immediate aftermath of a controversial vote or law being passed to offer forceful pushback of moves taken by state Republicans on guns, abortion and education. On Wednesday, the Florida Board of Education approved a new set of standards for how Black history should be taught in the state’s public schools, sparking criticism from education and civil rights advocates who said students should be allowed to learn the “full truth” of American history.

“We know the history. And let us not let these politicians who are trying to divide our country win” Harris said in her fiery high-profile speech. “They are creating these unnecessary debates. This is unnecessary to debate whether enslaved people benefited from slavery. Are you kidding me? Are we supposed to debate that?”

Harris said that she was concerned Republicans want to “replace history with lies.” She highlighted new standards, which, according to a document posted to the state’s Department of Education website, require instruction for middle schoolers to include “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

It is the latest development in the state’s ongoing debate over African American history, including the education department’s rejection of a preliminary pilot version of an Advanced Placement African American Studies course for high school students, which it claimed lacked educational value. The White House has spoken out forcefully against book bans and other steps to remove elements of American history from school curricula, and the issue was included in Biden’s reelection announcement video in April.

The president’s advisers view the issue as one that can galvanize Democrats in next year’s elections, and Harris’ presence in the state at the epicenter of boiling culture wars seeks to present Harris and Biden as the safeguards against extremist steps that could limit freedoms and speech.

On her eighth trip to Florida since taking office, Harris criticized the state’s governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis – though not by name – in what has become a clear strategy to increase the Biden administration’s engagement with the Republican. That strategy has been bolstered by polling and research showing Americans opposed to banning books that include information on slavery and other issues.

DeSantis hit back Friday, accusing Harris and Democrats in a tweet of spreading lies “to cover for their agenda” and telling reporters in Utah that the vice president’s criticism of Florida’s Board of Education was “absolutely ridiculous.”

Earlier in the day, the former California attorney general had adopted a prosecutorial cadence to shine light on the Biden administration’s efforts to stand as a safeguard against what she called a national agenda by extremists to claw back rights.

“These extremists, so-called leaders should model what we know to be the correct and right approach if we really are invested in the well-being of our children. Instead, they dare to push propaganda to our children. This is the United States of America. We’re not supposed to do that,” she said.

Harris made the point that American allies and enemies abroad know the history of slavery in the US but these proposals, she alleged, would leave children from the US without that same knowledge.

“That’s building in a handicap for our children that they are going to be the ones in the room who don’t know their own history with the rest of the world,” she said.

On the standards themselves, Harris described the atrocities of slavery in detail, reciting how children were ripped from their mothers’ arms and were treated as less than human.

“So, in the context of that, how is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities, that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization,” Harris questioned.

Asked by CNN about the benchmark, DeSantis deflected, saying he “wasn’t involved.”

“You should talk to them about it. I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved in it,” the governor said.

Pressed further, DeSantis said: “I think that they’re probably going to show some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into, into doing things later in life. But the reality is, all of that is rooted in whatever is factual. They listed everything out. And if you have any questions about it, just ask the Department of Education.”

Harris has spent the summer months traveling the country to speak out in support of freedoms she and Democrats believe are under attack by Republicans, including abortion and the right to learn. The vice president has appeared in front of base Democratic voters that include Black voters, women and young people to deliver her message.

Friday’s last-minute trip to Florida – it was only scheduled on Thursday night – marks the second time this year she’s delivered high-profile remarks in the Sunshine State meant to condemn Republican attacks on rights. Harris told the mainly Black crowd in Jacksonville’s historic LaVille neighborhood that the administration was listening and quickly responding to their concerns.

“You are not alone,” Harris said.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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April 12, 2021
DeSantis and his team unleash on Rep. Donalds for questioning Florida’s new Black history standards | CNN Politics

CNN
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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday accused Rep. Byron Donalds – the only Black Republican in Florida’s congressional delegation – of aligning himself with Vice President Kamala Harris by critiquing the state’s new standards for teaching Black history.

Donalds tweeted Wednesday that the new standards are “good, robust, & accurate.” But the two-term congressman added that a new requirement for middle school students to be taught that slaves learned skills they later benefited from “is wrong & needs to be adjusted.” He added that he has “faith that (Florida Department of Education) will correct this.”

In the face of that seemingly gentle criticism, DeSantis’ administration and online allies unloaded on Donalds, who has backed former President Donald Trump over his home state governor for the 2024 nomination. Jeremy Redfern, the spokesman for the governor’s office, called Donalds a “supposed conservative.” Christina Pushaw, the campaign’s rapid response director, replied to Donalds’ tweet: “Did Kamala Harris write this tweet?” DeSantis’ Education Commissioner Manny Diaz tweeted that Florida would “not back down … at the behest of a supposedly conservative congressman.”

DeSantis joined the pile on during his Iowa bus tour, telling Donalds to “stand up for your state.”

“You got to choose: Are you going to side with Kamala Harris and liberal media outlets or are you doing to side with the state of Florida?” he said.

Responding to the blowback to his remarks, Donalds on Twitter called the online attacks aimed at him “disingenuous” and said DeSantis supporters were “desperately attempting to score political points,” adding that that is why he is “proud to have endorsed” Trump.

“What’s crazy to me is I expressed support for the vast majority of the new African American history standards and happened to oppose one sentence that seemed to dignify the skills gained by slaves as a result of their enslavement,” he wrote on Twitter.

This week’s clash with Donalds is the latest example of how the DeSantis campaign’s failure to win support from key members of his state’s GOP has come back to bite him as he runs against Trump. Last week, Rep. Greg Steube, who has also endorsed Trump, put DeSantis on blast over property insurance rates in the state continuing to soar.

“The result of the state’s top elected official failing to focus on (and be present in) Florida,” Steube said, tweeting out a headline that linked the sharp rise in premiums to DeSantis’ time in office.

The war of words between two Florida Republicans this week is all the more remarkable because of how closely aligned Donalds and DeSantis once appeared.

Donalds introduced DeSantis and his family at the governor’s election night victory party last year, heaping praise on the man he called “America’s governor.” He played DeSantis’ 2018 election opponent, Democrat Andrew Gillum, during debate preparation. DeSantis had also formed a close alliance with Donalds’ wife, a school choice advocate who received a plum appointment to the Florida Gulf Coast University board of trustees.

But there was a notable break in their relationship in April when Donalds endorsed Trump over DeSantis. Donalds had previously stated publicly he would wait on an announcement until the field was set. The decision stunned DeSantis’ political operation, which had clearly underestimated the governor’s failures to build a rapport with fellow Republicans. Ultimately most Florida Republicans in the House lined up behind Trump.

The back and forth with Donalds stems from the new standards for how Black history should be taught in the state’s public schools, which were approved earlier this month by the Florida Board of Education. While education and civil rights advocates have decried many elements of the new standards as whitewashing America’s dark history, much of the national attention has focused on one passage that clarifies middle school students should learn “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

Amid intense objections to the language, Harris responded by holding a press conference in Jacksonville where she accused Florida’s leaders of “creating these unnecessary debates.”

“This is unnecessary to debate whether enslaved people benefited from slavery,” she said. “Are you kidding me? Are we supposed to debate that?”

DeSantis and state education officials have fiercely defended the new standards in recent days. Redfern and others have pointed to similar language that appeared in the course framework for a new Advanced Placement African American Studies course piloted by the College Board. Florida was widely criticized by Democrats for blocking the course from being taught in state public schools.

According to one document, the AP course intended to teach students: “In addition to agricultural work, enslaved people learned specialized trades and worked as painters, carpenters, tailors, musicians, and healers in the North and South. Once free, American Americans used these skills to provide for themselves and others.”

The College Board said Thursday it “resolutely” disagrees with the notion that enslavement was beneficial for African Americans after some compared the content of its course to Florida’s recently approved curriculum.

On Thursday, DeSantis said the state standards are “very clear about the injustices of slavery in vivid detail.”

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April 12, 2021
Howard University Announces 2017 Honorary Degree Recipients

The distinguished roster, comprised of all women, will be honored during May’s commencement ceremony

Press Release
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updated: Apr 26, 2017

Washington, DC, April 26, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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Howard University Board of Trustees today announced the 2017 list of recipients who will receive honorary doctorate degrees from the University. The roster, comprised of all women, will receive degrees in the diverse fields of communications, literature, civil rights, and government. The degrees will be granted during the 149th Commencement Convocation on the main campus of Howard University’s Upper Quadrangle at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 13, 2017.

Honorary recipients include anchorwoman Maureen Bunyan; Howard University graduate professor of English Eleanor W. Traylor; co-founder of the National Organization for Women and the first African-American woman ordained an Episcopal priest Anna Pauline Murray; and Howard University alumna and U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris.

“These remarkable honorees embody the spirit and aspiration that guides Howard’s mission of excellence in truth and service.”

Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, Howard University President

“These remarkable honorees embody the spirit and aspiration that guides Howard’s mission of excellence in truth and service,” said Howard University President Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick. “We are pleased to honor for the first time a distinguished panel comprised of all women. As we celebrate our Sesquicentennial, we also embrace and recognize the sterling contributions of women all over the world and certainly here at Howard University. These women dedicated their talents and lives to improving the world and all lives.”

This year’s honorees include:

Senator Kamala D. Harris who will receive the President’s Medal of Achievement, having received the honorary Doctor of Laws in 2012. A lifelong public servant and civil rights leader, U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris was the first African-American and first woman to serve as Attorney General of California and the second African-American woman to be elected to the U.S. Senate in history. Harris served two terms as district attorney of San Francisco. Defeating a two-term incumbent, she was first elected DA in 2003 and was overwhelmingly re-elected to a second term in November 2007.

Maureen Bunyan will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. Bunyan is an award-winning journalist and news anchor who is a founder and board member of the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), and a founder of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ). Bunyan has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Washington Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Silver Circle of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and the Broadcast Pioneers Club of Washington.

Anna Pauline “Pauli” Murray will be posthumously recognized with an honorary Doctor of Laws. Murray, a 1944 Howard University School of Law graduate, was a quiet force behind some of the most iconic civil rights and social justice events of the 20th century. Thurgood Marshall regarded her book, States’ Laws on Race and Color, as the “bible” in crafting his arguments for Brown vs. Board of Education. Along with Betty Friedan and 30 others, Dr. Murray was a founding member of the National Organization for Women. One of the last achievements of her remarkable life was to be the first African-American woman ordained as an Episcopal priest in 1977.

Eleanor W. Traylor will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters. Traylor is a graduate professor of English and acclaimed scholar and critic in African-American literature and criticism. Dr. Traylor obtained a B.A. from Spelman College; an M.A. from Atlanta University; and a Ph.D. from Catholic University, where she pursued her interests in African-American literature and mythology concentrating this focus in a dissertation on Richard Wright. She later received a Merrill Scholarship to the Stuttgarter Hochschule in West Germany and a research fellowship to study at the Institute of African Studies in Ghana and Nigeria.

Anthony D. Owens
Assistant Director, Media Relations
Howard University
anthony.owens@howard.edu
202-870-9208

Source: Howard University

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April 26, 2017