Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) signed a bill into law Tuesday banning almost all abortions in the state, except for when a pregnant person’s life is in danger.
The big picture: The state joins more than a dozen others that have passed restrictive abortion measures in hopes of forcing the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The bill does not include exceptions for rape or incest.
What he’s saying: “SB6 is in contradiction of binding precedents of the U.S. Supreme Court, but it is the intent of the legislation to set the stage for the Supreme Court overturning current case law,” Hutchinson said in a statement.
“I would have preferred the legislation to include the exceptions for rape or incest, which has been my consistent view, and such exceptions would increase the chances for a review by the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Nevertheless, he said he would sign the bill because of “overwhelming legislative support and my sincere and long-held pro-life convictions.”
What to watch: Opponents plan to challenge the sweeping measure before it takes effect later this year.
The legislation won’t take effect for at least 90 days after the state legislature adjourns its session, meaning it can’t be enforced until this summer or later, per AP.
A sixth woman, who is a member of the New York state Executive Chamber’s staff, has come forward with allegations of sexual harassment or inappropriate conduct against Governor Andrew Cuomo.
A supervisor in the Executive Chamber recently became aware that the woman had alleged that Cuomo inappropriately touched her late last year during an encounter at the governor’s mansion, where she had been working, according to the Times Union. The complaint was reported by other employees in the chamber.
An aide confirmed to the newspaper that the governor’s office learned of the matter on Monday. Cuomo’s office has informed the attorney general’s office, which is investigating multiple allegations of sexual harassment made against the governor.
Joon Kim, a former acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District in Manhattan, and Anne Clark, a lawyer who specializes in labor law and sexual harassment cases, have been appointed by New York Attorney General Letitia James to oversee the probe.
Five other women have made claims against Cuomo since late February. Among them are four former aides, Lindsey Boylan, Charlotte Bennett, Ana Liss and Karen Hinton, as well as a woman he met at a wedding in 2019 named Anna Ruch.
A new poll shows that 50 percent of Americans are not confident that “Joe Biden is physically and mentally up to the job of being president of the United States.”
The findings come from a March 9th, 2021 Rasmussen report which links the astoundingly low confidence in President Biden to his lack of transparency with the media.
52 percent of likely voters are concerned that he hasn’t held a press conference, including 32 percent who are “very concerned,” the poll also finds.
“More than six weeks since his inauguration, President Biden still hasn’t held his first White House press conference, and half of voters are worried about his ability to do the job,” Rasmussen summarizes.
It doesn’t take much for the nation’s voters to become concerned that President Biden, the oldest new chief executive at 78 years old, might not be up for the job.
The latest proof: His resistance to holding a full-blown press conference now 49 days into his presidency has half the country worried.
In the latest Rasmussen Reports survey of likely voters, 50% said they are not confident that “Joe Biden is physically and mentally up to the job of being president of the United States.” Another 48% have confidence in Biden, though only 34% were “very confident” that he was up to the job.
Driving that, Rasmussen said, was Biden’s refusal to meet with reporters. He has had some interactions with the small pool of reporters, but his sometimes awkward speaking style has led to criticism. And the White House has recently cut short his appearances.
Rasmussen said today 52% of likely voters are concerned that he hasn’t held a press conference and that 46% aren’t.
And 76% of those not confident of Biden’s ability are very concerned about the lack of press conferences, Rasmussen added.
Video of Joe Biden's live feed being cut off after asking for questions viewed over one million times https://t.co/2NIuxL57lV
The split decision on Biden so far comes as the White House has also been silent on the president giving a State of the Union address. Proponents are shocked he hasn’t made his way to Capitol Hill to declare the opening of the new Biden era and share his plans.
But the results shouldn’t be surprising considering preelection polling that showed many voters were concerned that Biden would resign before the end of his first term.
Inspired by pandemic lessons that kept customers in cars, chains are adding more lanes and curbside pickup, improving apps and testing menu boards that use artificial intelligence.
Starbucks has employees at hundreds of busy locations strolling through car lines, taking orders with hand-held devices so customers can get their caffeine fix a few seconds faster. Shake Shack, which has long emphasized that quality ingredients are worth waiting a few extra minutes for, will soon feature its first drive-through window. And the vast majority of new Chipotles this year will have “Chipotlanes,” where customers can drive up to a window and pull away with preordered meals in less than a minute.
With dining room restrictions in place for much of the country during the pandemic, drive-through and pickup windows became critical ways for a variety of restaurants to remain afloat.
Now, as the dining industry looks toward a post-pandemic world, many companies are betting big that digital ordering and drive-throughs will remain integral to their success. And the basic experience of sitting in a single line of cars, speaking into a sometimes garbled intercom and pulling up to a window to pay for your food before driving away is poised to be demonstrably altered for the first time in decades.
A number of restaurants are moving quickly to improve their online order and app abilities, change their physical designs or add two or three drive-through lanes. Some are testing artificial intelligence systems to tailor suggestions for individuals who pull up to the menu board.
“The drive-through has been one of those places that hasn’t changed in decades,” said Ellie Doty, the North American chief marketing officer for Burger King. “But with Covid, we’re seeing the dramatic acceleration of directions we were already going.”
Taco Bell, which last year announced plans to test a restaurant design with stadium seating for gamers to play against one another, has switched much of its focus to creating smaller restaurants with dual drive-through lanes and curbside pickup. Applebee’s is testing its first drive-through in Texarkana, Texas. Shake Shack is experimenting with a number of new designs and plans, including walk-up windows and curbside pickup. It will open its first drive-through this year in Orlando, Fla., and plans five to eight more through 2022.
“We had started working on some of the formats even prior to the pandemic,” said Andrew McCaughan, the chief development officer for Shake Shack. “But we saw a massive accelerator and catalyst to move faster and to get drive-through really going.”
While several chains lay claim to inventing the drive-through, many say it dates back to the 1930s when a Los Angeles franchise of a Texas chain, the Pig Stand, allowed customers to order and pick up their food from a window. In the late 1940s, the California chain In-N-Out Burger introduced the two-way squawk box. But the phenomenon really took off in the 1970s when McDonald’s installed drive-throughs.
As more families had two working parents and the demand for quick-and-easy meals rose, drive-throughs became mainstream. But they also became a source of derision and hilarity. In 1993’s “Wayne’s World 2,” the characters Garth and Wayne purposely cut out their voices while giving their orders, suggesting a broken intercom. The server repeats the order back perfectly.
Indeed, drive-throughs can be stressful. Other customers occasionally honk to prod you to speed up your order. After screaming “No pickles!” repeatedly into the intercom, you sometimes still get a burger with three pickles on it. And lines can stretch through parking lots and into the street, especially during peak pandemic use. Chick-fil-A has been sued by neighboring businesses that say its long drive-through lines block their customers’ access.
For most restaurants, the solution has many parts. First, more are trying to encourage customers to use ordering apps, which improve the accuracy of orders and are often connected to loyalty programs that give them points for free food. They are also trying to figure out how to best speed consumers through the drive-through or pickup process without disrupting traffic patterns or other businesses.
Drive-through times average 4 minutes and 15 seconds, according to Bluedot, a geolocation company. Like a Daytona 500 pit crew, restaurants are always looking for ways to shave off minutes, or even seconds.
To be competitive in this race, Chipotle, whose digital orders soared from 20 percent of its sales to as high as 70 percent at the height of the pandemic, installed in many of its kitchens a second assembly line where employees put together tacos or burrito bowls for mobile and online orders exclusively.
A far-left co-host of the progressive political YouTube channel “The Young Turks” railed against California Gov. Gavin Newsom and joined the effort to recall him.
Ana Kasparian is an outspoken progressive commentator but even she had to admit that California had become an “absolute wasteland” under Newsom’s leadership.
The Recall was started long before the Presidential election and even Uber progressives like Ana Kasparian from the Young Turks support it. So no its not just crazy "Trumpers" and it's not just a temper tantrum over the election.
“I’m a native Angeleno, I was born and raised in California, I love my state, I love the people in this state,” Kasparian said.
“But it is an absolute wasteland right now,” she added. “Every freeway bridge is full of people living in tents. There’s excrement on our sidewalks. It’s unsafe. Crime has gone up. And when it comes to coronavirus, I mean, the fish rots from the head down.”
Kasparian was speaking with Elex Michaelson on his show, “The Issue Is,” in February when she made the comments. She went on to highlight Newsom’s hypocrisy when he was caught dining at an exclusive restaurant while telling Californians to lockdown.
“While Americans are encouraged to shelter in place, encouraged to practice social distancing, no eating indoors at restaurants, he was seen at The French Laundry meeting up with his lobbyist buddies. That is unacceptable,” Kasparian said.
“I have not seen competent leadership from Gavin Newsom, and I will state on this show every single member of my family signed our names, provided our signatures to recall him,” she concluded.
Michaelson and his other guest, Gianno Caldwell from Fox News, were visibly stunned by Kasparian’s admission.
Kasparian also said that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, another Democrat, should be made to face the political consequences of mismanagement in the county of Los Angeles.
She reiterated her point on Twitter after the show aired.
“It’s true. Newsom is awful. Bailed out private utilities that caused massive fires. Doled out fracking permits. But thanks for the porta pottys under freeway bridges. So much more humane than homes!” wrote Kasparian.
The organization behind the recall effort said on Sunday that they had gathered almost 2 million signatures, more than enough than the 1.5 million threshold needed to spur a recall election. They will continue to gather signatures in case some portion of those collected are invalidated. The deadline for the signatures is March 17.
Two GOP congressmen are opening a new front to “fight back against cancel culture” by working to ensure several cable networks, including Newsmax, remain available in the U.S. Capitol as some Democrats push to rid them from the air.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis on Tuesday sent a letter to House Administration Committee Chair Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., after attempts by members of her own party to pressure cable providers to drop numerous news networks.
“The House of Representatives can fight back against cancel culture by ensuring that Members and staff have access to these targeted news networks on the House’s internal television system,” Jordan and Davis wrote in the letter, which was obtained by Newsmax’s Logan Ratick. “We therefore ask you, as chair of the committee responsible for internal House operations, to reject cancel culture and ensure that the House’s television system carries Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax.”
Newsmax in a statement lauded the letter.
“The House Democrats’ continuing support of Cancel Culture is a cancer on society,” the statement said. “Free Speech, the free exchange of ideas, and First Amendment rights are foundational to our nation, and our courageous servicemen and women have given their lives protecting these rights. We strongly support the letter from Representatives Davis and Jordan.”
Jordan told Newsmax in an interview that the failure to add Newsmax and continue carrying Fox News and OANN would be “chilling” as cancel culture quickly emerges as a significant “threat to freedom.”
“The cancel culture won’t just stop with Republicans and conservatives … the appetite with the cancel culture is never satisfied … it will come for Democrats, too,” Jordan said.
Jordan implored Democrats to show their liberal bona fides by standing up for free speech.
“You’ve got all the left-wing networks as part of the package … and you have two of the three conservative networks – why not Newsmax?” Jordan said. “… Show that (Democrats) are committed to the First Amendment.”
He added: “It would be a nice message to send.”
Davis is the ranking member on Lofgren’s committee, while Jordan, a staunch and vocal opponent of “cancel culture,” is the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee.
The letter added: “This attempt to cancel Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax is not just a radical attack on the First Amendment’s freedom of the press. It also blatantly ignores how left-wing news outlets regularly pushed false narratives about President Trump and the Trump Administration, including debunked allegations of Russian collusion.”
Jordan and Davis sent their letter in response to a series of Feb. 22 missives from Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., and Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., who urged twelve “cable, satellite, and streaming television providers” to “disassociate with Fox News, OANN, and Newsmax.”
“The House of Representatives must stand together in rejecting cancel culture and fighting attempts to restrict the freedom of the press,” Jordan and Davis wrote.
They added: “Even in the face of our sharp disagreements on policy, the House should always promote the free exchange of ideas rather than cancel the ideas with which we disagree.”
Right-leaning politicians and conservatives have been chief among those who’ve increasingly found themselves silenced by media, corporations, and big tech as “cancel culture” takes hold. Just in the last two months, former President Donald Trump was booted from Twitter and Facebook and countless news organizations have found themselves victimized by often controversial “fact checks” that rely on liberal experts or assessments.
Children’s Health Defense is one of several groups planning a March 19 protest at SpaceX headquarters to demand the company end its planned deployment of 42,000 low-orbit satellites.
By Coalition to Protest SpaceX Satellite Program
Safe technology advocates, environmentalists and astronomers from California and beyond will gather March 19, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. PT at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., to demand the company end its planned deployment of 42,000 low-orbit satellites.
The groups are gathering signatures worldwide on an open letter to Elon Musk and SpaceX, urging Musk to sit down with scientists, astronomers and all stakeholders to discuss the dangers of satellite programs. A group of children will hand-deliver the letter at the March 19 rally.
The SpaceX low-orbit satellites, using 5G technology, would bathe the world with microwave radiation including the mid-ocean, Antarctic and wildlife preserves and protected natural areas. Other companies such as One Web and Amazon have plans to launch up to 40,000 additional satellites.
The SpaceX Starlink program calls for 8,400 satellites, each with a lifespan of only 5 years, to be built, launched, deorbited and burned up each year. This will add to ozone depletion, space debris and collisions, the conversion of deorbited satellites to toxic dust and smoke as they burn up in the atmosphere, and the proliferation of spaceports on pristine land and ground and water pollution around them.
Of particular concern is the global increase in microwave radiation from the satellites, ground stations and millions of “user terminals” which are, in effect, cell antennas all over the planet, one for each subscriber.
On Feb. 26 Children’s Health Defense filed a case against the Federal Communication Commission challenging an amendment to the “Over the Air Reception Devices” rule (OTARD). Among other things, the amended rule enables the deployment of at least 1,000,000 antennas which will provide the ground infrastructure for the SpaceX satellites. The amended rule goes into effect March 29.
“We are literally guinea pigs for this technological experiment about which we have not been consulted, and for which we have not given our consent,” said David Goldberg, an event organizer. “This is the same technology used in the microwave attacks on diplomats, currently under federal investigation. Safer and more energy-efficient wired technologies are available and should be implemented, instead of thousands of satellites and millions of cell antennas that will increase wireless radiation and harm the environment.”
Participants are being asked to please abide by all California COVID-19 public health laws and mandates. For more information on the planned protest, click here.
Chief Justice John Roberts was the only dissenter in the U.S Supreme Court’s most recent ruling favoring a couple of Christian students who challenged their university for restricting when, where, and how they could speak about their faith and disseminate materials on campus.
Today's 8-1 decision in Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski marks the first time Chief Justice John Roberts has ever been the sole dissenting justice during his entire tenure. https://t.co/6Ux9HvXiDL
Uzuegbunam et al. v. Preczewski et al. first materialized after Chike Uzuegbunam, a student at Georgia Gwinnett College, was stopped by campus police for handing out religious materials on campus, a reported violation of the school’s “Freedom of Expression Policy,” which limited distributions and other expressions to free speech zones only with permission from the administration. Even after Uzuegbunam moved to the designated areas with permission, however, campus police attempted to stop him from speaking and handing out religious literature, prompting him and another student, Joseph Bradford, to take legal action against the university for violating their First and 14th Amendment rights and seek nominal damages.
The students’ attempts to sue the school, however, were shot down by both a district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit after Georgia Gwinnett College changed its “Freedom of Expression” policy to remove barriers on when and where students could speak on campus and filed a motion to dismiss the case as moot. The Supreme Court took up the case after Uzuegbunam and Bradford noted that their rights were still violated no matter what the university modified its policy to reflect and still required a ruling on nominal damages.
Justice Clarence Thomas authored the opinion of the court, agreeing with the students’ case.
“Applying this principle here is straightforward. For purposes of this appeal, it is undisputed that Uzuegbunam experienced a completed violation of his constitutional rights when respondents enforced their speech policies against him. Because ‘every violation [of a right] imports damage,’ Webb, 29 F. Cas., at 509, nominal damages can redress Uzuegbunam’s injury even if he cannot or chooses not to quantify that harm in economic terms,” Thomas concluded.
Roberts, however, in his first solo dissent, wrote that the court was acting as “a moot court” in deciding this case and their ruling.
“When plaintiffs like Uzuegbunam and Bradford allege neither actual damages nor the prospect of future injury, an award of nominal damages does not change their status or condition at all. Such an award instead represents a judicial determination that the plaintiffs’ interpretation of the law is correct — nothing more,” Roberts stated.
The executive order, which remains in effect, mirrors Cuomo’s controversial nursing home order
As New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) faces articles of impeachment over covering up COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes and multiple allegations of sexual harassment, there is renewed scrutiny of his administration’s mishandling of the pandemic, including focus on an executive order that required homes for people with developmental disabilities to accept coronavirus patients.
Cuomo’s nursing home scandal, in which the governor issued an executive order to move COVID-19 patients from hospitals to nursing homes and then manipulated data to hide how many senior citizens contracted the coronavirus and died, is well documented. But another directive issued by the governor has until now received little attention.
The April 10 executive order, first highlighted by Maria McFadden Maffucci for National Review, directed residential group homes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to accept positive COVID-19 patients released by hospitals, just like the executive order for nursing homes. Cuomo’s nursing home order was eventually rescinded, but the order relating to homes for people with disabilities remains in effect. The results were tragic.
According to a study published in Disability and Health Journal in June and cited by McFadden Maffucci, New Yorkers with disabilities living in residential group homes were more than twice as likely to have severe outcomes and deaths from COVID-19. “Circumstances and decisions made early in the pandemic may have contributed to the higher case rate of people living with IDD in residential group homes. Those who tested positive for COVID-19 or who had presumed infection (during the time of limited testing availability) were required to return to their residential setting with instructions to sequester,” the study’s authors wrote.
Now, Fox News reports that 552 residents at homes for people with disabilities have died of COVID-19, according to the New York Office for People with Developmental Disabilities.
Additionally, more than 6,900 of the more than 34,552 people living in these homes have been infected with coronavirus.
“These group homes were required to have a process in place to expedite the return of asymptomatic residents from the hospital, who were deemed appropriate for return to their OPWDD certified residence,” an agency spokeswoman said. “In other words, OPWDD providers could accept individuals only if they could safely accommodate them in the group home.”
She added that people “who could not be safely accommodated either remained at the hospital or were served in one of the over 100 temporary sites established for COVID-19 recovery efforts in partnership with OPWDD provider agencies.”
New York State Republicans that gave statements to Fox News said they have begun investigating Cuomo’s directive and have requested updated data on COVID-19 deaths and infections among New York’s IDD community.
“I am deeply concerned that the April 10th order from OPWDD needlessly put some of our most vulnerable citizens in harm’s way. Close on the heels of the deadly nursing home order from the Department of Health (DOH), this order appears both dangerous and tone deaf. Transparency has been a major failing of this administration at all levels,” state Sen. Mike Martucci, a Republican signatory of the letter and ranking member of the Senate Disabilities Committee, said.
New York has prioritized people with disabilities living in group homes for vaccines and anyone with an intellectual and developmental disability has been eligible to receive a vaccine since Feb. 15.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is insisting it has the right to use former President Donald Trump’s name and likeness in fundraising appeals, after Trump sent cease-and-desist letters to the committee.
In a March 8 letter obtained by The Epoch Times, the RNC’s chief counsel Justin Riemer told Trump’s Save America political action committee that the RNC “has every right to refer to public figures as it engages in core, First Amendment-protected political speech, and it will continue to do so in pursuit of these common goals.”
Riemer also said that Trump and RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel enjoy a close relationship, alleging the former president over the weekend reaffirmed to her that he approves of the RNC’s current use of his name in fundraising and other materials, including for an upcoming donor retreat event in Palm Beach in which Trump is slated to participate.
“The RNC has not sent any fundraising requests in President Trump’s name or used his image since before he left office, nor would it do so without his prior approval,” the lawyer wrote.
The Save America committee didn’t respond to a request for comment.
A Trump adviser told The Epoch Times that Trump sent cease-and-desist letters not only to the RNC, but also to the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee.
The letters demanded the groups stop using Trump’s name and likeness to raise funds.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 28, 2021. (Joe Skipper/Reuters)
The pressure on the groups is part of an intra-party struggle over who heads the GOP. A growing number of Republicans have publicly opposed the former president, including 17 who sided with Democrats in the latest impeachment saga.
Trump plans on supporting primary opponents to some sitting lawmakers, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), one of seven senators who voted to convict him on a charge of incitement of insurrection.
Trump was ultimately acquitted because 43 senators voted against the charge.
Trump urged supporters on Monday to stop giving money to so-called RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only.
“They do nothing but hurt the Republican Party and our great voting base—they will never lead us to Greatness. Send your donation to Save America PAC at DonaldJTrump.com. We will bring it all back stronger than ever before!” he said.
Trump told a crowd at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference that he opposes House Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) staying in office, before telling supporters to “get rid of” all the members of Congress who voted against him in the latest impeachment saga.
“I will be actively working to elect strong, tough, and smart Republican leaders,” Trump declared. “RINOs will destroy the Republican Party … and the American workers.”
Ivan Pentchoukov and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.Follow Zachary on Twitter: @zackstieber
