Author: Sharon Zhang

  • On Tuesday, far right Texas Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk will begin hearing arguments in a case brought by conservative plaintiffs that could shut down Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas and across the country. Texas and an anonymous plaintiff affiliated with extremist anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress filed a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood over $17 million in Medicaid payments that…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and four other Democrats are demanding that the Department of Justice launch an investigation into Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after a series of eye-opening reports have detailed a vast web of corruption surrounding the conservative justice. In a letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday, the lawmakers point out that Thomas has…

    Source

  • Democrats and government watchdogs are reupping their calls for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to be removed from the Supreme Court either through resignation or impeachment after some of the most damning findings yet about the conservative justice’s mountain of improprieties were made public this week. “Today’s a good day to impeach Clarence Thomas,” said Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan).

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • A new report reveals that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the Donald Trump-appointed Florida judge presiding over the case regarding Trump’s improper storage of classified documents, once received a luxury trip from a school backed by Leonard Leo, the conservative kingmaker of the judiciary branch. According to financial documents reviewed by Accountable.US and reported by The Guardian…

    Source

  • A group of Idaho educators is suing the state over a law that they say punishes teachers with up to 14 years in prison for discussing or teaching about abortion in the classroom. The No Public Funds for Abortion Act (NPFAA) prohibits the use of public funds to “promote” or “counsel” in favor of abortion. Professors across Idaho’s publicly-funded universities say that this stifles both lessons on…

    Source

  • For years, Oregon Republicans have been blocking bill after bill in the state legislature through a drastic tactic: skipping town to break quorum. Now, Oregon officials are saying that the Republicans who have obstructed votes this way at least 10 times are going to be barred from running for re-election in 2024. This week, Oregon Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade confirmed that she…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Climate advocates are frustrated after President Joe Biden waved away the myriad calls for him to declare a climate emergency on Wednesday, refusing to use the full extent of his executive powers to combat the climate crisis. When asked about calls for him to declare a climate emergency in an interview with the Weather Channel, Biden falsely said that he has “already done that…

    Source

  • As activists push for abortion rights ballot measures in states across the country, polling has found that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson is as unpopular as ever, a year on from the decision. According to new polling by SSRS for CNN released Tuesday, 64 percent of U.S. adults disagree with the decision, with 50 percent saying they “strongly” disagree. This is nearly double the…

    Source

  • Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) introduced a bill on Tuesday aimed at reforming some of the most predatory features of the credit system in hopes of uplifting millions of Americans whose credit histories have been tarnished by fraud, abuse or medical debt. The Restoring Unfairly Impaired Credit and Protecting Consumers Act would reduce the length that adverse information stays on credit reports…

    Source

  • In the latest move from the judiciary branch to advance Christofascism in the U.S., a Trump-appointed judge in Texas ordered lawyers for Southwest Airlines to take a “religious liberty training” by a far right Christian group on Monday as part of a lawsuit brought by an anti-abortion flight attendant. U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr ordered three senior lawyers for the airline to take eight…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • A group of over three dozen Democrats is pushing for former President Donald Trump’s trials in cases brought against him by the Justice Department to be televised, citing the national significance and politicized nature of the cases. On Thursday, Democrats led by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-California), Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia), Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) and Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi)…

    Source

  • Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito must be recused from future cases regarding legislation regulating the Court after his recent striking comments in an interview with The Wall Street Journal constituted a violation of the Court’s ethics code, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have said. In a letter sent to Chief Justice John Roberts on Thursday, Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin…

    Source

  • For the second time in history, credit officials have lowered the U.S.’s credit rating from its top mark of AAA to AA+ — and the reasoning provided for the decision strongly suggests that it is the result of Republican maneuvering and discord. One of the driving forces behind the downgrade was the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, according to HuffPost. The outlet cited an anonymous U.S.

    Source

  • As temperatures reach over 100 degrees in South America in the middle of winter, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) is calling for federal officials to finally take the fossil fuel industry’s long-standing lies about the climate crisis seriously and prosecute the industry the same way the Justice Department prosecuted Big Tobacco decades ago. In an op-ed published by MSNBC on Thursday…

    Source

  • The Mexican government has reported that officials found two dead bodies stuck to buoys — installed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to make it more dangerous for asylum seekers to cross the southern border into the U.S. — which the Biden administration ordered to be taken down last month. Mexico Foreign Relations officials said that the Texas Department of Public Safety notified the Mexican…

    Source

  • Cryptocurrency brokers are skipping out on at least half of their tax obligations, experts have estimated — and a group of senators is urging federal officials to crack down on what analysts say is an at least $50 billion tax gap caused by crypto tax evaders. Four senators, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), sent a letter on Tuesday to federal regulators urging them to swiftly…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Matthew DePerno, a leader of a plot to help former President Donald Trump overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in Michigan, was arraigned and charged by Michigan prosecutors on Tuesday. DePerno, the former Republican candidate in the 2022 race for state attorney general, is facing four felony charges that come after a yearlong probe into the scheme by D.J. Hilson…

    Source

  • The latest indictment against former President Donald Trump regarding his sweeping campaign to go against the will of the American public and overturn the 2020 election includes one charge under a civil rights law originally enacted to combat the terror and violence perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan. Special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with four felony counts on Tuesday…

    Source

  • On the heels of what is likely the worst heat wave across the globe in recorded history, data shows that heat-related deaths have been rapidly rising over the past decade — even without yet taking into account this year’s record-breaking heat. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data analyzed by The Guardian, heat related deaths in the U.S. nearly doubled between 2010 and 2022…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • As former President Donald Trump continues losing court cases and facing serious charges from government prosecutors, new polling finds that — despite a rising share of Republicans who believe he may be guilty of serious crimes — support for the former president for the upcoming presidential primaries remains high and extremely stable. According to a poll by The New York Times/

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • The Biden administration is launching an initiative to study long COVID and, for the first time, carry out clinical trials to study potential treatments for the illness. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the formation of the Office of Long COVID Research and Practice on Monday. The office will study the illness that leaves some with chronic exhaustion, pain, brain fog…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Another indictment against Donald Trump is imminent after the former president lost another bid to halt his case in Georgia, where the Fulton County district attorney has said charges are “ready to go” in the probe over his efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election in the state. Fulton County Superior Judge Robert McBurney issued a ruling on Monday saying that Trump and fake…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • A group of senators is urging the Department of Justice to file lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry over its decades-long campaign to deny its impact on the climate crisis on the last day of what scientists predict will be the hottest month on Earth on record. On Monday, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts), Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) and Elizabeth Warren (D…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) has condemned Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after the conservative essentially claimed that the Supreme Court has absolute power over other branches of government, including Congress. “What a surprise, guy who is supposed to enforce checks and balances thinks checks shouldn’t apply to him,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted on Friday, in response to a laudatory…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • On Thursday, a judge ruled in favor of activists attempting to put Cop City on a ballot this fall, issuing a scathing decision saying that Atlanta officials placed unlawful restrictions on activists’ ballot effort. U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen ruled that the city was unjustified in forcing Stop Cop City activists to prove their Atlanta residency before being allowed to collect signatures to…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Federal prosecutors added new charges to Donald Trump’s indictment over his alleged mishandling of classified documents in his Florida residence on Thursday, now saying that the former president ordered an employee to delete security camera footage in order to obstruct prosecutors’ investigation. The new charges, added to the 37 others Trump faces in the documents case, accuse the former president…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • As hundreds of thousands of workers strike across the country in a summer marked by increased labor activity, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) has introduced a bill that would allow workers on strike to access government food assistance and make it easier for workers to exercise their labor rights. The Food Secure Strikers Act of 2023, introduced onThursday, would repeal a Ronald-Reagan era…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Though Fox News reached an agreement with Dominion Voting Systems earlier this year to pay one of the largest media settlements in history over the outlet’s repeated lies regarding the 2020 election, the corporation may be able to soften the blow — to the tune of a $200 million tax break, reporters found earlier this year. Now, one Senate Democrat is trying to change that. Sen.

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Far right influence peddler Leonard Leo rebuffed Senate Democrats’ inquiry into his reportedly extremely close relationship with Supreme Court justices this week, making an argument that experts have criticized as “comically absurd.” David B. Rivkin Jr., a lawyer for Leo, wrote in a defiant letter that Senate Judiciary leaders’ request that Leo account for any gifts and favors he’s given to…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • A group of progressive lawmakers in the House have introduced a bill that would levy up to an 8 percent tax on the wealth of the richest Americans, with a goal of combating extreme and growing wealth inequality in the U.S. The bill, dubbed the Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms (OLIGARCH) Act, would levy a wealth tax on individuals who have at least 1,000…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.