Politics Random, Random

[ti-amie]

Will of the voters? Republicans in Ohio pledge to push back on abortion, marijuana
Haley BeMiller, USA TODAY NETWORK
Updated Wed, November 8, 2023 at 9:56 PM GMT

A majority of Ohio voters on Tuesday chose to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution and legalize recreational marijuana.

Almost immediately, the state's top Republican leaders promised they would try to unravel what voters approved.

Unofficial results show about 56% of voters backed Issue 1, a constitutional amendment that codifies the right to abortion access and other reproductive health care. Issue 2, which also passed with 56% of the vote, is a state law that will allow adults 21 and older to buy, possess and grow marijuana. Both take effect in 30 days.

"I can't believe in 2023 we're actually talking about elected officials not respecting the will of the voters and not respecting the outcome of an election," said Tom Haren, a spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. "I expect, I think that every single voter in Ohio has a right to expect, that elected officials will implement and respect the will of voters."

Since Issue 2 is an initiated statute, lawmakers can easily change it − and were promising to do so even before the election. House Speaker Jason Stephens, R-Kitts Hill, said Tuesday night that the Legislature should reallocate tax revenue from the adult-use program to invest more in jail construction and law enforcement training.

Stephens' home Lawrence County voted in favor of Issue 2, as did several other reliably Republican counties.

Meanwhile, Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, has a full list of changes he wants to make.

"This statute was written by the marijuana industry and should not be treated as a cash grab for their cash crop at the expense of a state trying to emerge from the opioid epidemic," Huffman said. "The General Assembly may consider amending the statute to clarify the questionable language regarding limits for THC and tax rates as well as other parts of the statute."

What Ohio Republicans are saying about Issue 1
The two GOP leaders issued similar warnings about the abortion amendment, even though it's difficult to repeal a constitutional amendment once it's on the books. Both Huffman and Stephens supported a failed effort in August to make it harder to change the constitution, which aimed to thwart the abortion amendment.

Stephens said Tuesday's vote isn't the end of the conversation: "The legislature has multiple paths that we will explore to continue to protect innocent life."

Huffman echoed that sentiment, suggesting voters could see abortion issues on the ballot again in the future.

"Life is worth fighting for. As a grandparent of eight, the life of a baby is always worth the fight," Huffman said. "The national abortion industry funded by wealthy out-of-state special interests spent millions to pass this radical language that goes far past abortion on demand. This isn't the end. It is really just the beginning of a revolving door of ballot campaigns to repeal or replace Issue 1."

A spokesman for Gov. Mike DeWine declined to comment Tuesday night.

Democrats, for their part, said the election proved Ohioans support abortion access and don't want the GOP-controlled Legislature restricting it.

"I never underestimate with this Republican supermajority that is drunk on power, what they will plan to do," House Minority Leader Allison Russo, D-Upper Arlington, said. "But at the end of the day, the people of Ohio have spoken very loudly and clearly on this issue − not (just) tonight, but also in August − that they want abortion rights and they want personal freedom."

USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau reporter Jessie Balmert contributed.

Haley BeMiller is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Republicans in Ohio pledge to push back on abortion, marijuana measures

https://www.yahoo.com/news/voters-repub ... 07349.html

[dryrunguy]

The NY Times is reporting that West Virginia senator Joe Manchin will not seek re-election.

[ti-amie]

The NY Times is reporting that West Virginia senator Joe Manchin will not seek re-election.

[Suliso]

That's a certain -1 for Democrats.

[ponchi101]

Why? It is not as if Manchin was beloved by the Dems. They can do better than him.

[ti-amie]

West Virginia is the usual extremely GQP gerrymandered state. It will take a massive turnout to overcome that advantage they've given themselves.

He's also hinting at a presidential run.

[Suliso]

Why? It is not as if Manchin was beloved by the Dems. They can do better than him.

Because West Virginia is a deep red state. Manchin was a relic from the past. Maybe the last conservative Democrat? At least at national level.

[Togtdyalttai]

Manchin was almost certainly going to lose reelection anyway. He only barely won in 2018, which was the most Democratic year since 2008, there was no Presidential election on the ballot to weigh him down, and West Virginia has if anything gotten redder since then.

[dryrunguy]

The NY Times is reporting Tim Scott has suspended his presidential campaign.

[ti-amie]

The NY Times is reporting Tim Scott has suspended his presidential campaign.

Awww and he'd just debuted his girlfriend too!

/s

[Owendonovan]

"girlfriend"

[ti-amie]

'The boss is not going to leave': Proffer videos show ex-Trump lawyers telling Georgia prosecutors about efforts to overturn 2020 election
ABC News obtained video from interviews held with Jenna Ellis and Sidney Powell.

ByOlivia Rubin and Will Steakin
November 13, 2023, 4:43 PM

Video at the link

https://abcnews.go.com/US/boss-leave-pr ... =104831939

[ti-amie]

Did ‘vermin’ mark a turning point in Trump coverage?
By Dan Froomkin -November 13, 2023 11:41 am EST



Saturday night was a low point in the elite media’s coverage of Donald Trump.

The New York Times put a light-hearted headline on a news article about Trump’s Veterans Day address in New Hampshire, in which he vowed to “root out” what he called “the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

“Trump Takes Veterans Day Speech in a Very Different Direction” was the initial headline over the story by Michael Gold.

Gold acknowledged in his second paragraph that Trump’s language was “incendiary and dehumanizing.” But that, of course, should have been the lede – and should have been in the headline.

The Times soon changed its headline to “In Veterans Day Speech, Trump Promises to ‘Root Out’ the Left,” but that wasn’t much better.

A social-media furor quickly erupted. (Twitter, the platform now called X by some, is still good for something.)

Meanwhile, the Washington Post made no mention of the speech at all.

Until Sunday night, that is.

That’s when the Post published a Marianne LeVine story under the blistering but appropriate headline: “Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini”.

Her lede:

Former president Donald Trump denigrated his domestic opponents and critics during a Veterans Day speech Saturday, calling those on the other side of the aisle “vermin” and suggesting that they pose a greater threat to the United States than countries such as Russia, China or North Korea. That language is drawing rebuke from historians, who compared it to that of authoritarian leaders.

Trump spokesman Steven Cheung only added fuel to the fire when he told The Post that those who argue that Trump’s rhetoric echoes that of dictators will find “their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.”

Would the Post have written the story that way (or at all) were it not for the outcry about the Times’s profound cowardice?

Probably not, I’d wager.

After all, it’s hardly the first time Trump has trafficked in Nazi tropes or engaged in Hitler-like behavior.

Should the Post have put it on the front page, instead of the bottom of A2? Definitely...

I sensed a tonal switch, which I hope and pray will be permanent, from covering Trump as a plausible future president to covering him as a dangerous demagogue.

Some senior editor made the call and I hope there’s no looking back.


https://presswatchers.org/2023/11/did-v ... -coverage/

[ponchi101]

"Reminiscent of authoritarians"? It is STRAIGHT OUT OF THE AUTHORITARIANS play book.
Is this news, by now?

[mmmm8]

"Reminiscent of authoritarians"? It is STRAIGHT OUT OF THE AUTHORITARIANS play book.
Is this news, by now?

I'd say it's straight out of nationalist authoritarians' playbook, not even the "normal" kind that just ostracizes thinly veiled "enemies of the state." This is like Rodrigo Duterte-style, except Duterte was talking about drug traffickers.