Asa Hutchinson calls directive ‘unprecedented assumption of federal mandate authority’ as other governors threaten to sue
The political sparring match over Joe Biden’s new vaccine mandate continued on Sunday with one Republican governor blasting the measure as “counterproductive” and the White House insisting it was necessary to end the coronavirus pandemic.
Related: Northern Idaho’s anti-government streak hinders fight against Covid
Continue reading...Biden and Harris among leaders at ceremonies in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
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The Guardian’s David Smith has the full report on today’s commemorations so far:
Some wept. Some held photos of loved ones. At 8:46am, precisely two decades after a passenger plane became a new and deadly weapon here, all fell silent in remembrance.
Families of the victims gathered at the 9/11 memorial plaza in New York on Saturday to mark the 20th anniversary of terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people and helped shape the 21st century.
Related: America mourns as leaders and families mark 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks
Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrived in Pennsylvania earlier and walked out to the Flight 93 National Memorial, where they bowed their heads as they helped to place a wreath of white and red roses.
Continue reading...South Carolina and Arizona governors decry ‘big government overreach’ after president orders larger businesses to demand employees be vaccinated
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That’s it for me tonight. Thanks for reading along! Here’s some of what we covered:
Related: US Capitol rioter photographed wearing horns pleads guilty
Tennessee’s controversial abortion law was blocked by a federal appeals court today, ruling that the measure was “constitutionally unsound”.
The law banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which typically occurs around 6 weeks into the pregnancy — often before many women know they are pregnant.
Appeals court strikes down Tennessee abortion restrictions, with Judge Thapar (a Trump appointee) writing lengthy partial dissent taking aim at Roe v. Wade: https://t.co/bZqizndvtJ pic.twitter.com/J1kcQRDBMn
Related: AOC on Texas governor’s ‘disgusting’ abortion remarks: ‘He is not familiar with a female body’
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Statements are coming in from opponents of the new Texas voting law. Here are some edited versions of some of them:
Here’s where the day stands so far:
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A group of parents in Iowa are filing a lawsuit against the state for its ban on mask mandates, says the law discriminates against students with disabilities that make them more susceptible to Covid-19.
The plaintiffs in the case are asking the federal judge to block the ban on mask mandates and order to allow the states to allow mandates.
In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal published yesterday, Democratic senator Joe Manchin said that he will not pass the $3.5tn spending bill that progressive members of the party want to pass through reconciliation.
Manchin said that Democrats looking to pass the bill have “no regard to rising inflation, crippling debt or the inevitability of future crises.”
The Northeast is flooded after torrential rain.
The West Coast is on fire.
The Gulf is still reeling from the hurricane.
This is no time to pause or pull back. We need to pass the President's Build Back Better agenda and invest in urgent climate action NOW. Lives are at stake.
White House’s @KJP46 on the Manchin op-Ed: “Senator Manchin is an important partner to our administration. The president firmly believes that critical investment in our future should be paid for and if we do, economists tells us that they should not increase the inflation risk.”
Continue reading...North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi, Indiana, Arkansas and Florida eye similar measures to new Texas ban after six weeks
Republican leaders in as many as six US states are rushing to follow the lead of Texas in adopting an extreme abortion ban that critics, including Joe Biden, have slammed as unconstitutional and built to encourage vigilantism among the public.
Abortion rights advocates are bracing to resist a flurry of initiatives from Florida to North Dakota in the wake of the new Texas law, the most extreme in the US, which the conservative majority on the supreme court refused to block.
Continue reading...Bill, nearly identical to a measure that passed last week, gives poll watchers more power and prohibits 24-hour and drive-thru voting
The Texas legislature gave its final approval on Tuesday to a new bill that would impose substantial new restrictions on voting access in the state.
Continue reading...The chaotic evacuation has dented the president’s image of empathy and competence but political attacks may have limited shelf life
For Republicans it was a day of thoughts and prayers – and political opportunity.
Related: Kabul airport atrocity offers a glimpse of the chaos to come in Afghanistan
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That’s it from me today. My west coast colleague, Maanvi Singh, will take over the blog for the next few hours.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh and Aubrey Allegretti report:
Afghans who want to flee to Britain may be better off “trying to get to the border” than awaiting RAF evacuation, the defence secretary has said as British troops made last-ditch attempts to airlift at least 1,500 remaining interpreters and others who have supported the UK.
Related: Fleeing Afghans should try to get to border, says UK defence secretary
Continue reading...Bill that requires places with history of discrimination to be under federal supervision passes 219-212 – but could fail in the Senate
The US House of Representatives has passed an update to the 1965 Voting Rights Act, restoring a critical provision of the landmark civil rights law that requires places with a history of voting discrimination to be under federal supervision.
The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act passed 219-212 on a party-line vote.
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Joe Biden had a conversation with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today, as the US and its allies continue evacuations from Kabul.
“They discussed the ongoing efforts by our diplomatic and military personnel to evacuate their citizens, local staff, and other vulnerable Afghans,” the White House said in a readout of the call.
Joe Biden urged more private businesses to require coronavirus vaccinations for their employees, now that the Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine.
“Today, I’m calling on more companies ... in the private sector to step up with vaccine requirements that will reach millions more people,” Biden said.
Continue reading...The Republican Florida congressman Matt Gaetz eloped to southern California on Saturday, in order to marry Ginger Luckey in a small ceremony on Catalina Island.
Related: Trump booed after telling supporters to get Covid vaccine
Continue reading...Larry Elder doesn’t believe in gun control or the gender pay gap. He has risen to the top of the Republican field in the recall election for governor
Larry Elder is a confounding frontrunner in the Republican race to replace Gavin Newsom as California governor.
Related: Grizzly Flats: the California town leveled by the Caldor fire – in pictures
Continue reading...Ex-president to support of Mo Brooks, who is running for Senate and sympathised with man who threatened to blow up US Capitol
Donald Trump was due to stage a rally in Alabama on Saturday night, in a city that has declared a Covid emergency and in support of a congressman who both backed Trump’s attempt to overturn the election and this week sympathised with a man who threatened to blow up the US Capitol.
Related: Capitol bomb claim suspect charged with weapon of mass destruction threat
Continue reading...Dan Patrick refuses to apologise for false claim while Texas experiences highest hospitalisation rates since January
Dan Patrick, the Republican lieutenant governor of Texas, has refused to apologise for blaming rising Covid-19 hospitalisations and deaths on unvaccinated African Americans, comments one Black Houston official called “racist and flat out wrong”.
Related: Texas school district requires masks after finding dress code loophole to bypass ban
Continue reading...Some Texas Democrats dismayed their colleagues returned to make a quorum, but others hope their protest has drawn attention to voting rights
A last-ditch effort to stall Texas Republicans from passing sweeping voting legislation effectively ended on Thursday evening after enough Democrats returned to the state capitol in Austin to allow lawmakers to proceed on legislation.
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The US State Department has put out a joint statement from the foreign ministers of the members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), after a meeting earlier today, appealing to the Taliban, effectively, in a display of resolve that appears undermined by the scenes on the ground in Afghanistan - and what is known of the Taliban.
We are united in our deep concern about the grave events in Afghanistan and call for an immediate end to the violence. We also express deep concerns about reports of serious human rights violations and abuses across Afghanistan.
We affirm our commitment to the statement by the UN Security Council on 16 August, and we call for adherence to international norms and standards on human rights and international humanitarian law in all circumstances.
Related: Afghanistan reports of torture and killing contradict Taliban’s promises
The Afghan people deserve to live in safety, security and dignity, and to build on the important political, economic and social achievements they have made over the last twenty years. We stand by civil society actors who must be able to continue to safely play their meaningful role in Afghan society. We call on all parties in Afghanistan to work in good faith to establish an inclusive and representative government, including with the meaningful participation of women and minority groups. Under the current circumstances, NATO has suspended all support to the Afghan authorities.
Any future Afghan government must adhere to Afghanistan’s international obligations; safeguard the human rights of all Afghans, particularly women, children, and minorities; uphold the rule of law; allow unhindered humanitarian access; and ensure that Afghanistan never again serves as a safe haven for terrorists.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
Continue reading...Frank’s views were disturbing, a brazen assertion of white privilege. But with our fates more clearly tied together than ever, I needed to understand him
On 11 March 2021, I took a selfie at the Baltimore Convention Center and pressed send. I’d just received my first dose of a Covid vaccine. “Feels pretty momentous,” I texted an acquaintance. “It was exactly one year ago that our university shut down.” Frank wrote back immediately from his small town in southern Michigan. “Momentous, yes. But not for the reasons you subscribe to,” he wrote.
Related: Battle for the Soul: can Joe Biden beat Trump’s Republicans in the war of words?
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Joe Biden will host Israel’s new prime minister Naftali Bennett in Washington on August 26, the White House has just announced.
Students in Florida’s Broward County went back to school under a mask mandate today, even as their school board faced threats of severe penalties for defying Republican governor Ron DeSantis.
And school officials in Hillsborough and Miami-Dade counties planned to address the public health measure later Wednesday, hoping to reduce infections in classrooms.
In Miami, Florida’s largest school district with 334,000 students, a task force of medical experts recommended students should be required to wear masks when they return to classrooms next week.
Continue reading...Analysis: Trump thought he’d use the midterm primaries to punish his enemies and tighten his grip on the party. It’s not working out quite how he’d hoped
As the Republican party first began to prepare for the 2022 midterm elections it seemed like Donald Trump had it all figured out.
The former US president had an axe to grind with certain Republicans who had bucked him in the past and the upcoming party primaries were a place he could assert his still powerful influence and exact revenge on his perceived foes.
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