Radio signal from 9 billion light-years away

AGO  from Earth captured

Caitlin McFall
Sat, January 21, 2023

A radio signal 9 billion light-years away from Earth has been captured in a record-breaking recording, Space.com said Friday.

The signal was detected by a unique wavelength known as a "21-centimeter line" or the "hydrogen line," which is reportedly emitted by neutral hydrogen atoms.

The signal captured by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India could mean that scientists can start investigating the formation of some of the earliest stars and galaxies, the report said.

Scientists involved in the GMRT upgradation project.

Researchers detected the signal from a "star-forming galaxy" titled SDSSJ0826+5630, which was emitted when the 13.8 billion-year-old Milky Way – the galaxy where Earth resides – was just 4.9 billion years old.

"It's the equivalent to a look-back in time of 8.8 billion years," author and McGill University Department of Physics post-doctoral cosmologist Arnab Chakraborty said in a statement this week.

A view of the Milky Way from an area of Puyehue National Park near Osorno City, Chile, May 8, 2008.

Galaxies reportedly emit light across a wide range of radio wavelengths. But until recently, 21-cm-wavelength radio waves had only been recorded from galaxies nearby.

"A galaxy emits different kinds of radio signals. Until now, it's only been possible to capture this particular signal from a galaxy nearby, limiting our knowledge to those galaxies closer to Earth," Chakraborty said.

An exhibitor arranges a scaled-down model of Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) Antenna on display during ‘Vigyan Samagam,’ a multi-venue mega-science exhibition, at the Visveswaraya Industrial and Technological Museum in Bangalore on July 29, 2019.

The signal allowed astronomers to measure the galaxy’s gas content and therefore find the galaxy’s mass.

This determination has led scientists to conclude that this far-off galaxy is double the mass of the stars visible from Earth, the report said.

INJUSTICE IN PRISON NATION U$A
SC killer prosecuted as adult at age 12. Chester’s Pittman, now 33, set for release


Andrew Dys
Fri, January 20, 2023 

A few days after Thanksgiving in 2001 in rural Chester County, volunteer firefighters responded to a house fire.

Inside they found two people dead. But the fire didn’t kill them — shotgun blasts did.

A person believed to be among South Carolina’s youngest-ever convicted killers shot and killed Joe and Joy Pittman, the child’s grandparents, in their bed and then burned their house down to try and cover up the crime. Kristen Avery Pittman, then 12 and known by a different name, made up a story about a non-existent Black man who robbed the place and kidnapped the kid before the kid escaped.

Now, Pittman is set for release on Feb. 1 at 33 years old.

Pittman has legally changed her name and identifies as a transgender woman, public records show. The policy of The Herald and parent company McClatchy call for using the name and pronouns that align with a transgender person’s gender identity.

“I as well as my family know that I have identified as a ‘female’ most of my life but due to my incarceration at twelve (12) years old I was not able to take the steps of transition that I needed over the years,” Pittman wrote in a lawsuit against South Carolina prison officials.

A federal lawsuit filed by Pittman sought medical approval for gender confirmation surgery and prescription hormone medication while incarcerated. The treatment was denied and the lawsuit was dismissed, court documents show.

Pittman killed her grandparents after being disciplined for a fight on the school bus. She was also on anti-depressants despite the young age. The story became a national debate over what age a child should be prosecuted as an adult, and whether anti-depressants had any role in the crimes.

The yearslong prosecution of Pittman being tried as an adult involved an overturned verdict and an eventual guilty plea. It became an international news story, covered by the likes of CBS, CNN and Larry King, network news shows such as 48 Hours and other media.

Why will be Pittman be released?

Pittman never had a parole hearing while in prison because manslaughter convictions are not parole eligible crimes under South Carolina law. Release can come only at the end of 85% of the sentence, state law shows.

Under S.C. law a person convicted of a violent felony such as manslaughter must serve 85% of the time and is not parole eligible, according to the S.C. Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Service and the S.C. Department of Corrections.

Pittman has reached the end of a 25-year sentence after spending almost 22 total years in custody since age 12, South Carolina officials say.

That 22 years included all the jail time from arrest in 2001 before the 2005 trial for both murders, according to spokesperson Chrysti Shain of the corrections department. It includes juvenile prison time afterward from 2005 until July 2010 when the manslaughter plea was handled.

The 2005 convictions were overturned because Pittman’s defense lawyers in the 2005 trial did not tell Pittman or a court-appointed guardian ad litem that prosecutors offered a plea deal during the trial, according to court documents and testimony. That guardian, Chester lawyer Milton Hamilton, told The Herald in 2015 that he would have advised Pittman to take the plea deal.

Hamilton said in a phone interview this week he is glad Pittman has served the sentence.

Pittman eventually pleaded guilty in December 2010 to two counts of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two concurrent 25-year sentences. The guilty plea was in adult court.

Pittman’s sentence is set to end Feb. 23, but offenders are generally released on the first day of the month of eligibility, officials said.

Pittman is set for release from Ridgeland prison in Jasper County on Feb. 1, according to spokespersons Anita Dantzler of the S.C. PPP, and records from the SCDC.

Pittman is scheduled to live in York County after release, officials said. Because of that, Pittman will be assigned a York County probation agent, Dantzler said.

She’s still listed in South Carolina prison records under her old name. Asked about that, SCDC said it enters a person’s new name as their “legal name” after receiving relevant court documents. The person’s commitment name — the name on the sentencing sheet — remains the same in the SCDC system.
Public safety: Will Pittman be supervised?

South Carolina law has safeguards in place to protect public safety after the release of offenders convicted of violent crimes sentenced to more than 20 years in prison, officials said.

According to Dantzler, Pittman must complete two years of a state supervision program that starts after release Feb. 1.

Pittman will be required to meet with an agent in the York County probation office and during routine home visits, Dantzler said. The frequency of reporting will be determined after an offender risk and needs assessment, Dantzler said.

Pittman will have no curfew, electronic monitoring, or any other restrictions other than not contacting the victim’s family, Dantzler said.
The crimes

On Nov. 29, 2001, Pittman stole her grandparents’ truck after the killings, then drove to neighboring Cherokee County where she was found by hunters.

The shotgunned bodies of Joy and Joe Pittman were found in the bed after the fire burned out.

Pittman initially told police a Black man broke into the house and kidnapped her. Chester deputies said the story did not add up, and Pittman soon confessed to killing both grandparents and setting the fire to try and cover it up.

Chester County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Pittman for two counts of murder.

“I aimed at the bed and shot four times, “ Pittman told Chester deputies the day after the killings in a confession that was part of the court record. “I really didn’t care then.”
The 2005 trial

Despite her young age, a family court judge ruled after court hearings that Pittman should stand trial as an adult.

Pre-trial publicity forced a change of venue from Chester County, where news about Pittman had been almost daily for three years. The 2005 murder trial was held in Charleston and covered live by Court TV, cable and network news and media from around the world.

Prosecutors said from the beginning Pittman executed Joy and Joe Pittman during a scheme that could only be done by a ruthless killer who thought and acted like a grown-up.

Pittman was represented at trial in 2005 by a team of lawyers from across the country who took the case. The defense team at trial in 2005 blamed involuntary intoxication of the the anti-depressants for the killings.

By 2005, Pittman had grown to over 6 feet tall. To combat the change for jurors and show her age when the crimes happened in 2001, defense lawyers used a cutout picture of a younger Pittman in court.

Headlines around the country from the New York Times and other national media talked about the Zoloft drugs involved in the case.

The company that made the anti-depressants denied in statements that there was any evidence the drugs led to violence.

The Charleston jury in 2005 found Pittman guilty of two counts of murder. The judge gave Pittman the lowest possible sentence for two murders — 30 years for each, to run concurrent.
Convictions overturned

But those convictions were overturned in July 2010 after Pittman filed a lawsuit against defense lawyers. That civil trial showed the judge, prosecutors and trial lawyers discussed plea deals Pittman and the court-appointed guardinan ad litem were never told about by the defense team despite having a legal right to be told.

The judge in that lawsuit ruled the convictions could not stand.

A new trial was ordered, but Pittman in 2010 took a plea deal to voluntary manslaughter at the Chester County Courthouse, and was sentenced to 25 years.

The plea ended more than nine years of legal wrangling and national debate over how Pittman should be prosecuted because of her age and the effects of the prescribed medication on children.
Authorities: Pittman received a proper sentence

The people involved in Pittman’s arrest and prosecution are no longer involved in the criminal justice system in the roles they were in from 2001 to 2010. People involved in the prosecution case at that time said Pittman was convicted as an adult under South Carolina law and should serve the full sentence.

Current law enforcement and prosecutors in Chester County, where the crimes took place, said the 2001 killings, investigation and prosecution happened before they were serving in office and declined to comment on the Pittman case or the expected release.

Former 5th Circuit Solicitor’s Office prosecutors John Meadors and Barney Giese, who were assigned by South Carolina courts to prosecute Pittman in the 2005 trial, said at the 2010 guilty plea the crimes were adult crimes and the only reason a plea deal was ever offered during the 2005 trial was because of Pittman’s age of 12 at the time of the killings.

Giese said in 2010 the case was handled from investigation through resolution, “the right way.”

And now, whether Pittman should have been prosecuted as an adult or not, the prison sentence is almost over.

COMPETITOR WITH JUNTA INC.

Founder of Egypt’s Juhayna Food Industries and his son released from prison

 A truck of Juhayna transports products of juice and milk from a factory in Cairo, Egypt

Sat, January 21, 2023 

CAIRO (Reuters) -The founder and former CEO of Juhayna Food Industries and his son were released from prison in Egypt on Saturday after about two years in detention, in a case that shook the business community as well as Egyptian and foreign investors.

Juhayna, a listed company, is the country's largest dairy products and juices producer.

After security and prison sources as well as a family member confirmed Safwan and Seifeldin Thabet's release, photos posted on social media showed them joyfully embracing relatives after returning home.

The authorities accused them of belonging to and financing a terrorist group - commonly a reference to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood - according to state media. The Thabet family have denied any wrongdoing in statements on social media.

The two were never convicted. Amnesty International reported in 2021 that authorities were holding the Thabets because of their refusal to cede assets to a state entity, an account confirmed by sources close to the family.

There was no immediate official statement from authorities on the release. A member of the Thabet family told Reuters the two men were released from a police station and returned home, but said the family had no other information about why they were freed.

A prison source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the case against them had not been closed.

Safwan Thabet, Juhayna's founder and former CEO, was detained in December 2020. His son took over as CEO before he too was detained in February 2021.

The family had pleaded for their release partly due to the illness of Safwan’s wife, who died during his detention.

Terrorism related charges have been widely deployed in a crackdown that has swept up dissidents from across the political spectrum in Egypt in recent years.

The release comes shortly after Egypt obtained a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund under which the government pledged to be more supportive of the private sector.

(Reporting by Farah Saafan, Haithem Ahmed, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and David Gregorio)

V FOR VICTORY

Indian wrestlers call off protest over sexual harassment allegations

Sat, January 21, 2023 


India's top wrestlers have called off a protest after the head of the sport's national federation reportedly agreed to step aside until claims of sexual harassment against him are investigated.

Dozens of male and female wrestlers, including Olympic and Commonwealth medallists, had announced a boycott of all competitions until Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was removed.

Singh, who is also a member of parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has denied the allegations.

Wrestler Bajrang Punia announced the decision to call off the protest after talks with India's Sports Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday.

"The minister told us that a committee will be formed (to look into the allegations) and it will complete its work in one month," Punia told reporters.

"We are confident that a thorough probe will be conducted."

Thakur said Singh "will step aside" until the investigation is completed within four weeks, the Times of India reported.

The protesting athletes were being led by Vinesh Phogat, a three-time Commonwealth Games champion and one of India's most decorated woman wrestlers.

Phogat has accused Singh of harassing "several young wrestlers" and said that she knew "at least 10 to 20 girls" who had recounted sexual harassment at wrestling camps.

She has said that both girls and boys have come forward to accuse other senior figures in the sport of harassment and bullying.

In a letter to P.T. Usha, president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) on Friday, Phogat and other top athletes said it had taken a lot of courage for them to come forward.

Phogat said that she was "mentally harassed and tortured" by Singh after she failed to win an Olympic medal and "almost contemplated suicide".

Hours after receiving the letter, the IOA announced a seven-member panel to investigate all harassment charges against Singh.

Singh has dismissed the allegations as a political ploy to usurp his position and told media he was "ready to be hanged" if even a single woman wrestler proved the sexual harassment charge.

India is a deeply hierarchical society and Phogat said many wrestlers were intimidated into not coming forward because of their humble origins.

The allegations come months after the coach of the country's national cycling team was sacked following sexual harassment charges.

India's #MeToo movement gathered momentum in 2018 after a Bollywood actress accused a senior actor of sexual harassment.

Soon after, other women came forward with multiple allegations, including against a former government minister, but activists say there has been little fundamental change.

abh/stu/qan

Indian wrestlers end protest over sexual harassment


Indian wrestlers huddle together as they deliberate during against Wrestling Federation of India President Brijbhushan Sharan Singh and other officials in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. Top Indian wrestlers on Saturday called off a sit-in protest near the parliament building following a government assurance that a probe into their allegations of sexual harassments of young athletes by the federation would be completed in four weeks.

 (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Fri, January 20, 2023 

NEW DELHI (AP) — Top Indian wrestlers on Saturday called off a sit-in protest near the parliament building following a government assurance that a probe into their allegations of sexual harassments of young athletes by the federation would be completed in four weeks.

“We are ending our protest,” wrestler Bajrang Punia said.

The wrestlers and their nearly 200 supporters held a sit-in protest for three days at Jantar Mantar accusing the federation president of sexually and mentally harassing young female athletes. The protesters had sought the immediate removal of Wrestling Federation of India president Brijbhushan Sharan Singh and some other officials pending an inquiry against them.

Late Friday, Indian Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur met protesting wrestlers a second time and announced a probe into the accusations by the wrestlers and said it would would be completed in four weeks.

He also said the federation president “will step aside and help in carrying out the probe.”

“Until then, a committee will carry out day-to-day work of the Wrestling Federation of India,” he said.

Earlier, Punia wrote on Twitter that the government promised justice for the players.

“Thank the government on behalf of all my fellow players for taking our agitation and demands seriously,” he said. “Our fight is not with the government. We are all fighting against the players federation and its president.”

Singh, the federation president, is a lawmaker representing the governing Bharatiya Janata Party and has rejected the accusations and said he was ready to face any probe.

Illinois poised to require paid leave for workers: ‘Don’t we think that should be a basic human right?’


Jeremy Gorner, Chicago Tribune
Sun, January 22, 2023 

Paid time off would be a mandatory benefit for Illinois workers under a bill on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk that represents the latest high-profile measure passed by the Democratic General Assembly to expand workers rights.

Pritzker has said he plans to sign the bill, which would make Illinois one of more than a dozen states with paid-leave policies. The measure would take effect next Jan. 1 and require an hour of paid leave be granted for every 40 hours worked, with employees able to accrue five days of leave every year.

The bill passed through the Senate and House during the final day of the lame duck session earlier this month.

Proponents say the measure’s primary beneficiaries would be low-wage, nonunionized workers. The Service Employees International Union estimates about 1.5 million Illinois workers don’t get a single paid sick day through their employer. The SEIU also said the measure would increase statewide income by $1.5 billion.

Detractors raise fears paid leave will adversely affect small businesses that have struggled to stay afloat ever since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold almost three years ago.

It would be the latest perk granted by the General Assembly for Illinois workers.

In November, the state’s voters elected to codify the right to unionize in the state constitution after legislators put the question on the ballot. And as of New Year’s Day, the statewide minimum wage was raised by a $1 to $13 an hour through a state law that has raised the wage in steps since 2019, when it was $8.25 an hour.

The Paid Leave for All Workers Act applies to workers employed by businesses of any size. The chief Senate sponsor, Maywood Democrat Kimberly Lightford, said during the floor debate prior to a vote that the bill could benefit the 1.5 million workers who “cannot take a sick day without being penalized or losing pay.”

“Imagine you’re down with the flu, you have a bad cold or even COVID and you are one of these millions of people. You have to consider if you’re going to risk getting your co-workers sick or risk not being able to put food on the table,” Lightford said.

“Why should a person have to think for just a second if they were (at) risk (of) losing their job or losing wages if they stay home to take care of themselves or a loved one? Don’t we think that should be a basic human right?” she asked.

State Sen. Jason Barickman, a Bloomington Republican whose last day as a senator was the night of the vote, countered that the bill could be detrimental to small business owners.

“They’re the mom-and-pop shops that are the lifeblood of the economic engine of our state, and while they have continued to try to do their best as they’ve navigated through COVID, historic levels of inflation and otherwise, I think it’s important to put in context the role that they play in our communities,” he said.

“They put our people to work, and we need to make sure that we are supporting our small businesses and our small-business employers. And this legislation unfortunately goes in the wrong direction for that.”

Employees would face fines or other civil penalties if they violate the measure. It would not apply to municipalities, such as Chicago, that already have policies on paid leave or paid sick leave.

Unused paid leave could be carried over annually, but there’s no requirement for employers to grant more than 40 hours of paid leave in a 12-month period. Employers would be allowed to grant more than 40 hours of paid leave time a year.

The legislation would benefit nonunionized workers employed in factories, warehouses, restaurants and in other working-class professions, according to Wendy Pollack, director of the Women’s Law and Policy Initiative at the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, which supported the legislation.

“This was very important to them because so many of them don’t even get an hour of paid leave of any kind, whether it’s sick leave, whether it’s vacation leave,” Pollack said.

Audra Wilson, president and CEO of the Shriver Center, said lack of a paid-leave policy has a disproportionate, negative impact on Black and brown workers.

“Many of them are living in multigenerational homes. So, you’re talking about folks who already had to be subjected to the public and the pandemic,” she said. “They were coming to work sick, unfortunately, if they contracted COVID because they did not have paid time off. You had individuals who had to struggle to figure out what to do with their children when our kids were home for a year.”

A 2020 report from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute said 179 countries — the United States not among them — mandate paid sick leave for workers. Illinois’ policy would allow workers to take time off for any reason, not just to recover from an illness.

Citing some of the arguments voiced by Barickman, the National Federation of Independent Business opposed the bill, noting how many small businesses, especially those with five to 10 employees, have yet to recover from the pandemic.

Chris Davis, the group’s state director, said these businesses have struggled with supply-chain issues, inflation and finding workers. Mandatory paid leave would be “one more tax imposed on them by the state of Illinois that’s just going to be difficult to manage,” Davis said.

“Now they’ve been forced by the government to implement their solution that the government thinks is best rather than what’s really best for the employer and employee,” he said.

He said employers are sympathetic to workers forced to make a difficult choice about going in if they’re sick or have another issue, but that those situations should be worked out with employers.

“They consider their employees a part of the family,” he said of small-business owners. “They’re also best positioned to work with that employee to come up with a solution on an event-by-event basis to determine what enables that employee to meet their personal needs, but would also keep the business open to the public to meet their customers’ needs and to keep the business operation moving forward.”

Davis said his group plans to host seminars and webinars to help businesses understand how to implement the new requirements.

Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said his group initially opposed the bill, but shifted to a neutral stance as negotiations progressed over a proposal several years in the making.

Supporters initially wanted at least seven paid leave days, and there was also a “stacking” proposal that would have allowed municipalities that already have paid leave to add the state’s required five days to those already granted.

But both sides eventually agreed to the five days of annual paid time off a year, as well as a policy that would be applied to all 102 Illinois counties, without a stacking provision.

The day after the bill passed through the General Assembly, Pritzker issued a statement lauding the legislation.

“Working families face enough challenges without the concern of losing a day’s pay when life gets in the way,” the governor said. “I’m looking forward to signing this legislation and giving a safety net to hardworking Illinoisans.”

Denzler acknowledged the perk of the paid time off not being limited to just sick leave if it’s signed into law.

“It’s Friday afternoon and an employee wants to play golf or go see their son or daughter at school. Because it was sick time, the employee would fake being sick,” Denzler said. “We should let them use it for anything. If they want to go to their kid’s school, if they want to take their kid to the doctor, if they have to go to the doctor, if they want to go golfing, let’s give it to the employee to use however they want.”

jgorner@chicagotribune.com

Op-Ed: There's one big climate fight that California is losing


Michael W. Beck
Sun, January 22, 2023

After a fire, part of Montecito, Calif., was especially vulnerable to a flood-induced cascade of boulders and debris in 2018. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

It has been demoralizing to witness in Santa Cruz, my hometown, the destructive power of waves and water on our beaches, piers, roads, homes, businesses, rivers and levees. But we knew this was coming, and we’re overdue to adapt to the new realities of our climate.

In 2015, global leaders resolved to cut carbon emissions in an effort to keep the planet from heating more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. California has played a significant role in that campaign, with world-leading policies and innovations on technologies such as solar power and electric vehicles and in the development of carbon markets, which reduce emissions through caps and tradeable credits. All of this has been aimed at averting a future climate challenge. That challenge is here now.

Mitigation must continue, but adaptation has become urgent as well. California should step up once again.

It’s not enough to invest just in strategies to protect future people, property and nature. The risk of climate change to people here and now has become quite clear. It’s clear in California’s historic drought, epic fires and the recent deluge. It’s clear nationally in the supersizing of hurricanes such as Sandy, Dorian, Michael and Ian. It is also clear in the increasing costs of storms. In 2017, Harvey, Irma and Maria caused an unprecedented $300 billion in damages.

Recovering from climate-fueled disasters will take an ever-greater bite out of national and local budgets. The United Nations lauds countries’ mitigation commitments, but finds an ever-widening “adaptation gap” between what is spent, around $29 billion annually, and what is needed, around $71 billion a year now and $340 billion in 2030. For many developing countries, particularly island nations, falling behind on adaptation is an existential crisis.

Californians have done a lot to contribute to this crisis. Among U.S. states, we rank second only to Texas in total carbon dioxide emissions.

So we should help solve this adaptation crisis — as innovators and leaders.

First, that means experimenting with more solutions to adapt to climate change across the state, innovations that we can export elsewhere. This responsibility falls not only to the state government but also to cities, counties, nonprofits, businesses and academia. Many states and countries are already doing more than California has, especially when it comes to nature-based solutions such as the restoration of wetlands and reefs. The U.S. government is ahead as well. For example, the Department of Defense is working on oyster and coral reef restoration to help defend military bases against erosion and flooding.

California can’t afford to lag behind in the race to adapt to existing climate dangers. Catastrophic collapses along our open coasts this month are a reminder that we must greatly expand efforts to reduce risks on our coastlines. For example, we should be working with our rocky reefs to reduce wave energy, erosion and flooding. Enhancing the height and roughness of rocky habitats in shallow nearshore waters could provide risk reduction and conservation benefits and reduce investments in artificial armoring, which has no habitat value. Innovations here could be replicated along rocky coasts worldwide.

Second, California should lead in the development of an adaptation marketplace. California helped build carbon markets, and we need the same leadership for an adaptation marketplace that gives benefits and credits for reducing present climate risks to people, property and nature.

One key step will be to measure risk and the benefits of adaptation solutions, and then we must price them. We already know how to price risk; that’s the basis for the insurance industry. With a little prodding, the risk industry could do more to measure adaptation benefits.

We also need incentives or government requirements to advance adaptation projects. Such incentives are already emerging from the private sector. Companies are increasingly being pushed by investors to report on the risks of climate change to their balance sheets, which has led to voluntary compliance with reporting developed by the business-led Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.

Starting this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is requiring companies to disclose financial impacts of climate-related risks. As businesses increasingly report on risks, they will have more incentives to look for actions to reduce exposure and harm.

Governments already have plenty of incentives given the costs of recovery after disasters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency estimates that funding spent ahead of time to reduce hazards provides a 6-to-1 return on investment.

It makes sense for businesses and governments to get out in front with voluntary adaptation commitments. At the U.N. climate conference in Egypt in November, one of the few points of agreement was that developed nations will increasingly have to take responsibility for the losses and damages that climate change is already driving in developing nations.

California is likely to soon become the world’s fourth-largest economy, and we reap many benefits from that. Californians have also been willing to take ownership of problems we have helped create. We must continue to lead on cutting carbon emissions to protect the future, and we must develop the same leadership on climate adaptation — because Californians and vulnerable nations need those protections now.

Michael W. Beck is a professor and the director of the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience at UC Santa Cruz.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

FORMER PRO CHINA CARLYLE GROUP CEO

Virginia Gov. Youngkin stokes 2024 campaign speculation after killing Ford battery plant over its links to China


Alex Seitz-Wald
Sun, January 22, 2023 

It seemed like a deal any governor would love to tout, especially if dreaming of a move to the White House: 2,500 high-tech manufacturing jobs for an iconic American company in a long-struggling part of the state.

But this week, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia nixed a proposed $3.5 billion Ford electric vehicle battery factory over its partnership with a Chinese battery maker, saying he would not allow taxpayer money to be used to “recruit Ford as a front for China.”

The decision by the former CEO stunned observers, leading many to see it as further evidence that Youngkin is preparing to run for president and trying to neutralize a potential line of attack on his past business ties to the communist country. (Virginia doesn't allow governors to serve consecutive terms, so Youngkin can't seek re-election.)

“There’s a logic to the politics of Youngkin’s decision,” said Liam Donovan, a Republican strategist and lobbyist. “It tracks with the prevailing tough-on-China sentiment within the party, showcasing a pugilistic side the base craves but that’s otherwise absent from his persona, and seeks to turn a potential vulnerability — Youngkin’s business dealings — into an experience that informs his stance.”

Youngkin became a national GOP star in 2021 when he flipped Virginia’s governorship after a dozen years' drought for Republicans in which they didn’t win a single statewide election.

The first-time candidate had spent 25 years at the Carlyle Group, rising to become its chief executive as he helped to grow the private equity firm into a global powerhouse with billions worth of holdings in China, before leaving in 2020 ahead of his gubernatorial campaign.

“The governor’s record was largely spared from Romney-style attacks on private equity in 2021,” added Donovan, referring to the issue that helped sink Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. “But foes will seek to exploit it as he seeks the national stage, and he is smart to define his career preemptively and on his own terms.”

While it might pay off for Youngkin down the line, critics today are accusing him of putting his personal political ambition ahead of his constituents’ livelihood.

“Shutting down negotiations on this project made absolutely no sense to me or most of my colleagues,” said Sen. Scott Surovell, a Virginia Democrat who called the move “gubernatorial malpractice.” “This is an economically distressed part of our state that is hungry for jobs; 2,500 jobs would be manna from heaven.”

Virginia has long prided itself on being friendly to business, no matter which party is in power, and often ranks near the top on lists of best states for business. Former Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe loved to rib his colleagues from other states about poaching their companies and jobs.

Now, Michigan is looking to gain from Virginia’s loss, with Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer telling the Detroit News that Youngkin’s “political determination” created an “exciting opportunity” for her state.

Ford had been considering competing bids from Michigan and a site outside Danville, Virginia, where local officials had spent years and millions of dollars trying to attract a major manufacturer with tax incentives that are common practice in economic development deals.

The conservative Daily Caller first broke the news of Youngkin’s decision to pull his state out of the running, which came after the site criticized Ford’s plan to “help China reap U.S. tax benefits” through its partnership, which was reportedly structured to circumvent limitations for foreign companies.

“The only explanation that I can see for leaking this to the Daily Caller and saying, ‘We don’t want this project because of Chinese connections’ is that the governor is in some kind of a China-bashing contest with Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott,” said Surovell, referring to the Republican governors of Florida and Texas, who are also considering presidential runs.

All three governors have recently moved to ban Chinese companies from buying farmland and other assets in their states, with Youngkin saying in a speech last week that “Virginians — not the CCP — should own the rich and vibrant agricultural lands God has blessed us with.”

And like the federal government, Youngkin banned TikTok from government-issued phones over data security concerns, saying, “everyone knows that TikTok is a tool of the Chinese Communist Party” — though the Carlyle Group owns a large stake in the social media platform’s parent company, which it acquired after he left.

Youngkin spokeswoman, Macaulay Porter, said in a statement that while “Ford is an iconic American company,” the joint partnership was “a front” for the Chinese company, one of the world’s leading battery makers, so allowing it to proceed “could compromise our economic security and Virginians’ personal privacy.”

“I look forward to bringing a great company there,” Youngkin told Bloomberg TV Friday. “It won’t be one that uses kind of a Trojan-horse relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.”

With his rags-to-riches personal story, suburban dad energy and careful triangulation on policy, Youngkin in his 2021 campaign found a winning formula that managed to keep voters loyal to former President Donald Trump engaged without turning off professional-class moderates.

Youngkin has been trying to take that formula national, making frequent appearances on Fox News and other national outlets while traveling the country last year to stump for conservative midterm candidates.

As concerns about China grow inside the GOP, Trump — who endorsed Youngkin's gubernatorial bid but never appeared in person to rally for him — has already hinted that he thinks the governor is vulnerable on China.

“Young Kin (now that’s an interesting take. Sounds Chinese, doesn’t it?),” Trump said in a series of posts on his Truth Social in November, knocking the governor for distancing himself a bit from Trump. “I Endorsed him, did a very big Trump Rally for him telephonically, got MAGA to Vote for him — or he couldn’t have come close to winning.”

Youngkin’s work at Carlyle was overshadowed by other issues during his gubernatorial campaign, but Democrats and Republican rivals are already preparing to put it front and center if he decides to run for president, especially since China has grown increasingly autocratic in recent years.

As other Western companies have begun pulling back from China, Carlye says it is committed to the country, with the head of its Asia division telling a trade publication in September it is “actively leaning in” to China and enjoying having less competition.

“Carlyle makes a lot of money out of China,” said Surovell, the Democratic state senator. “If it’s good enough for him to make his $400 million fortune, I don’t see why it’s not good enough for one of the most economically distressed part of our state.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

Iran judiciary to rule on famed filmmaker's release: lawyer


Sat, January 21, 2023 


Iran's judiciary is to rule by Friday on whether to release celebrated filmmaker Jafar Panahi on bail after his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court, his lawyer said Saturday.

Panahi, 62, who has won a string of awards at European film festivals, was arrested on July 11 and had been due to serve a six-year sentence handed down in 2010 after his conviction for "propaganda against the system".

But on October 15, the Supreme Court quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.

"Early this morning, judicial officials told me that they will make a decision about Panahi by the end of the week," his lawyer, Saleh Nikbakht, told AFP.


"Panahi's case had remained blocked in the courts since mid-October, but it was finally sent to the Court of Appeal on Monday to launch the legal proceedings.

"By law, he should immediately be released on bail and his case reviewed again," the lawyer said.

Panahi won a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2000 for his film "The Circle". In 2015, he won the Golden Bear at Berlin for "Taxi Tehran", while in 2018, he won the best screenplay prize at Cannes for "Three Faces".

Panahi's conviction followed his support for mass protests in 2009 against the disputed results of that year's presidential election which saw populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win a second term.

As well as the six-year jail term, the court sentenced Panahi to a 20-year ban on directing or writing films, travelling or even speaking to the media. However, he has continued to live and work in Iran.

According to his lawyer, Panahi already suffered from health problems before his arrest and contracted a serious skin disease in prison.

Doctors say he needs to be treated "outside prison", the lawyer added.

Panahi's July arrest came after he attended a court hearing for fellow film director Mohammad Rasoulof, who had been detained a few days earlier.

Rasoulof was released from prison on January 7 after being granted a two-week furlough for health reasons, his lawyer told AFP.

Separately, a court ordered the release on bail of activist Arash Sadeghi, who was detained during mass protests in October against the death in custody of Masha Amini following her arrest for an alleged breach of Iran's strict dress code for women, the Etemad newspaper reported.

ap-rkh/kir

The Women of Iran Are Not Backing Down

Suzanne Kianpour

POLITICO
Sun, January 22, 2023 

LONG READ

Persian pop music blasts from the speakers of our silver Peugeot as we weave through Tehran traffic. It’s a Friday in early 2007 and I’m taking advantage of winter break from school to visit my cousin who lives in Tehran. We have meticulously planned our outfits, pushing the boundaries of the required dress for women of the Islamic Republic of Iran: a colorful ‘monteau’ (tunic) as short as we can get away with, matching hijab covering our hair with as little fabric as possible.

My Iranian hosts wanted to show me, anIranian American, a good time, and so they offered one of the few pleasures afforded them in the strict Islamic Republic: a ride around town.

The boys sit in the front; girls are in the back. Normally, as an American college student, I wouldn’t bat an eyelash at the scene. But we’re dabbling in dangerous territory: unmarried women riding around with unmarried, unrelated men, listening to “haram” (un-Islamic) music, wearing haram clothes.

Our minds are not on mullahs or morality police — until we spot flashing lights in the rearview mirror.

“Oh my God, it’s the police,” I think.

I remember what I’d witnessed earlier that week: a woman in a long black “chador,” a type of cloak that covers the whole body except for the face, flinging open the door of a green and white van and snatching a young woman off the street. The morality police were active again, and we would not pass the Islamic purity test.

But the car passes by us. My fear, in this instance, is unfounded: Those flashing lights were nothing more than a souped-up whip on a joy ride, attempting some semblance of normality in an abnormal society.


Fifteen years later, the morality police took it too far. In September 2022, during what seemed a typical detention over an inadequate hijab, Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman visiting Tehran, was arrested and beaten. She subsequently died in custody. Two female journalists broke the story. They are now in prison. The country erupted in widespread protests not seen since the Green Revolution of 2009, demanding justice for Mahsa and freedom and civil rights for all women.

At the time I was in production for my BBC documentary on Iran’s war with Israel and the U.S., “Out of the Shadows.” I’d moved from Washington to Dubai — 70km from Iran, the distance between Washington and Philadelphia — to work on the hour-long program. The region felt like a tinderbox.

While no one could have predicted the flashpoint would be a routine morality police arrest, it did not come as a complete surprise to me. Throughout my years of reporting on Iran and the wider Middle East, I’ve always kept a keen eye on the hidden power of the women. All this time, they’ve been quietly, strategically, slowly pulling at a literal thread in the fabric of the Islamic Republic regime: the hijab. Now, it’s unraveling.


Protests are not a new phenomenon in Iran. They’ve flared up over the years — over election fraud, economic woes, civil liberties. But this time is different — an unprecedented revolution led by women, with support from men, encompassing a wide variety of grievances, all laid out in the heart-wrenching Persian lyrics of Shervin Hajipour’s song “Baraye,” or “Because of.” It’s become the anthem of the revolution, striking such a nerve around the world that backlash after Hajipour’s arrest led to his release.

This is a spontaneous civil rights movement made up of people at their wit’s end — unable to afford basic life necessities while forced to adhere to the oppressive rules of a religious autocracy that promised to take care of its people. What’s more dangerous than a mob with nothing to lose? See: The French Revolution.


The politics of fear have been key to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s theocratic rulers’ hold on power for 43 years. Women are forced to cover their hair in hijab and bodies in loose clothing. They cannot dance publicly, cannot drive motorcycles and cannot travel without parental or spousal approval — just to name a few restrictions. The Iranian men’s soccer team was in the spotlight during the World Cup in Qatar, but at home, women are forbidden from watching men’s sports in stadiums. While at a soccer game in Wimbledon, England, I recently challenged this rule to an Iranian man in Tehran who works with a production company close to the foreign ministry. He told me, a reporter who’s covered wars in a flak jacket and helmet, that “the infrastructure of the stadiums is not suitable for women.”

Periodically over the years, women would literally get an inch on what is tolerated in terms of compulsory hijab — they could get away with some hair showing, only to have the rules snap back with no warning. Public dancing for women is another point of leverage. When I was in Tehran in 2005, the soccer team had just qualified for the World Cup. The streets were jam-packed with celebrating men and women, dancing on cars while blasting Western music, which is also banned. Police stood by, letting the scenes unfold. By the time I returned less than two years later, hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had reversed the previous reformist president’s relaxation of the rules. I saw the results years ago, on my visit with my cousin, during that incident with the morality police.

The regime controls its population by unofficially easing up on social restrictions and then suddenly pulling the lever — a litmus test for its grasp on power over the people. This easing is unspoken; it’s not announced, the push-pull is organic. Women are at the mercy of the morality police’s mood. Mahsa’s story was the last straw. She had a few hairs peeping out from under her headscarf, like so many other women often do, not the least because the laws of physics are not forever in the compulsory hijab’s favor: Fabric slips.

One woman who lives in the southern part of Iran sent me a voice note on Instagram. A couple of months ago she received a summons to go down to the police station. She was ordered to pay a hefty fine and her car would be impounded. Her crime? A traffic camera had caught her, sitting behind the steering wheel of her car alone at a stop light, with her hijab having fallen off her head. If it happened again, she’d be imprisoned.

But in the midst of this push-pull, the regime missed a thread: They underestimated the emboldening of women, who had already begun to ditch the hijab, even before Mahsa’s death.

The aging leaders who came to power during the Islamic Revolution are completely out of touch with Gen Z — who are truly the leaders of this revolt. What started out as protests against compulsory hijab have evolved into calls for an end to the Islamic Republic itself, with shocking scenes of schoolgirls defiling images of Supreme Leaders Ayatollah Khamenei and Ayatollah Khomeini.


The protests have now been going on for over three months, and the crackdown has been brutal: hundreds killed, including children; over 10,000 arrested; reports of horrific sexual abuse of men, women and minors in detention.

Iranian officials dismissed a Newsweek report that said 15,000 arrested protesters face execution as a result of a parliamentary vote in favor of the death penalty for them. After the story went viral on social media and shared by multiple prominent Western figures like Justin Trudeau, traditional media fact checked the report labeled misinformation. Newsweek issued a correction that read: "A majority of the parliament supported a letter to the judiciary calling for harsh punishments of protesters, which could include the death penalty."

But in fact, the regime has begun executing protesters by hanging, as is typical in Iran. Four men in connection with the protests have already been executed and at least 41 protesters have received death sentences.

The Islamic Republic’s atrocities have gotten global attention and led to Iran being kicked off the UN commission on women — a win for Iranian-born British actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi.

“The most unprecedented thing we’re seeing is people are fighting back against security forces. Women are not just taking off their headscarves in protest, they’re burning them. And young kids, young girls are protesting,” Boniadi told me.

“Despite the brutal crackdown, they’re showing no signs of slowing down. I think this is a historic moment, I truly believe this is the first female-led revolution of our time.”

In October, Boniadi met with Vice President Kamala Harris and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan at the White House to discuss how the Biden administration can help protesters with internet freedom and hold the Islamic Republic accountable for human rights abuses. Boniadi’s activist work has put her in the crosshairs of the regime for years. Like many members of the diaspora, she is in exile, and cannot return to Iran so long as the present government is in charge.

The Western response has been swifter than usual, but many say it’s not enough. Messages I receive from inside Iran are in particular focused on family members of the regime who live freely in the West. There are calls for assets to be frozen and deportations — both of which are gaining traction in Washington and Europe. Negotiations around Iran’s nuclear program have also been a point of contention, with calls to abandon efforts to revive the JCPOA as the regime cracks down on its own people. In a recent off-the-cuff moment, President Biden said the deal “is dead, but we’re not going to announce it.”

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has said the protests are not about hijab and blamed the U.S. and its allies for stoking unrest. He’s blamed “anti-government” media for manipulating the minds of Iranians, and the regime has even gone as far as threatening punishment for anyone working for or speaking with foreign press. The threat has had an impact: When I followed up with the woman who sent me a voice note with her experience at the start of the protests, her sister, who lives abroad, messaged me instead. She said the regime is monitoring the communications of civil servants and her sister is a teacher, so she can’t talk to me anymore.

The regime’s gaslighting is not holding, however, and Boniadi tells me the opposition — whether inside the country or among the diaspora — all agree no one is interested in interventionism. Change isn’t coming, it’s already here; Iranian women who don’t want to cover their hair just aren’t.


One morning I woke up to an Instagram DM from Iran, as I do most days. This one was from an Iranian man who was a skeptic when the protests first started and thought they wouldn’t amount to much. Now he is firmly convinced the regime in its current form won’t last. He’s been close to power in his profession. The DM was a photo he’d snapped in a food court at a luxury mall in north Tehran: women, casually dining, almost no one wearing hijab. Might as well have been in any mall in America.

“You can share it,” he wrote, with a smiley face.

In a way, the Iranian women have already won: They have the upperhand.

“The Islamic Republic has two options: Continue to brutally crack down on its people, which only compounds the anger and frustration against the regime — eventually, that’s a losing battle for them. Or, they take another approach: abolish morality police, give women freedom to not wear a hijab and introduce some kind of social reform movement inside Iran,” Boniadi told me.

But compulsory hijab is a pillar of the Islamic Republic — without it, the foundation is broken.


“To me, it’s a losing game for them. Whichever course they take, the Islamic Republic as we know it is no longer going to exist,” Boniadi said.

The Islamic Republic is trying to fashion today’s unrest as a political protest instigated by the West, because there are historical hiccups where the U.S. and the U.K. have meddled and botched the job — like the 1953 Mossadegh coup, when a democratically elected prime minister was overthrown. This upcoming year is the 70th anniversary of the regime’s favorite excuse for anti-Western sentiment.

But what’s happening in Iran is not a political movement as much as it is a civil rights movement. Women don’t have basic human rights. In many parts of their existence, a man must make decisions for them, according to the law. And yet they are highly educated. The slogan of the revolution — “zan, zendegi, azadi” or “woman, life, liberty” — is not about politics but about equality.

In the early days of the protests fueled by Mahsa Amini’s death, I was speaking with a U.S. intelligence official who said the regime would crack down on the protesters and they’d dissipate as in the past. But everyone I spoke with inside Iran said this time is different.

Even some people within the regime are privately beginning to budge, however conflicted they may feel.In October a regime source called me and spoke for 45 minutes. This source is close to the Supreme Leader and spent time in the West — a true revolutionary, but clear eyed to some extent about what survival for such a regime in a rapidly evolving world requires. In a seemingly face-saving suggestion for reform, he said he believes if hijab were to be optional, women would be more likely to feel compelled to wear it, because “the Iranian woman is Najeeb (pure and virginal).” Basically, if hijab were optional, more women would want to wear it — but because it’s compulsory now, women are revolting against it. He may not be wrong. The number of women wearing the ultra-conservative chador, a black head to toe veil, alongside those who’ve taken off their headscarves is striking. Ultimately, this is about choice and civil liberties — not the headscarf itself.


Choice was something Ayatollah Khomeini did allow at the birth of the Islamic Republic. In an interview with Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci in which she called the chador a “stupid medieval rag,” he said she was not obliged to wear it. Now Western women do have to wear hijab in Iran —as Lesley Stahl of CBS did in September in her interview with President Raisi in Tehran, drawing criticism on Twitter.

The regime source I spoke with acknowledged there needs to be dialogue, there needs to be reforms, that “this generation is not like that of 1979” when the Western-friendly Shah was overthrown and the Islamic Republic was created. But by the time we got back in touch in late November, the protests had taken a bloody turn. Reform seemed to have been taken off the table and his tone was now aggressive.

“The alternative is ISIS,” he said — repeating the regime’s false narrative that hijab protests were to blame for an October attack on a religious shrine in the city of Shiraz that left 13 dead — a tragedy for which ISIS has claimed responsibility.

But the people aren’t all buying this narrative. When the Iranian soccer team lost a match in the World Cup, memes circulated on Instagram joking that ISIS was to blame.

In a country where the Persian language prioritizes the female in its sentences — instead of “husband and wife,” “men and women” or “brothers and sisters,” Persians say: “wife and husband” (zan o shawhar), “women and men” (zan o mard) and “sisters and brothers” (khāhar o barādar) — the women are finally demanding their rights be prioritized. Looking to the future, questions remain around the viability of a revolution without a leader who has not yet emerged.

“I do think the fabric of the future of Iran as a state will be weaved by the people who have risked the most for a better future,” Boniadi said.

And whereas some make the argument that the protestors do not make up the majority of the country, they’ve been loud enough to make the regime realize the status quo is not sustainable. This genie cannot and will not go back in the bottle.

'We need to turn this around': About 1,500 turn out for VP speech on abortion in Tallahassee


Douglas Soule and Christopher Cann, Tallahassee Democrat
Sun, January 22, 2023 

TALLAHASSEE — Hours before Vice President Kamala Harris gave her Tallahassee speech on the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade on Sunday, hundreds of people stood in the rain, waiting in line.

Some of them traveled a long way to be there. They told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida that they were bused in from around the state.

Molly Henry, a volunteer with Planned Parenthood in Sarasota, came to Tallahassee via bus with one of her children. They left around 4:30 a.m. and arrived at 9.

"I don't want to go back," Henry said of the landmark abortion rights case that was overturned in June by the Supreme Court. "My mother had a back alley abortion in 1950."

Laura Rodriguez, a 58-year-old member of the National Council for Jewish Women, drove from Miami to Tallahassee for the various pro-abortion events around the capital city.

"We need to turn this around," she said. "Abortion is a religious right."

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Then there were the locals, like Kassidy Caride, a public health graduate student at Florida State University.

“I don’t think it’s right,” Caride said about the 15-week abortion ban Florida passed last year. “There’s why we’re here. Everyone should have the right to choose.”

By a little before 11 a.m., hours after the line began, only one anti-abortion counter protester was in sight. That woman is retired Tallahassee resident Helena Sims.

Breaking News

VP Kamala Harris announces Biden White House memo protecting access to reproductive services

Liveblog:

Live updates: VP Kamala Harris takes the stage in Tallahassee, to announce memorandum

Sims, wearing a rain jacket and hefting a "CHOOSE LIFE" sign, said she was expecting more counter protesters but explained it was difficult to find information about the event.

"There's another side to the story of 'my body, my choice,'" Sims said. "And that's the baby."

While law enforcement estimate about 1,500 attended the speech at the Moon, the rain appears to have washed out a planned abortion rights march that was to coincide with the speech.

Initially, Planned Parenthood posted to its website that "we'll be joined by VP Harris" at the "Bigger Than Roe: National Day of Action" abortion rights march, organized by Women's March. As of Sunday morning, a message flashed on the site that said "Sorry, this event has reached capacity."

An organizer told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida that the protest is going to take place as a totally separate event on Apalachee Parkway just outside the Ross shopping center and will happen with whoever comes, weather permitting.

USA Today Network-Florida government accountability reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. 

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: VP Kamala Harris' Roe v. Wade speech draws long lines amid heavy rain

VP Kamala Harris announces Biden White House memo protecting access to reproductive services



Christopher Cann, Tallahassee Democrat
Sun, January 22, 2023

On 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, President Joe Biden said he intends to sign a presidential memorandum to consider "efforts to protect access to reproductive healthcare services."

Vice President Harris announced the presidential memorandum at a speech in Tallahassee, just miles away from the state Capitol where Florida’s Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis passed a ban last year on abortion after 15 weeks.

The memorandum will push Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), "to consider new guidance to support patients, providers, and pharmacies who wish to legally access, prescribe, or provide mifepristone—no matter where they live," according to the White House.

Additionally, the memorandum will explore considerations to ensure that patients "can access legal reproductive care, including medication abortion from a pharmacy, free from threats or violence."

What does overturning Roe mean? A breakdown of the Supreme Court's abortion ruling

Read full memoradum:

President Biden to Sign Presidential Memorandum on Ensuring Safe Access to Medication Abortion

"The President has long made clear that people should have access to reproductive care free from harassment, threats, or violence," read Biden's statement from the White House. "Pharmacies should be treated no differently."

Harris will discuss next steps in the fight for reproductive rights and "reinforce the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to protecting access to abortion, including medication abortion," according to a White House press briefing.

Biden to issue memorandum to protect access to abortion pills



Alex Gangitano

THE HILL
Sun, January 22, 2023 

President Biden will issue a presidential memorandum that will further protect access to medication abortion by ensuring doctors can prescribe and dispense it across the United States to mark 50 years since the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.

Vice President Harris will announce the memorandum on Sunday in remarks in Florida for the anniversary.

“Members of our Cabinet and our Administration are now directed to identify barriers to access and recommend actions to make sure that: doctors can legally prescribe, doctors can dispense, and women can secure safe and effective medication,” Harris will say, according to speech excerpts.

The memorandum will direct the secretary of Health and Human Services, along with the attorney general and the secretary of Homeland Security, to consider new guidance to support patients, providers and pharmacies that want to access, prescribe or provide mifepristone legally.

Mifepristone, which is a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug used in medication abortion, has become an increasingly common method for ending pregnancies, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. It accounts for more than half of all abortions in the country.

The memorandum will also ensure patients know their right to access reproductive health care, including medication abortion from a pharmacy.

Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it will allow U.S. retail pharmacies to offer abortion pills directly to patients with a prescription in states where abortion is legal. Medication abortion has been available in the U.S. since 2000, when the FDA approved the use of mifepristone, but many states with strict abortion bans also limit the availability of mifepristone, either through restrictions on who can prescribe and dispense the pill or outright bans.

Harris’s speech on Sunday will focus on the next steps the administration will take to fight for reproductive rights, according to a fact sheet from her office. She is set to call out Republicans for actions to restrict abortion access, including Republicans in Congress who have called for a national ban on abortions.

“The right of every woman in every state in the country to make decisions about her own body is on the line. Republicans in Congress are now calling for an abortion ban at the moment of conception nationwide. How dare they?” Harris is expected to say.