USA News and Discussions

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Iowa to spend millions kicking families off food stamps. More states may follow.

TAMA, Iowa — As an icy prairie wind slapped down on the empty town, Lisa Spitler pulled on winter gloves, grabbed a clipboard and started walking toward the cars idling outside the fire station. In two hours, a mobile food pantry would begin a free food distribution. The line of early arrivals already stretched a half-mile to where it dead-ends in this town of 3,000 residents east of Des Moines.

The outreach director for several of the region’s food banks, Spitler’s job was to connect hungry families with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the federal government’s most effective food assistance pipeline. She covered 28 counties across Iowa’s northeast corner. Spitler was there to see if SNAP could help, offering herself as a guide through the maze of bureaucratic forms and eligibility requirements.

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The state legislature, with the support of the Republican supermajority, was poised to approve some of the nation’s harshest restrictions on SNAP. They include asset tests and new eligibility guidelines. By the state’s own estimate, Iowa will need to spend nearly $18 million in administrative costs during the first three years — to take in less federal money. The bill’s backers argue the steps would save the state money long term and cut down on “SNAP fraud.”

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Enacting the bill is expected to cost Iowa more than $17 million in the first three years, far more than the $2.2 million the state spends each year to administer SNAP. (The federal government funds SNAP and splits administrative costs 50-50 with the state. Last year, Iowa received $60.4 million in federal SNAP funds).

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va ... od-stamps/

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Senate Republicans will try to block Feinstein's Judiciary replacement

Their objections complicate Democrats' path out of the judicial nomination slowdown caused by the California senator's lengthy absence.

By Liz Goodwin
Updated April 17, 2023 at 2:03 p.m. EDT Published April 17, 2023 at 12:34 p.m. EDT

A second Republican senator on the Judiciary Committee announced their opposition Monday to temporarily replacing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on the panel, adding to Democrats' woes over how to move forward on stalled judicial nominations caused by Feinstein's health-related absence.

Feinstein, who at 89 is the oldest member of the Senate, announced last week that she had asked Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to temporarily replace her on the Senate Judiciary Committee. That followed calls from some congressional Democrats for Feinstein, who has been absent from the chamber since February, to resign from the Senate.

Her absence has stalled confirmations of President Biden's judicial nominees, given that only judges with some Republican support can move to the floor without her tiebreaking vote on the committee. She has provided no timeline for her return to Washington after recovering from a case of shingles. The Senate is narrowly divided and under Democratic control, 51-49.

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) announced on Twitter on Monday that she would "not go along with Chuck Schumer's plan to replace Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee and pack the court with activist judges." ... She joins Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a close ally of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in publicly announcing she will not support a temporary replacement for Feinstein.

Their objections add up to a major headache for Democrats, who were hoping to quickly solve the political and tactical problem of Feinstein this week by replacing her on the committee. Most committee assignments for both Republicans and Democrats are passed without fanfare or controversy by unanimous voice votes on the Senate floor. But now with Republicans lining up to object to the temporary change, it's clear replacing Feinstein on the committee would take 60 votes to approve, which means at least 10 Republicans would need to back the measure.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics ... placement/

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f*ck THIS MAN!!!!

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Record Number of Americans Say They're Politically Independent
by Mike Allen
April 16 , 2023

Introduction:

(Axios) We spend our days captivated by people with the most power and the biggest mouths. But it turns out a rising number of Americans want something else — political independence.

Driving the news: Gallup polling last month found that a record 49% of Americans see themselves as politically independent — the same as the two major parties put together.

• By far the dominant U.S. party isn't Democrats or Republicans. It's: "I'll shop around, thank you."

Why it matters: This trend means rising future challenges to the might and money of the two traditional parties, and helps explain how volatile and evenly split our politics are. There's no sign either will ebb any time soon.

What's happening: Gallup analyst Jeff Jones says a big reason for this change is driven by younger generation.

• "It was never unusual for younger adults to have higher percentages of independents than older adults," Jones said. "What is unusual is that as Gen X and millennials get older, they are staying independent rather than picking a party, as older generations tended to do."

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2023/04/17/poll- ... -democrat

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North Dakota House passes near-total abortion ban with limited exceptions

Lawmakers in North Dakota advanced an abortion bill Monday that seeks to ban the procedure with few exceptions.

The state House passed SB 2150 with a vote of 76-14, mostly along party lines, which makes performing or aiding an abortion a class C felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a fine of $10,000.

According to the language in the bill, the pregnant woman would not be charged.

The only exceptions are if the mother's health or life are in danger and in cases of rape or incest, but only up until six weeks' gestation, before many women know they're pregnant.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/north-dakota- ... d=98660609

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Dominion and Fox News Settle Lawsuit
by Inae Oh
April 19, 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones)The much anticipated $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, widely viewed as one of the most consequential libel cases in decades, is officially over. On Tuesday, Dominion Voting Systems and the cable TV giant reached an eleventh-hour agreement. The details of the settlement are not yet public. News of the deal comes moments after a jury was selected in the trial.

Dominion had claimed reckless promotion of Donald Trump’s election lies caused the company to lose contracts and exposed vulnerable employees to vicious harassment campaigns.

Sparing the network weeks of public testimony by its top personalities and leadership, Fox News is likely to welcome the last-minute deal. But much of the reputational damage has already taken place. Numerous filings leading up to the trial revealed that some of Fox News’ most visible stars like Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham had promoted Donald Trump’s election lies despite privately expressing significant doubt over them. In one bombshell filing that included text exchanges between Tucker Carlson and a colleague, Carlson even fumed over hating Trump “passionately.”

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... -murdoch/

Further Update:

(The Guardian) Fox and the voting equipment company Dominion reached a $787.5m settlement in a closely watched defamation lawsuit, ending a dispute over whether the network and its parent company knowingly broadcast false and outlandish allegations that Dominion was involved in a plot to steal the 2020 election.

Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/20 ... n-lawsuit

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McCarthy unveils House GOP plan to increase the debt limit, calls on Biden to begin talks
Source: CBS News

Washington — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy unveiled his proposal to increase the debt limit and cut government spending, making his opening offer to Democrats while calling on President Biden to begin talks ahead of a summer deadline to avoid a default.

The GOP plan would increase the debt limit by $1.5 trillion or until the end of March 2024, whichever comes first, McCarthy said in brief remarks on the House floor Wednesday. Known as the Limit, Save, Grow Act, McCarthy said the bill includes $4.5 trillion in savings by cutting discretionary spending to fiscal year 2022 levels and limiting the growth of future spending. It would also reclaim unspent COVID-19 funds, cancel Mr. Biden's student loan forgiveness program, rescind new funding for the IRS and enact work requirements for federal aid programs.

"If Washington wants to spend more, it will have to come together and find savings elsewhere, just like every household in America," the speaker said. "President Biden has a choice. Come to the table and stop playing partisan political games, or cover his ears, refuse to negotiate and risk bumbling his way into the first default in our nation's history."

McCarthy's bill is expected to reach the House floor next week. While any legislation that pairs a debt-limit increase with spending cuts is dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate, McCarthy is hoping to gain leverage ahead of negotiations with the White House by passing the GOP's own bill in the House.

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kevin-mcca ... ican-bill/

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It is evil!

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Dominion and Fox News Settle Lawsuit
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(Latino Rebels) In response to Fox News’s last-minute dodge, the president and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Brenda Victoria Castillo, released the following statement:

Journalism is supposed to be about seeking the truth and reporting the facts. Instead, Fox News seeks ratings and reports disinformation. And then when caught is given a free pass. Today, Fox News set the price of spreading disinformation, deliberately misleading the public, and discrediting the democratic process at $787.5 million.

An unprecedented defamation suit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox News was expected to begin today in Delaware, where Fox News would have had to publicly answer for the role it played to discredit our country’s fair and free elections in recent years. Rupert Murdoch and Fox News have gone to extreme lengths to hide their activities and mislead their viewer base, including directives from the Trump campaign to promote the January 6th insurrection.

The outcome of this case could have had reverberations across the country, particularly in Latino communities, where studies have shown that disinformation has been targeted at and particularly prevalent among our communities. It would have sent a strong message to both media and tech companies across the country that there would be consequences if you continue to hold disinformation as fact.

Instead, by settling out of court, what message does this send? Is $787.5 million now the going price of spreading disinformation in this country, and what stops media conglomerates around the world from continuing to promote falsehoods when they know they can pay their way out of accountability?

Read more here: https://www.latinorebels.com/2023/04/19 ... ettlement/

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