(WASHINGTON) — The House Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing Wednesday on abortion access as the nation awaits a final decision from the Supreme Court in a case that result in the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., kicked off the hearing with a warning that if the landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion is in fact overturned — as was indicated in a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion — the impact will be “devastating.”
“Making decisions about when and how to start a family is essential to women’s lives,” Nadler said. “The right to decide whether to carry or terminate a pregnancy is central to life, liberty and equality. It is the very essence of what it means to have bodily autonomy, which is a prerequisite for freedom.”
Expert witnesses speaking at Wednesday’s hearing include Dr. Yashica Robinson, a board-certified OBGYN and board member with Physicians for Reproductive Health; Michele Bratcher Goodwin, a chancellor’s law professor at the University of California, Irvine; Catherine Glenn Foster, the president and CEO of the anti-abortion law firm Americans United for Life; and Aimee Arrambide, the executive director of the abortion rights nonprofit Avow Texas.
Goodwin told committee members that if the draft opinion holds, it would be an “incredibly unusual” moment in American democracy.
“The Supreme Court has never gone back to in fact revoke what has been freedoms that have been well-articulated and established in the Constitution and also by the Supreme Court,” she said.
The draft opinion, which is not the final ruling, was published by Politico on May 2 — and later confirmed by the court to be authentic. Politico later reported that the Feb. 10 draft was still the only one circulated among the group and that none of the conservative justices have changed their vote in the wake of the bombshell leak.
Protests have been a near-daily occurrence since the document became public, with demonstrations extending to the homes of Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. A nationwide day of protest was held on May 14 featuring hundreds of “Bans Off Our Bodies” events organized by abortion rights groups.
Security measures at the Supreme Court and for all nine justices have been increased since the demonstrations began.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, ABC News reported, domestic violent extremists have invaded the national abortion debate “to incite violence amongst their supporters.” Targets of threats include the justices, members of Congress, public officials, clergy, health care providers and more.
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan, ranking chairman on the House Judiciary Committee, focused his opening statement Wednesday on accusing Democrats and activists of a trying to strong-arm the Supreme Court.
“You know why they’re trying to bully and intimidate the court?” Jordan asked. “You know why, because the evidence for overturning Roe is overwhelming.”
(TOMS RIVER, N.J.) — One person is dead and another has been rescued after two siblings became trapped under sand while digging at a Jersey Shore beach Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.
Police and emergency medical services responded to a barrier island beach in Toms River, New Jersey, shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday “for reports of juveniles trapped in the sand as it collapsed around them while digging,” the Toms River Police Department said on Facebook.
First responders were able to rescue a 17-year-old girl, who was treated at the scene, but her brother, 18, died, police said.
The victim was identified by police as Levi Caverly of Maine.
The teen was visiting the region from out of town with his family, police said.
His father described Caverly as a “tech nut” who loved to program, played the drums in a young adult worship band and was involved in his church’s worship team.
“Levi was himself. He was odd. He was quirky. He was not real concerned with what others thought,” his father, Todd Caverly, said in a statement.
Police urged people not to respond to the area while the rescue was in progress.
Live footage from the scene Tuesday evening showed more than a dozen first responders near the shoreline. Emergency crews from several neighboring towns aided in the rescue effort.
Rescue workers were working to recover the body from the collapse, police said following the incident.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — Thomas Lane, one of the former Minneapolis police officers involved in George Floyd’s killing, has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, according to the Minnesota attorney general.
State Attorney General Keith Ellison said the plea agreement reached with Lane represents an “important step toward healing the wounds of the Floyd family, our community, and the nation.”
Lane, 38, had been scheduled to go to trial next month in state court along with his former Minneapolis police colleagues J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao.
All three defendants were convicted in February by a federal jury on charges of violating George Floyd’s civil rights by failing to intervene or provide medical aid as their senior officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on the back of the handcuffed 46-year-old Black man’s neck for more than nine minutes in the May 25, 2020, incident.
Chauvin was convicted in state court last year of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
Chauvin also pleaded guilty to federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights and is awaiting sentencing after a judge accepted his plea earlier this month.
“Today, my thoughts are once again with the victims, George Floyd and his family,” Ellison said in a statement Wednesday announcing Lane’s plea. “Nothing will bring Floyd back. He should still be with us today.”
Ellison said he was “pleased” that Lane has accepted responsibility for his role in Floyd’s death.
“While accountability is not justice, this is a significant moment in this case and a necessary resolution on our continued journey to justice,” Ellison said.
There was no word on whether similar plea agreements are under consideration by Kueng and Thao, who are still scheduled to go on trial in state court on June 13.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to unveil proposals Wednesday afternoon to strengthen the state’s gun laws and close “loopholes” in the wake of the deadly Buffalo shooting over the weekend.
The announcement was planned before the weekend shooting, and was delayed by President Joe Biden’s Tuesday visit to Buffalo, Hochul’s hometown.
However, the issue takes on increased urgency as her administration reviews how the 18-year-old suspect, Payton Gendron, legally purchased his weapons and then made modifications that are illegal in New York, already home to some of the nation’s strictest gun laws.
Even before the mass shooting in Buffalo, there was a focus on guns in the state. Illegal gun possession statistics were up last month in the state and country’s largest city, New York City. New York police made 146 more arrests for illegal guns in April 2022 versus April 2021, a 65% increase, according to the NYPD. Shooting incidents, however, did drop 29% in April 2022 versus April 2021.
Proposals already under discussion in the state Capitol include requiring local law enforcement to report recovered weapons to a federal database in a timely manner, and allowing the state to conduct its own background checks.
New requirements could also be put in place for gun dealers, beefing up training for staff and record keeping.
The administration is also looking into the use, or lack thereof, of the state’s red flag laws, which could have identified the Buffalo suspect and kept him from purchasing the gun used to shoot 13 people, killing 10. The prohibition can remove guns from the home of a person identified to be at high risk and keep the person from buying guns for a year.
The suspect was not red-flagged following threats to carry out a shooting at his graduation last June, and he later admitted in a cache of documents that he intentionally avoided the prohibition by downplaying last year’s incident. Following a police investigation, no charges were filed against Gendron, who received a mental health evaluation and counseling after the incident.
Gendron is expected to make his next court appearance on Thursday.
(NEW YORK) — The mother of a teen who went missing in 2009 while on spring break is speaking out after authorities announced an arrest in the case.
“I never thought we would get to this place and we’re finally here,” Dawn Pleckan, Drexel’s mother, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “And now I can get Brittanee back and lay to rest.”
In 2009, Drexel vanished while on a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. On Monday, authorities announced at a news conference that Raymond Moody, 62, was arrested and charged with her murder after her remains were found in a wooded area in Georgetown County, South Carolina, last week.
“In the last week, we’ve confirmed that Brittanee lost her life in a tragic way, at the hands of a horrible criminal who was walking our streets,” said FBI special agent in charge Susan Ferensic.
For 13 years, Brittanee’s parents, Pleckan and Chad Drexel, have searched for her.
Pleckan said her daughter wanted to go on the trip but she remembered telling her no because of a lack of parental supervision. Pleckan said she also had a bad hunch.
“She asked me if she could go and I told her no,” Pleckan recalled. “And she asked me why. I said, because I don’t know the kids you’re going with. I don’t — there’s no parental supervision and something’s going to happen.”
Brittanee ended up leaving for the spring break trip to Myrtle Beach on April 22, 2009, despite her mother’s wishes. Three days later, the teen was seen for the last time on a hotel surveillance camera. She was leaving a friend’s room at the Blue Water Resort to walk back to the hotel where she was staying, about a mile-and-a-half walk down the busy Myrtle Beach strip, ABC Rochester station WHAM-TV reported.
She was about halfway to her destination when she disappeared, investigators said, based on surveillance footage from cameras on 11th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard.
Her remains were found less than 3 miles from a motel where Moody had been living at the time of Drexel’s disappearance, Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said. Authorities allege that Moody buried her body. Authorities did not answer reporters’ questions on how Drexel’s remains were found.
Moody is being held without bond at the Georgetown County jail and is expected to be charged with rape, murder and kidnapping — in addition to a charge of obstruction of justice that he was initially brought in for, said Jimmy Richardson, solicitor for Horry and Georgetown Counties.
In 2012, he had been identified as a person of interest in the disappearance but there was not enough evidence to name him as a suspect, officials said.
Investigators believe Drexel was held against her will and killed.
Pleckan and Chad Drexel have asked for privacy and thanked investigators and volunteers for their work over the past decade.
“This is truly a mother’s worst nightmare,” Pleckan said. “I am mourning my beautiful daughter Brittanee as I have been for 13 years. But today, it’s bittersweet. We are much closer to the closure in the piece that we have been desperately hoping for.”
On Monday, which would have been Brittanee’s 30th birthday according to WHAM, Pleckan said she hopes justice will be served.
“One thing … we’re going to look forward to is to get justice for Brittanee,” she said. “I want people to know out there that Brittanee’s legacy is going to live on.”
Pleckan added, “She had her whole life ahead of her. And this monster took it away from her. I’m glad [Moody] is behind bars so that he can’t hurt anyone else’s child.”
(NEW YORK) — For millions, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant working from home, seeing friends and family less and other changes to life as they knew it.
In many cases, it also meant dealing with the virus either themselves or with a loved one.
Restrictions came and went and widespread vaccination and boosters brought the promise of a return to normalcy, especially as the omicron wave subsided.
But for some, the pandemic has meant one thing — isolation with no end in sight.
Sara Anne Willette, an Iowa resident who has common variable immunodeficiency, said she has spent more than 750 days in lockdown since the pandemic began.
For her, staying inside is a life-or-death decision. Her common variable immunodeficiency means she has low levels of protective antibodies and is constantly at an increased risk of falling seriously sick.
“If there’s anyone in the country who’s suffered the most from lockdown, it’s us because nobody else will do what’s necessary so that we don’t have to live in lockdown,” Willette said.
Before COVID-19, Willette had long been taking the health precautions that were implemented nationwide during the pandemic: She wore masks, avoided busy shopping times and only went out of the house for special occasions.
She fell ill often and easily, whether it was from a day in the office as a data analyst or a big family gathering. So when the pandemic began, she knew she, her husband and her son would have to isolate entirely.
As safety precautions are being abandoned across the country two years later, her husband has been told to go back to work in person. She says their livelihoods — literally and professionally — are now at stake.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed their guidelines for indoor masking in February, with about 90% of Americans no longer advised to wear face coverings inside. The CDC now bases mask recommendations on local levels of COVID-19 cases.
Simultaneously, most states have dropped COVID-related restrictions in recent months. Hawaii became the final state to uphold an indoor mask mandate and many places have dropped mask recommendations for all but the youngest students.
For those who’ve been stuck inside for two years, the change in restrictions has left them wondering: when will their isolation end?
“I’m happy to protect myself, but then the ability to protect ourselves gets taken away,” she said, referring to the CDC’s easing recommendations and a nationwide shift toward “normalcy.”
Tinu Abayomi-Paul, 49, who is immunocompromised due to previous episodes of cancer, said her two-year lockdown was no match for the change in COVID-19 policies. When Texas state-sponsored homeschooling expired, her son went back to a school with no COVID-19 restrictions, she said.
“Seven-hundred fifty-seven days in isolation, I don’t care. I’ll do it for the rest of my life if that’s what’s necessary. But don’t expect me to choose between poverty that leads to death or infection that leads to death,” said Willette. “My only direction is ‘dead.'”
“It’s like the first day they came back, I got sick,” Abayomi-Paul said. “I got way sicker than I’ve been in decades.”
Her son brought back COVID-19 in February and she now has pneumonia months later. The infection also triggered her chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, a type of cancer affecting her white blood cells, which help fight infection, she said, so she’s now re-treating her cancer.
“People will go to marathons and wear ribbons for people with cancer, but a mask is too much to ask. It’s ridiculous,” Abayomi-Paul said.
Charis Hill, 35, who has a systemic inflammatory disease and take immunosuppressive medications, has said they have also been isolating for the past two years from their home in California.
They had to decide whether or not to get a surgery done and if the hospital would be taking the necessary precautions to make them feel safe.
“I had a really upsetting experience with a medical provider who refused to wear her surgical mask correctly,” they said.
They had the surgery done, but not without concern.
“From that point up to the day of surgery, I was not focused on surgery at all but more focused on fighting for my rights as a disabled person of having a safe health environment,” they said.
Fears about the coronavirus continue to ripple among cautious Americans. According to a report by health research organization KFF, even with most local and state restrictions lifted, 59% of people surveyed reported limiting their behaviors, with 42% doing some but not all their pre-pandemic activities.
Seventeen percent said they do very few of their normal activities.
However, 27% say they have essentially returned to life as it was before the COVID-19 pandemic and 14% of respondents have not changed their behavior.
Those who spoke with ABC News urged leaders to continue to recommend or require precautions in public.
For them, a return to normal isn’t possible until COVID-19 subsides and the outside world proves safe for even the most vulnerable.
“We do not do anything. And it’s devastating,” said Dawn Gibson, a Michigan woman with the inflammatory disease ankylosing spondylitis, a condition where the bones in the spine can fuse over time. She said she’s missed work conferences, baby showers, other important life events — all to stay alive and healthy.
“I feel like I live in a parallel universe. And life and culture and society and just everything about being alive is in the other one. I have never felt more forgotten in my life,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — As the baby formula shortage continues to impact parents and children across the country, there is renewed interest in donor breast milk, or donor human milk, with some considering it as another option in addition to formula.
The Human Milk Banking Association of North America said it has seen an “unprecedented” number of calls to its member milk banks from people inquiring about donor milk, especially in Texas, Illinois and California.
“In the height of this formula shortage crisis, we are absolutely seeing a surge in demand and inquiries from families who are stressed and wondering if donor milk is a safe option for them to explore,” Lindsay Groff, the organization’s executive director, told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“I suspect as this goes on, that demand will only continue to rise as people are desperate to find safe alternatives for their babies,” Groff said.
The Human Milk Banking Association is an umbrella organization with 28 member milk banks in the U.S. The group comprises a number of community and nonprofit milk banks affiliated with hospitals, including the University of California Health Milk Bank.
Dr. Lisa Stellwagen, a newborn specialist and the executive director of the UC Health Milk Bank, said the center had seen an uptick in calls, especially in May.
“We’ve had an outpouring of milk donors, of women who want to donate milk to help other people,” Stellwagen said Monday, adding that orders, meanwhile, had risen “another 10-20%” in the past week alone.
There are various reasons why a parent or caregiver may consider donor milk. Oftentimes, it is a necessity for premature babies in the neonatal intensive care unit who may be too sick to breastfeed or whose parent may be sick themselves or otherwise unable to provide breast milk.
“Breast milk really does have the ideal nutritional components for a baby,” Dr. Alexa Mieses Malchuk, an assistant professor of family medicine at the UNC School of Medicine and a family physician, told Good Morning America. “High protein, high fat, all of the nutrition that a baby could possibly need is contained within breast milk.”
Breast milk also contains “very helpful antibodies that the lactating person will pass on into their milk that can help protect babies from different illnesses,” Malchuk said.
“And there are also things like lower incidence of allergies, lower rates of obesity,” she added.
Parents and caregivers should consult their baby’s pediatrician or health care provider before changing a child’s diet in any way or adding donor milk into their feeding schedule.
Donor milk at milk banks is often reserved for premature babies, NICU patients and what the UC Health Milk Bank refers to as “the most fragile newborns.”
“We always prioritize the most medically fragile infants and that will never change,” Groff said.
Families with children who are in the NICU or hospitalized can ask doctors and health care providers to see if it may be available through the hospital directly.
“Milk donors are screened, the milk is often pasteurized, you can be sure and confident that it’s been stored properly. So that is the absolute safest way to get donor breast milk,” Malchuk said.
“I think a lot of people have this misconception that … it’s not safe, that it could transmit infection and that the processing takes out all the good stuff, which is not true,” Stellwagen added. “We think of it like blood. It has nutrients but it also has all this biology and in that biology, are cells and viruses and bacteria. So once we accept the milk from an approved donor, then we actually analyze it for nutrients. We put milk from multiple mothers together, and then we put it in bottles and we cap it, and then we heat pasteurize it.”
If bacteria does survive the pasteurization process, which is very uncommon, all of the milk is discarded, according to Stellwagen.
“So it has these rigorous steps of making sure that it’s nutritionally good for the baby, that it’s pasteurized, that there’s no bacteria in there,” she said.
Donor milk can also go to other babies and children who may need it at home.
“Anytime a baby needs breast milk and the parent who would normally be the one who’s lactating is unable to do so, I say go ahead and look into donor breast milk,” Malchuk said.
Hospitals and nonprofit milk banks have rules and processes in place to ensure babies receive safe and nutritious donor breast milk. Like with any bodily fluid, there are safety risks to consider when it comes to donor milk, and parents and caregivers need to be aware of and understand the risks.
Risks can include contaminants, infectious diseases, drugs, and if not processed and stored properly, donor breast milk can become dangerous to consume.
There is currently no federal regulation for donor breast milk. Democratic U.S. Reps. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Kim Schrier of Washington introduced the Donor Milk Safety Act in April, which would require the Food and Drug Administration to establish safety standards for human milk. It is currently awaiting action in the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Some have sought to obtain donor milk through for-profit milk banks and informal channels, such as family members, friends, communities and parenting groups. However, experts say people should be extremely cautious when exploring unregulated options and have repeatedly warned against it.
The FDA has explicitly recommended against feeding infants human milk that has been “acquired directly from individuals or through the Internet,” and strongly suggests consulting a healthcare provider before feeding a baby milk from a source other than the mother, as there are possible serious safety risks if the milk is not adequately screened.
Breast milk acquired from an individual or online source may have been exposed to infectious diseases, and may be contaminated with illegal drugs or prescription drugs. Also, if human milk is not handled and stored properly it could become unsafe to drink.
“The American Academy of Pediatrics is pretty firm about not recommending informal milk sharing,” said Stellwagen, who also serves as policy chair for the AAP’s section on breastfeeding. “You want a milk bank that is operating with strict, rigorous controls for safety and quality.”
As a starting point, Malchuk suggests families and caregivers ask trusted sources for recommendations and check guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on breastfeeding, prescription medications and vaccinations, as well as resources like the InfantRisk Center.
There are “no guarantees” when it comes to donor milk outside of an accredited milk bank or hospital, Malchuk added.
For lactating people who want to donate milk
Those seeking to donate extra breast milk should contact a local milk bank to see if they’re able contribute, Groff said.
“We are in another time of major demand and so we are asking healthy lactating people to step up,” she said. “If we can increase the amount of donors that are screened, and that can donate their milk, then we can move beyond the need of the medically fragile and start to help more babies in the community.”
At the UC Health Milk Bank, Stellwagen said the process begins with the potential donor answering a questionnaire, as they would when donating blood.
“We are going to ask during our screening process a rigorous list of questions similar to when you donate blood, about your health and your lifestyle. Do you have any risk factors for blood-borne pathogens like HIV or hepatitis? Do you use any prescription medications? You’re not allowed to smoke tobacco, you’re not allowed to use cannabis products,” she said.
“A lot of medications are fine, things like insulin … but other medications may lead to a woman not being able to donate.”
The milk bank then contacts the donor’s physician to ensure there are “no concerns” and that “prenatal labs were fine,” according to Stellwagen. “And then we send [the prospective donor] for a blood test that we pay for, and we check again for blood-borne pathogens, HIV, hepatitis, that sort of thing.”
If they pass that step, Stellwagen said, they can donate.
“The average donation is about 600 ounces of milk,” she added.
At the end of the day, Malchuk said the decision to go with donor milk will vary with each family.
“Donor breast milk is a great alternative but again, it just depends on what sort of resources are available to you and what you feel is best for your family,” she said.
(JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla.) — It’s been three months since her husband was murdered, but Kirsten Bridegan has very few answers as to what happened that night.
Jared Bridegan, 33, was shot and killed on Feb. 16 in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, when he stopped his car while driving home after dropping off his 9-year-old twins with his ex-wife.
Kirsten Bridegan believes he stopped the car when he saw a tire in the middle of the road and, rather than drive around, he got out to investigate. Their 2-year-old daughter, Bexley, was in the back seat.
“Jared’s the kind of guy who would stop and move it so others wouldn’t worry about it,” she told ABC News.
The former Microsoft senior manager and father of four was shot, possibly three or four times, Kirsten Bridegan said, in what she described as a targeted attack on Sanctuary Boulevard.
“I don’t buy into the theory that it was random,” she said. “Somebody knew his route. They thought maybe he would be alone … They didn’t fully realize there might be a child.”
“I believe he was the target. Some coward trapped him and took him out and that’s not OK,” she said.
Since Jared Bridegan’s murder in February, First Coast Crime Stoppers has doubled its initial reward to $50,000 for any tips that lead to an arrest, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has offered $5,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
Police are investigating a vehicle of interest believed to be a dark-colored, likely blue, Ford F-150 truck dated between 2004 and 2008 in connection to Jared Bridegan’s murder. They are also asking if residents know anything about a damaged tire, which they say might be related to the case.
Sgt. Tonya Tator of the Jacksonville Beach Police Department told ABC News the attack “appears to be targeted.”
The department is working on the case and pursuing leads, as well as waiting for results from forensic testing, Tator said.
In the wake of her best friend’s murder, Kirsten Bridegan said, some days are better than others.
She described her husband as a creative, fun and loving father who would do anything for his four kids — his twins, Abby and Liam, Bexley and the couple’s eight-month-old daughter, London, who was home with Kirsten at the time of the murder.
“He loved being a dad. He genuinely did,” she told ABC News. “He would spend hours setting up some activity that he thought would be awesome.”
From baking competitions and obstacle courses, to laser tag and their tradition of making toothpick boats to float outside in the rain, “he really went above and beyond to make memories and bond with his kids,” she said.
Now, he won’t get to see his four children grow up; he won’t see London crawl and eventually walk, and he won’t see any of his kids get married, Kirsten Bridegan said.
While nothing will make up for what someone did to her husband, she hopes “they will be remorseful and apologize, and that might mean something to his kids as they grow up,” Kirsten Bridegan said. “I’m fighting hard for Jared and all four of his children so they will have answers and justice, and know why someone took their father away so young.”
“I think it’s a start to find the person or persons behind this and have them pay some earthly justice for what they did,” she added.
Now, she is asking the public for help by asking for people to keep an eye our for the truck and to share her husband’s story.
“The more we know, the more eyes we have, that’s what we need help with. It’s been three months, they could have disappeared,” she said. “The further we get this spread, the better.”
Kirsten Bridegan has created Instagram and TikTok accounts to spread the word about her husband’s murder and to help collect tips.
Anyone with information can contact First Coast Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477) or visit the FCCS website, and they can also call the Jacksonville Beach Police Department at 904-270-1667.
(LONDON) — Hundreds of Iranians have taken to the streets in cities across the country, protesting against the crippling political and economic situation. Unofficial reports say security forces have killed at least four people.
Coming from all walks of life, protestors shout slogans that target the top officials of the clerical system, including the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Ebrahim Raisi.
The internet in the cities with ongoing protests is either cut or partially throttled by the government in an attempt to control the spreading of the news.
The unrest started after the government cut subsidies on essential food items such as cooking oil, eggs and milk last Wednesday. For example, the price of cooking increased more than 400% overnight from 336,700 rials, or nearly US$8, to 1,420,000 rials, or US$33 — US$1 is about 42,350 rials.
However, dominant slogans in the protests like “Down with Khamenei, Down with dictator” and “We don’t want mullah’s ruling” indicate that protesting the ailing economy follows another primary demand: overthrowing the system.
“The establishment suffers from lack of legitimacy,” Mohammad Mosaed, a dissident journalist in exile, told ABC News. “It has failed to fulfill the promises it made 43 years ago like freedom and justice.”
Mosaed had to leave Iran after another series of protests in November 2019.
With hundreds of people killed and thousands arrested, the nationwide protests in 2019 were the deadliest since the Islamic revolution in 1979. The exact number of killings still remains unknown due to the strict censorship of the media and cutting off the whole country’s internet for 10 days. Those protests also started after fuel went up three times its cost and soon spread all around the country, especially in small cities.
“The current protests are similar to those in 2019 as they are not bound to Tehran that has a bigger middle-class population, but are rather spread all over the country, especially in smaller towns which are economically deprived,” Mosaed said.
Iran’s state media has repeatedly blamed the West’s economic sanctions for the hardship the country faces. They are the sanctions that mainly aim to restrict Iran’s nuclear program.
In 2015, Iran committed to restricting its nuclear program in return for the West’s commitment to easing the sanctions in a deal with the world powers known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). However, in May 2018, then-President Donald Trump pulled out of the pact, leaving it a matter of renegotiation. Four years later, after rounds of talks, the process of reviving the JCPOA is still stalled due to disagreements among the negotiation parties — the U.S., France, Germany, the U.K., Russia and China.
However, unlike the Islamic Republic’s blame narrative, many believe Western sanctions are not the only reason or even the main reason for the situation.
“The recent crippling situation resulted from having totally incompetent leaders for years, widespread corruption, and then the sanctions,” Mosaed said.
After four decades of giving several chances to different parties to lead the country, Mosaed believes that more and more people are coming to the understanding that the incompetency and corruption of the leaders must be the main subject of the protests.
“These people used to form up the main body of the establishment’s loyal patrons, and now the former patrons have turned to fierce protestors,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — Consequential primary races in five states, including some battlegrounds, helped shed light Tuesday night on what the rest of the midterms might look like.
For Republicans, former President Donald Trump’s star-making power and election conspiracies thrived on the ticket in swing state Pennsylvania, but one controversial North Carolina-based member of Congress heavy in MAGA-orbit fell to scandal. And on the left, progressives locked horns with establishment Democrats in North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania while the strength of President Joe Biden’s introductory midterm race endorsement bore out in Oregon.
Here are three major takeaways from the primaries in Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Idaho:
Election integrity on the ballot
Trump notched a significant win in the Republican primary for the Pennsylvania governor’s race with the success of state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a conservative grassroots candidate who attended the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington on Jan 6. The Republican candidate for governor has been subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee and posits a full-throated endorsement of the debunked conspiracy theory that the 2020 general election was tampered with and stolen from Trump.
His win is a direct challenge to a less extreme wing of the Republican Party (remember, Biden won the state by about 2% in 2020), some of whom backed Rep. Lou Barletta. For what it’s worth, Barletta was backed by Trump in his losing Senate race in 2018.
Another key race in Pennsylvania full of loaded election integrity rhetoric was the GOP primary for Senate, a true-nail biter that has Trump-endorsed celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz in a dead heat with former Bridgewater executive David McCormick. The race edged into too-close-to-call territory around midnight Tuesday, and tight margins could leave Pennsylvanians waiting. No matter who wins, a candidate who at least pushes some sort of election integrity policy — promoting election skepticism without outright embracing the “big lie” — will represent Republicans on the ballot come November.
A MAGA candidate’s concession
What may be the biggest blow to Trump’s magic touch so far this election cycle was the crushing loss of his endorsed candidate Rep. Madison Cawthorn, the embattled congressman embroiled in several controversies, notably one in which he claimed his Washington colleagues partake in orgy and drug-filled romps. He later walked his claims back, saying he had been exaggerating. Cawthorn conceded the race Tuesday night (in not very MAGA fashion) to state Sen. Chuck Edwards.
Edwards boasts support from Republicans like Sen. Thom Tillis, who leans more moderate.
Cawthorn, a freshman lawmaker, quickly made enemies — sparring with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, carrying a loaded firearm into an airport and calling Ukrainian President Vlodomymyr Zeleksnyy a “thug,” among other incitements.
In the waning days of the primary race, many began to cast doubts on Cawthorn’s staying power. Several attempts from Trump to save Cawthorn — even at the 11th hour on Truth Social — clearly failed.
Earlier, before the concession, Cawthorn’s communication director said his team was “not listening to the beltway media.” Now, they don’t have to.
And while Trump may still be a kingmaker for some, his endorsement doesn’t equate to a sure path to victory either.
Progressive setbacks
Progressives failed to capture North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District with the loss of incumbent Nida Allam, a 28-year-old county official who boasted support from progressive Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. Allam was overtaken by Valerie Foushee, a Black state lawmaker with largely establishment backing. Foushee benefited from millions of dollars in support from outside groups that spent big to sink Allam — a trend slammed by Sanders on Monday.
“The goal of this billionaire funded effort is to crush the candidacies of a number of progressive women of color who are running for Congress,” Sanders wrote to Democratic National Committee Chair Jamie Harrison. “I am writing to you today to demand that the Democratic National Committee make it clear that super PAC money is not welcome in Democratic primaries.”
Clay Aiken, who some may remember as the runner-up in Season 2 of American Idol, was also singing a sad tune Tuesday night, having lost the chance to represent Democrats on the national stage.
A win for the center is also a proxy win for Biden. Worrisome approval ratings for the White House and mass conflict abroad spell an uphill battle and then some for Democrats — though Foushee’s playbook (and embrace of those lucrative contributors) may offer a helpful playbook to victory.
