Politics
Nebraska Supreme Court sets up abortion showdown on Election Day with competing ballot measures
The Nebraska Supreme Court has set up a major abortion policy showdown for election day, approving two competing ballot measures to go before voters.
One ballot measure, put forward by abortion advocates, would enshrine a fundamental right to abortion “until fetal viability.” The other measure, put forward by abortion opponents, would codify the state’s current 12-week abortion ban into the state’s constitution.
Current Nebraska law allows for exceptions in the case of rape, incest or the life of the mother.
Anti-abortion groups had filed a pair of lawsuits challenging the competing ballot measure, arguing it violated state policy requiring that such measures pertain to only one subject.
The lawsuits argued the ballot measure deals with abortion rights until viability, abortion rights after viability to protect a woman’s health, and whether the state should be allowed to regulate abortion, amounting to three separate issues.
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Nebraska voters will decide the state’s future regarding abortion laws on election day, with two competing ballot measures.
The state Supreme Court struck down those challenges in a Friday ruling, allowing the measure to appear on ballots.
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Organizers for each ballot measure turned in more than 200,000 signatures supporting them, well over the 123,000 requirements.
The court battle comes as Democrats across the country seek to use abortion as a key issue to outplay Republicans. The effort was on full display during last week’s presidential debate, with Vice President Kamala Harris blasting the end of Roe v. Wade under former President Trump.
Harris argued that Trump would sign a national abortion ban if he is elected in November. (Doug Mills/The New York Times/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Harris argued Trump would sign a national abortion ban into law if he is elected in November. Trump rejected that claim and instead pointed to ballot measures like the ones now playing out in Nebraska.
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“As far as the abortion ban, no, I’m not in favor of an abortion ban, but it doesn’t matter, because this issue has now been taken over by the states,” Trump said.
“I believe in the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother,” he said. “I believe strongly in it. Ronald Reagan did also. Eighty-five percent of Republicans knew exceptions are very important,” he said.
Trump argues that abortion laws should be handled by the states, not the federal government. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Many states have adopted ballot measures on abortion since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022. Some, like California, enshrined abortion rights more firmly into law. Others, like Louisiana, paved the way for more restrictions on abortion.
Politics
Pro-Palestinian protesters taunt Harris rallygoers as veep supporter hits back: What ‘About Hamas?’
WILKES-BARRE, PA. – A supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris shouted back at several pro-Palestinian protesters who appeared outside the throng lined up to see the Democratic presidential nominee at Wilkes University on Friday.
“Did I hear something about Hamas?” a Harris supporter who later identified himself as Frank from Stroudsburg, Pa., hollered back at a man waving a Palestinian flag and criticizing the protesters. The man was joined by a female protester, whose own remarks preceded his, and about five other people.
“You are a bull—- spreader,” the male pro-Palestinian protester shot back. “You are the cowardly one here. Come show your muscle… Let the people live; that’s what we want.”
The woman had been shouting at the crowd, trying to make the case that there is little daylight between Harris and former President Trump on the issue of the Israel-Gaza conflict and the Jerusalem government’s response to the October 7 terror attack.
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Frank told Fox News Digital after the kerfuffle that he effectively had had enough of the protesters’ invective and had to say something.
“Everybody agrees that the war [in Gaza] is horrible… but they’re complaining about Kamala, who has called for a cease fire.
“[The protesters] are representing the Palestinians, which is fine, but they say nothing about Hamas and the horror that started this whole thing,” Frank added.
“And they don’t say anything about how Hamas uses the Palestinians as human shields. So, you know, United States has been trying to negotiate a cease fire here for months and months. And the problem is Netanyahu and the right wing of the Israeli government — they don’t even want a two-state solution.”
Frank criticize Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has and will continue engage in indiscriminate bombings of Gazan territory – while underlining additionally that the U.S. made a promise to Israel and should uphold it:
“[America] has a commitment, a long-standing commitment since the year I was born to defend Israel’s right to exist. Hamas’s stated purpose is to end Israel as a state,” he said.
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Frank from Stroudsburg, a support of Vice President Harris, pushed back on pro-Palestinian protesters deriding the rally crowd. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News)
“You know, look, these guys have a perfect right to say whatever they want to say, but it’s a very narrow view of everything; what’s really going on here. And virtually everybody wants peace.”
“Kamala Harris is on record as advocating for a cease fire. So, you know, aim your anger where it might do some good.”
After speaking with Frank, Fox News Digital also caught up with Loai, the male protester who had been jawing with the Harris supporter.
Loai said he was born in Palestinian territory but now lives locally in the Wyoming Valley.
When asked why he and his group are protesting the Harris rally, Loai said the vice president supports “Zionists [and is] supporting Israel.”
Loai added that both Harris and Trump are “essentially” the same on the matter. When asked who he prefers if he had to choose, Loai quipped, “let’s see who is less smelly.”
Loai, one of the pro-Palestinian protesters, said he hails from Palestinian territory but now lives locally in the Wyoming Valley. He and rallygoer Frank engaged in a back and forth, yelling across the street in front of a Harris rally site. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News)
“We want to see the genocide stop,” he added.
Loai said he also “doesn’t care” about Israel – and personally is not calling for its demise, as other protesters have shouted “from the river to the sea” – a phrase connected to calls for the destruction of Israel.
“We don’t care about Israel; that they exist or not. That’s not our business. We are American here. We want this genocide to be stopped. – Wherever they go, they just [need] to get the Hell out of [the Palestinian territory].”
Fox News Digital’s Matteo Cina contributed to this report.
President Biden’s deliberations with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain about whether to allow Ukraine to attack Russia with long-range Western weapons were fresh evidence that the president remains deeply fearful of setting off a dangerous, wider conflict.
But the decision now facing Mr. Biden after Friday’s closed-door meeting at the White House — whether to sign off on the use of long-range missiles made by Britain and France — could be far more consequential than previous concessions by the president that delivered largely defensive weapons to Ukraine during the past two and a half years.
In remarks at the start of his meeting with Mr. Starmer, the president underscored his support for helping Ukraine defend itself but did not say whether he was willing to do more to allow for long-range strikes deep into Russia.
“We’re going to discuss that now,” the president told reporters.
For his part, the prime minister noted that “the next few weeks and months could be crucial — very, very important that we support Ukraine in this vital war of freedom.”
European officials said earlier in the week that Mr. Biden appeared ready to approve the use of British and French long-range missiles, a move that Mr. Starmer and officials in France have said they want to provide a united front in the conflict with Russia. But Mr. Biden has hesitated to allow Ukraine to use arms provided by the United States in the same way over fears that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would see it as a major escalation.
On Thursday, Mr. Putin responded to reports that America and its allies were considering such a move by declaring that it would “mean that NATO countries — the United States and European countries — are at war with Russia,” according to a report by the Kremlin.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Starmer offered little insight on Friday into the actions they planned to take. But officials on both sides of the Atlantic said they did not expect any announcement immediately after the White House meeting. In the past, Western countries have begun providing new military equipment to Ukraine without announcing the decision publicly.
“This wasn’t about a particular decision that we’ll obviously pick up again in UNGA in just a few days’ time with a wider group of individuals,” Mr. Starmer told reporters after the meeting, referring to the annual meeting in New York of the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the month.
But he also hinted that he expected a decision about the missiles to come soon.
“I think if you look at both the Ukrainian situation and the Middle East, it is obvious that in the coming weeks and months there are really important potential developments, whatever timetable is going on in other countries,” he said.
John F. Kirby, the national security spokesman at the White House, said Friday that the Biden administration takes Mr. Putin’s threats seriously because he has proved himself capable of “aggression” and “escalation.” But Mr. Kirby added that there had been no change in Mr. Biden’s opposition to letting Ukraine use U.S. missiles to strike deep inside Russia.
“There is no change to our view on the provision of long-range strike capabilities for Ukraine to use inside Russia, and I wouldn’t expect any sort of major announcement in that regard coming out of the discussions, certainly not from our side,” he said.
Mr. Kirby’s comments came just hours before the two leaders met for their first lengthy conversation since Mr. Starmer became prime minister in early July.
The question of whether to let Ukraine use the long-range weapons that can travel 150 to 200 miles has been a rare point of disagreement between British and American officials, who have largely been in lock step on strategy over the past 30 months of fighting.
British officials have argued that Ukraine cannot be expected to fight effectively unless it can attack the military sites that Russia is using to shoot missiles or the airplanes that deliver “glide bombs.” And they believe that Mr. Putin, for all his nuclear threats warning that war between Russia and European forces could be coming, is largely bluffing. Mr. Putin, they say, has shown he does not want to bring NATO directly into the fighting.
Mr. Biden’s view has been far more cautious.
He has hesitated at every major decision point, starting with shipping HIMARS artillery, then through debates on whether to send M1 Abrams tanks, F-16 fighters, and short- and long-range ATACMS, a missile system critical to American preparations to defend both Europe and the Korean Peninsula.
But those decisions have primarily helped Ukraine’s military defend its territory and try to repel the Russian invasion. Over time, his aides say, they have discovered that Mr. Putin was less sensitive to the introduction of new weapons into the battlefield than they had thought. So they have gradually approved more capable, longer-range arms for Ukraine.
The questions of how Mr. Putin would react to the use of American weapons by Ukraine to strike deep inside Russian territory, officials say, could lead to a very different outcome.
“When he starts brandishing the nuclear sword, for instance, yeah, we take that seriously, and we constantly monitor that kind of activity,” Mr. Kirby said. “We have our own calculus for what we decide to provide to Ukraine and what not.”
The American concerns are twofold. The first has been rooted in Mr. Biden’s concern that the war not escalate; time and again he has told members of his staff that their No. 1 priority was to “avoid World War III.”
The second American concern is a practical one: Pentagon officials do not believe Ukraine has enough of the ATACMS, the British Storm Shadow and the French SCALP missiles to make a strategic difference on the battlefield. The reach of the missiles, they note, is well known — and Russia has already moved its most valuable aircraft beyond the range the missiles can fly.
Moreover, the U.S. officials say, they simply cannot supply many more to Ukraine. The Pentagon has warned that it must keep a healthy reserve of weapons in case of an outbreak of fighting in either Europe or Asia. And the missiles are so expensive that they contend Ukraine could get more firepower putting that money into drones.
So in the American telling of events, the decisions being debated by Mr. Biden and Mr. Starmer are more symbolic than substantive.
Looming over this is the American election.
In the debate against Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday, former President Donald J. Trump declined several opportunities to say he was committed to Ukraine’s victory. Instead, he talked of striking a deal, one that Ukraine may be coerced to sign.
While Ms. Harris is likely to continue the outlines of the American strategy, providing more arms and aid to Ukraine as long as Congress keeps the spigot open, Mr. Trump has made clear he is uninterested in continuing to spend heavily. And while Europe has stepped up, it does not have enough of an arsenal to make much of a difference.
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest political news from Washington, D.C. and updates from the 2024 campaign trail.
Here’s what’s happening…
– Trump and Vance have had 48 interviews combined since last month, only eight for Harris and Walz
– Mexican government buses migrants to US border
– Putin warns that the US, NATO risk war with Russia if long-range strike bans are lifted for Ukraine
‘The suffering is real’
Two Springfield, Ohio pastors spoke to Fox News Digital about the ministry challenges facing their town that has been thrust into the national spotlight after viral videos of residents complaining of disturbing behavior from Haitian refugees who have settled in the area.
“I think the biggest change that we’ve seen happen has just been sort of a breakdown in the trust of the community and some basic civility has also broken down a little bit,” BJ Newman, a pastor in Springfield, Ohio, told Fox News Digital from Springfield’s Snyder Park on Thursday. “I think the reason for that is because there have been so many changes so quickly… In the 2020 census, there was about 50,000, a little north of that, residents here, now we have, numbers I have been reading, between 15,000 and 20,000 additional immigrants have arrived.”
“I think there’s a larger narrative… that says the only compassionate response in a situation like this is you accept all of these immigrants and shut up. Any sense of raising our hand and saying ‘wait a second, we weren’t considered, we’re suffering her too.’ And the response is something like… you’re racist or you’re a bigot, why are you so anti-immigrant,” Newman said.
Pastors speak out on the situation concerning migrants in Springfield, OH. (Fox News)
“There’s tension in the community, much like the ways that tension has arisen in the past when there have been new members to move into an established area,” the Rev. Adam Banks of First Baptist Church told Fox News Digital, adding that his experience with migrants has been generally positive.
“They have joined right in helping with the sound system, sharing special music, sharing their lovely voices, reading scripture, providing leadership in various capacities in the congregation,” Banks said, adding that he will continue to “welcome” people who “want to celebrate the gift that each person brings and magnify God.” …Read more
Capitol Hill
BLOCKED: House GOP rolling out bill to block China, American adversaries from accessing US ports …Read more
‘RESPECT OUR WARRIORS’: House GOP veteran proposes key benefit to aid deployed service members …Read more
SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN: Johnson faces major leadership test as GOP wars over government shutdown …Read more
Tales from the Trail
34 TO 1: Trump-Vance ticket has done combined 48 interviews since last month compared to only eight for Harris-Walz …Read more
CASH DASH: Harris brings in big bucks in 24 hours after debate with Trump …Read more
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump shake hands during their debate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024. (Getty Images)
‘ONLY OPTION’: Trump adviser Alina Habba hits campaign trail to attract Arab American support in swing state Michigan …Read more
Across America
COMMUNITY ‘UPENDED’: ‘It’ll upend the community’: PA town roiled by talk of migrant housing in Civil War-era orphanage building …Read more
NO ME GUSTA: Half of Latinos haven’t heard of ‘Latinx’ term, overwhelming majority don’t like it: poll …Read more
DEFIANT FANI: Fani Willis likely to defy Georgia state Senate subpoena ahead of Friday hearing, chairman says …Read more
TOUGH ON CRIME?: Gov. Newsom signs bill to resume harsh penalties for smash-and-grab robberies in California …Read more
Video of a shocking smash and grab robbery shows the moment a Sunnyvale jewelry store is overwhelmed by suspects armed with tools and hammers. (KTVU)
LIKE ‘ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK’: Springfield resident says roads are like ‘Escape from New York’ after Haitian migrants overrun rural town …Read more
Around the World
‘GRAY’ AREA: Lawmakers crack down on CCP influence in US government tech, warn of potential ‘devastating’ cyber attack …Read more
BORDER BATTLE: Mexican government buses migrants to US border as illegal immigration becomes top issue …Read more
A glide bomb is seen under the wing of a Su-34 bomber of the Russian air force during a combat mission in Ukraine. Ukraine is imploring the West to allow it to use ATACMS to strike inside Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
BAD WORDS: New online ‘misinformation’ bill slammed as ‘biggest attack’ on freedoms in Australia …Read more
PUTIN’S RED LINE: Putin warns US, NATO risk war with Russia if long-range strike bans lifted for Ukraine …Read more
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