MMR November 1 2023 - Sustainability

LONDON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied in cities in Europe, the Middle East and Asia on Saturday to show support for the Palestinians as Israel's military widened its air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip.

In one of the biggest marches, in London, aerial footage showed large crowds marching through the centre of the capital to demand the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak call for a ceasefire.

Former President Trump wrote a social media post Wednesday railing against the judge overseeing his New York civil fraud case and told him to leave his children alone.



He also argued that there is enough evidence for the case to be thrown out.



“This Rigged Trial, brought by the Racist New York State A.G. Letitia James before Trump and developer Hating Judge, Arthur Engoron, which should have never been brought in that the so-called STAR WITNESS, SleazeBag Lawyer (for many people) Michael Cohen, admitted last week on the stand that he LIED,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, referencing his former personal lawyer.



“Therefore, on that fact alone, this Fake Case should be dismissed,” he added.



The former president claimed in his post that the financial statements from his businesses were actually lower than the true value — contrary to some of the testimony presented in the trial. He also reiterated the defense’s argument that there was a “disclaimer clause” on the statements and that banks were paid in full.

Polling from national Republicans shows Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego leading in Arizona’s U.S. Senate race over potential GOP nominee Kari Lake, with incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema far behind both.



During the Tuesday presentation to fellow Republicans, Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said Sinema, I-Ariz., is pulling votes from the GOP, not from Democrats, according to Punchbowl News, which first reported the discussion.



During the meeting, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Lake is going to win the party’s nomination and urged them to get behind Lake’s campaign, Punchbowl reported.



A Sinema spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson for Lake’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Durant is currently running for state Senate, and the outcome of her race is pivotal for Virginia Republicans. If she wins, the GOP will control the full trifecta of the state government, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) will have the votes to push through a 15-week abortion ban that’s been stymied by the current Democrat-led Senate. Durant opposes abortion rights.



Throughout her campaign, Durant has told the story of her entry into politics.



“I got into public service two years ago because the personal safety of my daughter and me were threatened,” she said in a September debate. “Two years later, liberal Democrats in Virginia, they continue to threaten our security. The only way we can stop them from controlling us is if we not only hold to our majority in the House, but we flip the Senate. That’s why I’m running for Senate.”



“I got in politics a few years ago, because, as many of you know my story, that the personal safety of my daughter and me were threatened,” she said at another September event with Youngkin. “That has been a key issue in my campaign, because we saw what became the ‘defund the police’ movement.”



But newly obtained documents relating to Durant’s 911 call, in addition to an interview with a protester who was present during Durant’s supposed assault, tell a different story of what happened that day ― one that suggests Durant has been significantly exaggerating.



HuffPost reviewed copies of police reports, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, that suggest Durant instigated a confrontation with protesters, who regularly held peaceful demonstrations in the area, and that she tried to hit them with her car as they stood in a crosswalk.



According to the police reports ― which characterize the protest as peaceful, with “no arrests or property damage” ― witnesses told police there was a car being aggressive toward protesters in the same intersection where Durant was located, at the same time she was there.

OP Sen. Tommy Tuberville said he thinks Republicans should withhold any funding for Israel until "something" is done by Congress to address the US-Mexico border.



Appearing on Fox News on Tuesday, Tuberville spoke with host Laura Ingraham about his disdain over the Biden Administration's request to Congress to send $61 billion to Ukraine and $14.3 billion to Israel as migrants continue to cross the border.



"We've got to do something at the border," Tuberville said. "That's what we should do as Republicans, stand up and say, 'Listen, we are all for Israel. What a travesty that was. But unless they do something for the American people at the border in trouble down there, if we don't do something, you don't get anything.'"

“Most people believe that abortion at the moment of birth is wrong, far beyond any reasonable limit. Not Virginia Democrats,” a female narrator says, just before the sound of a baby cooing and crying. “They fought to make late-term abortions the rule, not the exception.”


At the end of the ad, the heartbeat flatlines.



The digital ad, released in the last few weeks by the Virginia Republican party, is part of a six-figure effort to win over voters ahead of Virginia’s state legislative elections on 7 November. It aims to portray Democrats as abortion extremists and Republicans as champions of a reasonable compromise on a notoriously controversial issue. And it’s a new, risky Republican strategy – led by Virginia’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin – to recast abortion as a winning issue, after the supreme court’s overturning of Roe v Wade last year led the GOP to underperform in the 2022 midterms.



If this strategy works in Virginia, it won’t stay there. The Virginia Republican party is hoping to retake control of the state senate after winning both the house of delegates and the governor’s mansion in 2021. If they succeed, Republicans across the country will likely push the 15-week ban in their own 2024 races.



“Both parties will claim, if they win, that, as goes Virginia, so goes the rest of the country. But what you really get, I think, is the testing of the messaging in Virginia,” said Stephen Farnsworth, director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies at University of Mary Washington in Virginia. “It’s clear that Republicans have struggled to talk about abortion since the supreme court decision, and this will be the latest test of Republican anti-abortion messaging.”

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and his political team are devoting significant resources to gaining Republican control of the General Assembly this fall, hoping to enact a conservative agenda that would include passing new abortion legislation, according to several sources familiar with the governor’s plans.



Virginia is the last state in the South without significant restrictions on abortion rights, and advocates see it as the next big battleground on the issue.



Passing a ban on abortion after 15 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest and saving the life of the mother, would be a legislative priority for Youngkin if his party succeeds in the November legislative elections, the sources familiar with his plans said. The governor and his campaign team believe that 15 weeks is a “consensus” limit — one that many Virginians across political ideologies can agree upon. And they’re betting the measure is modest enough to avoid spikes in Democratic turnout more stringent bans have triggered in other states.