On what would have been the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, President Biden will issue a Presidential Memorandum on Further Efforts to Protect Access to Reproductive Healthcare Services. Vice President Harris will announce the Presidential Memorandum in Florida later today, where she will speak about the next steps in the fight for reproductive rights and reinforce the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to protecting access to abortion, including medication abortion.

Since the day of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, President Biden has emphasized the need to protect access to mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortion that has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for over 20 years and accounts for the majority of all abortions in the United States.

Earlier this month, the FDA took evidence-based action to support safe access to mifepristone by allowing the continued use of telehealth to prescribe the medication and creating a new option for certified pharmacies to dispense it to patients.

Some state officials have taken steps to try to prevent women from legally accessing medication abortion and to discourage pharmacies from becoming certified by the FDA.
Today, President Biden will sign a Presidential Memorandum to further protect access to medication abortion.

In the face of barriers to medication abortion and concerns about the safety of patients, healthcare providers, and pharmacists, today’s Presidential Memorandum announces actions to:

Protect Legal Access to Medication Abortion. The Presidential Memorandum directs the 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.

Safeguard Patient Safety and Security. To ensure that patients understand their right to access reproductive healthcare despite roadblocks, the Presidential Memorandum directs the Secretary of HHS, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of DHS, to consider new actions to ensure that patients can access legal reproductive care, including medication abortion from a pharmacy, free from threats or violence. The President has long made clear that people should have access to reproductive care free from harassment, threats, or violence. Pharmacies should be treated no differently.

The Attorney General and the Secretaries of HHS and DHS will also provide recommendations to the White House Interagency Task Force on Reproductive Healthcare Access, which was established by President Biden in Executive Order 14076, on additional ways to address barriers faced by patients, providers, and pharmacies in safely and legally accessing or providing medication abortion, consistent with evidence-based requirements set by the FDA.

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Statement from President Biden on the Shooting in Half Moon Bay, California
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Jill and I are praying for those killed and injured in the latest tragic shooting in Half Moon Bay, California. For the second time in recent days, California communities are mourning the loss of loved ones in a senseless act of gun violence.

Following a briefing from my homeland security team, I have directed my administration to ensure local authorities and the broader Half Moon Bay community have the full support of the federal government in the wake of this heinous attack.

Yesterday, Senator Feinstein — alongside Senators Murphy, Blumenthal and others — reintroduced a federal Assault Weapons Ban and legislation that would raise the minimum purchase age for assault weapons to 21. Even as we await further details on these shootings, we know the scourge of gun violence across America requires stronger action. I once again urge both chambers of Congress to act quickly and deliver this Assault Weapons Ban to my desk, and take action to keep American communities, schools, workplaces, and homes safe.

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“We’re getting more tips,” Amy Herdy announced Friday night after the Sundance Film Festival premiere of “Justice,” a documentary she produced about the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

The film’s existence was a surprise, with the festival only revealing on Thursday, its opening night, that it was making a very last-minute addition to the lineup: the first documentary from “Swingers” and “The Bourne Identity” director Doug Liman. Within half an hour of the news getting out, Liman said in the post-screening Q&A, the film team started hearing from people who had sent the FBI tips before Kavanaugh’s confirmation, which the agency did not further investigate.

Suddenly, what was finished began anew. The tips were compelling enough for the team to start investigating and filming again with plans to add footage to the completed film, Liman said. In a wild and rare move, the finished documentary had converted back to a work in progress......

If there’s a smoking gun in Liman’s film, it’s a voice message left on the FBI tip line from Max Stier, the president and CEO of the Partnership for Public Service, who attended Yale with Kavanagh and Ramirez.

In the previously unheard recording, Stier says classmates told him not just that Kavanaugh stuck his penis in Ramirez’s face, but that afterward, Kavanaugh went to the bathroom to make himself erect before allegedly returning to assault her again, hoping to amuse an audience of mutual friends. In the film, Ramirez says she’d suppressed the memory so deeply she couldn’t recall this second incident, even when Farrow explicitly asked her about it.

Stier’s message to the FBI also cites another incident involving a different woman, which he says he witnessed “firsthand”: A severely inebriated Kavanaugh, his dorm mate, pulling his pants down at a different party while a group of soccer players forced a drunk female freshman to hold his penis.

Statement from President Joe Biden on the 50th Anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Decision
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Today, instead of commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, we are acknowledging that last year, the Supreme Court took away a constitutional right from the American people.

Since the Supreme Court’s decision, Americans, time and time again, have made their voices heard: women should be able to make these deeply personal decisions free from political interference. Yet, Republicans in Congress and across the country continue to push for a national abortion ban, to criminalize doctors and nurses, and to make contraception harder to access. It’s dangerous, extreme, and out of touch.

I’ll continue to fight to protect a woman’s right to choose. Congress must restore the protections of Roe v. Wade in federal law – it’s the only way we can fully secure a woman’s right to choose in every state.

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Regarding multiple discoveries of improperly stored classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president, President Biden’s lawyers assert that they “quickly turned all the classified documents over to authorities and have cooperated fully with the appropriate government agencies.” As has already been noted, that level of cooperation distinguishes the Biden documents matter from the reportedly obstruction-laden fiasco involving hundreds of sensitive documents at former President Donald Trump’s properties. If Biden wants to make an even stronger contrast between himself and Trump, there’s yet another step to take: Consent to a search of his properties.

Special Counsel Robert Hur, who last week was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to lead an investigation into the mishandling of classified documents by Biden, first needs to determine the scope of what he’s dealing with. That is, how many documents — and of what level of sensitivity — are in places they shouldn’t be? That question isn’t just necessary to determine whether someone committed a crime, but it’s also crucial for the intelligence community’s task of performing a damage assessment. That’s why it’s time for Hur to ask for consent to search Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, home. In fact, Biden should make the offer even if Hur doesn’t first ask.

Hur and his assigned FBI agents should also seek consent to search the office and related storage space Biden used at the Penn Biden Center in Washington. That request could be trickier because it likely involves a landlord-tenant question of who could authorize the search, but it’s not insurmountable. Lastly, the special counsel should also request — and Biden should consent to — a search of any other properties or storage spaces, including his home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, even though there are no reports of documents at other locations......

The smart path for both the special counsel and Biden is clear. For the sake of transparency, national security, prosecutive determinations, institutional credibility and politics, a consent search is the way to go. All we need is a special counsel who will ask and a president who will answer, “Yes.”

‘The damage is immeasurable’: Woman breaks into Jewish temple, desecrates sanctuary and Torah, then returns to scare children, prosecutors say

Harris County prosecutors say a woman broke in and desecrated it last Saturday, leaving behind several thousand dollars in damage.

Instead of showing up to court for her hearing Friday, they say she came back to the temple and did even more harm.

”The damage is immeasurable,” said Assistant Harris County District Attorney, Erica Winsor.

Last Saturday, Winsor says a rabbi getting ready to officiate a Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Emanu El walked into an unholy surprise.

”He found an individual on the pulpit,” Winsor says.

That individual was identified as Ezra Law, and Winsor says she wasn’t there to pray.

”There were several religious items that had been removed from their place. Some were damaged, there was red wine that had been consumed and also spilled,” she said

The allegations get even more sacrilegious.

”Most importantly, there was a Torah scroll that was removed from the Holy Arc and spread out on the floor. And there was red wine that was spilled on that scroll,” she said......

KPRC 2 told that Law’s mental state will be evaluated once she’s booked into the jail, but for now, she’s being charged with felony criminal mischief inside a place of worship.

Officials now working to determine whether her actions classify as a hate crime.