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Republican AG candidate argues abortion is always murder: report
September 30, 2022
Despite his low standing in a recent public opinion survey, Michael Peroutka, the Republican nominee for attorney general, signaled on Friday that he does not intend to modify his views in order to boost his chances of winning in November.
During an appearance on WAMU Radio (88.5 FM), Peroutka stuck to the hardline views that earned him the Constitution Party’s presidential nomination in 2004. He also pledged to take legal action against Gov. Larry Hogan (R) and local health officers for actions they took to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Although he is running to be the state’s top lawyer, the Anne Arundel Republican, who served for four years on the county council, again pledged to prioritize what he called “God-given, constitutionally-protected rights” over state and federal laws.
During the wide-ranging interview:
- Peroutka declared that all abortion is murder. “I believe abortion to be against the law of God,” he said. “And I believe it to be violative of the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence.” Asked by host Kojo Nnamdi whether he would defend Maryland’s existing laws, which protect abortion access, Peroutka replied: “You call it a law, but in fact, if something is repugnant to the Constitution, then it’s not a law.” He suggested that no law can recognize exceptions due to rape or incest without violating the Constitution. “Abortion would be treated like murder, which it is. There’s no exception to the intentional termination of innocent life.”
- Peroutka offered a similar stance on same-sex marriage, which was approved by statewide referendum and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. “You’re calling it legal. On what basis do you call it legal?” He then added: “The question is whether the court is above the Constitution…”
- Asked whether he still believes his prior claim that public schools are “a plan in the Communist Manifesto,” Peroutka said a “constitutional and moral” approach to education would be to have parents “set the agenda and the curriculum for the children, not the state or the federal government.” He called for the “dis-establishment” of the existing system.
“All education, to one degree or another, is indoctrination,” he said. “The washing of children’s brains — I’m not necessarily saying brainwashing is bad, because every education system brainwashes in some sense — but I believe that those decisions need to be made by local people.”
Like the Republican nominee for governor, Del. Dan Cox (Frederick), Peroutka is a staunch opponent of the restrictions on commerce and social interaction that were imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19. Both men also fought mask and vaccine mandates the state imposed.
If elected, Peroutka said on the radio, he would make sure the people responsible for those policies are “brought to justice.” Asked by Maryland Matters Friday if he was referring to Hogan and local health officers, Peroutka said yes. “The violations of constitutionally protected rights of assembly, worship, speech, and privacy are deserving of investigation and prosecution,” he wrote in response.
Hogan, who won broad praise for his handling of the pandemic, has slammed Peroutka for spreading “disgusting lies” about the Sept. 11 attacks. The popular, term-limited governor has not endorsed Cox or Peroutka. Michael Ricci, a spokesman for Hogan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Peroutka also applauded Cox for seeking to block the counting of mail-in ballots as they come in. Cox sought a court order to delay the counting of mail ballots until after Election Day, citing state law. While the Court of Special Appeals has denied Cox’s request seeking a stay to prevent early ballot-counting, the court will hear oral arguments on Cox’s motion next Friday.
Peroutka said that when courts get involved in election matters, they are usurping power that the state constitution gives to the General Assembly. “It would kind of lead to anarchy,” he said. “It’s really the legislative branch’s job to set those rules, and they shouldn’t be overturned by a judge in my view.”
He skipped lightly over his decision to resign from the League of the South, an organization that advocates for a white-dominated, independent South, referring listeners to his website, where he said he laid out his decision to resign from the group.
When asked if he accepts President Biden’s victory in 2020, Peroutka said: “I don’t know.” He claimed that there is a “body of argument” suggesting that “there was serious anomalies and problems and corruption with the election” and another “body of argument” rejecting those claims. He said he would accept the results of November’s election if they “appear to be lawful and legal.”
Peroutka is running against U.S. Rep. Anthony Brown (D). The congressman is scheduled to appear on WAMU on Oct. 14. Peroutka and Brown are scheduled to have back-to-back conversations with representatives of the Maryland League of Women Voters that will be available online on Oct. 12. Maryland Matters is a co-sponsor of that event.
The Maryland Democratic Party issued a statement on Friday shortly after Peroutka’s comments. “There’s no place for his rhetoric here in Maryland,” the statement said. “He’s racist, he’s sexist, and he’s dangerous.”
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Hurricane Ian fuels calls for Biden to declare a climate emergency
September 30, 2022
With Puerto Rico and Florida still reeling from a pair of hurricanes—one of which made landfall again Friday as a Category 1 storm in South Carolina—activists across the United States have renewed calls for President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency.
"Is it time to declare a climate emergency yet?" NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus—among the outspoken experts demanding more action from the U.S. government—tweeted Thursday.
As Jean Su at the Center for Biological Diversity explained earlier this year, "Declaring a climate emergency isn't a catchphrase, it's a vital suite of actions to protect people and the planet from this crisis."
Su co-authored a February report for her group detailing some of the steps Biden could take to speed up the transition away from planet-wrecking fossil fuels if he issued an emergency declaration.
Campaigners have since ramped up pressure on the president, including with an Indigenous-led blockade outside the U.S. Department of Interior as well as delivering a 16-foot inflatable globe and nearly half a million petition signatures to the White House in August.
Progressive organizer Kai Newkirk on Thursday shared photos of the damage that Hurricane Ian caused in Florida and said: "President Biden, declare a climate emergency. If not now, when?"
This is what historic Hurricane Ian did to south Florida.
This is just the beginning of the destruction climate change-driven superstorms will wreak without a historic mobilization to confront the climate crisis.
President Biden, declare a climate emergency.
If not now, when? pic.twitter.com/Cv3RRdjDIU
— Kai Newkirk (@kai_newkirk) September 29, 2022
Highlighting that the climate crisis disproportionately affects people of color and low-income communities, CPD Action stressed in a series of Ian-related tweets that "this disaster only illustrates the urgency for decisive change for our climate and our economic survival."
"There's no time to waste," the group added, urging Biden "to declare a climate emergency so he can use the powers of the executive branch to address this life-threatening crisis."
The youth-led Sunrise Movement on Friday also called for declaring "a full, national climate emergency."
\u201cFirst Puerto Rico, then Florida, now South Carolina. It's clear: @POTUS must declare a full, national climate emergency.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1664554584
As Ian barreled toward Florida's west coast this week, National Wildlife Federation executive vice president Mustafa Santiago Ali wrote for The Guardian that "the climate crisis is here and levying steep costs on communities. Black, Indigenous, and other frontline communities, including those in my home state of West Virginia, are experiencing these impacts—measured in lives lost, homes destroyed, and livelihoods upended—first and worst."
Along with noting Ian's path, Ali pointed to Hurricane Fiona's recent impacts on Puerto Rico—on top of still dealing with the fallout from Irma and Maria in 2017—and "the remnants of Typhoon Merbok, which destroyed homes and inundated western Alaska with historic levels of water" earlier this month.
"We need to help these communities and others rebuild stronger and more resilient to climate-fueled storms," he wrote, calling on policymakers in Washington, D.C. to build on the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the bipartisan infrastructure law to cut planet-heating emissions.
\u201c"Mother Nature is not waiting for the president or Congress to declare a climate emergency."\n\nRead this excellent and important piece by DCEFF Board Member @EJinAction! https://t.co/e6de9awnsR\u201d— DC Environmental Film Fest (@DC Environmental Film Fest) 1664461042
"President Biden should step into the breach and declare a climate emergency," Ali asserted. "Mother Nature is not waiting for the president or Congress to declare a climate emergency. She's showing us in real-time here in the United States—with wildfires, floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, and drought."
Ali detailed the climate crisis-fighting powers Biden could unlock with an emergency declaration, which he argued would also "set the tone heading into the COP27 gathering in Egypt," the United Nations climate summit planned for November.
"My grandmother used to say if you know better, do better," he concluded. The president gets it when it comes to the threat climate change poses to Black people and other frontline communities. He now needs to show Congress, the states, and the world what doing better looks like in practice. Our lives depend on it."
Ali echoed his demand in a Friday tweet that featured video footage of Ian's destruction.
\u201cToday\u2019s a good day for @POTUS to announce we have a #ClimateEmergency! Unchecked climate change will be a major impediment to economic growth during the next 50 years, costing an estimated $178 trillion & millions of lives.\n#ClimateAction today #HurricaneIan #EnvironmentalJustice\u201d— Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali (@Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali) 1664544187
University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann and Susan Joy Hassol, director of the nonprofit Climate Communication, wrote about the recent storms in The Guardian on Friday.
"Fiona hit Puerto Rico as a powerful Category 4 storm, and hundreds of thousands of people there are still without power," they noted. "The storm barreled on into the open Atlantic, eventually making landfall in the maritime provinces to become Canada's strongest ever storm. Then came Ian, which feasted on a deep layer of very warm water in the Gulf of Mexico."
Pointing out that "Ian made landfall as one of the five most powerful hurricanes in recorded history to strike the U.S.," the experts emphasized that this storm is not "an anomaly or fluke," but rather "part of a larger pattern of stronger hurricanes, typhoons, and superstorms that have emerged as the oceans continue to set record levels of warmth."
\u201cUpdate: Surface observations indicate that the center of #Hurricane #Ian made landfall on Sep 30 at 205 pm EDT (1805 UTC) near Georgetown, South Carolina with maximum sustained winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) and an \nestimated minimum central pressure of 977 mb (28.85 inches).\u201d— National Hurricane Center (@National Hurricane Center) 1664561938
"Many of the storms of the past five years—Harvey, Maria, Florence, Michael, Ida, and Ian—aren't natural disasters so much as human-made disasters, whose amplified ferocity is fueled by the continued burning of fossil fuels and the increase in heat-trapping carbon pollution, a planet-warming 'greenhouse gas,'' they added.
Mann and Hassol argued that while taking "steps to increase resilience and adapt to the changes that are inevitable" is important, "only mitigation—the dramatic reduction of heat-trapping pollution—can prevent things from getting worse."
\u201c"There is no amount of adaptation or resilience that will allow us to deal with the worsening impacts, if we let this problem get worse," explained PWH Faculty Fellow @MichaelEMann on @MSNBC with @SRuhle about the impact of climate change on hurricanes. https://t.co/kfda7rWRXi\u201d— Perry World House (@Perry World House) 1664568420
"We've seen some progress on that front recently, both in the U.S. and globally," they continued, specifically mentioning the IRA while also warning that more must be done—a message they delivered just over a month before the November midterm election.
"We need more aggressive climate action to pass Congress. And that means we need politicians who are willing to support that action, rather than act as apologists for powerful fossil fuel interests," they wrote. "That's something for all Americans to think about as they go to the voting booths in a matter of weeks."
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HBO's Bill Maher discusses Joe Biden replacing Kamala Harris on 2024 ticket
September 30, 2022
The panel on HBO's Real Time on Friday discussed the possibility that President Joe Biden might replace Vice President Kamala Harris on Democrats' 2024 ticket.
Host Bill Maher was joined by conservative writer Caitlin Flanagan and liberal podcaster Van Jones. Despite polls showing Democratic Party voters would like to see a nominee other than Biden, the panel thought it very unlikely that he would not run for re-election.
"What I could see is replacing the vice president," Maher said.
"She's just not very popular, anywhere," Maher said. "And it didn't seem to work out."
"I don't know, that's been done before on a ticket," he noted.
Later in the segment, Maher said, "I just think she's a bad politician."
"But I could see them doing that, because a lot of the problem with Biden being old is, oh, if he dies, then, you know, you're going to get this person," Maher said.
\u201cBill Maher explains why he thinks @JoeBiden may replace @KamalaHarris on Democrats' 2024 ticket.\n\n"She's just not very popular, anywhere," Maher said. "I just think she's a bad politician."\u201d— Bob Brigham (@Bob Brigham) 1664593137
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