memeorandum: Minority Rule Is Threatening American Democracy Like Never Before (Ari Berman/Mother Jones)

11:40 AM ET, April 10, 2024

Top Items:

Arizona Republicans denounce revived 1864 abortion ban in sudden reversal — As the party struggles to talk about abortion, response marks fastest and strongest rebuke of bans since the fall of Roe — Hours after Arizona's supreme court declared on Tuesday that a 160-year-old abortion ban …

Discussion: New York Times, Esquire, Axios, Copper Courier, Breitbart, HuffPost, Talking Points Memo, Al Jazeera, Mediaite, One America News Network, Associated Press, The Hill, Rolling Stone and CBS News

Brenna Gauchat / Arizona Republic:

Arizona lawmaker leads prayer circle on state seal at Capitol building, sparking backlash — Arizona Sen. Anthony Kern invited a prayer group to the Senate floor on Monday. — Seen in a video filmed by an anonymous attendee, Kern led the group, who spoke in tongues, through a prayer as they knelt over the state seal.

Discussion: HuffPost and Copper Courier

Washington Post:

‘Catastrophic,’ ‘a shock’: Arizona's abortion ruling threatens to upend 2024 races — State Supreme Court rules a near-total ban from 1864 can go into effect in a battleground state that could play an outsize role in the presidential election and help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate next year

Discussion: Raw Story, New York Times, Digby's Hullabaloo, Washington Examiner, KTAR.com, Cronkite News, Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, Associated Press, The Hill and The Daily Beast

Joyce Vance / Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance:

Welcome to 1864 — When the Supreme Court decided Dobbs, it opened up Pandora's Box, undoing fifty years of protection for abortion rights under Roe v. Wade. In the wake of that decision, states pulled lots of horribles out of the box and used them to prevent women from making their own choices about reproductive health care.

Discussion: USA Today, NBC News, The Hill, New York Times and CBS News

Andrew Solender / Axios:
Republicans rush to distance from “disaster” Arizona abortion ruling

Politico:
Trump's abortion stance could put Florida Republicans in a bind

Discussion: Resolute Square, Washington Post, Talking Points Memo and Florida Politics

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
The Arizona Supreme Court just upended Trump's gambit on abortion

Discussion: MeidasTouch, Al Jazeera, The Hill, New York Times, Arizona Republic, CNN, NBC News and Axios

Chris Geidner / Law Dork:
A Civil War-era abortion ban will soon control lives in Arizona — for now

Discussion: Axios, CBS News, New York Times, Metro.co.uk, Arizona Mirror, Law & Crime, Raw Story, The Japan Times and Washington Examiner

Eliza Collins / Wall Street Journal:
Why Arizona Will Be Ground Zero for the 2024 Abortion Fight

Discussion: Fox News

New York Times:
Arizona Supreme Court Upholds Near-Total Abortion Ban Enacted in 1864

Ray Stern / Arizona Republic:
Abortion in Arizona set to be illegal in nearly all circumstances, state high court rules

Michael R. Sisak / Associated Press:

Former Trump executive Allen Weisselberg sentenced to 5 months in jail for lying in civil fraud case — Allen Weisselberg, a retired executive in Donald Trump's real estate empire, was sentenced on Wednesday to five months in jail for lying under oath during his testimony in the civil fraud lawsuit brought …

Discussion: Washington Post, New York Times, Fox News, USA Today, Washington Examiner, MeidasTouch, Business Insider, Axios, CNBC, HuffPost, The Daily Beast, Reuters, Forbes, The Guardian, Raw Story, New York Daily News, Associated Press and Crooks and Liars

NBC News:

Ex-Trump CFO Allen Weisselberg to be sentenced for perjury in Trump civil fraud trial — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is recommending a five-month jail sentence for Weisselberg after he pleaded guilty to two counts of perjury in former President Donald Trump's civil fraud trial.

Discussion: The Hill, CBS News, UPI, Rolling Stone, Daily Caller News Foundation, New York Post, Mediaite and Raw Story

Heather Digby Parton / Salon:

Donald Trump's first criminal trial is nearly here — and he's already starting to melt down — Trump is very worried about his election interference case for good reason — There's been some talk lately about Donald Trump's light campaign schedule compared to President Joe Biden …

Discussion: Washington Post, Popular Information, Los Angeles Times, The Federalist and New York Times

Axios:

RFK Jr. sounds like Trump as he courts MAGA voters … - Kennedy is now drawing fire from Trump and other conservatives who once hailed Kennedy's campaign. … - “This is a humanitarian crisis because of the understanding across the globe that we now have an open border here,” …

Discussion: The Bulwark and New Jersey Online

New York Times:
Trump Allies Have a Plan to Hurt Biden's Chances: Elevate Outsider Candidates

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Robert Reich, Raw Story and Salon

Andrew Kaczynski / CNN:
RFK Jr. campaign official attended Jan. 6 ‘Stop the Steal’ rally and wanted ‘favorite President’ Trump to run for third term

Discussion: Balloon Juice, Mediaite, USA Today and New York Post

Lauren Irwin / The Hill:

Zelensky ups pressure on Trump to visit war-torn Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging former President Trump to come and visit war-torn Ukraine, amid reports that he would pressure Ukraine to cede land to Russia if he return to the White House.

Discussion: Politico, The Kyiv Independent, New York Post and Business Insider

Sarah Fortinsky / The Hill:
Zelensky says he doesn't need ‘primitive’ ideas from Trump on Ukraine

Discussion: Interfax-Ukraine

Axios:

Scoop: Biden plans order to limit southern border crossings by end of month … But Biden, briefed on polls of rising voter anger, wants a dramatic step. … - Biden would use authority in Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which gives the president broad leeway …

Discussion: Fox News, RedState, BizPac Review, Bloomberg and HuffPost

KABE-LP:
Biden on Univision: the president talks about immigration, Mexico, Israel and the risks to democracy

Discussion: The Hill, Breitbart, The Daily Caller, Forbes, UPI, New York Times, Bloomberg, Deadline, Newsbusters, Informed Comment, Power Line, NBC News and CBS News

Davidrlurie / Public Notice:

Trump's deeply misogynist lie about moms killing babies — It reveals a fear of women's empowerment he shares with the Christian right. … On Monday, Donald Trump released a video announcing his much heralded abortion “policy.” The statement was typically garbled, deliberately vague, and chock full of absurd assertions.

Discussion: New Republic and New York Daily News

Politico:

Siding with special counsel, Cannon agrees to keep witness identities secret — Despite sharp words for prosecutors, the Trump-appointed judge in the classified documents case said they presented evidence to justify the sealing. — The judge handling the classified documents case …

Discussion: The Hill, Associated Press, Raw Story, New York Times and Reuters

Devlin Barrett / Washington Post:
After months, Judge Cannon agrees to shield Trump witness names

Discussion: Fox News, CNN, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, Washington Examiner and Raw Story

Politico:

Tied California House race heading to a recount — A spokesperson for one of the tied candidates blasted the recount request as “a page right out of Trump's political playbook.” — SACRAMENTO, California — Officials in Santa Clara County are gearing up for a recount in the wild race …

Discussion: Daily Caller News Foundation and Record Searchlight

Joby Warrick / Washington Post:

Nuclear deal in tatters, Iran edges close to weapons capability — Six years after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear accord, Tehran is rapidly accumulating enriched uranium, some of it very close to weapons grade. Experts fear that a bomb could be a short dash away.

Discussion: The Sun

Hyung-Jin Kim / Associated Press:

Exit polls suggest a big win by South Korea's liberal opposition parties in parliamentary election — (AP Video/Yong Jun Chang and Yong-ho Kim) — South Koreans prepare to vote for new 300-member parliament, AP explains — South Korea's liberal opposition parties were expected to win …

Discussion: The Diplomat, UPI, Voice of America, Bloomberg, Al Jazeera, New York Times, The Guardian, Reuters and The Japan Times

Naomi Nix / Washington Post:

Hundreds of groups urge Big Tech CEOs to step up fight against AI-fueled lies — Happy Tuesday! I am pinch-hitting for my colleagues Cristiano and Will today. Send your worst AI deepfakes to naomi.nix@washpost.com. — More than 200 civil advocacy groups are calling on Big Tech to bolster …

Discussion: The Hill

Edward Luce / Financial Times:

America's moment of truth on Ukraine — Republicans have a stark choice: help Zelenskyy or pay fealty to Trump — The last time David Cameron, Britain's foreign secretary, urged Capitol Hill to pass Ukraine aid, he was told to “kiss my ass” by Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the most vocal pro-Russia Republicans.

Discussion: HuffPost, The Hill, New Jersey Online, Raw Story, The Daily Beast, BizPac Review, Breitbart, New York Magazine, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and ABC News

Ari Berman / Mother Jones:

Minority Rule Is Threatening American Democracy Like Never Before — The Founding Fathers planted a bomb in the Constitution. Donald Trump lit the fuse. — This story is adapted from Ari Berman's new book, Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People—and the Fight to Resist It, which will be published April 23.

Discussion: CNN

Judy Kurtz / The Hill:

Paul Simon tapped to perform and menu released for Japanese state dinner — Guests at the state dinner for Japan at the White House will dine on house-cured salmon and pistachio cake with matcha ganache, and are set to get some A-list entertainment with a performance by Paul Simon.

Discussion: KTAR.com, New York Times, Reuters, Associated Press and Washington Examiner

Gabriel Schoenfeld / The Bulwark:

Trump's ‘Virtues’ and Other Fairy Tales — FOLLOW THE MONEY. That phrase—a legendary Hollywood screenwriter's addition to the Watergate lore—turns out in fact to be excellent advice for an investigation. And if one is investigating how the Claremont Institute, the California-based think tank …

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit

The White House:

Statement from President Joe Biden on the March Consumer Price Index — Today's report shows inflation has fallen more than 60% from its peak, but we have more to do to lower costs for hardworking families. Prices are still too high for housing and groceries, even as prices for key household items …

Discussion: Quartz and Daily Caller News Foundation

Amrita Khalid / The Verge:

Consumers will finally see FCC-mandated ‘nutrition labels’ for most broadband plans … Starting on Wednesday, all but the smallest ISPs will be required to publish broadband “nutrition labels” on all of their plans, the regulator announced. The FCC's intention behind the labels …

Discussion: Washington Examiner, Fox News, Cardinal News, CBS News, The Hill, CR Advocacy and Roll Call, more at Techmeme »

Michael Phillis / Associated Press:

Biden administration imposes first-ever national drinking water limits on toxic PFAS — The Biden administration on Wednesday finalized strict limits on certain so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water that will require utilities to reduce them to the lowest level they can be reliably measured.

Discussion: The Daily Beast, CBS News, Water & Health …, NPR, Bloomberg, New York Times, Politico, UPI, The White House, CR Advocacy, WHTM-TV, ABC News, Los Angeles Times, Grist, Raw Story, US EPA, The Colorado Sun and The Verge

Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

PG A.M.: Shuttered GOP outreach center now home to shop selling sex toys — Your daily jolt of news and analysis from the AJC politics team — When national Republicans opened a new Asian American outreach center in the Gwinnett County suburbs in 2021, an enormous crowd of local dignitaries …

Discussion: Raw Story