Day 1337: "Absolute assurances."

WTF Just Happened Today

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

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1/ Senate Republicans blocked legislation to federally protect access to in vitro fertilization. The package, called the Right to IVF Act, would establish a nationwide right “to receive fertility treatment from a health care provider, in accordance with widely accepted and evidence-based medical standards of care,” in addition to ensuring insurance coverage for such treatments. It’s the second time that Republicans, despite Trump’s statements supporting the fertility treatment, have filibustered the Democratic legislation. Kamala Harris said Republicans “have once again made clear that they will not protect access to the fertility treatments many couples need [and] their opposition to a woman’s freedom to make decisions about her own body is extreme, dangerous, and wrong.” (CBS News / CNN / Politico)

2/ A sheriff in Ohio urged residents to “write down” the addresses of Harris supporters for future reference. Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski suggested he’d use the list to send undocumented immigrants, who he called “human locust,” to those homes. Zuchowski is seeking reelection. It’s against federal law to intimidate voters into not casting their vote of their choice. (NBC News / Washington Post)

3/ Nearly 100,000 people in Arizona may not be eligible to vote after officials discovered an error that incorrectly marked these voters with having provided documented proof of citizenship when it’s unclear whether they have. After more than two decades, officials discovered that about 98,000 of the state’s 4.1 million registered voters – more registered as Republicans than as Democrats – had been marked as eligible to receive full ballots even though there is no record of them ever providing citizenship documents. Arizona requires proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in state and local elections. If voters do not provide proof of citizenship, they’re registered as what Arizona calls “federal only” voters, who can only vote for president and Congress. Meaning, the issue will not affect the upcoming vote for president or Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat. (Washington Post / Arizona Mirror)

4/ Florida law enforcement officials will conduct their own criminal investigation into the man with a rifle at Trump’s golf course. Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida prosecutors will pursue the most serious charges available under state law, including attempted murder. DeSantis also believes the state’s case should take precedence over the federal prosecution, saying “In my judgment it’s not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious straight-forward offense constitutes a violation of state law, but not federal law.” (NPR / Associated Press)

5/ Speaker Mike Johnson set up a vote...

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