Month: August 2023

Republicans are threatening to sabotage George W. Bush’s greatest accomplishment

Posted on by Lone Candle

“First passed in 2003 under President George W. Bush, PEPFAR is a vehicle for distributing HIV/AIDS drugs to people in poor countries who wouldn’t otherwise have access to them. It has been astonishingly effective: The most recent US government estimates suggest it has saved as many as 25 million lives since its enactment. It is currently supporting treatment for over 20 million people who depend on the program for continued access to medication.
Given its success, PEPFAR has historically enjoyed bipartisan support. In 2018, Congress reauthorized PEPFAR for another five years without a fuss. But this time around, things look different. Some House Republicans, prodded by an array of influential groups, are threatening to block another five-year reauthorization. Their argument is pure culture war: that PEPFAR has become a vehicle for promoting abortion.

In reality, PEPFAR is legally prohibited from funding abortion services, and the argument against the program on anti-abortion grounds is very thin. But in today’s political climate, where the culture war reigns supreme on the right, this is enough to jeopardize the continued good functioning of a program that the Republican Party used to champion.”

The extra step you’ll need to take before flying to Europe next year

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Travelers to Europe from many countries, including the US, will soon be required to apply for a travel authorization known as ETIAS, or the European Travel Information and Authorization System, to visit destinations like France, Italy, and Spain, as well as 27 other European countries.
For years, US citizens have been able to travel to many European countries for short visits without any prior travel authorization, but that will change when the new policy goes into effect — likely sometime in 2024. The EU has attempted for years to get some manner of travel authorization on the books for travelers from countries where a visa isn’t required to enter EU nations, without success.

The new system is best thought of as a database to track who’s authorized to enter European countries, rather than as a visa. The authorization, once given, is valid for three years and permits short trips — 90 days or fewer at a given time. Longer stays, like for school or work, already require visas.

Though it may seem like a major change for Americans and citizens of other countries that currently have visa-free entry to European countries, the US has its own authorization system, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization or ESTA. Citizens and eligible residents of certain countries — mostly in Europe, but also including South Korea, Brunei, Chile, and Japan — don’t have to have a visa for shorter visits to the US, but they do need ESTA authorization. Visa holders don’t require ESTA authorization, because obtaining a visa requires much more information from travelers and an interview at a consulate.”

…

“ETIAS is aimed at reducing or preventing serious crimes, which according to EUROPOL include human trafficking, drug trafficking, and arms smuggling, as well as terrorist crimes.”

Is it illegal to try to steal a presidential election?

Posted on by Lone Candle

“Is it illegal to try to steal a presidential election?
Special counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of Donald Trump..holds that the answer is yes. Trump’s attempt to flip the results after the 2020 election, well before the events of January 6, Smith argues, amounted to a criminal conspiracy that violated three federal laws.

But throughout the history of this investigation, many other officials seemed to think the answer was no.

For about a year after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the Justice Department’s attention was overwhelmingly focused on that attack itself, not on Trump’s two-month attempt to change the election results beforehand.

Many of Trump’s pre-January 6 actions that Smith cites in his indictment — such as his lobbying of swing state legislators, his organizing of “alternate” elector slates in key states, and his pressuring of Vice President Mike Pence — unfolded at least partly in plain sight or were reported by journalists at the time.

Throughout most and perhaps all of 2021, none of that seems to have been the focus of an investigation by the Justice Department, and in fact, proposals to investigate them were reportedly rejected by DOJ or FBI officials. There wasn’t a consensus then that these actions were actually criminal — many believed that though Trump’s known conduct may have been unethical and dangerous to democracy, it didn’t necessarily violate specific laws.

Now, though, Smith argues the president and his allies were engaged in a criminal conspiracy. The January 6 attack itself plays a relatively more limited role in Smith’s indictment — the main crime, he’s effectively arguing, was Trump’s whole lengthy effort to overturn Biden’s win.

The question of how and why the DOJ shifted so thoroughly on this topic is complicated, and still may not be fully understood.

But one way to understand the new indictment is that it’s an effort to draw a bright line around Trump’s actions, to make clear that nothing like this should happen again — from him, or anyone else.”