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Breaking: Mike Pence’s Investigation Into Planned Parenthood Finds Zero Violations

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The false and debunked claims that Planned Parenthood is selling aborted fetus body parts just got even more debunked.

A shadowy anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress over the past few weeks has released three videos they claim show Planned Parenthood executives “haggling over baby-part pricing.”

They don’t. The deceptively-edited videos, however, have been fuel for the GOP’s attacks on women and their civil right to obtaining safe and legal abortions.

Many journalists and liberal organizations have debunked the videos and the Center for Media Progress’ false claims.

ThinkProgress’ Tara Culp-Ressler last week published “Everything You Need To Know About The Anti-Abortion Groups Trying To Discredit Planned Parenthood,” that, as promised, reports extensively on the actual facts about the group, its ties to Republican politicians, and its false claims.

RH Reality Check last week also published an astonishing infographic, “A Network of Lies,” which details the extensive web of right wing organizations that are literally profiting from the Center for Medical Progress’s attacks. They’ve also published over 30 articles on CMP’s operations, and their false allegations against Planned Parenthood.

But now, more proof that Planned Parenthood is not selling baby parts – as CMP and the GOP charge, even on Facebook in memes with hashtags, like #PPSellsBabyParts:

cmp.jpg

Two weeks ago Indiana’s ultra-conservative governor, Mike Pence, ordered an investigation into Planned Parenthood.

“Every Hoosier should be deeply troubled by allegations that Planned Parenthood affiliates are engaged in the trafficking of human remains,” Pence’s press release stated. “If true, this is not only illegal, it is morally reprehensible. Under federal and state law, the buying or selling of human body parts is a felony and, as Governor, I have an obligation to make sure this is not happening in Indiana.”

“For this reason, I have directed the Indiana State Department of Health to conduct an immediate investigation with the cooperation of the Office of the Attorney General of Indiana to determine whether Planned Parenthood affiliates in Indiana have engaged in any illegal activities with respect to the trafficking in or disposition of fetal tissue. Whatever one’s view on the issue of abortion, Hoosiers can be assured that we will make certain that this appalling practice is not taking place in Indiana.”

Tonight, Mike Pence’s investigation has been completed.

The Associated Press reportsIndiana on Thursday cleared Planned Parenthood facilities that perform abortions in the state of any wrongdoing in the handling of fetal tissue.”

The Indiana Department of Health said in a statement Thursday that an investigation found no evidence of any laws being broken,” and in letters sent to Planned Parenthood, the DOH said it was “unable to find any non-compliance with state regulations. Therefore, no deficiencies were cited.”

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

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News

Comer Changes Tune After Lutnick Allegedly Lied

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House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer appears to be changing his tune on Howard Lutnick, now suggesting that it is “very possible” he might subpoena him after the Trump Commerce Secretary allegedly lied before Congress about the extent of his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Just two weeks ago, MS NOW reported that Chairman Comer had dodged questions about subpoenaing Lutnick.

Asked at the time if his committee had any plans to subpoena the Commerce Secretary, Comer instead replied, “Well, we’re going to try to get these five [witnesses] nailed down. We’ve got a lot of very important people we’re trying to bring in to answer questions.”

On Thursday, the question came up again, and Comer offered reporters a different perspective.

Asked if “in the spirit of bipartisanship” he would request Lutnick testify, Comer replied it was “very possible, and I think it’s a good possibility his name will arise on some questioning today” as the Committee deposes former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

READ MORE: ‘Theatre of the Absurd’: Melania Trump Presiding Over UN Security Council Sparks Uproar

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) said Lutnick was on her list to talk about with Clinton.

According to The Independent, Comer’s “suggestion that Lutnick could soon be facing a congressional subpoena comes after weeks of increased scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein, his onetime next-door neighbor in New York, after documents released by the Justice Department showed that he’d lied during an interview with the New York Post in October.”

Lutnick had “claimed to have cut off contact with Epstein after a 2005 encounter that he claimed had left him so unsettled that he’d vowed to ‘never be in the room with that disgusting person ever again.'”

Documents from the Epstein files showed that Lutnick had continued to maintain a relationship with Epstein as recently as 2018 — “long after” Epstein had “spent time in jail for state-level offenses related to his preying on young girls,” The Independent reported.


READ MORE: ‘Extraordinary Presidential Power’: Trump Is Urged to Declare Emergency Over Voting

 

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‘Theatre of the Absurd’: Melania Trump Presiding Over UN Security Council Sparks Uproar

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Melania Trump will preside over the United Nations Security Council next week — a decision igniting backlash before it begins.

“First Lady Melania Trump is set to make history at the United Nations, taking the gavel as the United States assumes the Security Council Presidency to emphasize education’s role in advancing tolerance and world peace,” a press release from the Office of the First Lady reads.

“Mrs. Trump’s leadership will mark the first time a sitting U.S. First Lady presides over the Security Council as members consider education, technology, peace, and security.”

An opinion piece at The New Republic says, “While the first lady has shown an interest in children’s welfare, particularly in Russia’s war on Ukraine, it’s hard to imagine her address as any more than a symbolic gesture that will look good in a social media post.”

READ MORE: ‘Extraordinary Presidential Power’: Trump Is Urged to Declare Emergency Over Voting

U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, wrote: We are thrilled to have @Flotus gavel in the US Presidency of the Security Council.”

Critics online are blasting the decision.

“Just when you thought they couldn’t disrespect professional, career U.S. diplomats, American diplomacy or international organizations more- they produce this grotesque theatre of the absurd,” wrote former U.S. Ambassador to Jamaica, Luis Moreno.

Associate professor of History Thomas Småberg commented, “I’m a social network scholar with a focus on the Middle Ages and Trump’s uses of family, friends and followers is straight out of medieval aristocracy. It’s so interesting to [see] his abuse of presidential power and his disregard for republicans.”

READ MORE: Florida Bill Spurs Political Persecution and Surveillance Fears — Sponsor Says ‘Trust Me’

 

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‘Extraordinary Presidential Power’: Trump Is Urged to Declare Emergency Over Voting

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President Donald Trump, who has insisted on federalizing voting and who issued an executive order last March to pressure states to require proof of citizenship to register voters, is reportedly now being urged to declare an emergency over voting.

“Pro-Trump activists who say they are in coordination with the White House are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that claims China interfered in the 2020 election as a basis to declare a national emergency that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting,” The Washington Post reported in an exclusive.

“President Donald Trump has repeatedly previewed a plan to mandate voter ID and ban mail ballots in November’s midterm elections, and the activists expect their draft will figure into Trump’s promised executive order on the issue.”

According to Florida lawyer Peter Ticktin, who is advocating for a presidential order on voting, “we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes.”

“That causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it,” Ticktin told the Post.

Claiming there is an emergency would allow the president to ban voting by mail and voting machines “as the vectors of foreign interference, Ticktin argued.”

Trump has repeatedly urged Republicans to pass the SAVE Act, which critics say could disenfranchise millions of American citizens who do not currently have a passport or access to their birth certificates. It could also disenfranchise people who have married and changed their names but did not do so on all their legal documents.

“Trump has said that if the bill fails, he will act unilaterally to impose the changes for the midterms,” the Post reported.

 

Image via Reuters

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