Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America.
House Republicans have introduced a resolution to erase Trump’s two impeachments from the congressional record. The Trump administration launched a government website that directs pregnant women to anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers. Two Maryland Republican state delegates posted a thirteen-minute video mocking a Chinese-born colleague. And a new poll finds that Americans are more likely to believe in ghosts than support Trump’s ballroom.
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Now, the news.
Republicans Move to Erase the Records of Trump’s Impeachments
The GOP would like to inform you that two of the most significant votes in recent congressional history did not happen, actually.
House Republicans are moving to expunge Trump’s two impeachments from the congressional record. Rep. Darrell Issa of California has introduced a resolution, H.Res. 1211, that would treat both impeachments as if the articles had never passed the chamber at all.
More than twenty House Republicans have signed on as cosponsors. The resolution has renewed debate among constitutional scholars over whether the House actually possesses the authority to retroactively nullify an impeachment after it has already occurred.
The answer, according to most legal observers, is no. The answer, according to Darrell Issa, is that he would like to be on television.
This is not the first time Republicans have tried this. Earlier attempts were floated by Marjorie Taylor Greene and Elise Stefanik, and went nowhere. Issa argues that new declassified materials from DNI Tulsi Gabbard constitute meaningful new evidence, specifically the materials suggesting the whistleblower behind the first impeachment coordinated with Democrats.
To clarify, even if the whistleblower coordinated with Democrats, the House still voted to impeach. The process, whatever its origins, produced a legitimate constitutional outcome. The whistleblower didn’t cast 232 votes.
Trump’s Pregnancy Website Is Filled With Anti-Abortion Centers
The administration that got rid of the FDA’s food safety division has some thoughts on your prenatal care.
The Trump administration celebrated Mother’s Day by launching Moms.gov, a new government website that directs pregnant people to anti-abortion pregnancy centers. The first resource listed is the roughly 2,750 anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers around the country.
Crisis pregnancy centers are unregulated and often nonmedical, faith-based organizations whose primary goal is encouraging patients to continue a pregnancy. More than 70 percent of these centers use deceptive tactics, provide scientifically inaccurate information, and hire nonmedical staff to discuss medical issues.
Nearly 40 percent do not disclose that they don’t offer abortion services.
The assistance they do provide, like diapers and formula, can be conditional on the woman attending church or Bible study. RFK Jr. called this “Make America Healthy Again.”
These centers are not bound by HIPAA, meaning they have no legal obligation to protect patient information or keep medical details confidential. Many of them also offer what they call “abortion reversal” services, a procedure that is unproven, experimental, and potentially dangerous. They are, however, very well stocked with pamphlets.
The federal government built a pregnancy website and filled it with organizations that are not required to tell you what they do or protect your medical information. Mainstream media isn’t covering that. We are. If you're not a paid subscriber, please become one today.
Republicans Under Fire For Racist Video Mocking Colleague
Two Republican members of the Maryland House of Delegates have solved the mystery of who is spying on Maryland, and it is the guy who introduced an AI transparency bill.
Mark Fisher and Brian Chisholm are facing calls to apologize and take down a thirteen-minute video on social media targeting Del. Chao Wu, a Chinese-born Democrat representing parts of Howard and Montgomery counties.
The video is part of a recurring series Fisher runs called “Dumbest Bill in America,” focused on a bill Wu had introduced that would have required AI developers to disclose information about how they train their models. It had eight co-sponsors. Fisher and Chisholm did not mention them.
Instead, they cited a nine-month-old Washington Examiner story reporting that Wu had been involved, twenty years ago as a college student, with a campus organization the State Department once said had ties to the Chinese Communist Party. Chisholm claimed that Wu’s work at the FDA under Obama and as an engineer at a defense contractor are evidence of a spy operation.
“China knows they can’t take us down with tanks and bullets,” he said. “So they send in spies, people like Chao Wu, and try to gain intelligence.”
“If you are someone who moves from a communist country to the United States, you know what you never do? You never, ever, ever register as a Democrat,” Fisher added. “So if you register as a Democrat and then you run as a Democrat? I’m pretty sure you’re a Chicom.”
Wu, who holds a doctorate in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Maryland, said the spy allegation is “not a truth, not a fact,” and that he won’t let the video get in the way of his work. He added, with a patience that most people could not locate under the circumstances: “Find some issues that you can find a solution for. Don’t do name-calling.”
Americans Are More Likely to Believe in Ghosts Than Support Trump’s Ballroom
There are many ways to measure a presidency. Polling averages, economic indicators, approval ratings across key demographics.
And then there’s this.
A new ABC/Washington Post poll found that only 28% of Americans support Trump’s White House ballroom project, while 56% oppose it. The numbers have barely moved since October.
CNN analyst Harry Enten noted that the ballroom’s 28% approval rating lags behind American belief in ghosts at 34%, as measured by Gallup and other surveys. “This ballroom is, simply put, unpopular,” Enten said, in what may be the most restrained assessment of the situation available.
When Trump first proposed the project, he called it a “gift” to the American people and promised that not one penny of government funds would be used. Now Republican lawmakers have proposed taking one billion dollars in taxpayer money to cover security upgrades, as the price tag has grown and the project has expanded in scope.
A federal judge has halted construction. Preservationists have sued. Ghosts have a six-point lead.
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We don’t have that problem because we don’t have that person. Our subscribers are the whole business. That means our only obligation is to the people reading, so we can cover two Maryland delegates who think a Mac laptop is evidence of espionage, a federal pregnancy website whose first recommendation is not staffed by doctors, Republicans trying to erase history, and a ballroom that is losing to ghosts.
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