A Wisconsin circuit court judge has ruled that an 1849 law that classifies the destruction of a fetus by someone other than the mother as a felony does not outlaw abortions, returning the state’s abortion access to its pre-Dobbs status.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Diane Schlipper on Tuesday reaffirmed a ruling she issued earlier this year, finding that an 1800s-era law “does not apply to consensual abortions, but to feticide.”

After the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling in 2022, the question was raised over whether a Wisconsin state law passed in 1849 could go into effect. Roe had effectively invalidated the law when it was in effect.

President Joe Biden pleaded with Republicans on Wednesday for a fresh infusion of military aid for Ukraine, warning that a victory for Russia over Ukraine would leave Moscow in position to attack NATO allies and could draw U.S. troops into a war.

Biden spoke as the United States planned to announce $175 million in additional Ukraine aid from its dwindling supply of money for Kyiv. He signaled a willingness to make significant changes to U.S. migration policy along the border with Mexico to try to draw Republican support.

"If Putin takes Ukraine, he won’t stop there," Biden said. Putin will attack a NATO ally, he predicted, and then "we’ll have something that we don't seek and that we don't have today: American troops fighting Russian troops," Biden said.

“We can’t let Putin win,” he said, prompting an angry reaction from Moscow.

Donald J. Trump’s declaration Tuesday night that he would be a “dictator” only on “Day One” of his presidency wasn’t to be taken seriously, Fox News host Jesse Watters insisted Wednesday.

“It’s only a dictatorship for one day, guys,” Watters began, chuckling. “He’ll just sit and sign executive orders like Biden did.”

Trump, Watters claimed, “knows exactly what he is doing.”

“He’s teasing the press and they just took the bait,” he claimed, before playing clips of two MSNBC contributors who—unlike Watters—were not taking Trump lightly.

“Look how unhappy these people look. MSNBC needs to relax. And don’t you dare laugh at Trump’s jokes. They aren’t funny,” the Fox host said, before going to another round of clips, this time from the rival network’s Morning Joe show.

Italy, the only major Western power to have joined China’s global infrastructure initiative, is exiting in 2024.

The Chinese government has lashed out at the “smearing” of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) after its only major Western partner pulled out of the infrastructure project.

Italy was the first Group of Seven (G7) nation to take part in China’s ambitious global plan, but notified Bejing it would withdraw in 2024.

Without addressing Italy directly, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Thursday opposing the “smearing and undermining of cooperation on the joint construction of the Belt and Road”.

Beijing is also opposed to “confrontation and division among camps that causes separation”, ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said.

Speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out.

cross-posted from: https://kbin.social/m/movies/t/685880

Last November we had the opportunity to attend an exclusive twenty-minute screening of ‘Dune: Part II’, the highly anticipated second installment of the monumental adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic that Denis Villeneuve is carrying out. Of course, it is early to give an opinion, but we can assure that there are reasons to think that This new installment could be even more stimulating than the first.

Just over a decade ago, when Crystal Pérez Lira needed an abortion, she had to leave Mexico. The procedure was illegal in her home state of Baja California and so deeply stigmatized that even Pérez Lira supported the procedure only for those who were raped. Until she unexpectedly got pregnant.

She traveled to the U.S. for help, walking alone across the border from Tijuana to San Diego, first for a health check and a compulsory ultrasound, and then back for a second appointment, when she was given pills to induce an abortion. She returned to Mexico, where she went through the procedure at a friend’s house.

Today, the cross-border help moves in the opposite direction. Pérez Lira is part of a network of activists across Mexico who provide advice, emotional support, and free medications to those seeking abortion — including, increasingly, people living in U.S. states where abortion is sharply restricted. These volunteer groups, known as “companion networks,” have been quietly sending abortion pills across the border, often to vulnerable people who lack funds or immigration papers, and training volunteers in the U.S. to establish their own companion networks.

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20231207130452/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/defying-presidents-congress-atf-dea-fbi-us-marshals-shroud-shootings-s-rcna123818

Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20231207130756/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/12/11/what-happened-when-the-us-failed-to-prosecute-an-ex-president

The complete cost is estimated to be $12bn and is expected to be completed before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

High-speed rail in the American west has received a major new investment with the Biden administration pledging $3bn for a project connecting Las Vegas to southern California and $3.07bn to connect San Francisco to Los Angeles.

Officials have described the ambitious projects as a “gamechanger” for tourism and travel in the region.

The Las Vegas to Los Angeles project aims to finish before the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The California high-speed rail authority program, which has long been stuck in limbo, expects to start initial service as early as 2030, and aims to ultimately move travelers from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin at speeds above 200mph (322km/h) in under 3 hours.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/9253300