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US onAir -1/25/22

US- onAir 1/25/22 1

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UKRAINE: State Department spokesperson Ned Price holds news briefing
Associated Press, January 25, 2022 – 3:00 pm (ET)

https://apnews.com/article/us-sanction-options-russia-ukraine-49557915cbd254b01d5cb2f210803b47

UKRAINE: ‘We have a sacred obligation’: Biden threatens to send troops to Eastern Europe
Politico, Quint ForgeyJanuary 25, 2022

President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he told Russian President Vladimir Putin that the United States would deploy thousands of troops to Eastern Europe if Russia continues its military buildup along Ukraine’s border or mounts a renewed invasion of the country.

But the American president also said he would not send troops into Ukraine, even as the White House warned that Russia was likely to move its forces across the border at any moment.

Speaking during a previously unannounced stop at a gift shop in Washington, D.C., Biden told reporters that the roughly 8,500 troops put on high alert to potentially deploy to Eastern Europe “are part of a NATO operation, not a sole U.S. operation.”

“I made it clear to President Putin that we have a sacred obligation, Article 5 obligation to our NATO allies. And that if, in fact, he continued to build up and/or was to move, we would be reinforcing those troops,” Biden said.

“I’ve spoken with every one of our NATO allies … and we’re all on the same page,” he added. “We’ve got to make it clear that there’s no reason for anyone, any member of NATO, to worry whether or not … we, NATO, would come to their defense.”

UKRAINE: What are US options for sanctions against Putin?
Associated Press, Elklen KnickmeyerJanuary 25, 2022

The financial options being considered to punish President Vladimir Putin if Russia invades Ukraine range from the sweeping to the acutely personal — from cutting Russia off from U.S. dollars and international banking to slapping sanctions on a former Olympic gymnast reported to be Putin’s girlfriend.

Publicly, the United States and European allies have promised to hit Russia financially like never before if Putin does roll his military into Ukraine. Leaders have given few hard details to the public, however, arguing it’s best to keep Putin guessing.

And weeks into the negotiations, it’s far from clear that Americans have succeeded in achieving U.S. and European consensus on what sanctions will be imposed and what would trigger them.

A look at some of the financial actions under consideration:

SWIFT RETALIATION

For the U.S. and its European allies, cutting Russia out of the SWIFT financial system, which shuffles money from bank to bank around the globe, would be one of the toughest financial steps they could take, damaging Russia’s economy immediately and in the long term. The move could cut Russia off from most international financial transactions, including international profits from oil and gas production, which in all accounts for more than 40% of the country’s revenue.

VOTING RIGHTS: How the 2020 census data has started new gerrymandering battles
PBS NewsHourJanuary 25, 2022
DEMOCRACY: How gerrymandering makes the US House intensely partisan
CNN, Dana Bash, Abbie Sharpe and Ethan CohenJanuary 25, 2022

The capital of Texas is a pretty liberal town. Proudly so.

Crosswalks repainted in rainbow Pride colors. Signs welcoming gay patrons. It has a vibe that even some locals boast is more like Berkeley, California, than a stereotypical southern city.

And yet residents who live in this progressive neighborhood are represented in the US House by a Republican congressman, thanks to gerrymandering after the 2010 census intended to dilute the power of the Democratic vote here — a practice known as cracking.

Now, after the 2020 census, Texas Republicans who drew the new map are taking a different approach, moving Democratic voters into areas where they will be represented by Democratic lawmakers and doing the same for Republicans — a gerrymandering tool known as packing.

“Here in Austin, what the Republicans did was pack as many Democrats into as few districts as possible in order to shore up as many other Republican districts as they could to cement their majority in the Texas congressional delegation for years to come,” Texas state House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner said while walking down an Austin street.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS: Abortion opponents eye priorities as high court ruling looms
Associated Press, Thomas BeaumontJanuary 25, 2022

In the nearly two months since a conservative majority of justices on the Supreme Court indicated openness to dramatic new restrictions on abortion, money has poured into the political fundraising arm of the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony List.

The organization secured $20 million in pledged financial contributions, five times more than it has had at the outset of an election year over its 30-year history, according to figures shared with The Associated Press. Before the recent surge, the group had already signed off on its largest-ever political budget, $72 million, for 2022. That’s nearly $20 million more than it spent in 2020, a year that included a presidential election.

The cash pile virtually guarantees that the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling, anticipated by the summer, will do little to quell what has become one of the most animating issues in the United States. Abortion opponents say they will pump their newfound resources into the November elections.

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