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Twenty teenagers were arrested Monday at the U.S. Capitol as they took part in a Sunrise Movement action demanding senators back the Green New Deal.
Those arrested, which included one 13-year-old, according to Sunrise, were part of larger climate action by more than 150 middle- and high-schoolers calling for the lawmakers to "step up or step aside."
"Instead of leaving our classrooms for our day off, we are bringing our classroom to the capitol because our government is failing to protect our generation, and we're terrified," said 17-year-old John Paul Mejia of Miami.
\u201cBREAKING: Middle and High school students are taking over the #CapitolBuilding because of our Senators\u2019 failure to protect us.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1581955065
Video shared on the group's social media pages showed activists chanting "Which side are you on?" and holding "report cards" giving non-Green New Deal backers an F-. At least two participants took to the floor of lobby to give speeches about the importance of urgent climate action by lawmakers before police came and demanded they leave. A large group left and continued their protest outside Union Station while a smaller group remained and was ultimately escorted away by police.
\u201cBREAKING: 150+ middle & high school students w/@sunrisemvmt have taken over the capitol with a message for their Senators: step up or step aside. \n\nIt\u2019s time for a #GreenNewDeal.\u201d— Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25 (@Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25) 1581953557
\u201c20 people, including 6 minors, were arrested today the the U.S. Capitol. \n\nOur Senators\u2019 have failed us, and it\u2019s time that they either step up, or step aside. \n\nWe will not be silenced and will continue to fight until we win a #GreenNewDeal.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1581958032
Evan Weber, who heads political strategy for Sunrise, said that it was "Sad that this is what young people have to do to make our voices heard."
\u201cScene from the Capitol this morning:\n\n20 youth including 6 minors being handcuffed in \u201cEmancipation Hall\u201d demanding a #GreenNewDeal.\n\nSad that this is what young people have to do to make our voices heard.\u201d— Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25 (@Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25) 1581957707
Don't expect the climate group to let up anytime soon. Among their upcoming agenda items are three consecutive days of "massive srikes" set to begin Earth Day, April 22.
"It's only going to get worse unless thousands take action and force those in power to listen to our generation."
--Selene Santiago-Lopez"We're done playing by the rules," declared 18-year-old Selene Santiago-Lopez of Wake Forest, N.C., who was among those arrested Monday, in a press statement. "Our entire lives, we've seen politicians failing our generation and our communities. People are dying, I'm terrified about what my future will look like, and it's only going to get worse unless thousands take action and force those in power to listen to our generation. That's exactly what we're going to do."
"Building up to Earth Day this year," she added, "you can expect to see what happened today, but bigger and bolder."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who unveiled the Green New Deal legislation last year alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), vocally supported the young climate activists and their Monday action.
"Young people deserve a future free from the climate crisis," Markey said on Twitter. "They deserve a Green New Deal that will protect our planet and create millions of union jobs. I stand with Sunrise Movement activists who took action today at the Capitol and will always fight for their future."
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Twenty teenagers were arrested Monday at the U.S. Capitol as they took part in a Sunrise Movement action demanding senators back the Green New Deal.
Those arrested, which included one 13-year-old, according to Sunrise, were part of larger climate action by more than 150 middle- and high-schoolers calling for the lawmakers to "step up or step aside."
"Instead of leaving our classrooms for our day off, we are bringing our classroom to the capitol because our government is failing to protect our generation, and we're terrified," said 17-year-old John Paul Mejia of Miami.
\u201cBREAKING: Middle and High school students are taking over the #CapitolBuilding because of our Senators\u2019 failure to protect us.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1581955065
Video shared on the group's social media pages showed activists chanting "Which side are you on?" and holding "report cards" giving non-Green New Deal backers an F-. At least two participants took to the floor of lobby to give speeches about the importance of urgent climate action by lawmakers before police came and demanded they leave. A large group left and continued their protest outside Union Station while a smaller group remained and was ultimately escorted away by police.
\u201cBREAKING: 150+ middle & high school students w/@sunrisemvmt have taken over the capitol with a message for their Senators: step up or step aside. \n\nIt\u2019s time for a #GreenNewDeal.\u201d— Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25 (@Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25) 1581953557
\u201c20 people, including 6 minors, were arrested today the the U.S. Capitol. \n\nOur Senators\u2019 have failed us, and it\u2019s time that they either step up, or step aside. \n\nWe will not be silenced and will continue to fight until we win a #GreenNewDeal.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1581958032
Evan Weber, who heads political strategy for Sunrise, said that it was "Sad that this is what young people have to do to make our voices heard."
\u201cScene from the Capitol this morning:\n\n20 youth including 6 minors being handcuffed in \u201cEmancipation Hall\u201d demanding a #GreenNewDeal.\n\nSad that this is what young people have to do to make our voices heard.\u201d— Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25 (@Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25) 1581957707
Don't expect the climate group to let up anytime soon. Among their upcoming agenda items are three consecutive days of "massive srikes" set to begin Earth Day, April 22.
"It's only going to get worse unless thousands take action and force those in power to listen to our generation."
--Selene Santiago-Lopez"We're done playing by the rules," declared 18-year-old Selene Santiago-Lopez of Wake Forest, N.C., who was among those arrested Monday, in a press statement. "Our entire lives, we've seen politicians failing our generation and our communities. People are dying, I'm terrified about what my future will look like, and it's only going to get worse unless thousands take action and force those in power to listen to our generation. That's exactly what we're going to do."
"Building up to Earth Day this year," she added, "you can expect to see what happened today, but bigger and bolder."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who unveiled the Green New Deal legislation last year alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), vocally supported the young climate activists and their Monday action.
"Young people deserve a future free from the climate crisis," Markey said on Twitter. "They deserve a Green New Deal that will protect our planet and create millions of union jobs. I stand with Sunrise Movement activists who took action today at the Capitol and will always fight for their future."
Twenty teenagers were arrested Monday at the U.S. Capitol as they took part in a Sunrise Movement action demanding senators back the Green New Deal.
Those arrested, which included one 13-year-old, according to Sunrise, were part of larger climate action by more than 150 middle- and high-schoolers calling for the lawmakers to "step up or step aside."
"Instead of leaving our classrooms for our day off, we are bringing our classroom to the capitol because our government is failing to protect our generation, and we're terrified," said 17-year-old John Paul Mejia of Miami.
\u201cBREAKING: Middle and High school students are taking over the #CapitolBuilding because of our Senators\u2019 failure to protect us.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1581955065
Video shared on the group's social media pages showed activists chanting "Which side are you on?" and holding "report cards" giving non-Green New Deal backers an F-. At least two participants took to the floor of lobby to give speeches about the importance of urgent climate action by lawmakers before police came and demanded they leave. A large group left and continued their protest outside Union Station while a smaller group remained and was ultimately escorted away by police.
\u201cBREAKING: 150+ middle & high school students w/@sunrisemvmt have taken over the capitol with a message for their Senators: step up or step aside. \n\nIt\u2019s time for a #GreenNewDeal.\u201d— Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25 (@Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25) 1581953557
\u201c20 people, including 6 minors, were arrested today the the U.S. Capitol. \n\nOur Senators\u2019 have failed us, and it\u2019s time that they either step up, or step aside. \n\nWe will not be silenced and will continue to fight until we win a #GreenNewDeal.\u201d— Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05 (@Sunrise Movement \ud83c\udf05) 1581958032
Evan Weber, who heads political strategy for Sunrise, said that it was "Sad that this is what young people have to do to make our voices heard."
\u201cScene from the Capitol this morning:\n\n20 youth including 6 minors being handcuffed in \u201cEmancipation Hall\u201d demanding a #GreenNewDeal.\n\nSad that this is what young people have to do to make our voices heard.\u201d— Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25 (@Evan Weber \ud83c\udf05\ud83d\udd25) 1581957707
Don't expect the climate group to let up anytime soon. Among their upcoming agenda items are three consecutive days of "massive srikes" set to begin Earth Day, April 22.
"It's only going to get worse unless thousands take action and force those in power to listen to our generation."
--Selene Santiago-Lopez"We're done playing by the rules," declared 18-year-old Selene Santiago-Lopez of Wake Forest, N.C., who was among those arrested Monday, in a press statement. "Our entire lives, we've seen politicians failing our generation and our communities. People are dying, I'm terrified about what my future will look like, and it's only going to get worse unless thousands take action and force those in power to listen to our generation. That's exactly what we're going to do."
"Building up to Earth Day this year," she added, "you can expect to see what happened today, but bigger and bolder."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), who unveiled the Green New Deal legislation last year alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), vocally supported the young climate activists and their Monday action.
"Young people deserve a future free from the climate crisis," Markey said on Twitter. "They deserve a Green New Deal that will protect our planet and create millions of union jobs. I stand with Sunrise Movement activists who took action today at the Capitol and will always fight for their future."
"Don't expect Scott Bessent to fight for working families," said Groundwork Collaborative.
Government watchdog groups on Monday responded critically to the U.S. Senate's bipartisan confirmation of Republican President Donald Trump's nominee for treasury secretary, billionaire hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.
"Donald Trump spent months promising American workers they'd have no greater friend and advocate than him. But his first order of business as president-elect was to nominate a stack of corporate lobbyists, billionaire donors, and Wall Street insiders like Scott Bessent to carry out a wealthy-first, workers-last agenda," said Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk in a statement after the 68-29 vote.
"Another giant Trump tax giveaway to price gouging corporations won't lift up working people, but it will put Social Security and Medicare at risk," Carrk continued. "A national Trump sales tax won't be much help to working families when it results in thousands of dollars in extra costs every year. Bessent is so enthusiastic about the Trump trickle-down economic plans because it keeps the system rigged in favor of wealthy insiders like him, while everyday Americans pay the price."
Recalling congressional Republicans' and Trump's massive tax cuts for the rich during his first term, Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens declared Monday that "a billionaire hedge fund manager who doesn't pay his own taxes is now Trump's right-hand man for another massive tax break for the ultrawealthy. The president is filling his Cabinet with one goal in mind: more tax giveaways for the wealthy and corporations."
Anne Perrault, senior finance policy counsel with Public Citizen, said in a Monday statement that "Scott Bessent is an oligarch who spent a career serving rich clients. He will need to make a hard pivot toward understanding that sound policy must serve average Americans, including by saving banks and achieving a fair tax system."
"Under Bessent, the Treasury Department appears poised to attend only to the largest lenders and investors," Perrault warned. "This is in contrast to the past four years, where the department took necessary, though insufficient, steps to address climate change as a 'unique, existential risk for the planet that will affect every aspect of our lives and the lives of our children' and, in turn, pose a 'tremendous risk to our country's financial stability.' By ignoring climate change as a financial risk, Trump's Treasury Department under Bessent, is on a path that could devastate hard-working families."
Ahead of the vote, a coalition of other watchdogs on Monday launched a "No Corporate Cabinet" website raising the alarm about "persons of interest" selected to serve in the second Trump administration, including Bessent. The site describes him as "a former investor for billionaire George Soros" who "made a name for himself by bringing down the British economy in the 'Black Wednesday' scandal of the 1990s," and pointed to investments in fossil fuel companies along with Meta, Monsanto, and Palantir.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Bessent said that he did not believe the federal minimum wage of just $7.25 an hour should be raised and promoted a "3-3-3" agenda that analysts at the Center for American Progress (CAP) warned "requires brutal cuts to health and nutrition and higher costs for families at the grocery store."
After the Senate's Monday vote, Bessent said on social media that "as treasury secretary, I'm committed to eliminating income taxes, replacing them with a fair consumption tax, and adopting a gold-backed currency. We'll erase debt, restore financial privacy, and unlock new technologies for a prosperous future. The golden age starts now."
Progressives have argued against a so-called "fair consumption tax," or a national sales tax, because of its impacts—which CAP analysts explained in 2023, in response to Rep. Earl "Buddy" Carter's (R-Ga.) Fair Tax Act, which he reintroduced earlier this month.
"By shifting the foundation of the federal tax system from income to consumption, the Fair Tax Act would cut taxes for the wealthy while increasing taxes paid by low- and middle-income retirees who live off of Social Security and savings, as well as families who would be forced to pay more taxes on everyday goods and services," the CAP experts wrote. "Meanwhile, high-income families who spend less of their income on consumption and who have sufficient earnings to save a substantial fraction of their income would pay a smaller share of their income in tax."
Politico reported that "Bessent on Monday garnered significantly more Democratic support than Trump's first Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin. The Senate confirmed Mnuchin in 2017 on a 53-47 vote, in which then-Sen. Joe Manchin was the only Democrat who backed him." Manchin later became an Independent, before leaving Congress at the end of the last session.
Bessent is the fifth Cabinet member to be confirmed by the Senate since Trump took office a week ago. The closest vote was on the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth; Vice President JD Vance on Friday had to break a tie after Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) joined Democrats in opposing him.
"Courts have already found that forcing trans women into men's prisons is cruel and unusual punishment," noted one media outlet.
A transgender woman inmate serving her sentence in a women's federal prison sued the Trump administration on Sunday, arguing that Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's recent executive order narrowly defining sex violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, is "motivated by discriminatory animus" toward trans people, and forces "dangerous transfers to men's facilities."
A redacted copy of the lawsuit—which was filed by an inmate in an unspecified low-security federal prison identified as "Maria Moe"—claims Trump's January 20 executive order stating that it is henceforth federal policy "to recognize two sexes, male and female" violates her constitutional rights.
"Defendant Trump has been transparent about his hostility toward transgender people and openly stated his intentions to create legal obstacles to eliminate legal protections for transgender people and to deter them from obtaining medical care or being able to live in a sex other than their birth sex," the lawsuit states.
On Sunday, a transgender woman who is currently in prison sued Donald Trump, Acting A.G. McHenry, and the head of the Bureau of Prisons due to her treatment in the wake of the Jan. 20 anti-trans "sex" definition executive order. Read it all at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com/p/trans-woma...
[image or embed]
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) January 27, 2025 at 10:52 AM
"On November 15, 2022, when he announced his candidacy for president, he explicitly promised to target transgender Americans through executive action," the complaint continues. "He pledged a 'day one' executive order to 'cease all programs that promote the concept of sex and gender transition at any age.'"
"If Maria Moe is transferred to a men's facility, she will not be safe," the lawsuit stresses. "Transferring Maria Moe to a men's prison will pose a substantial risk of serious harm, including an extremely high risk of violence and sexual assault from other incarcerated people and [Federal Bureau of Prisons] staff."
"In a men's prison, Maria Moe will also be at high risk of worsening gender dysphoria, which can lead to serious physical and mental health conditions including severe depression and suicidality," the complaint adds. "These risks are obvious, well-documented, and well-known to BOP officials."
Furthermore, the suit says that ending Moe's federally funded hormone therapy "would constitute deliberate indifference to her serious medical needs and would violate the 8th Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment."
As
LGBTQ Nation reported Monday, "Courts have already found that forcing trans women into men's prisons is cruel and unusual punishment."
According to the very small print on the BOP's "inmate gender" webpage, there are 1,529 transgender females in federal custody and 744 transgender males.
The new lawsuit preceded Monday reporting that Trump is expected to revive his first-term policy of banning new military enlistments by transgender people.
"People worldwide will have fewer points of service," said Doctors Without Borders. "It means fewer safe places to talk about their health options, and fewer providers to go to for help during medical emergencies."
Reproductive rights and medical experts on Monday continued to warn that U.S. President Donald Trump's highly anticipated reinstatement of the Mexico City Policy, which bans nongovernmental organizations that perform or promote abortion from receiving federal funding, will cause "devastating damage" for people around the world.
The global gag rule (GGR), as it is called by critics, has been imposed by every Republican president for decades, including Trump during his first term. After returning to office a week ago, Trump on Friday signed an executive order "to end the use of federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion" and revived the controversial rule with a presidential memorandum.
"As the single largest funder of international aid, the U.S. plays a powerful role in shaping the global health landscape—and women's and girls' lives are being used as pawns in this political game," Dr. Carole Sekimpi wrote Monday for the British journal The BMJ. "My work overseeing reproductive health programs in Africa for MSI Reproductive Choices gives me an understanding of the profound consequences that this will have on communities that Trump will never set foot in."
"It's prudent to first understand that the U.S. government never funds abortions," Sekimpi stressed, noting the rule punishes groups that participate in anything abortion-related with separate funding. "Last time Trump was in power, MSI was among those that refused to accept the terms of this policy. The U.S. funding we lost would have allowed us to serve 8 million women, preventing 6 million unintended pregnancies, 1.8 million unsafe abortions, and 20,000 maternal deaths. And that was just one organization."
Ibis Reproductive Health president Kelly Blanchard and Evelyne Opondo, an Ibis board member and the International Center for Research on Women's Africa director, also emphasized in a Monday Medium post that the rule's impact "is felt keenly by organizations that provide comprehensive sexual and reproductive healthcare—including contraception and abortion care—around the world," such as MSI and International Planned Parenthood Federation, "who refuse to abide by the terms because they support the human rights of all people and will not withhold information or critical reproductive healthcare from individuals who need it."
"The GGR flies in the face of both human rights and evidence-based public health," the pair asserted. "The GGR does not prevent abortion from happening but rather increases barriers to abortion access, reduces access to contraception increasing risk of unintended pregnancy, and could actually increase unsafe abortion, a key driver of maternal deaths around the world."
Melanie Nezer, vice president for advocacy and external relations at the Women's Refugee Commission, similarly declared in a Monday statement denouncing the GGR, "Let us be clear: this policy will not protect lives—it will endanger them."
"The goal of the global gag rule is to curtail access to safe sexual and reproductive healthcare, including access to safe abortion," she said. "The result is more suffering from the consequences of conflict-related sexual violence, more unintended pregnancies, more unsafe abortions, and more maternal death that would otherwise be entirely preventable."
Reproductive rights groups worldwide were similarly critical of the decision on Friday and throughout the weekend, with Planned Parenthood Federation of America president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson calling it "dangerous" and arguing that "elected officials should not be interfering in personal medical decisions, in this country or anywhere in the world."
Like the critics on Monday, Rachana Desai Martin, chief government and external relations officer at the Center for Reproductive Rights, pointed to the fallout from GGR during the Republican's first term and said that "the reinstatement and expansion of President Trump's global gag rule is a direct assault on the health and human rights of millions of people around the world."
Also recalling the first Trump administration, Guttmacher Institute acting co-CEO Destiny Lopez highlighted how her group's "research has documented its severe ripple effects, including stalling and even reversing progress in expanding access to modern contraception in countries like Ethiopia and Uganda."
"Now history will sadly and shamefully repeat itself, and people in many countries will find it harder to access safe abortion, contraception, and other critical health services," she said, vowing to track the impacts and work to repeal the harmful policy.
Reproductive Freedom for All president and CEO Mini Timmaraju also pledged to battle the GGR and other Republican attacks on choice, saying that "these policies inflict harm on those who need access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, in our country, and around the world—and we will fight back."
Previewing the fight ahead, National Abortion Federation president and CEO Brittany Fonteno warned that the GGR "will not be the last" attack on reproductive healthcare, adding that "for nearly a decade now, Donald Trump has shown us just how dangerous he is for abortion access, and it is clear that over the next four years, the anti-abortion movement will take every opportunity to strip away our fundamental right to reproductive freedom—both here and abroad."
RealClearPolitics, the first to report the rule's revival, noted that "the president timed the release of his executive actions to coincide with the annual March for Life on Friday when some of his most ardent supporters rallied on the National Mall. Vice President JD Vance addressed the march in person, while Trump recorded a video message Thursday to be played at the Friday rally."
Although Trump said on the campaign trail that he thinks abortion policies should be decided at the state level, rights advocates have cited his extensive record of dishonesty and bragging about the role he played in overturning Roe v. Wade, and expressed fear that the Republican-controlled Congress will send a national abortion ban to his desk.