‘Ejaculating without intent' draft bill slammed as ‘mockery of basic biological concepts'
An Ohio draft bill planning to fine men who ejaculate 'without the intent of conception' up to $10,000 has been labelled a 'mockery of basic biological concepts'.
Bill authors, Ohio State Representatives Anita Somani and Tristan Rader said in an interview on February 13 that it highlights the hypocrisy of laws regulating women's bodies.
'Men have the same rights no matter where they go in the country. Women's rights depend on where they live,' said Somani.
Rader added, 'The point of this bill isn't to get it passed; it's to call out the hypocrisy.'
However, Republican Representative Austin Beigel slammed the bill as 'a mockery of the most basic biological concepts,' and introduced his own bill claiming human life begins at conception, and seeking increased legal protections for embryos, under state law.
Currently, 10 states have made it illegal for women to have an abortion, even in cases of rape.
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
What comes next in the Trump-Musk feud: From the Politics Desk
Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team's latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail. In today's edition, Kristen Welker dives into what comes next in the breakup between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Plus, our Capitol Hill team examines the senators who could make or break Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' And Shannon Pettypiece answers this week's reader question on the U.S.-China trade war. Before we dive into all that, two bits of breaking news this Friday afternoon: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man whose erroneous deportation to El Salvador gave way to a protracted battle over due process, has been returned to the U.S. to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee. The Supreme Court allowed members of the Department of Government Efficiency to access Social Security Administration data. — Adam Wollner What's next in the feud between Trump and Musk? By Kristen Welker The feud between Elon Musk and President Donald Trump erupted yesterday in an epic clash between the world's richest man and the world's most powerful man — and it's not clear yet where the confrontation will go next. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles told me this morning that there are 'no plans' for a phone call between Trump and Musk today, despite at least one report that it was a possibility. But just because there's nothing on the books doesn't mean the two men won't have an impromptu call. After all, Trump has a personal cellphone where he often talks to everyone from world leaders to reporters. And one administration official told me anything can happen, and they'd like to 'de-escalate a very unfortunate situation.' While the White House may be looking to turn down the temperature, some of the president's allies were quick to go after Musk. Steve Bannon, a former Trump White House adviser, told me the president should 'pull every contract associated with Elon Musk' and start major investigations 'immediately.' Bannon also said, 'Thus spake the ketamine,' in a sign that some of Trump's allies are zeroing in on Musk's alleged drug use. (Musk has said he took ketamine to treat depression.) At stake in all of this is the future of Trump's signature legislation, which includes tax cut extensions, an elimination of tax on tips and overtime, and cuts and changes to federal programs including Medicaid and food stamps. Musk has trashed the 'big, beautiful bill,' arguing that it would balloon the country's debt. Sources from the White House and on Capitol Hill have told me that while Musk's opposition might embolden Republican senators who are already opposed to the measure, Musk is not flipping any more votes to the 'no' column at this point. I'm also told that if these senators had to choose between Trump and Musk, they'd choose Trump every time. We'll talk more about the next steps for Trump's domestic policy bill on 'Meet the Press' this Sunday, with exclusive interviews with Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla. and Cory Booker, D-N.J. Behind the scenes: Trump's team is taking the feud seriously: White House aides scrambled into at least two closed-door meetings Thursday to strategize about whether and how to respond to Musk's social media barrage. Vice President JD Vance was with Trump on Thursday when the tweets began and they spoke multiple times in the afternoon, according to a person familiar with the day's events. Trump encouraged Vance to be diplomatic about Musk if asked about him, the person said. Meanwhile, Trump is considering selling or giving away the red Tesla that he purchased in March, according to a senior White House official. By Sahil Kapur, Julie Tsirkin and Frank Thorp V Amid the back-and-forth between Donald Trump and Elon Musk this week, Senate Republican leaders have been juggling a host of competing demands as they prepare to take up — and make changes to — the House-passed 'big, beautiful bill.' They can ultimately afford to lose just three GOP votes on the Senate floor, assuming all Democrats oppose the package as expected. Here are the senators who could make or break the bill: Rand Paul: He's the only Republican senator who has voted against this legislation every step of the way. He has blasted the spike in military spending, the huge increase in deficits and, in particular, the $5 trillion debt limit hike. Paul does support a key part of the package — an extension of Trump's 2017 tax cuts — but he wants to offset it with trillions of dollars in additional spending cuts, on which the GOP has no hope of finding consensus. Susan Collins: The Maine senator is the sole Republican to represent a state that Democrats consistently win at the presidential level. And she faces re-election this year. Her trajectory has been revealing, from supporting the initial budget resolution to voting against the revised version. A key reason for her opposition? Concerns that the Medicaid cuts would harm low-income and older constituents. Lisa Murkowski: When she voted for the budget blueprint in April that kick-started the process of writing the legislation, the Alaska Republican quickly followed it up with a broad set of grievances that will need to be addressed, or she'll be 'unable to support' the final product. That includes the changes to Medicaid, the cost of the tax cuts and the phaseout of clean energy tax credits that benefit her state. Ron Johnson: The Wisconsin Republican has railed against the bill and its estimated $2.4 trillion contribution to the deficit, insisting he can't vote for it as written. He has slammed the idea of a megabill, calling for breaking it up and limiting the debt ceiling hike. Trump asked him to be 'less negative' during a meeting at the White House this week, Johnson said. ✉️ Mailbag: Who loses in a U.S.-China trade war? Thanks to everyone who emailed us! This week's reader question is on the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China. 'Who is in worse shape if the two countries don't trade any longer?' To answer this, we turned to senior policy reporter Shannon Pettypiece, who has been covering the ins and outs of Trump's tariff agenda. Here's her response: Both the U.S. and China have a lot to lose by cutting off trade ties with each other, but in some ways, not as much as they did before the first wave of China tariffs Trump imposed in 2018. Chinese companies have been shifting production offshore, to neighboring countries like Vietnam and even Mexico, while Chinese officials have worked to boost trade with other trading partners, like the European Union. The share of total Chinese exports to the U.S. has dropped to an estimated 14% in 2024 from 19% in 2018. Across China's entire economy, U.S. exports account for 3% of China's gross domestic product, and a sustained U.S. tariff rate of 60% could reduce China's GDP by 2 percentage points, according to Goldman Sachs. In short, that would be bad for China's economy, but not entirely crippling. China's economy isn't on the strongest footing at the moment. Its growth has slowed since the Covid pandemic and the country is grappling with a collapse in its real estate market, which has wiped out the savings for many Chinese. The U.S. has also been working to lessen its dependence on China in recent years, and U.S. companies have increasingly been shifting their manufacturing out of China. China accounts for about 15% of total U.S. imports, down from about 22% in 2018. But the U.S. is still heavily dependent on China in a number of key areas, like rare earth metals crucial for U.S. manufacturing of cars and defense equipment. About a third of U.S. imports from China are in product categories where the vast majority of those items come from China, according to Goldman Sachs. That means, even a temporary halt to shipments from China could lead to supply chain shortages, like those seen during the Covid pandemic. But who blinks first or offers more concessions in a trade standoff could have just as much to do with politics as economics. China removed term limits on President Xi Jinping in 2018, essentially allowing him to remain in power for life. Meanwhile, the U.S. will have midterm elections next year and another presidential contest in 2028.
NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
How RFK Jr. is quickly changing U.S. health agencies
WASHINGTON — In just a few short months, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has begun to transform U.S. health policy: shrinking staff at health agencies, restructuring the focus of some regulators and researchers, changing Covid vaccine regulations and reshaping the mission of his department to focus more on alternative medicine. The directives are all part of the same issue set that drove a slice of health-conscious, left-leaning Americans to eventually vote for a Republican president whose favorite meal is from McDonald's, Trump and Kennedy catered to a type of voter who has grown distrustful of America's health care establishment — but possibly fomented a new type of distrust in federal health policy along the way. Bernadine Francis, a lifelong Democrat who backed Joe Biden for president in 2020 before supporting Donald Trump in 2024, told NBC News in an interview that she approves of Kennedy's efforts so far, despite his 'hands being tied' by entrenched forces in the administration and in Congress. 'From what I have seen so far with what RFK has been trying to do,' she said, 'I am really, really proud of what he's doing.' Francis is among the voters who left the Democratic Party and voted for Trump because 'nothing else mattered' apart from public health, which they — like Kennedy — felt was going in the wrong direction. Concerns about chemicals in food and toxins in the environment, long championed by Democrats, has become a galvanizing issue to a key portion of Trump's Republican Party, complete with an oversaturation of information that in some cases hasn't been proven. It's wrapped up, as well, in concerns about the Covid vaccine, which was accelerated under Trump, administered under Biden and weaponized by anti-vaccine activists like Kennedy amid lockdowns and firings in the wake of the devastating pandemic. 'We knew in order to get RFK in there so he can help with the situation that we have in the health industry, we knew we had to do this,' said Francis, a retired Washington, D.C., public school administrator, who said she left her 'beloved' career because she had refused the vaccine. 'It seemed to me, as soon as [Biden] became president, the vaccine was mandated, and that was when I lost all hope in the Democrats,' Francis told NBC News, referring to vaccination mandates put in place by the Biden administration for a large portion of the federal workforce during the height of the pandemic. There are not currently any federal Covid vaccine mandates. There have been 1,228,393 confirmed Covid deaths in the United States since the start of the pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How RFK Jr.'s picks are changing public health agencies Dr. Marty Makary, Kennedy's hand-picked commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and a John Hopkins scientist and researcher, told NBC News in an interview that he wants to transform the agency, which he said faced 'corruption' over influence from the pharmaceutical and food industries. 'I mean, you look at the food pyramid, it was not based on what's best for you, it was based on what companies wanted you to buy,' he said, referring to the 1992 and later iterations of official government nutritional guidance. He said there would be 'entirely new nutrition guidance' released later this year, as soon as this summer. He praised the FDA's mission of research and regulation, saying the agency is 'incredibly well-oiled, and we've got the trains running on time.' He also highlighted the 75-page 'Make America Healthy Again' commission report — which focused on ultraprocessed foods and toxins in the environment — as having set 'the agenda for research' at the FDA, HHS and agencies overseeing social safety net programs such as Medicare and food stamps moving forward. (The MAHA report initially cited some studies that didn't exist, a mistake that Kennedy adviser Calley Means said was a 'great disservice' to their mission.) 'I think there's a lot we're going to learn. For example, the microbiome, which gets attention in the MAHA report, needs to be on the map. We don't even talk about it in our medical circles,' Makary said. 'The microbiome, food is medicine, the immune response that happens when chemicals that don't appear in nature go down our GI tract.' Pressed on other areas of the administration, like the Environmental Protection Agency, making decisions that run counter to the pro-regulatory ideas presented in the MAHA report, Makary said he can 'only comment on the FDA' where they are 'committed to Secretary Kennedy's vision.' But Kennedy's public health agenda goes beyond looking at the food supply and chemicals. Recently, Kennedy said in a video posted on X last month that the Covid vaccine is no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, a change in CDC guidance that skipped the normal public review period. Days later, after critics questioned the decision and raised concerns over a lack of public data behind the move, the administration updated its guidance again, urging parents to consult with their doctors instead. Pressed about the confusion and whether Americans are now trading one side of public distrust in the health system for another, Makary defended Kennedy, who has been criticized for spreading misinformation. 'My experience with Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is that he listens. He listens to myself, he listens to Jay Bhattacharya, listens to Dr. Mehmet Oz, he listens to a host of scientists that are giving him guidance,' Makary argued, referring to the director of the National Institutes of Health and the administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, respectively. 'So he may have big questions, but the questions he's asking are the questions most Americans are asking.' The intersection of medicine and healthy lifestyle choices Dr. Dawn Mussallem, a breast cancer oncologist and integrative medicine doctor — a physician who combines conventional treatments with research-based alternative therapies — has tried to help her patients wade through medical misinformation they encounter online and in their social circles. Mussallem has an incredible story of personal survival: While in medical school, she was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer and, after conventional therapies like chemo saved her life, was diagnosed with heart failure. After undergoing a heart transplant, Mussallem ran a 26-mile marathon just one year later. 'I learned a lot in medical school, but nothing compared to what I learned being a patient,' said Mussallem, who dedicates, on average, 90 minutes each in one-on-one sessions with her patients. 'This is not about any one political choice. But we know lifestyle matters.' For example, a new study from the American Society of Clinical Oncology that finds eating food that lowers inflammation in the body may help people with advanced colon cancer survive longer. Mussallem's mission, along with her colleagues, is to elevate the modern medicine that saved her life, as well as encouraging her patients to live healthy lifestyles, including regular exercise, minimally processed foods, less screen time, more social connection and better sleep. But politics do get in the way for millions of Americans who are inundated daily with social media influencers and 'nonmedical experts,' as Mussallem puts it, who stoke fear in her patients. 'Patients come in with all these questions, fears,' she said. 'I've heard this many times from patients, that their nervous system is affected by what they're seeing happening in government.' Mussallem acknowledges that 'a lot of individuals out there' have questioned traditional medicine. For her, it isn't one or the other — it's both. 'We have to trust the conventional medicine,' she said. 'With the conventional care that marches right alongside more of an integrative modality to look at the root causes of disease, as well as to help to optimize with lifestyle, is where we need to be.'
NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
Democrats who called on Andrew Cuomo to resign in 2021 are endorsing him in 2025
Four years ago, a chorus of fellow New York Democrats called on then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign amid sexual harassment allegations, saying he was not fit to lead the state. Now, a growing group of them are endorsing him for mayor of New York City. On Friday, progressive state Sen. Jessica Ramos became the latest former Cuomo critic to endorse his bid, following at least three members of Congress and additional local politicians who are lining up behind Cuomo for mayor despite once calling on the then-governor to resign. It's an arc reminiscent of of the Republican Party's turnaround on President Donald Trump between the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and his 2024 presidential comeback, which saw many Republican critics from 2021 fall in line. "Voters are doing for themselves in New York in many ways what Trump voters did during the presidential election, they are overlooking the allegations and the importance of the #MeToo Movement because what they want for their constituents or themselves is more immediately important," said Basil Smikle, a New York Democratic strategist who previously served as the executive director of the state Democratic Party and ran Ray McGuire's 2021 mayoral campaign. "You can determine whether or not this is justifiable or reasonable or in line with what it means to be a public servant," Smikle continued. "But you have someone with allegations against him, allegations made by a very credible individual in [state] Attorney General Tish James, and a lot of people are saying: 'That isn't as important to me as what this person could deliver for my constituents today.'" In a story published on Friday, Ramos told The New York Times that Cuomo is "the one best positioned right now to protect this city" as Trump is "threatening to bulldoze New York." It's a stunning reversal from Ramos' criticism of Cuomo from just weeks prior, when she told the New York Post that Cuomo's "mental acuity is in decline," comparing him derisively to former President Joe Biden. In 2021, after Cuomo's resignation amid sexual harassment allegations, Ramos posted on social media that "New Yorkers deserve better than a man who has played politics with our lives for a decade & couldn't see beyond his ego." Asked about the change of heart Friday, Ramos told reporters that her endorsement "is not about forgiveness or about forgetting anything. This is a very sober take about where we are in this race and the type of leadership that is required at a time when I need workers and I need immigrants protected. I am not going to vacillate at the type of leadership that we need at such a critical juncture for our city." She's not the only New York Democrat to back Cuomo after a previous call to resign. Democratic Reps. Ritchie Torres, Gregory Meeks and Adriano Espaillat all signed onto joint statements in 2021 that called on Cuomo to resign; now, all of them have endorsed Cuomo's mayoral bid. It's the same story for at least five state or local politicians now in Cuomo's corner after calling on him to resign. Representatives for all three members of Congress did not reply to requests for comment. Cuomo's 2021 resignation was a stunning turn of events for the governor, whose prominent role in the state's pandemic recovery made him a darling of many in the Democratic Party. Making the decision after an investigation by the state attorney general found he sexually harassed almost a dozen women, including his own employees, and broke laws, Cuomo said that he never would 'intentionally disrespect a woman' but did acknowledge he 'made mistakes.' He's since fought some of the allegation s in court and more recently, he told The New York Times that 'if i had to do it again, I wouldn't have resigned." Like Ramos, many of these endorsements specifically point to the former governor's past experience, his record of leadership and what the endorsers say is a need at this specific moment for the city. In Espaillat's endorsement of Cuomo, he specifically says that there's "so much at stake for the city of New York" right now and the city needs 'a strong and proven leader who will work to bring solutions to the most pressing issues facing New York City," before coming to the conclusion that "Cuomo is the clear choice." Torres' endorsement touts a similar note, pointing to his "competence and courage," noting that Cuomo "has the courage to stand up to extremist politics — both from the far left and the far right." Some voters who want to give Cuomo another shot agree. Carmen Perez, a 55-year-old city resident who spoke to NBC News earlier this month about her vote, said that she'd give Cuomo a second chance because "I've seen what Cuomo can do." "During the pandemic, he literally took over and said: This is how we're going to do, this is how we're going to get through this," she said. "If we're in a crisis, he's the guy." The politics of it all, and the unique dynamics of the mayoral race, loom large over the decisions by key New York City Democrats to line up behind a candidate. While Cuomo is seen as the front-runner in the Democratic primary, anti-Cuomo Democrats and candidates have been looking to strengthen the coalition against him by encouraging people not to rank Cuomo in any of their slots on the June ranked-choice ballot. Under this system, voters select their top five choices, in order, and votes cast for the lowest finishing candidates are redistributed to subsequent choices during multiple ballots until someone wins a majority. Also this week, progressive New York City Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Cuomo's top opponent, progressive state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, while also noting she would rank other candidates, and not Cuomo, to fill out the five slots on the ballot. For Democrats who believe Mamdani may be too liberal, or worry that he might not fare as well against current Mayor Eric Adams, who is running as an independent now that many Democrats have turned on him after Trump's Justice Department stopped prosecuting him for corruption, Cuomo might seem like the best option. "With Eric Adams now out of the primary, it's only Andrew Cuomo who stands in the way of progressives taking power, and that's bolstered his candidacy," Smikle said.
