January 1, Nervous Republicans Focus on Protecting the Senate

Republicans consider their majority in the Senate a crucial firewall against “socialist” policies like the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All”. But all bets could be off if a Democrat wins the the Oval Office and if Democrats win back control of the House.

“If we lose the presidency — and if I had to guess right now, the odds are 10 percent we get the House back — the Senate is the only check and balance,” said one former Republican Senate chief of staff to the Hill. 

“If we don’t keep the Senate, we’re basically screwed, ” the unnamed source said. 

Meanwhile, a federal judge has temporarily blocked Missouri’s heartbeat abortion bill. Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers had their day in court. Finally, a North Carolina woman won $3.2 million dollars in a revenge porn case against her ex-husband. Read all about it. 

– Fraser Dixon

Federal Judge Blocks Missouri Abortion Law

(Reuters) – The ban, like ones blocked in Arkansas and Ohio earlier this summer, was written in the knowledge it would likely be struck down but with the hope it would prompt the U.S. Supreme Court to review its landmark 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

“While federal courts should generally be very cautious before delaying the effect of State laws, the sense of caution may be mitigated when the legislation seems designed, as here, as a protest against Supreme Court decisions,” the judge wrote.

Read more from Reuters here

Epstein  Accuser:  Prince Andrew ‘Knows What he’s Done’

(Sky News) – Virginia Roberts Giuffre spoke outside a court in New York after more than 20 women who claim to have been sexually abused by late US financier Jeffrey Epstein – a friend of Prince Andrew’s – vented their anger during a hearing.

In a statement released at the weekend, the Duke of York said he did not “see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that led to Epstein’s arrest and conviction”.

Footage recently emerged of Prince Andrew inside Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in 2010.

Watch the news conference via Sky News here

North Carolina Woman Awarded $3.2 Million in Revenge Porn Case

(The Fayetteville Observer) – A year ago, Elizabeth Ann Clark  leveled accusations of alienation-of-affection, libel and revenge porn in the case against her ex-husband Adam Matthew Clark and his partner, Kimberly Rae Barrett, in Cumberland County Superior Court.

“Alienation-of-affection” is the legal term for instances in which someone outside a marital relationship breaks up the marriage.

“I did believe I was going to win because I knew what I was telling was the truth,” Clark said. “And I know my story, and I knew what I lived through every single day and still to this day, and what I’m going to continue to live through.

Read more from the Fayetteville Observer here