The Daily Signal - TOP NEWS | Pro-Lifers Push Back on Trump, DeSantis Signs Bill Banning DEI In Higher Ed, Youngkin Signs Law Banning Porn for Minors | May 15

Episode Date: May 15, 2023

On today’s Daily Signal Top News, we break down: Pro-life groups are pushing back against former President Donald Trump‘s claim that the movement against abortion finds Florida’s new pro-life legislation “too harsh.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, has signed legislation targeting “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or DEI. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, signed legislation banning porn for minors. Turkey’s election is heading to a runoff on May 28. Relevant Links Listen to other podcasts from The Daily Signal: https://www.dailysignal.com/podcasts/ Get daily conservative news you can trust from our Morning Bell newsletter: DailySignal.com/morningbellsubscription   Listen to more Heritage podcasts: https://www.heritage.org/podcasts Sign up for The Agenda newsletter — the lowdown on top issues conservatives need to know about each week: https://www.heritage.org/agend Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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I'm Mary Margaret Olahan. I'm Samantha Sherris. And this is the Daily Signal Top News for Monday, May 15th. Here are today's headlines. Pro-life groups are pushing back against former President Donald Trump's claim that the movement against abortion finds Florida's new pro-life legislation, quote, too harsh. The former president discussed abortion during an interview with the messenger, where he weighed in on Florida's new heartbeat bill. That bill prohibits doctors

from knowingly performing an abortion on a baby whose age is determined to be more than six weeks. The bill provides exceptions if the mother is a victim of rape, incest, or human trafficking. He has to do what he has to do, Trump said of the law, according to the messenger. If you look at what DeSantis did, a lot of people don't even. even know if he knew what he was doing, but he signed six weeks and many people within the pro-life movement feel that that was too harsh. Noah Brandt, vice president of communications at live action, told the daily signal that the pro-life movement demands a presidential candidate who will boldly advocate for the human rights of all people. It is sad and disappointing to see

a candidate attack the people of Florida for protecting pre-born Floridians with a detectable heartbeat. DeSantis also signed a 15-week abortion ban last year, as well as legislation promoting fatherhood, expanding support for foster parents and children, and combating maternal mortality rates. In other DeSantis-related news, the Florida governor has signed legislation targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI. The legislation bars state-funded universities and colleges from spending money on DEI. Let's take a listen to some of what DeSantis said at New College on Monday via Newsweek's Twitter. In reality, what this concept of DEI has been, is to attempt to impose orthodoxy on the university,

and not even necessarily in the classroom, but through the administrative apparatus of the university itself, and that manifests itself in a number of different ways, but this has basically been used as a veneer to impose an ideological agenda, and that is wrong. And in fact, if you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better,

viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination, and that has no place in our public institutions. Desantis also said, if you want to do things like gender ideology, go to Berkeley. Some of these other places, that's fine. If that's what you want to do, there's nothing wrong with that. But for us, our tax dollars, we want to focus on the classical mission of what a university is supposed to be. Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and new college trustee, also spoke on Monday. Let's take a listen to some of Rufo's comments via the governor's Twitter. The basic premise of this legislation is that our public institutions should reflect the values of the public. It's that Florida's farmers and waitresses and truck drivers should not be subsidizing a permanent

bureaucracy of left-wing activists who hate them and hate their values. but of course are happy to take their money. And that's why the governor decided to take action. That's why he fought for these once-in-a-generation reform, along with legislators, that will also help restore balance back to the universities. And unlike many other politicians, unfortunately, even in very red states, he had the courage to stand up to the special interests, to stand up to the DEI commissars that thought they were running the show,

and to stand up to the activist media and fight on behalf of the average voter. Turkey's election is heading to a runoff on May 28th. Neither President Erdogan nor his opponent were able to achieve over 50% of the vote. Erdogan tweeted on Monday, According to a translation of his tweet, the president said, I would like to thank all of my citizens who reflect their free will by going to the polls on May 14th, and each of our 56 million people abroad for their valuable votes and contributions to democracy. With the maturity it showed yesterday, Turkey has shown that it is one of the countries with the most advanced,

democratic culture in the world. Erdogan also said, until May 28th, we will fulfill a responsibility to our beloved nation by running without stopping, resting, and running with love. President Biden said on Sunday, I hope whoever wins wins. There's enough problems in that part of the world. Victoria Coates, senior research fellow here at the Heritage Foundation, told the Daly signal that given his control over virtually every aspect of the Turkish government, it's remarkable that President Erdogan fell short of the 50% mark and that the race is now headed to a runoff. Erdogan is likely to win that contest, but this is certainly the closest election he's seen in many years, Coates said. If nothing else, the results demonstrate that the Turkish people want to

see change on issues ranging from the economy to earthquake relief. We will have to wait and see what happens on May 28th. Starting July 1st, Virginia will require porn websites to verify all users who are 18 or older. Glenn Yonkin and Republican signed the legislation into law on Friday. The bill had passed almost unanimously in both the State House and Senate earlier this year. It follows similar laws in Louisiana and Utah. In Utah, one major porn site, Pornhub has since said it would no longer be available to Utah residents because it did not believe there was a way in Utah to verify a user's age without raising privacy concerns. A January study from common sense media found that many

minors had been exposed to pornography. The study found that 15% of kids at 10 and younger had seen porn. Among those 15 and younger, over half had viewed porn. Among teens who had viewed porn, over half had seen explicit content that featured violence such as choking or rape. And that'll do for today's episode. Thank you for listening to the Daily Signal's top news. If you haven't gotten a chance, be sure to check out our morning show right here in this podcast feed, where we interview lawmakers, experts, and leading conservative voices. Join us tomorrow morning for the Daily Signal interview edition. I'll be sitting down with Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee

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