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Hi rulers! This week I learned that, in many hunter gather societies, women hunted just as much as men. My female hunter ancestors would probably be embarrassed to know that Ive been vegetarian for 14 years. Lets get to it!

Young women are increasingly voting for Democrats. The GOP agrees that they need to fix that now they just need to agree on how.

In the 2022 midterms, young women broke hard for Democratic candidates. According to CNN exit polling, 72 percent of women between the ages of 18-29 voted Democratic in house races nationwide, compared to 26 percent of young women who voted for Republicans. (Polling data for the 2018 midterms doesnt break down age and gender, but 59 percent of women of all ages voted for Democrats in house races that year.) Meanwhile, the percentage of young women who identify as liberal has been steadily increasing for the last several years.

Republicans strategists say if the GOP doesnt find a way to better appeal to young women, they run the risk of missing out on a key group in a general election thats sure to be decided on razor-thin margins. But Republicans have conflicting opinions about what might bring that bloc over to the GOP.

It would be the perfect time to come up with a cohesive plan to speak to women, clearly has not happened, says Jennifer Lim, the founder and executive director of Republican Women for Progress.

Why the disenchantment with the GOP? No surprises here: experts say that the recent shift likely has everything to do with abortion. After all, 71 percent of young women say that abortion should be legal in most or all cases.

Young women did have a big increase in voting Democratic even though they normally are more Democratic, says William Frey, a senior fellow with Brookings Metro who analyzed exit polls from the 2022 midterm. I think you can chalk that up, to some degree, to the abortion issue.

The huge turnout we saw this past midterm is a direct result of the rollback of freedoms related directly to abortion, says Jessica Herrera, the communications and marketing director for Supermajority, a left-leaning organization that aims to up womens participation in elections.

So how does the GOP hope to remedy this ideological divide before November 2024? Conservative CNN commentator Alice Stewart thinks that Republicans need to change how they talk about abortion, without necessarily changing their policies.

I fought really hard for overturning Roe v. Wade, and Im extremely pro-life and unapologetically pro-life, Stewart tells Women Rule.

I also acknowledged that it has been a double-edged sword because that issue has motivated pro-abortion voters. This obviously is an issue that is important for younger voters, women voters, and we need to make sure that they understand that abortion isnt the only option.

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL), one of the youngest women in Congress, echoed that sentiment. As she sees it, the GOP needs to make sure that pregnant women have support systems in place so they dont need an abortion in the first place.

Being pro-life is not just being pro-life in the womb. Its being pro-life after the fact, says Cammack, who serves as the Bipartisan Congressional Pro-Life Caucus co-chair.

All too often, she says, some political personalities oversimplify the issue.

Theres so many times women feel like they dont have options or resources. So youve really seen in the last several years, a significant push for additional resources for crisis pregnancy centers really looking to support adoption and fostering initiatives. (Crisis pregnancy centers have become something of a rallying point for Democrats, who argue theyre often misleading about their mission.)

Cammack also notes young women are not a monolith and that they care about a plurality of issues outside of abortion. For the longest time, the GOP has treated women like single issue voters, she says.

Karoline Leavitt, who became the first Republican Gen Z congressional nominee during her unsuccessful 2022 bid to unseat Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.), agrees that the GOP needs to lean into a variety of other issues that she believes will motivate young women.

She names crime and economic issues as two hard hitters. Women want good paying jobs, too. We dont want to be unable to afford our groceries or our gas bills. We want safety in our communities.

Eileen Sobjack, president of the National Federation of Republican Women, tells Women Rule she thinks the key might be in getting more young women into positions of power in the GOP which she hopes will encourage other young women to join the party.

We need more women of all ages. We need that perspective. Sobjack said. We need more of them running and in Congress and in the Senate.

In addition to not having any women represented in the field besides Nikki Haley, [the GOP] is still not addressing any issues women are dealing with, says Lim of Republican Women for Progress.

So if youre a younger woman, and youre watching this presidential election, theres still nothing to attract you to the Republican Party.

But even pushing for more women in politics is controversial among the partys most conservative faction. At Turning Point USAs annual Young Womens Leadership Summit in June, conservative podcast host Alex Clark, who is a woman herself, said that politics should not be a priority right now for conservative women. Women, she said, would be happier if they would go back to biblical roots and what God had designed for women to do.

Clarence Thomas, Ketanji Brown Jackson air sharp disagreement on race in America, by Josh Gerstein for POLITICO: Jacksons 28-page dissent defended the use of race-conscious programs to ameliorate the pervasive, present-day effects of Americas history of state-sponsored racism.

New York Dems put abortion on the ballot in bid to retake the House, by Brittany Gibson for POLITICO: Left-leaning New York groups pledged $20 million Thursday to support a change to the New York State constitution to protect abortion rights that will be on the 2024 ballot something they believe will boost turnout for Democrats in key swing House districts..

Harris on the hot seat: Veep has critical stretch ahead as campaign heats up, by Eugene Daniels for POLITICO.

Michelle Obama speaks about how affirmative action personally affected her college life, by Lucy Hodgman for POLITICO.

Read more here.

David Zalubowski/AP Photo

Migrant women find work building New York, their adopted city, by Stefanos Chen and Ana Ley for the New York Times: Attracted by the prospect of steadier work and better pay, more migrant women are entering the male-dominated construction industry, social service providers said, at a time when the city is struggling to accommodate tens of thousands of asylum seekers.

Women Interviewing for Bill Gatess Private Office Were Asked Sexually Explicit Questions, by Khadeeja Safdar and Emily Glazer for the Wall Street Journal.

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act is a game changer for U.S. women. Heres why, by Megan Cerullo for CBS News: Starting Tuesday, millions of U.S. workers will gain vastly expanded protections under a new law that bars employers from discriminating against pregnant women and requires companies to provide accommodations so they can keep doing their jobs while theyre expecting.

Women in Leadership Face Ageism at Every Age, by Amy Diehl, Leanne M. Dzubinski, and Amber L. Stephenson for Harvard Business Review.

Read more here.

Marta Hansen is now a national program manager at Power the Polls. She most recently ran national partnerships for Power the Polls and was Assistant Dean of the Womens Community Center at Stanford University.

Cecilia Rouse will be president of Brookings. She currently is a Katzman-Ernst professor in economics and education at Princeton University and is a Biden White House alum.

Karla McKanders is joining the Thurgood Marshall Institute as director. She previously was a professor for critical race theory and immigration law at Vanderbilt University Law School.

Kelley Hudak is now director of federal relations at the American Petroleum Institute. She most recently was director of government affairs at Tyson Foods and is a Steve Scalise alum (h/t Playbook.)

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Republicans have a young woman problem - POLITICO - POLITICO

By Isabel Vander Stoep / isabel@chronline.com

The Lewis County Republican Party on Monday voted unanimously to cut ties with and vehemently denounce district 2 county Commissioner Lindsey Pollock, who was elected as a Republican in 2020.

Party Chairman Brandon Svenson said more than 30 people participated in the vote on whether or not to censure Pollock at the partys meeting on Monday. According to the U.S. Senate, the decision to censure a politician, while not as severe as expulsion, signals denouncement or condemnation.

The vote, according to a news release from Wednesday, means the party will not support Pollock if she runs for re-election. It came after a string of events spurred by a Lewis County Pride event in downtown Centralia on June 10, where a group of self-proclaimed white supremacists came and harassed event attendees.

The same day, party leaders set up a booth in downtown Chehalis, not far from where McFilers Chehalis Theater was hosting a drag show.

Lewis County Republican Party officials insist they have no connection with the white supremacist group. Pollock made a statement in a county meeting a few days later, drawing comparisons between the two groups behaviors and said both were set out to intimidate a minority group.

Svenson said the partys booth was meant to get signatures for an initiative to overturn a recently-passed Senate bill that creates confidentiality between shelters and transgender children leaving home to seek gender-affirming care the legislation has been heavily criticized for taking away parents rights.

Pollock later said she supported the initiative, too, but reprimanded the partys venue choice and one members decision to take photos of drag show attendees.

In public comment at a county meeting the following week, while demanding an apology from Pollock, party leaders suggested it was inappropriate that kids ages 13 and older, if accompanied by an adult, were allowed in the drag show.

During that meeting, Svenson asked Pollock to attend the July 3 meeting for discussion with the party. She told The Chronicle she was unable to attend due to previous obligations for an Independence Day celebration.

The Lewis County Republicans news release stated the vote to censure her came from her use of extremist language to describe the Republican Party and its leadership. This language is not reflective of the values and principles that our party stands for.

Though she was elected as a Republican, the news release claims Pollock has consistently failed to uphold our party's principles, values and the will of our constituents in Lewis County. Pollock has proven time and again that her beliefs and actions are incongruent with the true spirit of our party.

In an emailed response on Wednesday morning, Pollock wrote in part: I do not believe the opinion of a small group of extremists is representative of the fair-mindedness of the majority of Republicans nor the vast majority of voters in Lewis County.

For future county, district and statewide elections, Pollock said, the future of the Republican Party hinges on rejecting extremism on both ends of the scale.

One year ago, the county Republican party faced turmoil within the walls of its meetings, where some wanted to remove Svenson from the position of chairman. A few years ago, he held a sign at a county meeting, presumably aimed at Pollock, which read RINO, or Republican in Name-Only.

Since, though, the county saw a record number of Precinct Committee Officer elections. Meant to serve as community liaisons for the party, the officers also make up the committee which votes on matters such as Mondays censure.

We can unite and prosper, or divide and fail, Pollock wrote. The choice stands before us. As for me, I shall continue working to build a prosperous future for Lewis County.

On the other hand, the party likewise doubled down.

The news release called Pollocks speech a betrayal, later stating: Our commitment remains unwaveringly dedicated to promoting and electing genuine Republicans who will truly represent our morals, platform, values, and the interests of the people of Lewis County.

Editors note: The Chronicle erroneously printed that the Lewis County Pride event was on June 8 in a previous story.

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Lewis County Republicans Vote to Cut Ties With Commissioner ... - Centralia Chronicle

Schumer acknowledged he was rushing to lock in the project before the 2024 elections. With this money in hand, Schumer said, even if Democrats lose control of the Senate and Donald Trump or another Republican hostile to the project becomes president, the money cannot easily be taken back and the $17 billion tunnel project will survive. To rescind federal grant money would require a supermajority in Congress, something that Schumer said will not happen.

During the Trump administration, the president suggested he might support the project if Schumer would help him build a wall across the Mexican border an obvious no-go for Democrats at the time. Now, though, there are some signs that Republicans have moved on from trying to kill the project and instead are focused on containing its costs. Still, supporters of the tunnels on both sides of the Hudson are breathing a sigh of relief after months of anxiety about when the money would come.

Already, there are some cost overruns, though Schumer and others have blamed them on delays during Trumps time in office.

New York and New Jersey may have to pony up several billion dollars apiece to build the project, though officials are trying to get more federal money to lower each states share of the projects total costs. Construction on the tunnels themselves will begin next summer, though some needed construction along the shores of the Hudson River is happening this year.

Schumer has nurtured the project for years, along with some New Jersey officials like Sen. Bob Menendez, a fellow Democrat. Together, they brought the tunnel project back to life after New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie killed off a prior version of it a decade ago.

President Joe Biden, widely known for his love and use of trains, is a major supporter of the Gateway suite of projects and money for the tunnels comes from a bipartisan infrastructure law.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called Schumer on Thursday to congratulate him about the money. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who also supports the project, said in a statement that the money marked a pivotal benchmark.

According to the bi-state Gateway Development Commission, which is overseeing the project, the $6.88 billion will come in the form of Federal Transit Administration capital investment grants. The commission also expects to receive about $4 billion from other federal grants.

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$7 billion for Hudson River tunnels locks in project beyond ... - POLITICO

As Yevgeny Prigozhins mutiny in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, began on June 23, Russian military police in Syria apprehended at least four of the Wagner Groups top leaders and flew them to the Hmeimim air base on the countrys west coast as a precautionary measure. Multiple sources told Foreign Policy via messages over an encrypted messaging app that all were still being kept at a closed facility at Hmeimim; however, no public indication of their whereabouts has yet been made.

Home to several thousand Russian soldiers and contractors, Hmeimim is Russias command and control center in Syria and the logistics headquarters for all Wagner operations abroad.

With its two large landing strips, it is the largest Russian facility outside the former Soviet Union capable of servicing and refueling heavy aircraft transporting large quantities of weapons and personnel. Wagner flights to Libya, Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and even Venezuela depart from Hmeimim via Russian defense ministry aircraft before arriving at their final destinations. Should the Kremlin deny Wagner access to this facility, Prigozhins global empire would grind to a halt.

As in Russia itselfwhere the police and Federal Security Service have raided the groups headquarters and shut down its subsidiariesWagners leaders in Hmeimim have reportedly been given an ultimatum to sign new contracts with the defense ministry or return home. However, following years of attrition within the ranks of Russias proxies in Syria, Wagner forces form one of the core components of whats left protecting Moscows interests in the country, granting Prigozhin significant leverage that will likely delay an abrupt dismantling of his influence.

Currently, Wagner has between 1,000 and 2,000 troops deployed in Syria, who sit at the center of a much larger network of more than 10,000 local private military contractors who help guard oil, gas, and phosphate infrastructure in the countrys desert.

Wagner pays Syrian private military contractors in part from the revenues generated from these facilities, most of which are owned or operated by companies linked to Gennady Timchenkoone of Russian President Vladimir Putins closest confidants who experts claim has overseen the latters personal wealthand Wagner shell companies.

As Russia is one of the worlds largest energy and commodities exporters, revenues earned from Syrias natural resources are negligible to the Russian state. However, for Syrias regime, they are a desperately needed source of foreign currency, and Moscows control over them grants Russia leverage that it can use to ensure that Damascus does not renege on its geostrategic commitments to the Kremlin in any postwar scenario.

These commitments include preserving Russias right to use Hmeimim as a launching pad to project power in Africa and, more importantly, to dock nuclear-capable vessels in Syrias Tartus port. The latter has been one of Moscows greatest geostrategic achievements since the 1970s and enables Russia to project nuclear deterrence along NATOs southern flank.

Regardless as to what individual Wagner leaders decide, ensuring that Russia retains leverage over Damascus means securing the loyalty of the thousands of Syrian private military contractors whom Prigozhin commands. Any pause or reduction in incentives for these forces caused by confusion in Moscow will be seized on by Russias main rival, Iran, which could offer these fighters weapons and better pay.

Despite partnering to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Russia and Iran have been viciously at odds in Syria since 2017. In 2018, their proxies had violent clashes over control of Syrias phosphate reserves and have continued to battle over other strategic assets.

This struggle to protect its position has worn on Moscow, particularly as its hopes for a political solution to the conflict have fallen flat; Russian companies would likely earn a massive windfall if sanctions on Syria were lifted and Putin has exerted pressure on Assad for years to ensure this. But such a resolution and an injection of Western development aid have failed to materialize.

By 2021, Russia began to cut support to many of its proxies in parts of the country it no longer viewed as strategic, many of which switched their loyalty to Iran to replace lost salaries. This process accelerated following Moscows February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The rapid normalization seen in recent months between the Assad regime and Arab League states is itself a last-resort strategy by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan to contain Iran after accepting that Russia may no longer possess the means to do so.

Currently, Wagner mercenaries and their network of contractors at oil and gas sites across Syria are one of several core components of whats left of Russias bare-bones occupation. Supported in part by an independent and sustainable revenue stream, they have so far proved largely resistant to Irans overtures.

However, should another pillar in Putins regime fall, that could change, with Wagners Syrian mercenaries following the same path as many other former Russian proxies. Examples abound.

In April 2021, Russia ignored requests for support from a tribal-backed militia fighting U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria. After being defeated and expelled from their homes, tribal fighters opened their doors to Iran, which flew in large quantities of heavy weapons and equipment and replaced the groups lost salaries.

The Syrian Armys 8th Brigade was once Russias most loyal unit within the armed forces in southern Syria. However, by late 2021, Moscow became frustrated with its failure to send sufficient troops to fight the Islamic State and halved the groups salaries. By 2022, it ceased contact altogether, and now the 8th Brigade fights for Syrias Military Intelligence Directorate, one of Irans most powerful proxies and which is heavily implicated in regional drug trafficking alongside Hezbollah and other groups.

Similarly, in July 2022, National Defense Forces militias in eastern Deir Ezzor led by Hassan al-Ghadban broke with Moscow after the latter failed to pay their salaries for six months. The group shortly after merged with the 4th Division, one of Syrias top elite Iranian-backed units led by Maher al-Assadbrother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assadwhich sits at the top of Syrias drug trade.

Should Russia lose the loyalty of Syrian mercenaries guarding the countrys energy infrastructure, Moscow would no longer be able to guarantee that it could continue coercing Assad to allow the Kremlin to use Syrian territory to threaten NATO and expand throughout Africa.

Following the defeat of the Islamic State in 2018, Russia undertook an aggressive campaign to overhaul and reform Syrias decrepit military, which Moscow hoped to partner with as its main client in a postwar scenario. Syrian generals who spoke Russian were promoted and purged hundreds of senior officers, seized weapons and military IDs from Iranian-backed militias, and arrested their financiers.

The program provoked a wave of violence against Russian forces and their proxies by Iranian-backed groups that refused to disarm and instead accelerated their infiltration of Syrias institutions.

By 2020, Russia had given up. Limited by the economic contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its failure to achieve any semblance of order, Russias defense ministry scaled back its efforts and turned to its own network of private military contractors to build an irregular force to manage its now narrowly defined interests.

This shift was hastened by Russias belligerent stance toward Turkey, whose proxies Moscow fought two separate conflicts with in 2020, creating an urgent need for new recruits. Between December 2019 and August 2020, Wagner recruited thousands of Syrian mercenaries through more than a dozen private security firms to fight in Libya against the Turkish-backed government alongside renegade warlord Khalifa Haftar.

During the fighting, Wagner seized control of two large oil fields and export facilities and a petrochemical complexkey leverage that the group has used to selectively manipulate energy markets by imposing blockades. During the same period, Wagner-backed militias took part in a shorter conflict against Turkish-backed rebels in Syrias Idlib province that resulted in large territorial gains for the Assad regime.

Following these campaigns, Russia was soon forced to mobilize again, this time against the Islamic State in central Syria. In the eight months from August 2020 to March 2021, the group exploded out of remote parts of the desert and killed more than 460 soldiers and civilians and injured hundreds more. The majority of attacks were concentrated around the countrys gas-processing plants and oil fields, an attempt by the Islamic State to extort payment from the companies that managed their production.

The Islamic States attacks posed a direct threat to Russias core interest, and Moscow exhausted all options in response. The private military contractors used to recruit Syrians to fight in Libya were revived across the country, with recruits trained in Suqaylabiyah, a large Orthodox Christian town on the outskirts of the desert where Russia has recruited its most loyal mercenaries. Russias defense ministry issued an ultimatum to loyal units within the Syrian Army: Send fighters, or stop receiving salaries.

Lastly, for the first time since 2017, Russian units fighting in the desert partnered with Iranian proxies including Afghan Shiite militias. For the first three months of 2021, this combined force supported by Russian air power bombarded the Islamic State, driving many of its fighters to Iraq or Kurdish-controlled parts of northeastern Syria.

Now, preserving this network of mercenaries built up throughout 2020 is key to ensuring the smooth running of Syrias energy and phosphate reserves, which has since become Russias main priority. Iran has meanwhile seized the opportunity to chip away at Moscows faltering facade and pick off former proxies that the Kremlin can no longer afford to patronize.

Wagner forces and the Syrians they contract are mercenaries and by definition fight for material gain. Some, such as Orthodox Christians in Suqaylabiyah and neighboring towns, either feel some affinity with Russia or view it as a bulwark against encroaching Iranian Shiite sectarianism. However, should Moscow pull the rug entirely from under Prigozhin, all of Wagners proxies will be forced to make practical decisions.

Of the four Wagner leaders in Syria detained late last month, two were based in Hmeimim, one in Damascus, one in the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor, and the last in Suqaylabiyah. Should their detention drag out, the Christians of Suqaylabiyah and other groups may find themselves on the receiving end of enticing Iranian offers.

Iran may also soon be in a better position to make such offers. Following months of quiet negotiations, in late June the United States resumed indirect talks with Tehran to explore relaunching the nuclear deal or replacing it with an interim agreement. As a measure of good faith, the United States recently agreed to unfreeze and release $2.7 billion of debt from Iraq to Iranian banks. Tehran has similarly requested that $7 billion in South Korean debt frozen by sanctions be released, offering to free detained U.S. citizens in exchange.

However, Russias current weak position may delay any brash steps to rein in Prigozhins position in Syria. Russias occupation is not driven by profit-seeking, and allowing Prigozhin to continue reaping a modest fortune is a small price to pay to ensure Moscows presence on the Mediterranean is kept intact. Should it do the opposite, the Kremlin risks creating a gap that Irans proxies would soon step in to exploit.

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In Syria, Russia Is Losing Ground to Iran After Wagner Rebellion - Foreign Policy

Both of these incidents occurred in international waters.

At 1 a.m. local time, one Iranian naval vessel approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. The Iranian vessel departed the scene when U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul (DDG 74) arrived on station. Additionally, the U.S. Navy deployed surveillance assets, including MQ-9 Reaper and P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft.

Approximately three hours later, the U.S. Navy received a distress call from Bahamian-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager while the ship was more than 20 miles off the coast of Muscat, Oman, and transiting international waters toward the Arabian Sea. Another Iranian naval vessel had closed within one mile of Richmond Voyager while hailing the commercial tanker to stop.

McFaul directed course toward Richmond Voyager at maximum speed as the merchant tanker continued its transit. Prior to McFauls arrival on scene, Iranian personnel fired multiple, long bursts from both small arms and crew-served weapons. Richmond Voyager sustained no casualties or significant damage. However, several rounds hit the ships hull near crew living spaces. The Iranian navy vessel departed when McFaul arrived.

In May, the United States increased the rotation of ships and aircraft patrolling the Strait of Hormuz with partners following an uptick in Iranian merchant vessel seizures. The increased force presence supports multinational efforts under the International Maritime Security Construct and bilaterally with partner nations to deter threats to commercial shipping and reassure regional mariners.

I couldnt be prouder of the entire [U.S. Naval Forces Central Command] team, especially the exceptional effort by the McFaul crew, for immediately responding and preventing another seizure, said Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces. We remain vigilant and ready to protect navigational rights in these critical waters.

Since 2021, Iran has harassed, attacked or seized nearly 20 internationally flagged merchant vessels, presenting a clear threat to regional maritime security and the global economy.

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U.S. Prevents Iran from Seizing Two Merchant Tankers in Gulf of Oman - navy.mil