As expected, Trump-appointed Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk anointed himself supreme arbiter of women’s reproductive healthcare in a ruling that withdrew FDA approval for mifepristone, a medication abortion option that has been used safely for more than two decades. Kacsmaryk, a religious fanatic who lacks the clinical training to make such a judgment, made it anyway.
Mark Joseph Stern at Slate lays out what’s at stake:
His order, which applies nationwide, marks the first time in history that a court has claimed the authority to single-handedly pull a drug from the market, a power that courts do not, in fact, have. Kacsmaryk’s ruling is indefensible from top to bottom and will go down in history as one of the judiciary’s most shocking and lawless moments. It goes even further than expected, raising the possibility that he will impose “fetal personhood,” which holds that every state must ban abortion because it murders a human…
Through the combination of Comstock Act enforcement and fetal personhood, Kacsmaryk is laying the groundwork for a federal ban on abortion imposed through the courts. He knows such a ban could never be enacted through the democratic process. So he is apparently intent on delivering it through the judiciary, instead.
On the same evening Kacsmaryk appointed himself Chief Medical Officer of Women, Judge Thomas Rice in Washington State ruled in a separate case, ordering the FDA to continue providing mifepristone. In that case, 18 jurisdictions sued to remove FDA restrictions on the drug.
Stern says the Biden admin will probably appeal both rulings but hopes they will ask the SCOTUS for an emergency stay because the appeals court that will take up the case is also stocked with anti-abortion fanatics who are likely to uphold Kacsmaryk’s decision.
Here’s President Biden’s reaction to the news (via Twitter):
Today, a federal district judge in Texas ruled that a prescription medication available for over 22 years, approved by the FDA, and used safely by millions of women should no longer be approved in the U.S.
Here’s why this matters. And how my Administration is going to fight it.
What’s more – the court in this case has substituted its judgment for FDA, the expert agency that approves drugs.
That means if this ruling were to stand, there would be virtually no prescription approved by the FDA safe from this kind of attack.
We’re going to fight it.
The Attorney General has announced @TheJusticeDept will file an appeal and seek an immediate stay of the decision.
And Congress must restore the protections of Roe v. Wade.
@VP and I are committed to protecting a woman’s right to an abortion. Period.
Of course, Biden knows the current Congress won’t protect women’s healthcare, but a new Congress might if the Dems win a trifecta next year. Most pundits would have dismissed that possibility as a pipedream given the terrible Senate map, etc. But with elected and unelected Republicans gleefully consigning half the population to second-class citizenship and substandard healthcare, who knows?
Stern thinks the SCOTUS will intervene sooner rather than later due to the contradictory rulings from Texas and Washington State, as Dave noted last night, and also to avoid an escalation if the admin agrees with Democrats who are urging the FDA to simply ignore Kacsmaryk’s ruling.
Stern says the FedSoc Six can now prove they weren’t lying when they overturned Roe to “leave the issue to ‘the people and their representatives’ rather than unelected judges.”
I have no idea what they’ll do, but I’m pretty sure if the GOP operatives on the Supreme Court punt instead of taking the maximalist anti-choice position, it will be politics that stays their hand, not judicial restraint. They showed us who they are a long time ago.
Open thread.
Suzanne
I could have some fun with this. If I was a shitty person.
Betty Cracker
@Suzanne: Yep. Sorry about your boner pills, Harlan Crow!
Baud
Womb raider.
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: My thought exactly !
New Deal democrat
I read somewhere that the Texas judge also ruled that the entire advisory body system used by the FDA was an unconstitutional delegation of power, meaning no approval by the FDA of any drug is permissible until a new law is passed and all appointments are approved by the Congress. So they are really swinging for the fences.
The only silver linings I see here are that people will be even more resolutely incensed about their very personal freedoms being taken away by unelected, virtually unremovable judges, and take action both to restore their freedoms and to rein in the power of the judiciary.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
His rational on standing was beyond tortured, not to mention the absence of anything approaching procedural due process.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
His rationale on standing was beyond tortured, not to mention the absence of anything approaching procedural due process.
Eolirin
@Betty Cracker: Get some Christian Scientist judge to declare all medication an afront to God and overturn every authorization.
BellyCat
Young voters will surely see the benefits of this and deliver a jaw-dropping red wave for total GOP control in 2024. //
Kay
Here’s another place to donate if people want. A provider in New Mexico.
New Mexico is important because you have to think of this in terms of a map -logistics- so someone in Ohio (borders PA and MI and a short trip to Illinois, depending) would be in much better shape than someone in Texas as far as getting to a state with modern, best practices health care.
It’s why the flights are so important. Lower income women in Texas can’t just up and leave the state for three days- they have work and they have other children to care for – a flight out of a small airport gets them out and back quickly.
I’m looking at Florida and it seems to me that will also be a tough state to get lower income women out to care and back- distances, and 11 million women. That’s a big job.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Kacsmaryk is the same asshole that said that student debt can’t be relieved – with another goofy view of standing.
Fucker should have to hire a food tester and a person to sweep his car for IEDs every time he starts it.
Kay
Looks like it’s Virginia for Florida women. Closest.
Another Scott
@New Deal democrat:
And the RWNJs on the SCOTUS will be happy to see that!
Before the big WV vs. EPA case last year there were similar noises that the SCOTUS wanted to destroy the administrative powers of the federal government (by saying that Congress has to effectively explicitly approve everything that the administration does). And they did:
The RWNJs are relentless in things like this, and they make crap up (and give themselves super legislative powers) to get the outcome they want.
Fight for 15!!
[eta:] Just recently there was news of new proposed regulations to restrict mercury and similar emissions from coal plants. It may be a way to get back on the path of phasing out coal (and reducing CO2 emissions).
Grr…,
Scott.
Snarki, child of Loki
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: “Fucker should have to hire a food tester and a person to sweep his car for IEDs every time he starts it.”
A prime candidate for post-natal abortion, it’s true.
Kay
Quinerly
So glad to see that Slate article front-paged. I thought it was the best concise read on where we were last night.
Looks like Clarence’s buddy has a thing for Hitler and dictators. Maybe this is nothing and the guy just likes to collect stuff. Mighty weird, imo. Especially the Garden of Evil:
“I still can’t get over the collection of Nazi memorabilia,” says one person who attended an event at Crow’s home a few years ago and asked to remain anonymous. “It would have been helpful to have someone explain the significance of all the items. Without that context, you sort of just gasp when you walk into the room.” One memorable aspect was the paintings: “something done by George W. Bush next to a Norman Rockwell next to one by Hitler.” They also said it was “startling” and “strange” to see the dictator sculptures in the backyard.
https://www.washingtonian.com/2023/04/07/clarence-thomass-billionaire-benefactor-collects-hitler-artifacts/
Quinerly
@Baud:
Good one!
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: Boner pills? Hell with that. Old Republicans on a pharmacy worth of drugs should be careful. I’ll fuck with their stool softeners and their Prilosec and their heart meds.
Quinerly
I must help today on JoJo’s side yard. The fake turf arrived yesterday. They tell me the roll weighs over 700 lbs. A forklift lifted it over the fence with much fanfare. It’s 15ft wide. Plus, we want to get thru a pallet of flagstones today.
With that said, I can’t mainline BJ, politics, and social media today. Hoping my sinuses are cleared and I am back to working more, commenting less, and lurking more hrs after posts are dead.
Here’s a morning Reuters article on the leaked documents. I was trying to get up to speed last night and was feeling overwhelmed. Have a great day, Jackals!
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/russia-likely-behind-us-military-document-leak-us-officials-say-2023-04-07/
Kay
@New Deal democrat:
I agree about reforming the federal judiciary. At this point they’re just telling us to fuck off, so we might get some public anger building towards reform. They discredit themselves.
Clarence Thomas doesn’t even bother to come up with a remotely credible story to hide his corruption:
M31
how’s about commandeer some oligarch yachts and make them into floating abortion spas off the Florida coast
bbleh
@Suzanne: @Betty Cracker: @MagdaInBlack: hahahaha never in a million years of course.
Somewhat amusingly, Viagra, which technically is approved only for a specific and relatively rare medical condition, was originally being tested to treat high blood pressure. It turned out to have some effect but not much, but some bright spark happened to notice during Phase I testing (which typically is conducted only in men) an unusually high incidence of “tenting.”
@New Deal democrat: @BellyCat: I actually hope something along the same lines. There will be terrible short-term consequences of course, and even if this particular effort comes to naught the theocratic war on reproductive rights will continue unabated, but I expect the ruling will be at least stayed indefinitely and likely overturned mostly or entirely, and it’s yet another huge red flag that will keep Dems — and especially women and younger voters — engaged and energized.
Geminid
@Kay: Virginia will be safe for abortion rights through this year. With the addition of State Senator Aaron Rouse,* Senator L. Louise Lucas has a solid 20-18 majority to block anti-choice legislation. This makes Democratic success in the upcoming General Assembly elections all the more imperative.
* Aaron Rouse recently flipped a Virginia Beach Senate seat in a special election. The seat was vacated by Rep. Jen Kiggans after she won the 2nd CD race against Rep. Elaine Luria.
Geminid
@Quinerly: I hope everying goes down ok. That’s fun and satisfying work as long as you don’t do too much at once.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Florida falling to the anti-choice zealots really scrambled the map for women in the Deep South. This was where they came to get healthcare.
I’m trying to figure out the best way I can help women in Florida when the governor bans abortion. I love a road trip and would volunteer to drive people who need reproductive healthcare, but like you said, many don’t have time to travel that far by car.
PS: Speaking of flights, what do you know about Elevated Access? I ran across this NPR article about them when trying to figure out ways to pitch in.
New Deal democrat
@Another Scott: It’s worth re-posting a couple of paragraphs from Brutus, the anti-Federalist who accurately foresaw in 1787 the power that the courts would arrogate to themselves:
“ When great and extraordinary powers are vested in any man, or body of men, which in their exercise, may operate to the oppression of the people, it is of high importance that powerful checks should be formed to prevent the abuse of it.”
[snip]
“ It is … of great importance, to examine with care the nature and extent of the judicial power, because those who are to be vested with it, are to be placed in a situation altogether unprecedented in a free country. They are to be rendered totally independent, both of the people and the legislature, both with respect to their offices and salaries. No errors they may commit can be corrected by any power above them, if any such power there be, nor can they be removed from office for making ever so many erroneous adjudications….The only causes for which they can be displaced, is, conviction of treason, bribery, and high crimes and misdemeanors.”
[snip]
“ [T]hey will be interested in using this latitude of interpretation. Every body of men invested with office are tenacious of power; … this of itself will operate strongly upon the courts to give such a meaning to the constitution in all cases where it can possibly be done, as will enlarge the sphere of their own authority. ….
“This power in the judicial, will enable them to mould the government, into almost any shape they please.”
It was to these criticisms by Brutus that Hamilton replied in Federalist #78 that the judiciary would be “the least dangerous branch” because it would be headed by old men who wouldn’t last long individually, and would be increasingly hemmed in by precedent, i.e., “stare decisis.”
NotMax
@Quinerly
What, no slabs of pennies?
;)
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@bbleh:
The Catholic Church in the Republic of Ireland held a powerful sway over every aspect of society until people came to the widespread and inescapable knowledge of what it did in the orphanages. It was overreach that led to the conduct, and overreach in the coverup – and a normally complacent Irish populace punished them over it.
Given the reports of a precipitous decline in the percentage of Americans who claim religious affiliation with organized bodies, we could be seeing a kind of nadir developing here. Maybe one which occurs in my lifetime.
”Let’s be even bigger assholes! Yeah, that’s how we’ll do it – we’ll use our residual outsized levels of economic and political power to force people to agree with us, and they’ll happily join in and come along”.
Another Scott
@New Deal democrat: On point, that Brutus guy.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
MomSense
@M31:
Boat parade!
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Betty Cracker:
I’m thinking 12 mile boats, foreign flagged, operating off the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to be a likely approach for Florida.
Maybe operate them under the auspices of Doctors Without Borders or some similar organization.
ETA – Well shit – somebody beat me to it.
NotMax
@eputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Disney experienced in doing cruises.
Just sayin’.
Baud
Isn’t Bermuda very close to Florida? They’re civilized, right?
pat
What about Walgreens deciding that they would no longer dispense mifepristone? I thought this was because the company that provides it would no longer do so.
Immanentize
@New Deal democrat: I am a big fan of reading the Anti-Federalists in conjunction with the Federalist Papers. Besides “Brutus,” I particularly like “Cato’s” takes (he was likely Gov. Clinton from NY who, among other things, was staunchly anti-death penalty.) The Antis really predicted much of the troubles today, although I think the federalists had the better arguments about central government structure in the end. Chief Justice Marshall — federalist –would have had no time for Calhoun’s states rights, interposition bullshit.
RaflW
@Another Scott: The Scotus Six of course were looking for any peg to hang their hampering of the administrative state. But to some extent, the Court has an argument here.
Over the past several decades, Congress has become less and less effective, and much less willing to do their work (and yes, the GOP likes it that way – but this critique is broader than that).
Sure, some big lifts like the ACA or the recent Infrastructure bill get passed. But members of Congress across the board have been relatively happy to not have to pass bills addressing big new questions if the various Admins can find rulemaking solutions or E.O.s to do the job more quickly.
There’s fundraising parties to attend! And TV hits to sit for! Lobbyist dinners. Flights back to the district to not even bother having town halls at. All so exhausting.
All that said, the radicals including Roberts cannot be trusted not to take a reckless swipe at FDA.
Another Scott
ICYMI, some good news from another federak court – this time in Chicago. Reuters (from April 7):
Good, good.
Note he resigned in 2018 and the ruling just came yesterday. 5 years. We’re going to be dealing with these lawsuits for a while. We’ve got to keep fighting them every single day.
Cheers,
Scott.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Baud:
You’re thinking of Bimini. Bermuda is far, far off.
Immanentize
@pat: walgreens said that, then went back on that position when the Federal Govt suggested sub-silencio that their license to dispense drugs might be yanked.
Baud
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Yes, I got Bermuda and the Bahamas mixed up.
bbleh
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: I think a lot of them don’t care a bit whether other people agree with them or what other people think of them, so long as they obey. And I think a lot of them believe they are Doing God’s Work™ and so if they suffer criticism and dislike, well, that just makes them even more like Jesus! And of course, many believe both.
Baud
@Immanentize:
I hadn’t heard of the retreat.
Go Dark Brandon!
Kay
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Mexico beat the Catholic Church grip too:
Compliance with the law is spotty though- the Church pressures local lawmakers to ignore the law. Because of course they do. Rules for you but not for me!
With the exception of Poland, the US is alone among North American and European countries in going backward on womens rights. The fear is the US is such a behemoth it will spread and there will be international roll backs.
Betty Cracker
Never mind.
Another Scott
@pat:
Walgreens is pushing back on the bad press they got on mifepristone. Walgreens.com:
They say that no major retail pharmacy has been approved to distribute it under the new FDA program yet.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Immanentize
@RaflW: This is so true! The most obvious place is in Immigration. Controlling immigration is a derivative of the listed power of Congress to regulate naturalization. It is right there in Article I, Sec. 8. (Also some other powers imply immigration too).
But it is more convenient, after having created Homeland Security, ICE and CBP to whine endlessly that the President is failing us!! Get off your asses (and FOX) and write some laws.
pat
@Immanentize:
I did not know that, thanks. Already moved all my prescriptions to the pharmacy associated with my medical providers. (Also a bit more convenient to access.)
Quinerly
@Geminid:
I have been down for the count since Wed. Sinuses, migraine. Have a history of sinus problems but haven’t been in this shape for years. Miguel worked hard yesterday. Day off from his regular job. Then changed his Saturday around to come back today because he felt like he was on a roll. Didn’t want the project to sit a week. I have to pull myself together and at least be involved some today. The digging is done. That’s what screwed me up…dust, dirt, NM wind, juniper. Thanks for all your kind and encouraging words.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Just checked – abortion is illegal in the Bahamas, legal in Cuba, legal up to 22 weeks in Puerto Rico (avoids the passport problem).
In Mexico, it is a patchwork – Oaxaca, Hidalgo, Veracruz, Coahuila, Colima, Baja California, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Baja California Sur and Quintana Roo all allow it.
NotMax
@Baud
Time was there was a push to rename it Bahamaland.
Thankfully that landed with a resounding thud.
Kay
@pat:
I did that too because I got tired of trying to figure out which pharmacies are bad for women. I don’t know why I didn’t do it sooner. It’s easier and so far the prices are the same. They have it ready by the time I leave the appointment, where CVS took some weird unexplained 9 hours for a 4 dollar generic they sell a ton of.
Matt McIrvin
@bbleh:
Why? The current scuttlebutt is that the circuit court will uphold it, at least in the effect of banning mifepristone; why wouldn’t the current Supreme Court majority? It’s the kind of thing that might have been a 5-4 against before Trump’s last couple of appointments.
Immanentize
@Quinerly: i get it: “on a roll!”
Snerk
tobie
To think that these rightwing hacks droned on for years on end that liberals “legislate from the bench.” We’ve never seen more activist courts than those owned by the Federal Society and its corporate donors.
I place the blame for this squarely on John Roberts’s shoulders. The whole ‘major questions’ doctrine has been revived under his watch and he hoped he could maintain the country-club air of respectability by deferring to the legislature — a legislature he allowed, if not encouraged, to be gerrymandered to ensure Republican rule till kingdom come. My, my how offended he gets when he’s called out for what he is: a partisan hack in black robes.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Must be getting close to move out time for you?
Helluva complex and enervating undertaking.
Quinerly
@NotMax:
No!
That project ended over a year ago in my old house in St. Louis. I lived in that house 30 years. Then I early retired 1/2020 to travel and Covid Times changed my life like so many other’s. Changed me so much that I decided to change up my life and sold that house to another attorney…she loved everything I did in that basement apt that I built and loved the rest of the house too. I barely got that floor done to get it on the market. $350 in pennies. I forget now the sq ft. Walked out on 4/12/2022 and haven’t looked back.
Swore that there was nothing I would change about this Santa Fe house…but my little all grown up Pandemic Puppy really needs his own yard. House here has a divided yard and this is working out great once I finish. SW exposure, so I get a winter patio over there and JoJo las Orejas gets to romp on fake grass with his “chicas” who visit and siesta under the pinions. Win Win!
Lapassionara
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: This! To someone with a law degree, his reasoning on standing is completely absurd. Many of the crazy decisions that are coming out these days fail to pass the smell test, re standing. Bonkers!
Immanentize
@Matt McIrvin: The problem with Kazmaryk’s opinion are so numerous if SCOTUS is to apply the law.
First, there is no credible standing claim, so the complainers should not even be in court.
Second, and perhaps most importantly, to follow Judge KKK’s* reasoning, all current medications must be withdrawn immediately. ALL. Not just one that is causing ire. I can’t imagine the Sup. Ct. Can go that far. Crow has lots of pharmaceutical stock.
Finally, the case did not ask whether a State could ban a particular drug or procedure. This is hanging out there, but this is actually what the court decided was constitutionally protected in Griswold and Row (don’t believe the hype about body autonomy) — the medical advice given and received and followed between doctor and patient is in a protected zone of privacy and medicine beats State regulations unless necessary.
Now all that could change, but still I hold out hope for some restraint.
* Sorry, it seems my keyboard has a glitch.
Quinerly
@Immanentize:
In more ways than one!
Snerk
Kay
All the people who ginned up the cancel culture panic – supposedly over “speech” – are getting off Twitter in a huff because their buddy Elon won’t let them sell their dumb Substacks on the site anymore.
It’s kind of delicious. Other than organizing, local news events and people in the US following news from other countries, pundits and political media were always the big beneficiaries of Twitter financially. It was way more important to them for sales and marketing than it was to normal people. Elon has betrayed them! Hit em right where they live! They were dumb enough and coddled enough to believe he was committed to “free speech”.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Kay: CVS sucks ass. They’ve got these huge insurance contracts, are perpetually understaffed, are slow and both the store and pharmacy areas are filthy. Back in the fall, I had a weird thing on my forehead that nobody was willing to lance, but more than happy to tell me to wait on. It turned into cellulitis (duh), so they decided to prescribe augmentin late in the day. Went in the following mid afternoon, they weren’t ready. Went in that evening, they’d closed shop. Went in the next morning (keep in mind this was getting larger), and they tried shuffling responsibility again, so I blew up. The nearest store they could transfer it to was 20 miles away, during rush hour, and that store’s closing time was fast approaching.
Managed to get it in the nick of time.
Immanentize
@NotMax: Not moving out. It was too complex and enervating. I don’t need to leave this house, wouldn’t even save much money monthly. So, I now just have two houses.
The one in NY is not yet habitable year round, so it is just seasonal/vacation home for the time being. My first job/expense there is getting heat into the place. It is outfitted for hot water baseboard, but I think I ought to just bite the bullet and go heat pump air splits. That is my summer project there.
RaflW
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Abortion on demand is illegal in the Bahamas. I don’t know how wide an exception these prove to be in daily life, but it’s not as draconian as some US states want to go. “Risk to the fetus” in particular seems to offer access for things the talibangelicals here call a gift from God.
Via OECD Social Inst. & gender Inde):
Abortion on demand is illegal and punishable of up to 10 years imprisonment. Abortion is allowed with the approval of a licensed medical practitioner and in the event of a threat to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman, if there is a risk to the fetus or if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. The 2011 Fifth Periodic State report to CEDAW notes that though women and men have equal access to a range of healthcare services in the Bahamas, women are underserved in accessing emergency contraception and natal care during and after abortions.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: No apology necessary. Mine does it too from time to time.
Kay
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
I sort of hate modern chain drugstores. I hate wandering around in them waiting and everything is weirdly overpriced. That’s probably what they’re doing at CVS. Sitting back there playing on their phones until the company -mandated 6 hour wait time is up so we’ll pick up over priced nail polish and Advil while we’re waiting.
I won’t! I go sit in my car. On to them.
I like the medical practice pharmacy. It’s just drugs and devices, as it should be.
Glidwrith
@Kay: Medical ship in waters within US law but outside state law (if that is even a thing).
Immanentize
Quinerly has inspired me. I’m going out to prep my garden. Clear old weeds and till.
Happy Abrahamic Holidays to all who are, well, Abrahamic.
Sanjeevs
Can’t Biden just ignore this ruling?
According to a Supreme Court judge yesterday if you seek guidance from a friend in the judiciary and they say something is legal then you’re good.
Kay
Clarence Thomas apparently lists his net worth as 410k. How can they possibly be calculating net worth? It’s a ridiculously low number. His federal retirement savings plan alone would be worth 3x that, at least.
They’re judges. They’re permitted to just make up numbers and “report” them? No one looks at the number and says “hmmm- THAT can’t be right”
I swear to God our muni court judges have higher ethical standards and they’re morons who basically read bench cards aloud all day and all got the job thru nepotism.
Steeplejack
@Betty Cracker:
Valued commenter Kay gave Elevated Access a plug last night. Good enough for me.
Kay
@Glidwrith:
The womens are way ahead of us:
Houston Chronicle: A Floating Abortion Clinic? Medical Team Plans To Launch Ship In Gulf Of Mexico, In Federal Waters
There’s been this rush of effective, no nonsense self help among women that is really gratifying – by car, by boat, by plane :)
Almost Retired
@Immanentize: In addition to the assault on the concept of standing and logic in general, the Judge tipped his hand by larding the opinion with all sorts of “movement” language beloved by the forced birth crowd: health care providers are “abortionists,” women taking the medication suffer “intense psychological trauma.” He referenced “unborn humans extinguished by mifepristone.” My goodness, what an asshole.
Dangerman
Madness. I bet more people die or have complications from Tylenol, Advil, and Nutmeg. I mean, hell, if we are gonna go there, Nutmeg should be pulled from the shelves. Dangerous.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Dangerman:
Cant remember – what is the physiological effect of nutmeg/mace? Something about heart rate?
Steeplejack
@Quinerly:
Have you considered wearing a COVID mask while you’re out in the dust and dirt? Might help.
Quinerly
@Immanentize:
We are truly on a roll here. My other helper just showed up. His parents were big Little Feat fans. Bogart is young and sturdy. Plus, easy on the eyes. Have a great day! Been keeping up with your son on dead threads. The years are truly flying by.
Matt McIrvin
@Almost Retired: It struck me that he had no real argument about mifepristone being unsafe apart from being opposed to abortion–the thing that made it “unsafe” was just that it was causing abortion, which is bad and is supposedly damaging the delicate flowers who get them.
There was a reference to embryonic personhood slipped in there too, so if SCOTUS accepted that argument it would establish that all abortion is homicide, that failure to implant equals the death of a human and that the majority of people in the history of the US have been microscopic beings who died before the real beginning of pregnancy.
Scout211
I haven’t read all the comments yet. West coast here. Liz Dye has her first reaction to the Texas judge’s ruling.
Quinerly
@Steeplejack:
I was for awhile. The good ones. Then I had the afternoon of digging trenches for the railroad ties and drinking PBR. It all went sideways then. Don’t tell anyone how stupid that was. I’m drinking Miller today.
(Kidding…have my mask in hand)
Barbara
@Kay: Unless mortgaged to the hilt, there is almost no single family home in Northern Virginia with a vale of less than $400,000.
New Deal democrat
@Immanentize: “The Antis really predicted much of the troubles today, although I think the federalists had the better arguments about central government structure in the end.”
One read of the Articles of Confederation (takes about 20 minutes) is immediately convincing that the Constitution was light-years better, so no debate there. Also, Brutus’s views on criminal justice were incorporated into the Fourth through Sixth Amendments.
”Chief Justice Marshall — federalist –would have had no time for Calhoun’s states rights, interposition bullshit.”
Marshall was also very political, in a way like Roberts. I recently finished a biography of him, “Without Precedent.” Just for example, when corrupt Georgia legislators accepted bribes to sell off much of the land that is now Alabama and Mississippi for pennies on the dollar to themselves and their cronies, Marshall for the first time elevated the “right of contract” to sacred status in order to rule that the subsequent legislature couldn’t undo the harm – even though contract law itself for centuries had allowed a right of recission, putting the parties back where they were before the deed was done.
Nelle
@Steeplejack: We don’t have our own plane but we have a good pilot ready to fly. Do you guys want to pitch in on buying him a plane??? (He was a commercial bush pilot and is a VFR and an IFR flight an instructor. He has nearly 8,000 hours of flying time. )
Steeplejack
@Kay:
My Trader Joe’s friend used to work at CVS and still picks up shifts there occasionally. Her take is that they are chronically understaffed and too many of the existing staff are lazy slackers.
Dangerman
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Natural high of some form. Not sure of details other than people get their ticket punched with some regularity. Hey, if a lot is good, let’s try a LOT and ….
Steeplejack
@Almost Retired:
I think he even explicitly said that he refused to use the word fetus.
Almost Retired
@Matt McIrvin: Yup, that was some serious circular logic there!
RaflW
@Sanjeevs: Roberts may not yet believe it, but if these courts keep flying too close to the sun — medication abortion polls at something like 70-30 in favor in the US — he’s going to be (and to some extent already is) the Chief Justice who presides over a modern crisis of court legitimacy and a reform reaction that he, Leo & Federalists will hate.
May it be so!
Baud
@Kay:
Unfortunately, donations to seditionists are not tax deductible.
Chief Oshkosh
Another example of our worthless press: headline at WaPo right now:
Who is Harlan Crow, the GOP megadonor who vacations with Justice Thomas?
Really? Just “vacations with” the Justice? Not “pays for entire exotic vacations for the last two decades…”?
Steeplejack
@Nelle:
I donated to Elevated Access, and I’m okay with that. I don’t think I’m ready to buy a plane.
Kay
@Barbara:
It’s nuts that anyone would look at that as legitimate reporting. Sherrod Brown is like 1.8 with a paid off house in a nice neighborhood and (I assume) the Thrift Savings Plan for federal employees and he’s in the bottom rung of senators as far as assets.
RaflW
@Nelle: Can we start with power-by-the-hour? Depending on stage length and your pilot’s aircraft familiarity and preference, we’d be talking about a couple hundred bucks per hour for rental, I think.
RaflW
Yet another step towards women having no bodily autonomy, even after rape. I’m just aghast at how fast and aggressive these moves are. But I think the speed, rather than cause shock and awe, will produce a backlash the GOP is still quite blind to.
HuffPost: The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has paused its practice of paying for emergency contraception, and in rare cases abortions, for victims of sexual assault.
Kay
@RaflW:
I wouldn’t go anywhere near law enforcement to report a rape in any of these states, including my own.
All you’re doing is turning yourself over to religious nuts who will see the rape as a potential pregnancy and monitor you. Right wing prosecutors probably have a hot line directly to the anti choicers to report a potential pregnancy. Christ. It’s enough of a nightmare without some mewling anti choicer following you around.
Almost Retired
Someone wiser than I noted on this blog that we could have possibly held onto or flipped a couple of seats here in California, but that turnout wasn’t gang-busters because of “it can’t happen here” complacency towards Republican assaults on rights. Yeppers, it can happen here.
RaflW
Jill Filipovic is absolutely on FIRE this morning:
The big takeaway from the radical and unprecedented decision to ban Mifepristone is this: The anti-abortion movement has always been an anti-democratic and authoritarian movement, and that authoritarianism has taken over the Republican Party and the far-right judiciary.
This decision was not about life or health or even the law. It was a simple assertion of dominance, a clear statement that the right will stop at absolutely nothing – including the outer bounds of American law – to force women into compliance.
It’s not just the outcome that’s a problem. The how matters. It matters that we have judges who rule according to the law, not their own preferences. It matters that our judiciary follows the rules, that judges don’t abuse their power.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Kay:
They’ll probably assign you a minder to assure that you won’t travel, and will congratulate you profusely with big evangelical grins and a hearty GOBBLESS when you deliver the product of your rape.
You know, for Jesus.
delphinium
@Dangerman: And of course, you know what else causes complications and deaths? Pregnancies! Much more so than taking a pill, but fetus fetishism must come first for these ignorant, hypocritical misogynists.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Anybody know how freewheeling they allow you to be on Substack? I’m thinking of firing up a KacsmarykWatch (where I ruthlessly insult him as people report to me his daily comings and goings, food orders, drink preferences, vacation activities, movie choices, speaking events, toilet paper purchases,etc.). I’d like to have a similar one for Leonard Leo and a third “all-purpose” one covering the rest of the judges.
ETA – I’d run it under my real name, because I don’t give a fuck what he can do to me.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, people who have lived in a place for 50,000 years might know more about it than scientists who drop in for a few months/years. Smart scientists are realizing that… Phys.org:
Learning from people who live the experience is important. A certain judge in Texas could take that to heart, but I don’t expect him to…
Cheers,
Scott.
delphinium
@Almost Retired: Yeah, NY didn’t exactly cover itself in glory in this respect either. There were at least 2-3 seats that should have stayed/gone Dem under our new district maps this year but didn’t.
smintheus
I would like to think that in the future, any time the unhinged FedSoc appointees act lawlessly, a series of liberal judges will be prepared to issue a stream of injunctions. If SCOTUS knocks one down, another judge should issue another injunction to force those assholes to play catch&kill until they have egg plastered on their faces.
lowtechcyclist
@Kay:
My local CVS is just great, thank you, but what’s a “medical practice pharmacy”?
trollhattan
Pharmacy school students currently perplexed with their career choice.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@lowtechcyclist:
My mother worked for a surgeon for many years – he was in a decent sized office building with a bunch of docs, and there was a pharmacy on site with drugs and supplies only. I think that’s what Kay means.
trollhattan
@lowtechcyclist: No cigarette counter.
IDK. I know what a compounding pharmacy is but the other term eludes me.
Philbert
If not noted above, Spokane WA Federal Judge Thomas Rice issued a ruling in a multi-state suit by WA atty general Ferguson contrary to that Texas one. Each gets a different Appeals court. This is escalating quickly. Hello SCOTUS.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@smintheus:
In the future, all nominees should be asked “are you now or have you ever been a member of the Federalist Society”. If they are currently, they can be invited to leave. If they say “I was”, they can be asked to disavow the association and the views of that association.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@trollhattan:
I always thought it would be kind of neat to be a compounding pharmacist.
West of the Rockies
Is it actual law yet in Idaho that pregnant people (see what I did there?) can’t travel out of state to obtain an abortion?
It would seem to me that a state government having the right to restrict travel to its citizens is wildly unconstitutional.
lowtechcyclist
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
I see. Yeah, that’s an arrangement I have no familiarity with.
Captain C
@Kay: Perhaps, like a mob boss, he keeps everything in his wife’s name?
Steeplejack
@lowtechcyclist:
It’s a pharmacy without a convenience store attached.
Steeplejack
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
They’ll just lie about it, as the junior members of the SCOTUS 6 did with “Roe is settled law.”
Baud
@West of the Rockies:
Apparently, that law applies only to minors who are transported without parental permission.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@West of the Rockies:
This is confined to minors for now – that gives it some legs and may actually be enforceable under pre-Dobbs standards.
Captain C
@West of the Rockies: What would happen if a neighboring state passed a law that anyone attempting to interfere in such travel was guilty of felony kidnapping and subject to, say, 25 to life?
JaySinWA
@Quinerly:
I realized that masks help my allergies when I am mowing. I try to remember that when doing things that kick up dust. It’s not just for COVID anymore.
Another Scott
@Barbara:
Supposedly, this is his place. Assessed at $1.182M.
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
West of the Rockies
@Captain C:
I like it!
JML
@Another Scott: I don’t think you have to disclose retirement assets on some of these disclosures? and of course, Lying Thomas never discloses any of his wife’s money as if it’s all off in a vault somewhere that he derives no benefit from.
But more importantly, Villa beat Forest today to continue a fantastic run of form and rise all the way up to 6th in the Premier league, something unthinkable just a few months ago while Gerrard was running the club into the ground. Hooray for Unai Emery and UTV! :)
Geminid
@delphinium: A few weeks ago, Karl Kondyk of the U. Va. Center for Politics did a preliminary assessment of next year’s House races. Among “Tossups” he listed New York’s 4th CD (D’Esposito), 17th CD (Molinaro), and 3rd CD (Santos).
Kondyk rated 3 California districts as tossups: the 13th CD (Duarte), the 27th CD (Garcia), and the 22nd CD (Valadeo).* I’m guessing Ken Calvert’s Palm Springs-based district is also winnable for Democrats.
* Valadeo was one of the only 2 out of 10 Republican Impeachers to return to Congress. The other was Dan Newhouse of Washington. They both had the advantage of jungle primaries. Of the other 8, 4 retired and 4 lost their primaries.
Kay
They’re all such dopes. What part of “abortion is murder” and “life begins at conception” did they not understand? Of course the anti choice fundie religious taking it as far Right as fast as they can- the only people who didn’t know they would are Republicans and low quality centrist pundits.
Republicans support full bans with no exceptions and not just at the state level- nationwide.
This latest opinion arbitrarily banning a drug also establishes “fetal personhood” at conception. Republicans may need to look up “conception” so they aren’t shocked again when their far Right religious caucus imposes a nationwide ban.
Baud
@Kay:
Yeah, if you’re going to do 15 weeks, why not through in guaranteed access to drugs? The drugs are only used in the early terms.
ETA: To be clear, even if they did all that, they would be lying.
Anyway
@Steeplejack:
Is TJs considered a good place to work at? They are all so peppy and on overdrive in their Hawaiian shirts — curious what the employees make of it.
JaySinWA
@lowtechcyclist: Kaiser has their own pharmacys with a formulary that conforms to their plans. It’s integrated with the practices.
Redshift
@Almost Retired: I feel like the reason Republicans got a near-trifecta in Virginia after TFG-era cycles of high Dem turnout is that too many people bought the idea that TFG was the problem, and we’d beaten it, so they fell back to their usual not paying much attention in non-presidential years. I can’t prove it, of course, but I hope more of them have now woken up to the fact that it’s the whole GOP, and we can’t take a break.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Kay:
Yup.
Time for the ones who think of themselves as normies to suck it up and call out their party.
On another note, I detected the absence of a certain voice on this issue as it developed; you know, the one that seems to have proclaimed herself the most outspoken feminist voice of all who have ever feminized.
😉
Kay
@Baud:
I get such wry pleasure out of the shock because I believe that the assumption that women would just suck it up and take it was widely shared, and not just on the far Right.
Surprise!
Mike in NC
Spending three weeks at Fort Hood was enough Texas for my lifetime.
delphinium
@Geminid: Thanks! Awhile back, commenter Kay had provided a link to NY state election results and CD-3 (Santos) was 52.4% R vs 44.5% D so depending on how much NY voters pay attention next time, it may or may not swing our way. The other districts should be more gettable for us.
Sister Golden Bear
If it hasn’t already been pointed out Judge Kacsmaryk ruled in a favor of overturning the right to contraception nationwide (which is currently paused during appeals).
Prior to being appointed by Indicted Yam, Kacsmaryk worked for the anti-LGBTQ hate group, the First Liberty Institute. Also worth noting the lawsuit was filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is also behind many of the lawsuits seeking to restrict or repeal LGBTQ rights. In 2003, they filed a brief in the historic Lawrence v Texas Supreme Court case in which they argued that homosexuality should remain criminalized. They’re also behind at least 450 of the anti-trans bills that were introduced this year.
Baud
@Kay:
It’s like you people don’t know your place.
Baud
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Freddie DeBoer?
Sister Golden Bear
@Quinerly: Who among us doesn’t have Nazi linens, two paintings by Hitler, a signed copy of Mein Kamf, and collection of states of various dictators?
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Kay:
They keep assuming that their median voters consist of white guys, and that the younger, goateed ones all wear wraparound sunglasses, equipment labeled baseball caps, Ed Hardy labeled camo clothes and drive pickups.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Sister Golden Bear:
I STILL think that more should be made of Ivana’s divorce testimony about his Hitler speech volume he kept by the bed.
The other thing that bugs me is that redneck preacher falloff thing in his rally speeches that he didn’t do as a younger man. That has clearly been coached – and it is designed to yield emotional responses.
Walker
@delphinium: Those maps are unlikely to hold. The overturning of the independent commission (when Florida and Ohio ignored their court decisions) was BS. The governor is already sending them back to the independent commission.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Sister Golden Bear:
Kacsmaryk was and is an ideologue. I simply hope that an enfeebled McConnell lives long enough to see the judiciary that he and Leo built crashes under its own weight.
delphinium
@Kay: And the more extremist all these laws become, the more votes they will continue to lose. Republicans won’t be able to pull this back no matter how many mouth noises they make insisting that they will/can.
Redshift
Every modern conservative legal “doctrine” is complete bullshit, a way to paper over “our ruling is we get whatever we want.” Take this one – it says that if a question is arbitrarily declared to be “major,” a law passed by Congress in a time when it was routine for it to be implemented through agency regulations is unconstitutional unless they explicitly said they wanted it to be done the normal way. And if Congress starts adding boilerplate about that to every goddamn bill, they’ll just make up another “doctrine.”
Conservative judges get way to much deference for having some intellectual basis for their decisions. It’s all bad-faith arguments just like the rest of the conservative movement, and it doesn’t get called out nearly enough.
Quinerly
@Sister Golden Bear:
Especially the linens, for sure.
delphinium
@Walker: Yep, I saw that the other day, will see what happens. Just was noting what the current status was for those districts.
Kay
@Baud:
lol. Freddie liked me. For about a month.
Geminid
@delphinium: Presidential elections typically drive Democratic turnout higher relative to Republican. This is one reason I think Will Rollins has a good shot in his expected rematch with Ken Calvert next year, in their Southern California district.
I’m hoping that greater turnout will help Elaine Luria win back her seat in the coastal Virginia 2nd CD. Ms. Luria has not announced another run, but I think she will.
In the meantime, I’m hoping she enjoys some time off. Elaine Luria retired as a Navy Lt. Commander not long before she started running for Congress in the 2nd CD. She was one of 40 Democrats to flip seats in the 2018 Blue Wave.
Anyway
Still so livid that a district judge from Bumfuck, TX can set the law for the whole country. WTF.
Kay
@delphinium:
I think it also gets set in peoples minds in such away that even if they do pull back people will tie them to what’s happened and not pay attention to any new moderation.
The state by state domino was limiting damage too. The GOP’er who ran for the state leg in WI ran on people being able to go from Wisconsin to Illinois for best practices health care for women. That changes with the big push for a nationwide ban. They won’t be able to run away. My youngest son is 20 and I spoke with him and his GF last night. Half of the people they know at their college think Republicans just banned birth control :)
Sister Golden Bear
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Absolutely. He’s also the judge who ruled the Biden administration can’t cancel student debt.
Unfortunately he’s also the only federal judge in that district, making him the go-to ideologue when reactionaries are judge shopping.
Kay
@delphinium:
It’s interesting how we grow accustomed to how radical the Right is. You can go back just to Dobbs and there was a whole push by Right wing and centrist pundits to minimize what would happen. It was all this “no worries ladies – nothing bad will actually come to pass!”. As usual it was just the shrill feminists grappling with reality. It’s much. much more extreme than they predicted it would be. It’s worse than I thought it would be and I thought it would be bad.
delphinium
@Geminid: Also, was reminded by commenter Walker, that Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Hochul filed an amicus brief in support of efforts to redraw NY district lines. So depending on how that goes, NY may be in a better place for the next election.
Steeplejack
@Anyway:
She likes it pretty well. Retail is a tough slog at the best of times (slacker coworkers and entitled customers), but the pay is pretty good and management seems competent, at least at her store and the couple of others she knows about (employees transferring back and forth). They got a good pandemic pay bonus, and the company was good about installing anti-COVID features and policies.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@Sister Golden Bear:
Yeah, he’s got a rogue’s gallery of rogue opinions in a very short period of time.
The one where he says “you can’t discriminate against gay or trans employees for being gay or trans, but you can discriminate against them for what they do” was a real doozy.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Lots of people really are shocked when these zealots do exactly what they told us they were going to do. Millions of Floridians are about to get that wake-up call. They’ll be shocked!
Lindsey Graham is hilarious because he’s like the compromised, sleazy wingnut Cassandra. He said if Repubs nominated Trump it would destroy the party, and they’d deserve it. True. He’s been begging them to slow their roll on reproductive healthcare because he knows the backlash is coming, but they won’t listen.
delphinium
@Kay:
Some day they will listen to us ladies! : ). One of the things that really bothers me is this point that you brought up:
While I am really, really impressed with all of the efforts to still try and provide healthcare access for women in these horrible times, telling pregnant people that they can just to go out of state for standard care like it is no biggie is beyond infuriating. Do these assholes even hear themselves?
Steeplejack
@Redshift:
Plus Virginia state elections are scheduled in off years anyway, which hurts turnout.
Redshift
@RaflW:
There’s certainly a valid argument that Congress has ceded to much power, but it’s not a legal argument, which is what the Court is making. “Major questions” is especially stupid because it’s not saying Congress doesn’t have the power to delegate (which seems like it would be a Constitutional question), but that they have to exercise that power in exactly the right way or it’s unconstitutional, which is just bullshit.
Steeplejack
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Who dat?
StringOnAStick
@Quinerly: The juniper dust is likely what took you down, that stuff is nasty and full of obnoxious, highly allergic reaction causing pollen. Nasty stuff. A lifetime of exposure is why I’m hyper allergic to it now and why I detest landscape juniper. Native juniper trees cause me zero problems.
Redshift
@Steeplejack:
Yeah, that was the amazing thing about the TFG reign of error – it totally overcame that, in ways that no one expected. I have hoped that this year will be similar because of Dobbs, book bans, etc. It’s the lowest turnout of the four-year cycle, which means smaller increases in turnout can make a big difference (kind of like a special election.)
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
This history makes me happy and gives me some hope:
Anita Bryant Fucked Around and Found Out
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
He’s a Cassandra, but he didn’t see the bigger picture. The anti choicers are wildly ambitious. The “pregnancy centers” are publicly funded wingnut welfare. It’s an employment program for Republican religious people. It’s already hundreds of millions of public dollars flowing directly to their base. All they have to purchase are scrubs for the employees so women who come in will be tricked into thinking they’re medical professionals. Cheap as shit to run a fake medical clinic and the rest goes right to wingnut welfare.
Kent
One connected with a medical practice?
Here in the Portland area, Kaiser Permanente is the big regional HMO and every Kaiser clinic (there are dozens) has its own in-house pharmacy. Plus a very fast online pharmacy. Every time a Kaiser doctor puts in a prescription for me it is automatically transmitted electronically to the Kaiser pharmacy system and I get a text message notification. I can pull up the Kaiser phone app and click to have the prescription mail-ordered to me which takes 1-2 days usually, or I can click to pick it up in person at one of the local clinics and just drive over where it is waiting
The only reason to ever go so some place like a Walgreens is if 9 pm on a Sunday night and I need some last minute emergency prescription filled.
Nelle
@RaflW: About $150 an hour where he rents planes now. We may be in business if our MIni-Trump governorette, Kim Reynolds, gets her way. She is on a tear with funneling money to private schools, banning trans everywhere she can think of, turning federal money back to the feds because “We’re Iowans, we don’t need their stinking money,” to siphoning as much fed money as she can for ethanol and carbon sequestration pipelines. She has revamped government agencies to give herself more power and is still keen to follow in abortion bans.
West of the Rockies
@Kay:
Freddie definitely adores Freddie.
Villago Delenda Est
What this “ruling” means is that the rule of law is out the window. The jeebofascists are determined to destroy the American experiment.
BellyCat
@New Deal democrat: Prescient thinking about the perilous comedy today.
C Stars
IANADoctor
But with my understanding of how these things work based on my own experiences and those of friends/family, mifepristone is used in cases of incomplete abortion which, if not dealt with pharmaceutically or surgically, can result in infection, sepsis, and death (not to mention ongoing pain and blood loss). Based on this, not only are people going to be denied reproductive choice, but many will actually die as a result–those living in places where they can’t access other treatments for miscarriage complications. Am I wrong about this? Or did this evil motherfucker just consign hundreds if not thousands of people to death every year because his religious nuttery?
Villago Delenda Est
@Redshift: Where Congress has ceded too much power, for reals, is the entire process of committing the armed forces to combat.
Villago Delenda Est
@C Stars: The incubator is irrelevant. So is the child once it’s out of the incubator, as we have seen constantly in school shootings.
FelonyGovt
These fuckers.
If all fetuses are perfect little unborn human babies, ready to pop out and be all cute and cuddly, then women having abortions are murderers, right? But they know THAT would never fly, so they pretend they’re all concerned about us poor wimmins’ health and well being. Or that we’re empty headed little dears who are too dumb to know what we’re doing and it’s the evil doctors and abortion providers influencing us.
trollhattan
@StringOnAStick: I prefer junipers to be at 7k ft elevation in the Sierra Nevada. Noble trees.
In gardens? Not so much.
trollhattan
@FelonyGovt: Wait’ll they determine eggs are babies, too!
different-church-lady
SCOTUS: “We’re not making abortion illegal, it’s up to the states”
KACSMARYK: “A fetus is a person everywhere in the country.”
SCOTUS: “Did we say something about state’s rights? Silly us, a fetus is a person everywhere in the country.”
different-church-lady
@trollhattan:
But not sperm.
Mike in NC
Just read an article about Harlan Crow, the GOP megadonor and Clarence Thomas benefactor. Seems that he has a massive collection of Hitler and other Nazi memorabilia as well as autographed documents from other historical figures. Why is none of that surprising in the least? Does he also dabble in buying stuff that glorifies the Confederacy? That seems to be a requirement for running for office as a Republican these days.
different-church-lady
@Kay:
That guy’s wiring ain’t up to code.
different-church-lady
@Mike in NC:
The writers are really going with the obvious stuff now.
C Stars
@FelonyGovt: But if they deny treatment to women with miscarriage complications/incomplete miscarriage, they are killing women! And there isn’t even a viable
fetuszygote involved! It’s just bizarre. I was living in Ireland when Savita Hallavanapar, a mother and dentist, DIED because she was denied care for miscarriage. It was awful, tragic, and totally unnecessary and shocked the whole country–I see this happening on a monumental scale in the US if this BS isn’t stopped.delphinium
@Kay: This is yet 1 more reason there won’t be any backsies for Republicans on this. Too much money flowing into fake pregnancy centers and adoption agencies. Not to mention there are still (for the time being) enough religious rubes to fool with their ‘save babeez’ propaganda.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: True — wingnut governors are making it rain on those fraudulent outfits. Here’s an excerpt from an article in the Tampa Bay Times a couple of weeks ago:
The enormous increase in taxpayer funding for these liars is in the same bill that will ban abortion after six weeks. More women to lie to!
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
Good for the Tampa Bay Times for using “anti abortion centers” though. Accurate.
I still think the best hope Florida has is that Florida still has real newspapers.
Ruckus
@FelonyGovt:
Or that we’re empty headed little dears who are too dumb to know what we’re doing and it’s the evil doctors and abortion providers influencing us.
They do seem to have a rather Neanderthal concept of women. And everything else.
I’m so glad the world hasn’t advanced past bare feet and grunting as a language. Oh wait……
C Stars
@C Stars: Again, not a doctor, but I am thinking now misoprostol may be used on its own to treat incomplete miscarriage and prevent sepsis. Still, don’t trust the GOP not to outlaw that next…
MomSense
Statement from the Governor of the GREAT STATE OF MAINE
Governor Janet Mills issued the following statement in response to a ruling tonight by Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas that would block FDA approval of mifepristone, a safe and effective drug used in medication abortion since its approval more than 20 years ago:
Judge Kacsmaryk’s has delayed the effective date of his decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine et al v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration et al for one week to allow the federal government time to appeal the ruling, and there is other litigation that could affect its impact. His decision would effectively ban the prescribing or use of the medication, used in half of all abortion procedures nationwide. At this time, use of mifepristone and medication abortion remain legal in Maine.
different-church-lady
@Betty Cracker:
“But I never thought they were going to put a boot on my face, forever!” says supporter of Boot on Human Face, Forever! party.
Mike E
We will never have nice things.
delphinium
@different-church-lady: Updated for our new reality:
“But I never thought they were going to covet my uterus, forever!” says supporter of Covet Other’s Uteri, Forever! party.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Wonder what it takes to make the medication?
1. Does patent law cover banned pharmaceuticals?
2. If simple enough with easy precursors, could there be an underground market?
JoyceH
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
This sort of jibes with something I’ve been thinking recently. All over the country, these Republican legislatures are running amok, and they’re trampling on the women and the minorities and the residents of their urban areas that keep their economy afloat. But most state legislatures are part-time jobs, which means that the legislators have other employment. I think some targeted boycotts would be useful. (Remember the Montgomery Bus Boycott?)
As a sample case, I looked up Cameron Sexton, the Speaker of the House of Tennessee. I chose him because those expulsions were by and large his doing and his tantrum and he could have shut it down any time he wanted. Sexton might be a tougher target, but maybe not. He’s a director of a regional bank that doesn’t seem to have any urban branches, and he won his last election by 82%. But hey – 82% is not 100, even way out in the hinterland, 17% of the voters voted against him. What would be the impact of a small regional bank losing, say, 10% of its deposits? And a lot of the legislators are going to be suburban, with more of a mixed electorate, so they’d be even more vulnerable.
Something to think about…
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@delphinium:
Yes. They’re very proud of the grand words they utter. Moreover, grace being cheap, thoughts’n’prayers will be more than adequate to provide succor to those who die, or suffer catastrophic, lifelong health effects, or suffer irreparable economic harm as a result of the theological principles behind the policy.
If you think differently, then that’s unamerican and communistical. It’s right there in the Bible in the red letter text of Jesus Christ, American.
Geminid
@Redshift: Besides centering abortion rights, it looks like Virginia Democrats will also be pushing better public education and defending gun safety laws this election.
catclub
Also, ban Connecticut.
AWOL
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
bbleh
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
1. IANAL but pretty sure it does. Typically covers “composition of matter” of the active ingredient and/or aspects of formulation or use (the latter often used to extend patents once the original one has run out).
2. Can’t see any practical barrier to it that many illegal recreational drugs don’t have, and look how well making them illegal works.
I’d guess more likely would be imports from countries where it’s not illegal (or where it might be illegal but hahahaha). I believe that’s how the VAST majority of illegal fentanyl gets into the US.
delphinium
@JoyceH: Was thinking something like that too. Could you get the backing of schools/businesses/corps to call out the legislature? Also, Rep Justin Jones made an excellent point that the legislature refused to expel an admitted child molester, but will not do anything meaningful to protect school children. Seems like some signs/billboards calling that out in the GOP reps districts may be warranted, but am not in TN so not sure how effective any of that would be.
NaijaGal
Not sure if someone has already posted this but NPR had an article on a Texas woman who discovered that her fetus was anencephalic. The doctor told her that this was incompatible with life but because of Texas’s abortion laws, she would have to continue the pregnancy for five more months and deliver. She did, it was a difficult breech birth and the baby died four hours after delivery. They didn’t have money for the funeral, so they started a GoFundme, which has exceeded the target but they probably still have to pay for the cost of the delivery, if anyone still wants to contribute.
StringOnAStick
@trollhattan: Junipers are indeed noble trees, and a part of the native landscape here in central Oregon, as well as much of the lower elevations of Colorado. Those arbor vitae things are freaking hideous but they’re cheap and cover a lot of ground so they get planted in way too many landscapes; they’re shit for wildlife habitat. I can tolerate (visually, not physically) the blue rug and prince of Wales groundcover versions, but only if I never have to touch them which means they’ll never be in any landscape I have anything to do with.
Betty
@Baud: If the Bahamas are like the rest of the English-speaking Caribbean, that would be no on this issue. Abortion is illegal, and homosexuality is an abomination pretty much across the board.
moonbat
@Another Scott: Proving once again that there’s no thorny issue that cannot be better addressed through talking to the local cultures. Scientists need to take more anthropology courses, clearly.
Thanks for the story. I’m going to share it with my class.
SuzieC
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: That’s what I was thinking. We can’t stop fentanyl, so why would the fundies think they can stop mifepristone?
Baud
@SuzieC: They don’t actually care about stopping anything. They care about punishing the people they catch.
It’s like the War on Drugs, on steroids.
Baud
@Another Scott: I reject your reality and continue to believe in fairies.
HumboldtBlue
VP Harris has some brief comments on the Texas ruling
Quinerly
Thread be dead?
Why am I not surprised anymore?
“The FBI arrested Michael Dolce, a 53-year-old West Palm Beach lawyer known for representing child sexual abuse survivors — while he was actively downloading child pornography. Please note that this man, who had 1,997 images and five videos of child pornography on his computer, is not a drag queen.”
https://crooksandliars.com/2023/04/fbi-arrests-founder-protect-our-kids
CapnMubbers
@HumboldtBlue: Just read the overnight thread and saw your comment at 2.51 blog time. Please email me—through a front pager? don’t know how that works but I’ve seen it done.
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Good!
Please share with us any information you come across about swing districts in both houses. It’s never too early to chip in a few bucks.
Tony G
@BellyCat: Actually, a significant percentage of young people will decide that both sides are equally bad, and will not bother to voter. (I hope that I’m wrong.)
kalakal
@MomSense:
These fascist bastards are calling themselves the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine?
Given the 1,000s of women they’re going to kill every year with their authoritarian misogynistic poison I should think the Hippocractic Oath is anathema to them. They don’t give a shit how much harm they do, in fact the more the merrier.
May Kacsmaryk and his fellows live long lives, every day of which involves a gallstone
ETA and a severe case of Shingles that doesn’t respond to treatment
lowtechcyclist
@AWOL:
If McConnell were to die tomorrow, the procedure for replacing him until the next election is: the Republicans (specifically, the executive committee of the state GOP) give Gov. Andy Beshear, who is a Democrat, a list of three names, and Beshear is supposed to pick one of them to fill McConnell’s seat.
AFIACT, there is absolutely nothing in there about what happens if Beshear does nothing, then when pressed, says he needs more time to make a decision, and then just keeps stalling. As best as I can tell, the state legislature would have to pass a new law to cover that situation, otherwise, Beshear could leave the seat open until the next election.
Needless to say, I hope someone suggests this to him. If the Dems have a 51-48 edge, even Manchinema can’t screw them up, even if Fetterman’s slow to come back. While it’s true that all the Senate Dems can do, given GOP control of the House, is approve nominations, but Manchinema have in fact scuttled a few.
Another Scott
Speaking of those in power ignoring the will of the people, … AlJazeera.com:
The lead picture shows a big crowd spilling out of a roadway with a banner saying “CRIME MINISTER” with pictures of Bibi. Another huge banner shows Bibi in a pharoh’s nemes with “LET MY PEOPLE GO”.
It’s good that people there recognize what Bibi is trying to do (starting yet another little war to make people afraid and give him the power he wants), and aren’t falling for it. Here’s hoping that they finally vote the monsters out and move forward…
Cheers,
Scott.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: The Blue Virginia blog put up a couple stories ten days or so ago, ranking the House of Delegates and Senate races. The author, Mr. “Lowkell,” used numbers from the Virginia Public Access Project projecting the partisan lean in the new districts.
The figures show more seats in each house leaning Democratic than Republican. I guess the ones in the middle would be apt targets for money.
There are a few districts where the Democratic candidates will be decided in the June primaries. Republicans will likely choose many of their candidates through caucuses, because they’re idiots.
Johannes
@Kay: At some point, and I think we are nearly there, the only proper answer from the Executive Branch is we will not comply. Follow it up by banishing the black-robed vampires back to the Capitol basement and use the scotus building as a museum.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: Andy Beshear is running for reelection this year and is unlikely to hand his opponent such a good issue by leaving Kentucky with one Senator.
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist: @Geminid:
Here’s lowkell (Lowell Feld, but also sounds like “local” – as in all politics is local) today.
Much more at the link.
Every election matters.
Cheers,
Scott.
Anonymous At Work
FYI, Judge Mattie K hasn’t rule on “fetal personhood” yet because, honestly, there are no HOV lanes within his jurisdiction.
RaflW
@Tony G: This was decidedly not the case in WI this past week. Young people appear to me to be highly motivated compared to the folks who were their age a couple cycles ago.
And one of my strong hopes is that for first time voters who got out and voted in an off-year state Supremes race – and voted for the winner! – well they’re much more likely to repeat-vote.
TriassicSands
I guess that means that the death penalty must be banned, or are the fascists now claiming that murderers can be murdered because they aren’t human beings?
Of course there is the little problem of the wrongfully convicted, but what the heck, if we kill a few innocent people here and there it’s OK as long as we kill a lot of guilty people or, at least those who are probably guilty. Maybe we should change the law so that if any one juror thinks a defendant might be guilty, that’s suffient for a guilty verdict and death sentence.
TriassicSands
@Another Scott:
Oh, Scott, elections don’t matter, after all both, parties are identical. I mean what’s the difference between FDR and Donald Trump or the House under Pelosi vs. the House under McCarthy. Not a dime’s worth of difference.
Sorry, I can’t write more, I’ve got to get to things that really matter, you know, like Facebook and watching sports on TV.
prostratedragon
…
NutmegAgain
@Steeplejack: So, like in Germany, where you go to the Apoteke for drugs (of any kind, including aspirin.) And there is the Drogerie (markt), where they have all the shampoo, makeup, smelly candles etc. Note that at the Apoteke you have to stand in line and when it’s your turn the pharmacist bellows questions at you: “oh, did you say you needed cream for hemorrhoids?”. In my experience, it’s the same in Nordic countries.
Matt
I do: