Years ago, when I already couldn’t stand the Sunday shows, I would read the Bobblehead Translations so I at least knew what stupid things had been said, and what had been discussed.
Today, I didn’t have it in me to listen to the Supreme Court arguments, but today it was Elie Mystal came through in the same way. This, I could read! (Post written on Tuesday evening.)
Okay folks. I’m back for today’s SCOTUS arguments about mifepristone. To set the stage, Forced-birthers are trying to prohibit medical abortion based on junk science and the idea that James Ho likes looking at other people’s babies.
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) March 26, 2024
Here’s the ThreadReader version. ThreadReader link is at the bottom of the post.
Okay folks. I’m back for today’s SCOTUS arguments about mifepristone. To set the stage, Forced-birthers are trying to prohibit medical abortion based on junk science and the idea that James Ho likes looking at other people’s babies.
All the lawyers arguing today will be women. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar for the FDA.
For the group of doctors and dentists who didn’t prescribe the abortion pill but want to take it away anyway, it’s Erin Hawley, wife of Sen. Josh Hawley.
And lastly Jessica Ellsworth representing Danco Labs which makes mifepristone and will argue “DO YOU WANT TO LET THESE ASSHOLES CHALLENGE EVERY DRUG ON THE FREAKING MARKET???”… or something. :)
Prelogar coming out firing. Talking about how the other side doesn’t have standing “The Court should say so and end this.”
Thomas is like “but who would have standing?” And Prelogar says “If they question is if people who oppose abortion would have standing, the answer is no.”
Thomas now talking about upending SCOTUS rules just to make sure forced birthers can challenge in court. :(
Alito asking “is there ANYBODY who can challenge what the FDA did here?”
Remember: what the FDA “did here” was APPROVE A DRUG TWENTY YEARS AGO.
Alito also wants to know if doctor who opposes abortion can challenge. He’s talking about a “conscience objection” for that doctor.
Prelogar not budging: “even if there is no alternative person who could sue, that doesn’t mean that the Court should depart from Article 3 principles.”
Alito is basically like SO NOBODY CAN HELP THE WOMEN WHO ARE HARMED!!?? He’s such an intellectually dishonest dickhead.
Prelogar lists ALL THE WAYS an actual harmful drug can be sued to take off the market. (including, like, all of tort law).
Alito is not satisfied.
Thomas, Alito, and it sounded like Roberts, seem all on board to give fucking dentists standing to sue over the abortion bill.
Oh Jesus, now here comes Barrett.
Gorsuch now talking about “offended observer standing.” Remember that part of the standing argument here is that pregnant people are like manatees and so people who enjoy looking at them should have standing to sue.
I’m not making that up because I’m not that evil/creative.
The upside here is that: I’m pretty sure Gorsuch *hates* offender observer standing. Like, I think he’s written that it’s stupid (I could be misremembering, don’t quote me).
Anyway, point is, he could have brought that up just to piss on it and could be *against* standing here.
Alito now back arguing Comstock act.
This is about whether the FDA can authorize people mailing abortion pills. This is the part that surely the forced-birthers on the court are going to strike down, I think. The point of granting them standing is to get to this.
The Comstock Act is how their going to restrict contraception next, by the way.
I wrote about the act (and the man) in my book, in the abortion chapter.
Kavanaugh: “Just to be clear, no doctor can be forced to… perform abortions.”
Kav continues his unbroken streak of asking the “Class was moving a little too fast for me” questions.But, can we just pause here to say that it’s ridiculous that SCOTUS is very worried about doctors being “forced” to perform abortions (they’re not) but don’t care about [checks notes] WOMEN BEING FORCED TO BRING A PREGNANCY TO TERM AGAINST THEIR WILL.
Sorry, just needed to reset the level after Kavanaugh reminded me how dumb these people are.
Barrett wants to ban this pill so badly you can feel it. She’s trying so hard to get around standing because she’s so desperate to take this away from people.
They got Prelogar in and out of there in 40 minutes. It’s not necessarily a sign for how the justices are going to rule, but it is a sign that the argument is PRETTY OBVIOUS here. SCOTUS gonna SCOTUS but there’s nothing complicated here.
Ellsworth now, also against standing.
And Thomas going straight in on the Comstock act.
Thomas, who only asks questions since live audio started to show he’s there, is pretty much telling Danco that they’re going to lose under Comstock straight up. It’s as direct as he’s willing to be in oral arguments. He’s telling Danco that they’re not allowed to win.
I don’t know exactly what Alito is on about here but I think he’s just being generally pissy. He’s an abusive Republican uncle who comes over for dinner and complains about the food and shits on your kids.
HAAA… I love Jackson. I LOVE JACKSON.
Alito: “Do you think the FDA is INFALLABLE? [evil smirk]”
Jackson [5 minutes later]: “Do you think JUDGES are infallible? Do you think they have special medical training?”
Justice Jackson is there so the rest of us don’t have to be.
Sigh… here comes Hawley.
I mean, she starts out saying “Doctors have suffered harm tens of thousands of times… excuse me I dozens. WOMEN have suffered harm tens of thousands of times.”
12 v. 10,000, meh, Republicans are not great with math.
Hawley: “They entered the medical profession to bring life into the world… when they have to leave their floor to deal with abortion drug harm..”
These fucking people, y’all.
Hawley is arguing that the FDA doesn’t require enough reporting about harms from the abortion pill, which is why her organization doesn’t have any evidence of harms.
It’s a perfect circle… of bullshit.
Jackson saying why can’t the conscientious objecting doctor just, you know, NOT perform abortions and let “everybody else in the country” have the pill.
And… Gorsuch… seems to be… backing her up??
I HEREBY DO DECLARE JUSTICE NEIL GORSUCH “IN PLAY” FOR THE KEEPING THE ABORTION PILL!!!! :)
Apparently, we’ve triggered “anti-universal injunction”-Gorsuch.
Never know which power this dude is going to be fixated on destroying but TODAY THE BROKEN CLOCK STOPPED ON THE RIGHT NUMBER
Kagan is like “Oh, oh, OH SHIT WE’RE WINNING. LEMME GET MY STABBING KNIVES OUT FOR HAWLEY”
Soto, Kagan, Jackson, Gorsuch, and… maybe Roberts and Kav are a no on standing. Barrett should be a no on standing but she wants to ban the drug so badly her brain my short-circuit.
Gorsuch read the standing section in his Federalist Papers 2000 (the secret, extended copy of the Federalist Papers on he and Nic Cage knows exists) this morning!
Kagan and Sotomayor just beating up on Hawley and Alito tried to chime in and help her and was ignored. :)
Honestly, I can’t remember Erin Hawley getting this much push back from SCOTUS. Barrett is now hitting her on the “harm” her doctors and dentists suffered (again, there’s none)
Hawley: Broader conscience harm
Jackson: Yeah, what the fuck is that?
Hawley: “being complicit in the process that takes an unborn life.”
Jackson: “No, wait, I’m sorry. Complicit in that… I work in the ER? Complicit in that… I hand them a water bottle?”hahahaha
Kagan now back with more WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN TALKING ABOUT
Wife: [walking in] What’s happening?
Me: Josh Hawley’s wife is getting fucked up.
Wife: By who?
Me: Literally all the women. Men haven’t talked for 20 minutes.
Wife: Nice.The fact that these arguments have almost been entirely about standing with only Alito really even trying to get to the merits is… very good. Very very good.
I’m also liking that, except for one stupid question, Kavanaugh has been silent (or passed out, I can’t see the room)
Prelogar now for rebuttal. This is moving fast. I mean, Colorado ballot access took almost three hours. This, we’re an hour and a half in. :)
Prelogar: “The problem here is that they sued the FDA. The FDA has nothing to do [with the conscience injury]”
This isn’t a rebuttal so much as a victory lap.
Prelogar rarely gets to win and… she’s just like dunking now.
CASE IS SUBMITTED:
Folks… I think we’re gonna win. I think we’re gonna win by a lot. :)
Open thread.
Ohio Mom
Eli’s Mystal strikes me as a cynic’s cynic, so if he is hopeful, so am I.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
RaflW
I generally detest Jacobin, but this is such open, blatant corruption. The current House will never impeach such behavior in an Article III judge, but for G-d’s sake, the Judicial Conference should investigate. I’m sort of shocked that no one has filed the necessary complaint to get that rolling?
Never mind that Erin Hawley, Esq., argued in front of the Supreme Court seeking to limit the medication mifepristone as her husband Josh Hawley looked on.
rikyrah
I am still standing on the belief that Big Pharma will prevail.
I don’t see how they can carve out an exception for this one medicine.
So, I believe Big Pharma will win out.
p.a.
GOOD!
But watch the slimeballs (you know who) set up future challenges in their dissents.
OT, open thread: I still pay some bills by check; when I set up autopay some companies/utilities couldn’t do it, and I never tried again. Still write account numbers at the bottom left. What’s up with companies giving me account numbers that are numerically larger than the total number of humans ever born? How’s that a thing?
smith
@RaflW: So a man’s potential “aesthetic injury” is more important than a woman’s very life? Are we now going to see white racists arguing that Black people can’t have positions of authority because it causes them “aesthetic injury”? And gay couples can’t appear in public together because of the potential “aesthetic injury” to homophobes?
These people are now scraping the bottom of the barrel in their justifications for keeping women subjugated.
OzarkHillbilly
@RaflW:
I would be happy to tell him what would give me profound joy to see but this is a family blog, so not here.
New Deal democrat
I just want to comment on the next appeal that is being teed up by Thomas, which is the revivification of the Comstock Act.
Question: why should the Legislature have to repeal an Act that has been made moot by a Supreme Court ruling that it is effing *Unconstitutional*???
The only answer is that no Legislature can *rely upon* a Supreme Court ruling, because it is subject to being thrown into the trash can at any point in the future if a majority of Justices get up on the wrong side of the bed. Or, shorter answer, because Supreme Court rulings are so much toilet paper.
As a matter of jurisprudence*, it is clear that Acts which have been declared Unconstitutional should remain void even if the Supreme Court subsequently changes its mind. If the Legislature wants to revivify an Act afterward, then let them do so. In other words, Legislatures should be able to rely upon Supreme Court rulings as the continuing actual Law of the Land.
*(yeah, I know, I realize who we are dealing with here)
Marcopolo
Elie (my favorite SCOTUS reporter of all time) covers so few SCOTUS hearings that make him happy. Such a pleasure to see him enjoying one!
Scout211
Thanks WaterGirl, for the Elie Mystal summary.
This made me smile:
I will continue to be hopeful that there will be a positive ruling. Yes, I do have a regular prescription for hopium, so sue me, jackals. LOL
If they reject telemedicine and mail order, I’ll be disappointed but not surprised. That was the protocol for many years.
Attempted Chemistry
@smith: What if you think babies are ugly?
catclub
@p.a.: Electrons are cheap. I bet the last 4 or 5 digits in that ‘account number’ are the amount to be paid.
OTOH it is now virtually impossible to find your credit card or bank account number on the statement they mail to you – just an end teaser number. So the first time you open the account, be sure to write down the account number.
different-church-lady
OT: seriously wondering if everyone in the world is insane.
different-church-lady
@smith:
“Well, yeah. Duh.” (– Patriarchy)
(Also: insert famous Margaret Atwood quote here)
rusty
I listened to yesterday’s SCOTUS oral argument and this is an excellent summation. I yelled at my computer a couple of times when Alito was particularly offensive. What he missed was a good discussion on the scope of the relief sought. Even if given standing, the two doctors argument is that they don’t want to provide medical care to women that took the pill, but there is already statutes that protect them. The relief they seek is to prevent nationwide the use of the drug. Even a couple of the conservatives thought the relief was wildly out of scale to the doctor’s request. You don’t need to ban everyone from using the drug to satisfy the consciences of two doctors that are already protected. I will also add that it was pointed out that a court has never, not even once, overruled the decision of the FDA to allow a drug.
catclub
Thank goodness none of these people get an aesthetic injury when a woman has a gunshot wound and dies in the ER. You would have to outlaw guns.
Mike in NC
Morning news on the TV: six missing workers presumed dead in Baltimore bridge collapse. Also, too, Fat Bastard is trying to sell bibles to his cretinous cult. Funny that he never cracked one in his rotten life. How many bibles to pay half a billion dollars in fines?
Chris T.
@p.a.:
There are a lot of possible reasons, and one is some sort of numbering system. For instance, there could be three digits of “region”, three digits of “division”, three digits of “group”, and then six or seven digits of “account”. That allows for 1000 “regions” (with different rules applied), up to 1000 “groups” within each “region” to handle whatever, and then multiple accounts per person.
different-church-lady
@New Deal democrat:
We’re reaching the point where the SCOTUS is acting as its own appeals court.
OzarkHillbilly
Assumes facts not in evidence. Do they even have consciences?
Yet.
TBone
@different-church-lady: you and me both, which is why I had to check out early on the Supremacist Court’s doings yesterday. Rainbows and butteryflies is all I can handle when mulling over how the next softball to the RWNJ Court will be tossed, so I’m tuning in to silly and happy things (it’s only a matter of time after all).
TBone
@catclub: 💙
H.E.Wolf
Re: abortion: An Alabama State House seat just flipped from Republican to Democratic by a huge margin. The winning candidate, Marilyn Lands, ran specifically on women’s reproductive rights.
Electoral Vote blog, as usual, has a good write-up.
https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2024/Items/Mar27-2.html
smith
Welp, I guess it’s curtains for the baby, then. Too bad, but a man’s aesthetic injury must be avoided at all costs.
Marcopolo
So I’ve read a few pieces on the new IRS free filing program which is not available in my state but is in 14 others. Wondering if any BJers have used it (or know anyone who has)? I must admit I would love if the IRS could just send me a postcard that says “Based on our data, this is how much we think you owe. If that sounds right, pay it, otherwise feel free to file your own info using the old system.” My understanding is there are some countries that do that.
And yeah, I could give a fig about all the tax prep companies.
Miss Bianca
Open thread? Just spoke to a very nice nurse in ICU where Bro-Man is – he’s being extubated today because he’s back to being able to breathe on his own! Keeping him in ICU for another few days.
H.E.Wolf
Many decades ago, one of my relatives worked for a company whose most notable product was birth-control pills.
Like you, I’m on Team Pharma for this case!
OzarkHillbilly
That’s a desecration if ever I saw one.
Marcopolo
@H.E.Wolf: Was following this on election shitter last night. Upon being seated, she will be the only D representing a majority white district in the AL state house. Talk about racially polarized politics!
RaflW
@smith: It’s complete bullshit. Even Ho’s fellow anti-choice jurist wouldn’t join him in that absurd document.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mike in NC:
Of all his stupid schemes, this one at least has a real chance. Buying a bible is exactly the kind of performative bullshit his base loves. It requires almost no effort and they can point at it to say “See? I’m a good Christian not like you evil people who are going to Hell!” They don’t even have to pray.
Baud
@Marcopolo:
You should see Mississippi.
H.E.Wolf
Does that mean her Democratic female colleagues in the AL House are all women of color? If so, that would be a fine coalition!
Frankensteinbeck
@rikyrah:
Whatever gets us the win, I’ll take it.
Soprano2
@New Deal democrat: Regardless, I think if Democrats regain control of both houses of Congress and the presidency, they should make it a priority to repeal this law. The religious nuts are going to use it to try to make it illegal not just to mail the abortion pill, but all of the birth control that they claim causes abortions. Take away their ability to engage in this fuckery that literally around 80% of the population disagrees with. This is a good lesson that you can’t rely on the court to invalidate a law, you should go ahead and repeal it anyway.
kindness
Well…we knew it (the Comstock Act) was there and in our extended fantasy adventures it gets used, but in real life it’s a long dead act. Alioto & Thomas have underlined our need to remove the Comstock Act from the books the next time Democrats have a trifecta. Otherwise the right will rule us all using that old relic.
Baud
@Soprano2:
It’ll be the second book they pass, after the democracy bill.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Having just driven thru MS, I can say with certainty that he’d do better to avoid it.
By the by, why doe MS have only 3 plumbers in the entire state?
rikyrah
@Marcopolo:
Ok, THAT is crazy. But, Alabama.
UncleEbeneezer
@Ohio Mom: Don’t worry, he’ll blame this all on Garland before the thread is done…
Matt McIrvin
@p.a.: It may be a combination or hash of some of your account data, or a code that incorporates an error-detection mechanism, so that not all combinations of digits are meaningful.
TBone
Mammogram will have to be rescheduled due to insanity: “Masking is only required if
-You have Covid
-You have been around someone with Covid
-You have symptoms
Otherwise, masking is optional! Also, you may get billed by two separate providers at this facility.”
Marcopolo
@H.E.Wolf: Um, no, though that might be the case. It means that the voter demographics for this district (60W/18B/10H/5Asian), which aren’t terribly far off from the statewide average (something like 68W/20B/10H) make it majority white like many (most?) AL house districts. And with this election result it will be the only majority W district representatived by a Dem.
TBone
The female counsel should have said, out loud, “You wouldn’t be trying to regulate my vagina IF IT FIRED BULLETS.”
Nelle
@Marcopolo: We didn’t have to file In New Zealand when we were working for others. The government took their share from the paychecks and that was that. It got thornier when we opened our own consulting company but even then, much simpler than here. We didn’t pay for bombs and general destruction of the world, but we did get health care for everyone in the country.
Nelle
@OzarkHillbilly: Was this the week that Jesus whipped the money changers out of the temple? Let’s celebrate that, believers and unbelievers alike.
Harrison Wesley
Aesthetic injury? The same sort of reasoning that crawled out of the Golden Toilet of Enlightenment in Mar-a-lago banning the teaching of Black history in FL schools because it might make White kids ‘feel bad.’
TBone
Currently listening to the dulcet tones of Bob Ross after visiting Bavaria with Rick Steves and King Ludwig. The Munchen Hoffbrau House was also a nice trip down memory lane. I had stuffed brook trout there back in the day.
TBone
@Harrison Wesley: 😆
Chris T.
@Nelle:
Pfft, what good is being healthy if you can’t kill everyone else?
(Do I need a /s here?)
TBone
@Chris T.: yup that’s why I’m not getting a mammogram on time. If ever in this backwater clusterfuck.
Harrison Wesley
@Nelle: Absolutely.
https://youtu.be/j_QLzthSkfM?si=lrYE5MEBpn9qcIln
Old School
While I guess the Supreme Court dismissing this case is a win, I can’t help but think that a ruling based on standing is a technicality as there seems to be enough votes against mifepristone if they could get around it.
TBone
@Nelle: 💙👍
frosty
@Marcopolo: I looked into the IRS free filing system. First, it’s not available in my state. Second, I’m over the income limit to use it and third, there was something about my retirement income that it won’t cover. So I’m back to Turbotax, the version that lets me calculate the state as well as Federal taxes, which saves me from having to navigate the state forms.
Now if only the County and borough piggybacked on the state form like they do in Maryland, I would be done.
Jackie
@Miss Bianca: That’s welcome news!
Is your weather improving so you can travel to see him soon?
JAM
Any doctor prone to aesthetic injury should not be providing clinical care, IMHO.
RedDirtGirl
@Miss Bianca: That is good news!!!
stinger
@p.a.:
Inorite — good way to put it!
Miss Bianca
@Jackie: Weather is improving but it’s still going to be a while before I can get away. Our other brother and his family are going to pick up the slack in the meantime.
Ohio Mom
@Scout211: I can’t help thinking that dinner table talk in Judge Jackson’s house has given her a deeper and more nuanced view of medicine than the other judges most likely have (for those who don’t know, her husband is a medical specialist).
I also think that Judge Jackson must keep her spirits up by reminding herself she may very well live to see the day she is no longer outnumbered on the court by those reactionaries.
stinger
@Chris T.:
Way to take all the fun out of it!
stinger
@Miss Bianca: Thinking of you both.
Bill Arnold
@OzarkHillbilly:
From the FAQ:
So if you spot any Trumpy “Christians” using any other bible, you can politely inform them that they are not real Christians.
FWIW, one of the FAQ questions is “WHAT IF MY BIBLE HAS STICKY PAGES?”
Mr. Bemused Senior
That’s putting it mildly. Have any of the plaintiffs ever worked in an ER?
Bill Arnold
@JAM:
^^^ This. ^^^
Clinical medical practice involves directly observing very bad things.
H.E.Wolf
@Marcopolo:
I just found a chart of the AL House members. The Dems are outnumbered, of course, but I was glad to see there are some other Democratic women! I’m headed into a meeting or I’d cross-reference them all with the photos page, and tally the numbers of Black women and White women on the Democrats’ side of the State House.
https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/house-leaders-members?tab=3
https://alison.legislature.state.al.us/house-leaders-members?tab=1
Kristine
@Harrison Wesley: Claims of “aesthetic injury” from the Fuck Your Feelings crowd is…amusing.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I started reading this, decided it was bad for my blood pressure, and am moving on. Kudos to you, WG. It takes strength to let that crap wash over you.
Kristine
@Miss Bianca: Glad for the good news. May it continue!
MisterForkbeard
@Bill Arnold: Really, if I found people using this bible I’d have a much lower opinion of them as Christians.
Misterpuff
@Attempted Chemistry: Well, unborn babies are ugly. Mass of ugly undifferentiated cells. And you can only view them with a sonagram or a probe, so only pleasing to the parents and the OB?GYN participants.
Esthetics, People!
J. Arthur Crank
I want to marry Mystal and have his babies, so I was sad to see midway through that he is already married. Apart from that, that was a awesome thread.
Lacuna Synecdoche
rikyrah:
I’m late to the party here, but:
You can generally predict how Roberts will rule based on how big corps want him to rule.
It’s not 100%, but it’s at least over 90% predictive, probably over 98%. And Likes Beer will generally rule the same as Roberts, especially where big biz is concerned.
So, in other words … yeah. Big Pharma and the FDA likely have this one in the bag.
And that was probably the case before oral arguments even started. That said, I suspect oral arguments may have brought Gorsuch and Coney Barret on board for Big Pharma. But who knows? Maybe they were already there, too.
Captain C
@catclub:
The Shitty Six might just ban women with gunshot wounds from the hospital in order to protect their beautiful minds in this case.
TBone
@Bill Arnold: direct observation by Hubby, who was awake but sedated/anesthetized during recent surgery:
Nurse: “Doctor, my tendonitis is bad today, don’t know if I got the catheter in properly.”
Doctor: * picks up Hubby’s penis and yanks/vigorously shakes it around while entubated “No worries!”
Hubby: “I can’t pee without extreme pain and burning anymore!”
TBone: “WTAF! 🤬”
Tried to bandage with ABX ointment but Hubby wasn’t having it. He has to pee ALL THE TIME.
Bill Arnold
@Captain C:
Better that than to consider the ugly possibility that Scalia was wrong about the Second Amendment in the majority opinion he wrote for District of Columbia v. Heller.
Citizen Alan
@smith: When that Shiite Catholic Alito whined about a judge striking for cause an openly homophobic juror in a case where a gay man was the plaintiff, I would have given anything to have asked him about a hypothetical juror in a case involving a Catholic priest where the juror is a fundamentalist evangelical who openly describes Catholics as “Mary-worshipers” and thinks the Pope is the Antichrist.
robmassing
Elie Mystal made my day. I laughed out loud at her unrepentant mockery of Mrs. Send in the Troops being such a clown. What a treasure!
wjca
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s a desecration if ever I saw one.
No. The desecration is that his pitch is that other Bibles are not “endorsed” by him. Which will matter, I guess, to faux Christians who are serious cult members
RevRick
@smith: If the tender fee-fees of doctors can override the mandate of the Hippocratic Oath, where does it end? Can they refuse to provide care for murderers? For rapists? For child molesters?
How about for morbidly obese people in diabetic comas? Those with STIs?
No morality can be grounded in feelings. In fact, morality will often demand that feelings be overruled. The moral command to care for infants demands that we change their diapers, no matter how much that might disgust us, no matter how much our gag reflex may plead we should not have to.
Captain C
@RevRick:
How about Conservatives? Or MAGAts?
Paul in KY
@RaflW: Cant only superman and people looking a a sonar scan see ‘unborn babies’ anyway?
Citizen Alan
@Baud: You really shouldn’t. I remember when that repulsive pig Phil Gunn, then Speaker of the MS House, flat out said that the Republicans will never allow Democrats to have any say in how the state is run and if (white) voters wanted to be able to influence the state government in any way, they (we) should all vote Republican.
Paul in KY
@p.a.: One day, p.a., we’ll colonize Alpha Centauri and then on to the Orion Belt! Then those numbers will come in handy.
Citizen Alan
@Nelle: Palm Sunday, IIRC. i.e. this past Sunday.
BTW, I made Judas cookies for my D&D group tonight. Cookies made with carrot cake batter and topped with cream cheese icing. I used to make them for Easter dinner with my family back when I lived in the Hell State, but, well, it’s “Spy Wednesday,” the day Judas accepted the 30 pieces of silver, so tonight, they’re Judas cookies.
Paul in KY
@Bill Arnold: ‘TFG puts a little bit of himself into every bible.’
Yick.
Paul in KY
@TBone: Poor guy. Glad he was sedated on the catheter check :-)
Marcopolo
@robmassing: FYI: Elie is a dude. With the most amazing grey afro. If you would like to see a clip of him in action, here he is talking to Laura Coates about what might happen if Trump violates the gag order in the hush money case. His reply is priceless (warning it’s a shitter link filtered by nitter):
(https://nitter.poast.org/thelauracoates/status/1772975832740372714#m)
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I found it heartening to hear the descriptions calling them out in real time.
So I thought it would be uplifting!
Next time, I’ll bold the ones where the actual justices are taking a shot at the power-hungry maggots they share the court with.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@OzarkHillbilly:
“That’s a desecration if ever I saw one.”
Oh contraire, consider those bibles to be fair disclosure. If people actually read them, especially the stuff about the end times, they’ll start noticing Donald’s pointed resemblance to the Antichrist.
H.E.Wolf
@H.E.Wolf:
AL State House:
11 female Democrats, of 28 Dems total:
10 Black women, 1 white woman (Marilyn Lands, elected yesterday).
10 female Republicans, of 74 Repubs total:
all 10 are white women.
The Republicans, overall, outnumber the Democrats 2 to 1.
There are 25 Black legislators (roughly 1/4 of the total).
The Republican women are slightly outnumbered by the Democratic women.
dirge
By contrast, I kinda freak out when I get an account identifier that’s clearly just a sequential number. What if I mistype it? That’ll be someone else’s account! What if someone accidentally (or intentionally) uses my account number?
Like, for example, your social security number.
Probably something like that. I’ve done all of these for various web applications. More frequently a UUID (partially random, guaranteed globally unique, otherwise meaningless). In software, sequential account identifiers have been strongly discouraged for two decades (for security, error detection, and many other reasons), and I think that very good idea is gradually being adopted by other industries (if only because their account identifiers are being designed by software developers now).
Anyway, the solution to over-long identifiers is to render them as a shorter alphanumeric, rather than purely numerically.
dirge
How is this even a thing that we need a name for? This observer is offended that it’s even up for discussion.
This observer is offended by bogus advocacy groups forum shopping in Texas.
This observer is offended that Thomas is on the court.
This observer is offended by Fox News telling lies to my father.
This observer is offended by the use of the word “less” when “fewer” would be correct.
This observer is offended that the spectacularly stupid Elon Musk is obscenely rich.
This observer is offended that Matt Gaetz’s face is, at this moment, tragically lacking the fist for which it so clearly cries out.
Please, tell me I have standing to sue everyone everywhere for everything that offends me.
zeecube
@p.a.: some say corporations are people too. so therortically infinite number of people?
Barbara
@Old School: I know it can seem that way, but the proposed standing here is so flimsy, and based on such an attenuated concept of injury that it would basically eradicate the requirement altogether.
Why is that important?
Because a lot of the attempts to eliminate various aspects of federal policy that people don’t like are being pushed by people whose interest is similarly attenuated. To actually find someone who has a real and concrete interest to pursue a claim can be pretty difficult when the kind of “injury” you are alleging is really the tail wagging the dog to pursue in court what you can’t or don’t want to pursue legislatively. This was true of the efforts to repeal the ACA by states who were not required to do anything at all but still alleged that they were “injured” by the program. It’s one bullshit argument about what counts as an injury after another. It would be highly useful for the courts to start saying so. After all, if, as the court said in Dobbs that women can vote and get laws changed as one of their excuses for ignoring the harm that was about to rain down on them in so many states, well so can the dentists and retired doctors represented by Erin Hawley, who is married to a U.S. Senator.
Oh, they don’t have the fucking votes. Well that, as they say, should be their problem not mine.
TBone
@Paul in KY: that doctor is LUCKY he was sedated also!!!
TBone
@dirge: 😆❤️
TBone
@Barbara: you smashed it! 👍
JaySinWA
@frosty: Late to this party, but Freetaxusa.com is pretty complete. Federal tax filing is free and state taxes are $15. The current IRS free tax filing is still very limited, but much improved over the past with less misleading stuff that TurboTax and others used.
dr. luba
@frosty: I’ve been using Turbotax since 1994; the past few years, since I was turned into an independent contractor and have to pay for my own malpractice insurance, I’ve had to use the most expensive version, and, even then, go to forms, because it doesn’t cover many of my expenses in the questions.
Turbotax wanted $140 this year for their software. My brother’s accountant charged me $150, and had no issue with my business deductions. And didn’t want to charge me an extra $20 to file my state claim electronically.
frosty
@JaySinWA: @dr. luba: Thanks for the info. I already bought TurboTax* but I’ll look into Freetaxusa. Paying to efile the state is a pain but not an issue for me. I can’t efile because PA wants copies of 1099s so it’s an envelope and stamps again.
* My situation is not very complicated. I get by with the Deluxe version for $80.
JaySinWA
@dr. luba: I left TurboTax when their license monitoring spyware dragged my computer to a crawl even when not using TurboTax. I went to TaxAct after that TaxAct started escalating prices and using a similar confusing pricing model of TurboTax where you don’t know what version you need until you start filling out forms. I used Freetaxusa.com last year.
It looks like you’re getting an exceptional deal in an accountant tax prep. Three decades ago I paid about double that for a business tax return. I hope it works out well for you.
evodevo
@TBone: Males have a LOT of trouble when catheterized for surgery…they did that to Mr.Evodevo when he had a hernia operation, and he was on fire for days afterward. It irritates the crap out of the bladder and urethra, and you may have an infection because of it. Time for a urine sample and a visit to the Urgent Treatment ctr…it may or may not straighten itself up with time. Spoken as one who has had so many UTI’s over the years I should have a urology degree by now.
Paul in KY
@TBone: Ha! I bet!