Dangerous pregnancy? Texas says 'Too bad.'

I followed a series of stories from Texas because I care about freedom and bodily autonomy, and I wondered whether Texas would be compassionate or act to form. 

It starts with a lawyer in the attorney general's office writing that Texas isn't to blame if women aren't getting life-saving abortions. Nooooo, it's those terrible cowardly doctors who refuse to risk their freedom and licenses to perform perfectly legal abortions. The lawyer, a woman, suggests that women should be looking at suing doctors, not the state. 

There's a tiny bit of superficial logic to this. Possibly the doctors are being cowards. Possibly the state wouldn't consider trying to prosecute them for necessary abortions. Texas hasn't jailed any doctors yet for providing emergency abortions. So it's is possible that doctors are just being too nervous. 

More likely, though, is that Texas AG office is lying, trying to throw the blame elsewhere, and providing a talking point to supporters of the strict law. A woman who is 20 weeks pregnant, whose baby has a severe and deadly chromosomal defect, filed suit to get permission for an abortion in Texas. She is already suffering serious side effects. A judge granted her permission for an abortion, with the state arguing against it. What! I thought they supported necessary abortions for the health and life of the mother. Oh, wait, that was just window dressing. The state government doesn't actually support necessary abortions. 

The state appealed, got a ruling to stay the decision. And the AG showed how much they support women in this situation by threatening hospitals and doctors and reminding them that of the penalties for breaking the Texas abortion law. 

So the woman decided she had to leave the state to get her necessary abortion. In the meantime, the Supreme Court of Texas doubled down on the lie that doctors have all the discretion they need. 

So there it is. Texas doesn't really care how dangerous your pregnancy is. Enforcing the laws on those horrid doctors, women, and anyone else is more important. 

Image: Trisomy 18 Foundation

Extras. There's pushback in many states against the stricter abortion laws. Conservatives have a set of tactics to stymie pro-choice referenda, etc. 

Update 3/25/24. Anti-choice doctors have challenged the legality of the abortion pill. It's not as though it hasn't been heavily used in the past 20+ years. Due to their ideals, they challenge it on false pretenses because it does work well. Here's scuttlebutt about their lawsuit. 

Update 4/26/24. A young writer for a conservative magazine isn't overly concerned about citizens' rights to travel--when it's travel for abortions. She's all for states being intrusive in those cases. Chain them up! Freedom isn't for pregnant women and girls!

Links, for the few other things happening

This is many months of links, perhaps since the election in November 2020. 

The GOP decides no post-mortem needed on the election. Let's trade farfetched theories instead. Dems are worried at the gains Republicans made. And, naturally, the GOP wants to make it harder to vote again. Not exactly pro-republic values. 

The Kansas City Star newspaper apologized for decades of racist and biased coverage of black folks. Yes, of course it happened. If this is seen as white guilt or pandering, I want to shoot someone. 

Texas had a deep cold snap that devastated its power grid and its water pipes (in houses and the mains). A lot of conservatives were blaming green energy (because they want them as a scapegoat), but the governor placed blame on the failure of their regulations. 

Witty column about CPAC, the conservative convention. This year it's 99.99% Trump fealty. 

Cuomo's sexual harassment, teasing, and pressure is similar to what is still found in many companies. 

Racial discrimination against black tribal members in American Indian nations.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Qanon nutcase who won a House seat, may not have much of role in current events within a few months. However, she is getting a lot of attention now for some of her bizarre beliefs, prior statements, and current political antics. 

How big an impact did slavery have on the US economic system? Are claims by black Americans that they built the US true? I hope to find out more about this important question. It's certainly possible because cottom made up (by dollar) more than half of US exports during some periods in US history. 

Big Pharma is trying to get closer to Dems because they looked like they would win the lion's share of power in the 2020 election. 

Voting rights and Texas.

Russian hackers. Maybe the Biden administration will make some progress. 

China. Xi Jinping and his consolidation of power. 

The condo collapse in Florida. It's being carefully investigated, but there were known structural problems, but the condo board wasn't able to raise the money for the repairs. 

Image: geology.com

GRAND REOPENING - COMING SOON - RIGHT HERE!!!!

Well, after all those quickly executed shutdowns and lockdowns, it was inevitable that we would need to have reopenings, but hopefully they would be orderly and well-planned. I first asked myself about this on 3/29/20, and I'm glad I did. Since we luckily avoided having everywhere in crisis, every state had some spare capacity to start planning reopening. Now some of those plans are being released and going forward. This is something to celebrate, though in a sober manner with good social distancing and hygiene practices. Yes, we dodged a bullet, and didn't have the level of outbreak that northern Italy had. Congrats to us and the people who urged wise steps.

So here are a somewhat random assortment of reopening plans. The first one out of the gate was Georgia. Not well organized, but instead managed like a political football. Trump was encouraging opening (LIBERATE!) as soon as possible, and under threat from mass protests, though the mass protests didn't actually happen. In that atmosphere, Georgia went big and bold, which means foolhardy. Trump then reversed his support and mildly criticized the plan, which I think is going ahead anyway.

Texas is being more cautious than Georgia with a phased plan to open stores, restaurants, libraries, museums, and theatres at 25% capacity starting on May 1. The second phase starts on May 18. Counties with 5 or fewer cases can open at 50% capacity.

Mike DeWine, governor of Ohio and a leader in taking charge and not waiting for Trump, sets out some conditions based on hygiene and social distancing. However, he backed down on face coverings 'cuz Merrikans don't like them. Also, the plan was to coordinate with other regional governors, but Michigan's governor hadn't put together a plan in time.

The leadership by the federal government is minimal, as it generally has been, except when it comes to underwriting programs (mostly for businesses). The federal guidelines expect the states to set up testing, tracing (sure!), supplies of protective equipment, etc. Well, if states have all that responsbility, the federal government can shove their guidelines where the sun don't shine.

Well, interesting times. Stay tuned for sure!

THIS WILL BE A DEFACTO CLEARINGHOUSE FOR REOPENING POSTS, COMMENTS, AND UPDATES.

Image: wtol.com

Extras. How New Mexico avoided disaster. New Mexico again, but the epidemic is heavy in Gallup and the Navajo lands, with good video. A critique of how New Jersey handled its shutdown--Hoboken did it early and provides evidence of the doubling time being around 3 days.  New Zealand (yes, I know, not a state in the US) did great. Hokkaido (northern Japanese island) opened to soon and too aggressively and had to close again.

Views of workers in the US about safety and other issues.

Still new cases, still new hospitalizations. Why is this happening during the shutdown? Answer: Many are essential workers.

Florida has plans for major theme parks to reopen, but their management doesn't seem quite so eager.

Surge of covid cases in Texas, located in the panhandle. How will this go? On 6/26/20, the governor had to close bars back down. Also no elective surgery in the most populous counties. Very typical epidemiological measures.

A region in China sees about a dozen new cases, and they lock it down.

Missouri and Maryland had packed venues during Memorial Day weekend. Will we be seeing the consequences in a month or two? Bars in Texas were allowed to reopen, and the mayor of Houston is worried.

California has had a rather tight lockdown, but cases haven't slowed. What to do next?

The governor of N. Carolina (a dem) has slowed down the reopening and is telling people to damn-well wear a mask.

An article focusing on psychological reactions and why liberals and conservatives aren't responding the same to covid-19.

A lot of southern states are seeing surges in covid cases. How will this affect the presidential election? This includes Texas. More information about cases in southern Texas and half of Florida. How Texas fumbled its reopeening to create a surge of cases. When medicine and politics clash, some politicians are going to prioritize their candidates and their parties. Kelly Anne Conway makes Trump the cautious sage of reopening?!?!

Battles over school reopenings in Texas and California. Of course it's going to happen. Sickout by teachers and staff closes Arizona schools. 

And then the colleges... Lots of unnecessary mixing by college students doing the party thing. Lots of colleges. I couldn't list them all. 

Anti-mask militants get angry in Idaho. Yes, the absurdity of the existence of militants against masks. 

And a hair salon owner sets up and embarrasses Nancy Pelosi. And denies she set up Pelosi while appearing on Fox News. I'm not falling for that. 
 

And as summer ended and cool weather came, so did a surge in covid. This isn't unexpected for a respiratory virus. Increases nearly everywhere, and surges in some places. Here's a surge in El Paso TX.

October links

(And a few left over from September. Oops, it's November already.)

Hating on climate change. It's no surprise to me that nasty conservative trolls would hate on teenager Greta Thunberg for her message that the people currently in charge of the world aren't doing enough. I've written elsewhere that models for climate change haven't been strong, but there is also enough solid data to be very worried.

Intolerance on campus. I hear screeching about it, but here is a solid court case about bullying of Christian groups by campus officials.

The fear among the conservatives. They fear being overwhelmed by the left and forced to give up their religious beliefs. Considering the disrespect for religious beliefs on the left, I have to say it seems like a rational fear.

Why Trudeau almost lost. Canada is in good shape, which allows lesser issues to create more fractures than before.

Iran and Russia interfere. ... in the US via Facebook.

Tough politics in Texas. The Texas House speaker is out after being stabbed in the back while conspirimg to stab other Republican reps in the back. Do I like anyone in this mess?

Image: edenpoliticalcartoons.com

Shootings and August links

In less than 24 hours, there were two major mass shootings, following up a mass shooting at a festival in California (so three in fairly short span). The shooting in El Paso, TX targeted Mexicans. The shooting in Dayton, OH was by a young man with a long history of violent fantasies, including having a kill list and a rape list while he was in high school. (Google these shootings for details. I won't choose one link as representative). This article about the background of the El Paso shooter is chilling: mostly 'normal' but with all too familiar undercurrents including bullying at school along racial lines, hopelessness about job prospects while automation continues, and open racist sentiments expressed after Trump was elected.

Ignore the headline of this article (Washington Post again - a good source). It's not so much that there's pushback from the NRA on gun legislation, as there is deep worry from GOP legislators. Can they stay in office if they sign on to gun legislation? Probably not if they depend on votes from GOPers, which they do. According to polls, the wide majority of Republicans are still against even partial gun control measures. So it's less the NRA standing in the way, but instead the very popular Guns R Us ethos among Republicans.

Faltering Dem candidates. A Politico author contrasts the Republicans, who understand the importance of legacy and a winning historical narrative, with the Democrats, who are sniping at each other over the party's recent past. Part of this is due to a leadership vacuum since Obama is gone and the Clintons are gone, and both failed in some major ways.

Stealth reform measures for Social Security. Why hasn't this been big news? With funding issues looming, the Dems in the House are working on a big change to SS. This should be drawing a lot of attention, debate, number-crunching, and fact-checking, but the press barely utters a peep. Sure, it's not likely to get through the Senate, but it's a real proposal with seemingly real numbers, and these numbers are likely to be the basis for future work on SS.

Zero interest on bonds. A big difference from when I was young is that now the return on bonds is almost nothing. I find this fascinating. The world is awash in money chasing after profits. We've created so much wealth, and so much paper or digital money that there isn't enough ways to spend it or invest it. This doesn't worry me, however. We won't turn dirt poor even if there's a crash. There will just be another inflation via QE (quantitative easing) as there was last time.

Update on Gaza. Tensions rise and fall, but nobody wants a repeat of the last useless, destructive war. Progress!

Image: wikipedia.org

Extras. Gun control (now called gun safety) advocacy group shows how common private sales are without a background check.

Antifa Apocalypse bust

I guess no one but fevered corners of the media want a repeat of Charlottesville. A couple weeks ago, White Lives Matter rallies in Tennessee were pretty much a bust, thank God. This week, a pop-up anti-fascist organization called Refuse Fascism was trying to stage rallies in 20 cities. Note that it wasn't even antifa.

They took out a large ad in the New York Times announcing the plan. That's interesting because 1) they had the money, and 2) they decided to announce just a few days before the rallies. I wonder whether this is a real group or not. I wonder who financed it.

Parts of the conservative media lost their shit. (Yes, the term applies so I'm using it.) Most of all was InfoWars. They were going to have live coverage of the rallies, hoping to show all the carnage. Or maybe hoping for a (relative) advertising bonanza.

Because carnage didn't materialize, they went to Plan B. Hype what was available. Oh My God, they're calling for the ouster of Trump and Pence. And also, laugh at the puny Austin, Texas rally where the anti-Trumpists were outnumbered by real Texans. So hype and then declare victory when the rallies don't live up to the hype.

Back in reality, the protests were minor. In Austin, anti-Trump protesters were outnumbered. In New York City, the anti-Trump forces were about 300. The pro-Trump counterprotesters were about five.

Despite the concerns, revolution didn't break out anywhere. Somehow I'm not surprised.

InfoWars: wrong again.

Image: infowars.com

Extras. Two articles about the smallish white supremacists rallies in Tennessee. A British site joined the hype-and-dismiss crowd. The Washington Post had a round-up of some of the hysteria. Fox News is coy, asked questions rather than doing any searching. It also gave a platform to the spokesman for the group but didn't question his credibility at all.

Do we need a Megan's Law for bathrooms?

I read how Texas is considering a law governing how transgender people can use public bathrooms. It occurred to me that Texas isn't debating this law because there was a horrific case of a transgender person horribly raping and/or killing a girl in a bathroom. This didn't happen to little Rachel or Gloria or Brittany, so there's no Rachel's Law. Nope.

Instead, Texas is considering this law because... um, why? Because they want to show that they hate the idea of transgender people, and they want to poke them in the eye. Or maybe they want to show that they are holier than thou, and that transgender nonsense is not tolerated in Texas.

This is so fake. I can assure you that transgender people are using the appropriate bathrooms in Texas without incident. They aren't raping anyone, they aren't exposing their genitals to the shock and disgust of other patrons. They are just going into the stalls, locking the doors, and answering nature's call. Just like the rest of the human species. Sheesh, give the paranoia a rest. Give the excuses to bash liberals a rest.

Do we need a Megan's Law for bathrooms? No, we don't. We don't need any laws. Just let people pick their bathrooms, and keep out of the way.

Image: twitter/@lmcgaughey

Short: Disenfranchised Texas voters

Finally I saw a number on how many voters had trouble getting acceptable IDs under the Texas voter ID laws. The number is 600K, or 4.5% of voters in Texas.

Then I read more closely, and that is an estimate by plaintiffs in the suit against the state law. They would probably want to overcount  rather than undercount the number affected.

Nonetheless, it's an interesting article on voter ID and remedies for those voters impeded by the voter ID requirements.

Image: soapblox.com

Four stories on the Dallas shootings

I'm deeply saddened by the shooting of police in Dallas during a friendly, non-violent protest against police shootings elsewhere.

We've seen this before--people taking out their hatred by mass killings. This time it was a black man who was angry with whites, particularly police. But daily it's someone angry with this group or other, or just angry at the world. This country isn't a land where everyone has to fear going outdoors because of the high level of violence (countries like Somalia, parts of Mexico, Honduras among others). But this is a glimpse of what it could be like.

The thread of civilization that prevents the general outbreak of such violence has become thinner, and there are more such violent incidents reported even as the overall murder declines. Can you imagine if half a dozen people in every medium-to-large city decided to do what this man did, and murder as many police as possible? What if two days later another person was doing the same thing in the same city?

Actually, now that I write this, I feel confident that our police forces could handle such a situation--that the number of violent people would run out long before our police were swamped. For that I'm very grateful.

After this long prologue, here are the stories:

• The story of the Dallas police, told mostly from the viewpoint of the police chief, who is black.
• The sniper in Dallas originally planned to have bombs too, but the bombs weren't ready and the rally was too tempting. 
• There is a pool of angry people in Dallas to possibly carry on the work of the sniper. This is very worrying.
• Political reactions include both conciliation and demagoguery. 

So will this tragedy spur other angry people to act out, or will it make them rethink? I can't predict. However, I remember the Oklahoma City bombing, and how it was so horrific that it quieted the violence for a while. We can hope for that, but it would be so much better if five police officers didn't need to die for us to learn.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown

Image: fox4newscom

Update 7/11/16. A report of the radical black organizations that the shooter tried to join. None are as radical in tactics as the Black Panthers of 40 years ago, but Lakesia Washington of the Black Riders supports the shooter and the shooting.Update 

Supreme Court stubs out abortion ban via regulation

When you can't get what you want by fair play, we can always resort to other methods. So it was with the State of Texas. The majority of legislators want to ban abortion, but certain Supreme Court decisions stand in their way.

Enter a different idea: cloak your ban in the guise of health-based regulations. Since we're already drowning in regulations, it's a common method of changing practice, so why not? It's not that hard to lie about the real reasons for the regulation, like pretending that abortion is more dangerous than childbirth and causes more death than the low death toll from colonoscopies.

So Texas passed its regulations (after an unsuccessful filibuster by Wendy Davis). Lots of abortion clinics closed down, but at least one sued. The case went up to the Supreme Court, where Anthony Kennedy, typically conservative justice, called bullshit on the regulations. Well, they were bullshit, so I'm glad that he didn't play along. Kennedy has called bullshit on other issues too, including the idea that same sex marriage is dangerous to the institution of marriage and family.

Three cheers for Justice Kennedy!

How far you have to travel in Texas

Image: vocativ.com

Short: The Worldwide Gonad Brotherhood

Who has the bigger balls? Is it Russians or Texans?

Maybe when they work on mutual interests, their balls get even bigger. This laugh riot is a story about Russia supporting Texas secessionists. (In case you didn't know, all soldiers from Texas are also believers in secession. I learned that from the article.)

Step 1. Secede.
Step 2. Get governing advice from this man.
Step 3. Glory.

Image: veteranstoday.com

Ebola in Texas, but not worried yet

I wasn't worried about the two Americans being transferred to Atlanta for treatment for Ebola. Am I worried yet with this case in Texas?

No, not yet. But this is of greater concern. The Liberian man exposed a bunch of people before he was quarantined. Now those people may come down with Ebola too, and they could spread it to others. That's what has happened in West Africa.

Handling it right over here

It could happen here, but it won't. We have strong medical systems, not only to treat those with the illness, but to monitor those who may have been exposed. Some are in quarantine to prevent more exposures, and to limit the number of people who have to be monitored.

The personnel directly caring for the Ebola patient are probably limiting their contacts too. They shouldn't be going home to their families and attending church, ball games, and going to shopping malls. It's a big sacrifice to limit contacts, but it's not for a long time, so I think the medical personnel would be willing to make it.

A big problem in West Africa is that the sick weren't separated from the well, and they infected a fair number of people. By the time it was clear that isolation was needed, there were already too many infected people, and the medical system was overwhelmed.

That's unlikely to be repeated here in the US. We have a lot of medical resources to dedicate, and just one case so far. Any contacts who start showing symptoms will go into complete quarantine immediately, not after they've exposed bunches of people. That didn't happen with this first case, but the lesson has been learned. The medical system is on alert and will quarantine, and we will avoid the multiplication effect that occurred in Africa.

The warning sign to watch for is when people are getting sick at home and staying there, denying that they have Ebola. That denial is dangerous because it allows the sick person to infect others. That's when it can snowball. A different warning sign would be medical personnel dying or fleeing hospitals, hospitals refusing to take more patients, or hospitals being attacked. This has happened in West Africa, but there's little chance we'll see it here.

The importance of honesty (again)

This is a lesson in taking the right precautions and being truthful. The man from Liberia lied to get on a flight out of Liberia, lied again by not telling hospital workers that he'd been closely exposed in Libya, and probably lied at other times too. It's important for people not to lie anymore about it. Some people are asking whether we can trust our health officials. From what I've seen, yes, they are telling the truth, and they are taking all the right measures.

In one more month, we won't have a concern about Ebola in Texas. We'll have an all-clear, just like we eventually got in Atlanta. Till then, we have to take the right precautions, and keep this small. That's what we're doing, so it's going to be alright.

Partial view of a well-managed Ebola clinic in Guinea

Image: dailymail.co.uk

Extra. CDC directions on handling the dead. That's more good precautions. 

The way they talk: Lubbock, TX

So a judge in Lubbock, Tx, made waves last week because he was talking about, um, Obama sending UN troops into Texas and the great people of Texas resisting them. Maybe he said that, or maybe I'm remembering what someone else said. I'll have to track this down and return.

Back again.Yup, it was Obama sending UN troops into Lubbock. Now, I don't know how many people in the country agree that this is a possibility. I don't even know if the judge really believes it could happen, though he talks calmly and lengthily about it as a possibility, albeit a worst-case scenario... as he tries to walk it back (same link).

I think I'll try to make this post into a series. Todd Akin with his pregnancy rape comments would have fit nicely. I'll have to look for progressive craziness too. Wish me luck... maybe.

The UN doesn't deny Texas invasion plans. Really.

Extra: A retired teacher doesn't want to pay higher taxes to prepare Lubbock just in case. Read it to the very end.

We made the wrong choice

This is probably true much more often than we admit. I won't go into all the personal mistaken choices because their consequences are limited. But in politics, it's definitely worth talking about.

A slogan for this election is that IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT ELECTION OF THIS GENERATION. (Note, there's now a lot of pushback against that idea, thank God.) When a lot of people were screaming that during the GOP primary, I considered the question seriously, and decided that the most important election of this generation was in 2000 (Bush vs. Gore). Unfortunately, we got the wrong one. I'll argue that with anyone, and the sane ones will be agreeing in about ... 2 minutes, or a lot less. As I don't want to waste my efforts on the insane ones, I don't have the argument very often.

So, we made the wrong choice in 2000. Actually, the popular vote favored Gore, but not enough to swing the electoral college in basically a 48%-to-48% tie.

Another wrong choice preceded that. The GOP establishment chose the wrong Bush brother. Jeb Bush was generally acknowledged to be the smarter and more serious one. But George Bush managed to block him out and sign up a lot of early supporters. Or perhaps I should give in to my speculation and say Karl Rove did these things.

(Side note: After Karen Hughes' statement that George Bush was intelligent, I withheld judgment for at least two years. Never in that time did I see signs of above-average intelligence from Geroge Bush. So when I say that he's not intelligent, or that he's an idiot, it's based on observation, not on bias. I'd trust him to deliver mail or teach high school or build web pages, but he wasn't smart enough to be POTUS.)

Why did we end up with the dumber Bush brother? Well, if you were a conservative businessman and you wanted someone malleable rather than independent, wouldn't you choose George over Jeb? Now, I live about as far from Texas as an American can, so I have no idea who are the powers behind the Texas GOP, but there's a track record there of not-so-bright governors, as Rick Perry reminded us. Someone, maybe more than one, maybe a group decision, chose George Bush as Republican nominee in 2000. Whoever you are, THANKS A LOT FOR SUCH A SHITTY CHOICE.

Photo: timesunion.com

Extra: The occasion for this post is Jeb Bush's announcement that he'd accept 10-1 spending cuts to tax increases. What a RINO.

Sanctions hurt the poor here

Not in Iran, Iraq, Syria, or Libya...

In Texas. The Texas legislature wanted to put sanctions on Planned Parenthood, so they eliminated funding and took the double hit from the loss of federal grants for family planning too. Clinical sites are closing and fees are being instituted or raised.

Some poor women may shift some of their small but existent disposable cash to pay for contraception. But for others, having to travel further and raise the extra $60  for the 3- or 6-month supply of pills will prove impossible, and nature will take its course. By this time next year, Texas may or may not see the results of this policy in birth rates, maternity hospital fees, child health program sign-ups, and adoptions.

We don't know the outcome yet. But it didn't have to come to this. In the fight over Planned Parenthood, someone could have blinked. Texas could have backed down, or Planned Parenthood could have separated into two organization: one that handles abortions and another that handles everything else.

If PP had done that, it would have been a capitulation to anti-choice forces and an abandonment of part of its mission. Still, I hope they considered it. If both types of services remain available through separate, that's not a huge sacrifice to make. Instead, both Texas and PP decided to sacrifice free or subsidized care for poor women.

Well, it's probably wrong to say Texas or PP sacrificed. The government of Texas (elected officials and public employees) and PP (the governing board and employees), and the strident pro-lifers behind the "kill PP" movement, are most likely still covered for the contraceptives they need and want. The real sacrifice is borne by those poor women who are pushed back into the bygone days of no contraceptives with all those stresses and uncertainties. We, the decision makers, are safe.

How far is the clinic?

Sources: NYT, Reuters, local Amarillo station

Update 3/16/12. Texas is suing the federal government over the loss of federal funding for its programs. Texas paper, Baltimore paper.

Update 4/15/12. More details on Planned Parenthood closings in Texas.