DeadSplinter
The Flat Line

Weekend Vibes [DOT 24/2/24]

24/2/24 MegMegMcGee 21

Hope you guys had a good week…better than these guys…

They can’t make up their minds because they don’t know what they are talking about.

Trump voices ‘strong support’ for IVF treatments after Alabama ruling
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/23/tommy-tuberville-alabama-embryo-ruling

Trump, Republican candidates express support for IVF in face of political backlash
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/23/ivf-restrictions-republicans-election/

Hit ’em where it hurts – $$$

NRA and ex-leader found liable after being sued over lavish spending
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/02/23/nra-verdict-wayne-lapierre-trial/

Stonks!

Dow rises to close at fresh record, S&P 500 hits all-time high: Live updates
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/stock-market-today-live-updates.html

Oh no!!

Have a great weekend!

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21 Comments

    • …I’m sure they’ll add it to the to do list…but they’re a tad bit busy just at the minute

      Alabama lawmakers are advancing legislation that would strictly define who is considered female and male based on their reproductive systems. Opponents said the move could erode the rights of transgender and intersex people in the state.

      “There are only two sexes, and every individual is either male or female,” declares the Senate bill approved in committee on Tuesday.

      It defines sex based on reproductive anatomy and says schools and local governments can establish single-sex spaces, such as bathrooms, based on those definitions. A House committee plans to take up similar legislation Wednesday.
      [https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/alabama-lawmakers-advance-bill-define-male-female-based-sperm-ova]

      …they’re in baskin robbins mode…just all the flavors

      Judge rules Texas school’s hair length policies do not violate CROWN Act [NBC]
      Georgia board upholds firing of teacher for reading book about gender identity to fifth graders [NBC]

      …& there’s another slug of nazi rhetoric going into the dose

      Trump warns of enemies ‘within our country’ to Christian media gathering [Guardian]

      …I’m starting to think the enemy within might be healthcare practitioners

      “We’re literally criminalizing standard medical care,” said Dr Serena Chen, vice-president of the grassroots group Doctors for Fertility and a reproductive endocrinologist in New Jersey, where she is director of advocacy at CCRM Fertility and a founder of the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science.

      “We’re legislating malpractice – we’re saying, ‘You don’t use your normal medical principles, all the training you went through, all your experience’ – we’re just tossing it out to this arbitrary idea that doesn’t have a biological basis,” said Chen.
      […]
      Doctors said the decision shows a fundamental misunderstanding of reproductive medicine – with several portions wholly ungrounded in reality. For instance, justices introduced the idea that a “full-term infant or toddler” could be “gestated to term in an in vitro environment”, when there is no way to gestate an embryo outside a human uterus for longer than roughly seven days.
      […]
      Today, about 2% of all babies born in the US are conceived through in vitro fertilization. To perform a round of IVF, doctors stimulate a patient’s ovaries to produce several eggs. Those eggs are retrieved and fertilized with sperm in vitro, Latin for “in glass” (hence the expression “test tube baby”), creating embryos that consist of a group of a few hundred cells and are called blastocysts. Doctors typically implant one or two of the embryos in a patient’s womb around the sixth day of the embryo’s development.
      [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/feb/23/fertility-doctors-reaction-alabama-embryo-ruling]

      …presumably it’s why robert reich is back in the pages of the guardian warning that they’re looking to go the theocracy route

      The Republican party wants to turn America into a theocracy [Guardian]

      …but whatever it looks like to the domestic audience…to others

      Cameron warns failure to supply arms to Ukraine will harm US security [Guardian]

      …it would not appear to be causing an outpouring of confidence?

      Europe tries to Trump-proof itself as Putin’s war in Ukraine looms over NATO [NBC]

      …I’m sure I remember days…even in the era of when the wind blows & duck & cover…when I went whole weeks without encountering the phrase “existential threat”…hard to believe these days

      “When you look at the kind of systemic complexity that all of us rely upon — the technologies, the food distribution systems, the power networks — and the many ways in which things can fail,” Beard explained, “it’s a level of certainty that I’m not willing to give to say, for sure things won’t be impacted on such a level as to threaten the existence of humanity.”

      According to Beard, there’s a ballpark ratio that can be applied to any disaster: For every person killed, another nine suffer some sort of injury or other negative impact. If there were an event that wiped out 10 percent of the world’s population, then we’d expect everyone else to have a direct negative effect. Beyond, of course, the trauma of about 800 million people dying.

      So with that baseline, whose existential threat does Beard view as the bigger risk, Trump’s or Biden’s?

      “The problem is they’re just incredibly different kinds of risk,” Beard began, fairly. The difference, though, is mainly one of timelines. The damage done by climate change accrues slowly, chronically. It’s accruing now, as Beard noted. The threat of nuclear weapons is, to put it dryly, acute. In each case, there would be (or, in the case of climate change, are) risks to food supplies and forced relocations, interruptions to power production and so on. It’s just that it happens very rapidly in the wake of a nuclear exchange.

      “Right now, nuclear weapons are much more likely to have really global catastrophic effects than climate change,” Beard said. “But in 100 years’ time, the effects of climate change may have added up to what we would experience with a nuclear war.”
      […]
      “When we talk about risk, we’re really talking about what specific people are going to do,” Beard said. “And I don’t think we should talk about that in probabilistic terms.”
      […]
      “What I would want to see any political leader doing is connecting with the humanity of their electorate, but also the humanity of leaders elsewhere in the world,” Beard said, “because ultimately none of these things are in anyone’s interest.”

      It’s safe to assume that Beard wouldn’t want to offer odds on that happening, either.
      [Whose declared existential risk is a bigger threat, Biden’s or Trump’s? – WaPo]

       […I realize that at some point jumped the tracks & stopped being a reply to your comment by any reasonable measure…but pasting the whole thing into a fresh start made the start seem like I was talking past you…or read that way to me…&…it’s the weekend & I’m too lazy to employ solomon’s wisdom to cleave the thing into two…sorry?]

    • They’ll most likely pass a bill to “legalize” it while simultaneously ban it.

      The issue is that they’re technically OK with IVF as long as it involves a single egg which is implanted. They haven’t given up any ground on the idea that life begins at fertilization, which means that anyone who stores multiple eggs, uses one, and then discards the rest is going to still be considered a murderer. Likewise someone who stores an egg but ends up not using it because other efforts to enable a pregnancy work.

      They may go even further and try to carve out some kind of blind eye provision which promises the state won’t look at those cases, but they won’t touch the life begins at fertilization issue. Which means if you’re a medical center, what are you going to do? Trust them?

      None of the GOP politicians who have been backing constitutional amendments to establish that life begins at conception have rejected those measures. Why would they? Reporters haven’t thought to ask.

      This is all an attempt to get the headlines in the short term that they back IVF and then count on the press to drop it or confuse it going forward.

      In the short term, at least, it’s working. Trump got headlines for claiming to back IVF, but when Biden strongly backed it and attacked Alabama earlier, it was crickets. And the “Trump Backs IVF” articles overwhelmingly accept his position uncritically, because political reporters once again don’t understand the issues involved.

      The problem is that these guys are still nuts. They’re going to keep prosecuting women and doctors for some variation on the question of life begins at conception, and the editors and execs are going to scratch their heads at what’s going on, and wonder why their credibility with the public keeps slipping.

      • …I don’t know whether it’s that I think there’s more to it or less…that’s kind of their USP feature/bug from some perspectives…but…I think a lot of it is root of the same don’t-know-how-any-of-this-is-actually-supposed-to-work tree?

        …like…for people who are so obsessed by the variety of plumbing lurking beneath people’s clothing…they don’t really know how the birds & bees do it…let alone most people…but they do know what they want…which is dominion…dominion over your soul…your hearth…your home…your faith…your life…your state…dominion over all things…the plants of the earth & the slaves…sorry…beasts…beasts of the field…& it’s supposed to be like a chaos fractal…the picture is the same whichever bit you look at at whatever scale…so…it should be easy…you know what you want the final picture to look like so you just pull out to wherever has what you want to try fucking with in the viewfinder & you shoot your shot

        …whether it’s “a white christian man in the US of A should be able to get drunk, watch his team lose, shoot up a bunch of shit &/or people & maybe beat on his mrs a little until he feels better, long as he’s at home…or not in public & upset…in which case anyplace is a firm & fixed hill on which plenty can die to uphold his right to stand his ground”…or “it’s like this, see – there’s men & there’s women…& kids, I guess but they don’t really count…two types…like yes & no…& it’s the ladies’ job to say yes to the men & the men’s right to say no to their share of responsibility for the consequences of their choices & behavior…& if that means the good name of some girl gets squandered while the good name of the boy who had more than a hand in it gets not to be tarnished so as not to spoil his bright future…well, where’s the harm…she’s only going to be taking some man’s good name down the line so those are the ones that need preserving & maybe it’ll teach her a lesson so it’s a win-win, really…says so in the bible…something about a lady called ruth who these days might have gone to an IVF clinic quicker than a church…I dunno…I never read the actual bible but that’s what somebody said in a meme I saw one time, anyway”

        …the problem remains that you’re trying to retro-engineer something to fit with a thing you think is universal but is at odds with objective reality…& you don’t understand the engineering involved in the stuff you’re trying to graft it into…like…at all

        …these people who would cos-play the handmaid’s tale with a smile in their cold anhedonic hearts…who presumably have only ever in their lives had at best grudging & unenjoyable sex with anyone misfortunate enough to have found themselves in the running for a procreative position…they mean it…church & state is a one-way valve for them…the state must bend the knee to the church in every sphere of influence

        …so before they get the costumes finalized for their handmaids tale remix first they want to speed-run through something that looks a little like…I dunno…iran with more crucifixes?

        • The apocalyptics probably see the chaos as a feature. There’s a very strong element of wanting to precipitate an end of days battle, and you see it all the time in evangelical backing for the warmongering extremist side of Israeli politics.

          There’s an incentive for them to not understanding how IVF actually works in practice because that might encourage their hardliners to back down.We saw the same thing with their refusal to accept abortion exemptions for cases of rape, with crazy statements that somehow women’s bodies wouldn’t allow pregnancy to happen.

          The ability to deny truth is seen as a strength, not a fault.

          • …they’re also well-drilled in the basic rinse & repeat of bureaucratic admin…which is why they’re well-suited to get appointed to the sorts of positions that the assholes john oliver featured in that subversion montage go together like teeth in a zipper that way

            …they show up…they keep to the schedules…they (mostly) manage not to fuck up their paperwork…& then they get to lay down their tiny bit of high-handed law

            …& that’s the part where grafting a church (or at least pseudo-faith-based) network onto their campaign effort seems like at least as big a worry to me as pro-palestinian-rights people in michigan dropping un-subtle hints about their price for biden getting their vote

            …not least because that sort of thing under most circumstances is SOP for the primary season section of proceedings…it’s mostly just the skip-to-the-re-run aspect of this particular go around that makes that even seem like anything else

            …the oven-ready supply of organized nutbar-addicts leavening some MAGA dough-boys…that’s not the normal “religious lobby” you can hold at the line where they bitch about not forcing kids to pray their preferred brand of prayers before they get to be taught anything from whatever remains of the school’s collection of books?

  3. this abortion shit is nothing compared to what’s next from these white nationalist, anti-woman assholes. which state will ban birth control first? bama or oklahoma?

    • …alabama has the momentum…but oklahoma could…err…finish strong?

      …I dunno where the heritage society clip @bryanlsplinter dropped in the comments yesterday was filmed but that might give a clue…along with how hot & bothered they are about cementing people into boxes based on more interest in strangers’ genitalia than I was raised to believe it was ok to telegraph without someone calling the police…I mean…there are some theories about where they’re coming from…or at least who they’re talking to

      …but…as openly stated…their goal is to make consequentialism an inescapable consequence of sex…&…well…contraceptives are literally based on an opposing principle whereby the specific consequences that involve the existence of persons not currently alive is…all other things being equal…optional…we quaintly refer to it as choice…or agency…what with the overwhelming majority of the “burden” side of that consequence falling on…well it has more to do with hips than shoulders…either way…it’s not a new string to that bow

      https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1759274996818678108.html

      …&…this goes back to nov ’22…so it’s talking about things with an eye to the mid-terms rather than the current round…but…it’s not exactly less of a worry?

    • Tennessee is out to ban gay marriage. And since the right wingers on the Supreme Court threw out Roe, there’s no reason to think they will think twice before tossing Obergefell.

      https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/tennessee-marriage-equality-challenge

      And the evangelical right has been open that they want to go after the Lawrence ruling too which legalized being gay. Texas and multiple states still have laws criminalizing being gay, and a Trump-packed court reversing Lawrence will put millions of lives at risk.

      There’s a huge amount of denial that thinks this just couldn’t happen. It’s often by people who think they’re savvy and smarter than people who are alarmed. That kind of clueless wannabe intellectualism is deadly.

      • Well…so…here’s the thing:  they did that already, back in the…early 2000’s I think, and it got wiped out by Obergefell.  So I guess all they’re really trying to do is bring back the case to get a ruling overturned that was only 9 years old.  They can have their right wing buddies rule the way they want, because precedent doesn’t mean fuck-all to them.

        • There were so many wise pundits and analysts who were sure the GOP would calculate the risks and be satisfied with limiting Roe.

          What those dummies don’t get is the logic of authoritarianism is to never stop. They start from the assumption that their Republican friends and colleagues won’t back authoritarianism, so the rest of their time is wishcasting reasonable calculation.

          They’re doing the exact same thing with gay rights. They assume reason and work backwards to insist that the GOP would never attack gay rights, even as they’ve obviously done so in Florida and show no sign of moderating.

          And the kicker is the GOP is going to do the same thing with press freedom if they ein. AG Sulzberger is convinced the Times is safe, Bezos thinks the Washington Post will be too. None of them are safe.

      • There’s a huge amount of denial that thinks this just couldn’t happen. It’s often by people who think they’re savvy and smarter than people who are alarmed. That kind of clueless wannabe intellectualism is deadly.

        Thisssss ☝️!!! About everything. Big bubbles are going to burst in the coming years (except for the 1%).

      • They can go fuck themselves. Gay men, and I suppose women, have been getting around this for decades. One adopts the other. Men in their 60s adopting men in their 60s. There’s no law against it. Sometimes the judges raised an eyebrow but they knew what was what. As long as you live in a civilized corner of the country and not somewhere nail-biting like Tennessee (full disclosure: I’ve never been to TN, and I hope to God to never go) I think I’d be OK.

        • They’re already going after comfortable middle class women needing medical abortions to save their lives in the short time since Roe was repealed.

          They will be locking up gays and lesbians. A lot of them. Denial is not an option.

          And for that matter, straights need to be worried too because plenty of arrests will happen in nonsexual situations like two friends going camping in the wrong county. People don’t want to believe it will happen to them, and that disbelief is going to have tragic results on a par with the growing criminalization of women by paranoid evangelicals.

    • Ya know, as someone who has been intimately acquainted with a Black person, a Black man no less, for close to 40 years, he hasn’t been accused of 91 felonies. That is not something that would make Donald Trump attractive to him. In fact, he comes from a family of grifters. You should read his will. It’s ironclad. It all goes to me. If one of those grifters wants to contest this, there’s a provision that it’ll be adjudicated in Manhattan. Good luck finding lodging and competent legal counsel. Meanwhile I live here and know top-drawer attorneys who’ll represent me pro bono, not that I don’t have the money to pay their fees.

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