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Thursday’s Forum
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32 responses to “Thursday’s Forum”
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Whose body is it anyway?
A Galveston man is suing a California doctor for allegedly providing his girlfriend with abortion-inducing drugs, the latest effort to test Texas’ anti-abortion laws against blue states’ protections for abortion providers.
Unlike other ongoing legal challenges in state court, this suit was filed in federal court, which opens up a new avenue to stress test these so-called “shield laws,” legal experts say. After the overturn of Roe v. Wade, as red states like Texas were banning abortions, blue states passed these laws to protect abortion providers who mail medications into restrictive states.
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The complaint, filed Sunday, accuses Dr. Remy Coeytaux of mailing abortion pills to Rodriguez’s girlfriend in September 2024. She allegedly used the medication to terminate a pregnancy that month, and later terminated a second pregnancy. Rodriguez says these abortions happened at the direction of his girlfriend’s estranged husband. -
Hegseth Signal messages came from email classified ‘SECRET,’ watchdog told
The revelation contradicts the Trump administration’s long-standing claims that no classified information was shared by the defense secretary’s account during the “Signalgate” scandal.
At the risk of playing the “whatabout” game, this is far worse than the classified leakage that occurred in Clinton’s emails.
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@Scott:
At the risk of playing the “whatabout” game, this is far worse than the classified leakage that occurred in Clinton’s emails.
At what point does national security malfeasance become “treasonous?”
At what point does mass killing become “genocidal?”
Or can these things be written off as mere “incompetence” in perpetuity, as an accountability dodge?
As in: DJT and company’s various procedural/personnel laxities plus flirtations with known adversaries have compromised NatSec integrity.
As in: Israel’s Gaza War excessive killing of civilians has exceeded “legitimate” military objectives.
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I began my current job around the mid-2000s. back then, 90% of the federal government’s requests for proposals were published in an online platform called Compranet 3.0. One feature of this site was you could look up suppliers and see what contracts they had with the federal government.
In 2009, they changed the platform to Compranet 5.0 (no clue what happened to 4). The feature referred to above was removed. The new site was optimized for online proposals.
In 2023 this changed to Compranet 23, again a new platform, and the look up suppliers feature remained absent (this year it was renamed Compras MX, but the platform is unchanged).
So, you cannot look up what federal contracts a supplier has since 2009.
Why is it I keep getting asked by managers and bosses to “look up in Compranet what contracts a competitor has”, seventeen years after it’s no longer an option?
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@Scott:
French Poodles. -
I’ve been looking to switch my Audible subscription to Libro.fm for various reasons. Thus far, though, the Everand (formerly Scribd) subscription seemed safe.
Then I tried to download “The Wrong Stuff How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned” by John Strausbaugh, and learned of Everand’s new subscription plans.
TL;DR: They’ve gone from any book in the catalog for a flat $9.99 per month (with obscure limits I rarely reached), to now some titles are locked and require 1 credit to unlock. Oh, and the prize has gone up to $11.99*
This is still better than Audible, but there’s a big catch: you lose access to all your books, locked or not, if you end your subscription. Audible at least lets you keep any books you’ve bought if you cancel your subscription (with some caveats).
So, eventually both Everand and Audible will have to go.
Audible is running a 2 books for one credit sale just now. I may use up some credits in that, then find something to do with any credits left, and cancel the subscription before I get charged for next month.
*Complicating things is that the new plan isn’t in effect in my region yet, but some titles are locked.
As to the price increase, I don’t begrudge it seeing as it’s been $9.99 for years. Hell, I’d be willing to pay even more per month for unlimited books and no locked titles.
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@Gregory Lawrence Brown: He was a racist scab shithead. Rest in Pain.
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@Scott:
This is further evidence of what already appeared be the case after we saw the contents of the Signal chat. Hegseth’s claim that it contained no classified information was dubious, to say the least, unless he had declassified what shouldn’t have been declassified. So the question might’ve been, “When was information in the Signal chat declassified?” But Hegseth would have stonewalled, like he did in June when asked a question that had already been answered months earlier by both the DIA Director and NSA Director. From the Post article,At a House Armed Services Committee hearing in June, Hegseth, under questioning by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Massachusetts), refused to say whether the Yemen strike details later shared on Signal initially came to his office over a classified system.
But during the House Intelligence Committee hearing on March 26, there was this exchange:
LTG Kruse, Director, DIA: “I think what I would offer are two things and hopefully they’re helpful to you. One of them would be, in addition to that full package that we would talk about, when the Secretary extracted individual uh details from that and provided those on Signal, whether individually or in aggregate, that is his decision of what is classified is not from an operational aspect. And that’s probably the most important relevant piece to there, and I would Echo what we’ve said before, it’s the Secretary’s uh authority for the…”
Rep Quigley: “Just give me… there’s more secure ways of communicating any of this, right?”
LTG Kruse: “There are. And our adversaries have various means to intercept.”
Rep Quigley: “There’s much more secure means that you use, even if you don’t think that this is, or you don’t want to stick your head out…”
GEN Haugh, Director, NSA: “…the full packages were transmitted within classified, within traditional classified means.”
Rep Quigley: “But this could have been transmitted in a classified way as well. Thank you.” -
Chuck Mangione 84
RIPI have three things in common with Chuck Mangione. We were both born in Rochester NY. We both played the trumpet and we both attended the Eastman School of Music.
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@Gregory Lawrence Brown: I was just humming “Feels So Good”.
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On this day in 1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
WikiPUntil he turned them over I was convinced that Tricky Dick would burn the tapes. I still don’t know why he didn’t.
I refuse to believe that he had any respect for the rule of law. Maybe he knew that he was doomed and wanted to avoid jail time.
Then there is this:Inspiration for Donald Trump.
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@Gregory Lawrence Brown:
The days of my youth, living in Washington DC during Watergate. Back when the Washington Post was a real newspaper. -
@Michael Reynolds:..Back when the Washington Post was a real newspaper.
And when President Richard M. Nixon was a real criminal…
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Show me a few more like this and I’ll start believing some of those ‘cratering’ polls stories.
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He lost the QAnon Shaman today.
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The premise os making a liquid that can absorb and release oxygen seems so simple. Coming up with artificial blood, though, has been hard.
In fairness blood does a lot more than carry oxygen, but for trauma and emergency cases just carrying oxygen is vital. Ergo artificial blood for emergency use. That is, you won’t see this product, assuming it works and it’s safe and effective, used in lieu of transfusions for surgery or as a treatment. And even real blood and related blood products sometimes are not enough for really bad injuries.
BTW, the lead scientist is named Dr. Allan Doctor.
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Two days late but I can’t pass on this @Steven L. Taylor:
He’s just right dontch know. He has read both the National Review AND the New Republic.
So there!
Mock and belittle people who disagree with or who thought were dead wrong but it was you that was wrong. That’s a great use of intellect from a person with a PHD and who taught Poli Sci.
How did your election predictions come out last November? As James Carville would have said, its the economy stupid. I have just a high school diploma but was smart enough not to let any political ideology I have to blind myself to all the signs that the Democrats were heading to a loss. Who’s the smart one?
Mock me some more, Professor. You’re only making a mockery of yourself.
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So, France is recognizing Palestine as a state.
Predictably the unhinged wing of the current governing coalition (pleonasm) in Israel is going batshit crazy. But the opposition isn’t much better.
For one thing, Macron didn’t do this on Oct. 7th 2023, but only after Israel went way over the line in its response. And after El Taco said he wanted to ethnically cleanse Gaza. And after recently several Israeli high officials echoed El Taco’s feelings. And after the IDF started shooting people at aid distribution places, even while they detain aid from entering Gaza.
Fuck them all.
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@Bill Jempty:
I’ve been meaning to ask you about your work. It sounds like you’ve been terrifically successful as a writer.You’ve referenced some of the topics of your books, but I don’t recall having seen any titles. I’m always on the hunt for something new and different, so I’d appreciate a recommendation from your canon. Cheers.
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@Bill Jempty: Your stubborn inability to assess your positions and ever back down on anything gets tiresome and annoying.
And so, yes,I succumbed to some snark.
I would note that you don’t actually argue or debate. You just assert. It is annoying.
How did your election predictions come out last November?
I dissected my prediction in detail the other day. But you didn’t respond save to make a crack about margin of error.
Let me be plain: picking the winner in a two-person race that was close to 50-50 going into the election is not some intellectual major feat. It is tantamount to picking a coin flip.
But yes, you were right. And therefore?
Your intransigence on the definition of “concentrated camp” is tedious.
You may not see it, but your version of “debate” is just saying you know. That is what led to my
snark.Also: this just in, having a doctorate doesn’t mean people don’t annoy you on occasion.
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@Mimai: I tried look on Amazon not that long ago out of curiosity, but he must write under a different name.
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@Kathy:
Recognition set for September. Plenty of time for pressure to be brought to bear on Macron and France.
France will officially recognise a Palestinian state in September, President Emmanuel Macron has said, which will make it the first G7 nation to do so.
In a post on X, Macron said the formal announcement would be made at a session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“The urgent need today is for the war in Gaza to end and for the civilian population to be rescued. Peace is possible. We need an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages, and massive humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza,” he wrote.
Palestinian officials welcomed Macron’s decision, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move “rewards terror” following Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack in Israel.
Reward “terror” or reward mass inhumanity. Hellava choice.
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@Steven L. Taylor: @Mimai:
I believe in the past he has said something to the effect of ‘I write under another name and wish to keep my lives separate. ”Fair enough.
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@Neil Hudelson: That is fair (truly). But then maybe not talk about it all the time?
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On a lighter topic, one way Iranian airlines acquire commercial aircraft
Notice a US based company is involved.
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Reps Nancy Mace, Scott Perry, and Brian Jack voted with Democrats in an Oversight subcommittee meeting to subpoena the DoJ to release the Epstein files. (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-oversight-committee-issues-subpoena-ghislaine-maxwell/story?id=124009512)
So the recess ploy didn’t really work.
I’m not making predictions about where this is going. But I do recall that Nixon resigned in August, presumably during a recess as well. I can remember what I was doing when I got the news, even.
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