Tuesday’s Forum

FILED UNDER: Open Forum
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter

Comments

  1. OzarkHillbilly says:

    JJ is a little cornfused this AM.

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  2. Scott says:

    Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court came down with their decision WRT the Kate Cox abortion suit.

    Today, I read the newspapers concerning the case and I’m confused. Two headlines:

    Texas Supreme Court blocks order allowing abortion; woman who sought it leaves state

    The Texas Supreme Court ruled that Kate Cox did not qualify for an abortion under the medical exception to the state’s near-total abortion ban. Just hours prior, Cox’s lawyers said she’d traveled out of state to have the procedure.

    “No one disputes that Ms. Cox’s pregnancy has been extremely complicated. Any parents would be devastated to learn of their unborn child’s trisomy 18 diagnosis,” the justices wrote. “Some difficulties in pregnancy, however, even serious ones, do not pose the heightened risks to the mother the exception encompasses.”

    Texas Supreme Court says doctors must decide on abortion after blocking Dallas woman’s procedure

    The Texas Supreme Court on Monday ruled doctors must use their “reasonable medical judgment” to determine when a patient qualifies for an abortion and called on the state’s medical board to issue more guidance.

    In the unsigned opinion, the justices said it would be an overreach for them to weigh in on Cox’s specific circumstance.

    “A woman who meets the medical-necessity exception need not seek a court order to obtain an abortion,” the ruling reads. “The law leaves to physicians—not judges—both the discretion and the responsibility to exercise their reasonable medical judgment, given the unique facts and circumstances of each patient.”

    It seems to this layman that the Texas Supreme Court is evading the issue and trying to avoid responsibility. Cowards.

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  3. OzarkHillbilly says:

    (@Scott: beat me to it) Probably already been talked about around here but,

    The Texas supreme court on Monday overturned a lower court’s ruling that would have allowed a pregnant woman to get an emergency abortion under the medical exception for the state’s near-total abortion ban, granting a petition by Republican attorney general Ken Paxton.
    ………………………….
    The court said in its unsigned opinion that a “good faith belief” by Damla Karsan, a doctor who sought to perform the abortion and sued alongside Cox, that the procedure was medically necessary was not enough to qualify for the state’s exception.

    Instead, the court said, Karsan would need to determine in her “reasonable medical judgment” that Cox had a “life-threatening condition” and that an abortion was necessary to prevent her death or impairment of a major bodily function.

    The law leaves to physicians – not judges – both the discretion and the responsibility to exercise their reasonable medical judgment, given the unique facts and circumstances of each patient,” the court wrote.

    “But not as long as we are sitting here.” Fck these ccksckers.

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  4. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Shohei Ohtani has agreed to defer $680m of his 10-year, $700m deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers until after the contract is completed, The Athletic and ESPN reported on Monday.

    According to the reports, Ohtani suggested the deferrals and will be paid $2m a season for the duration of the contract, then will receive the deferred money without interest from 2034 to 2043.
    …………….
    The two-way superstar from Japan isn’t hurting for money, as he reportedly earns $50m a year away from baseball through endorsements and other deals.

    2 thoughts: #1 Good for him, #2 it must be nice.

    2
  5. Steve says:

    I read the Texas law. It is vague and does not address a lot of fairly common issues. Among them how certain do we need to be that death or major harm is likely. If it’s at the same level of not taking a vaccine due to its risk like with Covid then every pregnancy is a major risk for death. This was clearly done on purpose. With a law this vague lawyers will always advise against the abortion due to the legal risks.

    Steve

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  6. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) announced Wednesday that he sent a letter to officials demanding answers to an op-ed published by The Washington Post that he said suggested an “open rebellion” against the U.S.

    Vance sent the letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a response to the Nov. 30 column written by a Post contributing editor Robert Kagan, which warns readers, “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable,” and, “We should stop pretending.”

    “Based on my review of public charging documents that the Department of Justice has filed in courts of law, I suspect that one or both of you might characterize this article as an invitation to ‘insurrection,’ a manifestation of criminal ‘conspiracy,’ or an attempt to bring about civil war,” Vance’s letter said.

    Shorter Vance: “Wah! Kagan’s being mean to the Chosen One!”

    1
  7. Beth says:

    @Steve:

    Based on what they’ve done with Ms. Cox if I was a hospital lawyer I would tell them to immediately fire all their OB-GYNs, obstetrics nurses, anyone connected to pregnancy, close all pregnancy wards, discharge all pregnant people and try their best to turn away all pregnancies from the emergency room.

    The first time any dr tries to use their medical judgment and aborts a fetus they are going to jail and the hospital is getting fined out of existence.

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  8. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m thinking Point/Counterpoint, but without the name calling…

    https://youtu.be/c91XUyg9iWM?feature=shared

    1
  9. OzarkHillbilly says:

    To the surprise of absolutely no one:

    US prosecutors said on Monday they were engaged in plea negotiations with the former US representative George Santos to resolve criminal charges ahead of trial, a court filing showed.

    1
  10. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    @Beth:

    But in slightly better gnus…

    @Flat Earth Luddite:

    1
  11. OzarkHillbilly says:

    Tucker Carlson to launch his own $72-a-year subscription streaming service

    I predict 3 months. Anybody else want to weigh in on when it dies?

  12. DrDaveT says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: Do I win extra if I correctly predict that the launch will never happen?

    1
  13. CSK says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: @DrDaveT:

    It seems to exist already:

    http://www.tuckercarlson.com

  14. gVOR10 says:

    Journalist Jonathan Katz (click “No Thanks” to proceed to his page.) has looked for examples of calls for genocide against Jews on Ivy League campuses. So far he has failed to find any.

    But this still raises a question: Have there been campus calls for genocide? I mean, if there were, then the brouhaha would at least be more understandable—hundreds of undergrads, say, prowling Harvard Square and shouting “Juden Raus!” while the university administration stayed silent would be cause for legitimate concern. (Though if they added the next part of the Kristallnacht chant as recounted by Hannah Arendt: “Auf Nach Palästina!”—“off to Palestine”—that would only add to the confusion.)

    I ask this because none of the articles surrounding the controversy that I’ve seen include any evidence of “calls for Jewish genocide” at all. …

    You’d think that a 2,000-word (NYT) article about a university president getting fired for not forcefully opposing students calling for genocide would include any readily available examples of students calling for genocide. But perhaps there are some that have somehow remained obscure.

    Katz has looked, but failed to find examples.

    Conservatives are using this to demean those elitist universities and pretend most anti-semitism in this country isn’t right wing. And it’s working Largely because, as in 2016, the supposedly liberal MSM is eager to jump down conservative rabbit holes.

    3
  15. SenyorDave says:

    @gVOR10: We don’t need no stinking evidence. Ackman also said that Gay was hired to fulfil diversity and equity goals. Because she couldn’t possibly be qualified in Ackmans’ mind, her being a black woman. Another white male billionaire cracker.

    1
  16. just nutha says:

    @OzarkHillbilly: People are going to pay $72/year for streaming feeds of Tucker Carlson? On which alternate universe?