I imagine that Alabama will start closing libraries when the librarians quit. The GOP, especially in the south, seems to be going back to 1924 rather than wanting to live in 2024.
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The Alabama Supreme Court recently ruled that embryos used in IVF are protected as "people" under the state's "fetal personhood" law.
This effectively renders all IVF procedures illegal in Alabama, and practices are already preparing to move or close.
Chief Justice Tom Parker quoted the Bible to justify the decision:
“Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself,”Comment
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Some really bad theology there.
Alabama has the third worst rate of infant mortality and the third worst homicide mortality rate.
They don't give a shit about who bears God's image.Comment
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Are any of the GOP going to choose to die on this particular hill? It is, I suppose, a logical extreme end point to anti abortion madness, but making a policy of stopping straight, white, christian couples who want kids from having kids is going to be a pretty hard sell.Comment
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Fetal personhood statutes remain a vote winner on the state and local level in deeply red and/or gerrymandered states, especially when affluent white couples have options across borders (though IVF is very visit intensive).Comment
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Meanwhile, interesting stuff out of Madison, Wisconsin, where the governor has signed new state level redistricting maps to undo an absolutely egregiously terrible gerrymander that basically gave the Republicans a filibuster proof supermajority on less than 50% of the vote.
Quite a lot of Democrats are actually pissed off with Evers for not putting in an opposite gerrymander, but instead he's decided to go with what appear to be largely fair maps. Republicans hilariously argued against these maps in court a few weeks ago and suddenly changed their tune when they realised their two choices were fair districts or a heavy Dem gerrymander.
There may be a similar thing coming out of New York, too. The redistricting commission has shifted a few things around to make the maps marginally more Democrat biased. Will Albany vote for these, or reject them, go for a full blown extreme Dem gerrymander and dare the courts to overturn it?
edit: the Wisconsin gerrymander, I meant to say, is all about the state house and state government. The gerrymander for the congressional delegation appear to remains in place where the Republicans will probably will 6 to 2, and that's unlikely to get fixed until the next redistricting at the end of the decade; the NY gerrymander, meanwhile, is for congress and remains up in the air.Last edited by San Bernardhinault; 20-02-2024, 19:44.Comment
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Back in Alabama
https://www.mediamatters.org/qanon-c...alist-rhetoricDuring a recent interview on the program of self-proclaimed “prophet” and QAnon conspiracy theorist Johnny Enlow, Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Parker indicated that he is a proponent of the “Seven Mountain Mandate,” a theological approach that calls on Christians to impose fundamentalist values on all aspects of American life.
Enlow is a pro-Trump “prophet” and leading proponent of the “Seven Mountain Mandate,” a “quasi-biblical blueprint for theocracy” that asserts that Christians must impose fundamentalist values on American society by conquering the “seven mountains” of cultural influence in U.S. life: government, education, media, religion, family, business, and entertainment.
The New York State Legislature is capable of profoundly surprising behaviour, but if I had to bet, the new maps will pass.Comment
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Florida gonna Florida
https://www.motherjones.com/politics...sles-outbreak/Amid an ongoing measles outbreak in Florida, public health officials are bending the rules of quarantine for unvaccinated children.
At Manatee Bay Elementary School in Broward County, Florida, six children have tested positive for measles, a respiratory virus so contagious that 90 percent of those exposed will contract it. Infection with measles can have serious consequences, according to the Centers for Disease Control: About 20 percent of measles patients will be hospitalized, 1 in 1,000 will have brain swelling that can lead to brain damage, and 3 in 1,000 will die. Invented in 1963, the measles vaccine is considered one of the greatest public health triumphs of the last century. Thanks to it, measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, though sporadic clusters of the disease have occurred since then.
Because of the extreme contagiousness of measles and its potentially serious health consequences, in the case of a school outbreak, the CDC recommends that “unvaccinated children, including those who have a medical or other exemption to vaccination, must be excluded from school through 21 days after their most recent exposure.”
But maybe not in Florida. Bucking those guidelines, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo issued a statement on Tuesday announcing, the state’s Department of Health, “is deferring to parents or guardians to make decisions about school attendance” because of the “burden on families and the educational cost of healthy children missing school” and the “high immunity rate in the community.”Comment
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What would it take to just kick Alabama out of the union?Comment
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A Constitutional amendment, alas.
It's like getting Vandy out of the SEC.Comment
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"the educational cost of healthy children missing school” seems to be more important than "the educational cost of healthy children getting sick and dying" in FL. Rolling the dice with kids' lives.Comment
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The other teams could all leave and start a new league without them.Originally posted by ursus arctos View PostComment
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As could the other 49 states, at least in theoryComment
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Noone tell FL theres a new league.Comment
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They sure know how to pick 'em on the Alabama Supreme Court. Moore without the sex offences?Originally posted by ursus arctos View PostComment
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Would anyone be surprised if some came to light at some point?Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View PostComment
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The right wing doofuses in this state are going to try another attempt at a Gavin Newsom recall.
It feels like the Biden impeachment. They think they want to but don't really have a good reason except that they've convinced themselves they don't like him, so their main arguments seem to be that he's doing too much work for Biden's re-election.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/0...-2024-00143252
If it gets on the ballot it will be another comically stupid and ridiculously expensive waste of everyone's time. I guess these morons have nothing to lose - they can't make Republicans any less electable statewide in this state, and the few remaining holdout regions are very unlikely to shiftComment
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28-11: The Florida state Senate passes a bill to remove local governments' authority to adopt heat standards, such as guaranteed shade and rest breaks, for workers. The bill would make all local heat protections “void and prohibited.”Comment
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...lence-abortionUnder a Missouri statute that has recently gained nationwide attention, every petitioner for divorce is required to disclose their pregnancy status. In practice, experts say, those who are pregnant are barred from legally dissolving their marriage. “The application [of the law] is an outright ban,” said Danielle Drake, attorney at Parks & Drake. When Drake learned her then husband was having an affair, her own divorce stalled because she was pregnant. Twoother states have similar laws: Texas and Arkansas.Comment
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Grandpa Simpson was right in his objections to Missouri. He's not having any Compromise.Comment
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Abortion is going on the November ballot in FL but we'll have a 6-week limit ban from next month. You'd hope that the cruelty of the 6-week measure makes a win on the November ballot more likely. However, this footnote, added at the behest of a DeSantis appointee, is troubling:
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F8532d68 e-d020-438e-9929-d0ee90e786e0_1738x878.png?utm_source=substack&utm_ medium=email
The obvious inference (as the majority notes) is that pro-life objections to the definition of the fetus as a potential not not actual life would be used indefinitely to deprive the voters of their democratic right to amend the state constitution.
https://www.lawdork.com/p/florida-hi...holds-abortion
One commenter thinks the women who vote for this amendment will likely vote Biden but I think that misunderstands FL's female GOP-inclined demographic, which might swing liberal on reproductive rights but remains fiscally very conservative Red state Republican.Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 02-04-2024, 04:59.Comment
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I would guess that
(a) it will help Democrats in November a bit
(b) Florida is no longer marginal enough that it will help enough to win the state for Biden
(c) while it will easily pass 50%, doesn’t Florida have a 60% requirement for this kind of amendment? And if it does, it won’t hit that mark.Comment
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Rick Wilson, who has forgotten more about Florida politics than any of us will ever know, had a good piece on this the other day.
https://open.substack.com/pub/theric...android&r=2ef4Comment
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