We respond…
Andrew Torba himself says he’s a “Christian Nationalist”, John. [Hinderaker claims he’s never heard anyone use the term self-referentially. Hmmm.]
And “gab” has recently been exposed as using hundreds of AI-enhanced chat bots… a good portion of which are encoded to deny the Holocaust, and support Whyte separatist themes.
Not surprisingly, the Tangerine campaign has taken to propagating “clones” of those gab bots.
So, actually John — you DO know lots of ‘em.
Onward.
Here’s a brief update, on where the Supremes are, on this Tennessee “law” that purports to tell doctors they are forbidden from treating juvenile gender dysphoria cases, inside the state [but only if the presenting patients’ apparent genital morphology is not “aligned” with the patients’ self-perception, of gender]. [Mandate issued in Sixth Circuit. This is harming children, every day that it remains even a threat of law. Parents are leaving the state to get care in Illinois and Colorado, and California, as I type this.]
So, the Court will now discuss it all, at a March 15 (private) conference, and we will likely see argument dates shortly after that.
I suppose it is possible, given the Supremes turning back the TJ HS (Va.) case yesterday, that the Court will summarily report out that Bostock has been decided, and as such, Tennessee § 68-33-103(a) is unconstitutional. But more likely, the Supremes will take the route of hearing argument. Certainly, they cannot duck this one. Here’s a bit from the parents’ brief:
…In defending Tennessee’s ban, Respondents do not dispute the profound importance of the constitutional questions presented or the profound consequences of SB1 for transgender youth and their families. Instead, Respondents advance — without any support in the district court’s factual findings — misconceptions about gender-affirming care that the district court rejected, and that were not questioned, much less deemed clearly erroneous, by the court of appeals. Those assertions have no proper place here.
On the merits, the Constitution is not “neutral,” as the Sixth Circuit put it, about laws that classify based on a person’s sex or transgender status. App. 18a. Such laws carry a presumption of unconstitutionality, and the government must provide an exceedingly persuasive justification for the differential treatment. The Sixth Circuit’s sweeping declaration that laws targeting transgender people and the medical decision-making of their families are subject only to rational basis review creates multiple circuit splits, contravenes well-settled precedent, and imposes immediate and devastating harm. This Court’s review is warranted now….
Respondents… assert that heightened scrutiny does not apply because Tennessee’s ban “merely” references sex without classifying based on sex. But Tennessee’s ban is nothing like a law regulating abortion that happens to refer to the word “woman.” See Opp. 24. Such a law would have precisely the same meaning if the word “woman” were changed to “person.” By contrast, under SB1, the legality of medical treatment expressly turns on whether the care “[e]nabl[es] a minor to identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor’s sex.” Tenn. Code Ann. (“TCA”) § 68-33-103(a)(1)(A). That Tennessee must treat boys and girls differently to regulate gender-affirming care is not a reason for discarding heightened scrutiny. It is why heightened scrutiny is required….
Tennessee will lose here, just as Alabama will lose in about a year, in the Supremes, on the idea that a clump of 500 cells is a human being (as imaged at immediate right). These are… indeed, dark times, for the real biological sciences, especially in the largely Southern-, and GOP-controlled, state courts and legislatures.
Onward, just the same.
नमस्ते
Increasingly, Hinderaker cannot see the wider world. He focuses almost exclusively internally, inside the reality distortion bubble that is today’s MAGA-controlled GOP.
And that is not a good place from which to cogently assess the “real world“, John.
So, in all of this, as John preposterously lists “Veep possibilities” — for the Tangerine ’24 ticket… I chuckle.
I say preposterously… because none of the names will ever… matter.
The only thing that matters… to about 35% of the GOP… is that it be… Trump.
And as to at least the other 65% of the GOP — well, they would rather chew off their own right arm, than vote for him, at the convention. But because not one of those types has a spine… among them, they will vote Tangerine in the general.
So, again — whomever his veep is to be… it is a position of irrelevancy. And all of this assumes he won’t yet be a convicted felon, by then — which he may well be.
And there is the real risk that between now and then, he eats one too many buckets of KFC, and… dies of a massive heart attack (carrying well over 340 pounds) even before November.
But even in that unlikely event, it won’t matter — as he would lose in 2024, to Mr. Biden, or Ms. Harris or even to Gavin Newsom, without any serious doubt. He offers… nothing to the nation, save hatred.
So it is all… just silly.
Take a seat, Hinderaker.
I am confident that this result will not stand.
Even so, it is frightening how little the GOP Justices of the Alabama Supreme Court understand about human biology and development. Updated — the University hospital at Birmingham has announced that it is “pausing” all IVF procedures in light of the below. So this is no longer a “theoretical” problem, Alabama. Damnation.
End, updated portion.
I do not think many Americans would concur that a FROZEN clump of perhaps 500 cells… is a human, with all the rights of a human — and should the IVF fail, the doctors (and “parents”) might be charged with a “homicide”.
That is lunacy, Alabama. Here’s the bit of it:
…“This ruling is stating that a fertilized egg, which is a clump of cells, is now a person. It really puts into question, the practice of IVF,” Barbara Collura, CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, told The Associated Press Tuesday.
The group called the decision a “terrifying development for the 1-in-6 people impacted by infertility” who need in-vitro fertilization….
This will ultimately reach the Supremes. It will be overturned — and elected state level judges should leave science… to the scientists.
One may be compensated, where — as here — the embryos were negligently destroyed by a lab — without having to decide that the clump of cells was a fully formed human being. In sum, this decision violates the rule of parsimony. Onward.
नमस्ते
This would suggest that the able Judge is displeased with the efforts Texas is making to comply with his exquisitely clear — and now affirmed at the US Supreme Court — prior court orders, granting the CBP and DHS the right (but not the obligation) to remove the floating barriers, and send Gov. Abbott the bills — all at Texas’s sole expense.
There may be fireworks, so I’ll see if I can secure a dial in for the hearing.
Will let you all know — if I’m able to prevail upon Judge Ezra’s docket clerk, tomorrow — or at least before the hearing on Thursday.
Onward.
And now…
With no ado whatsoever — take it away, Rigby!
“…John’s post today, remarking on Prince William’s call for a cease-fire, puts John’s inherent racism front and center. “I suppose I am in the minority in disagreeing with the statement that too many have been killed,” he writes, adding: “if the reference is to Gazans.” Yikes!
To avoid any confusion, he elaborates on this point: “There are no innocent civilians in Gaza. Further, civilian casualties are the inevitable consequence of starting a war. Gazans elected Hamas to rule over them.”
Well, the last election in Gaza was held 18 years ago, before the MAJORITY of Gazans were even born, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good racist diatribe.
There’s no getting around it: John wants a genocide in Gaza. He might as well title his post “The Final Solution….”
To which I will only add — it has ever been… thus — with Hinderaker.
He’s a racists’ racist.
Damn. Thanks man.
We should mention that the German Merck (no relation) had divested its Consumer Health businesses some five years ago, and the US Merck as packaged up its Women’s Health biz, into a rebranded and updated Organon — soon set to spin off.
So — not surprising, as Consumer Health business lines tend to be more mature, and lower margin than the core drug businesses that spawn them.
But the new wrinkle here may be (as was true during the Obama years) renewed vigor in ferretting out anticompetitive deals, at the Antitrust Division (and in the EU, to be candid). We shall see, but here is the latest, per Bloomberg, then:
…Some of the world’s largest buyout firms, including Advent International and Blackstone Inc., are circling the consumer health division of French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi ahead of a potential separation of the business, according to people familiar with the matter.
The business is also drawing early interest from Bain Capital, CVC Capital Partners, EQT AB and KKR & Co., the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter is private. The unit could be valued at about $20 billion in any deal, they said….
So there you have it — we suspect, in any event, that the ~$35 billion Capital One / Discover deal will see some retooling, in various local markets — including required divestitures and spin-offs. And whenever Bain surfaces, expect mischief (in the potential Sanofi deals). Onward.
नमस्ते
Normally I wouldn’t mention this at all.
But since we indicated last December that the Zetia® antitrust class action had settled, and only a few insurers / drug compounder individual suits remained, and were remanded, to their home district courts… we had stopped watching this boxcar litigation.
But apparently, the USDC Judge in Norfolk has spindled what looks like a February 12, 2024 bankruptcy court notice, from one of the smaller “mini-Sackler” type-entities — one still fighting its way out, to minimize its payments in the opioid cases here in the states.
Honestly, I cannot imagine what sort of a set of facts, or set of prescription drugs, would have had to coalesce, to dump a now largely vanished, last gen, “expensive placebo” supposed cholesterol management drug franchise… into the Sackler matters, or what that would look like, but I will let wiser heads instruct me, if this is not just a clerk’s filing error.
Onward, grinning….
नमस्ते
It seems Scott is not aware that, for decades, people from most of Asia, including Chinese nationals have entered (and stayed in) the US (some with papers, but most not) via our largely non-existent border to the NORTH — with Canada. They drive in via Detroit or the top of NY land masses, or increasingly via Washington State.
But in his mind, a few showing up in Southern California is… cause for a four alarm fire brigade, and a demonizing of (of course!) the Democratic Administration. In point of fact, in a normal year, over 2.5 million Chinese people enter the US — and the bulk of those… have always come via… Canadian entry points.
The poor dear. He’s looking at the wrong border — and drawing entirely the wrong conclusions.
He can’t even keep his faux talking points sorted out long enough — to make a coherent paragraph. He also seems unaware that much of our chip industry here in the US relies on these Asian-country-of-origin work-forces, as I say, many without long term rights to be in the country. But there is no doubt that they contribute mightily to our economic well-being and pay their taxes, in full.
So sorry Paulie, your jingoism rings hollow here.
Onward, grinning.
Minor Update: Paul tells us the Federalist Society people have corrected him: they say didn’t give Tangerine any names. Sure. Leonard Leo did (it was Leonard Leo coordinating the Federalists’ efforts). Here’s Paul’s non-denial, in full:
“…NOTE: I have changed this post from the original version to reflect the fact that the Federalist Society itself did not make any recommendations for judges during the Trump administration (or at any other time)….”
This is silly churlishness… even by Paul’s standards. Trump has said publicly that he used the FEderalist list provided by Leo, the judge whisperer. Sheesh — end update.
These guys are so… sadly delusional.
They so deeply fear an equal and fair application of the US laws — to all of them, that even Mirengoff is now parroting the line that even if Tangerine ignores the Federalist Society, in choosing his judges, as he has said he will — should he win a second term… we shouldn’t worry, because we good GOPers can blunt his worst excesses.
The hilarious part of that is that he would rely on the Democrats in the Senate to block truly awful nominations.
So — he argues — elect Tangerine, but then be sure to keep a Democratic majority in the Senate, so none of us spineless GOPers will ever have to stand up to our racist MAGAt wing.
Got all that?! Damn, Paul…
That argument is… self-refuting.
Out.
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