04/25/24

Good morning! It’s Thursday, April 25th.

National Drug Take Back Day, which is a day to remind people of the dangers of addiction that come with doctors over prescribing pain medicine.

Super important. I think, or maybe I just hope, doctors are getting better about not overprescribing pain medicine but it’s a serious problem and an important thing to talk about.

And now, the news.

Abortion in America

-via AP News, NY Times, NBC News, and NBC News

Let’s start with two stories about abortion rights in America, beginning with the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, the Supremes heard arguments in a case out of Idaho which asks if the near total abortion ban in the state is so strict that it violates a federal law requiring emergency medical services for anyone, including abortions for pregnant people if necessary.

Obviously the Court is split, with the liberal justices having this radical belief that yeah, if an abortion will save someone’s life, probably it should be done.

Justices Alito, Gorsuch, and Thomas appear to be of the mind that this is a state-by-state issue and don’t believe the federal law should supersede the state, which Justice Alito saying this: “The hospital must try to eliminate any immediate threat to the child,” adding that “performing an abortion is antithetical to that duty.”

Well so is letting someone, a real-life person, who is in the emergency room having a life-threatening medical emergency. So mayhaps we should consider eliminating any immediate threat to them as well.

The final three, Chief Justice Roberts and well as Justices Kavanuagh and Coney Barrett appearing a little more conflicted.

So who knows where things thing’s going to land – but we’ll find out mid-June when the decision gets handed down.

In the interim, California’s Governor Newsom has introduced a bill that will allow Arizona doctors to be able to perform abortions in California through the end of the calendar year. And I’ll talk more about what’s happening in Arizona in a second, but the fact that we’re even here, telling doctors they can provide abortions in different states because they state they normally practice in won’t let medical decisions get done between the doctor and patient is you backwards.

To be honest, I don’t know how many people are going to take advantage of this bill. California already allows for abortions, so now we’re saying not only will the patient, but the doctor, have to travel out of state? I think is more about reminding the rest of the country that there are abortion safe-havens than having a hugely practical use but, you know, whatever. We’re in a crisis here and I’m happy to be a good neighbor to a good state going through a bad time.

But speaking of Arizona… third time’s the charm, apparently, because Arizona state House lawmakers have finally passed a law to appeal the state’s supreme court ruling that enacted a pre-Civil War, pre-Arizona statehood, abortion ban.

The Senate is expected to pass the bill, which the governor will happily sign.

So, some good news there, finally.

Biden to Sign Aid Package

-via CBS News

And speaking of things getting signed, President Biden has the multi-billion dollar foreign aid package, sending billions of aid over to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan, as well as hitting start on a 270-day window, in which Bytedance will need to sell TikTok, or risk being banned.

Good for Ukraine, bad for me, trying to build some dang followers on the app!

Campus Protests Continue

-via CNN and Washington Post

Finally, campus protests are continuing to heat up, specifically over at Columbia University, which I’ll talk about in a second, but it should be noted that more protests are popping up all over the country, in protest of what’s happening in Gaza, as well as in reaction to what’s happening at other campuses.

Double protests!

At Columbia University, House Speaker Mike Johnson really thought to himself: yeah, I should probably get involved there and actually went to the college and spoke to the crowd, where he and other GOP lawmakers were regularly booed. At one point, the crowd began to chant “Mike you suck,” which… what I’m about to say is not a reflection of how I feel about these protests, but more how I feel about the Speaker in Johnson. Which is… what a great chant.

In response, the Speaker told them: “enjoy your free speech,” which sure sounds like a threat when you consider everything else the GOP is doing.

He also called on the University’s president to resign if she can’t control the protests, and noted that he was going to call President Biden and have him call in the National Guard.

Listen, I’m not there and can’t comment on what’s happening on the ground in these protests. Antisemitism is wrong. Full stop. Protesting what’s happening in Gaza is not automatically antisemitic. Are some people doing it? Yes, of course, and of course it’s terrible. But I’m also seeing reports that there are a lot of peaceful protests happening.

We can, and frankly must, carry two thoughts at the same time here: antisemitism and the violence and deaths in Gaza both wrong.

And again, I’m not on the Columbia campus, I can look at the same information we all have access to. But one Jewish student at Columbia University said she believes that the biggest threat on campus is the heavy presence of NYPD.

So when the Speaker of the House goes to Columbia University, a place in which he actually has no jurisdiction, and only comments on the antisemitism happening, it’s worth taking a second look at his motivation.

And gee, I wonder what the motivation could possibly be for a GOP party leader to go down and talk a big game about how terrible it is that college students are organizing and protesting.

Because something else to know is that, in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott had this to say about the protestors at UT Austin: “These protestors belong in jail.”

And that’s it. That’s the news.

I’m proud of telephones! It’s also national telephone day.

We used to have phones. And now we just have these little distractions that, honestly, I don’t think I’ve turned the ringer on in years.

But more than that… because you’re not a distraction that’s both bad for my mental health and a fun way to get made about the Connections puzzle… I’m proud of you.