May 2022 – Page 4 – Irregular Bullshit

[Samuel] Alito actually included in his proposed opinion a helpful list of rights arguably undercut by overturning Roe, even as the conservative George W. Bush appointee forcefully insisted that setting aside Roe wouldn’t impact any right other than abortion. The protections discussed in Alito’s opinion range from the right to same-sex marriage the high court declared in 2015 to the right to contraception established in 1965 to the right to engage in interracial marriage adopted by the court in 1967.

After citing 14 such cases, Alito declares them irrelevant to abortion and confidently asserts that yanking Roe from the fabric of American jurisprudence would pose no threat whatsoever to any of those rights. . . .

“It’s both the reasoning and the very existence of this opinion that leave me completely unpersuaded that this majority would be willing to stop at Roe,” said University of Texas Law Professor Stephen Vladeck.^[1]

As I read this, I think of traditionalist conservatism, the largely Roman Catholic tendency; it would even prohibit divorce.^[2] It turns out that Samuel Alito is indeed Roman Catholic.^[3] The impetus for a decision overturning Roe v. Wade is largely social conservative, that is, largely evangelical Protestant, but the two tendencies are aligned on most issues; indeed I failed to find a difference between them in their approach to unauthorized migration. It is a traditionalist Catholic perspective, however, that is more likely to oppose contraception, indeed any non-procreative sex,^[4] and the implicit obsession with sex as procreation which comes to the fore in Josh Gerstein’s report^[5] can only be terrifying. Margaret Atwood’s dystopia^[6] draws nearer.

Josh Gerstein and Alexander Ward, “Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows,” Politico, May 2, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473

Caroline Kitchener, “The next frontier for the antiabortion movement: A nationwide ban,” Washington Post, May 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/05/02/abortion-ban-roe-supreme-court-mississippi/

Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow, “Roberts directs investigation into leaked draft of abortion opinion,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/supreme-court-leak-investigation-abortion-roe-wade/

Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim, “Collins and Murkowski on the defensive after leaked Roe draft opinion,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/murkowski-collins-roe-abortion-opinion/

Josh Gerstein, “What falls after Roe? Liberals warn of a privacy rights nightmare,” Politico, May 3, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/03/supreme-court-abortion-privacy-rights-00029871

Oriana Gonzalez, “Collins says Kavanaugh and Gorsuch possibly broke promise on Roe v. Wade,” Axios, May 3, 2022, https://www.axios.com/susan-collins-kavanaugh-gorsuch-abortion-court-leak-d6d1dad3-15d4-4269-b2ee-b5b5b2a4ea94.html

Molly Jong-Fast, “My Mother Was Wrong,” Atlantic, May 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/supreme-court-overturn-abortion-peaceful-protest/629746/

Ukraine

There is a new blog post entitled, “What is the end game in Ukraine?”

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine war: Poland says it will manage without Russian gas,” April 27, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61237519

Julia Ioffe, “Biden’s New Ukrainian Calculus,” Puck News, April 27, 2022, https://puck.news/bidens-new-ukrainian-calculus/

Julian O’Shaughnessy, “War in Ukraine: West’s Bucha massacre claims killed hopes of peace, says Putin,” Times, April 27, 2022, https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/war-in-ukraine-wests-bucha-massacre-claims-killed-hopes-of-peace-says-putin-6fk7g8t0d

Johan Ahlander, “Swedish PM rejects referendum on possible NATO membership,” Reuters, April 28, 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/swedish-pm-rejects-referendum-possible-nato-membership-2022-04-28/

Catherine Belton and Greg Miller, “Cracks emerge in Russian elite as tycoons start to bemoan invasion,” Washington Post, April 29, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/04/29/russia-oligarchs-ukraine-invasion-dissent/

Bloomberg, “Russia Will Quit International Space Station Over Sanctions,” April 30, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-30/russia-will-quit-international-space-station-over-sanctions

Paula Erizanu, “‘I don’t feel safe here’: Transnistria fears could spark Moldova exodus,” Guardian, May 1, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/01/i-dont-feel-safe-here-transnistria-fears-could-spark-moldova-exodus

Joseph Menn, “Hacking Russia was off-limits. The Ukraine war made it a free-for-all,” Washington Post, May 1, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/01/russia-cyber-attacks-hacking/

Nataliya Vasilyeva, “‘I want to see Putin hanged’, says Gazprom executive who fled Russia,” Telegraph, May 1, 2022, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/05/01/want-see-putin-hanged-says-gazprom-executive-fled-russia/

Cnaan Liphshiz, “Speaking about Zelensky, Russian foreign minister says Hitler also had Jewish ancestry,” Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 2, 2022, https://www.jta.org/2022/05/02/global/speaking-about-zelensky-russian-foreign-minister-says-hitler-also-had-jewish-ancestry

Missy Ryan et al., “Russia planning to annex new areas of Ukraine, U.S. intelligence finds,” Washington Post, May 2, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/05/02/russian-annex-territory-invasion/

Will Dunn, “‘He has embarked on a war he can’t stop’: Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Putin’s next move,” New Statesman, May 3, 2022, https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2022/05/he-has-embarked-on-a-war-he-cant-stop-mikhail-khodorkovsky-on-putins-next-move

Mary Ilyushina, Miriam Berger, and Timothy Bella, “Russian TV shows simulation of Britain and Ireland wiped out by a nuke,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/03/russia-ireland-nuclear-weapons-video-ukraine/

Julia Ioffe, “Putin vs. His Oligarchs,” Puck News, May 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putin-vs-his-oligarchs/

^[1]Josh Gerstein, “What falls after Roe? Liberals warn of a privacy rights nightmare,” Politico, May 3, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/03/supreme-court-abortion-privacy-rights-00029871 ↩
^[2]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
^[3]Aaron M. Houck, “Samuel A. Alito, Jr.,” Britannica, May 3, 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-A-Alito-Jr ↩
^[4]David Benfell, “Conservative Views on Undocumented Migration” (doctoral dissertation, Saybrook, 2016). ProQuest (1765416126).↩
^[5]Josh Gerstein, “What falls after Roe? Liberals warn of a privacy rights nightmare,” Politico, May 3, 2022, https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/03/supreme-court-abortion-privacy-rights-00029871 ↩
^[6]Margaret Atwood, Handmaid’s Tale (New York: Anchor, 1998).↩

Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski heard what they wanted to hear

May 3, 2022benfell

Abortion

Molly Jong-Fast calls for protests in defense of abortion rights.^[1] But social movements succeed only at a glacial pace, in incremental steps over a period of years or even decades.^[2] I’m thinking that restoring abortion rights is an awfully large bite for a Democratic Party that has failed on so much.^[3] Meanwhile, a couple of Republican senators have egg on their faces:

[Susan] Collins voted to confirm Neil M. Gorsuch in 2017 and Brett M. Kavanaugh in 2018. [Lisa] Murkowski voted to confirm Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. Politico, which first published [Samuel] Alito’s draft opinion, reported that all three Trump-nominated justices initially voted with Alito to wholly overturn Roe. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said in a statement Tuesday that the draft is authentic but that the court’s decision is not final.^[4]

The justices appointed by Donald Trump had, as nominees, Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski claim, promised to respect precedent and uphold Roe v. Wade.^[5] No one else believed this promise at the time. But if these senators really believed these nominees, they were hearing what they desperately wanted to hear. It should go without saying that this is a tendency to watch out for when dealing with lawyers, even when they’ve become judges, especially when they’re seeking confirmation to the country’s highest court.

Molly Jong-Fast, “My Mother Was Wrong,” Atlantic, May 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/supreme-court-overturn-abortion-peaceful-protest/629746/

Twitter

Theodore Schleifer, “Elon’s Eccentric Empire,” Puck News, May 3, 2022, https://puck.news/elons-eccentric-empire/

Ukraine

CTV, “Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking world war,” April 26, 2022, https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/top-russian-diplomat-warns-ukraine-against-provoking-world-war-1.5876149

Maciej Onoszko, Maciej Martewicz, and Slav Okov, “Russia to Cut Gas to Poland and Bulgaria, Making Energy a Weapon,” Bloomberg, April 26, 2022, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-26/russia-halted-gas-supplies-to-poland-onet-pl-reports-l2gapmmd

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine war: Poland says it will manage without Russian gas,” April 27, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61237519

Julia Ioffe, “Biden’s New Ukrainian Calculus,” Puck News, April 27, 2022, https://puck.news/bidens-new-ukrainian-calculus/

Julia Ioffe, “Putin vs. His Oligarchs,” Puck News, May 3, 2022, https://puck.news/putin-vs-his-oligarchs/

^[1]Molly Jong-Fast, “My Mother Was Wrong,” Atlantic, May 3, 2022, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/05/supreme-court-overturn-abortion-peaceful-protest/629746/↩
^[2]Bill Moyer, with JoAnn McAllister, Mary Lou Finley, and Steven Soifer, Doing Democracy: The MAP Model for Organizing Social Movements (Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada: New Society, 2001).↩
^[3]David Benfell, “The illusory solidarity of the Left,” Not Housebroken, May 3, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/05/03/the-illusory-solidarity-of-the-left/↩
^[4]Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim, “Collins and Murkowski on the defensive after leaked Roe draft opinion,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/murkowski-collins-roe-abortion-opinion/↩
^[5]Mike DeBonis and Seung Min Kim, “Collins and Murkowski on the defensive after leaked Roe draft opinion,” Washington Post, May 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/03/murkowski-collins-roe-abortion-opinion/↩

Rabid right gone wild

May 3, 2022benfell

Abortion

There is a new blog post entitled, “The illusory solidarity of the Left.”

University of Pittsburgh (“Pitt”)

It appears a squabble over funding for the University of Pittsburgh (everyone here just calls it “Pitt”) derives from opposition to fetal tissue research in the Trumpist Pennsylvania legislature.^[1]

Maddie Aiken, “Pitt says ‘thousands’ have supported university as debate over funding continues,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 2, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/regional/pitt-says-thousands-have-supported-university-as-debate-over-funding-continues/

Ukraine

CTV, “Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking world war,” April 26, 2022, https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/top-russian-diplomat-warns-ukraine-against-provoking-world-war-1.5876149

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine war: Poland says it will manage without Russian gas,” April 27, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61237519

Julia Ioffe, “Biden’s New Ukrainian Calculus,” Puck News, April 27, 2022, https://puck.news/bidens-new-ukrainian-calculus/

^[1]Maddie Aiken, “Pitt says ‘thousands’ have supported university as debate over funding continues,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, May 2, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/regional/pitt-says-thousands-have-supported-university-as-debate-over-funding-continues/↩

Say what? Joe Manchin likes fracking? Uh huh. (Back to sleep.)

May 2, 2022benfell

Fossil fuels

Northeast

Oh look! Here’s Joe Manchin again. And it’s curious how this bit about how you get hydrogen from fracked natural gas, at least in western Pennsylvania^[1]—and, well, you know and I’m just guessing, West Virginia just ain’t that far away—has just recently come to my attention. I know, bad environmentalist, but I just hadn’t seen that one.

So of course—I mean, how could it be any other way?—Manchin wants to emphasize hydrogen as a possible fuel. We know the magic word now for getting his attention: F-R-A-C-K-I-N-G.

Joey Klender, “Sen. Joe Manchin blasts EV tax credit expansion, calls for hydrogen development,” Teslarati, April 29, 2022, https://www.teslarati.com/sen-joe-manchin-blasts-ev-tax-credit-expansion-calls-for-hydrogen-development/

Ukraine

Viktor Yushchenko, “I’ve dealt with Putin before: I know what it will take to defeat this brutal despot,” Guardian, April 24, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/24/vladimir-putin-despot-russia-viktor-yuschenko

Chiara Giordano, “Russia effectively at war with Nato, Lavrov says as he calls western weapons ‘legitimate targets,’” Independent, April 25, 2022, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-weapons-ukraine-war-nato-b2065422.html

Roland Oliphant, “World War Three now a ‘real’ danger, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warns,” Telegraph, April 25, 2022, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/25/real-danger-third-world-war-mysterious-attacks-russia-says-sergei/

CTV, “Top Russian diplomat warns Ukraine against provoking world war,” April 26, 2022, https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/top-russian-diplomat-warns-ukraine-against-provoking-world-war-1.5876149

British Broadcasting Corporation, “Ukraine war: Poland says it will manage without Russian gas,” April 27, 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61237519

Julia Ioffe, “Biden’s New Ukrainian Calculus,” Puck News, April 27, 2022, https://puck.news/bidens-new-ukrainian-calculus/

^[1]Anya Litvak, “Alliance wants to make Western Pa. a hub for hydrogen production and carbon storage,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 3, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2022/02/03/Western-Pennsylvania-international-industrial-power-energy-alliance-hydrogen-carbon-storage-hub-IN-2-Market/stories/202202030120; Anya Litvak, “Pa. landowners have dealt with coal, oil and gas rights. Now, there are pore rights,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 25, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/business/powersource/2022/04/25/pennsylvania-hydrogen-carbon-sequestration-storage-hub-title-search-pores-energy-production-landowners-landmen/stories/202204250014 ↩

Welcome to Hungary. You won’t even have to make the trip.

May 1, 2022benfell

Donald Trump

Finances

Kara Scannell, “Judge rejects Trump’s affidavit saying he doesn’t have documents sought by New York’s attorney general,” CNN, April 29, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/trump-sworn-affidavit-new-york/index.html

Pennsylvania governor’s race

As a debate on Wednesday showed, the leading [Republican] candidates [for governor] largely agree on the issues. They say Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who is term-limited, badly mismanaged the pandemic, harming businesses and infringing on personal freedom. They want to eliminate no-excuse mail voting, enact new abortion regulations, drill for more natural gas, lower taxes, and expand access to charter schools and other alternatives to traditional public schools.^[1]

The arch-Trumpist Doug Mastriano appears to be leading the race for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor in a packed field, largely on name recognition and “trustworthiness.” But the party establishment worries that^[2] his associations with extremist groups^[3] will doom not only his own candidacy against likely Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro but Republican majorities in the state legislature and any chance in the U.S. Senate race,^[4] where John Fetterman will likely win the Democratic primary.^[5]

The suggestion here, really, is that Pennsylvania Republicans are more moderate than I have any reason whatsoever to believe they are. It still really, really looks to me like Mastriano wins the governorship in November in an increasingly more sharply polarized state, but in a context of abject, utter, and complete Democratic failure.^[6] Pennsylvania will go, and the U.S. will go^[7] in the direction of Victor Orban’s Hungary^[8] and I still see no force that has both the capability and the willingness to stop it.

Andrew Seidman, “Doug Mastriano is leading the Pa. primary for governor and Republican insiders are trying to stop him,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-pennsylvania-republican-goverrnor-race-20220429.html

Havana Syndrome

Barry Meier, “Havana Syndrome’s Newest Mystery: Who Gets Paid?,” New York, April 29, 2022, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/04/havana-syndromes-newest-mystery-who-gets-paid.html

Student loans

Jeff Stein, “White House officials weigh income limits for student loan forgiveness,” Washington Post, April 30, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2022/04/30/white-house-student-loans/

^[1]Andrew Seidman, “Doug Mastriano is leading the Pa. primary for governor and Republican insiders are trying to stop him,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-pennsylvania-republican-goverrnor-race-20220429.html ↩
^[2]Andrew Seidman, “Doug Mastriano is leading the Pa. primary for governor and Republican insiders are trying to stop him,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-pennsylvania-republican-goverrnor-race-20220429.html ↩
^[3]Andrew Seidman, “A top GOP candidate for governor campaigned at an event promoting QAnon and conspiracy theories about 9/11,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 27, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-teddy-daniels-qanon-conference-gop-candidates-20220427.html ↩
^[4]Andrew Seidman, “Doug Mastriano is leading the Pa. primary for governor and Republican insiders are trying to stop him,” Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/doug-mastriano-pennsylvania-republican-goverrnor-race-20220429.html ↩
^[5]Gillian McGoldrick, “New Pa. U.S. Senate poll: John Fetterman pulling ahead as Democratic favorite, GOP race still wide open,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 14, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2022/04/14/fetterman-pulls-ahead-as-democratic-favorite-gop-pa-senate-race-still-wide-open-in-april-f-m-poll/stories/202204130138; Daniel Strauss, “Is Conor Lamb Collapsing Against John Fetterman in Pennsylvania?” New Republic, April 21, 2022, https://newrepublic.com/article/166164/conor-lamb-collapsing-john-fetterman-pennsylvania ↩
^[6]David Benfell, “Democrats and contradiction,” Not Housebroken, January 20, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/11/18/democrats-and-contradiction/↩
^[7]David Benfell, “My 2024 forecast,” Not Housebroken, March 10, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/03/10/my-2024-forecast/↩
^[8]Jennifer Rankin, “ECJ dismisses Hungary and Poland’s complaints over rule-of-law measure,” Guardian, February 16, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/feb/16/ecj-dismisses-hungary-poland-complaints-eu-rule-of-law-measure; Ishaan Tharoor, “U.S. conservatives yearn for Orban’s Hungary,” Washington Post, August 4, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com//world/2021/08/04/american-conservatives-orban-hungary/↩

Irregular Bullshit

Month: May 2022

An obsession with non-procreative sex

Abortion

Ukraine

Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski heard what they wanted to hear

Abortion

Twitter

Ukraine

Rabid right gone wild

Abortion

University of Pittsburgh (“Pitt”)

Ukraine

Say what? Joe Manchin likes fracking? Uh huh. (Back to sleep.)

Fossil fuels

Northeast

Ukraine

Welcome to Hungary. You won’t even have to make the trip.

Donald Trump

Finances

Pennsylvania governor’s race

Havana Syndrome

Student loans