by Geoff | May 16, 2019 | Politics, Society
I have been saying for years that if you have a valid position or cause, but lie about it, you harm the cause. You give the opposition the ability to throw that lie in your face endlessly. You undermine the very issue you want to highlight. Abortion is one of the most dishonestly discussed topics out there, and it’s back in the spotlight.
The new abortion law in Alabama is one of these things. It is about 1800 words long, a nicely compact piece of legislation. Have ANY of the people sounding off about it read it?
Nope. They haven’t bothered to educate themselves.
The law is available for anyone to read: http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/searchableinstruments/2019RS/bills/SB211.htm
What is DOES NOT DO is hold a woman legally liable for having an abortion. In fact, it addresses that specifically:
Section 5. No woman upon whom an abortion is performed or attempted to be performed shall be criminally or civilly liable. Furthermore, no physician confirming the serious health risk to the child’s mother shall be criminally or civilly liable for those actions.
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/searchableinstruments/2019RS/bills/SB211.htm
Huh. Not just nothing mandating prosecution, but language specifically and explicitly blocking such charges. The law also specifically states that in the event of legal challenge, it is not in effect, and the previous laws apply.
Section 8. The construction of existing statutes and regulations that regulate or recognize abortion in Alabama that are in conflict with or antagonistic to this act shall be repealed as null and void and shall recognize the prohibition of abortion as provided in this act. If this act is challenged and enjoined pending a final judicial decision, the existing statutes and regulations that regulate or recognize abortion shall remain in effect during that time.
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/alison/searchableinstruments/2019RS/bills/SB211.htm
It’s like the people claiming that women will be jailed for seeking an abortion, even out of state, will face felony charges have no interest in the truth.
Hint: they don’t.
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by Geoff | May 2, 2019 | Politics
Couple of quick thoughts on some recent criminal cases, and their developments.
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by Geoff | Apr 28, 2019 | Politics, Society
VP candidate Elizabeth Warren is making a lot of noise about forgiving some student loans. Mostly for households earning less than $100,000 per year.
Needless to say, this is very popular with a lot of people, mostly those with ‘__ Studies’ degrees. From the right comes rejection beyond the usual ‘a Democrat proposed it’. That is centered around the idea that many, many people took loans, and paid them, so why can’t everyone do the same. It is a decent enough argument, if you ignore the deep flaws. Some of the thinkers on the right see the flaw. Due to loans being extended to everyone who wants one, the cost of college bloated, benefiting the universities. That at the expense of the students. They propose that the colleges bear the burden of ensuring that they can justify their expense, and then cover the loans when the degree they confer is worthless.
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by Geoff | Apr 26, 2019 | 2020 Election, Politics
It is still April, and about 20 candidates have tossed themselves into the ring for the dubious honor of being the 2020 Democratic nominee. Dubious, since history shows that presidents who have Trump’s numbers at this point are reelected. Pretty much always.
Dubious is also appropriate because the increasingly totalitarian base of the Democratic Party is demanding purity over electability. And that never ends well – for anyone.
Despite the increasingly radical stance of the left (CNN is even breaking ranks over letting incarcerated felons vote), there are a lot of centrists in the field. Red meat for the grinder? Maybe. I think this is another example of the inner party not knowing their base anymore. The GOP has this same problem – but the GOP base isn’t as insane as the Democratic Party base.
The first hurdle for these 21 candidates is in June. In order to qualify for the first debate, they need to poll at 1% support in at minimum three approved official polls for either the national level or the first four primary states and they need to receive donations from at least 65,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. I can support that – it weeds out the likely also-rans fast, and lets the DNC focus on protecting Biden.
For the format, each of the candidates, as of April 26 is listed in alphabetical order, with a brief explainer of who they are, and my take on their chances in the second paragraph. Each photo is the same width, and the logos may be sized to not cover the photo. All photos and logos come from the Wikipedia 2020 Election page. About those logos – some interesting color choices in there. A lot of darker colors instead of the official DNC blue. That’s different. The fonts are mostly standard, nothing too wacky. Interesting is the candidates whose teams don’t include a designer who understands that SVG is the way to go. There are far more than I expected in 2019. It isn’t a political statement, but it does seem out of touch in the design realm.
So, to each of these poor saps, good luck. The fix is probably already in for Biden, so the rest of you are running for VP. Unless Clinton or Michelle Obama enters the race…then it becomes anyone’s guess who the DNC will pick.
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It is still April, and about 20 candidates have tossed themselves into the ring for the dubious honor of being the 2020 Democratic nominee. Dubious, since history shows that presidents who have Trump’s numbers at this point are reelected. Pretty much always.
Dubious is also appropriate because the increasingly totalitarian base of the Democratic Party is demanding purity over electability. And that never ends well – for anyone.
Despite the increasingly radical stance of the left (CNN is even breaking ranks over letting incarcerated felons vote), there are a lot of centrists in the field. Red meat for the grinder? Maybe. I think this is another example of the inner party not knowing their base anymore. The GOP has this same problem – but the GOP base isn’t as insane as the Democratic Party base.
The first hurdle for these 21 candidates is in June. In order to qualify for the first debate, they need to poll at 1% support in at minimum three approved official polls for either the national level or the first four primary states and they need to receive donations from at least 65,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors per state in at least 20 states. I can support that – it weeds out the likely also-rans fast, and lets the DNC focus on protecting Biden.
For the format, each of the candidates, as of April 26 is listed in alphabetical order, with a brief explainer of who they are, and my take on their chances in the second paragraph. Each photo is the same width, and the logos may be sized to not cover the photo. All photos and logos come from the Wikipedia 2020 Election page. About those logos – some interesting color choices in there. A lot of darker colors instead of the official DNC blue. That’s different. The fonts are mostly standard, nothing too wacky. Interesting is the candidates whose teams don’t include a designer who understands that SVG is the way to go. There are far more than I expected in 2019. It isn’t a political statement, but it does seem out of touch in the design realm.
So, to each of these poor saps, good luck. The fix is probably already in for Biden, so the rest of you are running for VP. Unless Clinton or Michelle Obama enters the race…then it becomes anyone’s guess who the DNC will pick.
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by Geoff | Apr 23, 2019 | Politics
When we last left the steaming mess that is the Smollett case, Chicago was suing to recoup $130,000 in overtime costs for the investigation, and every suburban chiefs of police organization had voted ‘no confidence’ in Cook County Prosecutor Kim Foxx.
And I thought the stupidity was over.
Nope!
Today we learned that the Osundairo brothers are suing Smollett’s legal team, including Mark ‘Unindicted Avenatti Co-Conspirator’ Geragos for defamation. In Federal court. Read the complaint here:
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by Geoff | Apr 18, 2019 | Politics
It comes to mind that I have not explained the foundational beliefs of what I am calling Blind Lemur Conservatism. That needs to change. The ideas of what is or is not conservative have become, at best, muddied over the years. And that harms the movement, and aids the opposition.
We need to first define conservatism, in the sense I believe in. This isn’t going to be the conservatism of the Republicans or Libertarians, this is what I believe matters in the context of the modern world.
Conservative foundational beliefs include:
- Absolute freedom of speech.
- Small Government – the smaller the better. In almost all cases, the private sector can do things better than the government, and should do them.
- Absolute freedom of religion – this must include freedom from religion as well, and total separation of religion and state.
- No Governmental Interference – the government should stay out of my life unless or until compelled to by a specific set of actions.
- Absolute freedom of association – this must include disassociation as well.
- Individual Liberty – the citizen is the foundation of the state, and until or unless they interfere with the rights of others, the state should respect their right to do as they will.
- The right to defend yourself as needed – this covers bearing arms, which is needed for a free society.
- Absolute freedom to enter into civil unions with any number of consenting adults – the state should not be in the business of defining family.
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