What's in the News 3.0

[Al Terego]

Quoting from the article:

“Every child is uniquely precious and should continue to be protected in law no matter how long or short the baby’s life may be,” the group said in a statement. “The compassionate approach to these heartbreaking diagnoses is perinatal palliative care, which honors, rather than ends, the child’s life.”

The women's lives, of course, do not matter.  After all, they are just delivery mechanisms.

For the record, I am not advocating violence against those "groups", because that would be illegal.
But I do wish those miscreants ill.

[Missy]

It's not about 'life'.

A woman in Texas has been working her way through the court system to try to get an emergency abortion.

Kate Cox is currently carrying a fetus with a lethal abnormality.  It would last maybe days outside the womb.  She has two children from two previous C-sections, and any delivery performed would have to be through another C-section, greatly impacting her future fertility - and she does want another child.  She has been to the emergency room at least four times, and her doctor says that the abortion is medically necessary.  Earlier this week, a judge affirmed this.

Despite this, Ken Paxton, the Texas A.G., has stated that this ruling would not insulate the participants from legal action (including the possibility of the doctor performing the surgery losing her license), stating in his filing that 'Nothing can restore the unborn child's life that will be lost as a result.'

This unborn child's 'life' will be measured in hours.  Days, at the outside.  It was never about being 'pro-life'.

Such is the way of the ideologue our 'virtue' above all else, none else matters, no logic, no reason, no reality

[Missy]

Quoting from the article:
The women's lives, of course, do not matter.  After all, they are just delivery mechanisms.

For the record, I am not advocating violence against those "groups", because that would be illegal.
But I do wish those miscreants ill.

why would i care about the needs of an object? after all

[GloomCookie]

This is a political move. Texas has a very 'pro-life' vocal minority that he's appealing to, which is why Paxton is doing this. He's going to turn this into a run for the Governorship on a very 'pro-life' agenda, painting himself as someone who won't compromise on the issue. This has nothing to do with Cox's situation, it's about his future political ambitions. It's why the New York A.G. typically will make headlines with high profile cases because the A.G. office is often considered a stepping stone to the governor's office.

I feel bad for Cox, and I hope she gets this resolved. It's bullshit that she's being used as a political pawn.

[Keelan]

Someone apparently was arrested for threatening to kill Vivek Ramaswamy, as well as "everyone who attends" the event he was at. Apparently this wasn't the first threat he'd issued to a campaign either, nor his first interaction with the local PD/police (per the article).

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/new-hampshire-man-charged-threatening-kill-vivek-ramaswamy-rcna129078

[TheGlyphstone]

Why has Dover become New Hampshire's pocket Florida? I didn't live in that area but I dont remember it being known for crazy people.

[Beorning]

This just in from over here:

Ever wonder what could happen if people let a far-right, anti-Semitic lunatic be a Member of Parliament?

Well, one day, that lunatic MP might decide to interrupt a small Hanukkah celebration taking place in the Parliament building. By grabbing a fire extinguisher and spraying the Hanukkah menorah (along with at least one person present). Then, he might go to the Parliament's voting chamber to ramble publicly about his protest against "a talmudic, Satanic, tribal and racist cult ceremony"...

Oh, f**k.

[Beorning]

An article on the incident, including the video that shows the whole thing:

https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/12/12/far-right-mp-expelled-from-polish-parliament-after-spraying-hanukkah-candles-with-fire-extinguisher/

[Oniya]

Is the expulsion mentioned the same sort of thing as the Santos expulsion was here?  Or is it more 'Go home and think about your life for a couple days.'?

[TheGlyphstone]

It says they took away his parliamentary stipend for six months, which seems to imply to me that he'll still be a member for at least that long. But maybe its a translation thing and that's a fine equal to said amount.

[Beorning]

No, you are right - "expulsion" means something else here. It means that the MP in question was banned from participating in the current parliamentary session. Which may take a few or a dozen working days. So, he will back, eventually...

Although the new government we finally got this week is not going to cuddle him (in contrast to the PiS government, which covertly shielded him from legal consequences). So, there's a talk of this guy being criminally prosecuted. Considering the possible charges mentions, he could get a nice sentence of a few years...

[Beorning]

Interesting things are happening in Poland now...

The new government finally took power last week (after being blocked by inane maneuvering by the outgoing PiS and President Duda). And now, they made their move against the toxic propaganda machine that the state TV, TVP, has become under PiS rule:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67772070

https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/12/20/former-ruling-party-holds-sit-in-at-state-tv-as-new-government-takes-control-of-public-media/

TVP's 24/7 news channel went off-air suddenly! The pro-PiS journalists are running around TVP HQ's corridors, protesting! PiS politicians are screaming "Coup! Media censorship! Help!!!"... even though they were trying to destroy independent media for the 8 years...

This looks like madness, but it is unnecessary (IMHO). TVP is basically PiS's private TV station at this point, even though it's financed by the state budget. It can't go on like this.

[Missy]

This looks like madness, but it is unnecessary (IMHO). TVP is basically PiS's private TV station at this point, even though it's financed by the state budget. It can't go on like this.

I would just cut their funding and tell them they'll have to ask their party for money, but that's me I guess.

[Beorning]

Here's an interesting perspective on the subject:

https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/12/21/right-aims-wrong-methods-public-media-takeover-shows-dangers-for-new-polish-government/


Another piece of interesting Polish news - two important PiS politicians have just been given prison sentences for crimes committed around 2007:

https://notesfrompoland.com/2023/12/21/convicted-former-pis-ministers-excluded-from-parliament-despite-appeal-from-president/

They (and all of PiS) claim that this court verdict is wrong. Heck, Kamiński openly stated that the verdict "deserves only derision" and that he's not going to respect it.

And then, in spite of Kamiński and Wąsik's MP status having been officially  removed by the Sejm's Speaker, they appeared in the voting chamber yesterday and *took part in voting*. Also, Kamiński openly flashed a middle finger in the direction of the government's seats.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is PiS for you...

[Missy]

In good news: Judge blocks transgender healthcare ban in Idaho

[Beorning]

Okay, Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, has managed to do something even someone like Trump has not done.

Apparently, Duda is harbouring convicted criminals in the Presidential Palace - to stop the police from detaining them and driving them off to prison...

This is insane. The story is ongoing, we'll see what happens next.

[Beorning]

... and the sorry spectacle ended with the police entering the Presidential Palace, detaining the convicts. Finally!

A summary / explanation of the whole situation:

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/09/police-enter-polish-presidential-palace-to-detain-convicted-former-ministers-holed-up-inside

I admit I didn't think that Duda would try to pull such a stupid stunt. Was he planning on keeping his convicted political buddies in the Palace indefinitely? Did he really think that being the president gives him the right to obstruct lawful execution of prison sentences?

[Oniya]

I admit I didn't think that Duda would try to pull such a stupid stunt. Was he planning on keeping his convicted political buddies in the Palace indefinitely? Did he really think that being the president gives him the right to obstruct lawful execution of prison sentences?

So, if I understand correctly, Duda is only President until 2025 (having been elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2020, with a two-term limit).  So at worst, all three of them would have had another year of occupancy in the Presidential Palace?  (Ironically, the two convicted ministers would be essentially under house arrest, as the police could just pick them up if they left, and it probably wouldn't count as 'time served'.)

[Beorning]

Yes, Duda is going to be President until 2025. Unfortunately, as he's going to cause trouble for the new government all the time... There are already fears that he might try to disband the parliament using legal loopholes.

Today, Duda gave a short speech on how "shaken" he is about this whole situation, that the two convicted ministers are of "crystal-clear decency" and that "he will not rest" until they are free men again. Apparently, he plans on complaining about the situation to foreign institutions and other heads of state...

Speaking of these guys' "crystal-clear decency"... Let me remind you that Kamiński was the interior minister who organized the press conference that featured an actual bestiality porn video - all the prove that the migrants abused at Poland's Belarus border are all perverts and terrorists. He's also associated with leaking confidential materials to PiS-affiliated media (to help them organize smear campaigns against the enemies of PiS). IIRC, he's also said to be connected to the Pegasus surveillance scandal. So... yeah. Decent guy, totally.

[greenknight]

Did he simply not simply pardon them? Is it because it's like in the American system that a pardon is an admission of guilt?

[Keelan]

Did he simply not simply pardon them? Is it because it's like in the American system that a pardon is an admission of guilt?

I'm pretty sure that's false; pretty sure that it's legally unclear if you HAVE to admit guilt to receive a pardon, especially since some people get pardoned specifically because they're innocent and were found guilty unjustly.

If you're talking the Burdick decision, my understanding is that the ruling that you could refuse a pardon was predicated on the fact that it could APPEAR to be an admission of guilt to the ignorant adoring public, for much the same reason people see those who make plea deals as also implicitly guilty, or depending on the crime simply being accused of it even if it's later found to be completely false.

[Oniya]

In this particular instance, the issuance of the pardon itself was problematic, since it came before the ministers had finished the appeals process.  If they had waived their appeals and gone straight to the Presidential Pardon, then - all done and dusted.  Instead, there was some backlash about how Duda had interjected himself into the judicial process inappropriately:  He should have waited until the appeal(s) failed before pardoning, as there was a possibility (however slim) of the courts reversing the lower ruling.

As a result, the pardon itself was apparently voided - but there have been further arguments that the voiding was inappropriate.

(The irony of all of this occurring in the context of a corruption case is just icing on the cake.)

[Beorning]

In this particular instance, the issuance of the pardon itself was problematic, since it came before the ministers had finished the appeals process.  If they had waived their appeals and gone straight to the Presidential Pardon, then - all done and dusted.  Instead, there was some backlash about how Duda had interjected himself into the judicial process inappropriately:  He should have waited until the appeal(s) failed before pardoning, as there was a possibility (however slim) of the courts reversing the lower ruling.

Exactly. If Duda pardoned these guys after they lost their appeals, there wouldn't be any problem today. But he stepped in before the final verdicts - so, the pardons he issued were ineffective. And so, eventually, the court picked up the case again and issued a verdict after all.

Two points of note: when issuing the pardons, Duda was smiling very cheerfully and admitted that he decided to "free the justice system from having to make the verdict in this case". Which... is not what presidential pardon is about, according to most lawyers here. Also, Duda rushed these pardons, as PiS wanted these two guys to become government officials at that exact moment (also, I'm not sure if they even would be allowed to take these posts, if they were lawfully found guilty of a crime).

In any case, a new development!

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/11/president-duda-announces-new-pardon-proceedings-for-convicted-former-
ministers/

So... Duda relented and pardoned them *again*. While also claiming that he believes he had successfully pardoned them back in 2015. Go figure...

Oh, and since yesterday, PiS politicians have been stirring up a total hysteria regarding these arrests. And the wives of the convicted ministers appeared in a TV interview to talk of how shaken and sad they are. One of them actually said that she's suffering from low temperature back at home, as only her husband knew how to operate the heating... For crying out loud...

[Keelan]

So... apparently Alec Baldwin has been indicted by a grand jury on manslaughter charges tody:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alec-baldwin-indicted-manslaughter-charge-rust-shooting-rcna134564

[Keelan]

...and if someone would please fix my obvious typos, that'd be great...