All purpose news and politics thread part VII: News & Politics Total Landscaping

[babyblob]

"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams will no longer do business in NY until the Trump property seizures are reversed.

Is this really a big enough hit that NY should be worried about it? I mean his cartoon has been pulled by so many papers. And I am not sure what other business he is in that a boycott would hurt NY in any real way.

Just seems like his way to make a public statement to stay in the news and kiss Trumps ass at the same time.

[godisawesome]

"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams will no longer do business in NY until the Trump property seizures are reversed.

Wow, that’s a bonus. (Though I must admit I think the Dilbert cartoons are good.)

A Behind the Bastards report on him mentioned that at least some of his comics were inspired by ideas fans wrote into him with after the initial wave of popularity, which explains part of why he seems so clueless when some of his comics suggest he shouldn't be - he was using others' material.

[Tami]

This is dangerous

Alabama supreme court rules frozen embryos are ‘children’

In a first-of-its-kind decision, the Alabama supreme court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are “children”, allowing two wrongful death suits against a Mobile fertility clinic to proceed. The decision could have sweeping implications for people seeking in vitro fertilization (IVF) or other assisted reproductive technology treatments and could increase criminalization of expectant people.

In 2021, a patient at Mobile’s Center for Reproductive Medicine wandered into the clinic’s cryogenic nursery and removed several embryos. According to the lawsuit, “the subzero temperatures at which the embryos had been stored freeze-burned the patient’s hand, causing the patient to drop the embryos on the floor, killing them”.

The three couples who lost their frozen embryos sued for wrongful death, but the clinic claimed that Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act did not apply to embryos outside of the womb. Mobile county circuit court judge Jill Parrish Philips agreed with that argument and ruled to dismiss the case, but the state’s supreme court threw it out last week.v

The Alabama supreme court’s ruling repeatedly references God and the sanctity of life, citing the Bible and biblical scholars including Petrus van Mastricht, Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. Chief Justice Thomas Parker wrote: “Human life cannot be wrongfully destroyed without incurring the wrath of a holy God, who views the destruction of His image as an affront to Himself … this is true of unborn human life no less than it is of all other human life – that even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”

Cook, the lone dissenting judge, argued that the decision should have been a legislative one, not a judicial one.

[Tuck]

So, if a fertilized egg fails to embed in the uterine wall, is the woman guilty of manslaughter?

Or does it have to have advanced to the embryo stage?

I'm confused.

Also, can we start freezing children when they misbehave, or the parents want to go on a vacation alone?

[Tami]

So, if a fertilized egg fails to embed in the uterine wall, is the woman guilty of manslaughter?

Or does it have to have advanced to the embryo stage?

I'm confused.

Also, can we start freezing children when they misbehave, or the parents want to go on a vacation alone?

On a more serious note, if this becomes the standard in Red States, Fertility Clinics will be going out of business as fast as women's health clinics. Insurance companies won't cover them and the risk is too high that they could be charged with murder for simply doing their job.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

"Dilbert" creator Scott Adams will no longer do business in NY until the Trump property seizures are reversed.

I heard people go ..."Who is Scott Adams....?" and when told , they laughed so hard , they were like ...no loss there buddy.

[Tuck]

On a more serious note, if this becomes the standard in Red States, Fertility Clinics will be going out of business as fast as women's health clinics. Insurance companies won't cover them and the risk is too high that they could be charged with murder for simply doing their job.

While I was being sarcastic, these are actually questions that should have come up in a case (not the freezing children stuff).

I mean, did they so much as consult a high school science teacher?

[Tami]

While I was being sarcastic, these are actually questions that should have come up in a case (not the freezing children stuff).

I mean, did they so much as consult a high school science teacher?

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything. The ruling, apparently, was based on religion, not law, not science.

[Tuck]

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply anything. The ruling, apparently, was based on religion, not law, not science.

But Alabama is neither Catholic nor Mormon. Which is where the religious argument against abortion comes from.

Until the consolidation of the Christian Coalition, Protestants had a variety of opinions on the matter. In fact, the Assemblies of God, one of the biggest Born Again churches in the country, had an official position of pro-choice in the 1970s.


What does Alabama know about what's in the Bible on this that the Assemblies didn't back then?

[Tami]

On a more serious note, if this becomes the standard in Red States, Fertility Clinics will be going out of business as fast as women's health clinics. Insurance companies won't cover them and the risk is too high that they could be charged with murder for simply doing their job.

Fertility clinics could be ‘shutting their doors’ after Alabama Supreme Court decision

Lauren Olson is 26 weeks pregnant with a girl conceived through in vitro fertilization. Before her pregnancy, she suffered from endometriosis. When she underwent surgery to remove scar tissue, her doctors discovered her fallopian tubes were completely blocked.

“That’s when we found out that IVF or adoption, or something like that would be our only way to have a child,” Olson said.

Her employer offered insurance coverage for fertility treatment, and Olson and her husband found out they were expecting after fertility specialists transferred the first embryo. However, the decision could affect their plans for the remaining 10 embryos.

On Feb. 16, the Alabama Supreme Court released a decision granting embryos the same legal status as children in a wrongful death case brought by three families. Now Olson is unsure of whether she will be allowed to donate some of her remaining embryos to science as she had planned. She said she spoke to her doctor, who mentioned a possible plan to move the embryos out of state.

The case has changed the discussions she has had with her husband about using the embryos in the future or donating them to families in need.

“By insisting that these very different biological entities are legally equivalent, the best state-of-the-art fertility care will be made unavailable to the people of Alabama,” Amato said in a statement. “No healthcare provider will be willing to provide treatments if those treatments may lead to civil or criminal charges.”

[Jack Dracula]

This is dangerous

Alabama supreme court rules frozen embryos are ‘children’

It’s ridiculous that only one of the judges dissented when the argument is almost exclusively one persons interpretation of what they believe Gods attitudes to be.
Since they’re invoking Gods will I’d think the obvious counter argument would be that God obviously wanted those embryos dead or he would’ve stopped the patient from getting to them.

[Tami]

But Alabama is neither Catholic nor Mormon. Which is where the religious argument against abortion comes from.

Until the consolidation of the Christian Coalition, Protestants had a variety of opinions on the matter. In fact, the Assemblies of God, one of the biggest Born Again churches in the country, had an official position of pro-choice in the 1970s.


What does Alabama know about what's in the Bible on this that the Assemblies didn't back then?

Alabama Supreme Court Cites the Bible in Terrifying Embryo Ruling

In a 7–2 decision, Alabama’s highest court ruled that the clinic had been negligent, allowing the parents to proceed with a wrongful death lawsuit. The court also ruled that it is “the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, including the right to life,” referring to the Alabama Constitution’s Sanctity of Life Amendment, ratified in 2018.

“Here, the text of the Wrongful Death of a Minor Act is sweeping and unqualified,” wrote Alabama Supreme Court Associate Justice Jay Mitchell in the majority’s opinion. “It applies to all children, born and unborn, without limitation. It is not the role of this Court to craft a new limitation based on our own view of what is or is not wise public policy. That is especially true where, as here, the People of this State have adopted a Constitutional amendment directly aimed at stopping courts from excluding ‘unborn life’ from legal protection.”

But the opinion also quotes the Bible as reasoning for functionally killing IVF access within the aggressively pro-life state, turning to an eyebrow-raising verse from Jeremiah 1:5 for guidance before deciding to make it harder for Alabamans to have a family.

“We believe that each human being, from the moment of conception, is made in the image of God, created by Him to reflect His likeness. It is as if the People of Alabama took what was spoken of the prophet Jeremiah and applied it to every unborn person in this state: ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, Before you were born I sanctified you.’ Jeremiah 1:5 (NKJV 1982),” the opinion read.

It's not about any one religion, it's about selectively quoting from the bible, often out of context, and even if in context .... the bible is not a legal or scientific work. At best it is a collection of parables with some history thrown in, at worst it is a work of fiction.

[Gray Lensman]

Alabama Supreme Court Cites the Bible in Terrifying Embryo Ruling





It's not about any one religion, it's about selectively quoting from the bible, often out of context, and even if in context .... the bible is not a legal or scientific work. At best it is a collection of parables with some history thrown in, at worst it is a work of fiction.

Exactly what the Bible qualifies as often depends on what part you are looking at. The YouTube channel Useful Charts has a series of episodes about when each book was written, starting with the Old Testament and eventually hitting even the lesser known books only found in the other Christian faiths - like the Ethiopian version.

It wasn't put to writing until the Iron Age, although the first 5 books are likely what survives from the older oral traditions. It's also thought that it might be from 2 separate groups that came together, explaining many of the contradictions in the earlier books. The later doomsday books in both the Old and New testaments are also best seen through the lens of when they were written - Revelations was most likely written during the time of Nero, and is best seen through that lens.

Actually, Useful Charts has a several videos on religion. The guy behind the channel has a degree in religious studies, so he does appear to know what he is talking about.



The Alabama court seems to be run by madmen though. Not sure if any religion tries to state that life starts THAT early. The Old Testament doesn't even consider anyone alive until the draw their first breath, at least if I am remembering correctly. It's been a long time since I have read more than a few passages.

[zinderel]

I got a friend who is a fan of Tucker. If he gets irked at me for telling him how badly this went , DEAR LORD....he's gonna be irate when this hits his feed to watch soon.

My Zoomer nephew was telling me the other day that apparently, a lot of people his age think Tucker is hot.

And I just stared at him for a minute, and asked if he understood now why people tend to disregard the opinions of people his age..

[zinderel]

On Friday, an Idaho GOP state Rep. argued against a grant that provides additional internet and computer access for rural Idahoans because he believes it is “woke”

These people try to squeeze in "woke" everywhere they can. Imagine telling your constituents they don't need internet access because it comes with "woke strings" I mean he doesn't even explain why it is bad. These people vote for them though over and over so whatever.

Idaho Republicans and their support for domestic terrorists and religious extremism and political stupidity are rapidly turning their state into the new Florida.

With potatoes.