Texas abortion ban linked to stark rise in infant and newborn deaths
“This might foreshadow what is happening in other states,” said Johns Hopkins public health researcher Alison Gemmill. “Texas is basically a year ahead.”
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday waded into the culture-war debate over gender-affirming care for transgender minors by agreeing to resolve challenges to a law in Tennessee that seeks to restrict it.
The justices will hear a Biden administration appeal of a court ruling that upheld the measure. Oral arguments and a ruling are expected in the court’s next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2025.
The case marks the first time the court will issue a ruling in the battle over transgender rights for teens, which has raged in both the health care and education contexts.
A young person holds a Pride Flag outside the House chambers before a legislative session, on Feb. 26, 2024, in Nashville, TN.George Walker IV / AP
“The future of countless transgender youth in this and future generations rests on this Court adhering to the facts, the Constitution and its own modern precedent,” said Chase Strangio, a lawyer at the American Civil Liberties Union, which also challenged the law.
The state measure restricts puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery for minors.
In a separate case, the court in April allowed Idaho to mostly enforce a similar law.
More than 20 states have enacted similar bans, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ rights think tank. Whatever the court rules will affect those states as well.
Major medical organizations say that gender-affirming treatments are an effective way of treating gender dysphoria, the clinical term given to the distress people can experience when their gender identity is in conflict with the gender assigned to them at birth.
Plaintiffs, including transgender teens and their families, say the law violates the Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which requires that the law apply equally to everyone, in part by barring medical treatments for transgender people that are available to others. They also say the law violates the right of parents to make health care decisions for their children.
Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar urged the Supreme Court to take up the issue, saying that the law “is part of a wave of similar bans preventing transgender adolescents from obtaining medical care that they, their parents, and their doctors have all concluded is necessary.”
A federal judge blocked the Tennessee ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy but left in place a ban on surgeries.
In a separate Kentucky case the justices did not act on, a federal judge blocked the ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy. The plaintiffs did not challenge the restrictions on surgery.
In a ruling addressing both laws, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the states in September.
Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote that no one was questioning “the existence of gender dysphoria or the distress caused by it,” but indicated the question of what treatments should be available to those 17 or under should be left to elected officials.
“This is a relatively new diagnosis with ever-shifting approaches to care over the last decade or two. Under these circumstances, it is difficult for anyone to be sure about predicting the long-term consequences of abandoning age limits of any sort for these treatments,” he wrote.
The plaintiffs then asked the Supreme Court to step in. The court has until now largely stayed out of disputes involving transgender students.
In 2021, the Supreme Court declined to take up a case about the question of whether transgender students can use school bathrooms that correspond with their gender identities as court battles have continued around the country. The court turned away a similar case in January.
On a related issue, the court last year allowed a transgender girl in West Virginia to participate in girls’ sports.
The court’s biggest intervention on trans issues writ large came in a surprise 6-3 ruling in 2020 written by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch. He concluded that federal law that bars sex discrimination in employment protected transgender and gay people, a ruling that angered conservatives.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Friday signed into law a measure prohibiting ethics investigations from being launched until they are prompted by a complaint from someone with personal knowledge of the alleged wrongdoing. The measure (SB 7014) was widely opposed by government watchdog organizations who warned it will undermine state ethics laws at both the state and local levels.
“Let’s be clear: This has never been about minimizing frivolous complaints; this is about making complaints almost impossible,” said Amy Keith, executive director of Common Cause Florida, after DeSantis’s action. “Governor DeSantis says he believes that Floridians deserve protection from corruption, but his actions today speak otherwise,” she added. Those who backed the measure said complaints have been “weaponized” against candidates.
Born in the Senate Ethics Committee, the legislation purportedly seeks to limit time frames for investigating ethics complaints. It also requires public complaints be based entirely on a filer’s personal knowledge of wrongdoing, which sponsors said was to discourage “frivolous” complaints.
But critics say the bill will gut ethics enforcement completely, eliminating the ability to file anonymous complaints or tips that lead to investigations and uncover legitimate wrongdoing.
Jose Arrojo, Executive Director of the Miami-Dade Ethics Commission, voiced concerns that the new law could limit means of even bringing ethics concerns to the attention of officials. “No more anonymous whistleblowers. No more employees referring information to us,” Arrojo said.
Florida Gov. DeSantis signs legislation that makes it harder to file ethics complaints https://t.co/koNYW7oXBE
DeSantis just signed a controversial ethics bill that will result in less oversight in a state government where ethics are as rare as competent governors. https://t.co/v02kBswNtm
— Lesley Abravanel 🪩 (@lesleyabravanel) June 22, 2024
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed a bill weakening the state's ethics laws.
SB 7014 will require all future ethics complaints to be based upon "personal knowledge."
It will also stop any local government ethics office from ever again self-initiating investigations.
DeSantis just signed a bill which restricts the ability for ethics boards to launch their own investigations, giving a green-light to public corruption in a state already plagued by public corruption scandals. He also did it late on a Friday night to minimize media coverage. https://t.co/6EDfAf4FaY
DeSantis Has been systematically undermining Florida sunshine laws during his entire tenure as governor. Of course he’s going to sign such a law—he, along with his Reputation legislature, is unethical.
“If I do it (my party does it), it’s ethical, & don’t you dare question it” Definitely “small government,” of “we the people” & not at all the controlling “deep state” they always blame on the other side…/s… “How dare you ask for my (a public servant) travel & meeting records…”
“Personal knowledge of the alleged wrongdoing” is a fancy name for giving themselves a license to commit ‘white collar crimes’, such as bribery, embezzlement, money laundering, wage theft, etc.
The sort of thing where the only person who knows of the offense itself is the person(s) committing it, but everyone else can certainly bear witness to the after effects of it.
Trump’s sledgehammer message to Philadelphia is light on facts, heavy on fear
The former president used his first rally in the city of brotherly love to tie violent crime with illegal immigration, despite the evidence against this
Israeli forces strap wounded Palestinian to jeep during raid
Israeli army forces strapped a wounded Palestinian man to the hood of a military jeep during an arrest raid in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday.
This is the second attempt to write this as I was in classic and tried to post a link to a source and well WordPress did its new magic when working with classic and wiped out an hours worth of work. So I will try again. My mind is still a bit foggy so the new post won’t be as well or have as much in it as the first. ***After I wrote the entire post I see the above was not so correct, the post is long***
I am on the maximum dosage of Baclofen and my back / leg spasms are still increasing and getting worse. This causes an increase of pain. My pain doctor who gives me my spine shots felt I needed more relief and I was not getting as much as I should be, so he told me to try a different drug that may or may not help me. He did not discuss how to stop the Baclofen but simply said try this one it might give you more relief or not. I now think I misunderstood him and he meant to use it as a back-up to the Baclofen. He is incredibly smart and well respected in his profession so the idea he would want me to do what I did doesn’t make sense.
Baclofen is a horribly unforgiving medication. It is hard to get used to using, and it can be deadly if not managed correctly. Needless to say I did not manage stopping the medication correctly at all. Here are some things that can happen and sadly I can not post the link but will have to do it below. (I hate to do it and it will mean less posting but I may have to start posting by writing the post in Word then pasting it in to WordPress somehow. What drew me to WordPress and then back to WordPress was the ease in just opening Classic and writing a post. All my extensions work and it was fun. Not so much now.)
Baclofen withdrawal symptoms can be similar to those of benzodiazepine and alcohol withdrawal. Withdrawal from all of these substances can be severe and, in some cases, deadly. People are most likely to go through baclofen withdrawal if they have been using the drug for more than a few months. Baclofen withdrawal can occur whether someone uses a low or high dose. If someone suddenly stops using the drug, withdrawal symptoms are more likely to be severe. Baclofen withdrawal symptoms can include:
Visual and auditory hallucinations
Tactile hallucinations
Confusion
Delusions
Disorientation
Delirium
Insomnia
Dizziness
Nausea
Memory problems
Anxiety
Changes in perception
Hyperthermia
Depersonalization
Psychosis
Mania
Mood disturbances
Changes in behavior
Tachycardia
Seizures
Tremors
Fever
Extreme rebound muscle rigidity and spasticity
Some of the most severe symptoms of baclofen withdrawal, such as seizures, hallucinations and organ failure, can be avoided if someone participates in a professional baclofen detox.
I stopped taking it one morning. Boy my body quickly let me know it was not happy about it. My pain levels went off the scale, and I was in agony. I struggled with the last one on the list also some of the others. Plus I did not sleep. I would lay there and toss / turn but if I slept it was in small time periods of 15 minutes or so and at most I got a total of 1 or 2 hours a day. To put it mildly, I was having nausea, struggling with the personality changes all this was causing, confusion, insomnia, tremors, and fever as the worst of the effects. By the end of the fourth day Ron was seriously concerned, he had looked up the symptoms and seen my rapid deterioration. He was begging me to go back to the baclofen or at least call the doctor to tell them. I thought it over. What I wanted and needed was not worth what I was doing through. So I took my first baclofen the end of the fourth day and went to bed.
The next day which was yesterday I woke up late but felt so much better. I was still having some symptoms but my main problem was the lack of ability to focus and confusion. I just felt tired out. At the appropriate time I took my second set of medication and … The world stopped. Well the world did not but I did. I mentioned to Ron I felt really tired and was going to go lay down. Well I lay down, and 6 hours later Ron woke me to ask if I would like to eat and maybe I should take off my headphones which I was still wearing. Which is weird as I don’t like wearing headphones which is why I need my own room for my computers, so I can listen to my stuff without the need for headphones or earbuds.
I am back. Sorry got so tired I went to lay down for an hour plus.
So after I got up yesterday, removed my headphones, we had supper. I was not really hungry but Ron had the desire to have crispy chicken strips and french fries cooked in the big deep frier. I enjoy them, but we both marveled I do not eat like I used to. I had maybe four strips and a small serving of french fries. The good news on that front is I had been stuck on a weight plateau to 184, and recently I have dropped below that into the 170s running right now between 175 and 177 pounds. After eating I offered to pick it up, Ron said he would do it, but I wanted to help so we split the work. Then I went back to bed.
I slept, then I slept some more. When Ron came to bed at 10 pm, I took my next set of medications and my nighttime insulin. Then after mumbling to Ron that I wouldn’t be able to sleep, I went right to sleep. I slept until 3 am when Tupac’s small stomach alarm went off. Every morning at that time he cries and cries until one of us gets up and feeds him half a can of wet food. He has a bowl of dry food but we got him hooked on wet food and he loves it. But if we give him as much as he wants, he will get sick and vomit it, so we give him half a can or so at a time now. Normally I do it because Ron is sleeping. This morning I did not respond and Ron asked If I wanted him to do it, his tone hopeful I would offer to get up. I did not. I did not even hear him and Tupac come back to bed. I slept until 6:15 or so when Tupac’s stomach alarm went off again. He knows now since his long time feral playtime outside friend … well the night before she was seen no more we again had a young coyote scouting around the house. We had tried so hard for two years to get her to at least come into the Florida room for the night, but she just won’t. She has disappeared. So Tupac has new rules. He is allowed outside during the day but once night fall and darkness has come he is inside now. He sometimes argues about it but, until he learns to open the doors he lives by it. In truth he doesn’t make much fuss, and even at 3 am he doesn’t ask to go out anymore, but goes right back to bed.
One last note. Over the 24 hours or so I slept Ron kept checking me. He said this morning that the only thing that bothered him was that during the times he checked on me and during the night I was very vocal. I cried, wept, moaned, groaned, and made other sounds. He said I did not seem to struggle or move around, and I was not begging like when it is really bad so he let me sleep. I asked him if I talked anything clearly that could be understood more than just sounds. He said no he was watching, I did not beg or plead for it to stop, or beg not to be hurt so he did not know if to wake me. I said he did the correct thing as I want him to know I love he cares and understands now what I lived through and still experience in dreams. He asked if I wanted to talk about the dreams, and I said no, I had them, I experienced the abuse in more mild than normal and I did not want to relive it or have him live it so no I did not want to tell him the dreams. He is so wonderful he accepted that, gave me long wonderful hugs and kisses.
So that has been the last five days. That what I went through. It is going to take days to get back on track if ever. I will not be posting the meme post today or this week, I did not work on it all week so there is not really anything to post. Love everyone who comes to my little spot on the interwebs who want to hear my opinion. Hugs to those who wish them, my heart felt best wishes to all others. Scottie
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