Stay For Now🌻 🌻 🌻

Choice:  On Friday by a vote of 7 to 2, with Justices Alito and Thomas dissenting, SCOTUS granted a full stay in the Mifepristone case, leaving the drug’s status, including its FDA approval, usage parameters and the legality of distribution through the US mail, intact.  Alito was the only Justice with anything to say.  In his brief but snide dissent he said that he didn’t believe that the “compromise” limitations imposed by the Fifth Circuit, specifically limiting the use of Mifepristone to the first 7 rather than the current 10 weeks of pregnancy and the requirement of three doctor’s visits were a big deal, a not all that surprising view given that he authored the Roe overturning Dobbs opinion.  The Mifepristone fight isn’t over since all the Friday ruling did was kick a final decision on Mifepristone down the road for a year or so by sending the case back to the very conservative Fifth Circuit where the same three judges who’d said that it was unlikely that the challenge to at least some of the FDA’s decision authorizing Mifepristone would fail, will hear oral arguments in May.  Their ruling could then be reviewed by the full fifth circuit before the losing side appeals to SCOTUS where, despite Friday’s stay a majority of the judges have already shown their animosity to abortion.  The continued availability of Mifepristone could depend on whether Judge Amy or the wives of any of the other six Justices who overturned Roe ever experienced a difficult miscarriage because relying solely on their jurisprudence hasn’t really worked out for us thus far. Judges really do matter which is why Senator Dianne Feinstein’s absence and its impact on confirming more judges is such a problem.  For what it’s worth, and it’s probably not worth a lot since he's been known to prevaricate, Senator Lindsey Graham says that he would vote to allow Democrat to seat a replacement on the Senate Judiciary Committee if Feinstein leaves the Senate, something she so far has shown no interest in doing.    

Legal Morass:  Trump is due back in court this week, not on any of the myriad cases addressing his election or document crimes but for the E Jean Carroll rape defamation case where US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan who is hearing the case has ruled that the names of jurors should be kept secret to protect them from intimidation or worse.  On the subject of intimidation, or at least attempted intimidation, Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and attempted intimidator House Judiciary Chair Jim “Gym” Jordan have settled their differences, well some of their differences.  As a result, attorney Mark Pomerantz who briefly worked for the Manhattan DA’s office on the Trump “hush money” case before bolting over Bragg’s initial failure to charge Trump only to write a book about his experience will be permitted to sit for a deposition.  Both sides have claimed victory in this skirmish, with Gym obtaining fodder for another distraction and Bragg saying that the agreement that he struck protects his office’s privileges and interests.  On the subject of distractions, weird ones at that, the press has been full of stories about Hunter Biden and his crimes again with Fox and a number of “in the know” members of Congress, all Republicans of course,  also alleging that Hunter’s crime wave will take down the whole Biden “crime family.”  While Hunter does have some real problems, tax evasion and something related to a gun, it’s hard to tell what’s really going on so we will have to wait for the Trump regime appointed US Attorney David Weiss who is in charge of his case to say anything before knowing all the facts.  Emphasis on the Trump appointment, Weiss was held over from the Trump days precisely to avoid any interference from Biden’s team, but you’d be hard pressed to know that given the histrionics that keep showing up particularly in Fox owned media.  Circling back to Trump’s Fulton County situation, reports are that Fani Willis has uncovered some more incriminating information, some texts between members of Trump’s legal team in which they discussed using voting data to overturn not just the presidential election but also to keep a Republican hold on the Senate. Willis once promised that she’d be handing down her indictments imminently, which was eventually interpreted to mean early May.  Let’s hope that May date still stands because the 2024 election tock is ticking.

2024: Over the weekend various outlets reported on polls that show that most voters don’t want Biden to run for reelection, and a few others that show some Republicans who don’t want Trump even though he appears to be doing far better against Biden than he should be doing.  Take those polls with a grain of salt, it’s too early and regardless of what they say Biden is running and is expected to announce this week.  Trump is running too and at least for now, he appears to be very focused on taking Ron DeSantis down.  In addition to attacking Ronny D’s bizarre pudding eating habits, Trump has an ad out that details how awful Florida has become with DeSantis in charge.  Should DeSantis, who has countered that Trump move to another state,  withstand Trump’s attacks, that ad will likely be used by Democrats at some point in the future. It’s fun to watch the two going after each other, but not so much fun when you consider that one of them could end up in the Oval Office, or not as a few more Republicans appear to be getting closer to throwing their hats in the official or unofficial ring.  One of Ron DeSantis’ previous large donors is now throwing his money at Virginia’s Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin, who is term limited and will need another job soon enough and former Texas Congressman William Hurd, who frequently said all the right things but then didn’t vote for Trump to be impeached is also talking about running. Then there’s George of many names and crimes Santos, he’s found a way to make himself relevant.  Santos is threatening to vote against Kevin McCarthy’s debt ceiling/budget slashing plan. As crazy as it seems, Santos is running for reelection, he needs campaign money, and it would be so like him to hold Kevin hostage for some Republican campaign cash.  Kevin has already shown that he’ll concede to anything to keep his job and the debt ceiling impasse could destroy both the economy and of more concern to Kevin, his speakership so Santos could be on to something.

Fox Carriage Fees:  Fox makes most of its money from cable carriage fees rather than advertising with only ESPN charging cable companies more.  Fox is currently negotiating with a number of cable carriers including Spectrum/Charter, Xfinity/Comcast, and Cox, trying to raise their already high monthly fees from $2 to $3 per subscriber, after all they’ve got some large and potentially growing legal expenses to cover and Pillow ad revenues only go so far. Carriage fees are passed on to subscribers so while you might not realize it you have a voice; you can contact your cable provider telling them that Fox is not your cup of tea and that you don’t want to pay the increase.  Subscriber feedback can impact fee negotiations.  Fox knows that which is why they rally their fans to call when they are in the midst of negotiations. More information about how to contact your carrier can be found at nofoxfee.com.