It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, July 09, 2022
'A 'Wow' moment': US renewable energy hit record 28% in April. What's driving the change?
Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY Fri, July 8, 2022
The amount of electricity generated by renewable resources hit a record 28% in April, a breakthrough number that shows how important renewable energy has become in U.S. energy markets.
"It's a 'Wow' moment," said Peter Kelly-Detwiler, an energy analyst and author of "The Energy Switch," a recent book about the transition to a carbon-free energy economy.
The percentage of U.S. electricity produced by renewable energy from wind, solar and hydroelectric dams has been steadily rising, from 8.6% in April 2001 to this April's 28%. Those numbers were released this week by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which tracks energy data for the nation.
What explains the surge?
There are several reasons. At the top is that wind and solar installations dominated U.S. energy buildouts.
"Basically, the only things we've added to the grid in the past decade are wind, solar and natural gas," said Harrison Fell, an economist and engineer at Columbia University, where he co-leads the Power Sector and Renewables Research Initiative.
That's happening for two reasons. The first is cost. Renewables are simply the most economically competitive power currently available, Kelly-Detwiler said.
In 2021, the cost of producing a megawatt-hour of electricity from a new wind turbine was $26 to $50. The same amount of electricity from the cheapest type of natural gas plant ranged from $45 to $74, according to Lazard, a financial advisory firm that publishes annual estimates of the cost of producing electricity.
Federal and state mandates and incentives to increase the amount of clean energy used also help, Fell said.
"When you do the math on what's the most profitable thing to add, it's often going to be wind and solar at this stage," he said.
Was weather a factor?
Yes. April tends to be a particularly windy month, and this spring was windier than most, Fell said.
There's also less power coming into the grid from fossil fuels and nuclear in the spring. That's because electricity demand is generally lower because of the mild weather and fossil fuel and nuclear power plants use the time for maintenance and refueling, which reduces their production, he said.
Another surprise was that in April, wind and solar power together produced more electricity than nuclear plants.
Historically, nuclear power plants, which are carbon-neutral, have reliably produced about 20% of America's electricity. In April that number dropped to 18% while wind and solar combined stood at 19.6%.
The nuclear decrease is partly a result of the shutdown of two plants in the past year, Indian Point in New York state and Palisades in Michigan, as well as scheduled closures for maintenance. Will the trend continue?
When all U.S. carbon-neutral energy sources are added together – nuclear, wind, hydroelectric and solar – almost 46% of U.S. electricity in April came from sources that don't contribute greenhouse gases to the environment, federal data shows.
"It's a milestone," Kelly-Detwiler said. "But in a few years, we'll look back and say, 'This was a nice steppingstone to the next 'Wow!' moment."
Russia needs to release Brittney Griner. And US leaders need to fix our cannabis laws.
Sarah Gersten
Fri, July 8, 2022
As the trial for WNBA star Brittany Griner continues in Russia, politicians, celebrities and ordinary people who are outraged that Griner could face 10 years in prison for packing some hash oil cartridges in her carry-on have ramped up their push for her release.
Grassroots protests have been organized across the United States, from Phoenix, Arizona, to Harlem in New York. A petition on Change.org surpassed 310,000 signatures. Celebrities, athletes and prominent politicians continue to pile on the pressure.
The near universal support for Griner is by no means surprising. Not only is she a beloved, internationally recognized athlete, but the majority of Americans (68%, to be precise) support legalizing marijuana. Seventy percent of Americans also support clearing past cannabis convictions from criminal records for nonviolent offenders. Cannabis is a Schedule I drug in the USA
Ironically – and despite the public’s overwhelming support for an end to cannabis criminalization – the draconian Russian laws that led to Griner’s detention are similar to our own. After all, cannabis remains a Schedule I drug in the United States. This means that under federal drug trafficking guidelines, any U.S. citizen could face a jail sentence for flying with hash oil.
WNBA star Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17, 2022, when Russian officials alleged she was carrying vape cartridges with hashish oil in her luggage while returning to the Russian basketball club she plays for during the offseason.
Of course, there is a major differentiating factor in Griner’s case. She’s a celebrity. But excepting her status as a pro athlete, Griner – a Black gay woman – would be subject to the disproportionately higher rates of enforcement for cannabis possession that affect marginalized communities, particularly people of color, in the United States.
Griner pleaded guilty Thursday but said she did not intend to violate Russia's laws. Russian officials have signaled their openness to negotiating Griner's fate with the United States only after a verdict is reached in her case.
Russian authorities need to stop using Griner as a political pawn and release her from detention. At the same time, U.S. authorities must stop acting hypocritically and change our laws so we’re not continuing to unjustly detain people for cannabis here at home. President Biden has yet to act on cannabis reform
For those aware of the state of cannabis criminalization in America, the Biden administration’s underwhelming response to this case comes as no surprise.
Although more and more states have chosen to legalize marijuana, federal cannabis arrests – which had been steadily declining for the past decade – actually increased from 2020 to 2021.
Given the fact Biden has failed to help release tens of thousands of individuals wrongfully detained on nonviolent cannabis charges here in America, it feels naive to expect him to secure Griner's freedom. (In a call Wednesday, Biden told Griner's wife that he is working to get Griner released "as soon as possible.")
Nonetheless, we must continue to push our elected leaders on this popular, bipartisan issue.
Congress must act – quickly
Our best hope for domestic change lies with Congress, as pundits expect Biden will sign a federal legalization bill that includes broad criminal justice provisions if one makes it to his desk. This is a daunting task, of course.
That said, we have at least two more bites at the apple. The long-anticipated Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, co-sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, is said to be nearing introduction. And there remains some traction behind the Republican-led States Reform Act.
It’s worth noting that both the MORE Act and the States Reform Act include language that would resentence federal cannabis prisoners and clear some of their records. A forthcoming bill from Senate Democrats is also expected to automatically expunge nonviolent federal marijuana crimes and provide for resentencing.
Even so, Congress needs to act, and fast. The midterm elections are just a few months away, and a Republican-controlled Congress would make the already difficult prospect of federal legalization a nonstarter.
Sarah Gersten is the executive director and general counsel of Last Prisoner Project.
If we truly want to progress past our country’s shameful war on drugs, the time to act is now.
Sarah Gersten, executive director and general counsel of Last Prisoner Project, is also a member of the National Cannabis Bar Association, the NORML Legal Committee and the National Lawyers Guild.
This column is part of a series by USA TODAY Opinion about police accountability and building safer communities. The project began in 2021 by examining qualified immunity and continues in 2022 by examining various ways to improve law enforcement. The project is made possible in part by a grant from Stand Together, which does not provide editorial input.
WNBA's Brittney Griner deserves our support as she sits in a Russian jail cell
Danielle Gilbert
Thu, July 7, 2022
WNBA superstar Brittney Griner is imprisoned in Russia, and the public silence has been deafening. It’s hard to imagine a male athlete with Griner’s record – a seven-time All-Star player and two-time Olympic gold medalist holding mind-boggling records in dunks and blocked shots – sitting for months in a Russian prison.
A letter from Griner was recently delivered to President Joe Biden, appealing for help: "As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever.”
Many WNBA fans have wondered: What if, instead, an NBA champion had been wrongfully detained? The same question was pondered by Griner's coach, Vanessa Nygaard. Brittney Griner pleaded guilty on July 7, 2022, in a Russian court on drug charges that have led the U.S. government to classify her as "wrongfully detained." The WNBA star is due back in court in a week, Reuters reported. Griner's guilty plea is unlikely to change much, because her pretrial detention already had been extended for six more months. The trial could last that long, and it's likely a predetermined outcome has already been decided at a higher level, Russian legal expert Jamison Firestone told USA TODAY.
It’s not Griner’s gender but rather the circumstances of her arrest inviting silence if not outright hostility from the American public. When Americans are taken hostage by foreign governments, silence can be a good strategy. But in Griner’s case, it showcases our biases – and weakens efforts to bring her home.
In February, the Olympian was detained by Russian authorities, who allegedly found a vape cartridge with hashish oil in her luggage. Griner has been accused of transporting illegal narcotics and could be sentenced up to 10 years in Russian prison.
On Thursday, she pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Russian court: "I'd like to plead guilty, your honor. But there was no intent. I didn't want to break the law." 'Understated, if not hostile'
In the weeks after Griner’s arrest, the world heard little of her ordeal as Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine.
If Russian President Vladimir Putin intended to hold Griner hostage, the logic went, he would want to evaluate how much she was worth. More attention could mean a higher price in a deal to bring her home.
However, as criminal justice gave way to farce, Griner’s circle has broken their silence. While Russian media float a potential prisoner exchange, Griner’s supporters launched a Change.org petition to press the White House to negotiate her release. The WNBA paid tribute to Griner on all home courts. The Boston Celtics wore "WE ARE BG" shirts to practice during the NBA finals. Several star players – including Stephen Curry, Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James – have used their platforms to advocate for her freedom.
The reaction to this campaign has been understated, if not hostile. As of Thursday, more than 300,000 people have signed the online petition calling for Griner’s release. This sounds like a lot, until you compare it with over 270,000 opposing chicken abuse or more than 400,000 supporting males wearing nail polish in school. Over 536,000 signed a petition to release Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian from Iranian prison.
Moreover, some online responses have been negative, arguing that because Griner (allegedly) broke a law, she should be punished. Who deserves sympathy?
What explains the surprisingly muted – and in some cases negative – response to Griner’s plight? In short, Americans deem some hostages “bad victims,” unworthy of government support. WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner is escorted to a courtroom outside Moscow on July 7, 2022.
First, the media sees some victims as more newsworthy than others. Griner is a record-breaking, all-star athlete, but she’s also Black, gay and gender nonconforming. Research shows some of these traits could make her far less likely to receive the same attention that another victim might. A theory known as the "missing white woman syndrome" suggests that white, female hostages are far more likely to receive attention than their nonwhite counterparts. Suzette Hackney: Jayland Walker left his gun in the car. Then Akron police shot him 60 times.
Second, the American public sees some victims as more deserving than others. Deservingness is the notion that how someone came to require help is an important determinant for whether she should receive it.
In ongoing research, Lauren Prather and I show that the deservingness heuristic explains support for hostage recovery efforts. The government must expend resources to bring hostages home through prisoner exchanges, ransom payments or rescue missions – risking votes, treasure and lives. American citizens vary in the extent to which they believe that hostages used poor judgment or were simply unlucky in getting captured.
Those Americans who believe that hostages are responsible for the circumstances of their captivity are less likely to deem those hostages worthy of recovery – and are therefore more likely to oppose government efforts to bring the hostage home.
This research may shed light on the seemingly underwhelming response to the WE ARE BG movement. Despite lacking any credible evidence that Griner was transporting narcotics, some Americans are quick to say that she broke a law. Some question Griner’s judgment in traveling to Russia at a time of increasing international tensions. To those holding such views, Griner deserves to be punished – not helped – for her personal responsibility in being detained by an autocratic state.
"The president called Cherelle to reassure her that he is working to secure Brittney’s release as soon as possible," the White House said in a statement that also singled out Biden's efforts to bring home Paul Whelan and other U.S. nationals "wrongfully detained or held hostage" in Russia. "He also read her a draft of the letter the president is sending to Brittney Griner today."
The White House would not disclose what Biden's letter says.
If the goal of advocacy campaigns is to pressure the Biden administration to act, more public support for deserving victims should translate to more public pressure. The tendency to blame Griner and other detainees for their circumstances will only make that harder.
Danielle Gilbert is a Rosenwald Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College.
Danielle Gilbert is a Rosenwald Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security at the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College. Follow her on Twitter: @_danigilbert
FINA opens investigation into drugged and bruised Canadian swimmer
Fri, July 8, 2022
The International Swimming Federation (FINA) said Friday it will open an investigation after Canadian swimmer Mary-Sophie Harvey claimed she was drugged without her knowledge at the end of the last World Championships.
The 22-year-old Canadian said on her Instagram account on Wednesday that she was drugged on the last night of the competition, which took place in Budapest at the end of June.
In a press release sent to AFP, FINA said it was "deeply concerned" about the "well-being" of the swimmer, adding that it was in contact with the Canadian Federation and the Hungarian organising committee.
"In 2021, FINA adopted widespread measures aimed at safeguarding athletes and an independent investigation Officer will be assigned to investigate the matter further," said the federation.
Harvey claims to have woken up "completely lost" the day after the last evening of the Worlds with "a dozen bruises" on her body, alongside the manager and the doctor of the Canadian team.
She says she celebrated the end of the competition that night in a "reasonable" way and then cannot remember anything.
"There is a four to six hour window where I can't recall a single thing," she wrote.
"I've heard bits and pieces by people and I've experienced judgement too."
The swimmer, who posted photos of her injuries, added that she felt "ashamed".
She also suffered a rib sprain and a mild concussion.
"I'm still scared to think about the unknowns of that night," she wrote.
"They told me it happens more often (than) we think and that I was lucky in a way."
At the Budapest Worlds, Harvey won a bronze medal with her teammates in the 4x200 metre relay.
Blockchain.com faces $270 million hit on loans to bankrupt Three Arrows
Fri, July 8, 2022
(Reuters) -Cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com could lose $270 million on its loans to bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), a source with knowledge of the matter said on Friday.
The development comes days after 3AC filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy, seeking protection from creditors in the United States after one of the most high-profile blow-ups of the crypto crash this year.
"Three Arrows is rapidly becoming insolvent and the default impact is approximately $270 million worth of cryptocurrency and U.S. dollar loans from Blockchain.com," Blockchain.com's Chief Executive Officer Peter Smith said in a letter to shareholders, according to a company spokesperson.
The news was first reported by CoinDesk.
Earlier this week, digital asset exchange Genesis Trading also said it had been exposed to 3AC, but had mitigated its losses after the hedge fund failed to meet a margin call.
Aggressive rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve and recession fears have led to a turmoil in equities and sparked a selloff in cryptocurrencies. The crypto winter has hit several companies in the sector including lending patform Celsius Network and Voyager Digital.
A Dutch doctor and the internet are making sure Americans have access to abortion pills
David Ingram
Thu, July 7, 2022
A little-known European medical team is poised to become one of the most important groups in the shifting landscape of U.S. abortion bans.
Aid Access, an online-only service run by a Dutch physician, Dr. Rebecca Gomperts, began shipping abortion pills to Americans from abroad four years ago. The organization’s team consists of about four doctors supervising about 10 medical staff members, and they’re difficult for U.S. authorities to reach because all are outside the country and they ship pills from a pharmacy in India.
Opponents of abortion rights have so far largely found themselves powerless to stop Aid Access from mailing abortion pills even to the most conservative corners of the country, at least while the organization’s opponents don’t control the White House. That has transformed Aid Access nearly overnight from an obscure overseas group into an essential part of the effort to keep abortion accessible nationwide.
“It’s the only clinically supported service that mails to states where telehealth for abortion is banned,” said Ushma Upadhyay, an associate professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco.
Gomperts, who founded Aid Access in 2018, said she has no intention of changing her work now that the Supreme Court has overruled Roe v. Wade. Aid Access has been receiving 4,000 requests a day since Roe v. Wade was overturned, she said, up from 600 to 700 a day previously.
Last year, after Texas banned abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, orders from the state tripled in the weeks after the law took effect, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
“We will continue to serve women who need it. We’re not going to stop,” Gomperts said in a phone interview, adding, “We are expanding again our capacity, so we can help with all the requests that we get.”
Image: Rebecca Gomperts following a press conference at the Pez Vela Marina in the port of San Jose, Guatemala on Feb. 23, 2017. (Johan Ordonez / AFP - Getty Images)
The steps are relatively straightforward: Potential patients visit the Aid Access website and answer a series of questions, including how long they’ve been pregnant and whether anyone is forcing them to seek abortions. The medical team reviews the answers and may write prescriptions that get sent to pharmacies. For pills coming from India, the process may take a couple of weeks. Gomperts said the organization is prioritizing people who are pregnant over those who want to stock pills for the future.
Around 25 people work on a help desk to answer questions from patients, with three people on at any given time, Gomperts said. Aid Access charges $110 to $150 depending on where the patient is.
The ease of the process makes Aid Access yet another example of how a global internet can frustrate and subvert local law enforcement — at least so far.
James Bopp, the general counsel of the National Right to Life Committee, said that without control of the presidency or a new federal law, there’s little his organization or its allies who oppose abortion rights could do against a group based outside the U.S.
“The reality is state laws have limited extraterritorial effects,” he said. “There’s no question that the federal government has much more authority, and we hope to get them on our side to make these state laws much more effective.”
A medication abortion generally involves five pills of two different drugs. Women take one pill of mifepristone, followed a day or two later by four pills of misoprostol.
The pills became easier to obtain during the pandemic, when first a federal judge and then the Biden administration allowed patients to get them without visiting clinics in person. Medication abortions accounted for 54% of U.S. abortions in 2020, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research institute that supports abortion rights. In 2011, the share was 24%.
But even before Roe was overturned, 19 states had banned the use of telemedicine for medication abortions or required the physical presence of the prescribing physician, according to KFF, a nonprofit organization for health information.
Now, more than 20 states have banned or restricted abortions, according to an NBC News tracker of state laws.
Gomperts said Aid Access is hearing confusion and fear from women in the U.S.
Rebecca Gomperts on the Aurora, a floating abortion clinic, in Dublin in 2001. (Jeroen Oerlemans / Shutterstock)
“The people who are affected are poor women in red states that have these trigger laws,” she said. “There’s so much social injustice being done — again and again and again, to the most vulnerable part of the population.”
Other online pharmacies will ship abortion pills to states where abortion is banned, according to the website of Plan C, an advocacy group, but experts said Aid Access is different because it’s based outside the U.S., has staff members available to answer questions and has cooperated with outside researchers.
“We know it’s safe, because it’s one of the options for self-managed abortion that we’ve been able to study,” said Dr. Abigail Aiken, a physician who is an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, who has done research on Aid Access.
About 96% of those who used abortion pills from Aid Access reported successfully ending their pregnancies without surgical intervention, according to research Aiken published this year. About 1% reported they received treatment such as antibiotics or blood transfusions, and there were no reported deaths.
“They really are a humanitarian nonprofit, not a business the way an online pharmacy is,” Aiken said.
Gomperts founded Aid Access in response to tightening U.S. laws around abortion access. She had already been running a similar service, called Women on Web, in other countries, and Aid Access received 57,506 requests from people in the U.S. in its first two years.
“It was clear in the last few years that access in the U.S. was getting harder and harder and harder. We started off mostly with helping service women in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan, in South Korea and Japan,” she said, because U.S. service members in those countries had limited access.
Time magazine named Gomperts one of its 100 most influential people of 2020, and in a tribute in the magazine, Cecile Richards, the former president of Planned Parenthood, called her “one of the bravest people I know.”
“She is living her ethical and moral duty as a physician to ‘do no harm,’” said Dr. Emily Godfrey, an associate professor of family medicine and of obstetrics and gynecology with the University of Washington School of Medicine. “The problem is when nonmedical people restrict access to medical care, to licensed qualified medical care, people are more prone to seek unsafe abortion — and that’s what kills, unsafe abortion.”
Aid Access already faced down one hostile U.S. presidency. In March 2019, under then-President Donald Trump, the Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter asking Aid Access to cease operations. Aid Access refused and sued the FDA to block any potential action. The agency never followed through on its request. Last week, an FDA spokesperson had no immediate comment on what plans the agency has, if any, with regard to Aid Access.
The agency’s stance could change if an opponent of abortion rights were to become president. But on the state level, said Dr. Richard Hearn, a physician and lawyer in Idaho who has represented Aid Access, regulators and prosecutors might have as difficult a time barring the organization as their counterparts did stopping the import of alcohol during Prohibition in the 1920s.
“No state like Texas or Idaho is going to be able to do anything to Aid Access in Amsterdam or Austria. They’re not going to have jurisdiction, and the Netherlands isn’t going to extradite,” he said, emphasizing that he was speaking for himself, not the organization.
Complicating state-level legal efforts is the fact that Attorney General Merrick Garland has said states can’t enforce bans on abortion pills because the FDA has approved the regimen, which pre-empts state action. The issue is already being litigated in federal court in Mississippi, where a generic maker of mifepristone is suing to block state restrictions.
It’s not clear whether any state or federal prosecutor plans to pursue action against Aid Access directly. The Mississippi attorney general’s office, which argued the case that led to last month’s Supreme Court ruling, didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“It’s just futile to try to stop mifepristone and misoprostol. They’re perfectly safe, especially early on,” Hearn said.
Nonetheless, abortion rights opponents have proposed even harsher penalties aimed at online prescriptions of abortion pills. The National Right to Life Committee published a model state law on its website that would, if states adopt it, make it a felony to maintain a website giving instructions for self-managed abortions, but enforcement would remain a challenge.
One of the few things limiting the reach of Aid Access is that it’s still not well known. Gomperts criticized social media apps such as Instagram and Facebook for removing posts about abortion services.
“The freedom of speech is one of the key constitutional rights in the U.S., but because of these laws, even that right is under stress because people are so afraid,” she said.
The lack of awareness is something that abortion rights advocates and some physicians hope will change, even if Aid Access becomes a lightning rod similar to Planned Parenthood.
Gomperts said her goal is for Aid Access to eventually become unnecessary.
“It shouldn’t have to be a foreign organization,” she said. “What should happen in the end is that the states like New York and California, liberal states, they should just make it possible for the doctors and providers there to ship the pills to the other states.”
SHOULD BE FRONT PAGE NEWS
Gasoline Prices See The Largest Drop In Nearly 15 Years
Editor OilPrice.com Fri, July 8, 2022 While gasoline prices are still $1.50 higher per gallon than they were this time last year, they fell sharply overnight in what was the largest one-day drop in nearly 15 years, according to AAA data.
The current price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States is averaging $4.721 on Friday, down from $4.752 per gallon on Thursday—a 3.1-cent drop. The weekly change is even more significant at 12.1 cents.
According to Gas Buddy’s Patrick De Haan, more than 5,800 gas stations across the country are offering gasoline at $3.99 per gallon or less.
While they are trending down this week, gasoline prices are still $1.58 higher than they were this time last year. Gasoline prices continued to drop as crude oil prices rose on Thursday and Friday, but crude oil prices are still down significantly week on week.
WTI crude was trading up $2.01 per barrel on Friday at $104.70—down almost $4 on the week.
High gasoline prices have been a worry for the Biden Administration, which has so far released more than 145 million barrels of crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserves, bringing the SPR down to levels not seen in decades in order to calm the high prices at the pump.
But the falling price of crude oil—which makes up about 60% of the cost of gasoline—fell this week largely on fears of a recession.
Another measure that the Biden Administration has taken includes asking OPEC+ to pump more, but the group has been either unwilling or unable to live up to its production quotas.
Also contributing to the price decrease in gasoline is U.S. gasoline demand, which is down roughly 4.5% from last week, according to De Haan.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
Biden’s Potential Kentucky Court Pick Would Be A Lot Like Clarence Thomas, Says Former Boss
Travis Waldron Thu, July 7, 2022 Biden's reported pick of Chad Meredith, an anti-abortion lawyer, for a federal judgeship in Kentucky has drawn outrage from Democrats and reproductive rights groups.
(Photo: Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via Getty Images)
Biden's reported pick of Chad Meredith, an anti-abortion lawyer, for a federal judgeship in Kentucky has drawn outrage from Democrats and reproductive rights groups. (Photo: Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader via Getty Images)
President Joe Biden’s reported pick for a lifetime federal judgeship in Kentucky is not only extremely anti-abortion, he would also operate a lot like conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia, according to his former boss.
Chad Meredith, who the Louisville Courier-Journal reported last week was Biden’s pick for a soon-to-be vacant U.S. District Court seat, “would be a strong and dependable conservative asset to the federal judiciary for decades,” according to a 2018 letter from Stephen Pitt, a general counsel to conservative former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R). The letter touted Meredith’s candidacy for a different federal court vacancy in Kentucky that year.
Meredith, who was deputy general counsel to Bevin at the time, would “adhere to the textualist and originalist viewpoint followed by the late Justice Scalia and by other justices, such as Justice Thomas and Justice [Neil] Gorsuch,” Pitt wrote in his letter to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “In sum, it is my opinion that the qualities I believe you think are most important in a federal judge are the same as I hold to. Based upon that belief, I can recommend Chad Meredith without reservation.”
McConnell aide Terry Carmack responded to Pitt at the time by saying he has “great respect for Chad,” according to an email included in the released records. Meredith was vetted for the position, but then-President Donald Trump chose another conservative lawyer to fill it instead.
Pitt wrote a similar letter to McConnell in December 2016 that recommended Meredith for a different Kentucky judicial vacancy. That letter, which was included in the records release, also suggested that Meredith would be “a strong and consistent conservative voice” in the mold of Scalia.
The comparisons between Meredith and Justices Thomas and Scalia are likely to intensify calls on Biden to abandon his plans to nominate him. Not only would such a pick run counter to Biden’s much-touted record of putting forward diverse and progressive judicial nominees, but it would come on the heels of the Supreme Court gutting Roe v. Wade, a decision that breaks from 50 years of precedent and strips away the constitutional right to an abortion.
The ruling has devastated and infuriated Democrats, who are now scrambling to try to protect reproductive rights nationwide. Biden’s apparent decision to nominate Meredith, meanwhile, has raised questions about why a president who has insisted he would “do all in my power to protect” abortion rights would hand a lifetime judicial appointment to an ardent opponent of them.
The White House initially notified Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear that he planned to nominate Meredith on June 23, the Courier-Journal reported, citing emails from a White House official to Beshear’s office.
“To be nominated tomorrow: … Stephen Chad Meredith: candidate for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky,” the email from White House aide Kathleen M. Marshall said.
But the next day, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the nomination did not occur.
A White House spokesperson on Wednesday did not respond to a request for comment on whether Biden is still planning to nominate Meredith.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, meanwhile, tried to have it both ways when asked about Meredith, declining to comment on the problems with his potential nomination while boasting about the rapid pace and diversity of Biden’s other nominees.
“I’m just not ― we just don’t comment on ― on vacancies, whether executive branch or judicial, in situations where we have not made a nomination. We just have not made a nomination on this yet,” Jean-Pierre said Wednesday on Air Force One en route to Ohio.
“I do want to add and reiterate that the president is proud that we’ve confirmed more federal judges than during the last three presidents, presidencies, at the equivalent time in their administrations,” she said. “That includes so many history-making firsts to help our judiciary represent the diversity of America, including [a] groundbreaking new Supreme Court justice. And that is something that we’re going to continue to do, and we won’t stop there.”
The president is making a deal with the devil and once again, the people of Kentucky are crushed in the process.Former Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker
Meredith certainly fits the mold of Trump’s court picks. He’s a member of the Federalist Society, the conservative legal organization that funneled anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ and anti-voting rights judicial nominees to Trump’s White House for years. All six of the Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade are Federalist Society members, as were dozens of Trump’s nominees to U.S. appeals courts.
During his time as Bevin’s deputy counsel, Meredith defended a 2017 Kentucky law that forced abortion patients to undergo an ultrasound ― and doctors to show the patient an image and play audio of a heartbeat ― before they could have the procedure. He lost that case in a U.S. District Court, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit upheld the law in 2019. The two judges on the three-judge panel who voted to uphold the Kentucky law are Federalist Society members and were appointed to that court by Trump.
In 2019, Meredith and Pitt also defended Bevin’s decision to deny a license to Planned Parenthood that would have allowed it to perform abortions in Kentucky. The organization received the license only after Beshear defeated Bevin later that year.
Biden’s decision to nominate Meredith may have been part of a deal with McConnell to speed other Biden nominees through a deadlocked Senate, especially ahead of midterm elections that could cost Democrats control of the chamber. But it has drawn outrage from Kentucky Democrats and national reproductive rights organizations, who’ve questioned whether any deal would be good enough to hand a lifetime appointment to a conservative like Meredith.
Beshear, citing Meredith’s role in a series of controversial pardons Bevin issued before he left office, called the potential nomination “indefensible” during a news conference last week.
Rep. John Yarmuth, the only Kentucky Democrat in Congress, said he “strongly” opposed the pick, and he told the Courier-Journal “the last thing we need is another extremist on the bench.”
“The president is making a deal with the devil and once again, the people of Kentucky are crushed in the process,” former Kentucky state Rep. Charles Booker, the Democratic nominee in this year’s U.S. Senate race, tweeted after the Courier-Journal’s initial report.
The National Women’s Law Center, NARAL, Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups called on Biden this week to drop Meredith from consideration.
“Chad Meredith should not be nominated to a lifetime judgeship,” the groups told the Courier-Journal. “This is unacceptable at any time, but especially on the heels of six Supreme Court justices taking away a fundamental right from millions of people.”
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated. Related...
‘Operation Higher Court’: Inside the religious right’s efforts to wine and dine Supreme Court justices
Peter S. Canellos and Josh Gerstein Fri, July 8, 2022
The former leader of a religious right organization said he recruited and coached wealthy volunteers including a prominent Dayton, Ohio, evangelical couple to wine, dine and entertain conservative Supreme Court justices while pushing conservative positions on abortion, homosexuality, gun restrictions and other issues.
Rob Schenck, an evangelical minister who headed the Faith and Action group headquartered near the Supreme Court from 1995 to 2018, said he arranged over the years for about 20 couples to fly to Washington to visit with and entertain Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and the late Antonin Scalia.
Schenck, who was once an anti-abortion activist but broke with the religious right in the last decade over its aggressive tactics and support for gun rights, said the couples were instructed before the dinners to use certain phrases to influence the justices while steering clear of the specifics of cases pending before the court — for example, to “talk about the importance of a child having a father and a mother,” rather than engage in the particulars of a gay-rights case.
“We would rehearse lines like, ‘We believe you are here for a time like this,’” which is a reference to the Old Testament Book of Esther in which the Hebrew woman born with the name Hadassah becomes queen of Persia and succeeds in preventing a genocide of her people.
Schenck said the goal was to create an ecosystem of support for conservative justices, as a way of making them more forthright in their views.
The previously undisclosed initiative by Faith and Action illustrates the extent to which some Supreme Court justices interacted with advocates for the religious right during a period when the court grappled with social issues such as abortion and gay rights. The calculated nature of Faith and Action’s efforts shows how outside actors can use social activities and expensive dinners to penetrate the court’s highly sealed environment.
Thomas and Alito did not respond to requests for comment through the Supreme Court. Efforts to reach the family of Scalia, who died in 2016, were unsuccessful.
Schenck’s organization, Faith and Action, became a part of Liberty Counsel in 2018 and is now known as Faith and Liberty. Its vice president, Peggy Nienaber, was quoted earlier this week as praying with Supreme Court justices in a recording posted on YouTube and reported by Rolling Stone magazine. Schenck told the magazine that he began the prayer sessions as a way of building rapport with conservative justices.
Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said, “I don’t know a lot about what Rob Schenck has done in the past . . . When he says he invited couples to wine and dine justices, I know of nothing like that that happened.”
Schenck pointed to one prominent evangelical couple — Don and Gayle Wright of Dayton, Ohio — as major funders of his group, which established an office directly behind the Supreme Court building. Don Wright became wealthy through his furniture business and real estate firm, owning homes in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Siesta Key, Florida.
Schenck said that, in addition to making regular donations to Faith and Action, the Wrights financed numerous expensive dinners with Thomas, Alito, Scalia and their wives at Washington, D.C., hotspots including the Capital Grille. Don Wright died in 2020.
Gayle Wright did not return a phone message left at her Ohio home, seeking comment for this story. A request for comment made Friday to the family business Don Wright Realty, now headed by their son Scott, produced no immediate response.
Don Wright’s obituaries on Dignity Memorial and Legacy.com cited his charitable work with Faith and Liberty and his closeness to Supreme Court justices through his support for the Supreme Court Historical Society. Among the pictures featured on the Dignity Memorial site were images of the Wrights and their extended family with Scalia and Alito, and Don Wright with Chief Justice John Roberts.
“The late Antonin Scalia enjoyed hunting and fishing trips with the [Wright] family. But whether he was sitting in a hunting cabin with the guys or at a Supreme Court dinner he was always the same,” read the obituary on both sites.
In reporting Wright’s passing, The Dayton Business Journal wrote on August 3, 2020: “As trustee of the Supreme Court Historical Society, Wright became friends with several prominent justices, including Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia. An avid hunter/outdoorsman, Wright said Scalia would often accompany the family on hunting trips.”
Supreme Court Historical Society newsletters indicate Wright was a major donor to the group and was elected as a trustee for a three-year term in 2003 and again in 2006.
Schenck said he met the Wrights at Faith Baptist Church in Sarasota, Florida, where he was a guest pastor and they attended while staying at their vacation home in nearby Siesta Key.
He said the Wrights had strongly conservative views on abortion, homosexuality and gun rights, and dedicated themselves to reinforcing the Supreme Court justices’ own conservative views on the issues. They were the most active of the roughly 20 couples involved in the program Faith and Action called “Operation Higher Court,” Schenck said.
All the couples “knew they were being coached” and adhered to a “casual reporting procedure” in which they offered feedback on their dinners with the justices and their wives, Schenck said.
The Wrights were the most heavily involved of all the couples. “They set the standards,” Schenck said. “They were the most active, the most engaged.”
Staver, of Liberty Counsel, said he is familiar with one instance of Schenck coaching couples on how to behave around Supreme Court justices — but it was in connection with the historical society banquet, not private dinners.
“What he did was he would talk to them [the couples attending the banquet] about protocol. I saw him do that once. He would talk to them about how these are Supreme Court justices and he actually would say ‘don’t talk about issues or cases, this is just a dinner.’ He used it himself to try to get people to contribute to Faith and Action. Afterwards he would ask them how they liked it (the society dinner). That’s the coaching he’s talking about. He wasn’t saying set them up to ‘say this to them or that to them.’”
For his part, Schenck said that in addition to the dinners, Scalia was a guest at the Wrights’ home in Jackson Hole. A financial disclosure report Scalia filed shows his transportation, food and lodging for a June 2006 visit to Jackson Hole were paid for by the Wyoming State Bar in connection with a continuing education program for lawyers. Similar reports show he spoke to the Wyoming State Bar in Cheyenne in September 2008 and to the Federalist Society in Laramie in October 2012, with expenses paid by those groups.
Property records indicate the Wrights sold their Jackson Hole home in 2013.
As the leaders of a separate branch of the government, the justices have long set their own ethical standards. They are not bound by rules applied to other federal judges, and make their own decisions on whether to recuse themselves from cases on conflict-of-interest grounds. The justices file annual disclosure forms under the Ethics in Government Act requiring them to report gifts now worth more than $415 in aggregate, but meals are rarely reported as gifts and “personal hospitality” received at a host’s private home or business need not be reported. The justices also report annually on travel, lodging and meals received in connection with speaking engagements and legal conferences.
A review of more than a decade of financial disclosures from Thomas, Alito and Scalia found no reporting of restaurant or other meals as gifts, aside from food being included along with transportation and lodging expenses reimbursed by groups and entities sponsoring speaking events featuring the justices.
There are few public references to Faith and Action’s work with the judiciary, but a 2001 article in a Christian magazine, Charisma, described the group’s “Operation Higher Court” as offering “prayer and ministry to the Supreme Court justices.”
“The Supreme Court is the most insulated and isolated branch of the U.S. government,” Schenck told the magazine. “They do not interface with the public, so we’ve literally had to pray our way in there each step of the way.”
In the story, Schenck describes meeting and praying with Scalia just 24 hours after the court handed down its controversial decision resolving the 2000 presidential election, Bush v. Gore.
Schenck’s own decision to break with the religious right is detailed in the 2015 documentary “The Armor of Light,” and his 2018 book, “Costly Grace: An Evangelical Minister’s Rediscovery of Faith, Hope, and Love.”
He is currently the director of the Washington-based Dietrich Bonhoeffer Institute, named for the German theologian who opposed Nazism.
Heidi Przybyla contributed to this report.
EU Parliament condemns US abortion ruling, seeks safeguards Abortion-rights activists chant after handcuffing themselves to the front steps of Los Angeles City Hall on Wednesday, July 6, 2022, in Los Angeles. They doused the steps with red paint.
(AP Photo/Ashley Landis) ASSOCIATED PRESSMore RAF CASERT Thu, July 7, 2022
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union's parliament on Thursday overwhelmingly condemned the end of constitutional protections for abortion in the United States and called for such safeguards to be enshrined in the EU's fundamental rights charter.
In a 324-155 vote with 38 abstentions, European Parliament lawmakers adopted a resolution that crystalized the anger seen in many of the EU's 27 member countries since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its ruling on June 24.
“It teaches us a lesson: Women’s and girls’ human rights can never be taken for granted, and we must always fight to defend them,” Swedish politician Helene Fritzon, who is vice president of an parliamentary alliance of Socialists and Democrats, said.
Underscoring fears that anti-abortion movements might expand in Europe, some legislators said they wanted to see EU-wide protections adopted.
The resolution calls on member nations to add a sentence reading “Everyone has a right to safe and legal abortion” to the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
National laws determine the status of abortion in individual EU countries, much like the Supreme Court's ruling will result in for states in the U.S. Abortion is legal and practiced without much political opposition in many member nations, but is banned in Malta and restricted in Poland.
The EU Parliament resolution mentioned a recent case in Malta involving an American tourist who had an incomplete miscarriage and could not get the fetal tissue removed even if her life was in danger. A human rights activist in Poland was charged for providing an abortion pill, according to the resolution.
The Supreme Court’s overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision has emboldened abortion opponents around the world. The EU resolution expressed concern “about a possible surge in the flow of money funding anti-gender and antichoice groups in the world, including in Europe.”
Despite the support for the resolution, it is not expected to have an immediate impact on abortion legislation in the bloc.
‘Slice human fingers to the bone’: Meet the potentially dangerous mantis shrimp found in SC waters
ALEX CASON Sarah Claire McDonald Fri, July 8, 2022
Among the shrimp species that surround South Carolina’s coast, mantis shrimp stand out as most notable of them all.
Not even technically a shrimp, mantis shrimp, or stomatopods, are distant relatives of crabs, lobsters and shrimp. They get their name because this carnivorous marine crustacean resembles a mix between a praying mantis and a shrimp. Occasionally, they can even be described as appearing similar to a lobster.
Often seen in local waters along the state’s coast and along the Southeastern U.S., the mantis shrimp can be found in shallow tropical or subtropical waters.
“The mantis shrimp (not a true shrimp) is a flattened, inshore crustacean sometimes incorrectly called ‘rock shrimp,’” says SCDNR about the species. - “Mantis shrimpcan be eaten, but have little meat of poor quality,” SCDNR continues.
With over 450 species of mantis shrimp worldwide, they are a common sight seen in a variety of different colors and can grow anywhere from 12 to 15 inches in length.
They can be found along coastal shores, usually living in an abandoned burrow, sometimes U-shaped and move in and out to capture nearby prey when spotted. The fast and vicious stomatopods can also live in coral reefs or rock crevices. Depending on the specific mantis shrimp species, these marine critters can be active during the day or live nocturnally.
Mantis shrimp spend a majority of their lives living in burrows, reefs or crevices and generally only leave to mate or hunt for nearby food sources. Mantis shrimp act as an ecological importance to their coral reefs. This is because they are incredibly sensitive to surrounding environmental pollutants and their behavior can indicate when conditions may be poor.
“They have a unique set of “thumb splitters” or small appendages that they use to break or crack open shells of other crustaceans to retrieve food and nutrients. They are the fastest known organism due to their quick jabbing appendages that can reach up to 170 mph,” according to Lamar University.
These appendages can be used in two separate ways, generally seen through hunting and attacking in the species.
“There are two main types of hunting for mantis shrimp: spearing and smashing. Smashing mantis shrimp have calcified forelimbs that they use to administer a powerful strike to both predators and prey. Spearing mantis shrimp have sharp forelimbs they use to pierce predators and prey,” according to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.
Fishermen and marine specialists alike have stated that the mantis shrimp’s claw is dangerous, and caution is necessary to avoid getting hurt.
“The title of fastest punch in the animal kingdom firmly belongs to the peacock mantis shrimp, whose club-like appendages reach the speed of a .22-caliber slug, shatter clamshells with ease and can slice human fingers to the bone,” wrote The Washington Post.
Mantis shrimp can act aggressively, and their jabs and blows have been described as “devastating” to their prey or to many that choose to spar with one.
