‘Right-wing asshole’

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

alito

That’s what the president judge of the 3rd Circuit used to call Sam Alito, who was one of their judges. Via Booman:

From Alito’s opinion in the Hobby Lobby case:

The Hahns and Greens believe that providing the coverage demanded by the HHS regulations is connected to the destruction of an embryo in a way that is sufficient to make it immoral for them to provide the coverage. This belief implicates a difficult and important question of religion and moral philosophy, namely, the circumstances under which it is wrong for a person to perform an act that is innocent in itself but that has the effect of enabling or facilitating the commission of an immoral act by another. Arrogating the authority to provide a binding national answer to this religious and philosophical question, HHS and the principal dissent in effect tell the plaintiffs that their beliefs are flawed. For good reason, we have repeatedly refused to take such a step. See, e.g., Smith, 494 U. S., at 887 (“Repeatedly and in many different contexts, we have warned that courts must not presume to determine . . . the plausibility of a religious claim”)

Justice Samuel Alito just wrote that taking birth control is an immoral act. Then he said that the Court should take no position on whether or not taking birth control is an immoral act.

Maybe that’s just sloppy writing, but he wrote what he wrote. It’s certainly a core feature of religious freedom that the government does not make decisions about whether or not Joseph Smith was a con-artist or Jesus really walked on water or the moon is made of cheese that is occasionally grated onto the plates of devout Pastafarians. But, in this opinion, Alito is conceding the point that taking birth control is immoral and then saying that the Court shouldn’t make a determination like that.

I’m pretty sure NASA has an opinion on the structure of the moon, but I guess that wouldn’t hold up in Court if it conflicted with the beliefs of devotees of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Thanks to DC Criminal Lawyer Jason Kalafat.

We don’t know nothing about no fracking!

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

frackingexplosion

But as long as the political contributions keep rolling in, who gives a shit?

In Pennsylvania’s gas drilling boom, newer and unconventional wells leak far more often than older and traditional ones, according to a study of state inspection reports for 41,000 wells.

The results suggest that leaks of methane could be a problem for drilling across the nation, said study lead author Cornell University engineering professor Anthony Ingraffea, who heads an environmental activist group that helped pay for the study.

The research was criticized by the energy industry. Marcellus Shale Coalition spokesman Travis Windle said it reflects Ingraffea’s “clear pattern of playing fast and loose with the facts.”

The Marcellus shale formation of plentiful but previously hard-to-extract trapped natural gas stretches over Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York.

The study was published Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A team of four scientists analyzed more than 75,000 state inspections of gas wells done in Pennsylvania since 2000.

Overall, older wells — those drilled before 2009 — had a leak rate of about 1 percent. Most were traditional wells, drilling straight down. Unconventional wells — those drilled horizontally and commonly referred to as fracking — didn’t come on the scene until 2006 and quickly took over.

Newer traditional wells drilled after 2009 had a leak rate of about 2 percent; the rate for unconventional wells was about 6 percent, the study found.

The leak rate reached as high as nearly 10 percent horizontally drilled wells for before and after 2009 in the northeastern part of the state, where drilling is hot and heavy.

The researchers don’t know where the leaky methane goes — into the water or the air, where it could be a problem worsening man-made global warming.

The scientists don’t know the size of the leaks or even their causes and industry officials deny that they are actual leaks. The study calls it “casing and cement impairment,” but the study’s lead author says that is when methane is flowing outside the pipe.

H/t Jason Kalafat Attorney at Law.

Imaginary global warming

~ susie

derecho3

It’s all in your head, it’s not really happening. Just ask any GOP congress member!

A complex of thunderstorms erupting over Iowa this afternoon may consolidate into a powerful squall line or derecho that rips through the Upper Midwest this evening.

The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center (SPC) forecasts has highlighted a broad region as having a 45 percent chance of experiencing destructive winds (within 25 miles of any point) over 70 mph. Des Moines, Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago all lie within this zone of elevated risk, which affects almost 19 million people.

“Numerous severe thunderstorms capable of large hail, tornadoes and swaths of damaging wind are expected today into tonight over much of the Corn Belt and Midwest,” SPC says.
report-june30Already, thunderstorms have exploded over portions of Nebraska and Iowa today, with multiple reports of damaging winds and hail. A tornado touched down in northeast Nebraska, not far from Pilger, where twin tornadoes struck two weeks ago.

One tornado watch covers a large chunk of Iowa and western Nebraska until 6 p.m. central time. A second tornado watch covers eastern Iowa, northwest Illinois and southern Wisconsin until 7 p.m. central.

Heads up

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

Pay attention, folks:

Security researchers from the Anti-virus firm Trend Micro have discovered a new variant of banking malware that not only steals users’ information from the device it has infected but, has ability to “sniff” network activity in an effort to compromise the devices of same network users as well.

The banking malware, dubbed as EMOTET spreads rapidly through spammed emails that masquerade itself as a bank transfers and shipping invoices. The spammed email comes along with an attached link that users easily click, considering that the emails refer to their bank or financial transactions.

Justice-splaining Hobby Lobby decision…

~ Boohunney

The Hobby Lobby decision is bad… Ruth Bader Ginsburg “justice-splains” it in these terms….

Here are seven more key quotes from Ginsburg’s dissent in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby:

  • “The exemption sought by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga would…deny legions of women who do not hold their employers’ beliefs access to contraceptive coverage”
  • “Religious organizations exist to foster the interests of persons subscribing to the same religious faith. Not so of for-profit corporations. Workers who sustain the operations of those corporations commonly are not drawn from one religious community.”
  • “Any decision to use contraceptives made by a woman covered under Hobby Lobby’s or Conestoga’s plan will not be propelled by the Government, it will be the woman’s autonomous choice, informed by the physician she consults.”
  • “It bears note in this regard that the cost of an IUD is nearly equivalent to a month’s full-time pay for workers earning the minimum wage.”
  • “Would the exemption…extend to employers with religiously grounded objections to blood transfusions (Jehovah’s Witnesses); antidepressants (Scientologists); medications derived from pigs, including anesthesia, intravenous fluids, and pills coated with gelatin (certain Muslims, Jews, and Hindus); and vaccinations[?]…Not much help there for the lower courts bound by today’s decision.”
  • “Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be ‘perceived as favoring one religion over another,’ the very ‘risk the [Constitution’s] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude.”
  • “The court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield.”