Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalThe larger problem highlighted by Lizelle Herrera's dubious abortion arrest
By Mary Ziegler, author of "Abortion and the Law in America: A Legal History of the Abortion Debate"
Almost as soon as news broke last week that a Texas woman had been charged with murder for allegedly inducing her abortion, prosecutors acknowledged there was no legal basis for the charges.
Details in the case remain sparse, but it’s likely medical professionals treating Lizelle Herrera at a Texas hospital reported her to law enforcement. Then the Starr County Sheriff’s Office charged her with murder for “intentionally and knowingly causing the death of an individual by self-induced abortion.”
But there never was a legal justification for these charges, a fact highlighted by the Democratic district attorney’s apology. True, Texas last year passed SB 8, a now-notorious bill that allows anyone to sue a doctor who performs an abortion, or anyone who “aids or abets” a person seeking one. But SB 8 authorized lawsuits, not criminal charges, and it specifically exempted women, and other people who can get pregnant, from lawsuits. Texas’s murder statute explicitly prohibits anyone from prosecuting women or other pregnant people for abortion.
Indeed, many (but not all) of the states that have recently introduced strict anti-abortion laws have stressed they are not planning to punish women for disobeying them.
In practice, it’s never been so simple. States have already sometimes punished people for their behavior during pregnancy, especially people of color with fewer resources. But states’ formal position still make a difference: The more red state lawmakers claim that they won’t punish women, the more constraints there should be on prosecutors who target them.
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/lizelle-herreras-texas-abortion-arrest-warning-rcna24639
Gay parents called 'rapists' and 'pedophiles' in Amtrak incident
Robbie Pierce, his husband and their two young children were enjoying a scenic train ride on the Pacific coast, a peaceful prelude to their spring break getaway. But at the end of their journey from their home in Los Angeles to Oakland, California, the couple said a man sitting across the aisle turned their family vacation into a nightmare.
“He started yelling across me and shouting, ‘Remember what I told you!’” Pierce recalled, saying the man’s remarks were directed at his 6-year-old son. “The next thing he said was, ‘Marriage is between a man and a woman. They stole you, and they’re pedophiles.’”
The shouting started as the Amtrak train was stopped at Diridon Station in San Jose, Pierce said. Immediately, he and his husband, Neal Broverman, stood up and got in between the unidentified man and their children, who started sobbing.
“I’m not a big guy, but I wasn’t nervous,” Broverman said. “When you’re dealing with your children and you feel like they’re being threatened, you’re kind of fearless. It’s kind of that mom lifting the car scenario, but it was hideous, and it was not stopping.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/gay-parents-called-rapists-pedophiles-amtrak-incident-rcna24610
California teen with autism who vanished 3 years ago is found alive in Utah
A teenager who vanished nearly three years ago in California was found alive outside of a gas station in Utah last week, authorities said.
Connerjack Oswalt, who has autism, went missing in Clearlake on Sept. 28, 2019, when he was 16 years old. He was reported missing to the Clearlake Police Department the following day.
The search for him ended earlier this month after the Summit County Sheriff's Office found him outside of Jeremy's Store in Summit Park.
“It boggles all of our minds,” Lt. Andrew Wright with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office said Friday. “It’s just a really miraculous discovery if you will.”
Several weeks before Oswalt's identity was confirmed, residents in the area began calling the sheriff's office to report seeing a homeless person pushing a cart. Wright said they do not have a lot of transients in the area because it gets very cold due to the high elevation.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-teen-autism-vanished-3-years-ago-found-alive-utah-rcna24624
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An estimated 10% of the homeless population is thought to be on the ASD spectrum
Youngkin only vetoes Democratic-led bills
Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed 26 of the nearly 850 bills that the Virginia General Assembly sent to his desk this year. All of the nixed bills were introduced by Democrats.
Youngkin, the first Republican to win statewide since 2009, signed 700 pieces of legislation into law and amended over 100 bills. He vetoed 26 of the 841 bills approved this legislative session, including nine from state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
It’s not uncommon for governors to veto more bills from lawmakers of the opposite party. From 2019 to 2021, 33 of the 38 bills vetoed by former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam were sponsored by Republicans.
But Youngkin vetoed six bills that were identical to ones he approved or amended, all of which were sponsored by Sen. Ebbin.
“I’m stunned at the governor’s unexplainable decision to veto meaningful, non-controversial, legislation. It is the polar opposite of what he campaigned on,” Sen. Ebbin wrote in a tweet Tuesday. “These vetoes, from protecting living organ donors to enhancing consumer’s data privacy to reforming the VEC are not in the best interest of Virginians.”
https://www.wric.com/news/politics/capitol-connection/youngkin-only-vetoes-democratic-led-bills/
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Because of course /s
Florida bans 28 math textbooks in panic over Critical Race Theory
The state of Florida is rejecting 28 mathematics textbooks as a result of Republicans' purported outrage over Critical Race Theory.
On Friday, Florida Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran announced that the state had rejected the math textbooks under the state's Benchmarks for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) standards.
"The approved list followed a thorough review of submissions at the Department, which found 41 percent of the submitted textbooks were impermissible with either Florida’s new standards or contained prohibited topics – the most in Florida’s history. Reasons for rejecting textbooks included references to Critical Race Theory (CRT), inclusions of Common Core, and the unsolicited addition of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in mathematics," the department announced.
"The highest number of books rejected were for grade levels K-5, where an alarming 71 percent were not appropriately aligned with Florida standards or included prohibited topics and unsolicited strategies. Despite rejecting 41 percent of materials submitted, every core mathematics course and grade is covered with at least one textbook," the department said.
https://www.rawstory.com/desantis-critical-race-theory/
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JFC on a pogo stick, just amputate this place already!
Rare, severe liver damage reported in kids in U.S. and Europe
Public health officials in Europe and the United States are investigating dozens of puzzling cases of severe hepatitis in young children.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. The cause is often a virus, but the viruses that commonly cause the illness — hepatitis A, B, C, D and E — have been ruled out in the cases in question, leaving doctors searching for the culprit.
In several cases, the illness was so severe that the children needed a liver transplant. No deaths have been reported.
The World Health Organization on Friday said it was investigating 74 cases of severe acute hepatitis in children under age 10 in the United Kingdom. Three cases were also reported in Spain, the WHO said.
In the U.S., nine cases have been reported in children ages 6 and younger in Alabama. The Alabama cases were first reported by Stat News.
Dr. Wes Stubblefield, district medical officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health, said that all of the children were otherwise healthy before becoming ill, and that there is no obvious link among the children.
With the common hepatitis viruses ruled out, the current leading theory is that a different virus, called adenovirus type 41, is to blame.
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/severe-hepatitis-kids-dozens-cases-reported-us-europe-rcna24553
The life skills your dog needs
Every year at Crufts, the UK's largest dog show, canines and their people can participate in all manner of exciting competitions. Whether heelwork-to-music (essentially dancing with dogs) or obedience, or the high-speed relay races of flyball, it can be a marvellous feast of fun for performance dogs.
Of course, the reality is that most companion dogs will never enter the dog show ring – what they need to learn are the skills for everyday life.
The importance of a "canine good citizen" – a dog that can happily co-exist in human society – should not be underestimated. A well-trained dog benefits humans and dogs alike by enhancing the bond between animal and owner. And well-behaved dogs are less likely to be relinquished too.
So, helping our dogs learn how to conduct themselves is one of the most important things we can do. But what skills are "must have" and what factors do we need to take into account before beginning the training process? Here are some things to think about.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220404-the-training-that-helps-your-dog-lead-a-better-life
Ukraine flag projected on Russian embassy -- Russia tried to respond and hilarity ensued
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, residents of Washington, D.C. have been using their own tactics to show their displeasure with Russia's unprovoked attack. Wednesday night, activists took it up a notch and targeted the Russian Embassy.
Last month, activists replaced the street sign outside of the embassy with one saying "Zelensky Way." In 2018, D.C.'s city council voted to rename a section of the street officially. Instead of Wisconsin Avenue, it became Boris Nemtsov Place. Nemtsov was a critic of Putin's who was murdered three years before.
On Wednesday night, activists projected the Ukrainian flag onto the Russian Embassy building. The embassy has been cloaked in the Russian flag's white, red and blue stripes. Then the small Ukrainian flag appeared. The staff apparently rushed to try and wash out the projection with a white spotlight, and that's when things got funny.
The video shows the pro-Ukraine projection moving around the building as the Russian spotlight appears to chase it. It ended up looking like a cat-and-mouse game emblematic of Russia's struggle to bring down Ukraine.
https://www.rawstory.com/rusian-embassy-ukraine-flag/
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GREAT video in article! Nothing like public trolling!
Staying quiet about Brittney Griner hasn't worked
For the past two months, people around Brittney Griner and the WNBA have been low-key. The idea was that any loud calls to have the basketball star released from her Russian prison as Vladimir Putin launched an assault against Ukraine would only upset the authoritarian, and so the wise course was to work quietly and behind the scenes to release her.
It hasn’t worked.
Accused of having cannabis oil in her luggage at the airport on Feb. 17, Griner faces 10 years in prison in Russia. Her detention however, also serves as an undeniable flex of Putin’s power. The American and Olympian embodies many characteristics that he has tried to suppress in Russia, such as any discussion of untraditional gender expectations.
Griner, who came out in 2013 and has often spoken about how misunderstood she has felt over the years, stands at 6-foot-9 and has a raft of endorsements, including Nike. She is impossible to ignore even if she wanted to be invisible. She’s too famous, too tall, too uniquely Griner to be mistaken.
https://deadspin.com/staying-quiet-about-brittney-griner-hasn-t-worked-1848790481
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Brittney Griner is a political prisoner. Period.
This child integrated his school in 1914. The case is gaining recognition a century later.
All Francisco Maestas wanted was for his children to get a quality education. When his local school district in Alamosa, Colorado, insisted he send his kids to the so-called Mexican School, Maestas fought the district in court and won.
The Maestas case was decided in 1914. Experts say it was one of the country’s first successful school desegregation cases — and the earliest known one so far involving Mexican Americans.
For over a hundred years, this story of Latino parents fighting for their children’s education was lost to history — until recently.
A three-dimensional sculpture depicting the Maestas children will be installed Thursday in the State Capitol in Denver in honor of the 108th anniversary of the decision in the case. The statue then will tour other parts of the state.
“This case lay dormant for a century, and it took some strong efforts by academics to bring it to light,” said Ron Maestas, a retired educator and descendant of the Maestas family. “To me, Francisco Maestas gives us a lesson in courage, a simple man standing up against inequity. He stood up for his kids, because he wanted safety and education for them.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-history-buried-colorado-marks-forgotten-fight-school-equity-rcna21207
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