The complex world of being a medical resident in an anti-abortion state and wanting to learn how

Politico's magazine has an in-depth story about a doctor deciding to seek out just such training, and all the work involved. It shows that a cram course, while certainly better than nothing, simply isn't what ob/gyn doctors could get anywhere 20 years ago, and still can in pro-choice states today. 

Also per the story, the post-Dobbs landscape for women unlike this doctor, who can dodge dodgy residencies, is going to change in anti-abortion states, who will lose doctors.

That's even as a New Mexico, under direction from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, builds an abortion clinic in southern New Mexico specifically for Texas women above all else. And, the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center noted that part of the reason for it is to improve residency opportunities in southern New Mexico.

Third-party update, Sept. 13

The Fifth Circuit has officially screwed third parties in Texas, upholding a district court ruling on Tex-ass's 2019 ballot access law. (BAN link has the court opinion, or click here.)

It not only upheld the district court's opinion, it overturned the one ray of sunshine in that opinion. The district court had ruled that the state had to accept electronic signatures and electronic ballot access petitions. That, too got tossed.

Thanks, Drew Springer.

Interestingly, as of the time I posted this Friday afternoon, neither the Green Party nor the Libertarian Party of Texas has it on Twitter. And, after I tagged both parties, as of Friday night, neither had it on their websites. Texas Greens also didn't have it on their Facebook.

You know, if you are going to complain about vote suppression, at least publicize something like this in a timely fashion.

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Strange that part of why Brainworm Bobby dropped out (he did, the "suspended" is just to remain eligible for any dribblings of federal matching funds) was because his campaign was reportedly getting tight on cash and I presume his Veep Nicole Shanahan wouldn't loan it any more. (Or "loan" it. I presume she's not dumb enough to have considered that a literal loan.)

But? He has money to sue Michigan (and lose), Wisconsin, North Carolina (and lose), and counting to get back off the ballot. He also wound up losing New York to get ON the ballot, which he was still pursuing.

Those lawyers aren't cheap.

Well, Wasted Space is a lawyer himself, so, like Tricky Dick, these are lawyer's lawyers.

 And, as of Sept. 6, Wasted Space officially and truly withdrew, other than sucking on the FEC teat for the rest of the third quarter, by asking all his voters in all states to vote for Trump. Nuña the Nutter will still refuse to eat any crow, but, he gets more and more ridicule at BAN all the time from others besides me.

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As of last week, while it appears the PSL will still fall short of being eligible to have 270 electors elected, it's still above 200, a first, per Wiki. That's far and away the best of parties to the left of the Greens.

As I've hammered on, off and on, for months, the Socialist Party USA has been basically invisible this election cycle. Per the link above, as of early September, it was only on the ballot by name in one state and write-in for Bill Stodden in eight others. That puts them behind the Trots of the Socialist Equality Party and the cultists of the Socialist Workers party, who somehow are ahead of the SEP.

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Independent Political Report has a roundup of nonduopoly candidates' responses to the duopoly parties' presidential debate.

Related? Free and Equal Elections Foundation has reportedly invited seven candidates, including the two duopoly ones, to its fourth debate. (Nuña the Nutter raised all three Cerberus heads in a comment there — racism, sexism and Islamophobia.) Let's see if that holds. Claudia de la Cruz didn't make the invite cut for the third one, meaning there was nobody to the left of Jill Stein, which she loved.

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Robert Kraus is the interim head of the Liberal Party, the Libertarian break-off for the non-Mises Mice.

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If you ever wondered how much state legal systems can be biased against third-party and independent candidates, Georgia is the new poster child, per Ballot Access News.

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Not all third parties, or even all third parties of the alleged left, oppose Israel's genocide in Gaza. Learn the cultist story behind the pseudo-Trots of the Socialist Workers Party.

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The Texas Trib had a semi-failure (shock me) in discussing independent voters.

The other shoe partially fell at Southwest in a corporate cave-in

That convoluted headline riffs on my post from last week about the pressure Southwest Airlines faces from Paul Singer and his vulture capitalism hedge fund Elliott Investment Management.

After the threat of a special shareholders meeting when Elliott crossed the 10 percent mark on Southwest stock ownership, the company semi-caved.

It agreed that six board members would leave in November. In addition, next year, current chairman and former CEO Gary Kelly, who took over for the iconic founder Herb Kelleher, will retire or resign. However, current CEO Robert Jordan will stay.

Singer's response? 

"Not good enough," so to speak:

“We are pleased that the board is beginning to recognize the degree of change that will be required at Southwest, and we hope to engage with the remaining directors to align on the further necessary changes,” the hedge fund said. Elliott said its nominees are “the right people to steady the board and chart a new course for the airline.”

Problem is that I think Southwest is right in that Elliott/Singer have not specified all their concerns before now.

Problem two is that Southworst agreed to accept three potential Elliott nominees for four board slots, and these people come from places like Spirit and Ryanair. That's detailed at my top link, my post from last week.

That said, Forbes thinks this bought off a proxy fight:

“My initial reaction was that these are significant, these are substantial, these are transformational,” says Keith Gottfried, CEO of Gottfried Shareholder Advisory, a shareholder activism defense firm. “It certainly takes away the argument that this board is not willing to to make changes.” ...

In bending to many of Elliott’s key demands, Southwest will likely avoid the “or else” option, an expensive proxy fight that would have likely cost tens of millions of dollars, Gottfried says. “The scale of this change in response to an activist is very atypical, and I think it really lowers the probability that we're going to see a proxy contest.”

Could be so. Gottfried goes on to say that by near the end of this month, per a calendar-circling date mentioned below, he expects Southwest and Elliott to have some written agreement. OTOH, per who Paul Singer is, in my top post, I woudn't count on that until there's a document.

That all said, you have to "loovveeee" Southworst's PR machine, calling this "comprehensive board refreshment." That sounds like calling a concentration camp or the gulag a "re-education camp."

That said, the last part of the statement, which is signed off on by Kelly, indicates the sellout is there. It's under "Issue 5: New Business Plan." This:

I am confident the meaningful changes made to our route network; revenue management techniques; and marketing, merchandising and distribution methods – as well as significant new operational initiatives – collectively will transform the airline and usher in the next era of Customer loyalty and strong financial performance. All of these changes reflect significant discussion and debate in the Boardroom and are informed by direct feedback from Shareholders over many months, including on pertinent issues such as the magnitude and pace of our growth, our ability to forecast accurately, and how to continuously innovate in ways that are accretive financially and to the unique Southwest brand.

I am hopeful that all our Shareholders will be as enthused as I am over the direction our leadership and Board are taking us, which you will hear a lot more about at our Investor Day on September 26.

Boldface added by me, is the biggie.

Note the semicolons SHOULD (if Southwest's corporate lawyers are doing their jobs) mean that the "meaningful changes made" applies ONLY to the route management clause, not all clauses or phrases. In other words, "significant new operational initiatives" would include the upcoming end of the cattle call seating, already discussed by me, and additional things — like ending bags fly free, charging for snacks like Ryanair, etc. Or, per Southwest's Snowmaggedon last December, will it face a point to further modify its semi-direct system more toward a hub-and-spoke? (It's a legend that Southwest has a truly and fully direct flights system.)

I'm OK with the change in seating as long as it doesn't add pricing. Per the "it agreed" link, I'd be OK with red-eye flights if they're at the current Southwest's version of red-eye prices.

Yeah, Gary, a lot of passengers are going to be eyeballing you on Sept. 26 as well.

Also of interest? This spring, Southwest was rumored to be "out hunting" in the acquisitions world. Is that still the case? Sun Country, per the link, is a JetBlue etc type of airline in that they charge for everything. BUT? They fly only 737s, a definite boost to Southwest. And, Southwest could run it as the equivalent of American Eagle, United Express, etc., integrating it but keeping routes and operations separate. OTOH, per this Reddit, Sun Country sucks as much as other "value" airlines. Yelp and Trip Advisor agree.

Pinch Sulzberger, gutless wonder; Kevin Kruse, BlueAnon blowhard

 It is weird — or laughable — that the New York Times publisher and owner chose to write the op-ed mentioned in this Substack in the Washington Post and not his own paper.

The jokes aside?

The substance?

"Both sides" reporting is still good, Pinch says. Well, sure. It prompts subscribers.

That said, the Substack IS Kevin Kruse, a good librul Democrat type who has no problem with his party putting thumbs on scales against third-party and independent candidates. Having 2-starred his most recent book, I know that.

The complaints against the NYT are valid, and on a LOT more than electoral politics.

For example, beyond not doing "both sides" on climate change, how seriously does the NYT report on and about and from climate scientists more alarmed than climate change Obamiacs Michael Mann, Katharine Hayhoe and their ilk? You know that.

How much does it really report about the reality in Gaza? You know that. Mondoweiss earlier this week noted another pro-Palestinian American citizen killed by the IDF. (This one was in the West Bank, not Gaza.) That link also notes the NYT's lack of coverage.

The reality of American exceptionialism that Kruse accepts? You know that.

This is Kruse working the refs first, with serious concerns about journalism a distant second.

The fact that this was another piece of dreck Kuffner had on his weekend link dump speaks volumes right there.

Two pieces on fake food, two different final answers

Fast Company offers the latest observations on lab meat. Julie Guthman, in a book excerpt, dismisses the latest round of claims that lab meat can be environmentally more healthy than meat.

It can't. It has massive energy inputs, we know that already, and will require even more at the commercial level.

And, there's the manufacturing sterility issue. That will be almost impossible to scale up. 

All of this has been known to environmental writers who aren't peons of tech-dudebros, and known for years.

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Grist, on the other hand, touts vegan meat to the skies. It ignores how processed it is, that it has higher sodium levels than conventional cheese (as is true of Impossible Burger vegan beef) and doesn't talk about the energy inputs at all. Indeed, I sent it on Twitter a link to my post about Kraft's fake Cheddar on an Impossible-style burger, which incorporated my older piece on Impossible Burgers themselves.

I don't know if Grist has lauded veggie burgers to the skies the way the Genetic Literacy Project did, which was the subject of my older piece. The sodium levels in a veggie burger are ABHORRENT. Also, the FDA has never approved the soy heme mentioned by Grist in what Impossible ferments. And, the GLP told a flat lie about that, by way of becoming Impossible's PR flak.

Even Consumer Reports didn't have energy input costs on veggie meat, but I will venture that, as with veggie cheese, they're surely lower than actual meat, but not a nothingburger by any means, pun intended.

On veggie cheese? Somewhat more sodium than the real. All the fat is saturated.

As I say in both my older and my newer piece, the real answer is that of Michael Pollan. Eat less of the real stuff (I struggle on cheese, but am semi-demi-vegetarian on eating almost no red meat), and eat less of the processed stuff as well (freebies has been the only time for me).

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Bottom line? Guthman doesn't reference Yevgeny Morozov, but she's talking about his "solutionism." Or my "salvific technologism." It's no wonder that rich tech dudebros tout lab meat.

And, although its article was mainly about cheese, it's too bad Grist doesn't seem to look under the hood more.

Per a few paragraphs above, the answer Grist seems to offer: Veggie burgers will satisfy the meat palate now, and the implication of hold on for lab meat, perhaps, just isn't so.

Russiagate 2.0; or are we on 3.0? 4.0

#BlueAnon nutters inside and outside Tex-ass are pushing pieces by BOTH Kos AND TPM (complete with rhetorical headline) about the bullshit of Russiagate 2.0. Or 3.0 or whatever. Beyond these? Kos at least talks a bit about Gaza; TPM? Josh Marshall still is full on Zionist. Anyway, yeah, TPM can take that rhetorical headline and stuff it.

And, this piece, too, half of whose argument could also apply to various Democratic presidential and other candidates past and present. I mean, going beyond Trump's "bags of cash" from Egypt, Bob Menendez was just convicted for bars of gold from Egypt. Decades ago, AlGoreRhythm got busted for dialing for dollars with Chinese connections inside his Veep's office. 

Your claimed purity melts like the snowflakes you are.

Texas Tribune looks at "independent voters" in a semi-failure piece

The Trib interviewed eight allegedly independent voters. I wrote that first sentence in anticipation that they'd screw the pooch on this.

And, they didn't totally.  They did include one guy who voted for Gary Johnson in 2016, then Biden in 2020, and plans to vote for Chase Oliver this year. And, a second who did the same the past two elections, but fears Trump so much he's voting Harris.

There was one Clinton → Trump voter listed who had planned to vote Brainworm Bobby, and another Wasted Space supporter who voted Dem in both 2016 and 2020 — AND was one of the Brainworms 40 pledged electors. Both are currently undecided, tho the second one is looking at Cornel West.

But? James Barragan couldn't find ANYBODY who voted left of Democrats in either 2016 or 2020, though? And, couldn't find more than eight participants?

So, in that sense, it's a failure.

So, let's add ...

ME!

2016: Voted Jill Stein; regret that even without Yashar Ali's basically true but Democrat oppo research hit piece on Stein coming until after early voting started, that I didn't vote for SPUSA's Mimi Soltysik.

2020: Did not vote. I had moved, but didn't want to pay just to change my driver's license address when, because of the Real ID changes, I would have to renew it in person by early 2021. Howie Hawkins didn't hugely jazz me, but he had the SPUSA line as well as the GP one, and I don't think I would have been mentally prepared to vote further left than that.

2024: I am. Claudia de la Cruz. (SPUSA's Bill Stodden has done almost nothing in terms of ballot access.)

Texas Progressives talk voting and more

Off the Kuff examines Ken Paxton's lawsuits against Bexar and Travis counties for attempting to register voters. 

The Barbed Wire (which so far is doing as much re-reporting with bits of cover as anything in-depth on its own) notes Kenny Boy is suing the feds again, too — this time over a June Health and Human Services Department rule on HIPAA and reproductive care, including abortion, privacy.

SocraticGadfly provided the latest information in a hedge fund's attempt to take control of Southwest.

Obamacare really sucks for the "ghost insurers" still allowed to be listed, a real problem with mental health care. ProPublica has the tragic details.

A statute of Hindu god Hanuman in the Houston area has Christian Religious Rightists pissed off.

Helltown is also the rudest driving city in Tex-ass and 13th nationally.

$81.5 billion: That's the cost to kill property taxes in Tex-ass. No way that can all be done with a sales tax. There's another tax, I am reminded of, but a previous Legislature got voters of the state to agree to box them in.

Former Uvalde ISD police chief Pete Arredondo is asking a judge to quash 10 felony child endangerment charges over the mass shooting.

Proof Colin Allred is a ConservaDem? Little Lizzie Cheney endorsed him.

GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales predicts Republicans will lose control of the U.S. House.

Why DOES a speaker of the Texas House like Dade "Dade" Phelan need a senior advisor? And why DOES Tricky Ricky Perry want this gig?

The people of Boca Chica are fighting back against Elon Musk and Space X. Hell, even TCEQ fined it.

How would a proposed OSHA rule on worker heat safety play out in Texas? The Observer looks.

The Barbed Wire lists five ways that Texas Republicans have made it harder for college students to vote. 

The Texas Signal finds something off about Ted Cruz's Spanish language ads.  

Reform Austin investigates whether delaying the start of the school year could help the electric grid.

The Fort Worth Report brings the story of John Thomas, a Black janitor who is now being memorialized at the church where he had not been allowed to worship.

Finally, the TPA bids farewell and happy trails to Dos Centavos as he takes his talents to Colorado.

What does the AfD/BSW surge mean in Germany?

The Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, won German state elections in Thuringia state and came in second in Saxony. Of additional note, the left's Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) broke 15 percent in Thurungia and hit 11 percent in Saxony.

Maybe nobody will coalition with the AfD. But, that drives the BSW's price higher yet.

For both parties, versus the three-party coalition in Berlin — Social Democrats, Free Democrats and Greens — and also versus the currently outside Christian Democrats, discontent over the Ukraine war, and to some extent, especially with the AfD, discontent over Gaza, too, is the driver. Add in that, in many sectors of traditional heavy industry, Germany stands clueless before China and the problem grows. (Volkswagen said just days ago that it might do the previously unthinkable and close at least one plant. It's way behind the curve on electric cars.)

The next national election in Germany is just a year away. I can't see Chancellor Olaf Scholz staying in power. Worse? A convoluted four-party coalition, of the three in power plus Christian Democrats, is HIGHLY unlikely. The CDU/CSU has never come close to coalitioning with Greens before.

If they got enough numbers, AfD plus BSW, and possibly a resurgent Linkspartei, could at a minimum block any three-party coalition.

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Update: Part of what it means is the federal government implementing strict border controls for the next six months. Gee, that gets you at least close to the next federal election, doesn't it?