A Coal Comfort

November 1, 2021

The Good News

Philadelphia to become first major US city to ban police from stopping drivers for low-level traffic violations (CNN)
India, UK to launch global solar grid project at COP26 (ABC)

“Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence.” — Louis Pasteur

The Court Of The Issue

A person’s right to an abortion until around 24 weeks of pregnancy — when a fetus can survive independently outside the womb — is a constitutional right established nearly a half-century ago by Supreme Court cases beginning with Roe v. Wade. This year, Texas jumped through legal loopholes to devise a novel approach intended to circumvent this constitutional right by removing the state from enforcement. Senate Bill 8 (the Texas Heartbeat Act) limits the right to an abortion to about six weeks, or when fetal ‘cardiac activity’ can first be detected, which is usually weeks before many women know they’re pregnant.

To block a law, courts generally stop state officials from enforcing it. The Texas statute forbids state and law officials from enforcing it. Instead, Texas empowers private citizens anywhere in the nation to sue those who “aid or abet” abortions — even if the person suing has no connection to those involved — and collect $10,000 or more, in multiple suits. Plaintiffs won’t have to pay defendants’ legal fees, even if the case is thrown out; if they win, plaintiffs get their legal fees paid. Of course, defendants would still have to pay for their own defense, even in cases that are dismissed as frivolous.

SB 8 has been in effect since September 1, when in a bitterly divided 5-4 ‘shadow docket’ ruling, SCOTUS declined to take any action. Right now, SB 8 is estimated to block 85% to 90% of procedures that could legally have been performed prior to September 1; those with financial means can always travel to other states for the procedure, but those with lower or no income will be shut out from safe access to abortions.

Today, SCOTUS will hear arguments in two cases challenging Texas’ near-ban on abortions. One suit is brought by the Department of Justice, and the other by a group of abortion providers and advocates. SCOTUS’ review will focus on two narrow questions about how SB 8 is enforced, not the abortion rights themselves. The DOJ is asking the Court if it can sue the state, judges, and all private parties to protect from litigation anyone getting an abortion banned by SB 8. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, the justices will consider whether a state “can insulate from federal court review a law that prohibits the exercise of a constitutional right” by delegating its enforcement to the general public.

The practical consequences of the Court’s ruling could be enormous. If SCOTUS refuses to countermand Texas’ law, Republican-controlled state legislatures are likely to enact similar laws. And states led by Democrats might want to do the same to limit other constitutional laws, like owning guns. No cameras are allowed in the Supreme Court, but the audio will be live-streamed beginning at 10 am E.T. (Texas Tribune, NYT)

Wedding Ends In Tragedy In Afghanistan

On Friday night, three assailants claiming to be members of the Taliban shot and killed three guests and injured 10 others at a wedding reception in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province — apparently because music was being played. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that it was not permissible to kill anyone for playing music, and an investigation was underway to establish whether the incident was due to a personal feud.
“In the ranks of the Islamic Emirate no one has the right to turn anyone away from music or anything, only to try to persuade them. That is the main way,” Mujahid said. In a series of tweets, the suspects had claimed to be Taliban members and had asked for the music to be stopped before opening fire. Two suspects have been arrested, but a third escaped. The Taliban disapprove of playing music at weddings and other public events, but have not issued a decree banning it since coming to power in August. (CNN)

A Coal Comfort

The G20 summit in Rome ended with strong words instead of strong commitments heading into Glasgow’s COP26 climate summit. In Sunday’s final communiqué, world leaders agreed that counties must take meaningful action to keep the world from warming by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels. There was no commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The communiqué does set out plans to end overseas investment in coal this year — something China has agreed to do — and to take unspecified actions to limit domestic coal use. Turkey opposed a strong statement about significantly reducing carbon emissions. Instead, a phrase was added saying a reduction in fossil fuel use is “one of the most feasible, efficient and quickest ways to limit climate change.”
The Italian hosts were delighted at the outcome of the summit. Italy’s prime minister said “I believe this summit was full of substance. We have filled the words with substance.” Conversely, Greenpeace condemned the communiqué as weak and “lacking ambition and vision,” and said G20 leaders had “failed to meet the moment.” (Guardian)

Additional World News

Woman Drowns In Immigration Attempt

A 300-foot fence juts out into the Pacific Ocean at the U.S.-Mexico border where Tijuana meets San Diego. Late Friday night, about 70 people attempted to swim around the fence to get into America. Border Patrol agents discovered one unresponsive woman, who was later pronounced dead.
36 Mexican nationals — 25 men and 11 women — were pulled from the ocean and detained. That section of border fence is one of the most closely watched parts of the 1,900-mile border. In the last 12 months, the U.S. has logged in the most illegal border crossings since record-keeping began in 1960. (NYT)

Sweeping It Under The Duggar

Jim Bob Duggar, of reality TV’s “19 Kids and Counting,” is running for a seat in the Arkansas Senate. The family announced in a Facebook post on Friday that its patriarch will be a candidate in Arkansas State Senate District 7. “Northwest Arkansas is my lifelong home. It’s where my wife Michelle and I have raised our 20 children. It’s where we’ve grown our small businesses. It’s where we’ve built a life centered around our faith, family, and friends. Our family has been blessed by God in so many ways,” Duggar said in the statement. “It’s important to us to give back and to help others in every way we can,” he added.
A really “dark moment” for this ultra-religious conservative family was no doubt when their oldest son, Josh Duggar, 33, who’s been accused of molesting some of his younger sisters, goes on trial in federal court this month on two counts of downloading and possessing child pornography. Josh faces up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000 if convicted on all charges. Josh and his wife Anna, married in 2008, have six children, and Anna may have already given birth to baby number 7. (The Hill, People)

Additional USA News

Size Doesn’t Matter

Typically, animals thought to be the smartest have larger brains, like humans, monkeys, or dolphins, because more brain cells have space to create complicated processes in the brain. But scientists have been focusing their attention on the creepiest, crawly-est, and smallest animals in the kingdom lately, as sophisticated behavior among them sparked interest in their cognition.
Spiders give most people the heeby-jeebies, so finding out they’re also among some of the most intelligent creatures with whom we share our planet may not be good news. Arachnologist and evolutionary biologist Dimitar Dimitrov of the University Museum of Bergen in Norway says that spiders perform tasks that are considered “cognitive,” rather than being simply automatic responses to something.
In the recently published 2021 Annual Review of Entomology, Dimitrov coauthored a paper on spider diversity and looked at the different ways spiders can impress us. From making web adjustments based on their targeted prey, to learning to associate rewards with smells, spiders are capable of much more than many would guess based on their size. As long as they don’t “learn” how to fly, this news is pretty exciting. (Ars Technica)

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