Great moments on the Supreme Court

Apparently Supreme court Justice Elena Kagan has written in a dissent from the court's decision to strike down portions of the EPA's Clean Air Plan by claiming that it would cause portions of the East Coast to be swallowed by the ocean.  

Now of course, the  smart aleck in me says "and what's the problem with that?", the realist remembers "I've got friends in Florida", and then the scientist in me looks up the actual data and says "even the IPCC is only estimating 55cm or less (two feet or less) over the next century.

In other words, it would likely put a crimp in the style of those whose homes are on the seacoast (e.g. Barack Obama's homes in Martha's Vineyard and Hawaii), but for the rest of us, it's really no big deal.  So even with the well-known tendency of many to select law as a career beause they're not good at science, Kagan's showing her ignorance in a mighty way here.

Paging George Orwell

In an episode of "Newspeak" that would make George Orwell proud make George Orwell scream It was a warning, NOT a recommendation!!!!, Russian Deputy Chairman of the Security Council  Gauleiter und Propagandaminister Medvedev has "warned" Ukraine that attempts to retake Crimea would be seen as a declaration of war. 

Apparently all those tanks, soldiers, airplanes, and artillery pieces trying to pound Ukraine's residential neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, and shopping malls into rubble were just a mirage, or else I've got a great picture of Comrade Medvedev right here.

Yes, there's a country in the region that needs to be de-Nazified, and its capital is "Moscow."  Putin delenda est!

When is enough "enough"?

Russian (OK, TBD, but safe bet) airstrikes hit a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, a location with no military value over 100km from the nearest fighting on the ground.  If it is as represented, this is a clear war crime, and five will get you ten we know exactly what airfield those planes launched from, exactly what munitions they used, etc..

This in addition to incessant shelling of residential areas, hundreds (thousands?) of bodies found in the suburbs of Kyiv, and pending famine in developing countries due to Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports.  When do we decide enough is enough?  

Yes, I realize Putin's got nukes, and we can't go in like we did in Iraq, but I'd at least hope that we could say "we're going to take steps to stop the biggest war crimes, starting with ensuring the freedom of shipping to Odessa, and continuing with treating flights over Belarus towards Kyiv as imminent terrorist attacks."

Happy Dance!

Roe v. Wade delenda est!

Now for Putin..... 

Snicker

Snicker, but groan.  Michigan Governor (and sigh, fellow Spartan) Gretchen Whitmer has, in response to the possible repeal of Roe v. Wade, promised to file a lawsuit on behalf of "menstruating people".  Now to be fair, she is correct that abortion rights are probably most relevant to women who are actually still having that time of the month, and she's probably got a decent estimate of the proportion of Michigan's ten million residents who are still having that time, but....what ever happened to simply saying "women"?

Ah, yes.  Got it.

Risk factors for domestic violence

A study out of Penn of domestic violence incidents in  Philadelphia finds that over 82% of domestic violence incidents are among people who are only "dating", versus about 18% for those who are, or have been, married.  Granting the caveat "this is just Philadelphia and they may be culturally different from other Americans", we would infer that the ~50% of single adults have 82% of the problem, while the 50% of married/divorced adults have only 18% of the problem.

Long and short of it is that the relative risk for domestic violence among the single appears to be, at least in Philly, about 18x higher than that for the married.  Just one city, and likely skewed towards the young, who are more likely to commit crimes.  That noted....wow.  It's pretty scary IMO.

Not just by ones and twos

Here's a study about the experiences of about 100 "de-transitioners".   The majority felt pushed into decisions that often left key parts of their bodies in biohazard bags.  Hoping many of them find good lawyers to get compensated for the harm that was done.

Now this is infuriating

The Seattle Police Department, with 1800 staffers, has just announced that they will no longer be devoting 12 investigators to adult sexual assaults.   The relevant question; how many officers are on traffic duty?  How much more important is it to them to issue speeding tickets than to put rapists in jail?

Just askin'.

Snicker

This Tweet is actually mostly about universities cheating  to meet Title IX gender equality requirements, but this part caught my eye (as a guy who was born a Buckeye, grew up a Hoosier, and became a Spartan by the Grace of God):

29 of Michigan's 43 women's basketball players were men

Yup, it fits.  Seriously, it boggles the mind that the "leaders and best" "Weenies of the West" thought they could get away with that one.  Their fan base is huge, their detractors even more numerous, and you'd have to assume that somebody would look this up and say "hey, wait a minute....."

And so they did.  Snicker.