Late yesterday afternoon, a Trump judge in Amarillo decided it was a really good idea to take Mifepristone off the market, a drug that has been safely used to induce medical abortions for 20 years.  The lawsuit he ruled on was filed by an anti-choice group that wasn’t happy that the SCOTUS decision to take away the constitutional right to healthcare from millions of women didn’t go far enough.  They wanted to take away the right to abortion from ALL women in the US.  The group venue shopped, taking the case to a radical judge Amarillo and got the result they wanted; for the first time in US history, a federal judge interfered with the FDA’s authority by banning the drug. The plaintiffs lied that the drug was untested and dangerous, which is bullshit.  Of course, since their case was bullshit, the judge bought it and banned it.  Another judge in Washington State almost immediately issued a contradicting order, which will likely throw the case straight to the SCOTUS.  Recall that the SCOTUS, which now has a 6 -3 ultraconservative majority gained by cheating, could likely generate a nationwide ban on the drug.  Even though the SCOTUS threw the abortion issue to the states, I have no confidence the court will remain consistent by throwing this back to the states, since their rulings are now controlled by ideology, not the law.

Here’s a solution to the Mifepristone ban, and it’s pretty straightforward – we need a lawsuit filed that bans Viagra and all other ED treatments.  If a federal judge can intervene in the FDA’s decisions over women’s healthcare, certainly another federal judge can to the same thing men’s healthcare, right?  Besides protecting men’s health, banning Viagra will prevent millions of pregnancies, which is a huge side benefit.

After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, right?

We have a group of dedicated readers here in the salon. So, before we begin this exercise I’m going to reiterate that what is said in this piece is really not for them. If you are a regular you already know this. This piece is for anyone else that might stumble along and see this.

The point is pretty simple. Cancel culture really isn’t a thing. It is what we call freedom of speech or freedom of expression. I suppose shows get canceled and there are always backlashes against certain people and certain things. It has always been that way. The point can be illustrated through one very straighforward tweet.

Other artists who are deleting Anheuser-Busch products from their hospitality rider might not say so in public for fear of being ridiculed and cancelled. I have no such fear. https://t.co/YgjO9P03tR

— Travis Tritt (@Travistritt) April 6, 2023

Here is the ultimate irony. Travis Tritt is attempting to cancel Anheuser-Busch. Basically, this is a direct plea to his fans that Budweiser isn’t cool with him anymore and shouldn’t be cool with them either. So, in one sentence he manages to attempt canceling Budweiser and then accuses them of doing the same. Some people are just blessed without self-awareness.

So, let me repeat this for those blessed without self-awareness, Freedom of speech means you have the right to say what you want as long as your speech doesn’t incite a riot or is demonstrably false and damaging to a particular individual or business. Yet, that means that people can also react to your speech. They can speak against it or even shun you or your products. That’s always been a thing. It will always be a thing. This new-fangled notion of cancel culture is really a buzzword that means nothing.

I don’t buy Anheuser-Busch products. I don’t buy Coors products. It has nothing to do with wokeness (whatever that is). I don’t buy those beers because they aren’t good. Occasionally, we go to the Spec’s in downtown Houston and it always flabbergasts me when people buy crappy and cheap beer at a store that sells virtually every beer marketed in town. You can buy beer flavored water anywhere.

I don’t own any Travis Tritt albums. I don’t like country music. I know a lot of people do and if they enjoy his music they should avail themselves of it. I know a lot of people like Bud Light and Coors. Great. You buy what you want to buy and listen to the music you want to listen to. This is how freedom works.

The fact is that too many people misunderstand freedom of speech. It protects you from being arrested or silenced by Congress. It doesn’t protect you from the negative impacts of a bad take. It doesn’t protect anyone from their employer reacting badly to their speech.  It doesn’t guarantee you a microphone or platform. You have a right to speak. With that right to speak comes consequences. Some of them may be good or bad. It has always been this way and it will always be that way.

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Today, three State Representatives of the Tennessee Legislature were put on trial in the State House for showing support for students who were protesting gun violence in their schools.

After three individual votes, two of the three were summarily expelled from the legislature.

The two black men, the Honorable Justin Jones, and the Honorable Justin Pearson, were expelled. The third legislator, the Honorable Gloria Johnson, was not expelled by a margin of one vote.

Rep. Johnson is white.

Yes, it goes deeper. There is a lot of background, and yes, the gun lobby is involved, naturally. But the naked use of racist power is there in that gerrymandered legislature for all to see.

And like it was when another generation was persecuted for protesting an illegal and immoral war, the agendas of the powerful were on full display. But in this latter case, the agendas are entirely racist.

And as Justin Jones said in his warning to his former colleagues, just as it was chanted in the 60’s and 70’s, the whole world is watching.

ProPublica report revealed today that Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted fancy trips from Republican big donor Harlan Crow for twenty years but not disclosed them as required by freekin’ law. One such trip had a value of half a million dollars.

On the other hand, he took Ginni with him, which by all reckoning made the trip practically worthless.

Clarence like to talk small and live big.  Get a load of this crapola.

“I don’t have any problem with going to Europe, but I prefer the United States, and I prefer seeing the regular parts of the United States,” Thomas said in a recent interview for a documentary about his life, which Crow helped finance.

“I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it,” Thomas said. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.”

Pro Publica outlines the extravagant travels on private jets and super yachts that Harlan Crow has gifted the Thomases. None of them include an RV or a damn WalMart parking lot.

Ya know, if Justice Elena Kagan had done this, the rightwing would be flying her bra over Riker’s Island within hours.

By the way, Crow says all this means nothing because he never asked Thomas for any favors. Holy crap, dude, you practically fund the Federalist Society.  You think you need a wish list?

One other thing. I read in one of these articles that Crow had tasteful nice golf shirts made up commemorating each of these trips. I guess Thomas ran out of places for the branding iron.

34 felony counts including conspiracy.  The DA also asked the judge for a protective order to stop TFG and his henchmen from publicly threatening him and his family.