TWATs for Week Ending 4/24/22

 

As I mentioned on the 22nd, I am a non-insulin dependent diabetic. In reaction to a Matt Gaetz story, I responded to the cost issue. I have since learned I was not fully correct in my understanding of the issue.

 

My initial understanding was concerning the pricing of ALL insulin, but as Skeptical Raptor notes, https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/who-is-to-blame-for-high-insulin-prices-in-the-usa-big-pharma/

The complaints about insulin prices appear to be with the more innovative analog insulins which are not generic. And this is where it can get very complicated.

,,,

Here’s the key point — Big Insulin reduced their prices by 31% yet the PBMs reduced their prices…oh wait, they didn’t. So the PBMs, who work for the health insurers, did not reduce the prices of insulin for patients. The health insurers control your pharmaceutical purchases, forcing you to buy expensive insulin — essentially, they are running a scheme where they charge you for their insurance and charge you for the higher-priced insulin. And in case you’re wondering, Big Health Insurance is doing this with all kinds of drugs, not just insulin prices.

While this new information does not change my disgust with Gaetz, it does temper my understanding of “big Pharma”. As Raptor concludes, “I guess it’s easier to create a meme about Big Pharma rather than Big Pharmacy Benefits Managers.“

(See also:: Estimation of the Share of Net Expenditures on Insulin Captured by US Manufacturers, Wholesalers, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, Pharmacies, and Health Plans From 2014 to 2018 AND Who Is Really Driving Up Insulin Costs?)

 

This is my state so I am not surprised by the action not taken. https://www.pennlive.com/news/2022/04/after-school-satan-club-rejected-by-northern-york-school-board-vote.html

A near-unanimous school board vote Tuesday night struck down a proposal to create an After School Satan Club at the Northern York Elementary School.

The proposal was initiated by Samantha Groome, a resident of the district. Every board member except Thomas Welch voted against allowing the club to form.

Can we say lawsuit is on the way!!

The After School Satan Club is an after-school program that promotes self-directed education by supporting the intellectual and creative interests of students, according to its website.

The group says it does not try to proselytize. It seeks to promote free inquiry and rationalism, according to its website.

“It was clear these people had no idea who we are, and what we are doing,” Lucien Greaves, cofounder of the Temple of Satan that sponsors the after school club, said.

As of publication, a lawsuit is being prepared by TST.

https://www.facebook.com/CigarroaHS/

From FFRF, https://ffrf.org/news/news-releases/item/40879-no-evangelical-access-to-schools-ffrf-urges-tx-school-district

The state/church watchdog has been informed that on April 12, a teacher at Cigarroa High School in Laredo, Texas, brought Time to Revive, a religious ministry, to the school to preach and proselytize students. The ministry reportedly handed out bibles to students, as well as multicolored bracelets with various biblical references. Students were told if they didn’t pray they were going to hell. Members of the ministry attempted faith healings and prayed over students, it has also been reported.

Like the above, the school is in the wrong. What baffles me, neither the school nor the ministry think they did anything wrong. They are on the wrong side of McCollum v. Board of Education (1948).

“Public schools are not an appropriate place for outside adults to convince students to convert to their beliefs or attend their church,” FFRF Staff Attorney Chris Line writes to Laredo ISD Superintendent Sylvia Rios. “This recruitment constitutes ‘a utilization of the tax-established and tax-supported public school system to aid religious groups to spread their faith,’” to quote the Supreme Court in the landmark McCollum v. Board of Education (1948) case.

We are in deep-deep shit if this gentleman gets elected. WTF does “Islamicizing your genitals.” even mean? https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/you-are-islamicizing-your-genitals-jarrin-jackson-tells-transgender-individuals/

 

Children under the age of 18 are not considered candidates for SRS.

 

Ellis is living in a world of alternative facts. “Jenna Ellis claims that Trump and Giuliani are just like the Founding Fathers for their efforts to overturn the election.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PfNXiHAPNU

 

Before we get to our final story, I present Mr Sensible. https://www.youtube.com/c/MrSensible A UK bloke “pointing out the stupidity of Flat Earthers, Science Deniers and Creationists.”

Enjoy!!

 

And finally,,,, Democratic state Senator Mallory McMorrow blasted Sen. Lana Theis for calling her a groomer who supports pedophilia. https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/2022/04/19/mallory-mcmorrow-speech-lana-theis/7371767001/ We have gone from PizzaGate to this.

McMorrow's response was epic and rightly states the means to counter this BS.

"I am the biggest threat to your hollow, hateful scheme. Because you can't claim that you are targeting marginalized kids in the name of 'parental rights' if another parent is standing up to say no"

Welcome to McCarthyism2.0!!

UPDATED::Missouri Court to Hear Landmark Case on Satanic Temple Abortion

UPDATE::  The Satanic Temple Wins Appeal in Missouri Abortion Case

On Tuesday the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on The Satanic Temple’s appeal in their case to claim religious exemption from the state’s informed consent and mandatory waiting period abortion restrictions. In a unanimous decision the court has overturned the case’s dismissal and transferred the case to the Missouri Supreme Court.

 “Ms. Doe’s claims challenging the validity of certain sections of the Informed Consent Law under the Religion Clauses are real and substantial,” wrote Judge Thomas Newton in the ruling’s conclusion.

For over two years, The Satanic Temple (TST) has pursued a lawsuit against the Governor and Attorney General of Missouri, alleging that the State’s mandated “informed consent” materials, ultrasound, and 72-hour waiting period violated a member of The Satanic Temple’s First Amendment rights. This September, TST’s abortion lawsuits in the State of Missouri will reach a turning point when the Missouri State Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit will hear oral arguments in a case that could change state regulations for religiously motivated abortions.

On May 8, 2015 TST filed both state and federal lawsuits against the State of Missouri on behalf of Mary Doe, a pregnant woman seeking an abortion. Missouri law requires that all women seeking to lawfully terminate their pregnancy must be given reading materials claiming that life begins at conception. They must also endure a 72-hour waiting period between their initial appointment and actual abortion procedure. TST objects to these restrictions on religious grounds because they violate the organization’s belief in the inviolability of one’s body.

Missouri Court to Hear Landmark Case on Satanic Temple Abortion

UPDATED::ADDENDUM::Missouri Woman, a Satanist, Will Claim “Religious Freedom” to Get Out of 72-Hour Abortion Waiting Period

UPDATE::Satanists’ Lawsuit to Fight Missouri’s 72-Hour Abortion Waiting Period Hits a Bump but Rolls On

What’s the update on those lawsuits?

The federal lawsuit has not yet been decided. But the state lawsuit was apparently thrown out last month, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

A Cole County judge last month dismissed a Missouri woman’s case claiming the state’s abortion restrictions violate her religious beliefs.
,,,
Judge Joe Beteem last month dismissed those claims, saying Doe’s “pleadings fail to allege facts, which if true, state a claim for relief under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”

Doe already had the abortion.

Despite the setback, Beteem issued the ruling “without prejudice,” meaning The Satanic Temple could re-submit the lawsuit if they were more specific about how this violated RFRA. And that’s exactly what they did last week.

Lucien Greaves explained in an email:

On January 20th, we filed an amended complaint, which spells out the RFRA claim in explicit detail. This amended complaint has been thoroughly scrutinized by our legal team and we anticipate that it will be sufficient for the case to proceed.
,,,
The importance of these lawsuits couldn’t be clearer given new developments in Missouri. While our lawsuits provide just about the only high-profile [pushback] against government intrusion into reproductive rights, the situation in MO has grown ever darker and uglier. Sen. Kurt Schaefer, who provoked a minor outcry for attempting to block a Missouri University graduate student from studying the effects of MO’s mandated 72-hour abortion waiting period, has successfully extended the life of his Senate Interim Committee on the Sanctity of Human Life. The committee, which was originally formed to investigate debunked claims of an underground fetal parts market operating out of Planned Parenthood clinics, betrays religious bias in its very name. Their activities — pursuing and harassing Planned Parenthood executives and employees — have all the trappings of a new inquisition and the nation at large is fighting similar battles in an alarming number of States.

With a regressive trend against abortion in motion, and an unreliable Supreme Court, we feel strongly that Religious Exemptions are the best, and perhaps final, refuge for Freedom of Choice. With this in mind, The Satanic Temple is looking to partner with and/or eventually establish clinics of our own where our deeply-held religious convictions regarding bodily autonomy will have to be respected.

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The other day I posted a story about how certain groups are using the mRFRAs as tools to challenge "conservative Christianity’s encroachment on U.S. law."  In that posting mention was made concerning The Satanic Temple's effort on behalf of a woman in Missouri trying to gain access to abortion.

Since 1973’s Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States safeguarding the legality of abortion, the conservative religious right has grown violently hysterical in defining anti-abortion initiatives in terms of supreme moral significance. Lawmakers (primarily Republican) have steadily introduced “weasel bills” transparently designed to make the process of receiving an abortion more difficult, and overall as emotionally and logistically harrowing as they possibly can. Those who define the issue in terms of personal choice often find their views marginalized as indicative of values existing outside of the benefits of religious protection. While religio-conservative views seek to undermine abortion rights, they have also steadily worked to define “religious liberty” to be understood in terms of reserving the the right to deny contraceptives and oppose rational family planning practices. In fact, religious liberty works the other way, too.

As Satanists we believe in individual autonomy, personal choice, and the inviolability of one’s own body. Further, we believe one should be free to make one’s own decisions, uncoerced, based on the best available scientific evidence, whether or not the science comports with the religious and/or political views of others.

This past Summer, The Satanic Temple made an exemption available, for women who share our values, against “informed consent” materials — State-mandated informational material, imposed upon women in some states, that is often scientifically dubious (at best), and openly meant to dissuade from abortions, or create guilt about the procedure.

Recently, a member of The Satanic Temple, “Mary”, reached out to another TST member informing him that she will be seeking an abortion in her home state of Missouri, and that she intended to use our exemption form. She was put in contact with our St. Louis chapter, where the membership began to work diligently to provide Mary with support and safe passage. It was brought to our attention that an obligatory waiting period (72 hours) is burdened upon women seeking abortions in Missouri, a requirement we feel our deeply-held values exempt Mary from as well. We believe the the State Government should bear the burden of establishing a case for an imminent need to deny timely service, as such a requirement violates our sense of religious identity relating to personal choice and individual sovereignty.

The waiting period is another facile and insulting attempt at making abortion services less available. With a dearth of abortion clinics, some women are made to travel a great distance for services they then have to wait three days to receive, adding the expense of accommodations and time away from work.

We created an exemption form for the waiting period that we expect Mary will deliver upon her arrival. We will seek to pursue legal action if that waiver is not respected.

Missouri Woman, a Satanist, Will Claim “Religious Freedom” to Get Out of 72-Hour Abortion Waiting Period

After Supreme Court prayer decision, Satanist offers his own prayer - Los Angeles Times

I'm not quite sure yet whether I agree 100% with Greaves on some points he has chosen to publicize: I do quietly support him. But I feel that has to do with the fact that I am not an "in-your-face" type person. I'm not a bold person. That aside, I absolutely love his "prayer" (maybe he could have left off the "Hail Satan" part, but that's just me.)
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Today, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of a town board in upstate New York, and by extension, governmental bodies everywhere, to begin official meetings with a Christian prayer.

"Ceremonial prayer," the court said, is not unconstitutional. It is merely the continuation of a long American tradition, practiced by Congress and dozens of state legislatures, and is intended to "invoke divine guidance" and place governmental institutions in a "solemn and deliberative frame of mind."

[,,,]
Or, for heaven's sakes, Satanists.

After all, they, too, consider themselves a religion. And who is to say otherwise?

Satanic Temple spokesman Lucien Greaves was only too happy to compose a prayer.

[,,,]
Greaves was game. Here is what he sent:
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"Let us stand now, unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds in darkened times. Let us embrace the Luciferian impulse to eat of the Tree of Knowledge and dissipate our blissful and comforting delusions of old. Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to arbitrary social norms and illusory categorizations. Let us reason our solutions with agnosticism in all things, holding fast only to that which is demonstrably true. Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens the personal sovereignty of One or All. That which will not bend must break, and that which can be destroyed by truth should never be spared its demise. It is Done. Hail Satan."
_
What the heck. That's a prayer that could work for a legislative body anywhere--in the Massachusetts town of Heaven Heights, the Michigan town of Hell, or maybe even in Greece.

After Supreme Court prayer decision, Satanist offers his own prayer - Los Angeles Times

The Satanic Temple Declares May 15th, “Protect Children Day”

The other day the following press release, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE::The Satanic Temple Declares May 15th, “Protect Children Day”, came across my feed attached to this "commentary" (of sorts) from disinformation:

Could offerings to the devil in the classroom help close the test score gap between the United States and other developed nations? From the Satanic Temple’s press release,,,

What I find quite interesting, the contrast between disinformation's presentation of the news and RawStory's presentation:

According to the press release, the Project has set up a website where students can register that they “affirm that my deeply held beliefs acknowledge the inviolability of the human body and mind and being physically and psychologically harmed against my will violates these beliefs.” At that point, the Temple can then contact their school and school district to let them know that they are on notice.

“One of the fundamental tenets of The Satanic Temple is personal sovereignty and the inviolability of one’s body and mind. Hitting a child or placing them in solitary confinement goes entirely against our beliefs,” says Lucien Greaves, Temple spokesperson, in the press release.

“The documents we have made available not only provide students with a notice they can give to their principal that explains their beliefs, but also informs schools that if they refuse to acknowledge the deeply held beliefs of students, they would be violating their civil rights. School officials could potentially face criminal charges if they disregard a student’s convictions,” he continued.

“If students report to us that they have notified their principal of their religious views and they are physically or psychological abused despite that, it is our intention to intervene.”

The Temple is also providing parents with fact sheets about the dangers of both corporal punishment and solitary confinement, as well as a Satanic-themed activity book for students to help them understand their religious rights.

“We want children to know that they are permitted to pray to Satan in school and that they can even share their religious beliefs with others in accordance with certain guidelines,” Greaves said in the press release.

Fox refuses to comment after guest calls for Satanists to be gunned down | The Raw Story

This is just despicable, Faux News needs to do their homework. I have friends who are members of the Church of Satan and I now fear for them,,,

The Satanic Temple has issued a press release demanding that Fox Business News publicly apologize for the remarks made by one of its commentators.

On January 9, 2014, one of the participants in Fox Business New’s “Mensa Meeting,” Bernard McGuirk, said that members of the Satanic Temple who want to erect a monument in Oklahoma City should be executed.

“They should be able to put the statue up, and then they should be shot right next to it, and then we take it down,” McGuirk said.

Lawyers for the Satanic Temple say that “[s]uch incitement to violence is reckless and possibly criminal. Advocacy of the murder of American citizens based on their religious beliefs is intolerable and sickening. For [Fox Business] to disseminate such a position as part of a televised debate on a national network strikes at the heart of this country’s founding principles and potentially places the Temple’s members in imminent danger.”

Fox refuses to comment after guest calls for Satanists to be gunned down | The Raw Story

The Satanic Temple Wants to Place a Monument Outside Oklahoma’s Capitol Building. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

This will be a very interesting "case" to watch develop. Not so much because of what some people may perceive in regards to the shock value, but how differing religious ideologies may or may not be privileged. Louisiana, discovered this, with their school voucher program back in June 2012 when it came to light that a Muslim-based school had applied for support through the voucher system.:

Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Watson, says she had no idea that Gov. Bobby Jindal’s overhaul of the state’s educational system might mean taxpayer support of Muslim schools.

“I actually support funding for teaching the fundamentals of America’s Founding Fathers’ religion, which is Christianity, in public schools or private schools,” the District 64 Representative said Monday.

“I liked the idea of giving parents the option of sending their children to a public school or a Christian school,” Hodges said.

Hodges mistakenly assumed that “religious” meant “Christian.”[Hodges now leery of Jindal reform]

Also, some have begun to compare this to the Hobby Lobby case currently in front of the SCOTUS, altho I see the HL case more as whether a corporation , as a legal entity, can have religious rights.

When other government buildings have played host to religious displays, atheists have come in to place monuments of their own. This is really no different, so more power to them! What better way to convince public officials that they’re better off not allowing government buildings to become a religious free-for-all?

That was basically the mindset of temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves:

[According to Greaves], “by accepting our offer, the good people of Oklahoma City will have the opportunity to show that they espouse the basic freedoms spelled out in the Constitution. We imagine that the ACLU would also embrace such a response. Allowing us to donate a monument would show that the Oklahoma City Council does not discriminate, and both the religious and non-religious should be happy with such an outcome. Our mission is to bring people together by finding common sentiments that create solutions that everyone can appreciate and enjoy.”

The Satanic Temple Wants to Place a Monument Outside Oklahoma’s Capitol Building. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?