The suit was filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom, the anti-abortion group behind the law the Supreme Court used to overturn
Roe vs. Wade

https://jezebel.com/anti-abortion-activists-sue-the-fda-to-reverse-approval-1849802704

The anti-abortion group behind the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade has now filed a federal lawsuit seeking to reverse the approval of the abortion drug, mifepristone.

The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)—representing four Texas doctors and four anti-abortion groups—sued both the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services, claiming that the FDA exceeded its authority when it approved mifepristone in 2000. (One of the four doctors named in the suit is George Delgado, a notorious anti-abortion activist who pioneered the lie that abortion pills can be “reversed.”) The suit asks for the drug’s approval to be undone.

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ADF senior counsel Julie Marie Blake falsely claimed in a statement that mifepristone was dangerous: “Pregnancy is not an illness, and chemical abortion drugs don’t provide a therapeutic benefit—they end a baby’s life and they pose serious and life-threatening complications to the mother.”

The group filed the suit in Amarillo, Texas, which is notable in itself. As University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck has pointed out, suits filed there have a 95 percent chance of drawing an ultraconservative Trump-appointed judge, Matthew Kacsmaryk. This is the same judge who recently threw out anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people seeking healthcare and who, in 2021, said the Biden administration had to resume Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suits in Amarillo against the Biden administration at least 20 times.

https://www.rawstory.com/rip-grand-old-party/

Republican infighting escalated on Saturday after Democrats were projected winners of the U.S. Senate following the 2022 midterms.

It started before the polls even closed on election day, with Donald Trump attacking Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell on Fox News.

And it escalated further on Saturday after Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto triumphed over Republican Adam Laxalt in Nevada, securing control of the U.S. Senate.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) declared the time of death at 9:39 eastern on Saturday night.

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violence

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/election2022/2022/10/31/democrat-richard-ringer-candidate-for-pa-house-seat-assaulted-election/stories/202210310087

A candidate running for a state House seat called 911 Monday morning after being assaulted at his Fayette County home in what would be the third time in two weeks he has had to call police to his residence.

Democrat Richard Ringer said he was bloodied and knocked unconscious by an attacker in his back yard around 5 a.m.

“A guy was standing with his back to me. I went and bear-hugged him, wrestled, ended up on the ground,” said Mr. Ringer, 69, who is running in a contested race for the open 51st House District seat against Republican Charity Grimm Krupa. “He was larger than I am and he pinned me down on my left side. ... He hit me 10 to 12 times in the head, in the face and by the eye and he knocked me out.”

A call placed to the state police trooper who responded to a call to Mr. Ringer’s home was not returned on Monday afternoon. Mr. Ringer said his hands were bloodied and his faced bruised from the attack.

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without a warrant

https://theconversation.com/what-is-fog-reveal-a-legal-scholar-explains-the-app-some-police-forces-are-using-to-track-people-without-a-warrant-189944

Government agencies and private security companies in the U.S. have found a cost-effective way to engage in warrantless surveillance of individuals, groups and places: a pay-for-access web tool called Fog Reveal.

The tool enables law enforcement officers to see “patterns of life” – where and when people work and live, with whom they associate and what places they visit. The tool’s maker, Fog Data Science, claims to have billions of data points from over 250 million U.S. mobile devices.

Fog Reveal came to light when the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a nonprofit that advocates for online civil liberties, was investigating location data brokers and uncovered the program through a Freedom of Information Act request. EFF’s investigation found that Fog Reveal enables law enforcement and private companies to identify and track people and monitor specific places and events, like rallies, protests, places of worship and health care clinics. The Associated Press found that nearly two dozen government agencies across the country have contracted with Fog Data Science to use the tool.

Government use of Fog Reveal highlights a problematic difference between data privacy law and electronic surveillance law in the U.S. It is a difference that creates a sort of loophole, permitting enormous quantities of personal data to be collected, aggregated and used in ways that are not transparent to most persons. That difference is far more important in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, which revoked the constitutional right to an abortion. Dobbs puts the privacy of reproductive health information and related data points, including relevant location data, in significant jeopardy.

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https://nordot.app/949031601073864704?c=592622757532812385

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — With early predictions of $50 billion in damage from Hurricane Ian, experts worry whether the state’s struggling property insurance system will become another casualty of the storm and lead to even higher premiums.

If it fails, the cost will be passed on to all Florida homeowners,not just those who suffered damage, because of assessments levied on them to cover the losses.

“We’re relying on a strategy of hope, and that hasn’t played out,” State Sen. Jeff Brandes, a Republican from Pinellas County who has tried to push for strict insurance and litigation reforms to rein in the spiraling costs.

The governor and Legislature need to seek out solutions quickly if they want to save the industry, Brandes said, suggesting a special session after the election.

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(emphasis mine)

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/14/1122995430/california-sues-amazon

California sued Amazon on Wednesday, accusing the company of pushing sellers and suppliers into anticompetitive deals that lead to higher prices, including at rival online stores.

The lawsuit, filed by state Attorney General Rob Bonta, focuses on the way Amazon — the largest online retailer — deals with third-party merchants, who account for most of the sales on the platform.

California alleges that Amazon penalizes sellers and suppliers that offer cheaper prices elsewhere on the internet, including Walmart and Target, for example by displaying their items lower or less prominently or outright blocking their new postings.

"Amazon makes consumers think they are getting the lowest prices possible," the lawsuit alleges, "when in fact, they cannot get the low prices that would prevail in a freely competitive market because Amazon has coerced and induced its third-party sellers and wholesale suppliers to enter into anticompetitive agreements on price."

California's antitrust lawsuit is among the biggest legal challenges to Amazon in recent years, as lawmakers and regulators in the U.S. and abroad have investigated the retail giant for potential anticompetitive practices.

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https://nordot.app/942816952346492928?c=592622757532812385

(Reuters) - The sporty all-electric car from the Netherlands resembles a BMW coupe, but is unique: It captures more carbon than it emits.

"Our end goal is to create a more sustainable future," said Jens Lahaije, finance manager for TU/ecomotive, the Eindhoven University of Technology student team that created the car.

Called ZEM, for zero emission mobility, the two-seater houses a Cleantron lithium-ion battery pack, and most of its parts are 3D-printed from recycled plastics, Lahaije said.

The target is to minimize carbon dioxide emitted during the car's full lifespan, from manufacturing to recycling, he added.

Battery electric vehicles emit virtually no CO2 during operation compared with combustion-engine vehicles, but battery cell production can create so much pollution that it can take EVs tens of thousands of miles to achieve "carbon parity" with comparable fossil-fueled models.

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https://www.wsj.com/articles/celebrity-medicare-sales-pitches-are-toned-down-after-scrutiny-11661940999?st=2q0c9no5cgthayb&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

If it’s football season, you can count on seeing Joe Namath on television, along with William Shatner and Jimmie “J J” Walker. They are the most prominent pitchmen for what has become an annual fall selling frenzy for Medicare Advantage policies.

After a surge in consumer complaints, and stiffer government rules, the sales pitches will likely be tamer this year. If there is confusion, “we’ll change things so it satisfies everybody and eliminates the confusion,” said Mr. Shatner, best known for his role as Captain Kirk in the “Star Trek” franchise

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services toughened its oversight after consumer marketing complaints surged 165% last year to 41,136 compared with 2020. Brokerages, agents and other marketing businesses tried to convince Medicare recipients to switch plans, with promises of perks in their new plans such as home-delivered meals, rides to doctors’ appointments and cash.

In some cases, beneficiaries would effectively pay for the perks with more-limited provider networks, forcing them to find new doctors, regulators say. The celebrity pitchmen haven’t been accused of violating any rules.

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https://twitter.com/donlew87/status/1567217096018329600

https://www.rawstory.com/cloudflare-drops-controversial-far-right-website-kiwi-farms-after-public-backlash-site-is-down-report/

Growing public backlash against the Kiwi Farms website has resulted in the website losing a key technological vendor and going offline.

"Reversing course under growing public pressure, major tech security company Cloudflare announced Saturday that it will stop protecting the Kiwi Farms website, best known as a place for stalkers to organize hacks, online campaigns and real-world harassment," The Washington Post reported. "Cloudfare chief executive Matthew Prince, who this past week published a lengthy blog post justifying the company’s services defending Kiwi Farms, told The Washington Post he changed his mind not because of the pressure but a surge in credible violent threats stemming from the site."

Prince issued a statement explaining the action the company finally took.

"We have blocked Kiwifarms. Visitors to any of the Kiwifarms sites that use any of Cloudflare's services will see a Cloudflare block page and a link to this post. Kiwifarms may move their sites to other providers and, in doing so, come back online, but we have taken steps to block their content from being accessed through our infrastructure," Prince said. "This is an extraordinary decision for us to make and, given Cloudflare's role as an Internet infrastructure provider, a dangerous one that we are not comfortable with. However, the rhetoric on the Kiwifarms site and specific, targeted threats have escalated over the last 48 hours to the point that we believe there is an unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life unlike we have previously seen from Kiwifarms or any other customer before."

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