Only 5.4% occurred after 15 weeks.  One can only assume that such abortions were due to very difficult problems during pregnancies.  I have anecdotally read of brains forming outside skulls, etc.

Link

"We are grateful to the Bangor police officers and the City public works employee who responded to the defacement of public property in front of our home," Collins said.

source

Highlighted is the true story of Savita Halappanavar's extremely painful and unnecessary death.

Savita Halappanavar's water broke just after midnight on October 22, 2012, in a hospital in Galway, Ireland, in her seventeenth week of pregnancy. This meant two things: the fetus could not possibly survive, and Halappanavar was at risk of infection if the fetus was not immediately expelled or removed. She begged doctors to terminate her pregnancy--or, put another way, to treat her miscarriage--but they refused. A fetal heartbeat could still be detected, and the Eighth Amendment to Ireland's constitution effectively banned abortion. After two days, Halappanavar developed sepsis; on October 28th, she went into cardiac arrest and died, at the age of thirty-one. An inquest into Halappanavar's death found that even as her temperature and heart rate soared, even as she was entering septic shock, doctors continued to monitor the fetal heartbeat. "They were worried that, if they did a termination, they might be accused of performing an illegal act by not complying with the Eighth Amendment," the doctor who led the inquest later said. A national outcry over Halappanavar's death catalyzed a movement to repeal the amendment, which Ireland's voters accomplished by referendum in 2018, with a two-thirds majority.
...
In states where abortion becomes illegal, and particularly in states where there are criminal penalties for doctors or anyone who assists in an abortion, I fear that it will send a chill through the entire medical community," Audrey Lance, an ob-gyn in Michigan, said. "People are going to be scared to intervene until the last minute or perhaps until it's too late."

January 6 Committee Subpoenas Five GOP Lawmakers
May 12, 2022 at 1:29 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 82 Comments

"The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol issued subpoenas on Thursday to five Republican members of Congress, including Representative Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, who refused to meet with the panel voluntarily," the New York Times reports.

"The committee's leaders had previously been reluctant to issue subpoenas to their fellow lawmakers. That is an extraordinarily rare step for most congressional committees to take, though the House Ethics Committee, which is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct by members, is known to do so."

Playbook: "This is a huge escalation by the committee, one it had been debating for months. Among the concerns is the precedent that it sets, and the potential for Republicans to return in kind if, as expected, they take control of the House after the midterms. The committee is also prepping for a slate of prime time hearings that are expected next month."

It could have implications beyond the J6 hearings.  The expected non-cooperation could be a map for democrats to use to ignore BS investigations that are sure to come if the House goes Maga.

And it's being noted they don't really need testimony from these guys since they likely know everything they did and said.

Its more like giving them an opportunity to respond to what's coming.

Politicus

Once Tangherlini and Kan are sworn in, a majority of the USPS Board of Governors will be Biden nominees.

The two nominees that the Senate replaces two Trump nominees, which means that there is a majority on the board that can fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

Support for Abortion Rights Hits New High
May 15, 2022 at 11:07 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 86 Comments

"Support for abortion rights has reached a record high, and nearly two-thirds of Americans oppose the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, according to a new national NBC News poll conducted after the leak of a draft opinion that would strike down the constitutional right to abortion."

"What's more, the survey finds abortion climbing up the list of issues that Americans believe are the most important, and that Democratic interest in the upcoming midterms has increased since earlier this year."

Failure of an American ideology': why Covid has an outsized impact on the US

As the US records 1 million Covid deaths, experts note underinvestment in long-term care, primary care and public health all contributed to the toll.
...
According to public health experts, the virus's outsized impact on the US can be attributed in part to underinvestment in long-term care, in primary care and in public health departments. As a result, some people were more vulnerable to Covid and had little connection to - or trust in - the healthcare providers who urged them to socially distance, to wear masks and to get vaccinated.

It was a disconnect, they say, that was only exacerbated by misinformation - particularly by Republican leaders' undermining of scientists' recommendations.
...
In 2018, the country spent an average of $10,637 on healthcare per person, almost twice as much as other large and wealthy countries, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. And yet, compared with those countries, the US had a significantly lower life expectancy and the worst healthcare quality and access.

 John Yoo, a former clerk of Thomas, and infamous author of the "torture memos"( e.g., waterboarding and crushing of the testicles of the person's child are OK), was the interviewer.

"When you lose that trust, especially in the institution I'm in, it changes the institution fundamentally, you begin to look over your shoulder.  It's like kind of an infidelity that you can explain it, but you can't undo it," he mewled.

And, he does not like that protesting at houses, one bit: "you would never visit SC justices' houses when things didn't go our way."  he said.  "We did not throw temper tantrums. it is incumbent on us to always act appropriately and not repay tit for tat."

That infidelity line sure adds to my suspicion that the leaker was Ginni, so she could taut her enemies--she got her way on this one and couldn't wait to let it be known, even though her efforts to overthrow the government, when she did not get her way, failed.

U.S. Soccer reaches landmark equal pay agreement

The U.S. women's national soccer team engaged in a yearslong fight with the federation for equal pay. In February, their gender-based pay discrimination lawsuit was settled for $24 million, with the federation promising to equalize pay between men's and women's teams in all competitions.

In Cruz's senate campaign against Beto O'Rourke, Cruz repaid $250,000 of a $260,000 personal loan to his campaign within a 20-day post-election window according to the law, but was unable to repay the final $10,000, since the law only permits repayment up to $250,000. Cruz alleged, in his test case, that the law prohibiting repayment of a loan over $250,000 violated his First Amendment rights.

Chief Justice Roberts, the author of the majority opinion, stated that the SC recognizes only one permissible ground for restricting political speech, prevention of "quid pro quo" corruption or its appearance. Roberts stated that the government had not shown any quid pro quo corruption could come for the post-election repayments.

 Justice Kagan in her dissent (Breyer, Sotomayor) stated "the purpose of the law is easy to grasp: post-election contributions pose a special danger of corruption, because at that point, a candidate has a more-than-usual interest in obtaining the money (to replace personal finances) and is now in a position to give something in return."

Roberts, apparently using his logic in the VRA gut-job, essentially, holds that corruption doesn't exist in the US, unless you can prove it.  If you can prove that corruption exits, then the system is working and, ergo, there is no corruption.  Moreover, if the legislation is working then this proves that the legislation is unnecessary.

Senators Move to Boost Security for Justices
May 9, 2022 at 4:26 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 86 Comments

"Members of the US Senate are aiming to pass a bipartisan bill that would expand security protection to the family members of justices, following protests at some Supreme Court justices' homes over the weekend," CNN reports.

Given that Justice Alito's draft opinion rests in part upon the legal constructs of Sir Matthew Hale, an nominally obscure 17th century English magistrate who's probably much better known in the history of western jurisprudence for his zealous persecution of witchcraft (which resulted in the hanging of Amy Duny and Rose Cullender on March 17, 1664), there is really nothing at all courageous about his effort to use Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health as the vehicle to strike down Roe v. Wade.

There is, however, no shortage of archaic reasoning and rationalization in Alito's treatise, some of which is worthy of SNL's 1978 skit "Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber."

"In light of the leaked Supreme Court decision draft overturning Roe v. Wade, and subsequent reports that Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate will introduce legislation to enact a nationwide six-week ban, the real question of the moment is: do you support a categorical ban on abortion? During my time in public office, I have never voted for -- nor do I support -- such a ban," he added.  

The Hill

For a comparative constitutional law scholar, the most compelling reason
for Supreme Court reform is that the U.S. has fallen behind its peer
democracies in thinking about how to structure the role of the Supreme Court and its responsibilities in the constitutional order.

Remembrance of Earth's Past is a science fiction series by Chinese writer Liu Cixin. The series is also popularly referred to by the title of its first novel, The Three-Body Problem

wiki

I'm almost through the second book.  It is epic.  Spanning hundreds of years.  
It's the story of earth accidentally contacting an advanced alien race that happens to be in a dying solar system.  Too bad for us.

It's so well written and put together.  It's also nice to read this kind of story from the point of view of another culture.  China.  Where the USA is not really the hero.  Just a spot at a large table.

One thing it imagines is that 200 years in the future (half way through the 400 year trip the aliens are making to earth) English, the most common language on earth, and Chinese, with billions of speakers, basically merge into one language.

Cool.

One jacket blurb you see a lot is from President Obama.  He says it's "wildly imaginative"

Fetterman Says He Suffered a Stroke
May 15, 2022 at 4:22 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 134 Comments

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a leading Democratic candidate vying for the state's open U.S. Senate seat, says he suffered a stroke on Friday but is on his way to a full recovery, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

"Fetterman said doctors told him he suffered no cognitive damage and that he could return to the campaign trail after resting and recovering."

The Democratic primary is on Tuesday.

New York Times: "The development upended his ability to engage voters in-person during the most intense stretch of the race. Still, he has been leading his main Democratic rival, Representative Conor Lamb, by double digits in sparse public polling."

Justice Dept. Requests Transcripts From Jan. 6 Committee
May 17, 2022 at 5:13 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 41 Comments

"The Justice Department has asked the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack for transcripts of interviews it is conducting, which have included discussions with associates of former President Donald Trump," the New York Times reports.

"The move, coming as Attorney General Merrick Garland appears to be ramping up the pace of his painstaking investigation into the Capitol riot, is the clearest sign yet of a wide-ranging inquiry at the Justice Department."

George W. Bush Made A Freudian Slip For The Ages When Talking About A Certain `Unjustified And Brutal Invasion'

Barr in Talks with January 6 Committee
May 19, 2022 at 3:17 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 28 Comments

"President Trump's attorney general Bill Barr is in active discussions with the Jan. 6th investigative committee to appear for a formal transcribed interview," Axios reports.

"Barr is likely to cooperate with the committee, according to a source familiar with his thinking."