KY: GOP-passed bill removes role of Democratic governor if Senate vacancy occurs

Source: Associated Press

“Kentucky lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a bill stripping the state’s Democratic governor of any role in picking someone to occupy a U.S. Senate seat if a vacancy occurred in the home state of 82-year-old Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. The legislation calls for a special election to fill any Senate vacancy from the Bluegrass State. The special election winner would hold the seat for the remainder of the unexpired term. … The state Senate voted 34-3 after a brief discussion to send the bill to Gov. Andy Beshear. The governor has denounced the measure as driven by partisanship, but the GOP supermajority legislature could override a veto when lawmakers reconvene for the final two days of this year’s session in mid-April.” (03/28/24)

https://apnews.com/article/kentucky-legislature-senate-vacancies-faf6f1f41fa42c3e0b818fc3fb3d4d4a

Ukraine downs more than 25 drones in latest overnight Russian strikes

Source: France 24 [French state media]

“Ukraine downed 26 drones overnight as Russia launched its latest salvo of aerial attacks, a senior Ukrainian military official said on Thursday. … Russia regularly launches air attacks on Ukraine overnight and has escalated the strikes over the past few weeks, targeting key infrastructure, including power stations, in retaliation for fatal bombardments of Russia’s border regions. On Wednesday Russian strikes killed three people in eastern and southern Ukraine.” (03/28/24)

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240328-ukraine-downs-more-than-25-drones-in-latest-overnight-russian-strikes

YIMBYs Are Winning Local Housing Battles, but Can They Win the National Housing War?

Source: Cato Institute
by Scott Lincicome

“On Monday, I was in USA Today talking about the National Association of Realtors settlement and the future of U.S. housing prices. For those unwilling to click, here’s the even‐​shorter version: Yes, the settlement might lower realtor commissions and thus shave a few thousand bucks off a home’s all‐​in sales price, but Americans shouldn’t expect a reprieve from ever‐​increasing housing prices without far more fundamental reforms to occupational licensing, zoning and land use regulation, construction materials tariffs, and other policies that increase building costs and restrict housing supply.” (03/27/24)

https://www.cato.org/commentary/yimbys-are-winning-local-housing-battles-can-they-win-national-housing-war

Ukraine Takes the War to Russia’s Oil Refineries

Source: Foreign Policy
by Keith Johnson

“In recent weeks, Ukraine has found a way to overcome a lack of aid and a dearth of ammunition, using long-range drones to strike oil industry assets deep inside Russia. The attacks on Russian oil refineries — which number at least a dozen so far, including some very long-range strikes — have damaged Russia’s ability to process and refine its huge output of crude oil, dealing a small but meaningful blow to a Russian energy sector that has so far weathered the war and Western sanctions in surprisingly good shape. The campaign, which has been tacitly acknowledged by Ukrainian security services and officials, is meant to strike at both the economic and logistic sinews of Russia’s war effort, which is still grinding its way through the third year of its invasion of Ukraine.” (03/27/24)

https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/03/27/ukraine-drone-strikes-russia-oil-refineries/

CA: Judge recommends disbarment for Eastman

Source: Politico

“A California judge on Wednesday recommended the disbarment of John Eastman, calling to revoke the law license of one of former President Donald Trump’s top allies in his failed last-ditch gambit to subvert the 2020 election. Judge Yvette Roland, who presided over months of testimony and argument about the basis of Eastman’s fringe legal theories, ruled that the veteran conservative attorney violated ethics rules — and even potentially criminal law — when he advanced Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results based on weak or discredited claims of fraud. Eastman plans to appeal Roland’s decision to a panel of judges, an interim step before the matter reaches the state Supreme Court. But while his appeal is pending, the ruling forces his law license into ‘inactive’ status, meaning he can no longer practice law in California.” (03/27/24)

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/27/john-eastman-disbarred-00149468

Free Talk Live, 03/27/24

Source: Free Talk Live

“Free Talk Live is on TikTok! @FreeTalkLive :: Women are happier and sadder than men :: You’ll feel more free if you aren’t a hoarder :: Men now have lower testosterone :: The Baltimore bridge accident :: Mila Kunis is sexy :: The state makes us less safe :: Immigration, the pros and cons :: Amazon pharmacies using AI to expand :: 2024-03-27 Hosts: Bonnie, Nikki, Colin.” (03/27/24)

https://soundcloud.com/freetalklive/free-talk-live-2024-03-27

There Ain’t No Libertarians, Just Politicians Who Want to Give All the Money to the Rich

Source: Beat The Press
by Dean Baker

“David Wallace-Wells had a column discussing the trip by Javier Milei, Argentina’s new president, to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos Switzerland. The WEF forum is an annual gathering of many of the world’s richest people, where they also invite politicians, academics, and others who they think may amuse them. According to Wallace-Wells, Mr. Milei definitely fits into that category. The piece talked about how Milei calls himself as an anarchist, with the government just doing basic functions, like defending the country and running the criminal justice system. Otherwise, Milei would eliminate any role for government, if he had his choice. It is humorous to hear politicians make declarations like this. As a practical matter, almost all of these self-described anarchists would have a very large role for the government.” (03/27/24)

https://cepr.net/there-aint-no-libertarians-just-politicians-who-want-to-give-all-the-money-to-the-rich/

“The people”/personhood paradox

Source: Orange County Register
by Erin M Carr

“Two years after the Dobbs decision, the court now prepares to decide another landmark abortion case made possible precisely because of the unworkable legal landscape created by the overruling of Roe. As the court considers the fate of abortion medication in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, it has become clear which ‘people’ the court seeks to delegate power to determine the precious contours of reproductive health rights. … The ‘people,’ as the post-Dobbs landscape has shown us, is mostly comprised of conservative state judges and legislators who subscribe to a concept of ‘fetal personhood’ in which non-viable fetuses are assigned greater social value and legal rights than the women whose bodies carry them.” (03/27/24)

https://www.ocregister.com/2024/03/27/the-people-personhood-paradox/

CA: Feds propose killing nearly 500,000 “invasive” owls to save native ones

Source: SFGate

“A group of 75 animal rights organizations, including several in California, signed a joint letter sent to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Monday urging her to nix a proposal by the U.S. Department of Fish & Wildlife to shoot nearly half a million ‘invasive’ owls over the next 30 years. The goal, according to the plan, is to eliminate habitat competition between barred owls and native northern spotted owl and California spotted owl, two endangered subspecies of spotted owls. While still in its early stages, the proposal calls for shooting an estimated 470,900 barred owls — primarily with shotguns — across land in Washington, Oregon and California over the next 30 years. In their letter, the animal rights groups called the practical elements of the plan ‘unworkable’. ‘This plan will cause severe disruptions to wildlife from the forest floor to its canopies, producing an untold number of mistaken-identity kills of other native owl species (including spotted owls),’ the letter said.” (03/28/24)

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/feds-to-kill-thousands-of-owls-to-save-calif-owls-19372134.php