The QAnon shaman out of costume – New abortion law in Texas – Evening statistics
Jacob Chansley, the self-proclaimed “QAnon shaman” among the rioters of January 6th, pleaded guilty today to a charge of obstruction of an official proceeding. Theoretically he can face a sentence of 20 years in prison and up to $260,000 in fines. But prosecutors have been consistently lenient towards the insurrectionists, and there is no reason to suppose that he will end up serving more than two years in prison at the most. Al Watkins, his defense attorney, took a somewhat unusual stance on behalf of his client, describing Chansley and the other rioters as “retarded.” He claimed that they were unwitting pawns of Donald Trump and the right wing media sphere, whom he compared to Hitler and the Nazi propaganda machine respectively. This last observation is so naïvely candid that it amounted to a very reasonable thing for a lawyer to say.
A new abortion law has been passed in Texas, prohibiting abortions of any embryo once a heartbeat is detected. There are no exceptions, not even for cases of rape or incest.
Fetal heartbeats are said to be detectible in as little as six weeks. Technically speaking, what is detected at that point is the initial flutter of electric activity created by embryonic neurons beginning to move rather than a heartbeat; the heart is not fully formed until about 20 weeks after conception. But you don’t expect American legislators to make such distinctions; few of them know what a neuron is, and their ignorance of medical science is supreme. Biden formally requested the Supreme Court to freeze this law, but the request was denied on Wednesday night.
Various other states are expected to follow suit. About two dozen states have introduced similar measures inside their legislatures. The issue is likely to surface in the upcoming Virginia gubernatorial election – probably, however, to McAuliffe’s advantage: Northern Virginia and independents, two of the most substantial voting blocs in Virginia, are overwhelmingly pro-choice.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 220,572,474; # of deaths worldwide: 4,565,907; # of cases U.S.: 40,697,060; # of deaths; U.S.: 664,910.