Month: November 2018

Someone Needs to Review Every Case this Asshole Ever Presided Over

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Judges are to Texas as Man is to Florida.

And it now appears that soon to be former Texas judge Glenn Devlin is the most Florida man judge in all of Texas, whichis remarkable, because he had to beat out the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has assumed facts not in evidence in order to execute a guy.

Devlin was defeated for reelection, largely because he had a policy of sending an inordinate number of black and brown children to juvie.

In response, the judge is throwing an epic tantrum:

After losing his bench in a Democratic sweep, Harris County Juvenile Court Judge Glenn Devlin released nearly all of the youthful defendants that appeared in front him on Wednesday morning, simply asking the kids whether they planned to kill anyone before letting them go.

“He was releasing everybody,” said public defender Steven Halpert, who watched the string of surprising releases. “Apparently he was saying that’s what the voters wanted.”

In court, prosecutors voiced their concerns about the seemingly indiscriminate release of those accused of everything from low-level misdemeanors to violent crimes.

………

In total, at least seven kids were released, prosecutors said, including four facing aggravated robbery charges.

………


The longtime Republican jurist — whose seat was among 59 swept by Democrats in Tuesday’s election — is one of two juvenile court judges in Harris County whose track records favoring incarceration contributed heavily to doubling the number of kids Harris County sent to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department in recent years, even as those figures fell in the rest of the state.

 Houston Chronicle investigation last month found that Devlin and Judge John Phillips accounted for more than one-fifth of all children sent to the state’s juvenile prisons last year. The two jurists not only sent more teens to juvenile prison, but they also sent them younger and for less-serious offenses than the county’s third juvenile court, where Judge Mike Schneider presides.

………

With the dust still settling from a massive shake-up in the local judiciary, Devlin showed up for Wednesday’s detention hearing docket apparently ready to surprise.

………

Criminal justice advocates, however, were critical of the decision.

“Judge Devlin appears to be abdicating the basic responsibility of any sitting juvenile judge,” said Elizabeth Henneke of the Lone Star Justice Alliance, a group that works to get young people out of the justice system and into treatment programs.

What an immature and petulant asshole.

Righteous Burn

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Harry Leslie Smith was musing on the nature of human folly on the upcoming 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War:

Instead of wearing a poppy for #Remembrance2018 we should wear our shame because as a human race we’ve learned nothing since 1918.

— Harry Leslie Smith (@Harryslaststand) November 6, 2018

It being Twitter, some asshat with the name of Jo Offord took exception, and in a since deleted Tweet, replied, “Harry, brave young men died so that idiots like you would have the freedom to spout your rubbish. Be more respectful.“

The reply won the internet:

Err, this is a picture of me in 1941 in my RAF uniform. So as we used to say in the services, Fuck off, Hitler. #Remembrance2018 pic.twitter.com/1J9yfWyLEC

— Harry Leslie Smith (@Harryslaststand) November 6, 2018

Boom!!!

Totally owned.

It is no surprise that she either deleted, or made private, her Twitter page.

No great loss though; the Google cache indicates that she is a right wing asshole.

Thoughts and Prayers

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Translated into English, “Thoughts and Prayers,” means, “F%$# You I want my A grade from the NRA, you stupid chumps!”

Case in point the response of ammosexual politicians to the mass shooting in Thousand Oaks California:

A former U.S. Marine machine gunner who may have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder burst into a Thousand Oaks bar packed with college students late Wednesday night, tossed a smoke bomb into the crowd and opened fire, authorities said.

Eleven people were killed, in addition to a sheriff’s sergeant responding to the scene who was gunned down by the assailant minutes later.
………

The suspected gunman, Ian David Long, was found dead of a gunshot wound in a back room at the bar. The amount of blood inside the bar made it difficult to tell whether he shot himself or was killed by law enforcement, Ventura County Sheriff Geoff Dean said.

………

The bar’s patrons also frequent the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, and some were also survivors of the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas that left 58 dead last year.

Thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers.
Thoughts and prayers.

This is not an Accident, this is a Sistah Soulja Moment

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French President Emmanuel Macron just lauded antisemitic traitor Philippe Pétain, former President of the puppet Vichy Republic.

This was not a slip of the tongue. This was a not particularly subtle appeal to supporters of the racist National Front, because he is concerned that his policy of f%$#ing the average French worker like a drunk sorority girl will lead to a further rise Marine Le Pen which would threaten his hold on power.

It is a chickensh%$ move from a chickensh%$ politician:

Nazi collaborator Philippe Pétain during centenary commemorations marking the end of World War One later this week.

Mr Macron said Marshal Pétain was a “great soldier”, even though he had made “disastrous choices” during WW2.

Pétain was praised for the defence of Verdun in 1916, but he was sentenced to death for high treason after WW2.

Some French politicians and Jewish leaders condemned Mr Macron’s comments.

What is going on here is very clear: Macron is going full pander to bigots, because he’s worried about Le Pen, whose base is profoundly bigoted.

Macron is a contemptible pissant.

Wednesday Afternoon Massacre

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Something tells me that this was not caused by Trump suddenly “discovering” that Session is an unrepentant racist:

Senior Republicans led a chorus of public warnings that the special counsel Robert Mueller must be allowed to continue his Russia investigation after Donald Trump finally fired his attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

As Trump replaced Sessions with a senior aide, Matthew Whitaker, a critic of Mueller’s inquiry, Senator Susan Collins was amongst the first Republicans to warn: “It is imperative that the Administration not impede the Mueller investigation … Special Counsel Mueller must be allowed to complete his work without interference.”

Mitt Romney, who won the race on Tuesday to become a senator for Utah, aimed his first broadside at Trump, tweeting: “It is imperative that the important work of the Justice Department continues, and that the Mueller investigation proceeds to its conclusion unimpeded.”

Yeah, like the Mueller investigation is going to be unimpeded.

If I were Mueller, I’d find a pumpkin in which to stash a memory stick of his work to date.

Please don’t rehabilitate Jeff Sessions because Trump fired him, he remains an evil racist demagogue.

Midterm Recap

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Monty Python has the definitive word on this

I still have pretzels, but no beer tonight.

In terms of the Senate, the Democratic incumbents who lost, Donnelly, McKaskill, and Heitkamp, were profoundly weak tea.

I wish that Manchin was included in that list, because while I understand that the dynamics of the Democratic Party tends to promote narcissistic preeners who are basically useless (the aforementioned Donnelly, McKaskill, and Heitkamp), they should never promote Disloyal Democrats.

Also Bob Menendez, because he’s corrupt as hell and would be in jail but for the Supreme Court making it impossible to prosecute politicians for corruption.

The only bright side in terms of incumbents being turfed out was Dean Heller of Nevada.

On the House side, there is a bright side, Dwems retaking the house, David Brat being defeated in VA, as did Dana Rohrabacher in California, and Pete “The Stupidest Motherf%$#er in Texas” Sessions.

On the not so bright side, you have Duncan Hunter, Jr., who won even though he is under indictment for embezzling campaign funds, and virulent racist Steven King (R-IA) won narrowly.

In governor’s races, the Democrats picked up 7 seats nationwide, but none pleased me more than the loss of Scott Walker.

Florida and Georgia are still technically in play, but I won’t hold my breath

The AFL-CIO put it best on their statement, “Scott Walker was a national disgrace.”

In state houses, about 300 seats were picked up by Dems, erasing about 1/3 of the seats they lost under Obama.

Also, 7 state houses flipped, most notably the New York State Senate, whose Republican Senate was decisively flipped, much to the chagrin of Andrew “Rat Faced Andy” Cuomo, who has tried to ensure Republican control so that he won’t have to veto progressive legislation. (See Democrats, disloyal)

We also had a fair number of initiatives.

Anti-abortion initiatives in West Virginia and Alabama passed, and failed in Oregon.

Three initiates in California were defeated under a deluge of Wall Street money, price controls in response to profiteering by dialysis clinics, and a public bank for Los Angeles were deleted.

Redistricting reform passed everywhere it was on the ballot, Colorado, Michigan, Missouri and Utah, along with a sort-of redistricting reform in Ohio.

Weed also did well, with victories in Michigan, Missouri, Utah, and North Dakota.

Medicaid expansion was on the ballot in 4 states, with it passing in 3 states. ( Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah, and a loss in Montana)

There are also three new Democratic governors who will likely implement the policy.

On criminal justice reform, there were some significant ballot measures passed, most notably restoring voting rights to 1½ million felons in the Florida, which should make a difference in future elections.

Louisiana repealed a Jim Crow law that allowed for 10-2 guilty verdicts for most felonies.

Washington passed changes to standards for police shootings, so prosecutors no longer have to show actual malice.

All in all, last night was not good as I had hoped, but not as bad as I had feared.

My only question now is, “How will Nancy Pelosi f%$# this up?”

Linkage (In celebration of the end of the mid-terms)

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Some appropriate music for the end of the campaign season:

Beer and Pretzel Election Blogging

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Midnight: Kansas Governor’s race has been called, and Kris Kobach, the man who is arguably the worst politician in America (he is patient zero for the plague of voter suppression in America) will not be the next governor of Kansas. Congratulations to Governor-elect Laura Kelly.

Heidi Heitkamp, who has been down by double digits for the entire campaign, lost in North Dakota.

The Democrats have taken control of the house, picking up 28-30 seats, the Republicans have picked up 2-3 Senate seats, and the Democrats have picked up a at least 4 governorships, and I am finishing my 2nd beer, and I am going to sleep now.

Here is hoping that the Democrats subpoena Trump’s tax returns

11:30pm: Despite massive contributions by the head of Nike, the Dems hold onto the Governor’s mansion in Oregon. (F%$# Phil Knight, who thinks that he owns the state)

California polls have closed, so the Senate race, between two Democrats, and an indicted house member should make that interesting.

11:00pm: Gillum has conceded the Governor’s race in Florida, and it looks like the West Virginia anti-abortion amendment has passed.

I’m switching to the Daily Show for coverage.

10:30pm: The New York Times calls it for Ted “The Human Sh%$bag” Cruz for Texas Senate. Crap.

10:30pm: Governors races: Pickups by Dems in Michigan, New Mexico, Governor’s race.

10:00pm: Looks like a Democratic pickup in Colorado. And they are calling the Maryland Governor’s race for Larry “Governor Ratf%$3” Hogan, which is not a surprise, Ben Jealous’s campaign was really not too visible, and the party establishemtn was sitting on their hands.

In Illinois, the Governor’s race has been called for JB Pritzger, which is a step up defeated incumbent Bruce Rauner, but only a little one.

9:30pm: 2 pickups in Pennsylvania.  Court ordered redistricting making a difference here.  Charlie is done, so I get to start adding beer to my pretzels!

9:15pm: Ammendment 4 in Florida, restoring felon enfranchisement, look set to pass.  Should make 2020 VERY different Florida election, because that ads potentially 1½ million voters to their rolls, and these voters are overwhelmingly minority.

In Virginia, there are two incumbent Republican Congressmen, and a Barbara Comstock has lost to Jennifer Wexton.

9:05pm: I just went to the NYT wiggling needle, and saw an ad for F-Cup size brassieres. What the hell?  Manchin looks to be in good position, he is up by 8 points with 1/3 of precincts reporting, which is the one Dem I really want to see lose this evening.  There is also an anti-abortion constitution change on the ballot which is close.

It appears that Joe Donnelly (incumbent) has lost in Indiana, and Bresden in Tennessee, which which basically closes the door on the Democrats picking of the Senate.  My guess is that they will actually lose Senate seats.

8:40pm: Democrats need to pick up seats in the worst way, and, at least in Florida, the union-busting former university president Donna Shalala has picked up a seats for the Democrats. This was really her race to lose, because the district has been blue for a long time, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who is retiring held onto the seat ONLY because she is a FDWS (Friend of Debbie Wasserman “Clusterf%$#” Schultz), who kept her opponents weak.

8:35pm: Had to go out on an unsuccessful run for race lasagna, so I’ve just got to the keyboard.

Charlie is still at the polling place, so no beer yet, though I have had some pretzels (sourdough),

The Joy of Reading a Bad Review

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I have only a passing knowledge of the Amazon TV show Transparent, and even less knowledge of its showrunner, Jill Soloway, still, when I came across this review of her memoir, She Wants It, I realized that I had stumbled on a gem, one one that might make Rex Reed, master of the snarky review gasp in awe.

Also, unlike Reed, Andrea Long Chu actually gets into the weeds of the book, and not how Soloway looks, or dresses, etc., which to my mind puts her a pretty big step above Reed.

She demolishes the recollections of a narcissistic asshole on their own terms:

As a lightweight behind-the-scenes look at a critically acclaimed television series, Jill Soloway’s new memoir She Wants It: Desire, Power, and Toppling the Patriarchy is just south of worth purchasing at the airport. As a book about desire, power, or toppling the patriarchy, it is incompetent, defensive, and astonishingly clueless.

This is a story about someone who responds to criticisms of her TV show by taking “a glamping writers’ retreat” to El Capitan: “We had a shaman come. She did magic incantations as we lay on the floor of a yurt.” It is an unwitting portrait of a rich Los Angeles creative type with a child’s knack for exploiting the sympathies of others, a person whose deep fear of doing the wrong thing was regularly outmatched by an even deeper distaste for doing the right thing. The nicest thing that can be said of this oblivious, self-absorbed, unimportant book is that it proves, once and for all, that trans people are fully, regrettably human.

Those are the first two paragraphs, and it goes on to skewer Peter Thiel (who I should note is literally a vampire who wants to use the blood of the young to extend his lifespan) in only 7 words, along with lambasting former Transparent star Jeffrey Tambour, Louie C.K., and Lena Dunham

Still she conclusively shows, with Soloway’s own words, that they are not as much of a self absorbed asshole as Soloway is.

This is beautiful, and I know two thing for sure:

  1. I never want to be on the bad side of Andrea Long Chu.
  2. If I ever need a speech writer, I want her.

 There are tears of joy pouring down my face.

Too Lame Don’t Read (TLDR)

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The New York Times has an interminable essay on why law enforcement has consistently missed right wing violent terrorism.

They meticulously tiptoe around what is the most obvious answer, that a large proportion of their members actively support right wing racists.

There are 4-5 stories in this report where somehow or other the authorities “mysteriously” screwed up and allowed these folks to walk away after engaging in acts that would ordinarily end up with a 10-20 year sentence.

This happens because they actively support the actions and goals of right wing terrorists, whether as the cop on the beat, or as a prosecutor who offers administrative inefficiency as an alibi.

If these folks were black or brown, they would be in jail or they would be pushing up daisies.

When people of color do something even remotely close to this this, they bomb their house and allow the entire block to burn down, and when a white man murders a church full of black people, they bring him Burger King to eat.

Does anyone else see a pattern?

I Will Be Beer Blogging This Election Night

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Beer and pretzels, actually and I will be updating regularly.

I’ll start on the beer once I pick up Charlie from his election duties, and it will be beer and pretzels, because ……… What part of beer and pretzels don’t you UNDERSTAND?

While I will not be good to drive, I don’t expect to get truly hammered.

I deferred to my daughter on choice of beer, because she’s the only other one in the house who can drink beer (Sharon* is allergic to malt, and Charlie is under age.), which somewhat unfortunately is Natty Boh (National Bohemian).

The beer is actually a good metaphor for the establishment backed Democratic candidates this evening though, it is generic and uninspiring.

I’ll start live blogging around 7 or so, by which time we should start getting returns from the states with early poll closings.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

Floatovoltaics

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Blah, blah, blah!

The title is a term for floating solar panels on water, and while the initial costs are larger there are some significant advantages:

A total of 1.1 gigawatts (GW) of solar have been installed around the world as of September, according to a new report by the World Bank (PDF). That’s similar to the amount of traditional solar panel capacity that had been installed around the world in the year 2000, the report says. The World Bank expects that, like traditional solar 18 years ago, we’re likely to see an explosion of floating solar over the next two decades.

That’s because floating solar is not simply “solar panels on water.” Solar panels prevent algae growth in dammed areas, and they inhibit evaporation from occurring in hotter climates. (According to Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, major lakes in the southwestern US like Lake Mead and Lake Powell can lose more than 800,000 acre-feet of water to evaporation per year, and the adorably-described “floatovoltaics” could prevent up to 90 percent of that evaporation.”) Additionally, floating solar avoids taking up space on land that is priced at a premium. In Northern California, for example, a floating solar installation was added to a nearby reservoir because the land around it was better used for growing grapes.

Another benefit of floating solar is that ground doesn’t have to be leveled before the plant is installed. Usually, fixed-tilt panels are attached to a floating platform that’s moored to the bottom of the reservoir. Most systems send electricity through floating inverters, although in some smaller installations the inverters are situated on land.

The downside is, of course, cost. Floating platforms and water-resistant wiring are more expensive for water-dwelling panels than for their land-based counterparts. As solar PV panel prices have been falling, however, the extra cost to make a floating system might save it from being considered too expensive.

………

Floating solar and hydroelectric dams actually work in a pretty nice symbiosis. In some areas, hydroelectric dams produce energy in an extremely predictable manner. In these cases, the electricity can be used to augment the more variable solar energy coming from the panels. In other cases, hydroelectric energy wanes in times of drought, and solar energy can be used to augment hydroelectric power when water levels are low. “Floating solar may therefore be of particular interest where grids are weak, such as in Sub-Saharan Africa and parts of developing Asia,” the World Bank writes.

………

The market for floating photovoltaics has been growing. Until this year, no floating solar systems had more than a 100 megawatt peak capacity, but as of 2018, several 100 MW floating solar systems have been connected to the grid, the largest being a 150 MW floating plant. “Flooded mining sites in China support most of the largest installations,” the World Bank writes.

Large reservoirs are large areas that are not available for other development, and their placement on things like the 3 Gorges Dam, where algae blooms have occurred,  might ameliorate the some of the impacts of that particular clusterf%$#.

Good News, Sort Of

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The Supreme Court has denied cert for the appeals court ruling supporting the Obama Administration’s net neutrality rules, which means that the precedent stands, though the regulation has been emasculated by Ajit Pai and Evil Minions™:

This morning the Supreme Court issued orders from the justices’ private conference on Friday. The justices did not add any new cases to their docket for the term – they did that on Friday afternoon – nor did they call for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in any cases. But one order today in particular was significant: The justices declined to review a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upholding the Obama administration’s “net neutrality” rules, which (generally speaking) required internet service providers to treat all traffic on the internet equally.

The rules, which were issued in 2015, have since been replaced by a 2018 order by the Federal Communications Commission eliminating net neutrality, so the justices were not expected to weigh in on the merits of these cases. Instead, the real question was the fate of the D.C. Circuit’s decision upholding the rules: Would the Supreme Court allow it to stand – which would mean that it could serve as precedent for future cases – or would the justices instead invalidate the D.C. Circuit’s decision and send it back with directions to dismiss the cases as moot (a doctrine known as Munsingwear vacatur), because the net neutrality rules are no longer in effect?

Roberts and Kavanaugh both recused, which is probably why the precedent was allowed to stand.

A Good Start

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In response to repeated instances of racist law enforcement against Ethiopian Jews, the Israeli President and Justice Minister are looking to purge Ethiopian Jews’ records for minor crimes.

Implied, but not directly stated is that these crimes were basically racist cops busting kids because they were black.  The vernacular term is, “Contempt of Cop,” and this is a well-deserved f%$# you racist law enforcement:

President Reuven Rivlin and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked called on members of the Ethiopian community who have criminal records for disturbing public order to submit requests to have them purged, in honor of the holiday of Sigd.

“Out of a desire to complete a process of healing the rifts, and to increase Ethiopian immigrants’ trust in the law enforcement and judicial authorities, the president and the justice minister call on Ethiopian minors and young people who have been tried in the past for disturbing public order and who were not given jail terms to submit requests to purge their criminal record,” the statement said.

………

Two years ago, the Committee for Eradicating Racism Against Ethiopian Immigrants published a report stating that the Israeli authorities discriminated against Ethiopian immigrants in various areas, including law enforcement. 

The report, which was adopted by the government, noted that the number of criminal cases and indictments against Ethiopian Israelis was significantly higher than their proportion of the population.  

………

“The power of the institution of pardons is the ability to discuss Israeli issues that demand going beyond the letter of the law to serve the public interest,” said Rivlin. “Ethiopian immigrants have experienced discrimination from the establishment and Israeli society; they suffer from stigmas and negative stereotypes and are exposed to exclusion and prejudice, and even from physical and verbal violence.” 

“It is our duty as a society to do everything to deal with the racism within us and uproot it, and all the authorities are obligated to combat the phenomenon of labeling, exclusion and discrimination of any kind,” Rivlin continued. “Our call is another step in the war against labeling and exclusion, another step toward healing the rift that has been created between Ethiopian immigrants and the establishment and society.”

Retraining the police, and firing the racist ones would be a good next step. 

Needless to say, not even this weak of this could possibly happen in the United States, because it would be followed by a sh%$ storm from the racist right, including hand wringing from the right wing talking heads, and death threats from their followers.

Maximum Geek

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Is that a circular slide rule?


Yep, that’s a circular slide rule


Also known as an E6B flight computer

I came across the 2nd image online, and thought, “Is that Mr. Spock using a circular slide rule in the 23rd century?”

Why yes, yes it is.

Given Gene Roddenberry’s background, he flew aircraft in WWII and was an airline pilot for TWA after the war, I’m thinking that at least one of these probably came from him.

Spock and slide rules:  This is like a total geek-gasm.

Linkage

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Recent tests of a parachute for use on Mars, 37 km high and Mach 1.8:

Mom, the Ukraine is Being the Ukraine Again!!!!

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BREAKING: Major law enforcement agency in #Ukraine caught out spying on main synagogue in #Kiev with bugging devices. Chief Rabbi of Kiev appeals to int’l community for help https://t.co/Hk5HtqrgVZ
This is just bizarre. Why would they be bugging a synagogue??

— Defending History (@DefendingHistor) November 2, 2018

Yes, these folks are our allies in the Ukraine.

How lovely.

Google translate of the page here.

And Now Advertisers are Aiding Terrorists

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Yes, our friends who want to use cell phone tracking to sell us shoes have been selling their services to anti abortion operatives:

Last year, an enterprising advertising executive based in Boston, Massachusetts, had an idea: Instead of using his sophisticated mobile surveillance techniques to figure out which consumers might be interested in buying shoes, cars, or any of the other products typically advertised online, what if he used the same technology to figure out which women were potentially contemplating abortion, and send them ads on behalf of anti-choice organizations?

The executive—John Flynn, CEO of Copley Advertising—set to work. He put together PowerPoint presentations touting his capabilities, and sent them to groups he thought would be interested in reaching “abortion-minded women,” to use anti-choice parlance.

Before long, he’d been hired by RealOptions, a network of crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) in Northern California, as well as by the evangelical adoption agency Bethany Christian Services.

Flynn’s endeavors quickly won him attention in the anti-choice world. He was invited to speak at the Family Research Council’s ProLifeCon Digital Action Summit in January this year, and he got a few write-ups in anti-choice press.

In an interview with Live Action News—the website for Live Action, the group run by anti-choice activist Lila Rose that is responsible for bogus attack videos against Planned Parenthood—Flynn gave some details about his strategy. He sends advertisements for his clients to women’s smartphones while they are sitting in Planned Parenthood clinics, using a technology known as “mobile geo-fencing.” He also planned to ping women at methadone clinics and other abortion facilities. His program for Bethany covered five cities: Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Richmond, Virginia; St. Louis, Missouri; and New York City.

“We are very excited to bring our mobile marketing capabilities to the pro-life community,” Flynn told Live Action News.

This is why the self-described “disrupters” in the tech industry need to be kept under a tight regulatory leash.

If you don’t find this completely terrifying, you have not been paying attention.