Banned Again: A three judge panel of a federal appeals court has ruled 2-1 that the Texas law severely restricting abortion can remain in effect until challenges to it wend their way through the courts. A federal trial-level judge had previously blocked enforcement of the law.

  The law bars abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy and makes no exceptions for rape or incest. The four sentence decision gives no reasons for leaving it in place.

  What ultimately must be determined through lawsuits is whether the Texas law violates past Supreme Court decisions guaranteeing the right to an abortion until viability of the fetus, usually about 22 to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

The Powers of Subpoena:  The chairman of the House inquiry into the Jan. 6th Capitol insurrection said the committee would move next week toward criminal contempt charges against former Trump adviser Steve Bannon for refusing to cooperate with its investigation.

  It’s a test of how far the committee is willing to go to nail down witnesses and documents related to the Capitol attack. It’s a proxy war between the committee and former President Donald Trump.

High Crimes: Robert Durst, the odd millionaire convicted of murdering a friend in 2000 because of what she knew about the 1982 disappearance of his wife, has been sentenced in California to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

  Durst was convicted of shooting Susan Berman, a journalist and screenwriter, because he was afraid she would tell investigators what she had learned about the disappearance of his first wife, Kathie McCormack Durst.

  Now 78, Durst is restricted to a wheelchair. His story was the basis for a Hollywood movie and the subject of an HBO documentary, at the end of which he is caught muttering, “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.” 

LA Confidential: Los Angeles City Council Member Mark Ridley-Thomas, for 30 years a powerful black politician in Southern California and effective advocate for the homeless, has been accused in a federal indictment of exchanging bribes with a dean at the University of Southern California school of social work to gain an academic appointment for his son.

  The 66 year-old Ridley-Thomas, who has also been a member of the LA County legislature, is accused of directing federal money and $100,000 from his campaign fund to USC in exchange for getting a teaching position and enrollment in a USC graduate program for his son, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas, who had recently resigned from the state legislature in a sexual harassment investigation.

  The indictment says Ridley-Thomas was trying to restore his son’s career and reputation. A statement from the US Attorney’s office says, “Ridley-Thomas allegedly wanted to help secure paid employment for his relative to minimize any public fallout for them both in the wake of the sudden resignation from office.” 

  On the other end of the deal was Marilyn Louise Flynn, who at the time was dean of USC’s School of Social Work. Now 85, and retired, Flynn has also been indicted.

True Crime: Prominent South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh, 53, a target of tabloid obsession even though his is not a young missing blonde, has been indicted on charges that he stole $2.8 million in settlement money that was supposed to go to his housekeeper’s family.

  Murdaugh was arrested where he has been living at a drug detox facility.

  The settlement money came from an agreement that Murdaugh and his insurers reached on behalf of  the sons of the housekeeper, Gloria Satterfield, who died in 2018 after falling on the front steps of the Murdaugh family’s country home in Islandton, South Carolina. The sons said they were never told of the settlement or paid the money.

  Satterfield’s death was considered suspicious, but there was no real investigation. 

  Murdaugh has already been accused of stealing millions of dollars from his law firm and people around him have a tendency to die. His wife and one son were murdered and he’s accused of trying to have himself murdered so his surviving son would get his life insurance.   

Farm Aid: More than 10,000 employees of the John Deere tractor and heavy equipment company have gone on strike demanding higher pay and better retirement. With a national shortage of labor during the pandemic,  the United Auto Workers Union is leveraging the situation by walking out.

  “Our members at John Deere strike for the ability to earn a decent living, retire with dignity and establish fair work rules,” Chuck Browning, vice president and director of the UAW’s Agricultural Implement Department, said in a statement.

The Spin Rack: —  Former president Bill Clinton was hospitalized earlier this week for what doctors described as “a non-Covid-related infection.” — At least 32 people died in  a suicide  bombing at a Shiite mosque in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. It’s the second such attack in a week. — A top administrator with the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas advised teachers that, if they have a book about the Holocaust in their classroom, they should also offer students a book from an “opposing” perspective, NBC News reports. — Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, who was fired and denied his pension by Donald Trump, has won a settlement restoring his pension and other benefits. McCabe had been wrongly accused of leaking emails regarding Hillary Clinton and was fired a day before he would have been eligible for full retirement benefits. The government will pay his half million dollar legal bill.

The Rich are Different:  Sen. Lindsey Graham claimed on Fox News that immigrants from Brazil are entering the US through Mexico “wearing designer clothes and Gucci bags.” Graham told host Sean Hannity that “We had 40,000 Brazilians come through the Yuma Sector alone headed for Connecticut wearing designer clothes and Gucci bags.” Next week, welfare queens driving Cadillacs.  

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