“It is a miracle that we are now here exercising our tranquil and free deliberations on the subject (the Constitution). It would be madness to trust to future miracles.”
– Alexander Hamilton
1.
This just in this morning. As we are witnessing the journey in time to the Dark Ages happening right now in front of our eyes and minds. Without Roe and other Supreme Court precedents guaranteeing abortion access, states have the legal authority to regulate or ban the procedure at any point in a pregnancy — including at fertilization. 13 states have "trigger" laws in place making abortion illegal that specifically say that they will take effect shortly after the court overturns its precedents. More states are expected to restrict the procedure.
According to the Guardian, Roughly 860,000 induced abortions are performed each year in the US. However, a disproportionate share of the people who seek abortions are low-income or people of color who already have children, making it more difficult to obtain an abortion.
Professor Caitlin Knowles Mayers, an economist at Middlebury College in Vermont who has studied how the reversal of Roe would affect accessibility of abortion, said “As was the case in the pre-Roe era, many women seeking abortions will find a way to get to the states where abortion is legal. Current empirical evidence suggests that about three-quarters of women in the states that go dark will manage to make such a trip, reaching providers in soon-to-be ‘border’ states like Florida, Illinois, New Mexico and Virginia. Current evidence on the causal effects of travel distances indicates that about one-quarter of women seeking abortions will not be able to travel to obtain them and that most of these women end up giving birth as a result.”
Dr Nisha Verma, a Darney-Landy fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said “Abortion is an essential part of reproductive healthcare, and this is going to affect people, even people who think, ‘I will never have an abortion. We find these laws are so extreme, clinicians are scared to provide evidence-based care. They don’t know if they’re going to be prosecuted or fined or criminalized.”
Just one more example that working within your state to make a difference is more important than ever. Work local, make a difference.
2.
Russell “Rusty” Bowers, the Arizona House speaker, stood up for democracy at his own peril by refusing to help the orangeman overturn the 2020 election. Because of his faith and belief in the Constitution, a Divinely Inspired document according to him, Bowers was compelled to hold the line in Arizona. In his words, “I may, in the eyes of men, not hold correct opinions or act according to their vision or convictions but I … do not want to win by cheating. I will not play with laws I swore allegiance to with any contrived desertion or deflection of my deep foundational desire to follow God’s will.” Bowers did the right thing.
I’m probably not the only one, however, that finds it problematic that politicians are using their faith to guide policy and lawmaking while serving the people. Bowers and his family are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who see that the United States is literally a nation designated by God as the place where the church would be restored. The United States of America is part of God’s plan.
One wonders that if the Constitution was actually Divinely Inspired, why such an egregious error as not addressing slavery was included? Was God just tired and wrapped it up early? “Man, I’ve had it with this document…let those worms below figure out the rest. Maybe there’ll be a war over it in the next century…who knows?” Yeah, yeah, I know, it WAS addressed, but to PROTECT slavery, not to abolish it. The specific clauses of the Constitution related to slavery were the Three-Fifths Clause, the ban on Congress ending the slave trade for twenty years, the fugitive slave clause, and the slave insurrections. Article 1, Section 9, prohibits Congress from banning the importation of slaves until 1808, and Article 5 prohibited this from being amended.
Anyway, here’s a man who waxed on about the election not being rigged and that the orangeman and his ilk were lying about it, and yet he has said he will vote for Trump again if he runs for president in 2024. Krist-onna-stik, you can’t reason with these people. Most Mormons will vote for Trump, as well as most other conservative Christian sects. Because what spells out religious beliefs more than voting for a man who was recorded saying “When you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything ... Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.” Not to mention that he’s a philandering, failed casino magnate, a slum lord, a beauty pageant operator, a stiff artist who mostly shirks his debts, lies every time he opens his mouth, and has to be the most crude and arrogant oaf on the planet. And he, of course, urged the armed rubes to charge the Capital Building on January 6th last year.
The religious right in this country is not really about religion. It’s a political organization. The Jesus people on the TeeVee sell the “prosperity gospel” like so much snake oil. It’s a powerful and toxic stew that is about as relevant to Jesus as a tractor pull or World Wrestling Entertainment. Conservative Christianity in America is less a religion and more of a secret handshake, a group signifier of exclusion and moral superiority. Its swaggering and patriarchal cruelty is at once its greatest weakness and most attractive feature for working class white people who have seen their lifestyles greatly diminished over the past forty years.
In fairness to Bowers, even an article in the Bulwark, titled America Needs More Legislators Like Rusty Bowers, praises him for standing up to the orangecriminalman. The author, Jim Swift, does wrap up his opinion piece with I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to square the testimony Bowers gave about how Donald Trump’s Big Lie dominated his personal and professional life—pretty much every day for months—with saying he’d vote for Trump over Joe Biden again. Maybe Bowers really just doesn’t like Joe Biden for some reason—which is fine, of course. Or maybe Bowers is just saying what he needs to say, being a politician and all, to keep his job in Phoenix, and he thinks otherwise privately.
Orange you glad to hear my opinion on this?
3.
And diving further down the rabbit hole, Charles Pierce reported on Thursday that Thomas Lecaque, a historian of the Middle Ages and the Crusades, remarked on Twitter that the National Right to Life Coalition’s plans once Roe v. Wade is overturned reads like the Fugitive Slave Act redrawn by the East German Stasi. Here are some highlights:
Aiding or abetting an illegal abortion should include, but not be limited to: (1) giving instructions over the telephone, the internet, or any other medium of communication regarding self administered abortions or means to obtain an illegal abortion; (3) hosting or maintaining a website, or providing internet service, that encourages or facilitates efforts to obtain an illegal abortion; (4) offering or providing illegal “abortion doula” services; and (5) providing referrals to an illegal abortion provider. The penalties for such conspiracy, and for such aiding or abetting, would be subject to the affirmative defense for a physician to perform a life-saving abortion.
To further ensure meaningful enforcement against the performance of illegal abortions, we recommend establishing civil remedies to be brought by appropriate state or local officials and by persons related to the pregnant woman. This would permit a civil action against a person or entity that violates any provision of the abortion law for injunctive relief sufficient to prevent future violations; for compensatory damages if the plaintiff has suffered actual injury or harm from the defendant’s conduct; for punitive damages, payable to the not-for-profit organization of the plaintiff’s choice that provides services to pregnant women; and for costs and reasonable attorney fees.
We recommend that a civil action for Wrongful Death of an unborn child be available to the woman upon whom an illegal abortion has been performed, the father of the unborn child, and the parents of a minor, permitting recovery of compensatory and punitive damages, and court costs and reasonable attorney fees.
Buckle up.
4.
For some relief, how about some Lowell George…
5.
A federal grand jury last Friday indicted Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, for failing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Capitol attack. Mr. Navarro appeared in court on Friday afternoon, speaking on his own behalf and telling a federal magistrate judge that the congressional subpoena he was served with was “illegal” and “unenforceable.”
“This is not the way that America is supposed to function,” he went on, adding, “They’re playing hardball. I am, let us say, disappointed in our republic.”
In other words, I’m a wealthy white guy and shouldn’t be held to the standards of law or held accountable for any alleged crimes I’ve committed.
6.
Attorney General Merrick Garland travelled to Ukraine to discuss the prosecution of Russian war crimes with Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Iryna Venediktova. I’m all for tracking and prosecuting Russian war criminals but I think it might have slipped his mind that their are some crimes at home that need his more immediate attention.
7.
The crazy-ass woman from Alaska is back and is seeking the sole U.S. House seat in Alaska. Gawd help us all. In her words, she wants to "highlight our ideas for fixing this country by responsibly developing Alaska's God-given natural resources, getting runaway government spending under control, protecting human life, protecting the right to keep and bear arms, and restoring respect for individual liberty and the Constitution." The lunatics have been released and are here to stay. You know what? Just. Vote. Blue.
8.
According to the WSJ, many Democratic voters are now voting for Republican candidates due to their frustrations with Democratic leaders in their districts. Understandable, and as much as I cry JUST VOTE BLUE, the Dems are having trouble getting their proverbial shit together. And there are actual sane humans who run on the Republican ticket. Thomas Kean, Jr. seems like one of them, as mentioned in the article. He absolutely rejects QAnon and has a long history of standing up against anti-Semitism in New Jersey.
The consequences of this, however, is that many of the Republicans in Congress have fallen so far down the orange crazyman hole that sane Republicans are ‘forced’ to stick together when it comes to legislation. And identifying as a Republican these days means you are associated directly with that crowd. I still say Just. Vote. Blue. We’ll work out the rest from there. And hang in there, people.
And now…
Biden is Catholic........very Catholic and he supports a woman's right to choose. Don't hear much about that.
Sarah only got 30% of the vote in the 1st ranked choice voting in Alaska. The top challenger to the R's has dropped out. Most likely another R is going to win and he's worse than Palin. At least she's stupid.