32 Comments

I'm coming to the conclusion that Tuberville is still holding a grudge that the military didn't support Trump in his effort to overturn the election or to stop the vote count, and is holding out for a military that will do so in the future. It's a very bad omen.

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Thom Hartman proposed a theory that tuberville is doing it so trump can install his lackeys when he's elected again. Makes sense.

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I agree. Totally what this is about.

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founding

Exactly. Democrats need to find a way to use their senate majority to resolve this before the election.

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I wish they'd confirm them one-by-one. Yes, it would take weeks, and nothing else would get done. But nothing is going to get done anyway until House Republicans sort themselves out. May as well use this time to confirm as many of these nominees as possible.

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founding

Yeah idk if they're letting it go on because they think it makes Republicans look bad, or if they're just feckless. But Republicans have made their intention to destroy this country as it currently exists quite clear. I don't think it misappropriates fault and blame to say that Democrats have a responsibility to do everything possible to stop it. It's too late in 2025.

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My husband got his paperwork for insurance renewal this week. Apparently, the South Carolina state health plan has added coverage for birth control for qualified dependents for the first time. Totally a business decision, since it will be cheaper to cover birth control than to pay for all the pregnancies our stupid anti-choice laws will cause.

Not that this will help anyone 1. not on the state health plan; or 2. in a household with someone who believes all birth control is abortion. Plenty of the latter in SC.

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founding

Yeah those of us here understand how awful all of this is, but I think it takes time to permeate through the public and the economy, to where it's affecting millions of individual decisions. But that likely will happen. I guess the question is whether it's too late then.

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" the anti-abortion movement is airing a plethora of ads, holding rallies, canvassing, and phone-banking to try to defeat it. The groups are targeting students, Black communities, and other demographics in Democratic early voting blocs, as heavy turnout is expected for the ballot measure vote." If true, this playing with fire. When you do GOTV, you generally don't want to be contacting your opposition. My guess is that this effort will backfire and mostly remind the targeted demographic that this election is coming up and they need to show up and vote Yes. Looks like Republicans are doing our work for us.

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Another thought on back firing Republican efforts. The whole August election to try to sink the abortion issue in November played right into Democratic hands by (1) getting voters to practice how to vote by mail, vote, early etc., learn where their polling place is and so forth.(2) As well as to assemble a team of people who would be doing GOTV, setting up a hotline where voters with questions can call, and helping clean up voter contact lists (every time you go door to door or do phone banking, the list gets better because you identify your supporters, eliminate wrong numbers, voters who have moved or deceased etc. So it puts you in a better position for the next election. (For example, you can go door to door for GOTV with a list of people who told a phone banker or canvasser that they were voting No on the constitutional amendment in August.) By scheduling the election in August, the Rs not only succeeded in pissing voters off, but they gave Dems an opportunity to strengthen their GOTV infrastructure.

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Oct 12, 2023·edited Oct 12, 2023

Great work, Grace!

Re the Poland Pill Police: "Paweł Szpot, a forensic toxicologist at Wrocław Medical University in Poland and lead author of the papers, stands by his team’s research and says that the group’s motivations are scientific, not political."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03129-9?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Yeah, right. Sure. We buy that...

But today I'm looking for any good news among the hellscape that the world is becoming. So thanks for telling us that the Comstock Crazies failed in Illinois. I'll take that.

And I'm hoping that the Democrats start running ads of TFG saying over and over and over again at all his hate rallies how he'd nominate judges to overturn Roe -- knowing what old and draconian laws would be on the books in some of these red states. And the Dems should say if he didn't know about those laws, well he should have if he's so "moderate." He didn't know. Because he doesn't care. And that's not moderate, that's dangerous.

He's not moderate. He's an narcissistic opportunist who will now say anything to keep himself out of prison.

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founding

I'm trying to somehow brace myself for what might be coming. Everyone in this country has access to all the information they need to figure that out, and Biden is still tied (at best) with him. The myth that Republicans are somehow 'better' on 'the economy' could be enough to doom us depending on what happens over the next year. We actually do well with the highest turnout voters. But in presidential elections there are tens of millions of voters for whom it wasn't worth bothering to turn out in the midterms. Those are the people who worry me, because god only knows what their decision making processes are like. Anecdotally there's some suggestion Trump might be doing better with nonwhite men. Which wouldn't surprise me. If the whole ship goes down it's going to be men's fault. Just like every war in human history.

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Have seen some headlines about his uptick with non-white men. Hopefully the females in their lives will set them straight. Never been more impressed with black women, especially, of late as they've saved this country from itself time and time and time again.

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founding

Yeah. But if salvation depends on men listening to women, I have to say I'm not particularly optimistic :(

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It is interesting that the laws in Poland have not worked to reverse the declining birth rate.

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/POL/poland/birth-rate

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That Texas Tribune story made me cry. It is the most anti-life culture that forces women and babies (and their families) to go through that. Utter hell.

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As always with the fundamentalists, the cruelty is the point.

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It's perverse. It's immoral. It's not moral for that woman and her family to go through that. I feel (me, personally -- not that anyone has to agree or would make the same choice) that I wouldn't want to use hospital and medical staff and medical resources, either, knowing it was a doomed pregnancy. Why take those nurses and doctors away from others who would need them?

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founding

Yes, that point. That's what a person is supposed to feel. A person is supposed to think about and care about others that way. (You even made sure to indicate that no one would be a bad person if they felt otherwise). In my experience those are more feminine traits. I wish men would pay attention and learn. It may seem like a small thing, but I think it makes it that much worse that the people we are terrorizing are likely thinking about the well-being of others even as they go through their own ordeal.

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author

Made me cry too 💛

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That Texas story is appalling.

Do you suppose it's dawned on her in-laws yet that this entire ordeal probably wouldn't have happened if they hadn't voted for Trump? I'm betting not.

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Most likely, they see it as God judging her for some hidden sin (or a not so hidden "sin", like voting blue.) As long as they feel like they "win," they don't care about anything or anyone else.

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As long as it punishes the "other" that they hate, they won't make that connection.

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No. I don't think these people make those connections, or if they do, they think of it as a sad rare consequence.

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The Texas Tribune article is painful to read. What the State put that entire family through is criminal. I hope they send their bills to Abbott.

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There is a gofundme, but I am not sure how to 100% verify it: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-family-of-5-with-funeral-for-twin

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I’m going to send this link to my Texas state representative and Texas state Senator and ask them to donate.

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No woman should have to be so strong as Miranda Michel just so Leonard Leo, Abbott and the rest of those despicable people can scratch their balls in satisfaction. Any twin pregnancy is fraught; her experience is one I will not forget.

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i just purchased a lawn sign: My Religion Believes in Abortion! I am Jewish

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That Texas law is beyond cruel and dehumanizing, but that’s exactly the point, isn’t it?

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That Texas Tribune article was gut-wrenching.

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It's unbelievable.

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