I am exhausted and I don't like to say it out loud. There was a hearing this morning about whether there should be immunity for the culprit we all saw on TV perpetrate the crime. I mean I understand due process and so on but at some point it should become obvious that the culprit is intent on running a spectacle, making a mockery of rule of law. I know I am veering off the issue at hand but these other Republicans have gone mad in the shadow of the main culprit. Hold the R party accountable for all the misery we see. If you are a journalist say its name in every article you write -- "it's the Republican party, stupid!" Before a crime is committed, before it hits the courts for justice, there are so many societal constraints that would hold the potential culprit back and accountable and none of those restraints are present for the Republicans which is why they are acting with impunity. Media would be one such restraint but fuck the media! Watch Maddow from last night if you can. We have to go after the party. Vote Blue! if nothing else.
Re: the Idaho senator...Um I'm sorry, but forced pregnancy will actually take people (women) out of the workforce at least in the short term, and reduce their ability to pursue any kind of education or job skill development...how can they make workforce arguments with a straight face? Am I missing something?
Thank you so much for your concise overview on what is happening to girls & women in this country. We need more than to reestablish Roe, we need a constitutional amendment that guarantees that women are treated equally under the law. The Equal Rights Amendment, which has been passed by the required 38 states, is languishing on the National Archivist’s desk because the Barr Justice Dept told the last Archivist not to publish it. And sadly, President Biden and the current Justice Dept won’t act. Roe was simply the floor. We need to ensure that no state can pass a law that only impacts women without considering whether that law would be just or unjust for men. There are 0 laws impacting men’s reproductive rights. That is not equality. And we all know that this movement to curtail reproductive rights has nothing to do with the fetus. This is a backlash from the far right to push women and minorities back into the kitchen and away from economic and political power. Publish the ERA and let us fight in court. Alito could never have written his opinion that there’s “nothing in the Constitution guaranteeing women’s rights to abortion” if the ERA had been published.
My daughter is a sophomore in college and she is beginning to see the impact of the Texas law in reality. She keeps reporting more classmates from high school having babies. It has been rather startling to her. Some of these pregnancies would have resulted in births but many of these would not have a few years ago. Some of these young women have families that can step in and help raise these children but we discuss the impact of that and the impact of those who have no support. This generation has some rough years ahead if we can't right the ship.
And I hope you feel better Grace. I had Covid after Thanksgiving and it knocked me down for a few days. I also had to resist coughing directly into my husbands face at night while he slept b/c he seems to have an obnoxious natural immunity to the virus :)
What's frightening about that is it sounds like they're completely succeeding in their goal, to send women back to the home to raise children, and fundamentally change American society.
Hey there Grace! I’ve come down with Covid too- hope your experience is as mild as mine is right now! I’m thankful for vaccines and the latest booster keeping this to feeling pretty much like a regular cold. Having to wear a mask at home and worrying about whether my husband and daughter are going to get it too stinks though!
I must say we need to change the narrative as mentioned in the beginning and authors stated abroad. It is a public health crisis.
Doctors leaving states and maternity wings shutting down. Not what it will take. Guess more deaths. Hopefully a human rights lawyer activist can partner with advocacy groups and turn it around. 😟
I've had time to think more about the New Yorker story, and I think I can articulate my thoughts better.
What really outrages me about this moment in history is the push to send women back generations, to reverse all the progress.
This young woman, and so many others like her, sadly, was already at the bottom of our society, at no height to fall from. Poor, undocumented, and severely overweight; pregnant or not, she never stood a chance either way. This is a tragedy, and it's also an outrage, but it's a different outrage.
I make the distinction because we need the movement for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy to have as much support as possible, so I think we ought to note the different ways it can appeal. Stories of the suffering of the most marginalized and disadvantaged among us have always been important to a set of Americans, but those stories, sadly, have always been there and probably always will be. If they moved enough of us by themselves, this country would already be a much different, more caring place. Of course we should keep telling their stories, but it won't be enough.
The appeal broadens when every American imagines it's possible it could happen to THEM, not just to someone whom they can come up with a reason to dismiss. It seems heartless, but there's a logic to it. Those at the bottom have always suffered, so it's easy to feel hopeless and powerless to do anything about it, so we put it out of mind. But when we have something (or we think we have something), and it's taken away, that provokes a much different reaction.
For the least among us who already suffer so much, the abortion bans may be like just another brick in the wall. When we believe the threat goes much higher up the ladder, more of us are moved to action. Whether we like that or not we don't want to overlook it, because to the extent we do we run the risk of limiting our appeal to the left side of the political spectrum. We need the full center and then some, and that's where focusing on what Dobbs has taken away, and threatens to take away, from every woman, and from our entire society, way of life, and standard of living, probably (and I'm not saying not shamefully) resonates more than the ordeals of the least fortunate among us.
If we want to help everyone, especially those who have it the worst, we have to remember that this battle is too important to underestimate the value of, and necessity of, self-interest as a motivator.
When the Texas law first passed I looked at my husband and said I think the law should go further and say if you voted Republican you can't leave the state for an abortion either. My point was what you said much better than me! And that is what we are seeing. Now that white women (which I'm one of) are having issues with care the cages are getting rattled. The amount of times the words "I never thought I'd need an abortion" have been said keeps going up. Many didn't understand what Roe was giving them. They thought, and some still do probably, that abortion was what that single woman who slept around without using birth control did. They never dreamed they would some day be in need.
I wish I could say it in fewer words! What people will get upset about is what has changed. The poor have always been doomed, so in some sense less has changed there. But those who were relatively 'safe' before would notice the difference.
Jessica - I thank you for "truly begging the Biden people to find a way to talk about the president’s abortion rights plan". It's crazy-making how blind the Biden strategists are to us. WTF? What about engaging the other Jessica in amplifying your message and have her urge us and all her readers to write, call, fax, resistbot, whatever? And as I've asked before, though I acknowledge it's time-consuming for you, just give us marching orders (or addresses to write to) and we will make you proud. 💪🏻
I think part of the problem is Biden’s personal discomfort with abortion. He can barely bring himself to say the word. His support for women has always come from a place of paternalism and he’s from a time when “women’s issues” were not discussed in public. I’m old enough to remember when the euphemism “female surgery” for hysterectomy or other woman-specific procedures was whispered and ended any conversation if men were around. Having Harris take the lead on this is great, but only if the media will actually cover her. She’s been practically invisible except when she’s made a gaffe.
"shit Republican men say.” gets my vote 🗳 I think he's wrong besides being a dofus. They aren't going to fill those jobs. Those are jobs that migrants or immigrants usually take because Americans are above taking those jobs. Besides, the babies 👶 won't be old enough for years.
Grace, I hope you feel better soon!
I am exhausted and I don't like to say it out loud. There was a hearing this morning about whether there should be immunity for the culprit we all saw on TV perpetrate the crime. I mean I understand due process and so on but at some point it should become obvious that the culprit is intent on running a spectacle, making a mockery of rule of law. I know I am veering off the issue at hand but these other Republicans have gone mad in the shadow of the main culprit. Hold the R party accountable for all the misery we see. If you are a journalist say its name in every article you write -- "it's the Republican party, stupid!" Before a crime is committed, before it hits the courts for justice, there are so many societal constraints that would hold the potential culprit back and accountable and none of those restraints are present for the Republicans which is why they are acting with impunity. Media would be one such restraint but fuck the media! Watch Maddow from last night if you can. We have to go after the party. Vote Blue! if nothing else.
Re: the Idaho senator...Um I'm sorry, but forced pregnancy will actually take people (women) out of the workforce at least in the short term, and reduce their ability to pursue any kind of education or job skill development...how can they make workforce arguments with a straight face? Am I missing something?
Thank you so much for your concise overview on what is happening to girls & women in this country. We need more than to reestablish Roe, we need a constitutional amendment that guarantees that women are treated equally under the law. The Equal Rights Amendment, which has been passed by the required 38 states, is languishing on the National Archivist’s desk because the Barr Justice Dept told the last Archivist not to publish it. And sadly, President Biden and the current Justice Dept won’t act. Roe was simply the floor. We need to ensure that no state can pass a law that only impacts women without considering whether that law would be just or unjust for men. There are 0 laws impacting men’s reproductive rights. That is not equality. And we all know that this movement to curtail reproductive rights has nothing to do with the fetus. This is a backlash from the far right to push women and minorities back into the kitchen and away from economic and political power. Publish the ERA and let us fight in court. Alito could never have written his opinion that there’s “nothing in the Constitution guaranteeing women’s rights to abortion” if the ERA had been published.
My daughter is a sophomore in college and she is beginning to see the impact of the Texas law in reality. She keeps reporting more classmates from high school having babies. It has been rather startling to her. Some of these pregnancies would have resulted in births but many of these would not have a few years ago. Some of these young women have families that can step in and help raise these children but we discuss the impact of that and the impact of those who have no support. This generation has some rough years ahead if we can't right the ship.
And I hope you feel better Grace. I had Covid after Thanksgiving and it knocked me down for a few days. I also had to resist coughing directly into my husbands face at night while he slept b/c he seems to have an obnoxious natural immunity to the virus :)
What's frightening about that is it sounds like they're completely succeeding in their goal, to send women back to the home to raise children, and fundamentally change American society.
So sorry you’ve got Covid, Grace. Please take the time you need to get truly well.
So much ice cream too!
Essential!! ;)
Grace, hope you feel better soon. So sorry you are sick. ❤️
Thank you!
Feel better soon, Grace!
💛
What's that line, if wishes were fishes... anyways feel better.
Hey there Grace! I’ve come down with Covid too- hope your experience is as mild as mine is right now! I’m thankful for vaccines and the latest booster keeping this to feeling pretty much like a regular cold. Having to wear a mask at home and worrying about whether my husband and daughter are going to get it too stinks though!
Mine is pretty mild too, hope you have a speedy recovery too!
Feel better, Grace!
‘Not sure what it will take’
I must say we need to change the narrative as mentioned in the beginning and authors stated abroad. It is a public health crisis.
Doctors leaving states and maternity wings shutting down. Not what it will take. Guess more deaths. Hopefully a human rights lawyer activist can partner with advocacy groups and turn it around. 😟
Grace sending healing ❤️🩹 thoughts to you. Get well soon 💕💕
💛
I've had time to think more about the New Yorker story, and I think I can articulate my thoughts better.
What really outrages me about this moment in history is the push to send women back generations, to reverse all the progress.
This young woman, and so many others like her, sadly, was already at the bottom of our society, at no height to fall from. Poor, undocumented, and severely overweight; pregnant or not, she never stood a chance either way. This is a tragedy, and it's also an outrage, but it's a different outrage.
I make the distinction because we need the movement for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy to have as much support as possible, so I think we ought to note the different ways it can appeal. Stories of the suffering of the most marginalized and disadvantaged among us have always been important to a set of Americans, but those stories, sadly, have always been there and probably always will be. If they moved enough of us by themselves, this country would already be a much different, more caring place. Of course we should keep telling their stories, but it won't be enough.
The appeal broadens when every American imagines it's possible it could happen to THEM, not just to someone whom they can come up with a reason to dismiss. It seems heartless, but there's a logic to it. Those at the bottom have always suffered, so it's easy to feel hopeless and powerless to do anything about it, so we put it out of mind. But when we have something (or we think we have something), and it's taken away, that provokes a much different reaction.
For the least among us who already suffer so much, the abortion bans may be like just another brick in the wall. When we believe the threat goes much higher up the ladder, more of us are moved to action. Whether we like that or not we don't want to overlook it, because to the extent we do we run the risk of limiting our appeal to the left side of the political spectrum. We need the full center and then some, and that's where focusing on what Dobbs has taken away, and threatens to take away, from every woman, and from our entire society, way of life, and standard of living, probably (and I'm not saying not shamefully) resonates more than the ordeals of the least fortunate among us.
If we want to help everyone, especially those who have it the worst, we have to remember that this battle is too important to underestimate the value of, and necessity of, self-interest as a motivator.
When the Texas law first passed I looked at my husband and said I think the law should go further and say if you voted Republican you can't leave the state for an abortion either. My point was what you said much better than me! And that is what we are seeing. Now that white women (which I'm one of) are having issues with care the cages are getting rattled. The amount of times the words "I never thought I'd need an abortion" have been said keeps going up. Many didn't understand what Roe was giving them. They thought, and some still do probably, that abortion was what that single woman who slept around without using birth control did. They never dreamed they would some day be in need.
I wish I could say it in fewer words! What people will get upset about is what has changed. The poor have always been doomed, so in some sense less has changed there. But those who were relatively 'safe' before would notice the difference.
Jessica - I thank you for "truly begging the Biden people to find a way to talk about the president’s abortion rights plan". It's crazy-making how blind the Biden strategists are to us. WTF? What about engaging the other Jessica in amplifying your message and have her urge us and all her readers to write, call, fax, resistbot, whatever? And as I've asked before, though I acknowledge it's time-consuming for you, just give us marching orders (or addresses to write to) and we will make you proud. 💪🏻
I think part of the problem is Biden’s personal discomfort with abortion. He can barely bring himself to say the word. His support for women has always come from a place of paternalism and he’s from a time when “women’s issues” were not discussed in public. I’m old enough to remember when the euphemism “female surgery” for hysterectomy or other woman-specific procedures was whispered and ended any conversation if men were around. Having Harris take the lead on this is great, but only if the media will actually cover her. She’s been practically invisible except when she’s made a gaffe.
"shit Republican men say.” gets my vote 🗳 I think he's wrong besides being a dofus. They aren't going to fill those jobs. Those are jobs that migrants or immigrants usually take because Americans are above taking those jobs. Besides, the babies 👶 won't be old enough for years.
Sarah Sanders has a plan for those babies!
Not to be weightist, but is the plan a midnight snack 😋 🦴🫁👨🌾💁♀️?
Ouch! It wouldn't surprise me, maybe she doesn't get that "A Modest Proposal", by Jonathan Swift is satire.
That's it. They are trying for a Soylent Greenish scenario .