About the post birth (infanticide) lie that he routinely screams, I had asked Jessica in June if he was conflating and confusing his rubes about non-viable births and she wrote about it in July. In this tweet thread below we have a lot more context about what is going on with that lie. Basically the anti-abortion people want women to carry their non-viable pregnancies to term and then watch the baby die through all the suffering. And now mfers like trump distort it and use it as a talking point. Cruelty is the point.
The most frustrating thing about Trump demonizing perinatal hospice is that perinatal hospice is THE antiabortion response to fetal anomalies. Antiabortion activists have been pushing these programs as an alternative to abortion for a least a decade. 1/3
At least the moderator called out and put him in his place. I would like the VP to do interviews where she corrects these lies. But then it is easier to take him literally and say that is not happening and it is illegal. Otherwise you would have to get into what he must really mean and why he must be doing that type of discussion which is hard to do, (see my other recent comment).
Jessica, while I thought Harris won the debate in epic form... when I woke up the next morning I was replaying in my head their answers to the abortion questions and I was deeply unsettled because of something you wrote a bit ago. Didn't you say in a post recently that Trump will want to talk about not signing a nationwide abortion ban because he has told his right-wing anti-freedom cronies that he can get away with saying he won't sign it because it won't come to his desk anyway, but also quietly telling them that its fine, he's going to use the FDA to outlaw abortion drugs and the Comstock act etc? So basically, ABC moderators were asking the WRONG QUESTION and it played right into Trump's and his cronies' playbook. This is the real story that needs to be shouted from the rooftops after that debate. How can we help do that? THANK YOU!!!
Agree, this veto question is always the wrong thing to ask. Must ask what he will do about all the chaos and misery he unleashed by leaving it to the states.
On another triumphant note, did you see on MSNBC following the speech, in an interview with the head of a pro-choice organization, our Jessica Valenti was quoted by the interviewer, “The vice president did the impossible: she reclaimed 'family values' on abortion rights.”, who described her as the best abortion journalist in the United States.
Update: I realized I could check my YouTube history. The interview was by Crochê Para Aplicação with Mini Tammaraju, President of Reproductive Freedom For All. The program photo shows it as a Rachel Maddow program,
I realized I could check my YouTube history. The interview was by Crochê Para Aplicação with Mini Tammaraju, President of Reproductive Freedom For All. The program photo shows it as a Rachel Maddow program,
I’m still gobsmacked that Republican politicians—legislators, prosecutors, judges—are so oblivious to the zeitgeist that they permitted the most extreme uses of their new power. If they’d held back a little we might be in a very different place.
While Kamala did do a fantastic job last night, I’m disappointed that she did not bring up how in half of the country, the people are NOT in fact able to vote on abortion because Republicans and anti choice organizations are attacking ballot measures left and right. And in a handful of other states, there is no process for citizen led ballot initiatives and no way that their legislatures will ever bring it up for a vote by the people because they know the people want it to be legal without restrictions. I just wish she could have brought this into the conversation because so many people have no idea.
The people voted them in, they need to vote them out. In a way, as important as it is, abortion is the canary in the mine for many other assaults by Reps on people’s civil liberties. Their stance on pretty well everything is unhealthy for the people they are supposed to be serving on behalf of.
VP's most consequential lines may have been about the 800K polish voters in PA. Poland has recently regained their democratic footing from an autocrat and abortion was a big issue. Saw some stats on Polish, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian origin voters, mostly in MI, WI, PA enough in numbers to make a difference.
Beyond all the right things to say on various topics including abortion VP did something that was even more significant. She built a permission structure for us the public at large to feel what we feel, the disdain, the disgust towards trump and express it freely. IMO, media has normalized him at every instance to this day that I bet that normal people who are not into politics like we are didn't know how to feel or even feel validated that what they were seeing is actually what they think it is. She with evidence and rationale showed us what he truly is (much of it on his own) without the media filter and that was magnificent. We can freely think of him as a disgrace and say it because we see why and we know there are plenty others who feel the same way. We can freely think and say we don't want this for another four years because we know there are plenty of us saying that. Finally a tangible expression for the collective 'what are we even doing here?! (with him)' moment.
One thing he said must stick in our craw and we must make him wrong. He said VP will never get the Congress to enact anything she is promising including reinstating reproductive rights. Here, we MUST prove him wrong and DELIVER the House and the Senate.
A bit off the direct post but hope this useful - this is list of the 10 reproductive freedom ballot measures with names of primary groups supporting them and ActBlue links for donations. Also included AK Org stymied by MAGA Attorney General and AK Supreme Court and OH groups pushing implementation of their successful measure. I'm not much of a social media poster but if you find this list useful please pass it around. Thanks.
Reproductive Freedom - Abortion Protection Ballot Measures ActBlue Donation Link
I’m glad to read your take on Harris’ performance on the topic of abortion. I agree that overall her performance on that topic was excellent. However, I was disappointed that Harris tried to pretend that abortions in the third trimester don’t happen instead of contextualizing it, and that she failed to remark that in the United States the rights that people enjoy in one state should be available to the people in all the states. I also wished that she hadn’t dodged the direct question about whether she would support any restrictions on abortion rights. That would have been an excellent opportunity to remind the moderators that usually we should make laws to restrict things unless those things pose a problem, and that the only real problems around abortion rights are the laws that have been enacted to prevent people from exercising their rights when they need them.
In the Washington Post, Ruth Marcus noted that late term abortions are rare - it's under 2% - and that Trump and Vance and the rest of the cabal are using these excruciating circumstances to ban all abortion care..
"Northam’s is the go-to comment seized on — and distorted — by those who claim, as Trump does, that Democrats are 'radical' proponents of late-term or, somehow, 'post-birth abortions.' Thus, Trump went on to assert that Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz 'says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth, it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay. And that’s not okay with me. Hence the vote.' "
"This is flatly false. As moderator Linsey Davis noted, 'There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.' More than that, it is false in a way that is not only willful but cruel toward women and families who face agonizing choices about how to deal with severe health risks to the mother, severe fetal deformities and terribly premature births. Trump and Republican want to hijack these thankfully rare personal tragedies as an excuse for preventing almost all abortions."
Two things worry me. First, GOP shenanigans around voting, like voter suppression, purging voter rolls, vigilante intimidation at polling places, etc. Second, the high potential for violence by armed gangs (“militias”), if TFG loses.
I can't assume all law enforcement and military will stay on the side of the nation though, because they're going to be extreme with the propaganda that there was fraud or that the outcome was inconclusive (because they'll try to obstruct the counting to make it so). And I don't trust the supreme court to not go along. Also watch out for Republican governors and what they do with their executive authority.
About the post birth (infanticide) lie that he routinely screams, I had asked Jessica in June if he was conflating and confusing his rubes about non-viable births and she wrote about it in July. In this tweet thread below we have a lot more context about what is going on with that lie. Basically the anti-abortion people want women to carry their non-viable pregnancies to term and then watch the baby die through all the suffering. And now mfers like trump distort it and use it as a talking point. Cruelty is the point.
https://x.com/GreerDonley/status/1834324386708656432
Greer Donley
@GreerDonley
The most frustrating thing about Trump demonizing perinatal hospice is that perinatal hospice is THE antiabortion response to fetal anomalies. Antiabortion activists have been pushing these programs as an alternative to abortion for a least a decade. 1/3
trump's pathetic minion (and dumb) says show me which woman is dying on the parking lot bleeding... and he gets an earful and much more.
https://x.com/smalls2672/status/1834314399475269735
I wish she had answered the 7th, 8th month challenge. I'm disappointed.
At least the moderator called out and put him in his place. I would like the VP to do interviews where she corrects these lies. But then it is easier to take him literally and say that is not happening and it is illegal. Otherwise you would have to get into what he must really mean and why he must be doing that type of discussion which is hard to do, (see my other recent comment).
Jessica, while I thought Harris won the debate in epic form... when I woke up the next morning I was replaying in my head their answers to the abortion questions and I was deeply unsettled because of something you wrote a bit ago. Didn't you say in a post recently that Trump will want to talk about not signing a nationwide abortion ban because he has told his right-wing anti-freedom cronies that he can get away with saying he won't sign it because it won't come to his desk anyway, but also quietly telling them that its fine, he's going to use the FDA to outlaw abortion drugs and the Comstock act etc? So basically, ABC moderators were asking the WRONG QUESTION and it played right into Trump's and his cronies' playbook. This is the real story that needs to be shouted from the rooftops after that debate. How can we help do that? THANK YOU!!!
Agree, this veto question is always the wrong thing to ask. Must ask what he will do about all the chaos and misery he unleashed by leaving it to the states.
That’s exactly right. He doesn’t need Congress to execute a nationwide ban.
On another triumphant note, did you see on MSNBC following the speech, in an interview with the head of a pro-choice organization, our Jessica Valenti was quoted by the interviewer, “The vice president did the impossible: she reclaimed 'family values' on abortion rights.”, who described her as the best abortion journalist in the United States.
Update: I realized I could check my YouTube history. The interview was by Crochê Para Aplicação with Mini Tammaraju, President of Reproductive Freedom For All. The program photo shows it as a Rachel Maddow program,
I realized I could check my YouTube history. The interview was by Crochê Para Aplicação with Mini Tammaraju, President of Reproductive Freedom For All. The program photo shows it as a Rachel Maddow program,
The "leader of fertilization"? He thinks he's Wilt Chamberlain, I guess.
I’m still gobsmacked that Republican politicians—legislators, prosecutors, judges—are so oblivious to the zeitgeist that they permitted the most extreme uses of their new power. If they’d held back a little we might be in a very different place.
Which is an extremely bad sign for what happens if they actually win an election. How to get voters to understand that.
While Kamala did do a fantastic job last night, I’m disappointed that she did not bring up how in half of the country, the people are NOT in fact able to vote on abortion because Republicans and anti choice organizations are attacking ballot measures left and right. And in a handful of other states, there is no process for citizen led ballot initiatives and no way that their legislatures will ever bring it up for a vote by the people because they know the people want it to be legal without restrictions. I just wish she could have brought this into the conversation because so many people have no idea.
The people voted them in, they need to vote them out. In a way, as important as it is, abortion is the canary in the mine for many other assaults by Reps on people’s civil liberties. Their stance on pretty well everything is unhealthy for the people they are supposed to be serving on behalf of.
Kamala did us proud speaking truth to ignorance!
VP's most consequential lines may have been about the 800K polish voters in PA. Poland has recently regained their democratic footing from an autocrat and abortion was a big issue. Saw some stats on Polish, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian origin voters, mostly in MI, WI, PA enough in numbers to make a difference.
Check this link:
https://x.com/OlegKostour/status/1822377452276244482
Beyond all the right things to say on various topics including abortion VP did something that was even more significant. She built a permission structure for us the public at large to feel what we feel, the disdain, the disgust towards trump and express it freely. IMO, media has normalized him at every instance to this day that I bet that normal people who are not into politics like we are didn't know how to feel or even feel validated that what they were seeing is actually what they think it is. She with evidence and rationale showed us what he truly is (much of it on his own) without the media filter and that was magnificent. We can freely think of him as a disgrace and say it because we see why and we know there are plenty others who feel the same way. We can freely think and say we don't want this for another four years because we know there are plenty of us saying that. Finally a tangible expression for the collective 'what are we even doing here?! (with him)' moment.
One thing he said must stick in our craw and we must make him wrong. He said VP will never get the Congress to enact anything she is promising including reinstating reproductive rights. Here, we MUST prove him wrong and DELIVER the House and the Senate.
A bit off the direct post but hope this useful - this is list of the 10 reproductive freedom ballot measures with names of primary groups supporting them and ActBlue links for donations. Also included AK Org stymied by MAGA Attorney General and AK Supreme Court and OH groups pushing implementation of their successful measure. I'm not much of a social media poster but if you find this list useful please pass it around. Thanks.
Reproductive Freedom - Abortion Protection Ballot Measures ActBlue Donation Link
AZ - Prop139 - Arizona for Abortion Access https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=Arizona+for+Abortion+Access
CO - Coloradans for Protecting Repro Freedom https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=Coloradans+for+Protecting+Repro+Freedom
FL - Floridians Protecting Freedom https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=+Floridians+Protecting+Freedom+
MD - Freedom in Reproduction - Maryland, Inc https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=Freedom+in+Reproduction+-+Maryland%2C+Inc
MO - Abortion Action Missouri https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=Abortion+Action+Missouri
MT - Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=Montanans+Securing+Reproductive+Rights
NE - Protect Our Rights https://secure.actblue.com/donate/protect-our-rights-1
NV - Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=Nevadans+for+Reproductive+Freedom
NY - New Yorkers for Equal Rights https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=New+Yorkers+for+Equal+Rights
SD - Dakotans for Health https://secure.actblue.com/my-express/search?term=Dakotans+for+Health
OH - Abortion is legal in Ohio - abortionislegalinohio.com https://secure.actblue.com/donate/abortionaccessohio
AK - Arkansas Abortion Amendment of 2024 https://arliberty.org/donate/
Attorney Gen and AK Supreme Court blocked on false technicality - Included here on assumption the measure will be come back in future
(fyi, AK is Alaska, AL is Alabama, AR is Arkansas)
I’m glad to read your take on Harris’ performance on the topic of abortion. I agree that overall her performance on that topic was excellent. However, I was disappointed that Harris tried to pretend that abortions in the third trimester don’t happen instead of contextualizing it, and that she failed to remark that in the United States the rights that people enjoy in one state should be available to the people in all the states. I also wished that she hadn’t dodged the direct question about whether she would support any restrictions on abortion rights. That would have been an excellent opportunity to remind the moderators that usually we should make laws to restrict things unless those things pose a problem, and that the only real problems around abortion rights are the laws that have been enacted to prevent people from exercising their rights when they need them.
In the Washington Post, Ruth Marcus noted that late term abortions are rare - it's under 2% - and that Trump and Vance and the rest of the cabal are using these excruciating circumstances to ban all abortion care..
"Northam’s is the go-to comment seized on — and distorted — by those who claim, as Trump does, that Democrats are 'radical' proponents of late-term or, somehow, 'post-birth abortions.' Thus, Trump went on to assert that Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz 'says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth, it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay. And that’s not okay with me. Hence the vote.' "
"This is flatly false. As moderator Linsey Davis noted, 'There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.' More than that, it is false in a way that is not only willful but cruel toward women and families who face agonizing choices about how to deal with severe health risks to the mother, severe fetal deformities and terribly premature births. Trump and Republican want to hijack these thankfully rare personal tragedies as an excuse for preventing almost all abortions."
No paywall: https://wapo.st/4d1iVmD
Two things worry me. First, GOP shenanigans around voting, like voter suppression, purging voter rolls, vigilante intimidation at polling places, etc. Second, the high potential for violence by armed gangs (“militias”), if TFG loses.
I think it's almost certain there's some kind of insurrection if Harris wins. It's just that the alternative in which she doesn't is so much worse.
And they are expecting it this time, and the malignant melon-felon is not in charge of the national guard this time.
I can't assume all law enforcement and military will stay on the side of the nation though, because they're going to be extreme with the propaganda that there was fraud or that the outcome was inconclusive (because they'll try to obstruct the counting to make it so). And I don't trust the supreme court to not go along. Also watch out for Republican governors and what they do with their executive authority.
I'll be honest: I didn't watch the debate, because I couldn't stand to watch Trump, who moved his lips, I'm sorry, lied.
I'm still trying to wrap my head around what it means to be a “leader on fertilization.”
Sounds weird, doesn't it?
He can't remember the initials IVF.
He doesn’t know how to spell IVF
Hah! even better!