67 Comments

I go about my day and every now and then, I remember and get this sinking feeling in my stomach, 'omg, what have they done to this country!'

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It's fine to criticize the men who supported Trump - we should remind them that every time they have sex with a woman, they should think about 18 years of child support. But 46% of women also voted for Trump - why would they engage in such self-destructive actions? We have to do more to counter Trump's successful history of conning people.

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Something else that we can do if it's financially possible is to support organizations such as Center for Reproductive Rights, Physicians for Reproductive Health and Planned Parenthood by becoming monthly donors.

These organizations are going to need support in thr coming months and years.

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You know my fervent wish right now -- I want NYT and WAPO and others to run a huge headline on the front page that says "Musk, the shadow president." I want every press/media body to undermine trump's victory to weaken him and his dictatorial agenda. I also want them to drive a wedge between trump and Musk, right now for the sake of the country, to save their country.

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I'd love to see that, but they are the ones that "sane-washed" the dotard in the first place helping him win.

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On reflection, I do think there’s a lot to the argument that people simply punished the current administration because they still feel the trauma of the pandemic and don’t feel the improving economy. Although inflation and unemployment are down and wages are up, most people still feel insecure and prices, especially housing costs, haven’t dropped. The reality of economic data is meaningless to people who feel stressed. Incumbents lost big across the world. So Harris may never had had a real chance because she couldn’t separate herself enough from the current administration.

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I’ll add there was a core of racism, misogyny and pure hatful spite - that the MAGA base. But they could not have won without the help of low information, economically illiterate voters to put them over the top.

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Watch Jessica's TikTok about white women voting for Trump if you haven't. Thank you, Jessica, for pointing out uncomfortable truths -- the racism, the cruelty. I think at least some of those white women who live padded, protected lives in segregated upper middle class suburbs are not necessarily fooled by Trump's false premises, but think that abortion bans will not affect them because they're rich, and if they or their daughters need one, they'll be able to get one -- just like rich women always have. They just don't care about the less fortunate -- the cruelty, as Jessica points out.

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I wonder how much of their non-support is due to the negative sentiments associated with abortion such as promiscuity, you know middle class morality and all or a genz woman thinking that if she said she is for abortion, it would be misinterpreted as she is easy. It is clear however, with these women, the higher ideals of freedom and rights that they didn't fight for have not penetrated their psyche.

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I don’t understand them myself and some of them are relatives I once loved and respected. They say things and laugh at jokes that literally make me sick. But I’ve come to realize how little empathy and compassion there is in our society.

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as in the story "the lottery" by Shirley Jackson.

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I'm a big Shirley Jackson fan and have thought a lot about The Lottery these past several years. As a society, we still do practice human sacrifice. Every child put in an internment camp, every person of color killed in a traffic stop, every women who dies unnecessarily from pregnancy complications, every vulnerable person whose marginalization is rationalized away is a human sacrifice to the "gods" just as much as was the virgin thrown into the volcano in ancient days.

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And let's not forget that we're raising a generation of children -- children!!! --- who have to practice what to do if a mass shooter enters the school, and all because our politicians and judges are too cowardly to ban assault weapons.

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and the most terrifying part is that it is going to get worse and people chose it.

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...Willingly! "The leopard will never eat my face." says the woman voting for the "face-eating Leopard party."

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The Nebraska situation was even worse than you described. The two bills were obviously mutually exclusive, but voters could vote for both of them, and both of the votes would be counted. And the bill setting the limit at 12 weeks was at the top of that ballot page, while the bill setting the limit at fetal viability was down at the bottom of the ballot page. The setup was designed to confuse the voters. A properly designed ballot would have indicated that those two bills were mutually exclusive, and would have instructed the voter to vote for only one; the votes on ballots containing a vote for each bill would have been discarded. And the two bills would have been presented side-by-side, so that the voter could easily compare them. Of course, had that been the case the less restrictive bill was the one that would have passed. Nebraskans are just not that different from the people in Kansas and Missouri..

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Thanks for your updates. I bought your book (from local independent Antigone Books) and am enjoying it despite the sobering subject matter and the new challenges we’re facing now.

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Make your maga relative or friend or any other trump voter read this article... better make them read with you.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/nov/11/a-new-era-dawns-americas-tech-bros-now-strut-their-stuff-in-the-corridors-of-power

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It’s been ten years since my late wife passed, so it’s been a while, if you catch my drift.

By the time Trump is sworn in, I fully expect not to be the only man in America who’s no longer getting any. See to it, won’t you, ladies?

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Yes, but you deserve all the love. They do not.

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Also, don't discount the voter suppression which took place.

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I never do, the (formerly) supreme court gave them permission to oust voters!

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That’s funny. I went further with my daughter between sobbing declarations of how much I love my kids. I texted her not to take the bait of any MAGA assholes, or sucker punch him and we will back you. lol

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I expanded on how or when to make the backlash from voters against the maga Republicans and the complicit media/press happen...

IMHO, start now, don't wait. We are not doing this to win them or get them on our side -- there is no side right now except the country America. We are going to give them facts that will show them who is responsible (trump and his maga Rs enablers) for the coming debacle. There is already buyer's remorse about mass deportation/camps and tariffs (because the anticipated tariffs are already shaping the contracts written now for the next year), and even project 2025 was the most searched term after the election. Peel them off by telling them about tariffs and mass deportation. If you are talking to your maga relatives or friends tell them their vote just sold the country they presumably love to Musk/Putin and trump was just a corrupt traitor making that happen - there is plenty of evidence to point to them. There is no 'testing' message as productive/counter-productive. There is only the truth about what has happened and the consequences of it. The strategy is to tell them plainly the truth and the consequences of their vote. Tell them they voted for a traitor.

Government is shutting down on Dec 20 and when they come back on Jan 20 under the traitor it will be like Batman villains taking over the Gotham city (I didn't say it, Rep Raskin said it).

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Don't tell them they voted for a traitor. That will make them defensive. Be as gentle as possible. I think many people don't realize how much they've been deceived. We need to be persuasive, not scolding.

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Sorry, no coddling or being gentle. We are neither being persuasive nor scolding. We are telling them the truth and consequences of their action that will hurt the country they say they love. Show them it was either America or Musk/Putin alliance with corrupt trump in this election and they chose the latter (I don't care if they were deceived or to what extent; it is their responsibility to figure that out). Prime them for what is coming and help them hold trump responsible.

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No apologies necessary. As Chappell Roan says, Good Luck Babe. I just want positive results.

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The horror brought by the overturning of Roe, and the subsequent pain and suffering it caused for women throughout this country, did not motivate white women- and white women bear the most responsibility- to vote for Harris. Instead, many of them voted against state abortion bans while also voting for trump! That is a sad and disgusting commentary.

I fear that as time goes on, the public will begin to normalize the suffering of women that abortion bans have caused. Since women’s suffering didn’t motivate enough voters this time, why would we think that will change in the future?

And, I feel sick over the fact that women and families across this country told intimate stories of pain, sickness, loss and death, all in the service of convincing voters to do the right thing and vote for V.P. Harris- and look at the outcome.

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I just listened to Jason Selvig from the Good Liars on a podcast and he talked about how in his travels around the country he found that so many people don't follow any news. Like they know about 1% of what's going on as compared to people reading Jessica's newsletter everyday. I don't mean this to sound elitist in anyway, in fact it sounds sorta blissful! He found people that didn't know about the Dobbs decision or didn't know if it was true and some of them considered themselves pro choice. And I know from my own experience that there are a whole lot of people who have no idea what has been happening in states with bans.

So many factors went into this loss, white women feeling safe in their priviledge and not caring about anyone else is one of them.

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I think many white woman convinced themselves that if THEIR state protects the right to abortion that they and their families are safe. They aren't thinking about the very real dangers women in states that have banned abortion are facing.

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And they don’t understand that when a national abortion ban is enacted, that ban will supersede any protections offered by the states.

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Very true

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I posted this yesterday on Secretary Reich's Substack. I think it needs to be here as well.

I'm done. I no longer believe in Equal Justice for All because it is no longer true if it ever was. Racism, sexism, and misogony are in our national DNA. They are in the Constitution. The US is like a bad boyfriend that spends the night, dumps his dirty laundry on the floor, raids the refrigerator, says, "I'll call you tomorrow," kicks your dog, and then beats up your best girlfriend. No More!

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I was never sad. I went straight to incandescent anger and have pretty much stayed there. Today is the first day I felt like I might be able to remain an activist. A big part of me wants to walk away. I feel like I’ve been in an abusive relationship and have finally decided to save myself. I’m sick of helping a country of idiots who don’t want help. “Let it all burn down” still goes through my mind every day.

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I get this thinking. However, when it “burns down,” you, we all burn with it. We can’t give up the fight. I fought and marched and wrote letters to legislators the first time around when we won our right to abortion. I know how, and even if it is harder this time, we must keep fighting — if not for yourself, then for our children, grandchildren, EVERY FEMALE in this sick country. Please.

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I remember thwre was a bumper sticker in thr 70's or 80's that read:

Pro-family

Pro-child

Pro-choice

Forl me that still rings true. Our community supports the rights of women to make their own decisions about whether and when to have children. We support and advocate for policies that enable parents and children to lead lives in which they not only survive but thrive- good childcare that doesn't cost as much as college tuition, family leave so that new parents can be at home with their infant instead of rushing back to work.

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Some of us will need more time. Right now exhortations to rush back invalidate our struggle with whether or not to return. Those of you that are ready now should go for it. We’ll be along if and when we are able.

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I agree. We are all different and move through grief at a different pace. Just don’t get lulled into no movement.

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