Today The Guardian broke the news that former president Donald Trump tested positive for COVID on September 26, 2020, days earlier than the White House admitted. A forthcoming book from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has the story. Despite the positive test, Trump went forward with his public schedule, unmasked. He exposed the guests at a Rose Garden ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett, his nominee for the Supreme Court; it became a superspreader event that infected Chris Christie, Kellyanne Conway, and Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Mike Lee (R-UT). That night, Trump held a rally in Middletown, Pennsylvania.
1) Does ANYONE else have any doubt that that Orange Asscactus went to that debate with the unstated but specific goal of giving President Biden Covid? Would you put that past him?
2) I also have zero doubt after hearing yesterday's argument before the Supreme Court on Mississippi's abortion law that Roe v. Wade is dead letter law. I am less certain as to whether the Court will overrule Roe completely or satisfy themselves with gutting it to the point where it no longer has any meaning. Regardless, I think that the Professor's concerns are entirely valid. Once the Court "does what it does", we will see a complete erosion of other federally protected rights (gay marriage will be high on that list, I am sure) and as Justice Sotomayor pointed out, the Court will (deservedly) lose legitimacy in the eyes of millions of Americans. As well, we are now seeing just how the Republican plan to stack the courts (and especially the Supreme Court) with right wing Justices has borne fruit. The Democrats closed their eyes for years to what was going on and now we as a country will pay a huge price for that lack of foresight.
3) One final thing, related to point number two above: I am beside myself with fury at those who sat out the 2016 election because "there is no difference between Trump and Clinton". Still think that, you idiots? I'm especially furious with the "Bernie Bros", who sat on their hands and sulked because their candidate didn't get the nomination. Had they not done so, there wouldn't be three Justices sitting on the Supreme Court who will now hand deliver the anti-choice movement the gift they have been awaiting since 1973. As far as I'm concerned, this is as much on them as it is on the Republicans.
If you slide out of the birth canal in 1950 and you are female, you are constantly barraged by life showing up where you have very few options for affecting change. Your first kiss and what might have been your first husband, is blown out of the sky over Viet Nam (or was it really Cambodia?) and from there life is a series of challenges when you can do little to affect change. It appears to me that currently, retaining the filibuster is more important than finding a remedy for minority rule. Retaining the filibuster is more important than finding a path to restore voting rights for all people. Retaining gerrymandering means that Republicans will “govern” from the standpoint of being a minority. The Supremes were hijacked by Mitch McConnell which means they will finally get total control over women’s bodies. How is it that McConnell is not called out for court packing? Why can’t the Democrats add three progressive thinking Judges to the court? My life is all about the inability to affect change, yet I somehow cannot stop trying.
Who is going to adopt the microcephaly/anencephaly baby, or baby that requires multiple heart surgeries? The anatomy scan is done at 20 weeks. It’s not accurate at 15 weeks. If it’s ruled that life begins at conception, then women should start earning child tax credits upon a PPT (positive pregnancy test). And men should start paying child support. Women can garnish back pay for child support if paternity tests are required. Prenatal care and delivery coverage. Postpartum care and lactation support. Formula. We’re all in this together. It takes two to make a baby.
I don’t know what pivots dems and independents can do, but I feel like they need to be a bit more nimble with these chips away at democracy. I’m not a fan of incentivizing childbirth either, or using abortion as a quick fix for birth control as the other extreme. But 15 weeks is too soon.
Speaking of right to life, how about some gun control reforms so our kids aren’t shot to death at school? What about their right to life? As a mom with school-age kids who moved recently, when picking schools, I specifically thought about which schools have the highest safety likelihood. Things are very different now than when I was in school. Twitter has some decent info on the Michigan shooting, but kids and young journalists are posting on TikTok, with a more granular flare. There are some interesting videos there with additional details of events leading up to the shooting, including letters sent out by the principal about a week apart dispelling any rumors of safety risks, a severed deer’s head placed in the school courtyard, graffiti on the school, weird stuff on his social media accounts, that students took video during the event saying that he (the shooter) actually followed through with it. Some students knew or had a big suspicion the day of and stayed home from school that day. It is heartbreaking. I hope my children will never experience the horror these kids went through. I hope as a parent, I never have to get that text or phone call. These school shootings are uniquely a US problem.
I seem to recall some laws that indicated that willfully spreading diseases to people unaware of your condition (HIV for example) was subject to criminal prosecution for endangering the lives of others
This despicable behavior will undoubtably be excused by despicable people
The sadness caused in this acceptance by some of my countrymen is becoming heavy
"[Rep. Liz Cheney] said: '[Trump] has recently suggested that he wants to debate members of this committee.' The committee’s investigation 'is not a game,' Cheney said. 'Any communications Mr. Trump has with this committee will be under oath and if he persists in lying then, he will be accountable under the laws of this great nation, and subject to criminal penalties for every false word he speaks.'"
I feel it is important to recognize the linkage between Republican male legislators' suppression of women's reproductive rights and their opposition to enacting paid family leave legislation. Here is the text of my own Letter to the Editor of our local newspaper on this:
The U.S. is way behind the curve on paid family leave -
In the SCOTUS oral arguments on Mississippi’s restrictive abortion law, Mississippi’s lawyers made the argument that “women have progressed enough economically since the1970s” to make abortion unnecessary. This statement in support of a restrictive new law on abortion rights constitutionally protected for almost 50 years and passed overwhelmingly by Republican male lawmakers is not supported by the realities of U.S. paid family leave policies.
It is important to understand the economic impact on women of restrictive abortion rights. Pregnancies often result in women losing employment for a variety of reasons, many health-related. Often that loss is not transitory. Additionally, after returning to the workplace women find child-rearing responsibilities are often career limiting. This is compounded by the U.S. being way, way behind the curve on paid family leave policies. The U.S. is one of only 7 countries worldwide that does not presently offer some form of paid maternity leave. Of those 7, the U.S. is by far the largest. The other six are Papua New Guinea and several small Pacific island nations. The average length of maternity leave for those countries offering this benefit is 29 weeks. Even with the endangered 4 weeks of paid family leave in the new Democratic proposed Build Back Better Act, of the 186 countries that offer paid leave for new mothers, only one, Eswatini (once called Swaziland), offers fewer than four weeks. Of the 174 countries that offer paid leave for a personal health problem, just 26 offer four weeks or fewer, according to data from the World Policy Analysis Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.
The restrictive abortion rights legislation being passed in states like Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and other states is being passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures overwhelmingly dominated by male Republican representatives. Let us be clear that these are the same party’s male federal legislators standing in the way of advancing paid family leave legislation.
Women’s reproductive rights are an economic justice issue and Republican men are not on the side of women on this issue.
Be informed and support economic justice for women and women’s reproductive rights.
As a former nun in 1968, when women were advocating for abortion rights in shopping malls, prior to Roe, I had to learn that I could be opposed to abortion for myself, but at the same time must support a woman's right to choose abortion. Why? Because when abortion is illegal, rich women travel to where it's legal and poor women die.
I tried for months before 2016, both in person and on social media, to warn (especially liberal) democrats about what would happen to the courts, and therefore to individual rights, especially the right to choose abortion, if the republican won. (I cannot say his name.) But all I got in response was yammering about how awful Senator Clinton was and how wrong it was that Bernie didn't get the nomination.
So, what good can come of this? Could it be a lesson learned about how the various factions of democrats can hold their own views, but in the end need to come together to agree upon and work for what's possible and to protect what's in danger? That's my hope and prayer. And my motivation for asking, What is mine to do? Blessings.
"Trump’s contingent refused to wear masks despite rules at the venue to do so."
My first reaction to this disclosure was 'can we all say ... sociopath?' My second was 'can we all say ... banality of evil?'
Trump does not get to be Trump without a scaffolding of corruption propping him up - a myriad of people mindless of the harm they are perpetrating.
The Constitution essentially translates the religious dictum of The Golden Rule into civic life. Instead of creed, it gives us an agreed legal framework. Instead of belief, it gives us reasoned debate of empirical evidence.
The Republican party has unilaterally opted out of constitutional law. The Roberts Court is just going through the motions while allowing religious and racist prejudice to rule the day.
Republicans are running on irrationality and authoritarianism. Because they can. Because a sufficient number of Americans vote for them. And because a significant number cannot bring themselves to unite in opposition or even to vote at all.
"By risking others’ lives without their knowledge or consent, Trump claimed the right to dominate them."
If only Trump were as clever as the above sentence makes him appear.
In fact, Trump only thinks about himself, others never enter his mind. As a Covid positive person, he only thought of himself and, hence, continued to do whatever he wanted without regard or a single thought about anyone else.
He was probably hyped on steroids at the debate with Biden explaining his completely unhinged behavior.
At any rate, Trump will dominate anyone else, if they let him, not because that is a carefully constructed throught strategy, but, because he is only ever, ever thinking of one person.
Trump.
Usually, middle school helps train bullies to become people as other people stand up to the bully and whip him/them enough times to help him realize other people exist. (at least that was the civilizing method when I was a kid).
But, at the age of Middle School, I think, Trump was tossed into a fancy private school where he was treated with kid gloves. Other kids who would normally have helped him understand their existence were cautioned to let him be.
And, so, we now have a 12 year old bully ramming around the country thinking only of himself and doing whatever he wants and....
....let's be clear......not just getting by with it......being enabled to get by with it.
Same old, same old for Trump. Nobody will stand up. Our entire government was attacked at his command, to overthrow the duly elected result,
The Texas anti-abortion vigilante injustice law made me livid. Taking away women's Constitutional right through the sleazy work-around of vigilantism was particularly vexing. Yes, the courts are allowing this law to continue while they "decide" whether it violates the Constitutional rights of 50% of the People. The proceedings in the Supreme Court on Dec. 1 again makes me see red. The sleazy arguments of this illegitimate Supreme Court after the Majority Leader McConnell blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland and then pushed three anti-Roe justices through confirmation under tfg's administration was in contempt of the Constitution in my view. I'll make separate points for a number of my arguments following this comment.
I yearn for the day when Donald J. Trump and his thugs no longer make the news either in print or in the electronic media. Trump is a toxic cancer that simply refuses to go into remission.
As to abortion: I have always considered this matter to be the decision of the woman. If a man is involved, I would hope that he would be consulted. Leaning on Scripture, life begins upon exit from the womb. Some chap said on the news last night that "killing a baby is against the Bible", because "the Bible says its so". Yeah? Really? We have grown a large population cursed with lots of opinion and very few brains to support those opinions. The United States thrives on ignorance, embellished by a less-than-integrity-drivien media. Frankly, I do not see this as any real or genuine concern about human life. I see this as an effort to furtter rule over a woman's body.
"Roe v. Wade was part of the dramatic expansion of civil rights after World War II, in which Republican-led Supreme Courts used the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution to enable the federal government to overrule discriminatory state laws and protect individuals’ civil rights. It was on these grounds that the court protected Black and Brown rights, interracial marriage, access to birth control, religious freedom, gay rights, and so on."
The thought that Roe v. Wade may be abolished is devastating. Once more, women will be deprived of their rights! Once again, men will gain control over women's bodies. Once again, women will be denied their inalienable birthright, authority, and freedom to act as their own moral agents! How dare these men (and one woman) strip us of our rights!!!
I would like to see the rule of law win in our democracy and that includes consequences for stolen SCOTUS seats. Perhaps those were technically not due to broken laws, however they were definitely due to poisonous shenanigans that need to be clearly defined and laws made to prevent a minority party from pulling such BS in the future that subverts us from becoming the nation we were all promised. Women must have agency over their own bodies. If not there will be hell to pay in untold ways.
I remember watching that debate and thinking that it really looked like Trump was trying to spread germs. Regardless of the fact that he is a blowhard, he is not usually as expressive and vociferous as he was that night. It was weird, weirder than usual.
We knew Trump was a narcissistic sociopath. But willfully spreading a deadly disease during a pandemic is, in my mind, attempted murder. And those who didn't try to stop him or didn't resign in protest are accomplices. He's our first evil-to-the-core president, and he's not done trying to destroy the nation. In a sense, he is like a deadly virus, one that infects people with hate, rage, and immorality. There's no known cure.
Please read this "Today's Edition" by Robert Hubbell. It is an excellent followup to Heather's letter of today. It supports all that she has said about the court. And it includes a path to re-establishing democracy. https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/todays-edition-the-tipping-point
December 1, 2021
1) Does ANYONE else have any doubt that that Orange Asscactus went to that debate with the unstated but specific goal of giving President Biden Covid? Would you put that past him?
2) I also have zero doubt after hearing yesterday's argument before the Supreme Court on Mississippi's abortion law that Roe v. Wade is dead letter law. I am less certain as to whether the Court will overrule Roe completely or satisfy themselves with gutting it to the point where it no longer has any meaning. Regardless, I think that the Professor's concerns are entirely valid. Once the Court "does what it does", we will see a complete erosion of other federally protected rights (gay marriage will be high on that list, I am sure) and as Justice Sotomayor pointed out, the Court will (deservedly) lose legitimacy in the eyes of millions of Americans. As well, we are now seeing just how the Republican plan to stack the courts (and especially the Supreme Court) with right wing Justices has borne fruit. The Democrats closed their eyes for years to what was going on and now we as a country will pay a huge price for that lack of foresight.
3) One final thing, related to point number two above: I am beside myself with fury at those who sat out the 2016 election because "there is no difference between Trump and Clinton". Still think that, you idiots? I'm especially furious with the "Bernie Bros", who sat on their hands and sulked because their candidate didn't get the nomination. Had they not done so, there wouldn't be three Justices sitting on the Supreme Court who will now hand deliver the anti-choice movement the gift they have been awaiting since 1973. As far as I'm concerned, this is as much on them as it is on the Republicans.
If you slide out of the birth canal in 1950 and you are female, you are constantly barraged by life showing up where you have very few options for affecting change. Your first kiss and what might have been your first husband, is blown out of the sky over Viet Nam (or was it really Cambodia?) and from there life is a series of challenges when you can do little to affect change. It appears to me that currently, retaining the filibuster is more important than finding a remedy for minority rule. Retaining the filibuster is more important than finding a path to restore voting rights for all people. Retaining gerrymandering means that Republicans will “govern” from the standpoint of being a minority. The Supremes were hijacked by Mitch McConnell which means they will finally get total control over women’s bodies. How is it that McConnell is not called out for court packing? Why can’t the Democrats add three progressive thinking Judges to the court? My life is all about the inability to affect change, yet I somehow cannot stop trying.
Who is going to adopt the microcephaly/anencephaly baby, or baby that requires multiple heart surgeries? The anatomy scan is done at 20 weeks. It’s not accurate at 15 weeks. If it’s ruled that life begins at conception, then women should start earning child tax credits upon a PPT (positive pregnancy test). And men should start paying child support. Women can garnish back pay for child support if paternity tests are required. Prenatal care and delivery coverage. Postpartum care and lactation support. Formula. We’re all in this together. It takes two to make a baby.
I don’t know what pivots dems and independents can do, but I feel like they need to be a bit more nimble with these chips away at democracy. I’m not a fan of incentivizing childbirth either, or using abortion as a quick fix for birth control as the other extreme. But 15 weeks is too soon.
Speaking of right to life, how about some gun control reforms so our kids aren’t shot to death at school? What about their right to life? As a mom with school-age kids who moved recently, when picking schools, I specifically thought about which schools have the highest safety likelihood. Things are very different now than when I was in school. Twitter has some decent info on the Michigan shooting, but kids and young journalists are posting on TikTok, with a more granular flare. There are some interesting videos there with additional details of events leading up to the shooting, including letters sent out by the principal about a week apart dispelling any rumors of safety risks, a severed deer’s head placed in the school courtyard, graffiti on the school, weird stuff on his social media accounts, that students took video during the event saying that he (the shooter) actually followed through with it. Some students knew or had a big suspicion the day of and stayed home from school that day. It is heartbreaking. I hope my children will never experience the horror these kids went through. I hope as a parent, I never have to get that text or phone call. These school shootings are uniquely a US problem.
I seem to recall some laws that indicated that willfully spreading diseases to people unaware of your condition (HIV for example) was subject to criminal prosecution for endangering the lives of others
This despicable behavior will undoubtably be excused by despicable people
The sadness caused in this acceptance by some of my countrymen is becoming heavy
"[Rep. Liz Cheney] said: '[Trump] has recently suggested that he wants to debate members of this committee.' The committee’s investigation 'is not a game,' Cheney said. 'Any communications Mr. Trump has with this committee will be under oath and if he persists in lying then, he will be accountable under the laws of this great nation, and subject to criminal penalties for every false word he speaks.'"
May the Force make this true!
I feel it is important to recognize the linkage between Republican male legislators' suppression of women's reproductive rights and their opposition to enacting paid family leave legislation. Here is the text of my own Letter to the Editor of our local newspaper on this:
The U.S. is way behind the curve on paid family leave -
In the SCOTUS oral arguments on Mississippi’s restrictive abortion law, Mississippi’s lawyers made the argument that “women have progressed enough economically since the1970s” to make abortion unnecessary. This statement in support of a restrictive new law on abortion rights constitutionally protected for almost 50 years and passed overwhelmingly by Republican male lawmakers is not supported by the realities of U.S. paid family leave policies.
It is important to understand the economic impact on women of restrictive abortion rights. Pregnancies often result in women losing employment for a variety of reasons, many health-related. Often that loss is not transitory. Additionally, after returning to the workplace women find child-rearing responsibilities are often career limiting. This is compounded by the U.S. being way, way behind the curve on paid family leave policies. The U.S. is one of only 7 countries worldwide that does not presently offer some form of paid maternity leave. Of those 7, the U.S. is by far the largest. The other six are Papua New Guinea and several small Pacific island nations. The average length of maternity leave for those countries offering this benefit is 29 weeks. Even with the endangered 4 weeks of paid family leave in the new Democratic proposed Build Back Better Act, of the 186 countries that offer paid leave for new mothers, only one, Eswatini (once called Swaziland), offers fewer than four weeks. Of the 174 countries that offer paid leave for a personal health problem, just 26 offer four weeks or fewer, according to data from the World Policy Analysis Center at the University of California, Los Angeles.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/upshot/paid-leave-democrats.html
The restrictive abortion rights legislation being passed in states like Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and other states is being passed by Republican-controlled state legislatures overwhelmingly dominated by male Republican representatives. Let us be clear that these are the same party’s male federal legislators standing in the way of advancing paid family leave legislation.
Women’s reproductive rights are an economic justice issue and Republican men are not on the side of women on this issue.
Be informed and support economic justice for women and women’s reproductive rights.
As a former nun in 1968, when women were advocating for abortion rights in shopping malls, prior to Roe, I had to learn that I could be opposed to abortion for myself, but at the same time must support a woman's right to choose abortion. Why? Because when abortion is illegal, rich women travel to where it's legal and poor women die.
I tried for months before 2016, both in person and on social media, to warn (especially liberal) democrats about what would happen to the courts, and therefore to individual rights, especially the right to choose abortion, if the republican won. (I cannot say his name.) But all I got in response was yammering about how awful Senator Clinton was and how wrong it was that Bernie didn't get the nomination.
So, what good can come of this? Could it be a lesson learned about how the various factions of democrats can hold their own views, but in the end need to come together to agree upon and work for what's possible and to protect what's in danger? That's my hope and prayer. And my motivation for asking, What is mine to do? Blessings.
"Trump’s contingent refused to wear masks despite rules at the venue to do so."
My first reaction to this disclosure was 'can we all say ... sociopath?' My second was 'can we all say ... banality of evil?'
Trump does not get to be Trump without a scaffolding of corruption propping him up - a myriad of people mindless of the harm they are perpetrating.
The Constitution essentially translates the religious dictum of The Golden Rule into civic life. Instead of creed, it gives us an agreed legal framework. Instead of belief, it gives us reasoned debate of empirical evidence.
The Republican party has unilaterally opted out of constitutional law. The Roberts Court is just going through the motions while allowing religious and racist prejudice to rule the day.
Republicans are running on irrationality and authoritarianism. Because they can. Because a sufficient number of Americans vote for them. And because a significant number cannot bring themselves to unite in opposition or even to vote at all.
"By risking others’ lives without their knowledge or consent, Trump claimed the right to dominate them."
If only Trump were as clever as the above sentence makes him appear.
In fact, Trump only thinks about himself, others never enter his mind. As a Covid positive person, he only thought of himself and, hence, continued to do whatever he wanted without regard or a single thought about anyone else.
He was probably hyped on steroids at the debate with Biden explaining his completely unhinged behavior.
At any rate, Trump will dominate anyone else, if they let him, not because that is a carefully constructed throught strategy, but, because he is only ever, ever thinking of one person.
Trump.
Usually, middle school helps train bullies to become people as other people stand up to the bully and whip him/them enough times to help him realize other people exist. (at least that was the civilizing method when I was a kid).
But, at the age of Middle School, I think, Trump was tossed into a fancy private school where he was treated with kid gloves. Other kids who would normally have helped him understand their existence were cautioned to let him be.
And, so, we now have a 12 year old bully ramming around the country thinking only of himself and doing whatever he wants and....
....let's be clear......not just getting by with it......being enabled to get by with it.
Same old, same old for Trump. Nobody will stand up. Our entire government was attacked at his command, to overthrow the duly elected result,
and
......Trump......remains.....at.....large.......eating...and...eating....and...golfing.....
growing ever fatter gorging on the land of the free and not very equal.
The Texas anti-abortion vigilante injustice law made me livid. Taking away women's Constitutional right through the sleazy work-around of vigilantism was particularly vexing. Yes, the courts are allowing this law to continue while they "decide" whether it violates the Constitutional rights of 50% of the People. The proceedings in the Supreme Court on Dec. 1 again makes me see red. The sleazy arguments of this illegitimate Supreme Court after the Majority Leader McConnell blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland and then pushed three anti-Roe justices through confirmation under tfg's administration was in contempt of the Constitution in my view. I'll make separate points for a number of my arguments following this comment.
I yearn for the day when Donald J. Trump and his thugs no longer make the news either in print or in the electronic media. Trump is a toxic cancer that simply refuses to go into remission.
As to abortion: I have always considered this matter to be the decision of the woman. If a man is involved, I would hope that he would be consulted. Leaning on Scripture, life begins upon exit from the womb. Some chap said on the news last night that "killing a baby is against the Bible", because "the Bible says its so". Yeah? Really? We have grown a large population cursed with lots of opinion and very few brains to support those opinions. The United States thrives on ignorance, embellished by a less-than-integrity-drivien media. Frankly, I do not see this as any real or genuine concern about human life. I see this as an effort to furtter rule over a woman's body.
"Roe v. Wade was part of the dramatic expansion of civil rights after World War II, in which Republican-led Supreme Courts used the equal protection and due process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution to enable the federal government to overrule discriminatory state laws and protect individuals’ civil rights. It was on these grounds that the court protected Black and Brown rights, interracial marriage, access to birth control, religious freedom, gay rights, and so on."
The thought that Roe v. Wade may be abolished is devastating. Once more, women will be deprived of their rights! Once again, men will gain control over women's bodies. Once again, women will be denied their inalienable birthright, authority, and freedom to act as their own moral agents! How dare these men (and one woman) strip us of our rights!!!
I would like to see the rule of law win in our democracy and that includes consequences for stolen SCOTUS seats. Perhaps those were technically not due to broken laws, however they were definitely due to poisonous shenanigans that need to be clearly defined and laws made to prevent a minority party from pulling such BS in the future that subverts us from becoming the nation we were all promised. Women must have agency over their own bodies. If not there will be hell to pay in untold ways.
I remember watching that debate and thinking that it really looked like Trump was trying to spread germs. Regardless of the fact that he is a blowhard, he is not usually as expressive and vociferous as he was that night. It was weird, weirder than usual.
We knew Trump was a narcissistic sociopath. But willfully spreading a deadly disease during a pandemic is, in my mind, attempted murder. And those who didn't try to stop him or didn't resign in protest are accomplices. He's our first evil-to-the-core president, and he's not done trying to destroy the nation. In a sense, he is like a deadly virus, one that infects people with hate, rage, and immorality. There's no known cure.
Please read this "Today's Edition" by Robert Hubbell. It is an excellent followup to Heather's letter of today. It supports all that she has said about the court. And it includes a path to re-establishing democracy. https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/todays-edition-the-tipping-point