Yesterday, forces from the private mercenary Wagner Group crossed from Ukraine back into Russia and took control of the city of Rostov-on-Don, a key staging area for the Russian war against Ukraine.
Pro life is putting into place anti automatic weapons laws. How can we defend unborn children when we watch young children die in schools where they should feel protected and educated.
Women and their health care providers need to make the ultimate decisions on whether a fetus should be brought into this world. It is a more nuanced decision for a woman and the federal and/or state governments do not need to be involved.
The Federal and state governments should be involved with protecting the children the have already been born.
Let’s provide these children with quality healthcare and education and freedom from fear of being gunned down in their schools.
Not ‘pro-life’. More like anti-choice. If these people were truly ‘pro-life’ as they claim, then they wouldn’t support the death penalty, they would support universal health care, free nutritional support and quality education for all, help with the basics of living, like housing and utilities.
Nah. They aren’t pro-life. They’re anti-choice. Or at least letting women makes their own choices.
💯 If they really wanted to reduce the number of abortions over the decades since Roe v Wade, they could have put their energy toward comprehensive sex education and easily accessible and cost effective birth control. But no, that was never actually the goal.
Yes. It's amazing what fear and shame can push people to try to prohibit. Fear of the power of women to be in charge of their own lives, and shame over the basic function of sexuality, and that, surprise, surprise, women are sexual beings.
The power to rule over others is the most powerful driver of behavior, especially for evangelicals and cults. Never heard “There but for the grace of God, go I.”
Those who have no uteruses should have no power to decide anything about women. They should focus on why no one will want children anymore only to be birthing targets for their of weapons s of mass destruction at school supported by the fricking NRA supporting republicans politicians with loaded guns and bank accounts.
And, I might add, instead of allowing men to mess with our ovaries, perhaps it is time to mess with the XY population and their gonads. Bet they would get out of our ovaries pretty quickly if we created laws to reduce their testosterone production which would reduce war, rape, incest, priests and their perversions and obsessive competitiveness in domination over others by any means possible. Like a SCOTUS banning a the national woman's right to choose what happens to her own body—they desire to keep woman contained, subservient, requiring money FROM THE GOVERNMENT FOR FOOD AND BARE MINIMUM SUBSISTANCE, and kept somewhere, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen and dependent upon them. F that! (Ah! Do I have to pay a swear quarter if I only wrote one letter and just thought the rest of the swear in my head? What are the rules? If the former guy can declassify documents in his head, then I think I can almost swear and not have to pay up to the jar? No?
It’s too late to indoctrinate people who are already here and used to living in an almost democracy.
They need millions of fresh new babies to indoctrinate for fighting their wars, for having more babies, and dozens of other uses. Uses that are highly profitable. They need sacrificial bodies.
It was not very long ago that speculation like this would sound completely aberrated and crazy. Is what I’ve said a conspiracy theory, an extrapolation, or a deduction?
Corporations want cheap labor and are fine with non-documented foreign workers. Republicans want to please their corporate sponsors but don't want an influx of people from south of the border that would offend their white nationalist base. Solution? Grow your own labor force by banning abortions.
I refuse to call this pro life. It is forced birth and reduces pregnant people to a state controlled form of slavery. Our bodies are no longer our own. Doctors can no longer provide life saving care to someone experiencing a miscarriage without risking their license. Extremists actually want to prosecute anyone who aids a person in leaving the state for an abortion. Sounds like a modern day “Fugitive Slave Act” to me.
The right wing wants power and it is our job to make certain they lose it. I understand that there are a lot of very articulate women in Florida who are standing up and speaking out against DeSantis and the anti abortion tribe.
Do you think like they’ll do what they do with cows to women? They take their male babies away early so they can hook the mother up to a machine and steal the baby’s milk. After all, the fact seems to be that outlawing abortion turns young women into livestock.
There's a novel about exactly that. Haven't had my coffee yet, and can't remember the author. Which is dumb because it comes up a lot these days, and the author is famous. Really need coffee....
The question is: How do you (we) get these points across to the gullible GOP voters who have bought into the Right Wing Extremist’ Propaganda!? As well as the Christian Extremists’ Propaganda!?
What does it tell us about our political voice today if a majority of Americans support a woman's right to choose, sensible gun laws, and LGBTQ+ rights, and yet current GOP representatives and candidate GOPs are in lock-step with the minority voices on all of these issues? And, who then is responsible for fanning the flames on these issues and for what purpose? Who benefits most from dividing and distracting Americans on these key issues?
Follow the money. These fights among the people distract so we take our eyes off the biggest crooks in history, the ultra rich and powerful who have accumulated most of the wealth in this country while the majority workers who built the country and corporations struggle daily to make ends meet.
We are experiencing the fruits of a long game that started with the Powell Memo in 1971 and put into action in a very real way under Reagan in the 80s and the following demonization of liberals and Democrats by the likes of Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Reagan, Atwater, The Tea Party, the "Freedom" Caucus, etc., etc. This did not happen overnight and we cannot make it stop overnight. I remember watching this all happen in my teens and twenties and knew that it was going to be a serious problem. I witnessed many people exposing it for what it was, but so many people fell for it. The Greed is Good era really disassembled a lot of the strength of the working people of the US, using the destruction of labor unions, which served not only labor interests but social and political interests, as their main focus. Then they replaced solidarity with paranoid division and grievance politics, substituting the issues that are matters of life and death, such as food, healthcare, housing, etc., with the culture wars. It's interesting to note that since the early 70s, the prices of everything we really need have gone through the roof while the things we considered luxuries back then have become insanely cheap.
Trump and the billionaires. Very simple. Have you done the math on trying to live on $15 an hour salaries with no medical care and no paid vacations? Go from there, putting yourself in serf’s shoes and you’ll understand what Republicans in power are trying to achieve. (Those who aren’t are mostly silent.)
I worked like that the second half of my career as a real public servant, an adjunct professor at several community colleges. I have B.A. and M.S. degrees and a California Teaching Credential. Adjuncts in California are hourly contract employees who are not given medical benefits. If an adjunct professor teaches a three hour class, they are paid for three hours. This does not include prep, grading, student conferences, both in person and by email, and the hours of administrative duties an adjunct's schedule demands. When AB 705 was passed, community colleges eliminated entire departments of English and math professors like me who taught the developmental classes. They replaced us with peer tutors, students attending community colleges who performed well in their English and math classes. They had high school diplomas. These students were "taught" in a weekend seminar what professors like me had learned while working to earn advanced degrees and after 20+ years in classrooms. So, I understand very well these shoes you reference here.
Well said. I watched this happen over 40+ in my public service job (on staff) at a CA State Univ. I would counsel graduating student loan borrowers (“exit” counseling) about how to best navigate their repayment years & some students would express a desire to teach at the college level. As I watched the change from the tenure track & “assistant” professors level to “lecturer” or “adjunct” or “temp”, I would advise them to research this & point them toward the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook (Handbook…initially in print, but available online for years). This especially for those who planned to get an advanced degree (and likely more borrowing) to follow this path. IMHO a lot of this came as a result of the lessening of adequate public funding/support of higher ed….saw this happen when Reagan became CA governor.
Yet another Reagan “gift.” And it’s part of why we’re in the mess we’re in. The importance of public education in a democracy cannot be overestimated. As a member of the AAUP since the 1960’s, I have been horrified to see the treatment of graduate students.
In fact, most universities and colleges have turned over teaching the foundation courses to adjuncts, instead of full time faculty, because they're cheaper. I know, having been an adjunct for 20 years.
Likewise, at community colleges, foundational courses (math/English) have been turned over to students (peer tutors) who work in the writing and math centers at $12 an hour to replace adjuncts because that is cheaper.
Exactly, George: How DO we get these points across to the gullible GOP voters? Perhaps if we speak the same “language” as the Evangelicals do it might clarify things for them. For example, when talking about Fossil Fuels vs Renewable Energy, we can say: God created WOGS! Yes, God created The Wind. God created Oil. God created Gas. And God created The Sun. The WOGS! And God provided Humanity with the Know-How to use His Gifts to make life better on His Earth.
Let’s honor God’s Gifts to Humanity by Celebrating all that the WOGS can do for us - to keep us warm and cool and to feed and clothe us, to keep us safe and protected, to educate us and entertain us and to help us communicate and celebrate LIFE — all in God’s Loving Embrace … to make life pleasant and fruitful for ALL of God’s Children.
WOGS can COEXIST if you TRULY believe in GOD!!
And, BTW, let’s quit pollutin’ God’s Water and Air!!
Significant percentage of Republican women support pro reproductive health; recent polling show that conservative women 35-44 are worried about the health opportunities of their daughters and oppose anti-choice laws in states and oppose nationwide bans of abortion! Thus the issue will be resolved by massive registrations of younger voters and women as well as massive turnout at the polls!
Hopefully they will not hold their nose and vote for an anti-choice candidate just because they have an “R” next to their name….time & next election will tell.
It is all a matter of percentages; currently about 26% of Rs cannot abide T but that only will grow as he is indicted in GA and for Jan6 (and possibly even convicted before the election)! 26% is an enormous departure in and of itself so if that grows to 35% then T would lose by 20 Million votes and his allies will lose massively in races for the Senate and the House. And if he loses the primary election, he will keep running as an Indy or will create his own MAGA Party— good luck with that, you Idiot!
I’m not sure we can although as more cases of what actually happens to women and girls without access to abortion comes out into the open, maybe some of the true believers will turn. Meanwhile, we have a lot of highly motivated and smart leaders on the pro-choice side. Let’s work together and join forces.
The opponents of Roe are anti-reproductive health and anti-free choice! Referring to them as “pro life” or as “pro life people” adopts their erroneous messaging. They are now concentrating on electing Republicans who are pledged to enact a nationwide ban on abortions and a new President who will sign it into law. That would be a disaster for abused young girls and women in distress as well as our nation writ large. The answer to this pressing national debate is to focus on voter registration and voter turnout for the next 17 months! All of us must participate in this crucially important endeavor either financially or by focusing on the turnout of young voters you know. The horrific error of Dobbs must be addressed by our individual and collective efforts. Please go to the website of this group of brilliant Harvard students and help them as they are an effective organization committed to achieving nonpartisan voter registration where it counts the most: www.turnup.us/
This speaks to how often the right wing nuts define the language to be used, and then the media follows along. We need to resist using their language and use our own. Not pro-life but anti woman, or anti-freedom of choice. Not illegal aliens, but refugees, or undocumented persons. Not family values, but valued families.
It would be nice to see a direct attribution for this claim, but I suspect that the more accurate answer is that there is likely a large overlap between the evangelical/political Christian anti-choice crew and the 2nd Amendment cowards. (I call the latter "cowards" because I can't think of any reason to want to carry a gun in civilian life except that the person is so fearful and cowardly that they want to be able to kill anything they can see.)
I imagine having guns allows a lot of them to believe they are dangerous. Meaning, it’s not enough to feel protected. Think Christopher Moltisanti from The Sopranos.
MLC wrote: "Pro life is putting into place anti automatic weapons laws. How can we defend unborn children when we watch young children die in schools where they should feel protected and educated."
Sadly, almost nowhere. Oregon tried to enact some gun control legislation and it has been held up by a lone judge in Eastern Oregon.
This sentence is not well crafted. The intention of the author becomes clearer if you read the entire post, but if you simply add True at the beginning: "True pro-life would"
Zelia-pro fetus does not protect that unborn child when he:she is born to the reality of mass gun violence in the US.
Let’s take care of our “born” children. We put more energy into the abortion debates than we do around getting automatic weapons off the streets. No civilian needs the privilege to purchase an military grade weapon ---period.
Keep your hand guns and hunting rifles. We need for our school age children to not feel afraid of being in school.
Agreed. And the party of death continues to stir the pot by worrying about drag queen story hours, making life miserable for transgendered children and their parents, and increasing the likelihood of death in many miscarriage and other pregnancy problems. Here in Oregon voters passed a gun control law which is being held up by an eastern Oregon judge. The Rs walked out of the legislature until the Ds agreed to water down a gun control law. And I see lots of sanctimonious people, often men, telling us why we should have laws against abortion and transgender medical care. But hey, more guns are better and the daily rampages go on. And a real capper, during the horrible Texas heat wave, that tool Abbott signed a law that workers did not need regular water breaks. OK, put him outside for a good while, no shade and no water.
It does appear that there is no bottom for them. They really don't see those they target as human beings. Most humans are born with the capacity for empathy- so what happens that so many of us never develop it and instead become sociopaths?
Looks like they go into politics. Maybe if we can get the money out of it, by some miracle, these sociopathic critters won't find politics so attractive.
Those that do are often true believers and are certainly full of fear and uncertainly beneath all the bravado. Also some people just like to torment others because they are truly sick and enjoy this sort of thing.
I agree. As a young (naive) man I scoffed at notions like this. But there is simply too much evidence staring me in the face to disagree with you now.
Sh*t like this: The Origin of Student Debt: Reagan Adviser Warned Free College Would Create a Dangerous “Educated Proletariat” In 1970, Roger Freeman, who also worked for Nixon, revealed the right's motivation for coming decades of attacks on higher education.
These thoughts just come whether I like it or not.
Hardly. Why would they waste a future income comparable in scope to drugs and guns? To them children can be like opium plants, exploitable for huge profits. They would be slaves most likely. Worker bees, sex workers, organ donors for spare parts. If I can think it it’s probably being done somewhere even now.
The mothers having been forced to have a child but who have no means to care for that child may have to give her to social services. Maybe the baby will be taken away from the mother by force for not having the wherewithal to raise her. So yes, many children will become slaves in some form. A slave, and a future voter to be indoctrinated (if voting is still a thing).The ones with high intelligence will be sent to a “school” of higher learning with more extensive indoctrination and training, perhaps to be a slave master of some sort.
Why, on a planet whose main problem is overpopulation, do these people want to increase the birth rate? Why?
Methodically reducing the birth rate is absolutely necessary as part of the drive to reverse our obsolescence and imminent demise.
A dystopian view, but as you say, it’s probably already happening somewhere. Quite a number of years ago I read that in some countries (don’t recall which) persons living in poverty would sell some of their organs (like a kidney) to make money….of course there is a limit to what you can sell w/o perishing, but still it shocked me (far different from being a donor match and voluntarily offering). Working conditions & worker treatment in parts of the world (probably even in the USA) are bordering on slavery with loss of freedom of movement, low pay and dire working conditions…and don’t get m started about the children burrowing into holes in the ground to mine for minerals needed in high-tech components—they gain the least for the highest risk. It saddens me greatly to see the inhumanity our fellow beings are willing to wield (not to mention what we do to other species and the ecosphere).
It looks like we must accept that our species can and will resort to atrocities like these when threatened. What can possibly address this but equal economic opportunity and wages designed to support the wage earner’s family. And to work in newly imagined industries designed to make the planet whole again.
Alas, I fear far too many do not want to be aware of what our planet is facing, nor want to do the necessary work/sacrifice to improve/remedy the crisis. Personally I don’t think humankind can “technology” our way out of this….looking for the magic pill that will save us.
And our government, by forcing more children into our screwed up society is now breeding children as targets for the mass shooters using their most loved AR-15 style weapons.......
But hey, they are the Pro-Life party, right? Most people don't change until they are in pain. So let's inflict major pain on the trumpers in the form of lost elections. Lots and lots of them.
MLC - "Pro life is putting into place anti automatic weapons laws. How can we defend unborn children when we watch young children die in schools where they should feel protected and educated."
I thought today was your day off. Take care of the caregiver, they say - and you take such care of us. Please accept a collective, We love you, Professor!
We all love the Professor but, HCR's 6/24 LFAA was needed more today than ever. HCR's 1st paragraph is Spot on -- one of her best ever.
Putin Regime Next 48 Hours: Former Russian Federation US Ambassador ROBERT McFALL cotinued his experienced Putin analysis this am on Jonathan Capeheart's msnbc Sunday Show. Robert's McFall's two (2) key points to are the following: (1) Can the alleged dismissal of Russia.s 2 top Ukranian War Generals be confirmed? If so, that development means "Putin's rapid capitulation". (2) Will PRIGHOZIN's social media voice from the 'Telegraph' perch & reposts continue?
CAUTION: Developments remain unsettled.
Academician SARAH KENZIDOR also doing sharp analyses, transnational analysis too.
I can’t help but wonder if this whole thing was a feint by Russia. Positioning Wagner and Nukes in Belarus while the Ukrainian front is to the south??? Pardons? Dropped coups? After trips to Moscow by Lukashenko and Wagner leader?
All good questions Patricia. 2 days ago I posted the one important fact, the Wagner Group forces (20,000?) have departed Ukraine or."retreated" from Uktaine, if you will. I understand WAPO has an article up this am regrding US intelligence on the Wagner Group over Spring 2023. I have not read it yet, paywall.
I think she sometimes takes Sunday night off - but then again, did you ever try to stop a train roaring down a track? Sometimes the only relief for an active mind is through one's fingertips onto a keyboard.
When I talk to pro-life people, I ask them if they want the state or federal government requiring them to donate blood or bone marrow to save lives. So far, every one of them have said adamantly “NO!” I ask them if their answer is because doing so might affect their health a little or be painful. They have answered yes. I then ask why a woman should be told by the state government that she has to put her health at risk to save the life of the unborn baby. I point out that it is far safer to donate blood or bone marrow than to be pregnant or give birth.
I think that we need to equate donating blood, bone marrow, or part of a liver to save a life with being pregnant. Based on answers from pro-life persons, it’s not about everyone putting their health at risk to save lives. It’s only about women making the sacrifices.
Exactly, Mary. In addition to the affect to health, is the reduction, or erasure, of life choices for those who are already income insecure and the increased nutritional and medical requirements and expenses. This country has income-capped food aid programs and no universal healthcare. To command a woman to bring a baby to term, a proposition that requires myriad healthcare appointments and increased nutritional requirements, among other things, while providing no medical care or assurance of food security, is nonsense.
Fact is, if no man need ask the government for Viagra or a vasectomy, no woman should need its permission for any of her reproductive healthcare decisions either. Period.
C. Jacobs, and no woman should have to get her husband’s permission or have had children to get her tubes tied. No hospital that accepts federal Medicare or Medicaid money should be able to refuse to do a tubal ligation; most, if not all, Catholic hospitals refuse to do tubal ligations or vasectomies.
There you go...ideology vs science. The GOP does little little to support the already born. I also agree this is a pro-choice matter, not a pro-life or antiabortion issue. It would behoove the discussion to call it pro-choice...it is less inflammatory and keeps it focused on the more accurate issue. Every individual should be able able to CHOOSE their own path.
I totally agree.Choose choice. Abortion is NOT a legislative issue and never ever should have been made into one. It is a personal decision between a woman and her doctor (and her partner in some cases) and beyond that it is no one else's business. Period.
The Rs do little to support the alreadyborn, the environment, voting rights, common sense, or, thanks to a blowhard from Alabama, the military and national security (cf. tfg). Thanks a lot for putting everybody at risk 24-7...
I had a tubal at age 26, 45 years ago. Roe had been passed but even then I always thought it might be overturned. Through the grapevine I heard about a gynecologist who would do a laparoscopic check for endometriosis and “while he was in there” do a tubal (the real reason for the visit). When I was given the paperwork, it stated “this multiparous young woman...” Clearly he had to lie - and I will always be grateful he did. But it should never have been necessary.
I have a friend (the middle child of my best and longest LCSO friend) who knew from her teens that she would be an awful mother (some diagnosable personality disorders to include depression and anxiety) and in no way ever wanted to bring a child into the world. She was finally able to get a tubal ligation in her early 30's, spending the better part of 15 years in horrible "birth control" complications regardless of what product she used. She was always told "well, what if you change your mind and meet the right man to have kids with" and was never listened to when she said "I will be a horrible mother. Do you want kids to have a horrible mother?"
I still would like legislation to require any hospital that accepts Medicare or Medicaid payments to be willing to do a hysterectomy, tubal ligation or vasectomy on anyone who requests it.
Contraception will be next. DeSantis ( encouraged by the Catholic Conference) vetoed $$ two years in a row (21,22)to provide long-term, reversible hormonal contraception for low-income women. It appears $$ wasn’t even included in 23 budget.
Also, DeSantis signed dangerous law that allows medical professionals, and insurance companies, to decline care ” based on their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs”.
“Justice” Clarence Thomas believes we “should reconsider” rulings codifying rights to contraception.
DeSantis avoids talking about abortion. We all must keep talking about abortion…and contraception!
I, and others, always said that abortion was the camel sticking its nose under the tent. An OBGYN I know predicted that the next step would be IUD’s because some Catholic clergy believe that they are a type of abortion. She predicted that the next step would be outlawing long term contraception Then contraception for unmarried women.
I know. Baby # 3 came 2 years after my Catholic hospital delivery of Baby # 2. Then, 4 years after Baby #3 delivery with tubal ligation, along came Baby #4. God's Will they would say. All four are wonder-full! But, to be sure, had a hysterectomy.
Marge, Ally and MaryPat, the stories you've shared of yourselves and your friends are harrowing. They are also a window into why government shouldn't be in the room between any patient, of any sex, and their doctor.
I'm male, will never know what it is to menstruate, conceive or give birth. I'm also not a doctor. Because of ALL of the above, I'm hereby unqualified to steer or make any decisions regarding any woman's healthcare. Only those whose experience it is and/or those MEDICALLY trained to diagnose, treat and care for those concerns should have a say. Those decisions should be made on an individual case basis, customized for the concerns of the patient. That's it. Idk why this is so hard for some other men (and Coney-Barrett's) to understand.
I recently saw a photo of a women's abortion protest. One of the protest signs said, "Republicans idea of government is so small, it fits inside my uterus." The nation's women shouldn't have their choices restricted by judicial decisions based on religious views that many of them don't practice. Current SCOTUS reactionaries make decisions thinking their view will always be the majority. Would these same justices celebrate an ultra-conservative majority Muslim court that denied their wives from bikinis on the beach, or outlawed pork dishes of any sort nationwide? No. They wouldn't. Why? Because they don't practice and don't want to adhere to Islamic tenets.
Let those with convictions to observe religious guidance to refuse abortion do so. Let those without those convictions do otherwise. It's so simple that doing otherwise is mindbogglingly stupid.
Got an infection at the internal site, doctor ignored my complaint of fever and monthly pain and fluid ("Douche"), which, suggested, duh, patency. Essentially out of that cyst I grew a new tube. And my daughter after 3 boys was and is a beautiful miracle!
C. Jacobs and Mary Hardt- totally agree. Can you imagine the howling chorus of outrage if vasectomies were required at age 15 and reversed only for procreation?
I think we also need to be louder, clearer, and possibly more graphic in describing the real health risks pregnancy and childbirth entail. I’ve had four pregnancies and I couldn’t give you the answers to that one. Forcing pregnancy on women is cruel and unusual punishment. It’s wrong.
Completely true but these blowhards with a fetish for forcing women to make babies don't care at all. As others mentioned, their policies would be vastly different if they actually cared about life.
Actually, I think it is about women being punished for wing sexually active. If the anti-abortion ERs really cared about the life of the fetus, they would provide real care for the baby and assistance to the mom.
Agreed, Sky. I call them pro-birth, not pro-life. I got to see lots and lots of women raising children in poverty, in dangerous situations, with abusive and criminal sperm donors who never provided for the children, assaulted both mother and child, or by themselves with no support from either sperm donor or the parents who viewed the mother as "unworthy" for having gotten pregnant.
Some said “all lives are precious!” to which I replied that I’m glad that they’re going to get bone marrow type tested so that they can save a life. I suggest that they contact their legislators to get them to pass a law to get everyone bone marrow tested so that the lives of cancer patients that need transplants can be saved. They always say that they don’t want “the government “ telling them that they have to donate bone marrow, so I ask how is that different from “the government “ telling their daughter that she has to put her life at risk to birth her rapist’s baby. Some have said “I never thought about it that way”.
A few just huffed “it’s not the same!” And I asked if that means that they value an unborn baby’s life more than a cancer patient’s life.
In all cases, they’ve looked like they are considering the inequality.
My final say is to ask them if going to heaven is the best thing that can happen to them. I then ask if they’d rather live with parents who openly blame them for their lost dreams or go straight to heaven. No answer.
I like that approach, Mary. I have had this conversation with some anti-abortion folks, including one with a former professional associate (he was a sergeant with another agency, but we worked a lot of graveyard shifts together). I asked him "how can the sperm of a rapist be more important than the life of his victim?" He really didn't have an answer for that.
It's so encouraging that they were willing to share their beliefs with you and to actually listen to your questions. How cool it would. be to set up a series of small (6-8 people), moderated conversations about this topic.
Exactly. In fact, there has to be permission granted by the person dying to even be able to use anything from their body after death! So a corpse would have more rights than a woman, if these monsters got their way.
Sorry, posted my question to you before I read your replies above. I’m glad you were able to get through to some. I had a conversation about this with a friend who said “I just hate to see babies die,” and I couldn’t really come up with a response. I had already told my friend about my great grandmother who died of a knitting needle abortion done by her husband in the 1910s, and how her death had horribly affected her already living children, like my grandmother, who was essentially abandoned by her father after her mother died. I mean, a hundred years ago, my grandmother’s entire family was destroyed because they couldn’t afford another baby and the mother died. That story didn’t move my friend’s opinion on abortion. On the other hand, I don’t think my friend would stop someone else from having an abortion. She just didn’t believe in them. That’s fine. Just don’t legislate this bullshit.
Indeed.. it is... this is the minority protecting senate using the filibuster crap again... nothing like a constitutional republic acting like a constitutional monarchy...
Exactly. Who is "Tommy Tuberville"? (Sounds like a cartoon in an ad for plumbing services). What authority does he have to countermand a government ruling of any kind, particularly this one?
The cartoonishly named Tuberville is a former college football coach from Alabama who was elected to the Senate. From my minimal observations, he’s not too bright but all too right-wing.
Tuberville defeated legally educated Democrat Doug Jones, thereby confirming my opinion that football is more important than the rule of law in some states. At least Georgians were able to ward off Bulldog Herschel Walker, who almost defeated Rafael Warnock, who has a doctorate. But the Bulldogs steadfastly refuse to visit the White House to celebrate their national collegiate championships while Biden is the POTUS.
". . . the Bulldogs steadfastly refuse to visit the White House to celebrate their national collegiate championships while Biden is the POTUS."
I'm sorry, but that is NOT an entirely accurate statement. The word "steadfastly" is inappropriate here. The coaching staff and athletic directorship at UGA made an official statement that the reason for not going to the White House were enormous scheduling and logistics conflicts. Coach Kirby Smart said they would be more than honored to go to the White House at some point when it was feasible and made it very clear there was nothing at all political in their decision. The White House basically threw a date out there without consulting the university. Trying to organize something like that, more or less last minute, in a busy time for the football program, something that would involve moving upwards to 100 people to DC, security clearances, etc. etc. is not an easy task. Plus, with ongoing domestic and international events/crises, which we are all aware are creating extraordinarily busy times for this administration, finding a time amenable for the White House also present scheduling challenges. The team, a majority of which is African-American, considered it an honor to be asked. NO ONE said they wouldn't go ". . . while Biden is the POTUS." That is flat out wrong. Making such a provocative statement without any basis for it is how negative rumors propagate and spread. We are better than that. I'm the first one to run down and criticize my state when it does something stupid (it happens more than I'd wish), but I will also defend it (and, let it be said, my alma mater) when I feel it is being unjustly smeared. As I continue to say to other states, "Get YOUR house in order before you go running down other states!" Sorry to go on so much, but this touches a raw nerve in me.
Perhaps I overstepped the evidence at hand when I said that they "steadfastly refused" to go to the White House, but something tells me that a White House invitation is not something most teams turn down twice, which is what I'd read.
He was a crappy football coach that left every program worse off than when he arrived. Any success he had came from what the previous coach had left and his assistants. A POS.
What I'm learning about Sen. Tuberville is explaining the puzzle of how Donald Trump got to be - no, I won't say it: let's just say, got into the White House. Similar career path.
It's actually a pretty good regional paper with a respectably left-wing editorial department. J.D. Crowe's cartoons depicting Tuberville and his antics are just this side of slanderous, which is fine with me when it comes to ex-football coaches with a God complex and real power.
I loved AL! I think it has lots of charm, it's very real. Plus, beside a picture of the Montana bridge collapse, it said that Prigozhin says he ordered the halt to the march on Moscow. Lots of pictures of hamburgers, and a great picture of tomatoes growing - you could almost smell that scent of furry tomato stalks. I really only looked to see pictures of T Tuberville, Esq., Sen., but I couldn't see where they were. Never mind, I enjoyed even more what I did see. It's a curious thing, but nobody has power unless we give it to them.
It only takes one senator to block nominations in senate committees, in this case the Armed Forces Committee. Though done for reasons of illness, Feinstein’s absence stopped confirmations in the Judicial Committee.
I think Anne-Louise was utilizing sarcasm here. The Senate (upper chamber) is supposed to be the "cream of the crop" (if you recall, they were originally appointed by state governors and not elected; they have some funky rules that stem from that origin story) and not the unwashed rubes elected by the people.
That's curious -- the mere absence of a Senator will stop the work of a committee? Do you think that's a rule, or did something else leave that committee without a quorum?
These Republican nutcases have descended so far that their entire political game plan is little more than a game of "chicken" -- "Accede to my religious convictions or I'll kill us all!" We may just have to fasten our seatbelts, pump up our air bags, and let them try.
On the bizarre Prigozhin one way trip to Minsk, something is really fishy. As some have already pointed out, the fact that he could take thousands of soldiers on a minatory march toward Moscow without being strafed to death or even attempted to be stopped, clearly shows that Prigozhin has significant support within the Russian military and in the various security services.
BTW, how is he "getting" to Belarus?! Will Aeroflot fly him? Will the FSB take him back to whatever gold plated manse he has in Moscow or St. Petersburg and watch while he packs his bags, gathers his family and makes hotel reservations?
And we would all have to be born yesterday to believe that the tyrant from central casting President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who is a close Putin ally and beneficiary has suddenly become the Metternich of Minsk.
I have no idea what's going on but one thing for sure is that this isn't over by a long shot. The threat to Putin's power due to the horrific and failing war in Ukraine is significant, as are certain to be Putin's countermeasures against that threat. We will see how it all plays out.
On the anniversary of the Dobbs decision, one item Heather pointed out demands further emphasis, in my humble opinion. Irrespective of how Americans feel about the right to abortion, this anniversary should have all Americans grimacing in concern that in Dobbs, the Supreme Court for the first time in our history retracted a constitutional right. The fact that such a retraction had never previously occurred (and in fact was unthinkable) is due, inter alia, to what had once been a conscious understanding that rights once recognized cannot be taken away in a free society whose governmental compact reflects a government of limited powers vis-a-vis its people. Two and a half generations of Americans, particularly American women, relied upon this right to live their lives free from governmental interference into the most intimate chambers of their being and existence. The fact that Roe's core finding withstood nearly half a century of subsequent litigation, but was all swept away by the narrowest of majorities left not only the concept of stare decisis in tatters on the marble floor, but also the fundamental trust in the capacity of the Court to render impartial justice.
Agree that this sweet Prigozhin deal fails the smell test. I thought the axiom was that if you shoot at the king you best not miss. Prigozhin missed. And the part of the deal that says that Wagner group members who “choose” not to join the Russian army will suffer no consequences? Really? I’m not buying it. Both Putin and trump share the characteristic that no breach of absolute fealty to the king goes unpunished. We may not hear about it, but there will be consequences.
"Both Putin and trump share the characteristic that no breach of absolute fealty to the king goes unpunished."
There's a lot that Putin and trump share and it's pretty biblical. Just a few years ago they stood together in front of the cameras, steeping in their perceived omnipotence, kissing each other's asses. Well....?
There certainly will be sequelae. But I think there are a lot of assumptions in your analysis. I was not at all surprised that Prigozhin got his troops so close to Moscow. I think that is when Putin finally realized he truly does not have the people of Russia behind him. The reason Wagner exists is because Putin and his generals were having a hard time recruiting or even drafting: men left the country or simply disappeared into the countryside. Prigozhin is an interesting man, an entrepreneur who has both ambition and a sense of moral duty (before you sneer, ask yourself what we expect of the men we send to war).
Once Prigozhin got fed up with Putin's inability to provide supplies as well, it was pretty much game up. I think Prigozhin has a better handle on Russia than Putin. That doesn't mean that things are all going to be hunky-dory. I think those negotiations had been going on for some time and Prigozhin's march pretty much backed Putin into a corner. Prigozhin is smart and he is focused. I doubt very much he was interested in taking over Putin's place, which is a pretty weak place to be right now. He does not have the kind of power he had when he was climbing the ladder, and even if he did, it won't work to accomplish what you think. If he tried, there really would be resistance.
It's going to be interesting to watch the dynamics in Russia now.
The purge starts when something of highest value to the purported leader of the opposition is found. What would make General P stop, turn around, and go to Belarus on the thinnest of promises of immunity? His children or family or empire is in the hands of the FSB or Putin? Names are already taken. The "disappeared" will start. His followers, at best, will go to the front lines as fodder in Putin's war on the Ukrain, you think? Will we ever hear from Private P?
Per your analysis, have you seen Snyder's? Point 5-10 seem to make sWar. (facsism, mobster, logic of their own creation, likely cause of withdrawal from Ukraine). I don't find any history as to why General P is a general and not subservient to actual Russian generals in the Ukraine war.
My assessment is that Snyder is, to use his own phrase, a "skilled liar and propagandist." There is less than nothing to his analysis. I would be willing to go into that, if you or anyone would like to have an exchange of views. I'll suggest, if somebody wants, choosing a particular numbered point of Snyder's post as a starting point.
Daniel, I am with you on the emphasis of the court taking away rights that had once been granted. My Facebook memories reminded me of this conversation a year ago, and I am going to reiterate something I said then that has not been out of my thoughts since: Justice Thomas's concurring opinion is very dangerous:
"Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion. He wrote to emphasize his view that the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause guarantees only process; it does not secure substantive rights. Justice Thomas would reconsider and overrule “all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” He added that the doctrine of substantive due process is “’particularly dangerous’” because it “’exalts judges at the expense of the People from whom they derive their authority’”; it “distorts other areas of constitutional law”; and (as in Dred Scott) it “is often wielded to ‘disastrous ends.’” (Source: https://www.naag.org/attorney-general-journal/opinion-dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-org-13-1392/ )
In his dissent, Thomas referred to three other cases that "mistakenly" relied on this judicial theory: Griswold v. Connecticut (contraception access), Lawrence v. Texas (overruling a prohibition on male on male sexual conduct), and Obergefell v. Hodges (permitting same-sex marriage). Notably missing from what is usually a 4 case set is Loving v. Virginia. In case you've forgotten it, that is the case that struck down a Virginia law prohibiting interracial marriage.
Gee, I wonder why THAT case wasn't invited to the party...
I wish I could source this, probably can if necessary, but this quote summed up the issue for me. 10th vs. 14th:
“… it is misleading to focus on the framers’ specific vision of the 10th Amendment. When the Bill of Rights was ratified, the Constitution sought to protect individuals from the federal government, not from the states. But after the Civil War, the Reconstruction Amendments transformed our constitutional order, including by protecting individuals from their state governments and by making the federal government a source of such protection. So when you see the Supreme Court in a case like Shelby County (which invalidated the coverage formula for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act) cite the 10th Amendment as if it is unaffected by the Reconstruction Amendments and stands for a particular reservation of power to the states, that is a grave error.”
His view was also roundly rebuffed by Ketanji Brown Jackson. Love her chops.
Right you are, Gail on both the evolution of the Constitution via the 14th Amendment post-Civil War, and on KBJ's chops! I like her sweet smile as well.
Ally also makes a most important point here.
Justice Thomas' long held antipathy towards the doctrine of substantive due process is a direct result of his marinating in the stew of right wing semi-jurisprudence going back to the days before he was so unfortunately nominated to the Supremes by Bush I. Especially for cultural conservatives, this common sense doctrine of long standing is most frightening.
We all know the enumerated rights listed in the Bill of Rights. We all equally know that the universe of rights is significantly greater than that set forth within the four walls of that otherwise magnificent document drafted by a group of cool, smart white guys wearing wigs in the late 18th century.
Some however, including Justice Thomas apparently, forget the 9th Amendment which succinctly states as follows: "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people".
The substantive due process doctrine basically states that the States cannot deny to their people those varied, unenumerated or unstated rights that are implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.
Thus, States cannot forbid the teaching of foreign languages in schools (Meyer v. Nebraska), or cannot deny marriage licenses to people of different races (Loving v. Virginia), or prohibit adults of the same gender from marrying (Obergfeld v. Ohio) or deny adults the use of contraceptives (Griswold v. Connecticut), or prohibit the sexual activities of consenting adults (Lawrence v. Texas), or until just a year ago, deny woman the right to choose an abortion (Roe v. Wade, Casey v. Planned Parenthood). All of the aforenoted were determined, one would think reasonably and understandably, to be well within the slipstream of ordered liberty.
Yet were Justices Thomas and Alito (the same not so dynamic duo recently in the news due to their palling around with billionaires) to have their way, all of the aforenoted case precedents would be in jeopardy, and all of the basic, simple liberties that they enshrine and that we all take for granted would lose federal constitutional protection.
I should note that it is fully reasonable to be cautious in exercising this doctrine, and indeed the Court has been cautious and not capricious in so doing. Yet Thomas, and Scalia before him do not argue caution, but frontally attack the doctrine due to their deep rooted fear of the various incarnations of liberty itself. They seek to take "originalism" to its furthest and most absurd degree, arguing that if the right to do "X" is not in the constitutional text, or not protected by the states at the time of the passage of the 14th amendment, it cannot be now protected by substantive due process.
Uhhhh, ok. So for instance, we have the absurdity of the Dobbs decision striking down the 50 year old precedent of the fully relied upon Roe by noting that abortion was not protected by the States in 1868, or part of a common historical tradition at that time.
Really?!? Relying upon a self-serving interpretation of a historical "tradition" from a period fifty-two years before the passage of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote?!
It is no coincidence that the explicit target of this retrograde analysis, which in and of itself constitutes the very judicially dominant rulemaking that conservatives used to fight so strongly against, are those among us who have always had to fight not only for the protection of thier rights, but at times for their very lives and livelihoods.
Know the feeling... frustrating! I do a lot of online research and finally learned that simply typing part of a quote in my search box ("inside quotation marks, like this") will generally take me to the source! I think most search engines will do this, but my preference for just about anything is Duck Duck Go. It's especially good for esoteric things like this because it does not save search data or use algorithms to give results it thinks you expect. (And because it does not save search data or your ip info, your privacy is secure.)
I share your skepticism. Prigozhin showed on the world stage what a threat he is to Putin, let alone emasculating him. Are we supposed to believe that on the same day Putin called him a traitor he magnanimously pardons him? I say his days are numbered. And from what I see, so are Putin's....
My take is Prigozhin is too useful to kill. He can still run Wagner operations in Africa and elsewhere from Belarus. He may in effect also still lead the Russian assault in Ukraine while in exile. I read somewhere that he initiated the insurrection because he believed he was about to be arrested. Once he secured a deal, he was willing to call the whole thing off “to prevent bloodshed”. This is a very elaborate chess game by a master of destabilization. And you’re right Daniel, this isn’t over.
I don't know about Prigozhin being too useful to kill. Here we have two chess masters of destabilization and both have misjudged and made mistakes. It's hard for me to believe that on the same day Putin would call him a traitor and basically call for his head would then pardon him. Another trait shared by Putin and trump is the demand for utter loyalty, tearing apart those who are not. We'll see....
It’s all very opaque. Wagner is making a fortune in Africa that Putin would want to control. It’s not yet clear how the general military and Wagner troops will behave once Prigozhin is expelled. If they line up behind Putin, he may be emboldened to get rid of Prigozhin. This may be a wait and see period. It’s not clear what effect this will have on Putin’s power in the long run. Right now he appears weakened.
I think it is clear that Prigozhin never had any chance of overthrowing the Russian government, and he knew it.
I think that Prigozhin "knew" that Shoigu and another intended to use up Prigozhin's soldiers, with unnecessary heavy casualties, to lighten the load of the Russian army and get rid of the undesirable "prison scum" in Prigozhin's ranks, men who were promised their freedom in exchange for extremely dangerous service.
Prigozhin's men were being ordered back to the Bakhmut area, where Ukraine has overrun the army-held flanks. There had been a lot of public friction between Prigozhin and the army high command, with the appearance that somebody wanted to blunt Prigozhin's success in Bakhmut.
Prigozhin's artillery was recently removed, as well. Prigozhin acted, as a good commander in a desperate situation, to prevent what he perceived to be the pre-planned slaughter of his troops.
Prigozhin acted with the desperate hope that Putin would find a way to act that prevented bloodshed.
Prigozhin knew that, almost certainly, a bit of blood would be shed. (Helicopters were shot down.)
Prigozhin assumed that Putin would be compelled to make a forceful denunciation of Prigozhin's insurrection.
Prigozhin knew that he could never take Moscow.
Conclusion:
Prigozhin knew, with absolute certainty, that he and his men would die as they charged toward Moscow, unless somebody caught his "Hail Mary" pass and acted with authority to stop the pre-planned slaughter of his "deplorable" soldiers.
In other words, Prigozhin was compelled by his sense of military honor (a commander's commitment to his troops that inspires loyal service) to act in a way that risked public disgrace and annihilation.
Thanks for drawing my attention to your treatment here, I'd missed it in the melee of comments. And I'm certainly willing to give Prigozhin the benefit of an assumption of honor, and that having a sense of care and duty to his troops is both admirable and a necessary ingredient for leadership.
None of these speculations -- yours, mine, and Mr. Streeter's -- are contradictory. It's like my old Torts professor used to say, "What does the case look like if everyone is telling the truth?" One of the benefits, we discovered in class, was that using the assumption of truth as a tool encourages the recognition of multiple motives.
I think it quite possible that all of the following are true:
As Mr. Streeter observed, this incident has shown severe fractures in the command and control structure of the Russian military, possibly the political structure, too. Not knowing the troop dispositions around Moscow, it's hard to assess how much resistance Prigozhin would have faced on approach, but he did seem very vulnerable from the air. The loyalty of all of these military personnel to their commanders is clearly questionable, so they may fear to give the order to fire on their most popular military leader.
Prigozhin clearly knew that his forces, such as they are, were being slated to be fed into a wood chipper by the other Russian commanders, probably want both to preserve their own troops and to hurt Prigozhin. I don't know what media is available to people on the scene with cellphones, but I think it likely that Prigozhin's troops knew it, too, and being slaughtered in Ukraine isn't much better than dying of AIDS and tuberculosis in a Russian prison. So both for honor's sake, to save his troops, and to avoid being fragged, Prigozhin had to withdraw. Once he had done so, the only direction to march was toward Moscow, after gearing up at Rostov-on-Don.
And for all I know, the Prigozhin and his buddies really just wanted a decent meal and a hot shower, or some other motive beyond my ken.
Yet my question remains: why is sending this mutinous commander to Belarus a solution? It's unlikely to be for a well-earned vacation, nor does it look like exile, although I haven't heard how many troops Prigozhin has with him for the trip or what will greet him when he arrives. While cheerfully admitting my ignorance, the only two things I see in Belarus that would look attractive to a wildly ambitious, maverick commander are a bunch of tactical nukes and a 200km flightpath to Kyiv.
I do hope both Ukraine and N.A.T.O. are closely watching the northern flank.
I think that your thought is clear in your assessment of Prigozhin's situation as he decided to not really cross the Rubicon.
I suspect that part of the ongoing swirl of events is jockeying for position as Putin's potential successor or kingmaker after Putin leaves the scene.
I suspect that Prigozhin's well-earned vacation in Belarus was a quick-and-dirty way for Putin to show both authority and mercy toward a possibly chosen successor who is one of Russia's few heros in this miserable war.
I suspect that, with Prigozhin and his men safely out of harm's way and intact as a fighting force, tactical possibilities begin to suggest themselves along, as you say, Ukraine's northern flank.
I spotted something that may add some gloss to the various motives:
"Prigozhin made his move after state support that once flowed to Wagner was diverted to new private mercenary groups established by state-owned companies such as gas giant Gazprom."
That should be a free link. It's also an article that delves a bit deeper, including showing that the march on Moscow was not as peaceful as it looked to me at first.
Perhaps you're right, John, that Prigozhin is really off on exile/vacation and will have to guard his teacup for the rest of his life. But while the latter is likely true for everyone involved in the primitive clusterf**k they use for organization over there, I seriously doubt we've heard the last of this little monster.
Regarding your eloquent description of the way things work in Russia, I think it is important to understand that modern Russia was baptized in genocide, and we did it to them. If you or anyone else would care to note the title of the linked book, and the position of the author during the early 1990s, then you will have discovered "Exhibit 1" backing my statement:
Imagine if our government eliminated Medicare and Social Security in the middle of the worst depression in our history. That's essentially what happened to Russia, and all the old people died. Maybe we'll live to see it here, with global de-dollarization accelerating in recent months...
There was a short but curious sentence in HCR’s letter that may have been addressed but I’ve missed it. It was something like, “by the way, Putin’s whereabouts has not been seen in the last 24 hours”. (Or something to that effect). There seems a lot to not quite make sense. That is very much a fact that should be explained.
I don't think Putin has been seen much in public for some time now. But it does seem strange that after such a power challenge, he does not make an appearance to solidify his claim. Noteworthy that only Moscow was under protection, not merely the side toward which Prigozhin's troops are headed. Perhaps he is isolated in more ways than one. Russian people are not behind him.
It is a conundrum in my mind but Putin may be reluctant to poke the folks at home since they don’t seem on board since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine a year ago this past February.
That has been my feeling too. I wrote quite a bit about it last year, drawing on my experiences and observations when I was in Russia during the events of 1991, though even as I wrote, I hoped Putin wouldn't follow through. It's played out pretty much as I wrote (and with many heart-breaking events).
As everyone here agrees, Mr. Streeter, this whole Belarus "solution" is logically, politically, and logistically very smelly. No one seems to mention the other items that have been send to Belarus -- tactical nuclear weapons only about 4 weeks ago.
Somehow, despite all foreign policy experts' opinions as to it's likelihood, it would be very "Putinesque" to nuke Kyiv and say to the world, "Whatcha gonna do about it?" After all, they don't seem to mind drowning millions of people in Kherson Oblast by blowing a dam, do they?
And I have no idea what our response to a radioactive Kyiv would be. 'Sounds a little like Tommy Tuberville's game of "chicken" to me, writ large.
Intel, from what I can gather, seems to indicate that the original intent of tampering with the dam was to render the road on it impassible. Think about the circumstances: this was as Ukraine was preparing an assault on Russian occupied territories.
There are some observers with engineering expertise who watched the dam closely. They say that the road was deliberately damaged, inadvertently compromising the structure. One could make a good case that Russians might attempt to make it difficult for Ukrainian military to cross into Russian held territory.
At any rate, the way it worked out affects the Russians more than the Ukrainians. Now they have to try to manage a nuclear plant without water. Several sources say that the only option at this point is to create retaining pond with enough water to gradually cool the plant down. It is already shut down and non-functional, so the cooling is to cool it completely for safety reasons. It would take a very long time to bring it back online.
A series of events following in the next few days (heavy rains overfilling and overtopping the dam, followed by an attempt to release water through the spillway) were the ultimate cause of the failure. The Russians owned and controlled the dam (and the nuclear plant upstream), and had been having problems managing them both. Yes, a lot of damage in Ukrainian areas downstream, but Russian-speaking Ukrainians were also living there. From the looks of things, Russians took more of a hit than Ukraine.
Thanks for the details, although the sum of them is that "Russians occupied the site by force and f**ked it up." And although the nuclear plant is currently the Russian's problems, as soon as they withdraw, it becomes Ukraine's problem again, not even counting the loss of electrical generating capacity.
I suppose it would be interesting to see if the operation of the plant was the contractual obligation of a Russian company and if they are liable for loss. But that's really just a bad joke -- somehow I don't think Ukraine's property damage claims will get much of a hearing anywhere but in the media.
The Wagner group decides not to attack Russia while the MAGA group continues to attack women. What a contrast. When will the American people really rise up and send the MAGA group to the equivalent of Belarus? Before I die, I hope.
Frank Mitchell... this MAGA stuff is reflexive - Obama won two terms and frightened the insecure pale faced whites of America... into a crouch position, quivering, hoping Lindsay Graham the MAGA fearing odd duck with the vacillating conscience genuflecting for any white racist in his neighborhood.. the need to feel superior overwhelming all of them... it’s incipient feckless faux but real racist based fascism - the thermometer out of control dancing for the racist flavor of the born again... this is a disease... and it will not fade anytime soon... turning on the lights and shining the beam right in their faces will humiliate the intelligent minority among them... but it’s mob rule... and the wind is up... blowing in the wind racism... they are terrified of Black Power... and wallowing is guilt denied from the decade following the Civil War.
Indeed, REFLEXIVE, NOT REFLECTIVE....AS WITH ALL PREJUDICE AND ALL RACISM... THE BANALITY OF EVIL.. ALWAYS ON SUNDAY, SOMETIMES ON SATURDAY.. AND SEE SEVENDAYSVT... IN VERMONT 36,000 ISSUES DUMPED FREE WEEKLY.. 1,000 IN PLATTSBURG, THEY CANNOT KEEP STAFF, VIEWS NOT NEWS, A RAG... FRIGHTENED OF THE TRUTH, NOT EDITED, NOT A NEWSPAPER, A FEW CLASSIFIED PERSONALS SEX SOLICITATION PAGES WRAPPED IN ADS...PAULA RUNS IT, AND SHE’S TIRED...
Don’t think I will live that long. The cretins smelled blood in 2000; since then, they’ve attracted enough money to gain momentum, especially as Obama brought the racist tea party to fore. chump just brought the flame thrower
How do 700 people, most of whom are not doctors and, despite that, calling themselves the American College of Pediatricians, run a highly visible propaganda operation? Something is wrong with Americans, especially white Americans and most especially white Evangelicals. I don’t think those people can be civilized, but there might be some hope of bringing them to heel if we can get enough of the rest of us to the polls.
The problem is that the “koolaid drinkers”have hijacked the name Christianity and distorted Scripture and weaponized Jesus. That is NOT Christianity and it is one of the greatest sources of pain in my heart. Christians know that on the night before he died, Jesus called us to love one another. Precious, important words-he commanded us to love one another. He didn’t speak out against gay people, although he had to know some. He didn’t persecute or reject women or people outside his cultural circle. He told people to stop being hypocrites, to stop judging others, to stop building walls. He told us to love one another. Any other characterization of Christianity is a weaponization for someone’s personal agenda. There is nothing of Christ in them.
The Evangelicals' hypocrisy pushes my button like nothing else. They are today's Pharisees--caring more about literal biblical interpretation than their behavior toward others, believing themselves to be sanctimoniously superior, and sticking together while rejecting all others,. Actually the word Pharisee is related to a Hebrew word meaning "separation," which is the work of the ego. They embody the diametrical opposite of Jesus' teaching for us to love one another....
You speak 100% truth. Sadly, the ones I know in tx buy the bull schitt. I am from Thomasville, and have a cousin in Greensboro, a real Christian. Love Greensboro.
Well, IMO, Christianity began to veer off the path when Constantine made it a state religion. This is not to say that many people don't still practice in the tradition Jesus modeled, but the various iterations of misogyny that have and continue to haunt it are nothing Jesus would have condoned. I get a little crazy when I see women in the street proclaiming they are "pro-life."
Everyone is worried about schools indoctrinating young people via the three R’s when the greatest threat of all lies in so called Religious organizations.
They are called this name (very cleverly American College of Pediatricians but they are not the same as the larger group which I have forgotten the name of. In other words they are a faux group.
Jennifer, if you reread my comment, I’m referencing the same group as you, except that I didn’t use all caps—basically, look for Academy in the name of the organization, not College or Center.
The media runs scared of the right wing. They are afraid to say something isn't true, even when they know it's know true. They are afraid of the right wing attacks saying they are unbalanced. So they end up equating lies with the truth.
Title 1X changed the lives of girls forever and Roe Vrs Wade did as well. The freedom to be a whole person, a woman with rights and choices is something this younger generation had taken for granted and is now fighting for again. Some day I hope that humans will be free to make choices and express all parts of themselves without fear
This revived a memory from the nineties when my feminist daughter was forced to walk through a gang of guys blasting Russ Limbaugh on her way to class because Title IX threatened their beloved hockey team's stranglehold on athletic funding.
As an intuitive and an activist, I'm having very strong feelings about all of this! And, frankly, it starts with the thoughts... 'bring it on!'...In a photo of Putin released today, he does not look well. He's beginning to his grip.. A lot of educated young Russians have left for the West over recent months. In general, it feels like things are changing. I believe we're gong to see more and more parents standing up for the offspring. About 6 years ago, the Pew Research Institute, a sound source of news and data, spoke of the increasing number of youth who were leaving the churches they'd been raised in. And, indeed in many areas and in many ways, we are seeing the choices of younger who think very differently. And who have shown they're ready to fearlessly take action. It wasn't a casual decision to sue Montana, where fossil fuels are the #1 source of the state's economy. Where Gov. Gianforte physically attacked a reporter on national tv. The biggest challenge in my mind is that Congress is full of people, who do not fully understand they are dinosaurs when it comes to understanding today's world and what is needed to create life affirming change. The last few week a shift has begun.
I’m glad you brought up Montana and what’s happening there. The chicks are beginning to tackle the dinosaurs and that’s a good sign. Let’s back them up.
I’m praying you are correct, Sam, that a shift is a’comin’. We desperately need it with the antics of the GOP in the House, the silence of the GOP in the Senate, the biased SCOTUS, the ongoing gun violence, attacks in the rights of women and the lgbtq and people of color, decimation if voting rights, and more. We need a shift toward decency and democracy!
Why did Prigozhin turn back so close to seizing control of Moscow, Russia? One potential alternative, does it make sense? Prigozhin ends up in Middle East or Africa where he owns gold diamond mines and keeps the resident dictator in power and thus is safe, his army in Russia melts away into civilian life ready for recall when Prigozhin instructs...and thus he has shown bloodlessly the Russian people, oligarchs and military that Putin is a 'paper tiger' and he is ready to take over when they have had enough of Putin. Thus no fighting of Russian vs Russian, just wait until people are accepting of an end to Putin and Prigozhin rides back into Moscow with his armies. His ride to Moscow showed the world this is doable! Prigozhin has shown himself to be an extremely smart skilled tactician so 'pulling up lame' just short of Moscow makes no sense. Sort of like when Napoleon came out of his first exile and retook his title of Emperor essentially bloodlessly.
Napoleon's return was bloodless because he was (almost) universally loved throughout France. Mon Empereur. Two things that struck me about Prigo's march on Moscow were its speed, and the complete halt when they were only two hours away, like turning off the power. Exile in Belarus, eh? And Navalny, surviving poisoning, lives on, in some Russian prison cell. I wish Dostoevsky was a contributor to this forum.
It may be part of the Master Plan... It's otherwise incomprehensible that he was allowed to get off the plane and be nursed back to health (?) by a German hospital - then back to Russia to the gulag or wherever.
According to the Guardian today, US intelligence heard about a planned rebellion a few days ago.
I agree with your "makes no sense." I would think that an invading army that wasn't Russian moving openly toward Moscow would have been blown to bits by air strikes if a military contest was all that was involved. Clearly, it seems more was involved: first to inspire this dangerous uprising, and second reaching to avoid what would surely follow from either army actually killing their fellow citizens.
Curious that with all our defense satellite coverage and detailed images we did not get more news of substance on both the "invading army" and the military responses. I believe they could see all we've bantered about here.
He was saying: “See? I can do this if I want. And it could be just as easy tomorrow or the next day.” Also, what does it say they there was literally nothing in his way? He showed that Putin can't be everywhere and nowhere (always hiding in some palace bunker) at the same time,
Was Prigo showing that he can move forcefully and at will against Putin? Is this a transition from the time of oligarchs to a time of warlords in Russia?
Hi Carolyn. My first question would pitch a one on one Putin/Prigo confrontation. My second question would present a fragmentation of the Russian Federation. Either one with plenty of unknowns. I am no expert on Russia but I was wondering where this was headed. It looks different at the moment given recent developments. Here is where the situation appears to be: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/25/europe/putin-russia-analysis-intl/index.html
Certainly no expert on Russia here…just a reader and observer. Sources have been Fiona Hill, Masha Gessen, various Economist writers. That, and I'm a geographer by training. It does not seem likely that this is over to me either. Expecting Prigozhin to saunter off to Belarus seems a bit like expecting DJT to go live in a trailer in West Virginia. The announcement about the turnaround and 'agreement' was all bluster. One of the things Prig showed Putin was that the actual physical path to Moscow is ridiculously vulnerable, and he exposed the lameness of the Russian military that wasn't even protecting its own capital until after the mercenaries were almost at the door. Talk about barbarians at the gate! Prigozhin is either going to show up dead or he will show up with 50k troops at Putin's palace by the Black Sea. It's for sure Putin will not be residing near Moscow for a while.
Both these guys are bloodthirsty thugs. How could anyone ever seriously consider trusting anything they say? It’s beyond tragic. And yet still the right wing here including that over privileged fool, Tucker Carlson, embrace them. Not good.
Every single person who knows anything about them has said the same. I've heard at least a dozen times about Prigozhin, “This is not a good guy.” The Russian people are so trapped by the likes of Putin and the corrupt system he has in place that they seem to live life in a limbo, waiting to see who will 'win' whatever next battle will be fought between ruthless gangsters. The right wing and their mouthpiece, Carlson, are ignorant nut cases. They don't know what they are talking about, ever…
Thanks for your fresh thinking. Could the relocation of Wagner mercenaries to Belarus achieve 1) a check on Timoshenko's loyalty? 2) could it bolster a pincer strategy against Ukraine? 3)Could it present a weakening of the invading forces in Luhansk/Donetsk and Crimea?
The US Constitution needs another amendment, modelled after the First: Congress shall pass no laws regarding personal relationships or reproduction. This would give these areas the same level of legislative protection that religion now enjoys.
I'm happy that the good professor has carefully not used the terms "Pro-life" and "Pro-abortion" in her letter today. These terms are used by the Right to shade the debate about abortion, to color the team sides, as it were. I don't know anybody that is "Anti-life", or in fact, "Pro-abortion". Words matter.
Abortion, in my mind, represents a failure of some sort: a failure of birth control, if it was used, or a failure to use it. A failure to respect the bodily rights of a woman (or a girl) by force of rape or incest. A failure of a fetus to properly develop. And so on. Nobody can thus be "Pro-abortion", at least in the abstract; we all prefer to see only wanted babies enter this world, to a mother or parents who are emotionally and financially ready and able to nurture them. (Don't get me going on how the U.S. then proceeds to make affordable child nearly impossible for working parents,) Anyway, "Pro-choice" is the much better term.
"Pro-life" is equally a loaded appellation. I can't back it up statistically (too lazy and tired to look it up at 4:30 a.m.) but I'll posit that most folks who call themselves Pro-life are also in favor of the death penalty, who believe that the 2nd amendment allows most people ready access to own and carry guns, and who are likely to be against child tax credits, extended paid leave post-partum, food and shelter assistance to needy women with children, health care for all, and so on. These are not truly "pro-life" positions. Their attitude strikes me as one of "Oh, a new baby! How cute! What a blessing! When do you go back to work? What do you mean, you can't work and afford child care? The kid's your responsibility; shoulda thought twice before having one. Why should I pay taxes on your problem?" Oops, there I go, ranting about how we as a society in the U.S. turn our backs on the needs of parents with children. Hillary was right: it takes a village to raise a child.
Who put Tooberville in a position with so much power? I thought the Democrats were in the majority in the Senate. Someone needs to slap this arrogant pipsqueak down. This is ridiculous and dangerous. I would think even the REPUBLICAN'TS could see that. Oops sorry, brain fade for a minute.
Our national football jock... and GOP Born Again hero...
Note: The University of Chicago under Chancellor Robert Maynard Hutchins - the youngest ever in 1929 or so (check me out), the University banned or blew out Big Ten Football and Amos Alonzo Stagg’s influence - AND deliberately alienated the BLOW OUT Standard Oil of New Jersey / Indiana - starting in Pennsylvania and elsewhere John D. Rockefeller Early Born Again Oil Rich Baptists that had underwritten the University of Chicago since when - for ages - - and Chicago now has the most Nobel Prizes of any campus... R M Hutchins and his soul mate Mortimer Adler promptly rearranged the college curriculum and admissions standards and clipped 11th and 12th grades from high school applicants as a waste of time - admitting the best and brightest... using five days of placement exams in Orientation Week... to determine required college courses... Leon Kass MD Esq., placed out of most of it, graduated with a law degree and an MD... and became W’s highest administration non cabinet advisor for the duration... as college failure George W. tried to deal with his manifest ignorance and alcoholism... as he smiled his way into two terms - and committed the nation to the Iraq War with lies sold and heart patient Dick Cheney calling the shots... for two terms... then getting a replacement... having destroyed Republican ethic for a generation or more... with intolerance... and spendthrift crap that extended into D J Trump, the latest criminal to con the gullible insecure racist white voters of America... ignored by our white campuses fearful of their boards of trustees... lesser lights, all chasing the brass ring, not knowledge... or tolerance.
We are in trouble... it’s going to take an intellectual revolution and slamming the racists... in full view.
Red Neck football Born Again Jock Tommy Tuberville and his single son Tucker would not apply - nor would they likely be admitted... this class is a brick short of a load and simply ALabama Stupid... and Republican fascist / racist...
Thomas Hawley Tuberville is an American politician and retired college football coach who is the senior United States senator from Alabama, a seat he has held since
2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008. Wikipedia
Born: 1954 (age 68 years), Camden, AR
Office: Senator (R-AL) since 2021
Teams coached: Cincinnati Bearcats football (Head coach, 2013–2016), Texas Tech Red Raiders football (Head coach, 2010–2012), Auburn Tigers football (Head coach, 1999–2008)
Spouse: Suzanne Tuberville
Children: Tucker Tuberville
Education: Southern Arkansas University, Harmony Grove High School
Nationality: American
Sources include: Ballotpedia, Wikipedia. Learn more
Idiots delight. Shit for brains. Alabama white, shallow, a mean racist, perfect for MTG and Moscow Mitch, the feckless Speaker, today’s fascist Republicans and The Donald hiding his transcripts in two schools, a tax cheating rapist, darling of American white Born Again Christian lying stupid neo-atheists pretending that hate color.. 77 million strong.
Well, that's clear. A WaPo reader the other day mentioned The Screaming Red Dress, in a post about the guardians of democracy. More keystrokes, but very evocative. 77 million out of a population of 300+ million.
It’s simple. Direct. Irreversible. And the future...
As drafted by Oscar Wilde X: The future is clear. See the GOP supported Headline of 2024 - Infamous 1620 Massachusetts Salem Witch Trials will be freshly reviewed by today’s SCOTUS, renewed and sent down to be retried, reversal upheld, affirmed, sentence directed, charged, as abortion is banned nationwide and criminalized, with pregnant girls of any age, and with pregnant women and children and their physicians charged, tried, convicted and sentenced, abortion and birth control rights denied, with pregnant women successfully seeking abortion anywhere to be hanged in Texas, their husbands and families fearful of the born again Christian mob, call for support of hanging, watching, with state justice leading federal, both following the Salem Witch Trials of yore, sexless single red faced angry GOP Sen. Lindsay Graham, who supported the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton, for longing, urge’s all January 6th defendants of federal law sentencing to be released, with pardons and sentences reversed, or just pardoned, former Presidential Donald J. Trump to be reelected retroactively, by directed declaration, ballots adjusted to reflect his re-election nationwide, as the Holy Father, Pope Francis, urges castration of sexually active priests and sex offenders, with premarital and extramarital sex banned, to be criminally prosecuted, all forms of contraception outlawed nationwide, tubal ligation and vasectomy outlawed... as reforms sweep the nation, with the most Salem Witches seeking abortion to be prosecuted for intent to kill murder, with enabling physicians and nurses charged as accessory to murder and jailed for life. Praise the Lord, Our Heavenly Father and Jesus, so help me God and the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
So - who is cornering the market for faggots (sensu stricto)? Who's selling tickets for the hangings? (Are they tax-deductible). Good fun for all the family.
Wagner Group is being given safe passage to Belarus, I believe I read? This could be a ruse by Putin. Having Wagner put pressure on the Belarus border with Ukraine, while Putin pounds the nuclear power plant down south. Scrambled chaos. Planned chaos? Since neither Putin nor Wagner can be trusted, I find it hard to believe this is not a ruse.
Pro life is putting into place anti automatic weapons laws. How can we defend unborn children when we watch young children die in schools where they should feel protected and educated.
Women and their health care providers need to make the ultimate decisions on whether a fetus should be brought into this world. It is a more nuanced decision for a woman and the federal and/or state governments do not need to be involved.
The Federal and state governments should be involved with protecting the children the have already been born.
Let’s provide these children with quality healthcare and education and freedom from fear of being gunned down in their schools.
Not ‘pro-life’. More like anti-choice. If these people were truly ‘pro-life’ as they claim, then they wouldn’t support the death penalty, they would support universal health care, free nutritional support and quality education for all, help with the basics of living, like housing and utilities.
Nah. They aren’t pro-life. They’re anti-choice. Or at least letting women makes their own choices.
Power over women, no mention is made of the male in the picture, ever
💯 If they really wanted to reduce the number of abortions over the decades since Roe v Wade, they could have put their energy toward comprehensive sex education and easily accessible and cost effective birth control. But no, that was never actually the goal.
Exactly. Their energy was toward control and rule. Sort of tells the tale, doesn't it.
Yes. It's amazing what fear and shame can push people to try to prohibit. Fear of the power of women to be in charge of their own lives, and shame over the basic function of sexuality, and that, surprise, surprise, women are sexual beings.
The power to rule over others is the most powerful driver of behavior, especially for evangelicals and cults. Never heard “There but for the grace of God, go I.”
Spot on!
Those who have no uteruses should have no power to decide anything about women. They should focus on why no one will want children anymore only to be birthing targets for their of weapons s of mass destruction at school supported by the fricking NRA supporting republicans politicians with loaded guns and bank accounts.
And, I might add, instead of allowing men to mess with our ovaries, perhaps it is time to mess with the XY population and their gonads. Bet they would get out of our ovaries pretty quickly if we created laws to reduce their testosterone production which would reduce war, rape, incest, priests and their perversions and obsessive competitiveness in domination over others by any means possible. Like a SCOTUS banning a the national woman's right to choose what happens to her own body—they desire to keep woman contained, subservient, requiring money FROM THE GOVERNMENT FOR FOOD AND BARE MINIMUM SUBSISTANCE, and kept somewhere, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen and dependent upon them. F that! (Ah! Do I have to pay a swear quarter if I only wrote one letter and just thought the rest of the swear in my head? What are the rules? If the former guy can declassify documents in his head, then I think I can almost swear and not have to pay up to the jar? No?
I forgot to add pregnancy to the second sentence above. Hoping it was obvious...
Exactly so. Control of women. It never was "about the babies".
It’s too late to indoctrinate people who are already here and used to living in an almost democracy.
They need millions of fresh new babies to indoctrinate for fighting their wars, for having more babies, and dozens of other uses. Uses that are highly profitable. They need sacrificial bodies.
It was not very long ago that speculation like this would sound completely aberrated and crazy. Is what I’ve said a conspiracy theory, an extrapolation, or a deduction?
Here's another aberrant and crazy theory:
Corporations want cheap labor and are fine with non-documented foreign workers. Republicans want to please their corporate sponsors but don't want an influx of people from south of the border that would offend their white nationalist base. Solution? Grow your own labor force by banning abortions.
Of course. But then how do they control making sure the babies are white?
Deduction, I think.
That’s wha I thought too.
They are pro doing anything to stir up the base, so they can stay in power and garner lots of cash.
Absolutely.
I think it’s much worse than that.
I refuse to call this pro life. It is forced birth and reduces pregnant people to a state controlled form of slavery. Our bodies are no longer our own. Doctors can no longer provide life saving care to someone experiencing a miscarriage without risking their license. Extremists actually want to prosecute anyone who aids a person in leaving the state for an abortion. Sounds like a modern day “Fugitive Slave Act” to me.
The right wing wants power and it is our job to make certain they lose it. I understand that there are a lot of very articulate women in Florida who are standing up and speaking out against DeSantis and the anti abortion tribe.
Agreed.
Well said! Thank you.
Do you think like they’ll do what they do with cows to women? They take their male babies away early so they can hook the mother up to a machine and steal the baby’s milk. After all, the fact seems to be that outlawing abortion turns young women into livestock.
There's a novel about exactly that. Haven't had my coffee yet, and can't remember the author. Which is dumb because it comes up a lot these days, and the author is famous. Really need coffee....
You’re preaching to the choir.
The question is: How do you (we) get these points across to the gullible GOP voters who have bought into the Right Wing Extremist’ Propaganda!? As well as the Christian Extremists’ Propaganda!?
What does it tell us about our political voice today if a majority of Americans support a woman's right to choose, sensible gun laws, and LGBTQ+ rights, and yet current GOP representatives and candidate GOPs are in lock-step with the minority voices on all of these issues? And, who then is responsible for fanning the flames on these issues and for what purpose? Who benefits most from dividing and distracting Americans on these key issues?
Follow the money. These fights among the people distract so we take our eyes off the biggest crooks in history, the ultra rich and powerful who have accumulated most of the wealth in this country while the majority workers who built the country and corporations struggle daily to make ends meet.
It tells us that the system has been tampered with.
We are experiencing the fruits of a long game that started with the Powell Memo in 1971 and put into action in a very real way under Reagan in the 80s and the following demonization of liberals and Democrats by the likes of Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Reagan, Atwater, The Tea Party, the "Freedom" Caucus, etc., etc. This did not happen overnight and we cannot make it stop overnight. I remember watching this all happen in my teens and twenties and knew that it was going to be a serious problem. I witnessed many people exposing it for what it was, but so many people fell for it. The Greed is Good era really disassembled a lot of the strength of the working people of the US, using the destruction of labor unions, which served not only labor interests but social and political interests, as their main focus. Then they replaced solidarity with paranoid division and grievance politics, substituting the issues that are matters of life and death, such as food, healthcare, housing, etc., with the culture wars. It's interesting to note that since the early 70s, the prices of everything we really need have gone through the roof while the things we considered luxuries back then have become insanely cheap.
Don't forget gutting the educational system to ensure a less well educated populace. They're easier to indoctrinate.
So true. In conjunction with saturating our schools with revisionism and misleading religious propaganda.
Trump and the billionaires. Very simple. Have you done the math on trying to live on $15 an hour salaries with no medical care and no paid vacations? Go from there, putting yourself in serf’s shoes and you’ll understand what Republicans in power are trying to achieve. (Those who aren’t are mostly silent.)
I worked like that the second half of my career as a real public servant, an adjunct professor at several community colleges. I have B.A. and M.S. degrees and a California Teaching Credential. Adjuncts in California are hourly contract employees who are not given medical benefits. If an adjunct professor teaches a three hour class, they are paid for three hours. This does not include prep, grading, student conferences, both in person and by email, and the hours of administrative duties an adjunct's schedule demands. When AB 705 was passed, community colleges eliminated entire departments of English and math professors like me who taught the developmental classes. They replaced us with peer tutors, students attending community colleges who performed well in their English and math classes. They had high school diplomas. These students were "taught" in a weekend seminar what professors like me had learned while working to earn advanced degrees and after 20+ years in classrooms. So, I understand very well these shoes you reference here.
Well said. I watched this happen over 40+ in my public service job (on staff) at a CA State Univ. I would counsel graduating student loan borrowers (“exit” counseling) about how to best navigate their repayment years & some students would express a desire to teach at the college level. As I watched the change from the tenure track & “assistant” professors level to “lecturer” or “adjunct” or “temp”, I would advise them to research this & point them toward the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook (Handbook…initially in print, but available online for years). This especially for those who planned to get an advanced degree (and likely more borrowing) to follow this path. IMHO a lot of this came as a result of the lessening of adequate public funding/support of higher ed….saw this happen when Reagan became CA governor.
Yet another Reagan “gift.” And it’s part of why we’re in the mess we’re in. The importance of public education in a democracy cannot be overestimated. As a member of the AAUP since the 1960’s, I have been horrified to see the treatment of graduate students.
In fact, most universities and colleges have turned over teaching the foundation courses to adjuncts, instead of full time faculty, because they're cheaper. I know, having been an adjunct for 20 years.
Likewise, at community colleges, foundational courses (math/English) have been turned over to students (peer tutors) who work in the writing and math centers at $12 an hour to replace adjuncts because that is cheaper.
As I noted above, this did not happen overnight. This is the true Reagan trickle down.
I think Reagan’s trickle down meant to pee on people from above.
So true.
Exactly, George: How DO we get these points across to the gullible GOP voters? Perhaps if we speak the same “language” as the Evangelicals do it might clarify things for them. For example, when talking about Fossil Fuels vs Renewable Energy, we can say: God created WOGS! Yes, God created The Wind. God created Oil. God created Gas. And God created The Sun. The WOGS! And God provided Humanity with the Know-How to use His Gifts to make life better on His Earth.
Let’s honor God’s Gifts to Humanity by Celebrating all that the WOGS can do for us - to keep us warm and cool and to feed and clothe us, to keep us safe and protected, to educate us and entertain us and to help us communicate and celebrate LIFE — all in God’s Loving Embrace … to make life pleasant and fruitful for ALL of God’s Children.
WOGS can COEXIST if you TRULY believe in GOD!!
And, BTW, let’s quit pollutin’ God’s Water and Air!!
Just FYI, "WOGS" is a loaded acronym. It's got quite an unpleasant history as a derogatory term.
I’d never heard the term…learn something new everyday! My take on his acronym is W=wind, O=oil, G=gas, S=sun…..but I get your point.
Significant percentage of Republican women support pro reproductive health; recent polling show that conservative women 35-44 are worried about the health opportunities of their daughters and oppose anti-choice laws in states and oppose nationwide bans of abortion! Thus the issue will be resolved by massive registrations of younger voters and women as well as massive turnout at the polls!
Hopefully they will not hold their nose and vote for an anti-choice candidate just because they have an “R” next to their name….time & next election will tell.
It is all a matter of percentages; currently about 26% of Rs cannot abide T but that only will grow as he is indicted in GA and for Jan6 (and possibly even convicted before the election)! 26% is an enormous departure in and of itself so if that grows to 35% then T would lose by 20 Million votes and his allies will lose massively in races for the Senate and the House. And if he loses the primary election, he will keep running as an Indy or will create his own MAGA Party— good luck with that, you Idiot!
I’m not sure we can although as more cases of what actually happens to women and girls without access to abortion comes out into the open, maybe some of the true believers will turn. Meanwhile, we have a lot of highly motivated and smart leaders on the pro-choice side. Let’s work together and join forces.
The opponents of Roe are anti-reproductive health and anti-free choice! Referring to them as “pro life” or as “pro life people” adopts their erroneous messaging. They are now concentrating on electing Republicans who are pledged to enact a nationwide ban on abortions and a new President who will sign it into law. That would be a disaster for abused young girls and women in distress as well as our nation writ large. The answer to this pressing national debate is to focus on voter registration and voter turnout for the next 17 months! All of us must participate in this crucially important endeavor either financially or by focusing on the turnout of young voters you know. The horrific error of Dobbs must be addressed by our individual and collective efforts. Please go to the website of this group of brilliant Harvard students and help them as they are an effective organization committed to achieving nonpartisan voter registration where it counts the most: www.turnup.us/
This speaks to how often the right wing nuts define the language to be used, and then the media follows along. We need to resist using their language and use our own. Not pro-life but anti woman, or anti-freedom of choice. Not illegal aliens, but refugees, or undocumented persons. Not family values, but valued families.
First two sentences says it all about their hypocrisy! But the word ‘hypocrisy ‘ is as worn out as pebble on a beach!
They are immune to it. People that have no shame really don't care if they are being hypocritical or inconsistent. It's horrible.
“Pro life is putting into place anti automatic weapons laws.”
Where are you seeing this?
It would be nice to see a direct attribution for this claim, but I suspect that the more accurate answer is that there is likely a large overlap between the evangelical/political Christian anti-choice crew and the 2nd Amendment cowards. (I call the latter "cowards" because I can't think of any reason to want to carry a gun in civilian life except that the person is so fearful and cowardly that they want to be able to kill anything they can see.)
I imagine having guns allows a lot of them to believe they are dangerous. Meaning, it’s not enough to feel protected. Think Christopher Moltisanti from The Sopranos.
This is brief and brilliant. When will the NRA dog catch the car?
MLC wrote: "Pro life is putting into place anti automatic weapons laws. How can we defend unborn children when we watch young children die in schools where they should feel protected and educated."
Sadly, almost nowhere. Oregon tried to enact some gun control legislation and it has been held up by a lone judge in Eastern Oregon.
This sentence is not well crafted. The intention of the author becomes clearer if you read the entire post, but if you simply add True at the beginning: "True pro-life would"
that's because the government is breeding targets. Children!!! Wont' get rid of their guns, and they need more living beings to destroy with them.
Zelia-pro fetus does not protect that unborn child when he:she is born to the reality of mass gun violence in the US.
Let’s take care of our “born” children. We put more energy into the abortion debates than we do around getting automatic weapons off the streets. No civilian needs the privilege to purchase an military grade weapon ---period.
Keep your hand guns and hunting rifles. We need for our school age children to not feel afraid of being in school.
And having their bodies ripped to shreds, so that DNA is needed to identify them. How insane are we…
Ripped to shreds by the bullettò from automatic weapons!
High velocity ammunition specifically designed to "tumble" on impact & shred human organs.
They are not "children" until after they're born. Before birth - blastula, embryo, fetus.
Agreed. And the party of death continues to stir the pot by worrying about drag queen story hours, making life miserable for transgendered children and their parents, and increasing the likelihood of death in many miscarriage and other pregnancy problems. Here in Oregon voters passed a gun control law which is being held up by an eastern Oregon judge. The Rs walked out of the legislature until the Ds agreed to water down a gun control law. And I see lots of sanctimonious people, often men, telling us why we should have laws against abortion and transgender medical care. But hey, more guns are better and the daily rampages go on. And a real capper, during the horrible Texas heat wave, that tool Abbott signed a law that workers did not need regular water breaks. OK, put him outside for a good while, no shade and no water.
It does appear that there is no bottom for them. They really don't see those they target as human beings. Most humans are born with the capacity for empathy- so what happens that so many of us never develop it and instead become sociopaths?
Looks like they go into politics. Maybe if we can get the money out of it, by some miracle, these sociopathic critters won't find politics so attractive.
Those that do are often true believers and are certainly full of fear and uncertainly beneath all the bravado. Also some people just like to torment others because they are truly sick and enjoy this sort of thing.
Michele, you've come up with the perfect sentence for Abbott: "Put him outside for a good while, no shade and no water." What a sadist.
He is truly awful. I had to look him his background as that is a family name for me.
Not pro-life. Just pro-birth. Once the kid is born, screw him/her.
You beat me to it. They care not a whit about a child; their entire intent is to control women.
Yes. Subjugation of those uppity women.
Yes. Please read my posting about men and sex.
For me, the preferred term is pro-forced birth. It puts the focus back on the women whose rights to control her body have been compromised.
Yes. And it’s truer.
Bret, I’d go one step further. It’s not just pro-birth, it’s pro-forced labor. And there’s another name for that.
I agree. As a young (naive) man I scoffed at notions like this. But there is simply too much evidence staring me in the face to disagree with you now.
Sh*t like this: The Origin of Student Debt: Reagan Adviser Warned Free College Would Create a Dangerous “Educated Proletariat” In 1970, Roger Freeman, who also worked for Nixon, revealed the right's motivation for coming decades of attacks on higher education.
https://theintercept.com/2022/08/25/student-loans-debt-reagan/#:~:text=The%20Origin%20of%20Student%20Debt%3A%20Reagan%20Adviser%20Warned%20Free%20College,of%20attacks%20on%20higher%20education.
Not a great link. Kind of a firewall. But the 2nd paragraph sums it up well. And chillingly.
A well educated populace is much harder to control and manipulate.
True that. Freeman's main point.
Well, the kid's screwed either way.
True that. sadly.
Love the fetus, hate the child.
These thoughts just come whether I like it or not.
Hardly. Why would they waste a future income comparable in scope to drugs and guns? To them children can be like opium plants, exploitable for huge profits. They would be slaves most likely. Worker bees, sex workers, organ donors for spare parts. If I can think it it’s probably being done somewhere even now.
The mothers having been forced to have a child but who have no means to care for that child may have to give her to social services. Maybe the baby will be taken away from the mother by force for not having the wherewithal to raise her. So yes, many children will become slaves in some form. A slave, and a future voter to be indoctrinated (if voting is still a thing).The ones with high intelligence will be sent to a “school” of higher learning with more extensive indoctrination and training, perhaps to be a slave master of some sort.
Why, on a planet whose main problem is overpopulation, do these people want to increase the birth rate? Why?
Methodically reducing the birth rate is absolutely necessary as part of the drive to reverse our obsolescence and imminent demise.
A dystopian view, but as you say, it’s probably already happening somewhere. Quite a number of years ago I read that in some countries (don’t recall which) persons living in poverty would sell some of their organs (like a kidney) to make money….of course there is a limit to what you can sell w/o perishing, but still it shocked me (far different from being a donor match and voluntarily offering). Working conditions & worker treatment in parts of the world (probably even in the USA) are bordering on slavery with loss of freedom of movement, low pay and dire working conditions…and don’t get m started about the children burrowing into holes in the ground to mine for minerals needed in high-tech components—they gain the least for the highest risk. It saddens me greatly to see the inhumanity our fellow beings are willing to wield (not to mention what we do to other species and the ecosphere).
It looks like we must accept that our species can and will resort to atrocities like these when threatened. What can possibly address this but equal economic opportunity and wages designed to support the wage earner’s family. And to work in newly imagined industries designed to make the planet whole again.
As well as access to free or affordable education.
Alas, I fear far too many do not want to be aware of what our planet is facing, nor want to do the necessary work/sacrifice to improve/remedy the crisis. Personally I don’t think humankind can “technology” our way out of this….looking for the magic pill that will save us.
They need soldiers!
They are also more probirth of White babies, as many of them fear that Whites will be replaced by "those" people.
Yes, and soldiers too.
And our government, by forcing more children into our screwed up society is now breeding children as targets for the mass shooters using their most loved AR-15 style weapons.......
But hey, they are the Pro-Life party, right? Most people don't change until they are in pain. So let's inflict major pain on the trumpers in the form of lost elections. Lots and lots of them.
MLC - "Pro life is putting into place anti automatic weapons laws. How can we defend unborn children when we watch young children die in schools where they should feel protected and educated."
"𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴... "
https://www.tiktok.com/@lgbtqportland/video/7237739968196562219?lang=en
Wanda nails it….mic drop.
Aint that the truth! The "focusing on the wrong s**t seems to be a Repubs whole personality these days.
Pro-pregnancy. They just want women pregnant. I don’t think they actually give a damn about the glob of cells in her uterus
Pro choice or pro reproductive health; please do not even repeat the erroneous messaging of “pro life”!
I thought today was your day off. Take care of the caregiver, they say - and you take such care of us. Please accept a collective, We love you, Professor!
Agreed!!!! Aloha to you!
We all love the Professor but, HCR's 6/24 LFAA was needed more today than ever. HCR's 1st paragraph is Spot on -- one of her best ever.
Putin Regime Next 48 Hours: Former Russian Federation US Ambassador ROBERT McFALL cotinued his experienced Putin analysis this am on Jonathan Capeheart's msnbc Sunday Show. Robert's McFall's two (2) key points to are the following: (1) Can the alleged dismissal of Russia.s 2 top Ukranian War Generals be confirmed? If so, that development means "Putin's rapid capitulation". (2) Will PRIGHOZIN's social media voice from the 'Telegraph' perch & reposts continue?
CAUTION: Developments remain unsettled.
Academician SARAH KENZIDOR also doing sharp analyses, transnational analysis too.
I can’t help but wonder if this whole thing was a feint by Russia. Positioning Wagner and Nukes in Belarus while the Ukrainian front is to the south??? Pardons? Dropped coups? After trips to Moscow by Lukashenko and Wagner leader?
All good questions Patricia. 2 days ago I posted the one important fact, the Wagner Group forces (20,000?) have departed Ukraine or."retreated" from Uktaine, if you will. I understand WAPO has an article up this am regrding US intelligence on the Wagner Group over Spring 2023. I have not read it yet, paywall.
gifted https://wapo.st/3PpElSg
Thx! I need to scrutinize the article; but, clear that US had knowledge of Wagner "rebellion" in mid-June.
Hi. Interesting commentary re current Russia situation:
https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/prigozhin-and-trump?r=2xvff&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
By Robert Reich
Tell me exactly which article you mean, and I will gift it.
Thanks for posting this. An interesting read, the most interesting are the posts from ISW for those two days.
Community: ISW = Institute for Study of War. Has history, maps & Updates. 👌
I think she sometimes takes Sunday night off - but then again, did you ever try to stop a train roaring down a track? Sometimes the only relief for an active mind is through one's fingertips onto a keyboard.
At 3 am :)
Excellent idea. ❤️❤️❤️
When I talk to pro-life people, I ask them if they want the state or federal government requiring them to donate blood or bone marrow to save lives. So far, every one of them have said adamantly “NO!” I ask them if their answer is because doing so might affect their health a little or be painful. They have answered yes. I then ask why a woman should be told by the state government that she has to put her health at risk to save the life of the unborn baby. I point out that it is far safer to donate blood or bone marrow than to be pregnant or give birth.
I think that we need to equate donating blood, bone marrow, or part of a liver to save a life with being pregnant. Based on answers from pro-life persons, it’s not about everyone putting their health at risk to save lives. It’s only about women making the sacrifices.
Exactly, Mary. In addition to the affect to health, is the reduction, or erasure, of life choices for those who are already income insecure and the increased nutritional and medical requirements and expenses. This country has income-capped food aid programs and no universal healthcare. To command a woman to bring a baby to term, a proposition that requires myriad healthcare appointments and increased nutritional requirements, among other things, while providing no medical care or assurance of food security, is nonsense.
Fact is, if no man need ask the government for Viagra or a vasectomy, no woman should need its permission for any of her reproductive healthcare decisions either. Period.
C. Jacobs, and no woman should have to get her husband’s permission or have had children to get her tubes tied. No hospital that accepts federal Medicare or Medicaid money should be able to refuse to do a tubal ligation; most, if not all, Catholic hospitals refuse to do tubal ligations or vasectomies.
There you go...ideology vs science. The GOP does little little to support the already born. I also agree this is a pro-choice matter, not a pro-life or antiabortion issue. It would behoove the discussion to call it pro-choice...it is less inflammatory and keeps it focused on the more accurate issue. Every individual should be able able to CHOOSE their own path.
I totally agree.Choose choice. Abortion is NOT a legislative issue and never ever should have been made into one. It is a personal decision between a woman and her doctor (and her partner in some cases) and beyond that it is no one else's business. Period.
The Rs do little to support the alreadyborn, the environment, voting rights, common sense, or, thanks to a blowhard from Alabama, the military and national security (cf. tfg). Thanks a lot for putting everybody at risk 24-7...
Plus . . . clean energy, Medicare, social security, the Constitution,
"We, the People"
ethics, logic (cf. McConnell's court packing after shutting down Obama's nominee because it was "to close to the election!") Idiot.
Sorry, "Too close to theelection." Idiots.
I had a tubal at age 26, 45 years ago. Roe had been passed but even then I always thought it might be overturned. Through the grapevine I heard about a gynecologist who would do a laparoscopic check for endometriosis and “while he was in there” do a tubal (the real reason for the visit). When I was given the paperwork, it stated “this multiparous young woman...” Clearly he had to lie - and I will always be grateful he did. But it should never have been necessary.
I have a friend (the middle child of my best and longest LCSO friend) who knew from her teens that she would be an awful mother (some diagnosable personality disorders to include depression and anxiety) and in no way ever wanted to bring a child into the world. She was finally able to get a tubal ligation in her early 30's, spending the better part of 15 years in horrible "birth control" complications regardless of what product she used. She was always told "well, what if you change your mind and meet the right man to have kids with" and was never listened to when she said "I will be a horrible mother. Do you want kids to have a horrible mother?"
Marge, you’re right—it should be your choice.
I still would like legislation to require any hospital that accepts Medicare or Medicaid payments to be willing to do a hysterectomy, tubal ligation or vasectomy on anyone who requests it.
Contraception will be next. DeSantis ( encouraged by the Catholic Conference) vetoed $$ two years in a row (21,22)to provide long-term, reversible hormonal contraception for low-income women. It appears $$ wasn’t even included in 23 budget.
Also, DeSantis signed dangerous law that allows medical professionals, and insurance companies, to decline care ” based on their moral, ethical, or religious beliefs”.
“Justice” Clarence Thomas believes we “should reconsider” rulings codifying rights to contraception.
DeSantis avoids talking about abortion. We all must keep talking about abortion…and contraception!
I, and others, always said that abortion was the camel sticking its nose under the tent. An OBGYN I know predicted that the next step would be IUD’s because some Catholic clergy believe that they are a type of abortion. She predicted that the next step would be outlawing long term contraception Then contraception for unmarried women.
“abortion was the camel sticking its nose under the tent”.⬅️ Love this.May have to use.🐪⛺️
I know. Baby # 3 came 2 years after my Catholic hospital delivery of Baby # 2. Then, 4 years after Baby #3 delivery with tubal ligation, along came Baby #4. God's Will they would say. All four are wonder-full! But, to be sure, had a hysterectomy.
Marge, Ally and MaryPat, the stories you've shared of yourselves and your friends are harrowing. They are also a window into why government shouldn't be in the room between any patient, of any sex, and their doctor.
I'm male, will never know what it is to menstruate, conceive or give birth. I'm also not a doctor. Because of ALL of the above, I'm hereby unqualified to steer or make any decisions regarding any woman's healthcare. Only those whose experience it is and/or those MEDICALLY trained to diagnose, treat and care for those concerns should have a say. Those decisions should be made on an individual case basis, customized for the concerns of the patient. That's it. Idk why this is so hard for some other men (and Coney-Barrett's) to understand.
I recently saw a photo of a women's abortion protest. One of the protest signs said, "Republicans idea of government is so small, it fits inside my uterus." The nation's women shouldn't have their choices restricted by judicial decisions based on religious views that many of them don't practice. Current SCOTUS reactionaries make decisions thinking their view will always be the majority. Would these same justices celebrate an ultra-conservative majority Muslim court that denied their wives from bikinis on the beach, or outlawed pork dishes of any sort nationwide? No. They wouldn't. Why? Because they don't practice and don't want to adhere to Islamic tenets.
Let those with convictions to observe religious guidance to refuse abortion do so. Let those without those convictions do otherwise. It's so simple that doing otherwise is mindbogglingly stupid.
Makes you wonder if they did the tubal ligation correctly (removing a piece of the tube).
Got an infection at the internal site, doctor ignored my complaint of fever and monthly pain and fluid ("Douche"), which, suggested, duh, patency. Essentially out of that cyst I grew a new tube. And my daughter after 3 boys was and is a beautiful miracle!
C. Jacobs and Mary Hardt- totally agree. Can you imagine the howling chorus of outrage if vasectomies were required at age 15 and reversed only for procreation?
I think we also need to be louder, clearer, and possibly more graphic in describing the real health risks pregnancy and childbirth entail. I’ve had four pregnancies and I couldn’t give you the answers to that one. Forcing pregnancy on women is cruel and unusual punishment. It’s wrong.
The sad truth is that babies born into poverty tend to have shorter life spans, as do their mothers.
Completely true but these blowhards with a fetish for forcing women to make babies don't care at all. As others mentioned, their policies would be vastly different if they actually cared about life.
Actually, I think it is about women being punished for wing sexually active. If the anti-abortion ERs really cared about the life of the fetus, they would provide real care for the baby and assistance to the mom.
Hypocrites all.
Sadly true, Sky 777. Or as Barney Frank so succinctly said years ago--"They believe that life begins at conception and ends at birth"
He had it right, the logic of the hypocrites
Regarding abortion...
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-24-2023/comment/17723838
Agreed, Sky. I call them pro-birth, not pro-life. I got to see lots and lots of women raising children in poverty, in dangerous situations, with abusive and criminal sperm donors who never provided for the children, assaulted both mother and child, or by themselves with no support from either sperm donor or the parents who viewed the mother as "unworthy" for having gotten pregnant.
Maybe we should stop calling a zygote a baby, and wait until viability to use that term.
Many biological-medical matters AFTER the zygote attaches to the uterine wall as well --- or even detaches. Regardless, "Zygote" is accurate.
Jeri, I use the term baby to reflect the word used in their beginning sentences. Calling it a zygote just creates another point of contention.
Zygote is true in more cases than not, I would say. Calling a zygote a baby is just adding emotional baggage.
Yes. Blastula, embryo or fetus - before birth. A baby once born.
Great analogy, Mary--how did your listener react to your logic?
Some said “all lives are precious!” to which I replied that I’m glad that they’re going to get bone marrow type tested so that they can save a life. I suggest that they contact their legislators to get them to pass a law to get everyone bone marrow tested so that the lives of cancer patients that need transplants can be saved. They always say that they don’t want “the government “ telling them that they have to donate bone marrow, so I ask how is that different from “the government “ telling their daughter that she has to put her life at risk to birth her rapist’s baby. Some have said “I never thought about it that way”.
A few just huffed “it’s not the same!” And I asked if that means that they value an unborn baby’s life more than a cancer patient’s life.
In all cases, they’ve looked like they are considering the inequality.
My final say is to ask them if going to heaven is the best thing that can happen to them. I then ask if they’d rather live with parents who openly blame them for their lost dreams or go straight to heaven. No answer.
I like that approach, Mary. I have had this conversation with some anti-abortion folks, including one with a former professional associate (he was a sergeant with another agency, but we worked a lot of graveyard shifts together). I asked him "how can the sperm of a rapist be more important than the life of his victim?" He really didn't have an answer for that.
Wow!
👍👍👍👍👍👍Awesome!
Kudos for your patience and determination! Did these conversations change your relationship with these people?
No, but they were casual acquaintances that chose to share their beliefs with me.
It's so encouraging that they were willing to share their beliefs with you and to actually listen to your questions. How cool it would. be to set up a series of small (6-8 people), moderated conversations about this topic.
I applaud you for doing this. Really good discussion.
Exactly. In fact, there has to be permission granted by the person dying to even be able to use anything from their body after death! So a corpse would have more rights than a woman, if these monsters got their way.
Mary, does your very logical line of inquiry make any inroads in the opinions of the right-to-lifers?
Sorry, posted my question to you before I read your replies above. I’m glad you were able to get through to some. I had a conversation about this with a friend who said “I just hate to see babies die,” and I couldn’t really come up with a response. I had already told my friend about my great grandmother who died of a knitting needle abortion done by her husband in the 1910s, and how her death had horribly affected her already living children, like my grandmother, who was essentially abandoned by her father after her mother died. I mean, a hundred years ago, my grandmother’s entire family was destroyed because they couldn’t afford another baby and the mother died. That story didn’t move my friend’s opinion on abortion. On the other hand, I don’t think my friend would stop someone else from having an abortion. She just didn’t believe in them. That’s fine. Just don’t legislate this bullshit.
Logic never responds to emotion. Stop calling a zygote a baby. Abortion after viability is rare as hen’s teeth.
They aren't unborn babies. They're blastulas, embryos or fetuses.
Excellent
OK - then, what was their response to your last question??
Hugh, their responses take two forms, both great. “I never thought of it like that.” “I’ll have to ask my pastor (or preacher) about that.”
How is it that one Senator can put a hold on all military appointments?
Something is wrong with a system where one Senator can sabotage the well being of the nation, especially for the purpose of extortion.
Especially when the Senator is an uneducated football coach idiot
I can’t do stupid anymore. Nor fanatics. He’s probably still supporting The a-hole who put our defense secrets in with his underwear.
Indeed.. it is... this is the minority protecting senate using the filibuster crap again... nothing like a constitutional republic acting like a constitutional monarchy...
Exactly. Who is "Tommy Tuberville"? (Sounds like a cartoon in an ad for plumbing services). What authority does he have to countermand a government ruling of any kind, particularly this one?
The cartoonishly named Tuberville is a former college football coach from Alabama who was elected to the Senate. From my minimal observations, he’s not too bright but all too right-wing.
You got that right, Tuberville is an extremely poor excuse for a Senator, and dumb as a rock. He isn't fit to be anything as far as i am concerned.
Tuberville defeated legally educated Democrat Doug Jones, thereby confirming my opinion that football is more important than the rule of law in some states. At least Georgians were able to ward off Bulldog Herschel Walker, who almost defeated Rafael Warnock, who has a doctorate. But the Bulldogs steadfastly refuse to visit the White House to celebrate their national collegiate championships while Biden is the POTUS.
There is something in the water there...
". . . the Bulldogs steadfastly refuse to visit the White House to celebrate their national collegiate championships while Biden is the POTUS."
I'm sorry, but that is NOT an entirely accurate statement. The word "steadfastly" is inappropriate here. The coaching staff and athletic directorship at UGA made an official statement that the reason for not going to the White House were enormous scheduling and logistics conflicts. Coach Kirby Smart said they would be more than honored to go to the White House at some point when it was feasible and made it very clear there was nothing at all political in their decision. The White House basically threw a date out there without consulting the university. Trying to organize something like that, more or less last minute, in a busy time for the football program, something that would involve moving upwards to 100 people to DC, security clearances, etc. etc. is not an easy task. Plus, with ongoing domestic and international events/crises, which we are all aware are creating extraordinarily busy times for this administration, finding a time amenable for the White House also present scheduling challenges. The team, a majority of which is African-American, considered it an honor to be asked. NO ONE said they wouldn't go ". . . while Biden is the POTUS." That is flat out wrong. Making such a provocative statement without any basis for it is how negative rumors propagate and spread. We are better than that. I'm the first one to run down and criticize my state when it does something stupid (it happens more than I'd wish), but I will also defend it (and, let it be said, my alma mater) when I feel it is being unjustly smeared. As I continue to say to other states, "Get YOUR house in order before you go running down other states!" Sorry to go on so much, but this touches a raw nerve in me.
Perhaps I overstepped the evidence at hand when I said that they "steadfastly refused" to go to the White House, but something tells me that a White House invitation is not something most teams turn down twice, which is what I'd read.
The only reason Walker lost is because he made one glaring error after another. If he had run a sane campaign, he'd be a senator.
I honestly think he's brain damaged from all that head bashing.
God bless and save America.
I thought he was the blue teletubby in the cartoon my grands watch!
And he appears to have no sense of self preservation. How can we stop this fool?
Good description. Wondering if Tuberville is an old Alabama name?
He was a crappy football coach that left every program worse off than when he arrived. Any success he had came from what the previous coach had left and his assistants. A POS.
What I'm learning about Sen. Tuberville is explaining the puzzle of how Donald Trump got to be - no, I won't say it: let's just say, got into the White House. Similar career path.
Methinks he couldn't catch a football; hence, the helmet-less head-bonks when he missed - kinda rattled the gray mush too many times.
If you can stand it, you can learn all about Senator Tuberville here:
al.com
It's actually a pretty good regional paper with a respectably left-wing editorial department. J.D. Crowe's cartoons depicting Tuberville and his antics are just this side of slanderous, which is fine with me when it comes to ex-football coaches with a God complex and real power.
I loved AL! I think it has lots of charm, it's very real. Plus, beside a picture of the Montana bridge collapse, it said that Prigozhin says he ordered the halt to the march on Moscow. Lots of pictures of hamburgers, and a great picture of tomatoes growing - you could almost smell that scent of furry tomato stalks. I really only looked to see pictures of T Tuberville, Esq., Sen., but I couldn't see where they were. Never mind, I enjoyed even more what I did see. It's a curious thing, but nobody has power unless we give it to them.
Now, now, Anne-Louise...I'm sure poor little Tommy didn't choose his own name...
And I bet, as he raced around the pitch, that he never in his wildest dreams thought he'd get to be a Senator.
TOMMY TUPPERVILLE IS BOTTOM OF HIS CLASS... ALABAMA RACIST WHITE... FOOTBALL PLAYER GONE COACH.. ONE SON... A TRUMP MAGA MAGA MAGA DISCIPLE..
UGH!
I wonder how much money Tuberville gets from Russia. It certainly is in Russia's interest to stagnate US military careers and structure.
It only takes one senator to block nominations in senate committees, in this case the Armed Forces Committee. Though done for reasons of illness, Feinstein’s absence stopped confirmations in the Judicial Committee.
Ah , I see. The untouchable dignity of a Senator.
As they prove they are idols with feet of clay
What dignity?
I think Anne-Louise was utilizing sarcasm here. The Senate (upper chamber) is supposed to be the "cream of the crop" (if you recall, they were originally appointed by state governors and not elected; they have some funky rules that stem from that origin story) and not the unwashed rubes elected by the people.
That's curious -- the mere absence of a Senator will stop the work of a committee? Do you think that's a rule, or did something else leave that committee without a quorum?
These Republican nutcases have descended so far that their entire political game plan is little more than a game of "chicken" -- "Accede to my religious convictions or I'll kill us all!" We may just have to fasten our seatbelts, pump up our air bags, and let them try.
Seems it isn't just the players he coached that likely have damage from CTE.
Good Evening to All,
On the bizarre Prigozhin one way trip to Minsk, something is really fishy. As some have already pointed out, the fact that he could take thousands of soldiers on a minatory march toward Moscow without being strafed to death or even attempted to be stopped, clearly shows that Prigozhin has significant support within the Russian military and in the various security services.
BTW, how is he "getting" to Belarus?! Will Aeroflot fly him? Will the FSB take him back to whatever gold plated manse he has in Moscow or St. Petersburg and watch while he packs his bags, gathers his family and makes hotel reservations?
And we would all have to be born yesterday to believe that the tyrant from central casting President of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, who is a close Putin ally and beneficiary has suddenly become the Metternich of Minsk.
I have no idea what's going on but one thing for sure is that this isn't over by a long shot. The threat to Putin's power due to the horrific and failing war in Ukraine is significant, as are certain to be Putin's countermeasures against that threat. We will see how it all plays out.
On the anniversary of the Dobbs decision, one item Heather pointed out demands further emphasis, in my humble opinion. Irrespective of how Americans feel about the right to abortion, this anniversary should have all Americans grimacing in concern that in Dobbs, the Supreme Court for the first time in our history retracted a constitutional right. The fact that such a retraction had never previously occurred (and in fact was unthinkable) is due, inter alia, to what had once been a conscious understanding that rights once recognized cannot be taken away in a free society whose governmental compact reflects a government of limited powers vis-a-vis its people. Two and a half generations of Americans, particularly American women, relied upon this right to live their lives free from governmental interference into the most intimate chambers of their being and existence. The fact that Roe's core finding withstood nearly half a century of subsequent litigation, but was all swept away by the narrowest of majorities left not only the concept of stare decisis in tatters on the marble floor, but also the fundamental trust in the capacity of the Court to render impartial justice.
Agree that this sweet Prigozhin deal fails the smell test. I thought the axiom was that if you shoot at the king you best not miss. Prigozhin missed. And the part of the deal that says that Wagner group members who “choose” not to join the Russian army will suffer no consequences? Really? I’m not buying it. Both Putin and trump share the characteristic that no breach of absolute fealty to the king goes unpunished. We may not hear about it, but there will be consequences.
"Both Putin and trump share the characteristic that no breach of absolute fealty to the king goes unpunished."
There's a lot that Putin and trump share and it's pretty biblical. Just a few years ago they stood together in front of the cameras, steeping in their perceived omnipotence, kissing each other's asses. Well....?
“Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen.” 2 Samuel 1:19,27
I hope they continue to fall, but let’s be clear-eyed about the reality that they won’t without a fight.
There certainly will be sequelae. But I think there are a lot of assumptions in your analysis. I was not at all surprised that Prigozhin got his troops so close to Moscow. I think that is when Putin finally realized he truly does not have the people of Russia behind him. The reason Wagner exists is because Putin and his generals were having a hard time recruiting or even drafting: men left the country or simply disappeared into the countryside. Prigozhin is an interesting man, an entrepreneur who has both ambition and a sense of moral duty (before you sneer, ask yourself what we expect of the men we send to war).
Once Prigozhin got fed up with Putin's inability to provide supplies as well, it was pretty much game up. I think Prigozhin has a better handle on Russia than Putin. That doesn't mean that things are all going to be hunky-dory. I think those negotiations had been going on for some time and Prigozhin's march pretty much backed Putin into a corner. Prigozhin is smart and he is focused. I doubt very much he was interested in taking over Putin's place, which is a pretty weak place to be right now. He does not have the kind of power he had when he was climbing the ladder, and even if he did, it won't work to accomplish what you think. If he tried, there really would be resistance.
It's going to be interesting to watch the dynamics in Russia now.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-24-2023/comment/17762722
The purge starts when something of highest value to the purported leader of the opposition is found. What would make General P stop, turn around, and go to Belarus on the thinnest of promises of immunity? His children or family or empire is in the hands of the FSB or Putin? Names are already taken. The "disappeared" will start. His followers, at best, will go to the front lines as fodder in Putin's war on the Ukrain, you think? Will we ever hear from Private P?
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-24-2023/comment/17762722
Per your analysis, have you seen Snyder's? Point 5-10 seem to make sWar. (facsism, mobster, logic of their own creation, likely cause of withdrawal from Ukraine). I don't find any history as to why General P is a general and not subservient to actual Russian generals in the Ukraine war.
https://snyder.substack.com/p/prigozhins-march-on-moscow
My assessment is that Snyder is, to use his own phrase, a "skilled liar and propagandist." There is less than nothing to his analysis. I would be willing to go into that, if you or anyone would like to have an exchange of views. I'll suggest, if somebody wants, choosing a particular numbered point of Snyder's post as a starting point.
Nope. Just sharing someone's analysis that I thought might influence or help. Sorry to have pointed you to a liar, as you indicate.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-24-2023/comment/17762722
Daniel, I am with you on the emphasis of the court taking away rights that had once been granted. My Facebook memories reminded me of this conversation a year ago, and I am going to reiterate something I said then that has not been out of my thoughts since: Justice Thomas's concurring opinion is very dangerous:
"Justice Thomas filed a concurring opinion. He wrote to emphasize his view that the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause guarantees only process; it does not secure substantive rights. Justice Thomas would reconsider and overrule “all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.” He added that the doctrine of substantive due process is “’particularly dangerous’” because it “’exalts judges at the expense of the People from whom they derive their authority’”; it “distorts other areas of constitutional law”; and (as in Dred Scott) it “is often wielded to ‘disastrous ends.’” (Source: https://www.naag.org/attorney-general-journal/opinion-dobbs-v-jackson-womens-health-org-13-1392/ )
In his dissent, Thomas referred to three other cases that "mistakenly" relied on this judicial theory: Griswold v. Connecticut (contraception access), Lawrence v. Texas (overruling a prohibition on male on male sexual conduct), and Obergefell v. Hodges (permitting same-sex marriage). Notably missing from what is usually a 4 case set is Loving v. Virginia. In case you've forgotten it, that is the case that struck down a Virginia law prohibiting interracial marriage.
Gee, I wonder why THAT case wasn't invited to the party...
I wish I could source this, probably can if necessary, but this quote summed up the issue for me. 10th vs. 14th:
“… it is misleading to focus on the framers’ specific vision of the 10th Amendment. When the Bill of Rights was ratified, the Constitution sought to protect individuals from the federal government, not from the states. But after the Civil War, the Reconstruction Amendments transformed our constitutional order, including by protecting individuals from their state governments and by making the federal government a source of such protection. So when you see the Supreme Court in a case like Shelby County (which invalidated the coverage formula for Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act) cite the 10th Amendment as if it is unaffected by the Reconstruction Amendments and stands for a particular reservation of power to the states, that is a grave error.”
His view was also roundly rebuffed by Ketanji Brown Jackson. Love her chops.
Right you are, Gail on both the evolution of the Constitution via the 14th Amendment post-Civil War, and on KBJ's chops! I like her sweet smile as well.
Ally also makes a most important point here.
Justice Thomas' long held antipathy towards the doctrine of substantive due process is a direct result of his marinating in the stew of right wing semi-jurisprudence going back to the days before he was so unfortunately nominated to the Supremes by Bush I. Especially for cultural conservatives, this common sense doctrine of long standing is most frightening.
We all know the enumerated rights listed in the Bill of Rights. We all equally know that the universe of rights is significantly greater than that set forth within the four walls of that otherwise magnificent document drafted by a group of cool, smart white guys wearing wigs in the late 18th century.
Some however, including Justice Thomas apparently, forget the 9th Amendment which succinctly states as follows: "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people".
The substantive due process doctrine basically states that the States cannot deny to their people those varied, unenumerated or unstated rights that are implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.
Thus, States cannot forbid the teaching of foreign languages in schools (Meyer v. Nebraska), or cannot deny marriage licenses to people of different races (Loving v. Virginia), or prohibit adults of the same gender from marrying (Obergfeld v. Ohio) or deny adults the use of contraceptives (Griswold v. Connecticut), or prohibit the sexual activities of consenting adults (Lawrence v. Texas), or until just a year ago, deny woman the right to choose an abortion (Roe v. Wade, Casey v. Planned Parenthood). All of the aforenoted were determined, one would think reasonably and understandably, to be well within the slipstream of ordered liberty.
Yet were Justices Thomas and Alito (the same not so dynamic duo recently in the news due to their palling around with billionaires) to have their way, all of the aforenoted case precedents would be in jeopardy, and all of the basic, simple liberties that they enshrine and that we all take for granted would lose federal constitutional protection.
I should note that it is fully reasonable to be cautious in exercising this doctrine, and indeed the Court has been cautious and not capricious in so doing. Yet Thomas, and Scalia before him do not argue caution, but frontally attack the doctrine due to their deep rooted fear of the various incarnations of liberty itself. They seek to take "originalism" to its furthest and most absurd degree, arguing that if the right to do "X" is not in the constitutional text, or not protected by the states at the time of the passage of the 14th amendment, it cannot be now protected by substantive due process.
Uhhhh, ok. So for instance, we have the absurdity of the Dobbs decision striking down the 50 year old precedent of the fully relied upon Roe by noting that abortion was not protected by the States in 1868, or part of a common historical tradition at that time.
Really?!? Relying upon a self-serving interpretation of a historical "tradition" from a period fifty-two years before the passage of the 19th amendment granting women the right to vote?!
It is no coincidence that the explicit target of this retrograde analysis, which in and of itself constitutes the very judicially dominant rulemaking that conservatives used to fight so strongly against, are those among us who have always had to fight not only for the protection of thier rights, but at times for their very lives and livelihoods.
Your quote can be found in this interview of Jessica Bulman-Pozen by Brennan Center fellow Andrew Cohen. The words are Jessica's.
https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/fair-weather-federalism-strategic-uses-10th-amendment
Thank you! I’d found it for a reply last night to a different post. Saved me a trip into my history!
Know the feeling... frustrating! I do a lot of online research and finally learned that simply typing part of a quote in my search box ("inside quotation marks, like this") will generally take me to the source! I think most search engines will do this, but my preference for just about anything is Duck Duck Go. It's especially good for esoteric things like this because it does not save search data or use algorithms to give results it thinks you expect. (And because it does not save search data or your ip info, your privacy is secure.)
Thanks for the tips, it may finally convince me to give DDG a shot!
Thank you, Gail!
I share your skepticism. Prigozhin showed on the world stage what a threat he is to Putin, let alone emasculating him. Are we supposed to believe that on the same day Putin called him a traitor he magnanimously pardons him? I say his days are numbered. And from what I see, so are Putin's....
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-24-2023/comment/17762722
My take is Prigozhin is too useful to kill. He can still run Wagner operations in Africa and elsewhere from Belarus. He may in effect also still lead the Russian assault in Ukraine while in exile. I read somewhere that he initiated the insurrection because he believed he was about to be arrested. Once he secured a deal, he was willing to call the whole thing off “to prevent bloodshed”. This is a very elaborate chess game by a master of destabilization. And you’re right Daniel, this isn’t over.
I don't know about Prigozhin being too useful to kill. Here we have two chess masters of destabilization and both have misjudged and made mistakes. It's hard for me to believe that on the same day Putin would call him a traitor and basically call for his head would then pardon him. Another trait shared by Putin and trump is the demand for utter loyalty, tearing apart those who are not. We'll see....
It’s all very opaque. Wagner is making a fortune in Africa that Putin would want to control. It’s not yet clear how the general military and Wagner troops will behave once Prigozhin is expelled. If they line up behind Putin, he may be emboldened to get rid of Prigozhin. This may be a wait and see period. It’s not clear what effect this will have on Putin’s power in the long run. Right now he appears weakened.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-24-2023/comment/17762722
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-24-2023/comment/17762722
Daniel, the corruption of SC justices demonstrates their lack if impartiality on pretty much any topic.
I think it is clear that Prigozhin never had any chance of overthrowing the Russian government, and he knew it.
I think that Prigozhin "knew" that Shoigu and another intended to use up Prigozhin's soldiers, with unnecessary heavy casualties, to lighten the load of the Russian army and get rid of the undesirable "prison scum" in Prigozhin's ranks, men who were promised their freedom in exchange for extremely dangerous service.
Prigozhin's men were being ordered back to the Bakhmut area, where Ukraine has overrun the army-held flanks. There had been a lot of public friction between Prigozhin and the army high command, with the appearance that somebody wanted to blunt Prigozhin's success in Bakhmut.
Prigozhin's artillery was recently removed, as well. Prigozhin acted, as a good commander in a desperate situation, to prevent what he perceived to be the pre-planned slaughter of his troops.
Prigozhin acted with the desperate hope that Putin would find a way to act that prevented bloodshed.
Prigozhin knew that, almost certainly, a bit of blood would be shed. (Helicopters were shot down.)
Prigozhin assumed that Putin would be compelled to make a forceful denunciation of Prigozhin's insurrection.
Prigozhin knew that he could never take Moscow.
Conclusion:
Prigozhin knew, with absolute certainty, that he and his men would die as they charged toward Moscow, unless somebody caught his "Hail Mary" pass and acted with authority to stop the pre-planned slaughter of his "deplorable" soldiers.
In other words, Prigozhin was compelled by his sense of military honor (a commander's commitment to his troops that inspires loyal service) to act in a way that risked public disgrace and annihilation.
Thanks for drawing my attention to your treatment here, I'd missed it in the melee of comments. And I'm certainly willing to give Prigozhin the benefit of an assumption of honor, and that having a sense of care and duty to his troops is both admirable and a necessary ingredient for leadership.
None of these speculations -- yours, mine, and Mr. Streeter's -- are contradictory. It's like my old Torts professor used to say, "What does the case look like if everyone is telling the truth?" One of the benefits, we discovered in class, was that using the assumption of truth as a tool encourages the recognition of multiple motives.
I think it quite possible that all of the following are true:
As Mr. Streeter observed, this incident has shown severe fractures in the command and control structure of the Russian military, possibly the political structure, too. Not knowing the troop dispositions around Moscow, it's hard to assess how much resistance Prigozhin would have faced on approach, but he did seem very vulnerable from the air. The loyalty of all of these military personnel to their commanders is clearly questionable, so they may fear to give the order to fire on their most popular military leader.
Prigozhin clearly knew that his forces, such as they are, were being slated to be fed into a wood chipper by the other Russian commanders, probably want both to preserve their own troops and to hurt Prigozhin. I don't know what media is available to people on the scene with cellphones, but I think it likely that Prigozhin's troops knew it, too, and being slaughtered in Ukraine isn't much better than dying of AIDS and tuberculosis in a Russian prison. So both for honor's sake, to save his troops, and to avoid being fragged, Prigozhin had to withdraw. Once he had done so, the only direction to march was toward Moscow, after gearing up at Rostov-on-Don.
And for all I know, the Prigozhin and his buddies really just wanted a decent meal and a hot shower, or some other motive beyond my ken.
Yet my question remains: why is sending this mutinous commander to Belarus a solution? It's unlikely to be for a well-earned vacation, nor does it look like exile, although I haven't heard how many troops Prigozhin has with him for the trip or what will greet him when he arrives. While cheerfully admitting my ignorance, the only two things I see in Belarus that would look attractive to a wildly ambitious, maverick commander are a bunch of tactical nukes and a 200km flightpath to Kyiv.
I do hope both Ukraine and N.A.T.O. are closely watching the northern flank.
I think that your thought is clear in your assessment of Prigozhin's situation as he decided to not really cross the Rubicon.
I suspect that part of the ongoing swirl of events is jockeying for position as Putin's potential successor or kingmaker after Putin leaves the scene.
I suspect that Prigozhin's well-earned vacation in Belarus was a quick-and-dirty way for Putin to show both authority and mercy toward a possibly chosen successor who is one of Russia's few heros in this miserable war.
I suspect that, with Prigozhin and his men safely out of harm's way and intact as a fighting force, tactical possibilities begin to suggest themselves along, as you say, Ukraine's northern flank.
Excellent analysis! Let's you, me, and Mr. Streeter meet up in a year and laugh about how wrong we were.
I spotted something that may add some gloss to the various motives:
"Prigozhin made his move after state support that once flowed to Wagner was diverted to new private mercenary groups established by state-owned companies such as gas giant Gazprom."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/wagner-prigozhin-putin-mutiny-moscow-march-7072d6ea?st=li2349bfa2pc7d7&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
That should be a free link. It's also an article that delves a bit deeper, including showing that the march on Moscow was not as peaceful as it looked to me at first.
Perhaps you're right, John, that Prigozhin is really off on exile/vacation and will have to guard his teacup for the rest of his life. But while the latter is likely true for everyone involved in the primitive clusterf**k they use for organization over there, I seriously doubt we've heard the last of this little monster.
Hah, that wsj article quotes Prigozhin using the phrase "geriatric clowns." I can think of a pair right here in the USA.
Of course intelligence analysis, especially the armchair variety, is not an exact science. Big Serge is better at it than I am, and I am pleased to note that he doesn't necessarily disagree with my take on things. See https://bigserge.substack.com/p/russo-ukrainian-war-the-wagner-uprising?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Regarding your eloquent description of the way things work in Russia, I think it is important to understand that modern Russia was baptized in genocide, and we did it to them. If you or anyone else would care to note the title of the linked book, and the position of the author during the early 1990s, then you will have discovered "Exhibit 1" backing my statement:
https://www.amazon.com/Genocide-Russia-New-World-Order/dp/0943235162
Imagine if our government eliminated Medicare and Social Security in the middle of the worst depression in our history. That's essentially what happened to Russia, and all the old people died. Maybe we'll live to see it here, with global de-dollarization accelerating in recent months...
There was a short but curious sentence in HCR’s letter that may have been addressed but I’ve missed it. It was something like, “by the way, Putin’s whereabouts has not been seen in the last 24 hours”. (Or something to that effect). There seems a lot to not quite make sense. That is very much a fact that should be explained.
I don't think Putin has been seen much in public for some time now. But it does seem strange that after such a power challenge, he does not make an appearance to solidify his claim. Noteworthy that only Moscow was under protection, not merely the side toward which Prigozhin's troops are headed. Perhaps he is isolated in more ways than one. Russian people are not behind him.
It is a conundrum in my mind but Putin may be reluctant to poke the folks at home since they don’t seem on board since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine a year ago this past February.
That has been my feeling too. I wrote quite a bit about it last year, drawing on my experiences and observations when I was in Russia during the events of 1991, though even as I wrote, I hoped Putin wouldn't follow through. It's played out pretty much as I wrote (and with many heart-breaking events).
As everyone here agrees, Mr. Streeter, this whole Belarus "solution" is logically, politically, and logistically very smelly. No one seems to mention the other items that have been send to Belarus -- tactical nuclear weapons only about 4 weeks ago.
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/russia-belarus-sign-document-tactical-nuclear-weapon-deployment-belarus-2023-05-25/
Somehow, despite all foreign policy experts' opinions as to it's likelihood, it would be very "Putinesque" to nuke Kyiv and say to the world, "Whatcha gonna do about it?" After all, they don't seem to mind drowning millions of people in Kherson Oblast by blowing a dam, do they?
And I have no idea what our response to a radioactive Kyiv would be. 'Sounds a little like Tommy Tuberville's game of "chicken" to me, writ large.
Btw, kudos for teaching me the word "minatory!"
You might check my reply to Daniel Streeter, here:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-24-2023/comment/17762722
Intel, from what I can gather, seems to indicate that the original intent of tampering with the dam was to render the road on it impassible. Think about the circumstances: this was as Ukraine was preparing an assault on Russian occupied territories.
There are some observers with engineering expertise who watched the dam closely. They say that the road was deliberately damaged, inadvertently compromising the structure. One could make a good case that Russians might attempt to make it difficult for Ukrainian military to cross into Russian held territory.
At any rate, the way it worked out affects the Russians more than the Ukrainians. Now they have to try to manage a nuclear plant without water. Several sources say that the only option at this point is to create retaining pond with enough water to gradually cool the plant down. It is already shut down and non-functional, so the cooling is to cool it completely for safety reasons. It would take a very long time to bring it back online.
A series of events following in the next few days (heavy rains overfilling and overtopping the dam, followed by an attempt to release water through the spillway) were the ultimate cause of the failure. The Russians owned and controlled the dam (and the nuclear plant upstream), and had been having problems managing them both. Yes, a lot of damage in Ukrainian areas downstream, but Russian-speaking Ukrainians were also living there. From the looks of things, Russians took more of a hit than Ukraine.
Thanks for the details, although the sum of them is that "Russians occupied the site by force and f**ked it up." And although the nuclear plant is currently the Russian's problems, as soon as they withdraw, it becomes Ukraine's problem again, not even counting the loss of electrical generating capacity.
I suppose it would be interesting to see if the operation of the plant was the contractual obligation of a Russian company and if they are liable for loss. But that's really just a bad joke -- somehow I don't think Ukraine's property damage claims will get much of a hearing anywhere but in the media.
Thanks for your comment, and your kind words, Dirk. And please, call me Dan.
The Wagner group decides not to attack Russia while the MAGA group continues to attack women. What a contrast. When will the American people really rise up and send the MAGA group to the equivalent of Belarus? Before I die, I hope.
Frank Mitchell... this MAGA stuff is reflexive - Obama won two terms and frightened the insecure pale faced whites of America... into a crouch position, quivering, hoping Lindsay Graham the MAGA fearing odd duck with the vacillating conscience genuflecting for any white racist in his neighborhood.. the need to feel superior overwhelming all of them... it’s incipient feckless faux but real racist based fascism - the thermometer out of control dancing for the racist flavor of the born again... this is a disease... and it will not fade anytime soon... turning on the lights and shining the beam right in their faces will humiliate the intelligent minority among them... but it’s mob rule... and the wind is up... blowing in the wind racism... they are terrified of Black Power... and wallowing is guilt denied from the decade following the Civil War.
Indeed, REFLEXIVE, NOT REFLECTIVE....AS WITH ALL PREJUDICE AND ALL RACISM... THE BANALITY OF EVIL.. ALWAYS ON SUNDAY, SOMETIMES ON SATURDAY.. AND SEE SEVENDAYSVT... IN VERMONT 36,000 ISSUES DUMPED FREE WEEKLY.. 1,000 IN PLATTSBURG, THEY CANNOT KEEP STAFF, VIEWS NOT NEWS, A RAG... FRIGHTENED OF THE TRUTH, NOT EDITED, NOT A NEWSPAPER, A FEW CLASSIFIED PERSONALS SEX SOLICITATION PAGES WRAPPED IN ADS...PAULA RUNS IT, AND SHE’S TIRED...
Don’t think I will live that long. The cretins smelled blood in 2000; since then, they’ve attracted enough money to gain momentum, especially as Obama brought the racist tea party to fore. chump just brought the flame thrower
Frank Mitchell: It would take Alexander Lukashenko to broker a deal between us and the Acultamuricans--
I’m with Kamala..
Thank you for your unbiased, vetted reporting, Heather!
This edition of LETTERS is totally outstanding. Professor I am in awe of your coverage - from Wagner/Putin to Roe and more including VP Kamala.Harris.
How do 700 people, most of whom are not doctors and, despite that, calling themselves the American College of Pediatricians, run a highly visible propaganda operation? Something is wrong with Americans, especially white Americans and most especially white Evangelicals. I don’t think those people can be civilized, but there might be some hope of bringing them to heel if we can get enough of the rest of us to the polls.
IT’S BORN AGAIN FAUX CHRISTIANITY WITH A TWIST... IN MEDICINE... IN MY EXPERIENCE, EDUCATED CHRISTIANS DO NOT PLAY THIS STUFF...
Educated Christians has become rare as hen’s teeth. At least among my acquaintances. Most slurp the KoolAid
The problem is that the “koolaid drinkers”have hijacked the name Christianity and distorted Scripture and weaponized Jesus. That is NOT Christianity and it is one of the greatest sources of pain in my heart. Christians know that on the night before he died, Jesus called us to love one another. Precious, important words-he commanded us to love one another. He didn’t speak out against gay people, although he had to know some. He didn’t persecute or reject women or people outside his cultural circle. He told people to stop being hypocrites, to stop judging others, to stop building walls. He told us to love one another. Any other characterization of Christianity is a weaponization for someone’s personal agenda. There is nothing of Christ in them.
The Evangelicals' hypocrisy pushes my button like nothing else. They are today's Pharisees--caring more about literal biblical interpretation than their behavior toward others, believing themselves to be sanctimoniously superior, and sticking together while rejecting all others,. Actually the word Pharisee is related to a Hebrew word meaning "separation," which is the work of the ego. They embody the diametrical opposite of Jesus' teaching for us to love one another....
You speak 100% truth. Sadly, the ones I know in tx buy the bull schitt. I am from Thomasville, and have a cousin in Greensboro, a real Christian. Love Greensboro.
Well, IMO, Christianity began to veer off the path when Constantine made it a state religion. This is not to say that many people don't still practice in the tradition Jesus modeled, but the various iterations of misogyny that have and continue to haunt it are nothing Jesus would have condoned. I get a little crazy when I see women in the street proclaiming they are "pro-life."
And even while hanging on the cross forgave one of those hanging alongside him!
Talk about indoctrination!!!
Everyone is worried about schools indoctrinating young people via the three R’s when the greatest threat of all lies in so called Religious organizations.
Worldwide ministries, worldwide propaganda
They are called this name (very cleverly American College of Pediatricians but they are not the same as the larger group which I have forgotten the name of. In other words they are a faux group.
Jennifer, American Academy of Pediatricians is the real group. The membership of the faux group is open to non-physicians.
Sorry yes. The other group is A College of Pediatricians which are a right wing hate group.
Wrong:
AMC of Pediatricians is a small right wing hate group.
They are confusing names on purpose.
The American ACADEMY of Ped. is the correct one.
Look it up.
BEWARE of thinking the same thing as Mary.
Jennifer, if you reread my comment, I’m referencing the same group as you, except that I didn’t use all caps—basically, look for Academy in the name of the organization, not College or Center.
Let’s do get out the vote. And bring our friends and relatives along with us.
Which we will.
The media runs scared of the right wing. They are afraid to say something isn't true, even when they know it's know true. They are afraid of the right wing attacks saying they are unbalanced. So they end up equating lies with the truth.
Title 1X changed the lives of girls forever and Roe Vrs Wade did as well. The freedom to be a whole person, a woman with rights and choices is something this younger generation had taken for granted and is now fighting for again. Some day I hope that humans will be free to make choices and express all parts of themselves without fear
This revived a memory from the nineties when my feminist daughter was forced to walk through a gang of guys blasting Russ Limbaugh on her way to class because Title IX threatened their beloved hockey team's stranglehold on athletic funding.
As an intuitive and an activist, I'm having very strong feelings about all of this! And, frankly, it starts with the thoughts... 'bring it on!'...In a photo of Putin released today, he does not look well. He's beginning to his grip.. A lot of educated young Russians have left for the West over recent months. In general, it feels like things are changing. I believe we're gong to see more and more parents standing up for the offspring. About 6 years ago, the Pew Research Institute, a sound source of news and data, spoke of the increasing number of youth who were leaving the churches they'd been raised in. And, indeed in many areas and in many ways, we are seeing the choices of younger who think very differently. And who have shown they're ready to fearlessly take action. It wasn't a casual decision to sue Montana, where fossil fuels are the #1 source of the state's economy. Where Gov. Gianforte physically attacked a reporter on national tv. The biggest challenge in my mind is that Congress is full of people, who do not fully understand they are dinosaurs when it comes to understanding today's world and what is needed to create life affirming change. The last few week a shift has begun.
Say it again, and again
I’m glad you brought up Montana and what’s happening there. The chicks are beginning to tackle the dinosaurs and that’s a good sign. Let’s back them up.
I’m praying you are correct, Sam, that a shift is a’comin’. We desperately need it with the antics of the GOP in the House, the silence of the GOP in the Senate, the biased SCOTUS, the ongoing gun violence, attacks in the rights of women and the lgbtq and people of color, decimation if voting rights, and more. We need a shift toward decency and democracy!
Gods, Sam, I hope you're right. I feel more like we've been sliding backwards into the dark ages, only with social media and automatic weapons.
Why did Prigozhin turn back so close to seizing control of Moscow, Russia? One potential alternative, does it make sense? Prigozhin ends up in Middle East or Africa where he owns gold diamond mines and keeps the resident dictator in power and thus is safe, his army in Russia melts away into civilian life ready for recall when Prigozhin instructs...and thus he has shown bloodlessly the Russian people, oligarchs and military that Putin is a 'paper tiger' and he is ready to take over when they have had enough of Putin. Thus no fighting of Russian vs Russian, just wait until people are accepting of an end to Putin and Prigozhin rides back into Moscow with his armies. His ride to Moscow showed the world this is doable! Prigozhin has shown himself to be an extremely smart skilled tactician so 'pulling up lame' just short of Moscow makes no sense. Sort of like when Napoleon came out of his first exile and retook his title of Emperor essentially bloodlessly.
Napoleon's return was bloodless because he was (almost) universally loved throughout France. Mon Empereur. Two things that struck me about Prigo's march on Moscow were its speed, and the complete halt when they were only two hours away, like turning off the power. Exile in Belarus, eh? And Navalny, surviving poisoning, lives on, in some Russian prison cell. I wish Dostoevsky was a contributor to this forum.
I was wondering if Navalny might get sprung…
It may be part of the Master Plan... It's otherwise incomprehensible that he was allowed to get off the plane and be nursed back to health (?) by a German hospital - then back to Russia to the gulag or wherever.
According to the Guardian today, US intelligence heard about a planned rebellion a few days ago.
Jeri, I was wondering the same thing all day yesterday.
I agree with your "makes no sense." I would think that an invading army that wasn't Russian moving openly toward Moscow would have been blown to bits by air strikes if a military contest was all that was involved. Clearly, it seems more was involved: first to inspire this dangerous uprising, and second reaching to avoid what would surely follow from either army actually killing their fellow citizens.
Apparently several airstrikes were tried and were shot down. It's all curious.
Curious that with all our defense satellite coverage and detailed images we did not get more news of substance on both the "invading army" and the military responses. I believe they could see all we've bantered about here.
He was saying: “See? I can do this if I want. And it could be just as easy tomorrow or the next day.” Also, what does it say they there was literally nothing in his way? He showed that Putin can't be everywhere and nowhere (always hiding in some palace bunker) at the same time,
Was Prigo showing that he can move forcefully and at will against Putin? Is this a transition from the time of oligarchs to a time of warlords in Russia?
Is there really a difference when they have their own private armies?
Hi Carolyn. My first question would pitch a one on one Putin/Prigo confrontation. My second question would present a fragmentation of the Russian Federation. Either one with plenty of unknowns. I am no expert on Russia but I was wondering where this was headed. It looks different at the moment given recent developments. Here is where the situation appears to be: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/25/europe/putin-russia-analysis-intl/index.html
Certainly no expert on Russia here…just a reader and observer. Sources have been Fiona Hill, Masha Gessen, various Economist writers. That, and I'm a geographer by training. It does not seem likely that this is over to me either. Expecting Prigozhin to saunter off to Belarus seems a bit like expecting DJT to go live in a trailer in West Virginia. The announcement about the turnaround and 'agreement' was all bluster. One of the things Prig showed Putin was that the actual physical path to Moscow is ridiculously vulnerable, and he exposed the lameness of the Russian military that wasn't even protecting its own capital until after the mercenaries were almost at the door. Talk about barbarians at the gate! Prigozhin is either going to show up dead or he will show up with 50k troops at Putin's palace by the Black Sea. It's for sure Putin will not be residing near Moscow for a while.
Great observations. Thanks!
Head scratching time to be sure
Both these guys are bloodthirsty thugs. How could anyone ever seriously consider trusting anything they say? It’s beyond tragic. And yet still the right wing here including that over privileged fool, Tucker Carlson, embrace them. Not good.
Every single person who knows anything about them has said the same. I've heard at least a dozen times about Prigozhin, “This is not a good guy.” The Russian people are so trapped by the likes of Putin and the corrupt system he has in place that they seem to live life in a limbo, waiting to see who will 'win' whatever next battle will be fought between ruthless gangsters. The right wing and their mouthpiece, Carlson, are ignorant nut cases. They don't know what they are talking about, ever…
Thanks for your fresh thinking. Could the relocation of Wagner mercenaries to Belarus achieve 1) a check on Timoshenko's loyalty? 2) could it bolster a pincer strategy against Ukraine? 3)Could it present a weakening of the invading forces in Luhansk/Donetsk and Crimea?
The US Constitution needs another amendment, modelled after the First: Congress shall pass no laws regarding personal relationships or reproduction. This would give these areas the same level of legislative protection that religion now enjoys.
I'm happy that the good professor has carefully not used the terms "Pro-life" and "Pro-abortion" in her letter today. These terms are used by the Right to shade the debate about abortion, to color the team sides, as it were. I don't know anybody that is "Anti-life", or in fact, "Pro-abortion". Words matter.
Abortion, in my mind, represents a failure of some sort: a failure of birth control, if it was used, or a failure to use it. A failure to respect the bodily rights of a woman (or a girl) by force of rape or incest. A failure of a fetus to properly develop. And so on. Nobody can thus be "Pro-abortion", at least in the abstract; we all prefer to see only wanted babies enter this world, to a mother or parents who are emotionally and financially ready and able to nurture them. (Don't get me going on how the U.S. then proceeds to make affordable child nearly impossible for working parents,) Anyway, "Pro-choice" is the much better term.
"Pro-life" is equally a loaded appellation. I can't back it up statistically (too lazy and tired to look it up at 4:30 a.m.) but I'll posit that most folks who call themselves Pro-life are also in favor of the death penalty, who believe that the 2nd amendment allows most people ready access to own and carry guns, and who are likely to be against child tax credits, extended paid leave post-partum, food and shelter assistance to needy women with children, health care for all, and so on. These are not truly "pro-life" positions. Their attitude strikes me as one of "Oh, a new baby! How cute! What a blessing! When do you go back to work? What do you mean, you can't work and afford child care? The kid's your responsibility; shoulda thought twice before having one. Why should I pay taxes on your problem?" Oops, there I go, ranting about how we as a society in the U.S. turn our backs on the needs of parents with children. Hillary was right: it takes a village to raise a child.
Who put Tooberville in a position with so much power? I thought the Democrats were in the majority in the Senate. Someone needs to slap this arrogant pipsqueak down. This is ridiculous and dangerous. I would think even the REPUBLICAN'TS could see that. Oops sorry, brain fade for a minute.
Our national football jock... and GOP Born Again hero...
Note: The University of Chicago under Chancellor Robert Maynard Hutchins - the youngest ever in 1929 or so (check me out), the University banned or blew out Big Ten Football and Amos Alonzo Stagg’s influence - AND deliberately alienated the BLOW OUT Standard Oil of New Jersey / Indiana - starting in Pennsylvania and elsewhere John D. Rockefeller Early Born Again Oil Rich Baptists that had underwritten the University of Chicago since when - for ages - - and Chicago now has the most Nobel Prizes of any campus... R M Hutchins and his soul mate Mortimer Adler promptly rearranged the college curriculum and admissions standards and clipped 11th and 12th grades from high school applicants as a waste of time - admitting the best and brightest... using five days of placement exams in Orientation Week... to determine required college courses... Leon Kass MD Esq., placed out of most of it, graduated with a law degree and an MD... and became W’s highest administration non cabinet advisor for the duration... as college failure George W. tried to deal with his manifest ignorance and alcoholism... as he smiled his way into two terms - and committed the nation to the Iraq War with lies sold and heart patient Dick Cheney calling the shots... for two terms... then getting a replacement... having destroyed Republican ethic for a generation or more... with intolerance... and spendthrift crap that extended into D J Trump, the latest criminal to con the gullible insecure racist white voters of America... ignored by our white campuses fearful of their boards of trustees... lesser lights, all chasing the brass ring, not knowledge... or tolerance.
We are in trouble... it’s going to take an intellectual revolution and slamming the racists... in full view.
Red Neck football Born Again Jock Tommy Tuberville and his single son Tucker would not apply - nor would they likely be admitted... this class is a brick short of a load and simply ALabama Stupid... and Republican fascist / racist...
Thomas Hawley Tuberville is an American politician and retired college football coach who is the senior United States senator from Alabama, a seat he has held since
2021. Before entering politics, Tuberville was the head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008. Wikipedia
Born: 1954 (age 68 years), Camden, AR
Office: Senator (R-AL) since 2021
Teams coached: Cincinnati Bearcats football (Head coach, 2013–2016), Texas Tech Red Raiders football (Head coach, 2010–2012), Auburn Tigers football (Head coach, 1999–2008)
Spouse: Suzanne Tuberville
Children: Tucker Tuberville
Education: Southern Arkansas University, Harmony Grove High School
Nationality: American
Sources include: Ballotpedia, Wikipedia. Learn more
That explains a lot.
Idiots delight. Shit for brains. Alabama white, shallow, a mean racist, perfect for MTG and Moscow Mitch, the feckless Speaker, today’s fascist Republicans and The Donald hiding his transcripts in two schools, a tax cheating rapist, darling of American white Born Again Christian lying stupid neo-atheists pretending that hate color.. 77 million strong.
Well, that's clear. A WaPo reader the other day mentioned The Screaming Red Dress, in a post about the guardians of democracy. More keystrokes, but very evocative. 77 million out of a population of 300+ million.
Thanks for clarifying his nationality. I was in doubt.
It’s simple. Direct. Irreversible. And the future...
As drafted by Oscar Wilde X: The future is clear. See the GOP supported Headline of 2024 - Infamous 1620 Massachusetts Salem Witch Trials will be freshly reviewed by today’s SCOTUS, renewed and sent down to be retried, reversal upheld, affirmed, sentence directed, charged, as abortion is banned nationwide and criminalized, with pregnant girls of any age, and with pregnant women and children and their physicians charged, tried, convicted and sentenced, abortion and birth control rights denied, with pregnant women successfully seeking abortion anywhere to be hanged in Texas, their husbands and families fearful of the born again Christian mob, call for support of hanging, watching, with state justice leading federal, both following the Salem Witch Trials of yore, sexless single red faced angry GOP Sen. Lindsay Graham, who supported the impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton, for longing, urge’s all January 6th defendants of federal law sentencing to be released, with pardons and sentences reversed, or just pardoned, former Presidential Donald J. Trump to be reelected retroactively, by directed declaration, ballots adjusted to reflect his re-election nationwide, as the Holy Father, Pope Francis, urges castration of sexually active priests and sex offenders, with premarital and extramarital sex banned, to be criminally prosecuted, all forms of contraception outlawed nationwide, tubal ligation and vasectomy outlawed... as reforms sweep the nation, with the most Salem Witches seeking abortion to be prosecuted for intent to kill murder, with enabling physicians and nurses charged as accessory to murder and jailed for life. Praise the Lord, Our Heavenly Father and Jesus, so help me God and the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
HA! Sandy, you’ve done it again!
Damn the torpedoes, let’s get those rascals.
Side of the angels, Oh Praise the Lord..
Sandy, you got me caught up in the rapture...thanks!
Nothing like a healthy rant on a summer Sunday to cleanse the soul and plumbing of the righteous. I feel so much better. SANDY.
Hilarious
So - who is cornering the market for faggots (sensu stricto)? Who's selling tickets for the hangings? (Are they tax-deductible). Good fun for all the family.
Wagner Group is being given safe passage to Belarus, I believe I read? This could be a ruse by Putin. Having Wagner put pressure on the Belarus border with Ukraine, while Putin pounds the nuclear power plant down south. Scrambled chaos. Planned chaos? Since neither Putin nor Wagner can be trusted, I find it hard to believe this is not a ruse.
It’s the only way this episode makes any sense at all.