Thank you, Dr. Richardson. Abortion may be the issue grabbing the headlines, but the real issue for women is far more cynical than that. Abortion is just a toe in the door. I have never, in 85 years (I'm 91) heard or read a legislator or anyone else declare they want to take the vote away from women. And yet in the last three months I've heard at least two prominent men say that out loud for public consumption. Beginning in the late 19th Century women have been fighting for equal rights. EQUAL not superior rights. None of us want to lessen the rights of men - except the prior thousands of years unlawful right to beat, rape, enslave and kill women. Do we want to return to those days? The majority of men in this and other industrial countries are happy to be on equal footing with women.
Equality has led to a better standard of living for all - well at least until the beginning of this century.
We're not just in this to return the right to needed abortion, we're fighting for the right to be equal, to be a gender with the same right to education, quality employment and respect.
J L, I think of it also as toddlerism, acting like a 2 or 3-year-old and tantruming horribly when they don't get what they want or when they can't manipulate their parents. Leonard Leo is the biggest toddler of all with Elon Musk close behind. I still don't understand why so many people want to believe in those guys who have the emotional maturity of a toddler with really bad parenting.
Michael, Building on your quoted text, I would submit a Court that would ignore 50 years of settled precedent in Roe and would overturn a fundamental right, over and over again reaffirmed and relied upon by tens of millions every year, would do it to other fundamental protections.
In a word, as indicated in your quote, we are on the cusp of someplace we’ve never been before in our history. Ultimately we have little more than 4 months to urge so-called persuadable voters before the General to listen to the things MAGA Republicans say and the people they admire. No one should doubt that whatever freedoms we have in this country, whatever one likes about this country, dramatically would change.
Actually, Barbara, there was a time in our history when both genders were deprived of their "rights". The men were so incensed over this restriction of their rights (and their bodies were not being deprived of their body's rights, just their minds and their pride) they fought and won the Revolutionary War.
I hope we don't have to have a gender war with the maggots, but, if we do, this time I truly believe our men (the REAL men who have enough belief in their own strengths they don't need another person to validate those strengths for them) would join us.
I do think that part of what drives these maggots to strike out at everyone else, especially ones they view as weaker than themselves - women, undocumented immigrants, person whose skin is darker than theirs - creates this need to constantly validate their view of themselves as superior - when deep down, they know they aren't
Fay, it’s all only a game they play. The cult party will say anything at all to gain power and money gained through power. They don’t really believe in anything because if they did, it would be anyone beside Trump. Just keep this in minds. This Herculean struggle is essentially over power and money — not about ethics, principles, right and wrong. Since Trump is their cult leader, you either swear allegiance or be caste out of the cult following. It’s really pernicious. And let’s understand that our body politic in almost imperceptible ways, pushed white working class right into their arms. Maybe it was inevitable I don’t know. They have sworn allegiance to the very power structure that will ignore their plights. Observe these very uneducated white draped in Trump insignia looking the fools they are and it gives them identity.
Bill, yesterday we took a visitor from the east coast who once lived in Oregon up the North Santiam canyon east of Salem to see the still very visible damage from the 2020 Labor Day fires. We saw more than one large flag pole with the Trump flag flying. As we passed, I thought death star does not give a rat's behind about you.
Bill, I keep hearing that Democrats somehow drove the working-class people into the arms of Republicans, but I have not seen proof of that. Democrats have tried to make life better for those who were left behind by corporate industries, but rather than blame the corporations that send the jobs to China and elsewhere where workers could be paid pennies an hour or greedflation which raises prices not because they need to be raised but to tempt shareholders, and that corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes and haven't for along time, Dems get to be the targets of white working-class rage. Republicans have been very skillful, though at pointing fingers at Democrats, and even Democrats and progressives repeat the nonsense. Why do Dems keep shooting ourselves in the foot or somewhere else to keep repeating Republican lying talking points? I don't get it!
Fay, yep, those guys do know they are not superior, just as slave owners knew they were not superior to the people they owned. They had to do a lot of pretending and harming the people but they knew they could never have done the kind of work the enslaved people did, not in a million years, and couldn't bear to think about it. Many white people still can't. Republicans are so self-obsessed, they can't see beyond themselves and the people who share their bubble with them. They get really mad when someone leaves that bubble because they realized what a terrible place it is to be and want something better. I would love to find a way to burse some, OK a lot of the Republican bubbles, but it will have to be a group effort with good messaging and appealing to the people's common sense.
Thanks Fay. I want you to know how much I appreciate your comments on the various threads we both visit. Clearly you collected significant wisdom over your 90+ years. I wish we could pass some of it on to the whiny Republican women who just can't seem to get past their infatuation with Baby Donnie. Maybe they like him because his infantile behavior stirs some kind of motherly instinct in them. Now if we could turn that off and remind them Baby Donnie is 78 years old, it could make a difference for some of them. Who under 98 wants to be mommy to a 78 year old?
Fay, Your reply to me requires I repeat that my comment, which was a reply to Michael, solely was intended to expand upon his posting. While I respect your thesis, I’m not clear how it relates to my response to Michael.
"I would submit a Court that would IGNORE 50 YEARS OF SETTLED PRECEDENT IN ROE AND WOULD OVERTURN A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT, OVER AND OVER AGAIN REAFFIRMED AND RELIED UPON .......,WOULD DO IT TO OTHER FUNDAMENTAL PROTECTIONS!!!!"........
Rather than looking at improvements for the wellbeing of our families, education opportunities for all, care for the infirm or disabled, esp. those far from cities, better training for our doctors, nurses and other medical professionals and requiring more medical professionals and education professionals to work among the poor and infirm, as well as many who have been elected to serve all Americans ...not only the ones who provide expensive exotic "get-a-ways" that most Americans do not have the time or money to enjoy!!!!! but regular citizens in a family in which mom and dad must work to pay the bills as well as find excellent and affordable child care for all the children the Republicans want women to birth.....and for too many women, .......with no support or care from the father of the child. Some men would rather go to prison than claim they have a child who needs them.
In being so critical of men and fathering....I must NOT NEGLECT to give a huge "thank you " to those men who ARE responsible and amazing dads. You are building a better place on this planet.
Emily, My comment, which was a reply to Michael, was intended to expand upon his posting. While I subscribe to the issues you raise in your reply to me, I’m not clear how they pertain to my response to Michael.
2 points: they not only took rights away from citizens, they lied - the Trump judges declared it settled law. Second point - take them at their word, when they declare they are building for a post-constitutional America, they mean it - think about that language.
An added point - not the first time rights were removed - Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps in WWII. As citizens they were protected by the 14th Amendment - similar arguments could be said for indigenous peoples and African-Americans where the Supreme Court decisions were anti-14th Amendment.
Good point, Steve. The Court has created a monster with respect to the 14th Amendment. They have explicitly given the states the right to decide abortion issues, meaning that a hodge-podge of state laws will void equal protection across the board. A woman from a legal abortion state who happens to be in a state that bans abortion is at mortal risk if certain medical emergencies arise. Not only could she suffer irreparable physical harm or death, she could also be imprisoned for seeking treatment. Therefore, the only way for the Court's ruling to conform to the 14th Amendment is for the federal government to ban abortion in all states. That directly contradicts the Dobbs ruling which defers to inviolable states rights. Why is no one talking about this?
I’m no legal beaver but also under the 14th, post Civil War regressionists, A drew Johnson, etc, argued states rights to determine the people rights and a different kind of enslavement took place on account of state rights.
Yes, 'states rights' is a ruse to impose local authoritarianism. The antidote, such as the 14th Amendment, requires federal sovereignty which is wholly dependent on the absolute sovereignty of the people, which in turn must always be destroyed by Republicans and other fascists.
Steve, First, despite what we hear repeatedly, the SCOTUS nominees, particularly Coney Barrett, didn’t actually lie. Barrett, you might recall, distinguished between a “super-precedent” (Brown v. Board), which she viewed as sacrosanct, and precedent (Roe), wherein her talk was more opaque.
Second, while your examples of our rescinding rights are deplorable, I view them differently than overturning a Constitutional right that over and over again had been reaffirmed.
As for aspirations to establish a post-constitutional America, I view said language as a euphemism for fascism.
She was let off the hook - and not called on it so I agree with you on her - others lied. I view Scotus decisions that overturn or deny equal protection as symptomatic of the same issue. I do not put one as more important over the others. I am one to think historically states rights are repressive and federal rights more inclusive. When someone declares states rights that is an indicator for me of someone’s rights being suppressed. We agree on the post- Constitutional language - it is fascism.
Steve, I agree. I feel "states rights" always minimize some group's rights, where federal writs are inclusive and protective of the general populous. I feel that we are at such a dangerous place in this country's young life and so many people are disconnected or just not interested. I've never seen such disconnect and disinterest to whats happening in the country and the world at large.
Steve, it seems the 14th Amendment is not a favorite of our Supreme Court from its ratification. The SC has been working to break it down and make our rights whatever the SC says they are. That is unacceptable and We the People need to vote like we believe in the rights our Constitution with its Amendments provides us. Republicans have told us they don't see the Constitution as anything worthy of their attention. We need to believe them!
Barbara, I heard a republican politician say precedent doesn’t mean what it use to. He said it with a side grin, It was chilling. I felt like I was looking at a member of the ruling men in The Handmaid’s Tale.
Barbara, Until recently I believed tRump exclusively held the dubious title of, “The foremost Clear and Present danger to America!” Now he shares the title with a considerably larger group of despicable…dare I say…Americans? At one time we claimed with pride, we were a land of Laws! Unfortunately that aforementioned group, the <.1%, are making a mockery of those same Laws. Led by “you know who!” While no one tries to stop them! A great many people believe that the General Election in November will reverse the impending threat…sadly, I have my doubts. First and foremost, we won’t even know for sure that the Repugnant candidate isn’t a serial Felon when we vote. We all thought that the 2020 Election was going to be essential for the future wellbeing of our Democracy…wrong! Only sixty seven percent (actually 66.8%) of eligible voters bothered to come out…many of them don’t know how an election works, one just can’t change the President and not support Him/Her down ballot. We have deniers and doubters galore, an attempted insurrection, threats against the voting process and the folks who work it and on and on! Can America survive despite the onslaught against it???
Sorry for my wanderings as I attempted to respond to your response to Michael....
I meant to agree with you and Michael , "No one should doubt that whatever freedoms we have in this country, whatever one likes about this country, dramatically would change."
“… a Court that would ignore 50 years of settled precedent in Roe and would overturn a fundamental right, over and over again reaffirmed and relied upon by tens of millions every year, would do it to other fundamental protections.”
By your leave … I respectfully suggest substituting the word “will” for the word “would” in your closing sentence. Those people have the bit in their teeth.l
So we will win on abortion alone. But how expensive this victory will be; the loss of a woman’s right to choose. Which is a horrible loss at the hands of extremist zealots.
I find the extremist Republican position on abortion incomprehensible. They now claim that both a fertilized egg and a corporation have full rights of personhood. But a woman and a black man do not. Are they really telling us that a female or black male human being has full rights of personhood up to the moment that they are born, and then they lose those rights?
"Are they really telling us that a female or black male human being has full rights of personhood up to the moment that they are born, and then they lose those rights?"
The first step after winning is to protect voting rights and the right to choice. The election is not an end, but a beginning--if we collectively quit whining about Biden (noting your comment below) and do the necessary work.
My ever so wise retired professor friend of mind ruminated that Joe Biden went back on his word to be a one term president. He doesn’t project well. While the age difference is minimal, an 84 year old should not be president I don’t care who the F you are. He chooses a not so personable VP probably as an ode to Obama. (Stacy Abrams would have been a much better pick) He fumbles on issues like the border for 3 years (resulting in massive inundation in large cities) when he could have just done the executive order years ago and now plays catch-up.
I never liked Biden since the days he tossed Anita Hill under the proverbial bus and ended any further witnesses to testify against Uncle Thomas. And Thomas iconic moment when he exclaimed, “This is nothing but a high tech lynching” and all the white boys fell back to save their own asses. The troubles we don’t deserve Biden being one but Trump be 10x worse. So we play too often voting for the least damaging.
Bill, please take another look at the many accomplishments of the Biden administration, and stop whining about Biden's age , his vice president, and past mistakes.
Hey. Back off on Biden man! He admits his mistake regarding Anita Hill. That was then, this is now! Joe Biden has done way more good than any damage you could perceive!
No Schitt Sherlock, then do the obvious and kick chump to the curb. BTW, I’ve made a few mistakes in my life, hopefully I have learned and done better. Joe has, chump never considered the idea…
I think I have already. You’re welcome to read my book, “Donald’s Vanity Tantrums.” I’m not a cheerleader for anyone and I’ve paid my dues. Besides since the election at this point is too close to call. And why should it be when one of the candidates is truely the most dangerous, filthy rotten traitor monster in the history of this relatively brief republic and Joe Biden is have difficulties relating to the people? Biden should be ahead by 10 or more points. Yet some polls (probably no longer reliable anymore) are showing a dead heat. Not good.
Bill, there's a simple flaw in your reasoning. The right wing movement is so powerful that the election will be close no matter who is running on the Democratic side. The fact that Trump got more than 10% of the vote at ANY time is a nightmare beyond contemplation. But here we are. This is full-blown Nazism.
I believe that Putin has his thumb on most polls, his bots on the rest. Imagine his victory if Trump is elected! To have the useful idiot back in the White House…!
So you think Stacey Abrams, a black woman, would be more acceptable than Kamala Harris, a black woman? Since the biases are against blacks AND women, there is no difference.
Hey you know, this is a blog full of opinions. I could always relate to Abrams but never with Harris. Go figure. And just because a person is Black doesn’t mean that I automatically support them.
Kamala Harris was sterling while she was still a senator and questioning Bill Barr, who played games with her. She knows what she thinks and says so. Typically men don't like that. Not all men, but some.
I agree. I could relate to Abrams but not to Harris. But I've come around. And please read Jennifer Rubin on Harris, which I provided in my first response to you.
Reminding you of Der Alte, Konrad Adenauer, who put West Germany together after WWII, retiring at 91. Have you never known an 80-90 year old (do you read Keith Wheelock in these comments?) who was far ahead of most people in considering situations? I have known several, including my father who is an example to me. He lived to 89, I’m 90.
thank you Virginia for pointing out another highly accomplished nonagenarian. I did not know Adenauer remained in office into his 90s, but I won't forget it! I do know Keith Wheelock from here, and Fay Reid, and you, and probably a few others, as well as a family friend from looooong ago, an academically notable woman who I called out of the blue whom I'd last spoken with (in person) when I was 6.
Thank you, David! I was taught as a child “Experience is the best teacher.” Not having thought of the expression in years, as I think about Biden’s biography and what I have observed during his presidency, I think from the tragedy of his young life following his stint as a teacher and the loving family he comes from, that his experience has given US the best we could hope for as we try to keep democracy in America.
I know I’m talking to myself but it’s easier than talking to others. If we should be so lucky and win with super majorities in Congress, then expanding the Supreme Court with 3 new nominees would be a remedy to a frightful condition.
I think you’re talking a little bit of baloney—- This whole “executive order”thing about the border … it was tried and turned back as “unconstitutional” before by others, and he expected and still expects that his order will be challenged and turned back, as well. He THOUGHT that a negotiated deal to accomplish real and needed change at the border would AT LEAST get a fair hearing in Congress, but then the guy you are carrying water for here called the Repubs and told them to ditch the negotiated deal. And you blame Biden.
Just like someone carrying water for Trump would do.
You obviously have not read Jennifer Rubin's highly complimentary column on VP Harris. The Thomas thing was as bad as you say, but that was ~30 years ago.
As Laine Gifford says, below me, now, Biden is an extremely highly successful president, who has gotten a large number of good policies passed, or instituted by executive action, despite having the narrowest of margins in the Senate, and the GOP having the House. He amazes me. Best President of my lifetime, which began the first summer of the Eisenhower Administration. With him in the White House, I've felt as I did when I was riding my bicycle through the Great Plains, on my way from Seattle to Boston, and I'd have a strong wind at my back. I can remember racing a train for several miles, and beginning to pull ahead of it due to one of those tailwinds!
I compliment Biden even though I think we badly need to reduce immigration and enforce immigration laws, because he's done so much else that's helpful to people.
Here's Jennifer Rubin on Harris. If you can't open it, email me at holzmandc@outlook.com, and I'll email you the text.
Chump’s rejection of the bipartisan bill should have been enough for the “border issue” people to get a clue. But that they still hang that around Joe’s neck is all the evidence we need that the cult and their news sources are as deliberately evil as any group has ever been. Nazi tactics all the way.
I see current images of Trump rallies with many white women - the majority of white women voted him in. Their vote told the story, no other female racial group did that. And so for all this anger I remain a cynic until I see white women vote for their interests, not his.
and sadly, the way this works through the course of human history, authoritarians eventually eat their own. These people think they will be able to keep their guns? Think again.
Incorrect. The NRA has poisoned the mindset of Americans forever. We are now deluded thinking the 2nd amendment gives this right but industry will never stop supporting this twisted right. We can destroy the NRA but it’s too late that have poisoned the mindset of pro gun rights activists.
Authoritarian because the body politic is reversed. Instead of the citizenry vesting certain freely surrendered powers to the government to promote prosperity, to protect other (unceded) rights, and to maintain tranquillity, authoritarianism argues that all those powers already belong to the government.
😱
The government and not the citizenry, then, is the source of power, doling out as many or few of those natural liberties and rights of man to man.
Michael, you are right. Something that makes it even worse is that the 3 Trump justices said they would not go against Roe because of precedent. I am guessing they were sitting in the hearing with their fingers crossed that maybe their god would be OK with a lie if it were for their warped faith.
Fay I totally agree with you that the focus is basic, common or garden misogyny on steroids: the desire to return women to a position of political powerlessness. But I disagree with you that men "are happy to be on equal footing with women." In my experience, as both a professional academic and as a female in our world, they do not want that, because protecting their phallic privilege is becoming the single most important idea in their minds. Women achieving the kinds of success that we have in the last 40 years, including things like Title IX, has made a lot of men in positions of power terrified of their utter mediocrity being revealed. Most men rely on the privilege their penises bring them and few question the legitimacy of that privilege based solely on their dangling member. Women have to fight twice as hard, be twice as good as men even now. Women, who are expected to work outside the home, and often must because of the economic realities of modern life, are paid more poorly, have no access in the US to real subsidized child care, and overwhelmingly bear the burden of child care, home management, and family maintenance. I know this from personal experience. Men often claim to share the home chores and child care "equally" with their wives and partners but when they are asked to map out the division of labor it almost always demonstrates that women are doing far more of that. Even men who are "enlightened" are so unaware of the privilege their whiteness as well as their sex gives them that they freak out when it is shown to them. But their behavior rarely changes. Because they take it for granted that just by being a white guy they are somehow special. And yes: this makes me very angry and I am militant about it. But until women gain a political presence on par with men, this will not change. And I don't see that happening any time soon.
“Humans are apes, and the alpha males on the top of the food chain will always (try to) dominate the group. That's why they created religion, to make the job easier.”
I so agree that religion was created to keep the status quo of the times. One has only to look around the world to find those societies that are run by religious laws and precepts to see the status of women. I fear that the wing nut zealots in the GOP are designing the same for this country. I feel powerless in the face of this effort and deeply, deeply saddened…to the point of tears. I work hard to be loud with all my representatives about every issue I have thoughts about, but I am but one voice. It doesn’t seem to be enough.
I heard the president of
The Heritage Foundation interviewed and wanted to throw up!
The three justices (hand picked) lied during their hearings. The lone female appointed by TFG is a traitor to her gender and partisan in her politics and a zealot. The Supreme Court is a travesty of “justice.”
With respect, humans are not chimpanzees. The alpha male chimp dominates the group. Religion is for keeping us all equal. Christianity's founder is Jesus Christ. He told his followers, men and women, to adhere to the "treat others as you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" principle. That is the real Christian principle, and the strategy is to unite and stand together.
Violating the real Christian principle involves adherence to the "do as I say and not as I do" principle, and the strategy is to divide and conquer.
A lot of people who identify as Christian are not real Christians. Authoritarians love it when people lump the good guys in with the bad guys. If a fish pays attention to the worm while ignoring the hook, it usually doesn't turn out well for the fish.
The philosophy of The Christ was created by somebody who had good instincts.
The RELIGION was created, and overlayed, by the need to come to God through the religion and through priests, to foster keeping people in line and controllng them. That was the whole reason Constantine adopted Christianity — to help solidify and control his empire. The Nurturing Earth Mother form of god worship is about philosophy and quality of life on the planet. The Angry Sky God form is about keeping people in line. Most religions, even the nurturing ones, eventually morph that way, anyway. Read up on it
What you say about the philosophy of Jesus in the Bible is basically accurate. What has become Christianity is not the same thing — and I submit that what left Israel and went out to the world with Saul of Tarsus who became Sant Paul was NOT much like the female-respecting and empowering philosophy, and sinner-forgiving philosopy of The Christ. Paul never met the Christ, and like all followers who spin-off after the death of the founder of a philosophy, Paul taught his own preferences, and they were male supremacist and angry god ideas. Cults with tight control. Like the man said …
I can say that what you've said is true, but I can't say it's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. To me, it's missing the middle part.
The whole truth is that we are Homo sapiens, meaning the "wise" hominid. In other words, your "good instinct" intuition is a good instinct.
To be wise is to treat others the way we would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot, which is easy to understand but hard to do because it's different in every context. So we need rules for how to adhere to the principle in specific contexts. And then everything's fine until the moment we forget the principle, and that's the moment we start imposing the rules as if they were the principle.
The solution is simple: let's all keep reminding ourselves not to forget the principle. Rules are made to be broken specifically because the principle is made to be adhered to in literally every context. Again, that's easy enough for a child to understand, but hard to do. IMHO, that's what President Biden does in every context, and his contexts are much harder than ours.
Pretty much .. But you see, I think stating that a principle must be adhered to IS a rule .. and other rules may be subservient to it.
I don’t think all rules need to be strictures that allow for zero judgement to be applied — I hate mandatory court procedures that don’t allow for the judgement of the judge, for instance —
So, I hear what you mean, but I don’t think the flat statement “Rules are made to be broken” is the whole truth, either. My rule is: Apply reason and compassion along with rationality, considering context, and seek justice as possible — I’d rather we did not ever break that one.
If you’re talking about rules that describe how something is to be done - more like a “how to” than a “must do,” then those need to be adjusted according to circumstances and context, sure.
Christianity has been hijacked by the same ilk that imposed the rules of the Catholic hierarchy. Do as I say and I’ll put in a good word for you. Otherwise suffer eternal damnation. I heard this message in a tent revival as a teenager. Scared the crap out of me til I figured out that they spewed the crap. The church building added the love part and I was tempted til I figured out that I could do it myself. St Peter has one hell of a job at the pearly gates.
Christianity hasn't been hijacked unless enough people believe what the authoritarians want us to believe, which is that Christianity has been hijacked. Alternatively, we can believe something that is easy to believe, which is that it's easy to distinguish between real Christians and hypocrites.
Where can one find real Christians? Here's one place: www.CAC.org.
I am surrounded by self-righteous hypocrites and a few “real Christians.” I’m glad they find comfort in their faith, but I found comfort in my ability to act for myself. My UU Church is a group of like-minded people who are loving, kind, and require no “leader” to tell them what to think or do. Just respect for others, with human acceptance no matter what one looks like or believes. My Baptist family loves their neighbors - as long as they look like them and subscribe to their orthodoxy. Conditional “equality” is something I grew up with and rejected. A challenge sometimes when some human seems to lack the basics.
Please leave religion out of this! Religion by its nature is authoritarian. Ethics, including golden rule thinking, has nothing to do with Christianity. It is simply common sense. The fact that Jesus may have realized some common sense principles should not give him or the religion that developed in his name any special credit. The only credit religions can claim is the efficiency by which they oppress, torture, or murder. The love part requires no religion at all, no matter how hard a religion tries to incorporate it.
Boy Howdy, Linda. Lucky for me back in the day when I was mansplained that I was too fat and ugly to be able to catch a man and, therefore, I better find myself a good job to support myself, I went ahead and did just that.
Excellent comments Linda. My wife is from the KC area and we met when I was working for a small (at that time) life insurance company in downtown KC. It was owned by the Merriman family. The Merriman's owned the Ford Factory and had other large real estate holdings in the KC area. Mrs. Merriman was a trustifarian of the Folger's family and was just as much a white supremacist as her husband. On occasion, the Merriman's invited me to lunch at their club. All of the waiter's wore white coats and carried a white towel draped over their arms. And of course, they were all black. Mr. Merriman had been denied membership to the University Club in downtown KC because he was sans degree. He too was a trustifarian who was left enough assets for the next several generations.
My wife and I haven't returned to Kansas City in years, but next to NYC it has the best restaurants in the country. Or at least it did back then. And the jazz and blues music was among the best as well.
We lived north of the river, meaning we were protected from violent crime by the mob bosses. There were horrific stories of torture and murder by the mob, but somehow these stories rarely made it into the KC Star. But we all knew and heard about them.
Many Midwestern cities are racist and are also patriarchial as you point out. When we lived there in the mid-1980's there were several mega-churches which are almost always patriarchial. I hope the Democrat Party continues to elect women who care about all of their constituents, rather than the hateful angry resentful hypocritical old farts the Republicans have elected.
Keep up the good fight in Missouri. Change comes slowly but it will happen.
Thanks for sharing your experiences interfacing with “trustifarians”. They think money rules the world but as Rep. Jamaal Bowman said, we’ll see if “the many can overrule the money”.
"Inheritance is welfare for the rich." Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett has 3 kids. He with held much of their inheritance until they had proved they were responsible adults that treated the rest of us with respect and dignity.
The problem with many trustifarians is they will never change their stripes. Their money buys them respect which in undeserved in perhaps most cases.
There are way too many trustifarian influencers in the US but convicted felon Donald J Trump is the most troubling as of today.
Linda, the last sentence of your great post highlights the fundamental problem of the
under-representation of women in the political process. This is not a problem just in the US but in many countries. Political parties are the gate-keepers to a political career. Political parties often parrot the mantra that merit should dictate which candidates are chosen and then proceed to nominate mediocre males to "safe" seats, while selecting talented female candidates for "hard to win" seats. Unfortunately, as you say, parity of representation will not happen "any time soon". The battle must continue to be fought in the political parties.
I asked my daddy many years ago, why HE could basically do what he wanted. He said, "Because I am a free, white man over 21." That pretty much sums things up.
Linda, your assessment is so, so accurate. I worked for 35 years in a male dominated field; my sister-in-law and my niece work in an even more male dominated field (they are professional pilots, FedEx and United, respectively). In order to be considered as good as an average man, we must constantly be better than 75% of the men; it is probably higher for the pilots. My in-laws made the decision early on that my brother-in-law would be the “stay at home” parent. It worked out for them beautifully.
A consulting firm (I think) undertook a study that concluded that women have to work fifteen per cent harder than men to earn the same rewards. I read only that statement, so I have no idea how that study could quantify that differential. Nevertheless, it made sense intuitively.
I am not sure you are old enough to recall the number '59'; that was the statement referring to women making fifty-nine per cent that of men. There were counter-arguments against that number (e.g., leaving the work-force to start a family). I did not know what to think.
In a graduate school, the human resources professor referred to a study in which a multi-linear regression model tested for those counter-arguments. One dummy variable -- a binary yes=1 versus no=no variable -- yielded a twenty-two cent differential, at the expense of women. It was 'statistically significant'; that is to say only a five per cent likelihood that this differential occurred by chance.
All of that to say, more simply: a woman made seventy-eight cents for every dollar earned by a man who was the same in every respect except gender. That was a sobering statement made by my professor forty years ago. Things have improved in the generation or two since, but not as much as one would hope.
Do you really believe this to be the case of almost all or even half of the men? The two things I did not like about the women's liberation of the 1970s was the diminishment of motherhood as a vocation, unfortunately under-appreciated and under-compensated, as well as the apparent estimation by some feminists of traditionally male over female attributes. That, somehow, aggression trumped collaboration; that brutal competition trumped nurturing supportiveness. I did not understand it.
IMO, the diminishment of motherhood didn't start with the women's liberation movement. It began when we climbed down from the trees. It's been a male assumption that women as mothers are just there. Taken for granted. Running every aspect of the homefront. The man worked and played. And played around.
Many of us who supported women's rights in those days spoke of motherhood with respect and honored it. And we asked why it wasn't a paid thing.
Another "collaborative" effort would require support - financial and otherwise from men who impregnate women. We have the DNA tools to identify them. Most could be found, their pay attached if necessary and paternal responsibility assigned until the kid is old enough to vote. In other words, help house and feed the kid or go to jail.
The competition was for recognition and equal rights. It wasn't about taking anything away from men. It was asking for the same opportunities and compensation to go along with having 80% of the family responsibilities.
The single mom has been vilified forever - for doing her job and the man's job as well. All the while, the man was playing around, moving on to his next plaything.
Are you sure it began when our ancestors climbed down from the trees? Renown anthropologist Christopher Boehm (1931-2021) disagrees. The following is from page 5 of his book, Hierarchy in the Forest (1999). "Humans were egalitarian for thousands of generations before hierarchical societies began to appear."
To be more specific, hunter-gatherer bands are naturally egalitarian and democratic, but they require a large area of otherwise unpeopled fertile terrestrial territory. Authoritarianism began when our ancestors got squeezed together, and their solution is evident in the archeological evidence of the first agricultural settlements.
Note that our species has been on this planet for roughly twelve thousand generations, and the first agricultural settlements didn't form until the dawn of the Neolithic Period, roughly four hundred generations ago.
In other words, our species is like a person in early adolescence learning that its behavior in its childhood is not for the new demand!
"I know that the work of the old song, perfect in its place, is not for the new demand!" —Howard Thurman (1899–1981).
And I love the thinking that our species is in early adolescence! How optimistic. I had the impression that we were nearing the end of our run. Hope you are right.
Thank you for this information, James, Dr. Boehm confirms what I have long thought. Early Homo sapiens had to rely on each other regardless of gender in order to survive. I don't know about how pre-Homo sapiens appeared, but we were born naked, with no fangs or claws so what choice did our ancestors have but to depend on one another.
Last night I was watching an episode from NCIS New Orleans, circa 2020 (the actors were wearing masks is how I know approximately what year it was.) So there was the star - Dwayne Pride - bewildered over the thought that a woman he had "coupled" with 17 years ago had a son and he might have been the father. "How could this be" he wanted us to wonder with him, and be sympathetic to because she turned out to be "Public Enemy No. 1." And I'm like, are you effin' kidding me? After moving on, how many times has the keeper of the sperms ever thought to consider six to eight weeks later whether he just contributed to making a baby.
Great points, Bill. Unfortunately, I did not see this sub-thread and made more extensive responses below in Gary's sub-thread, if you are interested in them. One thing I can assure you: I have supported the Equal Rights Amendment since I first head about it in the mid-1970s, I did like Ms Schlafly any more than I warmed up to Anita Bryant.
Though I fit the profile of supporters of those two, my preferences went toward 1st Mmes Ford and Carter as well as Representatives Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, and Elizabeth Holtzman. Great female teachers along the way also helped. Most of course was my own mother -- very smart and fiercely independent in her thinking.
Ned, one of the most under appreciated and underpaid groups of people are the caregivers. My sister and sister-in-law cared and care for our mothers which requires as much time as parenting. Both of them worked 40 hours a week outside of the home as well as running our mom's to doctor's appointments and other activities.
I'm not sure what percentage of caregivers are women, but I'm sure it is well over 50%.
Nancy Pelosi raised 5 kids. The knowledge and skills she gained from being a mother allowed her to become one of the most productive speakers in history.
Question: How did Speaker Pelosi respond when asked if she hated Donald Trump?
Answer: She said she was brought up Catholic, that she had a heart full of love, that she didn't hate anyone, and that she prayed for the man.
That's a real Christian. Jesus said, "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you." John 15:12.
Question: What did Speaker Mike say when Donald Trump became a convicted felon?
Answer: He said the real criminal is the Biden family.
Here's what Jesus says about Speaker Mike: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." Matthew 23:27-28.
Identifying as a Christian does not make a person one of the bad guys. The bad guys are the hypocrites. Nancy Pelosi is not a hypocrite.
Powerful comment, good man. As I told my cousins, "I hated Trump but then realized hating him diminished my soul. Hey, if I am going diminish my soul over anyone, it is not going to be for a schlub like Trump!" Not exactly what J.C. had in mind or what Speaker Pelosi practiced, but I am trying. 😉
Two important points on caregiving and parenting. Like teaching, the most demanding vocations are among the least appreciated. When I was studying to attain my CFA thirty-five years ago, I recall reading that parenting / home-making has the level of stress on-the-job as did fire-fighting.
Additionally, one senior manager admitted that his Harvard MBA taught him little compared to being a father on how to manage people. Not sure I would have liked working for that manager were l another 'kid' in the office, but, hey, I understand. What he meant was that, in a field of published writing, he was dealing with many Calvin-&-Hobbes type of prima donnas.
Well, as one who was female during that time, I’ll let you know, it was not an integral part of how <I> felt about women’s liberation. The more militant and angry-at-men-but-still-trying-to-be-more-like-them crowd was noisy, but not necessarily speaking for women who wanted equality and the right to BE who we are! — which is also mothers and nurturers to our families. I left off calling myself a “women’s lib” supporter, but NEVER left off being a feminist, and proud of it. And I really like men, and I believe in male rights to be their authentic selves, too. And same for every gender.
The loss of mothers in the home didn’t come about because of the libs, either. We wanted decent jobs when we had to have one {d’uh!}, but the move out of the home and into the full-time workforce came about more and more as a necessity, as incomes did not provide a living wage, and money during the Reagan years migrated out of the middle class and into the upper echelons of wealth.
Keep a view as to what REALLY happened, and not just what the male chauvinist Oligarchs want you to think.
Really fine point, Pat. Reminds me of another phenomenon of the 1970s: the daily photo-video clips of Iranians protesting outside the U.S.M. in Teheran. For years I assumed there were hundreds at these gatherings; it was more like twenty-to-fifty but the angling and focus of cameras made it look like a lot more. Noisy people get what they set out to get: attention.
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Rush Limbaugh and his odious epithet of 'feminazis' is just one example, both in himself and and in the sub-group he misogynistically derides. In some cases, however and unfortunately, toughness usually associated usually with men was necessary for many of those path-finding women to adopt in breaking through barriers in traditionally male-dominated professions like finance or the law. Women who relied on that toughness deserve credit for making it possible for others to advance.
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Yes, factors in the 1970s drove the two family incomes. As important, however, was the necessity of taking equality seriously: women had and have a right to pursue fulfillment as each sees it.
That’s true, too, Ned. I did not object to day care centers even before economics pushed women out of the house, but I do like to maintain awareness that the wholesale exodus was due to changes in the economy, not just “self-actualization.”
In truth, as well, I miss very much the neighborhoods with kids playing in the streets and yards and a cadre of caring adults keeping an eye on the whole, as mothers were at home, talking to each other, checking on their kids, and the streets had eyes on them during the day. It was a nice way to grow up … but our culture has changed, and that’s the way that cookie crumbled.
"In truth, as well, I miss very much the neighborhoods with kids playing in the streets and yards and a cadre of caring adults keeping an eye on the whole, as mothers were at home, talking to each other, checking on their kids, and the streets had eyes on them during the day. It was a nice way to grow up … but our culture has changed, and that’s the way that cookie crumbled."
You and me, both, Pat. In preparing for the CFA examinations, I took a course in New York that was intense. But the teacher, a practitioner in the field and N.Y.U. professor, advanced an interesting notion that a convergence of factors ended the single income family:
> a cascade of previously dormant dollars, held for store value, back into the U.S. economy after President Nixon the dollar of the fixed-price gold standard in 1971;
> the price shock of energy prices in 1973 and 1979; as well as,
> deficit financing of the ghastly war in Viêt Nam.
Those economic forces conspired to make two careers outside the home a necessity, at least to maintain the living standards of the 1950s and first half of the 1960s.
Honestly, as a young man, I did not think about things like day-care. Since I am ageing bachelor, I have not thought a lot about it since. I suppose that, as a conservative by temperament, I would have supported policies like funding of day-care centers. Such a policy, I would assume, would aim at supporting nuclear families as the keystone of American culture. What might have worked best of all would be a minor change of wording to your statement: "as mothers [and house-husbands] were at home, talking to each other . . . ."
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Many thanks for a thoughtful, insightful statement.
I was blessed to have a great mom and dad. Both of my parents owned farms. My father did not need to "take over" ,they worked in tandem. They would remove themselves away from us children when business matters needed discussing. I know it is hard to believe but I never heard a voice raised. I saw enduring mutual respect.
My mom took my dad to the doctor and when the doctor insisted "he is the healthiest man I have ever seen"....my mom kept pushing..."No, there is something wrong......and there was.....by the time the doctors discovered cancer, it was too late.
My little brother and I stayed with my older sister....my mother would not leave my father's side until a cousin suggested, she may die before my dad if she did not get some rest. That night at home was when she waked up to a vision of my dad and Jesus. She believed my dad was going to live and her strength was renewed....but this was a wrong interpretation.
My little brother was 10....I was 12...and we did not make life easy for her as she managed everything herself successfully. She never remarried.
This is and always will be my example of respectful equality between a man and a woman.
A beautiful tribute to a beautiful family populated by beautiful souls. My mother was very intelligent. (I was born in the shallow end of that gene pool.) She came of age in a time where her reward was to be placed in the top end of the secretarial pool. So, she taught instead. She wanted to go to law school and my father discouraged her. At the end of his life, my father confessed to my sister that he always regretted doing that.
No, I understand that. The only manager whom I ever trusted enough to come close to mentoring me was a woman others had warned me as being a pit-bull-with-a-dress, unpleasant, in-your-face. Now, I had my share of experiences with difficult women, and more with difficult men (with my being one of them). Yet this 'internal auditor' was a breath of fresh air. Instead of shouting me down or patronizing me for changes I needed to make in my work, she simply stated up-front what what I needed to address. And I did it. Done. Smartest manager I ever had.
I have written and deleted lengthy replies to you. Written because there is so much I want to say, and deleted as I doubt you would get it.
I HIGHLY suggest you read two books by Gail Collins: "When Everything Changed: the amazing journey of American women from 1960 to the present" and also "America's Women: 400 years of dolls, drudges, helpmates and heroines."
It will help you understand much better than any reply I could give to you.
I can understand the frustration you feel. Others in this sub-thread have reminded me that my concerns are of another time and were directed at a segment of women. When I think about it, I have only met fewer than ten 'obnoxious' feminists among the thousands of women whom I have met, most those many crediting feminism with improving their lives. I have read some books that shaped my adult consideration toward women:
> 'Zelda' by Nancy Milford;
> 'Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-bye' by Madonna Kolbenschlag;
> 'Herstory' by Katherine Halligan; and, perhaps with others,
> 'Our Bodies, Ourselves' by Boston Women's Health Book Collective.
Miselle, I am rather finished with serious reading these days. Pat nailed it in her comment above. In the seventies, l was responding to accounts in the media that focussed on a noisy few -- a few that may have been necessary for all to progress, but a few who rubbed me, and many guys (I surmise), up the wrong way.
Interestingly, last week I read 'Taming of the Shrew' for the first time. Some class-mates in my (nominally all-boys) high school loved that play. I do not think I would have at the time; at least, l hoped not. My class read 'Merchant of Venice', and I disliked that one.
Linda, I'm sorry you have only encountered that type of male. I have had a different experience. I was the first born and my father's favorite child I had two younger brothers, but in Dad's eye I was perfect (I'm not) but he always approved and stood by me no matter what, his love was unconditional. He always told me I could be anything I wanted to be
My first marriage was to a man exactly as you described, needing constant validation of his perceived superiority. My second marriage was to a man exactly like my father, so happy with himself as he was that he was proud of my achievements.
In my various careers I met a variety of men of both types, those who felt challenged and those who felt threatened. Men, like women come in all sizes and shapes. I have met as many needy women as needy men. They are equally a pain in the ass, give me a person sure of themselves and open to acceptance any day.
Years ago the sociologist Arlie Hochschild wrote a book where she determined that women who work and have families work on average an extra month a year. I doubt much has changed. We can and must do better. If anyone needs a lift during this time, watch the short documentary on Heather Booth, yet another amazing woman probably few of us have heard of.
I understand your anger and skepticism - it’s certainly justified. But it’s as if in your view no men meet your standards. And if true you are wrong because many do.
Your discussion deepens my desire to see the Equal Rights Amendment re-opened and ratified, if that is possible.✌️ It will bring women into the body politic intead of being beneficiaries of rights granted from the body politic (that can be taken away). ⚖️
I believe Abraham Lincoln when he says, "public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed." In other words, with public sentiment, passing the ERA can't fail. The question is how to get public sentiment. The answer is simple. Ask people what they believe in, and then speak in their language.
If I tell you I identify as a Christian, tell me that the ERA is a manifestation of Christianity's "treat others the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" founding principle.
If I tell you I identify with science, tell me that the ERA is a manifestation of science's "be rigorously skeptical of your cognitive assumptions because they will otherwise distort your interprets of the observation" founding principle.
If I tell you I identify with capitalism, tell me that the ERA is a manifestation of capitalism's "Theory of Moral Sentiments" founding principle.
If I tell you I don't believe in anything, tell me that Putin has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t have to get anyone to believe anything. All he has to do is convince enough people not to believe in anything.
P.S., James. President Carter, to his credit, really tried to get the E.R.A. through by using the power of the executive purse (e.g., where to locate large events) and by other means. He was criticized at the time for being "coercive"; I felt he was doing the right thing.
There is no right to deprive others of their rights. Not if the label "right" is to mean anything. Genuine rights when you honor mine and I honor yours. Supremacists don't want to acknowledge that it's reciprocal. They make up phony pretexts for insisting that only they can be right.
Exactly - the right of bodily autonomy IS the ultimate right of equality for women, and using a fetus like it’s another person in the room is a construct that anti- abortionists use to restrict women’s rights. How will they use this construct to take away more rights, including the right to public education, the right to love who you love, and most importantly - the right to vote to protect all the other rights?
Yes, I agree with you. It is just a matter of time before women's suffrage will be on the chopping block and those not paying attention are doing so at their own risk. Up next , as we are now seeing is contraception and IVF. I say contraception but only in terms of it applying to women. Men can still get vasectomies and condoms, these forms of birth control are for men. It is hypocritical and lopsided.Women need to roar like no other come November.
Well said. To the Leonard Leo's and Chip Roy's this 72 y.o. male says my wife and daughter are SO MUCH more worthy of living life than you and your ilk!
The “toe in the door” comment is chilling. The three “desert” religions are all patriarchal. I mention this because it is self appointed organized religion that promotes these ideas. The restriction of birth control is a major objective in the playbook of this group. It was heartening to hear about the increasing number of women registering to vote. I hope they are progressive in the main. A return to the suffocating world of the 40’s and the 50’s is a grim prospect for our generation to leave behind.
I had a Republican tell me over lunch that our problems began when women were allowed out of the kitchen. He had one son. I told him that perhaps he would feel differently if he had daughters as did I. My oldest has a PhD in Astrophysics and my youngest works in an Administrative position. Both work hard in their professions and keep their families of 4 together.
I rarely see Beau so angry. I encourage everyone who utilizes social media to post this link.
(And, btw, if you have not, please consider subscribing to "Beau". It is free. I am amazed that he has not hit a million subscribers yet, as so many other popular channels have. I sometimes wonder if it is because he talks slowly and pauses to let an idea sink in. Kind of like Biden, in that manner. While I love "Sesame Street" I personally refer to the need for constant-fire-entertainment the "Sesame-Street-effect". We raised a generation on it. Now, even Yahoo lists "reading time" on their articles, and if you read comments on some of their articles, you can clearly see that people only read the headlines. I digress. Please help Beau's channel grow, as he has many of the MAGA listen to him, and he is very calm and logical.)
In my state (North Carolina), the current Republican gubernatorial candidate has publicly declared that he believes the country was better off before women could vote. In addition to being a misogynist, he is an election denier and a Holocaust denier.
Many people in my state haven’t voted for a Democrat in decades, and our state legislature is so gerrymandered that Democrats can command a majority of votes statewide and still wind up as the minority party. I am very concerned that we might be sleepwalking our way into a nightmare at the state level. I hope that the issue of abortion will get the attention of more of our voters.
Donna, he actually says these things ? He denies the Holocaust and says the country was better off when women did not vote. Yet he won the Republican primary ? All those women with blissful or angry eyes at Trump rallies did turn out in NC and give him the vote ! He should thank them !
When he wrote "Women are not without electoral or political power," Alito threw down the gauntlet. Women, and the men who respect them, should take the challence and elect state and federal executives and legislators who will protect and preserve their rights to life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness.
Are pollsters including reproductive rights/ health/ choice in their list of questions to potential voters? It often seems to have been excluded from the polls. Am I missing something?
Thank you Fay....and that is why I hated that Heather quoted Alito in her last sentences. His words were a blaming the victim argument, that some will accept. Thinking...he's right. Women just need to get out and vote. Ignoring the fact that, that right is the next on the chopping block. Hopefully...the link below works...this came from a Texas group called Mother's for Democracy.
Immediately following the commercial you linked to was an interview sponsored by Prolife Weekly about a women who survived an abortion attempt and been given up as an infant. She claims the 19 year old birth mother was told the infant died and that the mother had been coerced into the abortion.
I still find it typical that it’s always the same package deal with those right-wing types. It’s always anti-women’s rights, anti-equality, anti-LGBTQ, anti-environment, antisemitic, racist and pro-violence. It’s never otherwise, and always the whole package. Where’d that come from, I wonder…
Still, I do hope that overturning Roe vs Wade becomes the definitive neck-breaker for the GOP…
If we're willing to admit how complicated life is, we can learn from our betters -- in many fields, especially the arts, where the good ones worked long and hard to manage complications, give credit and acknowledgement where they are due, and maintain balance, perspective, respect for the vast array of resources in the personal, in others, out there.
If our schools did a better job teaching humanities, we'd not have so many so fearful. Or jealous, low-grade angry, on thresholds of group hatreds all the time.
But our schools got taken over by all those who hate the individual human, hate humanities, need only that life be programmed, packaged, set to group scenarios, and to the language of abstractions fit to herd mentality. And machine-measurable by standardized testers.
The people identifying themselves with Trump are fearful of change, and are willing to destroy constitutional government to keep themselves in charge. That is what we are up against, and we must massively turn out to prevent their hostile takeover. Trump has already made it clear he’s out for personal revenge, and I think he will jail his political opponents like Maduro has in Venezuela.
I am reading Erik Larsen's latest book "Destiny of Unrest". It is describing in infinite detail the attitudes of the affluent white planters in the runup to the Civil War.
When I listen to the MAGAs rant now, I hear clear echoes of that same elitist bigotry. I can't believe that all those disgusting and vile attitudes have survived for so long.
It's like a witches brew has been quietly bubbling since the end of the Civil War - the lid kept on by a majority that wouldn't tolerate such antiquated antipathy towards women and anyone other than the white male of European descent.
Leonard Leo and company took the lid off. Trump is just the puppet. Leo and Company are propelling us backwards to centuries past. This must stop. If we don't put the brakes on this trend, we will be viewed as a "backwater". In some states, it's already happened.
Indeed. It seems to be a fact that our forebears came to this land in hope of better lives and "liberty / liberties" they didn't have. Yet, sadly, some brought their 'chains' with them.
Ah Bill! Above I recommended books by Gail Collins, now I feel I must suggest this book to all! "America's Nations: A history of Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America" by Colin Woodard
A fascinating book that explains how the roots of much of the attitudes of today's voters was created back in the 1600s, sometimes by as few as a few hundred settlers!
Bill, you are very much 'onto' the right path for understanding - circular history and repetitive constants of human nature.... I've spent a lot of time searching for detailed, factual insights into the how's and why's so many got themselves roped into following that past, 'lost cause' to add to my collections. Check, check, and check to all you cite here, identify closely with my humble conclusions that I've held for a very long time, prior to discovering our good professor's writing when she started doing it publicly on FB... Without consulting my notes for verification, around 2019 I think is when she started out on her quest / finessing herself for her book writing.
Dan, I think it's important to widely spread the word about the discovery I made at Axios yesterday, assuming that it's all factual. I have little doubt that it is factual. The piece about half our states having *no* ability or process / procedures for voter initiatives / referendums, to initiate their own 'checks and balances' on their state governments. That's *vital* information that I hope you'll share with folks at fieldteam 6, if I should not get the opportunity to do it myself. *Just imagine how very 'regal and arbitrary' their state governing officials must feel - almost like rulers I should think. Folks in those states and other states need to *know* what their representatives have wrought. I doubt that it's commonly known and, that they would be pi_ _ed off to think that their state representatives thought so lowly of them ! I further feel that anyone able to communicate on Joyce Vance's substack, to share it there too. < *Find it here > https://www.axios.com/2024/06/24/abortion-ballot-initiatives-referendums-vote
I just heard an hour of DT’s harangue in Philly on YouTube. I was listening for cognitive impairment… but what I heard was well practiced lies about how bad the country has become since Biden took office, how good it was with DT and how good it will be. The stories he dug up about immigrants were scary mindless fear mongering writ large. The ‘statistics’ he quoted were nothing I have ever seen, read, or heard. He hammers. He cajoles. He promises. He threatens. He can sound knowledgeable. If you can’t think.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Phil. It's fear that breed anger. But why always the women, the Jews, the gays and the environment? Theoretically, they could also have become fearful of climate change and macho culture, right?
"But our schools got taken over by all those who hate the individual human, hate humanities, need only that life be programmed, packaged, set to group scenarios, and to the language of abstractions fit to herd mentality. And machine-measurable by standardized testers."
But that's 'modern' Western scientific thinking in general. "Unity in Multiplicity" instead of "Multiplicity in Unity", working towards mathematical abstractions, averages, standards and protocols; reductionist/mechanical/analytical thinking instead of holistic/organic/intuitive thinking. That's not exclusively limited to the "right-wing package"...
If one is anti-women's rights or any minority for that matter people will justify their fear/hatred with some rationalization, which is one of our species greatest talents,i.e. the uncanny ability to RATIONALIZE ANYTHING. (Ask a tRump supporter why they support him despite what they know about him and you will hear some assbackward rationalization.)
Thanks for the heads-up, Phil :) I think Mr. Beato is right, and I would add that it's all done in the name of Less Expense, More Profit aka Consumerism. Music was art, now it's a commodity.
Phil-the lack of humanities in school settings is indeed a problem-when we add that to what’s being taught in homes and churches it becomes even more challenging. Instead of bringing out the best of humanity, we’re bombarded everyday with people who show us the worst.
The far right implementing the Powell memo deliberately chose "the worst," Gina.
They saw life as commodities, units, abstractions to be group-labeled. They saw American jobs by the millions as profits for themselves if shipped offshore. They saw this offshoring as further alliances with all the world's worst dictators, oligarchs, autocrats, and nationalists.
Their first courses of action had their new Heritage Foundation, their new ALEC, and an enlarged Hoover Institution attack humanities all through the rest of the 1970s. They replaced the humanities with the living dead of standardized testing, all blind to what you nicely remember as "the best of humanity."
I Worked in catering at Stanford University 1983-1984 (my future wife was attending Stanford, and I was “chasing her so fast she caught me”…😈). Once a year, the board of trustees at the Hoover Institute held a meeting that University catering catered. I was the usual caterer for high profile events, but only delivered these. Our manager plus an “outside professional” were the ones dealing with these Important People.
*Oh Ally; I must put a 'place-marker' here to respond to, once I've read through all the comments. I am in EST, so I'm trying to discipline myself to *not* get myself overly involved in commenting till the following daylight hours, for sake of my health.
*It's not a past tense view Phil; It's present and future tense of how these folks 'view' - in their guts, the great majority of we peons. "We" are all 'children' of some lesser god.
I saw then, and believe even more strongly now, that overturning Roe v Wade in 2022 was this generation's "Fort Sumter Moment". Before the attack on Sumter, many in the northern states would have been content to let the south go and form a new nation. After the attack, that all changed - almost overnight. Roe seems to be a kind of slow motion version of Sumter - with just as much, if not more, import for the future of our Republic. You are correct in identifying the real thrust of overturning Roe is to pave the way for the suppression of other rights - the whole package, as you aptly put it. Keep thinking, keep fighting.
Dutch, you hit the proverbial nail on the heads of the MAGA extremists.
Heather today quotes Rep. Roy of Texas-- he wants " ethnic cleansing by deporting white progressive Democrats with a special bonus for rich ones with an Ivy League degree."
He, like other MAGAs are afraid of intelligent people who want progress- CHANGE- for the betterment of the people.
They are anti-everything that will disrupt their narrow-minded, holier-than-thou attitudes and lives.
Fear brings on the anti-progressive stance. Instead of wanting to work together with experts who have studied and know what they're doing, (unlike Trump and his appointees), they want to fight, led by extremists who think they know what's best for people and want to impose their racist and religious beliefs on the rest of us.
Educated people scare, and of course, intimidate MAGAs. Educated people are too progressive and want too much change. The extremists won't even acknowledge that many of these changes would benefit them and their families.
I had no idea that there were so many fearful people in America. Trump has encouraged and condoned their fears to keep them from seeing the truth about him. He doesn't want any educated, knowledgeable people telling him what to do. He will only allign himself with those who aren't progressive and who are anti-everything that will bring him to complete power.
It’s interesting that those at the top of the radical right food chain are also products of Ivy League education. They’ve rounded up and manipulated the rubes. Will those same rubes turn around and revolt against those that gave them cohesion?
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but isn’t the foul Chip Roy the one who is criticizing his own party for getting nothing done? Now we know why he is so vocal - his execrable ideas of ‘governance’ are being foiled.
I wonder if the threat (very real, I think) of banning ALL contraceptives will bring many out to vote, even men. Us elders should tell the younger generation about our formative years, when sexual activity was hidden. Men visiting prostitutes was secretive. Revealing same sex inclinations could seriously be life threatening. Non-virgin women also faced pregnancy, which at best caused them to be ostracized and handed a lifetime of poverty as a single mother, at worst, literal death in a back room alley abortion.
The Evangelicals want to go back to abstinence before marriage and rhythm method after marriage. Do they really think that this culture of sexually active people will go back to that?!
That genie isn't going back into the bottle! I think the contraceptives issue should be pushed much more than it currently is. People who DON'T support abortion probably still want methods to prevent pregnancy.
ANTI is what tRump's support is all about. That is why there is nothing he can say or do, NOTHING that will lose him support. Many of his supporters don't like him for obvious reasons, but he represents ANTI -women’s rights, anti-equality, anti-LGBTQ, anti-environment, antisemitic, racist and peasefull demonstrations, i.e. pro-violence. There lies his undying support.
I keep saying it, though I don't remember where I read it first, that the MAGAts vote for Rump BECAUSE he is an asshole. He is their great example: a pussy-grabbing, violence-loving, racist bigot - and a coward. And his followers want to be just like him, and that is why every scandal makes Rump stronger: it just makes him a bigger asshole, so his followers love him even more for it.
At 90 I am appalled that so many past enhancements in judicial and social standards are now being savaged.
The basic rights of women regarding abortion and, perhaps, even contraception are being denied by the Supreme Court and a number of state legislatures.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been gutted by the Supreme Court.
The First Amendment on separation of government and religion is being increasingly violated, with the latest issue being the display of the Ten Commandments in schools in several states.
The decline in public ethics. Several generations ago, a Supreme Court justice, involved in an ethical breech, felt obliged to resign. Today Thomas and Alito flagrantly disregard what once were unquestioned ethical standards.
It’s past time to stop this ‘escalator’ ethics [from The Apprentice to nearly 100 indictments] and support President Biden’s fight to preserve the soul of
Am I the only one who can't believe that an entire political party is still behind a convicted felon, a man also convicted of defamation of a women he sexually assaulted, a man convicted of massive tax fraud and fined hundreds of millions?
Republicans couldn't come up with someone better than that?
One of the features of aging is having a memory of pertinent events. Not too long ago, Democrats dispatched two presidential hopefuls who were strong contenders for the nomination - out of some sense of "ethics". John Edwards had an affair - gone. Gary Hart was suspected of an affair - gone.
Trump commits crime after crime and is convicted. His supporters call it a political witch hunt. This is a collapse of civilized society. The "wildings" are taking over.
I believe that “an entire political party can be behind a convicted felon.” That’s why my first vote for a Republican, Eisenhower, was my last. Trickle down economics, shredding unions and the middle class has proved, to me at least, that my sense of the America I knew during WWII was correct. Oil and wars have not been good for US.
Bill I am reminded of the ad “I wonder where the yellow went, when you cleaned your teeth with Pepsident.” Now the yellow is the Orange Orangutan and the cleanser is Cool Hand Joe.
One in 10 pregnancy’s ends in miscarriage and one in 4 miscarriages need a D and C….without this procedure, women …lots and lots of them, are potentially facing sepsis and death. DOBBS was the ‘way station’ to death for many women who miscarried and the loss of these rights to determine her health care is a ‘way station’ to the loss of so many other women’s rights as well, including contraception…..electing Trump is the rapidly approaching ‘way station’ to the loss of our democracy!
Joan, it’s so true. In the early ‘80s I almost died after my second miscarriage. We had just moved to Texas and the OB-GYN we went to see said I didn’t need a D&C. I got sicker and sicker, until a new friend took me to her OB-GYN, who said he’d meet me at the hospital immediately for an emergency D&C. I was almost in septic shock by the time I was finally helped. If this had happened today in Texas I likely would have died.
I think about that too; my daughter doesn't have a sibling because of a miscarriage but she does have a living mother because of a D and C performed when my fever was spiking a few days later. I can't help thinking about the needless losses resulting in broken families.
Not on a PC and looked up Mac equivalents to rt-clk on a PC but no success for the amount of time I want to follow various links. Thanks -- maybe one day.
Texas just released it's infant mortality rates: Since Dobbs, there has been an increase in infant mortality by 8%, and an increase in mortality rate of babies with birth defects by 23%. It won't be long before the Pro-life party keeps those statistics from being released.
It is a perfect example of why the extreme concentration of wealth is antithetical to any meaningful form of democracy. We have arrived at a point where the political will to codify the rights of women, the will to address gun violence, and the imperative of climate action are eviscerated by the checkbooks of Charles Koch, Barre Seid, Robert Mercer, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, or any other billionaire.
As Rep. Jamaal Bowman succinctly states "It's money versus many".
This is why the GOP (and their donors) are excited about authoritarianism and why they deplore democracy. When they no longer have to worry about people organizing and seeking equality, justice, and democracy -they can just implement whatever they want. They no longer have to ask Big Oil to contribute $1 billion to a campaign in order to eviscerate environmental protections and block climate action.
Money is tool for distributing reciprocity. It's not money the Bible complains about, but the "love" of money, which seems sensible if money is what one chooses over any other sort of value.
I a civilized society, some things are never sold, including, judges, presidents, and members of Congress. Including free speech. Including souls.
I had not encountered previous mentions of "Democracide" (one of which is a novel titles by Deborah C. Sawyer), so I thought I might be coining a new term for the destruction of our Democracy hastened by the Citizens United decision.
About the time Mitch McConnell refused to have confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, I imagined calling the Federalist Society the "Confederalist" Society for their originalism that seemed too much like what the Confederate States of America wanted . I haven't explored the differences between the CSA of 1861 vs the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (that only lasted from 1777 to 1787), but neither of the Confederation's constitutions, or even our United States Constitution of 1787, for that matter, fully met the ideals of the Declaration of Independence which I consider the proper goals, no matter that we still have a ways to go towards a more perfect union.
The last thing we need is to go backwards. Citizens United pulled critical parts of the temporary shoring out from under us and organizations like the Federalist Society seemed hell bent on making sure new shoring is unable to get through Congress.
P.S. I see the European Confederalist Society was launched in September 2023. Perhaps we should petition to have the Federalist Society to adopt the seemingly more appropriate name.
I wish that he would go viral. He's held TED talks; he has his own podcast, called Pitchfork Economics, but he and his message need promoters or better promoters.
Yes -I think he treated his employees well and has been a vocal critical of hoarding wealth. Tell him my phone lines are open if he wants to help me build https://civ.works!
And to be clear -I'm not anti-wealth -when it has been the result of innovation and risk. However, when it's used to undermine democracy and societal imperatives to simply accumulate more through wealth transfers (like inheritance), externalities and tax evasion/avoidance -I'm not a fan.
HCR wrote: "In the Dobbs decision, Alito wrote: “Our decision returns the issue of abortion to [state] legislative bodies, and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office. Women are not without electoral or political power.”"
Brings to mind the saying, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and the Rethugs are finding out. Note that some feel the quote to be sexist/misogynistic, while others feel that it references the feeling of empowerment for women to stand up for themselves.
Original quote is from a play by William Congreve in 1697:
Lol.. I've noted that you may write a substack titled "View Between the Ears of a Horse." Does that imply that you have great affection for our equine friends ? (I've not looked in yet)
I found this Alito comment in the decision quite telling. Indicating that this is merely women’s issue. And that he has the male power to wildly disrupt women’s lives. In reality, he's affecting men's lives, and existing children's lives, too.
I learned something a bit troubling today. Axios news compiled some troubling statistics that reveals 25 states of our fifty, have no legal process / procedure for citizen-led ballot initiatives or referendums !! Are citizens of those states aware of this, what it implies, how it limits them to the whims of their state emperors and court jesters ? Is it just me, or does anyone else find this troubling ? If you will, please see > https://www.axios.com/2024/06/24/abortion-ballot-initiatives-referendums-vote
In Wisconsin we have no legal process for citizen-led ballot initiatives. After more than a decade of enduring what many observers regard as the nation's worst gerrymander, we have been acutely aware of being stuck in an impasse. As of this year we have newly-redrawn districts, which we hope will enable us to get closer to parity, which should enable the return of majority rule. I believe that citizen-led ballot initiatives would enable us to get closer to a truly democratic state, instead of the Republic wherein a tiny minority of the population makes the rules. Having said that, I would also say that the success of a democracy depends on the quality of education for every participant who is allowed to vote. If we survive as a nation after November, our top priority should be to work out how to provide every child with the best education money can buy, no matter where they live. Imagine what today's political reality in the US would be if we already could boast that every citizen has already enjoyed the best education money can buy -- surely we would not be worried that we could descend into authoritarian hell.
We have citizen initiatives in Ohio, and we managed to keep our GOP Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, from deforming the initiative process to favor rural areas. We also passed citizen initiatives to recognize the right to terminate a pregnancy in the Ohio Constitution, and to permit recreational use of marijuana. However, we also have a brazenly gerrymandered General Assembly and Senate whose members feel free to ignore citizen initiatives they don’t like. Several years ago. Ohio voters approved an initiative to allow nonpartisan redistricting, and the General Assembly ignored this. In addition, the State Senate refused to follow three separate Ohio Supreme Court orders requiring them to redraw three illegally gerrymandered Senate districts.
The former Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Maureen O’Connor, is a Republican, but she opposes the brazen gerrymandering of Ohio state electoral and Federal representative districts and wants fairer districts. She has been working to get a ballot initiative approved for November’s election to allow citizens to redraw districts, but our Republican Attorney General, Dave Yost, hasn’t approved any of the language for the referendum, and I seriously think he won’t find any language acceptable.
Maybe Michigan can annex Ohio. Our "Voters Not Politicians" effort worked, but then we were also able to elect our Democratic trio. Really feel for you. Hoping Roe v Wade's repeal will bring Ohio the votes for the Democraric leadership you need.
Women of this ‘political power’ were of the first to be stripped of it. Now it is onto the rest of the Constitution starting with the Bill of Rights.
In Trump’s first inaugural address in 2017 moments after being sworn into office he termed the American Constitution ‘archaic’. Now with one insurrection under his belt he into destroying what’s is left.
Only We the People are left to defend it from complete destruction, majority and minority. We Can and We Must.
With the extreme issues and personalities, this is starting to feel like LBJ vs Goldwater, more every day. I predicted DJT would be a one term POTUS. Now I'm predicting he will lose big. He'll carry some of the deep south Confederate States...but not much more.
I certainly hope so, but I have some serious concerns about how media outlets cover this issue, and that people do not understand that our continued existence as a democracy is under threat.
Good morning Cathy. Hope is a good starting place, but it's not enough. I'm also concerned about media coverage and folks really understanding the facts and what's at stake. So, we must take our desires and create action around them. Talk to that friend or relative who might vote for Trump and see how firm they are. Especially if they live in a swing state or district. If they can't vote for Biden,but they really don't like Trump ask them to write in someone they can support...or just sit out this vote for POTUS. Not voting for Trump is a win. Donate money and/or time to a place where it matters, the Biden Campaign...or get out the vote in a swing state. Make calls...even $1 or $5 helps. It's all cumulative. Our strength lies in numbers and organization. Peace
I’m with you both and in times like these my faith in this God created democratic process (because nothing is wasted in God’s economy) will have to be enough. His plans not ours not theirs.
Hi Suzanne. I do believe the divine is involved...as are all of us...and I believe in "co-creation". In his first run for office Trump resonated with just enough folks to win the Electoral vote. Remember that he lost the popular vote. He has NEVER won the popular vote. Some people have raised him to the level of deity...and I've seen others claim that yes, the anti-christ has in fact shown up. We can't just pray for the result we want, (though it can't hurt). We have to act. We have to be the life ring, the helicopter, the EMT's....and we have to focus our efforts where it will matter. Swing states. Donate your money and/or time as you can. That is how we get the payoff. Peace
Mike, we have to be the good samaritan who stops to render the aid we can consistent with our training and abilities. Even if it is to give water to the people doing the heavy lifting.
The mainstream and right-wing media coverage of the debate will reveal the lengths allowed to alter, edite and revise information being shared/delivered to the audience across the network/cable outlets. This can not be "undone" since that audience does not tune into other venues. Watch or misinformation at work!
Margaret that's very true. There's about 30% of potential voters who are those people and solid Trump. We can't change that. Winning this election happens in the middle ground. Old school Republicans more like Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney, Independents and registered Dems who cross party lines like the ones here in MD who helped elect Larry Hogan for Gov for 2 terms. That's where our efforts need to be, along with Dems who voted for Biden the last time, but now think he's too old, or the economy isn't working for them. There's at least 20% of potential voters at play here. That's where the contest is. Also remember that Trump has never won the popular vote. Thanks for your time and comments.
well that's true in a lot of states, but that doesn't make him a "winner". It makes him a player, who needs to be beaten. Do anything you can to add a vote to Biden or take one away from Trump. It all adds up. Peace
Women are not without electoral or political power.
Sam. A Alito Ass. Justice Dobbs decision 2022
Women have been saying that for decades. Women proved it in the midterms.
Women will push the re-election of Joe R Biden over the line….
CONDON, your influence is strong among your supporters which number appear to be dwindling. Sammy said what we have known for decades, women have power and you poked the lioness one time too many.
This native Texan and proud member of "those people" has always looked down on sheepfuckers like Chip Roy as the ignorant, malicious morons they are. After reading what he'd like to do, what ought to be done with him and the rest of them would make that wish of his look like a Sunday school picnic
Those poor sheep. I hope animal rights activists would intervene. Oh wait, humans are also animals. Maybe we should get PETA to go after our abusers? LMAO
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. Abortion may be the issue grabbing the headlines, but the real issue for women is far more cynical than that. Abortion is just a toe in the door. I have never, in 85 years (I'm 91) heard or read a legislator or anyone else declare they want to take the vote away from women. And yet in the last three months I've heard at least two prominent men say that out loud for public consumption. Beginning in the late 19th Century women have been fighting for equal rights. EQUAL not superior rights. None of us want to lessen the rights of men - except the prior thousands of years unlawful right to beat, rape, enslave and kill women. Do we want to return to those days? The majority of men in this and other industrial countries are happy to be on equal footing with women.
Equality has led to a better standard of living for all - well at least until the beginning of this century.
We're not just in this to return the right to needed abortion, we're fighting for the right to be equal, to be a gender with the same right to education, quality employment and respect.
''For the first time in our history, rather than conveying rights, the court explicitly took a constitutional right away from the American people.''
This is authoritarianism.
And authoritarianism is malignant narcissism.
J L, I think of it also as toddlerism, acting like a 2 or 3-year-old and tantruming horribly when they don't get what they want or when they can't manipulate their parents. Leonard Leo is the biggest toddler of all with Elon Musk close behind. I still don't understand why so many people want to believe in those guys who have the emotional maturity of a toddler with really bad parenting.
Michael, Building on your quoted text, I would submit a Court that would ignore 50 years of settled precedent in Roe and would overturn a fundamental right, over and over again reaffirmed and relied upon by tens of millions every year, would do it to other fundamental protections.
In a word, as indicated in your quote, we are on the cusp of someplace we’ve never been before in our history. Ultimately we have little more than 4 months to urge so-called persuadable voters before the General to listen to the things MAGA Republicans say and the people they admire. No one should doubt that whatever freedoms we have in this country, whatever one likes about this country, dramatically would change.
Actually, Barbara, there was a time in our history when both genders were deprived of their "rights". The men were so incensed over this restriction of their rights (and their bodies were not being deprived of their body's rights, just their minds and their pride) they fought and won the Revolutionary War.
I hope we don't have to have a gender war with the maggots, but, if we do, this time I truly believe our men (the REAL men who have enough belief in their own strengths they don't need another person to validate those strengths for them) would join us.
I do think that part of what drives these maggots to strike out at everyone else, especially ones they view as weaker than themselves - women, undocumented immigrants, person whose skin is darker than theirs - creates this need to constantly validate their view of themselves as superior - when deep down, they know they aren't
".... creates this need to constantly validate their view of themselves as superior - when deep down, they know they aren't."
And that is the heart of it all.
Fay, it’s all only a game they play. The cult party will say anything at all to gain power and money gained through power. They don’t really believe in anything because if they did, it would be anyone beside Trump. Just keep this in minds. This Herculean struggle is essentially over power and money — not about ethics, principles, right and wrong. Since Trump is their cult leader, you either swear allegiance or be caste out of the cult following. It’s really pernicious. And let’s understand that our body politic in almost imperceptible ways, pushed white working class right into their arms. Maybe it was inevitable I don’t know. They have sworn allegiance to the very power structure that will ignore their plights. Observe these very uneducated white draped in Trump insignia looking the fools they are and it gives them identity.
Bill, yesterday we took a visitor from the east coast who once lived in Oregon up the North Santiam canyon east of Salem to see the still very visible damage from the 2020 Labor Day fires. We saw more than one large flag pole with the Trump flag flying. As we passed, I thought death star does not give a rat's behind about you.
Bill, I keep hearing that Democrats somehow drove the working-class people into the arms of Republicans, but I have not seen proof of that. Democrats have tried to make life better for those who were left behind by corporate industries, but rather than blame the corporations that send the jobs to China and elsewhere where workers could be paid pennies an hour or greedflation which raises prices not because they need to be raised but to tempt shareholders, and that corporations don't pay their fair share of taxes and haven't for along time, Dems get to be the targets of white working-class rage. Republicans have been very skillful, though at pointing fingers at Democrats, and even Democrats and progressives repeat the nonsense. Why do Dems keep shooting ourselves in the foot or somewhere else to keep repeating Republican lying talking points? I don't get it!
Fay, you have it in one with your last sentence.
Fay, yep, those guys do know they are not superior, just as slave owners knew they were not superior to the people they owned. They had to do a lot of pretending and harming the people but they knew they could never have done the kind of work the enslaved people did, not in a million years, and couldn't bear to think about it. Many white people still can't. Republicans are so self-obsessed, they can't see beyond themselves and the people who share their bubble with them. They get really mad when someone leaves that bubble because they realized what a terrible place it is to be and want something better. I would love to find a way to burse some, OK a lot of the Republican bubbles, but it will have to be a group effort with good messaging and appealing to the people's common sense.
That is if they even possess common sense - they are so caught up in worshiping the trumpster they cannot think. Good post, Ruth.
Thanks Fay. I want you to know how much I appreciate your comments on the various threads we both visit. Clearly you collected significant wisdom over your 90+ years. I wish we could pass some of it on to the whiny Republican women who just can't seem to get past their infatuation with Baby Donnie. Maybe they like him because his infantile behavior stirs some kind of motherly instinct in them. Now if we could turn that off and remind them Baby Donnie is 78 years old, it could make a difference for some of them. Who under 98 wants to be mommy to a 78 year old?
Fay, Your reply to me requires I repeat that my comment, which was a reply to Michael, solely was intended to expand upon his posting. While I respect your thesis, I’m not clear how it relates to my response to Michael.
Barbara,
"I would submit a Court that would IGNORE 50 YEARS OF SETTLED PRECEDENT IN ROE AND WOULD OVERTURN A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT, OVER AND OVER AGAIN REAFFIRMED AND RELIED UPON .......,WOULD DO IT TO OTHER FUNDAMENTAL PROTECTIONS!!!!"........
Rather than looking at improvements for the wellbeing of our families, education opportunities for all, care for the infirm or disabled, esp. those far from cities, better training for our doctors, nurses and other medical professionals and requiring more medical professionals and education professionals to work among the poor and infirm, as well as many who have been elected to serve all Americans ...not only the ones who provide expensive exotic "get-a-ways" that most Americans do not have the time or money to enjoy!!!!! but regular citizens in a family in which mom and dad must work to pay the bills as well as find excellent and affordable child care for all the children the Republicans want women to birth.....and for too many women, .......with no support or care from the father of the child. Some men would rather go to prison than claim they have a child who needs them.
In being so critical of men and fathering....I must NOT NEGLECT to give a huge "thank you " to those men who ARE responsible and amazing dads. You are building a better place on this planet.
Emily, My comment, which was a reply to Michael, was intended to expand upon his posting. While I subscribe to the issues you raise in your reply to me, I’m not clear how they pertain to my response to Michael.
Emily, I join you in this and, especially, giving a huge "thank you" to those men who are responsible and amazing dads, as you say.
2 points: they not only took rights away from citizens, they lied - the Trump judges declared it settled law. Second point - take them at their word, when they declare they are building for a post-constitutional America, they mean it - think about that language.
An added point - not the first time rights were removed - Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps in WWII. As citizens they were protected by the 14th Amendment - similar arguments could be said for indigenous peoples and African-Americans where the Supreme Court decisions were anti-14th Amendment.
Good point, Steve. The Court has created a monster with respect to the 14th Amendment. They have explicitly given the states the right to decide abortion issues, meaning that a hodge-podge of state laws will void equal protection across the board. A woman from a legal abortion state who happens to be in a state that bans abortion is at mortal risk if certain medical emergencies arise. Not only could she suffer irreparable physical harm or death, she could also be imprisoned for seeking treatment. Therefore, the only way for the Court's ruling to conform to the 14th Amendment is for the federal government to ban abortion in all states. That directly contradicts the Dobbs ruling which defers to inviolable states rights. Why is no one talking about this?
I’m no legal beaver but also under the 14th, post Civil War regressionists, A drew Johnson, etc, argued states rights to determine the people rights and a different kind of enslavement took place on account of state rights.
Yes, 'states rights' is a ruse to impose local authoritarianism. The antidote, such as the 14th Amendment, requires federal sovereignty which is wholly dependent on the absolute sovereignty of the people, which in turn must always be destroyed by Republicans and other fascists.
Shivers!
On page 6 of Project 2025 are these words:
"But the Dobbs decision is just the beginning. Conservatives in the states
and in Washington, including in the next conservative Administration, should
push as hard as possible to protect the unborn in every jurisdiction in America."
Here is the 920 page document (courtesy of Joyce Vance):
https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Steve, First, despite what we hear repeatedly, the SCOTUS nominees, particularly Coney Barrett, didn’t actually lie. Barrett, you might recall, distinguished between a “super-precedent” (Brown v. Board), which she viewed as sacrosanct, and precedent (Roe), wherein her talk was more opaque.
Second, while your examples of our rescinding rights are deplorable, I view them differently than overturning a Constitutional right that over and over again had been reaffirmed.
As for aspirations to establish a post-constitutional America, I view said language as a euphemism for fascism.
She was let off the hook - and not called on it so I agree with you on her - others lied. I view Scotus decisions that overturn or deny equal protection as symptomatic of the same issue. I do not put one as more important over the others. I am one to think historically states rights are repressive and federal rights more inclusive. When someone declares states rights that is an indicator for me of someone’s rights being suppressed. We agree on the post- Constitutional language - it is fascism.
Steve, I agree. I feel "states rights" always minimize some group's rights, where federal writs are inclusive and protective of the general populous. I feel that we are at such a dangerous place in this country's young life and so many people are disconnected or just not interested. I've never seen such disconnect and disinterest to whats happening in the country and the world at large.
Thanks! Excellent point.
Steve, it seems the 14th Amendment is not a favorite of our Supreme Court from its ratification. The SC has been working to break it down and make our rights whatever the SC says they are. That is unacceptable and We the People need to vote like we believe in the rights our Constitution with its Amendments provides us. Republicans have told us they don't see the Constitution as anything worthy of their attention. We need to believe them!
Well said. Step number one, reelect Biden.
Thank you, Gloria.
Barbara, I heard a republican politician say precedent doesn’t mean what it use to. He said it with a side grin, It was chilling. I felt like I was looking at a member of the ruling men in The Handmaid’s Tale.
Barbara, Until recently I believed tRump exclusively held the dubious title of, “The foremost Clear and Present danger to America!” Now he shares the title with a considerably larger group of despicable…dare I say…Americans? At one time we claimed with pride, we were a land of Laws! Unfortunately that aforementioned group, the <.1%, are making a mockery of those same Laws. Led by “you know who!” While no one tries to stop them! A great many people believe that the General Election in November will reverse the impending threat…sadly, I have my doubts. First and foremost, we won’t even know for sure that the Repugnant candidate isn’t a serial Felon when we vote. We all thought that the 2020 Election was going to be essential for the future wellbeing of our Democracy…wrong! Only sixty seven percent (actually 66.8%) of eligible voters bothered to come out…many of them don’t know how an election works, one just can’t change the President and not support Him/Her down ballot. We have deniers and doubters galore, an attempted insurrection, threats against the voting process and the folks who work it and on and on! Can America survive despite the onslaught against it???
Barbara Jo Krieger
Sorry for my wanderings as I attempted to respond to your response to Michael....
I meant to agree with you and Michael , "No one should doubt that whatever freedoms we have in this country, whatever one likes about this country, dramatically would change."
Emily, I very much appreciate you writing me.
Barbara Jo Krieger. You are absolutely right. This coming election is existential.
“… a Court that would ignore 50 years of settled precedent in Roe and would overturn a fundamental right, over and over again reaffirmed and relied upon by tens of millions every year, would do it to other fundamental protections.”
By your leave … I respectfully suggest substituting the word “will” for the word “would” in your closing sentence. Those people have the bit in their teeth.l
So we will win on abortion alone. But how expensive this victory will be; the loss of a woman’s right to choose. Which is a horrible loss at the hands of extremist zealots.
I find the extremist Republican position on abortion incomprehensible. They now claim that both a fertilized egg and a corporation have full rights of personhood. But a woman and a black man do not. Are they really telling us that a female or black male human being has full rights of personhood up to the moment that they are born, and then they lose those rights?
Excellent point ..
"Are they really telling us that a female or black male human being has full rights of personhood up to the moment that they are born, and then they lose those rights?"
Exactamundo!
This crowd was never imbued with logic!
The first step after winning is to protect voting rights and the right to choice. The election is not an end, but a beginning--if we collectively quit whining about Biden (noting your comment below) and do the necessary work.
My ever so wise retired professor friend of mind ruminated that Joe Biden went back on his word to be a one term president. He doesn’t project well. While the age difference is minimal, an 84 year old should not be president I don’t care who the F you are. He chooses a not so personable VP probably as an ode to Obama. (Stacy Abrams would have been a much better pick) He fumbles on issues like the border for 3 years (resulting in massive inundation in large cities) when he could have just done the executive order years ago and now plays catch-up.
I never liked Biden since the days he tossed Anita Hill under the proverbial bus and ended any further witnesses to testify against Uncle Thomas. And Thomas iconic moment when he exclaimed, “This is nothing but a high tech lynching” and all the white boys fell back to save their own asses. The troubles we don’t deserve Biden being one but Trump be 10x worse. So we play too often voting for the least damaging.
Bill, please take another look at the many accomplishments of the Biden administration, and stop whining about Biden's age , his vice president, and past mistakes.
Word has it that VP Harris is kickin' a$$ with the young folk of the country. Smart as a whip, they say...much like Hillary?
Hey. Back off on Biden man! He admits his mistake regarding Anita Hill. That was then, this is now! Joe Biden has done way more good than any damage you could perceive!
No Schitt Sherlock, then do the obvious and kick chump to the curb. BTW, I’ve made a few mistakes in my life, hopefully I have learned and done better. Joe has, chump never considered the idea…
I think I have already. You’re welcome to read my book, “Donald’s Vanity Tantrums.” I’m not a cheerleader for anyone and I’ve paid my dues. Besides since the election at this point is too close to call. And why should it be when one of the candidates is truely the most dangerous, filthy rotten traitor monster in the history of this relatively brief republic and Joe Biden is have difficulties relating to the people? Biden should be ahead by 10 or more points. Yet some polls (probably no longer reliable anymore) are showing a dead heat. Not good.
Bill, there's a simple flaw in your reasoning. The right wing movement is so powerful that the election will be close no matter who is running on the Democratic side. The fact that Trump got more than 10% of the vote at ANY time is a nightmare beyond contemplation. But here we are. This is full-blown Nazism.
I believe that Putin has his thumb on most polls, his bots on the rest. Imagine his victory if Trump is elected! To have the useful idiot back in the White House…!
You obviously missed former GOP Speaker McCarthy's compliments to Biden's skills.
So you think Stacey Abrams, a black woman, would be more acceptable than Kamala Harris, a black woman? Since the biases are against blacks AND women, there is no difference.
Hey you know, this is a blog full of opinions. I could always relate to Abrams but never with Harris. Go figure. And just because a person is Black doesn’t mean that I automatically support them.
Kamala Harris was sterling while she was still a senator and questioning Bill Barr, who played games with her. She knows what she thinks and says so. Typically men don't like that. Not all men, but some.
I agree. I could relate to Abrams but not to Harris. But I've come around. And please read Jennifer Rubin on Harris, which I provided in my first response to you.
Reminding you of Der Alte, Konrad Adenauer, who put West Germany together after WWII, retiring at 91. Have you never known an 80-90 year old (do you read Keith Wheelock in these comments?) who was far ahead of most people in considering situations? I have known several, including my father who is an example to me. He lived to 89, I’m 90.
thank you Virginia for pointing out another highly accomplished nonagenarian. I did not know Adenauer remained in office into his 90s, but I won't forget it! I do know Keith Wheelock from here, and Fay Reid, and you, and probably a few others, as well as a family friend from looooong ago, an academically notable woman who I called out of the blue whom I'd last spoken with (in person) when I was 6.
Again, thank you Virginia!
Thank you, David! I was taught as a child “Experience is the best teacher.” Not having thought of the expression in years, as I think about Biden’s biography and what I have observed during his presidency, I think from the tragedy of his young life following his stint as a teacher and the loving family he comes from, that his experience has given US the best we could hope for as we try to keep democracy in America.
I know I’m talking to myself but it’s easier than talking to others. If we should be so lucky and win with super majorities in Congress, then expanding the Supreme Court with 3 new nominees would be a remedy to a frightful condition.
I think you’re talking a little bit of baloney—- This whole “executive order”thing about the border … it was tried and turned back as “unconstitutional” before by others, and he expected and still expects that his order will be challenged and turned back, as well. He THOUGHT that a negotiated deal to accomplish real and needed change at the border would AT LEAST get a fair hearing in Congress, but then the guy you are carrying water for here called the Repubs and told them to ditch the negotiated deal. And you blame Biden.
Just like someone carrying water for Trump would do.
I always talk baloney but I don’t eat it.
Bill pls see the Jennifer Rubin piece on VP Harris which is now several below here. You should not have trouble opening it.
You obviously have not read Jennifer Rubin's highly complimentary column on VP Harris. The Thomas thing was as bad as you say, but that was ~30 years ago.
As Laine Gifford says, below me, now, Biden is an extremely highly successful president, who has gotten a large number of good policies passed, or instituted by executive action, despite having the narrowest of margins in the Senate, and the GOP having the House. He amazes me. Best President of my lifetime, which began the first summer of the Eisenhower Administration. With him in the White House, I've felt as I did when I was riding my bicycle through the Great Plains, on my way from Seattle to Boston, and I'd have a strong wind at my back. I can remember racing a train for several miles, and beginning to pull ahead of it due to one of those tailwinds!
I compliment Biden even though I think we badly need to reduce immigration and enforce immigration laws, because he's done so much else that's helpful to people.
Here's Jennifer Rubin on Harris. If you can't open it, email me at holzmandc@outlook.com, and I'll email you the text.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/23/harris-voice-abortion/?utm_campaign=wp_follow_jennifer_rubin&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl-jenniferrubin&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3e10bde%2F66780d28bb613c0e1e5a15af%2F5969f94b9bbc0f6d71c876ed%2F6%2F23%2F66780d28bb613c0e1e5a15af
Paywall. Otherwise, the link works.
I LIKE Kamala Harris.
I would have supported her for president in 2016, no qualms whatsoever.
you play the hand you are dealt. period.
We will NOT win on abortion alone.
And we may lose on the border issues.
Chump’s rejection of the bipartisan bill should have been enough for the “border issue” people to get a clue. But that they still hang that around Joe’s neck is all the evidence we need that the cult and their news sources are as deliberately evil as any group has ever been. Nazi tactics all the way.
I see current images of Trump rallies with many white women - the majority of white women voted him in. Their vote told the story, no other female racial group did that. And so for all this anger I remain a cynic until I see white women vote for their interests, not his.
and sadly, the way this works through the course of human history, authoritarians eventually eat their own. These people think they will be able to keep their guns? Think again.
I thought Obama took all their guns! /s
If only.. .
Incorrect. The NRA has poisoned the mindset of Americans forever. We are now deluded thinking the 2nd amendment gives this right but industry will never stop supporting this twisted right. We can destroy the NRA but it’s too late that have poisoned the mindset of pro gun rights activists.
Scalia.
Authoritarian because the body politic is reversed. Instead of the citizenry vesting certain freely surrendered powers to the government to promote prosperity, to protect other (unceded) rights, and to maintain tranquillity, authoritarianism argues that all those powers already belong to the government.
😱
The government and not the citizenry, then, is the source of power, doling out as many or few of those natural liberties and rights of man to man.
Most of our congressional representatives could use a nudge away from authoritarianism. They almost took a stand, but oddly blamed it on "socialism."
https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2023/11/be-it-resolved.html
agreed
Fay, you are absolutely right. The loss of the right to an abortion is a direct challenge to the
full rights of women as human beings.
Michael, you are right. Something that makes it even worse is that the 3 Trump justices said they would not go against Roe because of precedent. I am guessing they were sitting in the hearing with their fingers crossed that maybe their god would be OK with a lie if it were for their warped faith.
The heavily politicized and ultra-right-wing Supreme Court is building Afghanistan on the Potomac.
Taliban on the Potomac - complete with Sharia Law.
I agree with you Michael !👍!
Fay I totally agree with you that the focus is basic, common or garden misogyny on steroids: the desire to return women to a position of political powerlessness. But I disagree with you that men "are happy to be on equal footing with women." In my experience, as both a professional academic and as a female in our world, they do not want that, because protecting their phallic privilege is becoming the single most important idea in their minds. Women achieving the kinds of success that we have in the last 40 years, including things like Title IX, has made a lot of men in positions of power terrified of their utter mediocrity being revealed. Most men rely on the privilege their penises bring them and few question the legitimacy of that privilege based solely on their dangling member. Women have to fight twice as hard, be twice as good as men even now. Women, who are expected to work outside the home, and often must because of the economic realities of modern life, are paid more poorly, have no access in the US to real subsidized child care, and overwhelmingly bear the burden of child care, home management, and family maintenance. I know this from personal experience. Men often claim to share the home chores and child care "equally" with their wives and partners but when they are asked to map out the division of labor it almost always demonstrates that women are doing far more of that. Even men who are "enlightened" are so unaware of the privilege their whiteness as well as their sex gives them that they freak out when it is shown to them. But their behavior rarely changes. Because they take it for granted that just by being a white guy they are somehow special. And yes: this makes me very angry and I am militant about it. But until women gain a political presence on par with men, this will not change. And I don't see that happening any time soon.
“Humans are apes, and the alpha males on the top of the food chain will always (try to) dominate the group. That's why they created religion, to make the job easier.”
- Zzenn Loren
I so agree that religion was created to keep the status quo of the times. One has only to look around the world to find those societies that are run by religious laws and precepts to see the status of women. I fear that the wing nut zealots in the GOP are designing the same for this country. I feel powerless in the face of this effort and deeply, deeply saddened…to the point of tears. I work hard to be loud with all my representatives about every issue I have thoughts about, but I am but one voice. It doesn’t seem to be enough.
I heard the president of
The Heritage Foundation interviewed and wanted to throw up!
The three justices (hand picked) lied during their hearings. The lone female appointed by TFG is a traitor to her gender and partisan in her politics and a zealot. The Supreme Court is a travesty of “justice.”
It is almost too much to fight.
With respect, humans are not chimpanzees. The alpha male chimp dominates the group. Religion is for keeping us all equal. Christianity's founder is Jesus Christ. He told his followers, men and women, to adhere to the "treat others as you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" principle. That is the real Christian principle, and the strategy is to unite and stand together.
Violating the real Christian principle involves adherence to the "do as I say and not as I do" principle, and the strategy is to divide and conquer.
A lot of people who identify as Christian are not real Christians. Authoritarians love it when people lump the good guys in with the bad guys. If a fish pays attention to the worm while ignoring the hook, it usually doesn't turn out well for the fish.
The philosophy of The Christ was created by somebody who had good instincts.
The RELIGION was created, and overlayed, by the need to come to God through the religion and through priests, to foster keeping people in line and controllng them. That was the whole reason Constantine adopted Christianity — to help solidify and control his empire. The Nurturing Earth Mother form of god worship is about philosophy and quality of life on the planet. The Angry Sky God form is about keeping people in line. Most religions, even the nurturing ones, eventually morph that way, anyway. Read up on it
What you say about the philosophy of Jesus in the Bible is basically accurate. What has become Christianity is not the same thing — and I submit that what left Israel and went out to the world with Saul of Tarsus who became Sant Paul was NOT much like the female-respecting and empowering philosophy, and sinner-forgiving philosopy of The Christ. Paul never met the Christ, and like all followers who spin-off after the death of the founder of a philosophy, Paul taught his own preferences, and they were male supremacist and angry god ideas. Cults with tight control. Like the man said …
I can say that what you've said is true, but I can't say it's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. To me, it's missing the middle part.
The whole truth is that we are Homo sapiens, meaning the "wise" hominid. In other words, your "good instinct" intuition is a good instinct.
To be wise is to treat others the way we would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot, which is easy to understand but hard to do because it's different in every context. So we need rules for how to adhere to the principle in specific contexts. And then everything's fine until the moment we forget the principle, and that's the moment we start imposing the rules as if they were the principle.
The solution is simple: let's all keep reminding ourselves not to forget the principle. Rules are made to be broken specifically because the principle is made to be adhered to in literally every context. Again, that's easy enough for a child to understand, but hard to do. IMHO, that's what President Biden does in every context, and his contexts are much harder than ours.
Pretty much .. But you see, I think stating that a principle must be adhered to IS a rule .. and other rules may be subservient to it.
I don’t think all rules need to be strictures that allow for zero judgement to be applied — I hate mandatory court procedures that don’t allow for the judgement of the judge, for instance —
So, I hear what you mean, but I don’t think the flat statement “Rules are made to be broken” is the whole truth, either. My rule is: Apply reason and compassion along with rationality, considering context, and seek justice as possible — I’d rather we did not ever break that one.
If you’re talking about rules that describe how something is to be done - more like a “how to” than a “must do,” then those need to be adjusted according to circumstances and context, sure.
Christianity has been hijacked by the same ilk that imposed the rules of the Catholic hierarchy. Do as I say and I’ll put in a good word for you. Otherwise suffer eternal damnation. I heard this message in a tent revival as a teenager. Scared the crap out of me til I figured out that they spewed the crap. The church building added the love part and I was tempted til I figured out that I could do it myself. St Peter has one hell of a job at the pearly gates.
Christianity hasn't been hijacked unless enough people believe what the authoritarians want us to believe, which is that Christianity has been hijacked. Alternatively, we can believe something that is easy to believe, which is that it's easy to distinguish between real Christians and hypocrites.
Where can one find real Christians? Here's one place: www.CAC.org.
I am surrounded by self-righteous hypocrites and a few “real Christians.” I’m glad they find comfort in their faith, but I found comfort in my ability to act for myself. My UU Church is a group of like-minded people who are loving, kind, and require no “leader” to tell them what to think or do. Just respect for others, with human acceptance no matter what one looks like or believes. My Baptist family loves their neighbors - as long as they look like them and subscribe to their orthodoxy. Conditional “equality” is something I grew up with and rejected. A challenge sometimes when some human seems to lack the basics.
Please leave religion out of this! Religion by its nature is authoritarian. Ethics, including golden rule thinking, has nothing to do with Christianity. It is simply common sense. The fact that Jesus may have realized some common sense principles should not give him or the religion that developed in his name any special credit. The only credit religions can claim is the efficiency by which they oppress, torture, or murder. The love part requires no religion at all, no matter how hard a religion tries to incorporate it.
Boy Howdy, Linda. Lucky for me back in the day when I was mansplained that I was too fat and ugly to be able to catch a man and, therefore, I better find myself a good job to support myself, I went ahead and did just that.
Excellent comments Linda. My wife is from the KC area and we met when I was working for a small (at that time) life insurance company in downtown KC. It was owned by the Merriman family. The Merriman's owned the Ford Factory and had other large real estate holdings in the KC area. Mrs. Merriman was a trustifarian of the Folger's family and was just as much a white supremacist as her husband. On occasion, the Merriman's invited me to lunch at their club. All of the waiter's wore white coats and carried a white towel draped over their arms. And of course, they were all black. Mr. Merriman had been denied membership to the University Club in downtown KC because he was sans degree. He too was a trustifarian who was left enough assets for the next several generations.
My wife and I haven't returned to Kansas City in years, but next to NYC it has the best restaurants in the country. Or at least it did back then. And the jazz and blues music was among the best as well.
We lived north of the river, meaning we were protected from violent crime by the mob bosses. There were horrific stories of torture and murder by the mob, but somehow these stories rarely made it into the KC Star. But we all knew and heard about them.
Many Midwestern cities are racist and are also patriarchial as you point out. When we lived there in the mid-1980's there were several mega-churches which are almost always patriarchial. I hope the Democrat Party continues to elect women who care about all of their constituents, rather than the hateful angry resentful hypocritical old farts the Republicans have elected.
Keep up the good fight in Missouri. Change comes slowly but it will happen.
Thanks for sharing your experiences interfacing with “trustifarians”. They think money rules the world but as Rep. Jamaal Bowman said, we’ll see if “the many can overrule the money”.
"Inheritance is welfare for the rich." Warren Buffett
Warren Buffett has 3 kids. He with held much of their inheritance until they had proved they were responsible adults that treated the rest of us with respect and dignity.
The problem with many trustifarians is they will never change their stripes. Their money buys them respect which in undeserved in perhaps most cases.
There are way too many trustifarian influencers in the US but convicted felon Donald J Trump is the most troubling as of today.
Linda, the last sentence of your great post highlights the fundamental problem of the
under-representation of women in the political process. This is not a problem just in the US but in many countries. Political parties are the gate-keepers to a political career. Political parties often parrot the mantra that merit should dictate which candidates are chosen and then proceed to nominate mediocre males to "safe" seats, while selecting talented female candidates for "hard to win" seats. Unfortunately, as you say, parity of representation will not happen "any time soon". The battle must continue to be fought in the political parties.
I asked my daddy many years ago, why HE could basically do what he wanted. He said, "Because I am a free, white man over 21." That pretty much sums things up.
*snort* Male white privilege!
Bravo, Linda!(or should I say, Brava!)
Linda, your assessment is so, so accurate. I worked for 35 years in a male dominated field; my sister-in-law and my niece work in an even more male dominated field (they are professional pilots, FedEx and United, respectively). In order to be considered as good as an average man, we must constantly be better than 75% of the men; it is probably higher for the pilots. My in-laws made the decision early on that my brother-in-law would be the “stay at home” parent. It worked out for them beautifully.
A consulting firm (I think) undertook a study that concluded that women have to work fifteen per cent harder than men to earn the same rewards. I read only that statement, so I have no idea how that study could quantify that differential. Nevertheless, it made sense intuitively.
I am not sure you are old enough to recall the number '59'; that was the statement referring to women making fifty-nine per cent that of men. There were counter-arguments against that number (e.g., leaving the work-force to start a family). I did not know what to think.
In a graduate school, the human resources professor referred to a study in which a multi-linear regression model tested for those counter-arguments. One dummy variable -- a binary yes=1 versus no=no variable -- yielded a twenty-two cent differential, at the expense of women. It was 'statistically significant'; that is to say only a five per cent likelihood that this differential occurred by chance.
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/gender-pay-gap-statistics/
All of that to say, more simply: a woman made seventy-eight cents for every dollar earned by a man who was the same in every respect except gender. That was a sobering statement made by my professor forty years ago. Things have improved in the generation or two since, but not as much as one would hope.
Do you really believe this to be the case of almost all or even half of the men? The two things I did not like about the women's liberation of the 1970s was the diminishment of motherhood as a vocation, unfortunately under-appreciated and under-compensated, as well as the apparent estimation by some feminists of traditionally male over female attributes. That, somehow, aggression trumped collaboration; that brutal competition trumped nurturing supportiveness. I did not understand it.
Ned,
IMO, the diminishment of motherhood didn't start with the women's liberation movement. It began when we climbed down from the trees. It's been a male assumption that women as mothers are just there. Taken for granted. Running every aspect of the homefront. The man worked and played. And played around.
Many of us who supported women's rights in those days spoke of motherhood with respect and honored it. And we asked why it wasn't a paid thing.
Another "collaborative" effort would require support - financial and otherwise from men who impregnate women. We have the DNA tools to identify them. Most could be found, their pay attached if necessary and paternal responsibility assigned until the kid is old enough to vote. In other words, help house and feed the kid or go to jail.
The competition was for recognition and equal rights. It wasn't about taking anything away from men. It was asking for the same opportunities and compensation to go along with having 80% of the family responsibilities.
The single mom has been vilified forever - for doing her job and the man's job as well. All the while, the man was playing around, moving on to his next plaything.
Are you sure it began when our ancestors climbed down from the trees? Renown anthropologist Christopher Boehm (1931-2021) disagrees. The following is from page 5 of his book, Hierarchy in the Forest (1999). "Humans were egalitarian for thousands of generations before hierarchical societies began to appear."
To be more specific, hunter-gatherer bands are naturally egalitarian and democratic, but they require a large area of otherwise unpeopled fertile terrestrial territory. Authoritarianism began when our ancestors got squeezed together, and their solution is evident in the archeological evidence of the first agricultural settlements.
Note that our species has been on this planet for roughly twelve thousand generations, and the first agricultural settlements didn't form until the dawn of the Neolithic Period, roughly four hundred generations ago.
In other words, our species is like a person in early adolescence learning that its behavior in its childhood is not for the new demand!
"I know that the work of the old song, perfect in its place, is not for the new demand!" —Howard Thurman (1899–1981).
Excellent info, thanks.
And I love the thinking that our species is in early adolescence! How optimistic. I had the impression that we were nearing the end of our run. Hope you are right.
Thank you for this information, James, Dr. Boehm confirms what I have long thought. Early Homo sapiens had to rely on each other regardless of gender in order to survive. I don't know about how pre-Homo sapiens appeared, but we were born naked, with no fangs or claws so what choice did our ancestors have but to depend on one another.
A very thoughtful response, as always, James. Thank you.
Bill, by jove, I think you've got it, IMO.
Last night I was watching an episode from NCIS New Orleans, circa 2020 (the actors were wearing masks is how I know approximately what year it was.) So there was the star - Dwayne Pride - bewildered over the thought that a woman he had "coupled" with 17 years ago had a son and he might have been the father. "How could this be" he wanted us to wonder with him, and be sympathetic to because she turned out to be "Public Enemy No. 1." And I'm like, are you effin' kidding me? After moving on, how many times has the keeper of the sperms ever thought to consider six to eight weeks later whether he just contributed to making a baby.
Great points, Bill. Unfortunately, I did not see this sub-thread and made more extensive responses below in Gary's sub-thread, if you are interested in them. One thing I can assure you: I have supported the Equal Rights Amendment since I first head about it in the mid-1970s, I did like Ms Schlafly any more than I warmed up to Anita Bryant.
Though I fit the profile of supporters of those two, my preferences went toward 1st Mmes Ford and Carter as well as Representatives Barbara Jordan, Shirley Chisholm, and Elizabeth Holtzman. Great female teachers along the way also helped. Most of course was my own mother -- very smart and fiercely independent in her thinking.
Bill, bravo!
Ned, one of the most under appreciated and underpaid groups of people are the caregivers. My sister and sister-in-law cared and care for our mothers which requires as much time as parenting. Both of them worked 40 hours a week outside of the home as well as running our mom's to doctor's appointments and other activities.
I'm not sure what percentage of caregivers are women, but I'm sure it is well over 50%.
Nancy Pelosi raised 5 kids. The knowledge and skills she gained from being a mother allowed her to become one of the most productive speakers in history.
Question: How did Speaker Pelosi respond when asked if she hated Donald Trump?
Answer: She said she was brought up Catholic, that she had a heart full of love, that she didn't hate anyone, and that she prayed for the man.
That's a real Christian. Jesus said, "This is my commandment: love one another as I love you." John 15:12.
Question: What did Speaker Mike say when Donald Trump became a convicted felon?
Answer: He said the real criminal is the Biden family.
Here's what Jesus says about Speaker Mike: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." Matthew 23:27-28.
Identifying as a Christian does not make a person one of the bad guys. The bad guys are the hypocrites. Nancy Pelosi is not a hypocrite.
James,
Powerful comment, good man. As I told my cousins, "I hated Trump but then realized hating him diminished my soul. Hey, if I am going diminish my soul over anyone, it is not going to be for a schlub like Trump!" Not exactly what J.C. had in mind or what Speaker Pelosi practiced, but I am trying. 😉
Follow the Mary McCarthy Method: When you find yourself in times of trouble, you sometimes have to let it be. There will be an answer.
Gary,
Two important points on caregiving and parenting. Like teaching, the most demanding vocations are among the least appreciated. When I was studying to attain my CFA thirty-five years ago, I recall reading that parenting / home-making has the level of stress on-the-job as did fire-fighting.
Additionally, one senior manager admitted that his Harvard MBA taught him little compared to being a father on how to manage people. Not sure I would have liked working for that manager were l another 'kid' in the office, but, hey, I understand. What he meant was that, in a field of published writing, he was dealing with many Calvin-&-Hobbes type of prima donnas.
Well, as one who was female during that time, I’ll let you know, it was not an integral part of how <I> felt about women’s liberation. The more militant and angry-at-men-but-still-trying-to-be-more-like-them crowd was noisy, but not necessarily speaking for women who wanted equality and the right to BE who we are! — which is also mothers and nurturers to our families. I left off calling myself a “women’s lib” supporter, but NEVER left off being a feminist, and proud of it. And I really like men, and I believe in male rights to be their authentic selves, too. And same for every gender.
The loss of mothers in the home didn’t come about because of the libs, either. We wanted decent jobs when we had to have one {d’uh!}, but the move out of the home and into the full-time workforce came about more and more as a necessity, as incomes did not provide a living wage, and money during the Reagan years migrated out of the middle class and into the upper echelons of wealth.
Keep a view as to what REALLY happened, and not just what the male chauvinist Oligarchs want you to think.
Really fine point, Pat. Reminds me of another phenomenon of the 1970s: the daily photo-video clips of Iranians protesting outside the U.S.M. in Teheran. For years I assumed there were hundreds at these gatherings; it was more like twenty-to-fifty but the angling and focus of cameras made it look like a lot more. Noisy people get what they set out to get: attention.
📢
Rush Limbaugh and his odious epithet of 'feminazis' is just one example, both in himself and and in the sub-group he misogynistically derides. In some cases, however and unfortunately, toughness usually associated usually with men was necessary for many of those path-finding women to adopt in breaking through barriers in traditionally male-dominated professions like finance or the law. Women who relied on that toughness deserve credit for making it possible for others to advance.
🗽
Yes, factors in the 1970s drove the two family incomes. As important, however, was the necessity of taking equality seriously: women had and have a right to pursue fulfillment as each sees it.
That’s true, too, Ned. I did not object to day care centers even before economics pushed women out of the house, but I do like to maintain awareness that the wholesale exodus was due to changes in the economy, not just “self-actualization.”
In truth, as well, I miss very much the neighborhoods with kids playing in the streets and yards and a cadre of caring adults keeping an eye on the whole, as mothers were at home, talking to each other, checking on their kids, and the streets had eyes on them during the day. It was a nice way to grow up … but our culture has changed, and that’s the way that cookie crumbled.
"In truth, as well, I miss very much the neighborhoods with kids playing in the streets and yards and a cadre of caring adults keeping an eye on the whole, as mothers were at home, talking to each other, checking on their kids, and the streets had eyes on them during the day. It was a nice way to grow up … but our culture has changed, and that’s the way that cookie crumbled."
You and me, both, Pat. In preparing for the CFA examinations, I took a course in New York that was intense. But the teacher, a practitioner in the field and N.Y.U. professor, advanced an interesting notion that a convergence of factors ended the single income family:
> a cascade of previously dormant dollars, held for store value, back into the U.S. economy after President Nixon the dollar of the fixed-price gold standard in 1971;
> the price shock of energy prices in 1973 and 1979; as well as,
> deficit financing of the ghastly war in Viêt Nam.
Those economic forces conspired to make two careers outside the home a necessity, at least to maintain the living standards of the 1950s and first half of the 1960s.
Honestly, as a young man, I did not think about things like day-care. Since I am ageing bachelor, I have not thought a lot about it since. I suppose that, as a conservative by temperament, I would have supported policies like funding of day-care centers. Such a policy, I would assume, would aim at supporting nuclear families as the keystone of American culture. What might have worked best of all would be a minor change of wording to your statement: "as mothers [and house-husbands] were at home, talking to each other . . . ."
💓
Many thanks for a thoughtful, insightful statement.
Ned,
I was blessed to have a great mom and dad. Both of my parents owned farms. My father did not need to "take over" ,they worked in tandem. They would remove themselves away from us children when business matters needed discussing. I know it is hard to believe but I never heard a voice raised. I saw enduring mutual respect.
My mom took my dad to the doctor and when the doctor insisted "he is the healthiest man I have ever seen"....my mom kept pushing..."No, there is something wrong......and there was.....by the time the doctors discovered cancer, it was too late.
My little brother and I stayed with my older sister....my mother would not leave my father's side until a cousin suggested, she may die before my dad if she did not get some rest. That night at home was when she waked up to a vision of my dad and Jesus. She believed my dad was going to live and her strength was renewed....but this was a wrong interpretation.
My little brother was 10....I was 12...and we did not make life easy for her as she managed everything herself successfully. She never remarried.
This is and always will be my example of respectful equality between a man and a woman.
A beautiful tribute to a beautiful family populated by beautiful souls. My mother was very intelligent. (I was born in the shallow end of that gene pool.) She came of age in a time where her reward was to be placed in the top end of the secretarial pool. So, she taught instead. She wanted to go to law school and my father discouraged her. At the end of his life, my father confessed to my sister that he always regretted doing that.
Ned, oftentimes a woman’s assertiveness is misconstrued as aggressiveness! How often do we hear a man being called aggressive? Very rarely!
No, I understand that. The only manager whom I ever trusted enough to come close to mentoring me was a woman others had warned me as being a pit-bull-with-a-dress, unpleasant, in-your-face. Now, I had my share of experiences with difficult women, and more with difficult men (with my being one of them). Yet this 'internal auditor' was a breath of fresh air. Instead of shouting me down or patronizing me for changes I needed to make in my work, she simply stated up-front what what I needed to address. And I did it. Done. Smartest manager I ever had.
I have written and deleted lengthy replies to you. Written because there is so much I want to say, and deleted as I doubt you would get it.
I HIGHLY suggest you read two books by Gail Collins: "When Everything Changed: the amazing journey of American women from 1960 to the present" and also "America's Women: 400 years of dolls, drudges, helpmates and heroines."
It will help you understand much better than any reply I could give to you.
I can understand the frustration you feel. Others in this sub-thread have reminded me that my concerns are of another time and were directed at a segment of women. When I think about it, I have only met fewer than ten 'obnoxious' feminists among the thousands of women whom I have met, most those many crediting feminism with improving their lives. I have read some books that shaped my adult consideration toward women:
> 'Zelda' by Nancy Milford;
> 'Kiss Sleeping Beauty Good-bye' by Madonna Kolbenschlag;
> 'Herstory' by Katherine Halligan; and, perhaps with others,
> 'Our Bodies, Ourselves' by Boston Women's Health Book Collective.
Miselle, I am rather finished with serious reading these days. Pat nailed it in her comment above. In the seventies, l was responding to accounts in the media that focussed on a noisy few -- a few that may have been necessary for all to progress, but a few who rubbed me, and many guys (I surmise), up the wrong way.
Interestingly, last week I read 'Taming of the Shrew' for the first time. Some class-mates in my (nominally all-boys) high school loved that play. I do not think I would have at the time; at least, l hoped not. My class read 'Merchant of Venice', and I disliked that one.
Ned, consider reading those books I suggested. They are fascinating, and not terribly difficult to read. Never dull or boring, either!
I read "Our bodies" but not the others. I am jotting them down and adding to my LFAA reading list.
My concern is that they are long books. Which ONE should I order?
Linda-Your points about ways that our society devalues women are important. I share your militancy about this issue that stifles our nation.
Linda, I'm sorry you have only encountered that type of male. I have had a different experience. I was the first born and my father's favorite child I had two younger brothers, but in Dad's eye I was perfect (I'm not) but he always approved and stood by me no matter what, his love was unconditional. He always told me I could be anything I wanted to be
My first marriage was to a man exactly as you described, needing constant validation of his perceived superiority. My second marriage was to a man exactly like my father, so happy with himself as he was that he was proud of my achievements.
In my various careers I met a variety of men of both types, those who felt challenged and those who felt threatened. Men, like women come in all sizes and shapes. I have met as many needy women as needy men. They are equally a pain in the ass, give me a person sure of themselves and open to acceptance any day.
Years ago the sociologist Arlie Hochschild wrote a book where she determined that women who work and have families work on average an extra month a year. I doubt much has changed. We can and must do better. If anyone needs a lift during this time, watch the short documentary on Heather Booth, yet another amazing woman probably few of us have heard of.
I understand your anger and skepticism - it’s certainly justified. But it’s as if in your view no men meet your standards. And if true you are wrong because many do.
Your discussion deepens my desire to see the Equal Rights Amendment re-opened and ratified, if that is possible.✌️ It will bring women into the body politic intead of being beneficiaries of rights granted from the body politic (that can be taken away). ⚖️
Do not forget that the 14th amendment is supposed to grant those rights is how the conservatives defend their stance against the ERA.
I think that the Dobbs decision renders that argument moot.
I believe Abraham Lincoln when he says, "public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed." In other words, with public sentiment, passing the ERA can't fail. The question is how to get public sentiment. The answer is simple. Ask people what they believe in, and then speak in their language.
If I tell you I identify as a Christian, tell me that the ERA is a manifestation of Christianity's "treat others the way you would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot" founding principle.
If I tell you I identify with science, tell me that the ERA is a manifestation of science's "be rigorously skeptical of your cognitive assumptions because they will otherwise distort your interprets of the observation" founding principle.
If I tell you I identify with capitalism, tell me that the ERA is a manifestation of capitalism's "Theory of Moral Sentiments" founding principle.
If I tell you I don't believe in anything, tell me that Putin has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t have to get anyone to believe anything. All he has to do is convince enough people not to believe in anything.
That should do it, don't you think?
WOWerful statement, James. Thank you!
P.S., James. President Carter, to his credit, really tried to get the E.R.A. through by using the power of the executive purse (e.g., where to locate large events) and by other means. He was criticized at the time for being "coercive"; I felt he was doing the right thing.
There is no right to deprive others of their rights. Not if the label "right" is to mean anything. Genuine rights when you honor mine and I honor yours. Supremacists don't want to acknowledge that it's reciprocal. They make up phony pretexts for insisting that only they can be right.
Exactly - the right of bodily autonomy IS the ultimate right of equality for women, and using a fetus like it’s another person in the room is a construct that anti- abortionists use to restrict women’s rights. How will they use this construct to take away more rights, including the right to public education, the right to love who you love, and most importantly - the right to vote to protect all the other rights?
Yes, I agree with you. It is just a matter of time before women's suffrage will be on the chopping block and those not paying attention are doing so at their own risk. Up next , as we are now seeing is contraception and IVF. I say contraception but only in terms of it applying to women. Men can still get vasectomies and condoms, these forms of birth control are for men. It is hypocritical and lopsided.Women need to roar like no other come November.
Well said. To the Leonard Leo's and Chip Roy's this 72 y.o. male says my wife and daughter are SO MUCH more worthy of living life than you and your ilk!
As I read somewhere, they had better be glad we want equality, not payback. That was probably said by a black woman, but applies to all of us.
The “toe in the door” comment is chilling. The three “desert” religions are all patriarchal. I mention this because it is self appointed organized religion that promotes these ideas. The restriction of birth control is a major objective in the playbook of this group. It was heartening to hear about the increasing number of women registering to vote. I hope they are progressive in the main. A return to the suffocating world of the 40’s and the 50’s is a grim prospect for our generation to leave behind.
I had a Republican tell me over lunch that our problems began when women were allowed out of the kitchen. He had one son. I told him that perhaps he would feel differently if he had daughters as did I. My oldest has a PhD in Astrophysics and my youngest works in an Administrative position. Both work hard in their professions and keep their families of 4 together.
Fay, Exactly. Abortion is a multilayered issue. It’s not just about ending a pregnancy it’s also about saving lives.
This upheaval has been beneficial in that women are truly getting stronger and making their voices and votes heard. We are coming into our power👍
Right on, Cecilia!
I have not seen this reported elsewhere, but THIS is what happens when you let politicians make medical decisions!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKCLqB9hiaM
I rarely see Beau so angry. I encourage everyone who utilizes social media to post this link.
(And, btw, if you have not, please consider subscribing to "Beau". It is free. I am amazed that he has not hit a million subscribers yet, as so many other popular channels have. I sometimes wonder if it is because he talks slowly and pauses to let an idea sink in. Kind of like Biden, in that manner. While I love "Sesame Street" I personally refer to the need for constant-fire-entertainment the "Sesame-Street-effect". We raised a generation on it. Now, even Yahoo lists "reading time" on their articles, and if you read comments on some of their articles, you can clearly see that people only read the headlines. I digress. Please help Beau's channel grow, as he has many of the MAGA listen to him, and he is very calm and logical.)
In my state (North Carolina), the current Republican gubernatorial candidate has publicly declared that he believes the country was better off before women could vote. In addition to being a misogynist, he is an election denier and a Holocaust denier.
Many people in my state haven’t voted for a Democrat in decades, and our state legislature is so gerrymandered that Democrats can command a majority of votes statewide and still wind up as the minority party. I am very concerned that we might be sleepwalking our way into a nightmare at the state level. I hope that the issue of abortion will get the attention of more of our voters.
Donna, he actually says these things ? He denies the Holocaust and says the country was better off when women did not vote. Yet he won the Republican primary ? All those women with blissful or angry eyes at Trump rallies did turn out in NC and give him the vote ! He should thank them !
When he wrote "Women are not without electoral or political power," Alito threw down the gauntlet. Women, and the men who respect them, should take the challence and elect state and federal executives and legislators who will protect and preserve their rights to life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness.
"Women are not without electoral or political power.” Indeed!
Thanks for the post Dr. Richardson.
Are pollsters including reproductive rights/ health/ choice in their list of questions to potential voters? It often seems to have been excluded from the polls. Am I missing something?
Thank you Fay....and that is why I hated that Heather quoted Alito in her last sentences. His words were a blaming the victim argument, that some will accept. Thinking...he's right. Women just need to get out and vote. Ignoring the fact that, that right is the next on the chopping block. Hopefully...the link below works...this came from a Texas group called Mother's for Democracy.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=vX2TeV86ANvsPP7x&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1D90Pxdcv8aTYZeLwpQM9PSfsmfeUoJpvb3PvMOXltZ9sytRobCy1g0Z8_aem_8Zz9uHG6p8QMjhoXOCC0cg&v=avRM569zNbQ&feature=youtu.be&mibextid=NOb6eG
Immediately following the commercial you linked to was an interview sponsored by Prolife Weekly about a women who survived an abortion attempt and been given up as an infant. She claims the 19 year old birth mother was told the infant died and that the mother had been coerced into the abortion.
I still find it typical that it’s always the same package deal with those right-wing types. It’s always anti-women’s rights, anti-equality, anti-LGBTQ, anti-environment, antisemitic, racist and pro-violence. It’s never otherwise, and always the whole package. Where’d that come from, I wonder…
Still, I do hope that overturning Roe vs Wade becomes the definitive neck-breaker for the GOP…
Fear, Dutch. It comes from fear.
If we're willing to admit how complicated life is, we can learn from our betters -- in many fields, especially the arts, where the good ones worked long and hard to manage complications, give credit and acknowledgement where they are due, and maintain balance, perspective, respect for the vast array of resources in the personal, in others, out there.
If our schools did a better job teaching humanities, we'd not have so many so fearful. Or jealous, low-grade angry, on thresholds of group hatreds all the time.
But our schools got taken over by all those who hate the individual human, hate humanities, need only that life be programmed, packaged, set to group scenarios, and to the language of abstractions fit to herd mentality. And machine-measurable by standardized testers.
The people identifying themselves with Trump are fearful of change, and are willing to destroy constitutional government to keep themselves in charge. That is what we are up against, and we must massively turn out to prevent their hostile takeover. Trump has already made it clear he’s out for personal revenge, and I think he will jail his political opponents like Maduro has in Venezuela.
I am reading Erik Larsen's latest book "Destiny of Unrest". It is describing in infinite detail the attitudes of the affluent white planters in the runup to the Civil War.
When I listen to the MAGAs rant now, I hear clear echoes of that same elitist bigotry. I can't believe that all those disgusting and vile attitudes have survived for so long.
It's like a witches brew has been quietly bubbling since the end of the Civil War - the lid kept on by a majority that wouldn't tolerate such antiquated antipathy towards women and anyone other than the white male of European descent.
Leonard Leo and company took the lid off. Trump is just the puppet. Leo and Company are propelling us backwards to centuries past. This must stop. If we don't put the brakes on this trend, we will be viewed as a "backwater". In some states, it's already happened.
The seeds for what we are experiencing now were planted when America was “founded”. We’ve been reaping what we sowed ever since.
They were planted as far back as Bacon’s Rebellion in 17th century Colonial Virginia.
Exactly! see my reply to Bill above!
Indeed. It seems to be a fact that our forebears came to this land in hope of better lives and "liberty / liberties" they didn't have. Yet, sadly, some brought their 'chains' with them.
see my reply to Bill above!
Ah Bill! Above I recommended books by Gail Collins, now I feel I must suggest this book to all! "America's Nations: A history of Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America" by Colin Woodard
A fascinating book that explains how the roots of much of the attitudes of today's voters was created back in the 1600s, sometimes by as few as a few hundred settlers!
bill, spot on!!
Bill, you are very much 'onto' the right path for understanding - circular history and repetitive constants of human nature.... I've spent a lot of time searching for detailed, factual insights into the how's and why's so many got themselves roped into following that past, 'lost cause' to add to my collections. Check, check, and check to all you cite here, identify closely with my humble conclusions that I've held for a very long time, prior to discovering our good professor's writing when she started doing it publicly on FB... Without consulting my notes for verification, around 2019 I think is when she started out on her quest / finessing herself for her book writing.
Register Democrats to prevent the hostile takeover.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
FT6 has a weekly Florida phone banking program Thursdays from 2-4 edt. Below is the link. 40,000 phone numbers and they need volunteers. .
https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/632594/
Dan, I think it's important to widely spread the word about the discovery I made at Axios yesterday, assuming that it's all factual. I have little doubt that it is factual. The piece about half our states having *no* ability or process / procedures for voter initiatives / referendums, to initiate their own 'checks and balances' on their state governments. That's *vital* information that I hope you'll share with folks at fieldteam 6, if I should not get the opportunity to do it myself. *Just imagine how very 'regal and arbitrary' their state governing officials must feel - almost like rulers I should think. Folks in those states and other states need to *know* what their representatives have wrought. I doubt that it's commonly known and, that they would be pi_ _ed off to think that their state representatives thought so lowly of them ! I further feel that anyone able to communicate on Joyce Vance's substack, to share it there too. < *Find it here > https://www.axios.com/2024/06/24/abortion-ballot-initiatives-referendums-vote
I just heard an hour of DT’s harangue in Philly on YouTube. I was listening for cognitive impairment… but what I heard was well practiced lies about how bad the country has become since Biden took office, how good it was with DT and how good it will be. The stories he dug up about immigrants were scary mindless fear mongering writ large. The ‘statistics’ he quoted were nothing I have ever seen, read, or heard. He hammers. He cajoles. He promises. He threatens. He can sound knowledgeable. If you can’t think.
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Phil. It's fear that breed anger. But why always the women, the Jews, the gays and the environment? Theoretically, they could also have become fearful of climate change and macho culture, right?
"But our schools got taken over by all those who hate the individual human, hate humanities, need only that life be programmed, packaged, set to group scenarios, and to the language of abstractions fit to herd mentality. And machine-measurable by standardized testers."
But that's 'modern' Western scientific thinking in general. "Unity in Multiplicity" instead of "Multiplicity in Unity", working towards mathematical abstractions, averages, standards and protocols; reductionist/mechanical/analytical thinking instead of holistic/organic/intuitive thinking. That's not exclusively limited to the "right-wing package"...
If one is anti-women's rights or any minority for that matter people will justify their fear/hatred with some rationalization, which is one of our species greatest talents,i.e. the uncanny ability to RATIONALIZE ANYTHING. (Ask a tRump supporter why they support him despite what they know about him and you will hear some assbackward rationalization.)
Thought, Dutch Mike, you might like to see more on "reductionist/mechanical."
So here's a great guy on music, Rick Beato, looking at the real reason music has gotten worse, so much more deadly, machine-like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bZ0OSEViyo
Thanks for the heads-up, Phil :) I think Mr. Beato is right, and I would add that it's all done in the name of Less Expense, More Profit aka Consumerism. Music was art, now it's a commodity.
I like your assessment here, Dutch.
Phil-the lack of humanities in school settings is indeed a problem-when we add that to what’s being taught in homes and churches it becomes even more challenging. Instead of bringing out the best of humanity, we’re bombarded everyday with people who show us the worst.
The far right implementing the Powell memo deliberately chose "the worst," Gina.
They saw life as commodities, units, abstractions to be group-labeled. They saw American jobs by the millions as profits for themselves if shipped offshore. They saw this offshoring as further alliances with all the world's worst dictators, oligarchs, autocrats, and nationalists.
Their first courses of action had their new Heritage Foundation, their new ALEC, and an enlarged Hoover Institution attack humanities all through the rest of the 1970s. They replaced the humanities with the living dead of standardized testing, all blind to what you nicely remember as "the best of humanity."
Total sidebar on the Hoover Institute:
I Worked in catering at Stanford University 1983-1984 (my future wife was attending Stanford, and I was “chasing her so fast she caught me”…😈). Once a year, the board of trustees at the Hoover Institute held a meeting that University catering catered. I was the usual caterer for high profile events, but only delivered these. Our manager plus an “outside professional” were the ones dealing with these Important People.
Such high opinions they have of themselves.
*Oh Ally; I must put a 'place-marker' here to respond to, once I've read through all the comments. I am in EST, so I'm trying to discipline myself to *not* get myself overly involved in commenting till the following daylight hours, for sake of my health.
*It's not a past tense view Phil; It's present and future tense of how these folks 'view' - in their guts, the great majority of we peons. "We" are all 'children' of some lesser god.
I saw then, and believe even more strongly now, that overturning Roe v Wade in 2022 was this generation's "Fort Sumter Moment". Before the attack on Sumter, many in the northern states would have been content to let the south go and form a new nation. After the attack, that all changed - almost overnight. Roe seems to be a kind of slow motion version of Sumter - with just as much, if not more, import for the future of our Republic. You are correct in identifying the real thrust of overturning Roe is to pave the way for the suppression of other rights - the whole package, as you aptly put it. Keep thinking, keep fighting.
Dutch, you hit the proverbial nail on the heads of the MAGA extremists.
Heather today quotes Rep. Roy of Texas-- he wants " ethnic cleansing by deporting white progressive Democrats with a special bonus for rich ones with an Ivy League degree."
He, like other MAGAs are afraid of intelligent people who want progress- CHANGE- for the betterment of the people.
They are anti-everything that will disrupt their narrow-minded, holier-than-thou attitudes and lives.
Fear brings on the anti-progressive stance. Instead of wanting to work together with experts who have studied and know what they're doing, (unlike Trump and his appointees), they want to fight, led by extremists who think they know what's best for people and want to impose their racist and religious beliefs on the rest of us.
Educated people scare, and of course, intimidate MAGAs. Educated people are too progressive and want too much change. The extremists won't even acknowledge that many of these changes would benefit them and their families.
I had no idea that there were so many fearful people in America. Trump has encouraged and condoned their fears to keep them from seeing the truth about him. He doesn't want any educated, knowledgeable people telling him what to do. He will only allign himself with those who aren't progressive and who are anti-everything that will bring him to complete power.
It’s interesting that those at the top of the radical right food chain are also products of Ivy League education. They’ve rounded up and manipulated the rubes. Will those same rubes turn around and revolt against those that gave them cohesion?
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but isn’t the foul Chip Roy the one who is criticizing his own party for getting nothing done? Now we know why he is so vocal - his execrable ideas of ‘governance’ are being foiled.
It’s good to hear them saying these things out loud though so there will be no doubt about their positions.
I wonder if the threat (very real, I think) of banning ALL contraceptives will bring many out to vote, even men. Us elders should tell the younger generation about our formative years, when sexual activity was hidden. Men visiting prostitutes was secretive. Revealing same sex inclinations could seriously be life threatening. Non-virgin women also faced pregnancy, which at best caused them to be ostracized and handed a lifetime of poverty as a single mother, at worst, literal death in a back room alley abortion.
The Evangelicals want to go back to abstinence before marriage and rhythm method after marriage. Do they really think that this culture of sexually active people will go back to that?!
That genie isn't going back into the bottle! I think the contraceptives issue should be pushed much more than it currently is. People who DON'T support abortion probably still want methods to prevent pregnancy.
ANTI is what tRump's support is all about. That is why there is nothing he can say or do, NOTHING that will lose him support. Many of his supporters don't like him for obvious reasons, but he represents ANTI -women’s rights, anti-equality, anti-LGBTQ, anti-environment, antisemitic, racist and peasefull demonstrations, i.e. pro-violence. There lies his undying support.
I keep saying it, though I don't remember where I read it first, that the MAGAts vote for Rump BECAUSE he is an asshole. He is their great example: a pussy-grabbing, violence-loving, racist bigot - and a coward. And his followers want to be just like him, and that is why every scandal makes Rump stronger: it just makes him a bigger asshole, so his followers love him even more for it.
At 90 I am appalled that so many past enhancements in judicial and social standards are now being savaged.
The basic rights of women regarding abortion and, perhaps, even contraception are being denied by the Supreme Court and a number of state legislatures.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 has been gutted by the Supreme Court.
The First Amendment on separation of government and religion is being increasingly violated, with the latest issue being the display of the Ten Commandments in schools in several states.
The decline in public ethics. Several generations ago, a Supreme Court justice, involved in an ethical breech, felt obliged to resign. Today Thomas and Alito flagrantly disregard what once were unquestioned ethical standards.
It’s past time to stop this ‘escalator’ ethics [from The Apprentice to nearly 100 indictments] and support President Biden’s fight to preserve the soul of
The America that my grandchildren will inherit.
Well stated Keith. Very well stated.
Am I the only one who can't believe that an entire political party is still behind a convicted felon, a man also convicted of defamation of a women he sexually assaulted, a man convicted of massive tax fraud and fined hundreds of millions?
Republicans couldn't come up with someone better than that?
One of the features of aging is having a memory of pertinent events. Not too long ago, Democrats dispatched two presidential hopefuls who were strong contenders for the nomination - out of some sense of "ethics". John Edwards had an affair - gone. Gary Hart was suspected of an affair - gone.
Trump commits crime after crime and is convicted. His supporters call it a political witch hunt. This is a collapse of civilized society. The "wildings" are taking over.
Where the Hell did our collective values go?
I believe that “an entire political party can be behind a convicted felon.” That’s why my first vote for a Republican, Eisenhower, was my last. Trickle down economics, shredding unions and the middle class has proved, to me at least, that my sense of the America I knew during WWII was correct. Oil and wars have not been good for US.
Bill I am reminded of the ad “I wonder where the yellow went, when you cleaned your teeth with Pepsident.” Now the yellow is the Orange Orangutan and the cleanser is Cool Hand Joe.
Bravo!
And presidential candidate Howard Dean yelled in excitement - gone. WTF??
WTF indeed‼️‼️
Agree 100%
Nicely stated, Keith. I'm with you 100%.
And it’s up to us to see that they don’t.
Throughout history there have always been those who want to lord it over as many people as possible.
Keith-we can add the proliferation of guns to the mix along with promoting violence against people that don’t agree with them.
Escalator Ethics!
Riding it down with Donny.
Good one! The final plunge down of the “groupies of Putin” (thanks to Rep. James Clyburn) with a useful idiot, the Putin/Stalin worshipper.
Keith, I always enjoy, appreciate, and learn from your comments. Thank you.
Keith, love, love, love “escalator ethics”! Brilliant!
Anne Thanks! You made my day as I seek to describe Trump viscerally.
You make my day, Keith, every day you post!
Ditto ~
One in 10 pregnancy’s ends in miscarriage and one in 4 miscarriages need a D and C….without this procedure, women …lots and lots of them, are potentially facing sepsis and death. DOBBS was the ‘way station’ to death for many women who miscarried and the loss of these rights to determine her health care is a ‘way station’ to the loss of so many other women’s rights as well, including contraception…..electing Trump is the rapidly approaching ‘way station’ to the loss of our democracy!
Joan, it’s so true. In the early ‘80s I almost died after my second miscarriage. We had just moved to Texas and the OB-GYN we went to see said I didn’t need a D&C. I got sicker and sicker, until a new friend took me to her OB-GYN, who said he’d meet me at the hospital immediately for an emergency D&C. I was almost in septic shock by the time I was finally helped. If this had happened today in Texas I likely would have died.
I think about that too; my daughter doesn't have a sibling because of a miscarriage but she does have a living mother because of a D and C performed when my fever was spiking a few days later. I can't help thinking about the needless losses resulting in broken families.
❤️🩹 Same. My son is an only child. He grew up in an intact family and now his little boy has both grandparents.
. . . . emoticon worthy, Suzanne, but since I don't know where they are to insert, I'm reporting my huge smile.
Returning the smile and adding a hug
If you’re on a pc, right click your mouse/touchpad. “Emoji” should be at the top of the box. Scroll up if it isn’t.)
Not on a PC and looked up Mac equivalents to rt-clk on a PC but no success for the amount of time I want to follow various links. Thanks -- maybe one day.
Ain’t gonna like this post. Nothing to like. Thank the gods for your friend.
Texas just released it's infant mortality rates: Since Dobbs, there has been an increase in infant mortality by 8%, and an increase in mortality rate of babies with birth defects by 23%. It won't be long before the Pro-life party keeps those statistics from being released.
You have identified the most cruel effect of the scotus decision.
That's horrifying.
Ruling on abortion and medications is practicing medicine without medical education, training, and license.
Great angle worth legal input.
No, they are gods (or at least seem to think they are).
Thank you Professor Richardson.
While the party may have been at Leonard Leo's home, shadowy billionaires like Barre Seid and Harlan Crow paved the road. (https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-leonard-leo-barre-seid#:~:text=An%20elderly%2C%20ultra%2Dsecretive%20Chicago,system%2C%20including%20the%20Supreme%20Court.)
It is a perfect example of why the extreme concentration of wealth is antithetical to any meaningful form of democracy. We have arrived at a point where the political will to codify the rights of women, the will to address gun violence, and the imperative of climate action are eviscerated by the checkbooks of Charles Koch, Barre Seid, Robert Mercer, Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, Larry Ellison, or any other billionaire.
As Rep. Jamaal Bowman succinctly states "It's money versus many".
This is why the GOP (and their donors) are excited about authoritarianism and why they deplore democracy. When they no longer have to worry about people organizing and seeking equality, justice, and democracy -they can just implement whatever they want. They no longer have to ask Big Oil to contribute $1 billion to a campaign in order to eviscerate environmental protections and block climate action.
Money is tool for distributing reciprocity. It's not money the Bible complains about, but the "love" of money, which seems sensible if money is what one chooses over any other sort of value.
I a civilized society, some things are never sold, including, judges, presidents, and members of Congress. Including free speech. Including souls.
I had not encountered previous mentions of "Democracide" (one of which is a novel titles by Deborah C. Sawyer), so I thought I might be coining a new term for the destruction of our Democracy hastened by the Citizens United decision.
About the time Mitch McConnell refused to have confirmation hearings for Merrick Garland, I imagined calling the Federalist Society the "Confederalist" Society for their originalism that seemed too much like what the Confederate States of America wanted . I haven't explored the differences between the CSA of 1861 vs the earlier Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union (that only lasted from 1777 to 1787), but neither of the Confederation's constitutions, or even our United States Constitution of 1787, for that matter, fully met the ideals of the Declaration of Independence which I consider the proper goals, no matter that we still have a ways to go towards a more perfect union.
The last thing we need is to go backwards. Citizens United pulled critical parts of the temporary shoring out from under us and organizations like the Federalist Society seemed hell bent on making sure new shoring is unable to get through Congress.
P.S. I see the European Confederalist Society was launched in September 2023. Perhaps we should petition to have the Federalist Society to adopt the seemingly more appropriate name.
Confederalist is perfect. Thank you Jim. Now if we could get Fox to change their propaganda channel to "Ooze".
George...Every time I read comments like yours I think of Nick Hanauer. The 1st time I encountered him was this article in Politico:
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014/
I wish that he would go viral. He's held TED talks; he has his own podcast, called Pitchfork Economics, but he and his message need promoters or better promoters.
Yes -I think he treated his employees well and has been a vocal critical of hoarding wealth. Tell him my phone lines are open if he wants to help me build https://civ.works!
And to be clear -I'm not anti-wealth -when it has been the result of innovation and risk. However, when it's used to undermine democracy and societal imperatives to simply accumulate more through wealth transfers (like inheritance), externalities and tax evasion/avoidance -I'm not a fan.
Hanauer is more than that. He's middle out economics. Listen to Pitchfork Economics. If you like it, pass it on to others; spread it around.
Thanks, MK, for your introduction to Nick Hanauer!
Thanks for the great article on Barre Seid..!
HCR wrote: "In the Dobbs decision, Alito wrote: “Our decision returns the issue of abortion to [state] legislative bodies, and it allows women on both sides of the abortion issue to seek to affect the legislative process by influencing public opinion, lobbying legislators, voting, and running for office. Women are not without electoral or political power.”"
Brings to mind the saying, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," and the Rethugs are finding out. Note that some feel the quote to be sexist/misogynistic, while others feel that it references the feeling of empowerment for women to stand up for themselves.
Original quote is from a play by William Congreve in 1697:
"Heav’n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn’d,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn’d."
"Today is the second Overturniversary of Roe!" writes the Abortion Access Front website.
When this is over (after the election), we should all maybe send a Thank You card to Samuel Alito and Leonard Leo. Just a thought...
You are ever just too sweet Lynell. My thoughts of 'gifts' for them are far darker.
They just couldn't wait to let their cat out of the bag. Bad timing for the Godawful Old Prudes.
I kinda like that thought. Now, where to find some 💩-scented essence to perfume my letter with??
Oh, Ally. You always add that "little something" to make it all come together...morning!
Lol... "Spicey Ally" ~
Spicey, indeed, D4N!
I meant to say "special something."
Lol.. I've noted that you may write a substack titled "View Between the Ears of a Horse." Does that imply that you have great affection for our equine friends ? (I've not looked in yet)
Lol Ally...
I found this Alito comment in the decision quite telling. Indicating that this is merely women’s issue. And that he has the male power to wildly disrupt women’s lives. In reality, he's affecting men's lives, and existing children's lives, too.
Women are not without electoral or political power, says Alito. Exactly so, and he will find out the extent of that power come November.
I hope it is so!
This may be this year's most compelling letter.
Well-done.
I learned something a bit troubling today. Axios news compiled some troubling statistics that reveals 25 states of our fifty, have no legal process / procedure for citizen-led ballot initiatives or referendums !! Are citizens of those states aware of this, what it implies, how it limits them to the whims of their state emperors and court jesters ? Is it just me, or does anyone else find this troubling ? If you will, please see > https://www.axios.com/2024/06/24/abortion-ballot-initiatives-referendums-vote
In Wisconsin we have no legal process for citizen-led ballot initiatives. After more than a decade of enduring what many observers regard as the nation's worst gerrymander, we have been acutely aware of being stuck in an impasse. As of this year we have newly-redrawn districts, which we hope will enable us to get closer to parity, which should enable the return of majority rule. I believe that citizen-led ballot initiatives would enable us to get closer to a truly democratic state, instead of the Republic wherein a tiny minority of the population makes the rules. Having said that, I would also say that the success of a democracy depends on the quality of education for every participant who is allowed to vote. If we survive as a nation after November, our top priority should be to work out how to provide every child with the best education money can buy, no matter where they live. Imagine what today's political reality in the US would be if we already could boast that every citizen has already enjoyed the best education money can buy -- surely we would not be worried that we could descend into authoritarian hell.
We have citizen initiatives in Ohio, and we managed to keep our GOP Secretary of State, Frank LaRose, from deforming the initiative process to favor rural areas. We also passed citizen initiatives to recognize the right to terminate a pregnancy in the Ohio Constitution, and to permit recreational use of marijuana. However, we also have a brazenly gerrymandered General Assembly and Senate whose members feel free to ignore citizen initiatives they don’t like. Several years ago. Ohio voters approved an initiative to allow nonpartisan redistricting, and the General Assembly ignored this. In addition, the State Senate refused to follow three separate Ohio Supreme Court orders requiring them to redraw three illegally gerrymandered Senate districts.
The former Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, Maureen O’Connor, is a Republican, but she opposes the brazen gerrymandering of Ohio state electoral and Federal representative districts and wants fairer districts. She has been working to get a ballot initiative approved for November’s election to allow citizens to redraw districts, but our Republican Attorney General, Dave Yost, hasn’t approved any of the language for the referendum, and I seriously think he won’t find any language acceptable.
Maybe Michigan can annex Ohio. Our "Voters Not Politicians" effort worked, but then we were also able to elect our Democratic trio. Really feel for you. Hoping Roe v Wade's repeal will bring Ohio the votes for the Democraric leadership you need.
https://votersnotpoliticians.com/
I hope so, but the Republicans have really caused a lot of damage.
Thank you, Heather.
“Women are not without electoral or political power.”
Amen and amen.
Women of this ‘political power’ were of the first to be stripped of it. Now it is onto the rest of the Constitution starting with the Bill of Rights.
In Trump’s first inaugural address in 2017 moments after being sworn into office he termed the American Constitution ‘archaic’. Now with one insurrection under his belt he into destroying what’s is left.
Only We the People are left to defend it from complete destruction, majority and minority. We Can and We Must.
With the extreme issues and personalities, this is starting to feel like LBJ vs Goldwater, more every day. I predicted DJT would be a one term POTUS. Now I'm predicting he will lose big. He'll carry some of the deep south Confederate States...but not much more.
I certainly hope so, but I have some serious concerns about how media outlets cover this issue, and that people do not understand that our continued existence as a democracy is under threat.
Good morning Cathy. Hope is a good starting place, but it's not enough. I'm also concerned about media coverage and folks really understanding the facts and what's at stake. So, we must take our desires and create action around them. Talk to that friend or relative who might vote for Trump and see how firm they are. Especially if they live in a swing state or district. If they can't vote for Biden,but they really don't like Trump ask them to write in someone they can support...or just sit out this vote for POTUS. Not voting for Trump is a win. Donate money and/or time to a place where it matters, the Biden Campaign...or get out the vote in a swing state. Make calls...even $1 or $5 helps. It's all cumulative. Our strength lies in numbers and organization. Peace
Good thoughts on this.
I’m with you both and in times like these my faith in this God created democratic process (because nothing is wasted in God’s economy) will have to be enough. His plans not ours not theirs.
From your lips to God’s ear.
Hi Suzanne. I do believe the divine is involved...as are all of us...and I believe in "co-creation". In his first run for office Trump resonated with just enough folks to win the Electoral vote. Remember that he lost the popular vote. He has NEVER won the popular vote. Some people have raised him to the level of deity...and I've seen others claim that yes, the anti-christ has in fact shown up. We can't just pray for the result we want, (though it can't hurt). We have to act. We have to be the life ring, the helicopter, the EMT's....and we have to focus our efforts where it will matter. Swing states. Donate your money and/or time as you can. That is how we get the payoff. Peace
Mike, we have to be the good samaritan who stops to render the aid we can consistent with our training and abilities. Even if it is to give water to the people doing the heavy lifting.
every little bit helps. 50 million little bits of "snowflakes" creates an avalanche
The mainstream and right-wing media coverage of the debate will reveal the lengths allowed to alter, edite and revise information being shared/delivered to the audience across the network/cable outlets. This can not be "undone" since that audience does not tune into other venues. Watch or misinformation at work!
Margaret that's very true. There's about 30% of potential voters who are those people and solid Trump. We can't change that. Winning this election happens in the middle ground. Old school Republicans more like Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney, Independents and registered Dems who cross party lines like the ones here in MD who helped elect Larry Hogan for Gov for 2 terms. That's where our efforts need to be, along with Dems who voted for Biden the last time, but now think he's too old, or the economy isn't working for them. There's at least 20% of potential voters at play here. That's where the contest is. Also remember that Trump has never won the popular vote. Thanks for your time and comments.
A lot of Iowans eat Trump's swill.
well that's true in a lot of states, but that doesn't make him a "winner". It makes him a player, who needs to be beaten. Do anything you can to add a vote to Biden or take one away from Trump. It all adds up. Peace
Women are not without electoral or political power.
Sam. A Alito Ass. Justice Dobbs decision 2022
Women have been saying that for decades. Women proved it in the midterms.
Women will push the re-election of Joe R Biden over the line….
CONDON, your influence is strong among your supporters which number appear to be dwindling. Sammy said what we have known for decades, women have power and you poked the lioness one time too many.
This native Texan and proud member of "those people" has always looked down on sheepfuckers like Chip Roy as the ignorant, malicious morons they are. After reading what he'd like to do, what ought to be done with him and the rest of them would make that wish of his look like a Sunday school picnic
Ahup.
Those poor sheep. I hope animal rights activists would intervene. Oh wait, humans are also animals. Maybe we should get PETA to go after our abusers? LMAO
Amen, indeed!!