We have watched in horror and disgust the Taliban in Afghanistan oppressing women and girls, using them as property with very little rights of their own. The Taliban have said they have changed, but that remains to be seen.
Now I am watching with horror and disgust as our own version of the Taliban force their religious beliefs on others, just like their brethren in Afghanistan. I am referring to the new law in Texas banning abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy. What is unusual about this law is that it allows average citizens to sue anyone helping a woman or girl obtain an abortion. The prize is $10,000. Not bad for someone who may be scrimping to live.
President Biden in remarks said it was almost un-American. Almost? No, I will go further and say it is un-American. It is exactly what the Taliban in Afghanistan have forced on the female population in that country. Now we are seeing it here. And so far our Supreme Court has allowed it to stand. Despite the fact that the issue of abortion has been argued and decided in Roe v Wade.
Let me be clear, no one, and I mean no one has the right to decide for a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. It is her right to decide.
Remember...
I stand with my sisters who are facing the oppressive, un-American, actions of our American Taliban in Texas and elsewhere.
21 comments:
There's been a marked lack of celebration among the Evangelical right-wing for this decision. One reason (among the top three that I can think of) is that the Evangelicals think, like most other 'court watchers' that the Texas law will be struck down in due course. They think, as do I, that the majority 'Trumpkin/Republican/Right-wing/Federalist' Justices are merely allowing the law to stand for now because they were able to manufacture an excuse to avoid ruling on it for now, and that eventually they'll be obliged to declare it patently unconstitutional.
But, for now, they have an opportunity to screw with lives of the 'liberal' citizens who were never going to vote for them. And they're gonna enjoy opportunity that while they can.
In the manner we've come to recognize of late in the more overtly political branches of the government, those more clearly under the control of the new Trumpkin/Republican Party, for now they're doing it simply because they can. And that's all the excuse they seem to need.
But, it's not enough to set off celebrations among the Evangelicals.
But, for now, they have an opportunity to screw with lives of the 'liberal' citizens who were never going to vote for them.
Maybe if they do it enough it will get them kicked out of office. One can only hope.
Note again, I wrote that the theory I laid out was one of 'the top three' theories running through the main stream media punditry for why the Evangelical right-wing isn't celebrating that decision.
I don't necessarily believe that theory myself. I do believe the Federalist Society majority voting in that case allowed the law to stand merely because they found a means to manufacture an excuse for it, and not because they believe its anywhere near close to being 'constitutional' under Roe v Wade.
But, I do not believe that those Federalist Society Justices will show restraint when the time comes. I suspect they'll allow the Texas law to stand in spite of it being blatantly unconstitutional (according to established legal precedents). I don't think they'll have any problem at all with promoting the new Federalist Society theorem that The Constitution says whatever they want it to say for the time being, instead of what's actually written.
I don't think they'll have any problem at all with promoting the new Federalist Society theorem that The Constitution says whatever they want it to say for the time being, instead of what's actually written.
It is that kind of mentality that is the clear and present danger to our democracy.
The people who feel that their religious beliefs are in some way superior and more right than another's is the same mentality of the Taliban or other extremist forces.
The beauty of the American ideal of religious freedom was it allowed many different beliefs to reside under one roof amicably. Once you start with groups or tribes attempting to force their beliefs on other people it is the decline of our society.
I have never been in the situation of having to decide on whether or not to end a pregnancy. But what I do know is that it is a deeply personal thing for any woman involved and they should be allowed to come to their own choice. Giving people clear information on their options and counseling is right, coercion is not.
"It is that kind of mentality that is the clear and present
danger to our democracy."
Lawrence Tribe has a plan to deal with it, outlined in the WashingtonPost. Interesting notion; worth a look.
I think it unlikely the Democrats will attempt anything this aggressive anytime soon. They're still trying to pretend they can eventually do civilized political accommodations with the Trumpkin/Republican Party. They refuse to believe the Trumpkins/Republicans are playing for keeps this time; they refuse to believe their own eyes and the evidence clearly before them.
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Jacob Chansley, popularly known as the "QAnon Shaman" is disappointed that Trump didn't pardon him. Reuters
Looks like he may do some moderate prison time; three-four years maybe, on a felony rap, for his part in the Jan 6ᵗʰ putsch.
It looks like the DOJ is trying to find some weapon to use against the Texas law.
Mr. Garland said the Justice Department would “protect the constitutional rights of women and other persons” under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE, a 1994 federal law that guarantees access to the entrances of clinics that offer reproductive health services, including those that offer abortions. Under the law, it is illegal to threaten, obstruct or injure a person seeking access to such a clinic or to damage the clinic’s property, punishable by a fine or imprisonment.
It is a poor substitute, though, for Supreme Court action.
Meanwhile, back in Afghanistan, it appears that the Taliban are busy forming a government that includes former Gitmo detainees and someone who is on the FBI Most Wanted List.
The lineup of senior positions, which includes former Guantanamo inmates, members of a US-designated terror group and subjects of an international sanctions lists, presents the first snapshot of how the Taliban's leadership of Afghanistan will begin to take shape.
So much for any influence the US has on the Taliban.
I talked to someone today who was fully vaccinated in February with the Pfizer vaccine who got Covid in July. She was very sick, but recovered at home and did not have to go to the hospital. She does still get fatigued and has difficulty breathing at times. But she survived. I have to think that she was lucky she was vaccinated. Her case might have turned out much differently.
"I have to think that she was lucky she was vaccinated."
I'm getting the booster shot (Moderna) soon as it's available here and I'm eligible.
Dexter Filkins' essay entitled "Did Making the Rules of War Better Make the World Worse?", from the 'books' section of TheNewYorker. Filkins reviews two books on the subject and briefly references a couple more.
The gist of it is supposed to be a question about whether or not "cleaning up" war has made war more palatable to the modern world.
But, buried in there is also an argument that the United States has now produced a perpetual war machine that we seem to be almost powerless to shut down.
I found that to be the most intriguing idea in the essay.
That looks rather intriguing. I will have to check out the link later.
This article was well thought out. While I will probably not be part of the solution, I will try not to be part of the problem and call for everyone to abandon Texas.
I heard they were suggesting 8 months after the second shot would be when a booster would be needed. I don't know if that will hold true or not. But that would put me in January. I also got Moderna.
"… abandon Texas."
I forget whose article it was… But I do remember reading a piece which pointed out (without any schadenfreude that I could recognize) that Texas is among those fastest growing "red" states, which just coincidentally (or not) happen to be among the states most likely to be soonest and hardest impacted by global warming. Gonna soon be gettin' hot in the arid and semi-arid southwest sections of this country, and dry, even compared to today's "hot" and "dry", gonna get serious hot and dry, and it ain't gonna let up once it starts. And the southern gulf coast--also hot--but not dry--floods and hurricanes. Goin' get ugly there too.
They don't believe in the covid vaccines down there--so they're leading the way into the brave new world of covid variants. They don't believe in global warming--and it's gonna come for them first and hardest as well. (Texas is gonna get hit especially hard because they also don't believe in building codes nor local zoning regulations nor do they believe in having backup plans for their public utilities.)
I got schadenfreude 'nuff for both me and for the author of that article whom I can't remember who is.
Note to file: Fairly high possibility of an outbreak of Marcus rant in the next 28 to 30 hours.
Gonna soon be gettin' hot in the arid and semi-arid southwest sections of this country, and dry, even compared to today's "hot" and "dry", gonna get serious hot and dry, and it ain't gonna let up once it starts.
Yes. I feel no pleasure in what will befall all of those people who are mired in the disinformation and out right lies of people who will not see what is coming, and is already here.
The writer of the article I linked to wanted to try to get people to see beyond the bad and fight for the good. Move to Texas to make it a better place. Her focus was on the anti-abortion law. So in that sense she was right. You can't give up the fight. But, unfortunately, you are also right in the sense that climate change will make Texas and other states very unpleasant places to live in...I was going to say future, but perhaps the future is already here. Last winter was no piece of cake for many in Texas and the current state government doesn't appear to want to address any of the problems that contributed to it.
I am afraid that what we are seeing now is already baked in, excuse the pun, to our climate. We can only try to prevent further erosion of our Goldilocks environment.
And, maybe that is why I am not screaming as loudly about our withdrawal from Afghanistan as I could be, like Marcus suggested. I know that the coming fight is going to take all of our resources, talent and intelligence to combat. As sad as I am for people in Afghanistan it is this looming existential danger to our existence that is front and center now.
In some ways I even feel rather sorry for the Taliban. They don't realize what they have taken on. It's no longer the 90's in more ways than one.
"In some ways I even feel rather sorry for the Taliban."
Looks like I'll havta dreg up some extra schadenfreude to compensate for the shortfall coming out of Minnesota.
Well, the 30 hours is up, and Marcus hasn't yet gone into a rant 'bout Biden's new anti-covid initiatives. So, I guessed that one wrong. (Lee C. @ Thu Sept 09, 01:44 pm ↑↑)
However, we do have a whole bunch of Republican Governors who're all up in the rant range today, doing the basic anti-social, pro-virus work that Marcus has so far failed to do on his own.
So many specials on 9/11. I just finished watching the one on the CIA's role. It brought back so many emotions from that time. I hadn't heard all their stories.
They say if you lived through it you remember what you were doing when you first heard. I do. I remember as if it were yesterday.
Looking at the country today it's hard to believe there was a time when we all stood together.
"I remember as if it were yesterday."
Yeah, same here.
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"…it's hard to believe there was a time when we all
stood together."
Not hard for me to believe; I watched the Republican Party with a certain degree of morbid fascination as it underwent its metamorphosis.
I was old enough to understand what Ronald Reagan represented. And every step along the path from Reagan to Trump was predictable (not necessarily inevitable, but entirely predictable, within some degree of probability).
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