We are now under minority political rule by rural and conservative white men, and likely to remain that way for a while.
The political system has left us with the reality of today's Senate and today's court, which are together able to block the standard political paths towards progress. The only non-violent route I can see towards returning to normal politics, where the people have power, is a national strike. I hope you will add your voice in favor of such a strike. The court's Dobbs ruling offers a real opportunity because it affects all women and the many men who believe we each have a right to control what happens inside of our bodies. That's not like racial justice issues, where it is easy for white people like me to tut-tut yet do nothing. And it's not like economic issues, where both sides pretend to be able to solve our economic problems, while voters just blame or credit the party in power for economic results over which they have little control.
So if there were ever a time for the people to show their power, this is probably it. We are still in a pandemic which forced many of us to become aware of how "essential workers" are given the short end of the stick, or perhaps just the tiniest glimpse. We are forty years into Reagan's destruction of the labor movement, forty years into the capture of the government by the wealthiest, using race to divide us. It all culminated in trump, and Dobbs is nothing more than the result of trump having sold his soul to the pseudo-Christian radical right in order to get their support.
We are all so disgusted, and too many of us are angry at Democrats for not being able to magically alter our reality. Now the reality of the religious right's intentions towards individual liberty are undeniable to all. This is the time.
Thanks, Suz. Well, I guess the one rule is to try to cause more pain among those who are blocking the result you want than among those who are striking. I think we've all seen enough to know that something has to be done, but I'm not sure it has to be national, at least initially. And it doesn't have to be right now; in fact Labor Day might be a sensible starting point, though clearly organizing would need to take place before then. My hope would be that if a couple of cities started planning, others would organize as well.
I think it would have to consist of two stages, with the first stage demanding House and Senate both agreeing to discuss a bill legalizing abortion. Then a breather to let people go back to work while the legislative process continues, then a larger strike if the bill isn't passed by the Senate. The hope would be that the first stage would alarm some Senators enough that the bill would pass without a second stage, but if the second stage were needed, the first stage would have activated enough people that they'd be willing to go out again.
The fact that the scotus is also gutting environmental regulations would help in any mobilization, but there would have to be just a single demand on the part of the strikers. Unlike Occupy, for example, which never seemed to get it together to the point of clearly stating when or why it would end its "occupying."
I think you'll find that national organizations will say such a strike is impossible. I have completely given up on any national leadership for just about anything.
Deleted my comment, Mitch. i still like your thinking tho.
On further thought, i also don't think it's viable tho i did initially like the idea. As you said, seems like it needs to be something that causes them more pain... and that just sounds so unlikely to me now. I'm sure we'll come up with something. Gonna take us a little time. And we don't actually have a lot of it left..
Many things just "aren't workable" until they happen. But I'm a well-off 65 year old who could afford to lose my job. What I've seen for most of my life is that bullies screw people until people finally hit back. Having said that, though, I could never have imagined the country electing trump after the "drag 'em" comment, and was certain he was politically dead after he made fun of a reporter's disability. So I've clearly had no real understanding of what's happened to my neighbors' sense of integrity.
yeah... i think in some ways, people are simply exhausted and burned out... which could certainly be part of the R strategy. Rs just don't want any challenges. they wanna control everyone and everything. wearing us down so we tune out and ignore them works for them. integrity may still be intact. harder to access it when you're hungry, homeless, sick, ignorant, jobless, in debt, overwhelmed, etc ... with little to no social safety net.
If judges can lie so that their nomination to the Supreme Court will be approved by the Senate, our government will have lost all of its credibility. The Constitution will just be a meaningless collection of words; the verdicts of that Supreme Court an injustice carried out upon the citizens of the nation. Is it not a crime to lie under oath? Do Americans need to respect the decisions of dishonest people in high places who do not respect Truth?
Agree. When these Justices were in court, if they ran a court, they require all performers in the court to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. They violated that oath. They lied. The justices should be removed. If I lie at a job interview, and it's found later, I'm fired. Same goes for these liars.
Pres. Biden: "The only way we can secure a woman's right to choose...is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law. No executive action from the president can do that."
Well, Dems have had DECADES to codify it. Why haven't they? Right NOW, they have House, Senate and WH and looking to lose BIG TIME in upcoming mid-term elections. Why? Because they aren't addressing ANYTHING that matters for us. WHAT are they waiting for???????????????? Does anyone actually think voting for them in 2022 or 2024 is going to make a difference? Just claiming that Rs are worse is getting really old...
Inflation, student loan debt, gas prices, etc... don't need 60 senate votes to pass meaningful legislation to support we, the people. There are even a *few* Rs who'd likely support it since these things are affecting ALL Americans, including their own constituents. Dems are not addressing any of these things. Pretty easy to see that whatever power they have now will be gone soon. And this is why. Sorry you think it's BS. Watch and see for yourself. I hope I'm wrong. We need to work together, not let them divide us. Right now, I see Dems doing nothing for us while they can. What value do you see them bringing us?
This gives me so much hope. We need to get out and vote to take back and protect our rights. I was encouraged by the amount of young, engaging women interviewed. The future of our country depends on them. They know how important it is to take a stand, even the ones who can't vote yet. We need term limits for ALL politicians and justices. ✊️
Born and raised in a small town south of Flint (once called “City of the Strait” and later Motown) I have been a follower of yours since the early days. We’ve been watching America unravel from our home here near Venice, Italy since the mid-eighties. Here are my comments re the Trump Republican Supreme Court Outrage and how American journalism is failing the country on this and other issues.
“BUT WHAT”, asks the reporter again wearing his most serious journalist face in the middle of this rolling disaster, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS?”
Seriously? Let’s see where we’re at:
The Trump Court has just pulled the pin on and tossed Grenade #1 directly into the lives over half of all Americans, thus instantly shattering the Constitutional wall that our founders had wisely put place between church and state by shoving Catholic and radical evangelical church doctrine and control into the lives of every American. In an instant they eliminated the right to control their own bodies from over half of the nation’s citizenry (those who can get pregnant), shoving them not simply to the back of the bus as newly demoted second class citizens but also UNDER the bus. The Trump Republican Court members mostly appointed by politicians that lost the popular vote are also readying themselves to pull the pin on Grenade #2 aimed at blowing up the lives of every same sex married couple in the US. Then, following the logic of the Alito Republican Court opinion, they clearly intend on finishing off virtually everyone else with the final Grenade, Grenade #3, the one criminalizing contraception, birth control and family planning, being tossing that grenade into the lives of virtually every other American, any American physically able to get pregnant or able to cause pregnancy. Now on the table: Forced baby making, forcing every pregnant American female to carry every fetus to term under threat of criminal prosecution for not doing so. That’s right. This Republican Supreme Court decision has given every Republican governor and every Republican state legislature the legal right to force every American female physically capable of giving birth to do so. It does not matter to them who impregnates the woman. It could be her husband, boyfriend, a stranger, priest, minister, imam, rabbi, rapist, her neighbor, cousin, uncle, father or some guy in the park one day. ANYONE. Doesn’t matter who they are or who she is. The Republican Court has spoken.
So where is American journalism in all this?
“BUT WHAT”, asks the reporter again so very earnestly in the middle of this rolling existential disaster, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS?”
HaHa! Of course Biden really doesn't want to lower the price of gas! Look at all the people buying electric cars that they can't really afford now. His promise to go electric. No matter the cars will all be fried when we are hit with a solar flare the size of the Carrington Event and our world is sent back to the 1900's. or even the middle ages!
CATHOLIC EUROPE HAS ABORTION--AND EMPTY CATHEDRALS. THIS. IS NOT A QUESTION OF ROE VS WAD. This is unsophisticated and obese America trying to be recognized as righteous. BUT THEY ARE PHONIES SINCE GLUTTONY IS A SIN.
Thanks for your podcast today, recording people’s comments. I’m sure the SCOTUS decision will be overturned one way or another. The emotional response is overwhelming.
A number of the protesters recorded on the podcast referred to the SCOTUS decision as one given by “stupid White men.” Don’t forget that the sole woman, a pretty one at that, with a shapely figure, a mother, joined in the decision. That means something. She represents women of a certain type. She is relatively young and might still be able to have more children. Didn’t she feel this decision could affect her? What if she were raped?
Some people in the protest expressed concern over contraceptive rights also being overturned. Didn’t “Justice” Thomas comment in that direction? I ask: How did these “Justices” avoid having many children themselves if they didn’t practice some form of birth control? Thomas and his wife have no children. What did they do?
Some people were worried about interracial marriage. Well, the Thomases have an interracial marriage. I don’t think SCOTUS would dare go there.
I haven’t read the decision, but I hear that references were made to old laws of previous centuries. Were abortions even possible then? The same thing is true about the Second Amendment--guns. With muskets and cannons being the main source of weaponry available at the time, how could the Second Amendment be used today, especially in relation to concealed carry (if it was referenced in that decision at all)? Why is it used today at all? The same is true of the Bible in reference to abortions. Were abortions even possible in Biblical times?
I’m Christian (Protestant), but not all Christians are against abortions. Not because of my religion, I think that as a biological fact, life begins at conception, sperm meeting egg--but I don’t give myself the right to tell other women what they may do about that. I know that sometimes abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life, and also that miscarriages have been unjustly called abortions and women have gone to jail for it. That’s horrible. But also, women have to make their own choices. I can’t tell them what to do. I’ve also heard that many women feel guilty for having abortions because they instinctively feel they’re denying life to future children, but if they felt they had to do it, I don’t want them to feel bad.
During the protest it was rightly pointed out that child support isn’t being provided for--food, clothing, education, day care, housing are not being properly covered. How dare SCOTUS say women must always give birth, no matter what, even if they can’t take proper care of these children, and institutions for children whose mothers couldn’t care for them are overflowing? In any case, Roe or not, all those provisions for child care must be cast in stone and fully covered in law, from cradle to maturity.
One woman said she was “lucky” (I think that’s her word) to have had a hysterectomy at 22. I’m lucky to know why a hysterectomy is to be avoided unless it’s the only way to save a woman’s life. It’s not lucky to have one, whatever the reason. I was lucky to be able to avoid it when under pressure by numerous doctors to have a hysterectomy or else. Unfortunately women are not told the truth by doctors who are thinking of their own ease and convenience--a hysterectomy, fully covered by most insurance, is usually far easier and quicker to perform than surgery which corrects problems and saves the uterus--and it’s not fully covered by most insurance. A hysterectomy, among other things, adversely affects sex in certain ways, and this woman’s husband was at the protest; how does he really feel about his wife’s surgery? For medically documented info on hysterectomies, see www.hersfoundation.org.
Okay. This was not as long as SCOTUS’s decision. I hope this is useful.
Vote Blue? Absolutely; but we must demand better from them. They failed to do what needed to be done to prevent this many times over the years. Democrats are a FAILURE of a party, and they know it, but too many of them don't care; they are way too comfortable in their corporate gig to give a damn. We need to get the "moderates" out and more lefties in. This is a decades long fight from here on out.
Agree that Dems are a failure. Big Fat "F." Not sure we have anyone to vote FOR. We've already been demanding "better" from Dems. That's why we've voted blue. For decades.
Where has it gotten us? Roe is gone. GONE. And NO federal legislation to protect us?? FIFTY years later?? They knew this day was coming. (Everyone knew.) They could've and should've codified it. Why didn't they? Excellent question.
Bernie told us all a good while back that this Dem party can't/won't be fundamentally changed. And they are showing us every single day how true that is. Way out of touch with us. Entrenched.
Guess who just sent $$$$$ AND showed up, personally, in south Texas to back ANTI-CHOICE incumbent Dem rep in primary against female PRO-CHOICE challenger who nearly beat him last time and came even closer this time? He barely eked out 'victory' ~200 votes thanks partly to... well, you know.
Remember Biden promised us "nothing would fundamentally change" if he was elected? Yep.
"Corporations are people, my friend." Remember that? Pay no attention to those "people" behind the curtain. Once we start to see them ... co-opting both parties, controlling our lives, and why ... we begin to see our true dilemma. The corporatocracy rules as the wizard of oligarchs. THAT'S what needs to change.
Just re-watched Michael's 2015 film WHERE TO INVADE NEXT. I had forgotten so much of it and highly recommend people to revisit or see it for the first time. Little did we know that it would be our own government invading women's bodies in 2022!!
As a swede I'm getting more and more doubtful that USA really are a democracy. The last couple of years I've been following American politics, and I'm surprised to discover so many things in your system are not designed to protect the will of the majority. Instead it seems like its designed to protect the interests of a few priviliged groups of people. It's sad to see that the country that's supposed to protect the democratic part of the world having such a big problem upholding it on It's own territory. I really hope, for all the democratic nations in the world, that all you who who fights for real democracy in USA will prevail.
You are right on, Anders. Designed to protect the few privileged as you said. NOT the people. Or environment or nature or anything else besides money. Makes NO sense, especially to a Swede. Runs on myths and total dedication to profit, managed by institutions and corporations... that are most definitely NOT people. (no matter what Mitt says)
Thank you for replaying. And a very big thank you for all the work you done for reason and democracy in all of your life. The world would be such a beutiful place if kindness and respect ruled us all.
Thank you for your kind and inspiring words, Anders. And for being here. And for being a Swede! Sweden sets an admirable example of how to live peacefully in community and the world. :-)
This Supreme Court decision was a ghastly mistake on many levels. This is what Authoritarian decision making is like....Vote them out. Vote Democratic. Vote for people with a soul. Kick the souless ones out forever.
I have asked the Solicitor General and attorneys for Respondents to fileva Petition for Rehearing under SCt Rule 44within 25 days of the June24, 2022 decision in Dobbs.
None iof the justices and none of the Solicitor General or the attorneys for the Respondent clinics raised the 13th Amendment issue in their briefs or arguments.
Aretha Franklin, one of the greatest singing artists of America, gave birth to children at the age of 12 and 14. This is on Wikipedia. I don't know how she felt or why she went ahead with the births--whether abortion was an option or not. I have no regret that those people lived, but it must have been hard for her. Members of her family raised the children and she visited them often, but didn't like to talk about them publicly. All of this brings up the question which is not easily answered, about the worth of human life. But a woman should not be compelled to give birth if she didn't plan to get pregnant and if it would be hard for her. It's 9 months of her life, her body, and then all the years that follow. It affects the children, too.
Her father, a pastor who had an enormous influence on her life, impregnated a 12-year-old girl who was a member of his congregation. This girl also gave birth, to the person who was Aretha's half-sister. Why there was no hue and cry about this, I have no idea. The feelings of the half-sister, who has since passed away, have to be considered. But we can see from these instances why there is so much turmoil about when and how a woman should carry a pregnancy. Ordinarily, in these cases, most people would not recommend that girls of 12 or 14 should give birth.
Hey Mike; a government that cannot protect their own women's right to choose takes it upon itself to go to a distant land spend time and money to orchestrate the removal of an elected Prime Minister of that country. What kind of priority is this ? There is so much to correct right here at home and our government is indulging in "regime change" overseas.
I remember reading the book, "My Darling, My Hamburger" that I checked out from my middle school library in 1974?? It was about a high school girl getting an abortion. She survives, but her feeling of loliness, having no one to turn to but a friend always hit me hard. I teach high school now and the few times I mentioned the way it was, the boys have no conception of that. How much suffering, feeling trapped, . . .using a hangers in a back room. One thing no one talks about is babies born with drug addiction. What will happen to them? Their suffering. Many have developmental problems.
We need to start showing movies like The Color Purple on Netflix to reach these young people and Dirty Dancing, but young people don't even realize what is going on in that movie! . Asussie movie " The Fringe Dwellers ". When Juno came out I thought it a very quirky movie, the attitude and mundane acceptance of her pregnancy. It just did not seem like reality of what it is really like to be an expecting mother in high school. It seemed so flippant.
I fell it,
I went back to school for a second career, I took the entry tests pregnant with my second child. Took my 3rd to class with me after she was born. Then my last semester I got pregnant with our fourth, I was devastated! I felt I would never really make it as a teacher. I contemplated an abortion. I did not have it --my husband realized what was going on and talked me out of it. but It affected my life, I am still a sub, I never got a a sucessful career. It was hard raising 4 kids, They did not get everything their peers got. But they did pretty good. Three are college graduates!
Well, any way, I think we have a good case to impeach at least two Supreme Court justices. lying in congress confirmation hearings. Really? Why can't we do that! If we prosecute the ex orange guy, can we cancell all his appiontments he made because of his traitorous actions? Not upholding the constitution he gave an oath to do so. His compiracy actions include stacking the offices with people into his schemes. Yes?Dream on. Still waiting for the EPA to come back to Washington. And the US postal general?? really! ??
oh, as usual this outrage is a cover up for something even more nefarious ( Spell check) See Jon Stewart's latest podcast. How the courts are undermining the power of regulatory organizations like the FTC ? Did I get the right acronym?
Watch "A Dangerous Precedent: Law Professors Explain Jarkesy v. SEC | The Problem With Jon Stewart Podcast" on YouTube
We are now under minority political rule by rural and conservative white men, and likely to remain that way for a while.
The political system has left us with the reality of today's Senate and today's court, which are together able to block the standard political paths towards progress. The only non-violent route I can see towards returning to normal politics, where the people have power, is a national strike. I hope you will add your voice in favor of such a strike. The court's Dobbs ruling offers a real opportunity because it affects all women and the many men who believe we each have a right to control what happens inside of our bodies. That's not like racial justice issues, where it is easy for white people like me to tut-tut yet do nothing. And it's not like economic issues, where both sides pretend to be able to solve our economic problems, while voters just blame or credit the party in power for economic results over which they have little control.
So if there were ever a time for the people to show their power, this is probably it. We are still in a pandemic which forced many of us to become aware of how "essential workers" are given the short end of the stick, or perhaps just the tiniest glimpse. We are forty years into Reagan's destruction of the labor movement, forty years into the capture of the government by the wealthiest, using race to divide us. It all culminated in trump, and Dobbs is nothing more than the result of trump having sold his soul to the pseudo-Christian radical right in order to get their support.
We are all so disgusted, and too many of us are angry at Democrats for not being able to magically alter our reality. Now the reality of the religious right's intentions towards individual liberty are undeniable to all. This is the time.
Thanks, Suz. Well, I guess the one rule is to try to cause more pain among those who are blocking the result you want than among those who are striking. I think we've all seen enough to know that something has to be done, but I'm not sure it has to be national, at least initially. And it doesn't have to be right now; in fact Labor Day might be a sensible starting point, though clearly organizing would need to take place before then. My hope would be that if a couple of cities started planning, others would organize as well.
I think it would have to consist of two stages, with the first stage demanding House and Senate both agreeing to discuss a bill legalizing abortion. Then a breather to let people go back to work while the legislative process continues, then a larger strike if the bill isn't passed by the Senate. The hope would be that the first stage would alarm some Senators enough that the bill would pass without a second stage, but if the second stage were needed, the first stage would have activated enough people that they'd be willing to go out again.
The fact that the scotus is also gutting environmental regulations would help in any mobilization, but there would have to be just a single demand on the part of the strikers. Unlike Occupy, for example, which never seemed to get it together to the point of clearly stating when or why it would end its "occupying."
I think you'll find that national organizations will say such a strike is impossible. I have completely given up on any national leadership for just about anything.
Deleted my comment, Mitch. i still like your thinking tho.
On further thought, i also don't think it's viable tho i did initially like the idea. As you said, seems like it needs to be something that causes them more pain... and that just sounds so unlikely to me now. I'm sure we'll come up with something. Gonna take us a little time. And we don't actually have a lot of it left..
Many things just "aren't workable" until they happen. But I'm a well-off 65 year old who could afford to lose my job. What I've seen for most of my life is that bullies screw people until people finally hit back. Having said that, though, I could never have imagined the country electing trump after the "drag 'em" comment, and was certain he was politically dead after he made fun of a reporter's disability. So I've clearly had no real understanding of what's happened to my neighbors' sense of integrity.
yeah... i think in some ways, people are simply exhausted and burned out... which could certainly be part of the R strategy. Rs just don't want any challenges. they wanna control everyone and everything. wearing us down so we tune out and ignore them works for them. integrity may still be intact. harder to access it when you're hungry, homeless, sick, ignorant, jobless, in debt, overwhelmed, etc ... with little to no social safety net.
If judges can lie so that their nomination to the Supreme Court will be approved by the Senate, our government will have lost all of its credibility. The Constitution will just be a meaningless collection of words; the verdicts of that Supreme Court an injustice carried out upon the citizens of the nation. Is it not a crime to lie under oath? Do Americans need to respect the decisions of dishonest people in high places who do not respect Truth?
Agree. When these Justices were in court, if they ran a court, they require all performers in the court to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth. They violated that oath. They lied. The justices should be removed. If I lie at a job interview, and it's found later, I'm fired. Same goes for these liars.
Pres. Biden: "The only way we can secure a woman's right to choose...is for Congress to restore the protections of Roe v. Wade as federal law. No executive action from the president can do that."
"This fall, Roe is on the ballot." 🗳 #VoteBlue!
Yes, it is! Show up. Vote. NO EXCUSES!
Well, Dems have had DECADES to codify it. Why haven't they? Right NOW, they have House, Senate and WH and looking to lose BIG TIME in upcoming mid-term elections. Why? Because they aren't addressing ANYTHING that matters for us. WHAT are they waiting for???????????????? Does anyone actually think voting for them in 2022 or 2024 is going to make a difference? Just claiming that Rs are worse is getting really old...
Dems don’t have the senate with 60 votes. Take your BS elsewhere.
Inflation, student loan debt, gas prices, etc... don't need 60 senate votes to pass meaningful legislation to support we, the people. There are even a *few* Rs who'd likely support it since these things are affecting ALL Americans, including their own constituents. Dems are not addressing any of these things. Pretty easy to see that whatever power they have now will be gone soon. And this is why. Sorry you think it's BS. Watch and see for yourself. I hope I'm wrong. We need to work together, not let them divide us. Right now, I see Dems doing nothing for us while they can. What value do you see them bringing us?
Take your lies and propaganda elsewhere 😉
dumber than dumb ... smh
Talking to yourself, Bernie Bro?
This gives me so much hope. We need to get out and vote to take back and protect our rights. I was encouraged by the amount of young, engaging women interviewed. The future of our country depends on them. They know how important it is to take a stand, even the ones who can't vote yet. We need term limits for ALL politicians and justices. ✊️
Born and raised in a small town south of Flint (once called “City of the Strait” and later Motown) I have been a follower of yours since the early days. We’ve been watching America unravel from our home here near Venice, Italy since the mid-eighties. Here are my comments re the Trump Republican Supreme Court Outrage and how American journalism is failing the country on this and other issues.
“BUT WHAT”, asks the reporter again wearing his most serious journalist face in the middle of this rolling disaster, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS?”
Seriously? Let’s see where we’re at:
The Trump Court has just pulled the pin on and tossed Grenade #1 directly into the lives over half of all Americans, thus instantly shattering the Constitutional wall that our founders had wisely put place between church and state by shoving Catholic and radical evangelical church doctrine and control into the lives of every American. In an instant they eliminated the right to control their own bodies from over half of the nation’s citizenry (those who can get pregnant), shoving them not simply to the back of the bus as newly demoted second class citizens but also UNDER the bus. The Trump Republican Court members mostly appointed by politicians that lost the popular vote are also readying themselves to pull the pin on Grenade #2 aimed at blowing up the lives of every same sex married couple in the US. Then, following the logic of the Alito Republican Court opinion, they clearly intend on finishing off virtually everyone else with the final Grenade, Grenade #3, the one criminalizing contraception, birth control and family planning, being tossing that grenade into the lives of virtually every other American, any American physically able to get pregnant or able to cause pregnancy. Now on the table: Forced baby making, forcing every pregnant American female to carry every fetus to term under threat of criminal prosecution for not doing so. That’s right. This Republican Supreme Court decision has given every Republican governor and every Republican state legislature the legal right to force every American female physically capable of giving birth to do so. It does not matter to them who impregnates the woman. It could be her husband, boyfriend, a stranger, priest, minister, imam, rabbi, rapist, her neighbor, cousin, uncle, father or some guy in the park one day. ANYONE. Doesn’t matter who they are or who she is. The Republican Court has spoken.
So where is American journalism in all this?
“BUT WHAT”, asks the reporter again so very earnestly in the middle of this rolling existential disaster, “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE OF GAS?”
HaHa! Of course Biden really doesn't want to lower the price of gas! Look at all the people buying electric cars that they can't really afford now. His promise to go electric. No matter the cars will all be fried when we are hit with a solar flare the size of the Carrington Event and our world is sent back to the 1900's. or even the middle ages!
Thank you, thank you, Michael for sharing the voices that I so needed to hear. Their words gave me hope. Thank you all for stepping up to be heard.
Again, Micheal, keep up the GOOD fight !!!
YES…get out and VOTE
CATHOLIC EUROPE HAS ABORTION--AND EMPTY CATHEDRALS. THIS. IS NOT A QUESTION OF ROE VS WAD. This is unsophisticated and obese America trying to be recognized as righteous. BUT THEY ARE PHONIES SINCE GLUTTONY IS A SIN.
Hi, Mike.
Thanks for your podcast today, recording people’s comments. I’m sure the SCOTUS decision will be overturned one way or another. The emotional response is overwhelming.
A number of the protesters recorded on the podcast referred to the SCOTUS decision as one given by “stupid White men.” Don’t forget that the sole woman, a pretty one at that, with a shapely figure, a mother, joined in the decision. That means something. She represents women of a certain type. She is relatively young and might still be able to have more children. Didn’t she feel this decision could affect her? What if she were raped?
Some people in the protest expressed concern over contraceptive rights also being overturned. Didn’t “Justice” Thomas comment in that direction? I ask: How did these “Justices” avoid having many children themselves if they didn’t practice some form of birth control? Thomas and his wife have no children. What did they do?
Some people were worried about interracial marriage. Well, the Thomases have an interracial marriage. I don’t think SCOTUS would dare go there.
I haven’t read the decision, but I hear that references were made to old laws of previous centuries. Were abortions even possible then? The same thing is true about the Second Amendment--guns. With muskets and cannons being the main source of weaponry available at the time, how could the Second Amendment be used today, especially in relation to concealed carry (if it was referenced in that decision at all)? Why is it used today at all? The same is true of the Bible in reference to abortions. Were abortions even possible in Biblical times?
I’m Christian (Protestant), but not all Christians are against abortions. Not because of my religion, I think that as a biological fact, life begins at conception, sperm meeting egg--but I don’t give myself the right to tell other women what they may do about that. I know that sometimes abortion is necessary to save a woman’s life, and also that miscarriages have been unjustly called abortions and women have gone to jail for it. That’s horrible. But also, women have to make their own choices. I can’t tell them what to do. I’ve also heard that many women feel guilty for having abortions because they instinctively feel they’re denying life to future children, but if they felt they had to do it, I don’t want them to feel bad.
During the protest it was rightly pointed out that child support isn’t being provided for--food, clothing, education, day care, housing are not being properly covered. How dare SCOTUS say women must always give birth, no matter what, even if they can’t take proper care of these children, and institutions for children whose mothers couldn’t care for them are overflowing? In any case, Roe or not, all those provisions for child care must be cast in stone and fully covered in law, from cradle to maturity.
One woman said she was “lucky” (I think that’s her word) to have had a hysterectomy at 22. I’m lucky to know why a hysterectomy is to be avoided unless it’s the only way to save a woman’s life. It’s not lucky to have one, whatever the reason. I was lucky to be able to avoid it when under pressure by numerous doctors to have a hysterectomy or else. Unfortunately women are not told the truth by doctors who are thinking of their own ease and convenience--a hysterectomy, fully covered by most insurance, is usually far easier and quicker to perform than surgery which corrects problems and saves the uterus--and it’s not fully covered by most insurance. A hysterectomy, among other things, adversely affects sex in certain ways, and this woman’s husband was at the protest; how does he really feel about his wife’s surgery? For medically documented info on hysterectomies, see www.hersfoundation.org.
Okay. This was not as long as SCOTUS’s decision. I hope this is useful.
Thanks, Mike.
Vote Blue? Absolutely; but we must demand better from them. They failed to do what needed to be done to prevent this many times over the years. Democrats are a FAILURE of a party, and they know it, but too many of them don't care; they are way too comfortable in their corporate gig to give a damn. We need to get the "moderates" out and more lefties in. This is a decades long fight from here on out.
Agree that Dems are a failure. Big Fat "F." Not sure we have anyone to vote FOR. We've already been demanding "better" from Dems. That's why we've voted blue. For decades.
Where has it gotten us? Roe is gone. GONE. And NO federal legislation to protect us?? FIFTY years later?? They knew this day was coming. (Everyone knew.) They could've and should've codified it. Why didn't they? Excellent question.
Bernie told us all a good while back that this Dem party can't/won't be fundamentally changed. And they are showing us every single day how true that is. Way out of touch with us. Entrenched.
Guess who just sent $$$$$ AND showed up, personally, in south Texas to back ANTI-CHOICE incumbent Dem rep in primary against female PRO-CHOICE challenger who nearly beat him last time and came even closer this time? He barely eked out 'victory' ~200 votes thanks partly to... well, you know.
Remember Biden promised us "nothing would fundamentally change" if he was elected? Yep.
"Corporations are people, my friend." Remember that? Pay no attention to those "people" behind the curtain. Once we start to see them ... co-opting both parties, controlling our lives, and why ... we begin to see our true dilemma. The corporatocracy rules as the wizard of oligarchs. THAT'S what needs to change.
Honestly.
Just re-watched Michael's 2015 film WHERE TO INVADE NEXT. I had forgotten so much of it and highly recommend people to revisit or see it for the first time. Little did we know that it would be our own government invading women's bodies in 2022!!
As a swede I'm getting more and more doubtful that USA really are a democracy. The last couple of years I've been following American politics, and I'm surprised to discover so many things in your system are not designed to protect the will of the majority. Instead it seems like its designed to protect the interests of a few priviliged groups of people. It's sad to see that the country that's supposed to protect the democratic part of the world having such a big problem upholding it on It's own territory. I really hope, for all the democratic nations in the world, that all you who who fights for real democracy in USA will prevail.
A more than worried swede
You are right on, Anders. Designed to protect the few privileged as you said. NOT the people. Or environment or nature or anything else besides money. Makes NO sense, especially to a Swede. Runs on myths and total dedication to profit, managed by institutions and corporations... that are most definitely NOT people. (no matter what Mitt says)
Thank you for replaying. And a very big thank you for all the work you done for reason and democracy in all of your life. The world would be such a beutiful place if kindness and respect ruled us all.
Thank you for your kind and inspiring words, Anders. And for being here. And for being a Swede! Sweden sets an admirable example of how to live peacefully in community and the world. :-)
This Supreme Court decision was a ghastly mistake on many levels. This is what Authoritarian decision making is like....Vote them out. Vote Democratic. Vote for people with a soul. Kick the souless ones out forever.
I have written a legal brief newsletter on how the MS abortion law violates the Thirteenth Amendment.
See: haroldrberk.substack.com
I have asked the Solicitor General and attorneys for Respondents to fileva Petition for Rehearing under SCt Rule 44within 25 days of the June24, 2022 decision in Dobbs.
None iof the justices and none of the Solicitor General or the attorneys for the Respondent clinics raised the 13th Amendment issue in their briefs or arguments.
I have another, shorter, comment this time.
Aretha Franklin, one of the greatest singing artists of America, gave birth to children at the age of 12 and 14. This is on Wikipedia. I don't know how she felt or why she went ahead with the births--whether abortion was an option or not. I have no regret that those people lived, but it must have been hard for her. Members of her family raised the children and she visited them often, but didn't like to talk about them publicly. All of this brings up the question which is not easily answered, about the worth of human life. But a woman should not be compelled to give birth if she didn't plan to get pregnant and if it would be hard for her. It's 9 months of her life, her body, and then all the years that follow. It affects the children, too.
Her father, a pastor who had an enormous influence on her life, impregnated a 12-year-old girl who was a member of his congregation. This girl also gave birth, to the person who was Aretha's half-sister. Why there was no hue and cry about this, I have no idea. The feelings of the half-sister, who has since passed away, have to be considered. But we can see from these instances why there is so much turmoil about when and how a woman should carry a pregnancy. Ordinarily, in these cases, most people would not recommend that girls of 12 or 14 should give birth.
Hey Mike; a government that cannot protect their own women's right to choose takes it upon itself to go to a distant land spend time and money to orchestrate the removal of an elected Prime Minister of that country. What kind of priority is this ? There is so much to correct right here at home and our government is indulging in "regime change" overseas.
I remember reading the book, "My Darling, My Hamburger" that I checked out from my middle school library in 1974?? It was about a high school girl getting an abortion. She survives, but her feeling of loliness, having no one to turn to but a friend always hit me hard. I teach high school now and the few times I mentioned the way it was, the boys have no conception of that. How much suffering, feeling trapped, . . .using a hangers in a back room. One thing no one talks about is babies born with drug addiction. What will happen to them? Their suffering. Many have developmental problems.
We need to start showing movies like The Color Purple on Netflix to reach these young people and Dirty Dancing, but young people don't even realize what is going on in that movie! . Asussie movie " The Fringe Dwellers ". When Juno came out I thought it a very quirky movie, the attitude and mundane acceptance of her pregnancy. It just did not seem like reality of what it is really like to be an expecting mother in high school. It seemed so flippant.
I fell it,
I went back to school for a second career, I took the entry tests pregnant with my second child. Took my 3rd to class with me after she was born. Then my last semester I got pregnant with our fourth, I was devastated! I felt I would never really make it as a teacher. I contemplated an abortion. I did not have it --my husband realized what was going on and talked me out of it. but It affected my life, I am still a sub, I never got a a sucessful career. It was hard raising 4 kids, They did not get everything their peers got. But they did pretty good. Three are college graduates!
Well, any way, I think we have a good case to impeach at least two Supreme Court justices. lying in congress confirmation hearings. Really? Why can't we do that! If we prosecute the ex orange guy, can we cancell all his appiontments he made because of his traitorous actions? Not upholding the constitution he gave an oath to do so. His compiracy actions include stacking the offices with people into his schemes. Yes?Dream on. Still waiting for the EPA to come back to Washington. And the US postal general?? really! ??
oh, as usual this outrage is a cover up for something even more nefarious ( Spell check) See Jon Stewart's latest podcast. How the courts are undermining the power of regulatory organizations like the FTC ? Did I get the right acronym?
Watch "A Dangerous Precedent: Law Professors Explain Jarkesy v. SEC | The Problem With Jon Stewart Podcast" on YouTube
https://youtu.be/KhMZJ2WHkG4