Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

American history and black history cannot be separated.

Everybody saw this coming.

So many bastards, so little time.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Their freedom requires your slavery.

All hail the time of the bunny!

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / NANCY SMASH! / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Here’s to Women Who Know Their Power

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Here’s to Women Who Know Their Power

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187Comments

  1. 1.

    zhena gogolia

    Absolutely right, Hillary. I’ve watched this slow-motion trainwreck unfolding since 2000.

  3. 3.

    MomSense

    @zhena gogolia:

    Seeing what Russia has become should be a warning to us to the US to not follow that path, but I think there are too many christofascists all hopped up on the prosperity gospel, misogyny, and white nationalism to see it for what it really is. I guess everyone thinks they are close to achieving their dream of being an oligarch.

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    It has occurred to me that if the state has the power to force a woman into giving birth to a child, does it not also have the power to deny a woman the birth of a child?

  8. 8.

    WereBear

    Question for the crowd: If someone says they are a conservative Republican, why would they get upset when I said that made me think they vote Republican?

    Am I the You-know-what?

  9. 9.

    Emmyelle

    And I am 100% sure that all people screaming about the loss of reproductive rights voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, AND voted in the 2010 midterms if they were eligible, so we’re good.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MomSense: AFAIK, no. But I won’t be surprised in the least when the GOP introduces a bill making it legal again because we don’t want the undesirables breeding us out of existence.

  11. 11.

    New Deal democrat

    @OzarkHillbilly: If, as Alito wrote, there is no Constitutional right to bodily autonomy, then the State can do as it pleases with anyone’s body* (possibly limited by the 13th Amendment’s prohibition of slavery, depending on how the reactionary majority of the Court feels like interpreting that Amendment).

    *ETA: provided it follows the correct procedures, e.g., notice, a hearing, maybe the right to be represented by counsel.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    FYI.

    A New York City judge’s son who stormed the U.S. Capitol wearing a furry “caveman” costume was sentenced [Friday] to eight months in prison.

    U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said Aaron Mostofsky was “literally on the front lines” of the mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
    [snip]
    More than 780 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Capitol riot. Over 280 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors.

    A Tennessee man, Albuquerque Head, pleaded guilty on Friday to assaulting Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone. Head pulled Fanone into a crowd of rioters who beat him, shocked him with a stun gun and stole his badge and police radio. An Iowa man, Kyle Young, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting Fanone, who was seriously injured by rioters and has since testified before Congress about the attack.

    More than 160 defendants have been sentenced, including over 60 who have been sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 14 days to five years and three months.
    [snip]
    Mostofsky frequently wears costumes at events, according to his lawyers.

    “To put the matter with understatement, the New Yorker is quirky even by the standards of his home city,” they wrote. Source

  13. 13.

    debbie

    Interesting that a reporter, who likely depends on leaks for his “scoops,” wants the WH to condemn this leak. ??‍♀️

  14. 14.

    Betty

    Seeing Jen Psaki in action here makes me wonder if any new person can match that performance. Wishing the best to Karine. It will be a test given the current White House press corps.

  15. 15.

    Gin & Tonic

    Don’t want to pollute a serious thread, but my morning coffee just got tastier.
    Wordle 322 2/6
    ⬛?⬛?⬛
    ?????

  16. 16.

    debbie

    @MomSense:

    I think you’re right. This is going to be a brink horribly hard to pull back from.

    We have got to learn to be more watchful and more proactive. This garbage is everywhere.

  17. 17.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @New Deal democrat: Logically, if one can be forced to do a thing, one can also have it denied, but something tells me Alito doesn’t think such reasoning would apply to him.

  21. 21.

    Anne Laurie

    @OzarkHillbilly: It has occurred to me that if the state has the power to force a woman into giving birth to a child, does it not also have the power to deny a woman the birth of a child?

    I remember a feminist proverb from the 1970s:  A government that can forbid you get an abortion is a government that can demand you get an abortion.

  22. 22.

    mali muso

    Open thread? Somewhat apropos of a prior discussion of possible locations to explore emigrating to, I am taking a one week trip to Portugal next month. Anyone with hot tips or previous travel experience there, please share.

  24. 24.

    EarthWind&Fire (formerly bluegirlfromwyo)

    @WereBear: Ah, you’ve encountered a conservative of the I Think For Myself How Dare You genus. I’ve encountered a lot of those. Best thing you can do is walk away and don’t give it a second thought. You’re not the jerk here.

  26. 26.

    Ohio Mom

    I went to the riseup4abortionrights site and don’t see a protest in Cincinnati — yet. I’m sure there will be one and It’s good timing because there aren’t any big downtown events on May 14th.

    I’m free that day, although it will be my third super spreader event in three weeks.

  27. 27.

    oldgold

    Yesterday at a judicial conference in Atlanta, Clarence Thomas, proving once again that he is one of the least self-aware people on the planet, spewed this groan inducing statement out:

    “As a society, we are becoming addicted to wanting particular outcomes, not living with the outcomes we don’t like.”

  28. 28.

    Geminid

    @mali muso: I have no travel experience outside of North America, so my only hot tip is, have a great time! I bet you can find some good seafood there.

  29. 29.

    Spanky

    @mali muso: A couple of years ago Elizabelle spent many weeks in Barcelona, which piqued my interest. Not enough to actually do any research, so hopefully see’ll see this and weigh in.

  30. 30.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I blew that one – that word was awful. I had all five letters, but couldn’t suss out the order.

  32. 32.

    debbie

    @mali muso:

    Nothing to share, other than a couple of friends retiring there and being blissfully happy about their decision.

  35. 35.

    superdestroyer

    The question for the Democrats is what issues are they going to be willing to deemphasize to give more voters support to keep abortion legal and available in the U.S.

  36. 36.

    Starfish

    @NotMax: This is interesting. I am still reading it. There are some people interested in reclaiming the Christian left, somewhat like the moderate conservative in this article. I wish them well.

    What did LeeQuan McLaurin mean when calling David Nasser a “spiritual gaslighter?”

    The discussion of race at Liberty is interesting, too. The office of equity and inclusion was questioning people over a “Black Lives Matter” protest. ?

  37. 37.

    Geminid

    @mali muso: I also remember how, at the end of Casablanca, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid escaped the Nazis by flying away to Portugal.

  38. 38.

    Kay

    @oldgold:

    I just love the lack of any agency in these speeches. “Something seems to have occurred where I am less credible. This bothers me, so I looked into it. Lo and behold it wasn’t me or my actions, it was all of you. You’re the reason I am less credible”.

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    @2liberal: Thanks for that.  The people who figure out how to overcome “gut feelings” that conflict with actual evidence will save humanity.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  40. 40.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Starfish:

    That Christian Left is vanishing rapidly, as the behavior of the Evangelical/Fundamentalists and their partners in crime that are subservient to USCCB (which is larded up the asshole bishops appointed by JPII and Ratzinger) cause members of the Christian Left to critically examine the bases of their faith and find it so inadequate that they abandon it.

  41. 41.

    Starfish

    @Betty: Karine seems a lot more mellow than Jen.

    Jen cut those reporters quickly, but occasionally she put her foot in it with her sharpness.

    Karine does not seem like that type of person, and I don’t think she would get away with it if she was that type of person. Who is the dufus speaking out of turn here at one of her press conferences from last year? Press needs to stop being misogynistic clowns.

  42. 42.

    New Deal democrat

    @Betty: Earlier this week a saw the 2019 remake of ‘Midway.’ The more I have thought of Alito’s opinion, if it is ultimately finalized, the more I have thought of the quote attributed to Admiral Yamamoto after Pearl Harbor in that film:

     

    “We have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.”

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Anne Laurie:

    I remember a feminist proverb from the 1970s: A government that can forbid you get an abortion is a government that can demand you get an abortion.

    I remember that! Also, the classic If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.

  44. 44.

    MomSense

    @sab:

    Also being done at ICE detention centers. Still on the books federally and varies state to state. Fuck

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @oldgold:

    “The institution I’m a part of has suffered a loss of credibility. Two possibilities there- could be me, could be all of you in the public. It’s you.”

    Every single one of their speeches follows this structure. The logic is just bulletproof, right? Exclude themselves, there’s only one answer left.

  48. 48.

    Kay

    @oldgold:

    The phoniness of this “analysis” of the Crisis of Credibility is shown by the Q and A session. No one asked him any real questions. I would think his wife’s political/insurrectionist activities would go directly to the question of “credibility” of the court but no one asked because it’s a fake “discussion” with fake questions. Honestly, why bother with these events?

  49. 49.

    Geminid

    @Starfish: Liberty University and it’s alumni also have a political machine that is active in Central Virginia politics. They keep it on the downlow, but I could see it at work in 2018, when they unsuccessfully attempted to make a faculty member the Republican nominee for the open 6th CD, and then the open 5th CD.

    They tried again in 2020 and succeeded in replacing the Virginia 5th District’s Republican Congressman with Liberty University Athletic Department fundraiser Bob Good.

  52. 52.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    On a fun note, even though the counting isn’t done, the UK elections were a bloodbath for Tories, even in Northern Ireland.

    Looks like thanks to the policies of the Conservative Party there, the United Kingdom is on the way to losing Scotland soon, NI not long after that.

    Ultimately, I picture a loose Gaelic confederation (with nuclear arms from their share of the UK arsenal)  in the EU, an independent London city-state (like Dubai) and a rump England where impoverished Midlands Tory voters wonder what happened to it all and why none of the prosperity promises came through.

  53. 53.

    WereBear

    @Another Scott: While that’s true, we are surrounded by people who will spend ten minutes in line poking at their phone and only when they get up to the counter will decide what kinds of donuts will go in the big box.

    Doesn’t make me hopeful.

  55. 55.

    Kay

    Idaho State Affairs Committee Chair Brent Crane (R-Nampa) says that they will hear legislation in the wake of the overturning of Roe to BAN IUD’s and other forms of birth control.

    “How about legislation to ban abortion pills or IUDs or Plan B. Would you hear legislation to ban those?
    I would, absolutely”

  57. 57.

    MomSense

    @Betty:

    Alito 1600 quoted a fucking witch trial judge. I remember learning about the Salem witch trials and thinking thank goodness we don’t need to deal with that madness anymore. WTF In the year of our lord 2022 we are back to 17th century witch trial level knowledge.

  58. 58.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Betty:

    Yeah, but you’ll have the right to either a Catholic or Fundievangelical hospital chaplain of your choice as you suffer the agonies of futile and expensive care to bankrupt your family; that chaplain will grin at you and hold your hand as he (and it will ALWAYS be a he) informs you that this is God’s plan for you and that your suffering is an important part of your development of your soul.

  59. 59.

    mali muso

    @Geminid: Good call on the Casablanca reference!  I may need to rewatch it.

    @debbie: Yes, that reputation is part of what’s motivating me and the husband to take a look.

  62. 62.

    Starfish

    @Geminid: The story ended with them firing the Iranian guy and renaming the right-wing think tank embarrassment center to the “freedom” center or something like that.

  68. 68.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @kalakal:

    I like thinking that the Scots would boot Her Nibs and her putrid spawn out of Balmoral.

  69. 69.

    Elizabelle

    @mali muso:  I know nothing about Portugal (and have a great research trip!), but I would be looking at Girona in Catalonia, Spain.  About 1.5 hours above Barcelona via local train, 38 speedy minutes via high speed rail (which is not that much more expensive) and maybe 1:20 by by car to the French border.

    Beautiful small city; very liveable.  Barcelona without the overtourism.  I loved it, and am considering it for my exit.

  70. 70.

    citizen dave

    @Leto: Why I tellz ya, it’s a regular old-high tech lynching, this SCOTUS-bashing!

     

    As for what issues Dems can/should deemphasize to promote choice, I say none of them.  Was thinking the other day of how in Obama’s WH, all the issues were a “top priority”.  ALL issues matter.  Progressive on everything.

  71. 71.

    Bupalos

    I’m honestly shocked by the political malpractice of “Abortion on demand and without apology!”

    To the point I wonder if that organization is controlled by a mole or was somehow bought by Rick Scott. That is quite literally the focus-tested way Republicans talking points tell their candidates to phrase it.

  72. 72.

    Jay

    Shit, people, I have to go to work, and deal with “customers”, and it’s sunny, so “moron’s x10”,

    doesn’t anybody have a Saturday morning cat video in the vault?

  74. 74.

    La Nonna

    @mali muso: Really enjoyed Portugal, lots of beautiful villages besides the main cities of Lisbon and Oporto.  Good healthcare, EU member so civil rights and decent social safety net, universal free public education.  I spoke Italian and English while traveling around, people helpful and friendly, and the seafood amazing…if we didn’t have such strong ties to Italy, Portugal would have been a fine choice.

  76. 76.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Bupalos:

    It is literally 50 years’ worth of failed messaging by the Usual Suspects in that sphere. I’m afraid that their use of the increased donations will just be “keep saying it, but louder”.

    I don’t know why they’ve been so timid about the Establishment Clause argument. They’re smart people, and that would have moved the needle while causing a number of men to say “oh shit, this does have an application to me, too”. Tiptoeing around it caused disaster.

  77. 77.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WereBear:

    Question for the crowd: If someone says they are a conservative Republican, why would they get upset when I said that made me think they vote Republican? 

    Because you told them they probably vote for piles of shit because they themselves are a pile of shit.

    Also, they’re redundant and wrong.  It’s not “conservative” or “Republican;” it’s “fascist.”

  78. 78.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Easiest prediction in the world, that this would happen, yet I’m sure most of the press will react with shock that it does. They’ve only been telegraphing their intent to do this for at least 40 years. ????

  81. 81.

    lowtechcyclist

    @NotMax: ​
     

    Weekend long read, about a certain university.

    The title is “Can Liberty University Be Saved?” but a better question is, “Should it?”

    No, it shouldn’t. I don’t need to read the article to know that.

  82. 82.

    kalakal

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Probably not, in the event of the place fracturing they’ll all be eligible for Scottish Citizenship.

    When it happens I’ll add another passport to my collection. Balmoral’s just down the road from where I lived, sadly MacKalakal Towers was a somewhat less impressive building. Beautiful countryside though.

  83. 83.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Geminid:

    British jackal Tony Jay said he thought the Tories were keeping Boris Johnson around as Prime Minister until the May elections just so they’d have him to throw to the wolves 

    Literally? ?

  84. 84.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Soprano2:

    Wonder how long until red state prosecutors seek to scour medical records to find people with IUDs, so they can be ordered to be removed?

  87. 87.

    kalakal

    @lowtechcyclist:

    The title is “Can Liberty University Be Saved?” but a better question is, “Should it?”

    The problem with that title is that it implies that Liberty University was once a good thing that has gone downhill. It was always rancid

  88. 88.

    Bupalos

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:

    “They’re smart people”

    If they are smart people, they must be working for the other team. I’m not that familiar with protests like this offering just 2 approved messages….I guess there is always an attempt at meassaging unity. For one to bet that? I really don’t unserstand how that could happen. What is their internal motto, “fewer, better activists?”

  89. 89.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I just love how fast the assurances are failing. No sooner do centrists and Right wingers assure people something “won’t happen” do we find out it is under consideration. They never had any basis to make the assurances. They had and have no earthly idea how this will shake out. They should stop telling people what will happen. They have no control over tens of thousands of state legislators and local officials. They never had any control over them. “Back to the states” is lazy, sloppy bullshit. It means nothing.

  90. 90.

    artem1s

    time to stop focusing on Roe. It was unrealistic to believe one SCOTUS decision on one issue could bear the weight of protecting privacy and all of women’s and gender rights. Forget about codifying Roe. Put that effort into passing the Equal Rights Amendment. We were so close to codifying all of it and broadening protection for all humans and let an opportunity pass because we let ourselves believe Roe would protect women. We let ourselves believe that Roe was all that was necessary to protect women. No one will be safe until it’s in the constitution that all humans deserve equal protection under the law. Screw Alito and Opus Dei. This could be the defining moment for getting all progressives to work together to fix the inherent flaws that existing in the original constitution.

    Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

    doesn’t say female or male or cis or bi or trans. it covers everyone, even self proclaimed asexuals. And that’s why it was never going to pass in the 80’s. There were too many groups who couldn’t buy into it because they were told the only was to get civil rights was to carve out special protections for one group at a time. And the ERA, we were told, was only a women’s amendment – for some dumbass reason, can’t imagine why. It drove us apart and fractured any chance we had to broaden the definition of equal rights for all.

  92. 92.

    germy

    Justice Clarence Thomas said that the judiciary is threatened if people are unwilling to “live with outcomes we don’t agree with,” and that recent events at the Supreme Court might be “one symptom of that.” https://t.co/MBNI3lnK8o

    — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 7, 2022

    As an example, Thomas’ wife was so unhappy about the results of the last election that she plotted with WH officials about how to overturn it. https://t.co/xxkUY1zALq

    — Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) May 7, 2022

  93. 93.

    Starfish

    @Bupalos: This message is from the frontline activists to other frontline activists and not for everyone who doesn’t want to “defund the police” and in fact wants to pay them more. The kids are not having the nonsense garment rending. The activists are taking misoprostol while debating anti-choice god botherers.

    A lot of people here do not understand that the activists are not the activists of their youth.

  94. 94.

    lowtechcyclist

    @debbie: ​
     

    A couple of days ago, I got it in one step! That’ll never happen again.

    That must’ve been the day it was ‘story.’ I got that one on the third step, but since it’s one of those frequently recommended starting words, I had a feeling that it would be a lucky day for a fair number of players.

    I was happy to get today’s in four.

  95. 95.

    pajaro

    @OzarkHillbilly:

     

    It has occurred to me that if the state has the power to force a woman into giving birth to a child, does it not also have the power to deny a woman the birth of a child?

    If there is no right to intimate decisions about reproduction, there can be no objection to a one- or two- child policy, enforced by the criminal law.  There would be special problems with forcing women to undergo abortions, but fining or imprisoning the couples would be OK, I would think.

  96. 96.

    Starfish

    It seems some of you want to criticize the reproductive rights activists more than you want to support them, and that is a disappointment.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @germy:

    Dont ask the primary members of the institution to look at their own role in corroding the institution. There we may not go. It’s you, not them. They wish you would stop ruining the institutions they lead and embody.

  99. 99.

    JPL

    @Leto: I had read an article earlier, and is it possible Roberts gave him a nudge after Ginni’s texts came out?

  100. 100.

    Geminid

    @mrmoshpotato: Well, I was speaking metaphorically. But the expression on Boris Johnson’s face as he bounced on the snow between the fleeing sleigh and the oncoming wolves would make for a good cartoon.

  101. 101.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Betty:  Another battle won not so long ago put at risk by Alito’s opinion is the right to die by refusing medical treatment.

    Don’t worry, they’ll just refuse you medical treatment whether you want it or not.  So it’s a moot point!

  103. 103.

    Anyway

    @mali muso:

    Spent 3 days traveling around Lisbon tacked on to a 3-day work trip. Enjoyed Portugal -sights, food, the vibes … all good. Our Portuguese coworkers were great guides.  Two of my friends are seriously and house-hunting there.

    PS. When I was there (early May) the hotel was full of Scandinavians..

  104. 104.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us

    I was in Sweden a couple summers back (the last pre-pandemic summer) and Lidköping seemed like a really nice smaller to mid-sized city. Of the places we went it seemed like the place that had sufficient urban amenities but wasn’t a real big city, which I assume Stockholm and Götenberg are too expensive for emigration purposes. But I have yet to visit Portugal despite the fact that Portuguese is the language after English I’m most fluent in. The weather is unfortunately better in Portugal but I’m half Swedish so I was hoping if I need asylum they’d return the favor the US gave my ancestors. I’m also half German but waaay back – ancestors were here before/during the Revolutionary War. Plus I’ve only really seen Meinz and although it seems like a good place to live I’d like to explore Germany more before daydreaming about where to emigrate.

  105. 105.

    Brachiator

    Republicans and the Taliban are rushing to see who will be the first to entirely eliminate women’s rights.

    Afghan women will have to wear the Islamic face veil for the first time in decades under a decree passed by the country’s ruling Taliban militants.

    Any woman who refuses to comply and ignores official warnings to male members of her family could see a male guardian jailed for three days.

    The decree was passed by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue.

  106. 106.

    kalakal

    @Geminid: An image that brought a smile to my face.

    The Tories are in a cleft stick at the moment. They got badly stomped yesterday but just not quite badly enough to make it apparent to the really stupid and delusional amongst them (the majority) that their only chance is cry “Boris is to blame!” and do a reverse ferret. Thenlet the media do its work for them for the next 2 years till the election. They have 2 really bad ( for them) options. Sad

  108. 108.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Starfish:

    They’ve been fucking up while the leaders of the orgs make big bank and route a ton of donations.

    Literally for decades.

  112. 112.

    pajaro

    @artem1s:

    Roe was never intended to protect all rights to privacy surrounding intimate decisions and bodily autonomy.   Rather, it’s an example of that right, which was first enunciated in Griswold (the contraception case).  But one of the horrible features of Alito’s decision is that it rejects the whole idea of reproductive privacy as a part of liberty, within the meaning of the 14th amendment, and therefore pulls down the whole thing.  (His efforts to cabin the reach of the decision are BS). In so doing, his opinion endangers privacy decisions that do not target women in particular, such as same sex marriage.

  114. 114.

    eversor

    @pajaro:

    The whole Christian thing is to be fruitful and multiply, so they aren’t going to advocate for child limits.   If they are going to do something silly I’d more expect revocation of birthright citizenship first.   Followed by the plan that’s being pushed in the Christian intellectual circles:  Extra votes for families with natural born children (between that husband and the wife, no adoptions or remarriages or single parents).   Followed with “natural families” getting not only massive tax breaks and massive subsidies and welfare state goodies.  This is all paid for by taxing the hell out of people who aren’t in natural families (hello single people, single parents, adopters, LGBTQ+ folk) who will not get any benefits and not be able to vote their way out because the family side of stuff gets extra votes.

  115. 115.

    Kathleen

    @MomSense: They’ll televise/stream the burnings and drownings, punctuated with commercials for medications to cure ED.

  116. 116.

    lowtechcyclist

    @debbie: I got that one in 2, which I’m still patting myself on the back for.  My first word for the past month or so has been ‘slant’ and that gave me just enough to think that ‘train’ would have a good chance of being the answer.

  117. 117.

    kalakal

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    The bookmakers have the following odds (top 5)

    Liz Truss. 6/1

    Jeremy Hunt. 36/5

    Tom Tugendhat   8/1

    Ben Wallace.  9/1

    Penny Mordaunt.  10/1.

    these are people who could stir up apathy

  119. 119.

    pajaro

    @eversor:

    I fully understand that evangelical Christians aren’t going to advocate for one-child policies, but my point is that they will have pulled down the protection that makes it unconstitutional here.

    As far as birthright citizenship is concerned, it’s a much, much heavier lift for them, as a law eliminating it would directly contradict the language of the 14th amendment which explicitly states that people born here and subject to its jurisdiction are citizens

    Also, states don’t decide who is a citizen, the federal government does, so we’re safe here for the next three years or so in any event.

  120. 120.

    Starfish

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Are you talking about Planned Parenthood or your local abortion funds?

    The leaders of some abortion funds are absolutely radicals, and they are not here for people’s “safe, rare, legal” talking points because they are up against extremists trying to ban ALL abortions.

    If the people you are going up against are people trying to force 11-year-olds to carry children to term, you are in the trenches doing the work and not spending all your time focused on messaging palatable things to convince people who are hemming and hawing about “maybe some people are uncomfortable with abortion, and we should make messaging for them.”

  121. 121.

    Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg

    @Starfish:

    I’m speaking specifically of limiting language to only make it surround reproductive issues when the real issue is one where Christianists are codifying narrow theological viewpoints into civil law that covers people that aren’t in those sects.  An older woman or a man may not be passionate about abortion as “not my battle”, but they can become interested in the religion angle as it intrudes on their life.

  122. 122.

    Ruckus ??

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    something tells me Alito doesn’t think such reasoning would apply to him.

    Of course he doesn’t. He’s a conservative and an SC judge. You and I and everyone with a less than 2 million bank balance belongs to him and his clan. They can decide that you can’t eat pork and beans on Tuesday. Or stop the production of slaves workers to help make the righteous wealthier. They think they own those that don’t agree with them. Theirs is the power and the glory. Says so right in their instruction manual.

  123. 123.

    Anyway

    OT sucky weekend weather in the NE — I wanna be outdoors. #@#$

    I feel guilty whining about non-stop rain…

  124. 124.

    Alice

    Hell yes to “Abortion On Demand, Without Apology”! Why on earth should women have to grovel and whisper for their right to basic medical care? Anti-abortionists sure as hell didn’t win by toning their messaging down for the squishy middle.

  125. 125.

    debbie

    Two judges on the highest bench in the land actually wrote this line “domestic supply of infants for adoption” as justification for taking away your right to your own body.

    Actually wrote that line down, on paper, like it wasn’t some insane dystopian shit.
    — Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) May 7, 2022

    They can’t have any idea how Handmaid’s Tale this sounds.

  126. 126.

    Mrs Ragbag

    @Alice: 
    OMG yes! As Kaili Joy Gray put it on Twitter abortion isn’t a prize you get for having been raped.

  127. 127.

    Feathers

    @kalakal: I have a friend who went to Liberty for a year in the early 80s. She fled after that and left the fundie life behind. She described it as a pit of untreated mental illness, which kids had been trying to pray away unsuccessfully and were now heading to Falwell U with the hope that this would be what healed them. It worked about as well as you can expect.

    But the rape stories were the worst. The guy would rape a woman, then publicly “confess his sin,” doing the whole I’m a sinner, the devil had me in his grips schtick. This meant that the woman involved had her trauma turned into a public spectacle, but she was then faced with all of her tearful fellow students, dorm advisors, and pastors telling her she must forgive this piece of rapist shit (not their language) or else he would face eternal damnation (which he did). She, of course would. And then it would happen again. Rape dude was forgiven and thus unpunished, so he would rape the same girl again. Sometimes a different one. And the cycle would repeat. Other dudes started realizing what was happening, and the “repentance” and “forgiveness” cycle endlessly rolled on.

    Sadly, she was truly anti evangelical for a while, and still claims to be, but the anti-Clinton stuff was too much of a temptation, and she’s a full fledged Trvmper now. I say friend, but she’s the wife of a relative, lives far away and I only see her at weddings and funerals now.

  128. 128.

    Frank Wilhoit

    @kalakal: Perhaps, but this is the Party whose internal selection processes gave us Andrew Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, Alec Home, and David Cameron, to name only the most compromised of compromise candidates, from among the darkest of dark horses, from among the very lightest of lightweights.  Rees-Mogg has (as someone said of Balfour, another incredible lightweight) “an unusually strong, though carefully concealed love of office”, and his ideological purity places him well (in my view) for a third- or fourth-ballot victory.  We shall see.

  129. 129.

    Brachiator

    @eversor:

    Followed by the plan that’s being pushed in the Christian intellectual circles:  Extra votes for families with natural born children (between that husband and the wife, no adoptions or remarriages or single parents).   Followed with “natural families” getting not only massive tax breaks and massive subsidies and welfare state goodies.

    Where are you getting this?

  131. 131.

    Ruckus ??

    @mali muso:

    Very limited exposure but I’ve been to the Azores – once – and it was beautiful. I also attended a navy school for 4 months and the guy the sat next to me was a member of the Portuguese navy. Nice guy, if he’s any indication of the population it would be a wonderful place to see. I’ve sailed by Portugal a few times on a navy ship and it looked pretty. Hey it’s better than nothing, even if the info is 50 yrs old….

  133. 133.

    kalakal

    @Frank Wilhoit: Oh, I’m not agreeing with that list, eg I don’t think Truss has a chance and she’s no 1 on it.

    I don’t think it’ll be Rees-Mogg, even the dimmest Tory can see political suicide when it’s walking towards them. I think it will be a relative unknown a la Major. He was dull character associated with neither wing of the party, the factions cancelled each other out and he was the compromise. On the other hand the Tories are a lot crazier these days. Their problem is that Johnson throughout has promoted a collection of obnoxious incompetents throughout, they really don’t have any obvious good options.

  135. 135.

    Ruckus ??

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.

    Conservative men, absolutely.

    OK if I could get pregnant, I would raise absolute wholly fucking hell if I couldn’t. Which is the correct position to have even seeing as I can’t.

  137. 137.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    They’ve never hidden it. More modern or sophisticated conservatives just don’t want to hear it, so they don’t. Barrett did a whole line of Q and A on how women can leave infants at fire stations- sanctuary laws- as to why they don’t have any real need for an abortion. The “domestic supply of infants” for adoption as a policy goal has always been part of this.

    They’re bragging about the “maternity homes” they are setting up:

    We are a gospel centered home that desires to give mothers hope in the midst of their difficult circumstances. We seek to share Christ’s love with our residents, disciple them into a new life, and walk with them on their journey in motherhood.

    Bible study is one of the mandatory classes.

    As you might know, diapers and wipes are very expensive! We want to relieve that burden from you while in our home, so we created a diaper bucks program. Each week, you earn points for things like your chores, a good attitude, community service, completing classes, exercising, being on time for things, being prepared for classes, and many other things. You accumulate these points and then can use them to buy your baby diapers and wipes so that expense is alleviated from your budget.

    Be obedient, earn more points.

  139. 139.

    MagdaInBlack

    I don’t recall who posted the Leonard Leo article last evening, but I’d like to curse them for my nightmares last night.

  140. 140.

    Ruckus ??

    @MomSense:

    WTF In the year of our lord 2022 we are back to 17th century witch trial level knowledge.

    Hard core rethuglicans never left. Don’t want to leave and think that it was such a great time that they want everyone to enjoy the entirety of the era. Not everyone holds these views. Or anything close.

  141. 141.

    JAFD

    @mali muso: Well, I live near the Ironbound in Newark, which is one of the largest Portuguese / Brazilian / other Lusophone communities in the US, and I have a very good opinion of them.

    They make very good pastries, I feel like I’ve gained five pounds just looking at bakery display case

  142. 142.

    Raven

    Well, if we’re going to post silly shit I caught two of the biggest pompano I’ve ever landed!

  143. 143.

    Cameron

    @Kay: I dunno.  Those ‘maternity homes’ remind me very uncomfortably of the myth of the ‘benevolent slavemaster.’  I’m probably reading too much into it.

  144. 144.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @Bupalos: I think that the simple message of “keep the government out of my personal life” resonates with many Americans.

    Free people demand to be free from tyranny.

  145. 145.

    Ruckus ??

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:

    this is God’s plan for you and that your suffering is an important part of your development of your soul

    I got that speech when I was forced to attend a catholic HS for one year. I came very close to getting, but did avoid, a beating by not telling this priest that he could go fuck himself. I was more aware of the world at 13 than a 40 yr old priest. I also wasn’t enough aware how much conservative assholes had fucked the world. That won’t happen again.

  146. 146.

    Kay

    Tim Ryan
    @TimRyan
    J.D. Vance wants to eliminate abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest. He says rape is “inconvenient.”

    It’s true. That’s what he said.

    Now, the NYTimes political team (who have already called both the Ohio Senate and Governor’s race for the Republican) told us Vance could do his phony “I spent summers in the holler” song and dance for the working class rubes and then shift to “Ivy league educated VC guy” for the suburbs. But he’s ultra far Right on women’s autonomy and agency, which at some point he will have to to address.

  151. 151.

    oatler

    Let’s see what the Adults In The Room think at the National Review-funded Ricochet site:

    “I live in Washington State, which is governed (ruled?) by a heavily DemocRat legislature and ruled by a far-Left DemocRat Dictator (who has been ruling by decree since March of 2020).  In my legislative district, both senators and “representatives” are, of course, DemocRats.”

    It’s telling that the posters use scholarly Latin nyms but their avatar pics show Star Trek heroes. And the guy took extra care to spell  “Democrat” as insultingly as possible. The adult in th room.

  153. 153.

    Geminid

    @Feathers: Last July twelve former employees or students filed a federal lawsuit against Liberty University seeking damages under Title IX, based on the University’s handling of sexual assault complaints. An October court filing said that ten more women were poised to join the suit as additional anonymous “Jane Doe” plaintiffs.

    The University has sued the women’s attorney, claiming “malice.” I think that Liberty will settle, though; the allegations about the University’s handling of complaints of sexual assaults, including rape, are outrageous.

    The above is from an article posted on December 17 of last year by Lynchburg TV station ABC13News that details parts of this lawsuit. The article is a year-end review of Liberty’s legal troubles. Between the Title IX action and other discrimination lawsuits, plus the suits and countersuits between the University and it’s former president Fallwell Jr., it’s a long article.

    The last item involved a criminal case. Lynchburg police had arrested a Liberty professor on allegations stemming from a meeting in his office with a woman student, on November 20. Maybe he locked the door, because the professor of American Sign Language was charged with kidnapping as well as assault.

  154. 154.

    Ruckus ??

    @Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:

    Thing is, if you take away one fundamental right of one segment of a population, you are opening the way to take away others. And let’s face it, these not all that radical for evangelical assholes who are just getting started in their goal for setting up a “utopia” of their religious ideals. They think and want the world to reflect their concepts of life, lack of liberty, and control. They think the world will be a far better place if their religious “ideals” will be the law of the land. All the land. Their bible is the only real law they think is correct. Everything else is bullshit to them. And at some point it will be settled that it’s their bible, not any other word that is the law of the earth. Government by, for and of god. That is their goal.

    Do not think any less of them, nor any more. They think their world is the one and only world, the righteous world, and everyone that doesn’t see that needs to be indoctrinated or eliminated. And no it does not make sense, it is stupid, immature, it is wrong. That does not change the point that this is their vision of the world.

  156. 156.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @mali muso: I spent several days layover in Lisbon when travelling to & from Benin in ’91 and loved the city. I’ve always held it as my escape-to place if I left the US even though I don’t speak Portuguese. My only other travel was in northern Europe, so my experience isn’t extensive.

  157. 157.

    danielx

    Currently reading Landslide by Michael Wolfe. Based upon what I’m reading, it’s a wonder anybody can stand to be in the same room with Donald Trump, unless they have some kind of grift going that requires them to endure his presence.

    What an insufferable asshole and miserable excuse for a human being.

  160. 160.

    James E Powell

    Turned on MSNBC for a rare look at “news” just because I’m not doing anything this morning. MSNBC talks about abortion solely as to how it will play out for Democrats in election. I go back to the inanity of car shows and vow never to come back.

  161. 161.

    Spanky

    As a general rule, in big cities and tourist destinations in Portugal like Lisbon and the Algarve, English is very widely spoken and you should have no problems getting by there. In other more rural areas with less tourists, the prevalence of English speakers may be less and some Portuguese may be prove useful.

    According to estimates, anything between a quarter and a third of Portuguese people can speak English, which is a decent percentage in it’s own right. It is for example far more widely spoken than in neighboring Spain and also other European countries like France and Italy.

    …

    “A lot of people speak English in Portugal. The younger generation learns it in school, and most teenagers and young adults speak English. If you turn a Portuguese radio on most songs will be in English, if you go to cinema or turn turn on the television you will notice it has Portuguese subtitles but it’s not dubbed, which makes learning English a lot easier.

    Portuguese people immigrate a lot so a good part of the older population knows English. In touristic areas most employers are required to speak English so if you are planning a trip you will be able to get around only speaking English.”

  162. 162.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Geminid: 

    The University has sued the women’s attorney

    The ultimate sign of desperation in litigation

  164. 164.

    EarthWind&Fire (formerly bluegirlfromwyo)

    @Leto: This. Tell me I don’t have the right to privacy, expect to be doxxed.

  167. 167.

    Raven

    @tybee: not sure but, by far, the biggest I’ve ever caught! ETA Sportin my UGA National Championship hoodie!

  175. 175.

    VFX Lurker

    @Bupalos:

    I’m honestly shocked by the political malpractice of “Abortion on demand and without apology!”

    To the point I wonder if that organization is controlled by a mole or was somehow bought by Rick Scott. That is quite literally the focus-tested way Republicans talking points tell their candidates to phrase it.

    “Abortion on demand…”

    I can’t think of a circumstance under which someone should be refused an abortion.

    We have laws right now that do prevent folks from obtaining abortion under myriad circumstances, but these laws hurt people and are not just.

    “…and without apology.”

    I also cannot think of a circumstance for which someone should apologize for their abortion. That’s just gross.

    Yet, Americans still lose their jobs after their boss finds out that they had an abortion. Americans lose friends and family after they find out that they had an abortion.

    The slogan is fine. It makes its point about American injustice, and it fits on a sign.

  176. 176.

    eversor

    @Ruckus ??:

    And they are going to get it because far too many people on our side think we can keep Christianity and they won’t keep coming until they actually take over and put it in place.   Choose, you can have rights and liberty, or you can have Christianity, you cannot have both.  So which are you going to give up?

  178. 178.

    Urban Suburbanite

    @oatler: Conservatives in Washington have nothing to counter Inslee’s boring competence, and they know it. The last guy who ran against him was the one police who did get defunded.

  179. 179.

    Urban Suburbanite

    The group behind this, Rise Up 4 Abortion is part of Refuse Fascism/Revolutionary Communists. A lot of leftist types don’t trust this organization or its leader, Bob Avakian. They view it as an attention-seeking grift for the leadership, and that they try to insert themselves into events organized by by other groups. There’s also some weird age dynamics – the people hitting you up for money and leading are overwhelmingly older white people, but there’s a lot of high school kids showing up for these things.

    The local anarchists have been showing up for their events, but that’s more a side-eye solidarity sort of deal. Or just to keep the local fundamentalists away. (Those idiots love to try and pick fights for content)

  180. 180.

    Ruckus ??

    @danielx:

    What an insufferable asshole and miserable excuse for a human being.

    Yes sir. And he’s been this way for his entire life. Raised by a prick, thinks that prick is the proper male attitude, has made it his life’s mission to be the most miserable prick on the planet. So one actually has to accredit him with meeting his life’s goal, because he is superprick.

  181. 181.

    Ruckus ??

    @Spanky:

    I saw quite a bit of Europe in the navy in the 70s because my ship did 3 NATO and 1 Med cruise. I never once had an issue with english. If we were walking about town and stopped to look at a map someone would always stop and ask where we were going and give us directions in excellent english. 2 of us went into a post office to see if we could get directions and the clerk heard us speaking, well american english and would not help any one in line ahead of us till we told them what we were looking for. And then a man in line told us he’d drive us there. And did. Everywhere I went, from Norway to Majorca, Spain. Far different from the US.

  182. 182.

    debbie

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Today’s took me four tries. I get myself in trouble when I try to think “What would Wordle pick?” Today’s seems more British than usual.

  185. 185.

    Bupalos

    @Starfish:

    This really makes no sense to me. The point of activism is to make change, not some IDGAF competition.

    What does “abortion on demand” even mean? I honestly thought that was a made-up right-wing thing.

  186. 186.

    Geminid

    @Bupalos: The Commenter at #179 pegs these people as members of a particular political cult. It sounds quite plausible.

Comments are closed.