The dissent: The majority is "acting at practically the first moment possible", "eliminates a 50-year-old contitutional right that safeuards women's freedom," "breaches a core rule-of-law principle," "places in jeopardy other rights," and "undermines the Court's legitimacy." pic.twitter.com/Dy9KYmDaqz
— Taniel (@Taniel) June 24, 2022
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reads a poem in reaction to SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade. pic.twitter.com/tEFDbgR04M
— The Recount (@therecount) June 24, 2022
Short thread:
With the end of Roe, 83 elected prosecutors have pledged today to use their well-settled discretion and not criminalize those who seek or provide abortions. Read the statement and find out if your DA is on the list: https://t.co/vFdHfWy9eT#WhereIsMyDA #RoevWade pic.twitter.com/ToK05roEnS
— Fair and Just Prosecution (@fjp_org) June 24, 2022
here we see armed paramilitaries moving to protect the ruling clerics after their most recent decision in what i can only assume is some far off country https://t.co/YA0MQFq3gD
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) June 24, 2022
Merlan’s a real journalist and a good writer. I’m looking forward to seeing what she does with this:
On the other hand, David French is… a Republican, to his bones:
Mallard Filmore
The court is saying that women with ectopic pregnancies or weak hearts must die in order to forge a Christian Nation.
AnnaN
In a Stand Your Ground state, is abortion legal if it’s done with a gun and the mother’s life is in danger?
eclare
I feel very stabby. That is all.
TriassicSands
Sharia Law? Absolutely the worst possible thing in all of life.
Imposing my personal religious beliefs on everyone? Perfection!
Alison Rose
I wrote a long rant about this on FB, but I’ll just say here that I’ve already seen the age-old comments from forced-birthers, “what about all the people who aren’t here because of abortion??????”, to which I say: I–an actual living human being–am ONLY here because of abortion, as are my two brothers. Our mother had an abortion years before she moved to California and met our father. She was not in a time or place in her life, nor in the right relationship, to have a child. She wanted to be a mother, but she was not ready to do so at that time. Though this was pre-Roe v Wade, she was fortunate to have parents who supported her and had the means to take her somewhere she could have an abortion. She was able to continue her life as she wished, which included moving to California a few years later (well, that was certainly not something she’d planned, it was rather based on whim, but it worked out pretty nicely), where she met my dad and they made three pretty fucking cool kids.
So I wanna know why these assholes think theoretical people matter more than I do? Not that I’d actually want to hear their answers.
eclare
@Alison Rose : Thank you for sharing your story.
O. Felix Culpa
Gotta love Auntie Maxine:
“The hell with the Supreme Court, we will defy them.”
Percysowner
Re: David French’s take, my belief is Clarence Thomas was upfront about what the Supreme Court will do. They will say contraception, same sex marriage, same sex relationships, will all be unprotected. The only reason the other Justices said otherwise is because elections are coming up and if they are honest, they are afraid more people losing their rights will bring out voters for the Democrats. They are planning on the raise the temperature on the boiling frog method of destroying any and all rights for living breathing people and expanding rights for corporations and religious bodies.
Suzanne
@O. Felix Culpa: I love her so much.
I should also note that the human garbage that is SuzBioDad just shared on Facebook that he joined “dateover70.com”.
Lord.
Urza
@O. Felix Culpa: Right idea for this, but the moment it happens it opens a door that can’t be closed. It was opened once in the 1860s. It won’t end the same way this time, and I don’t think anyone can predict where it goes.
TriassicSands
To which I would respond: The last thing this planet, already grotesquely overpopulated and in dangerous decline, needs is more American consumers.
To which an insightful forced birther might respond: They wouldn’t be that big a problem because most of them would be really poor.
Mnemosyne
So I spent a decent chunk of money last month to win some author services, and all proceeds went directly to this worthy organization.
(They actually had us donate directly and come back with our receipt rather than filter through 32auctions, so we really knew that every penny went to the Fund.)
https://donate.abortionfunds.org/give/323375/#!/donation/checkout
bbleh
Well, from the Silver Lining Department, it might be worthwhile noting that precisely this kind of issue has been the glue that has kept the RWNJs laboring away for literally decades at all levels and that has led ultimately to their dominance at the state legislative level and (thank you Madisonian Compromise, not that anything else necessarily was feasible at the time) in the US Senate and thus to today’s Court, and therefore may similarly be something that galvanizes progressive activists and voters in the long term and thus ultimately helps to mitigate some of the current damage.
But it ain’t gonna be easy or quick. Those nutcases have been banging away at this for decades, and yes they’re basically revival-tent suckers and marks who don’t give a damn about the health of women OR children (once they’re born, they’re moochers, doncha know), but they’ve been organized and persistent, and that’s the only way we’re gonna beat ’em.
Soldier on!
O. Felix Culpa
@Urza:
The Supreme Court opened that door, not me and not the venerable Maxine.
“One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tony G
If I understand the logic of this ruling, it is that Roe versus Wade was an inappropriate ruling because it is based on a right to privacy that is not explicitly named in the Constitution. It is also the case that the Constitution does not explicitly describe a right to racially integrated public schools. Therefore, on the basis of this “reasoning”, we can expect Brown versus Board of Education to soon be overturned.
syphonblue
I’m not blaming Democrats for what’s happening, but it is absolutely true that the current Democratic leadership is completely out of touch with what is happening and they have absolutely no idea how to respond to this. They’re still too worried about comity and civility while all of our rights from the last century are summarily being stripped away.
I mean, come on! Reading a poem? Singing God Bless America?? FOH
Alison Rose
@TriassicSands: That was another part of my rant. Imagine the population if abortion didn’t exist? Like, wasn’t even a thing at all. What would have…15, 20, 30 billion people?
sdhays
@Percysowner: I think they also just reflexively lie, perhaps even to themselves to some degree. “That’s not the question we’re reviewing today.” I think they still think of themselves as “above the fray justices”, as absurd as that is.
Thomas is old and tired of pretending to care about that shit, now that he has his super majority.
taumaturgo
Senate Democrats in a display of almost indifference, in a communication declared that they would scheduled hearings for next month when they return from summer recess. Business as usual, nothing major is happening now. If the base continues to give a pass to this failure of leadership, then nothing significant will change and the leaders will continue to take the voters for granted allowing the American Taliban to have their way.
Johnnybuck
@Percysowner: Clarence Thomas is the de-facto Chief Justice of this court.
Ruckus
@O. Felix Culpa:
@Suzanne:
Auntie Maxine is one tough broad. She can swear better than most sailors I ever met, or have seen in a mirror, her don’t give a fuck gene is in full view, and she doesn’t mess around. I’ve been blessed to see her live in action and she is one of my favorite human beings.
Anne Laurie
The Dems did that to ‘celebrate’ passage of the new gun law, weak as it might be.
Big problem with This Modern World — too many stories, all at the same time.
Johnnybuck
@syphonblue: You’re part of the problem.
Johnnybuck
@taumaturgo: You’re part of the problem.
bbleh
@Tony G: Yes, and since neither traffic signals nor even automobiles are mentioned in the Constitution, it follows that, even if Congress passes a law VERY EXPLICITLY allowing SPECIFIC agencies to emplace signals to control the flow of automobile traffic, such laws must be declared unconstitutional because they interfere with the right of … uh … interstate commerce, yeah! And also FREEDOM!!™ Besides, anyone injured in an automobile accident always has the right to sue for civil damages, or if they’re killed, their estate does, so it’s all good.
Cameron
@syphonblue: I know. I personally would have found it far more satisfying if Speaker Pelosi had told them, “Your agonizing death awaits you, slimy crawlers! Go now, hide in the sewers, and cower at the sound of our boots marching down the street above your tiny heads….”
catothedog
I am trying to think about how to get out of this hell. Because make no bones about it. We are in hell now, not some temporary funk.
–A minority of people can democratically get all federal power in the United States now. The election rules are stacked. It is all perfectly legal now. There is no Jan 6 like insurrection needed.
—This minority will stack the rules even more, to never give up power.
–This Court will let them get away with it.
–You cannot fix the Courts because this minority selects the court.
–States cannot escape this tyranny because the same Court will declare federal and state rules apply as they want it to be
People are not even realizing this. Unless you realize the problem, how can you even think about addressing it?
People still think that stacking the Court and nuking the filibuster are too extreme!!!.
After two more elections, those 2 options will look like they were moderate. It will be even harder to get back to normal.
Nuke the filibuster and thirteen on the court now. If you cannot explain that to people and make that the midterm platform, there is no point.
Mnemosyne
@syphonblue:
Hey, I’m sure that focusing on the minor missteps of Democrats rather than the actual bad actions of Republicans will totally work to get the Republicans out of office this time!
Have I mentioned on this thread that I came back specifically so I could remind Berniebro morons that I was fucking right and that their utter wrongness about the “Democratic establishment” is about to have a body count? Because that’s what I’m fucking here to do.
O. Felix Culpa
@Mnemosyne:
Your mission is affirmed. Enthusiastically, even.
Mnemosyne
@taumaturgo:
Go fuck yourself. You enabled this. You don’t get to fucking come in here and pretend to have some kind of moral high ground about the result we fucking told you would happen if you didn’t support the Democrats.
Fuck you.
Dangerman
Each of the Fucked Up Five will never be able to go out for a meal again without wondering what’s in their food (see “Secret Sauce”, “Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle”).
Not that that is the right thing to do. I’m just saying that is a possibility.
Ivan X
@Mnemosyne: preach.
catothedog
@Mnemosyne:
Absolutely.
This was the underpants theory of the pure left politics
1)Teach Democrats a lesson
2) ????
3) Liberal policy and laws get implemented. !!!!
Alison Rose
@Dangerman: I’m confused why I keep seeing people saying 5 when the decision was 6-3.
Ruckus
@taumaturgo:
And what would you have them do?
This political time is basically a perfect storm, even numbers of senators, and not all of ours seem to be willing to work with fellow dems. Are they supposed to go in shooting? Or attempting to have a replacement law in 15 minutes, that will be struck down? This isn’t textbook democracy, this is about as opposite of that I’ve seen in my lifetime. They struck down an almost 50 yr old law. On bullshit concepts. This isn’t ruling, this isn’t democracy, this is just bullshit.
Mnemosyne
@O. Felix Culpa:
I have a bag full of fucks to give away to every troll that earns one.
phdesmond
Hillary Clinton had the curse of Cassandra.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
You do come back in proper high style. Welcome back.
eclare
@Dangerman: I hope so.
mali muso
@Mnemosyne: Now THAT’S the way to make a reappearance. :)
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
Some people were skeptical that it was really me.
bbleh
@Mnemosyne: It’s possible to criticize the approach of “establishment” Dems without being a “Berniebro moron.” I think Pelosi is one of the most important political talents in over a generation, Biden continues to pleasantly surprise me (albeit in minor ways), and I am in awe of how Bennie Thompson and crew have organized the 1/6 Hearings Show, but I sympathize with the feeling that a lot of the Dem leadership has seemed like that “this is fine” dog for way too long.
eclare
@Alison Rose : I think the Dobbs decision was 6-3, but overturning Roe was 5-4.
taumaturgo
@syphonblue: Is not about blame is about holding leaders accountable. The party as an organization has failed to protect women’s right to reproductive freedom.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
OK, now that’s rich. I haven’t laughed that well in quite some time.
I do believe you’ve set them straight. If they don’t know now, there is no helping them whatsofuckingever.
MisterDancer
@O. Felix Culpa: Goddamm this.
Denying people Abortions is immoral and inhumane. Dr. King laid it out; you stand up against immoral laws, yet you also accept the punishment, as inhumane as that can be, as well.
That is what Rep. Waters is talking about. That is how you break the law in ways that keep from also breaking the country. You own your actions like an Adult, and you show how horrific these forced birth laws are, along the way.
Indeed, it’s the opposite of everything the Conservative Movement has done to force this moment. They run like hell from every possible consequence like the moral cowards they are!
Mz Waters knows what she’s saying, and why. We’d do well to listen.
Alison Rose
@phdesmond: I feel like on days like this, she’s screaming into the void even louder than most of us…
Mnemosyne
@bbleh:
Today is not the fucking day to focus on the papercut caused by “establishment Democrats” when the Republicans just ripped our guts open with a dull knife. Is that fucking clear enough?
Try to stay focused on the actual enemy for fucking once.
Alison Rose
@eclare: Welp, I lump ’em all into the fuckwagon.
Ruckus
@taumaturgo:
What fucking planet do you live on?
It sure as hell isn’t this one.
Johnnybuck
@bbleh: Yeah, not on this. Because if that’s your take, you’re not much of an ally.
MisterForkbeard
@Mnemosyne: Have I mentioned I really missed you here? Because I did.
Dangerman
@Alison Rose : I haven’t watched the news for obvious reasons. I heard 5-4.
O. Felix Culpa
@MisterDancer:
QFT.
Mnemosyne
@taumaturgo:
Why not hold the fucking Republicans responsible for their own fucking actions instead of immediately blaming the Democrats for what the Republicans did? Maybe, you know, just fucking once? As a treat?
Ruckus
@MisterDancer:
A+. No that’s not right A++++
buggrit
@Alison Rose : I don’t. I call ’em the Panty Sniffer Six.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
I think it’s tough for this one, his head is stuck someplace the sun don’t shine.
bbleh
@taumaturgo: I don’t think they’ve made nearly enough noise about guns either. And I’m not at all impressed with the recent gun bill — the mountains have labored and brought forth a mouse — and I’d give even money that it will quickly be enjoined and eventually struck down based on Thomas’s recent opinion.
Our side is running from fights. And it’s important in the long run to fight about some issues, even if you know you’re gonna lose in the short term.
O. Felix Culpa
@Mnemosyne:
Silly Mnem, you must have forgotten in your absence: Only Dems have agency.
//
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
I’ve probably been pied already.
Urza
@O. Felix Culpa: Sure, but that whole states rights thing started with slavery, and will go right back to it very quickly once they get moving with it. Unravel the nation very fast to let states negate federal laws and rulings on a whim.
Mnemosyne
@MisterForkbeard:
I’ve mostly been on Facebook doing author things, so I’ve kind of missed being someplace where I could use the f-word in every sentence.
phdesmond
@syphonblue:
as a poet, i want to put in a word for the usefulness and power of poems at times of distress.
Anotherlurker
@taumaturgo: You berniebros are really tiresome.
All you do is trash Democrats but you don’t describe a way to accomplish your goals.
Assholes
FOaD.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
I think I passed that mark for some a long time ago.
And not in my book you haven’t.
Sorry it took this much shit to get you back but it is really good to see you here.
Suzanne
The Dems have certainly been insufficient on this, but come the fuck on. I know there’s always a tendency on our side to infight and get pissed at one another for not being strong or perfect enough and we police another too much. It is one of the biggest failures of this movement.
But I remember who the real enemy is.
bbleh
@Mnemosyne: My goodness, you really don’t seem to be able to take “yes” for an answer, unless it is entirely without even an implicit “but.” Reminds me of a lot of Berniebros …
HumboldtBlue
Mallard Filmore
@Mnemosyne: Can you send me some? I’m running out.
livewyre
@bbleh: Speak for your own side. We’re fighting.
Johnnybuck
@Suzanne: And yet you blame Democrats first?
Ruckus
@Anotherlurker:
They have goals? Who’da guessed?
They must be very tiny goals, almost invisible, unimaginably small, single atom sized, if that big. Tis certain that they have zero idea what those goals might actually be or might actually accomplish but they do carry on about them as if they had any size, shape, definition, thought whatsofuckingever.
livewyre
@bbleh: This is a good example – thank you – of what we’re fighting against. If you keep doing it, it’s clear enough where you stand.
Ruckus
@Johnnybuck:
Did you and I read the same comment?
Johnnybuck
@Suzanne: And yet you blame Democrats first?
livewyre
If the Republicans can teach us anything, it’s that loyalty is good for something. Is there any actual doubt about what the Democratic Party is actually working to accomplish, however we may question their methods? If they’re on our side, can we be on theirs – or even, heavens forbid, part of them?
No, seriously, why do we have to quibble and qualify our support and act ashamed to be part of this? Are they that bad that we have to distance ourselves? This is bewildering, especially at such a moment in history.
Johnnybuck
@Ruckus: Yeah, maybe not, if you’re first comment is that Democrats have been “insufficient on this” What the fuck?
Ruckus
@Mallard Filmore:
I think my bag of fucks is getting filled here on this posting. I mean sure we can all use a few more fucks, and Mems seems to have found an entire stash, a truck load if you will, but there seem to be a rather rich supply being flung about….
Betty
@Mallard Filmore: Many more conditions than that can be life threatening during pregnancy. This will be bad.
Hilbertsubspace
Readers should probably note that the thaumaturge is being disingenuous. Hence the name choice.
Mnemosyne
@bbleh:
I have zero fucking tolerance for any amount of “both sides” bullshit today. This isn’t a fucking car accident where the insurance company decides what percentage each person is to blame.
The fucking Supreme Court just made American women second-class citizens and all you fucking care about is making sure everyone knows you’re a deep thinker who’s decided that the Democrats are just as much to blame because you can’t pull your head out of your ass long enough to point the finger at the actual culprits.
I’m not here to make friends or soothe egos. If you can’t be bothered to stand as a united front with the Democrats today of all days, you’re not an ally.
Mnemosyne
@Johnnybuck:
She doesn’t. Suzanne is fine. She was one of the first to warn us that Sinema was going to stab us in the back as soon as she had an opportunity.
HumboldtBlue
L. Louise Lucas President Pro tempore, Senate of Virginia has some things to say.
Bill Arnold
@taumaturgo:
Can you say something negative about Republican leadership?
MisterDancer
@Ruckus: thanks! That said, I think it’s time to switch off the browser and open the eReader for tonight.
Be well, folx.
Mai Naem mobile
I am so angry right now. We are just going backwards in this fucking country. Biden needs to expand the court and he needs to threaten Manchin and Sinema with whatever the fuck he’s got. Threaten to prosecute Manchin’s greedy daughter. Fuck these people and I am pissed off at the Dems because they had opportunities. They fight nice instead of punching the fuck out of these bullies. Fucking Rick Scott should be in prison for Medicare fraud. Trump should be rotting in prison with his whole asshole crooked grifting scamming family.
Johnnybuck
@Mnemosyne: Thank you. This is not the fucking day for any part of this. Most days aren’t,
Johnnybuck
@Mnemosyne: I know, but that’s where you start from?
Ruckus
@Anotherlurker:
They have goals?
Positive ones?
How can one tell? //
frosty
Why yes, yes you did, and I’m here for it. Hang on a sec, while I get some popcorn.
Suzanne
@Johnnybuck: No, I do not. I blame Republicans and white patriarchy with every iota of contempt and malice that my body can produce.
Cowgirl in the Sandi
@Mnemosyne:
Go fuck yourself. You enabled this. You don’t get to fucking come in here and pretend to have some kind of moral high ground about the result we fucking told you would happen if you didn’t support the Democrats.
Well said!
Johnnybuck
@Suzanne: I’m sorry
Mnemosyne
@Mai Naem mobile:
Don’t make me open up my bag of fucks. I have many to distribute.
Also, hi. I’m back.
livewyre
@Mai Naem mobile: I have to take exception to this on principle, but also because it has something interesting in it. There’s a narrative about “fighting nice” that has been making the rounds and I think is part of an attempt to split us.
Part of that’s because the conflict is not force vs. force, but between rule of force and rule of law. Lawyers and politicians could be said to “fight nice” in general, as opposed to sending in the goons to make something happen. We’re fresh out of an administration whose whole… I hesitate to say “organizing”… principle was to do everything underhandedly and half-assedly and not actually making sure it stuck. If anything, that’s something for us over here on the law side to count on.
The other part is that we don’t have enough force to dominate in any case, even if that was our goal. If it comes to armed conflict, we all lose; it’s just a matter of how much. We could use more effort in preventing that rather than accelerating it.
persistentillusion
@Mnemosyne: So stolen, you godess.
Suzanne
@Mnemosyne: Sinema sucks for a fat stack of reasons, but this is not on her.
The reality is that everyone got comfy with Roe and the Dems didn’t want to spend limited political capital, when they had it, to put a right into law when it appeared that the precedent was safe. In retrospect, that was a shitty decision. Many people aren’t imaginative enough and they really are not willing to face the reality that the GOP is a terrorist organization. Fuck, even the Boomer Dems are all like “my esteemed colleague from Dumbfuckistan is a Good Man” and believe in that comity horseshit.
Raoul Paste
@Mnemosyne: I enjoyed this comment
Ivan X
@bbleh:
Ok. You’d give even money. Have you given actual money? You know, put your money where your mouth is?
Mnemosyne
@Suzanne:
Oh, I didn’t mean this is Sinema’s fault. That was more to establish your non-troll bona fides even though we sometimes disagree.
But I should go eat some dinner. I have writing to do tonight.
Fair Economist
@Mnemosyne:
Amen.
Steeplejack
@Suzanne:
Can’t remember which earlier thread where you discussed SuzBioDad, but have you decided to lay into him on Facebook for his hypocrisy?
Fair Economist
@Suzanne:
There has never been a time in the past 40 years when the Democrats could have codified Roe:
1981-2: Reagan was President
1983-4: Reagan was President
1985-6: Reagan was President
1987-8: Reagan was President
1989-90: HW Bush was President
1991-2: HW Bush was President
1995-6: Republican Congress
1997-8: Republican Congress
1999-2000: Republican Congress
2001-2: W Bush was President
2003-4: W Bush was President
2005-6: W Bush was President
2007-8: W Bush was President
2009-10: Tried but stopped by anti-choice majority in House.
2011-2: Republican Congress
2013-4: Republican Congress
2015-6: Republican Congress
2017-8: Trump was President
2019-20: Trump was President
2021-2: Tried but stopped by opposition from 51 Senators.
So that leaves 1993-4 as the only other time the Democrats MIGHT have been able to codify Roe. But they only had a 3 seat majority in the Senate, and that included the antichoicers Shelby, Nunn, and Nighthorse Campbell. So probably not then either.
There literally has not been ONE time in the past FORTY years where the Democrats had the power to codify abortion rights. Not ONE.
And that’s why it didn’t happen.
syphonblue
@Mnemosyne: And I have zero fucking tolerance today for your holier than thou “the only people who would dare mildly criticize Democrats are Bernie bros”
I voted for Hillary in the general AND the primaries, and Warren in 2020, and think Bernie is a blight on the Democratic party who needs to fuck off and stop taking their money and time if he’s not going to be an actual part of the party but please do go on.
I even said in the very first sentence that I’m not blaming the Democrats for this, but it is clear that this moment demands people to rise to the occasion and the current Democratic leadership is utterly failing.
Unless you count a tweet saying they’re “going to hold a hearing next month to explore the reality of it” to be “doing something”.
Suzanne
I should note that I got home at 2 AM today from a family trip to northern CA, and now I am wondering if I should have stayed.
An unexpected treat: I was at the CA Academy of Sciences and looked across to the de Young museum, and the Obama Portraits were there! I was T H R I L L E D. I was in DC last October at the National Portrait Gallery to see them, and I didn’t know they were on tour and I was really disappointed. So I took an hour to myself to go say hello to BHO and my ForeverFLOTUS. I fucking WEPT. I miss them so much, and I miss how I felt about the country and myself while they were in the White House.
I also went to see the show on Alice Neel, “People Come First”. I had read about it in the FTFNYT and I didn’t think I would get to see it. Walking around an art museum in some fucking peace and quiet is one of the joys I have missed the most since the pandemic.
EarthWindFire
@Mnemosyne: And I am here for it. Welcome back!
Ruckus
@Mai Naem mobile:
If the world only worked that way, we’d have rainbow sprinkles every damn day.
But it doesn’t, especially politics, especially in this country. We have a large segment of our population that would seemingly rather sell their grandmothers for dog food than actually have a reasonable government, IOW they are normalish human beings who think money is more important than people.
Many of us are extremely pissed off. We aren’t politicians but we at least have a smidgen of a concept of how politics works or doesn’t.
Others want something, something and have even less of an idea how to get that and it’s besides the point that they can’t even show even a tiny bit of how things work or don’t. They live in a fantasy world, or a bottomless pit without any light, but either way they want something that others don’t want and can’t imagine why they can’t get that. Then we have the conservative side. They think they want to go back a couple thousand years to a better time when men were men and women were silent and toilet paper and running water hadn’t been invented.
The point is that many of us are pissed off. Many of us don’t see a reasonable way out of this, because likely there isn’t a reasonable way when one side wants the future to be better for everyone and the other side thinks hell is such a fine place. We can’t just stuff everyone we don’t like/agree with in a bag and pitch them over the side of the boat, there’d be no one left to zip up the bags.
Fair Economist
@Mai Naem mobile:
Manchin has said if the other Democrats pressure him like that he’ll switch caucuses and give the Senate to Mitch McConnell.
Is that what you want?
phdesmond
@Fair Economist:
impressive analysis.
Suzanne
@Fair Economist: If they had been willing to do a lot of arm-twisting and buying off, I think we could have done it in 2009. But that would have probably required us to give up on every other legislative priority. That’s the counterfactual.
Mnemosyne
@syphonblue:
It was already pointed out that you were completely wrong about the context of singing “God Bless America.” It had nothing to do with the Roe v Wade decision. So what other imaginary things are you angry about that the Democrats didn’t actually do?
Eljai
@syphonblue: The only work before us and the only way to turn things around is to win the next election. You can bitch about national Democrats all you want, but elections are determined at the local, state and regional level and we have many contests coming up that are in play.
Lethe
@Alison Rose : “what about all the people who aren’t here because of abortion??????”
To which I answer “what about all the other babies the mothers who died from the denial of an abortion might have had?” And what about their now-motherless children?
I am so angry. I had 2 ectopic pregnancies before having my son. I wonder how many years I would have been sentenced to?
@Alison Rose :
Anotherlurker
M31
@Fair Economist: thanks for this summary, I’m fighting against some ill-informed progressives in my life who think the Dems ‘could have codified Roe’
Even the so-called ‘filibuster-proof majority’ of Obama’s first term was only a few months long, was dominated by the economic crisis and passing the ACA
Johnnybuck
@syphonblue: Please fucking explain to me how Donald Fucking Trump put 3 of these hacks on the Goddamn court who essentially did this, is somehow Nancy Pelosi’s fault?
prostratedragon
@Johnnybuck: That’s what Justice Sotomayor was telling us.
Mnemosyne
Anyway, dinner break! May or may not be back to battle later since I have a sequel to write and an in-person conference early tomorrow morning. Toodles!
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne: Great to have you back. Bon appetit.
taumaturgo
@Mnemosyne:
What’s your point, hate those within the party that have a different view of the leadership than you? Conservative Democrats are in charge, conservative Democrats should be held accountable. Silencing dissenting views is for the MAGAS, isn’t?
Suzanne
@Anotherlurker: I never want to hear a Democrat ever say anything even vaguely complimentary or conciliatory to or about a Republican ever again. They want to use the force of law to assault women, they should be made to feel like the trash that they are. They get away with this because it is comfortable for them. These people should be mocked mercilessly every time they leave the house.
Fair Economist
@Suzanne:
That’s just wishful thinking. And even if by some miracle they could have got codifying Roe past all the Blue Dogs in the House, it could never have gotten through the filibuster, which had been fully weaponized at that point.
taumaturgo
@Fair Economist:
Thank you for I didn’t realize con-servative Democrats have been ineffectual for so long.
Mai Naem mobile
@Fair Economist: yes. It doesn’t matter if he’s holding back on so much progress. Bidens gotten what’s he’s going to get. If he switches parties he can actually own it. Also he becomes one of 51 assholes. He doesn’t stand out in any way. Manchin wants attention. How does he get it if he’s just another RW asshole.
CaseyL
The only reason to pay attention to purity trolls like taumaturgo and syphonblue is if your BP is low and needs boosting.
They are not, they are NOT, on anyone’s “side” but their own; and they have a GOP-like taste for cruelty, which is why they run here after horrible events to try adding salt to the wound (and are never seen otherwise).
Fair Economist
@Suzanne:
I get the anger, but there’s a reasonable chance that Biden sweet-talking McConnell and Cornyn is the reason the gun control bill got passed, likely saving the lives of hundreds, perhaps thousands of abused women whose boyfriends/exes won’t be able to get guns to kill them with. Is having Biden say only bad things about McConnell worth that to you?
I have long said: We all have our roles to play. Politicians aren’t opinion leaders, they’re negotiators. Being smooth with enemies to get something out of them is *their* job. Badmouthing McConnell is *our* job. Biden is doing an *amazing* job; the legislation list for his term is jaw-dropping – without precedent back to Johnson, even without BBB.
Mike E
Heh, Mnem coming back all Ripley in the power loader and I’m here for it
MisterForkbeard
@taumaturgo: Conservative Democrats are in charge of the democrats? Man, your trolling needs some work.
VeniceRiley
2 more sleeps and I am out of here!
Suzanne
@Fair Economist: Of course it’s wishful thinking. Look, the argument is that we would have had to make a really big fucking effort around it, and engage in a lot of persuasion to change minds. I think it would have been abstractly possible, but who fucking knows? It would have seemed deeply silly at the time to spend our effort that way and to campaign on the issue and primary the shitty Blue Dog Dems and all of the other things we may have done if we were singularly focused on it. And you’re maybe right, it may very well have failed, even if we had tried really hard. The point is that we never wanted to engage in that fight because it would have sucked really hard with no guarantee of success, and it wouldn’t have won anything new. Even I would have thought it was dumb at the time, considering the ACA fight.
But we were all more complacent then.
Fair Economist
@Mai Naem mobile:
If Manchin switches parties, then no more judges. The Republicans get to keep all the currently open spots – like the Appeals Court judge appointed by Reagan in the Seventh (?) circuit who just died. The African-American judge just nominated to the the Fifth (?) circuit doesn’t get the job.
Is that what you want?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Fair Economist:
Has he? I would think the real fuck you from Manchin would be retiring and letting Jim Justice pick his replacement.
Also– I’m angry and frustrated too, but can we not with the Robert Ludlum/Stieg Larsson fantasies of blackmail, if only we have the ballz
ETA: also: do people have some evidence that Bob Casey, Tom Carper and Angus King are ready to codify Roe? And what does that mean? what is are the main point/s of the law?
Mai Naem mobile
@Fair Economist: the Democrars never want to spend their limited political capital. They passed DACA….ooooh BFD because OMG they couldn’t pass anything for illegals. No worker program nothing. But mofo Dubbya and Trump pass massive tax cuts with limited political capital. They even manage to fuck the USPS. Yes, i know the core problem is the GOP but the Dems need to fight back strongly instead of this battered wife shit..puhhhllleeze don’t hit me.
Ruckus
@CaseyL:
Agreed.
I call them BW – Basically Worthless.
And you are correct their major joy in life seems to be getting BP spikes in others. The only appropriate food for them is pie.
Villago Delenda Est
The Court’s legitimacy was shot to hell in December of 2000.
phdesmond
@O. Felix Culpa:
quantum field theory?
livewyre
@Fair Economist: Exactly, thank you. We need to remember what our job is in a democracy, and it’s not to beg for scraps from nobles and complain when we don’t get them. The whole point of an elected government is to make sure they do the negotiations that we don’t have the patience or study or influence for – which, in some form, they actually are, or we’d have a lot less infrastructure to type on and/or a lot less impunity in what we type. We can use this ability to further our goals in concert with them, and we’d better.
I’m noting not a peep about the hearings from our anti-loyalism interlocutors. That’s not likely to be a coincidence. Mocking the whole idea of elected government is in the (rather substantially valued) interest of nobles. We don’t want those anymore.
trollhattan
@Johnnybuck: Oh, you know, ice cream fridge and stuff.
frosty
Good observation. I had one of them pied some time ago, I’ll have to renew it.
Fair Economist
@Mai Naem mobile: It’s really weird to see complaints about “not spending political capital” when the Democrats have actually gotten a record amount of substantive legislation through:
Covid Relief and Recovery
Infrastructure.
Safer Communities Act
Postal Reform
Anti-Lynching Act
Aid for Ukraine.
VA eligibility for burn pit victims
Violence Against Women re-enactment
Forced Arbitration Ban.
Ocean Shipping Reform
Seriously, no administration in my memory has come close to the amount of consequential legislation the Biden administration has pulled off – with the narrowest Congressional margins in history. They are fucking amazing. We are seeing, again and again, that electing Democrats makes life better. Yes, there are things they can’t fix, like the monstrously packed Court, but thank god they are in office and thank god this bunch is so good and effective.
livewyre
@Mai Naem mobile: There’s a whole concept of “working with others” that I feel is getting left by the wayside here. Sometimes it isn’t weak to serve revenge cold. Ask Liz Cheney. The point is to make things happen, not to momentarily vindicate ourselves on the way to the camps. And while we’re not there yet, it’s our obligation – those of us who still can – to keep it from happening. Even if it looks weak.
Also kinda telling on yourself by insulting victims of domestic abuse on this of all possible days that you could have chosen. Might want to reconsider, if that wasn’t the idea to begin with.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@syphonblue:
What does “rising to the occasion” look like?
Ivan X
@taumaturgo: tell me how conservative Democrats are responsible for extreme gerrymandering in R controlled states, abuse of the filibuster, being denied a SCOTUS Justice for literally no reason, relentless media bothsidesing, the electoral college system enshrined in our constitution that denies majority rule, bad faith testimony from SCOTUS candidates, blue flight from red states, vote suppression in R controlled states, the fact that 4 in 10 Americans have no problem with voting for authoritarianism, and Comey’s 11th hour bloviating. Because those are things I see as being directly or indirectly responsible for today’s decision, and that’s just off the top of my head. What would better leadership have done differently to change the effects of any of these? Or are you a Green Lanternist?
Also, R’s have wielded a tremendous amount of power just by sticking together. How is having a discussion about what our side’s leadership does wrong on a day that can can only be described as a grief filled catastrophe, and when the other side openly cheats, constructive or decent?
HumboldtBlue
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yup.
Mo Salad
I found out that my daughter was going to bus in tonight from Ann Arbor to join the protest in downtown Detroit. I decided that my girlfriend and I should go down and join her as well. What I didn’t know is that they were going to do a 5K March in 90ﾟ heat. I was in jeans and long sleeve T-shirt because you’re not supposed to have exposed skin at these protests.I was the whitest dad type looking guy out there. A lot of these marchers were those red rose purity types that we complain about here.They were fucking amazing. They know how to do these protests. Medics. Water wagons. People on bikes and in cars blocking off traffic so that we could March down the streets throughout downtown Detroit. We pissed off a lot of people trying to get around downtown tonight and that’s fine. Thr March ended with us completely blocking Jefferson Avenue at the Windsor tunnel entrance for quite a while.Got in a dinner afterwards. Got in a visit with both my daughter and my girlfriend tonight. Got in a metric fuckton of steps tonight. Got to drive my daughter home. Got in a bunch of pokemon go along with the chants tonight. Yeah, I know. I suck. But I also have a Snorlax parked at the Spirit of Detroit statue as we speak.
prostratedragon
The Fair & Just Prosecutors’ statement was published as a pdf. I’ve extracted the text. Here’s some of it:
TaMara
@Mnemosyne: Thank dog and welcome back! Also, preach!
phdesmond
logic, reason,
heart and soul,
birth control.
— Peter H. Desmond
Another Scott
@Tony G: Of course, (as someone probably already noted) the Founders thought of that way back when:
<blockquote>9th Amendment:
The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.</blockquote>
Grr…,
Scott.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon:
[Edited to clean up formatting]
HumboldtBlue
@Mo Salad:
Sounds like a helluva night, great night for you guys.
In Texas, the signs we are creeping to open violence in the streets are getting bigger and brighter. There is a nastiness to the rhetoric that has been at least dampened in the past, but now the hate is palpable.
Cameron
I’ve gotta check out for the night. Old fart needs his beauty sleep. Today people had to come to terms with these awful SC rulings, particularly the one discussed on this post. I’m hoping tomorrow to see some kicking around of ideas on how the resistance might be framed. Have a great night, all.
Jay
@Mnemosyne:
not by me, missed you,
glad you are going brutal,
what a f’ng day.
livewyre
Now that I think of it, there has to be some common motivation behind all these power fantasies and how-dare-they-nots – some with an almost triumphant note to them. It’s like the point is to keep from looking weak. Who cares about the tapes, they still aren’t doing enough – aren’t doing what I would. I’m better than them; stronger, more righteous, more in tune with the needs of the people. I, the archetypal voter, disapprove. And I get to say whether they’re good enough for me. Don’t I?
It doesn’t even make a difference whether it’s out of fear of failure (from the same side) or fear of success (on either side). Mental state isn’t knowable. But it is out of coordination with the actual work being done. And it needs to stop, in order for that work to continue.
Maybe we need a better general sense of what it is that politicians actually do. There might be an unawareness of what political negotiations actually consist of (unless they involve wooden canes or baseball bats). If we can open that up a little, that might help us get a sense of being on the same side. Easy for me to say.
Sister Golden Bear
@Mnemosyne
Music to my ears. I’ve got a bag full of find out just itching to be used.
brendancalling
I don’t want to hear some fucking poem read by Nancy Pelosi.
Ivan X
@brendancalling: I don’t want to hear about your not wanting to hear it.
livewyre
@brendancalling: In case you didn’t scan the comments (don’t blame you), it was in ceremony with passing certain legislation. But I suppose it does look weak, if one’s on the hunt for signs of weakness.
In that case, I would ask: why are we looking for signs of weakness, instead of using our own strength to correct for it?
Sally
Pregnancy has major medical and health effects on the body. People (eg. Amy) talk as if the body is similar to a catalyst, the embryo grows inside the body without affecting the function at all. Many of us and our families know this is not usually true. Pregnancy and birth can leave the body with life long incapacities and disfunction, and can cause death. The idea that “she can just have the baby, give “It” away, and then go on with her life as if nothing happened” is ignorant, disingenuous and dangerous. And “they” know it. This is aside from the devastating psychological affects of the pregnancy, the birth, and a subsequent surrender. Women who surrender a baby are much more likely to suffer more serious and life long mental health issues than women who have terminations (who have very few psychological after affects). Even when recovery after a birth is good, the impacts of the pregnancy can affect women’s ability to work, care for others, travel, and pursue their lives in a manner of their choosing. The physical and mental health impact of a pregnancy on young girls can be devastating. I believe these short and long term health effects are aspects of the ban that should be emphasised.
Sister Golden Bear
@syphonblue: Me and all the other women here officially became second-fucking-class citizens and you’re fucking complaining because your precious fucking feelings are hurt.
Read the fucking room, fuckhead. And then fucking fuck off.
the pollyanna from hell
@brendancalling:
17 syllables exactly! Good poesy.
mrmoshpotato
@Mnemosyne:
Say it loud! Say it proud!
Also, a mock up I found in 2016: Fuck All Y’All by Hillary Rodham Clinton
Bill Arnold
@taumaturgo:
Say something negative about the Republican Party. I dare you.
brklyWest
@syphonblue:I understand your anger with Nancy and I agree with the need to pass the torch.
But we have to work with the hand we’re dealt with. In the aggregate, Nancy has been an effective leader. The fault doesn’t lie with the House. Lets work to keep the house and net 4 new Senators in the upcoming elections. Then we can do something about this mess
Ohio Mom
@Fair Economist: Thank you for this history. I did not know that and didn’t even realize I didn’t know that.
MomSense
Today was brutal. We have summer employees who are college students and they broke down today. We all marched together and I hope I impressed upon that the work continues. We fight tomorrow and everyday until we achieve autonomy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
gwangung
@taumaturgo: Moron.
You spent your time deriding politicians instead of persuading the folks who elect politicians.
Always acting top down instead of grassroots.
phdesmond
@brendancalling:
bravo!
Kent
Elections have consequences.
And the three elections that gave us this are
That is your 5 vote majority to overturn Roe right there.
Yes, go vote Dem in the 2022 midterms like your life depends on it. But this was as 50-year project by the right. And it might well take 50 years to completely undo. Of course the Dems could fix this tomorrow if they really wanted except for Manchin and Sinema and the others who think so-called Senate customs are more important than democracy and civil rights.
JWR
@Mnemosyne: (Cue Twilight Zone theme.) Wow! Just yesterday I was wondering to myself how you were doing. Honest! Here’s hoping you make more frequent appearances, and on better news days than today!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne:
Just want to add my voice to those saying: Welcome back! and stay a while.
RaflW
I believe that Leadership Democrats cannot really see that they are invested in institutions that have already failed. Heck, that’s a hard concept for me to grasp!
But the coming phase in this (so far) cold civil war will be trifecta blue states testing out how far they can try to just ignore Scotus decisions they deem grossly unjust.
There have been some interesting threads this afternoon about ways that the rift in this country will worsen. That this return to the experiment of “state’s rights” will fail as spectacularly as it did before.
We must gird for this. It’s going to be really rough.
HumboldtBlue
Sooz Kempner at least brings us a laugh amidst the carnage, both here at home and across in Tony J land.
Kent
An abortion rights bill has already passed the House. The Senate is the only obstacle. but it is obviously an unsurpassable one.
RaflW
@RaflW: The above said, my partner and I are committed to helping elect Democrats in MN & WI – our home geographies.
My goal is not to bash Dems, but to say that we have to build new power and new strength at the state level. Republicans want to devolve power? (while also seeking full control in D.C., so a tall order) We have to meet and exceed them.
Things like Four Directions and this newer BJ collaboration are good examples.
columbusqueen
@Mnemosyne: Right on. Any purist lefties reading this can fuck themselves with rusty chain saws.
columbusqueen
@Mai Naem mobile: Fuck off, idiot.
Urban Suburbanite
Got back from the rally in Seattle. There were two big groups – one was led by Refuse Fascism (kind of shady group, but they’ve been leading a lot of people), the other was basically everyone else. I went with the former. Lot of people in that group, waaaaaayyyyyyyy more people in the second. Also a gay and trans marching band. Really should have gone with the second.
There’s a lot of ire at Democratic leadership right now. This isn’t about collecting both sides points, this is legit anger at the party leadership for continually ceding ground to the people who produced this court but never missing a chance for fundraising emails and texts.
The anarchist ninjas have been stepping up lately, and it’s less of a fringe thing, where they just show up and wave a banner. They’re more tied into these events and kind of acting as security (looks like they wrecked a couple local nuisances tonight).
Urban Suburbanite
Washington, Oregon, and California will be forming a pact to undermine a lot of the coming restrictions, and that includes setting up clinics reaaaallllll close to the increasingly insane state of Idaho (Nazis and retirees are a terrible combination, people). So at least our boring Democratic overlord is making some real steps. The scary communist councilwoman in Seattle, Kshama Sawant is pushing to go further.
Everyone is furious and unsure where to go from here. Plus there’s a really encouraged fascist set who will be escalating their activities. This is going to be a bad summer.
Kent
What ground did the Dems actually cede? Under what alternate history can you argue that any decisions by Dem leadership would have led to a different outcome?
Of course none of that makes a tinker’s damn. Seattle anarchists and anyone at a Seattle rally don’t make any damn bit of difference. Washington hasn’t voted GOP or sent GOP Senators to DC in ages. What does a Seattle protest accomplish other than venting? No one who matters is listening.
The elections of 2000 and 2016 are what brought us to this point. And those were mostly on the voters, not Dems. The orcs are always at the fucking door in this country. And the moment you decide to take a break they claw their way in as happened in 2000 and 2016. Neither of those elections should have been remotely close enough to steal.
prostratedragon
Prosecutors signing the Fair and Just Prosecutions Dobbs statement include some from anti States, not all of whom are in the big metro jurisdictions. A-C:
Patsy Austin-Gatson
District Attorney, Gwinnett Judicial Circuit, Georgia
Diana Becton
District Attorney, Contra Costa County, California
Wesley Bell
Prosecuting Attorney, St. Louis County, Missouri
Buta Biberaj
Commonwealth’s Attorney, Loudoun County, Virginia
Sherry Boston
District Attorney, DeKalb County, Georgia
Chesa Boudin
District Attorney, City and County of San Francisco, California
Alvin Bragg
District Attorney, New York County (Manhattan), New York
Aisha Braveboy
State’s Attorney, Prince George’s County, Maryland
Danny Carr
District Attorney, Jefferson County, Alabama
Christian Champagne
District Attorney, 6th Judicial District, Colorado
John T. Chisholm
District Attorney, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
John Choi
County Attorney, Ramsey County, Minnesota
Dave Clegg
District Attorney, Ulster County, New York
Shameca Collins
District Attorney, 6th Judicial District, Mississippi
Shalena Cook Jones
District Attorney, Chatham County (Savannah), Georgia
David Cooke
District Attorney, Macon Judicial Circuit, Georgia
John Creuzot
District Attorney, Dallas County, Texas
[Oh boy, style sheet loves those blank lines!]
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon:
D-K:
Satana Deberry
District Attorney, Durham County, North Carolina
Parisa Dehghani-Tafti
Commonwealth’s Attorney, Arlington County and the City of Falls Church, Virginia
Steve Descano
Commonwealth’s Attorney, Fairfax County, Virginia
Joshua R. Diamond
Acting Attorney General, Vermont
Michael Dougherty
District Attorney, 20th Judicial District (Boulder), Colorado
Matt Ellis
District Attorney, Wasco County, Oregon
Keith Ellison
Attorney General, Minnesota
Ramin Fatehi
Commonwealth’s Attorney, City of Norfolk, Virginia
Kimberly M. Foxx
State’s Attorney, Cook County (Chicago), Illinois
Glenn Funk
District Attorney, Nashville, Tennessee
José Garza
District Attorney, Travis County (Austin), Texas
George Gascón
District Attorney, Los Angeles County, California
Sarah F. George
State’s Attorney, Chittenden County (Burlington), Vermont
Joe Gonzales
District Attorney, Bexar County (San Antonio), Texas
Deborah Gonzalez
District Attorney, Western Judicial Circuit (Athens), Georgia
Eric Gonzalez
District Attorney, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York
Mark Gonzalez
District Attorney, Nueces County (Corpus Christi), Texas
Andrea Harrington
District Attorney, Berkshire County, Massachusetts
Maura Healey
Attorney General, Massachusetts
John Hummel
District Attorney, Deschutes County, Oregon
Natasha Irving
District Attorney, 6th Prosecutorial District, Maine
Melinda Katz
District Attorney, Queens County, New York
Alexis King
District Attorney, 1st Judicial District, Colorado
Zach Klein
City Attorney, Columbus, Ohio
Lawrence S. Krasner
District Attorney, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
smike
@Fair Economist:
Seconded!
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon:
L-P:
David Leyton
Prosecuting Attorney, Genesee County, Michigan
Rebecca Like
Prosecuting Attorney, County of Kaua’i, Hawaii
Edward E. Manibusan
Attorney General, Northern Mariana Islands
Brian Mason
District Attorney, 17th Judicial District, Colorado
Beth McCann
District Attorney, 2nd Judicial District (Denver), Colorado
Karen McDonald
Prosecuting Attorney, Oakland County, Michigan
Colette McEachin
Commonwealth’s Attorney, Richmond, Virginia
Gordon McLaughlin
District Attorney, 8th Judicial District, Colorado
Ryan Mears
Prosecuting Attorney, Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana
Brian Middleton
District Attorney, Fort Bend County, Texas
Stephanie Morales
Commonwealth’s Attorney, Portsmouth, Virginia
Michael W. Morrissey
District Attorney, Norfolk County, Massachusetts
Marilyn J. Mosby
State’s Attorney, Baltimore City, Maryland
Jamie Mosser
State’s Attorney, Kane County, Illinois
Dana Nessel
Attorney General, Michigan
Nancy O’Malley
District Attorney, Alameda County, California
Jody Owens
District Attorney, Hinds County, Mississippi
Alonzo Payne
District Attorney, 12th Judicial District (San Luis), Colorado
Joseph Platania
Commonwealth’s Attorney, City of Charlottesville, Virginia
Bryan Porter
Commonwealth’s Attorney, City of Alexandria, Virginia
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon:
R-end:
Dalia Racine
District Attorney, Douglas County, Georgia
Karl Racine
Attorney General, District of Columbia
Eric Rinehart
State’s Attorney, Lake County (Waukegan), Illinois
Mimi Rocah
District Attorney, Westchester County, New York
Jeff Rosen
District Attorney, Santa Clara County, California
Marian Ryan
District Attorney, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Dan Satterberg
Prosecuting Attorney, King County (Seattle), Washington
Eli Savit
Prosecuting Attorney, Washtenaw County (Ann Arbor), Michigan
Mike Schmidt
District Attorney, Multnomah County (Portland), Oregon
Daniella Shorter
District Attorney, 22nd Judicial District, Mississippi
Carol Siemon
Prosecuting Attorney, Ingham County (Lansing), Michigan
Jack Stollsteimer
District Attorney, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
David Sullivan
District Attorney, Northwestern District, Massachusetts
Shannon Taylor
Commonwealth’s Attorney, Henrico County, Virginia
Raúl Torrez
District Attorney, Bernalillo County (Albuquerque), New Mexico
Suzanne Valdez
District Attorney, Douglas County (Lawrence), Kansas
Matthew Van Houten
District Attorney, Tompkins County (Ithaca), New York
Andrew Warren
State Attorney, 13th Judicial Circuit (Tampa), Florida
Phil Weiser
Attorney General, Colorado
Matthew J. Wiese
Prosecuting Attorney, Marquette County, Michigan
Jared Williams
District Attorney, Augusta Judicial Circuit, Georgia
Jason Williams
District Attorney, Orleans Parish, Louisiana
Todd Williams
District Attorney, Buncombe County (Asheville), North Carolina
[And signatures are still being taken.]
Matt McIrvin
Everyone in the blue states knows that it will only take a Republican-controlled Congress and White House, which one way or another is only a matter of time, to make a federal abortion ban possible. They already did this for certain classes of abortion years ago during the George W. Bush administration.
Ruckus
@Sally:
They don’t give a damn about the pregnant woman. They want another constituent, another box checked off, another voter. And if they don’t get another voter on their side they will just hope that this person dies from some crappy disease. They care about power, about having their 10th century bullshit be the law of the land. Freedom? They don’t give a damn about that for anyone but them. Selfish bastards that they are.
smike
@mrmoshpotato:
Good one!
Shalimar
@Alison Rose : The decision was unusual because Roberts wrote a concurrence agreeing with the decision but refused to join the majority. I don’t recall seeing anything like it in law school. The majority decision was 5-4 but the final result was 6-3.
Urban Suburbanite
@Kent:
If you want to play Team Blue, take it elsewhere. Just because the alternative is the party of Judge Kegerator and Jim Jordan doesn’t mean the Democrats have done all that well on their part.
Urban Suburbanite
@Matt McIrvin: There’s also the possibility of Republican majorities in state legislatures. For all the noise about Washington being safely Blue, it’s not untenable for the GOP to take over the state legislature (they’ve given up on the governor’s mansion) and they’ve only gotten crazier.
Aussie Sheila
A bit late to the discussion here, but, first deepest sympathy to US women and the men who support them. Absolutely terrible and bodes badly for parts of the world where this will be something to hang their reactionary hats on.
Now I have a question. If the SC has ruled that the right to bodily autonomy doesn’t exist in the US constitution, will that make moot any congressional law that codifies RvW? In other words, is the only solution a reversal of the SC decision by new/different SC?
Can Congress make laws beyond the reach of the SC?
Sorry if this comes across as pettifogging in the circumstances. I am truly devastated for you all. Oh, and although I am pretty far left, anyone who does not doggedly vote for and support the lesser of two evils, ( if that is what you think about the Dem party)is both evil and stupid.
In these circumstances, stupid is truly evil. I can’t stand the idea that voting in elections is an expression of personal aesthetics. Only privileged arseholes can afford this kind of reactionary individualism.
Sally
@Ruckus: Yes, I know – as Kay says, the women are not even mentioned. But there are many chronic and acute conditions that can and do result from pregnancy. The devastation to a young body, 11, 12, 13 years old raped by her brother (Duggars), forced to carry to term and give birth, needs to be articulated to these guys. I listen to them talking about the anti abortion and contraception legislation they introduce, and it’s clear they have NO IDEA how the human body works. Contraception, by the way, that is medical therapy, and that we should refer to as medication, not contraception. Prohibiting women’s access to medical care and medication.
livewyre
@Urban Suburbanite: Sorry to break it to you, but Team Blue is where the action is right now. We’re in favor of things such as rights. If you’re not on board with those things – like, actively, substantively on board, as in willing to defend them – then there’s nothing at stake for you, and you’re putting up another obstacle. I wouldn’t recommend it.
Aussie Sheila
Hi there. I sent a comment. Am I in moderation?
Urban Suburbanite
@livewyre: You’re not getting it. This isn’t about defending the only alternative in a two party system. The Supreme Court has fully moved into being an instrument of lifelong power for far-right creeps. This is a real political crisis, and the Democratic leadership has been outmanuevered consistently. Throwing up your hands and saying “oh well, we believed McConnell” while a justice is using a judge who condemned women for witchcraft and another has a grift-y wife who was involved in a couple attempt doesn’t leave people with much faith in institutions or the party. Ignoring that is a foolish choice.
Anne Laurie
Not any more — on this ‘new’ site, everyone’s first comment (or comment from a new address) is treated as potentially spam. But you should be good from this point on.
livewyre
It was made clear and will only become clearer what side of history to act on. There’s no such thing as “not doing enough.” There’s no more room for armchair theater critique of how convincing a performance was put on and what the career trajectories of the actors might be.
We do what we can in furtherance of the right to exist, or we stand in the way. Those are the choices while there still are. And the political party still inclined to enact policy in favor of the right to exist of those such as myself is the one that I support with everything I have. I’m paying attention because I have something at stake. This is a process that involves me.
“Not doing enough” is a position of either lack of observation or worse. We do what we can with what we have. There’s nothing else to do, as long as rights are what one favors. And we can tell in action whether that’s the case.
Anne Laurie
New post up top, if you want fresh meat…
Shalimar
@Urban Suburbanite: No one ever believes McConnell. But saying Democrats get out-maneuvered constantly is basically saying you’re a genius who would have done better if you had been in charge. You’re not, and you wouldn’t have.
Republicans have an advantage. It’s a lot easier to burn a building down than it is to build one. Democratic leaders do their best within that constraint.
TriassicSands
I’m not sure what the point of your comment is. Someone said today that Roberts “had lost control of the Court.” The Chief Justice doesn’t control the Court. Roberts and the other Chiefs before him, have very limited ” powers.” If the Chief is in the majority, he can assign the opinion and thus help shape its severity, generality, or limit its reach. If he’s in the minority, the senior justice in the majority gets to assign the opinion. Thomas, the senior justice in the decision to overturn Roe, gave the opinion to Alito, perhaps the most extreme theocrat among the five radicals. And Clarence already had his plum when he wrote the NY gun decision. He’s got to share.
Other than that, the Chief has some reporting duties and that’s about it. Nothing about control. Since Thomas is the senior justice in the group of five, he gets to assign opinions, but that is the norm, so there isn’t anything novel or surprising there. It’s not as though he’s usurped the Chief’s job in some historically noteworthy way.
What is more interesting to me is that in the NY gun rights case, Roberts was in the majority and assigned the opinion to the most extreme gun nut on the Court. Roberts only appears “moderate” when he’s trying to pretend he can salvage the credibility of the Court by siding occasionally with the liberals. He knows his name with always be on this period — the Roberts’ Court — and he doesn’t want history to see him as bat shit crazy like the other five. But history will get to look at his whole voting record and he’s no moderate.
In the abortion decision, he didn’t join the five, because their radical activism, disregard for stare decisis, historical ignorance and misrepresentations, and their utter disregard for the integrity and legitimacy of the SCOTUS will inevitably be tied to the Roberts’ Court. Personally, I think his hope that he can separate himself from that is just wishful thinking.
Geminid
There is a lot of condemnation of the Green Party’s role in the outcome of the 2016 election, and it is deserved. The party’s vote went from 469,000 votes in the 2012 presidential election to 1,457,000 in 2016, an increase of almost one million.
The Libertarian Party had a larger effect, I think. Gary Johnson polled 1,275,000 in 2012, and his vote jumped to 4,489,000 in 2016, an increase of over 3 million votes.
Democrats tend to think of Green Party voters as “our” voters, and Libertarian Party voters as “their” voters, because of these parties’ nominal positions on a linear right/left ideological scale. But I suspect that in 2016 Johnson’s extra 3 million voters were all over the place in political belief, and their most common attribute was misogyny. A second unifying factor may have been the belief that a Clinton victory was a sure thing, so they could cast a “free” protest vote.
The Green Party’s advocates were so f**king obnoxious, though, that I can’t blame any Democrat for being mad at them, even if the Libertarian candidate may have hurt Clinton more. And the Libertarians did do the nation a service in 2020, when their Georgia Senate candidate got enough votes to hold David Perdue below 50%, making Jon Ossoff’s runoff victory possible.
Gvg
@Alison Rose : I suspect the onion pre wrote those cartoons which is where I have seen the 5-4. I think people were expecting Roberts to be on the moderate side.
it was 6-3
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: I remember this from 2016, and agreed then.
Nice to see back.
AM in NC
@Mai Naem mobile: The problem is that Republican priorities (tax cuts and judges) don’t require a filibuster-proof majority to pass, only bare 50+1 vote.
Democratic priorities (DACA, Healthcare, Climate Change, Gun Safety legislation, etc.) ALL require 60 votes in the Senate, because they are not budget bills or judges.
We need more Senate Democrats so we can nix the filibuster because it only constrains our priorities, not the GOP’s. But nothing changes unless we elect more and better Democrats. Working to flip a GOP-retiring seat here in North Carolina, myself.
AM in NC
@Fair Economist: THANK YOU!!!! The list is impressive, for sure. If we had 5 more Democratic Senators would that list be far better? Absolutely. Seems to me the best course of action then is to work to support the Democrats and elect more of them rather than disparage them for never giving us everything we demand, thus driving other people away from supporting them.
O. Felix Culpa
@phdesmond:
Just back with my morning coffee.
QFT=Quoted For Truth
stinger
@taumaturgo:
Good to know, Boris.