Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

When they say they are pro-life, they do not mean yours.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

“Perhaps I should have considered other options.” (head-desk)

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you do not.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: A Good Week’s Work

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: A Good Week’s Work

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TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: A Good Week's Work

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)

 

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Speaking of good union jobs… ICYMI:

TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: A Good Week's Work 1

(John Deering via GoComics.com)

Reader Interactions

184Comments

  2. 2.

    Baud

    Donald Hoover Trump.

    Can’t help but wonder whether this is a response to that George HW Bush thing in the NYT.

  3. 3.

    Nelle

    I was thinking this morning that the media that continues to talk about the House failure to solve the funding of the government as a failure.  But isn’t their purpose to prove that government doesn’t work?  Shouldn’t the conversation be about the success of Maga to shut down the government, that that is their real goal?  I want to forefront that sort of talk – that a vote for them is a vote for elected officials to take a salary to not work, to not solve problems, but to wallow in fingerpointing, insults, and filling their pockets.  Oh, and here is your bill for the crazy caucus.

  5. 5.

    Jeffro

    Jamelle Bouie, doing more straight-up reporting than usual today (but still making a good point): the GOP’s Culture-War Schtick is Getting Old

    I can think of three reasons that voters — going back to the 2016 North Carolina governor’s race, fought over the state’s “bathroom bill” — have not responded to Republican efforts to make transgender rights a wedge issue.

    There’s the fact that transgender people represent a tiny fraction of the population — they just aren’t all that relevant to the everyday lives of most Americans. There’s also the fact that for all the talk of “parents’ rights,” the harshest anti-trans laws trample on the rights of parents who want to support their transgender children.

    Additionally — and ironically, given the Republican Party’s strategic decision to link the two — there’s the chance that when fused together with support for abortion bans, vocal opposition to the rights of transgender people becomes a clear signal for extremist views. The vibe is off, one might say, and voters have responded accordingly.

    If the Republican Party were a normal political party that was still capable of strategic adjustment, I’d say to expect some rhetorical moderation ahead of the presidential election. But consider the most recent Republican presidential debate — held on Wednesday — in which candidates continued to emphasize their opposition to the inclusion of transgender people in mainstream American life. “If God made you a man, you play sports against men,” declared Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, at the conclusion of the debate.

    So I suppose that when the next election comes around, we should just expect more of the same.

    It’s just true: expect the worst of Republicans, and you’ll never be disappointed.

  9. 9.

    Ramalama

    I loved hearing the union workers of Illinois yelling in response to Joe Biden. Very clear yells of “HE’S AN IDIOT!” when Joe mentioned Trump. And then another series of yells, “YES HE DID!” when Joe said that Trump came to a non-union shop and attacked you.” Maybe it’s just because I’m wearing headphones? But sounds like this union is raring to go for Joe.

  10. 10.

    satby

    That tweet from OG of the HRC is the best, clearest defense of the late Dianne Feinstein I’ve ever seen. And it should put to shame some of the people who constantly griped about that poor woman working almost to her last breath.

  13. 13.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro: They hit those transphobic talking points because those are among the very few issues where a solid majority agree with conservatives. (Opinion on trans rights is all over the place, but if you make it about either sports or children, most people will reflexively take the anti side.)

    What they’re not convinced of is that this is the most important burning issue that overrides everything else. They don’t see the creeping conspiracy to eliminate man and woman or whatever conservatives say it is.

  14. 14.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Joe Biden has confirmed 150 people to lifetime seats on federal courts.100 of them are women.

    Ah yes, that Bendery tweet brought them out:

    Steve @TypicalDad49Way to minimize whether they earned the position by being the best suited for the job. Diversity hires will weaken the organization that utilizes this as a means of promoting.

    Translation: “I’M A RACIST, MISOGYNIST POS AND PROUD OF IT!!!”

    @SincerelyVeeVeeThis is terrifying.Courts should not be based on gender and color but on understanding of the laws.

    Translation: “ONLY WHITE MEN ARE CAPABLE OF UNDERSTANDING THE LAW!!”

    Tired of Clown world@tiredofclwnwrldAre they qualified?

    Translation: “IF THEY AREN’T WHITE MEN THEY AREN’T QUALIFIED!!!”
    Funny how they all think a majority of senators, both DEM and GOP have shit for brains.​

  15. 15.

    BethanyAnne

    NCAA started allowing trans participation officially in 2010. Women’s sports hasn’t died in the intervening decade plus. ‘Bout 500,000 college athletes each year. That’s at the least tens of thousands of contests. How many have trans folk won? Like 3? Dude, they are chasing a non-problem.

  17. 17.

    hueyplong

    Trump won’t be pissed about that “Donald Hoover Trump” crack until his people tell him who Hoover was.

  18. 18.

    Eunicecycle

    @OzarkHillbilly: it’s also funny that Judge Cannon was considered “not qualified” by the ABA but was nominated anyway. I bet all of Joe’s nominees were considered qualified.

  25. 25.

    Ken

    @hueyplong: Trump won’t be pissed about that “Donald Hoover Trump” crack until his people tell him who Hoover was.

    “He was a self-made man, and made his fortune from mining. They named the Hoover Dam, one of the largest structures ever built, after him. When he ran for President, the establishment Republicans didn’t want him, but he won the nomination. And now let’s listen to “Memories” from Cats.”

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @Matt McIrvin: I think that’s right. Repubs in FL passed transphobic legislation, but they had to package it with more generic anti-queer nonsense, lies about leftist indoctrination in public schools, etc. DeSantis had to import women and girls from out of state to participate in bill signings to exclude trans students from sports because they could find no actual “victims” in Florida. We’ll see what happens, but I’m super relieved this bullshit doesn’t seem to have traction nationwide.

  34. 34.

    Geminid

    @Baud: “Jim Foolish Literalist” commented a week or so ago. “James E. Powell” has been absent for a while though. He’s a teacher in Southern California so maybe he’s been concentrating on his job.

  35. 35.

    New Deal democrat

    @Ken: To be fair to Hoover, if he had keeled over dead in summer 1929 he would be remembered as one of the 20th century’s great philanthropists and civil engineers.

    Aside from the Hoover Dam, he is primarily responsible for both the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Intercoastal Waterway.

    But more importantly, he almost single-handedly saved millions from starvation in Belgium and northern France during WW1, and in the Soviet Union immediately afterward. He also, along with John Maynard Keynes, attended the Versailles peace conference and was aghast at the outcome.

  37. 37.

    Ken

    @New Deal democrat: To be fair to Hoover, if he had keeled over dead in summer 1929 he would be remembered as one of the 20th century’s great philanthropists and civil engineers.

    Agreed, but I was writing as a Trump advisor handler baby-sitter, and they would know he wouldn’t be impressed by an engineer and definitely not by philanthropy.

  38. 38.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: I hadn’t either, but a song being sung by a mainstream* country artist doesn’t make it country all by itself. Not in my book anyway.

    *not sure how “mainstream” Luke Combs is or isn’t. It usually takes a few years for new talents to trickle down to me.

  39. 39.

    Jeffro

    @hueyplong: Trump won’t be pissed about that “Donald Hoover Trump” crack until his people tell him who Hoover was.

    Or he’ll be pissed, but for the wrong reason: “I’m a…a vacuum?  Is he saying I suck?  Like…I sucked as a president?  Worse than him?!?”  (ketchup bottle flies)

  41. 41.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Nelle: Solving the problem would mean passing a bill that the Senate would approve and Biden would sign. You may be right  to say that they’d rather shut down much of the government than do that. But so far they haven’t even managed to agree among themselves and pass a bill. That is a failure.

  42. 42.

    Ejoiner

    The CMA’s can be weirdly inclusive these days – back in 2019, both Trent Reznor (of Nine Inch Nails fame) and *checks notes* Lil Nas X won – along with Billy Ray Cyrus – for Old Town Road.

    Also, for anyone counting, Trent is just a Tony short of pulling off the GOT triple crown…any day now :)

  44. 44.

    RevRick

    Over at Dkos I read some tweets about thoroughly the GOP suffered a beat down on Tuesday. They got ousted in school boards in Iowa, SE PA. They lost a +35 Senate district in NJ. They lost control of towns in CT, where previously they held the majority. And that’s just a sample.

  45. 45.

    Brit in Chicago

    @ColoradoGuy: No doubt it’s a steepish learning curve, but she does seem to be, um, struggling with it, doesn’t she? Not to say: stuck part-way up.

     

    @OzarkHillbilly: I bought the CD when it first came out and really liked it. Haven’t listened to it in a while, but now I’m reminded I’ll get it out again. Was it really 35 years ago? Yikes!

  48. 48.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi absorbed conspiracy theories, trial hears

    The defense attorney Jodi Linker said on Thursday in opening statements in court in San Francisco that she would not dispute that DePape attacked the former House speaker’s husband. Instead, she will argue that DePape believed “with every ounce of his body” he was taking action to stop corruption and the abuse of children by politicians and actors.

    “This is not a whodunit. But what the government fails to acknowledge is the ‘whydunit’ – and the ‘why’ matters in this case,” Linker said.

    IANAL, but I just can’t see this as a winning strategy.

  51. 51.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Ejoiner: The CMA’s can be weirdly inclusive these days –

    Like my union, they seem to be trying. But if they are like my union, the real fight is getting the “rank and file” on board and that is a much harder lift.

  52. 52.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Baud: Don’t they have to notify the court if they are going to use an insanity defense? I seem to recall reading that in news stories.

    Either that or I heard it in a tv show/movie.

  56. 56.

    RaflW

    @RevRick: Saw yesterday that Republicans still think they need to tweak their “messaging” post-Dobbs. This is one of the many ways they’ve become totally moribund and fully Luntzed. They believe that everything is just a communications battle.

    But women (and their allies) know that policy is central. Palin was inadvertently right in her lipstick on a pig comment. The GOP can’t get their jaw off the bumper now that they caught the Roe car. Messaging simply will not save them.

  57. 57.

    frosty

    @RevRick: ​They got ousted in school boards in Iowa, SE PA…

    The Moms for Liberty candidates won school board elections in South Central PA though.​

  58. 58.

    Nelle

    @RevRick: The neighboring school dostrict is very conservative (Dallas Center-Grimes, Iowa).  A coalition of three conservatives ran together, one of whom is a rt-wing pastor who is vocal about supporting vouchers.  To my surprise, they all lost, though the pastor by only 12 votes.  I’m trying to convince some young baristas to vote and they push back, saying it won’t make a difference.  Iowa has a Congresswoman who first got in by 6 votes ( and the election officials refused to look at 25 unexamined ballots).  I keep going to the coffeehouse and talking to them ( and stuffing their tip jar).  Maybe I’ll get them registered by next year.

  59. 59.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Baud: I prefer the original too. But I hadn’t classified the original as country. Maybe I’m wrong though.

    A study of the two versions could help clarify the differences between country and folk music.

  61. 61.

    HinTN

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I still prefer Tracy’s version.

    Yep! Loved it when it came out and love it still. I’m glad she got the award but, yeah, we’re still way down the white is right rat hole.

    Edit to correct stupid autocorrect.

  62. 62.

    New Deal democrat

    @RaflW:

    The GOP can’t get their jaw off the bumper now that they caught the Roe car. Messaging simply will not save them.

    Yep. One of the things I realized a while back is that most “social” issues are really “moral” issues; as in, at least one side views the issue as one of fundamental morality, as to which there can be no compromise. This is why “social” issues typically trump economic issues except when the economy is clearly in crisis.

    For conservative Evangelicals and Catholics, abortion absolutely fits that mold. And since these people make up the GOP rank and file, there can never be any compromise (vs. a bait-and-switch, which is what Youngkin tried to pull in Virginia).*

    *OK, with the extremely notable exception of the Sourthern Baptists completely reversing their position on abortion immediately after St. Ronald Reagan sanctified “State’s rights” in Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1980.

  64. 64.

    RaflW

    @OzarkHillbilly: I assume a win here by defense is a reduced sentence, or possibly commitment for mental issues?

    One would have to be somewhat deranged to do what this person did. Yet our prisons are full of people with cognitive issues which lead to really awful decision making.

  66. 66.

    Trivia Man

    Alternative timeline debate moment:

    Vivek says “Do you want Dick Cheney in 3” heels?”

    Nikki: (looks at Ron) “I think he’s talking about you.”

    or “At least I admit I’m wearing high heels”

  67. 67.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @frosty: ​
     

    The Moms for Liberty candidates won school board elections in South Central PA though.

    I know that area well. It’s called Pennsyltucky for a good reason. We almost moved there instead of Central Misery a lifetime ago and as blood red as Central Misery became, it’s clear it doesn’t hold a candle to that region.

    Sure is purty country tho.

  70. 70.

    Soprano2

    @RaflW: Republicans think that if only they can find the exact right words for their extremely unpopular opinion on abortion they can get people to agree with them. It was funny on Thursday to listen to 1A where they were talking with a panel about the debate. I posted a comment that Republican’s problem is that their position on abortion is unpopular because people know they want a total ban – they said it out loud and were proud of it. I also commented that I wished pundits would make sure people know their nationwide 15 week ban proposal is an attempt to gut laws in states that have more liberal abortion laws, and that if it passed all the more restrictive state laws would stay in place. They never ask any Republican about that, or even mention it.

    I don’t know how any union person can support TFG over Biden. I guess their grievances are more important to them than their paycheck, even though pundits are constantly telling us they support TFG because of “economic anxiety”. What bullshit.

  72. 72.

    Jeffro

    @RaflW: Saw yesterday that Republicans still think they need to tweak their “messaging” post-Dobbs. This is one of the many ways they’ve become totally moribund and fully Luntzed. They believe that everything is just a communications battle.

    Yup.  What they need to ‘tweak’, as in stop, is their lying.  Everyone knows that they won’t stop at 15 weeks.  This is a party that’s fine with surveilling public roads so that they can arrest people taking friends and family members to another state for an abortion.

    Try and ‘tweak’ that shit, GOP.

  74. 74.

    The Kropenhagen Interpretation

    @Soprano2: Republicans think that if only they can find the exact right words for their extremely unpopular opinion on abortion they can get people to agree with them.

    You might mean what they need is a barely plausible lie. They had been fooling just enough people, but after Dobbs they need to recalibrate.

  75. 75.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @RaflW:

    Saw yesterday that Republicans still think they need to tweak their “messaging” post-Dobbs… They believe that everything is just a communications battle.

    They really believe that women are meant to be home having many babies, under the protection and direction of a conservative man. They truly think that is a woman’s purpose in life and she will be happier fulfilling that. Those awful femi-nazis have brainwashed the wimmins, and they have to counter-program them. That is a BIG part of the pro-life thing as well as believing the anti-abortion BS that portrays early fetal development as being fully formed mini-babies instead of rapidly dividing masses of cells. They also seem to exist in this weird state of denial about serious health issues during pregnancy that will kill women.

  76. 76.

    RaflW

    @Jeffro: I’ll echo that Bouie is right that what the GOP is doing with trans repression fits together with Dobbs to paint a very clear picture that they will go full control (ie ban with no exceptions) if given the chance.

    I personally think that needs amplifying. What Republicans are trying to do to a tiny minority is the precursor to how everyone will be treated. To them there is only one correct way to live and everyone will be forced into that box. The polar opposite of freedom.

  77. 77.

    Marcopolo

    @OzarkHillbilly: These comments are pretty rich considering that the prior admin ditched the idea of having their nominees get passing grades from the ABA and didn’t care if they had ever argued a case in a courtroom. It’s always projection with these folks.

  78. 78.

    StringOnAStick

    @There go two miscreants: Far worse earworms indeed. I’ve been roped into performing holiday songs at several memory care facilities and after just one practice session, the worms are fully in place. By December 25 I might have a rather crazed look in my eyes.

  80. 80.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Fact: We have 150 confirmed federal judges because a 90 year old Senator fought for a future she wouldn’t see.

    That’s high comedy right there.

  81. 81.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @RaflW: It’s possible she’s angling for “diminished capacity” but to me that sounds an arguement for a lighter sentence.

    Again, IANAL so WTF do I know?

  82. 82.

    Scout211

    @RaflW: Saw yesterday that Republicans still think they need to tweak their “messaging” post-Dobbs. This is one of the many ways they’ve become totally moribund and fully Luntzed. They believe that everything is just a communications battle.

    There was a funny/ironic segment on The Daily Show this week about that.  The correspondent went through a list of possible messaging changes using pro-xxxx each time that the GOP could use to make their position more popular with voters.  After mentioning a list of silly ones, she came up with one that the GOP could use because “everyone seems to like it”:  “pro-choice!”

  84. 84.

    Kay

    But, he argued, his stance — a “limit” on the procedure after 15 weeks with exceptions for rape, incest and saving the life of the mother — could be a compromise.

    What we told people in Ohio is that this “compromise” leaves all the risks to women’s health in place. This allows the exact situation where a religious hospital or religious decision maker takes a woman to death’s door to save “the baby” – sacrificing the woman for their religious beliefs. This is the exact emergency medical situation where we cannot have idiot lawmakers or clerics trumping physicians or we will die.

    Christ almighty – can people in media start reading? It’s important! Read his words. Removing the health exception means dead women.

  86. 86.

    Scout211

    @Scout211: And to add, I read a statement by a GOP person who said that all that the GOP needs to do to change their “messaging” problem regarding abortion rights is to make sure that the voters know that Democrats are planning to abort full-term babies.

    Uh huh.  That’s believable, right?  🙄

  88. 88.

    lowtechcyclist

    @StringOnAStick: ​
     

    I’ve been roped into performing holiday songs at several memory care facilities and after just one practice session, the worms are fully in place. By December 25 I might have a rather crazed look in my eyes.

    Just for fun, you should perform “O Little Town of Bethlehem” to the tune of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” and vice versa, just to see if anyone notices.

  90. 90.

    Wapiti

    @RaflW: By that standard, any numbnuts who shoots up a school or a synagogue or gay bar is deranged.

    Mr. Pelosi’s attacker bought into the bullshit that we get flooded with, but a lot of people do. And most people take no violent action against others.

  91. 91.

    smith

    @Wapiti: By that standard, any numbnuts who shoots up a school or a synagogue or gay bar is deranged.

    For that matter, 100% of J6 insurrectionists as well.

  92. 92.

    Kay

    Here’s the current VA code:

    § 18.2-74. When abortion or termination of pregnancy lawful after second trimester of pregnancy.
    Notwithstanding any of the provisions of § 18.2-71 and in addition to the provisions of §§ 18.2-72 and 18.2-73, it shall be lawful for any physician licensed by the Board of Medicine to practice medicine and surgery to terminate or attempt to terminate a human pregnancy or aid or assist in the termination of a human pregnancy by performing an abortion or causing a miscarriage on any woman in a stage of pregnancy subsequent to the second trimester provided the following conditions are met:
    (a) Said operation is performed in a hospital licensed by the Virginia State Department of Health or operated by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.
    (b) The physician and two consulting physicians certify and so enter in the hospital record of the woman, that in their medical opinion, based upon their best clinical judgment, the continuation of the pregnancy is likely to result in the death of the woman or substantially and irremediably impair the mental or physical health of the woman.

    What they want is for far Right politicians and clerics to make the decision regarding whether the woman is close enough to death to take action.

    I know media invest almost nothing in covering womens health but they could at least have figured out the current state of the laws since they’ve had a year and a half.

  93. 93.

    Anoniminous

    “Social media amplifies outrage, always: “Even if platform designers do not intend to amplify moral outrage, design choices aimed at satisfying other goals such as profit maximization… can indirectly affect moral behavior because outrage-provoking content draws high engagement” and high engagement is supposed to attract eyeballs the social media company can then sell to advertisers.

     

    nitter link

  94. 94.

    Scout211

    I didn’t expect this ruling.

    A federal judge on Friday declined former President Donald Trump’s request to postpone the May start date of the trial in the special counsel’s classified documents case.

    Judge Aileen Cannon in a new court filing Friday did leave open the possibility of pushing back the trial date at a later date, saying she will consider the issue when the parties meet for a March 1 scheduling conference.

    The decision comes after Cannon heard arguments last week on Trump’s request to delay the trial.

    Of course, all high quality judges know that caveats are the way to go to disguise your real intentions, right? LOL. Reconsidering this in March does give her a lot of leeway here.

  96. 96.

    Kay

    When Roe was contemplated they anticipated using the “health of the mother” exception for women who are in religions that compel pregnancy so have child after child a year apart, ruining the health of the mother.

  97. 97.

    Geminid

    I learned from this morning’s Politico Playbook that three more House members will retire: Derek Kilmer (D-WA), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), and Brian Higgins (NY). All represent districts considered “safe” for their respective parties.

    Rep. Higgins is expected to retire early so he can take a job heading Shea’s Buffalo Theatre; Governor Hochul may be setting special election dates soon to fill his seat.

  99. 99.

    different-church-lady

    The reason they think it’s a messaging problem is because they’ve spent the last 40 years operating under the delusion that the public agrees with them.

  100. 100.

    Kirk

    @Kay: As I’ve said to numerous people who argue that way, “So what I’m hearing is that you wish my wife was dead.” An unvoided stillbirth made the procedure necessary, and it was delayed because, well, Kansas in the 1990s.

    So no, I do not hear compromise. I hear evil creeping close. And I object.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    @Kirk:

    I had a delivery that “fell off a cliff” – I get it on a level that makes my palms sweat. The last thing we need is a tribunal of Right wing politicians and fundamentalist religious barging into the room.

    Roe is a series of legal fences around pregnant women. It says when Right wing politicians and religious may come in to the decision and under what rules. I say keep them out completely. They’re way too cavalier about womans lives and rights (because they think women are lesser).

  102. 102.

    Ksmiami

    @Kay: the sclerotic, misogynistic grubby MSM will never fucking get it ever. The only publication that’s somewhat attuned is Bloomberg ironically, but that’s only because the founder is a big supporter of abortion rights and has been forever. I mean how hard is it to say religious woo should never take precedence over a woman’s health, nor be in the bedroom.

  103. 103.

    StringOnAStick

    @lowtechcyclist: Now, now, no fair messing with the memory care residents, they have enough challenges…  This is going to be all the happy bouncy holiday songs with physical comedy because the leader’s experience is anything slow and you lose them, and they love the physical comedy parts.  My husband loves White Christmas but from experience that one puts them to sleep so he got vetoed.

  104. 104.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @OzarkHillbilly: They also seem to think that issues that make pregnancy dangerous/deadly will not be seen as abortion by the hospital and will be allow.  Yeah, NO.  These idiots have no idea what the medical implications and complications of pregnancy can be and many hospitals and doctors in states with abortions restrictions and bans will not risk jail or losing their license by performing a procedure that may be deemed illegal/abortion.   I say this as someone who has lost 2 pregnancies, one a miscarriage (medical term for miscarriage is spontaneous abortion)  the second a case of fetal death without expulsion, aka you carry around your dead fetus (medical term for this is missed abortion).

    Abortion needs to be a decision of the pregnant person, if they don’t want to be pregnant and needs to be NO one elses decision or business,

    Many conservatives/Republicans believe there is no problem getting the care you need if you have a problem that requires a medically necessary abortion.  Until it happens to them.

    If you are pregnant, for instance and find out you have breast cancer, you may not be able to get an abortion in some states, so you can start radiation, and some drugs to treat HER2+ cancers and hormone therapy like tamoxifen are not safe for the fetus.

  106. 106.

    Kay

    What was surprising to me in Ohio was how little effect the Catholic Churchs full court press to lobby against Issue 1 had. Our best scenario had us at 58-55 pass but we thought the unlawful political campaigning by churches would cut into that – it didn’t.

  107. 107.

    ann

    I am a longtime lurker (actually, I posted once, mentioning the word ‘religion’, and got soundly pounced upon.)  Decided to stay a dedicated, daily lurker.  Anyway, I missed something along the way.  What does TFG stand for? Thanks!

  108. 108.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Soprano2: “Republicans think that if only they can find the exact right words for their extremely unpopular opinion on abortion they can get people to agree with them.”

    Yes they do! They’ve done pretty well with dressing up their tax-cuts for the rich in a way that many people who stand no chance of ever being rich approved of them, but this is a much tougher issue for them.

  114. 114.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Interview
    ‘I need to make this love story’: documenting the radical dementia care of a pioneering reporter

    At the start of the Chilean documentary The Eternal Memory, a woman asks her husband, who has Alzheimer’s, if he likes his life. He beams back at her. “I love life.”
    ……………………………..
    His partner of 25 years, Paulina Urrutia, is a famous stage and screen actor. In 2014, aged 62, Góngora was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The Eternal Memory documents the pair’s final years together, as Urrutia becomes his full-time carer.

    Surprisingly, it’s a tender and ultimately joyful portrait of a couple still madly in love. The film’s director, Maite Alberdi, nods, smiling. “Yes. It’s a story that is tragic on paper but not in reality. In the years I shot with them, I never left feeling sad.”

    I want to excerpt a little more but it would not do justice to Alberdi, or Gongora and Urrutia. To be sure, as one who has seen Alzheimers slowly and surely steal my father, I will watch this film.

  115. 115.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Just for fun, you should perform “O Little Town of Bethlehem” to the tune of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” and vice versa, just to see if anyone notices.

    Even funner is to sing it to the tune of “Joy to the World” or, for the funnest of all, “Oh Susannah.”

  116. 116.

    frosty

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage: ​Yes, it really is purty country. I love the Piedmont. But we’re redder than Misery? Yikes!​
    @Heidi Mom: ​Yay for Carlisle! To be fair, a few of the districts around me elected Democrats for the school board. But not mine. As the country rejected them, we voted them in for the first time. Forward into the past!!! (County motto).​

  117. 117.

    StringOnAStick

    @Scout211: Reconsidering the schedule in March is when Cannon will have a much better idea if it’s time to fish or cut bait given everything that will have been revealed by the other legal cases against the mango moron, and how it’s selling with the public and of course with her Fed Soc handlers.  Right now we’re seeing them all bear hug him, but I think nothing about that changes until suddenly it does.  Straws are accumulating on the camel’s back every day.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @Ksmiami:

    They are just going to skip the “health” analysis? That’s the nut of how we’re reaching centrist women! They read the stories of women being denied cancer treatments and medical interventions. They read the Texas incidents where women were told to go bleed out in a bathtub. That’s part of why they’re rejecting this.

    If they would invest some money into coverage it would get better, but they won’t because it’s a “womans issue” so thereby not worthy of spending any money.

  121. 121.

    Matt McIrvin

    @different-church-lady: When Roe was in place, the general public believed abortion rights were protected so all the political energy was on the anti-abortion side. That meant that even liberal politicians felt they had to couch their support for legal abortion in euphemistic terms: “the right to choose” etc. Republicans interpreted that as meaning the masses were with them.

  122. 122.

    Kay

    @Ksmiami:

    They could poll on “health of women” right now and based on what I heard during Issue I it will poll at 60.

    I know this is shocking to political media but the general public actually think the health of the women they know is important. “Do not kill women” is not a fringe belief. I adore being a grandparent but I do not adore worrying about my daughter when she’s pregnant. I don’t want her sacrificed so far Right religious get into heaven. No.

  123. 123.

    different-church-lady

    @Matt McIrvin: “And so you have to remember, when you’re in that jury room deliberatin’ and conjugatin’ the Emancipation Proclamation, does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense! “

  128. 128.

    Citizen Alan

    @hueyplong: I imagine Shitgibbon thinks that herbert hoover was the FBI chief who went after al capone. Or possibly the guy who invented vacuum cleaners.

  129. 129.

    StringOnAStick

    @Miss Bianca: Costumes and various bits of running around, jumping up while singing echo portions, etc.  The kind of physical comedy that little kids like works great in memory care facilities, and the facilities are thrilled to have us.

    The woman organizing this is my new found music and life sister.  She’s a retired PT who did tons of performing at children’s hospitals, so she’s got history and skills for entertaining people at difficult times in their lives.  She’s amazing.

  132. 132.

    smith

    @different-church-lady: I think she’s already done that at least once, without either party asking her to. It’s hard to figure out how much of what she does is political corruption and how much is just down-home incompetence.

  133. 133.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: Inside the right-wing hothouse, it’s understood that “health of the mother” is a loophole contrived to make all abortions legal. And it kind of is–I mean, there’s not really any way of criminalizing abortion without compromising health. But they think of that as some kind of trick contrived to support our nefarious agenda, and the media just ran with that.

  136. 136.

    Brachiator

    @Soprano2:

    I don’t know how any union person can support TFG over Biden.

    Biden supports a worker’s right to strike and bargain for higher wages.

    But the MAGA dopes believe that Trump is going to fight China and other countries and bring back all the high paying manufacturing jobs and restore America to 1950s economic glory.

    The MAGA dopes just don’t see Trump sucking up to plutocrats.

    Also, Trump will make sure that gasoline costs 25 cents a gallon.

  137. 137.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kay: Christ almighty – can people in media start reading? It’s important! Read his words. Removing the health exception means dead women.

    Yes, this “Any woman you know who had a miscarriage would be dead if these people got their way” is a real simple message that everyone can understand.

  138. 138.

    different-church-lady

    @smith: READS LEGAL SUBMISSIONS: “Jesus… what the fuck does any of this mean? Okay, I can’t find this in Being a Federal Judge for Dummies. Maybe if I try one of the Idiots books…”

  140. 140.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay:

    Christ almighty – can people in media start reading?

    Was it five? ten? years ago someone wrote an essay about how the media is kind of a digestive system for conservative propaganda? You put something in the mouth and it comes out the other end. Reading would be like vomiting.

  141. 141.

    Brit in Chicago

    @Juju: An inter-coastal waterway would really be something! From sea to shining sea! Never mind those Rocky Mountains….

  142. 142.

    smith

    @different-church-lady: Really, I’ve been following this closely via sites like Meidas Touch and Glenn Kirschner, and it seems like she can’t even grasp the need to protect classified sensitive information, or that Congress passed laws for procedures to do that. She wants to just make up her own special procedures, and damn the consequences.

  143. 143.

    Citizen Alan

    @lowtechcyclist: One of the worst most harrowing experiences of my very brief career as aan instrumental music teacher was when I was told that I would be responsible for overseeing and preparing a elementary school christmas pageant. I was first told of this sometime in mid October!

  144. 144.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @smith: I can’t watch anything about Judge Cannon because having been in the military every decision she has made regarding the classified docs makes me want to throw things at my TV…

  147. 147.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    it’s understood that “health of the mother” is a loophole contrived to make all abortions legal

    Right. But as I’ve said maybe 75 different ways on this site in an effort to make people understand it, is taking away the “health” analysis makes it not about “abortion” but instead about “any pregnancy”. That’s what women are responding to. They recognize religious fundamentalists have now intruded into ALL pregnancies.

    Decriminalizing abortion in Mexico and Ireland came about not because women sought to end pregnancies. It came about because women were dying in the course of wanted pregnancies.

    Roe is really fucking wise. It says “here you may not go”. Women want the fence to keep these people OUT. They want Roe.

  148. 148.

    New Deal democrat

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Inside the right-wing hothouse, it’s understood that “health of the mother” is a loophole contrived to make all abortions legal

    For context, here is Justice Blackmun’s definition of “health” in the companion case to Roe, Doe v. Bolton:

    all factors – physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman’s age – relevant to the well-being of the patient.

    This is the source of the RW view that “health” is a loophole.

  149. 149.

    Citizen Alan

    @SiubhanDuinne: There was a really funny bit on The Goes Wrong Show’s Nativity Play when the sheet music is knocked off of the piano during a choir’s performance of Oh Little Town of Bethlehem, leading to the choir singing the song to a succession of non-christmas tunes, including Camptown Races and Offenbach’s Can-Can.

  150. 150.

    Soprano2

    @Scout211: I had a MAGA person say they should start showing videos of abortions in schools. I asked him how you film a medication abortion, and said sure let’s show them what a 6 week and 10 week pregnancy actually looks like. I got no response, because they believe almost all abortions are of late-term healthy fetuses.

  151. 151.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Citizen Alan:

    I would love to see that! I have lists and lists of songs whose lyrics can be sung to the most unlikely (and occasionally inappropriate!) tunes.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    Anyone who is confused about health of the mother and wants to butt in there, go listen to the Texas testimony of women who encountered religious fundamentalists making that decision.

  155. 155.

    Ksmiami

    @Kay: maybe I should just fund some independent journalism to bring these stories mainstream. Any interest in writing or do you know a scrappy journalist or two?

  161. 161.

    satby

    @Kay: which people only bitch about when it’s a woman. Just like almost everyone else, she was in good health until she wasn’t, but at that point the Rs were threatening not to let her replacement get on the Judiciary committee.

  163. 163.

    satby

    @Kay: mainstream Catholics are used to ignoring the priest’s sermons on anything related to politics. That’s why they’re called “cafeteria Catholics”. The Opus Dei weirdos (like Scalia, the Handmaid, and Barr) are the Taliban version of Catholic.

  165. 165.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: No, they can’t, because they never mention that the 15 week “compromise” right wingers tout only kneecaps laws in blue states, because all the more restrictive laws stay in place. Never!

  166. 166.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: Did you see that the R’s in Michigan are trying to get the court to overturn the abortion law passed in 2022 based on the ludicrous idea that it endangers women’s health?

  167. 167.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @OzarkHillbilly: Didn’t we have right-wingers screaming “Biden’s choice isn’t qualified” before he’d even put the name of Ketanji Brown Jackson or anyone else out there for Supreme Court?

    I would think your rants tend to lose a little credibility that way, but what do I know?

  168. 168.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Soprano2: When our kids were little we had a picture book of the 12 Days of Christmas where every time it got to the Partridge In A Pear Tree, the tree was a little bit emptier and the partridge was a little bit rounder.

    The kids outgrew that joke long ago, but we haven’t. “Eating pears” is still a shorthand for us for overeating.

  169. 169.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Brit in Chicago: ​

    An inter-coastal waterway would really be something! From sea to shining sea! Never mind those Rocky Mountains….

    That’s the real reason why the Rethugs want to go to war with Mexico!

    You see, we already had an Intercoastal Waterway, better known as the Panama Canal. But that dastardly Jimmy Carter gave it back to Panama – didn’t he know we stole the Canal Zone fair and square?!

    So now we by all rights should have a new Intercoastal Waterway, and by gosh, we can make Mexico give us the route for one. To war, to war, Freedonia’s going to war!

  170. 170.

    CaseyL

    @Citizen Alan:

    The Goes Wrong Show is an (inter)national treasure.

    If there ever were a community theater that actually had as many things go wrong as seen in the Goes Wrong Show, that theater would be a towering, huge, international success.  You’d fill the house to SRO night after night with people eager to see what happens this time, and pee themselves laughing at it when it does.

  171. 171.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Miss Bianca: ​ When my wife was a high school music teacher, she once dropped P.D.Q. Bach’s “Good King Kong” in the middle of the Christmas concert for a little comic relief.

    But nobody laughed. She figured the parents were too well-trained that A Concert Is Serious.

    I’ve heard that “Comedy Tonight” was added to the opening of “Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” for similar reasons. Sometimes audiences need a little help understanding it’s OK to laugh.

    At another concert she had her select a capella group doing “The Pink Panther Theme” dressed in sunglasses and trenchcoats. I think they knew her better by then, and understood that it was actually meant to be funny.

  174. 174.

    lowtechcyclist

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Even funner is to sing it to the tune of “Joy to the World” or, for the funnest of all, “Oh Susannah.”

    Ballad meter provides numerous opportunities for amusement.  Try singing it to the theme music for “Leave It To Beaver.”

  179. 179.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Soprano2: The whole theory behind the effort to ban mifepristone is that since women’s bodies are naturally intended to bear children, anything that stops that is by definition unsafe, so should not have been approved by the FDA. The “harm” caused is the intended operation.

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