Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

A norm that restrains only one side really isn’t a norm – it’s a trap.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

The Supreme Court is corrupt. Democrats must win in November and force court reform.

We’re not going back!

It’s the corruption, stupid.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

I did not have this on my fuck 2024 bingo card.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

This really is a full service blog.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let there be snark.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Monday Morning Open Thread: Another Long Week Begins

Monday Morning Open Thread: Another Long Week Begins

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Passover begins at sunset this evening; Chag Pesach Sameach (Happy holiday) to those who observe.
 
Hold tight to the happy thoughts:

A little treat, to start your morning. At the Washington Post, Jen Rubin, genuinely apostate Repub, on “A rotten week for MAGA Republicans’ feeble stunts“: [gift link]

MAGA House Republicans would rather do anything but their jobs. They would rather indulge right-wing media consumers with baseless impeachments, motions to vacate the speaker’s chair (again!), fruitless hearings and parroting Russian propaganda. None of these activities serves the interests of the voters; none improves U.S. national security. For these minions of Donald Trump, chaos and paralysis appear to be the goal. Fortunately for the country, Democrats have figured out how to short-circuit the antics and humiliate Republicans…

In dismissing the articles of [the Mayorkas] impeachment with a party-line vote, Senate Democrats ignored crocodile tears from the likes of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — who voted against the most meritorious impeachment in history following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot — that dismissing an impeachment before trial would create a bad precedent (unlike letting an insurrectionist off the hook?). Schumer deserves credit for nipping in the bud the GOP-controlled House’s abuse of power.

When Republicans blatantly lie, disregard their oaths and — to borrow a phrase — weaponize government, Democrats have an obligation to call them out. That entails refusing to take Republican antics seriously. When hearings and investigations obviously lack good faith, the Democrats can uphold the stature of Congress by simply walking away and refusing to play these games…

Democratic partisans often find fault with their politicians for being “too nice” or “lacking a killer instinct.” Whatever the merits of their past complaints (e.g., leaving the filibuster in place), they should acknowledge that Democratic lawmakers — especially those in the minority of a chaotic, feckless House — have learned a thing or two over the past couple of years.

Democrats have learned to give Republicans the respect they deserve — which, often, is none.

 
Meanwhile, across the aisle…

Reader Interactions

227Comments

  2. 2.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Anything happen while I was gone? (besides the long overdue Ukraine aid package)

  4. 4.

    Shalimar

    Interesting beginning to the week.  I learned from Kristi Noem that Trump doesn’t think he is better than anyone else.  I also learned that she and I don’t speak the same language because her words do not mean the same thing my words do.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    @Shalimar:

    I learned from Kristi Noem that Trump doesn’t think he is better than anyone else.

    1. Trump doesn’t think.
    2. He’s right for once.
  8. 8.

    Baud

    I do think resurgent isolationism is part of political realignment.  The world is messy, and our responses are always imperfect, so there’s a feeling that the best thing to do is disengage.

  17. 17.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Not wrong. I’m personally holding off on the celebrations until the jury foreman says “guilty, your Honor”, but it’s good to know that the justice system applies to people like him as well.

    (Can’t help but wonder if the judge can respond to repeated threats against jurors, witnesses, court officers, and the like in violation of the gag order by revoking the defendant’s bail.)

  18. 18.

    thruppence

    Saw a guy yesterday with a camo KENNEDY24 ball cap on. We treasure our diversity but it sure includes a lot of goddamn fucking idiots.

  19. 19.

    Geminid

    Vice President Harris will visit Wisconsin today, according to this morning’s Politico Playbook:

    At the White House

    Biden will return to Washington from Wilmington, Delaware. Later he will deliver remarks commemorating Earth Day at Prince Wiliam Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia.

    Harris will travel to LaCrosse, Wisconsin in the afternoon to hold a discussion with nursing home care workers. Medicaid and Medicare Services Director Chiquita Brooks-LaSure will join in the event. Later the VP will deliver remarks at an organizing event focused on reproductive freedoms and will return to the White House this evening.

    Should be beautiful weather for the Earth Day event.

  25. 25.

    RandomMonster

    I think they still have to pick the 6 alternate jurors. Which means Stinky may get to hear more unvarnished opinions of him from average New Yorkers.

  28. 28.

    Kay

    This is a big case for us. It could mean that women in 22 states will be denied life saving emergecny medical care by religious/legal decree.
    Just astonishing in terms of where the US fits internationally regarding womens rights. This would put us far behind Saudi Arabia. It’s horrifying how quickly what would have been considered insane pre Dobbs is now “normal”. American women MAY win the right to receive life saving medical care in this court case, or it MAY be denied.
    “National standards of emergecny medical care” will now be determined by religious extremists and Right wing lawyers, but only regarding women. Men will still receive modern best practices medical care, by law.

    For almost 40 years, American hospitals have operated under a federal law that says they must treat and stabilize any patient experiencing a medical emergency. But now, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act finds itself on a collision course with conservative states that want to ban abortion in nearly all cases. The Biden administration has sued Idaho, saying that state’s abortion ban violates EMTALA because its exceptions are too narrow to allow doctors to perform abortions if needed to stabilize a patient. Texas, meanwhile, has sued the Biden administration, saying it’s using EMTALA as an end-run around state abortion bans to “mandate that every hospital and emergency-room physician perform abortions. ”The U.S. Supreme Court is hearing arguments about the Idaho case April 24. Its ruling is expected to impact the Texas case, as well as the future of both state-level abortion bans and national standards of emergency medicine.

  31. 31.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Geminid:

    Biden will return to Washington from Wilmington, Delaware. Later he will deliver remarks commemorating Earth Day at Prince William Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia.

    I used to hang out more than occasionally at PWFP.  Sometimes I’d drive there straight from picking up my car at the Pentagon City Metro stop, which was then just a gravel lot.  Back in 1979 outbound traffic on I-95 wasn’t a disaster yet, and PWFP was still safely outside the DC sprawl.  I’d have the place practically to myself.

    Things have changed a bit!

  34. 34.

    Betty

    Speaking of anti-Trump Republicans, it seems Nicole Wallace remains anti-Trump but is starting to feature her old buddies on her show. I guess she believes the MAGA days are numbered.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I don’t like predictions, but hard to have much hope that the outcome isn’t preordained. Good chance they find a reason to punt on the issue however, to avoid the electoral ramifications.

  37. 37.

    H.E.Wolf

    @H.E.Wolf: ​
     To change the look of the page on Poast, click the “settings” wheel icon at the top right of the page, make your selection, and Save Preferences at the bottom of the selections page.

  40. 40.

    Kay

    If the SCOTUS decrees that women have to receive sub standard medical care due to religious laws, women in the states where women still have a full set of rights should demand that the new lower standards for emergency medical care not be adopted by physicians and others in their states.

    Don’t let conservatives set a new lower bar for US medical care in the whole country. Pass state laws that uphold modern standards re: medical treatment of women. If you’re in a “border state” it will probably benefit your state economically. Women will travel for (developed world) medical care.

  41. 41.

    TBone

    @NotMax: that’s the best one!  Couldn’t find it, I’m not on my game yet today.  Lil slow after weekend festivities I’m unaccustomed to.

  43. 43.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act

    A federal law that was passed to save the lives of women in labor is now too high a standard for the US. Just not killing us is too much for us to ask.

  44. 44.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: It’s telling that the anti-abortion nutballs see care for a miscarriage the same way they see an elective abortion. You’re right, it’s crazy how fast the abnormal has tried to become normal after Dobbs. They’re mad that it would mean all physicians who work in ER’s would still be required to learn how to perform abortions.

  46. 46.

    Leto

    @Baud: the SC might be smart enough to recognize the electoral ramifications, but it seems every other Republican is hell bound on passing/enforcing every draconian law that they can. Just gonna keep that albatross around their neck.

  48. 48.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: They want to make it so that medical schools don’t have to teach the residents how to do abortions anymore. I guess they think that’ll stop them. These are the same crazy people who want to get rid of most forms of contraception because they erroneously believe they cause abortions.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    Wonder if the courtroom has been updated over the weekend with the installation of strategically placed Febreze dispensers.
    //

  50. 50.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I would suggest anyone who still believes these people don’t want to sacrifice women go listen to any anti abortion event. They have a whole special section where they honor women who were sacrificed to give birth. It’s bonkers – women who die because they are refused medical treatment in childbirth are treated as martyrs. They think this is really the epitome of womanhood- being sacrificed for a pregnancy.

    They really do insist you die for their sins. That’s the “new emergency medical care standard” they want – a standard where women are refused treatment.

  51. 51.

    Soprano2

    I saw my niece this weekend. She said her husband’s death still isn’t real to her, which is totally understandable. Then she told me a really messed-up story about his seizure meds. Turns out, he hasn’t been taking them since January because he couldn’t get the doctor to renew the prescription, even though he was told he needed to be on them for at least two years! When he called his pharmacy about the prescription, he was told it was denied because the doctor didn’t have a current DEA number (this drug is a controlled substance). They travel a lot for their jobs (they work for a company that cleans up disasters), so they sometimes have a hard time getting prescriptions anyway. He never got the meds, and eventually he quit trying. That doctor better hope he didn’t die from a seizure. I guess that’s where being a woman and older makes a difference, because I’d be blowing up the doctor’s office phone if they did something like that to me.

  52. 52.

    TBone

    @NotMax: 💙 😆 my lungs can’t take it.  Also, it did not alleviate the weird insomnia stretch I’m having 😞 where I can fall asleep but not stay that way.  It usually knocks my ass out but good!  My usual S.A.D. insomnia is where I don’t sleep at all, so this is an improvement.

  54. 54.

    Leto

    @Betty: she’s had them on for quite a while, and it’s part of the whole MSNBC 6am-6pm trend of: we’re showing more conservatives  every chance we get. It does seem like more conservatives are getting shows on the channel, which also explains a general irritation I have with them. I don’t particularly want to hear from the people who got us into this mess, then bitch incessantly when their monster devours their party. Even Wallace won’t acknowledge their role in helping to bring this shitshow upon us, but for some reason they’re continuing to pivot towards more conservative voices. I’m sure it goes hand in hand with the post AL put up last night.

  55. 55.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Soprano2: These are the same crazy people who want to get rid of most forms of contraception because they erroneously believe they cause abortions.​

     It seems to me that they erroneously *claim* to believe that. Or, in other words: they lie.

    In my opinion, they’re not crazy. They’re cruel. It pleases them to practice cruelty. Anti-abortion. Pro-death penalty. Anti-vaccines. Against funding food resources for children. Etc. etc.

    We’ll answer them at the ballot box this November. They had best beware.

  56. 56.

    cmorenc

    @Harrison Wesley:

    Passover, Trump’s trial, and Earth Day?  I sense a great conspiracy…

    The best-planned conspiracies can be extremely challenging to figure out how all the pieces connect into an overall plan.   I’m sure James Comer aka the Sherlock Holmes of Kentucky, would agree – maybe we should ask him to figure this out.

  57. 57.

    Kay

    Of course, denying pregnant women medical care is standard practice in these states anyway – they’re horrible places for families if one of your family goals is “mom stays alive past the birth of the baby”:

    Abortion rights advocates have long argued anti-abortion activists and legislators are simply pro-birth, not pro-life. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade this past summer, trigger laws have gone into effect in many states that enact total or near total bans on all abortions. Anti-abortion advocates argue they are in favor of protecting life at all stages of development. Still the irony is glaring when evaluating maternal and infant mortality rates across the country. A majority of the states that have passed near total bans on abortion have had the worst birth outcomes for years due to limited maternal health services and supports for children and parents. The majority of these deaths happen needlessly; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 2 out of 3 maternal deaths are preventable.

    So the key will be not letting the rock bottom standards of care in backward states bleed into the modern states.

  58. 58.

    Leto

    @NotMax: more fans maybe? Upgraded ventilation system similar to a jet engine turbine directly above him? Maybe replace all the mcbugers and chicken with… veggies? hahaha, ok that last one def is fantasy!

  59. 59.

    TBone

    @Leto: John fucking Bolton.  I had to hear his sappy shit about being anti-abortion while he was pretending to be anti-Rump who I know he’s going to fucking vote for anyway.  Nicole pushed back, but she should have shut his stupid mouth by slapping him across his stupid mustache.

  60. 60.

    Cacti

    I have no problem with funding Ukraine, who is fighting for its life against a hostile foreign invader with more money, more arms, and more people.

    I have many problems with showering more aid on Israel who is going on a revenge killing spree on the civilian population of Gaza, and also wants to provoke a war with Iran.

    But at least Joe is finally feigning concern about the civilian carnage.

    I will give him credit though for telling Israel point blank that we will not be going to war with Iran for them.

  61. 61.

    zhena gogolia

    Before I threw it in the recycling, I glanced at the front page of my NYT this morning. One article tells me that the prosecutors have some evidence, but “a steep climb.” Another article is a pre-written report on the way Gaza protestors have made the 2024 Democratic convention into a repeat of the 1968 convention, with violence and tear gas and of course an ignominious defeat for the Democratic candidate in November. THIS EVENT HAS NOT HAPPENED. IN 1968, YOUNG AMERICAN MEN WERE BEING DRAFTED TO FIGHT IN VIETNAM. THE PARALLEL IS TOTALLY RIDICULOUS. BUT MAINLY, THEY PUBLISHED A NEWS STORY ON THE FRONT PAGE REPORTING ON AN EVENT THEY THINK MIGHT HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.

  62. 62.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I tell people about this, and many of them don’t believe me. They can’t wrap their minds around how messed up that is. I think that’s one of the problems we face in trying to prevent stuff like this – too many people won’t believe what they’re trying to do, because it’s too crazy. They can’t believe anyone actually thinks like this.

  66. 66.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Soprano2:

    crazy people who want to get rid of most forms of contraception because they erroneously believe they cause abortions.

    I promise you this is not true.  ‘Cause abortions’ is just the lie they’ve come up with that sounds better than ‘sluts should suffer pregnancy,’ or again, as my evangelical great aunt put it, ‘you play, you pay.’  This is about punishing women for having sex.

  67. 67.

    Another Scott

    @Soprano2: I’m sorry.  :-(

    I’m convinced that story is more common than people realize.

    I think my mom died earlier than she should have because she didn’t take her hypertension medication regularly for years mostly because of the cost.

    Too many people are dying needlessly because our medical system has too many gate keepers and too many steps and too many players not wanting to suffer any costs that they can push on to someone else.  It’s infuriating.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  68. 68.

    Kay

    @Cacti:

    I think I spoke too soon on the Leahy Laws. I think Blinken is choking on enforcement. I’m disappointed.

    The Leahy Laws were just used to condition aid to Ukraine (along with aid to Egypt and every other damn place). It’s nuts that they can’t be used to condition aid to Israel. Biden and Blinken need to follow US law, and that is US law.

    If we can condition aid to Ukraine we can condition aid to Israel. We already have a law to do it. All they need to do is enforce it.

  71. 71.

    Scout211

    California is working on emergency legislation to expedite Arizona abortion doctors getting California licenses to perform abortions in California.

    PHOENIX — California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) is set to propose new legislation this week in response to the Arizona state legislature upholding an abortion ban that was originally passed in 1864.

    Speaking on MSNBC’s Inside with Jen Psakifrom a Planned Parenthood clinic in Sacramento, Newsom said he plans to introduce emergency legislation this week that would make it easier for doctors in Arizona to become certified to perform abortions in California.

    . . .

    Newsom said he will introduce the legislation with California’s Women’s Caucus this week and plans for it to go into effect on May 1.

    Governor Newsom’s office said this legislation was inspired by a call to action from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D).

    “Arizona AG Kris Mayes identified a need to expedite the ability for Arizona abortion providers to continue to provide care to Arizonans as a way to support patients in their state seeking abortion care in California,” a statement to legislative news outlet The Hill read. “We are responding to this call and will have more details to share in the coming days.” 

    The 1864 law goes into effect on June 8.

     

  73. 73.

    Soprano2

    @zhena gogolia:  BUT MAINLY, THEY PUBLISHED A NEWS STORY ON THE FRONT PAGE REPORTING ON AN EVENT THEY THINK MIGHT HAPPEN THEY WANT TO HAPPEN IN THE FUTURE.

    Fixed that for you, because you know it’s true. They hate reporting on the Biden administration because it’s competent and boring, and who wants to report on that? They’re creating scenarios that would be terrible for the country but exciting for them to report on, in the hope that they’ll become true. As for the TFG story, my understanding is that the most difficult part will be showing how the two crimes are related, which is what makes them a felony. Showing the payoff and the doctoring of records sounds like slam dunk.

  76. 76.

    New Deal democrat

    An economic note worth passing on …

    Real median household income is one of the best measures of average Americans’ well-being, but the official measure is only reported once a year, in September of the following year.

    So right now the most recent official measure is for calendar year 2022 (when you might remember gas prices surged to $5/gallon). In other words, it’s hopelessly out of date.

    Fortunately, a few private services have been able to use monthly data from the survey that gives rise to the jobs report to create a far more timely and illuminating monthly update. The best of these that I know of is Motio Research.

    Here’s a link to their most recent update:
     https://motioresearch.com/household-income-series/

    Note that household income really spiked with the pandemic relief programs in 2020. It then went nowhere for almost three years, stuck at the same level it had been in 2019. That’s because of the spike in inflation, the fact that jobs and real payrolls didn’t return to their pre-pandemic levels until 2022 and 2023 respectively, and almost certainly the expiration of pandemic stimulus and relief programs.

    This very much helps explain why Biden’s approval ratings had been so poor.

    But since last June, the trend has been rising again, and in March real median household income reached its highest level ever except for the 2020 stimulus months.

    Aside from being good news on its own, this should help with Biden’s approval numbers.

  78. 78.

    Kay

    @Scout211:

    I like Newsom a lot. I like how proactive he is. It’s a kind of unashamed cheerful liberalism that is in short supply. He doesn’t need to be validated by anyone. Whitmer has it too. They’re secure in their beliefs.

  81. 81.

    Leto

    @TBone: yeah, I happen to turn the channel over to her last week when he was on and just immediately noped-the-fuck-out; in no world am I going to watch that shitty soup strainer talk about anything. Basically the only programming worth watching happens on the 6pm-10pm shows.

  82. 82.

    TBone

    @Soprano2: glad he made it out of both.  The photos in Life Mag are 🔥 and bring the receipts (actual receipts too) laying them squarely where they belong (at the cops’ feet of corruption)

  83. 83.

    TBone

    @Leto: 👍 I like her new focus on fighting autocracy but sometimes it’s just … 🤢 Not enough and done too late, just like brushy mustache’s book deal.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @Cacti:

    I think the Leahy laws approach is a good one, however, because it gets past the (dismissive) “but what can Biden DOOOO?”

    He can enforce US law like we do with all the other countries we send aid to. Ukraine’s supporters didn’t complain when aid to Ukraine was conditioned on compliance with US laws on human rights. Israel’s supporters shouldn’t either. It isn’t about the country we’re sending aid to – it’s about us. Will we enforce our own laws? This is not actually up to the citizens of Israel. This is a US question. Our laws.

  85. 85.

    RevRick

    The American labor movement has its unacknowledged roots in Passover. In the 19th century all social movements appealed to Scripture to explain and justify their actions. And besides the obvious appeal to 1 Timothy 5:18 that “the laborer deserves to be paid,” one of the major objections of the early movement was the loss of workplace control.
    So, they naturally turned to the Sabbath Commandment which commanded rest. The version in Exodus 20:8-11 bases the Commandment in the assertion that God rested after the work of Creation, so you and everyone else under your authority should rest too. The version in Deuteronomy 5:12-15, however, anchors the Commandment in God’s liberation of the slaves in Egypt. Essentially, it says, “Rest, because as free people you now can.”
    Passover is about freedom and justice.

  88. 88.

    Bupalos

    @The Thin Black Duke: That isn’t all it means, and treating it as if that’s all it means– or as if it’s a repeat of history– leaves us with less political capacity to meet the challenge to democracy which America First represents now in 2024. And the larger threat it will likely represent into the 2030’s.

  89. 89.

    Kay

    @Cacti:

    I think Blinken was partly responding to the ProPublica report that alleged he (Blinken) was slow walking enforcement of the Leahy laws – enforcement requires a determination from a committee and Blinken has had the green light from the committee to enforce for months – still has done nothing. I hope ProPublica follows up.

    I think pressure on this will work. I know it’s not enough- but it’s something. It will be a first too- Israel has never had aid conditioned on a Leahy law violation before. Ukraine has, Egypt has, but not Israel. It’s a very simple request – follow the law and treat Israel the same as we do all the other countries we fund.

  91. 91.

    frosty

    @NotMax: ​Is Pigmeat’s bit the very first rap song? in 1968? He’s not singing, there’s no melody, and the rhythm sounds right.

  92. 92.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    America is not, ever, going to stop giving Israel defensive aid, because the moment they do Israel will be wiped out.  Genocide.  That complicates the Hell out of things.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    The Leahy laws don’t demand “America stop giving Israel defensive aid”.

    Honestly this “never!” stuff is just over the top. It makes rational discussion impossible.

    The Leahy laws are a specific set of US laws that cut out subunits of a military or state police if that subunit of a military or state police violate human rights. This Leahy Law violation has already been thru committee and been approved. All the Biden Administration need to do is put it in.  It sanctions ONE Israeli unit. An all-male religious fundamentalist unit who murdered a Palestinian- American.

    This is a good primer on the Leahy laws. 

    Biden doesn’t even have to make the finding. It’s already been determined. Blinken just needs to stop blocking it.

  100. 100.

    jayne

    @Frankensteinbeck: I promise you that the teenagers that they’ve convinced not to use birth control absolutely believe that if they use it they’ll go to hell for murdering tiny babies. Some of them never stop believing it even after the additional threat attached to “premeditated fornication” goes away.

  101. 101.

    Bupalos

    @Baud: I think that’s mostly right. There’s a slightly darker twist to a lot of it though, emphasizing not that things are just too complicated or intractable to have U.S. interests realized through force, but that the interests of U.S. policy makers simply aren’t the same as the interests of ordinary people. That’s when isolationism really gets teeth.

    The false narrative that is emerging among the America First crowd with respect to Ukraine is that this aid represents a prioritization of foreign citizens over them, or in addition and more darkly, represents a scheme to move resources to the policymakers themselves. Moral statements arguing for aid in terms how much Ukrainians are suffering or how much Ukrainians deserve to be free can actually exacerbate this. It’s much better and effective politics to leave the morals out of it and explain the need to aid Ukraine in terms of more particular U.S. interests. I don’t think the administration has quite gotten the balance right here. I’d love to hear more from them about how a free democratic Ukraine helps the United States. I think folks worry about how this can sound crass or be offered as a kind of counterargument that the West is just using Ukraine. But in terms of building political capacity to actually get behind Ukraine winning, I think more or less saying “yes, we are using Ukraine for our interests, and they are using us for their interests, and this is a win-win.”

  103. 103.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I heard something over the weekend about the U.S. sanctioning some Israeli military unit over human rights violations, or that it was going to say they couldn’t have any of the things we’ve sent to Israel – it was something like that. Perhaps that’s the beginning of them enforcing it.

  104. 104.

    Kay

    @Leto:

    It was embarrassing the US signed onto that with no investigation of their own. Yikes. I notice other countries are quietly resuming aid to UNRWA. They followed us. I guess they won’t make that mistake again. We’re not credible on this issue.

  105. 105.

    Soprano2

    @Miss Bianca: Thanks, it happened last Thursday. He seems to have just died, they don’t know why yet. He was 39. They’re doing an autopsy today in the hope of finding some answers. My money is on a heart attack, that’s the most logical explanation.

  107. 107.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    From the quote:

    Abortion rights advocates have long argued anti-abortion activists and legislators are simply pro-birth, not pro-life.

    ‘Argued,’ my ass.  There are eight billion people already out of the womb and in the world, and the “pro-lifers” aren’t anywhere near as pro-life about the eight billion as the average agnostic liberal is.

    Other than fighting for the lives of fetuses between conception and birth, good luck in finding ANY issue where these people are pro-life.

  108. 108.

    Soprano2

    @Kay: I agree that we’re too quick to follow whatever Israel wants us to do, which is a mistake. Bibi and the other conservative Jews in Israel have been trying to shut down UNRWA for years, so when they said ten of them out of thousands were Hamas sympathizers unfortunately our government did what they wanted them to. I wish we would stop that.

  109. 109.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    Blinken said he will make an announcement “soon” but he’s been saying that since he got the recommendation to sanction that unit, months ago. Propublica picked it up which I think forced his hand but I’ll believe it when I see it. I love Joe Biden but he has a blind spot on Israel. This is not going to go well for him as far as legacy. I fear the Biden Administration are trying to pull some agreement out of this mess as a kind of justification for the slaughter. Because without that it’s just a slaughter. I think that’s why they won’t make any demands on Israel. They’re hoping for a deal because if they get a deal they can say “see? the mass civilian casualties were worth it, for peace”.

  112. 112.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I fear the more civilian casualties the more it makes it essential that Biden get a larger deal (to make those deaths mean something) but the longer they give Israel a blank check the more civilians casualties….well, you see the problem. It’s a kind of sunk cost problem that happens in negotiations. You don’t want to put yourself in one of these boxes where seeking The Deal makes you give up too much. Biden is in that box.

  113. 113.

    Shalimar

    @Kay: Bibi doesn’t want peace, nor do his far-right ruling partners.  So that isn’t going to happen.  I don’t see how Biden and Blinken don’t realize that when almost everyone else can see it clearly.

  114. 114.

    Steeplejack

    Apparently David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer, will be the first witness in the Trump trial. Don’t know if they’ll get to him today, after opening statements. They’re going to recess at 12:30.

  115. 115.

    Kay

    @Another Scott:

    Thanks so much. I couldn’t find any follow up. I knew Netanyahu would oppose. This violation is particularly egregious in terms of the Leahy law because they murdered a US citizen.

  116. 116.

    Jackie

    Heh! The Reality Show TIFG Never Wanted:

    Timothy O’Brien: “Trump is veering from rage to petulance, and from slumber to intimidation, in the courtroom because he’s the star of a lurid Manhattan reality show he isn’t producing or directing. He doesn’t control the narrative and others are writing the scripts. And some of the scripts say nasty things about him, his sex life, his bookkeeping and his attempts to bury stories that might have derailed his 2016 presidential campaign.”

    “The setting, by Trump’s standards, is all wrong, too. Few courtrooms are more endowed with raw ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ mojo than those populating New York State Supreme Court, where Trump’s trial is being held. It’s a beaten-up, old-school nexus for judges, cops, reporters and a steady stream of Manhattan legal dramas. Trump, as a younger man, used to deploy lawyers there to try to secure tax abatements and other goodies for projects he was developing. He also eagerly gobbled up tabloid coverage of celebrated clashes litigated there…”

    “Trump, in his younger days, probably never imagined he’d be in the State Supreme Court dock as a former president accused of falsifying business records to mask payments to paramours who might have otherwise upended his political career. Yet here he sits, forced to observe the law.”

  118. 118.

    Geminid

    @Kay: These are two separate questions, and I have not seen the adminisration’s efforts on one front detract from its efforts on the other.

  120. 120.

    Baud

    Via reddit

    During a Sunday morning appearance on CNN, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem was asked whether she thinks there should be exceptions for survivors of rape and incest when it came to abortion laws.

    Apparently, she does not.

  121. 121.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Soprano2:

    I know, but I do think some of them have convinced themselves that these forms of contraception cause abortions. It’s both/and.

    They regard it as an abortion if a form of contraception prevented implantation.  Since they believe the fertilized egg is a new person from the moment the sperm bonks into the egg, that belief is consistent with where they’re coming from, and saying pregnancy begins with implantation just talks right past that.

    The thing here is that (a) there’s no evidence that any contraceptive prevents implantation, and (b) as best as we can tell, about half of fertilized eggs never get implanted anyway. (Link 1, Link 2.)

    So if they’re upset about those fertilized eggs that didn’t implant, well, who’s responsible for these?  Maybe God just isn’t “pro-life.”

  122. 122.

    Another Scott

    @Shalimar: If one believes Rick Perlstein’s “neglected history of the state of Israel” piece then Bibi’s and the IDF’s actions the last few decades make much more sense.

    The people running policy toward Israel need to think long and hard about what Perlstein’s saying and start to adjust our policies accordingly, IMHO.

    To be clear – I’m no expert. I don’t know if Perlstein is right or not. And every short piece of writing of necessity leaves out nuance and complications in human stories. There’s shades of grey everywhere. But…

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    I can’t help but think that the Administration of Columbia has completely fumbled this situation. What was a few annoying students, maybe 100, tops….has now mushroomed. I know I saw at least a 1,000 protesting not for Palestine, but, what happened to the students. When shyt spins out of control like that….just not a good look.

  126. 126.

    schrodingers_cat

    Protesters are not helping the Gazans by yelling go back to Poland at Jewish students. Its  not just endangering the Jewish students on campus but every minority that was targeted after the overreaction to 9/11. It is only a matter of time when someone acts out on the repeated calls to violence, allusions to guillotines and revolutions.

    The wealthy white cosplayers at Ivy League schools will remove their scarves and find other cause to latch on to next year. Eventually get a job using daddy’s connections, and vote for Rs as they get older. While  people like Riddhi Patel who is looking at a serious prison sentence for spouting tankie drivel in person, replete with death threats and calls to violence will get the book thrown at them.

  128. 128.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I know you believe that.

    I think they are actually agonizing over this humanitarian crisis – they know they will be judged down the road on it, so they have to redeem it somehow and the only way to redeem it is to get a larger deal and the only way to get a larger deal is to keep Israel (nominally, somewhat) on board.

    It’s a trap people fall into in negotiations. You’ve given up so much for this deal that it has to happen – 33k civilians! US credibility on human rights! Unfortunately “giving up a lot for the deal” doesn’t make it any more likely to happen, because the US is the only party in negotiations making any concessions, and the concessions are our own human rights laws.

  129. 129.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    @Soprano2: They see the care as the same because they believe women are liars who will claim a miscarriage to get an abortion.  This parallels with their opinion of women who go public regarding rape and sexual assault.

  130. 130.

    rikyrah

    @Cacti:

     

    I have many problems with showering more aid on Israel who is going on a revenge killing spree on the civilian population of Gaza, and also wants to provoke a war with Iran.

     

    Yeah, this….

  132. 132.

    cain

    @Kay: I can see whole new attacks on women as they cross other states to receive care. Specifically, warrant for the arrest of doctors who have performed abortions for women in other states as well as consequences for the women who do.

    I suppose if you keep pushing them to greater and greater extremes something will crack..

  133. 133.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: She’s the one who threatened the lives of the Bakersfield city council, right? Honestly when someone issues death threats they bring it on themselves. You’re right about many of the protestors, though, most of them will find something else to be mad about in six months or a year.

  134. 134.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    It’s interesting to me that the only people you object to are the anti semitic protestors when Israel’s Right wing supporters in Congress (people with actual power) are wildly and blatantly anti Muslim.

    Does that discredit all of Israel’s supporters? No, of course not. So why would some anti semitic protestors discredit the cause of all Palestinian human rights supporters?

    US Right wingers who support Israel just blocked a US lawyer from becoming a judge because he is a Muslim. Pure religious bigotry with real world consequences. I don’t blame Israel for that.

  135. 135.

    rikyrah

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The wealthy white cosplayers at Ivy League schools will remove their scarves and find other cause to latch on to next year. Eventually get a job using daddy’s connections, and vote for Rs as they get older.

    Even though I believe that the Columbia Administration has completely mishandled this…I see no lies written.

    While  people like Riddhi Patel who is looking at a serious prison sentence for spouting tankie drivel in person, replete with death threats and calls to violence will get the book thrown at them.

     

    Yep…that’s how it usually shakes out. The whole threatening government officials will not turn out well for her. Have any of her compatriots helped her post bail?

  136. 136.

    RaflW

    @Soprano2: These are the same crazy people who want to get rid of most forms of contraception because they erroneously believe they cause abortions sex is sinful unless it is intended to produce children.

  138. 138.

    Soprano2

    @rikyrah: I never understand this, because it always ends up the same way – the university gets embarrassed and overreacts, then the problem blows up way beyond what it was before, then they don’t know what to do. If they treated these protesters like adults rather than like misbehaving kids they’d get a better result.

  139. 139.

    Cacti

    @Kay: US Right wingers who support Israel just blocked a US lawyer from becoming a judge because he is a Muslim. Pure religious bigotry with real world consequences.

    And patently unconstitutional

    ETA:  It’s extra-shameful that three Dem Senators voted against Adeel Mangi.

  140. 140.

    Soprano2

    @schrodingers_cat: “Go back to Poland”? What does that even mean? That’s nuts, what are they doing? You can be concerned about what’s happening in Gaza without abusing Jewish students here.

  141. 141.

    Eolirin

    @Kay: The US has far less leverage than you think here, unless it’s willing to create an existential crisis for Israel or let the war spill out into a widening regional conflict.

    So I’m not sure the counterfactual is that they get more aggressive in trying to create consequences and it reigns in Israel so much as they get more aggressive and Israel becomes even more intransigent and starts a war with Iran.

    The incentives that Netanyahu and his government have are not even aligned with the best interests of Israel as a state. It’s a very difficult problem.

    Also have you considered that the state department might care about the situation simply because it’s a humanitarian crisis, legacy be damned? Or that they’re trying to be pragmatic about how to minimize and stop it?

  143. 143.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    It’s a variety of negotiating with yourself, what we’re doing. The question has become how many compromises will the US make. The other parties know it too – they always know which party wants a deal most. The US wants a deal more than any of the other actors. We NEED one at this point. It’s the only thing that will somehow redeem our inaction in the face of this. I wish Biden would give it up. Just limit civilian casualties with the tools he has.

  144. 144.

    Marcopolo

    @Kay: There are so many amazing D govs. I also love Pritzker, Evers, and Shapiro. They all do their governing in a “proactive feel good about being a democrat and our programs & policies are really going to help people” way.

    Edited to add Walz (sp?) in MN.  So many great things happening there!

  145. 145.

    Cacti

    @Eolirin: The US has all the leverage here.  We’ve just gotten in a decades-long bad habit of acting like Israel is the boss, and excusing every awful thing they do.  Including attacking and sinking a US Navy ship, and selling our military intelligence secrets to the Soviet Union, and treating the traitor who did it as a national hero.

  146. 146.

    Cacti

    @RaflW: Agree.

    While many in the “pro-life” movement may be ignorant of biology, that’s not what drives them.  They want to be the sex police.  That’s always what this has been about.

  147. 147.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Jen Rubin via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    When Republicans blatantly lie, disregard their oaths and — to borrow a phrase — weaponize government, Democrats have an obligation to call them out

    When Republicans blatantly lie, disregard their oaths and — to borrow a phrase — weaponize government … that means it’s a day ending in “y”.

  148. 148.

    Jeffro

    @zhena gogolia: it’s nuts

    personally, I think there will be violence at the RNC, not the DNC.  After all, that’s where the violent MAGA goons will be, to make sure their delegates nominate Trumpov regardless of his plummeting position in the polls

  149. 149.

    Kay

    @Eolirin:

    It isn’t in any way cutting off aid to Israel. Did we cut off aid to Ukraine when we enforced Leahy? No, we did not. This insistence that nothing can be done is baffling to me. There’s a perfrectly reasonable US action that has been endorsed by seven Democratic Senators and human rights activists. They want an Israeli unit who killed a US citizen and raped a 15 year old boy sanctioned – no US money to them. No one is saying cut off aid to Israel. There are hundreds of steps the US could take short of that. We are not, actually, helpless.

    If we can’t take even this tiny step maybe we really are helpless, but it isn’t because we don’t have leverage. It’s because we lack the will to use any part of it. This is a rock bottom principle – will we follow our own laws? Or do we “compromise” those away too?

  150. 150.

    RaflW

    @zhena gogolia: Saw a Bsky skeet about how the press is still ‘traumatized’ by Nixon’s two wins (scare quotes because I think calling it trauma trivializes people’s actual traumas).

    Thought of that, which was posted before the NYT ohmahgerd Chicago ’68! freakout.

    I do wonder what the hell these assigning editors are thinking, other than “Let’s panic over nothing”.

  151. 151.

    Kay

    @Marcopolo:

    We’re going to have a GREAT feild in 2028. It’s why I won’t accept the “Biden is too old!” whine. They can complain that federal judges are too old (I agree) or that members of Congress are too old (agree) but Biden has a shelf life. He’s not part of the “too old” problem. His self cures.

  153. 153.

    Soprano2

    @Marcopolo: Hey, I got to sign the petition to put the abortion amendment on the ballot. I was approached when we went to the Springfield Cardinal game a week ago Saturday. I was glad I finally got to sign it, I started to wonder if I would ever be approached. I think WalMart won’t let them collect signatures in their parking lot, or else I already would have seen it.

  154. 154.

    Soprano2

    @Cacti: It’s like how my employer sometimes acts like the contractor is in charge, rather than remembering that we’re the ones paying the bills so we’re actually in charge.

  157. 157.

    Kay

    @Eolirin:

    I think characterizing any and every control on Israel as “not supporting Israel” really strangles any attempt to hold them accountable in the crib. This is a limited US law that is used with every other country we support. There is absolutely no reason it can’t be used with Israel, other than a lack of will. Again – we support Ukraine. We enforced Leahy re Ukraine. No one said we were abandoning Ukraine when we did it. Ukraine accepted the condition because Ukraine wants the aid.

  158. 158.

    trollhattan

    Things might get interesting for DeSantis supporters.

    A first-in-the-nation court ruling may have particular importance in the capital region for a group of 36 migrants who arrived in Sacramento nearly a year ago. A federal judge in Boston ruled earlier this month migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard almost two years ago can move forward with a lawsuit against the private plane company that transported them. The ruling determined the migrants sufficiently alleged multiple claims including “false imprisonment,” “emotional distress” and “civil rights conspiracy.”

    “We should be concerned for the welfare and well being of the migrants that are being transported and we should take a closer look at the role that the transportation companies play in these schemes,” said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, the executive director for Lawyers for Civil Rights, the Boston-based legal group representing the Martha’s Vineyard migrants. The decision means the migrants can file a case against Vertol Systems Co., which was contracted by the state of Florida to carry out the flights.

    In her order, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs dismissed claims against Florida Gov. DeSantis and other members of his administration for jurisdictional reasons but condemned the actions of all involved. “Unlike ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents legitimately enforcing the country’s immigration laws … the court sees no legitimate purpose for rounding up highly vulnerable individuals on false pretenses and publicly injecting them into a divisive national debate,” wrote Burroughs.

    The recent ruling could lead to potential legal options for immigrant rights groups and other migrants who have been transported across state lines. “Martha’s Vineyard victory … provides a significant boost for pursuing potential action to safeguard the rights of immigrants affected by other forms of transportation,” Espinoza-Madrigal said. The Martha’s Vineyard incident was part of DeSantis’ “relocation program,” and involved the migrants signing questionable consent forms and receiving promises of housing, work opportunities and legal help. Months later, in June 2023, Vertol transported another 36 migrants from New Mexico to Sacramento under similar circumstances.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/accountability/article287786215.html#storylink=cpy

    Not to be outdone, a jealous Sunak has doubled down on his scheme probably found on the internet of flying asylum seekers landing in the UK to [checks notes] Rwanda. This will really help the Tories in the upcoming election, I’m almost certain.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/explainers-61782866

  160. 160.

    Soprano2

    @RaflW: Saw a Bsky skeet about how the press is still ‘traumatized’ by Nixon’s two wins (scare quotes because I think calling it trauma trivializes people’s actual traumas).

    That’s ridiculous, how many of the reporters who were doing the job then are still alive and working today? If they are traumatized they’re doing it to themselves.

  162. 162.

    hueyplong

    @Soprano2: I have a guess.  This is a year in which RW major contributors loudly threaten to pull their funding and insist on the removal of “woke” administrators if they don’t go all authoritarian on non-RW “troublemakers.”  And FoxNews eagerly stands by ready to make the school in question a week-long, national “scandal,” with the happy assistance of an unknown, semi-local Republican congressperson on the make.

  163. 163.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I appreciate your posts on Israeli politics. I read them. I just think we’re beyond that now, where it’s an issue of US law and politics. Israelis will do what they do – absolutely their right in their own country- this is about the United States and what WE do (or don’t do, as in this instance).

    Leahy is to me the least they can do. It really is hopeless if they can’t even muster the spine to do that.

  164. 164.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Happy Passover to all who celebrate.  My heart goes out to all of you who feel rightfully threatened and dismayed over the amount of anti-Semitism popping up right now.  It’s so freaking gross.  And it’s the type of shit that no one in our diverse coalition should support, excuse or trivialize.  I’m no fan of Netanyahu and have long viewed the treatment of Palestinians as an oppressive, Apartheid State that needs to be remedied by a genuine Two-State Solution.  But the level of anti-Semitic dogwhistles and the numerous accounts of harassment of Jewish students/people, in the Gaza protests, is also deeply distressing and a sad reminder of just how deep anti-Semitism runs in the fabric of our world.  Even on the Left.  I don’t know what to say except that my thoughts are with you in these difficult times and hopefully people will continue to speak up for you as passionately as they do for Palestinian victims in Gaza.

  167. 167.

    Kay

    Saying that all Pro Palestinian protestors are anti semites because some are is just the flip side of saying all Israelis are human rights abusers because the Israeli Right is, or all of Israel’s supporters are religious bigots against Muslims because Israel’s supporters on the US Right are anti Muslim bigots. This guilt by association thing is the problem, not the solution. It can be applied to anyone.

  171. 171.

    prostratedragon

    @frosty:  A lot of people give him the credit. Of course, by 1968 it was already an old routine, at least a couple of decades.

  173. 173.

    Geminid

    @Kay: There are three “tracks” here. One is our efforts to press Israel on human rights issues bilateraly. Those include humanitarian aid to Gaza most urgently; less urgent but still crucial are enforcement of the Leahy Amendment, and of President Biden’s executive order of Feb.1 that created a sanctions regime penalizing violent settlers and persons and institutions supporting them. The Leahy Amendment also applies to the humanitarian aid crisis.

    A second track is the effort to get truce/hostage agreement of at least several weeks in duration. CIA Director Burns has been working on that along with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts and Qatar’s Prime Minister. That’s something that could still happen but I don’t think anyone is counting on it at this point.

    The third track, the one involving normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia, relates to a more permanent settlement of the greater Israel/Palestinian conflict. But it also relates to reaching a durable ceasefire in the war in Gaza, and the status and governance of Gaza after the war.

    It seems to me the pressure on the first track has to be sustained in the long run, regardless of success or lack therof on the other tracks.

    Those have to be pressed also, and as a practical matter, that can be done without undermining efforts on the first track. If anything, the efforts are complementary and not just in the long run, the short run also.

  174. 174.

    Kay

    @Shalimar:

    “Bibi” has zero incentive to seek peace. None. I don’t know that anyone needs more evidence when he attacked Iran. This is not a government seeking peace. They’re seeking a wider war. That seems to finally, finally be Biden’s red line though. I’m relieved we won’t be attacking Iran. I’m glad we found his limit.

  175. 175.

    Marcopolo

    @Soprano2: thanks for signing.  the two places that have been difficult are there in Springfield & MO 3. I was under the impression that they were using paid staffers & going door to door with D leaning voter contact lists so hopefully we’ll hear in the next week or so that they’ve hit their goal 🤞.  All I know is I’m not getting bombarded w/ texts to go collect sigs any more.

  176. 176.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I’m glad you’re stil hoping. I haven’t seen a single concession Israel has made to US demands. “Allowing food in” is not a concession. It’s US law. They either let food in or Biden would have been breaking the law. This isn’t “movement”. They haven’t goddamned budged. Of course, Hamas hasn’t either but we’re not arming Hamas, hence no violation of US law.

    I read your Israeli politics posts and I get no sense they object to Gaza. They object to Netanyahu not getting the hostages back. I don’t think there’s going to be any help for Joe Biden coming out of the Israeli electorate.

  177. 177.

    rikyrah

    @Scout211:

    The 1864 law goes into effect on June 8.

    The anger I feel that anyone has to be subject to a law that was put in place BEFORE THE 13TH AMENDMENT WAS RATIFIED…

     

    I can’t express it.

  180. 180.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Kay: There is a world of difference between saying:

    “There’s a disturbing amount of anti-Semitism at these protests, which is bad…”

    &

    “All pro-Palestinian protestors are Anti-Semitic.”

    People arguing in good faith should be careful not to falsely equate the two.

  181. 181.

    JPL

    @UncleEbeneezer: It’s so sad.

     

    btw Thank you for recommending Made in America.   It’s fascinating because I thought I remembered the level of racism in the LAPD.   Wrong!   The depth of the hatred that existed in the department was stunning.

  182. 182.

    Baud

    People have been speculating on Johnson’s motives.

    House Speaker’s Ukraine Aid Support Influenced by CIA Briefing: CNN
    CIA Director William Burns has reportedly painted a dire picture of the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine and emphasized the global consequences of inaction

    FWIW

  184. 184.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @lowtechcyclist: and then you have genetic chimeras as well. One physical person, two different sets of DNA. Are they really two people who get to vote twice?

  185. 185.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kay:

    It’s a variety of negotiating with yourself, what we’re doing. The question has become how many compromises will the US make. The other parties know it too – they always know which party wants a deal most. The US wants a deal more than any of the other actors.

    And likely the most effective way to give Israel an incentive to make a deal is to cut off aid.  You want your aid back, Israel? Get a deal done that meets our requirements.

    While I understand the Leahy law allows us to deny aid to specific combat units, that just seems to be way too micro a level here.  >30K Gaza Palestinians didn’t get killed by just a couple of IDF units.  The spigot needs to be cut off, period.

  186. 186.

    trollhattan

    Go Gav, go.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to make it easier for Arizonans to receive abortions in California, an announcement he made on the same day he debuted a new political advertisement that draws attention to Republican policies in Alabama.

    Newsom’s latest efforts continue his attempts to denounce conservative campaigns trying to hinder reproductive rights and showcase California as the national haven for abortion services. His announcement to help Arizonans comes in direct response to that state’s Supreme Court decision recently to uphold a 160-year-old abortion ban. The ban would only allow abortions deemed medically necessary to save the life of a pregnant patient. It has not yet taken effect.

    “Arizona AG (Attorney General) Kris Mayes identified a need to expedite the ability for Arizona abortion providers to continue to provide care to Arizonans as a way to support patients in their state seeking abortion care in California,” Newsom spokesperson Brandon Richards wrote in an email statement.

    “We are responding to this call and will have more details to share in the coming days.” The governor’s office said it is working closely with the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, but did not share more information on the specifics of the legislation or how quickly he expects it to be introduced. “We need to start focusing on making the kind of progress that’s needed..to provide access to women and girls that are fleeing the state of Arizona,” Newsom said in an interview with MSNBC’s Jen Psaki that was broadcast on Sunday.

    The interview debuted Newsom’s new political advertisement, in which two young women drive toward the Alabama state line and are stopped by a police officer who asks the driver to take a pregnancy test.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article287884335.html#storylink=cpy

  187. 187.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Kayla Rudbek:

    and then you have genetic chimeras as well. One physical person, two different sets of DNA. Are they really two people who get to vote twice?

    ?????

    Are they thinking of lowering the voting age to absolute zero, so to speak?

  188. 188.

    Geminid

    @Kay: I don’t expect for Joe Biden to get any help out of Israeli elections, and I’ve never said or implied that. I think Israelis and the rest of the people and nations in the region could get some relief from Israeli elections and that is why I talk about them.

    I have also talked about hostages a lot, but in the context of the hostage/ceasefire negotiations. That’s been an important story. This does not mean I don’t care about Gaza or Gazans. In fact, Gazans need this ceasefire more than anyone including Joe Biden and the Israelis.

  190. 190.

    Leto

    @trollhattan: I wonder if that program will expand to other western states that have done the same thing? I know there were a few of them that were basically down to like 1-2 OGB/YN docs in the state left to do any work. The fact that roughly 25% of the women in this country lacks access to just basic medical care is one of those things that the UN starts regularly investigating and sending aid workers to. Like Kay has stated, not sure how long we let religious fanatics dictate basic medical practices. Guess we’ll find out over the next few decades.

  191. 191.

    Kay

    @UncleEbeneezer:

    Well, I think calling the police to arrest them for peaceably assembling on a lawn at a school where they’re paying 70k a year to go probably ratcheted things up a bit and attracted the anti semites outside the campus. Boneheaded move. Don’t capitulate to morons, is the lesson there. She’s going to lose her job anyway, even though she threw her own students under the bus because NO ONE trusts her now, and they shouldn’t. She’s a coward.

  192. 192.

    Soprano2

    @Kay:  I get no sense they object to Gaza

    If you’re talking about Israelis, they don’t. That’s one of the problems Biden has, Bibi is doing what the majority of the Israeli population seems to want, so I think pressure from the outside only has limited effect (although I think we should enforce the Leahy law, it’s the least we can do). I think the majority of Israelis think Palestinians and Hamas are the same thing, so they don’t care what happens in Gaza as long as the hostages eventually come back. It would be like outside governments telling our government in January of 2003 to quit attacking the Taliban and al Queda and make peace. Our government would not have done that at all regardless of the incentives, because the American people were overwhelmingly in support of us going after al Queda and unfortunately Muslims in general.

  193. 193.

    lowtechcyclist

    @RaflW:

    Saw a Bsky skeet about how the press is still ‘traumatized’ by Nixon’s two wins

    Shouldn’t the poor dears have retired by now?  That was quite literally most of a lifetime ago.

    I was 18 when Nixon won his second term. I’m 70 now.  The ‘trauma’ of that moment, such as it was, has long since been superseded by more genuine newsworthy traumas.

  194. 194.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I think Joe Biden actually is a humanitarian and that’s why he’s given up too much. We don’t even know the half of what has happened there, but we will find out and Biden will be held accountable to the extent he could have stopped it. Leahy himself pressured Obama to use the Leahy law leverage and Obama refused. Big mistake. This is a long pattern of no accountability that got us here, but unfortunately for Joe Biden he’ll be blamed for all the losses. He didn’t have a seat when the music stopped.

  195. 195.

    prostratedragon

    @Soprano2:
    Felipe Campante:

    I thought Columbia’s president had shown others the way, by not going to the hearing where Harvard, Penn and MIT got trapped. Turns out she was preparing one of the greatest hold-my-beers of all time…

  196. 196.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Geminid: Just want to say, I really appreciate your sober, realistic and informative comments about the longer-term diplomacy efforts wrt I/P.

  197. 197.

    JML

    @UncleEbeneezer: Happy Passover to all who celebrate. My heart goes out to all of you who feel rightfully threatened and dismayed over the amount of anti-Semitism popping up right now. It’s so freaking gross. And it’s the type of shit that no one in our diverse coalition should support, excuse or trivialize. I’m no fan of Netanyahu and have long viewed the treatment of Palestinians as an oppressive, Apartheid State that needs to be remedied by a genuine Two-State Solution. But the level of anti-Semitic dogwhistles and the numerous accounts of harassment of Jewish students/people, in the Gaza protests, is also deeply distressing and a sad reminder of just how deep anti-Semitism runs in the fabric of our world. Even on the Left. I don’t know what to say except that my thoughts are with you in these difficult times and hopefully people will continue to speak up for you as passionately as they do for Palestinian victims in Gaza.

    It’s really disturbing. I wonder how many Americans realize just how many Jewish families have stories of one of their near relatives being the victim of a hate crime in the United States? And just because the Israeli government (owned by the corrupt and disgusting Netanyahu administration) is off the rails doesn’t make it ok.

    It’s deeply concerning to me how much of it comes from the left; I expect (sadly) to get this from the right because when you push the politics of grievance the way the GOP has and does for so long, unleashing waves of hatred against and minority group is a natural (if disgusting) consequence.

  198. 198.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    We have a friend who is a cardiac surgeon at Michigan. He’s Arab and Muslim. We went to dinner with him this weekend and my husband asked if he will vote for Biden – we know he’s a liberal. I once drove his car and he had Al Franken’s book on tape :)

    He said he “can’t”. He also told us that this focus on US election politics from his friends feels like we’re not actually sympathetic to the human rights catastrophe – that all we’re really concerned with is winning and that it’s much bigger than that for them. I think I get that. I might feel the same way. He said this very gently – he likes my husband despite my husband’s bluntness.

    Anyway, I think your approach would be acceptable to him – not as focused on Team Democrat. I’;ve been thinking aboiut that.

  199. 199.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JPL: It really is an amazing documentary.  Glad you enjoyed it.  I’ve already watched it twice and will no doubt do so again at some point.

  200. 200.

    Pink Tie

    I can’t imagine responding “Very well said” to someone using the word “isolationary.”

  201. 201.

    Scout211

    @trollhattan: Yes! You must have missed my comment at #71, but the more the word gets out, the better.

    Let’s hope the legislature and the state medical board buys into this.

  202. 202.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    “Bibi” has zero incentive to seek peace. None. I don’t know that anyone needs more evidence when he attacked Iran. This is not a government seeking peace. They’re seeking a wider war.

     

    Uh huh

    uh huh

  203. 203.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JML: It sadly doesn’t surprise me as much as I wish it did.  I’ve worked with some DSA-type Progressives, Occupy/FreeAssange assholes and even some Black Activists who have expressed George Soros conspiracy talk and other dogwhistles that definitely got my Anti-Semitism detector buzzing.  And I think a lot of the Left is in denial about just how common that shit is even in very progressive, activist spaces.

  204. 204.

    rikyrah

    @JPL:

       It’s fascinating because I thought I remembered the level of racism in the LAPD.   Wrong!   The depth of the hatred that existed in the department was stunning.

     

    Yet, that context was never really acknowledged in terms of the Simpson trial.

    Here and there….sure.

    But, in depth? No.

    Johnnie Cochran, as brilliant as he was, would have never won that trial if the LAPD itself weren’t the ones on trial.

    I have always believed that the LAPD tried to frame a guilty man.

    And, because they did that..the jury had no choice but to find OJ Not Guilty.

    The ease with which they attempted to frame such a high profile suspect..

    Meant that they didn’t hesitate to attempt to frame the common folk.

  205. 205.

    rikyrah

    @lowtechcyclist:

    And likely the most effective way to give Israel an incentive to make a deal is to cut off aid.  You want your aid back, Israel? Get a deal done that meets our requirements.

     

    clap clap clap

    let Israel find another Sugar Daddy.

  206. 206.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I’m as doctrinaire about voting blue as anyone you’ll find, but I wouldn’t press anyone who has a connection to Gaza about it at this time.

  208. 208.

    dnfree

    @Soprano2: We were just moving to the South Side of Chicago the weekend of the 1968 convention.  We only saw it on TV, but if not otherwise engaged in the move and starting graduate school, we might have gone.  (I’m glad we didn’t.). His time in graduate school was bracketed by that convention and the Kent State killings and subsequent takeover of the administration building at the University of Chicago.

  209. 209.

    JML

    @UncleEbeneezer: It doesn’t help when a supposed “progressive all-star” like Ilhan Omar has multiple incidents of trading on anti-semitic tropes, and when she’s called out for it, promises to “learn and do better” and then does it all over again while her supporters accuse anyone who criticizes her as being racist. I mean, once is coincidence, twice is happenstance, the third/fourth/fifth time…

  210. 210.

    rikyrah

    @JML:

    It doesn’t help when a supposed “progressive all-star” like Ilhan Omar has multiple incidents of trading on anti-semitic tropes,

    That’s because she’s fully invested in Anti-Semitism.

  211. 211.

    prostratedragon

    @rikyrah:  Her daughter is at Barnard; I think just got suspended. An alumna or someone needs to try to grab hold of her.

  213. 213.

    Helen

    @TBone: In 2016, my brother when talking politics with his Republican businessmen friends, said it would always come back to what’s-his-name. My brother would say, ‘Would you hire him to manage your business?.’ He said it always shut them up.

  215. 215.

    tam1MI

    It sadly doesn’t surprise me as much as I wish it did.  I’ve worked with some DSA-type Progressives, Occupy/FreeAssange assholes and even some Black Activists who have expressed George Soros conspiracy talk and other dogwhistles that definitely got my Anti-Semitism detector buzzing.  And I think a lot of the Left is in denial about just how common that shit is even in very progressive, activist spaces.

    We saw a poster in this very thread describe a Jewish religious observance as a “grotesque sight”.

  217. 217.

    tam1MI

    @UncleEbeneezer: Ick!!  Luckily it is someone already on my Pie list, so I didn’t see it.

    I literally stared at the sentence for several seconds before it dawned on me the person was referring to Passover Seder. They were trying to make a point about how most Americans have plenty to eat while Palestinians are starving, but, dude, you could have made your point without the antisemitism.

  219. 219.

    tam1MI

    @schrodingers_cat: It appears to have been deleted, so you will have to take my word I saw it.  I was in total shock about it, I couldn’t believe anybody here would say something like that.  Hopefully it was one of those hit-and-run posters that occasionally show up here.

  223. 223.

    Manyakitty

    @TBone: I change the channel whenever he comes on, then leave a message for the show on Facebook telling them that I will continue with that practice every time they bring him on.

  224. 224.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @lowtechcyclist: there are plenty of grown adults who are genetic chimeras (only some of whom are aware of it). I think that the estimate is something like up to 10% of people could be genetic chimeras.

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