Paxton is a monster. What this must be doing not just physically, but psychologically, to the mother is barbaric. Paxton and his cronies have no right to inflict this kind of pain and suffering on another human being. These are sick, deranged, and immoral beings. If they are wrapping their cruelty in the name of Jesus they should all burn in hell.
Dec 11, 2023·edited Dec 11, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Hi Robert. I just wanted to note that I was in exactly the same position as Kate Cox in the late 80's.
This is the story of my abortion.
It’s 1988, and I’m living just south of San Francisco when I find myself pregnant. My then-husband and I receive the news happily. Other than bouts of morning sickness, everything goes swimmingly through the first trimester. If feel my baby move at around 4 months or so. I go for an amniocentesis test at the recommended 17 weeks.
The results are both devastating and unquestionable.
My baby girl has a severe genetic defect called Trisomy 13. Also called Patau syndrome, Trisomy 13 is a chromosomal condition that causes severe intellectual disability heart defects, brain or spinal cord abnormalities, very small or poorly developed eyes, additional fingers and toes, cleft lip, and weak muscles. Most infants with Trisomy 13 die within their first days or weeks of life, if they even make it that far.
As much as I want her, there is no question of carrying this baby to term. Not only because caring for this ill-fated child would be impossible under our circumstances, but because I was frightened by what happened to my own mother.
She became pregnant with her 3rd child when I was 2, and he died in utero at 8 months. Back in the 1950s, the only option available was for her to deliver the baby naturally. So she carried him, knowing he was dead, until he was born at 9 months. The experience drove her into terrible postpartum depression from which she never recovered. By the time I was 3 years old she’d devolved into paranoid schizophrenia. When I was 12, she was institutionalized. She received 35 shock treatments that did nothing to restore her mental health, and died when I was 17.
I too could easily be driven into unrecoverable depression myself if my situation continued. So I finally received my abortion at 22 weeks after a difficult search for a provider. My milk came in afterwards. I cried for weeks.
Forcing a woman to have even a <wanted> but seriously deformed baby can be devastating. Just imagine what it’s like for Kate Cox and other women in Texas and other Handmaid's-Tale states right now, with self-righteous so-called Christians attacking them at every turn.
I sat with a cup of coffee, only the Christmas tree lights on, and some instrumental Christmas music playing before I read your letter, Robert, trying to gather strength for the day. Our problems are real and complicated and those who “simple” answers to complex questions are a part of our problems. We must continue to spread the good news and the truth. And stay together. Thank you.
Thank you re Kagan's comments: what an idiot. Sorry, Kagan, but whose side are you on, anyway? He's doing an excellent pro-MAGA promotion and I can't assume his intention is otherwise. And, Paxton. I'm not ashamed to live in Texas -- have lived here since I was 20 and I'm 75 now -- because the machine here has been something so well-funded and huge (including a very robust military-industrial juggernaut, oil&gas, and our old friends racism, misogyny, and the rest). Believe it or not, there are millions of Texans who have continued to vote and work to overcome, override these factors and so far we haven't been tremendously successful. Kagan might note? We continue to fight and will continue to fight for everyone's human rights, including those of our fellow Texans... If only I had a magic wand and could transform these White male Christian MAGAs into women for about a week. Oh, and make sure that during that week they find out they need reproductive healthcare...
I have a suggestion that has nothing to do with Ken Paxton (Yes, he is a monster!). It has to do with how we approach this comment section. I'm a retired teacher and I want to share with you a lesson I learned from one of the best administrators at a school I had the honor to teach at. He was the most thoughtful listener I believe I have ever worked for. Upset parents, teachers (I confess I was guilty at times), students, community leaders, etc., would go to his office and vent about all manner of issues they felt needed immediate attention and action. Vitriol and outrage would reign and demands would be made; well, sound familiar? His initial response to all of this was to sit back and listen. He didn't judge, engage, interrupt, argue, or even make suggestions. He. . . just. . . listened. He let people express themselves without judgment and tried to understand what it was they were saying. I noticed this technique in several of the teacher/parent/student conferences I was also present in and I asked him one day about his approach. He told me that it was important to realize that most of the people who were angry were NOT angry at him. They were really angry about something over which they felt they had no power to change. Further he stated that, "Sometimes it's important to take a punch and NOT punch back." They needed a chance to have their say; that the anger and pain that they displayed was really a measure of the hopelessness they felt. Often, after they had railed at him for a while, they would eventually notice that he was politely listening and NOT interrupting. They would usually calm down to a state at which a rational discussion could take place. Many times they would apologize for ranting at him; sometimes not. His next step was to put in his own words what he thought they were saying, after which people would often say, "No, that wasn't what I really meant. What I meant to say was. . .". After all parties came to an agreement about what the problem really was, oftentimes, what was needed was a change of behavior on the part of the person(s) on the other side of his desk, ALONG WITH the understanding that the involved school/teacher/administrator would be a willing and helpful assistant to them. I cannot tell you how many people in the community would tell me about the perception they got while in his office that he was directly and entirely focused on them, "I was the only person . . . etc." He didn't have a cushy job either. When he got to that school, he was told by the Superintendent that the district was prepared to close the school if he could not get the rampant drug, attendance, and violence problems under control. Several suicides had occurred within the student body, including one at the school's football stadium. Within four years it was the highest performing school in the school district. His last year there, every graduating senior walked through the line, shook his hand and placed a silver dollar in it. He was a truly amazing person and I was (am) much the better for having known him. In closing, I know that we may completely disagree with other comments made in this section. Let's try to be willing to "take a punch and not punch back." For now, try to just. . .listen. . .
My letter to the WAPO editor about Robert Kagan's first article was published! Of the 5 letters published about his piece, mine was the only one wholesale challenging his thesis. I blame the media for the hopelessness and fear that many people feel. My letter was edited (they took out my comment that his piece was drivel and that he was a fear mongerer), but it is below. And I have created several new readers for this newsletter of friends who have believed the medi hype that Trump 2024 is a forgone conclusion.
Robert Kagan looked at the odds of a Trump dictatorship in a vacuum, apparently not considering the results of every election since 2016, which have repudiated former president Donald Trump and MAGA politics. Mr. Kagan ignored the growing backlash against incompetent members of Congress and the very successful grass-roots efforts to get out the vote for 2024.
Democrats and the Biden administration are not the feckless bunch he portrayed them to be. Mr. Kagan has developed a parting-of-the-Red Sea theory of a Trump march to the White House. Wrong. MAGA Republicans are a vocal minority. How many of them showed up to rally in Florida when Mr. Trump went to court for his indictment? Very few. MAGA Republicans are learning that following Mr. Trump’s directions leads straight to a jail sentence.
Let us not forget that Paul Manafort changed the GOP platform on Ukraine in 2016 at Russia's behest. I may sound like a nutjob conspiracy theorist, but frankly, I imagine the GOP is doing TFG's bidding on this (and thus Russia's bidding) in withholding aid to Ukraine at this point. And, I believe that several of those GOP Senators and probably a number of GOP reps are Russian assets, or at least useful idiots, in any case. (Remember the July 4 trip to Moscow?) Russia is finally getting the GOP to do its bidding, somehow. (And read Rachel Maddow's book "Prequel" to see how this has happened before.)
Since I am no legal scholar, my questions may be naive. But they are earnest and express the frustration of good people, particularly Democrats, who simply can’t believe what continues to happen in this country with the abuse of power.
1). Is there any limit to how many times Trump can ask that his cases be stayed, or ended, or whatever he wants so that he can get through the election in 2024? It seems he keeps asking for the same thing in all these cases. And even if it’s answered, there is always another level he can ask. Do his lawyers truly expect to get paid for all this nonsense?
2). Can the DOJ, or the President, do something to stop the murderous madness of Texas and Ken Paxton? This is so heinous, and here at Xmas, for a white extreme conservative leader to force this woman to the edge of death before she can receive help. Someone tell me how the Constitution, and the 14th Amendment in particular, allows women to be treated as chattel, and discriminated against with life-threatening consequences in terms of receiving healthcare. There is no way a decent society believes that individual states get to tell their citizens what civil rights they can enjoy - even if other states allow their citizens full rights. Does the GQP not understand the meaning of “free and EQUAL justice”? This should not stand.
If we are outraged at college presidents who misspeak about where their universities stand on antisemitism, can we not show similar outrage against this felon in Texas who has tried to overturn the 2020 election and now wants to prove his manhood by killing a young pregnant woman???? If all women don’t find this to be the most un-god like activity and an existential threat to womanhood, then perhaps I need to find a new home elsewhere.
As a NeverTrump voter, I do not want to read commentaries that say Trump can not be beat in 2024. There is enough negativity going on in our country and the world, that predictions of doom and gloom are too depressing to read. We need encouraging words, not discouraging words. Kagen is wrong to use his platform to discourage Democrats from trying to win in 2024.
Kagan has willful blindness to what has been happening in America since Trump took the stage. In fact [with my EDITS], "the right combination of people HAS DEMONSTRATED AMAZING ENERGY, FOCUS AND COMMITMENT TO turn up and show a wisdom and courage [they have not shown - per Kagan] for the past eight years". We are not the weak-kneed cyphers he conjures. Instead, we are continually beating back whack-a-mole Republican efforts to block legal voting, force births / remove freedom from women, demonize LGBTQ+ and legal immigrants, ban books, attack the "free" media, and install White Supremacy ChristoFacism as our default government. Election after election results -- especially in RED states -- have delivered Democratic wins. Kagan's DC arrogance exposes his base motives: to generate clicks and comments rather than to edify and educate. At least Jennifer Rubin counters his ignorant and ill-researched premise.
The economy will be a major issue in 2024 and the challenge is how to position it with the average voter in layman’s terms. The voters between the ages of 18 -24 of which 50% live at home are the group most dissatisfied with the economy because they cannot afford reasonable housing and other items because of high costs. Retail prices for gas, eggs and many other food items have been reduced but housing, automotive and healthcare costs are higher. The question that never gets asked is “ what are the Republicans going to do for me to improve the economy for me? For the average voter the answer is nothing. One major accomplishment that never gets the attention it deserves is the number of new jobs created by the Biden administration. In 2024 the Democrats need to beat the drums on this issue and challenge Trump and the Republicans on what they propose doing. One more interesting fact that needs to be exploited is local Democratic candidates need to focus on the new jobs created in their communities and the economic impacts all created by Democrats with no Republican support.
Robert is so correct about this situation. It’s about grassroots participation. Each and every one of us. Doing historic preservation research where I live, there it is. The King did not permit gunpowder in the colonies. Just before the American Revolution, some folks built a powder mill on the creek running through their land. They did this before they built a house for their own family too! We all need to do the post-modern version of that.
Is it possible that Robert Kagan's editorials can have an opposite effect besides fear and a sense of inevitability? Is it possible that his opinions (which are like A-holes, everybody's got one) can motivate #Activistists and #Progressives to get scared, get up, and DO SOMETHING? Don't just Chop Wood, but write postcards, do text and phone banking, work with Field Team 6 to register Democrats.
We are the agents of change in this country, not overpaid editorial writers and certainly not Republicans. Find a local Indivisible group, if you on the east side of Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, join https://civicsundays.us AND DO SOMETHIGNG. Remember what Walt Kelly said in a Pogo comic strip in 1972, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
Dec 11, 2023·edited Dec 11, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
As I've said before, I love your Concluding Thoughts, Robert. They provoke great thoughts (or at least it feels that way).
Whenever we hear about the economy and how President Biden is not managing it well, it's always against peoples' wants and not some objective measure. What would be more helpful, and to which you alluded, would be a comparison against the objectives that were set to fix the economy. From what I can see, President Biden has hit it out of the park, despite the dysfunction in Congress, the unrest in the world, and the other domestic issues that the Defendant worsened before leaving office. That should be the story.
Paxton is a monster. What this must be doing not just physically, but psychologically, to the mother is barbaric. Paxton and his cronies have no right to inflict this kind of pain and suffering on another human being. These are sick, deranged, and immoral beings. If they are wrapping their cruelty in the name of Jesus they should all burn in hell.
Hi Robert. I just wanted to note that I was in exactly the same position as Kate Cox in the late 80's.
This is the story of my abortion.
It’s 1988, and I’m living just south of San Francisco when I find myself pregnant. My then-husband and I receive the news happily. Other than bouts of morning sickness, everything goes swimmingly through the first trimester. If feel my baby move at around 4 months or so. I go for an amniocentesis test at the recommended 17 weeks.
The results are both devastating and unquestionable.
My baby girl has a severe genetic defect called Trisomy 13. Also called Patau syndrome, Trisomy 13 is a chromosomal condition that causes severe intellectual disability heart defects, brain or spinal cord abnormalities, very small or poorly developed eyes, additional fingers and toes, cleft lip, and weak muscles. Most infants with Trisomy 13 die within their first days or weeks of life, if they even make it that far.
As much as I want her, there is no question of carrying this baby to term. Not only because caring for this ill-fated child would be impossible under our circumstances, but because I was frightened by what happened to my own mother.
She became pregnant with her 3rd child when I was 2, and he died in utero at 8 months. Back in the 1950s, the only option available was for her to deliver the baby naturally. So she carried him, knowing he was dead, until he was born at 9 months. The experience drove her into terrible postpartum depression from which she never recovered. By the time I was 3 years old she’d devolved into paranoid schizophrenia. When I was 12, she was institutionalized. She received 35 shock treatments that did nothing to restore her mental health, and died when I was 17.
I too could easily be driven into unrecoverable depression myself if my situation continued. So I finally received my abortion at 22 weeks after a difficult search for a provider. My milk came in afterwards. I cried for weeks.
Forcing a woman to have even a <wanted> but seriously deformed baby can be devastating. Just imagine what it’s like for Kate Cox and other women in Texas and other Handmaid's-Tale states right now, with self-righteous so-called Christians attacking them at every turn.
I sat with a cup of coffee, only the Christmas tree lights on, and some instrumental Christmas music playing before I read your letter, Robert, trying to gather strength for the day. Our problems are real and complicated and those who “simple” answers to complex questions are a part of our problems. We must continue to spread the good news and the truth. And stay together. Thank you.
Thank you re Kagan's comments: what an idiot. Sorry, Kagan, but whose side are you on, anyway? He's doing an excellent pro-MAGA promotion and I can't assume his intention is otherwise. And, Paxton. I'm not ashamed to live in Texas -- have lived here since I was 20 and I'm 75 now -- because the machine here has been something so well-funded and huge (including a very robust military-industrial juggernaut, oil&gas, and our old friends racism, misogyny, and the rest). Believe it or not, there are millions of Texans who have continued to vote and work to overcome, override these factors and so far we haven't been tremendously successful. Kagan might note? We continue to fight and will continue to fight for everyone's human rights, including those of our fellow Texans... If only I had a magic wand and could transform these White male Christian MAGAs into women for about a week. Oh, and make sure that during that week they find out they need reproductive healthcare...
That Musk/Jones/Vivek/Tate "conversation" can only be something dreamed up by Stephen King to take place in the sewers.
And Stefanik is just the latest purveyor of "Have you stopped beating your wife."
I have a suggestion that has nothing to do with Ken Paxton (Yes, he is a monster!). It has to do with how we approach this comment section. I'm a retired teacher and I want to share with you a lesson I learned from one of the best administrators at a school I had the honor to teach at. He was the most thoughtful listener I believe I have ever worked for. Upset parents, teachers (I confess I was guilty at times), students, community leaders, etc., would go to his office and vent about all manner of issues they felt needed immediate attention and action. Vitriol and outrage would reign and demands would be made; well, sound familiar? His initial response to all of this was to sit back and listen. He didn't judge, engage, interrupt, argue, or even make suggestions. He. . . just. . . listened. He let people express themselves without judgment and tried to understand what it was they were saying. I noticed this technique in several of the teacher/parent/student conferences I was also present in and I asked him one day about his approach. He told me that it was important to realize that most of the people who were angry were NOT angry at him. They were really angry about something over which they felt they had no power to change. Further he stated that, "Sometimes it's important to take a punch and NOT punch back." They needed a chance to have their say; that the anger and pain that they displayed was really a measure of the hopelessness they felt. Often, after they had railed at him for a while, they would eventually notice that he was politely listening and NOT interrupting. They would usually calm down to a state at which a rational discussion could take place. Many times they would apologize for ranting at him; sometimes not. His next step was to put in his own words what he thought they were saying, after which people would often say, "No, that wasn't what I really meant. What I meant to say was. . .". After all parties came to an agreement about what the problem really was, oftentimes, what was needed was a change of behavior on the part of the person(s) on the other side of his desk, ALONG WITH the understanding that the involved school/teacher/administrator would be a willing and helpful assistant to them. I cannot tell you how many people in the community would tell me about the perception they got while in his office that he was directly and entirely focused on them, "I was the only person . . . etc." He didn't have a cushy job either. When he got to that school, he was told by the Superintendent that the district was prepared to close the school if he could not get the rampant drug, attendance, and violence problems under control. Several suicides had occurred within the student body, including one at the school's football stadium. Within four years it was the highest performing school in the school district. His last year there, every graduating senior walked through the line, shook his hand and placed a silver dollar in it. He was a truly amazing person and I was (am) much the better for having known him. In closing, I know that we may completely disagree with other comments made in this section. Let's try to be willing to "take a punch and not punch back." For now, try to just. . .listen. . .
Thanks, Robert, for your careful thoughts on the Israeli-Hamas war and related issues. It is a sad situation all around.
Today's column covers the main concerns that I (and many others) worry about. It is comforting that we are all in this together!
It is also comforting to be reminded of the thousands of grassroots groups already working to save our democracy, even in Ken Paxton's state of Texas.
My letter to the WAPO editor about Robert Kagan's first article was published! Of the 5 letters published about his piece, mine was the only one wholesale challenging his thesis. I blame the media for the hopelessness and fear that many people feel. My letter was edited (they took out my comment that his piece was drivel and that he was a fear mongerer), but it is below. And I have created several new readers for this newsletter of friends who have believed the medi hype that Trump 2024 is a forgone conclusion.
Robert Kagan looked at the odds of a Trump dictatorship in a vacuum, apparently not considering the results of every election since 2016, which have repudiated former president Donald Trump and MAGA politics. Mr. Kagan ignored the growing backlash against incompetent members of Congress and the very successful grass-roots efforts to get out the vote for 2024.
Democrats and the Biden administration are not the feckless bunch he portrayed them to be. Mr. Kagan has developed a parting-of-the-Red Sea theory of a Trump march to the White House. Wrong. MAGA Republicans are a vocal minority. How many of them showed up to rally in Florida when Mr. Trump went to court for his indictment? Very few. MAGA Republicans are learning that following Mr. Trump’s directions leads straight to a jail sentence.
This was pure fantasy.
Elizabeth Leggat, Brookline, Mass.
Let us not forget that Paul Manafort changed the GOP platform on Ukraine in 2016 at Russia's behest. I may sound like a nutjob conspiracy theorist, but frankly, I imagine the GOP is doing TFG's bidding on this (and thus Russia's bidding) in withholding aid to Ukraine at this point. And, I believe that several of those GOP Senators and probably a number of GOP reps are Russian assets, or at least useful idiots, in any case. (Remember the July 4 trip to Moscow?) Russia is finally getting the GOP to do its bidding, somehow. (And read Rachel Maddow's book "Prequel" to see how this has happened before.)
Since I am no legal scholar, my questions may be naive. But they are earnest and express the frustration of good people, particularly Democrats, who simply can’t believe what continues to happen in this country with the abuse of power.
1). Is there any limit to how many times Trump can ask that his cases be stayed, or ended, or whatever he wants so that he can get through the election in 2024? It seems he keeps asking for the same thing in all these cases. And even if it’s answered, there is always another level he can ask. Do his lawyers truly expect to get paid for all this nonsense?
2). Can the DOJ, or the President, do something to stop the murderous madness of Texas and Ken Paxton? This is so heinous, and here at Xmas, for a white extreme conservative leader to force this woman to the edge of death before she can receive help. Someone tell me how the Constitution, and the 14th Amendment in particular, allows women to be treated as chattel, and discriminated against with life-threatening consequences in terms of receiving healthcare. There is no way a decent society believes that individual states get to tell their citizens what civil rights they can enjoy - even if other states allow their citizens full rights. Does the GQP not understand the meaning of “free and EQUAL justice”? This should not stand.
If we are outraged at college presidents who misspeak about where their universities stand on antisemitism, can we not show similar outrage against this felon in Texas who has tried to overturn the 2020 election and now wants to prove his manhood by killing a young pregnant woman???? If all women don’t find this to be the most un-god like activity and an existential threat to womanhood, then perhaps I need to find a new home elsewhere.
As a NeverTrump voter, I do not want to read commentaries that say Trump can not be beat in 2024. There is enough negativity going on in our country and the world, that predictions of doom and gloom are too depressing to read. We need encouraging words, not discouraging words. Kagen is wrong to use his platform to discourage Democrats from trying to win in 2024.
Kagan has willful blindness to what has been happening in America since Trump took the stage. In fact [with my EDITS], "the right combination of people HAS DEMONSTRATED AMAZING ENERGY, FOCUS AND COMMITMENT TO turn up and show a wisdom and courage [they have not shown - per Kagan] for the past eight years". We are not the weak-kneed cyphers he conjures. Instead, we are continually beating back whack-a-mole Republican efforts to block legal voting, force births / remove freedom from women, demonize LGBTQ+ and legal immigrants, ban books, attack the "free" media, and install White Supremacy ChristoFacism as our default government. Election after election results -- especially in RED states -- have delivered Democratic wins. Kagan's DC arrogance exposes his base motives: to generate clicks and comments rather than to edify and educate. At least Jennifer Rubin counters his ignorant and ill-researched premise.
The economy will be a major issue in 2024 and the challenge is how to position it with the average voter in layman’s terms. The voters between the ages of 18 -24 of which 50% live at home are the group most dissatisfied with the economy because they cannot afford reasonable housing and other items because of high costs. Retail prices for gas, eggs and many other food items have been reduced but housing, automotive and healthcare costs are higher. The question that never gets asked is “ what are the Republicans going to do for me to improve the economy for me? For the average voter the answer is nothing. One major accomplishment that never gets the attention it deserves is the number of new jobs created by the Biden administration. In 2024 the Democrats need to beat the drums on this issue and challenge Trump and the Republicans on what they propose doing. One more interesting fact that needs to be exploited is local Democratic candidates need to focus on the new jobs created in their communities and the economic impacts all created by Democrats with no Republican support.
Robert is so correct about this situation. It’s about grassroots participation. Each and every one of us. Doing historic preservation research where I live, there it is. The King did not permit gunpowder in the colonies. Just before the American Revolution, some folks built a powder mill on the creek running through their land. They did this before they built a house for their own family too! We all need to do the post-modern version of that.
Is it possible that Robert Kagan's editorials can have an opposite effect besides fear and a sense of inevitability? Is it possible that his opinions (which are like A-holes, everybody's got one) can motivate #Activistists and #Progressives to get scared, get up, and DO SOMETHING? Don't just Chop Wood, but write postcards, do text and phone banking, work with Field Team 6 to register Democrats.
We are the agents of change in this country, not overpaid editorial writers and certainly not Republicans. Find a local Indivisible group, if you on the east side of Los Angeles, Hollywood, Los Feliz, Eagle Rock, join https://civicsundays.us AND DO SOMETHIGNG. Remember what Walt Kelly said in a Pogo comic strip in 1972, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."
As I've said before, I love your Concluding Thoughts, Robert. They provoke great thoughts (or at least it feels that way).
Whenever we hear about the economy and how President Biden is not managing it well, it's always against peoples' wants and not some objective measure. What would be more helpful, and to which you alluded, would be a comparison against the objectives that were set to fix the economy. From what I can see, President Biden has hit it out of the park, despite the dysfunction in Congress, the unrest in the world, and the other domestic issues that the Defendant worsened before leaving office. That should be the story.