I appreciate your resolve, and I appreciate the response you left for me last time. I'd appreciate if you responded again.
Today my parents were watching a nature documentary narrated by Obama. They remarked how they miss having him as president and how Trump ruined this country with his judges.
I miss the way things used to be. Back when I didn't watch the news. Back when Obama was president and I could be proud of my country. Back when I woke up and did fun things with my friends without worrying about current events. Back when our rights as human beings were guaranteed and I didn't spend all day obsessively looking at the news to make sure my safety as a gay person is safe. If they overrule Lawrence V Texas, I could be sent to prison like the Jews were in Hitler's time. So I feel like I have to watch for any indication that I have to flee the country. I feel threatened, so I spend all day doomscrolling hoping for any sign of hope for the future. Every article feels like doom and gloom.
I feel trapped in what feels like a right wing country where regular people are powerless to the billionaires, Christians, and brainwashed masses. I feel like I'm developing depression and helplessness. The idea that I can never go back to the way life used to be and that I'm stuck watching the slow motion collapse of our country makes life feel like a chore to get through. I can't even take pleasure in the simple things, knowing that everything I value and principle is uncertain. I have been on the verge of tears all day thinking about how Republicans could make it impossible for Democrats to win and I'll spend the rest of my life hiding in fear.
I don't know how to cope with this all. I'm seeing another therapist next week. I can't take this despair anymore. I know other people are able to enjoy their lives despite their worries, but every time I try to enjoy life, I think about the dark future that is coming and I feel depressed. It feels like I have a terminal illness. I hope my therapist can help, and I hope that someday this country learns to be kind again.
Hi, PD. I feel qualified only to talk about politics, and then only as an amateur observer. Please continue to talk with your therapist, family, and friends about your feelings of depression and despair.
On the political front, I think we have to acknowledge that the majority of Americans share your feelings, but also feel a new sense of urgency to take back our democracy. Yes, we are in a challenging time, but we have faced worse challenges during out lifetimes and survived and thrived. However bad things are now, they are not as bad as the turbulent 60s, or the Jim Crow era, or that time ten years ago when many states had laws criminalizing relationships between LGBTQ people. We have made immense progress. If the only thing we focus on is what is being lost in the short term, we will understandably feel bad. But that retrograde action must be measured against the immense progress of the last 50 years. Don't lose hope. WE will win. It is simply a matter of time.
I completely agree! I don’t think they realize how much this will push the other side to fight back. It won’t work. It never will and yet they keep trying anyway, which is the part I don’t get. It’s the same with voting rights. They seem to think that’s their ticket to win, but it will only have the opposite effect. We have to continue looking long term and not get too disappointed about the temporary set backs. This opinion is incredibly unpopular and they will learn that. I won’t stop until they do!
I have to agree with you, Robert, but I do empathize with P D and the angst and depression of a coordinated minority of people succeeding in disabling established rights in health choices and voting rights. I hate hearing about "swing states" and their utmost importance and influence on federal elections. I hate hearing the lies, lies, lies that come out of right wing conservative/MAGA candidates' mouths with the sole goal of frightening and angering their supporters. Stories like CRT that doesn't exist that is going to hurt little white children's feelings. Be honest. It's any discussion of true history of racial inequities and dominance by the white male. The evangelical Christians can't even read their Bible correctly when it defines life beginning upon the first breath. They focus on interpreting life begins with the first electrical spark we are able to perceive around 6 weeks. A pregnancy involves a woman and a zygote or fetus and since it is medical and science, things can go wrong, and bringing a child into certain circumstance would ruin both human's lives. Governmental involvement in individual decisions is just wrong. I could go on, but this gaslighting by some very ignorant and power-seeking white men is extremely tiring. I understand because I'm also tired.
PD, My psychiatrist advised me not to watch the news for more than a limited time. At the time I was depressed over the war in Ukraine and really angry that we were not giving them the weapons and warplanes that they need so desperately.
Please stop watching the news so much. And for heaven’s sakes consider moving out of Texas. My nephew is gay and he and his partner enjoy a great life in Seattle, Washington.
I am concerned about your safety. Please don’t do anything foolish. You do have options. Remember that. You have not mentioned your age. If you are young and still living with your parents, ask them if they would consider moving to a more welcoming and inclusive state and city.
Please work through this with your parents and your therapist and a good psychiatrist. Be safe.
Consider moving to Vermont. In November we're very likely to pass the nation's first state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to reproductive freedom. Unfortunately it's tough to find/buy a place to live due to the tight housing market.
This does really have damaging effects on us all. I noticed I was having palpitations and an irregular heart rate last night. I knew I should have checked my BP, but I was afraid to see what it was. (My heart rate is back to normal this morning) Stress hormones are extremely harmful. We have to take care of ourselves and I am relieved to hear you are seeing a therapist. Next week sounds like a bit of a wait for how you are feeling. Please follow Virginia's advice and try to stay away from the TV - or at least switch to something like that which your parents were watching. Please be well, PD. Know that many are here with you in this fight. I think there are more of us on the side of human decency than the MSM will project, it just doesn't get them the ratings. Sounds like you have some wonderful parents. Thank you for reaching out and please stay well.
I watch/listen to news in foreign languages that I understand. it helps me filter the bad news because I'm focusing on understanding what I'm hearing. I also write postcards for Swing Left etc. while I'm listening, so at least I'm doing something positive while the news comes in.
I'm so sorry you're going through this rough time. I felt depressed during the pandemic when I didn't see people and all I heard on the news was the worst of humanity. But I can tell you there are more good people out there than bad--but those people are rarely on the news. I volunteer for different organizations and I meet the best people, true heroes who are saving lives and making the world a better place. I also meet people in my community and most of them are kind and caring. The news is a business and scaring you is how they keep your attention and make a profit. It skews your view of the world in a deleterious way. Volunteering will make your day and soothe your soul. I wish you all the best.
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
Edward Everett Hale. This must be everyone's new mantra.....
I'm deeply saddened by the truth of your post. I am a straight, older white woman and share your despair. As a long-time activist, marcher and advocate for yours and other's rights, I read the news with increasing confusion about what action will actually help. When a reactionary, fundamentalist minority controls the government it seems as if our nation is crashing around me. The gay friends that I hold dear are in danger. My Black and Brown friends are in danger. My friends in interracial marriages are in danger. Please know that you have a huge well of support out here, and we aren't going to let this reactionary mob have their sway, Alito and his ilk be damned!
"...where regular people are powerless to the billionaires, Christians, and brainwashed masses..." Regular people, ok, brainwashed masses, absolutely, but Christian doesn't cut it at all. None of these folks have the most remote resemblance to the Jewish Jesus of Nazareth. We must stop referring to them using their preferred and grossly inaccurate descriptor. They and not Christian, not now, not before, not ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agree. Some of them know they are using the name, and still others are misguided, and still others simply believe they are right and they can find places in the Bible that support their beliefs.
Definitely need a new name. This is a NEW religion on whatever basis you define religion. And it is not just a "denomination" like traditional Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. (which also have their divisions....) Also: although the Southern Baptist Convention (a conglomeration of independent congreagations, actually) is a major player, many of these evangelical churches (note the number preaching prosperity gospel (horrors!)) are independent megachurch (which may have associated congregations in other locations). A new phenomenon in American Religion. And the whole religious aspect of the 'new politics' has been sadly under-analyzed and even under-reported by the MSM. Note the more or less religious/moral language, rather than legal, that Alito uses in his badly constructed opinion. (THANK YOU ROBERT for pointing out so much about the opinion)
I struggled with depression and pillar to post decisions that caused more pain for many years. My own investigations into mental health, and if there was any hope for people like me, eventually included my tripping over this: https://www.landmarkworldwide.com And as people look into what it is, I admit I did all the basic courses and then some and still didn't get yet that I was still not "getting it" regarding how my own thinking and viewpoints were not yet "there" for my full recovery. We can lead a horse to water, but something has to happen within us before we can drop our defenses enough to ... step over whatever it was that held back our mental and emotional health. The courses are online now, virtual, so you can find how to get started anywhere because you can participate in the courses from home. It worked for me, but I had a stubbornness I didn't see that meant my Success Story was definitely not an overnight one:-) And this is not the only way, just one possible way, to find your own peace and ability to live through all of this, P D.
The actual leak of the draft opinion is indeed not concerning as compared to the actual intentions of this SCOTUS in eroding a woman's rights- except for the fact that Chief Justice Roberts has called for an investigation of this, all the while refusing to investigate a sitting Justice's wife as she plotted to overthrow the government. We must stay fully engaged in this fight. We have a lot of work to do.
It really is amazing that Ginni Thomas's texts and speeches in support of a treasonous insurrection are not getting more air-time. Ultimately ----> being seen as so unethical that Thomas resigns.
If Collins is so incensed about Kavanaugh and Gorsuch's lies, will she lead a move to impeach them? I doubt it. Perhaps it's the voters of Maine who should be incensed at Collins' hubristic naiveté.
Yes, but will they? Please keep in mind that Collins has given full endorsement to Paul LePage who is running for governor again. His two terms of political terrorism were not enough to satisfy his sick ego. It is rumored that LePage enrolled TFG in his "boot camp for insane politics" several years ago. He was an early practitioner of "flooding the zone with shit". Openly bigoted and dismissive of folks in need. He is like Rand Paul on steroids.
Collins is a wolf in sheep's clothing. NEVER trust her.
Mainer here. Many of us worked hard to defeat her and remain incensed. We are working now to keep Governor Janet Mills in office. I’ve looked into the eyes of Senator Collins and I can tell you there was nothing naive there - just calculating…
Anger is motivation, particularly when deceived. Maybe the "honorable" justices should start to worry that they've lied to the wrong person. I can only hope.
I have over the past several days spoken to many people to conduct my own limited reality check where people are. My conclusions are that for the most part people are angry, pissed off, frustrated and scared all rolled into one. The “ feelings” seem to be that our basic institutions are under attack especially the Supreme Court between Mitch McConnell, The Clarence Thomas and wife activity and of course the Roe vs Wade debacle. The crux of the discussions seem to be the feelings of helplessness like being in front of a fast moving freight train and not having anyway to stop the impending crash and disaster. Add to this is some of the Trump supported primary winners and it feels like it is getting worse not better. I guess the bottom line is we want to do more than just cast a vote we want to scream from the roof tops “ we are not going to put up with this any more “. We want actions not words and we want someone to stand up and push back and hold people accountable. We want to match the same energy and force the Republican are using to overthrow Democracy. We want to fight just like the Ukrainian people are against an autocratic force taking over this country. We want to take a stand. The question is can we do it?
Indeed, we can do it! Think of the Women’s marches of 2016…think of the women (and men) who remember life w/o Roe…. My belief is that Alito could not have done those of us who love and want to preserve our democracy a bigger favor.
Marches are affirming and help create community and courage. The hard work of social change is going door to door and risk being shot or spat on. Been spat on before; my adult son just took out a large life insurance policy on me.
Hard truths for Mr. Hubbell to write but ones that must be said. This decision has caused me to revise my previous reluctance to embrace SCOTUS reform, in whatever form the political process will devise. This is a process that will, I believe, emerge in the next Congress as Democrats enlarge their present super-slim majorities. They will achieve that outcome if they are smart enough to run on a platform of (unspecified) Court reform.
I vow never vote for anyone who puts an R by their name ever again. It is time to smother the Republican Party out of existence. .No one is going to take away my rights.
For three years in law school i was taught to respect the Supreme Court. And for years after my 1972 graduation, I did. I began to lose respect for it when Clarence Thomas joined with the majority (despite his ethical conflict due to his wife's political activities) in a puzzling, aberative, illogical Bush v. Gore opinion, that assured the election of George Bush. Later, when the the Council for National Policy and the Federalist Society and the GOP colluded to pack the Courts with anti-abortion, pro-business, white-supremacist, anti-civil rights jurists (many with marginal and limited qualifications), I was appalled, and I could see the dots connecting, albeit at glacier speed. They were patiently playing a "long game." When Kavanaugh and Barrett lied during their hearings (like Clarence Thomas did) , and were not held accountable, I could see the glacier moving forward.
The short-hand description for American-style democracy was "majority rule, with minority rights." The Supreme Court once stood as the bulwark to protect rights of people; now, with this leaked decision, the GOP-appointed justices are announcing their intent to rob us of the many cherished rights that are necessary for a multi-race, multi-nationality, multi-gender, modern society to safely operate. It is the latest in GOP effort to keep power for white Christian men, regardless of the popular vote. Our motto, E pluribus unum, is now being torn apart.
Yes, and many of us who suspected there was a "long game" afoot sat meekly by, like frogs in the pot of water heating to boiling point. Is there time to jump out and save our democracy and freedoms from these maleficent originalists?
I can only quote from a letter to the editor of the Dallas Morning News, April 30, 2022, titled "Don't Get Too comfortable." "Stanford University researcher Deborah Gruenfeld observed that when power feelings are aroused in otherwise ordinary people, they start viewing others as objects. As we grow more comfortable with this objectification, our sense of empathy decreases. With these others' concerns and feelings less relevant, they turn into a means to an end for the powerful .
As I read her research, I felt a gnawing sense that politicians today are taking this phenomenon to an alarming extreme. Women along with their reproductive rights have been objectified. Ditto Black people, the poor, the homeless, immigrants and most recently the LGBT community.
The objects they have become no longer deserve consideration by the powerful except as a means to further cement their hold on power through further objectification, in turn accelerating the desensitization process. Just as this cycle erodes empathy, it increases the desire for more power. With empathy gone, consideration of impact on others no longer matters.
I'm one of those others, and I'm a little afraid of where this will lead for people like me. Maybe you're one of those others too. Even if you're not, I wouldn't get too comfortable.
This is a time when liberals must speak from our values. What I would say is this:
Some religions say that terminating a pregnancy is murder, as serious as killing a born person. My religion does not consider those as equal, and it does not consider abortion a sin. is. My religion tells me that it is a sin is to bring into the world a child I cannot care for well. My religious beliefs say that "pro-life" is not the single-minded protection of fetuses, but something far greater: stopping the pillaging and polluting and overpopulating of God's gift to us, the divine Earth on which we all depend.
Simply stated: You simply do not have the right to make other people live by your religion.
Judaism holds that the fetus is not a human being until the head has left the woman and God breathes life into it "as He did with Adam." The First Amendment guarantee against the State passing any law forbidding the practice of one's own religion--or no religion--was tossed aside along with precedent and privacy.
“The only path forward is the hard path—it is the one that the Constitution grants us: the ballot box. Even as the Court turns its back on the Constitution, we must embrace it ever more fiercely. The Constitution will endure, and its faithful servants will prevail.”
I add to this thought only the words, “no matter how hard the fight and no matter how long it takes.”
It’s been a mix of stomach churning and now crying. I can’t understand how our country allows 5 people to change 50-70 years of precedent, simply because they want to. Not the country, not the majority. It makes me sick that there are so many people hell bent on controlling others, especially women. Their legitimacy left a long time ago, but it is definitely gone now.
As hurt and depressed as I am, I do believe this will only harden the resolve of the 70% of the country that wants abortion legalized. The message that needs to be sent from Democrats and Independents, “what rights will they rip away next?”
I don’t understand why Roberts wants his legacy on the court to be all about destroying its legitimacy and ripping away 70 years of progress between voting rights, civil rights and abortion rights. That is all it will ever be remembered as. If they think they will be remembered as heroes, even if that’s what a tiny minority of this country wants, they really are beyond saving.
I just don’t understand it. The blowback will be immense because this is not what the country wants.
Yes, "May the Fourth be with you". . as we go forth!
Regarding Supreme Court Justice Alito's
Having three granddaughters, two 25 and one 19, I see this onslaught on women's personal freedom and on our Constitution as a clarion call for some activist bonding between grandmothers and granddaughters. A force to be reckoned with, for sure! I was encouraged by Gloria Steinem, who was interviewed on PBS's Amanpour & Company last night. She's a granny, too, and she's in this fight. Still beautiful and brave. So must we all be.
I have read your comments about the leaked opinion. I think the gay community, and others, are making a mistake in their reactions - and certainly lawyers know better. Let’s start with the foundation for Roe. It is the liberty clause of the 14th Amendment. So the question is whether overruling Roe necessarily puts other liberty-interest cases at risk. The draft opinion suggests “maybe.” But it is only a draft. Rather than arguing that Roe should stand - a losing argument - better to focus on the differences between abortion and other rights deriving from the liberty clause and hope those arguments sway the final opinion. By far the biggest difference is the rights of third parties. With abortion it is the rights of the fetus. With gay and inter-racial marriage and other liberty interest cases there are no substantial third party rights at issue. (Are you listening, Justice Thomas?) Perhaps gay adoption. But the distinction remains important, and leaders like you should focus on it.
Doug, your argument makes logical sense. But I don't think the reactionary majority cares about logic or consistency. And members of the LGBTQ community have no reason to trust anything they say, given their dissembling before the Judiciary Committee. I also think we should be careful in suggesting to the reactionary majority that their opinion will become more "acceptable" if we ensure that it cannot extend to other personal liberties. They may view that as "permission" to engage in a "trade" by setting the rights of women against LGBTQ people. I am not saying that it is what you are suggesting; I am saying that is what they may hear if LGBTQ people urge the majority to make that distinction.
Agreed. Once the "liberty" clause of the 14th Amendment AND precedent is tossed aside, all bets are off as to what else will soon disappear--but they will all be items on the Federalist Society's (headed by all white Christian males) and the cultural wish lists of Evangelicals/Catholics/Mormons under this SCOTUS.
Even before Alito's leaked draft, we knew the Supreme Court was a rogue institution, sans doute. Chief Justice Roberts had already made an ass of himself, while Justice Thomas and his right-wing Republican cronies in corruption succeeded in establishing the highest court in the land as an illegitimate arm of the Trump campaign to destroy democracy, sparking a smoldering rage among millions of Americans. I stand with Cathy Learoyd: "It is time to smother the Republican Party out of existence. No one is going to take away my rights." Especially a gang of dishonorable Supreme Court Justices who apparently lied during their confirmation hearings; especially a Justice who refuses to recuse himself from cases involving his wife in the face of evidence that she is an avowed supporter of the January 6 insurrection; and especially disingenuous politicians like Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator Murkowski (R-AK). I'm one of the 84% of Americans polled by Pew who still believe Justices should not mix politics with court decisions. It's clear now that Republican political operators are responsible for this crisis, one similar to what We the People have faced before. What president Franklin D. Roosevelt said in a speech at the Democratic convention in 1936 applies to the continuing Republican class war against the Constitution and the rights of women raging in America in this watershed moment of 2022 as well. Roosevelt spoke in the context of the Great Depression, but the fighting spirit of his words is apropos today: "It is not alone a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization," the president stated. "It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world."
Your conclusion is again the germane and essential part of today's newsletter and the first step has already been taken. It is absolutely necessary that Democrats and any rational Republicans who might still exist unite in supporting candidates who agree to codify the right to privacy and the sanctity of the individual that underlies the right to abortion and so many other rights of personal choice.
Other commenters have noted that such a right is inherent in the Declaration of Independence and it should long ago have been made part of our Constitution and the law of this land. It is the uncomfortable truth that the Court in 1973 created this right out of legal whole cloth and, to that extent, Justice Alito's draft decision is correct while being morally and philosophically wrong in it's impact. Proper resolution must necessarily come from the Congress and the several states in the form of an Amendment that cannot come too soon and for which it is nearly too late.
It is too late. Half the states are poised to outlaw abortion; they certainly won't ratify an Amendment that give women equal rights as men (like the ERA, first proposed in 1923).
You are probably correct, but if we don't fight, we'll certainly lose, probably more than the half of the states you mention and, almost certainly, more than a woman's right to choose abortion.
We will fight them in the marches, we will fight them at the polls, we will fight them in the Statehouses, and in the halls of the Capitol. We will never give up.
What "rights" are more deeply enshrined in this nation's soul than those of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? We speak too often of the Constitution, too little of the Declaration, the soul of The United States. The pursuit of happiness, or individual fulfillment is anathema to the parochial, regressive Catholic mindsets of the reactionary justices. This is fundamentally a replay of organized religion's historic reaction to the secular promise of the Founders embedded in The Declaration. Freedom of religion for the individual simply isn't enough for the grasping nature of the non-spiritual. Their God is mean and heavy-handed.
Not just the Catholics. Evangelicals created a Christianity that differs from the rest of the world's, as did the Mormons. All 3 of these religions, along with some sects of Islam, are lined up in favor of Alioto's written draft. America is poised to become #14 in the list of 13 other nations in the world that make abortion illegal, separating it from the JudeoChristian world as practiced elsewhere. The 45th President called most of the 13 sh**thole countries.
Thanks for commenting. It's no accident that the reactionary justices are all parochially-educated Catholics. Something about that religious upbringing suits the algorithm of the Koch-sponsored Federalist Society's wish list for the ideal judicial stooge: arrogance, lack of empathy, controlling, willingness to lie for a "higher" purpose (also beneficial to an Inquisitor). Perhaps the Protestant evangelicals aren't sufficiently studious enough to make it to the questionably prestigious Harvard Law School, and Mormonism still scares people. Why a religion that feeds on its young does not is beyond me.
It's no accident the anti-abortion justices are Catholic, but so is Sonia Sotomayor. The head of the Federalist Society, son of the Founder of the National Review Eugene B. Mayer, is not, I believe. What I've read is that he wants the US to return to being a Christian country, in addition to the "white, men of property" in the "originalism" of the Constitution.
The Mercers--who funded Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway to run Trump's 2016 campaign--and paid for Cambridge Analytica to be brought to the US are among its biggest contributors. Surprisingly, Google is a contributor also -- I wonder if its employees know that. I've also read there is a great deal of dark money, which would not surprise me at all.
I appreciate your resolve, and I appreciate the response you left for me last time. I'd appreciate if you responded again.
Today my parents were watching a nature documentary narrated by Obama. They remarked how they miss having him as president and how Trump ruined this country with his judges.
I miss the way things used to be. Back when I didn't watch the news. Back when Obama was president and I could be proud of my country. Back when I woke up and did fun things with my friends without worrying about current events. Back when our rights as human beings were guaranteed and I didn't spend all day obsessively looking at the news to make sure my safety as a gay person is safe. If they overrule Lawrence V Texas, I could be sent to prison like the Jews were in Hitler's time. So I feel like I have to watch for any indication that I have to flee the country. I feel threatened, so I spend all day doomscrolling hoping for any sign of hope for the future. Every article feels like doom and gloom.
I feel trapped in what feels like a right wing country where regular people are powerless to the billionaires, Christians, and brainwashed masses. I feel like I'm developing depression and helplessness. The idea that I can never go back to the way life used to be and that I'm stuck watching the slow motion collapse of our country makes life feel like a chore to get through. I can't even take pleasure in the simple things, knowing that everything I value and principle is uncertain. I have been on the verge of tears all day thinking about how Republicans could make it impossible for Democrats to win and I'll spend the rest of my life hiding in fear.
I don't know how to cope with this all. I'm seeing another therapist next week. I can't take this despair anymore. I know other people are able to enjoy their lives despite their worries, but every time I try to enjoy life, I think about the dark future that is coming and I feel depressed. It feels like I have a terminal illness. I hope my therapist can help, and I hope that someday this country learns to be kind again.
Hi, PD. I feel qualified only to talk about politics, and then only as an amateur observer. Please continue to talk with your therapist, family, and friends about your feelings of depression and despair.
On the political front, I think we have to acknowledge that the majority of Americans share your feelings, but also feel a new sense of urgency to take back our democracy. Yes, we are in a challenging time, but we have faced worse challenges during out lifetimes and survived and thrived. However bad things are now, they are not as bad as the turbulent 60s, or the Jim Crow era, or that time ten years ago when many states had laws criminalizing relationships between LGBTQ people. We have made immense progress. If the only thing we focus on is what is being lost in the short term, we will understandably feel bad. But that retrograde action must be measured against the immense progress of the last 50 years. Don't lose hope. WE will win. It is simply a matter of time.
I completely agree! I don’t think they realize how much this will push the other side to fight back. It won’t work. It never will and yet they keep trying anyway, which is the part I don’t get. It’s the same with voting rights. They seem to think that’s their ticket to win, but it will only have the opposite effect. We have to continue looking long term and not get too disappointed about the temporary set backs. This opinion is incredibly unpopular and they will learn that. I won’t stop until they do!
I have to agree with you, Robert, but I do empathize with P D and the angst and depression of a coordinated minority of people succeeding in disabling established rights in health choices and voting rights. I hate hearing about "swing states" and their utmost importance and influence on federal elections. I hate hearing the lies, lies, lies that come out of right wing conservative/MAGA candidates' mouths with the sole goal of frightening and angering their supporters. Stories like CRT that doesn't exist that is going to hurt little white children's feelings. Be honest. It's any discussion of true history of racial inequities and dominance by the white male. The evangelical Christians can't even read their Bible correctly when it defines life beginning upon the first breath. They focus on interpreting life begins with the first electrical spark we are able to perceive around 6 weeks. A pregnancy involves a woman and a zygote or fetus and since it is medical and science, things can go wrong, and bringing a child into certain circumstance would ruin both human's lives. Governmental involvement in individual decisions is just wrong. I could go on, but this gaslighting by some very ignorant and power-seeking white men is extremely tiring. I understand because I'm also tired.
PD, My psychiatrist advised me not to watch the news for more than a limited time. At the time I was depressed over the war in Ukraine and really angry that we were not giving them the weapons and warplanes that they need so desperately.
Please stop watching the news so much. And for heaven’s sakes consider moving out of Texas. My nephew is gay and he and his partner enjoy a great life in Seattle, Washington.
I am concerned about your safety. Please don’t do anything foolish. You do have options. Remember that. You have not mentioned your age. If you are young and still living with your parents, ask them if they would consider moving to a more welcoming and inclusive state and city.
Please work through this with your parents and your therapist and a good psychiatrist. Be safe.
Consider moving to Vermont. In November we're very likely to pass the nation's first state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to reproductive freedom. Unfortunately it's tough to find/buy a place to live due to the tight housing market.
This does really have damaging effects on us all. I noticed I was having palpitations and an irregular heart rate last night. I knew I should have checked my BP, but I was afraid to see what it was. (My heart rate is back to normal this morning) Stress hormones are extremely harmful. We have to take care of ourselves and I am relieved to hear you are seeing a therapist. Next week sounds like a bit of a wait for how you are feeling. Please follow Virginia's advice and try to stay away from the TV - or at least switch to something like that which your parents were watching. Please be well, PD. Know that many are here with you in this fight. I think there are more of us on the side of human decency than the MSM will project, it just doesn't get them the ratings. Sounds like you have some wonderful parents. Thank you for reaching out and please stay well.
I watch/listen to news in foreign languages that I understand. it helps me filter the bad news because I'm focusing on understanding what I'm hearing. I also write postcards for Swing Left etc. while I'm listening, so at least I'm doing something positive while the news comes in.
We were also watching the nature documentary narrated by Obama and it is terrific and available on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/barack-obama-narrates-netflix-series-our-great-national-parks
Thanks. I hadn't known about this series. I've added it to my Netflix List.
I'm so sorry you're going through this rough time. I felt depressed during the pandemic when I didn't see people and all I heard on the news was the worst of humanity. But I can tell you there are more good people out there than bad--but those people are rarely on the news. I volunteer for different organizations and I meet the best people, true heroes who are saving lives and making the world a better place. I also meet people in my community and most of them are kind and caring. The news is a business and scaring you is how they keep your attention and make a profit. It skews your view of the world in a deleterious way. Volunteering will make your day and soothe your soul. I wish you all the best.
The only way to overcome and eliminate the despair is to take action and do something. It will, are you feel better
I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
Edward Everett Hale. This must be everyone's new mantra.....
I'm deeply saddened by the truth of your post. I am a straight, older white woman and share your despair. As a long-time activist, marcher and advocate for yours and other's rights, I read the news with increasing confusion about what action will actually help. When a reactionary, fundamentalist minority controls the government it seems as if our nation is crashing around me. The gay friends that I hold dear are in danger. My Black and Brown friends are in danger. My friends in interracial marriages are in danger. Please know that you have a huge well of support out here, and we aren't going to let this reactionary mob have their sway, Alito and his ilk be damned!
"...where regular people are powerless to the billionaires, Christians, and brainwashed masses..." Regular people, ok, brainwashed masses, absolutely, but Christian doesn't cut it at all. None of these folks have the most remote resemblance to the Jewish Jesus of Nazareth. We must stop referring to them using their preferred and grossly inaccurate descriptor. They and not Christian, not now, not before, not ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think of these supposed "Christians" as the American Christian Taliban. They want a theocracy like Gilead in The Handmaid's Tale.
Agree. Some of them know they are using the name, and still others are misguided, and still others simply believe they are right and they can find places in the Bible that support their beliefs.
Definitely need a new name. This is a NEW religion on whatever basis you define religion. And it is not just a "denomination" like traditional Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. (which also have their divisions....) Also: although the Southern Baptist Convention (a conglomeration of independent congreagations, actually) is a major player, many of these evangelical churches (note the number preaching prosperity gospel (horrors!)) are independent megachurch (which may have associated congregations in other locations). A new phenomenon in American Religion. And the whole religious aspect of the 'new politics' has been sadly under-analyzed and even under-reported by the MSM. Note the more or less religious/moral language, rather than legal, that Alito uses in his badly constructed opinion. (THANK YOU ROBERT for pointing out so much about the opinion)
I looked up Israel's Law of Return when Trump was elected. Just in case.
I struggled with depression and pillar to post decisions that caused more pain for many years. My own investigations into mental health, and if there was any hope for people like me, eventually included my tripping over this: https://www.landmarkworldwide.com And as people look into what it is, I admit I did all the basic courses and then some and still didn't get yet that I was still not "getting it" regarding how my own thinking and viewpoints were not yet "there" for my full recovery. We can lead a horse to water, but something has to happen within us before we can drop our defenses enough to ... step over whatever it was that held back our mental and emotional health. The courses are online now, virtual, so you can find how to get started anywhere because you can participate in the courses from home. It worked for me, but I had a stubbornness I didn't see that meant my Success Story was definitely not an overnight one:-) And this is not the only way, just one possible way, to find your own peace and ability to live through all of this, P D.
The actual leak of the draft opinion is indeed not concerning as compared to the actual intentions of this SCOTUS in eroding a woman's rights- except for the fact that Chief Justice Roberts has called for an investigation of this, all the while refusing to investigate a sitting Justice's wife as she plotted to overthrow the government. We must stay fully engaged in this fight. We have a lot of work to do.
It really is amazing that Ginni Thomas's texts and speeches in support of a treasonous insurrection are not getting more air-time. Ultimately ----> being seen as so unethical that Thomas resigns.
If Collins is so incensed about Kavanaugh and Gorsuch's lies, will she lead a move to impeach them? I doubt it. Perhaps it's the voters of Maine who should be incensed at Collins' hubristic naiveté.
Yes, but will they? Please keep in mind that Collins has given full endorsement to Paul LePage who is running for governor again. His two terms of political terrorism were not enough to satisfy his sick ego. It is rumored that LePage enrolled TFG in his "boot camp for insane politics" several years ago. He was an early practitioner of "flooding the zone with shit". Openly bigoted and dismissive of folks in need. He is like Rand Paul on steroids.
Collins is a wolf in sheep's clothing. NEVER trust her.
NEVER
Mainer here. Many of us worked hard to defeat her and remain incensed. We are working now to keep Governor Janet Mills in office. I’ve looked into the eyes of Senator Collins and I can tell you there was nothing naive there - just calculating…
It was extremely hard to watch her last night believing these two “judges” would support Roe v Wade. Shame on her.
Anger is motivation, particularly when deceived. Maybe the "honorable" justices should start to worry that they've lied to the wrong person. I can only hope.
Collins has expressed her "concern." There is a funny-not-funny YouTube video of Susan Collins expressing her "concern."
I have over the past several days spoken to many people to conduct my own limited reality check where people are. My conclusions are that for the most part people are angry, pissed off, frustrated and scared all rolled into one. The “ feelings” seem to be that our basic institutions are under attack especially the Supreme Court between Mitch McConnell, The Clarence Thomas and wife activity and of course the Roe vs Wade debacle. The crux of the discussions seem to be the feelings of helplessness like being in front of a fast moving freight train and not having anyway to stop the impending crash and disaster. Add to this is some of the Trump supported primary winners and it feels like it is getting worse not better. I guess the bottom line is we want to do more than just cast a vote we want to scream from the roof tops “ we are not going to put up with this any more “. We want actions not words and we want someone to stand up and push back and hold people accountable. We want to match the same energy and force the Republican are using to overthrow Democracy. We want to fight just like the Ukrainian people are against an autocratic force taking over this country. We want to take a stand. The question is can we do it?
Indeed, we can do it! Think of the Women’s marches of 2016…think of the women (and men) who remember life w/o Roe…. My belief is that Alito could not have done those of us who love and want to preserve our democracy a bigger favor.
Marches are affirming and help create community and courage. The hard work of social change is going door to door and risk being shot or spat on. Been spat on before; my adult son just took out a large life insurance policy on me.
Hard truths for Mr. Hubbell to write but ones that must be said. This decision has caused me to revise my previous reluctance to embrace SCOTUS reform, in whatever form the political process will devise. This is a process that will, I believe, emerge in the next Congress as Democrats enlarge their present super-slim majorities. They will achieve that outcome if they are smart enough to run on a platform of (unspecified) Court reform.
I vow never vote for anyone who puts an R by their name ever again. It is time to smother the Republican Party out of existence. .No one is going to take away my rights.
Hopefully other people in Texas feel that way also.
At least one does...
For three years in law school i was taught to respect the Supreme Court. And for years after my 1972 graduation, I did. I began to lose respect for it when Clarence Thomas joined with the majority (despite his ethical conflict due to his wife's political activities) in a puzzling, aberative, illogical Bush v. Gore opinion, that assured the election of George Bush. Later, when the the Council for National Policy and the Federalist Society and the GOP colluded to pack the Courts with anti-abortion, pro-business, white-supremacist, anti-civil rights jurists (many with marginal and limited qualifications), I was appalled, and I could see the dots connecting, albeit at glacier speed. They were patiently playing a "long game." When Kavanaugh and Barrett lied during their hearings (like Clarence Thomas did) , and were not held accountable, I could see the glacier moving forward.
The short-hand description for American-style democracy was "majority rule, with minority rights." The Supreme Court once stood as the bulwark to protect rights of people; now, with this leaked decision, the GOP-appointed justices are announcing their intent to rob us of the many cherished rights that are necessary for a multi-race, multi-nationality, multi-gender, modern society to safely operate. It is the latest in GOP effort to keep power for white Christian men, regardless of the popular vote. Our motto, E pluribus unum, is now being torn apart.
Yes, and many of us who suspected there was a "long game" afoot sat meekly by, like frogs in the pot of water heating to boiling point. Is there time to jump out and save our democracy and freedoms from these maleficent originalists?
I can only quote from a letter to the editor of the Dallas Morning News, April 30, 2022, titled "Don't Get Too comfortable." "Stanford University researcher Deborah Gruenfeld observed that when power feelings are aroused in otherwise ordinary people, they start viewing others as objects. As we grow more comfortable with this objectification, our sense of empathy decreases. With these others' concerns and feelings less relevant, they turn into a means to an end for the powerful .
As I read her research, I felt a gnawing sense that politicians today are taking this phenomenon to an alarming extreme. Women along with their reproductive rights have been objectified. Ditto Black people, the poor, the homeless, immigrants and most recently the LGBT community.
The objects they have become no longer deserve consideration by the powerful except as a means to further cement their hold on power through further objectification, in turn accelerating the desensitization process. Just as this cycle erodes empathy, it increases the desire for more power. With empathy gone, consideration of impact on others no longer matters.
I'm one of those others, and I'm a little afraid of where this will lead for people like me. Maybe you're one of those others too. Even if you're not, I wouldn't get too comfortable.
Kevin W. Jones, Northeast Dallas"
I couldn't agree more...
This is a time when liberals must speak from our values. What I would say is this:
Some religions say that terminating a pregnancy is murder, as serious as killing a born person. My religion does not consider those as equal, and it does not consider abortion a sin. is. My religion tells me that it is a sin is to bring into the world a child I cannot care for well. My religious beliefs say that "pro-life" is not the single-minded protection of fetuses, but something far greater: stopping the pillaging and polluting and overpopulating of God's gift to us, the divine Earth on which we all depend.
Simply stated: You simply do not have the right to make other people live by your religion.
"You simply do not have the right to make other people live by your religion."--a point made emphatically by the Framers of the Constitution!
Judaism holds that the fetus is not a human being until the head has left the woman and God breathes life into it "as He did with Adam." The First Amendment guarantee against the State passing any law forbidding the practice of one's own religion--or no religion--was tossed aside along with precedent and privacy.
“The only path forward is the hard path—it is the one that the Constitution grants us: the ballot box. Even as the Court turns its back on the Constitution, we must embrace it ever more fiercely. The Constitution will endure, and its faithful servants will prevail.”
I add to this thought only the words, “no matter how hard the fight and no matter how long it takes.”
It’s been a mix of stomach churning and now crying. I can’t understand how our country allows 5 people to change 50-70 years of precedent, simply because they want to. Not the country, not the majority. It makes me sick that there are so many people hell bent on controlling others, especially women. Their legitimacy left a long time ago, but it is definitely gone now.
As hurt and depressed as I am, I do believe this will only harden the resolve of the 70% of the country that wants abortion legalized. The message that needs to be sent from Democrats and Independents, “what rights will they rip away next?”
I don’t understand why Roberts wants his legacy on the court to be all about destroying its legitimacy and ripping away 70 years of progress between voting rights, civil rights and abortion rights. That is all it will ever be remembered as. If they think they will be remembered as heroes, even if that’s what a tiny minority of this country wants, they really are beyond saving.
I just don’t understand it. The blowback will be immense because this is not what the country wants.
Yes, "May the Fourth be with you". . as we go forth!
Regarding Supreme Court Justice Alito's
Having three granddaughters, two 25 and one 19, I see this onslaught on women's personal freedom and on our Constitution as a clarion call for some activist bonding between grandmothers and granddaughters. A force to be reckoned with, for sure! I was encouraged by Gloria Steinem, who was interviewed on PBS's Amanpour & Company last night. She's a granny, too, and she's in this fight. Still beautiful and brave. So must we all be.
Marcia, I had a good laugh with a friend today. She ‘s a physician/Stars Wars fan. May the force be with the fallopian-tubed !
I have read your comments about the leaked opinion. I think the gay community, and others, are making a mistake in their reactions - and certainly lawyers know better. Let’s start with the foundation for Roe. It is the liberty clause of the 14th Amendment. So the question is whether overruling Roe necessarily puts other liberty-interest cases at risk. The draft opinion suggests “maybe.” But it is only a draft. Rather than arguing that Roe should stand - a losing argument - better to focus on the differences between abortion and other rights deriving from the liberty clause and hope those arguments sway the final opinion. By far the biggest difference is the rights of third parties. With abortion it is the rights of the fetus. With gay and inter-racial marriage and other liberty interest cases there are no substantial third party rights at issue. (Are you listening, Justice Thomas?) Perhaps gay adoption. But the distinction remains important, and leaders like you should focus on it.
Doug, your argument makes logical sense. But I don't think the reactionary majority cares about logic or consistency. And members of the LGBTQ community have no reason to trust anything they say, given their dissembling before the Judiciary Committee. I also think we should be careful in suggesting to the reactionary majority that their opinion will become more "acceptable" if we ensure that it cannot extend to other personal liberties. They may view that as "permission" to engage in a "trade" by setting the rights of women against LGBTQ people. I am not saying that it is what you are suggesting; I am saying that is what they may hear if LGBTQ people urge the majority to make that distinction.
Agreed. Once the "liberty" clause of the 14th Amendment AND precedent is tossed aside, all bets are off as to what else will soon disappear--but they will all be items on the Federalist Society's (headed by all white Christian males) and the cultural wish lists of Evangelicals/Catholics/Mormons under this SCOTUS.
What’s the alternative other than hand-wringing about Roe itself?
Even before Alito's leaked draft, we knew the Supreme Court was a rogue institution, sans doute. Chief Justice Roberts had already made an ass of himself, while Justice Thomas and his right-wing Republican cronies in corruption succeeded in establishing the highest court in the land as an illegitimate arm of the Trump campaign to destroy democracy, sparking a smoldering rage among millions of Americans. I stand with Cathy Learoyd: "It is time to smother the Republican Party out of existence. No one is going to take away my rights." Especially a gang of dishonorable Supreme Court Justices who apparently lied during their confirmation hearings; especially a Justice who refuses to recuse himself from cases involving his wife in the face of evidence that she is an avowed supporter of the January 6 insurrection; and especially disingenuous politicians like Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and Senator Murkowski (R-AK). I'm one of the 84% of Americans polled by Pew who still believe Justices should not mix politics with court decisions. It's clear now that Republican political operators are responsible for this crisis, one similar to what We the People have faced before. What president Franklin D. Roosevelt said in a speech at the Democratic convention in 1936 applies to the continuing Republican class war against the Constitution and the rights of women raging in America in this watershed moment of 2022 as well. Roosevelt spoke in the context of the Great Depression, but the fighting spirit of his words is apropos today: "It is not alone a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization," the president stated. "It is more than that; it is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world."
...and let's not forget Roberts' decisions that voting rights don't matter (Shelby v. Holder) and money/corporations are people (Citizens United).
Your conclusion is again the germane and essential part of today's newsletter and the first step has already been taken. It is absolutely necessary that Democrats and any rational Republicans who might still exist unite in supporting candidates who agree to codify the right to privacy and the sanctity of the individual that underlies the right to abortion and so many other rights of personal choice.
Other commenters have noted that such a right is inherent in the Declaration of Independence and it should long ago have been made part of our Constitution and the law of this land. It is the uncomfortable truth that the Court in 1973 created this right out of legal whole cloth and, to that extent, Justice Alito's draft decision is correct while being morally and philosophically wrong in it's impact. Proper resolution must necessarily come from the Congress and the several states in the form of an Amendment that cannot come too soon and for which it is nearly too late.
It is too late. Half the states are poised to outlaw abortion; they certainly won't ratify an Amendment that give women equal rights as men (like the ERA, first proposed in 1923).
You are probably correct, but if we don't fight, we'll certainly lose, probably more than the half of the states you mention and, almost certainly, more than a woman's right to choose abortion.
We will fight them in the marches, we will fight them at the polls, we will fight them in the Statehouses, and in the halls of the Capitol. We will never give up.
Exactly.
What "rights" are more deeply enshrined in this nation's soul than those of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? We speak too often of the Constitution, too little of the Declaration, the soul of The United States. The pursuit of happiness, or individual fulfillment is anathema to the parochial, regressive Catholic mindsets of the reactionary justices. This is fundamentally a replay of organized religion's historic reaction to the secular promise of the Founders embedded in The Declaration. Freedom of religion for the individual simply isn't enough for the grasping nature of the non-spiritual. Their God is mean and heavy-handed.
Not just the Catholics. Evangelicals created a Christianity that differs from the rest of the world's, as did the Mormons. All 3 of these religions, along with some sects of Islam, are lined up in favor of Alioto's written draft. America is poised to become #14 in the list of 13 other nations in the world that make abortion illegal, separating it from the JudeoChristian world as practiced elsewhere. The 45th President called most of the 13 sh**thole countries.
Thanks for commenting. It's no accident that the reactionary justices are all parochially-educated Catholics. Something about that religious upbringing suits the algorithm of the Koch-sponsored Federalist Society's wish list for the ideal judicial stooge: arrogance, lack of empathy, controlling, willingness to lie for a "higher" purpose (also beneficial to an Inquisitor). Perhaps the Protestant evangelicals aren't sufficiently studious enough to make it to the questionably prestigious Harvard Law School, and Mormonism still scares people. Why a religion that feeds on its young does not is beyond me.
It's no accident the anti-abortion justices are Catholic, but so is Sonia Sotomayor. The head of the Federalist Society, son of the Founder of the National Review Eugene B. Mayer, is not, I believe. What I've read is that he wants the US to return to being a Christian country, in addition to the "white, men of property" in the "originalism" of the Constitution.
The Mercers--who funded Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway to run Trump's 2016 campaign--and paid for Cambridge Analytica to be brought to the US are among its biggest contributors. Surprisingly, Google is a contributor also -- I wonder if its employees know that. I've also read there is a great deal of dark money, which would not surprise me at all.