Jun 28, 2022·edited Jun 28, 2022Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
Wow! Any one of several points in tonight's edition would make it among your best, Robert. 1. Thank you for your candor about the difficulty men have comprehending living life as a woman in our society -- a life of second citizenship which is "rooted in white patriarchal history" -- and so many times dismissing the female perspective. 2. I must admit a bit of shock that Gorsuch could so blatantly misrepresent the truth and that Sotomayor called him on it. That was anything but private prayer. As I read that section my mind went to "follow the money" something stinks here. Sure feels like they - Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch - are not showing "good behavior" so should be impeached although impeachment is as impotent and useless as a limp penis. 3. Yes, we are in the Post-Roe world now and I'm feeling we need a Seneca Falls II to solidify the goals of a second women's movement that hopefully not take 72 years to get to the 19th amendment. Actually this time it has to be more than a women's movement but one with Pride in all its manifestations. The big mistake in the 19th Century Woman's Suffrage movement was not embracing all women including women of color. This movement needs to rewrite all forms of slavery out of the Constitution once and forever embracing all of the People and pulling up by the roots a past history that must be no more. No more dog whistles of white supremacy. 4. We can be thankful for the refreshing presentations by the J6 committee who set aside the arcane "rooted in history" Senate rules and addressed the American People. 5. If my own feelings are any indicator, this is a rebellion where The People United Shall Never Be Defeated, as the Chilean revolutionary song so stirs in me. We, the People, all of us this time for Truth, Justice and the American Way. get out your capes everyone, we're going to the rescue of democracy.
I need to write an important comment on the impact of Dobbs. It is SHAME. When women and girls are shamed by their urgent need for this procedure, they do desperate things rather than seek help. My mother was a doctor’s daughter, but her shame would not permit her to seek help. So her 4 middle class children were left motherless.
But the thing that irks me isn’t the difficulty faced by ashamed women, but by poor, already struggling women further burdened by shame and stripped even of their right to complain. This court is intent on creating an underclass. We can only translate our sorrow to activism. After supporting the Center For Reproductive Rights for 40 years, I am changing my sights from the courts to the statehouses.
I agree with another Texas Cathy (below) who suggests this is one of your best letters, Robert!
I come from a long line of Republicans, though not the crazy kind. My 94 year old mother asked me yesterday about my thoughts re this abortion situation, after I share how monumental this was in terms of the impact, including adding even more stress for one couple in our family who is facing very difficult fertility issues.
Mom and I recounted a very low point in her life, in her early 40's, when raising four children, one of whom had crippling cognitive and emotional disabilities, that she was experiencing what we then called a "nervous breakdown." I asked what how she and Dad might have handled the news of a 5th pregnancy. She teared up and couldn't speak. I told her she needn't come to a conclusion, we know it would have broken her, and we know that Mom, Dad, her wonderful OB/GYN, and her wonderful minister would have worked through whatever. In reality, she had a tubal litigation in the hospital after her youngest child was born, and she recalled telling our minister that when he came to visit her in the hospital, and he understood. (Perhaps even a tubal was frowned upon back then?)
The point is, often religious folks say God won't give you anything you can't handle. That's just not true.
Thank you, Robert, for your humble recognition of women's lived experience as necessary for any discussion of the right to choose an abortion. In that same vein, I implore people to refrain from using the customary phrase of "enjoying the right" to abortion. Facing that decision is fraught with despair, fear, anguish, guilt, and pain--and the word "enjoy," while usually used out of habit and not malintent, is an utter insult to reality.
The most recent decisions authored by Scalia and Gorsuch, and the beyond-unethical conduct of Thomas, have now provided empirical evidence of the incompetence of at least 3 justices to serve as judges working in any capacity in the judicial system. Their demonstrated politicized bias, deceptions, power plays, disdain for the public they are supposed to serve, and misrepresentation of facts supports the growing perception that the current Supreme Court is illegitimate, hence they are the
Thank you again, Robert. "If you fail to do that, you have no understanding of the holding in Dobbs, and, like Alito, you invalidate everything else you have to say on the subject."
The fact remains that men can't get pregnant or give birth. Nor do they suffer from the daily curse of misogyny. And without that lived experience, they can't understand.
I have been in pretty severe depression since the Dobbs decision came down, and I know that millions of women like me feel the same. We're in flat despair for ourselves, our daughters, our sisters and all women. For me, this despair comes despite being on vacation and being on antidepressants. Things were bad enough with the political capture by the right wing, mass shootings and environmental destruction; for millions of women, the national situation now feels utterly catastrophic. This is indeed our 9/11.
The thing most men can't comprehend is that the Dobbs decision, written by misogynists, is literally a "body blow" to women. I'm 67 and came to sexual maturity not long after the Pill freed us from sexual slavery. All my life I've been handled, teased, hurt, dismissed, overlooked and objectified by men. I've had to fight for every position I've held and to get half the respect men do and less pay for the same work. So the Dobbs decision isn't just about the women losing the right to decide how to manage our bodies and their lives; it's about trying to keep from going under in the sucky, mucky river of misogyny.
Thank you for another excellent edition! I'm so distraught that I just throw myself further into activism and GOTV.
To that end I would like to invite you, Mr. Hubbell, and everyone on the list to attend Flip the Vote's Open House Party tomorrow (Tues. the 28th) from 6-7 PDT. Jessica mentioned it in her newsletter today. I've hosted house parties for FtV and can attest to the important work they do. Before you make any campaign contributions, please come learn about the most effective way to invest in Democracy, fight voter suppression and build political power in marginalized communities.
In May, 2009, Arizonans of all political stripes were horrified at the news of the State Treasurer's wife having died from complications in childbirth. Their newborn son survived the delivery, only to die two days later. There are no words that can ever express the sense of loss that such tragedy visits upon, not only the surviving spouse, but all in a community who are authentically caring people. THAT is what happens, every time a human being undergoes the premature or unexpected loss of a loved one. THAT is why it is no business of the government, or of the populace at large, to be dictating to a single human being what should be done, regarding that person's body.
It will not be just women (a female, 18 or older) who will be forced to give birth— it will also be girls—some as young as 10, 11, and 12, and far under the age of consent. The grotesqueness, horror and violence of a such a young body being forced through pregnancy and birth roils my stomach and fractures my mind.
A. couple of cavils, Robert. First, and not important, we need to add “only” four, not five new justices—but if we can get five, I’ll take it. Then, while we (especially us males) need to focus intently on what Dobbs means for women, we err if we pay attention only to that, for the forces behind Dobbs are not intent only on controlling women’s most personal decisions. They want to control the lives of all who are not among their idea of the elect. Clarence Thomas gave that away (although it has really been clear for many years) in calling for the re-examination—read reversal—of many other precedents protecting human rights.
I agree with Cathy that this edition is one of your best! I stand in my kitchen, listening to you with tears, so touched with your deep understanding, and eloquent expression, of what is happening to women in this country! Your integrating other recent dishonorable actions taken by the Supreme Court, to explain the profound impact on our country, is brilliant! And your analogy to 9-11 - wow - exactly right!! My respect for you is even stronger (didn't think that was possible)! Thank you Robert!
The Democrats' platform is supported by a majority of the electorate. We should not be ashamed of our views. Our bumper sticker should be "We will restore women's rights!"
We should boldly say, "Democrats support a woman's right to make decisions about her own body. Republicans should not control a woman's uterus."
If the unethical Clarence Thomas (spouse of insurrectionist Ginni Thomas) and his right-wing SCOTUS colleagues (at least two of them lied under oath at their hearings) had their way, they would invite the states to outlaw contraceptives and "morning after pills" and would require these outcomes:
A freshman woman who gets gang-raped at a fraternity house would now have to carry the child to term.
a female professor who is raped at night while walking on campus, would have to carry the child to term.
A 15 year-old-girl impregnated by a Roman Catholic priest would have to carry the child to term.
Middle school girls would have to carry their childnre to term.
A 13-year-old girl impregnated by her drunk step-father would have to carry the child to term.
A mentally ill woman impregnated by the hospital orderly would have to carry the child to term.
An incarcerated female who is impregnated by the jail guard, would have to carry the child to term.
Women refugees who were raped and impregnated while they were escaping the horrors of war and famine, who arrive in our country with nothing, would have to carry the child to term, in a country that denies them medical assistance and child care.
Prostitutes will have to carry children to term.
A 50-year old mother of 5 children, impregnated by her husband, would be forced to carry the child to term, even if she has heart disease, even if she has dementia, even if her husband died in a car accident soon after she became pregnant.
Note: No Republican talks about any responsibility on the part of the impregnators.
All of this would be occurring in our country, which, unlike the other industrial countries (which we think we are better than),
I totally agree with you, but ask that we also think if how the abortion decision changes the lives of men who will now become fathers and parents who will become grandparents. It will also have mostly negative ramifications and expenses to society. And it is important to be clear that it is mostly poor and very young women who will be impacted most.
As with LBGTQ issues, when this hits close to home there will be plenty of people whose eyes will be opened and will change their minds and realize that it is much better all around to let women, along with those doctors and family they trust, make decisions regarding their lives.
Thank you Robert. FYI. Eastman's Apple 12 Pro has been sent to a DOJ forensic Lab in Northern Virginia & is subject to further Orders from a Court of competent Jurisdiction. There will be no biometric barriers to accessing this rich Data source.
Biden says he has women's backs and will do everything possible, but he also said he won't consider expanding the Supreme Court. Instead he uses this occasion to urge everyone to vote Democratic in the midterms. Meanwhile, I am still getting endless emails and text messages from DNC to donate due to the awful latest thing the GOP is doing. if only the Democrats stood for something on their own, if they could offer some hope of what they are going to do, what their principles are. The incentive to donate money to the DNC so they can waste it on more annoying emails is low. SCOTUS is on a roll, as you so well describe, and they will continue to dismantle the constitution+amendments+legal precedents. There is nothing slow or gradual about this. The Constitution was written when the US was a slave-owning state, and that seems to be where we are headed now in those "deeply rooted" traditions as if giving birth were not deeply rooted. OMG. What are your thoughts on the two paths, both of which seems unlikely in the current political climate: impeach the lying judges (Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Thomas qualify); or enlarge the Supreme Court. Everyone's rights are at stake, as you articulate so well. We are living in a fascist state where the rule of law is a political weapon to enact minority rule by white, misogynistic Christian Supremacists.
Forcing women to give birth to unwanted children will surely increase the number of disturbed adolescents and teens, and we know where that leads. Because the inability to get an abortion will fall hardest on the poor, and because the poor are more weighted with people of color, we're headed towards greater systemic consequences of this decision 15 years from now. Have you read the Mark Twain short story about how man is the lowest form of animal?
Wow! Any one of several points in tonight's edition would make it among your best, Robert. 1. Thank you for your candor about the difficulty men have comprehending living life as a woman in our society -- a life of second citizenship which is "rooted in white patriarchal history" -- and so many times dismissing the female perspective. 2. I must admit a bit of shock that Gorsuch could so blatantly misrepresent the truth and that Sotomayor called him on it. That was anything but private prayer. As I read that section my mind went to "follow the money" something stinks here. Sure feels like they - Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch - are not showing "good behavior" so should be impeached although impeachment is as impotent and useless as a limp penis. 3. Yes, we are in the Post-Roe world now and I'm feeling we need a Seneca Falls II to solidify the goals of a second women's movement that hopefully not take 72 years to get to the 19th amendment. Actually this time it has to be more than a women's movement but one with Pride in all its manifestations. The big mistake in the 19th Century Woman's Suffrage movement was not embracing all women including women of color. This movement needs to rewrite all forms of slavery out of the Constitution once and forever embracing all of the People and pulling up by the roots a past history that must be no more. No more dog whistles of white supremacy. 4. We can be thankful for the refreshing presentations by the J6 committee who set aside the arcane "rooted in history" Senate rules and addressed the American People. 5. If my own feelings are any indicator, this is a rebellion where The People United Shall Never Be Defeated, as the Chilean revolutionary song so stirs in me. We, the People, all of us this time for Truth, Justice and the American Way. get out your capes everyone, we're going to the rescue of democracy.
I need to write an important comment on the impact of Dobbs. It is SHAME. When women and girls are shamed by their urgent need for this procedure, they do desperate things rather than seek help. My mother was a doctor’s daughter, but her shame would not permit her to seek help. So her 4 middle class children were left motherless.
But the thing that irks me isn’t the difficulty faced by ashamed women, but by poor, already struggling women further burdened by shame and stripped even of their right to complain. This court is intent on creating an underclass. We can only translate our sorrow to activism. After supporting the Center For Reproductive Rights for 40 years, I am changing my sights from the courts to the statehouses.
We must vote. Our lives depend on it.
I agree with another Texas Cathy (below) who suggests this is one of your best letters, Robert!
I come from a long line of Republicans, though not the crazy kind. My 94 year old mother asked me yesterday about my thoughts re this abortion situation, after I share how monumental this was in terms of the impact, including adding even more stress for one couple in our family who is facing very difficult fertility issues.
Mom and I recounted a very low point in her life, in her early 40's, when raising four children, one of whom had crippling cognitive and emotional disabilities, that she was experiencing what we then called a "nervous breakdown." I asked what how she and Dad might have handled the news of a 5th pregnancy. She teared up and couldn't speak. I told her she needn't come to a conclusion, we know it would have broken her, and we know that Mom, Dad, her wonderful OB/GYN, and her wonderful minister would have worked through whatever. In reality, she had a tubal litigation in the hospital after her youngest child was born, and she recalled telling our minister that when he came to visit her in the hospital, and he understood. (Perhaps even a tubal was frowned upon back then?)
The point is, often religious folks say God won't give you anything you can't handle. That's just not true.
Thank you, Robert, for your humble recognition of women's lived experience as necessary for any discussion of the right to choose an abortion. In that same vein, I implore people to refrain from using the customary phrase of "enjoying the right" to abortion. Facing that decision is fraught with despair, fear, anguish, guilt, and pain--and the word "enjoy," while usually used out of habit and not malintent, is an utter insult to reality.
The most recent decisions authored by Scalia and Gorsuch, and the beyond-unethical conduct of Thomas, have now provided empirical evidence of the incompetence of at least 3 justices to serve as judges working in any capacity in the judicial system. Their demonstrated politicized bias, deceptions, power plays, disdain for the public they are supposed to serve, and misrepresentation of facts supports the growing perception that the current Supreme Court is illegitimate, hence they are the
I-SCOTUS.
Thank you again, Robert. "If you fail to do that, you have no understanding of the holding in Dobbs, and, like Alito, you invalidate everything else you have to say on the subject."
The fact remains that men can't get pregnant or give birth. Nor do they suffer from the daily curse of misogyny. And without that lived experience, they can't understand.
I have been in pretty severe depression since the Dobbs decision came down, and I know that millions of women like me feel the same. We're in flat despair for ourselves, our daughters, our sisters and all women. For me, this despair comes despite being on vacation and being on antidepressants. Things were bad enough with the political capture by the right wing, mass shootings and environmental destruction; for millions of women, the national situation now feels utterly catastrophic. This is indeed our 9/11.
The thing most men can't comprehend is that the Dobbs decision, written by misogynists, is literally a "body blow" to women. I'm 67 and came to sexual maturity not long after the Pill freed us from sexual slavery. All my life I've been handled, teased, hurt, dismissed, overlooked and objectified by men. I've had to fight for every position I've held and to get half the respect men do and less pay for the same work. So the Dobbs decision isn't just about the women losing the right to decide how to manage our bodies and their lives; it's about trying to keep from going under in the sucky, mucky river of misogyny.
Thank you for another excellent edition! I'm so distraught that I just throw myself further into activism and GOTV.
To that end I would like to invite you, Mr. Hubbell, and everyone on the list to attend Flip the Vote's Open House Party tomorrow (Tues. the 28th) from 6-7 PDT. Jessica mentioned it in her newsletter today. I've hosted house parties for FtV and can attest to the important work they do. Before you make any campaign contributions, please come learn about the most effective way to invest in Democracy, fight voter suppression and build political power in marginalized communities.
Click on the link to RSVP: https://www.flipthevote.org/events
In May, 2009, Arizonans of all political stripes were horrified at the news of the State Treasurer's wife having died from complications in childbirth. Their newborn son survived the delivery, only to die two days later. There are no words that can ever express the sense of loss that such tragedy visits upon, not only the surviving spouse, but all in a community who are authentically caring people. THAT is what happens, every time a human being undergoes the premature or unexpected loss of a loved one. THAT is why it is no business of the government, or of the populace at large, to be dictating to a single human being what should be done, regarding that person's body.
It will not be just women (a female, 18 or older) who will be forced to give birth— it will also be girls—some as young as 10, 11, and 12, and far under the age of consent. The grotesqueness, horror and violence of a such a young body being forced through pregnancy and birth roils my stomach and fractures my mind.
A. couple of cavils, Robert. First, and not important, we need to add “only” four, not five new justices—but if we can get five, I’ll take it. Then, while we (especially us males) need to focus intently on what Dobbs means for women, we err if we pay attention only to that, for the forces behind Dobbs are not intent only on controlling women’s most personal decisions. They want to control the lives of all who are not among their idea of the elect. Clarence Thomas gave that away (although it has really been clear for many years) in calling for the re-examination—read reversal—of many other precedents protecting human rights.
I agree with Cathy that this edition is one of your best! I stand in my kitchen, listening to you with tears, so touched with your deep understanding, and eloquent expression, of what is happening to women in this country! Your integrating other recent dishonorable actions taken by the Supreme Court, to explain the profound impact on our country, is brilliant! And your analogy to 9-11 - wow - exactly right!! My respect for you is even stronger (didn't think that was possible)! Thank you Robert!
The Democrats' platform is supported by a majority of the electorate. We should not be ashamed of our views. Our bumper sticker should be "We will restore women's rights!"
We should boldly say, "Democrats support a woman's right to make decisions about her own body. Republicans should not control a woman's uterus."
If the unethical Clarence Thomas (spouse of insurrectionist Ginni Thomas) and his right-wing SCOTUS colleagues (at least two of them lied under oath at their hearings) had their way, they would invite the states to outlaw contraceptives and "morning after pills" and would require these outcomes:
A freshman woman who gets gang-raped at a fraternity house would now have to carry the child to term.
a female professor who is raped at night while walking on campus, would have to carry the child to term.
A 15 year-old-girl impregnated by a Roman Catholic priest would have to carry the child to term.
Middle school girls would have to carry their childnre to term.
A 13-year-old girl impregnated by her drunk step-father would have to carry the child to term.
A mentally ill woman impregnated by the hospital orderly would have to carry the child to term.
An incarcerated female who is impregnated by the jail guard, would have to carry the child to term.
Women refugees who were raped and impregnated while they were escaping the horrors of war and famine, who arrive in our country with nothing, would have to carry the child to term, in a country that denies them medical assistance and child care.
Prostitutes will have to carry children to term.
A 50-year old mother of 5 children, impregnated by her husband, would be forced to carry the child to term, even if she has heart disease, even if she has dementia, even if her husband died in a car accident soon after she became pregnant.
Note: No Republican talks about any responsibility on the part of the impregnators.
All of this would be occurring in our country, which, unlike the other industrial countries (which we think we are better than),
does not have universal health care for women,
does not have universal child care, and
does not have universal paid maternal leave.
I totally agree with you, but ask that we also think if how the abortion decision changes the lives of men who will now become fathers and parents who will become grandparents. It will also have mostly negative ramifications and expenses to society. And it is important to be clear that it is mostly poor and very young women who will be impacted most.
As with LBGTQ issues, when this hits close to home there will be plenty of people whose eyes will be opened and will change their minds and realize that it is much better all around to let women, along with those doctors and family they trust, make decisions regarding their lives.
One of your very best if not the best of your commentary. Thank you!
Thank you Robert. FYI. Eastman's Apple 12 Pro has been sent to a DOJ forensic Lab in Northern Virginia & is subject to further Orders from a Court of competent Jurisdiction. There will be no biometric barriers to accessing this rich Data source.
Biden says he has women's backs and will do everything possible, but he also said he won't consider expanding the Supreme Court. Instead he uses this occasion to urge everyone to vote Democratic in the midterms. Meanwhile, I am still getting endless emails and text messages from DNC to donate due to the awful latest thing the GOP is doing. if only the Democrats stood for something on their own, if they could offer some hope of what they are going to do, what their principles are. The incentive to donate money to the DNC so they can waste it on more annoying emails is low. SCOTUS is on a roll, as you so well describe, and they will continue to dismantle the constitution+amendments+legal precedents. There is nothing slow or gradual about this. The Constitution was written when the US was a slave-owning state, and that seems to be where we are headed now in those "deeply rooted" traditions as if giving birth were not deeply rooted. OMG. What are your thoughts on the two paths, both of which seems unlikely in the current political climate: impeach the lying judges (Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Thomas qualify); or enlarge the Supreme Court. Everyone's rights are at stake, as you articulate so well. We are living in a fascist state where the rule of law is a political weapon to enact minority rule by white, misogynistic Christian Supremacists.
Forcing women to give birth to unwanted children will surely increase the number of disturbed adolescents and teens, and we know where that leads. Because the inability to get an abortion will fall hardest on the poor, and because the poor are more weighted with people of color, we're headed towards greater systemic consequences of this decision 15 years from now. Have you read the Mark Twain short story about how man is the lowest form of animal?