babylonsister
babylonsister's JournalFamily Research Council actively advocates for women to die.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/12/2122506/-Family-Research-Council-actively-advocates-for-women-to-dieFamily Research Council actively advocates for women to die.
SquireForYou
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Monday September 12, 2022 · 7:42 PM EDT
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Earlier today, one of the biggest lobbying outfits in Washington- the Family Research Council, which has provided model legislation and fiscal and logistical support to politicians across the country, issued a statement- which I will not be linking to- stating that "Abortion is never necessary to save the life of a mother."
This is so dangerously false, I am outraged that the social media platforms it was posted on didn't immediately delete that statement, nor- as I write this- have they yet.
I'm an emergency department nurse. Emergency departments provide a staggering amount of OB/GYN care to patients who are unable to seek primary care services, which, I'm sure I don't have to remind people here, is a serious problem in our country. And if you have an ectopic pregnancy- which are 2% of all pregnancies!- or your water breaks at 16 weeks, or you have a septic uterus, you will end up in the ER, preferably sooner rather than later, because the longer we wait, the more likely the patient is to die.
Well, hold on, because I want to be stunningly clear here: that's the only option. If you have an ectopic pregnancy, you either get an abortion, or you die. There is no other option. There is no alternative. If you are reading this post, you know multiple people who had ectopic pregnancies, who would now be dead had they not sought treatment.
And these conditions can deteriorate fast. With an ectopic pregnancy, you can go from mild discomfort to rolling on the floor, screaming in pain and minutes from death, incredibly rapidly. Again, because we see so many people who are unable to access primary care services, we see that first hand in the ER. Someone who could call their OBGYN and get a prescription called in the same day... if they HAD an OBGYN, or had insurance for one, or could get in to be seen by one... decides to "tough it out a belly ache" instead. Or goes to a Crisis Pregnancy Center and is told their symptoms are "normal". Or thinks they just have a kidney or gall stone.
Regardless, they'll end up in our ER... or they'll end up dead. Until very recently, the most blood I've ever had to give a patient in the ER was on a patient with a ruptured ectopic. Watching blood come out of a patient faster than you can infuse it, to the point where you're grabbing the bag of blood and squeezing it with your hands as hard as you can to try and desperately save that patient's life, is something you don't forget.
Ever.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is living in a fantasy world, where a woman's well-being is less of a concern to them than how much control they have over a woman's body- and they want to force you, my daughter, all of us to life in that same world.
And I damn well will not stand for it.
Family Research Council actively advocates for women to die.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/12/2122506/-Family-Research-Council-actively-advocates-for-women-to-dieFamily Research Council actively advocates for women to die.
SquireForYou
Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Monday September 12, 2022 · 7:42 PM EDT
Share this article
Earlier today, one of the biggest lobbying outfits in Washington- the Family Research Council, which has provided model legislation and fiscal and logistical support to politicians across the country, issued a statement- which I will not be linking to- stating that "Abortion is never necessary to save the life of a mother."
This is so dangerously false, I am outraged that the social media platforms it was posted on didn't immediately delete that statement, nor- as I write this- have they yet.
I'm an emergency department nurse. Emergency departments provide a staggering amount of OB/GYN care to patients who are unable to seek primary care services, which, I'm sure I don't have to remind people here, is a serious problem in our country. And if you have an ectopic pregnancy- which are 2% of all pregnancies!- or your water breaks at 16 weeks, or you have a septic uterus, you will end up in the ER, preferably sooner rather than later, because the longer we wait, the more likely the patient is to die.
Well, hold on, because I want to be stunningly clear here: that's the only option. If you have an ectopic pregnancy, you either get an abortion, or you die. There is no other option. There is no alternative. If you are reading this post, you know multiple people who had ectopic pregnancies, who would now be dead had they not sought treatment.
And these conditions can deteriorate fast. With an ectopic pregnancy, you can go from mild discomfort to rolling on the floor, screaming in pain and minutes from death, incredibly rapidly. Again, because we see so many people who are unable to access primary care services, we see that first hand in the ER. Someone who could call their OBGYN and get a prescription called in the same day... if they HAD an OBGYN, or had insurance for one, or could get in to be seen by one... decides to "tough it out a belly ache" instead. Or goes to a Crisis Pregnancy Center and is told their symptoms are "normal". Or thinks they just have a kidney or gall stone.
Regardless, they'll end up in our ER... or they'll end up dead. Until very recently, the most blood I've ever had to give a patient in the ER was on a patient with a ruptured ectopic. Watching blood come out of a patient faster than you can infuse it, to the point where you're grabbing the bag of blood and squeezing it with your hands as hard as you can to try and desperately save that patient's life, is something you don't forget.
Ever.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is living in a fantasy world, where a woman's well-being is less of a concern to them than how much control they have over a woman's body- and they want to force you, my daughter, all of us to life in that same world.
And I damn well will not stand for it.
Senate GOP is in disarray on the culture wars, which means Democrats should force them to vote
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/9/13/2122663/-Lindsey-Graham-wants-an-abortion-vote-Democrats-really-need-to-let-him-have-itSenate GOP is in disarray on the culture wars, which means Democrats should force them to vote
Joan McCarter
Daily Kos Staff
Tuesday September 13, 2022 · 4:09 PM EDT
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Now would be a very good time for Senate Democrats to go for the jugular and make Senate Republicans show what they really would do if they gained the majority. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina just gave them that opportunity.
If Republicans win Congress, he said in announcing his new federal abortion ban legislation, “I assure you” there will be a vote to ban abortion. “I think we should have a law at the federal level that would say, after 15 weeks, no abortion on demand except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother,” Graham told reporters. “And that should be where America is at.”
He also said that Democrats need to schedule his bill on the floor, because “your idea’s wacko, not ours. Let’s vote. Let’s vote. Give me a chance to vote on this bill.” (That was part of his response to a question from a person in the audience who recounted finding out 16 weeks into a pregnancy that the fetus would die a horrible death, and his bill would have forced her to continue that pregnancy.)
https://twitter.com/i/status/1569753528213688322
Republican extremism on abortion, on marriage equality, on privacy rights can beat them at the polls. Help Democrats make that happen and expand the Senate majority.
Take him up on it! Have that vote! He’s pretty much the only Republican who wants to do it right now. Sen. Mitch McConnell sure as hell doesn’t.
Have the vote if for no other reason than to make McConnell’s life that much harder. Have the vote to show the American people what Republicans intend to do to their lives.
While they’re at it, Democrats need to abandon the pretense that there are 10 Republicans who will vote with them to protect marriage equality and have that vote. For some unknown reason, Senate Democrats feel the need to be nice to Republicans on this one.
They want to ensure everyone’s marriage has equal protection. They want to stop the Supreme Court extremists from taking it away, as Justice Clarence Thomas has threatened. Those are lofty, important goals. But at this point what’s even more important is showing the American people what Republicans will do if they get control of Congress again.
Right now there’s a grand total of three Republicans who say they support marriage equality. Put the rest of them to the test.
Then bring up the access to contraceptives bill the House passed in July. The one that 195 Republicans opposed.Make 50 Republican senators answer the question: Should Americans have the right to use birth control, and should health care providers have the right to provide contraception and information about how to effectively use it?
Republicans don’t even know how to respond to that idea. So make them vote on it! Make them decide if they’re going to stand with the one. Hundred. And. Ninety. Five House Republicans who deny that we all have that basic right in our private lives.
Yes, that would make Susan Collins of Maine extremely concerned. Too bad. Make her vote.
The GOP's Surrender to the Antisemites
https://politicalwire.com/2022/09/13/the-gops-surrender-to-the-antisemites/The GOP’s Surrender to the Antisemites
September 13, 2022 at 10:30 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
“The GOP may not be an antisemitic party. Indeed, it has managed to maintain a big tent that includes both Jewish ultrahawks like Miriam Adelson and their most paranoid enemies. Nevertheless, it has become a party in which antisemitism has gained a foothold. No recent development in American life has done more to throw American Jews’ safety and civic equality into doubt.”
Frances Tiafoe Says Seeing Michelle Obama in Crowd Was 'Best Thing' of His U.S. Open Run
https://www.thedailybeast.com/frances-tiafoe-says-seeing-michelle-obama-in-crowd-was-best-thing-of-his-us-open-run?ref=home
Frances Tiafoe Says Seeing Michelle Obama in Crowd Was ‘Best Thing’ of His U.S. Open Run
WINNER
Danika Fears
Senior Breaking News Editor
Published Sep. 12, 2022 9:18AM ET
Good Morning America
https://twitter.com/i/status/1569299891104452617
Alabama is jailing pregnant marijuana users to 'protect' fetuses
FUBAR. 
Alabama is jailing pregnant marijuana users to ‘protect’ fetuses
Moira Donegan
In Alabama, pregnant women who are arrested for drug offenses are not allowed to post bail and go free. Ashley Banks learned that the hard way
Mon 12 Sep 2022 06.16 EDT
At a traffic stop, the police officer found a small amount of weed. Ashley Banks, a 23-year-old woman living in Alabama, admitted to the cops that she had smoked marijuana two days earlier. It was the same day that she learned she was pregnant. She was six weeks along. It was this disclosure – that she was pregnant – that led Etowah county officials to keep her in jail, without a trial, for the next three months.
Alabama has an exceptionally high incarceration rate, locking up about 938 people per 100,000 residents. But even in a state with a disproportionate prison population, an arrest for small-scale drug possession would not usually lead to such an extended pre-trial jail stay. But Banks fell victim to a peculiar Alabama law that advocates say Etowah county enforces with special zeal: pregnant women who are arrested for drug offenses are not allowed to post bail and go free, the way other people are. They have to stay in state custody: either in jail, or in a residential drug rehab program. The logic is that the women are a danger to their fetuses: they need to be imprisoned by the state, and kept from their freedom, in order to protect their pregnancies.
The abortion rights movement can learn from the Aids activism of the 80s and 90s
In Banks’s case, jail officials tried to send her to rehab, but after an assessment, the facility turned her away: Banks, they said, was merely a casual marijuana user, not an addict, and did not need in-patient drug treatment. Too healthy for rehab, but not trusted enough by the state to be set free, she was kept in limbo in jail. Meanwhile, Banks’s pregnancy wasn’t going well. She has a family history of miscarriages, and was experiencing bleeding in jail. At one point, jail officials assigned her to sleep in a bed that was already occupied by another prisoner; Banks slept on the floor.
She’s not the only one. Another woman, Hali Burns, was taken to the Etowah county jail just six days after giving birth to her son, with police saying that she had tested positive for a drug used by pregnant women with opioid addictions to help manage cravings and withdrawal. When she was thrown in jail, Burns was still physically recovering from giving birth. But the jail had no facilities for her to pump or tend to her wounds. Her partner tried to bring pads and underwear to her, so that she wouldn’t have to bleed into her clothes, but Etowah county authorities wouldn’t let her have them. The risk for infection was great – the indignity was even greater.
more...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/12/alabama-jailing-pregnant-marijuana-users-protect-fetuses
New 'objective' CNN appears to be making itself objectively rightwing
New ‘objective’ CNN appears to be making itself objectively rightwing
Arwa Mahdawi
The cable network’s CEO dramatic hiring and firing of on-air talent seems designed to woo the Fox News crowd
CNN’s CEO says the cable network is moving away from ‘alarmist’ programming towards more neutral, objective reporting.
Sat 10 Sep 2022 09.00 EDT
CNN wants to be the new Fox News and it’s not even trying to hide it. Earlier this year Chris Licht became the new CEO of the cable network and immediately made it clear that he was going to change the network’s direction. One of Licht’s first moves was to embark on what Axios described as a “Capitol Hill diplomacy tour” and others described as a Republican boot-licking tour. Licht met with key lawmakers who had become wary of cable news and promised them that CNN was moving away from “alarmist” programming towards more neutral, objective reporting.
What does that mean in practice? Well, it appears to mean firing anyone who is critical of Donald Trump or Republicans. Last month CNN suddenly axed Brian Stelter’s Sunday show in a move many commentators considered politically motivated; Stelter had been an outspoken critic of Trump and was reviled by many on the right. Earlier this month White House correspondent John Harwood was fired shortly after calling Trump “a dishonest demagogue” on the air.
It’s not just who was fired that is alarming – it’s the abrupt manner in which they were fired. As the media analyst Josh Marshall noted “The most striking thing about Licht’s firings to date is how they are choreographed for … right-wing media consumption and designed to generate mass schadenfreude on the right: the bête noires Fox has been harping on for years suddenly marched to the top of the pyramid and hurled to the ground.” Licht says he’s moving away from sensational news, but he appears to be putting on his own little drama for the right.
After purging progressive voices, Licht has just made his first big hire: announcing on Tuesday that John Miller would be joining CNN as the network’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. Miller isn’t exactly an obvious hire if you’re looking to brandish your new “neutrality” credentials. The former New York police department (NYPD) deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter-terrorism is an extremely polarizing figure who made headlines in March when he testified to the New York city council that the NYPD did not, in his opinion, inappropriately spy on Muslims after the September 11 2001 attacks. Which is a weird thing to say because Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting has clearly shown that the NYPD used census data to spy on Muslims following September 11 and the department has settled a number of lawsuits related to the illegal spying.
more...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/10/objective-cnn-rightwing-week-in-patriarchy
Jim Hightower: What Do Truckers and Librarians Have In Common?
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/jim-hightower/103128/what-do-truckers-and-librarians-have-in-commonWhat Do Truckers and Librarians Have In Common?
by Jim Hightower | September 10, 2022 - 4:56am
— from OtherWords
snip//
The job is literally a grueling haul. You’re wrangling massive 18-wheelers some 500 miles a day for two or three weeks straight. You’re putting up with traffic jams, storms, bad roads, lunatic drivers, helter-skelter scheduling, truck stop food, sleeping in the truck — all while battling fatigue, aches, your bladder, and loneliness.
Trucking used to be a good union job, with decent pay and conditions — until the deregulation craze four decades ago brought in Wall Street profiteers and fast buck hustlers who turned the industry into anti-union exploiters.
As a result, the yearly quit-rate for drivers is now almost 100 percent.
snip//
Yes, while student enrollments rise and the need for these nurturers of our society’s literacy is greater than ever, their quit-rate is also soaring. Not because of pay or long hours, but because of raw right-wing politics.
These dedicated, invaluable educators are being abused by demagogic GOP politicians and their extremist partisans who’ve launched an anti-librarian crusade, including book banning and witch hunting.
snip//
Forget the “law” of supply and demand. Today’s job market is being ruled by greed meisters and political lunatics.
The Rude Pundit: Abortion Rights and the Lie of "Reaching Across the Aisle"
https://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2022/09/abortion-rights-and-lie-of-reaching.htmlThe Rude Pundit
Proudly lowering the level of political discourse
9/09/2022
Abortion Rights and the Lie of "Reaching Across the Aisle"
snip//
While the abortion extremists of the right like to say that allowing abortion without restrictions or even codifying the Roe v. Wade decision is radicalism on the left, that's just not right. Telling people that they have the choice when it comes to their own bodies isn't radical at all. Really, it's not a stretch to come up with what extremism on the other side of the anti-choice coin is. If one side believes in forced birth, then the other would be forced abortion. If the Democratic Party believed in forcing people to end pregnancies that might result in disabled children or forcing abortions on women who are deemed unfit for one reason or another to be a mother, then you'd have extremism. But no mainstream Democrats or, indeed, no one in the realm of mainstream on the pro-choice side believes in this (hence the word "choice"
.
So in the debate over abortion rights, Democrats are arguing from a reasonable, moderate position (choice) and Republicans are arguing from an extremist position (forced birth). To "reach across the aisle" means to capitulate to extremism, to say, "Okay, we'll agree to allow some forced births." When it comes to abortion rights, many Democrats are at least drawing a line in the sand. Rep. Abigail Spanberger is running for reelection in a tough district, but she's put out an uncompromising ad on the post-Roe landscape, eviscerating her opponent for her cruel position on forced birth.
Let's be clear, though. The very idea of reaching across the aisle exists because of the filibuster. It's kind of a joke when the House talks about it because the majority doesn't need the minority. Yes, differing coalitions within the party can affect the development of legislation. But that is still the majority figuring out how to accomplish its goals. Without the filibuster, the entire impetus for negotiating with the opposing party evaporates, and the voters get the government they actually voted for, doing the things they voted the majority into power to do. (You could also add in the entirely flawed design of the Senate to a file marked "Things That Make It Hard to Get Stuff Done in the US."
In the United Kingdom and other countries, the parties run as parties, proudly, trying to convince people not just to vote for a candidate, but for the party. Of course, that's in a parliamentary system where the majority party (or coalition of parties) decides who is going to lead the country. But ads in the UK hype the party when talking about an issue.
Party identification isn't absent in the United States by a long shot. However, the idea that there is some innate good in working with just terrible people needs to be abandoned. If you are in an election battle, you believe the other side is wrong. After you win your election, why in the world would you behave as if their ideas have validity? The losing side needs to figure out how to work with you to get some things it wants. You are under no obligation to bother responding.
And if your approach fails to make people's lives better, well, that's what the next election is for.
Rubio Blasted Clinton for Her Emails. Now He Says Trump's Theft of Top-Secret Records Is No Biggie
Vote him out! 
September 8, 2022
Rubio Blasted Clinton for Her Emails. Now He Says Trump’s Theft of Top-Secret Records Is No Biggie
The Republican Senator and intelligence committee member says it’s just a “storage” issue. Uh huh.
David Corn
As the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is one of the US officials who shares the mission of safeguarding the nation’s most important secrets. The committee is responsible for oversight of the intelligence community, and that duty includes the task of ensuring sensitive information is handled appropriately and kept secured. Yet in the aftermath of the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago to seize government records, including classified documents, that Donald Trump had improperly (and perhaps illegally) taken from the White House, Rubio has been one of the loudest voices denouncing the bureau and amplifying the MAGA message that Trump has been unfairly victimized by Democrats and the Deep State. And that’s quite a different position than the one Rubio took regarding Hillary Clinton’s handling of emails at the State Department.
A few days ago, Rubio pooh-poohed the raid and the entire controversy during an interview with a local Miami news anchor: “This is really at its core a storage argument that they’re making. They’re arguing that there are documents there. They don’t deny that he should have access to those documents. They deny they were not properly stored. I don’t think a fight over storage of documents is worthy of what they’ve done”
Rubio was spinning. The main issue is that Trump, as an ex-president, did not legitimately have the authority to possess these papers. It’s not a question of access. The documents belong to the US government. This is far more than a “fight over storage.” As a senator who chaired the intelligence committee when the Republicans controlled the Senate, Rubio certainly is aware of this. No president or CIA director or FBI chief or any US government official can walk out with top-secret documents when he or she leaves the position. Yet weeks earlier, appearing on Mark Levin’s radio show, Rubio charged that the Justice Department’s investigation of Trump’s possession of government papers was not a justified inquiry. And Rubio, as one of the few members of Congress with regular access to intelligence secrets at the highest level, has direct experience handling such documents and knows that Trump was not adequately protecting these secrets.
Rubio’s stance on the FBI raid is an odd one for an official critically involved with top-secret matters. Yet as he runs for reelection against Rep. Val Demmings (D-Fla.), Rubio has tried to exploit right-wing outrage over the FBI action to bulk up his campaign warchest. He recently zapped out a fundraising email that characterized the bureau’s search of Mar-a-Lago as part of the “radical left’s witch hunt.” (Reality check: the head of the FBI is a Republican who was appointed by Trump.) This letter equated the raid with the practices of a communist tyranny: “I’ll say it plain and simple, using government power to persecute political opponents is something we have seen many times from Marxist dictatorships, but now, we’re seeing it from the Biden administration.”
more...
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/09/marco-rubio-blasted-clinton-for-her-emails-now-he-says-trumps-theft-of-top-secret-records-is-no-biggie/
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Gender: FemaleHometown: NY
Home country: US
Current location: Florida
Member since: Mon Sep 6, 2004, 09:54 PM
Number of posts: 171,056
