Big Bird may be innocent but who can vouch for Elmo?

[lionheart]

thehill.com/homenews/senate/580426-ted-cruz-labels-big-birds-tweet-about-vaccination-propaganda

www.salon.com/2021/11/07/sesame-streets-big-bird-for-promoting-vaccine-brainwashing-children_partner/

Old thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4305074-To-filibuster-or-not-to-filibuster-Biden-needs-to-get-a-move-on-before-Doofus-Duck-waddles-back-into-the-swamp-Biden-Trump-Thread-128

Marsha Blackburn looking to make birth control pills only for married couples

Good luck with Big Pharma on that

Between Coney Barrett and Blackburn I have never been so glad to be post-menopausal in my life.

Pardon, what?

Sorry, do you have a link for that. I'm going to read it slowly in the hope it doesn't mean what it seems to mean...

There is a screenshot in this thread
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4544712-from-the-us-supreme-court-abortion-decision-draft

And a twitter thread

Feels like this has been largely overlooked, but Alito's draft Supreme Court opinion on abortion uses the phrase "domestic supply of infants." It's real, on page 34. DOMESTIC SUPPLY OF INFANTS.
twitter.com/BFriedmanDC/status/1522576662218649602?t=seDRDatnO4RZHHzQ9Gl8Tg&s=19

Thanks for the links.

So the original context is an academic CDC paper "Adoption Experiences of Women and Men and Demand for Children to Adopt by Women 18–44 Years of Age in the United States 16 (Aug. 2008)". (This is the link in the Supreme Court draught, but it leads to "resource not available": www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/key_statistics/a-keystate.htm#adoption )

But now the Supreme Court draught states: "a woman who puts her newborn up for adoption today has little reason to fear that the baby will not find a suitable home."

And to justify that cites the CDC paper's sentence: (“[N]early 1 milion women were seeking to adopt children in 2002 (i.e., the were in demand for a child) whereas the domestic supply of infants relinquished at birth or withig the the first month of life and available to be adopted had become virtually nonexistent.”)

That part of the draught is supposedly summarising the arguments of supporters anti-abortion protestors.

So the draughters could claim it's not them choosing to highlight these arguments, they're merely summarising. (I'm dubious, myself, but.)

However the argument, no matter who proposes it, is obviously mince. Because the number of infants needing homes when abortion is legal, is not the same as the number of infants needing homes when it isn't...

I haven't read all of the draught, but that part – supposedly summarising the arguments of anti-abortion campaigners – makes no mention whatsoever of women's bodies, never mind their bodily autonomy.

Unsurprisingly.

So many editing fails...

Add to that the fact that having a baby is a lot more than just delivering the child. Sure, labour and delivery only takes a few hours to a day or so in most cases. But the impact of 9 months out of a woman's life and the 6-10 week recovery period (for an 'uncomplicated' birth) on a woman's career or a young girl's education is huge. Not every woman has the advantages that some women have had during pregnancy with regards to work and financial and emotional support. Not to mention the emotional costs of carrying a child that you don't want, or want but cannot afford. It's truly seeing a woman as nothing more than a vessel and not a sentient being with feelings, needs, and a life of her own.

Gilead, indeed!

Just been reading up on Marsha Blackburn.

She is a nasty, nasty piece of work

I lost track of what is going on with the former guy but this is quite something

BREAKING: Trump now claims he’s lost FOUR of the cell phones subpoenaed by the NY AG. Trump is still being fined $10,000 per day for defying the AG’s subpoenas - $100,000 and counting.
twitter.com/TristanSnell/status/1523053972839276545?t=jOawb-octcXPV3HWCO_spQ&s=19

Are we surprised at this? No, no we're not. It remains to be seen if he'll get away with it. At any rate, I'm sure those phones have long been destroyed.

BTW, we went to a Kentucky Derby party at a bar owned by a friend of DS1. In the 'pre show' they were showing shots of who was there and when the camera focused on Doofus the whole bar started booing and catcalling until they move on. It was so reassuring.

And a Happy Mother's Day to all of us in the US and elsewhere who celebrates today.

I was surprised at the daily fine, hit him where it hurts the most, money money,

Happy Mothers day!

About the Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike turns down a meeting with Trump. Asked why, they said “If I wanted to see a horse’s ass, I would’ve came in second!”

Brilliant

That's funnier than hell!! Thanks for our laugh of the day!!

Reassurance please from those US posters - if something as iconic as Roe v Wade can be negated should we worry about Brown v Board of eduation?

I don't think so. The problem with RvW is that the right to privacy/body autonomy isn't 'specified' in the Constitution, but 'equal rights' is. RvW was based on interpretation of the 14th amendment, saying that outlawing abortion constituted 'over stepping' by the government into a citizen's right to privacy, ie the privacy between a woman and her doctor. But 'right to privacy' isn't specified in the Constitution, it's always been 'implied' based on other constitutional rights.

BvBoE on the other hand is based on more specific language in the 14th amendment; "nor to deny to any person ....... the equal protection of the laws". That meant that 'separate but equal' was inherently UNequal in and of itself because ALL citizens should have access to ALL of the same educational opportunities.

The 14th is a post civil war amendment specifically put in the Constitution in 1866 to guarantee equal rights and equal protections to newly freed slaves. It barred individual states from enacting legislation that abridged those rights. But it's been an uphill battle even so. Jim Crow laws weren't abolished until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 codified equal rights. BTW, codifying abortion rights is what Congress just tried and failed to do.

Unfortunately the same guarantee for women (ERA 1972) did not get the required number of states for ratification. Now, 'equal rights' is always interpreted to include women. Except when it comes to 'equal rights' over our own bodies.

Thanks, the separate but equal feels like a direction the repug rezoning is actually effecting.

@FrankieStein403

Not so much 'separate but equal' because that would imply the Repugs want them to have the same rights, but to have them 'elsewhere'.

What's going on now is completely about disenfranchising certain segments of the population by 'rezoning' them into voting districts where they would be a distinct minority, thereby cancelling out their votes for Dem/more liberal candidates. It's also about 'stacking' state legislatures and governorships to put in state laws to make voting extremely hard for people who may not have easy transportation to get to the polls or who may face other difficulties in voting in person.

It's not just POC they're doing this to, although that's a 'primary target' because so many of them tend to lean 'left'. They're also using these laws to 'break up' normally liberal, primarily white areas and slot them into predominantly Repug/Conservative districts.

I can understand the Democratic Party officials wanting to keep to our principles. "When they go low, we go high" and all that. But sometimes you just have to fight fire with fire. And I think this is one of those times.

Devastating news about the horrific shooting at Uvalde primary school

When will it stop.

Yep.

Better news on the democracy front: Brian Kemp, the Republican governor of Georgia who stood up to Trump's attempts to overrule the 2020 election results, has just been reselected by the Republican party.

Georgia primaries: Trump-backed Perdue trounced by Pence's pick
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61574576

I'm not sure Kemp is good news; he might win. Trump's chosen candidate might well not have done, having been fairly thoroughly rejected last time he stood for office in Georgia..

I weep for the children and teachers lost in the school in Texas. I have no idea what to say to be honest.

I will just leave this here... Matthew McConaughey was born in Uvalde and tweeted this powerful message.