We’re only three days into this new year, and it’s already you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up time. Yesterday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting in New Orleans, Louisiana, decided in a case brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton – he, quite familiar with the federal courts in Texas due to his multiple federal criminal indictments – that the federal law requiring hospital emergency rooms to provide life-saving medical care to women whose pregnancies are
I agree whole heartedly. There are probably attorneys out there who would handle these suits pro bono. The only way to deter these people is to hit their pockets.
Lucian, those of us who were brats and served following graduation must be especially livid over Texas women haters.
Can't imagine what the wives, female dependents and female service members must think when orders to Texas show up.
I remember the power Washington had in the 1960's when segregated school states were threatened with loss of federal impact funds unless they integrated. For those unfamiliar, impact funds were provided to cover military kids whose parents weren't local taxpayers, in the case of my High School in Columbus, GA, Baker High. We integrated my senior year, I remember 2 of 6 or 7 black kids who survived that experience.
Anyone familiar with the power of the old South Senators who stocked the post WWII states with bases knows this story.
“ . . . the way to stop abortions necessary to save pregnant women’s lives is to let them die.”
Is it somehow lost on these justices that if the pregnant woman seeking emergency care dies, the “baby” also dies?? So, instead of “losing the baby” to save a woman, the end result is the loss of the “baby” AND the mother. This seems to amount to sanctioned murder of women.
How can a pregnant woman in the state of Texas ever feel safe?? 😢😢
I agree.Women need to file a class action suit against the state of Texas.”Cruel and Unusual Punishment “.I am both horrified and saddened that women are thought so little of that their lives and ultimately the lives of their unborn babies are dispensable and mean nothing more to these cruel men legislating this than a piece of dirt under their fingernails.I am gobsmacked.
You're right. A class action lawsuit is exactly what is needed. The problem is, the barrage of appeals will find the way to the Supreme Court who are responsible for this travesty. The only recourse is to vote out the republicans, and change the court, which is no help for women at this time.
😊Thank you! I was surprised no one responded yesterday. I think there are more than a few who would be happy to take us back to second class citizen. I want a better world than that
I like the goal but it really couldn't work. A class action is a civil remedy that awards damages, "cruel and unusual punishment" is a defense to a criminal prosecution. Women would have to be prosecuted first, but who would want to take that chance and rely on courts. For now the only viable solution seems to be to go to a state where abortion is allowed. We need more emphasis on funding groups that can support that.
Didn't the Catholic Church at one time endorse this? No abortion, even to save the woman's life, because: "Better two deaths than one murder." I recall reading this somewhere, years ago.
Decades ago, in TX church parking lot, the personality disordered Monsignor went up to now deceased aunt and said: I hear you had a D&C; you didn’t ask my permission! She turned on him like a rattlesnake and loudly said: I don’t have to ask your permission for anything, this is my body! He turned limp and shriveled up. That was in the 60’s. One of the better TX memories.
I'd reply but Substack's formatting is gone. I'm about to become an unsubscriber if they do not fix this problem because it's going to affect your readers. I'd love to comment. I have a great one, but I won't this time. Tell Substack you're losing your audience. It's not me. It's them. Great column, too.
I don't understand your complaint. I am replying to your comment, so why do you say you can't comment because of "Substack's formatting is gone?" Please explain.
The formatting is very unstable. When I logged in the first time, the entire page would not display the HTML 3.0 language properly-using icons and mis-applied headings, without any kind of bordering or formatting. It was all I could do to make my comment to appear at all-in a very tiny box.
It seems to be all right now, but it's the second time this has happened in the past month, and it's not my browser or settings.
I think IT department of Substack is losing control of the formatting and I don't read stuff I can't understand. I hope they get it figured out.
It's not Lucien's fault at all, but he should not have to suffer from incompetence on the part of the place where he writes his columns.
It's really unacceptable to both me and probably him.
He's trying to make a living from it. Think how his work is handled is pretty important.
I have not gotten any other complaints about this. If it happens again, let me know, and send a complaint describing what you said above to support@substack.com. They are good at fixing things.
It sounds a great deal different than my experience writing comments like this on my iPad. I have a web site montagnephotos.com that I struggle to keep updated, I’m literate as a photographer and semi-literate at writing comments but building a functional website requires a language that is foreign to me, so I get it how a formatting problem would be very frustrating. I hope you don’t go away, I like reading your comments Mary 🙏
The hatred of women, the fear and disgust toward female sexuality, the obsession with punishing women for having sex, that one sees in these men is mind-boggling. There is only one adequate description of those judges and men like Paxton: they are SEXUAL PSYCHOPATHS. They take pleasure in seeing women suffer and die. They WANT that to happen. They can't personally torture and mutilate and murder women, so they make laws that have the same effect.
There has been a nascent secession movement in Texas forever. It waxes and wanes, and is partially based on the claim that the admission to the Union was not done properly and therefore Texas is still and independent Republic. Personally, I think we should pay Mexico to take Texas back.
I believe, okay, imagine, that a woman with some sensibility who, for whatever sad reason, found herself being rammed under one of these MAGApath judges, would find that torture.
Wow. I am sorry to say but I have had the same thoughts. There is something so sexually perverse about all of this hatred and punishment. These men are sick, sick, sick.
Time for the Feds to play hardball. If a Texas hospital refuses to treat a woman who is in crisis and the standard of care is an abortion, that hospital will no longer be eligible to receive federal funds. No Medicare, no Medicaid, no Tricare, not one federal dollar. You can hear the screams from the right wing now. Federal response- did you expect we would sit by while Republicans kill women?
Punishing hospitals for something they didn’t cause only makes this barbaric mess worse. Sue the state government, the governor, and the AG. Indict them for murder on federal charges.
I am tired of observing how the Feds do seem to be rolling over for whatever b.s. states like Texas are arbitrarily doing, contrary to other state or federal laws. Why aren't these states and cities facing kidnapped busloads of migrants suing Abbott et al. for their actions that are designed to hurt other localities? (As well as grandstand to the MAGA crowd.)
I'm with you. I think that the feds, or frankly the state troopers, should be arresting drivers for human trafficking. Impound the busses. This crap from Abbott would end fast if the companies refused to participate.
I mean to say, look at how fast the GOP states are to sue the feds for everything, lightning quick, whenever they feel aggrieved. This needs to stop. It can't stay a one-way lawsuit street. The Kennedy brothers didn't stand for this obstructionism from state governors. Look at how far we've fallen.
I don’t know Kozmo, we have 50 states each with their own uniquely structured laws, here may be a legit use of “states rights”, at any rate they have them and they must present a maze of entanglements to the feds who have in comparison a relatively simple view of the law. That may be completely wrong, I’m not trained in the law, although the last few years have certainly informed me of how it works. That’s how it looks from here and I think part of how it works. 🤷♂️
I find myself wondering why any women live in Texas. Of course, I was privileged to be born in the liberal state of Massachusetts, where sanity and basic compassion prevail most of the time.
We all need to do everything we individually can to promote awareness among women in all states that have passed abortion bans. They all need to be angry, and we need to make sure they all VOTE. Won't it be stupendous if a tidal wave of women's rage takes down Donald Trump and reduces Republican lawmakers to a minority nationwide?
A woman can dream. In the meantime, I need to sign up for my next batch of postcards to voters.
This craziness will only continue if men and women continue to vote for the R Party’s distorted facts and lies. Paxton should be in prison already, for all the misdeeds he’s done but then so should Trump. The rights of women are so twisted, so corrupt, so gross, that we women must become Amazon warriors and fight back with all of our strength. Think Lysistrata https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata
I was just listening to MSNBC NEWS on Sirius XM. They presented an obnoxious commercial about a company selling Viagra. I swear Sirius is owned by some religious group because they have evangelistic ads too!
To them, abortion is murder. The death of the mother is not because the life of the mother has no value except to give birth,. When that fails, the mother becomes a felon in life or death. Wait until one of their own miscarries, has a life-threatening condition or has an ectopic pregnancy. Wait until one of their own gets raped or pregnant at 15. Just wait.
You really think that will change their attitudes? They HATE women, and that includes the women they claim to love. They will wipe a way a tear and sacrifice one of their own to their belief that ANY woman wanting an abortion is a worthless slut who deserves to suffer and die.
These religious anti-abortion zealots are MIRED in shame. I don't disagree on how they view women, but it's shame that makes them get caught covering up what the deny others. Their toxic morality and self-righteousness come with a huge dose of shame.
When one of their own gets pregnant and can't or doesn't want to carry a pregnancy to term, all these fierce anti-abortion advocates would quietly take their female relative to another state where abortion is still legal.
Right, like Ted Cruz trying to slink off to a comfy tropical island with his family instead of staying to help his constituents battle through the Texas Deep Freeze Power Outage Week.
It won't matter. Too long to to into here, but almost 20 years ago the Republican governor of my blue New England state cut back our state employees yearly amount of family leave. His wife had a chronic illness. So did my (now late) husband.
Although I HOPE you're right, I can't help thinking of all those millions of women who still worship t-Rump. From what I've read over the years, there's an awful lot of sexual dysfunction among women, that is, women who dislike or even hate sex. They are--I strongly suspect-- the ones who envy and hate the women they think are out there enjoying sex. "Gotta punish those bitches! Force 'em to have babies!" Of course I can't prove this, but I believe that the rates of sexual dysfunction among trumpster women must be sky-high! Must be, because why else would they take such pleasure in seeing other women's lives ruined or even lost through unwanted pregnancies?
Imagine the outcry if states empowered panels comprised of elderly women to determine health care for young men? Deciding when young men could have sex, what type of birth control they were required to use, jailing men who fail to support a child they father. There would be an insurrection. I can't fathom how we allow elderly men with no medical expertise to make health care decisions for young women. It truly is a story straight out of Handmaid's Tale.
How did America get into this sorry state in such a short period of time. And I don’t mean since Trump because this crap‘s been building since at least Reagan. I try not to feel hopeless. It’s not good for you, but as I watch the sick bastards of the religious right infesting every aspect of our lives, I’m scared. And angry, really effing angry. People don’t realize how many justices they’ve placed all over the country. The real test is going to be to see what happens with the January 6 trial word is that Jack Smith has some really powerful evidence but will he get the chance to present it or will it just be chipped away?
How is any of this possible? How do people justify the killing of women? Is there hope or are we on a slow road to doom?
Now let’s not get too excited here. After all, the fifth circuit hasn’t yet ruled on the surely right-around-the-corner Texas law mandating the stoning of pregnant women who fail to wear their bonnets properly.
OK, that is a semi-satirical example. But just to play with the thought problem, let’s say that Texas did pass such a law, and that the fifth circuit upheld it. What would the rest of us do about it?
Because that’s kind of where we’re at already. I am as disgusted and horrified by this ruling, and by Paxton and the people who support politicians like him, as anyone could possibly be.
I hate them, or, at least I hate their politics, with a burning passion.
I’m a lifelong liberal, who campaigne for Gene McCarthy when I was eight years old, and fled red-state Missouri, as soon as I could get out of there.
Now I live in San Francisco, a few blocks from Nancy Pelosi‘s house, where I spend an inordinate amount of time every day reading about these outrages and cursing these people.
I have done what I could do in my life to counter their malevolence, but the question I am posing to the readers of this long comment is, what could people -- whether they be politicians I support, or organizations I support -- actually do to counter this kind of insanity?
I am not proposing a counsel of despair here, just asking Lucian, or anyone else who cares to comment thoughtfully, on what can be done to roll back this vicious craziness.
Because the good citizens of Texas have voted these people into power, and support them wholeheartedly.
Lucian, I bet 99.9% of your readers remember the dire warnings in 2009 from Sarah Palin and Betsy McCaughey (look at her photo from back then: her Melania/Alina Habba cascading hair!) that the Affordable Care Act would mean "death panels" of doctors who would decide on whether an elderly person would continue to get medical care, or simply be "allowed" to die. Have I missed Palin and McCaughey shrieking today about real-life "death panels," of Trumpublican judges, governors and AGs, deciding whether a pregnant woman should be allowed to die?
You quoted Fifth Circuit Court Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt, writing on behalf of the Death Panel majority, and you mentioned he was appointed by Trump. Perhaps of equal importance is the fact that Engelhardt (class of '78) was the 2023 Alumnus of the Year of Brother Martin High School, a Catholic school in New Orleans. Search clicks reveal that the school "integrates Catholic tradition and the charism of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart." Charism! I looked it up. Merriam-Webster: "an extraordinary power (as of healing) given a Christian by the Holy Spirit for the good of the church." I don't think you have to be Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, atheist, or agnostic to wonder if Judge Engelhardt is using his "extraordinary" judicial power for the U.S. Constitution or "for the good of the church."
Wikipedia tells us that the Brothers of the Sacred Heart is a "Lay Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right (for men)." For men, indeed. The photo of Judge Engelhardt on the Brother Martin website page announcing that he was the 2023 Alumnus of the Year shows the Judge with...don't be shocked...22 other guys, 21 of them White, one probably Latino.
That same page tells us about Judge Engelhardt's moral and philosophical priorities: "During his acceptance speech, Kurt thanked his family, his mentors and teachers, and his friends and colleagues. He beamed with pride and stated how proud he was to be a Brother Martin Crusader." An upper-case Crusader! Doesn't that address the question of what entity has precedence when the judge wields his "extraordinary power?" Read all four verses of "Onward, Christian Soldiers."
Lucian, you are ab-so-lute-ly correct: you can't make this "stuff" up.
Obscene. I suspect that in a very short time period Texas with have one the highest maternity related mortality rates in the country (if it doesn't already) as every OB-GYN doctor with any scruples bolts out of there. The political cartoonist Mike Luckovitch nailed this: https://images.app.goo.gl/BzDbv2HqU5SsUMFTA
Deliberately preventing women from obtaining life saving abortions is attempted murder. If the patient dies, it is murder. And it is pre-meditated.
Pro-life is just bullshit. These people need to be stopped.
I agree whole heartedly. There are probably attorneys out there who would handle these suits pro bono. The only way to deter these people is to hit their pockets.
But it is God's Will in Texas, and you can't sue God. Nor can you define God as anything other than a misogynist, racist dominator.
Lucian, those of us who were brats and served following graduation must be especially livid over Texas women haters.
Can't imagine what the wives, female dependents and female service members must think when orders to Texas show up.
I remember the power Washington had in the 1960's when segregated school states were threatened with loss of federal impact funds unless they integrated. For those unfamiliar, impact funds were provided to cover military kids whose parents weren't local taxpayers, in the case of my High School in Columbus, GA, Baker High. We integrated my senior year, I remember 2 of 6 or 7 black kids who survived that experience.
Anyone familiar with the power of the old South Senators who stocked the post WWII states with bases knows this story.
I totally agree with you, Doris. I was trying to be facetious.
“ . . . the way to stop abortions necessary to save pregnant women’s lives is to let them die.”
Is it somehow lost on these justices that if the pregnant woman seeking emergency care dies, the “baby” also dies?? So, instead of “losing the baby” to save a woman, the end result is the loss of the “baby” AND the mother. This seems to amount to sanctioned murder of women.
How can a pregnant woman in the state of Texas ever feel safe?? 😢😢
They can't. That is the point.
It’s a feature not a bug.
The utter illogic and cruelty are entirely the point.
I agree.Women need to file a class action suit against the state of Texas.”Cruel and Unusual Punishment “.I am both horrified and saddened that women are thought so little of that their lives and ultimately the lives of their unborn babies are dispensable and mean nothing more to these cruel men legislating this than a piece of dirt under their fingernails.I am gobsmacked.
You're right. A class action lawsuit is exactly what is needed. The problem is, the barrage of appeals will find the way to the Supreme Court who are responsible for this travesty. The only recourse is to vote out the republicans, and change the court, which is no help for women at this time.
It's extremely depressing, because we likely will not see any change in our lifetimes no matter what happens this November.
I really doubt that it will stop here . Will they keep on going until they crush us?
Only if we let them.
😊Thank you! I was surprised no one responded yesterday. I think there are more than a few who would be happy to take us back to second class citizen. I want a better world than that
I like the goal but it really couldn't work. A class action is a civil remedy that awards damages, "cruel and unusual punishment" is a defense to a criminal prosecution. Women would have to be prosecuted first, but who would want to take that chance and rely on courts. For now the only viable solution seems to be to go to a state where abortion is allowed. We need more emphasis on funding groups that can support that.
Thanks for the info.Something has got to be done though.The war on women continues unabated and is steadily getting worse.People are going to die.
The new underground railroad? Good Lord. How can this be happening?
Didn't the Catholic Church at one time endorse this? No abortion, even to save the woman's life, because: "Better two deaths than one murder." I recall reading this somewhere, years ago.
Decades ago, in TX church parking lot, the personality disordered Monsignor went up to now deceased aunt and said: I hear you had a D&C; you didn’t ask my permission! She turned on him like a rattlesnake and loudly said: I don’t have to ask your permission for anything, this is my body! He turned limp and shriveled up. That was in the 60’s. One of the better TX memories.
The early seventies not so long a time!
That's what I was taught in Catholic School in the 60's.
The twisted morality of that position defies all belief!
I'd reply but Substack's formatting is gone. I'm about to become an unsubscriber if they do not fix this problem because it's going to affect your readers. I'd love to comment. I have a great one, but I won't this time. Tell Substack you're losing your audience. It's not me. It's them. Great column, too.
I don't understand your complaint. I am replying to your comment, so why do you say you can't comment because of "Substack's formatting is gone?" Please explain.
Actually there’s problem on my ability to comment, but it’s easy to get
around it. I just have to provide my email and they send a direct link.
Don’t know why there’s an additional step; l was wondering if there were security concerns.
The formatting is very unstable. When I logged in the first time, the entire page would not display the HTML 3.0 language properly-using icons and mis-applied headings, without any kind of bordering or formatting. It was all I could do to make my comment to appear at all-in a very tiny box.
It seems to be all right now, but it's the second time this has happened in the past month, and it's not my browser or settings.
I think IT department of Substack is losing control of the formatting and I don't read stuff I can't understand. I hope they get it figured out.
It's not Lucien's fault at all, but he should not have to suffer from incompetence on the part of the place where he writes his columns.
It's really unacceptable to both me and probably him.
He's trying to make a living from it. Think how his work is handled is pretty important.
I have not gotten any other complaints about this. If it happens again, let me know, and send a complaint describing what you said above to support@substack.com. They are good at fixing things.
It sounds a great deal different than my experience writing comments like this on my iPad. I have a web site montagnephotos.com that I struggle to keep updated, I’m literate as a photographer and semi-literate at writing comments but building a functional website requires a language that is foreign to me, so I get it how a formatting problem would be very frustrating. I hope you don’t go away, I like reading your comments Mary 🙏
Have you ever felt safe in Texas?
The hatred of women, the fear and disgust toward female sexuality, the obsession with punishing women for having sex, that one sees in these men is mind-boggling. There is only one adequate description of those judges and men like Paxton: they are SEXUAL PSYCHOPATHS. They take pleasure in seeing women suffer and die. They WANT that to happen. They can't personally torture and mutilate and murder women, so they make laws that have the same effect.
At one point, there was a movement in Texas to secede from the Union. It is time to let that happen. One can hope.
There has been a nascent secession movement in Texas forever. It waxes and wanes, and is partially based on the claim that the admission to the Union was not done properly and therefore Texas is still and independent Republic. Personally, I think we should pay Mexico to take Texas back.
Side benefits! No more Abbott, Roy and Cruz for starters, not to mention the people who voted them in.
And Gohmert!
Good get!
Do we get a big ass wall up by Oklahoma please? New Mexico would probably yell count me In for a wall, too.
I believe Texas is 55 percent Hispanic now so, why not?
Problem with that solution is that Mexico doesn't want it back, at keast not with the people who currently populate it.
I have supported secession for years, with one guarantee: Must take Gohmert, Cruz and Abbott or no deal!
And Paxton. Maybe the Mexican Courts would finally try him.
I believe, okay, imagine, that a woman with some sensibility who, for whatever sad reason, found herself being rammed under one of these MAGApath judges, would find that torture.
Wow. I am sorry to say but I have had the same thoughts. There is something so sexually perverse about all of this hatred and punishment. These men are sick, sick, sick.
They hate women...see Sheriff Tillman in the latest Fargo...poster boy!
Time for the Feds to play hardball. If a Texas hospital refuses to treat a woman who is in crisis and the standard of care is an abortion, that hospital will no longer be eligible to receive federal funds. No Medicare, no Medicaid, no Tricare, not one federal dollar. You can hear the screams from the right wing now. Federal response- did you expect we would sit by while Republicans kill women?
Punishing hospitals for something they didn’t cause only makes this barbaric mess worse. Sue the state government, the governor, and the AG. Indict them for murder on federal charges.
True, but how do you attack the problem otherwise? The Feds can't indict for murder so maybe violation of civil rights?
I am tired of observing how the Feds do seem to be rolling over for whatever b.s. states like Texas are arbitrarily doing, contrary to other state or federal laws. Why aren't these states and cities facing kidnapped busloads of migrants suing Abbott et al. for their actions that are designed to hurt other localities? (As well as grandstand to the MAGA crowd.)
I'm with you. I think that the feds, or frankly the state troopers, should be arresting drivers for human trafficking. Impound the busses. This crap from Abbott would end fast if the companies refused to participate.
I mean to say, look at how fast the GOP states are to sue the feds for everything, lightning quick, whenever they feel aggrieved. This needs to stop. It can't stay a one-way lawsuit street. The Kennedy brothers didn't stand for this obstructionism from state governors. Look at how far we've fallen.
I don’t know Kozmo, we have 50 states each with their own uniquely structured laws, here may be a legit use of “states rights”, at any rate they have them and they must present a maze of entanglements to the feds who have in comparison a relatively simple view of the law. That may be completely wrong, I’m not trained in the law, although the last few years have certainly informed me of how it works. That’s how it looks from here and I think part of how it works. 🤷♂️
Amen a thousand times.
And also DOJ needs to bring criminal charges. Make them sue us for a change.
The GOP once warned that the Affordable Care Act would lead to death panels. Well geez guess who is now creating death panels? Ta da…
Every depraved thing the Republicans accuse the Democrats of doing is something they, the Republicans, either want to do or are already doing.
Yes.Every Republican accusation is actually a confession.
Amen
Awomen.
As I have said over and over through the years:
"Men created God in their own image in order to maintain power over women".
100%
Ken Paxton would feel right at home in the upper echelons of the Taliban.
The Taliban would recognize Paxton as a useless tool. They would have him despatched with all deliberate speed.
I find myself wondering why any women live in Texas. Of course, I was privileged to be born in the liberal state of Massachusetts, where sanity and basic compassion prevail most of the time.
We all need to do everything we individually can to promote awareness among women in all states that have passed abortion bans. They all need to be angry, and we need to make sure they all VOTE. Won't it be stupendous if a tidal wave of women's rage takes down Donald Trump and reduces Republican lawmakers to a minority nationwide?
A woman can dream. In the meantime, I need to sign up for my next batch of postcards to voters.
I hope you are right.
I worry about wives and daughters , as well as female service members assigned to military bases in Texas...
I need to start postcarding. What group do you recommend I sign up with, Elizabeth?
This craziness will only continue if men and women continue to vote for the R Party’s distorted facts and lies. Paxton should be in prison already, for all the misdeeds he’s done but then so should Trump. The rights of women are so twisted, so corrupt, so gross, that we women must become Amazon warriors and fight back with all of our strength. Think Lysistrata https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata
Deny men sex! Take away their right to have Cialis, Viagra, etc. Give girls and women a vibrator and a knife. A knife to cut off a man’s penis should she be raped. Think Lorena Bobbitt https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/30/arts/television/lorena-bobbitt-documentary-jordan-peele.html
I. Am. Dead. Serious!
A rusty knife which hasn't been sharpened recently, yes?
Yes!
I was just listening to MSNBC NEWS on Sirius XM. They presented an obnoxious commercial about a company selling Viagra. I swear Sirius is owned by some religious group because they have evangelistic ads too!
I live-steam MSNBC on my iPhone through Sirius XM. I listen to it while I walk. It’s on their news channels.
To them, abortion is murder. The death of the mother is not because the life of the mother has no value except to give birth,. When that fails, the mother becomes a felon in life or death. Wait until one of their own miscarries, has a life-threatening condition or has an ectopic pregnancy. Wait until one of their own gets raped or pregnant at 15. Just wait.
You really think that will change their attitudes? They HATE women, and that includes the women they claim to love. They will wipe a way a tear and sacrifice one of their own to their belief that ANY woman wanting an abortion is a worthless slut who deserves to suffer and die.
These religious anti-abortion zealots are MIRED in shame. I don't disagree on how they view women, but it's shame that makes them get caught covering up what the deny others. Their toxic morality and self-righteousness come with a huge dose of shame.
I don't think psychopaths are capable of feeling shame.
Absolutely true nor love,or any type of empathy
When one of their own gets pregnant and can't or doesn't want to carry a pregnancy to term, all these fierce anti-abortion advocates would quietly take their female relative to another state where abortion is still legal.
It's already happened I guarantee it.
Of course it has.
Yes - and get caught!
Right, like Ted Cruz trying to slink off to a comfy tropical island with his family instead of staying to help his constituents battle through the Texas Deep Freeze Power Outage Week.
It won't matter. Too long to to into here, but almost 20 years ago the Republican governor of my blue New England state cut back our state employees yearly amount of family leave. His wife had a chronic illness. So did my (now late) husband.
I believe the corrupt and cruel judges have accomplished the awakening of a slumbering beast (i.e. women), who will rise up and take back their lives.
I hope you are right.
See what we did in Michigan!
Yes!
Although I HOPE you're right, I can't help thinking of all those millions of women who still worship t-Rump. From what I've read over the years, there's an awful lot of sexual dysfunction among women, that is, women who dislike or even hate sex. They are--I strongly suspect-- the ones who envy and hate the women they think are out there enjoying sex. "Gotta punish those bitches! Force 'em to have babies!" Of course I can't prove this, but I believe that the rates of sexual dysfunction among trumpster women must be sky-high! Must be, because why else would they take such pleasure in seeing other women's lives ruined or even lost through unwanted pregnancies?
Imagine the outcry if states empowered panels comprised of elderly women to determine health care for young men? Deciding when young men could have sex, what type of birth control they were required to use, jailing men who fail to support a child they father. There would be an insurrection. I can't fathom how we allow elderly men with no medical expertise to make health care decisions for young women. It truly is a story straight out of Handmaid's Tale.
How did America get into this sorry state in such a short period of time. And I don’t mean since Trump because this crap‘s been building since at least Reagan. I try not to feel hopeless. It’s not good for you, but as I watch the sick bastards of the religious right infesting every aspect of our lives, I’m scared. And angry, really effing angry. People don’t realize how many justices they’ve placed all over the country. The real test is going to be to see what happens with the January 6 trial word is that Jack Smith has some really powerful evidence but will he get the chance to present it or will it just be chipped away?
How is any of this possible? How do people justify the killing of women? Is there hope or are we on a slow road to doom?
There's always hope...
Now let’s not get too excited here. After all, the fifth circuit hasn’t yet ruled on the surely right-around-the-corner Texas law mandating the stoning of pregnant women who fail to wear their bonnets properly.
OK, that is a semi-satirical example. But just to play with the thought problem, let’s say that Texas did pass such a law, and that the fifth circuit upheld it. What would the rest of us do about it?
Because that’s kind of where we’re at already. I am as disgusted and horrified by this ruling, and by Paxton and the people who support politicians like him, as anyone could possibly be.
I hate them, or, at least I hate their politics, with a burning passion.
I’m a lifelong liberal, who campaigne for Gene McCarthy when I was eight years old, and fled red-state Missouri, as soon as I could get out of there.
Now I live in San Francisco, a few blocks from Nancy Pelosi‘s house, where I spend an inordinate amount of time every day reading about these outrages and cursing these people.
I have done what I could do in my life to counter their malevolence, but the question I am posing to the readers of this long comment is, what could people -- whether they be politicians I support, or organizations I support -- actually do to counter this kind of insanity?
I am not proposing a counsel of despair here, just asking Lucian, or anyone else who cares to comment thoughtfully, on what can be done to roll back this vicious craziness.
Because the good citizens of Texas have voted these people into power, and support them wholeheartedly.
DOJ could brung criminal charges against the hospital. But, "comity".
Lucian, I bet 99.9% of your readers remember the dire warnings in 2009 from Sarah Palin and Betsy McCaughey (look at her photo from back then: her Melania/Alina Habba cascading hair!) that the Affordable Care Act would mean "death panels" of doctors who would decide on whether an elderly person would continue to get medical care, or simply be "allowed" to die. Have I missed Palin and McCaughey shrieking today about real-life "death panels," of Trumpublican judges, governors and AGs, deciding whether a pregnant woman should be allowed to die?
You quoted Fifth Circuit Court Judge Kurt D. Engelhardt, writing on behalf of the Death Panel majority, and you mentioned he was appointed by Trump. Perhaps of equal importance is the fact that Engelhardt (class of '78) was the 2023 Alumnus of the Year of Brother Martin High School, a Catholic school in New Orleans. Search clicks reveal that the school "integrates Catholic tradition and the charism of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart." Charism! I looked it up. Merriam-Webster: "an extraordinary power (as of healing) given a Christian by the Holy Spirit for the good of the church." I don't think you have to be Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, atheist, or agnostic to wonder if Judge Engelhardt is using his "extraordinary" judicial power for the U.S. Constitution or "for the good of the church."
Wikipedia tells us that the Brothers of the Sacred Heart is a "Lay Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right (for men)." For men, indeed. The photo of Judge Engelhardt on the Brother Martin website page announcing that he was the 2023 Alumnus of the Year shows the Judge with...don't be shocked...22 other guys, 21 of them White, one probably Latino.
That same page tells us about Judge Engelhardt's moral and philosophical priorities: "During his acceptance speech, Kurt thanked his family, his mentors and teachers, and his friends and colleagues. He beamed with pride and stated how proud he was to be a Brother Martin Crusader." An upper-case Crusader! Doesn't that address the question of what entity has precedence when the judge wields his "extraordinary power?" Read all four verses of "Onward, Christian Soldiers."
Lucian, you are ab-so-lute-ly correct: you can't make this "stuff" up.
Obscene. I suspect that in a very short time period Texas with have one the highest maternity related mortality rates in the country (if it doesn't already) as every OB-GYN doctor with any scruples bolts out of there. The political cartoonist Mike Luckovitch nailed this: https://images.app.goo.gl/BzDbv2HqU5SsUMFTA
Yes, great cartoon!