112 Comments

I just read a post on Facebook about whether RBG is at fault for Alito’s power play since she didn’t retire. In case you see similar comments, here’s my response:

She believed she had more time left than she did. Do I “blame” her when congress has had 30 years to enact a national law codifying abortion and contraception rights? Why the hell should we rely on SCOTUS when we have legislators who are supposed to act on our behalf.

Here’s the point babies: women are not a priority in this culture unless women are leading the charge (like the women who got Roe written and passed). What you see today is your furture as envisioned by the GOP.

I am almost 75. I fought these battles long ago and far away. We thought we won, but those bastards really showed us didn’t they?

The night HRC lost the presidency was one of the most awful nights of my life. The most qualified candidate to ever run was defeated by the least qualified because she is a woman. Last night proved to be as horrifying, disappointing, terrifying, and depressing.

Five shit ass conservative control freaks will reverse our freedom to choose. Fuck them, their spouses, children, and let their pets be adopted by democrats.

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Five UNELECTED shit ass CONservative control freaks with mommy issues.

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Two of whom were manipulated in by the evil McConnell who bullied Obama and reversed course with Barrett. How do you know a sociopath?

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Can I give you 6 ❤️s?

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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I absolutely agree with you, Ms. Hopper, and you, Ms. Hilton. Words cannot express how furious, disappointed, and scared I am. As has often been pointed out, this will not stop women from having abortions, it will stop them from having safe abortions.

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The biggest problem I see is that the rich white women will still be able to get abortions because they'll still be able to go to another state for one. Everyone else is just SOL. Sucks to be poor, doesn't it?

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Middle class women will not be terribly effected, either. It will be mostly poor women, and especially poor women of color who will suffer most. But that's what the Punitive Pregnancy People WANT! They are racists who take pleasure in punishing poor black women whom they see as sexually promiscuous (that is, having a lot more fun in bed than they, the PPP, are having) and needing to be punished by being forced to have unwanted children. You can almost hear the gleeful "NYAH-NYAH-NYAH!" -- IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE PREGNANT, JUST DON'T HAVE SEX!" Watch in the next few months--you'll see that the PPP won't be able to disguise their sadistic glee in their ability to inflict the pain and anguish of life-ruining pregnancies on women, and particularly on poor black women.

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And may every anti-choice woman of child-bearing age suffer an ectopic pregnancy! Let’s see how against terminating the existence of an embryo they are when they are in mortal agony from a pregnancy that is going to kill them!

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founding

It’s funny how people change their minds when it happens to someone in their family.

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Just about every women's health clinic staffer or volunteer I've known in the last 45 years has stories about the anti-abortion picketer who shows up to have an abortion when unwanted pregnancy happens to her.

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Because Russia interfered in the 2016 election, Hillary lost the election, and Trump was then able to appoint three dummies to the Supreme Court with McConnell’s connivance.

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It’s a decade of resurgence for the Neanderthals. Racism, sexism, misogyny, and gay-hating are making a brief comeback. The primary benefit I see is that it provides outrage for the rest of us. Outrage gave us the 2018 blue wave in California, making the R Party an endangered species here, with no power left. Outrage voted Trump out of office in 2020. Outrage produced the miracle of a blue Senate on Jan. 5, 2021. We need outrage to wake up the sleepyheads and convert our entire country into a nearly all-blue political system, like California became [starting with the census and redistricting] in 2010.

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Hopefully the outrage will boost the turnout! Im in Colorado where the state govt. Has got a democratic majority. It makes republicans angry but they arent offering much to the voters. Let me see an actual realistic agenda and I might take a look. For now any sane person should be voting democrat even though its a pro war pro surveillance pro corporate party. Its sadly the only choice right now but the alternative is to take a permanent trip back to 1922

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concur.

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Wonder why we say something so mild as Russia "interfered" in the election? Russia BOUGHT & STOLE THE U.S. Election

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I am 73. My daughter was born in 1972. She had an abortion while in college. I knew it was a safe medical procedure, and trusted her to make the decision that was right for her. This year she turns 50. I am grateful that she doesn't have a daughter that she would now have to worry about if that daughter was in the same position my daughter was in in college. If Roe v Wade is overturned, my daughter has to live out her life as a second-class citizen, just as I did for the first 25 years of my life. While I am angry, and sad, I am not surprised.

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May 4, 2022·edited May 4, 2022

I'm 73 also and had an abortion. I then had 3 sons, by choice. Each son found medical help and was present for their girlfriend's abortion. Each regrets not having adequate birth control with them. They are now fathers of my three granddaughters and would not hesitate to assist providing birth control or an abortion if their daughters didn't wish to continue with the pregnancy for WHATEVER reason. They are good men. How they will accomplish this in this nightmare I don't know. Stock up on morning-after pills, folks, and provide some form of birth control for boys and girls as soon as they become sexually active.

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None the less, I do find that RBG woefully misjudged what was necessary and vital in her judgeship (judgehood?). Like Popes who overstay their time, she enabled this chain of events. No lifetime appointments in a "democracy!"

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Do you remember that McConnell refused to allow Obama to nominate a justice? How would RBG retiring during fhe Obama administration have helped anything?

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May 4, 2022·edited May 4, 2022

We're dealing with hypotheticals, of course, but I have always criticized Obama for not fighting for the Garland nomination back in the day. That abject surrender to McConnell emboldened the GOP leadership and we see the results now. No way an LBJ, to name a Senatorial knife-fighter exemplar, would have stood by and let a McConnell hoo-raw him like Obama did. Obama never seemed to grasp that a president has powers beyond those literally spelled out. E.g., he might have stood up to the GOP senators and said, "Fine, you've had your chance to advise and consent, but since you decline to do so, Garland is now named a Supreme Court Justice, he'll be moving into his office and taking up his duties Monday." Use executive directives. Dare the senate to do anything about it. That's the only sort of hardball the GOP recognizes.

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The gently-reared Barack Obama apparently had NO idea of the kind of evil forces he would have to confront as President. He'd never had to face the smash-mouth, brass knuckles tactics the GOP immediately employed against him. Let's face it-- he is a brilliant, idealistic man who wasn't a strong enough President. The GOP rolled right over him.

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Yes. The brass knuckles the GOP uses are waking up the idealists. Even Biden is asleep at the wheel in certain respects. We will see a brass-knuckle brawling Democratic president soon, I hope, and I expect it will be a woman. LBJ is what we need, absolutely.

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oh

lordy

i really truly hope so.

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Or perhaps Harry Truman, who once had the nerve to call it a "do nothing Congress."

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That notion of "Hillary will win and take care of business" is the sort of laziness and disinclination to fight for what was necessary that has produced this current dumpster fire.

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i was going to reply to you, Ms. Hopper, until i read Kozmo's reply where Kozmo stated in much better fashion exactly what my thoughts were.

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So you don’t like RBG. Even had she retired McConnell said Obama would not get to appoint justices. You guys are bitching about HER when the problem was McConnell. You are insight-challanged, my dears.

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don't get me wrong, Ms. Hopper, i truly liked Justice Ruth Ginburg and all she stood for.

i do admit i'm challenged in many ways, and we don't know each other that well so surely don't call me dear.

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Funny (not) how people in a male-dominated society always find a woman to blame things on. This seems to be true on the left, right, and center. Kozmo, would you explain how RBG enabled Trump's election or McConnell's stranglehold on the Senate when he was majority leader? Inquiring minds would love to know.

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Linda Hopper, truth!

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RemovedMay 4, 2022·edited May 4, 2022
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Maybe we should start calling t-rump's rancid appointees the INjustices.

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Maybe we should call the Republican appointees on the Supreme Court what they are: advocates for sexism. Believers in a male dominated society where women are second-class citizens, to be ruled by men. Amy’s in that camp too.

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I call them the Stench Bench. Three of them lied under oath during their confirmation hearings. The last I heard, that's called perjury and is a crime. Amy is a classic 18th century idiot who believes that women should be barefoot and pregnant and serving their masters however their masters choose. She should not even be allowed in a closet with a black robe much less in a court of law.

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That makes Amy the Stench Bench Wench.

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Yes! Good one!

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i'm gonna steal that

i beg your pardon.

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I was surprised and pleased to hear NPR note this Wednesday morning. The anomaly can't get enough attention.

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I just flew from Seattle to Washington DC today and was impressed by the number of people I saw on the Metro and elsewhere who had signs protesting this idea. Three young people at the restaurant tonight had signs and I told them “Bravo! I’ve been fighting this fight for 50 years and that I was so glad to see so many young people doing the same.

Have I told you lately how much I loathe Republicans?

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Have I told you lately how much I agree with you and what good company you’re keeping here?

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For a start. Never vote for a Republican! EVER!

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I've long felt that young women who didn't vote or, worse, voted Republican had no idea what a hole they were digging for themselves—and all of us—because they'd always had reproductive rights. As someone who remembers when women didn't, it's no satisfaction to see the grave they dug finished. We can only hope they heed their self-interest in future elections.

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Can I “like” this 4 million times? There! I just did!

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In the next few years, watch for steadily climbing rates of infanticide, child abandonment, abuse and neglect: in a few decades sharp increases in mental health issues and ever rising crime rates, as millions of unwanted, neglected and abused children become psychologically damaged and often criminal adults.

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I’m starting a poll. Who would you nominate as the worst Supreme Court Justice? I’ll kick it off. I nominate Ginny Thomas.

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Brilliant piece. And Fuck Republicans.

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So can y’all hear me screaming? The 5 traitor justices perjured themselves in their court hearings. They bullshitted their way to climbing the ladder to being on the Supreme Court. Really, the only one who didn't is Amy Coney Barrett. She told us right from the git-go about adoptions and if women wanted to get rid of their babies, they could just merely drop them off at churches, police departments, or even fire departments. That’s right, let those so-called horrible women pull on the heartstrings of cops, priests, pastors, fire people by dropping their offspring right on their laps forever. These babies should be raised by the 5 lying justices. Better yet, deposit bloody coat hangers on their porches or lawns. This sounds crazy, right? Well, that’s what women will do. I think they will mutilate themselves and death will be their fate. I am extremely angry and sad to know our healthcare is at stake; men and boys are affected as well.

See, I cannot wait until the black children of Barrett grow up. Someday, they will read about how their mother voted against their race and their people from making advancements. I hope I am around to see that.

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There is a group that is already raising money to pay expenses for women who need abortions and must leave their home states to obtain one. Hooray for Blue states!

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I think every unwanted child born after Barrett utters her "opinion" should be delivered to HER DOORSTEP. Just leave a basket or a box with a little note...maybe a dime to help with expenses.

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❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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founding

I had an abortion at 21- it wasn’t legal in my home state of Michigan until July. I flew to California. I was helped with the arrangements by a group of clergy. I have no biological children, but there is not one day I regret the decision. There are still members of my family who

Do not know. In the process, my mother admitted that she had an abortion in 1942, as did another close relative. I was lucky to have a safe abortion. My Mom’s was performed by a doctor- fortunately for me as I was her third child. My point is that women will seek abortions whether the procedure is illegal or not. Unfortunately, many will die and many more children will be born to women who are poor. The Republican Party will abandon the child as soon as it is born. I’m so sad and angry. I hope women will vote blue this fall- change the state legislatures so that their rights are not taken away. Sorry for the rambling.

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Personal experience is never rambling. Personal experience is always vivid and meaningful and valuable.

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Dead on. An anecdote here and an anecdote there and pretty soon you have reality.

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My maternal grandmother died “in childbirth“ in Germany in the early 1940s at the height of the war. My mother, as the eldest daughter, became the de facto mother for the family. She never told me, or any of her children, what actually happened. She never talked about it, and I never asked. Whether it was a coat hanger abortion, or Paula died due to lack of proper care during a childbirth or miscarriage, she is my grandparent who was the first to die. All the other grandparents lived to see grandchildren.

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Battle stations

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Is there any precedent for the Supreme Court saying: not only do you not have this fundamental right, but you actually never had it in the first place. It feels insane to me

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however Roberts ends up voting in this matter, let's remember before we start talking about his "heroic" behavior that he's behind some of the worst decisions of ANY period.

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Yes, but he did say racism is no longer a factor in voting so he does have that going for him, right?

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exactly. and Citizens United. two of the worst--and most momentous--decisions in modern history.

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Today’s word: APOPLECTIC.

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founding

It is said that hypocrisy is the tribute that that vice pays to virtue on its way to doing what it knows is wrong. That Republican nominees to the Supreme Court, or any other office requiring Senate confirmation, will lie outright or engage in weasel wording prevarication implicates the entire Republican Party, without exception, in their nominees' dishonesty. None of them deserve your vote under any circumstance.

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wow

this thread has so many well expressed thoughts that i feel i have been getting a good affirmation of ethics and lessons in jurisprudence.

thank you all.

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In 1952 Republicans won the House Senate and Presidency. They proceeded to introduce legislation to abolish much of The New Deal. Eisenhower vetoed everything. In 1954 The Republicans lost the congress and Senate. Republicans might take congress in 2022 only to lose everything in 2024. Americans have shown to be reasonable much of the time. Women's rights have been established and defined for decades. Going backwards will create a serious backlash. Be patient, the US is not going to become a hardcore reactionary state.

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Our resident optimist! I hope you are right.

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And yet -- this is not the world of 1952.

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Yes, Audiea, exactly my opinion. The backlash will be an outraged electorate doing what happened in 2020.

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lordy, i hope so.

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Damn straight! Half of America's people just got slapped in the face and told, "You're second-class citizens now."

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Over half, BTW!

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Absolutely on mark. Nothing more to say except bravo! To hell with those men who think women should never have been allowed to vote, because that led to them actually having rights.

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