Fifth Circuit Blues
Honestly, I don’t know how long women of childbearing age can stay in Texas. I am grateful my daughters are settled in states where their health and lives are respected. Tuesday’s decision by the Fifth Circuit reaffirms how broken Texas is. I am using my A language here, because Momma’s watching from the great beyond, but what I really want to use is my F language.
And then there’s this. Too many people are suffering and dying from bad air. Bad air along industrial zones on the Gulf Coast is not news. Just ask Juanita Jean. Yet, the powers that be in these states (and the Supreme Court) don’t want government interference or the EPA telling them what to do, until they want to blame Joe Biden. You can’t have it both ways, guys. Voters, you need to hold your leaders accountable up and down the ballot. All Politics is Local, right?
This will sound harsh, and certainly doesn’t apply to Salon patrons who are doing all they can to turn things around, but no one in a clean air/water state is going to feel too sorry for you if you don’t help yourselves. I do know that some of us will be sending a little cash to candidates in foreign states who give a hoot, joining GOTV letter campaigns, and supporting our own legislators who understand how important a clean environment is for all of us. Especially with the impacts of climate change. After all, we are pro life no caps, have friends and family we care about, and are good American patriots in the purest sense of the word. Some of us are even fans of the NE Patriots, even when they have losing seasons (like they did when I was growing up). See how I lightened up this rant??? Tomorrow, I go back to drinking half-caf in the morning, I can’t keep this up.
If there isn’t landslide mail in, early and on site Election Day voting in 2024, I will be more disappointed than I was on election night 2016. Okay, maybe AS disappointed. That was a hell night I will never recover from, and an order of magnitude worse than election night 2000. I’d better stock up the bar just in case. At this rate I won’t come close to Damp January, never mind Dry January. Who knows where things will be at by November. Hang on, it is going to be a wild ride.
I hear ya, sistah! Damp January–least of all Dry January–ain’t about to happen here, either. I read about the 5th Circuit decision yesterday and wondered if everybody in Texas had gone stark, raving mad.
That decision ranks right up there with the Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson decisions as the most lunatic, outrageous decisions by SCOTUS. At any rate, it will certainly drive even more women to the polls this year and that’s not the worst result that could happen from this. Letting women die for no good reason isn’t exactly what I would call a sane outcome.
Luckily for me, the Ravens are just up the road and I have been happy to root for them ever since they lost the storied Colts in the middle of the night and named their new team after a POEM! That hit my sweet spot right from the git go. Lamar Jackson is worth the price of admission all by himself.
1I just put my daughter on a plane headed back to her place in DC. North Carolina daughter left last week. As much as I miss both of them, I’m relieved they don’t live in TX, as it’s not a fit place for young women of reproductive age.
Hey BarbinDC, you don’t happen to know anybody looking to hire a good Texas liberal with a masters in public policy, do you? Asking for a friend (ok, daughter)
2You’re so right about the importance of voting. When Abbott/Patrick/ GOP’s dream abortion law was recently tested by a woman who had a fetus who would be DOA or soon after, it was our TX Supremes — all GOP — upholding the Party line. This year, two of the Justices will be up for reelection. People need to vote the whole ballot and not just stop at President, VP, etc — they need to go all the way to dogcatcher. This is the only way to rid ourselves of these leeches and return common sense and decency to Texas.
3Barb in DC, rooting for Ravens as well. Had Baltimore daughter (also job hunting Jill Ann) here for Xmas week, and isn’t Lamar something! Also have a sister who lives in Bmore near the Poe house. And then, there are the UW HUSKIES to root for (but don’t tell my BIL and niece, who are UM alums).
4I wonder what various Doctor’s associations think -& might do- about this blatant terrorizing of the medical profession, including emergency medical treatment?
I would expect there would be a strong pushback to these laws targeting medical professionals. But I’ve heard nothing.
Are doctors, nurses, etc. just packing up and leaving? And is this what the Oligarch .01% who own and control Texas actually want? Sure looks like it.
5It’s not just the Ob/Gyn docs who are going to get fed up and leave TX and other anti-female fascist states, or refuse to be recruited there in the first place. ER docs now are targeted officially now, too. It carries over to family practice, primary care, and surgery, as well as anesthesiology, imaging, and all the associated non-MD medical staff.
Who do they think is going to deliver the babies they DO want to see born? Who will diagnose and treat the other conditions that might affect women (or even right-wing men)?
The NYT reports that it was already happening in red states 4 months ago (behind firewall) – https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/us/politics/abortion-obstetricians-maternity-care.html
6If the Texas Democratic Party can’t make some hay out of this latest stuff it’s PFB.
. Unrelated Suggestion :
Be sure to text the following every chance you get [but use a burner phone, texting to that SMS short code* will reveal much info about you!]:
Text FU to 88022
[this is from the: trump ‘Make America Great Again 2024’ campaign pitch, seen on signs at almost every speech that he gives.
EG:
https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/former-president-donald-trump-speaks-at-a-campaign-rally-on-news-photo/1485857181 ]
* “An SMS short code is a five or six-digit phone number built for high-volume text messaging. Brands use short code numbers to text updates, promotions, and reminders to their contacts at scale. There are two types of short codes: memorable and random. Memorable short codes are hand-picked digits that spell out a phrase or have repeating numbers.”
“Messages sent to a short code can be billed at a higher rate than a standard SMS and may even subscribe a customer to a recurring monthly service that will be added to the customer’s mobile-phone bill until the user texts, for example, the word “STOP” to terminate the service.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_code
Hint: Using such SMS codes exposes you to all kinds of things. Just like using many “apps” on your phone will. Most people are unaware of these dangers… You’ve been warned..
7And sometimes the offenders get slapped upside the head:
Smokin’ hot off the press:
San Antonio Fire Chief Hood retires after investigation into ‘inappropriate and offensive’ comments
by Raquel Torres
January 3, 2024
https://sanantonioreport.org/san-antonio-fire-chief-charles-hood-retires-after-investigation
“City officials on Wednesday announced that San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood has retired from his position following an outside investigation that found Hood made “inappropriate and offensive” comments.
“His comments are vulgar, demeaning and disrespectful to women. They are disruptive to professional operations of the department. This conduct will not be tolerated,” City Manager Erik Walsh wrote in a statement on Wednesday. “
8If I had to vote for a democrat serial killer or any rePUKEian crook? I would vote for the serial killer! A serial killer may kill a few people but a rePUKEian policy kills thousands!! Just look at texastan!
9Ms. Carraway and I are in a pickle. We both have jobs that could potentially be portable and land us in other states where things are better but we also have aging parents that really can’t move. Ms. Carraway’s parents are in Louisiana which is almost as bad. Her parents are Trumpers so we do the best we can on that front.
We are most concerned about our daughter and what she will do once she is out of high school and college. You have to wonder how this will shake out politically as I see a population shift happening. Younger people will move to blue states which will only make them more blue and the redder states more red. I see a constitutional crisis occurring in the not too distant future.
10Nick Carraway @10, “constitutional crisis” hell! We’re heading for Civil War II.
11I think that your excellent thread posted a little earlier today [following this one] covered a lot of good ground, and I think that I detected a hint of foreboding of just that inevitable possibility.
We must be ready for it, when and if, especially if Biden/Harris and the Dems have a November sweep of the elections. Whatever happens, if the MAGAots and GOPers do in fact lose their minds and act out according to what they think little else of– but to hunt down ‘the libs’.
And today, he who don’t get named here, seemed to call for maga SA brown shirt thugs to occupy polling places in big cities to intimidate people.
12I wonder what color shirts he would want his thugs to wear? Mussolini was black, Stalin was red, Nazi was brown. Maybe a dingy ratty orange to match his wigs.
13