Thursday Reads: Back To the 1950s (Which Were Not ‘Happy Days’ for Women)

Detail from a marching banner for the Artists’ Campaign to Repeal the Eighth Amendment Banner, by Alice Maher, Rachel Fallon and Breda Mayock.

Good Morning!!

There are plenty of interesting news stories out there today, but all I can think about is that the right wing Supreme Court is poised to reverse Roe v. Wade and attempt to return American women to the second class status we inhabited when I was a girl in the 1950s and early 1960s.

We fought for control over our own bodies and now they plan to take it away again. We won’t stand for it! I’m too old to march in the streets now. Younger women who are the ones whose lives are endangered will have to take up the fight. We can’t let the forces of fascism take destroy U.S. democracy–and there is no doubt that taking away women’s control over their own bodies and lives is a big step in that direction.

The GOP control of the courts is all part of the right wing effort to turn our country into a theocratic autocracy. Returning pregnant women to effective slavery status is an important part of their effort. You could hear the triumph in the voices of right wing “justices” yesterday during the public argument in the Mississippi abortion case. Read the transcript at CNN: Transcript of Supreme Court oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health.

In 2018, Irish women fought and won the right to choose whether to bear a child in a country long dominated by the the Catholic Church. We should be ashamed that the U.S.–supposedly a land of liberty and freedom–is now on a path back to the dark days when women frequently died from back alley or self-administered abortions.

Recommended Reads

Satirist Alexandra Petri at The Washington Post: Opinion: Woman savoring last few hours before getting turned back into vessel.

It was hard to believe the time was running out. Maybe it would not, after all. It had been so long — nearly 49 years, with a few scares along the way — that the illusion had held, that she was a citizen, a person with rights to be respected in her own right. That not merely her life was worthy of protection, but also her ability to make choices for her own future. That she was just as good as any state legislator, and possessed certain rights they could not abridge!

Those 49 years had flown by. But when the court’s clock struck, her run would in all likelihood begin to end. She would stop being a person with autonomy over her own body that the law was bound to respect. She would go back to being a vessel that might potentially contain a person, a vessel whose rights ended once that possibility was considered.

It had been so nice, thinking that she could go anywhere in the United States and the laws would have to acknowledge her right to decide whether she wanted to be pregnant, that any doctor who treated her could give her correct information about what risks she faced, that if her life were threatened, her life would carry weight.

But no. Her rights were all the alienable kind, it turned out, and she was nothing more than a sort of empty clay jar into which, if she were sufficiently blessed, a person might one day be deposited. Her mistake!

She pondered what to do while the Supreme Court heard arguments about Mississippi’s abortion law and deliberated upon them and formed an opinion. There were so many person things she had liked getting to do. She was glad she had gotten some voting in, earlier in the month….

My Body is Not Mine, by Dearbhla Ní Fhaoilleacháin Ryan

There were so many choices that were wonderful if you made them for yourself and nightmarish if others forced them upon you….

She sat on a bench and watched the leaves fall. It had been nice while it lasted, being a person. Getting turned back into a vessel would be unfortunate. But maybe she would not stay a vessel long.

It was a little surprising they thought they had the power to do it.

She could see them salivating already at the prospect of having so many people transformed so quickly, and overnight. They seemed to think it was a real possibility.

As if they got to decide. As if she would not fight.

Irin Carmon at New York Magazine: This Is How Roe Ends.

This is how Roe v. Wade ends — without pretense or pretext, the conservative movement’s tireless dream of forced birth, brought to fruition through the naked promises of Donald Trump, who said if he could put “another two or perhaps three justices on,” Roe would be overturned “automatically, in my opinion, because I am putting pro-life justices on the Court.” On Wednesday, all three of Trump’s justices hearing a case challenging Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban seemed ready to prove him right. Even John Roberts’s feeble attempts at describing, if not actually finding, a compromise would mean overturning all the prior Supreme Courtdecisions that have made abortion legal….

By Supreme Court standards, the session was unusually blunt and at times heated. Stephen Breyer crankily noted that anyone could see it was the arrival of “new members” that had emboldened the right, perhaps hoping the justices Trump nominated might not want to be pawns. As Roberts noticed aloud, the solicitor general of Mississippi had technically been defending a 15-week abortion ban, a stalking horse for overturning Roe, but in later briefs had abruptly pivoted to openly asking for Roe to be overturned. Roberts didn’t say it, but the only thing that changed in between was that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died and Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed. “Will this institution survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and its reading are just political acts?” Sonia Sotomayor asked pointedly.

It seemed obvious that only Roberts, who vainly tried to focus on the 15-week line even when everyone else made clear it was all or nothing, cares for such appearances….

Shackled, by Dearbhla Kelly

Kavanaugh nattered on about how divisive abortion is and how neutral the Constitution is on it, and how, by golly, it’s a big country — “There will be different answers in Mississippi and New York, different in California or Alabama,” he said — with the implication that dominion over one’s body and future is just blue-state elitism.

Barrett did exactly what she was nominated to do, which was to say that forced pregnancy and birth are no big deal because, as she kept repeating, “safe haven” laws allow parents to relinquish their rights and surrender babies to be adopted by others. The concerns the pro-choice side expressed about the effect abortion bans would have on women’s equality, she said, were “focused on the consequences of parenting and the obligations of motherhood that flow from pregnancy. Why don’t the safe-haven laws take care of that problem?”

As Carmon notes, Barrett even had the nerve to compare the effect on bodily autonomy on pregnant women with vaccine mandates!

So it’s essentially over. Right wing “justices” will try to force women back to second class status. In my lifetime, we will have gone full circle. This will just be another step in the GOP/Trumpist dream of “making America great” by turning it into a fascist state. We can’t let it happen!

NOTE: The images in this post were created by Irish women artists during the fight to make abortion legal. Read more at these links:

The Irish Times: ‘Motherhood is a choice’: artists respond to ‘Repeal the Eighth.’

The Guardian: The hateful Eighth: artists at the frontline of Ireland’s abortion rights battle.

That’s all I have energy for today. I could barely sleep last night. Please share your thoughts and links in the comment thread.

Lazy Caturday Reads

Good Afternoon!!

Black Cat by Russian artist Tatiana Gorshunova

I wanted to try to find some good news to post today, but there just isn’t much of it out there. I guess it’s sort good news that a Republican associated with Mitch McConnell has criticized Rep.Loren Boebert for her grotesque attack on Rep. Ilian Omar. Raw Story: ‘Absolute garbage rhetoric’: Mitch McConnell adviser hammers Lauren Boebert on CNN.

On CNN Friday, former Mitch McConnell adviser Scott Jennings slammed Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for her comments joking that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was a suicide bomber.

“Scott, was it just another day at the office and they got these folks in the far right in certain parts of the caucus that they just can’t control?” asked anchor Jim Acosta.

“Senator McConnell serves in the Senate,” said Jennings. “I guarantee you, I know what he’s thinking. It’s a garbage comment from a garbage politics. I’m as anti-Squad as the next [Republican], but there’s plenty of ways to debate these folks without stooping to this garbage rhetoric. I noted, by the way, that Boebert has been forced to apologize. I assume that didn’t happen in a vacuum, but she’s of course committed the ultimate sin, which is the people she’s being performative for here would sRaway you never should apologize.”

On the other hand, no Republicans in the House have done anything to rein Boebert in. Raw Story: ‘Absolutely spineless’: CNN panel thrashes GOP leadership’s silence on Lauren Boebert’s ‘MAGA open mic night.’

A CNN panel on Friday thrashed House Republican leadership for remaining silent about Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R-CO) bigoted attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).

Host Jim Acosta started off by asking former Republican Congressman Charlie Dent what he made of House Republicans’ reaction to what he described as Boebert’s “MAGA open mic night” in which she made disparaged Omar by likening her to a suicide bomber.

Dent said that the way the party has mishandled Boebert has been the same way it’s mishandled Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who was stripped of her committee assignments over her remarks about executing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

“Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Paul Gosar more recently, when they make these statements, it’s important for the Republican leaders to crack down, to deal with it internally,” he said. “Republicans should have taken her off the committees. They should not have let that go to the House floor, as an example, but they didn’t.”

By Simerenya

I know there are plenty of racists here in Massachusetts, but still when I read a story like this, I feel ashamed. MassLive: Disabled Vietnam veteran Eugene Brice finds service to country doesn’t shield him from racism.

Eugene L. Brice survived the Vietnam War, the 1968 Tet Offensive and 29 years in the U.S. Army, but he is struggling to emotionally survive a recent trip to the grocery store.

“It was pretty dramatic. It’s destroyed me,” said Brice, a member of the Springfield chapter of the National Association of Black Veterans and a man who wheels around in a motorized scooter, volunteering 50% of his time to help veterans.

On Oct. 30, Brice found that duty, honor and service are not shields from racism. Weeks later, he is struggling to get his post-traumatic stress disorder and a related speech impediment back under control — and reminding himself that more than 50 years of service to the country should not be ruined by one hellish moment in a parking lot.

“I pulled into the handicapped spot at the Big Y in East Longmeadow. I do my own shopping and for my wife,” Brice explained. “A woman pulled beside me and crossed halfway over the lines. I asked her to move so I could use my ramp to get out of the car.”

The woman did move, but too little to provide Brice room to get out of his car. When he asked her again, he said she told him, “Mind your own business.”

Brice told her the ability to get out of the car was his business. At first, she ignored him, he recounted.

What happened next still brings Brice to tears — and provides a graphic, stomach-churning example of why people of color insist that at any turn and at the most innocent moments, they may encounter hatred and racism.

“The woman said, ‘N—-, just keep on moving.’ She said that several times,” Brice said.

The woman also threatened physical harm, he said, prompting him to back away for fear she might be armed.

“I was sitting in the scooter, and I was very vulnerable. I was scared and afraid if I said something, it might escalate,” Brice said.

Brice said that was the first time he had ever been called the “n” word. This is an elderly man who was disabled in service to the country and has spent his life working to help other disabled veterans. I wish there was a way to identify that woman and make her understand the damage her vicious racist attack caused. 

By Tokuhiro Kawai

Dakinikat wrote about the latest coronavirus variant yesterday. It may not be as dangerous as some are portraying it. The New York Times: New Virus Variant Stokes Concern but Vaccines Still Likely to Work.

The W.H.O. said the new version, named Omicron, carries a number of genetic mutations that may allow it to spread quickly, perhaps even among the vaccinated.

Independent scientists agreed that Omicron warranted urgent attention, but also pointed out that it would take more research to determine the extent of the threat. Although some variants of concern, like Delta, have lived up to initial worries, others have had a limited impact.

“Epidemiologists are trying to say, ‘Easy, tiger,’” said William Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “This could be bad. This could be very bad. But we don’t know enough to roll that tape forward.”

Dr. Hanage and other researchers said that vaccines will most likely protect against Omicron, but further studies are needed to determine how much of the shots’ effectiveness may be reduced.

As the coronavirus replicates inside people, new mutations constantly arise. Most provide the virus with no new advantage. When worrisome mutations do emerge, the World Health Organization uses Greek letters to name the variants. The first “variant of concern,” Alpha, appeared in Britain in late 2020, soon followed by Beta in South Africa.

Omicron first came to light in Botswana, where researchers at the Botswana Harvard H.I.V. Reference Laboratory in Gaborone sequenced the genes of coronaviruses from positive test samples. They found some samples sharing about 50 mutations not found in such a combination before. So far, six people have tested positive for Omicron in Botswana, according to an international database of variants.

Reuters: Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna expect data on shot’s protection against new COVID-19 variant soon.

BioNTech SE said on Friday it expects more data on a worrying new coronavirus variant detected in South Africa within two weeks to help determine whether its vaccine produced with partner Pfizer Inc would have to be reworked.

By Dee Nickerson

Pfizer and BioNTech said that if necessary they expect to be able to ship a new vaccine tailored to the emerging variant in approximately 100 days.

“We understand the concern of experts and have immediately initiated investigations on variant B.1.1.529,” BioNTech said in a statement when asked to comment.

“We expect more data from the laboratory tests in two weeks at the latest. These data will provide more information about whether B.1.1.529 could be an escape variant that may require an adjustment of our vaccine if the variant spreads globally,” it added.

Moderna Inc said in a statement it is working to advance a booster candidate tailored to the new variant and has also been testing a higher dose of its existing booster and to study other booster candidates designed to protect against multiple variants.

“A booster dose of an authorized vaccine represents the only currently available strategy for boosting waning immunity,” Moderna said in the statement.

Escape variants are those that elude the targeted immune response brought about by vaccination. Pfizer and BioNTech would be able to redesign their shot within six weeks and ship initial batches within 100 days, BioNTech added.

Meanwhile, the anti-vaxers are getting crazier by the day. Tom Porter at Business Insider: Conspiracy theorists are pushing toxic bleach and other harmful treatments they claim can ‘de-vaccinate’ people.

In a video hosted on Bitchute, a platform known for its extremist content, a man applies electrodes, a strong magnet and “55 percent Montana whiskey” in the hope of removing a COVID-19 vaccine from a US military veteran.

In another, a gory variant of the “cupping” technique to draw blood from an injection site, a man makes extra incisions with a razor to extract a significant amount. (Insider is not linking to the footage due to its graphic nature.)

Neither method had any hope of working. It is impossible to undo vaccination, a process which works by teaching the body to fight infection itself, and which doesn’t rely on substances that can be isolated or removed.

By Karl Kahler

But, with millions of people now vaccinated against COVID-19, some anti-vaccination advocates are pivoting to a new narrative aimed at those who took vaccines and regret it.

They claim it is indeed possible to “de-vaccinate” people, recommending a host of methods which range from quaint to potentially dangerous.

The “de-vaccination” movement is spreading in Telegram groups with thousands of members, as well as other fringe platforms used by extremists, which Insider monitored while researching the trend.

Users repost videos, like the ones referred to above, beaming them to large audiences not reflected in view counts on the sites where they are hosted.

Advocates have also established a presence on mainstream platforms that purport to restrict such activity, such as Facebook and TikTok, experts told Insider.

Click on the link to read the rest.

Jonathan Karl, author of the new Trump book “Betrayal” is offered a warning to fellow journalists in an interview with Deadline. A summary from HuffPost: ABC’s Jonathan Karl Issues Stark Warning About Covering Donald Trump 2024.

That’s all I have for you today. I wish I could have found more happy news. What stories are you following?

Thanksgiving Reads

Thanksgiving, by Doris Lee

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope you all have a very pleasant day with family and friends or alone if that’s what you prefer. I have spent many Thanksgiving Days by myself and have been grateful to be able to do so. I usually get really stressed out over “the holidays,” and I guess that’s beginning for me today. I’ve been stressing for a couple of hours about getting this post up, and I’ve finally decided to just post some links to interesting articles.

I’ll just say that I’m very grateful today for my sobriety. I got sober on May 10, 1982, and it turned my life around. After a few years, I decided I didn’t want to work as a secretary any longer and took a big risk by leaving my job at M.I.T. without any definite plans for the future.

I went into therapy and dealt with some difficult issues. In time, I was able to return to college and finish my undergraduate degree. I’ve never been happier than when I went back to school and immersed myself in the joys of learning. I loved it so much that I decided to apply to graduate school. I was accepted to a PhD program at Boston University and eventually got a doctoral degree in psychology.

Now I’m retired and struggling with some health issues, but basically I’m quite happy with my life. I still enjoy writing for this blog even though we aren’t as active as we once were. I still feel connected to the people I’ve interacted with here over the years. Writing these posts gives a bit of structure to my days.

I’m grateful to have a nice apartment in subsided senior housing and I’m so grateful that now I can spend so much time reading–something I’ve loved doing ever since I was a young child. I’m grateful to have some family nearby–my brother and sister-in-law and my two nephews. Those boys gave a purpose to my life and I will always be grateful that I was able to spend a lot of time with them and watch them develop into fine young men.

There’s much more that I’m grateful for in my life, and I trace it all back to that long ago day when had a true “spiritual awakening” (as they call it in A.A.) and I “just knew” that I would never drink again. At the time, no one who knew me believed it, but I was right.

Happy Thanksgiving, Sky Dancers! I love you all.

By Lilla Cabot Perry

Now for some interesting reads:

Arthur C. Brooks at The Atlantic: How to Be Thankful When You Don’t Feel Thankful.

Liza Featherstone at The New Republic: America, Rediscover Thanksgiving’s Radical Past. “Gratitude” has become a vapid buzzword, but being grateful can be a revolutionary act. Just look to Lincoln and FDR.

Mediaite: Molly Jong-Fast Had to Call the FBI Due to Death Threats After Joking About Reporting Relatives to FBI on Thanksgiving.

The New York Times: Three Men Are Found Guilty of Murdering Ahmaud Arbery.

Adam Serwer at The Atlantic: The System Only Worked Because It Was Pushed. The most surprising aspect of the trial of Ahmaud Arbery’s killers is not the verdict, but the fact that it happened at all.

Raw Story: Georgia prosecutor booked into jail for mishandling Ahmaud Arbery case.

Guest essay by Dante Stewart at The New York Times: I Was With Family. Suddenly, a White Man Appeared with a Gun.

The Washington Post: How the events unfolded at Waukesha parade.

The Daily Mail: EXCLUSIVE: Waukesha massacre suspect Darrell Brooks was convicted for threatening to bomb Nugget Casino in Nevada and is STILL wanted after failing to appear in court.

CBS46: Man who drove though Christmas parade has arrest record in Georgia

The New York Times: Trump Investigation Enters Crucial Phase as Prosecutor’s Term Nears End.

Dan Vergano at Buzzfeed News: Murder Is A Leading Cause Of Death In Pregnancy In The US. [Warning: Vergano refers to “pregnant people” in the first paragraph]

Axios: Scoop: Centrist Dems sink Biden’s nominee for top bank regulator.

The Washington Post: Rep. Greene introduces bill to award Congress’s highest honor to Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two men.

Rolling Stone: ‘Bitter,’ ‘Angry,’ ‘Enraged’: Reality Winner Blasts the Intercept After 4 Years in Jail.

I wish the news were more cheerful, but that’s the world we’re living in. I’m still choosing to have an attitude of gratitude today.