Fox News conducted a recent poll which showed that we are getting fatigued. We are simply tired about politics under the TЯUMP administration. I've been at this blog for almost 3 years – this is my 134th post – and I get it. It's hard to keep up with the news, period. It's hard to maintain the energy to be outraged and it's hard to work up the energy to act on that outrage. But you know what? We must. We must keep going. We must read the news every day. We must learn about the law, the Constitution, and we must not ever let this indecency get normalized.
I appreciate my readers for continuing this journey with me, even through the fatigue, the anger, the worry, and the dismay. I've always tried to put a positive spin on our outlook. It's important to feel both the anger and the hope. The anger can be useful; it can spur us toward action. But we shouldn't stay in the anger; that could become damaging. We must not become indifferent either. The minute we become complacent or unmoved, we will lose our Republic. Let's hold on to the hope. We have had honor in our government, and we can get there again. Let's take a break and look for the hope and the inspiration: those leaders who can guide us through this mire of anger and fatigue. The Elders Oh! President Jimmy Carter! May we grow up to be like you! President Carter is 95 years old, and he is still working every single day making houses for Habitat for Humanity. The organization was founded in 1973 by a Georgia couple, and President and Mrs. Carter were early supporters. President Carter continues to build houses every day. He hasn't let cancer or broken bones slow him down. Even this week, when on Sunday he took a fall and sustained a facial injury that required 14 stitches. This remarkable man, along with his wife Rosalynn, was back at the job site a day later, hammer in hand, to build another house for the underprivileged. Here's a snapshot of their project from last year. He has been mostly quiet about our current president* and all the horseshit emanating from the White House, but this week he spoke up, in his gentle manner as always. He gave an interview to Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC. Jimmy Carter is a good man. He is deeply religious, but will stand up for what is right, including leaving a church when it is the right thing to do. Christians can find inspiration in him. Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), age 79, lived through the worst of the Civil Rights Era. He walked alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. during the 1960s. Mr. Lewis was brutally beaten more than once, but he kept getting up, fighting for the greater good. And he continues to fight, working hard for the citizens of Georgia's 5th Congressional district, and for all of us as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. Barbara Bush sadly died last year at age 92, but she was truly an inspiration and a patriot. She was the second woman to be both the wife and the mother of U.S. presidents, the first being Abigail Adams. She worked tirelessly for literacy, and in 2016 she was not afraid to speak loudly -- but gently -- about the scumbag that was about to be nominated as the Republican candidate for president.
Jane Goodall, at age 85, is still working for global conservation. She has been working all her life to protect chimpanzees, and has inspired millions to conserve the natural world all around us. And she hasn't stopped.
There are many women who inspire us. Michele Obama, for one. If you haven't read her memoir yet, grab it. Her story is inspirational, uplifting, and quintessentially American. Her influence has even been able to soften me at the personal level (not on the second-worst-presidential-level) of George W. Bush with their sweet friendship.
Michelle Obama has helped change the world. What a powerful woman! We can look to other young, powerful women for hope: Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old who within a year turned her one-person school strike protesting climate change into a world-wide movement, inspiring millions around the globe to demand and work toward change. This 16-year-old has met with world leaders and faced off with some of the most bullying among them.
Greta Thunberg
Mari Copeny, "Little Miss Flint," 12 years old, of Flint, Michigan, has been leading the fight for clean water in her community since she was 8 years old.
Malala Yousafzai, who won the Nobel Peace Prize at age 17, has inspired millions in her quest for equal education and women's rights in Pakistan and around the world.
Ten-year-old Bana al-Abed has been raising awareness about Syrian refugees. This young activist has also spoken to world leaders and educated and inspired many about the plight of children in war zones.
Jazz Jennings, 19, has been a stalwart advocate for transgender youngsters and all who are in the LGBTQ community.
Indiginous Canadian and "Water Warrior" Autumn Peltier, age 15, has been working toward ensuring clean water in indigenous communities across Canada.
Emma Gonzales led the way for gun reform after her high school in Parkland, Florida experienced a deadly mass shooting. Who can forget her 6 minute, 20 seconds of silence – equal to the amount of time it took the gunman to murder 17 of her schoolmates – during her powerful speech after the shootings. Women are at the forefront of our progress as a nation. From the courageous women running for – and winning – elected office, to the the young activists who inspire and spur us toward action, women have a special gift for leading. Women have important traits, like empathy, cooperation, nurturing, connection, thoughtfulness, and sensitivity. Women leaders guide us to more collaboration and less war; more compassion and less greed; more deliberation and fewer hasty decisions; more consideration and less power struggle. Women who harness these traits are powerful forces. And they scare the jeebus out of men like the Orange Scourge. These women are often the brunt of bullying and mocking, but they deflect that shit like Wonder Woman and are not slowed down a bit. Let them inspire us.
Sasha Brown-Worsham, writing for The Guardian about our young female leaders, encapsulates old white men's terror: "What would happen if teenage girls were actually allowed to feel good about themselves? What if we allowed them to have their interests with no shame? They might rise up and change everything. And that scares a certain kind of man." The rest of us, men and women, old and young, activist and dreamer, can and will change the nation. As Rebecca Solnit wrote in a sobering and powerful essay, we are in dangerous times, but there is hope. The forefathers were wise, creating three co-equal branches of government, and today it seems like it is almost breaking. But in their infinite wisdom, they created another. We the People have power. We the fourth branch of government, and we can tip the scales. Our demands will be met. But we must make them. Pay attention. Get angry. Act.
#Hope!
Want to help directly? (As always, research charities before sending your hard-earned dough!)
"The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them." – George Orwell
Atrocities. Hear me: The United States is committing atrocities at the border. And perhaps the worst part: people are profiting from them. Perhaps even you and me.
Let's reach back into my blog-hopper. I've had this topic as a draft since June, 2018. This was the article that caught my eye a year ago, when we were in the midst of learning about children ripped from mothers' arms and put in cages. Someone is making money here.
You've recently heard about us taxpayers – every one of us – paying $750 per day,per bed for holding children in cages without soap or toothbrushes. Is this true or just overblown snowflake bullshit? It's true. Your family of four? A cool $90,000 per month. What the hell is happening here?
Private prisons and immigration detention centers is a multi-billion (with a "B") dollar industry. Corporations are profiting from holding people and not letting them leave, at the behest of the United States Government.
The story of for-profit detention is long and complex. It isn't new by any means. For-profit immigrant detention started with for-profit prisons, which is a whole 'nother topic, disturbing in itself, and one that you can -- and should -- explore by watching the Netflix documentary "13th" about the 13th Amendment and the American criminal criminal justice system. No, that's not a typo. Our criminal justice system is criminal. So much wrong, and perhaps I'll tackle that topic someday.
Yes, it's a long and sordid story, and one that has me overwhelmed in bringing this piece to you. I'm not an investigative journalist; I'm just trying to make sense of the things that will never make sense in our Orwellian world. And this one is tough. It's complex, and it's emotionally wrenching.
The for-profit immigrant detention centers were established in the 1980s, and have now reached crisis numbers of detainees, held in crowded conditions for longer and longer periods of time. Here is a disturbing set of data about them. We have a complex web of detention centers, medical services, transportation services, and food services, all for-profit and all working at the government's expense to increase their bottom line. Their mission is money, NOT providing an appropriate level of care for the detainees. When you have "customers" who are powerless to complain, murky standards, few inspections, and a government that just doesn't care, it is a recipe for Atrocity.
There are various and many facilities for adults, for families, for unaccompanied minors, and for young children separated from their families, which, by the way, is still happening today.
There are a few companies that run and profit from the detention centers. Caliburn International, the parent company of Comprehensive Health Services, operates a huge "temporary" (read: tent city) detention site in Homestead, Florida. Caliburn runs the only for-profit operator of youth migrant centers. Ex-TЯUMP chief of staff John Kelly sits on the board of Caliburn, and before he joined the administration, he sat on the board of the private equity firm that owns Caliburn. Homestead is one of the most heinous of the facilities, and has continued to collect millions of federal dollars, in quiet agreements as late as two months ago.
Two others own facilities at the border. One is CoreCivic, previously known as Corrections Corporation of America, has its roots in private prisons and has a dark past.
Another corporation is GEO Group, which runs immigration detention centers as well as prisons and community reentry facilities in Texas and throughout the United States, to the tune of 96,000 beds.
And not only are these corporations making billions of dollars from us tax-payers, GEO Group, for one, is using the detainees as cheap labor and charging them outrageous sums for basic necessities.
The corporations and their shareholders are not the only ones profiting from imprisoning people seeking a better life. GEO Group was recently found to have donated to Texas congressmen for their election campaigns. During the last election cycle, plenty of Members of Congress have received money from these corporations. Here is a 2015 exposé that outlines the money from for-profit prisons making its way into congresspeople's pockets.
And I hate to break it to you, but you and I may be profiting as well. If you have a 401(k), there is a good chance that one of your funds is invested in these corporations. According to The Baffler, "The fund that owns the most private prison stock is innocuously called the Vanguard REIT Index Fund. As of the end of May it owned 7.5 percent of CoreCivic’s market value and 7.4 percent of GEO Group’s." What you can do: look into the funds that your 401(k) has invested in. Write letters to the fund manager, to your company's HR department. Bring it to light and insist on divestment. If you have your own mutual funds, look at their stocks and divest. Invest in more socially conscious funds.
Oversight? What oversight? I'm in healthcare, and Medicare dollars indirectly pay my salary. You can bet that there are frequent surveys and inspections and tons of rules and regulations that Medicare requires of facilities and agencies to ensure that their money is well spent and the patients are getting the care they require. Didn't cross a "t" or dot an "i"? Medicare will take its money back. I could find very little information on the regulations, oversight, and accountability in these detention facilities. It's because there is very little accountability. And we all know what happens when there is no oversight to a situation when there is a lot of money to be had and greed rears its ugly head. It's a story as old as time. When human beings are at their mercy? Even worse. Atrocity.
It's only now, when there are found to be ATROCIOUS conditions, and children especially are hurting, that we even beginning to think about it.
So let's think about it. What is happening inside these private detention centers?
Here is a 2011 investigative piece by NPR about GEO Group's private prisons, which was quite concerning back then (Part 2 here). Things weren't improving by 2016, when an audit by Obama's Department of Justice found several alarming conditions. Since then, things have gotten worse, particularly in the immigration detention facilities. The population in the immigration detention facilities has soared, from about 6,800 in 1994 to more than 52,000 today.
Several of GEO Group's immigration detention facilities throughout the country were inspected over a few months late 2018 - mid 2019. They were found to have major deficiencies in many areas, including food safety, sanitation, and health safety. Read the report by the Inspector General's office, published last month.
What is most upsetting is the abuse that the children have seen. A year ago, we learned of 45's policy of "zero tolerance" whereby children were taken from their families. When it was brought to light, an injunction was placed. But GEO Group continued to commit family separations after the injunction. The "temporary" shelter at Homestead, where government regulations under the Flores agreement require releasing or placing a child within 20 days, has been holding children for as long as five months. It's ugly at Homestead.
Simply being separated from their parents wreaks havoc on a child's developing brain. And the children continue to be traumatized to this day, not only by being separated, not only by not having the basic necessities, but by having cruel rules imposed upon them, such as a rule against hugging each other or even touching each other. Even family members are prohibited from hugging each other. This alone is extremely dangerous to a growing child. The psychological trauma continues when they have to sleep over-crowded on the floor with flimsy mylar blankets with the lights on at all times. They aren't allowed to bathe, they have no clean clothes, they don't have toothbrushes, they are inadequately fed. They aren't being educated, and they don't get to go outside to play. The abuse goes on and on. We must not turn away from the atrocities that the little children are facing.
What is being done? And what can we do as citizens?
We've had animal facilities more swiftly raided and dismantled for inhumane conditions. Right now, there are still hardly any inspections or oversight, but this is slowly changing.
Awareness is being raised, which is the first step. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and now that the stink of this multi-billion-dollar human detention business has been brought to light, there is more action coming.
There have been some inspections. A quasi-inspection allowed to journalists had the facility in tip-top condition in a carefully staged visit after an earlier visit by lawyers and a pediatrician. But under the shiny veneer, hints of the stink arose.
I mentioned the Inspector General's report on adult facilities above, but even more shocking were the inspections of facilities holding families. Most alarming is the Office of the Inspector General's report from July 2, 2019. The report includes some shocking photos. Below are some of the U.S. Government's official photos of the conditions at the facilities:
Some Members of Congress have been allowed in to inspect. Last year, they were refused entry and left standing at the gates. Think about it. Members of the United States Congress -- disallowed entry into a government facility, afacility accused of housing babies in cages. Finally, a couple weeks ago, several members of Congress toured two Border Patrol facilities and found horrible conditions, which were no doubt an improvement over the usual conditions, given the stature of the planned visitors. Please read that link. There is no way for me to summarize what the members of Congress experienced.
Breaking: just today Vice President Mike Pence visited a detention facility in Texas. It's the first time video cameras have been allowed in. Report on his visit starts at about 1:19.
Pence said later that conditions are "unacceptable" and asked Congress to pass a bill to send billions to Customs and Border Protection to stop the inflow. This makes me cheer and moan. Yes, he is right that it is unacceptable, and the right needs to hear that from him to believe it. But how about forcing the companies who already have our billions to account for the $750 per child per day and shape up? How about calling on Congress to pass some regulatory bills? How about organizing a task force to figure out real solutions right NOW for the people who are hurting?
Democratic presidential candidates are making it a core issue. Several candidates have visited facilities and have called for the outright abolishment of for-profit detention.
Last year, Mexico asked the United Nations to step in. And just last last week, the New York Times reported the the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, former president of Chile, was "shocked" at the reported conditions at the facilities holding children. Such shame upon us that the U.N. has to become involved in policing our treatment of human beings. Do we need other countries to step in and do the job we should do? If this were in another country, would the U.S. step in? Should we expect action from other countries?
These Kansas children sold lemonade as a humanitarian act to send money to the border to help their fellow children. Where is our government?
Controversy arose after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) called the detention centers "concentration camps." The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum took offense to that charged label. Others disagree. Over 300 Holocaust scholars say that we should not stop comparing these facilities to concentration camps, writing in an open letter, "the very core of Holocaust education is to alert the public to dangerous developments that facilitate human rights violations and pain and suffering; pointing to similarities across time and space is essential for this task." I agree with them, and I agree with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg who wrote, "‘Never again’ means nothing if Holocaust analogies are always off limits." Former CIA Director Michael Hayden also asserted last month that there are similarities between the Nazi camps and SCROTUS's policies.
Change may be coming. Some children have been moved from the abhorrent conditions at one Texas facility. But we must all act to change this system.
What we can do.Here is a great resource guide for what to do next. There are links there pointing us to action by protesting, donating, sharing information, boycotting, volunteering, writing to Congress, and supporting candidates who share your views. Please look at this excellent list, pick one – just one – and act. You have good ideas. Put them into motion.
We must not stand for these atrocities!
For you visual people, here are some good reports from the Southern Poverty Law Center:
And here is an interactive map to explore all the known Custom and Border Protection facilities in southern border states.
"Things come and go in the news cycle like waves of fever." – Adam Curtis
....though during the last two and a half years, our fever has not broken once.
One of my missions in this blog is to simply chronicle the goings-on in our nation, and I struggle to keep up. So here is a feverish news digest of a bunch of big stuff and some little stuff that would be big stuff if there weren't so much other big stuff.
This week in America's Drumpfster fire.
Our border crisis hit us all extremely hard when we viewed a photo of the death of a 25-year-old Óscar Martínez Ramírez and his 23-month-old daughter Angie Valeria. They drowned, clinging to each other, in the Rio Grande, desperately trying to cross to seek asylum after they were turned away at a point of entry. Here is their story. My son is just a little older than Óscar, and his daughter is the same age as Angie Valeria. This image pierced my heart, as it did all of us. We all want to turn away from the image, but we mustn't.
Reports emerged of horrific conditions at the border facilities holding children. Hundreds of children are still separated from their families, held in cages in border detention facilities and are held without soap or toothbrushes, unbathed, sleeping on the concrete floor, and inadequately fed. Slightly older children as young as 7 and 8 years old are caring for the toddlers who don't have diapers. The babies are forced to soil their pants. There are not words adequate to describe the shame that Americans feel over this happening in our country. "Crisis" is inadequate to describe the situation.
The President* of the United States of America was accused of his 22nd rape. This time, it is a New Yorker writer and advice columnist who outlined her attack in an upcoming book. Her allegation is specific, credible, and corroborated, but the media yawned. SCROTUS's reaction? The repulsive "She isn't my type." Classic reptilian abuser language. One question, Mr. Baby Hands. Tell us about the type that you do rape. We must be outraged! Don't let your outrage wane!
King Minus again called into his favorite friendly "news" outlet, FAUX News Business, to rant incoherently for 45 minutes. He ranted like a buffoon about everything and nothing. Mostly nothing, because although the host, Maria Bartiromo, pretended to understand what he was talking about, it was typical nonsense, in the true sense of the word. If you can't stomach the whole incoherent 45 minutes, there's video in this piece from Esquire.
Robert Mueller will speak to Congress in an open session on July 17. Mark your calendars and set your dial. Here is a chance to educate the 97% of Americans who have not yet read the full Mueller report, despite the report quickly reaching the top of best seller lists. People pay attention to the spoken word. I don't care if Mueller doesn't answer a single question about the report if he will just read his report out loud.
TЯUMP is at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. Deplorable behaviors are front and center, as usual. Particularly his and wink and nod to his Cutie Putie, joking and smiling, saying oh-by-the-way (wink, wink), "Don't meddle in the election." Watch the body language below. This is just grotesque.
We are on the brink of war with Iran. Like those arsonist firefighters who disable the smoke detectors and remove the extinguishers before throwing the match and coming back to save the day, the Demander-in-Chief has once again dug us into another crisis of his own making. In his quest to undo every action of Barack Obama, he had withdrawn from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Agreement, leaving Iran angry and open to start aggressions, and now he wants to make a new deal. His G20 colleagues aren't having it. It's quite a pickle. Systematic, repugnant misogynist racism reared its ugly head again in our favorite backwoods state, Alabama. A five-months-pregnant woman had an altercation with another woman. The pregnant woman, Marshae Jones, was shot. Her unborn baby was killed. Jones, the mother-to-be, was arrested and indicted on manslaughter charges in the death of her fetus, while her assaulter walked free. Tell me how this is America.
National treasure Jimmy Carter said he believes the 45th president is illegitimate. He's just saying out loud what most of us – including 45 himself – believe to be true.
The employees at Wayfair stood up for what is right and walked off the job. Our fellow sister and brother resisters protested their company's sales of furniture to the detention centers at the border. Americans on the right side of history! Let's hear it for them! Wayfair's response was tepid, sending $100,000 to the Red Cross, an organization that has nothing to do with assisting at the border. I think it's time to boycott to add pressure. (As an aside: I have had detention center profiteers as a draft post since the beginning of the year. I'll soon explore this topic further.)
We commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots yesterday. Happy Pride! We've come a long way in our civil rights fight for LGBT folks; we still have a ways to go.
And lastly, a bit of a positive:
The cavalry is coming. This week we had our first debates of the 2020 election cycle. Twenty Democrats faced off over two nights. I watched both and my first impression was "Yay!" There was a lot of progressive talk; all of the candidates had good ideas (except for that Marianne Williamson person. What is she all about?), and they all align with my thinking. We have a deep field of good people to choose from!
My winners from Night 1: Liz Warren and Julian Castro. Cory Booker looks good too. I like him.
My winners from Night 2: Kamala and Mayor Pete. What smart people! Uncle Joe looked tired, washed out, and unprepared. He sounded like just another old white male politician with nothing new to add, spouting the same old talking points. And Kamala was en fuego putting him on the defensive about his civil rights record. He was backing from the flames the whole time, and I would not be surprised if his end-of-three-minutes blank look saying, "My time is up" is turned into a meme, gif, or attack-ad soundbite. Like Rep. Swalwell (CA-15th) said, it's time to pass the torch. I am ready to put him on the back burner and throw my support to some of the others.
Liz and Kamala are by far my favorites of this talented cast!
Here is Stephen Colbert and his summaries of the debates. He does it better than I ever could.
and here is the amazing Kate McKinnon and her impression of Marianne Williamson.
Whew! That's a lot of outrage in one week! Let us channel the outrage into action. Find a candidate to support and SUPPORT her, with all you have. As the field changes, change your alliance, embrace another progressive, move this country back to its ideals. And while the campaigns roll on, contact your members of Congress TODAY. Express your outrage on these issues. Resistbot makes it easy. They'll fax a letter directly to your member of Congress, directly from your text or Messenger. Even if your representatives are progressive, write to them and express your outrage. Our leaders must hear that we will not stand for it!
Women make heartbreaking, scary, agonizing, beautiful decisions about pregnancy every single day. Some women ultimately choose to carry their child and give birth, even in difficult circumstances. Some, women, heartbreakingly wish they hadn't. And many women make the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy. But until you face that decision, YOU DON'T FACE THAT DECISION.
And that is what the Supreme Court decided in the landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, when it was decided that the U.S. Constitution guarantees a fundamental right to privacy, which provides the right of a woman to make a decision for herself whether or not to seek an abortion.
Here we are in 2019, and we're in the midst of an outright war against women. The extreme right has finally acknowledged that it's not about the fetus, or the child, at all. It's about controlling and oppressing women. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was right: the white patriarchy's view is indeed that a woman is less than human. And make no mistake. The white patriarchy will be the one benefitting from the control of women, particularly of women of color.
You know by now that there are several new state laws that have been signed into law this year. All of these have the aim of going to the Supreme Court to challenge the Roe v. Wade decision. Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Mississippi, Arkansas, Utah, and Ohio have all passed laws this year, as well as Alabama with the most restrictive law, an outright ban. Twenty-five white men decided what the women in Alabama can do with their bodies. And the list of states is growing. The proposed Texas abortion bill would allow the death penalty for women who seek an abortion. Ah, the sanctity of life!
The dystopian future is now. This is a war on women.
We know that this is a war on women because punishments for women who seek abortion and the physicians who help them are harsh, but the punishments for the male impregnators – even rapists – are less, or nil.
We know that this is a war on women because people otherwise have autonomy over their body in life and in death. A person must give consent for a blood donation, for a medication injection, and for organs to be harvested after death.
We know that this is a war on women because most of the new abortion bans are "heartbeat" laws, which prohibit abortions once a heartbeat can be detected, which is at about six weeks gestation, earlier than most women are aware they are pregnant. (Nevermind that a six-week fetal "heartbeat" is a gross misnomer. It's not at all a heart, and it's far from a "beat." It's a group of cells that are organizing themselves to be able to produce an electrical current to a future human heart. Technology advances have allowed ultrasound to be able to detect this electrical flutter at a very early stage -- before the woman even has symptoms of pregnancy). The well-being of the women is secondary.
We know that this is a war on women because the very states that are banning abortion have poor protections for children born in poverty and their mothers.
We know that this is a war on women because states are impeding access to birth control and reproductive care but men can get boner medication willy-nilly.
We know that it is a war on women because "sanctity of life" stops when punishment via the death penalty begins.
We know that it is a war on women because "sanctity of life" stops when the right to use firearms to kill schoolchildren begins.
We know that it is a war on women when the conservative desire for small government and freedom from government regulation flies out the window when it's a woman's body.
It's no coincidence that these oppressive laws are coming from primarily Southern states. The anti-abortion movement arose as way to oppress black people. The right glommed on to the religious angle of abortion because it wasn't politically correct to outright admit they were the racist caucus, but make no mistake, the origins are all about further oppressing the oppressed, not about preserving life. The religious right, abortion, and segregation are so enmeshed that there is no one without the others. Politico and The Rolling Stone outline this issue very well.
There have been memes and earnest outpourings from well-meaning women like the below, offering to be "Auntie" to out-of-state women wanting abortion, a sort of underground railroad of supporters.
But that only solves part of the problem. Even before these laws, several states have just one abortion clinic left. And wealthy women will always have the means to travel for a legal abortion, or to pay for a safe illegal abortion. As we know, banning abortion does not eliminate abortion. It eliminates safe abortion. The women who will succumb to devastation with an unsafe abortion are the poor, the low-income, the women of color.
You know a woman who has had an abortion.
According to statistics from the Guttmacher Institute, nearly one in four women will have had an induced abortion by age 45. The majority of women seeking abortions are young and poor. More than half of abortions are for women in their 20s. Seventy-five percent of women who have abortions are poor or low-income. The demographics cross race, religion, region.
The reason you may not know that you know a woman who has had an abortion is because it is none of your damn business. Only the pregnant woman can weigh her circumstances and decide if she desires to carry a child. It is a woman's sacred decision, one that she may or may not share with anyone. ANYONE. It's not your business, it's not the neighbor's business, it's not even the father's business, unless she chooses it to be.
It is absolutely, positively NOT the government's business.
Soldiers, you must fight this war. What you can do:
Support our sisters.
Speak up for the right to an abortion, accompany a woman to Planned Parenthood, be a voice. Don't ask questions or give an opinion to a woman. Be there for her.
Call your state representatives and call for the preservation of the right to privacy and the right to an abortion. Some states are already moving toward decreeing abortion as a fundamental right. The governor of Pennsylvania has said he will veto any abortion bill that comes to him. Vermont and Illinois are bolstering abortion rights. Kansas has made it a constitutional right within the state.
Boycott the states who have restrictive abortion laws. Encourage businesses to boycott.
Look to other countries for guidance and inspiration, like Ireland and Poland.
March in the streets. Connect with your local progressive group, such as your chapter of Indivisible. Watch for marches. Here in Santa Barbara, there is a demonstration on Tuesday, May 21 at noon at the County Courthouse.
Stop calling it "Pro-Life." Call it what it is: "Forced Pregnancy."
VOTE in 2020. Vote for women, vote for people of color, vote for women of color. Talk to other women, mobilize women to vote in your area. Help causes that get out the vote in red states, and in areas with people that the government are trying to disenfranchise.
#RESIST
And now for some comic relief:
George Carlin from 22 years ago. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
We've had one more stumble into the yawning rabbit hole of our Nation's demise.
It's really hard to write this. History was made yesterday, when the 115th Senate voted to confirm Judge Brett Kavenaugh as a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.
And to every decision, there are consequences. One hundred people, elected to represent our interests, sat and made a decision. And that decision has consequences. Some are big, some are small, but the repercussions of that decision will be lasting.
I have been filled with anxiety and dread for several weeks, and now the reality is that this man is on the highest court. I look at my one-year-old granddaughter, and I fear the consequences that she will face because of it -- through her whole life. That's a sobering thought.
So what do we take away from the last couple weeks? (Caution: Debbie Downer stands up below, but keep reading; Hopeful Little Sister Resister comes back!)
Consequences to every last one of us:
1. Our Democracy has taken a astronomical hit. "Due Process" is a concept that is dead. Doing the Right Thing = dead. Compassion = dead. The nation is not only deeply divided, which in itself is not a bad thing, but the very fabric of our Nation is tearing. The principles which have guided us for 241 years are crumpled.
2. We've reached a new low in our discourse. A new level of incivility is upon the land. "Incivility" is an understatement. It was sickening to witness what we've witnessed in the last week or so. I could not believe a grown man acting so childish and entitled, challenging and mocking Senators of the United States.
We have come to expect this sickening behavior from SCROTUS. His comments at a rally in Mississippi, mocking Dr. Ford and her testimony, was a new low, even for him. But it's not unexpected. And that fact in itself is incredibly sad.
We have come to expect it from the entitled, elite white old men who lord over the land. It was shocking, but not surprising, when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), made Brett the victim, and made a spectacle of himself calling the process "Hell."
But the person who wants to be placed to the highest court? Speaking to Senators of the United States of America? Sitting before them to ask them to bestow upon him the honor of sitting on the highest bench? Asking their favor to judge his fitness?
Brett sneered to Sen. Kolbucher (D-MN), "Have you ever blacked out?" Not once but TWICE. And to Sen. Whitehouse (D-RI), “Do you like beer, senator? What do you like to drink?” His graceless questions may have been awkward attempts at filibustering each Senator's five minutes, but it showed his true colors as a boorish, contemptible man-child. Not fit for the highest court in the land. Not fit even to have dinner in my home.
His defense of this angry, sniveling, undisciplined, undignified testimony? "Look at what you made me do." Another gas-lighting, abusive man in power. Great.
3. Another branch of our Tri-Corner Government has been dirtied. The one that seemed to be standing firm with nearly unblemished reputation. The Supreme Court, once the hallowed ground for the most elevated, thoughtful, even-tempered, and fair-minded individuals in whose trust we place to hand down far-reaching decisions and to be an integral part of our Nation's checks and balances: Sullied. Credibility vanished.
Many in the Judge Business advised the Senate not to confirm. The American Bar Association warned not to confirm in a letter sent to the Senate Judicial Committee.
Quite alarmingly, judges on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, D.C, Circuit, where Justice (I shudder to use that word) Kavenaugh sat for 12 years, sent more than a dozen letters to Chief Justice Roberts, complaining of judicial misconduct on the part of Brett Kavenaugh. Justice Roberts did not act on the complaints, and now they are forever buried.
And perhaps most dismaying, Justice Kagan has grave concerns about this appointment and what in means for our Nation. She laments, "It's an incredibly important thing for the court to guard is this reputation of being impartial, being neutral and not being simply extension of a terribly polarizing process." She fears that the Court will lose legitimacy. I've wondered over the last week what the other Justices think of him and the trajectory of the Court. Perhaps someday we'll hear from more of them.
Never in our history has there been so many misgivings about a Supreme Court nominee, from top to bottom, in this country. The Supreme Court is deeply wounded.
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6.... ∞ repercussions to the country. You can fill in with more (or comment below).
Girls' and women's beliefs that they don't count, that they won't be believed, that there are no consequences to their attackers, are being cemented.
Boys' and men's beliefs that women don't count, that no one will believe them, that they have no consequences to their actions, are being cemented.
Consequences to the Midterms and Beyond:
Here's where we have some positives.
Many pundits have speculated that this issue has motivated the Republican base as it has the Democrat base. I doubt it. And if it has, it has only fired up the basest of the base (and I do mean that in the Shakespearian meaning of base (base (adjective): not showing any honour and having no morals)). I want to believe that most Republican citizens, in their hearts, believe Christine Blasey Ford and do not approve of this man's behavior at his Senate hearing. That's what is in my heart.
And for the rest, they may cheer their Misogynistic Cheeto, but I really don't think they are as fired up and mobilized as those on the Center on over to the Left.
So, the consequences for the Republicans: they are going to get demolished at the polls in a few weeks, and for years to come. And specifically, consequences for Susan Collins. Shortly after Kavenaugh was nominated, there came a kickstarter-type campaign to raise money for Collins's eventual opponent, to be collected from donors only if she chose to vote to confirm him. She voted yes, so her as-yet-unnamed 2020 opponent has a chest of over 3 million dollars already! (Susan Rice yesterday gave an indication that she may jump in the race.)
This article is great. It outlines that Republicans may have won the battle, but Democrats will definitely win the war.
The numbers fluctuate, but in general, there are more Democrats than Republicans, and Gallup reports that as of October, 2107, at least, more of those who identify as independent lean left than lean right. From Wikipedia:
As of October 2017, Gallup polling found that 31% of Americans identified as Democrat, 24% identified as Republican, and 42% as Independent. Additionally, polling showed that 46% are either "Democrats or Democratic leaners" and 39% are either "Republicans or Republican leaners" when Independents are asked "do you lean more to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party?"
And nearly every single one of them is fired up.
Change happens when people get angry. People in the streets ended Vietnam. People in the streets furthered Civil Rights. People in the streets WILL stand up and right our course. I'm sure of it. It'll take time to undo the damages, but it will happen. We need to work together. Next stop: November 6.
And when they are in power again, David Atkins of the Washington Monthly advises that they channel their inner Mitch McConnell and push their agendas hard. Change will happen. Change must happen.
Consequences to our knowledge base:
Ok, I'm stretching it but I need to find more positives. People are learning. Knowledge is good. We're learning more about sexual assault and its effects. We're learning about the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" (Hint: it's a legal premise protecting the accused in a criminal court. It does not apply to job applicants). We're learning about brain science and the way memories are laid down in our brain. Dr. Ford herself explained a little about the neurology of trauma memories being stored in the hippocampus. (Which by the way, if any one of those Senators can remember what they were doing at 8:46am EDT on September 11, 2001, but not recall what they had for breakfast that morning, they are living proof of the kind of episodic traumatic memory that Dr. Ford described).
Consequences to our Nations Laws:
There are real fears that Kavenaugh's inclusion on the Court will usher in overturning many of our treasured laws. The biggest fear is that Roe v Wade will be overturned and individual States will once again decide if abortion is to remain legal or not. There is also fear that Kavenaugh will be the deciding factor in overturning the Affordable Care Act, affirmative action, and even curtailing the Mueller investigation and giving life to the notion to the President is above the law. Reeeealllly scary shit.
For more reading on the consequences of Kavenaugh on the Supreme Court, read FiveThirtyEight or CNN.
Though the Court is now more conservative than ever, we have to remember that Kavenaugh is but one voice among nine. He will not be single-handedly changing laws. My heart wants to believe that the process will still work. (please please please let the process work) And we still have the Notorious RBG! Please stay alive, Ruth!
Let us consider this other quote about consequences. We who have studied psychology know this to be true.
"The consequences of an act affect the probability of its occurring again." - B. F. Skinner
Now, it's our job. Each and every one of us must be active citizens of this great country and mete out consequences. Let's get to the polls on November 6. Motivate those around you. Keep the conversation going. Let's get that Moral Compass repaired STAT! WE CAN DO IT!
