Stephan: I read the opinion representing five justices and was struck by its shallowness and intellectual mediocrity. I wouldn't think a college sophomore could get a passing grade on this kind of "Originalism". Abortion is not in the Constitution? No, and nor is a single testicular disorder. They didn't anticipate the Internet either in 1787. Alito's brief is not a wise commentary on law, it is an expression of fear, and male dominance colored by religious bias.
In contrast to that read this report from Connecticut. A wonderful example of fostering wellbeing.
Image by Mehrshad Rezaei / Pixabay
Ordinary, said Aunt Lydia, is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary.” —Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
If you’re the family of a 12-year-old girl in Texas who’s been raped and impregnated, or the husband of a 50-year-old Oklahoma woman who’s at higher risk of death from pregnancy after a failure of birth control, your only truly safe option right now is to move to Canada.
That’s because individual states in the US generally enforce each other’s court judgements, so even if you tried to move to another state to avoid a $10,000 judgement from one of those states’ courts, the state you moved to or were hiding out in would just routinely seize your property to fund the payment.
And once the Trump/McConnell Supreme Court gets done with Roe v Wade, it may not just be $10,000 you’re worried about: you could spend the rest of your life in prison.
Stephan: This is what is wrong with American capitalism. Profit is the only priority, even to the detriment of wellbeing. Until we make wellbeing our first priority we will inflict grievous wounds on all the beings of the earth including ourselves.
An oil refinery in Anacortes, Wash., on March 7, 2022. Credit: David Ryder / Bloomberg / Getty
Of the Primary reports that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change publishes every four to six years, the mitigation report, focused on what can be done and what’s holding climate action back, only gets more important with every cycle. While the latest mitigation report states clearly that politics and corporate power are the only real impediments to action — not a lack of scientific evidence, technological or policy options, or even money — IPCC authors declined to engage with this problem both in the press conference for the report and in the report’s summary for policymakers. Now, a week after the report’s release, here comes a paper revealing that the IPCC itself has been the target of U.S. vested interests since its inception.
In 1988, climate scientist James Hansen gave a stark warning to the U.S. Senate, testifying, “It is time to stop waffling so much and say that the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here.” Later that year, the IPCC […]
Stephan: Place this report in the context of a significant percentage of racist White men also in a state of fear and resentment about gender equality.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — Millions of men may be putting up a brave front, but they’re not doing as well as you may think. A new survey finds the average man feels down three times a week. The poll of 2,000 British men also finds the average respondent only rates their mental health a six out of 10.
However, those as young as 18 say it’s closer to five out of 10.
Dealing with a physical health condition (26%), poor eating habits (20%), and pressures at work (20%) are among the reasons men say they’re struggling with their mental well-being over the last 12 months. Others claim not being in a relationship, lifestyle changes such as the breakdown of a marriage, and scrolling through social media can affect their general well-being as well.
Another 44 percent admit they’ve never opened up to someone about how they are feeling, with 32 percent often feeling lonely. Meanwhile, 35 percent actively avoid conversations with others about their mental well-being.
How are you really doing?
The research was commissioned by NIVEA MEN as part of its “Strength In Numbers” campaign, which, together with Talk Club, aims to give men the tools to start the conversation and check in […]
Stephan: The people of Florida, who elected Republican christofascist Ron De Santis as their governor, also elected Representative Matt Gaetz, and Rick Scott and Marco Rubio as their two senators. I think the issue to be concerned about is not so much Ron De Santis, Matt Gaetz, Rick Scott and Marco Rubio but the voters in Florida. No rational ethical person would vote for men like these, and yet there they are in office. I think that is telling us something very important.
One of history’s most repugnant members of Congress, Republican Matt Gaetz of Florida Credit: Bill Clark / CQ-Roll Call / Getty
When Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, in a single tweet, equated the fight for reproductive freedom with “over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches” on Wednesday, I was far from insulted.
Instead, I laughed all the way upstairs to my husband, who’d been working in his home office. He’d been blissfully unaware of Gaetz’s latest round of nonsense and rolled his eyes (apparently he’s not as easily amused as I am). We openly wondered how it was possible for a sitting member of Congress to behave in ways so unbecoming of — so disrespectful to— such an important and public-facing position. After my husband went back to work, I reread Gaetz’s tweet, treated myself to some of the responses he received and laughed some more.
While Gaetz specifically called out millennials, it felt like an attempted attack on “over-educated” women of any generation.
Stephan: The fact that all these anti-abortion laws in the states that are about to kick in make no exception for rape, incest, or even the life of the mother, tells you this issue is not fueled by rational thought. Instead, it is the product of hate and resentment. Be very clear, none of this is about protecting children because the same people who are anti-abortion are also against proper maternal healthcare, infant healthcare, or early childhood care. This is about men controlling women, dominating them. This is about religious beliefs, not science or medicine. This is about a minority dominating a majority.
Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, speaks during a news conference on abortion in 2012. Credit: Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call
With a Supreme Court overrun with religious zealots reportedly ready to void Roe v Wade and usher in a new crypto-fascist theocracy – Go Handmaids, Marthas, Aunties, silent wives and whores of Gilead! – GOP goons are already busy “removing the veils” of their anti-choice fervor and going full-on, red-meat, lunatic misogyny in their escalating efforts to remove any sliver of respect for a woman’s right to choose her fate when confronted with an unplanned pregnancy. Despite the longtime support of up to three-quarters of Americans for that fundamental right, GOP lawmakers have introduced 536 bills in 42 states to restrict or outright ban abortion, all in lethal preparation for SCOTUS’ anticipated reversing or at least gutting of Roe when it hears arguments on Mississippi’s post-15-week abortion ban in June. Combined, all those state moves constitute a chilling blueprint for a no-abortion future now being eagerly mapped out by forced-birth activists emboldened by the country’s rightward veer and enabled by a court majority […]
