Stephan: This is one of the most appalling research studies I have seen in a long time. To quote it, "Researchers with the Harvard School of Public Health found that pregnant women are more likely to be murdered than die from pregnancy-related complications, including high blood pressure disorders, hemorrhage, or sepsis." And two-thirds of those deaths are the result of gunfire. It is yet another horrible statistic arising from America's obsessive gun psychosis, and inability politically to stop the tens of thousands of murders that happen each year.
The peer-reviewed paper upon which this report is based was published in the British Medical Journal, "Homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant women in US" and can be found at: https://www.bmj.com/content/379/bmj.o2499.full
Credit: freestocks.org / Pexels
Homicide, especially involving an intimate partner and gun violence, is now a leading cause of death for pregnant women in the United States, a troubling new report finds. Researchers with the Harvard School of Public Health found that pregnant women are more likely to be murdered than die from pregnancy-related complications, including high blood pressure disorders, hemorrhage, or sepsis.
These tragic deaths often involve an act of intimate partner violence or gun violence, according to the study. Researchers argue that ending male violence and gun crimes could save hundreds of women and their unborn children each year throughout the U.S.
The study notes that intimate partner violence is a problem worldwide, with one in three women reporting an incident of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse by a partner during their lifetime. Women in the U.S. have a higher likelihood of dealing with intimate partner violence than women in other high-income nations, researchers add.
2 in 3 pregnant women homicides involves a gun
Between 2008 and 2019, the Harvard team found that 68 percent of the homicides […]
Robert S. Mcelvaine, Staff Writer - Raw Story / Salon / Commentary
Stephan: I see the MAGAt obsession with controlling women, and far-right authoritarian politics, as two intertwined trends. This is one of the few articles I have seen that sees that clearly.
An anti-abortion protester Credit: Shutterstock
Will America’s future be one of democracy and women’s control over their own bodies or one of authoritarianism and forced pregnancy? The two issues most motivating Americans to vote for Democrats in the rapidly approaching midterm elections are far more intertwined than is generally recognized.
At a time when right-wing extremists are hellbent on making American states — or, as many intend the whole nation — into the fictional Republic of Gilead, it is appropriate to turn to Margaret Atwood. “Tyrants and dictators like Adolf Hitler and Nicolae Ceausescu have often dictated the terms of fertility and criminalized those who did not comply,” she pointed out in 2017. “It’s no accident that Napoleon banned abortion. He said exactly what he wanted offspring for — cannon fodder. Lovely!”
Speaking of authoritarian regimes, Atwood said in 2020, “What it comes down to is that they assert their right to control reproduction, and they assert their right over people’s bodies. All totalitarianisms, no matter what they say their aims are, no matter what’s on […]
Stephan: I see stories like this one, two or three a day, every day. So often the media has begun to treat this as the new normal. It was entirely predictable with the overturn of Roe by the Dobbs decision, and the immediate rush by Republicans to pass laws at the state level controlling a woman's body. What I don't understand is how a woman, any woman, can be a Republican.
A woman waits for her appointment to receive an abortion at a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in West Palm Beach, Florida, on July 14. Credit: Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty
A child who was the victim of incest was denied an abortion in Florida since the state instituted its 15-week ban in July, the local Planned Parenthood chapter told BuzzFeed News.
The GOP-controlled state legislature allowed exceptions to the 15-week ban in order to save the pregnant person’s life, prevent a serious injury, or if the fetus has a fatal abnormality. There are no exceptions for rape or incest, and violators of the law could face up to five years in prison.
Laura Goodhue, vice president of public policy for Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida, did not disclose the patient’s exact age or the state they traveled to receive an abortion, but she told BuzzFeed News they were in middle school. Goodhue had initially said another middle schooler who experienced incest was denied an abortion in Florida, then on Thursday clarified to BuzzFeed […]
Stephan: This is a big deal getting almost no media attention. I think the Democrats are doing a very poor job getting across to people the many wellbeing fostering policies they have gotten into place over the past two years.
New numbers from the Treasury on Friday give the Biden administration something to brag about, for now: The federal budget shortfall was chopped in half in the last fiscal year (which ended last month), falling to $1.38 trillion.
Driving the news: Federal outlays were $6.3 trillion, down more than 8% from the previous year. That drop largely reflects the end of COVID-related government programs, like topped-up unemployment benefits.
The cost of Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, however, caused the deficit for the month of September alone to spike to $430 billion, up from $65 billion in September 2021.
Meanwhile, government revenues rose by $850 billion to $4.9 trillion. That rise is due, in part, to higher individual income taxes on the back of a strong labor market and strong wage gains for workers.
What they’re saying: In a statement, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the figures demonstrate President Biden’s “commitment to strengthening our nation’s fiscal health.”
The intrigue: The fiscal road ahead looks more troubling. For one, the economy is cooling down, […]
Stephan: The Republican-engineered judiciary just screwed ordinary folk yet again. I do not understand why American voters cannot seem to understand that Republicans don't like them, except as useful idiots to vote them into power. Everything Republicans do is designed to serve corporate and uber-rich interests.
Credit: Rafael Henrique / Getty
If you’re a payday lender or a shady mortgage broker, you are probably having a pretty good week. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a federal agency tasked with enforcing consumer finance laws, is unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of Trump appointees found in Community Financial Services v. CFPB that the agency’s funding structure violated the constitutional separation of powers.
Wednesday’s ruling could give the Supreme Court an opportunity to destroy a regulatory agency that conservatives and business groups have opposed since the moment of its creation. At risk are a wide variety of regulations to protect Americans from predatory financial practices and the primary vehicle to enforce most federal consumer finance protections. The CFPB’s fate now depends on a Supreme Court that has already signaled a deep antipathy toward the agency itself.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created in the aftermath of the global financial crisis in 2008 as part of the Dodd-Frank reforms for the American financial sector. At the time, Congress sought […]
