American Politics 3.0 - Back to Brunch

[Zulu29]

It was referenced in an earlier post, but I believe it was one of the fathers of the constitution who said it should be re-written every 19 years to reflect an ever changing society. Funny how that comment from hundreds of years ago is so applicable today. Clarence Thomas’ comments are terrifying as well, they’ll just keep chugging along, stepping on the throats of people whose views differ from theirs. Sad state of affairs in the US.

[Izzle]

Originally Posted by shermanator

Can't wait for the anti-abortion movement to ramp up in Canada as a result of this decision.

Oh it's coming. The Trojan horse statement will be "has any conservative party even seriously brought this up?"

Then one day... Abortion right will be banned in Canada.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by Izzle

Oh it's coming. The Trojan horse statement will be "has any conservative party even seriously brought this up?"

Then one day... Abortion right will be banned in Canada.

[timun]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

McConnell deserves a big slice of the credit. Not letting Obama's pick go throguh the senate was an absolute miscarriage of democracy.

If there's any one thing in the last five years or so that has done the most to convince me that the US is a broken democracy it wasn't the January 6th coup attempt: it was McConnell's justification for refusing to even consider Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court. Nine months before the 2016 election was "too little time" and needed to be pushed to the next president's term, yet Ginsberg died only 46 days before the 2020 election and Barrett was sworn in 38 days later, a week and a day before the election. The hypocrisy and corruption was so blatant I couldn't believe it.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Could this be a defining moment in U.S. elections, with something like 70% of Americans supporting full access to abortion?

That could be the one little bright point in all of this. Abortion rights haven't been a voting issue for pro choice people for a long time, since it was assumed it was settled and safe.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by timun

If there's any one thing in the last five years or so that has done the most to convince me that the US is a broken democracy it wasn't the January 6th coup attempt: it was McConnell's justification for refusing to even consider Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court. Nine months before the 2016 election was "too little time" and needed to be pushed to the next president's term, yet Ginsberg died only 46 days before the 2020 election and Barrett was sworn in 38 days later, a week and a day before the election. The hypocrisy and corruption was so blatant I couldn't believe it.

That's why the democrats need to give up playing clean. It doesn't work. Republicans are kicking their teeth in, daily. They'll be failures until they figure it out.


This will not at all be good for democracy, but at this point, neither alternative is good. At least this way it's a fair fight.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Organize and agitate. Be prepared to fight and fight just as dirty as the other side does.

It would appear to be pretty clear that nobody on the left of center is capable of doing this effectively. Center-Left, Progressives, more extreme-left. They're all just not able to organize as a single group because they've proved time and time again they're more happy fighting each other internally.

[dobbles]

The thing we have to remember about throwing blame on democrats is that they currently don't have a true majority. They don't have a 50 person coalition willing to take on these issues. Their best play is to use Sinema and Manchin when they can and at least retain control of the senate and the committees and the agenda. But they can't cross them. If they pressure Manchin too much he'll just switch parties. What exactly do you want them to do?

If America wants better, they need to vote for the party that at least tries to represent the people on these issues. But instead they infight because said party with no real political power doesn't give them enough free college.

At this point though, with all the despicable things the religious right has done to our country, if we can't even get enough support for an opposition, then we deserve to be governed by the minority.

America is broken beyond repair. Full stop.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by FiftyBelow

There's a fundamental difference between a miscarriage--natural cause--and the purposeful destruction of a human being.

In case anyone is unclear, like 50YearsBackwards here, the treatment for a miscarriage is an abortion. Not all miscarriages are just "plop plop, oh there it is", dudebro. Let me guess - you're of the "just induce labor" persuasion to deal with miscarriage. You do realize that induction of labor prior to viability, to remove fetal tissue, is still an abortion.

And please, go chat with Andrea Prudente, an American woman on vacation in Malta, who is miscarrying, but has not expelled the fetal tissue, and cannot have a "medical evacuation" of said fetal tissue. Without a dilation and curettage procedure, or D&C, the technical name for a surgical abortion, Prudente is in danger of dying from an infection or bleeding to death.

But hey, miscarriages are natural, bro! Go you!

[DFO]

So are ectopic pregnancies in red states now a possible death sentence? Seems civilized.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DFO

So are ectopic pregnancies in red states now a possible death sentence? Seems civilized.

It's as God has decided. He works in mysterious ways.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Minnie

####ing Appalling and Embarrassing

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Kinda crazy to watch an actual slippery slope in action.

Like many others I truly never thought this day would come. Trump's presidency may end up completely unravelling the experiment that was the United States.

It's been WAY overdue that the world stopped holding America up as the model to follow or a country to aspire to be. We never thought that the killing of elementary school aged children would have no effect on positive gun control changes. We never thought we'd see people march while shouting anti-Semitic slogans. We never thought police killing blacks would still be a thing in 2020. America is as they've been showing us.

[wittynickname]

Originally Posted by Izzle

My thoughts go out to wittynickname. What a horrible horrible thing to read this morning.

I'm at work trying to just keep myself composed until I can drive home and scream some obscenities. It is infuriating and heartbreaking. I knew this was coming, we all did, but it's still a huge punch to the gut to be dehumanized so thoroughly.

Originally Posted by Northendzone

have not paid super close attention to this becasue i am not a woman and i don't live in the US, but it strikes me as surprising in terms of why after all these years has this been revisited and changed?

or has it been under attack for quite sometime now

The GOP and the religious right are celebrating because 40+ years of effort has finally paid off. This isn't new, this has been building for decades. They had a game plan and they stuck to it. The left is too idealistic and we fall apart, but the right doesn't care. They'd have voted in Satan himself if it got Roe overturned, and looking at McConnell I'm not entirely sure they didn't.

I'm struggling to come up with good words to say how I feel but I at least wanted to say thanks to Izzle for thinking of me today.

Who is willing to adopt me? Or marry me? Get me outta here.

[GirlySports]

Democrats are big tent and big gestures but get nothing done. Republicans have now overturned Roe without ever once mentioning they would. They get real victories. They are united.

[CroFlames]

Even if you are truly pro-life, surely you can see that this is not the solution. Cocaine is illegal, yet people still use cocaine quite regularly. Abortions WILL happen. Shouldn't they happen in a safe environment and not in a back alley by some young girl's uncle? If you are pro life, should you not also care for the wellbeing of the mother?


I would honestly respect this decision by the conservative court if they also did their utmost to abolish all forms of the death penalty, introduce common sense gun laws and introduced robust programs to look after the poor and disenfranchised of society. Since they do none of these things, it's obvious it was never about the pro-life stance. The focus should be on education and contraceptives if they truly cared about life. They don't.

I hope Canada doesn't kneejerk react to this (like Uvalde and the new dumb gun laws) and we remain a open and free society.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Even if you are truly pro-life, surely you can see that this is not the solution. Cocaine is illegal, yet people still use cocaine quite regularly. Abortions WILL happen. Shouldn't they happen in a safe environment and not in a back alley by some young girl's uncle? If you are pro life, should you not also care for the wellbeing of the mother?


I would honestly respect this decision by the conservative court if they also did their utmost to abolish all forms of the death penalty, introduce common sense gun laws and introduced robust programs to look after the poor and disenfranchised of society. Since they do none of these things, it's obvious it was never about the pro-life stance. The focus should be on education and contraceptives if they truly cared about life. They don't.

I hope Canada doesn't kneejerk react to this (like Uvalde and the new dumb gun laws) and we remain a open and free society.

You are right it's not about pro-life, it's about control. Controlling women not to have sex outside of marriage and not to be liberated. Sex before marriage is a sin, girls who do are sluts. They feel there is no viable reason to get an abortion if you were doing all the right things to begin with. Marriage, responsibility, abstinence etc...

Quick personal story. I have wrestled with the decision to abort if my baby ever had a condition like down syndrome. Would I keep it? In Alberta you can abort up to 24 weeks. If I abort a fetus simply because I don't like it, is that viewed as selfish and a crime?

And again, I say that this is not a men versus women issue. Women treat other women like #### and call each other sluts. Religious and immigrant women. I've heard the things immigrant moms say to their immigrant daughters and daughter-in-laws and it's pretty sickening.

[MRCboicgy]

No, this is about being ideologues and imposing their particular brand of morality on others.


Take away privacy in your doctor's office in order to impose morality

Take away privacy in the bedroom in order to impose morality


You can sure bet that six weeks after prom, there will be a bunch of private flights with housewives of Fort Worth or whatever and their daughters to LA. And they'll never be charged because they're the "right" type of people.

[1991 Canadian]

Originally Posted by timun

If there's any one thing in the last five years or so that has done the most to convince me that the US is a broken democracy it wasn't the January 6th coup attempt: it was McConnell's justification for refusing to even consider Garland's nomination to the Supreme Court. Nine months before the 2016 election was "too little time" and needed to be pushed to the next president's term, yet Ginsberg died only 46 days before the 2020 election and Barrett was sworn in 38 days later, a week and a day before the election. The hypocrisy and corruption was so blatant I couldn't believe it.

100 percent. It has been like watching a car crash in slow motion and being unable to do anything to stop it. McConnell's blocking of that nomination will go down as the undoing of the 50 State American democratic system.

Originally Posted by 1991 Canadian - November 9, 2016

On a worldwide scale we are seeing the rise of populist anti establishment ideas and leaders. Duterte. Putin. Brexit. Numerous ultra right wing parties in Europe.

Incomes are stagnating. Inequality is growing. Debt is growing. The middle class has been slowly squeezed out for decades. People are incredibly frustrated with the political establishment.

It is not surprising in the slightest that the more populist candidate won over the longstanding career politician.

What is surprising is the democrats had a populist candidate of their own (Bernie Sanders) who would've had a shot to capture the populist vote and driven the youth vote.

The democrats haven't just lost this one election. They've lost the Supreme Court for a generation.

Truthfully, even when I made this comment, I thought it would be more of a 10-15 year horizon before the true impact of right wing proto-fascism would undermine the USA.

Within 3 years, I truly think we are going to see the wealthier coastal blue democratic states secede from the union.

I am genuinely worried the path the USA (and frankly the world) is going down. All the canaries in the coal mine are dead.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

You are right it's not about pro-life, it's about control. Controlling women not to have sex outside of marriage and not to be liberated. Sex before marriage is a sin, girls who do are sluts. They feel there is no viable reason to get an abortion if you were doing all the right things to begin with. Marriage, responsibility, abstinence etc...

I can't believe after 2,000 years even the Catholic church thinks abstinence is an option.

You take two 18 year olds who are attracted to each other, and they WILL find a way to ####. It's just nature.

Now if you taught them sex is bad, immoral and a sin, they won't know about safe sex and contraceptives, or will feel ashamed to use them. They get pregnant and either get abortions behind their parents' backs, or their lives are ruined by an unwanted baby.

Now if you taught them about choices, commitment to a partner, consequences, contraceptives, the two 18-year olds probably have some awkward sex, leave embarrassed, and there is nothing but some hurt feelings, but no baby and no abortion. And isn't that what this is all about?