âThe nationâs second-largest pharmacy chain confirmed Thursday that it will not dispense abortion pills in several states where they remain legal â acting out of an abundance of caution amid a shifting policy landscape, threats from state officials and pressure from anti-abortion activists.â
It seems that Republican state attorneys general in about 24 states wrote to Walgreens in February, threatening legal action if the company continued distributing the drugs in their states.
These abortion pills are the nationâs most frequently used method for ending a pregnancy.
The company subsequently told the states that it will not dispense abortion pills either by mail or at their brick-and-mortar locations in those states.
This is where America is at: Large corporations are doing more to obstruct access to abortion than the law requires. On to cartoons.
Womenâs history month at the Supreme Court:
Wrongo and Ms. Right watched the Oscar-nominated movie âWomen Talkingâ last night. Itâs message is that women should no longer accept things they cannot change; that itâs time to change the things they canât accept. Like the Dobbs decision.
Tennessee outlaws drag. And theyâre so pro-life that they want to execute any woman who gets an abortion.:
Buried in the McCarthy debacle last week was some good news on the abortion front. From the NYT:
âFor the first time, retail pharmacies, from corner drugstores to major chains like CVS and Walgreens, will be allowed to offer abortion pills in the United States under a regulatory change made Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration.â
The online magazine STATasked an interesting question: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âWhen the Food and Drug Administration lifted some â but not all â of its restrictions on an abortion pill this week, it raised questions about why these rules were there in the first place. Mifepristone, the drug in question, has been used by over 3.7 million Americans to end early pregnancies since its approval in 2000, is more than 97% effective, tends to have only mild side effects such as cramping, with severe ones occurring in fewer than 0.5% of patients. So why was it on a list of prescription drugs requiring extra precautions and red tape, alongside opioid painkillers?â
More from STAT:
âMany reproductive rights advocates celebrated the change. But to others, the agency hadnât gone far enough. Having the drug on a list of medicines that require a risk mitigation strategy gives the false impression that itâs dangerous, they argue. To them, it should be treated like any other pharmaceutical thatâs been proven safe and effective.â
That might help to ensure greater access at a time when some states have banned it.
Mifepristone pills are already used for more than half of pregnancy terminations in the US. There has been growing demand for them since the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, the 50-year old federal right to abortion.
With Conservative states moving quickly to ban or sharply restrict abortion, these pills have become the focus of political and legal battles, all of which can influence whether an individual pharmacy will dispense the medication.
The availability of mifepristone through pharmacies will probably vary depending upon location. Deep Red areas will probably have fewer pharmacies willing to dispense it – a combination of more pharmacists exercising their right to substitute their morality for a womanâs, and a fear by the pharmacy of negative consequences ranging from boycotts to fire bombings.
Abortion pills are only a small percentage of any pharmacyâs sales, but they could have a big impact on its public profile. Such calculations will influence a pharmacyâs decision, as will the fact that in about half of the US states, abortion bans or restrictions would make it illegal or very difficult for pharmacies to provide abortion pills.
So, yes, this is a positive development, but it wonât be a panacea: Some Republican-allied group will soon start a court battle to try to reverse the FDAâs policy. Eventually, it will come before the six Christian justices on the Supreme Court. This is a battle for civil rights. It needs to be fought on every level from local to federal, and every incremental victory matters.
We canât let what may happen down the road prevent us from celebrating a win. The Republicans and the Conservative movement arenât omnipotent gods. We still live in a world where working, fighting, and voting can make a difference.
Consider this: The Republicanâs House majority is due to just 6,670 votes out of 107 million cast, says Inside Elections, a nonpartisan publication. That means every vote cast in 2022 mattered. And if a few more in the right places had been cast, it could have made a generational difference.
Time to wake up America! Every year that American women can continue to access abortion, (chemical or otherwise) matters. Every effort to stem the tide of the many actions that are threatening our civil liberties matter. All of this says we still have the power to change America for the better.
To help you wake up, listen to John Mayer perform his 2006 Grammy-winning hit, âWaiting on the World to Changeâ from his third studio album, Continuum. The song is kind of an apologia for Gen Y’s well-documented apathy, but even that has changed quite a bit in the 17 years since it was written:
Sample of lyrics:
Me and all my friends
We’re all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There’s no way we ever could
Now we see everything that’s going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it
[Chorus] And we’re still waiting (Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting (Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
One day our generation Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting (Waiting)
Waiting on the world to change
Fort Hill, Eastham, Cape Cod, MA – October 2022 photo by Wrongo
Anyone else getting nervous about the midterms? As Wrongo has said, the avalanche of frantic email solicitations from Democrats can worry you even if you are by nature, an optimistic person.
Wrongo has recommended three Senate candidates as worthy of donations: Fetterman in PA, Kelly in AZ, and Warnock in GA. But there are other paths to retaining the Senate for Democrats.
Wrongo wants to add Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) to that list. Heâs currently in a virtual tie with the execrable JD Vance to succeed the retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). But Trump won Ohio by 8 points in 2020. One issue for Ryan is that the Democratic campaign funding arms have not been very supportive of Ryan in his bid to help them retain the Senate. NBC has reported that the decision by Democrats to put money elsewhere reflected a judgment about which races they believed they were most likely to win.
But Ryanâs surprising showing thus far in Ohio indicates that those judgments may not have been correct. While Vance has raised about $46 million, principally from Mitch McConnell ($30 million and from authoritarian entrepreneur Peter Theil ($15 million), Ryan has relied on small donors to fund his campaign. Still, with four weeks to go, Ryan has a decent chance of pulling off an upset (assuming the polling is accurate). If Ryan wins, it almost certainly ensures that Democrats maintain their majority in the Senate.
ICYMI, on Monday, Ryan debated Vance. The consensus is that Ryan easily beat him. From Jennifer Rubin in the WaPo:
âRyanâs performance should be mandatory viewing for Democratic contenders. They should pay attention to Ryanâs tone and demeanor. He repeatedly took down his opponent without appearing nasty. His tone was more incredulous (Can you believe this guy?) than angry. Ryan looks like a regular guy. He appeared totally at ease, often standing with one hand in his pocket.â
From Ryan in the debate: (parenthesis by Wrongo)
âWe need leaders who have courage to take on their own party, and Iâve proven that, and he (Vance) was called an ass-kisser by the former president. Ohio needs an ass-kicker, not an ass-kisser.â
Ryan also challenged Vanceâs support for police by reminding voters that Vance had contributed money to a defense fund for a Jan. 6th rioter.
Ryanâs being one point ahead with a month to go, and his shellacking of Vance in the debate should give Democrats some hope that he has a decent chance to pick up a Senate seat for Democrats in Ohio. So send him some dough at his direct site: https://timforoh.com/. Going direct means he wonât have to share a portion of your money with other candidates, which is what happens when you give to Vote Blue.
Wrongo stumbled across another idea (hat tip, Robert Hubbell) that you might consider using in an effort to get out the vote for the midterms. Itâs called relational organizing, by which you reach out to your friends directly. Studies show texts from friends are 29 times more effective at bringing positive results than texts from strangers. And SwipeBlue is an app that helps you find all of the Democrats in your contact list by matching your phone contacts to the public voter files. It is secure, and since it doesnât save the data, it also protects your privacy.
The app helps you divide your contacts into Blue and Red. The contacts that arenât in either bucket can be coded Green. You can then text your Democratic friends with a call to vote by swiping the blue ÂÂ- like Tinder for voting. The app then helps you to send them a customizable get out the vote text.
It can also help with registering them to vote, or to vote absentee.
This is critical since at least one current poll from the Morning Consult, shows that Democrats are flagging in voter enthusiasm. The chart below compares voter enthusiasm in 2018 with 2022. Democrats are lagging by 6 points over 2018:
Republicans are only one point lower than they were in 2022. While Independents are 6 points higher, thereâs no reason to think that all of that increase will break toward the Dems. So texting your friends an encouraging message may be important.
This message while relaxing on Cape Cod is that we canât relax. So open your wallets in races that are close and try texting a few friends.
Sunset, Housatonic River, New Milford CT – 2022 photo by Tony Vengrove
There are just 55 days left until the 2022 midterm elections, and Wrongoâs crystal ball remains cloudy. For example, take the US Senate race in Pennsylvania. Democrat John Fetterman leads Republican Mehmet Oz by 48.5% to 40.4% in the 535 average of polls as of September 8. Sounds like a big lead, no?
But the US Chamber of Commerce told Axios on Sept. 11 that it was donating $3 million to support Oz’s campaign. Who is the US Chamber? They are an industry group that represents virtually every major American corporation. From Judd Legum:
âCorporations â whether individually or through a trade organization like the Chamber â are prohibited from donating $3 million directly to Oz’s campaign. (Corporate PAC donations are capped at $5,000 per election.) So instead, the Chamber is routing the money through the Senate Leadership Fund, a Super PAC set up by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell….The Senate Leadership Fund can raise unlimited funds from any source and spend them to boost Oz and other Republican candidates.â
In a statement, Chamber EVP Neil Bradley described Oz as “a pro-business champion” and said Fetterman “subscribes to a far-left, government-knows-best approach.”
So, Americaâs big corporations are against Fetterman. Sounds like a reason to be for him.
Legum takes a deep dive into where the US Chamber gets the millions it is donating to promote Oz’s candidacy: It comes from dues paid by member corporations. And which corporations are members? The Chamber keeps its membership list secret. More from Legum:
âWe know, however, that virtually every major American corporation is a member of the Chamber. The Chamber’s board of directors includes representatives from FedEx, Bristol Myers Squibb, Facebook, AT&T, United Airlines, Abbott, 3M, Microsoft, Deloitte, Fidelity, Chevron, Intuit, Xerox, Pfizer, Dow, AllState, Delta, and many others.â
And most member companies donât have a board seat. Their donations are secret as well, but CVS disclosed that it paid $500,000 to the Chamber in 2021 and $325,000 to a related organization, the US Chamber Institute for Legal Reform. And CVS isnât a board member! Imagine how much the really big guns paid.
A few major corporations arenât members. Apple, for example, resigned its membership in 2009 in protest of the Chamber’s policy on climate change.
Sadly, corporations are not accountable (or even visible) in their support of the extreme policies of the GOP when they donate through vehicles like the US Chamber. We have to hope that as the Republican message gets ever more extreme, corporations will have a harder time continuing their support for this type of Citizens United chicanery.
This shows just how scummy our politics have become with the help of the Roberts Court and the Federalist Society. If it’s illegal to donate a certain amount directly to this person or organization, we simply create a PAC or a Super-PAC, and then donate huge sums directly to them.
If creating a PAC achieves this result, how is the individual limitation protecting democracy?
There’s an old joke about how if you know a little about politics, your issues are guns, abortion and taxes. If you know a lot about politics, your issue is campaign finance reform.
Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that could determine which Party holds the majority in the Senate. While Fetterman has a lead, Pennsylvania is still a competitive state, with money pouring into its governorâs race as well. This $3 million from the Chamber could have a real impact on the outcome.
Itâs important to understand that more than 40% of the Pennsylvania electorate seems to want what Oz is offering. Thatâs scary, and it speaks to something that many in the media donât want to address. They’re actually scared to address what the Republican Party has become. It isnât surprising because the media are both a large part of the problem and not a part of the solution.
And when Biden accurately calls out what the Republican Party has become, when he says that Republican behavior and beliefs are inimical to what America is supposed to be, the media says heâs being divisive.
Oz is an example of what happens when one Party creates an existential situation out of whole cloth. When it’s backed by their 30 years of increasing extremism, the existential threat to democracy is now real.
No, Americaâs corporations arenât going to save you. Giving money and time to Democratic Senate candidates like Fetterman, or Georgiaâs Warnock (up by 2%), or Arizonaâs Kelly (up by 2%), or New Hampshireâs Hassan (up by 4%), or Ohioâs Ryan (up by 1%), or North Carolinaâs Beasley (up by 1%) MIGHT save you.
Morning storm, Grays Beach, Cape Cod, MA – August 2022 photo by David J. Long
Itâs good to be back. Did Wrongo miss anything besides the fraught decision by a Trump-appointed judge about the FBIâs search of Mar-a-Lago (MAL)? Or, the contrasting apocalyptic speeches by Biden and Trump?
First, with the end of summer in sight, a few words about what Wrongo did on his vacation. We attended a Judy Collins concert at Tanglewood, MA. At 83, her voice remains remarkable. She opened with âBoth Sides Nowâ and although Joni Mitchell owns the songâs copyright, Judy Collins owns the song. Collins performed songs by many other artists and led the crowd in several folk-style sing alongs. It was a very worthwhile evening.
Letâs turn to the two big news items that occurred over the Labor Day break.
First, the competing views of America by President Biden and the former president. Last Thursday, Biden gave a speech identifying Trump and MAGA Republicans as a threat to democracy. Then on Saturday, Trump gave a speech in Pennsylvania that proved Bidenâs point.
Trump reprised his âPocahontasâ attack on Elizabeth Warren. He claimed that the FBI planted evidence at MAL. He called for the death penalty for drug dealers, and a ban on electric vehicles. Trump took on the FBI and DOJ:
âThe FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters, controlled by radical left scoundrels, lawyers and the media, who tell them what to do.â
âFor the 2022 election cycle, smart Republicans had a clear and simple plan: Donât let the election be about Trump. Make it about gas prices, or crime, or the border, or race, or sex education, or anythingâanything but Trump….Republicans had good reason to dread the havoc heâd create if he joined the fight in 2022.â
Now, Bidenâs attacks have pushed Trump over the edge â exactly where Democrats want him in the run-up to the midterms. More from Frum:
âBiden dangled the bait. Trump took itâand put his whole party on the hook with him. Republican leaders are left with little choice but to pretend to like it.â
Sounds hopeful to Wrongo.
Second, Monday brought the order by federal judge Aileen Cannon approving Trumpâs request to appoint a special master to review the documents seized by the FBI from MAL. This stops at least temporarily, federal prosecutors from using those documents in their investigation into obstruction and mishandling of government secrets by Trump.
From a political viewpoint, while her incorrect reading of the facts and the law may slow the investigation, the DOJ was never going to indict Trump before the midterms. Theyâre saying they are still at the early stages of the investigation.
The judgeâs decision is wrong, because stolen defense secrets arenât privileged; they are the evidence that Trump committed a crime.
It seems clear that the DOJ hasnât decided whether to appeal her decision to the 11th Circuit, or to play out the special master fight. Of course, it could start by complying with the order and then appeal once the judge has: a) selected a special master, and b) provided instructions on the scope and duration of effort by the special master.
The DOJâs delay may be caused by the fact that after an appeal to the 11th Circuit, any further appeal is first heard by a single Supreme Court Justice before it goes on to an expanded Supreme Court hearing. In this case, that initial hearing would be before Justice Clarence Thomas, who would likely side with Trump.
Like in Bidenâs attack on democracy strategy, Trumpâs theft of government secrets will remain a front page story throughout the mid-terms, and regardless of what happens afterwards, all the way to the 2024 presidential election.
The end game politically is to persuade the few persuadables on the Right, along with the majority of Independents to agree with Biden: That weâre in a âwarâ about the future of our democracy. The threat from one side of our political spectrum is grave. And itâs Bidenâs obligation to do whatever he can to pull people away from the brink. On Friday, Biden said to Peter Doocy on FOX:
âI donât consider Trump supporters a threat to the country. I do think anyone who calls for the use of violence, refuses to acknowledge an election….changing the way you count votes, that is a threat to democracy.â
That clarifies a message that could reach a few Republicans. They and most Independents should then vote with the Dems in November. The Dems now need to carry that message to its logical conclusion.
These can be good developments for Democrats. Before the Dobbs decision and the raid on MAL, Republicans had convinced Americans that the greatest threat to democracy was high gasoline prices.
Wrongo and Ms. Right are streaming â5 Days at Memorialâ a dramatization of the tragedy at a downtown New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina. Itâs adapted from the 2013 book âFive Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospitalâ by Sheri Fink. Ms. Right highly recommends the book.
It is difficult to watch something when you already know the outcome is a terrible loss of life. Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005, some 17 years ago. When we visited New Orleans three years ago, damage was still visible in parts of the city.
â[Louisiana] Attorney General Jeff Landry successfully pushed [the State Bond Commission] commissioners to withhold the funds as punishment, after the New Orleans City Council passed a resolution asking law enforcement officers not to enforce Louisianaâs near-total abortion ban…â
Yesterday, Wrongo quoted Dan Pfeiffer who said: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âDemocratic efforts to turn this midterm from a progress report on Democratic governance into a referendum on GOP extremism failed to connect until the Dobbs decision. That was when Republican extremism went from an abstract argument to lived reality.â
The Demâs performance in Tuesdayâs primaries showed that Pfeiffer may be right, as many Democrats outperformed in swing districts. And whatâs happening in New Orleans is another example of Republican extremism around the Dobbs decision. From Salon:
âThe New Orleans City Council on July 7 passed a resolution in which local policymakers proclaimed their support for reproductive healthcare access and asked police, sheriff’s deputies, and prosecutors not to… enforce Louisiana’s draconian prohibition on abortion…â
That led to the stateâs Bond Commission voting 7-6 to defer a motion to approve flood prevention funding until next month. CNN reported that this was the second time in two months that the panel rejected financing for a $39 million project that is meant to pay for drainage pumps critical to protecting New Orleans from flooding.
The Louisiana AG Landry sent a letter urging the bond commission to:
â…defer any applications for the City of New Orleans, Orleans Parish, and any local governmental entity or political subdivision under its purview….Any other funding that will directly benefit the City of New Orleans…should also be paused until such time as the council, mayor, chief of police, sheriff, and district attorney have met with and affirmed that they will comply with and enforce the laws of this state and cooperate with any state officials who may be called upon to enforce them.”
New Orleans mayor, LaToya Cantrell told CNN that she is unwilling to budge on abortion and criticized Landry and other Republican members of the bond commission for endangering public health by holding flood mitigation funding hostage:
“We cannot afford to put politics over the rights of people, and particularly safeguarding people from hurricanes and other disasters, because we are on the front lines of climate change…”
Republicans used to favor local control. They always say federal policies shouldnât apply unless the states agree. Now theyâll only say that if itâs politically convenient. This is political blackmail, not simply politics.
The sad part is how short sighted it is. This Landry guy and his Republican supporters who live outside of New Orleans think this canât harm them. But, how long has it taken Louisiana to recoup all of its losses from Katrina?
And this bad behavior is becoming normalized. It happened in Texasâ Harris County when Houston was denied funds related to 2017âs Hurricane Harvey until recently. In Houston, the funds were not denied due to the abortion issue, but for other political reasons (including voting rights). Texasâs decision matrix favored more sparsely populated areas and areas with higher property values, which worked against Houston and Harris County, Harris County is a Democratic stronghold in a very Red State.
This kind of blackmail wonât go away unless fair-minded people win these important state offices, like attorney general and secretary of state.
Democrats need to hold the US House and Senate in November and retake the Presidency in 2024. If not, we will have failed to meet the moment. The defense of our previous political wins must be a constant goal in the game.
The 2022 and 2024 elections are Americaâs political endgame. And right now, itâs unclear how itâs going to play out.
Summer storm passes, Grand Teton NP, WY – August 2022 photo by Hilary Bralove
The Senate came into session at 12 pm Saturday, and after a full 24 hours, it paused the vote-a-rama on Sunday for a new prayer. Those are the Senate rules. Then the Senate promptly resumed its vote-a-rama, which ended about 3:15 pm on Sunday. From the WaPo:
âThe Senate on Sunday approved a sweeping package to combat climate change, lower health-care costs, raise taxes on some billion-dollar corporations and reduce the federal deficit, as Democrats overcame months of political infighting to deliver the centerpiece to President Bidenâs long-stalled economic agenda.â
While most of the Democratâs reconciliation process proceeded according to plan, Senate Republicans successfully stripped a provision capping the price of insulin in the private marketplace from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by a 57-43 vote, with seven Republicans (Cassidy, Collins, Hawley, Hyde Smith, Kennedy, Murkowski and Sullivan) voting to keep it in. But the seven GOP votes, plus all Democrats, werenât enough to reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to pass.
The cap on insulin prices for only those on Medicare remained in the bill since it complied with the rules on reconciliation. Apparently, the Republicans think that if we give people handouts for having diabetes Americaâs just incentivizing people to get diabetes. Who wants that?
Democrats included a new tax on large companies that currently pay nothing to the US government and added about $80 billion for the Internal Revenue Service to pursue tax cheats. They also approved a 1% tax on companies that buy back their own stock, a practice that many see as detrimental to the economy, that benefits only wealthy shareholders and executives.
After the bill passed, Republicans were predictably outraged. The appropriately-named Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) said:
âIt does nothing to bring the economy out of stagnation and recession. But rather, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 gives us higher taxes, more spending, higher prices â and an army of IRS agents…â
And itâs important to note that while Democrats donât think that Sens. Manchin and Sinema are all that great, donât forget that this watered down bill was opposed by EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN.
There is plenty to crow about in the IRA. Does it contain everything on the progressive wish list? No, but Dems should take the win and stop pissing and moaning about what couldnât get by Manchin, Sinema and/or the Senate Parliamentarian, and sell the bill hard to the American people.
If Democrats want to deliver even more, theyâll need to improve their margin in the Senate, and hold the House in the November mid-terms.
Itâs not enough for Democrats to wait for Republicans to shoot themselves in the foot this fall, even though some candidates can be counted upon to try hard to do just that. Democrats need to be shouting about their successes. Just yesterday, Trump said at CPAC: âYou have not good job numbers nowâ, even though the just-published job numbers were awesome! That has to be countered at every opportunity.
This means a wall-to-wall, multi-pronged messaging campaign, reminding Americans every minute that Republicans canât be trusted on the economy. And despite where inflation is today, we need to be saying that gas prices are down nearly $1.00/gallon in the last seven weeks.
Maybe John Stewart should become the Dem’s Minister of Information?
We need to say that most GOP candidates support the Big Lie and the impeached coup plotter, Trump. That theyâre willing to eliminate the right to an abortion in America. On Friday, Indianaâs Republicans passed and Republican Governor Eric Holcomb immediately signed, a bill that prohibits nearly all abortions from the moment of gestation. Several Republican-controlled states will shortly pass similar laws.
People must, as Tom Sullivan says, “campaign like crazy“, while reminding all Americans that the Party of Lincoln no longer will deliver anything that ordinary people want.
Time to wake up America! Weâre at war politically and ideologically with Republicans. The only way to win is to keep defeating them at local, state, and federal levels until they stop trying to force their radical ways on the rest of us. To help you wake up, watch, and listen to the interesting but short-lived group, 4 Non Blondes play their big hit from 1992, âWhat’s Upâ:
Sample Lyric:
25 years and my life is still
Tryin’ to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination
I realized quickly when I knew I should
That the world was made up of this brotherhood of man
For whatever that means
And so I cry sometimes when I’m lying in bed
Just to get it all out what’s in my head
And I, I am feeling a little peculiar
The Labor Department on Friday reported that the economy added a seasonally adjusted 528,000 jobs in July, far more than the 258,000 economists expected to see. And the headline rate of unemployment  fell to 3.5%, back to the multi-decade low we experienced just before the start of the pandemic.
With the upward revisions to the last two months, there are now 22,000 more jobs than there were just before the pandemic. Further, the mix of these new jobs skews away from the lower paying sectors toward higher paying ones. The WSJ reports that in July, there were about a million more jobs combined in the so-called goods-producing sectorsâmanufacturing, construction, mining and loggingâplus the retail trade and warehousing and transportation sectors, than in February 2020. And there were about a million fewer jobs in the remaining service-sector industries.
Leisure and hospitality jobs, which were the most hard-hit during the pandemic, rose by 96,000, but are still -7.1% below their pre-pandemic peak. And within the leisure and hospitality sector, food and drink establishments added 74,100 jobs, but are still about 635,000, or -5.1% below their pre-pandemic peak.
But it wasnât all good news. The number of people employed as a share of the working-age population was 60% last month, below February 2020âs 61.2%. If it could return to that percentage, there would be millions more Americans working. An interesting fact in the employment report was that there were 656,000 more people out sick last month than in July 2019. On to cartoons.
The Kansas vote dropped on the wicked witch:
What Kansas taught us this week:
Pelosi sparks a flame:
Alex Jones finally grabbed by his appendage:
The US kills another al-Qaeda leader, but nothing changes in Afghanistan:
âThe right to an abortion will remain in the Kansas Constitution. In the first ballot test of abortion rights in a post-Roe America, Kansas voters turned out in historic numbers to overwhelmingly reject a constitutional amendment that would have opened the door for state lawmakers to further restrict or ban abortions across the state.â
Kansas voters showed that the Supreme Courtâs decision in Dobbs doesnât sit well, even in one of the countryâs most conservative states. Democrats should adjust their 2022 Midterms messaging and strategy accordingly, to make it clear that Roe and Reform are what they’re running on.
Across party lines, abortion rights remain popular while the Supreme Courtâs ruling is not. The most recent CNN poll found that 63% of Americans disapproved (51% âstronglyâ) of the courtâs decision.
âFrom the bluest counties to the reddest ones, abortion rights performed better than Mr. Biden, and opposition to abortion performed worse than Mr. Trump,â
The NYT had several observations:
Abortion opponents under performed even in conservative areas. In Hamilton County, which voted 81% Trump in 2020, less than 56% chose the anti-abortion position. In Greeley County, which voted more than 85% for Trump, only about 60% chose the anti-abortion position.
Kansasâs swing areas swung left. Wyandotte County, (where Kansas City is located), voted 65% for Biden in 2020, but 74% for abortion rights. Neighboring Johnson County, the stateâs most populous, voted 53% for Biden but more than 68% for abortion rights.
Turnout was high. Before the election, the Kansas secretary of stateâs office predicted turnout of about 36%. But anecdotal evidence indicated turnout might hit 50%, an extraordinary increase over what was expected.
2/ When a result is this lopsided & this unexpected for most political observers itâs not only a political earthquake but a sign many political professionals have seriously mistaken the political terrain. When thereâs a political backlash as strong as the one against Dobbs âŚ
3/ and one party is as firmly tied to it as Republicans are here, clearly the opposing party needs to grab on to it with both hands. Abortion rights will be central to numerous races this fall. But Democrats need to make the connection as explicit and tangible as possible.
4/ The way to do that is to make a firm pledge that if Democrats hold the House and add two Senate seats they will make Roe into federal law in January 2023. They are at present kinda sorta suggesting something like that, maybe. But clarity is everything. Give us this âŚ
5/ specific result and this is specifically what we will do. Kansans didnât turn out in these lopsided numbers to make a statement about Dobbs or Roe. They did so because they knew that the outcome of this one vote would immediately and dramatically affect the right âŚ
6/ to a safe and legal abortion in the state. Democrats need to approximate the same clarity at the federal level, both to undo Dobbs and also to secure their hold on Congress. The way to do that is to get all 48 (non-Sinema/Manchin) senators to make a firm pledge that âŚ
7/ if the House is held and two Democratic senators added they will vote for a Roe law in January 2023 AND suspend the filibuster rules to guarantee that bill gets an old fashioned up or down majority vote. So far 31 Senate Democrats have said theyâll do that (though not âŚ
8/ yet on the specific date). All but two of the 17 are basically there but still refuse to say it clearly. There are two potential hold outs. Angus King of Maine and Mark Warner of Virginia. They will all certainly fall in line quickly if constituents apply pressure now.
The Kansas vote shows that the anti-abortion Republicans have misjudged how deeply this issue resonates for voters. When a Constitutional right simply disappears, apparently, the voters will turn out.
The polls have consistently shown that the majority of this country is pro-choice. The rejection of the Kansas amendment shows that if the election were to be a referendum on pro-choice, Democrats will win.
The Republicans should be afraid that they have gone too far. Letâs hope this is a bellwether for the midterms.
(Hat tip to long-time blog reader and Kansas resident Monty B. for keeping Wrongo apprised of the Kansas fight to turn back this amendment).
The Supreme Courtâs overturning of Roe has opened a Pandoraâs Box of ethical and legal issues. The infamous story about the pregnant 10 year-old Ohio rape victim who was forced to travel to Indiana to receive an abortion is the best example. It was reported in the Indianapolis Star on July 1.
After the Dobbs decision, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) had issued an executive order putting in force a 2019 law that had banned nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. The 10-year-old was reportedly six weeks and three days pregnant.
Then we saw a Right-wing smear campaign:
A WSJ editorial called the Indianapolis Starâs report a “fanciful tale“, and claimed that there is “no evidence the girl exists.”
Tucker Carlson said that the story of the 10-year-old girl who had to travel to Indiana to get an abortion was “not true.”
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in an interview with USA Today, that the story was likely a “fabrication.”
The New York Post, which, like Fox News and the WSJ, is owned by Rupert Murdoch, published an opinion piece by law professor Jonathan Turley under the headline “Activist tale of 10-year-old rape victimâs abortion looks like a lie.”
All of those shouts and murmurs soon disappeared when a 27-year-old man from Columbus, Ohio, Gershon Fuentes, was arrested and charged with impregnating the 10-year-old Ohio girl. Apparently, Fuentes “confessed to raping the child on at least two occasions.”
Subsequently, Â the WSJ recanted and published a different editorial correcting the record. Why would they accuse the Star of fabricating a story? From Judd Legum: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âThere is a reason why so many people, particularly on the right, were eager to push the idea that Bernard’s story was a lie. If they acknowledged the story was true they would have to answer this question: Do you believe that a 10-year-old rape victim should be forced to give birth?â
The Nieman Lab, a Harvard-based group focused on journalism on the Internet, took the WaPoâs Glenn Kessler, author of their âFact Checkerâ column to task for not checking his facts about the Starâs reporting. One of Kesslerâs so-called âfactsâ was: (brackets by Wrongo)
âAn abortion by a 10-year-old is pretty rare,â Kessler notes…..[but] The Columbus Dispatch reported that in 2020, 52 people under the age of 15 received an abortion in Ohio.â
Your mileage may vary, but if one under-15-year-old gets an abortion every week in Ohio, it canât be thought of as âpretty rareâ. The press needs to wise up and get the data before diving headfirst to a conclusion.
There are other ways the Dobbs decision will impact lives. Unsure doctors in Texas are already turning away ectopic pregnancies, fearing legal liability. According to The Lily (a WaPo newsletter):
â…a South Texas woman diagnosed with an ectopic pregnancy was refused an abortion by her doctor…..she was advised to seek help out of state.â
Under the unclear Texas law, a doctor who removes an ectopic pregnancy that is not actively causing the patient to bleed to death may face legal consequences.
It doesn’t end there. The laws surrounding in vitro fertilization (IVF) could also be facing threats of lawsuits even though these women aren’t seeking abortions. Slate reports:
States probably wonât ban IVF outright, but as some countries have done, they may limit the number of embryos that can be created in an effort to prevent embryo destruction. All of this would make IVF far more difficult and expensive than it is, and it could possibly reduce the number of IVF clinics in those states.
This is the tip of the iceberg of the issues women will have post-Dobbs. Technology will always be ahead of our laws and ethics. Just as will some men’s (and religions’) need to control women.
Time to wake up America! Elect a filibuster-proof Senate this fall. To help you wake up listen to Willie Nile, perform his ode to Covid, âThe Day the Earth Stood Stillâ:
Sample lyric (that could be about the end of Roe instead of Covid)
So if you feel some heartache
And if you feel some pain
And if you see some lonely soul
Standing in the pouring rain
Offer up some kindness
Compassion if you will
And remember well the way it was
The day the earth stood still
