60 Comments

A Trump re-election means his clearly expressed fascism will come to be.

Expand full comment

Theocracy, white Christian nationalism is very much part of that fascism.

Expand full comment
RemovedFeb 22
Comment removed
Expand full comment

“a potential (& not unlikely) Trump re-election”

I call bullshit.

Possible, yes. And that’s the danger we need to be tireless opposing for the next 9 months.

But likely? No. Not unless we embrace your defeatist attitude.

Expand full comment

It would be helpful to chase this excellent explanation with a Who’s Who of more people, organizations and corporations to track.

Want to be ahead of the game for once. Done with getting ambushed.

Thanks for this part!

Expand full comment

The GOP bait and switch. Some Republicans ran on an anti-abortion platform. Many voted for them, believing that it meant pregnant patients seeking an abortion would simply be turned away.

The reality. Since the abolishment of Roe v Wade, the GOP is now coming for contraception, stripping away consenting adults pregnancy avoidance options.

Also In vitro fertilization, IVF, preventing would-be parents, desperate to become pregnant, access to the tools to accomplish their desires.

Vote BLUE.

Expand full comment

The depth of the anti-abortionist’s activities is astounding. That TFG has hitched his wagon to their machine is not as surprising as the continued allegiance of his cult acolytes to his cause despite the rulings that he is indeed a rapist and a fraud. What will it take to break the links and send him packing? His Friar’s Club campaign comedy act is getting old.

Plus, Texas needs a restart without the religion infused Bible thumping crowd in charge. Their brand of law and politics needs a massive revision. Texas and Texans will be much better off when that happens.

Expand full comment
author

A tipping point in Texas is coming.

Expand full comment

“Texas and Texans will be much better off when that happens”

But so will the liberals and people of color that those Texas hate. And it’s more important to Texans to hurt those they hate than to improve their own lives.

“Cut off my own arm to make that libturd stub a toe? I’ll take that deal!”

Expand full comment

Chilling.

And totally possible.

This issue, along with some others should galvanize young people to vote and vote blue.

Expand full comment

I wonder about the use of the word “extremists” in this article (and beyond). Would not other terms be more useful? Fascists? Dictators? What does an extremist Democrat want? To feed and clothe the poor? Make education available and affordable to everyone? Make voter registration automatic? Reign in the enormous concentration of wealth?

Expand full comment

Yes those are considered extreme, the Republicans didn't seem to learn much from Jesus.

Expand full comment

I have read Republicans complaining that they are not going to follow Jesus because he was too WOKE! So, how are they calling themselves Christians. These dumber than dirt people just do not get it.

Expand full comment

My overly Christian ignorant client talks bad about Biden as they steal from the government, and I told them, "everything that you tell me to do this not on the task list is stealing from the government" so I don't wanna hear you talk bad about Biden.

These people brains just don't work.

We are devolving very fast.

Expand full comment
Feb 22Liked by Jay Kuo

And now because of the far right taking choice away, they’re now coming after IVF (in Alabama). It was only a matter of time. So all those anti-choice people who put zero thought into what bodily autonomy really means may now no longer have an IVF option.

When you wring your hands and claim life begins at conception, there is no way IVF can then be an option. This is what what a MAGA world looks like.

Expand full comment

it's sad what's happening in Alabama right now. All because some religious fanatic decided an embryo was a life. Not every embryo becomes a fetus. Not every fertilized egg ( which is conception right?) is viable. It's literally putting the cart before the horse.

Expand full comment

Desensitization is a hell of a weapon, and it's hard to see continuous hope when every day seems an uphill battle...

Expand full comment
author

If the mind is shown the dangers it confronts and it feels it can handle the challenges, then that turns stress into positive motivation. But if the mind is confused and feels it cannot overcome the challenges, that stress dissolves into distress, and the body goes into survival mode. It’s so important to arm our minds with information and to understand the true nature of the threats we face.

Expand full comment
Feb 22Liked by Jay Kuo

Scary that we are even talking about this. We've taken so many step backwards as a Nation with trump's leadership, we can't afford to allow him a second term. In a first world country body autonomy should never be an issue. And hypocritical that those who push anti abortion laws the most are the ones who wouldn't get the vaccine. A very frightening time in our country for sure.

Expand full comment

For historical context - here's some advertisements for mail order "French Female Pills" - abortifacient remedies from the late 1800s. They were later outlawed by the Comstock Act. https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/comstock-resurrected-1873

Expand full comment

What I really want to know is what is driving these anti-abortion fanatics? They obviously don't care about the babies that a born otherwise they would also do something about violence against women and gun violence in general. What drives them? What is really behind? What world do they want to create?

Expand full comment

They want control of women. They want women to become what we have become in many states already - second class citizens with the same bodily autonomy as livestock.

Expand full comment

I hear that a lot. But why? What is the advantage to a society if you do that? And I don't mean to belittle your answer. I just don't understand the point of it. I see so many families who would be a lot worse off if the women wouldn't contribute to the household in come. If they want to sent us back to kitchen and raising child the economy would shrink drastically.

Expand full comment

It’s the cruelty. They delight in taking rights away from people they don’t like. Since Democrats support choice, Trump will work to ban abortion for no reason other than to punish his political enemies.

Expand full comment

Sure Jenn🙄

Expand full comment

What Jessica said 😳

Expand full comment

The drivers include the Bible’s messages to be fruitful and multiply that follow man’s dominion over the earth and everything in and on it, plus the Ten Commandments. And now, Speaker Johnson touts that he is the new Moses and intends to turn America into a Taliban style Bible based theocracy.

Expand full comment

A world of less murders?

Expand full comment

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are "children" causing the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and other clinics in the state, to suspend IVF treatments. Republicans have called for legislation banning contraception, IUDs, no fault divorce and the Heritage Foundation wants to end recreational sex (good luck with that one). Anti-abortion states are already losing medical residents because they can't learn about abortions; rural areas in these states are already lacking in hospitals and defunding Planned Parenthood will cause ever fewer health options; maternity deaths in the US are horrid, and deaths among Black women are even worse. Republicans don't care about children and don't care about women. The Women's March was just the beginning. It's imperative to vote Blue, up and down the ballot because all Republicans are now Trumpists.

Expand full comment

Following the latest Alabama ruling, I suggest women start bringing boxes of raw ingredient to the dinner table and insisting those are dinner. Also, demand paid maternity leave every time they ovulate because they are carrying a potential child. There are now organizations and programs like this one: https://reproductiverights.org/about-us/pro-bono-program/

So, while it's definitely an uphill battle, women no longer have to fight it alone - there are resources and people who will help them. In addition to voting blue in November, we also need to drown the red states in lawsuits related to reproductive rights. They will not budge unless it hits them where it hurts - in the wallet.

Expand full comment

A recent development should affect SCOTUS' decision about mifepristone. Science magazine noted: "the journal Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology retracted two articles that raised questions about the safety of mifepristone. They were cited by the conservative district court judge in Texas who first ruled to suspend mifepristone’s FDA approval. Sage Publishing said it retracted both studies for “a lack of scientific rigor”; because one reviewer was affiliated with the anti-abortion Charlotte Lozier Institute (CLI), a funder of the described research; and because the authors disclosed no conflicts of interest even though all but one were affiliated with antiabortion groups." We'll see if removal of credibility from their main argument makes the dent it should.

Expand full comment
author

The larger question is, why is an unelected, unknowledgeable judge trying to second guess the expertise of the FDA?

Expand full comment

I fear that it will make no difference, because it isn't about the safety of the medication, or about children for that matter. It is about making women into the equivalent of livestock, about stealing their agency, their dreams, and their futures. This will allow us to go back to "biology is destiny" days where women were routinely denied access to education and careers, because they "would just get pregnant and quit." And once we are there, it will be easy to say women don't contribute to society, so why should they have the right to vote?

Expand full comment

“Walgreens caved to the political pressure and agreed not to begin sales of the pill in those 20 states.”

Cowards.

And it’s not even good business. When facing bullies “Bring it on!” Is the last thing they want to hear and always, always works out better for you in the long run. Cowering and “Don’t hurt me!” only means you’ve told them they have free rein to keep hurting you more.

Expand full comment

Ominous info here, but you nailed it, Jay. Women’s rights and freedoms are on the line. Let’s not be complacent. We need to vote blue or else!

Expand full comment

Never ever voting blue again🙏🏿MAGA🇺🇸

Expand full comment