Etiquette



DP Etiquette

First rule: Don't be a jackass.

Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.

Thursday, September 2, 2021

Abortion update: The Supreme Court chooses to let states gut access to abortions, leaving Roe nominally intact

Their bodies just got banned on real hard
Another civil liberty bites the dust, thanks to the
fascist Republican Party


The Supreme Court to leave standing the Texas law that guts abortion rights. The New York Times writes:
The law, which prohibits most abortions after six weeks and went into effect on Wednesday, was drafted by Texas lawmakers with the goal of frustrating efforts to challenge it in federal court.

The Supreme Court refused just before midnight on Wednesday to block a Texas law prohibiting most abortions, less than a day after it took effect and became the most restrictive abortion measure in the nation.

The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s three liberal members in dissent.

The majority opinion was unsigned and consisted of a single long paragraph. It said the abortion providers who had challenged the law in an emergency application to the court had not made their case in the face of “complex and novel” procedural questions. The majority stressed that it was not ruling on the constitutionality of the Texas law and did not mean to limit “procedurally proper challenges” to it.
NPR reported this morning that as of today, abortion providers in Texas were turning patients away. The Texas law backed by fascist Texas Republican legislature forces women outside the time limit will be forced to either carry to term and bear a child she does not want, or leave the state to gat an abortion.  

Other fascist Republican state legislatures will no doubt rush to copy and pass the Texas law in their states. If that scenario turns out to come true, then the good news is that abortions will still be legal in states that do not oppose abortions. It seem likely from the way the decision is worded that abortion provider will try to make a better case. That seems futile, but time will tell. Those Christian nationalist judges are hell-bent on getting rid of abortion come hell or high water.

It is a puzzle as to why Roberts voted as he did. My guess is that he wants to pretend to be a judge, instead of a radical Christian nationalist politician who wears a black robe as his work uniform. In his dissent, Roberts wrote that he would have blocked the law while appeals moved through the courts. He wrote this: “The statutory scheme before the court is not only unusual, but unprecedented. The legislature has imposed a prohibition on abortions after roughly six weeks, and then essentially delegated enforcement of that prohibition to the populace at large. The desired consequence appears to be to insulate the state from responsibility for implementing and enforcing the regulatory regime.”

The law allows for Texas citizens to report on violations of the law. Yehaw! Here come them law and order snitches! Rat 'em out!

Note: The Supreme Court will hear a challenge to an anti-abortion law from Mississippi this term. That decision will probably come down by June 30, 2022. If the court decides to get rid of Roe v. Wade and make abortions illegal in all states, that is the case where Roe kill decision will come from.


Question: Why would anyone want to live in Texas, low taxes, great climate, deregulated electricity, no abortions and/or something(s) else?

Words and Phrases that, are like, you know, tiresome!

 Like, whatever!


Then there are all those "Commies, Fascists, Socialists" and other political terms that are SO evident on the internet and in political conversations, it is like, well umm, you know, like - tiresome.

Personally man, whatever just ruffles my feathers. And saying "man" is like, SO 70s man.

What about you? Got any words or phrases you like excommunicated from every day lexicon?

Like Biden always saying "Look....."?

Or "SO?"

or "Thoughts and Prayers?"

or "No worries?"

or how about "I know, right?"

or calling everyone you disagree with a "SNOWFLAKE?"

SO - MAN (and Ladies) - Like, pick your medicine, or whatever floats your boat, or tickles your fancy, or makes you see "red", and give us a list of words AND phrases that need to be exterminated.




Wednesday, September 1, 2021

For the People Act

One of my U.S. Senators, Republican Rob Portman, thinks we cannot afford a $3.5 trillion human infrastructure investment.  From Twitter:

Rob Portman

@senrobportman

18h

Democrats' $3.5 trillion tax and spending bill will send inflation soaring, raise taxes on American families, and undermine economic growth for years to come.  More in my op-ed for the Dispatch Alerts

Michael Moore thinks otherwise (view time 6:38): 

Link here

Portman’s claim is another example of what I call Capitalism Gone Awry: a perverted viewing of Capitalism as a personal big money maker, the greater society be damned, rather than an engine that drives a free economy to prosperity for virtually all, not just the few "already haves."

So, who is right?  Moore or Portman?  Make your case.

The Michael Moore full interview here:


Fascist Republicans in congress issue direct threats

Yesterday, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) issued a direct threat to telecom and social media companies that comply with the January 6 committee records request.



For emphasis, McCarthy's threat includes this unambiguous threat: "a Republican majority will not forget and will stand with Americans to hold them fully accountable under the law."

So, the obvious questions are (1) whether Democratic records requests are illegal, and (2) whether companies who comply with those record requests are illegal. Apparently, McCarthy’s office could not cite a federal statute that a states company would be in violation of it if they complied with a duly empaneled congressional committee because no statute exists. Because of that, one can reasonably believe that McCarthy's threat is empty under existing law. Nonetheless, given the ambiguities and complexities of corporate laws, vengeful fascist Republicans in congress can find things to go after companies for. Intimidation like that is something companies will pay attention to.




Questions: Is McCarthy's threat (i) just a minor kerfuffle and of no real importance, (ii) not a threat at all, (iii) a significant (fascist) attack on democracy and the rule of law, and/or (iv) a Republican Party attempt to obstruct justice because the records request are legal and have to be complied with?