August 22, 2022

Nikki Fried's last ad before election tomorrow. She wants to take down DeSantis in November.

https://twitter.com/NikkiFried/status/1559211383081897987?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

August 12, 2022

Author Salman Rushdie attacked at western New York event

and a suspect is in custody, police say

(CNN)Salman Rushdie -- a celebrated author and winner of the world's top literary prizes whose writings generated death threats -- was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck on stage Friday before giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, State Police said.

The suspect was taken into custody by a state trooper at the event, police said. Rushdie was airlifted to a local hospital, police said. His condition is unknown. An interviewer also suffered a minor head injury, police said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told reporters Friday that Rushdie is "alive" and "getting the care he needs." She said a state trooper "stood up and saved his life and protected him as well as the moderator who was attacked as well.

snip

Rushdie was being introduced at about 10:45 a.m. when the assault happened, according to a witness, who said he heard shouting from the audience. He said a man in a black shirt appeared to be "punching" the author. The witness, who was 75 feet from the stage, did not hear the attacker say anything or see a weapon. Some people in the audience ran to render aid to Rushdie while others went after the attacker, the witness said.

Read More: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/12/us/salman-rushdie-attacked/index.html

July 4, 2022

I Won't Give Up On Us

&ab_channel=JoCarl12

Lyrics
When I look into your eyes
It's like watching the night sky
Or a beautiful sunrise
Well there's so much they hold
And just like them old stars
I see that you've come so far
To be right where you are
How old is your soul?
Well, I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
And when you're needing your space
To do some navigating
I'll be here patiently waiting
To see what you find
'Cause even the stars they burn
Some even fall to the earth
We've got a lot to learn
God knows we're worth it
No, I won't give up
I don't wanna be someone who walks away so easily
I'm here to stay and make the difference that I can make
Our differences they do a lot to teach us how to use the tools and gifts
We got yeah we got a lot at stake
And in the end you're still my friend at least we did intend
For us to work we didn't break, we didn't burn
We had to learn, how to bend without the world caving in
I had to learn what I got, and what I'm not
And who I am
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up
I'm still looking up
Well, I won't give up on us (no I'm not giving up)
God knows I'm tough (I am tough) he knows (I am loved)
We got a lot to learn (we're alive, we are loved)
God knows we're worth it (and we're worth it)
I won't give up on us
Even if the skies get rough
I'm giving you all my love
I'm still looking up

June 30, 2022

SCOTUS just quietly slashed your Sixth Amendment rights

(TheHill) The Supreme Court’s recent assault on our rights has gone far beyond Roe and Dobbs. The Supreme Court quietly issued a 6-3 ruling recently on Shinn v. Martinez Ramirez, siding against two Arizonans on death row who sought to challenge their convictions in federal court after receiving shoddy legal support. The majority’s rationale, which was based on a 1996 federal law, was that state sovereignty and legal expediency must be protected at all costs.

Unfortunately, those costs are clear. The Court’s ruling slashed Americans’ constitutional right to effective counsel by eviscerating the life-saving accountability mechanism that allows people to appeal unjust rulings. The six conservative justices have plainly prioritized the legal system’s power to convict and kill over our human right to live.

What is less clear is why, in a nation where folks will literally risk children’s lives to maintain their Second Amendment rights, Americans seem perfectly happy to hand over their Sixth Amendment rights with hardly a thought. The silence on social media and in our public discourse about this ruling is alarming — we should be very scared and very, very angry.

snip

We live in a world where innocent people are prosecuted every day. This ruling erodes protections for any American who might — at any time — be perceived guilty of any sort of wrongdoing. Whether it be the person in the midst of a miscarriage who is accused of committing an abortion in a red state, or the person who rented a car to visit family and was accused of stealing it despite a complete lack of evidence. It truly could be any of us at any time. All it takes is running into the wrong cop or prosecutor at the wrong time. And after Dobbs, it might take as little as a bad pregnancy outcome, whatever the cause.

Read More: https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/3541102-scotus-just-quietly-slashed-your-sixth-amendment-rights/

June 28, 2022

Are "abortion cruises" an option here in America - especially in states like Florida?

I just saw the Dutch doctor Rebecca Gomperts on TV, whose organization Women on Waves does just this exact thing in Europe.

According to Wiki "Services are provided on a commissioned ship that contains a specially constructed mobile clinic, the A-Portable. When WoW visits a country, women make appointments, and are taken on board the ship. The ship then sails out approximately 20 km (12 miles), to international waters, where Dutch laws are in effect on board ships registered in the Netherlands. Once in international waters, the ship's medical personnel provide a range of reproductive health services that includes medical abortion."

June 27, 2022

WATCH LIVE: Planned Parenthood among providers disputing Florida abortion ban

(Local10News) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Planned Parenthood of South, East, and North Florida and other reproductive health care providers are challenging Florida’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy on Monday at a state court in Tallahassee.

Attorneys representing Planned Parenthood argued in front of Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper that the ban violates the privacy rights that are protected by the state’s constitution.

House Bill 5, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in April, reduces the existing 24-week ban starting on Friday. The new law doesn’t include exceptions for rape, incest, or human trafficking.

link to live video and news article: https://www.local10.com/news/local/2022/06/27/planned-parenthood-of-south-among-providers-disputing-floridas-ban-on-abortions-after-15-weeks-of-pregnancy/

June 25, 2022

Gloria Steinem: The Roe v. Wade Overturn Has Made Ratifying the ERA More Urgent Than Ever

(snips from a long interview)

Gloria Steinem: First of all, on the global level, I would point out that we are the only democracy in the world that does not have women in its Constitution, which is a travesty in itself. Then, on the more individual level, there are many situations in which the ERA’s absence is felt, whether with regard to property or privacy rights, or others.

snip

What role could the ERA have in helping to curb the assault on women’s reproductive freedom, with Roe having fallen?

If democracy means anything, it means decision-making power over our own bodies—and that means equal decision-making power. Can men be forbidden to have a vasectomy? So why are women uniquely governed—in terms our physical selves—by various state laws? Well, the answer is because we have a womb. We happen to have the one thing guys don’t. And when you look back in history at authoritarian movements around the world, you learn that often the first thing they have done is to outlaw abortion and declare family planning a crime against the state.

What would the ERA do to boost women’s reproductive rights?

It would strengthen rights around our own bodies. The issue of fetal rights would not arise until a fetus could survive outside of women’s bodies. Right now fetal rights do apply, even though the fetus is 100 percent dependent on women’s hearts and lungs and circulation and so on. But it would not come into play until the fetus was at the point of viability. I mean, in a way that’s the kind of popular, sensible understanding already, even though there are differences on the idea of when viability arrives.

What do you think its chances are of passing the Senate now?

Many legal experts think it doesn’t even need to pass the Senate. They say the National Archivist can simply enact it, but so far he hasn’t done that. But one way or the other, we’ve got to get it done!

Read More:

https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/a39860562/now-that-roe-v-wade-has-been-overturned-ratifying-the-era-is-urgent-says-gloria-steinem/

June 25, 2022

Abortion Ruling Info Specifically for Floridians:

*Because states differ on what is and isn't allowed anymore - perhaps this info will help someone you know....

Florida Senator Lauren Book (D-District 32) wanted to make it clear that abortions are still legal in Florida.

“What’s important to know is that you can still get legal and safe abortions in the state of Florida today, tomorrow and starting July 1 up until 15 weeks. That’s really important to know. We are not one of those 13 trigger states where abortions stopped today.”

June 24, 2022

wtf, why does msnbc have on an anti-abortion person on rambling about how great today is????

this pisses me off so much., wtf msnbc

June 6, 2022

"PEOPLE MUST PAY ATTENTION. PEOPLE MUST WATCH": THE JAN. 6 COMMITTEE IS TRYING TO MAKE THE MOST OF

ITS PRIME-TIME TV SLOT (*not my "all caps", it was in the title)

(Vanity Fair) The January 6 committee is apparently not taking any chances with their media strategy on Thursday, when the first in a series of public hearings will air in prime time. Veteran network executive James Goldston, the former president of ABC News, “has joined the committee as an unannounced adviser,” Axios reported Monday. The committee tapped Goldston, whose storytelling expertise breathed life into programs such as Nightline, to shape the cache of material that the committee has amassed over the past year, which reportedly includes more than 140,000 documents and disclosures from over 1,000 depositions and interviews. Thursday’s prime-time hearing, which Goldston is producing, is said to feature both live witnesses and pre-produced video—including clips from some depositions. Goldston “plans to make it raw enough so that skeptical journalists will find the material fresh, and chew over the disclosures in future coverage,” while also getting the attention “of Americans who haven't followed the ins and outs of the Capitol riot probe,” Axios’s Mike Allen reports.

Read More: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/06/the-jan-6-committee-is-trying-to-make-the-most-of-its-prime-time-tv-slot