Juliajms

@Noel Yikes, I bet Meghan McCain wishes she had kept her mouth shut about now. Between the affair and the lobbyists that's a pretty bleak tale. I can't believe it didn't come out before.

5 hours ago, dragonflies said:

Right??!! There has to be something we can do. Some women use BC to regulate periods, not just to prevent pregnancy. This has to be some violation of the constitution, I mean the part about FORCING women to carry babies they don't want

Not that it matters!! We shouldn't have to justify or explain. I'm so sick of these religious wack jobs trying to impose their beliefs on the rest of us.

16 hours ago, marceline said:

I know how crass this sounds but...

...the reality is that being an reproductive rights sanctuary state will be good for the bottom line. 

Abortion is good for business on a lot of levels. That's an economic truth that people don't want to discuss.

Good. I'm happy to see people rewarded for doing the right thing. Their motives don't matter to me at this point.

I do think the motivating force behind the SCOTUS over turning Roe is religion. Only because I don't believe the Republicans can plan their way out of a paper bag. Otherwise I would suspect they are trying to create a permanent underclass of low skilled workers.

Republicans are coming up with so many pro poverty policies.  Forced birth, but no help with food, medical care, childcare or all the other things babies need.  Now with Abbott trying to take education away from undocumented children? What a despicable move. If I were trying to create a dystopia I don't know what I would do differently.

20 minutes ago, Khan said:

Like I said, I'm sure Bell/Alden had the best intentions - and I give them props, too, for not making the "crack mother," Nan, a WOC AND for having the courage to show viewers actual "crack babies" being cared for at the hospital.  But, to me, it also seemed to reinforce some conservative attitudes toward poor women who have the misfortune of becoming pregnant while strung out on a drug that was literally robbing this country of an entire generation in the '80s and '90s.  (And Christine's constantly spouting stats straight outta some pamphlet or textbook didn't help matters either.)

Just that "we" were using terms like "crack baby" is disgraceful.

Speaking of which this idiot was trying to incite a jihad by committing war crimes.

2 hours ago, DRW50 said:

A video is going around showing Miss Madison, naked, humping another guy's face. Madison claims this was years ago and was two friends joking (ladies, if your man is humping another man while naked, then unless you're in on it, I'd say it's not a good sign!)

This is one of those cases where I said it would happen and I wish I'd been wrong, both because nobody needs to see that and because it's just further normalizing homophobia. It's obvious that this is just going to escalate. He is the  dumbest kind of moron - the one who believes he is indestructible.  That means a  paper trail. I imagine even more is out there and it will keep coming unless he drops out of office. 

Yes. At first I felt a certain joy that this hypocrite is being exposed. It's clear he's being shamed for being gay and not for the hypocrisy at this point. It's really ugly to watch.

Meanwhile, none of us are surprised by this:

Dear God in Heaven this article (second tweet down). Apparently, the state of Mississippi's idea of sex education is to give girls a piece of tape and tell them if they have premarital sex they will be used up just like the tape. I knew it was bad, but this is next level ignorance. It must be truly shocking for them when teenagers turn up pregnant.  Needless to say they don't offer real help when the inevitable happens.  Harris is right. How DARE they. If the plan is to keep people in deep poverty they should change absolutely nothing.

That's too bad. 23 years is a lifetime.

4 hours ago, Cat said:

@Ponds Thank you for posting that. I know it must have been very hard. 

@DRW50 posted that link showing "next, Brown v Board" and my stomach flipped upside down. 'Fascism in its legal phase' was how I saw it characterized somewhere a few months back. Codifying the pecking order where *some people* have more rights than others -- and over others. At this point a semi-automatic will have more rights than a black, gay, and/or female body.

What a rotted, rubberstamp 'institution' the SC now is. I am furious (at myself mostly, and scared) that we took our eye off the ball and didn't try to think outside the box how we could possibly counter this clearly-telegraphed assault on our constitutional rights. 

The fact that someone feels entirely comfortable spouting such evil is chilling.  Hell, he was bragging about taking away children's rights to an equal education.  Shameless bastards.

10 minutes ago, Khan said:

I gave up warning others about Mr. Hillbilly Elegy a long time ago.

IDK why, but I just keep thinking of poor Brooke English on AMC.  During her many years on that show, she endured both an abortion after being raped by vile Eddie Dorrance and an ectopic pregnancy (during her brief marriage to Tad Martin) that also resulted in terminating the pregnancy after it nearly killed her.  I can't help but think tonight of all the Brookes who've had to face even one of those traumas, never mind both.  Imagine how much more difficult their situations might have been, had they lived in a country or at a time when they were denied their right to safe and, in many cases, life-saving abortions.

I tried to read his book and I could not get through it. Being lower middle class and seeing poorer people as the enemy is so obnoxious to me.

5 hours ago, dragonflies said:

I feel for my fellow women.

Me too. I just cannot believe women and girls are going to be forced to give birth. It's completely barbaric. I wonder how many women have been spared a lifetime connection to an abusive man by the ability to get an abortion? I can't really say I'm shocked that it's come to this. It's been clear for a long time that these white christian nationalist see women's bodies as community property. Not that they are the only ones, but they are the most dangerous.

@Ponds I agree. We could have easily reduced abortion if we gave pregnant women more generous benefits, including housing. That's always been obvious, but the cruelty is the point. It comes back to @Khan's point, that these people are obsessed with the myth that everyone should pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Meanwhile they add weight to people's backpacks instead of actually lending a hand.

Meanwhile, Ohio elects this jackass.

2 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

In terms of the quest to overturn Roe v Wade, anti-abortion advocates will probably look to use the same mechanism that they used to prop up slavery for centuries— state’s rights. I am surrounded by states that have decided over recent years to strengthen and enshrine abortion rights into state laws, but for a large number of states I know this is not the case.

Now we have to hope that states can't penalize women for traveling with the intention of getting an abortion.  Suddenly I envision myself trying to get through a checkpoint with a teenage girl in my trunk.

2 hours ago, I Am A Swede said:

What?     Why?  

 

Because they don't trust women to make good decisions for themselves. That is the literal reason. They assume people will change their minds when they get older. God forbid they treat young women as adults who can deal with the consequences of their own decisions.

3 minutes ago, Ryan Chamberlain said:

Have to find a way to get a tubal.  My childfree ass is scared sh!tless.

Wonderful. You have to endure surgery to avoid becoming a parent. Under his eye!

18 minutes ago, Khan said:

It'll never happen, of course, but I still would pay good money to see Susan Sarandon say, "You know what, I really screwed the old pooch this time!".

People like SS value their idealism over reality and other people's suffering.  

At the same time I cringed at the 2016 Democratic platform. When Hillary said abortion should be legal at any time for any reason? That was such a far left statement and position. Of course Republicans used that to bludgeon us with all that partial birth abortion bullshit. Now we will be lucky if little girls carrying their own sibling will be able to get an abortion. And no, I don't blame Democrats, I just wish we were more strategic.  I am so angry right now.

17 minutes ago, JaneAusten said:

Countries all over the world have made abortion legal in recent years including Ireland and Mexico and here is the US stepping back.  This is horrible.  This indicates a major shift by force by a minority dictating what the majority has the right to.  I knew this day was coming but now that it's staring, it's just such a monumental shift in how women are valued or not. I know PoC and LGBTQ people have had battles as significant but this feels like an earthquake. For almost all of my life abortion has been something women can decide on for themselves. That will be gone.  And there was a story in WAPO this morning about the GOP crafting legislation top make it illegal nationally.  I'm sick to my stomach.

Oh they're coming for a national law next and then coming for birth control.

Well, I'd certainly say this is a big problem at the intersection of poverty, sex and race. What a nightmare. Just as "we" have decided to roll back the gains in child poverty too.  It's infuriating. I know this is going to negatively affect men too, but it's hard for me to care about that right now.

And yes, they are coming for birth control and same sex rights too. I'm so sick of these fanatics.

8 minutes ago, DramatistDreamer said:

Well damn, there are already reports emerging that SCOTUS has voted to overturn Roe v Wade (on a draft). This day.

I feel so bad for younger women. It's really an insult to the autonomy of all women, but it's the younger ones that have to pay the price.

51 minutes ago, Khan said:

This country is so sold on the pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps narrative, they forget that many don't even have the bootstraps.

So true. As the saying goes, born on third base and convinced they hit a triple.

On 4/29/2022 at 7:59 PM, DramatistDreamer said:

I understand the urgency. It’s just a shame that there doesn’t seem to be any urgency in remedying the fact that the child tax credit lapsed and now the gains have essentially been lost, with a significant number of children slipping back into poverty or in danger of doing so.

It's so frustrating to see this happened. A major fail for our country.

On 4/27/2022 at 8:06 PM, Khan said:

It's easy to forget that hayseeds like those have always represented the true, ignorant heart of America.

I never forget it because I grew up around it. Things make a lot more sense when you remember the average IQ is 100. That means that 50% of the population has an IQ under 100. Add that to our poor education system and you see what you get. Now I agree with Momma Gump, stupid is as stupid does. I'm just saying people are not that smart. That's true everywhere, but at least in some countries the population is better educated.

On 4/27/2022 at 7:42 AM, DramatistDreamer said:

The news about the governor of Texas trying to rattle President Biden by having migrants bused into D.C., all expenses paid by the Texas taxpayers, only to have the appreciative migrants be welcomed into D.C. just sends me.

Seriously though, maybe that dumb ass accidentally came up with a good idea. Border states might be overwhelmed but I think there are plenty of places that would gladly take immigrants right now. We do have a worker shortage, which I am enjoying immensely by the way.

Still, there are a ton of people on the border who need a place to go and I put that above the joy I feel watching big business scramble for workers and be forced to pay a living wage.  If Biden can declare an amnesty he should do that as soon as he can because God knows what will happen if the Trumpers get control again. Not that I'm sure Biden would even want to do that. He seems to have dragged his feet on some of these issues.

6 hours ago, DramatistDreamer said:

The Royals continue on their disastrous 'goodwill-
don't-leave-us’ tour and scathing responses like these continue to be presented publicly.

Why on earth did they go after the disaster that was Katie and Williams trip? Wild horses couldn't have dragged me on a royal tour after that. How much clearer can it be that they are not welcome?

^ I really want to like Joss, but the actress is so unnatural. Also we have Cam, Joss and Trina as so good butter would hardly melt in their mouths.

It's a decent younger set, but we need Esme to turn into a real person and Joss to be less well adjusted, imo. Maybe Esme will be better once Kevin figures out what Ryan is up to. Does anyone know who Esme's mother is?

I must say I think all of the people on this show have have aged well and look great. Not to be catty, but plastic surgery has obviously come a long way, since the last generation. Being away for a long time makes the work done stand out, but I think they've all made smart choices.

1 hour ago, Faulkner said:

I know GH plays the “make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, make ‘em wait” game, but the payoffs are so crap on this show. Don’t play that game unless you can make the wait worth it.

It’s partially why I’m losing hope on Sprina.

I only came back to GH a few months ago, so I'm at a loss as to why people are rooting for this couple. I'd like to see a good guy in the mix competing for Trina.  Portia is right about him as far as I can see and I really want her come after Esme. Trina deserves way better. I guess part of is the actor playing Spencer seems better as a darker character. He doesn't have to be evil, but I don't want him to be good either.

Sasha and Brando are so bland. The actress is beautiful, but it just isn't working for me. Josh and Cam are also boring and the acting is not the best. Again both are attractive, but putting green/weak actors together is a mistake.

I like the idea of Celine Wu, but she reminds me of Helena in the sense that the character almost seems like a cartoon. She does seem like a real person with actual emotions. They need to give her more depth like they did for Lisle.

All told, I feel the show is better than when I left four years ago.

This thread is clearly going to be evergreen.  These lone shooters are one thing, but when you get two or three working together, it's even more disturbing to me.

On 4/13/2022 at 10:41 PM, Wendy said:

We're being punked. Right? RIGHT?!

Can things get any crazier?

40 minutes ago, Khan said:

Whenever I hear Andrew Yang speak, I feel like I'm being subjected to one of those seminars about how I could become a millionaire in just 45 days.  Only, in this case, I'm not being treated to a free dinner at the Olive Garden in the meantime.