Josh Marshall has a smart column on the right’s attempt to jettison the phrase “pro-life” because it’s toxic.(As a twitter wag quipped, “when ‘pro-life’ is a losing slogan for you, you’ve got bigger problems.”) Marshall points out just how thoroughly the anti-abortion movement has been pushed back on its heels: It now seems clear that the only thing that will be at all memorable about the GOP’s first presidential debate of the 2024 cycle on August 23rd will be that brief speech from Mike Pence in which he staked his campaign on his bible-rooted, evangelical, pro-life record and endorsed a 15-week national ban. I remember finding it stunning in the moment. Kate Riga took it up the next day. The U.S. doesn’t keep perfect data on abortion care in the United States. The most readily available numbers look at the number of abortions on or before the 13th week (91.1%) and 21st week (98.7%). Even this anti-abortion rights group says that 6% of abortions take place on or after week 15, for instance.
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STEVE HILTON (FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR): I mean, of course it’s laughable, the Biden aspect. Almost everything with Biden is laughable. But it’s really serious, it’s really infuriating, Harris. Because we never had what I and many others called for, which is a completely objective, independent assessment of the COVID policies that were implemented to see what worked and didn’t. We never had that. And so as a result we are now back to these absurd, preposterous kind of witchcraft and voodoo masquerading as public health from these tin-pot fascists and their authoritarianism, exactly as Rand Paul was talking about. We have to resist this. We have to resist it at every level, as J.D. Vance is doing at the federal level, we have to resist this at the state level, the local level, the individual level. We cannot let them go back to this madness. Here’s more: Uhm, toddlers can have total hysterics when you try to put their pants on or wash their hands. They’re toddlers. So are these right wingers who are still having tantrums over wearing masks. And they are wrong about the efficacy of wearing them.
The looming impeachment has a grander purpose Noah Berlatsky writes: Republicans have openly admitted that their efforts to impeach President Joe Biden — which will begin in earnest this week as House members return to DC from summer break — are in bad faith. They don’t just want to tarnish Biden. They want to tarnish the impeachment process itself. As the GOP has become increasingly authoritarian and anti-democracy, Republicans have become increasingly committed to undermining and mocking forms of democratic accountability. A nakedly partisan and clownish impeachment is useful because it signals to voters that all impeachments are clown shows, and all impeachments are partisan. That exculpates former President Donald Trump and delegitimizes resistance to him should he win the presidency again. It’s absolutely the case that they are doing this for Trump because he has demanded it. That goes without saying. But since they are all bent on destroying democracy and the constitutional order, de-legitimizing the impeachment process is a no brainer.
Think again A children’s book about a lion raised by two men has been banned in Florida because right-wing activists suspect the men might be gay – despite nothing in the book suggesting they have any romantic relationship, according to a report. The Florida Department of Education released new information about books that were banned or temporarily removed pending investigation in various county school systems as part of the state’s new laws making it easier to challenge material in a school library, reported the Tallahassee Democrat. One of the books was “Christian, the Hugging Lion.” According to the report, schools in Manatee County, a conservative community just south of Tampa, withdrew the book that’s based on the true story about a pair of men who raise a lion in their London apartment, then are lovingly remembered by the animal when they go to Africa to see him years later. Nothing in the book indicates the two men are in a same-sex relationship — but activists speculated that they might be, which was enough for a complaint about the book.
They’re making every effort to prove it First thing this morning, up pops a Kaitlan Collins CNN interview with Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). Collins posts: Rep. Nancy Mace says she supports a House impeachment inquiry. Asked isn’t it supposed to be the evidence that leads you to pursue an impeachment inquiry, Mace responds, “That’s what the inquiry is for, to get more evidence.” Marcy Wheeler (@emptywheel from Ireland) responds: BREAKING: @NancyMace admits, 1) She hasn’t read Biden’s tax releases, which unlike Trump, Biden releases 2) she’s willing to engage in a constitutional abomination of impeaching BECAUSE there’s no evidence of wrongdoing. Trump wants his retribution NOW Let’s cut to the chase. Digby summarized what’s behind this nonsense on Monday: It’s absolutely the case that they are doing this for Trump because he has demanded it. That goes without saying. But since they are all bent on destroying democracy and the constitutional order, de-legitimizing the impeachment process is a no brainer.
After four years of frontline reporting and research, The Grayzone’s Anya Parampil unveils her forthcoming book, Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire. Based on four years of original investigative work and interviews with diplomats from across the globe, Corporate Coup uses the case of Venezuela to examine the West’s blueprint for modern regime change war: the hybrid diplomatic assaults, economic terrorism, covert destabilization tactics, and information warfare that the US and its allies unleash against all governments […]
The post Announcing ‘Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire’ by Anya Parampil first appeared on The Grayzone.
The post Announcing ‘Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire’ by Anya Parampil appeared first on The Grayzone.
Same old, same “too old” Stop the handwringing, okay? Mehdi Hasan Sunday night addressed the press promotion of the “Biden’s too old” narrative. Meantime, President Joe Biden, 80, is out bicycling. Had a conversation just yesterday with a voter who brought up the “Biden’s too old” concern. Why? Because the media’s all aflutter with it and one thing Democrats are good at is self-doubt. Listen, the next general (not just presidential) election is 14 months out. Between now and then much can happen, usually does, and probably will. Yes, it’s important for Democrats to hold the White House. But it’s also important that they retain the Senate, take back the House, and regain strength in state legislatures where Republicans are running laboratories of autocracy. I’m focused on keeping this lunatic out of North Carolina’s governor’s mansion. The irony is that however tight polls suggest that race looks today, it’s a long way to Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Between now and then, there is a lot of work to do.
How’s that for retribution? The FB post below deserves a wider audience. Sara Robinson is a futurist friend who’s written for Orcinus with David Neiwert and for America’s Future and AlterNet. She commented a few weeks ago on Vivek Ramaswamy’s plans for “revolution” in Washington, D.C. Ramaswamy’s pitch is another riff on Republicans’ and the Heritage Foundation’s plan to “Schedule F” away the “administrative state” both by replacing tens of thousands of career civil servants with MAGA ideologues and by killing off entire agencies. Think of the Trump administration on steroids. For the MAGA faithful who still believe their spray-tanned savior was cheated of his rightful kingship by the deep state, eliminating 75 percent of the federal workforce may hold retributive appeal.
It runs in his family… On Sunday night Donald Trump threw down the gauntlet at the feet of Rupert Murdoch and his sons, Joe Biden and the “WSJ heads.” He posted this cri de guerre on his social media platform Truth Social: In a phony and probably rigged Wall Street Journal poll, coming out of nowhere to soften the mental incompetence blow that is so obvious with Crooked Joe Biden, they ask about my age and mentality. Where did that come from? A few years ago I was the only one to agree to a mental acuity test, & ACED IT. Now that the Globalists at Fox & the WSJ have failed to push their 3rd tier candidate to success, they do this. Well, I hereby challenge Rupert Murdoch & Sons, Biden, WSJ heads, to acuity tests! He added: I will name the place and the test, and it will be a tough one. Nobody will come even close to me! We can also throw some physical activity into it. I just won the Senior Club Championship at a big golf club, with many very good players. To do so you need strength, accuracy, touch and, above all, mental toughness. Ask Bret Baier (Fox), a very good golfer.
They weren’t all human