If Roe v. Wade can fall, anything can fall

The little yellow bird that fluttered against my windows yesterday was at it again this morning. This time its target was the side mirror of my neighbor’s car. That little guy was quite persistent in attacking the intruder it saw in its reflection. I looked again later and saw a cloth draped over the mirror. Mark Sumner of Daily Kos reported the nasty guy has been campaigning on all the stuff he says Biden will do when reelected. The claim is that there would be a bloodbath and World War III. The stock market would crash, the economy would sink, crime would be rampant, the US would become a hellscape, and the Constitution would be shredded. There’s just one problem with these predictions. The nasty guy said pretty much the same thing in 2020. Biden has had nearly four years to make it all happen – and hasn’t. Since 2020 the stock market has been setting record highs. The economy has been roaring along, with unemployment under 4% for longer than any time since the 1960s. And despite what the nasty guy says, murders surged 30% in the last two years of his term and have dropped under Biden. Even gun sales have declined. What they nasty guy has been saying wouldn’t be projection, would it? If so, he’s really describing what would happen in America under his own second term. Sumner also reported that Sen. Tim Scott, the one appearing to be the most desperate to be the nasty guy’s running mate, was on Meet the Press on Sunday. Host Kristen Welker repeatedly asked, “Senator, will you commit to accepting the election results of 2024?” Scott wouldn’t answer. It’s discouraging, but it makes sense. The guy he wants as his boss won’t answer it either, essentially saying that if he loses, it’s because the election was rigged. Scott was the second VP wannabee to refuse to answer that question. The first was Doug Bergum, current governor of North Dakota. I didn’t think much about it when Bergum refused to answer. But when Scott also didn’t answer I knew it was an important trend. The nasty guy has repeatedly violated the gag order imposed during his election interference trial. He’s paid $10,000 in fines for ten violations and threatened with jail time if he did it again. Which has some people saying jail time should have been imposed long ago as it would have been for other people. This story prompted Dennis Gorlis to create a cartoon about it. A man and woman are at a bar and the man says, “I thought the gag order was about something everyone was supposed to do when they saw him.” And a cartoon by Pat Byrnes shows a prosecutor talking to the judge, “The gag order isn’t working. Does he expect us to pay him hush money?” I get my news primarily from NPR and Daily Kos online and an actual paper edition of the Detroit Free Press on Sundays, which can take until Thursday or later to finish reading. Well, there’s also Between the Lines for Michigan LGBTQ news that comes out every other week. I’ll venture to other news sources if one of these links to a story or I become aware of a story not covered by my primary sources. I mention all that because Mitch Albom’s column in the May 5 edition of the Free Press (online it is for subscribers only). Albom had two main points to his article: First, the student protests going on at various colleges and universities are a lot more antisemitic than they are portrayed in the media. The protests aren’t so much about sympathy of Palestinians in Gaza who are facing bombs from Israel. The protests are much more about Israel should be destroyed. Protesters have been using highly antisemitic language in their signs and speeches. Albom provides examples. Now I see why so many Jewish students are afraid. Second, why has the media watered down the antisemitic language of the protests so that we might believe the students are pro-Gaza and not anti-Israel? Albom raised the question, but I don’t think he provided much of an answer. So I’ll give it a try. Those media sources tone down the antisemitic message of the students because the media is also antisemitic. Yet, they know they’re not supposed to be. I get very little news about the protests in Daily Kos because they primarily cover the liberal/conservative divide. BtL won’t cover the protests unless there is an LGBTQ angle. But NPR does and has been covering the protests. Yet, I’ve heard very little about the high antisemitic content of the protesters. The same is true of the Free Press. Kaili Joy Gray of Kos reported that Marjorie Taylor Greene demanded a vote on the motion to remove Mike Johnson as Speaker. She filed it several weeks ago to hold over Johnson’s head as a threat. On Tuesday she would not pursue it. On Wednesday she changed her mind. Greene had already told Democrats would help the Speaker hold his job. That only infuriated Greene more. Most of the Freedom Caucus decided trying to find another Speaker right now was not a good idea. Greene went for it anyway. I heard elsewhere that as soon as Greene demanded a vote Steve Scalise (second in the Republican hierarchy) called for a vote to table Greene’s demand. Gray’s report adds that the vote to table happened quickly and was resoundingly approved. I think only 45 voted against (meaning to proceed with the vote to remove) and only 11 of those were Republicans. Greene’s demand lost. Johnson remains Speaker. For now. On Thursday (today) Joan McCarter of Kos reported:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s attempt to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson Wednesday was a resounding failure, but her stunt did make something strikingly clear: Johnson’s leadership among Republicans is tenuous, and Democrats have all the power when it comes to protecting him. They were quick to remind him of that. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters after the vote to table the motion that he hasn’t considered whether to back Johnson up again.

A lot of people are saying there will be another attempt to remove Johnson. There are 11 Republicans willing to do it, so if Democrats don’t protect Johnson he would be out. Between now and November a budget needs to be passed and these 11 Republicans want to extract big budget cuts. And they’re still annoyed that Johnson used Democrats to get the budget passed earlier this spring. So Johnson remains Speaker. For now. Dan K of the Kos community discussed an article by Paul Krugman of the New York Times talking about a new law that DeathSantis signed in Florida. The law bans making and selling meat grown in a laboratory. We’ll set aside whether the stuff is good for you, whether it will help the environment, whether it is less cruel to animals, and what it will do to farmers. That leaves... From Krugman:

First, it puts the lie to any claim that the right is the side standing firm for limited government; government doesn’t get much more intrusive than having politicians tell you what you can and can’t eat.

Dan K responds:

Well, actually it does get more intrusive: government telling women they have to risk their health, sanity, even their lives, to carry their rapist’s fetus to term is about as intrusive as it gets. But Krugman is making the same point about food.

Krugman again:

Many never truly believed in freedom — only freedom for some. Beyond that, however, meat consumption, like almost everything else, has been caught up in the culture wars.

The culture war aspect is: Real men eat real meat. Dan K adds:

But, the point is, it’s [Krugman’s] choice (also mine) whether or not to eat beef or some plant-based equivalent. DeSantis and the GOP want to take that choice away from us. (Pro-choice: It’s not just about abortion.)

Kerry Eleveld of Kos wrote about how the Supreme Court was able to overturn abortion rights and the consequences of that.

But voters' initial reluctance to believe in the fragility of a constitutional right to abortion, which had existed for nearly half a century, is a golden opportunity for Democrats to shed light on what Republicans could do if given the power to enact their dystopian vision for the U.S.

Then Eleveld talked about Jeffries appearing on “60 Minutes”:

Jeffries began by framing abortion as a fight for "freedom," using the "erosion of reproductive freedoms" to warn voters about the myriad other staples of U.S. democracy that Republicans could come for next. "If Roe v. Wade can fall, anything can fall. Social Security can fall. Medicare can fall. Voting rights can fall. And God help us all, but democracy itself can fall," Jeffries said.

Eleveld looked at a Siena Poll that showed the nasty guy is seen as a threat to democracy by 41% of voters. Biden is seen as a threat by 28%.

Framing Republican abortion bans as a broader assault on freedom is a no-brainer for Democrats. But using abortion to remind voters that the unthinkable not only can happen, but that it has happened, is crucial to helping voters imagine the unimaginable.

Eleveld also reported:

A recent Marist poll for NPR and PBS NewsHour surveyed Americans' biggest concerns for the country's future, finding that "the rise of fascism and extremism" topped the list, at 31% of U.S. adults. The partisan breakdown, as usual, was illuminating, with a plurality of Democrats and independents choosing the rise of fascism and extremism, at 47% and 32% respectively, as their primary concern. The issue dominated with Democrats—nothing else even broke 20%. But among independents, "a lack of values" came in second at 24% with "becoming weak as a nation" just behind at 23%. Republicans’ top two concerns were "a lack of values," at 36%, and "becoming weak as a nation," at 30%, while the rise of fascism was a distant third at 15%.

In a pundit roundup Greg Dworkin of Kos quoted Mark Jacobs of “Stop The Presses” on Substack. Jacobs wonders where are the page 1 editorials against the nasty guy.

Donald Trump is a fascist who wants to be a dictator. How do we know this? Because he tells us so, over and over. America’s major news organizations are beginning to say it too, belatedly. The nation’s two most influential newspapers, the New York Times and Washington Post, are writing stories about how he plans to weaponize the Justice Department to punish his political enemies, how he plans to put millions of immigrants in camps, and how he may order the military to shut down public protests if he takes office in January 2025. But these news outlets sometimes sugar-coat Trump’s poison. A recent New York Times headline, for example, referred to Trump’s “authoritarian leanings.” Really? Leanings? If he “leaned” any more, he’d be lying down.

Down in the comments of this roundup Anagram Man borrowed from Mary Poppins:

Super Callous Fragile Bigot Sexist He’s Atrocious

One can run the GIF for the anagram, but it isn’t so family friendly. Mike Smith posted a cartoon of the nasty guy:

Joe Biden says I’m a threat to democracy... He’s got it all wrong... Democracy is a threat to me.

In the comments of another roundup is a meme posted by exlrrp. There have been many variations of a woman in a red dress, a man turning to admire her backside, and his girlfriend with an expression of what are you doing?! Each variation labels the three people in a manner suitable for the situation. This one has replaced the woman in the red dress with the nasty guy. The man is labeled “Conservative Christians” and the girlfriend labeled “Jesus.” Matt Wuerker posted a cartoon of and album cover for the band “Felonius Funk and the Grifters” with the nasty guy as singer and pianist. The album says it contains several hits. Here are some of them:

Born to Scam Hush Lil’ Porn Star Like a Trolling Stone