So the people of Texas (well within their rights) peacefully showed up at the Capitol to make their objections known about the horrific HB2 bill that would destroy thousands of women’s lives.
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Then the misogynistic TX Lege GOP thought they would shame women by forcefully taking away their tampons and pads. They only succeeded in exposing themselves to the scorn and mockery of the world.
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https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/355771243615625217
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/355772343395692545
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https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/355899929190858753
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This cretin doesn’t cry because thousands of women will die and thousands of women will have their lives destroyed due to his bill; nooo…he cries while watching Disney movies.
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https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/355911898660741120
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The amazing Sen. Wendy Davis challenging Sen. Hegar for his non-factual testimony on HB2. Hegar’s response? “Umm..I don’t know..I really don’t know.” Wendy’s response: “I would suggest that you read a little bit.” Message to all Republican men.
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While that was happening, this was also happening in the Senate Gallery and inside the Capitol.
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https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/355889820259725314
https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/355891958650109954
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This is the barbaric way women were treated while their reproductive rights were stripped away.
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They can come at us with every barbaric tool in their arsenal, but we will NOT be silenced and our voices WILL be heard.
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https://twitter.com/NerdyWonka/status/355915621537566720
https://twitter.com/scATX/status/355923648068083712
https://twitter.com/scATX/status/355923218013495298
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Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards – Texas Tribune
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https://twitter.com/scATX/status/355890297386958849
https://twitter.com/scATX/status/355923048152563712
https://twitter.com/scATX/status/355890297386958849
https://twitter.com/scATX/status/355889440041865217
https://twitter.com/scATX/status/355888668231213057
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Even the President joined in the fight for women’s rights
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Sen. Wendy Davis and Texas Senate Democrats – Texas Tribune
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Jennifer Bendery: State Democratic lawmakers put up a fight, but they knew in the end they couldn’t stop Republicans from pushing through a controversial abortion bill that, as of late Friday night, was on its way to Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) to be signed into law. So now they’re turning their full attention to where they think they have the upper hand on the matter: the courts. “The next battle is going to be a court challenge. Immediately. Without question,” Democratic state Sen. Royce West told The Huffington Post. “As soon as it’s signed by the governor, it’s going to be challenged.”
he said that it’s “real clear” the bill is unconstitutional and that people should bear in mind that other states have attempted to pass similar abortion laws and ended up in court. Most recently, a federal judge last week froze a new Wisconsin statuterequiring doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. Similarly, in May, a federal judge granted an injunction against an Arkansas law that would have banned abortions after 12 weeks.
Democratic Texas state Rep. Jessica Farrar, who leads the House Women’s Health Caucus, said she could imagine a court granting an injunction on the entire Texas law. She singled out the provision requiring abortions to be performed at ambulatory surgical centers — a change that would lead to the closing of nearly all of the state’s abortion clinics — and said not only would that make it next to impossible for low-income women in rural areas to access abortion services, it would also triple the costs of the procedure.
More here
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The fight for the future of Texas has only just begun. Buckle up, gird your loins. We need your help. EVERYONE has to put some skin in the game. This is your fight too (women and men). It will be tough, it will be rough, it will be an uphill climb but we are NOT giving up.
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The Obama Diary 
Good Morning — Am I first?
Just thought I would give this a try. 🙂 Enjoyed the posting, above.
That you are, bojoflo! Congratulations!
Thanks! Hope you are having a nice day. 🙂
I would correct this. Texas is the vessel. America is the target.
Yes. This! Thanks, 57.
UT is on FIYAH!!!
“We would urge the Russian government to afford human rights organizations the ability to do their work in Russia throughout Russia. Not just at the Moscow transit lounge.”
wham.
Jay Carney is the best…… I couldn’t fit the whole quote in the tweet!
Written to a kid he mentors a week prior to his death…..
This is why the threat for the nuclear option in the Senate is going on. We need those nominees confirmed!
NLRB plays key role in Reid’s threat to go nuclear against filibuster
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2013/07/11/nlrb-plays-key-rote-in-reids-threat.html?page=all
Yep… the Circuit appeals court invalidated PBO’s recess appointments….thus pending lawsuits by LLC’s based on NLRB decisions in the last year. With not enough people seated on the NLRB, no rulings can be made.
Looks like HHS is getting into the meme business!
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2013/07/12/dept-of-obvious-the-gop-really-seems-to-be-struggling-with-that-compassion-thing/
Supporting forced-birth is compassionate? Making doctors read scripts filled with lies to scare their female patients is compassionate? Shoving trans-vaginal probes up women against their will when there is no medical need for them is compassionate? Male legislators determining what women should do with their lives and bodies is compassionate? Forbidding women to make very painful, very personal, possibly life-saving decisions about their own health is compassionate? Withholding health services, including cancer screenings, is compassionate? Shaming women publicly and politically is compassionate? This isn’t “lacking that compassion thing,” this is lacking that heart thing.
6. If all you’re striving for is the “perception” of compassion, then you’re a fake. Your goal is to fool people into believing that your slogans mean more than your intentions and legislative outcomes. You’re playing the role of the fast-talking salesman who will say anything to make the sale, to get you to buy a defective product, or a product that could result in injury or even fatalities. Anyone who’s watched a TV commercial knows that sales pitches can look attractive and sound enticing, but if the merchandise is inferior, if it doesn’t work, if it’s unsafe or ineffective, then it’s as flimsy and substandard as the advertiser’s credibility.
No, the GOP doesn’t have a perception problem. They have a policy problem. They have a trust problem. They have a people problem. They have a humanity problem. And that means they have a voter problem.
I’m glad as hell to see the uprising in Texas… its been a long time coming imo. I remember years ago when two of my sons- college age- were driving from Florida to CA… I told them to either bypass TX or drive straight through. My biological father has lived in TX for 40 years and has the mindset of these repub lawmakers- folks like him have represented Texas for far too long.
So many American women are such thinkers!
We got Elizabeth Warren elected, so now I’ve switched my donations over to Wendy Davis for whatever position she wishes to hold. Sent an extra one today in honor of Tamplongate.
Well done!
That really is tampongate. The new kitten is helping me spell and she can’t even read yet 🙂
NTSB Intern Blamed for Racist Local News Gaffe
http://mashable.com/2013/07/13/racist-news-gaffe/
No idea what’s true, but love it how there’s always “an intern” to blame. Used to be “the girl in the office.” That was before we insisted on being called “women.” Back in the last century. Oh, and the century before that. We have not come a long way, baby.
I was catching up on reading the on-line comics today and I encountered POTUS in a most unusual place:
😀
😎
He’s a big comic collector- especially Spider Man. Marvel put him in a couple of issues a while back if I recall correctly.
I know I asked this in the previous thread already but can someone tell me where I find a transcript of the law?
Hi niiathiel, I googled Texas hB2 and this is what I got.
http://legiscan.com/TX/text/HB2/id/870667
Thanks, Donna 🙂
All right, I took the time to read it, and the two things that I find iffy are:
1) Exceptions to the 20 weeks rule: as far as I understand the only exception is if carrying out the pregnancy would endanger the woman´life of if the baby would have certain birth defects. As I see it the following exceptions are not mentioned: rape and incest. What about minors, too?
2) Standards of places that can provide abortions: I googled health standards but didn´t get anything concrete so whereas this sounds reasonable to me at first, the devil might be in the detail.
If I may express my opinion here, and I hope to not step on anyone´s toes since I think we are all reasonable adults here:
There are a few things that confuse and annoy me about all of this.
a) the things I just listed. That´s what bugs me about the bill.
b) extreme sides: why does it have to be the accuation of baby killers on the one side and the accuation of fascism on the other. Why not find a more common ground in the public debate in which women´s health is ensured, abortion is an option with my suggested broadening of exception, yet there is the mindfulness that after 20 weeks it is not recommendable? That is not to be set equal to banning or preventing, but i think moral implications cnanot be left out here entirely. There has to be good councelling (religion aside here though) and that includes not just working on a bill like that but on other things as well. Things that curve teenage pregnancy and poverty for one.
*curb
May I suggest that you bring your comment to the current thread for conversation and discussion???
Sure 🙂
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/13/opinion/collins-the-house-just-wants-to-snack.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130713&_r=1&
The House bill actually spent more money on subsidies for farmers than the bipartisan Senate version the Republicans scorned. It also dropped the Senate’s limit on aid to farmers with incomes of more than $750,000 a year. And while it mimicked the Senate in dropping most of the much-derided direct payments to farmers, the House gave cotton farmers a two-year extension.
Let’s take a special look at cotton, which is a particularly good example of the tendency of agricultural benefits to flow uphill. “Some of these guys — and they’re all guys — are getting more than $1 million in support. The bottom 80 percent are getting $5,000 on average,” said Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group.
Faber’s organization, which keeps careful track of these things, says direct payments to cotton farmers since 1995 have totaled $3.8 billion. That does not count the annual $147 million the United States has been sending to Brazil in hush money.
Crop insurance gets bigger under the new plan. Here’s how: You, the taxpayer, fork over the majority of the cost of the farmers’ policy premiums. (Up to 80 percent in the case of cotton.) Also, you spend about $1.3 billion a year to compensate the insurance agents for the fact that they have to sell coverage to any eligible farmer, whatever his prospects for success. Plus, if yields actually do drop, you have to compensate the insurance companies for part of the cost of claims.
snip/
The larding of benefits to farmers didn’t come up during the House debate. It was all about food stamps, and Democrats asking to know why their colleagues wanted to cut aid to hungry children and old people. During an Agriculture Committee meeting on the bill, Representative Juan Vargas of California quoted Jesus’ lesson that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
That raised Representative Fincher’s hackles. “Man, I really got bent out of shape,” he told that Memphis audience, proudly reporting that he countered with Thessalonians: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”
By now, you must be wondering why I keep bringing up this guy. Fincher is a farmer who has, over the years, received $3.5 million in federal agricultural subsidies, much of it for — yes! — cotton.
The govt they “HATE” is their personal ATM machine:) Starve, peons!
I am happy to see the women of Texas fighting back, I just hope they can keep it up for the next year. maybe this will be a wake up call for all the Republican women in the state who vote for repugs in every election. I cannot believe the sickening treatment these women are being subjected to. I only wish this was being reported in other states. My local news only mentions “abortion law” and “large groups of protestors on both sides.”
Let’s think of this in the same terms that Republicans do. Business terms. THIS is not a good return on our investment. CUT THEM LOOSE!
We need to start paying the GOP Majority part-time salaries, with no benefits. Maybe below minimum wage. No overtime, no comp time. No clothing expenses, no limos. No staff, no safety rules. (And I’m just getting started.)
This is how everyone should react to meeting President Obama – love it!
Ya gotta get dessert, eh?
Taking the Republican school of thought to its illogical conclusion:
After a horrible event at one of our local news stations, THIS is what an apology looks like.
Statement from Frank Somerville (anchorman) at KTVU:
Before I post anything else I have to address what happened on our Noon newscast.
Someone pranked us about the names of the 4 pilots on Asiana Flight 214.
And what we put on the screen and what we read over the air was insulting.
It was insulting to the Asian community.
It was insulting to the four pilots.
And it was insulting to our viewers.
The bottom line is that we messed up.
Yes, we called the NTSB to confirm.
And yes, the NTSB released a statement saying:
“Earlier today, in response to an inquiry from a media outlet, a summer intern acted outside the scope of his authority when he erroneously confirmed the names of the flight crew on the aircraft.”
But regardless we still put it on the air.
And we have no one to blame but us.
We should have known better.
We have a number of checks that scripts have to go thru before they reach the anchor desk.
Somehow on the Noon news this one slipped through.
I don’t understand why anyone would think doing something like this is funny.
A plane crashed.
Three people were killed.
Many more were injured.
Some of those injuries are life changing.
Yet someone thinks it’s funny to make jokes about the names of the pilots.
That makes me sick.
I’ve worked at KTVU for over 20 years.
We have a damn good staff.
We care deeply about what we do.
And we do not take mistakes like this lightly.
Everyone is seriously upset about what happened.
And everyone is going to make sure something like this NEVER happens again.
I always tell my kids, “If you make a mistake, come clean, admit what you did, say you’re sorry, and take the consequences.”
So that’s what I’m doing here.
We made a HUGE mistake.
There is NO excuse for what happened.
And speaking for everyone at the station, we are sorry.
This is how the station aired an additional apology:
http://www.ktvu.com/videos/news/ktvu-issues-on-air-apology-for-misreporting-flight/v6TFh/
Integrity.
Yes. In an age where most public figures mealy-mouth and qualify their way through an “apology”, I’m heartened to see a TV news anchor stand up for the horrible lack of judgment displayed on their part, take responsibility for their actions and apologize to the community they serve.
Now THIS is what a sincere apology looks like!
Truly a sincere apology. Good for them!!
THIS!
Looks like some folks on Twitter aren’t cutting them much slack though. See comments below this tweet.
This is because no one uses common sense anymore. They will do whatever as long as they cover their butts.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/07/12/2294351/40-years-after-roe-reproductive-rights-doctors/
Dr. John J. Sciarra remembers his time as a young doctor in New York City nearly half a century ago. He remembers watching young women die from botched, illegal abortions because they had no safe options. At the time, he felt powerless to help them, and that fact haunted him.
That’s why he decided to join 99 of his fellow OB-GYNs to express his support for legal abortion. In 1972, that group of doctors published a statement in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology to make the case that giving women the means to end their pregnancies is a public health issue. Their timing was prescient; Roe v. Wade ended up legalizing abortion just one year later.
But, in the 40 years since, Sciarra has been surprised to see the state of reproductive rights moving backward instead of forward. “We did not anticipate the backlash that has turned abortion into an ideological battleground,” the retired doctor writes in a op-ed published in the Chicago Tribune on Friday. “So I have again joined 99 of my fellow professors of obstetrics and gynecology in another statement on the issue, published earlier this year, in the very same American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.”
His OpEd: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-07-12/opinion/chi-perspec-abortion-20130711_1_abortion-rate-abortion-rights-battle-legalized-abortion
We were warned by the Republican tea party that they wanted to take the country back. We just didn’t realize how dangerous their intentions really were. These people have to be shoved back into the caves they crawled out of and back under the rocks they crawled from back in 2010.
Senate Democrats kept up their brisk fundraising pace in the second quarter, putting themselves in a strong financial position as they head into 2014.
Several Democrats facing potentially tough reelection battles have raised more than $1 million in the last three months.
They include Sens. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) and Al Franken (D-Minn.), both of whom brought in around $2 million.
Others topping the $1 million mark include Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who brought in $1.7 million, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who raised $1.4 million, Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who raised $1.3 million, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) who raised $1.2 million.
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/310733-fundraising-success-gives-senate-democrats-financial-leg-up-in-2014#ixzz2YwzKxWzh
After days of intense lobbying, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is confident he has enough votes to trigger the nuclear option to change the Senate’s rules.
Reid needs 50 votes for the controversial tactic, which Republicans say would forever “change the character of the Senate” but Democrats argue is necessary to fix a broken institution.
Reid expects to have at least 51 Democratic votes to prohibit Republicans from filibustering President Obama’s executive-branch nominees. Vice President Joe Biden could provide insurance by presiding over the chamber to break a tie vote.
Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/310801-reid-confident-of-votes-to-trigger-nuclear-option#ixzz2Yx0yH9hP
someone should tweet jonathan martin “flotus still waiting for your flowers and bar-b-que” or something like that, with a link to this:
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/journos-hang-with-mccain_b10746
this guy has been going after obama for petty things since before president obama was inaugurated. still can’t believe he’s failed up to the new york times (figure of speech, i’m not surprised at all since all the major media is now just a republican propaganda machine, so he’ll go even higher the more he does that stuff).
https://twitter.com/supertascha/status/356069519510339586
PBO gave this maggot a chance to be a part of his cabinet and be on the right side of helping people and he chose the wrong road.
Oh so true! Please tweet that!
I am a visual person — I look at people’s faces/body language etc. I have noticed many in the GOTP have that tight lipped look, mouth corners drawn down (think Paul Ryan)…it’s like they are afraid of the lies slipping out.
Looks like the tweet was deleted. I went to the HuffPo article — turns out it was from 2010.
Hey, GG! GO FUCK YOURSELF!
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/42260_Greenwald_Issues_Blackmail_Threat-_The_US_Should_Be_on_Its_Knees_Begging#rss
His sorry ass should be in jail, too.
He’s so arrogant I can’t stand the little maggot. The US government is “We the People.” If you harm the US government you harm the American people.
What a brilliant round-up of the story UT, thank you SOOOOOOOOOOO much!
You are welcome Chiparoo.
Thank you UT-a-roo!
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/17490-dystopian-novel-the-water-thief-imagines-the-corporate-controlled-future-of-america
With the government increasingly protecting corporations instead of people, as with Citizens United, it won’t be long before corporations become more important than people – if they aren’t already. Nicholas Soutter has imagined this world where corporations own everything, including people, in his dystopian novel The Water Thief.
More 2084 than 1984, Soutter’s Kirkus Star winning novel follows Charles Thatcher, a worker considered to be of mid-contract value in a corporate world, who seeks to learn more about the long-dead “government” where people weren’t traded like stocks and no one owned the air.
The book simultaneously makes you grateful for the system of government that we have now, and afraid that our system could be headed its direction.
Soutter writes: “The only real check against corruption is vigilance. That was the death of republics: they thought the system was enough to protect them, that they didn’t need to be involved. Citizens let go of the rope, nobody voted, nobody got educated on the complexities of governing. And the corporations moved in.”
Sound familiar?
yep…only 20% of the people in Loa Angeles voted for Mayor this year. The City Manager and councilmen robbed the people of Bell, CA where only 400 people voted out of 36,000.
I am so impressed by these amazing Texas women…and men. Here’s what I’m thinking…..I know Cecile Richards is important as president of Planned Parenthood….but wouldn’t she be a great governor for Texas? Does she live there? OR…..instead of Hillary Clinton for President of the U.S……..Cecile Richards for president and Wendy Davis for gov of Texas.
It would be great to see her follow in her Mom’s footsteps as Governor of Texas. More than great – it would be fan-freakin-tastic!!
This is why the pubies make such a big deal out of POTUS “bowing”. They always accuse him of what bush did. The vacations: Bush was worse, Bowing: Look who he’s bowing to!; Golfing: didn’t bush say he’d suspend his golf game in solidarity with the troops in Iraq?
They are just so dang transparent, and they even say, “well libs did it to bush, this is payback.”.
When that party decides to grow up, then they’ll be able to move forward. Until then…we’ll just have to keep smacking them back as we keep moving forward.
I found this excerpt intriguing —–and affirming
http://nationalactionnetwork.net/press/rev-al-sharpton-martin-luther-king-iii-along-with-labor-leaders-clergy-elected-officials-and-activists-to-march-on-washington-saturday-august-24-2013-for-the-national-action-to-reclaim-the-d/
REV. AL SHARPTON & MARTIN LUTHER KING, III, ALONG WITH LABOR LEADERS, CLERGY, ELECTED OFFICIALS AND ACTIVISTS, TO MARCH ON WASHINGTON SATURDAY, AUGUST 24, 2013 FOR THE NATIONAL ACTION TO RECLAIM THE DREAM MARCH
This anniversary takes on a whole new meaning this year. Actually, same meaning as 50 years ago, there’s that, just a little bit of rule changes after laws were passed and now discarded, in a fool-the-eye ploy from SCOTUS. Sick-e-ning.
Yes….but these are the lessons of our time Jackie…the struggle to defend our rights is forever because those who would take them away are relentless…
Yes, because, unfortunately, the relentless rights-robbing nutjobs keep breeding.
hahahah@breeding……nawww Jackie..it is that they are on a mission…they see a defeat as a temporary set back…we need to be as relentless and understand the nature of what we are fighting…and be able to pass the baton onto the next generation…
http://billmoyers.com/content/book-excerpt-bending-toward-justice/
To have to fight for the right to vote all over again was intensely painful for Congressman John Lewis, the last surviving leader from the group of marchers who had been assaulted on Bloody Sunday, but he quickly joined the struggle against a new generation of politicians trying to return America to a darker time. Not long after Wisconsin passed its voter ID law in May 2011, Lewis addressed a nearly empty House chamber. “Mr. Speaker,” he said, “Voting Rights are under attack in America by a deliberate and systematic attempt to prevent millions of elderly voters, young voters, students [and] minority and low-income voters from exercising their constitutional right to engage in the Democratic process.”
Chat away:
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/07/13/chat-away-194/