Handmaid's Tale files

[bodysong]

If My Body Is Ruled Over By The State, So Is YOURS!

The Liars that deny reality insist that the twitching tissue
of a fetus is a heart. Reality-based science explains that
a fetus has not formed a heart at that stage.

(There is a “fetal pole,” a thick area alongside the yolk sac.)

Anti- choice men decide that women should not have a choice.

SCOTUS discussion on giving a hearing to a case-

Six week restriction on abortion

Misogynists and sexists are hoping the Supreme Court will kill
the constitutional right to an abortion

October 2, 2019

Since 2018, a lone Planned Parenthood has been the state's only legal
abortion clinic, pushing some women to spend hours crossing the state
to obtain the procedure. In May, that clinic was nearly forced to stop
providing abortions when the state's health department refused to
renew its license, a story first reported by CBS News. For months,
a string of preliminary injunctions has allowed the clinic to continue
operating.

Besides having just one clinic in their state, Missouri women face
some of the country's most restrictive laws when seeking an abortion.
Prior to receiving an abortion, patients are required to undergo state-
mandated counseling where they receive anti-abortion literature.
After that, they're forced to wait at least 72 hours before they can
have their abortion.

In Illinois, lawmakers have gone in the other direction, expanding
abortion access and loosening restrictions. Earlier this year, law-
makers in Springfield passed the "Reproductive Health Act,"
legislation that establishes access to abortion as a fundamental right.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/planne...strictive-abortion-laws-exclusive-2019-10-02/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-m...ge-blocks-georgia-abortion-ban-taking-effect/

 

[Leather_Lesbian]

Here's a recent quote that I felt was worth sharing:

"Evangelical men do not want an educated woman. They want a young, empty-headed woman who is very pretty and very submissive. An educated woman is anathema to them."

-Allison Paul

 

[bodysong]

Thousands of immigrant babies and children will never see their parents, again.

Kirstjen Nielsen was willing to make that happen.

Immigration

10/23/2019

Kirstjen Nielsen Wants the World to Think She ‘Spoke Truth to Power’
The woman behind Trump’s family-separation policy is now trying to
position herself as someone with morals.

- Amanda Arnold

https://www.thecut.com/2019/10/kirstjen-nielsen-defends-border-policies-at-fortune-summit.html


October 23, 2019

Here she was, making her reputation-washing debut in a ballroom event
celebrating aspirational women, smiling grittily as she informed us that,
no, we’d all mis-remembered the whole past three years.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...c5d80a-f5a6-11e9-8cf0-4cc99f74d127_story.html

And most of us had paid $13,500 to be there.

Kirstjen Nielsen

23 Oct 2019

Kirstjen Nielsen, Donald Trump’s former homeland security secretary,
became a household name by separating migrant children from their
parents and sticking them in unsanitary cages. This should make her
a pariah. Instead it has garnered her a speaking gig at Fortune magazine’s
Most Powerful Women summit – an event that apparently convenes female
leaders for “wide-ranging conversations that inspire and deliver practical
advice”. Like, you know, how to get a good night’s sleep after ripping a
crying toddler away from their mother.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...ting-a-woman-who-helped-cage-migrant-children

Trump administration admits to stealing as many as 1,250 migrant kids
that we didn’t know about

October 21, 2019

In January, a report from the Department of Health and Human Services
watchdog said potentially thousands of kids were separated before the
policy’s official implementation in spring 2018.

https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/tr...s-1250-migrant-kids-that-we-didnt-know-about/

October 23, 2019

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump announced that he would
nominate Nielsen to the National Infrastructure Advisory Council,
an entity of DHS. Nielsen told the audience Tuesday that the position
is unpaid, and she would be advising the government on cyber and
critical infrastructure needs.

Pressed on why she was currently advising the White House, Nielsen
retorted: “Are you telling every CEO in here that they should never
advise the government?”

https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/ni...nforcing-law-which-led-to-family-separations/

 

[bodysong]

25 Oct 2019

Revenge porn is being used to smear and discredit a sitting congresswoman

- Moira Donegan

The conservative website RedState published revenge porn of a
sitting congresswoman last week.


The fact that Hill is not a perfect victim should not distract us from
the true issue at hand: that RedState and its rightwing compatriots
have brought the tactics of domestic abuse into our politics.

Revenge porn, an increasingly common tactic of misogynist rancor,
is not par for the acrimonious political course. It is a particularly hateful
gesture, meant to humiliate and degrade its target. The very point of
revenge porn is to discredit its victims, because in the misogynist logic
that propels it, for a woman to have sex is to surrender her claims to
privacy, authority, or the belief or sympathy of others.

Revenge porn also happens to be illegal. Hill has asked police to
investigate who gave the image to RedState.

Hill, for her part, describes her ex-husband as abusive.
We do not know where the nude picture of her came from,
but if he was the one who sent it in for publication, then
that description would seem accurate.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/oct/25/katie-hill-democrats-politics-

 

[bodysong]

Missouri health director kept spreadsheet of Planned Parenthood
patients’ periods

October 29, 2019

The Kansas City Star

gop-appointed-health-official-admits-tracking-planned-parenthood-patients-periods-with-a-spreadsheet

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/10/go...renthood-patients-periods-with-a-spreadsheet/

 

[bodysong]

At the moment a Planned Parenthood clinic is struggling to stay open.
Despite the moving goalposts and unreasonable requirements they
managed to survive.

The Missouri state health director, Dr. Randall Williams, testified
at a state hearing Tuesday that he kept a spreadsheet to track the
menstrual periods of Planned Parenthood patients

October 29, 2019

ST. LOUIS —
The Latest on a hearing over state efforts to revoke the license for
Missouri’s only abortion clinic

Missouri’s health department director says the agency tracked menstrual
periods of Planned Parenthood patients as part of an effort to identify what
it says were “failed abortions” at a St. Louis clinic.

The Kansas City Star reports Director Randall Williams testified Tuesday
that he requested a spreadsheet that included the dates of patients’ last periods.

Williams says the goal was to identify women who needed multiple
procedures to complete an abortion. He says a state investigator had
access to the information from medical records.

Planned Parenthood issued a statement calling the revelation
“deeply disturbing.”

Williams testified as part of a weeklong hearing over whether the
state can revoke Planned Parenthood’s abortion license for its
St. Louis clinic.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...88371e-fa8e-11e9-9e02-1d45cb3dfa8f_story.html

June 05, 2019

St. Louis ob-gyn Amy Addante tweeted this week about the real-world
effect of the requirements being imposed on patients and doctors at the
last clinic performing abortions in Missouri.

“Today,” the doctor wrote, “I was forced by the state of Missouri to perform
an unnecessary pelvic exam on a patient terminating her pregnancy for a fetal
anomaly. She is heartbroken over her situation, and I was forced to do an
invasive, uncomfortable exam. It broke me as a physician to do this to her.”

To her, not for her. Not for any medical reason, but to keep the clinic open,
at least for now.

This harassment by the state is not to be confused with Missouri’s new
ban on abortions performed after the eighth week of pregnancy, with
no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. That law is scheduled to take
effect on Aug. 28.

(Dr. Randall Williams is opposed to personal choice and private decisions.
He is not above making false accusations and inventing evidence against
people that provide legal abortions. He is part of the Trump Loyalist
government within the American government that uses every dirty trick
and lie to steal legal rights away from people.)

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212169104

 

[bodysong]

Writing his own chapter of The Handmaid's Tale, Missouri official
tracked clients' menstrual periods

- Meteor Blades

October 30, 2019

Missouri officials backed by activist forced-birthers, and with the wholehearted
support of Republican Gov. Mike Parsons, have been trying to shut down the
state’s last abortion clinic by refusing to renew its license. Just how far they
are willing to go was discovered on the second day of an administrative hearing
in St. Louis Tuesday when Dr. Randall Williams, the director of the state health
department, said he had created a spreadsheet tracking the menstrual periods
of Planned Parenthood clients.

The specific purpose was to uncover problem abortions so that the clinic’s
license renewal could be denied and the clinic shuttered. Williams said
four instances of “failed abortions” had been found by this atrocious mucking
around in clients’ most intimate matters. That’s four out of approximately
3,000 abortions the clinic performed in 2018. Even Williams admitted that
the failure figure is within the national average. But it was nonetheless used
by the department to inspect the clinic in March and recommend there be no
renewal.

Rebuttal reported by Kurt Erickson, of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/20...ri-official-tracked-clients-menstrual-periods

 

[bodysong]

Beard wrote on Twitter:

mary beard (@wmarybeard)

I know rules are rules (and we all depend on airport security) but
was a bit surpised to be told to take off what I think is a 'tunic'
(they thought was a 'jacket') at Heathrow security this morning,
down to my scrappy undies. Much to curiosity/embarrassment
of other passengers!

October 30, 2019

Following the tweet, the airport apologised to Beard, who is
a professor of classics at Cambridge University, saying:
“We are very sorry to hear this and apologise for the
experience you have had.”

Beard responded that she did not want staff to get into trouble
but some “general consciousness-raising” would be good.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/30/mary-beard-left-in-scrappy-undies-at-heathrow-security

#54 on list of 100 best books of the 21st century

Women & Power

by Mary Beard (2017)

Based on Beard’s lectures on women’s voices and how they have
been silenced, Women and Power was an enormous publishing
success in the “#MeToo”’ year 2017. An exploration of misogyny,
the origins of “gendered speech” in the classical era and the problems
the male world has with strong women, this slim manifesto became
an instant feminist classic.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/21/best-books-of-the-21st-century

Women & Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard –

review

- Rachel Cooke

5 Nov 2017 01.30 EST
Last modified on Wed 21 Mar 2018


3,000 years lie between us and Homer’s Odyssey, which is where she begins,
with Telemachus effectively telling his mother Penelope to “shut up”. But
reading it in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, it seems utterly,
dreadfully convincing. Mute women; brutal men; shame as a mechanism
for control; androgyny and avoidance as a strategy for survival. On every
page, bells ring too loudly for comfort.

Through the example of Telemachus we learn that silencing the female
was once an essential part of growing up as a man – though shouting at
a woman was only one way of achieving it. In Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Io
is turned by Jupiter into a cow, and Echo’s voice reduced to a mere instrument
for repeating the words of others; when the young princess Philomela is raped,
her tongue is cut out, to prevent her denouncing her attacker. Women who did s
peak in the forum were barely female at all; rather, they were “unnatural freaks”.
A first-century Roman anthologist mentions one called Maesia, who successfully
defended herself in the courts only “because she really had a man’s nature”.
Beard urges us not to see this “muteness” simply as a reflection of women’s
more general disempowerment in the classical world. Their exclusion from
public speech was, she writes, “active and loaded”. Their voices were
subversive, a threat to the state. Thus was the idea of gendered speech
established. If the ancients disliked the sound of the female voice, so
-pitched and strident, in the 21st century terms such as “whine” still
tend to be reserved for women.

Some things are hard, if not impossible, to cast off. Should we be in any
doubt about the terrifying extent to which the exclusion of women from
power is culturally embedded, let alone unsure of the continued strength
of classical ways of formulating and justifying it, we have only to look
at the Trump campaign in 2016, in which he was depicted, after Cellini’s
bronze, as Perseus holding up the severed head of Hillary Clinton as Medusa.
His supporters could buy this image on T-shirts and tote bags, coffee cups
and laptop covers – and doubtless many of them did, desperate for the
monster to be slain in their own minds, even before they had approached
the ballot box.

guardian.uk.co

Books

Kelly Bachman called out the producer while he watched.
Two years earlier, she had organized a show that used standup
to tackle sexual assault

I confronted Harvey Weinstein last week. It wasn't the first time.

- Kelly Bachman

Wed 30 Oct 2019

That I crossed paths with Harvey Weinstein at a standup show last Wednesday
to me is some kind of cosmic wonder, because this isn’t the first time I’ve
responded to him with comedy – although it was the first time he was in the room.

(...)

It’s difficult not to feel defined by trauma, especially when it becomes
public knowledge. As comedians, we often make a choice to be more
defined by how we respond to the pain in our lives. I set out to tell the
stories of these women. When I saw them on stage, like so many others,
I saw myself too. They are my heroes.

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2019/oct/30/kelly-bachman-comic-harvey-weinstein-rape-jokes

 

[bodysong]

Silenced by Men

October 31 2019

"There’s only one investigation that deserves the attention
of this country and that’s the one that we vote on today."

- Rep. Katie Hill (California)

Earlier this week, Hill released a video in which she called the release of
hundreds of nude photos of her a “coordinated attack” by her estranged
husband, Kenny Heslep, and right-wing media.

“I’m leaving, but we have men who have been credibly accused of
intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in boardrooms, on the
Supreme Court, in this very body, and worst of all, in the Oval Office.”

"The forces of revenge by a bitter, jealous man, cyber exploitation, and
sexual shaming that target our gender and a large segment of society that
fears and hates powerful women have combined to push a young woman
out of power and say that she doesn’t belong here,” Hill continued.

“Yet a man who brags about his sexual predation, whose had dozens
of women come forward to accuse him of sexual assault, who pushes
policies that are uniquely harmful to women, and who has filled the
courts with judges who proudly rule to deprive women of the most
fundamental right to control their own bodies sits in the highest office
in the land.”

https://www.advocate.com/politics/2...t-act-impeach-trump-behalf-women-lgbtq-people

Rvenge Porn

Oct. 31, 2019

The main authors of the articles, it turns out, were former campaign
advisors to Steve Knight, the Republican congressman ousted by
Hill a year ago.

The first public sign that Hill’s private life might cause serious political
trouble came on Oct. 10, when RedState, a conservative website owned
by Salem Media Group, ran a story quoting Heslep (...)

Joe Messina, a former Knight campaign advisor who hosts a syndicated
conservative radio show, said he received an anonymous email with a
Zip file packed with private text messages and nude photos of Hill.
He got more by ordinary mail.

NRCC - National Republican Congressional Committee

RedState published an article by another former Knight campaign advisor,
Jennifer Van Laar of Simi Valley.

https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2019-10-31/katie-hill-husband-revenge-porn-republicans

A healthy 32 year old woman must leave, but a 54 year old rapist
remains on the Supreme Court.

Katie Hill's Full Final Speech To Congress:
'I Am Leaving Now Because Of A Double Standard'

October 31, 2019

"I am leaving because of the thousands of vile, threatening emails, texts
and calls that make me fear for my life and the lives of the people I
care about."

"I am leaving because I didn't want to be peddled by papers and blogs
and websites, used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter politics
I've ever seen and the right-wing media to drive clicks and expand their
audience by distributing intimate photos of me taken without my knowledge
let alone my consent for the sexual entertainment of millions."

https://laist.com/2019/10/31/katie-...nal-speech-congress-**7double-standard**7.php

(No nudes in major publications in America, but the Daily Mail UK did the dirty work.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ic-culture-gutter-politics-her-exit-congress/

US congresswoman Katie Hill threatens to sue Daily Mail over nude photos

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/25/katie-hill-daily-mail-lawsuit

 

[bodysong]

GOP Candidate:

Force Pregnant Women To Wear Ankle Monitors To Prevent Abortion


"...check out the following comments, at a recent forum, by Republican
Bill Drennan, who’s running against the Democratic nominee in HD87
(Loudoun County/Prince William County),

“The number of abortions in Virginia in 2017 was 17,210.
The number of gun deaths, the misuse of guns, was 1,041.
That’s a ratio of 16.5:1. How about this, contrarian?
I’m going to impose commonsense restrictions on the
constitutional right to an abortion? How about ankle bracelets?
I don’t think very many people would agree with that.”

By the way, I checked this guy’s website, and it seems he was a military
aide to President Ronald Reagan, “responsible for the Presidential
Emergency Satchel (the ‘Nuclear Football’).” Hmmm. And in the
issues section of his website, he says he “opposes red-flag laws that
are designed to strip citizens of their unalienable rights” and falsely
claims that there had been “legislation that would have eliminated
restrictions on third-trimester abortions and legalized infanticide.”
In fact, as Senate Democratic Leader Dick Saslaw explained the
other day on The John Fredericks Show:

“There have been…close to 200,000 abortions performed in Virginia
since the year 2000…only two – two! – out of slightly less than 200,000
have occurred in the third trimester…the bill’s purpose was to get away
from requiring three doctors in that trimester when we don’t require three
doctors to approve it for any other procedure…and that was the purpose
of the bill.”

https://bluevirginia.us/2019/10/vid...e-ankle-bracelets-for-women-getting-abortions

October 21, 2019

Drennan, speaking at a candidate forum in Sterling, Virginia, last Wednesday,
apparently tried to compare common sense gun legislation to a woman’s right
to an abortion by equating aborted fetuses to the lives of individuals killed by
gun violence.

Drennan said:

The number of abortions in Virginia in 2017 was 17,210.
The number of gun deaths, the misuse of guns, was 1,041.
That’s a ratio of 16.5 to 1.

Drennan continued:

How about this… I’m going to impose commonsense restrictions
on the constitutional right to an abortion. How about ankle bracelets?

Drennan added:

I don’t think very many people would agree with this.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/progr...n-to-wear-ankle-monitors-to-prevent-abortion/

 

[bodysong]

November 1, 2019

There's No Constitutional Right For A Woman To Have An Abortion,
South Carolina Governor Claims

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who is currently locked in a legal battle
with Planned Parenthood, claimed that there is "no constitutional right" for a woman
to have an abortion.

McMaster made the remarks this week during an interview with
CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett.

The Supreme Court agreed to take on a major abortion case this term,
its first since President Donald Trump's appointee Justice Brett Kavanaugh
was confirmed to the bench. The case, June Medical Services v. Gee, deals
with a 2014 Louisiana law that requires abortion clinics to have hospital
admitting privileges within 30 miles of the facility. The law could result
in the closure of nearly all of the abortion clinics in the state.

https://www.newsweek.com/south-carolina-governor-argues-no-constitutional-right-abortion-1469298

 

[bodysong]

Trump's Minions Intimidate the Opposition-

Former Rep. Katie Hill's Office Target of a Perceived Anthrax Hoax

November 5, 2019

U.S. Rep. Katie Hill of California resigned last week amid a cyber exploitation
scandal and the admission of a relationship with a campaign staffer, but the
threats and harassment have not stopped. A hazardous materials team was
called in Monday after an envelope containing white powder arrived at her
former office in Palmdale, Calif., according to the Los Angeles Times.

https://www.advocate.com/crime/2019...ie-hills-office-target-perceived-anthrax-hoax

A Los Angeles County Fire Department hazardous materials team
and sheriff’s deputies responded to the office in the 1000 block of
West Avenue M-14 in Palmdale just after noon. A department spokesman,
Tony Atkins, said firefighters were alerted to an envelope containing an
unidentified powder, and that two people complained of irritation.
He said an initial test was negative for potentially harmful substances
and a second, more time-consuming exam done with chemical weapons
testing equipment also yielded a negative.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is conducting a criminal
investigation into the incident, which seemed designed to scare those
working in the office.

https://www.latimes.com/california/...lope-but-it-tests-negative-for-harmful-toxins

Two more suspicious envelopes were found at a nearby bus stop,
according to local TV station KTLA.

Sheriff’s deputies requested medical assistance at government offices
at 1008 West Avenue M14 shortly after noon, according to Inspector
Anthony Akins with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

Akins said the unidentified white powdery substance was being analyzed
by hazmat crews, Akins said.

https://ktla.com/2019/11/04/suspici...palmdale-office-prompts-hazmat-crew-response/

 

[bodysong]

:...with a Republican-dominated Supreme Court able to override common sense
and basic decency, women’s rights are an afterthought to conservatives pushing
for these extreme abortion bans."

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com...rcing-doctors-to-reimplant-ectopic-pregnancy/

 

[bodysong]

Anti-abortion fanatics are very determined to force the courts
of law to grant a clump of cells (zygote) or a fertilized egg
"personhood."

That would allow them to charge doctors with murder-
The purpose is to drive doctors out of the women's reproductive
field, and starve the abortion clinics of doctors willing to
perform the procedure.

/end bodysong comment

Pennsylvania law currently states that foetal death as the "expulsion or extraction
of the product of conception" after 16 weeks' gestation. But the new bill would
remove the 16-week time marker - which experts believe would change the
definition of foetal death to include fertilised eggs that don't implant.

On Nov. 18, 2019 the Pennsylvania House passed a bill known as the
Final Disposition of Fetal Remains Act (HB 1890), which would require
health-care facilities to provide burial or cremation services for unborn
or miscarried fetuses.

Frankel went on to explain the broader dangers of the bill, saying that
it would “redefine the very concept of life" and that "if it became part
of Pennsylvania’s code, it would be the first time ever that a fertilized
egg would legally be characterized as a person,” referencing the fact
that a burial cannot happen without a death certificate, and a death
certificate implies life. While scientific consensus varies on when a
fertilized egg becomes a person, it is generally not considered a
person until it is able to survive outside the womb, which is around
24 weeks.

https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsbu...t?oid=16208023

In October, Pennsylvania state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz (R-Centre)
and Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams) introduced a “heartbeat bill”
that would ban abortions after a heartbeat is detected.

(Rejected because it is not supported by medical science- a group of
cells may produce an electrical charge because it is composed of living cells,
but there is no structural heart. There is "make believe," lies, and science fiction
at the heart of arguments against abortion.)

 

[DMBFFF]

Gilead

September 3, 2019

Almost 35 years after “The Handmaid’s Tale” shocked
the world, Margaret Atwood has finally given birth to
“The Testaments.”

...

1 Sep 2019

All we know is that The Testaments is set 15 years after
the final scene in the first book, in which narrator Offred
is hauled into a van by heavies, who might be from the
resistance or the regime that extinguished so many of the
human freedoms we take for granted.

[size=+1]From what I got about it, how Lydia became an Aunt sounds kind of stupid.



Fanfiction is better (at least some of it).[/size]

https://66.media.tumblr.com/68376a9db7a6f976d6a988a39c07aea2/8220ac3c3f4ef0ee-35/s1280x1920/1dcfb1b10abdf64ca034bc8fc857e1c9732d927a.png

https://comicbook.com/dc/2018/02/23/madeline-brewer-interested-in-batgirl-role/
https://glidemagazine.com/183911/the-handmaids-tale-review/

https://media.comicbook.com/2018/02/the-handmaid-s-tale-madeline-brewer-janine-1090393-1086161.jpeg https://glide-media-cloud.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/2019/10/handmaids-tale-janine-e1493757674838.jpg




[size=+2]Praise be to the Eye and the Hand of the Prince in the Scarlet Robe.[/size]

https://genius.com/Domine-the-prince-in-the-scarlet-robe-lyrics

[size=+1]Domine - Prince in the scarlet robe Live 2015 full HD!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sgQrZSetfM

[Chorus]
He's sworm to destroy all Gods
By the power of the cosmic balance
He's chosen to save this world
Save the race who betrayed his own
A quest in a time unknown
To bring peace forevermore
Survivor with a noble role
The prince in the scarlet robe[/size]

...

https://66.media.tumblr.com/48daccd92a1b0c054dd61f5da0d20dc4/tumblr_pzq5j3EF4o1xj1y6uo2_400.jpg https://66.media.tumblr.com/e55e8e50ded9b5e74bf066449bb47c01/tumblr_pzq5j3EF4o1xj1y6uo3_400.jpg https://66.media.tumblr.com/818145f3bc12c7a7f387ae8079e6e8b6/tumblr_pzq5j3EF4o1xj1y6uo4_400.png

...

https://www.deviantart.com/artistmeli/art/Prince-Corum-430099407
https://www.deviantart.com/quest-for-tanelorn/gallery/25189240/Corum


https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/9f3b6fe9-3950-4e40-ae1d-396027e04c9f/d742itr-719fddb5-601d-4331-8497-67710ff07883.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzlmM2I2ZmU5LTM5NTAtNGU0MC1hZTFkLTM5NjAyN2UwNGM5ZlwvZDc0Mml0ci03MTlmZGRiNS02MDFkLTQzMzEtODQ5Ny02NzcxMGZmMDc4ODMuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.9rsu2ZCO_rA2E9HZEeevEoXQT7hhef6c19vutilY5LE

https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/dda1021d-992a-46f4-97f4-0cfe60d53968/d2jz567-f352a81b-be3f-41f4-88a1-0bee4626b037.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcL2RkYTEwMjFkLTk5MmEtNDZmNC05N2Y0LTBjZmU2MGQ1Mzk2OFwvZDJqejU2Ny1mMzUyYTgxYi1iZTNmLTQxZjQtODhhMS0wYmVlNDYyNmIwMzcuanBnIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.2V4iDvgZ0eV2QC59xER5jJpl3htxU3AXQ30acHygqdA

...
A few words about Dystopia's and love triangles:

https://66.media.tumblr.com/aeef918081b6ac2c91f4f880b1b21c34/f6b9687e431d88b2-84/s1280x1920/84a472783afe3330764b23a6973000ef8065d5c5.jpg

DYSTOPIAS - Terrible Writing Advice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l1K6eT43DY
4:09


Trope Talk: Dystopias (with special guest Hello Future Me!!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSwNWEDo8Iw
23:28...

 

[bodysong]

A Trump supporter said this-

"The only real Americans, have a cock and balls."

bodysong comment-

Not only is it required that you be male, white,
and at least, pretend to be a "Christian" Trump supporter-

It is required that you have a great deal of wealth, influence. and power.

The odd part of this, is that the death cult of the Christians
hunger for "the end of the world."

They wish to bring about the destruction of the creation
that their God/god provided for them.

Is that not much like a fetus destroying the womb of its mother ?

Then, again, the Christians have provided themselves with
a get-out-of-jail-free card, because their God/god forgives them
anything.

 

[bodysong]

Three Trump loyalists that are women-

Ladies against Women

The Hateful, The Malevolent, and the Liar

State of the Union 2020

Trump wants to steal $5 billion from public schools
(which he decried as “failing government schools”)
to give to private, i.e., Christian, schools. Trump
wants to roll back reproductive rights and ban abortion.
But more than anything, Trump wants to weaponize
religious freedom. If he is successful there, it will be
a win for his war against abortion and public schools too.

The Constitution already protects students’ right to pray
in public schools. What Trump actually wants is to use
the machinery of the state to impose religion on students.

He said: My administration is also defending religious
liberty, and that includes the constitutional right to pray
in public schools. In America, we don’t punish prayer.
We don’t tear down crosses.* We don’t ban symbols
of faith. We don’t muzzle preachers and pastors.
In America, we celebrate faith, we cherish religion,
we lift our voices in prayer, and we raise our sights
to the Glory of God.

*The allusion to tearing down crosses is a nod to the
Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow the 40-ft tall
Bladensburg cross to remain on government land and
be maintained at government expense.

*Here’s Why the Supreme Court Must Say the Bladensburg
Cross Is Unconstitutional

Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in The American Legion
v. American Humanist Association. The case involves the 40-foot-tall
“Peace Cross” (a.k.a. the Bladensburg Cross), a World War I memorial
in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

While supporters of the cross say it’s a perfectly legal war
memorial, the AHA argues that it’s really just a giant
advertisement for Christianity — maintained using
taxpayer dollars via the Maryland-National Capitol Park
and Planning Commission — and any reasonable person
looking at the cross would agree.

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com...ay-the-bladensburg-cross-is-unconstitutional/

“Working with Mitch McConnell — thank you, Mitch —
and his colleagues in the Senate, we have recommended
180 new judges to uphold our Constitution as written.
This includes Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.”

Right now, Christian nationalists are raging against
the dying of their privilege. Trump’s State of the
Union encapsulated this rage. And, as America nears
the tipping point at which conservative Christianity’s
power and privilege are reduced to equality for all,
the Christian nationalist myths will be spouted more
often and more loudly. But the end is near for this
movement. That is the true state of our union.

 

[bodysong]

Toward the end of President Donald Trump's
first year in office, I found myself in modest
despair and was reminded of the famous French
Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire's advice to
"tend my own small patch of garden"—even as I
tried to do my own small bit to at least record the
inhumanity now taking place on a global scale on a
distinctly endangered planet.


On November 8, 2016 My mind spontaneously returned
to memories of Facebook ads with pictures whose lighting
emphasized every wrinkle on Hillary Clinton's face, high-
lighting her grimaces, portraying her with black Xs across
that face. Those ads sparked a sense of familiarity in me.
They reminded me of Russian smear-campaign images,
but I hadn't made the link with Election 2016 until that
jolting moment of Donald Trump's victory. A few months
later, my husband reminded me that I sat up then and in my
pregnancy-induced drowsiness said,

"I feel like we've been attacked."

The next morning, depression settling in, I received an email
from an old Russian friend and fellow feminist scholar who
offered me her sympathy: "I know what it's like to live with
such a leader," she wrote, referring, of course, to Russian
President Vladimir Putin. "

You have the same problems that we do now."

Nothing in my own experience, of course, bears much relationship
to the magnitude of fear, financial insecurity, and lack of social
protection against violence that many of my Russian colleagues
face in their daily lives. Yet so long after reading my friend's email,
I'm beginning to see just what she meant.

Voltaire, after all, urged his readers to cultivate their gardens
at a time of government-sponsored torture and intolerance
across Europe.

- Andrea Mazzarino

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/02/06/women-and-trauma-trump-putin-era

bodysong comment-

Trump attacks everyone.

Andrea Mazzarino's advice is to strenghten yourself

"I came to see martial arts, yoga, traveling, and in
several cases walking on hot coals—activities that
Russian women loosely grouped under the term
"self-development" or samorazvitie -- as essential
to the task of toughening oneself against a government
determined to crush women's bodily integrity."

 

[bodysong]

Southern Baptist Convention (SBC)

This is Hosanna Wong, the teaching pastor at EastLake Church.
She was invited to speak at the SBC’s Pastors’ Conference,
but SBC pastors have written a letter of protest, demanding
that she repent, and threatening to withhold all funding until
she is disinvited. Pray for her.

— Michael Frost (@michaelfrost6) February 12, 2020

Wong won’t be preaching at the event (heaven forbid) but
the very fact that she is ordained is enough to ruffle the
delicate feathers of the men folk. These are the same people
who defended Paige Patterson and other Southern Baptist
eaders whose actions have been disgraceful, but a female
preacher? Outrageous.

- Beth Stoneburner

No Southern Baptist woman preachers allowed

Despite our long-standing ties to the Southern Baptist Convention,
Calvary has for some time been at odds with many of the policies
and public positions of the SBC. There have been many specific
issues, like a rejection of the ordination of women, for example,
over which we disagreed. But increasingly these differences
became more foundational.

We’re not Southern Baptists anymore, but we’re still Baptists;
we wouldn’t give those historic principles up for anything.
With this new declaration of affiliation, we are freer to declare
to the world our shared belief that God is a welcoming, inclusive,
transformational God in whose service we are called to live lives
of deep, authentic and committed response.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...t-convention/2012/07/26/gJQAy11xBX_story.html

These male attendees are also treating Wong’s invitation
far more seriously than the rampant sexual abuse within
their churches, as pointed out on Twitter by abuse survivor
and advocate Rachael Denhollander:

(Rachael Joy Denhollander is an American lawyer
and former gymnast. She was the first woman to
publicly accuse Larry Nassar, the former Michigan
State University and USA Gymnastics doctor, of
assault. )

Note what is taking place here:

1. A woman is coming to the SBC pastor's conference to perform a piece during worship.

Her role in her own church is as pastor, in conflict with the SBC BFM.

What are leaders doing given this?

The potential responses on the table include:

— Rachael Denhollander (@R_Denhollander) February 12, 2020

The conference organizers have been monitoring
social media to ensure that Wong’s presence will
not be a threat to her safety.

But the fact that they have to do that at all says a lot
about the toxicity of that Southern Baptist culture.

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com...ng-out-over-a-female-speaker-at-a-conference/

Rightwingwatch.com

People For the American Way

pfaw.org

 

[bodysong]

As The Supreme Court Revisits Roe v. Wade,
Prepare For The Ravage Of Abortion Rights

Faced with a multitude of ever-more extreme anti-abortion
laws, the increasingly conservative Circuit Courts of Appeals
and the Supreme Court will likely continue to steadily chip
away at Roe until there’s nothing left of it.

The women who will be hurt most will be young, poor,
women of color and/or rural women.

March 04, 2020

After nearly five decades of tenuous existence, Roe v. Wade
turned 47 this January.

Trump's newly minted anti-choice majority on the Supreme Court
is scheduled to hear its first major abortion case --
June Medical Services LLC v. Russo.

The court recognized a constitutional right to abortion in Roe in 1973
Legislatures have passed more than 1,200 abortion restrictions.
In the last nine years alone, states have enacted 516 abortion restrictions.

87% of all U.S. counties were lacking an abortion provider by 2008.
(It’s closer to 90% now in 2020)

The crisis in abortion rights is not new, but it is about to reach
unprecedented levels.

This next phase of dismantling abortion rights will begin
March 4 when the new conservative Supreme Court will
hear a challenge to a Louisiana law requiring abortion
providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.

https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2020/03/04/roe-wade-supreme-court-sarah-boonin

The Supreme Court is vital in shaping abortion rights, but that is not
the whole story. The lower federal courts wield enormous influence,
and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Trump
have been packing them with abortion opponents.

Mitch McConnell and Andy Barr are top 2020 targets for Emily’s List

March 01, 2019

Kentucky may be tough for Democrats, who unsuccessfully
challenged Barr in 2018, but Stephanie Schriock, president of
Emily’s List, said “after flipping the House with Democratic
women in 2018, we’re ready to send more Republicans packing
in 2020.”

She accused McConnell and the other five Republican senators
of serving as “rubber stamps for the Trump administration’s
harmful policies at the expense of the American people”
and said Emily’s List hopes to replace all six with
Democratic women who support abortion rights.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article226934764.html

 

[bodysong]

Mar. 26, 2020

“The Texas attorney general’s enforcement threats are a blatant effort to exploit a public health crisis to advance an extreme, anti-abortion agenda,” the suit argues. Plaintiffs including Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas (which encompasses Austin), Whole Woman’s Health, and Austin Women’s Health Center, say they have had to turn patients away for time-sensitive care as a result of Paxton’s order. Whole Woman’s, whose flagship clinic is located in Austin, was forced to cancel more than 150 appointments across its three Texas clinics.

“[Paxton]’s conclusion that abortion care is not an essential medical service that is needed by our community during this pandemic has already created a health crisis on top of a health crisis,” said WWH president Amy Hagstrom Miller, during a press conference on Wednesday. “It is shameful that our politicians are using emergency actions during a global pandemic to push their anti-abortion agenda.”

Paxton made the announcement following Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order for all licensed health care facilities to postpone surgeries and procedures that are not “immediately medically necessary” to ensure that hospital beds are available for COVID-19 patients and enough personal protective equipment (PPE), like masks and gloves, are available for health care workers. The ban announced by Paxton allows abortion procedures only when a woman’s life is in danger or if she faces serious health risks. Failure to comply could result in penalties of up to $1,000 or 180 days in jail.

https://www.austinchronicle.com/dai...roviders-sue-abbott-paxton-over-pandemic-ban/

 

[bodysong]

Across the pond- insanity rules there, too

5 Apr 2020

Campaigners have questioned the safety of pregnant women travelling
by ferry from Northern Ireland for abortions amid the coronavirus pandemic
as the services remain unavailable in the nation despite the law change in October.

At the time, it was reported that women would continue to travel to England
for medical terminations until March – but that period appears to have been
extended.

Alliance For Choice (@All4Choice)

Again with this @niogov?
You want people to get 2 8 hour ferries alone,in the middle of a pandemic,
for abortion care that should be #freesafelegallocal.
You gave powers to @healthdpt
to put the regulations into practice.
Can you remind @RobinSwannMoH? #telemedicinenow

April 4, 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/apr/05/uk-coronavirus-covid-19-live-news-hancock-starmer

 

[bodysong]

Crooks and Liars ✓
Twitter › crooksandliars

You think anti-choice protesters are staying away from #abortion patients?
Think again. #COVID19

#prochoice #forcedbirth

@elienyc @joycewhitevance
@teresatomlinson

1 hour ago

 

[bodysong]

April 4, 2020

Police on Saturday charged eight Charlotte abortion protesters with violating
North Carolina’s COVID-19-related ban on mass gatherings

About 50 protesters gathered outside A Preferred Women’s Health Center
on Latrobe Drive, according to police.

That size crowd violates the mass gatherings provision in the state’s
stay-at-home order, police said, so officers asked everyone to leave.

“After an initial request for compliance, 12 people who were in violation
refused to leave” and were cited under state law for violation of emergency
prohibitions and restrictions, according to a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police
Department news release.

Calla Hales, executive director of the clinic, told the Observer in an interview
that protesters continued to show up at the Latrobe location despite increasing
restrictions on gatherings during the March.

Calling it “a public health nightmare,” Hales said the protesters were not following s
ocial distancing during previous protests, and did not wear gloves or masks when
they approached patients coming into the clinic to speak with them, distribute
literature and to try to convince them not to have an abortion.

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/coronavirus/article241776291.html

 

[bodysong]

You Cannot Get an Abortion Right Now in Texas':
Federal Appeals Court Upholds Ban During Pandemic

"How cruel and out of touch with reality do you have to be to exploit
a global health pandemic to further your own political agenda?"

As @byKateSmith has been thoroughly reporting:
You cannot get an abortion right now in Texas.
That has not happened since Roe V Wade.

— Caitlin Huey-Burns (@CHueyBurns) April 8, 2020

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/0...-remain-place-during-coronavirus-court-rules/


COVID-19 Could Permanently Make Abortions Harder to Access Nationwide

https://time.com/5816530/coronavirus-abortion-clinics-access/

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2...exas-federal-appeals-court-upholds-ban-during