My civil rights and the democracy of our republic are not a secondary concern, thank you so much

I hope the best for them & their future after this brutal experience. The fact that women are...

… speaking up so publicly in such numbers should tell us that what the fanatics call “abortion” with such venom is understood by most women and men to be a medical procedure, and a necessary part of women’s health care.

No more and no less than treatment for breast cancer — if it has to be done it has to be done, to save the woman’s life.

This understanding by the public gives me hope, and it is a product of Roe v Wade having been on the books for 50 years. Out of the back alleys, it became the medical procedure it always was supposed to be. With new technology came the ability to spot deadly abnormalities and to spare women’s lives, and as this couple so clearly understands, to spare their potential child a lifetime of hideous suffering.

Let me repeat: The fact that women are speaking up so publicly and in such numbers should tell us that what the fanatics call “abortion” with such venom is understood by most women and men to be a medical procedure, and a necessary part of women’s health care.

Personally, I think abortion is an issue of democracy, civil rights, & health care. When 51%...

… of the population turns on the TV and sees that the GOP wants to take all of that away from us, it has a way of overriding blather about inflation.

I don’t know what you mean by “negative impact,” but I sure know what I mean by “negative impact.”

For 51% of the population, it was about our civil rights, about our health, about our life & death...

…about our right to live in a democracy.

The issue of reproductive rights is not “just” about abortion — it is about everything.

No need to apologize, scipan. Ode to Joy is a monument to humanity. This is my favorite version

It makes me cry every time. Brotherhood, yes. Daughters of Elysium, yes.

Harry Belafonte in Los Angeles, Summer 1961. An outdoor theatre -- just lovely

I was 13 and visiting friends of the family. Mrs M and another lady took me, and aside from the performance and his marvellous voice, I learned something surprising about grown-up ladies.

On the way home, Mrs M’s friend said, “He can put his shoes under my bed any time.”

Look, it did not happen and it would not happen here on Planet Earth. The trouble with posts like...

… this one is that first and foremost our Dems do not do this crap in the first place. It is not helpful to do “thought experiments” that insert untrue events and motives into people’s heads.

Secondly, it doesn’t matter how hard we try to conciliate the GOP or negotiate with them or appease them — nothing works. Joe Biden has been as bipartisan in his approach as it is possible to be, and his reward has been that someone he thought was a friend (Lindsey Graham) dishonorably savaged Joe’s son; and GOPers in the House have put up 14 different impeachment bills just to stay in practice.

In the coming House term, if the Republicans control the House, they have made it pellucidly clear that they plan to impeach the entire top tier of the presidential line of succession: Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Nancy Pelosi. They mentioned someone else recently as well, but there you have it: since assassination has not yet worked, they will wreak havoc and make it impossible to do the business of governing.

And that is ALL on the GOP. No “both sides” about it.

I feel like I spent my whole adult life deluded. I turned 21 in 1968 & became a Dem forever...

I’m a very small player in the grand scheme of things — was a vigorous supporter of Planned Parenthood; spent 13 years on my County’s Affirmative Action Commission; worked hard with the local Vets for Peace against Dubya & his damn war — liaised with all the local groups in putting on town halls and such….

I couldn’t believe it when SCOTUS gutted the Voting Rights Act. Felt absolutely gut-punched when SCOTUS destroyed Roe v. Wade. I couldn't stop crying that day.

I am just out of words. Everything I’ve believed in and worked for... I feel like an ant.

Okay, I’ll catch my breath tomorrow. And you know what? Ants can shift heavy loads. So there is that. It is not over.

Toddlers are random creatures. I snatched a neighbor's child out of the traffic when she ran...

…out between her dad’s parked truck and another parked car. Just like that. It was only happenstance that I saw her in the small moment while her parents’ backs were turned. Toddlers aren’t rational.

Even the best dog can be startled and react. I was at a baby shower, sitting on the floor next to my daughter’s doggy, one of my favorite dogs ever — under-5 pounds of Jack Russell/Pomeranian cross, super smart. A toddler was on the couch and rolled off; in a split second I knew the wee girl wasn’t going to be hurt by the fall, but the dog would be crushed, and I put my hand between them as fast as ever I could. The dog snapped, and I was frankly surprised at how badly my finger was slashed by her little teeth.

The pit bulls in the OP had their lives all figured out and running smooth for 6 years before the first baby showed up. That’s stressful. Then it became a toddler, and another baby showed up.

You want a baby-sitter, get a golden retriever or border collie or a Labrador.

She didn't do that, did she?

The day she died, one of our members wrote a post of such venom it got removed. “Rest in screaming torture Loretta Lynn Vagina Traitor” was the theme. And no, it was not I who alerted on it or served on the jury.

I understand rage. In a recent thread about Lindsay Graham I did not call him Miss or any of that other stuff, but I did call him an mfer and I was in such a rage I spelled it out, more than once. Call me an old silly, but I never knew that was homophobic until my post got removed, alleging that reason. If every post at DU using mfer got removed — well, at least our language would be cleaner.

No, the fine Suthen gennlemun is a highly educated, privileged, white, male, extremely powerful US Senator who has announced there should be a nationwide federal ban on abortion, and that he’s going to get right on that as soon as the GOP takes back the Senate.

And LL is just the kind of woman he would condemn to death by perpetual pregnancy and childbirth, ignorant of her own basic health needs and unable to obtain health care, all her talents gone to waste.

There is a difference here.