What are we going to learn about the dynamics behind the leak of the SC decision on Roe v Wade ? Was it an aggressive reporter? Was it an effort by Democrats to motivate their own base? Did it originate among the justices themselves, in an effort to see what the public’s reaction would be, a testing of the waters? How could such a leak happen in the first place?

Alito and the rest have to know they’re sitting on a powder keg.

In addition to the argument that the word “abortion” doesn’t appear in the Constitution, the trouble with the supposedly genuine, albeit leaked, Supreme Court opinion on Roe v. Wade is that there is undue faith-based influence in play here.

Abortion has always stirred strong feelings in all directions. Roe reflected a more rational– secular– take on this being about the right of a woman to have control over her own body. Apart from this, I cannot think of any good coming from a decision based on an Old Testament biblical reference, even “Thou shalt not kill.” Or “You shall not kill,” for anyone who has dared move on from the language of the early 17th century. Life is more complicated than adherence to an ancient edict from a questionably authoritative source.

How in anyone’s right mind can it be proper to force a woman to give birth in any circumstance, including, apparently, incest or rape or when the health of mother or child is in question? There seems to be this undying issue of concern over consequences and accountability, or lack thereof. Making sure, somehow, that a woman pays.

What is the real issue for anti-abortion activists?

Do they feel the need to be the Morals Police? Is it really about right to life, or is it more about the need, ironically, to play God, to be another person’s judge, jury and executioner, another person’s conscience (because, you know, anyone who is considering an abortion is obviously a heathen who cannot be trusted with such a significant decision)?

Conservative Christianity to the rescue! Always wearing their undying love for God on their sleeves, but hardly ever trusting her.

And kudos to the Supreme Court, if indeed Roe is struck down or dramatically weakened. They can deliver their edict from on high and then wash their hands of it, by passing it off on the states to deal with.

The Burger court (9 men!) got it right in 1973. The Roberts court may bring us a big step closer to A Handmaid’s Tale.

What is astounding is that as much as few of us want WWIII, and as much as most abhor the current reality that one person is causing so much destruction and heartache, we are getting sucked into the nightmare anyway. It’s happening before our eyes, regardless of how much we don’t want it to happen.

One thing is leading to another, involvement deepens, and we move ever closer to that moment when Putin will reason that he has no choice but to unleash unholy hell.

We’ve learned nothing from what has come before, except to confirm that there’s always going to be some asshole with a grudge who wants to rule the world. Maybe there’s still time to stop this one.

The saber rattling is getting more intense. NATO jets intercepted Russian fighters yesterday, or recently. Not a good sign. Wonder what the chances are that cooler heads will prevail.

Putin probably doesn’t care if he takes the world down with him, or even if he survives a nuclear holocaust. Or more likely he’ll be the first one holed up in a mountain somewhere, comfy and cozy while the rest of the planet burns.

We need a miracle. Hard to believe this shit-stained relic is still in the driver’s seat.

Treasure every sunrise.

Think what you will about Rachel Maddow. As mentioned in previous posts, I prefer to trust her take on most things of a political nature. I trust her intelligence and intuition, her research, her ability to peel back the layers and keep us grounded in reality.

With help from author Timothy Snyder, along with her own understandings and insights, she laid things on the table in last night’s show, trying to awaken anyone who will listen to the fact that the dark underbelly of human nature is being exposed right here in America. What was going on in Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia is happening here at home. Not as far along yet, but heading in that direction. The ground is growing increasingly fertile.

Our version of a Big Lie is alive and well. People creating a bogus issue from whole cloth, or taking something insignificant, blowing it way out of proportion, and harping on it until people start believing that it’s something serious. And real. A lie so huge that believers believe it because they can’t believe their elected representatives would go to such lengths to create it!

Our Big Lie involves an erosion of trust in election integrity and the rule of law, among other things, along with the ugliness of mistrusting certain groups of people, ie pretty much everybody who’s not of Anglo-Saxon or northern European descent. Everyone who’s not white and Christian. The same tired shit.

We just cannot get out of our own way. The prospect of having power makes us weak-kneed, near-sighted, and ruthless.

There are very few people who have the wherewithal to ask good questions. This includes the people you’d think should be good at it—reporters and the like.

College professors sometimes ask good questions, but often in the context of a classroom, and these can take on the air of mere attempts at sounding smart and eliciting a response that has no real-world resonance—more intellectual exercise than anything of consequence.

When a reporter does ask a legitimately probing question, a politician can just sidestep, anyway. Most of them are pretty good at that. It’s a dance, I guess—reporters always looking for the scoop and a feather in their cap, and politicians wary of such intent. It could make one wonder about the place honesty holds in our discussions and conversations.

There may be times we ordinary citizens can’t handle the truth.  But that rings kind of hollow.

Still wondering if I need to consider the second booster. Seems like the jury’s out on the necessity of it, though saw a recent article that stated the effects of the shot wear off after a few (4 or 5?) months. Gotta find a trustworthy source of information. You’d think the CDC would be that source. It’s frustrating to see the effort being put forth to discredit these folks. Erosion of trust is as debilitating as anything else these days. Why the hell is that? Is there anybody left who’s not assumed to be in somebody’s pocket? To be somebody’s mouthpiece? Is this the concern? Sometimes I think one could get more satisfaction from banging their head against a wall.

-Macron prevails in France. Phew. I’m gonna call that a victory for sensible people. LePen had designs on scaling back NATO involvement and warming up to Russia. Why would she want to do that?  

-So Elon Musk has apparently bought Twitter, for $44 billion. What’s his plan? What’s he up to? What does he think he’ll be able to accomplish? Time will tell. Forty-four billion dollars. Seems there might be better uses for such a fantastic sum. Freedom of speech has its limits, Elon. But people like you probably embrace the whole “money talks” understanding of the world. Money certainly is power.

-Humans can take something good and ruin it in no time. They can be dumb or smart when they want to be, conveniently ignorant, ready to plead the 5^th if necessary.

-The way of the world is characterized by unbridgeable differences, apparently. Walls that can never be removed. At least this seems to be the take among the autocratic set and many Republicans. There always needs to be an Us and a Them, which is somehow neat and convenient, a North Star of sorts, a warm blanket for lazy, fearful people.

Are we more concerned about Ukraine because the victims are mostly Caucasian? There is unrest, and wars going on all the time in Africa and other places but they don’t get the attention this war is getting. Apart from certain geo-political implications of this current conflict, why does this one get so much more attention than, say, something going on in Somalia or Yemen or Afghanistan, the coverage of which might be hot for a few days but not every day like what’s happening in Ukraine?

Is it fair to assess this, to some degree, in terms of a racial bias, or is it more because the world currently stands at a precipice staring at the possible use of nuclear weapons? Is it easier for white America to relate to the shocking upset to what in many ways looked like a familiar way of life in an urban setting that could have easily been New York instead of Kyiv?  

When I first heard someone utter this take on things, I wasn’t sure what to think. But anymore I wonder if there isn’t something to it. Any way you look at it, though, what’s currently unfolding is horrendous and wrong, regardless of the skin color and socioeconomic status of the victims. The bad guy here is Vladimir Putin, who apparently takes no issue with unprovoked acts of terror, and who has no qualms about making life miserable for anyone who doesn’t think the way he does.

I’ll let someone else with more expertise tackle that other view of things.

People are dying in Ukraine and we get footage of an Easter egg hunt on the White House lawn.

Life goes on here, while men, women, and children are being viciously and indiscriminately vanquished as they huddle in a cellar or otherwise try to survive but don’t. This is terrifying and sad and infuriating at the same time. Ghastly, unprovoked evil.

Nothing has changed about us since… forever. We all get one life to live and there seems to be a steady parade of heartless assholes for whom this matters not at all. There should be a way to stop this without the world spiraling toward Armageddon. We can’t let one person with serious issues ruin things for everybody.

The little weasel with a shit-eating grin needs to be vanquished, or somehow de-clawed and relegated to obscurity.

I’m tired of Wolf Blitzer. He seems to often ask inane questions, unevolved and obvious and baiting questions. In general, I’m tired of network coverage of this war. It seems to be more analysis and speculation and play-by-play, like a sporting event, than trying to drive home the wrongness and the gravity of it.

Commentators in the field gather and pat each other on the back every now and then, proud of their “daring” and “bravery,” commending local Ukrainian TV crews like they’re giving credit at an awards ceremony. Pundits and hosts back in the studio try to predict and plot next moves and strategy like basketball coaches in a time out. They play up weapons systems in terms of stats, like they’re in awe of their capabilities, and in order to heighten the drama and the stakes.

There’s just something off about all of it. Like they’re fascinated with the minutiae, and seem intent on turning the injustice and the massive unfolding human tragedy into a palatable and ongoing passion play.