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Project 2025: Reproductive rights

DOJ run amok

From the Center for Reproductive Rights – https://reproductiverights.org/roe-v-wade/

The Project 2025 agenda has drawn a bullseye on reproductive rights. It aims for “the next conservative administration to attack reproductive rights from several angles, including by removing the term ‘abortion’ from all federal laws and regulations, reversing abortion pill approval, punishing providers by withdrawing federal health funding and restricting clinics that provide contraception and STD testing. “

It is not comforting that Paul Dans left his director role at the Heritage Foundation, which oversees Project 2025. Sure, djt’s campaign “welcomed” the news because it has been trying to distance the candidate from the plan for months now that folks are paying attention.

The Republican nominee for President has a position on the issue that has been described as “pure jibberish” as he tries and fails to BS his way through questions about Mifepristone.

After the Dobbs decision was leaked in the spring of 2022, I posited that the country could be worse off post-Roe than it was pre-Roe. Sometimes, I HATE being correct.

The SCOTUS leak

(SCOTUS never discovered the source of the leak. Based on Chief Justice Roberts’ public comments, I assumed that he was seeking a “middle ground,” perhaps a ban after 15 weeks. There could have been a 3-3-3 or 3-4-2 outcome, with the CJ getting one or more of the newbies on the court on his side. But when someone – one of Alito’s or Thomas’ clerks? – spilled the beans early, voila! Roe gets overturned.)

The heartbreaking stories of women who have to practically, or actually, have to be on death’s door before receiving treatment when a pregnancy goes wrong. State legislators insist incorrectly that their draconian laws don’t handcuff doctors from providing necessary care.

As The Atlantic reported in 1969(!), and it’s true again in 2024: “As a matter of fact, no one knows what the laws which permit abortion to save the life of the mother mean.”

ABC News put out a special – here’s just a small portion– about the “dire impact of new healthcare restrictions on pregnant women.” I was alternatingly sad and infuriated. Dobbs has brought out the stupid, such as bans against in vitro fertilization.

Defund

What else is Project 2025 calling for? “The policy book instructs the Department of Health and Human Services to ‘issue guidance reemphasizing that states are free to defund Planned Parenthood in their state Medicaid plans’ and ‘propose rulemaking to interpret the Medicaid statute to disqualify providers of elective abortion.'”

It “also proposes requiring education on ‘fertility awareness-based’ methods of contraception and family planning and suggests eliminating condoms from Health Resources & Service Administration guidelines because they are not a ‘women’s’ preventative service.” The stupidity of this provision is amazing.

“Heritage recommends the next conservative administration direct the CDC to ‘eliminate programs and projects that do not respect human life and conscience rights and that undermine family formation.'” I read A Handmaid’s Tale in 1995 but thought it was fiction.

“The book recommends reversing policies that allow ‘the use of public monies … to facilitate abortion for servicemembers.'” Ah, supporting our troops!

The Anti-Abortion Movement Is Perverting the 14th Amendment. So says Jamelle Bouie in the New York Times in response to the 2024 Republican National Committee’s party platform. “In the same way it is perverse for conservative legal activists and Supreme Court justices to use the Reconstruction amendments… to dismantle this nation’s halting efforts at substantive racial equality, it is also perverse for the anti-abortion movement to use the 14th Amendment as a cudgel against bodily autonomy in the name of so-called fetal rights.”

Department of Justice and federal law enforcement

“The policy book states that ‘litigation decisions must be made consistent with the President’s agenda.'” That’s terrifying.

Do you remember Jeff Sessions? He was the first Attorney General under djt, and he was terrible. Yet he did one correct thing. He recused himself from participating in any DOJ investigation regarding allegations that Russia had interfered in the 2016 presidential election, infuriating 45.

There’s no reason to believe that a Republican AG in 2025 would have even that much integrity, based on djt’s attempt to strongarm DOJ, as acting AG Jeffrey Rosen noted in his testimony before the January 6 hearings.

“The policy book [for Project 25] euphemistically calls for the next conservative Administration’ to do everything possible to obtain finality for the 44 prisoners currently on federal death row.’ During the final months of his administration, Trump rushed 13 federal executions in 2020 — ‘an unprecedented clip’ compared to the combined total of three federal executions in the preceding 60 years.

“Project 2025 claims that the Biden administration ‘has enshrined affirmative discrimination in all aspects of its operations under the guise of ‘equity’ and vows to ‘reverse this trend’ by attacking ‘so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) offices that have become the vehicles for this unlawful discrimination.'” Ah, the old “reverse racism” trope.

“Project 2025 calls to reassign election-related offenses to the Criminal Division of the DOJ rather than the Civil Rights Division… This change would allow a second Trump administration to provide more resources for investigations into bogus claims of voter fraud and bolster efforts to overturn future election results.”

Will we have ever-challenged votes when the results don’t turn out how the White House wishes? It may sound overly dramatic, but this provision alone makes me worry that democracy itself would be in jeopardy.

Sunday Stealing: Olympic events

training

To the Sunday Stealing list of questions, Bev added a bonus question about the Olympics, which I deign to answer first.

Extra question: Olympic events that I like to watch or follow

I didn’t see much of it when I was home during the first week. But my wife, daughter, and I were away in Alexandria, VA, for the second week. So, I ended up watching more. One series of events involved the relay; passing the baton while maintaining the pace is surprisingly difficult. Another was diving; it’s astonishing how high the best divers get above the board, do several moves, do not hit their heads on the board, and then land in the water without making much of a splash. And the pole vault always amazes me.

1. I am looking forward to …

Being home for a while. Because of the remnants of Hurricane Debby, including tornados, localized flooding, and downed trees on the track, our train from Alexandria, scheduled to depart at 11:08 a.m., did not leave for NYC until much later. Fortunately, enough people canceled their reservations for the 10:24 train, which left at 11:44, so many of us caught that instead. It was a bit stressful, I must say. And we followed the Debby’s downers for hours.

2. Least favorite words

“The late great Hannibal Lecter.”

3. If I ruled the world

I’d ban assault weapons (AK-47) and mandate equitable salaries. Most inequities involve too much for too few, so food, health care, mass transportation, and green energy would be funded. And there would be no billionaires because they have an outsized degree of power.

The Wayback Machine!

4. Favorite websites and blogs

My favorite website may be the Internet Archive, “a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.” It features the Wayback Machine: “Explore more than 866 billion web pages saved over time.” When working as a business librarian, I was asked to access a document from the Bureau of Indian Affairs website, but for some political reason, the site was down. I found the piece via the Wayback Machine.

5. Things I do for myself

My blog.

6. Weekly rituals

Tuesday: Attend Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library book reviews or author talks. Thursday: choir rehearsal, take out the garbage. Sunday: church. That said, I missed two FFAPL events and four church services because I was out of town, and choir doesn’t rehearse in the summer.

7. DIYs I want to try

Can’t think of one.

8. On my shopping list

I’m trying hard NOT to buy more stuff.

9. Places to see in your town

I’ve answered this before. I read that the city has completed the Albany Pedestrian Experience, which is a terrible name for a band.

10. Road trip must-haves

I bought an item for our trip to France where I can charge multiple phones simultaneously.

11. Guilty pleasures

Doing this quiz

12. Things I’d rather be doing right now

At this moment, I’d be sleeping because I woke up too early

13. Books I’d like to read this year

All of the ones I bought and sit, sad and forlorn, on my bookshelf

14. Lessons learned

There are too many to encapsulate; sometimes, I must relearn them anyway.

15. Vacations to take

Despite what Disney said, “It’s a big world after all.”

My dad is still in my head

Hamlet, but I’m less than 1% Danish

Obviously, my dad is still in my head.

In April, when I was at my Dad’s group at church, the pastor was reading a piece on joy by Fred Buechner. We talked about the concept. Then, I mentioned that my go-to emotional state was melancholy.

I related this story, which I wrote about back in 2010. But I left details out, which I will add in italics.

We had a piano which my father painted, lilac, I think. “When I was four or five years old, Leslie marked up the piano with some crayons. In retrospect, it seemed like a reasonable thing; he colored the piano so she could too. My father went to Leslie and asked her who had marked the piano, and she said that Roger had done it.

“So my father got the strap that hung in the kitchen – this brown leather thing about a foot long that barbers used to sharpen their razors – and started wailing on me. One of the things he was looking for from me was an apology, yet even in the midst of my pain, I was unable to do so. ‘I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it!’ I sobbed.

“Eventually, and these are pretty much in the words of my father, recounting the incident years later, he figured that I was either really stupid or I was actually innocent. Finally, he requestioned Leslie, who finally confessed, and he started wailing on her.”

I’ve told this story a few times, but usually one-on-one, to my wife or a close friend. But this time, I added, “But he didn’t f**in’ BELIEVE me!”

Huh

Hmm. That was interesting. And surprising. Me cursing, even in our closed group, is not in my nature. So the telling of this thing that happened in 1958 somehow still has a visceral reaction in me. Among other things, it informs the pain when I feel when I’m not heard, or when people make assumptions about me that are untrue. It can tick me off but later, the melancholy takes hold.

The next morning, one of my online buddies wrote to say he was having prostate surgery; it was benign. My father died of prostate cancer. It was an interesting coincidence.

And the stories on CBS Sunday Morning that day – this is why Allah invented the DVR – about “The Covenant of Water” author Abraham Verghese, who was inspired by his mother and grandmothers; and Photographer James Balog on documenting climate change: “Adventure with a purpose” somehow leaned into the melancholy.

My relationship with my father was complicated. I’m sure my sisters would say that about their respective dealings with him, too. It’s been 24 years to the day since he died. I had the ridiculous thought that everyone should die in years ending in zero because it makes the math easier.

Musician Joe Jackson is 70 (11 Aug)

“You gotta have no illusions.”

Musician Joe Jackson was considered one of those “angry young men” in the pop scene that straddled the 1970s and 1980s. I first heard his music on WQBK-FM, Q 104 in the Albany area, a station I listened to constantly for about a decade.

I bought several of his earlier albums on vinyl and a few of the latter ones on CD. Here are some of his songs.

Down To London, from Blaze Of Glory, 1989. My friend Rocco and I saw him perform at the Palace Theatre in Albany in 1989. After sharing maybe one or two earlier songs, he announced that he would play the album’s first six songs. He threw in a few familiar songs and then launched into the last six songs of the album. Much of the audience just walked out of the auditorium. They didn’t leave the building but went to the concession stand or whatnot. Many didn’t return until he started playing songs they recognized. It’s a good album, which I purchased, but the performance ticked off the audience unnecessarily.

Captain Of Industry (Overture), from the Tucker soundtrack, 1988

A Slow Song, originally from Night and Day, 1982 – I had a buddy named Mary Margaret who loved this song. She particularly liked the live version from the 1980/86 album, which came out in 1988.

I’m The Man, from I’m The Man, 1979 – a frenetic song about a guy willing to sell you anything. I love the way he sings “yo-yo.”

One More Time, from Look Sharp!, 1979, has a running bass line that I love.

Sunday Papers, from Look Sharp! , 1979 speaks to the sensationalist media, which needs to get the story first, even if it’s wrong. I like that reggae beat.

Nineteen Forever, from Blaze Of Glory, 1989

A couple of title songs

Look Sharp, from Look Sharp!, 1979- “You gotta have no illusions. Just keep going your way, looking over your shoulder.”

Beat Crazy, from Beat Crazy, 1980 – I love the contrast between the Graham Maby melodic line and Jackson’s harder response.

Jumpin’ Jive, from Joe Jackson’s Jumpin’ Jive, 1981 – “on the Jersey side.” This is a Cab Calloway song. I loved this album and bought a copy for my mother for her birthday or Christmas one year, thinking she would enjoy it, with songs by Louis Jordan and others. She did not. It was one of those”fail” presents.

Stepping Out, from Night and Day, 1982 – a wonderful anticipatory song

Is She Really Going Out With Him, from Look Sharp!, 1979. This song appears thrice on his 1988 album Live 1980/86. One version was an a cappella dop wop.

Cancer, from Night and Day, 1982. Such a cheerful, danceable song

You Can’t Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want), from Body and Soul, 1984 – a Latin feel and a great slap bass

Fools In Love, from Look Sharp!, 1979. “Are there any creatures more pathetic?” I definitely could relate!

Joe Jackson turns 70 on August 11.

Politics: Don’t forget about 1974

RMN

Understandably, many people’s jaws have dropped over the changes in the political landscape during July 2024. Many of them compared it to 1968, and rightly so.

But don’t forget about 1974. That was the year that Richard Nixon resigned after the Watergate debacle. I was reminded of this when my Wordle buddy used PENCE on the way to PENNE. He said he was thinking about the money, not the VEEP. I replied: “Of course, but it reminds me to try the word occasionally.”

His response: “AGNEW has 5 letters, but nobody ever thinks of him.” Au contraire! “I think of Ted all of the time. He’s why Jerry Ford became president 50 years ago.”

Ted

Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew was newly re-elected in 1972 with Richard Nixon. Initially, he was not the target of an investigation in Maryland, where he had been governor. However, by June 1973, [Lester ] “Matz’s attorney disclosed to Beall that his client could show that Agnew had not only been corrupt but that payments to him [from Matz’s engineering firm] had continued into his vice presidency. The statute of limitations would not prevent Agnew from being prosecuted for these later payments.”

Ultimately, “on October 10, 1973, Agnew appeared before the federal court in Baltimore and pleaded nolo contendere (no contest) to one felony charge, tax evasion, for the year 1967. [U.S. Attorney General Elliot] Richardson agreed that there would be no further prosecution of Agnew and released a 40-page summary of the evidence. Agnew was fined $10,000 and placed on three years’ unsupervised probation. Immediately prior to entering court, Agnew had an aide submit his formal letter of resignation to the Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, and sent a letter to Nixon stating he was resigning in the best interest of the nation. Nixon responded with a letter concurring that the resignation was necessary to avoid a lengthy period of division and uncertainty, and applauding Agnew for his patriotism and dedication to the welfare of the United States.”

25A

This kicked in Section 2 of the 25th Amendment, which reads: “Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.”

Some Vice-Presidents ascended to the Presidency and had no Veep: John Tyler (after William Henry Harrison, 1841-1845); Millard Fillmore (after Zachary Taylor, 1850-1853); Andrew Johnson (after Abraham Lincoln, 1865-1869); Chester A. Arthur (after James Garfield, 1881-1885). Others – Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Johnson – had no Veep until the following election.

So this was a new thing. Gerald Ford, the House Minority Leader, “was nominated to take Agnew’s position on October 12, the first time the vice-presidential vacancy provision of the 25th Amendment had been implemented. The United States Senate voted 92 to 3 to confirm Ford on November 27. On December 6, the House confirmed Ford by a vote of 387 to 35. After the confirmation vote in the House, Ford took the oath of office as vice president.”

Then, after Watergate became untenable for Nixon, he addressed the nation on television on August 8, 1974, and resigned from the presidency the next day.

When Gerald Ford became President, the 25th Amendment was used again to elevate Nelson A. Rockefeller to vice president in December 1974. Those were weird times.

1968

Not that 1968 wasn’t strange. Doris Kearns Goodwin, who has a recent book about how she and her late husband interacted with the times, appeared on The Weekly Show in late July. She schooled Eugene Daniels and host Jon Stewart on the situation’s complexity.

Not only did Lyndon Johnson, the Democratic President, decide he would not run for re-election, but he would also engage in some diplomacy to end the Vietnam War. He realized that if he couldn’t do the latter without doing the former, so he went on TV at 9:00 PM on March 31st.

But only four days later, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated. This put the kibosh on the peace plan, as he had to deal with massive disruptions on the streets. Robert Kennedy started actively running for president after Eugene McCarthy had gotten 42% of the vote in the New Hampshire Democratic primary against the incumbent. He was very likely to become the party nominee when, in early June, just after the California primary, RFK was assassinated.

This caused chaos at the Democratic convention in Chicago in August 1968. Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s vice president, became the nominee, but so many people were slow to get behind HHH that Richard Nixon – remember him? – barely won the Electoral College, with George Wallace, the third-party candidate, taking five states.

2024

So, it is not shocking that the Democrats have coalesced behind Kamala Harris. Her campaign could keep the money raised by the Biden/Harris campaign.

I find it hysterically funny that the Republicans are suggesting that those 14 million people who voted for Joe Biden in the very non-contested Democratic primaries were losing their franchise because Harris is now the nominee. They have supported a candidate on the Republican side who wanted to disenfranchise 81 million people who voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and, more than that, continue the lie that the election was stolen.

It’s almost humorous to listen to djt being surprised that Kamala Harris identifies as part black, given the fact that she attended an HBCU, Howard University, and was a member of a black sorority, AKA. Her mother has been on record that she raised Kamala as black because she knew that she would be perceived as black by most people. Yes, race in America is complicated, but the misogynoir in djt has often been very strong.

I’ve been aware of Rachel Scott, the ABC reporter who questioned him at the black journalists’ event, for a while. She, along with Diane Sawyer, presented a Peabody-nominated report about how pregnant women who wanted to have kids were experiencing severe outcomes but, because of anti-abortion laws, could not receive medical treatment. She’s not a new kid on the block but is the senior congressional reporter for ABC News.