Donald Trump wants voters to forget that he killed Roe v. Wade. Don't let people forget what he did.

Trump’s fundamental disinterest in the truth value of his words is the only context that matters for his comments on abortion Monday morning. In a direct-to-camera statement on Truth Social, the former president told his audience that he does not support a national ban on abortion. “My view is now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint,” Trump said. “The states will determine by vote or legislation or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land. In this case, the law of the state.” [ ... ] Compared with the mounting push from anti-abortion activists to ban the procedure nationwide, however, Trump’s stance is designed to look almost moderate. And if you were born yesterday, you could even say that Trump was beginning his pivot to the center, to blur the difference on abortion between himself and other Republicans. [ ... ] The truth of the matter is that given a second term in office, Trump and his allies will do everything in their power to ban abortion nationwide, with or without a Republican majority in Congress. Recall that in his 2016 campaign, Trump said that there had to be “some form” of punishment for women who had abortions. Later, as president, he backed a House bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks. Anti-abortion strategists have not been shy about their plan to use the 1873 Comstock Act, an anti-obscenity law, as legal authority for executive actions to limit abortions throughout the country, in blue states as well as red ones. [ ... ] We already know what he wants, what he’ll do and what he’ll sign. Trump landed a major blow against legal abortion during his first term. If given a second, he will land another.

In his own words, Trump brags about killing Roe v. Wade to an adoring Fox News audience this year.

Christopher Weyant, The Boston Globe

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

November 7, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

NOV 8, 2023

Today was Election Day across the country. In a number of key state elections, voters rejected the extremism of MAGA Republicans and backed Democrats and Democratic policies. 

Four of the most closely watched races were in Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania.

In Ohio, voters enshrined the right of individuals to make their own healthcare decisions, including the right to abortion, into the state constitution. Opponents of abortion rights have worked hard since the summer to stop the measure from passing, trying first to make it more difficult to amend the constitution—voters overwhelmingly rejected that measure in an August special election—then by blanketing the state with disinformation about the measure, including through official state websites and with ads by former Fox News Channel personality Tucker Carlson, and finally by dropping 26,000 voters from the rolls. 

None of it worked. Voters protected the right to abortion. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision recognizing the constitutional right to abortion in June 2022, voters in all seven state elections where the issue was on the ballot have fought back to protect abortion rights. 

Today’s vote in Ohio, where the end of Roe v. Wade resurrected an extreme antiabortion bill, makes it eight.

Abortion was also on the ballot In Virginia, where the entire state legislature was up for grabs today. Republican governor Glenn Youngkin made it clear he wanted control of the legislature in order to push through a measure banning abortion after 15 weeks. This ploy was one Republicans were using to seem to soften their antiabortion stance, which has proven terribly unpopular. Youngkin was taking the idea out for a spin to see how it might play in a presidential election, perhaps with a hope of entering the Republican race for the presidential nomination as someone who could claim to have turned a blue state red. 

It didn’t work. Voters recognized that it was disingenuous to call a 15-week limit a compromise on the abortion issue, since most serious birth defects are not detected until 20 weeks into a pregnancy.

Going into the election, Democrats held the state senate. But rather than giving Youngkin control over both houses of the state legislature, voters left Democrats in charge of the Senate and flipped the House of Delegates over to the Democrats. The Democrats are expected to elevate House minority leader Don Scott of Portsmouth to the speakership, making him the first Black House speaker in Virginia history.  

Virginia voters also elevated Delegate Danica Roem, the first known transgender delegate, to the state senate. At the same time, voters in Loudoun County, which had become a hot spot in the culture wars with attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals and with activists insisting the schools must not teach critical race theory, rejected that extremism and turned control of the school board over to those who championed diversity and equity.

In Kentucky, voters reelected Democratic governor Andy Beshear, who was running against Republican state attorney general Daniel Cameron. A defender of Kentucky’s abortion ban, Cameron was also the attorney general who declined to bring charges against the law enforcement officers who killed Breonna Taylor in her bed in 2020 after breaking into her apartment in a mistaken search for drugs. 

In Pennsylvania, Democrat Daniel McCaffery won a supreme court seat, enabling the Democrats to increase their majority there. McCaffery positioned himself as a defender of abortion rights. 

There will be more news about election results and what they tell us in the coming days. Tonight, though, political analyst Tom Bonier wrote: “My biggest takeaway from tonight: in '22 abortion rights had the biggest impact where it was literally on the ballot, less so when trying to draw the connection in candidate races. That has changed. Voters clearly made the connection that voting for GOP candidates=abortion bans.”

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

>:( shinigami eyes detected a fucking terf liking my superman posts

Clark Kent would hate terfs btw he would totally be supportive of trans people and anyone who disagrees can kindly fuck off

I saw a post complaining about people acting like Betty is some kind of poor little girl taken advantage of by her situation. And while I haven't seen this happening myself, it does make me laugh to think about because like,

Ma'am, that woman nearly killed everyone in the world *TWICE* trying to save her husband, INCLUDING TRYING TO MURDER ICE KING.

That woman has a body count that nobody asked her to make! She is just! So good! At crimes!! And we love that for her!!!

#girlboss #golbboss #God-Forbid-Women-Do-Anything

We are up to TWO rejected marriage proposals, who is (not) doing it like Miles Vorkosigan

comparing your girlfriend to superman is the gayest fucking thing ever. like,, you couldn't say supergirl or wonder woman??

you've just got a massive crush on superman, dude. oh shit, you know what best friend of yours that acts so much like clark kent that you're most definitely in love with?

very compelled by elsters gender both in a transmasc and transfem way bc well elster transmasc lesbian? beautiful wonderful 10/10. she is a robot whose body was made to fit the standards of what people consider a woman to look like, as is the case with most other replikas, so once she starts being treated more like a person of her own instead of just a worker robot, its fun to think of her chafing against it. on the other hand theres elster who was made to look like a woman/her neural pattern is copied from a woman, but is still treated like an object thats only there to do the job. shes referred to by others as 'it' in a dehumanizing way altho not purposely degrading bc they dont consider her a person enough to see this as cruel to her in any way. and slowly she ends up regaining her personhood and a concept of gender that feels right, as much as it can, considering the circumstances

All of y'all pretending like heterosexual women are the only ones who experience misogyny, or experience the most misogyny, are not (just) being homophobic, you're being misogynistic.

You're denying women's sex based oppression is real or it's severity. So maybe sit down and shut up and realize that we are still women despite the fact that we are not sleeping with men. You have the ability to make the choice not to sleep with men too. It's not an inaction unique to homosexuals.

I will spread any feminist praxis I want, and if it's insulting for me to reiterate the ideals we preach in these spaces because I'm a homosexual then you can go ahead and be insulted. SSA women have just as much claim to these spaces as you do because we are women and these spaces are for fighting misogyny, which we all experience. It's not just for tackling the misogyny y'all are uncomfortable with, it's for tackling all of it. Get with the program, ladies.

Enough said.

Arizona Republicans who had been calling for the most extreme abortion restrictions possible are abruptly flip-flopping now that the 100% Republican-appointed Arizona Supreme Court has given them exactly what they had been working for. 😳

Most Republicans had been calling for the repeal of Roe v. Wade since the US Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973. When the GOP-majority SCOTUS overturned Roe in 2022, Republicans began to realize that most Americans didn't want Christian fundamentalist overseers in every bedroom and doctor's office in the US.

These sudden changes of opinion on abortion by Republicans are more fake than Trump's face color.

CNN anchor rolls tape on Arizona politician's abortion stance before the state Supreme Court ruling

Don't believe Republicans pretending to be moderate on abortion. They had been striving to make abortion illegal since 1973 and when they succeeded, they absolutely gloated about it.

Steve Brodner

i know "sorcerers" is the broad term for magic-users in DC, but it seems like "witches" specifically caters itself to the women of that category. which is always funny to me when i think of Klarion

because how awkward is that? his branch of magic could be too "witchy" to contribute to the other guys, but he can't really hang out with the girls because the magic they know lends itself to a sisterhood

no wonder he keeps to himself, all the parties he goes to must be super boring

okay. i need to rewatch the episode probably but i think my current feeling is that i like most of it a lot (rome, ken, the siblings not getting ceo, etc), think the tom ceo makes sense from a logical/character perspective but not sure how i feel about it from a broader more thematic lens (altho i'm leaning towards fine with it), and am very mixed on shiv's ending because i think it's well-conceived and meaningful from a broader thematic lens (shiv becomes her mother, the cycle always repeats, etc) but doesn't quite make sense to me from a logical/character one -- it could've worked, it could've worked brilliantly, but it was far too rushed and forced. it makes sense as an ending for shiv, but not her next step. i'm largely talking about her decision to return to tom, not her decision to vote against kendall (which i think should've been executed better and given more space but can understand given her character, mostly). i'm fine with it as an ending for shiv, but what i'm struggling to stomach is the way it played out -- it didn't feel like a choice the shiv we know would've made. it's an ending that makes sense thematically and for her character arc, but not a decision that makes sense for her character at present. that's kinda where i'm at right now

just . just envision the jackass girl privilege . the perks . getting to steal their shirts nd hoodies . the teasing & banter , both flirtatious and otherwise . being very very protected at parties/bars .. and in general . she is doted on yet also their worst nightmare . has the Power . gets to pull the girl card when she doesnt wanna do something . never gets pissed on . doesnt pay for shit . gets to see everyones soft side .. and also them being hot . gets the hugs . the attention . and you know damn well she eats it up .

CORRECT THANK YOU FOR SHARING