IT'S ABOUT THE BASE

by Ruth A. Sheets

The media keep reminding us that when a Republican does or says something most people would call outrageous, unamerican, racist, or sexist, they are doing it to court their base.  For years, we have heard these words or ones like them and wonder who this base is that must be courted with such insults, hateful speech, and disregard for their fellow Americans.  Currently, we are being confronted with hours of this "courting" as it is primary season and the Senate and House of Representatives are on the line. 

I have noticed a big difference in Pennsylvania in the ways Democratic and Republican candidates present themselves as they vie for their respective party's nomination.  Democrats state their case to the voters about where they stand and don't even mention their rivals for the nomination.  Republicans on the other hand, spend their time telling the world just how much they love Donald Trump and if and how much he loves them.  They tell us how much they love guns and how terrible their opponents are. Appalling PACs and SuperPACs for each do their best to malign the others, to the point of telling blatant lies.  For example, the most ultra-conservative candidate for office is portrayed as such an Obama lover she will build a statue of him next to Lincoln or somewhere, I can't remember.  The racism and misogyny are right out there for all to see, but, clearly, they imagine only the base will understand the "symbolism."

So, back to the base.  Who are these folks Republicans so desperately pursue for their votes and financial support?

Listening to TV ads and the constant bombardment of our airwaves since 2015, when Donald Trump entered the presidential race:  noting the language used, the targeted groups blamed for just about anything Trump could think of, the composition of audiences at Trump rallies, the uber-Trumpian media coverage, and more, there are a few things that make the Republican base stand out for me.

1. They are nearly all white folks.

2. They are mostly middle-aged and older.

3. They claim a "deep" attachment to conservative Christianity (Catholics and Evangelicals).

4. They HATE abortion, except when their daughter won't survive without one, then they call it something else.

5. They don't care much for women in general even though a significant portion of the base is female.

6. The men LOVE guns and the women of the base tolerate the male obsession with guns.

7. Many of the men like to wear camouflage, carry guns,  and to intimidate women and people of color, when they can, as long as there's no risk to themselves.

8. They believe Muslims are all terrorists who are trying to install Sharia Law even though they have absolutely no clue what it is.

9. They despise immigrants even though their grandparents came from . . ., but they came in the "right" way, not like the ones at the southern border. 

10. They have an idealized view of the past (nostalgia) that makes them long for "the good old days."

11. They tend to like conspiracy theories because those impossible explanations let them think they are part of a special club of brilliant people who know important secrets that will save themselves and everyone else from those awful people at the center of those conspiracies.  They seem to be attached to the term "pedophilia," too.

12. They are certain Republicans are the ones who gave them everything they have and will do it again when they get back into power.  They can't actually name any of the things Republicans have done for them, however, beyond giving them Donald Trump.

13. They let a few white women and non-white men hold a bit of power in their world as long as it's not too much and they can spout the same stuff their white men do, only louder and with more venom.

14. They NEED their daily fix of Fox News or OANN, or whatever right-wing conspiracy theory-wielding media and social media sources they can submerge themselves in.

15. They see themselves as the "real" Americans, "legacy Americans" as Tucker Carlson calls them in his fear of whites being replaced.

Would members of the base be recognized on the street?  Probably not.  That's unless they are wearing the ubiquitous MAGA hat, button, or even T-shirt, or maybe if they are coming out of a house with a Trump sign in the yard.

One can regularly check them out, though if attending MAGA rallies or visiting a Planned Parenthood.  They are the ones screaming insults at those not sharing their joy in making others uncomfortable.  When interviewed, they will find a way to get in a dig at those people who are causing all their problems.  They are rarely asked by interviewers to explain their "dig."  In fact, people rarely ask the base to explain anything.  There's a reason for that.

I can't help but wonder if the base knows what their favorite Republican candidates actually think of them.  Do they realize they are being used by men and a few women for their own personal power gains?  Do they understand that they are only of use to Donald Trump while they are cheering and clapping for him, repeating his nasty slogans, or screaming for whatever he says.  He believes himself to be a genius while he sees his cult followers as ignorant fools who can be manipulated to serve his will. 

Trumpian candidates like the menagerie running in the Pennsylvania Republican primary have followed Trump's lead while working to shape Trump into the cult leader they want him to be.  They too, have little respect for their base once they have maneuvered them into voting for them.  They target people who are scared their lifestyle may be changing and they might not always be on top.  They look for angry people who believe they have received a slight from someone who is not within their preferred group.  They also target mostly rural people who are generally disgruntled or dissatisfied with their lives. 

Republicans who cater to their base have been honing their skills with slogans, name-calling, and inuendo, promising to fix the world for the base.  They have few ideas and do little to actually help them, but do offer voter suppression, anti-abortion, and anti-immigrant rhetoric and laws to keep them satisfied and fired-up.  I guess in the yelling and controversy, the base doesn't notice that their representatives have done nothing to make their lives better.  But, Republican leaders are eager to blame Democrats and others to keep the base on edge, so they'll be cocked and ready for the next Republican power grab.

I sure do wish there were a way to let the Republican base see what the rest of the world sees, and know what the rest of us know.  Maybe they'd choose to be free of the role they have been manipulated into playing. 

However, maybe they do know.  Perhaps, as with their enthusiasm for conspiracy theories, they benefit emotionally from belonging to this exclusive club, the Republican base.

ABORTION AND RAPE

by Ruth A. Sheets

On NPR's "Morning Edition," Friday, May 6^th, a story was broadcast about the Boy Scouts sexual abuse cases being settled with a significant amount of money to be spread out among survivors.  One of the victims of rape (when he was 12), reported how horrific the experience had been.  The other boy raped the same night on a camping event was so traumatized he drank himself to death by age 18.  The survivor being interviewed told of his life being tormented by the experience.  He is now 70 years old.

I suspect some folks listening to this story got a flashback to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barret's comment in the December 2021 hearing of the case to overturn Rowe v. Wade.  When asked about a female victim of rape carrying a child to birth, she flippantly said that every state had a way to drop off a baby "no questions asked."  At the time I was furious at her lack of empathy and compassion, , a female member of the Court, dismissing the trauma of rape.  Having heard the report on NPR that morning, I find I am still furious at her insensitivity.

Rape is traumatizing even for males and the courts are finally paying some attention.  People used to joke about what would happen to men when they went to prison, implying they would be raped by other incarcerated persons and somehow they would deserve it, an OK punishment for whatever crime they were accused of, "ha ha."  It made me sick to hear the laughter because I understood that prison in itself is an experience that impacts every aspect of life during and after, and if rape had occurred too, the victim's life would be scarred by it, just as the former Boy Scouts' lives had been.  Neither experience is good for society.

Men are finally being permitted to talk about their rape at the hands of Boy Scout leaders and clergy.  They are winning court cases as they bring into the light child abuse that should never have happened, but which was passively permitted for generations.  Men sometimes are challenged these days as to whether "it" happened as they remember, but because reports are so widespread, they are impossible to dismiss.  Besides, men don't deserve rape.

Women have had a very different experience.  Women, if they report the rape at all, are very often doubted.  They are told "he thought you consented," essentially calling the woman a liar.  We've all heard "when she dresses like that or walks alone, what did she expect!"  And, younger women often did not realize that what was done to them was rape.  A possible side effect of rape of a woman is pregnancy.  If a raped woman becomes pregnant (and yes, Republicans, it does happen), she can have the double trauma of the rape and the unwanted pregnancy, possibly resulting in a live birth.  Justice Barrett implies the raped woman (or child) can just raise the child or "drop it off."  Her narrow experience of the world can't allow for abortion, a safe way to begin healing.  Why is that?  What happened to Justice Barrett that she feels nothing for the rape victim, only for the fetus?

Men get to be traumatized for life by rape.  Women get to be traumatized for life, but in public, over and over while dragged through court telling and retelling their  nightmare and are informed by mostly men that the fetus resulting from rape has more rights than the woman/child.  And men get to codify that in law.  One thing to keep in mind, sex of any kind between a child and an adult in this country is still rape, as is forced sexual contact with a person of any age.  Refusing abortion to a victim of rape is a compounding of the crime. 

I see rape here as symbolic of the many ways women are treated in law and society, dismissed as children, unable to understand what really happened to us, not allowed to make decisions for ourselves or without men.  It's disgusting and needs to be stopped!  I want to be clear that I believe abortion should always be safe, legal, and easily accessible and that men should not be involved in a decision to keep a pregnancy unless the woman chooses to include him.  Donating sperm, no matter how it happens should not ever give a man power over a woman.  Once that is established, we can tackle the other anti-woman functions of our culture. 

Women are trained to believe, from birth that males are superior.  I remember in school being told boys are better in math and science (you know, the elite subjects) because their brains are made that way. And, just in case it didn't prove true, boys were steered into science and math courses, catered to in those classes, and usually got the best grades whether or not they deserved them.  We all knew boys were getting advantages, I mean, the girls knew.  Such extra attention can really build a lot of confidence, being told you are good at something.  If the male brain thing were true, it would be very difficult for even women's schools and colleges to graduate, as they regularly do, women who are leaders in fields of guess what, science and math. 

Throughout history, girls in many families were prepped for marriage from before they even entered puberty, constantly reminded that they've gotta have a man.  The corollary of this is "I'm waiting for grandchildren, and you'd better give them to me!"  At the same time, girls (not boys) are supposed to be pure.  If a girl becomes pregnant, unmarried, she is a slut.  And to shame her for life, for this result of sex with a male, she must carry the fetus to term, give birth, and figure out how to raise or give up the now-born baby, even if she's a child.  Back in the "dark ages" forced marriages used to be conducted to "protect" the raped girl's reputation whether she wanted it or not.  The boy/man, "he was just such a good person for agreeing to marry her" blah blah blah!  Few people asked why they wanted their daughter married off to a rapist.  Oh wait!  It still happens in some cultures today!  That is a crime against womanity.

This is the 21^st century.  We know how to safely keep women and children from staying pregnant.  We can't guarantee no man will rape a woman or child.  We can, though charge and convict the rapist and provide safe abortions.  That is the very least people who claim to be "pro-life" should advocate for.  Do they?  Of course not!  They are stuck.  When people have been programmed to believe women can't be trusted with bodily autonomy, and that somehow the fetus is more worthy than the woman or girl, their moral compass and judgment are lost.

I do not diminish the suffering of men who have experienced rape.  It must be as bad as they say it was.  It needs to be understood that women's experience of rape is at least as horrific but with the added stress that she could become pregnant.  In the current anti-woman atmosphere in this country, the victim can be condemned to carry the child of a rapist, and she should be OK with that, some kind of "god's will" nonsense. 

Let's face it, forcing anyone to remain pregnant is abuse, forcing a child to stay pregnant is child abuse, pure and simple.  I can see why anti-abortioners may be OK with it.  They are often the same ones who are OK with hitting kids, leaving children in poverty, and keeping children from knowing about the diversity of people who inhabit their world.  That does not mean the people of this country should go along with this manufactured second-class citizenship for women.  The sad thing is how many women like Ms. Coney Barrett can't even imagine the challenges other women face.  She is praised for having 7 kids, 5 of them not adopted, but she can't see past her privilege, massive advantages, and good healthcare to other women who may not have her advantages and her certainty that she has God's ear.

Another problem, anti-abortioners really don't care about abortion as much as they care about power.  If they were so certain of the righteousness of their anti-abortion stance, they wouldn't have to pass so many laws to keep folks who don't agree with them from voting and from obtaining abortions.  Persuasion would work just fine.  This makes it clear to me and many others that abortion is truly a control issue.  Control pregnancy and you control women.  The "pro-life" words coming from the anti-abortion mouths are spoken to distract us all from the real issue, "keep women from power," and unfortunately, a whole lot of women are complicit. 

Finally, it seems to me, some of the most outspoken supporters of abortion and women's bodily autonomy should be men who have experienced rape because they know how it feels to be controlled by another person and have no way to stop what is happening.  As men, their protests may have more weight with white mostly male anti-abortion folks.  Hey male survivors, we need to hear your voices in favor of the right of women to bodily autonomy and abortion. 

Every human being should stand with women and men who have been raped because it is a sexual crime against humanity used by men to control and hurt others.   Women who are pregnant from such an attack should have the right to choose what happens with that pregnancy.  End of discussion!  

A NEW POLICE STATE?

by Ruth A. Sheets

A bunch of religious fanatics have been working hard to take over our nation.  We have freedom of religion enshrined in our Constitution, yet these fundamentalists ignore that and have purchased the Republican party and our Supreme Court recruiting mostly white folks who want to make their own ultra-conservative beliefs the law of the land.  The rest of us are to get no say while our rights are being torn away.  Beyond their own personal religious dogma, these Roman Catholics and Protestant Evangelicals have no honest reason to do this than that they want their personal beliefs to be imposed on everyone.  To stop this religious power-grab, Congress must step in. 

These religious fanatics will not quit after abortion restriction is in place.  Their hijacking of an entire political party has given them enormous confidence.  They believe they have god's approval and whatever they want is from God's lips to their ears.  Such belief in their own divinity let's believers think they have the "right" to act on behalf of their ideas:  white men should be in charge, women are men's handmaids and deserve as little power as they can be kept to, and the fetus is more holy than the tainted woman who carries and nurtures it.  People of color have no place in the new order except as servants to the white masters (sound familiar).  Such self-interested thinking should let everyone know for sure it is not of god; it's a power play.  It's their smug feeling that whatever they think, must be right.  

This anti-woman, anti-people of color  power-grab will need collaboration.  It will require substantial participation by law enforcement, religious establishment leaders, local and state elected officials, and more. 

Intense participation by the powers that be was also necessary to maintain Jim Crow after the Civil War.  There were few efforts to stop the violence and destruction done by white men against Black citizens or to hold anyone accountable.  Objections to lynchings, burnings, removal of whole communities from the map were met with indifference; active participation in the racist acts; "legal" approval of the actions by the Supreme Court , state governments, and local officials mostly in the former Confederacy.  Those groups turned their back, self-righteously pontificated about, or enshrined in law the second-class citizenship of everyone in this country who was not white (women were already considered second-class citizens at best).  Just to be clear, this treatment was forbidden by the 13^th through 15^th amendments.  That fact was set aside just as the current Supreme Court is planning to set aside the 14^th Amendment and our right to privacy.

People of color are still targets in the former Confederacy and Confederate wannabee states:  passing voter suppression laws, refusing Medicaid expansion, allowing super-polluters to continue polluting low-income/Black communities, etc.  Harming those groups has proven effective but insufficient for the power-grabbing white population.  The next target is now women's rights.  It is not that women have not always been targets of men of all races, but now, white men and their female surrogates are attacking a woman's right to bodily autonomy, a right women have had to various degrees for nearly 50 years.  If they succeed, it appears only white men will have bodily autonomy (white men refuse to be vaccinated or wear masks against COVID because it is uncomfortable and they can't have that).  Infecting others with COVID and their deaths are just unfortunate side effects of male bodily autonomy.  However, losing bodily autonomy for women could mean death too!

Women are more than half the world's population so it is going to take a lot for white men and their female surrogates to keep women barefoot and pregnant, but the tyrannical white men and their handmaids will do their best.  As with Jim Crow, these guys will have a lot of help, mainly, the conservatives on the Supreme Court.  The conservative Roman Catholics have decided that their god doesn't want women to make reproductive choices for themselves.  Those 5, plus 1 RC wannabee (Gorsuch), will take down Rowe v. Wade, a nearly 50 year precedent with no logical compelling reason to do it.  And, they don't have to have one.  They are the Supreme Court, after all.

The leaked draft decision written by Samuel Alito, a white man who can never become pregnant, has bowed to the American Catholic bishops who demand this ruling on pain of hell for the Catholic justices.  Alito's draft leans heavily on a bunch of nonsense pumped out by men from the 17^th century and before.  Yes, let's look to scared English guys who still thought witchcraft was a thing that should be responded to with death for the "witch" to rule on 21^st century issues.  Something like that was in the minds of white men in robes murdering "uppity" Black folks.  You don't need a real reason to condemn to death people you fear, who don't look like you or see the world the way you do.  Remember, at the same time these scared white Englishmen were pushing death for "witches," Christians were killing each other to prove whose brand of Christianity was best.  It seems leaning to heavily on history might not be a great idea.  It can lead to bad outcomes. 

Most women will not go quietly into that dark night, nor should we.  When a significant group of religious zealots try to take over our government, everyone should be afraid.  The fear is warranted but should activate, not cripple us.  Look at what is happening in Afghanistan now.  We needed to leave because conditions were not improving and too many didn't want us there, even after 20 years.  When a large part of a society is still living under Medieval laws and practices, it is impossible to make permanent changes in 20 years that involve the entire society.  The Taliban "promised" a whole lot of things to the people of Afghanistan and like the scared conservative white men in power in the United States, they knew promises mean nothing if you can get your way, get a lifetime appointment to the Supreme court, or gain some other advantage by not keeping the promise (lying). 

women in Afghanistan now must wear burkas with face coverings (be invisible because all men's crimes against women are the woman's fault since seeing a woman makes men crazy.), girls can't attend school past 6^th grade (keep girls ignorant so you can do whatever you want to them and they won't know or expect better). women are no longer allowed to hold office even though elected (men must make all the laws; in their warped minds, men think they always "know" best).  All of these limitations on women arise from scared men who should know that the problem is not women, it is they themselves who are not functioning well and need someone to blame, someone they can claim they are superior to. 

So, women, and men who actually care about your own rights and freedoms.  White men in power and their female surrogates have a playbook of rights elimination.  They are angry they can't control everything as they imagine their grandfathers did.  They want to reinstate the mythical land of America before those horrible people started taking over.  "Our Country's gone to hell since they got in charge."   

When the Supreme Court decision comes down in the near future (whenever they feel it can do the most harm), it will require a whole lot of folks to enforce it.  Abortion has been part of many women's reproductive life for millennia.  Since 70% of the American people don't want this new attack on women, many extremely restrictive laws are going to be passed in states; a lot are now waiting.  Some of these misogynistic laws are in use in Texas as we speak.  The fetus faction will need law enforcement and vigilantes to do their bidding.  In the "white" states, police who are already primed to do harm to mostly men of color will now also be able to turn their venom on women, particularly women of color, but a few white women, if they are poor enough or problematic, will get caught up too.  Law enforcement has already worked hard to ignore crimes against reproductive health clinics and workers.  Some state legislatures plan to make it illegal to travel to other states to obtain an abortion (How will they know?  Will women have to get a pregnancy test before they can travel?)  Then, will those former Confederate states and Confederate wannabees construct border walls to keep women from travelling to  and from "blue" states? 

As laws become more extreme, police may be able to get the phone records of women so they can see whom those women are contacting and what they are saying.  That ultimately, won't be enough, so police will be further weaponized by legislators declaring abortion murder.  The bloodthirsty "Christian" desire of these same anti-democrats who propose to kill women for having an abortion will never be satisfied.  Yes, sisters, the fetus, wait, even a zygote will have more rights to life than you do.  To further divide our nation, vigilantes will be encouraged to track down women who choose life for themselves and have an abortion.  Citizens will benefit from betraying fellow citizens because of Medieval religious beliefs! 

Yes, Justice Alito, as you mention in your diatribe, there is a lot of divisiveness in this country related to abortion rights, but most of it has been manufactured by you and your religious fanatics who are scared you are losing ground to people who want the same rights you white men have to affect their own lives.  You competently demonstrated your contempt for women in your draft.  You and the ultra-right "brethren" had already decided how you would rule before even hearing the case, you did what every intelligent student and scientist is told never to do, have an outcome you want then find proofs for your opinion.  Your "proofs" are really poor, Medieval, and unamerican!  You have again demonstrated your lack of empathy which you share with the other conservative justices. 

It is hard to believe, but it seems a bunch of white folks, mostly male, are planning a system which builds non-trust (divisiveness) among citizens.  Remember how well that worked in the 1950s when Joe McCarthy used such tactics to "track down Communists" here in the US.  Some people approved of the lying and framing, but most didn't and he was deposed, but not soon enough. 

Those like you are McCarthy's spiritual descendants.  Like him you are OK with removing rights based on only your own beliefs, no proof, but who needs proof when you have god's ear or some such nonsense.  You have forgotten, if you ever understood, the Supreme Court is supposed to impartially judge cases that come before you.  What you should not be allowed to do as a Court is to remove rights from American citizens, or anyone else for that matter which we already have, particularly privacy.  You have given rich corporations and gun-toters more rights than women have after your pathetic disgusting decision, but you don't care,  you will never be pregnant, never be female and feel what it is like to be looked down on by rich white men like you.  How sad for all of us men like you and your female surrogates have warped our society so you can remain in power no matter whom you harm.  Can you identify a single Supreme Court case you have ruled on positively or negatively that has helped anyone but rich, white, "straight," males or rich white male-led corporations?  You have not.  We saw from your pathetic draft you will be right there leading the other conservative Catholic justices and Gorsuch to remove rights from folks you don't like and you will as usual, make up a reason for it as you go along.  I am sure your clerks are carefully chosen for their delight in messing with our Constitution and our rights in this way at your behest.  Shame on them and you!  You are the ones wrecking the reputation of the court.  It isn't the leak.  That was a great thing.  It's your draft that isn't great!

WHAT'S THE END GAME?

 by Ruth A. Sheets

On Monday  evening, May 2, 2022, a rare leak from the Supreme Court hit "Politico."  It was a 98 page male diatribe against women's right to bodily autonomy in the guise of "States rights," and a fortunate event so we can see what the plan is.

Justice Samuel Alito, a white male wrote in this draft for the Court that the original Rowe v. Wade decision 49+ years ago was wrong.  He makes a claim that abortion is not in the Constitution so the Court should not have permitted it on a Federal level. 

Uh-huh!  Not in the Constitution, huh?  The  Constitution does not talk about a lot of things like lying, cheating, killing, using drugs, allowing corporations to deny people rights, and more, yet the Court over the past 233 years has ruled on them.  Our Constitution did not say that all Black persons should be slaves and that they could never be citizens, yet the Court ruled on those things and not in favor of Black persons on the whole, until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 despite the passage of the 13^th through 15^th Amendments, and they even struck down the 1875 Civil Rights Act.   As if that were not enough, in 2013 they struck down the most important parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act because one of the worst offenders before that act was passed, Alabama, didn't want to let Black people vote anymore.  

There is no "God" in the Constitution as most of those at the convention were deists who did not believe in dictating one's religion, yet the Court has permitted businesses and others to deny rights to people on religious grounds.  There is nothing in the Constitution about campaign financing yet the Roberts Court had little trouble calling money speech and forbidding any campaign finance limitations by state or local governments through "Citizens United."  Therefore, Alito's argument is ridiculous, but I am sure it made him feel good writing it and doing just what the Roman Catholic American bishops wanted him to do.  And, I suspect he caucused with the other 4 conservative Roman Catholic justices to make sure he got the argument just right (or Right enough). 

Keep in mind, there have probably been more lies tied to Rowe v. Wade and abortion rights told by Republicans than for any other issue in our lifetime.

The archivist who should have published the ERA as the 28^th Amendment to the Constitution, ducked out recently on his responsibility to publish the ERA as the 28^thAmendment by retiring.  No supporter of democracy will thank him for that.   The ERA could have given women bodily autonomy as men have, and make the whole abortion challenge a moot point.  That could still happen, but . . . . 

I've heard it said that Donald Trump wanted Amy Coney Barrett to write the anti-abortion, anti-Rowe v. Wade ruling as a slap in the face to all women since it would be a woman who would be taking away their rights and justifying it.  That's why she was nominated in the first place,  to replace a feminist icon, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, after 2 definite anti-Rowe v. Wade white men were nominated by Trump, one of them credibly accused of attempted rape (perhaps of other things too, but the FBI never allowed those other reports to be seen.).  I guess the men didn't trust their misogynistic ruling to one of the most misogynistic women anywhere.

I understand there was no consideration of the impact of reversing Rowe v. Wade on the American people in the leaked draft.  The reason, the correct people will be harmed, so, no need to address it.  All of those impacted will be women of reproductive age.  The middle and upper class women can get to an abortion site while disadvantaged women of all hues will be stuck carrying pregnancies they should have been able to terminate if they chose too, forced-birth. 

The conservatives on the Supreme Court have only contempt for women and show it by letting illegal laws go into effect (the shadow docket), by not hearing cases that would give women rights declaring the lower court case should stand, and more.  In short, women are the targets of this punitive ruling whatever it looks like in its final form.  Poor women and women of color will pay the price for this smug conservative ruling that "States' Rights" is at play here.  Of course it isn't.  It's fear that women will be stepping up to claim a full place in the power structure of this country, and that white men won't be able to control them anymore. 

Poor women and women of color already receive the worst healthcare in this country because medical corporations have decided that is acceptable.  Hospitals and clinics regularly close, refuse to see, or treat people badly if they live in rural areas or in communities of predominantly Black and Brown people.  The huge urban hospitals do not want to meet the needs of those who can't afford their services, particularly if they don't have the high-end insurance that the hospitals feel warrant excellent care.  Reproductive service centers provide a lot of the best care for these women and now will be forced to close, leaving the women with nothing.  VICTORY! 

John Roberts whined, in writing,  after the leak that someone had "violated the confidences of the Court" but he doesn't mind his court violating the confidences of women who choose or need to secure abortions.  Yep, hypocrisy.  This Court has it in abundance yet the justices want us to respect them and their decisions.  Brazen, but typical of white males in power these days.

What is the end game?  Republicans/conservatives erroneously named themselves "Right to Life" back 40 years ago or so, but what they really were and are is anti-women with an anti-abortion emphasis.  They are salivating now that they have their goal in sight.   They have wrapped their heads around this single issue for so long, they will need something to prove they remain just as mean and hateful, to keep the attention of their base.  There is no end game.  Republicans will continue to do as much damage to our nation and its people as possible and they will always have excuses for their stances.  I suspect the next immediate targets will be:

- get the states to pass the most restrictive abortion bans possible.  The private for-profit prisons are emptying of drug users and innocent people.  Women and abortion providers can fill the empty spaces to fulfill the contracts.   Some states even want to put women to death.  Well, women will already be dying because a lot more women die from pregnancy than abortion (14 times the number), that is when abortion is safe and legal.  The rate will be higher when abortion is illegal because abortions will still happen just as they have for thousands of years.  They might end in death as the forced pregnancy might too.

- Contraception is incorrectly called abortion by the anti-science conservatives who are ignorant of just about everything related to the human body.  It seems what they want is forced pregnancy, some kind of "god's will" nonsense.

- Abortion has nothing to do with "gay marriage," but that is a next target.  Those antis fear everything they don't understand and everyone who does not see the world the way they themselves do.

- Allowing states to ban interracial marriage is another hopeful arrow in the conservative quiver.  They hate anyone who is not white and "pure-blooded."  It is disgusting that people with such backward racist beliefs have so much power and influence in our democracy.

- Maybe men, particularly non-white men will be targeted too with DNA tests to prove they are the fathers of the babies born to women who have experienced forced-births but can't support the child.  Ooooo!  You one-stand men might owe child-support.

There are a few things we women and our supporters can do:

- If you have the slightest chance you might be pregnant, get a test now and arrange an abortion ASAP if you want to discontinue the pregnancy.   Some organizations are helping women get to where they need to go to get one.  Take advantage of their help if you need it.

- Women, get an IUD or implant birth control device ASAP if you don't want to become pregnant in the next few years.  The crazies are on a roll and you should feel the target on your back because it's there.  Some organizations can help with this too.  Check with Planned Parenthood or NARAL for suggestions.    

- Men, if you do not want to be involved in child-support and don't want to father another child, get a vasectomy.  A few days of pain and discomfort could save a woman's life and your reputation.

- VOTE VOTE VOTE!!! for people who believe in women's rights of bodily autonomy.  Be a single issue voter for a time or two.  Just because Republicans did that and now have a pathetic base who goes along with whatever Fox "News" says and can be easily manipulated doesn't mean it will happen to folks who actually think things out.  Besides, it would only be for a short time.  You know there are so many other important challenges to our society and world.  Republicans don't! 

- In every place possible, speak up for women's right to bodily autonomy.  That should be one of the most basic rights, one which the Supreme Court should not be able to deny.  Seeing women as having an innate right to bodily autonomy, could end the whole cascade of other rights-warping Republicans want to do.

Remember, there is no Republican "end game."  They will continue to take away people's rights as long as we allow it, so let's stop allowing it!

DEVELOPING REPUBLICAN LYING OVER THE DECADES

 by Ruth A. Sheets

We hear and read a lot about Trump's "Big Lie" these days.  We are regularly reminded that this is unprecedented, and it is, but it is still a lie.  The "big lie" is a betrayal of the trust of the American people and a forced complicity among Republicans who actually know it is a lie, but to fit in, they must swear to it.  The Lie is the story of a former president who can't let go of the power he believes he obtained fairly, deserves, and was cheated out of in the 2020 election.  Of course Trump is a liar in every way, but it is important to remember that Trump's lying and Trumpian Republicans did not spring from nowhere and nothing.  The "Big Lie" and the January 6^th insurgency it engendered have been brewing for decades 

A beginning can be seen in the anti-New Dealers of the 1930s and beyond, calling the New Deal Communist and a variety of other false names, trying to sink the programs that were rescuing families and workers from the worst of the Great Depression.  The claim was the programs would bankrupt the country, and worse.  Since Republican officials were doing well, they dismissed the suffering of their desperate fellow citizens as just an unfortunate temporary setback.  (I'd rather think this than that they just didn't care.)  

Republican political lying stayed somewhat under the radar during WWII, but after the war, Republican activists tried to bring down the New Deal by lying about the programs' effectiveness.  For example, they targeted unions calling their union-busting Taft-Hartley Act "Right to Work."  Naming things exactly opposite of what they are/do is a continuing Republican practice – The "Freedom Caucus" strategizes to take away rights like voting from people they dismiss, to insure Republicans will stay in power.  Freedom for whom?  Perhaps, freedom from accountability for themselves?

Joe McCarthy, Republican Senator from Wisconsin,  in the 1950s, destroyed many people's lives with his lies and only a rare few Republicans said anything for fear he would go after them.  McCarthy and Trump have a few obvious things in common:  lying regularly, blaming people for things with no evidence, holding blank folders or papers pretending they contain names of the accused or other important information, being power-hungry narcissists.  His lying brought McCarthy down but not until a lot of people's lives were permanently damaged.  Trump's lying has only gotten him voted out of office, so far.

It is important to remember that Democrats can lie too.  Some Democrats joined Republicans in lying during WWII about the danger posed by people of Japanese descent in this country, and forced 120,000 of them into "internment" camps in some of the worst places that could be found in this country to imprison them, even American citizens!  President Lyndon Johnson and his team lied about staying involved in Vietnam reiterating and expanding the lies of the Eisenhower Administration's belief in our need to fight Communists there.  The Dems could have said "no" to the lies. 

Richard Nixon honed Republican lying and surrounded himself with liars.  He did some good things during his administration, like establishing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and resuming relations with China and the Soviet Union, but the lies were mixed in, and ultimately drove him from office.  It is a positive that Republicans as well as Democrats called him out on his lying and cover-up, but they should not be seen as heroes as some want to claim; they were elected officials living their oaths.  Maybe those Republicans look heroic because so few congressional Republicans today show any courage.

President Gerald Ford decided people didn't need to know what Nixon was really doing and where all the lies led, so pardoned him.  Nixon was not held accountable just as Donald Trump will most likely not be.  I suspect Nixon's resignation was the product of a deal with Ford and Congressional Republicans. 

The lying did not stop after Nixon, it just added targets, particularly women, and women were recruited to do a lot of the lying.  Efforts arose to undermine the Civil Rights movement too and lies worked well,  just make up stuff, put people in their place, wherever white men wanted them to be.

Ronald Reagan and his crew were somewhat more sophisticated and careful with their lies than Nixon had been.  When called out, they whined that either they didn't know or that the accusers were the liars (Iran-Contra and "Trickle Down Economics" for example).  Despite his lying, Reagan is often seen as saintly even by some Democrats.  I guess if you smile a lot and lie with conviction you can earn a halo.

Starting with Reagan, justices were appointed to the Supreme Court by Republican Presidents who claimed some kind of "Originalist" position (Antonin Scalia for example).  "Originalist" justices claim to see the Constitution the way our Founders had planned it and the founders' version of the Constitution somehow anticipated the 20^th and 21^st centuries.  I think of this as a "smart guy" lie disguised to look like a profound truth.  It is really a way to defend racist, misogynistic, xenophobic, homophobic and other rights-warping rulings reflecting the justices' own personal beliefs, giving those "beliefs" more weight than they deserve.  Liberty and justice for all" for "originalists" meant liberty and justice for rich, gun-toting, Christian white men and corporations.

So many Republicans were sharpening and test-ballooning their lying, even cheating skills during the 1990s it would be impossible to name them all, but Newt Gingrich was a leading practitioner.  A serious expansion of the lying occurred under George W. Bush.  His intense ignorance allowed some of those smart liars to deceive our nation, lying us into the invasion of Iraq being the most deadly example. 

Then, the worst of all things happened for white Republicans, a Black man was legitimately elected president, TWICE!  Republicans scrambled to respond, recruiting Donald Trump and others, preparing them for the next phase.  There was no certainty in 2009 that trump would ever be a candidate, but he established his Bonafides by lying about President Obama's birth.  The Tea Party lied that they were the true inheritors of the American Revolution and a Black president just didn't represent them.  Republicans either said nothing to refute these claims or whole-heartedly jumped right in supporting the lies.

Through lying and cheating, Trump got elected and lied in office more than 30,000 times according to dependable media sources.  Some of his biggest lies came after he was voted out of office, when he should have been put out to pasture.  The Republican Party with few exceptions, a year and a half later repeats Trump's big lie every day along with uncounted new lies.  The groundwork has been carefully laid over decades, so it is no surprise to me that 85% of Republicans say they believe Trump's "big lie" and all the other lies Republicans have been pushing to their falsehood-addicted base.  Most of that base has been carefully trained to believe all the lies, all their lives, and to faithfully follow the Republican Liar in Chief, whoever he is and  wherever he leads, even if he is inept and hardly functioning. 

Lying, since Trump entered the campaign for president in 2015 has been ubiquitous even in the "mainstream" media.  The perpetrators of the lies "plant" them somewhere, perhaps social media, perhaps Fox "News," and by evening they are in the nightly news as facts or claims that must be refuted, of course, after they have been carefully stated.  It may be too late to stop that practice because the liars cleverly create situations they can slip the lies into so they are sure to be repeated and covered.  Even if the reporter says it is not true, it is out there and the base can say "see, the media claims it isn't true, but they wouldn't tell the truth about that anyway." 

The media does have themselves partially to blame though, because when Trump and other candidates blatantly lied, the media would not even say the word "lie."  They even had trouble with "not true" and "falsehood."  They did manage a "not verified" or "no evidence of that yet" now and then.  Things have improved somewhat, but the damage has been done and will take a lot of concentrated effort to correct.  The lying continues at full speed and nearly everything for Republicans deserves a lie or ten, and the "base" will believe it all, and that base is being courted by willing liars.

I wonder, can the dependence on lies by Republicans be reversed and a major political party saved from disaster both for themselves and for our nation?  Remember, political lies are mesmerizing.  They temp people to believe they are getting some kind of private knowledge that makes them special and worthy of something, even if the receiver of the lie does not know what that something is.  They belong to an exclusive club, in this case mostly white, straight, and Christian.

So, is this Republican Party of lies salvageable before it brings down our democracy?  The jury is still out  on this one.