Oklahoma

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On Thursday, Oklahoma passed one of the strictest abortion bans in the US, which will make abortion illegal after fertilization, except for few limited cases.

The push to ban after fertilization is causing some to fear that some contraceptives - such as IUDs, which prevent implantation, not fertilization - could be next. It’s not yet in this bill, but not a stretch to see that coming.

I guess Oklahoma wants to be known for more than just a 79 year old musical.

https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-politics-texas-legislature-a43f7f21c1b8e07a383b120d1bdbc695

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Dark MAGA

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Upon losing the Republican primary for re-election, NC Representative Madison Cawthorn released a rant, saying: “The time for gentile politics as usual has come to an end. It’s time for the rise of the new right, it’s time for Dark MAGA to truly take command.”

While it sounds like some awful call to assemble a team of super villains, it seems he’s just speaking to the worse nature of the movement.

Trouble is, the MAGA movement has already assembled a motley crew of some awfulness. So, I’m not sure that we’ll be able to tell the difference.

Baby Formula Shortage

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The Baby Formula shortage is terrible. Raising a baby is tough enough. Democrats want to blame unfettered capitalism. Republicans want to just blame Biden, without real criticisms beyond feeding babies in federal custody (which we must do, legally and morally.) Like most things it’s more complex and many sides are to blame.

The best explanations I’ve seen point to a lack of elasticity in the market due to over consolidation to just 3 mega corporations. One of which shut down its factory due to bacterial contamination. That took out supply, compounded further by the global supply chain issues and a lag in response to surging demand from rising births in 2021.

In modern, global markets we’d add supply from other countries. Unfortunately, Trump signed a US-Mexico-Canada trade deal that grossly limits baby formula imports from Canada (as a favor to those 3 mega corporations). Further, over regulation from the FDA limits imports of baby formula from Europe for silly issues like label requirements. Even going so far as seizing perfectly good, healthy European formula and destroying it.

So, both sides got us into this. It’s going to take both sides to get us out of it. And make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Tucker Doubles Down

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After criticism for his repeated promotion of Replacement Theory - a root cause cited in the Buffalo shooter’s manifesto - Tucker Carlson unsurprisingly turned criticism into oppression and doubled down on his awfulness.

Cuz that’s his view of free speech: he can say whatever he wants, but any criticism is somehow oppressing his rights to free speech. Ignoring that it’s our free speech to say how destructive he is and that he has a moral liability from spreading his conspiracy theories and hate. He’s a mouthpiece for destruction.

Banned Books

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There’s a surge in Banning Books in schools, many being banned for having LGBTQ+ content.

If reading books changed someone’s sexual identity or gender identity, don’t you think all the books (let alone movies, tv shows, etc) that LGBTQ people have read over the years would have turned them straight?

But instead, people give in to fear, hatred, and bigotry of how some people live, or whom they love, and decide to ban books. Even Judy Blume.

Replacement

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The Buffalo shooter left a “manifesto” claiming hoods actions were motivated by The Great Replacement, a racist conspiracy theory that claims whites in America are being deliberately replaced by people of color.

Great Replacement messaging is prominent on Tucker Carlson and other Fox News shows, and repeated by several high profile Republicans congress people.

And now it’s leasing directly to the death of innocent Americans.

We must push back against this racist rhetoric.

Doesn’t the state holiday prove its systemic?

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Yep, today in Alabama is Confederate Memorial Day. It’s recognized tomorrow in Florida. Mississippi and South Carolina also have official state holidays for it (maybe on different days), while it’s commemorated in Kentucky, Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.

In Alabama, several state agencies will be closed today for the holiday. Schools will be open, though, so they could still teach why it’s celebrated and address why that might affect Black people living in the state. Except Alabama has just signed a bill against teaching any “divisive topics” in K-12 schools, yet another vaguely defined bill that will punish teachers found in violation of loose and subjective legal language. So, unlikely most teachers would try to address it.

Maybe it’s just me, but a holiday celebrating a failed, armed rebellion driven largely by the desire to keep people enslaved seems pretty divisive.

Mainlining Q

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One of the more disheartening political realities is the mainstreaming of Q Anon into one of the two major political parties of the US. Yes, the lines about pedophiles go back further to antisemitic and homophonic movements. But the recent surge of legislation is rooted in the Q Anon conspiracies about child trafficking and such that led to false stories like Pizzagate.

Each time you hear a politician pumping talking points about groomers and pedophiles you can hear them mainlining the repeatedly debunked conspiracies from Q Anon.

It’s scary.