Tag: roe v wade

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

I cover a lot of topics for the Lexicon, but there are some that I shy away from most of the time. One of these topics is abortion. My reasons are simple: 1) it’s such an emotional issue that it’s impossible to discuss without someone getting pissed off, and 2) much like a Hannah Gadsby comedy special, there’s not much funny there. Even some of the periphery topics can get people mad.

Well, this is your warning that some of you reading beyond this point are gonna get pissed because we’re going into abortion.

In their post-Roe Handmaids Tale pseudo reality, Leftists are pushing an idea that women now will be required to take babies to term. In a double doozy of dumbassery, former Secretary of Labor and current member of the Lollipop Guild Robert Reich tweeted the following:

Forced birth in a country that refuses to protect its people from being shot down in a mass shooting.

That’s right, kids. Forced birth is apparently a thing, at least according to Leftists, which means it’s a subject that’s right in the Lexicon wheelhouse.

Damn you, Leftists.

forced birth

What the Left thinks it means – a condition created by Republicans where women are legally required to give birth under any and all circumstances

What it really means – a scary-sounding phrase without any connection to reality

For almost as long as I’ve been alive, Roe v Wade was the law of the land, making abortion a legal activity, as well as a coin of the Leftist realm. When the US Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization last year, Leftists not only lost their shit, but started to make up new shit to replace it. Enter “forced birth.” All the usual culprits weighed in on the subject (using the same terminology and scare tactics, I might add). Planned Parenthood, the Washington Post, The Guardian, and even the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee weighed in, offering the most tepid of hot takes. Let me give you the short version.

Abortion good. Limits to abortion bad. Oh, and limits to abortion equals forced birth.

As with most terms used in the abortion debate, forced birth is a charged term, and it’s designed to be. Leftists love to combine words that don’t necessary go together, like climate justice or House Intelligence Committee member Adam Schiff. This is done to evoke emotions in line with what Leftists want us to feel or think (or feel instead of think).

In this case, they start with a word that is intended to make us feel bad, “forced.” This shocks us because people like freedom. If we’re forced to do something, our natural instinct is to resist.

Then, we come across “birth.” (Or at least the father did at conception.) Regardless of where you stand on the abortion issue, life is a pretty important subject. We understand it on a fundamental level and revere it to one extent or another. Even the most strident pro-choicer gets the importance of life; they just don’t feel bad at killing a baby in the womb because…reasons.

So, did the Dobbs decision force women to give birth? Nope! It affirmed there is no Constitutional right to an abortion, and it left the decision to either the states or Congress. While the decision didn’t outright ban abortion, Leftists made it sound like it did, if only to continue its Handmaids Tale cosplay.

Although I’m not a lawyer since I have morals and a soul, the Dobbs decision made a lot of sense to me because it was based on simple logic and attention to details. Even though the word “abortion” doesn’t appear in the Constitution, the Left argued it was an extension of the 14th Amendment, as Justice Samuel Alito referenced in his majority opinion:

The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision, including the one on which the defenders of Roe and Casey now chiefly rely—the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. That provision has been held to guarantee some rights that are not mentioned in the Constitution, but any such right must be “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” and “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.” 

The right to abortion does not fall within this category…. Roe’s defenders characterize the abortion right as similar to the rights recognized in past decisions involving matters such as intimate sexual relations, contraception, and marriage, but abortion is fundamentally different, as both Roe and Casey acknowledged, because it destroys what those decisions called “fetal life” and what the law now before us describes as an “unborn human being.”

The TL:DL (Too Long: Didn’t Litigate) version: abortion isn’t a right at all, and the two major decisions related to it (Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey for those of you playing along at home) weren’t consistent with the Constitution as written. Hence, states can set whatever limits they want on abortion thanks to a little thing the hip kids like to call the Tenth Amendment.

But that takes away the Left’s best weapon in favor of abortion: judicial fiat. Since that’s not on the table anymore, Leftists resort to their fallback plan, that being openly lying to people to get them outraged at the Supreme Court and Republicans deciding a baby’s life is worth as much as the mother’s. Those bastards!

But out of chaos came some ingenuity, which is shocking for Leftists considering they’re usually dimmer than a burnt out light bulb in a goth kid’s bedroom. Leftists started volunteering to take women to states where abortions are legal if they live in a state where it isn’t. Oh, and to donate money towards that end because, let’s face it, schlepping caramel macchiatos at Starbucks doesn’t pay well enough to fund it themselves.

Now imagine if these same Leftists understood economics in the same way they understand interstate travel to kill a baby. But that’s a blog post for another time…

Meanwhile back at the main point, the truth is no one is forced to give birth in this country. Some states make it more difficult to get one, but that’s not the same thing as making women give birth. What it does do is create an incentive to plan a pregnancy and take steps to prevent it before doing the horizontal mambo under the sheets if you’re not ready to be a parent. Of course, this is beyond the pale for Leftists, who treat abortion like it’s Pez. After all, showing any amount of foresight, planning, and dare I say it responsibility might…make you become a Republican!

Regardless of your position on abortion, it’s clear that Robert Reich and anyone else who is pushing the forced birth bullshit aren’t helping the matter any. If we’re going to come to a functional, albeit tenuous, agreement on the topic, we need to be honest with each other. Both sides have legitimate concerns that can only be addressed with dialogue instead of diatribes. Granted, that seems less likely than Michael Bay making a good movie, but I can hope.

And to Mr. Reich, I’m sorry your attempt to push the forced birth lie came up a little short.

I’ll see myself out…

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

By the time you read this, it will be close to or the end of October, which means two things. One, the Detroit Lions are mathematically eliminated from the post season, and two, it’s almost the end of Election Season. And of the two, the latter is clearly more painful.

It’s also the start of what the Left hopes to be a major turning point in what is looking to be a political assbeating of Biblical proportions. They’re hoping to energize women voters using one of the major wedge issues of my lifetime, abortion. After the US Supreme Court did the unthinkable and made abortion a state issue, Leftists created the term Roevember.

And, thus, the month of my birth gets ruined, but for a completely different reason.

Roevember

What the Left thinks it means – a rallying cry for women to vote out Republicans to protect their reproductive rights

What it really means – a neat catchphrase for an issue that isn’t that important right now

It’s conventional political wisdom that the party that controls the Presidency loses Congressional seats during the midterms, and you can count on the one hand of the world’s worst butcher the number of times it hasn’t happened in recent history. That means, if conventional wisdom holds true this year, Democrats stand to lose at least some of their elections. That gives them a vested interest in keeping their base energized. And what better way to do that than to hype up the potential of losing abortion rights unless Democrats get elected/reelected?

I mean, aside from coming up with an actual platform.

Under normal conditions, this tactic might work. After all, a Gallup poll from earlier this year shows a majority of American adults consider themselves to be pro choice, with 61% of women identifying as such. Granted, I’m not a doctor, so I might be assuming the respondents’ genders, but I’m going to go with it for the purposes of this sketch.

Unfortunately for Democrats, these midterms aren’t normal, and I’m not just talking about the freaks Democrats have running in certain races. (And I apologize to all the freaks out there for comparing them to Democrats.) When it comes to issues Americans think are important, abortion is waaaaaaaaaay down the list. Why it’s almost as if people are more concerned with the ec0nomy than killing babies! The absolute nerve!

This begs the question of why Leftists would continue to push abortion rights as an issue when the more pressing issue is the flaming dumpster fire that is our economy. I’m glad you asked! I have an idea about why that is. It may not be original, so if someone else thought of this first, I’m sure someone will let me know in the comments.

Politics today revolved heavily around what each side of the aisle considers to be what’s wrong with the world. When the economy is flush, the Right turn inward to find inspiration for what changes they want to make and then try to turn that inner vision into outer action. When the economy sucks more than a million Dysons at the center of a black hole, the Right’s introspection doesn’t extend outside of their homes very often, except to commiserate with others in the same boat.

The Left, on the other hand, don’t diversify their opinions on what’s wrong with the world. The issues they felt were super-ultra-important in 1992 aren’t too different than they are in 2022. Even the various “new” issues they’ve raised are offshoots of issues they’ve been railing on for decades, just with a new coat of paint. And no matter what, good economy or bad, these issues will always be at the core of the Left’s campaigns.

Which means they are woefully out of touch with the electorate this year.

One of the Left’s big assumptions is the 167.5 million women in the United States will be coming out to vote in Roevember. Although we don’t have any official numbers for the 2022 midterms (because they haven’t happened yet), it’s normal for voter turnout to be lower for midterm elections as opposed to Presidential elections. Let’s assume the numbers FairVote provides in the aforementioned link are accurate and voter turnout is 40%. That means only 67 million women will be voting, and of those 40.87 million of them consider themselves to be pro choice. Not an insignificant number, but a lot lower than the 167.5 million the Left predict will take part in Roevember. And that assumes all of those 40.87 million are a) eligible to vote, and b) inspired to vote for Democrats. A lot of assumptions being made on an issue only 4% of Americans surveyed think is important.

I promise the rest of this piece won’t be so numbers-heavy.

Although Leftists are great with catchy slogans, they’re piss-poor with timing. With the economy and inflation running rampant like Godzilla in a Japanese fishing village, they’ve chosen to make “let’s kill babies in the womb” their rallying cry. Then again, if my party was responsible for the Godzilla-esque trampling of the economy, I might want to try to divert attention to something else, too.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say most of the people reading this aren’t going to fall for the repackaging job the Left is doing with Roevember, but just know there are plenty outside of this group that will. If nothing else, just run down the numbers with them and let them know their passion for voting because of Roevember would be better suited for something far more productive.

Booing the Detroit Lions.

The Rule of Law(less)

In the aftermath of recent Supreme Court decisions that Leftists didn’t like, they’ve adopted a new plan of attack: undermining the credibility of the High Court by any means necessary. It’s even gotten to the point a Georgetown law professor tweeted out a missive calling the Supreme Court “actively rogue.”

Hoo boy. It’s one thing for a lay Leftist to tweet out something this stupid, but when it’s someone teaching future attorneys, the stupid actually hurts.

First off, Leftists need to drop the “rogue court” bullshit because, well, it’s bovine scat. Regardless of how you feel about it, the fact remains each current Supreme Court Justice went through the same process with only minor deviations from the set script. The opposing party tries to sink the nomination through stupid “gotcha” questions asked by politicians who wouldn’t know habeas corpus from a hole in the ground, while the supporting party chucks more softballs than an explosion at a Nerf ball factory. Granted, it’s supposed to be more substantive than this, but this is the Senate we’re talking about here. You’re more likely to find a virgin on a porn set than you are a smart Senator.

One of the reasons the Left is committed to the “rogue Supreme Court” line is they got played by Mitch McConnell with an assist from Chuck Schumer. To try to get some of President Barack Obama’s judicial nominees through the confirmation process, Schumer set the precedent that a simple majority was good enough to approve the nominees. Well, McConnell applied that precedent to Supreme Court nominees, even after warning Senate Democrats of what could be coming if they went ahead with the Schumer strategy.

Then, there’s the Merrick Garland situation. Due to a vacancy on the High Court, President Obama had the opportunity to nominate a Justice, but McConnell again relied on precedent to block Garland’s nomination from going forward due to the vacancy occurring during a Presidential election year. As a result, Garland went from ineffective Supreme Court nominee to ineffective Attorney General, Donald Trump got three picks, and Leftists got their panties in a bunch because they got played by a Republican, and a Southern Republican at that!

That blow to the collectivist ego is what I think is driving the “rogue court” sentiment right now. The recent decisions going against the Left’s wishes add fuel to the fires of hatred, but it’s the agony of defeat that was the spark that set the kindling ablaze in the first place. And that’s what we have to fight right now. The Supreme Court isn’t acting on its own against the Constitution, as can be seen by, oh I don’t know, reading the fucking decisions before throwing a temper tantrum?

The thing is the Left doesn’t mind courts going rogue if the end result is what they wanted in the first place. Like Roe v. Wade, for example. The reason it’s been so controversial is because its legal and constitutional standing are shakier than Jello on the San Andreas Fault during a 4.8 on the Richter Scale. Or that analogy, even. Anyway, the point is the Roe decision was eventually going to come to a head and the foundation of balsa wood and wet tissue paper it was sitting on would crumble. If Leftists wanted to avoid this problem, they would have codified legal abortion through the legislative process. However, they didn’t because a) they’re short-sighted, b) they’re dumbasses, and c) they ironically relied too heavily on the conservative nature of the Supreme Court.

Now, I’m not talking politically conservative here. What I mean is the High Court’s tendency not to undo lower court rulings unless there’s a Constitutional means to do it. As much judicial activism as there is in this country, the USSC isn’t a hotbed for it. In many cases, the rulings are based on legal scholarship, understanding of Constitutional principles, and a dispassionate approach. With abortion, however, that last one goes right out the window with Justices playing to their respective crowds. That turns any confirmation hearings into a political Kabuki theater where a lot gets said, but little of substance is found. You know, like a Kamala Harris speech.

Since the advent of “Borking” judicial nominees, politicians from both sides have figured out the art of the “gotcha” question, most of which with nothing to do with the job duties. Whether it’s asking a nominee whether Roe v. Wade is “settled law” or what a woman is, we should be collectively asking “What the actual fuck?” It’s not to develop a full picture of a nominee’s legal philosophy; it’s to try to draw rhetorical and metaphorical blood.

And now it’s being used to demand three current Justices (Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett) be impeached for, get this, perjury when they said Roe was “settled law” when they were under oath at their confirmation hearings. Since most Senators have the intellectual prowess of kale, they fail to understand the fact any judicial candidates can only speak to the condition of the Roe decision at the time of the hearing because…they haven’t had a chance to rule on cases brought before the Supreme Court yet.

You know, I take back what I said about most Senators. Kale understands chronology better.

If you’re basing your entire belief of a “rogue court” on the idea current Justices lied under oath about “settled law” before they got to be Justices, you’re missing the point completely. We’re not asking the High Court to be prognosticators. Their job is to interpret and apply the Constitution to cases brought before them. And with Roe, the “settled law” was on unsettled ground.

And while we’re here, let’s get something crystal clear: “settled law” is not a thing, especially these days when lawyers find all sorts of new ways to fuck up the language in defense of an idea, let alone a client. It may be a rare occurrence, but the Supreme Court does change its mind on legal matters (and not because some evil right wing cabal with deep pockets is secretly paying them under the robes). Some of the most recent examples of “settled law” being tossed out like Charlie Sheen at an AA meeting involve gun control. After decades of rulings that have allowed strict gun control laws in cities and states to stand, the Supreme Court has changed course and overturned previous decisions based on the Second Amendment, and it looks like those more recent rulings are going to stick, at least for now.

Even if you discount that example, there’s another example that you might have heard of where “settled law” got nuked. It’s called Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, a decision that reversed the “separate but equal” ruling from Plessy v. Ferguson.

Any Leftists want to call out that “rogue Supreme Court” for undoing “settled law”?

Although a lot of the hatred is being directed at Justice Clarence Thomas, there is additional vitriol being spewed at the aforementioned Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett. Although the Left wants to make it about alleged perjury, the actual reason may be a lot more basic. And I mean that as in “simple” and “crude.” What do these three Justices have in common, aside from sticking in Leftist craws? They were all appointed under Donald Trump. Even though Leftists managed to beat Trump in the 2020 election, he still manages to find a way to live rent free in their collectivist heads and still have space for all of Trump’s stuff, an Olympic size swimming pool, the Taj Mahal, and at least 3 football fields (NFL, Canadian, and Arena Football).

The fact Trump’s appointees have foiled the Left repeatedly pisses them off to no end, so instead of taking their lumps and figuring out how to govern, they use the “rogue court” defense. After all, they can’t be legitimate because Trump appointed them, right! And they still maintain Trump was never a legitimate President (although voters in Wisconsin might disagree). If they can’t win, they claim chicanery. Like when they claim Senators get into office because of gerrymandering.

Yes, kids. They are just that stupid.

The Left also has a Constitutional problem when it comes to “settled law,” namely their contrary position on the Constitution itself. Remember, the Left loves to say the Constitution is a “living document,” meaning they can make up what they want to be in there and get a court to agree with them. But wait…if the Constitution can be fluid, why are some Supreme Court decisions based on interpretations of it unable to be just as flexible? Or it is only decisions Leftists agree with that are set in stone?

Things that make you go hmmmm…

To put a nice tidy bow on this piece, we need to consider Leftists are now trying to figure out how to “discipline” the Supreme Court for going rogue (at least to Leftists). All because the High Court didn’t rule the way they wanted. For all their faults, the Right understands the rules and found a way to get a long-desired goal by working within the system. They didn’t bitch and moan about how the Supreme Court was horrible and needed to be punished. They got Justices appointed, crafted legislation and legal arguments to achieve the goal, and got it done without too much drama. Calling a branch of the government “rogue” doesn’t move the needle for anyone but those who already think that way, and it doesn’t help make the argument for anyone outside of the hivemind.

Ultimately, though, it is nothing but sound and fury, representing nothing but a hissy fit from people who didn’t think they would ever have to play within the rules to get what they wanted. Now that the Supreme Court has ended that judicial gravy train for the Left, they’re left complaining, maligning, and utterly missing the point. The Right plays the long game, while the Left plays the short-sighted game, and the Left keeps losing with this strategy. Do you honestly think calling the Supreme Court “rogue” or looking for ways to neutralize, circumvent, or vaguely threaten the High Court will work?

Spoiler Alert: it won’t. And it won’t help you look any less lawless.

Row v. Wade Overturned

On Friday, the 24th of June in the Year of Our Lord 2022, the United States Supreme Court issued a historic opinion.

The overturning of the 1973 opinion of Roe v. Wade. Stating that the United States Constitution does not confer a fundamental right to an abortion.

This opinion does not outlaw the practice of abortion. It does return it to the Several States where it rightfully belongs to be legislated.

Abortion was never a right. And the US Supreme Court and lower courts have a long history of implying rights under the Constitution that just aren’t there. There is no right to an abortion.

There is a right to privacy of course. This is protected in the US Constitution. But that doesn’t mean that any person can end the life of another yet to be born child without cause.

What is an exceptable cause? That is for the States to determine. Because the right to Life and due process are protected by the US Constitution.

There maybe some instances where abortion is necessary. This does not diminish the fact that it is ending another life in the womb. It just should never be preformed for trivial reasons.

Of course the idiots on the Left are shouting that this is only the beginning. And think that the High Court will also issue other opinions such as removing the right to vote from women as well.

This absurd and shows the ignorance of those who believe such nonsense. The right to vote is clearly written in the US Constitution. And the High Court cannot simply issue an opinion removing it any more than they can issue an opinion voiding the 2nd Amendment.

America the Pretty Nifty, Revisited

Many years ago before I became a part-time blogger and a full-time pain in the ass, I wrote a piece called “America the Pretty Nifty” where I extolled the virtues of this great country of ours. Times and opinions change, so on our nation’s “birthday,” I figured I’d take another look at the topic and see where it takes us.

In spite of all its faults, I still think America is one of the greatest countries in the world, if not the greatest. And I don’t say that because I’m a geopolitical homer. When I look at what we have to be proud of, I’m hard-pressed to find a better country anywhere else. Here are a few examples of what I mean.

The races tend to get along. – If you look at media coverage (and, at this point with their blatant and frequent dishonesty, why would you), you would think we’re on the verge of a race war. In truth, we’re nowhere near that point. As with any relationship, there are areas to work on, but overall our melting pot is pretty, well, melty.

America is still a land of innovation. – If you have a dream and the means to follow it, you can make it. After all, it was an American who decided to create a machine that cuts hair using the suction power of a vacuum cleaner. Take that, China! If you want/need a more recent example, just look to Elon Musk. He started out as a South African kid with a weird name and a dream and created a successful electric car company, a company trying to make space travel more accessible, and a way to trigger Leftists on Twitter merely by existing. If that’s not great, I don’t know what is.

We can still have robust intellectual discussions on most topics. – Although I haven’t found a space yet where this is happening, the law of averages says it has to exist somewhere. If you happen to find where it is, please let me know.

We survived a pandemic. – Whether it’s because or in spite of our medical science and political leadership, we came out of the COVID-19 outbreak better than we thought we might. (Observation may not be applicable to the elderly in New York State.) While we still quibble over the effectiveness of mask mandates, the “Fauci Ouchie,” and mandated lockdowns, the fact we have as many Americans as we do able to quibble is a testament to Americans. And speaking of the pandemic…

The pandemic helped people get creative. – When you can’t go outside, you have to figure out how to pass the time. To put it more mildly than salsa in Utah, the pandemic lead to a creative explosion that we are still seeing the ripples of today. Thanks to sites like Etsy and RedBubble, people with the creative bug not only showed off their wares, but were able to make decent money catering to the forced shut-in crowd. There’s even pandemic porn on the Internet (and I’m not talking about the kind pushed by the Fauci-ites, kids).

America is still the shining city on the hill. – Ronald Reagan popularized this image of America as a land of opportunity for people from around the world, and it still holds true today. There are millions upon millions of people who want to come here and start a new life. Granted, we don’t know for sure if it’s because we have opportunities or because Leftists have extended the largess of our tax dollars to make it difficult to resist, but the point is the same. People still want to be Americans.

We have a wealth of global entertainment options. – Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Broadway, Nashville, and many other American cities and locations are hotbeds of entertainment of all kinds. Art, music, theater, books, television, movies, podcasts, internet porn, it doesn’t matter. If you want it, America has it or can direct you to where you can get it. We have such a surplus of entertainment options, producers and directors are trying to recycle ideas that worked in the past, thus guaranteeing work for C-list and below actors if the “Sharknado” series has taught us anything.

Women are still free here. – Contrary to Leftist caterwauling about the recent Supreme Court decision that “overturned” Roe v Wade, women enjoy far more freedom here than their sisters globally. We might have been dragged kicking and screaming towards this point, but we got here and we continue to make strides to keep moving forward. Just remember, for a brief time, a piece of shit named Amber Heard was one of the most talked-about people in the world. Thanks, America!

The really bad/incompetent players haven’t fucked up everything yet. – Over the past few decades, we’ve had some real losers winning elections and getting political power. After all, the most powerful woman in the world not named Oprah or Lady Gaga got as many delegates in the 2020 Presidential race as I did and I didn’t even run. Yet, in spite of the Peter Principle being the rule of thumb in Washington, DC, nobody has done anything so devastating that it can’t be undone later. There have been a few close calls, I grant you, but even then America’s still standing.

We still value freedom. – The fact we fight like the Hatfields and McCoys on a PCP binge whenever there’s a debate over personal freedom is an indication of just how much we love freedom, even after all this time. Some of this is self-serving or done for political/ideological ends, but the passion is still there. Deep down inside, I think most Americans want everyone to be free to live their lives on their own terms, not the terms of others.

I still see America as a fix-er-upper, but one that is worth keeping working at to restore its past beauty and glory. And as long as there are people willing to put on their tool belts and put in the work, America will remain pretty nifty.

Nostradamus They Ain’t

With the recent US Supreme Court decision that referred abortion rights back to the states, Leftists went nuts (more than usual), suggesting the end of the world as they know it. After all, without a federal mandate that allows for Leftists to kill babies, they might actually have to…get people to support their view of abortion rights! The horror!

As Leftists explain it, the Supreme Court decision will create a horror show of back alley abortions, dead mothers in the streets, and a society straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale. (On a side note, between this and the Harry Potter novels, I swear the Left’s reading lists are shorter than an earthworm’s inseam.) And all of this is going to happen because Roe v. Wade was overturned. Just listen and believe, people!

Of course, the Left has been predicting this under every Republican President since Ronald Reagan, but we’re not supposed to know that.

In fact, the Left doesn’t want us to know about the numerous wrong predictions they’ve made regarding Roe because it makes them look like hyperventilating ninnyhammers. Granted, they are, but they don’t like to look like that because it undercuts the gravitas of their ideology. And by undercuts, I mean completely fucking destroys it. Of course, that works out great for me because I can mock it mercilessly.

Guess what I’m about to do, kids!

The Left loves to make grand predictions about the fall of civilization, but these predictions rarely, if ever, come true. Put another way, their track record makes local TV meteorologists look like Nostradamus.

Of course, the reason the Left makes these predictions in the first place is to instill fear in the minds of the unsuspecting. Look at what they’ve done with global warming/climate change/climate catastrophes/extreme weather/climate disruptions/whatever term they want to use this minute. For decades, they’ve been predicting sea levels rising, temperatures shooting higher than Snoop Dogg and Willie Nelson on 4/20, massive droughts, more powerful and dangerous weather patterns, and so on. Yet, none of this actually happened. Sure, you might be able to pick out one or two times when the exception proves the Leftist rule, but it should be noted these are exceptions. Meaning, they don’t happen all the time.

The same is true of the post-Roe America the Left tells us is coming. It’s been a week since the decision that sent the abortion issue back to the states and…nothing has happened. Red states haven’t turned into Gilead overnight. The bodies of women killed by back-alley abortions aren’t piling up in the streets. At least for now, everything is as fucked up as it was before the recent Supreme Court decision.

And the funny thing is…the Left still didn’t get it right completely. Abortion rights haven’t been stripped away from millions of women; they’ve just been sent back to the states to let the voters decision instead of 9 Supreme Court Justices. And if people are as pro-choice as Leftists tell us they are, this shouldn’t be a problem. Voters should be more than happy to support abortion initiatives at the state level, right?

Not so much. There are quite a few Democrat voting blocs that aren’t as keen on abortion as Leftists are, namely in the black and Hispanic communities. If abortion is put up by itself, there’s a chance it could get voted down, meaning the Left would lose power, money, and influence. That means the Left would have to work harder to elect more pro-choice candidates or persuade voters to agree with them that killing babies in the womb and possibly using them for spare parts is a good thing. Good luck with that.

Not surprisingly, though, Leftists have misread the room on this issue, among many others. By being so strident in their beliefs, they have turned off voters who might be willing to compromise if the Left put up a convincing argument. Now, with abortion rights being a state issue instead of a federal one, they don’t have the “well, it’s settled law” card to fall back on. And let’s just say they’ve been riding that like a roller coaster for decades, so they’re a little bit rusty on the whole making a convincing argument thing.

This brings us back to ginning up fear. Fear can be a powerful motivator, but a piss-poor argument when reason is brought into the picture. Once you alleviate the fear, the Left’s arguments don’t have a leg to stand on, but maybe Planned Parenthood can lend them a couple.

However, I could be wrong on this and red states are getting the red robes and white bonnets from the dry cleaners as we speak. I’m willing to admit I’m wrong when it happens. But you have to ask yourselves whether the Left has ever done the same with abortion rights, climate change, or anything else they’ve predicted. It’s more likely they’ll double down more than a blackjack player who keeps getting 11 than admit they were wrong. Again.

And again.

And again.

And a…well, you get the idea.

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

There are a lot of things to worry about in today’s world. Inflation more out of control than Lindsey Lohan and Charlie Sheen going on a bender with Dennis Rodman in Amsterdam. The potential for international war. Having to decide between paying for food or paying bills. The possibility of another “Scary Movie” sequel. It’s enough to drive one insane!

In my case, it’s closer to a walk around the corner than a drive, but the point remains.

One of the concerns the Left has had on its hivemind recently has been domestic terrorism. In the aftermath of January 6th, Leftists have sounded the alarm bells to watch out for sketchy men and women attempting to derail the country, threaten our democracy, and be general nogoodniks. Without the proper context, though, one cannot begin to grasp the issue. Unfortunately for Leftists, someone has been paying attention.

domestic terrorism

What the Left thinks it means – a movement motivated by hate and a desire to ruin our country through violent means

What it really means – a term that’s being thrown around more than a football at a Brett Favre barbecue

Politics, by its very nature, is an ugly, spiteful thing. In years past, Democrats and Republicans were divided on policy, but united in their desire to bring out the best in America and face any crisis together. As the statesmen of the past gave way to the current crop of short-sighted, reelection-minded egomaniacs with the morals of an alley cat, politics has gotten uglier, more spiteful, and a lot more personal. It seems as though even basic concepts, like, oh I don’t know…not talking about sex to kids still eating their boogers, are grounds for controversy, passionate screaming matches, and general bad behavior.

This eventually leads to asshats deciding to take matters into their own hands, often botching the effort to change public opinion. Anyone heard from Astroturf…I mean Occupy Wall Street lately? Unless they’ve decided to hitch their shopping carts to movements like Black Lives Matter or Antifa, they’re pretty much irrelevant and invisible these days. But their stench lingers…

What could be relegated to a few loud cranks you’ll find in just about any organization is now quickly becoming the unifying core of swaths of the population looking to change the status quo. This leads to an “ends justify the means” approach to political discourse, which opens the door for domestic terrorism.

Before we dive any further, we should define what terrorism is. There are a few variations on a theme depending on where you go to look up the definition, but there’s a unifying concept: the use of fear as a coercive agent. When you really think about it, fear is a powerful motivator. Just look at the caterwauling that has come since the leak of a memo suggesting the US Supreme Court would look to overturn Roe v. Wade. It was the leak that launched a thousand donation requests. And with the recent attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, it also seems to have launched a lot of evil.

Yet, the actions of the attempted assassin are not seen by the Left as an example of domestic terrorism because…the end justifies the means. Leftists are fighting to protect the “right” to kill a baby in the womb, so they will get as dirty as they want to make it happen.

That brings us to a little pro-baby death group called Ruth Sent Us. They sprouted up after the aforementioned USSC leak and sought to protest for abortion rights by showing up at certain Justices’ homes, namely conservative Justices. And they went so far as to publish these Justices’ addresses, creating an element of intimidation or, dare I say it, fear. If you get a chance to read up on Ruth Sent Us, I suggest keeping a barf bag handy because they’re nucking futs.

Compare that to the January 6th protesters. To listen to the Left talk (and, really, why would you), these people were mere microseconds away from destroying the country by protesting an election they felt was stolen from then-President Donald Trump. Some protestors broke the law (which is bad enough as it is), but all of them are being painted as domestic terrorists. Whether they are is a matter of debate or, in the case of Leftists, incessant screaming.

Maybe it’s me, but it seems we don’t have a firm grasp on what constitutes domestic terrorism. The same Leftists who have their collectivist panties in a wad over January 6th are the ones excusing/justifying what Ruth Sent Us did (and screaming bloody murder over the threats being sent at the members of Ruth Sent Us for being degenerate fuck-knuckles). By viewing it through a partisan lens and taking on the same “ends justify the means” mentality, groups on both sides of the political spectrum are making things worse.

And, yes, I am “both sides-ing” here because it’s true. Several studies done in the past few years show at least some Democrats and Republicans believe force is necessary sometimes to protect their interests from outside forces (namely their ideological opponents). That’s sketchy in and of itself, but when you consider how creative people can get with the rules when they lack even basic standards, we’re entering a whole new level of clusterfuckery.

One that has the potential to be deadly.

That’s the part that really scares me. I’ve had a lingering dread for the past several years that America is one major manmade tragedy away from coming apart faster than the seams of an extra-tight dress worn by Melissa McCarthy. And with the possibility/likelihood of government law enforcement agents infiltrating some groups with the express intent of getting them to act up, that incident may be coming sooner rather than later.

That’s why it’s important we understand what domestic terrorism looks like and agree upon what constitutes it. Partisanship has no business in this process because it blinds us to the facts. Whether it’s a Leftist or a Rightist, domestic terrorism is a non-starter with me and is a tacit admission you have no legitimate arguments to speak of and, thus, can be disregarded.

Now, here’s the part neither side who advocates for the use of domestic terrorism for political ends realizes. If you justify it against others, it can be justified against you on the same grounds. And if you bitch about it when it’s done to you, you become a flaming hypocrite. At least, if I have anything to say about it and access to a flamethrower.

Be glad I don’t have the time to fill out the necessary paperwork to get the flamethrower permit.

In the meantime, we should be aware of the depths some people will go to score a political or ideological ends and not succumb to the temptation to give in. If something feels wrong, it probably is, and you shouldn’t do it. Because a) it will lead you down a path you won’t like, and b) eventually I will have the time to complete the paperwork.

And you wouldn’t like me when I have a flamethrower.

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

After last week’s Lexicon entry about abortion, I wanted to do something in a lighter vein.

So, we’re talking about the filibuster. I know! I’m as excited as you are!

Actually, we do have to go back to the abortion debate for a little while because it plays a role in the discussion, and we have Senator Elizabeth “Chief Running Mouth” Warren to thank for it. See, the Senate tried to make the abortion protections laid out in Roe v. Wade federal law last week in the form of The Women’s Health Protection Act, but it ran into a little snag: it didn’t have enough votes to bypass a potential filibuster (which is absurd as we’ll find out later). As a result, Chief Running Mouth took to the media to renew her call to eliminate the filibuster.

Hoo boy. We’re going to need Mayflower to help us unpack all of the wrong here.

filibuster

What the Left thinks it means – an antiquated unconstitutional Senate rule that threatens democracy

What it really means – a Senate rule that Leftists will rue eliminating if they get their way

Time for a quick civics lesson. Although we tend to work on a majority rule model here in America, there are some exceptions designed to prevent the majority from totally steamrolling the minority. One such tool is the filibuster, which is when the minority can cobble together at least 60 votes to prevent a bill from going forward. Even the threat of a filibuster can be enough to change how a bill is written or presented.

In today’s hyper-partisan world, that happens less often than David Duke gets invited to the NAACP Spirit Awards.

Since Democrats hold a numerical majority thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris, they don’t necessarily feel they need to reach across the aisle to get things done, which puts their current opposition to the filibuster into perspective. It also puts their previous use of the filibuster into perspective, since they love to use it when they’re in the minority. If it wasn’t for double standards, Leftists would have no standards at all.

Leftists by their very nature are control freaks (in addition to being other kinds of freaks). They feel they have to rule completely because anything else gives opponents the ability to disagree with them. With enough naysayers, Leftists can’t get done what they want, which is a sin in their eyes akin to killing puppies, destroying the planet, and worst of all…not being a Leftist!

This desire for control has been at the core of a lot of defeats for Senate Democrats, including The Women’s Health Protection Act. Instead of reading the room and coming up with a bill that would get Republican votes, Leftists tried to ram through a bill banking on Republicans to surrender out of fear of public opinion. Wellll…that didn’t happen, and one Democrat Senator, Joe Manchin, sided with the Republicans to make the vote to move forward with the bill 51-49. And it shouldn’t be overlooked it was the Senate Democrats who forced the vote. Talk about a self-own! On the plus side for Leftists, Senator Kyrsten Sinema voted with the Democrats, so she might be able to get back on their Winter Solstice card lists.

But the failure wasn’t because Senate Democrats fucked up! It was that damn filibuster! And it’s about time to we got rid of that unconstitutional rule that prevents progress!

Not so much.

First, let’s deal with the constitutionality argument. Although it’s true the filibuster doesn’t appear in the Constitution, there is this passage from Article I Section 5 that would apply here:

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings…

This has been interpreted to mean the House of Representatives and Senate can make their own rules, which means the filibuster is constitutional. You would think someone who taught law might be able to figure that out, but we’re dealing with Elizabeth Warren here. She’s as sharp as a Nerf ball, as anyone who understands her missives on economics an attest.

Or as anyone who understands what a majority is can attest, for that matter. The filibuster literally had very little to do with the failure because, and let me spell it out for the good Senator and any other Leftists who are reading this…the votes weren’t there. You had a threshold and failed to meet it. Those were the rules in place at the time, and you lost. Until you change the Senate rules or amend the Constitution to remove the filibuster as a means of ending debate or altering legislation, those are the rules you have to live by.

Of course, nothing can stop you from bitching about it, even if we didn’t have a First Amendment in place. But can you at least bitch about it intelligently? A tall order, I know, but could you do it for your Uncle Thomas? Please?

Although it’s fashionable to shit on the filibuster, it does serve an important role, even today. Just because one party or the other has a majority doesn’t mean that party is right. The fact the filibuster exists in the Senate is a feature, not a flaw, because the Founding Fathers established the Senate as a more deliberative body. If you want bills written up on the fickle whims of the public, you go to the House. If you want substantive discussions, you go to the Senate.

Well, nobody’s perfect, not even the Founding Fathers.

Even though the filibuster isn’t working well today, it still provides a necessary release valve for impulsive legislation not well thought out and poorly presented. You know, like The Women’s Health Protection Act? (On a side note, how does this bill protect women’s health when statistically the most babies aborted would be female? But I’m not a biologist, so there’s that.)

So, before you Leftists throw out the unborn baby with the bathwater, consider this. Senate Republicans have resisted calls to do away with the filibuster when they’ve been in the minority because they understand it still has value, even when the previous President believed otherwise.

That’s right, Leftists. You now are on the same side as Donald Trump.

As the meme says, congratulations. You just played yourself.

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

As the Little Dutch Boy can attest, a leak can be a pretty troublesome thing. And that’s exactly what we got this past week thanks to a clerk at the US Supreme Court. Normally, this would be as exciting as watching Al Gore painting grass, but this time the leak involved a certain controversial Supreme Court decision that both the Left and the Right freak out over: Roe v. Wade. While President Pudding Cup tries to figure out the context where someone would row or wade, the rest of us know it as the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Yeah. We’re going there.

Roe v. Wade

What the Left thinks it means – the linchpin of women’s rights, especially personal autonomy

What it really means – a bad ruling made worse by politicians

Before we dive back into the muck, I have to admit I don’t like writing about abortion for a number of reasons. First, it’s a messy moral and ideological issue where there are always going to be more gray areas than black and white ones. Second, it’s such a charged issue that even the slightest bit of nuance, justified or not, can get people pissed off and ready to attack. Finally, there’s not a lot of funny in the termination of a pregnancy. Just ask Michelle Wolf. Having said all of that, the fact Roe v. Wade is back in the headlines and on Leftists’ mind…s(?) overrules any misgivings I have on the subject.

I’ve discussed my feelings on Roe and abortion in general before, but for those of you just joining us, let me give you the Cliff’s Notes version. Roe v. Wade was a bad Supreme Court decision based on provable lies designed to get a certain outcome the dishonest lawyers (I know I’m repeating myself) wanted. For that reason (and the whole killing babies thing), I am pro-life, but I also know my opinion means jack shit in the larger context. As much as I hate the notion of a woman getting an abortion, I hate forcing any other human being to live by my moral code just as much. This may make me seem wishy-washy, but it’s where I stand. You don’t have to stand with me, and I won’t hate you for it.

Unless you’re a Cardi B fan. Then, we might have issues.

Just kidding!

To bring everything back to the current day, the aforementioned leak suggests the Supreme Court is about to overturn Roe v. Wade, which made Leftists scream more than that one protestor did at Donald Trump’s inauguration. Since the leak became public, Leftists have been going from depressed to angry to motivated to downright stupid. And that’s just Elizabeth Warren!

To put it mildly, the Left has been overreacting to the point of hyperventilation on Twitter and other social media. It’s going to be the end of abortion as we know it! It’s going to create a Handmaid’s Tale style theocracy where women are merely receptacles without any autonomy! “Hook-up” culture will die out (and I wish I were fucking kidding about this one, but someone actually posted this idea online)! Yet, with all of the sound and fury, there is one fact the Left isn’t talking about: abortion isn’t going away if Roe gets overturned. All that happens is the decision whether abortion is legal will be left to the states, where I feel it should have been left in the first place.

But isn’t abortion favored by a majority of people, according to Leftists? Welllll…that’s one of those murky areas of the abortion issue. Polling data swings back and forth like a pendulum at different points in time. Sometimes, more people favor allowing abortion. Sometimes, more people favor restrictions on abortions. This tells us two things: 1) we are a conflicted nation, and 2) polling data on the topic are absolute shit.

For the sake of argument, let’s say the Left is correct about public opinion on abortion. Why wouldn’t they want a 50-state referendum on legalizing abortion? Simple. It’s because they would lose money and power in the process. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

Roe is the key to both for Leftists. Since the original decision came down, the federal government has been the only body calling the shots on abortion. The problem is it violates the Constitution, specifically the Tenth Amendment. Basically, the Tenth Amendment limits the power of the federal government to what is specifically granted to it. Anything that falls outside of that specific limitation goes back to the states and/or the people. And guess what Supreme Court decision defies that?

Can you say Roe v. Wade, boys and girls? I knew you could.

Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue for Leftists because they typically don’t give a shit about states rights, but with Roe…well, let’s just say it proves how little they care about states rights. Roe gives the Left the federal muscle to mandate abortion without having to actually make an argument in favor of the practice, as in the “settled law” approach. With the power to decide going back to the states, the Left will lose the one-size-fits-all-poorly approach and will have to make the argument to all 50 states. With some states like California, you could call it the “Yeah, We Want To Kill Babies In The Womb Bill” and Leftists would line up around the block to vote for it. With other states, like Texas, the argument would be a non-starter. The point is the Left would have to put actual effort into making abortion legal across the country, and given how they tend to be adverse to work…

Along with this, the Left would either have to raise and spend more money or budget existing funds to make the argument. Neither one of these is sustainable for very long because of the way most Leftists behave, but both would have to come to pass if Roe were overturned because Leftists would lose fiscal security that comes with not having to defend abortion to anyone but the faithful. No wonder Leftists are so up in arms…well, not really arms, per se, since they’re not fans of guns and the like, but that’s neither here nor there.

There is one factor the Left might have working in their favor even if Roe v. Wade goes the way of original stories on “The Simpsons.” Society has changed a lot since Roe was first argued and the fact it has repelled so many legal challenges over the years has made abortion more acceptable, or at least made people less likely to fight it. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether it’s a good or a bad thing, but it is what it is. If you wear down people’s resistance enough, even the slightest push back will net the desired outcome.

This is what the Left is counting on as they try to codify abortion rights via legislation. Although I can’t say I’m a fan of the desired outcome, I can’t find fault with the process, aside from the aforementioned Tenth Amendment conflict. At least the issue will be brought up to a vote, which is a hell of a lot better than having 9 men and women in black robes that hide whether they’re wearing clothing underneath make the call. Instead, that decision will be made by hundreds of men and women who we will not wonder if they’re wearing clothes because very few of us would want to think of them naked.

Regardless of whether the Supreme Court upholds or overturns Roe v. Wade, we are still feeling the after-effects of the original decision and will continue to feel them for decades to come. Like eating at Chipotle, but with less vomiting. Where we go from here is anyone’s guess, but we shouldn’t automatically assume the worst on either side of the issue. Even with the most controversial issues, Americans have this amazing ability to adapt to and adopt societal changes given enough time. Hell, we turned polyester leisure suits from fashion statement to garage sale leftovers to popular Halloween costumes in my lifetime, so anything is possible!

Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week

There are times when current events bring back policy issues from the past. This week, Roe v Wade was a hot button topic on the Left, mainly because the Left is ginning up fear that it will be repealed by the Supreme Court. On the docket there are two cases that the Left feels will do away with a woman’s right to choose if the High Court rules in a certain way, and with three Trump-era picks on the court, they’re afraid it’s going to be a slam dunk against them.

When you really think about it (and I because I don’t have a life), the Left puts a lot of weight on the Roe decision, but there are a lot of underpinnings that make it far more controversial than it is. And when  you’re dealing with anything related to abortion, anything that adds more controversy is bad.

I promise my analysis will get better in this piece.

Roe v Wade

What the Left thinks it means – a Supreme Court decision essential to ensuring women’s rights

What it really means – a poorly-crafted Supreme Court decision with tragic implications

Before we get started, I know a number of people will dismiss this piece because I’m not a woman. It’s okay because I self-identify as one. Seriously, though, it’s frightfully easy to dismiss male opinions on abortion because of who is giving them. Maybe the Left missed the memo on this, but that’s sexism. After all, it takes two to tango, as it were, and men’s voices should be heard on the subject thanks to the fact men contribute half the chromosomes to make a baby. Until science figures out how to change the dynamic, men and women have just as much of a right to speak on the subject.

Even so, you think I’m going to get a bunch of Leftists silence me? I’m just too much of a jerk to let that happen.

At the heart of the Roe decision is a medical, philosophical, theological, logical, political, and moral question: when does life begin? For Leftists, life begins when the baby comes out of the birth canal and, thus, can be used to vote for Leftist politicians. From a physiological standpoint, life begins when the zygote is formed. Oddly enough, this is one time the Left doesn’t want us to follow the science.

On a related note, I’m going to use “baby” instead of “fetus” for the reason stated above: I’m following the science. When Leftists say it’s not a baby, they’re hard pressed to tell us what it is if not a baby. A muskox? Fairy dust? A perfectly preserved 1956 Chevrolet? So far, the best the Left has been able to come up with is it’s a bundle of cells.

Which, by the way, is technically all humans. including the Pussy Hat Brigade who want to be able to terminate some bundles of cells because…reasons.

Where the Roe decision really gets off the rails more than an Amtrak train being driven by Lindsey Lohan is in the interpretation and application of English common law. Under its direction, children in the womb received life, called quickening, at the first sign of the baby moving. (Good thing they hadn’t invented Taco Bell yet!) In other words, the baby was alive before he or she was born.

Once this point is established, it creates a domino effect on multiple levels, but most importantly in this case legally. However, the lawyers who argued in favor of a woman being able to terminate a pregnancy before birth twisted the story a bit. Instead, they claimed English common law didn’t specify it, which allowed for more flexibility. After all, if the fetus isn’t considered life, it removes a lot of the personal elements from the procedure itself.

Hmmm…I wonder why the Left would lie about English common law when it would advance their political…ohhhhhh! I get it now!

And really, this is utterly predictable, like Rep. Eric Swalwell making an asshat of himself on Twitter. Out of all the things the Left loves to politicize, sexual matters are at the top because, well, they’re immature. As much as they like to pretend they’re more sophisticated than the rest of us, the truth is the Left are like horny teenage boys at a strip club. Because of this, they look at such matters simplistically. You know, for people who claim to know all about nuance, they don’t practice it that much.

This brings us back to Roe. From the Left’s perspective, getting rid of Roe is akin to taking adult women and turning them into chattel without agency or independent thought. And that’s the Left’s gimmick! If Roe gets repealed, it leaves the decision of whether to allow abortion to the states, which takes it out of the federal scope and, thus, forces Leftists to take their loopy arguments to all 50 states. Oh, and it will force them to spend more of their/our money to get what they want. Ultimately, though, it dilutes the Left’s power to affect the change they want. Instead of clinging to a bad ruling like Linus clings to his blanket, they would actually need to do the legwork to get their agenda in place nationwide, and since there are some states who don’t take a liking to abortion, they won’t be able to force compliance with the force of judicial fiat.

Which would be fine if the Left’s talking points were anywhere accurate. According to them, legal abortion is favored by a majority of people polled, but it’s rarely brought up to a public vote. Why? Because putting it up to a vote opens it up for the measure to fail, which also means the talking points would be rendered as null and void as Chris Cuomo’s CNN contract. Talk about adding insult to injury! If you think Leftists are sensitive now, just wait until they get defeated by voters! If they do what they normally do with public referendums that don’t got their way, they will run into a hurdle, namely the fact the USSC overturned Roe. Oops.

The Left has a lot at stake with the two Supreme Court cases involving Roe v Wade, so it’s not hard to imagine they’ll pull out all the stops to win. Yet, what they win has to be balanced against what’s being lost: potential Democrat voters and Leftist foot soldiers. Although there are plenty of young people filling those roles right now, at some point there will be a drop in those numbers, either through aging, changing opinions, or simply just seeing how bat-shit insane the Left has gotten.

It strikes me as funny the Left is doggedly holding onto a Supreme Court ruling that, while flawed, is the key to their destruction (in Minecraft and other places). The longer Roe remains in place, the lower their numbers will eventually get. But to right that ship, they would need to do a 180 on Roe, which they won’t do because it would mean they’ve been wrong for 40+ years and their ego can’t take it.

Even so, as pro-life as I personally am, I have to know where my limits are. I’m not going to force someone to take my position. All I can do is make my opinions known and hope they’re persuasive enough. I urge you to take a hard look at the information that’s out there on both sides regarding Roe v Wade and be willing to do what the Left doesn’t want you to do: ask questions.

And take baths. They hate that!