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This is expected

Fierce Planet Posted on June 9, 2023 by jnfrJune 10, 2023

Be careful out there. The threat of violence continues to escalate, as we always feared it would. And Trump’s indictment (gift link) is going to ramp up their fear and anger to a ever-more-fevered pitch.

‘We Need to Start Killing’: Trump’s Far-Right Supporters Are Threatening Civil War

Within minutes of Trump’s indictment, supporters lit up social media platforms with violent threats and calls for civil war.

In what is becoming a now all-too-familiar trend, former President Donald Trump’s far-right supporters have threatened civil war after news broke Thursday that the former president was indicted for allegedly taking classified documents from the White House without permission.

“We need to start killing these traitorous fuckstains,” wrote one Trump supporter on The Donald, a rabidly pro-Trump message board that played a key role in planning the January 6 attack on the Capitol….

Trump supporters are making specific threats too. In one post on The Donald titled, “A little bit about Merrick Garland, his wife, his daughters,” a user shared a link to an article about the attorney general’s children.

Under the post, another user replied: “His children are fair game as far as I’m concerned.”…

ETA: In my post on violence, linked above, I talked about how many of my leftist friends had started to buy guns of their own. With that happening, I found these events also unsurprising. As progressive people secure guns of their own, they typically schedule time at gun ranges to practice. This is the responsible thing to do as a new gun owner, to learn how to handle your weapon.

Gun ranges are spaces mostly controlled and visited by right-wing, conservative people. And so this happens:

They went to a gun range for a birthday celebration. Then came the threats from right-wing extremists.

…The employee commented that Loder was a “long way from home,” the letter said, which struck several of the friends as unusual and concerning.

“Her tone and expression suggested some sort of interest in Mr. Loder and their personal information,” the letter said.

That evening, right-wing social media accounts — with a history of targeting transgender people and progressive policies — posted about Loder and their friends. One Twitter account said Loder was spotted in Mission Valley that night with “well-known members of SD Antifa.” Another Twitter user, whose videos celebrate his own violent clashes with protesters, wrote: “Heard Chad Loder is in town gonna head downtown to say hi!”

Loder’s friends are not associated with Antifa, Loder said, but were unnerved by the posts….

No harm has come of this so far, as near as I can tell. But the threats are clear.

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Posted in Justice, Legal, Politics, Trump | Tagged legal, politics, violence

This lawless ruling

Fierce Planet Posted on April 8, 2023 by jnfrApril 8, 2023

As expected, Judge Kacsmaryk has ruled mifepristone illegal, ignoring every scrap of science and law to impose the will of the anti-abortion movement. At the same time, a judge in Washington state ruled that the FDA must keep mifepristone available, though this ruling was not for the entire U.S. (gift link).

This conflict will no doubt be sent to the Supreme Court, and quickly. Pro-choice forces are moving consistently against Republicans as election defeats pile up. If the Supremes rule in such a way that abortion becomes unavailable across the states, pressure for change from women and progressives will only get stronger. What that might look like is hard to say, but we are down to a fundamental clash here between the two incompatible sides of our electorate, and I can only hope the conflict doesn’t turn even more bloody.

Mark Joseph Stern, at Slate, has an opinion, and he lays out all the errors and lies in detail:

The Lawless Ruling Against the Abortion Pill Has Already Prompted a Constitutional Crisis

This unprecedented abuse of judicial power with no basis in law or fact will soon force the Supreme Court’s hand.

…It is probably impossible to count how many errors, exaggerations, and lies Kacsmaryk, a Donald Trump appointee, put in his decision. The judge appears to have largely copied and pasted the briefs filed by the anti-abortion group that filed the suit, the Alliance Defending Freedom, rephrasing their arguments as his own analysis. (This was predictable—Kacsmaryk himself is a staunch anti-abortion activist—and might be why ADF handpicked him specifically to hear the case for them.)…

From start to finish, Kacsmaryk’s opinion reads like a screed penned by an anti-abortion activists—because it largely is. At one point, he deemed fetuses to “arguably” be “people” who are killed by mifepristone, seeking to establish the “fetal personhood” that has always been the end goal of the movement. For support, he cited a brief by anti-abortion advocate Robert P. George asserting that the Constitution compels every state to outlaw abortion…

In truth, the reasoning goes beyond that. Through the combination of Comstock Act enforcement and fetal personhood, Kacsmaryk is laying the groundwork for a federal ban on abortion imposed through the courts. He knows such a ban could never be enacted through the democratic process. So he is apparently intent on delivering it through the judiciary, instead….

Yes, Kacsmaryk is trying to use Anthony Comstock’s chastity laws from the 1800s to force this change today, to make it illegal to provide pills by mail, or even to provide abortion information as I have on this site. This simply can’t be allowed to stand, but until it works through the Court system, we’ll have to take things day by day.

I will have a post for you next week on self-managed abortions with links to some resources we’ll all want to keep handy. I don’t think this fight will be over soon.

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Posted in Abortion, Civil Rights, Equality, Feminism, Health, Legal, Republicans, Science | Tagged abortion, legal

Jim Crow never actually died

Fierce Planet Posted on April 7, 2023 by jnfrApril 7, 2023

And we’re definitely seeing a resurgence in Tennessee where three state legislators joined in a protest against gun violence, and only the two young black men were stripped of their office. (gift link)


Justin Jones (front) and Justin Peterson,
currently not members of the Tennessee Legislature

Tennessee vote marks latest GOP move to stifle dissent, experts say

Tennessee Republicans’ dramatic expulsion of two Democrats who agitated for gun control in the state Capitol after a mass killing is the latest move by Republican state leaders around the country to stifle dissent and expand their power base, free speech experts say.

In Montana, Texas, Florida, Virginia and elsewhere, Republicans have moved in other ways to silence opposition in recent months, actions that might ultimately erode the country’s democratic ideals, they said….

 
Once again we see the disdain Republicans have for people of color, young people, Democrats, anyone other than the white Christian patriarchs that they very much believe should run the world.

My heart, as always, is with everyone who came together to protest against the gun worship that pervades this country, which is the leading cause of death for young people in the U.S. I do not think they can stop us given enough time, but the fight goes on, as it has before.

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Posted in Civil Rights, Democrats, Equality, Guns, Justice, Race, Republicans, Resistance | Tagged justice, race

The outcome

Fierce Planet Posted on April 6, 2023 by jnfrApril 6, 2023

…of the catalytic converter thefts that led us to leave our beloved Prius behind is this: a fairly new 2021 Nissan Leaf. Fully electric, no catalytic converter involved. The whole situation has been an extreme PITA, but this is a decent outcome, and we are happy.

My Prius was cuter though.

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Posted in Energy, Environment, Personal, Random | Tagged environment, personal

Shatner touches the sky

Fierce Planet Posted on April 2, 2023 by jnfrApril 2, 2023

And it changes his perspective on Earth.

In a new documentary on his life, he recalls how he felt when he first returned from a short trip into outer space.

William Shatner gets existential prior to the premiere of his documentary, You Can Call Me Bill

…Shatner’s been a little more existential since his trip up into outer space on one of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin expeditions. It’s spurred him to get more involved in environmental activism as he thinks about humanity in a greater sense.

“When I came out of the space ship I was crying, just sobbing, and I thought why am I crying? What’s going on? I’m in grief. What am I grieving about?” Shatner says. “Oh shit, I’m grieving about the world, because I now know so much about what’s happening. I saw the Earth and its beauty and its destruction. It’s going extinct. Billions of years of evolution may vanish. It’s sacred, it’s holy, it’s life and it’s gone. It’s beyond tragic. We stupid fucking animals are destroying this gorgeous thing called the Earth. Doesn’t that make you angry? Don’t you want to do something about it?”

I wish there were an easier way to share this understanding with all other humans.

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Posted in Beauty, Environment, Philosophy, Science, Space | Tagged environment, space

What I’ve been doing

Fierce Planet Posted on March 31, 2023 by jnfrMarch 31, 2023

Mostly I’ve been trying to write something difficult again, which is always painful for me. But my temper has had other trials as well, in the shape of unknown thieves who one night stole the catalytic converter from our 2004 Prius.

Our Prius at the Continental DivideYeah, we’ve been driving this car for nearly 20 years. We don’t drive much—the mileage is under 50,000 even after all this time. It was paid for years ago, and has been remarkably cheap to run. We planned to keep it for another decade at least.

So when the converter was taken, we contacted our repair shop and the insurance company and had it replaced. Our insurance was comprehensive and so we were only charged our deductible for the repair, which cost around $3,500 overall.

Our car arrived home maybe ten days later, once again driveable since no other part of the car was harmed. We parked right next to our front door, installed a large motion-sensing light nearby, and made an appointment with a muffler shop to have a cage installed over the converter to help deter thieves (the cages can’t guarantee a determined thief won’t get through, but they help).

And so, of course, the day I went to drive to the muffler shop, I turned on the car and once again heard the loud ROAR of exhaust that let me know our replacement converter had been stolen as well.

The insurance company had already re-written our policy. Blue Book on a Prius this age was under $4,000 and only that high because of the very low mileage. They didn’t want to pay for another converter, and honestly neither did we, not with the chance of yet another theft always hanging over us. So as you can imagine, the emotional tenor at our house has been a mixture of crankiness and anguish, as we dealt with this disruption in our lives and plans.

In the end, we donated our disabled Prius to Colorado Public Radio. They sent a tow truck and will do the work to transfer title and so on. I am so sad to see the end of a car that really should have kept working for many more years, but given that theft of these devices is incredibly common, we can’t keep a car that might need thousands of dollars of repairs, again and again (old Prius are especially targeted for reasons).

2021 Nissan Leaf, not our picWe are older folks and quite privileged in that over the years we’ve acquired assets, in our house and in retirement funds, and in cash and credit scores, that allow us to easily get another car. We’ve always said to each other that if we did ever need a new car, it would be an electric vehicle. The fact that EVs do not have catalytic converters has absolutely sealed that choice. We’ll get a much newer car, probably something like the 2021 Nissan Leaf shown in this picture. The Inflation Reduction Act included a lot of excellent tax credits for EVs, both new and used, and we’ll take advantage of that.

We’ll move into a newer world with a car that actually has USB ports and rear camera views and other updated items our old Prius didn’t have. Some years ago when we installed a number of solar panels and a Powerwall battery system we also upgraded our electrical boxes so installing a charger at home should be easy enough. I’m excited to add an electric vehicle to the system where it will function as extra storage of the electricity we generate. We’re quite committed to eliminating fossil fuels from our home as much as possible.

But still cranky, not only for ourselves but for the many other people who’ve been through this same miserable experience. The tow truck driver told me she’d seen many of these thefts nearby, including lots of folks who didn’t have comprehensive insurance and so had to take a total loss on their cars while also coming up with the cash for another one.

Catalytic converters, when sold on the black market, get the thief maybe a hundred bucks a pop. Easy money I guess, but the replacement cost is so high that these thefts have a dramatic impact on everyone who is a victim of them. Clearly, with parts going for these prices, someone is making bank on this particular cycle of theft and repair.

And this isn’t just a story about Colorado. In California, for example, thefts are so high that when yours is stolen you may not be able to get a replacement for months if at all (no gift links at the LA Times, sorry).

With thefts still high, California Prius drivers wait months for new catalytic converters

When the catalytic converter was stolen from Vanessa Reimer’s Toyota Prius in Long Beach, she thought the repair would be a simple one, taking a few weeks at most.

Then her local dealership delivered the bad news: The replacement part could take six months to arrive. Reimer, who is pregnant, may have a baby before her Prius has a new catalytic converter…

For several years, older Priuses have held the dubious distinction of being the No. 1 target of catalytic converter theft in California. Drivers whose converters have been swiped are now experiencing a second indignity: Thousands of Prius owners are ahead of them in line for the same part, and the delays could stretch on for months….

 

I wish I understood why this crime is not taken more seriously. I can think of several ways to break the theft chain, most of which would involve cracking down on whatever market is purchasing the stolen property. But when I reported both of these thefts to our local police, no one so much as contacted me for follow-up. If we had dozens of burglaries in my nabe, I’d expect the authorities to be on the case in a much more focused way.

Well, our house is out of the cycle now, and hopefully will stay so, at least for another 20 years. I’m getting quite old and I won’t be driving forever. With luck, I’ll never deal with anything like this again.

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Posted in Economy, Energy, Environment, Legal, Personal, Random | Tagged capitalism, crime

One step down the road

Fierce Planet Posted on March 19, 2023 by jnfrMarch 19, 2023

…towards creating the theocratic country conservatives long for. (gift link, no paywall)

Wyoming’s GOP governor signs law banning abortion pills

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon (R) late Friday signed into law a ban on abortion pills, as the state adopted what appears to be the nation’s first such state law.

The new law says that it will be “unlawful to prescribe, dispense, distribute, sell or use any drug for the purpose of procuring or performing an abortion.”

The law includes penalties of up to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of up to $9,000. But it exempts people who take abortion pills from criminal liability. It also allows drugs to be used in case they are needed to treat “natural miscarriages.”…

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Posted in Abortion, Civil Rights, Feminism, Legal, Politics, Republicans | Tagged abortion, theocracy

Sound advice for anyone providing abortion pills

Fierce Planet Posted on March 14, 2023 by jnfrMarch 14, 2023

If you're going to help your friends in abortion hostile states obtain abortion pills, for the love of the old gods and the new, DO NOT DO IT OVER IMESSAGE OR FB OR INSTA.

get a burner phone. use library computers. please stop doing criminal shit in a way that you'll get got.

— 🤌🏾 Imani Gandy 👆🏾 (@AngryBlackLady) March 13, 2023

And again if you take abortion pills and end up in the hospital and healthcare workers ask you what you took, YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL THEM. DO NOT TELL THEM.

— 🤌🏾 Imani Gandy 👆🏾 (@AngryBlackLady) March 13, 2023

As Michelle Goldberg points out in her column today in the New York Times (gift link, no paywall):

Abortion Opponents Want to Make Women Afraid to Get Help From Their Friends

…In text messages that are now part of a chilling lawsuit, her friends responded with warmth and solidarity. One told her about Aid Access, an organization based in Vienna that ships abortion pills to people in places where abortion is banned. Then the same friend texted that she had found someone nearby who could supply the medication. She and another friend both offered to let the woman go through the abortion at their homes. “Mistakes happen,” the second friend texted. “You can’t spiral. Hopefully this is the slap in the body that you need to remove yourself from him.”

Now the ex-husband, Marcus Silva, is getting his revenge. Last week, he filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against his ex-wife’s two friends and the woman who allegedly provided the abortion pills his ex-wife took, seeking a million dollars from each of them. (Because the suit seems likely to send abuse their way, I’m not including the women’s names.)…

We have real enemies out there, people who are more than willing to do harm to us and to other women. Please take care of yourself and your friends.

I’ll post more soon about self-managed abortions, as this is a subject we’re all going to need to understand, probably quite soon.

ETA: Here is a useful resource from the Abortion Resources Page linked above: provided by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, this is Reproductive Justice, digital safety tips for providers and for people seeking abortions.

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Posted in Abortion, Civil Rights, Feminism, Legal, Politics, Resistance | Tagged abortion, healthcare

This is not a drill

Fierce Planet Posted on March 9, 2023 by jnfrMarch 10, 2023

They really, truly do aim to get rid of anyone and everyone who will not conform to their narrow, bitter paths.

It’s a five alarm fire yall. Please wake up this is all hands on deck. pic.twitter.com/44SsubSelp

— Read Jackson Rising by @CooperationJXN (@JoshuaPHilll) March 8, 2023

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Posted in Civil Rights, Equality, Feminism, Justice, Legal | Tagged feminism, queer, race, resistance

As a reminder

Fierce Planet Posted on February 23, 2023 by jnfrFebruary 23, 2023

Not one state has a majority wishing to overturn Roe.
Not. One. State. https://t.co/dJWoMs3lWu

— John Steiner (@JohnSteiner32) February 23, 2023

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Posted in Abortion, Feminism, Health, Politics | Tagged abortion, politics

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