BeckyDem
BeckyDem's JournalJose Andres@chefjoseandres @GregAbbott_TX : nobody is illegal in heaven "dear" governor! Nobody!
https://twitter.com/chefjoseandres/status/1652894631720255488( Abbott is a sick man looking to find a means to minimize those murdered by insane gun violence he perpetuates )
Failure isn't shameful - in fact, it's the perfect reason to have an ice-cream
Emma Beddington
Monday, May 1, 2023
High school students in the US are tackling the brutal process of college applications with rejection parties, the New York Times reported last week. At one school, students bring along a printout of their college rejections, ceremonially feed them into a shredder, then get an ice-cream; there is a prize for the most rejected. It sounds wonderful: a cathartic, collective “screw you” to a broken system, using fun to salve the pain.
I wonder if owning rejection is easier in the US, where there is at least a partial sense that failure is OK; it’s considered a learning opportunity and a key part of the origin story. The Silicon Valley motto “fail fast, fail often” took hold because failure was seen as indicative of audacity and a willingness to try. Rejection is a particularly stinging subset of failure, but the principle remains: you took the shot; it didn’t pay off; you try again.
The issue with that narrative – and with lots of failosophy – is that it implies a redemptive arc, a high point from which you can point back to the days in the doldrums and say: look at me now. But life is generally a haphazard stagger around, rather than a cinematic journey – and we know that, really. I think this is why the basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo’s angrily articulate response to a question about whether his season was a failure went viral: “Some days you’re able to be successful, some days you’re not … Simple as that.”
The maturity and emotional honesty of these kids is shaming and inspiring. I have always hidden my rejections like dirty secrets and done everything I can to avoid getting more – meaning, of course, that I never take the shot.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/01/failure-isnt-shameful-in-fact-its-the-perfect-reason-to-have-an-ice-cream?CMP=share_btn_tw
( Love this! 
)
E Jean Carroll returns to witness stand in Trump rape trial
Today
The advice columnist E Jean Carroll returns to the witness stand on Monday to face another day of cross-examination in her lawsuit against Donald Trump for alleged rape and defamation.
Last week, Carroll denied that she falsely accused Trump of assaulting her in order to sell books and for political ends. She is seeking damages for alleged rape in a New York department store changing room in 1996, and for defamation after Trump accused her of lying when she went public with her accusations in a book.
Excerpt:
Later this week, Carroll’s legal team is expected to call Birnbach and another woman, Carol Martin, to testify that the advice columnist told them about the alleged assault shortly after it occurred. Both have since corroborated the account.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/01/e-jean-carroll-testimony-trump-rape-trial
( Hang in there, Jean....there are millions of people who support you. )
Ben Crump @AttorneyCrump: Powerful. This is the unfortunate and heartbreaking reality we are living
https://twitter.com/AttorneyCrump/status/1652769037867155462Thread@SenBlumenthal:Judicial Conference, including the Supreme Court, needs an Inspector General
https://twitter.com/SenBlumenthal/status/1652663587977003008( I am so proud of the very good Senator Blumenthal.)
Where State Abortion Laws Stand Without Roe
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Here’s what that means for each state.
By Julia Haines, Kaia Hubbard, and Christopher Wolf
April 26, 2023
Except:
Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was a challenge to a Mississippi law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy that experts say stands in direct opposition to what the Supreme Court decided in Roe – that states may not ban abortion prior to fetal viability, which is generally understood by experts to mean between 22 and 24 weeks of pregnancy. But in a 6-3 decision, the conservative supermajority on the high court sided with Mississippi, upholding its ban in a massive reversal of precedent.
With the high court’s ruling, the decision now returns to the states, which have for months appeared to be gearing up for a new abortion frontier, brashly introducing restrictions and flouting current precedent. Those bans are beginning to take shape.
Meanwhile, state-level laws and debates over medication abortion have become the new battlefront for 2023. In January 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a rule change allowing pharmacies such as CVS and Walgreens to begin offering abortion pills in qualifying states. The move could increase access to the pills at both physical stores and online pharmacies, and has sparked legal questions, particularly in the most restrictive states. An analysis by the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that supports abortion rights, found that medication abortion – often a two-drug combination of mifepristone and misoprostol – accounted for more than half of all facility-based abortions in 2020.
Legal debates over access to abortion medication were elevated to the Supreme Court on April 14, after two conflicting rulings on separate cases were both issued a week earlier. In one case, a Texas federal judge ruled that the FDA overlooked “legitimate safety concerns” when approving mifepristone, and ruled that access to the drug be suspended. In the other, a Washington state federal judge ruled that the FDA cannot restrict access to the drug in any of the 17 states that sued to expand access.
Excerpt: A recent poll found that there is widespread confusion about the legality of medication abortion.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/a-guide-to-abortion-laws-by-state
( Women are always fighting for our rights, never ends. )
Want To Rate Your Government? Just Look at Women's Rights
How Women Are Treated Is a Bellwether for Authoritarianism
Macarena Sáez
Executive Director, Women's Rights Division
@msaez_torres
Excerpt: If a government recognizes press freedom and freedom of expression, women can speak out against rights abuses. Women are more likely to seek justice when courts are independent and impartial. When labor rights and the right to education are respected, women and girls can advance more quickly toward equality. When women can vote and be elected, they can help elect candidates who believe in women’s autonomy.
When all these checks and balances are in place, women can expect a more level playing field to advance the recognition of rights. Institutions that can hold the executive to account are also signs of a healthy democracy.”
This is why, when we see women’s rights rolled back, it’s a flashing red light. The checks and balances that everyone relies on may be at risk or no longer functioning, and the slide to a less rights-respecting – even authoritarian – government may be under way.
One of the most threatening risks comes from courts becoming politically controlled.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/03/08/want-rate-your-government-just-look-womens-rights
@NormOrnstein: Read this piece and realize that Sam Alito is utterly unfit to be a justice
https://twitter.com/NormOrnstein/status/1652366349174276103
( Ornstein is one of the few conservatives to be honest and expresses his fears for the country under the Republican majority. )
Judge rebukes Trump for 'entirely inappropriate' post before E Jean Carroll testimony
Wed 26 Apr 2023 12.16 EDT
E Jean Carroll, the advice columnist suing Donald Trump for rape, testified on Wednesday in the civil trial of the former president for alleged battery and defamation.
“I’m here because Donald Trump raped me,” she said.
Before Carroll took the stand, however, the judge in the case, Lewis A Kaplan, rebuked Trump for an “entirely inappropriate” statement on his social media platform, Truth Social, shortly before proceedings began.
Kaplan warned the former president’s lawyers that such statements about the case could bring more legal problems upon himself.
Trump, who has not attended so far, called the case “a made-up scam”. He also called Carroll’s lawyer “a political operative” and alluded to a DNA issue Kaplan has ruled cannot be part of the case.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/26/trump-rape-trial-e-jean-carroll-testify
( Manipulative sleazeball will do everything in his power to control the jury's viewpoint. )
Andrew Wortman @AmoneyResists BREAKING:@tedcruz has been caught on tape conspiring
https://twitter.com/AmoneyResists/status/1651004312552611841( Democracy is a joke to so many in power...Republicans do not care.)
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