Politics Plus

Yesterday, I got to thinking that a House of Representatives with no Speaker, at a time when we have no budget, and have our foreign policy focused on the Middle East shooting war, is pretty damned convenient for Russia. Ukraine is holding strong so far, but there’s going to come a point when it will need resources badly. Is anyone investigating, or contemplating investigating, Matt Gaetz for being a Russian agent? Yes, I know he’s a pedophile and is himself intellectually and emotionally an adolescent (and will probably never grow up.) But that doesn’t mean he can’t be useful to Russia. Au contraire. See the Food for Thought below.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The Root – What In The Actual Hell: CVS Abortion Med Mixup Led To Black Woman’s IVF Termination
Quote – [Timika] Thomas and her husband had trouble getting pregnant and after two ectopic pregnancies, Thomas had to have her fallopian tubes removed. Even though their insurance didn’t cover IVF, they decided to do it and pay out of pocket anyway. Thomas’ doctor prescribed a vaginal suppository to replace the injections required to jumpstart her hormones. After taking two of her required doses, she immediately knew something was wrong…. “They just killed my baby. Both my babies, because I transferred two embryos,” [Thomas said.]
Click through for story. This would be unacceptable, no matter how the pregnancy occurred, but for an IVF pregnancy it’s exponentially worse. IVF is expensive, so expensive that it’s a last resort among fertility treatmernts. It often doesn’t “take” for multiple attempts. The best analogy I can come up with is – one is like you studued and worked hard, took the SAT or whateve they are using, sweat blood over your essay, and got turned down. the other is like you decided when you were five you wanted to go to a particular college and started saving monet from your allowance and odd jobs. You applied in your seniot year of high school and wewre turned down. You alloied in the first year after graduation and were turned down again. the second and third year after graduation you applied again and were turned down both times. Finally, in the fourth year after graduation, you applied and were accepted. Two days before freshman orientation the college burned down.

PolitiZoom – Anti-WOKE: Even Your Name Can Get Book Banned
Quote – Imagine if you will having had a successful career as a children’s book author. Your work has been widely acclaimed, published in a dozen languages and you’ve won lots of awards. Your work includes several series including a pair of them about siblings – one from the perspective of a little girl named Stella and the other from her little brother named Sam. The Stella series which ran from 1999 to the last book about Stella and Sam building a doghouse was published in 2013. including one about the adventures of a little girl named Stella and her brother…. Does the book delve into topics that might, only might mind you raise “content” questions about whether topics like human sexuality or race relations or religion are “age appropriate?” Nope, as I’ve stated it’s about a pair of siblings building a dog house. So by now you’re wondering why the hell this book wound up on a “we’ve got to BAN these books from the library” list in the first place. The author’s name is Mary-Louise GAY.
Click through for article. Yes, compared to the first short take, this is small potatoes indeed. But it still hurts people. And the people most harmed are among the most vulnerable.

Food For Thought