Musings:
• Roe v. Wade is dead. It was shot, stabbed, strangled, and burned to death, and its ashes were scattered to the four winds, thanks to the three U.S. Supreme Court justices nominated by the former, unlamented King of the United States, T. Rump. According to some legal scholars, the Supremes used pretzel-like language to arrive at their decision to override an established precedent. The justices claimed that, because abortion wasn’t mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, it therefore wasn’t a duly-approved right. The Constitution doesn’t mention a lot of things we take for granted these days – most importantly, the “right” to vote. Will the Trump Court target that one among others as a result of mental contortions? Stay tuned.
It has been suggested that the Supreme Court should be subject to term limits before the justices morph into doddering old fools in order to minimize the mischief they might cause. We should start thinking about it seriously. The Trump Trio should be impeached for testifying under oath at their confirmation hearings that they would not overturn Roe v. Wade.
Republicans claim to be pro-life and so they pass anti-abortion measures whenever and wherever they can, no exemptions in many cases. And yet, they vote against measures such as the child-tax credit and paid maternal leave which would put extra money into the hands of parents struggling to make ends meet. The unborn will be protected, but the newly-born is on its own, don’t you know? What’s wrong with this picture? The three “H’s” are in play here: Heartlessness, hollowness, and hypocrisy.
• Speaking of the newly-born, one supposes that it had to happen, given the atmosphere of fear-mongering which still grips these Disunited State of America. The panic, fomented by the befuddled Joe Biden administration, the greedy pharmaceutical industry, the duplicitous public-health community, and the pusillanimous news media, has led to the decision by the Federal Food and Drug Administration to authorize the vaccination of children under five years of age which was an extension of vaccinating children under 12 years of age which was an extension of vaccinating children under 18 years of age. Now that this final piece has been put in place, the so-called “emergency use authorizations” can be legally replaced by mandatory vaccination.
Fact: Many honest public-health officials say that young children have a low rate of infection compared to older folks with comorbidities.
Fact: Thousands who have gotten the initial inoculation plus umpteen booster shots are still being infected.
Fact: The pharmaceutical industry has patented their vaccines so that they can charge whatever they want (close to a hundred billion tax-payer dollars and counting).
Fact: Hundreds of thousands have suffered injury and/or death because the vaccines were never thoroughly tested before being marketed.
Fact: Big Pharma has been indemnified against any lawsuits charging wrongful injury and/or death.
Parents with small children should think very carefully before playing roulette with their children’s health.
• Some world leaders have proposed taking a different direction in future negotiations between Russia and Ukraine. They suggest that, if Kiev conceded parts of eastern and southern Ukraine, Vladimir Putin would be satisfied and withdraw his troops, and the Ukrainians could concentrate on re-building their country. There are two objections to this approach. First, Kiev is not in the mood to give up even one square meter of territory to the Russians. Second, Tsar Vladimir is not interested in parts of Ukraine; he wants all of it in his drive to restore the Russian Empire of the Romanovs. Once he has Ukraine, he will focus on other lost territories, e.g. Moldavia, the Baltic states, and Georgia.
The Chas is reminded that the Western powers offered Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler in order to have “peace in our time.” Hitler took Czechoslovakia gladly, but he wanted to control all of Europe, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Ural Mountains. His efforts led to World War II. Had the Western powers stood up to him, subsequent world history would have taken a very different path. Putin must be opposed by all democracy-loving nations – even if it means sending Ukraine large amounts of war material, until the Tsar of All the Russias runs out of money, weapons, and generals. It is from one who believes in negotiations first, war second.
Just a thought.