The Pro-Life movement suffered another setback on Monday, when Supreme Court Justice John Roberts sided with the court's liberal wing to strike down a Louisiana law that said abortions could only be performed by doctors who had admitting privileges at nearby hospitals.
The court's liberals, among whom we can certainly count Roberts at this point, found that the law could make it more difficult for a woman to exercise her Constitutional right to abortion (a right which we wish the court would circle with a yellow highlighter, because damned if
we can find it in there). They also declared that there was "no medical benefit" for a woman getting quick hospital treatment in case her hoo-haw was geysering blood and her own organs, rather than those of her child, were skittering across the floor.
Interestingly, an almost identical case had previously been decided by the court, and Roberts had voted that the law
was just fine and shouldn't be overturned (although it still was). Which is why it was surprising that he completely flip-flopped his vote this time, while saying that
he still thought he was right the last time. He changed his vote only because precedent had already been set, and he didn't want to mess with precedent even if it means raping the Constitution a little.
Then again, rape is no big deal in a country that makes access to abortion easy by stripping away protections to make it safe.
And speaking of safe, we
still aren't here in the United States of Confusion when it comes to coronavirus and Covid-19...
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| "It's okay, folks - she's a patriot!" |
We've about given up hope that our nation will really be able to get this virus under control, mostly because the simple measures needed to reduce transmission have been hopelessly bungled, distorted, lied about, and politicized.
So just let us vent for a moment and share some truisms which you're free to believe or not:
• We are not starting a second viral wave. We're still near the beginning of the
first wave.
• People can be entirely asymptomatic and still spread the potentially deadly virus to others (and yes, Typhoid Mary
felt fine for the years she spread her illness).
• Any mask is better than no mask.
• Wearing a mask will not make you sick or cause you to hyperventilate (although
fear might, so calm the heck down).
• Individual virus particles are small enough to travel through masks. Virus particles wrapped in snot and saliva - which is to say MOST of them - can not.
• If virus particles DO enter your system, the fewer you get initially, the greater the likelihood that you'll have a less severe case (starting with a lower "load" gives your body more time to gear up for the fight).
• There are no really good remedies or treatments for Covid-19 yet, although some helpful meds are being looked at.
• Of those hospitalized for Covid-19 and eventually released, as many as 50% are still suffering symptoms - including severe symptoms like chronic "10 out of 10" pain and brain injuries - which
may be permanent.
• "My mask protects you, your mask protects me." This is a fact. And the only one that can possibly restore a bit of normality to our daily lives.
• "Opening up" doesn't mean it's free-for-all time again. It means SOME business can occur again if (and only if) people take the important and logical measures of wearing masks and observing social distancing.
• There is no guarantee that an effective vaccine will be found.
And there's more, but the bottom line is: put politics aside and, for now, wear a mask whenever you're mingling with other people in public. Other countries are doing it and it works. We did it
here during the Spanish Flu and it worked.
Besides, keeping up to date with good pandemic procedures may be even
more useful in the near future...
Yes, those happy-go-lucky Chinese have announced that
a new flu virus with "pandemic potential" has popped up and may soon be winging its way to our shores. Because while
pigs can't fly, swine flu most certainly
can.
This being a "new" virus, there is - again - no human immunity, and the virus has
already jumped from porker to person in at least two cases.
Although if China is
admitting two cases, God only knows how many people have
really sprouted curly tails and are currently shnuffling amongst tree roots for truffels.
