117 Comments

A devastating summary - my heart is in such pain for this country and especially for my children and grandchildren.

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So many of us have been warning of this process for so long. And all the while members of my liberal tribe kept on and on about trigger warnings and microaggressions and racism being everywhere and white people are the problem and refused to look at what was right in front of them. And now payment has come due with real triggers and real aggression and real prejudice and tolerance weaponized against tolerance itself. I see no way out, only worse to come. Like so many now I weep for my country.

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Your liberal tribe will never figure it out. They will line up to be interviewed by the new Christian gestapo just like they did for Pinochet.

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yeah, i surely do remember thurgood marshall doing that, martin luther king, jr, bobby kennedy, and so many others. good one.

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interestingly, the 10th amendment to the constitution specifies rights not specifically enumerated in the constitution are left to states to decide. given that gun rights are outlined as the 2nd most important right behind freedom of speech and the ability to redress grievances from our government, it seems the supreme court’s recent decision regarding that case is in line with what the founders intended.

speaking in regards to someone who has a concealed carry permit to use as a last stop in protection of myself, may family and my neighbors, who hopes to never have to use, but is constantly vigilant and prepared, this decision really only affects people who want to stay on the right side of the law. as we unfortunate see time and again, law isn’t stopping people with bad intentions. criminals, if you will. are you unjustly calling me a bad person or criminal because I choose to carry a weapon for protection, in line with laws written?

conversely, although I’m pro choice, the court also followed along with an originalist interpretation. abortion simply isn’t an enumerated right under the constitution. thankfully, many states have picked up the slack and codified these protections into state law.

it’s an unfortunate circumstance that the dems, who at one point had a super majority and could have created a strong law codifying privacy rights akin to roe, squandered that chance to maintain their ability to use a massive wedge issue to coerce voters to continue to vote for a party that doesn’t represent them, instead opting for a corporatist approach. they instead used that political capital to extend a giveaway to health insurance providers which has seen vastly increasing health care costs for regular people.

the way I see it, the most recent supreme court cases are reducing federal power, which is a good thing. the fed is a bloated disaster and doesn’t allow localities to represent their own interests.

we’re not going back to the days of dark alley coat hanger abortions. medical abortions make up the vast percentage and many companies have come out in support of “medical tourism” for their employees.

it’s just too bad you continue to have any faith in any of our politicians to serve the peoples interests. they’re all too busy enriching themselves, drunk with power.

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I want to write to you: “sort of”.

I get that in your world arming up seems the right thing to do. I get that you have unwavering confidence in your founding fathers.

But have you ever thought, ‘ Maybe I should have a look at the modern-day reality of where I live - and even compare that to other societies.”?

Yours is a massively broken system. It can be better than the founding fathers could have imagined. It takes the will of the masses, however. You must have an epistemological objective lens. History is good to know - but it’s not destiny. I disagree we are destined to repeat Weimar Germany. But it’s going to take some work.

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i'm not sure what you're getting at here, being completely honest. I have armed myself because I live in reality. I see the world around me. You may think that we've grown as a civilization but you're not seeing the reality of the situation. There are already more guns than people in the US. the reality of that is one that we cannot undo. walk into an area of depressed peoples in any western country and you'll see that their reality isn't much different than many in developing nations. that is an issue we as a nation should take seriously and correct, but we do everything but take responsibility. these areas are just outside of the areas you look at in society and think humanity has achieved progress.

I live less than 10 minutes away from a major mass shooting and that specific event taught me everything I needed to know. Not only do I carry arms, but I also carry trauma and stop the bleed kits (I did before that event). It's an awesome responsibility and one that I take extremely seriously. for a while after that event, I felt guilt, not because I carry arms, but that I wasn't there to either stop, or to potentially save a life. there are a vast amount of people like me.

I think the founders have done the best so far at attempting to restrict the government and allow people to be free, but it's been completely bastardized and is no longer representative of their intentions. contrasting that to other societies, I do see us moving closer inline with many that others hold in such high regard, and I don't see that as a good thing. we're not supposed to be subjects, as many european countries are to this day. we're meant to be free peoples who take the responsibility of our lives into our own hands. too many people are now looking to the government to tell them how to live, rather than being brought up in a way that innately individualizes them and teaches them the responsibility of their lives. to me, our society is going backwards because so many people are now dependent on the government.

we live in an area of vast resources, but those resources are all privatized and withheld, a practice that is increasing by the minute. our government now is nothing more than a "public" institution protecting privatization, an objective the WEF is constantly moving forward. this alone is cause for a slippage in life and livelihoods in our country of plenty.

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The right to drive a car is not enumerated in the Constitution, neither is the right to spit on the sidewalk. Who would think a state crazy to ban either, unilaterally? I find it rather sickening the number of people who keep bringing up this angle of, well, it’s not a right enumerated in the Constitution. It also is not prohibited. Treason is specifically prohibited and the penalty is included. If they wanted to specifically restrict abortion they would have, but until recently it was not something most men had anything to do with.

One third of pregnancies spontaneously abort. Have you any idea of the gray area that women will drown in as a result of this? I can’t imagine the founders would envision old fundamentalists deciding what women can access as a medical procedure. It is necessary to save women’s lives. Making it illegal is the height of entitlement for a man, especially considering most men know very little even about menses or birth control, let alone ectopic pregnancies, stillborns, endometriosis, or preeclampsia. What right does any man have to tell women what to do with their bodies, ‘originalist’ Constitutional interpretation or not?

“No society can make a perpetual constitution… The earth belongs always to the living generation.” – Thomas Jefferson

And anyone who actually believes this poppycock that the founders intended to create a Christian state have neither read the Constitution itself, nor their personal and public writings.

“No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever.” – Thomas Jefferson

It is up to us to demand an interpretation of the Constitution that serves the living generation of today. The Constitution was always meant to be a living document, not a set of Old Testament rules carved in stone and never changing.

“When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.” – Thomas Jefferson

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That’s way better than I said it. I think a likely hurdle here is that, what, maybe one in a hundred thousand people are aware of these ideas and facts you argue. Humans are pretty bad at getting to the deep thinking -it’s easier to go with the superficial. Your comment gives me hope.

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Chris writes, "The only thing the ruling oligarchy truly cares about is unfettered exploitation and profit." This is the point that most either dismiss or gloss over; but it is the critical point in considering why and how our society, as currently configured, will not, and cannot change. Laws, in and of themselves, cannot change either opinion or belief; they change only the most visible of actions. The changing of laws to require inclusion of people considered "undesirable" or "evil" by those eager to support a ruling tyranny, so long the tyranny is willing to persecute these; encourages the rulers to promote and support those who will obediently keep them in power. We live in the same racist, sexist, anti-nature society that has existed since before the colonization of these geographies. Legal plays at the veneer have not and will not change that. Christian fascism is the nature of this society, and the rulers, who own us, love it; no matter what empty words or gestures to the contrary. As Chris, correctly says, "The only thing the ruling oligarchy truly cares about is unfettered exploitation and profit."

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Although I am no where as educated on this as you are Chris, I have come to the same conclusions. I was just discussing this with my daughter yesterday. People really aren’t getting what’s really coming down. It reminds me of comments made by some of the average German people when the nazis came and raided their Jewish neighbors houses and dragged them off never to be seen again. They said they were shocked and had no idea what was happening. It appears to be the same here as people really can’t accept the reality of the deprivation of those who want a facist authorization rule over them. Corporate just wants slave labor and has no problem killing people to instill fear to control the masses and work those left to death and it will all be done under the Christian umbrella. I hope I’m wrong but from what I’m seeing it doesn’t appear that I am. At the least we are probably on our way toward civil war.

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Good comment, Ms. Wagner. I really hate to say this, but civil war now isn't looking like the worst possible outcome, which previously I had believed. If we can take Nazi Germany as our example, the alternative, with nuclear weapons, looks much worse for an already collapsing humanity.

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You make a valid point. With everything going on globally nuclear is an ever growing threat. At some point the threat will become a reality the way we are going.

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Seconds to midnight! Time to nuke up mars and create an atmosphere

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I think that’s the plan but good luck getting there in one piece. Nothing like a tiny space rock punching a hole through the shell of a spacecraft carrying humans. Satellites don’t have to have breathable pressurized air so not an issue with them. I guess everyone could live in a spacesuit for the trip. Ewww 😆

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The Court has no troops. It cannot tax. It cannot spend. It's power derives from our acceptance of its words and legitimacy as the source of authoritative interpretation of our fundamental law. Absent our acceptance, it is powerless.

This Court is illegitimate. Its words utter a reactionary denial of history and modernity, a deranged obsession with the necrosis of control and obedience, a deranged fear of freedom, autonomy and personal right. They do not, and cannot, claim our acceptance.

In the end, we have the rights we demand and fight for, nothing more, nothing less.

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State (and soon the federal) governments are destroying your rights - the Court is just allowing them to do so under cover of law.

There continues to be a complete disconnect in understanding how power operates.

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Well said.

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"Creationism or “Intelligent Design” will be taught in public schools, many of which will be overtly “Christian.” Those branded as social deviants, including the LGBTQ community, immigrants, secular humanists, feminists, Jews, Muslims, criminals, and those dismissed as “nominal Christians”—meaning Christians who do not embrace this peculiar interpretation of Bible—will be silenced, imprisoned, or killed."

And disabled people. They will not be murdered like they were by Hitler, but they will be denied care, denied supports. The rich will care for their own but the majority, very poor, will perish. But first they will be isolated and forgotten.

In the US, the reasoning is this: don't allow abortions because "abortion is the murder of babies". According to Thomas, contraception is also bad because ir "prevent babies". On the other hand, guns should be widespread so the fascists can go to schools and murders tose babies the right claims to want to protect.

The US is a dystopia. Corporate fascism already rules, now the christian fascists got what they wanted.

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Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky all warned that it will be the bourgeois middle classes (and their intellectuals) who will prove the most unreliable and will go along with fascism as long as it protects their status and privileges. In other words, the likes of liberal Democrats and their supporters will not oppose the Christian fascists. We already see how the congressional Democrats cannot even bring themselves to punish Donald Trump and his coup plotters for what amounted to an attempt to murder them, along with Democracy. Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky were right.

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Uh, Donald Trump and his "coup plotters" "attempted to murder" congressional Democrats and Democracy itself? Really? According to whom? The Democratic Party? The corporate media?

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Just watch the recordings of the capitol cameras shared by the the Jan-6 commission. I'm a registered independent and don't believe in our traditional parties but those cameras do not lie and I saw the congress members being shepherded to safety, and also a gallows outside waiting for the hanging of somebody.

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We the People are under a complete and total assault from every branch of government. The ideals this country was founded on have been traded in for false security, phony aspirations, nonsense theories and merciless aggression. These are only a few of the misdirected masquerades we have been caught up in as we were led to accept the unacceptable. Well the veil is lifted and the beast is seen for what it truly shows itself to be. How to stop the unstoppable? I think the American people deserve to know if their Supreme Court justices are deserving of their nominations. Sheldon Whitehouse is looking into dark money behind the picks for the Supreme Court and I think there needs to be an ethics committee set up and laws developed to hold SCOTUS accountable. Why should they be allowed to lie their way into a position on the Supreme Court? Our do nothing Senate needs to be held responsible and to learn to respect the People. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I am ready for “one step forward, not one step back!”

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False security indeed. I've been following the Russian invasion in the Ukraine fairly closely, and the thought that keeps coming up is how we'd get our asses handed to us if we tried to fight Russia. The 783 billion military budget is white collar waste, and the checks Biden keeps writing for the Ukraine are a boondoggle for a bunch of middle-men. It's sickening.

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The Supreme Court is only an outgrowth of the corruption, greed and indifference that consumes our entire government. Investigating whether or not that SCOTUS is morally bankrupt is like doing a study to determine if dogs have tails or if the Sun rises in the east or if basing an economy on greed and self-interest would end well.

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Since the liberal Democrats clearly were unwilling to accept any restrictions to abortion up to birth (and likely eventually after birth given other evidence of the standard creep of liberal "progress" demands) ... and for this reason Democrats in general could never pass any abortion bill... if the SCOTUS ruling is heralding the ascendancy of Christian fascism (a fanciful tantrum-throwing made up term) then we should all welcome it given the alternative.

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Every bit of fascism and totalitarianism in the SCOTUS anti-Roe decision was put there by the SCOTUS members who voted for it, for they consciously and deliberately opened the door to the use of government force to squelch the decision-making powers and responsibilities of girls and women. They put women's and children's lives at the mercy of anyone who can get his sperm into them. There is no love of children in a law that forces unwanted babies onto unwilling women and girls. There is nothing but nihilism and misery in that.

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Thanks Frank, you've finally clearly revealed yourself as a fascist.

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You lefties sure like using that term. Clearly you have nothing to contribute to the conversation and are ignorant of the real meaning of words.

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Sorry to say most of what you saying are either falsehoods or distortions of the truth. I consider myself a progressive, and nothing you say applies to my beliefs. Also if you dislike “lefties” you should stop reading Chris Hedges. I hope you have not wasted your hard earned money subcribing to this substack. Also if you respond to my comment, show some respect and do not call me son since I am probably older than you.

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What do you really think of Rev Chris Hedges column?

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"Since the liberal Democrats clearly were unwilling to accept any restrictions to abortion up to birth (and likely eventually after birth given other evidence of the standard creep of liberal "progress" demands) ... "

'post-birth abortions'?

THAT's what the Left 'is gonna be calling for'?

Get Outta Town!

well then Thank God for 'republican' Overreach

perhaps the Citizenry will spot it in time

though I am Not sure it's gonna Help

at this Late Stage ...

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Sure. They will just consider it "progress." The things we think are absurd today are just the unspoken goals of the left.

Just walk the left "logic". Abortion should be legal up to birth by complete choice of the mother including the latent realization that the life-impacting stress of raising a child would negatively impact her life.

The next logical step for the lefty brain is to conclude that some women don't know enough about the stress of raising a child until after the child is born. There is little actual moral difference between abortion up to birth and abortion say 3 months after birth. If one is acceptable, then the other would most certainly be acceptable to many if not most of the same people.

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Neglect of the born, other than their own, is a long, proud tradition of the right. In accordance with such a majestic custom, once one is born, they are on their own. To the ever- economy-minded right wing fascist grifter and Christian extremist, the moment a fetus passes through the birth canal its value plummets to well below that of a fertilized egg or even a sperm cell if one is clueless enough to be in agreement with Catholic doctrine.

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And that is the beginning of a life of undeserved misery for the poor child.

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Yup because once the baby is born, there is no longer any way to control the woman's body.

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You are insane. There are no “abortions up to the time of birth”. There are no doctors aborting full term babies and then murdering them. Even Roe put strict limits on abortions after the time of viability of the fetus. They could only be performed to save the life of the mother, and would be consider induced labor at that point, not abortions. And the baby if born alive would be given all necessary treatment, not murdered by the doctor, as you seemingly believe. Progressives do not believe in the murder of full term infants. But Christian fascists, ironically, will gladly put to death those they deem evil and expendable as soon our broken democracy is allowed to “progress” to the point it is heading. Stop trolling and spewing your backwards thinking here.

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The Democrats house bill included a "no limits on abortion" clause. You are either lying or are ignorant.

https://illinoisfamily.org/life/29-states-permit-full-term-babies-to-be-killed-in-the-womb-for-virtually-any-or-no-reason/

twitter.com/r0miFCi6e5

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Like I said, if the mother's life is at stake, labor is induced and the baby, if born alive, is given necessary treatment. Consider the source of your information. They are employing non-medical Inflammatory rhetoric in order to play on the emotions. I would defy them to give one example of a doctor “exterminating” a full term infant in the womb. “Partial birth abortions” a non-medical term, were rarely performed in the second trimester only, before they were outlawed, in order to spare the woman from going through labor. And almost always to save her life or if the fetus had a condition incompatible with life. I would have to see the exact transcripts of these laws. I believe these anti-abortion groups that promote this misinformation are taking words out of context. “No limits on abortion” can be interpreted to mean no limits within the first or second trimesters or to save the mother's life. I guarantee you there are no doctors killing full term healthy babies. They wouldn't last a minute in practice. Also, talk is cheap and an official could say “no limits” when what they meant was “no limits before viability”. That was stipulated even by Roe v Wade. Also, “no limits” might refer to no 6 or 15 week limits, no waiting periods, no unnecessary sonograms, or other measures put in place by lawmakers. I believe this last point is what “no limits” really means. The anti-abortion crowd is using hyperbole and lies to make “no limits” mean the killing of babies. And they are lying.

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Do you know what it is like to be raised by a mother who cannot accept you as her own child?

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There are many flawed humans out there that end up as parents and their children end up being much better people.

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"There is little actual moral difference

between abortion up to birth and

abortion say 3 months after birth."

the Side sans Morals is gonna

Lecture us about Morality?

please.

save it for

the Rosary.

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ALL of us should accept it? I think I'll give my vote to barbarism first. After all, barbarism hasn't had its chance to shine since what? the Roman Empire? Really looking forward to those christians fighting lions.

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Folks might want to also go back and re-read Hedges' book "Death of the Liberal Class" to understand the cowardice and self interest that drove this capitulation to fascist forces.

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Chris, Anita Hill told us Clarence T's proclivities. Biden and T Kennedy blocked her witness, trashed her. Allowed Thomas's hyperbole "lynching" to be repeated. We knew a man who denies his longings would put on a masquerade that covers up what is depraved in himself. In the dark of those robes, Robes-pierre. SA

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Separation of Church and State? Tax the bastards and regulate them . Lol. Woman's right to chose, second imperative and no protection for ,oh say a second thought? A rapist can force a female to have his child ? Ect.

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not only Have his Child

Demand and Receive

child support money

not to mention

Custody

wft.

their Delusions

have turned

the Planet

upside

down

adios

Justice.

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The commercial fascists are working overtime in their global domination by greasing the palms of Americans with sticky political fingers and ensuring unlimited power to those with a deep desire to control their fellow humans. For decades, American citizens have been adjudicated as "mentally ill" or "vulnerable" via laws drafted and enacted by the "professionals" who profit the most from these proceedings. These labeled citizens have been institutionalized, stripped of their human and civil rights; tortured via medical practices used by the Nazis, and robbed of every last dime they have to pay for the experience. So, the "legal" systems used by Nazis to get rid of anyone who opposed them, are embedded and accepted in America today. As an advocate and activist, I have witnessed in courtrooms that no one is exempt from this system. When systemic abuses suffered by the captives are presented to elected officials and oversight agencies seldom are the complaints acknowledged, examined or corrected. So, I am busy working on my 2025 exit strategy. How about you?

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The 4th turning comes to mind. You and I will be in a void until Divine intervention comes. In the mean time put Love in Your life . If I may define Love , in My crude way , put the Other first. Alas this is the "evil world" in which We live!

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Excellent article.

But you missed probably the most damning decision made by the Supreme Court lately: Egbert vs. Boule. This ruling essentially eviscerates the 4th amendment and gives the 20,000 members of the border patrol—already an out-of-control gang of armed terrorists—free reign to commit crimes against American citizens without fear of repercussions. Actually, it gives ALL federal agents free reign as far as I can tell. Essentially it says, ‘yes, he violated the 4th amendment, but since the congress didn’t explicitly say federal agents can’t do that, citizens have no recourse. What???

Did the supreme court just signal that there would be no repercussions for overthrowing the government or engaging in unconstitutional behavior?

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