A Bad Week for Justice

With the exception of some Democratic/progressive candidate wins in the last year, it's been incredibly hard to stay informed of our nation's (and world's) news in the last year and a half ever since the 2016 election without feeling extreme anxiety and despair on a daily basis. This is a long, hard game, in which recent weeks (and this week in particular) have comprised a particularly hard quarter (inning, set, whatever), because of the following reports (among others):

- the "pro-life/pro-family/love thy neighbor" administration creating an inhumane program of separating vulnerable children from their parents seeking asylum on our southern border in tender-age "shelters" (American concentration camps) which will undoubtedly traumatize them for years to come, whether or not they'll ever be reunited with their families

- an Arizona woman's denial of a prescription to pass a dead fetus of a miscarriage because of a   Walgreens pharmacist's "moral" objection to filling "abortifacients"
- crisis pregnancy centers being allowed to withhold information about women's legal choices for (terminating) pregnancy, while the standard does not apply to Planned Parenthood and abortion providers giving informed consent and options

- a bigot baker being told it is acceptable to discriminate against LGBTQ people based on his claim to "(Christian) religious freedom" and free speech, further evidence of the right weaponizing the first amendment when it serves their intolerant platform

- a racist Muslim travel ban being upheld as legitimate, despite our Constitution supposedly being true to religious tolerance

- GOP gerrymandering and minority vote-suppression in a what-would-be-turning-bluer state, Texas, being deemed perfectly acceptable

- screwing unions for the sake of an objecting few individuals

- the only ideologically flexible or independent-minded "conservative" on the Supreme court (Justice Anthony Kennedy, although he also brought us Citizens United and George W. Bush and apparently ran out of gas with his horrible 5-4 deciding votes this week) just announcing his retirement and thus opening up another seat for another young, extremist right-wing justice à la Gorsuch (who sits in a shamelessly stolen seat that was rightfully that of Obama appointee, Merrick Garland, in perhaps the most consequential political theft in the history of our country). We will now have the most conservative court in three-quarters of a century for generations, which does not reflect the politics or will of the populace and gets abolishes the last check and balance we have on our fascist president

 - Roe vs. Wade (and probably all contraception for anyone with a uterus) most likely being next up on the chopping block, as a direct result of conservative court-packing and gerrymandered state legislatures, which dramatically affects the lives of my patients and women nationally (if you haven't, GET. YOUR. IUD. NOW).

The above actions and decisions literally make me sick and completely ashamed of and disgusted at being from this country (can we become British again?).

At least this brought a smile to my face: 

Yes, Notorious RBG. Stay strong. Please don't break a hip. You can have one or both of my kidneys, or any other organ in fact, if you need one.

And to everyone: Please (if you have the means) donate money (my favorite causes are ACLU, NARAL, Planned Parenthood, Swingleft and progressive candidates' campaigns, and recently KIND (kids in need of defense). Contact your representatives [at least we Californians know that most of our reps have our back]. Vote like hell this midterm year, 2018, and beyond. Our civil rights, our lives, this democracy, and justice for the rest of our lifetime and that of our children depend on it.