What fresh hell is this? ( quote attributed to Dorothy Parker*)                                                                                                                      

A surprise to no one, yet, nevertheless, a stinging slap in the face to women across the nation, the Supreme Court, on Friday, overturned Roe v. Wade, the longstanding federal legislation allowing women the right to have an abortion. Much reviled by religious and pro-life organizations, Roe v. Wade has had a target on its back since the Supreme Court announced its ruling back in 1973. After assuring Congressional inquisitors during confirmation hearings that they would not reconsider matters that were established law, Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney-Barrett (all Trump appointees) did an about-face and joined justices Samuel Alito and the ever-execrable Clarence Thomas in a vote to overturn the 1973 ruling. 


Gee, who'd'a thought? Certainly not United States Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who has spent the weekend clutching her pearls and claiming to all and sundry that she was misled during private interviews with Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. Oh, Susan, what was it about their deeply held religious history that threw you off? Methinks old Susan might want to hurry up and get that roof replaced on her retirement cabin up by the lake because she's likely to be spending a lot of time there this winter.  


There are plenty of outrage pieces, along with an equal number of gushing love fests celebrating this latest turn of events, so there's no need for me to add my two cents worth to the sound and fury. As a man, my words will almost certainly lack the resounding power of the voices of millions of American women who just lost a fundamental right to control their own destiny. The only way to (thanks Sam Alito) "correct" this grave injustice--and to prevent the injustices that will inevitably follow (see these comments by Clarence Thomas)--is to vote in every single election until the theocrats and would-be autocrats lose their positions of power, along with their capacity to enforce minority rule upon the rest of us. Just vote, dammit! 

*Parker's actual quote was "What fresh hell can this be?" in response to the doorbell ringing in her apartment. 


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