S09.E10: Abortion Rights and The Philippines

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Main topics:  Abortion Rights and The Philippines

Also:  May the 4th be with you

Original air date 2022.05.08

[Annber03]

"God didn't want to listen to any more of Jerry Falwell's bullshit, either." 

That, along with John's line about seeing Falwell in a coffin...XD. Watching Falwell's smug, obnoxious face in those clips was beyond infuriating. And if I hear one more anti-abortion activist going on about "the children" while they continue to do absolutely fuck all to support policies that would benefit these children they keep trying to force these women to have, I'm going to fucking scream. 

So hey, if women can be charged with homicide for having an abortion, does that mean we can also charge the men who got them pregnant as accessories? 'I mean, if we're going to go to these kinds of batshit crazy extremes, might as well go all the way, right? Let's hold all these men accountable, too, and put the same kinds of draconian restrictions on their reproductive choices and rights that they want to put on women. Guarantee the minute anyone tried that, a whooooooole lotta men's tunes would change REALLY damn fast on this issue. 

Yet again, I express my wish for the day when Iowa gets back in the news for good political reasons. I'm not surprised, I've been reading about the efforts the state GOP has been making to try and restrict, if not outright ban, abortion access here in my state. Even so...sigh. 

I do agree with John's rant about how the Democrats need to push back harder, from the politicians all the way down to the voters. He's right. The GOP were playing chess while we were just taking for granted that these rights would always be here. I seriously do not want to hear one single person going on about how they don't plan to vote this year, or how "both parties are equally bad" or other BS like that. Anyone who truly believes that needs to pay far better attention. Plus, the more people who get out and vote, the harder we can make it for those trying to restrict voting rights to overcome that sheer amount and volume of people and numbers (not saying they still wouldn't try, mind, but it would take a lot more work and perhaps invite even closer scrutiny). In the meantime, the Democrats absolutely need to get their butts in gear and do everything in their power to ensure that reproductive rights remain protected, no questions asked. 

As for those SC justices, yeah, I'm thinking the very fact that three of them were appointed by a president who was impeached twice and who later tried to stage a coup, and a coup which the wife of another one was involved in, no less, should be reason for automatic removal from office and rendering any of their decisions null and void. I know the Senate has to vote on removing judges and all, but I would have to think this is something that would need a little more immediate and direct response ('cause good luck getting the Senate to get on board with removing these judges). Especially since it's clear that the three judges appointed by TFG committed blatant perjury under oath (and if Kavanaugh lied about his stance on Roe v. Wade, I'd say that also casts some pretty heavy doubts on his insistence that he never sexually assaulted anyone, no?). 

As for the other main topic...what even is this history with the Philippines and their elections and the Marcos family? Dear god, just when you think politics can't possibly get any more insane and out there... Lord, I feel for the people of that country.  But that "Fuck you!" reaction...I feel that. Hard. I've been yelling it quite a bit this past week. I really hope the people of the Philippines do ultimately wind up with a good outcome in the end. 

And on a much lighter note, John's whole thing about one's grandfather coming back and having to learn about Cher and Sonny Bono cracked me up XD. 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Annber03

[scarynikki12]

Thank you Ollie for making the imminent Roe overturning a main story. "Not deeply rooted in the nation's history" my ass. Abortion existed before the country was even founded but with different methods so it's as deeply rooted in our history as anything else. 

Glad Ollie called out the "not your grandfather's party" comment because this has been the goal since the ruling 49 years ago. It's not new.

That Louisiana bill is absolutely horrifying. If it becomes state law it means many more people will die from ectopic pregnancies which require fast intervention.

Ollie's completely right that politicians need to stop treating abortion like the third rail when it's a very popular medical procedure. They need to grow spines and show legislative support. 

Duterte. This fucking guy. Ollie's right at the bravery of the journalists living in the Philippines since he's vocally in favor of killing them. So the election is between his daughter and the son of Ferdinand Marcos? Oh boy.

I did like Ollie calling our intervention with the Philippines "borderline British". That was funny.

The fake bread story was also funny and a good demonstration of how often stupid things get believed if they get passed around enough.

That weather guy clearly loves saying Cinco de Mayo more than anything. He probably lives for that day each year. 

[Annber03]

2 minutes ago, scarynikki12 said:

"Not deeply rooted in the nation's history" my ass. Abortion existed before the country was even founded but with different methods so it's as deeply rooted in our history as anything else. 

John's reaction regarding why our founders wouldn't have considered abortion among their main concerns back in the day when drafting our Constitution was GOLD. "It's right on the tip of my penis..." 

Quote

That Louisiana bill is absolutely horrifying. If it becomes state law it means many more people will die from ectopic pregnancies which require fast intervention.

I know someone who would've been affected by a law like that had it been in place when she had to deal with one of those kinds of pregnancies. Words can't express how infuriated I am. 

[paigow]

Canadian & Mexican abortion clinics are going to be very busy soon...

[kittykat]

I don't usually sit there and wait until episodes load but I was waiting this week because I knew what was coming and was also glad it got the main story treatment. 

The fact that such a large minority have so much away over our politicians with regards to abortion is just infuriating.  It's because republicans know most of their base are two issue voters (guns of course being the other hot button)  so they just pull that card out every time.

Then the double whammy with the Philippines elections.  It's sad to see such a viral spread of disinformation to the point where it affects how their history is told.  Good thing we're not headed down that path.  Oh wait...

After those stories we earned those sloths.

Edited May 9, 2022 by kittykat

[iMonrey]

Quote

Canadian & Mexican abortion clinics are going to be very busy soon...

Maybe, but to John's point, most women cannot afford to just go somewhere else if abortions are illegal wherever they live. That's why it's so disingenuous for anyone defending this decision to say "oh, well, women can just go to another state." That assumes the woman in question can take the time off work and has the resources to go as far as four or five states away. 

The whole thing is so infuriating, but John did a great job covering it.

On another note, I want to change my name to Bongbong. 

[swanpride]

I got a good laugh out of the "it's on the tip of my p..." joke. On a more serious note, though: Women will die over this. It's so depressing to watch, especially since it was so predictable. 

But good that he also addressed the Philippines. 

[JustHereForFood]

1 hour ago, swanpride said:

I got a good laugh out of the "it's on the tip of my p..." joke. On a more serious note, though: Women will die over this. It's so depressing to watch, especially since it was so predictable. 

No shit. Poland for example has horrible abortion laws. Only reasons when abortion is permitted are rape (no, I don't know how is the woman supposed to prove it, but I'm sure that just saying "I was raped" is not enough), or if her life is at stake. But despite the second exception, they still managed to kill 2 women in the past 6 months, both times women who were othrewise planning the pregnancy, but were hospitalized for severe complications, with the fetuses not able to be saved. The doctors just waited for the fetuses to die, because they were too scared it would be classified as abortion, but surprise, the women later died too, of septic shock. A similar case in Ireland years ago was one of the reasons for the change that Oliie mentioned, in otherwise very conservative Ireland (Catholics, like Poland, what more needs to be said). But there is no indication that Poland might make a similar change back to allow more exceptions. Oh, and defect of the fetus is not valid exception either, so even if it doesn't have developed lungs, heart, etc. and is not expected to survive, the woman is still forced to carry it and then watch it struggle or die.

A lot of them go have abortions abroad, but as was said, not everyone can afford it and for example covid complicated it as well, when travel between countries was not permitted.

I expect similar poroblems are incoming for several US states. Unbelievable.

 

14 hours ago, Annber03 said:

I do agree with John's rant about how the Democrats need to push back harder, from the politicians all the way down to the voters. He's right. The GOP were playing chess while we were just taking for granted that these rights would always be here. I seriously do not want to hear one single person going on about how they don't plan to vote this year, or how "both parties are equally bad" or other BS like that. Anyone who truly believes that needs to pay far better attention. Plus, the more people who get out and vote, the harder we can make it for those trying to restrict voting rights to overcome that sheer amount and volume of people and numbers (not saying they still wouldn't try, mind, but it would take a lot more work and perhaps invite even closer scrutiny). In the meantime, the Democrats absolutely need to get their butts in gear and do everything in their power to ensure that reproductive rights remain protected, no questions asked. 

Different country and different issues, but this is like listening to myself. I am so over people who say that voting doesn't matter because everyone is equally bad, that they have better things to do on that day (seriously, unless you are saving someone's life, you don't), or that they don't want to vote for someone who they don't agree on everything with. We can't afford to wait for some super party that we will agree with 100%, or vote for someone who is expected to have 1-2% of the votes and throw our vote away (I was guilty of this once 6 years ago and I'm still kicking myself over it). We all have to sometimes (most of the time, let's be honest) vote for the lesser evil, if necessary. Because those voting for the worse evil will vote, make no mistake.

(PSA over 😉)

[peeayebee]

I just watched the ep, so I had already heard that Bongbong won. When I heard that, I couldn't understand how it could happen, so I appreciated the show talking about it. Extremely infuriating how history is being rewritten. (And, yes, that's not unique to the Philippines.)

I need to look this up, but how did the Marcos's get asylum in Hawaii? I assume they're still living there.

As far as the abortion story, that's equally infuriating. One of the many things that pisses me off re Alito's draft, is Amy Coney Barrett saying that since women can surrender newborns without repercussions, they have no good reason not to carry the baby to term. This just evades the bottom line that the government would be forcing women to be pregnant. "Do the nine," as Kate McKinnon said on SNL this past show.

I did appreciate seeing the sloths again. That helps a bit.

 

[paigow]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Maybe, but to John's point, most women cannot afford to just go somewhere else if abortions are illegal wherever they live.

Point taken - maybe some dude with a few extra billion to spend on rocket launches can charter some electric buses...

[Annber03]

5 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

or that they don't want to vote for someone who they don't agree on everything with. We can't afford to wait for some super party that we will agree with 100%

Lord, THIS. I have never understood that argument. I would much rather vote for somebody that I can at least agree with some of the time rather than sit it out because they don't fit my super specific preferences and wind up getting stuck with a politician whom I don't agree with at all. At least with the former, they're more likely to listen to people like me who might disagree with them on an issue, and work with voters. If I'm stuck with a politician that has zero in common with me, and they've dug in their heels on their stances, then we're not going to get anywhere on anything. I don't get how people think not voting achieves anything, I've yet to hear of any instances where it has. If not voting, or just slapping down a random third party name and calling it good, actually worked, actually solved anything, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now. 

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Maybe, but to John's point, most women cannot afford to just go somewhere else if abortions are illegal wherever they live. That's why it's so disingenuous for anyone defending this decision to say "oh, well, women can just go to another state." That assumes the woman in question can take the time off work and has the resources to go as far as four or five states away. 

That pissed me off so much, too. Oh, sure, it's just SO easy to simply go somewhere else. Unless your car isn't working, or you can't drive for some reason, or you're disabled, or the closest state with legal access is a couple states away from you, or... 

I just....I will never understand the sheer and complete lack of caring and compassion and understanding and sympathy that comes with this mindset. What the hell has to happen in one's life to make them think it's okay to screw over other people this badly? 

[paigow]

Is there some kind of twisted circle of causality???

Back alley / unregulated abortions killed so many mothers that safe clinics were established...

Applying this logic to the opioid crisis... safe injection sites were established ...

Soon, back alley / unregulated abortions will be the new normal... 

[andromeda331]

I can't believe that Marco Jr. is not only running for president but has a good chance winning. How could that possibly happen? Is the option really against him and daughter of the man happy about journalist murders? Please let there be a third option. 

I am so sick of "saving" the children and it's in the Bible. Both are bullshit. Outlawing abortion is not about saving the children if it was there wouldn't be a single kid growing up in foster care, living in abusive situations and they'd be all for the best health care, education and etc. for the kids. Abortions happened during Biblical times. Abortion has been around forever and it's always going to be. It's going to happen in unsafe ways. Women are going to die. I keep thinking about how that changed the abortion laws in Ireland but I really doubt that will do anything to change the laws. They'll just blame the women for not keeping her legs closed. I keep thinking about how many women became Suffragettes after watching their mothers having child after child, struggling to raise their kids or dying in childbirth. We're right back there again. Women have the right chose whether they want to have a child or not. They have the right to end a pregnancy if they don't want one. 

Clarence Thomas should be thrown off the bench after the crap came out about his wife. Kavanagh too. He never should have been appointed in the first place.   

John was right also about the Democrats.  They had 49 years to codify abortion and they didn't. They've been weak for so long. Get it together. 

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, Annber03 said:

Lord, THIS. I have never understood that argument. I would much rather vote for somebody that I can at least agree with some of the time rather than sit it out because they don't fit my super specific preferences and wind up getting stuck with a politician whom I don't agree with at all. At least with the former, they're more likely to listen to people like me who might disagree with them on an issue, and work with voters. If I'm stuck with a politician that has zero in common with me, and they've dug in their heels on their stances, then we're not going to get anywhere on anything. I don't get how people think not voting achieves anything, I've yet to hear of any instances where it has. If not voting, or just slapping down a random third party name and calling it good, actually worked, actually solved anything, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now.

Neither have I. There's never going to be a perfect candidate that has everything you want. There's a lot of things I'd love to see in a candidate that will ever happened. For example I'd like to see one fix the mess that is the VA. Third parties are useless. They are never going to win. They are never going to do anything. It's just throwing away votes. We have two parties. That's it. Given the sheer amount of horrible people elected as Republicans to are also very up front with how terrible they are. Their not even bothering to hide their racist, conspiracy, or criminal behavior. If your not for any of those things there's really only one choice.  

[purist]

2 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Is the option really against him and daughter of the man happy about journalist murders? Please let there be a third option. 

No, Duterte's daughter was running for vice-president, which is a separate election. Marcos's opponent was Leni Robredo, who was the vice president to Rodrigo Duterte.

[andromeda331]

1 hour ago, purist said:

No, Duterte's daughter was running for vice-president, which is a separate election. Marcos's opponent was Leni Robredo, who was the vice president to Rodrigo Duterte.

Oh, okay. Thank you.

[iMonrey]

Quote

That pissed me off so much, too. Oh, sure, it's just SO easy to simply go somewhere else. Unless your car isn't working, or you can't drive for some reason, or you're disabled, or the closest state with legal access is a couple states away from you, or... 

And you know the next step a lot of these states will take is making it illegal for a woman to cross state lines for an abortion. I mean, the law in Texas already says pretty much that. Anyone who even drives someone to get an abortion can be prosecuted. The "just go to another state" argument doesn't hold water, at all. 

[paigow]

24 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

And you know the next step a lot of these states will take is making it illegal for a woman to cross state lines for an abortion. I mean, the law in Texas already says pretty much that. Anyone who even drives someone to get an abortion can be prosecuted. The "just go to another state" argument doesn't hold water, at all. 

Would Southwest Airlines be prosecuted for flying someone out of state to an abortion? Not just the pilot, but every employee- up to and including the CEO. [Insert Spirit Airlines joke here]

[Ceindreadh]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

And you know the next step a lot of these states will take is making it illegal for a woman to cross state lines for an abortion. I mean, the law in Texas already says pretty much that. Anyone who even drives someone to get an abortion can be prosecuted. The "just go to another state" argument doesn't hold water, at all. 

There was a period in Ireland (from 1983 when the 8th Amendment came in) to about 1992 where it was technically illegal to travel to England for an abortion.  (on account of how the amendment granted the unborn equal status to the mother)  But it was sort of a 'don't ask don't tell' situation.  Then once it came to public notice there was a big kerfuffle because it was the specific case of a teenage rape victim whose family had to get a court order allowing her to travel.  Eventually there was a referendum which gave a constitutional right to leave the country for an abortion and to get information about abortion.  An Irish solution to an Irish problem.  It took until 2018 to repeal the 8th amendment, but while it is now legal to get an abortion in the country, it's not always easy to find a doctor or hospital that will actually provide the service.  Still, it's better than nothing. 

[paigow]

47 minutes ago, Ceindreadh said:

An Irish solution to an Irish problem. 

Bono is the King Of Ireland...[ffwd 2:30] Problem solved

 

[Lugal]

On 5/9/2022 at 4:11 PM, Annber03 said:

I don't get how people think not voting achieves anything, I've yet to hear of any instances where it has. If not voting, or just slapping down a random third party name and calling it good, actually worked, actually solved anything, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now.

I don't think it's about thinking it will achieve anything but just pure disgust.  If we have a choice of someone who completely disagrees with us, or someone who only has a few positions that we agree with them on, but then once elected, they do whatever the hell they want and never follow through on those positions (and oftentimes show active contempt for those positions) then what?  Then the alternative is not voting, and they still do whatever the hell they want.  Damned if we do and damned if we don't. (For the record, I do vote)

On 5/9/2022 at 4:11 PM, Annber03 said:

That pissed me off so much, too. Oh, sure, it's just SO easy to simply go somewhere else. Unless your car isn't working, or you can't drive for some reason, or you're disabled, or the closest state with legal access is a couple states away from you, or...

Completely agree!  It always annoys me how people always crow about freedom, but have the worst understanding of it, specifically positive vs. negative freedom.

[JustHereForFood]

21 hours ago, Lugal said:

I don't think it's about thinking it will achieve anything but just pure disgust.  If we have a choice of someone who completely disagrees with us, or someone who only has a few positions that we agree with them on, but then once elected, they do whatever the hell they want and never follow through on those positions (and oftentimes show active contempt for those positions) then what?  Then the alternative is not voting, and they still do whatever the hell they want.  Damned if we do and damned if we don't. (For the record, I do vote)

What I take from stories about Brazil, or as it seems from this one, Philippines, is that we can be thankfull that we have even that option, because there are countries where they only have the worst options to choose from. Not to mention countries where people can't vote at all, or the voting is just performative.

[paigow]

2 hours ago, JustHereForFood said:

Not to mention countries where people can't vote at all, or the voting is just performative.

Dissident: Let me go! I have rights!

Totalitarian Interrogator: Of course. You will get a fair trial - at which you will be convicted and sentenced to death. So you will not be in jail much longer after all. A Win-Win outcome.

[Lantern7]

Appalling episode. Going with two topics was the right move, as John needed the full time to talk about Supreme Court bullshit AND Bongbong trying to run the Philippines. It’s pretty scary . . . someone having the amount of clout to basically rewrite history and basically cancel his family’s crimes. Is “funhouse mirror” a proper analogy?

John does have “big colonizer energy.” It’s the accent. He could lose it, but it’s a big part of his identity. Also, it’s scary when he tries an American accent, or says something as un-British as “deez nutz,” like he did in his Air Bud diatribe.

Seriously, though, we needed this episode. TBS has been too into NHL and NBA postseasons to air Full Frontal, Trevor Noah’s grandmother recently passed away, and I don’t feel like watching late night talk for the “day of” remarks.

We didn’t get St, Patrick’s Day shit or critiques on Peeps, so they had to show “May the 4th” and Cinco de Mayo news bits. I keep imagining those days fusing, and C3P0 wearing a sombrero.

Heroin overdose is common for sloths? Good to know. Thanks, John!

Edited May 16, 2022 by Lantern7