Thanks for this timely analysis. How ironic -- tragic, actually -- that this attack on the privacy and freedom of 51 percent of our citizens comes as a result of political manipulation by the party that used to sell itself as the protector of Americans’ freedom. It was in fact always a band of partisans dedicated to conformity -- in this case, to a particular set of behaviors aligned with a harsh right-wing Christianity. So sad. Keep hope alive by organizing and voting!
There are so many deeply disturbing things about what you’ve brought up today, particularly about the lack of HIPAA protections, lack of CPC regulation and tax exemptions and for profit data collection. What I’ve never understood though is from the first time that I heard about the $10,000 bounty is how such a draconian law itself is constitutional and how the Supreme Court could let such a divisive, harmful and devastating law even go into effect!
Thom, you are giving them the info---let's hope they use it.
These are great points for candidates to use when on the campaign trail or in debates. Most people have watched enough crime dramas to know how anyone can be tracked using their cellphone. They have been educated about HIPAA at their docs and pharmacy.
The sleazy tactics and lies of the CPC folks track with everything this 21st Century Republican Party does. They keep going back in time, while the Progressives and decent citizens try to move forward.
And on the subject of the bounties, the guys could ask for small bills, so they are ready to hit the strip clubs. The Republicans DO have a platform---hypocrisy, brutality, and sleazy tactics are the planks.
Wow. That is all so horrifying. Id heard of the CPCs but didnt realize the data collection was so detailed, not subject to HIPAA, and are aggressively networked so broadly!
Can a case be made to sue them for “practicing medicine” without a license? I mean deliberately giving incorrect medical advice sounds like it should be illegal.
Also Thom, how are you doing post-surgery? Please rest. Recovery takes time. 🙏🏼
Superb article. And I mean SUPERB. Arguably the most informative article I've read on the subject. What I like about Thom is on every subject, no matter how well he knows it, he acts as if he knows nothing and digs for everything.
Bet you $50 he learned a lot writing this. I know I did reading it. Good work, Thom. As usual
True believers on the fringe right have convinced themselves their one and only true god directs all their thoughts and actions, except when they sin because of the Devil (instead of just assuming personal responsibility for their own dumb choices in life). That's fine; people believe all sorts of strange things when contemplating life, death, and the hereafter. Whatever gets them through the day so they can sleep at night -- it's a free world. Kinda.
True self-righteous fanatics, on the other hand, have not only convinced themselves their infallible god directs their own thoughts and actions but also that He (always a he) must direct the lives of everyone else, commanding that His flock with Glocks go forth amongst heretics and heathens and convert them, or else. For, it is commanded that to save this Christian nation from eternal damnation, true patriots, i.e., Republicans, MUST all think alike and all believe in the same god (of wrath).
And all the sinners, i.e., DemocRATS, MUST be purged from the face of the Earth ...or at least from the voter rolls. So why, then, would not their god be totally cool with aborting Democratic babies? Or Black or Brown babies? Who needs a bunch of second-class minorities anyway, gumming up the works in the white master race's march of civilization?
The Great White Fathers might need those yellow ones, though, to grow up as techie nerds. For some weird reason, probably stray genes or something, Orientals are pretty dang good at all that boring brainiac stuff. (Just remember though, Little Johnny, all that CRT shit ain't true, goddammit!)
So what better way to demonize your "enemies" than as baby killers, whom your god hates to high heaven? It's all about one tribe of apes having power over the other tribes, usually for predatory purposes, such as hoarding bananas to dole out as political favors in the hierarchy of society. Clinging to economic and political power at the expense of truth, fairness, and common decency is a secular endeavor pursued by mere mortals who are hugely flawed.
Hate to break it to all you citizens of MAGA Land, but your knee-jerk bigoted attitudes are learned behavior, not some mythical power of the gods working divinely through you to create a chosen race under some cockamamie color-coded system. (Seriously, guys and gals still clinging to Trump and Trumpism, get a real life that means something beyond the petty.)
To recap: Blowhard wingers with bullhorns aimed at their gullible prey don't actually give a damn about abortion except as a wedge issue. Republican hypocrites only harp about it loudly, using false prophets and false religion to manipulate and divide citizens to score cheap political points with a rabid base of fanatical religious zealots who don't tolerate any dissent.
Deeply programmed true believers to the right of Atilla the Hun, like a Terminator robot, have lost their humanity and cannot be reasoned with, cannot be appealed to, and certainly cannot be expected to honor the higher instincts a functioning, multi-faceted democracy demands. They can only be out-voted.
The issue of pregnancy, abortion and when or if a fetus is considered a human being will always be controversial. The case of the woman being ticketed for driving in the HOV lane who argued that being pregnant allowed her to do so. A citation was late dropped. So my point is, at the time of conception shouldn't a woman be able to claim an additional dependent on her taxes, apply for a social security number or be able to have two votes if pregnant during an election years? Can we see this happen if laws were changed?
A slippery slope indeed! Where voter fraud meets forced pregnancy. Voting twice! Getting double the benefits! That popping sound you hear in your neighborhood are wingnut heads exploding as they try to think through the implications of their delusional ideation applied to the real world, trying to square the circle in their minds.
I am no fan of state policy that turns in woman for getting an abortion...
But in a democracy it begs the question. Why do the majority of woman in Texas support such legislation?
Is Hartman framing this issue in a manner that enables the reader to understand why so many woman support this policy and would it not be better if we had these issues framed in a way that opened the door for compromise?
Normally, compromise is a good thing, even in politics when it can be immensely disappointing, to say the least. But that's how democracies are supposed to work, generally speaking.
But how do you compromise with people who are wholly committed to taking away other people's long-established rights, especially ones so basic as choice, privacy, agency over one's own body, and command over the direction of one's own life, on equal footing with men?
The best way to "compromise" is to vote, vote, vote, and gain the majority in the U.S. Congress. And then, codify the rights of all women on a national level regardless of where they happen to live -- so that individual state legislatures and governors in red states can't deny U.S. citizens constitutionally protected rights passed by a Congress that represents the vast majority of the entire nation, not just a minority of religious whackos who want to drag the rest of us into their "Handmaid's Tale" dystopia.
I understand your well placed desire to avoid, at all costs, a Handmaid's Tale dystopia.
That said, when something becomes a "right" and a large percentage of the population opposes it you then force them to fight back with everything they have. For the right this has been a 30+yr battle that has resulted in a SCOTUS now dominated by Handmaids like justices.
In Jamal Green's recent book, How Rights Went Wrong, (he is a Professor of Law at Yale, i think) he argues that issues like civil rights, abortion and many others are actually better worked out through the democratic process where both sides end up invested in the solution.
On the issue of abortion he points to both Germany and Canada as examples where legislators worked out compromises that work for both sides. In Germany abortion is technically illegal, satisfying the anti abortion side. At the same time there are an array of exceptions which make having an abortion highly accessible for all intents and purposes, though woman do have to go through counseling before getting the abortion. Further the anti abortion side had to agree to a number of policies to insure the child is well taken care of especially in the case of single mothers.
The bottom line is that in Germany the issue is settled and both sides had to give and take. One side is not trying to stack the courts with closed minded lunatics just to force their way. With our "winner take all" approach there is always going to be one side that is massively angry.
I know it sounds counter intuitive, but compromise almost always works better than forcing something down the throat of one side.
You mean like what Republicans in Texas are doing? What Republicans on the Supreme Court are doing? What Republicans on Capitol Hill are doing? What Republicans are doing all across America in Republican controlled states -- the minority party shoving their minority religious beliefs down the throat of the majority?
Roe v. Wade WAS the compromise! Well, that didn't work out so well for the majority once the minority view took over SCOTUS. We need a national law to protect the rights of women everywhere. Trying to compromise with brainwashed zealots who don't understand the concept is a fool's errand.
The brainwashed zealots you refer to feel the same way about us. So they have incentive to fight for total power given "Rights" like Roe. When we reach compromise neither side has the incentive to kill or be killed.
In Germany abortion is technically not legal, but woman can and do still get abortions and there is no effort to take over their version of our Supreme Court with the kind of Bridesmaid justices we have today. And that is better for all sides than what we have put our selves into by choosing to make abortion a "right" rather than a law.
I'm not arguing against compromise; I'm saying that it's foolish to think you can compromise with with shameless liars who don't negotiate in good faith om purpose. The history is clear.
The result is obvious. The Overton Window has been dragged far to the right over the decades because of progressive liberals appeasing religious reactionary authoritarians. What use to be right-wing extremism is now being mainstreamed and normalized.
That's not compromise; that's giving into anti-democratic fascism that is slowly, inexorably eroding representative democracy under our very feet as we speak. Ideals are one thing; reality on the ground is another -- more often than not, they don't agree. We're at war; the Republicans started it; choose a side.
Civil wars are the most damaging. We are all better off toning the rhetoric down so we can find common ground.
I will grant you everything you have said about the GOP. And the more they feel people like you and I are not listening to or respecting their views the more attractive leaders like Trump and Ted Cruz become to their voters.
This is a war where neither side wins.
And it serves the interest of the Corporations that would rather us fight to the death over abortion or WOKE professors or Trans people than organize and come together over things like higher wages, better health care, cleaner environment, higher taxes on the rich, breaking up monopolies etc...
Compromise is the only path. The longer you fight it the more you play into the hands of the donor class who need to keep us at each others throats to hold on to power.
With the abortion situation unpopular with the majority, maybe the more successful scheming like this is, the more outcry it will create from taxpayers who have to pay for it? Maybe privately cheer the legislators on in what hopefully is their death march
Thanks for this timely analysis. How ironic -- tragic, actually -- that this attack on the privacy and freedom of 51 percent of our citizens comes as a result of political manipulation by the party that used to sell itself as the protector of Americans’ freedom. It was in fact always a band of partisans dedicated to conformity -- in this case, to a particular set of behaviors aligned with a harsh right-wing Christianity. So sad. Keep hope alive by organizing and voting!
There are so many deeply disturbing things about what you’ve brought up today, particularly about the lack of HIPAA protections, lack of CPC regulation and tax exemptions and for profit data collection. What I’ve never understood though is from the first time that I heard about the $10,000 bounty is how such a draconian law itself is constitutional and how the Supreme Court could let such a divisive, harmful and devastating law even go into effect!
Thom, you are giving them the info---let's hope they use it.
These are great points for candidates to use when on the campaign trail or in debates. Most people have watched enough crime dramas to know how anyone can be tracked using their cellphone. They have been educated about HIPAA at their docs and pharmacy.
The sleazy tactics and lies of the CPC folks track with everything this 21st Century Republican Party does. They keep going back in time, while the Progressives and decent citizens try to move forward.
And on the subject of the bounties, the guys could ask for small bills, so they are ready to hit the strip clubs. The Republicans DO have a platform---hypocrisy, brutality, and sleazy tactics are the planks.
Wow. That is all so horrifying. Id heard of the CPCs but didnt realize the data collection was so detailed, not subject to HIPAA, and are aggressively networked so broadly!
Can a case be made to sue them for “practicing medicine” without a license? I mean deliberately giving incorrect medical advice sounds like it should be illegal.
Also Thom, how are you doing post-surgery? Please rest. Recovery takes time. 🙏🏼
Superb article. And I mean SUPERB. Arguably the most informative article I've read on the subject. What I like about Thom is on every subject, no matter how well he knows it, he acts as if he knows nothing and digs for everything.
Bet you $50 he learned a lot writing this. I know I did reading it. Good work, Thom. As usual
True believers on the fringe right have convinced themselves their one and only true god directs all their thoughts and actions, except when they sin because of the Devil (instead of just assuming personal responsibility for their own dumb choices in life). That's fine; people believe all sorts of strange things when contemplating life, death, and the hereafter. Whatever gets them through the day so they can sleep at night -- it's a free world. Kinda.
True self-righteous fanatics, on the other hand, have not only convinced themselves their infallible god directs their own thoughts and actions but also that He (always a he) must direct the lives of everyone else, commanding that His flock with Glocks go forth amongst heretics and heathens and convert them, or else. For, it is commanded that to save this Christian nation from eternal damnation, true patriots, i.e., Republicans, MUST all think alike and all believe in the same god (of wrath).
And all the sinners, i.e., DemocRATS, MUST be purged from the face of the Earth ...or at least from the voter rolls. So why, then, would not their god be totally cool with aborting Democratic babies? Or Black or Brown babies? Who needs a bunch of second-class minorities anyway, gumming up the works in the white master race's march of civilization?
The Great White Fathers might need those yellow ones, though, to grow up as techie nerds. For some weird reason, probably stray genes or something, Orientals are pretty dang good at all that boring brainiac stuff. (Just remember though, Little Johnny, all that CRT shit ain't true, goddammit!)
So what better way to demonize your "enemies" than as baby killers, whom your god hates to high heaven? It's all about one tribe of apes having power over the other tribes, usually for predatory purposes, such as hoarding bananas to dole out as political favors in the hierarchy of society. Clinging to economic and political power at the expense of truth, fairness, and common decency is a secular endeavor pursued by mere mortals who are hugely flawed.
Hate to break it to all you citizens of MAGA Land, but your knee-jerk bigoted attitudes are learned behavior, not some mythical power of the gods working divinely through you to create a chosen race under some cockamamie color-coded system. (Seriously, guys and gals still clinging to Trump and Trumpism, get a real life that means something beyond the petty.)
To recap: Blowhard wingers with bullhorns aimed at their gullible prey don't actually give a damn about abortion except as a wedge issue. Republican hypocrites only harp about it loudly, using false prophets and false religion to manipulate and divide citizens to score cheap political points with a rabid base of fanatical religious zealots who don't tolerate any dissent.
Deeply programmed true believers to the right of Atilla the Hun, like a Terminator robot, have lost their humanity and cannot be reasoned with, cannot be appealed to, and certainly cannot be expected to honor the higher instincts a functioning, multi-faceted democracy demands. They can only be out-voted.
The issue of pregnancy, abortion and when or if a fetus is considered a human being will always be controversial. The case of the woman being ticketed for driving in the HOV lane who argued that being pregnant allowed her to do so. A citation was late dropped. So my point is, at the time of conception shouldn't a woman be able to claim an additional dependent on her taxes, apply for a social security number or be able to have two votes if pregnant during an election years? Can we see this happen if laws were changed?
Haha, good one!
A slippery slope indeed! Where voter fraud meets forced pregnancy. Voting twice! Getting double the benefits! That popping sound you hear in your neighborhood are wingnut heads exploding as they try to think through the implications of their delusional ideation applied to the real world, trying to square the circle in their minds.
I am no fan of state policy that turns in woman for getting an abortion...
But in a democracy it begs the question. Why do the majority of woman in Texas support such legislation?
Is Hartman framing this issue in a manner that enables the reader to understand why so many woman support this policy and would it not be better if we had these issues framed in a way that opened the door for compromise?
Normally, compromise is a good thing, even in politics when it can be immensely disappointing, to say the least. But that's how democracies are supposed to work, generally speaking.
But how do you compromise with people who are wholly committed to taking away other people's long-established rights, especially ones so basic as choice, privacy, agency over one's own body, and command over the direction of one's own life, on equal footing with men?
The best way to "compromise" is to vote, vote, vote, and gain the majority in the U.S. Congress. And then, codify the rights of all women on a national level regardless of where they happen to live -- so that individual state legislatures and governors in red states can't deny U.S. citizens constitutionally protected rights passed by a Congress that represents the vast majority of the entire nation, not just a minority of religious whackos who want to drag the rest of us into their "Handmaid's Tale" dystopia.
Deep
I understand your well placed desire to avoid, at all costs, a Handmaid's Tale dystopia.
That said, when something becomes a "right" and a large percentage of the population opposes it you then force them to fight back with everything they have. For the right this has been a 30+yr battle that has resulted in a SCOTUS now dominated by Handmaids like justices.
In Jamal Green's recent book, How Rights Went Wrong, (he is a Professor of Law at Yale, i think) he argues that issues like civil rights, abortion and many others are actually better worked out through the democratic process where both sides end up invested in the solution.
On the issue of abortion he points to both Germany and Canada as examples where legislators worked out compromises that work for both sides. In Germany abortion is technically illegal, satisfying the anti abortion side. At the same time there are an array of exceptions which make having an abortion highly accessible for all intents and purposes, though woman do have to go through counseling before getting the abortion. Further the anti abortion side had to agree to a number of policies to insure the child is well taken care of especially in the case of single mothers.
The bottom line is that in Germany the issue is settled and both sides had to give and take. One side is not trying to stack the courts with closed minded lunatics just to force their way. With our "winner take all" approach there is always going to be one side that is massively angry.
I know it sounds counter intuitive, but compromise almost always works better than forcing something down the throat of one side.
You mean like what Republicans in Texas are doing? What Republicans on the Supreme Court are doing? What Republicans on Capitol Hill are doing? What Republicans are doing all across America in Republican controlled states -- the minority party shoving their minority religious beliefs down the throat of the majority?
Roe v. Wade WAS the compromise! Well, that didn't work out so well for the majority once the minority view took over SCOTUS. We need a national law to protect the rights of women everywhere. Trying to compromise with brainwashed zealots who don't understand the concept is a fool's errand.
Deep
The brainwashed zealots you refer to feel the same way about us. So they have incentive to fight for total power given "Rights" like Roe. When we reach compromise neither side has the incentive to kill or be killed.
In Germany abortion is technically not legal, but woman can and do still get abortions and there is no effort to take over their version of our Supreme Court with the kind of Bridesmaid justices we have today. And that is better for all sides than what we have put our selves into by choosing to make abortion a "right" rather than a law.
I'm not arguing against compromise; I'm saying that it's foolish to think you can compromise with with shameless liars who don't negotiate in good faith om purpose. The history is clear.
The result is obvious. The Overton Window has been dragged far to the right over the decades because of progressive liberals appeasing religious reactionary authoritarians. What use to be right-wing extremism is now being mainstreamed and normalized.
That's not compromise; that's giving into anti-democratic fascism that is slowly, inexorably eroding representative democracy under our very feet as we speak. Ideals are one thing; reality on the ground is another -- more often than not, they don't agree. We're at war; the Republicans started it; choose a side.
Deep
Civil wars are the most damaging. We are all better off toning the rhetoric down so we can find common ground.
I will grant you everything you have said about the GOP. And the more they feel people like you and I are not listening to or respecting their views the more attractive leaders like Trump and Ted Cruz become to their voters.
This is a war where neither side wins.
And it serves the interest of the Corporations that would rather us fight to the death over abortion or WOKE professors or Trans people than organize and come together over things like higher wages, better health care, cleaner environment, higher taxes on the rich, breaking up monopolies etc...
Compromise is the only path. The longer you fight it the more you play into the hands of the donor class who need to keep us at each others throats to hold on to power.
With the abortion situation unpopular with the majority, maybe the more successful scheming like this is, the more outcry it will create from taxpayers who have to pay for it? Maybe privately cheer the legislators on in what hopefully is their death march