ShazzieB
ShazzieB's JournalTom Tomorrow cartoon....and a question....
KSToronado included the following brilliant (as always) Tom Tomorrow toon in today's Tuesday carTOONS collection:
And I have a question:
When the Supreme Court continues to strip away our rights and consolidate its own power as an unaccountable, rogue branch of government....
....at what point is the country in a a constitutional crisis?
Asking for a friend who kinda thinks we may be there. 
A meme for the moment
I made this meme today and posted it as a reply in another thread. I've decided to also give it an OP of its own, just because.
Credit goes to Jrose for the Ana Navarro quote: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219076378
Donald Trump's Niece, Mary L. Trump, to Publish New Book About Her Family
The writer and psychologist’s book, Who Could Ever Love You, will be published this fall by St. Martin’s Press. The book will reveal details about Mary’s late father, Fred Trump Jr., and his experiences within his immediate family.
“Mary Trump is a truth-teller, and in this intimate new book, she lays bare the toxic family dynamic that now shapes every day of our national discourse,” George Witte, St. Martin’s Publishing Group SVP and Editor-in-Chief, says in a statement shared with PEOPLE.
More info here: https://people.com/mary-l-trump-to-publish-new-book-about-her-family-8611278
Book about book bans banned by Florida school board
Gratz’s book, which came out in 2017, follows fourth-grader Amy Anne Ollinger as she tries to check out her favorite book. Ollinger is told by the librarian she cannot, because it was banned after a classmate’s parent thought it was inappropriate. She then creates a secret banned-books library, entering into “an unexpected battle over book banning, censorship, and who has the right to decide what she and her fellow students can read”, according to the book’s description on Gratz’s website.
*snip*
In a peculiar case of life imitating art, Jennifer Pippin, a parent in the coastal community, challenged the book. Pippin’s opposition is what prompted the school board to vote 3-2 in favor of removing it from shelves. The vote happened despite the district’s book-review committee vetting the work and deciding to keep it in schools.
Indian River county school board members disagreed with how Gratz’s book referred to other works that had been taken out of school, and accused it of “teaching rebellion of school-board authority”, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
More: https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jun/11/florida-book-bans-book-banned
I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!
Willow got her stitches out today!
Just got back from the vet where Willow had the stitches from her surgery removed and was pronounced to be healing nicely. 
According to the pathologist's report, only one of the masses that were removed was malignant, and it was just stage 1, which is good news. I have to do some reading up on mammary cancer in cats, because the vet said they can be quite aggressive (more so in cats than dogs), and there is a chance of recurrence. But so far, so good.
Thank you, my DU pet friends, for being here and offering support. This community is the best! 
Domestic Abuse And Abortion Bans Create 'A Very Dangerous Recipe' Post-Roe
A new report analyzes survivors' experiences with reproductive coercion, intimate partner violence and the threat of criminalization.
The report, conducted by the National Domestic Violence Hotline in collaboration with If/When/How, surveyed over 3,400 people between October and December 2023. The organizations wanted to learn more about survivor experiences with reproductive coercion, intimate partner violence and the threat of criminalization in a post-Roe v. Wade world (though, not all domestic violence experiences included in the survey happened during the survey window). Reproductive coercion and reproductive abuse are umbrella terms that describe situations including when an abusive partner controls pregnancy outcomes, coerces someone into unprotected sex or tampers with birth control methods, among other tactics.
The survey found that 63% of all respondents were pressured or forced into having sex with a current or former partner when they didn’t want to, and nearly 40% said their partner threatened them if they said no to sex. Around a quarter reported that their partner pressured them into becoming pregnant, and 13% said their partner used or threatened violence while they were pregnant with the intention of ending the pregnancy. More than 30% of respondents said they do not have access to an OB-GYN or physician who focuses on reproductive health. The survey was conducted on the Hotline’s website and all responses were anonymous.
“When you have a country that has now allowed abusive partners to be completely emboldened in restricting access to health care, in allowing someone to feel like they cannot control their own bodies, and when the states and the country decides to say, ‘Actually, no, your bodies aren’t your own.’ It is a very dangerous recipe, and the findings underscore that,” Crystal Justice, the chief external affairs officer at the National Domestic Violence Hotline, said in a Monday press briefing.
More: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/domestic-abuse-abortion-bans-create-very-dangerous-recipe-post-roe_n_665e1018e4b0a8b68eea496c
The full report is available on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/document/738945925/Reproductive-Coercion-and-Abuse-Report#from_embed
(NOTE: It will ask you to sign up for a "free trial" that eventually becomes a paid account. I presume you can sign up for the free trial, download the report, and then cancel the account, but I haven't tried it myself, so no guarantees.)
These are scary times for all women in America, but especially for women in abusive relationships.
We MUST fix this by reelecting Biden and electing as many Dems as possible to the House and Senate!
X-posted to General Discussion
Domestic Abuse And Abortion Bans Create 'A Very Dangerous Recipe' Post-Roe
A new report analyzes survivors' experiences with reproductive coercion, intimate partner violence and the threat of criminalization.
The report, conducted by the National Domestic Violence Hotline in collaboration with If/When/How, surveyed over 3,400 people between October and December 2023. The organizations wanted to learn more about survivor experiences with reproductive coercion, intimate partner violence and the threat of criminalization in a post-Roe v. Wade world (though, not all domestic violence experiences included in the survey happened during the survey window). Reproductive coercion and reproductive abuse are umbrella terms that describe situations including when an abusive partner controls pregnancy outcomes, coerces someone into unprotected sex or tampers with birth control methods, among other tactics.
The survey found that 63% of all respondents were pressured or forced into having sex with a current or former partner when they didn’t want to, and nearly 40% said their partner threatened them if they said no to sex. Around a quarter reported that their partner pressured them into becoming pregnant, and 13% said their partner used or threatened violence while they were pregnant with the intention of ending the pregnancy. More than 30% of respondents said they do not have access to an OB-GYN or physician who focuses on reproductive health. The survey was conducted on the Hotline’s website and all responses were anonymous.
“When you have a country that has now allowed abusive partners to be completely emboldened in restricting access to health care, in allowing someone to feel like they cannot control their own bodies, and when the states and the country decides to say, ‘Actually, no, your bodies aren’t your own.’ It is a very dangerous recipe, and the findings underscore that,” Crystal Justice, the chief external affairs officer at the National Domestic Violence Hotline, said in a Monday press briefing.
More: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/domestic-abuse-abortion-bans-create-very-dangerous-recipe-post-roe_n_665e1018e4b0a8b68eea496c
The full report is available on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/document/738945925/Reproductive-Coercion-and-Abuse-Report#from_embed
(NOTE: It will ask you to sign up for a "free trial" that eventually becomes a paid account. I presume you can sign up for the free trial, download the report, and then cancel the account, but I haven't tried it myself, so no guarantees.)
These are scary times for all women in America, but especially for women in abusive relationships.
We MUST fix this by reelecting Biden and electing as many Dems as possible to the House and Senate!
X-posted to Pro-Choice
We are Golden!
Yes, that's right, Mr. B and I celebrated our 5oth anniversary today! (Well, technically it was yesterday, since it's after midnight, but I haven’t gone to bed yet, so it feels like it was today.)
We were married on Saturday, May 25, 1974, and celebrated 50 years of marriage on Saturday, May 25, 2024. Funny how neatly that worked out!
Our life together has been a patchwork of adventures and mishaps, ups and downs, laughter and tears. It wasn't always easy but it was definitely worth it. I'm proud of us for staying committed and working through our issues together. The first 25 years were the hardest, but we persevered, and our relationship is stronger now than ever.
I would like to close by sharing a song that some very talented friends of ours played at our wedding for us. This isn't them (our wedding wasn't recorded, unfortunately) but the original artists,, Seals and Crofts. It's still our theme song.
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Update on Willow (mostly good!)
Earlier this month, I posted about Willow being diagnosed with mammary cancer, promising future updates. Things did not go as quickly as expected, so there wasn't much to report for a while, but I am finally back to fill you in on what's been happening.
After the diagnosis, the game plan was to do some preop testing before scheduling surgery. First item on the agenda was an abdominal ultrasound to check for any signs of metastasis. Our vet clinic's ultrasound tech had just left for vacation, so there was a bit of a delay while they made arrangements for us to get it done at another practice. We took her to have it done on a Friday, and I think it was Tuesday for our vet got the report. Fortunately, it was good news; everything looked fine.
Next up was a visit to our vet for a chest xray and blood work. The results from that were good, too, so we were good to go as soon as the vet had an opening to do the surgery. We didn't hear anything for the rest of last week, and then our vet called on Monday (yesterday) to tell us, "I can get her in tomorrow if that works for you." We said, "Sure," and Willow had the surgery today!
Everything went fine. Two masses were removed and she also got a teeth cleaning while she was under the anesthesia, and we brought her home this afternoon. Tonight she's pretty much her usual self, amazingly enough.
The masses that were removed were sent to the pathologist, and we won't have a prognosis until the lab results come back (probably another week or so), but so far, so good. I'm just glad the surgery is over and we have our little girl back home safe and sound. 
As an added bonus, Willow got rave reviews from the vet clinic staff for being a great patient. One tech said Willow was the sweetest tortie she'd ever taken care of! Tortoiseshell cats have a reputation for being a bit of a handful, but not Willow! That was very nice to hear, even though we can't really take any of the credit for it. 
That's it for now. Thank you all for the support, good vibes, etc. It really means a lot.
A comic that describes how I feel this time of year
I love spring. Really, I do. But sometimes my lungs...don't. 
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Name: SharonGender: Female
Hometown: Chicago area, IL
Home country: USA
Member since: Tue Mar 26, 2013, 04:18 AM
Number of posts: 17,277