I was on vacation the last 2 weeks, but after looking at all of the abortion memes from the usual suspects, and even the media coverage more broadly, what stands out to me is that none of them attack the SCOTUS decision on merit, or argue why is was legally wrong. There is no attempt at even making a constitutional argument now.
▪️This reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine gets into an argument with Poppie over abortion, and he asks here where she gets the right, and she yells “The Supreme Court!” The reality is now apparent that Roe was used as a crutch by the left, and now they can’t walk.
▪️Roe, and later Casey, found a right to abortion implicit in the constitution via the right to privacy and particularly in the 14th amendment’s due process clause. But as SCOTUS just ruled, they never properly explained this and it made no sense legally or historically.
▪️The court pointed out that when the 14th amendment was adopted, the vast majority of states outlawed abortion in ALL stages of pregnancy, and by the early 20th century every single state had laws restricting abortion. Clearly the 14th A wasn’t written with abortion in mind.
▪️Furthermore, there’s no historical context for abortion rights, not only in the constitution, but in state constitutions, federal or state courts, or even in scholarly treatises. Considering the Constitution never mentions or implies abortion, it’s bizarre to say the 14th amendment establishes abortion rights.
▪️Of course, atrocities like Jim Crow and “separate but equal” also happened after the 14th amendment, but these were obviously violations of the equal protection text, and there was plenty of historical and legal precedent arguing against them. There is no such similarity with abortion.
▪️To argue the right to privacy and due process grants constitutional abortion rights (my body, my choice) one would also need to uphold the right to obtain any food and drugs regardless of FDA authorization, prostitution, gambling and a whole host of other activities. Which would be a consistent argument.
▪️But there is no such consistency. Abortion is somehow protected by the constitution, but seeking potential lifesaving medication not approved by the FDA isn’t? In fact, this last week the administration prohibited JUUL from selling their E-cigs, how is there not a similar right to use E-cigs?!
▪️Basically, the left wanted there to be a constitutional right to abortion because they just wanted it. But there’s no consistency or real argument why abortion, and not all other areas of govt interference, are sacred.
▪️The only thing I’ve seen from memes on the actual ruling is that Thomas wants to revisit other cases like same-sex marriage, contraception, etc. But this ignores the rest of the judges who disagree and explicitly wrote why this ruling only applied to abortion. Some quotes:
🔹“And to ensure that our decision is not misunderstood or mischaracterized, we emphasize that our decision concerns the constitutional right to abortion and no other right. Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion”
🔹“We have also explained why that is so: rights regarding contraception and same-sex relationships are inherently different from the right to abortion because the latter (as we have stressed) uniquely involves what Roe and Casey termed “potential life.””
▪️With the SCOTUS dismantling Roe, there is no rational argument on the left anymore for why abortion rights are protected by the constitution. They can’t even yell like Elaine did in Seinfeld, so they’re ignoring all constitutional/legal arguments, leaving unrelated, emotional memes.
▪️This isn’t to say there aren’t any good arguments for abortion rights, just not constitutional ones (unless you’re willing to have a radical interpretation of the 9th amendment to include all areas of bodily autonomy, but the left prefers to let the state endlessly regulate these areas).
The Dobbs v. Jackson decision:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
So many of these right wing accounts are just whiners now, this is a diatribe about automatic sinks and towels, the horror! As I explained in a prior post, most of the newer terminals have great bathrooms, some now have completely private stalls and plenty of them. The worst and most crowded airport bathrooms are invariably found in aging terminals that are decades old. It’s a reminder that airports were usually drab and uncomfortable.
I think the heyday of the air hand-dryers was like 15-20 years ago, where often you couldn’t find real towels. Now you can at least usually get real paper towels in airport bathrooms. Remember those old cloth roller towels that would go in a loop and somehow “clean” themselves? Yuck! Public bathrooms have always been gross, it seems some are deliberately having selective memories.
Airport food and drinks were always expensive, but now practically everyone brings those huge cooler flasks with them and fills them up. So not sure what he means that ...
I first critiqued this terrible take by looking at how food has actually improved substantially. Even though I said the same could be done in every category, people said “you’re only doing food.” So let’s do air travel and see why it’s not gotten better, not worse.
▪️Aircraft have greatly improved. Just 15-20 years ago, many domestic routes (~15%) were flown by turboprops like the Brasilia, Dash 8 or Saab. Now, almost everything is in jets, and most aircraft have WiFi. Some even have Starlink, where you probably have faster WiFi than your home. Most major airlines offer dozens or hundreds of movies and shows to watch.
▪️Newer designs like the 787 have lower cabin altitudes and improved humidity, which make a huge difference in passenger comfort on long haul flights. The first/business class international market has gotten very competitive globally, with many carriers offering excellent service and amenities. Pods, suites, showers, etc. Coach still sucks but is dramatically cheaper ...
This is the complete opposite of an empirical fact. The right has now joined the left in being pessimistic about the modern world and completely unappreciative of the amazing abundance we now have. I’ll just focus on food here, but you could do it for almost every category.
▪️Fresh produce used to be available only in season. In the winter it was canned or frozen. People used to send fruit for Christmas gifts, it was that much of a luxury good. Now, you can get giant, sweet berries year around in every grocery store. Corn on the cob in February. Not to mention once rare items like dragon fruit, heirloom tomatoes or baby bok choy.
▪️If you didn’t live on the coast, seafood was either not available, frozen, or extremely expensive. If you lived in the Midwest and traveled to coastal locales you would quite literally be able to eat food you had never seen. Salmon has become much more abundant and accessible. You can get fresh ahi at Walmart today. Sushi and oyster bars exist everywhere ...
