Our new neoliberal chief administrator is a hoot. He informed us that from now on hiring anybody for any position be it faculty, graduate assistant or staff will require us to fill out an online form he’ll personally have to approve. In the form we have to explain “what is the potential return on investment based on filling this position.” I copy-pasted this exactly as is.
I did my Cassandra bit back when he was getting interviewed and I ran around screeching, “he’s a neoliberal! There will be austerity! Budget cuts! Hiring freezes!” And people told me I had to be wrong because the candidate was from California, so it had to be all right. I have no idea what that was supposed to mean other than people seem not to understand that being a raging leftist makes one more, not less, likely to be a neoliberal.
Since then I have accepted that we can’t avoid this neoliberal fellow doing a number on us but the less attentive colleagues are now waking up to the horror we have inflicted upon ourselves.
To think that instead of this “potential return on investment” corporate drone we could have had a candidate who actually went to school here and talked to us about his family, his church and his work on behalf of Down’s Syndrome children.
At this point in my rant, people invariably interrupt me to say, “yeah, but the candidate they chose is black!” Which drives me nuts because they were all black. But one was neoliberal and another human. It’s really weird that people were right here, saw all the candidates and still haven’t caught on.
Clarissa's Blog 
Is this possible? Why not?
// As abortion bans proliferate in states around the US, some state legislatures are likely to go even further than just ending abortion in their jurisdictions – taking aim at the growing numbers of people seeking procedures and medications out of state, experts warn.
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Lawmakers in Missouri weighed legislation early this year that would allow individuals to sue anyone helping a patient cross state lines for an abortion. The law was ultimately blocked in the state’s legislature, but experts expect such legislation to gain more support if Roe is weakened or overturned.
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States are also likely to crack down on other efforts to access care. In Texas, a law passed last year made it illegal to ship medication for self-managed abortion, including across state lines – another potential template for copycat legislation.
Since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last year that it would continue its pandemic-era policy to allow medication abortion, also known as the “abortion pill”, to be prescribed via telemedicine, the drugs have become a greater target from anti-abortion advocates. Medication abortion now accounts for the majority of abortions in the US.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/03/us-abortions-travel-wave-of-restrictions
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It’s all in the last paragraph of the quote, and it’s exactly as I’ve been saying. Abortion pills are prescribed on Zoom and pills are shipped by mail.
We have a raging heroin epidemic where crowds of people manage to buy illegal heroin and fentanyl daily. The likelihood of anybody failing to buy the abortion pill is non-existent.
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// We have a raging heroin epidemic where crowds of people manage to buy illegal heroin and fentanyl daily.
I wouldn’t be able to buy it that easily.
Requiring women to lie to abortion committees, hide, jump through hoops is not OK.
In Israel there are private clinics who do abortions, yet I would be afraid for my health to go there. So, would have to do whatever the law requires to get one via official health system that I trust (unlike shady half-legal clinics).
Today in Israel — “Yair Lapid officially became prime minister at the stroke of midnight between Thursday and Friday, taking office as the 14th premier in Israel’s history. Lapid’s term leading the country could be a fairly short one, as he takes over a caretaker government ahead of national elections on November 1.”
Btw, the following are good news, yet the next government can change them in a second, so I am not too happy:
// Israel eases access to abortion, days after US Supreme Court overturns Roe vs Wade
New rules allow drug-induced early-term abortions at clinics, end requirement for in-person approval by intrusive committees; health minister hails reforms as opposite to US ruling
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-eases-access-to-abortion-canceling-key-decades-old-mandatory-formalities/
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I could say that requiring people to get medical procedures they don’t want, lie, hide, jump through hoops to assuage somebody else’s feat of a viral infection is not OK.
Didn’t I say from the start that you can’t have both vaccine passports and abortion? There’s no logical framework that accommodates both. Either the government can intrude into your body “to save lives” or it can’t.
I’m at an absolute loss as to how people explain to themselves that abortion bans aren’t OK while obligatory COVID vaccination is. And vice versa, of course. Either the state has a compelling interest to override an individual’s bodily autonomy and intrude into one’s body “to save innocent lives” or it doesn’t.
The only thing I get in response to any question about this logical contradiction is empty sloganeering about “murdering innocent babies / killing Grandma.” It’s quite funny that neither side of the debate sees how identical the arguments are.
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There is a fundamental difference between forcing someone to undergo a medical procedure and preventing someone from undergoing a procedure. Being pregnant and having babies is a natural part of life that happens as a natural consequence of sex. Being sick and spreading contagious diseases is a natural part of life as well. There you have it – a self-consistent view 😉
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Carrying to term and giving birth is much more of a medical procedure than taking abortion pills, though. So by this logic, any woman who won’t be giving birth at home with no medical assistance is forced to undergo a host of medical procedures if the pregnancy is unwanted.
I do appreciate your calm and reasonable approach, though. I’m very tired of unnecessary drama on both sides.
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Let’s look at the bright side, though. What happens if there is a woman who doesn’t manage to abort and has to carry to term? Hormones will kick in, she’ll bond to the baby, and this will be the best thing that ever happened to her. Nature has a great way of ensuring that humans don’t abandon their young.
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As for the MO bill (which was actually blocked and way before the current SCOTUS decision) but what does it even mean? I live on the border between Illinois and Missouri. We have gigantic billboards as you enter the state advertising Illinois abortions and weed. How does one get helped to “cross state lines”? What can that possibly mean in practical terms? Absolutely nothing. And who’d sue them? Which ‘individuals’? The bill was stupid which is why it didn’t pass.
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@el
This is totally off topic!
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Nobody seems much interested in my rantings about neoliberalism. Abortion is the perfect distraction maneuver.
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I like your rantings about neoliberalism.
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Thank you! It’s my favorite topic.
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Absolutely, all this abortion talk is a perfect distraction to keep us from actually addressing neoliberalism! Btw I too love your rants about neoliberalism, but I don’t comment much — since you put it all so well there isn’t much more to say!
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Via Mike:
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Yes, I’m sure Facebook is a paragon of pro-life beliefs. Come on, my friend, you’ve got to see that this is dishonest pandering.
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Another via Mike:
https://twitter.com/acrowandthedead/status/1541602157492948994
You say the reactions have been hysterical, yet I received an impression you think it’s no big deal, especially because of ability to mail abortion pills, and even good to lessen power of courts.
May be, I am wrong but I don’t think anything good for American democracy will follow from striking down Roe and then gay marriage. The only result will be making life harder and sometimes destroying women’s lives, f.e. a teen girl hiding her pregnancy from parents in a state forbidding abortion, or a woman discovering a wanted pregnancy went terribly wrong and having to fight for abortion in addition to this trauma.
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Have you seen this? Russians are going to pay in many ways for this ‘operation’ :
“В Госдуму внесен правительством законопроект № 155680-8 “О внесении изменений в отдельные законодательные акты Российской Федерации по вопросам обеспечения Вооруженных Сил Российской Федерации, других войск, воинских формирований и органов при проведении контртеррористических и иных операций за пределами территории Российской Федерации”.
Далее цитирую комментаторов: “Законопроект допускает введение специальных мер в сфере экономики. Они включают изменение правового регулирования трудовых отношений, в том числе работу во внеурочное время, по ночам, в выходные и праздничные дни, и меняет порядок предоставления ежегодных оплачиваемых отпусков. При этом юрлица будут не вправе отказаться от предложения государства, независимо от их организационно-правовой формы и формы собственности”.
Просто планка сдвигается, и чрезвычайщина становится, по сути, законодательно закрепленной нормой нашей повседневной жизни (операции за пределами территории РФ, если вы вдруг забыли, у нас официально ведутся уже около семи лет, с момента ввода войск в Сирию, и совершенно неизвестно, когда и как будут прекращены). И может быть применена по мере необходимости и практически в любой момент к почти любому физическому или юридическому лицу”.
https://sapojnik.livejournal.com/3917531.html
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“It’s really weird that people were right here, saw all the candidates and still haven’t caught on.”
Unfortunately it’s not weird at all. Apparently Thanksgiving turkeys are the last to get into their little heads what’s in store for them.
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Exactly. Now they a clucking in panic as they are being carted off into the kitchen to get cooked.
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