24 Comments
Jun 27, 2022·edited Jun 27, 2022

In Israel, abortions are free and legal for patients under 18, between the ages of 20 and 33, and over 40, as well in cases of risking the mother's health, rape and incest, and severe birth defects. It does require approval for abortion committees though. Meanwhile, in Palestine, abortion is legal only in cases of danger to the mother or fetal impairment. Rape and incest victims are still required to bring their babies to term. Yet, Peter spends all of his time bashing Israel and seeking its destruction, while having little or nothing to say about Palestine. If Peter's concern about women and their health was genuine, let's hear him say something on behalf of Palestinian women and in opposition to the draconian system they live under, the same system Peter seeks to place Israeli women under in his dream of a one state for both nations.

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Outstanding summary of the broader meaning of the Court decision. You're the first commentator I've seen to point out almost all of the judges who voted to overturn were appointed by Presidents who lost the popular vote (depressing to think of Clarence Thomas as the democratic exception). You hit this one out of the park Peter.

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Hot off the presses:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-eases-access-to-abortion-canceling-key-decades-old-mandatory-formalities/

"The Knesset Labor Welfare and Health Committee on Monday approved new regulations aimed at making it easier for women to get an abortion by removing some of the procedures required, opening up broader and simplified options for those seeking to end a pregnancy.

A key change to the decades-old regulations will see drug-induced early-term abortions made available at HMO clinics rather than only at hospitals, the Health Ministry said in a statement announcing the development.

Women seeking an abortion will no longer have to physically face a review committee that approves abortions. Nixing the committee altogether requires legislation, which is unlikely to pass, but the new regulations mean there will now be no need for applicants to appear in person before the panels."

Your thoughts, Peter?

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Depressingly succinct and exhaustive summary of this current flavor of the battle of the sexes. One could add Anne Applebaum's recent "Twilight of Democracy" for reaching similar conclusions regarding the significance of the chauvinistic stances held and signaled by current dictatorial rulers.

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Male sperm counts are low because of the estrogen mimic chemicals that saturate modern lives, from plastics to pesticides. Blaming women for it is as old as the genesis story. Politicizing science and medicine to replace them with religious edicts is a dangerous course for stability, which though appropriated by Trump, has been a plan of the right for decades.

It’s not always been the case however. There is much evidence of female ruled societies being unearthed by archaeologists, from southern Spain to Sardinia and Crete, as well as extant pockets of egalitarian matrilineal societies. Women in ancient Egypt had arguably more rights than in Egypt today, including much of the middle east. It seems this eroded under the misogynistic Greeks and ended under Roman rule. But they still tended not to vilify premarital sex, as proven fertility was desirable in a wife, until Christianity was adopted as the state religion. Enforcing virginity on potential wives is not of course restricted to Christianity, but there does seem to be a tautology in the evolution of societies, between equitable matrilineal societies and male dominated patrilineal ones?

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Great piece — sharing

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Jun 29, 2022·edited Jun 29, 2022

There were T-Shirts before the 2020 election with Trump as the Greek military hero, Pericles. Instead of holding the severed head of Medusa as in the Greek myth, the bleeding head of a screeching Hillary Rodham Clinton was substituted. Trump was no muscular hero but if you google "Trump Pericles"--you'll find images of him as a movie action hero. His toxic masculinity and his creeping up behind HRC during a debate made him seem like a bully and thug to many of us but Trumpers ate it up.

Trump wanted to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to lead his people and occupy the building. Maybe declare martial law. The Insurrectionists were mostly made up of Christian Nationalists, with Christian symbols, crucifixes, etc. In the 1800s men stopped going to church but sent their wives and children. This resulted in a 'feminized' Christianity and there were calls for a "muscular Christianity." This has been 'resurrected' by most Republican president to occupy the Bully Pulpit.

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