@ReneeVoiceBrand Yes, many Protestant denominations support abortion rights, as does Islam and at least Reformed Judaism. But as you pointed out, the super majority of Roman Catholics in the Supreme Court would not look favorably on a lawsuit proposing such rights.

States that ban abortions always point to their exceptions, including rape and incest in a few to the threat of death or irreparable harm to the woman in all to show they aren’t being unreasonable. Problem is, and this has been demonstrated countless times, proving these exceptions is unworkable, making the exceptions moot. And Republicans now want to make this attitude the law of the land. Not only that, many espouse banning contraception, thereby putting more women at risk. Yikes!

@TrueBloodNet Yes, the work-permit program we have now is quite specific and would satisfy background checks, but it takes much too long to get approved. If it were liberalized in a way that could satisfy our manpower needs expeditiously while still protecting us against bad actors, the hordes now showing up at our border would slow to a trickle, I would think.

A solution that makes sense to me would be a work-permit program. Foreigners could work here while waiting for immigration visas (if they desire such). Europe already does this a little, but the oil-rich Mideast countries do it in a big way, using foreigners to do the lowly jobs no citizen would think of doing. Then the hotel owners, farmers, and construction companies wouldn’t have to worry about losing their workers if Republicans get their way.

Republicans are against raising the minimum wage and unionization. No need to address those low-paying jobs in the agriculture, hospitality, and construction industries, because those employees are plentiful and happy to be working. Sure, because many are undocumented workers and want to stay beneath the radar, and conditions in their native countries are what drove them across our border to begin with. If the border was actually shut down, and all the illegals deported, who’d do those jobs?

March Madness update: I watch a lot of college basketball, study the NET and KenPom rankings, listen carefully to what Joe Lunardi and his fellow bracketology gurus have to say. And I’m out of the running in my pool. My wife, on the other hand, doesn’t follow college basketball except as it involves the UNC Tar Heels. She knew hardly anything about the teams when making her picks for our bracket pool. And she has a chance to come in first. Go figure!

March Madness update: I’ve fallen to fifth in my pool (my Grand Canyon and James Madison upset picks didn’t survive the second round), but my Final Four is still intact. Go Heels!

Appeals court judge: “Well, how much can you do?”

Trump: “Do I have to post any bond? I’m being treated so unfairly. It’s a political witch hunt by Democrats to prevent me from being president. A total disgrace!”

Judge: “Come on, Donald, you’re in the system now. so it’s gotta look reasonable. How about we make it 200 million?”

Trump: “Oh, jeez. Okay. Make it 175 and we have a deal.”

Judge: “Done.”

@Marc_T_Benedict I hope and pray that won’t be the case, but I’m less optimistic by the day.

@cmskiera They only like it when it benefits them. Otherwise, it presents pain-in the-ass hoops for them to have to jump through with their army of attorneys leading the way.

As expected, Trump gets a break in his fraud case. Now only has to pony up 175 mil instead of 464.. Jeez. Why not make it 0, apologize for inconveniencing him, and quietly go away? After all, he shouldn’t be held accountable for any wrongdoing, because he’s Trump.

March Madness update: I’m in third place of my 21-entry pool after being 10th when I went to bed last night. The James Madison and Grand Canyon wins got me there. Big day today!

I’ve already lost an Elite Eight (Kentucky!) in my bracket but otherwise hanging in there. Successfully picked the Oregon and N.C. State upset wins but lost the Samford and Duquesne picks.

@danielbsmith No confusion. The state House does the gerrymandering, which leads to a Republican majority in the U.S. House. Democrats have a good shot at taking over the U.S. House in November, but the Senate outlook looks bleak. Without the Senate, no Democrat agendas, including Supreme Court justices, will get passed.

@AskTheDevil Republicans figured that out a long time ago when they thought long term. Get folks running for school boards, city councils, state offices, work their way up. Democrats have not been as good at that.

@AskTheDevil Here’s hoping there’re enough of “us” in the right places to do that.

@AskTheDevil That’s the rub. Who, if anybody, can or will stop them from thumbing their noses at the rest of us?

@thedisasterautist Yup, that would be an option short-term.

@danielbsmith What they tried last time, they could try again - dispute the electoral count. If successful, the House votes for president with one vote per state. More states are controlled by Republicans than Democrats, and N.C. Is one of those.

@danielbsmith “Roughly” balance out means an election is won or lost by a few thousand votes, as happened in Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin in 2020.