Random News: June 25, 2022

DISCLAIMER: Zak's Random News is very random and doesn't cover many things, and not everything may be accurate, because I'm just some guy. Go find a real news source.

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Good morning. It’s June 25, 2022, and it’s a Saturday. Here’s a bunch of stuff that’s mostly about abortion and women’s rights and the path from here…

• Here’s the thing: it’s not about babies, and was never about babies.
• It’s about controlling women’s sexuality. Everyone’s sexuality, actually, but primarily women’s.
• This is very simple. If it was about saving unwanted pregnancies, there would have been a massive push for universal free contraception and expansion of sex education. So it’s not about the babies. It never was.
• I’m not going too far down this road, but ultimately there are two factors. The first is men whose own self esteem and value is only found from pushing down others. They only get fulfillment and feel a sense of power by enacting control. It’s a slave-owner mentality that never went away.


• The other factor is a very anti-American push toward an official state religion, and perverting certain aspects of that religion as justification for their actions.
• Women should be as sexual as they want, or don’t want. This isn’t about pregnancy. If a woman wants to have sex and needs an abortion as a result… your opinion is not needed or wanted. End of fucking story.
• But again, this is WAY bigger than abortion. This is going to affect all of you… not in the distant future. Now.
• In Clarence Thomas’s SCOTUS opinion, he states in writing that with Roe being overturned, the court will now reconsider all of the precedents that Roe helped set, specifically naming Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Let me tell you about each of these rights that will be taken away next.
• ‘Griswold v. Connecticut’ protects the liberty of married couples to buy and use contraceptives without government restriction. It also involved the privacy of what goes on between consenting adults in their bedroom.
• ‘Lawrence v. Texas’ said it was unconstitutional for there to be laws against homosexuality.
• ‘Obergefell v. Hodges’ gave the right to marry to same-sex couples.
• So let me be clear: the repeal of Roe does NOT just affect women. It affects all of us.
• What kind of Republican wants the government to regulate whether or not his wife can give him oral sex?
• What kind of Republican wants the government to tell him and his wife that they aren’t allowed to use condoms or pills or other contraceptives?
• What’s next… a mandatory camera in your bedroom so regulators can make sure you didn’t put it in her ass one night? Is that what the GOP is into?
• And what kind of HUMAN would tell the thousands and thousands of Americans in happy same-sex marriages that their spouse is no longer valid? Or tell another person that their sexual orientation itself is now illegal???
• Sigh.
• Over 60% of Americans support the right for a woman to choose whether or not to give birth. That number crosses political lines, socioeconomic lines, and racial lines. In fact, that percentage hit a record high in polling this month.
• There’s no way to change a SCOTUS opinion. All we can do is make it very clear that this decision is going to impact everyone in ways they didn’t expect, and to vote for candidates who will nominate future judges who will help reverse the decision and let us hold on to the hard-fought freedoms we still have.
• The other things we can do is ensuring that forced birth doesn’t become a nationwide law (because it easily could), and that we find as many ways to assist people in forced birth states right now to receive the health care they merit as human beings.
• The following large companies offer reimbursement of travel (and in many cases full medical coverage) for abortion health care needs of their employees: Alaska Airlines, Apple, Box.com, Bumble, Comcast-NBC Universal, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Disney, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Kroger, Levi Strauss, Match Group, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, Nike, Starbucks, Uber, Warner Bros Discovery, Yelp, and Zillow.
• There are many more companies that do this as well.
• I’m encouraging all of you in Forced Birth states to consider advanced provision of abortion pills and implement long-term contraceptives such as IUDs. I’m saying this both for the women and the people who love and help support them.
• I’m encouraging all of you to involve yourself personally in marches and protests. I will continue to post links and info to help you find them. For those of you who are physically or mentally or emotionally otherwise unable to do that, I will let you know about some online-based groups where you can still have direct involvement and community building.
• Do not despair. You can be sad, but don’t give in to the sadness. Let it fuel you.
• If you don’t have the strength to fight for yourself, fight for someone else. A friend, a mom, a sister, a daughter. You’ll be surprised how strong you can be to protect the ones you love.
• Today in history… Stravinsky’s ‘The Firebird’ premiers in Paris (1910). Jews in Częstochowa Ghetto in Poland stage an uprising against the Nazis (1943). Anne Frank’s ‘The Diary of a Young Girl’ is published (1947). North Korea invades South Korea, starting a war (1950). The rainbow flag representing gay pride is flown for the first time (1978). Slovenia and Croatia declare independence for Yugoslavia (1991). Massive protests continue in the United States over the overturn of ‘Roe v Wade’ (2022).
• June 25 is the birthday of author George Orwell (1903), director Sidney Lumet (1924), creator of ‘The Smurfs’ Peyo (1928), singer-songwriter Carly Simon (1945), singer-songwriter Tim Finn (1952), keyboardist David Paich (1954), wonderful SCOTUS justice Sonia Sotomayor (1954), comedian Ricky Gervais (1961), singer George Michael (1963), and NBA great Dikembe Mutombo (1966).

There’s much more to talk about, but now I want to drink coffee and watch footage of protests and talk shit on Twitter. At some point I’ll also do productive things on a more local level, like showering and dressing and cleaning my home somewhat. I’m just a normal person like you, except I use my words like a Samurai sword. Keep fighting, you sexy warriors.