As the Beatles said, “I read the news today. Oh, boy.”
All in all, four thousand holes just about anywhere would be an improvement.
I’m not going to say much about the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion, but I do recommend you check out Charles Stross’ post for a quick rundown on other rights that are on the chopping block if the opinion stands as currently written.
That said, I find it interesting that none of the stories I’ve seen have even speculated about how the draft was leaked. I saw one passing mention of the leak being “unprecedented”, but not Word One about how it got out*.
* If you value your sanity and your breakfast, do not read anything Fox News has to say. The pieces I dipped into explicitly state that the content of the decision is unimportant; what matters is to find and punish the leakers before ‘The Left’ can turn them into heroes. I’ll leave what the commenters are saying to your imagination. Trust me, it’s worse than you might come up with.
Anyway, what I found most interesting, and least predictable, was the other main topic of reporting. Suddenly, over the past few days, the papers* are full of stories about suicide.
* Including the all-electronic ones. Which raises a question: what do we call those sources of information and information-like content? “The electrons”? Might be overbroad. But I digress.
To the extent that they focus on suicide prevention, this is a GoodThing™. But I find the timing interesting. Yes, there have been several high-profile suicides lately. But when has that not been true? What makes this batch so significant that so many news sources feel the need to cover the subject in depth?
For the record, I’m not suggesting that it’s anticipatory of an upswing in abortion-related suicides. I refuse to believe that knowledge of the impending leak could have been that widespread in newsrooms without the general public hearing about it. No conspiracy theory here.
I don’t have an answer to “why”. Why does anything become a trend–or a fad, for that matter?
But whatever the reason, I’m hoping the trend continues. With everything else in the news these days, we’re not going to see a reduction in the suicide rate without positive action.
Koi Scribblings 
Casey, what I find particularly upsetting is the incredible rise in child suicides, over the last two years. Children, some as young as 10 year old, are killing themselves at a rate more then double the number in 2019, and hospital ERs are reporting a similar jump in children who have attempted suicide, or have detailed plans.
For want of something better, perhaps, the spike is being attributed to the pandemic, and its disruption of what children might have expected to experience, as they moved through middle and high school. Perhaps, but I wonder, too, if they are not responding to the general, nationwide, malaise, from which no amount of assurances by parents and care takers can shield them.
These children are like the canaries in our coal mine. The question we need to be asking ourselves is, if we can’t get out, how do we make the “mine” livable? What is “positive action”? Thanks for bringing it up.
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Excellent questions all.
I tend to agree that there’s more to it than just pandemic disruption, even if one factors in the loss/disruption of social skills that two years without face-to-face contact has brought about. And let’s not forget that the parents and care takers are also suffering from the general malaise; even if all was equal–which it’s not–their ability to shield is suffering.
I don’t have any real answers. Not beyond the obvious: help where you can. Reach out when you see someone suffering. At the risk of sounding trite: Think global, act local *and* global.
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I’d say I was proud of you for being a male and taking an issue with this horrid circumstance, but/and I number so many such males among my friends and relatives. This has never been a males-against-females act–I also know plenty of women who believe that this is death.
I read Charles STross’ post with great interest–very knowledgeable, but I’m on the fence about whether a lot of these fears will come to pass. Too much $$$ in the contraceptive business. I do wonder, however, about same-sex marriage.
That a loudmouth, opinionated and downright dangerous minority is leading this is what I’m frightened about. Today, I’m making phone calls to public officials about this. Yesterday, Long Beach had a large protest downtown at city hall; it was fully supported by our city officials. I’m pretty sure there was action where you are.
Thank you for this–I’m tweeting it out. And oh yes–I am proud of you, Neph.
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Yes, there are plenty of bucks in contraception, but don’t forget that the religious minority backing this assault on rights is on record as opposing it. At the minimum, you can expect a concerted push to prevent any federal support. No more health plans covering contraception, certainly no more day after pills–but of course your health plan can still pay for Viagra.
Elsewhere, there are, I believe, a number of states that still have anti-sodomy statutes on the books. I won’t be surprised if they suddenly get enforced.
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I still can’t believe this’ll happen (just ask Susan Collins), but I thought that there was no way that Drumpf would win the election. Vigilance.
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