Month: March 2023

He doesn’t recall…

This is weird:

Where was Ron DeSantis on 9/11?

A new spot from the Lincoln Project contends that you wouldn’t have a good answer based on the Governor’s fumbling response in a recent friendly longform interview with Piers Morgan.

DeSantis was beginning his year teaching at the Darlington School in Rome, Georgia when the terrorist attacks that changed America were orchestrated. But those who listened to the Morgan interview would have had no clue that he was shaping some of Georgia’s brightest minds on that dark day.

“I think I’d just graduated college and I didn’t have a care in the world and all of a sudden, Boom. You know, it happened,” DeSantis said.

The Lincoln Project’s Rick Wilson offered explanatory excoriation of the Governor’s gaffe as being of a piece with recent missteps as he continues to move toward a run for the Republican Presidential nomination.

“Every American knows where they were on 9/11, and though he refuses to say it, we know Ron DeSantis was teaching at the elite Darlington school in Georgia on that day. Why he refused to answer has left America questioning his honesty,” Wilson said.

“The Piers Morgan interview was the cherry on top of one of the worst rollouts of a Presidential candidate in decades. In a week where his main rival is terrified he’s about to be arrested, DeSantis actually managed to come out worse. Flip flops, bad policy, and a terrible interview that reached Mudd-Kennedy proportions gave American and his increasingly nervous donors a view of a candidate who is unready, unsteady, and evasive. Ron should stick to fighting with cartoon mice, because he’s not ready for a banking crisis or a war in Europe,” Wilson added.

That is a very strange answer. Everyone remembers where they were when they heard. And we know that DeSantis was teaching high school at the time.

It’s also very weird that he never mentions that he was once a teacher, not even in passing in his book, considering that education is one of his top issues and he’s positioned himself as the arbiter of what can be taught. You’d think his stint as a teacher would be something he’d tout as giving him credibility on the subject. But he doesn’t. In fact, he goes to some lengths to hide it.

Why?

.@GovRonDeSantis wants to be the next Republican president, yet he doesn’t remember the day every American can never forget. He’s not ready for primetime. pic.twitter.com/wcC0XVzp2L

— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) March 25, 2023

Elon Musk’s Twitter added this to that tweet:

Provides important context · Directly addresses the Tweet’s claim

The video is intentionally edited to cut out the context. DeSantis is answering where he was in his life at the time because 9/11 had led him to give up a potentially high-paying job to instead serve in the Navy. Full clip: https://youtu.be/vIj4LUPlgKc?t=1541

Go ahead and look at the youtube if you want to see how ridiculous that is. There was a back and forth before that question about 9/11 but the question itself was straightforward: “where were you on 9/11” and he didn’t answer. Period. It’s clear that he was obfuscating and tryjng to pretend that he was just hanging out after law school and then decided to join the navy. But he was teaching at that prep school for a year. And he won’t mention it. Why???

Huckabee: I think there are two virtues. Loyalty and confidentiality. Be loyal to the people who helped you and learn how to keep your mouth shut. If you have information that could be hurtful to someone, be confidential pic.twitter.com/Jabck4xwtm

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 26, 2023

Omertà (/oʊˈmɛərtə/, Italian pronunciation: [omerˈta]) is a Southern Italian code of silence and code of honor and conduct that places importance on silence in the face of questioning by authorities or outsiders; non-cooperation with authorities, the government, or outsiders, especially during criminal investigations; and willfully ignoring and generally avoiding interference with the illegal activities of others (i.e., not contacting law enforcement or the authorities when one is aware of, witness to, or even the victim of certain crimes). It originated and remains common in Southern Italy, where banditry or brigandage and Mafia-type criminal organizations (like the Camorra, Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, Sacra Corona Unita and Società foggiana) have long been strong. Similar codes are also deeply rooted in other areas of the Mediterranean, including Malta, Crete in Greece, and Corsica, all of which share a common or similar historic culture with Southern Italy.

Retaliation against informers is common in criminal circles, where they are often described by terms such as “rats” or “snitches”.

By the way, Huckabee is a Baptist preacher…

Yeah, it was always ridiculous. That CNN sideshow with him and his brother turned my stomach at the time. I’m not surprised they both crashed and burned.

And look at Andrew Cuomo now. Does he think he can make a comeback as a Republican or something?

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) slammed the New York and Georgia investigations into former President Trump as being part of a “cancer in our body politic,” arguing they are politically motivated. 

Cuomo told John Catsimatidis, who hosts the talk radio show “The Cats Roundtable,” in an interview on WABC 770 that he expects Trump will be indicted in Manhattan next week. He said he “doesn’t understand” why Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) is “putting such an emphasis” on the case investigating a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. 

Cuomo argued that the case should be over a possible misdemeanor, but also that it should be a federal case instead of a state one. 

The case arose from a $130,000 payment that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels for her to remain silent about an alleged affair she had with Trump. Cohen said he made the payment at Trump’s direction and was reimbursed for it. 

Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges including one campaign finance violation stemming from the payment in 2018. But the Justice Department declined to prosecute Trump for the payment despite Cohen’s accusation. 

Trump has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen but denied the affair occurred. He has said the reimbursement was unrelated to campaign funds. 

Former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. began a local investigation into Trump over the payment before his term ended and Bragg took over. 

Cuomo said a campaign finance violation case would be a federal case, but that type of case is necessary for it to be a felony instead of a misdemeanor. He said prosecutors bringing “partisan” cases confirms people’s “cynicism.” 

“I don’t believe a Democratic prosecutor just happens to be attacking a Republican. I don’t believe a Republican prosecutor just happens to be attacking a Democrat. I think it’s all politics, and I think that’s what the people of this country are saying,” he said. 

Cuomo said he does not believe that what he characterized as Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) going after Trump is a coincidence. James is suing Trump and his three adult children over possible financial crimes from the Trump Organization following a multiyear investigation, while Willis is investigating Trump’s alleged attempts to interfere with the election in Georgia in 2020. 

“And I think it’s feeds the cynicism, and that’s the cancer in our body politic right now,” Cuomo said. 

Cuomo resigned from office in 2021 after an investigation led by James found he sexually harassed 11 women. Another investigation also found Cuomo’s administration intentionally undercounted the number of COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes by as much as 50 percent.

What an arrogant piece of work he is. Always was. And the destruction he wrought on the hapless NY Democratic party over his years of leadership really screwed over the whole country.

Now, he really needs to just STFU.

UPDATE: Chris Christie is still standing motionless and expressionless behind Trump pic.twitter.com/E4Wyc9Mmvf

— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) March 2, 2016

Look who’s coming to save the GOP…

Former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said his trip on Monday to New Hampshire, the state that holds the first primary and votes second overall in the GOP presidential nominating calendar, will help him decide whether to “get into the battle” and launch a 2024 GOP presidential campaign.

Christie said that a key to that decision will be whether he sees a pathway to victory over former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Christie will headline a town-hall style event Monday evening at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, which for over two decades has been a must-stop for actual or potential White House contenders from both major parties. Word of the town hall and a dinner later in the evening with close friends and supporters in the Granite State was first reported earlier this month by Fox News.

Christie told Fox News Digital ahead of his trip that he plans “to go up there and talk to people in New Hampshire — who I know are the best-informed voters in the country about things that I think are important in the world and in our country right now — and to see how they react to that, and see that what they think about things that I think are important.”

When asked if a positive response from voters will further encourage him to run again for the White House, Christie said “there’s no question that if you find that you’re connecting with people that makes you more encouraged to want to get out there and try to get into the battle.”

However, he emphasized that he and his wife Mary Pat “haven’t made any decisions yet, and I think this is all part of that process. Having gone through it before, there’s a lot less mystery to it than there was to me the first time.”

Christie’s said he will make a 2024 decision in the next 45 to 60 days. He explained that the three factors going into his decision will be “seeing a pathway to winning… believing that you have something at that moment to offer the country that it needs to hear,” and whether he would have the support of his family.

“If I answer yes to all three of those questions, then I’ll run. If I answer no to one of them, then I won’t,” he said.

[…]

When asked if he can compete with Trump and DeSantis, who enjoy larger national followings and bigger war chests, Christie said “that’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

“I think the most important thing is to go out there, be authentic, be yourself, and see how people react to that,” he said.

Pointing to New Hampshire, where there is a heavy presidential primary emphasis on candidate-to-voter connections and retail politics, Christie said “war chests and name ID” don’t matter as much. 

“Those kinds of things this early on are really not that important. What matters more is how you connect to voters and what you have to say. If that’s something that resonates with them, they’ll move in your direction,” Christie said.

Christie placed all his chips in his campaign for president seven years ago in New Hampshire. However, his campaign crashed and burned after a disappointing and distant sixth-place finish in New Hampshire, far behind Trump, who crushed the competition in the primary, boosting him towards the nomination and eventually the White House. 

Christie became the first among the other GOP 2016 contenders to endorse Trump and for years was a top outside adviser to the then-president. However, the two had a falling out after Trump’s unsuccessful attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Biden.

He reiterated his message that “we lost in 2018, in 2020, in 2022, all with Donald Trump leading the way. There’s a lot of concern being expressed by donors about that and their desire that our primary is robust and that there are alternatives there that could possibly win in a general election.”

Christie huddled with many of the larger donors in the conservative movement who were attending an American Enterprise Institute conference in Sea Island, Georgia, two weeks ago.

“I’ve had a lot of interesting conversations with donors over the course of the last few weeks,” he shared.

The more the merrier. Let them tear each other apart for the next year. It’s all good. At the end of the day, I’d still lay odds on Trump being the nominee. And if he isn’t a good number of his cult will stay home — or go with him for a third party run if that’s what he decides to do. Remember, even if he does something uncharacteristically generous and endorses the competition, it doesn’t mean they’ll do what he says. He’s endorsed a lot of people and a lot of them haven’t gone on to win.

The DeSantis wave may have already crested and that means it’s far more likely there will be a crowded field. So,let the games begin.

CNN’s @mkraju: “The former president may have falsified business records for hush money payments to cover up this alleged affair with an adult film actress. Do you have any concerns about that?”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: “Remember when the DNC and Hillary Clinton …” pic.twitter.com/6EGCWQQkAL

— The Recount (@therecount) March 21, 2023

He can’t condemn paying hush money to porn actresses, of course, because to do that would be a betrayal of his Dear Leader. Instead, he makes shit up about the DNC and Hillary Clinton using gibberish, which is really all he knows how to do.

Bill Barr’s very special prosecutor (who is still in business for some reason) took a case to trial pertaining to that charge and the person accused of being the supposed conduit was acquitted. I don’t think McCarthy even knows what really happened anymore because he and the rest of these liars have created such a convoluted conspiracy theory that they can’t keep it straight in their own minds.

But let’s ask ourselves just how lame it is to compare Trump’s sordid little tryst with an adult film actress and his attempts to keep it quiet to the Democrats hiring a firm to do oppo research on their opponent (the same firm that the Jeb Bush campaign had used.) It’s so stupid it makes my head hurt. But then, this is Kevin McCarthy, a man who will be remembered for making deals to sell out his party and his country to a rump group of lunatics in order to become Speaker. Every day he proves he will be worthy of that legacy.

I confess that I thought I had followed this story as closely as humanly possible and I totally forgot about this woman:

TWITTER WENT WILD after former President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social that he expected to be arrested on Tuesday. (Surprise: It turned out to be false.) The potential indictment against Trump stemmed from a hush-money payoff to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. From the moment news of the alleged 2006 extramarital tryst between Trump and Stormy came to light, the public instantly formed their opinions and chose a side. You had those who were curious and believed in the possibility of truth beyond the gossip, while the other side of the grass was littered with Trump supporters who chose to believe the desperate words of denial from both the former president and his then-lawyer/fixer, Michael Cohen. As the story grew, I knew exactly which side of the lawn I was on. I had firsthand knowledge of that fateful night in Lake Tahoe, but the story was moving faster than even I could keep up with.

Lake Tahoe is a scenic, touristy town that isn’t exactly known for being popular among adult film stars. So it was the last place I expected to run into Stormy Daniels. I was tagging along as my friend (and fellow adult film star) Cindy Crawford was getting a tattoo at a tattoo parlor located in our hotel. While Cindy was having cherubs tattooed around her ankle, I stared out the window, taking in the view of the small-town street in front of me. To my surprise, Stormy was walking alone across the road. I stepped outside to call her over. She crossed the street and joined me in the parlor. She began to tell me about being in town for a popular charity golf tournament. The adult film company Stormy is contracted with, Wicked, had a booth there where some of the company’s contract stars handed out merch and posed with the golfers. One of these golfers just so happened to be the Apprentice star himself, Donald Trump. 

As Stormy and I caught up, she filled me in on the details of her first encounter with Trump, who she said had actually sought her out himself. She described the meeting in detail, acting out his mannerisms while we giggled and enjoyed the idea of Trump wishing to meet her over the other stars in the booth. Stormy mentioned she’d later be joining Trump for a party and said I should accompany her. I agreed as Cindy listened on in the background, still being tattooed.

I invited Stormy to join my friends and I for dinner in the upscale restaurant at the hotel. We spent an hour or so together at that dinner before Stormy left to prepare for the party with Trump. Cindy and I headed back to our room while our other friend went off to gamble. After a little time had passed, my phone began to chime with reminders of my waiting invitation. As each message came in, I grew more nervous and concerned. While I wanted to support my friend, I was nervous about what could happen. Too many movies taught me that sometimes bad things happen to girls like me when we get involved with men like Donald Trump. As enamored as I was with Stormy, one of the biggest stars in the industry at the time, I let the voice in my head talk me out of attending.  

Stormy continued to text. The texts became phone calls, each more pressing than the last. After about five or six calls, one came in that was different from the others. This time at the other end of the line was not just my neighbor and friend, Stormy, but a voice I recognized all too easily: Donald Trump. As Stormy pressed me on when I was coming, Trump interrupted her, beckoning me to join them. At this moment, panic and shock took over. The man I grew up watching on television was saying my name and asking me to join them. I can still hear his voice in my head. It was at that moment I made a choice that would later change my life in ways I never expected: I chose to stay away.

I powered down my tiny cell phone and focused on my friend Cindy, who was angry that I wasn’t going, and that she wasn’t invited. I spent my night with my phone turned off hoping it would all just go away. When the morning came, so did the guilt. I felt bad that I had bailed on Stormy, knowing I’d have to apologize and own up to my disappearing act the night before. As soon as I turned on my phone, I texted Stormy to check in on her and see what had happened. Even though I didn’t want to go, I was still curious about how it all went down. This led to a number of sordid details, including how Trump chased her around his hotel room in his “tighty-whities.” That is a mental image I will never unsee. Even though Stormy and I remained friends, we never spoke about it again — that is, until Trump was sworn in as president.

A story that I used to only tell my closest friends for a laugh had turned into the biggest news in the world. I’ll never forget the day The Wall Street Journal called. I was asked about my involvement with Trump and Stormy in Tahoe, and if I could confirm the news about a payoff or an NDA. Before I knew it, details of my involvement spread from news agencies to social media outlets. I was watching news anchors read conversations between me and my friends, and was being portrayed in ways I was uncomfortable with: like a dumb blonde. It was time to make another choice. Stay quiet and hope for it to all go away, or share my story and the truth about what really happened. For months, while Stormy was under lockdown due to a restrictive NDA attached to the payoff, Michael Cohen said Trump “vehemently denies” it happened. The next thing you know, Cohen puts out a statement claiming that Stormy was also denying the allegations. (Trump later confessed to authorizing the payment via Cohen.) At this moment, I was the only person standing strong to our truth. Not only was Trump denying it, but it seemed so was my friend. Confusion became clarity as I realized what was happening: It was obvious Stormy was unable to discuss it. This is when our friendship changed, but not how you would expect.

As the press beat down our doors separately, Stormy and I were thrust into a situation where the number of people who we could trust was growing smaller by the hour. It was within Stormy that I found solace and strength. Once my side of the story hit, it wasn’t long before Stormy called. I was worried she was upset with me for talking about that night in Tahoe. To my relief, Stormy was supportive and thankful I was talking when she could not! It was frustrating to have performers in my industry attack me as if I was doing Stormy wrong, not knowing I was talking with her every day, sometimes for hours at a time. Her strength and fearless attitude helped me when comments turned to threats and chaos ensued. Everyone had their own narrative and ideas about what really happened, and they would tell us daily. 

So here we are. Nearly seventeen years after Trump made his tiny mark on my life, we face a moment in history. A moment where a former president is predicting his own arrest after calling for the arrest of so many others. I think about what would have happened had I just stayed quiet. If I just hid in my room and ignored the world until it went away. If I just let everyone else, even my girl Stormy, pretend Tahoe never happened, where would we be? I am thankful I don’t have to ask those questions of myself. 

That sure sounds like corroboration to me.

Kentucky’s 1st District sent this idiot to Congress

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, insisted to CNN’s Jake Tapper this morning that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is improperly conducting a federal investigation.

“He’s investigating a presidential candidate, not to mention a former president of the United States, for a federal election crime,” Comer said repeatedly.

In fact, Bragg is investigating Donald Trump for falsification of business records under New York state law.

“It should be done by the Department of Justice on the federal level,” Comer insisted.

BS. Comer Bragg doesn’t believe Trump should be investigated at all. He has a B.S. in Agriculture, BTW.

As Aaron Rupar tweeted, the interview did not go well.

JAKE TAPPER: Are you arguing that people who commit business crimes aren't committing crimes?

COMER: We're talking about a federal election crime

TAPPER: My understanding is that he's being investigated for falsifying business records

(This interview did not go well for Comer) pic.twitter.com/SuF8AaxkfG

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2023

“We just want the government out of our elections,” Comer said later without recognizing how that sounded.

“We believe the local DAs need to be focused on business crimes, on burglary, on theft …”

Again, Bragg is investigating Trump for falsification of business reords.

"Are you arguing that people who commit business crimes are not committing crimes?"

CNN's @jaketapper presses Rep. James Comer (R-KY) on Republicans investigating the Manhattan district attorney over the hush money probe into former President Donald Trump. @CNNSotu #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/aR7HrdoZHh

— CNN (@CNN) March 26, 2023

“Meanwhile, Comer has become infamous for making unfounded, cringeworthy allegations,” writes Jennifer Rubin.

“Fiction is just as good, maybe better, in the attention economy”

The attention economy powers the internet. It made cable news a 24-hour affair. It makes talk radio infotainment. It makes “influencer” a job description. It makes YouTubers money. It makes TokTok TikTok. It makes Trump Trump. It makes us all stupider and more vulnerable to those who would deceive for their own ends.

It killed Ashli Babbitt.

God knows how A.I. will metastasize the attention economy. We can see it coming and as feel powerless to stop it as we were to learn from its past predations.

Michael Kruse interviews Abraham Josephine Riesman on the release of Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America on how professional wrestling has, as someone else observed of the New Age Movement, dissolved external reality. The result in liberal “choose your own spiritual journey” circles was to make conflict impossible, or at least unlikely. The result among black-and-white thinkers is just the opposite.

“Garry Kasparov, the Russian freedom activist, has said the point of disinformation isn’t to manipulate the truth, it’s to exhaust your critical thinking,” explained former Republican congressman David Jolly.

Reisman traces that devolution of thought to McMahon’s promotion of professional wrestling, itself having roots in traveling circus performances:

Kruse: Early in your book, you write: “This is the story about how a country built a man, and how that man reshaped his country. This is a story about evil and its uses, and what you can get away with when you sledgehammer down the walls between fact and fiction. This is a story about a heel.” This is a biography of Vince McMahon, but …

Riesman: I wanted to tease people with the idea that it’s also Trump. I wanted people to see the parallels. One of the most gratifying things that has happened in the response to this book so far is people feel like they’re discovering that it’s a political book.

All that matters now is spectacle. That is the difference between a House investigation run by Democrats and one run by Republicans. The latter could care less about facts. Fiction is just as good, maybe better, in the attention economy, as professional wrestling demonstrates.

Grabbing people’s attention is all that matters, says Reisman:

Can you grab people’s attention? And Vince figured out a while ago that a great way to grab people’s attention is just have people say the unsayable and do the unthinkable and toss out things that are true. I think the parallel is kind of obvious, and I hope that this is a moment where we can sort of wake up to the fact that the strategy of just fact-checking the other side doesn’t work. Because that’s not what fascism believes. It doesn’t believe in consistency. It doesn’t believe in all the truth or all the lie. It believes in total chaos. And that’s what we have under neokayfabe.

Political culture resembles heel and face wrestlers more than a debating society. The left pretends that the old normal still pertains when it does not for a large segment of the society.

“It pays to be the heel just as much or maybe even more than it pays to be “the face,” Kruse observes. Marjorie Taylor Greene built her political career on it.

Is Israel going to dodge Bibi’s bullet?

Maybe …

The Israeli defense minister, Yoav Gallant, called on Saturday night for his government to suspend its contentious plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary, arguing that the turmoil it has unleashed within Israeli society and the military has become a threat to Israel’s national security.

“The rift within our society is widening and penetrating the Israel Defense Forces,” Mr. Gallant said in a televised speech. He added: “This is a clear and immediate and tangible danger to the security of the state. I shall not be a party to this.”

Mr. Gallant’s announcement set the stage for what is expected to be one of the most dramatic weeks in Israeli history. The far-right governing coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has a majority of just four seats, is expected to hold a final vote in Parliament early next week on the first step in its overhaul plan: a bill that would give the government greater control over appointments to the Supreme Court.

The government’s proposal has led to weeks of mass protests, which continued on Saturday night; warnings of political violence and civil war; and unrest within the military, particularly among reservists. Thousands of reserve soldiers have said they would not report for volunteer duty if the overhaul goes ahead, or have already withdrawn from service.

Mr. Gallant is the first minister to break ranks and call for a freeze to the legislation. His intervention raised questions about whether enough like-minded governing lawmakers would now follow suit and prevent the law’s passage through Parliament. Two other governing lawmakers, David Bitan and Yuli Edelstein, swiftly tweeted their support for Mr. Gallant, and a handful of others were also thought to be wavering.

Most governing lawmakers are nevertheless firmly behind the proposal, which they say would bolster democracy by giving the elected government primacy over unelected judges. But critics fear the measure would blunt one of Israel’s few checks on government overreach, potentially paving the way for authoritarian rule.

Netanyahu’s latest scheme to get out of his legal jam is too clever by half but they’ve been getting away with it up until now.It appears that it took resistance from within the military to finally create a shift which figures since the ruling coalition is very right wing. Hundreds of thousands in the streets doesn’t really impress them.

Bibi’s gambit is of a piece with all the corrupt authoritarian movements around the globe. It will be a huge relief if it fails.

This is some chilling stuff from Oklahoma. A minority of state Supreme Court Justices make it clear that there is no constitutional right to life for women — only their fetuses. They say that if the state wants to protect the vessels they’re going to have to write a law demanding it. Otherwise, it doesn’t exist:

Since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, dozens of reports from red states have told of hospitals withholding care from pregnant patients until they are hemorrhaging or suffering catastrophic infections, lest the doctors be prosecuted for providing an illegal abortion. When confronted with these effects of abortion bans, anti-abortion advocates often blame the doctors for misinterpreting the law. There are exceptions for medical emergencies, they say, and it should be easy enough for a doctor to tell when a patient is in deep enough danger to protect her medical team from possible prison time.

This is a mealy-mouthed attempt at misdirection. Health crises are never so predictable and containable; they do not progress in linear fashion, with easy off-ramps at every level of endangerment. But anti-abortion conservatives would never admit this, because it would imperil their entire mythology of pregnancy. So they pretend that their laws will never endanger patients’ lives and issue grave, self-exonerating statements when faced with an anecdote to the contrary.

Most of the time, that is. In Oklahoma, a recent set of chilling dissents from right-leaning justices shamelessly lays plain how the anti-abortion movement justifies its assault on pregnant people’s right to life.

The dissents come from the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled 5–4 this week that the state’s near-total abortion ban must include an exception for cases in which there is “a reasonable degree of medical certainty or probability” that a pregnancy would endanger a patient’s life, whether due to a current medical condition or to one that would likely arise later in the pregnancy. Previously, the justices explained in their ruling, Oklahoma law only allowed exceptions when patients were “in actual and present danger.”

This ruling will hopefully provide clarity to doctors and save some patients from undue suffering and mortal peril. But to the four Republican-appointed conservatives who dissented from the majority ruling, the question of whether women should be forced to risk their lives—for a fetus that, in many cases, would stand no chance of survival outside the womb—shouldn’t have been any of their business.

“The Oklahoma Constitution, as currently worded, does no expressed or hiddent [sic] establish a fundamental abortion right under any circumstance. Any change to that status quo must come from the people or their elected representatives,” writes Chief Justice M. John Kane IV in his dissent.

On the surface, such a proclamation seems sensible and straightforward. But in the context of an abortion ban exception to preserve a patient’s life, Kane’s argument takes on a new tenor. If a patient does not have the right to abortion under any circumstance, unless the privilege is granted to her by the people and their legislators, the people and their legislators could legally force her to die.

If Kane had his way, that possibility would remain on the table. “The unborn have no voice, say, or consideration in the opinion of the majority,” he writes, urging Oklahoma to commence “the thorny medical, philosophical, and practical debate of balancing the developing life of the unborn against the life of the mother.” But, he cautioned, there is no right to any abortion—even a lifesaving one—“to consider as part of that dialogue.”

Justice Dana Kuehn offered a similar take in her own dissent. Even if she believed that the Oklahoma Constitution included the right to a lifesaving abortion, she writes, she would not support the court’s attempt to define what a lifesaving abortion is: “That task belongs to either the people or their legislative representatives.”

Elsewhere in her dissent, Kuehn writes, “The Legislature and people of Oklahoma have had over a century to preserve this exception as a Constitutional right. They have not done so.”

In other words: If Oklahomans want to sentence pregnant women to death, let them go ahead and do it.

There is a faction in the anti-abortion movement that believes women should always sacrifice their lives for the fetus They even have their own patron saint, a woman who chose to die rather than have an abortion.

This is obviously the choice of any pregnant woman should she be faced with such a terrible situation. But to say that a bunch of throwback weirdos in some backwater state legislature, mostly men, are the ones who should decide if women’s lives are important enough to save is an abomination. If there is a right to life, surely pregnant women have it. Surely…