Memories of Memorial Day

My next newspaper column:

Monday, Memorial Day, a friend shared a Facebook meme: “Only two defining forces have offered to die for you. Jesus Christ, and the American Soldier. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom...”  

And I thought, those who served in Vietnam as I did, before and after, killed there, didn’t die for our freedom. They died because they were poor, mostly, couldn’t get student deferments, or have daddies who bought them a pair of invisible bone spurs. They died not knowing or caring why they were there. Quoting another veteran, they died for a mistake. Taking and returning fire, they fought to protect themselves and their squadron, not anyone else. All they wanted was to ride those “freedom birds” back to the world with as many of their limbs as possible. The ones I evacuated mostly didn’t. Their Purple Hearts came at a much higher price than mine. And those who died were still dead three days later.  

I served in Danang, not far below the DMZ. “Rocket City,” we called it. When the rockets rained in and we dove for cover, it wasn’t for anyone’s freedom but our own. The beach there, China Beach, was beautiful, though; white sand, mild surf, and warm waters comparing favorably with the occasional nurse from the 95^th Evac stripping her combat fatigues down to a bikini, as choppers patrolled the shore, gunners sitting halfway out the doors, feet resting on the struts, protecting our freedom to swim.  

Just down the beach was the civilian MACV compound, fenced, guarded, green, quartering contractors making big money servicing the war. Someday, I figured, China Beach would be a destination spot, adorned with expensive hotels, win or lose. And so it is.  

Protecting America’s freedom had nothing to do with it. Especially not to the orchestrators. The Domino Theory was a useful selling point. Now our trading partner, Vietnam did fall. And it has hotels and McDonalds.   If the term makes sense, World War II was a good war. There was a definable cause, and undeniable need. It liberated people held in cages, terminating that practice and Nazism forever for a while. And it ended the Depression. 

Afghanistan was justifiable, might even have made us safer, had Rumsfeld not let Osama off the hook, had Bush not bailed to pursue unrevealed intentions. Iraq’s “Domino Theory” was “Bringing Democracy to the Middle East,” as bogus as the former, and as the Gulf of Tonkin incident. It was never about protecting our freedom, even though more who fought there, and more people back home, believed it was; more than was the case with Vietnam. By then, propaganda had found a louder voice. Dick Cheney’s stock in Halliburton made out. Oil companies and defense contractors, too. Most everyone else paid dearly for the adventurism, and the bill still isn’t settled. 

It’s easier to believe our wars have been to defend freedom than to consider other reasons. No matter what, those who died deserve our veneration. And contrition, for the lives we’ve enjoyed since they lost theirs. And for our complicity in sending them, unquestioning, to fight wars instigated by old men whose kids rarely did, for reasons obscured beneath star-spangled bromides.  

It’s wrong, and lazy, to define patriotism only in terms of war; equate it only with those convinced to fight, for reasons they’re made to believe. It’s not their belief that needs questioning: it’s that of those who slap “Support Our Troops” stickers on their cars and trucks, fly flags that say “Behold my patriotism,” coal-roll, vote for tax cuts that deprive veterans of their rightful benefits, and call themselves patriots. 

After serving in Vietnam, Memorial Day makes me more angry than sad. Once a year the tears are real; the absence of those who died is eternal. Yet we remain at war, even as phony platitudes and intimations of future wars from a “president” who dodged the draft by fakery expose the day of remembrance as the manipulation it has always been. My friend, an honorable man who didn’t serve, believes with all his heart. I respect him for that. My anger may be overly self-righteous, but military members aren’t the only Americans protecting our freedom. So are teachers, nurses, housekeepers, factory workers, researchers, parents, climate protestors, plumbers, Social Democrats, the remaining actual conservatives, community organizers… 

But not those keeping us in a state of perpetual war, selling the myth that freedom is the reason.

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To "I" Or Not To "I." That IS The Question

My next newspaper column:

Impeachment. There’s a political argument, to the “no” side of which Nancy Pelosi seems committed; and there’s a constitutional argument, for which the rational position is “yes.” It’s a monumental call.  

Were the House of Representatives to embark upon preparing a case, there’d be one of those storms the prefix of which was shared by Trump in his characterization of certain African countries. His tweet-thumbs would burst into arthritic flame, Fox “news” anchors’ rage would deoxygenate the entire troposphere, and melting TV screens in Trump-country would leak pixels like lava. 

If inquiries revealed murdered prostitutes and rubles by the millions in a Lincoln bedroom closet, the Senate would still acquit, McConnell’s grin would reflect eating the afore-hinted substance, and Fox’s Three Dolts on a Divan would praise Trump’s housekeeping skills. 

But there are times that demand principled bravery. Hills on which to die. If they don’t include trying to save our Constitutional Republic, nothing does. That impeachment of Donald J. Trump, serial liar, perjurer (in writing!), ongoing obstructer of justice, who comforts our enemies and threatens our friends, who calls treasonous (which requires putting to death) the constitutionally-empowered investigators of possible crimes by him, his campaign, and his administration; demands his underlings ignore legal subpoenas from a co-equal branch of government; calls for jailing political opponents; hires a sycophantic, dishonest Attorney General; undermines the mainstays of our democracy – voting, press freedom, and education; sabotages separation of powers the way any tin-pot dictator would; is prone to petulant rages leading to hair-trigger “policy” given less than a millisecond’s thought, likely to be reversed hours later; that these offenses cry out for impeachment is understood by all who consider the Constitution a still-relevant document, intended to protect us all. 

Do I write run-on sentences? Very well, then, I write run-on sentences.  

Impeachment would be a political risk for Democrats. A huge one. The aftermath could see Republicans regain both chambers and reelect Trump, which would be the final nail in the climate-coffin, seal the permanent loss of women’s rights, LGBT rights, minority civil and voting rights, equal rights of non-Christians. Minority views on nearly all issues, confirmed by ideological judges, would become entrenched, and those of us sharing ideals held by a majority of Americans could do nothing about it. A high price, indeed. And yet...  

As strep requires penicillin, so does Trump require impeachment. Congressional Democrats arguing for it, trying to convince Speaker Pelosi, are, in effect, announcing they care less about their careers than about upholding the fundamental principles of the United States of America, constituted as and which must remain a country where autocracy is held in check by respect for our laws; where “the people’s house” is able to restrain a lawless, power-hungry, mendacious leader; where those conditions that have led to dictatorships elsewhere are not allowed to take hold here. We are, they’re saying, willing to die on that hill. That’s actual, definitional patriotism. As opposed to the manipulated, phony sideshow of Trump’s rallies.  

During impeachment proceedings, Americans would hear witnesses to Trump’s unconstitutional actions, backed by layers of evidence. They wouldn’t need to read the Mueller report or seek out partisan punditry. Unfiltered by right-wing media, William Barr’s deceptions, or a Trumpic torrent of tweets, facts would be laid bare. There’d be more than enough to result in a House vote for impeachment; but, inevitable as Trump’s next lie, Mitch McConnell’s Senate would roll over, leaving him in office.  

And then, having seen with their own eyes, voters would face an existentially consequential choice: return to office those courageous enough to have impeached, while voting out those cowardly or avaricious enough to have refused removal; or the other way around. If the latter, then what many us have been warning about will have been realized. 

In failure, impeachment will have forced the sad truth upon us sooner, hastening recognition that America has come to prefer dictatorship. Decades of unrelenting focus by the “modern” Republican Party on intentional, multi-focal deluding of the public will have achieved its goal. Constitutional democracy will have become, in our century, nothing more than illusion. Its inevitable, intentional demise will only have been hastened, not caused.  

Notwithstanding rightwing claims, impeaching Trump would be about neither policy disagreements nor undoing “election” results, but, rather, about discovering whether or not the American experiment has failed. 

Perhaps it’s best if we don’t find out.   

  
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Ethical Dilemma. Resolved?

My next newspaper column:

Taking a break from Trump’s ethical failings, here’s a story of an ethical dilemma I faced early in my surgery training, involving necrotizing fasciitis, AKA “flesh-eating disease.” Excerpted and revised from my book about those times, it’s graphic. And I’m unsure what the lesson is.  

Playing softball in Golden Gate Park, Eric A. took a knee to his thigh as he slid into second base. By that evening, it hurt too much to walk, so he lay on his couch for a couple of days until he started to feel ill, at which point a friend brought him to San Francisco General Hospital, where, only three years into surgery residency, I was in charge of the “Extremity Service.” Given his story, there was little urgency in the call I got from the Emergency Department. It figured to be an infected blood clot, needing routine drainage. 

As expected, his thigh was red and swollen, but I wasn’t alarmed until, palpating it, I felt the crunch of gas bubbles under his skin. Then, for the first of countless times in my career, I called the OR requesting a room ASAP; and, unready to be on my own, I called Dr. Blaisdell (rightfully known as “Blazer”), Chief of Surgery.  

You expect fat to be bright yellow and to bleed a bit as you cut through it. When it’s gray and fizzes, a thudding sickness arises in your gut. Even worse when it’s muscle, liquefying, frothy. The treatment for necrotizing fasciitis is aggressive, wide removal of all the involved tissues, and big doses of antibiotics. And going back to the OR as often as it takes, to do it all again. It doesn’t always work. Gas-forming infection moves so fast, you can see it.  

We cut away most of the muscles of Eric’s thigh, and the skin over them. Preserving his leg seemed impossible, but at that point we’d removed everything that looked infected; and since, in my inexperience, I hadn’t considered discussing amputation with him, I took him to the ICU to wake him up and talk things over before the next operation.  

He was lucid, and adamant: no amputation. He’d rather die, he said, than lose his leg. I was as persuasive as I could be. So was he. When his pulse and temperature began to rise, I took him back to the OR.  

Within minutes it was obvious: there was no way to save Eric’s leg, and it was unlikely we’d save his life. The infection now involved the remaining muscles of his leg, had forced itself around the buttocks, and, portentously, the fascia of the psoas muscle—heading up into the belly along its back side, all the way to the kidneys.  

“He needs disarticulation,” Blazer said, meaning taking the whole leg out of the hip joint, the worst kind of amputation. Without a stump, it’s hard to control a prosthesis, let alone attach one.  

“Dr. Blaisdell,” I said, “he was very clear: he refuses amputation. He said he’d rather die. Really,” I repeated, by now not at all sure what was right. “He was very clear.”  

“Then I’ll do it.”  

So I did it.    

When we finished, Eric’s hip socket was empty, his buttocks denuded to the middle of his back. His lower belly was skinned, his left testicle, denuded, was hanging like an egg on a string. We’d reached into his retro-abdominal area as far as we could, stripping the psoas muscle’s surface and leaving a bunch of rubber drains. It was going to be hard to face him when he awoke, as clear as his demands had been. On the other hand, I was certain he was going to die.  

Embarrassingly, Blazer was already leaving the ICU when I got there at 5:00 the next morning. “Your patient just wrote a note," he told me. "You’d better go read it.” (Still intubated, Eric couldn’t talk.) Get me a lawyer, was what I expected, and my stomach tightened as I reached for the clipboard. 

“I’d like information on prostheses, please” is what it said.  

After some late-night hilarity featuring too much soap in a jetted tub (it’s in the book), and several skin grafts later, Eric returned home to Boston. For years, he sent Christmas cards.    

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The Idiot In Charge

It's obvious by now that the guy reportedly in charge of our economy is a fucking idiot.

Some will argue, depending on the direction of said economy and of which party a president (or "president") is a member, that everything or nothing, good or bad, can be attributed to the person behind the Resolute Desk. In this case, there can be no argument: Trump opens his McDonald's-hole about tariffs on China and markets crash like Trump Airlines.

The idiocy presents in two forms: first, he has no fucking clue how tariffs work; or if he does, he figures he can lie about it, like he does everything else, and the Trumpic wing of the Party of the Uncaring will down it like Trump Vodka, for the brief time it was available.

To wit: he keeps saying "China is paying for the tariffs." By now we all know that's false: importers do. Then, by downstream effects, the manufacturers who buy it from importers, and, finally, consumers, for whom prices are raised accordingly. It's a burden and, in effect, a tax. Doubly so for those of us in states with a sales tax. So there's that. Thanks, Obama.

Second: he doesn't give a shit. This isn't about the US, its consumers, its producers. It's about him. The guy with the best words, whose very big brain hires the best people, who understands more about everything than anyone. His pathetic, destructive, vindictive, mendacious, prematurely-ejaculating ego, is in charge. He's gotta see himself as a winner, and the other guy, a "loser." That's his game. It ain't about us. It's all about the mushroom dick floating around in his hydrocephalic ventricles.

The proof of it is the fact that he obviously has no fucking plan. He shoots off his mouth when his ego is threatened, makes a bunch of threats or dishonest pronouncements, or both. Then, as his flunkies scramble to explain away or deal with the fallout, he comes up with an idea: we'll pay our farmers even more billions than we already are. Buy their stuff. Give it to poor countries (not even our own poor.) Nothing, so far, about every other business sector, nor the consumers thereof, though.

And the thing is, I don't think any of this matters to China, because they DO have a plan. Unlike Trump, whose "plans" come and go with the flash of a couple of outraged, lonely neurons, they play a very, very long game. Slow and steady. Win the world economy. If they can play Trump like a China doll along the way, watch the US economy creak as its deficits become unsustainable, so much the better. The US really doesn't fit into their long-range plans: everywhere else on the planet does. So says I, China expert and macroeconomic whiz.

But, to quote a stable genius, "Trade wars are easy to win." Could be. If the person in charge weren't a loser businessman who hasn't the foggiest.

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My Abortion Column, Revised

I posted this last week, as an upcoming newspaper column. I decided to wait, and in the meantime, I've revised it for publication:

Discussing abortion is dangerous territory for a column, but Trump, et ilk, are already giving it prime space amongst the next-election lies they’re spreading about Democrats. “Executing” newborns is how Trump put it at his recent “Rally the Uninquisitive” roadshow. By actual count his ten-thousandth, it’s his most loathsome lie yet. In the interest of accuracy, which used to be a thing, let’s revisit the origin of this odious demagoguery. 

Yes, there are people who believe, in the rare circumstances in which third-trimester abortions are medically indicated, the decision must be left to parents and their doctors. Not Donald Trump, not Franklin Graham, not Sean Hannity. Having shared many tough medical decisions with patients, I’m grateful they never included that, the most wrenching of all.  

The big lie began when former pediatric neurologist, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s answer to a question was leapt upon by rightwing fake news, easily convincing the dupable he’d advocated infanticide. (Trump made hacking motions when saying “execution.”) The heartbreaking circumstance Northam described was a baby born so malformed that it wouldn’t long survive. He answered unambiguously: it would be cuddled in a blanket while the parents resolved whether they wished the baby to receive aggressive life-support or comfort measures only, while dying naturally. 

Some distant bystanders will argue the baby should be kept alive at all costs, until its inevitable death. More, one hopes, would apprehend the parents’ pain, and sympathize with choosing only gentleness as death approached. In turning such anguish into a heartless, deceitful theme of his rallies, Trump sank to a level of repulsiveness, disgraceful even for him. 

Perhaps those at Trump’s rallies should be forgiven. Made terminally indifferent to pursuing truth, they attend to baste in his lies, without reflection, whatever the target. Were they to make the tiniest effort to cleanse themselves with truth; had they the smallest sliver of empathy for people who don’t happen to be them, perhaps they’d reject his perfidy and be appalled by his confidence in deluding them, whatever the lies. So, no: in fact, they shouldn’t be forgiven. Truth is obtainable, and everyone benefits when people care to discover it. Those who don’t, go to rallies.  

Despite rightwing falsifiers and lunatic legislators, Governor Northam wasn’t referring to birth after a failed abortion attempt, either. Trump didn’t care; those lies work as well for him as ones about immigration. 

In a perfect world, there’d be no abortions (or birth defects). Unlike anti-choice proponents, pro-choice advocates favor birth control and sex education – not the abstinence-only kind – knowing they significantly decrease the incidence; and that the greatest number of teen pregnancies and abortions occur where they’re unavailable. To anti-choice folks, it’s immaterial. Because sin, one assumes.  

The decision to undergo an abortion is manifestly fraught. And it’s understandable, that, for religious reasons, some consider abortion murder at any stage, finding no distinction between a fertilized ovum and a full-term baby. Neither is it hard to grasp the difficulty, for those who see a difference, in agreeing at what stage of pregnancy abortion ought to have restrictions. 

There’ll never be consensus, especially downwind from such a poisonous “president.” Nevertheless, those whose no-exception stance is religion-based must accept that they’re in America, where no single religious view takes precedence over another. Not yet, anyway. 

Anti-choice believers can console themselves in their certainty of heavenly entrée, and that those who perform and receive abortions will suffer eternal damnation. (The Bible is notably silent on the issue, however.) And, because it’s said God knows us before we’re born and has a plan for us all, they may take comfort in knowing the aborted will be fine.  

Medical science tells us around a third of early conceptuses die in the womb, to be resorbed or expelled unnoticed; plus, there are countless miscarriages. And stillbirths. Given the religious argument for “no exceptions,” God is involved in every one of those deaths. That challenges religious objections to abortion, about which, again, the Bible is silent. It ought to be acceptable, then, that abortion remains legal, safe, and rare. 

To that end, programs which further its rarity should be supported by everyone. And funded. Because they’re pro-life, so should services that aid underprivileged, disadvantaged forced-birth babies and their mothers. And adoption. Tell it to Republican Congress-folk.  

Donald Trump needs to stop lying. Those who believe him should be ashamed. Why? Read this.

At Long Last, Do They Care?

My next newspaper column:

It’s time for the Republican Party and its members who continue to support Trump to decide if they believe in America. Seriously. That’s the question, right now, as Trump, Barr, and Congressional Republicans are declaring the Constitution of The United States of America inoperative, a meaningless piece of parchment. Is there any Trumpist who can look in the mirror and claim the person smirking back at them would make excuses, were it Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? 

That venerable document explicitly gives to Congress the authority, the duty, to oversee the Executive Branch. In a country founded by people who fled tyrannical monarchy, this is easily understood; a concept to be defended at all costs, lest we find ourselves back in the Seventeenth Century, with no way home.  

Donald Trump, a duplicitous egoist who’s bullied, cheated, and ignored the law throughout his career and who’s demonstrated not an ounce of patriotism beyond that which enriches him, is, without resistance from his party, claiming he’s above the law. He’s demanding his hired help do the same. And he’s getting away with it.  

The thing about the rule of law is that, alone, it doesn't exist. Citizens need to buy into the concept, see it as worth defending, even if doing so might lessen their personal power. Even if it requires sacrificing part of the present to protect all of the future. If it ever did, the Republican Party no longer accepts that premise. We see now how the system fails if people, particularly our elected officials, don’t respect it. 

When a “president” refuses to comply with constitutionally mandated congressional oversight requests, when his Attorney General unreservedly lies to Congress, while making farcical excuses for Trump’s lawlessness (“It wasn’t obstruction because he considered the investigation unfair”), how will subpoenas or contempt orders issued by Congress be enforced? Absent belief in the most basic American premises, namely separation of powers, and checks and balances; absent willingness to accede to its requirements, it breaks down. Rules become unenforceable. Which is what, precisely, is happening. 

We love seeing him stick it to liberals, say Trumpists. Forget the Constitution! Long as it’s our guy, take the rule of law, the lifeblood of our republic, everything that has, till now, preserved and protected our form of government, and shove it. We. Don’t. Care.  

When the Republican Party was producing decent people, like Dan Evans, Mark Hatfield, Margaret Chase Smith, Barry Goldwater, Everett Dirksen, Dwight Eisenhower, this would have been impossible. Even in recent memory, before whatever got to them got to them, Lapdog Graham considered Trump a “race-baiting, xenophobic bigot; Trump’s now-Chief-of-Staff called him “a horrible human being,” Rick Perry called him “a cancer on conservatism.” What happened? Power, and money, happened. Cowardice happened. Fox "news" happened.  

Trump calls a Constitutionally authorized inquiry into certain of his activities an “attempted coup,” and, predictable as acidifying oceans, his blind followers buy it, repeat the phrase like quoting the Bible. Write outraged letters to the editor. The potential end of democracy doesn’t occur to them. The history of our founding doesn’t, either.  

We’ve known for a while that today’s Republicans have discarded, like used tissues, the idea of fair elections, the importance to democracy of public education and a vigilant, inquisitive press. Have they now decided that, as long as he’s theirs, an unrestrained, autocratic “president” is okay, too? What do they think has, until now, made America great? Are those brilliantly rendered, permanently embedded checks and balances merely empty words, disposable on a whim? 

If you don’t see Trump’s dictatorial stonewalling of Congress as a danger, you neither understand nor accept the essence of America. You’re a false patriot. You reject the very concept of “a nation of laws.” This, of all things, shouldn’t be defined by party allegience.  

Bill Clinton embarrassed himself and his supporters. I found Lindsey Graham’s self-righteous, lip-quivering outrage, back then, phony (where is it now?); but I never thought Congress hadn’t the right to impeach. It’s codified. It deodorizes the stink of corruption. Do Trump supporters love America for its uniquely brilliant and successful constitutional governance, or not? If so, will they vote Trump and his Congressional co-dependents out of office, to restore the Republic? Given Republican Congressional dereliction, they’re our last hope. 

Nope. Not likely. It’d take acts of actual, selfless patriotism, not easy declarations. That ship has sunk.

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Executing Truth

Going there with my next newspaper column:

It’s undeniably unwise to columnize abortion, but Trump, et ilk, have made it clear it’ll occupy prime space amongst the lies they’ll be spreading about Democrats. “Executing” newborns is how Trump put it at his recent “Rally the Uninquisitive” roadshow. By actual count the ten-thousandth, it’s his most loathsome lie yet. For fictive Trumpists interested in accuracy, let’s revisit the origin of this odious demagoguery. 

Yes, there are liberals who believe, in the extremely rare circumstances in which third-trimester abortions are medically indicated, the decision must be left to parents and their doctors. Not Donald Trump, not Franklin Graham, not Sean Hannity. Having shared many tough medical decisions with patients, I’m grateful they never included that, the most wrenching of all.  

The big lie began when former pediatric neurologist, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s answer to a question was leapt upon by rightwing screamers, convincing the dupable he advocated infanticide. (At his rally, Trump made hacking motions when saying “execution.”) The heartbreaking decision Northam described was a baby born so malformed that it would soon die. He gave a straightforward answer: it would be cuddled in a blanket while the parents resolved whether they wished the baby to receive life-support or kept comfortable while dying naturally. (As God intended?) Despite rightwing lies, he wasn’t referring to a failed abortion attempt, either.  

Some distant bystanders will argue the baby should be kept alive at all costs, until its inevitable death. More, one hopes, would apprehend the parents’ pain, feel sympathy and understanding if they chose to provide tender comfort as death approached. In turning such anguish into a heartless, deceitful, inflammatory theme of his horrifying rallies, Trump sank to a level of repulsiveness, disgraceful even for him. 

Maybe those at Trump’s rallies should be forgiven. Made terminally uninterested in pursuing truth, they attend to baste in his lies, without reflection, whatever the topic. Were they to make the tiniest effort to restore themselves with truth; had they the smallest sliver of empathy for people who don’t happen to be them, perhaps they’d reject his perfidy and be appalled by his confidence in deluding them, no matter how vile the lies. (“It was an attempted coup!!”) So, no: in fact, they shouldn’t be forgiven. Truth is obtainable, and everyone benefits when people care to discover it. Those who don’t, go to rallies.  

Though Trump’s lie wasn’t directly about abortion, it evoked it. In a perfect world, there’d be none; no pro-choice advocate disagrees. Nor do any fail to understand that making birth control and sex education available – not the abstinence-only kind – leads to a decline in the incidence; and that the greatest number of teen pregnancies and abortions occur where they’re unavailable. To anti-choice folks, it’s immaterial. Because sin, one assumes.  

The decision to undergo an abortion is manifestly difficult and painful. It’s also understandable, that, for religious reasons, some consider abortion murder at any stage, finding no distinction between a fertilized ovum and a full-term baby. Neither is it hard to understand the difficulty, for those who see a difference, in agreeing at what stage of pregnancy abortion ought to have restrictions. 

There’ll never be consensus, especially downwind from such a poisonous “president.” Nevertheless, those whose no-exception stance is religion-based must accept that they’re in America, where no single religious view takes precedence over another. Not yet, anyway. Anti-choice believers can console themselves in their certainty of heavenly entrée, and that those who perform and receive abortions will suffer eternal damnation. (The Bible is notably silent on the issue, however.) And, because it’s said God knows us before we’re born and has a plan for us all, they may take comfort in knowing the fetuses will be fine.  

Medical science tells us around a third of early conceptuses die in the womb, to be resorbed or expelled unnoticed; plus, there are countless miscarriages. And stillbirths. Accepting the religious argument for “no exceptions,” God must be participating in every one of those deaths. That challenges religious objections to abortion, about which, again, the Bible is silent. 

It ought to be acceptable, then, that abortion remains legal, safe, and rare. To that end, programs which further its rarity should be supported by everyone. So, because they’re pro-life, should services that aid the underprivileged, disadvantaged post-born.  

Donald Trump needs to stop lying. Those who believe him should be ashamed. Why? Read this. 

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