Oh Happy Day

Oh Happy Day

Again

Gun-Loving Republicans Offer Condolences After Latest School Shooting

Another school shooting. More dead kids. A shooter with 2 AR style weapons and a handgun.

This carnage has been brought to you by "pro-life" Republican politicians, who not only refuse to vote for gun control legislation, but who actually champion access to assault riffles.

Toys

Gathering up some of Yoda's toys so I can sweep :)

The Waiting

This song on the Muzak at the store yesterday, Tom Petty, 1981 ...

St. Patrick's Day

- from St. Mary’s & St. Michael’s Parish Church, New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I have some Irish heritage from my grandmother, a McNeeley.

But they weren't Irish Catholics, they were Scotch-Irish, Scottish Presbyterians who were encouraged to move to Northern Ireland by the English in the 17th century (eeeek, they were on the side of the bad guys). I think they moved here at least by the time of the American Revolution, because I remember Auntie Bert, my grandmother's sister, wanting to join the DAR.

Sadly, when I was young I was totally uncurious about the family past and never really asked them about it. Now it's too late.

Lawsuit

Five Women Sue Texas Over the State’s Abortion Ban

Even before the Dobbs case, maternal morbitity/mortality in the US was high ... The U.S. Maternal Mortality Crisis Continues to Worsen: An International Comparison ... I recall how surprised I was when the doctor who prescribed birth control pills for me as a teen told me that it was more dangerous to my health to be pregnant than to take those pills.

But after the Supreme Court took away the constitutional right for women in the US to access abortion, the danger of being pregnant has grown ... What a High-Risk Pregnancy Looks Like After Dobbs

You might say that the pro-life movement and the Catholic church don't want women's lives to be endangered. The Catholic church would never value the life of a fetus more than that of a woman or girl. Actually the church does and would (Bishop Strips Hospital of Catholic Status After Abortion ... Nine-Year-Old's Abortion Outrages Brazil's Catholic Church).

Let us consider one of the church's modern saints, Gianna Beretta Molla ... an Italian Roman Catholic pediatrician. Although aware of the fatal consequences, Molla refused both a termination of pregnancy and a hysterectomy during her pregnancy with her fourth child. She died and was canonized just about 40 years later (usually it takes about 100 years). What lesson do you think the church was teaching Catholic women and girls with that action?

The latest on the pro-life agenda is outlawing abortion pills. After that, will be the outlawing of contraception (Contraception is already restricted in many states, and it could be the next battleground. Here's what you need to know.). They won't stop until they've dragged women and girls back to pre-1950s.

Outside

Cloudy here today with a bit of sun, though another atmospheric river is on the way. Just walking around with the cats, taking pictures. I took a lot but only a few turned out ok, like this one of the house ...

And this one of Olive, who's on the lookout for the scary Dash monster ...

SNAP

High Seas

High seas treaty: historic deal to protect international waters finally reached at UN

[T]he historic treaty is crucial for enforcing the 30x30 pledge made by countries at the UN biodiversity conference in December, to protect a third of the sea (and land) by 2030. Without a treaty, this target would certainly fail, as until now no legal mechanism existed to set up MPAs on the high seas.

Covering almost two-thirds of the ocean that lies outside national boundaries, the treaty will provide a legal framework for establishing vast marine protected areas (MPAs) to protect against the loss of wildlife and share out the genetic resources of the high seas. It will establish a conference of the parties (Cop) that will meet periodically and enable member states to be held to account on issues such as governance and biodiversity ...

To understand more about what will be protected and how important that is, watch the episode below of Our Planet, High Seas. It's amazing!

A.I.

John Oliver discusses A.I. - fascinating, funny, and kind of disturbing. And there are cats :)

More: Bing’s A.I. Chat: ‘I Want to Be Alive. 😈’

Cold

It's pretty cold here today and Yoda is in her igloo. But at least it has stopped raining for a while!