This article is factually based. Just for contacts. I'm not offering my opinion anywhere in it, but dozens of opinions of men and women that have been published and are respected liberals. I've only used data and probably as well as their testimonials and references to their books.
I'm to old to worry about what people think, and the least of my worries what men think. It was the good old days when I was doing a man’s factory job to raise my kids and support my ailing mother. The world has changed so much but men have judged women since Adam and Eve and men have always walked away from parenting…
I can't evaluate any of these claims. I don't see examples and I don't know who's actually making them. Are they coming from the extreme and online left? How much of this is actually stated versus misinterpreted? "Believe all women " as I understand it, is a response to the gap between the number of assault accounts that were proven to be false versus the perception trotted out by "men's rights" groups. i never took it as an absolute.
The left is prone to a tremendous amount of infighting and purity and this falls into that trap. We have one of two choices. We can chase down the ghosts or we can write new narratives. I promise you that the second is easier and more effective than the first.
Lots of good points but don’t ever use Bill Maher to support a point. He’s trash. He’s as racist, misogynistic, culturally & religiously intolerant as any conservative bigot. By the way, he’s not even funny!
I don’t think he’s ever been a voice of the Left. He’s simply self righteous. Trust me, I stopped watching him over ten years ago, maybe longer. But look at his guests over the years. He loved bringing on Russell Brand, who cracked on all sorts of liberal causes as being too woke. Well, guess who’s on trial. Misogynists typically flock together. As for his racism, he can like or dislike whomever he wishes, just like anyone, but I don’t think he would hesitate to use the N-bomb, as has been alleged by previous girlfriends. One more the environment, he is skeptical and mocking of individuals making Lifestyle changes to combat climate change, which he argues needs to rebranded and dealt with on a governmental level. Yeah, ok, how’s that working out with now Timber and Oil leases being handed out by our Federal govt for almost free.
Lastly, he might be 70 but he didn’t just become crotchety. He’s been that way.
It's actually just from the polling what people said went too far regarding the PC culture in the point of the 2024 election that's what inspired me to write the article.
I actually completely respect the opinions of people that are pro-life. I prefer to look at the data with all things.. I'm not a really for any thing being ruled on in legislation, that can't be enforced. Having said that, it's estimated that there were one point one million abortions per year being done illegally at the time row v Wade was passed. And 2025, the number was about the same ... So much like with some marijuana use.. Or with prohibition.. We can't enforce it with law, so we may as well make sure that it is regulated and done safely by qualified professionals regardless of what anyone's belief is. Because people's beliefs, if nothing to do with the facts, and if one's beliefs cannot withstand evidence, they're not world view they are identities
A thoughtful reply. Thank you. But…I would argue your logic fails. Homicide is against the law, and yet there are thousand of homicides each year. Do we try to make homicides regulated such that the victims don’t suffer needlessly? Forgo legislation and criminal punishment, but make sure there is dignity in being killed? Or raped? Just because people break the law doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be societal punishment to those who offend and to deter future murder of innocents.
You're welcome for the reply. I just want to reiterate, the same thing I said in the first reply... I don't have an opinion on this issue, and I write and use data, polling, and the quotes of other respected writers... in this case very respected liberal leaders...
As far as claiming that my logic regarding abortion law fails.. It's not so much logic as it is data... Did you know there were 930,000 average abortions from 2019 2022 when I overturned Roe v Wade and made it nearly impossible and over a dozen states.. since they've returned it, there hasn't been a single year with less abortions . What I'm saying is that the legislation can't fix something that the majority of people want, whether it's legal or not.
When you say that murder and rape are illegal, to claim that my logic feels coming it's like comparing apples and telephones... That's a whataboutism dodge...
You can't call my claim something that falls apart by comparing abortion to murder and rape. It's like telling me that we just landed on the Moon by spring so we should be able to land on the Sun... That's not logic.
I already said this is a woman's choice to make, and I don't have a personal stance on it. I write what the data says, not what I feel. My only claim was that illegality doesn't stop the outcome. That's a different claim from "murder should be legal," and it's worth being precise about why.
It would be like telling me we landed on the moon this spring, so obviously we should be able to land on the sun. Abortion and homicide aren't the same category of act, and the polling proves it. Roughly 85% of Americans support abortion being legal in at least some circumstances — per 2025 Gallup, 30% say always, 55% say under certain circumstances, 13% say never. Support runs 82% when the mother's life or health is at risk, 70–75% in cases of rape or incest, 69% in the first trimester (which is over 94% of all abortions performed), dropping to 37% in the second trimester and about 22% in the third, outside of serious medical circumstances. There is no equivalent constituency for murder. You can't run the same argument on two things the public doesn't remotely agree belong in the same category.
And the "underground" point was never about enforcement failure — the same as our failure to stop murder. It's that abortion involves a person seeking something for themselves. Nobody crosses a border to be murdered. That's not a footnote — it's the whole reason these aren't analogous acts, independent of whether either is legal.
Also worth separating: nobody is proposing we legalize murder or rape. There isn't a meaningful percentage of the country in favor of either — not close to 1%. We do, notably, already have a legally regulated category of killing carried out by the state: the military, and capital punishment. That's actually the stronger comparison, because it shows we do already regulate killing through due process — self-defense, and in Texas, certain uses of deadly force to protect property under specific conditions. Capital punishment requires conviction and appeal before the state is permitted to end a life. And even with all of that architecture — trial, appeal, years of review — DPIC's data shows one wrongful conviction is exonerated for every 8.2 people executed, a rate serious enough that Illinois and several other states halted executions over it. Among DNA-based exonerations specifically, nearly half involved a false confession, often extracted after extended interrogation. That's the system working as hard as it legally can to get this right, and it still carries a documented error rate. Abortion restrictions don't have any of that architecture — no trial, no appeal, no burden of proof — because the actual dispute is upstream of due process: whether the law can even establish, in every case, that this meets the standard of "person" that due process exists to protect. That's the disagreement. Not whether killing should be tolerated.
All the concern by many seems to be around the child in the womb. Why not carry that concern for them after they’re born? They need basics like love, shelter, food and clothing at the very least. This article seems to make a point of what happens when you only have tunnel vision.
Now well one side of the country seems to be much more concerned with them before they're born… haven't really thought about what happens after they're born. And then they send them to the military.
Thanks Dwina! Thank you for your service. Two of my mentors, where my Asis in high school Aerospace science instructor Colonel Gainer Sergeant Stover... I was in AFJROTC for 4 years in high school and my brother and I both earned ROTC scholarships... My brother is still active.. But me. It was a very quick experience.
During my MEPS exam , I lied about asthma , and when I was in Lackland Texas for boot camp, on the second day of PT (hard place to hide asthma)... I have an asthma attack running the 1.5mi.. For Better Or worse, this was 6 weeks before September 11th.
Frighten the whole way living s*** out of them is right. And I agree that the rise of Maga to a certain extent is definitely a function of balance. It's a lot of bad information out there that made us look bad.
I have friends that actually voted for Trump because they said they didn't want their kids to have their gender changed behind their back at school...
Now this is the product of misinformation of course, but it does speak to a way to strategically talk about these things and not allow them to become the narrative so easily. Republicans have always been the masters of twisting words & trickery.
What would you say the difference is between the Gen Z culture War revolutionary energy, and the actual revolutionary energy that opened eyes in the sixties and seventies?
This is a piece I wrote on how misplaced outrage , which i believe was a good intention. Trying to play the Fox News game on the left.. a fairly miserably.. actually outrage the public so much that it elected Trump in 2024 after making him a martyr in 2021. I took a lot of flack for this piece but I just used statistics. I don't even draw any real opinions
Interesting thesis. I still think you’re doom scrolling when you shld B resting.
Yes the Left sleep walked into this, at least some did, but the existential threats are still real. & yes some spend way to much time on pronouns & “political correctness.”
However, being polite to some LBGT+ persons preferred pronouns is just good manners & if THAT offends … tough shit.
The “Working Class” is not some monolithic paradigm. It’s a malleable multi-hued organism. Also convenient political short hand for non-union lower middle class workers. Which is often used instead of deeper critical thinking.
So good stuff. Thought provoking. I’m distributing it to my private network of friends & family, all ferociously liberal & intellectual.
Meanwhile I’m going back to my SciFi adventures & rereading “The Federalists Papers,” just to keep my mind cleansed.
Robert that was such a great response. And I agree that the pronoun issue is one of the more common courtesy and politeness. I guess the better way to put it is that we need to be careful when it identifies a political movement because some get confused.... Have to respect the depths... In the real world I see very little and polite Behavior towards different communities thankfully...
I love the quote about the working class being not a monolithic Paradigm but a malleable multi-hued organism. Also political shorthand for non-union lower middle class workers (which is most of my generation).
Hell yeah you did. I was born in 1983 and one of the things that was kind of a sign that you were an adult is that you listen to jimi Hendrix and rolling Stones and the Beatles and so many other classic rock groups. And these kids in their twenties now, their playlist is full of music lead in the 60s and 70s.
Lots of great points. I believe that we have to learn to value debate in this country again. Disagreements and public discourse should work towards coming into agreement not shutting others down.
This article is factually based. Just for contacts. I'm not offering my opinion anywhere in it, but dozens of opinions of men and women that have been published and are respected liberals. I've only used data and probably as well as their testimonials and references to their books.
I'm to old to worry about what people think, and the least of my worries what men think. It was the good old days when I was doing a man’s factory job to raise my kids and support my ailing mother. The world has changed so much but men have judged women since Adam and Eve and men have always walked away from parenting…
These were the top social movements based on what was trending on line over the past ten years
I can't evaluate any of these claims. I don't see examples and I don't know who's actually making them. Are they coming from the extreme and online left? How much of this is actually stated versus misinterpreted? "Believe all women " as I understand it, is a response to the gap between the number of assault accounts that were proven to be false versus the perception trotted out by "men's rights" groups. i never took it as an absolute.
The left is prone to a tremendous amount of infighting and purity and this falls into that trap. We have one of two choices. We can chase down the ghosts or we can write new narratives. I promise you that the second is easier and more effective than the first.
Lots of good points but don’t ever use Bill Maher to support a point. He’s trash. He’s as racist, misogynistic, culturally & religiously intolerant as any conservative bigot. By the way, he’s not even funny!
I don’t think he’s ever been a voice of the Left. He’s simply self righteous. Trust me, I stopped watching him over ten years ago, maybe longer. But look at his guests over the years. He loved bringing on Russell Brand, who cracked on all sorts of liberal causes as being too woke. Well, guess who’s on trial. Misogynists typically flock together. As for his racism, he can like or dislike whomever he wishes, just like anyone, but I don’t think he would hesitate to use the N-bomb, as has been alleged by previous girlfriends. One more the environment, he is skeptical and mocking of individuals making Lifestyle changes to combat climate change, which he argues needs to rebranded and dealt with on a governmental level. Yeah, ok, how’s that working out with now Timber and Oil leases being handed out by our Federal govt for almost free.
Lastly, he might be 70 but he didn’t just become crotchety. He’s been that way.
But hey, I’ll join you just the same. 🤝🤝🤝
Peace
There’s a lot of speculation and assumption in this post. If Bill ended up on trial, none of this would hold up in court.
Well, any court outside of New York.
It's actually just from the polling what people said went too far regarding the PC culture in the point of the 2024 election that's what inspired me to write the article.
Two words: Fox News
& then see my comment above.
These are all good points about how our success betrayed us.
However, do not let honest critique bleed into finger pointing, navel gazing & scape-goating.
Exactly my thoughts.
Gay rights and trans rights ?? What abt real and the truest God given family rights ? 🤷🏼♀️ you failed to mention Father Mother and children
So far the empathy hasn't affected that Institution
The actual liberals have been pushed aside by the people of the DNC which is just a capitalistic group nearly the same as the republicans
They've put too much time and attention into many issues that matter, but not to many "average" Americans. I think you were getting that.
Did your “expanding of human dignity” ever protect a child in the womb?
I actually completely respect the opinions of people that are pro-life. I prefer to look at the data with all things.. I'm not a really for any thing being ruled on in legislation, that can't be enforced. Having said that, it's estimated that there were one point one million abortions per year being done illegally at the time row v Wade was passed. And 2025, the number was about the same ... So much like with some marijuana use.. Or with prohibition.. We can't enforce it with law, so we may as well make sure that it is regulated and done safely by qualified professionals regardless of what anyone's belief is. Because people's beliefs, if nothing to do with the facts, and if one's beliefs cannot withstand evidence, they're not world view they are identities
A thoughtful reply. Thank you. But…I would argue your logic fails. Homicide is against the law, and yet there are thousand of homicides each year. Do we try to make homicides regulated such that the victims don’t suffer needlessly? Forgo legislation and criminal punishment, but make sure there is dignity in being killed? Or raped? Just because people break the law doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be societal punishment to those who offend and to deter future murder of innocents.
You're welcome for the reply. I just want to reiterate, the same thing I said in the first reply... I don't have an opinion on this issue, and I write and use data, polling, and the quotes of other respected writers... in this case very respected liberal leaders...
As far as claiming that my logic regarding abortion law fails.. It's not so much logic as it is data... Did you know there were 930,000 average abortions from 2019 2022 when I overturned Roe v Wade and made it nearly impossible and over a dozen states.. since they've returned it, there hasn't been a single year with less abortions . What I'm saying is that the legislation can't fix something that the majority of people want, whether it's legal or not.
When you say that murder and rape are illegal, to claim that my logic feels coming it's like comparing apples and telephones... That's a whataboutism dodge...
You can't call my claim something that falls apart by comparing abortion to murder and rape. It's like telling me that we just landed on the Moon by spring so we should be able to land on the Sun... That's not logic.
I already said this is a woman's choice to make, and I don't have a personal stance on it. I write what the data says, not what I feel. My only claim was that illegality doesn't stop the outcome. That's a different claim from "murder should be legal," and it's worth being precise about why.
It would be like telling me we landed on the moon this spring, so obviously we should be able to land on the sun. Abortion and homicide aren't the same category of act, and the polling proves it. Roughly 85% of Americans support abortion being legal in at least some circumstances — per 2025 Gallup, 30% say always, 55% say under certain circumstances, 13% say never. Support runs 82% when the mother's life or health is at risk, 70–75% in cases of rape or incest, 69% in the first trimester (which is over 94% of all abortions performed), dropping to 37% in the second trimester and about 22% in the third, outside of serious medical circumstances. There is no equivalent constituency for murder. You can't run the same argument on two things the public doesn't remotely agree belong in the same category.
And the "underground" point was never about enforcement failure — the same as our failure to stop murder. It's that abortion involves a person seeking something for themselves. Nobody crosses a border to be murdered. That's not a footnote — it's the whole reason these aren't analogous acts, independent of whether either is legal.
Also worth separating: nobody is proposing we legalize murder or rape. There isn't a meaningful percentage of the country in favor of either — not close to 1%. We do, notably, already have a legally regulated category of killing carried out by the state: the military, and capital punishment. That's actually the stronger comparison, because it shows we do already regulate killing through due process — self-defense, and in Texas, certain uses of deadly force to protect property under specific conditions. Capital punishment requires conviction and appeal before the state is permitted to end a life. And even with all of that architecture — trial, appeal, years of review — DPIC's data shows one wrongful conviction is exonerated for every 8.2 people executed, a rate serious enough that Illinois and several other states halted executions over it. Among DNA-based exonerations specifically, nearly half involved a false confession, often extracted after extended interrogation. That's the system working as hard as it legally can to get this right, and it still carries a documented error rate. Abortion restrictions don't have any of that architecture — no trial, no appeal, no burden of proof — because the actual dispute is upstream of due process: whether the law can even establish, in every case, that this meets the standard of "person" that due process exists to protect. That's the disagreement. Not whether killing should be tolerated.
All the concern by many seems to be around the child in the womb. Why not carry that concern for them after they’re born? They need basics like love, shelter, food and clothing at the very least. This article seems to make a point of what happens when you only have tunnel vision.
Now well one side of the country seems to be much more concerned with them before they're born… haven't really thought about what happens after they're born. And then they send them to the military.
Very thought proviking!
Thanks Dwina! Thank you for your service. Two of my mentors, where my Asis in high school Aerospace science instructor Colonel Gainer Sergeant Stover... I was in AFJROTC for 4 years in high school and my brother and I both earned ROTC scholarships... My brother is still active.. But me. It was a very quick experience.
During my MEPS exam , I lied about asthma , and when I was in Lackland Texas for boot camp, on the second day of PT (hard place to hide asthma)... I have an asthma attack running the 1.5mi.. For Better Or worse, this was 6 weeks before September 11th.
Some did.
But. Not all of us.
The reactionaries pushed back.
Hard.
& made up lies about us. We frightened the holy living shit out of them.
“Movement Conservatives .” Howdy-Doody Ronnie Reagan. Dick Chaney. & the Bushes.
We were, maybe, too successful.
We cld see the Promised Land, Universal Health Care, Free upper education, real Women’s Rights, complete LGBT+ Rights, & we stumbled. Or were pushed.
The Right made up stories about us & frightened a lot of folks. Not just the uneducated.
& then there was FOXnotNEWS.
The great myth making machine of the reactionary racists.
We were, essentially, betrayed by our success.
& now a grifting demagogue is ripping our society, our democracy to shreds.
The Left needs to stop blaming itself.
To a certain extent, the rise of MAGA is a function of the Balance.
However, pointing fingers & assigning scapegoats needs to stop.
Now.
Resist
Avance la Lucha
Frighten the whole way living s*** out of them is right. And I agree that the rise of Maga to a certain extent is definitely a function of balance. It's a lot of bad information out there that made us look bad.
I have friends that actually voted for Trump because they said they didn't want their kids to have their gender changed behind their back at school...
Now this is the product of misinformation of course, but it does speak to a way to strategically talk about these things and not allow them to become the narrative so easily. Republicans have always been the masters of twisting words & trickery.
That’s like a paradigm of the false information that circulates on the web, in taverns at coffee klatches & of course on FOXnotNEWS.
I mean, operating rooms in the local K-6? Please.
What would you say the difference is between the Gen Z culture War revolutionary energy, and the actual revolutionary energy that opened eyes in the sixties and seventies?
I’m not sure. My knowledge of Gen Z is pretty paltry.
However, I’d come back to the great myth making machines of FOXnotNEWS & the vast Russian, Chinese & Iranian misinformation& fake news bots.
Gen Z is probably the 1st completely computerized generation & that puts a hard limit on my knowledge of them.
Us Boomers were, I think, more literate & more widely read.
Plus, we had better music.
This is a piece I wrote on how misplaced outrage , which i believe was a good intention. Trying to play the Fox News game on the left.. a fairly miserably.. actually outrage the public so much that it elected Trump in 2024 after making him a martyr in 2021. I took a lot of flack for this piece but I just used statistics. I don't even draw any real opinions
https://uncomfortable.rxansmithmedia.com/p/the-misplaced-outrage-on-the-left?r=5xf1q5
Interesting thesis. I still think you’re doom scrolling when you shld B resting.
Yes the Left sleep walked into this, at least some did, but the existential threats are still real. & yes some spend way to much time on pronouns & “political correctness.”
However, being polite to some LBGT+ persons preferred pronouns is just good manners & if THAT offends … tough shit.
The “Working Class” is not some monolithic paradigm. It’s a malleable multi-hued organism. Also convenient political short hand for non-union lower middle class workers. Which is often used instead of deeper critical thinking.
So good stuff. Thought provoking. I’m distributing it to my private network of friends & family, all ferociously liberal & intellectual.
Meanwhile I’m going back to my SciFi adventures & rereading “The Federalists Papers,” just to keep my mind cleansed.
And, I’m taking a couple days off from Substack. Less politics & doom scrolling & more time engaging W the real world, friends & family.
…& diving into Sun Tzu, history & ScFi/Westerns in space.
Robert that was such a great response. And I agree that the pronoun issue is one of the more common courtesy and politeness. I guess the better way to put it is that we need to be careful when it identifies a political movement because some get confused.... Have to respect the depths... In the real world I see very little and polite Behavior towards different communities thankfully...
I love the quote about the working class being not a monolithic Paradigm but a malleable multi-hued organism. Also political shorthand for non-union lower middle class workers (which is most of my generation).
Hell yeah you did. I was born in 1983 and one of the things that was kind of a sign that you were an adult is that you listen to jimi Hendrix and rolling Stones and the Beatles and so many other classic rock groups. And these kids in their twenties now, their playlist is full of music lead in the 60s and 70s.
Lots of great points. I believe that we have to learn to value debate in this country again. Disagreements and public discourse should work towards coming into agreement not shutting others down.
Love the article. I don’t think you are a Nazi (rhetorical question anyway).
Well, if you just want to talk for inspiration that would be nice too! I cannot reach the cell number you gave me. Perhaps it was off while you slept.
Stay in touch and I’ll keep following you and restacking. 🫶🏻🙏🏻