“Pondering the Pundits” is an Open Thread. It is a selection of editorials and opinions from around the news medium and the internet blogs. The intent is to provide a forum for your reactions and opinions, not just to the opinions presented, but to what ever you find important.
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New York Times Editorial Board; A Major Victory for Abortion Rights
In the most significant victory in a generation for a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body, the Supreme Court on Monday struck down Texas’s harsh and dishonest anti-abortion law by a vote of 5 to 3.
The justices’ reasoning in overturning the law applies to hundreds of other attempts in recent years by Republican lawmakers around the country to restrict or destroy constitutionally protected reproductive rights.
While the decision was unquestionably correct, the vote should have been unanimous. The 2013 Texas law — which forced abortion clinics and their doctors to meet absurd, pointlessly strict medical standards — was the textbook definition of what the court had prohibited in a major 1992 ruling on abortion: “unnecessary health regulations that have the purpose or effect of presenting a substantial obstacle to a woman seeking an abortion.”
Eugene Robinson; Brexit is a cautionary tale for Trump supporters
Here is the real lesson from the stunning Brexit vote: Throwing a tantrum at the polls is not liberating; it is self-defeating. Those tempted to vote for Donald Trump should pay very close attention.
Brexit was a big deal, but it is not the end of the world. Reeling financial markets should recover from the shock, which has been nowhere near as serious as the 2008 meltdown. There will be some political turmoil in Europe, but I believe it will abate as everyone sees the extent to which British voters were defrauded.
It is already clear that those who chose to leave the European Union will not reap the benefits they were promised. Great Britain, or what’s left of it, will become a little poorer, less dynamic and less important. That’s about it.
Dean Baker: Full Employment And The Democratic Platform: Hillary Can Fix What Bill Broke
As the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton has the opportunity to correct a mistake made almost a quarter century ago. She can reaffirm the party’s commitment to full employment.
In the summer of 1944, a time when the country was still fully enmeshed in World War II, the Democratic Party told voters:
“To speed victory, establish and maintain peace, guarantee full employment and provide prosperity —this is its platform.”
For the next 44 years, eleven party platforms reaffirmed the party’s commitment to full employment. The wording was often longer and sometimes comparably brief, but at each election the Democrats wanted to go on record as the party committed to full employment. Or at least they did until 1992. [..]
It is often said that after parties approve their platforms they begin ignoring them immediately. There is much truth to this line. But it is more likely that a second President Clinton will take seriously a commitment that she has made than one she has not. It would be a big step forward if she reversed a mistake made by Bill Clinton and reaffirmed the Democratic Party’s commitment to full employment.
Trevor Timm: Is Hillary Clinton a neocon?
Another week, and another set of Republicans have endorsed Hillary Clinton. Is it because of existential threat of Donald Trump, or could it be because many of Clinton’s potential policies conveniently line up with theirs?
Longtime Republican foreign policy stalwart and Iraq warmonger Robert Kagan became the latest neoconservative to endorse Clinton for president last week. He has even offered to host a fundraiser on her behalf, as Foreign Policy Magazine first reported on Thursday. Kagan has followed the likes of former Bush deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and a slew of lower-profile officials in their endorsement of Clinton over Trump.
Now, it’s entirely possible that these Republicans are endorsing Clinton because Trump is an unhinged maniac who has given people of all political persuasions plenty of reason to not want him anywhere near the levers of power. But here’s the thing: the neocon love affair with Clinton started well before Trump was even in the discussion of Republican candidates, let alone the party’s likely nominee. [..]
In any case, the fact that Republicans may have ulterior motivations for endorsing Clinton, even as her campaign pushes for more of them, is a prime reason why progressives should not abandon criticizing Clinton when they disagree with her. Holding her accountable for her positions in the general election is vital, even while everyone also loudly denounces Trump.
Amanda Marcotte: Racists, energized by Trump and the Brexit vote, are acting out more — sometimes violently
Monday, the West Midlands police report, a halal butcher shop was attacked by what appears to be a Molotov cocktail in the Pleck borough of Walsall, a mid-sized English city near Birmingham. Luckily, no one was seriously hurt, but the pictures of the incident published on the BBC show extensive damage to the shop. Police are looking for a white man about 6 feet tall who was seen entering the shop.
While the police in Walsall say they intend on “keeping an open mind as to the motive”, the bombing does look like it fits into the surge of reports ofanti-immigrant and racist violence Great Britain is experiencing in the wake of a national referendum where voters chose to leave the European Union. The Leave campaign to leave the E.U. was overtly nationalist, playing on fears of immigration. With the Leave campaign winning, racist forces appear to feel vindicated and are acting out some of their ugliest desires.
The whole thing demonstrates something fundamental about the psychology of bigotry: Bigots really are sensitive to the force of public opinion.
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