Republican Fuckery XX: MTG Says That Stepparents are Not Parents & 2024 Presidential Election Nominee Vivek Ramaswamy Talks a Good Game

No one expects our politicians to be paragons of perfection. We are all human and therefore, imperfect. However, what I would hope is that we expect those in the halls of power to do what is right for the country and its citizens.

About two weeks ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene was asking questions grilling AFT (American Federation of Teachers) Union President Randi Weingarten about her “political activism”. Greene also stated Weingarten is not a mother because she is “a mother by marriage”.

Basically, what she is saying is that the only adult who can parent is one who has similar DNA. A child cannot be raised by the spouse of their parent or by one who had adopted a member of the younger generation. This is interesting, considering that the right often touts the preference for adoption over abortion. It is also curious that Greene makes this declaration after Weingarten stated that her wife was in the audience.

Last weekend, 2024 Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was a guest on Meet the Press. Like Nikki Haley, he talked a good game. But underneath was the same old bullshit.

We have to get them out of office. There is no other option if we are to save this nation.

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Flashback Friday: Lion (2016)

There is a fine line between tugging at heartstrings and going overboard on the emotion. It takes an artist to know where that line is and if/when/how to cross it.

The 2016 movie Lion, is based on the true story of Saroo Brierley. In the mid-1980s, Brierley was a young boy separated from his family in India. After traveling for thousands of miles, he is found and eventually adopted by an Australian couple John and Sue Brierley (David Wenham and Nicole Kidman).25 years later, the now-adult Saroo (Dev Patel) goes on a journey to locate and hopefully reunited with his birth family.

Based on Brierley’s 2015 memoir, A Long Way Home, this movie is heartfelt, emotional, and absolutely wonderful. I was floored by all of the performances and the absolutely authentic emotional journey that the characters go on.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

Looking for Jane: A Novel Book Review

Pregnancy and abortion have been part of the human experience for eons. Unfortunately, they have been turned into cultural, religious, or political pawns for those in power to mold society as they see fit.

Looking for Jane: A Novel, by Heather Marshall, was published this month. The story takes place in three timelines that eventually intertwine. In the early 1960s, Evelyn is an unwed pregnant teenage girl. She has been sent to a “home” to prepare for the birth of her child. Once she gives birth, she will return to her family as if nothing has happened. A decade later, she is a doctor and part of an underground network to provide safe abortions.

In 1980, Nancy makes two earth-shattering discoveries. The first is that she was adopted. The second is that she is pregnant and knows that she is not ready to be a parent. Without no one to turn to, she finds the Janes. After her procedure is done by Evelyn, she joins the group. But while is living a double life, her secrets weigh on her.

In 2017, Angela is a bookstore owner in Toronto. While she and her wife are desperately trying to get pregnant, she discovers a letter that opens the door to a decades-old mystery.

I loved this book. It was engaging, entertaining, and to be frank, it made me angry. Granted, drama makes for good fiction. But the real women’s stories behind the novel shouldn’t have occurred in the first place. It is a reminder that Roe v. Wade and other similar legalization is still a necessity.

Unlike last year’s Call Jane, the legal and medical danger in Evelyn and Nancy’s time is part and parcel of their experience. What the author does successfully ensure all of her protagonists have equal weight within the narrative. It is difficult to balance a tale of this kind with two storylines. Three is asking for trouble if it is not done properly. Thankfully, Marshall succeeds.

If nothing else, it is a reminder of how far we have come and how far we need to go.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely.

Looking for Jane: A Novel is available wherever books are sold.

Somewhere Sisters: A Story of Adoption Identity and the Meaning of Family Book Review

On its surface, adoption is a wonderful thing. It gives children without a home a family and it allows adults to become parents or to add to their brood. But for all the good it does, it can have unforeseen side effects.

Somewhere Sisters: A Story of Adoption, Identity, and the Meaning of Family, by Erika Sachiko was published in October. The memoir is the story of two young ladies who were born in Vietnam at the end of the 1990s. Hà and Loan are twins. Born to a mother who could not take care of them, they were put in an orphanage. Hà was taken in and raised by a maternal aunt and her long-time partner. Loan was renamed Isabella and adopted by an American couple along with another girl they renamed Olivia.

Their lives were as different as night and day. Hà’s early years were happy., but without the material advantages of Isabella’s suburban upbringing. When Isabella’s adoptive mother found out that her daughter had a twin, she set out to reunite the girls.

I wanted to like this book. It was a compelling narrative. I liked how the author sketched the journey of her subjects. But it was a little slow and it took longer than expected to finish it.

Do I recommend it? Maybe.

Laura & Emma Book Review

The relationship between a mother and daughter can be both complicated and interesting.

Laura & Emma, by Kate Greathead, was published in 2019.

In the early 1980s in New York City, Laura has just entered her 30s without much of a plan. The daughter of an old-money, blue blood family, she has a one-night stand. The man whom she slept with has vanished and has left Laura with a parting gift: a child. Instead of ending the pregnancy or giving the baby up for adoption, she decides to raise her daughter as a single parent.

Taking place over a period of 15 years, the book explores the changing dynamic between the characters as they both age and deal with what life throws at them.

The best way to describe the book is a sort of Gilmore Girls-ish narrative that is set in NYC instead of small-town Connecticut. The best part of the story was the relationship between the main characters. I was able to feel the feels between Laura and Emma.

Overall, it was an ok read. I wasn’t completely underwhelmed, but I came pretty close. What got me was the ending. I did not understand it at all.

Do I recommend it? Maybe

Laura & Emma are available wherever books are sold.

Found Review

We all want to know where and who we come from. Someone who is raised by their birth family can easily answer this question. Those who are adopted may not be able to come up with that same information as easily.

The 2021 Netflix documentary, Found, follows three young ladies who were born during the one-child policy era in China. Living in orphanages as babies because of their gender, they were each adopted and raised by Anglo-American parents. Finding each other via a DNA test, they travel to the land of their birth, hoping to find blood relatives.

This film is touching and beautiful. I felt for these young women, whose lives were forever altered simply because they were born girls and not boys. I loved their connection, it was the emotional throughline that kept me watching. Throughout the movie, I was crossing my fingers, hoping that their deepest wish would come true.

Do I recommend it? Yes.

Found is available for streaming on Netflix.

Gutting Roe V. Wade by the Supreme Court Sets a Dangerous Precedent

This coming week has the potential to forever change the United States for the worse. Roe V. Wade could become a shell of its former self if the ruling by the Supreme Court goes a certain way.

A recent ad campaign tells the story of Annie Fitzgerald. Adopted as an infant, she emphasizes pro-life values.

Adoption is wonderful. However, it is not a cure all, as Justice Amy Coney Barrett suggests. As of 2019, there were 424,00 children in the foster system on any given day alone. The question I would ask anyone who is pro-life is are they willing to step in and be the parents these kids need? Or are they all talk and no action?

In Judaism, abortion is allowed, up until birth. If the life of the mother is threatened, then it is permitted to end the pregnancy. Though it becomes a bit murky after that, the message that the decision is up to the woman is revolutionary.

My body, my future, my choice. If you don’t have a uterus, be quiet. If you do have a uterus, you should still be quiet.

At the end of the day, the choice belong to the woman, her doctor, her spouse/partner (if she has one), and her heavenly creator (if she has such beliefs). No one else should be putting in their two cents.

P.S. I am going to end this post with a tweet that says it all.

Republicans: If you have an abortion, you are a criminal.

Also Republicans: If you give your child a gun and he uses it to murder people, you are not a criminal.

— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) December 4, 2021