Hi, and welcome back to the nonprofit step right up to this political circus. In one corner, Ohio GOP candidate Bernie Marina claims an abortion right ballot measure is a k waste gateway, predicting rapist turned abortionists Booti's fat when you've got wild speculation. Meanwhile, legal experts are rolling their eyes so hard they
might need surgery themselves. Marina's fictional narrove skills make this a laugh riot issue One protects abortion rights, giving Ohian's control over their bodies, a win for common sense, but a loss for Marina's imagination everybody, and that's where the fiction crashes into politics and a head on collision. This story is from ABC News by Adam Adelman and The New York Times and was published of every second of twenty twenty three. So I'm going to say that I will take some
small victories everybody. I was really gonna sere what was going on with the abortion right issue, but it has been pulled that over seventy percent of America voters want to keep abortion right. So and finally there's actual pushback against this. Despite Marino's stinky little it tends to get this particular legislation through But we're going to talk more about that in a minute. But now let's take it over to Scott so he can give his opinions on this particular story. So
I want to hear you sure, sure, Yeah. First of all, I think, like you were saying, you know, we can consider this a victory for human rights, and so I think that's awesome. I think that's great. If you had asked me a year ago how this was going to go, I might have thought it might go the other way. Although the months leading up to the to the election, we were getting pretty clear
signals that things were gonna going to swing this way. But it's it's kind of surprising because Ohio has been traditionally a red state, and so I I think what we might be seeing here is just another symptom of the system being worked against the views and the opinions and the preferences of the voters. You're saying, Helena, over seventy percent of the of Ohio Ohioans was THATAII ohioing
Ohioites. Ohioans were in favor for this change to their state constitution. And but even though the state has been leaning red in elections, and so forth, and so, you know, we we see a lot of a lot of things going on, things like germandering, manipulation of the rules of Congress
and the Senate. We've seen sitting senators refusing to consider presidential nominations for the Supreme Court, and you know, just we've seen many many ways of the system being manipulated, you know, kind of like it's it's a power grab basically, and so it's it's it's almost like the the will of the voters is becoming irrelevant, and that's kind of disturbing. Infidel, What are your
thoughts on that. One of the things you mentioned that the majority and this being a middle of the road state, that's not being some state that is, you know what they want to call left this even though there's really no such thing as that here in the United States. But I really think that they they've caught the dogs, caught the car. They never expected to win on this issue. This was an issue to get people out to vote, and it was the boogeyman. It was something else just to get people to
keep voting time and time again. And now that we see their unrealistic perspective on what it means to be and in a post row versus wage society. No one everyone realizes we don't want that. That's not a popular position. It's not a position that anyone wants. And Middle America quite literally is saying no. What I found astounding is that there are four people and their legislature right now who are trying to say that there's been foreign election interference. I
mean, we've heard this before. It can't they at least come up with a new lie coming out with foreign election interference on the abortion issue in Ohio. I mean, that's such a complete stretch. I don't even know what
to say. They want to take away judiciary power and they want to return that to the legislature to make those determinations on how this actual amendment is applied because they're trying to keep it away from what they are afraid is going to be those extremist judges who are well not going to see things the way they do. One of the things that really gets me about this is how the
other side has tried to portray this is something that's not. It says this bill was something that was going to allow a rapist to force their victims to have abortions and that is just a lie tailor made for people who value pregnancy even in a case of rape. It's amazing that they would expect anybody to
believe that. You know, it is you know, and I know that it seems like they want to get this abortion albatross from around their neck, as they really realize, and they don't want what they've got, But they're trying to prey on the very people who can trust them and consider them their constituents, trying to prey on hope, the beliefs and concerns of evangelical women,
hoping they could be swayed by an emotional appeal. I mean, has passed in spite of these types of statements, but it is just absolutely astounding to me that they think that this can pass for law and just completely subvert the will of the people. And as I said, these aren't extremists. These are middle American Republican leading voters who would traditionally be on the other side
of the issue, who realize, no, this is crazy. You guys need to step back from this and let's get realistic about the abortion issue, because there's something in the middle that everyone can live with, not what I think is the perfect right solution, but something we can all live with and with that in mind, behavior like this guy Ernie Morenos, there's just these outright lies to prey on people who would feel they would be endangered by their
rapist is just the lowest of the low. In my opinion, I'm just glad people didn't listen and heed his lies. Now, Blayton, I think I've rambled on enough. Where are you coming from on this? Uh? Where I'm coming from is seeing two things in the same sentence that I never thought I would say, and it's Ohio and pleasantly surprised. But here we are. It just goes to like further prove that somebody broke the timeline in
twenty fifteen, because everything since then it's just been knucking futs. And in the latest episode of am I in a Coma, Ohio voters really voted to protect the rights of humans to be able to decide what to do with their own damd bodies. Never thought I would see that in my wildest rad But
that's the good news. Of course, where there is good news, there's always a group of crazy people that are ready to stump all over the good news because almost immediately following the voters voicing their opinion and speaking with their votes, the civil servants who represent the voters said no, and they began attempting to use the course to block those rights immediately. And these are rights that
were overwhelmingly supported in that state. And it just goes to show with most of us, I would hope by now have already figured out, especially in recent weeks, that these representatives they take being the voice of the people of their community very seriously as long as those people completely agree with them. Otherwise you can go to hell. I'll kick it. Literally, it's crazy.
So were any of you surprised that a politician that probably has like a pinky's worth of medical knowledge wanted to push this agenda through to you know, score some political points with his base, Like, I'm not surprised that's happening.
Surprise, No, no, no, And I do kind of want to remind people that when you when you're a victim of sexual assault, it stays with you years after and and forcing people that identify as women to be having to give birth to their attackers child is just additional and trauma, and not only to the mother, but the type of environment that child is going to be raised in So this is this is going to have long impacts if this had gotten through. And I'm glad that the Ohians were like, no,
fuck that ship, We're not doing that. And I think that's great, But I'm you know, I'm kind of want to care from you guys, like, you know, do you think that these type of politicians who want to push these agendas are going too far? And is it going to hint Like we're noticing that, you know, they're not getting the legislation passed, but do you think this is going to end up hindering him in the long
run? So I really want to get your I know I had a couple more things to say, Scott, but I would like to get your opinion on that. Yeah, could you repeat the question? So do we think that they're going too far? Is that what you're saying? Are we talking about the Republicans or are we talking about the voters here? The politicians? Like yeah, are they going too far with their certain agendas? And is
it going to hurt them in the long run? Oh? I see, Okay, Well, it seems that there is kind of a disconnect here, kind of some some kind either it's intentional or maybe it's just you know, kind of a naivete or maybe it's ignorance or some who knows what, but there's some kind of disconnect happening here. This is something that came up multiple
times in this article, this quote here. Republicans have been searching in vain for a successful message on abortion ever since the Supreme Court's decision, So that that's what they're worried about. How can we, how can we how can we phrase this? How can we how can we say this to make it more palatable? And it reminded me of there was a movie that came out in nineteen eighty four, Revenge of the Nerds, and we all know that
there were many problematic scenes in that movie. But in one of those scenes, all of the main characters were looking for dates for their for their frat party that they were throwing, and one of the characters named Booger, he says, I've been out cruising the high schools all week, right, And so they did that as it kind of they intended it to be a joke, and you know, they try to spin it like, oh, Booger just can't find love, you know what a nerd and also kind of saying,
well, booger's kind of creepy also, But the real problem was actually way worse than that Booger was looking for a miner to take to his college party. Okay, he was just and it wasn't that he just couldn't find the right miner's. It wasn't that he couldn't He was just having trouble if only he could find the right child to bring to his college party. No, sorry, booger, there is no positive outcome here. That's the same
thing that the Republicans are doing here. It's not that they're just having trouble finding a way to phrase their their wish to suppress the rights of women or you know, in their bodily autonomy and any pregnant people. Right. And so it's not just a matter of finding the right right way of doing it. It's that there's no possible there's no winning outcome here. You have a horrible position. It's not a question of pr spin, it's not a question
of just getting it into the right phrasing. It's a please respect your fellow human beings issue. So, I mean, I would say to them, don't be a booger. That's what I had to say in Fidel, what about you quote Scott, I agree, don't be a booger. Don't be a booger. Don't be a booger. I don't think that as a whole
they ever anticipated or wanted to win on this issue. I think they wanted to run in perpetuity against the evils of you know that woman who you know has an abortion on a whim for the fun of it, like you know, ice cream flavors and last minute abortion the last week before their due date. Just this completely dishonest level of raising money and getting people with charged up to go out and vote, and nothing ever happened. And that's they were
perfectly fine with that. Their problem now is they got what they said they wanted, and the adults that have to try to figure this out realize, oh shit, this suck. Nobody wanted this, we didn't want this. What are we going to do? Now, let's try to make it sound better because it's trash they know it. And the problem is you have a few people like this, one particular guy you mentioned forcing a woman to not have an abortion, but just as cruelly to tell people they're forcing you to
have an abortion. That bodily autonomy works both ways, and there are people who are products of rape and who choose to have that child, and that's a choice that they should have just as strongly. And for this guy to come around and say your rapist is going to have control over your body again,
it's such a terrible lie. But it's just another example of how they can't get their act together on what they want to say about an abortion because they know that they backed the dog and unfortunately it's sitting right in their lap and now they're trying to figure out how to make it sound better. And the truth is they're going to have to be an adult at some point and say, if we want to win elections, we're going to have to let
this issue go because the American people are not going to be duped. Especially we had a story a while back about a thirteen year old rape victim in Mississippi who was forced to give birth to a child because of these laws. And when you start talking about things like this, if that doesn't make you piss the fuck off, there's something wrong with you. So to me, all these people in their view on this issue, wake up, see what's
going on. Stand strong, because yeah, the people in Ohio. Their voices are trying to be overridden by the people that they voted for who are supposed to represent them. And so we need people who are going to represent us and not circumvent the law, because the law is, the judicial system is the checks and balances on all this. So they should ultimately make that
choice just as the law states. That's all do your job, and this time the job that the most important that politicians of all stripes need to do is listen to the people. They've spoken time and again. Just listen to the people. Layton, what you got now? You pretty much said everything that I was thinking. But I feel like not only did they not think they were going to win on this issue, I think that they don't want to win this battle at all. I feel like most of these people,
if any of them, aren't really believers in all of this stuff. They want to be celebrities. Like I think back to like high school, I wasn't as proactive or involved in politics, so I didn't know a lot of politicians. I know so many politicians. Now I know the names and faces of so many politicians, and I feel like that's not just a social media phenomenon. I think that's that these people are literally getting into this to not
be civil servants, but to become celebrities. That's why their Twitter is more important than anything they do on the House floor. That's why they have podcasts, like you know what I mean, Like it's a game for some of the these people. And I don't feel like winning is the goal. I feel like creating more buzz is more. They want to go viral, That's what that's That's what I'm trying to get it. It's a lot of people trying to go viral, and this is a hot button topic, so they
just keep pressing. And that's that's where I'm coming from. And like I am grateful that the voter base is now are like, oh oh oh no, now we have to go vote, and people that probably weren't considering voting, and they especially people that are like kind of blase about their politics.
Certain issues will get people to polls, and one of them is hodifying your right and because you can have an emotional feeling about, you know, a certain issue, but if you have enough human sympathy and that you realize that your view isn't the best view for everybody. You're going to go out and vote and you're going to be like, you know what, I won't do this, but that's my decision, and you're going to vote for the people that have to make decisions based on what's going on in their lives. So
I'm very hopeful. It is the best word that. You know. The right wing kind of shut themselves in the foot with this, and there's no happy way to spin this. You can't say like we're taking away your rights and that's a good thing. There's no way to spin that. It's disgusting because like, this is a human rights issue. This is not a political party issue. It is a human right issue. And guess what, we're all humans, everybody, and we should be able to make our own decisions
based one is good for our lives. You know, no matter what side of the aisle you're on or you're not in an aisle, I don't care. I just care that everybody should be able to make decisions with their reason in mind and not have some dickhead politician that has no medical knowledge making decisions
for you. So on that note, before we go, Before we go, I just wanted to say, like, you have your last stand spot if this is in fact just a bid to get clicks and to get fame, or if it's just a device used to uh to rile up their voters, that makes it way worse. Right, they're playing like like we were all saying, they're playing with human rights here, they're playing with the rights of human beings to and and just as if it was just a pawn in
a game, just a checker to be cast aside. You know, it serves its part pawn sacrifice, a queen sacrifice, a pregnant person sacrifice, whatever it's. That makes it just way way worse. And I don't know, I I I infandel you mentioned that you know there there has to be a point where they just give up on this, do you. I'm not
sure if I ever see that happening. It's they would have to. I mean, if the if their identity is kind of their whole starting point for any discussion or any argument, I mean, that seems like it would be a fundamental change in in their identity. They they've already got a couple in their back pocket. I mean, you got your oldie, but goodie, you can always go to race. Race is always an easy one. The whole trans issue and how they've revitalized their whole anti gay rhetoric, queer rhetoric
all the way to the moon. Just being completely dishonest. I mean, those are already sitting in their back pockets, so they've got other things they can go far that are less tangible, that are more difficult to say, Yes, we win or we lose. This abortion issue. It's kind of black or white. Either we stop. Abortion are still going on, so they always have something to fight over. Well, now they've kind of gotten what they wanted, so at that point, the thing is the move on,
declare victory, mission accomplished. Move on, get yourself a new issue, pee all over yourself about it, and let's hope everybody forgets about the next one before the next election cycle, because that's really what it is.
And of course you got to add your rents and maybe peepete instead of repeat, because that's really what we're talking about here, because that's how they've been jerking us around for decades now, generations even, and that's what that's what they're going to continue to try to do as long as we let them. And honestly, I think most of them, I think blatant may have touched
on it earlier. They don't care about the issue. The issue doesn't mean a damn thing tool because it's about what can I get people to get up and vote for me far and vote with jenda I want. I mean, but it's true, and until we recognize that, we set ourselves up for failure by saying they can be better than that. Yes, the people are the people can be educated. But the leaders who are jerking this around that they're going to do what they're going to do. Evil people are going to
be evil. We're not going to change that. It's those people that are being led by evil people. That's the people we talk to. That's the people we're trying to reach out for. Because the people are the trash, They'll always be what they are. It's those people and that's why we do it. You know it. You've done this longer than I have, and I've talked longer than I should have. I agree, I agree with you. N No, that's not the part of my You talking too much with
others that too. Here here, damn it, listen, I'm trying to wrap this up. Mofos