Remember When Lindsey Graham Said Abortion Should Be Left to the States?

Justin Baragona, for The Daily Beast:

Against the backdrop of abortion rights becoming one of the top issues in the upcoming midterm elections, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unveiled a proposed nationwide ban on abortion on Tuesday that would outlaw the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

It was just weeks ago, however, when Graham justified the Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade by claiming he’d been “consistent” in believing that abortion should be left to individual states.

The only thing consistent about Lindsey Graham is that he’ll do whatever he thinks is best for Lindsey Graham’s political future.

Republicans Move to Ban Abortion Nationwide

Josh Marshall, writing for Talking Points Memo after noted political opportunist Senator Lindsey Graham announced that he was introducing a bill that would ban abortion:

…Republicans want to portray this as a reasonable national compromise, setting a national standard as I’ve seen even some journalists put it. But that’s not what it is. It doesn’t set a national 15 or 20 week standard. All the total restrictions which are now common in red and some purple states stay in place. It simply takes the Mississippi law which brought us the Dobbs decision and imposes it on every blue state. So what Mississippi passed and which was treated as extreme a year ago will become the law in California, New York, Illinois, Washington state and everywhere else. In practice it’s a blue state abortion ban. Abortion’s already banned in the great majority of red states or soon will be.

Republicans leave the decision to the states. Unless a state protects abortion rights. In which case Republicans ban it for them.

‘It’s not about the books’: Boundary County library director resigns over intimidation and ‘political atmosphere of extremism’

James Hanlon for the Spokesman-Review:

In Boundary County, a local group is attempting to recall four of the five library board members, including Colson, after the board approved an updated Collection Development and Maintenance Policy. The new policy says, “Selection of materials will not be affected by any such potential disapproval, and the Boundary County Library will not place materials on ‘closed shelves’ or label items to protect the public from their content.”

And the kicker:

“Nothing in my background could have prepared me for the political atmosphere of extremism, militant Christian fundamentalism, intimidation tactics, and threatening behavior currently being employed in the community,” Glidden wrote in her announcement posted by the library.

Boundary County is only a few hours from where I grew up, and not even an hour from where my parents lived while I attended community college. Hell, I even briefly had an video editing job in Bonner’s Ferry, the county seat. Beautiful area, terrible people.

Conservatives sue school for refusing to out transgender students

Daniel Villarreal for LGBTQ Nation:

“Some of Parent B’s daughter’s special-needs classes are held in a classroom that also functions as the meeting location for the LGBT student club,” the lawsuit says. “The teacher in that classroom is the faculty advisor for the club. Thus, the classroom walls contain several posters with information about various gender identities, gender ‘social transitions,’ and ‘referred pronouns.’ Parent B’s daughter is extremely impressionable and often follows the lead of other students.”

Yes, sitting in a room with LGBTQ-supporting posters will make your kid gay in the same way sitting in a library will make you smarter through osmosis.

Upset over LGBTQ books, a Michigan town defunds its library in tax vote

Knowledge is the enemy.

Voters in Kansas decide to keep abortion legal in the state, rejecting an amendment

A win for those who believe in basic human rights.

US sues Idaho over abortion law, cites medical treatment

More of this please.

And, as someone who grew up in Idaho: Fuck the Idaho Republican Party.