One very young girl in Kansas City gave birth to three babies. She was 12-years-old, according to the city records and was molested at age 11. That year, she gave birth to one child. Then, her molester made her pregnant again the next year, and she gave birth to twins. That is happening right now in Texas financed by, you got it, dark money. Little girls starting their periods when they are nine is not all that unusual, and they can get pregnant. But there is something quite important that many people do not know.
Have you seen Donald Trump’s party members at a rally recently? They went to Wisconsin’s capitol and were beyond enthusiastic, and enthusiastic people vote. Of course, their motivation was anger. Trump is quite good at generating anger. But for us, outrage would work equally as well getting people to vote and breaking down dark money’s grip on on America. We must start now.
Back to the outrage of little girls getting pregnant. People do not realize that it is far more dangerous for the youngest girls to go through pregnancy than older ones, according to a study in The Reproductive Health Journal:
‘It (age) is a major contributor to maternal and child morbidity and mortality rates’
The Centers for Disease and Control (CDC) reported:
- [T]he rate of anemia for mothers aged 10–14 years (3.8 percent) was higher than the rate for mothers at all older ages.
- The rate of pregnancy-associated hypertension for the youngest teens (5.3) was over 40 percent higher than the rates for mothers in their twenties and thirties (3.4 to 3.7 percent).
- Their rate of eclampsia (0.7) was significantly higher than the rates for older mothers.’
Assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School Sharon Dekel spoke of the long-term effects as reported by NPR:
- Preeclampsia can result in heart disease and stroke.
- The sheer trauma of a complicated birth can have emotional repercussions, such as stress and depression.
- Up to six percent of new mothers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from childbirth complications and prior trauma, a potentially disabling and sometimes chronic condition more often associated with combat veterans than with new mothers.
And there are many other reasons for outrage.
Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) have been holding up President Joe Biden’s primary legislation, the 10-year Build Back Better Act, according to CBS News. Generally, dark money finances top industries and the causes affiliated with wealthy donors. Senator Manchin is sorely mistaken in his belief this bill would herald in an “entitlement society.” No, it would merely return some of the money Republican legislators have squeezed from the middle- and working-classes that created the top-heavy wealth entitlement.
For various reasons dark money is against President Biden’s signature legislation:
- Free and fair elections
- Climate change preventive actions
- Extended child tax credits
- Child care and universal pre-K
- Free community college
- Paid family and medical leave
- Cut and negotiated prescription drug prices
- Medicare expansion to include coverage of dental, hearing and vision services
- ElderCare.
Senator Manchin said last week he wanted the human infrastructure bill to include the Hyde Amendment. It forbids using federal money for abortions “except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is in danger, according to The National Review.
The Brennan Center made these suggestions for eliminating dark money and taking back our government:
‘Eliminate dark money by requiring any organization that spends a significant amount on elections to disclose its donors.’
- ‘Update political spending laws for the internet with the framework used for television and radio ads requiring disclosure of funding sources and explicitly banning foreign spending for ads that mention candidates before an election.
- Extend the ban on foreign spending to domestic corporations and other business entities that are owned or controlled by foreign interests.
- Invigorate enforcement in all these areas by reforming the Federal Election Commission.’
When Trump sent federal agents wearing military attire to Portland, Oregon to handle protesters last summer, activist and sociologist George Lakey, according to The New Yorker:
‘Trump can be underestimated by the left. He gets made fun of, but he’s shrewd.’
Lakey assured his audience that, while the U.S. may feel extremely polarized:
”T]he truth is we’re not nearly as polarized as we may become.’
Remember, Donald Trump is committing a self-coup right under our eyes, because it seems too impossible to believe. But do believe it. Now, it is urgent that we must find our outrage, end dark money, and wake up both our representatives and our friends. Otherwise, we will find ourselves under Dictator Trump, the “autogolpe:”
‘[A] President who obtained power through constitutional means holds onto it through illegitimate ones, beginning the slide into authoritarianism.’
You can read of How Dark Money Tried to Steal America Part One and How Dark Money Is Buying Our Representatives Part Two here.
Three White Lions podcast, Gloria Christie reads her week’s most important news/ commentary stories in the liberal online newspaper The Bipartisan Report. Gloria Christie Report her newsletter for people on the go. Written in her own unique style with a twist of humor in a briefer version of Bipartisan Report. Christie’s Mueller Report Adventures In Bite-Sizes a real-life compelling spy mystery. Find her here on Facebook.
