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I was going to write about a different topic until this last Friday. On Friday morning, the much-awaited decision Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was released which reversed the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 that created a federal law protecting a women’s right to abortion in all 50 states. The vote was 6-3 and to reverse the decision of the 1973 decision, the justices voted 5-4. This decision pushes the abortion laws back to each of the 50 states. It is impossible to talk about this issue without generating controversy. I would be lying to all my readers if I did not admit that my personal feelings on this issue leans towards a specific bias. So being completely honest, there is nothing I can say in this blog that will not be controversial. As I have aged, the abortion argument has evolved from a question of morality, to accepting abortion as a matter of personal responsibility, to finally rejecting the concept based on the flawed logic of federal power. We live our life doing our best to understand the complications of human civilization and abortion is just one small piece of this experience. So why would my personal opinion on a social and personal issue really matter to anyone? I just want to emphasize a few things that have disturbed me since this ruling was released.
The best analysis of my personal opinion on abortion in the mainstream media comes from the online publication THE HILL. This article on the overturning of Roe vs. Wade needs to be read and appreciated. There have always been two primary problems with the 1973 ruling and this article addresses both of them. First, the original ruling was based on an incorrect reading of the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment. This was one of the three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” The 1973 ruling was an incorrect interpretation of the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment existed as a pushback against future state discrimination by Southern States who wanted to recreate a two-tiered society after the Civil War. No person should be deprived of “life, liberty or property.” So how did this law become the basis of Roe vs. Wade? This is the foundational argument that has irritated many lawyers for decades. In fact, even Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a hero to liberals, had problems with the 1973 ruling. Here are a few of her quotes taken from a speech in 2013 on the 40th anniversary of the ruling. “My criticism of Roe is that it seemed to have stopped the momentum on the side of change,” Ginsburg said. She would’ve preferred that abortion rights be secured more gradually, in a process that included state legislatures and the courts, she added. Ginsburg also was troubled that the focus on Roe was on a right to privacy, rather than women’s rights. “Roe isn’t really about the woman’s choice, is it?” Ginsburg said. “It’s about the doctor’s freedom to practice…it wasn’t woman-centered, it was physician-centered.” (BOLD IS MY EMPHASIS). Second, for a country that is always promoting our democratic ideals and the importance of voting, Roe vs. Wade took this away from the American people. A court filled with nine older men (Eight Caucasian and One African American) voted to engrain this into law. The American people were not allowed to vote and have an opinion on this issue for over 49 years. Plus, it violated many states’ 10th Amendment Rights and their ability to pass their own rules and regulations regarding abortions. This ruling also brings into question about when a life truly begins. There has been a lot of debate over the past decade of when an embryo becomes a baby. There are three stages of pregnancy. Much of the current scientific facts surrounding a female pregnancy is based off this scientific model. Read this article for clarification. To summarize, 1-8 Weeks of Pregnancy: Embryo 8 Weeks to Anywhere between 12 Weeks to 24 Weeks: Fetus After 24 Weeks: Baby The argument about the duration of a baby being a fetus is still undecided and crucial to this debate. According to many recent scientific studies, the evolution of the embryo into a fetus is when the baby becomes a human. Other findings disagree on when this actually occurs. The problem is that there is so much about pregnancy and the development of the fetus that we do not understand as humans. There are other complicated questions. For instance, does the 14th Amendment protections include the rights of an unborn baby? These are questions that have never been appropriately solved by science. This is a topic that still needs more research and clarification. Three more comments on this topic. First, I used to have respect for the BBC. But as they have proven over and over again this past decade, the arrogance of the British elites knows no bounds. Because we fought this country to attain our freedom in the late 18th Century, I still do not believe the British have ever understood the decentralization that is inherent in our Constitution. So this article explaining that, “Women have lost their Constitutional Right to Abortion” maybe the dumbest thing the British have ever published. There is no Constitutional right. If women want to engrain abortion into the Constitution, it is up to them to create the movement to accomplish this goal. But the abortion question should have always been a states’ rights issue. Second, despite what many Americans think, abortion legalization is NOT COMMON around the world. This Washington Post article makes this very clear. Of 198 countries, 59 of them allow women the “freedom” to make a choice about an abortion. The other 139 countries have some form of limitation from an outright ban except for health reasons or to terminate pregnancies due to rape to asking for “permission” to be allowed one. Here is the real interesting aspect of this. The recognition of when a fetus becomes a baby usually forces abortions within the legalized framework of 16 weeks. After that, an abortion becomes increasingly difficult to attain except in seven countries. Canada, United States, Netherlands, Singapore and the Communist nations of China, Vietnam and North Korea are the only countries in the world that allow late-term abortions. That is a quite an interesting and diverse mix of countries. Finally, the fear that this ruling will cause abortion to be banned is not out of the question and I understand this argument. Just like I supported the elimination of Roe vs. Wade, I would also be in total opposition to a full Federal ban on abortion. People with strong religious beliefs mostly support the right to abortion now. At present, state abortion laws go back into effect in the United States. Despite many feminists’ fears of a full ban, abortion is now illegal in only 11 states. This list will probably increase to around 15-20 in total when all the bills are eventually passed in each state. Despite this, the individuals who are most upset about this ruling, the liberals on the coasts, will likely see no such restrictions on abortion. As a citizen of the state of California, abortion rights are likely to be expanded to allow abortion up to the moment of birth. California allows teenage girls to get abortions without parental consent. There are also laws on the books allowing for out-of-state women to get an abortion due to the legalization of later term abortions in California (Current law allows abortions up to 24 weeks after fertilization). Corporations have announced (Disney, Amazon, and Dick’s Sporting Goods being some of the first) that they will cover travel and medical expenses to any woman who needs to travel out of state for the procedure. Plus, California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington announced that they will be “abortion sanctuaries” for women. Remember this when you see a crying woman who lives in Los Angeles talking about losing her right to an abortion. Not only is she misinformed, but she is also an idiot and has an agenda. There will be no such abortion restrictions on the West Coast. I feel sorry for the women in the states that may lose their abortion access. Democracy is a cruel beast and there are many states in our Union where the majority of people do not support the right of a woman to have an abortion. But it is not the responsibility of actors in Hollywood or tech elites to push their moral values onto these individuals. The United States is sometimes a messy republic because of our authoritarian need to control how other people think. This has always been the wrong tactic. If you believe your opinion on this issue is moral and correct, education and cultural change will make all the difference on whether future generations agree with your point of view. This summarizes the human experience in a nutshell. If we all acted and believed in the same political and social issues in unison, would that really be a human experience? This is what makes the short amount of time we are on Earth so interesting. And why I personally believe that life needs to be protected as much as possible and within reason. It is not up to me to tell someone whether they can have an abortion. But as a parent, I am damn happy that my partner never got one. UPDATE: A reader brought this up to me after publication. I will let Justin Trudeau's tweet speak for itself. From his Twitter feed: Justin Trudeau @JustinTrudeau Jun 24 Officiel du gouvernement - Canada "No government, politician, or man should tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body. I want women in Canada to know that we will always stand up for your right to choose." This is one of the most hypocritical statements I have ever read. Is he even aware of what a stupid statement this is? As many unemployed Canadians know, bodily autonomy and choice for women and men was not an option when the COVID-19 vaccine came around. You just can't make this stuff up.
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At some point, I will continue my evaluation of my Master’s Degree education. But because of the resolution of a sporting event that occurred this week, I feel the need to comment. On Thursday night, my Golden State Warriors won their 4th NBA Championship in 8 years. This is the 5th of my lifetime and 7th total for the franchise. This championship came as a complete surprise. But there are so many small details to discuss involving this latest championship among my favorite professional sports teams.
First, a rundown of some basic statistics and history. The Golden State Warriors have now won 7 NBA Titles. This places them into 3rd place all-time behind the 1st place tie of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers who each have 17 NBA Titles. The Warriors prevented the Celtics from getting the elusive 18th which would have placed them back into first place all-time (This is also the 2nd time that the Celtics have failed at getting the 18th Championship. They lost in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 2010 against the Lakers). This latest championship snapped a 3rd place tie with the Chicago Bulls who have 6 NBA Titles. In fifth place is the San Antonio Spurs with 5. No other team has more than 3. Before I was born, the Philadelphia Warriors won championships in 1947 and 1956 (Losing the NBA Finals in 1948). They moved to San Francisco in 1962 and preceded to make the NBA Finals two more times (1964 & 1967) losing to the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers respectively. When I was nine months old, Rick Barry finally led the Golden State Warriors to their first title in the Bay Area sweeping the Washington Bullets in 1975. After 1977 (And one year away from my first sports memories), the Warriors began their decline. For most of my life as a Warriors fan, I have had very little to cheer. During an eight year stretch in the late 1980s to early 1990s, the Warriors would make the playoffs five out of eight years and win as a lower seed in the 1st round of the playoffs three times before getting knocked out in the Conference Semifinals (1987, 1989, 1991). After 1994, the Warriors would not see the playoffs again until the 2007 season when they slid into the playoffs and upset the top seeded San Antonio Spurs in the 1st Round before getting knocked out in the Conference semis again. The first Stephon Curry Warrior team to make the playoffs did not occur until the 2013 season. So from 1978-2012, a period of 35 seasons, the Warriors made six playoff appearances and never got past the 2nd round of the playoffs. This all changed when Stephon Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were drafted by the Warriors. The Warriors only got above a 5 seed in the playoffs once in my lifetime up to this point. Counting 2013, the Warriors playoff series wins were as a 5 seed, a 6 seed, twice as a 7, and once as an 8. Then, 2015 happened. You always remember the first championship. Especially one that you have been waiting for 40 years to witness. Of the four that the Warriors have won during this era, this is still my favorite championship. It is like popping your virginity with your first girlfriend. It is the first step into becoming a mature man. After having the best record in NBA history in 2016, the Warriors shockingly looked exhausted against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals as Lebron James won his 3rd title that year and the first for the city of Cleveland since 1964. As good as the Warriors were, they signed Kevin Durant that off-season. This signing definitely was a situation where the rich get richer. The Warriors were stacked and proved it in the NBA Finals by winning the next two championships in 2017 and 2018. As fun as these titles were to experience, they still did not feel as significant as the initial championship in 2015. Because the Warriors evolved into a Super Team with the Durant trade; these championships did not feel as special, but they still count all the same. Both these titles felt dirty and almost unfair to talk about. Like having a professional football team play a bunch of high school all-stars in a competition. The slaughter would be difficult to watch. The 2019 season would be the final year of the Golden State Warriors run (At least that is what the media was telling us). Curry was banged up, Klay Thompson blew out his knee, an injury that he did not recover from until early 2022, and Durant went down with an Achilles injury during the NBA Finals. A team that had won five consecutive Western Conference championships had finally reached its zenith as injuries tore the team apart on its way to losing the 2019 NBA Finals to the Toronto Raptors. The next two years were abysmal. In the shortened 2020 season, the Warriors had the worst record. In 2021, they qualified for the play-in game only to lose to Memphis. As the team got healthy, younger, and picked up a few key contributors like Jordan Poole and Andrew Wiggins, the 2022 Warriors team felt completely different. As the season wore on and Phoenix dominated the West, it did not feel like a return to the championship podium would occur. But on Thursday night, June 16th, the Warriors did the improbable and won that 4th championship of this era. Now, they can officially be called a dynasty. This is the first time (Other than the MLS L.A. Galaxy which also won 3 titles in 4 years in the early 2010s) that one of my favorite teams can be classified as a dynasty. With all the years of suffering that professional sports have given me, I never thought this experience would ever occur with one of my favorite teams. And unlike the American dynasties of the Clintons, Bushes, and Obamas (And their minions) who have been destroying the United States for the past 40 years, I hope this dynasty never comes to an end. This 2022 title still did not feel as significant as the 2015 one but it is definitely my second favorite. A team that went through some dark times has shown a championship pedigree and persistence that I never knew it possessed. I am satisfied if this group of players never wins another NBA Title. They have already given me so much to be thankful for. But if they happen to repeat in 2023, the Warriors will join the Celtics (11 titles in 13 seasons including 8 straight which will never be matched), Bulls (6 titles in 8 seasons), and the Lakers (5 titles in 9 seasons) as one of the most memorable teams in NBA History (NOTE: The San Antonio Spurs won their 5 titles over a 15-year timeframe). That repeat will also be important to me personally as it will equal the Showtime Lakers in the number of championships and the duration to achieve them. Kobe Bryant’s Lakers won 5 championships over an 11-season arc from 2000-2010. I never have to listen to the bullshit from L.A. Lakers fans ever again. Finally, the Warriors caused me to reach an important milestone with my professional sports teams. If we do not count Major League Soccer as one of the main professional sports (I do see it as the 5th sport), then I have reached double digit championships with my sports teams in the four ‘recognized’ popular sports leagues. Two of my favorite teams won championships before I was born, the 1945 Cleveland Rams and the 1951 Los Angeles Rams. The Philadelphia Warriors also accomplished two titles in 1947 and 1956 (As mentioned above). Even though I was an infant baby and alive, the 1975 Golden State Warriors title is not in my memory bank due to my young age. I only recognized this championship later after watching VHS Videos of the 1975 NBA Finals in the 1990s. But for championships I can mentally remember (1978 to the present day), the Warriors have now gotten me my 10th one as a fan and 11th one since my birth. In Order these championships are: Golden State Warriors: 1975 (9-month-old ExpertofSome was more concerned about his poop-filled diapers than Rick Barry) St. Louis Rams: 1999 Anaheim Angels: 2002 Anaheim Ducks: 2007 (And still the city of Anaheim and Orange County’s only two titles) Los Angeles Kings: 2012 Los Angeles Kings: Again in 2014 Golden State Warriors: 2015 Golden State Warriors: 2017 Golden State Warriors: 2018 Los Angeles Rams: 2021 Golden State Warriors: 2022 If I throw in the L.A. Galaxy who has more championships in the MLS than any other franchise, those Cup years were 2002, 2005, 2011, 2012, and 2014 bringing my memory bank total to 15 and my lifetime total to 16. Three Galaxy championships overlap during the same years as the Angels only title and both of the Los Angeles Kings titles. But if you only count the four main sports, this is the first time in my life that two of my favorite sports teams will be defending their championships at the same time. The year of the title defense is always the most enjoyable as a sports fan. It is one year of pure ecstasy until another team takes it away from them at the end of the season (If they don’t repeat as champions and, in my case, only the 2017-2018 Warriors have repeated making this a likely reality). So let me enjoy my ecstasy for a little bit longer. My beloved Rams won the Super Bowl only four short months ago and now I am adding an NBA Title from my Warriors. Could the 2022 San Diego Padres be far behind? Fingers crossed. Until next time! 77,849 words written. 362 double-spaced pages in length. Starting the writing process during the first week of October 2020, my book was completed on May 31, 2022, nearly 20 months after its initiation and 21 months after the trip was taken which is the focus of my book. Over 500 hundred sources were pulled from the internet, a couple of educational research articles, and a novel were used as references as well as experiencing many of the locations personally during the one week, over 1400-mile drive north. Before publication, the book is getting sent away to a professional editor for some “changes” and then given to a layout artist that will format it correctly for publication on Amazon. Looking back on this book, I hope this will be the first of many. As a person who loves to creatively express myself, everything I write in the future will hopefully evolve from this long and intimidating project. More details later as the book nears publication.
Because of this, I have been having a difficult time getting motivated into writing another blog. So the topic that has been swamping my mind will likely be updated in the future with a much longer, detailed, and well-researched post that was given my full intellectual attention. But a moral issue has been irritating me and it needs to be addressed on this blog. I have been wrestling with an ethical dilemma. But to understand it, this blog will require a dive into my childhood. As some of you may know, I went to Catholic School for eight years, specifically St. Lawrence Martyr Catholic Church from 1980 till graduation from the 8th Grade in 1988. Growing up in a religious atmosphere, the ethics spoken about by ‘God’ in the Bible became the foundation of my childhood. Many aspects of this education still linger with me to this day. As I got older and started questioning various teachings of my Church, I became fascinated with alternative ethical systems. Catholic Church was the only educational system I knew and my inherent open-mindedness as a child led me astray of the church after receiving my Confirmation during my sophomore year in public high school. During college, I studied Buddhism and read multiple books on this religion and its foundational philosophy. I even met the Dalai Lama in 1996 at Long Beach State. During these high school and college years, I made friends with a new group of people that diverged tremendously from my friends during the elementary years. They were artists, skaters, and punks who had different philosophical leanings and were often critical of my early childhood religious upbringing. But what set them apart from my Church was their tolerance (Except when it came to me talking about the Church) of alternative lifestyles and viewpoints. It was a refreshing change from the more close-minded and strict church upbringing. As time has gone by and I have met more friends in the television, tech and engineering industries, the people that have surrounded me have become more educated, technical, scientific and a little entitled (Especially my California brethren). But other than a couple of my friends who are incredibly comfortable in their lives because of a strong family or marriage, there has always been something missing from an intellectual or ethical standpoint with some of my long-time acquaintances. I never was able to understand this until recently. Unlike my Catholic school friends, there was a certain lack of confidence and high amounts of cynicism whenever we hung out. Since many of them fell into the Bill Maher, atheist mold, they were highly opinionated about the negative impacts of religion on society. They were not completely wrong. But what type of world were these people trying to propose to me? What was their moral foundation for society? Their lack of belief or integrity and in some cases, morality seemed to be lacking and it felt like this was the foundation of their cynicism What purpose did their life serve? As Darth Vader says in the STAR WARS franchise, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” When thinking about this, other than being open-minded and tolerant towards individuals (Which is a foundation of many religious teachings also), how did this impact me morally and ethically? Here is where my evaluation of my past begins to disturb me. I DON’T FUCKING KNOW. This article on Dr. Robert Malone’s Substack has to be read. It dives into the basis of scientific discovery and how honest scientists will tell you that there is no fixed truth. Science is constantly evolving and changing with time. This wisdom is also recognized by the best priests and rabbis. This also made me aware of another observation. No matter how often that religious theorists and scientists have been at each other’s throats for thousands of years, neither one is the sole proprietor of ‘truth.’ Throwing in science and engineering’s bastard child ‘technology’ which has its own difficulty with understanding the foundations of human behavior, no one philosophical belief has a monopoly on truth. So how did I come to this conclusion? Paying attention to what has been going on inside our world over the past two years, the “science” of the COVID-19 vaccines has failed miserably. The social experiment of social media has led to mental illness and depression. Technology’s best usage is apparently full spectrum government and corporate surveillance. As a person who came around to “believing” in these ideas, I find myself back at square one. Depending on the Scientific or Technological solution (Like Climate Change), these ideas are about as "truthful" as some of the more fantastical stories in the Bible. Religion has one advantage though. At least it teaches you a form of ethics and morality. Ironically, the best publications during this COVID-19 pandemic have been the religious ones like Lifesite News which often publishes stories about the vaccines and Dr. Fauci that the mainstream media will not touch. So what does this mean Expert? What is your conclusion regarding all of these ideas? Again, I don’t really know. But taking apart the educational teachings and knowledge that religion, science, economics, and technology have shown us, none of these systems can be classified as evil per say. They are neutral entities that just explain a particular philosophical viewpoint related to the foundational understanding of their systems. What makes all these things ‘evil’ are people and institutions involved inside these systems that take advantage of them for personal gain and the accumulation of power. THAT IS THE REAL HUMAN PROBLEM. There is nothing wrong with believing in any of these things as long as you acknowledge the fact that none of them will ever be able to give you all the answers you are looking for. The quicker any human mind can recognize this simple fact, the more evolved it will become. |
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