life is short

I keep telling myself that I shouldn't be surprised anymore at the depths and heights of human behavior anymore, but what I forget to tell myself is that stupidity is more commonplace than hydrogen in this universe.

So there's this school in upstate New York. For safety and health concerns (if the backpacks are so heavy you're afraid your students will injure themselves, aren't you the source of the problem?), they have banned all bags in the halls. As if that wasn't silly enough, they banned purses too, until they realized that hey! Girls carry feminine hygiene supplies in their purses! So they amended the rule so that girls can only carry purses when they're menstruating, and use it as an excuse to create an atmosphere of oppression and skin-crawly ick for people of both genders. Where is my sledgehammer of feminist rage, dammit.

El Salvador is a country that has made abortion completely illegal. No exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. This is what happens.

In the event that the woman's illegal abortion went badly and the doctors have to perform a hysterectomy, then the uterus is sent to the Forensic Institute, where the government's doctors analyze it and retain custody of her uterus as evidence against her.

It makes me absolutely sick that something like this could happen in the 21st fucking century, and there are people working to make it just as frightening here.

And so our march towards Gilead continues. I know it's Missisippi, but it still scares the ever-loving shit out of me.