How Pregnancy Happens, Emergency Birth Control and Medication Abortions

 A brief biology lesson follows. Sperm can survive for up to 6 days after intercourse. An egg is released from the ovaries each month and moves into the fallopian tube. The egg remains in the fallopian tube for about 24 hours waiting for a sperm. If no sperm makes contact with the egg, the egg moves through the uterus and disintegrates. If a sperm contacts the egg and burrows into it, fertilization occurs (conception). The fertilized egg, or zygote, stays in the fallopian tube for 3-4 days, then moves through the fallopian tube to the uterus as it develops into a blastocyst. Once in the uterus, the blastocyst attaches to the uterine wall resulting in implantation. The period of time from fertilization to implantation is 9-10 days at which time the blastocyst is considered to be an embryo. By the end of the 8th week, the embryo is considered to be a fetus. By the 23-24th week, the fetus is considered to be viable, which means it has a chance of survival outside the mother.

Emergency Birth Control: Commonly known as Plan B or the Morning After Pill, levonorgestrel works in the following way: it inhibits ovulation and thickens the cervical mucus. Keeping in mind what was discussed above, that sperm can survive for up to six days and the egg remains in the fallopian tube "waiting" for sperm for about 1 day, inhibition of ovulation should stop most, but not all, pregnancies from happening. In the event that an egg is already present in the fallopian tube, or the slight chance ovulation occurs in spite of the levonorgestrel, the thickening of the cervical mucus inhibits sperm motility thereby decreasing the remaining chance of pregnancy. However, in those rare cases where fertilization occurs regardless, there is a slight chance that implantation will take place. The consensus of medical research reflects that levonorgestrel does not prevent implantation. The reason this is important is because some religious doctrine contends that life begins at fertilization, which would mean that preventing implantation could be consider abortion. While it is unlikely that emergency contraception affects implantation it is impossible to completely exclude the possibility of post-fertilization effect. Levonorgestrel is 95% effective if taken within 24 hours of intercourse. It is not effective more than 120 hours after intercourse.

Medication Abortion: “Abortion pill” is the common name for using two different medicines to end a pregnancy: mifepristone and misoprostol. First, mifepristone is administered. Pregnancy needs a hormone called progesterone to grow normally. Mifepristone blocks the body’s own progesterone, stopping the pregnancy from growing. Second, misoprostol is administered, either right away or up to 48 hours later. This medicine causes cramping and bleeding to empty the uterus. The abortion pill is very effective. The effectiveness depends on how far along the pregnancy is when the medicine is administered. For people who are 8 weeks pregnant or less, it works about 96% of the time; 8-9 weeks pregnant, about 95% of the time; and 9-10 weeks pregnant, about 92% of the time. Medication abortions can be conducted up to 70 days (10 weeks) into the pregnancy. 

Abortion Statistics: 52% of abortions are performed before the 9th week of pregnancy; only 5% of abortions are performed after 16 weeks. About 7% of abortions are performed due to rape, incest or health reasons; about 93% are performed for all other reasons.

Michael Bloomberg's Charitable Giving, Gun Safety and Climate Initiatives

Following is a summary of Michael Bloomberg's charitable giving, which has exceeded $8 billion dollars covering a wide range of worthy causes. He has contributed significantly to initiatives relating to gun safety and intended to save the world from climate change.

Since signing The Giving Pledge whereby the wealthy pledge to give away at least half of their wealth, Michael Bloomberg has given away $8.2 billion. According to a profile in Fast Company, his Bloomberg Philanthropies foundation has five areas of focus: public health, the arts, government innovation, the environment, and education. According to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Bloomberg was the third-largest philanthropic donor in America in 2015. 

Through his Bloomberg Philanthropies Foundation, he has donated and/or pledged $240 million in 2005, $60 million in 2006, $47 million in 2007, $150 million in 2009, $332 million in 2010, $311 million in 2011, and $510 million in 2015. 2011 recipients included the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; World Lung Foundation and the World Health Organization. According to The New York Times, Bloomberg was an "anonymous donor" to the Carnegie Corporation from 2001 to 2010, with gifts ranging from $5 million to $20 million each year. The Carnegie Corporation distributed these contributions to hundreds of New York City organizations ranging from the Dance Theatre of Harlem to Gilda's Club, a non-profit organization that provides support to people and families living with cancer. He continues to support the arts through his foundation. Bloomberg gave $254 million in 2009 to almost 1,400 nonprofit organizations. 

Bloomberg is an environmentalist and has advocated policy to fight climate change at least since he became the mayor of New York City. At the national level, Bloomberg has consistently pushed for transitioning the United States' energy mix from fossil fuels to clean energy. In July 2011, Bloomberg Philanthropies donated $50 million to Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign, allowing the campaign to expand its efforts to shut down coal-fired power plants from 15 states to 45 states. In 2015, Bloomberg announced an additional $30 million contribution to the Beyond Coal initiative, matched with another $30 million by other donors, to help secure the retirement of half of America's fleet of coal plants by 2017. In early June 2019, Bloomberg pledged $500 million to reduce climate impacts and shut remaining coal-fired power plants by 2030 via the new Beyond Carbon initiative. Bloomberg Philanthropies awarded a $6 million grant to the Environmental Defense Fund in support of strict regulations on fracking in the 14 states with the heaviest natural gas production. 

In 2013, Bloomberg and Bloomberg Philanthropies launched the Risky Business initiative with former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer. The joint effort worked to convince the business community of the need for more sustainable energy and development policies, by quantifying and publicizing the economic risks the United States faces from the impact of climate change. In January 2015, Bloomberg led Bloomberg Philanthropies in a $48-million partnership with the Heising-Simons family to launch the Clean Energy Initiative. The initiative supports state-based solutions aimed at ensuring America has a clean, reliable, and affordable energy system. Since 2010, Bloomberg has taken an increasingly global role on environmental issues. From 2010 to 2013, he served as the chairman of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, a network of the world's biggest cities working together to reduce carbon emissions. During his tenure, Bloomberg worked with President Bill Clinton to merge C40 with the Clinton Climate Initiative, with the goal of amplifying their efforts in the global fight against climate change worldwide. He serves as the president of the board of C40 Cities. 

In January 2014, Bloomberg began a five-year commitment totaling $53 million through Bloomberg Philanthropies to the Vibrant Oceans Initiative. The initiative partners Bloomberg Philanthropies with Oceana, Rare, and Encourage Capital to help reform fisheries and increase sustainable populations worldwide. In 2018, Bloomberg joined Ray Dalio in announcing a commitment of $185 million towards protecting the oceans. In 2014, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Bloomberg as his first Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change to help the United Nations work with cities to prevent climate change. In September 2014, Bloomberg convened with Ban and global leaders at the UN Climate Summit to announce definite action to fight climate change in 2015. In 2018, Ban's successor António Guterres appointed Bloomberg as UN envoy for climate action. In late 2014, Bloomberg, Ban Ki-moon, and global city networks ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI), C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), with support from UN-Habitat, launched the Compact of Mayors, a global coalition of mayors and city officials pledging to reduce local greenhouse gas emissions, enhance climate resilience, and track their progress transparently. To date, over 250 cities representing more than 300 million people worldwide and 4.1 percent of the total global population, have committed to the Compact of Mayors, which was merged with the Covenant of Mayors in June 2016. In 2015, Bloomberg and Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo created the Climate Summit for Local Leaders which convened assembled hundreds of city leaders from around the world at Paris City Hall to discuss fighting climate change. The Summit concluded with the presentation of the Paris Declaration, a pledge by leaders from assembled global cities to cut carbon emissions by 3.7 gigatons annually by 2030. 

During the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England and chair of the Financial Stability Board, announced that Bloomberg would lead a new global task force designed to help industry and financial markets understand the growing risks of climate change. Following President Donald Trump's announcement that the U.S. government would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, Bloomberg outlined a coalition of cities, states, universities and businesses that had come together to honor America's commitment under the agreement through 'America's Pledge.' Bloomberg offered up to $15 million to the UNFCCC, the UN body that assists countries with climate change efforts. About a month later, Bloomberg and California Governor Jerry Brown announced that the America's Pledge coalition would work to "quantify the actions taken by U.S. states, cities and business to drive down greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement." In announcing the initiative, Bloomberg said "the American government may have pulled out of the Paris agreement, but American society remains committed to it." Two think tanks, World Resource Institute and the Rocky Mountain Institute, will work with America's Pledge to analyze the work cities, states and businesses do to meet the U.S. commitment to the Paris agreement. In May 2019, Bloomberg announced a 2020 Midwestern Collegiate Climate Summit in Washington University in St. Louis with the aim to bring together leaders from Midwestern universities, local government and the private sector to reduce climate impacts in the region. 

As of 2019, Bloomberg has given more than $3.3 billion to Johns Hopkins University, his alma mater, making him "the most generous living donor to any education institution in the United States." His first contribution, in 1965, had been $5. He made his first $1 million commitment to JHU in 1984, and subsequently became the first individual to exceed $1 billion in lifetime donations to a single U.S. institution of higher education. Bloomberg's contributions to Johns Hopkins "fueled major improvements in the university's reputation and rankings, its competitiveness for faculty and students, and the appearance of its campus," and included construction of a children's hospital (the Charlotte R. Bloomberg Children's Center Building, named after Bloomberg's mother); a physics building, a school of public health (the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), libraries, and biomedical research facilities, including the Institute for Cell Engineering, a stem-cell research institute within the School of Medicine, and the Malaria Research Institute within the School of Public Health. 

In 2013, Bloomberg committed $350 million to Johns Hopkins, five-sevenths of which were allocated to the Bloomberg Distinguished Professorships, endowing 50 Bloomberg Distinguished Professors (BDPs) whose interdisciplinary expertise crosses traditional academic disciplines. In 2016, on the School of Public Health's centennial, Bloomberg Philanthropies contributed $300 million to establish the Bloomberg American Health Initiative. Bloomberg also funded the launch of the Bloomberg–Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy within the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in East Baltimore, with a $50 million gift; an additional $50 million was given by philanthropist Sidney Kimmel, and $25 million by other donors. It will support cancer therapy research, technology and infrastructure development, and private sector partnerships. in 2016, Bloomberg joined Vice President Joe Biden for the institute's formal launch, embracing Biden's "cancer moonshot" initiative, which seeks to find a cure for cancer through national coordination of government and private sector resources. In 2018, Bloomberg contributed a further gift of $1.8 billion to Johns Hopkins, allowing the university to practice need-blind admission and meet the full financial need of admitted students. 

In 2016, the Museum of Science, Boston announced a $50 million gift from Bloomberg. The donation marks Bloomberg's fourth gift to the museum, which he credits with sparking his intellectual curiosity as a patron and student during his youth in Medford, Massachusetts. The endowment supported the museum's education division, named the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Science Education Center in honor of Bloomberg's parents. It is the largest donation in the museum's 186-year history. In 2015, Bloomberg donated $100 million to Cornell Tech, the applied sciences graduate school of Cornell University, to construct the first academic building, "The Bloomberg Center", on the school's Roosevelt Island campus. In 1996, Bloomberg endowed the William Henry Bloomberg Professorship at Harvard University with a $3 million gift in honor of his father, who died in 1963, saying, "throughout his life, he recognized the importance of reaching out to the nonprofit sector to help better the welfare of the entire community." In July 2011, Bloomberg launched a $24 million initiative to fund "Innovation Delivery Teams" in five cities. The teams are one of Bloomberg Philanthropies' key goals: advancing government innovation. In December 2011, Bloomberg Philanthropies launched a partnership with online ticket search engine SeatGeek to connect artists with new audiences. Called the Discover New York Arts Project, the project includes organizations HERE, New York Theatre Workshop, and the Kaufman Center. 

In 2016, Bloomberg gave Harvard $32 million to create the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative within Harvard Kennedy School's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation; the initiative provides training to mayors and their aides on innovative municipal leadership and challenges facing cities. Bloomberg has been a longtime donor to global tobacco control efforts. Bloomberg has donated close to $1 billion to the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote anti-smoking efforts, including $125 million in 2006, $250 million in 2008, and $360 million, making Bloomberg Philanthropies the developing world's biggest funder of tobacco-control initiatives. In 2013, it was reported that Bloomberg had donated $109.24 million in 556 grants and 61 countries to campaigns against tobacco. Bloomberg's contributions are aimed at "getting countries to monitor tobacco use, introduce strong tobacco-control laws, and create mass media campaigns to educate the public about the dangers of tobacco use." Bloomberg is the co-founder of Everytown for Gun Safety (formerly Mayors Against Illegal Guns), a gun control advocacy group. In August 2016, the World Health Organization appointed Bloomberg as its Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases. In this role, Bloomberg will mobilize private sector and political leaders to help the WHO reduce deaths from preventable diseases, traffic accidents, tobacco, obesity, and alcohol. WHO Director-General Margaret Chan cited Bloomberg's ongoing support for WHO anti-smoking, drowning prevention, and road safety programs in her announcement of his new role. n 2017, Bloomberg donated $75 million for The Shed, a new arts and cultural center in Hudson Yards, Manhattan. He continued his support for The Shed after his time as mayor with a philanthropic donation of $75 million. Bloomberg also endowed his hometown synagogue, Temple Shalom, which was renamed for his parents as the William and Charlotte Bloomberg Jewish Community Center of Medford. Bloomberg hosted the Global Business Forum on September 2017, during the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly; the gathering featured international CEOs, heads of state, and other prominent speakers.

The Sad, Sad Truth About the Rise of Trump

What is happening today in the Republican Party has its roots in 1968, the year George Corley Wallace, the former governor of Alabama, broke from the Democratic Party and ran for President as the nominee of the American Independent Party. Wallace ran as an avowed segregationist and collected 9,901,118 popular votes and 46 votes in the Electoral College. Based on Wallace's success with "blue collar whites" the Republican Party starting with Richard Nixon developed the "Southern strategy" that involved attracting these same voters with coded racial messages. Two historical examples of this strategy are worth noting. The first was Ronald Reagan's reference to "welfare queens" in 1976. The second was George Bush's use of the Willie Horton campaign commercials against Michael Dukakais in 1988. Regardless, the Republican Party has stoked racial fear and anxiety for almost 50 years although never as overtly as Wallace did.

Now we have Donald Trump. For the longest time I couldn't understand the rise of Trump. For years, I have been snowed, as many other political observers have, as the Republican Party has claimed that their core message is small government, lower taxes, anti-abortion, "traditional" marriage, etc., and for many Republicans that is true. I have listened as Republican after Republican has complained that their candidates are not "conservative enough." Then along came Trump. While there are many factors in his rise, being "conservative enough" is definitely not one of them. Trump has a history of supporting many of the things that "real conservatives" would never support. He has certainly supported enough of these positions to never, ever meet the standard of being "conservative enough."

So what is the real reason Trump is so popular with so many Republicans? The answer has two parts: the existence of the first black President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, coupled with Trump's overt racist message. The timing of President Obama's election to the highest office in the land in this analysis is no coincidence. The fact that so many Republicans are willing to enthusiastically support a man who actually speaks to none of the Republican Party's core issues, but a man who does overtly slam blacks, Hispanics and Muslims, even mocks the disabled, tells me that these folks were never "conservative enough" in the first place. I read an interview with an older white woman who says she supports Trump. The reason? She said that when she walked into a store before Obama was President, the store clerks looked at her with respect. Now, she says, those same store clerks, presumably black, look at her like they hate her. She blames Obama for changing their "attitude" toward her.

This is the sad, sad truth about the rise of Trump.

Just Because You Are A Liberal Doesn't Mean You Have To Be Stupid

I was opposed to the Keystone Pipeline when it was routed through the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region of the Ogallala Aquifer, but once the route was changed to protect the Aquifer, I supported the Keystone Pipeline.

I support local businesses and protecting the environment, but when Bass Pro Shops planned to build a store in my area and bring 250 admittedly minimum wage jobs and tax revenue of $1.5 million per year...or they would build a store in the next county and take their jobs and tax revenue with them, I supported the development in my area.

I support the constitution, but when the President of either political party says they may need to take action to save hundreds of thousands of Americans from a catastrophic terrorist act, I support my President.

I believe that when 97% of scientists tell me that climate change is a problem, that climate change is a problem. But I also believe that, until we develop alternatives to fossil fuels, we need to use as little Middle Eastern oil as possible.

I know people who are opposed to anything to do with oil or gas or coal, who are opposed to almost all business or development, and who are opposed to rational national security...but being a liberal doesn't mean you have to be stupid in your beliefs.

There is such a person as a rational liberal. I know, because I am one.

My next post should be titled: "Just Because You Are A Conservative Doesn't Mean You Have to Be Stupid." I may write this post when I meet a rational conservative who is not dogmatic. It could be a while.

Open Letter from the President of the NRA

We face a critical time in the history of our nation. President Obama and his jackbooted thugs want to confiscate your only means of ensuring that our nation remain free. Without your handguns, rifles, shotguns and so-called assault weapons, there would be little chance of repelling the US military with their tanks, drones and nuclear weapons from installing a dictatorship in America.

We are only a handgun away from the shredding of the Constitution and imposition of tyranny. All we need do is look at the United Kingdom, France and Australia to see how quickly tyranny follows gun control. Okay, maybe it hasn't actually happened in those countries, but any century now it could.

What part of the 2nd Amendment is not clear? As long as we completely ignore the first half of the Amendment, then literally apply each and every word of the second half, the 2nd Amendment means exactly what we believe it does, in spite of the words in it. The 2nd Amendment clearly says, when read completely out of context, that the right of the people to keep and bear arms "shall not be infringed." That obviously means, for example, that the right of prisoners to have guns in prison SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED, the right of mental patients to have guns in mental hospitals SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED and the rights of terrorists to have guns on airplanes SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. I used all capital letters so that those of you who do not understand plain English would be able to better understand what SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED means.

Universal background checks? Clearly such tyrannical policy might prevent a felon, mentally ill person, or terrorist from obtaining a gun, but would not prevent a law-abiding citizen from obtaining a gun. So we must ensure that the rights of felons, mental patients and terrorists to keep and bear arms SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED by stopping universal background checks. That is just how important the 2nd Amendment is. It is more important than life itself!

We are proud of our record. Did you know that a study 20 years ago found that 1% of gun dealers sold 57% of the guns used in crimes? When we saw this study, we immediately gave Congress a whole bunch of money to make sure that such information could never be collected again. We have to protect those that protect us, that is, the gun dealers who sell guns to criminals. That is how your donations have been put to good use. Keep the money coming!

Did you know that 2,000 guns may have crossed the border in 5 years in what has been called "Operation Fast and Furious" but more than 64,000 other guns seized in Mexico in the same 5 years were purchased in the US and we had no idea that was happening until those guns were seized by Mexican police at the scenes of 50,000 murders? We stopped all efforts to track the 64,000 guns, but have made every effort to destroy President Obama regarding the 2,000 guns. Why? Because President Obama wants to strip away your god-given guns, while those Mexican drug lords who have murdered 50,000 innocent people in Mexican border towns have a 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. Well, maybe they don't actually have a 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, but if they were citizens of the United States, they would have, and that is good enough for us.

Actually, not a single piece of gun legislation or regulation makes sense, because bad guys will just violate any gun laws that are passed. In fact, we support repealing all laws in America because bad guys will just break them anyway. Makes perfect sense, right?

Finally, and most evidently, everyone knows that when you are overweight, if you eat more food, you will lose weight. So obviously, if you have a problem with gun violence, more guns is the solution. Maybe that does not actually make sense, but it sure makes money for the gun manufacturers that we have absolutely positively no connection whatsoever to who made $12 billion last year.

Happy New Year! If you survive...

Recently, there was quite a reaction by some to the following post, allegedly by an emergency room physician...

Dear Mr. President:

During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive Brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ringtone. While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer. And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture", a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based on the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me". Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully, STARNER JONES, MD

I wish people would get just as excited about billionaires on Wall Street, oil companies and hedge funds ripping off the American people to the tune of hundreds of billion of dollars in fraud and corrupt manipulation of the financial system every year instead of getting upset because someone buys popcorn with their EBT card. That is not to say that there is no fraud in public assistance...there is and it should be dealt with. However, there are many many people who are down on their luck in America, most of them for short periods of time who need a helping hand from their neighbors who have been a bit more fortunate. For every case of a person who takes advantage of the system, there are many many others who do not choose to be poor, who do not choose to lose their jobs, who do not choose to have a physical or mental healthcare crisis in their lives. Some day you or someone close to you may need assistance to get back on their feet. We should be concerned about the right things, even though fraudulent collateralized debt obligations are much more difficult to understand than a gold tooth.

Benghazi...Another Republican Effort to Damage President Obama

A terrible tragedy occurred in Benghazi on September 11, of that there is no doubt. But why is John McCain and other Republicans fixating on this event as if something like this has never happened before, certainly not under a Republican administration...or has it??? The following attacks occurred on our embassies and consulates during the presidency of George W. Bush. How many hearings were held by Congress...none.

June 14, 2002, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan Suicide bomber kills 12 and injures 51.

February 20, 2003, international diplomatic compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Truck bomb kills 17.

February 28, 2003, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan Gunmen on motorcycles killed two consulate guards.

July 30, 2004, U.S. embassy in Taskkent, Uzbekistan Suicide bomber kills two.

December 6, 2004, U.S. consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Militants stormed and occupied perimeter wall. Five killed, 10 wounded.

March 2, 2006, U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan Suicide car bomber killed four, including a U.S. diplomat directly targeted by the assailants.

September 12, 2006, U.S. embassy in Damascus, Syria Gunmen attacked embassy with grenades, automatic weapons, and a car bomb (though second truck bomb failed to detonate). One killed and 13 wounded.

January 12, 2007, U.S. embassy in Athens, Greece A rocket-propelled grenade was fired at the embassy building. No one was injured.

July 9, 2008, U.S. consulate in Istanbul, Turkey Armed men attacked consulate with pistols and shotguns. Three policemen killed.

March 18, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen Mortar attack misses embassy, hits nearby girls' school instead.

September 17, 2008, U.S. embassy in Sana'a, Yemen Militants dressed as policemen attacked the embassy with RPGs, rifles, grenades and car bombs. Six Yemeni soldiers and seven civilians were killed. Sixteen more were injured.