The US Department of Education, under the direction of partisan hack Betsy DeVos, has issued a decree (not presently available via official channels) that contradicts, not just its own previous regulations, but statutory law as well. Not only, under this decree, is discrimination against trans people somehow permissible under Title IX, but the Department will now mandate discrimination and threaten the federal funding of those who dissent.
Continue reading “Bad rules, partisan hacks, and transphobia”
Tag:
Yes, we really do need to quarantine
Scott Atlas of the Hoover Institution recently proposed lifting lockdowns in place for COVID-19 containment. His reasons are less than convincing.
Theresa May resigns
Theresa May has resigned, effective 7 Jun. (She will then retain the position until a successor is chosen, which could take as long as six weeks.) This has seemed inevitable ever since she took the position, with every event making it seem more and more impossible to avoid. It has seemed particularly certain since her announcement of a revised Withdrawal Agreement bill that included support for a Parliamentary vote on a second referendum, prompting Andrea Leadsom’s resignation from her position as Leader of the House. Her chosen date is notable: it ensures that she beats Gordon Brown’s tenure.
Continue reading “Theresa May resigns”
Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2018
Five hundred and twenty-six years ago, Cristòffa Cómbo discovered America after convincing King Ferdinand II to let him prove the Earth was round. Or, at least, so goes the popular story.
Continue reading “Indigenous Peoples’ Day 2018”
Two witnesses
In today’s hearing regarding accusations that lying serial rapist SCOTUS nominee Brett Kavanaugh is, in fact, a serial rapist, two witnesses were heard: Dr Christine Blasey Ford and Brett Kavanaugh. No others were heard — not Mark Judge, not Deborah Ramirez, not Julie Swetnick. And how did the two act at that hearing?
Continue reading “Two witnesses”
Brett Kavanaugh: Consistently anti-choice
When Donald Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh, everyone knew why the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation had put him on Trump’s list of twenty-five potential nominees: he wanted to overturn Roe v. Wade — or, as he coyly referred to it in a speech to the American Enterprise Institute, an unnamed “case that deserves to be overturned”. That, in itself, is enough to gain anyone the “anti-choice” label. But that’s not enough for him! In Doe ex rel. Tarlow v. D.C, Kavanaugh ruled that the government could force disabled people to get undesired surgery — including, for Jane Does I and III, abortions.
Kavanaugh is, of course, not the first person to oppose voluntary abortion while supporting forced abortions, but if he is confirmed to the Supreme Court, he may be among the most powerful of them. And given Dr Blasey’s accusation against him, it seems his opposition to people choosing what to do with their own bodies extends well beyond the topic of abortion; instead, it’s a consistent principle of his.
But hey, he’s really good at carpooling!
Continue reading “Brett Kavanaugh: Consistently anti-choice”
