ASK Musings

Reproductive Health

“Threatening people’s lives is always wrong, but there is no possible world in which Ted Shulman’s two threats create an entire new category of “pro-choice extremism” that the FBI should be worried about. As Jodi Magee, the CEO and president of Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, said at the time of his arrest, “Our doctors have received hundreds and thousands of death threats and worse at the hands of anti-abortion activists …. That kind of violence is a noted pattern in the anti-abortion movement. To my knowledge, [anti-abortion activists] are not persecuted in the same way that physicians providing legal medical services to patients have been.”” A Movement of None: The FBI’s Bogus ‘Pro-Choice Extremist’ Label (by David S. Cohen for Rewire)

“The California measure would be the first mandate of its kinds in the United States after state legislators made history last year by passing the first-ever legislation to address the rights of intersex people. The non-binding resolution, authored by Wiener, recognized intersex people as “a part of the fabric of our state’s diversity” and called for deferring surgeries “until the child is able to participate in decision making.”” California Could Be First to Ban Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Babies (by Amy Littlefield for Rewire)

“Instead of talking about Republicans’ move to outlaw early abortion—which is when most terminations happen—the national discourse around reproductive rights is focused on rarely performed procedures that almost always happen because of fetal abnormalities or a risk to women’s health. The vast majority of abortions in America—over 91 percent—are performed in the first trimester of pregnancy. Even after that, most abortions still happen before 20 weeks. In fact, it’s only a little over one percent of abortions that are performed past the 21st week of pregnancy.” The Truth About ‘Late-Term Abortion’ (by Jessica Valenti on Medium)

“The act would remove reckless restrictions on international recipients of U.S. funding, ensuring that organizations can effectively serve their communities. It would allow NGOs to use non-U.S. funds to provide, counsel, or advocate for legal abortion care. It would ground U.S. health assistance in evidence rather than ideology, and ensure that NGOs never again have to choose between receiving U.S. funds and offering comprehensive care. And critically, it would remove—in perpetuity—the U.S. president’s power to restrict health care for millions of women with merely a signature.” The Global Gag Rule Has Put Women in Danger for Decades. Here’s How We Can Stop It. (by Vanessa Rios & Nina Besser Doorley for Rewire)

Racism

“However the 50 or so people who were deported today, the 50 black people of Jamaican descent, we know far less about them, we know a couple of their faces but we didn’t hear in their own words published by the mainstream media why they were detained by the UK home office. In fact when would they have had time to write for Comment is Free? They were arrested from their homes with no warning, detained and shipped off to immigration detention centres, the horrors of which have been detailed in numerous articles including on this site.” There is a war on Black people in Britain. If you’re complacent, you’re complicit (by Samantha Asumadu for Media Diversified)

“Black folks have always been interested in our history, our families, and their unique legacies of resistance and survival. But as a new wave of young Black people attempts to learn more about its heritage, some of the only places available for us to look are sites of deep violence and trauma, like that plantation. In the search for your own history, whether personal or communal, you may find yourself on the way to a similar historic site. Here are some things you may need to prepare for, and ways to structure the trip to mitigate harm.” What to Expect When Visiting A Plantation Where Your Ancestors Were Enslaved (by Benji Hart for Teen Vogue)

Mental Health

“Even without being a heaping pile of metaphors, the show is excellent and well worth every second of its brief runtime. But for those of us with mental illness, Russian Doll is an absolute gift, understanding experiences that often feel impossible to describe or explain — right down to their cyclical, seemingly unending nature. Grief, pain, mental illness, addiction, trauma: These experiences are not linear. There is no clear endpoint, and you can find yourself feeling true progress one day only to end up right back where you started by the next.” Russian Doll and the (Seemingly) Neverending Cycle of Trauma (by Courtney Enlow for SyFy)

Anti-Muslim Bigotry

“This, however, is the same Supreme Court that has rewritten fundamental principles of its own religious liberty jurisprudence in cases like Burwell v. Hobby Lobby when conservative Christians claimed that their religious beliefs were under attack. It is also the same court that upheld President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban despite the fact that Trump literally bragged repeatedly about his plans to ban members of a certain faith from the country. Moreover, as Kagan notes, the prison warden did not deny Ray’s request to have his imam present until January 23. So Ray went through the prison’s administrative channels to get the relief he sought, and then he filed suit just five days after his request was denied. Given this timing, it appears very likely that the majority’s claim that Ray waited too long to file his suit is pretextual.” The Supreme Court just handed down a truly shocking attack on Muslims (by Ian Millhiser for Think Progress)

Climate Change

“The answer, by the way, is that climate isn’t weather. Weather is what’s happening over the short term, climate is what happens over the long term. The National Centers for Environmental Information, a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says that weather tells us what to wear on a given day, while climate tells us what we should put in our closets. It’s why you don’t find many South Floridians with an extensive down coat collection.” For a Climate Reporter, a Dreaded Question: ‘Then Why Is It So Cold?’ (by Kendra Pierre-Louis for New York Times)

Something Good

A little Freddy Mercury, as interpreted by Patrick Wilson.