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We are living in an antediluvian hellscape. I can hardly believe this is America. Well, actually, I do believe it and it’s profoundly distressing: More than 64,500 pregnancies have resulted from rape in the 14 states that banned abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned, with the vast majority occurring in states that don’t make exceptions for rape, researchers estimated today in a leading medical journal. The big picture: The projection in JAMA Internal Medicine aims to shed light on the frequency of these pregnancies at a time when exceptions for rape loom large in abortion debates. Researchers, led by the medical director at Planned Parenthood of Montana, say even states with bans that have exceptions for rape impose other requirements that make it difficult to access the procedure. Rape victims have few options other than self-managed abortions, including by illegal methods or via pills obtained through the mail, or traveling out of state to where abortion is legal. As a result, many have to carry a pregnancy to term, the researchers wrote.

The 9th Circuit compared the searches to the “abuses of power” that “led to adoption of the Fourth Amendment in the first place.”

The post FBI Overstepped Authority in Warrantless Search of Hundreds of Safe Deposit Boxes, Court Rules appeared first on The Intercept.

I, your beloved Snow Day, am excited to share that I’ve been meditating a lot lately and have decided to reinvent myself as the Flexible Instruction Day. You can call me FID for short. I’m the same Snow Day you know and love, just better. Now you get to stay cozy in your house during snowstorms and have school at the same time.

Some of you children may be wondering, “What about sleeping in and sledding?” Well, I’m here to ask, “What about honoring the responsibilities of your schoolwork regardless of bomb cyclones and ice-sheeted roads? What about bringing back at-home learning, one of the most enjoyable aspects of the pandemic? What about me?!”

Sorry. I’m just so jazzed about these changes that sometimes I can’t control my emotions. Kind of like you can’t control the weather or the school district’s implementation of this new policy.

For climate change, 2023 was an “unprecedented” year, “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas” and “scary” and “frightening”. And that was what climate scientists said! The UN Secretary General called it the year in which humanity crossed into a new climate era — an age of “global boiling”. Climate disruption shocked climate scientists in 2023. “Surprising. Astounding. Staggering. Continue reading »

I found it shocking that the New York Times published on January 17th no less than three opinion pieces by Jewish authors, unbalanced by a single Palestinian or principled critical voice. Daniel Levy, a former Israeli former peace negotiator, yet for many years a critic of what I would call the maximalist Zionist approach to Continue reading »

Western readers will be familiar with the Israeli Government’s account of the attacks by Hamas on October 7th, 2023, which killed 1,200 Israelis. They will also be familiar with the Israeli government’s response that has now killed over 25,000 Palestinians in Gaza. On January 19th, 2024, Hamas released their public account of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood Continue reading »

In the 20th century a series of UK investigations, including the Leveson Inquiry, demonstrated that Murdoch newspapers had engaged in phone hacking, police bribery and resort to dodgy private investigators. A subsequent parliamentary committee found that Rupert had exhibited ‘wilful blindness’ to what was going on and that he was not a fit person to Continue reading »

Anthony Albanese risks being the man who did what Scott Morrison couldn’t – easing the tax burden of the rich. I have no inside info on whether Anthony Albanese will stick to his oft-repeated promise to deliver the stage 3 tax cuts intact on July 1, or change them in some way because the cost-ofliving Continue reading »

I write in relation to the article published in Pearls and Irritations on 23 January 2024, authored by John Frew. The writer appears to be questioning who should be working with children experiencing educational disadvantage, get funding to do it, and be responsible for their outcomes. He raises the example of The Smith Family, as Continue reading »

In recent years the approach of Australia Day has been seen by the mainstream media as a time for reporting on the antics of those politicians who are intent on dividing the nation, splitting us into patriots and non-patriots, Indigenous and non-Indigenous – to which this year they have added a new divisive line between Continue reading »

You’re either a climate realist or you’re a climate sceptic. You’re either pro COVID vaccines or you’re a vaccine sceptic. You either voted ‘no’ in the recent ‘indigenous voice to parliament’ or ‘yes’. On too many issues, the labels that Australians are using are confrontational. Australians are being led to see just two camps and Continue reading »

On 10 January, Port Moresby was rocked by riots, looting and arson on an unprecedented scale. Rioting also occurred in Lae and several other towns. More than twenty people died and there has been extensive damage to property. During the course of 2023, Papua New Guinea signed security agreements with Australia and the US and Continue reading »

Bombing one of the most impoverished nations on Earth over its sea blockade to stop genocide in Gaza reflects Kiwi values, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. A decision to send military personnel to the Red Sea to help bomb Yemen reflects New Zealand’s values and a desire to protect the “rules-based international order”, New Zealand’s Continue reading »

No, I’m not kidding.  The US football season is wrapping up with its usual bang: two playoff games this weekend, then the Super Bowl two weeks later.  So if you’ve never checked it out, this might be a time. So, in the spirit of philosophical discussion, let’s start with some reasons you might not want […]

After his win in the Iowa caucuses last week Donald Trump came to the microphone and gave an uncharacteristically gracious victory speech. It was actually standard stuff, exactly what you’d expect from any candidate except him. In these situations, the job is to try to soothe the hurt and disappointment of voters who opposed you in order to bring their followers to your side as you go through the process. Trump actually tried to do that, prompting the usual round of “he’s pivoting!” from the talking heads. But, as usual, that little burst of decency was short-lived as he proved last night in New Hampshire, giving one of the most boorish victory speeches anyone has ever given. He is obviously extremely angry at Nikki Haley for not losing bigger, dropping out of the race instantly and begging for the privilege of endorsing him for president. And he made no bones about it.

At a security forces base in the West Bank, young recruits dismissed questions about the Palestinian Authority’s contributions to maintaining the occupation.

The post For Palestinians, U.S. Talk of a “Revitalized” PA in Gaza Is Code for Outsourced Oppression appeared first on The Intercept.

The Prime Minister's attempts to wage a culture war with Keir Starmer have ended up doing far more damage to himself than the Labour Leader

Think outside the box A friend in high state office told a large crowd at a party event over the weekend that this is the most important election of our lifetime. Yes, the last election was too. But really, we mean it this time. (I’m riffing here.) What’s infuriating about that hoary admonition is that it provokes Democrats into adopting a defensive posture when offense is required. Time and again, Democrats play defense. Their idea of finding a new gear is doing the same thing they’ve always done, the way they’ve always done it, just more of it. When it’s the most important election of your lifetime you don’t take chances, don’t experiment. Also, you don’t change, don’t grow. Worried about taking risks? That’s a huge one. “Most important election of our lifetime” makes me grind my teeth almost as much as “voting against their best interests” and the jokey “vote early, vote often.” For Democrats of a certain age, they are unfortunate verbal tics. Democrats may be the party of the left, but thinking outside the box is often in short supply.

When I went vegan, the single hardest delicacy to give up was my daily sausage wrapped in a pancake and eaten on a popsicle stick. Breakfasts were a challenge for years—what did people eat, I wondered, if not this? Imagine my delight when the fine folks at Morningstar Farms ended my years of sorrow with their latest meat-adjacent product.

But like any holy grail, this food wasn’t an easy conquest.

The first trial was making sense of “Incogmeato.” Its logo looked like a mustachioed man with wings for hind legs and a Santa hat perched atop his rear end. Or maybe a bumblebee/angel hybrid facing backward and sleeping. What either of these visuals had to do with vegan meat, I knew not. But I wasn’t about to let that deter me.