Biden expands abortion, contraception protections One of the first headlines that popped up this morning was on a Jill Filopic column at Slate: Biden Is Whiffing It on the Most Important Issue for Democrats. Biden says restoring abortion rights will be his No. 1 priority in a second term. Well? The column criticizes the Biden administration for issuing “executive orders to protect abortion and contraception, but those do not invalidate state abortion bans or potential contraception bans.” Filopic adds, “The Department of Health and Human Services issued an important directive on the long-standing Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, confirming that hospitals receiving federal Medicaid dollars have to care for and stabilize any patient who comes through their doors, regardless of that patient’s ability to pay.” But they have limited effect. So “it’s hard to say that restoring abortion rights has been the No.
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In this column, professional speechwriter Chandler Dean provides partly satirical, partly genuine “How To” advice focused on a hyper-specific subcategory of speeches—from graduation speeches to wedding toasts to eulogies and all the rhetorical occasions in between.
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Congratulations! You’ve been asked to speak in front of everyone you know, plus a bunch of people you don’t.
Maybe you were chosen because you earned the highest GPA in your graduating class. After all, everyone knows that the best public speakers are the ones who can calculate the Riemann sum of a closed interval in accordance with the trapezoidal rule.
Or perhaps you’re getting up there because you were nominated by a teacher or administrator who sees in you that most inspiring of oratorical qualities: harmlessness.
Either way, your peers had absolutely nothing to do with your selection, and now they’re your audience. So here’s how you can win them over, crush your speech, and maybe even make some friends for the next three months before everyone moves away forever.
Nov. 20 – 11 p.m.
After several weeks of courtship, I have established a partnership with a human male. In a brief yet giddy discussion, relationship was determined to be “boyfriend-girlfriend.” Having spent the majority of my adult life single, I find this new pairing most intriguing.
Boyfriend’s build is appealing—could be described as having “meat on his bones.” Recently, I discovered that both he and I are inclined to wear button-ups. His typically are one size larger than mine, with bolder colors. However, sometimes I wonder if we will arrive at a restaurant one day wearing the very same one. What a sight that would be! And if we are matching, who is to say that is wrong?
My mind swirls with the possibility, but it behooves me to focus on the present. I remain alert to new findings as I engage in this romantic alliance.
June 19, 2023 ROBERT SKIDELSKY Geopolitics, which originated during the run-up to World War I, represents an inherently pessimistic view of international relations as a perpetual power struggle. But as the world’s military and policy establishments prepare for prolonged conflict, we must resist the allure of the zero-sum mindset. LONDON – One of the regrettable … Continue reading The Costly Return of Geopolitics
The myriad threats comedians face is explored in the new edition of 'Index on Censorship', writes its Editor-in-Chief Jemimah Steinfeld
Part 4 and (for now) last of this series. Earlier installments can be found here. So, by early 1999 various attempts to resolve the Kosovo situation had failed. In autumn 1998 the Americans had sent Richard Holbrooke as a special envoy to Belgrade. Holbrooke negotiated a deal that looked good on paper, with a ceasefire, […]
Last week, Grant Shapps compounded Britain’s commitment to war-fighting and destruction, as a way of dealing with complex global problems, and indicated his desire for Britain to be in the driving seat in stoking further conflicts. We are in a pre-war world, he stated, not a post-war world. In his first major speech as Defence […]
Veteran Crime Reporter Duncan Campbell examines the sad history of wrongful prosecutions and the decline of deeply researched investigations
Newly empowered overseas voters tell Byline Times they are 'sick of racist rhetoric' and Britain's Brexit fallout.
- by Aeon Video
Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Glenn Grothman want to recognize the contribution of Air America, the CIA airline that supported secret wars in Laos and Cambodia.
The post Pensions for the “Deep State”: Republicans Push Benefits for Air America, the CIA’s Secret Vietnam-Era Airline appeared first on The Intercept.
- by Veronica Menaldi
- by Owen Hatherley
After a multimillion-dollar lobbying blitz, Wall Street firms got themselves exempted from anti-money-laundering requirements being imposed on small businesses.
One of the last places my dad asked to visit before he died last year was Aberavon beach. With the industrial landscape of the Tata steelworks in full view, he breathed in the sea air, watched my kids play, and reminisced about his time as a steelworker. There was no question for him: Wales had […]
I keep hearing from friends who live in Britain that I will be shocked when I get there on Thursday of this week after a nearly four year absence. One friend, who has just returned said that the deterioration in the public infrastructure is now fairly evident. Despite my absence, I have been keeping a…
Mike Johnson is on thin ice The crazies are restless: Speaker Mike Johnson is beset with political challenges: At least two conservative lawmakers have begun threatening his job. The former acting speaker trashed Johnson’s performance this week. A border-policy showdown with the Senate and White House draws nearer every day. And then there’s the problem of the 2024 campaign. A growing number of House Republicans are increasingly frustrated with Johnson’s leadership and whispering about whether he can hang on to his role after 2024 — if he even makes it that far. Despite serving barely three months as speaker, the Louisianan is already facing an immediate threat from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who is openly disparaging him and suggesting she may try to boot him from the speakership. “I don’t think he’s safe right now,” Greene said, adding: “The only reason he’s speaker is because our conference is so desperate.” Few Republicans are prepared to join Greene, at least at this point.
This is the media’s fault for indulging these spoiled brats’ tantrums about being “insulted” by the coastal elites. Nobody is more insulting than they are — and they’ve been that way for years. This isn’t a Trump thing. It’s a “Real America” thing.
Count on one thing: Donald Trump, who seems to gain Republican support with every new indictment, is not going away. He’s managed to capitalize on his 2020 election loss, using his failed insurrection, a stream of violent threats and verbal attacks against political opponents and journalists, and the disinformation machine of Fox News and similar outlets to peddle his stories of white American victimhood (above all, of course, his own victimhood). Meanwhile, his supporters are all too happy to carry out violent attacks in his name. Regardless of whether Trump wins the 2024 election, the “Orange Jesus,” as one Republican congressman reportedly called him, is here to stay. He’s also provided some of America’s favorite headlines and jokes, even for... Read more
Source: Trump 2.0 appeared first on TomDispatch.com.
The Opposition’s perpetually outraged leader, Peter Dutton, has demanded a nation wide boycott of stationery supplier Officeworks after discovering that they did not stock Mr Potato Head branded pencil cases. ”This is an outrageous attack on ordinary, everyday working Australians,”... Read More ›