I was informed by a gentleman whose mother was a Rockefeller that the only question that really mattered when meeting someone was whether they were the sort of person you would invite to dinner. This, some of you might remember, was what motivated Trump to run for office, as neither the old guard of New York nor Palm Beach would invite him to dinner, hurting his feelings and compelling him to prove his mettle by becoming someone “important,” in a Rooseveltian sort of way.

Trump ended up winning the election, but not a seat at the dinner table, for the very reason he was never a suitable dinner guest in the first place. He failed to grasp that being elected president didn’t make you important, but being the sort of person people respected enough to elect as president was the attribute. Continue reading →

The old saw is that the reason academic politics are so vicious is that the stakes are so small. But if George Santayana had anything on the ball, then his point that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is worth remembering even if it’s a little less snarky. History matters, or at least it did until historians broke it.

It began on August 17, when James Sweet, the president of the AHA, posted a mildly provocative article in the association’s house journal, Perspectives on History:

“IS HISTORY HISTORY?
Identity politics and Teleologies of the Present” Continue reading →

Scotland has enacted a law requiring that people who use menstrual products, formerly known as women, be given them free of cost.

Period products, including tampons and sanitary pads, are now free of cost in Scotland to anyone who needs them.

“Providing access to free period products is fundamental to equality and dignity, and removes the financial barriers to accessing them,” said Social Justice Secretary Shona Robison in a statement, calling the move “more important than ever” in an era of rising costs of living.

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People used to argue over this on twitter all the time, whether retwitting something meant you agreed with it or approved of it, the implication being that why would anyone amplify anything with which they didn’t agree or approve? The answer would often be it was interesting or thought-provoking. People disinclined to believe it tended not to believe it. And that was the case for Salma al-Shehab.

She told judges she had no idea that simply retweeting posts “out of curiosity and to observe others’ viewpoints,” from a personal account with no more than 2,000 followers, constituted terrorism.

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We all know “Karen” is a pejorative these days, usually describing an overbearing white woman who threatens to call someone’s manager if she doesn’t get her way on a specific issue.

Here’s a little known fact: Karens don’t have to be female. Men can be Karens too. I know this because last week I accidentally Karen’d my son’s teacher. Continue reading →

In the ordinary course of a pre-arrest search warrant, the application for the warrant, usually an affidavit or two and occasionally accompanied by an exhibit or two, is held under seal, not to be seen either by the eyes of the target or the media. And, indeed, the idea of motions, amici, and more motions by random intervenors, was unheard of. Not this time.

Ruling from the bench, the judge, Bruce E. Reinhart, said it was “very important” that the public have as “much information” as it can about the historic search at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s Florida residence. He noted later in a written order that the government “had not met its burden of showing that the entire affidavit should remain sealed.”

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Ed. Note: Our intrepid TV and Movie Critic, Harris County Public Defender Alex Bunin, reviews the final episode of Better Call Saul, which turned out to be a TV show and not a completely unethical actual lawyer. My bad. But I digress.

As someone who practiced in the federal courts for many years, the final episode of “Better Call Saul” (BCS) was somewhat disappointing. It was not the resolution that bothered me, just some basic misunderstandings of how federal criminal cases are disposed. Spoilers will follow. Continue reading →

Regardless of whatever else you may think about Kesha Williams, she was committed to being a woman. That’s how she lived for 15 years, how her drivers license read and why she took hormones. This was someone who was sincere. So when she was pulled from the women’s side of the Fairfax County Detention Center and put into the male side, what the hell did they expect to happen?

While Williams was housed on the men’s side of the prison, prison deputies repeatedly harassed her regarding her sex and gender identity. Deputies ignored her requests that they refer to her as a woman. Instead, they referred to her as “mister,” “sir,” “he,” or “gentleman.” Williams’ requests for some accommodations — to shower privately and for body searches to be conducted by a female deputy — were denied. One deputy threatened to place her in solitary confinement if she resisted a search by a male deputy. Male inmates also harassed Williams, causing her to fear for her safety throughout her incarceration in male housing.

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Childcare has become a hot button issue from all angles. Parents with young children have discovered the relative connection between their little darlin’ needing someone to keep them out of the liquor cabinet and how that damn kid keeps them from doing what they want, like going to work. What to do? Childcare, because don’t parents have a right to feel accomplished and fulfilled, and locking this little brat in a closet under the stairs is frowned upon?

But childcare is too expensive. But the people who work at childcare who have neither education nor specialized skills are underpaid. But the people who work at childcare should be able to make junior the best toddler he can be so mom and dad don’t feel guilty for not being sure which kid is theirs when they arrive for pickup. In Washington, D.C., these conflicted desires came together in a local rule requiring childcare workers to have, at minimum, an associates degree. And the D.C. Circuit, Judge Sri Srinivasan, held the law constitutional. Continue reading →

To no one’s surprise when President Biden appointed Catherine Lhamon as head of the DoE Office of Civil Rights, her raison d’etre swiftly focused on undoing one of the few good things that came out of the past administration, the DeVos Title IX regs that sought to introduce some small measure of due process into the morass of campus Title IX sex tribunals. Lhamon, one of the primary architects of the Sexual Inquisition, would have none of it.

Specifically, the rule would:

• Enshrine protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as “sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, [and] pregnancy or related conditions.”
• Permit, but no longer require, live hearings and cross examination in Title IX investigations. Continue reading →