Reading Time: 5 minutes There’s almost too much to choose from when attempting to sum up recent US strife: On Thursday, Missouri’s Attorney General bypassed sitting representatives to launch the most prohibitive ban on gender-affirming care yet, which would effectively deny treatment to adults and children alike. Judge Samuel Alito issued a short-term stay on a Texas judge’s revocation […]
Law
Posted inPolitics
What has the GOP become? Four jaw-dropping stories
Reading Time: 5 minutes Before you pull out the whataboutery card on me, as a Brit, I know we have a slew of our own problems. But having just been alerted to 4 stories in 5 minutes that literally made my jaw drop, I am left asking (and not for the first time), America, what the hell are you […]
Posted inCulture
Divorce is relatively recent in Ireland
Reading Time: 2 minutes When I divorced my first wife in 2008, I was expecting some blowback from friends and family. I was living in California at the time. But in Ireland, it was new. A referendum removing the constitutional prohibition on divorce was approved on 24 November, 1995. The social order of my country did not fall apart, as was […]
Posted inDeep Dive
Fox News’ and Trump’s pants are (still) on fire
Reading Time: 9 minutes If doctors practiced their craft like Fox News pundits do theirs, they would long ago have lost their privilege to treat patients. Which brings me right to the point: Why shouldn’t licensing of journalists be required, as other professionals, such as doctors, already are in many states? And why shouldn’t politicians, as well, be legally […]
Posted inLaw
SCOTUS agrees to rule on yet another Christian privilege demand
Reading Time: 4 minutes Here we go again. The endless campaign by devout Christians to get special treatment in American commerce and the public square continues unabated, despite, over decades, multiple court cases unequivocally rejecting most of these serial entreaties. But it’s a new day in the judiciary, notably at the top of the hierarchy: the Supreme Court of […]
Posted inLaw
Bleeding blue: How to serve, protect, and not kill
Reading Time: 6 minutes It seems we may be focusing on too many of the wrong things in the fraught aftermath of an enraged fatal beating by seven cops of an unarmed Black motorist last week after a traffic stop in Memphis, Tennessee. Potential solutions might be far less complicated and opaque than many people suspect. Misusing terms like […]
Posted inLaw
Why did a high school let controversial influencer Woah Vicky preach to kids?
Reading Time: 2 minutes Earlier this month, Victoria Rose Waldrip (a.k.a. Woah Vicky, “Atlanta’s new age trap queen”) visited Jonesboro High School in Georgia and preached to the girl’s basketball team. She told them to accept Jesus, promoted her church, told the girls to remain celibate until marriage, and lied about LGBTQ people. When one girl asked her if […]
Posted inLaw
Clergy members sue Missouri to block faith-based anti-abortion laws
Reading Time: 3 minutes In an attempt to overturn extreme abortion restrictions in Missouri, 13 clergy members have filed a lawsuit against the state, arguing that the laws impose one religious interpretation upon everyone else, violating their rights and the Constitution. The clergy members represent faith traditions that say abortion is permissible or required in certain situations. The 83-page […]
Posted inEducation
Why did a Texas community college donate land to a private Christian school?
Reading Time: 3 minutes Why did the taxpayer-funded Weatherford College, a community college in Texas, donate “39 acres” of land, six buildings, and a “large parking lot” to a private Christian institution? That’s the question the Freedom From Religion Foundation wants to know because they believe that transfer is unconstitutional. Over a year ago, Weatherford College donated its entire […]
Posted inPolitics
Idaho’s ‘faith-healing’ exemption has led to more senseless child deaths
Reading Time: 3 minutes Idaho is one of only six states where belief in “faith-healing” can help you escape charges of negligent homicide, manslaughter, or capital murder. So if a child dies because her Christian Science parents refused to take her to a doctor, those parents won’t be punished. Consider the state’s laws regarding children and vulnerable adults, which includes this […]