Republicans continue their campaign to undo the last vestiges of Lincoln and Reconstruction. I know they always said "the (white) South will rise again." I just didn't realize that meant getting the White House, the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court. :-{{

27 Sep 25 -- Having lost a teacher, dept head, & president over a single class discussion about genders, Texas Tech U system, one largest in state, restricts all academic discussions of gender-- a first among higher ed institutions. TX has no law in this regard. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

NJ woman suspended from Catholic school after she revealed she was acting as surrogate for couple. Culture of Life at its finest. www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...

UN seats after mass-walkout prior to Netanyahu speech.

There is no precedent for this in US political history. Evangelicals have been crucial to anti-slavery, temperance, and similar political movements but we've never had a major party that was explicitly Christian and devoted to making the US a (white) Christian nation. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Peggy Noonan, who was Reagan's speechwriter and now a columnist for WSJ recognizes the inevitable after Kirk memorial service: Republicans are no longer a political party they are a Christian nationalist party.

With Trump neutered, Putin testing NATO resolve: air incursions into Poland, Romanian, Estonia, Norway Norway and then just outside US/Alaska airspace. Drones assumed Russian close Denmark airport. Just in case anyone thought he only wanted Ukraine. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

19thNews/SurveyMonkey also found 4-in-10 Americans think politicians should stop focusing on trans issues, evenly split between Dems and Reps. In 2024 poll 33% of Dems & 53% of Reps said this, so while more Dems agree fewer Reps do. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

The 19thNews/SurveyMonkey polling echoes a Mar 2025 poll from Data for Progress which found 55% agreed that “families & physicians should be the ones making decisions about transgender youth medical care, not the government” and just 33% supported government bans. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

25 Sep 25 -- Poll from 19thNews/Survey Monkey finds majority of American's oppose bans on care for adults and kids. Just 37% back care for trans minors (53% for adults) BUT... half oppose the idea of lawmakers banning medical care for trans youth. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Good piece by Erin Reed on the weaponization of Kirk shooting in order to demonize trans people and justify additional govt crack-down & discrimination. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

MSoft is stopping Israel from using its tech for mass surveillance and tracking of Palestinians. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

25 Sep 2025 - After canceling meeting with Dems on coming shutdown, Trump goes to Truth Social to blame (wait for it)..."funding Transgender surgery for minors [and] allowing men to play in women’s sports, and essentially create Transgender operations for everybody." @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Alas, Ryan Walters, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, has announced he is leaving. Walters had pushed for Bibles in every classroom, Tuesday he had just announced plans establish chapters of Turning Point USA in all state high schools.

Home streaming of newly released movies is starting to overtake viewing them in theaters, long one of the American venues where we have traditionally experienced something along with others. apnews.com/article/poll...

House Republicans reportedly have rounded up enough house numbers to force a vote on opening up the Epstein files. Tthis should be interesting.

New polling shows Trump approval is now underwater on every issue except border security, including immigration, crime, and the economy. (Weirdly, altho he's clearly running on attacking trans people, pollsters never ask about this except in special polls devoted to the issue.) tinyurl.com/4tyeyx7a

Podcaster Joe Rogan, the uncrowned King of the Manosphere, comes out swinging pro-Kimmel saying govt should not determine what comedians can say and conservatives are “crazy” to support this interference. www.cnn.com/2025/09/24/b...

24 Sep 25 -- Progressive Dem wins open AZ House seat held by her father, shrinking Rep majority to 2019-2014. Adelita Grijalva got the 1st endorsement of Christopher Street Project, a new natl trans electoral grp countering GOP’s anti-trans focus. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Really excellent (& scary!) Axios analysis the Presi power grabs going on in context of past precedents & new precedents for future presidents. All the checks/balances Founders built into the Constitution fail w/ a supine Congress and Supreme Court. It's the danger of one-party democracy.

RE: Moms for Liberty craziness, I keep wondering what the national headlines would be if a trans woman began disrobing at a local school board meeting. And this didn't even break the surface of the news, except at Erin in the Morning (and no doubt Yolo Cty "-o ).

Shapiro also put attacks on trans sports in the context of attempts by the Right to overturn gay marriage and end abortion rights. This is not a frame we've heard before at the national level, essentially his folding it into the basic package of civil rights.

Shapiro is interesting: prbly one of the smartest politicians in the race & certainly the most dynamic speaker & he didn't just _shade_ left, he took a hard left on one of the toughest trans rights issues. What does he know the others don't?

22 Sep 25 - Joining presumed Pres hopefuls Gavin Newsom & Kamala Harris in speaking on trans sports (both moved right), PA Gov Josh Shapiro moves hard left, denouncing PA sports bill as "the work of extremist politicians" trying to "legislate restrictions on freedom." @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

22 Sep 25 - Moms for Liberty rep at Yolo County (CA) School Board meeting begins taking off clothes. Responding “No, you cannot. We’re going to recess” they call a break. So she yells that "You are violating my 1st Amendment rights!" Just can't make this stuff up. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Portugal also expected to recognize Palestinian state shortly, along with Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Malta and possibly New Zealand and Liechtenstein. About 2 years too late, but still something. 147 countries will now have recognized it.

UK, Canada, Australia all recognize Palestinian state.

21 Sep 25 -- M Gessen posts a haunting NYT column on people being silenced and the violence of censorship. (Ironically, they fail to mention how they are not free to write about how the NYT itself has laundered right-wing views on trans kids.) @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Someone just kindly posted from Ta-Nehisi Coates amazing Vanity Fair piece: www.facebook.com/paulasophia/...

20 Sep 25 -- Blocked by a court injunction from enforcing the new policy of only M/F on US passports, Trump appeals to Supremes for an emergency reinstatement of the policy. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Harris now the 2nd Dem presumed to be running in 2028 Pres sweepstakes to distance themselves on the issue of sports along with CA Gov Newsom (something in the CA water??). Altho she does stand by her support for care for imprisoned trans people. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

20 Sep 5 -- From Kamala Harris's new book "....especially in contact sports. With goodwill and common sense, I believe we can come up with ways to do this, without vilifying and demonizing children." (2/2) @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

20 Sep 5 -- From Kamala Harris's new book: “I agree with the concerns expressed by parents and players that we have to take into account biological factors such as muscle mass and unfair student athletic advantage when we determine who plays on which teams..." (1/2) @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

19 Sep 25 -- After Texas A&M prof mentioned more than 2 genders in course, she was fired & dept head fired. Now Pres., former 4-star general, has quit. Previous Pres. quit 3 yrs ago after similar outcry over DEI content. Survey found 1/4 TX teachers looking out-of-state. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

19 Sep 25 -- Video from Natl Women's Law Center, 9 Dem state Atty's Gnrl (CA, DE, MA, MD, MI, MN, NY, OR, & VT) declare "I promise to fight for trans students" & do "whatever it takes" as school year begins. (There are 50 states folks-- it's not enough.) @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

19 Sep 25 -- EU Agency for Fundamental Rights survey of 1,920 people in 30 countries finds that since 2019, violence & harassment against intersex/DSD people sharply up – esp. those who identify as trans/NB. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

19 Sep 25 -- Interesting NPR profiles on the financial costs for many trans people of the decisions they are now faced with under anti-trans federal and state laws/policies. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Funny how the evils of Cancel Culture -- which supposedly was something the All-Powerful Trans Horde was very guilty of -- is now all the rage on the right.

Nancy Mace absolutely loses her sh*t when a Dem Rep in Congress points out that cisgender people also get lots of gender affirming procedures and medications. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Nice backgrounder on what the backlash feels like for trans students at Chase Strangio's alma mater, Northeastern U. huntnewsnu.com/87906/campus...

TRENDS IN CISGENDER CONVENTIONAL WISDOM 1991 Clarice Starling: "There's no correlation in the literature between transsexualism and violence. Transsexuals are very passive." 2025 Trump Jr. "Transgender movement is the most violent domestic terror threat in America, probably the entire world..."

14 Sep 25 -- After first wrongly claiming trans engravings were found bullet casings from Charlie Kirk's alleged killer, now news reports say Tyler Robinson's roommate was trans, was horrified by the shooting & is cooperating fully. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

13 Sep 25 - As Charlie Kirk's alleged killer turns out to be a young white male from a Christian conservative Rep household, HRC is now demanding the Wall Street Journal retract its earlier calumny about pro-trans messages being engraved on the shooter's bullets. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

Former Israeli Army commander confirms that more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded by IDF forces, or about 10% of Gaza's 2.2m population. The vast majority have been non-combatants. Also confirmed there has been _no_ legal advice about who troops could/could not shoot.

What's interesting about the Greens is that they haven't always been completely pro-trans (originally endorsing Cass Review until their LGBTQ+ Caucus revolted). But more importantly unlike US where the Dems have (mostly) stuck by us, in UK _both_ sides of the aisle, Tory & Labour, are anti-trans.

12 Sep 25 -- The newly elected leader of the UK's Green Party, Zack Polanski, insists that support for trans rights is non-negotiable and transphobic rhetoric will “not be tolerated”. Now if only Labour would take the hint... @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

12 Sep 25 - Iowa court rules the state must pay $85k to a group of 150 trans students illegally barred by Iowa State Patrol troopers from using restrooms at the state capital in 2020. Iowa only passed its bathroom law in 2023. @rikiwilchins.bsky.social

The first out trans Member of Congress, Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) today slammed House Republicans for... Oh, who cares.

WSJ backpedaling? "An early bulletin circulated widely among law enforcement ...found ammunition engraved with expressions of 'transgender and anti-fascist ideology' inside the rifle authorities believe used in the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk. But some cautioned against reaching conclusions..."