Transgender Bathroom Ban Doesn't Discriminate, Court Holds

Source: Bloomberg Law

Separating school bathrooms based on biological sex is constitutional and doesn’t violate Title IX, an en banc Eleventh Circuit said Friday in a divided ruling that may have widespread consequences in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.

A Florida school board didn’t violate transgender high school student Drew Adams’ equal protection rights when it prohibited him from using the boys’ bathrooms at Allen D. Nease High School, the court said, reversing a trial court.

The US has a long tradition of separating sexes in certain situations, especially when it comes to the use of public bathrooms, Judge Barbara Lagoa said for the seven-judge US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit majority. Such sex-based classifications have never necessarily run afoul of the Equal Protection Clause, she said.

St. Johns County School Board showed its policy restricting bathroom use by “biological sex” was constitutional because it significantly furthered the student privacy interest the board claimed, Lagoa said. That interest included allowing students to use the bathroom away from the opposite sex and to shield their bodies from the opposite sex—an interest courts have long deemed valid “in a variety of legal contexts,” Lagoa said.

Read more: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/transgender-florida-students-bathroom-access-undone-on-appeal

When does Congress recess?

How many more bills are there to be worked on before Winter break?

Who here is obsessed with coquito?

For those of you that don't know, it's a Christmas rum beverage that's similar to eggnog. It originated in Puerto Rico, and is huge in states and towns with large Puerto Rican populations.

Anyway, I'm in NYC and it's big here. People actually sell them homemade by the bottle here. I just bought one for $35, and it was worth every penny. It is my favorite alcoholic beverage off all-time. Anyone else love them?

Coquito

What does the fusion energy breakthrough mean for the future of cars?

If a car is powered by it, what makes it different than a normal electric vehicle? Would the charge last a lot longer?

How about for other battery powered devices, such as cell phones?

Jack Dorsey Takes Blame for Twitter Failures, Will Give $1 Million to Signal

Source: Rolling Stone

Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey took the blame for Twitter’s controversial content decisions that the platform made under his leadership, while warning of content control by governments and corporations.

Dorsey started the statement in a Twitter thread but moved it to a blog post, explaining, “I don’t want to edit everything into 280 char chunks.” The founder said that he hoped to build a Twitter that was based on principles he had learned through his “past actions as a Twitter co-founder,” but that he “completely gave up pushing for those ideas after an “activist entered our stock in 2020.”

“I planned my exit at that moment knowing I was no longer right for the company,” he wrote.

The principles he hoped to achieve as a public company — social media resilience to corporate and government control, user-controlled content, and moderation implemented by algorithmic choice — were not present when he led the company, nor in today’s Twitter, he said.

Read more: https://rollingstoneindia.com/jack-dorsey-takes-blame-for-twitter-failures-will-give-1-million-to-signal/

Lauren Boebert, Far-Right Firebrand, Wins Re-election After Recount

Source: NY Times

After a recount in a remarkably close race, Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, known for heckling President Biden during his State of the Union speech, arming herself on Capitol Hill and ignoring Covid mask rules, won her bid for a second term. Colorado’s secretary of state, Jena Griswold, announced the results on Monday.

Ms. Boebert, 35, staved off a fierce challenge from Adam Frisch, a Democratic businessman and former Aspen, Colo., city councilman, in the state’s Republican-leaning Third District.

Mr. Frisch, who faced a deficit of roughly 500 votes out of more than 327,000 cast, gained just two votes in the automatic recount. In the end, Ms. Boebert won with 50.06 percent of the vote, to Mr. Frisch’s 49.89 percent.

On Twitter on Sunday, before the recount was made official by the secretary of state, Ms. Boebert said: “Our conservative policies will help all Americans to overcome the challenges we face so each of us has the opportunity to live our very best life. Thank you for entrusting me to help lead the way. I’ll be working every day to prove I can get the job done right.”

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/us/politics/lauren-boebert-colorado-elected.html

Who was the greatest President in your lifetime?

The rules are simple. This poll is about who was the greatest President in your lifetime, not before you were born.

I'm not putting any Republicans on the list except Eisenhower, because none besides him in the past 100+ years deserve to be on the list (Ford wasn't terrible I suppose, but no one is picking him as #1).

With that being said, who's it gonna be?

Supreme Court seems poised to side with Colorado web designer in 303 Creative case

What are the big Supreme Court cases that will be decided in June?

I know of two right now. The first being the "independent state legislature theory" which could threaten democracy. The press is reporting that it looks like at least 6 Justices will side with us, so I'm not worried.

The second one that I know of is the Colorado web site designer that refused to make websites for same-sex couples. Anyone know how that's going so far? I know how the Colorado baker case went a few years ago, but there are differences.

What are the other remaining big ones? How are they going?

Calls Build for Manchin to Follow Sinema in Leaving Democratic Party

Source: Newsweek

Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced in an op-ed on Friday that she's ditching the Democratic Party to register as an independent. Now, some are demanding that another Democratic senator follow suit: West Virginia's Joe Manchin.

Along with Sinema, Manchin is viewed by many political observers as one of the country's most powerful people. Their less-reliably-liberal votes can either grant the green light or spell doom for legislation in an otherwise stalemated U.S. Senate.

The Democrats narrowly held on to their Senate majority following November's midterm elections. And this week, after Republican candidate Herschel Walker conceded in Georgia's U.S. Senate runoff election against Senator Raphael Warnock, Democrats locked in a 51-49 majority.

Yet while critics have decried Sinema as a "traitor," news of her defection has also energized some conservatives. Many right-leaning social media users are egging on Manchin to similarly jump ship.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/calls-build-manchin-follow-sinema-leaving-democratic-party-1765952