As I said a while back, I will take a Twitter break to get some work done. In addition, I am aware that some strategists read my tweets and alter their efforts based on them. It’s a compliment, but I prefer they struggle in the dark. On the US side, I suggest you pay close attention to the battle over the filibuster. The Senate is split 50/50. In the event of a tie vote Kamala Harris, as VP, casts the deciding vote—but otherwise she has no vote.

More on Hecox v Little, the case on whether barring the make bodied from female sports violates equal protection. See also my earlier tweets. Some groups have adopted, in recent years, a naughty practice of omitting briefs they don’t want you to see while presenting as objective. This includes liberal/progressive groups.

An update on the battle over whether male bodied persons should be allowed to compete in women’s and girls’ sports. Some time ago, Idaho passed a law limiting amateur school sports designated for females to biological females. The law has been challenged in Hecox v Little. Transfemale athletes are represented by the ACLU. Female athletes have also intervened asserting sex-based rights.

As I predicted here, the US Senate will continue to be controlled by Republicans. A majority is 100. As I also predicted, they will have a 1 or 2 member majority. The size depends upon the result of a future runoff election in Georgia. In the House of Reps, Democrats will continue control. A majority is 218. Before the election, Dems, had 231. (Add one Independent (232) who usually votes/caucuses with them.) But most expect Dems. to have lost at least 5 & up to 8 seats when votes are final.

Election Results: Looks like Republicans will keep their majority in the US Senate. It may fall to a majority of 2 or 1 but it will hold. That means Republicans (if they hold together) will stop the “inequality act,” which would effectively replace sex with gender identity. Unfortunately, it also means that if democrats insist that redefining sex must be part of the legislation, other parts of the act banning discrimination (including v trans people) will also fail.

Melania Trump’s recent appearances remind me of how many well off women depend upon well off men for their financial status and will therefore defend those men’s bad behavior. In seeking to vindicate women’s basic rights, we cannot forget the point.

https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1322742912053055500

I think enabler is too narrow a term. It makes it sound as if women don’t have their own agendas. I see it in corporate America where women who want men who control business or benefits to give them access will throw other women (or other vulnerable people) under the bus.

There are groups who mass-edit on Wikipedia, especially on transgender issues. No one regulates these groups. They often use students, led by professors who have a particular viewpoint. The professors sometimes even arrange to give class credit.

https://twitter.com/wikimediauk/status/1318855484707844096

The battle over pronouns has been going on for some time within Wikipedia. Now it appears Wikimedia UK, a part of Wikipedia, plans to enforce pronoun usage as it sees fit. wikimedia.org

Interesting US story about the origins of using the word “gender,” for sex. In law, you can point to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg was then a professor at Columbia Law School. Around 1970, she and her lawyer husband (his firm) took on a sex discrimination case. She was preparing to argue the case, Moritz v Commissioner (decided 1972, before the Tenth Circuit.

Trump has named Justice Ginsburg’s replacement, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Despite all the histrionics I think Roe v Wade (abortion) is safe. There are already 5 justices who would back it and possibly 7, if only on stare decisis grounds. The decision is 47 years old. I also personally think the historical basis relied upon by Roe’s opponents may not be as clear as they suggest. Another project I need time to pursue.

California.

https://twitter.com/sfgate/status/1310019836647337984

Will female prisoners face disciplined if they don’t call male-bodied inmates “women” or personally accept them as such? That would pose a good lawsuit. But will we know?

If you see a website that you want to preserve, you can use permalinks to do it.
Just go to perma.cc and register. A free account gives you ten captures a month. But if you are a prof. at a university, you may have unlimited access. Check w/your library.. Also, if you have the link, you can go to the wayback machine, archive.org/web/. It saves pages daily. It might have a version of the page online even if the live version has been taken down.

The Senate just confirmed 3 nominations to the EEOC, the agency responsible for enforcing US employment laws. One is Jocelyn Samuels, head of the Williams Institute of UCLA. The institute supports scholarship on LGBT issues. It adopts the model of replacing sex with gender id. I would love for anyone to identify anything it has supported that counters that view.

The Fourth Circuit has quickly decided it will not hear the Gavin Grimm case en banc. The case will surely go up to the Supreme Court now—along with the Adams case. Both cases involve trans men (biological females) alleging their rights were denied when, as high school students, they were not allowed to use the male-designated bathrooms. Statutory (Title IX) and constitutional (Equal Protection) issues are raised.

Occurs to me that some of the folks saying they are teaching critical race theory may be appropriators.
They hope critical race theory as a whole will be the target, thus sheltering them. Conservatives have always attacked CRT. They always attack black people speaking up on race. Here are some early CRT writings. static1.squarespace.com/static/5441df7…

Let me explain why judges are a big battle ground in the US. Trump has nominated (and a Republican (aka GOP)-controlled Senate has confirmed) at least 203 federal judges. About 53 are on the Circuit Court of Appeals (the usual step before the US Supreme Court). He has thus nominated and had confirmed judges at record-breaking pace. He has outpaced Obama.

I see some people discussing Trump’s position in the Affordable Care Act. Some US media is reporting that Trump opposes care for trans people. Let me just explain the facts and you decide what you think is the correct legal position on the facts. The US does not have a general national health care system. Most people have insurance through a private employer. However government provides insurance for certain groups including the poor, the elderly,
federal workers and military workers.

Raising from slumber to note an important case: Adams v Sch. Bd. of St John’s Cty. I mentioned cases on whether bathrooms should be accessible according to gender identity were bubbling up. There are twelve US federal court circuits. This circuit court said “yes.” washingtonblade.com/content/files/…

Hi folks. I won’t be tweeting much in upcoming weeks unless the topic is very important. I have some projects that I MUST finish —I’ve put them off too long. it’s time consuming. I want to update those outside the US on what is going on here. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on our Supreme Court has announced a reoccurrence of cancer. Probably it is metastatic pancreatic cancer although media is reporting liver cancer because lesions are in her liver.

One thing misogynists do very well is to ignore women, even accomplished ones. I have a suggestion. Stop retweeting misogynists (including trans ones) unless they have some political or economic power to immediately affect our lives. Stop giving them a platform. I know there may be the occasional case where someone says something worth noting. But what good does it do to retweet a ridiculous opinion from someone who is largely unknown?

Now those outside the US (and inside) pay attention to how little coverage CNN has given to the Harper’s letter. The post only an opinion piece criticizing Rowling. That is how the game is played here. Ignoring it stops it from trending tho social media was in flames today.

https://twitter.com/Harpers/status/1280495875165425670

And one of the reasons the fringe left is angry at @Facebook is because it won’t play this game.

I need some help on the everyone has a gender id claim. I don’t need mere opinions. I need expert resources. This has been claimed before our Supreme Court. If you are an expert, your opinion is particularly helpful. Other folks can comment, of course.