Maxine Eichner

"The Vanderbilt Chapter of the AAUP stands with the national AAUP, the AAUP chapters of the other targeted universities, and members of the Vanderbilt community in opposing the Compact and demanding that our administration do so as well."

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.

“No self-respecting university could ever accept something like this,” said Lee Bollinger, a First Amendment scholar and former Columbia University president. “Trying to protect conservative ideas against being ‘belittled’ — that’s about as violative of the First Amendment interests as you can get.”

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Taking political positions that'll make it more likely to win Senate seats in Kansas and Ohio and Missouri. Trying to open your coalition to people you didn't want it open to before. Running pro-life Democrats.

Constitutional Amendment 3 November 5, 2024 Right to Reproductive Freedom Initiative Choice Yes X No Results Votes 1,538,659 1,443,022 % 51.60% 48.40%

Issue 1 November 7, 2023 Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety(1] Results Choice Votes % & Yes 2,227,384 56.78% No 1,695,480 43.22% Total votes 3,922,864 100.00%

2022 Kansas abortion referendum KANSAS August 2, 2022 Should there be no Kansas constitutional right to abortion or to require the government funding of abortion, and reserve to the people of Kansas, through their elected state legislators, the right to pass laws to regulate abortion, including, but not limited to, in circumstances of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, or when necessary to save the life of the mother? Results Choice Votes % • Yes 385,014 40.84% X No 557,837 59.16% Total votes 942,851 100.00% Registered voters turnout 1,929,972 48.85%

I genuinely cannot believe that Ezra Klein said we should run pro-life candidates in Kansas, Ohio, and Missouri; three states that recently held abortion referendums where the pro-choice side won!

Pentagon demands journalists pledge to not obtain unauthorized material Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is imposing strict new rules that would severely limit the ability of journalists to report on the Pentagon.

NEW: The Pentagon told journalists it will require them to pledge they won’t gather any information — even unclassified — that hasn’t been expressly authorized for release, and will revoke the press credentials of those who do not obey. @washingtonpost.com

Trump's moves against media outlets mirror authoritarian approaches to silencing dissent Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has waged an aggressive campaign against the media unlike any in modern U.S. history, making moves similar to those of authoritarian leaders that...

Biggest story in the world, told in the mainstream press perfectly well:

AP/PBS headline: TRUMP'S MOVES AGAINST MEDIA OUTLETS MIRROR AUTHORITARIAN APPROACHES TO SILENCING DISSENT

www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

Page One of today's NYT:

Thank you for calling attention to this outrageous abuse of power.

How federal judges put a trans civil rights lawyer under criminal investigation A "ego driven, petty" attack targets attorneys who fought a transgender care ban in Alabama.

In Alabama, a trans civil rights lawyer is facing criminal charges; three civil rights lawyers are fighting sanctions.

I spoke to @chrisgeidner.bsky.social about how federal judges came after a team of civil rights lawyers who challenged a transgender care ban
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

DOJ Deletes Study Showing Domestic Terrorists Are Most Often Right Wing Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination and the Trump administration’s promise to go after the “radical left” a study showing most domestic terrosim is far-right was disappeared.

The Department of Justice has removed a study showing that white supremacist and far-right violence “continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States.

🔗 www.404media.co/doj-deletes-...

YouTube video by Farm to Taber Why Farmers Voted For Trump

"...when people say we were "lied to" about what Trump would do to us. We weren't! US farmers knew Trump planned another trade war, and that it would hurt our businesses. And a lot of farmers just voted for him anyway."

NO BAILOUTS FOR FARMERS!

Thank you. I’d missed this before, and had been looking to assign my students something that raised this distinction.

What's up with Justice Jackson? She started making her mark and speaking out early, and some of her dissents are so pointed Kagan and Sotomayor don’t even join them. The far right is out for her, and even Republican justices are getting snarky.

So what's up? Here’s my take 🧵

LOVED your Wonkette post this morning (very few things are making me laugh these days). I am upgrading to paid subscriber just for this.

A Doctor Challenged the Opinion of a Powerful Child Abuse Specialist. Then He Lost His Job. A Minneapolis pediatrician said he felt pressured to “fall in line” with child abuse specialist Dr. Nancy Harper and her team. Then he was given a choice: resign or be fired.

“She’s very black and white, right and wrong, no gray area,” he said, “which is not the way to do medicine.”

An important @propublica.org story showing how a false sense of certainty by child abuse pediatricians leads CPS to take children from parents based on shaky and oftentimes disputed evidence

That’s why, to my mind, this is the worst decision from the Supreme Court of Trump’s second term so far. Not just in terms of impact—though subjecting thousands of immigrants to torture in foreign countries is ghastly. But also in terms of what signal it sends to the lower courts and the executive branch. The court has indicated that Trump and his allies can flout the law, make a huge mess, run up to the Supreme Court demanding relief when they’re restrained by a judge, and win that relief no matter how egregiously they misbehaved. What incentive remains for this administration to comply with lower court orders at all? I don’t see one.

I am not exaggerating when I say the Supreme Court’s unsigned, unexplained order yesterday is the worst thing it has done since Trump returned to office. And not just on the merits—it’s also an unfathomably dangerous green light for Trump to flout lower court orders. slate.com/news-and-pol...

Anatomy of a Hit Piece: Deconstructing The New York Times' Attack on Transgender Rights in U.S. v. Skrmetti Seemingly not content with the US v. Skrmetti decision issued by the court siding with Tenessee to ban gender affirming care for trans youth, the New York Times was ready to pour salt on the fresh wou...

I couldn't let that Confessore piece slide. It was such a disgusting hit piece on a vulnerable community in a moment of crisis. I dissected the article and why its framings are dishonest at best and outright lies of ommission at worst.

www.thedissident.news/anatomy-of-a...

This explanation of the path to Skrmetti is a must read. If you weren’t (properly) outraged before, you will be.

You are 1000% right. I’m outraged!!!!!

When you inadvertently say the quiet part out loud. Sexism in the legal profession is far from dead.

When you inadvertently say the quiet part out loud…

Surprised he didn’t say “the [B]lacks.”

Let’s hear the WaPo reporters who have stayed tell us again a few more times about how Bezos hasn’t interfered with the newswriting, just the editorial page ….

This is wonderful. Thank you!

HIPAA, sorrowfully doesn’t bar self disclosure.

Just read it. You’re right. It’s worse.

When Mike Pence was the IN gov in 2016, women trolled him by reporting their menstruals periods to him in response to his anti-abortion moves. We're coming too close to this reality for that to seem funny anymore. #Handmaid'sTaleMadeReal#

This horrific bit from Jessica Valenti's substack:
WV prosecutor Tom Truman said if women who miscarry want to avoid arrest, they should “call 911” to tell them that their pregnancy has ended: “Call your doctor. Call law enforcement, or 911, and just say, ‘I miscarried. I want you to know.’”

Florida Republicans Came Up With a New Lie About History to Support Extreme Abortion Bans It’s been common to see Republicans claim to act in the name of parents.

Naomi Cahn, Mary Ziegler & I just published a Slate piece on an alarming FL case. Republican judges are trying to block abortions-and other health care-for teens without parents' consent. To do that, they've made up history and overlooked the harm it would cause teens. slate.com/news-and-pol...