Chris Sanders

How Kansas Republicans weaponized the law to target 300 trans driver's license holders SB 244 was put into effect virtually overnight, causing chaos, panic and fear in the trans community.

New — I spoke to eight trans people in Kansas about the new state law that invalidated their driver’s licenses overnight, what’s it’s like to live there right now, plus details of two DMV emails exclusively obtained by The Handbasket that shed light on the law’s chaotic and cruel rollout:

This Is What Actual Christianity Is Supposed to Sound Like A stirring sermon from an Episcopalian pulpit last Sunday about “faith, basic morality, and decency” that we thought was worth reprinting

The New Republic publishes a sermon. newrepublic.com/article/2061...

Happy Black History Month!

Happy New Year to you!

YouTube video by PBS NewsHour Why Christmas carols endure as popular music changes

Good PBS report on Christmas music through the years. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK8W...

Merry Christmas to you!

This should be a clear signal that hospitals and other institutions should not capitulate to the administration’s lawless anti-trans demands.

Foremost, they have obligation to their patients.

YouTube video by USA TODAY Why Mexico City feels like home for these Black American women

Good report. Happy for those who have found a life in Mexico and hoping we can build something good in the U.S. in the coming years. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y4J...

South Carolina measles outbreak is 'accelerating,' driving hundreds into quarantine Some students who remain unvaccinated are now in a second 21-day quarantine since the beginning of the school year.

Good grief! www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...

YouTube video by CBS Mornings The Dish: Restaurant owner shines light on Uyghur culture amid atrocities facing his family

Good piece. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvbX...

99K!!! Thank you!
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No gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals A weak 2023 foundational document

The ban on gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals announced last week relies on a poorly sourced 2023 document that lacks a a real sense of encounter. Read it at christopherksanders.substack.com/p/no-gender-... .

YouTube video by BBC Archive 1972: The Historic Building Investigator | Look Stranger | BBC Archive

Excellent piece. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI3e...

ICE detentions rise in Nashville since Trump took office - Nashville Banner A closer look at the Nashville numbers produced by Donald Trump's mass deportation effort as ICE agents increase enforcement and deportations from local jails.

New at @nashvillebanner.bsky.social: an update the less visible side of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation effort that has remained active at Nashville jails. nashvillebanner.com/2025/10/30/n...

YouTube video by Vampire Robot A visit to Sears with Mom in 1977

Completely mundane and definitely like experiences many of us had in the 70s. www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOAv...

Be part of this, show up for #NoKings on Saturday — and join up with an organization afterwards — do what you can, it matters.

SCOTUS Seems Ready to Scrap Fair Elections, Greenlight Racial Discrimination and Hand House Control to GOP Read more here.

Yesterday, SCOTUS heard a case that could make it easier for GOP states to get away with racial gerrymandering ahead of the 2026 midterms. Should the court rule to weaken a key voting protection, it could kill what’s left of a vital civil rights law.
https://bit.ly/4osqNDX

Immutable biological sex? A short pretend dialogue about a very real issue

Immutable biological sex? A short pretend dialogue about a very real issue at the link. christopherksanders.substack.com/p/immutable-... .

Sarah Mullally named as new Archbishop of Canterbury She becomes the first female leader of the Church of England, replacing Justin Welby who resigned over his handling of a safeguarding scandal.

Speaking from Canterbury Cathedral on Friday, she said that "in an age that craves certainty and tribalism, Anglicanism offers something quieter but stronger". www.bbc.com/news/article...
I hope that it can again.

Almighty and everlasting God, the only worker of great marvels, send down upon your servant Sarah, called to be Archbishop of Canterbury, and all who are committed to her care, the spirit of your saving grace, and that they may truly please you, pour upon them the continual dew of your blessing. Grant this, O Lord, for the honour of our advocate and mediator, Jesus Christ. Amen.

A prayer for the next Archbishop of Canterbury. 🙏

"If to raise malicious smiles at the infirmities or misfortunes of those who have never injured us be the province of wit or humour, heaven grant me a double portion of dullness!"
-Maria in Sheridan's The School for Scandal, a comedy that helps sort out what is and is not funny.

Tennessee lawmaker says AG omitted, altered Guard deployment opinions A Tennessee Democratic lawmaker is accusing the state’s attorney general of revising and withdrawing a legal opinion on National Guard deployment, enabling the governor to send troops to Memphis in…

A state lawmaker has accused Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti of revising a legal opinion on use of the National Guard in violation of the state constitution.

via @tennesseelookout.com

As feds descend on Memphis, local advocates prepare to respond • Tennessee Lookout Members "Free the 901," a group organized to push back on federal and state deployment of the National Guard to Memphis, protested Saturday.

Memphis community leaders have set up text alert systems, issued legal check lists and demanded police comply with a longstanding civil rights agreement barring cooperation by Memphis police with federal and state agencies in activities that violate First Amendment rights.

Beer Is Officially on the Decline in America. No One Saw the Real Culprit Coming. The war on suds has multiple fronts—but they all come from the same place.

A curious string of events. slate.com/life/2025/09...

No strategy, just spectacle: Copaganda in Memphis • Tennessee Lookout Gov. Bill Lee's press conference on the Tennessee National Guard's presence was short on details, writes Rev. Earle Fisher.

Commentary: A Friday press conference by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee about the deployment of National Guard troops to Memphis was short on details, writes Rev. Earle Fisher.

Springfield LGBTQ+ center closes after finding death threat etched on bullets at its door The Springfield Police Department is investigating after bullets with the words "die" and an anti-gay slur were left outside of the GLO Center in Springfield. Bullet casings were also found etched wit...

Bullets were left outside a Missouri LGBTQ center engraved with "die fags" on them. www.kcur.org/news/2025-09...

Happy Bi Visibility Day!

Susan Faludi, the US journalist who foresaw the right’s reaction: “There’s very much a ‘Lord of the Flies’ feeling here” The Pulitzer-winning author of ‘Backlash,’ a 1991 classic about the conservative pushback against women’s rights, discusses how the trend is growing stronger — and less subtle — than ever

Many helpful points. english.elpais.com/culture/2025...

This is the whole ball game, gang.

Editor's notebook: Tennessee governor’s lack of political spine apparent in treatment of Memphis • Tennessee Lookout Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he's been in talks with the Trump administration for months about sending the national Guard to Memphis.

Commentary: Editor @jhollymc.bsky.social on Gov. Bill Lee's latest flip flop. First, he said he had not talked to President Donald Trump about sending National Guard troops to Memphis. Two weeks later, he said they had discussed it for months. Dishonesty, hypocrisy, or both?