The End of the Rape and Incest Exception

13 June 19 Who Cares About the Truth This Election Cycle? You do. As does everyone in the country - one way or another. But who will tell the truth about what common, working people need and think? Who will tell the truth about what is happening across the country? RSN: You know what we will do. Marc Ash Founder, Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! Update My Monthly Donation If you would prefer to send a check: Reader Supported News PO Box 2043 Citrus Hts CA 95611

12 June 19

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A STEEP DECLINE IN DONATIONS AND FUNDING - We are reacting to a substantial drop-off in the number and size of donations. That equates to a significant slashing of RSN’s budget. Yes, we have to address that. No choice. The readership remains strong. That’s a good thing. If a reasonable number of the people coming to RSN donate, we will be fine. So far for this month, that hasn’t happened. In earnest. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News

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The End of the Rape and Incest Exception 

Mary Ziegler, The New York Times
Ziegler writes: "Republicans are abandoning language that has long been standard in abortion bans. Why?"
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Census form. (photo: Rebecca Lomax/American Libraries)

Trump Moves to Cover Up the Details of His Racist Census Plan
Rafi Schwartz, Splinter
Schwartz writes: "President Donald Trump has exerted executive privilege over a trove of documents requested by House Democrats detailing how and when his administration sought to add a question about citizenship to the upcoming 2020 Census."
READ MORE


The Trump administration plans to use an Oklahoma Army base that previously served as a Japanese internment camp to hold migrant children. (photo: Adria Malcolm/Reuters)

White House to Hold Migrant Children at Base That Served as WWII Japanese Internment Camp
W.J. Hennigan, Time
Hennigan writes: "The Trump Administration has opted to use an Army base in Oklahoma to hold growing numbers of immigrant children in its custody after running out of room at government shelters."
READ MORE

Jon Stewart helps Luis Alvarez, a retired Detective and 9/11 Responder with the New York Police Department. (photo: Unknown)

Jon Stewart Demands Congress Act for 9/11 Responders: 'They Did Their Jobs – Do Yours'
Sabrina Siddiqui, Guardian UK
Siddiqui writes: "The former Daily Show host testified before the House judiciary committee on Tuesday alongside first responders and victims." 

READ MORE

Mitch McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao. (photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty)

DOT Secretary Created Special Path for Husband McConnell's Favored Projects
Li Zhou, Vox
Zhou writes: "Elaine Chao oversaw grant money that could benefit her husband politically. Is it an ethics violation?"
READ MORE

Amy Chua and Brett Kavanaugh. (photo: Getty)

The Tiger Mom and the Lie of Meritocracy
Sarah Jones, The Cut
Jones writes: "Meritocracy was always the myth at the heart of the tiger mother brand."
READ MORE

Bonobo in the Congo basin. (photo: David Beaune/MPI)

Inside an Ambitious Project to Rewild Trafficked Bonobos in the Congo Basin
Christopher Clark, Mongabay
Clark writes: "A troop of 14 bonobos is on the verge of being released into the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo."
READ MORE

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Charles Pierce | The Authoritarians Are on Parade, All Over the World

09 October 18 AM It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News FIGHTING HARD FOR A BUDGET FOR RSN: Take a look at how RSN has grown, it was all done with the support of our readers. No corporate money, no hidden financing. We built this. Take just a moment to hit the donation link and fund your voice. Sincere thanks to all. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! Charles Pierce | The Authoritarians Are on Parade, All Over the World  Charles Pierce, Esquire Pierce writes: "Sometimes, the news from disparate places combines to present us with a very unsettling whole." READ MORE Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally. (photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) Anatomy of a Lie: Where Trump's Fictitious "Open Borders Bill" Comes From Dara Lind, Vox Lind writes: "Lesser politicians merely exaggerate or spread fear about what the opposing party would do if they took power in Congress. President Donald Trump is inventing specific pieces of legislation." READ MORE Police performing a traffic stop and vehicle search in New Town, North Dakota. (photo: Getty Images) ALSO SEE: Trump Advocates 'Stop-and-Frisk' to Curtail Chicago Crime How 20 Years of Stop and Search Has Widened America's Racial Divide James Forman Jr., Guardian UK Forman Jr. writes: "Why had a majority-black city instituted a style of policing that imposed such costs on its most disadvantaged residents?" READ MORE The Yale Law Library reading room. (photo: Ashley Tarr/Patch) Investigation at Yale Law School Dahlia Lithwick and Susan Matthews, Slate Excerpt: "An inquiry into the actions of a prominent professor reveals why it's so hard to report inappropriate behavior at the top law school in the country." READ MORE C.J. Grisham (L), founder of Open Carry Texas, and Greg Holland, a member of Open Carry Texas, openly carry firearms in Houston, Texas, U.S., September 24, 2018. (photo: Loren Elliott/Reuters) Local Gun Groups Flex Muscle in State Politics, Sidestepping the NRA Daniel Trotta, Reuters Trotta writes: "With major gun-rights legislation stalled in Washington, much of the action has shifted to the states, where self-described 'no compromise' groups such as the Missouri Firearms Coalition have mobilized activists in favor of pro-gun laws." READ MORE India's #MeToo movement started last year with a U.S.-based student publishing a list of harassers on Facebook. (photo: Issei Kato/Reuters) #MeToo: Women Journalists, Writers in India Name Sexual Harassers Zeenat Saberin, Al Jazeera Saberin writes: "Accusations of sexual assault have spread across India's social media as the #MeToo movement took aim at prominent journalists, writers, editors and a comedian." READ MORE Demonstrators sit down on the rails of the coal trains while police officers are arriving and surrounding them. (photo: Daniel Chatard/National Geographic) Protesters Battle Police in a Fight for an Ancient Forest Sarah Gibbens, National Geographic Gibbens writes: "Now, the ancient forest is caught in a legal battle between environmental groups trying to prevent deforestation and German energy company RWE, which wants to clear large swaths of the forest for brown coal mining operations." READ MORE Contribute to RSN Become a Fan of RSN on Facebook and Twitter Update My Monthly Donation

The Brett Kavanaugh Modeling Agency ... Errr, HR DEPARTMENT

Five Dollar Feminist

  September 21, 2018

   

Gather 'round, kids! Let's talk about how institutions like Yale Law School spin a protective cocoon around powerful men like Judge Kavanaugh, forming mutually beneficial relationships to reinforce everyone's power and prestige.
Meet Amy Chua, professor at Yale Law School and author of the bestseller Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, in which she repurposes her own childhood trauma and sells it to Americans as this ONE WEIRD TRICK to ensure that your kids play at Carnegie Hall and go to an Ivy League college.

upload.wikimedia.org
Here's a fun story about Chua teaching her daughter to play piano when she was THREE YEARS OLD.

When I tried to pull her away from the piano, she began yelling, crying, and kicking furiously. Fifteen minutes later, she was still yelling, crying, and kicking, and I'd had it. Dodging her blows, I dragged the screeching demon to our back porch door, and threw it open.

The wind chill was 20 degrees, and my own face hurt from just a few seconds' exposure to the icy air. But I was determined to raise an obedient Chinese child if it killed me. In the West, obedience is associated with dogs and the caste system, but in Chinese culture, it is considered among the highest of virtues. "You can't stay in the house if you don't listen to Mommy," I said sternly. "Now, are you ready to be a good girl or do you want to go outside?" Lulu stepped outside. She faced me, defiant. A dull dread began seeping though my body. Lulu was wearing only a sweater, a ruffled skirt, and tights. She had stopped crying. Indeed, she was eerily still.

"Okay, good - you've decided to behave," I said quickly. "You can come in now."

She seems ... NOT NICE AT ALL.
Professor Chua's ends-justify-the-means parenting philosophy extends to her work advising applicants for judicial clerkships at Yale Law. Chua and her husband, Jed Rubenfeld, also a professor at Yale, gave very specific warnings to female law students applying to clerk in DC's federal court. A female student told HuffPo,

Rubenfeld took care to warn her about two judges in particular: First, Alex Kozinski, then a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, was known to sexually harass his clerks, he told her. (Kozinski retired in December amid accusations of harassment.)

The other was Kavanaugh. Though the judge was known to hire female clerks who had a "certain look," Rubenfeld told her, he emphasized that he had heard nothing else untoward.

"He did not say what the 'certain look' was. I did not ask," the woman said. "It was very clear to me that he was talking about physical appearance, because it was phrased as a warning ― and because it came after the warning about Judge Kozinski."

You may remember that Kavanaugh told the Senate last week that he was SHOCKED, SHOCKED to find out that Judge Kozinski, for whom he himself clerked, sexually harassed women in his office. Leaving aside the dubious veracity of Kavanaugh's claim to be the only person in DC unaware of his mentor and later colleague's proclivities, Chua and Rubenfeld participated in a system that not only ignored serial abuse, but fed Kavanaugh the prettiest Ivy League superstars to staff his chambers.
(But not White Power Barbie, who graduated from Harvard.)
The Guardian reports,

Chua allegedly told the students that it was "no accident" that Kavanaugh's female clerks "looked like models". Student reacted with surprise, and quickly pointed out that Chua's own daughter was due to clerk for Kavanaugh.

A source said that Chua quickly responded, saying that her own daughter would not put up with any inappropriate behaviour.

Surprise! Chua and Rubenfeld's daughter got a coveted clerkship on the DC Circuit with Judge Kavanaugh. Wasn't it nice of Chua to write this WSJ editorial singing his praises for all the pretty ladies who got their start clerking for him? Strangely, she didn't mention that a pretty face was a job requirement. Must have been an oversight!
Gosh, wouldn't it be the most 2018 thing ever if Chua and Rubenfeld were involved in a #MeToo scandal of their own?
LOLOLOL! Here's a passage from a letter sent to the Yale Law community this summer, quoted at length by Above the Law.

YLS has hired an outside investigator to look into Professor Rubenfeld's conduct, and folks should reach out to her if they have something to share. The sooner the better, and it's possible to talk to her in ways that preserve anonymity (see details below).

More specifically, it seems [the investigator] is interested in hearing about, among other things:

· Disparate treatment of, or boundary crossing with, women in the YLS community. She is interested in hearing from subjects of, or witnesses to, that treatment. (E.g., comments about female students' physical appearances or relationship histories, conversations that seem designed to "test the waters," intimidation or efforts at manipulation targeted at female students, etc.).

· Conduct related to excessive drinking with students (driving with students while drunk, etc.).

· Inappropriate employment practices relating to RAs or Coker Fellows.

· Retaliation against students who do not show sufficient loyalty.

Does Rubenfeld have some extremely problematic opinions on how difficult it can be to know when a woman consents to sex, especially when she's unconscious? That train is never late!The Guardian also reports that, "Students have also raised related concerns to Yale authorities about Chua's powerful influence in the clerkships process."
Powerful people with crackpot ideas about elitism entrenching their own friends in power after which everyone can prey on the young women as the price of admission to Privilegeland?
WELL, COLOR US FUCKING SHOCKED.
[HuffPo / The Guardian / Globe and Mail / Above the Law / The Guardian, again]
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NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL: Yale Law Faculty Ask Senate to Pause Kavanaugh Confirmation

ALSO POSTED HERE: LINK

JUDGES | NEWS Yale Law Faculty Ask Senate to Pause Kavanaugh Confirmation By Karen Sloan Nearly 50 faculty members want the Senate Judiciary Committee to allow time for investigators to weigh allegations that... Read More

ELECTION AND POLITICAL LAW | NEWS Kavanaugh Supporters Ramp Up Public Relations Push Ahead of Hearing By Erin Mulvaney Female supporters, speaking together in Washington, deflected questions about whether they think Christine Blasey Ford's... Read More

JUDGES | NEWS Amid Kavanaugh Clash, Law Profs Say Appearance Has No Place in Clerkship Recruiting By Karen Sloan If Yale Law professor Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld really did counsel students that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh... Read More

GENDER DIVERSITY | NEWS Ninth Circuit Takes Up Class Certification Appeal in Microsoft Gender Discrimination Case By Ross Todd The court will review a decision from June by a federal judge in Seattle who found there were no uniform policies or... Read More

ELECTION AND POLITICAL LAW Conservative Activist Ed Whelan Apologizes for Tweets About Kavanaugh Accuser By Mike Scarcella Ed Whelan went on a Twitter storm Thursday to attack the credibility of Christine Blasey Ford, who accuses Brett Kavanaugh... Read More

CRIMINAL APPEALS | COMMENTARY Does Risk of Racial Bias Make a Death Sentence Unconstitutional? By Gerald Kogan 'Jones v. Oklahoma' presents a key chance for the U.S. Supreme Court to address racism in the criminal justice system... Read More

FOCUS: 'No Accident' Brett Kavanaugh's Female Law Clerks 'Looked Like Models,' Yale Professor Told Students

20 September 18 It's Live on the HomePage Now: Reader Supported News THESE ARE TOUGH TIMES FOR FUNDRAISING - There are a number of reasons why but suffice it to say we are working harder than we have ever worked on funding. It would really help if you, the people we serve day in and day out, would be a little more sensitive to the funding requests. Thanks to all in advance. / Marc Ash, Founder Reader Supported News Sure, I'll make a donation! FOCUS: 'No Accident' Brett Kavanaugh's Female Law Clerks 'Looked Like Models,' Yale Professor Told Students  Stephanie Kirchgaessner and Jessica Glenza, Guardian UK Excerpt: "A Yale professor who wrote a bestselling book on parenting called Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, was known for instructing female law students who were preparing for interviews with Kavanaugh on ways they could dress to exude a 'model-like' femininity to help them win a post in Kavanaugh's chambers." READ MORE Contribute to RSN Become a Fan of RSN on Facebook and Twitter Update My Monthly Donation