Indiscreet Function
@homotopic.bsky.social
Jew. Mostly leftist. Queer. Most people refer to me with the pronouns "he/him" and I acquiesce in this.
I am not saying that there is a realistic prospect of challenging this (I don't know enough) but this is the sort of thing Romer v. Evans was about: casting a narrow group of people as being outside the protection of the law in any context
BREAKING: Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans & intersex people, memo says. A DOJ memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) do not align with Trump’s Jan. 20 anti-trans executive order, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports.
Trump administration plans to end prison rape protections for trans and intersex people
A Department of Justice memo says certain standards under the Prison Rape Elimination Act do not align with Trump’s executive order
prismreports.org
December 5, 2025 at 1:29 AM
I am not saying that there is a realistic prospect of challenging this (I don't know enough) but this is the sort of thing Romer v. Evans was about: casting a narrow group of people as being outside the protection of the law in any context
Reposted by Indiscreet Function
The fact that a second strike like that in an armed conflict is definitely a war crime should not completely negate the fact that *there is no war* and ALL the strikes are cold-blooded murder. The whole chain of command are murderers.
December 5, 2025 at 1:20 AM
The fact that a second strike like that in an armed conflict is definitely a war crime should not completely negate the fact that *there is no war* and ALL the strikes are cold-blooded murder. The whole chain of command are murderers.
We are way past this mattering in any way to the Supreme Court majority but three-judge district courts are good and in principle they ought to relieve some of the anxieties about a single judge making decisions like this.
December 4, 2025 at 11:43 PM
We are way past this mattering in any way to the Supreme Court majority but three-judge district courts are good and in principle they ought to relieve some of the anxieties about a single judge making decisions like this.
Alito's concurrence purports to be a response to the dissent but it doesn't actually respond to the dissent in any meaningful way?
December 4, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Alito's concurrence purports to be a response to the dissent but it doesn't actually respond to the dissent in any meaningful way?
Reposted by Indiscreet Function
BREAKING: Supreme Court GRANTS Texas request to restore redistricting maps
apparent 6-3 ruling with the liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social
apparent 6-3 ruling with the liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 11:02 PM
BREAKING: Supreme Court GRANTS Texas request to restore redistricting maps
apparent 6-3 ruling with the liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social
apparent 6-3 ruling with the liberals in dissent @courthousenews.bsky.social
Does Douthat think it's an appropriate object of therapy to change, say, someone's religion if it is causing distress? (Which it often does.)
December 4, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Does Douthat think it's an appropriate object of therapy to change, say, someone's religion if it is causing distress? (Which it often does.)
Someone needs to perform an exorcism on the DC Circuit motions panel selection mechanism
BREAKING: A D.C. Circuit three-judge panel administratively stays the D.C. District Court order that would end National Guard deployment in D.C. on December 11.
The order notes that it is not a ruling on the merits of DOJ's motion for a stay.
Background: www.lawdork.com/p/federal-ju...
The order notes that it is not a ruling on the merits of DOJ's motion for a stay.
Background: www.lawdork.com/p/federal-ju...
December 4, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Someone needs to perform an exorcism on the DC Circuit motions panel selection mechanism
Holocaust denial (an aggressively antisemitic falsehood) and thinking Israel is a colonial state (objectively correct) given equal weight in assessing antisemitism
"A respondent falls into this category if they (1) self-identify as both racist and antisemitic and express Holocaust denial or describe Israel as a colonial state, or (2) do not self-identify that way but nevertheless hold both of those extreme positions."
December 4, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Holocaust denial (an aggressively antisemitic falsehood) and thinking Israel is a colonial state (objectively correct) given equal weight in assessing antisemitism
I miss the magic of Christmas (being a kid in Jewish day school and Christmas being extremely marginal in my life)
December 4, 2025 at 8:04 PM
I miss the magic of Christmas (being a kid in Jewish day school and Christmas being extremely marginal in my life)
I think the chance that the Trump Administration will go after a university for admitting too few women is basically zero, notwithstanding the ostensible legal basis of their position. But a private plaintiff could.
Brown University accepted nearly equal numbers of male and female students, but got almost twice as many female applicants. That math meant it was easier for men to get in.
Trump's DEI ban may end gender balancing efforts that often benefit men.
Trump's DEI ban may end gender balancing efforts that often benefit men.
Trump’s attack on DEI may hurt college men, particularly White men
The Trump administration’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion also targets gender. The ban may impact gender balancing practices that often benefit college men.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:52 PM
I think the chance that the Trump Administration will go after a university for admitting too few women is basically zero, notwithstanding the ostensible legal basis of their position. But a private plaintiff could.
Reposted by Indiscreet Function
We're getting hung up on the philosophical "what is a woman" "low quality evidence" discussions when the actual question is "can transgender people participate in economic, social, and cultural life. can they transition socially and medically without becoming second-class citizens"
December 3, 2025 at 10:51 PM
We're getting hung up on the philosophical "what is a woman" "low quality evidence" discussions when the actual question is "can transgender people participate in economic, social, and cultural life. can they transition socially and medically without becoming second-class citizens"
Rhetoric aside the main consequences of the ceasefire so far seem to have been:
- mutual prisoner releases
- a slower pace of Israeli killing
- Hamas strengthening its control in Gaza
- mutual prisoner releases
- a slower pace of Israeli killing
- Hamas strengthening its control in Gaza
Israel's chief collaborator in occupied Gaza, the former ISIS member Yasser Abu Shabab, is reported to have been killed.
Yasser Abu Shabab, Militant Leader Backed by Israel, Killed in Gaza, Official Says
www.nytimes.com
December 4, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Rhetoric aside the main consequences of the ceasefire so far seem to have been:
- mutual prisoner releases
- a slower pace of Israeli killing
- Hamas strengthening its control in Gaza
- mutual prisoner releases
- a slower pace of Israeli killing
- Hamas strengthening its control in Gaza
The intentionality of this varies but the world the transphobes are creating is one in which your safety depends on being readily intelligible as a particular gender and conforming to the expectations of every nearby busybody
one thing that is fairly obvious is that the amount of trans people you will encounter IRL is not actually that large in the grand scheme of things
so the enhanced enforcement of gender norms to prevent trans people are just as likely to be enforced on cis women who aren't femme
so the enhanced enforcement of gender norms to prevent trans people are just as likely to be enforced on cis women who aren't femme
look, i think you have a right to free expression. i also think you have an obligation to actually look at what zoomer gays think of the rest of the community instead of assuming the astroturfed Tory groups are the real HIDDEN voice of the gays
December 3, 2025 at 11:50 PM
The intentionality of this varies but the world the transphobes are creating is one in which your safety depends on being readily intelligible as a particular gender and conforming to the expectations of every nearby busybody
OK I may be missing something but these seem like two different margins to me:
- more car vs. less car--you regulate this by charging for car use externalities, e.g. with congestion pricing
- human driver vs. AI--given the safety record, there doesn't seem to be any reason to discriminate against AI
- more car vs. less car--you regulate this by charging for car use externalities, e.g. with congestion pricing
- human driver vs. AI--given the safety record, there doesn't seem to be any reason to discriminate against AI
i don't get the love for waymo in certain urbanist circles. it's safer cars, at least it seems that way from available data, but it's more cars. more cars are bad! we should want less cars!
December 3, 2025 at 11:23 PM
OK I may be missing something but these seem like two different margins to me:
- more car vs. less car--you regulate this by charging for car use externalities, e.g. with congestion pricing
- human driver vs. AI--given the safety record, there doesn't seem to be any reason to discriminate against AI
- more car vs. less car--you regulate this by charging for car use externalities, e.g. with congestion pricing
- human driver vs. AI--given the safety record, there doesn't seem to be any reason to discriminate against AI
Sometimes reading straight people talk about dating feels like observing an alien species
December 3, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Sometimes reading straight people talk about dating feels like observing an alien species
Not a defense of Clinton but in the "two things are true at once" tradition I think it's true that social media has caused a lot of people to have wildly bigoted views about Israel and Jews even as at the same time Israel's conduct has been genuinely abominable www.timesofisrael.com/australian-a...
Australian actor Guy Pearce apologizes for antisemitic posts, quits social media
'The Brutalist' actor says that in his support of Palestinian cause, he 'inadvertently' reposted 'misinformation and falsehoods'
www.timesofisrael.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Not a defense of Clinton but in the "two things are true at once" tradition I think it's true that social media has caused a lot of people to have wildly bigoted views about Israel and Jews even as at the same time Israel's conduct has been genuinely abominable www.timesofisrael.com/australian-a...
"nothing to do with it" is definitely wrong but "not clearly required by it" is right
Supreme Court decision has nothing to do with it www.liberalcurrents.com/britains-bat...
December 3, 2025 at 1:21 PM
"nothing to do with it" is definitely wrong but "not clearly required by it" is right
Reposted by Indiscreet Function
The longer this goes on, the more likely the Court sides with Texas. After all, Justice Alito's administrative stay while the Court considers the issue has let everyone proceed as though the new maps will be in place.
I expect a stay and dissents.
I expect a stay and dissents.
6 days from the Texas candidate filing deadline, and somehow it's still crickets from the Supreme Court. We're now 11 days after Alito issued the administrative stay on the lower court order.
December 2, 2025 at 11:06 PM
The longer this goes on, the more likely the Court sides with Texas. After all, Justice Alito's administrative stay while the Court considers the issue has let everyone proceed as though the new maps will be in place.
I expect a stay and dissents.
I expect a stay and dissents.
Yikes
BREAKING: Full Eleventh Circuit will rehear the challenge to Florida’s anti-drag law, vacating an earlier 2-1 panel opinion that blocked the law.
Due to the fact that no court has stayed the district court’s order, as of now at least, the law remains blocked during the en banc rehearing.
Due to the fact that no court has stayed the district court’s order, as of now at least, the law remains blocked during the en banc rehearing.
December 1, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Yikes
Lots of discourse about the First Amendment and grading and I have seen zero (0) references to case law
December 1, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Lots of discourse about the First Amendment and grading and I have seen zero (0) references to case law
Wait Matthew Vines is bad now substack.com/home/post/p-... This article is really heinous
The Paradox of Pride
Visibility matters—but it cuts both ways.
substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Wait Matthew Vines is bad now substack.com/home/post/p-... This article is really heinous
Text without character limits is politically wholesome, especially with short video dominating other platforms
this is unironically good
November 28, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Text without character limits is politically wholesome, especially with short video dominating other platforms
Reposted by Indiscreet Function
Happy Victory for US Arms and Down With Treasonous Slavers Day!
Uncomfortable with the First Thanksgiving Narrative? Good News, it’s Actually a Civil War Holiday
Take heart, all you who grow unsettled at the time of year where the narrative of friendly Pilgrims and American Indians is spread around to make us feel good about a brief moment in American histo…
angrystaffofficer.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Happy Victory for US Arms and Down With Treasonous Slavers Day!
"If anything, the gay wool fashion show should make us think not about the good fortune of the few rescued rams but about how animal farming systematically, routinely, and often violently exploits the reproduction of all the animals it encounters."
Two weeks ago, Grindr put on a fashion show of wool from "gay" rams rescued from slaughter. The media and the Internet swooned. But this feel-good story is a window into the dark role of forced reproduction in animal agriculture.
By me & @gnrosenberg.bsky.social.
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
By me & @gnrosenberg.bsky.social.
newrepublic.com/article/2036...
The Internet Loves These “Gay Sheep.” The Real Story Is Much Darker.
A much-hyped fashion show with wool from “gay rams” obscures the brutal reality of an industry that exploits sheep sexuality at every turn.
newrepublic.com
November 27, 2025 at 2:48 PM
"If anything, the gay wool fashion show should make us think not about the good fortune of the few rescued rams but about how animal farming systematically, routinely, and often violently exploits the reproduction of all the animals it encounters."
This Thanksgiving marks sixteen years since I became a vegan. I guess it wasn't a phase
November 27, 2025 at 2:21 PM
This Thanksgiving marks sixteen years since I became a vegan. I guess it wasn't a phase