The Supreme Court heard arguments today over whether federal discrimination laws protect gay and trangender workers. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits workplace discrimination “on the basis of sex” and the Court must decide if that includes sexual orientation and transgender identity. It’s one of the most consequential cases before the court this term, which is a good reason to note that Republicans stole a Supreme Court seat, and Democrats won’t be able to fix the courts unless they vote.
Lindsay Graham has invited Rudy Giuliani to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee about Ukraine. At last, an opportunity for Rudy to yell incoherently on TV.
China has rejected President Trump’s extremely illegal request to investigate Joe Biden and his son, saying Beijing has no intention of intervening in U.S. domestic affairs. China has also suspended broadcasts of NBA pre-season games because the Rockets’ general manager tweeted in support of Hong Kong protesters, so the not-investigating-Biden thing may not be about a strange new respect for democracy.
The vice president of Turkey responded to Trump’s very normal tweets yesterday by saying his country would “not react to threats” as it prepares to sweep into Syria. It seems unlikely that Trump has any real intention of keeping Turkey in check: During the same phone call with Turkish President Recep Erdoğan that preceded his stunning change in policy on Sunday, Erdoğan accepted an invitation to the White House.
The United States took almost a million migrants into custody in the fiscal year that just ended, the highest number in a dozen years. Border crossings have declined over the past few months as a result of Trump administration policies that target Central American families seeking asylum.
A quarter of Navajo women and some infants have high levels of uranium in their systems, according to a federally funded study. The EPA has identified more than 200 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation, dating to the Cold War. New Mexico lawmakers including Rep. Deb Haaland (D-NM) are pushing for legislation that would extend radiation compensation to residents of their state.
The FBI has announced that Samuel Little (and not Ted Cruz) is the most prolific serial killer in U.S. history. Little, 79, has confessed to 93 murders. The FBI has verified 50 of the killings and believes that all of the confessions are credible. We, uh, feel better about not being prolific today.
Ellen Degeneres spent some QT with former President George W. Bush at a football game and many people were pissed. Ellen defended her friendship with Bush on her show, saying “just because I don’t agree with someone on everything, doesn’t mean that I’m not going to be friends with them.” It was a controversial response, and we look forward to discussing it on our next hike with Ted Cruz. (From Sarah: this is a JOKE, I moved to LA for this job, please don’t get me fired.)
Starting next September, high schoolers will be able to retake individual sections of the ACT. Kids have it so easy! Back in our day you had to take the whole test and then get your mom to pay someone $500,000.
Simone Biles won her 21st gymnastics world medal today, breaking the record for a female gymnast. Back to feeling bad about our work ethic.