The fight for productive rights for ratsI recently learned that Eric Adams spent most of his time as New York City mayor extorting criminally cheap business class tickets from Turkish Airlines. But while Mr. Adams may have made history as the first sitting New York mayor to be indicted on federal corruption charges, the fact that he has a somewhat shaky moral compass is an old story. Even before he was appointed mayor, there were questions about Adam’s integrity, including whether the arrogant candidate lived in Brooklyn, as he claimed, or in New Jersey. It also included a long discussion about whether
Still, let’s give the mayor his due. It would be unfair to say that he spent all his time in high office trying to live a high life. Adams, who was named New York City’s first “rat czar” last year, has also spent a lot of time thinking about the city’s rodent problem. “I don’t think any mayor in history has ever publicly said how much they hate rats,” he proclaimed at the first Rat Summit in New York City in September. “I hate rats,” Adams said, adding that he believes New York City “can look forward to a new paradigm in urban rat management.”
Willie bins are part of an exciting new paradigm in urban rat management. Over the summer, there was an uproar on social media when it was revealed that New York City had paid McKinsey & Co. more than $1 million to figure out whether it’s a good idea to dump loose trash in the trash. (Or, in management consultant parlance, “containerize” it.) Now, the brainiacs in Adams’ orbit have come up with an exciting new paradigm shift. The City Council recently gave the green light to a pilot program to introduce ContraPest, a type of rodent contraceptive.
The irony that New York state is investing in rodent contraceptives at a time when women’s access to reproductive services is under fire across the country has not gone unnoticed. Social media is full of cynicism: “It’s easier to get reproductive rights as a rodent in New York than it is to get reproductive rights as a woman in most parts of the country.”
Note that this joke is not strictly true, since pedants never take a day off. At least not at the moment. But if Donald Trump wins the election and the extremists who support him have their way, it may be true that rats in the United States will soon have better access to contraception than women. In recent years, the right has begun to speak more openly about the possibility of banning contraception. For example, in 2022, Republican leaders in Idaho indicated they would consider banning certain birth control methods, including the morning-after pill. Around the same time, Mississippi’s governor did not rule out a future contraceptive ban in an interview with NBC.
This isn’t just a story. Over the years, the right has succeeded in undermining access to contraception in a number of alarming ways. For example, in 2022, an appeals court ruled that a federally funded family planning center in Texas must obtain parental consent before prescribing contraceptives to teens. did. (Federal courts had previously found that the national Title He blocked a bill that would allow it.
Perhaps most importantly, anti-abortion activists say that certain contraceptive methods, such as Plan B and certain intrauterine devices (IUDs), are abortion-inducing drugs because they can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. That is what I am trying to insist on. Although it is unlikely that there will be any direct push to decriminalize access to contraceptives, we can expect to see a covert expansion of anti-abortion laws to restrict access to contraception. As advocates point out, Roe wasn’t overturned in a day, and access to contraceptives isn’t going to be overturned right now. But anti-abortion extremists are clear about what their end goal is. And if these people tell you who they are, you better believe them.
“I have never worn pants in the mountains, and I never will.”
Cycling in a dress is awkward. Meanwhile, Cecilia Rusco, one of Bolivia’s first indigenous female mountaineers, scales icy peaks wearing a pollera, a traditional voluminous floral skirt. Don’t miss this great Guardian feature on Bolivia’s Cholita mountaineers. There are some great photos included.
Melania Trump wants you to know she’s passionately pro-choice”Why should anyone other than women themselves have the power to decide what to do with their bodies,” the former first lady writes in her new memoir. Melania, that’s a great question! Have you ever asked your husband that? Speaking of which, Melania Trump’s decision to speak out about abortion rights a month before the election feels like part of a calculated strategy by the Trump campaign to tone down its rhetoric on abortion.
Prominent Palestinian journalist Wafa al-Daini killed in Israeli airstrike
Wafa was killed along with her husband, five-year-old daughter, and seven-month-old son. As Reporters Without Borders recently pointed out, “With journalists being killed in Gaza, there will soon be no one left to provide information.”
Indian government believes criminalizing marital rape is ‘too harsh’
According to a report by the BBC, one in 25 women in India has been sexually assaulted by their husband. And of course, nothing happens to most of these men because marital rape is not a crime in India. For years, campaigners have petitioned India’s Supreme Court to change this, but have faced significant resistance from the government, religious groups and men’s rights activists. An affidavit filed by India’s Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday argues that criminalizing marital rape “could seriously impact marital relationships and cause serious disruption to the institution of marriage.” . He also said that while a man “does not have a fundamental right to violate his wife’s consent,” marital rape under the Rape Prevention Act is “excessively harsh” and “disproportionate.”
Mexico’s first female president announces reforms to combat gender discrimination
On her second full day in office, Claudia Sheinbaum said her government is proposing reforms to expand women’s rights, including a constitutional guarantee of equal pay for equal work.
EU court rules gender and nationality sufficient to grant Afghan woman asylum
An important judgment by the European Court of Justice recognized Afghan women as a persecuted group.
A week of pod triarchy
In 2012, Melania Trump famously posted a photo of a smiling beluga whale with the caption, “What’s she thinking?” Despite the fact that an entire podcast episode is devoted to this question, we still don’t know. However, scientists recently discovered that bottlenose dolphins “smile” at each other to communicate during social play. The open-mouthed expression is intended to convey enjoyment and avoid conflict. That means dolphins have better social skills than many politicians.
