03/20/25
Good morning! It’s Thursday, March 20th.
International Day of Happiness and National Ravioli Day.
Two great things that go great together!
And now, the news.
Israel-Hamas War
-via NPR
Starting with an escalation in the Israel-Hamas war, as the Israeli military has sent troops back into areas they left two months ago as they aim to expand what they call a “security perimeter” that separated Gaza and Israel.
In a video addressed to residents of Gaza, the Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hamas needed to return hostages and relinquish power in Gaza or "What comes next will be much harsher, and you will bear the full consequences. Soon, the evacuation of the population from combat zones will resume. If all Israeli hostages are not released and Hamas is not removed from Gaza, Israel will act with force beyond anything you have ever seen."
Meanwhile, in Israel, thousands took to the streets to protest the resumption of the war, with thousands more calling for new elections and accusing the government of working against its people. Which I think is important to keep in mind because, as I’ve said a million times while talking about this conflict, we have to hold two thoughts in our noggins at once: what’s happening in Gaza is wrong. Full stop. So is antisemitism. Full stop. What’s happening in Gaza is the work of the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces.
Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
-via NY Times
And moving over to another war in another(ish) part of the world… on Wednesday, Ukraine’s President Zelensky had what he described as a “positive, very substantive, and frank” conversation with President Trump, in which Ukraine said they were ready to move forward on a ceasefire deal with Russia.
Next, teams will meet in Saudi Arabia to talk about the specifics and maybe broaden the deal to include attacks on the Red Sea.
Oddly, surprisingly, Trump suggested, for the first time that we’re aware of, that maybe American would take control of Ukraine’s electrical and nuclear power sites.
I gotta be honest… between this and the rare earth minerals – if Trump didn’t want so desperately to get Putin’s approval (probably because his dad never gave it to him), he might be trying to take Ukraine the way he thinks he wants to take the Panama Canal and Greenland, and Canada. And while we’re playing Bad Time to Have an Imagination… if things go south with him and Putin… will he want Ukraine?
Trump’s Transphobic Policies
-via AP News, PBS, and NY Times
On Wednesday, the White House announced that they are suspending about $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania.
The money would normally come from the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Penn says they heard the media reports, but the University has yet to receive anything official saying that the funding was being cut.
It all stems from the fact, in 2022, Lia Thomas, a transgender Penn swimmer who came in first in the 500 free (that’s swim lingo for the 500 meter freestyle – I’m an athlete, ya know?).
Some women swimmers disputed that win, as well as other Ivy League Championship wins that year. Those women are not girl’s girls.
A suit was filed in a Massachusetts federal court to have her records removed and, separately, the Department of Education launched an investigation into whether this was a Title IX violation.
The way these people love calling out Title IX violations when it’s something like this, but then when we’re like hey can female soccer players have weight rooms with more than pink walls and soft music? They suddenly have never even heard of a Title. Let alone nine of em!
Anyway, at the time of Lia’s meets, NCAA regulations did allow transwomen to compete with women. Probably because transwomen are women.
Look, this is a complicated situation; I do get that. I’m being glib because it’s part of my charm, but I do understand that this isn’t a cut-and-dry situation. However, we’re talking about policies that the Trump administration, as well as other GOP supporters, are creating simply because they don’t have the ability to imagine that people live lives different than their own. They create their cruel for the sake of being cruel laws to make life worse for then 10 openly trans athletes, out of the more than 500,000 NCAA athletes.
Do you understand what it’s like to be a woman? We are paid less. Respected less. Judged harder. We’re less likely to get promoted. We’re more likely to get murdered. I don’t mean to do the Barbie monologue here, and I do love being a woman, but it is freaking HARD.
Do you really think that someone would spend the time, emotional and physical labor, and money to transition to a woman… to win a swim meet?
No! Trans people exist in a way none of these yahoos could be – authentically. Bravely.
Anyway, so because this single swimmer swam, Penn is now going to lose about $175 million in funding.
This follows a March 7th announcement that Columbia University is losing about $400 million in grants over the accusation that it didn’t do enough to curb antisemitism on campus during last fall’s protests. Officials have sent the University a list of demands they must take care of before that money is released.
The Department of Education has also concluded that the state of Maine violated Title IX by allowing transgender girls to play on girls teams and use those facilities. They have ten days to comply with their own list of demands but this is a great time to remind you that, in late February Trump hosted Governors at the White House and he called out Maine’s Governor Mills for, what he claimed, was a Title IV violation. Mills’ response? “We’ll see you in court.”
So expect Maine to hard pass on those demands.
Also it sounds like Trump is going to sign an executive order shutting down the Department of Education today. So uh… yeah we’ll probably have to talk about that tomorrow.
And in related news – on Wednesday, a judge ruled that two transgender women needed to be transferred back to federal women’s prisons after Trump’s executive order that threw transgender protections in the trash and, because of that, those two women were sent to men’s prisons. Where I’m sure they were treated with respect and found nothing but safety. Too safe, they said.
No, they were obviously treated terribly including strip searches without a female officer present and a constant fear of violence including sexual assault.
So this order has returned these women to women’s prisons and is added to the growing list of orders blocking or reversing moves by this administration. A suit regarding three other inmates (a transwoman sent to a men’s prison and two transmen sent to women’s prisons) has not yet been ruled on.
And that’s it, that’s the news.
Couple things we’re watching for today – like I said, Trump is expected to sign an executive order to close the Department of Education.
Also, a judge gave the Department of Justice one more day to turn over information about the flight that sent 250 Venezuelans to El Salvador despite a judge saying they not only couldn’t send flights but they also needed to turn any in-air flights around. So we’ll see what happens there.
And you know… life is full of surprises! Currently they’re bad ones, but still… we’ll see what else tomorrow has in store for us.
I’m proud of raviolis. Raviols.
Tasty little treats.
But more than that, because you are a sweet-treat for the soul… I’m proud of you.