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Few topics are as politically polarizing as the issue of abortion. Those of us who are middle aged and younger have always known the abortion debate divided between the political right and left, conservatives and liberals, Republicans and Democrats.

But that has not always been the case.

In fact, it was mostly Republican-nominated Supreme Court Justices who made the case for choice in 1973.

Roe vs. Wade was decided with a 7-2 vote, and not along partisan lines. Those who ruled in favor were as follows, with the president who nominated them and the party of that president indicated in parentheses:

• Harry Blackmun (Nixon, R)
• Lewis Powell (Nixon, R)
• Warren Burger (Nixon, R)
• William Brennan (Eisenhower, R)
• Potter Stewart (Eisenhower, R)
• Thurgood Marshall (LBJ, D)
• William Douglas (FDR, D)

Those who dissented on Roe vs. Wade:

• Byron White (Kennedy, D)
• William Rehnquist (Nixon, R)

So five Republican-nominated justices and two Democrat-nominated justices ruled for choice, while one Republican and one Democrat-nominated justice ruled against.

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A lifelong Republican justice, Harry Blackmun, wrote the majority opinion in the case, which basically stated that state laws that unduly restrict abortion were unconstitutional—not specifically because a woman had a right to choose to have an abortion, but because of a the right to privacy under the 14th amendment.

When viewed as a private medical decision, the fact that the party-of-less-government-interference Republicans ruled that way makes perfect sense. It has always struck me as odd that the party who advocates for less government regulation and less government interference in our lives would be the one to push for the government to stick its nose into people’s personal medical decisions. It turns out, they’ve only pushed that argument during my adult lifetime.

There are, of course, debates to be had about when a person should be considered a person with full rights and protections under the law, and people are free to debate the moral questions that come with the personal and/or medical reasons people choose to abort a pregnancy. But there’s no question that abortion is a medical decision, which automatically makes it an issue of privacy. That has not changed since 1973. That has not changed since Republicans ruled in favor of choice.

It’s only since the religious right aligned itself with the Republican party in a direct way (and vice versa) that making abortion illegal became a Republican stance.

Interestingly, that relationship—and the corruption that inevitably results in when religious ideology slips into bed with politics—even played out in the life of “Jane Roe” herself. The woman in the landmark case who pushed for choice, whose real name was Norma McCorvey, ended up publicly changing her stance and pushing an anti-abortion message for decades.

Then, in her dying days, she confessed that it was all an act—that she had been paid by anti-abortion activists to put out that messaging.

AKA Jane Roe | Deathbed Confession Highlight | FX

www.youtube.com

Despite how passionate some people’s anti-abortion stances are today—and how politicians use that passion to garner support—abortion has not always been a big, controversial political issue. For much of Western history, abortion was viewed as a private matter between a woman and a doctor, and history also shows that making abortion illegal doesn’t make abortions not happen.

Since the only things proven to reduce abortion rates are comprehensive sex education, easy and affordable access to birth control, and access to healthcare in general; since choice was originally a Republican-led stance as evidenced by the Roe vs. Wade ruling; and since abortion rates have fallen consistently for the past four decades—more drastically under Democrat administrations than Republican, oddly enough—and are currently at record lows, overturning Roe vs. Wade in an attempt to end abortion seems like a strange goal to pin one’s partisan hat on.

In 2019, the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada instituted a policy that forbids teachers from participating in “partisan political activities” during school hours. The policy states that “any signage that is displayed on District property that is, or becomes, political in nature must be removed or covered.”

The new policy is based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus decision that limits public employees’ First Amendment protections for speech while performing their official duties.

This new policy caused a bit of confusion with Jennifer Leja, a 7th and 8th-grade teacher in the district. She wondered if, as a bisexual woman, the new policy forbids her from discussing her sexuality.

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Same-sex marriage is legal now in the U.S., so is expressing support for the LGBT community still a political issue?

The issue was even more important for Leja because of her students. As the only openly LGBT teacher in the school, students often come to her to discuss issues they’re having with their sexuality.

via msleja / TikTok

“I usually have a flock of 7th and 8th graders who are trying to learn who they are and how they identify, and they come towards me,” she told Buzzfeed.

Leja reached out to Trustee Andrew Caudill to see if the new policy included LGBT issues. Specifically, could she display rainbow decorations or mention that she has a girlfriend in the classroom?

“The courts have held LGBTQ+ issues to be political speech and thus, the rainbow flag [is considered] to be political speech, so it cannot be expressed through clothing and other means, such as displaying a flag in your class,” Caudill told her in an email released to Buzzfeed News.

He also said that she is able to talk about her relationship.

“I want to be abundantly clear, the policy does not require staff to hide their own sexuality,” Caudill told Buzzfeed News.

“Teachers can let students know their sexuality, or mention their significant others, if they wish, regardless of sexuality,” he continued. “The policy does not impact who a teacher is, it only impacts the advocacy for a specific political position.”

via msleja / TikTok

Leja pushed back against the ruling because, as a member of the LGBT community, the flag represents her identity.

“The issue that I have with it is, I don’t think my existence and my identity is a political issue,” she said. “I think that being able to have a rainbow flag is as much a part of my identity as anything else.”

“It’s important for me because I feel like there are students who spend their lives in the closet and especially in middle school; that is when students are starting to figure out where they are,” she said. “They go through that time period where they don’t know who they are or what they like.”

She has also received numerous rainbow-colored and Pride-themed gifts from her students that she displays in her classroom.

“It started off in my first year of teaching with just a rainbow flag; pretty much all of the rainbows added since then have been students giving me rainbow gifts,” she said.

So, Leja has found her own way around the new district policy. Instead of displaying rainbow-themed decorations in her class room as support for the LGBT community, she’ll continue to do so because she just “really likes rainbows.”

“No politics in Ms. Leja’s classroom, she just really likes rainbows,” she said in a tongue-in-cheek TikTok video. “Rainbows aren’t political, not it all, rainbows are just colorful and fun.”

Let’s be honest, rainbows can’t be political. If they are, then so are depictions of the sun, rain, and any other natural phenomena.

To go a step further, if natural phenomena aren’t inherently political, then why are expressions of support for the LGBT community? As science clearly shows, being gay is one of the most natural things that can be.

Evoking the general DIY vibe of the grime scene as a whole, Skepta adoptss a decidely low-fi aesthetic for his new video “No Stress.” Featuring Essie Gang rappers L3 and Michael Phanthom, the whole video looks like it was shot on a VHS camcorder with various color filters over the lens (or the settings fiddled with to produce the deep red, blue, and green hues that sometimes popped up on the technology back in the day).

From a lyrical standpoint, the three rappers tread familiar tough-guy territory, threatening foes with various forms of extermination. As Skepta boasts on the chorus, “We gon’ catch you slipping, get the drop like oh, yes / Pull up, blow this smoke until there ain’t no smoke left.”

“No Stress” arrives during a relatively slow year for the UK grime star. While contemporaries like Stormzy, have dropped new solo projects in the past 12 months, Skepta was content to constitute one third of the Insomnia joint project with Chip and Young Adz. He did, however, make an appearance with frequent collaborators Gorillaz on their Song Machine single “How Far” with late drummer Tony Allen. With his headlining act at Wireless Festival 2020 getting 86ed along with the rest of live entertainment as a whole, it seems he’s been taking time to enjoy being a father and plot out his follow-up to 2019’s Ignorance Is Bliss while he produces Octavian’s debut.

Watch Skepta’s “No Stress” video above.

One of HBO’s newest programs is the recently premiered (and Kid Cudi-featuring) We Are Who We Are. If the music from the show has stood out, that’s because Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes is the artist behind it. Now that the show has its legs, Hynes is gearing up to release an album of his score, which comes out on October 2. In addition to 12 original songs from Hynes, the tracklist is rounded out by compositions from Julius Eastman and John Adams.

Press materials describe the “coming-of-age drama series” as “a story about two American kids who live on a US military base in Italy, the series explores friendship, first-love, identity, and immerses the audience in all the messy exhilaration and anguish of being a teenager — a story which could happen anywhere in the world, but in this case, happens in this little slice of America in Italy.”

Aside from Cudi, the Luca Gudagnino show also features Chloë Sevigny, Jack Dylan Grazer, Alice Braga, Spence Moore II, and a bunch of newcomers: Jordan Kristine Seamón, Faith Alabi, Francesca Scorsese, Ben Taylor, Corey Knight, Tom Mercier, and Sebastiano Pigazzi.

Find the We Are Who We Are art and tracklist below, as well as the show’s trailer.

1. Devonté Hynes – “The Long Ride II”
2. Devonté Hynes – “Let Yourself Go I”
3. Devonté Hynes – “Let Yourself Go II”
4. Devonté Hynes – “The Last Day”
5. Devonté Hynes – “Fraser’s Bedroom”
6. Devonté Hynes – “He Just Left”
7. Devonté Hynes – “Notte Transigurata I”
8. Devonté Hynes – “The Long Ride I”
9. Devonté Hynes – “Good Job, Soldier”
10. Devonté Hynes – “Body Of Me”
11. Devonté Hynes – “Amorous Love”
12. Devonté Hynes – “Notte Transigurata II”
13. Julius Eastman – “Stay On It”
14. Julius Eastman – “Gay Guerrilla”
15. John Adams – “Century Rolls: II. Manny’s Gym”
16. John Adams – “Two Fanfares For Orchestra: Short Ride In A Fast Machine”

We Are Who We Are: Original Series Score is out 10/2 via Milan Records. Pre-order it here.

Schitt’s Creek was the big winner at the all-remote Emmy’s on Sunday night, with the cast taking home big awards and the show’s final season winning big to boot. But one of the show’s stars, who didn’t get a chance to celebrate with the rest of the cast at their respective watch parties, had an incredible reaction to all the winning.

Sarah Levy, who played loveable waitress and family friend Twyla, is actually the daughter of Eugene Levy and sister of Dan Levy, who both created the show. She was shocked by all the winning, and celebrated on Twitter on Monday.

But her brother Daniel later shared how she really reacted which is basically to scream and jump around a whole lot in an increasingly excited manner. Levy posted a video that was taken of her throughout the night, and it’s a really adorable reaction to a lot of joy happening in the Levy extended family.

The video first shows her reaction to Catherine O’Hara winning Best Actress in a Comedy, where you immediately get acquainted with Levy screaming, the first of many times. Next up was her dad winning Best Actor in a Comedy, then Daniel for writing.

Each time, the screaming gets more excitable, as that’s somehow possible. Some “OH MY GOD”s were added in for the Comedy Writing Emmy, which was a nice touch for her brother. By the time the show won Best Comedy, even she had realized she was only saying “oh my god” again and again, as fitting a response to the triumph as it was.

Meanwhile, Annie Murphy, who also won an Emmy for her work as Alexis Rose on the show, also had an extremely relatable reaction to winning her award on Sunday, according to E News:

After taking home the trophy in the Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series category at the 2020 Emmys, Annie Murphy spoke to E! News and revealed what her very first thought was upon hearing her name called.

“Mine was, ‘Where’s the bathroom?’” the Schitt’s Creek star said.

In other words, it was a truly great night all around. And on Monday, Netflix had great news for streaming customers who haven’t seen the last season that netted everyone those awards in the first place.

It doesn’t bring the crew back for any more episodes, but it is great to finally have it all in one place.

The Boston Celtics were able to gain their first foothold in the Eastern Conference Finals with a win on Saturday against the Heat to cut Miami’s series lead to 2-1. Game 4 won’t take place until Wednesday due to Monday Night Football, which means there’s plenty of time for both parties to look back on Game 3 — and continue reviewing what happened in the first two games that saw Miami take a 2-0 advantage.

In both of those games, the Celtics took a lead in the first half but failed to get to the finish line, with the Heat simply executing better down the stretch. Game 2 was especially painful for Boston, who saw a 13-point halftime lead erased in the third quarter when Miami outscored them by 20 and the Celtics simply couldn’t find an answer. After the game, frustrations were high in the Boston locker room as Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, and others reportedly had it out, with Smart leaving angrily while yelling back at the locker room, ‘y’all on that bullsh*t.‘

It was the type of moment that surely happens more often than we know of, but the Bubble’s locker room setup allows for reporters to be much closer to the locker room and hear the goings on. The Celtics all shrugged it off and they channeled their frustration in past performances into a Game 3 win in which they fought off a Heat charge in the fourth quarter in a way they were unable to the past two games. Smart did not speak with the media after either game, but met with the assembled media on Monday and discussed the postgame outburst, calling it “electrifying” and noting that it’s what happens in a family.

It’s clear that what happened after Game 2 was far from the locker room “crumbling” as some positioned it, but more the release of frustration after two difficult losses that, as Smart said, saw them let two possible wins slip away. The response in Game 3 is why Smart called it “electrifying,” because it helped wake the team up and refocus them on putting that energy and frustration into their game. We’ll see if that can continue in Game 4 on Wednesday as they look to even the series with Miami.

Bad Bunny had a lot going on this past weekend.

Yesterday, he dropped a new video for “Una Vez,” his bouncy collaboration with Puerto Rican singer Mora. The video for the song sees an astronaut, in full space-faring gear, exploring various picturesque landscapes without leaving Earth’s atmosphere (or even the ground).

Also over the weekend, he took the livestream concert game to a new level. Instead of performing from his bedroom or backyard, he took to the streets. Stationed atop a moving flatbed track in New York, he traversed the city as he sang.

During the livestream, which was simulcast on the Uforia Music app and his YouTube channel, Bunny said, “It was difficult for me to do a concert without an audience. I didn’t want to. But I’m accepting the new reality and I hope people enjoy this. We need it.”

At the end of his set, he also noted, “Respect and thanks to those people who have sacrificed their lives in this city. With a lot of faith in God, I sense that good things are coming. I know we are going through very difficult times. I have made thousands of mistakes, but my only mission is to try to be a better person every day.”

Watch the “Una Vez” video above.

The partnership between the Run The Jewels and Adult Swim precedes the group’s formation — in fact, it’s the direct catalyst for El-P and Killer Mike forming the group in the first place — so it’s only right that Adult Swim’s first televised live concert is performed by the incediary duo.

In honor of National Voter Registration Day today, Adult Swim has partnered with sponsor Ben & Jerry’s to announce its first ever performance, courtesy of Run The Jewels. Airing October 10 at midnight ET/PT, the performance is aimed at encouraging viewers to register and vote in this November’s elections. During the broadcast, Run The Jewels will perform their entire RTJ4 album, commercial free.

Fortunately for those cord-cutters out there, the performance will also live stream on AdultSwim.com and watch it afterwards on Adult Swim’s YouTube channel. A link will also be provided to donate to the ACLU. Fans can find more information on Ben & Jerry’s website.

It’s fitting that Adult Swim will host one of Run The Jewels’ first and only performances of the year after COVID shut down touring. It was Cartoon Network executive Jason DeMarco who introduced the two and they released “36” Chain,” their first single together, as part of the Adult Swim Singles Program in 2013. They contributed a new song to the program in each of the next three years and performed at the inaugural Adult Swim Festival in 2018.

With the group kicking off Adult Swim’s first broadcast concert, the partnership between the band and the network has proven fruitful for both — and for fans of abrasive, unapologetic rap.

The “All Time Domestic Box Office” list is mostly full of the films you’d expect to be on there. Star Wars, Marvel, James Cameron movies about Leonardo DiCaprio drawing nude ladies and blue cat-aliens, sequels, franchises, etc. But there’s one title that stands out: The Passion of the Christ, which despite coming out 14 years ago (and being about the grisly death of Jesus Christ) is still the 47th highest-grossing movie ever at the domestic box office. It was as high as seventh at one point, but now it fits between Spider-Man 2 and The Secret Life of Pets with $370.7 million, plus an extra $251.5 million internationally. Disgraced-yet-still working director Mel Gibson has talked for years about making a sequel to the cultural sensation (it’s also the top-grossing rated-R movie in North America, barely edging out Deadpool). Well, apparently he’s writing the goddamn, I mean, damn thing, and it’s going to be the “biggest film in world history.”

“Mel Gibson just sent me [the] third draft. It’s coming. It’s called The Passion of the Christ: Resurrection. It’s going to be the biggest film in world history,” actor Jim Caviezel, a.k.a. Jesus, told Breitbart News (uh oh) via Yahoo. I can’t believe Caviezel of all people broke the most important commandment: thou shalt not covet the title of world’s biggest film.

Gibson previously called The Resurrection “a very big subject and it needs to be looked at, because we don’t wanna just do a simple rendering of it. I mean, we can all read what happened, but in order to really experience and explore probably deeper meanings of what it’s about is gonna take some doing.”

You might even call this his………… Passion project.

(Via Yahoo!)

When the superdeluxe reissue of Prince‘s Sign o’ the Times drops on Friday, the liner notes will include an interview with Dave Chappelle where the comedian reflects not just on his love of Prince, but also the friendship he formed with the late musician.

As Prince fans know, he absolutely loved the classic Chappelle’s Show sketch where Chappelle played the “Purple Rain” singer in a hilarious retelling of the time he beat Eddie Murphy and his brother Charlie in a game of basketball and then cooked them pancakes. Not only did Prince confirm the story was true, but it led to him meeting up with Chappelle and the two becoming friends. But what no one knew is how much Prince helped the comedian when he made the shocking decision to walk away from his hugely successful series.

In the liner notes for Sign o’ the Times, Chappelle reveals Prince is the only person who supported him quitting Chappelle’s Show without hesitating. “He was one of the few people who truly cared about what was happening in my life.” Via Vulture:

He was the only one I knew who had already done it. In the loneliest corners of that experience, there was always a sign, like “Brooks was here,” that he had been there and lived to tell about it.

The mere sight of Prince reminded me that I’m not the last sane man on earth, and I’m not crazy.

He was the first person I knew who didn’t question my choices. In fact, he didn’t even ask me about them. He just told me, “Whatever it is, you’re right.”

Chappelle said, “He helped me understand that it might not be over and that there might be another side to it,” which turned out to be especially prescient. The comedian has had a resurgence since signing a multi-million dollar deal with Netflix, and he recently scored an Emmy win, which gave him the opportunity to deliver a very Chappelle-like message to critics during his acceptance speech.

(Via Vulture)