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Would the Gupkar Protest Solve the Reservation Riddle?Chase Strangio stood before the Supreme Court on a cold December morning, the weight of history pressing against his shoulders. As the first openly transgender attorney to argue before the nation’s highest court, he carried not just legal briefs but the echoes of protests past – from the Stonewall uprising to the Compton Cafeteria riots, trans people have created a legacy of fighting for justice. Outside, hundreds of protesters pressed against police barricades, their chants rising above the marble columns. The demonstration was organized by Gender Liberation Movement (GLM) , a national collective that builds direct action, media, and policy interventions focused on bodily autonomy and self-determination in response to gender-based threats. “They want trans people to no longer exist,” said Eliel Cruz, co-founder of GLM. “And young people are the way to begin that kind of larger project.” The grassroots group has emerged as a significant force in coordinating nationwide protests against gender-based restrictions, combining street demonstrations with policy advocacy. As the Supreme Court heard arguments inside, GLM activists led chants demanding protection for transgender healthcare rights. The next day, 15 activists were arrested in a Capitol bathroom protest against new restrictions proposed by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) – restrictions targeting even Congress’s first openly transgender member, Sarah McBride (D-Del.) . Among those detained were Raquel Willis, a Black transgender activist known for leading the historic Brooklyn Liberation March and her rallying cry “I believe in Black trans power,” and Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who served seven years in prison for leaking classified documents about civilian casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the bathroom restrictions in a statement, saying single-sex facilities in the Capitol are “reserved for individuals of that biological sex.” Supporters of similar state-level restrictions argue they protect women’s privacy rights. “Women deserve women-only spaces,” Johnson said to The Tennessean , echoing sentiments from conservative lawmakers who have introduced similar measures in state legislatures. The parallels to history are not lost on today’s movement leaders. As Republican-led states advance hundreds of bills restricting transgender rights and healthcare, activists move in lockstep with pioneers like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera. But this time, the battleground isn’t just the city streets, but also the marble corridors of power, and the weapons are legal briefs instead of bricks. LGBTQ+ activists have emerged as a cornerstone for civil rights movements in the United States. “We are part of every community considered from the point of view of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability, and class,” said Chris Sanders, executive director at the Tennessee Equality Project (TNEP.) “So we are affected by all forms of discrimination.” Sanders highlighted historic figures like Pauli Murray , civil rights activist, lawyer, and co-founder of the National Organization for Women, who they say used both she/her and they/them pronouns ; Audre Lorde, a pioneer in Black feminism; and Bayard Rustin, a core architect of the historic March on Washington, who adapted civil disobedience tactics from organizers in India, which established an iconic strategy of the Civil Rights Era. The list goes on. Larry Kramer, a Jewish American and founder of ACT UP during the HIV/AIDS pandemic , influenced healthcare policymakers including Anthony Fauci , who referenced Kramer during COVID-19. Trans figures fought in several instances to protect the First Amendment right of peaceful assembly and the constitutional rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Such examples include Tamara Ching, a trans Asian American woman at the Compton Cafeteria uprising, and Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera at Stonewall, all three women mobilizing against police brutality. Meanwhile, Harry Weider , a hard of hearing child of Holocaust survivors with dwarfism, joined ACT UP and advocated for public housing. Kiyoshi Kuromiya, an openly gay Japanese American and survivor of World War II internment, marched with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on Selma and served as his personal assistant . When King was assassinated, Kuromiya looked after King’s children . In 1970, Kuromiya served as the only openly gay panelist at the Black Panther Convention , representing the Gay Liberation Front Philadelphia chapter; that same year, Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton endorsed LGBTQ+ and women’s liberation movements . “The visibility and success of LGBTQ+ rights movements have sparked broader conversations about intersectionality, encouraging other marginalized groups to advocate for their rights,” said Manuel Hernández, who uses pronouns li/naya and he/they. Hernández serves as the executive director of ALMA Chicago , which since the AIDS epidemic has advocated for the fair treatment and equality of the Latinx LGBTQ+ community. “This ripple effect has made the fight for equality more comprehensive and interconnected.” Despite broader LGBTQ+ gains, trans people find themselves excluded while being drastically impacted by modern political debates. While the recent election cycle ushered in the historic election of openly trans Sarah McBride to Congress , less than 1% of U.S. elected officials identify publicly as LGBTQ+. Since 2017, t he Victory Institute tracked a 6% decrease in elections of trans people amid increases in elections of other LGBTQ+ candidates. Representation in office continues to be dominated by cis white gay men. This underrepresentation leaves transgender people vulnerable to discrimination and political exploitation from both parties, advocates say. Blossom C. Brown, an Afro-Native trans activist based in Los Angeles, with appearances on the trans rights podcast Transparency and in viral content at Jubiliee’s Middle Ground debates, said, “We are the easiest community to be used for political points by politicians, including some Democrats.” In 2015, Jennicet Gutierrez, co-founder of trans Latine advocacy group Familia TQLM , confronted then President Barack Obama during a White House Pride Month reception about gender-based violence against trans women in ICE detention centers . Security removed her from the event, and media outlets described her actions as heckling. During her 2024 presidential run, Vice President Kamala Harris received endorsements from several major LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign and the National LGBTQ Task Force . However, trans speakers were excluded from the 2024 Democratic National Convention. In 2018, then president Donald Trump referred to migrant caravans arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border as “hardened criminals.” Some of the earliest known caravans consisted primarily of transgender migrates, displaced by internal conflicts including U.S.-backed coups across Latin America and targeted by police due to gender identity, self-expression, and sexual orientation. In August 2017, the Transgender Law Center recorded the first known official migrant Rainbow Caravan , 11 of whom were trans and the rest LGB . The following year, several LGBTQ+ couples married at the border with Mexico before crossing over. Cruz also warned of parallel and potentially deadly consequences similar to the struggle for abortion rights. “We are going to have thousands and thousands of families and trans young people unable to access that care,” he said. “We’ll need to find either ways to get it illegally in their state, or they might have to flee.” Transgender people have begun leaving the United States. They have fled to New Zealand , France , the Netherlands, and other countries where immigration policies welcome trans asylum seekers. According to a 2023 report from Data for Progress , 41% of trans adults and 43% of trans people aged 18-24 have considered moving. Eight percent of trans adults, including those aged 18-24, have already left, alongside 9% of LGBTQ+ adults 65 or older. “The SCOTUS ruling will have a much more impact on the trans community than it will the LGBTQ community as a whole,” said Brown. “We must wake that up in this movement.” As the protests at the Supreme Court over healthcare for trans youth remain at the forefront of the debate, gender-affirming care also applies to cisgenderpeople. A Hastings Center report found that cisgender make up the majority of those seeking gender-affirming care . “These issues have systematically contributed to our detriment,” said Brown. “[S]ystemic oppression...tries to keep us as the ‘outsider.’ But truth is we are far from it!” In November 2024, TNEP and other groups successfully fought off a second conservative proposal in Tennessee’s Knox County campaign to “ protect child innocence ” by cutting funding to programs deemed sexually explicit. Opponents called it “ undefined,” while the four-page document defined prohibited content as “harmful to minors,” “matter,” “nudity,” “obscene,” “prurient interest,” and “sexual conduct.” Several nonprofits argued that such a vague resolution threatened services, such as programs that respond to and protect children from abuse . Critics called it a thinly disguised anti-drag initiative, which could have had drastic repercussions on the entire state. Thirty-five state constitutions still ban marriage equality . While federal courts overruled these bans in the Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling in 2015, some legal experts worry the current court could overturn that decision as it did with abortion. Other SCOTUS rulings have undone LGBTQ+ efforts regarding universal human rights, including work and healthcare discrimination. In 2023, the Supreme Court sided with Lorie Smith, a wedding website designer, declaring that she could deny a gay couple services. However, the case centered on a straight man married to a woman who claimed that he never submitted a request . This ruling now means that anyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, can be denied services. In July this year, the Biden administration was unable to enforce new rules affirming healthcare for trans U.S. citizens. The SCOTUS overturning of the 1984 Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council ruling weakened federal enforcement of regulations and reduced the political authority of the Environmental Protection Agency, creating an unforeseen connection between trans rights and climate justice. In 2017, the same year as the Rainbow Caravan, the Trump administration ordered the end of the DACA program , which SCOTUS reversed in 2020 . Trump’s vows of mass deportation , partially which incorporated his twisting of the trans struggle to fit his agenda, could threaten the livelihood of many people essential to the U.S. economy, like the agriculture sector, which employs a 73% migrant workforce . As a common practice, activists center the needs of the most marginalized to create universal solutions. Cruz said that by addressing the needs of Black trans women, including disabled Black trans undocumented women with English as a second language, the rights and needs of all will be served. “This is true for all Americans,” he said. “It’s not some special thing that only Black trans people or queer trans people need.” Amid 574 anti-LGBTQ bills circulating across state legislatures and the resulting mental health crisis for trans youth, organizers plan to follow the trans legacy of activism and continue to pressure the Supreme Court to side with them through direct action. “We will never give up on our trans youth,” said Brown. “I have hope and faith that the LGBTQ community will respond with even more powerful mechanisms of change.” Sanders encouraged activists to show up for TNEP’s Zoom phone banks and “Day on the Hill” action to campaign for LGBTQ+ rights, which they will announce later. In Chicago, Hernández indicated that ALMA will mobilize through educating the wider community about transgender issues and collaborating with legal organizations like Equality Illinois . ALMA currently offers empowerment and economic mobility through programs like its Latinx LGBTQ+ Advocacy Leadership Institute. “Where possible, we’ll also explore ways to offer financial support to trans youth and families navigating new legal or medical challenges,” said Hernández. In New York City, Cruz called for increased volunteer and financial support of the Transgender Law Center and other trans-led legal efforts nationwide. “We’ve made America a better place by pushing for inclusivity,” said Brown. “Unfortunately there are groups who are threatened by this. Not our problem! We will continue the fight.” Rohan Zhou-Lee (They/Siya/祂(Tā)/Elle) is a queer/nonbinary Black Asian dancer, writer, and organizer. A 2023 Open City Fellow at the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, they have written for Newsweek, Prism Reports, NextShark, and more . Siya is also the founder of the award-winning Blasian March , a Black-Asian-Blasian grassroots solidarity organization, and for their work has been featured on CNN , NBC Chicago , USA Today , WNYC , and more . Zhou-Lee has spoken on organizing, human rights , and other subjects at New York University, The University of Tokyo, the 2022 Unite and Enough Festivals in Zürich, Switzerland, Harvard University, and more. www.diaryofafirebird.com
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A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in a few short months, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok's petition to overturn the law — which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — and rebuffed the company's challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment. “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court's opinion, which was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg. “Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.” TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, though its unclear whether the court will take up the case. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue," TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” Hughes said. Unless stopped, he argued the statute “will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.” Though the case is squarely in the court system, its also possible the two companies might be thrown some sort of a lifeline by President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the presidential campaign that he is now against such action . The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China. The U.S. has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits , that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect — a concern mirrored by the European Union on Friday as it scrutinizes the video-sharing app’s role in the Romanian elections. TikTok, which sued the government over the law in May, has long denied it could be used by Beijing to spy on or manipulate Americans. Its attorneys have accurately pointed out that the U.S. hasn’t provided evidence to show that the company handed over user data to the Chinese government, or manipulated content for Beijing’s benefit in the U.S. They have also argued the law is predicated on future risks, which the Department of Justice has emphasized pointing in part to unspecified action it claims the two companies have taken in the past due to demands from the Chinese government. Friday’s ruling came after the appeals court panel, composed of two Republican and one Democrat appointed judges, heard oral arguments in September. In the hearing, which lasted more than two hours, the panel appeared to grapple with how TikTok’s foreign ownership affects its rights under the Constitution and how far the government could go to curtail potential influence from abroad on a foreign-owned platform. On Friday, all three of them denied TikTok’s petition. In the court's ruling, Ginsburg, a Republican appointee, rejected TikTok's main legal arguments against the law, including that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. He also said the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to "suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok. “Content on the platform could in principle remain unchanged after divestiture, and people in the United States would remain free to read and share as much PRC propaganda (or any other content) as they desire on TikTok or any other platform of their choosing,” Ginsburg wrote, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China. Judge Sri Srinivasan, the chief judge on the court, issued a concurring opinion. TikTok’s lawsuit was consolidated with a second legal challenge brought by several content creators - for which the company is covering legal costs - as well as a third one filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc. Other organizations, including the Knight First Amendment Institute, had also filed amicus briefs supporting TikTok. “This is a deeply misguided ruling that reads important First Amendment precedents too narrowly and gives the government sweeping power to restrict Americans’ access to information, ideas, and media from abroad,” said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the organization. “We hope that the appeals court’s ruling won’t be the last word.” Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, lawmakers who had pushed for the legislation celebrated the court's ruling. "I am optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok to allow its continued use in the United States and I look forward to welcoming the app in America under new ownership,” said Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China. Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who co-authored the law, said “it's time for ByteDance to accept” the law. To assuage concerns about the company’s owners, TikTok says it has invested more than $2 billion to bolster protections around U.S. user data. The company has also argued the government’s broader concerns could have been resolved in a draft agreement it provided the Biden administration more than two years ago during talks between the two sides. It has blamed the government for walking away from further negotiations on the agreement, which the Justice Department argues is insufficient. Attorneys for the two companies have claimed it’s impossible to divest the platform commercially and technologically. They also say any sale of TikTok without the coveted algorithm - the platform’s secret sauce that Chinese authorities would likely block under any divesture plan - would turn the U.S. version of TikTok into an island disconnected from other global content. Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in purchasing the platform. Both men said earlier this year that they were launching a consortium to purchase TikTok’s U.S. business. This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said unnamed participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion in capital. Haleluya Hadero, The Associated PressWho are the favorites to win Golden Globes? | Streamed & Screened podcast
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Reinsurance Gr's RGA short percent of float has risen 14.81% since its last report. The company recently reported that it has 315 thousand shares sold short , which is 0.62% of all regular shares that are available for trading. Based on its trading volume, it would take traders 1.0 days to cover their short positions on average. Why Short Interest Matters Short interest is the number of shares that have been sold short but have not yet been covered or closed out. Short selling is when a trader sells shares of a company they do not own, with the hope that the price will fall. Traders make money from short selling if the price of the stock falls and they lose if it rises. Short interest is important to track because it can act as an indicator of market sentiment towards a particular stock. An increase in short interest can signal that investors have become more bearish, while a decrease in short interest can signal they have become more bullish. See Also: List of the most shorted stocks Reinsurance Gr Short Interest Graph (3 Months) As you can see from the chart above the percentage of shares that are sold short for Reinsurance Gr has grown since its last report. This does not mean that the stock is going to fall in the near-term but traders should be aware that more shares are being shorted. Comparing Reinsurance Gr's Short Interest Against Its Peers Peer comparison is a popular technique amongst analysts and investors for gauging how well a company is performing. A company's peer is another company that has similar characteristics to it, such as industry, size, age, and financial structure. You can find a company's peer group by reading its 10-K, proxy filing, or by doing your own similarity analysis. According to Benzinga Pro , Reinsurance Gr's peer group average for short interest as a percentage of float is 1.61%, which means the company has less short interest than most of its peers. Did you know that increasing short interest can actually be bullish for a stock? This post by Benzinga Money explains how you can profit from it. This article was generated by Benzinga's automated content engine and was reviewed by an editor. © 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
The AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll is back every week throughout the season! Get the poll delivered straight to your inbox with AP Top 25 Poll Alerts. Sign up here . MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Alvaro Folgueiras scored 27 points as Robert Morris beat Saint Francis (PA) 90-77 on Saturday. Folgueiras added 16 rebounds, four steals, and three blocks for the Colonials (8-5). Kam Woods added 19 points while shooting 7 for 16 (2 for 6 from 3-point range) and 3 of 7 from the free-throw line while he also had seven assists and three steals. Amarion Dickerson had 16 points and shot 5 of 8 from the field and 5 for 7 from the line. The Red Flash (3-9) were led in scoring by Riley Parker, who finished with 21 points. Saint Francis also got 19 points and three steals from Juan Cranford Jr.. Valentino Pinedo had 14 points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .