Takes on Diverse Subjects

I. Elevating Terrorists to the Status They Aspire
Professor Juan Cole counsels everyone to stop using the language of. war. "The language of war elevates terrorists to the status to which they aspire: that of 'legitimate combatants.' " "A 'war' om terror that characterizes, for example, all Syrian refugees as potential combatants thus plays right into the hands of [designated terrorists], who aim to sharpen the contradictions between Muslims and those of Christian heritage." [1]

II. Use Total Population to Draw Legislative Districts
"If states adopt the current voting-age population instead of total population for drawing legislative districts, a staggering 55 percent of Latinos --those who are under 18 or non-citizens -- wouldn't be counted, according to a brief filed by by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, as well as 45 percent of Asian-Americans and 30 percent of African-Americans." People of color make up 37 percent of the U.S. population but hold only 10 percent of elected seats; Latinos and Asian-Americans are 22 percent of the population but hold only 2 percent of elected offices. In eleven states there is not a single Latino or Asian-American state legislator. [2]

Total population has always been the easiest and most accurate metric to use when drawing district lines, experts say; going by voting-age population is unreliable; also, the Census Bureau doesn't ask people their citizenship status.

III. "Collecting It All" May Not Be So Wise
The National Security Agency's (NSA) failure to thwart the Paris plot or the San Bernardino mass shooting suggests that its approach of "collecting it all" may simply be drowning the NSA in data without identifying those who actually warrant suspicion. When he took office, New York City police Commissioner Bill Bratton ended the New York Police Department's controversial program of monitoring mosques and Muslim businesses, and he recently explained that "not a single piece of actionable intelligence ever came out of the unit in its years of existence." [3]

IV. A Banner Year for Transgender People Has a Dark Side
"[Bruce] Jenner's rebirth as Caitlyn was the most visible high point of a banner year for the transgender community. The Secretary of Defense called the ban on transgender people's open military service 'outdated' and directed that the policy be reviewed. A measure to add nondiscrimination protection for LGBT people to the Civil Rights Act was introduced in Congress with nearly 200 co-sponsors." "These came as the LGBT rights movement has been advancing at a speed unthinkable just a decade ago." "[An] estimated 0.5% of Americans are transgender." [4]

There is, however, a dark side to this bright picture: at least 21 transgender women were murdered in the United States in 2015; in addition, transgender people continue to suffer poverty, unemployment, homelessness, family rejection and harassment at much higher rates than the general public.

V. Waging War on Wombs
Casey Shehl was charged with "knowingly, recklessly, intentionally" causing James (her fetus) to be exposed to controlled substances in the womb -- a felony punishable, in her case -- by up to 10 years in prison. Casey is one of at least 31 women arrested in Etowah County since 2013 for running afoul of Alabama's "chemical endangerment of a child" statute, the country's toughest criminal law on prenatal drug use.The law treats prenatal drug abuse as a form of child abuse and the penalties are exceptionally stiff. A woman accused of using drugs during pregnancy can face 1 to 10 years in prison if the baby suffers no ill effects; 10 to 20 years if the baby shows signs of exposure or harm; and 10 to 99 years if the baby dies. Casey Shehl also risks losing custody of all her children, not just her newborn. [5]

The statute invites overreach and even abuse. It does not distinguish between an addict and a stressed-out single mom who takes a harmless dose of an anti-anxiety medication.

Since the "crack baby" panic of the 1980s, authorities in at least 44 other states have sought to hold women criminally accountable fro abusing drugs while pregnant, often by linking laws against child abuse, and drug distribution and trafficking. In decisions made in 2013 and 2014, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that the meth law statute could be used to prosecute mothers -- not just from the time that the fetus is viable (around 22 weeks) but from the earliest stages of pregnancy. [6]

It is not a stretch to conclude that these drugs in the womb statutes are part of the effort to dismantle Roe v. Wade.

Footnotes
[1] Juan Cole, "No Cause for War," The Nation, December 14, 2015.

[2] Ari Berman, "Voting Rights Besieged," The Nation, December 14, 2015.

[3] "Scoundrel Time," The Nation, December 21/28, 2015.

[4] Katy Steinmetz, "Caitlyn Jenner," Time, December 21, 2015.

[5] Nina Martin, "Its War on Wombs," Mother Jones, January/February 2016.

[6] Ibid.