When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June of 2022 — destroying the constitutional right to abortion access — conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion that the court should also reconsider previous rulings that established the right to contraception. Less than a month later, all but 10 House Republicans voted against a proposed bill that would have enshrined access to birth control into law. Senate Republicans didn’t support the legislation, either. If it wasn’t clear then that conservatives might move to restrict access to contraception, it is now.
- 2/23/2024
- by Nikki McCann Ramirez
- Rollingstone.com
Ever since 2012, when Donald Trump wrote a string of tweets about how Robert Pattinson should dump her, Kristen Stewart has occupied a curious space in the conservative imagination.
It was being reminded of those comments, as she revealed in Rolling Stone‘s March cover story, that inspired Stewart to come out as gay in a Saturday Night Live monologue five years later, shedding once and for all the waif-like image thrust upon her by the Twilight saga — the vampire romance movies that made her a force in Hollywood. Since then,...
It was being reminded of those comments, as she revealed in Rolling Stone‘s March cover story, that inspired Stewart to come out as gay in a Saturday Night Live monologue five years later, shedding once and for all the waif-like image thrust upon her by the Twilight saga — the vampire romance movies that made her a force in Hollywood. Since then,...
- 2/14/2024
- by Miles Klee
- Rollingstone.com
Not even two weeks into the new year, and it looks as though far-right agitators have honed in on the scapegoat of the season: Dei, shorthand for “diversity, equity and inclusion” initiatives and policies that can be implemented in workplaces and educational institutions.
Although long included in the litany of vilified concepts that conservatives like to complain about — from “wokeness” to gender fluidity to Critical Race Theory — Dei has taken a new place of prominence after being scapegoated for two incidents that made headlines in early 2024. One was the ouster...
Although long included in the litany of vilified concepts that conservatives like to complain about — from “wokeness” to gender fluidity to Critical Race Theory — Dei has taken a new place of prominence after being scapegoated for two incidents that made headlines in early 2024. One was the ouster...
- 1/12/2024
- by Miles Klee
- Rollingstone.com
Bill Ackman, billionaire founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, has become a new and formidable actor in the American culture wars thanks to his connections to Harvard University. But by stepping into the fray, he inadvertently took up the mantle of a social media archetype that is awkward and difficult to shed: He’s 2024’s first “wife guy.”
Back in early November, a month after Hamas militants’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Ackman, who is Jewish, addressed a 3,000-word open letter on X (formerly Twitter) to Claudine Gay,...
Back in early November, a month after Hamas militants’ deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Ackman, who is Jewish, addressed a 3,000-word open letter on X (formerly Twitter) to Claudine Gay,...
- 1/10/2024
- by Miles Klee
- Rollingstone.com
Harvard president Claudine Gay has resigned after becoming embroiled in a pair of controversies over on-campus antisemitism and plagiarism.
Gay spent just over six months as president of Harvard, having assumed the role on July 1, 2023. She was the university’s first Black president, and has now served the shortest tenure of any president in the school’s history. Alan M. Garber, the current Provost and Chief Academic Officer, will step in as interim president. (The student paper, The Harvard Crimson, was the first to report Gay’s resignation.)
In a letter announcing her resignation,...
Gay spent just over six months as president of Harvard, having assumed the role on July 1, 2023. She was the university’s first Black president, and has now served the shortest tenure of any president in the school’s history. Alan M. Garber, the current Provost and Chief Academic Officer, will step in as interim president. (The student paper, The Harvard Crimson, was the first to report Gay’s resignation.)
In a letter announcing her resignation,...
- 1/2/2024
- by Jon Blistein
- Rollingstone.com
The suspect accused of calling in last year’s bomb threat to Boston Children’s Hospital amid a wave of harassment has pleaded guilty, the Massachusetts District Attorney’s office announced Thursday.
Westfield, Massachusetts resident Catherine Leavy, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false bomb threat and one count of “intentionally conveying false or misleading information that a bomb was on the way.”
Prior to Leavy’s Aug. 30 bomb threat, Boston Children’s Hospital had experienced weeks of targeted harassment, vitriol, and death threats aimed at their Gender Multispecialty...
Westfield, Massachusetts resident Catherine Leavy, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false bomb threat and one count of “intentionally conveying false or misleading information that a bomb was on the way.”
Prior to Leavy’s Aug. 30 bomb threat, Boston Children’s Hospital had experienced weeks of targeted harassment, vitriol, and death threats aimed at their Gender Multispecialty...
- 9/28/2023
- by CT Jones
- Rollingstone.com
With fewer than 700 undergraduates, New College of Florida’s student body is small enough that most of it fits on one reply-all email thread. On Jan. 6, the day news broke that Gov. Ron DeSantis had installed a knot of culture-war veterans to the school’s board of trustees, that student-moderated email forum lit up. Sam Sharf, a second-year student, remembers the emails flying back and forth: “What the hell is going on?” “How are we going to fight back?” “This is crazy.” Almost as quickly, screenshots of those messages began gleefully circulating on right-wing Twitter,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Tessa Stuart
- Rollingstone.com
At first glance, the University of Central Florida looks the same as ever. Students mill around the modern, spread-out campus, crowding into the food court, making plans for the weekend.
But beneath the surface, Governor Ron DeSantis’s Orwellian campaign against “Critical Race Theory” has caused professors to cancel classes that might be deemed too controversial, caused students to reconsider their activities in clubs, and in general, has cast a pall of uncertainty over the future of higher education in Florida.
“We’re holding our breath,” says Sergio Cartagena, a sophomore at Ucf.
But beneath the surface, Governor Ron DeSantis’s Orwellian campaign against “Critical Race Theory” has caused professors to cancel classes that might be deemed too controversial, caused students to reconsider their activities in clubs, and in general, has cast a pall of uncertainty over the future of higher education in Florida.
“We’re holding our breath,” says Sergio Cartagena, a sophomore at Ucf.
- 1/12/2023
- by Jay Michaelson
- Rollingstone.com
Tucker Carlson has a type. He likes hardline nationalists who can cosplay anti-elitism while pretending they didn’t go to an Ivy, or have an heiress mother, or have the richest people in the country funding their campaign. He likes the kind of candidate who blends hateful nativism and a fear of the impending collapse of Western Civilization, with mockery of blue-haired, cat-owning coastal liberals.
Turns out Tucker’s type may not be super electable.
As Republicans scramble to find an explanation for their poor midterm showing, finger pointing abounds.
Turns out Tucker’s type may not be super electable.
As Republicans scramble to find an explanation for their poor midterm showing, finger pointing abounds.
- 11/12/2022
- by Nikki McCann Ramirez
- Rollingstone.com
It’s been years since the heyday of “Only Nineties Kids Will Remember” clickbait — the listicles that sent us back to a neon-flecked era of Power Rangers, CDs, Beanie Babies, and VHS tapes. But nostalgia dies hard, and now a Canadian man considered a leading intellectual in far-right media is trying to convince people that “woke” culture obliterated the happiness you once felt playing Nintendo 64.
Michael Young is a visiting fellow at the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank that exists to combat supposed threats to the nation...
Michael Young is a visiting fellow at the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank that exists to combat supposed threats to the nation...
- 10/21/2022
- by Miles Klee
- Rollingstone.com
It had been seven years since Last Week Tonight first devoted its main story to transgender rights. On Sunday, John Oliver celebrated the fact that more people now appear to feel comfortable coming out as trans, but he also acknowledged that “in the past few years some on the right have truly lost their minds about trans rights.”
And so the show focused on trans rights again. After showing some clips of smug Republican politicians and political operatives sarcastically telling audiences that their pronouns are things like “patriot,” “USA,” and “ass kicker,...
And so the show focused on trans rights again. After showing some clips of smug Republican politicians and political operatives sarcastically telling audiences that their pronouns are things like “patriot,” “USA,” and “ass kicker,...
- 10/17/2022
- by Ky Henderson
- Rollingstone.com
On May 5, two Florida state officials traveled to Orlando to meet with the leadership of Disney’s self-governing district. Two weeks earlier, Gov. Ron DeSantis had abolished the district in retaliation for Disney’s opposition to a law that restricts classroom instruction on LGBTQ identity – known to critics as “Don’t Say Gay.”
The two officials – one of them the chief deputy counsel in DeSantis’ office — went to figure out what the state was getting into. The leaders of the Reedy Creek Improvement District showed them a PowerPoint detailing their responsibilities for a 54-megawatt power plant, 65 miles of canals, various roads and pedestrian bridges, and a fire department that handles 35,000 calls a year, largely for heat-related illness, at the Disney theme parks.
With a stroke of a pen, DeSantis eliminated all of that without any roadmap for what would come next. The two state officials had not had time to come up with a plan,...
The two officials – one of them the chief deputy counsel in DeSantis’ office — went to figure out what the state was getting into. The leaders of the Reedy Creek Improvement District showed them a PowerPoint detailing their responsibilities for a 54-megawatt power plant, 65 miles of canals, various roads and pedestrian bridges, and a fire department that handles 35,000 calls a year, largely for heat-related illness, at the Disney theme parks.
With a stroke of a pen, DeSantis eliminated all of that without any roadmap for what would come next. The two state officials had not had time to come up with a plan,...
- 10/5/2022
- by Gene Maddaus
- Variety Film + TV
Of all the states in this great nation, Idaho is not exactly well-known for being a bastion of progressive sexual politics. And yet, last week the Gem State somehow, improbably, became the center of a right-wing moral panic, all focused on a claim that the government was funding sex-ed programs that teach something called “porn literacy” to eight-year-olds.
This claim started circulating last week, when the education director for the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a right-wing think tank, posted it on Twitter. “Idaho’s government offers ‘porn literacy’ to students, Planned...
This claim started circulating last week, when the education director for the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a right-wing think tank, posted it on Twitter. “Idaho’s government offers ‘porn literacy’ to students, Planned...
- 9/23/2022
- by EJ Dickson
- Rollingstone.com
The FBI has arrested a suspect in the bomb threat that was made at Boston Children’s Hospital last month, the agency announced on Thursday. Catherine Leavy of Westfield, Massachusetts, has been charged in a complaint with one count of “explosive materials – willfully making a false bomb threat.” Should she be convicted, the federal crime carries a prison sentence of up to five years.
In the days leading up to the arrest, right wing commentators including the Manhattan Institute’s Chris Rufo, The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, and Chaya Raichik...
In the days leading up to the arrest, right wing commentators including the Manhattan Institute’s Chris Rufo, The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, and Chaya Raichik...
- 9/15/2022
- by Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
Another day, another moral panic about Disney using cartoons to lure children down a path of sexual degeneracy.
In a turn of events that seems inevitable in hindsight, various right-wing trolls are speaking out against “Baymax!,” a new Disney+ series based on the inflatable robot from “Big Hero Six.” The spinoff follows the eponymous robot as he leaves his superhero life behind and returns to his normal job as a healthcare professional in San Fransokyo. Each of the six episodes sees him traveling to a different part of the city to help people with various ailments, providing plenty of life advice and companionship in the process.
The show was intended to be a wholesome vehicle to tell stories about healing people’s bodies and minds at the same time. Creator Don Hall has been open about the fact that it was inspired by vintage medical dramas featuring kind doctors who always solve their patients’ problems.
In a turn of events that seems inevitable in hindsight, various right-wing trolls are speaking out against “Baymax!,” a new Disney+ series based on the inflatable robot from “Big Hero Six.” The spinoff follows the eponymous robot as he leaves his superhero life behind and returns to his normal job as a healthcare professional in San Fransokyo. Each of the six episodes sees him traveling to a different part of the city to help people with various ailments, providing plenty of life advice and companionship in the process.
The show was intended to be a wholesome vehicle to tell stories about healing people’s bodies and minds at the same time. Creator Don Hall has been open about the fact that it was inspired by vintage medical dramas featuring kind doctors who always solve their patients’ problems.
- 7/1/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
To hear Angela Mann tell it, a paralysis has set in among Florida school counselors and psychologists since Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill last month. They wonder if sponsoring their schools’ Gay Straight Alliance means they’ll have to break their students’ confidences. They’re confused about whether they can assess suicide risk if a student comes to them in crisis, or if doing so runs afoul of new requirements to ask parental permission first. They’re afraid they’ll be harassed by activists...
- 4/24/2022
- by Kara Voght
- Rollingstone.com
“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” returned to kick off its ninth season on Sunday, and in John Oliver’s main segment of the night, he came for Texas Senator Ted Cruz first.
Really, the issue at hand was critical race theory. But, as Oliver argued, the issue has been politicized and weaponized by conservatives over the past year or so. As evidence, he played a series of clips of conservative parents and politicians railing against critical race theory, including one where Cruz called the concept “bigoted,” “a lie,” and “every bit as racist as the Klansman in white sheets.”
In response, Oliver rattled off a Dr. Seuss-like poem he wrote for the senator.
“I do not like that Ted Cruz man. I do not like him shouting Klan,” Oliver recited. “I do not like him in a room. I do not like him in Cancun. I do not like him playing ball.
Really, the issue at hand was critical race theory. But, as Oliver argued, the issue has been politicized and weaponized by conservatives over the past year or so. As evidence, he played a series of clips of conservative parents and politicians railing against critical race theory, including one where Cruz called the concept “bigoted,” “a lie,” and “every bit as racist as the Klansman in white sheets.”
In response, Oliver rattled off a Dr. Seuss-like poem he wrote for the senator.
“I do not like that Ted Cruz man. I do not like him shouting Klan,” Oliver recited. “I do not like him in a room. I do not like him in Cancun. I do not like him playing ball.
- 2/21/2022
- by Andi Ortiz
- The Wrap
Editor’s Note: Christopher Rufo and Keith Ochwat, like many documentary filmmakers, found a great story they hoped would find an audience and a distributor at a major festival. What they quickly discovered is that sans Oscar potential, a celebrity subject or a slam-dunk marketing hook, nonfiction filmmakers are responsible for finding their film’s unique audience themselves.
But what do you do once you’ve identified that niche audience? How do you make money?
Through trial and error — and a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit — the filmmaking duo behind “Age of Champions” made $1.5 million self-distributing their film. IndieWire recently asked Rufo and Ochwat how they did it, and we were pleasantly surprised that they wrote this clear-eyed essay, which includes real dollar amounts and some cold, hard business advice.
For years, filmmakers sent themselves on a unicorn hunt to “get distribution.” The idea was to sell all of your film’s...
But what do you do once you’ve identified that niche audience? How do you make money?
Through trial and error — and a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit — the filmmaking duo behind “Age of Champions” made $1.5 million self-distributing their film. IndieWire recently asked Rufo and Ochwat how they did it, and we were pleasantly surprised that they wrote this clear-eyed essay, which includes real dollar amounts and some cold, hard business advice.
For years, filmmakers sent themselves on a unicorn hunt to “get distribution.” The idea was to sell all of your film’s...
- 9/1/2016
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
How did "Age of Champions" succeed where countless other documentaries have failed? The film has been seen by more than three million viewers and has grossed over $1.2 million. Produced by Keith Ochwat and directed by Christopher Rufo, "Age of Champions" chronicles athletes who sprint, leap, and swim for gold at the National Senior Olympics. The film's main characters range from 63 to 100 years of age. "Age of Champions" premiered at Silver Docs to standing ovations in 2011. The filmmakers developed and began testing their distribution strategy in 2012 and did their major rollout in 2013. This featured a 20 state theatrical tour underwritten by Aarp, which generated substantial press coverage, including appearances on NPR, CNN and ABC. Read More: Attention, Filmmakers: Here's How Not to Negotiate a Distribution Deal Customized distribution strategyThe film was shown at many conference and corporate events. The filmmakers also...
- 5/8/2015
- by Peter Broderick
- Indiewire
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