Friday Open Thread

Yesterday was National S'Mores Day and yes to those (but no outside fires, please).

In yet another sign of idiocy, the Trump administration wants to cut funding for programs designed to lower the number of teens getting pregnant.

Even before the budget is voted on, the Health and Human Services Department is curtailing the projects, which it funds through grants of $89 million a year to 81 organizations. As reported last month, officials told all the groups their pregnancy prevention grants would end in June 2018, two years early. 

Health commissioners from 20 large cities are protesting, writing to Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, that cutting funding “will not only reverse historic gains made in the U.S. in reducing teen pregnancy rates, but also make it difficult to truly understand what practices are most effective.”

Still, Ms. Huber, whom the department declined to make available for an interview, wrote in an opinion piece in March that the best message for young people was “to avoid the risks of teen sex, not merely reduce them.” She described the Obama administration’s approach as one “that has been alternatively named teen pregnancy prevention or so-called comprehensive sex education, but which typically normalizes teen sex.”

Apparently Ms Huber was never a teenager nor knew any of them.  Realistic thinking about teens and sex is what will work, not just saying "don't do it." 

Bravo to Taylor Swift - after getting groped by a radio DJ at a fan photo session, she's testifying in his case against her (saying she got him fired). 

Mr. McFarland turned attention to her behavior, asking why she had not reacted immediately and instead waited until she had greeted others from the line before making her complaint. She said she did not want to ruin the evening for her fans and that, stunned, she had almost gone on autopilot as Mr. Mueller left.

I absolutely recognize this reaction. I think for most young women a public physical act comes as such a shock that you don't react immediately.  Swift also got this line in:

When Mr. McFarland asked whether Mr. Mueller had groped her more than once, she responded: “Other than grabbing my ass against my will, underneath my skirt, and refusing to let go, he did not otherwise touch me inappropriately.”

Zing!

What's on your mind?