Today at Ms. | December 17, 2025 |
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With Today at Ms.—a daily newsletter from the team here at Ms. magazine—our top stories are delivered straight to your inbox every afternoon, so you’ll be informed and ready to fight back. |
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(Courtesy of Abbott’s press office) |
By Katie Serrano | Texas has officially launched a partnership with Turning Point USA—an organization that advocates for far-right, conservative politics co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk—to create chapters on every high school and college campus in the state.
But petitions calling for the removal of Turning Point chapters in public schools across the country have emerged, and higher education faculty in Texas are facing harassment thanks to the organization’s watchlist targeting instructors it claims have views contrary to Turning Point’s.
Although conservatives praise TPUSA as a champion of free speech, critics say that the group not only targets LGBTQ+ people, women, people of color and educators, but that Abbott and Patrick are focusing on the wrong issues.
“Do you know what I’d like to see on every high school campus in Texas? Water fountains without lead in them. Qualified, certified teachers in every classroom. Gun safety measures that would make sure our kids came home at the end of the day,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers. “Instead, the governor and lieutenant governor are directing their resources and the entire state apparatus to put their fingers on the scale for one organization while fighting tooth and nail to keep others off campus.”
“Gov. Abbott praises clubs like these as champions of ‘religious freedom’ and ‘free speech,’ yet in the same breath, he targets student groups he disagrees with,” said Felicia Martin, executive director of the Texas Freedom Network.
(Click here to read more) |
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By Bonnie Thornton Dill | Bonnie Thornton Dill on the enduring power of Ms. magazine:
“Opening minds and eyes is what Ms. is about, and there has been no time when Ms. is more needed than it is today. …
“While major media outlets rarely, if ever, report on violence to abortion clinics and abortion providers … Ms. keeps a constant tab and a laser focus on that sort of violence, including how the deadly violence that targeted lawmakers in Minnesota was the result of antiabortion extremism. …
And what national media outlet is tracking the administration’s attacks on women and gender studies programs?”
(Click here to read more) |
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(Bing Guan / AFP via Getty Images) |
By Dara Kass | The text, from a fellow ER doctor and former Brown University faculty member, arrived at 4:27 p.m. on Saturday: “Active shooter near Brown engineering building? Is Hannah ok?” Within seconds, I looked on my phone for my daughter’s location—she was on campus in Friedman Hall. I texted her. It was real. There was an active shooter. She was hiding in a bathroom with her four best friends. For the next 24 hours, I lived every parent’s nightmare while learning hard lessons about a reality even I was not trained for.
As an emergency medicine physician with over 20 years of experience, I’ve operated from positions of information and authority in mass casualties before. This weekend, I had neither. I was simply a mother trying to keep my daughter safe from 150 miles away, armed only with a phone and whatever guidance I could piece together. I want to share what I learned, because on Saturday, thousands of students were in lockdown texting their anxious parents, and I realized how unprepared we are for this side of the experience.
(Click here to read more) |
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| Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on
Apple Podcasts + Spotify.
In July, the Justice Department released a controversial report about Jeffrey Epstein. Now with the release of over 23,000 files associated with Epstein, questions are being raised about the scope and scale of this sex trafficking ring and its connections to power. The House Oversight Committee has yet to hear testimony from Epstein survivors, despite urging by Rep. Ayanna Presley and others. In this episode, Dr. Goodwin is joined by journalist Moira Donegan to discuss the implications of the files, and what needs to be done in order for his victims to receive justice.
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