Archives for the month of: May, 2026

Tennessee: Death Penalty for Women Who Have an Abortion?

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2026 //
10

This is insanity. Two Republican legislators in Tennessee introduced a bill to treat abortion as homicide.

There are moments in history when legislation stops being merely controversial and becomes openly barbaric. Tennessee’s House Bill 570 is one of those moments. Proposed by two Republican lawmakers, this bill seeks to classify abortion as homicide punishable by life imprisonment, life without parole, or even the death penalty. There are no exceptions for rape. There are no exceptions for incest. There are no exceptions for the health of the mother. This is not a policy debate. This is a war on women, and it is being waged in broad daylight.
But Tennessee is not an outlier. It is a preview.

The good news is that the Republican-dominated legislature killed the proposal. They would not go along with the insane idea that a woman should spend her life in prison or get the death penalty as punishment for an abortion.

A Tennessee House committee rejected an anti-abortion bill Tuesday that would have criminalized women for seeking abortion procedures, potentially allowing them to be charged with murder.

The bill failed for lack of support and didn’t come to a vote in the Population Health Subcommittee, leading supporters to sing hymns and protest in the Cordell Hull Legislative Building…

Groups such as End Abortion Now and the Foundation to Abolish Abortion that supported Barrett’s bill blasted the Republican supermajority legislature for claiming to be “pro-life” but refusing to support the legislation. They expect to revive the bill in 2027.. 

Categories Cruelty, Ethics, Extremism, Gender, Medicine

How a Real Emergency Room Doctor Makes “The Pitt” Accurate and Real

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2026 //
1

In this post, Dr. Jeremy Faust interviews Dr. Joe Sachs, executive producer of the popular television series “The Pitt.” Both Dr. Faust and Dr. Sachs are emergency room physicians.

The show is an hour-by-hour depiction of life in an emergency room in Pittsburgh. Every hour brings new emergencies, new crises. The viewer sees doctors teaching resident doctors and making crucial decisions in an instant. If they make a mistake, the patient may die. Not every story has a happy ending.

As a viewer, you see patients who worry how they can afford the medical care; you see patients die; you see ICE agents bring in a woman who is injured, but whose very presence terrifies patients and staff. you see patients who are cooperative but also patients who are drunk and aggressive.

You see the staff acting and reacting in a situation that is always stressful. Some thrive on the stress. Others don’t.

This interview is really wonderful as an inside view about how the show was made. Many doctors and nurses are on set to make sure that their acting counterparts are doing what they would do. Every word in the script is reviewed by doctors.

Because I enjoy the program, I enjoyed the interview. I think you will too.

Categories Media, Medicine

Secretary of Energy’s Former Company Made Huge Profits, Paid No Taxes

By dianeravitch
May 1, 2026 //
1

Finished paying your taxes? I bet you didn’t do as well as Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. Politico reported that the company founded made huge profits and paid no taxes. In fact, his company got a refund! It’s Trump tax policy at work for the 1%.

Politico wrote:

The company founded and formerly run by Energy Secretary Chris Wright paid no federal corporate income taxes last year, according to its regulatory filings, and actually got more than $10 million back from the IRS.

Liberty Energy, the oil field services company Wright founded in 2011 but left last year to join the Trump administration, was among several energy companies included in a report issued Tuesday by the nonpartisan Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy naming 88 companies that together made more than $105 billion before taxes last year but paid no federal corporate income taxes.

Liberty recorded net income before taxes of $193 million last year but received more than $10 million back in tax benefits, according to its latest annual financial disclosure. The company paid $33 million in federal taxes for the 2024 tax year after making a net income of $403 million before taxes.

Categories Environment, Ethics, For-Profit, Trump