Today we’re going to talk about the Gender Critical movement, why their views on science and social issues are wrong, and what the real problems are that we should all be concerned about. Spoiler alert, violent hate crimes and discrimination are more important than guessing people’s chromosomes.
A group of Texas Republican legislators sent a letter to one of the biggest law firms in the U.S. threatening the company and its lawyers with disbarment and prosecution if they facilitate abortions, even outside of Texas, according to a report. The letter says the 11 members of the Texas Freedom Caucus have become aware of Sidley Austin “reimbursing travel costs of employees who leave Texas to murder their unborn children.”
Rep. Mayes Middleton, the Chair of the Caucus who signed the letter, warns Sidley Austin abortion is a felony in Texas unless the mother’s life is in danger. Middleton notes the law covers “drug-induced abortions if any part of the drug regimen is ingested in Texas, even if the drugs were dispensed by an out-of-state abortionist.” Middleton threatens, if Sidley Austin violates the law, the firm and all of the partners will be subject to criminal prosecution and disbarment.
A group of Texas Republican legislators sent a letter to one of the biggest law firms in the U.S. threatening the company and its lawyers with disbarment and prosecution if they facilitate abortions, even outside of Texas.https://t.co/KCKJnwULNj
Given that the vast majority of Americans are in favor of abortion rights, abortion rights need to be a “front and center” issue in Democratic campaign ads leading up to the November elections.
Are you a woman? Are you going to vote for a political party that doesn’t trust you with regard to your personal decisions? A party that doesn’t want you to have freedom to control what you do with your body?
And the anti-Semitic/fascist fringe has gone all in for Mastriano. One of his major consultants is Gab CEO Andrew Torba, who stated that non-Christians are not welcome in their campaign, and even stated that right-wing Jewish commentators like Ben Shapiro and Dave Rubin are not welcome “unless you repent and renounce your Jewish faith”. Gab is a neo-Nazi site which helped inspire the Tree of Life mass shooting in Pittsburgh.
I appreciate your optimism, Ross. Wish I could share in it but I’m not quite there. Perhaps the Roe decision will in fact help the Democrats in November. Perhaps.
I’m pinning my hopes on some sort of mega-bombshell coming out of the 1/6 Committee. Something really really big that totally occupies the airwaves and sends the Rethugs running.
Imo something like that is our best hope of preventing the seditionists from winning back control of the House.
But it may not matter. SCOTUS looks likely to allow states to throw out election results they don’t like without having to prove fraud or whatever BS excuse they are using. Just a vote in the legislature would be enough. That on top of voter suppression efforts (we ain’t seen nothin’ yet!) will mean that the majority’s opinion doesn’t matter.
Its all about creative semantics. Oh, that money is not for an abortion, its for the excellent work that she does for the firm. She has the best penmanship that we have ever seen. In fact, we are sending her to our Chicago office for 3 months to show them how pretty she can write.
They can say “Due to HIPPA laws, we are not allowed to ask why our employees had medication or medial procedures. Also, due to HIPPA laws, you can’t ask a woman or her out-of-state doctor what medical procedures were done [legally] out of state.
I heard someone comment that women at these type of white-collar companies won’t really use this benefit, because they don’t really want to let their employer know they had an abortion. It’s really lower-income people who need the benefit. But is a nice benefit to offer to signal employees that they support their rights.
“We decided she could really use a nice long weekend retreat” – hell, the gop has tons of vague phrases they’ve used for decades to get abortions for mistresses without admitting to it, I’m sure there’s a cheat sheet that can be copied…
Rachel Maddow looks at the racist, antisemitic roots of “Christian nationalism” as advocated by American politician Gerald L.K. Smith in the 1950s, and the renewed embrace of the tenets of that disgraced movement by supporters of Donald Trump like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Republican candidate for Pennsylvania governor Doug Mastriano.
Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) on Monday announced he is opposed to federal legislation that would protect the right to same-sex marriage, joining Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in speaking out against a bill passed by the House last week.
Daines, the junior senator for Montana, said in a statement he believes “marriage is between a man and a woman” and the push to pass the Respect for Marriage Act is a ploy from Democrats and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“I’m opposed to this bill and believe it’s another attempt by Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats to distract the American people from the inflation crisis, energy crisis and the southern border crisis they’ve created,” Daines said.
Daines last appeared on JMG when he wondered “why we protect sea turtle eggs under the law but not human baby eggs.”
In May 2022, he was among five GOP Senators who authored a letter demanding that the FCC create a method for parents to block television shows that feature LGBTQ characters.
Last year, Daines lamented that Montana’s homemade meth industry has been taken over by Mexican cartels.
Really important for reporters to point out that this bill does not only protect same-sex marriage, but interracial marriage as well (which Senator Daines colleague Mike Braun recently called into question!) https://t.co/3h7XHPtOT0
“I’m opposed to this bill and believe it’s another attempt by Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats to distract the American people from the inflation crisis, energy crisis and the southern border crisis they’ve created,” Daines said.
Gosh Sparklepants, where’s the legislation from your side to do something about inflation, energy or the border?
Oh, no, you misunderstand. He just brings those issues up because he wants to blame Biden and policies from the Democrats for them. His idea of “doing something about” those issues would be to defeat Democrats and put the Rethuglicans completely in charge. THEN things would get done!
Nobody expected Daines to be on our side, but consider his statement to be the first shot in the pressure campaign launched by NOM and Tony Perkins over the weekend.
““marriage is between a man and a woman”” Until such time as he finds a younger, hotter woman or his wife is dying of cancer. In which case, it’s one marriage at a time.
More Christian Nationalism. He’s trying to force those who don’t subscribe to his religious beliefs to live under them. These people don’t believe in freedom, but rather religious tyranny.
Its a distraction from Nancy Pelosi so we arent thinking about inflation. Didnt nancy put a bill together to do something about gas prices/inflation that got filibustered in this dude’s chamber BY REPUBLICANS???
This is what we face. Right wing media simply claims same sex marriages cannot be a thing, and it goes along with red states use don’t say gay laws. They want to erase the public acceptance LGBTQ+ people have worked hard to get. As I said before marriage is a legal contract between people and confers state and federal legal benefits. What words mean changes over time and can be broadened when needed. Marriage is not owned by religion. Why do these people work so hard to destroy the rights of the LGBTQ+ that doesn’t affect them in anyway? They are kids crossing their arms and stomping their feet saying they don’t like it. Hugs
“What I suspect it is is that Marco Rubio doesn’t think that gay marriage is real. I think Marco Rubio believes that marriage is between a man and a woman and that there is no such thing as same-sex marriage.
“It’s just that Pete Buttigieg isn’t really married. And it’s hard — I know it’s hard to say that in our politically correct culture. But it’s not because two guys can’t be married to each other.
“Marriage is the union of a man to his wife. A perpetual union of a man to his wife for the sake of the generation and the education of children. That’s what it is. And that’s not possible between two men and two women.
“Marriage essentially has sexual difference at the heart of it. And so, if we call things that don’t have that marriage, we don’t expand marriage, we just get rid of marriage.
“If Pete Buttigieg and Chasten can be married, then marriage has no concrete meaning.” – Daily Wire host Michael Knowles, who also co-hosts Ted Cruz’s podcast.
There is no Constitutional "right" for two men or two women to marry one another; the founders would have died laughing. There is no moral "right" to government approval for whatever sexual relationships you form. That doesn't mean a legal bar to such activity. https://t.co/ea773HWOsO
The “founders” would’ve been shocked that we did away with slavery, after going to war over it.
They would’ve been shocked to learn women were granted the right to vote, along with non-white men.
They’d have been shocked to discover we now not only had a permanent standing army, but it receives the lion’s share of the discretionary federal budget.
They’d have been shocked to find out we have rifles which can fire dozens of rounds a minute and are capable of literally shredding the human body. (And that we did not ban them for civilian possession and use.)
And they would have been completely flabbergasted to hear that we had an unfit and manifestly unqualified criminal President who launched a violent coup and threatened the lives of his Vice President and members of Congress so he could stay in power after losing his reelection—and we didn’t immediately arrest and imprison the treasonous, seditious motherfucker.
And they never stopped believing those things. Did people think that just because they lost in Windsor and Obergefell that they would just give up and quit. They didn’t give up on overturning Roe and they won’t give up on overturning gay marriage either. They never give up. It’s the lesson the left never seems to learn. You don’t win your rights and then you can stop fighting. You win your rights and you have to keep fighting for them so long as there’s any opposition and at least in my lifetime there always will be.
I’m surprised he didn’t mention marriage was divinely inspired. As well, using his argument that marriage is for the procreation of children would mean that all those married heterosexual couples that either can’t or have chosen not to have children aren’t married either.
So straight marriages that have no kids are not real either. I want to punch this guy. I’m pretty sure that’s not the right thing. Don’t like the second class, third rate status we enjoy.
Yes, those of us who have been involved with the marriage-equality fight have heard all these idiotic arguments 1000 times (and they’ve been shot down 1000 times), yet the bigots always think they’re the first to come up with them.
I still argue with people about this. They claim we aren’t “really” married. I say, it doens’t matter what you think — we are LEGALLY married. You don’t have to believe it’s valid, or like it, or approve of it. And if we are not REALLY married, then why are you trying so hard to ban something that doenst’ exist? That always stumps them.
Marriage is what the state says. Windsor proved the IRS and DOMA could not override state laws about inheritance. Obergefell expanded on this to say that if DOMA could not restrict the IRS, then “full faith and credit” required states to respect same-sex marriages, which should thus be available everywhere.
No religious leader informally deputized to act as an officiant or witness to legal marriages is required to marry people he or she does not want to marry.
What the fuck? Can I get $10,000 for securing my home also? Especially since the republicans are enraging their cult like base to hate the LGBTQ+. Most of them are wealthy, some are very wealthy. Most of them live in gated walled compounds with private security. They have a private police force at work, but the public wonders if they will face a mass shooter at their job. They couldn’t raise minimum wage for the workers, they couldn’t pass bills to lower the public’s costs for medications, they could help the people at all, but they can give themselves more money every time. I am tired of the congress we have where they have disdain for the public they are supposed to be working for and yet think they are above all others. Hugs
House Sergeant at Arms William Walker plans to offer lawmakers thousands of dollars to safeguard their homes at a time when a growing number of members have received threats.
Congressional members and staff were sent a letter announcing the residential security program, an initiative that will pay for up to $10,000 worth of expenses for security equipment such as cameras, video recorders, door locks, and motion sensors at representative’s personal residences.
The program is set to begin on Aug. 15 and will also cover fixed-rate monthly monitoring and maintenance fees up to $150 a month for members.
It’s being reported that the House Sergeant at Arms is creating a new residential security program where Members of Congress will receive $10k to secure their residences.
So, can I buy more AR-15s to secure my residence with this?
Worse, we’re scapegoats. We ARE the target. Trans people and immigrants have had it the worst, but they were never going to stop there, and anyone who thought they would is a delusional assclown. Our rights, and even our very lives, aren’t safe. Already they’re looking for ways to overturn Lawrence and threaten us with jail unless we closet ourselves again.
Man it sure upset someone when people point out that congress is doing little to nothing to protect the average person but spending a great deal of money to protect thesmelves.
Right… Now we have to weat kevlar vests, bullet proof back packs and install safety glass in our windows instead of arresting threat makers or making firearms illegal. It’s our own personal arms race.
What’s amusing is most MAGAt congressmen will use the 10 grand for protection, but they’ll say it’s because of those filthy liberals, but really it’ll be because they didn’t tow the line 100% for trump
Radical Right Republicans held another set of rallies over the weekend, presenting to us all the absolute worst that the Ultra-MAGA movement can provide. Meidas Contributor Texas Paul reacts to the nonsense.
This is the new talking point to delay or get out of answering on the new law to protect marriage equality. First they deny there is a threat to same sex marriage saying it is settled law. That was the code words they used with Roe and we see what happened with that right. Next they say it is a messaging bill, which in some respects it is. It tells same sex couples that the Democrats and the country support their marriages and will put them in law to protect them. The message the republicans are trying not to send is that they are against the marriage equality because they don’t want to piss off the gays that vote for them and the big money gays that donate to them. Also this is a case of something that is good for an elite lawmaker but not for the public. They can do it but make laws against you doing it. I hate that. Hugs
The gay son of Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., got married on Friday. A few days earlier, his father voted against the Respect for Marriage Act.
Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference at the Capitol Hill Club on Dec. 1, 2021.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
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By Zachary Schermele
A Republican lawmaker attended his gay son’s wedding just three days after joining the majority of his GOP colleagues in voting against a House bill that would codify federal protections for same-sex marriage.
The gay son of Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., confirmed to NBC News on Monday that he “married the love of [his] life” on Friday and that his “father was there.” NBC News is not publishing the names of the grooms, neither of whom is a public figure.
Thompson’s press secretary, Maddison Stone, also confirmed the congressman was in attendance.
“Congressman and Mrs. Thompson were thrilled to attend and celebrate their son’s marriage on Friday night as he began this new chapter in his life,” Stone said in an email, adding that the Thompsons are “very happy” to welcome their new son-in-law “into their family.”
Gawker was the first to report on the nuptials in an article published Thursday, the day before the ceremony, though it was not reported whether the lawmaker would attend.
In an email last week to the local newspaper Centre Daily, Stone called the Respect for Marriage Act “nothing more than an election-year messaging stunt for Democrats in Congress who have failed to address historic inflation and out of control prices at gas pumps and grocery stores.”
Thompson, who represents the state’s 15th congressional district, was one of 157 House Republicans who voted against the bill on Tuesday. However, 47 of his GOP colleagues joined Democrats to pass the bipartisan measure following fears that existing same-sex marriage protections could be in the crosshairs of the conservative-leaning Supreme Court.
The Respect for Marriage Act is now being considered by the Senate, where 10 GOP lawmakers must join all 50 Democrats to send the legislation to the desk of President Joe Biden. One of five Republican senators who has already confirmed a yes vote on the bill is Rob Portman of Ohio, who declared his support for same-sex marriage in 2013 after his son came out as gay.
The bill comes at a time when 71% of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, supports same-sex marriage, according to a Gallup poll last month.
GOP congressman who voted against a House bill that would codify same-sex marriage protections attended his gay son’s wedding over the weekend.https://t.co/wdKLTHPqEm
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