AP News: Gaza is in ruins after Israel’s yearlong offensive. Rebuilding may take decades

https://apnews.com/scars-of-war-0000019256a2d640a5fef6ba634b0000

Thanks to Ali for supply the link again.  I checked the send email and it was there, so why it doesn’t show on WordPress I don’t understand.   Hugs.  

Let’s talk about the GOP refusing to work for disaster funding….

Even more violence and asshole stuff from the right.

 Trump has a long history of endorsing police violence, having said that police reaction to the racial unrest in response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020 “was a beautiful thing to watch.”

The former president, who risks jail time and more criminal trials if he loses, has expanded his range of baseless attacks on U.S. voting procedures in recent weeks and months. Trump falsely claimed Monday that Democrats are exploiting an overseas ballot program for expats and military members in order to circumvent “any citizenship check or verification of identity.”

Look at the projection in the next story.  Look the only end might be the clawing back some of the taxes owned to the public treasury from the wealthy people who constantly want more and more public funds only for themselves.  The only loss will be a white majority nation, and Elon Musk is a full out South African racist bigot.  Full out racist bigot.  He is not worried about voting, he is a white man.  He is worried brown / black people will get to vote.   He and tRump talk bad about Haitians and immigrants while hiring them on the cheap.   Hugs.  Scottie

David Pakman recently released a video of Donald Trump’s greatest cognitive hits and when seen in total is something to behold:

These maga gang thugs think they can get away with anything and that they don’t have to obey any laws or rules.   Hate rules their lives.  It may have been this guy who said he wrote the bill because he couldn’t stand that kids were coming out at school and being accepted by other students instead of targeted for abuse.  He wants LGBTQ+ kids to be scared to be themselves and to stay in the closet hiding from them straight cis bullies.   Hugs.  Scottie

Fine was in court due to a lawsuit involving a Brevard County election official. As I’ve said here before, he is probably the most obnoxious of all Florida lawmakers, which is really saying something.

He last appeared here when DeSantis vetoed funding for a “woke zoo” because it wouldn’t host a fundraiser for Fine.

Fine also appeared on JMG in May 2022 when he tweeted what many interpreted as a threat to assassinate President Biden. That tweet remains online.

Before that, Fine appeared on JMG when he called for felony charges after Florida Democrats staged a sit-in over the racist US House map submitted by DeSantis. 

And before that, he appeared here when he threatened to defund a Florida Special Olympics event and called a local school board member a “whore” because she’d been invited its fundraiser gala and he was not.

Fine was a sponsor of the bill that stripped Disney’s self-governing status. His family owns annual passes to the “woke” theme park giant.

In 2022, he arranged for a Florida town to honor a war criminal who was convicted of executing four Iraqi prisoners. In April 2023 he declared, “Damn right, we ought to erase” LGBTQs.

Fine is also a sponsor of Florida’s bill criminalizing drag shows in view of minors. Of note, his wife runs a self-described “sultry” burlesque show that would violate her husband’s law.

As you’ll see in the video report, Feldman demanded that the school display the black and white version of the “straight pride” flag seen below.

Hit the link for other already known examples of Trump withholding federal relief from blue states. Earlier this week Trump posted that Biden was withholding relief from “Republican areas” in North Carolina.

Popp is posting screenshots of the threats on the bakery’s Facebook page.

Bathrooms with a view: Cutting windows into student restrooms is a new level of weird

https://www.yorkdispatch.com/story/opinion/editorials/2024/10/02/bathrooms-with-a-view-cutting-windows-into-student-restrooms-is-a-new-level-of-weird/75479753007/

I bet the next election will be well attended and these people will lose their seats and new progressive inclusive people will win.  That is what has happened all over when the right bigots and haters snuck into school board seats, they go too far trying to erase the LGBTQ+ kids / people from existence, then they get kicked out.   Sadly by then the damage is done.  What they hell do they want people perving on kids in the bathrooms for?  To make the kids scared to use them and to make sure the weird kids are not doing weird gay stuff in them, right?    Hugs.  Scottie.

By the way.  We have a hurricane headed right at us.  It will be here Wednesday at around noon, but we have three days of wind and rain beforehand.  It will hit at a class three.  It is projected to hit just above us but could hit us directly.  We will be spending the next few days getting as much done as possible, stocking in cat food Ron forgot and getting more gas and propane for the generator.  It is unlikely that pole of ours will survive another storm as it is already leaning hard.  Repair crews are already stretched thin in other areas so won’t be able to come rescue us in our time of need.  Going to be a very long few months.  Hugs.  Scottie

YORK DISPATCH EDITORIAL BOARD
York Dispatch
 
 

At the risk of stating the obvious, South Western’s elected school board is making some strange decisions.

For the last two years, they’ve fixated on which bathrooms LGBTQ+ kids use. In 2023, officials in this Hanover-area district played musical chairs with school bathrooms in a misguided attempt to appease the loudest bigots among them — ending up with five different types of bathrooms.

After a low-turnout school board election in which several far-right members joined their ranks, they hired a Christian law firm, decided to begin banning books and reopened the bathroom issue. Board President Matthew Gelazela, who was elevated to his post after previously serving as the board’s most vocal bomb-thrower, pointed to Red Lion’s discriminatory policies as something to aspire to.

UPDATE:Amid parent complaints and national scrutiny, South Western School District boards up bathroom windows

Now, upon the advice of that law firm — the Harrisburg-based Independence Law Center — the board approved spending $8,700 to cut windows so passersby can look into the so-called “gender-identity” student bathrooms.

Yes, you read that correctly.

These adults want to make it easier for other people to watch your children while they’re in the bathroom. It’s absolutely mind-boggling.

For more than a year, South Western School Board officials have grappled with how LGBTQ+ students use the bathroom. Most recently, school officials cut windows into Emory H. Markle Middle School's gender neutral restrooms, allowing anyone passing by to peer inside.

For more than a year, South Western School Board officials have grappled with how LGBTQ+ students use the bathroom. Most recently, school officials cut windows into Emory H. Markle Middle School's gender neutral restrooms, allowing anyone passing by to peer inside.
 

Gelazela, who’s steadfastly refused to explain the logic here, said in a public meeting that the windows help “[add] privacy in the toilet facility” and that they “increase oversight of the wash area.”

There’s a reason public restrooms tend not to have windows — or, if they do, they have frosted glass.

No one wants to be spied on when they’re relieving themselves.

Gelazela, in pursuing his book ban, repeatedly said he’s trying to protect the children.

But this latest decision does just the opposite.

More:Parents question school that cut windows into student bathrooms amid anti-LGBTQ+ push

More:‘Our politics can be done with a sense of joy,’ Tim Walz tells York crowd

The parents who spoke to The York Dispatch about the latest bathroom renovations said their children no longer feel comfortable using these bathrooms. One of the parents went to the principal and asked for an exemption to allow her son to use a different bathroom further away from class.

Her 13-year-old doesn’t want to be spied on while he’s in the bathroom.

And we don’t blame him.

It’s creepy and weird.

And let’s not ignore the bigger picture: This is happening at a time when this and other York County school boards are pushing policies that would restrict what books students read, what sports teams they compete on and even which pronouns they use.

All of this is part of an attempt to erase LGBTQ+ people.

Cutting a window into these bathrooms is an intimidation tactic designed to make sure students who use the so-called “gender-identity” facilities — and, let’s be honest, any student who doesn’t fit neatly into the worldview of the school board’s far-right majority — know they’re being watched, controlled and judged.

In their quest to punish LGBTQ+ kids, however, the misguided “adults” on this South Western School Board are doing the things they accuse others of doing.

This is an invasion of privacy and a waste of taxpayer dollars.

It needs to stop.

This Mite-y Beetle Buries the Dead to Start a Family | Deep Look

Insects called burying beetles haul mouse carcasses down into the dirt and prep them to feed their future offspring. Also known as carrion beetles, they have some stiff competition … and some help from tiny traveling mites.

Federal judge dismisses Denver parent’s lawsuit seeking to put ‘straight pride’ flag in classrooms

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/courts/federal-judge-dismisses-denver-parents-lawsuit-seeking-straight-pride-flag-display/article_2c351eb4-7ee3-11ef-a4c4-3f644b322a60.html

The display of LGBTQ pride flags at the plaintiff’s children’s school is government speech not regulated by the First Amendment

Denver Public Schools hoping to return 'as close to full strength as possible' after spring break

Denver Public Schools

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from a Denver Public Schools parent who sought to force the district to honor his request to display “straight pride” flags in his children’s classrooms.

Nathan Feldman brought suit on behalf of himself and his two children, alleging discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment stemming from DPS declining to add a straight pride flag in his children’s classrooms alongside displays of LGBTQ pride flags.

In a June 26 order, U.S. District Court Judge Regina M. Rodriguez determined the pride flags amounted to the government’s own speech, which the First Amendment does not regulate. Therefore, a decision by DPS not to display a flag did not violate Feldman’s rights.

 

“DPS policy reflects careful consideration about what views can be expressed and that any expressions must reflect DPS’s policy of equality and inclusion. Accordingly, the Court finds that DPS has maintained control over the flag displays,” wrote Rodriguez, an appointee of President Joe Biden.

Feldman filed suit after school administrators allegedly allowed “non-binary and non-cisgender students to have flags displayed that represent their genders but not allowing Plaintiffs to have flags displayed that represent their genders.” He asked for damages of at least $3 million and for an order allowing him to display the straight pride flag.

Straight pride flag

A “straight pride” flag. Source: Feldman et al. v. Denver Public Schools et al.

DPS, in moving to dismiss the lawsuit, noted Feldman’s allegations were contradictory, as he simultaneously asserted “each” classroom at Slavens School had a pride flag and that “not all teachers displayed these flags.” Nonetheless, the district argued the display of flags constituted government speech, as DPS policy endorsed the use of LGBTQ pride flags as “symbols consistent with the District’s equity-based curriculum.”

“Plaintiffs assert that passing a resolution recognizing LGBTQIA+ students or staff without providing equal recognition to those who don’t so identify is an actionable distinction. Not so,” wrote the district’s attorneys.

Feldman responded that individual teachers at his children’s school made the decision to display pride flags. Therefore, DPS was not in control of the displays and they did not constitute the government’s own speech.

In August, U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak recommended that Feldman’s claims be dismissed. He cited a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving Boston’s practice of allowing private entities to fly flags outside city hall. The court did not find such circumstances amounted to speech by the government.

 

However, wrote then-Justice Stephen G. Breyer, “when the government speaks for itself, the First Amendment does not demand airtime for all views.”

“Here, DPS selected the Pride Flag, and not Plaintiffs’ Flag, as representing the message that DPS wished to convey,” Varholak wrote in deeming the flag displays governmental expression. “Conversely, there is no allegation that DPS had a history of accepting for display other flags submitted by the public.”

Pridefest Parade

In this 2018 file photo, a supporters of the LGBTQ community fly a Pride flag in the Colorado Springs PrideFest Parade.

As for Feldman’s sex discrimination and equal protection claims, Varholak noted that unless there are allegations of unequal treatment, there is no legal claim based on the absence of a flag representing cisgender, heterosexual students.

“Plaintiffs plainly disagree with DPS’s selected messaging, and phrase this disagreement in constitutional terms,” he concluded, “but ultimately fail to allege any injury except exposure to a flag that they do not feel represented by.”

Feldman objected to portions of Varholak’s analysis, but Rodriguez, the district judge, concluded Feldman was either raising new arguments for the first time or had failed to show why Varholak was mistaken.

To the claim that displaying a flag is discriminatory when it repesents a different group’s sexual orientation or gender identity, “Plaintiffs offer no legal support for their argument,” she wrote, “and the Court finds none.” 

Attorneys for both parties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Feldman et al. v. Denver Public Schools et al.

VP Debate: Who Lied The Whole Time? Take A Wild Guess!

Let’s break down the lies and fact-check the “slickest” liar of them all?

THE GUARDIAN: Donald Trump’s foul-mouthed migrant rant captured in private pitch to donors

Donald Trump’s foul-mouthed migrant rant captured in private pitch to donors
Republican nominee claims Harris is threat to democracy in recording of top-dollar fundraiser in Colorado in August

Read in The Guardian: https://apple.news/AOABTiZ2cT4u0R5WmR4T69A

Shared from Apple News

Best Wishes and Hugs,Scottie

THE GUARDIAN: Opinion | What atrocity would Israel have to commit for our leaders to break their silence?

Opinion | What atrocity would Israel have to commit for our leaders to break their silence?
To avenge 7 October, crimes of all kinds are condoned. But politicians should take note: the British public disagrees, says Guardian columnist Owen Jones

Read in The Guardian: https://apple.news/Avz8ipUjPTQGX54hCBmIPvw

Shared from Apple News

Best Wishes and Hugs,Scottie

HUFFPOST: Diner Flat-Out Tells ‘Fox & Friends’ That JD Vance ‘Lied’ During ‘Entire’ Debate

Diner Flat-Out Tells ‘Fox & Friends’ That JD Vance ‘Lied’ During ‘Entire’ Debate
The Fox News morning show probably didn’t see that coming.

Read in HuffPost: https://apple.news/A9nmdJti1RZaOE2crtO4JkQ

Shared from Apple News

Best Wishes and Hugs,Scottie