Daily cartoon / meme roundup: Be a Betty White. She fought for equality and other people in a time when very few would.

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Scottie’s world today

Got old fastyou think someone in charge screwe up

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The Buckets Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

For Better or For Worse Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

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we won nothing for the public

Don’t we wish we could.  Scottie

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The filibuster is going. Voting Rights are coming.

McConnell will say anything because conservatives could not care less about consistent GOP values or ethics.

Also, none of Trump’s SCOTUS nominees could ever get 60 Senate votes like all other Presidents had to achieve.

Walt Handelsman Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Jack Ohman Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

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rehearsing for jan 6th tRump

https://twitter.com/duffyink/status/1478465436496838658?s=20

hannity letter page 1hannity letter page 2hannity letter page 3

smoking gun safe jan 6th

Robert Ariail Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Jeff Stahler Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Political Cartoon.

happy jan 6th traitor arnold

Drew Sheneman Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

hanging on to trump tie

The above cartoon is interactive identifying the people pictured and what they did.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2022/ann-telnaes-jan-6-capitol-cartoon/?itid=ap_anntelnaes

Clay Jones Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Chris Britt Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

face mask marge greene

Steve Benson Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

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A guilty conscience needs no accuser. These racists feel uncomfortable for a reason.

The Knight Life Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Jen Sorensen Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

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Idiot anti-vaxxers add a massive burden to our health care system. They don’t care how abusive they are to nurses and doctors.

Funny how they believe in science/medicine when their rhetoric leaves them for dead.

Because so many are denying the virus and the public safety measures are sending their kids to school with the virus the situation changes daily, sometimes hour by hour.    The disruption is hard on kids and families.   If we are not going to increase the funding to have large areas where the kids can spread out and be together safely then we need to go back to full time remote learning.   It can be done and needs to be done.   We simply have to pay for caregivers to watch over their children or a group of children spaced out properly.   It is all about the priorities the US has.    Scottie

Breakfast club back to school virus

New virus 2022

don't look up antivax

John Deering Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Bowl games covid

Doonesbury Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

Doonesbury Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Doonesbury Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

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End their tax-free status!

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Elon Musk will blame his failures on everyone except himself.

diplomat parking tickets

ViewsAmerica Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

ViewsAsia Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

https://twitter.com/duffyink/status/1478466519705268236?s=20

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Misleading right wing media cartoons / memes

This is pure made up misinformation.    This is the same party that blamed Biden for not getting more Afghans out when we left.  The border is secure, the US is not being over run by brown people.   The brown people are already here and they are collectively the majority of the country or will soon be.   It is normal and OK.   This country has whole towns dying because the people are moving away, but now this is the perfect time to reinvigorate these towns with new people.   With work from home and other measures jobs can return.   Kids will be stay instead of moving away.   People this large country is not full.   Scottie

Same response as the cartoon below.  Scottie

Don’t you love right wing misinformation propagandist like Rivers?   The Republicans are the ones who tried to scramble our Democracy on Jan 6th.   The Republicans did the insurrection, the riot at the capital on Jan 6th.   They did not succeed in getting their way and keeping power, this time.    So they implemented more destruction to democracy by enacting voter restrictions and gerrymandering to keep the other party voters from using their right to vote.  How anyone even the right can see the above cartoon and not realize how backwards it is confounds me.   Scottie

Same response as below.  Scottie

Oh the fickle right.    Remember when they did not want testing.   In Florida they still don’t.  They don’t want anyone to know we have Coronavirus in Florida, so they can get those tourist to come here.    They want cruise ships to stop testing and just go with sick people.   Florida and those places with Republican governors want the system back to the way it was before Covid so the money flows for them.   The wealthy donors are not getting as much profit and they want that.   The Governors shut off unemployment to force poor workers to return to virus infected work places at the same time they passed laws giving companies immunity if a worker catch Covid working for them.   The point is our lives and the money we would have to pay if hospitalized do not matter to the wealthy Republicans.   To the Republican leaders like DeathSantis you are nothing but a clog, a gear to be used and when ground down too much then thrown away.   Life doesn’t have to be this way.   The people should expect more. 

But to the tests and why we are having a shortage I already addressed this.   People attended gatherings during the last two holidays.   A lot of tests were used at the parties and even a lot more after as people tried to figure out if they were safe at these parties and after.   Many found out they were positive when tested requiring more testing.   The businesses that want to open at full capacity need tests to do so.   They are buying a lot of the supply.   Because the suppliers were not prepared for a huge increase it will take them a while to catch up but in the meanwhile they are loving the increased profit.   Think of the toilet paper shortage, it was not that toilet paper was not being made, it was that people suddenly started hording car / truck loads of it.   Some then tried to price gouge selling it.   But Biden never gave a time frame for the tests, only that the government would pay for them and send them out.   It is a gimmick anyway, one test is not helpful.  Scottie

Complete bullshit and lies.   Flat out lies.   This is again the right wing attempt to deny reality and try to force the world / the US back to the way it use to be.   Give it up, this is the normal now and should be.   They really give their viewers deadly misinformation.   Scottie

Michael Ramirez Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

The state of education in this country is past ridiculous.  Maybe it would help if administrators listened to the teachers and understood they were concerned about returning to a job where there is little protection for the teacher, and by proxy, the teacher’s family and loved ones.   Once again, blame the union for trying to provide living wages and benefits for workers instead of the employers who use and abuse the employees. I’ve known teachers, and more and more of them are leaving the profession because the pay is low, the children do not get engaged, parents are hostile, and they need to teach to Bush the lesser’s no child left behind program, which enriches the pockets of giant test companies.  Two of ours are our healthcare and school systems. Before the pandemic there were stories of teachers living in their cars because they were renting their apartment / house so they could make enough money to eat! Once the pandemic hit it got worse. Many schools are now limping along with numbers of teachers, security, food workers, custodians on health leave while they recover from COVID. And there are no substitutes for any of these people. Teachers in some districts are asking that their schools return to remote learning until the “viral tsunami” passes and quarantined staff return. In many places if their needs are not met they will quit. And then who will work in schools?

Whether or not they “like” teachers, they certainly vote for people who enact laws designed to destroy public education for profit.   The path they want to tread is exactly the same path they forced the public hospital system down in the 70’s. I think we all know how that turned out.  This is exactly the same. Privatize the schools to keep from raising property taxes is EXACTLY THE SAME TACTIC as privatize the hospitals to keep your county taxes low.   We’ll wind up spending ten times as much for less. That’s where this road ends.   Some of us are old enough to remember public hospitals in remote counties.   And we even remember the tactics undertaken to ensure they’d be “unprofitable”.

http://tnh.stparchive.com/Archive/TNH/TNH09061979P01.php?tags=hospital|sold

Tom Stiglich for Jan 05, 2022

When she was shot Babbitt was on video crawling through a window she had just helped break out to gain access to a hallway they were not allowed into that had members of congress in it.   The right wants to make her a hero and has much in the way they made Rittenhouse a hero.   Facts don’t matter to them.   Babbitt was judged by the left on what she was doing, and she was an imminent threat of death or serious body injury to the congresspeople.  Floyd was not committing a crime at the time he was killed, he was not a threat to anyone at the time he was murdered and what he was being detained for was not a death penalty offense which cops don’t have the authority to carry out.  The cases are not equal in any manner.   The funny thing it is the right that insists on judging everyone on their past, just like they did the people killed by their new hero Rittenhouse who had no way to know the past of those he killed.   Scottie

Al Goodwyn Editorial Cartoons Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

If I thought for a moment that Ol’ Al was actually interested in resolving the conundrum of how to do best for kids while in the midst of a pandemic, I’d almost like this cartoon. Except for the idiocy of “allowed” a gender identity. Believe me or not, kids know their gender within months of becoming aware of themselves as being part of the family “pack”. They may not… probably won’t… be verbal about it, and they may very well play dress up to see how it works for them; the canonical example being the kid in a tutu and cowboy boots. Well. Anyway, I’m sure that Al isn’t at all interested in that. He’s on a mission to make liberals seem as stupid and wrongheaded as possible, in every way possible, always.   Too bad it only works on people who are already  convinced of that.   Scottie

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And now some for fun

Non Sequitur Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Off the Mark Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Free Range Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Reality Check Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Eek! Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Peanuts Begins Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

The Flying McCoys Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Moderately Confused Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Aunty Acid Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Real Life Adventures Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Shoe Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Today's Szep Comic Strip for January 05, 2022

Homophobic “Hate Preacher” Matt Powell Thinks Dinosaurs Prove Creationism.

Matt Powell first came to my attention when he was in his first year of bible college after being home schooled and was adamantly and loudly preaching that atheists were only people that stayed home on their mother’s couch playing video games.   He took this fame online to atheist blogs where he stated firmly with no exceptions that the government needed to kill gay people.  All those gays needed to be put to death because that was what god said.   He spent a year trying to defend that stance, claiming it was not hate or bigotry and he himself did not want to kill the gays just that the government had to do it because the bible said so.   Well then Matt got himself a full head of steam and them attacked others of his own circle he felt were not godly enough.   Then he decided he had to give tutorials on why evolution was wrong even though he has no educational back ground to even understand the concept.   But he has given lots of YouTube creators tons of material with his assertions like the one where he claimed a picture of a Pterodactyl with confederate civil war soldiers was proof that dinosaurs lived with man and that the earth was young.   Yes I would have thought at this point he was putting people on and mocking them, but nope, young Matt was a true believer.   When he started out and was so anti-gay many thought he was gay himself, to disprove that he got himself a woman and they started right away to having babies.   But I guess things were not working out so Matt almost right out of school moved himself to Kent Hovind’s compound to take over old Kents delusions online.   Matt looks pretty worn in his latest videos.     The Creaky Blinder is a YouTuber from Wales who started out debunking flat earthers.   He has branched out and, in this video, he again takes on Matt Powell.   I enjoy Creaky’s humor and funny delivery.   He is a joy to watch as his goal really is to give humor to the debunking.    He has a lot of funny videos so look over his work to see if a subject interest you.   I have been following him from when he started with just a web cam to now when he has a really impressive set up.   Let me know what you think.   Scottie

Daily cartoon / meme roundup: Treat others as you wish to be treated … is that so hard?

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Scottie’s world today

get my you-know-what togethertour gym winded worn out

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because it is the right thing to do

https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/tucson.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/b5/eb582a22-6828-11ec-a604-27f5ac3bcf5c/61cb882cb1d5c.image.jpg?resize=750%2C526

Non Sequitur Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Working It Out Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Prickly City Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Brian McFadden Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

gop party hat jan 6th

Joe Heller Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Jeff Stahler Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Jeff Danziger Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Jack Ohman Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Gary Varvel for Jan 04, 2022

This was drawn by a right winger to slam Schumer.   I put it here because it really is a slam against the Republicans.   Republicans have become obstructionists.   The only bill they worked with Democrats on are the two things their big donors wanted, in fact insisted on.   The infrastructure bill that had massive benefits for  corporations, and the debt ceiling raise which the wealthy had to have or they would lose a huge pile of money.  Other than that the Republicans say no to everything.   They did the same thing when Obama was president.   The Republicans don’t want to govern they want to stop the government, destroy it so nothing can be done to help the people or benefit the public.  So changing the filibuster is necessary to have a functioning government.   Scottie

Clay Jones Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Political cartoon

how hospitals should respond

Views of the World Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

ViewsBusiness Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

ViewsAsia Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

Reality Check Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

M2Bulls Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

ViewsAmerica Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

Doonesbury Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

The right, the party that bills themself as the pro-life party, is very angered and upset that the idea that the death penalty is being done away with because it doesn’t work as a deterrent, is racially biased, and  more costly along with tying up the courts.   The other advanced developed countries already figured this out and learned that progressive sentencing and detainment works best for lowering recidivism.  Again if the US would get over the idea that everything we do must be the best thing in the world and would look at what really works being done in other countries we would be much better off.    Scottie

Thank you Nan for the above suggestion.   It is grand.   Scottie

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Misleading right wing media cartoons / memes

Really the right needs to catch up.   First it was only one Democratic party member who said motherfucker during a campaign rally.   Once.   What was it tRump repeatedly said?   He cursed all the time.  But really the right not only thinks saying lets go Brandon triggers the left, they are desperate for it to be true.   They are trolls, they are the school yard name callers, little kids giggling they are almost using a naughty word.  Adults don’t care.   Biden did not care.   Most of us are not even thinking of it but the right is full time.   This is what passes for serious legislators in the time of the Marge Greene, Gym Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, and the other failing loser kids hanging out in the halls of congress.   Scottie

Same right wing cartoonist paid to try his best to make the Republicans look good and the Democrats look bad.   He rarely even makes sense and his cartoons normal reverse the situation.  But in this case he is right.   Some Republicans have promised to impeach Biden as soon as they get control of the House.   That is their great goal for the country, a revenge impeachment to sooth the ego of the former guy.  Really they said this a few months into Biden’s term.   They do not care that Biden has not violated any laws and that the former guy did, they just want to invalidate any Democratic election win.   They are cheapening the meaning of impeachment again because it stings that their cult leader got impeached twice for breaking laws.  But this is the lofty goals to help the people and country, make impeachment a joke.   Scottie

Partially correct.   The truth is that ICU’s are filling up with anti-vaxxers along with all the other hospital beds so that non-covid emergencies and non-emergency procedures are unable to be treated and proceed.   We have seen the stories, verifiable stories of people dying because there were no beds available in the hospitals due to anti-vax Coronavirus who are really sick.   I was not sure if this cartoon was mocking the idea that non-vaxxed people are getting really sick or if it was mocking the vaccinated.    Scottie

I hate how the right likes to misrepresent the relationship between Biden and the progressives.   The progressives are the ones that were fighting for Biden’s agenda.   The build back better bill was Biden’s agenda, what he ran on, what he wanted.   The full bill, not the stripped down version.   Yet the media keeps trying to portray the progressives as the ones sabotaging Biden’s plans instead of the real villains killing it, Manchin and the other old corporate politicians right and left.  The right wants to hide the truth and blame others for their actions.  Sound familiar?   Scottie

Rivers is on a roll for misleading anti-Biden cartoons.   This one is just a general slam at Biden because he / the right hates what Biden is doing and wants the right to think Biden is a failure even though they never can show what he failed at.   What policy is being addressed here?  None, it is just hate Biden please.   Scottie

There has been no wide scale defunding of the police, nor has any real police reform been enacted.  The one place the police were radically changed in NJ it worked really well.    The problem is the police have become the very monsters they are to protect the people from.  The police are a gang of thugs who prey on the public like a military occupying force ruling over a prisoner population.   That police believe they can get away with the worst actions against the public and if they do get caught no real punishments happen to them.  At most they use to get fined, which the people had to pay not the cops.   Now lately several cops have been found guilty of killing.   But that is two out of …   Heck one  police department was found to have cops protecting a sex trafficking ring in exchange for sex.   It seems it was rather widely known.   This is their idea of serve and protect?   Police reform is desperately needed.  No more militarized cops on the streets.   They want to be military, let them join the military and fight for the country, not against our own people.    But to them it is a game with other peoples lives, theirs is never in danger.   Scottie

The people wanting government to serve their needs rather than cater to the wealthy. It is about where taxpayers dollars going. To the public needs, or the wealthy wants. Will the government work for the people or only for the wealthy. History has shown the best economic times while being the most product the country had was during the period that corporations and wealthy paid a much higher tax which they could afford and still gain great wealth. Scottie

Mike Lester Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Notice the bait and switch here by the misleading right wing media.   See the cartoon implies and wants the right to read that there is no consensus about vaccines.    The reality is that there is complete consensus that the vaccines work and everyone who can should get them.   The split in consensus is on the Republican side and is about if mandates for vaccines work.  But the truth is it is only a Republican talking point used by Republican governors and media.   The data shows that mandates / rules do increase compliance not only with vaccines but any enforced rule.   It is common sense.   But if you want data the police union in NY City was claiming that thousands of cops would quit if forced to vaccinate.   But only 34 really were willing to quit.   Enough said. 

Tom Stiglich for Jan 04, 2022

A day the Republicans want to forget entirely, and wipe it from history because it clearly was an insurrection attempt against the US government. The Republicans want people to forget what their supporters did that day so they can try it again and the next time have a successful coup against the peaceful transfer of power. Scottie

Rob Rogers Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Oh yea the right has something to blame Biden for.   I guess it was tRump’s fault there was a toilet paper shortage?   There is an increased demand for testing due to everyone gathering for holidays and businesses want to test all their employees.   This too will work itself out.   Scottie

Al Goodwyn Editorial Cartoons Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

“U.S. financial markets are outperforming the world by the biggest margin in the 21st century,”“…Biden’s first year in the White House the standout among the seven previous presidents, based on 10 market and economic indicators given equal weight.” – https://www.bloomberg.com

Gross domestic product surged at an average annual rate of 5.03% in each of the first three quarters of 2021, and is poised to expand 5.6% for the year based on the average estimate of more than 80 economists surveyed Bloomberg.

graph: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FH9jVN9WYAQ8SAS?format=jpg&name=medium

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And now some for fun

Strange Brew Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Herman Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Moderately Confused Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Aunty Acid Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Dog Eat Doug Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

as ron loses his phone

Real Life Adventures Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Pickles Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Pluggers Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Rubes Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Wizard of Id Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Lola Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Close to Home Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

Mannequin on the Moon Comic Strip for January 04, 2022

What does a birthday cake have to do with race?

There is no CC for this one.   But the voice over is clear and strong.   I like the message of this short video, and I also love to bake and I must get me one of those cake stands.   Scottie

How a music video about a gay teen may have saved hundreds of lives

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/01/music-video-gay-teen-may-saved-hundreds-lives/

 
Logic, 1-800-273-8255, music video, save lives, suicide, National Suicide prevention lifeline
A scene from “1-800-273-8255”Photo: YouTube screenshot

The 2017 music video for rapper Logic’s song “1-800-273-8255” may have saved hundreds of lives, a new study found.

The song’s title is the phone number of the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Its video showed a gay Black teen calling the number after being outed and receiving homophobic abuse by his track-and-field teammates.

Related: Here’s the new number to text for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

The video gained attention for its unique story and also the celebrities who appeared in it. It featured Nickelodeon star Coy Stewart as the gay teen, Oscar-nominated actor Don Cheadle as his father, Modern Family’s Nolan Gould as his boyfriend, Emmy-nominated actor Matthew Modine as his boyfriend’s father and the boys’ dads and award-nominated character actor Luis Guzmán as a supportive coach.

The study, published in the December 2021 edition of the British Medical Association peer-reviewed trade journal BMJ, looked at suicide data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the number of calls into the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline from the start of January 2010 until the end of December 2018.

It also looked at Twitter posts to determine the amount of attention that Logic’s song received. It found that the song received the strongest amount of public attention right after three events: the video’s initial August 17, 2017 release; the August 27, 2017 MTV Video Music Awards; and the January 28, 2018 Grammy Awards. Logic performed the song at the two latter events.

In the 34-day period following all three events, the Lifeline received 9,915 more calls than it had on average during 34-day periods in the years before. These calls were a 6.9 percent increase over the number of calls usually expected.

Furthermore, in the 34-days after these three events, there were 245 fewer suicides nationwide than usually experienced during the same time-spans in previous years.

The study’s lead researcher — Thomas Niederkrotenthaler, an associate professor at the Suicide Research Unit at the Medical University of Vienna — said his findings support the idea that media messages can have an impact on suicide prevention and crisis management, according to Psych Central.

However, Niederkrotenthaler also concedes that other factors may have contributed to the increase in Lifeline calls and reduction in suicides that his research team observed. But while Logic’s video may have saved lives, research also suggests that media reporting of suicides and suicide myths can increase suicide rates.

Regardless, the study suggests the importance and positive impact of promoting suicide lifelines in popular media. This could especially help LGBTQ individuals, who experience suicidal ideation and attempts more than the general public.

A 2016 research review by the Williams Institute revealed that 17 percent of LGB adults have attempted suicide, compared to 2.4 percent of the general population. Additionally, 82 percent of respondents to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey said they had seriously considered suicide at some point in their lives, with 40 percent reporting having attempted suicide at some point.

On the youth side, the Trevor Project’s 2021 National Youth Mental Health Survey found that 42 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide in the past year, including more than half of trans and non-binary youth.

I am not a music listener normally.   I prefer podcasts about current political events.  But I did listen to the song and it was good.   I was worried it would be head banging hard to understand the lyrics too much base song, but I was surprised.   The video was riveting, and I am glad to see so many big names in it.   The times they are a’ changing.  Scottie

Arizona doctors could face prison time for providing therapeutic care to trans youth

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/12/arizona-doctors-face-fines-prison-time-providing-therapeutic-care-trans-youth/

transgender medical care, trans affirming care, transgender affirming care, bill, illegal, Arizona, transgender youh
Photo: Shutterstock

Arizona state Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers has proposed Senate Bill 1045 to prohibit medical procedures that affirm the gender identity of children and teens who are transgender.

The law would ban medical staff from performing gender-affirming surgeries on transgender minors as well as prescribing testosterone to transgender men or estrogen to transgender women under the age of 18. Health professionals who do so would be guilty of a Class 4 felony, with a prison sentence of one to three years.

Related: Hormone therapy lowers suicide risk for transgender young people

Senate bill 1045 also states that teachers, school staff, and administrators cannot “withhold from a minor child’s parent or legal guardian information related to the minor child’s perception that his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with his or her biological sex.” This would ultimately force teachers and schools to oust trans and gender non-conforming students to their parents, even at the student’s potential peril.

This proposed bill follows suit with a bill that was ushered in Texas in April 2021, one that did not pass during its legislative session.

Leading health care organizations in the state condemned the bill, including the Texas Medical Association, Texas Counseling Association and Texas Pediatric Society. The organizations all say gender-affirming care is the best way to provide care to transgender children. The American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and others have agreed for years that gender-affirming care is the best path forward for trans youth.

Despite the common misconception, trans youth do not get surgeries either. Gender-affirming surgeries are not performed on anyone under the age of 18 in the United States.

According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) guidelines for standards of care, a candidate must be age of majority in their given country (18 in the United States), and also must have received  12 continuous months of hormone therapy as appropriate to the patient’s gender goals (unless the patient has a medical contraindication or is otherwise unable or unwilling to take hormones).

Trans youth do not receive surgeries. That is not what gender-affirming care is. Gender-affirming care is more along the lines of social transitioning and hormone therapy, such as the use of puberty blockers (a treatment that is also reversible, if necessary).

Gender-affirming care saves lives

Studies have proven that both hormone therapy and social transitioning have been proven through studies to be beneficial for transgender youth— a group that is at an elevated risk of suicide due to bullying and lack of school social support.

A most recent study in 2021 found that hormone therapy has a positive effect on trans youth, reducing their risk of suicide.

Other studies have found there is a significant inverse association between rendering treatment with pubertal suppression during adolescence and lifetime suicidal ideation among the transgender adults who wanted such treatment. These results align with past literature, suggesting that pubertal suppression for transgender adolescents who wanted it is associated with favorable mental health outcomes.

Another study by the American Academy of Pediatrics reached the exact same conclusion.

It is also important to note that not everyone who is transgender can fully transition or wants to fully transition, either. The trans community often faces significant obstacles to acquiring health care, either due to lack of employment opportunities or to health insurers choosing not to cover vital healthcare procedures for transgender people.

Lambda Legal wrote:

“Access to transgender health care is challenged further by laws and policies across the country that codify myths that the care is risky, cosmetic or monolithic. For example, the federal Medicare program excludes coverage of sex reassignment surgery, deeming it “controversial” and “experimental,” despite decades of research supporting its effectiveness. Exclusions like this one are rampant in the private insurance context, with many large insurance companies excluding all coverage for “sex reassignment treatments” or equivalent care.”

Access to gender-affirming care is quite difficult in most countries, especially in the United States. Conversely, while it’s difficult for people in the trans community to access gender-affirming care, some trans people just want to socially transition, and studies show the benefits of social transitioning.

What is social transitioning and how does it help transgender people?

A social transition involves a child presenting to other people as a member of the “opposite” gender in all contexts (e.g., wearing clothes and using pronouns of that gender).

Previous studies about gender-nonconforming kids who weren’t allowed to transition found they experienced high levels of depression anxiety. A 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that allowing social transition can be greatly beneficial to the mental health of trans youth.

Another study published in 2018 found that calling a student by their chosen name is linked to reduced depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior among transgender youth.

Rogers’ attempted ban on gender-affirming care as detailed by the evidence would lead to more harm than good for gender clinicians and the youth under their trusted hands. Forcing teachers to oust students to their parents and also blocking the beneficial healthcare trans youth see as necessary and vital to their livelihood has been shown to be the antithesis to what will help trans youth.

When a bill similar to the one in Arizona passed in Arkansas (the first one of its kind), one doctor, Dr. Michelle Hutchison, raised the alarm that a bill like Arizona’s SB1045 would lead to more suicide attempts by trans youth — and it turned out to be true. Arkansas saw an increased rate of suicide amongst trans youth immediately after it was passed.

“It is dangerous,” said Ryan Starzyck, a local business owner and former board member of the local LGBTQ group Phoenix Pride. “It is deadly because if (children) don’t have the foundational information, if they have nobody they can turn and oftentimes is the only one they can turn to is the professional at school before, (the legislature) is laying the foundation for students suicides.”

Starzyk also said it reminds him of the bullying he constantly faced in the military for being gay.

Rogers also has proposed a bill to ban trans students from playing sports based on their gender identity, as a way to block trans girls from playing sports. That bill would also mandate a medical review of a student’s anatomy, hormone levels and genetics if the student’s biological sex is disputed while seeking to participate in sports programs at public and private schools, community colleges and state universities.

She authored this bill despite the fact that the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) said that girls in school sports are not facing disadvantages because of their transgender peers, an assertion that flies in the face of the AIA’s policies on transgender athletes.

 
The scare over trans people in sports is a made up myth to generate outrage.   The bathroom scare is losing its ability to gin up rage so they moved on to women’s sports.   These people who did not support women’s sports in anyway before are now suddenly the fierce protectors of the women.   Reason says the fear of trans women winning all the time leaving other women out is misplace because it is not happening.   From the Olympics on down to local sports transwomen are not winning all the contests.   They simply are not.   Where they do win they spend the time and effort to be better.    The funny thing about those who want transwomen banned is they never mention all the times trans people lose, they only make a big deal of the few times a transwoman won.   Scottie

Pennsylvania school district bans LGBTQ+ books from its libraries

A school district in Pennsylvania has introduced new rules that ban gender identity books from its libraries.

According to a report from WHYY, employees within the Pennridge school district were notified about the rules by an email from the Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education, Anthony Rybarczyk.

“The district is requesting that library book with content regarding gender identity be removed from the current elementary circulations,” the email stated.

The email went on to say that the removed books will be reviewed for “sensitive topics involving foul language, intense violence, gender identity, and graphic sexual content.”

After this process, the selected titles are then “placed in an area” by counsellors and only available to parents or guardians upon request.

“Developmentally, these topics should always involve conversations between the student and trusted adults, both at home and at school,” the email continued. “Creating this resource library will ensure that our students are fully supported.”

On top of removing these informative books, the district also unveiled another set of strict guidelines regarding students pronouns and names.

In an additional email, the school district’s Director for Pupil Services – Dr Cheri Derr – said the terms “related to LGBTQ+” should not be discussed with elementary students.

The new regulations also said middle and high school students who request a change to their name or pronouns must supply “parental permission.”

Parents and students within the school district have since come out and condemned the new rules.

Witold Walczak, who is the legal director for ACLU Pennsylvania, said the policy “raises very serious concerns” regarding a student’s privacy and safety.

“From a policy perspective, you’re setting these students up for a situation where there is no adult that they can talk to,” Walczak told WHYY.

“Very often in these kinds of situations, parents are not an option. Sometimes parents are the problem.

“If you impose this disclosure requirement, you’re shutting the door to students being able to talk to school professionals. Some of these kids could really get hurt.”

LGBTQ+ youth therapist Erin Eagles, who is gay and has a two-year-old child, echoed similar sentiments and said she’s scared to send her child to school in the district.

“I’m terrified of her feeling shamed or like she can’t just talk about the most normal things, like her immediate family,” she explained.

“We’re trying to have another child, and I worry that I’m doing the wrong thing. But if we leave this community, that’s one less [family] here to normalize LGBTQ and other minority individuals.”

In terms of future legal action, Walczak said that a potential case could head to court in the new year.

“My guess is we’ll be litigating at least one of these cases in 2022 somewhere,” he said.

Because everyone knows that if we pretend that LGBTQ+ people don’t exist they will disappear, right?   It is not like grade school kids know that gay people exist.    It is not that some grade school kids might be LGBTQ+ themselves.   All parents are understanding and helpful on subjects dealing with sex and gender, especially in places where the politicians want to ban even the reading about LGBTQ+.   These kids have parents who will take time off work go to the school library and check out a book from the special banned section for their child, right?  No one will spread the news about that around town, gossiping about the parents and family, will they?  Everyone knows that kids are turned gay by reading about it.   It well known that there are no LGBTQ+ unless the kids see it on TV in a 30 second commercial or read it in a book written for kids.   It is like catching a virus we won’t wear masks or get a vaccine for to protect the kids from getting really sick or dying because that is not important as making sure all the LGBTQ+ books are out of reach of those who might need or simply want to read them.   Why teach kids to be understanding, accepting, and tolerant of other kids wanting to use a name or pronoun they prefer because in these areas the adults sure are not accepting, understanding, and tolerant of other adults asking the same thing.   

Scottie

Sodomy laws are still being used to persecute queer people

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/12/sodomy-laws-still-used-persecute-queer-people/

LGBTQ, sodomy laws in U.S., lgbtq, ACLU, united states, south carolina
Photo: Shutterstock

A man publicly identified as “John Doe” is suing South Carolina for requiring him to register as a sex offender after his 2001 sodomy arrest for having consensual sex with another man. His case is just the latest example of how anti-sodomy laws continue to harm queer people.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared all sodomy laws as unconstitutional in 2003 in the case of Lawrence v. Texas. However, South Carolina, Mississippi and Idaho all require people who were convicted of sodomy before then to register as sex offenders, even if they move to another of those three states.

Related: Four men arrested for breaking sodomy law in Maryland police raid

Doe’s lawsuit, filed on December 22, says that the requirement violates his Fourteenth Amendment constitutional rights to due process and equal protection under the law.

Registering as a sex offender has harmed Doe’s life, he said. The registry is public and requires a person to “report to the sheriff’s office twice a year and provide detailed information about his residence, his employment status, and every online account he has, in addition to copies of his fingerprints and palm prints,” Metro Weekly reported.

At least 18 other individuals have also been impacted by the law, his suit claims. He wants his name removed from the registry and for others affected by the law to no longer have to register as sex offenders.

Doe’s lawsuit also argues that the state’s anti-sodomy law — which remains on the state’s legal code despite being overturned — is so vague that it could apply to all oral sex as well as anal sex acts.

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling invalidating sodomy laws nationwide, such laws remain on the books of at least 16 states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.

The statutes of Kansas, Kentucky and Texas are explicitly aimed at same-sex couples. The laws continue to be cited by police in justifications for sex raids against people having sex outdoors or in private businesses.

Historically, the laws have been used to persecute LGBTQ individuals, subjecting them to intrusion, punishment and public humiliation just for the “crime” of having same-sex relations.

Such laws have also been cited in courts as a pre-text to denying LGBTQ parents custody of children, firing them and denying them jobs as well as discrediting queer voices.

The American Civil Liberties Union has been working to repeal the remaining anti-sodomy laws. The group is also helping represent Doe in court. But repealing the laws has been difficult, as few politicians want to go on record for helping repeal a “sex crime” law, no matter how bigoted or archaic.

Outrage after gay woman diagnosed at Spanish hospital with ‘homosexuality’

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/07/outrage-after-gay-woman-diagnosed-at-spanish-hospital-with-homosexuality

LGBT group complains to Murcia government after teenager was given report that included line: ‘Current illness: homosexual’

Pride march this June in south-east Valencia region of Spain
A Pride march in the Valencia region of Spain. LGBTI activists in Murcia want their regional authorities to apologise over a teenager’s treatment at Reina Sofía hospital, saying some in the health service ‘view sexual orientation as an illness’. Photograph: Biel Aliño/EPA
 

A family and an LGBT collective in south-east Spain are demanding answers and an apology after a 19-year-old gay woman who visited a gynecologist over a menstrual condition was diagnosed with “homosexuality”.

On Monday the woman went to an appointment at the Reina Sofía hospital in the city of Murcia. After being examined she was given a piece of paper that included the line: “Current illness: homosexual.”

 

The woman’s mother told the online paper elDiario.es that the gynaecologist had asked her daughter whether he could include her sexual orientation in his report, and that she had consented – despite her surprise – as she thought at the time it might be relevant.

“At first, I thought it was funny, but it just isn’t,” said the patient.

The mother and daughter brought the matter to the attention of the local LGBT collective, Galactyco, which has lodged a formal complaint with Murcia’s regional government, the regional health ministry, and the regional health service.

“The World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses in 1990, and yet, 31 years on, there are still some professionals in Murcia’s health service who view sexual orientation as an illness,” Galactyco said in a statement.

The collective said it was seeking an explanation and an apology, adding that the regional authorities had ignored the patient’s legal rights. It also said the case was far from an isolated incident.

“Our association has received countless reports of degrading treatment because of sexual or gender orientation,” the statement said. “We find it alarming, unacceptable and intolerable that there are professionals today who are responsible for our health, but who ignore the realities of LGBTI people.”

The regional health service could not be reached for comment. But a spokesperson told elDiario.es that it was aware of the incident and that “all necessary measures would be taken to properly establish the facts and to proceed accordingly”.

Initial investigations, added the spokesperson, suggested a mistake appeared to have been made “when the patient’s details were taken”. In any case, they said, the hospital would be offering an apology to the patient.

Daily cartoon / meme roundup. To increase profits as people get poorer and poorer businesses must charge for things that use to be part of the price for the item.

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Scottie’s world today

I will handle the problems

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Pilot upgrade

You might want to do some research next time…

Broom Hilda Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

Prickly City Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

CNN01022021

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Right Wingers: we are fascists.

Also Right Wingers: we blame our crimes on our critics and political rivals.

Also Right Wingers: why are innocent people not punished for our crimes?

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I’d say it’s time to subpoena Ivanka.

say putin propaganda

Permanently suspended marge

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You can hold onto that for now Florida. Let’s get Beto elected first. You can donate to his campaign here: https://usaunify.org

If we nominate trump, we will get destroyed, and we will deserve it
-Lindsay Graham

progressivepower:
“A flowchart for the ages
”

Non Sequitur Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

And some people called Pokémon Go stupid.

WTF?

Go to detention

Greek myth hourse man

Real Life Adventures Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

Working It Out Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

Family Tree Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

As someone who struggles to be active in the smallest degree I agree with this.   I feel best when I can do things even through the pain.   I have shots in a few weeks in my spine because right now I can not stand long enough to fry eggs at the stove.  

ViewsEurope Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

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Misleading right wing media cartoons / memes

Michael Ramirez Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

The filibuster is not in the Constitution. But each house is allowed to make their own procedural rules. The Senate rules, unlike the House, trying to be a more “deliberative” body (and with fewer members in the early days) allowed unlimited debate on the floor and unlimited “yields” (handoffs to allies). During such speechifying, no other business could be conducted.

It took a 2/3 vote to stop a debate.

The filibuster arose when Southern conservative senators wanted to block bills, especially in the area of civil rights. Not having the votes, they simply stood and spoke under the rules allowing “unlimited debate” and kept on speaking, handing off (yielding) to accomplices as needed for breaks, and thus preventing any other business from going forward.

Finally, they made a compromise in the Senate rules: they would lower the cloture vote from 2/3 to 3/5 (60 votes in a 100-member senate) and not require senators to actually speak; just invoke filibuster by motion, and allow other business to still proceed on a “two track” basis.

Taking out the hard work of hours and hours of speaking made it easier to invoke and, once Obama became president and McConnell embarked on an unprecedented racist obstruction of the first African-American president, he made a 60-vote supermajority the de facto standard for passing any legislation, with more filibusters during the Obama years than the entire history of all prior administrations COMBINED and then, when he regained the majority, essentially did away with the filibuster for all confirmations and for budget bills (budget reconciliation).

McConnell’s unprecedented ABUSE of filibuster, coupled with the built-in (Constitutional) disproportionate allocation of senate representation, transformed it from a tool for the minority to have a voice in developing legislation, to utter tyranny of the majority, in which senators representing 16% of the population could overrule an overwhelming majority. 

There are ways in which conservative Democrats could reduce the power of the filibuster to obstruct and still go on record as having saved the filibuster, and some of the Democrats who have opposed outright elimination of the filibuster (such as Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona) have indicated that they might be amenable to reforms such as:

a) amend the process; return to the requirement that they actually stand and hold the floor instead of just invoking by motion. When we had this in the past, filibuster was rarely used.

b) redefine filibuster; redefine what is eligible for inclusion in the budget reconciliation process which is exempt from filibuster

c) make voting rights and election security exempt from filibuster

d) limit the number of times filibuster can be invoked

e) require the speaker to remain on topic (no more reading phone books)

f) reverse the burden of invoking filibuster: right now they just make a motion to invoke filibuster and it takes a 60% vote to stop them. Reverse it. Instead of one person invoking filibuster and 60% having to agree to end it, require them to get 40% of the senate to vote to invoke filibuster — make them get the votes. Make them go on record as voting to obstruct something huge majorities of everyday people want (election reform, campaign finance reform, checks to individuals, a livable minimum wage, gun safety reform) and have to defend that in their next election.

None of these proposed reforms are mutually exclusive! You can do any or all or any combination. And there are likely other ways to reform and restructure filibuster without having to go on record as having actually eliminated it.

For those concerned about the “tyranny of the majority,” what we currently have is a “tyranny of the MINORITY.” We can protect minority interests and allow them to be heard without allowing senators who represent 16% of the population to tyrannize the rest of us.

 

Henry Payne Comic Strip for January 01, 2022

Yesterday I posted Dr. Fauci’s qualifications to make public health suggestions, and to understand the data / science behind those recommendations.   Let me make clear that the right wing media doesn’t have those qualifications at all.   The people who claim they did their own research are only reading some one else’s summery and the opinions of people not qualified to understand or make those public health opinions.   Scottie

Scott Stantis Comic Strip for December 28, 2021

What is the Build Back Better bill?   What is it?  It is the government doing things that benefit the public.   That is it.  Investing in the country in a way to benefit the people.   The wealthy can not have that in any way.   They feel the lower incomes are undeserving, the poor shouldn’t have anything or enjoy life.   The wealthy feel the government must only do what they want, what they decide is good for businesses, which is a dependent  people struggling to survive who will work for any low wage in any bad conditions.  This is the truth hidden by claims of inflation and debt.   Those things have been disproved.   So the truth is the wealthy do not want the government to do things making life better for the public.   Scottie

Gary Varvel for Jan 03, 2022

Yet Putin is the one asking for more talks. Putin has not made his invasion when it would have been better for him to do so. Reports are Putin has pulled some troops back from the border. Putin’s goal is defense while the western powers, with the US as part, is becoming more inclusive. Seems to me Biden’s checkers is beating Putin’s chess quite well. Scottie

Bob Gorrell for Dec 28, 2021

The lack of tests and their increase in price is driven by demand. The businesses that are worried about a sick work force that wont vaccinate are demanding workers be tested. Need tests to do that. So be happy the economy is opening up and booming under Biden. Be upset with the lack of a vaccine mandate that would help businesses to operate safety. Scottie

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And now some for fun

Eek! Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

Dog Eat Doug Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

Close to Home Comic Strip for January 03, 2022

The Middletons Comic Strip for January 03, 2022