She has the same idea that I did about this war, it is the money groups pushing it. Only names far more than I did. Hugs
Category: Bigotry
On This Last Day Of Black History Month
I’ve been remiss about Black History Month this past week and a few days. I remember last year, I either did, or almost did, one post every day of the month. I was trying for once a week this year. Anyway, I almost did, but here is a post for February 28th.
I chose these two boxers for today. I don’t know why; various reminiscences, I guess. Earlier, it popped into my head that way back in high school, a guy needed help, asking me to write his book report. I had to read the book first, of course. It was a history of boxing, going almost to that current year. It was a small book, though. Anyway, though I didn’t and still don’t care about boxing itself (it reminded me of beauty pageants for women), I do enjoy learning about the people, thanks to writing that book report way back.
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(snippets)
Who Was Joe Frazier?
Joe Frazier was the world heavyweight-boxing champion from 1970 – 1973. Frazier is perhaps best remembered for his fearless 15-round match against Muhammad Ali at Madison Square Garden, known as the Fight of the Century, where he knocked out Ali. In 2011, Frazier passed away from his final fight of liver cancer.
(snip)
He moved to New York City to live with an older brother and find work. Employment, however, was hard to come by, and to put cash in his pocket he started stealing cars and selling them to a junkyard in Brooklyn. But Frazier harbored dreams of doing something with his life. Many of those dreams were built around boxing. As a younger kid, back in South Carolina, he had dreamed of becoming the next Joe Louis, airing out punches at burlap bags he’d filled with leaves and moss. Up north Frazier’s love for boxing didn’t subside.
After moving to Philadelphia, Frazier found work at a slaughterhouse, where he routinely punched sides of beef stored in a refrigerated room. That scene later inspired Sylvester Stallone for his 1976 film, Rocky. It wasn’t until 1961, though, that Frazier entered the ring and actually began to box. He was rough and undisciplined, but his unpolished talent caught the eye of trainer Yank Durham.
Professional Career
Under the direction of Durham, who shortened Frazier’s punches and added power to his devastating left hook, the young boxer quickly found success. For three straight years, he was the Middle Atlantic Golden Gloves Champion, and he captured the gold medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He turned pro in 1965 and in just under a year had compiled an 11-0 record. In March 1968 he was crowned heavyweight champion where he kept the title until 1973.
Frazier eventually retired from boxing in 1976 to become a community leader and advocate for the youth by opening up a boxing gym to keep the youth off the streets of Philadelphia.
(snip-there is lots of diverse info on the page, linked in the title above)
I’m sorry; we have to click on “Watch on YouTube” to see Joe Frazier sing on (I think?) Merv Griffin.
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We know from some of my previous posts that I’m an Ali fan. I enjoyed his celebrity bravado and even his boxing. But this man, too, has done things to make the world brighter and more just; he served time and lost his title for being a conscientious objector to fighting in Vietnam, and was vilified and harassed for other peace-mongering efforts he made with his platform. Later, of course, he continued to demonstrate for peace and justice, and also for Parkinson’s. He raised good children, as well.
Muhammad Ali
American boxer
Also known as: Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr.
Muhammad Ali (born January 17, 1942, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.—died June 3, 2016, Scottsdale, Arizona) was an American professional boxer and social activist. Considered one of the greatest boxers in history, Ali was the first fighter to win the world heavyweight championship on three separate occasions; he successfully defended this title 19 times. (snip)
“When it comes to love, compassion, and other feelings of the heart, I am rich.”
Muhammad Ali
Oct. 29 1960
Donates Fight Proceeds to Kosair Children’s Hospital
Just weeks after earning his Olympic gold medal, Ali faced
Tunney Hunsaker in Louisville, with proceeds from this fight
going to Kosair Children’s Hospital. Fellow Olympic
champion Wilma Rudolph, a childhood polio survivor, was a
guest at the event.
How do you think we can make our bathrooms safe?
I love this video. Rev. Ed Trevors correctly says there are more problems and harms to children caused by people who look like him than there are from trans people. Ge calls trans haters cowards. Hugs.
American Psychological Association Reaffirms Support For Trans Youth Care, Pushes Back Against NYT
https://www.erininthemorning.com/p/american-psychological-association
A recent article from Jesse Singal in the New York Times seemed to indicate the organization might be quietly retreating from supporting trans youth care.
B Christopher/Alamy
Yesterday, anti-transgender activist and columnist Jesse Singal published a piece claiming there were “cracks in the wall” around gender-affirming care (which you can find fully fact-checked here). To make that case, he relied heavily on a statement from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons that bypassed the organization’s normal scientific review process and was advanced under pressure from leadership aligned with the Trump administration, including a president who is a major Republican donor. Singal also invoked the American Psychological Association, suggesting the organization was retreating from its 2024 position supporting transgender care and rejecting claims that gender identity is “caused” by external factors. But a representative for the APA tells Erin In The Morning that the organization stands firmly by its 2024 guidelines supporting transgender youth care and provided documentation indicating Singal mischaracterized its position.
“No, APA’s position has not changed,” says a representative speaking for the APA, attaching a link to their 2024 policy statement which provided broad support for gender-affirming care. “APA continues to support unobstructed access to evidence-based care for transgender and gender-diverse individuals of all ages.”
The 2024 policy statement is to date one of the most significant supportive stances of any medical organization for gender-affirming care. It states that gender-affirming medical care is medically necessary, opposes bans on gender-affirming care, declares that being transgender is not caused by autism or post-traumatic stress, establishes the organization’s support for combatting disinformation on transgender healthcare, and finds that rejection of a trans youth’s gender identity can increase their risk of suicide and harm their psychological wellbeing. The policy was passed overwhelmingly, 153-9, with each voter representing a large subset of the organization’s 157,000 members. Now, the organization says that it is not accurate to claim that there is any regression on support for transgender youth care from the organization.
The organization also disputes Singal’s portrayal of a 2025 letter written by Katherine McGuire to the Federal Trade Commission. In his piece, Singal claims the APA “cautioned that gender dysphoria diagnoses could be the result of ‘trauma-related presentations’ rather than a trans identity,” and noted that “co-occurring mental health or neurodevelopmental conditions (e.g., depression, anxiety, autism spectrum disorder) … may complicate or be mistaken for gender dysphoria,” framing this as evidence that the organization is retreating from its 2024 policy supporting transgender youth care. That interpretation is incorrect, according to an APA representative, who says the letter does not contradict the organization’s 2024 position and does not represent a regression in its support for evidence-based transgender care.
The FTC letter sent by APA Services was not saying that transgender identity can be caused by autism or depression. Rather, it was describing what any competent psychologist does with any patient: assess the whole person, including whether conditions like depression or anxiety are present. The letter does not say that depression or anxiety or autism cause gender dysphoria; it says that psychologists are careful about not mistaking these conditions for gender dysphoria. Notably, the letter was written in direct response to the Trump administration’s FTC, which had accused gender-affirming care providers of deceiving consumers, and McGuire was explaining that psychologists conduct thorough, individualized assessments—not that the organization’s position on care or “causes” of being transgender had changed. Had McGuire not indicated that psychologists were making these determinations, the FTC would likely then accuse the organization of not investigating its crank theories on gender dysphoria.
You can view the letter here:
“The 2024 policy statement and the 2025 FTC letter are consistent. The 2024 statement reflects the organization’s policy position on access to care. The 2025 FTC letter describes what competent psychologists do in individual clinical practice: they do not make generalized claims to families but instead provide individualized, evidence-based assessment. Both documents reflect APA’s consistent commitment to evidence-based psychological care,” says the representative.
The American Psychological Association’s reaffirmation of its support for transgender youth health care is significant. The organization is among several reportedly under FTC investigation as part of a broader effort to pressure medical bodies to retreat from transgender youth care. It is also facing a coordinated pressure campaign from anti-trans activists like Jesse Singal and outlets such as The New York Times, both of which have repeatedly sought to cast doubt on established standards of care. That context makes Singal’s portrayal especially consequential. Readers were left with the impression that the APA was backtracking. According to the organization itself, that is false. What Singal presented as evidence of “cracks in the wall” was yet another attempt to manufacture doubt around the professional consensus supporting transgender youth care.
Two clips from MS Now about ICE lies and illegal actions
White supremacy and what ICE is about.
Why I voted for Crockett
I know there has been a lot of bad press about Crockett but when you look into them it is drummed up fake news stuff. Maybe because as this video hints at because she is a black woman running for office in Texas. I agree with him about her and I have watched her at hearing. I would love her to win. Learn facts over the noise so we can move to a progressive future. Hugs
My live in a totality. Hugs
With SAVE America Act stalled, Florida House passes its own version
As I said if they pass this I an a ton of other married people cannot vote. There is no time to get a passport, and there is no provision in either law for a maded marriage license acceptance so you can vote. Well unlike the federal bill this one allows a driver’s license as proof, and as I have one of those I might still get to vote. But if they strip it out to mirror the federal bill I lose the right to vote again. It is republicans showing how desperate they are to win when they are so unpopular that they need to rig and steal the elections. However there was voter fraud in Florida in the 2024 election, all citizens republicans who voted more than once for tRump, stole mail in ballots to vote for tRump, or ass one mail man did he threw away mail in voting from known democratic areas. Hugs
The Florida vote comes two weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the SAVE America Act, a landmark bill that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast their vote. If adopted, the bill would likely prevent millions of Americans from voting.
“What this legislation actually does is to prevent eligible U.S. citizens from voting,” Kanter Cohen said, “and that’s really the key issue.”
a current Florida driver’s license
In lockstep with the Trump administration, Florida Republicans say they are pushing the legislation to crack down on voting by noncitizens – despite the fact that election audits have repeatedly shown that illegal noncitizen voting is extremely rare. But the party continues to ignore those findings, using the myth of noncitizen voting as a tool to pass restrictive legislation aimed at creating more barriers to voting.
In other states, similar proof of citizenship laws have prevented tens of thousands of citizens from voting. But in Florida, with 13 million voters on the rolls, the scale could turn out to be even greater.
With SAVE America Act stalled, Florida House passes its own version
Florida State Capitol building
The Florida House of Representatives voted 83-31 Wednesday to move forward with a sweeping voter suppression bill that could disenfranchise tens of thousands of Floridians, at least, by creating new requirements for citizenship checks.
The alarming legislation represents the state-level component of a national Republican effort to make voting more difficult for American citizens.
Under the Florida House bill, residents wouldn’t be able to register to vote unless the state Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles database can verify their citizenship, or until the applicant provides proof of citizenship. The bill would also require the state to verify the citizenship status of all existing registered voters whose legal status has not already been verified.
State Rep. RaShon Young (D) said the legislation would have serious consequences for Floridians.
“This is fearmongering and disenfranchisement and voter suppression dressed up as security,” he said. “This is modern day gatekeeping and bureaucratic obstruction, administrative overreach and poll tax by paperwork.”
The Florida vote comes two weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the SAVE America Act, a landmark bill that would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote and photo ID to cast their vote. If adopted, the bill would likely prevent millions of Americans from voting.
But the SAVE America Act is expected to face an uphill battle in the Senate, leading some state legislatures to attempt to pass their own versions.
Florida could be the latest to join other GOP-controlled states that have enacted similar state-level proof of citizenship laws like Arizona, New Hampshire, Louisiana, Wyoming, Indiana and Ohio. More states are currently considering similar legislation, including Utah, South Dakota and Missouri.
But the bills haven’t been successful everywhere. Texas failed to pass a proof of citizenship bill last year.
The Florida legislation closely mirrors the federal measure, according to Michelle Kanter Cohen, policy director and senior counsel for the national voting rights group Fair Elections Center.
“This would do a lot of the same things, in terms of preventing American citizens from voting who don’t have access to documentary proof of citizenship documents,” Kanter Cohen said.
The Florida House version of the bill would only go into effect in January 2027. But under a similar bill set for consideration in the Florida Senate, the new rules would take effect this July, before the November midterm elections. A House committee already gave preliminary approval to the bill earlier this month.
“What this legislation actually does is to prevent eligible U.S. citizens from voting,” Kanter Cohen said, “and that’s really the key issue.”
The timing of the proposal – as Congress considers a similar federal measure – is no coincidence. The Florida bill could be an effort to align state policies with the proposed federal restrictions to provide consistent rules for running elections, she said.
Under the bill approved by the House, Floridians whose citizenship status cannot be verified by the state would need to provide evidence of U.S. citizenship, including: a current U.S. passport, a U.S. birth certificate, a consular report of birth abroad, a current Florida driver’s license or Florida identification card that indicates U.S. citizenship, a naturalization certificate, a current photo identification issued by the federal or state government that indicates U.S. citizenship, or a federal court order granting U.S. citizenship.
In lockstep with the Trump administration, Florida Republicans say they are pushing the legislation to crack down on voting by noncitizens – despite the fact that election audits have repeatedly shown that illegal noncitizen voting is extremely rare. But the party continues to ignore those findings, using the myth of noncitizen voting as a tool to pass restrictive legislation aimed at creating more barriers to voting.
“The last thing someone who is on a path to citizenship would want to do is to jeopardize their naturalization by voting illegally,” Kanter Cohen said. “And so people don’t do that. That’s not something that’s happening because it has such dire consequences.”
Florida already has systems in place for investigating and prosecuting the small number of noncitizens who register to vote in the state. Last year, Florida found 198 “likely noncitizens who illegally registered and/or voted in Florida” out of the more than 13 million people on its voter rolls, according to a report from the state’s Office of Election Crimes and Security. The office referred 170 of them to law enforcement.
The Florida measure could disenfranchise tens of thousands of voters — including Republicans — to combat these miniscule amounts of possible illegal voting.
Married women of all political affiliations who have changed their last names could be among the most impacted by the legislation. If the voter’s legal name is different from the name on their citizenship document – such as their birth certificate – then the voter would need to provide official documentation providing proof of a legal name change.
The bill also would eliminate some identification documents voters can use to verify their identity at the polls. Floridians would no longer be able to use a debit or credit card, student identification, or retirement center, neighborhood association or public assistance identification.
In other states, similar proof of citizenship laws have prevented tens of thousands of citizens from voting. But in Florida, with 13 million voters on the rolls, the scale could turn out to be even greater.
Scottie's Playtime 