Thank you, Ten Bears for sharing this video so I could post it. What I want every one to understand is something the news reporters and the station buried. The people upset and demanding this huge change … are only 20% of the population. Now I listened to it three times and I couldn’t decide if they were saying the people in the county or the rural people in the country. To me it sounded like country wide the rural people were demanding and were 20% of the population. Which sounds right if you look at population maps. Do you understand what that is? A small minority is demanding the entire country abandon its progressive move forward into the modern age so a small segment of the population can be satisfied and happy. It is minority rule over the majority. It is not democracy! It is what the fundamentalist Christians are trying to do right now to every red state on LGBTQ+ issues. Are we as a country going to allow the most violent vocal segments of our society force us back to a regressive past that will eventually destroy what the US really is and could be? Hugs. Scottie
The divide between rural and urban areas in the United States has been growing in recent decades with grievances and political consequences on both sides. Judy Woodruff traveled across Oregon to learn more about that rift for her series, America at a Crossroads.
Read the full article. The bill has the backing of the “Christ-centered” anti-LGBTQ hate group, the Kansas Family Voice. Its author is GOP Rep. Susan Humphries, whose bio notes that she is a graduate of Texas Christian University.
I saw this story. I tried to post it from the newspaper but it was impossible. Then I see that Joe My God posted it. So here it is.
The author of the bill is a fundamentalist Christian and graduated from a Christian college. On democrat claims the bill is written too vague by mistake and would basically keep young people from any website that even mentions gay couples / LGBTQ+ information. Dude that is not a mistake it is what they want to use the law for. The goal is to remove any and all positive mentions from anyone under 18 in society. The further goal is to wipe the LGBTQ+ from society totally. The people behind these bills hate that LGBTQ+ people are treated with respect, affection, and equality. They hate that kids accept and like their LGBTQ+ fellow students. The right wants those kids to hate and target any other kid who is different for harassment and harm. Beat and scare those kids straight and cis. Hugs. Scottie
A Kansas bill could consider a photo of a same-sex couple holding hands pornographic, some Democratic lawmakers warn. They say a bill aimed at barring children from accessing online material considered harmful to minors could carry serious unintended consequences for LGBTQ+ communities.
The bill would require users to verify they are over 18 years old to enter any website where more than 25% of its content is deemed “harmful to minors.” It aims to restrict children’s access to pornography. However, homosexuality is listed in the statute alongside overtly sexual acts as harmful to minors.
The statute has raised questions about whether the law could be applied to censor LGBTQ+ content in books, chat rooms, and non-explicit photographs of same-sex couples. Attorney General Kris Kobach, a Republican, would be in charge of determining what is considered obscene.
Read the full article. The bill has the backing of the “Christ-centered” anti-LGBTQ hate group, the Kansas Family Voice. Its author is GOP Rep. Susan Humphries, whose bio notes that she is a graduate of Texas Christian University.
Could a Kansas bill censor non-explicit, LGBTQ+ content? Lawyers, lawmakers disagree https://t.co/XrXtWlLkg0
Funny thing is that we didn’t have access to any websites yet still turned out gay.
I would have loved to have had access to a site like JMG when I was a kid, it would have been so nice to have a supportive community like we have here on JMG
The fascists will go as far as they possibly can, implementing countless anti-LGBTQ laws, before they are pushed back. We still have time before we hit the iceberg but it’s a huge ship to turn around.
OMG…how much happier a struggling, self-tormented teen Mark would have been if there was a site like this, with so many wonderful, intelligent, funny & awesome people to let me know I wasn’t alone and that I would be alright.
In high-school I had a friend who came out to me as a transgender woman. Because this was the early 90’s, while she had come out to her parents who were supportive, she was waiting until she was 18 to go on HRT and living as her true self. One Monday in our junior year, she just never showed up for class. The teachers were told her parents had moved, but the administration was rather cagey when I tried to ask. I hope they had moved to help keep her safe, but I never saw her nor heard from her again. In a way, to me, she’s the sign on the easel. 😿
“They say a bill aimed at barring children from accessing online material considered harmful to minors could carry serious unintended consequences for LGBTQ+ communities.”
How fucking naive can they be? This isn’t an unintended consequence. They want us to be considered legally obscene
This is not a normal blog / show I follow, I got pointed here by one I do. But the point is … take a breath … why are all these right wing governors and now republican office holders want their own private army. Remember that the republicans and their ideas are very much in the minority. Rather than change their idea to fit what the majority of the people want, they gerrymander districts and do other voter restrictive policies. They have increasing become a fundamentalist religious minority group trying to force their demands of lifestyle on the majority. So again, Why do these republican politicians want their own personal armies? Think of that. They are a minority trying to force unwanted policies on the rest of the country. So if the majority doesn’t want what they are demanding … they have gang thugs ready to back them up and enforce their demands by violence. By threats and violence. Hugs. Scottie
Local conservatives in the New York county want an armed, civilian militia for “emergencies” that could also be used during civil rights demonstrations.
Despite facing backlash from civil rights activists and Democratic lawmakers, Republicans in conservative-leaning Nassau County, New York, are moving forward with a plan to form an armed, civilian militia that the local government could operate as a de facto police force during “emergencies.”
The plan, proposed by County Executive Bruce Blakeman, has local opponents comparing the “special deputies” to other government-backed militias throughout history, including some Ku Klux Klan chapters and the Nazi brownshirts. Blakeman has taken umbrage at the comparison; according to the Long Island Press, he suggested that “This is not only a personal insult to me, as a Jew, but it is a personal insult on humanity.”
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.Alejandra Villa Loarca / Newsday via Getty Images file
By executive order, Blakeman has assembled a list of more than 100 civilians he wants to train to act as “special deputies,” or what is essentially a backup police force. All members are required to have firearms licenses, and Blakeman has said they would undergo background checks and mental health evaluations, though what either of those entail could be quite subjective.
“God forbid there is an emergency, do you want me to have to scramble at that point to try and find people?” Blakeman said in defense of the plan, according to WPIX-TV.
Since conservatives have made a point of portraying nonviolent protests as threats to state and national security, WPIX asked Blakeman whether his civilian militia could be used to crack down on civil rights demonstrations. And he didn’t say no:
Blakeman said he will call them up in only the most extreme situation like a natural disaster – with the mission being not to police, but to guard hospitals and other infrastructure to free up sworn Nassau Police. However, in theory, Blakeman could declare anything in an emergency, so PIX11 News pressed him about if a political protest he did not agree with might be declared an emergency. “So far our police have been able to handle any protest,” Blakeman said. “But if there was a riot I would consider it, especially at the level they were burning buildings.”
In recent years, conservatives have become more vocal in support of armed vigilante and militia groups that share their draconian and oftentimes illiberal view of criminal justice. This has been most evident in Republicans’ involvement with groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, both of which sought to overturn the 2020 election in Donald Trump’s favor. Trump has even portrayed the violent militiamen who fomented insurrection on his behalf as “patriots” and said their jailing has made them “hostages.” And Kyle Rittenhouse has become a cause célèbre among conservatives after he was acquitted of killing two men after he had joined up with a militia group that had stationed itself outside a used car lot in Wisconsin in 2020.
We’ve seen Republican leaders in states as varied as California, Michigan, Nevada and Florida throw their support behind civilian-led militia groups, as well, which scholar Rachel Kleinfeld wrote about in this 2022 article for Just Security. (Kleinfeld, a distinguished scholar who ran the Truman National Security project and served on the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board, reports that some GOP-led counties have even relied on such militia groups to provide security at events.)
[W]hat we’re seeing in America is the next stage of this phenomena. You know, the first stage might be dehumanization and allowing a mass public to start having beliefs about violence, that it’s OK. The next stage is trying to get organized groups. These are really violence entrepreneurs or violence specialists. Regular people, even those primed to commit violence, are still — they’re wary of taking the first step. But if you get violence specialists involved who are very comfortable with violence, then it’s easier to get a crowd of people to commit violence. And that’s where the militias come in. So what we’re seeing is in Republican counties, often local officials, occasionally state level — we’re starting to see this willingness to work with militias.
Ja’han Jones is The ReidOut Blog writer. He’s a futurist and multimedia producer focused on culture and politics. His previous projects include “Black Hair Defined” and the “Black Obituary Project.”
This is what terrifies the fundamentalists and right wing. The acceptance and normalizing of kids / people who are not straight and not cis. Schools have long taught kids to get along with each other and to not bully those who are different. But republicans in red states want to change that teaching of acceptance and tolerance so they pass don’t say gay bills and anti-woke bills which simply mean get all representation of LGBTQ+ kids out of schools, libraries, and keep kids off social media. It means stopping positive representations of LGBTQ+ people and stopping anti-bullying programs. It means making LGBTQ+ kids targets of hate, anger, and labeling them as not normal. It is othering them so they can be mistreated. This is what it was like in the regressive past these older legislatures and fundamentalist religious leaders desperately want back. These people want a straight cis Christian world only, no one else will be allowed. Since these laws passed attacks on LGBTQ+ kids in schools and people in general have risen quickly. It is a green light to thug gang rule. Luckily the old kids won’t accept the intolerance and hate, but sadly it is working on the younger new students in schools. They are being taught to hate and not accept the ones who feel different. We have to stop these laws and reverse them. Please help get the word out. Please keep speaking up in support. The haters and religious people on the other side are driven, they won’t stop, they will fight hard. We have to also fight back as hard, and be louder than they are. Hugs. Scottie
Wichita East high schoolers used their first amendment rights and walked out of class Tuesday to stand up for transgender youth rights.
Dozens of Wichita East students made their voices heard at a walkout in protest of a piece of anti-trans legislation that bans minors from receiving gender affirming care. That piece of legislation is Senate Bill 233, and has already received approval from the Kansas House and Senate.
“This will cause suffering that cannot be overstated. This will cause suffering,” said sophomore Juan Carlos Garcia.
Garcia spoke up at the protest, to tell his peers about the importance of gender affirming care.
“I have hope that those I love and those that need it will get their treatment. I hope that they will feel comfortable and I know if this bill is passed then they won’t be able to,” said Garcia.
Miles Wilson organized the protest, and he shared his experience as a person in the transgender community.
“I thought I would not make it past 14, but I am 17 now,” said Miles Wilson, junior at East.
The students discussed how validating gender affirming care was, and in a world without gender affirming care, many believe that would lead to an increase of youth trans suicide.
“I hope that people learn that the students of East High are not going to stand for discrimination and oppression and we support the trans community and the cis kids here stand in solidarity with the trans community and the trans community here will not sit back and let people oppress us,” said Wilson.
The bill that started the protest is currently sitting on Governor Kelly’s desk awaiting approval or veto.
After chanting, holding signs, and having a great discussion, the students said the walk out was a success.
“We deserve to feel safe in our bodies, we deserve autonomy. We deserve happiness, we deserve to grow up,” said Wilson.
For legal purposes the title of this video is a question and not to be construed as a statement of fact. The Nex Benedict story has been tied to Libs of TikTok and its founder Chaya Raichik. Is she to blame? Why does the first amendment protect Libs of TikTok?
The fundamentalist republicans and maga people keep telling us there is no need to DEI programs because racism, especially systemic racism is gone. Racism in the US is only against white people says Stephen Miller and his ilk. But then we have this stuff. Hugs. Scottie
Police in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and the FBI are investigating after a team in the NCAA Women’s basketball tournament said they were racially harassed while staying in the city.
Members of the University of Utah women’s team told police someone in a truck displaying a confederate flag yelled racial slurs and revved the engine in a menacing way as players and staff walked to dinner last Thursday. They say that same truck and a second were waiting as the team returned from dinner and followed them back to their hotel.
Utah’s team, and the women’s team from the University of California, Irvine, were staying in the north Idaho town to participate in the basketball tournament in nearby Spokane, Wash.
The Utah women’s basketball team had to switch hotels after experiencing what head coach Lynne Roberts called “racial hate crimes” ahead of its first NCAA tournament game. Roberts said the Utes switched hotels after just one night before their games in Spokane.
“For our players and staff to not feel safe in an NCAA tournament environment, it’s messed up, and so we moved hotels,” she explained. “The NCAA and ([host university) Gonzaga worked to get us in a new hotel and we appreciate that. That’s what happened. It was a distraction and upsetting and unfortunate.
Officials in Idaho tried to apologize Tuesday for the racism the University of Utah’s women’s basketball team faced in Coeur d’Alene before an NCAA tournament game at Gonzaga.
They abruptly shut down the news conference when a far-right operative began shouting questions at a human rights advocate. Spokesman Review reporter Alex Duggan identified the agitator as Dave Reilly, a far-right activist and consultant with the powerful Idaho Freedom Foundation.
The harassment “was a distraction and upsetting and unfortunate,” Utah head coach Lynne Roberts said Monday in a news conference following the Utes’ loss to Gonzaga.
The majority of Idahoans have always been racist, homophobic, misogynistic and xenophobic. Ask any LGBTQ+ escapee from Idaho – I’ve known several.
My dad was raised in Idaho long ago, and while he did get over some of his Idahoan attitudes, others stuck with him his whole life, and damaged him and the people around him.
I’ve been the target of an incident similar to the one described: Bigfoot pickup plastered with the usual stickers and full of young white men. As I walked across a nearly empty parking lot, the truck circled me, revving, as the men shouted abuse. I can tell you it scared the crap out of me. Then there was the rolling coal pickup that tailgated me for miles on a rural road. Fun times in Florida!
I’m so glad you got through those events in one piece. American violence is so pervasive that most people there don’t notice it anymore. I live in Mexico now, where old people are treated pretty well, and the US seems casually violent in so many, many ways when I visit. I’m no longer used to American levels of violence and constant, continuous, low-level threat.
It’s always a huge shock to me, returning to the United States after a few months in Europe. It starts with the omnipresent television screens in all the airports broadcasting CNN and the men with guns patrolling everywhere.
I sat at a diner in Billings MT some years ago as an acquaintance explained to me how socialistic health care was destroying Canada. Telling her that since I was a resident of Vancouver B.C., a dual citizen, and a regular user of Canadian health care, that she was dead wrong, made no impression on her or her friends whatsoever. She knew better than me. After all, she was an American Moron, me, WTF did I know?
Idaho in general and northern Idaho especially is a hotbed for racist morons. My chiropractor, who’s a middle of the road conservative, took his family on vacation to Idaho last year and when I asked him how it was he said Idaho was beautiful but a lot of people up there are “scary militia types.”
Scottie's Playtime 