On Monday, Rep. James Comer (R-KY) and the House Oversight Committee released a new piece of “evidence” claiming that Hunter Biden was funneling money to his father, President Joe Biden, but a tiny bit more investigating proved it wasn’t much of a bombshell after all.
The new “evidence” was touted on the Oversight Committee’s social media and was accompanied by a video of Comer explaining that it proved President Biden was receiving “DIRECT monthly payments” from his son through his company Owasco. The evidence they presented were bank documents:
But upon closer examination, and after further investigation by journalists and intrepidTwitter/X users, the amount of the deposits from son to father that took place in 2018-2019 was only about $4,000 (to be specific, three payments of $1,380) that were repayment for money Hunter borrowed during a transitional financial patch for a Ford Raptor truck:
So, these three payments of $1,380 each (totaling $4,140) appear to be Hunter Biden paying his dad back for truck loan/lease payments that his dad paid on his son's behalf when Hunter was low on cash.
What this actually proves is that Hunter Biden made good on a loan from his father, and kept track of these repayments on an actual spreadsheet. That doesn’t really paint a picture of a corrupt financial scheme, but if you squint really hard and look through the picture instead of directly at it, then it might look sketchy enough to convinceWalmart shoppers.
In an email to reporters, a spokesperson for Comer claimed that the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating Biden, had obtained bank records revealing that Hunter Biden’s law firm, Owasco PC, which had received payments from Chinese-state-linked companies and other foreign companies in the past, made direct monthly payments to Joe Biden.
The email claimed the payments “are part of a pattern revealing Joe Biden knew about, participated in and benefited from his family’s influence-peddling schemes.”
The three payments of $1,380 that occurred in September, October and November 2018 — nearly two years after Biden had left the vice presidency — were actually for a 2018 Ford Raptor truck Joe Biden had purchased that Hunter Biden was using, according to an email verified by a Washington Post forensic analysis.
As House Republicans move toward a floor vote to authorize an impeachment inquiry against President Biden, House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has again mischaracterized evidence of payments from Hunter Biden to his father. https://t.co/H5qd8Z2Slm
Chair Comer is digging up old public reporting, distorting the facts, and presenting it as "breaking news." As a private citizen, Joe Biden made car payments for his son, who paid him back—it's right here in the NY Post.https://t.co/Xv0E71358qpic.twitter.com/QzdjxcjnLg
In what might just be a new record, House Republicans were able to parade around their latest proof of President Joe Biden’s purported corruption for all of a few hours on Monday before it was unceremoniously debunked. https://t.co/xiWZzum3Qp
Hunter Biden’s business entity, Owasco PC, made direct monthly payments to Joe Biden. The bank records don't lie.
Owasco PC received payments from Chinese-state linked companies & other shady entities. Joe Biden knew & benefitted from his family's business schemes. pic.twitter.com/MfvtA4yEZU
Gotta give FOX and the other bigot spigots something to spew, folks are getting tired of panda sex. And they sure as hell don’t want to hear the truth about the Zieglers.
Though common for fascist movements – the “enemy” is both savvy and incompetent, so it must be destroyed before it destroys those listening to the fascist leaders, and is weak enough to be destroyed if enough ‘patriots’ rise up together.
A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee used the fact that the payments came from one of Hunter Biden’s accounts that also included money from a Chinese energy conglomerate to suggest something more nefarious than they have so far proved.
“There is now a pattern of members of the Biden family using their bank accounts that have been funded by Chinese and other foreign entities to send money to Joe Biden,” the spokesperson said. “Based on witness testimony, Joe Biden knew and participated in his family’s influence-peddling schemes. The checks and payments we’ve uncovered reveal Joe Biden benefited from them.”
Comer has consistently oversold or misrepresented the committee’s investigative findings as he has argued to initiate impeachment proceedings. Last month, Comer trumpeted a $200,000 loan repayment Joe Biden received from his brother James Biden. Comer sought to paint the personal check in nefarious terms, alleging without evidence that it showed that Joe Biden had indirectly received payments from his family’s foreign business dealings.
When presented with a bank record of the wire payment that showed the $200,000 payment to James Biden had originated from the president’s attorney trust account, Comer baselessly accused the law firm representing Joe Biden of money laundering.
And, still, to call that “oversold and misrepresented” is such a mild description of what they are doing. They are lying and contorting to make a nefarious and unfounded case, but media and journalists are largely unwilling to clear about that. They shouldn’t be. Like so much else in reporting about politics, they are playing with journalistic malpractice under the guise of factual and ethical reporting (which it is not).
As usual, I can’t decide if he’s a moron that morons follow, or if he’s savvy and playing the moron to get the morons to follow. Probably shades of both, along with a hefty dose of confirmation bias and sunk cost fallacy pushing him along.
All they had on Obama was him being born in Hawaii and with only his mother being a citizen which somehow made his eligibility be president suspect, which of course it wasn’t at all. But that really is the best they could come up with.
I look forward to Comer’s inevitable destruction focusing upon his white whale. The more noise he makes, the more he draws attention to himself, and his inevitable failure to actually find anything of merit. If anything, his attempts to spotlight crimes on the Bidens seem to shine that same spotlight on his own dubious financial affairs, corruption & immorality.
Is it just me, or does most of the “evidence” the impeachment brigade bring forth sound like a family caring for each other, with hands extended for help as needed which are paid back in turn? I mean.. that honestly sounds kind of sweet, really.
As is often said, it’s all about projection with them. I think he sounds confident because his shady financial stuff likely is extremely shady and likely illegal, so he assumes that Biden’s must be as well. His brain probably can’t process the fact that it appears benign to anyone not assuming it to be crimes like he would be doing with those kinds of transactions.
The 2 billion was a side deal between Jared and the Saudis. Wild guess it was payment for the enemies list for MbS. Who knows how much else they made. AG Letitia James knows, no doubt.
The co-founder of Mom’s for Liberty which is fighting to remove the LGBTQIA from all aspects of society, schools, libraries, movies, and even in private businesses was having lesbian sex with a woman that her family values republican husband was having three-way sex trysts with. You know, the very people pushing the family values biblical model of marriage and sex only were violating what they want to mandate for everyone else but enjoying sex out of marriage, having same sex relations, having sex with a woman not your wife. Hypocrites and dangerous ones. When the wife was not available to have sex, the second woman wanted to wait until she was. That is when the married man raped her, because a white Christian man shall not be denied the right to have sex when and where he demands it. And in his mind, women have no right to complain or say no. Hugs. Scottie
Christian Ziegler with his wife Bridget at Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
The sexual battery investigation of Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler began with a 911 call from a friend of the alleged victim who was worried about her well-being, according to a recording of the call obtained by the Florida Trident.
The 911 call, made on October 4 at 2:46 p.m., reveals the caller was concerned about the mental health of the woman, who isn’t being identified due to the nature of the investigation.
“I was hoping to do a wellness on a friend of mine,” the caller began. “She hasn’t shown up for work the past two days and I just got off the phone with her and she sounds drunk and I know she has pain medication on her and she told me that she doesn’t think she can do it anymore.”
The dispatcher then asked questions about the victim’s address, which was redacted, before the caller said the alleged victim had been struggling with addiction that had “gotten worse and worse the last couple of months.” Then she relayed the information that kicked off a criminal investigation that is ongoing.
“She won’t answer anyone else at work except for me but she told me she was raped yesterday and that she’s scared to leave her house,” said the caller. “… She’s saying she’s scared that — the person that raped her came to her house — that she’s scared to leave.”
The caller then told the dispatcher, “I’m worried about her right now.”
“I have units en route,” said the dispatcher.
The alleged perpetrator is Ziegler, who has yet to publicly comment on the investigation first reported by the Trident on Thursday morning. His attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a written statement Ziegler would be fully exonerated in the investigation.
Sources close to the investigation told the Trident that Ziegler and his wife, Sarasota County School Board Member Bridget Ziegler, who is also an appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis and cofounder of the right-wing group Moms For Liberty, had a three-way sexual relationship with the woman prior to the alleged October 2 sexual assault.
A copy of the search warrant involved in the case was released late Friday that substantiated much of the Trident’s earlier reporting and added a wealth of new information.
Ziegler, according to the affidavit, had known the woman for 20 years and they had agreed to a tryst at the woman’s home on October 2 with Ziegler’s wife. When Bridget Ziegler wasn’t able to make it, the woman canceled via text to Christian Ziegler, writing that she had been “more in for her,” meaning Bridget. She told police that Christian Ziegler came to her home anyway and entered uninvited as she opened the door to walk her dog. Inside, she said he raped her.
In an interview with detectives attended by his attorney, Christian Ziegler admitted he had sex with her that day but said it was consensual sex with the woman. He also admitted that he shot video of the incident, which he said he initially deleted, but later uploaded to a Google Drive. When the affidavit was filed with the court on November 15, police had yet located the video. The contents of the Google Drive was among items seized by police under the warrant, along with his Gmail and iPhone.
According to the affidavit, Bridget Ziegler told detectives she was involved in a sexual encounter with her husband and the woman once over a year ago.
News of the criminal investigation led DeSantis to publicly call for Ziegler to step down from his role at the top of Florida’s Republican Party shortly after the presidential candidate’s debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday night on the Fox News Channel.
“I don’t see how he can continue with that investigation ongoing, given the gravity of those situations,” DeSantis told reporters. “And so, I think he should step aside. I think he should tend to that. He’s innocent until proven guilty, but we just can’t have a party chair that is under that type of scrutiny. And so, I hope that — I hope the charges aren’t true. I’ve known him, I’ve known Bridget; they’ve been friends. But the mission is more important,”
The criminal investigation, which sources tell the Trident involves video recordings and the seizure of Christian Ziegler’s phone, is ongoing.
Florida Center for Government Accountability public access director Michael Barfield contributed to the reporting of this story.
About the Author: Bob Norman is an award-winning investigative reporter who serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Florida Trident and journalism program director for the Florida Center for Government Accountability. He can be reached at journalism@flcga.org or by phone at 954-632-4343.
Breaking news: 911 tape released in criminal investigation of Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler. “She told me she was raped yesterday and she’s scared to leave her house.” #DefendDemocracyhttps://t.co/IdkLS4nGKD
— Florida Center for Government Accountability (@FLCTRGA) December 1, 2023
Florida GOP Chair Accused of Sexually Assaulting Threesome Partner
Police are investigating Christian Ziegler, husband of Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, over accusations that he sexually assaulted the couple's alleged partner.
I hope the unidentified victim gets the help and support she needs, and I also hope Zeigler ends up serving time, and I especially hope the whole Mom’s for Liberty crumbles as it’s revealed what kind of fraud group they really are
The “alleged” rapist Zeigler demeaned a gay school board member after he departed the meeting under baseless accusations of being a groomer. Zeigler’s bisexual wife, chair of the board, did nothing to stop the abuse. In the “alleged” rapist Zeigler’s own words: “He may not like the public being informed and being held accountable, but both are on the way.”
That 911 call is wrenching. The woman she was talking about was obviously made to suffer horribly. I’m glad that she didn’t end her life or hurt herself over the unbearable pain that was inflicted on her. I hope she can return to some semblance of a normal life with sufficient time.
The virulent homophobes are closeted self hating gays in denial who need someone else punished for what they’ve been told and buy into what they’ve been told is wrong about themselves.
She’ll do a “redemption” tour in which she explains that the Devil possessed her husband and he forced her into terrible, sinful situations. She, as a loving Christian woman, struggled with how to serve him and do her wifely duties and remain true to her faith. Either they’ll get divorced and she’ll become a RW cause celeb, or they’ll stay married, he will “repent” and they will continue the grift together.
I hope the victim gets the help she needs, not just for the attack on her but the hate coming her way from “loving” Christians angry that she dared to blow the whistle on them.
This is a US Christian Taliban. Your faith, your family religion, what you wish to teach your children about gods and the world be damned as unimportant and wrong. Only his religion is worthy of respect and rights, all others are just pretenders to be removed from society. His god, his version of Jesus is the one that everyone should be forced to follow. He is just like the people demanding all books / media with LGBTQIA characters be removed from libraries so no one’s kids could read them, even is their parents were OK with it. These people feel entitled to run your life, they feel entitled to raise your children in a way against your wishes. They feel entitled to force you, your family, your kids to live in accordance to their church doctrine and they can not be reasoned with. They are on a mission from their god. But don’t dare tell their kids god is not real, or the ark couldn’t have happened, or that LGBTQIA kids deserve respect, no never do that they will scream and rant that you have no right to say those things, as they tell your child that Santa is not real and your religion is wrong because only theirs is correct. Hugs. Scottie
The Grinch tried to steal Christmas. Dressed as The Grinch, David Grisham carried a sign during the morning drop-off at Sleepy Hollow Elementary in Amarillo, Texas that read “Santa is Fake. Jesus is Real.” Parents, as you might imagine, were not happy to see him. One dad grabbed the sign and threw it on the ground.
“I understand why they’re upset,” Grisham said. “They’re upset because they’re prideful and don’t want to admit that lying to their child is wrong in spite of what God’s word says. They’re more concerned with the traditions of men rather than the truth. They don’t want to be seen as a liar in the eyes of their child. But the facts say they are.”
Read the full article. Judging by his Facebook post below, Grisham is affiliated with the notorious anti-LGBTQ hate group of street preachers whose leader, Ruben Israel, dropped dead earlier this year. They’re the ones you see at Pride events waving “You Deserve Hell” signs. Grisham would also like you to send him money.
Grinch tries to steal Christmas, stands in front of elementary school with 'Santa Is Fake' signhttps://t.co/Lg7g7iJsfA
There is no hunger in the world, no poverty, no injustice. That’s why these people have so much time to get steamed up about how we celebrate holidays. The overpowering commercialization of Christmas doesn’t bother them either.
How wonderful that Aunt Lydia’s pappy owns a publishing company that can stock all the Arkansas libraries with books that can keep the kiddies from being in-doctor-inated.
HA !! My Republican siblings were more upset with my bootie-shaking Santa YEARS ago (🎶 I like to move it…move it. 🎶 Watch me shake it like a bowlful of jelly…What?!!”)…especially when my nephew started dancing with him.
GUESS WHAT? Years later, that nephew grew up completely STRAIGHT.
My Target had already sold out when I got there.
“Daddy, what are those two men doing?”
Fuck Trump and his whole family…
This will always be the most accurate photo of him. It shows his true personality.
A truce between Israel and Hamas will begin at 7 a.m. local time on Friday, and civilian hostages will be released at 4 p.m. local time, Qatar announced.
Breaking News: A four-day pause in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza will begin early Friday, and the first hostages will be released hours later, Qatar said. https://t.co/HHekSBQQCp
When they tell you who they are, believe them the first time. Racist, non-tolerant Christian bigots. This has been their goal for the longest time. It is clear from the attempts to change history, to whitewash history and current events. To support the most unchristian tRump over the very Christian Biden because tRump hates and Biden doesn’t, he loves. Which one is more Christ like? Which one does the republicans adore? And if you read the comments it appears she is full of shit. It is a very mixed diverse country. I don’t know. But interestingly one commenter wrote that tRump showed these republicans they can’t bother with code words, the base needs and wants the pure clear hatreds. Hugs. Scottie
In a video endorsement of Javier Milei days before he was elected president of Argentina, U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar praised the country as having everything, including “only one culture, only one religion and only one race, completely homogeneous.” Argentina chose Milei, a right-wing libertarian and former television pundit who calls himself an “anarcho-capitalist,” as president over the weekend, shaking the country’s establishment.
The comment by Salazar, a Florida Republican who is of Cuban descent, appeared to refer to a perception of Argentina, including among its own citizens, as a country of white European descendants. Speaking in Spanish, Salazar said on video: “We want it to be one of the best countries in the world, because it’s what they deserve. A country that has everything. It has soy, it has meat, it has minerals, it has land, it has water, and it has only one culture, only one religion and only one race, completely homogenous.”
Salazar last appeared here in 2021 when she condemned Biden for “handing over” the international rights to COVID vaccines, thereby “undermining” US-based big pharma of their profits. Salazar missed her 2020 swearing-in as a freshman because she was ill with COVID.
Florida Republican Rep. María Elvira Salazar said that Argentinians were "one race" and "one religion" in a video supporting Javier Milei's candidacy. https://t.co/NDkj2BW250
From what I read in another article last night, Argentina is quite diverse, and she is full of shit. Well, spewing shit is what Republicans are good at. That and lies, hypocrisy, bigotry, racism, corruption, etc.etc.
The majority of the population of Argentine are considered to be of “mixed race” – locally referred to as mestizo (of European and Indigenous ancestry). Approximately 5% of the total population are of mixed European and African (or Afro-Caribbean) descent. At least that is what the CIA’s fact sheet on Argentina says….
This is THE most important point that everyone needs to understand. Spanish is not the original language. And modern day culture in Argentina as well as most of North, South and Central America is imported from other countries. Anything not indigenous is not original or “one” anything as they would like to convince us of.
Just a trio of free speech absolutists brainstorming whether they can manufacture a way to lock up my colleagues over reporting the richest man on the planet admits is accurate but caused him grief, good times. pic.twitter.com/LKkVI8xjvU
He is in astounding condition. I accept Apple Pay.
In a year of Ben Garrison depicting Donald Trump's gelatinous, elderly hump of a body as a jacked behemoth, this Trudeau cartoon may be his horniest depiction yet. This shit would make Rob Liefeld go "maybe ease up on the muscle shading" https://t.co/8EPuzexuBzpic.twitter.com/dGPxLehaW4
While I don’t think this will go anywhere soon, this is more than grand standing for attention. He is a true believer in removing those non-cis non-straight people from society. He believes in making the US a Christian theocracy. Again remember how this started, both here and in Russia. Save the little kids, you know babies to 3rd grade which in the US is normally until kids would be 9 years old going into 4th grade. Don’t confuse kids who were not confused at all by gender or that there were LGBTQIA people, they were not confused by gay people who loved each other. They made the law so vague teachers had to hide being gay and their families, and remove rainbow stickers along with anti-bullying posters. Then it worked, people bought it so they moved it to up to grade 12 because we wouldn’t want to confuse 18 year olds about gender or sexual orientation, would we? After all, young adults don’t need to see or hear that stuff in the brave new world of only straight cis people with strict gender rules of the 1950s and forced Christian bible slogans in every classroom. Do they, after all no mention of the gays or trans equals no gays or trans people right? Oh shit, they still exist in work places, adults have to be exposed to that confusion as well. Oh shit, we should not confuse adults about sexual orientation or gender just like we don’t want to confuse kids were not confused, especially little kids who openly accepted their peers once until adults told them that it was wrong to accept people who were different. So let’s do what we did with companies that encouraged diversity which really is just mixing the races, letting black / brown people have equal work / schooling opportunities. We will make it illegal! Nope, no LGBTQIA and no diversity allowed in private or state businesses. There now we have a nice white straight cis state with nice white straight cis businesses and majority white straight cis schools. Oops, forgot one detail. Got to keep forcing that good old Jesus on everyone. So now not just schools will have to display in god we trust and the then commandments, stores, business, state agencies, everywhere will. And we will have a local church tax for every district to support the Christian churches only. The rest you can donate if you want on your own time, Christianity is the state religion now in Florida, and soon other red states.
This is the world these people want, that they are driven to create for their god. Right or wrong they really believe the lies they were told about the US being founded as a special place for Christians and only Christians, that god will be angry until it is “again” a Christian nation that follows the “bible” way of life? I guess that means slaves and the right of a man to fuck everything while owning his wives, concubines … whatever. Sorry but they won’t accept half measures as you see, they take that offering of meeting half way and then demand the rest. For those that say the fight for trans stuff is too much, just give them that, do you see how wrong you are now? They took it, ran with it, then went after the rest of the people who are different. They simply do not want to live in a world with others not like them in it. Period. If you want to live in the modern age with acceptance and tolerance for all, we must defeat these people. Hugs. Scottie
A new bill just introduced in Florida aims to expand “Don’t Say Gay Or Trans” provisions to a broad range of workplaces. Targeting government employees, contractors, and nonprofits, the bill sets forth restrictions and bans on policies relating to pronouns, gender identity, and sexuality.
Specifically, it would prohibit state and local government employees as well as any contractors engaged with the government from changing their pronouns or honorifics if they do not match their assigned sex at birth.
It would also bar them from instructing on gender identity or sexuality, similar to “Don’t Say Gay Or Trans” laws already active in the state education system. The legislation would establish “biological” pronouns as official state policy.
What raised the loudest alarms among critics was a provision that appears to restrict any organization specifically serving LGBTQ individuals from receiving any state dollars. “It is an unlawful employment practice for a nonprofit organization or an employer who receives funding from the state to require, as a condition of employment, any training, instruction, or other activity on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression,” the bill reads.
The legislation is the second bill filed by Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, who was elected to the House in a Special Election in May. The House District 24 seat notably opened after former state Rep. Joe Harding, an Ocala Republican, resigned facing federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Harding authored a parental rights in education bill passed in 2022, the bill originally derided as the “don’t say gay bill.”
Chamberlin belongs to a Pentecostal church and launched a failed bid for the US House in 2020, finishing sixth in the GOP primary. His predecessor, Joe “Don’t Say Gay” Harding, is expected to begin on five month federal prison sentence on COVID fraud charges in January.
'Don't say gay' for nonprofits: @RyanDChamberlin files bill that would restrict LGBTQ nonprofits receiving state funding
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A new bill just introduced in Florida aims to expand “Don’t Say Gay Or Trans” provisions to a broad range of workplaces. The bill sets forth restrictions and bans on policies relating to pronouns, gender identity, and sexuality.https://t.co/t3TmvrdCep
In March 1997, he filed King’s Chamberlin Ministries, Inc., which was dissolved in September 2001 for failure to file an annual report. He didn’t recall the business but thought it was related to his brother who lives in Israel.
In October 1997, he filed Ryan Marketing Group, Inc., which was administratively dissolved for failure to file an annual report in September 1999.
In February of 1998, he filed a corporation called Professional Credit Services Acceptance Corporation, Inc. that was administratively dissolved for failure to file an annual report in September 1999.
In January 1999, he filed Freedom Investments, Inc. that was dissolved in October 2002 for failure to file an annual report.
In September 1999, he filed Freedom Team, Inc. which was administratively dissolved in September 2011.
In May 2010, he started a company called Prosperity Team Leaders, LLC, which was dissolved in September 2011 for failure to file an annual report.
In April 2011, he started a company called Empowered Companies, LLC, which was dissolved in September 2012 for failure to file an annual report.
In March 2013, he was on the board of EJ Kids, Inc. in Hollywood, Florida. That company administratively dissolved the following year for failure to file an annual report.
In February 2015, there was The Kids Movement, Inc., also created in Hollywood. That company was voluntarily dissolved in March 2019.
In January 2010, he started RJ Chamberlin, LLC, which he said he continues to operate for the consulting/training work he does for companies.
In April 2011, he started a company called Empowered Companies, LLC, which was dissolved in September 2012 for failure to file an annual report.
The only victories they try for are those that harm people they don’t like.
“It is an unlawful employment practice for a nonprofit organization or an employer who receives funding from the state to require, as a condition of employment, any training, instruction, or other activity on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression”
Note: If they were even remotely principled, they would have to admit that this would require refusing funding for any group that teaches that marriage is a heterosexual monopoly.
I think a lot of Floridians (gay and otherwise) are trying to figure out the best ways to fight this insane government. Voting is important for sure. But we need more and stronger resistance, more challenges in court, more protests. This is not an easy fight. I think a lot of people are just complacent in their comfy lifestyles. They really need to think otherwise. Danger, danger Will Robinson!
No safe space, no quiet room to decompress for every kid who needs one, because a minority thinks some kids are evil and they might feel safe and welcome there. WTF! Seriously! Adults need quiet places to decompress, and yet these old grandparent fucks think kids have it so easy they now all they need is Christ and the 10 commandments in school to be happy. This wouldn’t have cost the district. It was free money. But again religious people have the self entitled idea that somehow they get the right to force their religious convictions on other people’s children. I hate it, kids crying for safety, begging adults to help them. But all they got from some was hate, anger, judgement, and disdain.
I included a few more comments than I normally do because I want everyone to note how many people said hate, distrust, non-accptance and intolerance kept them in the closet, kept them denying who they were and stopping them from living openly as gay people. It kept them from dating and having fullfilling relationship. That is what the religous right wants to return to, the right to opress the LGBTQIA and keep them out of society. That is the world they love, where only people like them are seen in public, and on social media.
Last thing. At the very end someone who was able to see the entire meeting (* I was not able to read the article as it required me to regester and log in. *) reported that the board did agree to the need for a safe space. What they couldn’t accept was the money from “those people” again because the goal is to keep anyone different from being able to show it. To make sure the only accepted way to be is cis straight with strict gender roles from the 1950s. So they do see the need, they just refused free money because queer people were donating it. Again it makes it quite clear the goal they have. And I say together we have to stop them. Hugs. Scottie
The Lynchburg City School Board has voted not to accept a $10,000 grant from an LGBTQ-focused nonprofit, a possible temperature gauge for the board’s upcoming consideration of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s model policies on the treatment of transgender students. At its meeting Tuesday, the board voted 7-2 against accepting the grant from the nonprofit It Gets Better Project, with board members Anthony Andrews and Sharon Carter the only votes in favor.
Students with the E.C. Glass High School Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club applied for and were recently awarded a grant from the nonprofit to develop a safe-space or “quiet room” at the school, intended for all students’ use. One grandparent of a student spoke in opposition: “Let me be very clear, the LBGTQ agenda in schools is about indoctrination and grooming our children into an evil and wicked lifestyle, all while circumventing the rights and responsibilities of parents.”
Read the full article. In the screenshot seen above and in the cued-up video below, tearful students begged the school board in vain for the safe space.
School Board votes against accepting grant from LGBTQ-centered nonprofit | Tap on the picture to learn more 🔽 https://t.co/3uWrSdxjE1
A quiet room where students can read or do homework or just sit without being bullied. Imagine being against that. Now you understand the religious right. They want to be free to abuse anyone they want and when they are not allowed to do that they think they are being persecuted.
It reminds me of when I was in college, and an LGBT group was created, only to face a backlash from a counter group preaching “Society needs a home!” Rumor had it that this counter group sent plants into the LGBT group to potentially publicly out those attending…basically what Laura Ingraham did in college.
That threat kept me in the closet for a few more years, until I was out on my own and 1000 miles from my family. It should never have to be like that!
I started hitting the clubs at around 16 (back then in 1980’s NOLA I was just one face in a sea of gays and got away with it!) but didn’t come out until 1989 when I got out of the Army. It really was just too much trouble to be a double agent all the time. The idea of a “safe space” was unthinkable! Besides, I knew I was an ugly, twisted, perverted abomination that couldn’t be trusted around children. It took decades to partially heal from all that garbage. The kids deserve better than that, but that’s the message they get when they are denied these spaces. Oh, and I fucking HATE people like that Grandparent. I do not wish them well.
I ‘m sorry you had a moment when you viewed yourself as a “twisted abomination.” I understand it. I was raised a good Catholic boy. My parents even strong-armed me into going to their Catholic college, instead of the state college I wanted to attend, but I never saw myself as an abomination as I wanted so much more than just sex. I wanted love and a relationship…so how could that be wrong?
Of course it also helped that at the same time, Oprah, Geraldo, and other talk shows started featuring LGBT guests, who looked like “regular people,” acted like regular people, some were even ex-military & cops and this all flew in the face of what I was told what queer people were.
AIDS was devastating. I lost so many dear friends. The worst when when I would talk to my dad, and he deemed AIDS as “gawd’s judgement.” He eventually came around, when my parents met my gay friends and really liked them A LOT more than my sisters’ straight, boring, unfunny, uncultured friends. At one point, it was a bit unsettling when I had a bf my dad wanted to hang out with all the time, as they had way too many interests in common.
I’m a cis gendered white guy, and I’m ashamed that I had similar attitudes growing up. To be fair, I learned sex ed through ’60’s TV. I’m so glad I got past it. Even though I used to get hit on by gay guys all the time. 😉
My dad told me that all gay men acted & like to dress like women. “I couldn’t be gay. I’m not drawn to crossdressing nor attracted to effeminate men.”
Nothing’s worse than that time when I was closeted & neurotic 17-22 year old…desperately wanting some gay man to come onto me, only to be offended and terrified of being detected as gay.
When I was in an internship in college, there was this very cute, 30-ish mailman who delivered to the office all the time. One time he walked by my desk and flirted with me. I reacted rudely at the thought of being discovered. I thought about it later, and thought I should apologize the next time I saw him, and see where things go from there (never having been with another man yet.) Sadly, I never saw him again, as he had gotten sick shortly thereafter & died of AIDS.
My own self-loathing kept me away from friendly gay spaces and in my fraternity. Never mind that we would sometimes go to the big gay bar on $5 all you can drink Tuesdays. When I was finally outed and literally chased out of the house my biggest fear was that one of my ‘brothers’ would tell my parents. It’s not like the contact information wasn’t on file. But they didn’t.
I was booted from my frat when the fraternity president decided to come clean and tell his girlfriend that the two of us were having sex. After she ratted us out I was blackballed and the president stayed claiming I had “influenced” him. I guess the others I was having regular sex with as well felt it best to vote me out as to not appear to also having been “influenced”.
I never slept with any of my brothers but I did fuck my way through about a quarter of the PiKappaAlpha house. One bit of unfortunately blowback from my own outing was the guilt by association. Because I was treasurer and the assumptive president for the coming fall term, the whole thing created a bit of a scandal. I became toxic overnight and some of that stuck to others that I cared deeply for. In some cases I was the first person that they had spoken the words out loud to.
Oh man, I am so sorry to hear that happened to you.
My college’s GSU (1975) was the first place I felt comfortable coming out, and the first time I met people who felt the same way I did. It’s also where I met my first bf.
We all had/have our journeys. I survived and thrived, despite the delay & one-two punch in my journey of self-discovery & coming out.
1. Just before attending college and anticipating the exploration of my adulthood, I was reading about the sudden explosion of this ARC disease afflicting the gay community.
2. Was my college’s threat to this new gay safe space organization.
Moving 1000 miles away, 5 years later I found love (for 4-5 years), my happy gay self and tons of gay & lesbian friends.
Joining the Army saved my life. I was so afraid of getting kicked out for being gay (this was PRE-“Don’t ask, don’t tell) that I basically went celibate for 4 years, which coincided with the height of the plague. I remember going home on leave my first year. When I say that literally EVERY single person I’d slept with (and there were a lot) was dead, I’m not kidding. All those beautiful young men. It’s no wonder I’m filled with rage at the right.
I don’t get it. The school got the grant. It wouldn’t take any money and very little effort on the school’s part to make this happen. I don’t know of any school that would refuse free money. I guess I do now. 😦
True, the board voted 7-2 against accepting the $10,000 grant from the nonprofit It Gets Better Project. The negative majority objected to the It Gets Better Project “branding,” and what they percieved are implications of “indoctrination.”
However, in discussion beginning at hour 2:05 through 2:58 the board recognized the need for such a safe space, without objection. Eventually, the board voted 6-3 to direct the school system to find the funding for the safe space.
School Board Chair Dr. Gupta, a “No” voter on the It Gets Better Project grant, then offered to personally fund the project with $10,000. Accordingly, the Board then voted 9-0 to reconsider the 6-3 vote at their next meeting, pending investigation of any legal matters that might arise around Dr. Gupta’s donation.
I’m as disgusted as anyone here that in early discussion some board members wanted to accept the grant but were not willing recognize the grantor with a sign on the safe room’s door. But by the end of the meeting the glass was half-full — a safe room will be established, and a prominent local individual has offered to fund it.
Retiring after 17 years in my own city’s government, a place not unlike Lynchburg VA, I swore I’d never again watch another local government meeting. But watching the Lynchburg meeting I was encouraged. Especially that the needs of LGBT children were discussed (in Lynchburg, home of Liberty University!)
The meeting was calm and deliberate, without any Moms-for-Liberty stunts. I was especially struck by the diversity of the school board members, politically and ethnically. (Again in Lynchburg!) Another long, boring meeting, but I was surprised to find this one fascinating.
So, if I am reading this right, the school board recognized the need for a safe space for LGBTQ students, and approved the creation of such a space – they just couldn’t bear to take those queer dollars to fund it.
Proudly displaying work from her new sign-making business.
It wasn’t me
I saw Markywayne standing on a wooden box trying to pretend he’s almost the height of a real patriotic American. That’s WOKE as shit right there!
…so is this one, of Cpt Bravery:
Wasn’t this Mullin on January 6th?
It’s the Howdy Doody show.
MTG’s school ride.
I can’t help myself.
Texas Bill Gives State Power to Arrest and Deport Migrants. Legal experts question whether state’s latest challenge to federal border jurisdiction is constitutional. https://t.co/Aftewq03ZF
He won’t get this one shouted kitara as she fled the Capitol.
“And stop calling me George or Kitara !!”
Today's edition of Politicians in Committees with Signs features @RepClayHiggins, who continues to push a conspiracy theory that the @fbi was somehow involved in the Jan 6th riot. These are allegedly "Ghost Buses" filled with "fbi informants dressed as Trump supporters" pic.twitter.com/otiQjhfmvO
Scottie's Playtime 