Bexar Sheriff Javier Salazar says there is an open investigation of Venezuelan migrants lured under false pretenses and displaced from San Antonio to Florida and then Martha’s Vineyard. The Majority Report crew discusses how the Venezuelan migrants were in the United States legally with court dates and promised expedited work papers. The MR crew questions the funding behind this political stunt and if it could possibly be Right-wing money as Florida Governor DeSantis’ office staff is involved.
Governor Ron DeSantis is confronted by a journalist about the state of Florida’s plans to spend tax money to displace migrants from Texas to Delaware. The Majority Report crew discusses how DeSantis wants to address people “trickling in” from border states to Florida by displacing them at the source. The MR crew talks about how asylum seekers are here legally though not citizens, and questions the usage of the word ‘legal’ when referring to people. The crew also mentions how DeSantis may be burning out quickly as campaigning for the 2024 election is still far out and questions DeSantis’ use of the ‘ultimate solution’ with regard to immigration.
In a recent segment on his Fox News show, host Tucker Carlson shared the names and photos of Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s board of directors while ranting against hospitals that provide gender-affirming care.
Gender-affirming care for both adolescents and adults has been endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, and many other professional groups as necessary and frequently life-saving for transgender individuals. Yet Carlson falsely framed the issue as medical experimentation on children, accusing hospitals of profiting off “the mental anguish of children” in thrall to a supposed “fad.”
Carlson directed his outrage primarily at Tennessee’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Earlier this week, anti-LGBTQ commentator Matt Walsh targeted VUMC in a Twitter thread falsely claiming that the staff at the medical center’s Transgender Health Clinic “castrate, sterilize, and mutilate minors as well as adults, while apparently taking steps to hide this activity from the public view.” VUMC has since shut down the website for its Transgender Health Clinic and released a statement defending the work they do for trans patients and accusing Walsh of misrepresenting the facts.
The stunt has led social media users to wonder whether Calson’s rant could lead to violence against the hospital’s staff.
“Within the past few hours after Matt Walsh’s attack on Vanderbilt and Tucker Carlson’s coverage, users of 4chan and the Donald are calling for the outright murder of doctors. This is exactly what they want,” tweeted Harvard Law Cyberlaw clinical instructor Alejandra Caraballo.
Within the past few hours after Matt Walsh's attack on Vanderbilt and Tucker Carlson's coverage, users of 4chan and the Donald are calling for the outright murder of doctors. This is exactly what they want. pic.twitter.com/YNjI17EzbI
Earlier this month, Media Matters reported that Carlson had responded to the threats and harassment targeting BCH and other children’s hospitals by amplifying anti-trans misinformation. This week, in another anti-LGBTQ segment falsely accusing teachers and doctors of “sexualizing children,” Carlson went so far as to suggest that “neighborhood dads” should “mete out instant justice to anyone who even thought about sexualizing their kids.”
“No matter what the law says, your duty, your moral duty, is to defend your children,” he said. “This is an attack on your children and you should fight back.”
Nan sent this to me and it is a grand breakdown of how DeathSantis not only broke the law but was trying to use human suffering as a political hate tool. This is a clear case of racism and bigotry. Thank you, Nan, for the link. Hugs
I’m against trafficking of migrants.
But luring unsuspecting people onto planes with lies about jobs, housing, and education awaiting them, and then depositing them onto an island off the coast of Massachusetts that’s totally unprepared to receive them, is a form of human trafficking.
The people you’re talking about aren’t American citizens. They have no rights.
Even if they’re not Americans, U.S. law prohibits kidnapping people and moving them across state lines.
I didn’t kidnap them. They’re here illegally!
You don’t know that. Under our laws, these people are entitled to a hearing on whether they’re here legally— just like all the Cuban asylum seekers who for years have arrived in South Florida fleeing communism.
What I’m doing is appropriate and legal! I’m paying for part of it with funds from last year’s American Rescue Plan.
That money was for the COVID-19 health crisis. It isn’t a slush fund for whatever political stunt you dream up.
I’m also using every penny of the $12 million Florida budgeted to relocate migrants. I have a responsibility to the people of Florida to send migrants out of the state!
If you’re responsible for Floridians, why are you picking up people in Texas and transporting them to Massachusetts?
Many of the people who cross the southern border into Texas end up in Florida.
But the law gives federal officials the responsibility for handling immigration, not you.
You don’t know the Constitution. Article 10 gives powers not delegated to the federal government to the States.
No Governor, you don’t know the Constitution. Article 1 gives Congress the power to regulate commerce among the states. Neither you nor the state of Florida has the authority to off-load people you don’t want onto other states.
I’m not the only governor doing this!
I know. On Thursday Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent two surprise buses of migrants to Washington, D.C., where they were dropped off near the residence of Vice President Harris carrying all they have in clear plastic trash bags.
And we red-state governors are going to do a lot more!
So Republican governors can’t be bothered with pesky things like laws or the Constitution?
The U.S. immigration and asylum systems are totally broken!
Then why don’t you support fixing them instead of using immigrants as political fodder? Ask Republicans in Congress to stop blocking federal legislation creating paths to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants and to expedite asylum seekers and other legal immigrants.
You don’t understand politics. You have to play hardball.
You don’t understand morality or decency. You’re treating immigrants as if they’re political pawns rather than people. They’re no less people than was your maternal great-great-grandfather Salvatore Storti, who immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1904, or your great-great-grandmother Luigia Colucci, who joined Salvatore in the United States in 1917.
Keep them out of this.
And you’re treating the citizens of blue states as political hostages rather than fellow Americans. But they are no less American than the millions of retirees from blue states who have migrated to Florida, and their children and grandchildren who still live in blue states. We’re all in this together.
No we’re not.
And you’re acting as if governing is a child’s game rather than a pursuit of the common good. But it’s not a game. Our common good has depended on the sacrifices of generations of American service men and women, first responders, teachers, social workers, and public leaders who dedicated their lives to this nation.
I don’t have to listen to your speeches.
Look, I get it: Coping with immigration is difficult. It requires hard thought and hard work.
You betcha.
But you’re giving it neither.
Interview over!
I’m told you have presidential ambitions, Governor. If so, you might start acting like a statesman rather than doing stunts that make you a cynical clown.
Times change. Medical understandings lead to social and cultural changes. This is one of them. In some parts of the world women are still required to leave the home and stay in an outbuilding or even just outside. I remember about a year ago a woman died because her period happened during a hurricane and she was forced to go outside and stay there during the storm. It was in a country that had religious laws instead of science as their fundamental rule making requirements. But she was a woman so only her family that loved her really cared about it. Are we ready for the US Christian Taliban take over now? Hugs
“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said. And after they get the gays out of view in society who will be the next scapegoats. Remember this pandering by red state governors are to their base, which is a small minority of vocal and thuggish people. The majority of the public doesn’t want these enforced bigotry bills. The vast majority of the public wants acceptance and tolerance of diversity. Also don’t be fooled when the bills say notify the parents of any healthcare treatment they are talking of social transitioning such as name changes and use of pronouns. Basically outing kids to their parents. Hugs
Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have introduced a new bill, “patterned” on Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, that would ban discussions on LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms. (Getty)
Republican state lawmakers are rallying behind newly introduced anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that would ‘go further’ than Florida’s reviled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law.
GOP politicians held a rally at the Pennsylvania state capitol Tuesday (20 September) to introduce House Bill 2813. The bill shares similarities with Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law, which bans discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in classrooms between kindergarten and third grade.
Pennsylvania state representative Stephanie Borowicz, the bill’s primary sponsor, said HB 2813 is “patterned” on the Florida legislation but actually “goes further” than the other measure, according to PennLive.
The bill states that any public or charter school “may not offer instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity to a student in kindergarten through fifth grade”.
It would also require schools to notify parents of “health care services offered by the school entity” to students. The legislation would also allow parents to bring civil action against schools that they believe are violating the measure.
Borowicz added she believed the bill could be extended further in the future and wanted to ban classroom discussions on LGBTQ+ topics through high school.
“It really needs to be protected up through 12th grade, we need to go all the way,” she said.
However, the bill is unlikely to pass into law as Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has already promised to veto HB 2813 and other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills if they land on his desk.
Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf has promised to veto HB 2813 as he says it “denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies”. (Getty)
Wolf wanted lawmakers in the state to focus on the real issues facing Pennsylvanians rather than “engaging in discrimination and bullying”, WHTMreported.
“HB 2813 is an effort to scorch individuality and normalise unacceptance,” Wolf said. “This legislation denies humanity by reinforcing homophobic ideologies.”
Sharon Ward, senior policy advisor for the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, warned this bill – like other ‘Don’t Say Gay’ measures – could “really add to the existing targeting and bullying of LGBTQ kids in schools”.
“The intent of these bills seems to be to wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist,” Ward said.
Pennsylvania lawmakers in the state Senate passed a similar bill, Senate Bill 1278, in June and currently awaits consideration in the House.
SB 1278 would also ban classroom discussions of LGBTQ+ topics for pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity would also be prohibited between sixth and twelfth grade unless it is done in an “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate” manner.
Campaigners have denounced the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills as they attempt to “wipe out any discussion and pretend that [LGBTQ people] don’t exist”. (Getty)
The Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs described SB 1278 as a “copy-paste version of Florida’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that would harm students and set back human rights” in the state.
Rafael Álvarez Febo, executive director of the LGBTQ Affairs Commission, said the bill is a “cruel attempt to politicise” queer people and “deny their humanity” to “score cheap political points”.
“We at the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs know that the guise of calling LGBTQ people and topics ‘age inappropriate’ is really just fearmongering,” Febo said.
Febo continued: “Bills like these will cause LGBTQ teachers to have to conceal their identities and strip any resources available for LGBTQ youth out of schools.
“Even more alarming, these bills have emboldened far-right hate groups to mobilise to commit violence against LGBTQ people.”
Wolf has promised to veto both HB 2318 and SB 1278, but the bills await an uncertain future as Pennsylvania will have a new governor next year.
The Republican running for office, state senator Doug Mastriano, voted in favour of SB 1278. He described the anti-LGBTQ+ measure as a way to “empower parents” to ensure children aren’t exposed to so-called “sexually explicit materials and bizarre discussions about gender identity”.
Barn owls swoop down on rodents and swallow them whole – gophers, voles and mice, gone in a few gulps. But how do they keep down all that food? Well, they don’t. In a few stomach-turning steps, they transform the varmints into compact balls of fur and bones known as pellets.
By my dogs that love gravy this is going to bite trump in the gonads. If she doesn’t get harmed by the trump brownshirts this nails trump to the criminal walls. Hugs
Tucker Carlson Photo: Screenshot
Scottie's Playtime 