The MR crew looks at horrifying reports coming out of Texas that show Republican governor Greg Abbott ordered border agents to begin drowning and dehydrating migrant children.
A woman who is undergoing hormone treatments calls in to dispel the myths that transgendered individuals are dominating women’s sports and then gives a powerful story of her own transition.
Jeff Sharlet, professor of English at Dartmouth College, joins to discuss his recent book The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War.
Ben Shapiro reacts to a piece in the New York Times about a recent fashion trend that is seeing men wearing crop tops. Shapiro says: “Just as a fashion matter, no one wants to see the midriff of another man. Just as a general-i’m not going to speak for gay men. women, i don’t think, are interested. Neither are straight men.”
Charlie Kirk responds to reporting from MSNBC that far Right-Wing extremists have used at-home workout trends to expand their reach into mixed martial arts spaces. Kirk says that reporting like this shows that liberals only want men to be weak, depressed, and have low testosterone.
CNN’S Kaitlan Collins asks Senator Tommy Tuberville about the comments he made regarding White Nationalists serving in the military. Collins asks if he’d want to clarify that he wouldn’t want racists to be serving in the military. Tuberville reiterates his belief that he doesn’t see White Nationalists as necessarily racist, and that it’s people’s opinions that they’re racist. He says, however, that if there are White Nationalists who are racist, he wouldn’t support them serving in the military.
Later Tuberville was asked by reporters on Capitol Hill About why he continued to double down on his stance on White Nationalists. Tuberville attempted to amend his response: “I’m totally against racism. If the Democrats want to say that White Nationalists are racists, i’m totally against that, too.”
For those that kept telling me these drag bans were not outlawing cross dressing or trans people you need to read this. They changed the law to include people dressing as a gender different from that assigned at birth. No more wearing pants women! The bill is totally driven by fundamentalist ideas of morality in that they include wearing clothing stereotypical for a gender the wearer is not assigned to in the same category as strippers and topless dancers. In their minds, a man in a dress or a woman in a tux is the same as showing boobies / tits to children. Yes a man in a skirt is the same as a man being nude? This is how regressive these people are and where they want to force the country to be. To these people the Handmaid’s Tale is a user manual. Hugs
House Bill 245 expands the definition of adult cabaret performers from strippers and topless dancers to include “entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s gender assigned at birth.”
Ohio Republicans introduce bill to ban public drag performances
Drag performances in Ohio could be banned from public parks, parades and other places children might be if a bill introduced by House Republicans becomes law.
House Bill 245 expands the definition of adult cabaret performers from strippers and topless dancers to include “entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s or entertainer’s gender assigned at birth.”
A change that would restrict certain drag events to bars and other spaces where minors are prohibited.
“It doesn’t mean all performances,” Reps. Josh Williams, R-Sylvania, said. “A man dressed as a woman reading a book is constitutionally protected speech…But I’ve seen videos of performances here in the state of Ohio and across the nation that are improper to be done in the presence of minors.”
Drag queens and kings would face charges if local prosecutors decided their performances were obscene or harmful to juveniles as defined by Ohio law.
Williams said that delineation strikes a balance between free speech and protecting Ohio’s children, but opponents say current obscenity laws already cover his concerns and singling out LGBTQ performers in this way perpetuates stereotypes about gay people being inherently dangerous to children.
“I live in a mostly red area and people’s beliefs drive their decisions and hate,” said Kody Boggs, who performs as Redd Velvet. “It’s going to be a problem.”
Performing in drag was popular during the Shakespearean era (late 1500s) when women weren’t allowed to act on stage. A handful of drag queens like Dame Edna Everage achieved notoriety in the centuries since, but it wasn’t until the Emmy Award-winning show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” launched in 2009 that drag culture really entered the modern mainstream .
Drag queen story hour was created in 2015 , and the backlash against the concept soon followed.
Conservative writers and pundits called these events inappropriate at best, claiming their not-so-hidden purpose is to sexually groom children. And while Williams was clear that not all drag is inherently obscene, he believes there are performers who behave inappropriately.
That’s why he and 42 other Republicans think HB 245 is necessary. Williams said it will “put the power and the discretion in the hands of law enforcement officials” to decide whether individual shows or events were ” harmful to juveniles .”
A charge that can have serious consequences.
Ohio Revised Code defines that harm as “any material or performance describing or representing nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sadomasochistic abuse” where the following conditions are met:
Appeals to the “prurient” or excessive interest of juveniles in sex.
Offensive to “prevailing standards in the adult community” about what is suitable for children.
Lacks serious literary, artistic, political, and scientific value for children.
Obscene performances are defined as those where the show’s “dominant” or primary purpose is to arouse lust by depicting sexual activity, sexual excitement or nudity. And if a drag queen or king was convicted under HB 245, they would be facing a first-degree misdemeanor at minimum.
If a minor saw their show, they could face a first-degree misdemeanor. If the performance was deemed obscene, the charge would be a fifth-degree felony.
If a minor younger than 13 was at an obscene performance, that charge would climb to a fourth-degree felony, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 18 months.
“You’re talking about the potential for actual jail time,” said Gary Daniels, a lobbyist for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. “Does this apply to someone walking down the street or waiting for a bus? I don’t read it that way. But it does beg the question of let’s say you are walking as part of a gay pride parade. It can be said you are performing there.”
Daniels worried that enforcement of HB 245 might depend on where the event took place.
For example, Small Town Pride hosts an annual event in Celina, a small town in western Ohio. Its drag show has come under fire from locals who say some of the dance moves and costumes are inappropriate for children.
Boggs, who organizes the drag queens for that Celina show, told the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau the performer in question is a gymnast with a background in dance and opponents were “twisting it to make it seem worse than what it was.”
“This is the problem with bills that impact freedom of speech,” Daniels said. “When they are broad when they are open interpretation. you have people afraid to speak.”
What’s happening in other states?
Ohio isn’t the first state to consider a ban on public drag performances. Lawmakers in at least eight other states have introduced similar legislation.
Tennessee Republicans banned public drag performances in March, but a U.S. district judge overturned it in June saying the law violated the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
Williams, who is an attorney himself, said he crafted his legislation with that in mind, “This is the most narrowly tailored bill on this subject matter in the nation.”
LGBTQ groups don’t see it that way, saying HB 245 is “censorship over safety.”
“There have been multiple documented incidents of self-identified Nazis showing up to performances in Ohio in the past nine months. The Department of Homeland Security has sent out multiple alerts indicating the growing threat of hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people,” Equality Ohio policy director Maria Bruno said in a statement. “Yet instead of addressing guns, targeted intimidation, or any of the escalations of violence that we are seeing in our communities, Ohio’s statehouse politicians instead have chosen to broadly criminalize performing arts.”
Anna Staver is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.
Migrants cool themselves in the waters of the Rio Grande after crossing to the U.S. from Mexico near a site where the state is installing large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday, July 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)Eric Gay/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Officers working for Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security initiative have been ordered to push small children and nursing babies back into the Rio Grande, and have been told not to give water to asylum seekers even in extreme heat, according to an email from a Department of Public Safety trooper who described the actions as “inhumane.”
The July 3 account, reviewed by Hearst Newspapers, discloses several previously unreported incidents the trooper witnessed in Eagle Pass, where the state of Texas has strung miles of razor wire and deployed a wall of buoys in the Rio Grande.
According to the email, a pregnant woman having a miscarriage was found late last month caught in the wire, doubled over in pain. A four-year-old girl passed out from heat exhaustion after she tried to go through it and was pushed back by Texas National Guard soldiers. A teenager broke his leg trying to navigate the water around the wire and had to be carried by his father.
The email, which the trooper sent to a superior, suggests that Texas has set “traps” of razor wire-wrapped barrels in parts of the river with high water and low visibility. And it says the wire has increased the risk of drownings by forcing migrants into deeper stretches of the river.
The trooper called for a series of rigorous policy changes to improve safety for migrants, including removing the barrels and revoking the directive on withholding water.
“Due to the extreme heat, the order to not give people water needs to be immediately reversed as well,” the trooper wrote, later adding: “I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane.”
Migrants walk along concertina wire blocking their entrance to the U.S. in Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday, July 10, 2023.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
Department of Public Safety spokesman Travis Considine did not comment on all the contents of the trooper’s email, but said there is no policy against giving water to migrants.
Considine also provided an email from DPS Director Steven McCraw on Saturday calling for an audit to determine if more can be done to minimize the risk to migrants. McCraw wrote troopers should warn migrants not to cross the wire, redirect them to ports of entry and to closely watch for anyone who needs medical attention.
In another email, McCraw acknowledged that there has been an increase in injuries from the wire, including seven incidents reported by Border Patrol where migrants needed “elevated medical attention” from July 4 to July 13. Those were in addition to the incidents detailed by the trooper.
“The purpose of the wire is to deter smuggling between the ports of entry and not to injure migrants,” McCraw wrote. “The smugglers care not if the migrants are injured, but we do, and we must take all necessary measures to mitigate the risk to them including injuries from trying to cross over the concertina wire, drownings and dehydration.”
Texas Department of Public Safety personnel are seen in a closed off area of a public park by the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday, July 10, 2023.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
The incidents detailed in the email come as Abbott has stepped up efforts in recent weeks to physically bar migrants from entering the country through his Operation Lone Star initiative, escalating tensions between state and federal officials and drawing increased scrutiny from humanitarian groups who say the state is endangering asylum seekers. The most aggressive initiatives have been targeted at Eagle Pass.
Federal Border Patrol officials have issued internal warnings that the razor wire is preventing their agents from reaching at-risk migrants and increasing the risk of drownings in the Rio Grande, Hearst Newspapers reported last week.
The DPS trooper expressed similar concerns, writing that the placement of the wire along the river “forces people to cross in other areas that are deeper and not as safe for people carrying kids and bags.”
The trooper’s email sheds new light on a series of previously reported drownings in the river during a one-week stretch earlier this month, including a mother and at least one of her two children, who federal Border Patrol agents spotted struggling to cross the Rio Grande on July 1.
According to the email, a DPS boat found the mother and one of the children, who went under the water for a minute. They were pulled from the river and given medical care before being transferred to EMS, but were later declared deceased at the hospital. The second child was never found, the email said.
The governor has said he is taking necessary steps to secure the border and accused federal officials of refusing to do so.
“Texas is deploying every tool and strategy to deter and repel illegal crossings between ports of entry as President Biden’s dangerous open border policies entice migrants from over 150 countries to risk their lives entering the country illegally,” said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary. “President Biden has unleashed a chaos on the border that’s unsustainable, and we have a constitutional duty to respond to this unprecedented crisis.”
Migrants cross the Rio Grande as state troopers guard workers installing buoys on the Rio Grande south of Eagle Pass, Texas, Monday, July 10, 2023.Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
The DPS trooper’s email details four incidents in just one day in which migrants were caught in the wire or injured trying to get around it.
On June 30, troopers found a group of people along the wire, including a 4-year-old girl who tried to cross the wire and was pressed back by Texas Guard soldiers “due to the orders given to them,” the email says. The DPS trooper wrote that the temperature was “well over 100 degrees” and the girl passed out from exhaustion.
“We provided treatment to the unresponsive patient and transferred care to EMS,” the trooper wrote. A spokesperson for the Texas National Guard did not respond to a request for comment.
In another instance, troopers found a 19-year-old woman “in obvious pain” stuck in the wire. She was cut free and given a medical assessment, which determined she was pregnant and having a miscarriage. She was then transferred to EMS.
The trooper also treated a man with a “significant laceration” in his left leg, who said he had cut it while trying to free his child who was “stuck on a trap in the water,” describing a barrel with razor wire “all over it.” And the trooper treated a 15-year-old boy who broke his right leg walking in the river because the razor wire was “laid out in a manner that it forced him into the river where it is unsafe to travel.”
In another instance, on June 25, troopers came across a group of 120 people camped out along a fence set up along the river. The group included several small children and babies who were nursing, the trooper wrote. The entire group was exhausted, hungry and tired, the trooper wrote. The shift officer in command ordered the troopers to “push the people back into the water to go to Mexico,” the email says.
The trooper wrote that the troopers decided it was not the right thing to do “with the very real potential of exhausted people drowning.” They called command again and expressed their concerns and were given the order to “tell them to go to Mexico and get into our vehicle and leave,” the trooper wrote. After they left, other troopers worked with Border Patrol to provide care to the migrants, the email said.
Migrants trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico approach the site where workers are assembling large buoys to be used as a border barrier along the banks of the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, Tuesday, July 11, 2023.Eric Gay/AP
The trooper did not respond to a request for comment Monday. His email was shared by a confidential source with knowledge of border operations. It was unclear whether the trooper received a response from the sergeant he’d messaged.
Considine acknowledged that DPS was aware of the email and provided the additional agency emails in response. Those emails detail seven other incidents reported by federal border agents in which migrants were injured on the wires, including a child who was taken to the hospital on Thursday with cuts on his left arm, a mother and child who were taken to the hospital on Wednesday with “minor lacerations” on their “lower extremities,” and another migrant taken to San Antonio on July 4 to receive treatment for “several lacerations” that required staples.
Victor Escalon, a DPS director who oversees South Texas, wrote in an email Friday to other agency officials that troopers “may need to open the wire to aid individuals in medical distress, maintain the peace, and/or to make an arrest for criminal trespass, criminal mischief, acts of violence, or other State crimes.
“Our DPS medical unit is assigned to this operation to address medical concerns for everyone involved,” Escalon wrote. “As we enforce State law, we may need to aid those in medical distress and provide water as necessary.”
Benjamin Wermund is the Washington correspondent for the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. He covers the Texas delegation and the many ways the state and its leaders shape national politics and policy. He’s a Texas native and a diehard Spurs fan.VIEW COMMENTS
U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell on Wednesday denied a motion asking that his injunction blocking the law apply only to the plaintiff in the case, the Hamburger Mary’s restaurant in downtown Orlando.
“This injunction protects Plaintiff’s interests, but because the statute is facially unconstitutional, the injunction necessarily must extend to protect all Floridians,” Presnell wrote in his order.
At issue is a new Florida law that contains penalties for any venue allowing children into a sexually explicit “adult live performance.” The law includes potential first-degree misdemeanor charges for violators.
Hamburger Mary’s filed a lawsuit in May against Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state, and Melanie Griffin, secretary of Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation. DeSantis, who signed the measure into law, and the state have since been dropped as defendants, with Griffin remaining.
The downtown Orlando restaurant, which opened in 2008, has held drag performances that include bingo, trivia and comedy.
Presnell in June issued an order preventing Griffin’s agency from enforcing the law pending the outcome of a trial. He also denied the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
In that ruling, Presnell, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, questioned what the line in the law about “prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts” would mean for cancer survivors.
“It is this vague language — dangerously susceptible to standardless, overbroad enforcement which could sweep up substantial protected speech — which distinguishes [the new Florida law] and renders Plaintiff’s claim likely to succeed on the merits,” Presnell wrote.
State attorneys representing Griffin then requested a stay to Presnell’s order for parties other than Hamburger Mary’s. The state also has filed an appeal to Presnell’s ruling.
“The Court’s injunction also sweeps beyond Plaintiff to nonparties who may wish to expose children to live obscene performances in violation of the statute,” lawyers for the state agency argued in requesting the stay. “The portion of the injunction that applies to nonparties threatens Florida, and the children Florida enacted the law to protect, with irreparable harm, and is beyond the Court’s remedial authority.”
But Presnell on Wednesday denied that request, writing: “By her motion, Defendant seeks to neuter the Court’s injunction, restricting her enforcement only as to Plaintiff and leaving every other Floridian exposed to the chilling effect of this facially unconstitutional statute.”
Republicans have introduced more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2023 alone, all over the country. They’re obsessed with controlling who Americans love, how they identify, and even where they can go to the bathroom. Here’s why.
I have not been able to get to all the news tabs I had opened, so each night I pushed them into the next morning. I had several hundreds of open tabs, at least past the beginning of the month into last June. Maybe 300+ But Ron left Sunday morning to go to NC to pick up his family and take them to see their brother in a nursing home under hospice care. He does this at least once a year, often more. This year with everything going on, it is a huge hardship drain on our finances. But it is family, so …
So with Ron gone, no distractions over the simple needed chores (feeding cats, cleaning cat boxes, doing dishes, taking out trash) I have had all the free time to work on the computer. I am now with this post caught up to Friday night / Saturday morning. I hope to finish the next few days worth quickly, so I can tell everyone what my medical tests showed. Spoiler I have minor heart damage, but seem to have a bad lung problem. The first meme is my fav. More later. Best wishes and hugs
Ron DeSantis has quietly rejected hundreds of millions of dollars in federal energy funding https://t.co/Xlm7tHGFxr
According to a green energy group, the rebates would have meant people in Florida would get “lower utility bills and healthier and more comfortable homes as well as lower greenhouse gas emissions.” Meanwhile, DeSantis has proposed millions in tax credits for people who buy gas stoves.
The "missing" Hunter Biden witness the GOP was promising for a while there was just charged by the DOJ with being a Chinese spy. https://t.co/lLiVEmfrU1
— follow @bencollins on bluesky (@oneunderscore__) July 10, 2023
Timeline:
Gal Luft was arrested for allegedly acting as an unregistered foreign agent in February.
Released on bail, he fled.
GOP Rep. Comer claimed "we can't track down the [Hunter Biden] informant" in May.
Luft put out a videos 5 days ago.
DOJ announced charges today.
— follow @bencollins on bluesky (@oneunderscore__) July 10, 2023
House Oversight Committee chair James Comer was on Laura Ingraham's Fox News show last night raising questions about whether the arrest of one of his supposed whistleblowers for serving as an unregistered agent of China may be political. pic.twitter.com/AoxnbQjYqv
Whoops. Gal Luft, the GOP's new fake Hunter Biden "whistleblower," was just indicted by the Justice Department for arms trafficking, violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, making false statements to federal agents, and being an unregistered foreign agent for China.
Gal Luft knew he was being indicted for being a foreign agent for China & charged w/arms trafficking, violating sanctions against Iran & making false statements to the feds so he decided to team-up w/corrupt Republicans and become a fake whistleblower for Hunter Biden. #DOJhttps://t.co/kUDzoOfZXjpic.twitter.com/LnwYqFKUsE
This is from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). OASH oversees the Department’s key public health offices and programs, a number of Presidential and Secretarial advisory committees, 10 regional health offices across the nation, and the Office of the Surgeon General and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. In order to add the resource links and the footnotes to display properly (and to save my self a lot of work) I did screen captures. To click on the links, use the PDF link to the government site, where they are clickable. This is from the US government, it is facts! The sources, links, and footnotes are all on the webpage. The US government doesn’t promote conspiracy fringe group made up bullshit. For you anti-trans people, modern medical science says gender-affirming care is the best practice for treating people and children with gender identification issues. Please take your anti-trans made up crap else where, because I rate it right up there with anti-vaccine / Covid conspiracy nonsense. Thanks
Gender-affirming care is a supportive form of healthcare. It consists of an array of services that may include medical, surgical, mental health, and non-medical services for transgender and nonbinary people. For transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, early gender affirming care is crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system.
Why does it matter?
Research demonstrates that gender-affirming care improves the mental health and overall well-being of gender diverse children and adolescents.(1) Because gender-affirming care encompasses many facets of healthcare needs and support, it has been shown to increase positive outcomes for transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents. Gender-affirming care is patient-centered and treats individuals holistically, aligning their outward, physical traits with their gender identity.
Gender diverse adolescents, in particular, face significant health disparities compared to their cisgender peers. Transgender and gender nonbinary adolescents are at increased risk for mental health issues, substance use, and suicide.(2, 3) The Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 52 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.(4)
A safe and affirming healthcare environment is critical in fostering better outcomes for transgender, nonbinary, and other gender expansive children and adolescents. Medical and psychosocial gender affirming healthcare practices have been demonstrated to yield lower rates of adverse mental health outcomes, build self-esteem, and improve overall quality of life for transgender and gender diverse youth.(5,6) Familial and peer support is also crucial in fostering similarly positive outcomes for these populations. Presence of affirming support networks is critical for facilitating and arranging gender affirming care for children and adolescents. Lack of such support can result in rejection, depression and suicide, homelessness, and other negative outcomes.(7,8,9)
Additional Information • Endocrine Treatment of Gender-Dysphoric/Gender-Incongruent Persons: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline • Ensuring Comprehensive Care and Support for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Children and Adolescents | American Academy of Pediatrics • Standards of Care (SOC) for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People | World Professional Association for Transgender Health
This nonstop transanity doesn’t sell, and it’s damaging our state’s efforts to safeguard young Hoosiers. My office will continue working daily to protect our children and uphold parental rights. https://t.co/kzTNpgOdDv
Indiana's attorney general is leading seven states expressing legal concern that Target’s ‘LGBTQIA+ Pride’ campaign is damaging efforts to safeguard citizens. https://t.co/ED1UvcZTbo
A lawsuit seeking to invalidate a Wisconsin statute from 1849 outlawing abortion will proceed, after the presiding judge on Friday denied a motion to dismiss the closely watched legal action. @cnsjkellyhttps://t.co/LKqYBXBoJc
Patrick Henry: “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason, peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity,…
You will be unsurprised to hear that Patrick Henry never said this. It comes from a 1956 article in a magazine called The Virginian. But what's a fake quote between friends? https://t.co/PZCEhfNlqW
— James Surowiecki (@JamesSurowiecki) July 5, 2023
15 hours and this fake quote is still up. Christian Nationalists' identity depends on deliberately spreading disinformation about American history, especially the founders and the founding. https://t.co/z6bRSUYnQW
Christian theocrat uses a fake quote to make his case. Many of the founding fathers were deists and the constitution establishes a secular government. Your version of christian Saudi Arabia is authoritarian and unpopular. Give it up https://t.co/SCu5MFAWjg
Next time, instead of arguing whether America was founded on ‘christianity”, ask them why it is so important for them to make their (incorrect) point. Okay, we were founded on Christian principles of slavery, and women as chattel with no vote, natives were stripped of their land and other rights, and only white male property owners could vote. Not to mention child labor was rampant, the majority of the country were small farmers, divorce was nearly impossible and so on. Hurray! What is you want NOW? You want to reinstitute all of that? No, they will likely say, they just want “Christian principles” reinstitute. Like what? Name them, specifically. They will be likely more in line with Christian nationalism — no LBGT rights, minorities voting is restricted, reduction in social safety net, more deregulation and so on. So now you can drill down — what does Christianity have to say about laws that control pollution, radioactive waste, plastics in our food, chemicals in the water you drink? They will give you mumbo jumbo about freedom, and all that. “”So why do we have to be a Christian nation” to achieve your goals of less regulation? What it will likely come down to is morals and values. Again, we can hit hard back — you mean no divorce? Because Jesus had a lot to say about it. Premarital sex? Birth control? IF you want to talk about morals, let’s talk about children going to bed or to school hungry, of which millions do. What about the homeless? Again, we don’t need Christian nationalism to tackle those issues. It wil come down to nothing at all — just a vague desire to make people go to church more, pray more, and be more aligned with god or something. “So you want to force people to pray?” I could go on, but you just have to nail them down on specifics. Hawley is just about control — they don’t want drag queens, people having wanton sex, abortion, and all that. Force them to admit that.
I remember in 2020 when they used the flag of the Russian Federation to decorate the Republican National Convention, which inspired me to make this meme.
GQP ads constantly have Russian troops, ships and MiGs because they use creative agencies in Russia, because few US agencies often full of GQP intended victims will do work for them.
Creative houses use the stock images they have on hand. That’s why so much Russian stuff shows up in their ads.
Early data shows globe just had its warmest June on record by far, and July 3 and 4 set a record for the hottest days yet recorded (since 1979). I suspect July 5 will be added to that list… https://t.co/EkJtXJhBO9
When children first are taught the letters of the alphabet, the letters are capitalized. Maybe the MAGAs never got farther than that.
Snow White is a 19th century German fairy tale. The name literally refers to the character’s skin color. This is what actual cultural appropriation looks like. Probably the most blatant case we’ve seen yet. https://t.co/erALE33kj0
Meet the cast of Disney’s new woke Snow White film. Snow White is Columbian now and the 7 dwarves look more like the 6 normal sized hipster pedos and 1 dwarf from Portland. Snow White no longer has "skin white as snow". Absolutely ridiculous. pic.twitter.com/DKZInYty89
So they have one little person playing a dwarf to be more “politically correct?” So 6 other little people didn’t get the job or the check and somehow this is more “sensitive?”
Elagabalus2 days ago Reminds me of the time Megyn Kelly got so flummoxed that Santa Claus was presented as black because in her worldview, Santa Claus was clearly white. What is it with conservatives and fictional characters?
If you read the articles on this it says that trump did not argue that the evidence was not there to show he committed a crime but that it was improperly gained. His lawyers are admitting to the crime basically. Hugs
Federal judge also orders far-right also-ran Mark Finchem and their famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz to split some costs — though Dersh has a lighter share.
A DeSantis staffer has reportedly been caught on camera saying he is telling voters “eat my balls” if they are upset by being asked to support DeSantis. “I’m a little stoned, so I don’t even care.”
ICYMI: "Broward County has lost more than a half-dozen conventions as their organizers cite the divisive political climate as their reason to stay out of Florida."https://t.co/V6sDOmAX6I.
— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) July 8, 2023
According to @alltherooms, the Orlando DMA for Air BnB is down 35% from May 2022 to May 2023. Per @VisitOrlando: rentals in Orange County, occupancy year-to-date so far 60.9%, down 10% from 2022. The average daily rate through May 2023 is $175, a 7% increase from 2022. @MyNews13
— Spectrum News Asher Wildman (@AsherWildman13) June 29, 2023
— The Florida Phoenix (@FLPhoenixNews) July 5, 2023
"Black engineers and “Game of Thrones” fans are the latest groups canceling Orlando events and attributing their decisions to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida’s political climate."
Kirk Cameron demands investigation of American Library Association for religious discrimination https://t.co/ls3wyqeBP6
— The Christian Post (@ChristianPost) July 9, 2023
“Library staffers were deluged with harassment and a bomb threat.”
Oregon Public Broadcasting's @_jlevinson revealed that the mayor of Newport, Ore., had for years been posting hateful memes on a private FB group for law enforcement officers.
“But when you’re asked to take the word of a fugitive making videos for the New York Post over career prosecutors making sworn statements with their entire careers & livelihoods on the line…I gotta be honest. I’m leaning toward trusting the government.” https://t.co/Axhv3CyOnO
In May, one of the informants in the Republican-led investigation into the Biden family went missing. That informant was later revealed to be Gal Luft, who is now charged with acting as a foreign agent for China. https://t.co/ErabfF07tq
Another Hunter Biden whistleblower bites the dust. James Comer's whistleblower, Gal Luft, has just been indicted by the DOJ for arms trafficking, violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, making false statements to federal agents, and being a Chinese spy.pic.twitter.com/yQK2pNkNCs
“Several lawyers who have had business before the supreme court…paid money to a top aide to Justice Clarence Thomas, according to the aide’s Venmo transactions. The payments appear to have been made in connection to Thomas’s 2019 Christmas party.” https://t.co/NIpf6mHBgN
Abortion should be freely available at any stage of pregnancy, on demand, without apology.
Reposting:
“The very concept of sin comes from the Bible. Christianity offers to solve a problem of its own making! Would you be thankful to a person who cut you with a knife in order to sell you a bandage?”
― Dan Barker, Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist
Farmers Insurance announced today they're pulling out of Florida, the 4th major insurance co to leave Florida since @rondesantis took over
THAT's the economy of DeSantis, too busy screaming hysterically about some made up "woke" boogeyman to give a shit about actual people
While Florida’s property insurance market was BURNING 🔥, Ron DeSantis used GOP supermajorities to obsess over wokeness, drag queens, and pronouns.
Now 100,000 Floridians will lose coverage, but at least no one is talking about gay in school. pic.twitter.com/8kgBrSIdYJ
— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) July 11, 2023
Gov. DeSantis and his allies in the Florida Legislature chose to focus on culture wars, instead of addressing the issues facing everyday Floridians, during the 2023 session.
How many of our congress is on the payroll of Russia. Hugs
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) on Tuesday introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would require transgender men to register for the draft:
Indeed trans men should sign up for selective service when they turn 18, just like all cis men. But then trans men should be able to use the men’s room, just like all cis men do.
The current law states that all persons either born in the US or (with few exceptions) legally resident when they turn 18, and identified as male at birth are required to register for the Selective Service when they turn 18, no exceptions. If you are an American citizen living abroad, you must still register. If you are a legal resident alien, you must still register. If you are in a prison or mental asylum, you must still register. If you are here under a diplomatic passport (say, a parent works at an embassy or consulate) or have a tourist or student visa, you do not need to register. People who were identified as female at birth are NOT required to register for the Selective Service, and in fact trying to register can get you in legal trouble for filing a “frivolous” legal document (not sure if it has ever been prosecuted, but it is in the regulations.)
If they are going to make transmen register, then they must also make transwomen exempt. They will also need to clarify at what point relative to the age of 18 this will kick in: is it enough to identify as trans, or will they need to have passed some benchmark in transitioning? What if a person comes out as trans after they are 18, but before they turn 25 (the age that your registration remains in effect)? And if transwomen are not exempt, they they should make registration mandatory for ALL 18 year olds regardless of gender identity: there is no longer any restriction from women serving in combat, after all. Maybe if their precious daughters are required to register, and fact the very serious penalties for not registering, we can finally get rid of this whole Selective Service idiocy once and for all.
BREAKING: ARIZONA AG Kris Mayes has APPOINTED a team of PROSECUTORS to investigate republican attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state. MI and NM referred their findings to the DoJ, and GA will make charging decisions in August. https://t.co/lEijrZczDF
— Mueller, She Wrote (@MuellerSheWrote) July 13, 2023
I guess it was done the same way the former idiot allowed a bunch of Russian spies into the building.
#Hungarian authorities issued a 12 million (EUR 32 000) fine on a book publisher, based on the homophobic „child protection" law.
Reason: stores displayed Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper in the youth section, and the books – that "depict homosexuality+ were not in closed packaging. pic.twitter.com/S0N6Q8JV8r
This is the country and leader the republicans love almost as much as Putin.
Because if you don’t acknowledge LBGTs exist, kids will stop being gay
Clay’s policy is to place a temporary ban on all challenged books until they complete the challenge process (which can include an appeal to remove to the Board).
With 350+ challenges and growing, this temporary ban could last years. https://t.co/Sjcbx5Si8f
— Florida Freedom to Read Project (@FLFreedomRead) March 29, 2023
This year in the U.S. the majority of books most often banned are by LGBT writers and writers of color.
Here’s a good report from the writers’ organization PEN on the state of censorship in the U.S. https://pen.org/report/bann…
New: The Texas Department of Agriculture renounced a mandatory workplace training on Wednesday that mentioned gender identity definitions.
The same state agency in April ordered employees to dress “in a manner consistent with their biological gender.” https://t.co/6sUlMTHF0n
Oh my God, I'm so sick of this christian bigotry. This is the exact reason the EEOC laws exist. And it's training.. good grief. For a bunch of tough men you'd think they could handle some words about gender.
How did people get it in their heads that they have a “right” to never be offended? That is not a right and never has been. Freedom of speech, remember?Astonishing how the “fuck your feelings” crowd so quickly turn around to demand safe spaces where their precious feelings are prioritized so much.
Didn’t a black woman in Texas get five years for voting just once? I think they claimed she was ineligible for some reason.And it was a provisional ballot and was not counted. Further it was a poll worker that told her to fill out a provisional ballot.
Republican Congresswoman Anna Paulina argues against humanitarian aid for women and children in Afghanistan because it is not mentioned in the Constitution.
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) July 14, 2023
Jesus isn’t in the Constitution either. Let’s start there.
Gov. Newsom slams "cancel culture" and "radicalized zealots" at Temecula school board, vows state action over Harvey Milk issue https://t.co/3y6aekUGDY
They’ve already grabbed lots of the courts, then they want to control education (‘member how so many righties loves to quote hitler on this…) & inject religion into the schools – while wiping out all dissenting ideas & critical thinking – fast forward 10 years and VOILA – you have a whole generation of little christo-fascists that taxpayers are footing the bill to educate with xtian nationalist dogma. These wack job conservatives (an extreme minority) are proving too damn good at a multi-decade slow play here. People have to wake up.
GOP attorneys general tee off on large corporations over diversity policies https://t.co/A3QkBLHhWD
🚨BREAKING: After Randy Fine didn’t make the cut, the state has stepped in and halted the hiring process for the next FAU President https://t.co/HvOW1pdQor
— The Space Coast Rocket (@CoastRocket) July 8, 2023
The DeSantis state regime is launching a full-scale investigation into why their bigoted GOP ally Randy Fine wasn’t selected as a finalist to be FAU’s president…and why an applicant may have been asked their preferred pronouns.
— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) July 14, 2023
Philanthropist Dick Schmidt, whose family has donated more than $47 million to FAU, served on the search committee. “I feel personally outraged and slandered by the implications of the chancellor’s letter on me and my colleagues…”https://t.co/xkJXqXgu0f
— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@CarlosGSmith) July 14, 2023
Rep. Jill Tokuda, Democrat of Hawaii, “admonished her Republican colleagues for the tenor of the debate. ‘From the backwards, racially insensitive comments spoken on this floor, it seems D.E.I. training would be good right here in the halls of Congress’” https://t.co/0kTcKpUNsh
219-210: The House passes the National Defense Authorization Act.
The House GOP added a raft of conservative policy to the traditionally bipartisan legislation, including limiting abortion access and transgender health care for service members and banning Pentagon DEI trainings. pic.twitter.com/Tdge06jwyB
Scottie's Playtime 