The cochineal is a tiny insect deeply rooted in the history of Oaxaca, Mexico. Female cochineals spend most of their lives with their heads buried in juicy cactus pads, eating and growing. After cochineals die, their legacy lives on in the brilliant red hue produced by their hemolymph. Dyes made from cochineal have been used in textiles, paintings, and even in your food!
*** Serious trigger warning for those who are fundamentally against nudity or seeing male sex organs displayed causally in a non-erect state. There is nudity of both female and males, and as the title suggests this is about the penis. So no complaints if you watch and are shocked by it. However I do look forward to the comments on this. ****
To be clear I like penises! Hey I am a gay man, I have most of my life been pretty open about that. I like to see them. In my youth was the time when the huge modesty push was happening in the US, which I think is part of the big anti-trans bathroom issues. People have been indoctrinated that any sight of the nude body of another person is so horrible you are permanently damaged immediately and forever. There was a time when kids showered after PE in open showers. Now it is separate changing and showering stalls. Why, because we teach boys so little about their bodies they have horrible anxiety about their size and look of their own penis. They are also too scared of the subject to ask an adult be it teacher or parent. We adults cause this. When I was in a church boarding school the boys’ dorm had large open shower rooms. If you went to the YMCA it was the same. Nude swimming for males was the norm until the 1970s, and I would have loved it. Even if girls were present, which I have also posted happened to teen boys a lot and was normal in college. I have posted this when called out about it. I loved the nude beaches in Germany as a young guy in the Army. I have no trouble showing my body nude including my penis even at 61 years old, my problem getting nude these days is my rather protruding belly and out of shape body. Yes I know … all human bodies are grand works of art. But some are drawn much better than others. 😁🤣🤷♂️
I think a lot of the current regressive notions of sex and the human body are driven by the strident religious groups working hard to force their regressive social morals on everyone. I have posted about a woman in Utah who was changing in her closed garage and her son burst into the room and seen mommy with no top covering, so got a good view of mommy’s breasts. She was crucified by the legal establishment and labeled a sexual deviant.
To be clear I am talking casual nudity. Not sex in public. Yes that is a turn on for some, but seriously most of the people having public sex are not worth wasting time watching. Plus with so much free stuff on the interwebs, who needs to see it in public places where you might have to explain to your spouse what they are doing. That was a joke. But in places were even the sight of a nude body online is illegal now, it may have to return to for pay circus tent revival affairs, the return to the days of peep shows. Flashers are people who need help, and the thing to do is look and then laugh. I have heard it ruins their entire day.
I am talking people doing every day stuff nude, or clothing optional. I love that in some places you can bike ride or walk about nude. Why not. And yes I look and watch. Why not? The reason we have such sex hang ups is that we have turned one part of the body into a much bigger thing that in reality it is. That was not a joke. We as a society have made that body part a huge mystery never to be talked about. Boys are told never to touch it for pleasure … that is screwed up. They are made afraid of something wonderful for most of them.
Anyway enough intro, you have an idea of what is coming. Enjoy this thought look into the way society has been taught to view the penis. Hugs. Scottie
Why are penises so weird? And why are we so obsessed with how they look? Filmmaker Conor Reilly sets out to explore our complex relationship with willies – by planning to get naked himself. Can he overcome his greatest fear and strip off in front of his nearest and dearest (and a few strangers) in the name of documentary filmmaking?
This interview points out some of the flaws in the Cass Report, and how Cass herself was a known anti-trans person who had worked with DeathSantis and his administration. Talk about asking the fox about the hen house security. The people who wanted a badly done report on trans care / trans kids choose a known anti-trans person to do it. Erin Reed is a trans person who is very well versed in trans issues. The video is not long, about 14.19 minutes long but very informative if you know someone who is an anti-trans hater who often says well look at the UK and those places they are stopping care, or someone who likes to refer to the Cass report. Hugs. Scottie
Journalist Erin Reed, author of the Erin In The Morning newsletter on SubStack, discusses the recent gender identity review by the National Health Services (NHS) in the United Kingdom.
Erin Reed and Emma then jump right into the background for the UK’s recent Cass Report on transgender care, stepping back to briefly cover the rise of transphobic activism in the UK at the end of the 2010s, and the major policy impacts it had despite fringe following, including the NHS-sponsored ‘independent’ and ‘unbiased’ review by Hillary Cass. After giving some background on the evidently not-so-unbiased Cass herself, Reed parses through the clear failure of the report itself to live up to these supposed standards, actively excluding both trans voices and experts on trans care from the report, relying on outdated and fraudulent statistics (compiled by notorious homophobes nonetheless), and repeatedly requiring absurdly high standards for trans care – standards not met by the vast majority of both adult and pediatric care – while rarely substantiating any of the claims about the supposed dangers.
If you go to the link as I did, you can see just how over the top old school 1950s / 1960s racist these people are. I can not understand younger people in this day and age being so stupid as the use the slurs and name calling of fellow humans because of skin color. Even worse the governor was supportive saying he was proud of the racists. Republican Governor of Mississippi Tate Reeves also posted on X that the group of counter-protestors “warms my heart.” Users on X reacted to the video of the students and Governor Tate Reeves’s proclamation of support for the counter-protestors: This is the world that tRump inspired and help flourish in the US. Hugs. Scottie
A video was posted on X Thursday of a group of counter-protestors at the University of Mississippi — or Ole Miss — shouting and making monkey noises towards a Black woman who was part of a group protesting the war in Gaza.
Another bystander at the university uploaded a video of the students shouting “Lizzo! Lizzo! — in reference to the pop/hip-hop singer — and “f**k you fatass, f**k you bitch” to the same woman.
Republican Governor of Mississippi Tate Reeves posted on X that the group of counter-protestors “warms my heart.” The shocking video earned praise from Republican legislator Rep. Mike Collins, who posted the video and wrote “Ole Miss taking care of business.”
Ashton Pittman adds on Threads: “Hundreds of frat boys showed up to counter protest a small group of ~50 pro-Palestine protestors on the UM campus, with some frat boys throwing food, drinks and bottles at them. Others waved Trump flags and flipped the protestors off.”
Rep. Mike Collins, R-Georgia, praises a video showing a University of Mississippi frat boy dancing like a monkey and making monkey noises near a Black woman student who was protesting for Palestine while other frat boys chant "lock her up." https://t.co/Gfg4ZtqDqC
Rep. Collins reposted the video from Richard Hanania, a right-wing extremist who previously wrote for alt-right and white supremacist publications under the pen name Richard Hoste.
Crowds of mostly white Ole Miss frat boys coming together to shout down and intimidate people fighting for justice for oppressed people is not a revelation or a historical anomaly. pic.twitter.com/OkUxTeHlsJ
Jemele Hill: 1) What fraternity does he represent? That fraternity’s national leadership needs to be contacted immediately and that frat should be barred from campus.
2) We have recently seen endless conversations and action items created about antisemitism, but I’m guessing that same energy won’t be there to protect this open hostility directed at Black students.
Monkey sounds to a black women… the South will always be full of hate and racism. I find it amusing how ‘proud’ the south is of their heritage. Any southerner reading this, never again ask why we think you are so stupid. You just are. And racism is alive and well. Disgusting corner of America.
There’s racism and bigotry everywhere. The Pacific Northwest, where I grew up, is a hotbed of white supremacist crap. Oregon was even established as a whites-only state, and to this day Portland is the whitest major city in the country. Even Vermont, with it’s reputation for crunchy hippie culture, has antisemites.
It’s the concentration of hate and racism bread into the South. It may exist all over, but do not compare the slave states to the north. It’s not even close. Idaho may as well be part of the south, that state is notorious for idiocy.
Ladapo first earned national infamy for a 2020 press conference outside the Supreme Court with insane nutbag Dr. Demon Semen, who says that women get STDs by having sex with demons in their dreams, that drag “opens portals” to demons, and that Biden and Pelosi “downloaded their brains to the internet” and are now “demonic clones.” Lapapo has been accused a falsifying a study on COVID vaccine side effects and of lying about his history of treating patients at UCLA. He last appeared here in January 2024 when he called on the public to refuse all COVID vaccines.
When asked to wear masks to help the country deal with a worldwide pandemic, the maga hate groups claimed they wouldn’t do it because they can’t breathe wearing masks. The went to school board meets and ranted and screamed at the board about it. Yet now those same Proud Boys, Three Percenter’s, Oath Keepers, and the Nazi protesters marching in the streets who call themselves Patriot Front all wear face masks to avoid being identified and lose their jobs. If they think they represent so much of the country as they claim, why not be open about what complete morons and jerks they are. This is another reason DeathSantis and racist governors in some red states are outlawing any Diversity, Inclusion, and Equality programs so white people can be open racist bigots to fellow workers without getting reprimanded or facing consequences for their actions. Hugs. Scottie
.@FLSurgeonGen Joseph Ladapo says mask wearers simply 'like to hide their faces'
All of these attacks exemplify pushback against inclusion and welcome for ‘the other’: “The first and most fundamental way in which white Christian nationalism threatens American liberal democracy is that it defines ‘the people’ in a way that excludes many Americans. White Christian nationalism is a form of what is often called ‘ethno-nationalism.’ Liberal democracy rests on what is usually called ‘civic nationalism’ It defines the nation in terms of values, laws, and institutions.’” (The Flag and The Cross, p. 114)
Throughout the book the authors explore and re-explore the meaning of the deep story of white Christian nationalism: “White Christian nationalism is our term for the ethno-traditionalism among many white Americans that conflates racial, religious, and national identity (the deep story) and pines for cultural and political power that demographic and cultural shifts have increasingly threatened…. (T)he term Christian in white Christian nationalism is often far more akin to a dog whistle that calls out to an aggrieved tribe than a description of the content of one’s faith.” (The Flag and The Cross, p. 44)
Some people weirdly think they have the right to tell others what to believe, what to wear, what to call themselves. The fundamentalist seem to want to force everyone to be like them, live like them, read only what they read. Hugs Scottie
Clouds pass over the Missouri State Capitol on Sept. 16, 2022, in Jefferson City, Mo.
Jeff Roberson/AP
A newly proposed law in Missouri could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they’re found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning.
Missouri state Rep. Jamie Gragg, a Republican, introduced HB 2885 last week. If passed and signed into law, the legislation would criminalize the act of “contributing to social transition” for anyone acting in an official capacity at their school, including providing informational or material support.
The proposed bill joins a string of anti-LGBTQ measures that have been filed in states across the US and comes amid a growing “parental rights” movement that seeks to empower parents to decide what can be taught in classrooms about gender, sexuality and race.
The bill defines social transitioning as “the process by which an individual adopts the name, pronouns, and gender expression, such as clothing or haircuts, that match the individual’s gender identity and not the gender assumed by the individual’s sex at birth.”
In Missouri, a person charged with a class E felony could face a maximum of four years in prison. A Tier I sex offender could also remain on the Sex Offender Registry for up to 15 years, according to another Missouri statute.
CNN has reached out to Gragg for comment.
In an interview with CNN affiliate KY3, Gragg said the goal of the bill is to “put the social learning development of our children back in the hands of the parents.”
“Ultimately, whose children are these? They belong to the family that they come from. If there is a situation where they don’t have that parental or guardian to go back on or to talk to, there is other help, professional help they can get,” Gragg told the outlet.
It is unclear if Gragg’s bill will be taken up in the state House and it has not been scheduled for a hearing.
‘Hateful and malicious’
LGBTQ advocates and Missourians have criticized the bill, including Gragg’s brother.
During a news conference Thursday, Charles Gragg, Jr., a retired and disabled veteran who lives in Springfield, Missouri, said he was shocked by the bill his younger brother authored and that the measure “took his breath away.”
“This bill is removing valuable support that is important for children. It needlessly targets teachers in addition to attacking those that they don’t agree with. It also attacks anyone who expresses compassion or tolerance and seeks to silence them. I believe it’s intended to remove them from the future conversations,” Gragg Jr. said.
Robert Fischer, communications director for PROMO, a LGBTQ+ policy and advocacy organization in Missouri that organized Thursday’s presser, said students and teachers have contacted the group to express concern about how the bill could impact educators.
“We will certainly have conversations with legislators to see what can be done, but also we’ll mobilize our community of LGBTQ+ Missourians and allies to fight back against this because teachers are an incredibly crucial part of our educational system,” Fischer said.
New survey finds a majority of teachers say state governments have too much influence over what’s taught in classrooms
GLSEN, an organization that aims to create safe and inclusive school environments for LGBTQ+ youth, also criticized the bill. Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, executive director of GLSEN, said the bill is “deeply transphobic.”
“While this egregious bill is expected to die in committee hearings, it is increasingly alarming to watch extremist state legislators peddle anti-trans hate and continue to introduce discriminatory policies,” Willingham-Jaggers said in a statement to CNN. “Hate speech, especially when enshrined into discriminatory policies like these transphobic bills in Oklahoma and Missouri, leads to hate crimes.”
Oklahoma’s governor signed a bill into law last year banning gender-affirming care for minors with the possibility of a felony charge for health care professionals who provide it.
Last month, Nex Benedict, a nonbinary high school student in Oklahoma, died a day after they told their family they were involved in a fight at school. Civil rights groups and advocates have blamed a heightened and hostile climate against the LGBTQ+ community for contributing to Benedict’s death.
In 2023, at least 510 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in state legislatures, according to data from the American Civil Liberties Union. The organization is also tracking 478 bills in the 2024 legislative session that restrict LGBTQ rights.
Gragg Jr. said he has not spoken with his brother about the bill and does not know what would inspire him to sponsor it.
“It’s just hateful and malicious. This legislation will cost lives and recklessly destroy others just for the sin of being compassionate.”
It is a case of I don’t want my child to read these books so your child can’t read them either. These people want control over everyone, every child, they demand to rule your life. Hugs. Scottie
Hundreds of new books featuring characters of color and LGBTQ+ themes were found by the trash at a Staten Island elementary school, outraging some parents and sparking an education department investigation.
Gothamist obtained photos from a Brooklyn book lover that showed boxes of kids’ books left with the garbage at PS 55, known as the Henry Boehm School. Some had sticky notes on them detailing themes and content in the books, which appeared to be part of a 2019 initiative to diversify school materials. The city education department launched an investigation after Gothamist shared the images.
A note on “My Two Border Towns,” about a boy’s life on the United States-Mexico border, read “Our country has no room and it’s not fair.” A note on “The Derby Daredevils,” about a girls’ roller derby team, read “Not approved. Discusses dad being transgender. Teenage girls having a crush on another girl in class.” And a note on “We Are Still Here! Native American Truths Everyone Should Know” read “negative slant on white people.”
A note on a copy of “My Two Border Towns” taken from the school reads “Our country has no room and it’s not fair.”
Holly Spiegel
Even books about the Marvel Comics hero Black Panther and legendary singer and activist Nina Simone were discarded.
It was unclear whether the removal of the books resulted from an objection raised by staff or parents. The education department said no formal challenge to the books was raised through official channels, though a part-time librarian had inquired about the process.
Until this incident, New York City had seemed largely immune from the high-profile efforts to ban books that are roiling school communities in Florida, New Jersey and other parts of the country.
“Our public schools do not shy away from books that teach students about the diverse people and communities that make up the fabric of our society,” education department spokesperson Nicole Brownstein said, noting the removal of the books was not sanctioned.
The school principal and PTA president did not respond to inquiries.
Many PS 55 parents were surprised to learn the books had been removed.
The education department said it was investigating why the books were discarded from the PS 55 library.
Jessica Gould
“I don’t believe in banning books at all,” said Angela Hartje, whose daughter is in third grade.
“It’s one step closer to ‘Fahrenheit 451,’” she added, referencing the classic sci-fi novel by Ray Bradbury about a dystopian America where books have been outlawed.
‘Not approved’
Holly Spiegel, of East Flatbush, alerted Gothamist to the controversy. Her neighbor, who was working near the school in November, retrieved hundreds of the books from the trash and gave them to Spiegel, knowing she could use them for the free “Little Libraries” she manages around their neighborhood. Spiegel then got in touch with the school and made two additional trips where she recovered hundreds more books in boxes marked “not approved.”
Sticky notes on the books pointed to apparent reasons why they were censored. A note on “Julian Is A Mermaid,” about a boy who dresses as a mermaid, read “Boy questions gender.” A post-it on “Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker’s Story,” cited a specific page, along with the question “white man’s world?”
A copy of “Derby Daredevils” had a note reading “Not approved. Discusses being transgender. Teenage girls having a crush on another girl in class.”
Holly Spiegel
Notes on pages of “Black Panther: The Young Prince” read “Witchcraft? Human skulls” and “Pact with Devil. Burned in fire.”
A note on “Nina: A Story of Nina Simone” read “This is about how black people were treated poorly but overcame it. (Can go both ways).”
“At its heart, this feels like censorship,” Spiegel said. “It feels like book banning.”
City statistics show the student body at PS 55 is 78% white, 11% Hispanic and 8% Asian. The teachers are 92% white.
Two parents at the school, located in Staten Island’s Eltingville neighborhood, said they had heard rumblings about some controversy over books. But Gothamist was unable to confirm who led the effort that led to the books being tossed.
An unusual book battle
School controversies over books are rare in New York City. Since 2019, there have been only three challenges of books at other schools under an official protocol that involves the formation of a committee of parents, librarians, teachers and administrators, the education department confirmed. None of those books were removed.
“Should a parent feel concerned about the literature in their child’s classroom, they are encouraged to reach out to the teacher, principal, or superintendent,” said Brownstein, the department’s spokesperson.
It’s more common for discussions in the city to focus on ensuring access to the materials. The Brooklyn Public Library runs a program where local students talk about controversial books with students in other parts of the country where they’re actually being banned.
Alissa Barakakos, a PTA member at PS 55, said she was surprised that books about race, culture and sexuality had been removed — and that she would have opposed the effort if she’d known about it. She noted her son’s class just finished a series of discussions on Black History Month, and a unit on Native Americans.
“I don’t know why the books would be thrown out,” Barakakos said. “I want my kid to be a part of the school community where everything is open and honest and kids are being educated.”
Spiegel said she was upset to see the books were kept from children. “The books aren’t getting into the hands of kids who would identify with the characters, but they’re also not getting into the hands of kids whose worldview would be broadened by reading about people who aren’t like them,” she said.
‘Mosaic’ problems
Some of the boxes Spiegel retrieved were labeled “Mosaic,” the name of a $200 million initiative launched late in the de Blasio administration to diversify school lessons and materials. An analysis by the New York City Coalition for Educational Justice found in 2019 that only 16% of elementary and middle school books were by authors of color.
“Black Panther: The Young Prince” was also removed from the Staten Island elementary school.
Holly Spiegel
De Blasio called for a total rethinking of the K-12 curriculum with an eye toward diversity. Mayor Eric Adams then scaled back the Mosaic plan, launching his own literacy initiative and supplementing lessons with materials reflecting LGBTQ+, Asian American and Black communities.
Thousands of Mosaic books were still sent to school and classroom libraries. But Natasha Capers, the director of the Coalition for Educational Justice, said schools received little guidance about what to do with the new books.
“They just were like, ‘here’s a big box of books,’” said Capers, whose group advocates for more equity in public schools.
She added that she was glad to know the books found with the garbage at PS 55 were “rescued.” But she said she was outraged to hear they had nearly been discarded.
“I watched my children throughout their schooling read so many books that used horrific language about Black people,” Capers said. “There’s a book [that] used the N-word. You just had to suck it up because it’s part of the ‘canon.'”
She scoffed at the apparent discomfort with witchcraft and human skulls in the Black Panther book.
“You read Shakespeare, and [“Macbeth”] starts out with three witches around a cauldron,” she said. “Hamlet,” she noted, “is legitimately talking to a skull.”
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Jessica Gould
Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email jgould@nypublicradio.org
As I was listening to this video I was reading a reply from Roger deteremineddespitewp and we were talking about regional conflicts and the cycles of conflict and hate. I will post Roger’s grand comment and then the video from Beau. Hugs. Scottie BTW if you want to read the entire discussion which I recommend it is on this post.
Oh Scottie you could loose track on become very depressed trying to compile a list of what are termed genocides, adding civilian deaths through wars, reprisal killings, mass communal violence, deaths through prejudice and on and on. By the time you’d finish you’d be thinking ‘Well at least conventional war on a battlefield is honest and upfront,’ Where and how to start to put a stop to this frustrates me, because I keep coming up with ‘knocking heads together’ solutions which kind of defeats the whole purpose. rawgod gave me a challenge to write out a story where in 2643 Humanity finally quit this violence ‘kick’….. I had to write it from a sci-fi perspective it was my only way.
My problem is, as long as I can think back I’ve always hated prejudice and violence that goes with it, which in turns causes my own violent solutions, try as I might that idea still bubbles up. And actually that is something of a sin in true Christian terms.
You, like rawgod, Jill and Keith are so right we should learn, force ourselves to work together. These constant wars which pit communities against each other only leave a legacy of bitterness for another generation to feed off. Take an extreme example of WWII. When the fighting had ceased some nations who had engaged in Total War just put down the guns and said ‘OK. That’s over. Some will have to pay for starting it, but as for the rest. OK.’ UK & USA did that with Italy, Germany and Japan and the populations of those nations did likewise; though it took some time. Even with the USA and Vietnam, the veterans would meet up. Americans went back to help with projects, just to try and make sense of it all. It’s still a tight state run by a ‘communist’ government but is not what would call a North Korea. Hip-hop for instance is alive and vibrant (though I am sure the artists are careful with the lyrics)
When its communities; not so much, the hate is passed on down. The massacres are shared out. Even if the violence stops the hate simmers ready to break loose. Maybe not on issues across the board, but perhaps on certain sensitive points.
I’m tip-toeing around here a bit, lest I mention one example which triggers someone reading this.
I keep on hoping, when the evidence seems to be the opposite. I keep thinking of folk who wish for peace and have generous hearts, those who work for peace who try to reach out. I try and stifle my own little demons.
You are so right we should not be squandering our life span, in this useless Hate.
Scottie's Playtime 