A federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from a Denver Public Schools parent who sought to force the district to honor his request to display “straight pride” flags in his children’s classrooms.
Nathan Feldman brought suit on behalf of himself and his two children, alleging discrimination and a violation of the First Amendment stemming from DPS declining to add a straight pride flag in his children’s classrooms alongside displays of LGBTQ pride flags.
In a June 26 order, U.S. District Court Judge Regina M. Rodriguez determined the pride flags amounted to the government’s own speech, which the First Amendment does not regulate. Therefore, a decision by DPS not to display a flag did not violate Feldman’s rights.
“DPS policy reflects careful consideration about what views can be expressed and that any expressions must reflect DPS’s policy of equality and inclusion. Accordingly, the Court finds that DPS has maintained control over the flag displays,” wrote Rodriguez, an appointee of President Joe Biden.
Feldman filed suit after school administrators allegedly allowed “non-binary and non-cisgender students to have flags displayed that represent their genders but not allowing Plaintiffs to have flags displayed that represent their genders.” He asked for damages of at least $3 million and for an order allowing him to display the straight pride flag.
A “straight pride” flag. Source: Feldman et al. v. Denver Public Schools et al.
DPS, in moving to dismiss the lawsuit, noted Feldman’s allegations were contradictory, as he simultaneously asserted “each” classroom at Slavens School had a pride flag and that “not all teachers displayed these flags.” Nonetheless, the district argued the display of flags constituted government speech, as DPS policy endorsed the use of LGBTQ pride flags as “symbols consistent with the District’s equity-based curriculum.”
“Plaintiffs assert that passing a resolution recognizing LGBTQIA+ students or staff without providing equal recognition to those who don’t so identify is an actionable distinction. Not so,” wrote the district’s attorneys.
Feldman responded that individual teachers at his children’s school made the decision to display pride flags. Therefore, DPS was not in control of the displays and they did not constitute the government’s own speech.
In August, U.S. Magistrate Judge Scott T. Varholak recommended that Feldman’s claims be dismissed. He cited a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision involving Boston’s practice of allowing private entities to fly flags outside city hall. The court did not find such circumstances amounted to speech by the government.
However, wrote then-Justice Stephen G. Breyer, “when the government speaks for itself, the First Amendment does not demand airtime for all views.”
“Here, DPS selected the Pride Flag, and not Plaintiffs’ Flag, as representing the message that DPS wished to convey,” Varholak wrote in deeming the flag displays governmental expression. “Conversely, there is no allegation that DPS had a history of accepting for display other flags submitted by the public.”
In this 2018 file photo, a supporters of the LGBTQ community fly a Pride flag in the Colorado Springs PrideFest Parade.
(Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette, File)
As for Feldman’s sex discrimination and equal protection claims, Varholak noted that unless there are allegations of unequal treatment, there is no legal claim based on the absence of a flag representing cisgender, heterosexual students.
“Plaintiffs plainly disagree with DPS’s selected messaging, and phrase this disagreement in constitutional terms,” he concluded, “but ultimately fail to allege any injury except exposure to a flag that they do not feel represented by.”
Feldman objected to portions of Varholak’s analysis, but Rodriguez, the district judge, concluded Feldman was either raising new arguments for the first time or had failed to show why Varholak was mistaken.
To the claim that displaying a flag is discriminatory when it repesents a different group’s sexual orientation or gender identity, “Plaintiffs offer no legal support for their argument,” she wrote, “and the Court finds none.”
Attorneys for both parties did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case is Feldman et al. v. Denver Public Schools et al.
(This is a good thing; read a little farther to see why. The system is working; the prosecutor will make a case where one can be made under law. -A)
Haitian Bridge Alliance seeks charges vs. Republican candidates; judges point toward strong constitutional protections afforded to political speech
A panel of local judges referred the citizen-initiated criminal case against former President Donald Trump and his running mate U.S. Sen. JD Vance to Clark County prosecutor Dan Driscoll for investigation.
The case filed by the Haitian Bridge Alliance requests charges of felony inducing panic, disrupting public services, making false alarms, two counts of complicity, two counts of telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing.
Those requests reference comments made by Trump and Vance about the Haitian community in Springfield killing and eating residents pets. Shortly after those claims were amplified by Trump, Vance and thousands of others online, the community was hit by a wave of bomb and safety threats.
“The conclusion of whether the evidence and causation necessary for probable cause exists to commence a prosecution of the alleged offenses is best left in the investigatory hands of the prosecution,” the judges wrote in their decision.
The judges said particular consideration should be given to “the strong constitutional protections afforded to speech, and political speech in particular.”
“The presidential election is less than 35 days away. The issue of immigration is contentious,” the ruling states. “Due to the proximity of the election, and the contentiousness concerning the immigration policies of both candidates, the Court cannot automatically presume the good faith nature of the affidavits.”
The court ruling states that this does not mean HBA executive director Guerline Jozef does not believe what she alleges, but brings into question whether her conclusions that Trump and Vance’s “political speech” are criminal are influenced by her personal experiences, “as opposed to an objective analysis of the alleged speech, the constitutional protections afforded to that speech, the alleged conduct occurring within the community, and a claimed nexus between the speech and that conduct.”
Under Ohio law, a private citizen seeking to “cause an arrest or prosecution” can file an affidavit with “a reviewing official” — a judge, prosecuting attorney or magistrate — to have them review the facts and decide if a complaint should be filed.
The Haitian Bridge Alliance asked the court to find probable cause for the charges and issue arrest warrants for Trump and Vance.
According to the document, in a felony case, if the court questions good faith or probable cause, it will refer the case to the prosecutor for further investigation. Unless it issues a warrant for Vance and Trump’s arrests, the court must refer the case to the prosecutor.
The HBA’s updated filing alleges that free speech cannot be used as a defense, as Trump and Vance’s actions disrupted public service.
“Trump and Vance engaged in a purposeful pattern of conduct to impede public services in Springfield. Despite seeing that Springfield was suffering from repeated bomb threats, evacuations, hospital lockdowns, necessity of state-trooper deployment, and closures of government buildings, they continued to double, triple, and quadruple down on their false claims,” the affidavit stated. ” … Trump’s and Vance’s refusals to stop, despite serious chaos they were inflicting and the governor’s and mayor’s pleas, highlights their criminal purpose in spreading these lies. The chaos caused was the purpose, and the First Amendment affords no protection for that campaign of criminal conduct.”
The affidavit alleges that Trump and Vance’s actions “were not just hateful, they were calculated to stir alarm and emotional distress in the community.”
The court ruling also raised the concern of strong constitutional protections of free and political speech.
According to a concurring opinion by Judge Stephen Schumaker, the case does not require a hearing. Schumaker’s opinion went further into the question of proving certain actions.
“The Court acknowledges the difficulties of proving a negative. There is significant difference however, between stating that there are no verifiable reports that a statement is true and proof and/or probable cause that a statement is false,” Schumaker wrote. “This Judge has tremendous respect for the officials making the above and similar statements but if any of the officials voiced the opinion that the statements at issue were false, those statements are in the form of opinion.”
Tengrain’s Mock Paper Scissors has the pleading, which has been unsealed. Though there are redactions, they’re easily ID’d by people like us who pay attention, and there’s a nice index of them on MPS’s page. The link to the pleading, which is delicious (the pleading, I mean,) is also here.
The former president’s lawyers are trying to get ahead of what could be his campaign’s October surprise.
Donald Trump’s lawyers are scrambling to get ahead of what could be this election’s October surprise: the public release of special counsel Jack Smith’s report detailing evidence in the election fraud case against the former president.
In a court filing on Tuesday, Trump’s legal team accused the Department of Justice of putting together a “politically motivated manifesto” specifically timed to influence voters “in the final weeks of the 2024 Presidential election while early voting has already begun throughout the United States.”
They asked U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan to highly redact the report or stop it from appearing in the court’s public docket altogether.
The report, which runs approximately 180 pages and was filed last Thursday under seal pending the judge’s approval for public release, would reveal grand jury testimony and what Trump lawyers called “sensitive witness statements” gathered by federal investigators over recent years.
Trump’s team says prosecutors must explain “why their proposed public disclosure … will not pose risks to potential witnesses and unfairly prejudice the adjudication of this case.” Ironically, their argument comes after Trump, for months, has been complaining that a judge-imposed gag order has prevented him from attacking former allies for assisting FBI agents and testifying against him.
Trump’s defense attorneys, John F. Lauro and Todd Blanche, turned that narrative upside down, claiming that the DOJ special counsel is hypocritically publicizing investigative materials after vehemently trying to keep them secret in Trump’s classified records case. (Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed those charges this past summer, and the case is on appeal.)
“Now that public disclosure serves their politically motivated mission, the special counsel’s office takes a different view. The office believes President Trump’s constitutional rights to
impartial jurors and fair proceedings — to say nothing of witness privacy and even safety — all take a back seat to the office’s political goals,” they wrote.
Unstated in today’s filing is that the potentially disastrous timing of this report — and its existence — is only due to the Trump team’s delay tactics in the case. Trump managed to push back the trial by fighting the indictment all the way up to the Supreme Court, which granted him an expansive new definition of presidential immunity. That opinion ultimately sent the trial judge on a fact-finding mission to figure out what alleged misconduct counts as personal versus official actions — hence Smith’s latest report.
Trump’s lawyers initially tried to file their counterargument under seal, but Chutkan ordered the D.C. federal court’s clerk to post it publicly by midday Tuesday.
The judge gave Trump’s team until noon today to file their proposed redactions to the report and until Oct. 10 to go over what they want to keep secret in what’s expected to be a large and detailed appendix to the report. Chutkan could order the report’s release at any time after that.
“Nothing I have experienced prepared me for the very public and relentless implosion of my father’s life,” writes Caroline Giuliani, announcing her support for Kamala Harris.
I am constantly asking myself how America is back here, even considering the possibility of electing Donald Trump again, after all of the damage he has caused, both in office and since. While Kamala Harris has gained extraordinary momentum by infusing this election with vitality and hope, I worry that too many Americans remain disconnected from the visceral, psychologically draining memory of Trump’s deeply destabilizing presidency. If enough people truly remembered what that chaos felt like, another Trump term wouldn’t even be on the table. But for those open to seeing the bare and unvarnished truth, there are unmistakable reminders of Trump’s destructive trail all around us, and it has broken my heart to watch my dad become one of them.
As Rudy Giuliani’s daughter, I’m unfortunately well-suited to remind Americans of just how calamitous being associated with Trump can be, even for those who are convinced he’s on their side. Watching my dad’s life crumble since he joined forces with Trump has been extraordinarily painful, both on a personal level and because his demise feels linked to a dark force that threatens to once again consume America. Not to disregard individual accountability in the slightest, but it would be naive for us to ignore the fact that many of those closest to Trump have descended into catastrophic downward spirals. If we let Trump back into the driver’s seat this fall, our country will be no exception.
My dad and I have a cartoonishly complicated relationship. But he is still my father, and despite his faults, I love him. I’ve seen him experience surreal heights, and, now, unfathomable lows. The last thing I want to do is hurt him, especially when he’s already down. Plus we never know how much time we have left with our parents. The totality of that makes this the most difficult piece I’ve ever written. Yet this moment and this election are so much bigger than any of us.
From reproductive rights and the economy, to foreign and environmental policy, we need experienced, sane, and fundamentally decent leaders who will fight for us instead of against us—who will safeguard our democracy rather than dismantle it. And as a recently engaged-to-be-married, 35-year-old who hopes to feel more joyous than fearful about the potential of becoming a parent myself, I need to advocate for a future worth bringing children into, which is why I am voicing my adamant support for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. (snip-MORE) This is a worthy read, and it’s free.
Braddock had fled to the Philippines where he was eventually deported last year as an illegal alien and arrested in Los Angeles.
During a call that was recorded before he became a candidate, William Braddock repeatedly warned an activist to not support GOP candidate Anna Paulina Luna in the Republican primary for a Florida congressional seat because he had access to assassins https://t.co/OQFEYln82dpic.twitter.com/08OLNgwWQy
“It has been determined that Google has illegally used a system of only revealing and displaying bad stories about Donald J. Trump, some made up for this purpose while, at the same time, only revealing good stories about Comrade Kamala Harris.
Trump, as always, is lying. Financial disclosure records show that Paul Pelosi sold 2000 shares of Visa nearly three months ago. The DOJ filed its antitrust suit against Visa on Wednesday.
Trump calls for a Republican AG in "a Republican territory" to investigate Nancy Pelosi pic.twitter.com/oqbQTkptD8
Yesterday the Hollywood Reporter interviewed luxury watch experts who declared that the “Swiss” watches are likely cheap crap made in China. A disclaimer on Trump’s website says that the watches sold may not look like the “representations” seen on the site. The disclaimer also pointedly make no promises about delivery.
“And yet she’s taken in the worst of those people. The killers, the jailbirds, all of the worst of the people. She’s taking them in. And then I have to sit there and listen to her bullshit last night.
Trump on Kamala Harris speech: I have to sit there and listen to her bullshit and who puts it on Fox News? And they shouldn't be allowed to put it on.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a Saturday email: “The data in this letter is being misinterpreted. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”
As Dale goes on to note, Trump’s lies have been widely spread by right wing media and GOP lawmakers, such as the Hitler-quoting GOP rep seen below.
September 29, 1923 Great Britain began to govern the formerly Turkish province of Palestine under a League of Nations mandate to create a Jewish national home. The British Mandate For Palestine established at the San Remo Conference, 1920 (Note from A: I searched this link; the one Peace History had was no longer present on the site.)
September 29, 1943 Six conscientious objectors, imprisoned at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, for refusing to serve in World War II, began a hunger strike against censorship of mail and reading material by federal prison authorities.
September 29, 1983 The municipal council of Woensdrecht, a southern Dutch town, voted against cooperating in the possible siting of 48 U.S. nuclear-tipped cruise missiles at the nearby air base. The council voted Tuesday by 9 to 4 not to cooperate with the national government, and to stop any activities that might lead to the missiles being sited at the base.
September 29, 2002 A London crowd – estimated between 200,000 and 500,000 – protested British and U.S. plans for a “preemptive” (that is, without provocation) invasion of Iraq.
He feels entitled to take anything he wants without paying for it. He also believes it is better to just due and ignore anyone else’s rights. He is the great cult leader. Hugs. Scottie
Walters has ordered daily bible lessons for Oklahoma’s public school students in all grades. Several dozen school districts are currently defying that edict.
Earlier this month, local outlets exposed Walters for spending state money to fund a national tour of far-right events to “promote himself on the national stage.”
Walters is widely expected to run for governor. Current governor and fellow Christian nationalist Kevin Stitt is term-limited.
Last month around two dozen GOP state lawmakers signed a letter calling for an impeachment probe into Walters for refusing to disclose his spending.
Walters has hired a raft of far-right figures, including Chaya Rachik and Dennis Prager, to help him “turn students to Jesus.” Raichik is reportedly helping overhaul public school libraries.
Imagine all the good that those millions of dollars could be used for. It could be used to pay Oklahoma’s hardworking teachers or provide additional supplies and resources for its struggling schools.
Instead, it’s being used to promote Walters’ Christian nationalist agenda. https://t.co/DE20Pw1846
Please remember the people who first led Israel in the beginning were also terrorist. Many in the Israeli government in the early decades of Israel’s existence were also labeled terrorist. One person’s terrorist is another person’s avowed wonderful member of government. It has been leaked that members of Israel’s government wants to annex another sovereign country’s land and make it Israel’s property. Just like they have in the West bank, and Gaza. In fact some have talked about trying to take part of Egypt. This is because religious fanatics are running the country now and they claim their god gave them the entire area so they simply have the right to take it. And no one can stop them as long as Biden stays in the mind set of the 1950 / 60s/ 70s, because Biden won’t let anyone else strike Israel back to show them their god did not give them permission to take others lands. Bibi has given the middle finger to every US president and he is desperate to get tRump to win by dragging the US into a war in the Middle East. That is his plan to help tRump and hurt Harris. And they bombed an entire area of occupied apartments in Beirut, which is another war crime they committed. Hugs. Scottie
A marketing director of a well-known Swiss brand, said, “When you look at all of them, they scream Chinese-made watch. None of them is worth the asking price. Those blue screws on the tourbillon cage are a dead giveaway that it was partly made in China. You won’t find blue screws on a tourbillon made in Switzerland. And you can pick up a Chinese tourbillon for $100.”
Trump's "Vastly Overpriced" $100,000 "Swiss Watch" Is Probably Made in China, Experts Say https://t.co/neyxxt5J0U
Milei has cut support for welfare programs, soup kitchens, and other efforts to aid the needy.
Milei’s biggest cheerleader is Elon Musk, who has vowed to bring similar policies as the leader of Trump’s supposed “Department Of Government Efficiency.”
Of note, the planned department’s acronym just happens to be the same as a cryptocurrency often promoted by Musk.
Earlier this year Musk posted the below porn-adjacent image in celebration of Milei.
Not only did Hawley vote against the project, the report below notes that in 2019 Trump defunded all such military projects to divert the money to his border wall.
“We can VERIFY: No, Hawley did not secure $100 million for Fort Leonard Wood's military housing.”
Lying about supporting military families? While even voting AGAINST supporting them? That amounts to nothing more than stolen valor.https://t.co/jWt78m2qd4
The party who has people arrested, charged, and found guilty of voter fraud is the Republican Party. Every accusation from them is a confession of their own actions. They are setting it up to challenge the voters will and overturn the vote in that state. Hugs. Scottie
Hancock said that he learned during the trial that Rittenhouse had allegedly used racial slurs in messages sent to his friends and appeared to be looking for an opportunity to use a weapon. “There was a history of things he was doing prior to Kenosha, specifically patrolling the street for months with guns and borrowing people’s security uniforms, doing whatever he could to try to get into some kind of a gunfight,” Hancock claimed.
‘Patrolling the streets for months’: Kyle Rittenhouse confidants reveal new details the jury never knew https://t.co/zDg2esDw0t
The party maybe have evolved into the kind of anti-migrant, anti-Islam populist force that has taken hold across much of Europe, but it began as a political refuge for former Nazis. Not only has the FPÖ not disavowed that past, it embraces it — at least in private — with the leading party figures regularly getting to trouble for paying quiet tribute to their Nazi forebears.
Abrasive and provocative, far-right leader Herbert Kickl has one of the lowest approval ratings among Austria's top politicians, yet he is the frontrunner in Sunday’s parliamentary election, which has at times felt like a referendum on him https://t.co/NAPLJKizYypic.twitter.com/IUoS0CaQoV
As I often remind the haters, almost all of the children in the foster care and adoption system are there due to abuse and abandonment by the heterosexual parents.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the federal government over its requirement that states provide LGBTQ+ affirming placement for foster care youth. https://t.co/Al87Q9y6L7
Instead of a rally, Trump spoke at a Charlotte-area warehouse in North Carolina. During his speech he rambled out of the blue about the 2020 election results, admitting he lost to Joe Biden.
Trump was bragging that he received more votes than any sitting president before him which is meaningless and ridiculous since he got trounced by almost 8 million votes. I guess his addled brain transitioned into the making an explosive statement to his MAGA cult.
TRUMP: We were getting ready to do it, and then a lot of bad things happened. We did much better, by the way, in the election of 2020 than we did in 2016.
Just remember that. Millions and millions of votes more. More votes than any sitting president in the history of our country.
But they beat us by a whisker. They beat us just by a little whisker.
He beat us from the basement.
If you’re a MAGAt, I hope you heard this and heard it good.
Trump played you all for fools.
He played you for fkn idiots.
Police were killed during the insurrection.
January 6th defendants, I hope you rot in jail.
And you all deserved it
Hey Donald Dump, Ashli Babbitt will still be alive if you admitted you lost on Nov 6th, 2020 instead of on Sept 25, 2024.
Trump didn’t lose ‘by a whisker.’ Biden received 306 electoral votes to Trump’s received 232 and Biden received the most votes in the history of the country with 81,283,501, dwarfing Trump’s meager 74 million.
Trump’s lies tore the country apart and are still doing it.
This is totally illegal. It is voting interference that tRump keep claiming the democrats are doing. Yet we see which party is purging voter rolls, doing over the top gerrymandering to make sure only they can win, restricting early voting, restricting mail in ballots, making voting in person harder with aggressive poll watchers challenging any person of color who goes to vote. This man doesn’t like drop boxes and even though the supreme court of the state made it legal he just decided to steal the box before it could be locked down. Even though the elections supervisor’s office is the one with the authority to approve their use and had done so. Another republican who thinks the laws and rules do not apply to them. This is such preformative for the camera / clicks action. Notice how he dressed up for it. Also note he is holding the box hostage in his office. Plus no one had put ballots in it because it was closed and locked and due to be locked down that very morning. Hugs. Scottie
A years-long fight over voting rules in the swing state of Wisconsin sparked a criminal investigation this week after a mayor — wearing a hard hat and Department of Public Works jacket — carted off a ballot drop box the city clerk was about to make available to voters.
The mayor, who was elected in the spring with the help of the Republican Party, said he moved the drop box to his office Sunday because he believed the city council should decide whether the city should use it.
The Wausau drop box was placed outside of city hall late last week, and the clerk planned to have it secured to the ground so that it could be used starting Monday, according to city officials. It was locked, and voters could not place ballots inside while it was awaiting installation, City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde said.
City Council President Lisa Rasmussen had sharp words for the mayor and is now asking for a public apology. She also suggested Diny could face significant consequences for his actions and said she is not aware of “issues” that would explain the removal.
“I have huge concerns about this behavior, as there is no place for elected officials to manage, alter or tamper with drop boxes, whether they agree with their use or not,” Rasmussen told Wausau Pilot.
“I have voiced my concerns to the mayor about his conduct, and requested he return the box and issue a public apology to the clerk and the community, as his actions violate the public trust and likely also the law.”
We’re going to see a lot more of this.
This is wild. In Wausau, the clerk decided to use drop boxes. Then the mayor, sporting a Department of Public Works vest, got caught on video carting the drop box inside to his office, *after the city attorney said he didn’t have the right to move it*https://t.co/ys5oTEhHCF
They don’t even hide the hatred of fellow citizens and the blatant voter suppression anymore, they make a public spectacle out of it. Makes me really hate people.My sister is one of those people and we haven’t spoken since she first cast her vote for Trump and then in the same breath told me she voted for gay marriage in our state (MN) as if it was a get out jail free card and that I should be appeased since she gave me a crumb.
I have never understood the concern about drop boxes at all. If voters don’t use a ballot drop box, they will just use a postal mail box which is no more or less secure. Why do they think (without evidence) that you can “stuff” a drop box but couldn’t also “stuff” a mail box? They are crazy. I think they just hope that with a mail box, Louis DeJoy can fck up the delivery and make them late
Scottie's Playtime 