The republicans admit it openly what they have been showing the public for years. They can’t govern and do not want to. They want fame, fortune, and power to rule over others. They are not willing to do the hard work of keeping the country running. That is why they would rather have an authoritarian strongman government with a dictator at the top. They would turn the country over to businesses and simply order the masses to live according to the rules of the fundamentalist Christian church. He is basically saying if they can’t have their own way on everything they won’t play and will keep everyone else from playing. Bratty little kids. Read what this asshat wrote. Hugs. Scottie
“The more this government does, the worse it is for the American people. We shouldn’t be joining hands with Democrats just to show we can govern, or we can get things done, no matter how harmful to the American people.
“While a government shutdown is not ideal, but it’s not the worst thing. It would be worse to exacerbate the problem, to further increase our debt and our spending, to make our fiscal situation, which is unprecedented as it is — as you know.
“To continue to fund a government that’s facilitating the border invasion, why would we give Biden and Mayorkas billions and billions of dollars to keep doing this to the American people?
“The only leverage we have when we have one house of one branch is to be willing to say no, to be willing to walk away.” – Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good, speaking to Fox News.
Rep. Bob Good (R-VA): We shouldn’t be joining hands with Democrats just to show that we can govern or get things done no matter how harmful to the American people
The House also wants to disinvite the President from presenting the SOTU. All that means is he’ll do it from the Oval Office, it will still be on every single channel in the country–and none of you will be able to heckle or howl at him during an uninterrupted presentation.
“We shouldn’t be joining hands with Democrats just to show we can govern, or we can get things done, no matter how harmful to the American people…because we think it will benefit us politically.“
The Freedumb Caucus is mostly composed of Tea Party nihilists & MAGA chuds. They didn’t run to make the government work. In fact, quite the opposite. They ran to undermine the government. “See how it doesn’t work (after I’ve sabotaged it.) Clearly, it needs to be shrunken & dismantled, except in imposing nationwide Christian sharia laws.”
I fail to understand republicans anymore. They have all the money in the world to waste on stunts like operation lone star which sent Texas State Police to the border to search vehicles already searched by the border patrol. They are wasting 2.5 million every week on that stunt alone. They so far have found nothing. But it looks good, looks tough on border crime right? How many millions to take over a park, run reams and reams of razor wire on land and in the water, wire that has been found illegal, yet they keep doing it. What they are not willing to do is feed kids! They are willing to let poor kids go hungry and starve. There is no money for feeding them they claim. Or is it that they don’t want to feed the poor non-white kids? Is the skin tone of the parents or kids what the issue is? Or is it that hungry kids can be forced to work cheaply, even illegally for people. I know what a hungry child will do for food, god save their souls. One church leader said if the government would stop helping poor people it would force them to join churches and turn to the lord for help. Great reasoning there. Starve them until they join the gang. It seems to be epidemic in red states, and I am really tired of it. Feed the kids damn it, or admit you are unfit to run a government. Hugs. Scottie
Millions of Texas children would have been able to use this service, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
TEXAS, USA — For some children in the U.S., school lunchtime might be the only meal they eat all day.
This year, 35 states are joining the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program – but Texas is not one of them.
According to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, the state would not have enough time to organize the program before summertime begins.
Now, the USDA says approximately 3.8 million children in Texas will miss out on the chance for $120 worth of food, per person, from grocery stores, farmers markets and other locations.
Approximately 21 million children across the country will receive a total of $2.5 billion benefits, in areas including Hawaii, New York, Guam, American Samoa, the Osage Nation and more.
Children 18 years old or younger are eligible to join the program free of charge, with a specific emphasis on low-income families.
Each month, families will receive $40 per child, available on a pre-paid card and the government plans to cover half of the administrative fees for participating schools.
According to the USDA, the program can help lower food insecurity among children by 33%, or one-third. Children utilizing the program are said to have higher access to whole grain, dairy, fruits and vegetables, with an emphasis on healthier living.
Last summer, Austin ISD and the Central Texas Food Bank partnered to provide more than 5,000 free meals to children under 18 years old through a separate program.
Ma was an elementary school teacher assigned in the mid-60s, at the start of her career, to one of the poorest schools in Rochester, NY. She quickly learned many of her majority Black students were so poor their families could not afford both breakfast & lunch, but were embarrassed about it, so would send the kids to school with a bag lunch, but on an empty stomach. The kids ended up eating their lunches on the way to school and had nothing for the rest of the day, often falling asleep in the afternoons.
Ma had an extra toaster that was a wedding present, and brought it in, insisting every student in her class got a 1/2 piece of peanut butter toast to start the day, no matter how much breakfast they claimed to have eaten. Her kids stopped eating their lunches on their way to school. Test scores skyrocketed. Her principal called her in to ask how she’d done it. “I fed them,” was all she replied.
Far too many teachers do things like this. With their own money. On their own time. I’m not saying it wasn’t good that they did it, but it shouldn’t be necessary. We underpay workers and they are doing the best that they could. What kind of monster wants to keep hungry children from eating. CHILDREN. Sometimes I wished I believed in heaven and hell. All those teachers like your mom. (She sounds great but she’s also one of thousands who also went above and beyond.) They would be queens in an afterlife and all the selfish bastards would be tortured for all eternity.
What kind of monster wants to keep hungry children from eating.
The kind of monster who doesn’t care whether these children grow up healthy and hopes they live short, miserable lives and it’s a big bonus if they don’t reproduce.
But if you feed them, and test scores improve, who will want to fill all those minimum wage positions? They’ll have to cut back on Social Security and put all the lazy seniors to work! /s
I always had bulk amounts of granola bars and cup-of-soups available in my classroom, and my school’s food program was very active in providing breakfast, lunch and snacks to ALL students. I often brought in fresh watermelon, pineapple, and cherry tomatoes. So many kids had never eaten a fresh cherry tomato. I made a lot of converts! (Edit to add: I worked with a fundie who was so grateful to his father-in-law for unexpectedly bringing him some cold pizza on a day he’d forgotten his lunch box…he just knew God had sent him. I asked, “Did your father-in-law also bring food for all the kids who didn’t have lunch and won’t have dinner?” He just looked at me.)
Rethugs are all about the cruelty. They get their rocks off abusing the powerless. I truly wish I could believe there was a Hell for them to rot/burn in, but alas, I cannot.
Multiple other red states have refused to accept federal grants meant to feed those lazy unemployed children.
And after Republicans went to all the trouble of lowering the working age, so they could get jobs. Little ingrates. Serves them right. If they were really hungry, they’d get jobs.
This is a post on Jill’s blog. She has one of the most outstanding blog I have ever had the privilege to read in my life. But as grand as this story is and it is grand no questions asked, I wonder if the feelings directed to those different might be able to be used for another group of people, desperately struggling for their own rights. Hugs. Scottie
The goal here is to keep pushing the idea that there is no one born with a gender identity different from what the doctor might see when he holds you up after birth. No one, just as no one is born gay or lesbian. It is a lifestyle choice of course, kids rebelling after being groomed / recruited by those other horrible people that chose that lifestyle. That means keeping reinforcing it is child abuse to let your kids socially transition. It is child abuse to let boys grow long hair, to let girls cut their hair. It is child abuse to let a boy where a dress or skirt. The horror of it all. You know what might fix it, make those trans boys kids marry an older straight man when they first display the idea of being a boy. 8 maybe, 10, definitely by 12. Get them pregnant will show them they are not a boy.
If you are someone that believes any of the above you are wrong, you are a bigot, you are drastically misinformed / uninformed. You are holding on to ideas that were debunked decades ago. This is about reinforcing Christian church doctrines / ideas into laws, schools, and forcing everyone to live by them. This is about errasing the LGBTQIA from society and vilifying them by making them the horrible boogieman that kids should be terrified of. Remember the 1950s school films telling boys to beware the homosexual who was always out to snatch them, take them somewhere, then raping them making them homosexuals also, a future danger to other boys. Boys Beware: This 1955 educational film warns against “the dangers of homosexuality,” which is described as “a sickness of the mind.” The ten minute video was produced by the Unified School District and the Police Department of Inglewood, California. That is the world these people love, that they think is real and wants to force the country to return to. Often they cloak it in god says, but it really is about their own comfort, their own feelings, their own hates and bigotry. Hugs. Scottie
There is a video I tried every way I can think of to embed in the post. It won’t show up so I am going to take it out and just put up the link there in its spot. Hugs. Scottie
Gov. Greg Abbott said those who fail to report instances of minors receiving gender-affirming medical care could face “criminal penalties.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott speaks during a press conference in the Permian Basin, in Midland, Texas, on Feb. 1, 2022.Eli Hartman / Odessa American via AP file
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is calling on “licensed professionals” and “members of the general public” to report the parents of transgender minors to state authorities if it appears the minors are receiving gender-affirming medical care.
The directive was part of a letter Abbott, a Republican, sent Tuesday to the Department of Family and Protective Services, calling on it to “conduct a prompt and thorough investigation” of any reported instances of minors undergoing “elective procedures for gender transitioning.”
Abbott’s letter follows an opinion released Monday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which stated that allowing minors to receive transition care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgery is child abuse under state law.
Paxton issued the opinion after the Legislature failed last year to pass a bill that would have made it a felony alongside physical and sexual abuse to provide such care to minors. An opinion is an interpretation of existing law; it does not change the law itself but can affect how it is enforced.
In Tuesday’s letter, Abbott tasked licensed professionals who work with children — including teachers, nurses and doctors — and “members of the general public” with reporting such claims. He added that state law “provides criminal penalties for failure to report such child abuse.”
Advocates allege that both Paxton’s opinion and Abbott’s letter are politically motivated, noting that they were released just ahead of the March 1 Republican primary and that both men face a crowded field of contenders in their re-election bids.
Adri Pèrez, policy and advocacy strategist for LGBTQ equality at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, said Paxton is trying to distract from the problems plaguing his campaign. He is awaiting trial for a 2015 indictment on charges of securities fraud, and he is under investigation by the FBI over allegations of bribery and abuse of office. Paxton’s office did not return a request for comment.
“There’s no court in Texas or the entire country that has ever found that gender-affirming care can constitute child abuse,” Pèrez said.
Brian Klosterboer, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement that neither the opinion nor the letter have a legal effect and “cannot change Texas law nor usurp the constitutional rights of Texas families.”
“But they spread fear and misinformation and could spur false reporting of child abuse at a time when DFPS is already facing a crisis in our state’s foster care system,” Klosterboer stated. “The law is clear that parents, guardians, and doctors can provide transgender youth with treatment in accordance with prevailing standards of care. Any parent or guardian who loves and supports their child and is taking them to a licensed health care provider is not engaging in child abuse.”
It’s unclear whether Abbott and Paxton can force the Department of Family and Protective Services and other state agencies to investigate claims of child abuse against the parents of trans kids without passing legislation that changes the law.
At least one county-level official has said he will not enforce Abbott’s directive. Christian Menefee, the elected attorney who represents Department of Family and Protective Services in civil child abuse cases in Harris County, where Houston is, said in a statement that Paxton and Abbott “are ignoring medical professionals and intentionally misrepresenting the law to the detriment of transgender children and their families.”
“My office will not participate in these bad faith political games,” he said. “As the lawyers handling these cases, we owe a duty of candor to the courts about what the law really says. We’ll continue to follow the laws on the books — not General Paxton’s politically motivated and legally incorrect ‘opinion.’”
Over the last year, nearly two dozen states considered legislation that would bar access to some or all gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. Some states, including Texas, considered bills that would’ve charged parents or doctors who provide transition care with a felony. Only two states — Arkansas and Tennessee — have enacted restrictions on such care for minors, and a federal judge blocked Arkansas’ law from taking effect in July.
“Conservative officials in Texas and other states across the country should stop inserting themselves into health care decisions that create needless tension between pediatricians and their patients,” Karine Jean-Pierre, the deputy principal press secretary for the White House, told the paper. “No parent should face the agony of a politician standing in the way of accessing life-saving care for their child.”
Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health and the first openly transgender Senate-confirmed federal official, added that the Department of Health and Human Services “stands with transgender youth and their medical providers.”
“Our nation’s leading pediatricians support evidence-based, gender affirming care for transgender young people,” she said.
Supporters of restrictions on gender-affirming care argue that minors cannot consent to care that includes permanent changes to their bodies. Advocates note that all relevant major medical organizations — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association — say that gender-affirming care is medically necessary for transgender youth and is backed by decades of research.
The Endocrine Society, an international medical organization for the field of endocrinology, which includes the study of hormones, said in a statement Wednesday that Abbott’s directive “rejects evidence-based transgender medical care.”
“Medical evidence, not politics, should inform treatment decisions,” the group said in a statement. “The governor’s directive reflects widespread misinformation about gender-affirming care. When young children experience feelings that their gender identity does not match the sex recorded at birth, the first course of action is to support the child in exploring their gender identity and to provide mental health support, as needed.”
The Endocrine Society added that its clinical practice guideline recommends only reversible treatments for adolescents, such as puberty blockers, after they have entered puberty. Older adolescents “who demonstrate the ability to provide informed consent to partially irreversible treatment and experience persistent gender incongruence” can start hormone therapy. The guideline also recommends delaying surgery until the age of legal majority, which is 18 in most states.
If you do not recognize this it is from a Chick tract called The Last Generation. It was about what our side was supposedly going to do. It is always projection.
They are not going to stop because they know that there is no one to enforce the constitution. There is nothing the federal government can do and they know this and will act accordingly.
“Reports?” I assume /s? But seriously, circumcision is obviously elective surgery an infant can’t consent to. Gender affirming care (seldom surgery) is only done with consent and years of medical consultation.
So, if a 17 year old girl gets a boob job because it makes her feel better about her body, is that considered gender affirming care to Abbott and those like him? I’m betting he couldn’t articulate why that doesn’t count for him… not that he has to try with his base, of course.
In the past 10 years, we have relived a good chunk of the 20th century. We have experienced pre and post WW2. I have a much greater understanding of that time period now.
Thank you to Ten Bears for this very important video. This needs much more air time. Russia is an enemy of our country and a sizable part of the Republican Party is owned by Russia and the leader of that party is actively spouting Russian talking points while promoting Putin. Hugs. Scottie
With Steve Bannon cheering, CPAC opens with these chilling words: “Welcome to the end of democracy.” The Trump cult rallies round the fight for theocracy. https://t.co/EvWsviZvKA
“Welcome to the end of democracy. We're here to overthrow it completely. We didn't get all the way there on January 6th, but we will endeavor to get rid of it and replace it with this right here…Because all glory is to God.” pic.twitter.com/55FWokeeVI
Scottie's Playtime 