Under Trump's watch, the National Debt increased by $7.8 trillion, from $19.9 trillion to $27.7 trillion, due to tax cuts for billionaires. The Republicans want to make these tax cuts permanent. This will cost the Treasury another $3.5 trillion. So much for fiscal responsibility. pic.twitter.com/bHeV1lJGxW
Sen. Van Hollen: "The farce of this whole thing is that under Donald Trump, we raised the debt ceiling 3 times, 40% of our national debt was actually accumulated under Trump, and now they're not willing to talk about any revenue from very wealthy people as part of this effort." pic.twitter.com/VrkrFwj3Iv
Just hear a republican say it was not record profits and price gouging causing inflation, but the government spending. When asked about raising taxes on these record-breaking profits being made by corporations and the upper wealthy, the republican lied about how that was going to crash the economy and wouldn’t help the budget shortfalls. The host never bushed back on the republicans lies, instead framing her questions in how unreasonable the democrats were being for not being willing to entertain all the cuts and economic hardships the republicans are demanding. The republicans know what their cuts will do to the people, the harm to the poor, and wipe out every advance in policy that Biden managed to do. They want this to happen, so they can campaign on that harm, hurt, and economic collapse, blaming Biden for it and saying he has not managed to pass anything to help the people. It has nothing to do with the debt, it has to do with politics and trying to regain the Senate and White House, and keep the house. Hugs
Figure easily beats predictions and comes despite fall in oil and gas price
Shell will now offer shareholders $4bn in share buybacks after its record quarterly profit. Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters
Shell has been accused of a “profiteering bonanza” after it made record first-quarter profits of more than $9.6bn (£7.6bn) and showered shareholders with more than $6bn, even as oil and gas prices tumbled from last year’s highs.
The better than expected profits in the first three months of this year were well above the $7.96bn predicted by industry analysts, and topped Shell’s previous first-quarter record set last year at $9.1bn for the same period.
Europe’s biggest oil and gas company handed shareholders $2bn in dividend payments and bought back shares worth $4.3bn over the last quarter, and plans to offer its investors another $4bn in share buybacks over the next three months.
BP’s profits labelled ‘heinous’ as calls grow for tougher windfall tax
Read more
The FTSE 100 company said profits increased despite higher taxes and lower sums paid on the market for the oil and gas it produces, thanks in part to its energy trading teams managing to mitigate against falling prices.
Global oil prices averaged $81.7 a barrel in the first quarter of this year, according to Shell, down from $102.2 a barrel in the same period a year earlier, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine ignited a surge in oil and gas markets.
Shell has also had to pay higher taxes, reaching over $3bn globally for the last quarter. Its UK tax bill hit $134m last year after the government’s windfall energy profits levy was introduced in May. Shell expects to pay more than $500m to the Treasury this year after the levy was increased from January.
Shell’s bumper profits emerged two days after its smaller rival BP reported a profit of $4.96bn for the first quarter, down from $6.2bn in the same period last year, but well above the $4.3bn expected by analysts.
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of the Unite union, said both firms were “continuing the profiteering bonanza”, adding: “The scale of profiteering displayed today by Shell and earlier this week BP is one of the corporate scandals of our times. And this is practically untouched by Rishi Sunak’s so-called windfall tax.
“Not taking any action against ‘Big Oil’ means the profiteering plundering will continue without end.”
Charlie Kronick, of Greenpeace UK, said: “As temperatures soar from Madrid to Mogadishu, Shell is once again posting bumper profits while promising to keep extracting fossil fuels for years to come. Millions around the world are already feeling the effects of the climate crisis and it’s those who did the least to cause it who are paying the heaviest price.
“The UK government should stop issuing new oil and gas licences and force Shell and the rest of the industry to start using their obscene profits to pay for the damage that their fossil fuel habit is causing to lives and livelihoods around the world.”
Shell’s new chief executive, Wael Sawan, said the company had delivered “strong results and robust operational performance, against a backdrop of ongoing volatility”.
The company reported a record annual profit of $40bn for 2022 after posting better than expected profits in the final quarter of last year. The full-year profits were more than double what it reported in 2021 owing to rocketing oil and gas market prices last year, leading to calls for a windfall tax on the earnings.
A survey commissioned by Christian Aid, an international development charity, found nearly four in five UK adults agreed it was wrong for oil and gas companies to make record profits without taking responsibility for their role in causing the climate crisis. More than six in 10 of those surveyed said the government should tax fossil fuel profits to help pay compensation to communities that faced the impacts of the climate crisis.
Sawan succeeded Shell’s previous chief executive Ben van Beurden in January after the company moved its headquarters to London from the Hague and abolished its dual listing in the Netherlands.
He is now preparing to lead a capital markets day next month where he is expected to set out an updated strategy for the oil company. It is expected to include an exit from the UK’s home energy supply market after a little over five years by selling off Shell Energy.
Sawan told journalists the home energy business had been “very, very challenging” owing to significant government intervention to support the market.
“On balance, what we have found is that it’s not the sort of area where we can potentially outcompete others,” he said. “We’re looking at all options, everything is being considered, and I hope to have an update in the coming weeks.”
How soon do they forget. DeathSantis is counting on his right wing followers having no memories other than what the scaremongering politicians and Christian Taliban are pushing on them. It is tragic how they entirely change history and make up mythical wrong facts. For example, there has always been drag in the military and the government has always paid for drag shows to entertain the troops. Ever hear of Bob Hope and the USO. Famous for drag shows. Drag shows are men or women cross-dressing despite the rights attempt to make it seem like sex shows such as stripping and other adult entertainment. And before you say the men wear exaggerated boobs, remember this fact. A total of 212,500 breast augmentation procedures were performed in 2000, and 287,085 procedures were performed in 2019. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), breast augmentation numbers dipped for the first time in 20 years. If you read the linked article, you will see DeathSantis makes all sorts of scary claims he can not back up with fact. The recruitment numbers go up and down with the economy. If the economy is bad then you get more people joining the military to survive. If the economy is good for workers like now where employers are offering more to entice workers then recruitment falls. This idea that everyone in the military is there for the love of country is stupid and fake. They want a place to live and food to eat. Do they get indoctrinated and propagandized too? Yes. But that is not why the majority join. Hugs
In Iowa Saturday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said “drag queens” were part of the reason people didn’t want to enlist in the United States military.
“When you see videos of folks recruiting for the military services using things like drag queens, you know, that is just fundamentally wrong,” DeSantis said in Sioux Center at the Feenstra Family Picnic, a major confab of Iowa Republicans.
The U.S. Navy, which DeSantis was a member of, used a female impersonator as a “digital ambassador.” The service member, named Joshua Kelley, performs as “Harpy Daniels.” DeSantis will sign legislation cracking down on drag shows later this Spring.
Read the full article. As most of you surely know, troops have been entertained by drag shows since forever.
In Iowa, @RonDeSantisFL blames 'drag queens' for military recruitment woes
Drag Queens entertaining troops… Drag in our time actually entered the mainstream because of soldiers doing drag shows during the war. pic.twitter.com/7SAR5joW1M
In World War Two, drag shows were popular among troops (US and Britain), as a way to relieve stress. One British unit came under attack while hosting a show, so they had to fight while dolled up. The government tried to keep these photos secret for years. pic.twitter.com/ZAMwmXsJx3
— Minerva E ~ Ambassador of Temu 🤫 (@ElmoreMinerva) May 11, 2023
Drag has long been alive and well in the military. I believe Orbanism hurts military recruitment. Fascism hurts military recruitment. Forcing one “religious belief” down everyone else’s throats hurts military recruitment.
Same sign was posted at public pools in Florida when my parents were children except “Mexicans” was replaced by “Latins”‘. That way they could exclude not only Spaniards and Cubans but also Italians and Sicilians.
My husband’s dad did drag in WWII before he was shot in the heart by a Nazi. He survived and did drag in the hospital for the troops as he and they recovered.
Military enlistment by men frightened by drag resulted in a treasonous Nazi enlisting in the National Guard. He then published military secrets in an effort to impress his audience of fellow Nazi traitors.
I’ll take a patriot in panties and a push-up bra over a Nazi any day.
Tired of reading about more nonsense from DeSantis. The drag queen thing is going to follow Dr. Suess and Mr. Potato Head and whatever other made-up right wing outrage down the memory hole as soon as it’s no longer effective.
Agreed to an extent in that it’ll be memory holed at some point, but it definitely has some real-world impacts that the others didn’t. After all, no one was going to go an attack or have rallies with threats of violence in front of every store that sold Mr. Potato Head toys. Too many stores that they had too much need of for other things – even the Nazis wouldn’t want to risk being trespassed from every WalMart in their state, probably. They likely don’t get email alerts telling them where Hasbro employees are visiting, stuff like that.
With the drag show issues, though, they can focus the rage in a way that likely won’t impact their day-to-day lives. And it’ll impact other real people more directly, which gives them a thrill that just burning a Potato Head doll on YouTube won’t provide.
So I expect the next big thing they attack will have similar qualities – stuff they can focus more and hit individuals than complaining about a candy’s boots or pretending to care about children’s books (especially since they’re also pushing to limit books now).
The reason armed forces recruitment is down, by the way, is because Biden fixed the economy (!)and the unemployment rate is now at the lowest it’s ever been since 1969. Of course recruitment was higher when unemployment was at 13% under Trump — people need to eat and pay bills, and when the Army-Navy recruiter in your dusty podunk town is the only place that’s hiring, then that’s what you sign up for.
These people can deny it all they want but kids know both gender and sexuality at a very young age. Kids understand gender from the time they learn of boy or girl, Mr or Mrs / Miss. Gender is not a strange thing in human society, it is ingrained in everything we humans do. Simply think how kids are taught which bathroom to use in public, little kids don’t care until they are forced by adults to use the “proper gendered” bathroom, which forces them to identify their own gender. As for sexuality, kids also understand who they are attracted to long before they are given words to understand it. The idea that kids are somehow clueless to their attraction as they grow is not what medical science or personal experience of people asked shows. Ask yourself when you knew you were attracted to … and you will say well forever. When did you know you were a boy / girl, well I just knew. Well so do trans kids. Also gay / lesbian kids know who they get tingles and attractions to. Plus the idea that kids are not sensual in knowing what feels good with their own bodies is just stupid. How often do you hear of little kids being told they shouldn’t touch themselves in public, because even as little kids it feels good and they don’t know to not do what feels good in front of other people. The problem is some people want to keep society in the 1950s strict gender roles when society and the public has moved beyond that. We have evolved, and that terrifies those that have invested interests in keeping the country in the past. Why because in the past they were in charge, their ideas were taken for granted as being the only correct ideas, their god was not really questioned in society. Think of the history of child abuse in churches, in the time frame these people want you / the country to return to the church leaders doing the abusing were not questioned and kids not believed. Because of the automatic authority of the church. That is what these people want to force us all to return too.
Then we get to the second part of the video. The videos of the Texas Guard putting up razor wire in front of people seeking asylum and trying to enter the country. My gods if you think that this huge country couldn’t find a more humane way to handle people fleeing death and destruction to work for a better life I have to ask what is wrong with you. We have states in this country that are so underpopulated they can not afford to provide for themselves without federal wealth sharing. This country is huge and needs more people willing to be in it supporting all the infrastructure. That is a known fact. Ask what would happen if you let these people come in and establish lives working and paying taxes while being part of the communities they live in? The only reason this push to keep people out at the southern border is completely racism. The white ones convinced that the brown ones are going to take over if they are let in the country, that somehow the white ones will lose all the assumed authority and power they once had. Well guess what, it has already happened and will keep happening. If you are one of those people, the tipping point was reached long ago, and yes the white majority rule is pretty much over and will be soon. The thing is that is not such a scare thing as these white supremacist want to make it. The only difference is whites that don’t want other races will have to accept them, everyone will be equal. That is all, everyone regardless of race will be equal. Everyone’s traditions and celebrations will be give equal time. See the world won’t stop, the destruction won’t happen, just equality and expanded awareness for everyone. Now to the video. Hugs
I live in Michigan, so I am allowed to make this statement: The Lions have demonstrated an ability to consistently disappoint their fans to a level only surpassed, maybe, by the Cleveland Browns. And yet, my uncle was not only a great fan of the Lions team but wouldn’t miss a game on tv. That, my friends, is the mark of a true fan: it isn’t the fact that the product is the best in quality, best in performance, best in taste, it’s the fact that a fan is a fan for no better reason than he has chosen to be a fan. Thereby lives a love of heartbreak, ridicule, and a test of loyalty sufficient to scar any soul forever. I of course come from much better stock: I am a fan of the Chicago Bears. Da Bears! If you’ve not solved this puzzle by now, this is not about the Lions. Don’t get me wrong, they will forever disappoint – Sorry Uncle Bob – but this post regards how a beer company has received backlash for sending beer to someone who is an internet influencer. Now, there are few things in this world that I purposely choose not to pay attention to, and among those are the Lions and things that republicans and rednecks have chosen to cancel in their anti-cancel-culture rants. Yes, that’s confusing. It makes more sense if you drink a lot of low-quality beer and believe what Tucker Calson tells you.
Loyalty trumps Competence, as the saying goes. And, while there are those who believe Bud Light cheated on them, I expect to find all of those who have made a lifetime commitment with their Bud Light beer that has weathered two marriages, four kids, eight teeth and 29-stories that start with “dude, hold my beer…” will be drinking again like nothing happened. In time they will forget why they were mad at a beer – because let’s face it, who gets mad at beer? And, those of us watching from the sidelines, even as reluctantly as I, will remember that this was never about the beer, never about the internet influencer, but was ultimately about the homo- and the trans-phobic prejudice and hate that was so easily stirred to cause the easily led to put down their favorite beer.
I, for one, am going to continue to buy Bud Light. Mainly because it’s very drinkable – as the joke goes it’s much like sex in a canoe. What I would like to hear them ask these detractors is why they are so against someone being who they are? Who are they to not only disparage the character of that person, but to speak as if a beer company deserves to be shot for treating a person as a living and worthwhile person? Each of us in America is born with the freedom to voice our opinion. It bothers me that so many have chosen to use this freedom to be so manipulated as to only be able to speak hate and so weak as to give up a beer they appear to love for the affront of giving another citizen simple respect. What are they truly angry or afraid of?
I love Randy’s writing. He has a way of getting his heartfelt ideas across with words that few can manage. I am glad he has offered to add his voice here. When Randy was talking with me on this post, he mentioned it might help people understand how stupid this unwarranted hate response was if people could see the video that these bigots are responding to. Also remember that these cans of beer with Dylan Mulvaney’s picture on them were not mass-produced, were never for sale to the public. These few cans were just a promotional gimmick and were not intended for putting in stores. This was not a national commercial but only on social media. If the bigots and haters had ignored it, then very few would even have known of the entire thing. But the haters managed to gin this up using a fake outrage over something not happening and getting people who drink a mediocre mass-produced beer to question their own manhood. That was what this was about, men fearing a beer that had let a trans woman promote it made them less than a man if they drank it, made them less masculine, maybe others would question the size of their penis by the beer they drank because a few cans had a trans woman on them. That is what this is really about, look at how the men reacted in destroying the cans of beer, with displays of macho destruction while yelling about how manly they are. In fact most hate of trans people is about fear of measuring up to some mythical stereotypical standards for what is masculine or feminine. Below is the social media promotion by Dylan Mulvaney. Hugs
*** it was hard to find just the video with no commentary added. The comments are the YouTube page constantly cisgender Dylan as he and calling her a gay man. Dylan Mulvaney identifies as a trans woman, and she is proud to be a woman. Hugs
This post is for those that mistakenly thought these anti-drag bills were about protecting kids from sexualized burlesque type shows. The law is written very clearly to stop men from dressing like women and women from dressing like men in public. That was the intent from the beginning of this anti-drag queens stuff, the republicans just had to frame it as protecting kids from sex to get the public to accept it. Hugs
It’s aimed at banning minors from “sexually oriented performance,” which the bill initially defined as a “male performer exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male.” If the bill becomes law, drag performers could face a criminal misdemeanor charge if they perform in front of children or on public property, and venues that host drag performances could face penalties up to $10,000.
“This legislature has spent more time targeting queer people than gun violence.”
A Texas drag performer was escorted out of a public hearing on one of the state’s anti-drag bills.
As NBC affiliate KXAN reports, the Texas House of Representatives State Affairs committee held a public hearing on Wednesday to discuss S.B. 12, which was passed by the state senate last month. It’s aimed at banning minors from “sexually oriented performance,” which the bill initially defined as a “male performer exhibiting as a female, or a female performer exhibiting as a male.” If the bill becomes law, drag performers could face a criminal misdemeanor charge if they perform in front of children or on public property, and venues that host drag performances could face penalties up to $10,000.
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Texas House votes unanimously to expel “anti-grooming” Republican after he groomed a teenager
He used to rail against drag queens performing in front of kids. Now one of his colleagues said he’s the “type of man who steals innocence.”
At Wednesday’s hearing, the committee was considering removing any mention of drag from S.B. 12.
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Austin drag performer Brigitte Bandit was one of nearly 400 people who signed up to testify, the overwhelming majority of them opposing the bill, according to KXAN. Bandit appeared before the committee in a dress bearing the names of the victims of the Uvalde and Allen mass shootings to argue that the real danger facing the state’s children is gun violence, not drag queens.
“This legislature has spent more time targeting queer people than gun violence, even following yet another mass shooting in our state,” she tweeted on Wednesday.
After reportedly speaking 15 seconds over her allotted time, Bandit was escorted out of the hearing by security.
while wearing the names of the victims of the Uvalde and Allen shootings and after waiting 13 hours to speak, I was escorted out by police for testifying seconds over my allotted time to address the real harm that threatens TX kids: gun violence, not drag queens. pic.twitter.com/nyQiEg20n9
Notice what the parents and teachers say. They claim the Christian majority if forcing a Christian view on their kids that they don’t agree with and is not needed, also that in order to promote their Christian conservative views the religious majority on the board is willing to destroy the school district. Hugs
Things have gotten so bad that even Republicans in the district are complaining:
“I think they look at us as this petri dish where they can really push all their agenda and theories,” said Joe Dohrn, a Woodland Park father who described himself as a staunch Republican and “very capitalistic.” “They clearly are willing to sacrifice the public school and to put students presently in the public school through years of disarray to drive home their ideological beliefs. It’s a travesty.”
…
“They’re trying to push a certain agenda down to these kids,” Amy Schommer, a mother in Woodland Park, said of the school board’s adoption of American Birthright. “I’m a conservative but I’m not against my kids learning something they disagree with. They’re trying to fix problems that don’t exist here.”
… Witt, as president of the school board in neighboring Jefferson County, supported a plan in 2014 to ensure the district’s curricula would promote patriotism and not encourage “social strife.” Witt said students who protested the board policies at the time were “pawns” of the teachers union. After he and two other conservative members of the board were recalled, Witt became executive director of an organization that oversees charter, online and other schools and helped launch Merit Academy.
Merit Academy was the charter school approved by the district.
Woodland Park School District is seeing an exodus of staffers after Christian Nationalists put their agenda over students’ needs
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In 2021, Christian Nationalist preacher Andrew Wommack told the members of his political group Truth & Liberty Coalition that, with all the conservatives in their part of Colorado, “we ought to take over Woodland Park.”
“We have enough people here in this school we could elect anybody we want,” he said. “We could take over this place.”
Wommack had moved to Woodland Park to launch Charis Bible College, and now he wanted his people to take over the local government. Or at least the local school board. It’s the kind of rhetoric that conservative Christians have been using for decades to urge their followers to run for local office as a way to influence policy. Wommack himself insisted last year that he got “78 or 80” of his preferred candidates elected in local races (out of an estimated 178 his ministry was backing).
Perhaps that’s an exaggeration. But in this particular case, they actually pulled it off.
Reporter Tyler Kingkade of NBC News just published a shocking article detailing what happened after those conservative Christians took over a local school board that, in theory, should have been far removed from culture war battles.
But when you put ideologues in positions of responsibility, you can’t expect them to do the right thing. That’s exactly how it’s played out.
Woodland Park School Board meeting (screenshot via YouTube)
For example, the local school board, now controlled by Christian Nationalists, adopted a conservative social studies curriculum called “American Birthright” that’s focused on American exceptionalism and whitewashes our nation’s ugly history. It says the federal government shouldn’t have any authority over public schools, that teachers should avoid teaching about current events and media literacy, and that telling kids to vote amounts to activism. (Notes Kingkade: “[American Birthright] includes Bill Clinton’s impeachment but not Donald Trump’s.”)
The program was already deemed unfit for students and rejected as extreme by the state’s school board. They said adopting this program would have “damaging and lasting effects on the civic knowledge of students and their capacity to engage in civic reasoning and deliberation.”
The new school board embraced it anyway.
School board president David Rusterholtz added Christian prayers to board meetings:
“This division is much more than political — this is a clash of worldviews,” Rusterholtz said at a board meeting in January. He concluded his remarks with a prayer for the district: “May the Lord bless us and keep us, may His face shine upon us and be gracious to us.”
Beyond that, according to Colorado Public Radio, he has also “used his official board email address to proselytize, inviting fellow board members to join his church and receive Jesus as their savior.”
Then they imposed a gag order and fired teachers who criticized the moves publicly.
Then the newly hired superintendent decided not to apply for grants worth up to $1.2 million that previously covered the salaries of 15 counselors and social workers because he wanted to focus on academics, not emotions… even though the latter has a direct impact on the former.
And now a large chunk of the staffers and administrators are leaving the district:
As the school year winds down, many of the Woodland Park School District’s employees are heading for the exit, despite recently receiving an 8% raise. At least four of the district’s top administrators have quit because of the board’s policy changes, according to interviews and emails obtained through records requests. Nearly 40% of the high school’s professional staff have said they will not return next school year, according to an administrator in the district.
It’s no wonder they want out. There’s no accountability anymore and the conservatives on the school board are more interested in enacting their personal agendas than doing what experts believe is best for students. When one board member resigned in the wake of the conservative victories, he could have been replaced by someone with a strong background in education and a track record of supporting students. Instead, his replacement was someone who had donated to the campaign of another right-wing board member.
When the superintendent resigned, he was replaced by Ken Witt.
Who is Ken Witt, you ask?
… Witt, as president of the school board in neighboring Jefferson County, supported a plan in 2014 to ensure the district’s curricula would promote patriotism and not encourage “social strife.”Witt said students who protested the board policies at the time were “pawns” of the teachers union. After he and two other conservative members of the board were recalled, Witt became executive director of an organization that oversees charter, online and other schools and helped launch Merit Academy.
Merit Academy was the charter school approved by the district.
His appointment was actually more egregious than that because the board members essentially chose him in secret. Their only interview of Witt happened behind closed doors even though state law requires all district-related discussions between three or more board members to be public.
Kingkade managed to obtain surveillance footage of their meeting. The full conversation (which is inaudible) lasts for about 8 minutes. Witt was hired two days later.
The district staffer who urged the board to release that footage months ago was fired. That person’s boss quit as a form of protest.
Things have gotten so bad that even Republicans in the district are complaining:
“I think they look at us as this petri dish where they can really push all their agenda and theories,” said Joe Dohrn, a Woodland Park father who described himself as a staunch Republican and “very capitalistic.” “They clearly are willing to sacrifice the public school and to put students presently in the public school through years of disarray to drive home their ideological beliefs. It’s a travesty.”
…
“They’re trying to push a certain agenda down to these kids,” Amy Schommer, a mother in Woodland Park, said of the school board’s adoption of American Birthright. “I’m a conservative but I’m not against my kids learning something they disagree with. They’re trying to fix problems that don’t exist here.”
But none of this will make a difference unless enough of these people vote for board members who care more about students than conservative propaganda. The next elections are in November and three of the board’s five seats will be up for grabs, allowing a non-crazy majority to help undo some of this damage.
The question is whether enough people in the community will care enough to vote in that election. School board races have notoriously low turnouts, but if right-wing Christians aiming to destroy the public schools doesn’t inspire enough people to get off their asses to vote for better candidates, nothing will.
This is incredible reporting from Kingkade and a devastating look at what happens when right-wing rhetoric becomes reality. The people who have a vendetta against public schools should never be placed in charge of them.
“They’re not interested in improving the school district,” said one teacher who is leaving. “They’re interested in killing it.”
When people don’t pay attention to local elections, however, that becomes very possible—especially when conservative pastors rally their congregations into thinking these elections are existential crises.
The end result is that the best teachers and administrators may leave the district while the worsening schools lower property values and drive away the sorts of people who might consider moving there.
Everyone loses when Christian extremists hell-bent on turning public schools into extensions of their churches get this kind of power.
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That, my friends, is the mark of a true fan: it isn’t the fact that the product is the best in quality, best in performance, best in taste, it’s the fact that a fan is a fan for no better reason than he has chosen to be a fan. Thereby lives a love of heartbreak, ridicule, and a test of loyalty sufficient to scar any soul forever. I of course come from much better stock: I am a fan of the Chicago Bears. Da Bears! If you’ve not solved this puzzle by now, this is not about the Lions. Don’t get me wrong, they will forever disappoint – Sorry Uncle Bob – but this post regards how a beer company has received backlash for sending beer to someone who is an internet influencer. Now, there are few things in this world that I purposely choose not to pay attention to, and among those are the Lions and things that republicans and rednecks have chosen to cancel in their anti-cancel-culture rants. Yes, that’s confusing. It makes more sense if you drink a lot of low-quality beer and believe what Tucker Calson tells you.
lifetime commitment with their Bud Light beer that has weathered two marriages, four kids, eight teeth and 29-stories that start with “dude, hold my beer…” will be drinking again like nothing happened. In time they will forget why they were mad at a beer – because let’s face it, who gets mad at beer? And, those of us watching from the sidelines, even as reluctantly as I, will remember that this was never about the beer, never about the internet influencer, but was ultimately about the homo- and the trans-phobic prejudice and hate that was so easily stirred to cause the easily led to put down their favorite beer.
Who are they to not only disparage the character of that person, but to speak as if a beer company deserves to be shot for treating a person as a living and worthwhile person? Each of us in America is born with the freedom to voice our opinion. It bothers me that so many have chosen to use this freedom to be so manipulated as to only be able to speak hate and so weak as to give up a beer they appear to love for the affront of giving another citizen simple respect. What are they truly angry or afraid of?
