Category: Gun Control
Suozzi calls Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law ‘reasonable’
Please notice the framing because that is driving me nuts. Teacher teaching sex to kindergarten. Oh yes that is what the bills are about right, because the 5 to 8 year old’s are tired of having all the orgies and just want them to stop. That framing makes it seem reasonable to mandate the exclusion of entire segment of the population. Think of it this way, we need laws preventing these same teachers from mentioning or talking about different race marriages. We need this law because teachers are forcing the little kids to pair up by different races and pretend to be married for the week before changing different race partners to be married to at the beginning of the new week. If we don’t let kids know they exist, they meaning different race couples, they will think all married people are like their parents, all the same race. When a kid joins the class that has different race parents, we will make sure they do not mention it in the class or school and never talk about it with the other kids. That way no kid will grow up falling in love with someone of a different race.
Sounds nuts right? Well that is what the don’t say gay bills are doing and the reasoning behind them. There is not a rash of public school teachers showing six year old’s any sexual positions or acts much less gay ones. Kids do ask questions and teachers are very good at knowing how to answer in a way that gives just the needed information without launching into the Kama Sutra. Think about what is really behind the push of these laws. Any law that singles out one segment of society for open discrimination is a really bad law. It makes a scapegoat of a group of people for society to take out their anger on about things. Where have we seen that trick before by fascist.
Please notice in trying to clarify his comment he said that: But I think it is reasonable that kids in kindergarten and first grade are not taught about their sexual orientation in school. First kids don’t need to be taught their sexual orientation, it is part of who they are since birth. So what does this person really think is being taught to kids about sexual orientation. Notice it is about being gay or lesbian not trans as some would like to claim. He is very clear he doesn’t want kids taught about their sexual orientation. So what are teachers teaching about it when Johnny says he has two daddies that love each other or little jill says her older sister has a girlfriend? An orgy doesn’t burst out. The teachers merely let the kids know it is OK to be different than the constant hetero couples and GF / BF situations they have seen every day of their lives, on all media, in stores when taken out with mom and dad, in most of their family. Heterosexuality is pushed on kids from birth. These bills keep teachers from letting kids know it is OK not to be heterosexual and to be gay or lesbian. That is what the groups behind these bills want, to stop kids from learning tolerance and acceptance. Kids are not learning sex acts, they are not being taught how to be gay. How do you be gay anyway? Is it a certain walk or way of talking? I thought it was who you were attracted to and I don’t see how a teacher could teach that to little kids anyway. Oh right to some groups it is a choice to be gay, despite all the evidence it is not a choice but instead something we are born being. So teachers are making kids, forcing kids to identify as gay by … of course, talking about sex and forcing them to pair off and do the deed. When do the teachers find time teach reading so the kids can read all those gay porn books in the school libraries. Ok I know this turned into a rant, but people must see this for what it is.
Asked on a conservative radio talk show about the controversial law, Rep. Tom Suozzi leaned into right-wing talking points about not wanting teachers discussing sexual orientation and gender identity.
Rep. Tom Suozzi said he thought Florida’s controversial “Don’t say gay” law was “reasonable.” MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO/GETTY IMAGES
Rep. Tom Suozzi, who is running against Gov. Kathy Hochul in the Democratic primary for governor, called a controversial new Florida law aimed at discouraging discussions about sexuality and gender in classrooms “reasonable.” Dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law by its opponents, Democrats and LGBTQ activists have rallied against the bill as a discriminatory attempt to prevent any LGBTQ topics from getting discussed.
Suozzi was asked about the law while a guest on WABC’s Bernie & Sid in the Morning on Thursday. “I want to ask you about this Florida law, the Parental Rights Act, which prohibits teachers from talking sex, genitals, stuff like that, with kids kindergarten to third grade,” Sid Rosenberg said to Suozzi. He referenced the bill’s formal name, the Parental Rights in Education act, as well as right-wing talking points about the intent of the law being to protect children from age inappropriate sexual discussion in the classroom. Suozzi responded by echoing the same talking points.
“I think it’s a very reasonable law not to try to get kids in kindergarten to be talking about sex,” he said on the show. “I wish it wouldn’t become such a hot button issue where people are just attacking each other – it’s just common sense.”
Suozzi followed up his reply with an assurance that he is not anti-gay. “I’m very much in favor of equal rights, I’m very much in favor of treating gay people fairly and treating them like the human beings they are,” he added without directly addressing the controversy surrounding the Florida law. When Rosenberg began bemoaning policy “based on 3% or in some cases 1% of the population” – an apparent reference to LGBTQ-centric legislation – Suozzi quickly took the conversation in a different direction to criticize Hochul’s Buffalo Bills stadium deal.
As written, the law does not explicitly prohibit discussion of genitals nor being gay. “Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” reads the section in contention. Republicans have said the law is overall fairly innocuous and simply serves as a means to prevent “groomers” from indoctrinating kids. The term has become a common dog whistle among the right when discussing LGBTQ issues, connecting them with pedophilia. On the left, most view the legislation as a thinly veiled attempt to censor any LGBTQ discussions in a classroom setting.
The comments from Suozzi come not long after other prominent Democratic leaders in New York have taken strong public stances against the Florida law. New York City Mayor Eric Adams last week unveiled an ad campaign in support of gay New Yorkers and in opposition to the statute. Billboards reading “Loud. Proud. Still Allowed,” and “People say a lot of ridiculous things in New York. ‘Don’t Say Gay’ isn’t one of them,” will go up around the state.
Hochul has also taken a public stance against the Florida law. “The ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill that far-right Republicans in Florida are pushing through is hateful, discriminatory, and dangerous,” the governor said in a February tweet. When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation in March, Hochul called it a “cruel and shameful political stunt,” in another tweet. Her campaign referred to these public statements when asked for comment. A spokesman for gubernatorial campaign of New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams – who himself has invited criticism for past comments on gay marriage – when asked for comment provided a statement saying “It’s dangerous for any leader not to see Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law for what it is: a direct, hateful attack on the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a statement to City & State, Suozzi did not walk back what he said on the radio. “Let me be clear, as I said on the radio, I fully support LGBTQ and equal rights,” Suozzi said. “I absolutely do not support the Florida governor in most policies he supports. But I think it is reasonable that kids in kindergarten and first grade are not taught about their sexual orientation in school… Maybe this isn’t a politically correct position but it certainly seems like common sense to me.” The statement once again did not address the concern by many other members of his party that the law will lead to discrimination against queer students in school, but added that “it’s the far left and the crazy right who are making this a divisive issue.”
Suozzi’s stance on the “Don’t Say Gay” law shocked gay Democratic lawmakers in New York. “I think his comments are bone chilling,” state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who has heralded into law a number of prominent LGBTQ rights bills, told City & State. “I think every LGBTQ New Yorker should be put on notice that Tom Suozzi is no friend to our community.” State Sen. Jabari Brisport expressed similar outrage.
“One in three trans youth have considered suicide and a queer nightclub in Brooklyn was recently set on fire,” Brisport said in a text. “Tom Suozzi should be finding ways to support the LGBTQ+ community, not validating Ron Desantis’ bigoted moves.”
Marine Le Pen: Stop Sending Weapons To Ukraine
The US and other democracies had better wake up and pay attention. All across the world fascist authoritarian governments sponsored by US billionaires along with countries like Russia and those they support like Steve Bannon are spreading anti-democratic fascist bull all around the world. There are well monied groups that want white supremacy and Christian religious dominance all across the globe. When you look into it the facts become really scary.
The Associated Press reports:
French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen warned today against sending any more weapons to Ukraine, and called for a rapprochement between NATO and Russia once Moscow’s war in Ukraine winds down.
Le Pen, an outspoken nationalist who has long ties to Russia, also confirmed that if she unseats President Emmanuel Macron in France’s April 24 presidential runoff, she will pull France out of NATO’s military command and dial back French support for the whole European Union.
Macron, a pro-EU centrist, is facing a harder-than-expected fight to stay in power, in part because the economic impact of the war is hitting poor households the hardest.
Read the full article.
Cultist House Candidate Sold Tear Gas Used On BLM
Politico reports:
Dozens of wealthy candidates run for Congress every election cycle. What sets Cory Mills apart are some of the mileposts on his road to riches: Selling tear gas that was used against Black Lives Matter demonstrators and purchasing a company that sold rubber bullets to Hong Kong to crack down on protesters.
Mills, a first-time Republican candidate running in a competitive primary in Florida’s 7th district, is the co-founder of PACEM Solutions. The company sells arms and riot-control gear and provides law enforcement training and private security consulting in the U.S. and around the world.
PACEM Solutions has estimated annual sales of $13.5 million, according to Dun & Bradstreet, a business data and analytics firm. Mills is funding his own run for Congress mostly with money he earned through the company.
Read the full article.
‘What Is Putin’s Red Line’ Is The Essential Question Says McFaul
‘Damning’: Bombshell Texts Pushing Trump’s Election Fraud Scheme Emerge
VIRAL VIDEO: Gay MO Rep Rages At GOP Author Of Anti-Trans Bill: “I Grew Up Afraid Of People Like You”
The Springfield News-Leader reports:
Local school districts in Missouri would be able to call elections on whether to ban transgender athletes from youth sports under a bill given initial approval by the House on Wednesday evening. A bill originally designed to audit the state’s voter rolls and tweak elections laws was amended by Rep. Chuck Basye, a Rocheport Republican, to include the language.
The chamber approved the amendment by an 89-40 vote after almost three hours of fierce and emotional debate. Democrats called the measure discriminatory and designed to invoke fear. “I was afraid of people like you growing up and I grew up in Hickory County, Missouri,” Rep. Ian Mackey, a St. Louis Democrat who is openly gay, said to Basye. “I grew up in a school district that would vote tomorrow to put this in place.”
The Advocate reports:
“Your brother wanted to tell you he was gay, didn’t he?” Mackey asked him. Basye said he did and his brother thought their family would hold it against him. “Why would he think that?” Mackey asked.
“I don’t know,” replied Basye. The GOP representative said, “that was never going to happen.”
Mackey said, “I would have been afraid to tell you too. I would have been afraid to tell you to because of stuff like this because this is what you’re focused on. This is the legislation you want to put forward.”
The exchange has gone wildly viral on TikTok.
Watch and enjoy the smoke.
And they want us to have that fear again.
That’s the point. The man in Florida who introduced the “Don’t Say Gay” bill admitted it out loud.
That hit me hard
•Reply•Share ›Show 1 new reply
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- Gianni Ragnar_Lothbrok • 3 hours ago
- It did the same to me. I remember all my growing up years and into my early twenties living with that fear that generated such shame within me. I still hear, especially from religious bigots and know-nothings, that we are all born heterosexual like God wants us to be. However, some of us turn away from God and follow Satan into choosing to be homosexual. The fact that I would hear repeatedly that God hated me along with the world around me, was a horrible fear inducing and shame producing thing. I carried that around for so many years until I grew up to the point that I told myself to fuck it all. To this day, I still feel a bit of that well entrenched fear when I decide to tell some friend that I’m gay. Funny thing, at least to me, is that most have already figured that out and remained my friends.
Let’s talk about the Moskva….
Russia warns U.S. to stop arming Ukraine
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/04/14/russia-warns-us-stop-arming-ukraine/
So here it is, the vague threat from Russia that we step out of it or else. Or else what? Wel lor else he might use that good old nuke he keeps threatening with. So now do we give in? Does the world back off and say sorry? I have been warning this was coming. Now can we make our own threats? Now can we help do what we know we can do?
Russia this week sent a formal diplomatic note to the United States warning that U.S. and NATO shipments of the “most sensitive” weapons systems to Ukraine were “adding fuel” to the conflict there and could bring “unpredictable consequences.”
The diplomatic démarche, a copy of which was reviewed by The Washington Post, came as President Biden approved a dramatic expansion in the scope of weapons being provided to Ukraine, an $800 million package including 155 mm howitzers — a serious upgrade in long-range artillery to match Russian systems — coastal defense drones and armored vehicles, as well as additional portable antiaircraft and antitank weapons and millions of rounds of ammunition.
The United States has also facilitated the shipment to Ukraine of long-range air defense systems, including Slovakia’s shipment of Russian-manufactured Soviet-era S-300 launchers on which Ukrainian forces have already been trained. In exchange, the administration announced last week, the United States is deploying a Patriot missile system to Slovakia and consulting with Slovakia on a long-term replacement.
Shipment of the weapons, the first wave of which U.S. officials said would arrive in Ukraine within days, follows an urgent appeal to Biden from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as Russian forces were said to be mobilizing for a major assault on eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and along the coastal strip connecting it with Russian-occupied Crimea in the south. Russian troops have largely withdrawn from much of the northern part of the country, including around the capital, Kyiv, following humiliating defeats by the Ukrainian military and local resistance forces.
“What the Russians are telling us privately is precisely what we’ve been telling the world publicly — that the massive amount of assistance that we’ve been providing our Ukrainian partners is proving extraordinarily effective,” said a senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the sensitive diplomatic document.
The State Department declined to comment on the contents of the two-page diplomatic note or any U.S. response.
Russia experts suggested that Moscow, which has labeled weapons convoys coming into the country as legitimate military targets but has not thus far attacked them, may be preparing to do so.
“They have targeted supply depots in Ukraine itself, where some of these supplies have been stored,” said George Beebe, former director of Russia analysis at the CIA and Russia adviser to former vice president Dick Cheney. “The real question is do they go beyond attempting to target [the weapons] on Ukrainian territory, try to hit the supply convoys themselves and perhaps the NATO countries on the Ukrainian periphery” that serve as transfer points for the U.S. supplies.
If Russian forces stumble in the next phase of the war as they did in the first, “then I think the chances that Russia targets NATO supplies on NATO territory go up considerably,” Beebe said. “There has been an assumption on the part of a lot of us in the West that we could supply the Ukrainians really without limits and not bear significant risk of retaliation from Russia,” he said. “I think the Russians want to send a message here that that’s not true.”
U.S. troops, seen during the Afghanistan war, fire a 155 mm howitzer like those that will be supplied to Ukraine. (Pfc. Micah E. Clare/U.S. Defense Department)
The diplomatic note was dated Tuesday, as word first leaked of the new arms package that brought the total amount of U.S. military aid provided to Ukraine since the Feb. 24 invasion to $3.2 billion, according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. In a public announcement Wednesday, Biden said it would include “new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine.”
The document, titled “On Russia’s concerns in the context of massive supplies of weapons and military equipment to the Kiev regime,” written in Russian with a translation provided, was forwarded to the State Department by the Russian Embassy in Washington.
The Russian Embassy did not respond to requests for comment.
Among the items Russia identified as “most sensitive” were “multiple launch rocket systems,” although the United States and its NATO allies are not believed to have supplied those weapons to Ukraine. Russia accused the allies of violating “rigorous principles” governing the transfer of weapons to conflict zones, and of being oblivious to “the threat of high-precision weapons falling into the hands of radical nationalists, extremists and bandit forces in Ukraine.”
It accused NATO of trying to pressure Ukraine to “abandon” sputtering, and so far unsuccessful, negotiations with Russia “in order to continue the bloodshed.” Washington, it said, was pressuring other countries to stop any military and technical cooperation with Russia, and those with Soviet-era weapons to transfer them to Ukraine.
“We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security,” the note said.
Andrew Weiss, a former National Security Council director for Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian affairs, and now vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a speech on the February morning that the invasion began, warned that Western nations would face “consequences greater than any you have faced in history” if they became involved in the conflict.
Attention at the time focused on Putin’s reminder that Russia possesses a powerful nuclear arsenal, Weiss said, but it was also “a very explicit warning about not sending weapons into a conflict zone.” Having drawn a red line, he asked, are the Russians “now inclined to back that up?”
Such an attack would be “a very important escalatory move, first and foremost because it represents a threat to the West if they aren’t able to keep supplies flowing into Ukraine, which by extension might diminish Ukraine’s capacity for self-defense.” That risk “shouldn’t be downplayed,” he said, noting the added risk that an attempt to strike a convoy inside Ukraine could go awry over the border into NATO territory.
Senior U.S. defense officials remain concerned about the possibility of such attacks. “We don’t take any movement of weapons and systems going into Ukraine for granted,” Kirby said Thursday. “Not on any given day.”
Kirby said Ukrainian troops bring the weapons into Ukraine after the United States brings them into the region, and “the less we say about that, the better.”
Russia Vows To Move Nuclear Weapons To Baltic Sea Region If Finland And Sweden Decide To Join NATO
For those who say NATO cannot challenge Russia out of fears of his vague threats that he may use some form of nuclear weapons I present the next blackmail / extortion from Putin to get what he wants. Yes and he will keep doing it if it works as will every other authoritarian fascist government. I would point out that moving missiles is not needed as Russia has plenty of them that can fly very long distances and would easily reach Finland and Sweden.
The Washington Post reports:
Russia warned Finland and Sweden on Thursday that if they join NATO, Moscow will reinforce the Baltic Sea region, including by deploying nuclear weapons.
Dmitry Medvedev, a Putin ally who serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said Thursday that NATO expansion would lead Russia to strengthen air, land and naval forces to “balance” military capability in the region.
“If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the land borders of the alliance with the Russian Federation will more than double. Naturally, these boundaries will have to be strengthened,” he wrote on Telegram.
Read the full article.
Russia threatens to move nukes to Baltic region if Finland, Sweden join NATO
Helsinki and Stockholm are officially nonaligned militarily, but they are reconsidering their status in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — leading to escalated warnings from Russia.
Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin who serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said Thursday that NATO expansion would lead Moscow to strengthen air, land and naval forces to “balance” military capability in the region.
“If Sweden and Finland join NATO, the length of the land borders of the alliance with the Russian Federation will more than double. Naturally, these boundaries will have to be strengthened,” he wrote on Telegram.
“There can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic — the balance must be restored,” Medvedev said.
His comments echo those of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who told British media last week that if the two Nordic countries join NATO, Russia would be forced to “rebalance the situation.” He added, “We’ll have to make our western flank more sophisticated in terms of ensuring our security.”
Putin cited his opposition to NATO expansion as the rationale for his invasion of Ukraine. His war may do the very thing he sought to prevent: cause the alliance’s membership to increase.
Adding Finland and Sweden to NATO would redraw Northern Europe’s security picture, bringing the alliance’s border right to the more than 800-mile Finnish-Russian frontier.
A key tenet of NATO is Article 5, an agreement that an armed attack on one member will be viewed as an attack on all, with an obligation for mutual defense. In both Finland and Sweden, that sounds increasingly appealing.
In both countries, Russia’s attack on its neighbor Ukraine has led to a sharp shift in public sentiment on NATO, with more people supporting membership.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Wednesday that her country was reviewing the decision but could move quickly.
“We have to be prepared for all kinds of actions from Russia,” Marin told reporters. “I won’t give any kind of timetable when we will make our decisions, but I think it will happen quite fast — within weeks, not within months.”
Sweden’s ruling Social Democrats, who have traditionally opposed NATO membership, have also said they will review their position in the coming months.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels last week that both countries meet alliance standards and would be welcomed should they wish to join.
“There are no other countries that are closer to NATO,” he said.
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