Thanks to Ten Bears for the link. This is for my readers in Oregon and surrounding areas. What is wrong with republican voters that they keep voting for wack job crazy people for state and federal office. These people love conspiracies and endorsing them. They prefer fantasy rather than facts or science. I guess it comes from believing in the myths about tRump instead of the facts, just as they ignore reality for a literal bible infallibility. There are videos at the link above. Hugs. Scottie
A pair of Oregon Republican legislators, state Sens. Dennis Linthicum and Kim Thatcher, have appeared on multiple QAnon-affiliated and far-right shows to promote a lawsuit they are involved with that claims the federal government inflated COVID-19 numbers.
The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Oregon in March 2022 by Linthicum, Thatcher, and naturopathic doctor Henry Ealy, who has spread COVID-19 misinformation. It claims that the federal government “failed to ensure and/or willfully manipulated data being collected, analyzed, and published,” causing “a significant hyperinflation of COVID-19 case, hospitalization, and death counts,” which they claim was used to defraud taxpayers of at least $3.5 trillion in public funds between 2020 and 2022. (The claim that COVID-19 cases were overcounted during the pandemic is dubious.)
The plaintiffs want to empanel a special grand jury and present “evidence of alleged crimes relating to the federal government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.” The case was dismissed in November 2022, but the group appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
In recent weeks, Linthicum — who is also a former treasurer of the Oregon Republican Party — and Thatcher went on several programs affiliated with the QAnon conspiracy theory to promote the case.
On November 17, Linthicum and Thatcher appeared on Right Now with Ann Vandersteel, which is hosted by a known QAnon supporter who also promotes the extreme ideology of the sovereign citizenmovement. During the interview, Vandersteel praised them and Ealy as “incredible” for “com[ing] together to adjudicate the problem that apparently our government seems incapable of doing” with the “COVID fraud.”
Linthicum also pushed COVID-19 misinformation during the appearance, falselyclaiming that “face masks don’t work.”
Later that month, Linthicum, Thatcher, and Ealy sat for an interview with QAnon influencer Michael Jaco in which Thatcher called for others to “duplicate” this legal effort “all over the United States, whether people want to go to their counties or whether they could go to their — you know, the state grand jury or even do their own federal grand jury,” and Linthicum criticized what he called “COVID fraud.”
Linthicum also claimed that people are “redefining … what a vaccine is, what a vaccine isn’t,” and Thatcher pushed election misinformation, calling for people to “overwhelm whatever cheating might be out there and get their votes in.”
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CitationFrom the November 29, 2023, edition of Unleashing Intuition Secrets, streamed on Rumble
In early December, Linthicum appeared on The Tina Peters Show, which streams on the QAnon-affiliated Badlands Media Rumble channel.
During the interview, Linthicum claimed that there was an “anxiety drive” and that authorities were “fearmongering with mediocre science and uncertainty, scaring the public into getting the vaccine and increasing uptake rates,” calling it “criminal fraud.”
Host Tina Peters praised Linthicum and the other plaintiffs, calling them “brave souls” and saying the lawsuit is “a solution to taking back our country.”
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CitationFrom the December 4, 2023, edition of Badlands Media’s The Tina Peters Show, streamed on Rumble
During the interview, Linthicum seemingly disputed death tolls reported in the news, saying, “There’s this disconnect between what we’re seeing on the news — the nightly, you know, scrolling numbers: ‘175,000 people died today because of coronavirus’ and whatever. And it’s like, you know, in the United States of America, I know there’s only been eight cases and we’re already talking vaccines. And then, you know, there were 17 cases and then there’s videos of people dropping dead.”
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CitationFrom the December 2, 2023, edition of Sons of Liberty Media, streamed on Bitchute
During the interview, Linthicum promoted the lawsuit, pushed false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been significantly impacted by election fraud, and promised Icke that he would come back on the show “whenever you please.” Icke praised Linthicum as “honorable” and thanked him for “all the work that you’re doing over there trying to expose” the “COVID fraud” and “election fraud as well.”
Linthicum and Thatcher’s appearances on the QAnon-affiliated shows are the latest example of an ongoing partnership between anti-vaccine and QAnon figures, with right-wing anti-vaccine figures using QAnon shows to spread COVID-19 and vaccine-related misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Books at Vandegrift High School’s library on March 2, 2022. Credit: Lauren Witte/The Texas Tribune
Texas banned more books from school libraries this past year than any other state in the nation, targeting titles centering on race, racism, abortion and LGBTQ representation and issues, according to a new analysis by PEN America, a nonprofit organization advocating for free speech.
The report released on Monday found that school administrators in Texas have banned 801 books across 22 school districts, and 174 titles were banned at least twice between July 2021 through June 2022. PEN America defines a ban as any action taken against a book based on its content after challenges from parents or lawmakers.
The most frequent books removed included “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, which depicts Kobabe’s journey of gender identity and sexual orientation; “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison; “Roe v. Wade: A Woman’s Choice?” by Susan Dudley Gold; “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope Pérez, which follows a love story between a Mexican American teenage girl and a Black teen boy in 1930s East Texas; and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, a personal account of growing up black and queer in Plainfield, New Jersey.
“This censorious movement is turning our public schools into political battlegrounds, driving wedges within communities, forcing teachers and librarians from their jobs, and casting a chill over the spirit of open inquiry and intellectual freedom that underpin a flourishing democracy,” Suzanne Nossel, PEN America’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Across the country, PEN America found that 1,648 unique titles had been banned by schools. Of these titles, 41% address LGBTQ themes or have protagonists or prominent secondary characters who are LGBTQ. Another 40% of these books contains protagonists or prominent secondary characters of color.
Summer Lopez, the chief program officer of free expression at PEN America, said what’s notable about these book bans is that most are on books that families and children can elect to read, not any required reading.
Florida and Pennsylvania followed Texas as the states with the most bans, respectively. Florida banned 566 books, and 457 titles were banned in Pennsylvania, where a majority of books were removed from one school district in York County, which is known as being more conservative.
Lopez said her organization could not recall a previous year with as many reported book bans.
“This rapidly accelerating movement has resulted in more and more students losing access to literature that equips them to meet the challenges and complexities of democratic citizenship,” Jonathan Friedman, director of PEN America’s free expression and education programs and the lead author of the report, said in a statement.
Texas’ book challenges can be traced to last October, when state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, sent a list of some 850 books about race and sexuality — including Kobabe’s — to school districts asking for information about how many of those are available on their campuses. This one move spurred parents to challenge and successfully remove books they believe are not appropriate and “pornographic.”
The Keller Independent School District in Tarrant County was one of the first to successfully remove “Gender Queer” from school libraries after a group of moms complained it was “pornographic.”
This recent series of book bans has unfolded against the backdrop of a national debate over critical race theory, a college-level academic discipline that examines how racism is embedded in the country’s legal and structural systems. It is not taught in Texas’ public schools. However, some conservative politicians and parents have assigned the term “CRT” to dismiss efforts in public schools to incorporate a more comprehensive and inclusive public school curriculum, something they equate to indoctrination.
Conservatives in some school districts have used the book bans and rancor over social studies teachings to help bring rally support and attracted unprecedented money to win school board seats campaigning under the promise to clear out “critical race theory” and “pornographic” materials from schools. In the midst of continuing Republican-led political fights over how issues related to race, gender and sex are allowed to be taught in public schools, Gov. Greg Abbott has put a promise to increase parental rights at the center of his reelection platform.
However, Texas parents already have the right to remove their child temporarily from a class or activity that conflicts with their religious beliefs. They have the right to review all instructional materials, and state law guarantees them access to their student’s records and to a school principal or administrator. Also, school boards must establish a way to consider complaints from parents.
PEN America’s analysis also found that these bans have been largely driven by organized groups formed over the last year to combat “pornographic” and “CRT” materials in school.
“The work of groups organizing and advocating to ban books in schools is especially harmful to students from historically marginalized backgrounds, who are forced to experience stories that validate their lives vanishing from classrooms and library shelves,” Friedman said.
I have no more words left, only anger. Hugs. Scottie
30 Palestinian child detainees were released on Tuesday morning, as part of the prisoner exchange deal between the Palestinian Resistance and the Israeli government.
Mohammed Nazzal, from the city of Qabatiya, was one of them. Soon after his release, he was moved to the emergency room of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the city of Jenin.
Mohammed was severely injured in both his hands due to the beating by Israeli soldiers in the Negev prison, one week ago. The hand fractures were deliberately neglected by the Israeli Prison Service, which led to complications in the child’s right hand.
“One week ago, we were savagely beaten with metal bars. I put my hands on my head to protect it from injury, but the soldiers did not stop until they broke my hands,” Mohammed added.
They waited for the journalists to leave, then the police call and told the family they would be arrested again if their interview aired. The family called the report in panic. Tells me two things, they are watching the families and they do not want the truth out in the world. Like all abusers, they want it to be their dirty little secret between them and the abused. Hugs. Scottie
Freed Palestinians spoke about the grave conditions they faced while in prison. More Palestinians are expected to be released as part of the truce agreement between Israel and Hamas. But there are concerns among who have already been freed about the never ending intimidation and threats of being arrested again.
Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel Hamid sat-down with three recently freed Palestinian prisoners in the Occupied West Bank.
Israel is ensuring there will not be peace with Palestinians nor those of Palestinian desent. As this young boy said “God will take my vengence!” which you can beleive means he now is willing to hurt those who hurt him and those around him. But the question asked is true, where is the UN, where is anyone to help stop Israel. Hugs. Scottie
An Israeli air strike on a UN-run school sheltering displaced Palestinians at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza killed at least 15 people and injured dozens more, according to a doctor at al-Shifa Hospital. According to CNN, the Israeli Defense Forces allege the Central Jabalya Battalion took control of civilian buildings, adding collapsed tunnels were partly a reason for the destruction caused by the strike on Tuesday. “I carried a body and another decapitated body with my own hands,” a Gazan boy said at the site. At least 9,488 Palestinians including 3,900 children have been killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Saturday. “There are 15 martyrs and the number is expected to increase,” Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, who is also an official in the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave, said. During the conflict, Israel has consistently claimed it’s targeting Hamas militants following the Oct. 7 attack on the Israeli kibbutz, Be’eri kibbutz. For more info, please go to https://globalnews.ca/news/10070941/i…
“When I woke up, I discovered that I had been shot 30 times.”
Abderrahman Al Zeghel, a 14-year-old Palestinian child and the youngest prisoner released in the Hamas-Israel hostage exchange, sustained deadly head injuries after Israeli forces assaulted him while he was buying bread in occupied East Jerusalem’s Silwan.
Despite undergoing multiple surgeries, he now lives with “half a skull” and faces health issues preventing a return to normal life.
Israeli law doesn’t permit the imprisonment of children under 14 and instead enforces house arrests as a form of punishment.
The scenes being described on the ground are heartbreaking.
How could leaders of so-called civilised countries have abstained or voted against a ceasefire in the UN?
“They’ve the blood of thousands on their hands,” says Holly Cairns TD. Footage taken from Leaders’ Questions debate between Holly Cairns, Leader of the Social Democrats, and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on 13 December, 2023.
This is four years old. But it is how a lot of gay kids feel when they try to address their feelings with their parents. The drama on the parents / dads part may be a bit over done. But a lot of gay boys are terrified to tell their dads they are gay. And the way the boy in the video reacts to even the acceptance of his father was realistic.
A sad side note. In late 1986, when I came home from the US army, after already being in the US Navy, I took a job at one of the two local gay bars. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have done so but I learned a lot about gay culture in our area at the time. Again how I met Ron the love of my life, and who with I am going on our 34th year as a couple. On the plus side at the other one I met Ron! At the time I was still living at the adoptive folk’s home from my childhood which was horrible for me. The point of this is when I had to admit to my adoptive father who had sexually abused me I was working at the gay bar he … asked me if I was … one of those … if I was gay?
Like every one of the letters of gay hurt him to say. When I told him I was, he asked me if I didn’t think I should see a doctor about it for help. He even told me how sick I was. This is a man who made me suck his dick when I was a kid, who raped me in … No, sorry not the place or time. Anyway the point is, I understand this boy in the video’s fear his father wouldn’t accept him. Even though as it seems he had a gay brother.
Anyway it is about how hard it is for gay kids to come out to family and to simply be themselves, even in a country that doesn’t have republicans trying to make their lives a living hell. We really need to let these kids be and give them a place to be themselves openly. Before it drives them to depression and possible suicide like in the video, which thankfully the boy did not do. Hugs. Scottie
I spent my whole life fearing coming out to my Italian parents. As a result, I lived in a world of depression and anxiety as I felt I had no freedom to be me… to be the person who I was born to be. I was determined to come out to them before my 30th birthday – and so I did… just 6 weeks prior.
Read the full article. Missouri is one of 27 states with the death penalty and has carried out around two dozen executions in the last decade. State Rep. Mike Moon recently appeared here for saying that 12-year-olds should be able to marry with parental permission. In February 2023, Moon introduced a K-12 “Don’t Say Gay” bill. Moon first appeared here in 2017 when he slaughtered a chicken on Facebook Live because abortion is bad.
“Missouri Republican lawmakers are pushing a pair of bills that would allow for women to be charged with murder for getting an abortion in the state.” https://t.co/7u6JuH9ssW
Republicans just keep doubling down on this issue that clearly is not what the public wants and then claim voter fraud when elections don’t go their way.
My mother had a potentially fatal miscarriage around late 1965. Abortion was a crime in California at the time, but she was able to get a medical exemption and had the termination. Had she not, she likely would have died; if she survived, she certainly would not have been able to have more children. Because of the termination, she went on to have me and three younger siblings. Four children alive because of that one necessary abortion.
Republicans would rather have seen my mom dead and the rest of us never born.
Just last year I was prepared to drive my sister-in-law out of state to have a fetus that had been dead for two weeks removed from her uterus. The Republicans here are morally bankrupt.
Same thing with my mom when I was 16, right around 1970. There was no way she would have lived if she had carried that fetus to term. I would have ended up taking care of it…
Yes. See the great writer Ursula K. LeGuin on how the abortion she had at age 20 or so resulted in her having three loved and happy children and a brilliant career, rather than one miserable unloved fatherless child and absolutely no career (at that time, lovely Radcliffe would have expelled her had she had a BAY-BEE.).
I was once told a story by my mother, concerning a relative who had a level of developmental disability. Back in the 40’s she was taken advantage of, impregnated, and the father skipped town. Her parents found a back alley abortionist. Things did not go well, and he ended up dying horribly from sepsis. That has stuck in my mind all these years.
And where do they get those rights they would give to fetuses? They rip them away from the women of Missouri. Time to take to the streets, ladies of Missouri. Dismantle the state capitol building, brick by brick.
To anti-choice pro-forced-birth people, fetuses are infinitely more important than the people who carry them. They’re also more important than children.
Don’t stop there. Charge men with murder if they masturbate and “spill their seed.” Those little sperms are basically pre-born babies. So masturbation is akin to killing babies. (Their logic, not mine.)
Its why its called seed. Back in the old times they hadnt discovered women have eggs that need to be fertilized. The womb was just a patch of dirt waiting for its seed.
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