And yes I am almost caught up on the crazy news, just another 36 open tabs to go. All on one window for once. Well that was days ago

A federal court blocked Florida’s new drag show law, ruling the state’s effort to bar children from attending “adult live performances,” is overly vague and likely unconstitutional. The decision Friday by U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell comes only a day after another federal court overturned another Gov. Ron DeSantis-backed law prohibiting gender-affirming care treatment in Florida from being covered by Medicaid. “This concern rings hollow, however, when accompanied by the knowledge that Florida state law presently and independently… permits any minor to attend an R-rated film at a movie theater if accompanied by a parent or guardian,” Presnell ruled.  “This statute is specifically designed to suppress the speech of drag queen performers,” Presnell wrote in his 24-page decision. “In the words of the bill’s sponsor in the House, State Representative Randy Fine: (the legislation) will protect our children by ending the gateway propaganda to this evil – ‘Drag Queen Story Time.’” 
Paddycakes2001  Melissiaan hour ago
From the transcript of the court hearing:
THE COURT: The plaintiffs accuse you of invidious discrimination in violation of the 14th Amendment. How do you answer?
STATE’S LAWYER: That’s the point, Your Honor.

mkbear68 4 hours ago
Well, this was expected and they knew it, but it plays to the base and gets donations, but it puts real people at risk.

Gustav220 hours ago

GladysKravitz20 hours ago

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TheDonkeyHotay20 hours ago

The female version of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers

Moms for Liberty is an American conservative organization that advocates against school curriculums that mention LGBT rights, race, critical race theory, and discrimination, while multiple chapters have also campaigned to ban from school libraries books that address gender and sexuality issues. The group began by protesting COVID-19 protections in schools, including mask and vaccine mandates.

Moms for Liberty has been criticized for harassment, for deepening divisions among parents, for making students’ education more difficult, and for having close ties to the Republican Party rather than being a genuine grassroots effort.

The group was labeled an “anti-government extremist” organization in 2023 by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Formation January 1, 2021
Founders Tina Descovich, Tiffany Justice, Bridget Ziegler
Headquarters Melbourne, Florida, U.S.
Area served United States
Membership 70,000

Melissia8 hours ago

It was very obviously discrimination, and it’s obvious from the arguments they put before the court that this has nothing to do with any form of concern for anything other than brazen politics and just flat out hatred of a minority group.

SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dad Melissia8 hours ago

So he earned his hate bona fides AND now that the law is struck down, he gets bonus victim points.

Darreth Melissia7 hours ago

Bingo. This is performative art for their target voting bloc (evangelicals) who vote solid Red in every election like clockwork. Dems don’t have the equivalent. There’s literally nothing on the Left that’s anything like the consistency of the Right when it comes to voter outreach.

What, me worry?8 hours ago

Good. I hope that all these hateful and cruel laws are struck down. The slave states want to make laws that health care workers don’t have to give LGBT people medical assistance at ALL if they have “deeply held” religious beliefs against us. It’s time we are considered to be human beings, not just another theocratic political football. If you prick us, do we not bleed?

The_Wretched6 hours ago

Historically, (like 2 years ago, not 20), law in the US doesn’t let you single out a group, especially a disfavored group, and pass laws against them. Nice to see some vestiges of that core idea are still here.

And note that THOMAS is the #1 cheerleader for getting rid of ‘equal protection’.

And yet republicans never debate about the cost, while claiming $300 for the poorest people with children a month is obscene and we can not afford it. The Pentagon fails every audit, and I just watched where they are overcharging thousands of dollars a piece for a trash can that they use to charge $300 for. Yet Manchin says we need to cut social security. Hugs
Brooklyn Albert18 hours ago
I see the handiwork of the likes of Scott Lively and his ilk, spreading the gospel of hate and their twisted comprehension of history to African, Caribbean, and Latin American countries.

Chucktech Brooklyn Albert18 hours ago

It’s all part of the relentless march of Christian hegemony. Brought to you by the filthy pestilence that is American Christianity

BeccaM kaydenpat18 hours ago

Authoritarian advocates, whatever their form, need some “other” to be dehumanized and oppressed. When everybody more or less has the same race and culture in a country, they then cast about for some other way of differentiating for the purposes of fomenting hate. Sometimes it’s by religion, sometimes by ethnicity, but if those are relatively homogeneous, they’ll go for LGBTQ status or political identity.

For example, in America in the 1950s, they did both of those latter, along with racist bigotry: People perceived to be not-straight and those who were accused of being socialist or communist. All three were targeted for systematic oppression.

Gianni17 hours ago

It stuns me that these leaders are so focused on sexuality and making gay people pay for their sexuality with severe punishments and even death. Why is this even on their minds? Is being gay causing some sort of great turmoil in their countries? Are they trying to undermine their governments? Are they just living their lives like everyone else? So much angst over gay people. He contradicts his own statements in just one paragraph. “Gay Africans don’t exist.” – “kick LGBT people out of Kenya completely,” Well, which is it? Who gets kicked out if they don’t exist in the first place? Screwy like the radical Christians that foment this hatred.

Serene Pumpkin Gianni17 hours ago

Some of them genuinely seem to think that the existence of LGBTQ people threatens the continued existence of the human race, because not enough people are breeding.

Kenya has 53 million people in an area the size of Texas. Underpopulation is not a serious issue there.

You may recall that DeSantis previously cosplayed as Tom Cruise in a gubernatorial campaign ad titled “Top Gov.”

Snownova2 hours ago

He does know Vader eventually kills Obi-wan right?

clay Snownova2 hours ago

Are you implying that DeSantis is directly coordinating with a campaign PAC? Why would a Republican do something so illegal?

carrot festival2 hours ago

Wow, did he pick the wrong character.

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Sarah carrot festival2 hours ago

He’s as evil as Grand Moff Tarkin, but without the charisma.

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Mike in Houston 21 hours ago
This will certainly help Florida schools in recruiting top intellect — both in students and teachers. /s

Dwight Williamson DaddyRay21 hours ago

Why does everyone always assume his hare brained schemes for publicity are gonna work . He lost a lawsuit yesterday .

Rambie Dwight Williamson21 hours ago

Right, this is more about keeping his name in the news cycle and pandering to the MAGA’t base.

JoeMyGod Mod3 days ago
You may recall Eric Metaxas for the time he sucker-punched a passing kid on a bicycle on his way into the White House for a Trump event and then lied about it even after video surfaced. It’s what Jesus would want.

Elagabalus JoeMyGod3 days ago

Punching a kid – It’s what Jesus would want

Read the full article. Andersen, who lost a lawsuit to get on the ballot, has not so far been accused of wrongdoing. As you can see in his campaign clip below, he ran on a promise to end pandemic mandates.
Earlier this week Kennedy claimed that chemicals in drinking water are turning children transgender and that WiFi radiation causes brain cancer.

JoeMyGodMod4 days ago

Really amazing how millions of African kids got hold of poppers.

Hank: NO MORE WoW!!! 4 days ago
“The magnitude of the value of the Bible as a literary work outweighs any violence or profanity which may be contained in the book,”
So, will they do the same for ALL books??? or just the ones, they deem fit???

https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/the-show-must-go-on-judge-sides-with-organizers-in-lawsuit-orders-city-to-allow-drag-show-in-st-george

“Public spaces are public spaces,” U.S. District Court Judge David Nuffer wrote. “Public spaces are not private spaces. Public spaces are not majority spaces. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution ensures that all citizens, popular or not, majority or minority, conventional or unconventional, have access to public spaces for public expression.”

In his 80-page ruling, Judge James M. Moody Jr. of Federal District Court in Little Rock said the law both discriminated against transgender people and violated constitutional rights for doctors. He also said that the state of Arkansas had failed to substantially prove a number of its claims, including that the care was experimental or carelessly prescribed to teenagers.
The law is extremely broad, which actually creates a host of other complications. A group of lawyers previously told The Dallas Morning News that the measure could restrict performances by artists such as Madonna and Miley Cyrus, which often feature sexual dancing.
The text could even affect bachelorette parties, if they involved sex toys or other paraphernalia. The new changes could even impact cheerleading and criminalize sexual conduct between consenting 17-year-olds (17 is the age of consent in Texas).
Movie screenings and art history classes could similarly come under fire. And of course, the law will affect its original target: drag performers, Pride parades, and transgender people just trying to live their lives.
Lawsuits against similar bans are planned or already underway in other states. In Florida, the Orlando outpost of Hamburger Mary’s sued the DeSantis administration last month.

Guy Johnson4 days ago

No more Saturday cartoons…

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Dwight Williamson4 days ago

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Doug1054 days ago

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https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court

Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court

Big win today as for the first time in 24 years, a House Republican majority voted to begin impeachment proceedings against a current president.

https://www.wbtv.com/2023/06/23/concord-man-arrested-charged-with-hate-crimes-years-harassing-neighbors/

“Kentucky law prohibits the Attorney General from using or attempting to use ‘his official position to secure or create privileges, exemptions, advantages, or treatment for himself or others in derogation of the public interest at large,’” the letter, which was sent out Friday afternoon and obtained by The Daily Beast, said.
Walters, who was appointed state secretary of education by Christianist Gov. Kevin Stitt in 2020, faced calls to resign in 2022 after it was revealed that a Koch-funded group that advocates for privatizing public schools was paying him $120,000/year.
Stitt rejected calls for Walters’ resignation and attempted to reappoint him again earlier this year, but the state Senate refused to allow him to hold the elected superintendent and appointed secretary of education posts at the same time.
Yves R. Mektin 3 days ago edited
Well, Oklahoma does have the second lowest high school SAT scores in the whole country*, so maybe tots and pears will help.
* West Virginia is the only state that did worse

ConnieHinesDorothyProvine Joe in NM3 days ago

All those states compete to see who can lead the fastest race to the bottom. Apparently, Louisiana has the lowest life expectancy in the country (Hawaii has the highest).

Joe in NM3 days ago

So he doesn’t like the 1961 decision…toots, the SC ruled on this a bunch of times. And don’t throw that ‘found fathers’ shit around, they did NOT. Under gawd my ass. ;(

Thomas Jefferson penned the wall metaphor in a letter to the Danbury Baptists in 1802. He celebrated the First Amendment for “building a wall of separation between Church & State.” The Supreme Court has endorsed this view many times. First in 1878. And then again “in 1947, 1948, 1961 (three times), 1962, 1963, 1968, 1973, 1977, 1982, and again and again in countless concurrences, dissents, and lower court opinions,” according to a recent law review article. The wall metaphor nicely sums up the relationship.

Wintercat Joe in NM3 days ago

“For it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.”

– Thomas Jefferson

Buford Joe in NM2 days ago edited

I thought Article 11 of the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli did a handy job of summarizing what The Founding Fathers™ thought of Christianity in America, since it passed in the US Senate unanimously while being signed by many of the actual founders –

Art. 11. As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

rednekokie Joe in NM3 days ago

Not to forget the Treaty of Tripoli – the first treaty entered into by the United States – and having constitutional power — which states that the United States has no national religion.

Per Florida Politics, the “groomers” slur was first popularized by viciously anti-LGBTQ former DeSantis administration spox Christina Pushaw, a registered foreign agent for the nation of Georgia and his current “rapid response” campaign director. Pushaw began pushing the term early last year during the start of the “Don’t Say Gay” campaign.
sfbob  Jack3 days ago
“Groomer.” Noun. Definition (per DeSantis):
1. A person who does something you disapprove of or who says something you disagree with.
2. A person who believes in providing factual, age-appropriate information to children on topics pertaining to sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity.

danolgb3 days ago

Remember the meme, “Everything I don’t like are Nazis.” Now it’s “Everything I don’t like are groomers.”

What an insult to victims of real sexual abuse.

weshlovrcm3 days ago edited

There’s something wrong with people who are consumed with “grooming” and “groomers.” Normal people don’t obsess over this vile subject.

dagobarbz, fine Italian shoes weshlovrcm2 days ago

What amazes me is, while they’re howling about grooming, they manage to completely ignore the ones actively doing it and getting busted for it weekly, the churches.

https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/06-23-2023/house-gop-confederate-name-fight/

The GOP friction stems from a push by Rep Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) who publicly revived the discussion by trying to prevent funding in an energy and water development bill from being used to rename Army Corps civil works projects that are named after the Confederacy or an individual who served in the Confederate military.

“One of the things that is irritating a few of us: a certain member from Georgia is wanting to re-bring up the Confederate base names,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told POLITICO.

Bacon said he told the Georgia Republican that he would “would fight him” on trying to prevent funding from going toward renaming. (Clyde’s amendment doesn’t mention military bases.)

Bacon led that effort in the House to create the process for renaming the military assets.

He noted on Friday that he recounted to Clyde about how African-Americans have thanked him for his work on renaming the Confederate assets. In a separate statement, Bacon added that the issue was settled in 2020 and that he didn’t think it was “wise to re-litigate” it.

“Confederate generals fought for a cause that we know was wrong and violated their oaths to Constitution. Most of the 10 that bases were named for were also terrible generals. … Finally, some were affiliated with racist actions after the war. Most of these bases were named around WW1 and done to placate the Jim Crow elected leaders at the time,” he added in the statement.

Pollos Hermanos ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈa day ago
GOP: “Democrats were the party of The Confederacy.”
Also GOP: “Don’t you dare take away honors to The Confederacy!”

Doug105 Pollos Hermanos ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈa day ago

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Hank: NO MORE WoW!!!a day ago

Being a Fan of the Confederacy means……. (Take your pick)

#1

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#2

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#3

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another_steve Hank: NO MORE WoW!!!a day ago

I don’t know the “official thinking” of American historians on point, but I believe much of what we’re seeing today with respect to the Republican Party is 160 years of simmering resentment by the South regarding its loss in the 1860s Civil War now coming to the surface.

Trump “tapped” into it. “Build the wall” was metaphor for “keep the coloreds out.” His embrace of rabid racists, including neo-Nazis, is a “message received” by the Republican base.

They miss the old plantation days, the good old days. When the coloreds and the women knew their place and there was no “deviance” like drag queens and trans people.

JimmyCinChitown Hank: NO MORE WoW!!!a day ago edited

In Germany, Nazi paraphernalia like swastika flags, et all, as well as neo-Nazi political parties are officially banned by law. (Germany doesn’t have a First Amendment).This is the reason that German Nazis fly Confederate flags. You are known by the company you keep.

RealityBass 2 days ago
Remember when we were expected to believe that Trump was so rich that he would use his own funds to campaign, didn’t need to raise money, therefore he was incorruptible? Good times.

JackFknTwist RealityBass2 days ago edited

What a liar.
He said he would use his own money. Just like everything else about him, – a lie, a scam, a con, a fraud …..from getting someone to sit his exams to his 2016 campaign to his subversion of a democratic election.

His whole life has been devoted to scamming. He has never earned an honest buck. It’s all been about the underhand deal, the stiffing people and companies what they are owed.
Now there is no way around not paying his lawyers.
they won’t act for him without being paid up-front. But Giuliani can fuck off, he’s gonna be hung out to flap in the wind.

U.S. court strikes down Florida transgender health rule

https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-court-strikes-down-florida-transgender-health-rule-2023-06-22/

 
A person holds up a flag during rally to protest the Trump administration's reported transgender proposal to narrow the definition of gender to male or female at birth in New York
A person holds up a flag during rally to protest the Trump administration’s reported transgender proposal to narrow the definition of gender to male or female at birth, at City Hall in New York City, U.S., October 24, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File photo

June 21 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge on Wednesday struck down a Florida rule and a statute that banned state Medicaid payments for transgender healthcare, marking the second defeat in two weeks for anti-transgender legislation in the state.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle declared the state’s practices invalid, saying they violated the constitutional right to equal protection under the 14th amendment in addition to violating the federal Medicaid statue and the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition of sex discrimination.

The injunction was expected after Hinkle on June 6 partially blocked Florida from enforcing its recent ban on people under 18 receiving gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy.

U.S. district court judges elsewhere have blocked state laws banning gender-affirming care in Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana and Oklahoma.

Republican lawmakers introduced more than 500 bills restricting LGBTQ rights this past legislative year, passing more than 70, according to Human Rights Campaign. Twenty states have passed laws banning gender-affirming care for minors.

Sponsors of the laws say they want to protect children who are being misled by parents and doctors and might regret their gender transition.

Hinkle in his 54-page ruling said “many people with this view tend to disapprove all things transgender and so oppose medical care that supports a person’s transgender existence.”

“The elephant in the room should be noted at the outset. Gender identity is real. The record makes this clear,” the judge wrote after a two-week trial.

The plaintiffs were two transgender adults, August Dekker and Brit Rothstein, and two transgender minors who filed under pseudonyms.

The defendants were the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and its secretary, Jason Weida, who did not respond to an after-hours request for comment.

The AHCA had approved Medicaid payments for the plaintiffs, but in 2022 the executive office of Governor Ron DeSantis ordered the AHCA to conduct a new analysis and reversed course. The AHCA “retained only consultants known in advance for their staunch opposition to gender-affirming care,” the judge found.

“The new … process was, from the outset, a biased effort to justify a predetermined outcome, not a fair analysis of the evidence,” the judge said.

DeSantis is running for the Republican nomination for president and has promoted his record of aggressively fighting progressive policies, including LGBTQ rights.

More of the craziness.

“There are tens of thousands of studies that show the horrendous danger of WiFi radiation.” – Robert Kennedy Jr., speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast. Yesterday Kennedy claimed that chemicals in drinking water are turning children transgender.
This is what the right wing media does now, enrage their thuggish followers to find and attack anyone they disagree with. Brownshirt gang enforcers. We have seen this before in history. Hugs

heleninedinburgh34 minutes ago

I’d just like to point out that kids being trans is not, in fact, bad.

Colonel Fred Puntridge  kuiaratamenai a minute ago

“I never drink water. Fish fuck in it!” –attributed to WC Fields

band💋 boatboy_srq9 minutes ago

“First they came for the frogs, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a frog.”

TomKitten196036 minutes ago edited

Many trans people have brothers and sisters who are cis-gendered and remain so. They grow up in the same environment, drinking the same “toxic” water. It ain’t the water, honey. And it ain’t a “problem” that you can (or need to) solve by throwing your stupidity at it.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/misguided-republican-hearing-jan-6-rioters-matters-rcna90010

What’s weird is when members of the majority feel the need to hold their own fake hearing. Politico reported:

…Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), joined by a handful of others from the conference’s right flank, hosted an event last week with former Trump acting assistant attorney general Jeffrey Clark, people charged in relation to Jan. 6, defendants’ family members and allies. The event featured a veritable kitchen sink of conspiracy theories as well as rehashed false claims, including that the 2020 election was “stolen” and that the Jan. 6 committee “doctored” video.

Just so we’re clear, this was not an actual congressional hearing. The far-right Floridian, however, wanted it to be perceived as one. Gaetz pretended to be a chairman, recognizing members and witnesses, alerting participants to when their time had expired, and explaining that the “testimony” could be used in official proceedings. (That last part was true but irrelevant: Anything can be used in official proceedings, including the blog post you’re reading now.)

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Hunter M14 hours ago

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The employee told the court the priest urged workers to “get the sins out,” and asked employees if they had stolen from the employer, been late for work, had done anything to harm their employer, or if they had bad intentions toward their employer.
“Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday is a nationalized race hustle. Why do Blacks need their own national independence day? We used to have a red, white, and blue independence day on July 4th. Now, we have one based on the melanin content of your skin.
“These people will not be stopped unless you say no more. Appeasement does not work. It’s a middle finger to the promise of 1776, You are going to have to choose.” – Charlie Kirk, who days ago called Juneteenth “pagan garbage.”

Randy503 StarGmoma day ago

He’s getting more and more extreme. I predict within a year he will be calling for the outright enslavement of black people, and the extermination of all LBGTs and anyone living in poverty.

Octoberfurst Randy50321 hours ago

I totally agree! He is becoming more and more extreme by the day. I’ll bet he is just dying to say “the N word” out loud. Next thing you know he’ll be having a swastika flag in the background and explaining why the Nazis were “misunderstood” and were actually brave Christian patriots. Kirk truly is a miserable POS!

beb Octoberfurst11 hours ago

He’s in a rat race to be the most extreme commenter on the Internet. That’s why he has to become ever extreme. Of course win or lose, in a rat race you’re still a rat.

SkokieDaddy – wiener dog dada day ago

I certainly want a white man to tell me how racist Juneteenth is. /s

Harveyrabbit 🐱a day ago

“Now, we have one based on the melanin content of your skin.”

Riiiight.

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Jonathan  Joe in NMa day ago
Thom Hartmann wrote the other day that after Trump requested the lists of the employees (spies) and had repeated unrecorded conversations with Russian diplomats, Kisylak, and others, the CIA had to pull agents and there was a silence in our intelligence operations, it’s suspected Trump turned them all over to the Russians.
Many were killed, or disappeared.

Niblet58 Joe in NMa day ago

That and a whole lot of other info. He asked for a list of the US spies and I bet you he turned it right over to our enemies in Russia, North Korea, China, etc.

A Washington Post investigation found that more than a year would pass before prosecutors and FBI agents jointly embarked on a formal probe of actions directed from the White House to try to steal the election. Even then, the FBI stopped short of identifying the former president as a focus of that investigation. A wariness about appearing partisan, institutional caution, and clashes over how much evidence was sufficient to investigate the actions of Trump and those around him all contributed to the slow pace.
CaliJABa day ago
Republicans are attempting to do the same thing to our justice system that they did with the media. They cried media bias again and again until it got to the point they started received special treatment. It became unbalanced in favor of them. Now, if Republicans commit crimes the FBI won’t investigate them. That whole fake elector scheme … the FBI won’t do shit about it. If it was Democrats, they would have been charged on day one.

robirob CaliJABa day ago edited

But they received special treatment from the start! All the right wing does is claim victimhood and blame socialist liberal bullies for having to take drastic action based on made up lies like the election was stolen, Hunter Biden’s laptop, Critical Race Theory or Drag Queens, Gays, and Trans grooming children. And when they go against media outlets like Fox News or the FBI they just let the right wing mob call them names without repercussion. Now there’s right wing talk about defunding the FBI and Pentagon departments, and I assume they will just roll over and keep asking for a belly rub from the right wing and afterwards start an investigation into Hillary’s emails or Hunter Biden’s laptop.

crewman CaliJABa day ago

It’s why Comey tripped over himself in a Rush to “go public” with a nothingburger investigation into Hillary right before her election, an act which is widely viewed as costing her the election. And it’s probably why Mueller lacked umph to boldly go where he needed to go

The law is extremely broad, which actually creates a host of other complications. A group of lawyers previously told The Dallas Morning News that the measure could restrict performances by artists such as Madonna and Miley Cyrus, which often feature sexual dancing.
The text could even affect bachelorette parties, if they involved sex toys or other paraphernalia. The new changes could even impact cheerleading and criminalize sexual conduct between consenting 17-year-olds (17 is the age of consent in Texas).
Movie screenings and art history classes could similarly come under fire. And of course, the law will affect its original target: drag performers, Pride parades, and transgender people just trying to live their lives.
San Francisco is definitely facing problems, but you could surely find a similar scene in Miami.
Boreal2 hours ago
Clearly he’s never walked around in Florida.

unsavedheathen2 hours ago

I have lived in Dallas for 25 years(OMG, I’ve lived in Dallas for 25 years) and in that time, Texas has existed under complete Republican domination.

Also in that time, I have seen men defecate on the streets of Dallas and drugs being bought, sold and used on the streets of Dallas. I have seen tent encampments of hundreds of homeless. I have seen those encampments bulldozed. There are beggars on every median at every major intersection citywide.

I don’t know how they keep a straight face when they point at SF and sneer. At least there’s a beach.

TnCTampa2 hours ago

This bullshit about crime etc appeals to the voters, The people that actually go and vote in every election. It also appeals to the independents. The GOP is going to have them so afraid of out of control crime by “those people” that come the election they will run to vote for desantis. Democrats going to have to turn out in even greater numbers than the last election to defeat these people… thats what worries me the most

SKan hour ago

The price of living is out of whack. Rents are way too high. The people the GQP pander to are the same ones who cause the problem. A perfect example of why it’s like this; developers who are based in one city (or country) own blocks of land in other cities and countries. One block = one apt complex, which is of course “luxurious” and overpriced. This means people who actually live in the city don’t have the money or leverage to make their home town better. It’s very complicated. This is a broken down version of of a broken system.

Those amendments, along with a third to evaluate staffing levels within the Defense Department’s so-called diversity, equity and inclusion office, offer an early sign of some of the pending disputes as conservatives target what they call “woke” Pentagon policies.
Specifically, Rep. Mark Alford’s amendments, shared with CQ Roll Call ahead of their formal introduction, would bar DOD from using any fiscal 2024 dollars for its working group aiming to counter extremism or for the deputy inspector general post lawmakers previously created seeking to root out extremism in the military.
Thurgood Stubbs 3 days ago
You have to be a real dipshit to be in a union and vote Republican.

stretchdad Thurgood Stubbs3 days ago

I know of three highly-unionized professions that tilt heavily conservative: firefighters, police, and airline pilots. And I’ve heard them talk shit about unions in other industries even though they share the very same concerns: wages, staffing levels, working conditions, etc.

Perfect exemplars of the “I’ve got mine, fuck you” mentality.

“All we were doing was promoting literacy and providing kids with cute, good stories,” drag queen Juicy Garland said. In the videos, people are yelling, banging on the windows and doing Nazi salutes while holding a sign that says, “defend white communities,” all while a drag performer was inside reading books to families.
The group “seeks to form an underground network of white men who are willing to fight against their perceived enemies through localized direct actions,” according to the Anti-Defamation League’s website. “Off our streets!” NSC-131 members shouted repeatedly. Police at the scene said it was unclear whether or not they were armed. No arrests were made.
The men wearing hats with the number 131, said story hour was intended to “groom” young children, and continually shouted slurs at people walking in and out of the cafe. Teatotaller doesn’t get this reaction every time they host a Sunday story hour, but in November it was swarmed by the Proud Boys while the same guest, Juicy Garland, read stories.

‘Til Tuesday 🎧 Blue Bear DJ 🎸a day ago

The story says police were at the scene but I’m guessing they were reluctant to do anything against their fellow officers.

amandagirl15701 ‘Til Tuesday 🎧 Blue Bear DJ 🎸a day ago

Yep

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Well-funded Christian group behind US effort to roll back LGBTQ+ rights

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/19/alliance-defending-freedom-lgbtq-rights-america

Advocacy groups condemn Alliance Defending Freedom as ‘a danger to every American who values their freedoms’

person holding a pride flag above people's heads

Glaad said: ‘The ADF is simply an anti-LGBTQ group trying to abuse levers of government to push discrimination and keep their warped sense of control.’ Photograph: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

With the US besieged by a rightwing culture war campaign that aims to strip away rights from LGBTQ+ people and others, blame tends to be focused on Republican politicians and conservative media figures.

But lurking behind efforts to roll back abortion rights, to demonize trans people, and to peel back the protections afforded to gay and queer Americans is a shadowy, well-funded rightwing legal organization, experts say.

Since it was formed in 1994, Alliance Defending Freedom has been at the center of a nationwide effort to limit the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people, all in the name of Christianity. The Southern Poverty Law Center has termed it an “anti-LGBTQ hate group” that has extended its tentacles into nearly every area of the culture wars.

In the process, it has won the ear of some of the most influential people in the US, and become “a danger to every American who values their freedoms”, according to Glaad, the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization.

Members of the far-right Patriot Front at a rally in Washington in May.

Through “model legislation” and lawsuits filed across the country, ADF aims to overturn same-sex marriage, enact a total ban on abortion, and strip away the already minimal rights that trans people are afforded in the US.

Under the Trump administration, the group found its way into the highest echelons of power, advising Jeff Sessions, the then attorney general, before he announced sweeping guidance to protect “religious liberty” which chipped away at LGBTQ+ protections.

The organization counts among its sometime associates Amy Coney Barrett, the supreme court justice who the Washington Post reported spoke five times at an ADF training program established to push a “distinctly Christian worldview in every area of law”.

ADF is engaged in “a very strong campaign to put a certain type of religious view at the center of American life”, said Rabia Muqaddam, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights.

“[The ADF campaign] extends to abortion, it extends to LGBTQ folks, to immigration, to what kind of religion we think is America, what kind of people we think are American,” Muqaddam said.

“It’s as dramatic as that. I think we are in a fight to preserve democracy and preserve America as a place where we do tolerate and encourage and empower everyone.”

ADF was founded in 1994 by a group of “leaders in the Christian community”, according to its website. Among those leaders was James Dobson, the founder of the anti-LGBTQ+ Focus on the Family organization who has said the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were killed, was a “judgment” from God because of declining church numbers.

Its leaders remain involved in niche interpretations of Christianity. Kristen Waggoner, the ADF chief executive, also serves as legal counsel to Assemblies of God, a church which encourages worshippers to speak in tongues and believes in “divine healing” – the power of prayer – as a medical tool.

Over the past two decades, ADF has been a main driver in dozens of pieces of rightwing legislation and lawsuits.

The organization is currently behind the lawsuit 303 Creative, Inc v Elenis, which the supreme court is expected to decide this month, and which could chip away at LGBTQ+ rights. It’s a case that is classic ADF – a seemingly manufactured issue which the group has managed to chase all the way through the American legal system.

The plaintiff, 303 Creative, is a website design company. 303 Creative has never made wedding websites, but its owner, Lorie Smith, claims her first amendment rights are being impinged because, if she were to start making wedding websites, she would not want to make them for same-sex couples – which would violate Colorado’s anti-discrimination laws.

Another ADF obsession is abortion. It was involved, Muqaddam said, in crafting a 15-week abortion ban in Mississippi – which prompted a legal case that found its way to the supreme court – eventually resulting in Roe v Wade, which guaranteed the right to abortion, being overturned in 2022.

“Alliance Defending Freedom has been instrumental in the dismantling of Roe and the ongoing efforts to eliminate abortion nationwide,” Muqaddam said.

“They enacted a law that they knew was unconstitutional, they enacted it for the purpose of generating case after case after case to push it out to the supreme court until they found a court that was sympathetic to their argument,” Muqaddam said.

She added: “I think that’s exactly what is happening in the LGBTQ context as well. Their goal is to limit individual rights as much as possible.”

The ADF website shows the breadth of its involvement in rightwing culture wars. The organization touts its work opposing abortion, on opposing same-sex marriage and opposing trans rights.

“We advocate for laws and precedents that promote human flourishing by recognizing the important differences between men and women and honoring God’s design for marriage between one man and one woman,” ADF’s website reads.

But Emerson Hodges, a research analyst at the SPLC, said what ADF is really doing is attempting to “undo LGBTQ social and legislative progress”.

“They go under the guise of religious liberty, and religious freedom. What that means, though, is this religious liberty to discriminate and the religious freedom to invalidate LGBTQ individuals,” Hodges said.

Worryingly, there are signs that ADF, and other groups like it, are growing in influence. As Republican politicians and rightwing media fan the flames of an extremist culture war, NBC reported that donations to ADF, which is a registered non-profit, more than doubled from 2011 to 2021.

As it has grown in influence, ADF’s “model legislation” has found its way into state legislatures across the country, as the group attempts to strip away LGBTQ+ rights, and the rights of trans people in particular.

They’ve worked to ban the right to choose, and are in cahoots with other extremist groups to oppress marginalized people

Glaad

“Just about every anti-LGBT legislation that you’ve seen probably in the past decade was probably copied or paraphrased off of a model legislation built by Alliance Defending Freedom,” Hodges said.

“They provide legal advocacy support, litigation and policy models for government officials.”

An article on ADF’s website states that it is a “biblical truth” that “men and women are physically different”, and the organization has duly worked to prevent trans people taking part in women’s sports.

The group sued a school district in Minnesota in 2016, and in 2021 a judge in Connecticut dismissed an ADF lawsuit which sought to prevent transgender athletes competing in high school sports. The same year, ADF backed a lawsuit brought by a teacher in Virginia who had said he would not use a transgender child’s preferred pronouns because that would amount to “sinning against our God”.

In April, ADF, which did not respond to a Guardian request for comment, filed in Oregon on behalf of a Christian woman who wanted to foster children, but said she would not agree to “respect, accept, and support … the sexual orientation, gender identity, [and] gender expression” of a child placed with her, the Statesman Journal reported.

“[ADF’s] obsession with targeting LGBTQ people is unhinged and drastically out of touch with supermajorities of Americans who support LGBTQ people and laws to protect us from discrimination,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and chief executive of Glaad.

“Everyone should understand the truth: the ADF is simply an anti-LGBTQ group trying to abuse levers of government to push discrimination and keep their warped sense of control.

“They’ve also worked to ban the right to choose, and are in cahoots with other extremist groups to oppress marginalized people. ADF is a danger to every American who values their freedoms – to be ourselves, live freely, and be welcome to contribute and to succeed in every area of society.”

Spain’s new ‘transgender’ law breaks new ground on LGBTIQ+ rights

https://www.euronews.com/2023/04/06/how-spains-transgender-law-is-changing-the-lives-of-those-affected

By Valérie Gauriat  & Davide Rafaelle Lobina  •  Updated: 11/04/2023

A new law in Spain allows people to freely change gender from age 16. Euronews reports on what this means for the children, adults and families concerned.

A new national law for “real and effective equality for trans people” came into force in Spain on 2 March 2023, allowing a person to change their gender identity in the civil register without undergoing a two-year hormonal treatment or obtaining a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as required by previous legislation.

Euronews reporters Valerie Gauriat and Davide Rafaelle Lobina travelled to Madrid to hear the testimonies of those who are affected by the law.

Ezekiel: Gender transition ‘not a decision you take lightly’

Ezekiel is a 23-year-old sports coach whose dream is to become a firefighter. But behind his athletic figure lie years of inner struggle, as Ezekiel was born a woman. 

He started his physical transformation after years of feeling like he didn’t belong in his own skin. 

“I looked in the mirror and thought to myself that I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to talk to people about it, to be recognized for who I was, and that I had to start my transition to feel comfortable with myself”.

about:blank

Ezekiel started hormone therapy two and a half years ago, and underwent a mastectomy.

“It’s a big change. It’s like jumping into the void, hoping there is some water below,” Ezekiel told Euronews. “It is a very difficult process. It is not a decision you take lightly.”

Thanks to the new law, Ezekiel is glad that he will be officially recognised as a man. Spain is one of the few European countries that allow citizens to determine their official gender through a simple administrative declaration. 

We followed Ezekiel to the Madrid Civil Register Office, where he submitted his gender change request; he will have a new identity card in three months, aftger ratifying his demand.

“I’m happier than ever!”, he exclaimed, coming out of the Register office.”This will make a lot of things easier. I won’t have to give all sorts of explanations when applying for a job for instance. It will also help with my courses to become a fireman; my diploma will be consistent with my gender,” he explains.

Euronews
Ezekiel Latorre Fernandez, 23, sports coach: “Happy as ever”Euronews

The new law for broke all the locks remaining the previous legislation.

Like the World Health Organization, it depathologizes transsexuality.

And allows self-determination of gender on simple request from the age of 16, and with parental consent from the age of 12.

A first in the European Union. And one of the most controversial points of the law.

“At 16 people can work, have sexual relations, abort; they should also be able to chose their gender”

Spain’s Ministry of Equality claims it’s Europe’s most progressive law LGBTIQ+ rights

“In Spain, at 16 people can work, they can have sexual relations, women can have an abortion if they want”, said  Secretary of State for Equality, Ángela Rodríguez Martínez. “It is reasonable that people should also be able to declare their own gender. In addition, this law dissociates the change of sex in the civil register from the need to take hormones or undergo any type of surgical intervention. In the event of a change of mind, it would just be a matter of canceling the change at the register with all the legal guarantees needed.”

Arguments which do not convince those who feel the new law is too lax.

Vicenta Esteve Biot is  a member of the working group on transsexuality at the General Council of Psychology of Spain. For this psychologist, the abolition of medico-psychological diagnoses for sex change in the civil register could encourage too hasty transitions.

“The problem with this law is that it does not leave time to reflect. It’s not the same thing to follow a process accompanied by a professional who can help you make your own decisions when you need to make them, and not before or in a rush. People need to make well-considered decisions. And not just trans people, but also families. There are parents who take the initiative to avoid the suffering of their children. And it’s just as bad to be ahead of your kids as it is to be behind and holding them back. »

Encarni Bonilla Huete: ‘The problem is society, not gender identity’

Encarni Bonilla Huete is the president of the Chrysallis Association, which brings together families with transgender children who are fighting against stigmatisation. 

“Our youths are increasingly diverse and demand diversity. Either we adapt to it or we move further apart from them,” she said.

She explains that her 12-year-old son Marc “was assigned the wrong sex at birth and that 18 months ago he was able to express that he was a boy.”

Encarni and her husband decided to support his transition, after he verbalised it and asked them for help.

 “I knew I was out of place somehow, but I didn’t know how to express myself. When I started to develop, I felt very bad.I didn’t want to see my body.” explains Marc. And then when I realized I was a boy, I felt much better. My relationship with my parents, with my friends, with myself is now much better. » Asked whether he thinks about the future, Marc briefly ponders and smiles:

“Sometimes I think about what it will be like to take hormones, what people will think of me when I go to school, or what it will be like to work as a trans person. The world may be very different tomorrow. Anything can happen. I try to focus on the present. »

His mother is adamant that the family’s life has changed for the better. 

“He had an inner rage that prevented him from being happy. All that has disappeared, and he’s a very happy child now.” says Encarni. “It’s not gender identity that’s the problem, it is society, which doesn’t accept diversity and doesn’t accept difference. And that’s why it must evolve,” she added.

Euronews
Encarni Bonilla Huete, supportive of Marc’s transitionEuronews

“I’m asking those who are against my transition to let me live my life. They shouldn’t speak about it as they don’t know what it’s like, and I’m asking them to let me be happy,” concludes Marc.

THIS TRANSPHOBIC CHRISTIAN IS… QUITE LITERALLY THE WORST | NOAHFINNCE

PRAY FOR NOAHFINNCE!!!! WELL LAYDEES AND GENTLETHEMS… THIS IS QUITE A LOT TO UNPACK. THIS TRANSPHOBE.. THINKS I… NOAHFINNCE AM A BIG BAD SCARY TRANS PERSON… AS THEY ALL DO.

More news, memes, and comments.

Next on the chopping block.. mandatory wheelchair ramps.

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One of those “things,” DeSantis noted, would be going after diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “For example, like the Civil Rights Division, our Civil Rights Division in Justice will do all discrimination,” DeSantis promised. Much of the DOJ Civil Rights Division’s recent work includes targeting hate crimes, discrimination in prison and employer abuses of immigrants

GayOldLady6 days ago

Bootsie sees “diversity inclusion” as a threat to his white heterosexual male, Christian dominance. He must have very low self esteem, a fragile sexual identity and feel inferior to race, gender, ethnic and religious identities that don’t mirror his own. Bootsie is an insecure little tyrant and I bet he’s 🤏

With the exception of Sarasota County, all of the counties mentioned above went for Biden in 2020. In Orange, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, Biden won by double digits. Miami-Dade went for Biden by eight points.

In a separate article, Florida Politics notes that DeSantis also vetoed funding for the arts and even playgrounds in blue counties. Yesterday DeSantis vetoed funding for repairs and maintenance of public broadcasting stations.

JoeMyGodMod2 days ago

Not vetoed by DeSantis yesterday: $108 million for his new private army.

According to Walsh, a suicide prevention hotline is a “sexually explicit chat room.” His 24-post Twitter thread went viral overnight. Walsh has called the rainbow flag a “symbol of hate” and said that he’d rather be dead that have a trans child. Earlier this year he called for executing doctors who treat trans children.
Elagabalus2 days ago
They make LGBT children’s lives miserable by indoctrinating their parents to hate them, and then when their parents throw them out of the house these monsters complain that there’s someone there to help them. It doesn’t get more evil than that.
Mention DeSantis’s wife, Casey, her cancer diagnosis and his military service.

Never before has a presidential effort invested in doors in the way the DeSantis machine is doing. By Labor Day, Never Back Down aims to have about 2,600 trained canvassers in the 18 early nominating states, many with hotel rooms and rental cars, iPads and evolving scripts, not to mention a paycheck from working in a position that is now advertised on job boards as between $20 to $22 an hour.

knock-knock

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Bungee2 days ago

“We want our army out in the field to be able to provide a concierge type of service,” the group’s chief operating officer Kristin Davison said. “There are people that don’t make it through the school. We are not going to graduate someone who is not up to the standards of what we want at the doors.”

Sounds kinda groom-y.
Just don’t try shoving an agenda down my throat.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/06/18/trump-trial-classified-rules/

How government rules for classified papers could help Trump delay his trial

Graymail, ‘Goldilocks rule’ and silent witnesses could help the former president put off case until after 2024 election

The law created a series of pretrial steps that must be taken to decide exactly what classified information will be used in court, and how. Lawyers who have worked such cases view the law as a time-consuming and difficult set of procedures that can be extremely beneficial to any defendant seeking to delay a trial.


Really American 

@ReallyAmerican1


OH THIS IS GOOD!! A Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers lawsuit against a local newspaper just backfired spectacularly, exposing DAMNING 2020 election emails between top state officials and the Trump administration.


State Senator Dan Laughlins defamation lawsuit against “The Erie Reader” opened him up to discovery, and ended up revealing a series of emails pertaining to Trump’s pressure campaign on Pennsylvania Republicans to illegally overthrow the election in 2020.

High level communications between far-right gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, and member of Trump legal team Christina Cobb, is part of the information that’s been released. In those emails, Mastriano expressed his concern that Trump’s proposal to overturn the election was “illegal.”

The emails also detail how Trump PERSONALLY called Mastriano and pressured him to overturn the election, and even furnished false documents about Dominion Voting Systems “rigging the election against Biden” in an effort to do so.

“We’re not saying a word on this crap,” Laughlin said in an email after he got word of the plan, worried about his own parties attempt to unlawfully overturn the election. It seems like the emails implicate Trump in yet another crime. Unreal.
Fine appeared on JMG in May 2022 when he tweeted what many interpreted as a threat to assassinate President Biden.

Before that, Fine appeared on JMG when he called for felony charges after Florida Democrats staged a sit-in over the racist US House map submitted by DeSantis. 


And before that, he appeared here when he threatened to defund a Florida Special Olympics event and called a local school board member a “whore” because she’d been invited its fundraiser gala and he was not.


Fine was a sponsor of the bill that stripped Disney’s self-governing status. His family owns annual passes to the “woke” theme park giant.


He recently arranged for a Florida town to honor a war criminal who was convicted of executing four Iraqi prisoners. He last appeared here in April 2023, when he declared, “Damn right, we ought to erase” LGBTQs.

Fine is also a sponsor of Florida’s bill criminalizing drag shows in view of minors. Of note, his wife runs a self-described “sultry” burlesque show that would violate her husband’s law.

Ed B2 days ago

So…. The zoo goes “neutral” and that’s “woke”?

Caitlyn Haiku Ed B2 days ago

To fascists, anything that doesn’t directly support them is the enemy.

mikeiver Ed B2 days ago

Anything that is not exuberant support of them is going woke. Expect attack if you fail their purity test.

(((GC))) – End the filibuster! Ed B2 days ago

While the haters loudly call on companies to remain “neutral” in the “culture wars” (rather than acknowledge the existence and equality of LGBTQ+ individuals, and of many kinds of healthy relationships and families).

Jay Silversmith2 days ago
We got it, xtians. You’ve been appointed by god to judge everyone. Everyone is going to hell but you. You’ll all fly up into the sky. Now go the fuck away.

Wintercat Jamieboy Highballs2 days ago edited

One thing that Worf mentioned once, Klingons do not have gods. They did, but they were so troublesome that they killed them. Kahless is just a sort of warrior Buddha, a real person who lived with honor that they try to live up to.

I like that.

“I called them out because the Pride movement is not about rights for gay people anymore, that’s been totally determined for a very long time. Every single American has equal rights.

Doug1056 days ago

A common statement from the religious side of this issue goes something like this “stop shoving your gay agenda down our throats”. In the same breath, they go on to say, “You don’t see us shoving our religion down your throat”.
Well then…
Have you ever had a homosexual knock on your door (usually around dinner time) asking if you have found Elton John?
Have homosexuals ever passed laws that make the government print “In Homosexuality We Trust” on your money?
When was the last time homosexuals passed laws that rewrote the Pledge of Allegiance to say, “One Homosexual Nation”?
Have homosexuals erected a monument with Marc Jacobs’ top 10 fashion rules at your local courthouse?
Have any homosexual groups spent millions trying to pass laws to outlaw marriage between a woman and a man?
Have homosexual activists worked to pass laws limiting birth control, abortion, etc?
Did a homosexual ever prevent you from buying liquor or a car on Sunday?
Is there a book promoting homosexuality in almost every hotel room in the country?
Have homosexuals pushed for laws to make the missionary position illegal?
Have homosexuals tried to pass a law allowing them to legally refuse service to Christians?
Right, they have never shoved their religious agenda down our collective throats.

ic Peterson Doug1056 days ago

Do the homosexual children beat up the straight ones while the teachers pretend not to see?

EdmondWherever Doug1056 days ago

Do we idolize a book which calls for their deaths?

Beagle🌻 Doug1056 days ago

Have the police raided churches and arrested all of the congregants?

Within your lifetime, praying in the privacy of your home been a felony punishable by several decades in prison?

Raymond Neal Doug1055 days ago

You’re right it’s practically all they do. They’re hell bent on converting the world to their toxic religion.

BartmanLA6 days ago

The march of the rabid right terrorists continues, threatening corporations and businesses with everything up to and including potential violence unless they capitulate. Sickening.

Rambie BartmanLA6 days ago

IIRC Anheuser Busch fired some marketing executives before Targer capitulated to them. These “wins” only emboldened them more and now Starbucks.

Strepsi weshlovrcm6 days ago

I am going to Pride this year (I haven’t always) and will encourage everyone to get out in the damn streets. I am hearing sooooo much of this insidious “but not in front of the children” far-right /
Russian / Nazi propaganda, wnich was tired nearly 50 years ago when Anita Bryant called her organization SAVE THE CHILDREN”. In my generation the number of self-identified queer people was 2% – for Gen Z, it’s 20% – we need to be counted!

Fighting Back Against The GOP War On Trans Rights | Erin Reed | TMR

Sam hosts independent journalist Erin Reed to discuss the recent spate of anti-trans bills working their way through state legislatures across the country. Then they’re joined by Joshua Landis, head of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, to discuss Syria’s recent re-introduction into the Arab League. First, Sam runs through updates on the Florida grand jury Trump case, Mark Meadows’ testimony against Trump, the continuing environmental emergency in the American northeast, right-wingers leaving behind their gas stove schtick, Tucker’s Twitter show, and US-Ukraine intelligence on the Nord Stream fiasco, also diving into the absurdity of economists sticking with their decades-old unemployment lies. Erin Reed then dives right into assessing the state of the right-wing’s attack on trans people nationwide, exploring how they got the entire GOP on board despite the topic’s electoral failures, and why Florida is a good case study for the fundamentalist dystopia they want to create. Wrapping up, Erin tackles the similarities we see between transphobic healthcare legislation and abortion TRAP laws, discusses the fight between progressive and fundamentalist states over border rights and trans care, and why parental rights might wind up saving trans lives in court.

Woken by my Apple Watch as I was dying in a dream

Hello everyone.   I have put off writing this all day.   First I have not felt well and second I wanted to do it without sounding overdramatic.   But Ron’s panic when he saw the EKG’s and his insistence that if it ever happens again I must wake him right away, I think a little drama is warranted.  

Last night, I had a dream unlike any dream I have had before.   Something to keep in mind is that other than my nightmares about my childhood abuse, I have the ability to gain superpowers in my dreams.   Even in dreams dealing with my adoptive father lately I have seen my self trying to stand up to him, even if I am unable to get the words out that I want to shout and instead being woken / waking up with Ron trying hard to help me and telling me I am either shouting or making guttural sounds at a large volume.  

Last night was different, I had no powers, and in my dream I knew I was about to die.  The dream took place in the front yard facing the street in a home we use to own.   One of my favorite homes.   It was very dark, no moon, and was slightly raining.  We also had rain last night.   In my dream as I twisted and danced to avoid stepping in a large puddle on our walkway to the street, (I did not have and did not seem to need my ever present canes) a black car pulled up in the street next to me.   A woman was in the car and gesturing to me, I could see this because she had the inside car dome light on.  As I approached the street she pulled up to the curb in the next door home.   

As I walked toward the car she pulled into the driveway of the home.   I was not sure what to do so I stood there in the yard.   The woman got out of the car and had a large double barrel shot gun and pointed it at me as she walked towards me.   I turned to run but tripped and fell on the ground.  

As I rolled over she was less than five feet from me with the gun pointed at me.  In my mind / dream I knew she was going to shoot me.  In the dream I remember thinking she is going to kill me and I cannot do anything to stop her.  Then I woke up with my Apple watch buzzing like crazy on my wrist.   Unlike Ron or James, I wear my watch all night.    The watch was displaying a red alert saying I was in AFIB.   I really couldn’t process what the watch said as I did not have my glasses on and I was struggling to breathe.   

After a while I calmed down and got my glasses and ran an EKG from my phone.   That also came back bad with AFIB.    I laid in bed for another 45 minutes cuddling with Ron before doing it again.   The reason I did it again was I was again having shortness of breath.  It again came back with AFIB.  My chest hurt so I got up.  

When I did so I woke Ron and that is normal.   He asked what was going on and I stupidly said my heart was in AFIB and I stupidly told him the truth, that I was having trouble breathing and my watch was saying I was in AFIB.  Ron worked 16 years in the Open Heart ICU and I don’t think I have ever seen him out of bed that quickly.  He demanded to see the EKGs, so I gave him my phone.   That started a morning of checks, repeat checks, lots of me being told to do this, don’t do that, and being watched like a toddler around open live electrical wires.    After I had my coffee and breakfast, my heart rate returned to sinus rhythm.   It has stayed that way all day.    The breathing problem is much worse at night when I am laying down in bed.   Anyway, that is what happened.   I was not scared until Ron seemed to be so upset.   I never had a dream where I was in danger and couldn’t save myself that was not related to my childhood abuse.   This time I knew she was going to shoot me and I was going to die.   Weird.   Hugs

These are some of the news and memes I have been seeing in the last few days.

IamSmartypants17 hours ago

Independent journalism is a threat to Republicans and must be stopped at all costs.

Read the full article.
Josh McKoon [photo above] first appeared on JMG in 2015 when he introduced an ultimately failed bill to legalize anti-LGBTQ discrimination by businesses and employers.
In 2016, he appeared here for his pointless bill to “protect” preachers who refuse to officiate same-sex marriages.
According to McKoon, the veto of his 2016 bill by GOP then-Gov. Nathan Deal was “slap in the face to conservatives, to evangelicals and to the broader faith community.”

‘Til Tuesday 🎧 Blue Bear DJ 🎸4 days ago

The Confederate monuments (and the flag) are kept around to keep the flame alive that the South is gonna rise up again, and next time they’re gonna win. I can’t tell you how many times I heard “The South shall rise again!” growing up. Far too many Southern whites are still bitter about losing the war and having slavery taken away from them. And the end of segregation just made them even angrier. The Union may have won the war, but far too many Southern whites remain unreconstructed in their heart and mind. They revere the monuments for what they stand for. So, I’m not one bit surprised that the Georgia GOP wants to keep those monuments in place.

O/T: Ms Lindsey’s staunch defense and filthy boudoir mouth at yesterday’s interview explained:

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“Those who live in a glass house don’t need to throw rocks,” Tuberville told CNN, trying to equate the case to the situation involving Joe Biden.

Ah, yes, good ole days.

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Elagabalusa day ago

Just a reminder:

“If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Leviticus 20:10)

Fortunately he’s positioned the sign for concealment if needed.

The program enables schools that predominantly serve children from low-income backgrounds to offer all students free breakfast and lunch, instead of means-testing them and having to manage collecting applications on an individual basis. As with many universal-oriented programs, it is more practically efficient and, as a bonus, lifts all boats. This is what Republicans are looking to eliminate.
mkbear68 a day ago
Because those poor kids cold get a job and pay for their own damn lunch!

architect_tim Unbordered Americana day ago

and pull them out of school so they are both poor and dumb …equals perfect Fox New viewers.

… well because we all know that nothing says “Loving Christian” better than “Hungry Poor Children”.

now they can live in fear of being human trafficked. By their own parents because they cannot afford to feed them.

GOP: “Why should I pay for free lunches for those rugrats? Let their whore mothers who should have kept their knees together pay for their lunches.”

Also GOP: “Anybody who even gives a pregnant 14-year-old a ride to a state that offers abortions gets the death sentence.”

It is not about abortion… or anything except policing women’s sexuality, keeping the poor poor, and maintaining the rich white cishet “Christian” men from feeling threatened in anyway.

I used to work for my State’s Free Lunch program. You wouldn’t believe the number of kids who told me that the School Lunch was the only real meal they got all day. And they feared the coming of summer because it meant the wouldn’t be getting a real meal until school started again.

You have to be really malignant to pull a meal out of a hungry kid’s mouth.

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Gregory In Seattle 2 days ago
This is what Republicans want for us all. While they might mouth platitudes against violence, this is EXACTLY what they and right wing propaganda outlets stir up with their incessant, vitriolically hateful rhetoric against the LGBTQ+ communities.
JackFknTwist 3 days ago
Aged 21 and 23.
They must know fucking everything at that age.
They must be so bright, politically astute and have vast knowledge of international history.
Or else they are another pair of ‘fucking morons’ (thanks Rex) or Evangelicals or pro-life , again fucking morons.
Or all of the above

Anastasia Beaverhousen3 days ago

Is the Grand Wizard of Florida going to offer them a job on the fire department and give them shelter in FL?

Uncle Mark: HoHo-smoking homo Boreal3 days ago

You can fix stupid, but you should spread plastic on the floor first. 😉

Silverwynde 🌻🇺🇦🌻 Uncle Mark: HoHo-smoking homo3 days ago

Well, at least one person can fix stupid:

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Uncle Mark: HoHo-smoking homo3 days ago

Grabbed his gun in his sleep and woke himself up with a gunshot wound to his leg !!

– Geez…does he sleep with his gun in bed or on a nightstand next to him?
– Already loaded?!!
– No safety on?!!

WTF?!!

Doug105 4 days ago
A common statement from the religious side of this issue goes something like this “stop shoving your gay agenda down our throats”. In the same breath, they go on to say, “You don’t see us shoving our religion down your throat”.
Well then…
Have you ever had a homosexual knock on your door (usually around dinner time) asking if you have found Elton John?
Have homosexuals ever passed laws that make the government print “In Homosexuality We Trust” on your money?
When was the last time homosexuals passed laws that rewrote the Pledge of Allegiance to say, “One Homosexual Nation”?
Have homosexuals erected a monument with Marc Jacobs’ top 10 fashion rules at your local courthouse?
Have any homosexual groups spent millions trying to pass laws to outlaw marriage between a woman and a man?
Have homosexual activists worked to pass laws limiting birth control, abortion, etc?
Did a homosexual ever prevent you from buying liquor or a car on Sunday?
Is there a book promoting homosexuality in almost every hotel room in the country?
Have homosexuals pushed for laws to make the missionary position illegal?
Have homosexuals tried to pass a law allowing them to legally refuse service to Christians?
Right, they have never shoved their religious agenda down our collective throats.

Nic Peterson Doug1054 days ago

Do the homosexual children beat up the straight ones while the teachers pretend not to see?

Doug1054 days ago

#TOLERANCE:

As a liberal, I am constantly accused of being intolerant for not accepting someone’s hateful or repressive convictions.
It’s as if “tolerance” has come to mean accepting and respecting someone else’s views, regardless of what they are or who they affect.
And that’s wrong.

Tolerance: a fair, objective and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc.,. Differ from one’s own;
freedom from bigotry

Being open-minded does not mean arbitrarily respecting everyone and accepting everything.
There are things that no one should tolerate, such as bigotry, suppression of liberty, denial of equal rights, and abusive restrictions.

I try to preach and practice tolerance, but I do not have to tolerate anyone’s intolerance.
There is never an excuse or justification for hatred or abuse.

Read the full article. Kristina Karamo, you will recall, says Democrats drink the blood of children and that demonic possession is sexually transmitted. She last appeared here when she compared a gun control bill to the Holocaust.