Some things I found a need to know

A lawyer who represents Federal Employees.. the last bit is chilling.

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 Today’s speeches were delivered from behind bulletproof glass. Meanwhile, Trump just gave violent anti-abortion zealots free rein to blockade clinics and probably much worse.

The proposed school is being defended by the governor and state attorney general.

In 2022, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt declared, “Father, we just claim Oklahoma for you. Every square inch, we claim it for you in the name of Jesus. Father, we can do nothing apart from you. We don’t battle against flesh and blood but against principalities and darkness.”

During his 2018 inauguration, Stitt pledged that his primary mission would be to “bring people to Jesus.”

Stitt last appeared here in November 2024 when he warned that “Satan is trying to take over my state” because a pagan woman gave the invocation at Tulsa’s city council meeting.

In June 2024, Still signed a bill allowing public school students to leave campus three times a week for “religious instruction.”

BREAKING: TRUMP ADMINISTRATION REMOVES LGBTQ AND HIV RESOURCES FROM WHITE HOUSE AND OTHER GOVERNMENT WEBSITES

Contact: press@glaad.org

GLAAD: “President Trump claims to be a strong proponent of freedom of speech, yet he is clearly committed to censorship of any information containing or related to LGBTQ Americans and issues that we face. This action proves the Trump administration’s goal of making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ Americans to find federal resources or otherwise see ourselves reflected under his presidency. Sadly for him, our community is more visible than ever; and this pathetic attempt to diminish and remove us will again prove unsuccessful.”

(January 21, 2025 — New York, NY) — Today GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization, is breaking news that the Trump administration has eliminated nearly all LGBTQ and HIV focused content and resources from the White House website, as well as eliminated LGBTQ and HIV content from key federal agency webpages.

Mentions of “lesbian,” “bisexual,” “gay,” “transgender,” “sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” and related terms are no longer accessible on WhiteHouse.gov, and the search term “LGBTQ” now brings up zero results on the site. In addition, some LGBTQ-specific pages have been taken down from the Centers for Disease Control, Department of State, and more. GLAAD will continue to monitor federal agency websites in the coming days and weeks to track any LGBTQ-related webpage takedowns. 

GLAAD’s President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis (she/her) released the following statement:
“President Trump claims to be a strong proponent of freedom of speech, yet he is clearly committed to censorship of any information containing or related to LGBTQ Americans and issues that we face. This action proves the Trump administration’s goal of making it as difficult as possible for LGBTQ Americans to find federal resources or otherwise see ourselves reflected under his presidency. Sadly for him, our community is more visible than ever; and this pathetic attempt to diminish and remove us will again prove unsuccessful.”

Pages removed include WhiteHouse.gov’s equity report  (no longer accessible), a fact sheet with information on expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment (no longer accessible), and information about LGBTQ Pride Month (no longer accessible). Agency page removals include Department of State’s LGBTQ rights (no longer accessible), and Department of Labor’s LGBTQ workers page (no longer accessible).

GLAAD created an archive of mentions of LGBTQ terms and terms related to HIV on the White House website and other major federal government websites in anticipation of Trump’s second term. GLAAD broke the news about tracking these webpages’ in a story written by the Washington Blade here. GLAAD previously monitored and broke the same story during President Trump’s first term.

In his inaugural address yesterday, Trump stated: “This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. We will forge a society that is color-blind and merit-based. As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.… And I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty. It’s going to end immediately. Our armed forces will be freed to focus on their sole mission—defeating America’s enemies.”

About GLAAD:
GLAAD rewrites the script for LGBTQ acceptance. As a dynamic media force, GLAAD tackles tough issues to shape the narrative and provoke dialogue that leads to cultural change. GLAAD protects all that has been accomplished and creates a world where everyone can live the life they love. For more information, please visit www.glaad.org or connect @GLAAD on social media.

It happened again. Trigger warning for child physical and sexual abuse.

Last night I had gone to bed earlier than Ron, my husband as is normal.  I slept on my side of the bed and Tupac slept on Ron’s side against Ron’s pillows.  We have two small car type pillows and we normally put one down against Ron’s pillows with a towel over them for Tupac to lay on.  He sometimes has incontinence of his bladder and at the end of the time length of his drops he tends to get drips from his anus.  We are not sure if he just gets into something outside that causes it or it is his drops preventing it as Ron is not great at keeping track of the drops or his spotting.  

So when Ron came to bed he started to pull back his blanket and sheets only to realize Tupac had urinated a lot.  Again not his fault, he does this when deep asleep sometimes.   He is old and badly injured on his lower back end.  We think he got hit by a golf cart because he is terrified by them.   So Ron and I changed the bed at 10 pm last night.  

Ron has gone out to visit with a nurse he worked with and I started washing the sheet and blankets from last night.  As I lifted the bedding up to put it in the washer the smell and sight of a pee soaked circle right in my face triggered first one and then more memories.  I lost track of time, I was that boy having been peed on while on my mat in the hallway, I was the boy so proud of his first bed to be forced to beg to drink a teen male’s urine rather than have it on my first bed at age 8 … only to have them do it to me anyway.  To have to kneel or stand as the males peed on my pants or in them knowing I would be given public punishment by the adopting parents for peeing myself.  Forced to accept them doing to me something I had no way to stop, too small and too weak to stop to do anything, and then suffering the public punishment in front of them as they laughed and mocked me with the approval of the adopting parents.  

I went to the bathroom next to the washer / dryer and threw up in the toilet.  Once done with that I just sat there on the floor and cried.  A damned 62 year old man, once a decorated enlisted military man who served in two branches of the service, sitting on the bathroom floor with my back to the sink cabinet sobbing for remembered past pains, hurts, and emotions I can never seem to make stay away but resurface again and again and again into eternity.  They tear at me, destroy me it seems like every time.

Finally I was able to calm down.  Ron was gone so I had to deal with no support.  Yes I could have called Randy but I did not have my phone and even the thought to find it was something I couldn’t manage.  Damn even as I try to type this I keep breaking out in tears.  I sometimes wonder if the living abusers ever feel bad over what they did to me?  But I know not, they were too well schooled and inducted into hate by their parents.  So I finished putting stuff in the laundry, kept drying my eyes and blowing my nose.  

When I got back to my Pink Palace office … which I will be leaving soon for a grand better brighter room, I took the dry up nasal spray and sat down to write this.  I struggled as always … should I burden my friends with it … Well they did not do this it is not their fault.  Hey they are really good people I shouldn’t throw this dirt on them and soil them with my own past it is not their fault! 

These people don’t deserve to have these thoughts in their head like you do, give them a fuck break from your whining you piece of damaged shit the voice of my adoptive father screams in my head!  It rings so loud along with the other names called me.  The worst were when he was angry or during the abuse.  But his general feeling about me he beat into me.  Now I am so tired.  I want to quit.  I want it all to end.  I want to give up.

But there is joy in my life I force myself to remember.  I have my wonderful husband of nearly 35 year.  I have a home, and enough income to survive.  I have good things in my life.  But they only cover the screams of the abused child I was, even raped after I came home from the military by them until I was able to escape to my own home and then to the safety of Ron’s protection from them. 

Thank you for letting me write this.  As always it is a horrible fight to do it, it is like being abused all over again to describe it.  But the process of doing that, of voicing the hurt makes is so much less, drives it back into the holes it hides into.  I need to write to get it out of me.  I am so grateful there are people who understand this and willing to listen as I do, taking unto themselves their own memories my writing may trigger.  I am so sorry I might do that to others, to hurt them.  But it is the only way I know to get some relief myself.  So I thank you all greatly.   Hugs. 

Reblog of a reblog; a very strong read-go see!

Oklahoma GOP Bills Would Criminalize Viewing Porn, Criminalize Drag Story Hour, And Ban No-Fault Divorce

Has Oklahoma already become a theocracy?  Is the will of the people not important, or only the doctrines of the fundamentalist Christ the majority of these people belong to so their god will be happy is important.  The voters don’t matter, the wants and needs of those who elect the lawmakers don’t matter, only pleasing their one version of a god out of 1100 other versions of god.  To hell with the rights of the people, to hell with the instruction of the woke hippy Jesus, just push the hates and desires of white males cis straight males to dominate and run everything.   As Roger says if they win how long will they start warring with each other for the top positions of speaking for their god?  Hugs

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From Oklahoma GOP state Rep. Dusty Deevers:

Sen. Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, announced on Tuesday a bold slate of eight legislative measures aimed at restoring moral sanity in Oklahoma. Together, these bills set a course for pushing back against the moral decay foisted upon Oklahoma by the far-left’s march through our institutions to destroy the moral foundations upon which the United States and Christian Civilization had long rested.

“Sadly, the left’s century-long assault on morality and decency has been so successful that some have come to accept as normal a society that is drowning in hardcore pornography, prenatal homicide, and sexual performances for children. None of this is normal. Each one of these evils is a result of a policy choice to not stand for what we know is right. Opposing these evils does not mean we are extremists. It means we are sane,” Deevers said.

“Contrary to what the left would have us believe, it doesn’t have to be this way. We can and should imagine and move toward a society that celebrates virtue in the public square rather than vice. We can restore normalcy, decency, and morality; we can protect the most vulnerable, restore a high view of marriage, and shield children from explicit material that can warp their innocent minds. We simply must have the courage to stand against the most radical and degenerate elements of the far-left.”

A sampling from Deever’s bills:

SB456 – The Abolition of Abortion Act

SB456 seeks to protect the lives of all preborn children in Oklahoma by closing the self-managed abortion loophole. While clinics may be prohibited from performing abortions, pro-life laws currently being enforced allow mothers to order abortion pills online and administer them herself. Recent research from the Foundation to Abolish Abortion shows that an estimated 3,274 self-managed abortions are taking place annually in Oklahoma.

SB593 – Prohibiting Pornography in Oklahoma

The bill prohibits pornography in general, providing for criminal penalties of up to 10 years in prison for production, distribution, or possession. It also provides heightened 10-to-30-year criminal penalties for organized pornography trafficking. “Pornography is both degenerate material and a highly addictive drug,” Deevers said. “It ruins marriages, ruins lives, destroys innocence, warps young people’s perception of the opposite sex, turns women into objects, turns men into objects, degrades human dignity, and corrodes the moral fabric of society. Any decent society will stand against this plague with the full weight of the law.”

SB550 – Prohibiting Drag Performances for Children

SB550 would ensure that Oklahoma kids are not subjected to adult cabaret performances including Drag Queen Story Hour. Under the provisions of the bill, the performer would be subject to a prison sentence of one-to-five years, while the organizer of the event would face up to one year behind bars.

SB228 – The Covenant Marriage Act

The Covenant Marriage Act would allow for couples in Oklahoma to opt into a covenant marriage, based on the traditional understanding of marriage as a binding legal contract with meaningful vows to one another. Covenant marriages would only be able to be dissolved in cases of abuse, adultery, or abandonment. Couples who opt into a covenant marriage would be eligible for a $2,500 tax credit.

SB829 – Prohibiting No-Fault Divorce

This bill would end no-fault divorce in Oklahoma by removing “incompatibility” as a justification for divorce, leaving abandonment, gross neglect, extreme cruelty, habitual drunkenness, insanity for a period of five years, adultery, unknown pregnancy, and fraudulent contract as the available justifications. It also establishes that the at-fault parent must pay restitution to the victims of divorce–that is, the children–in the form of a trust fund that they get access to when they turn 18.

Deever’s appeared here in January 2024 when he first tried to make viewing porn and sexting a consenting person a felony.

In March 2024, he declared during a Oklahoma House floor speech that all federal regulations are “against God’s law.”

In September 2024, he declared that people who vote for Kamala Harris are “possessed by demons.”

As you’ve probably already guessed, Deever’s is a pastor.

Some The Majority Report from this last week. You should check out their YouTube channel and if you want to see the fun half free I can explain how. Hugs

You Are Fabulous!

I just now learned that today is International Compliment Day, and you know I’m here for that-I love giving compliments! Stay As Wonderful As You Are! (Also enjoy this toon, which is funny, but unfortunately on topic. YOU Are Still AWESOME!)


Last Kiss by John Lustig for January 24, 2025

Last Kiss Comic Strip for January 24, 2025

https://www.gocomics.com/lastkiss/2025/01/24

Breakfast and supper on Wednesday. Started on Thursday and finished on Friday.

As some viewers know as my health has been failing over the last couple of years and Ron is starting to show his age also, so we have been spending a lot more time together doing things.  Also I have been not able to spend as much time on the blog as I used to and love doing.  So this morning as a treat to Ron I made a good sized breakfast for us.  Normally breakfast in our home is a catch as catch can.  I normally have leftovers from the supper meal as normally I am unable to eat at night, and Ron cooks grand supper.    Ron normally has a breakfast he cooks / makes for himself.  

I asked him if he would like an egg scramble with bacon and sausage, with a side of toast.  He said he would love it.  So I took a bunch of thick sliced bacon out of the meat drawer of the refrigerator and also some small link sausage from both that place and the freezer below.  Then I prepared two trays that have grill racks over them and on one I placed 8 or 9 long strips of bacon, and on the other I put 10 small sausage links.  I had preheated our very large Black and Decker counter oven.  It is similar to a toaster oven only much larger.  I put the bacon in first at 450.  

While the bacon cooked I got the eggs cracked and put into bowls.  3 eggs in each bowl.  I use a heavy knife on the sharp edge to crack the eggshell then they easily open the shell with no eggshells into the bowls.  I find it works best if the eggs and shells are very cold.  Into the bowls of eggs I add a heavy splash of water.  Enough to make the eggs cook up fluffy but not leave water in the cooked eggs.  Then I set them aside to put the sausage in the oven with the bacon.  The thing about cooking sausage in the oven instead of on the stove in a pan is the sausage come out fully cooked but still juicy and soft.  

Once the meat was cook Ron chopped what we both wanted in our scrambles, and I combined the meat and eggs in a small sauce pot.  Ron had me put chopped opinion and peppers in his.   I use a hard spatula like the kind you would frost a cake with not the kind that flip burgers, to stir the eggs and meats together and make scramble eggs.  I started the toast as the stuff on the stove cooked up.   Just before the eggs finished cooking the toast popped up so I buttered them and called Ron to come get his food.  Even though I was happy to make the food I again was unable to my egg scramble, I ate my one piece of toast with grape jam on it.  I put the scramble in the fridge for another time.  I ate it the next morning and it was great.  

During the afternoon I took another nap.  This is now being written on Friday.  So for supper that Wednesday I had the idea of taking the red sauce I had made the day before to make supper in a different way.  I told Ron my idea and he agreed it sounded great.  So we took an 8 X 11 baking pan and spread a layer of red sauce on the bottom of the pan.  The idea was to use the chicken patties we normally fry to make chicken Parmesan, just with a different cheese.  I took six patties and place them in the pan sort of pushing them a third of their height into the sauce.  Then set in the oven to bake.  When nearly done we took provolone and layered in on the chicken and put them back in the oven.  Serve with spaghetti and sauce.  Great.  

Thursday morning we got up to a rainy cold day … again.  But we needed groceries and I had decided it was better now to go with Ron to help him.  He is 70 and not walking well.  Plus while he is still smart, he does have periods of confusion and gets slow to think or respond.  He complains of becoming very forgetful.  To be honest I am the same way. I will 62 very soon.   But he likes me to drive when possible and he likes the comfort of me being there for him.  

So we went and spent all morning filling a grocery cart at Walmart.   Some people say that you don’t save any money there and some say you do.  Ron has the patience to stand there and compare price and size, unit price, and get the best deal.  I can not do this.  But I walk with him, talk to him, keep him company, watch our cart when he needs to go get something or his back is too it.  I have seen people take stuff from other peoples carts or drop stuff in them.  Ron had one of my dragon canes stolen when he had his back to the cart comparing prices.  Turned back and the cane was gone. We have a game to guess the cost after it is wrung up on the register.  I guessed 260 but he felt it would be well over 325.  It came to 257 and change.   

We were to go to another store but by the time we got everything put away both of use were tired so decided to go this morning.  Temps are better so far than yesterday which had feel like temps in the 30s.  This morning we have feel like temps of 41 degrees.   The high is to be in the 50s.  We plan to hit three small stores and then going to the big flooring store in Fort Myers to pick out the new flooring for the Florida room that I will soon be moving into to.  I am leaning toward a light floor.  The walls are a soft cream, the molding / trim a light tan / brown.  Just enough of a difference to show up but not startling.  The north long wall of almost 30 feet is entirely windows except for three feet at the bottom of the windows, even the turn to the east facing wall which has another large window and French doors made of mostly insulated glass panes in a wooden heavy frame.  The room is very bright and cheery.  Because the door going outside is to the carport and on the same level we were thinking a brown.  But once I saw the shocking difference between the light and dark … I think I want a light floor.  I am thinking a white marble with gray whirls.  Ron thinks it will always look dirty even when not.  So maybe we will go with a tan or light gray?  That is why I have not done much on the blog or computer since Tuesday.  Hugs.  

AM Nature Science

I saw this title in a couple of places first thing, and thought it’s a great way to get started! Enjoy. -A

Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts

By  MARI YAMAGUCHI Updated 8:27 AM CST, January 22, 2025

TOKYO (AP) — A solitary sunfish at an aquarium in southwestern Japan lost its appetite, began banging into the side of the fishtank and appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and set up human cutouts outside the tank.

The next morning, the sunfish ate for the first time in about a week and has been steadily recovering, said Moe Miyazawa, an aquarist at the Kaikyokan aquarium in Shimonoseki.

The large sunfish arrived at the aquarium in February 2024 from the southern coast of Kochi in the Pacific Ocean. The sunfish, a member of the blowfish family known for its unique shape and big eyes, became one of the most popular attractions at the facility.

When the sunfish began looking unwell days after the aquarium closed on Dec. 1 for a six-month renovation, its keepers suspected digestive problems, gave it less food and visited the fish tank to comfort the sunfish when there was construction noise, but to no avail.

Then at a staff meeting, one person suggested that the sunfish might have been affected by the sudden absence of an audience.

“We were skeptical but decided to do anything we could,” Miyazawa said. They hung their uniforms and placed human-shaped cutouts with photos of smiling faces outside the tank to cheer on the fish, Miyazawa said.

“I knew (the sunfish) was looking at us when we were placing them, but I never thought it would start eating the next day,” Miyazawa said, beaming. The staff now visit more often and wave at the sunfish.

The aquarium keepers say they hope many fans will return to see the sunfish when the aquarium reopens in the summer.

This could be a resource, or you could be or know of a resource

Either way, I thought I’d paste it in here, and whoever needs it, wants it, or knows something about it can do their thing. The title leans in one particular direction, but there is more info within, and I pasted it all here.

Seeking trans-friendly employers who sponsor visas

Nobody should have to move to another country to be themselves.

However, I’ve spoken to multiple people who feel they need to move away from the US in order to avoid harms caused by the new administration’s executive orders that target trans people. Exactly how to do this is sometimes opaque and feels difficult.

If you are actively hiring for positions in a company that is friendly to transgender people, in a country that is safe for transgender people, and you are willing to sponsor visas for people seeking to emigrate for these positions, I would like to hear from you.

If this is you, please enter your details here, and I’ll make them available on a public, open source website soon.

If you’re unsure which countries are considered to be safe for transgender people, and if your country is one, Rainbow Relocation has a reasonable list, and others are available.

To be clear: I want trans people to feel safe here in the United States, and I want them to be here. But I also understand peoples’ need to feel safe in the current moment. I am not urging people to move, but I would like to make life easier for people who want to. I’m making this request in the spirit of assistance, because I’ve already been asked.

I am also probably not the right person to put this together! But I didn’t see anyone else doing it. If you are from a reputable organization that supports transgender safety in a professional way, and you would like to take ownership of this list or collaborate, or if you are already doing something like this and I missed it, please email me at ben@benwerd.com.

I’m writing about the intersection of the internet, media, and society. Sign up to my newsletter to receive every post and a weekly digest of the most important stories from around the web.