I cannot make up my mind if DeathSantis is a true beleive or just pandering to the Christian right to get elected. More and more I think he is a true believer. I do know that when he was in the us House of Rep. he was thought of as being really stupid some said worse than Gohmert. Does this mean his attacks on the LGBTQ+ and the attempts to roll the US society / culture back to the 1950s is a true desire of his Christian faith? That makes him even more dangerous. Notice he claims he was sent by the Christian god to defend the downtrodden, so he does that by attacking the LGBTQ+ and promoting Christian ideas in laws and public schools? I have this in two different feeds so you may see this twice. Hugs
Ron DeSantis, a professional bully, thinks he’s a fighter (image via Shutterstock)
In a new campaign ad that, in a more rational world, would anger religious conservatives, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is deemed a “fighter” sent by the Christian God to defend the downtrodden.
The ad is based on a speech conservative radio broadcaster Paul Harvey delivered in 1978 called “So God Made a Farmer.” The gist is that God wants someone to do lots the work, impact local government, help his neighbor, go to church, and essentially be a real-life Norman Rockwell character… therefore, God made farmers. Not a bad way to suck up to the audience at a convention for the Future Farmers of America.
The DeSantis team took that script, changed “farmer” to “fighter,” modified the rest of the script accordingly, and painted the conservative culture warrior as if he were some kind of American savior.
And on the eighth day, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, “I need a protector.” So God made a fighter. God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, kiss his family goodbye, travel thousands of miles for no other reason than to serve the people, to save their jobs, their livelihoods, their liberty, their happiness.” So God made a fighter.
God said, “I need someone to be strong, advocate truth in the midst of hysteria. Someone who challenges conventional wisdom and isn’t afraid to defend what he knows to be right and just.” So God made a fighter.
God said, “I need somebody who will take the arrows, stand firm in the wake of unrelenting attacks, look a mother in the eyes and tell her that her child will be in school. She can keep her job, go to church, eat dinner with friends, and hold the hand of an aging parent, taking their breath for the last time.” So God made a fighter.
God said, “I need a family man. A man who would laugh, and then sigh, and then reply with smiling eyes when his daughter says she wants to spend her life doing what dad does.”
So God made a fighter.
The script is bizarre for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that DeSantis paints himself as God’s gift to humanity. If Joe Biden released a similar ad, every white evangelical pastor and FOX anchor would be screaming about blasphemy.
It’s also a ridiculous ad because DeSantis isn’t a fighter. Any fighter worth admiring is someone who isn’t afraid to put his own body or reputation on the line when pushing back against those who are more powerful. DeSantis is a coward who goes after marginalized communities in order to receive praise from within his right-wing echo chamber.
He’s not a fighter. He’s a professional asshole who represents the epitome of white evangelical Christian and conservative Catholic rage. He’ll use their rhetoric to hurt as many people outside their bubble as possible, all while being hailed as a hero by the people who claim moral superiority over everyone else.
He’s not a fighter. He’s a walking advertisement for why decent humans should ditch the Republican Party and organized religion entirely.
DeSantis doesn’t know how to fight because he has no principles to fight for. All he has is the power of his office, and he’s using that to wage wars against everyone who’s critical of him. Whatever happens with his political career, he’ll never be remembered as a fighter, just a guy who got away with all kinds of dipshittery because the conservative religious zealots in his corner never had the courage to defend the least of these.
After a county library director in Tennessee was fired for refusing to take down a Gay Pride-themed book display, Columbia Tennessee resident Jessee Graham spoke at a Board Of Trustees meeting opposing the firing and laying out the hypocrisy of taking such action to supposedly prevent abuse. Graham told the meeting, “I’ve never been assaulted at a drag show but i have been at church…twice!”
See how this has nothing to do with children and is all a political ploy to rile up the right wing base that is unable to accept advancements in society. We have grown as a people, just as we did in every generation since the beginning of the species. We don’t do what we did in the 1600, 1700s, 1800s, because we know better now. But there are some people dreaming of a past that never really existed when they felt comfortable and in charge, they were the normal ones with the right to mock and insult the weirdos. They want that again. The other half wants their poor defenseless god to stop crying over men wearing dresses (something they basically did in Jesus’s time) and they know their god shutters in fear / loathing every time a male penis touches another male, regardless of the fact that opposite sex couples can do the same sex acts and their god loves to watch that. Strange, isn’t it? Hugs
He called for a ban on drag performances even though he performed in women’s clothes in front of thousands of spectators, including children.
WWE wrestler Kane, who performed topless in genitalia-hugging spandex tights, grappling with other oiled-up men wearing only speedos, g-string style underwear — and sometimes women’s dresses — is complaining about all-age drag shows.
The former wrestler – who goes by Mayor Glenn Jacobs (R) when he’s not performing in flashy outfits – won reelection as the mayor of Knox County, Tennessee in August and performed on multiple occasions with other wrestlers who dressed as women in front of thousands of children.
Now he says he’ll ban family-friendly drag shows anywhere “on Knox County property,” though he has no power to do so. “Currently,” says the mayor, “no law on the books gives me authority.”
The empty pro-wrestling-style boast was another attack on the LGBTQ community inspired by the current Republican obsession with quashing LGBTQ rights, particularly when it comes to gender nonconformity.
Twitter was quick to react to Jacob’s hypocrisy Tuesday, when he claimed “my office has been flooded with calls concerning all-ages drag shows,” just in time for next Tuesday’s midterm elections. Jacobs went on to decry “the sexualization of our children.”
For the uninitiated, drag is an integral part of some of WWE’s often bizarre storylines.
You main evented a show that had an Evening Gown Match between two dudes. There were literally thousands of kids in the audiences. pic.twitter.com/YCGOet6t7Y
Multiple wrestling fans called out Jacobs for a storyline in which he kidnaps another wrestler’s girlfriend, rapes, and impregnates her.
you were literally in a wrestling storyline where you raped a woman, got her pregnant, and then a man kicked a doll representing the stillborn baby across the arena. shut the fuck up 😭 https://t.co/MNrFJRYFlu
EXCUSE ME!! You took part in a WWE storyline (in front of kids) in which you RAPED a female wrestler and got her pregnant!! NO! YOU! DON'T!! 😠😠😠😠😠 https://t.co/X4H7NWebLF
A rare win for the good side. Notice the animosity and hate for gay people. This is not about sexualizing kids, stories about gay kids / people don’t make kids sexual anymore than stories of straight kids / people do. Why is it OK in the minds of straight white conservatives that kids read about straight dating, see straight couples, read about straight parents, see straight people kiss, and that doesn’t sexualize or promote sexuality to them. That is what they want the kids to see because it enforces that it is good and “normal” that they should act that way. But you change the word straight with the word gay and their heads explode with the myth that they have to protect the kids from sex? Get real, that just shows how bigoted and hateful they feel towards gay people. It is a faked concern for the children when in truth it is about forcing LGBTQ+ kids to hide and being able to hurt them. Hugs
Impassioned pleas were made from people on both sides of the debate, but LGBTQ equality won the day.
After a heated public debate, the Greenville County Council in South Carolina voted to keep LGBTQ books accessible to children at the public library.
A resolution from city Councilor Joe Dill – who recently lost the Republican primary and will not be maintaining his seat – proposed requiring the 12-location library system in the area to remove books “promoting sexuality” from all children’s sections.
The resolution claimed it was seeking to “protect the innocence of children” and also would have required libraries to submit a report to the County Council detailing “how such books ever found their way into the Children’s Sections…and what measures have been put into place to ensure such oversights do not occur in the future.”
Controversy over LGBTQ books in the county began in September when the Greenville County GOP unanimously passed a resolution in favor of banning them from the children’s section of libraries.
The State reported at the time that the Greenville County GOP chair, Jeff Davis, said it was important to prevent kids from being “indoctrinated” by the books.
“Kids can’t buy a beer until they are 21. Should they be able to access these books before a certain age without parental consent? I think not and that should be reasonable,” he said.
The GOP became especially concerned in June when the library displayed LGBTQ books in honor of Pride Month.
Among the books they reportedly worried about was a book about a girl and her dads called Daddy & Dada; Teo’s Tutu, about a boy who does ballet; Pride Puppy, about a puppy who goes to a Pride Parade; and Sex is a Funny Word, a sex education book designed for kids that also teaches about different types of families.
During the recent county council debate, the council members did not mention any specific books, and impassioned pleas were made from people on both sides during the public comment period.
“I can’t even believe we’re having this conversation. Of course we shouldn’t have any sexual material in our children’s library,” said parent Barbara Evans, as reported by The State.
Susan Ward, the parent of a gay son, emphasized how important it is for her son to be able to see himself in books.
“All of us worry about our children. I worry because my child has been subjected to hate and discrimination,” she said.
The conversation reportedly got heated, with the vice chair of the library board – who supported keeping the books away from kids – even saying “barf” when someone said they were gay.
Ashley Snelgrove, a children’s librarian against banning the books, also spoke at the meeting and explained that the library already thinks very hard about what books are available to kids. Beyond that, Snelgrove said kids under 11 are always supervised at the library.
And in a 3-9 vote, LGBTQ equality won the day and the council voted to keep the books available to kids.
Is there any wonder why the current republican party loves Putin! He is doing what they want to do. Outlaw the LGBTQ+. Florida has already outlawed the LGBTQ+ in Florida schools using the same reasoning as Russia has, protect the children from a made up boogieman. These people live to hate. These laws are designed to stop any positive portrayals of the LGBTQ+ while still allowing the negative hate mongering free reign. Hugs
Russia’s Parliament is set to pass a legislative package that would ban all “gay propaganda,” signaling an even more difficult period ahead for a stigmatized segment of society. The laws would prohibit representation of L.G.B.T.Q. relationships in any media — streaming services, social platforms, books, music, posters, billboards and films — and, activists fear, in any public space as well. That’s a daunting prospect for queer people searching for community, validation or an audience.
Kremlin critics see the proposals as an attempt to create an internal enemy to divert attention from battlefield setbacks and an unpopular draft of hundreds of thousands of soldiers. “It’s the equivalent of saying, ‘Look, we have this special operation. If we lose, your kids will have their gender changed, they’ll take your kids away, it’ll be the stuff of nightmares,’” said Dr. Nikolai Lunchenkov, a physician who focuses on L.G.B.T.Q. health.
Russia’s Parliament is set to pass a legislative package that would ban all "gay propaganda," signaling an even more difficult period ahead for a stigmatized segment of society.
"The purpose is to make LGBTQ people invisible in Russia," one lawyer said. https://t.co/iKeqcGwTh0
Without convenient scapegoats, no authoritarian would ever been able to hoodwink the masses into believing that the real source of their misery isn’t the authoritarian himself. Putin needs the gays as much as Hitler needed the Jews.
“It’s the equivalent of saying, ‘Look, we have this special operation. If we lose, your kids will have their gender changed, they’ll take your kids away, it’ll be the stuff of nightmares,’”
Russian government telling people not to ask questions about the tens of thousands of Ukrainian children who just appeared in the Russian adoption system since February?
We have always known Putin is a fascist dictator beloved by Trump. It makes their bromance all the more instructive of the four years of Trump’s treachery. Trump tried the same bromance shit with Kim.
The NIFB sect is one of the fast growing of the Christian religion. It is all about hate, white male power, and limited rights for women. They are flat out openly Christian nationalist who want a theocracy where they get to enforce their views on the entire population. The Taliban is the Muslim model of what they want the US to be under their rule. This is the sect that openly calls for the killing of gay people and this preacher is happy with the extermination of Jews. Hugs
“That instills a little bit of hatred. In fact, you’ll grow to have a perfect hatred for the enemies of God.”
Brother Tanner Furrh of the Stedfast Baptist Church in Watauga, Texas explained in a sermon why he uses anti-LGBTQ slurs instead of just saying that gay people are condemned to hell.
“If I stand up and I tell you, ‘You should treat the homosexual with honor and dignity,’” he said, mocking other homophobic churches’ “Love the sinner, hate the sin” stance. “Does that make you want to hate that person in your heart? No.”
“But if I get up here and I say, ‘Every fa***t is a pedophile, they are a child molester, they are an abuser,’ guess what? That instills a little bit of hatred. In fact, you’ll grow to have a perfect hatred for the enemies of God.”
Christian hate-preacher Tanner Furrh says he uses anti-LGBTQ slurs because he wants you to “hate that person in your heart.”
Furrh’s words come as Republicans have spent the past year doing just that, calling LGBTQ people and their allies – especially doctors and teachers – “groomers,” referring to how child sex abusers lure children.
Stedfast is part of the New Independent Fundamental Baptist Movement, a set of churches that focuses heavily on hatred of LGBTQ people. Steven Anderson’s Faithful Word Baptist Church is a part of the movement.
“They’re sick and gross because the Bible says so,” Furrh said in June. “And not just the male fa***ts. Also the women-fa***ts too.”
“All the lesbos, all the dy**s, all these butch dy**s out there, they deserve the death penalty too,” he continued. “It should be punished with death by the government.”
Stedfast is the same church where Jonathan Shelley preaches. Last month, Shelley claimed that gay men’s “intestines will sometimes just fall out because of the actions that they do.”
“Pastor Shelly, you’re gonna have to eat Indian food and ranch dressing every day of your life, or do that one time?” he said, referring to sex with other men. “It’s like, bring on the Indian food.”
“What if you, what if you, Pastor Shelley, what if you had to eat Indian food and ranch and then vomit it up and then eat it again, or do that one time? It’s like, bring on the vomit.”
Shelley also expressed doubt that six million Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust this past month, saying that he would feel “lucky” if that happened, just how he would feel “if someone walks into a homo bar and shoots ’em all, shoots a bunch of homos and kills all of them.”
It won’t really stop a racist bigoted school board but it will give allied teachers and the LGBTQ+ students some cover and breathing room. Notice they knew they needed more sensitivity training after a teacher came to work in black face. Plus there was this from the students. Earlier this month, the Newberg Graphic discovered that at least one student at Newberg High School was involved in a Snapchat group called “Slave Trade,” where teenagers from across the country share racist, homophobic and violent messages, sometimes specifically targeting Black students.
They knew they had an issue with racism and attacks on gay, lesbian, and trans kids. But they still wanted to take away any training or discussions to promote tolerance, acceptance, and diversity. This is the republican party today. This is the maga cult trying their best to roll back all the civil rights gains. If you go to the link on the superintendent you will see that the board want only cis white Christian symbols and accepted speech. … (T)he conservative board members fired Morelock because he didn’t aggressively implement their ban on controversial symbols, … is from that link. These people can not accept the changes in society and refuse to accept the advancing better understanding of biology and psychology than was known in the 1950s. Hugs
Police are investigating after a masked person approached the home of Newberg School District employee, lit the employee’s Pride flag on fire and performed a Nazi salute on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. File photo
Just weeks after a Yamhill County judge ruled a controversial ban on the display of Pride flags in Newberg schools was unconstitutional, a masked person approached the home of school district employee, lit the employee’s Pride flag on fire and performed a Nazi salute.
A home security camera captured the flag burning on film, and a 14-second video clip posted to Twitter Monday had 123,000 views by Thursday morning.
The family filed a police report with the Newberg-Dundee Police Department, telling investigators their Pride flag had previously been stolen. Monday’s flames left black soot damage to the brick siding of the home, police said.
No arrests have yet been made, according to Newberg police.
In a statement Tuesday, the Newberg School District referred to the flag-burning as a hate crime.
“We are shocked and saddened to hear that such a horrendous act took place in our community,” the statement said. “The act of invading someone’s private property to burn a flag is abhorrent and alarming.”
The video shows a person walking up a driveway toward a house with their face fully covered, except for their eyes. After lighting the flag on fire, the person is shown facing the security camera and performing a Nazi salute before walking out of sight.
According to the Twitter account that shared the video, the flag-burning occurred at 3:15 a.m. Flames had spread onto leaves around the flag by the time the homeowner went outside, the account said.
The flag-burning arrives a little over a year after a controversial policy banning the display of Pride and Black Lives Matter flags in district schools threw Newberg into the national spotlight.
Newberg’s school board voted in September 2021 to adopt a policy barring educators from displaying symbols considered “political, quasi-political or controversial.” The 4-3 vote followed a pair of racist incidents in district schools and drew fierce criticism from state lawmakers and members of the Newberg teacher’s union. After enacting the policy, board members abruptly fired former superintendent Joe Morelock.
Dundee Elementary School teacher Chelsea Shotts sued the school district and four of its board members in December 2021 after a rainbow flag she kept in her classroom window was the subject of a complaint under the policy.
A Yamhill County judge ruled on Sept. 22 that the policy banning the display of certain symbols in schools was unconstitutional and forbade the district from enforcing it.
Vid shows a masked Nazi that walks up to the house and lights a barely visible flag on fire, which bursts into flames, then sieg heils the camera before walking off to the right of the frame. pic.twitter.com/tx7Fh21WrJ
— SchoolBoardBloc Protect Trans Kids (@SchoolBoardBloc) October 31, 2022
This is a direct result of the attacks on drag queens by republicans and the right wing media. These are legal venues, this is the action of thugs, vigilantes enforcing the republican talking points via terror and intimidation. This is a crime. “Nice business you have here be a shame if something happened to it if you do something we don’t like”. These maga gang thugs don’t care about the laws, they think what they want is above laws. They don’t like democracy because the majority doesn’t like their bullshit, so they want to rule as a minority by threats and violence. Hugs
Tulsa Fire investigators are looking for a person of interest after someone smashed a window at a Brookside donut shop and threw a Molotov cocktail inside. This is the second time the business has been vandalized in the past two weeks.
The owners of The Donut Hole near 31st and Peoria said they were out of town when they got the devastating call that their business had been targeted again.
Investigators said the person first puts a letter with anti-LGBTQ rhetoric on the door of a neighboring business, then uses a bat to smash through the glass door. Once it was broken, the person is seen throwing the explosive device inside.
From the store’s Facebook page after the first attack:
We had the privilege of being able to be a part of the vision of The Queens Dirty Dozen; An art installation donut shop run by drag queens.
The event was an enormous success with over 500 guests attending, and an overwhelming reaction of laughing, jokes, fun and good times were had by all.
Unfortunately, there was also a reaction of hate and we were the victim of somebodies malicious acts. But in ones attempt to rain on our parade, the community answered by showing overwhelming support.
From the GoFundMe that was started by Queens Dirty Dozen, goals were surpassed in less than one hour.
Repairs will be made and all extra proceeds will be given to the Tulsa Equality Center to help spread acceptance, tolerance and love.
These malicious acts have resulted in thousands of dollars going towards the cause this entire event was meant to support. Love wins.
It’ll emerge that his dog sitter’s niece’s godmother’s piano teacher’s boyfriend’s grandfather’s neighbor once displayed a Pride flag, so the fascists will of course proclaim that he is a BLM antifa Commie.
I’m very familiar with the area. There are many businesses I’m sure they can check their security cameras as he left the area. Hopefully it will catch him getting into a particular vehicle.
someone smashed a window at a Brookside donut shop and threw a Molotov cocktail inside. This is the second time the business has been vandalized in the past two weeks.
So terrorism is reduced to vandalism when it’s committed by fascists. Got it!
My point here is that our brave, truth-seeking, completely objective and unbiased MSM characterizes serious attacks on our side as “vandalism”, whereas a bunch of people peacefully protesting SCOTUS justices who are dismantling our civil rights are committing “terrorism”.
It’s apparently not a serious crime when progressives are the target — note that the news story states that the business was “vandalized” as opposed to being the target of terrorism.
NPR and other outlets have had pieces on the “creation of the enemy as Antifa and Radical Left” turns out the actual numbers and origins of incidents don’t point to any left wing folk.. not to any degree at all.. wow, Nov. elections are here and important..
The anti Fetterman ads running in Pennsylvania say crime is running rampant across the state. I have not heard of one piece of legislation from our Republican legislature to combat this, but, apparently it’s Fetterman’s fault.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but at the gubernatorial level Oklahoma may be blue this time around. The race is tied and the sheer hatred and assholism of Kevin Stitt has united all kinds of people in opposition, including many Native American tribes. Fingers crossed!
That’s a courageous preacher who tells the truth. Good for him. I just sent his church a donation to thank them for his and the congregation’s courage to speak up for rationality, compassion, and the truth. I encourage others to donate, too.
The hypocrisy of using Leviticus for queer-bashing while eating shrimp and catfish and lobster – true! “We all got to look at ourselves” – true!! “We all need Jesus” – debatable.
I am not really not feel all that well. Nothing bad but my stomach is unsettled and upset. I think I just needed a down day. But then this clip popped up in my feed. It is a story of two boys who are gay teens, they discover each other. At the point of this clip one of the gay boys has been beaten up for being gay and his teachers want to bring in a guest speaker to try to teach tolerance and acceptance of gay kids. The person in charge at the school is against it because some parents will think the school is proselytizing or pushing gay rights / gay sex on the kids. Sound familiar? The boy who got beat up is accepted by his dad who celebrates his 16th birthday by taking him to a gay club / bar where he lets the boy meet other gay people. But the main focus of this clip is on the other boy Louis and the highly negative reaction of his parents to seeing his search history, his chat logs with Nathan his boyfriend, and finding out he is gay. They don’t take it well with the dad hurting the boy and then they try to force him to change claiming both it is a choice he is making and a sickness he has. They take away his phone and computer and keep him grounded not even allowed to go to school until he comes to his sense and decides not to be gay anymore. Louis figures he has to lie to get back his life so tells them he is not gay but the dad finds out he has been using his forbidden phone to contact his boyfriend. It just makes the situation worse. His father demands the entire family shun him. He cannot eat with the family, he cannot be in the rooms with them, he is to stay in his room, and even his little brother is not allowed to talk or be with him.
I am posting this for those that don’t understand how important it is for LGBTQ+ kids to have acceptance at school, to have teachers willing to provide them with safe classrooms where they know the teacher will not let them be attacked or bullied. Especially kids with highly religious or bigoted families. If the kids don’t think it is safe for them to tell their parents how does a teacher telling the parent make it any better or safer for the kid. It is why symbols like the rainbow flag and other gay pride things in the classrooms or on the doors are so very important. This is happening in the US right now, all over the country. Kids are born gay, they know it, and some parents are accepting due to the positive teaching in society. But some parents are horrible bigoted and not only punish their own kids for how they are born but either make them do conversion therapy which has been proven to be harmful and of no benefit or worse kick them out of the home making them homeless forcing them to live on the streets somehow. Sadly that for most homeless gay / trans kids means selling their bodies for food or shelter. The very thing the parents claimed to want to protect them from. I have watched videos and read stories of Christian / Muslim families who claim that their gay child is choosing to let the devil in to them by sinning so they cannot have their young gay teen in their home. The clip is not in English, but the subtitles are very good. Please understand this is what the Don’t Say gay Bills are doing, promoting this bigotry and harm to gay kids. In Florida it has removed safe spaces for gay kids and forces teachers to tell bigoted parents that their child is gay or trans so they can be treated this way. It removes the teaching of tolerance and acceptance of LGBTQ+ people. It removes the positive reinforcement about LGBTQ+ people so that the only thing kids hear / know about them is the negatives, that those people are bad and dangerous to the good normal kids so they need to be stopped, hurt, and harmed before they hurt good normal kids. Please watch and leave me a comment on your feelings. Hugs
ABOUT ‘HIDDEN KISSES’: Nathan goes to a high school party and meets Louis. The two find themselves out of sight and kissing, but someone takes a photo of them. When the photo is placed online, a storm overtakes their lives.
Scottie's Playtime 