Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants his office to help defend Llano County officials being sued for restricting and banning books from their public library system. In a court filing, Paxton asked Austin-based federal district court Judge Robert Pitman to let the state intervene in the lawsuit, which was filed by seven Llano County residents.
If Pitman grants the motion, Paxtonβs office could aid the county judge, county commissioners and library director in fighting the lawsuit. Books removed from the library include Maurice Sendakβs βIn the Night Kitchenβ and Susan Campbell Bartolettiβs βThey Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Groupβ
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton wants his office to help defend Llano County officials being sued for restricting and banning books from their public library system. #TXlegehttps://t.co/cNukzBOs92
When given a choice, Republicans show repeatedly, consistently they have no true principles. “Principles” are just a shield or a weapon to achieve the goal of power. They abandon those very same principles the very second it’s useful to do so. Do they care about the First Amendment now? No. Have they ever. Only when it’s ever been convenient to them.
But Republicans fight to the death over defending books that depict racist stereotypes and caricatures. They lost their collective little mind over Dr. Seuss books with clear racist overtones being taken off school shelves. Something anti-racist and educational, though? Suddenly banning books is fine. Patriotic, even.
Books removed from the library include Maurice Sendakβs βIn the Night Kitchenβ and Susan Campbell Bartolettiβs βThey Called Themselves the K.K.K.: The Birth of an American Terrorist Groupβ
In a society run by Texan GQPers, all public libraries will have the identical offerings as your local Christian bookstore and church waiting room, as well as the same propaganda as Stormfront.
I’m so tired of the cranky contrarians in the center and left who only see “cancel culture” as happening on college campuses or in civil rights movements. Will they call this out, but will the likes of Bill Maher continue to obsessively condemn trans folks who speak out against Dave Chappelle?
Ethan Schmidt, a friend of Arizona MAGA candidate Kari βKKKariβ Lake, was arrested on an outstanding warrant on Sunday in Mesa.
Schmidt showed up at a March For Our Lives rally with an assault weapon. Then, he found out what happens when you show up at an anti-gun rally with an assault weapon.
This is the same fine person who said heβd be βhunting LGBT supportersβ at Target stores during Pride Month and also has been filmed harassing Black Lives Matter protesters.
Schmidt previously appeared on JMG when heΒ harassedΒ cancer patients at a wig store for wearing masks.
In January, he wasΒ bannedΒ from the Arizona Capitol after harassing a black lawmaker, saying that his mask was a βslave muzzle.β
In February, he earned national headlines when heΒ beratedΒ store employees for selling Black History Month items.
Earlier this month he wasΒ detainedΒ after his group harassed abortion rights protesters and his accomplice was arrested for assault.
According to theΒ Tucson Sentinel, Schmidt is currentlyΒ awaiting trialΒ for DUI. In a video posted to Reddit, Schmidt can be seenΒ flauntingΒ his ankle monitor.
Ethan Schmidt was arrested after harassing people at the March For Our Lives rally in Phoenix. pic.twitter.com/SofYObVcBi
— PatriotTakes πΊπΈ (@patriottakes) June 12, 2022
Right Wing provocateur Ethan Schmidt with an AR-15 rifle at todayβs rally at the Phoenix Capitol.
Ethan Schmidt, a right wing provocateur who has made videos with Kari Lake, Wendy Rogers, and Paul Gosar, warned Target he will βhunt LGBT supportersβ in their stores and across Phoenix in June, stating they βare not safeβ and they βcanβt hide.β pic.twitter.com/O3ReHVN3qY
— PatriotTakes πΊπΈ (@patriottakes) May 21, 2022
Arizona State Senator Wendy Rogers made a video promoting Ethan Schmidt, who is now stating he will βhunt LGBT supportersβ at Target and across Phoenix. pic.twitter.com/1CBmJGHYvN
— PatriotTakes πΊπΈ (@patriottakes) May 21, 2022
Kari Lake appeared in a video promoting Ethan Schmidtβs account.
Kari Lake refuses to publicly denounce Ethan who is now stating he will βhunt LGBT supportersβ at Target and across Phoenix. pic.twitter.com/FB9Ue831G9
— PatriotTakes πΊπΈ (@patriottakes) May 21, 2022
My question as well. In my opinion, just threatening to hunt people down and shoot them should be a crime. I thought it was. Silly me. I guess they’ll be giving him a $300 bail and give his gun back when they release him.
What is most pathetic about people like him and people of his ilk is that he has no ideology except hate. Anything he disagrees with is all about the 2nd amendment and using weapons to take back their lives. They really don’t understand what they are hating. They just threaten against anything they disagree with. Very sad and very republican.
Another dumb fuck who has had stupid hammered into him He has no clue what the second amendment mean but can only parrot ‘second amendment second amendment. These people have always been around but have achieved a high degree legitimacy under X#45 . Lethal confrontation has become an accepted norm
School districts across Ohio will be able to authorize teachers, principals and other staff to carry firearms into classrooms this fall after 24 hours of training.Β
The new law, signed Monday by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, will lower the required training hours for armed school personnel from about 700 hours to four scenario-based training hours, plus a maximum of 20 hours for first-aid training, history of school shootings and reunification education.Β
“In lifeΒ we make choices, and we don’t always know what the outcome is going to be,” DeWine said at a news conference.Β “What this Legislature has done, I’ve done by signing it, is giving schools an option based on their particular circumstances to make the best decision they can make with the best information they have. That’s all any decision-maker can do.”
Ohio school districts are not required to allow staff to carry firearms under the law.Β House Bill 99 allows localΒ boards of education to decide whether they want staff to carry firearms at allΒ and how much training will be required.Β
DeWine said he directed the Ohio School Safety Center to require at least 24 hours of training and eight hours of requalification training each year. The move appeared aimed at eliminatingΒ confusion among lawmakersΒ over whether the bill established a minimum number of training hours.
Private businesses that want to train school staff must also meet the 24-hour minimum to have their curriculum approved, DeWine said.
‘Do something’
Democrats and gun control advocates panned the new law, saying it won’t do enough to prevent gun violence and mass shootings. Law enforcement officials have also said 24 hours is not enough time to learn how to safely use a firearm.
Opponents argued DeWine walked back on promises to address gun violence after a gunman killed nine people in Dayton in 2019.Β The governorΒ respondedΒ to cries ofΒ “do something” by unveilingΒ a package of gun control reforms, but they never went anywhere in the GOP-controlled Legislature.
“I feel like a putz for believing him,” Toledo Mayor WadeΒ Kapszukiewicz said. “He did something, alright. He gave in like a coward, and he made the problem worse.”
DeWine has signed three bills loosening gun restrictions since the shooting.
“Itβs a complete bastardization of what people said in Dayton, frankly,” said former Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley, who is running for governor againstΒ DeWine. “This is not what the people of Dayton had in mind when they started chanting that.”
During Monday’s news conference, DeWine urged lawmakers to consider provisions of the 2019 legislation that would increase penalties for straw purchases andΒ prevent people with severe mental health conditions from possessing a firearm.
DeWine touts school safety efforts
DeWine’s signature puts an end to years of debate over how many hours of firearm training Ohio teachers should have.Β
Parents in the Madison Local Schools district in southwest Ohio sued the district over its armed teacher program, arguing that the training required β about 24 hoursΒ βΒ violated state law. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled for the parents in 2021.Β
The court ruled in a 4-3 decision that Ohio Revised Code requiredΒ anyone authorized to carry a gun on school grounds to have 20 years of experience orΒ peace officer training. DeWine argued the ruling made firearm training unmanageable for school districts that wanted to permit it.
But some law enforcement disagreed.Β
“I think itβs a horrible idea to arm our teachers,”Β Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said. “Thereβs a lot of training thatβs involved in that. It’s naΓ―ve to believe that is something we can put on them and expect them to respond to from a law enforcement perspective.”
The governor used Monday’s news conference to highlightΒ other school safety initiativesΒ that he’s rolled out since the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.Β The new capital budgetΒ includes $100 million in grants that schools can use to upgrade building security. The state is also investing in training to help school staff identify behavioral health problems in students.
“We are trying to do and have been trying to do every single day things that people keep saferΒ βΒ keep kids in school safer but also these same children who go home to neighborhoods where there’s violent crime and repeat violent offenders,” DeWine said. “Their lives are important, too. All children’s lives are important.”
#BREAKING: Gov. Mike DeWine, joined by Lt. Gov. Jon Husted Monday morning, confirmed he has signed a bill that allows teachers and education staff to carry guns with training slimmed down from peace officer requirements. DETAILS: https://t.co/Dq6Fh9OwhZpic.twitter.com/0676jRWreW
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that he signed a bill permitting teachers to carry guns to school. The bill requires only 24 hours of training if school districts opt into the new legislation.
Republicans: teachers are communists who want to molest your kids and change their genders while listening to Bob Marley. Also republicans: we need to arm teachers.
A dangerous 58% of Republican voters believe that white Americans are being replaced by people of color in the aftermath of the white supremacist-inspired mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The YouGov poll straight up asked if pollers agreed or disagreed with the statement βwhite people in this country are being replaced by non-white peopleβ and found shockingly similar results to polls that disguised the same sentiment with political euphemisms. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.
“A stunning 58 percent of Republicans agreed that βWhite people in this country are being replaced by non-white peopleβ in a poll taken after the replacement theory-inspired Buffalo mass shooting.
The suspect in the terrifying racist attack in Buffalo β an 18-year-old White man named Payton Gendronβ said in an online manifesto that he was motivated by replacement theory. And a raft of disturbing polls taken before and since that attack have shown large majorities of conservative-leaning voters β and even significant minorities of all Americansβ agree with statements in line with that theory.
But those polls couched their descriptions of replacement theory in political euphemism with questions like βDo you agree or disagree with the following statement?
A group of people in this country are trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants and people of color who share their political views.β
But a new YouGov poll placed the question in explicitly racial terms, and found similarly sobering results.
Respondents to the poll were asked βDo you agree or disagree with the following? White people in this country are being replaced by non-white people.β”
It has been revealed that Kevin Ranaghan, the founder of the Christian fundamentalist group the People of Praise, of who Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is a powerful member, controlled almost the entire life of a female member of the group. Kevin and his wife Dorothy allegedly had multiple inappropriate instances with the womanβs children in addition to controlling financial decisions and dating relationships. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.
“The founder of the People of Praise, a secretive charismatic Christian group that counts the supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member, was described in a sworn affidavit filed in the 1990s as exerting almost total control over one of the groupβs female members, including making all decisions about her finances and dating relationships.
The court documents also described alleged instances of a sexualized atmosphere in the home of the founder, Kevin Ranaghan, and his wife, Dorothy Ranaghan.
The description of the Ranaghans and accusations involving their intimate behavior were contained in a 1993 proceeding in which a woman, Cynthia Carnick, said that she did not want her five minor children to have visitations with their father, John Roger Carnick, who was then a member of the People of Praise, in the Ranaghan household or in their presence, because she believed it was not in her childrenβs βbest interestβ. Cynthia Carnick also described inappropriate incidents involving the couple and the Ranaghan children. The matter was eventually settled between the parties.β”
I want to thank Ali for sending me the link for this article.Β Β I find it to be well written and informative.Β Β Ali also has a comment in the comment section which I will try to post but if you go to the link remember where this newspaper is located and be prepared for the hateful things said in the comment sections.Β Β Some people are very proud of their ignorance and bigotry.Β Β Hugs
Commentary by Devin McCue, Sumner NewscowΒ β Happy Friday. On Monday, Louisiana became the 18th state to target children who just want to play sports without someone looking at their genitals.
The legislation is ironically named the βFairness in Womenβs Sports Actβ despite the fact it does just the opposite. It expressly bans transgender students from participating on the correct sports teams because Republicans believe it gives them an unfair advantage.
Actually, the belief is that trans girls have that advantage because of their testosterone injections. Trans boys will still be allowed to play, but I imagine theyβll change their minds as soon as a trans boy starts winning enough matches/games.
Before going further, here are a few quick facts:
Talent in sports varies as widely in the trans community as in the cis community and a personβs genetic makeup and internal and external reproductive anatomy areΒ not useful indicatorsΒ of athletic performance;
Since itβs Pride month and these bills arenβt likely to go away until theyβre declared unconstitutional, CultureCow is here to direct you to a Hulu original documentary calledΒ Changing the Game.
Changing the Game follows three high school athletes who happen to be trans and all the vitriol they have to endure from raving adults. The kids come from Texas, Connecticut, and New Hampshire and have wildly different upbringings, but one thing is consistent: they just want to compete.
Mack is from Texas and is forced to compete in the girlsβ wrestling division despite transitioning far before that. This actually isnβt as uncommon as youβd believe, but Mack is a special case because heβs dominating. People complain that he has an unfair advantage and Mack agrees, but Texasβ shameful policies force him to compete in the competitions βaligned with his birth certificate.β
Andraya runs track in Connecticut under the appropriate girlsβ division but suffers the same transphobia as Mack. Her state allows her to compete with her gender identity, but canβt force parents (whose kids are never concerned as they are) from making asses out of themselves.
Sarah Rose races in Nordic skiing in New Hampshire and receives some of the hate that her costars do, but to a lesser extent. Because she isnβt winning every race. Despite what conservatives would call βher competitive advantage,β Sarah Rose is a middling athlete like the vast majority of trans kids.
Changing the Game is an important documentary because itβs the first one that actually takes the issue from the kidsβ point of view. Most people who support these draconian policies say they do so βto protect their children,β but never seem to care what the kids actually go through.
These athletes just want to compete like all the other kids, but they have to put up with fear-mongers and professional liars like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan who are shameful enough to politicize their existence. What makes this film special though isnβt just the bravery these kids exhibit, but the human experiences they go through like every other teenager, whether that be love, parental relationships, or just growing up in general.
If you find yourself sympathetic to the idea that this is a left vs. right issue, youβll also want to watch to observe Mackβs grandma. A gun-toting, Christian, Republican, police officer who hasnβt changed her mind on any issue, but still supports her grandson entirely. Be like her, and let kids play.
Unfortunately, Louisianaβs transphobic bill isnβt the only state legislation making the news.
A Texas GOP lawmaker plans to file legislation next session that would ban any event that includes drag-performers that minors could attend. This comes after years of conservative backlash to the immensely popular drag queen story hours and likely wonβt pass.
Like in the above story, however, in these peopleβs quest to βprotect the children,β no one seems to care what those children actually think.
Kids love drag story time and every queen and school or library thatβs done itΒ has raved about how fun and successful it was. TheΒ American Library AssociationΒ even released an explicit statement in support of the practice, which included a list of resources for anyone hoping to bring it to their library.
Getting kids to read is theΒ actualΒ best way to protect them, but I guess if we did that, thereβd stop being conservatives in a few decadesβ¦
People (*cough* homophobes *cough*) like to complain that drag shows are inappropriate because they can βcorruptβ the childrenβs minds, but that doesnβt make any sense. Firstly, if your sexuality is so flimsy that it can waver after watching a grown man lip-sync to a Britney song, you probably just arenβt straight in the first place. And secondly, even if drag shows and story hours somehow turned kids gay (which they canβt because thatβs stupid), so what?
Being gay is fun and nothing to be ashamed of. Maybe care less about who other people love and focus inward on why youβre so afraid that someone is more honest with themselves than you are.
And lastly, I canβt emphasize enough how small a deal drag is.
Personally, I donβt like drag that much. I love going if one of my friends is in the show, but other than that, itβs just not for me. And there are thousands and thousands of straight people whoΒ loveΒ drag yet somehow donβt come out gay. AΒ straight drag queenΒ even competed in RuPaulβs Drag Race recently.
This Texas lawmaker and anyone else getting so worked up over drag, should take a lesson from their kids: calm down, have some milk, and take a nap because youβre throwing an embarrassing hissy fit.
Meme of the week
I, unfortunately, canβt look at every meme that dominates the internet every week, so if you see a meme and think it should be the meme of the week please send it to:Β SumnerCultureCow@gmail.com
If you disagree with my analysis, have a grievance or any other complaint please visitΒ here
If, on the other hand, youβd like to read more from me head over to my blog,Β MouthfulofTeeth.comΒ where youβll find my favorite CultureCow articles and my other writing on politics, fiction, and anything else youβd like to read.
The Sumner Newscow continues to be the sports news and news asset that it’s always been. Everybody doesn’t like the same thing all the time, so since Culture Cow began, I’ve really appreciated it as a resource. Plus, it’s very well written, and I appreciate that.
I also appreciate the courage you and the Newscow show in posting features about issues that shouldn’t be contentious, but somehow are. I’m a Free Mom Hug giver and an ally, and I can’t wait to watch “Changing The Game.”
Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was found to have emailed at least 29 Arizona lawmakers in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Allison Gill reports.
