This news / article is old but it has been sitting in an open tab forever and I wanted to clear my tabs as much as possible. I am running a computer test that will take another 9 days before I can restart the computer. But the open tabs have become far too much to deal with. Enjoy
Last month, Florida politicians launched a hideous offensive against queer and trans kids and their families via the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which mandated that schools had to leave queer and trans history—as well as any discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation—out of the classroom. As if that wasn’t bad enough, yesterday saw the release of a new mandate, incredibly similar to Texas’s recent decision to criminalize trans youth and the families that love them by making it illegal to access gender-affirming care. While some judges have fought against that state’s transphobic mandates, that hasn’t stopped other states from following Texas’s lead.
This guidance, drafted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, uses inaccurate studies to advance the claim that “80%” of trans-identified kids will magically decide they’re not trans by the time they grow up. Which is heinous, because there are literally no studies on trans kids, period. The reason all these anti-trans bills are popping up is because cis society literally just learned about the existence of trans people, and now that we’re on their radar they’re trying their best to eradicate us under the guise of “protecting the children.” For decades, the medical establishment has ignored us, forgotten us, and refused to take our health needs and existences seriously. But now, magically, there are “studies” showing that trans kids are destined to change their minds about being trans when they grow into adults. Sure, ok!
The memo explains that gender-affirming care should not be an option for trans-identified youth due to the “unacceptably high risk of doing harm” based on “current available evidence.” Which, again, is pretty much made up, because there is no study on earth that shows that 80% of trans kids detransition after reaching adulthood. The actual number is closer to 8%. It’s not surprising: they have to fabricate research because they’re not basing any of this on reality. This is a fear-based agenda that seeks to eradicate trans identity, starting with kids. And it’s despicable.
Every company that puts on a rainbow logo for Pride should be loudly speaking up and financially supporting transgender peoples’ fight for rights. It says a lot that companies are silent right now. #YourSilenceOurDeath
— JayHPharmD@med-mastodon.com 🏳️⚧️💊🏳️🌈 (@jay_pharm) April 20, 2022
Remember how a bunch of celebrities made videos just saying the word “gay”? Meanwhile it is crickets while this happens… https://t.co/SR6LRzQypl
The newest peer reviewed study shows that 2.4% detransition due to regret of transitioning in the first place. The percentage is higher for all detransitioning due to family peer pressure or economics but I forget how much but 6% seems correct but it could be 8%. Still the number is fewer than the much greater majority that are happy with transitioning to the gender they know they are.
The Florida residents say the state’s dissolution of the corporate giant’s private government — and its special tax status — will burden them with more than $1 billion in bond debt.
The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. (John Raoux/AP)
MIAMI (CN) — Florida Governor Ron DeSantis violated the rights of taxpayers when he signed a law removing Disney’s self-governing status, three residents claim in a federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
In the 11-page complaint, Michael Foronda, Edward Foronda and Vivian Gorsky — all of whom live near the Walt Disney World theme park and resort — say the state’s actions will saddle them and other taxpayers with Disney’s bond debt estimated at more than $1 billion.
“Plaintiffs, who are property owners in the surrounding counties, fear that they will now have to assume the tax burden that Disney previously assumed under the special tax status,” the complaint states. “Their fear is well founded, and it is through this taxpayer lawsuit and mandamus action that they are able to protect their rights.”
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, names the Republican governor, Florida Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee and Florida Department of Revenue Director Jim Zingale as defendants. DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The GOP-controlled Florida Legislature voted to remove Disney’s self-governing status last month, following a battle over the corporation’s opposition to the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law. DeSantis signed the bill, SB 4C, a few days later.
The law will dissolve independent special districts created before 1968, including the Reedy Creek Improvement District that contained Walt Disney World, in June 2023 unless a new agreement is reached.
The company lobbied for the special district more than 50 years ago so that it could act as a county government. Disney owns the roads and utilities in the 25,000-acre district and also operates a police force and fire department there.
Unless Disney and the state government reach another agreement, the special district will dissolve and all assets and liabilities will be transferred to local governments, according to the bill’s language. Disney would also lose the ability to construct new buildings or roads without local oversight and potentially cumbersome zoning restrictions.
The law is widely considered to be retaliation for Disney’s opposition to the state’s Parental Rights in Education law, known more commonly as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which bans the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity topics from kindergarten through third grade. Disney heavily criticized the bill, which was signed into law by DeSantis in March, and vowed to end any political contributions to state lawmakers.
The federal lawsuit makes note of this, claiming DeSantis “intended to punish Disney for a First Amendment protected ground of free speech,” which “directly resulted in a violation of plaintiffs’ Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process of law.”
The plaintiffs also allege stripping Disney of its special status, and burdening residents with debt and some public safety responsibilities now paid for by the theme park, violates the Florida Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
Disney has so far stayed mum on the issue, though the Reedy Creek Improvement District did send a message to bondholders last week reminding them that the law establishing the special district mandates all debts must be paid before changing its status.
“In light of the state of Florida’s pledge to the district’s bondholders, Reedy Creek expects to explore its options while continuing its present operations, including levying and collecting its ad valorem taxes and collecting its utility revenues, paying debt service on its ad valorem tax bonds and utility revenue bonds, complying with its bond covenants and operating and maintaining its properties,” the statement reads.
The plaintiffs are represented by Miami-based attorney William Sanchez.
The media keeps dripping out how crooked and corrupt the Trump administration was and how hard they tried to deny that they received a lot of help from Russia for Trump to win. The fact is Russia used money, computer hacks, and social media to get tRump elected and it worked great for Putin. But tRump wants to create an image of himself as the all powerful super smart alpha male. Getting help from Russia makes him look weak, which he is and hates with a passion.
A top Trump political appointee delayed a report on Russian election interference in the 2020 election in a way that created the perception that intelligence was politicized, according to a new report by the Department of Homeland Security watchdog.
The DHS inspector general report also found that employees of DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis made changes to the analysis of foreign election interference “that appear to be based in part on political considerations, potentially impacting I&A’s compliance with Intelligence Community policy.”
The report also found that the appointee, acting Secretary Chad Wolf, who is not named, “participated in the review process multiple times despite lacking any formal role in reviewing the product, resulting in the delay of its dissemination on at least one occasion.”
The report was delayed for months. A Cyber Mission Center official added a “tone box”— a new section of text—that said China and Iran were trying to derail Trump’s re-election. When DHS investigators asked why the material outside of the original scope of the report was added, the official didn’t have a good answer.
The watchdog’s account fits with a pattern of Trump administration officials who attempted to de-emphasize Russia’s efforts to interfere with the 2020 election. In September 2020, then-National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien claimed that China had taken the most active role in interfering in the 2020 election, but offered no details or examples of how.
New DHS IG report finds that the DHS' intel division modified a report on Russian interference in the 2020 election to blunt the impact of its finding that Russia was aiding Trump, and that acting Sec Chad Wolf ordered it frozen b/c it would "hurt POTUS." https://t.co/kQ7w5zeGzCpic.twitter.com/foomBHLGOG
Chad Wolf slow rolling intelligence on Russian election interference to protect Trump is surprising to literally nobody. Same douche was kidnapping people in unmarked police cars. https://t.co/Dqlp02wG4d
Then she responded by saying "A hero? That individual undermined the integrity and the institution of the court." To which I responded: "The court lost its integrity when the wife of the SCOTUS justice Thomas texted Mark Meadows a plan on how to unlawfully overturn the election."
IQ45 is still the de facto cult leader of the GQP. To this very second he can’t and won’t be prosecuted because somehow his pure toxicity is the lifeblood of that pol party.
The right wing / religious right cannot stand adult people making the living arrangements that work for them. They are insistent on everyone having the nuclear family that tradition describes. A dad who can do what he wants outside the house and is served by a mommy who takes care of his property while providing him with frequent pleasure, producing his kids which she raises. Everyone must do this by decree of tradition and god! The right wing / religious right doesn’t want other adults to make their own choices in life, to do what is good for themselves without harming others. This law ends the Golden girls style of living. The right wing / religious right has tried for ever to stop co-habitation without marriage. I wonder what other adult arrangements will become illegal next?
On Monday, a Johnson County city unanimously voted to ban a living arrangement aimed at helping tenants decrease the amount of rent they pay. The Shawnee City Council voted 8-0 to ban co-living, which has gained popularity in recent years as rent and home prices have soared.
The new ordinance defines a co-living group as a group of at least four unrelated adults living together in a dwelling unit. The ordinance stated that if one adult is unrelated to another adult, then the entire group will be classified as unrelated.
The practice, which includes things like sharing a kitchen, living room and community areas, started to gain popularity as rental and housing prices continued to increase across the United States.
“City Staff received input and concerns from residents and City Council members regarding a relatively new trend where single family homes are being purchased and converted into rental units with multiple individual tenants,” a memorandum of the ordinance said.
“In this arrangement, individual tenants have leases of varying lengths, have separate secured access to their rooms, and often do not know or have relationships with the others who are also occupying the same single family dwelling,” the memo continued, saying the rental arrangements are “not typical of common rental uses in single family districts that are occupied by family units.”
Since it was approved unanimously a week ago, Shawnee’s decision has made news well beyond the Kansas City metro, with one national publication saying the city had “effectively [made] roommates illegal.”
The new ordinance has also been called out by KC Tenants, a local tenants rights group whose director Tara Raghuveer evoked Johnson County’s history of redlining and tweeted that groups of adults living together in an apartment or house is one of the few affordable options for lower-income people in the area.
But Shawnee council members pushed back forcefully this week, saying that, in fact, they’ve struck a blow to keep home prices from ballooning even faster than they have already. They said their motives for passing the co-living restrictions have been misrepresented.
A recent Shawnee City Council decision to ban “co-living” arrangements has drawn accusations of classism, racism and a callous disregard for the people struggling to afford homes and apartments in Johnson County.https://t.co/PoXZDjGA4T
Shawnee City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that bans ‘co-living.’ Here’s a look at what that actually means for renters. https://t.co/xjOyWFmhEv
If you want to stop ballooning home prices, limit short-term rentals. Limit the number of homes speculative buyers and giant rental companies can buy. Don’t make roommates illegal for people who are struggling so much they can’t make their own rent payment. Sheesh.
Hint: they are lying about the reason. They are not helping people. They are helping corporations. With the added bonus of brutalizing the poor, particularly women. Thus forcing women to be depended on men to whom they are related. Handmaid’s Tale continues.
For some people – for me, when I was a student – it’s a choice between living with flatmates and being homeless. Inspiring to see municipal leaders taking such a strong pro-homelessness stance.
More “small government” conservatives no doubt. I don’t see how this is remotely constitutional but with the Roberts Alito court, I’m sure they would side with the wealthy.
If you can’t afford to rent your own place then you can’t live in their town. The are forcing out low income people to move out so their town will only have upper class people.
So, in this town, someone who is elderly, single, needs care, and has no biological relatives can’t move in with people they’ve known for years. For instance, when I get to the stage I need assistance, I couldn’t move in with my best friend, his wife, and daughter, even though they are my sole heirs? What a stupid law.
Yeah, that clause about “any one of the people being unrelated means they’re all unrelated” makes it incredibly problematic for a lot of cases. I’ve been in situations where I nearly moved in with some friends for a month or so after some major surgery (it was incredibly generous of them to offer), but that would put them in danger with this ban. Assisted living, same problem.
Hell, I’ve got an aunt and uncle (eta: that’s what I’ve called them my entire life, but they are unrelated) that immigrated to the US, and when they became citizens, they changed their last name to my family name because of our long, generational friendship. But if I took them in if, say, their home got destroyed, boom, banned under this setup.
problem is – – – this is typical of nearly all of Johnson County, one of the wealthiest in the US. The renters would have to move to Wyandotte, Leavenworth, or Douglas County. Like the president of Santa Clara Community College in California living nearly 50 miles from campus to find housing affordable for her two professional earners household.
The fact that it is “one of the wealthiest (areas) in the US” is the issue. People in affluent neighborhoods don’t want what’s essentially a rooming house next door. They want to keep “those people” as far away from them as possible.
A Fox News panel debating abortion rights got pretty heated as Cassie Smedile, the executive director of pro-Trump PAC America Rising, baselessly peddled a talking point about Democrats advocating for killing babies after birth. While this is obviously false and a deliberate smear attack, Democrat strategist Kevin Walling offered almost no pushback when he responded to her ridiculous claim.
“A Fox News panel discussion got heated on Tuesday when one of the guests falsely claimed Democrats are pushing to have “abortion beyond the birth of the child” during a discussion of yesterday’s leaked draft decision that would potentially overturn Roe v. Wade. Cassie Smedile, the executive director of America Rising pro-Trump PAC, was asked by anchor Sandra Smith to weigh in on Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) comments denouncing the draft decision by Justice Samuel Alito. “I think as a pro-life person what about the rights of the tens of millions of unborn babies relentlessly under attack by the left, for decades now,” responded Smedile. “We’re not talking about 40 years ago. Today’s Democrats are advocating for the right to have an abortion beyond the birth of the child. And most Americans would say, ‘That’s not something that sits well with me.’””
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Scottie's Playtime 