Would the people who live in this area please explain this to me? Scottie
Police are seen departing the fenced East Precinct of the Seattle Police Department on June 8, 2020, in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. (Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)
At a crucial moment during 2020’s racial justice protests, Seattle police exchanged a detailed series of fake radio transmissions about a nonexistent group of menacing right-wing extremists.
The radio chatter about members of the Proud Boys marching around downtown Seattle, some possibly carrying guns, and then heading to confront protesters on Capitol Hill was an improper “ruse,” or dishonest ploy, that exacerbated a volatile situation, according to findings released Wednesday by the city’s Office of Police Accountability.
The Proud Boys is a far-right group with a reputation for street violence and with several members — including one from South King County — who have been charged with terrorism for alleged actions related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
The ruse happened on the night of June 8, 2020, hours after the Police Department had abandoned its East Precinct on Capitol Hill and just as protesters were starting to set up the zone that was later called the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP.
The officers who participated described a group gathering by City Hall and moving around downtown. They delivered reports such as, “It looks like a few of them might be open carrying,” and: “Hearing from the Proud Boys group. … They may be looking for somewhere else for confrontation.”
Social media posts warning about the Proud Boys by people who were monitoring police radio transmissions caused alarm in the protest zone, where some people armed and barricaded themselves that night. Though some people in the zone may have brought guns regardless of the chatter, the ruse “improperly added fuel to the fire,” OPA Director Andrew Myerberg concluded.
In the ensuing days, police leaders raised concerns about reports of armed people patrolling the zone and extorting business owners. Those leaders, including then-Police Chief Carmen Best, later walked back the extortion claim, lacking evidence. But photos and descriptions of the scene became national news, even reaching then-President Donald Trump, who threatened to “take back” the city.
The June 8 chatter about Proud Boys was part of an approved “misinformation effort” via radio that multiple police leaders knew about, according to Wednesday’s closed-case summary by Myerberg, which will be reviewed by interim police Chief Adrian Diaz for disciplinary rulings. Fabricating the group of Proud Boys as part of the effort violated department policies, Myerberg determined.
But it appears unlikely that anyone will lose their jobs or pay over the incident. The two employees who ordered and supervised the misinformation effort and who Myerberg sustained allegations of policy violations against have already left the department, according to the case summary.
Myerberg didn’t sustain allegations of policy violations against four officers identified as having taken part in the Proud Boys chatter. The officers used poor judgment, but their supervisors were mostly to blame for failing to provide adequate supervision, Myerberg determined.
The Proud Boys ruse was deployed at an incredibly tense moment. The murder of George Floyd had sparked more than a week of large-scale protests in Seattle, with the police barricading streets around the East Precinct and deploying tear gas. Later in June, two fatal shootings occurred in the CHOP zone.
Matt Watson, a Seattle artist and activist known as “Spek,” immediately raised the possibility on social media that there had been a hoax. No one out on the streets had actually seen the Proud Boys group that the officers were talking about on the radio, and the officers were using irregular call signs.
But there was no investigation until late 2020, when Converge Media journalist Omari Salisbury asked OPA for body camera video from the officers who had supposedly tailed the Proud Boys group. When OPA couldn’t locate any relevant video, the office launched an investigation.
The investigation was completed by September 2021; several months passed before Myerberg issued findings. The case was less of a priority than some others that involved recommendations of discipline against current employees, Myerberg said. The city’s contract with the union that represents officers prohibits discipline in investigations that take more than 180 days.
Salisbury, whose questions spurred the OPA investigation and who pressed for the findings to be released, said he wants the public to know what had occurred. It’s been 18 months since the Proud Boys ruse happened.
“It’s important that everything about the protests comes out and until that occurs we can’t move forward and heal,” Salisbury said, noting that new Mayor Bruce Harrell has talked about trying to bring city together. “We can’t be one Seattle until we resolve these issues.”
Watson, who posted audio from the Proud Boys ruse on social media after someone sent him a recording from the website openmhz.com, contends the ruse was part of a wider attempt by the police to undermine the protests.
“Having a counterinsurgency operation conducted by our local police department in our own community is bonkers,” especially given that the officers weaponized a group later involved in the Capitol attack, Watson said.
In a statement Wednesday, Harrell said the ruse had done “immeasurable” damage to public trust.
“Misinformation, especially of this inflammatory nature, is totally unacceptable from our Seattle police officers,” he said. “This kind of tactic never should have been considered.”
The Police Department had been cited for an improper ruse before, said Councilmember Lisa Herbold, noting a 2019 recommendation for better training has been only partially implemented.
The investigation
The OPA contacted the department’s operations center and intelligence unit and learned there had been a miscommunication effort approved, ordered and led by a captain who later became an assistant chief and then left the department.
Myerberg’s case summary doesn’t name any of the people involved, referring to the captain as “Named Employee #1.” But the description of Named Employee #1 applies to Bryan Grenon, who was captain of the East Precinct, became an assistant chief and has since left.
In an interview with OPA, Grenon said he came up with the misinformation effort because he knew people were monitoring police radio transmissions. He said the idea was to give them the impression that “we had more officers out there doing regular stuff.”
Grenon said he didn’t seek approval from Best or Assistant Chief of Patrol Operations Tom Mahaffey for the misinformation effort.
He said misinformation was used on June 8 in particular because “we were overrun with, you know, forces or protesters.” An aim was to separate them and “get them into other areas.” Grenon didn’t know until later that the officers had decided to discuss a fictitious group of Proud Boys, he told OPA.
An operations center officer labeled “Named Employee #2” told OPA he was assigned by Grenon to carry out the misinformation effort by organizing some officers to “focus some attention on a location different than where the main police and protest interactions were happening.” He said he didn’t remember the Proud Boys ruse but also didn’t consider it inappropriate. The aim was to “make the broadcast seem realistic” rather than to “incite fear,” he said.
In a second interview with OPA, Grenon said the use of the Proud Boys was contrary to his guidance to Named Employee #2 and said the point of the misinformation effort was to protect officers from being ambushed.
Reached Wednesday by phone, Grenon said he was looking for “an innocent way to just throw out some distraction” at a time when the Police Department was short-handed and under pressure.
He said the effort was meant to target people intent on harming officers, drawing a distinction between those people and regular protesters.
“It was never my intent to cause alarm,” he said, attributing the Proud Boys ruse to officers who got carried away.
“Hindsight is 20/20,” Grenon said.
An officer who was involved in other aspects of the misinformation effort but not the Proud Boys ruse said the effort lasted for multiple days and mostly involved mundane chatter, like what officers were going to eat that day.
OPA interviewed three of four officers who were identified as having participated in the Proud Boys ruse. They said they weren’t given specific instructions, other than to divide the attention of the protesters.
Best told OPA she didn’t know about the effort. Mahaffey told OPA he was generally aware but wasn’t involved. He said his understanding was that the effort was supposed to lure protesters away from the East Precinct, allowing the police to reoccupy the building.
Mahaffey didn’t know at the time that the Proud Boys would be referenced but believes the use of a ruse was justified, he told OPA.
“We simply cannot have a chief or command staff claim that they are unaware of such critical tactical decisions. … This cannot happen again, period,” Harrell said Wednesday, promising to meet with Diaz about the matter.
Herbold said she would have expected more oversight from someone like Mahaffey.
The findings
Wednesday’s case summary includes the Proud Boys transmissions until 10:14 p.m. The chatter continued past midnight, according to a recording shared by Watson, with officers describing the Proud Boys moving from downtown to First Hill in an attempt to reach Capitol Hill.
At one point, an officer said, “I haven’t seen any long weapons. There might be one carry — one sidearm on a holster,” describing the group as “very boisterous tonight.”
At another point, the same officer reported a fight brewing between the Proud Boys and another group. He said officers had detained one person and later said he was going to confiscate “sticks, makeshift weapons.”
The same officer later estimated that the group was 20 to 30 people, saying the Proud Boys were going to head east, toward Cal Anderson Park, near the East Precinct.
According to Myerberg, Grenon and Named Employee #2 violated the department’s policies on discretion and truthfulness.
The effort lacked adequate guidelines (officers said they weren’t told what to say or not say), was inadequately supervised (officers said they’d never participated in a similar effort before) and was inadequately documented (there was no after-action report, no list of who participated and no official recording made), Myerberg concluded.
Police are allowed to use a ruse only when undercover, to acquire information for a criminal investigation or to address “an exigent threat to life safety or public safety.” Even then, state law says a ruse can’t be so “shocking” as to violate “fundamental fairness.” None of those conditions applied to the Proud Boys chatter, Myerberg determined.
“While anger and emotion were high” in the CHOP that night, “there was no ongoing violence within the zone or imminent violence that could have been reasonably foreseen,” he wrote.
Had the officers only discussed innocuous topics, such as movies or meals, that would have been acceptable, Myerberg wrote.
“The use of the Proud Boys when it was known that the transmissions would be monitored took a volatile situation and made it even more so,” Myerberg wrote, arguing it was reasonably foreseeable that the CHOP protesters would be worried and would “take steps to arm and defend themselves.”
As part of an approved "misinformation effort," Seattle police faked radio chatter about Proud Boys while CHOP formed in 2020, investigation finds (via @DBeekman) https://t.co/zOCMuAB28O via @seattletimes
I think the police involved hope to start a shooting situation, hope to increase apprehension in the protestors to the point that they might shoot someone. That would give the police the motive they needed to charge in with all the force they could and guns blazing. Also notice the stuff the police put out about the protesters shaking down the local businesses. That was all false and fake. But it was shouted out on every misleading right wing media, and I still hear it today. Scottie
A year after blaming antifa, Gaetz now endorses theories that Jan. 6 was an FBI-influenced inside job.
Rep. Matt Gaetz said that when Republicans take control of the House, they should not disband the Jan. 6 committee. Instead, they should put controversial Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in charge and turn the sights on blaming Democrats and the FBI.
The Panhandle Republican, who on Jan. 6 infamously blamed the Capitol riot on Antifa protesters, now wants Congress to investigate if FBI informants stoked violence that disrupted the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory over Donald Trump. He appeared with Greene on Steve Bannon’s podcast to discuss Jan. 6.
The most consequential moment may have come when he asserted Greene should chair the Jan. 6 Committee next year.
“I wouldn’t disband it. I would take it over,” Gaetz said. “I would throw off the tyrants that are on that committee now. I would make Marjorie Taylor Greene the chair. I would make Darren Beattie the staff director, and then we would get the truth in front of the American people.”
Beattie, a former Trump speechwriter, has leveled accusations that FBI informants were at the Jan. 6 protest instigating members of extremist groups.
Greene also appeared on an episode of Gaetz’s podcast Firebrandand endorsed using the committee to turn the investigation away from Trump and toward law enforcement and Democrats.
“I’m ready to rip the whole thing wide open and expose everything,” Greene said.
Gaetz has fed the theory the FBI played a role in pro-Trump demonstrators breaching the Capitol. He said on his own podcast he wants to subpoena an individual named Ray Epps, accused of being an FBI informant in the crowd, and pursue other theories making their way around the far right.
“Why is there no accountability for the very people who are on video dispassionately and professionally setting up a booby trap for people, a lot of whom didn’t even know they were breaking the law because barriers had been removed,” Gaetz said on Bannon’s podcast.
At one point, he employed the term blood libel, a longtime anti-Semitic attack accusing Jews of using the blood of non-Jewish children for rituals.
“The people all in this country know what is driving this, and that is the folks inside the beltway of Washington, D.C. — severely impacted with the pandemic of Potomac fever — believe that the way that American democracy ought to work is that they ought to get to make all the decisions,” Gaetz said.
“And instead of the voters picking the leaders, that the leaders and the elites and the bureaucratic class ought to be able to dictate the outcomes of elections. We don’t believe that, and we’re not going to allow them to lie about us, and we’re not going to allow this blood libel to exist as a consequence of the Jan. 6 narrative that they are putting forward.”
**Editorial Note** This is typical republican projection. The Republicans are the ones doing the most outrageous gerrymandering and voter suppression hoping to keep people who might vote against them from voting. These are facts I wish the cult followers of misleading right wing media would understand. Gaetz and Marge Greene are lying. Scottie ****
Of note, Gaetz was among those House members, including 12 Florida U.S. Representatives, who objected to certifying the votes in several states Biden won.
But Gaetz and Greene both stood by that on the podcast.
“We’re ashamed of nothing,” Gaetz said. “We are proud of the work we did on Jan. 6 to make legitimate arguments about election integrity.”
He said a press conference will be held Thursday, the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot, to discuss the “truth” of what happened that day.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene Ready to Expose the Truth About J6 on @Firebrand_Pod
"I'm ready to rip the whole thing wide open and expose everything…How is the FBI, the Department of Justice, or any of our agencies involved in what happened on January 6?"https://t.co/py9Zacgtilpic.twitter.com/o8yfkSqwag
Representatives Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene on Thursday went on Steve Bannon's show to try to redirect blame for the Capitol attack. They offered little evidence for their claims during the appearance. https://t.co/mAPaUHHJnn
Gaetz and Greene holding their packed press conference in a tiny room … Gaetz blames Pelosi for not giving them a bigger room pic.twitter.com/654Y885L4F
I had a lot of fun putting this one together today. Lots of topics and discussions with right wing cult members on right wing media cartoon sites. Even with the 5 day and growing plumbing problem disaster. Enjoy. Scottie
Labor value is stolen from workers and given to shareholders. Their record profits is your misery.
Corporations are private tyrannies. They expect your total subordination.
Workers must unite and demand better conditions and wages.
wait a second I was told there were labor shortages and supply chain issues that was causing prices to rise, but now corporations are seeing their biggest profit margins since the 50s? well I'll be darned! https://t.co/PqMlgIGuhC
It’s a special interest group that broadcasts predetermined narratives and coordinates with the Republican Party.
Just a casual reminder that Joe Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes. That's roughly the population of the entire country of Bulgaria.
Btw, you're not the party of the working class if not a single member of your party voted for the expanded Child Tax Credit. pic.twitter.com/jMiKrCnouH
Trump destroys everything he touches. All who touch Trump die. The circular firing squad will continue. All to protect the ego of the most mediocre silver-spooned asshole in history.
People say the Jan 6 insurrection failed. But did it really?
—There have been no consequences for Trump or co-conspirators in Congress —71% of Republicans think Biden’s win was illegitimate —Voter suppression laws are sweeping the US
People need to know just how close this came and how many / who were involved in the prior planning to over throw valid election results because they did not like the will of the people! Scottie
If you’re still criticizing Garland after this speech — where he specifically lays out WHY the “big fish” haven’t been charged yet, I would have to question your motives.
Like I’ve said from the start: DOJ is doing their job, and they won’t stop until it’s done. https://t.co/0iTQhzZfrZ
“What is clear is the effect of protests. Locally-oriented demonstrations significantly reduce the number of Black and Latino deaths by police.” https://t.co/B49UTiZgjB
The media depends on narratives. They know negative news is clickbait. When something does not fit their narrative, something positive, they will refuse to report on the positive.
Just a reminder that Abbott destroyed inventory of their #COVID tests this past summer when sales dwindled. The company thought the tests were worth less than the space to store them 😞https://t.co/ZB2FepNAem
It depends on the environment and the emphasis put on the remote learning. Kids today spends hours online and can recite the minutia of every game they play, every tick tok they see, every music video, movie, and so on. They do learn online. It is just they are learning what they want. School work has to be given that priority and made to keep their interests, just like in schools. If kids are in an environment where they are not comfortable or have connection issues or they are just allowed not to view the lessons then they wont learn. Scottie
Is it any wonder that the number of cases, the number of hospitalizations and the number of Covid-related deaths are all proportionately higher in red states? Which also happen to have lower rates of vaccination… The smart people are taking precautions and abiding by health and safety regulations in order to do their part to help prevent the spread of the pandemic! Scottie
The filibuster rule has been modified many times over the years. In fact, the Senate started out with no filibuster rule at all. Moscow Mitch stole the goal post to pack the courts with unqualified judges and Supreme Court Justices. McConnell had no problem changing the rules so he could stack the judiciary. They had no problem changing the rules to raise the debt ceiling. Now, our democracy hangs on the vanity of one (expletive) Democratic senator. Meanwhile, where’s the line between being a “conservative” cartoonist and a supporter of those who would destroy our democracy and Putinize America? There’s a term for a professional whose services are enjoyed by criminals and traitors. Scottie
Most experts are expecting this wave of Covid cases to crest and recede in weeks (as opposed to months like other variants) and that cases will start dropping again within this coming February or so. Also, most of these cases thus far are either mild or asymptomatic (particularly if the patients are fully vaxxed) and the ones who are seriously ill from Covid aren’t vaxxed. Yes, that’s cold comfort to those who are pulling back because of the rise in cases. But this too shall pass. Hopefully, by mid-2022 or so, we can largely move on and then turn our attention to the midterms. I am hopeful that the Democrats can bounce back (if there’s a major turnaround in the case situation) and they can widen their majorities in both houses. History, though, is on the side of the party currently not in the White House gaining seats in both houses in midterms (the last time was 2002). But, even if that happens, the GOP could end up playing the foil to Biden the way earlier GOP majorities played the foil to Clinton and Obama. Both Clinton and Obama saw their parties lose control of the House and Senate in 1994 and 2010. But that didn’t stop either President from winning reelection in 1996 and 2012. Scottie
Please note that in the preamble to the constitution the reasons given to create the new country / constitution. One of those is to promote the public welfare. To take care of the people. That includes the health of the people. The government has the responsibility to create polices and rules that help people live together in a communal society. That is why we have things like traffic rules / laws for example. For society to work there has to be rules, not everyone can do what ever they like regardless of how it effects others. Scottie
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of …
Conservatives want things to JUST STAY THE SAME… and for EVERYONE TO FOLLOW THE (my) RULES… and for (my) AUTHORITY TO BE HONORED. Qublican response to every problem all the time: TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH AND MORE CULTURE WAR! People should be given the opportunity to be what they are. It must be really unpleasant to have to live your life pretending to be something else. Scottie
A pack of KN95s that I got for $15 a month ago is now $50 on Amazon. Right before children are being forced back to school. During the covid peak. While hospitals are overflowing. What’s happening right now is a deeply immoral, profit driven humanitarian crisis.
There is something seriously wrong with an economy that enables the world's richest man to add $28 billion to his wealth in a single day while more than 50% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck.
A guilty conscience needs no accuser. These racists feel uncomfortable for a reason.
Yes, Noah, this is America. And so is every slave auction, every public lynching, every act of terror, every dispossession of indigenous Americans. All of American history is America. We can engage with that history or continue to cherry pick rosy episodes to make us feel better. https://t.co/ioN3PlbcF6
— Mark K. Gradoni is Striking (@_Snarkaeologist) January 5, 2022
This extremist Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act not once, but twice, in the last decade. We need to do two things: We need to eliminate the filibuster to restore voting rights, and we must rebalance the Supreme Court to defend our democracy.
Idiot anti-vaxxers add a massive burden to our health care system. They don’t care how abusive they are to nurses and doctors.
Funny how they believe in science/medicine when their rhetoric leaves them for dead.
Because so many are denying the virus and the public safety measures are sending their kids to school with the virus the situation changes daily, sometimes hour by hour. The disruption is hard on kids and families. If we are not going to increase the funding to have large areas where the kids can spread out and be together safely then we need to go back to full time remote learning. It can be done and needs to be done. We simply have to pay for caregivers to watch over their children or a group of children spaced out properly. It is all about the priorities the US has. Scottie
End their tax-free status!
Elon Musk will blame his failures on everyone except himself.
This is pure made up misinformation. This is the same party that blamed Biden for not getting more Afghans out when we left. The border is secure, the US is not being over run by brown people. The brown people are already here and they are collectively the majority of the country or will soon be. It is normal and OK. This country has whole towns dying because the people are moving away, but now this is the perfect time to reinvigorate these towns with new people. With work from home and other measures jobs can return. Kids will be stay instead of moving away. People this large country is not full. Scottie
Same response as the cartoon below. Scottie
Don’t you love right wing misinformation propagandist like Rivers? The Republicans are the ones who tried to scramble our Democracy on Jan 6th. The Republicans did the insurrection, the riot at the capital on Jan 6th. They did not succeed in getting their way and keeping power, this time. So they implemented more destruction to democracy by enacting voter restrictions and gerrymandering to keep the other party voters from using their right to vote. How anyone even the right can see the above cartoon and not realize how backwards it is confounds me. Scottie
Same response as below. Scottie
Oh the fickle right. Remember when they did not want testing. In Florida they still don’t. They don’t want anyone to know we have Coronavirus in Florida, so they can get those tourist to come here. They want cruise ships to stop testing and just go with sick people. Florida and those places with Republican governors want the system back to the way it was before Covid so the money flows for them. The wealthy donors are not getting as much profit and they want that. The Governors shut off unemployment to force poor workers to return to virus infected work places at the same time they passed laws giving companies immunity if a worker catch Covid working for them. The point is our lives and the money we would have to pay if hospitalized do not matter to the wealthy Republicans. To the Republican leaders like DeathSantis you are nothing but a clog, a gear to be used and when ground down too much then thrown away. Life doesn’t have to be this way. The people should expect more.
But to the tests and why we are having a shortage I already addressed this. People attended gatherings during the last two holidays. A lot of tests were used at the parties and even a lot more after as people tried to figure out if they were safe at these parties and after. Many found out they were positive when tested requiring more testing. The businesses that want to open at full capacity need tests to do so. They are buying a lot of the supply. Because the suppliers were not prepared for a huge increase it will take them a while to catch up but in the meanwhile they are loving the increased profit. Think of the toilet paper shortage, it was not that toilet paper was not being made, it was that people suddenly started hording car / truck loads of it. Some then tried to price gouge selling it. But Biden never gave a time frame for the tests, only that the government would pay for them and send them out. It is a gimmick anyway, one test is not helpful. Scottie
Complete bullshit and lies. Flat out lies. This is again the right wing attempt to deny reality and try to force the world / the US back to the way it use to be. Give it up, this is the normal now and should be. They really give their viewers deadly misinformation. Scottie
The state of education in this country is past ridiculous. Maybe it would help if administrators listened to the teachers and understood they were concerned about returning to a job where there is little protection for the teacher, and by proxy, the teacher’s family and loved ones. Once again, blame the union for trying to provide living wages and benefits for workers instead of the employers who use and abuse the employees. I’ve known teachers, and more and more of them are leaving the profession because the pay is low, the children do not get engaged, parents are hostile, and they need to teach to Bush the lesser’s no child left behind program, which enriches the pockets of giant test companies. Two of ours are our healthcare and school systems. Before the pandemic there were stories of teachers living in their cars because they were renting their apartment / house so they could make enough money to eat! Once the pandemic hit it got worse. Many schools are now limping along with numbers of teachers, security, food workers, custodians on health leave while they recover from COVID. And there are no substitutes for any of these people. Teachers in some districts are asking that their schools return to remote learning until the “viral tsunami” passes and quarantined staff return. In many places if their needs are not met they will quit. And then who will work in schools?
Whether or not they “like” teachers, they certainly vote for people who enact laws designed to destroy public education for profit. The path they want to tread is exactly the same path they forced the public hospital system down in the 70’s. I think we all know how that turned out. This is exactly the same. Privatize the schools to keep from raising property taxes is EXACTLY THE SAME TACTIC as privatize the hospitals to keep your county taxes low. We’ll wind up spending ten times as much for less. That’s where this road ends. Some of us are old enough to remember public hospitals in remote counties. And we even remember the tactics undertaken to ensure they’d be “unprofitable”.
When she was shot Babbitt was on video crawling through a window she had just helped break out to gain access to a hallway they were not allowed into that had members of congress in it. The right wants to make her a hero and has much in the way they made Rittenhouse a hero. Facts don’t matter to them. Babbitt was judged by the left on what she was doing, and she was an imminent threat of death or serious body injury to the congresspeople. Floyd was not committing a crime at the time he was killed, he was not a threat to anyone at the time he was murdered and what he was being detained for was not a death penalty offense which cops don’t have the authority to carry out. The cases are not equal in any manner. The funny thing it is the right that insists on judging everyone on their past, just like they did the people killed by their new hero Rittenhouse who had no way to know the past of those he killed. Scottie
If I thought for a moment that Ol’ Al was actually interested in resolving the conundrum of how to do best for kids while in the midst of a pandemic, I’d almost like this cartoon. Except for the idiocy of “allowed” a gender identity. Believe me or not, kids know their gender within months of becoming aware of themselves as being part of the family “pack”. They may not… probably won’t… be verbal about it, and they may very well play dress up to see how it works for them; the canonical example being the kid in a tutu and cowboy boots. Well. Anyway, I’m sure that Al isn’t at all interested in that. He’s on a mission to make liberals seem as stupid and wrongheaded as possible, in every way possible, always. Too bad it only works on people who are already convinced of that. Scottie
“What use would someone on the McDonald’s career track have for algebra 1?” — the GOP view of public schools. A+ @will_bunch column. https://t.co/GGUdwRWZcz
This was drawn by a right winger to slam Schumer. I put it here because it really is a slam against the Republicans. Republicans have become obstructionists. The only bill they worked with Democrats on are the two things their big donors wanted, in fact insisted on. The infrastructure bill that had massive benefits for corporations, and the debt ceiling raise which the wealthy had to have or they would lose a huge pile of money. Other than that the Republicans say no to everything. They did the same thing when Obama was president. The Republicans don’t want to govern they want to stop the government, destroy it so nothing can be done to help the people or benefit the public. So changing the filibuster is necessary to have a functioning government. Scottie
Folks who are telling me remote schooling is not good for mental health: 1) Neither is long COVID 2) Neither is getting sick or watching a relative get sick or die 3) Neither is going back, letting things fall apart because everyone gets sick, and then having to go remote anyway.
The right, the party that bills themself as the pro-life party, is very angered and upset that the idea that the death penalty is being done away with because it doesn’t work as a deterrent, is racially biased, and more costly along with tying up the courts. The other advanced developed countries already figured this out and learned that progressive sentencing and detainment works best for lowering recidivism. Again if the US would get over the idea that everything we do must be the best thing in the world and would look at what really works being done in other countries we would be much better off. Scottie
Really the right needs to catch up. First it was only one Democratic party member who said motherfucker during a campaign rally. Once. What was it tRump repeatedly said? He cursed all the time. But really the right not only thinks saying lets go Brandon triggers the left, they are desperate for it to be true. They are trolls, they are the school yard name callers, little kids giggling they are almost using a naughty word. Adults don’t care. Biden did not care. Most of us are not even thinking of it but the right is full time. This is what passes for serious legislators in the time of the Marge Greene, Gym Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Madison Cawthorn, and the other failing loser kids hanging out in the halls of congress. Scottie
Same right wing cartoonist paid to try his best to make the Republicans look good and the Democrats look bad. He rarely even makes sense and his cartoons normal reverse the situation. But in this case he is right. Some Republicans have promised to impeach Biden as soon as they get control of the House. That is their great goal for the country, a revenge impeachment to sooth the ego of the former guy. Really they said this a few months into Biden’s term. They do not care that Biden has not violated any laws and that the former guy did, they just want to invalidate any Democratic election win. They are cheapening the meaning of impeachment again because it stings that their cult leader got impeached twice for breaking laws. But this is the lofty goals to help the people and country, make impeachment a joke. Scottie
Partially correct. The truth is that ICU’s are filling up with anti-vaxxers along with all the other hospital beds so that non-covid emergencies and non-emergency procedures are unable to be treated and proceed. We have seen the stories, verifiable stories of people dying because there were no beds available in the hospitals due to anti-vax Coronavirus who are really sick. I was not sure if this cartoon was mocking the idea that non-vaxxed people are getting really sick or if it was mocking the vaccinated. Scottie
I hate how the right likes to misrepresent the relationship between Biden and the progressives. The progressives are the ones that were fighting for Biden’s agenda. The build back better bill was Biden’s agenda, what he ran on, what he wanted. The full bill, not the stripped down version. Yet the media keeps trying to portray the progressives as the ones sabotaging Biden’s plans instead of the real villains killing it, Manchin and the other old corporate politicians right and left. The right wants to hide the truth and blame others for their actions. Sound familiar? Scottie
Rivers is on a roll for misleading anti-Biden cartoons. This one is just a general slam at Biden because he / the right hates what Biden is doing and wants the right to think Biden is a failure even though they never can show what he failed at. What policy is being addressed here? None, it is just hate Biden please. Scottie
There has been no wide scale defunding of the police, nor has any real police reform been enacted. The one place the police were radically changed in NJ it worked really well. The problem is the police have become the very monsters they are to protect the people from. The police are a gang of thugs who prey on the public like a military occupying force ruling over a prisoner population. That police believe they can get away with the worst actions against the public and if they do get caught no real punishments happen to them. At most they use to get fined, which the people had to pay not the cops. Now lately several cops have been found guilty of killing. But that is two out of … Heck one police department was found to have cops protecting a sex trafficking ring in exchange for sex. It seems it was rather widely known. This is their idea of serve and protect? Police reform is desperately needed. No more militarized cops on the streets. They want to be military, let them join the military and fight for the country, not against our own people. But to them it is a game with other peoples lives, theirs is never in danger. Scottie
The people wanting government to serve their needs rather than cater to the wealthy. It is about where taxpayers dollars going. To the public needs, or the wealthy wants. Will the government work for the people or only for the wealthy. History has shown the best economic times while being the most product the country had was during the period that corporations and wealthy paid a much higher tax which they could afford and still gain great wealth. Scottie
Notice the bait and switch here by the misleading right wing media. See the cartoon implies and wants the right to read that there is no consensus about vaccines. The reality is that there is complete consensus that the vaccines work and everyone who can should get them. The split in consensus is on the Republican side and is about if mandates for vaccines work. But the truth is it is only a Republican talking point used by Republican governors and media. The data shows that mandates / rules do increase compliance not only with vaccines but any enforced rule. It is common sense. But if you want data the police union in NY City was claiming that thousands of cops would quit if forced to vaccinate. But only 34 really were willing to quit. Enough said.
A day the Republicans want to forget entirely, and wipe it from history because it clearly was an insurrection attempt against the US government. The Republicans want people to forget what their supporters did that day so they can try it again and the next time have a successful coup against the peaceful transfer of power. Scottie
Oh yea the right has something to blame Biden for. I guess it was tRump’s fault there was a toilet paper shortage? There is an increased demand for testing due to everyone gathering for holidays and businesses want to test all their employees. This too will work itself out. Scottie
“U.S. financial markets are outperforming the world by the biggest margin in the 21st century,”“…Biden’s first year in the White House the standout among the seven previous presidents, based on 10 market and economic indicators given equal weight.” – https://www.bloomberg.com
Gross domestic product surged at an average annual rate of 5.03% in each of the first three quarters of 2021, and is poised to expand 5.6% for the year based on the average estimate of more than 80 economists surveyed Bloomberg.
Arizona state Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers has proposed Senate Bill 1045 to prohibit medical procedures that affirm the gender identity of children and teens who are transgender.
The law would ban medical staff from performing gender-affirming surgeries on transgender minors as well as prescribing testosterone to transgender men or estrogen to transgender women under the age of 18. Health professionals who do so would be guilty of a Class 4 felony, with a prison sentence of one to three years.
Senate bill 1045 also states that teachers, school staff, and administrators cannot “withhold from a minor child’s parent or legal guardian information related to the minor child’s perception that his or her gender or sex is inconsistent with his or her biological sex.” This would ultimately force teachers and schools to oust trans and gender non-conforming students to their parents, even at the student’s potential peril.
This proposed bill follows suit with a bill that was ushered in Texas in April 2021, one that did not pass during its legislative session.
Leading health care organizations in the state condemned the bill, including the Texas Medical Association, Texas Counseling Association and Texas Pediatric Society. The organizations all say gender-affirming care is the best way to provide care to transgender children. The American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry and others have agreed for years that gender-affirming care is the best path forward for trans youth.
Despite the common misconception, trans youth do not get surgeries either. Gender-affirming surgeries are not performed on anyone under the age of 18 in the United States.
According to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) guidelines for standards of care, a candidate must be age of majority in their given country (18 in the United States), and also must have received 12 continuous months of hormone therapy as appropriate to the patient’s gender goals (unless the patient has a medical contraindication or is otherwise unable or unwilling to take hormones).
Trans youth do not receive surgeries. That is not what gender-affirming care is. Gender-affirming care is more along the lines of social transitioning and hormone therapy, such as the use of puberty blockers (a treatment that is also reversible, if necessary).
Gender-affirming care saves lives
Studies have proven that both hormone therapy and social transitioning have been proven through studies to be beneficial for transgender youth— a group that is at an elevated risk of suicide due to bullying and lack of school social support.
A most recent study in 2021 found that hormone therapy has a positive effect on trans youth, reducing their risk of suicide.
Other studies have found there is a significant inverse association between rendering treatment with pubertal suppression during adolescence and lifetime suicidal ideation among the transgender adults who wanted such treatment. These results align with past literature, suggesting that pubertal suppression for transgender adolescents who wanted it is associated with favorable mental health outcomes.
Another study by the American Academy of Pediatrics reached the exact same conclusion.
It is also important to note that not everyone who is transgender can fully transition or wants to fully transition, either. The trans community often faces significant obstacles to acquiring health care, either due to lack of employment opportunities or to health insurers choosing not to cover vital healthcare procedures for transgender people.
“Access to transgender health care is challenged further by laws and policies across the country that codify myths that the care is risky, cosmetic or monolithic. For example, the federal Medicare program excludes coverage of sex reassignment surgery, deeming it “controversial” and “experimental,” despite decades of research supporting its effectiveness. Exclusions like this one are rampant in the private insurance context, with many large insurance companies excluding all coverage for “sex reassignment treatments” or equivalent care.”
Access to gender-affirming care is quite difficult in most countries, especially in the United States. Conversely, while it’s difficult for people in the trans community to access gender-affirming care, some trans people just want to socially transition, and studies show the benefits of social transitioning.
What is social transitioning and how does it help transgender people?
A social transition involves a child presenting to other people as a member of the “opposite” gender in all contexts (e.g., wearing clothes and using pronouns of that gender).
Previous studies about gender-nonconforming kids who weren’t allowed to transition found they experienced high levels of depression anxiety. A 2017 study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that allowing social transition can be greatly beneficial to the mental health of trans youth.
Another study published in 2018 found that calling a student by their chosen name is linked to reduced depressive symptoms, suicidal ideation and suicidal behavior among transgender youth.
Rogers’ attempted ban on gender-affirming care as detailed by the evidence would lead to more harm than good for gender clinicians and the youth under their trusted hands. Forcing teachers to oust students to their parents and also blocking the beneficial healthcare trans youth see as necessary and vital to their livelihood has been shown to be the antithesis to what will help trans youth.
When a bill similar to the one in Arizona passed in Arkansas (the first one of its kind), one doctor, Dr. Michelle Hutchison, raised the alarm that a bill like Arizona’s SB1045 would lead to more suicide attempts by trans youth — and it turned out to be true. Arkansas saw an increased rate of suicide amongst trans youth immediately after it was passed.
“It is dangerous,” said Ryan Starzyck, a local business owner and former board member of the local LGBTQ group Phoenix Pride. “It is deadly because if (children) don’t have the foundational information, if they have nobody they can turn and oftentimes is the only one they can turn to is the professional at school before, (the legislature) is laying the foundation for students suicides.”
Starzyk also said it reminds him of the bullying he constantly faced in the military for being gay.
Rogers also has proposed a bill to ban trans students from playing sports based on their gender identity, as a way to block trans girls from playing sports. That bill would also mandate a medical review of a student’s anatomy, hormone levels and genetics if the student’s biological sex is disputed while seeking to participate in sports programs at public and private schools, community colleges and state universities.
She authored this bill despite the fact that the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) said that girls in school sports are not facing disadvantages because of their transgender peers, an assertion that flies in the face of the AIA’s policies on transgender athletes.
The scare over trans people in sports is a made up myth to generate outrage. The bathroom scare is losing its ability to gin up rage so they moved on to women’s sports. These people who did not support women’s sports in anyway before are now suddenly the fierce protectors of the women. Reason says the fear of trans women winning all the time leaving other women out is misplace because it is not happening. From the Olympics on down to local sports transwomen are not winning all the contests. They simply are not. Where they do win they spend the time and effort to be better. The funny thing about those who want transwomen banned is they never mention all the times trans people lose, they only make a big deal of the few times a transwoman won. Scottie
A man publicly identified as “John Doe” is suing South Carolina for requiring him to register as a sex offender after his 2001 sodomy arrest for having consensual sex with another man. His case is just the latest example of how anti-sodomy laws continue to harm queer people.
The U.S. Supreme Court declared all sodomy laws as unconstitutional in 2003 in the case of Lawrence v. Texas. However, South Carolina, Mississippi and Idaho all require people who were convicted of sodomy before then to register as sex offenders, even if they move to another of those three states.
Doe’s lawsuit, filed on December 22, says that the requirement violates his Fourteenth Amendment constitutional rights to due process and equal protection under the law.
Registering as a sex offender has harmed Doe’s life, he said. The registry is public and requires a person to “report to the sheriff’s office twice a year and provide detailed information about his residence, his employment status, and every online account he has, in addition to copies of his fingerprints and palm prints,” Metro Weekly reported.
At least 18 other individuals have also been impacted by the law, his suit claims. He wants his name removed from the registry and for others affected by the law to no longer have to register as sex offenders.
Doe’s lawsuit also argues that the state’s anti-sodomy law — which remains on the state’s legal code despite being overturned — is so vague that it could apply to all oral sex as well as anal sex acts.
Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling invalidating sodomy laws nationwide, such laws remain on the books of at least 16 states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas.
The statutes of Kansas, Kentucky and Texas are explicitly aimed at same-sex couples. The laws continue to be cited by police in justifications for sex raids against people having sex outdoors or in private businesses.
Historically, the laws have been used to persecute LGBTQ individuals, subjecting them to intrusion, punishment and public humiliation just for the “crime” of having same-sex relations.
Such laws have also been cited in courts as a pre-text to denying LGBTQ parents custody of children, firing them and denying them jobs as well as discrediting queer voices.
The American Civil Liberties Union has been working to repeal the remaining anti-sodomy laws. The group is also helping represent Doe in court. But repealing the laws has been difficult, as few politicians want to go on record for helping repeal a “sex crime” law, no matter how bigoted or archaic.
I just realized today that if you have not been to the web site of Joe My God that the above blurb doesn’t show on the link. It just shows a one line link. I am sad about that because it saved me a lot of work if it displayed properly. But I guess I will go back to the old way. Best wishes. Scottie.
A Calgary-based street pastor and his brother — both known for being pandemic-denying and anti-mask — have been released on bail following their arrest after a protest outside the health minister’s house, their lawyer confirmed Sunday.
Calgary police say there was a protest in northwest Calgary Saturday afternoon, with about 50 people in attendance, and two had been arrested. Defence lawyer Chad Haggerty says the two people arrested were Artur Pawlowski and his brother Dawid Pawlowski.
Haggerty confirmed the two were arrested after gathering outside Health Minister Jason Copping’s home. A video of the protest, posted on an anti-vaccine and anti-mask Facebook account, shows protest attendees in the residential neighbourhood holding signs and chanting while a helicopter can be seen flying overhead.
Video of the arrest, shared on Pawlowski’s YouTube channel, shows police officers arresting the pastor after pulling him over on a busy highway. Pawlowski referred to one of the officers as a “Gestapo Nazi,” echoing his previous criticism of the government’s enforcement of coronavirus worship restrictions.
When sharing a shortened video of the arrest, Ezra Levant of the pro-Pawlowski outlet Rebel News concluded that Calgary Police “could arrest him at his church or home” or “call his lawyer” and “have her bring him in.” Instead, he contends they chose “this showy spectacle, to terrify him and others.”
Artur Pawloski last appeared on JMG when he was first arrested for defying COVID laws. Pawlowski is fond of blaming natural disasters on God’s anger over LGBT civil rights. He first appeared on JMG way back in 2010 when Canada revoked his then-church’s tax-exempt status for violating laws on political activities by churches.
Jason Kenney is the premier of Alberta province.
All Albertans have a right to protest peacefully. That right does not extend to trespassing at private homes and harassing the families of public officials.
FYI protesters in Canberra at Old Parliament house are a 'sovereign citizen' group with overlapping members in the 'freedom' movement. They've been turning up for the past few weeks. They posted this "trespass" notice on the building doors this week pic.twitter.com/ZDBNDNEbpu
More footage of people watching as a fire consumes the front entrance to Old Parliament House in Canberra. Police and other agencies will have lots of footage to work with as they investigate. https://t.co/xwbhlpB5zM
It has been 100 years and we are still having the same hope. Lets hope this will be the year of decency and civility, reasonable discourse and understanding of reality. What is normal but wanting to live happy and well, wishing the best for others as we hope they are wishing for us. With malice for none but good will toward all. Scottie
My wishes to you and your family for a safe, healthy, science-based new year.
In 2021, we began the slow process of rebuilding our democracy, but our work has just begun. We must continue to remain vigilant of the forces of fascism that seek to undermine this country.
It may seem like the vaccines are doing less to stop Omicron because of the number of breakthrough anecdotes, but the data published by NYC’s DOH today is absolutely gobsmacking pic.twitter.com/XynrHjSlSr
Scottie's Playtime 
If I thought for a moment that Ol’ Al was actually interested in resolving the conundrum of how to do best for kids while in the midst of a pandemic, I’d almost like this cartoon. Except for the idiocy of “allowed” a gender identity. Believe me or not, kids know their gender within months of becoming aware of themselves as being part of the family “pack”. They may not… probably won’t… be verbal about it, and they may very well play dress up to see how it works for them; the canonical example being the kid in a tutu and cowboy boots. Well. Anyway, I’m sure that Al isn’t at all interested in that. He’s on a mission to make liberals seem as stupid and wrongheaded as possible, in every way possible, always. Too bad it only works on people who are already convinced of that. Scottie