Randy sent me this. This is what I have been talking about. I hope you will take the time to watch the short one and the 3:31 minute video. Not the most riveting I admit. But it is designed for little kids. Did you spot any mention of the sex of the penguins? In all the book there is only one small hint and little kids won’t notice it. I went looking for it because I wanted to know how so many people were sure the penguins were a same sex couple. One word, one made up word not even in the writings or spoken in the video. Hint it is on the cover of the book. The name of their home and where they baked the cakes. Pengrooms. One other clue is the rainbow colored boards on the tree. Yup for that the book must never be seen or read ever. It is a sin, a horror for kids to see or hear. It is a cute little kids book. Randy informed me that enough people contacted Amazon about the fake negative comments that they were removed.
See it is not about protecting kids, it is not about sexualizing kids, it is not about confusing kids that these people fear and hate. It is about acceptance and tolerance of something different from them that they don’t agree with. To them there is no live and let live. There is no you do your thing and I will do me. To them the world and all in it must be just as they are, do as they do, believe as they believe. And most important worship who they worship. They demand a bland world where only the things they celebrate are seen and heard, where their way is superior to all others.
It is about removing all mention of LGBTQ+ from society. It is about removing everything not straight cis from media of any type. The misnamed one million moms who is one lady with a computer and a printer along with a few thousand followers on social media complains bitterly about any commercial that has even the hint of a same sex couple in it, even a hint. It is hurting the children see. The goal is making sure LGBTQ+ kids, and yes there are LGBTQ+ kids, don’t see or know anyone like themselves anywhere. It is so they don’t feel accepted. They feel they must hide who they are and tell no one. They want those kids who are born different and feel that difference to be deep in the closet and stay there, never to come out and be happy as their true selves. These groups pushing this hate want no anti-bullying programs as they want kids who are different to be picked on, harassed, and beat up. They do not want them accepted by their peers, teachers and fellow students. No they want them beaten up. I know this because one of the co-authors of the Florida don’t say gay bill said it was why he helped write the bill. That gay kids, that trans kids could be accepted by classmates and treated fairly drove him to tears. Yes tears. I saw him weep as he spoke of those kinds of kids finding acceptance in the classroom.
One guy using social media has already gotten a dozen big name companies to roll back and remove their DEI programs and support for the LGBTQ+ including pride merchandise and parades. Because he and the others like him threaten these companies with the threat of accusing them of harming kids and trying to hurt their businesses they give in. One guy is spearheading this but there are others. They are driven to remove us from society, in this guy’s case so his god will love him and give him an afterlife. We need to stand up against this guy and these haters. We have to do that. We must not let them drive the country back to 1950 not even to 1980. We must remain visible and fight for the rights of all of us. We don’t drop a letter here or there from our community to please the haters. We have seen in history they never stop with just the one group, they work to get rid of them all. We must get vocal, we must fight back. Hugs
November 30, 1215 Pope Innocent II, in a papal bull (or major sacred pronouncement of canon law), ordered that Jews, “whether men or women, must in all Christian countries distinguish themselves from the rest of the population in public places by a special kind of clothing.” The rule was interpreted as requiring a badge on clothing as determined by each country. In England, for example, the tablets with the 10 commandments were used. Read more
November 30, 1967 Senator Eugene McCarthy (D-Minnesota) announced that he would run on an anti-Vietnam war platform against President Lyndon Johnson for the nomination of the Democratic Party. McCarthy, though a contender to be Johnson’s running mate in 1964, had since become increasingly disenchanted with U.S. policy toward Vietnam, and opposed the war in his campaign.
McCarthy on the campaign trail
“I am not for peace at any price, but for an honorable, rational and political solution to this war; a solution which I believe will enhance our world position, encourage the respect of our Allies and our potential adversaries, which will permit us to get the necessary attention to other commitments . . . and leave us with resources and moral energy to deal effectively with [the] pressing domestic problems of the United States itself.” Read more, see photosJo Freeman
November 30, 1993 The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act became law. It provided for a waiting period before the purchase of a handgun, and for the establishment of a national instant criminal background check system to be used by firearms dealers before the transfer of any handgun.The law was named for James Brady, President Ronald Reagan’s press secretary, who became a paraplegic after being shot in the assassination attempt on Reagan. Following his recovery, he and his wife, Sarah, became leading proponents of controlling the proliferation of handguns. James Brady watches President Clinton sign the bill
November 30, 1999 Tens of thousands of activists, students, union members and environmentalists demonstrating for global justice shut down the World Trade Organization (WTO) summit in Seattle, Washington. International media coverage ignored both the blockade and the police riot (and an enormous labor-sponsored rally and march), focusing instead on minor property damage committed by a few dozen self-described anarchists. photo Elaine Brière What the protests were about
"after Kennedy and his anti-vaccine organisation visited Samoa in 2019, deaths of two children were falsely attributed to the measles vaccination. Vaccination rates plummeted to 31% and a measles outbreak killed 83 people."
Leviticus 19:4 ESV / Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
Note that these ‘religious leaders’ are literally praying over the golden Trump idol. Proof god doesn’t exist, or they all would have been struck by lightening, maybe drowned in a flood or something.
Make Iron Lungs Great Again!
Yeah, I have no doubt it was a clear choice for these greedy sick fucks and it’s only the beginning. For the peasants not so much.
A Trump-appointed judge just struck down a Biden administration rule that would’ve expanded overtime pay for millions of workers.
This decision keeps workers stuck without fair pay while protecting corporate profits.
The American economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September on strong consumer spending and a surge in exports, the government said Wednesday, leaving unchanged its initial estimate of third-quarter growth
ByPAUL WISEMAN AP economics writer
November 27, 2024, 8:39 AM
The American economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September on strong consumer spending and a surge in exports, the government said Wednesday, leaving unchanged its initial estimate of third-quarter growth.
U.S. gross domestic product — the economy’s output of goods and services — slowed from the April-July rate of 3%, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
But the GDP report still showed that the American economy — the world’s largest — is proving surprisingly durable. Growth has topped 2% for eight of the last nine quarters.
Within the GDP data, a category that measures the economy’s underlying strength rose at a solid 3.2% annual rate from July through September, up from 2.7% in the April-June quarter. This category includes consumer spending and private investment but excludes volatile items like exports, inventories and government spending.
Still, American voters — exasperated by high prices — were unimpressed by the steady growth and chose this month to return Donald Trump to the White House to overhaul the nation’s economic policies. He will be supported by Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of U.S. economic activity, accelerated to a 3.5% annual pace last quarter, up from 2.8% in the April-June period and fastest growth since the fourth quarter of 2023. Exports also contributed to the third quarter’s growth, increasing at a 7.5% rate, most in two years. Still, the third-quarter growth in both consumer spending and exports was lower than the Commerce Department initially estimated.
But growth in business investment slowed sharply on a drop in investment in housing and in nonresidential buildings such as offices and warehouses. By contrast, spending on equipment surged.
When he takes office next month, President-elect Trump will inherit an economy that looks broadly healthy.
Growth is steady. Unemployment is low at 4.1%. Inflation, which hit a four-decade high 9.1% in June 2022, has fallen to 2.6%. That is still above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, but the central bank felt satisfied enough with the progress against inflation to cut its benchmark interest rate in September and again this month. Most Wall Street traders expect the Fed to cut rates again in December.
Wednesday’s report also contained some encouraging news on inflation. The Federal Reserve’s favored inflation gauge — called the personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE — rose at just a 1.5% annual pace last quarter, down from 2.5% in the second quarter. Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core PCE inflation was 2.1%, down from 2.8% in the April-June quarter.
The public still feels inflation’s sting: Prices are about 20% higher than they were in February 2021, just before inflation started picking up
Trump has promised an economic shakeup. On Monday, for example, he vowed to slap new import taxes on goods from China, Mexico and Canada. Mainstream economists view such taxes — or tariffs — as inflationary. That is because they are paid by U.S. importers, who then seek to pass along the higher costs to their customers.
Wednesday’s report was the second of three looks at third-quarter GDP. The Commerce Department will issue the final report on Dec. 19.
___
This story has been corrected to show that consumer spending rose at the fastest pace since the fourth quarter, not the first quarter, of 2023.
NORTHEAST HARBOR, Maine (AP) — When Donald Trump was elected president earlier this month, Caroline Pryor’s mind turned immediately to the man who lives down the road — Leonard Leo.
The success moved Leo out of the shadows, turning him into a hero to conservatives and a villain to liberals. But for his neighbors on a sparsely populated island off the coast of Maine, the equation is more complicated. Leo and his family moved to Mount Desert Island in 2020, seeking a relatively anonymous life among its unpretentious year-round residents. A refuge it has not turned out to be.
The conservative’s presence — despite significant charitable giving to local nonprofits and big spending locally — has generated fissures in a place known for tranquility. That anxiety has only spiked since Trump’s victory.
“It feels very personal,” said Pryor, a 65-year-old who has lived on the island for four decades. “He comes to a small quiet community in the very northeast corner of the country and does this evil, far-reaching work that is going to affect so many millions of people, but he wants to just live this anonymous, quiet life.”
Leo draws protesters
Those feelings were on display on a brisk morning in October, just two weeks before November’s election. With sunlight flickering through the yellowing leaves, Pryor and a dozen other people — mostly women — gathered outside Leo’s estate to protest during the island’s annual marathon.
They came armed with a cartoonish life-sized puppet of Leo, a rainbow arch for runners to pass through and blue and pink chalk with which they scribbled slogans — “You Are Amazing, Leonard Leo Is Not” — across the road. They rang cowbells as a boombox blasted Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift and Queen.
“We are making people on the island aware of who he is, and they might question taking his money,” Mary Jane Schepers, one of the protesters, said as she urged runners to flip off Leo’s home. “They are taking dirty money.”
Leo, in response to a series of written questions, said he “had never really thought about” whether his move to the island would spur opposition.
“While I disagree with them and with what some of them do and say, they are people created by God with dignity and worth and their presence has been an invitation to pray for them,” Leo wrote. He declined an interview request.
Money sparks controversy
Leo, 59, and his family for decades have vacationed on Mount Desert Island, an idyllic island known for its rocky beauty, windswept beaches and the famed Acadia National Park.
In 2018, he purchased a $3.3 million, 8,000-square-foot Tudor-style estate in Northeast Harbor, one of Mount Desert Island’s wealthiest towns. Some of the country’s most influential and wealthy people — scions like John D. Rockefeller Jr., billionaires like Mitchell Rales and celebrities such as Martha Stewart — have sought privacy and anonymity on the island. Backlash swiftly followed Leo’s arrival. The next year, protesters descended on his home as he hosted a fundraiser for Republican Sen. Susan Collins. He soon drew more protests when he was invited to introduce the then-president of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, at a nearby college, leading the institution to rescind the invitation.
The protests grew near the end of Trump’s first term and spiked after the conservative-dominated Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the constitutional right to abortion.
The activist’s initial goal was lofty: Convince Leo to leave. When that failed, they turned their focus to informing residents about the man in the Tudor-style mansion.
“He felt he could come here, and it would be a place to get away” from the negative attention he gets for his politics, said Murray Ngoima, a regular protester. “We have managed to draw attention to what he is doing. And that is a problem for him.”
The protests have compelled Leo to step up security at his estate. A protester was arrested in 2022, a confrontation with police that led to a lawsuit and $62,500 settlement over First Amendment violations.
Amid the protests, Leo has stepped up his charitable giving, telling The Associated Press that the activists have “strengthened our conviction to be as active as possible in helping various institutions on the island.” That has meant tens of thousands of dollars to local nonprofits.
He and his wife, Sally, gave over $50,000 in 2020 to the Island Housing Trust, an organization seeking to boost the amount of affordable housing on the island, according to the trust’s annual giving report that also listed Leo as a member of the group’s leadership committee. They made similar donations over the next three years, trustrecordsshow, consistently ranking them among the group’s top donors. Leo and his wife were also listed as donors to the Mount Desert Island Hospital. The Leos have also been listed as regulardonorsto theNortheast Harbor Library.
Some residents are suspicious of Leo’s donations
Those donations have raised suspicion, with protesters urging the groups to return the money and comparing the donations to the way Leo has used the money to influence Republican politics.
“He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” said Susan Covino Buell, an island resident. “We can’t just act like he is a regular person in our community.”
Buell, 75, resigned her position on the housing nonprofit’s campaign committee when Leo got involved with the charity. She had tried to convince the nonprofit to reject the money “because I just felt it was so tainted,” Buell said.
The trust’s executive director did not respond to the AP’s request for comment.
A group of anti-Leo activists also penned an open letter urging the hospital to return the donation because of Leo’s role in ending federal abortion protections.
Mariah Cormier, a hospital spokesperson, said the institution accepts “charitable donations that aid in strengthening the health and vibrancy of our community.”
Leo dismissed the idea his donations were aimed at buying acceptance from a skeptical community, saying people “can judge for themselves why I do what I do.”
It isn’t just Leo’s philanthropy that is controversial. His business at local establishments presents a quandary for shop owners and service workers. Many said they oppose Leo’s political positions, but they need his money to sustain their enterprises, allowing shops and restaurants that once closed during frigid winters to stay open longer.
Leo is such a sensitive topic that multiple shop owners declined to be interviewed about the wealthy conservative lawyer, explaining they did not want to damage their relationship with him by discussing how his views conflicted with their own and the internal conflict his business causes.
Leo, a devout Roman Catholic, has also used money to influence the island’s Catholic churches.
Sacred Spaces Foundation, a nonprofit that counts Leo as its president and sole member, purchased St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church in Northeast Harbor for $2.65 million in 2023 from the Roman Catholic Bishop of Portland, according to records obtained from the county government. The church now holds one service a week during the summer, when Northeast Harbor is busiest.
Leo is a regular at another parish, Holy Redeemer, a large stone sanctuary in Bar Harbor where his wife is the head of the music ministry. His presence has driven off some longtime congregants, residents said.
Lindy Stretch, an 80-year-old who converted to Catholicism at Holy Redeemer over a decade ago, left the congregation because of what she said was Leo’s growing influence in the church. “I just couldn’t stand to watch that,” Stretch said.
Asked about people leaving the island church, Leo wrote he was “thankful for every person who takes the time to come to Holy Redeemer and is striving to be in union with the church and Christ, regardless of what they do or believe in their private lives.”
’He isn’t going anywhere’
Not everyone is upset about Leo’s Maine move. Though the island’s population is liberal — over 70% of residents voted against Trump in 2024 — Republicans in the state have come to Leo’s defense.
House Republican Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, who represents a district just off the island, excoriated the protesters in an op-ed and heralded Leo in an interview for “sticking to his beliefs and donating to the causes he believes in.”
Those donations have only deepened the opposition to Leo among his most frequent protesters, they said.
Most who gathered in October to protest during the marathon have lost count of how often they have met outside Leo’s estate. They have come so frequently they have a routine — each standing in the same place, chanting the same slogans and waving the same signs.
Though energized, they have come to accept they may never drive Leo from the island.
“He is succeeding,” admitted Bo Greene, a 63-year-old who lives in Bar Harbor, citing the way nonprofits have taken his money. “We are making him uncomfortable, and he hates us,” she said. “But he is still here.”
After the last marathoner had plodded by, the women collected their trash and packed away their puppet and signs before heading home.
A few hours later, it was like they had never even been there.
Not even their chalk slogans on the road remained: Someone had washed them away.
___
AP researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
Again this shows that while the fundie Christians and republican right maga are trying hard to wipe out trans people to then start on the rest of the LGBTQ+, the voters do not support that. Voters support trans people! They keep showing it. The Democrats must come out in force to support the trans population to remain relevant. Look Harris was so very careful never to mention trans people, never voice support for DEI or the LGBTQ+ because they are afraid of the haters. But the DEI and LGBTQ+ supporters are far greater than the haters or fundamentalist Christian theocracies. Hugs
In a major victory for Democrats, first-time candidate Derek Tran defeated Republican Rep. Michelle Steel in a hotly contested Orange County congressional race that became one of the most expensive in the country.
Tran will be the first Vietnamese American to represent a district that is home to Little Saigon and the largest population of people of Vietnamese descent outside of Vietnam.
The race was the third-to-last to be called in the country. As Orange County and Los Angeles County counted mail ballots, Steel’s margin of victory shrank to 58 votes before Tran took the lead 11 days after the election. Tran was leading by 613 votes when Steel conceded Wednesday.
Pete Hegseth, a nominee for Secretary of Defense under Donald Trump, has voiced enthusiastic support for a convention of states, a controversial proposal that has long been championed by far-right groups. Speaking during a promotional interview with his wife in June, Hegseth revealed not only his alignment with the cause but his active participation in its efforts, which included joining Zoom calls dedicated to advancing the movement and named dropped Mark Meckler, a proponent of the movement.
Pete Hegseth
Facebook
A convention of states, enabled under Article V of the Constitution, would allow state legislatures to propose sweeping amendments to the Constitution without Congressional approval. Because this process would allow for the Constitution to be rewritten, critics warn of the potential for chaos and extremism, with the possibility of unraveling fundamental protections enshrined in the Constitution.
Hegseth’s endorsement of the effort aligns with a growing push by far-right activists who hope to capitalize on Republican control in state legislatures. His suggestion that such a convention would become “more relevant than ever” due to the political scrutiny facing Trump underscores the ideological motivations behind this proposal.
Pete Hegseth with Trump
Instagram
The idea of a convention of states is seen by many as a fringe concept that threatens to undermine the delicate checks and balances of the American system, and therefore, is opposed by groups on both sides of the political divide. During a convention of states, far right groups could enshrine a nationwide abortion ban, end marriage equality, and abolish term limits for the presidency which means it could be a path for Trump to serve longer than 4 additional years.
Hegseth’s vocal advocacy for this cause as a potential Secretary of Defense would put him in a position to back decisions made by convention of states with military might. At a time when democracy itself faces numerous challenges, Hegseth’s support for such a radical initiative should give both lawmakers and voters pause about his fitness for a role as critical as Secretary of Defense.
I got up at 4 am. All day I have been setting up posts and helping Ron make a grand TDay dinner. But as I went out to help him, I came back to find my blogging computer had restarted. No problem, as I have a setting that simply reloads the pages from the last 3 days. But … No. For some reason I can not explain everything I had done for the last 3 days was wiped out. I can’t explain it. If it happens again I will have to dump the computer. But really I can not think of anything that could have caused it. But I will try to resurrect the important anti trans post I was writing. Hugs
