“So, if I went back to NBC right now to do something, they would do anything I wanted to do, showbiz-wise, I’m talking about. Doing a show, anything I wanted to do right now, 100%.
“Because one thing I know about that business, and I learned more about that business than anybody else could learn in a short period of time.
“It’s about one thing: ratings. If you have ratings, you can be the meanest, most horrible human being in the world. There’s only one thing that matters: ratings.
“You can be nice, or you can be mean. You can be evil. You can be horrible. You can be crude or elegant. There’s only one thing that matters and that’s ratings.
“If you don’t have ratings, it doesn’t matter.” – Trump, in newly released audio from his interview with author Ramin Setoodeh.
Trump: If you have ratings, you can be the meanest, most horrible human being in the world. There's only one thing that matters. Ratings. You can be evil, horrible, cruel, or elegant. There's only one thing that matters and that's ratings… pic.twitter.com/eOYkHvnp69
Notice the lack of positive response by school staff and teachers. This is what red states want also. They do not want teachers to defend or stick up for students. Force all kids to be straight cis little John and Jane, who harass and harm the LGBTQ+ kids forcing them to hide who they are. Horrible. But hey, they call themselves good Christians. Hugs. Scottie
While Gen Z contains the highest percentage of out-LGBTQ+ people, life is far from a progressive paradise for this age group. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ Gen Z students in the UK are still experiencing queerphobic bullying in schools, some of which comes from teachers and administrators, a new survey reports.
The survey comes from Theirworld, an international children’s education charity, and global research firm YouGov, which polled 545 LGBTQ+ youth ages 16 to 24 in the UK. 47% of respondents said they have experienced bullying from their peers over their sexual orientation, 25% for their gender identity.
Trigger warning: sensitive content
47% of LGBTQ+ youth in the UK have been bullied and/or discriminated against in education because of their sexual orientation, according to our survey 📋
This bullying included verbal abuse (73%), harassment (53%), online abuse (31%), threats of violence (24%), purposeful misgendering (19%), physical abuse (16%) and sexual abuse (15%).
“When I came out as a lesbian in 2013, I had a brick thrown at my face and screamed at that I was a fagg*t,” one survey respondent said. “I was ostracized by my female peers and refused to get changed for PE with them as they would all hide. I am not publicly out as nonbinary.”
“I was added to a group chat of students where I was outed to the full year group and subsequently bullied, called slurs and names daily,” recalled another respondent. “Most teachers ignored the bullying especially if it was in their classroom. They would mock my gender and discuss my identity with other students in a negative way.”
Such negative responses from school staff represented a sobering trend in the data. Of those students who experienced anti-LGBTQ+ bullying, nearly half never reported it at all. 18% reported it once and 30% reported it multiple times. Of those who reported their experiences, 72% said that school staff responded badly.
In the end, more than 1 in 4 LGBTQ+ respondents said they do not view schools as safe for them. “All young people deserve a safe place to learn, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation,” said Theirworld president Justin van Fleet. “However, LGBTQ+ youth face higher rates of bullying and discrimination than their peers in schools around the world.”
Coming in 2024: our LGBTQ+ and Education Task Team! 🌈 This team will stand alongside our climate, health, gender and disability inclusion teams and is open to all #GlobalYouthAmbassadors. Apply to the programme for your chance to champion these issues: https://t.co/9k9433JxWLpic.twitter.com/EAP4YwIUPR
In response to the growing rate of bullying among LGBTQ+ youth, Theirworld has launched a global taskforce to provide increased advocacy. Van Fleet explained, “The task force will focus on issues of safe campaigning in challenging contexts and allow LGBTQ+ youth leaders and their allies to have a powerful platform and network to advocate for more inclusive education policies in communities around the world.”
This is who tRump is, a vindictive kid with a lot of authority who only wants his way, never be corrected, allowed to do anything he wants, be a king, be worshiped and idolized, and punish anyone who displeases him. And the right wing republican Ideologues on the SCOTUS just gave him immunity for doing any of it. We simply must not let him become president. Hugs. Scottie
Former President Donald J. Trump has escalated his vows to prosecute his political opponents, circulating posts on his social media website invoking “televised military tribunals” and calling for the jailing of President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and former Vice President Mike Pence, among other high-profile politicians.
One post that he circulated on Sunday singled out Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman who is a Republican critic of Mr. Trump’s, and called for her to be prosecuted by a type of military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals.
A separate post included photos of 15 former and current elected officials that said, in all-capital letters, “they should be going to jail on Monday not Steve Bannon!” Those officials included Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, Mr. Pence, Mr. Schumer and Mr. McConnell — the top leaders in the Senate — and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker.
Former President Donald Trump canceled an interview with military reporter Mike Gooding after the campaign asked what questions the reporter was going to ask Trump.
Trump held a rally in Chesapeake, Virginia on Friday — the day after a CNN debate with President Joe Biden at which Trump rattled off as many as 50 falsehoods that went unchallenged by the moderators.
During that debate, President Biden also challenged Trump about his reported remarks calling U.S. military casualties “suckers” and “losers” — remarks that were confirmed by Trump’s then-Chief of Staff John Kelly.
Gooding, military correspondent for ABC affiliate WVEC’s 13News Now — was scheduled to interview Trump after the rally. On Friday morning, they even teased the interview on the air.
But when 13News Now’s Preston Steger and Alex Littlehales covered the rally online, they noted that Trump abruptly canceled the interview — after asking for questions in advance:
It was a winding speech, meandering back and forth on a lot of different talking points and policies.
After the rally, 13News Now’s military reporter Mike Gooding was scheduled to interview Trump, but his campaign team canceled the interview after asking Gooding what his questions would be, and telling him there was no more time and Trump only wanted to talk about the debate.
Ahead of Trump’s visit, WVEC covered Virginia Democrats who held a press conference with veterans to denounce Trump over the “suckers” and “losers” remarks.
The Biden campaign flagged the cancellation and tied it to the debate in a campaign memo:
Here are just a few questions Donald is running away from answering – many of which he either dodged or lied about on the debate stage:
Why can’t you commit to accepting the results of the 2024 election?
What do you say to voters who believe that you violated your oath through your actions and inaction on January 6 and worry that you’ll do it again?
What do you say to the service members who you insulted as “suckers” and “losers”?
Do you think women forced to give birth in states with total abortion bans, risking their lives, is still a “beautiful thing”?
13News Now’s reporting doesn’t say what questions Gooding was going to ask Trump, or whether they provided the subject matter for the interview to Trump’s team — although the reporting notes the campaign said “Trump only wanted to talk about the debate.”
Mediaite has reached out to Gooding for comment but has not received a response as of this writing.
CNN HOST PAMELA BROWN: “You’re saying that the teaching of the Bible in the classroom is a must, that every teacher must accept that. The bible includes beheading, rape, and incest. Do you support teaching children about those topics?”
RYAN WALTERS: “I support teaching children our history accurately and what we’ve seen is the radical left and the teachers’ union have driven the bible out of schools.
“You can’t talk about our rights coming from God, as Thomas Jefferson referenced, you can’t talk about Abraham Lincoln talking about being on God’s side in what he does and that inspires him?
“You can’t talk about the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King Jr., who routinely referenced examples from the bible, including from a “Letter from Birmingham Jail”?
“I’m doing the things I’m doing is because of the tenets taught to me by the bible, so it’s essential that our kids understand our history and we’re going to put it back in and the left is going to continue to try to censor our history. Well, we’re not gonna allow it here in Oklahoma.”
BROWN: “Okay, you didn’t answer my question. We’re going to get to the history and everything, and by the way, Thomas Jefferson, he advocated for freedom of religion, actually not the establishment of a religion for one, but are you okay with all teachings of the Bible? If you want to bring it back into the classroom, rape, incest, beheading. Is that acceptable to you?”
WALTERS: “Again, I’ll answer your question, you might not like to answer, but it is the answer. It is our history is referenced, the bible was referenced multiple times in American history. It had a profound influence on American history.
“It was the bestselling book in American history, to not teach that in the classroom is academic malpractice. Our kids have to understand our history and we’re not going to hide that from them.”
BROWN: “Okay, so will you allow teachers to teach all aspects of the Bible? How are teachers supposed to know what of the bible to teach and what of the Bible not to teach? It’s a simple question, given the fact that the bible includes, also, you know, pornographic material, something you’ve come out against and actually took a teaching certificate away from a teacher for giving access to students— pornographic material. That’s in the bible.”
WALTERS: “Yeah, let me be crystal clear. The bible is not on the same plane as Gender Queer and Flamer. These are pornography, the bible is a book that was referenced throughout American history.
“We have academic standards that tell our teachers that you are to talk about the bible in reference to the Mayflower Compact, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” the Declaration of Independence, so these are all very clear.
“It’s very clear from primary sources that these individuals reference history— in our history, they referenced the bible. So look, when it’s historically accurate, we’re absolutely going to include that.
“I mean, think about how absurd it would be to teach about the Pilgrims if you don’t mention their intention for moving to the New World, it’s crucial and we’re not gonna allow the radical left to continue to push a false history on our kids that said that faith played no role, well, just read the history. It’s clearly there.”
The moment that the words “the radical left “comes out of someone’s mouth, I stop listening because I know that they can’t be taken seriously and engaging with them is pointless.
The Bible isn’t history, ours, or anyone else’s. We teach history, including the use of the Bible by historical personages by reading their primary documents. Teach the Mayflower Compact, teach the Declaration of Independence, teach the Letters from the Birmingham Jail, teach On Walden Pond, teach a wide variety of English literature that uses Biblical themes, none of which is teaching “from” the Bible, nor teaching the “full story” of the Bible.
Exactly, the Bible is a tribal scrap book from the bronze age. It contains, myths, legends from various traditions. laws, and strategically placed and conveniently discovered historical forgeries. In our 8th grade Ancient Semitic History class we began learning what the various sources from specific books and verses were. It included spending a lot of time with Gilgamesh and Enkidu before reading the Song of Solomon.
It was an inoculation against the fundamentalism prevalent in Utah.
I don’t think that’s what Ryan Walters has in mind for kids in Oklahoma
“I support teaching children our history accurately…”
Since you can’t really compare the Babble with anything peer reviewed or that can be otherwise corroborated factually, the implication here that using the Babble to teach history to children “accurately” is ludicrous.
Even his attempt to tie the Babble to early American history is pushing the envelope, by a LOT. The hubris alone of automatically implying that a mention of Gawd somehow means specifically the Gawd referred to in his Babble is breathtaking.
“I mean, think about how absurd it would be to teach about the Pilgrims if you don’t mention their intention for moving to the New World,”
Oh yes, go ahead and teach kids how they were religious bigots who thought the Dutch were corrupting their youth and so set sail to establish an intolerant theocracy (see how the puritans treated Quakers as just one example).
I don’t care if Biden is in a wheelchair and shakes like an out of balance washing machine on spin cycle or a tea cup Chihuahua, I will vote for him. The people he puts in positions, in departments, the judges he appoints are far too important to not vote for him. No do not switch him out now, too late, plus the people saying to do it admit they don’t all want the same person to replace him. Regardless of how old Biden is, tRump is a hateful tyrant con man crook. Hugs. Scottie
Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images
Former President Trump, if re-elected, plans to immediately test the boundaries of presidential and governing power, knowing the restraints of Congress and the courts are dramatically looser than during his first term, his advisers tell us.
Why it matters: It’s not just the Supreme Court ruling on Monday that presidents enjoy substantial legal immunity for actions in office. Trump would come to office with a Cabinet and staff pre-vetted for loyalty, and a fully compliant Republican coalition in Congress — devoid of critics in positions of real power.
That’s a big reason many Democrats worry President Biden is making one of the biggest gambles in U.S. history by staying in the race amid acute concerns about his age.
The big picture: Trump promises an unabashedly imperial presidency — one that would turn the Justice Department against critics, deport millions of people in the U.S. illegally, slap 10% tariffs on thousands of products, and fire perhaps tens of thousands of government staff deemed insufficiently loyal.
He’d stretch the powers of the presidency in ways not seen in our lifetime. He says this consistently and clearly — so it’s not conjecture.
You might like this or loathe this. But it’s coming, fast and furious, if he’s elected.
Thanks to Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, Trump could pursue his plans without fear of punishment or restraint.
What to watch: To hear Trump and his allies tell it, this is how early 2025 would unfold if he wins:
1. A re-elected Trump would quickly set up vast camps and deport millions of people in the U.S. illegally. He could invoke the Insurrection Act and use troops to lock down the southern border.
3. He’d centralize power over the Justice Department, historically an independent check on presidential power. He plans to nominate a trusted loyalist for attorney general, and has threatened to target and even imprison critics. He could demand the federal cases against him cease immediately.
4. Many of the Jan. 6 convictscould be pardoned — a promise Trump has made at campaign rallies, where he hails them as patriots, not criminals. Investigations of the Bidens would begin.
5. Trump says he’d slap 10% tariffs on most imported goods, igniting a possible trade war and risking short-term inflation. He argues this would give him leverage to create better trade terms to benefit consumers.
6. Conversation would intensify about when Justices Clarence Thomas, 76, and Sam Alito, 74, would retire.
Lists of potential successors are already drawn up.
President Biden said last month that “the next president is likely to have two new Supreme Court nominees.”
If Trump were to win and the two oldest justices retired, five of the nine justices would have been handpicked by Trump.
Top Democrats privately predict Republican majorities in the House and Senate if Biden loses.
Most of Trump’s most prominent critics — Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, et al. — will be gone. Even the few who remain, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), will be substantially less powerful.
Trump would be backed by an overwhelmingly Trump-friendly Senate and House — loaded with loyalists, top to bottom. Many were elected since his 2016 win, and many thanks to his endorsement.
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) in the spin room after the CNN debate in Atlanta. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
What they’re saying: Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), a top prospect as Trump’s VP, told us Trump would have more allies — and more loyal allies — in Congress this time.
“You have to ask yourself: How many true allies of the agenda existed in the United States Capitol in January 2017, and how many will exist in January of 2025?” Vance told us.
“You have a Republican Party that, in some ways, was divided against itself in January of 2017,” Vance added. “I think now it recognizes that Trump is effectively leader of the party. And you’ll see that in governing style and certainly in agenda,” with “much less infighting between Republicans, which will make us much more effective as a governing coalition.”
The freshman senator said that while Trump was “very much a newcomer to politics” when he ran the first time, he now “understands how to pull the levers of power much better, because he’s coming at this as a subject matter expert.”
The media would investigate, report, and illuminate all of it — but probably with less impact. A second Trump term would start with TV ratings in the tank, mainstream media shrinking, and public attention shattering into dozens of information ecosystems, many built around popular and often partisan celebrities.
So the ability to do more with fewer real restraints is real — and hard to change.
The bottom line: Think of Trump 2025 as a better prepared, much better organized, much more powerful version of Trump 2017 — minus Republican brakes and any mystery about immunity.
Scottie's Playtime 