This gutted me. What if they are in the hallway, or bathroom and all the doors are locked? This shouldn’t be a reality for these kids. Or anyone. pic.twitter.com/0IVCVslkc2
Are schools to now be prisons instead of learning facilities? Is that what we want as a country for our children while other advanced countries give advanced education, healthcare, and decent living for their children / public. Hugs
I am stunned at how fast and how forceful some religious groups are pushing their demand that everyone live by their church dictates instead of civil law. In One state the pride parade is barely going to be allowed to have a permit after 20 people showed up to push religious reasons to deny the parade permit. They claimed their bible / religious views took priority to any other considerations because of their god / Satan. These people a decade ago wouldn’t have been listened to yet now seem to be calling the shots. In Florida Christian religious views trump all other considerations at town council / legislative meetings. I know in the south a lot of Christian privilege is assumed and there is little you can do right now against it, but it used to never take over the state legislatures. It is terrifying to see how entitled these Christians Taliban are in regulating other people’s personal lives, what other people’s kids can read, what other people’s kids can watch. These religious Taliban are not about keeping their freedoms they are about taking away other people’s freedoms, they are not about being to worship as they believe but about forcing others to follow their churches dictates in what is right or wrong. Hugs
Blistering Democratic opposition couldn’t stop legislation that criminalizes allowing minors into adult shows with “lewd” content from winning Senate approval. The Senate legislation, advancing on a 28-12 party-line vote, doesn’t mention “drag shows.” But (SB 1438) that Clay Yarborough, sponsored, is largely aimed at stopping children from attending those shows.
It authorizes state government officials within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) to suspend or revoke the liquor license of any establishment that admits minors to a live, adult performance. A person who admits a child to such a show would face a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to $1,000 in fines and up to a year in prison.
Democrats believe that the bill could also criminalize public drag shows such as those at outdoor Pride events.
Sen. Clay Yarborough [photo above] first appeared on JMG in 2010, when as a member of the Jacksonville City Council he declared that gays, Muslims, and atheists should not be permitted to hold public office, otherwise God will smite the fuck out of the country. Or something.
“I would say that when I read Romans Chapter 1, I see striking resemblances between where Rome was just prior to its fall in comparison to where America is today. There are striking similarities in what we allow in our societies. Rome did not fall from an outside attack, whether it was military or otherwise. It fell from within because it was morally bankrupt. And I believe we have been treading in that area for a while and the more that we do not embrace that which honors the Lord, we shouldn’t be surprised if the blessings do not continue on our land.”
It comes just one day after GOP Rep Barnaby went on an unhinged, transphobic rant likening trans people to “mutants, demons, and imps” — and GOP leadership remains silent.
Because that same bigotry is animating bills like the Drag Ban that passed in the Senate today.
You should see the parade of young women at the LA Fitness locations here in the Fort Lauderdale area. The women are dressed like something out of Mad Max, strips of clothing barely covering their tits, hanging out all over the place. I don’t object to what they are doing. I’m objecting to the application of one standard at LA Fitness (nothing…kids can go) and drag shows (aunties in drag are being banned).
You’re confused, Caitlin. It’s only embryos/fetuses (esp White ones in ‘merka) that are sacred. After they’re born, fuhgettabout ’em! AR-15 target practice the lot of the lil’ rugrats!
LOL! I am (was) a WASP, but I went to a Catholic college. First time I had (yes, mandated due to course work) to go to mass, I kept thinking, these men are in dresses. With filigree, embroidery, and really ornate hats.
They demand that parents have the right to make medical decisions for their kids, like not vaccinating them, then make it a serious crime to get their child gender affirming care.
GOP: “Parents know best what’s right for their children so government should back off!”
Also GOP: “Our (Republican) government knows better than parents what’s right for children when it comes to drag shows, CRT, education, gender affirming care, rape and pregnancy.”
“When are the sane Floridians going to wake up and do something?“
Probably about the same time that all the sane women in America finally organize to protect reproductive rights….. I’m frankly amazed it hasn’t happened.
The one thing that keeps me hopeful is that, socially, we have not backslid. One could make an argument that social progress is still moving forward. What’s critical is that our straight Allie’s be very awake and stand by us as we beat back these laws. If they “sit this one out” politically, we’re in (deeper) trouble.
Already is undone. Im just shocked at how quickly they are being allowed to take over. Before the feds wake up and realize it, its going to be to late to cut out this cancer
Many years ago (about 30) I was out with my friends at Houston’s pride parade. In addition to the gay and lesbian people you’d expect to see there, there were also a good number of Hispanic families with their kids. I found that odd until a friend told me that this is what Carnaval is like where they are from (including drag queens) so this is just good fun for the whole family to them. They didn’t think they had to shield children from adults in elaborate costumes. They were just putting on a show to entertain the crowd. They got it. I think most Republican leaders get it too. They just need a minority group to bash to distract their base from how sucky their lives are under GQP policies.
The people who habitually groom children into their stupid fucking cult feel they have the right to control others’ freedom of expression, and without any sense of irony, seek to enforce that control by labeling all expression they don’t approve of as “grooming”.
If you REALLY are concerned about children, why not protect them from Ministers and Priests? I mean, if you consider EVERY GAY PERSON a groomer, shouldn’t you consider EVERY Priest and Minister a child diddling monster? Close, or at least tax, the chucrhes.
A man read a passage from the Bible about resisting “sexual immorality.” “You think you are doing things based on laws,” a crying woman said, “but … you are letting Satan in.”
1) We don’t govern based on the Bible.
2) Actually, this is more like letting Satan *out.* :p
OT, but relevant; Back in the day when segregation laws were repealed, white people would just close down all the public pools and fill them in with concrete in order to spite black people. They literally made their own lives joyless in order to prevent other people from having fun as well.
And now that the children of those bigots are being told that reading is not a crime and they have to put all the hidden books back…. they’re doing the same thing and making new rules to just get rid of public libraries altogether.
It’s always the same shit with the Christians. They could quite easily change the channel, not check the book out, not go to the movie, not marry someone of the same sex, not have an abortion, but that isn’t enough. They have to prevent other people from doing things they object to. Newsflash, Christians: your god is losing ground and followers BECAUSE of your annoying and destructive nonsense.
They have their tax-exempt Churches, their schools, home schools, their colleges, their businesses, their radio/TV stations, their internet sites, their Christmas national holiday since 1870, and their cult is protected by the constitution…but that’s not enough, they want to force everyone to join their cult.
Festival organizers have already agreed that there won’t be any drag performances.
Just goes to show it doesn’t matter how may times you make concessions to these maniacs they will not stop until the entire LGBT+ community is erased. I’d go so far as to say that banning drag for fear of being called “groomers” merely encouraged them, and they clearly did not shy away from alleging child sexual abuse, “drag performances” or not.
It’s been said many times, but there’s no hate like christain love.
They claim moral superiority and at the same time overwhelmingly support the most immoral leaders the world has known. They screech about obscenity and at the same time are the most vociferous consumers of porn. They harp on “family values” and at the same time their kids are getting impregnated in middle school, are being beaten by their fathers and are being sexually abused by their clergy. They label us as sexual deviants and at the same time there’s no sexual act that we enjoy that they don’t also engage in. They lie and lie and lie and lie again–claim “gay friends” that they clearly do not have, claim knowledge about us, our lives, our intentions and our activities that they clearly do not hold, and the biggest lie of all–claim that their oppression and marginalization is an expression of love. The glee and schadenfreude that can clearly be seen on their faces every time they succeed at fucking over our community exposes their hypocrisy and treachery.
They may claim to love people like me despite my being an evil sodomite, but I don’t mirror their lie. So I feel free to say that I hate these assholes with the burning heat of a thousand suns. Every time one of these brain-dead morons opens their mouth to mewl about protecting their drooling simpleton brats from people like me, I want to smash their face with a bat. Every obstacle that our community has ever faced can be traced back to the hands of these religious freaks. They cannot die off soon enough for me.
Fuck your god, fuck your families, fuck your values, fuck your churches, fuck your morals and fuck you!
It seems the republican view is that it is OK to break the laws if you are republican. No matter what it seems they give a pass to themselves while wanting everyone else to “take personal responsibility” or “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” Hugs
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (Screenshot/NBC News)
The issue is that Speaker Cameron Sexton (R) represents District 25, which encompasses the community of Crossville, about two hours outside of Nashville. Under the Tennessee Constitution, Sexton can only represent District 25 if he is “a qualified voter of that district.”
A Popular Information investigation uncovered substantial evidence that Sexton and his family lived year-round in Nashville, not Crossville. The piece cited property records, school enrollment, and the observation of his neighbor in Crossville. Sexton’s office, however, did not respond to a request for comment.
After yesterday’s story was published and spread rapidly online, Sexton did communicate with Phil Williams, a high-profile Tennessee reporter. Williams reported that “Sexton argues, as Speaker, he has to be in Nashville so often that it’s easier to have his family here.” So now we know the answer to the question: Sexton, and his family, live in Nashville.
In addition to not living in Crossville, Sexton has also not paid his property taxes on his two-bedroom condo in Crossville for the last two years, according to the Cumberland County website.
Under Tennessee law, “[t]he place where a married person’s spouse and family have their habitation is presumed to be the person’s place of residence.” So, now that Sexton admitted he and his family live in Nashville, there is a presumption that Sexton also resides in Nashville for the purpose of voting registration. That would make his representation of District 25 unconstitutional since he wouldn’t be “a qualified voter of that district.”
The presumption can be rebutted if “a married person who takes up or continues abode with the intention of remaining at a place other than where the person’s family resides is a resident where the person abides.” But Sexton does not “abide” in Crossville while his family lives in Nashville. Sexton, by his own account, lives with his family in Nashville.
According to Williams, Sexton also cited a different section of Tennessee residency law, which states, “a person does not gain or lose residence solely by reason of the person’s presence or absence while employed in this service of… this state.” The issue, however, is not the time Sexton is in Nashville during the four-month legislative session or other official business. The issue is that he lives there year-round, whether or not he is conducting legislative business.
According to the 2022 House Ledger Sheet, for example, Sexton reported working on official business just 42 days outside of the four-month legislative session. But when he is not conducting official business, Sexton still appears to live in Nashville.
John Spragens, an attorney in Tennessee who litigates election law issues — including residency challenges — agreed that there were legitimate issues about whether Sexton was a legal representative of his district. “Residency for voting purposes involves several factors, but someone could easily conclude that Sexton is living in Nashville,” Spragens said. “He’s not the first speaker to do that — just the first to expel members while his own house is not in order.”
Spragens added that, at the moment, “the legislature is the sole arbiter of any member’s qualifications, so it’s up to [Sexton’s] colleagues to decide whether he or any representative should be expelled.” Spragens said that Sexton’s residency could be challenged in court if he runs for reelection.
Gary Blackburn, an attorney who has practiced law in Tennessee since the 1970s, said that what Sexton is doing “violates the obvious spirit of this law” and is “contrary to the intent of the statute.” Blackburn said, however, that enforcement may be difficult because of vague language in the residency statute. Nevertheless, according to Blackburn, the issue of Sexton’s residency is “worthy of public discussion.” He agreed that Sexton could face a court challenge in any subsequent run for office.
As I look into the mirror, shaving a greyed beard from a face lined by time and trouble, I remember a younger face once looking at me from this very glass with similarly sad eyes. A boy of dirty elbows and skinned knees, and behind that perpetually down-cast sight beat a heart filled with impotent rage. I knew my life was wrong, it was unfair, and it was a hot mess of a kid staring back from the mirror that reported horrible things filled with quiet unshed rage and denial of every truth that came anywhere near. At that younger time, I was pure lethality with a gun. I made a game of being able to spin the cap off a bottle without breaking the bottle by just nicking the side with the bullet, but I enjoyed the explosions of the shattering glass when I missed. Like many kids, I relished the wanton destruction, the control of continued existence or the end of that bottle. I felt powerful, skilled, and capable in a world where otherwise I foundered at the whim of forces I felt incapable of withstanding, weak, ineffectual.
If you have never held a gun, you know not the thrill of life, nor of death. For many a gun is the mark of independence, the goal of maturity, the status symbol of greatness. Instead, a momentary pull of a finger decides an accident of foolishness or the demands of a spurned heart and the most intimate of actions lets one be alive still and another not so very much. It is horror and excitement and at no point does the heartbeat slowly for any involved. It is but for targets, some may say, but what is target practice but the refinement of the skills necessary to kill that which you intend great harm? Some say it is an act of freedom to hold the means to life and death in your hands, but whose life, whose death? And why is the ability to take a life a definition for freedom?
From the tenor of this post, many would think I am against gun ownership. To be fair, I couldn’t care less if someone owns a gun. I similarly don’t care if someone owns a pit bull, a monster truck, or wants to live life as a raging karen. It is the unmitigated gall, the pretentious and pompous attitude that one’s ownership of a gun shall not be infringed, even in the misuse and mishandling. Bill upon bill has come before congress, requesting the mere modicum of relief to those of us unwilling to be set upon by others unfettered 2nd amendment rights, only to wither in committee, shot down by the special interests lobby. How sad a people who have decided money is far more important than the life of a school child.
I often wonder if Dylan Thomas knew about the lure of guns when he wrote “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at the close of the day.” When imagined and closeted monsters come and seek to take all that we hold precious, when fear and anger burn so bright as to risk all that is dear, do hold tight to that instrument of power, that wand of courage that burns away the dark and sends the monster back into the closet? But power is fickle, isn’t it? It isn’t only our own fear, our own rage that dispels in the smoke of a smokeless powder concussion. Quiet little sparks in Uvalde, in Sandy Hook, splashed out little stars in last moments of terror. And as those little lives fade, do you wonder if their last thoughts are to be thankful that old men may rage, that young men may rage? Hold on to your fear, gentlemen, do hold on to your fear if that is all you have left.
Don’t be sad, little ones. It’s just the cost of doing business. You understand, don’t you?
Remember this is the same person Tildeb uses as an authority against trans people. Ragnarsbhut just recently used the arguments pushed by this guy and his cohorts to attack vaccines, especially covid vaccines specifically. Hugs
The surgeon general’s guidance against the vaccine for young men ignored results showing infection was a greater risk for cardiac-related deaths.
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, left, speaks at a news conference with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022. State officials removed data from a state analysis of cardiac-related deaths that Ladapo used in October to justify his recommendation that young men should not get the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The missing data showed that catching the virus created a far higher risk of a heart-related death. [ WILFREDO LEE | AP ]
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced in October that young men should not get the COVID-19 vaccine, guidance that runs counter to medical advice issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
His recommendation wasbased on a state analysisthat showed the risk of cardiac-related deaths increased significantly for some age groups after receiving a vaccine. It has been criticized by experts, including professors and epidemiologistsat the University of Florida, where Ladapo is employed as a professor.
Now, draft versions of the analysis obtained by the Tampa Bay Times show that this recommendation was made despite the state having contradictory data. It showed that catching COVID-19 could increase the chances of a cardiac-related death much more than getting the vaccine.
That data was included in an earlier version of the state’s analysis but was missing from the final version compiled and posted online by the Florida Department of Health. Ladapo did not reference the contradictory data in a release posted by the state.
The Times’ records request asked for all previous versions of the state analysis made public on Oct. 7. The documents show that, before the final version was released, at least five drafts had been produced. One version included a data table showing the number of cardiac-related deaths from infection. The conclusion in four of the drafts provided a counterpoint to Ladapo’s assertion about the vaccine.
Four epidemiologists who reviewed the drafts said the omission is inexplicable and flawed from a scientific standpoint. They said that, based on the missing data, Ladapo’s recommendation should be rescinded.
Matt Hitchings, an infectious disease epidemiologist and professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida, said it seems that sections of the analysis were omitted because they did not fit the narrative the surgeon general wanted to push.
“This is a grave violation of research integrity,” Hitchings said. “(The vaccine) has done a lot to advance the health of people of Florida and he’s encouraging people to mistrust it.”
The surgeon general and the state’s health department have frequently questioned the safety of messenger ribonucleic acid or mRNA vaccines developed to counter COVID-19. Last year, Florida became the first state to recommend against vaccines for healthy children and it was the only state to not preorder coronavirus vaccines for children under 5.
Ladapo declined to answer specific questions about why the data showing the higher risk to Floridians from infection was removed. In an emailed statement, he said that he stands by his guidance and that this is not the first time he has faced criticism for his approach to COVID-19.
“As surgeon general, my decisions continue to be led by the raw science — not fear,” he said. “Far less attention has been paid to safety of the COVID-19 vaccines and many concerns have been dismissed — these are important findings that should be communicated to Floridians.”
“It is irresponsible to roll over and allow the pharmaceutical companies to dictate health guidance that allows them to line their pockets when public health officials experience the severity of the impacts firsthand in their communities,” Ladapo said in his statement. The court has yet to take any action.
The published eight-page state analysis linked data from Florida’s reportable disease repository known as Merlin, the Florida State Health Online Tracking System, and death records from the state’s vital statistics bureau.
It examined cases of adult Floridians who died within a 25-week period from the start of the vaccination roll-out in December 2020 and detailed deaths occurring within 28 days of receiving a vaccination.
It reported that there was only a “modest” increased risk from the vaccine except for males ages 18 to 39, where it found an 84% higher incidence of cardiac-related deaths.
Ladapo cited that number in the state’s nonbinding recommendation, saying the “abnormally high” risk of cardiac complications from a COVID-19 shot “likely” outweighs the benefits of vaccination.
That finding was based on 20 deaths, too small a sample size for such a far-reaching conclusion, according to a column by four University of Florida epidemiologists that highlighted concerns and flaws with the analysis. The scientists also noted that Ladapo’s finding was not backed up with clinical data proving that the cause of deaths fits the criteria.
Further, the data on the risk of infection omitted from the published report shows that catching COVID presents a far greater risk for that same age group.
For Floridians ages 18 to 24, the incidence of cardiac-related deaths from infection was more than 10 times higher than from the vaccine and more than five times higher for ages 25 to 39. That data was not broken down by sex.
The state epidemiologists who worked on the report also arrived at a different conclusion than Ladapo, the drafts suggest.
“The risk associated with COVID-19 infection clearly outweighs any potential risks associated with mRNA vaccination,” one version states.
“The small risk associated with mRNA vaccination should be balanced against the much larger risk associated with COVID-19 infection,” another version says. A similar sentence appeared in the published conclusion but the “much larger” modifier had been removed.
The state’s analysis was also criticized for not including a sensitivity analysis, a method of proving that the results remain consistent even when changing some of the assumptions used in the calculations.
A sensitivity analysis was present in three versions of the draft and suggests that the increased risk for young men from the vaccine is not significant, said Jonathan Laxton, a physician and assistant professor of medicine at the University of Manitoba.
“It’s a double check that didn’t confirm that finding,” Laxton said.
Faculty at the University of Florida’s College of Medicine, including Hitchings, circulated a report in January that was critical of the published analysis. It characterized the research and the subsequent recommendation as being of “highly questionable merit” but concluded it did not rise to research misconduct.
David Norton, UF vice president for research, said in a statement that because Ladapo oversaw this research in his role with the state and not in his role as a faculty member, UF’s Office of Research Integrity, Security and Compliance “has no standing to consider the allegations or concerns regarding research integrity” mentioned in the report.
After reviewing the draft reports, Hitchings said the final analysis is akin to academic dishonesty.
“You can call it a lie by omission,” he said.
The downplaying of the elevated risk of cardiac-related deaths from infection remains the biggest concern for Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The state has denied Floridians the information they need to make an informed decision on the vaccine, she said.
“As a scientist, and as a parent, it would be important for me to know the cardiac risk from COVID versus that of the vaccine,” she said. “That context is huge — and it’s gone.”
At that younger time, I was pure lethality with a gun. I made a game of being able to spin the cap off a bottle without breaking the bottle by just nicking the side with the bullet, but I enjoyed the explosions of the shattering glass when I missed. Like many kids, I relished the wanton destruction, the control of continued existence or the end of that bottle. I felt powerful, skilled, and capable in a world where otherwise I foundered at the whim of forces I felt incapable of withstanding, weak, ineffectual. 
and the most intimate of actions lets one be alive still and another not so very much. It is horror and excitement and at no point does the heartbeat slowly for any involved. It is but for targets, some may say, but what is target practice but the refinement of the skills necessary to kill that which you intend great harm? Some say it is an act of freedom to hold the means to life and death in your hands, but whose life, whose death? And why is the ability to take a life a definition for freedom?
It is the unmitigated gall, the pretentious and pompous attitude that one’s ownership of a gun shall not be infringed, even in the misuse and mishandling. Bill upon bill has come before congress, requesting the mere modicum of relief to those of us unwilling to be set upon by others unfettered 2nd amendment rights, only to wither in committee, shot down by the special interests lobby. How sad a people who have decided money is far more important than the life of a school child.
do hold tight to that instrument of power, that wand of courage that burns away the dark and sends the monster back into the closet? But power is fickle, isn’t it? It isn’t only our own fear, our own rage that dispels in the smoke of a smokeless powder concussion. Quiet little sparks in Uvalde, in Sandy Hook, splashed out little stars in last moments of terror. And as those little lives fade, do you wonder if their last thoughts are to be thankful that old men may rage, that young men may rage? Hold on to your fear, gentlemen, do hold on to your fear if that is all you have left. 
Scottie's Playtime 