House Republicans Cite Noah’s Ark In Motion Backing Texas Using Circular Saws, Razor Wire On Rio Grande

 

The Houston Chronicle reports:

More than 20 members of Congress want to join a federal lawsuit to help protect Gov. Greg Abbott’s buoy barrier in the Rio Grande, referencing Noah’s Ark and questioning if the river can be considered a “navigable waterway” despite being the fourth largest river in North America.

In a motion filed on behalf of U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Lubbock, and other GOP members, lawyers for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation have asked to be part of the case and targeted how a key law is interpreted in it.

The U.S. Justice Department sued Abbott last month for deploying a 1,000-foot buoy barrier in the Rio Grande without first getting permission from the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers as required by the federal Rivers and Harbors Act.

From their amicus brief:

Indeed, if one takes the Book of Genesis literally, then the entire world was once navigable by boats large enough to carry significant amounts of livestock. Under the federal government’s theory, these anecdotes would render any structure built anywhere in Texas an obstruction to navigation subject to federal regulation.

Arrington was among the 126 Republican House reps who voted to overturn the 2020 election.

 

Send the goddamn Army Engineers to turn that shit into a scrap pile TODAY

The cruelty is always the point. And the point is always pointless. By their lack of reason, anytime there’s a flood, no one can do a thing about it, because Noah has an ark.

“Indeed, if one takes the Book of Genesis literally….”

Well, we have a problem already because no rational person takes those stories literally.

Indeed, if one takes the Book of Genesis literally, then drunken incestuous impregnation is a handy way to perpetuate the human race.

Dumb Idiot Ham has something like this in his putrid attractions. There’s a placard at his “museum” claiming that it was OK for anyone to commit incest back then because it was a way for humans to produce children like rabbits in the mythical Pre-Flood world.

 

To be certain, had Noah’s family been the only surviving one, then humanity would’ve quickly inbred itself out of existence.

From that same book in their bible they’re always so fond of quoting to condemn LGBT’s,

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

The evangelicals cherry-pick Bible verses that seemingly justify their own cruelty. Verses about welcoming strangers are ignored.

If we’re going to use the Bible to justify drowning and killing people looking for a better life, it’s important to remember that Jesus first and foremost commanded us to treat others as we want to be treated. Moreover, the Bible is full of verses telling us we should help the poor, needy, and strangers.

None of the things you mention there seem very christian, not in my experience. All I remember is bootstraps, poor people are bad and queers rot in a lake of fire for eternity. They are quite adamant about all of that. Then it gets weird.

 

Most of the stuff that the fundies rally around is from the Old Testament, even though Jesus said to ignore all the old teachings (which is why the Christians think it’s okay to eat pork).

Yes, but cherry pickers ignore those bits, especially if the strangers are the wrong color

again

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Yet another reason why every time Texas whines about seceding, I wish they’d put their money where their mouth is

That state is like a petulant child that is always threatening to run away from home but never does for all the obvious reasons.

An independent state of Texas would last for about 15 minutes. Then the power would go out and the cartels would take control. Texas would be reabsorbed into Mexico. Past is prologue.

 

I don’t think Mexico wants them either.

The Texas Republicans have gerrymandered and dirty tricked their way into staying in power, even though they don’t actually have majority support anymore. It’s a very divided state that remains in the hands of lunatics, for now. Eventually the majority will just be too big to suppress anymore, and it will flip.

 

Conroe ISD trustee argues displays of racial inclusivity and pride in classrooms should be removed

https://abc13.com/conroe-isd-trustee-melissa-dungan-racial-inclusivity-at-schools-pride-flags/13628737/

Who thought these types of self entitled people who have seen a sudden rise in the power of their bigotry would stop at just erasing positive messages of the LGBTQIA.  Well these right wing bigots are also racist.  Please tell me how teaching kids to be nice to each other and work together is an ideology that must not be taught?  What they really are saying is it is against the conservative right wing maga way to push white cis superiority.    Just as they hate the pride flags and demand that any positive anti-discrimination against the LGBTQIA be removed from school, they are now saying that a poster showing inclusion of non-white people is traumatizing to their white snowflake children.  Yes that is correct, black kids sharing a school and activities with white kids is unacceptable.  It is an ideology just like rainbow flags.  No shit.  This is what the school board member said after a parent complained about it.  In 2023 we have white people saying in public school we shouldn’t have mixed race positive messages, and we should allow the terrorizing and bullying of gay, lesbian, and trans kids because they don’t like them.  I warned everyone this was their next step, DeathSantis along with the Huckabeast in Arkansas trying to outlaw the teaching of the real brutality of slavery / racism in the US history is just an opening to try to return the country to the open racism of the 1950s.   Hugs 

 

https://abc13.com/video/embed/13628602

Thursday, August 10, 2023
 
 
 
Conroe ISD debates what items can be displayed in classrooms
 
 

A trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms. Now, she’s arguing to remove displays of racial inclusivity and pride.

CONROE, Texas (KTRK) — Some Conroe ISD trustees want to crack down on displays of racial inclusivity and pride, saying they represent, “symbols of personal ideologies.”

One trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms.

School officials against this say a policy prohibiting political displays, not related to curriculum, already exists. The trustee who brought this forward didn’t realize that.

When it was brought to her attention, the trustee said she wants that policy to go further. Citing “a number of parents reaching out to her about supposed displays of personal ideologies in classrooms,” Melissa Dungan asked her fellow board members to crackdown on them.

“I wish I was shocked by each of the examples that were shared with me, however, I am aware these trends have been happening for many years,” Dungan said.

When pressed to share one of those examples, Dungan referred to a first grade student whose parent claimed they were so upset by a poster showing hands of people of different races, that they transferred classrooms.

“Just so I understand, you are seriously suggesting that you find objectionable, a poster indicating that all are included,” Stacey Chase, another trustee, said.

Dungan wouldn’t say whether she found that poster objectionable, just that she wants to avoid “situations like that” by having the board adopt stricter standards and adhere to state policies already in place, prohibiting teachers from displaying political items not relevant to curriculum.

Another trustee even asked if the poster was illegal and went on to claim previous displays of pride flags were.

“We do have violation of this law,” Misty Odenweller said.

 

When asked if bible verses were also in violation of existing policy and should be removed, Dungan struggled to respond.

“Right? Would you agree?” trustee Datren Williams asked Dungan.

“I don’t know,” Dungan replied.

 

Somehow, I think it was really the parent who was traumatized at seeing the poster.

This is why you don’t give these very dramatic, very racist people an inch.

Exactly. What’s next? What if the child was “traumatized” by seeing Black classmates or Black teachers? Then what?

These bigots have been emboldened by Trump, Abbott, DeSantis, and others, to publicly and proudly promote their racism. They are horrible people and should be publicly shunned.

One trustee says a child was traumatized by a poster showing different colored children holding hands and had to switch classrooms

And they call us snowflakes…

I assume they are not singing “Jesus loves the little children” in Sunday School there.

(“Jesus loves the little children,
all the children of the world.
Red and yellow, black and white,
all are precious in his sight…”)

Sesame Street scares them, doesn’t it?

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These days, it does actually. The fascist fucks have been trying to get shows like Sesame Street canceled.

These days? They were trying to cancel it from day one for its depiction of children of different races/ethnicities interacting.

Imagine if they saw the Mr. Rogers episode where he and his Black mailman friend both dipped their feet into a kiddie pool to cool off on a hot, summer day. The horror!

Conroe is a northern suburb/exurb of Houston. It’s not exactly the boonies but on the edge of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the US and according to many sources the most diverse city in the US. People who think of race as black/white need to visit Houston where there are people from pretty much everywhere in the world where there are humans. Conroe, however, is about 72% white and as is typical in the outer burbs, these are people who fled Houston because they freaked out when an Indian or Chinese family moved in next door.

If children are being traumatized by posters showing inclusion, I’d take a good hard look at the parenting style of their fucking parents.
Flags, all red.

DA ‘TOONS … THEY JUST KEEP ON COMING!

Hey everyone.  I know I am late to the party as they say on a lot of posts, but as I work my way through the backlog of fellow posters whose content I love, Jill again made a post I want to share.  Even if everyone already seen it, the cartoons are so spot on, Jill’s post deserves another viewing.   Hugs

TYT: A Fallen Empire

This is long, and maybe too long for most people.  It took me three days to watch it all.  But it is even handed, it is informative, it is well documented, and it is truly how I and so many feel.   I loved TYT, but about the time Cenk decided to run for office and gave a lot of control over the company / show to Anna, I noticed a shift / change in both hosts and the company direction.  Cenk became very bitter and anti-democratic party, while Anna became overly more assertive on every show.  When Cenk came back so bitter from being what he felt was unfairly treated by the democrats but others felt was him trying to claim a position without doing the work others had done before him Anna started talking over him, interrupting him, not letting him finish his sentences.  But at the same time if he tried to interrupt her she got very vocal about it and wouldn’t tolerate it.  She was now in charge and she wanted the world to know it.  It showed how she felt about her position, she had the authority and say, so don’t disagree with her.  That was very off-putting for me a long time viewer and supporter of the show.   But then Cenk’s constant vitriol against the Democratic Party started to interfere with his reporting on Biden.  Right from the start he wanted Biden to do the impossible and when he did not Cenk couldn’t even give him credit for what he did get accomplish.  Cenk being a bombastic fighter spent two years demanding Joe Biden attack and call out Joe Manchin and pushed for the most virulent attacks on him.   Which would have lost the democrats the control of the Senate and stopped any left leaning judge appointments.  Then Cenk got more bitter towards Biden and other progressive members of congress who did not throw the disruptive bombs he wanted to destroy the party, so he openly attacked the very groups he started along with attacking all progressives.  What crossed the line for me what his attacks on Biden and openly trying to promote primary challengers to him talking up fringe candidates, knowing historically any time a sitting president was primaried they lost, giving the other party the win.  He did not care, his bitter anger was more important to him.  He kept up his now constant attempts to tear down Biden to the point he is doing the work of a republican challenger for president.   I wrote that when I canceled my long time membership, that Cenk was doing the work of the Republican Party in tearing down and maligning Biden.  This hard right turn of Anna’s and Cenk’s weirdly not even willing to listen to any criticism of her was the last straw for me.  He is not even really addressing the issue that Anna made as the start of this problem, and keeps misrepresenting it.   If Anna wants to be called woman that is great, if trans women demand to be called women that is great and everyone would do as they ask.  But there are transmen with parts that medical people need to address and that are on medical forms / question forms.  It was pointed out so often that no one in conversation referred to Anna as a “birthing person” but she still took offense to the term even existing.   She was demanding a medical term to be inclusive not exist because she felt it diminished her as a female.  Total right wing maga fundamentalist thinking.  This is entirely a case of two people drinking their own Kool-Aid on their own importance and getting called out for it.  Their egos have gotten in the way of the work they were doing.  I can no longer support them as they are, and I hope people will watch this well researched and documented video.   Hugs 

Cenk Uyger, Ana Kasparian, and The Young Turks have had a history of scandals and controversies throughout the existence of the network. I want to talk about that history, as well as the events leading up to their recent meltdowns on the podcast circuit and Twitter.

Library with plaque honoring Michelle Obama attacked by Trump-loving vandals

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/11/library-plaque-honoring-michelle-obama-attacked-trump-loving-vandals/

Christ like anyone?    Hugs


Library with plaque honoring Michelle Obama attacked by Trump-loving vandals
Michelle Obama (ABC News)
 

According to a report in the Washington Post, a “Little Free Library” bearing a plaque honoring former First Lady Michelle Obama has been continuously under attack by Trump-loving vandals.

 

The reports states that the library, set up outside at home at 16th and Q streets in Northwest Washington, D.C. since early 2017, has had its glass broken and the name “Trump” scrawled upon it.

“Little free libraries” dot the country, looking like birdhouses and containing books that anyone can borrow, read and replace.

According to Maureen Dolan-Galaviz, who erected the library, she can’t understand why anyone would vandalize the library which bears the plaque stating, “In Honor of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama. Lawyer, writer, and First Lady of the United States.”

“Who would do that?” Dolan-Galaviz said in an interview. “If there is one thing that should be off limits it’s the idea that we all deserve access to books.”

“I’ve never seen the vandal,” said neighbor Debby Hanrahan, 79. “None of us have time to stand guard and protect it.”

“We are a neighborhood of writers and readers,” she added. “For somebody to have something out for a little library, I just can’t fathom it.”

According to the report, police haven’t received any reports about the vandalism, with locals attributing the attacks to racism.

You can read more here.

A few thoughts before I do the weekly Sunday cleanings on the computers. This morning I scrambled to get through two windows of a combined total of 78 tabs, so I wouldn’t lose them due to cleaning. Hugs

TRUMP “ATTACKED!!” | Armageddon Update | Christopher Titus

Killing Affirmative Action Wasn’t Enough, Now Conservatives Are Coming for Black Women Entrepreneurs

https://www.theroot.com/killing-affirmative-action-wasnt-enough-now-conservati-1850708952

The article link is from Ali, thank you Ali.  The court ruling was all about racism, returning the more affluent whites back to the preferential position while denying underprivileged people of color a higher education.  The end result is classes of mostly or all white people going on to lead businesses or large law firms leading to political power and people of color being regulated to lower income labor servitude jobs.  The 1950s all over again.  It is an attempt by racists to make a white power nation continue.   Hugs


The right-wing activist behind SCOTUS’ Affirmative Action decision is now attacking a venture capital fund that supports Black women-owned small businesses.

 
 
ATLANTA, GA - APRIL 07: (L-R) Tobey R. Sanders, actress Keisha Knight Pulliam, and Arian Simone attend the “Festival of Laughs” tour at Philips Arena on April 7, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia.
 
ATLANTA, GA – APRIL 07: (L-R) Tobey R. Sanders, actress Keisha Knight Pulliam, and Arian Simone attend the “Festival of Laughs” tour at Philips Arena on April 7, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia.
 
Photo: Paras Griffin (Getty Images)
 

Clearly, making it harder for Black and Latino kids to get into college wasn’t far enough for the man behind the Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision. Now, he’s coming after Black women with small businesses.

 

On Wednesday, the nonprofit American Alliance for Equal Rights filed a lawsuit against an Atlanta-based venture capital fund that supports Black women and other minority-owned small businesses. The nonprofit was founded by none other than right-wing crusader Edward Blum, who has made it his mission to destroy affirmative action.

The lawsuit filed against the Fearless Fund alleges that the fund is “operating a racially-discriminatory program” in violation of the Civil Rights Act. The Fearless Fund was founded by three Black women — executive Ayana Parsons, actress Keshia Knight Pulliam, and entrepreneur Arian Simone.

As their website notes, less than 2.2.% of all Venture Capital funding goes towards women-founded businesses, and less than 1% of total funding goes towards businesses founded by women of color. And yet, for some reason, folks like Blum are convinced this number should be even lower.

 

It’s worth noting that Blum and his team are clearly riding high from Supreme Court’s affirmative action decision. In fact, they cite it at the top of their lawsuit.

 

Even before this lawsuit, conservatives were looking for ways to weaponize the Supreme Court’s decision in the workplace. In July, 13 Republican attorneys general wrote a letter demanding that Fortune 100 companies stop their affirmative action programs.

The Root spoke to legal experts, who said that as it stands, nothing in the Supreme Court’s decision makes affirmative action within the workplace illegal:

Amalea Smirniotopoulos, NAACP Legal Defense Fund Senior Policy Counsel, says that these Republican attorneys general are trying to make the Supreme Court’s affirmative decision about something it’s not.

“This was another attempt to chill completely lawful efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion by corporations,” says Smirniotopoulos. “By really trying to stretch the meaning of the decision in the Harvard and UNC cases and frankly by also restating things that have always been true about discrimination law and employment.”

However, they agreed that this didn’t make these arguments any less of a threat to diversity efforts in the office:

“This letter is a scare tactic,” says University of New Mexico Constitutional and Employment Law Professor Vinay Harpalani. “And unfortunately, it’s a pretty good one.”

Although the Supreme Court decision didn’t touch on hiring practices, Harpalani says that conservatives will certainly try to use it as a basis for challenging race in employment. “The law, as it is now, allows affirmative action in employment,” says Harpalani. “But if the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, I’m not at all confident that they would continue to allow it.”

The immediate threat is that companies begin to back-away from DEI programs, said Justin Hansford, Executive Director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center at Howard University.

 

“Some of these companies weren’t really doing that much anyway… and what they were doing was done only under pressure,” says Hansford. “This could be an excuse for some companies that already didn’t want to push the envelope on diversity to start walking things back.”

As for the lawsuit against Fearless Fund, an obvious concern is that it could scare off investors who might otherwise want to similarly invest in women of color. However, it’s still too soon to say (especially in this climate) whether the case has legs.

 

‘Push Them In The River’ Texas’ Crimes Against Humanity?

Matt & David talk about horrifying allegations of abuse of migrants at the US/Mexico border.

THIS Right Wing Grift Is INSANE | HasanAbi reacts