Republicans are frantically working to make it harder for young people to vote as Gen Z has turned out for Democrats in record numbers. Idaho Republicans are banning student IDs to vote while Texas Republicans proposed banning voting centers on campuses. https://t.co/SZ9piZkDPV
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 15, 2023
community values** are reflected in each school library catalog in the district
**Some exclusions apply
Gay, trans, Black, Muslim, non-Christian community member’s values will not be reflected – or even acknowledged.
Also, Missouri has out-uglied Texas.
In Missouri, the Republican-controlled House on Tuesday approved a budget that completely defunds public libraries. The move came in response to an ACLU lawsuit filed by the Missouri Association of School Librarians and the Missouri Library Association, challenging a recent law that bans certain books. The measure has led to the removal of over 300 books from school libraries — many with LGBTQ characters and social justice topics. Missouri Democrats have denounced GOP censorship
For adults. This is not about protecting children, it is about wiping out a group of people that the religious right doesn’t like. It doesn’t fit their view of the world created by their god. So the right doesn’t just live and let live, these religious right groups force everyone to live by their church doctrines. Hugs
Attorney General Andrew Bailey announced plans to restrict health care for transgender people weeks ago, when protesters rallied at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to pass a law banning puberty blockers, hormones and surgeries for children. But the discussion was focused on minors, not adults.
Oh my god.
Missouri AG just essentially banned gender affirming care for most trans adults via emergency rule.
Requires 3 years of dysphoria, 18 months of therapy sessions, doesn't allow people with autism/depression.
Note how effortlessly the goalpost has shifted from saving harming minors to harming adults? Of course, as we here have always known, it was never about “protecting children.”
They’re testing the waters. Trans people are easy targets for the theofascists. I guarantee you that 80-90% of Americans know absolutely nothing about trans people, their lives and their challenges.
The theofascists’ ultimate target is the LGB community.
They see what other nations like Russia and Hungary are doing, and are envious.
This is exactly what happened in Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Creeping restrictions on civil rights and criminalizing the existence of ‘suspect’ groups of people. We have to fight back and beat this before it spreads to other states.
The federal government is going to have to intervene. They did it in the civil rights movement for black people and they are going to have to find their will and courage to do it again. These people mean us harm and will not stop
This has always been the goal – not “protecting children,” but eliminating trans people from society, with an eye toward eliminating gays, lesbians and bisexuals too. Trans people are just the easiest target, and going after them makes for an effective divide and conquer strategy if you can get homocons and TERFs on board.
Anyone with a working brain knew this was going to happen. Like other people have said, this whole “think of the children” BS was just a cover! Now they are coming after trans adults. After that they will come after gay rights! I guarantee it! I’m sure interracial marriage will be on the chopping block too. These fascists will stop at nothing to get the right wing theocracy they crave. We must fight these asshats tooth and nail!
DeathSantis has made the state of Florida racist bigoted white supremacist religious right conservative maga paradise. He has made minority rule of pushing hate and intolerance against anyone not following the maga Christian talking points. It is not enough for these people to publicly live their maga Christian right hateful lives they demand they get to use those Christian maga conservative views against others, they feel entitled to attack those they feel are not following their church doctrines and they attack those that allow or are tolerant of others. They feel that every one around them must act according to their regressive, backwards beliefs. Hugs
Many elected leaders like U.S. Sen. Rick Scott denounced the Nazi salutes, anti-Jewish slurs and Nazi regalia. On Monday, the governor did not condemn the demonstrators. Instead, he criticized Democrats.
Meanwhile, bomb threats forced the temporary closure of historically Black colleges and universities. Also, on the first day of Black History Month, DeSantis asked the Florida Supreme Court whether Black congressman Al Lawson’s district was unconstitutional. Lawson responded that the governor is race-baiting to build political points with his base.
Wow. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) is now requiring state board applicants to write 500 words about what they “admire” about her before they can be considered for a job. The same application only requires 250 words for other questions. https://t.co/uJpJLLRD2U
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) April 12, 2023
Is this the same son who got the minor girl pregnant, and she the great Christian who is against sexual education and calls teachers groomers because they provide safe spaces for gay / trans kids not to be bullied, was proud of her son for doing this. Like she personally had a hand in the selection of the girl and the act to ruin her life and her son’s life also? Stupid uneducated entitled white people …. Hugs
friend of Lauren Boebert‘s eldest son Tyler Boebert has accused the Colorado Republican of covering up details of a car crash caused by the 18-year-old boy, during which the friend, 19-year-old Noble D’Amato, was injured.
D’Amato told the Denver news site Westword that the incident occurred on September 17, 2022, at about 11:30 p.m. According to the 19-year-old, who said he was riding shotgun, the congresswoman’s son was driving his father’s SUV when he flipped into a Garfield County creek bed. At the time, Tyler Boebert was 17.
D’Amato told Westword that he wound up in the hospital with multiple concussions and a severely lacerated hand. “I still have problems with my hand,” he said. “My thumb almost got cut off. It prevented me from getting a welding job because I can’t hold a TIG torch anymore. I’m a personal-care provider now.”
U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) (C) listens alongside members of the House Freedom Caucus during a news conference on the debt limit at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 22, 2023. A friend of Boebert’s son Tyler has accused the family of trying to hide a car crash caused by the then-17-year-old boy.STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
After the incident, D’Amato was charged with drug offenses after Colorado State Police said they found he was carrying unprescribed Xanax pills and a marijuana grinder, together with a small amount of marijuana. Officers said D’Amato admitted to taking “a bar”—Xanax—earlier in the evening of the accident, while the 19-year-old insisted Tyler Boebert was sober.
Meanwhile, Tyler Boebert was reportedly issued a “careless driving causing bodily injury” ticket and was summoned to appear in court. But prosecutors in Glenwood Springs later dropped the boy’s case, downgrading it to “a defective vehicle for headlights” ticket following the acceptance of a plea deal, according to the Garfield County Court Clerk’s Office.
Newsweek has contacted Boebert’s team and Colorado State Police for comment by email.
The clerk’s office told Westword that Tyler Boebert was ordered by the court to attend driving school through Colorado’s “Alive at 25” driver’s awareness program and a mandatory review hearing that was scheduled for April 10 to ensure he took part in the course.
D’Amato told the Denver news site that the Boebert family was trying to “hide the fact that I was injured. They just don’t give a f***. It’s the entire family.” He also referred to a previous incident involving Lauren Boebert. In 2019, ahead of the 2020 primary for the Colorado Republican’s congressional district, Lauren Boebert was involved in an off-road incident with her son, dog, and now former sister-in-law Tori Hooper. According to the Daily Mail, which quoted an anonymous source, Lauren Boebert “begged” Hooper to keep quiet about the incident.
D’Amato said he and Tyler Boebert drifted away after the incident but are still friendly. He said he doesn’t plan to take legal action against the Boeberts but he wants Tyler Boebert to stop acting like “he’s a god” just because he’s Lauren Boebert’s kid.
The Garfield County Court Clerk’s Office said that law enforcement just got the ticket wrong the first time. Boebert’s team told Westword that the injury reported by D’Amato “was superficial at best and was addressed by medical professionals out of caution.”
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.
Thanks to Ali for sending me the link. In case it has not been clear to most people, I love wild life, learning about nature, and trying to be a good steward to the planet Earth. I want to care for and keep well the environment I need to live, and that includes keeping all the diverse species alive as possible. Perhaps the one thing I took from my years of being in the SDA religion was the idea that mankind was given dominion over the planet and its life forms but demanded to care for and nurture it. That is why the current idea from right wing religious groups that humans can trash the environment with impunity because god will fix it seems so strange to me. Maybe our friends of the blog who are of different religious faiths will weigh in and give us their opinions, as I am serious, I don’t understand the idea of destroying the place you need to live. Last I knew this was the only place within our reach that can support us, maybe we should do everything we can to keep it healthy? Hugs
A new study is the first of its kind to document the widespread basking of freshwater turtles at night.
Freshwater turtle basking at night. Image captured for study on nocturnal basking habits.
Dr Donald McKnight / La Trobe University
While the rest of us are sleeping, freshwater turtles from Central America to Asia are slinking out of the water and basking at night. There have been occasional anecdotal reports of this behavior before, but now a new study is the first to document the widespread occurrence. The findings suggest that nocturnal basking “may be a common and almost entirely overlooked aspect of many species’ ecology,” write the authors.
The study was led by La Trobe University and published in Global Ecology and Conservation. In it, the authors document nocturnal basking in six families of freshwater turtle species, occurring in Central America, Trinidad and Tobago, Seychelles, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
Postdoctoral Researcher at La Trobe University Dr. Donald McKnight said he and a colleague, Dr. Eric Nordberg from the University of New England, first observed freshwater turtles nocturnal basking at the Ross River in Townsville, Australia.
“We think it’s related to temperature. The water is staying so warm at night that it’s actually warmer than the turtles like to be and they can cool down by coming out of the water,” says McKnight.
“It’s widespread across the turtle family tree, with the caveat that it is only in the tropics and the subtropics where it occurs,” he added. “They were coming up at night and sitting on logs exhibiting very much the same behavior they do during the day; when we looked into it, it wasn’t something that turtles reportedly did.”
For the study, researchers from around the world did what anyone would do when wondering what turtles do at night: They put cameras on basking logs to monitor the nocturnal activity of as many freshwater turtle species as possible.
The cameras were set up in 25 locations across Australia, Belize, Germany, India, Seychelles, Senegal, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, and South Africa. They were programmed to take a photo every two minutes; they captured data on 29 species from seven of the freshwater turtle families.
Freshwater crocodile and turtles daytime basking in Townsville Queensland. Image taken as part of the study on nocturnal basking.
Dr. Eric Nordberg / The University of New England
It would be lovely to think the turtles are just enjoying some leisure time when things are quiet and the diurnal world is asleep. But the researchers note that in most cases, the turtles emerged from the water when the water was too warm and the air was cooler. Given the warming planet, that’s admittedly a bit depressing. However, not all of the nighttime baskers were escaping too-warm water. From the study:
“… [T]urtles in India exhibited more nocturnal basking on cooler nights, rather than warmer nights, and P. adansonii in Africa spent more time basking nocturnally in winter than in summer. The reasons for these differences are unclear. It may be that at some sites or seasons, turtles are escaping unfavourably warm water temperatures, while at others, they are taking advantage of the warm tropical air to increase their body temperature and escape unfavourably cold water.”
“Alternatively,” the authors add, “at some locations, nocturnal basking may not be directly for the purpose of thermoregulation, but the higher night-time temperatures in the tropics may allow turtles to emerge for other purposes, such as predator avoidance.”
Regardless of the “why” behind different species’ reasons for midnight basking, it’s a fascinating look at behavior not previously documented by scientists. And it is at least heartening to know that turtles are figuring out important behaviors tied to thermoregulation. As the study concludes, this “could have implications for turtles’ persistence and behavioural changes under climate change.”
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Scottie's Playtime 