Remember there is no Hamas in the West bank. However, while the Palestinians are forbidden to have any guns, the settlers are allowed to be fully armed. I recently posted how a settler shot and killed a Palestinian man who the settlers were taking his land, while IDF soldiers were standing there watching. The settlers routinely take the positions, entire homes, lands, crops, and smash the property they don’t steal from the Palestinians. All with IDF soldiers standing there watching. The Palestinians have the same status as slaves did in the 1840s US southern states. None! Plus as this video shows, the killing of Palestinian children in the West Bank is at an all-time high as well. Now do you understand what fuels Hamas and the anger the Palestinians feel towards Jewish people and Israel? Think how you would feel if you were treated like that where you live? Hugs. Scottie
This is great. The video has such good information and facts. If hearing is not your thing, the CC is also spot on. He talks of how immigrants don’t commit as many crimes / violent crime as native citizens. He points out how a study in 18 countries showed how trickle down did not work, while the wealthy doubled their wealth during it. He points out while republicans keep you scared about harm to your kids, no kid has been killed at a drag queen brunch / story hour while due to the gun loving republican congress kids have been mowed down trying to learn how to read and kids need bulletproof backpacks. He tells how Biden democrats have brought such large economic benefits and expanded healthcare to so many and then tells how republicans voted against all of it then tried to take credit for it all. He also mentions how much the tRump kids took while working in the White House, while hunter did not work in the WH. Hugs. Scottie
Gender-affirming care is not mutilating kids genitals. That is male circumcision in babies. Gender-affirming care is not a sudden thing where an 8 or 9 year old kid walks in to a doctor’s office and tells the people at the desk they need puberty blockers, hormones, and sexual reassignment surgery scheduled for next week please. Oh and do you have any apps / phone games I can download?
Gender affirming care saves lives! That is a fact! Gender affirming care is careful medical exams and phycological assessment. The care for younger kids includes letting them dress as the gender they identify as and to wear the hair and accessories that gender uses. Only as the child nears puberty or it is determined to be starting, are they given puberty blockers, which are safe and reversible. They are well studied and used for a very long time worldwide. If the kid decides they do not want to transition, they can stop the puberty blockers and they enter puberty as they would have before.
Only when the older teen has lived as the gender they identify as for a while and nears adulthood is any surgery discussed, and it is very rare to only in cases of great need is it considered before the age of 18. Normal age of sexual reassignment surgery is early 20s.
Why are these anti-trans bills clearly discriminatory? Because they only deny puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery to trans kids and for transitioning. The laws state that they can be used on cis kids, including the often used breast surgery to enlarge female cis kid’s boobies, normally around 16. Also other body changing surgeries for cis kids are allowed like rhinoplasty which is nose reshaping surgery. Also cis kids at very young teen years are allowed to have their ears reshaped for looks. See how the laws target trans kids and are not based on medical science? If puberty blockers were so harmful and non-reversible, why are they allowed for cis kids then? Think on it? It is like the anti-sodomy laws in Texas found to be illegal. They said anal sex between a male and female were OK, but anal sex between two males were illegal. Same with oral sex, it is OK between a male and female but illegal between two females or two males. WTF! See the bigotry and hate? That is why the courts ruled the laws were illegal. Hugs. Scottie
Myriam and Cameron in NCLR’s “Healthcare is Caring” PSA.Photo: Screenshot
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is combating anti-trans misinformation with a campaign that’s all about love and care.
Last month, the non-profit public interest law firm, which advocates for LGBTQ+ rights, launched its “Healthcare is Caring” campaign with a short PSA directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Zen Pace. The clip features the voices of trans teens reading letters to their parents describing their experiences of coming out and the impact their parents’ support had on them.
The ACLU is trying to stop a ban from going into effect.
It ends with a poignant and timely message: “The thing our kids have always needed is care.”
“This film is special to me because not only does it touch my community, but it helps put forward a much more accurate story of these families that simply doesn’t exist out there,” Pace said in a statement. “It gives space to these parents; it’s a gift from their children.”
According to The Drum, NCLR’s “Healthcare is Caring” campaign was developed with the help of public relations and marketing consultancy firm Edelman. The firm’s data and intelligence division conducted a study on how misinformation about gender-affirming care spreads online. It found that a disproportionately small number of voices have driven anti-trans discourse, leading to a wave of state laws and local restrictions that have banned gender-affirming care for young people and severely limited trans people’s ability to exist openly and safely in the public sphere.
NCLR has been combating such legislation. The firm has challenged laws banning gender-affirming care for minors in Alabama, Florida, and Kentucky. After the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld state bans in Kentucky and Tennessee, the NCLR filed a petition on November 3 urging the Supreme Court to review the decision. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Tennessee, and Lambda Legal have also asked the Supreme Court to review the Tennessee decision. If the justices agree to hear the case, it would be the first time a case involving gender-affirming care has ever come before the court.
As part of the “Healthcare” is Caring campaign, NCLR is urging supporters to sign an open letter calling on elected leaders to ensure equal access to gender-affirming care — which is recognized by every major American medical association as evidence-based, safe, and often necessary for the treatment of gender dysphoria. The letter calls on elected officials to put an end to both legal bans and the false narratives characterizing this lifesaving health care as “child abuse.”
The campaign’s hub on NCLR’s website also features more info about the families featured in the PSA, including the full text of their letters.
“The families in our campaign, like so many other families with transgender children, are proof that helping transgender youth get medically needed care can enable them to lead happy and successful lives,” NCLR legal director Shannon Minter said in a statement. “Still, many legislators continue to push harmful policies that prevent these young people from getting the healthcare they need and deserve. We’re working to take action against these bills and show the politicians behind them that transgender youth and their families are not alone.”
Thanks to Ten Bears for the video on his site. https://homelessonthehighdesert.com/2023/11/30/thorsday-tin-trombone/ This seems a win win to me, getting rid of garbage that we have no room for, and lowering harmful chemicals into the air. I may be missing something about it, but I think this needs to be seriously looked into. Of course the oil /gas companies will do everything they can to kill it. And biofuels have raised the price of feed for livestock, making meat and milk cost more. But I still like this idea. Hugs. Scottie
Sustainable aviation fuel – or SAF – helps cut down air travel’s carbon emissions. SAF is seeing a large surge in investment that could fuel its growth after the industry has spent years trying to take off with efforts to decarbonize flights.
WSJ takes a look at the SAF supply problem, and how airlines and the government are pumping money into the low-carbon fuel sector to help get this industry off the ground.
This is a fucking hard short video to watch. Children found alive buried under ruble of bombed buildings. The rescuers are just normal people and they want to help so badly that they get into each other. Some try to yank the kids out, which hurts the kids, but others make them stop. There are a few that seem to know they have to move the stuff first to get the weight off the kids. These are the terrorist that Israeli is targeting with the bombs in crowded places, little kids and civilians. Israel has the most sneaky intelligence spies that tracked down German Nazis all over the world, why not use them to get Hamas members instead of killing over 20,000 civilian men, women, and so many innocent children. This is why Israel will never get rid of Hamas, the hate against them, will never win this war. They are just creating more people who hate them. I know from experience you can not have respect and love beaten into you. Israel won’t get the Palestinians to love them by abusing them, killing them, making their lives miserable, making them live in fear. Trust me that just breeds more hate and anger. Sad angry hugs. Scottie
This is the incredible moment Palestinians pull out children trapped underneath the rubble of a house in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza, after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike.
Clearly racism and bigotry. They even rescinded anti-discrimination policies. Why not discriminating is good, discrimination is bad. But we can thank tRump for making it safe for these … people to come out from under the rocks and openly push for white supremacy. Their goal is to push the LGBTQIA out of public view and remove any equality for black / brown people. Read the quote below and see if you can find the real truth he is saying.
Cook, in July, defended rescinding the anti-racism resolution, saying the board “doesn’t need to be in the business of dividing the community.”
Why would anti-racism divide the community unless a lot of the white community wants to be racist against the black community, and the whites feel targeted / put on by the resolution. Hugs. Scottie
O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A conservative-led Missouri school board has voted to drop elective courses on Black history and literature, five months after the same boardrescinded an anti-discrimination policyadopted in the aftermath of the killing ofGeorge Floyd.
The Francis Howell School Board voted 5-2 Thursday night to stop offering Black History and Black Literature, courses that had been offered at the district’s three high schools since 2021. A little over 100 students took the courses this semester in the predominantly white suburban area of St. Louis.
In July, the board revoked an anti-racism resolution and ordered copies removed from school buildings. The resolution was adopted in August 2020 amid the national turmoil after a police officer killed Floyd in Minneapolis.
The resolution pledged that the Francis Howell community would “speak firmly against any racism, discrimination, and senseless violence against people regardless of race, ethnicity, nationality, immigration status, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or ability.”
The resolution and course offerings were targeted by five new members who have taken control of the board since being elected last year and in April, all with the backing of the conservative political action committee Francis Howell Families. All seven board members are white.
The PAC’s website expresses strong opposition to the courses, saying they involve principals of critical race theory, though many experts say the scholarly theory centered on the idea that racism is systemic in the nation’s institutions is not taught in K-12 schools.
The decision to drop the courses was met with protests outside the board meeting. Several parents and students chanted, “Let them learn!” Inside, speakers questioned the decision.
“You’ve certainly taught me to not underestimate how low you will go to show your disdain toward the Black and brown communities’ experiences and existence,” Harry Harris, a Black father, told the board.
Another speaker, Tom Ferri, urged the board to focus on bigger issues such as high turnover among teachers.
“Tapping into a diverse talent pipeline would be a great way to slow attrition, but what diverse staff wants to work in a district waging culture wars?” he asked.
Board Vice President Randy Cook Jr., who was elected in 2022, said the Francis Howell courses to which he and others objected used “Social Justice Standards” developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center with a bent toward activism.
“I do not object to teaching black history and black literature; but I do object to teaching black history and black literature through a social justice framework,” Cook said in an email on Friday. “I do not believe it is the public school’s responsibility to teach social justice and activism.”
District spokesperson Jennifer Jolls said in an email that new Black history and literature courses “could be redeveloped and brought to the Board for approval in the future.”
This semester, 60 students at the three schools combined enrolled in the Black History course, and 42 took Black Literature, the district said.
Francis Howell is among Missouri’s largest school districts, with 16,647 students, 7.7% of whom are Black. The district is on the far western edge of the St. Louis area, in St. Charles County.
The county’s dramatic growth has coincided with the equally dramatic population decline in St. Louis city. In 1960, St. Louis had 750,000 residents and St. Charles County had 53,000. St. Louis’ population is now 293,000, nearly evenly split between Black and white residents. St. Charles County has grown to about 415,000 residents, 6% of whom are Black.
Racial issues remain especially sensitive in the St. Louis region, more than nine years after a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri,fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brownduring a street confrontation. Officer Darren Wilson was not charged and the shooting led to months of often violent protests, becoming a catalyst for the national Black Lives Matter movement.
Cook, in July, defended rescinding the anti-racism resolution, saying the board “doesn’t need to be in the business of dividing the community.”
“We just need to stick to the business of educating students here and stay out of the national politics,” he said.
The district’s description of the Black Literature course says it focuses “on contemporary and multi-genre literary works of Black authors and will celebrate the dignity and identity of Black voices.”
For the Black History course, the description reads, “Students understand the present more thoroughly when they understand the roots of today’s world in light of their knowledge of the past. This Black History course tells the history of Blacks from the beginning Ancient Civilizations of Africa through the present day accomplishments and achievements of Black individuals today.”
School board elections across the U.S. have become intense political battlegrounds since 2020, when some groups began pushing back against policies aimed at stemming the spread of COVID-19.
PACs in many local districts have successfully elected candidates who promised to take action against teachings on race and sexuality, remove books deemed offensive and stop transgender-inclusive sports teams.
Never ceases to amaze me that a word generally understood to mean “not asleep,” “awake” is the worst epithet that Trump and his thugs can throw at progressives.
It just shows how entrenched they are in their dogma they are, that equality is so undesirable. They are incapable of considering anything that challenges their bigotry
I recall reading about a journalist who asked a bunch of Trump supporters what “woke” means to them. The replies were hysterical.
Half of them really didn’t have any idea what it means. The other half used the usual “commie, socialist, atheist, homo” description they use when describing anyone or anything they don’t like or don’t understand.
It was first used by white liberals to mean “I’m listening to women, black, hispanic, lgbt, etc. voices and hearing what they are saying.” How horrible. To acknowledge other people’s lived experiences and treat them with respect.
Yep, in the city of Saint Louis , in the gated private streets of 1904 Worlds Fair era mansions just north of the large city park where the Fair was held. Private streets are really private, they don’t allow (certain) non-residents to walk or drive there – the streets hire private security. I have lived about 2 blocks from idiot gun-toters’ house for over 30 years, in a neighborhood of pre-WWII high rise apartment buildings. 1904 World’s Fair is the one immortalized in the Judy Garland movie Meet Me in St. Louis. “Have yourself a merry little Christmas…”
Yes, it’s population boomed, growing more than four-fold in the ’50s. O’Fallon, MO, should not to be confused with O’Fallon, IL or the O’Fallon neighborhood in north St. Louis, all within the same metro and named after the same rail baron. The O’Fallon neighborhood was hard-hit by block-busting, white-flight, and subsequent red-lining. It’s to recent to be allowed to publish the individual household records to see how many moved from the O’Fallon neighborhood to what is now the largest, and exceedingly white, suburb of St. Louis.
Think about the line that the school claims is unacceptable. “Wouldn’t it be nice to live in paradise… where we’re free to be exactly who we are.” That is what the school district finds so unacceptable. Why? It must be something to do with demanding everyone must live by the church doctrines of the minority. Hugs. Scottie
A federal court in Wisconsin declined to dismiss a teacher’s First Amendment retaliation claim against the school district that fired her for publishing a tweet critical of its decision to prohibit her first-graders from singing “Rainbowland” by Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton at a school concert. She has shown that her employment was terminated for exercising her First Amendment rights, so her claim survives the motion.
A Wisconsin school board has banned the song “Rainbowland” by Dolly Parton & Miley Cyrus from a concert because they say the lyrics are “controversial.” The song says, “Wouldn’t it be nice to live in paradise… where we're free to be exactly who we are.” https://t.co/I5GRTpv44P
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) March 24, 2023
First-grade teacher @melissatempel was fired last week after she publicly criticized the Waukesha, Wisconsin, board of education for not allowing students to sing the song “Rainbowland,” citing a “controversial content policy.” “It was really horrifying,” says Tempel. pic.twitter.com/8wQzukuNFq
I never heard of the song and never heard it, either, but I just looked up the lyrics.
in those lyrics, there is not a single mention of race, gender, sex, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, or even a bigotry. All of those are the usual sources for bigotry, and thus of “controversy”.So what exactly is the problem?
Who knew that a plea for tolerance could be considered “controversial”, except to the highly and terminally intolerant?
We just want things to be the way they used to be — when you people were invisible and uppity brown folk knew how to hold their tongue. Just like white Jesus promised. Merry Christmas!
Oh, it’s much worse than that. The lyrics also say, “We are rainbows, me and you, rvery color, every hue,” and if that isn’t a direct call out to CRT, I don’t know what is. They might as well have said slavery is bad or something else equally controversial to the snowflake replubican’ts.
Because of course – “In her lawsuit, Tempel says that although Sebert announced in August 2021 that the policy would equally ban signs, flags and materials promoting causes like Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, signs saying “Students for Life” and “Thin Blue Line” were permitted to be displayed in school common areas while Gay-Straight Alliance locker signs and signs stating, “this classroom is anti-racist” and “this school welcomes you” were prohibited.”
I was thinking of the photo of the Wisconsin HS students giving the Nazi salute in their class photo. The only one who wouldn’t was the gay gentleman in the top right corner, who was rightly disgusted.
The policy appears to originate with Neola, a company that provides school policy services to 317 clients in Wisconsin in addition to more than 1,000 others across six states, according to the company’s website. A call to Neola’s business office in Ohio could not immediately reach a spokesperson who could answer questions about the lawsuit and the policy on Tuesday.
In her lawsuit, Tempel says that although Sebert announced in August 2021 that the policy would equally ban signs, flags and materials promoting causes like Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, signs saying “Students for Life” and “Thin Blue Line” were permitted to be displayed in school common areas while Gay-Straight Alliance locker signs and signs stating, “this classroom is anti-racist” and “this school welcomes you” were prohibited.
In July 2021, the district also suspended diversity, equity and inclusion training for staff and suspended the work of its Equity Leadership Team, according to the complaint.
I was a regular babysitter in the 1970s for one family. They let their son watch TV, notably ‘The Electric Company” which, in my opinion, was so frenetic that the boy almost became agitated. The show that followed was Mr Rogers Neighborhood, which he loved – as did I watching for the first time as a teenager. One day while the show was on, his father came home from work to change clothes and go out on the bay. Walking by the TV set on his way to his room, the Dad muttered, “get that fag off the tv.’ Years later, I remember the Dad crying into my arms at the funeral home visitation after his son committed suicide by putting a rifle into his mouth in his bedroom.
I want to send this teacher some money for the fight.
Myriam and Cameron in NCLR’s “Healthcare is Caring” PSA.Photo: Screenshot
Scottie's Playtime 