Mary L. Trump’s The Good In Us

The Most Anti-Woman Ticket in History

Donald and J.D. Vance are coming for women’s rights

JUL 17, 2024

Donald was never going to pick a woman to be his running mate. He has far too much contempt for us.

In Vance, he’s found someone who hates women as much as he does; someone who wants to control them as much as he does. If the Trump/Vance ticket wins this election, it will be the beginning of the end of women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.

Our corporate media don’t seem to care, but I’m fairly certain American women haven’t forgotten that, with the help of Mitch McConnel and Leonard Leo, my uncle rigged the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, overturning over 50 years of precedent and stripping away a basic human right from half of the population. Maybe they think we’re as fixated on President Biden’s age as they are, but we don’t have the luxury of forgetting. While the press might want to gloss over or downplay Vance’s backwards views on women, I can promise you that American women do not.

Vance’s website has a whole section entitled “End Abortion.” When asked if he believes whether or not there should be exceptions for rape or incest, he said, “two wrongs don’t make a right” We know he thinks women in abusive marriages should stay with their abusers for “the sake of the children.”

Just days after Roe was overturned, Vance tweeted: “If your worldview tells you that it’s bad for women to become mothers but liberating for them to work 90 hours a week in a cubicle at the New York Times or Goldman Sachs, you’ve been had.”

And then there’s what he told fellow misogynist Tucker Carlson: “We are effectively run in this country… by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made. And they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”

American women will know misery if by some great tragedy Donald and Vance get into the White House because those two will make The Handmaid’s Tale our reality.

If you think I’m exaggerating, just look at Vance’s record. As NBC reported this week: “Like most Republicans, Vance has consistently voted against Democratic-led legislation to codify abortion rights, restore the protections of Roe v. Wade, establish federal rights to access contraception and create protections for in vitro fertilization.”

Last year, after Ohio voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to protect reproductive rights, Vance called the people’s decision a “gut punch.”

“There is something sociopathic about a political movement that tells young women (and men) that it is liberating to murder their own children,” Vance said after the vote. “So, let’s keep fighting for our country’s children, and let’s find a way to win.”

Vance found his way to a win by sucking up to a man who demands total obedience, humiliation, and subjugation—especially from those, like Vance, who had spoken out against him in the past.

We need to recognize that the white men who see women as breeding stock have created a strong alliance. This week we learned that Elon Musk—who, along with fellow tech billionaire and all-around vile human being Peter Thiel, pushed hard for Vance to be the pick—is donating $45 million a month to Donald’s super PAC.

On Tuesday morning, we learned from a video accidentally leaked by Robert Kennedy’s son, that my uncle is colluding with the independent candidate to win the election.

These are scary times, but it’s good to know where everyone stands. I stand with the women of America. So do Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

We know where Donald and Vance stand. And we need to make sure neither of them gets anywhere near the Oval Office.

https://open.substack.com/pub/marytrump/p/the-most-anti-woman-ticket-in-history?r=1pk2l&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

Reblog Monday at the Movies

Monday at the Movies

Reblog of Janet’s

Her own commentary is quite good.

Robert Reich asks “How Are You Coping?”

I think the kids are all right

at least, Target stores believes it. I just saw a back to school ad for Target. A boy was explaining that if it isn’t sharks it isn’t for him. It struck me as a resistance statement, because the Don has no love for sharks. I wanted to mention it, because that gives me a great giggle on the first evening of the Republicans’s dratted convention. Back to school with sharks!

(I looked for it on YouTube, but probably it needs another day or two to be there. I’m sorry about that, but I knew I’d forget if I didn’t post now, right after I saw it. It’ll be around.)

Sharks for resistance! 🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈

Florida is quietly denying transgender residents updated birth certificates

The rejection comes without public notice or new law — even when all other government-issued identification reflects their current gender identity.

Originally published by The 19th – republished per their instructions.

In the past year, Florida’s health department has declined to amend gender markers on birth certificates for both transgender adults and minors. Although the agency says it is basing denials on pre-existing state statutes, transgender Floridians had previously been able to update their birth certificates for at least a decade. Now, they face an opaque process that seems designed to reject all applicants.

Transgender Floridians have been denied updated birth certificates even when all of their other government-issued identification reflects their current gender identity. When applicants provided paperwork detailing clinical treatment for their gender transition and their legal name change,they were still denied.This is at odds with how the agency has handled this approval process for years — and is the latest example of Florida’s state agencies enacting anti-LGBTQ+ policies even when anti-LGBTQ+ laws fail to pass.

In 2023 and 2024, trans minors and adults who applied for amended birth certificates received denial letters from the state health agency’s Bureau of Vital Statistics. In those letters, reviewed by The 19th, thebureau says the paperwork that has long been accepted to update gender on birth certificates — like proof of clinical treatment and a legal name change — no longer works.

“Specifically, the documentary evidence does not establish that the sex identifier on the birth record contains a misstatement, error, or omission,” one denial letter from March 2024 reads.

The denial letters also offer conflicting requirements. One, from August 2023, states that for trans minors, “documentary evidence established prior to the child’s seventh birthday is required.” In another letter, the bureau says that trans adults trying to update their birth certificates must provide documentation “established prior to the registrant’s 18th birthday.” Many transgender adults did not know they were trans as children, or did not pursue gender-affirming care as children even if they did realize their identities — rendering either requirement difficult, if not impossible, to navigate.

Simone Chriss, an attorney with the Southern Legal Counsel in Florida and the director of the organization’s transgender rights initiative, has worked with around 80 clients who she says have all been denied updated birth certificates since last August. None of their appeals, including an administrative hearing overseen by Florida’s health agency, have worked. As a result, none of them have been able to update their birth certificates.

“Most are just being ignored,” Chriss said. “I’ve filed many. There’s at least five that I have pending at this moment that the department hasn’t responded to.”

The Florida Department of Health and its Bureau of Vital Statistics did not respond to requests for comment.

Republican lawmakers in Florida have repeatedly failed to pass legislation that aims to prevent transgender people from being able to obtain accurate birth certificates. This year, a proposed bill to require that state identification and licenses reflect Floridian’s sex assigned at birth failed to pass. Last year, a bill that would explicitly prohibit gender markers being changed on birth certificates also failed to pass. Despite the lack of legislation, Florida agencies have moved to enforce such restrictions on their own.

In January, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles told local officials that the state would no longer allow transgender people to update their driver’s license with their correct gender. That move was not prompted by any new law, and was simply based on a new agency policy. LGBTQ+ and legal experts believe the rule likely takes Florida out of compliance with federal law, which the state disputes.

Now, Florida’s Bureau of Vital Statistics within its health agency has reversed course on birth certificate updates, arguing that discrepancies between sex at birth and gender identity do not constitute a paperwork error in need of fixing.

Updating all of the necessary identity documents is costly. The name change fee in Florida is $400 andfingerprinting for the background check as part of that name change is $50. The requirement of a doctor’s letter for updating the gender marker on a birth certificate means paying out of pocket for a doctor’s visit or at least a copay. Then, there’s the $20 application fee to amend the birth certificate; applicants may also pay more if they opt for rush service.

For many transgender Floridians, the entire process appears to have ended on a brick wall, with no public notice that a policy change has taken place and no clear path to access accurate documentation. And the new policy appears to be based on a definition of sex that excludes transgender people — a change from what was put on the books less than a decade ago.

In 2018, Florida relaxed its conditions for updating gender markers on birth certificates following pressure from LGBTQ+ and legal advocacy groups. Until then, the state had required proof of sex reassignment surgery in order to change the gender marker — which at least twelve other states still do, according to the Movement Advancement Project. After 2018, Florida’s health agency began accepting letters from medical providers documenting clinical treatment for gender transition. This broadened the scope of who could apply for new documentation since some transgender people never pursue surgery.

Across the country, only five other states do not update gender markers on birth certificates. Many transgender people pursue this documentation as they legally change their name or update their gender on their driver’s license or Social Security card.

Without accurate personal documents that align with their gender expression and other forms of identification, trans people face harassment or discrimination when going about their daily lives, like when applying for a job or enrolling in a new school. The risk of being “outed” by an incorrect piece of paperwork can have dangerous consequences for trans people, especially in a state considered dangerous for LGBTQ+ people.

“Despite making, I think, very compelling arguments as to why the department is violating the rights of transgender people born in the state of Florida, they have come back with the same rationale over and over for denying it,” Chriss said. “Which is … ‘sex doesn’t change.’”

Right now, the best option for trans Floridians seeking an updated birth certificate is to update all of their other government-issued documents to reflect their gender identity, Chriss said. Passports, a primary identification document, can be used in most cases instead of state identification.

“It’s clear the only avenue or the only route to reversing or striking down this policy is using federal impact litigation, like we have in all the other areas where trans folks’ rights have been eroded in Florida. We are planning to challenge this in federal court as well,” she said.

Peace and Justice History for 7/15

I’ve received this newsletter since before the US bombed Afghanistan back in 2001. It’s a wealth of nice info, sent out daily with snippets about important bits of history of the date. Here is today’s. There’s a mixed bag today, sorta like the Republican Party platform which is sorta like Project 2025 which is sorta like the Don’s own Agenda 47. We are not doomed to repeat history if we remember it.

=====

Let’s talk about every classroom in Louisiana and the Commandments….

New College board member floats leadership shakeup, ‘terminating’ all employee contracts

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/30/ron-desantis-appointees-to-new-college-board-could-shakeup-leadership/69853637007/

The Christian Nazis have taken over a liberal arts college that the Deathsantis wannabe king hated as it taught respect and compassion for others along with all the other life skills of education. I am so worried that we did not realize how behind the curtain these groups were building up power. Remember the first time he got elected governor Deathsantis barely won, he was almost defeated. But by giving into the hate and discrimination demanded by the minority haters who cannot accept that time has moved on from cavemen days and stoking that hate into action DeathSantis created a large following. He won this last election with a wide margin partly due to the corporate democrats insisting on putting a former republican up against him. Think about it, Democrats don’t want a former republicans who vetoed everything they wanted and the republicans don’t want a republican lite. Those of us in the state knew this would be the result but the national democratic committees claimed they knew better, as they always do and they are always wrong. Notice the first thing this new right wing Christian Nationalist insisted on was opening with a prayer to his god, not anyone else’s god but his Christian god. We are lucky that DeathSantis cannot run again for governor but the state is seriously fucked now as much as other southern states. Yet it was a blue state not this way when I moved here in 1994. Sorry I hurt too much to colorize it. Hugs

Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune

A new president, new board chair and new legal counsel all will be up for discussion Tuesday when the New College of Florida board meets, along with the possibility of ending faculty tenure, terminating all employee contracts and rehiring anyone who fits into the school’s “new financial and business model.”

These are all ideas floated by new board member Eddie Speir in a recent Substack post. They could result in a big shakeup less than a month after Gov. Ron DeSantis reshaped New College’s board in a bid to reinvent the 63-year-old Sarasota school.

Speir, a Christian school founder appointed by DeSantis to the board, wrote a Substack post over the weekend saying he wants to “Discuss need for new president and possible motion to give Pat Okker title of Interim President.”

More:New board member says his assignment is ‘to lead New College of Florida out of wokeness’

More:New era at New College kicks off with contentious meetings, report of death threat

New College President Patricia Okker has been on the job for less than two years, but DeSantis’ push to transform the school has led to speculation about her future at the college and that only increased when Tuesday’s board agenda was released with “President Okker’s Employment Agreement” as one of the discussion items.

The agenda also includes “Election of the Board Chair and Vice Chair” and “General Counsel to Board of Trustees.” Speir appears to be a driving force behind some of these discussions.

Tuesday’s board meeting, which starts at 3 p.m. at the Sudakoff Conference Center, has been a subject of intense interest. It is the first meeting for seven new conservative board members, including six chosen by DeSantis.

Speir and other new board members have criticized the college’s leadership.

Speir clashed with legal counsel David Smolker over his request to open the board meeting with prayer. He said Smolker initially denied the request, but in his latest Substack said that decision was reversed and an opening prayer will be allowed.

Speir writes in his Substack that he wants to “dismiss General Counsel from the Board, NOT the school.” He also makes it clear that he wants to remove board Chair Mary Ruiz.

“My concern is that Chair Ruiz will not resign and/or delay resignation,” he writes. “Thereby halting and/or delaying the necessary clarity that NCF needs as soon as possible.”

New College Professor Amy Reid, director of the school’s gender studies program, urged board members to be more deliberative and not move “rashly” to replace leadership.

“We’ve heard a lot of saber rattling from individuals, but we still haven’t heard from the majority of the board” Reid said. “I encourage the board to find out more about the institution, to really look before they leap when it comes to leadership changes.”

It’s not clear if a majority of board members would back a leadership shakeup at the college.

Mark Bauerlein, one of the board members appointed by DeSantis, told the Herald-Tribune recently that he has “no idea” if he would support Okker’s removal.

“I haven’t seen any records about her, but our phone call the other day was pleasant and informative,” Bauerlein said.

Speir has a long list of motions he plans to make at Tuesday’s board meeting.

Among them is a proposal to identify “wokeness” as a “set of beliefs” akin to religion. He then wants to identify aspects of wokeness that are “shared values” worth preserving, that are “dogmatic” and should be excluded from curriculum and that are “pledges of fealty” that should be actively fought against.

“One such example of a pledge of fealty is the demand that woke pronouns are used,” Speir writes.

Speir also wants to explore ending faculty tenure and “terminating all contracts for faculty, staff and administration and immediately rehiring those faculty, staff and administration who fit in the new financial and business model.” He wants to board to send a letter to “the new counsel” seeking a legal opinion on the feasibility of such a plan.

Another motion Speir plans to introduce would remove some media members from the meeting.

“I move that we remove USA Today and its affiliates from the list of approved media outlets until an apology is received with a commitment from USA Today to adhere to its own policies,” Speir writes, referencing Herald-Tribune parent company Gannett’s flagship newspaper, USA Today.

The Herald-Tribune is part of USA TODAY Network – Florida. Speir is upset about comments made by Herald-Tribune readers.

The Herald-Tribune reached out to Speir for comment Monday morning and has yet to receive a response. When contacted for comment last week, Speir said “I’m still waiting for a formal apology” from the Herald-Tribune and the removal of reader comments.

New College Board of Trustees meeting

The New College of Florida Board of Trustees is meeting from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at Sudakoff Conference Center, 5845 General Dougher Pl Sarasota, FL 34243.

Visit the Herald-Tribune’s website – http://www.heraldtribune.com – for live coverage of the board meeting. A full report on the meeting will be in Thursday’s print newspaper.

American Christians busted pushing conversion therapy in Costa Rica by undercover reporters

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/11/therapists-affiliated-u-s-hate-groups-telling-lgbtq-people-costa-rica-gay-wrong/

A conversion therapist told one undercover reporter that his parents watched porn before he was born, which made him gay.

By Tyler Stevenson Monday, November 29, 2021

Photo: Shutterstock

Therapists linked to two U.S. organizations are telling LGBTQ people in Costa Rica that homosexuality is wrong and that only a “sadistic god” would create a gay person, according to a report from Open Democracy.

A second report also found that the same conservative Christian groups are also undermining U.S. laws, pushing conversion therapy in municipalities that have outlawed the practice. The undercover investigation found two conversion therapy counsellors operating in states where the practice is prohibited. One advised a reporter posing as a 17-year-old lesbian to “suppress” her orientation, including by starving herself.

Therapists connected to Focus on the Family and the Exodus Global Alliance made the comments while ‘treating’ or offering to ‘treat’ undercover reporters posing as gay or lesbian people.

Focus on the Family was founded in 1977 by conservative psychologist James Dobson. Dobson, who Mike Pence considers his role model, is known for his extreme views, including his push for corporal punishment that has now been found to have traumatizing effects for children. Dobson also once said that the shooting at Sandy Hook happened because of gay marriage, and in the same vein published a newsletter with a letter that said fathers should take their sons into bathrooms to show them that they have the same private parts.

Exodus Global Alliance is the global wing of the disbanded and controversial ex-gay group Exodus International. James Dobson also founded the Family Research Council, a group designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Conversion therapy is considered “ineffective” and “harmful” by the Pan-American Health Organization and has been condemned by Costa Rica’s official associations of psychologists and psychiatrists. The Netflix documentary, Pray Away, offers an in-depth analysis of the ex-gay movement, with testimonials from former members of Exodus International explaining the sinister machinations behind the anti-LGBTQ group.

One of the reporters for the exposé posed as a married woman who had become involved in an extra-marital lesbian relationship. She contacted Enfoque a la Familia – the Costa Rican arm of Focus on the Family – via its website, where she was able to book and pay in dollars for an online therapy session with a psychologist listed on the site.

Another reporter posed as a young gay man. He went to Exodus Latinoamérica, Exodus Global Alliance’s group.

Both therapists the reporters contacted were certified by the Costa Rica’s Psychology Association, CPPCR, despite the organization calling for a ban on conversion therapy.

The woman’s therapist said the word “guilt” ten times and told the reporter that homosexuality was wrong. The practitioner also went on to say that homosexuality is the imperfect “lifestyle” that is learned or developed.

“God created man and woman[…] our perfect match, and he’s perfect and marvelous. This [homosexuality] is learned, is something developed on the road,” she said.

The practitioner then asked if she would like to cast out her desire for women.

At Exodus, the male reporter’s psychologist said that homosexuality is a sin.

“I serve God first. I’m not treating homosexuality as common people do[…] God says this is a sin, so we treat it as a sin.” She also said that “nobody is born homosexual, because only a sadistic God would forbid this sin in the Bible and, at the same time, create you like that.”

Another reporter went undercover to an Evangelical church in the nation’s capital San José for counselling on how to handle his “unwanted homosexuality.” He experienced a 90-minute session full of misleading and derogatory claims from a pastor.

She claimed that most gay people are drug users, compared gay sex to defecation, and said that porn, sexual abuse, and parental sin are reasons for being gay. The pastor also claimed that the reporter was probably born after his parents watched porn, thereby making him “born tainted.”

The pastor defended her claims about the links between homosexuality and drug use, pornography, sexual abuse, parental sins, and masturbation, which, she said, are “conclusions” drawn from her “40 years of experience as a Christian spiritual counsellor” and from biblical verses that she quoted for each of the claims in her reply.

Costa Rica is looking to ban conversion therapy in 2022 with a bill, but LGBTQ rights advocates acknowledge that even if it passes, religious groups like Exodus and Focus on the Family will find a loophole around the ban. Most conversion therapy practitioners are not licensed medical professionals.

Shi Alarcón, a sociologist and sexual diversity activist for an LGBTQ youth support group in Costa Rica known as Casa Rara, says she has seen these conversion therapy camps expanding across Costa Rica. Teenagers are being subjected to the traumatic torture at alarming rates, she said.

“If I listen to ten teenagers per month, eight tell me they were taken to or were offered [conversion sessions at churches] or were told by their mothers: ‘We’re going to do this,’” Alacarón said.

Alacarón supports a conversion therapy ban, but she says that we need to advocate for broader scopes on banning conversion therapy in all places, including churches.

“We need to widen the scope of hate crimes to include ‘conversion therapy’ – and stop calling it ‘therapy,’” she said. “We need to stop relinquishing the words that we use to feel fine – ‘family,’ ‘therapy,’ ‘health’ – to conservative groups.”

Costa Rica’s bill is poised to face strong opposition from anti-LGBTQ organizations like Focus on the Family and Exodus International—through branches that are shown to be under the control of its U.S. affiliates. Both groups still operate in U.S. states where conversion therapy is currently banned.