Tag: Hate For LGBTQ+ People

Russia is building an electronic registry of LGBTQ+ citizens

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/01/russia-is-building-an-electronic-registry-of-lgbtq-citizens/

You know this is what the fundamentalist religious right wants to do this here.  This is one of the reasons the maga right loves Russia and Putin, he hates who they hate.  He wants a straight cisgender stereotypical white society the same as they do.  Hugs

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Raids across the country are yielding the data to supply it.
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Russia’s Interior Ministry has plans for a sweeping electronic database of LGBTQ+ people in the country, Meduza, an independent Russian news outlet, revealed this week.

Citing anonymous sources at the Interior Ministry, the outlet reported that the Orwellian plan has been in discussion since last year after Russia’s Supreme Court outlawed the so-called “international LGBT movement” as an “extremist organization” at the urging of President Vladimir Putin.

Related:

Life for LGBTQ+ Russians is getting more & more dangerous

Raids and arrests at LGBTQ+ clubs have become commonplace across the country.

The database will be a “large-scale” system to track members of the LGBTQ+ community at large, according to sources.

The plans were corroborated by Dmitry Chukreyev, an official with the Civic Chamber of Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth largest city. He said police have been keeping informal lists of LGBTQ+ individuals since the Supreme Court ruling was announced.

In 2024, police conducted at least 42 raids on LGBTQ+-friendly venues across Russia, according to an investigation by independent news outlet Current Time and human rights organization Sphere. Beatings, forced confinement, and sadistic humiliations based on sexual and gender identities are regular features of the sweeps.

Russian officials and state-aligned media regularly describe Russia’s LGBTQ+ community as a network of “paramilitary groups” calling for an “open gender war,” who engage in “dehumanization” and “devil worship,” the outlet reports. Officials and media credit security forces’ actions with “suppressing” anti-state activity.

The raids, in addition to intimidating the queer community at large and forcing the closure of several venues, have provided security officials with information that would supply an electronic LGBTQ+ registry.

An employee at a Siberian queer establishment told Meduza, “Security forces copied the entire database from the computer where we keep track of reservations,” obtaining information about hundreds of clients. Fingerprints and mouth swabs were collected from visitors during a raid the Eden club in Chelyabinsk, and employees and patrons at the Orenburg club Pose were forced to state their registered residential address on camera.

At a house party raided by security forces in Leningrad Oblast, guests were forced to surrender their passports and unlock their phones; if someone refused, the others were subjected to collective punishment and forced to squat.

According to human rights activists, such raids are also aimed at exposing LGBTQ+ government officials. The organizer of one queer-friendly event in the Urals region revealed police who raided the venue hoped to “catch deputies [officeholders] and other significant individuals” at the event.

While security forces continue to collect data in ever-more sadistic operations, progress on a full-scale LGBTQ+ registry has been hampered by Putin’s other current obsession: the expansion of Greater Russia through his war on Ukraine. Forces assigned to that conflict are draining the ranks of police who would otherwise be hunting down members of the “international LGBT movement.”

But the raids continue to produce results.

One sweep at a restaurant and club in Gorno-Altaysk last year yielded data on 80 patrons and staff alone, an employee said.

“We know all of you now,” security forces repeated as the raid dragged on.

Another anti-LGBTQ bill worming through state Legislature

Another anti-LGBTQ bill worming through state Legislature

The bills author said the bill was  “designed to restrict government’s ability to burden anyone’s religious freedom.”   What they really mean is it would allow a religious person the right to hurt others, to be a jerk, to be an asshole to other people.  It is a bill to enshrine the right of someone to disregard the rights and equal treatment of those the don’t like.  Anytime one of these hate bills come up just replace the LGBTQ+ with the word black, or Jewish, or even white males and see if it still sounds like a good idea.  Hugs

latest push in a long-running effort from right-wing policy groups to “vilify people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.” 

“They’re trying to elevate so-called ‘religious liberty’ above all other civil rights and claim that someone’s religious belief allows them to dominate the laws, the policies, the practices of the government and the rest of society,” Dickson said. 

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by Milo Strain

Arkansas ACLU Executive Director Holly Dickson testifies at the Capitol.

A bill allowing for discrimination against LGBTQ Arkansans in housing, employment, education and other areas passed out of committee Tuesday and will be heard next by the full Arkansas House of Representatives.

Rep. Robin Lundstrum (R-Springdale), the bill’s lead sponsor and a longtime crusader against LGBTQ rights, said it’s “designed to restrict government’s ability to burden anyone’s religious freedom.”

The bill would “prohibit the government from discriminating against certain individuals and organizations because of their beliefs regarding marriage or what it means to be female or male.”

“It helps protect religious organizations, places of worship, religious schools and religious ministries from government discrimination,” Lundstrum said, adding that it would protect a cake maker or wedding venue or anyone “asked to solemnize a marriage that they do not agree with.”

The bill would shield state government employees from being reprimanded in any way for engaging “in expressive conduct based upon or in a manner consistent with a belief about biological sex or marriage,” both at work and off the clock.

The state would not be able to do anything disciplinary to an employee making homophobic or transphobic social media posts, for example. 

The full scope and implications of the bill aren’t clear, but Kaymo O’Connell, a transgender student from Little Rock, told lawmakers this bill clears the way for people to discriminate when making employment decisions.

Other critics of the bill, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, say the bill is poorly written, allows and encourages discrimination against LGBTQ Arkansans and violates multiple federal laws and protections.

Holly Dickson, executive director of the ACLU of Arkansas, said the bill is the latest push in a long-running effort from right-wing policy groups to “vilify people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.” 

“They’re trying to elevate so-called ‘religious liberty’ above all other civil rights and claim that someone’s religious belief allows them to dominate the laws, the policies, the practices of the government and the rest of society,” Dickson said. 

HB1615 is supported by the First Liberty Institute, a national right-wing extremist group, and the Arkansas Justice Institute, the legal branch of local right-wing extremist group the Arkansas Family Council.

Lundstrum was joined by legal representatives from both groups in committee today.

“Whether or not this bill passes it has already harmed Arkansans because, yet again, we are saying some people are worthy and other people are unwelcome,” Dickson said. 

Rep. Nicole Clowney (D-Fayetteville), who voted against the bill, noted that it’s a clear case of unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.

Regardless, the bill passed on a voice vote.

MS Restaurant Offers Free Food To Straights Only

MS Restaurant Offers Free Food To Straights Only

March 30, 2025

The Mississippi Clarion-Ledger reports:

A Mississippi Gulf Coast restaurant came under fire after posting a video offering a free food deal to straight people only. The LGBTQ community is boycotting the business, and the owners’ stances on the matter have been erratic, swinging from backing the decision to apologizing before once again justifying their actions. Now, they’re defending the move.

On Tuesday, March 25, Darwell Yeager III and Nettie Mechelle Yeager shared a free food deal at Darwell’s Happiness Cafe in Long Beach.

Both spelled out that trans, lesbian and gay couples could not get the deal. Only heterosexual couples, regardless of how long they’d been together. In the following days, the owners have invoked President Donald Trump’s goal to “end to all this wokeness” and briefly shared a MAGA discount before deleting it.

The New York Post reports:

A Mississippi eatery that appeared on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-ins and, Dives” is facing backlash after its owners posted a video offering “something free” to only straight couples that stopped by to eat at the Cajun joint on Tuesday.

“If you come in and you’re a couple … husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, guy, girl couple, the real kind of couple,” Darwell Yeager said before his spouse cut in and said, “Because we don’t do the trans or the lesbian or gays, I’m sorry.”

“When you come in for the next hour and a half and you are a couple, can-produce-a-child couple, we’ll give you something free,” Darwell Yeager concluded in the since-deleted video that has spread online.

There’s a lot more at the first link, including multiple quotes from the couple’s now-deleted Facebook posts. The screenshot above is from a local station’s regular feature, “In The Kitchen With Darwell’s Happiness Cafe.” You should watch the video below.

FCC Chairman Enlists Anti-LGBTQ Activist To Help Him Block Major Media Mergers If Companies Back Diversity

FCC Chairman Enlists Anti-LGBTQ Activist To Help Him Block Major Media Mergers If Companies Back Diversity

OK again it is another old one.  I should have saved the Disney board standing up to the hateful anti-LGBTQ+ anti-DEIA and the board voting to keep the policies and associations even as they did agree to end the idea of a trans character in a show and do more conservative story lines / characters.  But think how tRump at every rally and in front of every courthouse claimed Biden was weaponizing the DOJ and government against him.  Remember how bad it said it was that Biden was using the government against his enemies which meant every republican criminal.  But now tRump is doing it and his maga cult that used to be called republicans are fine with it.  Just like the debt and debt ceiling doesn’t matter now under tRump and did not matter under the first tRump term, but during Biden’s term those two things were constantly shouted by maga on every right wing media show.  It is like the party who used to champion family values and law and order was never a believer in those things.  Hugs

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March 21, 2025

Bloomberg Law reports:

The US Federal Communications Commission is prepared to block mergers and acquisition proposals from companies that promote “invidious” DEI policies, according to chairman Brendan Carr.

The move could threaten billions of dollars worth of deals in the communications sector, with Carr specifically mentioning Paramount Global’s merger with Skydance Media, Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier Communications, and T-Mobile, which is seeking to purchase US Cellular Corp.’s wireless operations.

“Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” Carr said in an interview Friday.

Fox News reports:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr is vowing to use every tool at his disposal to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs from the companies his agency regulates, and has enlisted the help of a high-profile conservative activist in the effort.

Carr met with activist Robby Starbuck on Wednesday to discuss ways the agency can use its enforcement powers to stamp out DEI in the telecommunications sector. The two discussed ways the agency can enforce existing civil rights laws along with President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders targeting DEI in the public and private sectors.

“It’s my hope that this meeting is a wake-up call for businesses within the FCC’s purview that the days of violating the law with DEI are over,” Starbuck told Fox News Digital.

Robby Starbuck has successfully bullied multiple major firms into dropping LGBTQ support with threats of national boycotts.

Since becoming FCC chair, Carr has launched investigations into NPR, PBS, and the east coast flagship broadcast affiliates of ABC, CBS, and NBC.

Carr first appeared here in 2022 when he supported Trump’s demand to ban TikTok. Trump famously reversed on banning TikTok once he found out that GOP megadonor Jeffrey Yass holds a $15 billion stake in the platform.

In 2023 Carr accused then-Rep. Adam Schiff of running a “secret and partisan surveillance machine.” He has also accused the World Health Organization of “beclowning itself” with COVID mitigation advice.

In 2020, Carr told Fox News host Lou Dobbs that “far-left” social media platforms had “hopped from hoax to hoax to hoax” in attacks on Trump.

Carr is a vehement opponent of Net Neutrality and opposed efforts to block Elon Musk from purchasing Twitter.

Last year Carr wrote a full chapter in the Heritage Foundation’s book in support of Project 2025.

Some news items I wanted to post that got lost in the short time I have to share stuff.

These four articles come from March 17 / 18th and I really wish I could have posted them then.   Hugs

How many eggs can you send? U.S. asks countries to help lower soaring prices

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-many-eggs-can-you-send-us-asks-countries-help-lower-soaring-prices-2025-03-14/

The above is the tRump admin trying to get other countries with higher standards in their food to send us their eggs to protect tRump from the soaring prices.

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Hungary To Use Facial Recognition Against LGBTQs

Hungary To Use Facial Recognition Against LGBTQs

This scares me because the fundamentalist and white cis straight male supremacists will demand it be used here.  First on trans people to protect the children then expand it to the entire LGBTQ+ as they have been doing everything else they tried to use against trans kids / people. 

Famed Navajo Code Talkers Axed From Pentagon Sites

Famed Navajo Code Talkers Axed From Pentagon Sites

Yes I know that these were restored.  But now tRump is demanding Vance who is on the board of the Smithson and the National Zoo to remove all illegal (purge) references to race, gender, the LGBTQ+ and so much more.  He is demanding a national landmark the US government doesn’t control to toe the fundamentalist straight cis white supremacy Christians agenda to deny anything but them into history or society.  We really are seeing a complete take over of society and we must do all we can to prevent the rollback of all rights and equality of anyone not white straight cis Christian males.  This is horrifyingly scary.  Because these hate groups have learned if they can control information, control education, control what is considered good or bad by their standards they can force the youngest people in the country to voice that belief and grow up to enforce it.  It is what theocratic Islamic nations do.  Are we now a nation taken over by theocratic Christian fundamentalist demanding a change in even the constitution to force everyone to follow their god and their rules?  Please kill me first. 

Kentucky Republicans Overturn Ex-Gay Torture Ban

Kentucky Republicans Overturn Ex-Gay Torture Ban

Every accredited organization except those directly driven by fundamentalist religiously motivated agree this is simply torture.  The religious just simply refuse to believe sexual orientation is not a choice and no one wants to be like that no matter what has to be done to change it.  Including electroshock therapy to the genitals.   Think of yourself, gay straight, or any other orientation.  If you are cis and straight, how much conversion therapy would it take to make you believe you were gay / lesbian and desire that.  How could who you are attracted to be changed.  That all comes from the idea that it is a mental illness and a sickness that needs to be cured.  Which the majority of medical organizations reject, agreeing it is an inborn part of a fetus development.  Plus if you could change a sexual orientation … look at my childhood.  I was forced to please sexually both males and females.  But the only rapes that totally crashed me in the military was the one by a woman with more rank than me who demanded I have sex with her … four times.  The last time I was so upset and humiliated that I ran nude up the stairs of the housing unit for higher enlisted and pounded on my soon to be E-7’s door.  I was sobbing incoherently.  I have been raped all my life and was able to stand that.  Why did what this woman force me to do reduced me to that state?  Because it was against my very nature of who I was.  I was having same sex relations with another young guy and loving it.  What she was forcing me to do was against everything I felt inside.  That is what the people of these gay conversions want to do. 

Some of them think that being gay is a choice because … well when did they decide instead of men they would like to have sex with women?  No they just felt it, but what gay / lesbian people feel is not valid and must be forced to change. The rest of this group feels their interpretations of their view of what their god wants must be enforced on everyone even those that don’t follow their god.  Because it is their god and he must be pleased because their god hates what they hate.  Even if it is not in the bible or they misunderstood it, their hate preacher told them it was so.  They can not let others live their lives, everyone must live by their church dictates.  Why??? Because only that way their god will love them?  I am an atheist that is willing to let religious people believe as they wish as long as they don’t try to force their beliefs on others.   You do you … but why can’t they do the same.  They insist that no one can be different from them and their beliefs.   That is scary just that they think like that and more that they are now running the US government.  

PS.  When James was a newly teen of 13 his parents went to the Florida Keys with a group of us.  They always stayed apart even though they asked to be part of the caravan of RV going.  Well I caused an issue.  His … maybe abusive parents had lots of tattoos and were highly Catholic religious … even had a statue of the mother Mary in the entrance of their home.   Yes the husband ruled the house and told the wife what she would do at all times.  Which included the abuse of the child which is where we came in.  In a year or so after this even the boy started staying at our home because he was not allowed home until the mother was there.  I had seen a young kid come in with a Mohawk.  The boy had his hair shaved on both sides of his head and long in the front and back.  We had already talked to their son at our table because the parents they were trying to force the boy to get Christian tattoos. 

When I spoke up and said there is …. next hair cut … it will look grand on him.  His stepdad exploded and said he wouldn’t ever allow the boy in the house with that and he would hold him down and shave all his hair off.  As anyone can imagine I got triggered, I had been held down and had my hair cut.  I flew up from the table as Ron was grabbing at me and yelled you want him to have tattoos which is against the bible but a simple haircut which can be changed or grow back and has no mentioned in the bible upsets you so much you’re threatening the kid.  I loudly said, “What the fuck is wrong with you”!  They took the boy from our table and left his meal uneaten.  I was furious.  Others who did not know of my childhood tried to calm me down.  The family of the boy left that day from our group at the campground.  Next time the boy came to our home his hair was cut short and the parents never went on another trip with us.  Hugs

FL GOP Advances Ban On City Diversity Initiatives

FL GOP Advances Ban On City Diversity Initiatives

Again an attempt to turn the country into a while male cis straight only nation.  How much clearer can it be.  And all these republicans or most of them are fundamentalist Christians who were funded by their church in a steal run to get elected.   This not what the publican wants.   But these republican fundamentalist groups understand … politicians can force change in public opinion if they support something loud and forcefully enough.  Which is one why Kamala Harris l think lost the election, the democrats refused to respond to the attacks on trans people fearing it would hurt them.  That is how you bring people along to a new understanding.  The republicans are doing it in reverse of what the progressive movement did with government support in the early 2000s.  Now that democrats have retreated only the hard right republicans are getting their voices heard returning the countries view to pre-rights for LGBTQ+ people.  Hugs

 

Trans Rights ARE Important Issues Worth Fighting For

Some of the worst of the republicans.

Canada is furious at tRump for the bullying treatment they are receiving.  But Canada is not a small country that tRump can bully with impunity.  The border is a treaty.  tRump has no legal authority to violate it, especially for his personal gain.  Ask yourself why tRump and crew want Canada to be only one state?  It is made up of thirteen administrative divisions: ten provinces and three territories.  Why not bring all of them in to one big country.  Because that would wipe out the republicans, they wouldn’t win elections.  Canada is far more progressive than the US.  But again why does tRump want Canada.   Because they have a much higher standard of living, longer life expectancies, the government works much better for the people than in the US.  It would stop people in the US from pointing to the north and saying … “see they understand how to do it, why can’t we”.   Now tRump is on to something great he is just too stupid to realize it.   I would love to see the three major countries in the Americas join as one state, with equality and inclusion of all. Something like the EU but closer.  Eventually it could include the lesser nations.  Think of the ways these countries could help build a better future for all if it could be one country.   But tRump doesn’t want Mexico because those people are mostly brown in his mind, Canada is white in his mind.   He should have watched more Star Trek.   Hugs

Trump Told Trudeau US-Canada Border Treaty Is Invalid

Stop the testing tRump demanded during his first term.  If we don’t admit the bad thing exists we can pretend it doesn’t hurt us.  Right.  Tell that to every frightened child.  The free tests are very important to people on a limited budget and it is a way to keep co-workers safe.  If these people can test themselves before they go to work then they might not spread what they have to their friends, family, and fellow workers.  In the story after this one is about a pregnant Texas woman unvaccinated who had measles and never told the hospital staff when she went in to deliver her baby.  She exposed every one of the newborns there, she exposed all the woman who gave birth, their families and the staff.  All of them should sue her if any of the newborns have issues or die.  These people are so stupid.  The US used to have massive infant / child mortality over measles.  If it did not kill you, like covid it can leave lasting organ damage.  It will make the other newborns getting their vaccinations in question.  Selfish people who have not lived through the horrifying consequences of these preventable diseases, so they ignore history and science.  How many children need to needlessly suffer for them to wake up?  Hugs

Trump Administration Ends Free At-Home COVID Tests

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Newborn Babies Exposed To Measles At Texas Hospital

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Texndoca day ago

The Governor and Lt Governor have referenced “measles’ on their Twitter 0 times. Dan Patrick has however posted about renaming the New York Strip the Texas strip, served with Gulf of America shrimp, 5 times”.

USDA Cancels $11M In Funding For NC Food Banks, Asheville Must End Diversity To Get Hurricane Relief

 

I love how people who never served in any branch of the military feel they know all about what it takes to do so.  I love that people who claim to honor the Vet’s and then cut all funding that would actually help veterans and military people.  It is like the pro-life crowd that claims they need to erase the LGBTQ+ people from society to protect the children then slashing all funds for feeding and caring for those very same children.   Hugs

Musk Brands Decorated Combat Veteran/Astronaut And Dem Senator Mark Kelly A “Traitor” For Visiting Ukraine

 

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Study after study has been done by both serious military leaders and hate groups.  It doesn’t matter who does a serious study of LGBTQ+ people in the military as they all show that LGBTQ+ are great assets for the military that increase military effectiveness.  I have often told the story of how my sub unit begged me to reenlist when I was saying good by the site went down and I was the one that got us back on the bird.  But the new company commandeer was a homophobe Christian and he told me he would destroy me if I reenlisted.  The unit lost a grand technician with a great future in the military due to bigotry.  Compare the personal life of Pete Buttigieg a gay man who was in the military, seen action in Afghanistan and is in a stable same sex marriage with children to the life of the new straight cis Christian Nationalist Pete Hegseth.  Hegseth often called kegseth by late night TV hosts, has married and devoiced several times currently on his third marriage, he has been married three times, his first wife, who he admitted to cheating on five times, is Meredith Schwarz. He is also stepdad to Rauchet’s three children so Trump’s appointee for Secretary of Defense has four biological children and is stepdad to three.   He is credibly accused of being a drunken jerk who harasses women, has committed domestic violence on one of his wives.  Really a moral guy compared to the gay guy though right because he has the right religion and is straight cis.  Hugs.

Trump Shares “No LGBTQs” Symbol On Truth Social

Read the full article. The Washington Times is a far-right outlet founded and owned by the Unification Church – which is better known as the Moonies. Surely homocons Scott Bessent and Richard Grenell are thrilled with a no-gays symbol.

My but all those pesky freedoms in the constitution being thrown away as fast as possible.  Freedom to protest the goverenment, the freedom of the press.  You know the very things keeping the government in check.   Look the democrats said the project 2025 was designed to destroy democarcy and install a authoritarian dictatorship such as Russia or Hungry.  Wake up and act because tRump  / republicans want to make it illegal to do anything that is not supportive of the cult leader.   Think about what is being protected in the stories below, it is the profits of the wealthy and the ability of the cult leader to simply ignore any law or normal decency that displeases him.   Hugs.  

 

I’ll be reposting this on many stories I’m sure…
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The GOP clearly hates American values.

https://www.joemygod.com/2025/03/bondi-vows-to-jail-anyone-funding-tesla-protests/

Felon Vows To Prosecute Outlets That Displease Him

The setting was part of an effort to emphasize the power of the institution Mr. Trump controls through loyal and compliant appointees.

CNN’s Jake Tapper just noted on-air that in the same breath in which Trump raged about a “weaponized” justice system, he vowed to himself weaponize that same system against reporters and outlets that serve up anything other than lavish praise.

 

Think about this :

A convicted felon lectures the Dept. of Justice on what should or should not be ‘allowed’, – having just pardoned over a hundred other convicted felons.

Alice in Wonderland would be embarrassed.

All this is carefully planned and orchestrated.

Everything Trump is doing almost exactly mirrors what Orban did to take control in Hungary. In fact, it’s uncanny how similar the takeover is.

If you want to see what Trump does next, look to Hungary.

tRump has a problem.  First he promised he could solve this before being sworn in to office.  Now he talked tough and attacked Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy while saying he would hold Putin to the agreement with the strongest sanctions / efforts.   Yet when Ukraine agreed to a cease fire and Russia did not … where was tRump’s big tough talk.  He back tracked and demanded that Ukraine give in more.  Now when Putin simply used the pause to attack and take over a large part of the region in the fighting, tRump is silent on his promises to make Putin agree to the cease fire.  In fact again he attacks Zelenskyy as the real problem and the other countries supporting Ukraine.  He guys if you just stop supporting Ukraine and agree with the US / Russia we can stop this war right way.  He will not and never can say a bad thing about his boss Putin, he has been compromised and is desperate to change reality.  Hugs

Trump: When I Said That I Can End Russia-Ukraine War In 24 Hours, “I Was Being A Little Bit Sarcastic” [Video]

Along with the above, those that claim tRump is not a racist simply never worked with / for him and don’t watch what he says about people.  Remember that he wants only white South Africans to be able to come to the US on a fast track, he wanted to annex Canada but not Mexico who he has accused of sending the US rapists and murders, he asked in a meeting why we can’t get more European white people to move to the US. His company was sued by the US government which won the case for not allowing black people to move into his apartment buildings.    Any claim tRump is not a bigot or racist denies reality.  In tRump’s mind and many of his racist white supremacist whites must always be in charge over those not white.   Hugs

 with Mr. Trump having accused Mr. Ramaphosa’s government of discriminating against South Africa’s white minority

Rubio Expels South Africa’s Ambassador To The US

Trump had already issued an executive order last month cutting all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the Black-led South African government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-white policies at home and supporting “bad actors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.

How long before Trump calls for invading South Africa? Rather obviously, this was done as a favor to Elon Musk, who is wildly unpopular in his home country.

Trump’s “Antisemitism Czar” Retweets Anti-Semites

Read the full article. That Trump’s so-called antisemitism czar is merrily retweeting notorious anti-Semites is classically Trumpian. Terrell last appeared here in January when he declared that Los Angeles’s “DEI firefighters have no intention of putting out those wildfires.” Yesterday Terrell called for a new federal commission on “anti-white bias.”

 

Again look at what these countries have in common.  Being not white is OK if you are wealthy but if you are not, being not white is a ban from tRumpstaia.  Hugs

NYT: Trump Plans To Restrict Visitors From 43 Nations

 In those cases, affluent business travelers might be allowed to enter, but not people traveling on immigrant or tourist visas. Citizens on that list would also be subjected to mandatory in-person interviews in order to receive a visa. It included Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan.

This one is so clear.  The criminal is demanding his crime files never be released.  Why?  If he was as innocent as he claims he is why not release the files for the public to see?  Because he was guilty as hell and this judge was compromised and working with the tRump team to do everything possible to stall the case until possibly he could be reelected making the charges go way.   He was guilty.  Look the facts are clear, he had the files, he was asked to return them, he refused, then told the government he did not have anymore, the government went into his domicile and found he did have them.   What never came out was why he wanted so badly to have these files that was reported he picked himself and why he was desperate to hold on to them.  Everything I have written is fact!  It is reality!  So apparently there is so much more in those files that tRump is terrified will come out.  Why?  again if he is innocent then let the files show it.  But he hides and wants the files hidden and destroyed.   Hugs

DOJ: “Under No Circumstances” Release Docs Report

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Trump Amplifies “No LGBTQ” Symbol Using Nazi-Era Imagery in Military Ad Post

https://meidasnews.com/news/trump-amplifies-no-lgbtq-symbol-using-nazi-era-imagery-in-military-ad-post

 

Trump’s Truth Social post has a pink triangle overlayed with a prohibition symbol

Trump posted an article to his Truth Social account this weekend featuring a deeply troubling image: a pink triangle—the Nazi-era symbol used to identify and persecute gay men in concentration camps—covered with a red prohibited sign. Historically, the LGBTQ+ rights movement reclaimed the pink triangle as a symbol of resistance, pride, and remembrance.

Trump

Trump

Truth Social

The article itself titled, “Army recruitment ads look quite different under Trump,” published by the Washington Times praises Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for refocusing the military on “lethality” and reversing Biden-era policies that embraced diversity, including ads featuring LGBTQ+ soldiers.

Holocaust Museum Exhibit of Nazi concentration camp badges

Holocaust Museum Exhibit of Nazi concentration camp badges

Max, Wikipedia Commons

The image, placed in the context of military recruitment, strongly suggests a rejection of LGBTQ+ service members, at least in the terms of recruitment, under Trump’s leadership.

Military ads recruitment illustration

Military ads recruitment illustration

Washington Times

Trump’s choice to amplify such an image is particularly alarming given Hegseth’s past statements.

Prisoners wearing triangles in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany, December 19, 1938

Prisoners wearing triangles in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany, December 19, 1938

Heinrich Hoffman Collection / NARA

He has long opposed LGBTQ+ inclusion in the military, previously criticizing the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

Hegseth 2

Pete Hegseth Lamented Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Change, Women in the Military

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Now, under his leadership, Trump appears to be reinforcing the idea that LGBTQ+ individuals are unwelcome in the armed forces—not just through policy but through amplifying symbolic messaging with disturbing historical roots.

Pete for Senate

Pete Hegseth Campaigned to “Uphold Traditional Marriage” During 2012 Senate Run

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Trump’s amplification of a Nazi-era symbol to promote this shift sends a message signaling a return to exclusionary policies that many believed were left in the past.

Most banned books feature people of color and LGBTQ+ people, report finds

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/27/banned-books-people-of-color-lgbtq

Study counteracts claims by conservative lawmakers that books being removed from classrooms are sexually explicit

Woman packs books into a box

Becka Robbins of Fabulosa Books packs up LGBTQ+ books to send to parts of the country where they are banned, on 27 June 2024 in San Francisco. Photograph: Haven Daley/AP

The majority of banned books in US public schools last year dealt with people of color, LGBTQ+ people and other demographics, according to a new study from PEN America.

The report also counteracts claims by conservative lawmakers that books being removed from classrooms are sexually explicit and that book bans are altogether a “hoax”, an assertion made by Donald Trump.

 

There were more than 10,000 instances of books being banned in the 2023-24 school year, PEN America reported, a sharp increase from the previous year, as Republican-led states implemented new censorship laws.

Out of 4,218 book titles that were banned, 1,534 – or 36% – featured people of color, the most censored identity group in book bans. Some removed titles included August Wilson’s Pulitzer-prize winning play Fences and Innosanto Nagara’s A is for Activist, a picture book for children about social issues.

Books featuring people of color were disproportionately targeted in all banned-book categories, the report found, especially in removed historical and biographical titles. Of such banned books, 44% included people of color; more than one-fourth, or 26%, of those books featured Black people.

Advocates with PEN America noted that at the same time as the onslaught of book bannings, more than 50% of young people in the US are children of color, according to 2021 data from the Children’s Defense Fund.

“This targeted censorship amounts to a harmful assault on historically marginalized and underrepresented populations – a dangerous effort to erase their stories, achievements, and history from schools,” said Sabrina Baêta, senior manager for PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, in a press release about the report. “When we strip library shelves of books about particular groups, we defeat the purpose of a library collection that is supposed to reflect the lives of all people. The damaging consequences to young people are real.”

Titles featuring LGBTQ+ characters also made up a sizable number of book bans: 1,066 books, or 25% of all banned titles, included LGBTQ+ people. Transgender or genderqueer characters were specifically targeted in such book bans, as 28% of removed books featuring LGBTQ+ characters included that demographic.

Beyond people of color and LGBTQ+ people, books including disabled people were also affected by nationwide bans. About 10% of all removed titles included characters with physical, learning or developmental disabilities or who were neurodivergent. Several affected books with disabled characters focused on “confidence, self esteem, or experiences with ableism”, PEN America reported.

Meanwhile, only 13% of removed titles included “on the page” instances of sexual experiences. Inferred or “off the page” instances of sexual encounters were included in 31% of banned books.

The vast majority of banned books (85%) were fiction, with 14% being non-fiction and 1% poetry. About 67% of removed books were for younger audiences, PEN America reported.

The ongoing banning of books comes as the Trump administration has cracked down on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in US public schools and universities. In a memo last week, Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from any schools that refused to eliminate diversity initiatives, such as scholarships for students of certain identity groups and school programming.

Exposing the Fascism of Gender Critical ‘Feminism’

As anyone who follows me on this blog might or should know I love the content Ethel produces.  I followed this young woman from when they were a teen struggling with their sexuality and their finally blossoming out and accepting herself as they are.  How she feels inside themselves, and how they deal with that in the world around them.  It is a hard struggle.  I know I had to do it as a gay teen constantly surrounded and barraged by anti-gay propaganda, and that is what Ethel went through as a trans girl.  It was complicated by her being autistic, which there is nothing wrong with being autistic, but it did mean a lot of people did not understand her and were unable to appreciate how detailed she can be.  I know it is hard for her to cover these haters talking about abusers as she was abused as a child.   However she stands up and gives grand videos supporting trans people and she includes her own strengths to the issue.   Hugs 

There is no meaningful difference between the claims made by gender ‘critical’ fascists when targeting trans people and those made by the Nazis of Nazi Germany. Said monster has been empowered by the press for too long and now threatens us all.

Hi, welcome to Essence of Thought with me, Ethel Thurston, as your host.