We Are Next On The Chopping Block

Now that Republican got their “Brass Ring” they are fixing their focus on us, down in Alabama they are trying to block the federal government from blocking their attempt to block our our healthcare.

In appeal, Alabama says access to gender-affirming care not ‘deeply rooted in our nation’s history’
“The Constitution reserves to the State—not courts or medical interest groups—the authority to determine that these sterilizing interventions are too dangerous for minors,” Alabama officials wrote in a brief filed Monday.

• Alabama this week argued that the state has more authority than parents to regulate gender-affirming medical care for transgender children.
• State officials including Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) argued that access to gender-affirming care cannot be guaranteed because it is not “deeply rooted in our nation’s history and tradition.”
• The argument borrows language directly from the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in overturning Roe v. Wade, which protected the constitutional right to an abortion for nearly 50 years.

The Hill
By Brooke Migdon
June 29, 2022


The state of Alabama this week in an appeal said a partial injunction against its felony ban on gender-affirming health care for transgender minors should be overturned, arguing that the state has greater authority than parents to regulate the medical care of children.

Borrowing language from the Supreme Court’s recent majority opinion in overturning Roe v. Wade – the landmark 1973 ruling that established the constitutional right to an abortion – Alabama argued that access to gender-affirming medical care is not constitutionally guaranteed because it is not “deeply rooted in our nation’s history and tradition.”

“Transitioning treatments are neither ‘deeply rooted’ nor ‘implicit in the concept of ordered liberty,’” the state wrote in a brief filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The state also argued that restricted access to gender-affirming medical care should not be limited to children, and transgender adults should also be barred from receiving treatments.

Of course it is not “deeply rooted in our nation’s history and tradition.” your discrimination in banning us from healthcare is what is deeply rooted in history, our shaking off you oppression is what deeply rooted in history. 

Your requiring us to wear three items of male clothing, your criminalizing us is what deeply rooted in history.

What's next? Saying that slavery should be a "state right?"

Expect to see a lot more anti-trans legislation coming out of Republican control states as they battle for "states rights" to determine is they can oppress us.

Surprise, Surprise.

As Gomer Pyle would say.

A new poll is out and it confirms what we in the trans community already thought.

Americans are deeply divided on transgender rights, a poll shows
NPR
By Melissa Block
June 29, 2022


Americans are widely opposed to allowing transgender female athletes to compete on women's and girls' sports teams, and, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll, are deeply split along partisan lines on questions of transgender rights.

The NPR/Ipsos poll shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans (63%) are opposed to allowing transgender women and girls to compete on teams that align with their gender identity, while 24% overall support that.

Among Democrats, opinion is fairly split: a plurality, 46%, support trans female athletes' right to compete on women's and girls sports teams, while 41% oppose it.

Independent voters oppose trans female athletes right to compete by 3:1 (21% support; 63% oppose).

This is the result of the continuous Republican lies about us.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels

The Republicans copied their "Big Lie" right out of  fascist's playbook.

The article goes on to say…

Rights of trans female athletes have become a political wedge issue

The message is clearly resonating with people like Paul Bjork, 68, a semiretired contractor in Fort Smith, Ark., who tells NPR his views are shaped by conservative podcasts and guided by the Bible.

[…]

Transgender advocate Chris Mosier, the founder of transathlete.com, calls the results of the NPR/Ipsos poll "deeply disappointing," but no surprise. The results, he says, reflect how politicized these issues have become.

"What is important for people to remember," Mosier says, "is that my identity as a trans person is not political. It has become politicized."

And that is exactly what the Republicans have politicized us for vote, creating hate and fear against us. They don’t care what it does to trans youth as long as it generates votes for them.

---

Meanwhile, across the big pond they are removing restrictions on LGBTQ people.

Polish court rules that four "LGBT-free zones" must be abolished

Reuters

By by Alan Charlish and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw, Jan Strupczewski in Brussels Editing by Gareth Jones

June 28, 2022

A top Polish appeals court ruled on Tuesday that so-called "LGBT-free zones" must be scrapped in four municipalities, a verdict welcomed by activists as a victory for human rights and democracy.

Numerous local authorities in Poland passed resolutions in 2019 declaring themselves free of "LGBT ideology", part of a conflict in the predominantly Catholic country between liberals and religious conservatives, who see the struggle for gay rights as a threat to traditional values.

"LGBT-free zones" seek to ban what local authorities see as the promotion of homosexuality and other minority sexual identities, especially in schools.

These moves set Poland on a collision course with the European Commission, which said the zones may violate EU law regarding non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation.

After a legal challenge from Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman, lower courts ruled that nine such resolutions must be scrapped.

While US courts are chipping away at our rights, Europe is expanding them!

Last Night.

There was a contrast between blue states and red states, in the headlines you see all these protests at libraries in red states because they have a LGBTQ agenda… in other words the libraries have LGBTQ+ books, drag queens book readings, and LGBTQ events.

Well last night I was on a panel at a library event sponsored by the town’s Human Relations Commission. No one of panel I didn’t know, many of us go back a long way. I mean a really long way, over twenty years. The introduction keynote speech was by one of the two openly gay legislators and the panel was was made up of LGBTQ+ people.

The purpose of the event was,

Dedicated to the Anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, this panel serves to highlight the unique obstacles faced by the Queer community and potential solutions

What I thought was interested was that the panel was an idea of a high school intern to the Commission who was also a lesbian.

There were also about 20 people in the audience, just about all of them older adults, who took time out of their lives to hear what we had to say. With all the protests about LGBTQ event at libraries around the nation I wondered what our reception would be like but Connecticut didn’t let me down, it went off without a hitch.

Of course there was a question about how the Planned Parenthood v. Casey case overturning Roe v Wade affect us. On that question the point that I wanted to make was we cannot just look at one issues but have to build a coalition. Divided we fail, together we win. It is not just women’s rights, it is not just LGBTQ+ rights, it is not just Black rights, or immigrants rights, but rather Human Rights.

Another topic that was brought up was discrimination in schools. Here in Connecticut we have a hundred and sixty nine silos, through out the country you see “consolidated” school districts, outside a couple “regional” school districts where there are not enough pupils to have a school in each town, each town has its own school board and governs only their town. You see 169 different ways the states laws are enforced.

In one town they threw out an excellent non-discrimination policy that enumerated protection for for the protected classes in the state laws including LGBTQ+ students to one that said “We do not discriminate” when an all Christian board of education was elected.

Also intersectionality was discussed, race, socioeconomic status and other issues affect LGBTQ+ issues… in all it was a very good night and I made it home before dark.

On This Day In 2007 I Transitioned – I Remember.

It hit me one day that my memories for the last fifteen years are of Diana.

~~~~~~

I seesawed with that statement for months debating whether to add anything to it for that to be whole post today.

Other than family, all my friends today only known Diana, my friends from before I transitioned I rarely see now, I am friends with some of them on Facebook but nothing in-person anymore.

~~~~~~

Body image.

I have also realized that my body image has changed. After fifteen years living in my true gender I realized that what is difference between someone who has transitioned and someone who only crossdresses occasionally is body image. 24/7 for fifteen years changes your perspective. You have boobs 24/7 and well down below also changes.

After 15 years it is hard to remember those other parts... well lets put it this way, 15 years on testosterone blockers and hormone kind of shrinks certain parts.

~~~~~~

Other observations.

As we age skin starts to sag, and certain things on a women's body also start to sag and they are also sagging on me.

~~~~~~

Clothes.

I just wore out another pair of low heel pumps! The sole under my ball of my big toe is just starting a hole and this leads to another observation... shoes. The soles are a lot thinner then men's shoes so 1. they wear out faster and 2. the most annoying thing is that you can feel every pebble through the soles. Step on those bumps at the crosswalks and you feel each and every one of them.

I just bought another bathing suit for the summer and that created a question,

Why is it when you buy a plus size bathing suit they think you have monster boobs? Sometimes we only have a monster stomach.

~~~~~~

Professional Identity.

When I worked in electronics I was known throughout the company and now I have the same professional recognition. For better or worst people know me, from politicians, state agencies heads, non-profits directors know me, and most important is that my community recognize me.

~~~~~~

The Times Are A Changing.

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s I decided that it was safe to transition, that society had changed and was accepting.

Twenty two years later society has changed again and has moved back to the 1950s and the Lavender Scare and Anita Bryant but added violence to the mix.

Before I never knew anyone who was a target of violence but now I know one person who was murdered and another who was beaten.

Interesting Pushback.

This is from a Florida newspaper criticizing the Republican governors trying to marginalize us by passing anti-LGBTQ laws., it is an opinion that was first published in the New York Times.

The GOP tries to build a gay ghetto
The Palm Beach Post
By Charles M. Blow
June 27, 2022


This past weekend, the Republican Party in Texas voted on an outrageous platform that not only denies the results of the 2020 presidential election, but also rejects gay marriage and seeks to “protect” minors until they turn 17 against “predatory sexual behaviors,” such as drag queens reading stories aloud to children.

Drag queens are predators, trans women are a threat and gay marriage is a violation of the “natural order”: This is all part of the widening and re-energized attack by Republicans on L.G.B.T.Q. people and culture in the wake of the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges guaranteeing a right to same-sex marriage.

Dennis Prager, writing in National Review, argued that the ruling completed “the secularization of America” and sealed “the end of America as the Founders envisioned it.”

[…]

Among Trump’s exhaustive list of transgressions against gay people were his administration’s attempts to literally erase them by trying to block new questions about sexual orientation from the census and trying to define transgender people out of existence, proposing to “define sex as either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with,” according to The New York Times.

Buoyed their win in the Supreme Court don’t think that the Republican that their hate ends with women right’s it will continue and will now be focused on the LGBTQ+ community.

Republicans may not be able to push people back into the closet, but they can try to re-establish some stigma to prevent them from coming out in the first place and build them — us — cultural gay ghettos if we do.

Just like other authoritarian countries like Turkey, Hungary, Russia, and Poland. Authoritarian governments use us to stay in power it gives their base something to hate and focus their anger upon and that the government will protect them from us evil manipulated peoples like us, or the Jews, or the Muslims, or Blacks, that is how fascists governments operated through out history. They need a smoke screen to hide their evil doings behind.

It help to understand our oppressors, one of their twisted logic is that being gay or trans is a choice, they do not think that we are born this way. They ignore all scientific and medical evidence and believe that we chose to become trans or gay, that one morning we woke up and thought, “Gee it would be great to be trans! I would to to be discriminated against, beaten up and murdered… that sounds like fun.”

That is why they use terms like “grooming” because they believe those “Drag book readings” are really recruitment to our “lifestyle.” They look at us through those colored lens of “lifestyle” and “perversion” to fear and hate us.

---

We have to look back at what worked and what didn't work when we passed the anti-discrimination laws and marriage equality. When I first started to be an "activist" I traveled around with "Love Makes a Family" to town hall meetings at libraries and other colleges talking to student groups at colleges to get them to be active.

Back in the late 60s and early 70s there was an activist in the Communist Party called Saul Alinsky who came us with the Rules of Radicals." The Republicans braded him a communist and a destroyer of liberty... but they read him and took up his tactics and we must do likewise once again.

The Rules

Always remember the first rule of power tactics:

Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

That is followed by other rules,

"Never go outside the expertise of your people."

"Whenever possible go outside the expertise of the enemy."

"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."

"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. There is no defense. It is almost impossible to counterattack ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, who then react to your advantage."

"A good tactic is one your people enjoy."

"A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag."

"Keep the pressure on."

"The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself. "

"The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition."

"If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside; this is based on the principle that every positive has its negative."

"The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative."

"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. "

 The Republicans have learned the rules but we have forgotten them!

Face it we are in a life or death struggle and they are winning we have to turn the tables upon them and once again take up Alinsky's rules. 

And remember that loves makes a family not hate.

Lose Some, Win Some.

This morning I wrote about Pride event being banned or harassed, well it is not all bad news coming out of Europe…

Spanish government approves new bill on transgender rights
By The Hill
June 27, 2022


Spain’s Cabinet approved on Monday a new draft of a LGBTQ rights bill that if backed by parliament will allow people as young as 16 to change their gender freely, and those as young as 12 to do so with a judge’s authorization.

This version of the bill is very similar to the one that was initially presented by the government a year ago but was held up due to debates within Spain’s left-wing ruling coalition.

The bill was promoted by the left-wing United We Can party, the government’s junior partner. But there was some initial pushback from the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez representing feminist criticism of self-determination on the grounds that it can lead to women being disfavored in some areas such as sports. That debate appeared to conclude when Sánchez removed a vice-president who was most strident in her criticism of the bill when he remodeled his Cabinet.

It wasn’t always smooth sailing for us in Spain.

Spain: Trans rights supporters on hunger strike over new law
AP News
By Aritz Parra
March 10, 2021


Transgender rights activists in Spain said Wednesday they are going on hunger strike until the ruling left-wing coalition submits draft legislation to allow gender self-determination without a doctor’s diagnosis.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialists have been accused of blocking a draft for a new transgender rights law proposed by their minority coalition partner, the far-left United We Can.

Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo, a Socialist, has said that allowing freedom to choose one’s registered gender without a gender dysphoria diagnosis and treatment could undermine the rights of other people, especially women.

Gathering at the gates of the Congress of Deputies, the lower house of the Spanish parliament in Madrid, activists announced that 70 of them, including transgender people and their relatives, would start hunger-striking from Wednesday.

Mar Cambrollé, from Plataforma Trans, said she was displeased with the Socialists’ arguments to snub the draft bill from United We Can, which took the Equality portfolio when the government was formed last year.

We are like a yo-yo, getting jerked up and down being used as a political pawn.

And You Wonder Why There Are Pride Events?

Pride is a remembrance of the oppression that we suffered and are suffering even today around the world.

Turkish police break up LGBT pride parade in Istanbul, detain dozens
Fox News
By Anders Hagstrom
June 26, 2022


Police in Turkey broke up a and LGBT pride parade on Sunday, detaining dozens of attendees.

Police officers also reportedly attempted to stop journalists from recording or taking pictures of the event, which took place in Istanbul. One photographer for the Agence France Presse was detained, according to the outlet.

Nevertheless, photos from the event show police struggling with rally-goers. It is unclear how many people attended the MARCH

Istanbul authorities issued a 7-day ban on public demonstrations ahead of the pride parade.

"We have obtained information that between 21 June 2022 (Tuesday) and 23 June 2022 (Thursday) gatherings, press releases, marches, distribution of leaflets, etc are planned to be held within the scope of the 30th ‘Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week,’" city governors said in a statement. "All events are banned in all open and closed areas for seven days."

I gather that this is not the first Pride event that was broken up by the police…

Turkish police break up student LGBTQ event, arrest dozens
Police in Turkey have broken up an LGBTQ pride parade at one the country’s top public universities and detained all of the participants
ABC News
By The Associated Press
May 20, 2022


Police in Turkey broke up an LGBTQ pride parade at one the country’s top public universities and detained all of the participants Friday.

Riot police entered Bogazici University and surrounded dozens of students who were waiving rainbow flags and calling for tolerance. They arrested the students one by one and led them into police buses with their hands cuffed behind them.

A small group of students tried to resist arrest.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s conservative government has banned LGBTQ parades since 2015, citing security concerns, “public sensitivities” and other issues. Authorities have ordered other LGBTQ events stopped as well.

The Times of Israel reported that,

After a spectacular Istanbul Pride parade in 2014 joined by more than 100,000 people, Turkish authorities have banned the march in recent years, officially for security reasons

AP ran two article about this, in the first article they reported that,

Images on social media showed people being frisked and loaded onto buses, including at least one news photographer. Journalists’ union DISK Basin-Is said “many” were beaten by police.

Local residents banged pots and pans from their windows and balconies in a show of support for the marchers as a police helicopter circled overhead.

[…]

Turkey previously was one of the few Muslim-majority countries to allow Pride marches. The first was held in 2003, the year after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party came to power.

In recent years, the government has adopted a harsh approach to public events by groups that do not represent its religiously conservative views. Large numbers of arrests and the use of tear gas and plastic pellets by police have accompanied Pride events.

Counter-demonstrations by nationalists and Islamists, who claim the LGBTQ community is a danger to “Turkish values,” have also threatened marchers.

Where have we heard that before?

Could it have possibly been from Republican governors saying that we put “Family Values” in jeopardy?

In the other AP article they wrote that,

Detained LGBTQ activists in Istanbul Pride being released

Istanbul’s LGBTQ Pride organizers say more than 360 people were detained by police Sunday following a ban on all Pride events.

Kaos GL, a leading LGBTQ rights association, said all the detained were being freed Monday after giving their police statement and undergoing health checks. Some were released overnight.

[…]

But in 2015, police dispersed crowds using tear gas and water cannons after a last-minute ban. The march has been banned ever since and top Turkish officials have called LGBTQ people “perverts” who aim to hurt traditional family values.

“Health Checks” they fear us and depict as being sick and depraved so we need to be checked that we aren’t spreading vile diseases.

Now I want to think about this.

“By hosting ‘Pride week’, your district has, at best, undertaken a week-long instructional effort in human sexuality without parental consent … Or, worse, your district is cynically pushing a week-long indoctrination of your students that not only fails to obtain parental consent, but subtly cuts parents out of the loop. Either way, you are breaking state law.”

Do you know where that was said? Russia? Hungary? Turkey? Or another authoritarian country?

No it wasn’t any of those countries.

It was Texas.

Hate Is Spreading

It happened overseas in Norway…

Death and despair as gunman opens fire at Oslo gay bar

• Gunman kills two, injures more than 20
• Revellers hid in basement of Oslo bar
• Official Pride parade cancelled after tragedy
• Norway police to carry guns as precaution

Reuters
By Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche
June 25, 2022


Terrified revellers at a gay bar in Oslo hid in a basement and desperately called loved ones as a gunman went on the rampage, killing two people and injuring more than 20 on the day the city was due to celebrate its annual Pride parade.

The attack took place in the early hours of Saturday, with victims shot inside and outside the London Pub, a longstanding hub of Oslo's LGBTQ scene, as well as in the surrounding streets and at one other bar in the centre of the Norwegian capital.

Bili Blum-Jansen, who was in the London Pub, said he fled to the basement to escape the hail of bullets and hid there along with 80 to 100 other people.

"Many called their partners and family, it felt almost as if they were saying goodbye. Others helped calm down those who were extremely terrified," he told TV2.

"I had a bit of panic and thought that if the shooter or shooters were to arrive, we'd all be dead. There was no way out."

A suspect, a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen of Iranian origin, was detained minutes after embarking on the shooting spree, according to police who said they believed he acted alone. Two weapons, including a fully automatic gun, were retrieved from the crime scene, they added.

This article I found originally on Yahoo and the comments were sick with hate.

Here in the US we have the white supremacist organizing against to create fear at Pride events and that is their goal to create enough fear to keep people away from the events. And they are being egged on by the conservative politicians.

~~~~~~~~~

In San Francisco the police issued a warning for Pride events,

SF police urge Pride attendees to remain vigilant; 'if you see something, say something'
ABC News 7
By Cornell W. Barnard
June 24, 2022


Thousands of people are heading to San Francisco this weekend to celebrate the first SF Pride parade and festival since 2019.

The San Francisco Police Department says it has a plan to keep everyone safe and is asking the public to help out.

SF Pride will be back on Market Street Sunday as one of the biggest Pride parades in the country returns after a three-year pandemic pause. Keeping the massive crowds safe is the goal of San Francisco Police Chief William Scott. He says every available police officer will be on duty.

"First we need the eyes and ears of vigilance to be on everybody's mind," said Scott.

The chief urges the public that if they see something, say something. Scott says his department is working with federal authorities after police in Idaho recently arrested 31 with ties to a white nationalist group that planned to riot at a local Pride event.

"There are no credible threats to our events in San Francisco," Scott said.

Now tell me what you would do if you are a family with young children, would you go to the Pride march with a warning like that?

That is what the haters want to create fear to keep you away.

A Question.

AP "Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade; states can ban abortion"

Alito, in the final opinion issued Friday, wrote that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion, were wrong had to be be overturned.

“We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey must be overruled, and the authority to regulate abortion must be returned to the people and their elected representatives,” Alito wrote, in an opinion that was very similar to the leaked draft.

AMENDMENT IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Cornell Law School

The Ninth Amendment was James Madison’s attempt to ensure that the Bill of Rights was not seen as granting to the people of the United States only the specific rights it addressed. In recent years, some have interpreted it as affirming the existence of such “unenumerated” rights outside those expressly protected by the Bill of Rights.

Doesn’t the Ninth Amendment contradict Justices Alito's argument “We therefore hold that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.” The IX Amendment says that the rights listed in the Constitution are not fixed but can be expanded overtime.

This ruling will go down in history equal to the Dred Scott Decision.

Saturday 9: Better Now

Saturday 9: Better Now (2018)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, Post Malone tries to assure his ex that he's better now ... but he's not. He's still hurting. Have you recently told someone you were fine when you weren't?

I think that we all do, when someone asks “How are you doing today?” I think many of us think that it a rhetorical question. 

2) He and his girl were so close he introduced her to his extended family, and now his aunts and uncles wonder where she's gone. Have you remained close to an ex's friends/family?

Somewhat, she lives in up state New York in the Adirondack’s. 

3) He sings that he never meant to let her down. What about you? Have you recently encountered anything -- big or small -- that didn't live up to your expectations?

Yes, but I don’t want to answer in name of keeping the peace.

4) Post recently announced he will soon become a father for the first time. Do you know anyone who is currently expecting a baby?

Nope, we are in between generation. My niece and nephews are too old and my grand nieces and nephews are too young.

5) Before making it big as a musician, he supported himself as a wedding DJ. Think back to the last wedding you attended. Did they have a live band or a DJ?

Yes, and it leads me to my pet peeve. Most of the people at the wedding are relatives that you haven’t seen for a while. You want to talk but usually the music is too loud.

6) Not satisfied being a successful musician, Post has branched out and introduced his own rose wine, Maison No. 9. Will you replenish your beer/wine/spirits this weekend?

Actually next weekend when I go up to the cottage on Cape Cod, I took it all home for the winter. 

7) Post Malone has more than 70 different tattoos. He designs them himself and is so into ink that he has tattooed his friends. Would you trust a friend or relative to do your body art (tattoo or piercing)? Or would you go to a licensed professional?

I don’t care to have any tattoos, I will always remember my grandfather who was tattooed and his body was flabby with age and his tattoos were all wrinkled.

8) In 2018, when this song was popular, Sears filed for bankruptcy. In the 1970s, Sears was known as the place "Where America Shops." As of 2021, there were only 23 Sears stores left. Did you ever shop at Sears, either at the store or through the catalog?

Yes, I still have a Sears lawnmower and other Sears home tools.

9) Random question: What's your favorite way to spend an evening at home alone?

Reading or listening to books. I am not a big fan of watching TV. There is just too much violence and sex in TV shows now, I rather watch Masterpiece Theater.

Not My Problem

[RANT]

Voters tend to vote for local issues and issues that directly affect them and lets face it even through we see our human rights as a major issue most people do not.

Our goal is to make our rights one of the issues that people see as important to them.

Unfortunately, Martin Niemölle poem is right, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.” it could be rewritten today as,

First they came for the trans people, and I did not speak out—because I was not trans.
Then they came for the abortion rights, and I did not speak out— because I was not pregnant.
Then they came for the Blacks, and I did not speak out—because I am not Black.
Then they came for the immigrants, and I did not speak out—because I was not an immigrant.
Then they came for the Jews and Muslims, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew or a Muslim.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

The Texas Republican Platform is an blueprint to leading us to authoritarianism.

The platform declared:

• Homosexuality is a chosen behavior contrary to God and endorsed “reparative therapy” to reverse it.
• That “life begins at fertilization”
• Prohibit the teaching of “sex education, sexual health, or sexual choice or identity in any public school in any grade whatsoever.” 
• It also rejects any Medicare/Medicaid expansion. It demands repealing the Affordable Care Act.
• It wants the repeal the 1965 Voting Rights Act, a monumental federal policy that granted minorities, more specifically Black people, the right to vote without the burden of literacy tests, poll taxes, and intimidation at voting centers.
• “Texas retains the right to secede from the United States, and the Texas Legislature should be called upon to pass a referendum consistent thereto.”

We have to make these human rights issues as important as economy for the voters, we have make them realize that the way the country is toward fascism. That their silence is implied consent to the Republican policies. 

The question is how do we do that?

How do we get the voters past their pocketbooks and to take a long view?

[/RANT]

---

Update 3:30 PM

With the Supreme Court decision on abortion which is a good cause to help out and work with other organizations to show the trans flag. We need to build a strong coalition to defeat the Republicans at the mid-term elections.

A Little Ray Of Sunshine

Just a small one but still a little brightness in the gloom,

Transgender people in North Carolina no longer required to provide proof of surgery to correct birth certificates
Story at a glance Transgender people born in North Carolina are now able to alter their gender marker on their birth certificates regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, a federal judge said Thursday. The ruling stems from a Lambda Legal lawsuit filed last year alleging the state’s surgical requirement erected unnecessary and discriminatory…

• Transgender people born in North Carolina are now able to alter their gender marker on their birth certificates regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, a federal judge said Thursday.
• The ruling stems from a Lambda Legal lawsuit filed last year alleging the state’s surgical requirement erected unnecessary and discriminatory barriers for transgender people wishing to correct their birth certificates.
• Transgender people in most other states are not easily able to alter their gender identity on official state-issued documents.
• Transgender people born in North Carolina are now able to alter their gender marker on their birth certificates regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, a federal judge said Thursday.

The Hill
By Brooke Migdon
June 23, 2022


Transgender people born in North Carolina are now able to alter their gender marker on their birth certificates regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery, a federal judge said Thursday.

Under a consent judgment issued by U.S. District Court Judge Loretta C. Biggs, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services and other state government officials must provide corrected birth certificates to transgender applicants regardless of whether they have undergone gender-affirming surgery.

In seeking to change the gender marker on their birth certificates, transgender North Carolinans will still be required to provide “supporting documentary evidence” of their gender identity, including an accurate driver’s license or identification card, valid U.S. passport or certification from a physician or mental health professional stating the gender identity.

Ah… that explains it. It wasn’t the legislature but rather a court that brought about the change. A court challenge by Lambda Legal saying the policy placed an excessive burden on us.

Thursday’s ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal last year on behalf of three plaintiffs who were unable to obtain birth certificates reflecting their gender identity.

“The State of North Carolina now must recognize us for who we are,” Lillith Campos, a transgender woman born in North Carolina and one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said Thursday in a statement released by her attorneys.

The Constitution says other states have to recognize legal rulings in Article IV Section I which says,

Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.

Simple but sweet.

What that means is if a state says that the person born in the state is female all the other states has to recognize that. Basically it says that if a couple same-sex couple is married legally in one state all the other states must recognize that marriage. This is something that is going become very important for the LGBTQ community if Roe v Wade is overturned because the Republicans what to overturn marriage equality and other of are hard won rights.

What a legal nightmare it is going to create is say Florida bans same-sex marriages and a couple goes to Connecticut to get married under the Constitution that marriage must be recognized, the same with our birth certificates.

Three Fantasies.

[RANT]

This first is “Just In Time” deliveries, and the “Global Economy” and the third is “Trickle Down Economy”

In the late 70s and the early 80s a new business rage started all the companies CEOs started jumping on the band wagon well now it is biting us in the ass.

We got bit by the “Global Economy” when a resistor manufacturer move to Mexico and then again when a circuit breaker manufacturer moved their production facilities to China.

There was a lot of Tribal Knowledge” that was lost with the moves.

The resistor company made ultra precision resistors, we used 0.25% resistors and paid a good penny for them. Well when we were building the assemblies and my department tested them they passed with flying colors and they then went in to stocks. Months later when they were installed in another assembly they were out of tolerance! We trace the problem to the resistor company move to Mexico they left out of steps to make sure that the resistors stayed intolerance, it cost us millions of dollars. Last I heard the lawyers were fighting it out.

The circuit breakers passed all the manufacturer tests to verify that they tripped when they were suppose to trip. We installed them in a 1000 MW power plant and then the complaints started coming in, the South Korea plant kept shutting down, now when a 1,000 Megawatt plant shuts down it costs a million dollars a day while it is shut down. Once again we pay extra to have the breakers certified* that they meet the manufacturer’s specs. What my test department traced the problem to was the manufacturer never tested that the circuit breakers would not trip at rated current. Once again it was in the hands of the lawyers, the power company sued us and we sued the circuit breaker company.

Now it JIT that is causing the nightmare.

Just walking down the aisles in the grocery store shows how JIT and the “Global Economy” is casing us empty selves.

Back in the 80s when JIT grained traction I thought it was a really dumb idea. What happens if there a disruption in the supply chain? I was think a fire at the manufacturer’s plant or a hurricane, not a plague or a war.

Musk says Tesla's new car factories 'losing billions of dollars'
Reuters
By Hyunjoo Jin
June 22, 2022


June 22 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) new car factories in Texas and Berlin are "losing billions of dollars" as they struggle to increase production because of a shortage of batteries and China port issues, Chief Executive Elon Musk said in an interview published on Wednesday.

"Both Berlin and Austin factories are gigantic money furnaces right now. Okay? It's really like a giant roaring sound, which is the sound of money on fire," Musk said in an interview with Tesla Owners of Silicon Valley, an official Tesla-recognized club, in Austin, Texas, on May 31.

[...]

Musk said Tesla's Texas factory produces a "tiny" number of cars because of challenges in boosting production of its new "4680" batteries and as tools to make its conventional 2170 batteries are "stuck in port in China." read more "This is all going to get fixed real fast, but it requires a lot of attention," he said.

He said its Berlin factory is in a "slightly better position" because it started with using the traditional 2170 batteries for cars built there.

Um… why did he build his plant in China?

To save a few bucks? Well now it is biting him the ass.

Maybe made in America and having a 60 day inventory like they did in the old days makes sense now?

*Used used to do all the acceptance testing of the circuit breakers but when we were bought out our new owners in Japan decided to let our suppliers do the testing instead of us. Our tests required that the breakers hold the rated current for one hour, the manufacture's tests didn't. Our new owners by saving a dollar it cost them millions.

[/RANT]

A Hot Topic… And It Is Not The Weather.

It is trans inclusion in sports.

The radical right has been attacking us about trans athletes and right now pro-sports have had their arms twisted and issued new guidelines that deals us out.

But what I want to talk about is student trans athletes.

‘Annoyingly positive’ Erica Smith builds unbreakable bonds at Sweet Briar College
How the first trans woman student-athlete at a small Virginia all-women’s college made a mark and made positive change.
Out Sports
By Karleigh Webb
June 21, 2022


A hazy Saturday morning sunshine beat down on the turf at Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pa., on April 30. The host Cedar Crest Falcons would meet the Sweet Briar College (Va.) Vixens with a Colonial Athletic State Conference playoff bid at stake.

Warming up among the Vixens players is Erica Smith, cutting and feinting to get in position for her best shot.

This day marks her first career start and represents a next step on an improbable journey. The journey of a 30-year-old sophomore who has become a “glue player” on a lacrosse team, and a leader within the student body, at a small all-women’s college in NCAA Division III.

She’s also a piece of history. Erica Smith is Sweet Briar’s first out transgender woman to be a full-time student, and thus the school’s first transgender student-athlete.

[…]

“She brings really good energy to everything,” Alexander said. “If I’m not having the best day, she’d come in and tell me something about her day and make me laugh.”

Teammates and friends all dub Smith as “annoyingly positive.” It seems to go in line with Smith’s spirit. From the first second she stepped on campus, she has sought to make friends and make an impact.

The college had to adjust their school policies to be inclusive.

Her outspokenness to make a space for herself drew students and faculty around her. She ran for a place in student government and became the non-traditional student’s chair for the student government association at the school. She also joined other campus clubs.

Another advisor suggested she tryout for sports, so she aimed for a spot on the field hockey and lacrosse team. She hadn’t played either sport, before but she felt both sports would best suit her. The head coaches for both teams, Hannah Lott and Elizabeth Parr, fast became sturdy supporter for the newcomer.

She had to follow NCAA guidelines for trans athletes,

Smith pushed to get into shape for the 2022 lacrosse season. Having met the NCAA guidelines, it looked like she was don a Vixen uniform that spring. However in January 2022, the growing controversy surrounding Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas led the NCAA to announce a drastic overhaul of the transgender student-athlete inclusion policy in place since 2011.

She has the support of the team and college.

“If it wasn’t for these people I am allowed to be around, and the support of my coaches, I don’t know if would be here,” Smith said.

“It is so wonderful to be able to run out of a lab because I’m on the verge of breaking down crying, and the first place I go to is the athletics center,” she continued. “I go to my fitness trainer’s office, and as soon a human contact hits, I break down. Then my coaches sit down and talk with I and say, ‘Let’s make a plan so that this doesn’t happen in the future’, and then my teammates reach out to me.

So what is the purpose of school sports?

Consider that less than one percent of student athletes go on to play professional sports; therefore school sports cannot be considered as a goal of sports.

Now college level sports has become big business! The student athletes are now getting paid big bucks… however, only a handful of players get paid, while rest only dreams. Somehow that doesn’t seem fair to me. Can you imagine you are a college football player and the student next to you is making a million dollars for playing while you might just get a scholarship… is that fair? Now the goal is becoming make the other players look bad so you have a better chance of getting a contract.

When I was growing up the coaches all said that sports builds teamwork, leadership skills, and self-discipline. So when you say trans athletes can’t play what you are saying is that trans students cannot learn those skills. So what you are really teaching the student-athletes is that winning is everything, nothing else counts.

According to the CIAC there are around 100,000 student athletes here in Connecticut! So how many trans athletes are there? Well there are no hard numbers but when I was on a panel with the head of the CIAC he said around a dozen or two. Those numbers are inline with what I have heard from the community. So all this brouhaha is a little over two dozen athletes out of a 100,000 athletes who just want to play sports.

---

There is another article that I want to talk about;

Megan Rapinoe Discusses Historic Equal Pay Agreement, Title IX Anniversary and Transgender Sports Bans
Time
By Sean Gregory
June 19, 2022


Title IX, the federal legislation mandating equal opportunities for men’s and women’s participation in sports, turns 50 on June 23. The golden anniversary offers opportunities to recognize the advancements of women’s athletics, such as the pioneering collective bargaining agreement, agreed to on May 18 by the United States Soccer Federation, the U.S Women’s National Team Players Association and the United States National Soccer Team Players Association, that creates true pay equity in the sport. Players like Megan Rapinoe, who along with teammate Alex Morgan was the leading goal-scorer for the United States during its 2019 World Cup championship run, had long advocated for equal pay, going so far to sue their employer, US Soccer, that year in a gender discrimination case.

While female athletes have enjoyed great gains, inequalities do persist in sports. TIME caught up with Rapinoe to discuss how Title IX can be improved, the leadership lessons that came out of the equal pay fight, and the importance of transgender inclusion in sports.

And she goes on to talk about trans inclusion in sports and how important it is.

You mentioned the issue of transgender inclusion in sports, which is such a hot subject right now, as many states have passed bills that ban or limit transgender sports participation. Where do you stand on this issue?

I’m 100% supportive of trans inclusion. People do not know very much about it. We’re missing almost everything. Frankly, I think what a lot of people know is versions of the right’s talking points because they’re very loud. They’re very consistent, and they’re relentless.

At the highest level, there is regulation. In collegiate sports, there is regulation. And at the Olympic and professional level. It’s not like it’s a free-for-all where everyone’s just doing whatever.

[…]

Show me the evidence that trans women are taking everyone’s scholarships, are dominating in every sport, are winning every title. I’m sorry, it’s just not happening. So we need to start from inclusion, period. And as things arise, I have confidence that we can figure it out. But we can’t start at the opposite. That is cruel. And frankly, it’s just disgusting.

Yes it is disgusting!

This whole thing is about politics!

Look at how many Republican politicians are talking about trans athletes, Critical Race Theory, "The Big Lie," and what books are on library shelves to generate hate so that their voters come out and vote.

It is a smoke screen to hide what their polices are on rebuilding the infrastructure, wage inequities, Social Security, and other issues facing us today.

Cutting The Cord or Strengthening The Cord

Cutting the Cord

A trans women has cut the cord with her father she no longer wants to "be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form.” we see this all the time but her father is rather special…

Elon Musk: Billionaire's daughter cuts ties with her father
Elon Musk's transgender daughter has applied to legally change her name and gender, saying she no longer wants to "be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form".
BBC News
June 21, 2022


The 18-year-old has asked to be recognised as female and have the name Vivian Jenna Wilson.

She was known as Xavier Alexander Musk.

The petition for both a name change and a new birth certificate was filed with the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Santa Monica.

Her request is set out in court documents filed in April, which have only recently come to light.

There was no further detail of the apparent rift between Mr Musk's daughter and her father.

[…]

On Father's Day, the entrepreneur tweeted that he loves all his children.

Details are skimpy, all the articles about this look like they come from a wire service. But it could be because of his politics,

He has been vocal on various transgender issues, and has been branded anti-gay in several rows. Last year he complained about people using their own pronouns.

The court document for his daughter's name and gender change was filed a month before he publicly declared his support for the Republican Party, having previously voted Democrat.

He has also said he is a fan of Ron DeSantis, the Republican Florida governor who introduced the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill. This controversial piece of legislation restricts schools from teaching students about sexual orientation and gender issues, with teachers opening themselves up to lawsuits should they fail to comply.

Her new name is Vivian Jenna Wilson and took her mother’s maiden name.

ELON MUSK
EX-WIFE BACKS DAUGHTER'S LAST NAME CHANGE
... 'Very Proud of You!!!'
TMZ
June 21, 2022


Elon Musk's ex-wife is squarely in the corner of their daughter, saying she's proud of the 18-year-old ... amid her now very public rift with her father.

Justine Wilson, a novelist who was married to Elon from 2000 to 2008, weighed in on Vivian's legal filing to have her gender identity changed to female, and to change her full name ... including dropping her dad's famous last name.

She tweeted a convo she recently had with one of her children, and while Vivian has a twin brother, Griffin, the timing makes it pretty clear this was a chat with Vivian.

Justine says her 18-year-old said, "I can't believe I'm as normal-seeming as I am," after having what she calls a "weird childhood." Justine replied, "I'm very proud of you," to which Vivian said, "I'm proud of myself!"

The proud mother's tweet dropped right after the story broke about Vivian's desire to change her name to Vivian Jenna Wilson. What's interesting about Justine's very public support is that Vivian's made it clear she's got beef with Elon.

---

Strengthening The Cord

On the other end of the spectrum is a supportive parent...

Jennifer Lopez Introduces Her Child Onstage Using They/Them Pronouns

“I ask them to sing with me all the time, but they won't. So this is a very special occasion,” Lopez said.

The Advocate

By Alex Cooper

June 20, 2022

Superstar Jennifer Lopez recently performed with her child Emme, 14, and used gender-neutral pronouns during the performance, which many on social media saying it seems to be Lopez affirming Emme’s pronouns.

Emme, along with their twin Max, are Lopez’s children with her ex-husband Marc Anthony.

The recent duet wasn’t the first time audiences saw Lopez and Emme sing together. Emme also performed with Lopez during the latter’s Super Bowl performance in 2020 with Shakira.

Video of the performance at the L.A. Dodgers Foundation’s Blue Diamond Gala was posted to TikTok, and has been viewed more than 2 million times.

Sadly the announcer uses gender terms to describe J.Lo nibbling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jennifer Lopez could offer Elon Musk a lesson in kids’ LGBTQ acceptance
Being disowned by his transgender daughter could ‘be a wake-up call’ for Musk, at LGTBQ activist says, while Lopez showed how a parent can be comfortable with a child’s preferred pronouns
The Mercury News
By Martha Ross | Bay Area News Group
June 21, 2022


When it comes to being supportive of transgender and nonbinary children, Elon Musk could learn a lot from Jennifer Lopez.

Musk, who tweeted in 2020 that he “absolutely support trans,” but that “all these pronouns are an esthetic nightmare,” is being legally rejected by his 18-year-old transgender daughter, who wants nothing more to do with her famous father.

As news circulated that the world’s richest man had been disowned by one of his children, another famous parent, Jennifer Lopez, was being praised for taking a different approach to LGBTQ pronoun uses, especially when it comes to her own child.

Before a duet with her 14-year-old, Emme Maribel Muñiz, at the recent LA Dodgers Blue Diamond Gala, Lopez introduced her child using the gender neutral pronouns they and them, CNN and other outlets reported.

Family support means so much to a child, it makes all the different in the success of their transistion.

This Is How You Do It.

You don’t shout and rant, you don’t swear, you don’t make threats, you don’t name names, and you state your case in a logical manner.

A school board member justified bigotry with Jesus. This mom wasn’t having it.

Colorado school board member Jamilynn D’Avola told a child Jesus justified her bigoted views. Lacy Carroll fought back.
Only Sky
By Hemant Mehta
May 15, 2022


You have to hear the speech that a parent delivered at a recent school board meeting in response to one board member’s religious tirade against her daughter.

To make sense of it, you have to understand that Colorado Springs has long been a hotbed for white evangelical Christianity. That brand of bigotry has now crept onto local public school boards. A couple of months ago, in the span of a two weeks, the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent multiple letters to those boards warning them about board members using their positions to foist their personal religious views on students.

[…]

But it’s the situation with another board member, Jamilynn D’Avola, that’s relevant here. When she ran for the board in 2021, her campaign website said “one of my top priorities would be to make sure children are assigned to different bathroom based on their biological sex,” a direct attack on trans kids. She also condemned comprehensive sex education, the “LGBTQ+ agenda,” Black Lives Matter, and “social justice.” Just a total moral monster on every level.

Last year, a student in the district wrote a heartfelt letter to D’Avola urging her to reconsider her positions now that she was on the board. The letter ended by saying, “Some students do not receive this information at home and need to learn it at school so that they stay safe and healthy. I know this is a lot, Mrs. D’Avola, but please, at least consider the things I have said. The mental health of the district’s students is potentially on the line.”

[...]

Instead, her response included this Christian-tainted pseudo-sermon:

God cares very deeply about every person and wants them to know who they are in Him… All people are created equal and no one can take that away from them because it was given to them by God. When someone fully understands who they are in Christ, then they will know they are valued and will be able to overcome depression and thoughts of suicide. They will know that there are only two genders and that there is absolute truth that comes from the Word of God. There is great freedom that comes from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father expect (sic) through Him. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, but with this freedom comes great responsibility. We are not free to do whatever we feel like, we must uphold the values and truth of the Bible.

I know that you may not agree with me, and that is ok. I will still see you as the Lord sees you, as a child of the most high God who is loved and valued above all. You are unique, and God has given you special gifts and talents. I pray that God would reveal Himself to you so that you too can experience the love of the Father.

In the video she talks about the board’s hypocrisy but a logical presentation and notice that she doesn’t name the board member. She didn’t make it personal attack, she stepped above the fray. When I was giving testimony for the non-discrimination I talked about getting an oil change where all the mechanics came out to stare at me. I never mentions the garage where it happen because I want to makes it sound like I had a vendetta and is unprofessional.

That is a hell of a speech. It was calm, laid out the obvious hypocrisy, and simply asked for some basic courtesy. Not once did she even call out D’Avola by name.

The board members attack her even though she never mentioned the board member.

And yet, later in the meeting, when the board members had the opportunity to respond to some of the public comments, Ivy Liu came to her conservative buddy’s defense… in the worst possible way: She blamed the daughter who wrote the initial email.

If you look at the video of the whole board meeting at the 2:19 mark another board member refers to “The Evil One” and 2:22 minutes into the video the board member said, “I will continue to support the members who voted for me.” Um… board member… you represent all the people not just the people who voted for you. And then the board member said, “I am concerned that the enemies of our country are preying on our children and are becoming increasingly embolden. The National Teacher’s Union and the council’s website announced to deliver Critical Race Theory programs…” (2:22:50).

That was really enlighten that she thinks that LGBTQ children and Blacks are enemies of the state. That those who hold different view then hers are Un-American.

Stirring The Pot Of Hate

When the you spew forth hate violence will follow, NPR reported that, 

Hate Crimes Reach The Highest Level In More Than A Decade
By Joe Hernadez
September 1, 2021


There were 7,759 reported hate crimes in the U.S. last year — the most in 12 years, the FBI reported this week. But some experts and advocacy groups say the true number is probably even higher.

The number of recorded bias incidents reported by the FBI was the highest since 2008, when 7,783 hate crimes were reported to the agency, federal data shows.

[...]

The sudden increase in reported hate crimes against Asian people was attributed in part to the scapegoating of the Asian community for the emergence of COVID-19, which originated in China and which former President Donald Trump called the "Chinese virus."

And now we are still seeing the increase continuing this years of racially motivated violence attacks against Black churches, and Black neighborhoods. We are still seeing the increase in violence crimes against Asians increase. We are still seeing violence attacks against Jews and Muslims increasing. And we are still seeing attacks against the LGBTQ community still increasing.

The harrowing, homegrown American threat connecting Jan. 6 and Pride Month
The domestic terrorism that led to the Jan. 6 attack hasn't abated.
MSNBC
By Evette Dionne, MSNBC Opinion Columnist
June 18, 2022


Those of us concerned about the future of our nation’s democracy have been riveted by the revelations from the Jan. 6 House committee investigating the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Over the course of the three hearings that have aired, the committee has revealed startling, never-before-seen footage of the insurrection itself, while also using that evidence to craft a compelling narrative about the underlying lie that fueled that day’s violence and is still wreaking havoc on our politics.

While the committee has not yet made this point — and may never make it — it’s important to connect the white nationalist undertones that bolstered former President Donald Trump’s election and the insurrection to recent events that threaten marginalized communities and suggest more violence to come.

The violent rhetoric coming out of the Republican party is frighting, they don’t care where their hate speech leads to.

In recent months, state legislatures have been doing everything from banning books by and about queer people to outlawing gender-affirming treatment to forbidding trans children from competing in sports leagues. It’s an all-out legislative assault on the community our country purports to celebrate this month, as lawmakers refer to children and their elders as “groomers” and treat them as threats.

The Republican party knows that their anti-LGBTQ policies are leading to violence and anarchy. As I wrote yesterday that political hate speech is fueling a rise in demonstrations and attacks against LGBTQ communities and this morning the Texas the Log Cabin Republicans were booted out of the Republican convention there and the Republican party platform calls homosexuality 'abnormal' and includes explicitly anti-LGBTQ ideology.

Yesterday was Juneteenth where we remember when the last vestige of slavery ended in 1865 only to be replaced by Jim Crow laws.

Please tell me what has changed in over 150 years? The only thing that I see changed are the words, instead of calling it segregation we call it "redlining" and "gerrymandering."

---

Talking about violence...

Greitens puts out gun-toting video implying he’s hunting members of his own party 

Kansas City Star

By Daniel Desrochers

June 20, 2022

Former Gov. Eric Greitens put out a video Monday that showed him and a group of men in tactical gear with guns hunting Republicans who they do not deem adequately conservative, ramping up the war-like messaging of his campaign for U.S. Senate.

In the video Greitens, a Republican, carries a gun and identifies himself as a Navy SEAL. He says he’s hunting RINOs, an acronym that means “Republicans in name only.”

“Today, we’re going RINO hunting,” Greitens says in the video. “The RINO feeds on corruption and are marked by the stripes of cowardice.”

How sick is that!

Some comments about the article on Yahoo.

• What is wrong with these right wingers nowadays?  We are regressing as a nation.
• If erectile dysfunction was a person
• A lying domestic abuser adulterer with a sick gun/violence fetish - ladies and gentlemen, your ideal GOP candidate in 2022!!!
• What a perfect MAGA candidate. "We is not wrapped tight."  Frank Zappa
• Similar events occurred in 1933 Germany...it didn't end well.  People need to wake up to the new Fascism in America before history repeats itself.

Almost all the comments were against the ad.

Not Getting The Hint.

We have seen this before with Caitlyn Jenner, she hasn’t got the hint yet and is totally oblivious to the snubs. Well down in Texas the Log Cabin Republicans haven’t gotten the not so subtle hints.

Fort Worth group representing LGBTQ Republicans denied booth at Texas party convention
Fort Worth Telegram
By Eleanor Dearman
June 18, 2022


A Fort Worth organization representing LGBTQ Republicans wasn’t allowed to set up a booth at the Texas Republican Party Convention in Houston. 

The Fort Worth Log Cabin Republicans is a new chapter of a national organization. The local group and the organization’s state affiliate were denied booths at the event that drew Republicans from across the state, a spokesperson for the party confirmed.

“I know that we need change in Texas party leadership, and there’s a small group of very loud people that are running this, but we will come back in two years and continue to fight forward,” said Jason Baldwin, president of the Log Cabin Republicans of Fort Worth, after earlier saying he’s confident he’s in the right party.

The convention features dozens of booths promoting Republican groups and vendors. Organizations submit applications that are then reviewed and voted on by a committee of the state party.

Texas Republican Party Chair Matt Rinaldi was the deciding vote denying the application, Baldwin said. Rinaldi said he abstained from voting on the application for the state chapter and voted against the Fort Worth chapter’s application after a member of the committee died, to make sure the committee member’s vote was represented.

[…]

The national organization of Log Cabin Republicans in a statement condemned the state chapter being excluded.

“It’s clear that inclusion wins, which makes the Texas Republican Party leadership’s decision to exclude the Texas Log Cabin Republicans from their convention not just narrow-minded, but politically short-sighted,” President Charles Moran said.

They need to face reality, they not wanted.

Not only are they not wanted but the Republican shows their hatred against us.

Texas GOP's new platform calls homosexuality 'abnormal' and includes explicitly anti-LGBTQ ideology
Business Insider
By Joshua Zitse
June 19, 2022


The Republican Party of Texas adopted a platform that included explicitly anti-LGBTQ ideology at its biennial convention on Saturday.

The new 40-page platform contains a "Homosexuality and Gender Issues" section that describes being gay as "an abnormal lifestyle choice."

It calls for a policy of fighting against special status for members of the LGBTQ communities and protection against criminal or civil penalties for those who oppose homosexuality out of "faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values."

There is no federal law that protects LGBTQ individuals from discrimination or grants them special status.

The section also includes calls for opposition to "all efforts to validate transgender identity" and a ban on medical practitioners from offering any gender-affirming care to anyone under the age of 21.

The use of taxpayer funds for gender-affirming treatments is also opposed, and the platform pledges support for the protection of conversion therapy.

Here in Connecticut State Rep. Robert Sampson, (R-80th) introduced “HB 5193, An Act Concerning Health Insurance Coverage for Gender Reassignment Surgery” in 2015 to strip us of our health insurance.

In addition to the anti-LGBTQ planks they have also added a plank to their platform according to The Hill...

The Texas Republican Party adopted a new platform declaring that the 2020 election violated the Constitution and President Biden “was not legitimately elected.”

[...]

“We reject the certified results of the 2020 presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States,” the platform reads.

So I have my theories about why the LGBTQ+ people are Republicans;

• Greed.
• Self-interest.
• Narcissism.
• No empathy towards others.
• Me verses Us.
• Anti-government.
• I’m gay and not one of those flaming gays.
• I’m gay you’re trans.
• I’m gay and you’re crazy.
• I’m stealth and you’re out.
• Oh and did I mention greed and self-interest.

The Williams Institute looked into the...

Differences Between LGB Democrats and Republicans in Identity and Community Connectedness

Compared to LGB Democrats, fewer LGB Republicans said they feel a part of the LGBT community and view participation in the community as positive.

• 41% of the Republican LGB people say that they would want to be straight.
• 38% of the Republican LGB people think being LGB is a short coming.
• 46% of the Republican LGB feel a part of the LGBTQ compared to 72% of the Democrat LGB.

~~~~~~~~

Perceived Stigma

Also, Republican and Democratic LGB people perceived similar levels of rejection and discrimination in the communities where they lived. A majority of each group said that they believed that people thought less of an LGB person and that most people would not want to hire an openly LGB person to take care of their children. Still, a majority of people of both party affiliations thought that most employers would hire an openly LGB person who is qualified for the job.

Centrality of LGB Identity

Republican and Democratic LGB people differed in how they felt about their sexual identity and relationship to the LGBT community. Compared with Democratic LGB people, fewer (but still a majority) of Republican LGB people said that being LGB is a very important aspect of their life.

Internalized Homophobia

Compared with Democratic LGB people, more Republican LGB people said they would want to be completely heterosexual and that being LGB is a personal shortcoming. But similar proportions—more than a third—of LGB people of both party affiliations said they had tried to stop being attracted to same-sex partners at some point in their life.

It is like the battle between some of the trans people who have transitioned and had surgery from those who “just crossdress.” It is “Lateral Hostility” where I am more trans than you. You are “just a” man in a dress while I’m a woman!

Summary

In summary, this shows a diversity of opinions among LGB people. Although a small minority, LGB people are affiliated as Republicans. Republican and Democratic LGB people similarly perceive stigma against LGB people in their communities. But they differ in terms of their connections with LGBT communities. Our data show that Republican LGB people have a weaker connection to the LGBT community than Democratic LGB people and half as many Republican as Democratic LGB people said that it was important for them to be politically active in the LGBT community.

We saw it in Caitlyn Jenner on her reality TV show when they brought her to LGBTQ community center, she didn’t feel any connections with them. She had no empathy towards them.

What Would You Do?

If you were on a committee looking into ways to end hate crimes what would you come up with to end the violence?

Pride events targeted in surge of anti-LGBTQ threats, violence

Extremism trackers say political hate speech is fueling a rise in demonstrations and attacks against LGBTQ communities
The Washington Post
By Hannah Allam
June 17, 2022


The surge in right-wing hate-mongering against LGBTQ people is spilling into violence, with high-profile attacks this month casting fear over Pride celebrations throughout the country.

Extremism researchers have long warned of an escalating risk as hard-right Republicans and militant groups portray LGBTQ people as “groomers” targeting children, along with other baseless smears. Now, provocateurs are acting on those messages in what President Biden last month called “rising hate and violence” targeting LGBTQ communities.

[…]

In recent days, right-wing politicians and preachers have openly called for killing LGBTQ people. On a conservative talk show, Mark Burns, a Donald Trump-allied congressional candidate from South Carolina, called “LGBT, transgender grooming” a national security threat and proposed using treason laws as the basis for “executing” parents and teaches who advocate for LGBTQ rights. In Texas last Sunday, a pastor railed against Pride month and said LGBTQ people “should be lined up against the wall and shot in the back of the head.”

A study released Thursday signals these are not isolated incidents. Anti-LGBTQ activity including demonstrations and attacks increased more than four times from 2020 to 2021, from 15 incidents to 61, according to the global nonprofit conflict-monitoring group known as ACLED. As of early June, ACLED counted 33 anti-LGBTQ incidents so far this year, indicating an even bleaker 2022.

The Department of Justice released data on hate crimes in 2020.

FBI Releases 2020 Hate Crime Statistics

The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program serves as the national repository for crime data voluntarily collected and submitted by law enforcement. Its primary objective is to generate reliable information for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management. The 2020 hate crimes data, submitted by 15,138 law enforcement agencies, provide information about the offenses, victims, offenders, and locations of hate crimes. Of these agencies who submitted incident reports, there were 8,263 hate crime incidents involving 11,129 offenses.

Among the 11,129 hate crime offenses reported:

• Crimes against persons: 69.6%
• Crimes against property: 28.2%
• Crimes against society: 2.2%

Of the 6,780 known offenders:

• 55.1% were White
• 21.2% were Black or African American
• 15.7% race unknown
• Other races accounted for the remaining known offenders.

Of the 6,169 known offenders for whom ethnicity was reported:

• 39.3% were Not Hispanic or Latino
• 10.2% were Hispanic or Latino
• 2.4% were in a group of multiple ethnicities
• 48.1% ethnicity unknown
• Of the 6,264 known offenders for whom ages were known:
• 89.1% were 18 years of age or older

Law enforcement agencies may specify the location of an offense within a hate crime incident as 1 of 46 location designations.

Most hate crime incidents, 28.9%, occurred in or near residences/homes

• 19.9% occurred on highways/roads/alleys/streets/ sidewalks
• 6.5% happened in parking/drop lots/garages
• 4.2% occurred at schools/colleges
• 3.6% occurred at parks/playgrounds
• 3.4% took place in churches/synagogues/temples/mosques
• The location was reported as other/unknown of 8.6% of hate crime incidents
• The remaining 24.8% of hate crime incidents took place at other or multiple locations.

The Post article goes on to say,

Trans people have been particularly targeted. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, says the past year saw record violence against transgender and gender-nonconforming people. Women of color, especially Black trans women, were the most frequent targets.

In that same time frame, state legislators introduced more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills, many of them designed to stop transgender youths from participating in sports. At least 24 of the bills were enacted, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, giving anti-LGBTQ activism “one of its most successful years” in terms of legislation.

Is there a ;ink between the two? I think that it needs to be looked into, anti-LGBTQ bills versus the anti-LGBTQ violence.

The intimidation also has led to moments of defiance, as in North Carolina, where threats of violence prompted organizers to cancel a drag queen storytelling event at Pride in Apex, a suburb of the capital, Raleigh. Local news reports said town officials had received complaints and that the festival’s chairman was warned that he and his family “will be harmed” if the event took place.

That is way these are called hate crimes and not simple assaults, that the violence if targets at the community not just the individual.

I am on a committee studying way to stop hate crimes and we discussing what to do when politicians and news media outlets are the one stirring up the hate. Because that is where the hate is coming from at the Washington Post article pointed out “...right-wing politicians and preachers have openly called for killing LGBTQ people” and “... conservative talk show, Mark Burns, a Donald Trump-allied congressional candidate from South Carolina, called “LGBT, transgender grooming” a national security threat and proposed using treason laws as the basis for 'executing” parents and teaches who advocate for LGBTQ rights.'”

How do you end the hate speech when it is protected by the first amendment and a whole national party is endorsing violence?

Saturday 9: Yesterday

 Saturday 9: Yesterday (1965)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

Unfamiliar with this week's song? Hear it here.

Chosen because June 18 is Paul McCartney's 80th birthday. [Yikes! He's eighty?]

1) Paul McCartney sings that yesterday all his troubles seemed so far away. Can you recall a time when your life seemed carefree?

After my second retirement.

2) He has always insisted the melody to "Yesterday" came to him in a dream. Did you dream last night?

No, I am more likely to hit myself over the head second guessing myself.

3) The lyrics were inspired, in part, by the death of Paul's mother when he was 14. Thirteen years later, he named his daughter Mary after her. Are you named after anyone? If you're a parent, did you name your children in honor of anyone?

I was originally named after our family doctor who was a friend of the family, my brother wanted to name me Roy Rogers, but it was poo-pooed.

4) Over the years, Paul has performed on bass, acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards and drums, but not the first instrument he owned: the trumpet. A present from his dad for his 14th birthday, he exchanged the trumpet for a guitar because, "you can't sing while playing the trumpet." Have you more recently a) exchanged a gift, b) donated a gift you didn't want to charity or c) regifted?

No, the plague got in the way. We haven’t had a holiday together since it began.

5) Paul grew up seeing how much his dad enjoyed placing a bet and then listening to the horse race from his favorite armchair in the living room, so he took his salary from making the film A Hard Day's Night and surprised his father with a racehorse. After father and son proudly watched Drake's Drum win at Liverpool's Aintree Racecourse, the horse retired to Paul's farm in Scotland. If money were no object, what gift would you give a loved one?

Well at our age it would be a chauffeur driver for my brother, he is five years older than me.

6) Paul is considered one of the world's wealthiest entertainers, worth an estimated $1.2 billion. This month, as he approaches his 80th birthday, he is winding up a 16-city North American tour, during which he performs 30+ songs in a 2 hour, 40 minute show. If you had all the money you needed, would you continue to work? Or would you kick back and relax?

I plan on now doing the work that I want to do and not what I have to do.

7) Paul first joined the Beatles when he was recruited into the band by John Lennon. They met as teenagers when Paul showed up at a church picnic where John's band was performing. Paul recalls pedaling over on his bike to hear them, his guitar flung over this back. When did you most recently ride a bike? 

Whoa… that is ancient history, maybe fifty years ago!

8) Paul met his first wife, Linda, at a London club and then again four days later when she was a photographer at a press party for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band. Think about one of your romances. Where did you meet?

I posted on Facebook that I was giving a speech at for the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunity at the Legislative Office Building in one of their hearing rooms and a friend asked if she could attend, I said it was open to the public. Afterwards we went out together for three or four months.

9) TV journalist Barbara Walters played matchmaker for Paul and his current wife, Nancy. During the summer of 2007, when Paul was vacationing in The Hamptons, Barbara repeatedly and intentionally invited them to the same parties and picnics. Have you had any success in a matchmaking scenario -- as either the matchmaker or one of the dates?

Naw, I am not a matchmaker but I am open to your efforts on my behalf. 

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

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Yesterday evening I was standing around talking to a neighbor and I got bitten around the top of my sneaker. Now when I walk the bites rub against the top of my sneaker driving me crazy with itching.

I tell you those biting insects take lessons on where to bite to make you crazy itching. Why else did they only bite at the top of my sneaker, they had my whole leg to bite but they on bit at my ankle.