This Guy Is Leading.

Trump is leading in the polls by 46% over his nearest competitor. Almost half of the Republican voters are for him, which says volumes about the quality of the Republican electorate.

The Hill reported…

Former President Trump told conservative media personality Glenn Beck he would prosecute his political enemies if elected president again.

The Guardian said,

Donald Trump vows to lock up political enemies if he returns to White House
Former president tells Glenn Beck he would have ‘no choice’ but to lock up opponents ‘because they’re doing it to us’
By Martin Pengelly
August 30, 2023

Donald Trump says he will lock up his political enemies if he is president again.

In an interview on Tuesday, the rightwing broadcaster Glenn Beck raised Trump’s famous campaign-trail vow to “lock up” Hillary Clinton, his opponent in 2016, a promise Trump did not fulfill in office.

Beck said: “Do you regret not locking [Clinton] up? And if you’re president again, will you lock people up?”

Trump said: “The answer is you have no choice, because they’re doing it to us.”

Trump has encouraged the “lock her up” chant against other opponents but he remains in considerable danger of being locked up himself.

Lock him up! Lock him up! Ops… sorry about that I got carried away, have to wait until after the trial next year.

Both sites noted, however, that if convicted, the former president was unlikely to receive maximum sentences. Nor would convictions bar Trump from running for president or being elected. On that score, Trump dominates national and key state polling regarding the Republican presidential nomination.

[…]

Trump told Beck that Biden was behind the indictments against him. In fact, all were brought by prosecutors independent of the White House: 44 by the justice department special counsel Jack Smith, 34 by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, and 13 by Fani Willis, the district attorney of Fulton county, Georgia.

But his cult is gobbling it up.

That is what he is “A Cult Leader” complete with their own idol to worship…

 

I Just Don’t Understand DEI

[Editorial]

There are so many things wrong with the Republican attack on diversity… so in other words they are for discrimination? They want to be able to discriminate against Black, Jews, Muslims, gender, and us.

The other thing, I’m not a lawyer but this seems like an Apple verse Orange argument. The Supreme  Court ruled in the Harvard case that, according to AP News,

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down affirmative action in college admissions, declaring race cannot be a factor and forcing institutions of higher education to look for new ways to achieve diverse student bodies.

The court’s conservative majority effectively overturned cases reaching back 45 years in invalidating admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively.

Okay let us take a look at the ruling… “declaring race cannot be a factor” while DEI says we will not use race in our hirelings… we will hire the best person for the job. The Republicans have warped it to,

GOP states fire warning shot to dozens of law firms with diversity, equity initiatives
'We advise you to immediately terminate any unlawful race-based quotas,' the states wrote to 100 law firms
Fox News
By Thomas Catenacci
August 29, 2023


A group of Republican states sent a letter Tuesday to 100 high-profile law firms nationwide, warning them against pursuing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

The letter — signed by five GOP attorney general led by Austin Knudsen of Montana — reminded the law firms of their "obligations as an employer under federal and state law" to refrain from discriminatory practices. The top law enforcement officials added any differential treatment based on race is unlawful, divisive and exposes the firms to legal consequences the states could pursue.

"As Attorneys General, it is incumbent upon us to remind all entities operating within our respective jurisdictions of the binding nature of American anti-discrimination laws," Knudsen and the other attorneys general wrote in the letter. "If your law firm previously resorted to racial preferences or naked quotas, that path is now definitively closed."

Tell me, when you get a new job and they have you read their policy do they say:

A) We will not discriminate in our employment.
B) We will employ only “Blacks” or we will not hire a protected group or we have quotas.

But these Republican Attorneys General have twisted to banning diversity training.

What is diversity training? What is so horrible with teaching the differences about us all?

I taught diversity training about us. The training consisted of…

• Definitions,
• The coming out process,
• What discrimination is (misgendered, using our old names, micro-aggressions, etc,),
• How discrimination affects us,
• Intersectionality.

So tell me, where is it discriminatory? What is so evil about that? Where are we giving advantage to one protected class over another? Where does it say anything about quotas?

So why are the Republican Attorneys Generals coming down on businesses DEI like a sack of bricks?

[/Editorial]

---

Got one!

He destroyed pride flags at New York City's Stonewall National Monument.

Man charged with hate crime for destroying LGBTQ Pride flags at Stonewall National Monument

USA Today

By Claire Thornton

August 30, 2023

A Colorado man has been arrested for allegedly removing and destroying LGBTQ Pride flags at New York City's Stonewall National Monument, which commemorates iconic uprisings in the struggle for LGBTQ+ civil rights.

Patrick Murphy, of Denver, was charged with a hate crime and "criminal mischief" after he allegedly removed and "broke" multiple transgender Pride flags that were displayed on the fence surrounding Christopher Park, New York Police Department Detective Ronald Montas told USA TODAY. Murphy, 25, was arrested Monday, Montas said.

The attack, one of several police are investigating, happened during LGBTQ Pride month, which occurs every year in June to commemorate the Stonewall Inn uprisings for LGBTQ rights, which began on June 28, 1969.

The Pride flag is under attack,

Authorities across the country have been responding this summer to a growing number of attacks targeting LGBTQ flags.

Sarah Moore, an extremism analyst with the Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD, recently told USA TODAY she has tracked incidents across the country where people damage, burn or steal Pride flags hanging outside private residences, restaurants and other businesses. Earlier this year, there was an online hate campaign using a hashtag that advocated for a destroy-the-Pride-flag challenge, she said.

“There's definitely been an increase in attacks against Pride flags," Moore said.

Just in August, Moore has tracked attacks on Pride flags in Newtown, Connecticut; Capitola, California; Hamtramck, Michigan; Seattle and Houston.

"We need allies more than ever," Moore said.

If you hear mean, intervene.

Good, Bad, Or Indifference?

That is the question. Will the schools be desperate but equal?

CT’s first school for LGBTQ+ students could open this fall
PROUD Academy will be the first LGBTQ-affirming private school in New England and one of few across the country, according to its founder
CT Mirror
By Jessika Harkay
July 21, 2023

When Patty Nicolari came out in the spring of 1997, she was a teacher at Ansonia High School. She remembers students yelling slurs at her, vandalizing her car, leaving nasty notes on her desk and teachers whispering among themselves.

Nearly 30 years later, many members of the LGBTQ+ community, like Charlie Wills, a 12-year-old transgender boy from New York City, still experience similar harassment and bullying in schools. He’s often excluded by other students from activities at school, misgendered, laughed and stared at or called names, his mother Tanya said.

[…]

The school will be located at the Ansonia Boys & Girls Club and will start by serving seventh and eighth graders in its first year and expand each year up to 12th grade. Nicolari said over 50 people have expressed interest across the country and about 15 students have applied already.

My thoughts…

Connecticut law mandates safe space for learning for every student, requires schools to prevent bullying and report all incidents of bullying to the state.
Schools are suppose to have anti-bullying policies in place.

Now for reality. Some school systems report zero (that is no bullying) in their school systems, do you believe that? Some policies are simply “We will not tolerate and bullying.” To school systems that will haul the bully before a student court! To some systems practicing Restorative Justice.
“By creating a safe space for students where they will be valued and respected for who they are, that age group seemed to make the most sense,” Nicolari added.
But that is also the goal of all school systems in the state.

I worry about separate but equal, in the past they were not equal.

• Will the new school offer all the same classes as the public school? Or will they just cover the basics.
• Will the new school offer sports programs?
• Will the new school offer (My favorite) science classes?
• Will the new school have quality educators?
• Will the schools buildings be equal in quality?
• Will the school system shuck-off their legal responsibility to have a safe school system for us?
• Will every student be able to afford the new school or will it be only for those who can afford the tuition?

These are some of my concerens.

I realize that for many LGBTQ+ students they will want a separate school, but are we ghettoizing them. Will the LGBTQ students who go to the public school feel welcome? Or will they be subtlety steered toward the private school?

So my question…

online polls

Yes, Virginia, There Is Racism In Connecticut

Many people feel that racism is only a southern problem, but it is right here in Connecticut.

CT city in turmoil over ‘Keep CT White’ gathering, incendiary Facebook posts
The Hartford Courant
By Don Stacom
August 28, 2023

Angered by a recent “Keep CT White” rally and a series of inflammatory Facebook posts by a local GOP activist, Bristol Democrats and NAACP leaders are condemning what they said are white supremacist attitudes in the city along with indifference by the Republican mayor and council.

“Our mayor here in Bristol has been asked on several occasions based on the uptick in racist activity in our city to simply say ‘This is not OK for Bristol,’ and he has refused at every turn,” Morris “Rippy” Patton, a Democratic city council candidate, told the press in front of the Infinite Hope diversity mural on Route 72.

The controversy pulled in the usually innocuous farmers market, whose coordinator — long-time community leader and Republican activist Jim Albert — posted numerous Facebook messages over the past year citing Fox News stories while decrying Black leadership nationally.

Right here in River City… Racism with a capitol R as in Republicans!

“Two weeks ago I left my young daughter with someone watching her at our farmers market. Never would I have imagined the racist, vile remarks that had just been made by the person who runs that event,” Patton [Former Democratic Town Committee chairman] said. “So I can tell you that as a candidate, as a community volunteer and advocate, and as a father, we won’t be going back to our own farmers market which is less than a quarter of a mile from our house. We’re just not not safe there any more.”

But as he is denying that he’s a racist…

“As far as bigotry and racism, I deny I’m a racist and bigot. I haven’t been one and don’t intend to ever be one, there’s no reason to do that,” said Albert, who helps the Rotary Club coordinate the weekly farmers market downtown.

Among his writings was a post saying “There’s a reason most DAs and AGs prosecuting Trump and his staff are black and progressive Democrats. This is why blacks are not moving forward as a whole and whites are moving farther away from racial equality with blacks. Blacks simply are not trustworthy and these corrupt leaders should be removed as soon as possible for treason and domestic terror.”

These Republicans have bought the Republican party line, they bought it hook, line, and sinker that they don’t even recognize the fact that it is racist.

Despite Democrats at the press conference blaming him for appointing Albert to run the farmers market, Mayor Jeff Caggiano said the operation is no longer directed by the city but instead is held in partnership with the Rotary. Caggiano said he phoned Albert after hearing about the Facebook posts.

I am will to bet that the Bristol Rotary club is over 90% white.

“I want to echo my displeasure on any outside group trying to divide our Bristol community. Hate speech has no place in Bristol and I ask everyone in our community to join me in calling out hate speech in any form,” he said.

He doesn’t see that as being racist, that “Keep CT White” is racist, that is how twisted they are.

An Ally Steps Forward

Allies, they are the ones who make a difference, we have an axe to grind, while they speak from the heart.

This is from May, but it is just making its rounds on Facebook.

Emma Bunton, everyone’s favourite Spice Girl, comes out swinging for trans kids
Spice Girls legend Emma Bunton, is proving herself the ultimate ally after coming out unequivocally in support of LGBTQ+ rights on social media.
Pink News
By Asyia Iftikhar
May 10, 2023

As a member of the biggest female pop group of the 90s – the Spice Girls – Bunton and her bandmates Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice), Mel C (Sporty Spice) and Mel B (Scary Spice) have cultivated a devoted queer fanbase and been vocal about their affinity with the LGBTQ+ community for almost 30 years.

In a time when LGBTQ+ rights are more under threat than ever, celebrities coming out as vocal allies for the community has never been more important. In the US, states are attempting to enforce drag bans, undermine the identity of trans youth, censor LGBTQ+ conversations in the classroom and follow the lead of Florida’s incredibly harmful “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

[…]

Enter Emma Bunton, pop sensation, who is telling us what we want, what we really really want. Taking to her Instagram story on Monday (8 May) she reshared a post from trans ally and Oscar winner Jamie Lee Curtis’ own Instagram. The image spoke for itself, plastered with the powerful statement: “I will say gay and I will protect trans kids.”

Allies have our backs!

We are only 0.5% of the population we need allies, we need people to stand up for us, it is their message that will sway voted.

---

And something allies come from strange places, even though he doesn’t support us he is still giving conservatives hell.

Pope Francis denounces ‘backward’ attitudes of conservatives in U.S. Catholic Church
PBS NewHour
BY AP News
August 28, 2023

Pope Francis has blasted the “backwardness” of some conservatives in the U.S. Catholic Church, saying they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.

Francis’ comments were an acknowledgment of the divisions in the U.S. Catholic Church, which has been split between progressives and conservatives who long found support in the doctrinaire papacies of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI, particularly on issues of abortion and same-sex marriage.

Many conservatives have blasted Francis’ emphasis instead on social justice issues such as the environment and the poor, while also branding as heretical his opening to letting divorced and civilly remarried Catholics receive the sacraments.

[…]

The 86-year-old Argentine acknowledged his point, saying there was “a very strong, organized, reactionary attitude” in the U.S. church, which he called “backward.” He warned that such an attitude leads to a climate of closure, which was erroneous.

“Doing this, you lose the true tradition and you turn to ideologies to have support. In other words, ideologies replace faith,” he said.

BINGO!!!!

When I was going to catechism class we were taught that the Pope’s word was God and if you didn’t obey it you were going straight to hell!

Francis has previously acknowledged the criticism directed at him from some U.S. conservatives, once quipping that it was an “honor” to be attacked by Americans.

Sticks And Stones Will…

Growing up we were taught a lie “Words will never hurt.” words do hurt, works can kill. What we see spewing out of Republicans mouths causes anger which in turn causes violence.

Two Florida LGBTQ centers vandalized with anti-LGBTQ messages and hate symbols
The LGBT+ Center Orlando and nearby Zebra Youth shared images on social media of the hateful messages spray-painted on murals adorning their buildings.
NBC News
By Jay Valle
August28, 2023

Murals at two LGBTQ centers in Orlando, Florida, were defaced with anti-LGBTQ messages and hate symbols over the weekend.

The LGBT+ Center Orlando, a nonprofit located downtown, published a photo of the vandalism on its Facebook page Saturday morning, calling the incident “sad and infuriating.” The image shows a colorful rainbow heart mural defaced with black spray paint that includes a homophobic message, a Bible reference and a Celtic cross, which is a widely recognized symbol associated with white supremacy.

“It’s not the first time it has happened and even though is frustrating, we are not going to stop being a beacon of light for our community,” the Facebook message reads.

Also on Saturday, Zebra Youth, an LGBTQ nonprofit located across the street from the LGBT+ Center Orlando, shared photos of two defaced murals on the exterior of its building. The images show black spray paint with anti-LGBTQ messages, Celtic crosses and a swastika.

Words do more than hurt.

Words antagonize, words lead to vandalism, lead to violence, lead to death, and the words politicians use stir up hate.

*****

When you use words to stir unrest and then when violence happens don’t be surprised and don’t use the violence for political gain. The people know you're a fraud.

'You're not welcome here!' DeSantis booed at vigil for Jacksonville shooting victims
NPR
By Juliana Kim
August 28, 2023

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was booed and heckled on Sunday while attending a prayer vigil in Jacksonville for the three victims killed in what authorities say was a racially motivated attack at a local Dollar General.

DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, and his wife were among those who gathered in Jacksonville's Grand Park neighborhood to commemorate the victims of the Saturday shooting. But not everyone was pleased that the governor was there.

As DeSantis approached the podium to speak, some people in the crowd began to boo; one person yelled out, "You're not welcome here." Later, someone shouted, "Your policies caused this," according to videos of the event. As governor, DeSantis has loosened the state's guns laws, and curbed efforts to teach Black history in public schools.

 The Republicans rhetoric is spawning the violence against us, the Los Angles Blade reported,

In a statement to the Blade, a spokesperson for Equality Florida said: “Governor DeSantis has unleashed and emboldened a scourge of hate in Florida. He has fanned the flames of anti-LGBTQ bigotry and his agenda sends a clear message that his administration not only tolerates hate, it welcomes it. These vile messages have no place in our state. We stand with The Center, Zebra Youth, and all those working to make Florida better.”

Or for that matter, where are the religious leaders speaking up against the vandalizing?

How low can he go?

*****

But it is not just in Florida that violence has increased, the animosity has increase around the nation, even to Blue states.

New Jersey Families Evacuated From Drag Queen Story Hour Event Amid Bomb Threat
The threat to the well-being of the kids was not the drag queen reading a story.
The Advocate
By Christopher Wiggins
August 28 2023

New Jersey families with children who had gathered in Princeton on Saturday to enjoy a drag queen story hour event were forced to evacuate the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice after somebody threatened it with violence.

An unknown person sent the Princeton Police Department an email containing derogatory remarks about the LGBTQ+ community and the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice shortly before 11 a.m., police said, Patchreports.

The person said that explosive devices were placed around the center's property.

Police responded immediately to this threat, directing people to leave the center.

The organizers of the drag queen story hour maintained calm and still put on a celebration.

[…]

He said the bomb threat didn't deter the organization's gathering.

“We want to thank all the family and community members who showed up and glowed up, our drag queen Carrie Dragshaw, whose lack of wig was made up by far more spirit, and the Princeton Police Department, who were kind and considerate as they did their due diligence to keep us all safe,” Seda-Schreiber added.

I hope that they catch the person and he has a nice long time to sit in prison to think over why he is there.

In all these cases political words caused the deaths, cause the vandalism, and politicians did this. They know that they caused it because that is what they want to do, get their base angry. Words break bones.

---

Updated 11:30 AM with the article from the Los Angles Blade

One Of Our Biggest Fears.

Is being arrested, how will be be treated in jail? Well the courts have something to say.

At a time of anti-trans sentiment, a New York lawsuit brings hope for the community

NPR

By Jaclyn Diaz

August 24, 2023

Amid waves of anti-transgender laws taking effect in the U.S., Makyyla Holland's case is helping to protect LGBTQ+ individuals incarcerated in Broome County, New York.

Holland's original complaint alleged that while incarcerated for six weeks in 2021, the transgender woman was denied access to her medication, including her hormone therapy and antidepressants; was beaten by correctional officers after refusing to take off her clothes in front of male guards; and was forced to live and shower with male inmates.

On Thursday, a settlement was announced. It includes a new countywide policy that mandates the housing of inmates consistent with their gender identity and access to gender-affirming care. Holland will also receive $160,000 as part of the deal.

That is what is “supposed” to happen here but I have heard mixed results. One trans woman reports that is what happened with her, but from other reports the correction officers went by what is between our legs than the law. But the law and what correction officers do are two different things.

Her treatment was a result of the Broome County Jail's "pervasive policies, practices, and customs of discrimination against transgender people and people with disabilities," Holland's attorneys alleged in her lawsuit.

Her experience is one shared by many transgender people incarcerated in the United States. Being forced to stay in prisons and jails that don't align with their gender identity puts transgender individuals at greater risk of assault, discrimination and abuse, NPR's previous reporting has showed.

Holland's lawsuit pointed to the similar experiences of multiple transgender women who were held in custody at the Broome County Jail.

People say you do the crime you do the time. But… we get punished up and beyond our sentences. We are victims of violence in prisons, rape, and abuse by correction officers.

"It would be difficult if not impossible to bring about the kind of wide-scale change we need through individual lawsuits. We need state law to do that," said Gabriella Larios, staff attorney at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The NYCLU has been working to pass the Gender Identity Respect, Dignity and Safety Act, which would codify all the protections included in the Holland and Faith settlements into state law, said Larios.

Public Act No. 18-4 Section 8:

Sec. 8. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2018) Any inmate of a correctional institution, as described in section 18-78 of the general statutes, who has a gender identity that differs from the inmate's assigned sex at birth and has a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as set forth in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association's "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders", shall: (1) Be addressed by correctional staff in a manner that is consistent with the inmate's gender identity, (2) have access to commissary items, clothing, personal property, programming and educational materials that are consistent with the inmate's gender identity, and (3) have the right to be searched by a correctional staff member of the same gender identity, unless the inmate requests otherwise or under exigent circumstances. An inmate who has a birth certificate, passport or driver's license that reflects his or her gender identity or who can meet established standards for obtaining such a document to confirm the inmate's gender identity shall presumptively be placed in a correctional institution with inmates of the gender consistent with the inmate's gender identity. Such presumptive placement may be overcome by a demonstration by the Commissioner of Correction, or the commissioner's designee, that the placement would present significant safety, management or security problems. In making determinations pursuant to this section, the inmate's views with respect to his or her safety shall be given serious consideration by the Commissioner of Correction, or the commissioner's designee.

Okay, that is the Connecticut law, the $64,000 question is, do they follow it?

Well Of Course.

We knew that the conservative were fill of bahooey, it was a case of garbage in, garbage out.

‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria’ and ‘social contagion’ trans theories dismissed by experts

Major medical experts have dismissed the idea that being trans is a “social contagion” after an anti-LGBTQ+ study failed to get past an ethics board.

Pink News

By Amelia Hansford

August 25, 2023

The study, titled “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria – Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases” and published in March 2023, was retracted in June following criticism from its publisher, who said it violated the editorial policies around consent.

Concerns were also raised by readers in May, who criticised the methodology described in the article, which the publisher said it was investigating.

Sixty-two medical providers in the US, including the American Psychological Association (APA), have previously denounced Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) as a non-legitimate clinical diagnosis.

The study’s author, Michael Bailey, described ROGD as a “controversial theory” that “common cultural beliefs, values, and preoccupations cause some adolescents to attribute their social problems, feelings, and mental health issues to gender dysphoria”.

He also claimed that “youth with ROGD falsely believe that they are transgender”.

You all remember Michael Bailey don’t you of Autogynephilia debacle? Another debunked theory based on junk science.

Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria was also based on junk science, the researcher never interviews any trans children, only their parents. I know my family never knew that I struggled GID from around the age of 5 or 6 so no wonder the parents thought it popped up out of nowhere.

Ehrensaft also noted that, for many transgender children, parents can often be the last people they tell about their dysphoria, as coming out to family can be an incredibly terrifying prospect.

As a result, gender dysphoria in children can seem to appear “suddenly” from the parent’s perspective.

[...]

“So if we want to really understand gender, turn to the experts – and that would be the youth themselves.”

I can see why the Institutional Review Board (IRB) rejected the research project.

Okay, Raise Your Hand If You Are Worried About Old Age?

My hands up.

And many of us are also worried as we get older, there is a movie about senior LGBTQ+ people called Gen Silent and it is something to think about.

Transgender seniors worry about retirement, old age amid wave of anti-trans legislation

PBS NewHour

By Andrew DeMillo, Lynne Sladky, and Laura Bargfeld

August 24, 2023

Rajee Narinesingh faced struggles throughout her life as a transgender woman, from workplace discrimination to the lasting effects of black market injections that scarred her face and caused chronic infections.

In spite of the roadblocks, the 56-year-old Florida actress and activist has seen growing acceptance since she first came out decades ago.

“If you see older transgender people, it shows the younger community that it’s possible I can have a life. I can live to an older age,” she said. “So I think that’s a very important thing.”

Now, as a wave of new state laws enacted this year limit transgender people’s rights, Narinesingh has new uncertainty about her own future as she ages.

“Every now and then I have like this thought, like, oh my God, if I end up in a nursing home, how are they going to treat me?” Narinesingh said.

Yeah, she isn’t the only one thinking that there are many out there thinking those same thoughts.

Transgender adults say they’re worried about finding welcoming spaces to live in their later years.

“I have friends that have retired and they’ve decided to move to retirement communities. And then, little by little, they’ve found that they’re not welcome there,” said Morgan Mayfaire, a transgender man and the executive director of TransSOCIAL, a Florida support and advocacy group.

The problem here in Connecticut is that there are only a small number of LGBTQ+ people here that need Long Term Care facilities. It would be nice if some would create a LGBTQ+ place for 55+ seniors and LTC facility here.

The growing population has brought more services such as nursing homes and assisted living centers that are geared toward serving the LGBTQ+ community, though such facilities remain uncommon. They include Stonewall Gardens, a 24-apartment assisted living center that opened in Palm Springs, California in 2015.

The center’s staff are required to go through sensitivity training to help make the center a more welcoming environment for residents, interim executive director Lauren Kabakoff Vincent said. The training is key for making a more accepting environment for transgender residents and making them feel more at home.

We have been doing that here also, but… it is an important but, the other residents there is no control over. You can train the staff all you want but if the other residents shun them there is not much the facilities can do.

“We have a long way to go in terms of getting to the point where nursing homes, assisted living and other long-term care providers are prepared for and ready to provide appropriate and welcoming care to trans elders,” said Michael Adams, SAGE’s CEO [advocates on behalf of LGBTQ+ seniors].

For those living in Florida, my heart goes out to you. It will not be easy.

SAGE has seen a spike in the number of calls to its hotline following the wave of anti-transgender laws, and Adams said about 40% of them have come from trans seniors primarily in conservative parts of the country worried about the new restrictions.

It is getting worst as we get older. When I came out at the turn of the century thing were getting rosy the sun was rising and it seemed like a dawn of a glorious new day… but an eclipse has come along.

Silenced!

But that wasn’t the end of it, now that the dust has settled the charges are dropped.

Supporters of silenced Montana transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr won’t face trespassing charges

AP News

BY AMY BETH HANSON

August 23, 2023

Montana prosecutors are declining to pursue misdemeanor trespassing charges against seven people who were arrested in the state House gallery for protesting after Republicans denied transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr the right to debate bills near the end of the 2023 legislative session.

The Lewis and Clark County Attorney’s Office filed motions in Justice Court to dismiss the charges “in the best interests of justice.” A justice of the peace signed three of the seven motions on Tuesday, court officials said. The remaining four were signed Wednesday.

Zephyr’s silencing drew scores of protesters to the state Capitol and renewed nationwide debates about manners in politics. It also took place as conservative lawmakers nationwide have introduced a flurry of anti-LGBTQ+ bills this year.

Now if this was Florida the governor would be having a hissy fit over this and fire the prosecutor but it is too soon to see what is going to happen in Montana.

House Speaker Matt Regier did not immediately respond to a phone message Wednesday seeking comment on the dismissals. But Republican House leadership at the time described the disruption as a “riot” and an “ insurrection " that put lawmakers and staff in danger. No property damage or threats to lawmakers were reported.

Once again Republican lawmakers lied and saner heads prevailed.

Well the Republicans seek to override the prosecutors and if they do would that be political interference with our legal system... naw the Republicans will never do anything like that... would thy?

Cuckoo, Cuckoo Award

This week’s Cuckoo Cuckoo award goes to Ohio General Assembly.

College students are concerned over a strict new bill that could limit higher education: ‘You can say gravity isn’t true…’
“SB 83 threatens to impair [academic rigor] by proposing limitations on faculty speech.”
The Cool Down
By Jane Donohue
August 22, 2023    

In recent months, the U.S. has seen a wave of conservative legislation targeting colleges and universities. A new bill in the Ohio General Assembly follows this trend by aiming to restrict what educators can teach about our changing climate.
What’s happening?

Ohio Senate Bill 83 is a proposed bill that limits discussion surrounding “controversial beliefs or policies” on college campuses.

According to the bill, one “controversial policy” involves the changing climate. The bill demands that educators “encourage students to reach their own conclusions about all controversial beliefs or policies and shall not seek to inculcate any social, political, or religious point of view.”

Among the bill’s “controversial beliefs or policies” are those surrounding “climate policies, electoral politics, foreign policy, diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, immigration policy, marriage, or abortion.”

Cuckoo, cuckoo! The dumbing down of America courtesy of the Republican party.

---

Past winners are:

• Minn. Lawmaker with History of Making False, Anti-LGBTQ+ Claims Is Now Blaming Global Warming on Pride Month, Minnesota state Sen. Eric Lucero
• GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn Floats Conspiracy Theory On Titanic Sub And Hunter Biden, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)
• Politician accuses aquarium of ‘making fake gay penguins to brainwash children’, Family First Party, Australia
• Republican Worried Drag Queens Will Launch Missiles, U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MN)
• Kill the constitution? A rewrite is Florida’s latest nutty idea, Florida state Rep. Spencer Roach
• Stephen Miller Files Complaint That Gay Pop-Tarts Are Sexualizing Kids, former Trump advisor
• Moms for Liberty Wants to Make American Kids Oblivious to Sex Ed: Report, Moms for Liberty

Let me know who your nominees are for the week!

Saturday 9: My Sharona

Sam’s Saturday 9: My Sharona (1979)
 

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

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.
 
1) The Knack's lead singer Doug Fieger wrote this song for his girlfriend, Sharona Alperin. That's Sharona on the record sleeve shown here. Who took the most recent photo of you?
Whoa… let me think…
I remember it was Deja at a party in Vermont.

I think I was listening to someone playing the guitar.

2) Today Sharona Alperin is a realtor in Southern California. (The photo on her website is more demure than the recored sleeve.) She specializes in high-end properties. Have you ever attended an open house, not because you were interested in purchasing the property but because you were curious about the inside?
Nope. But while I was on Fire Island on Long Island two friends checked out a million dollar “cottage” open house.

3) Doug Fieger's brother is Geoffrey Fieger, a prominent attorney in Detroit. Have you ever consulted a lawyer?
Just for the usual things, selling my parent’s house, wills, etc.

4) The Knack's record producer was Jimmy Miller, who also worked with The Rolling Stones. What's your favorite Rolling Stones song?
Paint It Black, and runner up, Wild Horses.

5) In 1994, more than a decade after its initial release, "My Sharona" became popular with a new audience because it was included on the soundtrack of the movie Reality Bites. What's the most recent movie you watched?
If you mean in a theater it probably several years ago and I can’t remember but on streaming video I think it was the Prime Video series “The Wheel of Time”

6) President George W. Bush said he loved listening to "My Sharona" on his headphones while riding his bike. Do you often have music on when you exercise?
Um… um… exercise? That is a big assumption!
 
7) In 1979, when this song was popular, the CBS TV show Alice was a hit. It was about a widowed mom who made ends meet working in a diner. Have you ever worked at a restaurant?
Nope.

8) Also in 1979, the Voyager spacecraft sent back photos of Jupiter and its rings. Without looking it up, can you name all the planets in our solar system?
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and I am an old-timer who still thinks of Pluto as a planet. I had to look them up but not for their names but how to spell Uranus, I butchered it so badly that spell checker had no idea what I was trying to write.

9) Random question: If you could erase your most painful day from your memory, would you do it?
Tear it up and throw it in the trash!

---

I have company this weekend so I will probably reply to your comments on Monday.

Of All People! Two Musicians Come Out As Anti-Trans.

Of all people that have come out against us he takes the cake!

Alice Cooper Is Worried Being Trans Is a ‘Fad,’ Spews Debunked Bathroom Predator Myths
The musician also leaned on right-wing, anti-trans scare tactics about “woke” culture in an interview with Stereogum
Rolling Stone
By Jon Blistein
August 23, 2023

ALICE COOPER, WHO built a career partly out of defying and toying with gender expectations, said he’s afraid that being transgender “is a fad” in a new interview with Stereogum, where he also leaned on right-wing, anti-trans scare tactics about “woke” culture and bathrooms.

During the chat, Cooper was asked about his thoughts on gender and sexuality in light of the controversial comments made by some of his peers on the issue, including Kiss’ Paul Stanley and Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider. While the interviewer even noted Cooper gave some pretty progressive quotes about bisexuality and pansexuality in 1974, Cooper’s answers this time around were decisively more conservative.

“I’m understanding that there are cases of transgender, but I’m afraid that it’s also a fad, and I’m afraid there’s a lot of people claiming to be this just because they want to be that,” he said. “I find it wrong when you’ve got a six-year-old kid who has no idea. He just wants to play, and you’re confusing him telling him, ‘Yeah, you’re a boy, but you could be a girl if you want to be.’”

Oh yeah, I can see he did a lot of research about us [Sarcasm]!

In his comments, Cooper seemed to be conflating, confusing, or not allowing for much nuance between distinct concepts of gender identity, gender expression, and the sex a child is assigned at birth. The Mayo Clinic, for instance, notes that “a child’s gender expression doesn’t always point to the child’s gender identity,” and vice versa. Furthermore, despite Cooper’s handwringing over kids being pressured or forced into thinking about gender in this way, parents are largely encouraged to not “rush to label [their] child” and simply listen as, “Over time your child will continue to tell you what feels right.”

[…]

“Well, I can see somebody really taking advantage of this, though,” he said. “A guy can walk into a woman’s bathroom at any time and just say, ‘I just feel like I’m a woman today’ and have the time of his life in there, and he’s not in the least bit… He’s just taking advantage of that situation. Well, that’s going to happen. Somebody’s going to get raped, and the guy’s going to say, ‘Well, I felt like a girl that day, and then I felt like a guy.’ Where do you draw this line?”

Not only have these “bathroom predator” myths been widely debunked, but often anti-trans bathrooms legislation ends up putting transgender people at a far greater risk of harm.

And this was from a guy who bit a chicken’s head off on stage and drank its blood. I would be more worried if a Republican legislator walked in to a bathroom while I was there

Once again we celebrities spouting off on topics that they know nothing about.

---

But it turner out that he isn't the only musician to come down on us.

Carlos Santana goes on an anti-trans rant onstage: ‘A woman is a woman and a man is a man — that’s it’

Los Angeles Times

By Carlos De Loera

August 24, 2023

Carlos Santana recently decided to take a break during his concert in Atlantic City, N.J., to deliver anti-trans comments.

A newly circulating video shows the “Oye Como Va” musician sharing his unprompted thoughts about the transgender community.

“When God made you and me, before we came out of the womb, you know who you are and what you are,” he said. “Later on, when you grow out of it, you see things, and you start believing that you could be something that sounds good, but you know it ain’t right.”

Santana would go on to reiterate harmful rhetoric regarding gender identity and added, “[A] woman is a woman and a man is a man — that’s it.”

He clarified that he is fine with transgender people existing, but that it is not his business, saying, “Whatever you wanna do in the closet, that’s your business. I’m OK with that.”

The “Black Magic Woman” artist then stated that his thoughts on the subject are totally in line with his “brother Dave Chappelle.” In 2021, Chappelle was criticized for anti-trans takes he expressed in his Netflix special “The Closer.”

But then, but then, this.

Carlos Santana Apologizes for “Insensitive Comments” About Transgender Community

During a recent concert, the guitarist said, "A woman is a woman and a man is a man" and that he stood with Dave Chappelle.

Hollywood Reporter

By Carley Thomas

August 24, 2023

Guitarist Carlos Santana has apologized to the transgender community following “insensitive comments” he made during a concert last month in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

The musician said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter and posted on Facebook Thursday, “I am sorry for my insensitive comments. They don’t reflect that I want to honor and respect all person’s ideals and beliefs. I realize that what I said hurt people and that was not my intent. I sincerely apologize to the transgender community and everyone I offended.”

The statement continued, “Here is my personal goal that I strive to achieve every day. I want to honor and respect all person’s ideals and beliefs whether they are LGBTQ or not. This is the planet of free will and we have all been given this gift. I will now pursue this goal to be happy and have fun, and for everyone to believe what they want and follow in your hearts without fear. It takes courage to grow and glow in the light that you are and to be true, genuine, and authentic. We grow and learn to shine our light with Love and compliments. Have a glorious existence. Peace.”

Sorry I don’t believe you. Words were said that hurt and when you apologize after you get called out on them it appears that you are only trying to mitigate the damages to your reputation.

Alice Cooper I never did care much for his music but I like Santana’s music, so this hurts.

---

Update: August 30 @ 4:00 PM

Alice Cooper gets dumped!

Cosmetics Company Parts Ways With Alice Cooper After Singer Calls Gender-Affirming Care ‘A Fad’
Loudwire

By Chad Childers
August 28, 2023

In the wake of Alice Cooper's comments last week concerning gender affirming care, cosmetics company Vampyre Cosmetics has decided to cancel their partnership with the rocker.

Cooper had only recently signed a deal with the company to market gothic-themed makeup, which would be particularly timely with Halloween on the horizon.

Through their Instagram site, Vampyre Cosmetics explained in a statement, "In light of recent statements by Alice Cooper we will no​​​​​​​​​ longer be doing a makeup collaboration. We stand with all members of the LGBTQIA+ community and believe everyone should have access to healthcare. All pre-order sales will be refunded."

Bye, bye Mr. Cooper.

Hopefully, There Comes A Time When…

We all have to think about our senior years where will we be living?

Transgender adults are worried about finding welcoming spaces to live in their later years
AP News
By Andrew DeMillo, Lynne Slandky and Laura Bargfeld
August 24, 2023

Rajee Narinesingh faced struggles throughout her life as a transgender woman, from workplace discrimination to the lasting effects of black market injections that scarred her face and caused chronic infections.

In spite of the roadblocks, the 56-year-old Florida actress and activist has seen growing acceptance since she first came out decades ago.

“If you see older transgender people, it shows the younger community that it’s possible I can have a life. I can live to an older age,” she said. “So I think that’s a very important thing.”

Now, as a wave of new state laws enacted this year limit transgender people’s rights, Narinesingh has new uncertainty about her own future as she ages.

“Every now and then I have like this thought, like, oh my God, if I end up in a nursing home, how are they going to treat me?” Narinesingh said.

I can imagine the fears of living in a Republican state… it must be horrible!

For many transgender seniors, it’s brought new fears to their plans for retirement and old age. They already face gaps in health care and nursing home facilities properly trained to meet their needs. That’s likely to be compounded by restrictions to transgender health care that have already blocked some adults’ access to treatments in Florida, and sparked concerns the laws will expand to other states.

Here in Connecticut state agencies are actively working to make the state a safe affirming state for older LGBTQ+ seniors. Pride centers around the state have programs for LGBTQ+ seniors and senior living centers and senior centers have been advised of their responsibilities under the law.

“I have friends that have retired and they’ve decided to move to retirement communities. And then, little by little, they’ve found that they’re not welcome there,” said Morgan Mayfaire, a transgender man and the executive director of TransSOCIAL, a Florida support and advocacy group.

Discrimination can range from being denied housing to being misgendered and struggling to get nursing homes to acknowledge their visitation rights.

[…]

“Do you really want to be moving into a place where you have to explain yourself and have to go through it over and over?” Vincent said. “It’s exhausting, and so I think being able to be in a comfortable environment is important.”

But there are other problems not covered by the law here in Connecticut and that is being the only trans person in the senior living center. I know one trans person who was the only trans person in a 500 person in a 55+ living center and I don’t know what we can do about that. We don't have the population density to support a LGBTQ+ senior living center like New York City has.

A handful of states, including Massachusetts and California, have in recent years enacted laws to ensure that LGBTQ+ seniors have equal access to programs for aging populations and requiring training on how to serve that community.

We have been working with state and private agencies to educate them but the work has dwindled off as people have retired and I am worried no one has picked up the ball.

We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore

Oh, we're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
Oh, we're not gonna take it anymore
"We’re Not Gonna Take It" By Twisted Sister

Sadly there is not much we can do about it! The courts have spoken!

Queer community pushes back against treatment of LGBTQ+ students by Worcester Diocese
Worcester Telegram & Gazette via Yahoo News
By Veer Mudambi
August 23, 2023

The announcement from the Worcester Diocese earlier this month of new school policies regarding LGBTQ+ students has sparked a passionate response among Worcester’s queer community.

On Aug. 17, the organization Love Your Labels, in collaboration with the YWCA and MassEquality, launched a petition denouncing the new policy put forward by Bishop Robert McManus, which will apply to the 21 Catholic schools under the diocese. The petition, which gathered over 1,000 signatures by Tuesday evening, calls for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester to revoke the policy.

The new policy, titled “Catholic Education and the Human Person,” has been added to the student handbook for the upcoming school year. It prohibits same-sex relationships and expressions, behaviors inconsistent with birth-assigned sex or actions deemed to cause “confusion or disruption,” with penalties for violation up to expulsion.

But there is push-back from some Catholic schools

Not every school in the diocese is planning to comply with the new policy. Representatives from St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury and Notre Dame Academy in Worcester wrote a joint letter to McManus stating they would maintain their current policies and would not be adopting the new one.

It's not the first time a Catholic school has resisted a directive from McManus. Last summer, the Nativity School of Worcester refused to take down Pride and Black Lives Matter flags, which the bishop stated represented values at odds with Catholic doctrine. McManus responded by prohibiting the Nativity School from calling itself a Catholic school.

That got the bishop’s hackles up!

We've got the right to choose, and
There ain't no way we'll lose it
This is our life, this is our song
We'll fight the powers that be, just
Don't pick our destiny, 'cause
You don't know us, you don't belong

Nope. But unfortunately it is a religious school and they can do whatever they darn please, or so the courts have ruled. I just don’t know why any LGBTQ+ student would want to go a religious based school that are anti-LGBTQ+ just what do they expect?

Can A Leopard Change Its Spots?

[Editorial]

The Republicans have introduced some bills in Congress that they now regret, a national abortion bill, a bill to drastically change Social Security and Medicare which they always hated since it was passed in the President Roosevelt passed Social Security and President Johnson signed the Medicare bill and the have been a thorn in the side of the Republicans ever since. Under the Republican you will have to be working up until you are on your death bed.They also passed a 2023 defense spending bill that blocking abortion coverage for military personnel, diversity initiatives at the Pentagon and transgender care.

Some Republican officials are trying to keep abortion off of state ballots. Here’s how
PBS NewsHour
August 6, 2023

[…]

Across the country, Republican officials and activists who oppose abortion access have worked to make it harder to pass citizen-led ballot measures and added roadblocks to the process of getting abortion directly on the ballot  These attempts to stop voters from weighing in directly on abortion aren’t new, but advocates say the current anti-ballot-measure efforts are taking on a renewed pace and ferocity. As voters even in conservative states have chosen to back abortion rights, GOP legislators and officials have been willing to fundamentally change the rules of democracy.

The Republicans are in a Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde situation… They play the good Dr. Jekyll who doesn’t want to talk about abortion to the general public, “No we don’t want to ban abortion nation wide.” to the evil Mr. Hyde, “We wan to ban all abortions and contraceptives!” and in last night debates you saw that.

GOP candidates clash over national abortion ban
The heated debate comes as deep-pocketed anti-abortion groups press the candidates to outline how far they would go if elected.
Politico
By Alice Miranda Ollstein
August 23, 2023


GOP presidential candidates battled Wednesday night over whether the next president should sign a federal abortion ban — a major question dividing the primary field even as all candidates self-identify as “pro-life.”

Both Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley refused to answer directly.

DeSantis touted the six-week abortion ban he signed in Florida — a law that has yet to take effect, pending state Supreme Court review — but dodged the moderator’s question of whether he would sign a similar federal ban into law.

“I will stand on the side of life,” he responded. “I understand Wisconsin will do it different than Texas. I understand Iowa and New Hampshire will do it different. But I will support the cause of life as governor and as president.”

I would like to point out that every time this question was brought to the voters the voters voted it down, they don’t want abortions bans. The only woman candidate,  Nikki Haley said,

“Can’t we all agree that we should ban late-term abortions? Can’t we all agree that we should encourage adoptions? Can’t we all agree that doctors and nurses who don’t believe in abortions shouldn’t have to perform them? Can’t we agree that contraception should be available? Can’t we all agree that we are not going to put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty if she gets an abortion?”

And she got pounced on by all the men.

The clash highlighted how Republicans have yet to rally around a single strategy on abortion more than a year after achieving their decades-long goal of overturning Roe v. Wade, with conservatives continuing to argue over what point in pregnancy to ban the procedure, whether to allow exemptions for rape, incest and health risks, and whether states or the federal government should decide.

So the question is do you believe them that they will not go for a national ban on abortion, can a leopard change its spots? Or are they just lying to get elected and then ignore the will of the people?  

[/Editorial]

I Wish This Was So.

The conservatives are nervous and we are nervous for the same reason… the Supreme Court. Because of the mixed signals come out of the court, they are afraid that they will lose their draconian powers to persecute us while we are worried for our lives. The right-wing British Telegraph writes,

The Supreme Court’s transgender revolution is warping the law

The fatal flaw in the Bostock decision has opened the floodgates for progressive legal activism

By Adrian Vermeule

22 August 2023

In 2020 Idaho enacted the Fairness in Womens’ Sports Act which barred biological males from participating in women’s sports. Last week, a federal court of appeals covering Idaho, California and other western states, and long a font of progressive innovation, declared the law unconstitutional on equality grounds. 

In an area with the approximate size, population and economic heft of two United Kingdoms, there is now, in effect, a constitutional right for biological men to play as women even in domains, like womens’ sports, specifically constructed in order to provide biological women with equal access and equal opportunities. The Supreme Court may overturn the decision, although that is hardly a foregone conclusion. But even if that does occur, the Supreme Court has done little in other cases to stem the flood-tide of decisions from lower courts declaring new transgender rights. 

In the past few years, the Court has refused to hear a court of appeals decision that obligated schools to allow transgender students to use whatever bathrooms they wish, and another decision that, by circuitous reasoning, held that “gender dysphoria” enjoys legal protection against disability discrimination. Any number of other cases are bubbling around the lower courts, and although some of the decisions reject the novel claims, the overall trend favors transgender rights.

Of course they have a villain in mind a conservative justice who didn’t toe the conservative agenda. Justice Neil Gorsuch. In the case of Bostock v. Clayton County in 2020 when he followed Supreme Court precedence in the case of Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins from 1989 where they ruled that sex and gender are the same. Justice Gorsuch followed their logic on the Bostock case.

How did the law arrive at this strange place? Who opened the floodgates? The brief answer is that Justice Neil Gorsuch did, in a decision called Bostock v. Clayton County in 2020 — the case that has warped a large sector of public law. This recognized sexual orientation and transgender identity as protected categories under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which covers (among other things) discrimination based on an individual’s “sex.” The decision is replete with ironies — not least that Gorsuch, a self-described “originalist” judge who says that statutes should be read according to their original meaning when written, endorsed claims to rights that the enacting legislators in 1964 would have found bizarre and obviously invalid, if they could have imagined them at all.

As I said this has been established law for over four decades!

Gorsuch himself is unrepentant. In a recent separate opinion, he demanded to know whether his colleagues thought Bostock wrongly decided. Yet there is a lesson here for those colleagues, and for judges elsewhere: legal protections for transgenderism either have no beginning, or no end. Moderate and limited protection is an unstable middle-ground. It seems that the whole Court will soon have to face the question whether to confirm and indeed expand the transgender rights revolution, or to roll it back altogether.

The right-wingers are in a tizzy and worried that their pogrom is coming to an end as other trans cases come before the court. But we also have to be worried our margin is hanging by whim.

Like Father, Like Son.

[Editorial]

You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
It's got to be drummed in your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught
You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught from South Pacific.

Like Father, Like Son.

How Trump’s attacks on prosecutors build on history of using racist language and stereotypes
AP News
By Alt Swenson and Ayanna Alexander
August 22, 2023

Donald Trump’s aggressive response to his fourth criminal indictment in five months follows a strategy he has long used against legal and political opponents: relentless attacks, often infused with language that is either overtly racist or is coded in ways that appeal to racists.

The early Republican presidential front-runner has used terms such as “animal” and “rabid” to describe Black district attorneys. He has accused Black prosecutors of being “racist.” He has made unsupported claims about their personal lives. And on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump has deployed terms that rhyme with racial slurs as some of his supporters post racist screeds about the same targets.

The rhetoric is a reminder of Trump’s tendency to use coded racial messaging as a signal to supporters, an approach he has deployed over several decades as he evolved from a New York City real estate tycoon to a reality television star and, eventually, the president. Even if he doesn’t explicitly employ racial slurs, his language recalls America’s history of portraying Black people as not fully human.

They say racism runs in a family and I think Trump is an example of that.

Mary Trump: What Really Shocked Me About My Family and the KKK
The president’s niece joins The New Abnormal to give us a peek behind the Trump family veil. From KKK rallies to Donald Trump’s sleeping habits, Mary Trump holds nothing back.
The Daily Beast
April 23, 2021

Mary Trump had a giant barrel of tea to spill about her family on today’s episode of The New Abnormal by The Daily Beast.

She claims her uncle Donald Trump “was protected at every turn from his incompetence, from his total inability to handle money.” And the Republican Party picked up where the media and the investment banks left off.

Remember her grandfather Fred, the family patriarch who got arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally?

Mary was surprised by that news, but “not because my grandfather wasn’t anti-Semitic.”

Nope, Mary was shocked her grandfather took time away from making money to join a KKK event. But of course, he was “perfectly happy being racist and anti-Semitic in his own house and his place of work.”

I think Trump is a good example that hate is past down through families, those  traits of bigotry, racism, and discrimination are passed down the generations. I wonder if chain will be broken with his son Baron by Melania or will he grow up as a bigot like his father.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade
You've got to be carefully taught

Like father, like son.

‘No Vacancies’ for Blacks: How Donald Trump Got His Start, and Was First Accused of Bias
New York Times
By Jonathan Mahler and Steve Eder
Aug. 27, 2016

She seemed like the model tenant. A 33-year-old nurse who was living at the Y.W.C.A. in Harlem, she had come to rent a one-bedroom at the still-unfinished Wilshire Apartments in the Jamaica Estates neighborhood of Queens. She filled out what the rental agent remembers as a “beautiful application.” She did not even want to look at the unit.

There was just one hitch: Maxine Brown was black.

Stanley Leibowitz, the rental agent, talked to his boss, Fred C. Trump.

“I asked him what to do and he says, ‘Take the application and put it in a drawer and leave it there,’” Mr. Leibowitz, now 88, recalled in an interview.

[…]

Over the next decade, as Donald J. Trump assumed an increasingly prominent role in the business, the company’s practice of turning away potential black tenants was painstakingly documented by activists and organizations that viewed equal housing as the next frontier in the civil rights struggle.

The Justice Department undertook its own investigation and, in 1973, sued Trump Management for discriminating against blacks. Both Fred Trump, the company’s chairman, and Donald Trump, its president, were named as defendants. It was front-page news, and for Donald, amounted to his debut in the public eye.

“Absolutely ridiculous,” he was quoted as saying of the government’s allegations.

Like father, like son.

So how did we get on his “Sh*t List?” I think it was because of the Miss Universe pageant in Canada. Trump was the owner at that time of the pageant when it was forced to accept a trans contestant. Mister Macho Man himself used to walk in to their dressing rooms unannounced. The Rolling Stone reported,

On the heels of the damaging videotape on which Trump and former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush salivated over Days of Our Live actress Arianne Zucker, and joked about sexually assaulting women, came allegations that Trump entered the Miss Teen USA changing room where girls as young as 15 were in various states of undress.

Now there was a trans woman who was a contestant and I think that it hit to the heart of fear that he might be getting “hot” over a trans woman and woe to Mister Macho Man what an affront to his manhood!

You've got to be taught before it's too late
Before you are six or seven or eight
To hate all the people your relatives hate
You've got to be carefully taught

 And remember, this is the Republican front runner! What does it say for the Republican party?

 

[/Editorial]

It Is All Our Fault

That is what they are going to say… mark my words.

The clock is ticking toward voting on the stopgap spending bill which the far right Republicans in the House have vowed to block unless their demands are met.

Freedom Caucus rebels against a short-term funding bill with new demands
The new list of policy changes sought by the ultraconservative House lawmakers drew immediate pushback from Democratic leaders, who warned it would cause a shutdown.
NBC News
By Sahil Kapur and Rebecca Kaplan
August 21, 2023

The ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus is demanding a series of conservative policy changes in exchange for giving its support to any short-term funding measure designed to avert a government shutdown on Sept. 30.

The Republican rebels insist that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who floated the idea of a stopgap bill last week, impose conditions that the Democratic-led Senate and President Joe Biden are extremely unlikely to accept.

In a statement Monday, the Freedom Caucus said its official position was that its members would oppose any bill unless it includes its preferred language about border security, new laws to address what it calls the “weaponization” of the Justice Department and the FBI and a shift in some of the Dedense Department’s policies — although it didn’t detail all the changes it wants.

“We refuse to support any such measure that continues Democrats’ bloated COVID-era spending and simultaneously fails to force the Biden Administration to follow the law and fulfill its most basic responsibilities,” the statement said, adding that any short-term bill that continues funding at current levels represents a position the caucus “vehemently opposed” months ago.

As they say in the late night TV commercials… But Wait! These More!

The Freedom Caucus added that any short-term spending bill must “end the Left’s cancerous woke policies in the Pentagon undermining our military’s core warfighting mission.” It is unclear which policies it is referring to.

I think we know, as the targets of their animosity. An article in Fortune knows the real reason why recruitment is down.

Don’t blame ‘wokeness’ for the Army’s recruitment woes, says the Army
By Lolita C. Baldor and The Associated Press
February 13, 2023

While some Republicans blame the COVID-19 vaccine or “wokeness” for the Army’s recruiting woes, the military service says the bigger hurdles are more traditional ones: Young people don’t want to die or get injured, deal with the stress of Army life and put their lives on hold.

They “just don’t see the Army as something that’s relevant,” said Maj. Gen. Alex Fink, head of Army marketing. “They see us as revered, but not relevant, in their lives.”

[…]

Officials said that based on the surveys, young people simply do not see the Army as a safe place or good career path, and believe they would have to put their lives and careers on hold if they enlisted.

Army leaders said very few say they are deterred from enlisting due to “wokeness.” In fact, concerns about discrimination against women and minorities is seen as a bigger issue, along with a more general distrust of the military.

But the Republicans want to blame all the world’s woes on us.

The NBC article goes on to say,

“Furthermore,” the Freedom Caucus statement continued, “we will oppose any attempt by Washington to revert to its old playbook of using a series of short-term funding extensions to push Congress up against a December deadline to force the passage of yet another monstrous, budget busting, pork filled, lobbyist handout omnibus spending bill at the year’s end and we will use every procedural tool necessary to prevent that outcome.”

Translated from RepublicanThink (Which has it bases in 1984 Doublespeak) that we are worried stiff that we are going to lose control of the House in the 2024 elections.

So we will become the scapegoats for the House blockage of the spending bill. It will be our fault that the country will go belly-up. You make my words.

The Courts Taketh Away And The Courts Giveth.

Two trans court rulings the other day one overturning low court rulings and one blocking a state law, one bad and one good.

Court reverses injunction on Alabama transgender health care ban
The Hill
By Sarah Fortinsky
August 21, 2023

A federal appeals court on Monday reversed an injunction against Alabama’s law banning gender-affirming care for people under 19, allowing enforcement of the ban to take effect in the state.

A three-judge panel on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a district court judge’s temporary injunction against the law, which bans the use of puberty blockers and hormones to treat trans children. The judge had set a trial date for April 2 to determine whether the law would be permanently blocked.

[…]

The judges wrote that, in reversing the injunction, states have “a compelling interest in protecting children from drugs, particularly those for which there is uncertainty regarding benefits, recent surges in use, and irreversible effects.”

[…]

Many medical groups push back on the idea that bans on gender-affirming care safeguards children’s wellbeing. The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics both oppose bans on such care and say the treatments are safe if administered properly.

This is really a very bad ruling based on quack medicine and lies.

---

Meanwhile in another court in another state the court giveth… 

Judge blocks Georgia ban on hormone replacement therapy for transgender minors
A federal judge in Atlanta has blocked Georgia from enforcing part of a new law that restricts doctors from prescribing hormone therapy to transgender people under the age of 18
ABC News
By Sudhin Thanawala Associated Press
August 21, 2023

A federal judge has blocked the state of Georgia from enforcing part of a new law that bans doctors from starting hormone therapy for transgender people under the age of 18.

In a ruling issued Sunday, U.S. District Court Judge Sarah Geraghty granted a preliminary injunction sought by several transgender children, parents and a community organization in a lawsuit challenging the ban.

“The imminent risks of irreparable harm to Plaintiffs flowing from the ban — including risks of depression, anxiety, disordered eating, self-harm, and suicidal ideation — outweigh any harm the State will experience from the injunction,” the judge wrote.

Geraghty said her ruling will block enforcement of the ban on hormone replacement therapy until a further court order or a trial.

This judge listened to the medical community not legislators who are anti-LGBTQ, the judges that Trump appointed are ideological biased! They have an agenda to force us back in the closet, they don’t care what the medical community says but are governed far-right-wing  groups.

I can not even think the horrors if Trump gets elected again, I think our only savior will be most people also think it was a nightmare under Trump.

Purple Going On To Red

They're driving all the "Blues" out and also the "Purple" moderates which makes me a little nervous.

Proud purple to angry red: These Florida residents feel unwelcome in 'new' Florida
USA TODAY NETWORK
By Tom McLaughlin
August 21, 2023

Jean Siebenaler moved to Florida following her retirement to bask in the warmth of the Sunshine State.

"I finally thought I'd be sitting on the water with an umbrella drink in my hand," she said.

The Milton resident, a military veteran and retired physician, now says she wonders if Florida was where she needed to relocate after all. Having been politically active in her home state of Ohio, she finds beach time consumed by "steaming and stewing" over the state of the state and local politics.

"It's very upsetting, the direction we see Florida heading," she said. "Every day I wonder why I am living here."

For many, Florida has changed. What was once a proudly purple state has turned an angry red, they say. Gov. Ron DeSantis, with the dedicated backing of a Republican supermajority in the state legislature, is waging war on what he calls "wokeism" — a term he has loosely defined as "a form of cultural Marxism." But many — people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants, non-Christians, teachers, union members, students — feel it is a war against themselves, as they face ridicule, discrimination, and, potentially, violence.

[…]

"Under the leadership of Gov. DeSantis, the state has become hostile to Black Americans and in direct conflict with the Democratic ideals that our union was founded upon," the advisory states.

I know a lot trans people in Florida and I am concerned on how they are doing, I know that one person fled the state but the others are sticking it out.

This is some of the rhetoric that the Republicans are spewing,

Siebenaler, who has stepped into the position of legislative chair for the Democratic Women's Club of Florida, attended an early June meeting of the Santa Rosa County Commission to call out Commissioner James Calkins for labeling the Democratic Party as evil.

"I took an oath to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic," she told the governing board. "And I must speak out against the hate speech that is emanating from the Santa Rosa County Commission dais."

Calkins has been admonished on several occasions by the public and his peers for his incendiary rhetoric and disruptive behavior. But Siebenaler is not one to typically show up at county board meetings.

It is a broad based flight to leave the state.

Similarly, according to Lisa Masserio, the president of the teacher's union in Hernando County, a minority segment of that county's school board attached to Moms For Liberty is creating chaos in that area.

The school district typically provides at its May 30 meeting an accounting of how many teachers will be leaving the school district that year. This year it was announced that of the 49 people not returning to Hernando County schools next year, 33 had voluntarily tendered their resignations.

Masserio estimated the number of resignations had approximately doubled those of the year before and would create "the highest number of vacancies we've had in a long time."

[…]

Eighty-three percent of the Hernando County teachers with three years or less experience were among those who resigned, said Dan Scott, a former World History teacher at Springstead High School.

[…]

"Not everyone left for the same reasons I did. For me, I didn't want to teach if I couldn't teach the truth and if I couldn't represent students the way I thought I should," he said. "I let every student be exactly who they wanted to be, whatever religion, whatever they identify as. I tried to give everybody their space. Whenever I couldn't do that any more I realized I didn't need to be in this career."

Hey, we don’t need teachers! All we need to teach our is someone who know reading, riting and rithmetic.

They are also going after Blacks making it harder for them to vote! Puting all types of barriers in front of them, the article says “A third of Black men in the United States have felony convictions...”

Lucas is also bothered by recent changes in Florida laws that could make it more difficult for some people to vote.

"Voting is most important because that's how things are changed," he said. "That's how jobs are created and taken away, laws are created and taken away. If you don't have the strength of voting, then you're basically fighting with one hand tied behind your back."

[…]

“We seem to have Jim Crow 2.0 now, because the attack on voting rights is very frightening,” he said, “The restrictions that Florida has put on people who just want to register people to vote is outrageous.”
Medical?

The Florida Medical Association reports,

Florida’s physician shortage: It’s not just primary care and rural areas
By Jarrod Fowler, MHA FMA Director of Health Care Policy and Innovation
April 21, 2022
 

As noted previously in FMA News, a report from IHS Markit commissioned by the Florida Safety Net Hospital Alliance and the Florida Hospital Association projects a shortfall of 17,924 physicians in the Sunshine State by the year 2035. This analysis is based on projected supply and demand, accounting for Florida’s population growth and its aging population requiring greater levels of care.

IHS projects that, by 2035, Florida will have a shortage of 5,974 “traditional primary care” specialists, which the report identifies as family medicine, general internal medicine, pediatric medicine, and geriatric medicine physicians. However, this shortage is not limited only to primary care: Around 12,000 additional specialists will be needed as well.

For instance, Florida is projected to have a shortfall of 1,519 emergency room physicians, 497 OB/GYNs, 654 anesthesiologists, 632 cardiologists, 437 hematologists and oncologists, 1,434 hospitalists, 209 orthopedic surgeons, 1,230 psychiatrists, 648 pulmonologists and critical care specialists, 737 infectious disease specialists, 514 nephrologists, 459 urologists, and thousands of other specialists as listed in Exhibit 22 of the report.

In addition to the raw numbers, the report goes on to project the percentage by which the projected supply of physicians will fall short relative to demand. According to the report, Florida will need 57% more vascular surgeons, 43% more colorectal surgeons, 55% more emergency medicine physicians, and 40% more radiation oncologists than projected to be available by the year 2035.

 Note, the article doesn't say the cause of the shortages, but still when you need a doctor they are going to be hard to get an appointment.

 

Then there is us, the trans community, the USA Today article goes on to say,

Alexander Vargas is a 19-year-old college student. His biggest worries should revolve around getting good grades, figuring out what kind of a career he wants after college, and deciding what he wants to do for fun every weekend.

Instead the Stetson University psychology major is always reminding himself to steer clear of public men's restrooms so he won't get fined for using bathrooms that align with his gender identity, but not the gender he was assigned at birth. Stetson officials have set him up with a one-person restroom he can use on campus, but once he leaves school property, bathroom access becomes a problem again.

I know many from town who moved to live in Florida, mainly to be near the Red Socks winter camp, like most people they couldn't care less about us, the Blacks or other minorities. It doesn’t affect them so they are not even cognizant of what is happening around them.

I don’t blame people that are fleeing the state, they have to make their personal choice and nobody can criticize them for it.

*****

Just to contrast Florida to Connecticut.

On Friday I attended an in-person meeting of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Hate Crime (Yes, the governor formed a group to advise him on bias crimes here in Connecticut, do you think that DeSantis has a group to advise him?) and we had a guest speaker a Holocaust survior talk about his ordeal to escape the Nazis, how he watched his older brother be killed right in front of him. How he watched a mother with a baby sucking her breast both be bayoneted. (Do you think DeSantis would sponsor a lecture like that?). But what made a lasting impression on me was,

He begged mothers to tell the Nazis that he was her child because they were killing all the children without parents. One mother did. He lived with them in a ghetto for a while until they were taken to a labor camp and he worked to fill in bomb damage at a German airfield.

After the war he did what his mother’s last wish to him to do which was become a Rabbi. Over the years, he found some surviving members of his family and he even found the woman who took him in and her son.

But that isn’t what stuck with me from his talk. It was… the Nazis came to his village they rounded up everyone and divided them up… those with a collage education over there. Then they machine gunned them down and threw them in ditch. Educated people can think.

And as he was saying that my mind wandered. The conservatives are banning books… we don’t want the kids learning about that. They are banning what the teachers can say in class… it might give them ideas.