Breaking News… We Win!

In Iowa an anti-trans bill is defeated!!!

Iowans erupt in cheers as lawmakers protect gender identity as a civil right
USA TODAY NETWORK
By Stephen Gruber-Miller
January 31, 2024

Iowans waved rainbow pride flags and erupted in cheers in the Iowa Capitol hallway Wednesday afternoon as lawmakers announced they were killing a bill that would have removed gender identity protections from the state's civil rights law.

All three members of an Iowa House subcommittee that considered the controversial legislation said they would not advance it to the full House Judiciary Committee for consideration.

The bill would have removed gender identity protections from the Iowa Civil Rights Act and added gender dysphoria, "or any condition related to a gender identity disorder," to the definition of a disability that would be protected under the law.

Know Your History!

It is very important that we know our history so we know the lies the Republicans make about us. They make it sound like being trans was an invention of the internet and cross-sex hormonal treatment is brand spanking new.

But the right-wing conservatives forget about Lili Elbe, Christine Jorgensen, and Renee Richards, the pioneers of our community.

Backlash to transgender health care isn’t new − but the faulty science used to justify it has changed to meet the times
The Conversation
By G. Samantha Rosenthal: Associate Professor of History, Roanoke College
January 30, 2024

In the past century, there have been three waves of opposition to transgender health care.

In 1933, when the Nazis rose to power, they cracked down on transgender medical research and clinical practice in Europe. In 1979, a research report critical of transgender medicine led to the closure of the most well-respected clinics in the United States. And since 2021, when Arkansas became the first U.S. state among now at least 21 other states banning gender-affirming care for minors, we have been living in a third wave.

In my work as a scholar of transgender history, I study the long history of gender-affirming care in the U.S., which has been practiced since at least the 1940s. Puberty blockers, hormone therapies and anatomical surgeries are neither experimental nor untested and have been safely administered to cisgender, transgender and intersex adults and children for decades.

On the other hand, the archives of transgender medicine demonstrate that backlash against these practices has historically been rooted in pseudoscience. And today, an anti-science movement that aims to discredit science altogether is fueling the fire of the current wave of anti-trans panic.

In the 1930s the Nazis banned us, they made treating us a crime, they destroyed the libraries that held the medical research on us. The photo below is the Nazis burning the books on us us, lesbians and gays.

In the 1920s, the new science of hormones was just reaching maturation and entering mainstream consciousness. In the field of sexology – the study of human sexuality, founded in 19th century Europe – scientists were excited about research on animals demonstrating that removing or transplanting gonads could effectively change an organism’s sex.

In 1919, the German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld founded the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin, which became the world’s leading center for queer and transgender research and clinical practice. Hirschfeld worked closely with trans women as co-researchers throughout the 1920s. Several trans women also received care at the institute, including orchiectomies that halted the production of testosterone in their bodies.

So all the stuff about us that the Republicans are pushing is bull! Cross-sex hormonal treatment has been around since the 1920s!

But where Hirschfeld and other sexologists saw the classification of queer and trans people as justifications for legal emancipation, eugenicists of the early 20th century in the U.S. and Europe believed sexually transgressive people should be sterilized and ultimately eradicated.

Based on this premise, the Nazis murdered thousands of LGBTQ people in the Holocaust.

Is that where the Republicans heading? Towards our annihilation.

Then in the fifties, sixties and seventies we had the modern era of research by Harry Benjamin at John Hopkins. In a study, Meyer and Reter found that,

In their results, the authors found no negative effects from surgery, and no patients expressed regret. They concluded that “sex reassignment surgery confers no objective advantage in terms of social rehabilitation,” but it is “subjectively satisfying” to the patients themselves. This was not a damning conclusion.

But the Republicans don’t want to hear that, it doesn’t fit their narrative and how harmful transition is to us.

---

The Human Rights Campaign wrote,

Here are seven things you didn’t know about transgender people:

1.     Around 5000 to 3000 B.C., Gala, described as androgynous or trans priests of the Sumerian goddess Inanna, spoke their own dialect and took on feminine names.
2.     Sometime from 200 to 300 B.C., in ancient Greece, some gods were worshiped by galli priests who wore feminine attire, identified as women and have therefore been identified by scholars as early transgender figures.
3.     In the fourth century, Anastasia the Patrician fled life in Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire, to spend the remainder of life dressed masculinely as a monk, and has become viewed by some scholars as transgender.
4.     In South Asia, at least eight-known gender-expansive identities have historically been present in the subcontinent, the most well-known being hijra - third gender people of historical, spiritual, and cultural significance in South Asian society. Hijra and individuals of diverse gender identities have been well-documented in religious and cultural texts and legends. These individuals often form intentional communities for community as well as survival.
5.     Around the 18th century, the Itelmens of Siberia recognized a “third gender” called “koekchuch” to describe individuals who were assigned male at birth, but expressed themselves as women.
6.     The oldest Western institute studying LGBTQ+ identities was started in Germany in 1919. Institut für Sexualwissenschaft (Institute for Sex Research) performed some of the earliest contemporary affirming medical services. It was eventually destroyed in the rise of German fascism under the Nazi party.
7.     In Turtle Island (an Indigenous name for North America), Indigenous communities use the term two-spirit as a modern, pan-Indigenous umbrella identifier for people of another societal and ceremonial gender identity. This term was established in 1990 as a modern, collective term for a historical gender identity describing individuals not considered men or women in most, if not all Indigenous cultures of Turtle Island.

It is important that we know our history! Do you know that the computer or smartphone you are using was in part made possible by a trans woman. When I was learning programming back in 1970 on the IBM 360, a trans woman was developing a process to speed up computer while she was working for IBM (She was let go when she transitioned.). When I was in college I had to read her text book on microprocessors, little did I know it was written by a trans woman. You can read her history here, it is very fascinating!

Through out history we were there all around the world.

18 Years At Hard Time.

That is what he got for fire bombing a church that was having a drag show.

Ohio man gets 18 years for firebombing church over drag shows
Columbus Dispatch
By Benjamin Duer
January 30, 2024

Aimenn D. Penny didn't apologize for firebombing a Geauga County church last year.

Instead, he justified sacrificing his future for hate.

The 20-year-old, standing calmly in an orange prison jumpsuit during his sentencing hearing Monday in U.S. District Court, maintained his attack was a protest against the LGBTQ+ community and drag shows, an effort "to protect children." He said he does not believe men should dress as women or vice versa.

"Especially in a place of worship," Penny said. "I didn't hurt anyone."

Except, he did - the judge and victims said.

U.S. District Judge Bridget Meehan Brennan sentenced Penny to 18 years in federal prison for the March 25 attack and ordered him to pay $10,507 in restitution to the church, to undergo mental health treatment and to serve three years supervised probation after his release.

He was found guilty in October of arson and obstruction charges. U.S. attorney Rebecca Lutzko had recommended a 20-years prison term.

No bias crime charges. Why? By his own statement it was a crime of bias.

Penny, a member of the extremist groups White Lives Matter Ohio and the Blood Tribe, told FBI agents that he threw two gasoline-filled bottles, often called Molotov cocktails, at the Community Church of Chesterland around 1 a.m. on March 25. It left minimal structural damage.

The attack was aimed at intimidating the church and preventing two planned drag show events there.

To me that sound definitely a bias crime.

According to court filing in the case, FBI agents in April obtained letters and a manifesto Penny wrote while in jail. He showed no remorse, only pride. His only regret? "The church didn't burn down to the ground."

“You still don’t show any remorse and you’re nodding your head," Brennan told Penny.

Law and Crime reported back in the spring that…

A “White Lives Matter” member previously arrested for allegedly throwing homemade firebombs at a church over plans to host a drag story hour has been formally charged with a hate crime and other federal felonies.

[...]

The church, a United Church of Christ affiliate that bills itself as “an Open and Affirming Church” where people “previously excluded” from places of worship “can safely gather to fight for social justice and human rights issues,” was set to host two drag show events on April 1, according to the affidavit.

[…]

“Penny stated that he would have felt better if the Molotov cocktails were more effective and burned the entire church to the ground,” the affidavit says.

Penny is charged with violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and malicious use of explosive materials, both of which carry a minimum of five years and maximum of 20 years in prison, according to a Justice Department press release. He is also charged with using fire to commit a federal felony, which carries a 10-year mandatory prison sentence, and possession of a destructive device, which carries up to 10 years behind bars.

[…]

The complaint also details how Penny apparently believed that “African Americans were solely responsible for the high crime rate across the country,” and he “believes — and looks forward to — the civil war coming between races.”

As Law&Crime previously reported, federal authorities say they found a Nazi flag, a White Lives Matter of Ohio T-shirt, and other hateful memorabilia in Penny’s home, along with a gas mask, multiple rolls of blue painter’s tape, and gas cans.

It sounds like it was a plea bargain, that he pleaded guilty to one charge and the others were dropped.

---

Meanwhile down in Maryland…

Man sentenced to 48 years in killing of Black transgender woman in Md.
DeAllen Price has been sentenced in the murder of Taya Ashton, a 20-year-old trans woman, in Prince George’s County
The Washington Post
By Jasmine Hilton
January 24, 2024

A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to 48 years in prison for the murder of a transgender woman he was in a relationship with in 2021 in Prince George’s County.

DeAllen Price fatally shot Taya Ashton in her apartment in Suitland, Md., on July 17, 2021, after he learned that Ashton was not born female, prosecutors said.

Price, of Capitol Heights, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence in October. Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Aisha Braveboy described Ashton, 20, as a “daughter and a beloved friend to many.”

“Taya’s death was a real tragedy for our community, as well as for her family. Her death represents so much more, in terms of our level of tolerance in our community for people who want to express themselves and live their lives on their own terms,” Braveboy said when announcing the sentence against Price on Wednesday. “Anyone who chooses to do that should be respected and [know] that their lives are as valuable as anyone else’s life.”

Here in Connecticut we have banned the “Trans Panic” defense.

Public Act No. 19-27: AN ACT CONCERNING GAY AND TRANSGENDER PANIC DEFENSE.

(2) No defendant may claim as a defense under this section that such mental disease or defect was based solely on the discovery of, knowledge about or potential disclosure of the victim's actual or
perceived sex, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, including under circumstances in which the victim made an unwanted, nonforcible, romantic or sexual advance toward the defendant, or if the defendant and victim dated or had a romantic relationship.

Cuckoo Award

Boy! Talk about going bonkers, the right-wing Republican are in la la land.

Taylor Swift Love Affair Sparks Republican Conspiracy Theory Mania

Barrons

By Sebastian Smith

January 30, 2024

You knew Taylor Swift was influential, but Republicans are now crediting the singer with James-Bond-villain-level powers in a wacky conspiracy theory claiming the singer's romance with NFL star Travis Kelce is really a plot to rig the Super Bowl and get President Joe Biden reelected.

Cuckoo, cuckoo!

Right-wingers -- who, like their leader Donald Trump, increasingly see conspiracy theories under every stone -- detected not a love story but a deep-state psychological operation against the American people and the November presidential election.

Fox News hosted a discussion with a former FBI agent asking: "Is Taylor Swift a Pentagon asset?"

Cuckoo, cuckoo!

A major pro-Trump broadcast personality, Mike Crispi, said it all even more clearly: "EVERYONE knows Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is fake and the Super Bowl is rigged. You’re a whacko at this point if you DON’T believe it."

Swift will appear on stage at the Super Bowl halftime show, he said, and endorse Biden.

So this Cuckoo Award is given to the all those Republicans that are in La La Land.

I’ll Take The 1st

I am a big fan of the Perry Mason show and anyone who watches crime drama know about the First Amendment. Well it seems like the Republicans don’t.
There’s a wave of new bills to define antisemitism. In these 3 states, they could become law
AP News
BY GEOFF MULVIHILL
January 29, 2024

Lawmakers in more than a half-dozen U.S. states are pushing laws to define antisemitism, triggering debates about free speech and bringing complicated world politics into statehouses.

Supporters say it’s increasingly important to add a definition that lays out how to determine whether some criticism of Israel also amounts to hatred of Jewish people. In so doing, lawmakers cited the Oct. 7 attacks in which Hamas killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostages back to Gaza, which sparked a war that has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians.

“For anybody that didn’t think that anti-Zionism could cross into antisemitism, the rest of the world could see that it had,” said Democratic Rep. Esther Panitch, the only Jewish member of Georgia’s Legislature and one of the sponsors of a bill that the state Legislature passed last week. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is expected to sign.

Defined in 2016 by the the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, antisemitism is “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

No matter what you think about the Hamas - Israeli War the First Amendment is quite specific, the University of Wisconsin writes,

Hate speech may be offensive and hurtful; however, it is generally protected by the First Amendment. One common definition of hate speech is “any form of expression through which speakers intend to vilify, humiliate or incite hatred against a group or a class of persons on the basis of race, religion, skin color, sexual identity, gender identity, ethnicity, disability or national origin.” Courts have ruled that restrictions on hate speech would conflict with the First Amendment’s protection of the freedom of expression. Since public universities are bound by the First Amendment, public universities must adhere to these rulings. However, universities also have an obligation to create a safe, inclusive learning environment for all members of the campus community.

You might remember a couple of years ago a couple of UConn were walking through a parking lot late one night spouting racist speech and they were arrested for it… the court threw out the case on First Amendment grounds.

“There is fundamental First Amendment harm whenever the state tries to silence pure speech on the basis of its viewpoint,” said said Brian Hauss, an ACLU lawyer.

Backers of the laws emphasize that they’re not trying to ban speech but rather decipher between actions that amount to discrimination or hate crimes, which carry different degrees of severity.

[…]

How colleges are acting to prevent or stop antisemitism on campus has become a hot-button issue across the country. Last year, fallout from campus presidents’ testimony before Congress led to the resignation of presidents at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania.

However, the college presidents were correct, the student protests are covered under the First Amendment contrary to what the Republicans say. As long as no violence occurred or threats made, it is protected speech. Hatred of a group of people does not constitute a hate crime no matter how despicable it is.
 

This Shouldn't Be Happening In America!

Where residents of a state have to flee it to get proper medical and now the states are “tracking down the criminals” who are the criminals? Us, the trans community!

Anguish lingers as transgender kids’ families seek medical care outside Texas — and fight a state ban
CNN
By Emma Tucker
January 27, 2024

 Lisa Stanton could feel her heart racing, her body breaking out in sweat and her palms going numb as she sat this summer in the waiting room of a Colorado emergency urgent care clinic alongside her 12-year-old transgender daughter Maya, who was crying over pain in her ear.

Stanton and her husband, along with Maya and her twin brother, had just uprooted their whole lives from Texas and, in two cars packed with all their belongings, were headed to their new home in Colorado, where they knew no one.

As they’d climbed into the mountains, Maya’s ears and throat started to hurt. So, they went to the clinic. But being back in a medical setting – filling out an ordinary health form – Stanton found herself overwhelmed by fear and anxiety she knew was rooted in the experience her family was trying to outrun, even if the care she sought now for her child was far less controversial.

When I read this, I thought of refugees fleeing war torn countries, fleeing famine, or fleeing a natural disaster, but no they are fleeing states that are forcing them into second class status, where they are denied healthcare and all the rights other citizens have.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office considers gender-affirming surgical procedures and puberty-blocking drugs “child abuse,” he declared in a 2022 legal opinion. “‘Transing’ kids through surgery/drugs is abuse & I’ll do all I can to stop it,” Paxton posted that year on social media. The offices of Republicans Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott did not respond to several CNN requests for comment for this story.

This flies in the face over every medical association guidelines and Supreme Court rulings.

The Republican states are going after their citizens who are being treated in others, in a move reminiscent of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 that forced northern states to send back Blacks who escaped from slavery, now they are trying to force northern states to send medical records to beck to the anti-trans states.

More states are pushing to stop legally recognizing trans people in public life
Proposed bills would exclude transgender and nonbinary people from updating driver’s licenses, holding public office and accessing public restrooms.
The 19^th
By Orion Rummler
January 24, 2024

States across the country are taking new steps to stop transgender adults and minors from being legally recognized in public life. Proposed legislation would prevent trans people from being able to update driver’s licenses, hold public office, use public restrooms, or take shelter from domestic violence unless they do so according to their sex assigned at birth.

If passed, these laws would require trans people to be misgendered in order to participate in day-to-day life — which increases the risk that they face violence and harassment, or are simply excluded from basic services, advocates say. Such laws are likely to be challenged in court; a route that has repeatedly halted anti-trans laws from going into effect.

Lawmakers in at least 10 states want to implement laws that redefine sex to exclude transgender and nonbinary people from accessing public services and to deny them equal legal protection. Arizona, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming are all considering these bills, alongside Indiana and Florida, which have brought forth uniquely far-reaching legislation.

[…]

However, the bills filed this month go beyond similar laws enacted last year by redefining sex based on reproductive capacity or “role,” and by attaching that definition to explicit restrictions on identity documents and civil rights that have not been proposed on this scale before.

LGBTQ+ advocates see sex redefinition bills as a clear indication of the ultimate goal of anti-trans legislation: to make it near-impossible for transgender people to safely participate in public life. These bills would also enable further restrictions on transgender rights in ways that could also harm LGBTQ+ and cisgender people, advocates say.

And it is not just the children fleeing states, adults are worrying about their jobs.

Fleeing hate: Trans teacher finds peace in Baltimore after receiving threats in Anne Arundel
Billie Hoard taught social studies in Pasadena when she came out
Baltimore Banner
By Royale Bonds
January 23, 2024

When Billie Hoard first announced that she was transitioning, she knew it wouldn’t be easy. But she never thought she would receive online comments like: “That thing should be put down.”

[…]

Then, in May of 2022, someone sent an image of her in her classroom to Libs of TikTok, a far-right and anti-LGBTQ social media account. Hoard began to consistently receive hateful and violent threats on various social media platforms. They included:

“You fucking sick ugly groomer, I hope u die a painful lonely death you fucking pedo.”

“I’ll find and beat you up you filthy trans pedophile.”

“He would be a amazing fit for machine guns.”

“Why does he look so punchable? I would seriously enjoy punching him repeatedly even after my knuckles are raw, bloody, and swollen.”

[…]

The Anne Arundel County resident who sent that message was eventually charged with a hate crime. The individual pleaded guilty last July to a hate crime and was sentenced to three years of probation and 100 community service hours. She has since died.

This is quite common among trans teachers,

Other trans teachers have faced similar harassment. NPR found in 2018 that 56% of 79 trans teachers surveyed reported some form of workplace discrimination or harassment.

Welcome to the new America where it is open season on those who are different.

They want to force us back into the 1950s when we were illegal when we had to go to sleazy mob run gin joints. When we could be arrested, or fired, or discriminated against… the Republicans want to eradicate us.

It Doesn’t Take Much...

You know they call us “snowflakes” but it seems more like they are the snowflakes, they are ones who are always flying off the handle at a drop of a hat. Now what set them off is a cartoon!

Bigots are now raging about a four-year-old reboot of Animaniacs, because of course they are
We’re only a few weeks into 2024, and so far bigots have decided to rage at: trans author and model Munroe Bergdorf being recognised by the UN, a Gucci campaign with loads of queer kissing, the fact the NFL are going to host a Pride event ahead of the 2024 Super Bowl, and now – the Animaniacs.
The Pink News
By Hilary Mitchell
January 26, 2024

Yes, you read that right. The cartoon Warner siblings, also known as Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, have managed to spark the anger of the right-wing “everything is woke now” crowd, despite being animated cryptids from the ’90s.

In case you’re not familiar with Animaniacs, here’s a potted history. Originally conceived of in the 1990s, Animaniacs is an animated US comedy series made by Warner Bros. It stars three cartoon characters of an indeterminate species called Yakko, Wakko and Dot, who live in a water tower.

[…]

However, the fact that the show is defunct hasn’t stopped far-right town crier Chaya Raichik – the individual behind the popular ‘woke-shaming’ X account Libs of Tiktok – calling out the rebooted Animaniacs intro for “indoctrinating” American children with, you guessed it, LGBTQ+ propaganda.

Google dug up an old Mashable article about this from 2020.

The internet doesn't know what to make of the politics of 'Animaniacs'
Not even cartoons are safe from America's political divide.
By Jess Joho
November 27, 2020

In 2020, apparently even Animaniacs can't escape America's political divides.

While it might seem out of place for a kids' cartoon, the recent Hulu reboot of the '90s classic has critics and fans alike debating exactly where the wacky, zany Warner siblings fall on the spectrum of political party alignment.

Politics is nothing new to the Animaniacs. As returning voice actor Jess Harnell (Wakko Warner) told Inverse, "At its heart, Animaniacs was always a kid’s show masquerading as a social satire, masquerading as a Broadway musical."


[…]

Meanwhile, the other camp celebrates all those progressive messages, even expanding upon some to support popular headcanon like Wakko being non-binary. The longtime fan theory, while initially inspired by a much older comic panel, is believed to have been strengthened by new "evidence" from the revival.

Hilariously, there's still another faction of fans who thinks the show isn't left-leaning enough, promoting political commentary that appeases only more centrist liberal sensibilities.

The Pink News goes on to write,

However, the fact that the show is defunct hasn’t stopped far-right town crier Chaya Raichik – the individual behind the popular ‘woke-shaming’ X account Libs of Tiktok – calling out the rebooted Animaniacs intro for “indoctrinating” American children with, you guessed it, LGBTQ+ propaganda.

The cartoon’s crime? Referencing gender-neutral pronouns in the opening song, notably the section that goes:
“Meet Pinky and the Brain who want to rule the universe/ A brand new cast who tested well in focus group research / Gender balanced, pronoun neutral and ethnically diverse/ The trolls will say we’re so passé but we did meta first.”

Raichik tweeted: “They mention gender neutral pronouns and call anyone who opposes it a troll. WHY DO THEY HAVE TO INJECT THIS INTO EVERYTHING?!”

Oh, the right-wing snowflakes! It so easy to set them off, all you have to do to get them to fly off the handle is, "My pronouns are..."

So this is what got them in a dither…

Don’t Think It Is A Given

Blue states are always pro-trans… WRONG!

The legislature in Maine just nixed a trans sanctuary bill.

Conservatives freak out & claim Maine’s trans refuge bill promotes child trafficking
It actually protects trans kids from being abused and gender-affirming parents from being arrested.
LGBTQ Nation
By Molly Sprayregen
January 22, 2024

Conservatives are freaking out over proposed legislation by Maine Democrats that would make the state a sanctuary for trans kids seeking gender-affirming care.

L.D. 1735 would take a variety of steps to protect families who come to the state to obtain health care for their trans children, including declaring that an out-of-state arrest warrant for someone who violated another state’s law against gender-affirming care for youth is Maine’s “lowest law enforcement priority.”

The part about which Republicans have decided to stoke panic states that a court would have temporary emergency jurisdiction over a minor present in the state if they have “been abandoned” or if “it is necessary in an emergency to protect the child because the child or a sibling or parent of the child is subjected to or threatened with mistreatment or abuse or because the child has been unable to obtain gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care.”

Republicans have decided that this section means the state will snatch children from their families if said families will not allow them to obtain gender-affirming surgery, even though such surgery is almost never performed on minors.

Get a load at how the right-wing media is portraying the bill, it would qualify for my Cuckoo Award.

[Warning: Take your blood pressure pills first!]

BREAKING: Maine Bill That Protects Kidnappers Who Take ‘Transgender Kids’ for ‘Gender-Affirming Care’ Fails in Committee
Daily Signal
By Tyler O'Neil
January 25, 2024

“Today we won a victory for our children who have been fooled into thinking they are not perfect the way God made them,” Smith told The Daily Signal. “With the death of LD 1735 we have proven that when evil is brought out of the darkness and exposed in the light, it can be vanquished. The people spoke loudly and it mattered.”

“My team and I are so incredibly grateful for every single person who wrote emails and shared it with their family and friends,” Alvin Lui, president of the parental rights organization Courage Is a Habit, told The Daily Signal in a statement Thursday.

“This 12-0 defeat of this transgender trafficking bill was done in a blue state that allows 9-month abortions and 16-year-olds to obtain transgender drugs and surgeries without parental consent,” Lui said. “This absolute win is only a glimpse of what can happen when Americans take action.”

Gutless. That is the only way to describe the Democrats on the committee!

The Advocate writes,

A Maine bill aimed to protect transgender youth’s access to care triggers outlandish claims of child-snatching as right-wingers wage a war of words on the proposed legislation.

A proposed bill introduced by Democrats, LD 1735, intended to protect gender-affirming health care for transgender minors, has sparked a firestorm of controversy and misinformation among conservative figures and groups. The bill provides protections for trans youth and their parents for seeking gender-affirming care as well as having the state take emergency custody of abused trans kids if the child is within its borders.

The Democrats succumbed to the conservative’s lies.

Far-right extremists and notable Republican influencers became enraged online, including figures such as former Fox News and NBC journalist turned right-wing influencer Megyn Kelly retweeting Raichik’s post and adding, “This is SICK! Bombard them with emails. This cannot pass.”

Donald Trump Jr. also weighed in, amplifying Raichik’s message to his audience.

Well all I can say is it is an election year and everyone is in a CYA mode. They are worried about the elections. Next year is another year, we will see if they developed a backbone.

---

This is why the bill is needed!

Texas attorney general requests transgender youths’ patient records from Georgia clinic

This is at least the second time Ken Paxton’s office has sought such records from an out-of-state provider since Texas banned transition-related care for kids.

Texas Triburne

BY MADALEINE RUBIN

JAN. 26, 2024

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is requesting medical records of Texas youth who have received gender-affirming care from a Georgia telehealth clinic, marking at least the second time he’s sought such records from providers in another state.

The clinic, QueerMed, confirmed on Friday morning that they received the request. QueerMed said it stopped servicing youth in Texas after the state banned transition-related care last year. The clinic’s founder said the attorney general requested information about patients dating back to Jan. 1, 2022, before the ban took effect.

The clinic said that Paxton asked for private information about Texas residents who were provided with telehealth care in Texas before the ban, and residents provided with care outside of Texas after the ban. The request, they said, nearly mirrors one the attorney general sent to Seattle Children’s Hospital last year.

[…]

QueerMed confirmed that Paxton sent his request to them on Nov. 17, the same day that Seattle Children’s received the similar demand for documents. QueerMed received the request Dec. 7, due to mail delays. Its receipt of the letter was first reported by The Houston Chronicle on Friday morning.

[...]

Loewy said that “a handful” of other organizations have received requests for medical records from Paxton. She declined to provide the exact amount or names of organizations the attorney general has contacted.

A QueerMed official could not immediately comment on how the clinic will respond to the attorney general.

The Advocate reports that,

Despite having no legal jurisdiction, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has once again requested medical records from a transgender health care provider in another state.

 

[...]

 

Paxton himself has not commented publicly on the Seattle case or Georgia inquiry. His office has declined to release information about other ongoing inquiries against transgender health providers.

[...]

As the attorney general of Texas, Paxton does not have jurisdiction over care occurring in other states, regardless of where the patients reside. Lowell said that despite Paxton's request, she is "not going to stop or be intimidated.”

Hey, but we all know the Republicans don't care about laws unless it is their laws.

Connecticut law bans any reproduction health being sent to other states.

Public Act No. 22-19

AN ACT CONCERNING THE PROVISION OF PROTECTIONS FOR PERSONS RECEIVING AND PROVIDING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN THE STATE AND ACCESS TO REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN THE STATE.

(1) "Reproductive health care services" includes all medical, surgical, counseling or referral services relating to the human reproductive system, including, but not limited to, services relating to pregnancy, contraception or the termination of a pregnancy; and

2) "Person" includes an individual, a partnership, an association, a limited liability company or a corporation.

(b) When any person has had a judgment entered against such person, in any state, where liability, in whole or in part, is based on the alleged provision, receipt, assistance in receipt or provision, material support for, or any theory of vicarious, joint, several or conspiracy liability derived therefrom, for reproductive health care services that are permitted under the laws of this state, such person may recover damages from any party that brought the action leading to that judgment or has sought to enforce that judgment. Recoverable damages shall include: (1) Just damages created by the action that led to that judgment, including, but not limited to, money damages in the amount of the judgment in that other state and costs, expenses and reasonable attorney's fees spent in defending the action that resulted in the entry of a judgment in another state; and (2) costs, expenses and reasonable attorney's fees incurred in bringing an action under this section as may be allowed by the court.

[...]

Sec. 2. (NEW) (Effective July 1, 2022) (a) Except as provided in sections 52-146c to 52-146k, inclusive, sections 52-146o, 52-146p, 52-146q and 52-146s of the general statutes and subsection (b) of this section, in any civil action or any proceeding preliminary thereto or in any probate, legislative or administrative proceeding, no covered entity, as defined in 45 CFR 160.103, shall disclose (1) any communication made to such covered entity, or any information obtained by such covered entity from, a patient or the conservator, guardian or other authorized legal representative of a patient relating to reproductive health care services, as defined in section 1 of this act, that are permitted under the laws of this state, or (2) any information obtained by personal examination of a patient relating to reproductive health care services, as defined in section 1 of this act, that are permitted under the laws of this state, unless the patient or that patient's conservator, guardian or other authorized legal representative explicitly consents in writing to such disclosure. A covered entity shall inform the patient or the patient's conservator, guardian or other authorized legal representative of the patient's right to withhold such written consent.

Since all trans healthcare involves reproductive healthcare, this law also covers us.

 

elections. Next year is another year, we will see if they developed a backbone.

---

I would point out that the Civil War was started in part because the northern states refused to obey the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 to send escaped Black back to the southern states Now the northern states are refusing to send the medical data of trans children to the southern states,

A Tale Of Two…

Like the start of the Tale of Two Cities, it is also the best of times and the worst of times, the best…

This was just posted on Facebook by the Transgender Law Center even though it is almost a year old,

Transgender Inclusion at Work Reaches Record Numbers
SHRM
March 30, 2023

As organizations around the world celebrate the accomplishments of transgender people on International Transgender Day of Visibility, the number of companies incorporating policies to protect transgender workers has surged in recent years.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation's 2022 corporate equality index (CEI), which assesses critical policies and practices indicative of employers' commitment to equality, showed that 97 percent of businesses included in the CEI have protections for nonbinary and transgender workers.

In 2002, just 5 percent of CEI companies had such policies in place for these employees.

"This year's CEI was yet another record year for companies moving toward greater inclusion for their transgender workers," said Jay Brown, the HRC's senior vice president of programs, research and training. "These are positive steps toward fuller inclusion."

The annual report, which surveyed more than 1,200 companies, also revealed:

    More than 660 major businesses have adopted gender-transition guidelines to establish best practices in transgender inclusion for managers and teams.
    About 66 percent of Fortune 500 companies have transgender-inclusive health care benefits, such as routine, chronic care and transition-related medical coverage.
    There are 22 times as many employers offering transgender-inclusive health insurance coverage as there were in 2009.

Tara Taylor, managing director of business consultation firm ADR Vantage Inc. in Washington, D.C., said employers that offer transgender-inclusive policies and practices can boost recruitment and retention.

First off, the HRC CEI I trust it only as far as I can throw it. Why? Because I know a number of trans people who were harassed, or fired, or discriminated against while working for companies with a 100% ratings.

Ways to Enhance Transgender Inclusion at Work

Johnson implored companies to be proactive rather than reactive in creating a safe workplace for transgender people. To foster an inclusive workplace for transgender employees:

•     Publicly communicate the company's transgender employee rights and job protections to the workforce.
•     Provide accessible, educational FAQs and ally education.
•     Facilitate trans-specific diversity, equity and inclusion trainings.
•     Offer employee resource groups for LGBTQ team members.
•     Consider offering a gender-transition leave policy for gender-affirming surgeries rather than having employees rely on their paid time off or short-term disability.

"While companies are being more vocal about LGBTQ acceptance and inclusion in the workplace, transgender and nonbinary people aren't always included or considered in the narrative," Johnson said. "Organizations have a lot more work to do to ensure workplace barriers are broken down and that trans and nonbinary team members feel safe and supported at work."

I know of many corporations that don’t discriminate against us, when I came out at work back in over 20 years they were very supportive, HR was actually gleeful because they had another woman engineer (I got laid off less than a year latter but it was because they were closing down the factory to move it overseas,)

As we all know all it takes is one AH to make your life miserable, no laws or company policies will stop them. What will stop them and make them crawl back into the swamps is the people. The community has to stand up and say enough is enough. They got the green light from politicians and we have to vote those politicians out of office. We have to vote for those willing to compromise across the aisle.

Enough is enough.

---

Now he is bragging about it!

He blocked a bipartisan border deal and he is bragging about the hatchet job he did,

Trump brags about efforts to stymie border talks: ‘Please blame it on me’

The Republican front-runner slams bipartisan talks in the Senate for a deal as Biden calls for emergency authority to address surging crossings

The Washington Post

By Isaac Arnsdorf

January 28, 2024

Republican front-runner Donald Trump said he wants to be held responsible for blocking a bipartisan border security bill in the works in the Senate as President Biden seeks emergency authority to rein in a record surge of unauthorized border crossings.

Sick, sick, sick!

Trump’s opposition follows Biden’s statement on Friday praising the deal and pledging to use its new authorities to “shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed” — a striking shift as he signaled openness to asylum restrictions and other enforcement measures that were previously unacceptable to Democrats.

He doesn't want to give the credit to the Democrats and the non-MAGA Republicans... it has to be his victory! Nit it not about the border, it is not about what is good for the country but rather it is about him. it was and always will be him and not the country!

They Are Trying Bring It To Real Life!

 They are to bring dystopian fiction to life. First they are banning abortion now they are trying to ban divorce! You don’t believe me that they are bring the Handmaiden's Tale to life?

Freshman Senator files bill to delete ‘incompatibility’ from grounds for divorce
KFOR
by: Katelyn Ogle
January 23, 2024

A newly sworn-in Senator wants to make it harder to get a divorce in Oklahoma, through a proposed bill for the 2024 legislative session.

“Ridiculous, oppressive, terrible,” said Nikki Edwards, an attorney and director of Phillips Murrah.

Senate Bill 1958 was written by freshman senator, Dusty Deevers, R-Elgin, who took office in October.

[…]

His website shows he’s endorsed by conservative organizations and says “we must protect marriage and parental rights. I will fight to make sure our laws never interfere with the spiritual and economic thriving of families.”

“I believe in marriage. I believe in religion, but these two things do not should not coincide perfectly,” said McCune.

Do you believe this? Along with abortion bans this is the subjugation of women! Next they will be requiring women to walk two steps behind their husband.

The Coming Attack on an Essential Element of Women’s Freedom
No-fault divorce has improved the lives of millions. Now some extreme Republicans want to abandon it.
The Atlantic
By Kimberly Wehle
September 26, 2023

For the past half century, many women in America have enjoyed an unprecedented degree of freedom and legal protection, not because of Roe v. Wade or antidiscrimination laws but because of something much less celebrated: “no fault” divorce. Beginning in the early 1970s, no-fault divorce enabled millions of people, most of them women, to file for divorce over “irreconcilable differences” or the equivalent without having to prove misconduct by a spouse—such as adultery, domestic violence, bigamy, cruelty, abandonment, or impotence.

But now conservative politicians in states such as Texas and Louisiana, as well as a devoutly Catholic husband who tried to halt his wife’s divorce efforts in Nebraska, are attacking no-fault divorce. One of the more alarming steps taken in that direction came from the Texas Republican Party, whose 2022 platform called on the legislature to “rescind unilateral no-fault divorce laws and support covenant marriage.” Given the Republican Party’s control of the offices of governor, secretary of state, and attorney general, and both chambers of the state legislature, Texas has a chance of actually doing it.

[…]
Against this backdrop, conservative commentators today claim that no-fault-divorce laws destroy the sanctity of marriage and disfavor men. The blogger and Daily Wire host Matt Walsh tweeted this year that no-fault divorce should be abolished. He once tweeted that “no fault divorce grants one person the ability to break the contract without the consent of the other. What kind of contract is that?” The right-wing YouTube personality Steven Crowder has argued that “no-fault divorce … means that in many of these states if a woman cheats on you, she leaves, she takes half. So it’s not no-fault, it’s the fault of the man.” Elsewhere, he claimed, “If you’re a woman that comes from meager means, and you want to get wealthy—you’ve never worked, you didn’t get a degree, you have no skill set, but you’re good-looking—your best path to victory is simply to marry a man, leave him, and take half.”

Republican Senator J. D. Vance of Ohio picked up the argument on the campaign trail last September, stating, “One of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace … is the idea that, like, ‘Well, okay, these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term.’”

This fits right in with the move to the far-right of the Republican party, they are becoming more and more authoritarian. It is becoming down right scary!
 
CNN also had an article about this…

What is no-fault divorce, and why do some conservatives want to get rid of it?
By AJ Willingham
November 27, 2023

 Following what some conservatives view as legal victories on the battlegrounds of abortion rights and affirmative action, a number of politicians and influencers are turning their attention to another long-held construct: No-fault divorce.

Right-wing commentators like Steven Crowder and Matt Walsh have ramped up complaints in recent months that it is too easy for people — specifically women — to get divorces. All states currently have some version of a no-fault divorce law, but Republicans in Texas and Nebraska list the dissolution or restriction of no-fault divorce in their state party political platforms.

[…]

 Newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson has been a vocal opponent of no-fault divorce, which allows couples to obtain a divorce without proving fault — and without both parties agreeing to the split. In a 2016 sermon, he claimed it turned the United States into a “completely amoral society.”

Though no-fault divorce was first legalized more than 50 years ago, it has long been sneered at in conservative circles, who see it as a danger to the sanctity of marriage and the concept of the American family.

 It does just stop at abortion and divorce, they are also targeting birth control.

Birth Control Is Next
If you look closely, attempts to restrict contraception are already in the works.
Slate
By Christina Cauterucci
April 21, 2023

At first glance, what’s happening right now in Iowa looks like a rosy vision for the future of reproductive rights.

The Republican-controlled state Senate recently passed a bill that would increase access to certain types of contraception by allowing pharmacists to dispense it to patients without a prescription. Their GOP counterparts in the state House have included a similar provision in a larger health care bill. And Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds has indicated that the legislation is one of her top priorities this session.

[…]

In other words, counter to a refrain that has taken hold on the left since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, conservatives are not coming for birth control next. They’re coming for birth control now.

Some corners of the right are already in full-blown attack mode. Pulse Life Advocates, one of the Iowa-based anti-abortion groups that is advocating against the over-the-counter contraception bill, states on its website that “contraception kills babies.”

[…]

But the Supreme Court won’t even have to overturn Griswold for conservatives to curtail access to birth control. Across the country, they are executing a game plan that rests on three strategies: Conflate contraception with abortion, claim that birth control is dangerous to women’s health, and let right-wing judges do their thing.

When the Republicans court these right-wing holier than thou this is what comes out of it… The  Handmaiden's Tale.

Saturday 9: Joanna

Saturday 9: Joanna (1983)

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

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here is today's questions!

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

1) The subject of this week's song, Joanna, is described as someone who never lets you down and can always be counted upon. Who in your life is like that?
My brother, he is always there for me.

2) Kool and the Gang vocalist James "J. T." Taylor sings that he will do his best to do what's right for her. Reflect on the last week. What did you devote special effort to?
Trying to organize a meeting with a legislator to see about passing legislation banning book bannings.

3) This video was filmed at the Colonial Diner in Lyndhurst, NJ. Still open 40 years later, the Colonial is known for their Boom Boom Shrimp, aka fried shrimp in sweet chili sauce. Think of your favorite local restaurant. What menu item would recommend?
Well here or the Cape?
The Cape, the Lobster Pot in Provincetown.
Here: The Blue Lobster,
Hmm… do you see a theme here?

4) Kool and the Gang's biggest hit was 1980's "Celebration," which is popular today with disc jockeys at wedding receptions. Are you likely to get up and dance at a wedding reception? Or would we find you enjoying the party from your seat?
From my seat and that brings me to a pet peeve… I wish the bands do play loud. Most of the people haven’t seen each other in years and just want to talk with relatives who I haven't seen since the last wedding or funeral.

5) Kool and the Gang are proud of their NJ roots. Group founder Robert Bell was given the nickname "Kool" by his Jersey City friends because he was so "laid back." Do you think your friends would describe you as "laid back?"
Yes.

6) One of the Jersey City's biggest employers is Evergreen, a transportation and shipping company with offices in Evertrust Plaza, a high-rise near the waterfront. What is the tallest building you've ever been in? Were you there for business, or to enjoy the view?
Well when I was little it was the Empire State Building, in the past twenty years it was a law office in New Haven (We were there to discuss plans to pass another bill.) and yes you could see Long Island Sound from the mahogany paneling and the plush leather oversize chairs office. Sitting in the meeting all you could see around you was $$$$.

7) In 1983, when "Joanna" topped the charts, Vanessa Williams became the first African American to be crowned Miss America. Today, Miss America is still among the most popular televised pageants, along with Miss World and Miss Universe. Do you watch beauty pageants?
Nope! Never have and never will.

8) Also in 1983, superstars Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson joined forces for the #1 song, "Say, Say, Say." Each man began his career as part of a group but went on to have success on his own. Can you think of anyone else who started out in band or group but also scored as a solo artist?
Linda Ronstadt, she started out in the Stone Ponies.

9) Random question: Have you more recently eaten bread sticks or carrot sticks?
Neither.
Hold it, hold it! Now that think about it was at Christmas I had carrot sticks and pepper strips.

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!

Translation: We Want To Discriminate.

Up in Maine parents want the right to discriminate and teach their children to dislike people who are different from them.

Maine lawmaker warns residents alarmed by transgender youth bill that strips parents' rights: 'Huge outcry'
Critics have blasted the bill as 'State-sanctioned kidnapping'
Fox News
By Kristine Parks
January 19, 2024

A Maine lawmaker is sounding the alarm about a bill that would protect children traveling to the state to seek transgender treatments without parental consent.

"Maine is going to open the doors to this and open the door to kids who meet someone on TikTok and they get the idea that they need this surgery or hormone replacement therapy and they're going to grab a bus or someone is going to come pick them up and bring them to Maine and a parent is not going to do a thing about it," Republican State Rep. Katrina J. Smith warned on "Fox & Friends" on Friday.

The bill, called "An act to safeguard gender-affirming health care," was introduced by Rep. Laurie Osher (D-Orono). Under the law, teenagers from other states can receive hormonal treatments and surgery in Maine without parental consent. It also blocks law enforcement from reuniting parents with their children and grants the state temporary custody of these minors.

The BIG LIE! That being trans is a choice and that we are “grooming” children.

Every time I hear the “big lie” I think of the song from South Pacific.

You've Got To Be Carefully Taught lyrics   

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 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.
 

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!

If anyone is being groomed it is by the Republicans. They are trying to control what we can say, what we can read, and what we can see, if that is not grooming I don’t know what is.

"There has been a huge outcry. The committee members have heard a lot over the last week and I think they should. They are the ones who put this bill up. They are the ones bringing it to Maine when the people have not said this is what they want," Smith argued.

The only outcry that I hear is from the right-wing conservatives. I would like to point out that every ballot question about our rights… we won.

Do You See Any Differences Between Red & Blue States?

The Connecticut Department of Education just release these guidelines.…

Guidance on Civil Rights Protections and Supports for Transgender or Gender-Diverse Students


Introduction

In 2011, the Connecticut General Assembly passed Public Act 11-55, which amended multiple statutes to specifically prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and expression in employment, public accommodation, housing, and extending credit. In part, Public Act 11-55 codified protections for gender-diverse individuals that the State of Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) had recognized in a declaratory ruling as early as 2000. It also amended Section 10-15c(a) of the Connecticut General Statutes (C.G.S.) to provide all students with equal access to educational programming and activities, regardless of gender identity or expression, thereby reiterating Connecticut’s strong commitment to ensuring that all students feel valued, visible, protected, and empowered to pursue their education in a safe and inclusive learning environment.

In September 2017, pursuant to then-Governor Dannel P. Malloy’s Executive Order No. 56, the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE), in consultation with the CHRO, issued guidance for Connecticut school districts on the rights, responsibilities, and best educational practices for transgender1 students. That guidance document was designed to assist schools and districts in understanding and implementing the rights of gender-diverse students. Since the issuance of that September 2017 guidance, however, there have been developments in federal law which either directly affect — or could indirectly impact — transgender students and which are reflected in this updated guidance.

Hmm… how many Red states do you think would publish this?

So what do you need to be protected… do you have a doctor’s letter? Do you need to change you birth certificate? Nope.

Establishing Gender Identity

As noted, C.G.S. §§1-1n and 46a-51(21) provide that gender-related identity can be established in various ways, including, but not limited to: medical history; care or treatment of the gender-related identity; consistent and uniform assertion of such an identity; or any other evidence that the identity is sincerely held, part of a person’s core identity, or that the person is not asserting such an identity for an improper purpose. This list, however, is not exhaustive and does not describe all the ways in which gender identity may be established.

• Consistency of Expression Not Required: While consistency and uniform assertion may be a way for individuals to indicate their gender identity, neither federal nor Connecticut law requires that individuals consistently and uniformly assert or express a particular identity. Students who identify as gender fluid may express that in ways that conform with more than one gender, even from one day to the next.
• Documentation Not Required: Neither federal nor Connecticut law requires students to produce identification documents for the school to acknowledge their gender identity or expression. Requiring such identification — which students are often unable to obtain — could have the practical effect of limiting or denying students equal access to educational programming and activities, including, but not limited to, athletics. Furthermore, except as is discussed in the section of this guidance pertaining to educational records, notice from a parent or guardian is not required in order for a school to recognize the student’s gender identity or expression.

Basically you just have to declare that you’re trans.

Does the school have to report your transition to your parents?

Parental Notice, Communications, and Objections
As previously mentioned, and, again, except as discussed in the context of student records, there is currently no law that requires notice from a parent or guardian for a school to recognize the student’s gender identity or expression. In the absence of notice from a parent or guardian, however, a related question is whether a school district is obligated to inform a student’s parents or guardians of the student’s request to be referred to by a name, pronouns, and gender markers that do not correspond to the sex that was assigned to the student at birth.

There are 17 pages in guidance that covers,

• Gender Identity and Expression Terminology
• Names, Pronouns, and Gender Marker
• Parental Notice, Communications, and Objections
• Issues Concerning Student Records
• Restrooms, Locker Rooms, and Physical Education
• School-Based Clubs and Activities
• Dress Code

They also included...

• Appendix: Relevant Statutory Language Protecting Transgender Students

That sure does sound different that in Republican controlled states!

A link is down on my blog on the right-hand side.

Also a Shipman & Goodwin law firm published their interpretation of the guidelines,

CSDE Releases Updated Guidance on Civil Rights Protections and Supports for Transgender Students


As an update to its previous 2017 guidance on the subject (the “2017 Guidance”), the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) released guidance for school districts in January 2024 providing information to assist school districts in meeting their obligations to “ensure that all students, regardless of their gender identity or expression, are treated equitably and provided with an equal opportunity to participate in school activities, programs, and courses of study, free of discrimination or harassment” (the “2024 Guidance”). The 2024 Guidance aims to address developments in federal law since 2017 which either directly affect, or could indirectly impact, transgender students. As an example of a legal development that serves as a basis for the changes reflected in the 2024 Guidance, the CSDE cites the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights’ “Notice of Interpretation” issued on June 16, 2021, which clarified that sex-based discrimination prohibited under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 includes discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

They cover,

• Gender Dysphoria
• Parental Notice
• Religious Freedom
• Student Records

Just be aware this was written by a law firm to keep their clients out of court.

On The Border

The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border

On The Border -- Al Stewart

 

The Trump Supreme Court this week told the federal government that they can take down the wire along the border but that doesn’t sit well with the Texas Republicans,

Republicans are urging Texas to ignore the Supreme Court at the border
Business Insider
By Natalie Musumeci
January 24, 2024

Republicans are seething over the recent Supreme Court ruling that allows for the Biden administration to cut through razor-wire fencing that Texas put up at the US-Mexico border — and some are urging the GOP-controlled Lone Star State to ignore the order.

Texas GOP Rep. Chip Roy suggested that the state should tell the Supreme Court to "go to hell" over the 5-4 Monday ruling that handed the federal government a huge win in its ongoing legal battle with Texas over the southern border.

Roy told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Texas has "a duty under the Constitution" to "protect" its citizens.

"There is no exception to that," Roy said, according to the news outlet. "And if the Supreme Court wants to ignore that truth, which a slim majority did, Texas still had the duty, Texas leaders still have the duty, to defend their people."

[…]

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said in a Tuesday interview on Fox News that the Supreme Court ruling makes him "angry." He added that "incredible progress" has been made at securing the border and alleged that President Joe Biden "deliberately, systematically dismantled it."

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah questioned the Biden administration's next moves on Glenn Beck's podcast, "The Glenn Beck Program."

So when did we see this before? When did a state ignore the courts?

In 1965 President Johnson ordered the march from Selma to Montgomery to proceed and Alabama governor refused. The History Channel reported that…

On March 20, 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson notifies Alabama’s Governor George Wallace that he will use federal authority to call up the Alabama National Guard in order to supervise a planned civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

Intimidation and discrimination had earlier prevented Selma’s Black population—over half the city—from registering and voting. On Sunday, March 7, 1965, a group of 600 demonstrators marched on the capital city of Montgomery to protest this disenfranchisement and the earlier killing of a Black man, Jimmie Lee Jackson, by a state trooper.

[…]


After an Alabama federal judge ruled on March 18 that a third march could go ahead, President Johnson and his advisers worked quickly to find a way to ensure the safety of King and his demonstrators on their way from Selma to Montgomery. The most powerful obstacle in their way was Governor Wallace, an outspoken segregationist who was reluctant to spend any state funds on protecting the demonstrators. Hours after promising Johnson—in telephone calls recorded by the White House—that he would call out the Alabama National Guard to maintain order, Wallace went on television and demanded that Johnson send in federal troops instead.

[…]

Furious, Johnson told Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach to write a press release stating that because Wallace refused to use the 10,000 available guardsmen to preserve order in his state, Johnson himself was calling the guard up and giving them all necessary support. Several days later, 50,000 marchers followed King some 54 miles, under the watchful eyes of state and federal troops.

Are we going to see President Biden nationalize the guard in Texas?

*****

This whole thing is a publicity stunt for the voters, both parties have worked out a deal over the border and funding for Ukraine and Israel, however the MAGA Republicans and Trump refuse to go along.

With Deal Close on Border and Ukraine, Republican Rifts Threaten to Kill Both
A divided G.O.P. coalesced behind a bit of legislative extortion: No Ukraine aid without a border crackdown. Now they are split over how large a price to demand, imperiling both initiatives.
The New York Times
Karoun Demirjian
By Annie Karni and Karoun Demirjian
January 19, 2024

Senator James Lankford, the Oklahoma Republican and staunch conservative, this week trumpeted the immigration compromise he has been negotiating with Senate Democrats and White House officials as one shaping up to be “by far, the most conservative border security bill in four decades.”

Speaker Mike Johnson, in contrast, sent out a fund-raising message on Friday denouncing the forthcoming deal as a Democratic con. “My answer is NO. Absolutely NOT,” his message said, adding, “This is the hill I’ll die on.”

The Republican disconnect explains why, with an elusive bipartisan bargain on immigration seemingly as close as it has been in years on Capitol Hill, the prospects for enactment are grim. It is also why hopes for breaking the logjam over sending more U.S. aid to Ukraine are likely to be dashed by hard-line House Republicans.

The Trump Republicans do not want a compromise! They are hoping for violence, they are hoping for a crisis over the border.

The situation encapsulates the divide cleaving the Republican Party. On one side are the right-wing MAGA allies of former President Donald J. Trump, an America First isolationist who instituted draconian immigration policies while in office. On the other is a dwindling group of more mainstream traditionalists who believe the United States should play an assertive role defending democracy on the world stage.

They are also trying to weasel out of the ruling.

Texas is exploiting a loophole in a new Supreme Court ruling to keep putting up razor-wire fencing at the border
Business Insider
By Natalie Musumeci
January 24, 2024

Texas is apparently taking advantage of a loophole in a recent Supreme Court ruling involving the US-Mexico border in order to keep putting up more razor-wire fencing along the Rio Grande riverbank.

The Supreme Court's 5-4 Monday ruling delivered a huge win to the Biden administration in its ongoing legal battle with Texas over the southern border by allowing federal border agents to cut or move barbed wire fencing the Republican-controlled state installed at the border.

The ruling does not call for Texas to take any action in the matter — and the state's Republican governor, Greg Abbott, suggested in a post to X on Wednesday that Texas will keep putting up the fencing, even if federal border agents take it down.

"Texas' razor wire is an effective deterrent against the illegal border crossings encouraged by [President Joe] Biden's open border policies," Abbott said. "We continue to deploy this razor wire to repel illegal immigration."

---

But wait... there's more! Do the Republicans really want a solution to the border crisis?

'Trainwreck': Conservative GOP senators break on border, Ukraine deal as Donald Trump pressures Republicans

USA TODAY

By Riley Beggin & Ken Tran

January 24, 2024

Lawmakers have spent months battling over aid to Ukraine and solutions for the crisis at America's southern border. But some of the Senate's more conservative Republicans are increasingly wary of a bipartisan plan to address both issues, creating additional challenges for negotiations that are already a political minefield.

Several Senate Republicans argued during a press conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday that the package, which seeks to tie together border programs and aid to Ukraine, would not actually increase the president’s ability to slow migration to the U.S.

“This supplemental bill is a kamikaze plane in a box canyon with no exit headed for a trainwreck,” quipped Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

“From what I’m hearing, this could cause as many problems as it solves,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

The deal – which has not yet been finalized – would reportedly make it harder for migrants to claim asylum, make it easier for U.S. officials to deport migrants who have remained in the country illegally, expand detention capacity and add Border Patrol staff.

No here is the wild-thing… Trump!

Former President Donald Trump has also started putting pressure on congressional Republicans to reject the deal. Some senators have grown concerned Trump’s musings could endanger what are incredibly delicate negotiations. 

“If someone is running for president and is trying to actively undermine governance, that’s bad,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told USA TODAY. “Is it really better to have 10,000 people crossing a day illegally or 5,000? Clearly it’s 5,000. So somebody who is trying to defeat legislation, all in the name of running for office? That is irresponsible.”

They want to keep it the news and on the front page. They don’t want a compromise, they want to drag it out to use on the campaign.

 

The HuffPost writes,

Donald Trump on Wednesday privately pressured Senate Republicans to “kill” a bipartisan deal to secure the U.S. border because he doesn’t want President Joe Biden to chalk up a win ahead of the 2024 presidential election, according to a source familiar with the tenuous negotiations on the package.

Trump directly reached out to several GOP senators on Wednesday to tell them to reject any deal, said this source, who requested anonymity to speak freely. The GOP presidential frontrunner also personally reached out to some Senate Republicans over the weekend, the source told HuffPost.

But it is not just the southern border that they are trying to stir up trouble. NBC News reports on our northern border...

Former President Donald Trump described the U.S. border as “not so hot.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said it’s the site of a worsening problem. And Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said she would do whatever it takes to stop illegal crossings there, up to and including building a massive wall.

The rhetoric wouldn’t be out of place for Republicans in reference to the U.S. border with Mexico, a staple of Republican campaign speeches and the site where Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 2.4 million people who entered the country illegally from October 2022 to September.

But those remarks weren’t about the southern border. Rather, they were about the border with Canada.

The Republicans don’t care that they are ripping the country apart all the care about is power.  And getting elected. Also remember the border is tired in with aid to Ukraine... it is almost like the Trump and the Republicans want Putin to win and our country torn in half.

Credit: Dave Whamond, Canada, PoliticalCartoons.com / CTNewsJunkie via Cagle Cartoons / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

The fishing boats go out across the evening water
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
The wind whips up the waves so loud
The ghost moon sails among the clouds
Turns the rifles into silver on the border

On the border
On the border
On the border

 

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Update 3:50PM

GOP senators seethe as Trump blows up delicate immigration compromise
CNN
By Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona, Lauren Fox and Ted Barrett
Updated 3:01 PM EST, Thu January 25, 2024


 Senior Senate Republicans are furious that Donald Trump may have killed an emerging bipartisan deal over the southern border, depriving them of a key legislative achievement on a pressing national priority and offering a preview of what’s to come with Trump as their likely presidential nominee.

In recent weeks, Trump has been lobbying Republicans both in private conversations and in public statements on social media to oppose the border compromise being delicately hashed out in the Senate, according to GOP sources familiar with the conversations – in part because he wants to campaign on the issue this November and doesn’t want President Joe Biden to score a victory in an area where he is politically vulnerable.

Did you get this, “...in part because he wants to campaign on the issue this November…” This whole thing about the border is nothing but bull. When Trump was president, the Republicans both the House and the Senate and they didn’t do anything to stop the border crossing. This is nothing but pure and simple politics at it worst.

 

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Update 4:30PM

Romney: ‘Appalling’ Trump wants to kill border bill so he can ‘blame Biden’

The Hill

BY SARAH FORTINSKY

January 25, 2024

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Thursday took aim at former President Trump for pushing Republican lawmakers to oppose a border deal so that he could use the issue to campaign against President Biden in the 2024 presidential election.

Romney told CNN’s Manu Raju he thought it was “really appalling” that Trump would try to prevent progress on addressing the surge in migration at the southern border.

“I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump,” Romney said. “And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn’t want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling.”

“But the reality is that we have a crisis at the border, the American people are suffering as a result of what’s happening at the border, and someone running for president ought to try to get the problem solved as opposed to saying, ‘Hey, save that problem. Don’t solve it. Let me take credit for solving it later,’” Romney continued.

*****

Senate GOP pleads with Trump not to kill Ukraine-border security deal  

BY ALEXANDER BOLTON

January 25, 2024

Senate Republicans who favor sending aid to Ukraine and cutting a deal with Democrats to secure the U.S.-Mexico border are hoping that former President Trump’s Senate allies can intervene with the presidential front-runner to save a carefully negotiated package of military aid and border security reforms from going down in flames.  

Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) this week asked colleagues who have endorsed Trump to intercede with the Republican presidential front-runner and ask that he hold off on criticizing the emerging deal until lawmakers have a chance to review its details.  

Ernst and other Republicans are worried that Trump will throttle legislation to help Ukraine and improve border security before the text of the deal is even released.   

One Republican senator who attended a Senate GOP discussion on the bill said Ernst asked “those of you who have endorsed Trump, please ask Trump: Don’t cut off its head before we’ve even seen it.”  

The lawmaker said Trump’s opposition to a border security deal is “damaging.”