This Is Something That I’ve Been Saying

The ultimate goal of the Republicans is to do away with public schools, they believe that public education is not a right but a privilege for the rich.

Christian Nationalists Accelerate Their Plan to Dismantle Public Education
State legislatures are passing bills to erode church-state separation in public education programs throughout the US.
Truthout
By Eleanor J. Bader
June 30, 2024


When Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz attended the 2023 Turning Point USA convention, he gave the Christian nationalists in attendance a preview of the National Prayer in School Act, a bill he introduced into the House of Representatives shortly after the convention. His speech electrified the crowd: “The beautiful new Supreme Court that President Trump gave us just might uphold a constitutional law based on the values that the country was built on,” he began.

Gaetz later became more explicit, posting a speech on Instagram in support of the legislation: “Our country’s educational policy forbids students and faculty from praying while endlessly promoting degenerate LGBT and anti-white propaganda,” he said. “My legislation unlocks religious freedom.” As written, the Act would erode church-state separation, giving students, faculty and staff the right to pray on school grounds — something that has been barred for more than 50 years.

Now the bill has a snowballs chance in hell of passing but it is telling that it was introduced at all. Look at all the harm Betsy DeVos did to public education during her time as Secretary of Education.

They are trying to force their evangelical Christian religion on us. Look at the indoctrination going on in schools, they are double daring the Supreme Court to back them up.

Education is under attack! Books are being banned. Teachers are in fear of arrest if they say something wrong in the classroom.

Public education is under attack! The Republicans just want Reading, ‘Riting, and ‘Rithmatic taught in schools along with the Bible.

We Hate This!

It reminds us of our past but it is something that should be having.

Improving Prostate Cancer Screening for Transgender Women
Cedars-Sinai

Cedars-Sinai Study Finds PSA Tests May Give False Reassurance for Transgender Women on Estrogen Therapy and Could Miss Some Cancers

Transgender women are still at risk for prostate cancer. A new study led by Cedars-Sinai Cancer investigators, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association, concludes that current screening guidelines could miss early-stage prostate cancer in transgender women on hormone therapy.

The prostate, a small gland that helps make semen, also produces a protein called prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. Blood levels of PSA tend to be elevated in people who have prostate cancer, and the PSA test, which measures those levels, is a common prostate cancer screening tool.

[…]

"In the study, we used Veterans Health Administration records to identify 210 transgender women without known prostate cancer who were taking estrogen,” said Farnoosh Nik-Ahd, MD, a urology resident at the University of California, San Francisco, and first author of the study. “We found that the median PSA value, the midpoint in the range of participants, was 0.02 ng/mL, which is fiftyfold lower than PSA values reported in similar-aged cisgender men.”

This suggests that if they are taking estrogen, transgender women who develop prostate cancer wouldn’t see their PSA rise to levels that trigger additional screening until their cancer was at a later stage, making it more difficult to treat. Nik-Ahd said that patients and clinicians should be aware of this and interpret results with caution.

Many of us really don’t like this test because it reminds out that we are male bodied but it is something that we better have done yearly.

 

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I'm away this weekend to a support group camp-out at a friend's place in Vermont this weekend.

Do You Want To See The Fallout From The Supreme Court Ruling.

It didn't take long for the trans community to be affected by the recent court ruling by judge who was appointed by President George W. Bush and promoted to his current position by Trump.

Judge cites new Supreme Court ruling in blocking health care anti-discrimination protections for transgender Americans

CNN

By Devan Cole

July 3, 2024

The Biden administration cannot enforce new anti-discrimination rules in health care for transgender Americans, a federal judge in Mississippi ruled Wednesday, citing a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling that weakened the power of federal agencies.

The preliminary injunction from US District Judge Louis Guirola comes just two days before the new protections were set to take effect. The George W. Bush appointee said his block on the federal protections will apply nationwide.

[…]

But the rules were swiftly met with legal challenges, including from a group of Republican state attorneys general who argued that HHS overstepped its authority when it issued the new rules and that they would be harmed by a loss of federal funding for not complying with the changes.

Guirola agreed, ruling that HHS had wrongly leaned on a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that said federal civil rights law that bars sex discrimination protects LGBTQ workers when it issued the new rules. The Biden administration has in recent years used the court’s ruling in the case, Bostock v. Clayton County, to create protections for LGBTQ+ Americans.

This November will elect a president who will appoint another Supreme Court justice and hundreds of lower court judges… your vote is important!

 

But we are not the only ones affected by the court's ruling, this is the beginning of the attack on regulatory agencies.

Justice Clarence Thomas wants the Supreme Court to take aim at ‘far-reaching’ workplace safety laws

Thomas said he wants to go after OSHA after the court took a sledgehammer to government agencies this term

The Independent

By Alex Woodward

July 3, 2024

The Supreme Court will not hear a challenge to a key federal agency that oversees workplace safety, which conservative Justice Clarence Thomas slammed as a “far-reaching” authority that threatens Americans’ constitutional rights.

On Tuesday, Supreme Court justices declined to hear a case that questioned the constitutionality of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, an argument backed by right-wing legal groups and 23 Republican attorneys general.

The challengers had hoped to find a sympathetic court, on the heels of two major rulings that took a sledgehammer to regulatory agencies and the government’s ability to go after lawbreakers.

Only Justices Thomas and Neil Gorsuch wanted to hear the case.

The Republicans what to bring us back to the 50s back before OHSA, EPA, and FDA, back to the age of burning rivers, smog, and workplace accidents... back to the days where companies could do anything they want for a buck.

So what will it take now to pass a regulation? Do you think that our health care will be passed in Congress? With this court ruling the regulatory agency cannot pass any regulations, they all must be voted on by Congress!

I’ll vote for the man with Integrity, Honor, & Character not for the sleaze bag.

What I Want In A President; Integrity, Honor, & Character

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.
– Dwight D. Eisenhower

There was only one candidate who has shown those qualities.

Almost four years ago this was written but it is still true today!

The single most important quality a president must have
Opinion by David Gergen, CNN Senior Political Analyst
November 2, 2020

 One night after moving into a brand new White House in November 1800, then-President John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail and included a short prayer: “I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House, and on all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise Men ever rule under this roof.”

Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt loved the prayer so much that in 1945 he had it engraved in the mantel above a stone fireplace in the State Dining Room. The Kennedys were so enamored that they had it carved into a new marble mantel in the early 1960s. In her memoir, Hillary Clinton expressed her hope that the prayer be extended to women of good character, too.

These sentiments about honor and wisdom, shared for over two centuries by our best presidents, are now at the center of this year’s presidential contest. We are in the midst of a political crisis, searching for leaders we can trust. There was a time in the mid-20th century when we took for granted that our presidents would be and would command respect. No longer.

That was true then and is still true today

First, our next president should set a new tone in the White House on day one, proclaiming that honesty, dignity and respect for others will be the new marching orders. In the aftermath of Watergate, when former President Richard Nixon was forced out in disgrace, I saw his successor – Gerald Ford – change the atmosphere within hours. Ford proclaimed “that truth is the glue” that holds us all together. He believed it and soon his followers did, too.

[…]

So, the question before us is simple: Will the wise and the honest prevail over the next four years? The answer really rests with you, the voters. You are the ultimate stewards of our democracy.

American Family Radio wrote about integrity and character,

On August 28, I conducted a poll on X (formerly known as Twitter), asking, “As a voter, what is the single most important factor or quality you’re looking for in a presidential candidate?” The four choices were: Integrity/character; Good policies; Backbone; Unifier.

Of the 698 who responded to the poll, slightly over half (50.1 percent) voted for “Good policies”; 38.7 percent voted for “Integrity/character”; 10 percent voted for Backbone; and only 1.3 percent voted for Unifier.

When I asked my wife Nancy for her response, she said, “It has to be all four. I can’t vote for just one.”

One candidate has it it, one does not.

That being said, I do understand the argument for good policies, and I recognize the importance of having backbone and the power of being a unifier. But if I could choose only one characteristic of the person I was voting for (other than an overtly biblical value such as God-fearing), I would choose integrity and character.

So would I.

"Midshipman are persons of integrity" They stand for that which is right"
United States Naval Academy

The CNN article ends with,

In writing his magisterial biography of Harry Truman, historian David McCullough concluded that character is the single most important quality a president must have. I have learned over time that McCullough was right.

Young men and women on a White House staff and working in government departments and agencies take their cues from their boss, the president. If he or she is open and honest, that is the path they will walk; but if he or she acts more like a mobster, bullying and lying to those in his midst, some of them will eventually copy this behavior.

So, the question before us is simple: Will the wise and the honest prevail over the next four years? The answer really rests with you, the voters. You are the ultimate stewards of our democracy.

I’ll vote for the man with Integrity, Honor, & Character

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I'm away this weekend to a support group camp-out at a friend's place in Vermont this weekend.

Cuckoo Award

This one is for the birds!

Right-wing conspiracy theory, the government is watching you.

Police say a man shot a Walmart drone. Armed Americans could pose a headache for air deliveries.

Business Insider

By Dominick Reuter

July 1, 2024

• A Florida man admitted to shooting a Walmart drone last week, law enforcement officials said.
• For the past decade, gun owners have been shooting at UAVs — in violation of Federal regulations.
• Now, as more retailers use drones, armed Americans may add further complication to delivery by air.
• Retailers have had to solve a long list of technological, regulatory, and commercial challenges in order to offer deliveries by drone.

But one complication remains especially difficult to predict: US gun owners.

In the latest episode, the Lake County Sheriff said last week that Dennis Winn admitted to shooting a Walmart drone with a 9mm pistol as it flew near his home in Florida.

According to the arrest affidavit, Winn told officers he had prior experience with drones flying over his house and believed the aircraft to be surveilling him.

He then went inside, got his gun from a safe, came out, and fired one shot at the drone, which was roughly 75 feet in the air, the affidavit said.

 "I then told him that he had struck a Walmart drone," the Sheriff's deputy said in the affidavit. "The defendant looked in disbelief and questioned, 'Really?'"

[…]

As more retailers use drones, armed Americans pose a potential complication to deliveries by air.

They are off in la la land, I am not saying that law enforcement don’t use drones but rather what is cuckoo is the shooting at them.

Saturday 9

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 memes, however, and here is today's meme!

Saturday 9: The Star Spangled Banner (1991)

... because Thursday was the 4th of July and we're still celebrating!

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

I will be away all weekend to a cookout/camp-out at a friend's place in Vermont this weekend and will be heading home Monday. I will be staying a B&B in town, I’m past the age where I can sleep in a tent.

Unfamiliar with this Whitney's rendition? Hear it here.

1) Whitney Houston originally performed this in front of over 73,000 at the 1991 Super Bowl. What's the biggest crowd you have ever been in?

Whew!

Back in the summer of 1974 in Buffalo…

Eric Clapton, The Band: July 6, 1974

A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Clapton also holds a special place in Bills History. The legendary guitarist, with support from The Band, put on the first-ever concert at New Era Field and after 40 years, the show is still talked about.

2) Whitney's version of The National Anthem was released 10 years later, after 9/11, and the proceeds went to support New York's first responders. It was her last Top Ten single. What's your favorite Whitney Houston song?

Hands down… I Will Always Love You

3) Whitney's friends recall she loved lavender -- both the color and the scent. What's your favorite color? What's your favorite scent?

I don’t use any scents.

4) Whitney had a sweet tooth and loved Fruity Pebbles. If you reached for a snack right now, would it be sweet or salty?

Ooo… both. Sh… I have some salty chocolate! I got them as a treat for the holiday.

5) Whitney's grave marker bears the words, "I Will Always Love You," so clearly her family is proud of her best-selling recording. How would you like to be remembered?

That I left this earth a better place than when I arrived.

6) Going back to 1991, when this recording was first popular, consumers who had a cell phones likely had flip phones. Technology has come a long way, hasn't it? What did you most recently use your cell phone for? (Calling, texting, looking something up, taking a photo, posting on your blog or social media ...)

To call the grocery store to tell them that I was there for my pick-up.

7) In 1777, Colonists celebrated July 4 with the firing of cannons and muskets, followed by a public reading of the Declaration of Independence. What did your neighborhood do to celebrate the 4th of July?

I think that they all went to their son and daughters for the holiday. It is very quite.

8) The Revolutionary War still raged during that summer of 1777. General George Washington allowed his soldiers to celebrate with a double ration of run on July 4. Do you know anyone who is serving in the military this 4th of July?

Yes, a number of them. What gets me mad, is that some of them were lifers and they need SNAP and Section 8 housing. They were willing to put their lives on the table for our country and then the country doesn’t pay them a living retirement pay.

9) Celebrity chef Rachael Ray says she considers mini-hamburgers, or "sliders," the All-American food. What will/did you dine on to celebrate the 4th of July? 

Sirloin tips shish kabobs (With red & green peppers, tomatoes, & onion and I marinade the steak in Italian dressing with a dash of Tabasco. I don’t put everything on one skewer because they cook at different rates), potato salad, beans, and Mac & Cheese.

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!

The Buzz!

Did you hear the buzz? I hope not, but once again it is mosquito Armageddon here on Cape Cod. A couple of years ago it was so bad that it was on the national news!

Mosquito Money
Provincetown Independent
By Sam Pollak
July 2, 2024

Everybody knows that it’s a bad year for mosquitoes, even the finance committee. At its June 12 meeting, the committee unanimously voted to transfer $20,000 from the town’s reserve fund to help the Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project get deeper into the area of the Duck Harbor overwash, the main breeding ground in town for brackish-water mosquitoes.

This year’s mosquito problem might not be as bad as it was in 2021, when high tides first breached the Duck Harbor bank, but repeated flooding this winter and spring at Bound Brook Island means that this summer might come close. Town Administrator Tom Guerino said that he has received many complaints from residents in the area, and “It’s going to get worse before it gets better,” Guerino told the finance committee.

According to Guerino, Mosquito Control’s executive director Gabrielle Sakolsky told him that the agency doesn’t have the staff or the funding to get deeper into the overwash area, where the dense brush makes it harder to apply larvicide. Guerino said that the $20,000 will enable the agency to treat more areas.

They got one thing right though…

Guerino said that the town’s reserve fund is currently sitting untouched at $100,000. The finance committee agreed that the transfer would meet the fund’s purpose, which is meant for unpredicted expenses. “A good mosquito is a dead mosquito,” said chair Kathleen Granlund. —

I got one of those mosquito netting hats, but you have to watch out when you come inside because the mosquitoes hitchhike inside on your clothes. We knew this was going to be a bad year for mosquitoes because…

Winter Floods Set the Stage for More Mosquitoes
Flood waters abate and larvicide is sprayed, but a lot depends on the weather
Provincetown Independent
By William von Herff
May 1, 2024

WELLFLEET — Barton Morris stands in the Duck Harbor parking lot and surveys the floodplain to the north. It’s a cool April day, and it’s been about two weeks since the last in a series of strong storms hit this beach. The storms pushed salt water over the dunes into this floodplain, creating puddles in the field of newly cut wood chips.

[…]

Wellfleet is wary about the bloodsuckers. In a January 2021 storm, the coastal bank at Duck Harbor was overwashed, storm waves pushing salt water into the pine forest here, killing it. Then, the water pooled, trapped on one side by the bank and on the other side by mosquito ditches dug long ago to keep water flowing but long since abandoned and clogged. These pools of stagnant water were the perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.

In the summer that followed, the mosquito population in Wellfleet exploded to unprecedented levels. Morris, who is the assistant superintendent of the quasi-governmental Cape Cod Mosquito Control Project (CCMCP), said that traps in the area were capturing thousands of mosquitoes every day in summer 2021 (the one-day record was 5,642), when any number more than 200 is considered a problem by the agency.

Fortunately, Morris says, Duck Harbor isn’t much of an area of concern anymore. The trees have been felled, the ditches are clear, and the gap in the dunes has widened, allowing water to flow out more easily. Plus, he notes, the larger puddles have fish in them, and they eat mosquito larvae.

By the door at the cottage… I have a bottle of mosquito repellent.

 

Remember mosquito money is blood money.

When Someone Shows You Who They Are, Believe Them

You have probably heard that quote from Maya Angelou but you should listen to it.

Our former Commander-in-Chief want to convene a military court to prosecute his “enemy.”

Trump Amplifies Calls to Jail Top Elected Officials, Invokes Military Tribunals
A post that Mr. Trump circulated on Sunday called for Liz Cheney to be prosecuted by a military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals.
New York Times
By Chris Cameron
July 1, 2024

Former President Donald J. Trump over the weekend escalated his vows to prosecute his political opponents, circulating posts on his social media website invoking “televised military tribunals” and calling for the jailing of President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senators Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer and former Vice President Mike Pence, among other high-profile politicians.

This is really scary… this is what dictators do! This is what Hitler did.

One post that he circulated on Sunday singled out Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman who is a Republican critic of Mr. Trump’s, and called for her to be prosecuted by a type of military court reserved for enemy combatants and war criminals.

“Elizabeth Lynne Cheney is guilty of treason,” the post said. “Retruth if you want televised military tribunals.”

Trump is a vindictive egomaniac who want to wipe out his “enemies” this is really scary! And it is not just Ms. Cheney he is going after he has a whole hit list of foes…

A separate post included photos of 15 former and current elected officials that said,in all-capital letters, “they should be going to jail on Monday not Steve Bannon! ”Those officials included Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, Mr. Pence, Mr. Schumer and Mr. McConnell — the top leaders in the Senate — and Representative Nancy Pelosi, the former House speaker.

The list in the second post also had members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including Ms. Cheney and the former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, another Republican, and the Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff, Jamie Raskin, Pete Aguilar, Zoe Lofgrenand Bennie Thompson, who chaired the committee.

Trump has a long memory… like an elephant Trump never forgets! This is something that Kim Jong-un of North Korea would do… no wonder Trump called him a  a "great leader!"

One proposed jailing an extensive list of high-ranking officials, including Mr.Trump’s former vice president, the top Republican in the Senate and the current president and vice president. The other invoked the dictatorial imagery of at belevised military tribunal, which would strip Ms. Cheney of her right to due process similar to the military courts used to prosecute terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay.

Trump wants to turn Guantánamo Bay in to our own Soviet style gulag!

Did Trump back down? Nope. He doubled-down.

Trump amplifies posts calling for televised military tribunal for Liz Cheney

CNN

By Kate Sullivan

July 2, 2024

Former President Donald Trump amplified posts on social media calling for a televised military tribunal for former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and the jailing of top elected officials, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“ELIZABETH LYNNE CHENEY IS GUILTY OF TREASON,” one post created by another user that Trump amplified on his social media website Truth Social on Sunday reads. “RETRUTH IF YOU WANT TELEVISED MILITARY TRIBUNALS.”

Cheney responded on X, “Donald - This is the type of thing that demonstrates yet again that you are not a stable adult—and are not fit for office.”

A separate post Trump amplified on Truth Social Sunday includes photos of 15 former and current elected officials and says, “THEY SHOULD BE GOING TO JAIL ON MONDAY NOT STEVE BANNON!”

In addition to Biden and Harris, the post includes photos of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Vice President Mike Pence and members of the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

This is something a psychopath does. Ms. Cheney replied to Trumps rant...

Cheney fires back after Trump boosts post calling for her televised military tribunal

USA Today

By Maya Marchel Hoff

July 2, 2024

Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney is firing back at former President Donald Trump after the GOP frontrunner boosted a post on Truth Social calling for her “televised military tribunal.”

[...]

“Donald - This is the type of thing that demonstrates yet again that you are not a stable adult—and are not fit for office,” Cheney wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Before she lost a bid for re-election in 2022, Cheney served as vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee and was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump after the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

 And that was what got her on Trump's hit list!

I’ll vote for the man with Integrity, Honor, & Character and not the would-be-dictator. 

In The Running!

They are off and running!

And I do mean “they,” a non-binary athlete is in the Olympics this summer.

Transgender runner Nikki Hiltz is headed to the Paris Olympics
The nonbinary athlete punched their ticket to Paris after winning the 1500-meter race at Sunday's U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials.
NBC News
By Jo Yurcaba
July 2, 2024

Transgender and nonbinary middle-distance runner Nikki Hiltz ran the second fastest time ever of any American in the women’s 1500-meter race at the U.S. Olympic Trials Sunday, qualifying for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

Hiltz, who uses they/them pronouns, charged ahead of Elle St. Pierre and Emily Mackay in the final stretch of the race, finishing with a time of 3:55:33, a trials record. All of the top eight finishers set a new personal best time, according to OutSports. Paris will mark Hiltz’s Olympic debut.

In a post-race interview with NBC Sports, Hiltz, 29, said the race had significance beyond their personal accomplishment.

“This is bigger than just me. It’s the last day of Pride Month. ... I wanted to run this one for my community,” they said. “All the LGBT folks, yeah, you guys brought me home that last hundred [meters]. I could just feel the love and support.”

Do you want to read about what Fox News thinks?

Nikki Hiltz, a biological female who identifies as transgender non-binary, qualified for the U.S. Olympic team on Sunday after winning the women's 1,500-meter race at the trials over the weekend.

[…]

Hiltz also noted that it was the last day of Pride month.

Rather mild for Fox, but then again they were AFAB and they are running in the women’s race. So Fox doesn’t have anything to have a hissy-fit over.

 

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In other trans news... I just found this on Facebook, it is a month old but,

How does being transgender affect your personal and family finances?
CNN

By Bryan Mena

June 4, 2024

From extreme poverty to discrimination at the workplace, surveys and studies show that transgender people deal with a bevy of economic struggles.

A joint report from the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force found that transgender Americans were “nearly four times more likely to have a household income of less than $10,000/year compared to the general population.” The report, based on a survey of 6,450 respondents who identified as transgender or gender nonconforming, also found that unemployment is twice as high within the community and that “ninety percent of those surveyed reported experiencing harassment, mistreatment or discrimination.”

According to the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, “a transgender gender experience has been shown to be a unique and significant factor in economic, health, and experienced discrimination.”

I know many trans people who have to couch surf and are unemployed. Businesses are smart enough to not come out and say that they are not hiring trans people but the results are the same... no trans!

The article also has a reply box for those who want to talk about how they can't find jobs.

Yeah, I’ll Vote For Her.

I would have no problem voting for Michelle Obama for president.

As calls grow for Biden to drop out, new poll shows Michelle Obama would beat Trump
USA Today
By Sudiksha Kochi
July 4, 2024

 Former first lady Michelle Obama would beat former President Donald Trump in a hypothetical match-up, according to a new poll.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll, conducted between July 1 and July 2, found that 50% of registered voters surveyed would vote for Obama while 39% would vote for Trump if the presidential election were held today. Eleven percent of respondents said they wouldn’t vote, would vote for another candidate, or didn’t know.

Other hypothetical Democratic candidates in the list, such as California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker, would receive fewer votes than Trump in a hypothetical matchup, according to the poll.
You know, I bet she would win in a landslide. She would be a breath of fresh air,
Fifty-five percent of registered voters also said they have a favorable attitude toward Obama, compared to 42% toward Trump. The poll, conducted among 892 registered voters, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

However, is it doable?

 

 Some states have an early filing deadline for president.

What do you think?

Would you vote for Michelle Obama for president?

 

online polls

My Story Part 125 – Happy Fourth Of July!

Reprint from 2012

Many of you will be celebrating by attending picnics or fireworks displays. I’m doing both today, at three o’clock there is a friend’s cookout that I have attended ever since I was a teenager. We use to camp over at his parent’s house each year and we would start off the day with fireworks and end the day with fireworks, in between there was fireworks and a cookout. Not much has changed since then. We meet instead of his parent’s house at his house for a cookout and then at night to shoot off fireworks. He likes fireworks so much that he became a professional and does fireworks shows, once I helped him set up a show for a town’s bi-centennial celebration and I got to sit by him at the control panel when he shot off the fireworks.

There would be able 5 or 6 of us that use to camp-out the night before, I use to ride my bicycle down to his house and we never got to sleep that night from all the expectation of the next day. As we got older, we got bolder and the fireworks got bigger. This was the Vietnam War and several of my friends were in the Guards and one 4^th of July morning we set of a purple smoke bomb as the smoke drifted across the local pond as we played Jim Hendricks’s Purple Haze… it kind of was the talk of the town for a couple of days.

Another Fourth of July not too long after that, my friends brought back some artillery simulators from their 2 week training and we shot one off at a friend’s house and a few minutes later a police car pulled and he told us that the neighbors were complaining and to go someplace else to shoot off our fireworks (You have to realize that back then the size of the town was only around 5000 and everyone knew everyone in town. Also there were only 2 or 3 cops on duty at a time). So we headed over to another friend’s house and after a while we shot off another artillery simulator and up drives the same cop, he said that the neighbors are complaining here also, so why don’t we go out in the woods and shoot off our fireworks there. So once again we packed everything up and moved our picnic out in to the woods in a clearing. We were having a good time and my friend said watch this and threw another artillery simulator, but instead of going BOOM! It went pop… And Ah… Well… Um… I guess the statute of limitations has run out… we… um… set the woods on fire. The artillery simulator was a dud and it threw burning embers in a 20 foot diameter circle and I never knew fire could burn so fast; we didn’t ever have time to pack up the coolers. We fire spread almost as fast as we could run. That night at keg party where most of the volunteer fire department attended, the talk was about the fire on the mountain.

Now things are tamer, my friend’s children and their grandchildren are there, the adults sit around with their cool drinks and the kids play in the pool. Once in a while one of my friends will say, “Do you remember…” and they don’t even have to complete the sentence because we all know what they are going to say.

Happy 4th July!

From Clker.com

It is cookout time! It is the Fourth of July and time to fire up the grill and put the burgers on,

The grills around the neighbor will be fired up! 

Pleasant Valley Sunday (Sunday)

Charcoal burning everywhere

Rows of houses that are all the same

And no one seems to care

 I have no plans for the day other then cooking out on the Hibachi

The fireworks has begun down the street and around town and the dog are probably going nuts over the fireworks. Serval of the towns around will have fireworks but i no longer am interesting in them other then getting photos (The photo on the right is from the NH cottage friends were shooting them off on the dock). Fireworks are for young kids. Have you ever wounded why senior citizens don’t shoot off fireworks?

If you read the instructions of fireworks it says “Light fuse and retire quickly?”

Seniors have two problems with that, the first is that we don’t do anything “quickly” anymore and second “retire quickly” reminds us that it is time for our afternoon nap.

Weather permitting I am doing beef sirloin tips kabobs on the grill with potato salad and baked beans, what are you having? Are you going to a cookout and just chilling out?

On This 4th July

I give you the words of the 18^th President of the United States…

If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon's, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition, and ignorance on the other

Ulysses S. Grant

I asked you on this Fourth of July to think of where this country of ours is heading?

What candidate tried a coup?

What candidate threatened revolution if he lost?

What candidate threatened to court marshal his political opponents?

We are at a crossroads, will we go as 1930 Germany went? All will the people see the trap of voting for the convicted felon, the slick con artist?

History!

They say history repeats itself and it is becoming true. Have you heard of Project 2025?

Project 2025: A blueprint for the oppression of LGBTQ+ Americans
Far-right activists have put together a series of directives for the next conservative president. Here's what it would mean to the LGBTQ+ community.
The Advocate
By Trudy Ring
June 21, 2024

If you’re looking for yet another reason that Donald Trump shouldn’t be elected president again, we have two words for you: Project 2025.

You’ve probably been hearing these words, but you may be sketchy on what they mean. We’re here to fill you in on the details thanks to a report by Accountable.US.
What is Project 2025?

Basically, Project 2025 is a blueprint of what far-right activists want from the next conservative president — and Trump is the conservative who’s running. It includes plans to fire as many as 50,000 career federal employees and replace them with people who have unquestionable loyalty to the president; restrict access to contraception; possibly implement a national abortion ban; cut federal health care programs; and much more, designed to make the U.S. an authoritarian nation. And LGBTQ+ people are directly in its crosshairs.

“Project 2025 couldn’t make its anti-LGBTQ+ agenda any more clear. With far-right extremists at the helm, the project is a power grab by conservatives attempting to turn back the clock on hard-fought progress and fundamental rights,” Accountable.US President Caroline Ciccone said in a statement to The Advocate. “Project 2025 doesn’t just pose an existential threat to our democracy but seriously threatens the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ communities across the country.”

The clock has been set back to 1950s, to the land of Father Knows Best, where the wife is barefoot in the kitchen, and pregnant! It was illegal for us to step out the door and the government looked into our bedrooms.

My friend Stana had a comment on her blog about the history in the fifties…

Before Equal Protection: The Fall of Cross-Dressing Bans and the Transgender Legal Movement, 1963–86
Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2023

Abstract

Scholars are still unsure why American cities passed cross-dressing bans over the closing decades of the nineteenth century. By the 1960s, cities in every region of the United States had cross-dressing regulations, from major metropolitan centers to small cities and towns. They were used to criminalize gender non-conformity in many forms - for feminists, countercultural hippies, cross-dressers (or “transvestites”), and people we would now consider transgender. Starting in the late 1960s, however, criminal defendants began to topple cross-dressing bans.

There were many raids on bars where crossdressers hung out pre-Stonewall. Including the most famous uprising at Compton Cafeteria,

Narratives attached to events in LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) history like the Stonewall riots and other uprisings often de-emphasize the work of transgender people, particularly transgender people of color, in the fight for LGBTQIA rights. Within California, however, the role of transgender women, particularly those of color have thankfully been acknowledged in one of the watershed events in LGBTQIA history, the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot.

Before Equal Protection goes on to tell of a story of…

In the early afternoon of March 24, 1964, John Miller was approaching his home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He had just crossed the intersection of West End Avenue and Ninety-First Street when a police officer stopped him and asked his name. When he replied “Joan Miller,” he was taken into custody. Miller, later described by The New York Times as a “tall, burly man of 58,” was a father with a military record. He was also a transvestite, or cross-dresser, which meant that he enjoyed dressing as a woman. His crime was violation of Section 887(7) of New York State's vagrancy law, by then over a century old, which made it illegal to appear in public with one's “face painted, discolored or concealed, or being otherwise disguised, in a manner calculated to prevent. . . being identified.” While the law did not explicitly reference clothing, police often used it to punish cross-dressing, and courts usually accepted that interpretation. Most of the time, people arrested under such laws did not mount expensive legal defenses, and those who did rarely appealed past the trial court level.

That is what we had to face going out in public so we kept to sleazy bars. Before the Connecticut law you could find crossdressers in bars in Hartford on Maple Ave. and Wethersfield Ave. We didn’t have a law but we had a ruling by the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) GLAD writes...

Attorney Goldberg successfully petitioned the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) to issue the Doe Declaratory Ruling which determined, in 2000, that Connecticut’s non-discrimination laws protect individuals from discrimination based on gender identity and expression.

She had client referred to by another lawyer in the firm and attorney Rachel Goldberg asked the CHRO a simple question: Are trans people covered by existing laws?"

Doe seeks a ruling from the CHRO that the statutory prohibitions against discrimination on the basis of sex encompass discrimination based upon a person’s apparent gender, specifically discrimination against transsexual individuals. Doe requests that the CHRO find such prohibitions in CONN. GEN. STAT. ' '  46a-60(a)(1), 46a-64(a)(1), 46a-64c(a)(1) and 46a-66(a).

And the answer was a lot more than she hoped for. They included not just transsexuals but also all trans people!

In 2011 that ruling was codified in PA11-55 AN ACT CONCERNING DISCRIMINATION.

But that was in 2011 and before that crossdressing was still illegal in Connecticut because as the lawyers from the CHRO like to say… That is only our opinion. It takes a court to crave it in stone (But with the current Supreme Court nothing is carved in stone.)

The Cambridge article goes on to say...

Laws banning cross-dressing were ubiquitous in urban America by the middle of the twentieth century. Most were more explicit than New York's Section 887(7), like the law in Columbus, Ohio, which criminalized any person who “shall appear upon any public street or other public place . . . in a dress not belonging to his or her sex.”Footnote 10 Starting in the late 1960s, however, criminal defendants began to successfully undermine cross-dressing bans in a range of cities, from New York and Los Angeles to Toledo and Champaign-Urbana.Footnote 11 Hoping to challenge their arrests, these defendants argued that anti-cross-dressing laws were facially unconstitutional, or unconstitutional as applied to them. As their successes mounted, gender outlaws began to bring civil lawsuits against cities to enjoin them from enforcing their anti-cross-dressing ordinances, marking a shift from the defensive posture of the criminal defendant to the offensive posture of the civil litigant. By 1980, criminal defendants had successfully challenged cross-dressing arrests in at least sixteen cities, introducing many courts to transvestite and transsexual people in the process.

Jacobin writes about the drag ban in Tennessee,

During the second half of the nineteenth century, multiple cities across the United States passed laws against public cross-dressing. The first appeared in St Louis, Missouri in 1843, followed by Columbus, Ohio in 1848 and Nashville, Tennessee in 1850. Over forty US cities passed similar laws before the end of the nineteenth century, and by the 1920s nineteen additional cities had adopted cross-dressing laws of their own.

Most anti-cross-dressing laws banned public appearance in “a dress not belonging to his or her sex” or “wearing the apparel of the other sex,” although some towns and cities passed laws against “indecent dress” or the wearing of “disguises” instead. Anti-cross-dressing laws were typically passed as part of broader anti-vice campaigns that also targeted prostitution, vagrancy, public drunkenness, and disorderly conduct. San Francisco’s 1863 law was typical of the time, outlawing cross-dressing as one manifestation of the broader offense of indecency, alongside public nudity, indecent exposure, lewd acts, and immoral performances.

[…]

Anti-cross-dressing laws were the exclusive province of local governments, and no state or federal legislature directly outlawed this type of dress. Several states did, however, pass anti-disguise or masquerade laws that encompassed cross-dressing when enforced. In 1845, for example, New York’s state legislature passed an anti-disguise law that made it a crime to appear in public with a painted face or when wearing a disguise designed to prevent identification. Passed in response to rural workers who wore women’s dresses and masks while participating in anti-rent protests, the law was later used to criminalize a wide range of cross-dressing practices.

But you have to realize that a President of the United States defended a crossdresser. What you say? You probably never heard of the court case Gray vs. Pitts, Assault and Battery, it was a little before your time… in 1771 hired lawyer John Quincy Adams, you might know the name he was the sixth president of the US.

In 1771, Lendall Pitts physically assaulted John Gray outside a barbershop in Boston. Pitts had initially been attracted to Gray, mistaking him for a woman due to Gray's appearance and dress. Upon realizing Gray was male, Pitts struck him in the scalp with a walking stick, causing a wound. Gray decided to press charges against Pitts for assault and battery. The case was first heard in the Suffolk Inferior Court in July 1771, where Gray sued Pitts for £300. John Adams served as the attorney for Pitts, while Josiah Quincy Jr. represented Gray

Wait a minute are you telling me that this was the first case of “Trans Bashing”?

So now we are back again with the Republicans wanting to make us illegal again! They want to keep us off the streets, they want to must us criminals.

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Update: July 4th @ 6:00AM

USA Today wrote about a congressional hearing on Project 2025

Project 2025 head says 'second American Revolution' will be 'bloodless if the left allows'

By Rachel Barber

July 3, 2024

The president of The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, said the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling is encouraging and that the group, known for Project 2025, is already in the process of “taking the country back.”

“We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be,” Kevin Roberts said in an interview on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast on Tuesday.

The Supreme Court granted former President Donald Trump limited immunity from prosecution for official acts in the ruling that split the justices 6-3 along ideological lines. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the ruling dangerously expands the chief executive’s power and makes presidents “a king above the law.”

I would like to point out that the Supreme Court did not grant total immunity but only for "official acts" as president... staging a coup is not an "official act" of a president. Fudging the company books are not an "official act" of a president.

James Singer, a spokesperson for the Biden-Harris 2024 campaign, responded in a statement drawing attention to the Fourth of July.

“248 years ago tomorrow, America declared independence from a tyrannical king, and now Donald Trump and his allies want to make him one at our expense,” Singer said. “they are dreaming of a violent revolution to destroy the very idea of America.”

In a statement to USA TODAY Wednesday afternoon, Roberts alleged that it is organized groups on the left that “have the capacity to carry out violent riots.”

“Americans in 2024 are in the process of carrying out the Second American Revolution to take power back from the elites and despotic bureaucrats,” Roberts said. “These patriots are committed to peaceful revolution at the ballot box.”

This election is going to hinge on who can "get out the vote" you can't sit this one out!

Would You Vote For A Racist?

Many people would, many people in the far-right are White Nationalist.

While the media was in a feeding frenzy over President Biden they let Trump get away with racism.

Ali: Racism and bigotry get a pass in 2024 as Trump talk that once shocked is normalized

The Los Angeles Times
By Lorraine Ali
June 28, 2024


President Biden has “become like a Palestinian.” The comment from former President Trump at Thursday’s debate in Atlanta was meant to be an insult aimed at his opponent’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Despite the implicit bigotry of the barb, Trump’s vilification of an entire people in the form of a crude jab barely made the news.

There is plenty of analysis coming out of the 90-minute live debate — Biden’s terrible performance, Trump’s fountain of lies — but what I find most heartbreaking is the quiet acceptance of casual racism as part of our political discourse.

The former president’s bigoted rhetoric onstage last night doesn’t even qualify as a minor talking point in today’s discussions about the CNN telecast.

But the media gave Trump a “bye” on his racist comments because they were so focused on giving it to Biden.

Omarosa slams Donald Trump's 'Black jobs' debate comments, compares remarks to 'slavery'
USA TODAY
By Jay Stahl
June 29, 2024

Omarosa Manigault Newman is criticizing former boss Donald Trump for his "Black jobs" comment at this week's debate.

Trump’s remarks arrived as he slammed President Joe Biden on the hot-button issue of immigration. The former president argued that “the millions of people he's allowed to come in through the border, they're taking Black jobs.”

But in an interview with TMZ about Trump's remarks, Newman asked, "What is a Black job? I don't know where he got that from unless he's taking it all the way back to slavery because you know the only 100% Black job in this country was back during slavery time."

[…]

“Yes, I will acknowledge many of the exchanges, particularly in the last six months, have been racially charged,” she said. “Do we then just stop and label him as a racist? No.”'

Why has not media not been calling out Trump racists remarks?

His ardent followers all know that he uses code words for racist…

Trump criticized for 'Palestinian' insult in debate with Biden
Reuters
By Kanishka Singh
June 28, 2024

Human rights advocates on Friday condemned former President Donald Trump's references to Palestinians, and immigrants allegedly taking Black American jobs, during Thursday's debate with President Joe Biden, calling the remarks racist or insulting.

Biden and Trump had a brief exchange on the war in Gaza but did not have a substantive discussion on how to end the conflict which has killed 38,000 in the enclave, according to the Gaza health ministry, and caused a massive humanitarian crisis with widespread hunger.

[…]

"The only one who wants the war to continue is Hamas," Biden said. Trump responded by saying Biden has "become like a Palestinian," which rights advocates said came across as a slur.

"Actually, Israel is the one (that wants to keep going), and you should let them go and let them finish the job. He (Biden) doesn’t want to do it. He's become like a Palestinian but they don't like him because he's a very bad Palestinian. He's a weak one," Trump said.

Trump has been using “code words” for racist for years, and in the past he has been called out… but not at the debate, no one called him out on his racism.

What A Can Of Worms!

The Supreme Court just created a nightmare for the courts, I foresee thousand of never ending court cases.

Supreme Court lets a truck stop sue the Federal Reserve in latest threat to agency regulations
AP News
By John Fritze, CNN
July 1, 2024

The Supreme Court on Monday revived a lawsuit by a North Dakota truck stop that is challenging the fees banks can charge for debit-card transactions in a ruling that could have deeper implications for other government regulations.

The decision was the latest from the Supreme Court this term that would make it easier for industries to challenge what conservative critics describe as the “administrative state.”

“Today’s ruling is especially significant in light of Friday’s decision overruling Chevron, because it means that even old agency rules can be challenged anew so long as they produce any contemporary harm,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

“In other words, even understandings of agency authority that are a half-century old can now be challenged on the ground that some recent agency action, however minor, has injured a plaintiff, ” Vladeck added. “Given how much Friday’s ruling in Loper Bright destabilizes administrative law, today’s ruling applies that destabilization retroactively.”

Do you know how many federal regulations there are? There are millions. When I was working I had to know everything about 10CFR do you know how many there are? I don’t but I know that there ae volumes, and volumes of them and that is just one agency. Now each and everyone one of them can be challenged in court… not just once but over and over again.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson blasted the decision in her dissent.

“The flawed reasoning and far-reaching results of the Court’s ruling in this case are staggering,” Jackson wrote.

“The majority refuses to accept the straightforward, commonsense, and singularly plausible reading of the limitations statute that Congress wrote. In doing so, the Court wreaks havoc on Government agencies, businesses, and society at large,” she added. “At the end of a momentous Term, this much is clear: The tsunami of lawsuits against agencies that the Court’s holdings in this case and Loper Bright have authorized has the potential to devastate the functioning of the Federal Government.”

Congress passed off the development of regulations to agencies because they knew that Congress will bogged down passing laws on what type of paint can be used. For each new type of paint that is developed Congress will have to vote on it.

And all this leads to the Republican goal of doing away with regulatory agencies.

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In another Supreme Court case is now seeing results, in the case of presidential immunity.

Trump asks for hush money conviction to be overturned

BBC News

By Jaroslav Lukiv, 

July 2, 2024

Donald Trump's lawyers have asked for the former US president's conviction in his hush money criminal case to be set aside and his sentencing this month delayed, American media report.

A letter sent by Trump's lawyers to the New York judge presiding over the trial reportedly cites Monday's Supreme Court ruling that granted the former president immunity from prosecution for official actions he took while in office.

In May, Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records. He will be sentenced on 11 July.

He signed off the records during his White House tenure in 2017, which his lawyers say should be taken into account.

Last year lawyers similarly argued that the allegations in the case involved official acts within the colour of his presidential duties.

Gee, I never knew paying off a stripper was part of the president's duties?

However, a federal judge wrote that Trump had failed to show that his conduct was "for or relating to any act performed by or for the President under [colour] of the official acts of a president".

Trump throws legal sh*t and sees what sticks.

Trump's lawyers sent the letter to New York Judge Juan Merchan on Monday, US media report.

The lawyers argue that the Supreme Court’s latest decision confirmed the defence position in the New York case that some prosecution evidence should not have been allowed because this constituted official presidential acts.

Call me dense but I just don't see how fudging the corporate books comes under the job description of a president.

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Update: 4:00 PM

It has already started...

Trump sentencing in hush money case is postponed until September after Supreme Court immunity ruling

CNN

By Paula Reid, Lauren del Valle, Kara Scannell and Jeremy Herb

July 2, 2024

Donald Trump will not be sentenced on his business fraud conviction until September, a New York judge ruled Tuesday in the wake of Monday’s Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity.

The delay in sentencing means that the former president is likely to escape any concrete punishment for his felony conviction during the summer, at the same time that Trump’s election bid has been boosted by President Joe Biden’s debate flop that has Democrats wondering whether to replace their nominee.

[...]

The announcement underscores the far-reaching implications of Monday’s Supreme Court ruling, in which the court’s conservative wing found that presidents have absolute immunity for “core” presidential duties.

It also throws other cases into doubt.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday agreed the sentencing should be delayed.

“Although we believe defendant’s arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file and his putative request to adjourn sentencing pending determination of his motion. We respectfully request a deadline of July 24, 2024—two weeks after defendant’s requested deadline—to file and serve a response,” the DA said in a letter Tuesday.

The former president’s lawyers argued that the ruling confirmed their position that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should not have been allowed to offer evidence at the trial regarding Trump’s “official acts” and, as a result, the jury’s guilty verdict should be set aside.

So he is saying that because they used tainted evidence the case should be thrown out. I don't buy that that the very least there should be a new trial. However, I don't think they need a new trial after all this case was about fudging the books, not what he did as president.  

More Bad News From The Republicans… They Are Trying To Pass Another Anti-Trans Law

This time the Ohio legislature has passed another draconian law.

“Absurd and unnecessary,” Transgender Ohioans, allies react to House passage of bathroom ban bill
The bill would require Ohio K-12 schools and colleges to mandate that students would only be able to use the bathroom or locker room that matches up with their gender assigned at birth.
Ohio Capitol Journal
By: Megan Henry
June 28, 2024

Transgender Ohioans and allies are outraged the Ohio House passed a bathroom ban bill at the 11th hour of a marathon session Wednesday night before going on summer break.

The bill would require Ohio K-12 schools and universities to mandate that students only be able to use the bathroom or locker room that matches their gender assigned at birth.

“Hate mongers in Columbus want to see trans and gender nonconforming Ohioans stripped of their right to exist in public spaces. They can make our lives harder, but they can’t make us not a part of this state,” TransOhio Executive Director Dara Adkison said in a statement.

Sam Shim, the parent of two transgender high school students, said his biggest concern with the bathroom ban bill is how lawmakers don’t seem to be focused on students.

“It seems like it’s a political stunt designed to help with their messaging when they go back out on the campaign trail,” Shim said. “My kids should be able to go to the bathroom without worrying about being accosted.”

Let see, what little thing did the legislature overlook? Oh I know a Supreme Court case… a minor little detail.

Honesty for Ohio Education said this bill would harm transgender students and families.

“We are deeply disturbed that extremists in the state legislature prioritized the passing of this transphobic and hateful legislation over anything that would help Ohioans,” Christina Collins, Executive Director at Honesty For Ohio Education, said in a statement.

[…]

“We have school districts that can’t afford busses or find teachers, colleges that are losing students and closing their doors, and over 505,000 Ohio children going hungry every day,” Trans Allies of Ohio said in a statement. “But attacking less than 1% of the population has become a priority.”

Ah yes, that is their goal, get everyone riled up over us while stacking the courts with far-right Christian judges and converting us to a Christian Nation!

I’ll vote for the man with Integrity, Honor, & Character

They Are Getting Bolder!

They accost you in the checkout line, they accost you in elevators, they accost you while you cross the road, they accost you when you least expect it, and they accost you in the hotel lobby…

Drag queen speaks out after anti-drag tirade at Hawaii hotel caught on video
"This is misogyny," a hotel guest can be heard saying in the video.
ABC News
By Kiara Alfonseca
June 29, 2024

Drag queen Marina Del Rey is speaking out after a video went viral of a woman yelling at her and other drag performers in a hotel lobby during Pride month.

"'It went from a point of view to an attack," said Del Rey in an interview with ABC News.

Del Rey said several drag queens were taking part in a promotional video for the ‘Alohilani Resort Waikiki Beach on June 23. They were dressed up as staff members, acting out different roles in the hotels' operations when Del Rey said a woman approached them.

Del Rey said the woman began recording them and yelling that she was against drag and that she did not want her children to see them. Del Rey was shaken by the incident.

"This is misogyny," she can be heard saying in the video, which was reviewed by ABC News. "I am not going to have my children come down from the 30th floor and see what's happening here."

From what I read everyone was just walking through the lobby when this lady has puppies. Totally freaks out, then she says…

She questioned what would happen if her son saw the drag queens and thought "that he can put on makeup and put on fancy clothing and high heels." She continued to make claims about the drag queens that have been criticized as offensive.

Whoa! I know what my reply would have been to "that he can put on makeup and put on fancy clothing and high heels." I would have said… “Go for it!”

She instead claims that the drag queens were harassing her because of the way they were dressed.

"I did not think drag queens should be in a space that's being used by children at the hotel lobby," said Bourne, who is also chair of the Yolo County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative political organization. She said she was not speaking on behalf of the organization at the time. "I was a paying customer, and I didn't believe that we should have this. To me, it's an adult entertainment that's very sexual."

Lady, I am sorry you feel that way, but they are fully clothed, what happens when you take your son to the beach with all the "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" out there on the beach, do you put blinders on him?

"If you see something that doesn't seem right and isn't safe, you should say something," she told ABC News.

However, one, it is safe no one was getting hurt, there was no nudity, there was no obscene language so lady what wasn’t right? The only thing not right that I see in the video is a woman screaming and yelling at a person who was just minding their own business. Just because you don’t like something you do go and harass people. I don’t like opera, does that give me a right to go an accost people?

Also consider…

Del Rey said it was unusual to be confronted over drag in an "aggressive" manner because of the deep-rooted "mahu" community -- a term encapsulating the gender and queer spectrum, but originally refers to the third gender in Polynesian culture.

So once again an indigenous people's culture come under attack from the Judeo-Christian cultrue is trying to force it on the native population.

 “The video was upsetting, no question. I am proud of the performers from Hawai‘i’s LGBTQIA+ community who maintained their dignity and integrity in the face of such a hostile attack,” said Green in a statement. “This type of behavior is unacceptable. It is not aloha and we will not tolerate it from anyone."

I have been to many drag performances including the coronation of the Empresses and Emperor, I never saw anything that was obscene or vulgar or any nudity. All they did was lip-sync to songs or do improv. For me it i just not my cup of tea... Now the Gay Men's Choir I liked, the gave a good show the time I saw them.

 

He gave an excellent interview...

 

In another interview on Hawaii News Now reported,

Bourne is back home in California and makes no apologies for her actions. “My feeling about the drag performers were not that the hotel was hosting them or filming them, but they were choosing to do it in a space that was being used by families, children, in a space that you wouldn’t be able to avoid,” said Bourne.

So she thinks we only belong in closets or some sleazy bar! Well lady we have our rights also!

The Constitution… What’s That? Part II

Since I wrote part I more articles have come out and this one shows that Louisianan is very vulnerable.

Ten Commandments. Multiple variations. Why the Louisiana law raises preferential treatment concerns
AP News
By  HOLLY MEYER and PETER SMITH
June 29, 2024

Christians and Jews believe in the Ten Commandments — just not necessarily the version that will hang in every public school and state-funded college classroom in Louisiana.

The required text prescribed in the new law and used on many monuments around the United States is a condensed version of the Scripture passage in Exodus containing the commandments. It has ties to “The Ten Commandments” movie from 1956, and it’s a variation of a version commonly associated with Protestants.

That’s one of the issues related to religious freedom and separation of church and state being raised over this mandate, which was swiftly followed by a lawsuit.

“H.B. 71 is not neutral with respect to religion,” according to the legal complaint filed June 24 by Louisiana clergy, public school parents and civil liberties groups. “It requires a specific, state-approved version of that scripture to be posted, taking sides on theological questions regarding the correct content and meaning of the Decalogue.”

Now the First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” besides in itself violating the First Amendment, it actually established a Christian religion and that of specific religion sect. You see the Republicans made a big, big error in not just requiring the Ten Commandments but the includes the version that they have to use.

Louisiana Just Put The Ten Commandments In Every Classroom. Here’s The Other Danger With That Law
I look at K-12 policies and practices from the classroom perspective.
Forbes
By Peter Greene
June 29, 2024

Louisiana just passed a law to require classrooms to display the Ten Commandments, and critics have already raised the alarm about the violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Civil Liberties groups are already challenging the law.

Many critics have pointed out the irony of a legislature that has worked hard to end indoctrination in classroom seems intent on installing some indoctrination of their own.

But there’s another troubling layer to this that highlights the danger of eliminating the wall between church and state.

When you mix religion and politics, the old saw goes, you get politics.

You see...

The Old Testament provides three distinct versions of the commandments. But the law lays out exactly what version of the Ten Commandments is to appear in each classroom.

And by requiring a specific version of the Ten Commandments they chose a specific religion (As if requiring the Ten Commandments wasn’t bad enough.). It is "Déjà vu all over again!"

If you’re thinking that this was already settled, it was. The Supreme Court struck down a similar law in Kentucky in 1980. But this time, proponents may expect a different result, citing a new set of precedents in the law itself.

The Supreme Court has changed since 1980, but so have many of the players in these issues. In addition to the lawsuits, expect other religious groups to insist their own scripture be represented. Expect the Satanic Temple to demand a piece of the action.

And that is what they are actually hoping for, the Supreme Court to overturn 40 years of precedents.

 

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Update 11:15AM

 

BREAKING NEWS...

Supreme Court says presidents have ‘absolute’ immunity for clearly official acts but no immunity for unofficial acts

Washington Post

 The Supreme Court says presidents have “absolute” immunity for clearly official acts, but no immunity for unofficial acts. Former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump faces four federal felony counts in D.C. for allegedly trying to undo Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. The high court’s 6-3 ruling sends the case back to the lower court to determine when and whether Trump will go to trial. 

From what I read this verdict was expected.

Fox News take on this...

Trump immunity case: Supreme Court rules ex-presidents have substantial protection from prosecution
The issue before the Supreme Court stemmed from Special Counsel Jack Smith's election interference case against former President Trump

The Supreme Court ruled Monday in Trump v. United States that a former president has substantial immunity from prosecution for official acts committed while in office, but not for unofficial acts.

In a 6-3 decision, the Court sent the matter back down to a lower court, as the justices did not apply the ruling to whether or not former President Trump is immune from prosecution regarding actions related to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

"The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.

"The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution. And the system of separated powers designed by the Framers has always demanded an energetic, independent Executive," he said.

President Biden responds as reported in the Guardian...

The Biden campaign has responded to the supreme court’s ruling related to the presidential immunity.

In a statement, a senior Biden campaign adviser said:

Today’s ruling doesn’t change the facts, so let’s be very clear about what happened on January 6: Donald Trump snapped after he lost the 2020 election and encouraged a mob to overthrow the results of a free and fair election. Trump is already running for president as a convicted felon for the very same reason he sat idly by while the mob violently attacked the Capitol: he thinks he’s above the law and is willing to do anything to gain and hold onto power for himself.

Since January 6, Trump has only grown more unhinged. He’s promising to be a dictator ‘on day one,’ calling for our Constitution to be ‘terminated’ so he can regain power, and promising a “bloodbath” if he loses. The American people already rejected Donald Trump’s self-obsessed quest for power once – Joe Biden will make sure they reject it for good in November.