Saturday 9: Tunnel of Love

Saturday 9: Tunnel of Love (1958)

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

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

1) In this week's song, Doris Day tries to convince her lover to share a kiss in the Tunnel of Love. What's your favorite amusement park ride?

I don’t have one, the last amusement ride that I was on was a disaster. The Wildcat, it was like a roller coaster but with sharp corners… threw my back out and threw my classes off (I found them when they stopped the ride so they could find my glasses but my back wasn’t so luck it hurt for weeks. 

2) In the 1950s, when Doris recorded this song, Tunnel of Love rides were popular in the US. Couples would climb into small boats that only seat two and float through a dark tunnel, accompanied by romantic music. Today less than 100 of these rides still exist. Have you ever taken a ride through the Tunnel of Love?

Nope.

3) This week's featured artist, Doris Day, made approximately 40 films and a TV series. She said one of her favorite things about being an actress was the clothes. She loved collaborating with the experts who created her wardrobe. Her contemporary, Betty Grable, found all the fittings boring and just let the wardrobe department do their job without offering much input. Imagine you are a performer: Would you be more like Doris or Betty?

Betty, I’ll let the pros do their job.

Some factoids about me:

1) I was in a commercial for a non-profit once.

2) When I was interviewed once they had a professional markup artist on the set. At first is was going to pass on having my face done… then I remember the Kennedy Nixon debates and I had my face touched up.

3) I watched them making It Happened to Jane movie with Doris Day and Jack Lemmon.

4) There was persistent rumor that, after Doris appeared on Bob Hope's radio show, the two had an affair. She always denied it. Have you ever been the subject of workplace gossip?

Oh yes, the day that I was laid off from work one of my technicians that I had worked with for close to 30 years couldn’t wait to spill the beans about me being trans.

5) Doris never liked to fly and her fear increased as she got older. After she retired, she refused to fly at all. This caused her to decline lifetime achievement awards and other events in her honor. Have you more recently extended, accepted or declined an invitation?

Yes, because of my back.

6) After show biz, Doris devoted herself animal welfare. She used to say that we should be more sensitive to the loneliness and sadness people feel when they lose a pet. Think of a time when you were grieving. What words or gestures helped you get through the difficult time?

No.

7) In 1958, when this song was on the Billboard chart, "The Purple People Eater" was also popular. It's a silly song about a creature from another planet. Have you ever seen a UFO (unidentified flying object)?

Nope. When we had a cottage in New Hampshire the state road near the cottage was written up in a newspaper about seeing UFOs (I think they were just yanking the reporters chain.)

8) Also in 1958, Americans were watching 77 Sunset Strip. The show revolved around the LA-based private investigators whose office was at that address. Who is your favorite TV PI?

Paul Drake.

9) Random question -- In the 1950s, stewardesses used to famously ask passengers, "Coffee, tea, or milk?" If asked that right now, which of these three beverages would you prefer?

If they had decaf then tea otherwise milk.

I am on a new kick: Pasteurized but non-homogenized milk. You know the type with the cream on top, like what used to be delivered on your back porch. It taste so much more richer and creamier.

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!

Is The Head Dead Yet?

I make my livin' off the evenin' news
Just give me somethin', somethin' I can use
People love it when you lose
They love dirty laundry
Dirty Laundry – Don Henley

I watch a lot of evening news and you can help wondering about their “Breaking News” stories are always about shootings first thing. Think about it, the news never carries good events at the beginning of the news… murders, robberies, earthquakes, disaters they are always on the top of the news, why? Because they sell ads.

Americans fear crime despite downward trends
With crime down, why do many Americans believe it's going up? Researchers say there are many reasons for the disconnect.
Scripps News Service
By: Clayton Sandell
May 13, 2024

Crime: It's one of those subjects that always seems to be a top priority for Americans and the candidates who want their votes.

"We've invested a record amount in public safety, violence interruption, and we've also done much work to make communities safer," said President Joe Biden earlier this month in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Crime stories often play big in the news, and a growing number of Americans — 58% — say reducing crime should be a top priority for the president and Congress, according to the Pew Research Center.

But what is actually happening in America when it comes to crime? According to a Pew analysis of FBI data, violent crimes, including robbery, assault and murder are down by 49% from 1993 to 2022.

There have been a rash of car thefts in town and guess who gets blamed for the rise in the car thefts? The Democrats.

Does it matter that there has been a big drop in crimes… Nope. Does it matter that major car manufacturers have cars that are easily hot wired… Nope. Does it matter that the majority of car thefts had their keys in them and were unlocked… Nope.

The Republican’s “Lock ‘em up and thhow away the key approach.” doesn’t work but it resonates with the voters.

With crime down, why do many Americans believe it's going up? Researchers say there are many reasons for the disconnect, from high-profile news stories, politicians who make crime a constant talking point on the campaign trail and even social media keeping track of what we read.

"Algorithms are such that if you've clicked on a few crime stories, you may see more crime stories in your feed," said Gramlich. "And so that could be some reason why people think there's more crime."

Yup! I clicked on one story about the Adirondack park and guess what my news feeds are packed with stories about the Adirondack park, the online news is an echo chamber.

The other thing about crime that it mainly happens where most people don’t go. A shootout at a private party, or a late night bar, or buying drugs, or most often with a family argument.

We got the bubble-headed bleached-blonde, comes on at five
She can tell you 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye
It's interesting when people die
Give us dirty laundry

Then there are the guns… most of the guns used in crimes here in Connecticut come from states with the fewest guns laws. Joslyn Law Firm writes,

Consider the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data on homicides involving firearms. California, a state with notoriously strict gun control laws, has a firearm homicide rate of 3.5 per 100,000 people. On the other hand, gun-friendly Mississippi’s firearm homicide rate is nearly three times that, 10.2 per 100,000 people. While many factors may impact why one state has a higher homicide rate than another, it’s hard to deny that gun violence in America needs to be addressed.

But the Republicans and the gun manufacturers have brainwashed the voters into thinking the more guns the safer you are.

You don't really need to find out what's goin' on
You don't really wanna know just how far it's gone
Just leave well enough alone
Eat your dirty laundry

A Pilgrimage.

Religion and cults sometimes require a pilgrimage to high holy places, the followers of “The Trump” are no different. Many of their Republicans made a pilgrimage to the Big Apple to visit their exalted leader in court.

At least 9 GOP lawmakers are at Trump trial, which could be a problem for Republicans
The Hill
BY REBECCA BEITSCH AND ZACH SCHONFELD
May 16, 2024

At least nine Republican lawmakers traveled to New York to appear in court alongside former President Trump on Thursday, the latest in a string of GOP lawmakers to attend the hush money trial.

The move could jeopardize GOP attendance at a key vote later in the day and also comes after the House Oversight and Accountability Committee bumped a scheduled hearing to facilitate their attendance at court.

Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Andy Biggs (Ariz.), Mike Waltz (Fla.) and Eli Crane (Ariz.) were spotted in the courtroom, while Reps. Andy Ogles (Tenn.) Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (Va.) were also spotted at the Manhattan courthouse.

Of course the closer you get to the exalted leader the more prestige one has.

Boebert and Gaetz were spotted sitting in the first row of the gallery, next to Eric Trump and the former president’s Secret Service agents. Good was also seen seated in the first row, on the other side of Trump’s security detail.

Five additional lawmakers are seated in the second row, which is also reserved for Trump’s guests.

Others hope to be anointed and receive his blessing for VP.

Other GOP lawmakers — including Reps. Byron Donalds (Fla.), Nicole Malliotakis (N.Y.) and Cory Mills (Fla.) and Sens. JD Vance (Ohio) and Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) — made the trip to the Manhattan courthouse this week, in addition to Republicans who have been floated as potential Trump running mates, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Vivek Ramaswamy.

Like coy debutantes they line up for exalted leader blessing.

 

The party of "Law and Order" condemns the legal system, AP News writes,

Johnson, who is second in line for the presidency, called the court system “corrupt.”

Outside the New York courthouse, he decried “this ridiculous prosecution that is not about justice.” He said, “It’s all about politics.”

The speaker is leading a growing list of Republican lawmakers who are criticizing the American judicial system as they rally to Trump’s side, appearing at the courthouse to defend the party’s presumptive presidential nominee. Trump is accused of having arranged secret payments to a porn actress to hide negative stories during his successful 2016 campaign for president.

It seems like the Republicans does not trust the legal system unless it rules in their favor.

---

Updated May 17, 2024 @ 8:00PM

The Hill…

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said he was flabbergasted that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) made an appearance at former President Trump’s hush money trial in New York this week, slamming House Republicans who showed up as greedy for power.

Schiff was asked by MSNBC’s Alex Wagner on Thursday evening about his thoughts on the gaggle of Republican lawmakers who traveled to Manhattan to support the former president as he sits in court.

“I have so many thoughts and let me start with the Speaker because, I have to say, I was flabbergasted that he would go and make that pilgrimage, stand outside that courthouse and lie about what was going on inside the building,” Schiff said.

[…]

He went a step further, saying no one in the House Republican conference has “any real commitment” to the Constitution or a system of justice.

“It’s all about keeping power, gaining power, and no debasement too great before … their supreme leader,” Schiff said.

Another Form Of Pollution

I remember the brown snog over Hartford when I worked summer jobs during high school and college but there is another form of pollution that we have done nothing about… noise pollution.
 

It is there all the time in the background, the constant humming or droning.
 

I live with tinnitus but this is not the same, this comes from our environment we created. The hum of electrical motors, the rush of fans, the hum of tires, the roar of engines. It is constantly there, droning on and on. You only notice it when you are at places on the edge of civilization, the North Woods, or 60 miles from the mainland.
 

Back home, I am about 5 miles from the interstate highway but at night I can hear the hum. I can hear the motorcycles on the Turnpike. I can hear the trains chugging up the grade from New Have. I can hear the radio in the car coming from Meriden, the bass track precedes the car by miles… Thump, thump, boom…  

 

It is a symphony of sounds.
 

Out here on the Cape there is a quite time, when I wake up in the middle of the night I wake up to the sounds of waves pounding on the shore, to owls hooting, and coyotes howling.

The Potty Police

Thought police
They will put you under
The thought police
They will take you in
The thought police
They will clean your mind out
The thought police
You can never win
You can never win
You can never, never, never, never, never win
The Thought Police - Lisa Stansfield

The potty police is out to get you, they are coming for you, they will find you wherever you go, you can never escape.

‘Are you the bathroom monitor?’ Auditor Dougall films attack of trans bathroom bill in the john
John Dougall, Utah’s state auditor and candidate for U.S. Congress, criticizes the sponsor of Utah’s 2024 transgender bathroom ban, alleges the law was just for show.
Salt Lake Tribune
By Emily Anderson Stern
May 13, 2024

A toilet flushes. Then, Utah Auditor John Dougall steps out of a stall.

“Are you the bathroom monitor?” Dougall asks viewers of a video posted to his campaign account on X evening. “I actually thought the Legislature assigned me to be the bathroom monitor.”

The one-minute clip released on Monday — the first day of lawmakers coming together for interim meetings since this year’s session ended — is the latest in a feud that’s erupted between the auditor and Republican lawmakers since a transgender bathroom ban took effect earlier this month.

“We have a piece of legislation that the sponsor doesn’t seem to actually understand,” Dougall says in the video, his voice echoing in the small space. “She implied that I didn’t care about women’s safety in bathrooms — nothing could be further from the truth. And if this bill were actually about making girls safer, don’t we think that the Legislature could actually spend some money retrofitting bathrooms and providing greater privacy and further safety?”

Dougall continues, “Instead, it looks like this piece of the bill was really more about show than substance. But it wouldn’t be the first time the Legislature did something like that, would it?”

Question: How will they identify a trans person?
Their dragnet will only bring trans people who cannot blend in and women who look masculine. I pity the woman who is large boned, muscular, and tall they will be caught up in the web.

I Don’t See How They Have A Legal Standing

It is a private organization and a judge threw out the case once before but now they are in court again trying with a new twist.

Dispute over transgender woman admitted to Wyoming sorority to be argued before appeal judges
AP News
BY MEAD GRUVER
May 14, 2024

A U.S. appeals court in Denver is set to hear arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by six members of a University of Wyoming sorority who are challenging the admission of a transgender woman into their local chapter.

A judge in Wyoming threw out the lawsuit last year, ruling that he could not override how the private, voluntary organization defined a woman and order that she not belong.

The case at Wyoming’s only four-year public university has drawn widespread attention as transgender people fight for more acceptance in schools, athletics, workplaces and elsewhere, while others push back.

If at first you don’t succeed sue, sue again, that’s Trump philosophy and evidently these right-wingers are following it.

The lawsuit and appeal describe in detail how Langford’s presence made the women feel uncomfortable in the sorority house in Laramie, Wyoming, yet sorority leaders overrode their concerns after a vote by the local chapter members to admit Langford.

Last summer, Wyoming U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson in Cheyenne sided with the sorority and Langford by ruling that sorority bylaws don’t define who’s a woman.

[…]

Filing in the three-judge U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, attorneys for the six sorority sisters continue to argue that sorority leaders have ignored sorority bylaws that they contend shouldn’t allow transgender women to be members.

Johnson’s ruling gave too much deference to sorority leaders in allowing them to define a woman under membership requirements, the sorority sisters argue on appeal.

I hope that after case is over that the sorority sues to recoup their legal expenses.

Now It Is International

It used to be we just had to worry about the far-right causing violence here during Pride events now we have to worry about international terrorists.

Foreign terrorist organizations could target Pride month events: FBI, DHS
The threats could come online, in person or in the mail, according to the FBI.
ABC News
By Luke Barr
May 13, 2024

Foreign terrorist organizations may seek to exploit "LGBTQIA+-related events and venues," including events during 2024 Pride month -- celebrated in June, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security warned in a recent public service announcement.

"Organizations like ISIS may seek to exploit increased gatherings associated with the upcoming June 2024 Pride Month," according to the announcement, which the agencies issued last week. The announcement added that the threat is "compounded" by the "current heightened threat environment" in the United States.

The threats could come online, in person or in the mail, according to the FBI and DHS.

Last February, ISIS "called for followers to conduct attacks on unidentified soft targets, although the attacks and targets were not specific to LGBTQIA+ venues," the agencies wrote in the public service announcement.

[…]

"LGBQTIA+ members have drawn the ire of al-Qaida and ISIS supporters in the past based on their perceived lifestyles and beliefs," Ali, who is now an associate professor at the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy, told ABC News. "However, the degree to which this announcement was driven by specific and credible intelligence about attacks here against this community, versus a more general abundance of caution based on Pride month, remains unclear."

If domestic terrorism wasn’t enough now not it has gone international.

---

In other sad news, a trans woman was murdered in Tennessee.

Starr Brown, Black Transgender Woman Who “Always Had Uplifting Words”, Killed in Memphis, Tennessee
HRC
By Shoshana K. Goldberg
May 8, 2024

Starr Brown, a Black transgender woman, was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee on April 19th. Starr is at least the 11th transgender or gender expansive person killed in 2024, and at least the fourth killed in the month of April alone. We say “at least” because too often these deaths go unreported — or misreported. The Human Rights Campaign is deeply saddened to report on Starr’s passing.

Some family and friends referred to Starr with what is presumably her birth name; her obituary also lists both names. However, as Starr Brown is the name used in her socials, and appears to be the name she used most in life, this is how we will refer to her throughout this blog.

As reported by Fox13 Memphis News--in an article which misgenders Starr and uses her birth name—a coworker, Alexavier Williamson, has confessed to the shooting, and has been arrested and charged with her murder. His arrest comes two weeks after her killing, which was initially reported by the Memphis Police Department and in press coverage.

In Harms Way

That is how we feel now with all this anti-LGBTQ+ violence and threats against us, we are on the defensive.

Menomonee Falls bakery owners cancel Drag Story Hour event after 'threatening' and 'violent' messages
WTMJ News
By: Mariam Mackar , Katlin Connin
May 13, 2024

A bakery in Menomonee Falls canceled a 'Drag Story Hour and Cupcake Decorating' event after they said they received 'threatening' and 'violent' messages.

The event at Batter and Mac was scheduled as a fundraiser for Courage MKE, which helps advocate for LGBTQ people in our community, as well as helping them find housing, scholarships grants, and more.

"We were going to have the kids come in, read a book about love and acceptance, decorate some cupcakes, and just have a good and fun time to raise money for Courage MKE," said co-owner Brittany Wohlfeil.

According to a Facebook post from Batter and Mac, "These events are a great tool for promoting creativity in your minds, tearing down stereotypes, and promoting inclusion."

[…]

"Bakery is for everybody. Our bakery is for everybody and we try to welcome everybody," said Wohlfeil. "Even if you disagree with us, you’re still welcome here."

Fox 6 reported,

While there was a lot of support, there was also a lot of backlash from anonymous phone calls, to online threats.

"You’re sick, leave kids alone," added Wohlfeil.

Even a push to boycott the bakery with a village leader showing support.

"There’s Ann telling people to not come here," said Wohlfeil, referencing Menomonee Falls Village Trustee Ann Lessila who openly opposed the event.

The article ended with the bakery having a fundraiser drag Bingo event… Yeah, I love drag bingo!

I believe that those who called in the threats should be charged with terrorism because that is what it is, threatening people with bombs is plain and simple terrorism!

 

---

If all goes as planed I am half way to the Cape about now to open the cottage up for the season.

Cuckoo Award.

This one comes from Tucker Carlson and it is a real doozy!

Do you remember Alex Jones the Sandy Hook denier who said the mass killings were a government hoax? Well did you know that he has supernatural powers like Superman?

Tucker Carlson claims Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones is a supernatural prophet who predicted 9/11
‘He’s channeling something,’ Carlson insisted
Independent
By Graig Graziosi
May 14, 2024

Former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson says conspiracy theorist and conservative commentator Alex Jones has tapped into a supernatural force that allows him to predict the future.

Carlson made the comments on a recent episode of Joe Rogan's podcast.

“He’s channeling something,” Carlson said. “I’ve asked him about it. ‘How did you do that?’ At length, during dinner on my barn recently. We’re talking about this. ‘How’d you do that?’ ‘I don't know. It just came to me.’ And that’s real. That is real. The supernatural is real and I don’t know why it’s hard for the modern mind — I guess because it’s a materialist mind — to accept that.”

He continued, explaining the idea of the prophet throughout history.

“That’s not a new phenomenon. It’s happened throughout history," Carlson said. "There are people called prophets, and there are people who were prophets who weren’t called prophets, but there are people who have information or parts of information, bits of information, visions of information come to them and then they relay it.”

Cuckoo, cuckoo! Today’s Cuckoo Award goes to Tucker Carlson!

What Do You Think About School Vouchers?

I think that they are a very bad idea and the data is backing that up. Vouchers are destroying our public education systems and discriminating against trans, gays, and non-Christians.

Arizona is a cautionary tale for school vouchers as a wave of states are giving parents cash to send their kids to private school

• Arizona established a universal school voucher system to allow kids to switch from public to private school.
• An expert told BI that vouchers tend to go to wealthy families.
• It's "a cautionary tale" for all the other states expanding voucher systems, he said.

Business Insider
By Ayelet Sheffey
May 13, 2024

The prominence of school vouchers continues to surge across the country — but they might not benefit the families who need them the most.

Over the past few years, states like Ohio and Arkansas have expanded their school voucher programs to allow most or all parents to receive funding to send their kids to private schools. More than 20 states now have some kind of voucher program with more in consideration. Arizona was the first state to create a universal voucher program in 2022 — and experts have said it's the state to watch when analyzing the impact of vouchers for all.

[…]

However, gradually, more states began to raise the poverty limit, making nearly any parent eligible to receive the funding — and in some states, it led to the cash going to the wealthiest families. Arizona is "a cautionary tale" regarding the expansion of vouchers, Josh Cowen, professor of education policy at Michigan State University, told Business Insider.

"With the Arizona expansion, it's just going into communities that are primarily wealthy," Cowen said. "When this thing stopped becoming a means test 20 years ago, it stopped being an antipoverty device."

Now then where is the funding for the voucher system coming from… why from funding public schools. That means the money that was going to public schools are now being funneled to private schools that can discriminate against us.

Arizona is just one example of the range of programs across over 20 states implementing voucher programs. While they've been championed by many Republican legislators who have argued that the vouchers allow parents to control what their kids are learning, critics have argued that they've diverted funds from public schools and lack accountability measures.

Through an analysis of the 2024 second-quarter report for the program, Brookings found that the lowest-poverty areas in Arizona tend to have the highest participation in the ESA program, and the area with the lowest median income also has the lowest ESA participation rate.

You see the money is going to rich white families to send their children to rich white private schools while cutting funding to inner city schools.

The report noted that there are a range of reasons families in higher poverty areas might not be participating in the program, including being unaware of the program or unable to get to their preferred school due to transportation barriers. Cost is also a barrier, the report said, since tuition at private schools often exceeds the scholarship amount.

Yup, it is the Republican way… cut education for the low income families while the upper class is given more funds to go rich white private schools. But, but it is not segregation we give the vouchers to everyone! It is economic segregation along racial lines.

While Arizona got a head start on implementing its voucher program, other states are following suit. At least eleven now have universal programs, and other states, including Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama, are considering new laws. Arizona could preview not only budget complications for other states but a rocky outlook for the future of public education.

"You see these vouchers start to cannibalize on public school funds. The most important piece probably is at that state level where you really are talking about taking up a huge portion of dollars that the state can be spending on other things, like public schools, but also other parts of the economy," Cowen said.

Notice that all the are Republican states and they all fall to the bottom of state funding for education.
Alabama: 45
Arkansas: 47
Arizona: 36
Georgia: 30
Tennessee: 39

Does that tell you something?

Also since many of these voucher schools are private and a large percentage are religious school they can discriminate in hiring teachers and students. That means trans children and gay and lesbian children can be denied admittance. The same with students with disabilities, and non-Christian students students they can be told to take a walk.

The National Education Association writes in an article from 2020…

When listening to the rhetoric from the Trump administration, a single vision for our schools is presented: privatization. For the past four years, Trump and his Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos have touted ineffective and harmful voucher schemes, and attacked educators and educator unions, only putting more strain on our students. DeVos, however, has used her wealth from long before then, when she lived in Michigan and left schools in tatters with her voucher and for-profit charter schemes. Bringing her privatization agenda with her, DeVos now attempts to siphon off much needed funding from public schools to private institutions that only benefit a small group to the detriment of the 90 percent of our students who attend public schools. During a global pandemic and months of protests against racial injustice, her voucher proposals support racist institutions that only benefit wealthy, white Americans.

Does that tell you something about the Republicans motive?

Even today this practice is allowed to continue. During her May 2017 testimony before a House Appropriations subcommittee, DeVos was pressed about the exclusionary policies of voucher programs. Multiple times, she refused to say that she would step in to prevent private schools from discriminating against students based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or disability.

They know that it is discriminatory because that is the way it was designed to circumvent Title IX. The National Coalition for Public Education reports,

Private voucher schools do not provide the same rights and protections to students as public schools, such as those in Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Every Student Succeeds Act. And, students who attend private schools using vouchers are stripped of the First Amendment, due process, and other constitutional and statutory rights guaranteed to them in public schools.

These vouchers programs go to future the long term goals of the right-wing conservatives of creating a White Christian nation where the Whites are the only ones educated and the “others” are only good for picking cotton and signing loans.

Doctor! Doctor! What Is This?

So to set the stage.

It is 2004, I am in the Monday morning production meeting when I noticed two wet stains on the front of my shirt. ??????? After the meeting I go to the bathroom look and there is white liquid coming out of my breast! And there is a little pimple fulled with white puss.

I get back to my desk and call my endo doctor, he said that happens to some people when you first start on hormones.

This just popped up on my Facebook feed...

Yes, trans women can breastfeed too. Here’s why it’s safe, healthy and good for both mum and baby
Yes, trans women can breastfeed – and research shows that trans women breastfeeding is perfectly healthy and safe for both mother and baby.
Pink News
By Patrick Kelleher
February 19, 2024


Most people assume that only cisgender women can breastfeed, but a combination of medical research and anecdotal evidence prove this is not the case, and transgender women can also take part in breastfeeding.

In fact, we know that trans women can successfully breastfeed their children – and that the milk they produce can, at the very least, be just as nutritious as that produced by the birthing parent.

In 2018, the medical journal Transgender Health published a case study that detailed how a trans woman living in New York was able to induce lactation using a “basic framework” established by previous researchers.

In order to breastfeed, the woman’s dosage of an oestrogen steroid hormone called oestradiol was increased, as was her dosage of another hormone called progesterone. She was also given a galactagogue – medication designed to boost lactation supply – to increase her prolactin levels.

Finally, the woman was told to use a breast pump before her partner gave birth, to help increase her level of prolactin, a hormone made by the pituitary gland which helps breasts grow and create milk.

The male and female bodies are way more similar than most people think. Going on Cross Gender Hormone Therapy you can see the amazing changes hormone make. Fat gets relocated… to your breasts and butt! You lose muscle mass.

Most people assume that only cisgender women can breastfeed, but a combination of medical research and anecdotal evidence prove this is not the case, and transgender women can also take part in breastfeeding.

In fact, we know that trans women can successfully breastfeed their children – and that the milk they produce can, at the very least, be just as nutritious as that produced by the birthing parent.

In 2018, the medical journal Transgender Health published a case study that detailed how a trans woman living in New York was able to induce lactation using a “basic framework” established by previous researchers.

In order to breastfeed, the woman’s dosage of an oestrogen steroid hormone called oestradiol was increased, as was her dosage of another hormone called progesterone. She was also given a galactagogue – medication designed to boost lactation supply – to increase her prolactin levels.

Finally, the woman was told to use a breast pump before her partner gave birth, to help increase her level of prolactin, a hormone made by the pituitary gland which helps breasts grow and create milk.

This is why it is important to stop puberty in trans youth to give them time to decided without the worry of those evil hormones. Up until puberty boys and girls bodies are the same, it is not until puberty does the differences between the sexes begin to develop. Puberty blockers stops that bifurcation to allow the child time to think. Unlike the lies the conservatives and Republicans are spreading the blockers are totally reversible and do no harm to the child. It is just a pause button.

Cleo Madeleine is a spokesperson for Gendered Intelligence, a UK-based charity that works to increase understandings of gender diversity and improve the quality of life of trans people. She worries that society is regressing when it comes to attitudes towards LGBTQ+ parents, and the backlash to trans women breastfeeding is part of that.

Conservatives fear change, they are living in the past. All this change makes their head spin they want it to be like the “Father Knows Best” era of the 1950s and they can live in their make-believe world.

*****

I accidently publish this on Sunday, it was supposed to be on Monday but those articles have been prewritten so I changed it to today.

Privacy.

You know that the right-winger love to go after us with bathrooms and sports… Well this one is a twofer.

Student's viral video of trans woman in ladies' restroom spurs campus investigation, renewed debate

'I'm a trans girl,' individual tells college student in bathroom run-in

Fox News

By Jamie Joseph

May 9, 2024

A North Carolina university is investigating after student Payton McNabb – who suffered long-term physical and mental injuries when a transgender volleyball player spiked a ball and hit her in the face during a high school match – filmed herself confronting a transgender woman in one of the girls' bathrooms on campus.

"Western Carolina University is dedicated to fostering a safe and welcoming environment for all students. The university's primary concern is the safety and wellbeing of all members of its campus community," a spokesperson for the school said in a statement issued to Fox News Digital. "WCU is committed to upholding its principles and ensuring that all students have equal access to education and opportunities. Violations of any university policies or state and federal laws will be addressed by appropriate campus officials.

So…

Did the trans woman do anything illegal in the bathroom? No.

Did the trans woman do anything wrong on the volleyball court? No.

Did the cis-gender woman do anything illegal in the bathroom? Yes. It is illegal in Connecticut to video or take photos of a person where they have an expectation of privacy.

McNabb then tells the individual that she pays "a lot of money to be safe in the bathroom." 

Well my dear, you’re still safe… was anything done to you in the bathroom? No. There is no evidence that allowing transgender women to use women's restrooms increases safety risks or illegal behavior. The claims that transgender-inclusive bathroom policies enable sexual predators are unfounded.

"Currently, I'm facing reports to the school for alleged 'transphobia,' alongside attempts to tear down my sorority, despite it having nothing to do with it," McNabb wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "I believe in everyone's right to their own opinion, and I shouldn't face punishment simply because I felt uncomfortable with a man being in our bathroom."

Do you know that one of the reasons of the segregation in the south was because Black made White people uncomfortable going the bathroom with Blacks or sitting at lunch counters. Then in the seventies the conservatives tried to ban gays from public restrooms because feared that the gays would attack boys in the bathroom. So that excuse has been used for generations.

In September 2022, McNabb was injured during a high-school volleyball game by a transgender athlete on the opposing team who spiked the volleyball and struck her in the face, causing her to fall backward and suffer a concussion and neck injury.

I wrote about that here, according to St. Luke’s Health,

This sport requires its athletes to be quick on their feet and lunge at oncoming balls; volleyball yields around 59,370 injuries nationally a year. One of the most common injuries is sprained ankles, caused by changing direction too fast or landing wrong after a jump.

And the National Institute of Health reported the study on Pub Med, Comparison of Volleyball-Related Injuries at US Emergency Departments Between High School and Collegiate Athletes: A 10-Year NEISS Database Study, they found…

Conclusion:

Among volleyball-related injuries evaluated in EDs between 2012 and 2021, the incidence rates of injuries in college-aged athletes far surpassed those of their high school–aged peers irrespective of injury type or bodily location. While sprains and strains were the most frequent injuries, head injuries accounted for the second most common diagnosis in both groups, suggesting that clinicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for concussion when evaluating players.

It seems to me that head injuries are quite common and one out of hundreds of head and necking is not a cause for alarm like and what they should do is get head protection for the players.

The Selling Of America! (Part 2)

Last week Trump offered to sell the EPA for 1 billion dollars, now this week he is going after wind power.

Trump Vows ‘Day One’ Executive Order Targeting Offshore Wind

MSN

By Jennifer A. Dlouhy

May 12, 2024

Donald Trump vowed to issue an executive order targeting offshore wind development if he wins a second term as president, making his most explicit threat yet toward the growing industry. 

The presumptive Republican nominee derided offshore wind projects as lethal for birds and whales during his oceanfront rally Saturday in Wildwood, New Jersey, and committed to take action. 

“We are going to make sure that that ends on day one,” he said. “I’m going to write it out in an executive order.”

While Trump has made no secret of his animus to wind power, he had adopted a mostly hands-off posture during his first term in the White House. The remarks in New Jersey suggest he may take a more aggressive stance if given a second.

Is this what our government will be under Trump.

While Trump wasn’t specific, a president could issue an executive order directing a fresh study of the impact of offshore wind and halting the permitting of new projects in the meantime. President Joe Biden used a similar approach to order a moratorium on offshore oil leasing during his first week in the White House.

Under Trump we will have the best government money can buy.

They Are In A Tizzy!

And it is all about an apostrophe.

That’s right, a little lonely apostrophe and they are hoping up and down mad over it!

The problem… Mothers’ Day. Because some people have two moms.

Peanuts Mother's Day special declares 'some kids have two moms' amid media push for LGBT inclusion
Christian Post
By Ryan Foley
May 2, 2022

An upcoming Apple TV special featuring the characters from the Peanuts comic strip will promote same-sex families in the latest example of children’s programming incorporating LGBT-related content.

On Friday, Apple TV released a trailer for an upcoming Mother’s Day special titled “Snoopy Presents To Mom (and Dad), with Love.” The special, scheduled for release Friday, stars the characters from the Peanuts comic strip including Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Snoopy, Woodstock and others.

Throughout the video, Peppermint Patty appears upset and uneasy about the upcoming holiday. A loud scream from her causes the cake that Charlie Brown prepared for his mother to fall on Lucy. “Apparently, Mother’s Day is not her favorite holiday,” Charlie Brown concludes.

When Peppermint Patty tells Marcie, “I don’t know why I get so upset,” her friend replies that it was “because you miss your mom.” At this point, Peppermint Patty laments that she “never had a mom.”

“Maybe you miss what moms do,” Marcie says. Peppermint Patty remarks, “My dad does all that mom stuff for me," adding: “For Mother’s Day, I’m going to celebrate my dad.”

Whoa! That is approaching some dangerous ground.

From there, Peppermint Patty asks, “There are all types of moms, right?” After responding, “of course,” Marcie notes that “some kids have two moms.”

Did you hear that! Blasphemy! How dare they say that! They are grooming the children! Yup, the usual right-wing dribble they are shouting.

The Peanuts special’s promotion of the idea of having “two moms” is not the only example of modern children’s programming featuring well-established cartoon characters attempting to introduce children to LGBT ideology.

So for them inclusion is a four letter word. Inclusion of divorced parents is bad. Inclusion of single parents is bad. Inclusion of LGBTQ parents is bad. For them Mother's Day is only for white Christian straight, and cis-gender parents. Everything else is “Woke.”

Concerns about the exposure of small children to LGBT ideology prompted the Florida legislature to pass House Bill 1557, which prevents school officials from discussing matters related to sexual orientation and gender identity with students in kindergarten through third grade. The Walt Disney Company, which operates the Walt Disney World theme park in Orlando, Florida, is well-known for producing family-friendly programming. It emerged as a staunch critic of House Bill 1557.

It is funny who they have only one world view and that is theirs. The Tallahassee Democrat wrote,

Vivian Taylor, a seventh-grade teacher in Miami, says she was told to hardly discuss Emmett Till – the 14-year-old victim of one of the US’s most notorious lynchings – in her civics classes because under Florida’s year-old “stop woke” law, “people say you’re not supposed to talk about that because it will make children uncomfortable”.

Tell how does not talking about LGBT subject make a child who LGBTQ+ or has to moms, or two dads feel? Do you think not being able to talk about your parents makes the LGBTQ+ student uncomfortable? But that doesn’t count, only if white straight, cis-gender, Christians count.

 

 

It Is All About The Children.

How many time have we heard that? But that is not true because the anti-trans legislation that the Republicans are passing does a lot more harm to trans children.

Anti-transgender legislation makes me feel like an outsider in my home state

If lawmakers want college graduates to stay in Indiana, they should create policies that positively reflect the increasingly gender-diverse population.

Ball State Daily

By Meghan Holt

May 3, 2024

When I was a kid, I went to FAME camp at Camp Potawatomi back when they still hosted it there. 

FAME, which stands for Foundation for Art & Music in Education, taught me about all things art, and each year we put on a themed performance at the end of our week-long overnight stay for the parents who had poured their wallets into this education. During my fourth-grade year, our theme was about celebrating Indiana.

We had to learn Ballard McDonald and James Hanley’s song “Back Home Again in Indiana” for this performance. I still know all the words.

In high school, my marching band belted the same song as we advanced to the football field to put on our pre-game performance. I always tried to sing the loudest. 

There was a real sense of pride I felt to sing about my state — to imagine the twinkling candle flames through those mythical sycamore trees and to look out across the countless fields around me and understand what McDonald and Hanley meant when they wrote about the smell of new-mown hay.

I still have a deep love for Indiana. It’s not quite where I was born (that honor goes to Aurora, Illinois), but it’s where I was raised. I’m a Hoosier at heart. At least I like to think I am.

But I’m not so sure anymore.

What I haven’t told you yet is that I’m a gay, transgender person. As I’ve become more comfortable in my own identity, I’ve become less comfortable in my home state.

So, I’m leaving.

The Republicans always are taking about family values, but it is only their family values they scorn other families’ values.

As long as anti-LGBTQ+ laws are active, Indiana is not a state where I can comfortably be queer.

Face it! The conservatives want to force us back into the closet.

It is my hope that one day I’ll be able to comfortably return and see the moonlight gleaming on the Wabash River. Until then, I urge Indiana lawmakers to do better by and for their LGBTQ+ constituents.

That do not want to make Indiana a place for all, they want to make it a place for White Christian and not for anyone else.

---

The Republicans Takith Away And The Democrats Givith (The Continuing Sage)

This time it is about the names of schools in Virginia, the Democrats changed the name the name of the school from a Civil War slave holding Confederates.

Virginia school board to vote on restoring Confederate names

A Virginia school board could vote to return two schools back to their original Confederate names in a debate that has bitterly divided a town.

BBC News

By Sam Cabral

May 9, 2024

In 2020, the Shenandoah County School Board changed the names of Stonewall Jackson High and Ashby-Lee Elementary in Quicksburg.

But community members have been pushing for a reversal, arguing the name change is unpopular.

Thursday's vote may mark the first such U-turn anywhere in the US.

A large crowd, including residents on both sides of the issue, is expected to flock to the school board's public meeting at 19:00 EST (23:00 GMT).

Following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and a summer of racial justice unrest, Virginia and other states took down Confederate statues from public spaces.

In a letter to school board chairs across the state, then-Democratic Governor Ralph Northam implored: "It is time to change school names and mascots that memorialize Confederate leaders or sympathizers."

The Shenandoah County School Board took action three days later, moving to rename Stonewall Jackson High - now called Mountain View High - and Ashby-Lee Elementary - now known as Honey Run Elementary.

As you can guess that didn’t sit very well with the Republicans and the white nationalist in the town and they brought legal action against the name change. The Northern Virginia Daily in a commentary,

Mountain View High, originally named Stonewall Jackson High, was first named in 1959. It was built and funded illegally and intended to be for “White’s Only” during the height of the Jim Crow racial caste system in the American South and Virginia’s Massive Resistance efforts. The money set aside for integrating schools was instead used to continue segregation, in violation of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Ashby-Lee was built in 1975, using the since retired magisterial district names at that time.

Did you notice “White’s Only” part?

This decision was challenged in Shenandoah County Circuit Court in August of 2020, and the case was heard throughout the fall of 2020 and into 2021. The plaintiffs lost the case and appealed, and their arguments were again rejected with a final resolution of dismissal in November of 2021 by the Virginia Supreme Court, Case #CL20000984-00. The letter of the law was followed, despite claims to the contrary and the effort in 2022 to revert the names also failed, by a 3-3 vote.

But now they have a Republican Board.

On May 9, 2024, once again the school board of the SCPS is going to hold another vote on renaming our Southern campus schools, and we wholeheartedly urge them to reject the false narratives being offered. We implore all members to vote NO on the name changes, thereby reaffirming SCPS and Shenandoah County as a place that is welcoming to all students, families and businesses that choose to call this wonderful place home. Retain Mountain View and Honey Run — names we can ALL be proud of.

But the conservatives don’t want that! They want to bring back the Jim Crow era.

Cuckoo Award

This time the award goes out to a House Republican for his seventh attempt to impeach President Biden.

Republicans concoct an odd new reason to try to impeach Biden
Some congressional Republicans want to impeach President Joe Biden over his policy toward Israel. The White House was right to call this "ridiculous."
MSNBC
By Steve Benen
May 10, 2024

Republican talk about impeaching President Joe Biden had, by all appearances, run its course. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer did his best, spending more than a year searching desperately for evidence of wrongdoing, but the Kentucky congressman failed spectacularly, and even many of the Democrat’s fiercest GOP critics are moving on.

[…]

For those keeping score, there are now seven different GOP impeachment resolutions that target the president currently pending on Capitol Hill, none of which is likely to reach the House floor.

So what do they think is a smoking gun?

As best as I can tell, Mills and Cotton believe there’s a parallel between Biden’s policy and Donald Trump’s 2019 extortion scheme toward Ukraine, in which the Republican withheld security aid in the hopes of getting Ukraine to help him cheat in his 2020 re-election campaign. It's the scandal that led to Trump's first impeachment.

This is not, however, a serious argument, in large part because there’s nothing illegal about Biden’s policy, and he's not trying to leverage security aid for campaign help.

The Republicans have “High Hopes”

But he’s got high hopes, he’s got high hopes.
He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes.
So any time you’re gettin’ low,
‘Stead of lettin’ go,
Just remember that ant,
Oops, there goes another rubber tree plant, kerplop.
Songwriters: Sammy Cahn / Jimmy Van Heusen

 Today's Cuckoo Award goes out to the Republicans have high hopes the the seventh will be the charm.

Saturday 9: (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You

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

Saturday 9: (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You (1998)
Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) In this song, a boy celebrates the life of love he's received from his mother, saying it's more precious than any diamond or pearl. Do you have a piece of jewelry that means a great deal to you?
Yes, my mother pendant. It is bronze but I like it and I get complements on it all the time.

2) NSYNC licensed their name and likenesses for use on a variety of products, and their official key ring was a big seller. Tell us about your key ring.
Well I used to have all my car key, keys from work, key from the cottage, and keys to my home but it was wearing holes through my pocketbook lining. So now it only has my car key and house key on it… just two keys. In
Towardmy car I have all the other keys.

3) NSYNC's lead singer, Justin Timberlake, is now a parent himself with two sons. He enjoys sitting on the floor so they can play Legos together. Today Lego sets for adults and adult coloring books are popular. As a grown up, do you enjoy coloring books or Legos?
Um, I don’t know how to put this to you but… I still do. I was at the senior center and they have coloring book for adults! And with my grandniece I enjoy playing with Legos.

4) In 1998, when this song was popular, Seinfeld ended its 9-season run. Were you a fan? 

In the end I started to watch it and to this day I try to have a “Perfect Pump” (That is when you are pumping gas you stop at an even dollar.).

5) This week's song was chosen in honor of Mother's Day. Some mothers will find themselves treated to breakfast in bed this weekend. Is that a luxury you would appreciate, or would you worry about spilling food on the sheets?
The later, I don’t eat in bed. After the first time you spill your orange juice in bed and that night you have to sleep on a damp bed you realize that eating in bed is not a good thing.

6) Garrett's Popcorn offers a special tin for Mother's Day (the "O" in MOM is a daisy). When did you most recently have popcorn?
Oh man! I have no idea. Maybe 15 or 20 years ago.
Hmm… I still have a bag of microwave popcorn from way back then. I wonder if it will still pop?

7) Florists see a spike in sales for Mother's Day, too. Would you rather receive a plant or a bouquet of flowers?
Well since I don’t have a green thumb it doesn’t matter because they will both be dead shortly.

8) Crazy Sam's own mother is big on couponing, while Sam thinks coupons simply aren't worth the effort. Are you more like mother or daughter?
I don’t use coupons.
Why?
Because most of the offers are two-for-one. If it is something that doesn’t go bad then I might buy two and try to put the other one where I will find it. Like the microwave popcorn I found them a couple of weeks ago when I was digging through one of my cupboards (Looking for some instant gravy packages, which were also buried.) and there we two of them packages there buried in back.

 

Pet Peeve: Fast food places that offer "2 for 1" when you are single you don't need two Big Macs or two Whoppers why don't they just offer the meal for half price?

9) Sam is celebrating Mother's Day with her mother's favorite, Hershey Bars. Would you prefer classic milk chocolate, dark chocolate or chocolate with almonds?
Well you know sometimes I feel like a nut and sometimes I don’t, I don’t really have any preference, I like them both.

The Selling Of America!

There is a fire sale going on in the US, environmental protections are up for sale for a measly $1 billion! That is what what Trump told a bunch of CEOs.

What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign
Donald Trump has pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry.
The Washington Post
By Josh Dawsey and Maxine Joselow
May 9, 2024

As Donald Trump sat with some of the country’s top oil executives at his Mar-a-Lago Club last month, one executive complained about how they continued to face burdensome environmental regulations despite spending $400 million to lobby the Biden administration in the last year.

Trump’s response stunned several of the executives in the room overlooking the ocean: You all are wealthy enough, he said, that you should raise $1 billion to return me to the White House. At the dinner, he vowed to immediately reverse dozens of President Biden’s environmental rules and policies and stop new ones from being enacted, according to people with knowledge of the meeting, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Giving $1 billion would be a “deal,” Trump said, because of the taxation and regulation they would avoid thanks to him, according to the people.

How brazen is that! Investopedia writes,

Bribery involves the payment of something—either money or goods or an intangible favor—in the subversion of normal practices, for gain or special treatment, or in order to get an advantage.

That sure does sound like making a suggestion of buying legislation!

In recent months, the Biden administration has raced to overturn Trump’s environmental actions and issue new ones before the November election. So far, Biden officials have overturned 27 Trump actions affecting the fossil fuel industry and completed 23 new actions affecting the sector, according to a Washington Post analysis. The Interior Department, for instance, recently blocked future oil drilling across 13 million acres of the Alaskan Arctic.

Despite the oil industry’s complaints about Biden’s policies, the United States is now producing more oil than any country ever has, pumping nearly 13 million barrels per day on average last year. ExxonMobil and Chevron, the largest U.S. energy companies, reported their biggest annual profits in a decade last year.

Yet oil giants will see an even greater windfall — helped by new offshore drilling, speedier permits and other relaxed regulations — in a second Trump administration, the former president told the executives over the dinner of chopped steak at Mar-a-Lago.

The new Trump presidency, the best money can buy!

It sure sounds like that Trump found a way out of his financial problems… “At one billion… do I hear two billion? One billion going once… one billion going twice… Sold! Next up on the auction block... Air pollution laws, who wants to being the bidding?”

Potpourri

Here are a number of articles that caught my attention this week…

First the good news and then the bad.

Austin City Council adopts resolution protecting transgender residents

Texas' capital city voted to adopt a measure providing some protections to transgender people seeking gender-affirming care despite state laws against the practice.

Court News

By KIRK MCDANIEL

May 2, 2024

The Austin City Council on Thursday approved a resolution declining enforcement of the state’s laws banning physicians from providing gender-affirming surgeries and medications to minors — the first city in the state to do so.  

The resolution’s lead sponsor, Councilmember José “Chito” Vela, said that he hopes his office’s “transgender protection resolution” will offer some comfort to the transgender and non-binary community in Austin. With the measure’s passage, the city will not provide municipal staff, funds and resources that can be used to “investigate, criminally prosecute, or impose administrative penalties upon…” people seeking gender-affirming health care or those who provide and/or help provide access to such care unless required by law. 

“Trans people deserve the right to self-determination,” Vela said just before the vote on the resolution was held. “Our state has forced them and their medical providers into hiding and that is wrong, Austin should not be a party to that any more than we legally have to be.”

Passing 10-1, the resolution makes Austin the first city in the state to take such a stand nearly a year after the Legislature passed Senate Bill 14, a law that prohibits physicians from prescribing hormone therapies to or performing surgeries on any minor with gender dysphoria. The law was a priority for Republican lawmakers who control the state house, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott who signed the bill into law this past June. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson, a former member of the Texas Senate, voted in favor of the resolution.

You know tht Abbott, Paxton and all the other right-wingers will be jumping up and down over this and having a hissy fit over the resolution.

---

China’s first publicly recognised transgender woman Jin Xing divorces German husband – remarries him 18 years later

• Jin becomes China’s first publicly recognised trans woman following surgery in 1995
• She divorces husband out of necessity for children before remarrying
• China’s first publicly recognised transgender woman Jin Xing divorces German husband – remarries him 18 years later
• Jin becomes China’s first publicly recognised trans woman following surgery in 1995
• She divorces husband out of necessity for children before remarrying

South China Morning Post

By Zoey Zhang

7 May 2024

China’s first publicly recognised transgender dancer has remarried the love of her life whom she was forced to divorce 18 years ago.

Jin Xing, 56, from Liaoning province in northeastern China, is a renowned transgender performer with 14 million followers on Weibo.

In April 1995, Jin underwent gender reassignment surgery in a Beijing hospital, becoming China’s first publicly recognised transgender person.

[…]

In 2005, the pair got married and Oidtmann moved to China alone to be with Jin.

However, the couple divorced in 2006 and Jin explained that they did so to resolve the children’s household registration issues and avoid impacting their elder son’s studies.

As a foreigner, Oidtmann had to wait a year to qualify for international adoption.

They continued to co-parent their three adopted children, and in 2018, they secretly remarried in Italy.

Love will find a way!

---

Anti-transgender bomb threat targets Greece Arcadia High School

WXXI News

By Jeremy Moule

May 3, 2024

Greece Arcadia High and Middle schools were briefly evacuated Friday after the district received a transphobic, homophobic threat to bomb the school.

The threat, which was loaded with profanity and slurs, was originally sent to WROC Channel 8 just after 6 a.m. Staff there called 911 and forwarded the message to Greece school district officials. Both of the schools were subsequently evacuated but were able to resume their days at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., respectively. That was after Greece police searched the schools with dogs.

Greece schools Superintendent Kathleen Graupman said to her, the threat qualified as a hate crime.

“It is the exact opposite of what we do in schools, it is the exact opposite of what Greece Central believes in terms of what we teach, and how we behave, and how we conduct ourselves,” she said.

As far as I am concerned if they ever arrest the person they should be charged with terrorism.

---

Texas superintendent resigns after trans student’s removal from ‘Oklahoma!’

The superintendent’s resignation follows an investigation into the student’s removal, which sparked nationwide backlash.

NBC News

By Jo Yurcaba

May 2, 2024

A Texas superintendent voluntarily resigned Wednesday after a transgender student was removed and later reinstated in a high school production of “Oklahoma!” — a case that sparked nationwide outcry amid a broader fight over trans rights.

The Sherman Independent School District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to accept the resignation of Superintendent Tyson Bennett at the end of a two-and-a-half hour closed special session Wednesday. Acting Superintendent Thomas O’Neal will continue to serve as interim superintendent until the board hires a new superintendent, the board said in a statement. 

“The school district will continue to operate as normal in the best interest of students, staff and families,” the board said.

---

Lastly...

Last Week Tonight's John Oliver Voices Support for Gender Queer, Calling Out Book Banning

SUMMARY

• Outrage over Gender Queer is out of context; the graphic novel is meant for teen readers, not young children, as the author intended.
• John Oliver points out misconceptions about the book's content, defending its relevance to teens' experiences.
• Author Maia Kobabe agrees that the book is not for kids, but important for teens going through similar struggles.

ScreenRant

By Angela Davis

May 9, 2024

Maia Kobabe's controversial graphic novel Gender Queer has garnered support from Last Week Tonight's John Oliver. Gender Queer has been making headlines across the U.S. as one of the most banned books in the country. As of 2024, the autobiography of Kobabe's life has been banned in numerous school districts, with its removal from public libraries being discussed as well. In the heat of this debate, a prominent talk show host has thrown his hat into the ring to discuss why it needs to stay on the shelves.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver's May 5, 2024 broadcast features a segment where the titular host discusses the rise of book bans in public libraries. Some of the things he touches on include the lack of actually reading the material people want to ban and improperly labeling which books are deemed inappropriate. However, one clip from the segment features him discussing Gender Queer, mentioning how outrage over the book has led to it being pulled from libraries in schools, and now public institutions, for various reasons.

And so it goes… this is just one week of the stuff that we have to put up with.

On This Day In History.

USHMM, Courtesy of National Archives

Back in 1933...

Book Burnings in Germany, 1933
PBS American Experience

On May 10, 1933, university students in 34 university towns across Germany burned over 25,000 books. The works of Jewish authors like Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud went up in flames alongside blacklisted American authors such as Ernest Hemingway and Helen Keller, while students gave the Nazi salute. In Berlin 40,000 people gathered to hear German Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels give a speech in Berlin's Opera Square. He declared "the era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end. ... The future German man will not just be a man of books, but a man of character. It is to this end that we want to educate you. ... And thus you do well in this midnight hour to commit to the flames the evil spirit of the past." Radio stations broadcast the Berlin speeches, songs, and ceremonial incantations to countless German listeners. Widespread newspaper coverage called the "Action against the Un-German Spirit" a success. The Nazi war on "un-German" individual expression had begun.

Destroying Ideas
As early as two weeks before, American organizations like the American Jewish Congress knew of the planned book burnings and launched protests. With her books slated for the bonfires, Helen Keller confronted German students in an open letter: "History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them. You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds." Similarly, novelist Sherwood Anderson, best-selling author Faith Baldwin, scriptwriter Erwin Cobb, and Nobel laureate Sinclair Lewis declared their solidarity with the banned writers and publicly protested the book burnings. Many writers called to mind the prophetic observation by 19th century German writer Heinrich Heine that "where one burns books, one will soon burn people."
     
A Sign of the Ultimate Goal
After the bonfires, 100,000 people marched in New York City to protest Nazi policies. Similar demonstrations occurred in Philadelphia, Chicago, and St. Louis. While German newspapers triumphantly reported that Germany was purging itself of Jews and others considered politically or artistically suspect, the American media responded with shock. Newsweek called it "a holocaust of books;" Time a "bibliocaust." Yet the indignation was more rhetoric than true outrage. New York Herald Tribune columnist Walter Lippmann was one of the few journalists reporting on the Nazis who took the book burnings as an ominous sign of the Nazis' ultimate goal. "These acts symbolize the moral and intellectual character of the Nazi regime," he wrote. "For these bonfires are not the work of schoolboys or mobs but of the present German Government ... The ominous symbolism of [this act and] these bonfires is that there is a government in Germany which means to teach its people that their salvation lies in violence."

‘Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.’

Notice that this was not in Germany but here in New York City, yes dear... it happened here!

 

And we are repeating it. It is not that we do not know our history but rather they are using it as a guidebook to their goals to build another totalitarian dictatorship.

Hey Folk! Did You Know What Time It Is?

It is time for all of you little kiddies to be thinking of summer camp!

Did you know that there are summer camps for trans kids? And also LGBTQ+ kids.

Harbor Camps
We build confidence, resilience, and community for transgender and non-binary youth and their
families through camp experiences.

They are located in New Hampshire lake country.

 

*****

For the LGBTQ+ kids there are…

10 Best Summer Camps For LGBTQ Youth

Looking for the right LGBTQ summer camp for your kid? We’re here to help! We at Camp Brave Trails believe that every LGBTQ young person deserves the opportunity to have a safe, welcoming, and affirming summer camp experience. Our team put together this list of incredible camps to help you pick the right one for your future campers! Each of the camps below is unique and offers a different kind of experience. Camps have been listed in no particular order.

CAMP BRAVE TRAILS
CALIFORNIA & NEW YORK (OUT OF STATE & INTERNATIONAL CAMPERS WELCOME!)
Ages: 12-17

CAMP ARANU’TIQ
NEW HAMPSHIRE
AGES: 8-18
[This is the Harbor Camp]

CAMP HIGHLIGHT
PENNSYLVANIA
AGES: 8-15

CAMP TEN TREES
WASHINGTON
AGES: 8-17

CAMP FYERFLY
ALBERTA, CANADA
AGES: 14-24

CAMP LIGHTBULB
MASSACHUSETTS  (SOME PROGRAMS OFFERED IN OTHER STATES)
AGES: 14-18
[One camp is located right in P’town!]

CAMP OUTDOORS
ARIZONA
AGES: 11-24

CAMP LILAC
OHIO
AGES: 12-17

THE TEN OAKS PROJECT
ONTARIO, CANADA
AGES: 8-17

Don’t you wish that when you were young that they had these camps?

I’m Tired.

Tired on all the negative news stories, when I search for “Transgender” on Google News, Yahoo News, or or other news sources all I get is about legislatures passing anti-trans legislation. So in desperation I asked the AIs. Question: “What are some positive news about transgender people?”

ChatGPT

There are plenty of positive stories about transgender individuals that showcase resilience, achievements, and contributions to society. Here are a few examples:

• Visibility and Representation: Transgender individuals are increasingly gaining visibility in various fields, from politics to entertainment. Their presence helps to challenge stereotypes and promote acceptance.
• Advocacy and Activism: Many transgender individuals are advocates for LGBTQ+ rights and work tirelessly to create safer and more inclusive spaces for themselves and others. Their activism has led to significant progress in terms of legal protections and societal acceptance.
• Artistic and Cultural Contributions: Transgender people have made significant contributions to art, literature, music, and other cultural spheres. Their perspectives often enrich creative works and offer fresh insights into human experiences.
• Medical and Scientific Advancements: Transgender individuals have contributed to advancements in healthcare and scientific research, particularly in the fields of transgender medicine and psychology. Their experiences inform medical practices and policies, leading to better care for transgender individuals.
• Community Support and Resilience: Transgender communities offer support networks where individuals can find understanding, validation, and solidarity. These communities play a crucial role in helping transgender people navigate challenges and celebrate their identities.
• Personal Achievements and Successes: Transgender individuals excel in various fields, including business, academia, sports, and entertainment. Their accomplishments demonstrate that transgender people can thrive and succeed in any endeavor they pursue.
• Legal Victories and Policy Changes: Transgender rights advocacy has led to important legal victories, such as anti-discrimination laws, access to gender-affirming healthcare, and recognition of gender identity in official documents. These changes improve the lives of transgender individuals and promote equality under the law.
• Education and Awareness: Increasing awareness and understanding of transgender issues help combat stigma and discrimination. Many transgender individuals share their stories through public speaking, writing, and social media, contributing to greater empathy and acceptance in society.

These positive news stories highlight the resilience, strength, and diversity of transgender individuals and underscore the importance of creating a more inclusive and affirming world for everyone.

Goggle Gemini

Here are some positive developments for transgender people:

•     Increased Legal Protections: The Biden administration has implemented rules protecting transgender people from discrimination in healthcare settings and upholding their rights under Title IX in schools regarding restrooms and pronoun usage https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/us/politics/biden-gay-transgender-health-care.html.
•     Positive Studies on Gender-Affirming Care: Studies continue to show the positive impact of gender-affirming healthcare, like top surgery, on transgender well-being https://www.gendergp.com/surgery/.
•     Greater Visibility and Representation: Transgender people are achieving success in various fields, with more open conversations about transgender identity in the media There is a growing sense of community and support for transgender people.

It's important to acknowledge that challenges remain, such as anti-trans legislation and violence against transgender people, particularly transgender youth. However, these positive developments show progress towards a more inclusive and supportive world for transgender people.

Bing Copilot

Certainly! Here are some positive news stories about transgender people:

• Transgender Day of Visibility: On this annual awareness day, celebrated on March 31, trans people’s accomplishments are recognized, and the challenges they face are acknowledged. Despite recent state legislation seeking to restrict their access to healthcare and other aspects of life, many transgender individuals overwhelmingly describe their lives after transitioning as “happier,” “authentic,” and “comforting.” A nationwide survey found that 94% of respondents reported being “a lot more satisfied” or “a little more satisfied” with their lives after transitioning(1).
• Survey Results: A survey of over 90,000 transgender people in the United States revealed that the vast majority reported increased life satisfaction after transitioning, even in the face of discrimination in healthcare and workplace settings(2). The 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) found that 94% of respondents felt more satisfied with their lives since transitioning(3).
• Higher Satisfaction in Life: Despite ongoing discrimination, harassment, and violence, trans people who transition experience higher satisfaction in life. Many also have supportive families, demonstrating resilience and positive outcomes(4).

Remember that these stories highlight the resilience, strength, and positive experiences of transgender individuals. 🌟 If you’d like to read more, you can find additional details in the provided sources(1, 2, 3, & 4)

(1) 10 trans people share how their life satisfaction has changed after transition

(2) Survey of over 90,000 trans people shows vast improvement in life satisfaction after transition

(3) Almost all trans people are more satisfied with life after transitioning, massive new study finds

(4) Biggest ever survey of trans Americans finds 94% happier after transition

 

Perplexity

The search results provide several examples of positive news and experiences for transgender people:

• Transgender people overwhelmingly describe their lives after transitioning as 'happier,' 'authentic' and 'comforting'(1). Transgender adults who started gender-affirming hormone therapy as teens had better mental health than those who waited until adulthood (2). Transgender visibility has increased dramatically in recent years, and many transgender people feel they can now live openly and receive support.
• Transgender youth who are allowed to freely express themselves are happier, healthier and grow into thriving adults(4). Participation in girls' sports has actually increased in states with transgender-inclusive policies(4). Detransition is rare, and is often the result of external factors rather than regret(4).

Overall, the search results highlight the positive impact of transition and gender-affirming care on the mental health and well-being of transgender people, as well as increased societal acceptance and support for the transgender community(1, 2, & 4).

(1) 10 trans people share how their life satisfaction has changed after transition
(2) Better mental health found among transgender people who started hormones as teens
(3) Transgender People
(4) Myths and Facts: Battling Disinformation About Transgender Rights

*****

So what are some of your positive news stories?