What About Me?

I don’t believe in organized religions but I have my own personal religious beliefs do they count?

Religious Freedom Arguments Underpin Wave of Challenges to Abortion Bans

In lawsuits challenging state abortion bans, lawyers for abortion rights plaintiffs are employing religious liberty arguments the Christian right has used for decades.

New York Times

By Pam Belluck

June 28, 2023

For years, conservative Christians have used the principle of religious freedom to prevail in legal battles on issues like contraceptive insurance mandates and pandemic restrictions. Now, abortion rights supporters are employing that argument to challenge one of the right’s most prized accomplishments: state bans on abortion.

In the year since Roe v. Wade was overturned, clergy and members of various religions, including Christian and Jewish denominations, have filed about 15 lawsuits in eight states, saying abortion bans and restrictions infringe on their faiths.

Many of those suing say that according to their religious beliefs, abortion should be allowed in at least some circumstances that the bans prohibit, and that the bans violate religious liberty guarantees and the separation of church and state. The suits, some seeking exemptions and others seeking to overturn the bans, often invoke state religious freedom restoration acts enacted and used by conservatives in some battles over social issues.

The lawsuits show “religious liberty doesn’t operate in one direction,” said Elizabeth Sepper, a law professor at University of Texas at Austin.

What about me? Does my beliefs count?

Some belief systems, including the United Church of Christ’s, support women making their own decisions in pregnancy. Some, including the Episcopal Church and many branches of Judaism have traditions that abortion should be supported in certain cases, especially where pregnancies threaten women’s physical or mental health or involve serious fetal abnormalities. Some faiths do not define life as beginning with conception.

The Indiana case was filed by Hoosier Jews for Choice, three Jewish women and a woman with independent spiritual beliefs. Judge Heather Welch of Marion County Superior Court has certified it as a class-action lawsuit on behalf of “all persons in Indiana whose religious beliefs direct them to obtain abortions in situations prohibited by” the ban.

It looks like one person has filed that it is against her personal beliefs.

Of course the Republicans only believe that their religious views only count.

The state has appealed, arguing that “‘abortion access’ is not religious exercise.” Like other states fighting such lawsuits, Indiana said it has a “compelling interest” to prohibit abortions.

“Plaintiffs identify no principle that makes abortion a religious act any more than countless other actions that they believe to affect their well-being,” Indiana’s attorney general wrote, adding, “Other acceptable means for plaintiffs to achieve such ends in the context of childbearing include sexual abstinence, contraceptives, IUDs and natural family planning, just to name a few.”

Gee they want it both ways!

They get up on the legislative floor arguing that it is against god and then in court argue that it is not religiously based.

The article didn’t address my concern, can a woman with independent spiritual beliefs also claim that the law violates her religious beliefs or do that have to be a member of an organized religion? If that have to be a member of an organized religion doesn’t that in it self “establish” a religious test that the Constitution bans?

Vindictive!

That is what it is! Nothing else but pure vindictiveness.

Kansas to force trans people to reverse gender markers on birth certificates and driving licences

A Kansas law will reverse gender markers on trans people’s birth certificates and driving licences, in a move deemed “disastrous” for those affected.

Pink News

By Chantelle Billson

June 28, 2023

On Monday (26 June), state attorney general Kris Kobach confirmed to reporters that the new law – Senate Bill 180 – which takes effect from 1 July, will legally erase trans people’s gender identities.

The Republican-controlled legislature enacted the law despite Democratic governor Laura Kelly vetoing it in April.

Kobach said the law will also force public schools to record students as the gender assigned at birth, regardless of whether teachers and staff recognise gender identities of trans and non-binary students.

The legislation, described by the Kansas Senate as a “women’s bill of rights,” defines “sex” as “either male or female at birth” in state law, with no alternative definition for individuals who identify as trans, non-binary, gender fluid, or gender-non-conforming.

In addition, trans people will be forced to use toilets and other single-sex spaces corresponding to the gender they were assigned at birth.

Republican representative Brenda Landwehr, who voted for the bill, said it would “protect women’s spaces currently reserved for women and men’s spaces currently reserved for men”.

Nothing but spitefulness. These Republicans have no empathy for others… this is politics at it worst. They just don’t care the harm they are doing.

Trans activist and journalist Erin Reed, whose partner is trans Montana lawmaker Zooey Zephyr, said of the new law: “Rolling back transgender people’s legal markers would be disastrous and fraught with difficulty.”

Reed said enforcing incorrect gender markers could lead trans people to experience heightened “harassment and abuse”.

No kidding! 

According to AP News, Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, a lawyer for Lambda Legal, said: “The attorney general must be off his rocker. This was a bunch of bombast by an attorney general engaging in politics.”

It is like the Republican states are in competition with other states to see who can come up with the most draconian laws. 

Right Here In River City (The Thames River)!

So it can’t happen here in Blue Connecticut, well guess again.

Signs from white supremacist group raise concerns in Ledyard

The Day

By Greg Smith

July 05, 2023

The appearance of signs promoting the white supremacist group Patriot Front here has sparked concern among residents and calls by some for a more vocal and unified response by town leaders against hate speech.

The signs showed up at the end of June on utility poles along Route 12 in Ledyard and Preston promoting the group’s website with seemingly innocuous and patriotic messages such as “Reclaim America,” and “Strong Families, Strong Nations.”

Contrary to the ambiguous messaging on the signs, the group’s members maintain that their ancestors -- white men -- conquered America and bequeathed it to them and no one else, said Stacey Sobel, the Connecticut regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.

She added the group is able to justify an ideology of hate and intolerance “under the guise of preserving the ethnic and cultural origins of its members’ European ancestors.”

I got a MAGA in my neighborhood.

To give you an idea what he is like when President Obama was still in office he had a big picture on his mailbox of the president being pissed on. Now he has flags out for the Trump 2024, a Let’s Go Brandon, and Tea Party’s Gadsden Flag.

The Ledyard Democratic Town Committee issued a statement on June 29 condemning the hate speech it said Patriot Front represents and chastising some town officials for not doing more.

“These signs, and the groups they represent, have no place in Ledyard,” the statement from the Democratic Town Committee Chairman Wendy Hellekson said.

[…]

“White supremacists and bigots of all types are unfortunately spreading their hate-filled message in Connecticut and nationwide,” CAIR-Connecticut Chair Farhan Memon said in the statement. “People of all backgrounds in our state must stand up against this and all forms of bigotry.”

No place is safe anymore from these thugs. They are the slime crawling out of the swamp after Trump opened the way for them.

 

DOA

Thanks to the Supreme Court this bill is dead on arrival. First off, the Supreme Court with their “Religious Freedom” ruling just invalidated all the non-discrimination laws with a huge hole in the laws. Second the bill is dead because of “intent” how are you going to prove that the person misgendered you on purpose?

Michigan House Passes Bill to Make Hurting Someone’s Feelings a Hate Crime

Maine Wire

By Edward Tomic

July 1, 2023

A bill recently passed by Michigan’s House of Representatives would make causing someone to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened based on their “gender identity or expression” a hate crime.

In Michigan, a hate crime is a felony punishable by imprisonment for up to two years or a fine up to $5,000, or both.

Instead of or in addition to imprisonment and fines for hurting someone’s feelings, if the defendant consents, a court could require the offender to complete a period of community service “intended to enhance the offender’s understanding of the impact of the offense upon the victim and the wider community.”

[…]

The proposed legislation states that if an individual “maliciously and intentionally” intimidates another individual based on any of the characteristics listed below, they would be guilty of a felony hate crime.

And suppose they claim that they were following their religious beliefs to hate someone?

Misgendering is already prohibited under California state law in some cases. In February of this year Shake Shack was ordered to pay a former employee $20,000 after he was repeatedly misgendered by co-workers.

“California law prohibits intentional misgendering in the workplace,” said CA Civil Rights Department Director Kevin Kish in a statement after the settlement. “Intentional misgendering and other forms of discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression can be stressful and traumatic.”

But saying the magic words will get you out of jail.

Their hearts are in the right place in passing these bills but the laws run a muck of the Trump’s Supreme Court.

A+ for passing the bills.

D- for timing.

Lies!

Clipart library.com

But what else do you expect from the Republicans like Rep. Greene and the right-wing media?

Philadelphia shooting suspect isn't trans, officials say, but speculation continues

An adviser to the district attorney’s office addressed the speculation Wednesday, saying the suspect hasn’t “identified themselves as trans,” only as male.

NBC News

By Matt Lavietes and Jo Yurcaba

July 5, 2023

Less than 24 hours after Monday’s mass shooting in Philadelphia, in which a gunman dressed in a ski mask and body armor killed five people and injured two children, right-wing pockets of social media were exploding with speculation about the suspect’s gender identity. 

Among those fueling the speculation was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., who has been repeatedly criticized for amplifying conspiracy theories and anti-LGBTQ sentiments. On Tuesday, Greene tweeted a link to an article by the right-wing media outlet The Post Millennial that includes an image from the suspect’s Facebook page that appears to show him wearing women’s clothing and jewelry.

“Another trans shooter,” Greene declared in the tweet, which had been viewed more than 853,000 times as of Wednesday night.

Then the right-wing media lined up like little ducks in a row,

About an hour after Greene weighed in, conservative commentator Rogan O’Handley, who has over 945,000 followers on Twitter, shared the same article, which does not identify the suspect as transgender or speculate about his gender identity. 

“Time to start having a national dialogue on Trans mass shooters that target children,” O’Handley wrote, in part.

Quack, quack, quack…

On Wednesday, Secure America Now, a conservative nonprofit group with 3 million Facebook followers, wrote on the platform that the suspect had been “revealed to be a trans” Black Lives Matter activist. A representative for the group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Robby Starbuck, a former Republican congressional candidate in Tennessee and ex-Hollywood music video producer who has more than 340,000 Twitter followers, also joined in, declaring that the shooter is transgender.

Little ducks in a row.

The right-wing media is stirring up hostility against us and their rhetoric is getting hostile! So of the comments on Yahoo article about this are;

• Wait....the news shows the shooter literally wearing a bra and dressed like a woman. And we just aren't supposed to believe our eyes? Gaslighting at its worst.
• Just like Nashville, Colorado Springs, and now Philadelphia the Media is working overtime to make sure suspects are not labeled as LGBTQ even though the facts say otherwise...... Reporters will not ask questions, and will move along as they are told to let the story fade away.
• lots of Antifa are trans too.  Something to watch
• 100% trans but the fake news has to spin it because it doesn't align with their fake news brainwashing of America..

The right-wing media is getting their little ducks marching and quacking to their drumbeat!

Meanwhile the officers are denying that the shooter is trans but the right-wing media is pooh-poohing that saying that it is fake news of the left.

While he acknowledged the social media images that appear to show Carriker wearing women’s clothing and jewelry, Asa Khalif, a member of the LGBTQ advisory committee for the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, condemned the “violent” language coming from the “conservative press” about Carriker’s gender identity and shared what the district attorney’s office knows firsthand about Carriker’s gender identity.

“The suspect has not identified themselves as trans. They have only identified themselves as male,” Khalif said at Wednesday’s news conference. “But the language spewed out by the conservative press is violent and is dangerous, and it’s targeting trans women of color. It’s rallying the community to be violent, and we’re better than that.” 

Khalif condemned those who label trans people as “killers.”

[…]

District Attorney Larry Krasner expressed similar sentiments.

“There are some people for whom hate is a full-time job,” Krasner said. “And if they can stay away from the facts and talk about nonsense, that’s what they’re going to do.”

But the quackers want to stir up the animosity against us… they want to make us the villains as they push their anti-LGBTQ+ virulence and spread their lies.

What does the mainstream media have to say?

Mass Shooting in Philadelphia: What to Know

An assailant dressed in a ski mask and body armor killed five people and injured two others, the authorities said, in what officials are treating as a random attack.

New York Times

By Sarah Mervosh

July 5, 2023

An attacker using a military-style rifle killed five people and injured two children during a shooting spree in a Philadelphia neighborhood on Monday, firing shots on the open street and bringing terror to passers-by before being caught by the police. Officials said they are treating the shooting as a random attack.

[...]

Who is the suspect?

The suspect, Kimbrady Carriker, 40, was arraigned on Wednesday morning on more than 30 counts, including murder, attempted murder, assault and reckless endangerment.

There was some confusion initially about Mr. Carriker’s gender identity, and in a news conference on Tuesday, authorities used the pronouns “they/them” to describe him. But on Wednesday, officials from the district attorney’s office said they had no information indicating that the suspect considered himself anything but male.

The authorities were working to piece together what might have prompted the attack.

But that didn’t stop the right-wingers their propaganda man chime is “cranked up to high.” They smell blood!

But recently, prosectors said, Mr. Carriker had been “exhibiting abnormal behavior” and “getting more and more agitated,” even wearing his bulletproof vest around the house. He also posted to social media about being followed by evil spirits, alongside articles about efforts to address gun violence in Philadelphia. One resident in the neighborhood said that only days earlier, Mr. Carriker had introduced himself as a “town watchman.”

Upon his arrest, Mr. Carriker was found with an AR-15-style rifle and a so-called ghost gun, made from untraceable parts, which was not used in the attack, the authorities said. Other guns were found at his home.

What was Fox News response to the DA comments… lies, lies, and more lies. Their headline says it all.

Progressive Philadelphia DA unleashes on Republicans after latest mass shooting: 'Against your safety'

Krasner, whose controversial crime policies led to his impeachment last year, criticized AR-15 lapel pins after a Philadelphia gunman killed 5 people Monday

By Andrea Vacchiano

July 5, 2023

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner blasted Republican legislators during a post-mass shooting press conference Tuesday, insisting that they are "against [voters'] safety."

On Monday night, a gunman opened fire in the Kingsessing section of southwest Philadelphia, killing five people and injuring several more. Multiple children were injured by the gunfire, including a 2-year-old who was shot four times in the legs.

The suspected gunman, a 40-year-old man, was reportedly wearing a ballistic vest and had an "AR-type rifle," along with multiple magazines. He was apprehended by police and faces several counts of murder, aggravated assault and felony weapons charges.

[…]

The district attorney then took aim at Republicans who have recently worn AR-15 lapel pins. Some politicians, such as Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) have worn the lapel as a sign of support for the Second Amendment.

"It is time for everybody and our legislature, including the ones who would like to walk around with an AR-15 lapel pin," Krasner said. "It is time for every one of them to face the voters."

"And if they're not going to do something, then voters are going to have to vote them out because that's what that lapel pin means. It means 'Vote me out. I am against you, and I'm against your safety.'"

And the right-wing media is playing up to the hilt to get their little ducks in a row. Quack, Quack. Quack.

---

The left-wing media is saying...

The Far Right Is Already Using the Philadelphia Shooting to Smear Trans People

There’s no evidence the suspect was trans, and he posted repeatedly about his pro-gun stance and his support for former president Donald Trump.
Vice

By David Gilbert

July 5, 2023

[…]

Even before law enforcement officials named the suspect as Kimbrady Carriker on Wednesday morning, Republican lawmakers and members of the far right were falsely claiming the suspect is transgender, and are using this as part of their broader attack on the LGBTQ+ community.

[…]

The suspect is a 40-year-old IT professional who lives in the neighborhood. On his now-deleted Facebook page, reviewed by VICE News, he posted repeatedly about his second amendment rights, his pro-gun stance, his support for former president Donald Trump, and his disdain for President Joe Biden.

But members of the far right have jumped on a handful of pictures, posted on the account three months ago, that show the suspect with long braided hair and wearing women’s clothing. These images were enough for Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to conclusively state: “Another trans shooter,” citing an article published in the far-right conspiracy blog the Post Millennial.

Quack, quack, quack… got to line up those ducks so they are quacking the same story. Lying through their teeth.

Members of the far right also jumped on a single image of a clenched fist on the suspect’s Facebook page to claim the suspect “has been identified as a Trans/BLM activist,” even though there is no evidence beyond the single picture to suggest they were an activist.

But in reality…

A review of the suspect’s Facebook account by VICE News suggests he was more concerned about stopping gun control legislation than about Black Lives Matter.

“This y’all president,” the suspect wrote under a video of Biden. “We said 2A defends our rights. Now its god save the queen while he attempts to take our arms,” referencing a recent gun safety speech the president gave which he ended by saying, “God save the queen.”In another post with a link to a video about Biden pushing gun control measures, he wrote: “I told you he wanted your rights. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN SAYS BIDEN.”

[…]

The suspect was also posted repeatedly about Trump. In May, he shared a post entitled: “Who supports Trump in 2024,” which featured an American flag emblazoned with the words “God, Guns & Trump.”

This is not the first time the right-wing media has push those same lies that the Nashville shooter was trans. When they smell blood they attack with their propaganda little a mad dog. 

But the right-wing media is running with that he is trans and a backer of BLM. Quack, quack, quack...

It Is Never Easy…

And it is even harder when you are in the public spotlight!

Former YouTuber and ‘Glamorous’ star Miss Benny comes out as transgender

Miss Benny's transition inspired her "Glamorous" storyline.

NBC Today

By Elena Nicolaou

June 26, 2023

Former YouTube creator and "Glamorous" star Miss Benny came out as transgender in an essay for Time.

Miss Benny, in the essay, says she has been "privately living" as a transgender woman "for the last few years."

“I’m a proud person, but admittedly it’s still a bit daunting to say those words publicly," she wrote in the essay. "Let’s just say I’m one of those girls who grew up in a religious Texas household where queerness was totally not the vibe.”

[…]

In the essay, Miss Benny explained how her gender identity affected her career path — which began with moving to Los Angeles at 14 to "get out of Texas," "establish (her) own identity," and "make a career as an actor."

Instead, she says she "endured rejection" in auditions and "entered relationships where my femininity was subject for negotiation." The effect was "learning to quiet the colorful parts of (herself)."

There is no easy way to come out but it is even harder if you are in the public spotlight.

Look at Chaz Bono, Jamie Lee Curtis daughter Ruby, and Warren Beatty son Stephen, they all were in the spotlight making there transition hard. But one thing that helped them… parental support!

It Is A Well Oiled Political Machine.

Thomas Nast (1840-1902). Two Great Questions. 1871.
Museum of the City of New York.

All these anti-LGBTQ+ laws are coming out of a well oiled political machine that are interconnected.

Republican executive blogged about ‘conversion therapy’ for extremist group

Mark Trammell wrote posts in 2013 and 2014 for Liberty Counsel, a far-right group on a ‘crusade to strip LGBTQ people of their rights’

The Guardian

By Jason Wilson

June 27, 2023

The executive director of a Republican-linked nonprofit wrote blog posts for an extremist organization in which he advocated so-called “conversion therapy”, the supremacy of biblical rules on marriage over “man-made law”, and expressed a general theocratic view that divine law as interpreted by US evangelical Christians trumps secular law.

The since-deleted posts by Mark Trammell – now executive director of the self-styled civil rights group Center for American Liberty (CAL) – were written for Liberty Counsel, dubbed an anti-LGBTQ+ extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its work “to ensure that Christians can continue to engage in anti-LGBT discrimination in places of business under the guise of ‘religious liberty’”.

The Guardian has previously reported on the financial relationship between CAL and CEO Harmeet Dhillon’s law firm, which a nonprofit expert described as “problematic”, and the lack of transparency in the nonprofit’s arrangements with a PR firm.

But CAL’s extremist links, and other CAL attorneys links to groups like the Proud Boys and the Claremont Institute, raise questions about the organization’s recent pivot to suits that seek to limit transgender rights.

Round and round where it stops nobody knows.

In a September 2013 post, Trammell complained about laws passed in California in 2012 and New Jersey in 2013 that were the first in the country to ban so-called “conversion therapy” or “reparative therapy”, a scientifically discredited practice whose practitioners falsely claim to be able to change the sexual orientation of same-sex attracted people.

In the post, Trammell wrote: “In both California and New Jersey, by statute, licensed physicians are not permitted to provide reparative therapy to minors, under the age of 18, who struggle with an unwanted same-sex attraction and who desire such reparative therapy.”

He continued: “This restriction on therapy is a viewpoint-based content restriction aimed at silencing Christian views on human sexuality.”

STOP RIGHT THERE!

In each and every one of the laws banning conversion therapy there is an exemption for clergy, it seems like these holier than thou Christians have no qualm about bearing false witness.

What we have is a reaction to these so called Christians ramming their religious beliefs down our throats!

Further on in the post, Trammell continued his advocacy of theocracy, writing: “For one to state that the Tenth Amendment reserves the authority for states to define marriage according to the will of the citizens of that state is to say that the Constitution had authority over the Natural Law. Such a conclusion is contrary to the essence of the Natural Law and is contrary to Scripture.”

According to the New York Times article, in Texas they tried to pass…

A push to inject religion into public schools across Texas faltered on Tuesday after the State House failed to pass a contentious bill that would have required the Ten Commandments to be displayed prominently in every classroom.

The measure was part of an effort by conservative Republicans in the Legislature to expand the reach of religion into the daily life of public schools. In recent weeks, both chambers passed versions of a bill to allow school districts to hire religious chaplains in place of licensed counselors.

[…]

The Texas bill on displaying the Ten Commandments resembled another bill, passed in 2021 during the last legislative session, that required public schools to accept and display donated posters bearing the motto “In God We Trust.” Patriot Mobile, a conservative Christian cellphone company outside of Fort Worth, was among the first to make such donations after the bill’s passage.

All of these bills are an attempt to appease the Evangelical Christian base to make the United States a “Christian” nation. The Guardian goes on to write;

Except for brief stints as a congressional intern and a county-level law clerk, Trammell has spent his entire career working for a string of rightwing organizations. They include Young America’s Foundation (YAF), where as assistant general counsel he secured Dhillon’s services in suing UC Berkeley over the university’s cancellation of a speech by conservative firebrand Ann Coulter in 2017.

Much of his early career, however, was spent in the service of organizations that are directly affiliated or historically connected to Liberty University, an institution founded by rightwing Baptist televangelist Jerry Falwell in 1971.

Don’t forget he is the head of the nonprofit with close ties to the Republican party.

Dhillon, meanwhile, has spread baseless conspiracy theories about the attack on Paul Pelosi last October, joined election-denying legal efforts by Donald Trump and Kari Lake, and has been acting for far-right media figure Tucker Carlson since his ouster from Fox News.

The Republicans are like Medusa with a head full of snakes.

---

“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.*”

That we are in fascist Germany in the 1930s.

Kansas GOP wants to kick minorities out of party leadership? Absolutely asinine 

The Wichita Eagle

Commentary by John Whitmer

June 27, 2023

I can no longer remain silent.

The idea proposed by the Kansas Republican Party’s rules committee to remove minority representation from party leadership is just asinine. It’s wrong, and it’s counterproductive. 

As Republicans, we should elevating all voices who share our values and principles, especially minority voices. The rules committee claims the change is being offered in an effort to align with the national GOP, and that the effort would streamline the party to better align it with national Republican Party rules.

The problem is that the current system is working just fine. The Kansas GOP is a big tent party, as evidenced by the inclusion of these very groups.

Removing them might be streamlining, but it’s not smart.

Ousting minority voices and elected officials who have won important elections is ill-conceived, lacks justification and shocks the conscience. It furthers division and discord and sends the wrong message at the very moment we need to be unifying, growing and working together on behalf of our candidates in 2023 and 2024.

[…]

Chairman, now is your time to lead. If you do not take action to end this, Republicans in Kansas should take action to remove you and replace you with someone who will.

But… but… isn’t that what the national party does? How many Republican Blacks are in Congress? How many Republican Latinx are in Congress? How many Republican women are in Congress?**

---

* The Wizard of Oz.

** The Republicans have 19 members that are minorities in Congress out of 211 members.

Running From Oppression!

[Editorial]

In Uganda LGBTQ+ people are fleeing because of the possible death sentence for being LGBTQ+.

Uganda passed one of the world’s harshest anti-gay laws. LGBTQ people describe living there as ‘hell’

CNN

By Larry Madowo and Bethlehem Feleke

June 29, 2023

In between leading Sunday services at All Saints’ Cathedral in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, Rev. Canon John Awodi declares vehemently that “homosexuality is a sin that must be repented of,” adding that it is against the “order of God.”

“Homosexuality is not natural, it is unnatural. That is the stand of the church here. It is unbiblical, it is unnatural,” the Anglican cleric told CNN.

These themes have become a common thread in his sermons and interviews, especially since Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act was signed into law last month.

The act outlaws gay marriage in Uganda, punishes same-sex acts with life imprisonment, and calls for the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” – which includes sex with a minor or otherwise vulnerable person, having sex while HIV positive and incest.

***

A “Go Fund Me” page was created to help pay moving expenses so far they have raised over $60,000 to help defray the cost.

The family write on the “Go Fund Me” page that the government sent...

“... investigate medical treatments for transgender adolescents—​such as puberty blockers and hormones—as child abuse, The letter asserts that there are reporting requirements for ‘all licensed professionals who have direct contact with children who may be subject to such abuse, including doctors, nurses, and teachers, and that a failure to report merits criminal penalties.’”

Oh… wait. Did I mention that this wasn’t Uganda but Texas?

That the family in question has a trans son and have fled Texas. The latest post said,

April 2, 2023

Another update, we are moving! Still in Connecticut, but our first place in CT was temporary to give us time to find a place that is a good fit for us. Thanks to every one of y’all, the GFM lasted exactly long enough to cover moving costs, furnish our little apartment, and cushion the monthly expenses here through the end of the lease while we searched for housing within my budget. I can never thank y’all adequately for how you’ve helped us. Watching the Texas legislative session has reminded me daily how much I needed you to help me protect Kai and you showed up and made it happen.

On this Fourth of July, does this sound like America? Where we have political refugees? Where people have to flee from where they grew up because they could be jailed just for being the way they were born? Or does it sound like Uganda?

[/Editorial]

The 4th Of 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 and watch the fireworks tonight!

The fireworks has begun down the street.

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.

Depending upon the weather I’m going to try and find a spot to watch the Provincetown fireworks show.

Weather permitting I am doing BBQ short ribs on the grill with potato salad and baked beans, what are you having? 

Shakers & Movers

They are usually the quite ones working in the background. When I was in grad school one of my classes talked about Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and one of the things that Alinsky talked about was the inside and outside games. 

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. "The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.

What they mean when they say an outside game is the protesters on the street, the letters-to-the-editor, the grassroots lobbying, and the door-to-door campaigns versus the inside campaigns of politicians and government officials. They are both important!

The quiet force behind Joe Biden’s push to defend transgender rights

Sarah McBride, the nation’s first transgender state lawmaker, has been a major force in forging the president’s worldview of LGBTQ rights.

Politico

By Myah Ward

July 4, 2023

Speaking before the largest Pride celebration in White House history this month, President Joe Biden looked out at the crowd and marveled at the people in front of him. He recognized “leaders across our administration,” like Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, and took time to acknowledge his ambassador to Switzerland, Scott Miller, among other LGBTQ luminaries.

Along the way, Biden dropped another name, of a relatively obscure Delaware state senator.

“I am proud,” Biden said, “that back home in Delaware [we have] the first transgender state legislator in American history, Sarah McBride.”

Five days later, at the signing of an executive order “advancing protections for LGBTQI+ Individuals,” Biden mentioned McBride again. “Sarah,” he said, “you’re — wonderful to see you, kiddo.”

[…]

McBride’s close ties with the Biden family date back over 15 years. Last week, the country’s first transgender state senator announced she’s running for Delaware’s open House seat, in a bid that could make her the first openly transgender member of the U.S. Congress.

That is what is called the “inside game”

Young activists lead SF protest against anti-trans laws

KGO ABC &

ByTara Campbell

June 12, 2023

[…]

Elsewhere in the city, young voices were saying enough is enough.

Sixteen-year-old transgender activist Hope led the march down Market Street to San Francisco City Hall.

"It really scares me for the future, because I know that there has been times in history where it just starts out with state bills, and then it goes to a national level," Hope said.

"What's going on in this country right now is actually kind of terrifying," Sol, another activist, said.

[…]

"We can't be silenced," activist Abby said. "We are not going to just let them take away our rights even if they're in another place, even if they're not right here. We're going to fight for them."

That is what is called the “outside game” and both are important!

We need people like Sarah McBride working from within the “system” to bring about change because with people like Rep. McBride and HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine shaping the changes and building allies in government. While those like the Abby are keeping our message in the spotlight.

I look back at the 2007 – 2011 time frame and how we worked the inside and outside games. I look at politicians like the co-chairs on the Judaical Committee Sen. Andrew J. McDonald and Rep. Mike Lawlor and Gov. Malloy who are strong allies of the trans community (I met them at a fundraiser for GenderPAC in 2005). Had the inside game while the ADC (Anti-Discrimination Coalition) had the outside game. They organized “Town-hall” meetings around the state, lobby days, letters-to-the-editor campaigns, media interviews, and kept the spotlight on the bills.

And now we have to do it again and we cannot forget the inside and outside push. We cannot sit around on our thumbs but we need to breakout the protest signs and start marching!

Connecticut Reaction.

Being a Blue state with a similar law as Colorado’s non-discrimination law Connecticut had its law nullified by the Supreme Court’s decision.

Connecticut Officials Decry Supreme Court Ruling in Colorado LGBTQ Rights Case

CT News Junkie

By Hugh McQuaid

June 30, 2023

State officials denounced on Friday a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing a graphic designer to refuse business from LGBTQ couples. The decision against a Colorado anti-discrimination law could have consequences for a similar statute in Connecticut.

[...]

“Today’s decision by the Supreme Court of the United States continues the systemic discrimination that LGBTQ+ people in Connecticut and beyond have been routinely subjected to throughout human existence, which is exclusion from an equal and safe opportunity to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” said Reps. Jeff Currey, D-East Hartford, Raghib Allie-Brennan, D-Bethel, Dominique Johnson, D-Norwalk, and Marcus Brown, D-Bridgeport.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong was among a group of attorneys general to submit an amicus brief in defense of the Colorado law. On Friday, Tong called the decision “wrong and hurtful” and accused the high court of striking down fundamental protections for American citizens.

The governor said…

“I think it’s very disappointing,” Lamont said of the ruling. “How many private businesses will they allow to deny service because they don’t like your sexual orientation, race, color, creed? I think that’s contrary to the America that I know.”

This is really going to bite the Supreme Court in the ass. They are so focused in the animosity against all things LGBTQ+ that they lost the big picture.

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Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the minority’s opinion…

Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class. Specifically, the Court holds that the First Amendment exempts a website design company from a state law that prohibits the company from denying wedding websites to same-sex couples if the company chooses to sell those websites to the public. The Court also holds that the company has a right to post a notice that says, “‘no [wedding websites] will be sold if they will be used for gay marriages.’”

[…]

...When the civil rights and women’s rights movements sought equality in public life, some public establishments refused. Some even claimed, based on sincere religious beliefs, constitutional rights to discriminate. The brave Justices who once sat on this Court decisively rejected those claims. Now the Court faces a similar test. A business open to the public seeks to deny gay and lesbian customers the full and equal enjoyment of its services based on the owner’s religious belief that same-sex marriages are “false.” The business argues, and a majority of the Court agrees, that because the business offers services that are customized and expressive, the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment shields the business from a generally applicable law that prohibits discrimination in the sale of publicly available goods and services. That is wrong. Profoundly wrong...  Our Constitution contains no right to refuse service to a disfavored group. I dissent. 

A “public accommodations law” is a law that guarantees to every person the full and equal enjoyment of places of public accommodation without unjust discrimination. …  All but five States have analogous laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of these and other traits, such as age, sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity. And numerous local laws offer similar protections.

The Accommodation Clause does not apply to any “church, synagogue, mosque, or other place that is principally used for religious purposes.”

[…]

Not only have public accommodations laws expanded to recognize more forms of unjust discrimination, such as discrimination based on race, sex, and disability, such laws have also expanded to include more goods and services as “public accommodations.”

[…]

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, no less than anyone else, deserve that dignity and freedom. The movement for LGBT rights, and the resulting expansion of state and local laws to secure gender and sexual minorities’ full and equal enjoyment of publicly available goods and services, is the latest chapter of this great American story.

She goes on to provide examples of what she discussed and also that this very same question was before the court before and found that it didn’t violate the First Amendment ... in which the owner of a chain of drive-in establishments asserted that requiring him to “contribut[e]” to racial integration in any way violated the First Amendment by interfering with his religious liberty

[…]

Last but not least is Runyon v. McCrary, 427 U. S. 160 (1976), a case the majority studiously avoids. In Runyon, the Court confronted the question whether “commercially operated” schools had a First Amendment right to exclude Black children, notwithstanding a federal law against racial discrimination in contracting … The Court, however, reasoned that the schools’ “practice” of denying educational services to racial minorities was not shielded by the First Amendment, for two reasons: First, “the Constitution places no value on discrimination.” 427 U. S., at 176 (alterations and internal quotations marks omitted). Second, the government’s regulation of conduct did not “inhibit” the schools’ ability to teach its preferred “ideas or dogma.” 

This was a designer case, the plaintiff’s attorneys created their case base on previous rulings by the Supreme Court and created a “What if” scenario.

Again, Smith’s company has never sold a wedding website to any customer. Colorado, therefore, has never had to enforce its antidiscrimination laws against the company. As the majority puts it, however, Smith “worries that, if she enters the wedding website business, the State will force her to convey messages inconsistent with her belief that marriage should be reserved to unions between one man and one woman.”

[…]

The breadth of petitioners’ pre-enforcement challenge is astounding. According to Smith, the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment entitles her company to refuse to sell any “websites for same-sex weddings,” even though the company plans to offer wedding websites to the general public. Ibid.; see also Brief for Petitioners 22–23, and n. 2; Tr. of Oral Arg. 37–38. In other words, the company claims a categorical exemption from a public accommodations law simply because the company sells expressive services. The sweeping nature of this claim should have led this Court to reject it. 

B

The First Amendment does not entitle petitioners to a special exemption from a state law that simply requires them to serve all members of the public on equal terms.

Since the state never issued and injunction there was no injury in the legal sense and she wanted a blanket “Get out of Jail Free” card.

Recall that Smith wants to post a notice on her company’s homepage that the company will refuse to sell any website for a samesex couple’s wedding. This Court, however, has already said that “a ban on race-based hiring may require employers to remove ‘White Applicants Only’ signs.”

[…]

The Court reaches the wrong answer in this case because it asks the wrong questions. The question is not whether the company’s products include “elements of speech.” … Because Colorado seeks to apply CADA only to the refusal to provide same-sex couples the full and equal enjoyment of the company’s publicly available services, so that the company’s speech “is only ‘compelled’ if, and to the extent,” the company chooses to offer “such speech” to the public, any burden on speech is “plainly incidental” to a content-neutral regulation of conduct.

In other words, she could post the refusing to do “websites for same-sex weddings” wouldn’t be a violation of Colorado law only if she refused to do the website. Once again there needs to be an injured party to the case. Either the person or persons she refused to do the website for or when the state acted upon the discrimination.

This whole case was a set-up to spoon feed the Supreme Court.

So what is going to bite them? The same argument can be used to refuse services to Blacks or Jews or Muslims, or unmarried mothers, or on and on whatever form of discrimination you want just by speaking the magic words… “It is against my religious beliefs”.

To me this seems like a manipulation of our legal system.

Set up, like a bowlin' pin

Knocked down, it gets to wearin' thin

They just won't let you be, oh no

“Truckin” by Jerry Garcia, Phil Lesh, Bob Weir and Robert Hunter

Tongue Tied

Republicans talk out of both sides of their mouths and they don’t see the hypocrisy in it. They call for one thing when it is in their favor and ignore it when it is not.

Mike Pence left stammering when CNN host points out his hypocrisy on trans youth

Pence could barely put two words together before he changed the subject.

LGBTQ Nation

By Alex Bollinger

June 8, 2023

GOP presidential candidate Mike Pence could hardly respond when a CNN reporter pointed out his hypocrisy on LGBTQ+ issues. Pence argued that parental rights are paramount in one instance and then argued against parental rights when it comes to gender-affirming care.

CNN held a town hall event for Pence last night – the same kind of event that has gotten CNN criticized for not properly fact-checking the GOP presidential candidates as they speak in front of a hand-selected and very friendly audience – and he railed against gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

“We’re gonna protect kids from the radical gender ideology and say no chemical or surgical gender transition before you’re 18, period,” he said, getting applause from the conservative audience.

Host Dana Bash pushed back: “I just want to be clear on this because you are so adamant about parents’ rights.”

“Right, I am,” Pence responded.

But, but only when it is in their favor, they talk out of the other side of their mouths in the next sentence. However, they are blind to it even when pointed out to them.

“But in this particular case, parents who say, along with the doctors, that what is best for their kids, what their kids feel most comfortable with doing, is gender transition,” Bash said. “The parents should not be allowed to do that?”

Pence did not appear to have a response ready for this fairly obvious question.

“Right, look, I, I, look… The, the s- state has the obligation to see to the safety and health and well-being of the people in the state,” he said, even though Pence adamantly opposes safety measures like vaccine mandates, which do a lot more to keep people safe than focusing on transgender youth. “And I accept that. Look, yet… I, I take your point, I take your point….”

Come on spit it out! Gears start smoking and slipping I… I… I… “That does not compute, Will Robinson!” Buzzit buzzit.

Bash insisted that she wasn’t making a point, “It’s a question,” as Pence continued to stammer.

“Well, I, I, look, this… Well we have afoot in America that is a radical gender ideology that has taken hold in our schools, that has taken hold in our universities, it is afoot across the nation….” Pence responded, trying to talk about anything other than the inconvenient fact that many parents of transgender kids support their children.

They don’t see it with book bannings, that it should be the parent that decides and not the government!

They don’t see it with banning abortions, that it should be the woman who decides not the government.

They don’t see it with banning drag queens, that it should be the parent who decides to take a child to a book reading by a drag queen not the government. They do it in a “R” rated movie why not to a drag show? It is simple... it goes against the Republican talking points.

Talking point #1 "We push "parental rights" that it should be the parents who have a right in what gets taught to their child."

Talking point #2 "We have to look out for the children and not allow them to do what is medically necessary."

They just don't see that the two are mutually exclusive. You can't have it both ways!

“Parental rights” have been used in the past several years to attack LGBTQ+ equality, with anti-LGBTQ+ bills often being named after parental rights. Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law was officially named the “Parental Rights in Education” law. Anti-LGBTQ+ activists often style themselves as parents’ rights activists since they believe that parents have a right to prevent their children from knowing that LGBTQ+ people exist, and they simply assume that all parents agree with them.

They don’t see the hypocrisy in it. But then that is typical when you follow political ideology your followers are mindless automatons.

I doubt it were much that Pence when home and thought about it, "Am I doing that?"

The upcoming Republican primary may see more sensationalized stories about transgender individuals, signaling a shift in political strategy towards targeting the rights and humanity of transgender people.

They are getting a lot of mileage in attacking us.

What Were They Thinking Of?

In this day of increase violence against the Supreme Court throws in a monkey wrench!

Supreme Court makes it more difficult to convict someone of making a threat

AP News

By Jessica Gresko

June 27, 2023

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to make it more difficult to convict a person of making a violent threat, including against the president or other elected officials.

The Biden administration had warned that the internet and social media have expanded the number and kinds of threats in recent years, including online harassment, intimidation and stalking. And they warned the case could affect the ability to prosecute threats against public officials, which have increased in recent years.

The high court was ruling in a case that involves a man who was sentenced to more than four years in prison in Colorado for sending threatening Facebook messages. The man’s lawyers had argued that he suffers from mental illness and never intended his messages to be threatening.

The question for the court was whether prosecutors must show that a person being prosecuted for making a threat knew their behavior was threatening or whether prosecutors just have to prove that a reasonable person would see it as threatening.

So as a member of the community receiving the threats… this sucks!

You pick up the phone or you open your email and there is a threat to your life. You have to go on the assumption that it is for real. You are frighten stiff! It scares the s**t out of you! You don’t know what to do, you call the police and they have to take it for a real threat.

“Threats of violence against public officials in particular have proliferated in recent years, including threats against Members of Congress, judges, local officials, and election workers,” the Biden administration had noted, saying the case could affect prosecutions in those cases.

One of the things that I have learned is that the bias crime laws don’t kick in until a threat is made. They can say anything but until they make a threat it is not a bias crime… now that just became obsolete. They have to be in their “right mind” for it to be a legitimate threat.

Speech of all kinds is generally protected by the free speech clause in the Constitution’s First Amendment but so-called “true threats” are an exception.

Now… now that isn’t true anymore.

We worry that the guy making the call or emailing us is crazy, that he will act out on the threats.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, whose office prosecuted Counterman, said in a statement that the decision will make it “more difficult to stop stalkers from tormenting their victims.”

What about the target of the threats don't we have rights? To live without fear and worry? 

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The hand picked court with a hand picked case.

Supreme Court 303 Creative decision distorts religious freedom. We are no longer equal.

This case was entirely theoretical. The only human presence in the case was the business owner. For us, it was never about a cake – or a website. It's about equality.

USA Today

By Charlie Craig and David Mullins Opinion contributors

June 30, 2023

The Supreme Court’s decision Friday in the 303 Creative case greenlights discrimination in spite of civil rights laws. It brought back difficult memories for us.

In 2018, we were walking up the court’s marble steps hoping the justices would uphold Colorado’s anti-discrimination law that protects LGBTQ+ individuals by providing equal access to public accommodations.

In 2012, we were denied service at a Colorado bakery simply for being two men who wanted a wedding cake. We were not turned away because of any special design or unusual request – once the owner knew the cake was for us, the conversation was over. And our case began.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court made a very narrow ruling in our case, leaving the big legal question – the religious license to discriminate – unanswered. Since then, we have considered it our responsibility to publicly share our story and our love for each other by putting human faces to the harm caused to LGTBQ+ individuals who are denied equal access to public accommodations.

So they designed a case to be reheard by the Supreme Court because in the 2018 Ruth Bader Ginsburg was still on the court. But now they had a could they dreamed of and they created a case just for the new court.

ADF manufactured the 303 Creative case as something of a legal do-over with one notable distinction: There are no pesky gay people involved who can personalize the harms of discrimination. And that’s purely by design, because there was no injury caused to anyone in this new, somewhat made-up case. It involves one business owner and her fear that “if” she were to design websites for engaged couples, then she “might” have to design one for a gay couple. 

---

The results of the ruling will be felt far and wide!

How Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ wedding website impacts Tennesseans

Nashville Tennessean

By Angele Latham and Liam Adams

June 30, 2023

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday in favor of a Colorado website designer and upheld that expressive speech was not subject to anti-discrimination laws — allowing some businesses to restrict services to the public based on religious beliefs.

The 6-3 decision affirmed that Lorie Smith, a website designer and owner of 303 Creative, can refuse her wedding website services to LGBTQ people based on her religious beliefs.

[…]

Justice Sonya Sotomayor penned the passionate dissent, calling the decision a slippery slope and a "threat to Balkanize the market and allow the exclusion of other groups from many services."

"How quickly we forget that opposition to interracial marriage was often because 'Almighty God' did not intend for races to mix," she said. "Yet the reason for discrimination need not even be religious, as this case arises under the Free Speech Clause. A stationer could refuse to sell a birth announcement for a disabled couple because she opposes their having a child. A large retail store could reserve its family portrait services for 'traditional' families. And so on."

How long before we see signs out saying... "We Don't Serve Blacks"? or "No Jews Allowed"? or No Single Allowed"?

Sotomayor stated that the court was "asking the wrong questions" in the case, because "the law in question targets conduct — not speech — for regulation, and the act of discrimination has never constituted protected expression under the First Amendment. Our Constitution contains no right to refuse service to a disfavored group."

Justice Sotomayor is right, they focused just on one small part of the Constitution and ignored the whole Constitution.

And this ruling will affect Connecticut non-discrimination laws. They just went out the window!

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And it was all done on a lie! There was no man asking about a gay wedding cake... it was designer case. 

It was all planned out! It had all the trigger points but none of it was real.

Colorado web designer told Supreme Court a man sought her services for his same-sex wedding. He says he didn’t – and he’s straight

CNN

By Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand

June 30, 2023

The Colorado web designer who wanted to refuse LGBTQ customers and just won her case at the Supreme Court had claimed in court filings that a man inquired about her services for his same-sex wedding.

But the man says he never reached out to Lorie Smith, the web designer who argued at the Supreme Court that she shouldn’t be forced to create same-sex wedding websites because of her religious objections. In fact, the man says he’s straight and married to a woman.

The man was identified as “Stewart” in court filings and as someone who requested graphic designs for invitations and other materials for a same-sex wedding with his fiancé, Mike. CNN contacted Stewart through information in court filings. He asked for his last name, which is not in the filing, not to be used.

In an interview with CNN Friday, Stewart said that he “did not submit a request” to the company, 303 Creative, and is a “happily married man to a woman of 15 years.”

“I don’t know Mike,” Stewart said. “I’ve never asked anybody to design a website for me, so it’s all very strange. I certainly didn’t contact her, and whatever the information in that request is, is fake.”

She does not make websites, she did not make wedding websites, and there was no request to make a website, and the person who "requested the website" does not exist. It was all faked and design to go all the way to the Supreme Court, it contained exactly what the Trump's Christian court was looking for. It was made for the Supreme Court.

Stewart called the Supreme Court’s decision Friday morning “disgraceful” and said that “it does seem like the entire case has been somewhat concocted to achieve a specific outcome.”

Yup.

It Is A Different Generation.

One of the reasons that I retired is that it is time for the next generation to takeover the baton.

One of the things that an activist needs is a good understanding on social media and I am falling behind with it. “Substack?” What is that? That was my first thought when I read about that.

I read a lot of mainstream media but not much of social media except for Facebook and an activist must be informed in all media outlet.

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We saw this before in a different generation but now it is happening again.

Attacks on Ohio transgender community a calculated political ploy to scapegoat the vulnerable

Ohio Capital Journal 

By Marilou Johanek

June 27, 2023

The right to exist is being erased for transgender kids and adults. You know it. There is always another bill or law being passed in dozens of Republican-controlled state legislatures, including Ohio’s, targeting the transgender community. It’s a vulnerable community. No match for the aggressive national campaign launched against it by the GOP and an unholy army of fanatical Christian haters. 

Trans-Americans are being nullified as people ahead of 2024 to stick it to the “woke left” and ensure right-wing evangelicals vote Republican. A political wedge used to win elections by pulverizing a population of nonconformists into nothingness. Calculated cruelty to destroy lives for power.   

Transgender adolescents are most at-risk of being rubbed out by the unsparing hostility of anti-trans rhetoric and lawmaking. They’ve been made to feel like a freak show, aberrations to be pushed into the shadows and potentially suicide just to score cheap political points. It is so wrong and so unchristian.

But the Republican abuse heaped on trans youth, already stigmatized and mistreated, is unrelenting. Right-wingers have unleashed a torrent of unjustified bills to purge the trans community from public life. It is hateful, hollow legislating to curb the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of LGBTQ+ people.

They just don’t care, they don’t care that they are hurting people, they have no empathy, they see us only as a tool to use to gain power.

Mainstream Ohio is consumed with real problems like the economy, affordable housing and day care, not with banning trans girls from female sports or blocking parents from providing medical care for their trans kid. There is no public outcry for pre-clearance of LGBTQ topics in school classrooms or for teachers to out their students. 

That’s mean and muzzling. Who would go out of their way to harm transgender youngsters who are just trying to survive? Not a majority of Americans. But a vocal minority of far right politicians and religious zealots is on crusade to crush young lives without mercy.   

Theirs is a politically expedient partnership, deceptively cloaked in concern for children, girls sports, and parental rights. It is an ugly charade with real life consequences. A record number of statehouse bills nationwide have been submitted this year (560 and counting).

Smoke and mirrors… look at what these minorities are doing… don’t look at the bridge collapse! Don’t look at the crumbling infrastructure. Look at these filthy books about the civil rights leaders… it make my child feel uncomfortable! Don’t look at the stretched thin FAA. Look over here at these abortion clinics! Don’t look at overloaded electrical grid. But look at the these horrible drag queens! Look at anything but us.

A speaker at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference told the crowd, “For the good of society…transgenderism must be eradicated.” An open call for the annihilation of human beings who happen to be trans. People applauded. It wasn’t them being torn down. 

That’s how it starts. The moral connectedness that holds humanity together breaks apart. Suddenly some people are not deserving of care and compassion. Like those instinctively disliked or dismissed as different. Anyone in another tribe. The marginalized. Not your concern.

Back in the 30s that is what the fascists did… look at the Jews! Look at these degenerate Gypsies. They feed them into the gas chamber to eradicate them. Don’t look at the Neo-Nazis outside a synagogue in Georgia waving Nazi flags last week.

The Nominations Are Open.

PngAAA

Nominations are open for this week’s Cuckoo Cuckoo award! Who will make the most asinine comment?

Past winners are: (A drum roll please!)

• Minn. Lawmaker with History of Making False, Anti-LGBTQ+ Claims Is Now Blaming Global Warming on Pride Month, Minnesota state Sen. Eric Lucero
• GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn Floats Conspiracy Theory On Titanic Sub And Hunter Biden, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)

Let me know who your nominees are for the week!

Saturday 9: Over There

Saturday 9: Over There (1942)

... because it's 4th of July

Back again!

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

Unfamiliar with this rendition? Hear it here.

1) George M. Cohan wrote this song in 1917, inspired by our country's entry into WWI. It was not only popular with the young men who enlisted, it was reassuring to their families. Tell us about a time when music was a comfort to you.

Ooh that's a hard one!

I guess when I have an ocular migraine I lay down in a dark room with the Eagles song on.

2) "Over There" was revived at the start of WWII, and President Franklin Roosevelt cited this song specifically when he awarded Cohan with the Congressional Gold Medal. What's your favorite patriotic song?

Yankee Doodle. Since my hometown is the origin of the Yankee Peddler. The tin smiths made their pots and pans during the winter months and during the summer they used to travel around the country selling them.

3) This rendition of the song is from the 1942 film, Yankee Doodle Dandy. James Cagney won an Oscar for his performance as George M. Cohan. Also nominated that year was Gary Cooper, who portrayed a different Yankee, Lou Gehrig, in Pride of the Yankees. Tell us about a movie biography you have enjoyed.

I am not a fan of movie biographies, so I’ll pass.

4) Cagney had a rebellious streak. His boss, studio head Jack Warner, nicknamed Cagney, "The Professional Againster." Cagney joked that he was proud of the title. How about you? Are you rebellious?

Most definitely! You can usually find me defending the underdog.

5) In the clip linked above, a woman sings with Cagney. Her name was Frances Langford, nicknamed the "GI Nightingale" because during WWII she performed for the troops at bases throughout Europe, North Africa and the South Pacific. Do you have any nicknames?

Well in college it was Snork because one Halloween I dressed up as a skin diver and someone put a pot pipe in the snorkel.

6) In 1942, when audiences were enjoying this performance of "Over There" in movie theaters, the fashion trend was for mothers and their young daughters to wear identical dresses. Moms would buy lots of fabric and patterns for the same casual day dress in both their own sizes and their little girls'. Can you sew?

Buttons and bows… no much else.

7) The Fourth of July means we're in the middle of summer. Are you careful about applying sunscreen?

Yup, skin cancel runs in the family and I get a freckle check every year.

8) Mosquito bites an be a major summer annoyance. Are you scratching any itches right now?

Ha, ha! I am a mosquito magnet with my sweet diabetic blood. I woke up at 3AM to the buzzing of a mosquito this morning.

9) Celebrity chef Rachael Ray says she considers mini-hamburgers, or "sliders," the All-American food. What will you be eating this 4th of July? 

You think that I know already? I know that it will be on the grill but what is anyone’s guess.

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!

***

P.S. If you want to hear an interview that I gave this Thursday for the PBS radio show "Where We Live" you can listen here I was interviewed with five other people including my Endo.