The Law Doesn’t Apply To Us!

Once again, the Republicans ignore the law even after they have been warned.

Transgender athlete ban bill introduced in Nassau County. This isn't the first attempt to enact the policy.
CBS Ch2 New York
By Jennifer Bisram, Lori Bordonaro
June 8, 2024

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman introduced a controversial bill Friday that would prohibit transgender athletes from participating in women's and girls' sports at county-owned athletic facilities.

This is not his first attempt to enact the ban.

Nassau County Executive doubles down on transgender athlete ban
Blakeman first introduced the ban as an executive order back in February, but it was struck down by the Nassau County Supreme Court after a judge ruled he didn't have the authority to impose the ban without the county legislature's approval. Blakeman is now appealing that ruling.

"I believe the executive order was proper," he said.

The New York Civil Liberties Union also filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Roller Rebels, a roller derby team on Long Island that welcomes trans women, saying it violates the New York state human rights law which prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

"Banning trans girls and women from participating In sports in Nassau County is something that New York state law simply doesn't allow," said NYCLU assistant legal director Bobby Hodgson.

The county executive is saying the bill is not anti-transgender, but rather pro-women and pro-girls.

That is the new twist… We are saving womanhood! We are not anti-trans!

Back in the beginning of May,

NY court strikes down Nassau County order that banned transgender athletes from competing on girls’ sports teams
CNN
By Maria Sole Campinoti
May 11, 2024

A New York judge struck down an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in girls’ or women’s sports leagues and teams at Nassau County facilities on Long Island.

Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Francis Ricigliano found on Friday Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman did not have the authority to issue such an order, according to court filings.

“In doing so, this Court finds the County Executive acted beyond the scope of his authority as the Chief Executive Officer of Nassau County,” the ruling said.

Ricigliano ruled Blakeman could not act without corresponding action by the Nassau County Legislature. It includes representatives from each of the county’s 19 districts.

Civil rights groups lauded the court decision, saying it struck down a harmful policy. But the judge did not rule on whether the order violated state civil or human rights law, instead ruling on a technical issue about authority.

So now the county legislature is going to ban us and then the NY Attorney General will get an injunction blocking the bill.

We have the lawyers on our side,

New York State Bar Association Opposes Banning Transgender Youth From School Sports
By Rebecca Melnitsky
June 8, 2024

The New York State Bar Association has voted to oppose all attempts to ban transgender athletes from K-12 school sports.

Half of the states in the country have laws or regulations that ban transgender students from playing sports based on their gender identity. In Nassau County, for instance, the county executive, Bruce Blakeman, earlier this year announced an executive order banning transgender athletes from competing in women and girls sports at Nassau County facilities. The order was struck down by the New York State Supreme Court in May on the grounds that the county executive did not have the authority to institute a ban.

“All student athletes deserve a chance to play sports with their peers,” said Domenick Napoletano, president of the New York State Bar Association. “Legislation enacted to prevent transgender youth from participating in sports is based in fear instead of fact. The New York State Bar Association stands against attempts to isolate and bully youth. Let the kids play.”

[…]

“The New York State Public High School Athletic Association, the governing body for high school interscholastic sports, has had an inclusive policy for transgender students since 2015,” said M. Lettie Dickerson, co-chair of the task force. “In that time, we have not seen the breakdown of boys and girls sports, and transgender athletes are a tiny percentage of athletes. We thank all our task force members for their hard work, and we thank the New York State Bar Association for standing against excluding transgender youth.”

You do know that we have been playing in sports long before without problems, it wasn’t a problem until the Republicans stirred it up.

A 2016 study published in the National Institute of Health’s National Library of Medicine write in the study’s conclusion,

Conclusion

Currently, there is no direct or consistent research suggesting transgender female individuals (or male individuals) have an athletic advantage at any stage of their transition (e.g. cross-sex hormones, gender-confirming surgery) and, therefore, competitive sport policies that place restrictions on transgender people need to be considered and potentially revised.

But the Republican attack in us continues with their lies.

The Standoff

Like a western from the 60s where two gunfights stare down one another the book banning vigilantes on one side and the anti-ban on the other side. The battles are for the minds of the children and they are battles being fought, in the ballot boxes, in the legislatures, and the courts.

States begin to push back on book bans – by banning them
CNN
By Chandelis Duster
June 4, 2024

 As a record number of school districts face bans on certain books and lawmakers enact measures that limit what can be taught about race and sexual identity in the classroom, some states are moving to counter the measures with laws that prohibit banning books.

Last month, Minnesota became the latest state to implement restrictions on banning books from public libraries, including those in K-12 public schools and colleges.

Minnesota joins Illinois and Maryland, which passed a similar measure in April. The laws also follow other efforts to push back on book bans in school districts in states such as Florida.

 There were more than 4,300 book bans across 23 states and 52 public school districts from July 2023 to December 2023, according to a report from PEN America, a nonprofit organization that fights to protect free speech and expression.

While efforts to censor books have persisted throughout history, the American Library Association has said the number of titles targeted for censorship reached “the highest levels ever documented” by the organization last year.

The right-wing conservatives are waving the banner of “parental rights!” but it is the exact opposite of “parental rights!” what want to do is force everyone else to their conservative views.

Last month, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, signed into law a measure prohibiting the banning or removal of “a book or other material based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions it conveys.”

And that is exactly what the conservatives want to do, ban books because of the book’s viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions it conveys.

In the state of Colorado they…

Colorado Passes Anti-Book Ban Bill for Public Libraries
Book Riot
By Kelly Jensen
June 4, 2024

Colorado has officially banned books bans in public libraries across the state. Senate Bill 216, the Standards for Decisions Regarding Library Resources, was introduced April 24 by Lisa Cutter, Dafna Michaelson Jenet, Eliza Hamrick, and Junie Joseph. Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed it into law this week.

The bill emphasizes the role of professional knowledge and experience in creating public library collections. It acknowledges the growth of book removals based on ideology across the country and responds by requiring library boards to develop and follow written policies related to acquisition, retention, display, and use of library materials. The board is likewise required to develop a policy for materials reconsideration if citizens are allowed to challenge material in the collection and more, they must follow those policies throughout the reconsideration process.

Wow! The right-wingers can’t hide in the shadows of anonymity…

The names of the individuals seeking to ban books in public libraries would be considered public record as well. This means that anyone can find out who is behind challenging books in public libraries–an issue that came up in the state in 2022, when four individuals in Gunnison County Library District attempted to remove Gender Queer from the collection. A state court ruled that their names were not public record and not subject to records requests. Senate Bill 216 states that those names are public record because those requests are not user records.

I bet that will cut down on the number of books trying to be banned.

And in Tennessee,

Activists and librarians are fighting a wave of challenges to books, many with LGBTQ themes
WPLN a NPR station
By Alexis Marshall
May 31, 2024

Tennesseans sought to remove hundreds of books from library shelves in 2023, many of them containing LGTBQ+ characters or themes. But some activists and librarians are fighting to keep them in circulation.

[…]

Based on data from the ALA, the majority of the top 10 challenged books in Tennessee included LGBTQ+ characters or themes.

A survey conducted by the Tennessee Library Association, or TNLA, found a similar trend among public libraries. The state-level survey included informal challenges, like when a patron verbally asks a librarian to remove or restrict a title, without filing any official paperwork. Large national datasets often don’t capture these kinds of challenges.

Of the 63 respondents to TNLA’s survey, more than half reported some kind of book challenge in 2021 or 2022. About a quarter said they had fielded a formal challenge.

Impact on libraries and librarians

Written responses to the survey also revealed that many librarians feel scared to do their jobs. Some reported facing threats and verbal harassment at work, leading to fears of being fired or physically harmed.

Character matters! The guy running for the top office has no character and it all pours downhill from him.

---

Stand up! Fight back!

The US librarian who sued book ban harassers: ‘I decided to fight back’
After Amanda Jones got death threats for speaking out against censorship, she sued her attackers and wrote a memoir
The Guardian
By Olivia Empson
2 Jun 2024

A librarian in Louisiana – one of the first in the US to file a lawsuit for defamation against her detractors – is speaking out about the fight she’s been part of as censorship and books bans escalate around the country.

Amanda Jones vividly remembers the time she received her first death threat. Hate, online bullying or photos sent to her house circling her face with red Biro like a target had been unsettling, but not uncommon. This was different.

Jones lost 50 pounds, took medical leave from work and watched in disbelief as chunks of her hair started to fall out. Knowing something had to change in the spring of 2023, she filed a lawsuit and wrote her book.

[…]

Jones’s story made international headlines when she became one of the first librarians in the US to file a lawsuit for defamation against those who launched personal attacks on her after she spoke out at a public library board meeting. In July of 2022, when book banning started affecting Livingston parish, where she lived and worked, Jones made a speech against literary censorship at her local public library board. A targeted attacks began shortly thereafter.

“One man posted a picture of me online asking parents how they’d feel if I was giving their kids pornography,” Jones said. “Another made a meme saying I advocate teaching 11-year-olds about anal sex.”

The two men behind these posts and attacks, Michael Lunsford and Ryan Thames, were the focus of the ensuing legal battle.

Stand Up Fight Back!

An Idaho school district banned books. Here’s what a student did at her graduation
Idaho Statesman
By Becca Savransky
May 29, 2024

Annabelle Jenkins walked onto the stage during her graduation ceremony from the Idaho Fine Arts Academy in the West Ada School District with a book tucked into her sleeve. When she stood before West Ada Superintendent Derek Bub, she slipped out the book — the graphic novel of “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood and Renee Nault — faced the audience and smiled, and handed it toward Bub. It was one of 10 books the West Ada School District had removed from libraries earlier in the school year.

[...]

Jenkins said she’s not someone who likes to be the center of attention, but she didn’t want to shake Bub’s hand at her graduation. She said she came up with the idea as a polite but impactful way to stand up against the book removals, and encourage the administration to listen to and include more voices in their process.

Stand Up Fight Back!

Advocates highlight book bans, Title IX at Franklin Pride
WKRN
By: Nikki McGee    
June 1, 2024

To kick off Pride Month, hundreds showed up to support the LGBTQ+ community at the fourth annual Franklin Pride event.  

During the event on Saturday, June 1, the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) worked to raise awareness around several challenges currently facing students in our state.

The TEP highlighted a report released Friday, May 31, studying book bans across the state. The study found that Maury, Rutherford, and Wilson counties had some of the highest concentrations of book bans.  

“Pride is a celebration of identity, but when people are trying to ban books about you, that’s an erasing of your identity, so this is a major issue for pride,” said TEP Executive Director Chris Sanders.

Stand Up Fight Back!

Seeking Sanctuary
Public libraries establish themselves as book sanctuaries to counter bans
Last year, when states were introducing a raft of legislation that would effectively take books off the shelves, librarians at Harris County (Tex.) Public Library (HCPL) knew they wanted to take a stand.
American Library Magazine
By Ed Finkel
June 3, 2024

Texas House Bill 900, which would have restricted materials in school libraries and required vendors to assign book ratings based on so-called appropriateness before selling them to schools, had just been signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in June and was set to go into effect September 1, 2023. (On September 19, the bill was temporarily blocked by US District Judge Alan D. Albright. In January, the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision to prohibit the Texas Education Agency from forcing vendors to rate books, but the library standards outlined in the bill—which prohibit school districts from possessing or purchasing books with “harmful material”—remain.)

“Because the mission of public libraries is so much different from the school libraries, we weren’t thinking about being targeted by legislation,” says Edward Melton, HCPL executive director. But staffers were anxious about the climate of censorship, and HCPL itself had seen an uptick in requests for reconsideration of materials—from three requests in 2021 to 24 requests in 2023—and complaints about displays and drag storytimes.

“We knew [the pushback] could potentially lead to something political,” Melton says. “So we said, ‘Let’s go ahead and be proactive about this.’”

Stand Up Fight Back!

Irony of ironies...

A Florida school district banned a book about banned books

The Indian River County school district banned Alan Gratz’s “Ban This Book,” about a fourth-grader determined to return removed titles to her school’s shelves.

The Washington Post

By Praveena Somasundaram

June 13, 2024

Alan Gratz’s “Ban This Book” tells the tale of a fourth-grader’s quest to bring her favorite book back to the school library after officials had it removed.

Late last month, a Florida school district banned “Ban This Book.”

A parent involved in Moms for Liberty, a right-wing parents-rights group, submitted a complaint about the book in February, alleging that it depicted sexual conduct and was “teaching children to be social justice warriors.” Though a school district committee recommended that “Ban This Book” be kept on shelves, the Indian River County school board voted to ban it last month.

[...]

“The overwhelming irony of banning a book about book banning has been enough to keep people from banning it for a little while,” Gratz, 52, told The Post.

But that didn't stop Moms for Liberty on their quest to force people to read only their approved books.

Jennifer Pippin, the chair of the Indian River, Fla., chapter of Moms for Liberty who filed the complaint about “Ban This Book,” told The Post in text messages Wednesday that she wanted titles with “sexually explicit content” removed from schools. She said she complained about “Ban This Book” because it referenced other banned books with sexual content. Pippin added that parents could still access the book through public libraries and online bookstores.

So there wasn't anything pornographic in the book but they stilled banned it!

Stand Up Fight Back!

All across the country people are saying enough is enough and are fighting back in the courts, in the legislatures, and in the ballot box.

Here in Connecticut there was a bill introduced in this years legislative session to ban the banning of books but because it was a short session it never really made it anywhere, but next year...

Does This Make Sense?

[Editorial]

I know, I know nothing in politics makes sense but the Republican House just voted…

Republican-led House votes to hold AG Garland in contempt of Congress
Republicans allege that Garland and the U.S. Department of Justice have not been impartial in their investigations into President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump.
Scripps News Service
By: Nathaniel Reed , Gage Jackson
June 12, 2024

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 216-207 to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. Eight members of the House did not vote.
One Republican voted with Democrats against the contempt motion.

Wednesday's vote was in response to the Justice Department refusing to turn over audiotapes of President Biden's interview with a special prosecutor over classified documents.

It all stemmed from the Justice Department's refusal to release audio recordings of an interview with President Joe Biden regarding an investigation into whether he — as vice president — improperly kept classified documents. The investigation ended earlier this year without charges against President Biden, with special counsel Robert Hur issuing a final report that described the 81-year-old president's memory as "poor" and having "significant limitations" that would have made it "difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him."

However, in another Scripps News Service article they write…

President Joe Biden has asserted executive privilege over audio of his interview with special counsel Robert Hur that's at the center a Republican effort to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress, the Justice Department told lawmakers in a letter publicly released on Thursday.

Wait a minute! Haven’t Trump and the Republicans been harping about Presidential immunity? The Hill reports,

Now that Donald Trump’s New York hush money trial is over, the big question is whether the former president will face trial in federal court before the November election. The case arising from his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election was set to go to trial back in March; Trump managed to avoid that trial date by claiming that presidents have absolute immunity from prosecution, a claim that is now before the Supreme Court.

What? The House Republicans on one hand are ignoring the president’s executive privilege while at the same time are saying Trump can avoid prosecution because he has executive privilege.

Do they think that the voters are so dumb that they will not see the hypocrisy in it?

[/Editorial]

When Our Supporters Become The Target.

We see it all the time, our friends become the target of their anger… “You’re friends with them?” But sometimes they bite of more than they expected.

Internet Rallies Around Dolly Parton After Bizarre Right-Wing Attack
A far-right outlet accused the musical legend of pushing a “false gospel.”
The New Republic
By Edith Olmsted
June 7, 2024


Fans of 11-time Grammy Award–winning singer Dolly Parton came to her aid this week, in response to a tacky, homophobic hit piece published by a right-wing magazine.

The Federalist is a conservative outlet that has previously taken aim at Taylor Swift, accusing her of indoctrinating her listeners into man-hating feminism, a thinly veiled grievance about their inability to control the thoughts of young women. Now it’s taken aim at the Queen of Country herself, likely for much the same reason.

The newest article took issue with Parton using her Christian faith as a rationale for her acceptance of all people, including those who identify as LGBTQ+.

You know that these far right-wing Christians believe that they are the only “true” Christians!

I believe in a god but not in religion they all believe that their religion is the one true religion and if you believe in another religion you are going to hell! You can’t question their religion. I believe what is important is how you live your life and how you treat others.

The publication of this wildly homophobic tirade was timed to hitch a ride on the wave of attention Parton has received since announcing her new musical, Hello, I’m Dolly! Now, as one user on X declared, “they came for Dolly. we ride at dawn.”

They called down fire and damnation but you know what it fizzled.

Christian writer apologizes for attacking LGBTQ+ ally Dolly Parton
Andersen, who self identifies as a Christian mom & Bible study leader, apologized for her attacking the Country Icon
The New Republic
By Brody Levesque
June 11, 2024

Freelance writer Ericka Andersen, who self identifies as a Christian mom and Bible study leader, in an interview with Yahoo Entertainment apologized for her attacking Country Icon, singer-songwriter Dolly Parton over her allyship and advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community.

Indianapolis-based Andersen told Yahoo Entertainment on Saturday that the widespread backlash made her realize she shouldn’t have used Parton to press her argument. “I regret using Dolly as the example for the point I was making in the article,” she said.

“As I wrote in the piece, I love her and think she does some incredible things for the world. We all make poor choices in how to frame things sometimes. This was one of those moments for me! Dolly is one of the few people who is beloved by all and who loves all. The world is lucky to have her.”

Ever notice how when they get caught in their BS all of sudden they are backpedaling.

Andersen then notes:

“When asked about her diverse community of fans, Parton always mentions Christianity, saying she does her best “not to judge” and only “to love” for that reason.

But Parton’s version of love, which includes condoning immoral sexual behavior (“be who you are,” she’s said), is unaligned with God’s vision for humanity. Like so many secularized spiritual leaders, Parton equates love with agreement, but the two are not reciprocal. Love doesn’t mean we must accept sinfulness as good to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.”

The Federalist was widely denounced on multiple social media platforms for its attack of the beloved Country Icon.

I think the end of the Blade article says it all,

Richmond [ A Monterey, California-based queer artist and art instructor] said: “There is nothing that exemplifies how desperate for attention and unhinged the far right has become than by this attack on America’s sweetheart. Dolly has always shown kindness and empathy for others, which is what all supposed Christians should be striving for.”

The Birds And The Bee

You know the right-wing conservative think we chose to be LGBTQ+ that one day we wake up and thinking… “You know what? I think that I’ll be trans!” It would be great to get the cr*p beat out of me and be discriminated against.”

And they totally ignore that the birds and bees do it!

Elliot Page is narrating Second Nature, a documentary about gay animals
The documentary explores over 1,500 species that engage in same-sex relationships, following how some parent, change sex, and more.
The Advocate
By RYAN ADAMCZESKI
JUNE 04 2024

Elliot Page wants audiences to see the "full spectrum of life."

The Oscar-nominated actor is the executive producer and narrator on the new film Second Nature, a documentary that aims to "debunks harmful myths about sex and gender." The movie explores over 1,500 species that engage in same-sex relationships, following how some parent, change sex, and more.

“What a joy and honor it has been to narrate this beautiful, funny, enlightening and inspiring documentary," Page said in a statement. "Second Nature reveals the full spectrum of life and how when it comes to gender and sexuality in nature, the diversity is endless. I learned so much and am thrilled others will too.”

The documentary, awarded grants from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund and the Frameline Completion Fund, is the first to follow the work of transgender researcher and trailblazer Joan Roughgarden, as well as several other groundbreaking women, BIPOC, and immigrant scientists who "face fierce opposition for correcting the record" — evolutionary biologists Patricia Brennan and Joseph Graves, as well as primatologists and anthropologists Frans de Waal and Amy Parish.

Growing up we had farms on three side of my parents house and every once in a while the cows and horses got loose and we woke up to them on our front lawn. So I know Mother Nature. And all those conservative farmers know it.

Study shows same-sex behaviour is widespread and heritable in macaque monkeys
Observations of a wild colony of macaques over three years show same-sex sexual behaviour among males is widespread and may be beneficial.
Imperial
by Hayley Dunning
10 July 2023

The results, published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggest same-sex sexual behaviour (SSB) has evolved and may be a common feature of primate reproduction.

Conducted by researchers at Imperial College London, the observations and genetic data form the first long-term study of SSB in males within one species. Their study challenges the beliefs of some that SSB is a rare behaviour in non-human animals or solely the product of unusual environmental conditions.

First author Jackson Clive, from the Georgina Mace Centre for the Living Planet at Imperial, said: “We found most males were behaviourally bisexual, and that variation in same-sex activity was heritable. This means that the behaviour can have an evolutionary underpinning; for example, we also found that males that mounted each other were also more likely to back each other up in conflicts – perhaps this could be one of many social benefits to same-sex sexual activity."

"Our research therefore shows that same-sex sexual behaviours can be common amongst animals and can evolve. I hope our results encourage further discoveries in this area.''

The conservatives like to quote Sgt. Schultz, “I see nothing!”

Though the researchers caution against direct comparisons to humans, they say their study challenges the beliefs of some that SSB is a rare behaviour in non-human animals or solely the product of unusual environmental conditions.

What about us? Do we find cross gender behavior in the animal world?

Are There “Transgender” Proclivities in Animals?
We tend to think of gender expression as uniquely human. But many species gain advantages by projecting an opposite-sex appearance.
JSTOR Daily
By: Juliet Lamb
October 6, 2016

I spent last week at a bird conference in North Carolina, a state where gender identity has been at the forefront of conversation. Between scientific talks, I sat down with a group of conference attendees to discuss how we could better include underrepresented voices in our research. Inevitably, as always seems to happen when scientists attempt to discuss non-scientific concepts, we found ourselves drawing on examples from our work—in our case, wildlife biology.

We tend to think of gender expression, and especially gender non-conformity, as uniquely human. However, many other species gain distinct advantages by projecting an appearance that doesn’t “match” their biological sex. Snakes, lizards, beetles, fish, and birds, to name a few, all exhibit “transgender” behaviors in which males imitate females to gain advantages, including reduced competition, better access to territory, and improved mating opportunities.

The JSTOR article says, “In some species, however, we witness permanent female mimics: males that continue to resemble females throughout their lives.”
 

Ah… Mister Republican you are trying to force us to be something we are not. You are trying to fit us into your little neat Judeo-Christian world, have you heard of North America indigenous people’s Two Spirit, but when the Christian missionaries came they forced them to give up their beliefs.

We are found in cultures around the world the Britannica Encyclopedia list them. In India we are the Hijra, in Indonesia we are the Calalai, Calabai, and Bissu, in Mexico we are know as the Muxe, we are the Sekrata in Madagascar, and in the Philippines we are known as the bakla!

The Republicans last year tried to pass over 360 bills to wipe us out, to change who we are, to force us in to the evangelical Christian ideology of maleness and femaleness. We are not a flash in the pan, we have been here since day one.

 

 

Here Comes The Judge! Breaking News…

All rise!
Here comes the honorable Judge Robert L. Hinkle…

Judge blocks Florida's transgender youth care ban for minors
The judge called the policies "unconstitutional."
ABC News
ByKiara Alfonseca
June 11, 2024

A federal judge has called Florida policies restricting gender-affirming care for minors and adults "unconstitutional," blocking the state's policies from being enforced.

"Transgender opponents are of course free to hold their beliefs," Judge Robert L. Hinkle said in the 105-page decision on Florida's SB 254 and similar Boards of Medicine rules. "But they are not free to discriminate against transgender individuals just for being transgender."

Hinkle wrote in his decision Tuesday, that bans on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors "even when medically appropriate" for treatment of "gender dysphoria" is "unconstitutional."

The lawsuit did not challenge the state's prohibition on surgery for minors and the decision does not address it, Hinkle wrote.

Since there have been no surgeries on minors (That is just another Republican lie to stir up anger against us.)

Hinkle also blocked parts of the Florida Board of Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Medicine rules that restrict transgender adult care, including mandatory consent forms that "include false and misleading statements" and "interfere with the physician-patient relationship and an appropriate informed consent process."

The board's rules also exclude non-physicians from administering care, require certain procedures and more follow-up appointments for all patients regardless of their individual needs, and more. These restrictions on gender-affirming care treatments, and others, have now been declared unenforcable.

Florida has said that they will appeal the ruling. This is going to the Supreme Court where the conservatives think they will win with Trump’s court.

*****

In fairness, I have to say that I am on a committee that an appellate judge co-chairs.

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This also came out this evening…

Alito’s remarks about Pride flag blasted by LGBTQ advocates
The Hill
BY IAN SWANSON
June 11, 2024

LGBTQ advocates are blasting remarks about the Pride flag from Martha-Ann Alito, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, arguing they raise serious questions about her husband’s adjudication over issues affecting their community.

“It’s fitting that Mrs. Alito’s attitudes towards the queer community are as antiquated as her flags,” said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, in comments that referenced a series of flag controversies surrounding the Alitos.

“Many are rightfully concerned about the hyper-partisan opinions shared by both members of the Alito household, including the Justice’s ability to leave his personal political opinions at home,” Pocan told The Hill in an email. “Americans, especially women and the LGBTQI+ community, deserve to be able to trust that the Supreme Court won’t leave their rights flipped upside-down and strung up a flagpole — and right now, I’m not sure if they can.”

In comments made public Tuesday, Martha-Ann Alito lamented her neighbor’s Pride flag and expressed a desire to fly a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag in protest as she was being secretly recorded by a liberal activist disguised as a conservative.

“I want a Sacred Heart of Jesus flag, because I have to look across the lagoon at the Pride flag for the next month,” she said in the secretly recorded conversation at the Supreme Court Historical Society’s annual dinner on June 3.

June, during which LGBTQ Pride Month is celebrated, is also recognized by Catholics as the month of the Sacred Heart.

Thanks to Trump and McConnell we have a court that puts the Bible before the Constitution.

Your Papers Please!

Maybe one day in the future you will hear that when you vote. The Republicans have introduced a bill to require proof of citizenship when you vote.

You might as the majority of the people here in the U.S. think no big problem. But if you happen to be a minority it becomes a problem.

1 in 10 eligible U.S. voters say they can’t easily show proof of their citizenship
NPR
By Hansi Lo Wang
June 11, 2024



Top Republicans are lining up behind a proposal to require proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration in federal elections. But for millions of U.S. citizens, it’s not easy to prove their citizenship with a document.

About 1 in 10 adult citizens, or 21.3 million eligible voters, say they either do not have or could not quickly find in order to show the next day their U.S. birth certificate, passport, naturalization certificate or certificate of citizenship, according to results released Tuesday from a national survey.

The new findings, shared first with NPR, also show disparities by race, ethnicity and political affiliation.

As a trans woman I’ve read a number of articles about trans people being challenged when they vote, and it is in the back of my mind when I go and vote. Especially now with MAGA Republicans as election checkers.

The results fall in line with longstanding concerns among many election experts and voting rights advocates, who have warned that proposals — including the new Republican-backed bill in the U.S. House of Representatives — to require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when signing up to vote in federal elections could risk keeping eligible voters from casting ballots.

But hey that is exactly what the Republicans want because most of those voters are Democrats.

“We all know intuitively that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections, but it's not been something that is easily provable. We don't have that number,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, at a press conference about the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act.

Translated from Republican Doublespeak meaning “We can't prove it but our voters believe it.”

Ever wonder why the Republicans gerrymander districts, restrict voting hours, try to ban or make it harder to get absentee ballots, and now voter IDs? They are so insecure that they might lose that they are rigging the system. Lying about voter fraud making the voters feel inscure. They are using PSYOP that was developed during WWII.

“I think that the broader story that we see here is the idea that what for many Americans doesn't seem like that big of an issue — demonstrating that you're a citizen — for some Americans is actually enough of a hurdle to make voting just inaccessible,” Fraga [Bernard Fraga, an associate professor of political science at Emory University] says.

[…]

Kunis, VoteRiders’ executive director, says her organization has helped eligible voters overcome a range of barriers to obtaining citizenship documents. They may be stored inside a bank’s safe deposit box or tucked away at a family member’s home in another town or state. Some people may need support navigating a “bureaucratic doom loop” when trying to replace faded certificates, Kunis adds.

And for more than 3.8 million adult citizens, or about 2% of eligible voters, there’s no document to find at all, according to the survey’s estimates. That includes birth certificates.

“Older Americans and Black Americans, particularly in the South, are more likely to have been born outside of a hospital setting, meaning they didn't receive a birth certificate automatically,” Kunis points out.

And how does that demographics tend to vote? Democratic.

And this is the whole target of the voter suppression, the minority voter, lower income, and us. Us, because in many states we cannot change our birth certificates! There are also a few states may require in-person pickup for certain circumstances which makes harder for people working multiply jobs in order to survive.

Here in Connecticut what a huge incident of voter fraud. But you know what? The system caught it! They had a special election and the person who did it is doing time.

It Is With A Sad Heart, That I Tell You We Have Lost A Pioneer.

We have lost a truly great pioneer whose work made it possible for you to read this on your computer, smartphone, tablet, and another computer device. She not only made the internet possible but also the computer revolution.

Here are just a few of her awards,

    Fellow of the IEEE, 1985, "for contributions to VLSI technology
    National Achievement Award, Society of Women Engineers 1990
    Presidential Appointment to the United States Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, 1996
    Computer Pioneer Award, IEEE Computer Society, 2009
    Fellow Award, American Association for the Advance of Science (AAAS), 2016

She rightfully could have she laid the foundation to computer age, here is her obituary.

Lynn Ann Conway
January 2, 1938 – June 9, 2024
Prepared by Dallas Denny
June 10, 2024

An Obituary
Lynn Ann Conway was an electrical engineer, computer scientist, and an activist on behalf of transgender people. She died in Jackson, Michigan on Sunday, June 9, 2024 of heart trouble.

Lynn was born in Mount Vernon, New York on January 2, 1938. She was a reserved but exceptionally bright student who attended MIT but did not graduate due a difficult and ultimately unsuccessful gender transition. She continuing her education at Columbia University, where she earned B.S. and M.S.E.E. degrees in 1962 and 1963, respectively. In 1994, she accepted a position as a researcher at IBM’s facility in Yorktown Heights, New York. There, she worked with others on an advanced supercomputer project. She was fired in 1968 when it became known that she intended to transition. IBM later apologized for that action.

That same year, Lynn consulted Dr. Harry Benjamin and became a patient. She completed her gender transition, also in 1968. In a divorce, she was denied the right to visit with her minor children.
Using her new name, Lynn continued work as a computer research scientist, working at Computer Applications, Inc., Memorex, and, Xerox PARC, and DARPA. In 1985, she became a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of Michigan and, simultaneously, Associate Dean of Engineering.

Lynn’s post-transition accomplishments were foundational in the develop of computers, but her pre-transition work was not credited to her until 1998, when a researcher who was examining IBM’s three decades old supercomputer project discovered that a scientist he had been unable to identity had become known as Lynn Conway. For Lynn, this resulted in a difficult decision to come out as transgender. She has since been hailed not only for her myriad post-transition accomplishments, but for her earlier work. She is famous for, among many other things, launching the Mead-Conway VLSI chip design revolution.

Lynn was well-known in transgender circles for her accomplishments and for her website, on which she told her personal story and worked to advance the rights of transgender people. She is perhaps best known in this regard for her criticism of Ray Blanchard’s theory of autogynephilia and a failed lawsuit, with Dierdre McCloskey, against J. Michael Bailey author of The Man Who Would be Queen.
In 2002, Lynn married her long-time boyfriend Charles Rogers. They lived on a 24-acre wooded property in rural Michigan.

Sandra Samons, a therapist in Ann Arbor and a long-time friend of Lynn’s, asked me tonight to share the following information:

Lynn Conway died yesterday, June 9, 2024
Her husband Charlie Rogers can be contacted at cwrogers@voyager.net
Arrangements are still incomplete, but Lyyn Conway’s  funeral will be held at: Sherwood Funeral Home, 1109 Norvell Rd., Grass Lake, MI 49240 (Tel. 517-522-3000, URL www.sherwoodfh.com.
Service will be at 1 pm Saturday, June 22 with visitation the night before from 4-7 pm.

I have written many times about her the one I like best is when before I came out I found an article about her co-discovery of the Dynamic Instructions Scheduling which broke the computer speed barrier (Little Did I Know). Another article A Success Story I write about all her achievements.

 

It was reading about her that made me realize that transitioning was possible for me.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock, The End Is Drawing Near.

The clock strikes midnight June 30^th and it is all over.

The Supreme Court session end midnight June 30^th and all the cases these session has to be published, what’s remaining?

June Supreme Court decisions to include Trump, abortion, Second Amendment
The Consistution Center
By Scott Bomboy
June 4, 2024

The Supreme Court’s current term is heading toward a noteworthy June, with major decisions expected about former President Donald Trump’s immunity from conspiracy and obstruction charges, abortion rights, the Second Amendment, and social media regulations.

The article goes on to list the cases and descriptions of the cases,

Trump v. United States [His immunity case]
Fischer v. United States [Capitol Insurrection]
Dobbs  v. Jackson Women’s Health Org [Abortion]
Moyle v. United States [Abortion]
Idaho v. United States [Abortion]
Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine [Abortion: Mifepristone]
United States v. Rahimi [Second Amendment]
Garland v. Cargill [Second Amendment]
Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo [Government regulations]
Relentless v. Department of Commerce [Government regulations]
City of Grants Pass v. Johnson [Homelessness]

 

Then there are a number of other cases but they are just reviews of lower court case. In the next couple of weeks I expect that the court will dribble out there ruling with the most controversial rulings on the last day.

We Are Being Persecuted Around The World.

I have to admit that I thought at first this was about the state of Georgia but it is the country, the former Soviet block country.

Georgia’s ruling party introduces draft legislation curtailing LGBTQ+ rights
AP News
June 4, 2024

Georgia’s ruling party on Tuesday introduced draft legislation curtailing LGBTQ+ rights.

The proposals by the Georgian Dream are similar to laws enacted in Russia and come on the heels of the authorities adopting another law critics denounced as borrowed from Moscow’s playbook — the “foreign influence” law. It ignited weeks of mass protests and was widely criticized as threatening democratic freedoms and jeopardizing Georgia’s chances of joining the European Union.

If adopted, the bill will ban same-sex marriages, gender-affirming care and changing one’s gender marker in the official documents, adoption by same-sex couples, public endorsement of same-sex relations at gatherings and at educational institutions, and depiction of same-sex relations in the media.

The new initiative was announced by parliament speaker and Georgian Dream member Shalva Papuashvili just a day after he signed the “foreign influence” law into force.

The “foreign influence” law requires news media and nongovernmental organizations to register as “agents of foreign influence” if they receive more than 20% of their budget from abroad. It set off mass protests last month in Georgia’s capital, Tbilisi, and opponents have dubbed it the “ the Russian law ” because it resembles regulations in Russia that the Kremlin uses to crackdown on dissent.

I want to point out something, there was a candidate for the presidency from a sunny state here in the U.S. that banned the saying of the word “Gay” in classrooms in their state.

Georgian Dream’s proposals curtailing LGBTQ+ rights could also draw comparisons to laws in place in Russia. The Russian authorities over the last decade also banned public endorsement of “non-traditional sexual relations,”gender-affirming care and changing of one’s gender in the official documents.

And the curtailing of our rights in the Republican states!

 

During the 1930s in Germany they needed a sacrificial goat to blame all the worlds ills upon and the Jews were that target now we are the root of all evil.

*****

Notice: They talk about insurrection if Trump is defeated. "Conduction 1"

Fake.

Everything about them is fake just like the Republicans, it has a highfalutin sounding name but it is really a small group of Christian doctors with an agenda, the Southern Poverty Law Center puts it…

Documents left public on a Google Drive by anti-LGBTQ+ hate group American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), first reported by WIRED, reveal nearly a decade of coordination between ACPeds and another hate group, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), to shore up anti-trans policy efforts and legal arguments with bespoke research.

Between Sept. 30 and Dec. 1, 2014, ADF sent letters to school boards in Minnesota, Rhode Island, Virginia and Wisconsin warning that they could be open to litigation for policies allowing transgender students to use appropriate facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms. On Dec. 5, 2014, ADF sent an email with a similar message to school superintendents across the U.S. The letters and emails were signed by Jeremy D. Tedesco, then senior counsel at ADF, now vice president of corporate engagement, responsible for “efforts to combat corporate cancel culture.”

Okay now you know who the American College of Pediatricians is,

American College of Pediatricians issues fiery statement condemning child gender transition
The American College of Pediatricians and other groups argue evidence does not support transgender medical procedures are best for gender dysphoric children and adolescents
Fox News
By Chris Pandolfo
June 9, 2024

Documents left public on a Google Drive by anti-LGBTQ+ hate group American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds), first reported by WIRED, reveal nearly a decade of coordination between ACPeds and another hate group, Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), to shore up anti-trans policy efforts and legal arguments with bespoke research.

Between Sept. 30 and Dec. 1, 2014, ADF sent letters to school boards in Minnesota, Rhode Island, Virginia and Wisconsin warning that they could be open to litigation for policies allowing transgender students to use appropriate facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms. On Dec. 5, 2014, ADF sent an email with a similar message to school superintendents across the U.S. The letters and emails were signed by Jeremy D. Tedesco, then senior counsel at ADF, now vice president of corporate engagement, responsible for “efforts to combat corporate cancel culture.”

[…]

The only problem for Sears and Tedesco was a lack of evidence to support their claims; and, to make the claims stick, someone needed to elaborate. A new trove of internal documents from the American College of Pediatricians suggests ADF turned to the group known to traffic in anti-LGBTQ+ “junk science” to “substantiate” many of its anti-LGBTQ+ talking points and provide medical justification for interpreting Title IX to exclude gender-identity protections. Together, the documents offer insight into how the groups manufactured legislative, legal and public relations challenges to medical science and public policy throughout the 2010s that have resulted in a rollback of abortion rights and nearly unprecedented restrictions on bodily autonomy in the U.S.

And the Republicans legislators just eat this right up… they have this highfalutin sounding medical organization, GLAAD writes,

The Southern Poverty Law Center has categorized the American College of Pediatricians (ACP) as an anti-LGBTQ hate group. ACP was founded in 2002 when a few people among the 60,000-plus members of the respected mainstream American Academy of Pediatrics broke away to protest a policy supporting adoption by same-sex couples. ACP has issued policies and statements targeting LGBTQ people and youth, including:

So when you hear that highfalutin name again you will know that they are a small right-wing Christian organization.

The Party Of Law And Order.

The party that proclaimed that they support the police and the judicial system is now tearing it down at the cult leaders behalf.

GOP's 'law and order' message at odds with their defense of Trump: ANALYSIS
"I don't really see how you can have it both ways," one expert told ABC News.
ABC News
By Alexandra Hutzler
June 1, 2024

Republicans have long proclaimed themselves the party of "law and order."

That political philosophy, however, doesn't seem to have extended to the historic criminal trial of Donald Trump that ended this week in a first-ever conviction of a former president -- 34 guilty verdicts handed down by 12 ordinary Americans.

Conservative allies of their party's presumptive presidential nominee didn't miss a beat jumping to his defense, or echoing his denouncement of the case as "rigged."

House Speaker Mike Johnson called it "a shameful day in American history" and claimed the trial was a "political" exercise, not a legal one. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the other leading Republican on Capitol Hill, asserted the charges levied against Trump "never should have been brought in the first place."

The Republicans are all lining up like baby ducks and they are all quacking like ducks to Trump’s song.

Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the influential House Judiciary Committee, is demanding Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and prosecutor Matthew Coangelo testify before Congress, alleging "political persecution." And a group of GOP senators are vowing to block any of Biden's agenda from passing in response, they say, to his making a "mockery of the rule of law."

"I don't really see how you can have it both ways, to claim to be the party of law and order and then to denounce trials that don't come out the way you want them to," William Galston, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, told ABC News about the Republican response.

The Morning Star reported,

In preparation for Trump's sentencing hearing in July, the probation office will conduct a pre-sentencing investigation in which they will review Trump's background and interview victims, Trump's family and even Trump himself, to make a recommendation for sentencing.

Did you ever think that you would be hearing that former president would be seeing a PO?

If Trump is hit with a prison sentence, he would then likely move to appeal the verdict and sentence, Pullano said. The appellate court could then issue a stay on sentencing until whatever issues Trump's legal team raises are resolved.

The Speaker of the House lined up behind Trump, the New Republic wrote,

During the segment, which Johnson published to his official YouTube channel, Johnson intimated that he’s spoken with Supreme Court justices who are “deeply concerned” about the criminal justice system functioning properly for once. “I think that the justices on the court—I know many of them personally—I think they are deeply concerned about that, as we are. So I think they’ll set this straight.”

Johnson, either from wishful thinking or showing his hand, shifted from what he thinks and hopes the Supreme Court will do to essentially speaking on behalf of the court’s conservative bloc, promising viewers, “This will be overturned, guys, there’s no question about it; it’s just going to take some time to do it.”

What will he say when Trump losses all his appeals?  Will he still blame the courts, blaming the judges that Trump stuff the Supreme Court with? Or will he once again change his tunes?

In another the New Republic article wrote about Susan Collins the moderate Republican,

But the dumbest of them all was Susan Collins’s statement, especially this part: “The district attorney, who campaigned on a promise to prosecute Donald Trump, brought these charges precisely because of who the defendant was rather than because of any specified criminal conduct.”

You know that two juries found against Trump the first was a grand jury that indicted Trump on March 30, 2023 and then last week’s verdict.

What are Trump option for appeals, I asked Perplexity AI,

Based on the search results provided, here are the key details about how many times Trump can appeal his conviction in the New York hush money case: Trump has multiple levels of appeal available, but overturning the conviction will be an uphill battle. The timeline for appeals is as follows:

• Trump's lawyers have until June 13 to file motions with the trial court judge, which legal experts say have little chance of success.
• After sentencing on July 11, Trump will have 30 days to file a notice of appeal.
• The case will first go to the New York Appellate Division.
• If the Appellate Division rules against Trump, he can then appeal to the New York Court of Appeals, which is the state's highest court.
• The U.S. Supreme Court could only get involved if there is a federal constitutional issue, which experts say is unlikely in this case.

So in total, Trump essentially has three levels of appeal available - the Appellate Division, the Court of Appeals, and a long-shot appeal to the Supreme Court. However, most appeals are denied, and legal experts say Trump faces long odds of getting the conviction overturned given it was a lengthy trial before an experienced judge. While the appeal process could take months or years, most analysts expect Trump will still be a convicted felon by the November 2024 election. His main grounds for appeal appear to be challenging the novel legal theory used and claiming the trial location and timing were unfair, though experts are skeptical of these arguments.

I think Trump will die of old age before he sees jail time.

The Party for Law and Order is going to be investigating the Department of Justice over the Trump trials and undermine the judicial system in the process.

Speaker Johnson announces plan to take on justice system following Trump conviction

The Hill

By Mychael Schnell

June 4, 2024

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced a “three-pronged approach” Tuesday to go after the justice system following former President Trump’s conviction.

The plan, according to Johnson, includes using the appropriations process, legislation brought to the floor and Congress’s oversight authority to take on the Justice Department.

“All those things will be happening vigorously, because we have to do that, because the stakes are too high and because people are losing faith in our institutions,” Johnson said at a press conference. “And that, at the end of the day, is something that should concern every single one of us. And I think it does.”

The Speaker’s rollout comes less than a week after a 12-person jury found Trump guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The case centered on a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels.

The Speaker of the House has no qualms in tearing down the courts and law enforcement.

House Republicans have already begun carrying out elements of their three-pronged strategy.

Last week, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) announced he would “demand” that Bragg and Matthew Colangelo, another prosecutor on the hush money case, appear for testimony about “the unprecedented political prosecution” of Trump.

Jordan fired off a letter Monday to House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) asking that his panel include a number of “reforms” in the government funding process this year, such as nixing funding for the FBI “that is not essential for the agency to execute its mission,” eliminating federal funding for “state prosecutors or state attorneys general involved in lawfare” and getting rid of federal funding for federal prosecutors taking part “in such abuse.”

Johnson re-upped his argument Tuesday that the prosecution — and ultimate conviction — of Trump represented an attempt by Democrats to hurt the former president’s chances of winning another four years in the White House.

“They see this happening, and they’re so desperate to stop them that they are willing to use the judicial system to do so,” Johnson said, referencing polling that shows Trump leading Biden in key states. “It is a new low. And it’s a dangerous one.”

Lets see, the Republicans keep harping on the southern border… but now they are going after the DOJ and then there is the Farm Bill… but Trump has ordered all good Republicans to go after the Democrats.

The Republicans sent out over 70 subpoenas for Hillary Clinton, they resulted zero indictments, the impeachment hearings on Biden, it resulted zero indictments.

“They’re eroding the people’s faith in our system of justice itself. As [House Republican Leader Steve Scalise] said, people have to believe that justice is blind. You have to believe that there is equal justice under the law in order to maintain a constitutional republic,” he continued. “This goes to the very core of who we are. the foundation of who we are as a nation, and that’s why it’s bigger than just President Trump. It’s bigger than just these cases. It’s about our system itself. And because of that there is a backlash.”

I think that they have it wrong, it is the Republicans who are making all these fake accusations against the federal legal system and the state legal system.

---

But the party of the split personality thinks the justice system is working great!

The 2 judges overseeing Hunter Biden’s trials have a lot in common. For starters, they were both appointed by Trump.
Judges Maryellen Noreika and Mark Scarsi will play a central role in the legal fate of the president’s son.
Politico
By Betsy Woodruff Swan
June 2, 2024

For the first time in American history, the son of a sitting president is set to go on trial — twice — as Hunter Biden faces gun charges next week and tax charges in September.

The two federal judges who will preside over the criminal trials — Maryellen Noreika of Wilmington, Delaware, and Mark Scarsi of Los Angeles — have a lot in common. Both are former President Donald Trump appointees who got the nods of their home senators in blue states. Both have overseen few trials in their short time on the bench — and based on their limited records, they appear to be tough sentencers.

[...]

Noreika and Scarsi have less than 10 years of judicial experience between them. Each has presided over just a handful of criminal trials, according to a POLITICO review of the two judges’ criminal dockets. But both jurists have handled cases that have echoes of Biden’s. Scarsi has sentenced people to years in prison for violating tax laws. And when Noreika sentenced a defendant for a gun charge similar to Biden’s, she was even more punitive than prosecutors had hoped.

[…]

Scarsi, nominated by Trump in January 2020 and confirmed nine months later, handled a recent guilty plea that has echoes of Biden’s upcoming tax case. On Feb. 13, 2023, he sentenced a business owner to two years in prison for filing false tax returns and failing to pay the IRS more than $1.6 million over five years.

The Republicans are singing praise about the court systems.

Hunter Biden on trial in case that Republicans plan to use as a political weapon
Charges, based on allegedly falsified firearms license application, give GOP a welcome issue for distraction after Trump’s conviction
The Guardian
June 3, 2024


Hunter Biden goes on trial in Delaware on Monday on gun charges in a case that could prove an embarrassment to his father, Joe Biden, and hand a political weapon to Republicans desperate for a distracting issue in the wake of Donald Trump’s 34-count conviction last week.

Prosecutors allege that Biden lied about his drug use on application forms when he purchased a handgun in 2018.

In theory, he could face a hefty jail sentence, but it is widely seen as highly unlikely. He has long struggled with addiction issues and a troubled private life.

The Republicans hope to air the Biden’s family dirty laundry…

David C Weiss, special counsel overseeing the prosecution, has signaled he will call Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle, to the stand. Prosecutors also may call Hallie Biden, the widow of Joe Biden’s son Beau, who died of brain cancer. Hallie Biden was dating Hunter Biden when he bought a handgun in 2018.

If that wasn't enough, AP News reports that,

They accused the president’s family members of making false statements to Congress as part of a year-long impeachment inquiry.

The Republican chairmen of the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways & Means committees sent a letter to the Justice Department Wednesday recommending the prosecution of the two men.

For months, Republicans have pursued an impeachment inquiry seeking to tie the Democratic president to his son’s business dealings. So far, GOP lawmakers have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating President Joe Biden in any wrongdoing.

If that wasn't enough they are also going after the widow of Biden's son and his family and remember President Biden wasn't even president then, he and his entire family were just citizens and didn't hold any elective offices,

The first day of testimony in the case dredged up painful memories for the president and his family, and revealed new and highly personal details about some of their struggles with addiction as the 2024 election looms. For part of the day, the first lady watched from the front row of the courtroom.

Isn’t it funny how the very same Republicans who are tearing down the legal system in one case are praising it in another case!

Lastly...

From AP News,

A visit to the Pennsylvania House floor by two former police officers who helped protect the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot of 2021 drew boos and walkouts by some Republican legislators this week.

Witnesses said the appearance Wednesday by former U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and his ex-boss, former Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, triggered a distinctly negative response from some Republicans, with someone even shouting that they were cowards.

This is all political and they don't care what bad memories they dreg up for the Biden... the Republicans what POWER.

Vengeance Is Mine Saith Trump

By now you should realize that Trump is all about vengeance, anyone who crosses him is on his s**t list. And Trump like elephants has a very long memory.

Trump Defends Vow to Prosecute Rivals, Saying ‘Sometimes Revenge Can Be Justified’
New York Times
By Chris Cameron
June 7, 2024


Former President Donald Trump has in recent days been escalating his suggestions that he could prosecute his political enemies if elected in November.

In interviews broadcast on Thursday and earlier this week, Trump’s remarks demonstrated how he is trying to put his legal troubles on the ballot as a referendum on the American justice system and the rule of law. His allies in the Republican Party have also joined his calls for revenge prosecutions and other retaliatory measures against Democrats in response to his felony convictions by a jury in a New York court on 34 charges.

Trump was offered several opportunities by sympathetic interviewers in recent days to clarify or walk back his previous statements. Trump instead defended his position, saying at points that “I don’t want to look naive” and that “sometimes revenge can be justified.”

In the past, Trump has fired  FBI Director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions because he thought that they have betrayed him. He has used his status as cult leader to endorse candidates who are running against Republican incumbents who voted for his impeachment or otherwise opposed him. Trump has bragged that he has "hit list" of those he believes have wronged him, and he has expressed a desire to "even the score" and seek retribution if he regains power.

Trump was asked to respond to critics who fear he would look for “retribution” if he wins in November and returns to the White House. “So No. 1, they’re wrong,” he said. “It has to stop because otherwise we’re not going to have a country.”

Trump instead said that “based on what they’ve done” — referring to Democrats — “I would have every right to go after them.”

He added, “And it’s easy, because it’s Joe Biden, and you see all the criminality, all of the money that’s going into the family and him.”

Hannity then pushed the former president to condemn “this practice of weaponization.”

Trump replied: “You have to do it. But it’s awful — look, I know you want me to say something so nice,” but, he added, “I don’t want to look naive.”

The former president was also asked, in an interview with ABC15 News in Arizona that aired Thursday, about prosecuting his opponents, and he suggested he was considering it.

“I thought it would be a horrible thing to do to Hillary Clinton,” Trump said, repeating a recent false suggestion that he had never called to “lock up” Clinton. But he added: “The world is different now. So when you ask me the question, would we do it? I’ll talk to you in about three years from now.”

“The dark side clouds everything. Impossible to see, the future is.”  Yoda, Attack of the Clones

Fox News wrote,

Former President Trump told Fox News on Wednesday that critics claiming he'd seek retribution against political opponents are "wrong," but he would have "every right" to go after his adversaries if he is re-elected in November.

"You don't know the power of the dark side," Darth Vader, Return of the Jedi

 

Left leaning Salon write that,

Donald Trump, spinning the old, false line that the trial that led to his conviction on felony charges was "rigged" and orchestrated by Joe Biden, suggested in an interview with Newsmax that the "precedent" would give him an opening pay his political opponents back in kind, according to the Washington Post.

“I said, ‘Wouldn’t it really be bad? … Wouldn’t it be terrible to throw the president’s wife and the former secretary of state — think of it, the former secretary of state — but the president’s wife into jail?” Trump mused on Tuesday, referring to his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton, who he had repeatedly said should be "locked up" despite now blaming his supporters for saying it instead.

“But they want to do it,” Trump said, apparently referring to Biden and other political rivals. “So, you know, it’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them ... it's a terrible precedent for the country."

The precedent Trump was referring to was his imagined version of events, in which President Biden supposedly instructed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to prosecute him, and then rigged the trial secure a conviction. Despite making this claim for several months now, Trump has been unable to cite any evidence to suggest that Bragg, an independently elected prosecutor, coordinated with the White House at all. Prosecutors said that they were only following the facts in their case.

"The Fear Of Loss Is A Path To The Dark Side," Yoda, Revenge of the Sith

NBC News, 'It's very possible': Trump floats imprisoning his political opponents

Fresh off last week's historic guilty verdict, former President Donald Trump had a warning for his political opponents on Tuesday.

In an interview with the conservative outlet Newsmax, Trump seemed to float the possibility of imprisoning his political opponents if he becomes president again.

"So, you know, it’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them," Trump said when discussing his guilty verdict.

"Does that mean the next president does it to them? That’s really the question," he added.

SheFinds wrote…

“It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them,” Trump said in an interview with Newsmax on a separate occasion.

“If Once You Start Down The Dark Path, Forever Will It Dominate Your Destiny.” Yoda: The Empire Strikes Back
 

Trump turned to the Dark Side from day one, all his business dealings were shady dealings,

Decades-Old Housing Discrimination Case Plagues Donald Trump
NPR All Things Considered
By NPR Staff
September 29, 2016

During the presidential debate on Monday night, Hillary Clinton raised a 1973 federal lawsuit brought against Donald Trump and his company for alleged racial discrimination at Trump housing developments in New York.

The Justice Department sued Donald Trump, his father, Fred, and Trump Management in order to obtain a settlement in which Trump and his father would promise not to discriminate. The case eventually was settled two years later after Trump tried to countersue the Justice Department for $100 million for making false statements. Those allegations were dismissed by the court.

"Donald started his career, back in 1973, being sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination — because he would not rent apartments in one of his developments to African-Americans, and he made sure that the people who worked for him understood that was the policy," Clinton said on Monday night.

Trump responded to Clinton by emphasizing that the case was settled with no admission of guilt.

"Yes, when I was very young, I went into my father's company — had a real estate company in Brooklyn and Queens," Trump said. "And we, along with many, many other companies throughout the country — it was a federal lawsuit — were sued. We settled the suit with zero, with no admission of guilt."

Trump has turned to the Dark Side a very long time ago and now the Republican party has followed him to the Dark Side, anyone who crossed him paid the price and he is turning the country to the Dark Side with him, really scary part is that 59% of country agrees with him!  As a country we do not need to have a president who runs on revenge.

 

*****

Question: What do you think Trump will do if the Supreme Court justices that he appointed vote against him?

Trump demands loyalty and that would be the ultimate betrayal in Trump's eyes. 

Saturday 9: Footloose

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

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

Saturday 9: Footloose (1984)

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

1) In this week's song, Kenny Loggins encourages everyone to lose their blues by dancing. What reliably shakes you out of a funk?
Well the last time that I was in a funk a chocolate milkshake (Or as the say where I ordered the last on a Frappe)

2) To cut footloose, he has to kick off his "Sunday shoes." What's on your feet as you answer these 9 questions?
Ooo… they are as naked as a J-bird.

3) This is the title song of the popular 1984 movie of the same name. It's so well-identified with the film that the AFI named it #96 of the top 100 movie songs of the last 100 years. Have you seen Footloose?
What? I take it that it is a movie… no I haven’t.

4) The title of his 2022 memoir, Still Alright, was inspired by "I'm Alright," the song he wrote for the raucous golf comedy, Caddyshack. Do you play golf? (Yes, putt-putt miniature golf counts!) Do you watch it on TV?
The last time that I played miniature golf we with a group of seniors from the senior center. But I’ll love the game… well really it is not the game but the company.

5) Thinking of movies, Kenny says watching Yankee Doodle Dandy when he was just 7 years old made him think performing looked like fun and says, "I knew deep inside this is something I could do." Do you recall when you set off on your chosen career?
Well, which one? My first it was way back in elementary school and also because my father was an engineer. My second career was over dinner with a bunch of friends who said become a social worker.

5) Kenny grew up in Everett, Washington, north of Seattle and 84 miles from the Canadian border. Have you ever visited Canada? If yes, where did you go?
I’ve been to the eastern islands of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island to all the way to Pointe au Baril on Lake Huron and boy was the water at Pointe au Baril cold.

6) In 1977 Kenny struck up a friendship with Stevie Nicks, who was a source of encouragement and would sing with him on one of his biggest hits, "Whenever I Call You Friend." Tell us about when you met one of your best friends.
We met in First grade.

7) In 1984, when this song was a hit, Angela Lansbury premiered in Murder, She Wrote, a show still seen in reruns today. Were/are you a fan?
I love the show but I’ve seen the reruns so much that it is like Star Trek where I can idenitfy the show in matter of only seconds.

8) Let's tweak your memory about something else that happened in 1984. Without looking it up, can you recall why Michael Jackson's Pepsi commercial made headlines the world over?
Oh yeah, how could you forget that! A flaming head of hair.

9) Random question -- Think of your last professionally prepared meal. Did you dine in, carry out, or have it delivered?
Carry out…

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!

A Poison Pill

Poison pill
noun
: a financial tactic or provision used by a company to make an unwanted takeover prohibitively expensive or less desirable

 

Or in this case an attachment… the addition of a part of a bill that they know the other party will not swallow.

White House Threatens to Veto VA, Military Construction Spending Bill over GOP Policies
Military.com
By Rebecca Kheel
June 3, 2024

The White House is threatening to veto the annual Department of Veterans Affairs and military construction funding bill over GOP-backed riders that would undo VA policies on LGBTQ+ veterans and abortion.

The bill as written by House Republicans "includes numerous, partisan policy provisions with devastating consequences including harming access to reproductive health care, threatening the health and safety of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) Americans, endangering marriage equality, hindering critical climate change initiatives, and preventing the administration from promoting diversity, equity and inclusion," the White House budget office said in a statement Monday.

"If the president were presented with H.R. 8580, he would veto it," the statement added, referring to the bill by its number.

They knew that the Democrats couldn’t swallow these poison pills. They now have bragging rights to say that the president is soft on the military!

The Hill reports,

“House Republicans are again wasting time with partisan bills that would result in deep cuts to law enforcement, education, housing, health care, consumer safety, energy programs that lower utility bills and combat climate change, and essential nutrition services,” White House officials said.

[…]

The legislation creates yet another clash over culture wars in Defense and government funding bills between Democrats and Republicans, which became a major point of tension last year before many of the partisan amendments were stripped after conference.

And of course the Republicans had to work in abortion in to the bill just to make the bill sourer to the taste!

The White House is also opposed to another provision that would restrict the VA from carrying out a Biden administration rule that allows veterans to have greater access to abortion counseling and abortions in certain circumstances.

Under the rule, the VA is allowed to provide access to abortions for veterans if their life or health is endangered, or if they became pregnant because of rape or incest. But the House bill would make that more restrictive, requiring the danger of death to be present for an abortion, along with allowing an abortion for rape or incest.

“This change would prevent VA from providing needed care when the health of the woman is endangered,” the White House said.

The last dig that they got in was a ban on flying the Pride flag at the VA.

You know that the Republicans are running with the veto as the president being against the military! Press release from the Speaker of the House.

“The Biden Administration’s veto threat sends a terrible signal to our nation’s allies and adversaries alike. The President’s push toward radical and woke policies is a continuing threat to our national security. His agenda is changing the focus of our military, undermining our readiness, and rejecting the promises made to our veterans. He must reverse course so we can again prioritize America’s strength and safety.”

They are so oblivious, everyone knew that this would be coming.

---

Here is something no one has mentioned yet and it will be a bitter pill for Trump to swallow .

Trump is now a has criminal conviction. Many countries do not allow felons to enter…
 

These countries generally do not allow entry to individuals with a criminal record: Argentina,     Australia, Canada, China, Cuba, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Macau, New Zealand, South Africa, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States

These countries may allow entry initially but will deny it if a criminal record is discovered: Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Tanzania, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and United Arab Emirates.

I asked Perplexity AI: “Are there any countries where Trump has a golf courses that he will not be able to play because he is a criminal conviction?”

Answer:
Yes, there are countries where Donald Trump has golf courses that he will not be able to play due to his criminal conviction. Specifically:

• United Kingdom: Trump owns golf courses in Scotland, including the Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen. Due to his felony conviction, he would be denied entry to the United Kingdom
• Ireland: Trump owns the Trump International Golf Links & Hotel in Doonbeg, Ireland. While Ireland does not actively check for criminal records at the border, entry can be denied if it is discovered that the individual has a felony conviction

These restrictions mean that Trump would be unable to visit and play at his golf courses in these countries due to his criminal record.