The Wisdom of Pooh

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Chris Hayes, MSNBC, dragging Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and the GOP, for their overall hypocrisy: “In Ron DeSantis’ Florida, the state will decide what books your child can or cannot leave their school library [with] by threatening teachers and librarians with time in prison if they do not comply with vague laws about instruction on race, gender and sexuality. The state will decide what women can do with their own bodies by banning abortion at six weeks. Of course, that is for all intents and purposes a complete abortion ban, which means that Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida control the bodies of every Floridian who can get pregnant. It’s their body not yours. The state will also decide how you can dress in public, which costumes you can wear. By enacting what is essentially a full ban on drag performances that will also likely restrict Pride events. The state will decide what kind of speech corporations can engage in … but Ron DeSantis’ dystopian authoritarian vision is most apparent in the legislation he just signed yesterday. It bans all gender-affirming care for all minors in Florida, everyone 18 and younger, that law also empowers state courts to change custody agreements if a child is receiving or is at risk of receiving gender-affirming care. Meaning taking a kid away from a parent. Telling parents how they can or cannot raise their own children is among the most authoritarian things a government can do … While Ron DeSantis tours around the country promoting himself and his new memoir titled, ‘The Courage to Be Free,’ at home he runs a government based on the opposite of freedom. His agenda is about state authority and its punitive views and decrees from on high. In Florida, [he] is running a kind of little MAGA kingdom, in which Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party in the state legislature, with their big majorities, tell you how to live your life and you don’t get to choose … Now the sick irony here the one that I just can’t get over and really kind of sticks with me is that the right-wing movement that gave us this new law signed yesterday, is the very same group of people that screamed about parental rights for years, amidst the pandemic. ‘I get to say whether my kid wears a mask, I get to say whether my kid gets vaccinated. I get to say whether my kid goes to school.’ And Ron DeSantis was the public face of that movement. What a tough guy … you see all that swagger? He’s gonna stand in your way. If you’re coming after parental rights, if you try to tell a parent what they can do with their kids. That very same wing of the Republican Party embodied by Ron DeSantis and the government of the state of Florida, has now demanded and produced a situation in which the government, that guy you saw there with a tough guy swagger about freedom, is going to decide if your child who lives in your home, that you gave birth to or raised, that you love, your kid, what kind of care they can get. He decides … You may not like it, but you know what? It’s none of your, excuse me, goddamn business. To me, that is what the courage to be free means. Freedom means that in my household, our family decides what kind of health care our child does or does not get. Not Ron DeSantis. Not the Republican Party. That is no longer the case in Florida.” Truth; and if it doesn’t scare the crap out of you that Ron DeSantis wants to tell everyone how they have to live their lives then you deserve what you get, because once he’s done coming for drag queens and trans kids and people of color, he’ll come for the rest of you. photo

Lauren Boebert, dingbat, during a House hearing on lowering prescription drug prices—which she opposes—showed the kind of mother she is: “I left a prescription at a pharmacy once. I went to get birth control. I was there at the counter, went to pay for it, and the price was very, very high. I said wow, is this a three-, six-month prescription? They said, no ma’am, this is one month. I said it’s cheaper to have a kid. And I left it there, and now I have my third son, Kaydon Boebert, and so it actually turned out to be a really great thing.” Must be nice being Bobo’s third child and knowing that the only reason he’s here is because his mother’s checking account was overdrawn and she couldn’t get the pill.

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For those who haven't realized it yet, the Republican primary is going to be brutal. There are so many people lining up to run against Trump and each one has a sharp little knife in his or her hand. This is what's going to take down the party. They're going to destroy themselves from within.


\I know there were a number of people who complained that Biden didn't really campaign in 202, well, ;he's not going to need to campaign much in 2024 either. A speech here and there and always a venue far from the splattering blood of the Republican candidates. Of course, Trump will be indicted at least 2 more times and they will use that to bludgeon both he and his base. This is fine with me.


Have a good holiday weekend.

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The House of Representatives is going to vote today on the package their moronic leader, Kev McCarthy, put together with the Biden White House. Of course, the far right crazies are shrieking mad because they believe their small minority means they get to dictate... well, they're wrong. I suspect it will get enough votes to squeak by and head to the Senate.
And some turd bird named Comer wants to file contempt charges against the FBI because they're ignoring the subpoenas the the far right has issued. This is rather hysterical in light of the fact that these same Republicans ignored every subpoena the January 6 committee issued. While this will excite their base, that's about all which will come of it. They simply don't understand they have about as much power as a fart in space.

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Need another reason not to vote for Ron DeSantisFascist? Try this … There was a mass shooting on Memorial Day in Florida that left nine people, including children, wounded, yet DeSantis, campaigning in Iowa, failed to utter a word about it. He has not said a word on his Twitter accounts, has not posted a statement on his government website, and it does not appear he has spoken to reporters about it. His campaign is more important than dead Floridians. PS Ron DeSantis signed a permit-less carry bill in April that removes requirements for background checks, instruction, training &oversight. PPS The shooter was not, I repeat not, a drag queen, which DeFacsist thinks is the greatest threat to the US.

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And a bipartisan vote got the Debt Ceiling bill out of the House of Representatives and into the Senate. Was anybody really worried? I wasn't. While nobody got everything they wanted, this is a good bill mostly because of certain things, one being that the next fight over the debt ceiling has been pushed back to 2025, meaning it can't be used during the election of 2024..


Another important thing to remember about this legislation is that the far right crazies in the House suffered a serious defeat. The "shut up, we're in charge," crowd lost in a big way. That alone should warm the cockles of an Liberal cynic's heart. Because the country is Centrist, the extremists on both sides of the aisle were terribly disappointed.

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Rachelle Lefevre, Twilight star, taking on her local Target store for moving a Pride display to the back the store amid backlash from anti-LGBTQ+ asshats and then taking on the bigots who came for her: “I came in here two days ago, and my seven-year-old, who’s nonbinary, saw [the display] and said: ‘Look, mom, it’s Pride, look! They’re going to celebrate me!’ And because some people complained and threw some stuff to the ground or I don’t know what happened, they have moved their Pride section to the back of the store. [And] don’t anyone come back at me with ‘It was a security issue’ because this is a billion-dollar company—if they really care, they can hire extra security. Instead they chose to send the message that LGBTQ+ people aren’t worth protecting or fighting for … We could do so much better, we’re not supposed to negotiate with terrorists. [And] to those of you who wrote hurtful, disgusting [things]—you know what you wrote, you know who you are—… I punched back in a post… and about 90 seconds later I deleted it because something dawned on me. I know how much pain you have to be in to hate that hard, so instead of hating back, I just choose to know how much pain you’re in. Whatever it is that you are numbing with hating other people, I want to say that when you can find the courage to face that pain, and you get rid of the anger, I hope there are people there who embrace you, I hope there are people there who can love you and hold space for you. And when you are ready to show up as your authentic self, the way God made you, full of love, I will be here to say ‘Hi, it’s nice to meet you.’” Lefevre didn’t specify the location of the store she visited, but she currently lives in Nashville; Target locations in Southern states, including South Carolina, Arkansas, and Georgia, have all reportedly relocated their Pride displays to the back of the stores and removed Pride apparel from mannequins to reduce their visibility. They’ve literally put us back in a closet. Fuck that. photo

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, GOP governor of Arkansas, says she’s on a mission to protect children from “the radical left woke mob” and is begging people to move to Arkansas from Blue states: “I think the best thing that conservatives can do, that are living in blue states, is move to Arkansas. It’s really simple. That’s the best pathway forward, then you don’t have to worry about those things because we’re going to make sure that the kids are protected and that they’re in good learning environments.” Huckleberry signed bills allowing children to work; she signed bills banning trans people from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity; she is for Don’t Say Gay; she is for the ending of teaching about racism and slavery. Huckleberry is against anything put forward by a Democrat, unless it’s financial aid from the government when God sends tornadoes to Arkansas because their governor is a hate-filled bigot, then she’s first in line with her hand out. PS Right now Arkansas ranks as the 47th Best State to live in out of 50 states. Does anyone really wanna take a step down? photo

Wanda Sykes, out comedian, explaining it to the GOP: “Until a drag queen walks into a school and beats eight kids to death with a copy of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird,’ I think you’re focusing on the wrong shit.” Word. photo

Ron Johnson, Wisconsin’s GOP asshat senator, on global warming being a good thing: “So, in terms of excess deaths, a warming globe is actually beneficial. In my own state, your study shows that we’d have a reduction in mortality of somewhere between 54 and 56 people per, I guess it’s a hundred thousand. Why wouldn’t we take comfort in that?” He suggested global warming wouldn’t be bad for the US because it’s not as hot here as it is in Africa. I only hope it gets hot under that tinfoil hat and cooks his brain even more.

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President Joe Biden, issuing a proclamation for Pride Month: “In June 1969, a courageous group of Americans rose up to protest the violence and marginalization they faced in what became known as the Stonewall Uprising. Police had raided the Stonewall Inn—a gay bar located in New York City—and for the next six days they clashed with LGBTQI+ protestors, who bravely stood their ground. Their courage sparked a civil rights movement for the liberation of the LGBTQI+ community and changed our Nation forever. During Pride Month, we honor a movement that has grown stronger, more vibrant, and more inclusive with every passing year. Pride is a celebration of generations of LGBTQI+ people, who have fought bravely to live openly and authentically. And it is a reminder that we still have generational work to do to ensure that everyone enjoys the full promise of equity, dignity, protection, and freedom. Today, our Nation faces another inflection point. In 2023 alone, State and local legislatures have already introduced over 600 hateful laws targeting the LGBTQI+ community. Books about LGBTQI+ people are being banned from libraries. Transgender youth in over a dozen States have had their medically necessary health care banned. Homophobic and transphobic vitriol spewed online has spilled over into real life, as armed hate groups intimidate people at Pride marches and drag performances, and threaten doctors’ offices and children’s hospitals that offer care to the LGBTQI+ community. Our hearts are heavy with grief for the loved ones we have lost to anti-LGBTQI+ violence. Despite these attacks, the LGBTQI+ community remains resilient. LGBTQI+ Americans are defiantly and unapologetically proud. Youth leaders are organizing walkouts at high schools and colleges across the country to protest discriminatory laws. LGBTQI+ young people and their parents are demonstrating unimaginable courage by testifying in State capitals in defense of their basic rights. They are not alone: My entire Administration stands proudly with the LGBTQI+ community in the enduring struggle for freedom, justice, and equality. And we are making strides. On my first day in office, I signed a historic Executive Order charging the entire Federal Government with protecting LGBTQI+ people from discrimination—from health care to housing, education, employment, banking, and the criminal justice system. Last December, surrounded by dozens of couples who have fought for marriage equality in the courts for decades, I had the great honor of signing into law the landmark Respect for Marriage Act. This bipartisan law protects the rights of same-sex and interracial couples—like caring for one’s sick partner and receiving spousal benefits. Deciding who to marry is one of life’s most profound decisions, so we etched a simple truth into law: Love is love. Meanwhile, I have taken unprecedented steps to support LGBTQI+ youth. During Pride Month last year, I signed an Executive Order charging Federal agencies with combating the dangerous and discredited practice of so-called “conversion therapy.” I also directed agencies to help end the crisis of homelessness among LGBTQI+ youth and adults and to address discrimination that LGBTQI+ kids face in foster care. The Department of Justice is combating laws that target transgender children, and the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services have proposed new rules to protect LGBTQI+ Americans from discrimination in health care, at school, and in sports. I also established the White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse to develop concrete actions to prevent and respond to online harassment and abuse, which disproportionately target LGBTQI+ people. Additionally, my Administration made it easier for LGBTQI+ youth to access vital mental health support. Now, by calling the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline and dialing the number 3, LGBTQI+ youth can speak to counselors who have been specifically trained to support them. This country is stronger and more just when America’s leaders reflect the full diversity of our Nation, so I have appointed a historic number of highly qualified openly LGBTQI+ judges and public servants at all levels of the Federal Government. Our Armed Forces are most capable when all patriots can serve their country, so I protected the right of transgender people to once again serve openly in the military. But there is more to do, like passing the bipartisan Equality Act, which would strengthen civil rights protections for LGBTQI+ people and families across America. We must also address the disproportionate levels of homelessness, poverty, and unemployment in the LGBTQI+ community and end the crisis of violence against transgender women and girls of color. We must support LGBTQI+ activists around the globe who are standing up for basic human rights and LGBTQI+ survivors of gender-based violence. And we must end the HIV/AIDS epidemic once and for all. Our collective freedoms are inextricably linked: when one group’s dignity and equality are threatened, we all suffer. This month and every month, let us celebrate the pride that powers the movement for LGBTQI+ rights and commit to doing our part to help realize the promise of America, for all Americans.” Thanks Joe.

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And, of course, people are still upset about the Debt Ceiling agreement, mostly Republicans. That's fine. They can never have too much bad luck.

The GOP's civil war is really beginning to heat up. I don't know if any out there has seen the video with Ronnie D standing by as Cassie D speaks. Excruciating. She rambles on... and on, trying to paint a happy family portrait. This so viewers can compare Ronnie D's family life and Donnie T's divorces / porn star past. Believe me, excruciating is not close enough to describing her speech. The only excitement comes near the end when Ronnie D begins wiping his running nose with his finger. This man has no social skills what so ever.

[9A]

Ralph said this is a good place to share this tribute
to Gay Pride. 9A

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https://youtu.be/R2M5ZeJSZHM

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Why are these assholes 'autographing' bibles? They didn't write it. I guess because they're 're-writing' it?

DeSantis Autographs Bible At Iowa “Roast And Ride”

June 4, 2023 Politics, Republicans

The Associated Press reports:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were among the White House contenders appearing at a rally at the state fairgrounds near Des Moines hosted by U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst. DeSantis, with his wife, Casey, and three young kids in tow, chatted with voters, gave out autographs and signed the Bible of a man who thanked DeSantis for “standing up to Disney.”
Casey DeSantis wore a black leather jacket in 86-degree weather with the words “Where Woke Goes to Die” and an outline of Florida on the back.
It brought to mind comparisons to first lady Melania Trump, who famously sent a back-of-the-jacket message of her own in 2018 with a green-hooded jacket that read “I really don’t care do u” as she departed the White House for a trip to visit migrant children in Texas.

Read the full article.

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https://youtu.be/R2M5ZeJSZHM

Great find.

I luv Randy Rainbow. Is that too woke?

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Evidently Ronnie D has a bad problem of saying "woke." It's so bad, every time he speaks in public people count the number of times he says it. He uses that term quite frequently, most likely because he believes most Americans fear "woke." Sadly for Ronnie D, he's wrong. It seems as though on 38% of Americans find being "woke" to be a problem, or, in other words, the Republican part as well as small percentage of unregistered members of the MAGA cult. Don't tell Ronnie D, but America is not falling for this. But then, being the socially incompetent fool he is, he will never understand.

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https://youtu.be/tXoJd4BoZTQ

[9A]

Be still my heart. Randy Rainbow has a bunch of great Youtube videos.

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This Bitch: JessicaTillmann

Down there in Florida, where insanity runs rampant and Hate is the law, Seminole County Public Schools is offering to reprint the 2023 Lyman High School yearbook in order to remove two pages of LGBTQ+ content because some parents, well, to be fair, one hate-filled parent, is upset about it. Jessica Tillmannn, chapter chair of the Seminole County Moms for Liberty—meaning Liberty for her group of bigots and homophobes, but not for everyone—says she’s concerned about the definitions in the yearbook because she thinks they are teaching children about sex outside the state-approved standards that parents can choose to opt their children out of: “They shouldn’t have any sexual definitions in a yearbook. This is a yearbook that goes to every student as young as 14.” I got news for you Jessica, fourteen-year-olds know about LGBTQ+ people, and probably even have friends who are gay and bisexual and trans and genderfluid, so your homophobia is kind of ridiculous, misplaced and a little too late. But what really has Jessica’s Spanx twisted? It’s the fact that the LGBTQ+ section in the yearbook includes photos of member of the student’s Gay-Straight Alliance, definitions of LGBTQ+ terms, a passage on the evolution of pronouns and a profile of a student who advocates for the LGBTQ+ community. How terrifying. And what kind of terms do they explain? How about genderfluid, defined as “a gender identity that changes with time and/or a given situation. This is opposed to a fixed gender identity.” The yearbook also defines aromantic as “someone who experiences little to no romantic attraction. Many aromantics still feel sexual attraction.” Danielle Pomeranz, Lyman High School’s faculty yearbook adviser, disagrees with the district’s offer to scrub LGBTQ+ content since the book features all aspects of the school’s diverse student body, including Latinos in Action, Black History Month and even the Dungeons & Dragons Club and defended the LGBTQ+ section: “They are definitions. They are not teaching anything about sex at all. … Nobody is teaching anybody about sex acts. It is ridiculous.” And while the principal approved the yearbook’s content it is under scrutiny because the Florida Department of Education got involved when Jessica Tillmann had her Hissy Hate Fit and decided only her opinion counts; wrong, again, Jessica. If fact, Jessica Tillmann is so thrilled it be a bigot and homophobe that she is also requesting that Danielle Pomeranz and the school be fired. Sadly, Danielle Pomeranz resigned from her job a couple of weeks ago in part because of Florida’s political climate and a lack of support from Seminole County’s school leadership, so there’s one less teacher to care about all students in Florida. Still, I have a suggestion for Jessica Tillmann: shut the fuck up. If you don’t like LGBTQ+ content in a yearbook, get yourself a pair of scissors and cut the pages out of the book, but why believe your opinion should rule over all opinions? On the upside, as of now, no one had requested a reprinted yearbook, not even Jessica Tillmann. I guess she wanted her Fifteen Minutes of fame as a bigot and homophobe, and I hope she sits all alone in her hate rots there. As for the LGBTQ+ community, we need to speak up, loudly, and condemn this kind of hate. Staying silent is not an option; use your voice, use your vote. What happens to one of us, happens to us all.

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And here's a little bit of the NYT: Ad revenue for Twitter is down 59% from last year. I don't know about you, but I find that fascinating. This is how Elon Musk learns how pricey his opinion of what constitutes free speech is going to be. Oh, and advertisers are not flocking back. They are taking their revenue elsewhere. Of course, Elon doesn't understand how far his ego has led him astray. Instead of changing course, he's going to continue down the same path, Everyone is learning that even though Elon sold the idea to the world that he's a smart man, in real time it turns out he's dumb as a box of rocks.
Trump's documents Grand Jury reconvenes today. Prepare yourselves for a stream of rage in all Caps.

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Everyone is learning that even though Elon sold the idea to the world that he's a smart man, in real time it turns out he's dumb as a box of rocks.

Re: Elon Musk

Dictionary Definitions from Oxford Languages

id·i·ot sa·vant


noun

• a person who has an exceptional aptitude in one particular field, such as music or mathematics, despite having significant impairment in other areas of intellectual or social functioning.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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Thought for the Day

JUNE 5, 2023
John Fugelsang @JohnFugelsang
Remember – the Bible comes out harder against shrimp than it does against abortion.

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^^^THIS!!!! I need that Esther Rolle meme on a t-shirt STAT!!!

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Anti-LGBTQ, anti-black history group Moms for Liberty declared a hate group by SPLC

This couldn't have happened to a more deserving group:

Moms for Liberty, the far-right parental group known for protesting at school board meetings, has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a "hate group" for the first time ever. Moms for Liberty, which recently said it knows liberal groups are spying on its activities because it's doing the same thing to them, is among 12 parental groups added to the SPLC's list of hate groups, according to USA Today.
"The Southern Poverty Law Center is for the first time labeling Florida-headquartered Moms for Liberty and 11 other right-wing 'parents' rights' groups as extremist groups in its annual report, released today," USA Today wrote
. "Moms for Liberty and the other organizations are being designated as 'anti-government extremist groups,' based on longstanding criteria, explained SPLC Intelligence Project Director Susan Corke. Corke said the grassroots conservative groups are part of a new front in the battle against inclusivity in schools, though they are drawing from ideas rooted in age-old white supremacy."
"Moms for Liberty and the other organizations are being designated as 'anti-government extremist groups,' based on longstanding criteria, explained SPLC Intelligence Project Director Susan Corke. Corke said the grassroots conservative groups are part of a new front in the battle against inclusivity in schools, though they are drawing from ideas rooted in age-old white supremacy."

And SPLC's report on the group is extensive, particularly its attack on the LGBTQ community:

Moms for Liberty's attack on the LGBTQ community and their rights has been particularly focused on gender identity and the use of pronouns in schools, the transgender community and gender affirming care, and the proposed changes to Title IX, which would expand rights to the LGBTQ community. As close followers and promoters of speaker Dr. James Lindsay, the group also elevates the term "groomer," referring to a person who builds a relationship with a child to sexualize them. A critical race theory-critic and favorite of the organization, Lindsay has appeared at events and is often shared by the group’s members and officials. Lindsay also pushes theories regarding the ways that Marxists indoctrinate children. Lindsay, an admitted Christian nationalist, was made famous for coining the term "ok groomer," which subsequently led to a lifetime Twitter ban in August 2022.
Moms for Liberty adopted the term "groomer," employing it in Twitter posts. However, once the social media platform outlawed the use of term in July 2022, the group expressed its displeasure, posting a video of "Relatable" with Allie Beth Stuckey on the group’s national website. In the video, entitled “The Left's 'Don't Say Groomer’ Policy,” the host says, "Twitter and Reddit are censoring the word groomer to describe adults who talk to children about gender switching and sexuality. What else are we supposed to call them?"

And then there is the group's attack on racially inclusive curriculum such black history lessons and books:

In addition to fighting mask and COVID mandates, opposition to inclusive curriculum is at the core of Moms for Liberty's infrastructure. Their attack on critical race theory and social emotion learning has put them in the spotlight at school board meetings across the country. Moms for Liberty has been a strong proponent in the push to keep new equity and inclusion from entering public schools and remove any existing opportunities. The group has also been strong supporters of the wave of anti-CRT bills sweeping the country and key actors in the sharp increase in book bans occurring in schools and libraries.

. . . In 2021, a Tennessee chapter of Moms for Liberty was the first to file a complaint under the state’s new anti-CRT bill. The chapter took issue with a book by Ruby Bridges on her experiences integrating a school and also one on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., which they called, “Anti-American, Anti-White, and Anti-Mexican.” In their opinion, these books focused too much on the negatives of history and would prefer that their children’s schools have books that focus on heroes like Clarence Thomas, Morgan Freeman, and Condoleezza Rice. The chapter specifically took issue with Bridges recollections of a White mob yelling at her on her way to school and pictures of firemen hosing Black children in the MLK March on Washington.

Instead, Moms for Liberty recommended using The Making of America to teach history. This 1985 book by conspiracy theorist and John Birch Society supporter W. Cleon Skousen portrays slave owners as the "worst victims of slavery" and claims that although the Founders wanted to free slaves, most slaves were unprepared for lives of freedom. When an anti-CRT bill went into place in New Hampshire, the Moms for Liberty chapter there announced a reward of $500 if someone could catch a teacher breaking the law. The Tweet announcing this was retweeted by the national organization.

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^^^THIS!!!! I need that Esther Rolle meme on a t-shirt STAT!!!

Me too....sans!

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Me too....sans!

I'm literally having one commissioned as I type this. Waiting for a quote.

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I'm literally having one commissioned as I type this. Waiting for a quote.

Brilliant! If you can, send a pic when you get it.

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Why are we proud to be Queer?
You rejected us and kicked us out of our families, homes, churches, government, jobs, and neighborhoods.
You tortured us with stake burning, castration, shock therapy, imprisonment, abuse, public humiliation, and locked us away in mental institutions.
You took away our liberties and refused us justice.
You tried to silence and hide us, and assassinated our leaders.
You taught your children to bully us and hate us.
You denied our marriages and separated us when we were too old and weak to fight back.
You denied us access to our partners as they lay dying, then came into our homes after our partners died and stole our possessions and security because you were legal family and we were not.
You watched us die from a horrible disease and fanned the flames of ignorance to isolate and shame us further in our hour of greatest need.
You banned images, books, music, movies, and all media that said our names or acknowledged our existence.
You promised us your love and support, then cast your vote for politicians who criminalized us, patronized businesses that excluded us, and worshiped at altars that called us sinful and evil.
You absolved yourself of any wrong doing for not raising a fist to us, using slurs, or shunning us, but turned a blind eye when others did.
You stood by us when we were alone with you, then kept quiet when others derided us when we weren’t in the room to defend ourselves.
But we survived anyway. And we chose our own families, found new homes, formed our own houses of worship, started our own support groups, and banded together for support, help, protection, celebration and comfort. We made our own community.
And now you see us dance and sing and wear bright colors and march down main street and sing and chant and cheer and claim our families, our history, our civil rights, our freedoms, our future, and our pride. And you ask yourself
“What do they have to be proud about?”
“Why do they get a parade?”
“Why can’t they keep quiet about it?”
Because we have earned the right to celebrate, and we have learned, in too many difficult and devastating ways, that silence does, in fact, equal death.
We celebrate our lives and existence for ourselves, our community, and those who came before, fought the fight, and didn’t live to be here with us to celebrate today.
So the next time you see a a group of us in rainbow attire, defying gender roles, claiming our own identities, bodies, and relationships, or see movie marathons of LGBTQI+ subject matter, or see businesses or communities put up pride displays to celebrate our lives [[and, yes, pander to our dollars) and you feel left out or unseen or unheard…
….remember that feeling, because that’s how most of us feel the other 11 months of the year….and how many of us have felt our entire lives. Hopefully, if you can understand that, even a little bit, you may just start to realize you’re witnessing more than a parade. You’re witnessing history, heroism, survival, perseverance, and triumph.
And that’s a pretty damn good reason to celebrate, if you ask me.

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Brilliant! If you can, send a pic when you get it.

Will do! Hope to have it by Pride.

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So, with Thing 45, Ron DeSaster and Joe Biden all running for president let’s take a look at the messages their wives have sent with their fashion. The always illiterate Melanie … Casey DeSaster, whom Twitter has taken to calling either #TackieO due to her love for capes and opera gloves, or, my favorite, #WalmartMelania. Jill Biden, with the simplest, yet most profound message.

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Any day now. Possibly even sometime this afternoon. He's broken the Espionage Act, as if we didn't know. Remember, he's always believed he was above the law and could do whatever he liked.


I found it interesting that the House of Representatives has adjourned for the week because of internal Republican chaos. I wouldn't be surprised if some of that had to do with the impending indictment [[s). One of Jack Smith's investigations has to do with the Jan 6 insurrection, and mealy mouthed Mark Meadows has flipped for that Grand Jury as well. I'm sure he's already turned in texts to and from an array of people, like Jimmy Jordan, Scott Perry, and that ever popular Ginni Thomas.


And, speaking of the Thomases, I see where Clarence has asked for an extension on filling his financial statement for the past year. He must be finding it difficult to make bribery sound legit.

[Jerry Oz]

Trump indicted on seven criminal counts in classified documents case


PUBLISHED THU, JUN 8 20237:32 PM EDTUPDATED 3 MIN AGO


Dan Mangan
@_DANMANGAN


Former President Donald Trump has been indicted in federal court in connection with his retention of classified government documents after leaving the White House.
Trump himself disclosed the indictment in a series of posts on his Truth Social social media site. He also said he has been summoned to appear in court in Miami on Tuesday.
He is currently seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
An FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago residence last summer found hundreds of classified records.

Trump indicted on seven criminal counts in classified documents case
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on seven federal criminal charges in connection with hundreds of classified government documents he retained after leaving the White House.


Trump himself disclosed the indictment in a series of posts on his Truth Social social media site on Thursday evening. He also said he has been summoned to appear in court in Miami on Tuesday.


NBC News soon after confirmed the indictment, which is the second time in recent months that Trump has been criminally charged. He remains under criminal investigation by the Department of Justice and a Georgia state prosecutor for his efforts to reverse his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election.


Follow our live coverage of Donald Trump’s indictment in the classified documents case.


The nature of the latest charges against Trump are not public, as the indictment is sealed for now.


The New York Times, citing people familiar with matter, reported that the charges include “willfully retaining national defense secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and an obstruction of justice conspiracy.”


Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is the only U.S. president, former or otherwise, ever to be criminally charged. A Trump political action committee immediately began fundraising off of news about the latest indictment.


He was first indicted by a New York state grand jury in March on charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn star in 2016.


In a video statement Thursday, Trump called the new charges “election interference at the highest level.”



“I AM AN INNOCENT MAN! This is indeed a DARK DAY for the United States of America,” he wrote.


Trump has been the focus of a federal criminal investigation since last year over his stonewalling of requests to return government records, including classified documents, after ending his term as president. By law, such records must be returned when a president leaves office.


Last August, FBI agents raided Trump’s home at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, searching for records they believed would be there.


Agents found hundreds of documents marked classified.


A spokesman for special counsel Jack Smith, who has been leading the investigation for the Department of Justice, declined to comment to NBC News.


Trump in his social media posts griped that, “The corrupt Biden Administration has informed my attorneys that I have been Indicted, seemingly over the Boxes Hoax.”


He griped that Biden himself had not been charged despite the fact that a number of government documents, some of which were classfied, had been found at locations where he lived or worked as a private citizen.


Biden is the subject of an inquiry by another special counsel for those documents. But legal analysts have said his situation is different from that of Trump because of Trump’s failure to return government records despite repeated requests that he do so by U.S. officials.


A White House spokesman declined to comment to NBC News. He referred that query to the Department of Justice, “which conducts its criminal investigations independently.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/06/08/trum...next-week.html

[lakeside]

I see that Pat Robertson has died and none too soon. You know I don't really believe in the sort of karma that would cause him to die during Pride month but he did indeed die during Pride month and I'm sure that if he could send messages from the beyond, he'd be blaming his death on the evil gays with their evil ways. I'm sure his followers are claiming that on his behalf. But damn, the guy was 93. He lived long enough and then about another seven or eight decades in my opinion.

[lakeside]

Without Pat Robertson, American Politics Would Have Been Infinitely Better

JUNE 8, 2023
He was the beginning of a blight that is still causing untold damage among our fellow citizens.
From Esquire, by Charles P. Pierce:
The best I can say about Pat Robertson, the Christopolitical television star and onetime presidential candidate who, on Thursday, went off to glory [[and to what probably will be one of the livelier final judgments that the heavenly peanut gallery has seen in a while), is that he eventually faded into irrelevance and that he was easily surpassed for pure craziness and reckless damage by succeeding generations of clerical errors who took up politics as a career. That’s the best I can say about him.
The worst I can say about him is that American politics would have been infinitely better off had Pat chosen a career in waste management. He was the beginning of a blight that is still causing untold damage among our fellow citizens. He was one of the original vectors for the prion disease that is presently eating away at the higher functions of the Republican mind. And, not to put too fine a point on it, he was a bottomless abyssal of completely batshit crazy ideas. From The New York Times:

He suggested, for example, that Americans’ sinfulness had brought on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States, and that the earthquake that devastated Haiti in 2010 was divine retribution for a promise that Haitians had made to serve the Devil in return for his help in securing the country’s independence from France in 1804. He said that liberal Protestants embodied “the spirit of the Antichrist” and that feminism drove women to witchcraft. He called for the assassination of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. He maintained that his prayers had averted hurricanes.

In December 2020, amid intensifying efforts by President Donald J. Trump and his supporters to overturn the election, Mr. Robertson told viewers of his television show, “The 700 Club,” that a lawsuit filed by the Texas attorney general challenging results in four states was a “miracle.” “They’re going to the Supreme Court to say, ‘This election was rigged and you’ve got to overturn it,’” Mr. Robertson said, citing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. He declared that “God himself” would intervene.

His old man was a congressman, a senator, and a pretty awful person his own self. But, despite his own awfulness, or, alas, because of it, his son Pat was a transformative figure in American politics, and in American culture generally. He completely revived religious television, both as a medium for his message and, more significantly, as a loudly mooing cash cow both for his own benefit and that of his burgeoning political ambitions. His flagship show, The 700 Club, eventually became the hub of a worldwide television empire. It gave him a platform, and a viewership, that soon morphed into a purely political vehicle.

David John Marley, the author of Pat Robertson: An American Life [[2007), said that Mr. Robertson’s statements were calculated to arouse his core following: Christians who felt ignored or mistreated by elites. “The more he is publicly vilified, the more his minority-under-attack thesis appears to be true,” Mr. Marley wrote. It had become a potent constituency. In 1986, Ed Rollins, who managed President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign, said Mr. Robertson had “more assets than the Republican National Committee.”

The three-headed dog of splinter Protestantism, mass media, and conservative politics eventually became so powerful that, in 1988, Robertson himself ran for president, shaking up the race briefly by finishing a strong second in the Iowa caucuses, which was reason enough even back then to loath the pride of place given to a largely white state and its Clyde Crashcup nominating vehicle. Robertson’s campaign, of course, never went much past the city limits of Winterset. But his political muscle remained and, as the Times points out, his operation was instrumental in the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 1994. He got rich selling his network to the Murdoch empire, but only on the condition that The 700 Club be televised in perpetuity no matter what the network was called. [[It’s now Freeform, if you’re keeping score at home.) That gave him a perpetual platform from which to be despicable. In 2016, when Omar Mateen shot up the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people, most of them gay, Robertson half-gleefully pronounced it a two-fer.

“We’re looking at a favored group by the left, the homosexuals, and that in Islam is punishable by death or imprisonment or some sanction, so what are the left going to do?…In the meantime, Donald Trump is riding high because he said we should screen these people and he’s absolutely right. We should screen them. So the left is saying, ‘Oh you’re anti-Muslim, you’re racist’ and all this. Suddenly, that part of the narrative doesn’t play too well and they’re stuck as to what to do. But Trump is enjoying a victory.”

Pat Robertson rendered an awful lot to Caesar, as well as rendering an awful lot to his bank account. Because of that, he will be remembered by honest historians as one of the primary architects of our current political situation, and as one of the primary architects of a political party gone drunk on hatred, fear, and a very strange idea of what the gospels really mean. Paranoia is the rock on which Pat Robertson built his church.

[sansradio]

[lakeside]

Pete Buttigieg, Secretary of Transportation, on the Human Rights Campaign’s declaration of a national emergency in the U.S. for LGBTQ people: “Our country is at a very real risk of backsliding on freedom and equality but that is exactly why we continue to push. There has been extraordinary work that’s been done just in this presidency, and if you zoom out to the progress that’s been made in the last 10 or 15 years, including the ability of somebody like me to be standing here doing this job, it’s extraordinary. And yet, now you see the attacks on the LGBTQ community, especially on the trans community and what they’re going through and I think it’s being done out of the perception that it is politically convenient to target vulnerable groups. And honestly, I think where it largely comes from is folks who don’t want to talk about why they were against the infrastructure loans, building roads and bridges. They don’t want to talk about why they were against $35 insulin … they don’t want to explain why they were for these radical positions that speak to what those people are worried about their everyday lives. So they’re focused on targeting some of the people who already do not have a very easy time going about everyday life. Think about how hard it is to be a teenager to begin with. But think about how hard it is to be a teenager when you realize that you are different, when you’re coming to terms with your gender identity or you’re coming to terms with realizing that you’re gay or lesbian. The last thing you need in your life are politicians trying to score political points by making things worse for you. We’re gonna stand together, whether it’s pride or just on any given day and say no, we’re going to expand, not withdraw, the freedoms and equalities we won in this country, and we’re going to build on them.” Pete needs to be President of this country one day soon. It’s the plain common sense that we need.

Lauren Boebert, Congressional escort loon, lying about missing the debt ceiling vote: “No excuses, I was ticked off that they wouldn’t let me do my job, so I didn’t take the vote. Once again, Washington’s power machine shoved a multi-trillion-dollar bill down our throat, refused to allow debate or amendments, disregarded everything we fought for in January, and didn’t actually allow representatives to do their job. And instead, they served us up a crap sandwich. Call it a no-show protest, but I certainly let every one of my colleagues and the country know I was against this garbage of a bill and against bypassing the voice of each representative. Deals cut in the dark are why we are headed towards $36 trillion in debt. And I refuse to be a part of it.” Let’s dish the lies: Boebert didn't miss the vote in protest because she was trying to get into Congress but was late—there’s video of her running up the stairs like a hooker whose John forgot to pay her, and being told the building was closed for the vote. There’s also evidence that she didn’t vote but had it added to the record that if she did vote it would have been a Nay vote. Secondly, there was a House debate on the debt ceiling bill that lasted for nearly five hours. Thirdly, there were 81 proposed amendments to the debt bill, 14 of which were introduced by or cosponsored by Boebert herself; I guess she’s either lying through her fake teeth or too stupid to remember what she said and did? She’s a liar, and not a very good one; maybe if she’d graduated from high school, and not failed the GED three times before finally getting a passing score, she wouldn’t be such a fucking illiterate lying sack of gas.

Tim Scott, South Carolina’s GOP senator and candidate for the presidency … hold for laughter … on Sunny Hostin calling him the "exception" to systemic racism in America: "One of the reasons why I’m on [The View] is because of the comments that were made frankly on this show that the only way for a young African-American kid to be successful in this country is to be the exception and not the rule. That’s a dangerous, offensive, disgusting message to send to our young people today that the only way to succeed is by being the exception. The fact of the matter is we’ve had an African-American president, African-American vice president, we’ve had two African Americans to be secretaries of the state. In my home city, the police chief is an African American who’s now running for mayor. The head of the highway patrol for South Carolina is an African American. In 1975, there was about 15% unemployment in the African-American community. For the first time in the country, it’s under 5%. Progress in America is measured in generations. My grandfather [was] born in 1921 in Salley, South Carolina, when he was on a sidewalk, a White person was coming, he had to step off and not make eye contact. That man believed then, with some doubt now, in the goodness of America, because he believed that faith in God, faith in himself, and faith in what the future could hold for his kids, would unleash opportunities in ways that you cannot imagine. So, what I’m suggesting is that the yesterday’s exception is today’s rule." Just because we had a Black President, or a Black Vice President, or police chief or whatever, doesn’t mean there isn’t systemic racism in this country. All one need do is look at the shocking numbers of Black Americans killed by police, many for minor offenses; all one need do is see the percentage of Black people in America versus the percentage of Black people in prisons. For Tim Scott to suggest that racism, systemic racism, isn’t a problem in America because he doesn’t have to get off the sidewalk to make way for the white person is pure ignorance.

Karine Jean-Pierre, on the GOP and Not-So-Sleepy Joe: “After calling Joe Biden senile, Republicans just complained he outsmarted them [on the debt ceiling deal.] I will leave that there.” Snap. And funny cuz it’s true. Sleepy Joe once again owned the GOP.

[lakeside]

REST IN PEACE

By now I'm sure we all heard evangelists Pat Robertson passed on and ironically during pride month. But let's remember not to say bad things. I agree with the great Bette Davis." We shouldn't talk bad about the Dead, we should say only good things. Pat Robertson is dead. GOOD."

[lakeside]

And, for those of you who haven't heard the news, Trump is going top be officially indicted for a 2nd time on Tuesday. Miami is probably not going to be very pleasant on Tuesday. Purportedly part of his indictment has to do with the Espionage Act which might entail him actually being arrested, put in handcuffs, and sent to a jail cell. While 62% of America would love this, I doubt if it will happen. One of his attorneys said that he was going to fight this thing through and not run off to Scotland. Personally, I think that's a very good possibility. Especially if he gets indicted a 3rd time in Atlanta.


Republicans are in an uproar, at least publicly. Privately I'm betting many of them are scared. A majority of Americans can't stand their politics. We are a Centrist country unfortunately Republicans don't really care. All they want to do is say "shut up, do as we say, we're in charge." They hate Democracy.


Oh, and speaking of Democracy, the Supreme Court released a decision yesterday ripping Alabama's racist redistricting maps. Ouch for the white Republicans in that state. Not surprisingly, the angriest dissent came for Clarence Thomas who loves him his white sugar daddy.

[sansradio]

Freakin’ ETHERED their Nazi asses.

[lakeside]

Words to Live By

JUNE 9, 2023
Andrew Wortman @AmoneyResists
If you don’t want the leader of your party to get indicted, don’t make a lifelong criminal the leader of your party.

[lakeside]

And yesterday I, as well as the rest of the world, got to see this.

Now, I don't know about your but me? I saw a crystal chandelier in a bathroom, and a crystal sconce, and lots of brown marble, but what my eye was really drawn to was that crappy shower curtain! Holy Shit! All that crystal and marble, and a shower curtain that looks like it was picked up in Walmart. Oh, and of course there are the boxes of documents, some of which are evidently nuclear secrets. I'm sure there's nothing more fun than sudsing up your loofah, while reading about Iran's nuclear capabilities.

[9A]

And yesterday I, as well as the rest of the world, got to see this.

You forgot to mention the beautiful ornate brass, bronze
[or gold] mirror frame and faucet. Oh, maybe the doorknob.
I am quite sure that Trump never uses this small a bathroom
with such an ordinary toilet.