LGBTQIA – Page 4 – Politics Plus

Open Thread July 4, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:02 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 042023

Yesterday, I seriously overslept – by choice – but it did cut into my working time. I’ve been having some issues with pain cutting into both my sleeo time but, even more to the point, into the amount of actual rest/recovery I get when I am asleep. I ran the TENS for extra time today, which has helped – I don’t suppose this will resolve the issue, so I’ll keep on it. On a brighter note, The New Yorker decided to run a group of 9 Name Drop quizzes together, all of them on literary figures (which helped up front), and I actually got all of them. Not spectadularly – five of the nine on the las clue and the rest somewhere between the socond and the fifth – but I’m still quite pleased about it. (I bombed the daily one, though.)

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Short Takes –

Axios – Scoop: Hunter Biden’s lawyer roasts IRS whistleblowers in message to GOP chair
Quote – Why it matters: The White House has been struggling to answer questions about the IRS agent transcripts over the past week, but Hunter’s lawyer Abbe Lowell is now taking the lead in fighting back against the Republican-led committee. The letter comes after Chair Jason Smith last week released transcripts of interviews with two IRS agents who claimed that the investigation into Hunter Biden was improperly handled along with a purported WhatsApp message that showed Hunter leveraging his father to close a business deal.
Click through for article (and full 10-page letter). I’m glad they are pushing back – no that anything we say will get through to MAGAt cultists, but there are sane people out there who need to get exposed to facts.

Letters from an American – June 30, 2023
Quote – It turned out that limiting the Fourteenth Amendment to questions of race and letting states choose their voters cemented the power of a minority. The abandonment of federal protection for voting enabled white southerners to abandon democracy and set up a one-party state that kept Black and Brown Americans as well as white women subservient to white men. As in all one-party states, there was little oversight of corruption and no guarantee that laws would be enforced, leaving minorities and women at the mercy of a legal system that often looked the other way when white criminals committed rape and murder. Many Americans tut-tutted about lynching and the cordons around Black life, but industrialists insisted on keeping the federal government small because they wanted to make sure it could not regulate their businesses or tax them. They liked keeping power at the state level; state governments were far easier to dominate. Southerners understood that overlap: when a group of southern lawmakers in 1890 wrote a defense of the South’s refusal to let Black men vote, they “respectfully dedicated” the book to “the business men of the North.”
Click through for full letter (as always, click “Continue reading”). It’s an historian’s view of the SCOTUS’s recent prejudicial decisions in the context of out history.

Food For Thought

Open Thread July 3, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 5:42 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 032023

Yesterday, I saw Virgil; he is well and returns all greetings. We did play Scrabble, but the letters were so weird that we had to use abbreviations, acronyms, slang, and foreign words to fill the board, in all the games, and we only got three in, as opposed to four on the previous visit. The weather was just about perfect – sun and warmth (but not so much warmth as to delay the car’s air conditioner from coming full on), a little cloud cover, but not too much, and sunset is not ging to get any later than it was yesterday. As I got off the interstate, my car said it was hungry, so I stopped and filled it. So I got home a bit after 4:30 instead of a but before. When I see Virgil, I don’t eat aything from the vending machines, on account of food allergiues (Yes, the stuff is labelled, but it’s not possible to read the ingredients until after getting it out of the machine, and I do hate waste.) So when I get home I’m more than ready for dinner. In the interests of saving a little time, I turn on the living room laptop rather than going all the way back to my desktop. It is slow turning on and slow bringing up theinternet – I use that time for changing into more comfortable clothing, putting stuff away, and then for starting the microwave – so I’m usually home for a half hour or even a little more before I get a comment posted. So please don’t anyone panic if my “home safe” message isn’t up right at 4:30 Mountain.

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Short Takes –

Robert Hubbell – Brute Force in the Service of Religious Nationalism
Quote – I will briefly address the constitutional issues below, but before I do, it is appropriate to set aside legal arguments to discuss the human dimensions of the majority’s ruling in 303 Creative. The majority ruled that a business offering creative services to the public can refuse to provide those services to LGBTQ people if the business claims doing so will impair its right to free speech. Forget the procedural background and the judicial arm-waving designed to distract us. At root, the decision authorizes American business owners to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Period. It is a first step, taken in bad faith and wrapped in lies.
Click through for more. He is an attorney in Los Angeles to whom my cousin pointed me. He has opened a comments section to paying, non-paying, and non-subscribers to this post only. Today and tomorrow I am featuring this and another Substack column, the other being from Heather Cox Richardson, who is an historian (and just as angry as Hubbell about this.)

Crooks & Liars – Dark Brandon Won’t Let SCOTUS Stop Student Debt Relief
Quote – “I love the concern for the privileged,” Biden said with a sarcastic chuckle. He didn’t mention how privileged the conservative wing of the court is but he didn’t really have to given all the publicity about how they are raking in the undisclosed gifts, luxury travel and more from their wealthy pals hoping – and getting – favorable rulings.
Click through for the story (and a short video). I’m glad Joe is our President.

Food For Thought

Video Thread 7/1/2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 12:01 pm Open Thread, Politics

Jul 012023

Glenn Kirschner – Rudy Giuliani meets w/federal prosecutors; likely trying to get the best plea deal to flip on Trump

The Lincoln Project – Presidents on American Immigrants

Robert Reich – The GOP’s Assault on LGBTQ Existence

Liberal Redneck – Why the Obsession with Trans People?

This Cat Was Left Behind When His Owner Moved Away (In defense of California, San Bernardino is in a red district – not Kevin’s, but adjacent to Kevin’s.)

Beau – Let’s talk about Rudy and interviews….

Open Thread July 1, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:10 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jul 012023

Yesterday, three more terrible decisons from the Supreme Court. I hope to heaven this is it for the current year. Yesterday was also the last day of the month, so my inbox was crammed with fundraising emails. Living on Social Security, I’m limited – but it’s clear we need bigger Congressional majorities in both Houses, and also that we need to be able to keep them there. Money alone will not accomplish that – but it also cannot be accomplished without money. ALso yesterday I received an email from Carrie B., whom I expect Care2 people will remember. I won’t go into detail, byt she ans Barry are both experiencing uncomfortable and somewhat disabling health issues. Thoughts and prayers may not stop gun violence, but I’m sure Carrie and Barry would appreciate them anyway.

Cartoon – 01 gettys (&/or Canada Day)

Happy Canada Day

Short Takes –

Colorado Public Radio – [Jefferson County] DA says Edgewater Police Department had culture of retaliation and “bending the rules”
Quote – Jefferson County’s lead prosecutor has asked for state help investigating the Edgewater Police Department after discovering five years of misconduct and incidents where officers violated the constitutional rights of citizens. In a letter sent to Attorney General Phil Weiser’s office this week, Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King said that in an investigation into a former Edgewater police officer, who faces several felony charges, [she] unearthed a larger picture of problems at the agency between 2016 and 2021. That includes an internal culture “fraught with bullying, retaliation and bending the rules,” King said, in a statement.
Click through for story. I am so grateful to our state’s voters that we currently have an AG who can be trusted with this investigation. We haven’t always.

Civil Discourse – History Rhymes Again.
Quote – In a 1978 case, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, the Supreme Court held that college admissions policies that considered race as one of several factors in determining admissions—what we know as affirmative action—were permissible. The justices rejected the argument that these policies violated the constitutional rights of white people and denied them equal educational opportunity. The Supreme Court reaffirmed this precedent in 2003 in Grutter v. Bollinger. Affirmative action is not about unfair advantage. It is about leveling the playing field in the face of historical discrimination.
Click through for article. I would disagree slightly – affirmative action IS about unfair advantage, just not about giving it to minorities. It’a about compensating for the unfair advantage whites have had since white skin existed.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 24, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:15 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 242023

Yesterday, being Friday, was the day the Conversation published its weekly quiz (I got 6/8). One wrong answer had me literally laughing out loud, though. The question was “What do we call city regions, with few trees and lots of blacktop, that are prone to extreme heat disasters?” (The correct answer was “Urban heat islands.”) The wrong answer which cracked me up was “Fresno.”

Cartoon – 24 Roe 6-24 RTL

Short Takes –

Child Watch Column – Listening Again to Loving
Quote – Mr. Loving may not have known how the state would treat legal interracial marriages that had been performed elsewhere, but five weeks after their wedding they received a very literal rude awakening: acting on a “tip,” sheriff’s deputies surrounded their bed with flashlights at two in the morning demanding to know why they were there together. Their reply that they were husband and wife made no difference. The Lovings were arrested, and Mr. Loving was held in jail overnight while the pregnant Mrs. Loving was forced to stay for several days. Both were charged with violating Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act. Under a plea bargain, in order to avoid a year-long jail sentence they were forced to leave the state and were prohibited from returning together for 25 years. They settled in Washington, D.C., but missed the small town where they had spent their entire lives. These were the conditions that led the Lovings, inspired by the growing Civil Rights Movement, to reach out to Attorney General Robert Kennedy asking for change.
Click through for history. The Supreme Court could take us back to those days, with no recourse but a Constitutional Amendment or reframing the Court itself.

Colorado Public Radio – Jeffco joins Pride month with special marriage certificates
Quote – Every June, many of Colorado’s biggest cities host huge Pride parades, parties and drag shows to celebrate the LGBTQ community. Now some county clerks are joining the party. The new Jefferson county clerk, Democrat Amanda Gonzalez, has created a distinctive rainbow seal for people who want the specialty marriage certificate. “Equality and inclusion is really important in my office,” she said. “And being potentially the first queer clerk here, it’s especially important to me to protect the right for everybody to marry who you love no matter who you are.”
Click through for details. What a difference between this take and the previous one. (JeffCo is in the SW quadrant of the Denver Metro area.)

The Daily Beast – ‘Good for Nobody’: The Biden Cabinet Pick Who Can’t Even Get a Vote
Quote – “I can’t predict what other people will do,” [Sen. Tim] Kaine [(D-VA)] continued. “But I do know this: Keeping it just hanging out there is good for nobody—not for the country, not for her.” At least three senators have refused to publicly say how they’ll vote: Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). With Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and dozens of GOP senators vocally opposing Su, GOP moderates like Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have stayed mum on their positions, making clear that Democratic votes will make or break the nomination.
Click through for article. I note that the three holdouts are the usual suspects. Manchin is not going to survive reelection with Jim Justice voting against him. Sinema is being opposed by Ruben Gallego. If Tester loses, it will be to a Republican. Not that they are all up at once – I don’t thnk they are – but it does point up how badly we need real Democratic Senators in other states if we want to be able to keep our democracy.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 17, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:00 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 172023

Yesterday, I scored 8 out of 8 correct on the Conversation’s weekly quiz (after a few weeks of 5s and 4s), but I can’t take that much credit. All of the wrong answers were generated by AI. In the graph at the end I was expeting to see a huge increase in the number of 8/8 scores – but, although there was some increase, the biggest increase was in 7/8. Now I wish I had looked more closely at the percentage who got each question right as I was going through. Not that that’s important – just curiosity. Also yesterday, the first major motion in the Trump** trial has been filed, and it is a protective order on the discovery. The attorneys for the defense have agreed to the motion. Solid details in the Video Thread in a Meidas Touch video (almost 9 minutes but all information.)

Cartoon – 17 0617Cartoon.jpg

Short Takes –

The Conversation – George Soros hands control over his family’s philanthropy to son Alex,…
Quote – As a sociologist who researches immigrants and minorities in Europe and conspiracy theories about them, I study how Soros became a scapegoat and bogeyman for nationalists and populists and a target of people who harbor and spread antisemitic beliefs. Baseless conspiracy theories have at times clouded his legacy as one of the world’s biggest donors to causes like higher education, human rights and the democratization of Europe’s formerly communist countries.
Click through for story. I’ve often thought how difficult it must have been for him to be constantly confronted with conspiract theories and anti-Semitic libels. I’m grateful his son is willing to carry on his work.

HuffPost – The GOP Throws A Fit Over The Pride Flag
Quote – Republicans are observing this year’s Pride Month with complaints about the rainbow flag being flown on federal properties, including at the White House. It’s another way the GOP is leaning into culture war issues that are animating its base amid broader efforts to restrict transgender rights nationwide…. “I don’t know if you know it, but simply looking at a Pride flag will not make you gay,” Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), who is gay, said at a hearing marking up the bill.
Click through for more. All this about “insulting veterans who died for the American flag.” Well, I’m a veteran, and I served with gay people who showed tremendous courage – who risked everything, including their lives, to have the honor of serving. People have died for the Pride flag too.

Food For Thought

Open Thread June 12, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:14 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jun 122023

Last week, I got an email from Smithsonian to remind me that Juneteenth is comeing up. And also to give me a link to the NMAA site with history and other information about the day. Even if you have been celebrating it for years, there may be something you can still learn about it – or some detail you may have forgotten. Then, yesterday, I got the email that Heather Cox Richardson has just finished a book to be released mid-September. In her words, it “tries to explain how we got to this political moment.” That’s all I know about the publication details. She does comment that the writing process caused her to rethink a good deal and end up changing her thesis – probably not n uncommon experience for any writer.

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Short Takes –

SPLC – Pride Month a Time to Honor History by Challenging Anti-LGBTQ+ Movement
Quote – Pride Month is more than a time to reflect on Stonewall and the other protests that helped solidify the LGBTQ+ movement and push the world to rethink its prejudices against the community. It’s a time to look at the current threats and challenges to the movement. Now, as then, LGBTQ+ people are under attack. Across the nation, conservative state legislators and governors have adopted draconian restrictions on speech, assembly, education, health care and other matters – all in an attempt to violently force LGBTQ+ people back into the closet.
Click through for the full article. I personally don’t think the haters are trying to force people back into closets. I think they are trying to exterminate them. And, yes, I’m starting the month late. Apologies.

Children’s Defense Fund – Childhood Watch Column – “The Mindless Menace of Violence”
Quote – [The day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated,] Robert Kennedy continued: “When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies—to be met not with cooperation but with conquest, to be subjugated and mastered. We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community, men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear—only a common desire to retreat from each other—only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force.”
Click through for the rest of the column. Not only have we not fixed this, we have allowed it to get increasingly worse. I would point out that the key word is “teach” – and that we have lost any control we ever had over education. It’s futile to say “If he had only lived.” But who can help thinking it?

Colorado Public Radio – Meet the 28 working mothers of the first graduating class from Denver Public Schools’ new community hubs
Quote – The 28 women, all mothers, took part in a special graduation ceremony Saturday. They are the first graduating class from Denver Public Schools’ community hubs. DPS opened the six family resource centers last fall to help with child care, food, language classes, and GED diplomas…. The idea behind the hubs is to empower parents to be role models for their children as lifelong learners…. “We launched this program because there was a need in our community, and it’s helping,” DPS Superintendent Alex Marrero told the graduates. “You should be standing a bit taller today, feeling more excited about what’s in store for you. That is a powerful thing.”
Click through for article. This may seem petty, considering how much damage Lauren Boebert has done on larger stages, but I really, really resent her for the way she has reinforced the already unfair disrepute in which the GED is held by people who hold more conventional diplomas. I’ve worked with the GED, which means I have met and worked with those who have taken it. and I am a big fan. Even if those taking it need it bcause they dropped out of high school for some stupid and/or selfish reason, that isn’t who they are now. (And many didn’t, but faced hardships most of us can barely imagine.) They want to learn. They want to improve their ability to support their families (or even just themselves.) They want to “be all they can be.” And what’s wrong with that? What’s wrong with wanting – and working – to “better yourself”? Plenty who finish high school never reach that level of self-awareness. (OK, end of rant.)

Food For Thought

Open Thread May 28, 2023

Posted by Joanne Dixon at 6:10 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

May 282023

Yesterday, the radio opera was (finally!) “Champion” by Terence BLanchard. It’s based on the life of Emile Griffith, a closeted black welterweight boxer whose career began in the late 1950s and went off the rails (though it dontinued, and for a while with a stream of victories before becoming a string of losses) after an opponent who had outed him and whom he defeated with series of 17 blows went into a coma and died. The story has all the elements of tragedy except that he didn’t die young but lived into old age and dementia, which may be an even greater tragedy. Dying is easy – living is hard. (Living is also harder to write about, which may explain why so few creators have chosen to deal with it.) Blanchard chose to address it head on by splitting Emile’s role into three parts – in order of appearance, the old man, played by Eric Owens; the young man, played by Ryan Speedo Green; and even Emile as a child (Ethan Joseph.) Anyone who has ever had any regrets for anything (and what decent person hasn’t?) will appreciate the mechanism of the two adult Emiles having duets. It does feel like that. Not really on topic, but having kind of followed Green’s career and backstory, I’m aware he has mommy issues – and so did Emile, having been abandoned (along with six siblings) by her and raised by a fundamentalist cousin. Also interesting that when cast, he went out and studied boxing and did bodybuilding to be “worthy of the role.” And that Blanchard himself revised and added to the opera because he wanted it to be “worthy of the Met.” I wish I could tell them both that it’s sweet that they did that, but that they ARE WORTHY. Period. Except that that is something one really can’t tell anyone else. Everyone has to find it for themself. And that – is kindof the essential meaning of the opera. Also yesterday, the Texas House of Repuresentatives voted to impeach texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Under Texas law, he must now step down while he is tried in the Texas Senate. And one more thing – the White House and the GOP have reached a “tentative” deal on the debt ceiling.

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Short Takes –

Crooks & Liars – PIGS FLY: SCOTUS Rules In Favor Of The Little Guys In Tax Sale
Quote – The Supreme Court [Thursday] gave a 94-year-old Minneapolis woman a chance to recoup some money after the county kept the entire $40,000 when it sold her condominium over a much smaller unpaid tax bill…. A handful of states in addition to the District of Columbia allow local governments to keep the excess money, according to the Pacific Legal Foundation, a not-for-profit public interest law firm that represented Tyler at the Supreme Court.
Click through for details – Not that $25,000 will go that far, assuming she sees any of it – but the decision id a good one, and those are becoming increasingly rare.

The Nib (Levi Hastings and Dorian Alexander) – Drag Balls of the Civil War
Quote – The Civil War has always been romanticized as a tragic narrative of conflicting American idealism. It doesn’t matter if you’re a yankee or a rebel though, queerness has never been considered an American ideal. Naturally, that doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist…
Click through for graphic article (perfectly SFW). I have a couple more graphic articles which I want to get in – I now need to try a bit harder since The Nib is folding in August, and I don’t know how long they’ll be available.

Food For Thought

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