December 12, 2021

California's reaction to the Supreme Court's acceptance of Texas SB8

California Governor Gavin Newsom:
"SCOTUS is letting private citizens in Texas sue to stop abortion?!
If that's the precedent then we'll let Californians sue those who put ghost guns and assault weapons on our streets.
If TX can ban abortion and endanger lives, CA can ban deadly weapons of war and save lives."

As a lifelong Democrat, THIS is exactly what I've been waiting for in our party. For too long Democrats have stood back and not showed much overt strength, possibly out of fear that the GOP wanted them to escalate. But the SCOTUS has made it clear that they're okay with the GOP passing laws that erode Judicial checks and balances against Legislative overreach, so in this case the damage is already done.

https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1469865185493983234

November 11, 2021

Rittenhouse Judge Tells Jury to Applaud for Defense Witness

As the defense witness was being seated, the judge asked the courtroom if anyone was a veteran.

One person raised his hand.

The defense witness.

The judge then told the jury and courtroom to applaud veterans to show appreciation for their sacrifices.

September 1, 2021

The other big Texas new for today...

Although a distant second to the state giving the okay to vigilante law enforcement (with a reward!) in order to create their own little American Christian theocracy of he-man-woman-haters, there is other Texas news.

Today is the day that anyone can walk into a store that carries them and buy a gun with no background check, no training, no nothing. And then just put it in their purse or pocket and go about their day.

As Twitter said, "Pick up a pistol at 7-11 with your Slurpee".

August 25, 2021

Trump's Social Media Platform Is Hosting Child Porn

Stanford's Internet Observatory reported last week that Trump's social media platform Gettr is host to child pornography. The service "does not implement industry standard" moderation tools, which filter out child pornography.

A pro-Trump social media service has a major problem, according to a new report: It's not filtering out known images of child pornography.

Gettr, which was started by former Trump aide and spokesperson Jason Miller, has "very few — if any — mechanisms for detecting spam, violent content, pornography, and child exploitation imagery," a new study by the Stanford Internet Observatory said.

The study found 16 examples of images on Gettr that were flagged by PhotoDNA, a photo-moderation database, as "child exploitation imagery."

https://www.businessinsider.com/pro-trump-social-media-service-not-moderating-some-child-pornography-2021-8

April 6, 2021

Arkansas legislators override veto, enact transgender youth treatment ban

Source: NBCNews

Arkansas legislators Tuesday made the state the first to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors, overriding Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson's veto.

The law prohibits doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapy, and prevents them from referring minors to other providers.

Major medical organizations, such as the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, opposed the bill, which transgender advocates say could have severe negative effects on trans youths in the state.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/arkansas-lawmakers-enact-transgender-youth-treatment-ban-n1263197

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These bills (85 and counting) and now laws spanning 30 states are being written, promoted and funded by national conservative Christian groups. After the Supreme Court ruled on marriage equality, they turned to attacking trans kids to raise funds and form a common enemy. As the GOP merged with evangelical Christians, they included the attacks directly into their party platform.

So now we've reached the point where even "conscience bills" allowing an individual practitioner to be a bigot are no longer good enough. Now they have to outlaw at the state level medical care that every major health care or medical organization supports (list is here: https://transhealthproject.org/resources/medical-organization-statements/ ).

This is going to ruin or end many young lives, and for what? So that religious and political leaders can force conservative values on America and personally garner more money and power.