From the Erin In The Morning SubStack, on how Nebraska is being as horrific as possible about both Trans and Abortion issues:
Few observers of anti-trans legislation are shocked by the [Nebraska] Republican strategy of bundling an anti-abortion bill with an anti-trans bill, seeking passage with a single vote. Groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom have been instrumental in crafting, lobbying, and advocating for these bills, with their members even contributing to the original drafts, as revealed by a leaked email collection published earlier this year.
I’m going to say it plain — it’s all of us, or none of us. The fight back must be inclusive, because this foe — Conservatism — sees everything, and everyone, not coming from their White Hetero Pseudo-Chrisianist Male-Dominated POV as a threat. We all know this.
I’ve got some life issues going on. I’m neck-deep in stuff. But I’m trying to keep an eye on issues like the murder of Gabriella Gonzalez of Dallas, TX, by her “boyfriend” for daring to get an Abortion. On (in another Erin reporting) Missouri fucked around with this gender affirming care band, and found out that they can’t afford the legal fees, so are rolling it back.
And how Jacksonville and Colorado Springs, of all places, now have non-GOP mayors.
So much is happening. And all of it is worthy of our awareness, even as we have to chose what to pay close mind to — and what, instead, to listen and partner with others who know more than us, on certain topics.
Thanks for reading, and I hope to say more, soon. Stay strong, y’all.
Open Thread of Openness and Love. :)
Princess
I agree.
it is shocking to me how successful they have been. Senator Tuberville is openly calling for an end to elections. Paul Gosar recruits his staff from neo-Nazi social media. Anyone who thinks they’ll stop with trans kids, or will allow blue states to make their own laws is delusional.
Reboot
This is why I read Balloon Juice!
Baud
Hopefully, Nebraska will soon be known as the Backlash State.
CliosFanBoy
@Princess:
And end to elections? I missed this one. What did he say?? (I know about his comment son white nationalists just being “Americans.”)
The Thin Black Duke
“If they come for you in the morning,” James Baldwin said, “they will come for us in the evening.”
MisterDancer
Quick update per a skim of a prior thread — the Neb. bill has passed the State House (thanks commentator JWR). It has another round this week before full passage.
They are trying to sell it as a “compromise” for Trans care. IT IS NOT. From the Erin article I quoted before
It’s notable they pulled this just as — as I noted above — Missouri halted their attempts to do similar.
And there’s a reason that, after this vote, these asshats ran in police corridors from protestors. COWARDS.
MisterDancer
@CliosFanBoy: It’s asinine remarks about the Durham “report”:
NeenerNeener
Never mind. MisterDancer beat me to it.
There go two miscreants
Considering how Orwellian the names of these right-wing groups are, I think every writer should cite them this way:
so-called “Alliance Defending Freedom”
(not picking on the post here, just one of my pet peeves)
Betty Cracker
@Princess: I don’t think it’s performative with Gosar; he is unhinged in a way that makes me concerned for his colleagues’ safety. He’s got the twitchy, power-mad look of a man fondling the detonation button of a hidden bomb.
sdhays
@MisterDancer: What voter fraud are you talking about, Sen. Tuberville? Are you referring to the Congressman from NC who had an operation fraudulently submitting absentee ballots? Or maybe Mark Meadows voting in two jurisdictions at the same time? Or perhaps convicted felon Dinesh DeSouza?
At this point, I assume Tuberville attempted to commit voter fraud, but he accidentally ballot-stuffed a Waffle House trash can instead.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I vote him most likely Congresscritter to be indicted for J6.
CliosFanBoy
@MisterDancer: Dear God. Thank you, Alabama for sending this moron to the Senate.
Anyway
Psyched as I am about the PA results (sadly I know many MAGAs in PA and seeing them lose makes me giddy) I am doomy about the veto-override in NC and the NE vote. The NC law is so bad and will result in decreased and decreased quality of healthcare for (esp AA) women. It has so many bad consequences on the ground.
Plus I see more and more indicators that POTUS may “deal” with the GQP and that makes me stabby. How can they have 4 more seats and undo/block so many D priorities? Grrrrr
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: Room Rater had it right on Gosar.
JWR
@Princess:
And when you tell them how, back in the 1930’s, trans people were among the first to go, they laugh and laugh, telling us how silly it is to make such a connection. I mean, this is America, dammit, and we would never, ever allow such a thing to occur. I guess we should be thankful that our little Fascists are so inept.
Betty Cracker
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Nailed it!
Soprano2
The AG in Missouri withdrew his stupid “rule” because the state legislature passed two trans-hating laws.
I understand that some people are freaked out by trans people; what I don’t understand is converting that freak out into law. I swear, they’re the tenderest snowflakes. They want to make sure they never encounter a thought, feeling or person that they don’t like or agree with.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: That one made me literally laugh out loud. Room Rater is one of the good things to come out of the pandemic.
Ksmiami
@Soprano2: which is why we should defund them and take away their Advil… if they are hell bent on living in the Stone Age, then no modern conveniences for them.
JWR
@MisterDancer:
As far as the Durham “Report”, CBS and NBC have been running with Bill Barr’s smarmy little summary of the Mueller Report, telling us that he found “no evidence of collusion”, ignoring all the evidence of conspiracy and obstruction, which Mueller did not do. I mean it’s right there in his damn report. Stupid media.
Layer8Problem
@Anyway: ” . . . I see more and more indicators that POTUS may “deal” with the GQP . . .”
Like what?
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
OT – It is events like the following which make me hate America and it’s love affair with guns.
Backstory – my father-in-law’s funeral is Friday morning in South Carolina. I took her to the airport yesterday morning, and worked up until 8 pm last night (it was a tough day). My only goal was to get home, get packed, and be ready to be at the airport by 4:30 am or so for my outbound.
Shortly before 10 pm, I was cleaning a cat litter box in the pantry next to the garage. I heard a loud “bang” from the direction of our nearest neighbor’s garage maybe 30 yard from where I was. I first thought “that sounds like a gunshot”, but discounted it as he’s got a lot of equipment and junk projects going on – assumed somebody dropped something heavy. I opened the pantry door to the garage and opened the garage door to take the litter out to the trash can, and heard a bunch of yelling and commotion, along with the neighbor wife screaming at some guy along with something about someone being shot. I shouted to ask if anybody needed help, but nobody answered me, so I went inside, called 911 and locked the door (in case the firearm play traveled, which it sometimes does). Didn’t bother to break out any of my own guns for potential protection – I was pissed about them at that point and didn’t want to look at them.
Took the local cops forever to arrive. I waited respectfully until after 6 to test the neighbor to figure out what happened – I was really jangled and couldn’t fall asleep easily.
Anyway, here’s the exchange:
Couple of things -this is redneck buffoonery writ large, and why so many die each year from easily preventable negligent firings. The police fucked up by not charging the loser with felony wanton endangerment, and I’ll be making two calls / one to command staff and one to the Commonwealth’s Attorney, just to add my spin on the irresponsibility of not issuing charges in firearm discharge injuries.
Also, the kid he was showing these off to is mentally challenged and should not ever be encouraged to operate firearms.
Finally, that detached garage next door IS NOT secure. I’d have lost my shit had I known there was some redneck’s poorly secured gun safe in there (probably hiding them from an estranged spouse or creditors).
mvr
This is my state. Because bills have to go through 3 debates and cloture votes before they are adopted, there will be one more vote on this bill. That may come tomorrow, or later. There may be a chance to pressure a wavering legislator or two. But I’m not sure how. As I posted in a thread yesterday morning, my legislator is one of the good ones. It still helps to mail those with whom one agrees.
Between money from the Ricketts family, and now the Peed family (who own Sandhills Publishing) the bad guys have bought themselves a number of seats in our legislature and turned what used to be a relatively well run legislature into a zoo. Apparently the chair of yesterday’s session refused to recognize various opponents of the bill when they asked to be recognized, and the supporters of the vote to join the bills slunk out a back door after it was all over.
There is an article about the proceedings at: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/05/17/nebraska-merges-abortion-gender-affirming-care-measures-into-single-bill/
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Wow. You gave good advice. Maybe you helped prevent a tragedy. For sure, you educated someone.
James E Powell
@Princess:
I’m appalled & disgusted, but definitely not shocked. Since Reagan, the core of the Republican argument has been cruelty toward vulnerable & marginalized people.
OzarkHillbilly
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: I have offered the observation to many gun owners, that we all know somebody who has no business owning a gun. If they say they don’t, I tell them that maybe they should go look in the mirror.
The upshot is they all end up agreeing, often relating a tale of monumental stupidity.
lowtechcyclist
@Anyway:
A year ago, given recent history, I was nervous about whether anyone who wasn’t physically on the Capitol grounds on 1/6/21 would face charges connected to TFG’s attempted coup, but I was willing to withhold judgment. (I’m a bit less nervous than I was a year ago.)
I think the same approach is called for here. We have a pretty good idea of who Biden is. There are people who are yapping that he’s betraying us wrt the debt ceiling, but I’ve yet to see any reason to think so.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
👍
McCarthy can’t pass anything without Dem help anyway.
Manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: his family takes out ads with similar messages everyone election, but I guess his constituents are mostly monsters, too.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Miss Bianca
@lowtechcyclist: I’m with you. Getting mighty tired of howls of betrayal from folks who know less than nothing about how the sausage actually gets made. Biden knows. I’m done with pre-disappointment.
lowtechcyclist
@Baud:
Unfortunately, passing nothing means we hit the debt ceiling
ETA: One thing, though: earlier this week, the discharge petition became eligible for Representatives to sign it. We’ll see what happens there.
Baud
@lowtechcyclist: Yep.
Anyway
@lowtechcyclist:
I don’t think Biden is betraying us. Far from it. Just think his options are limited.
Elizabelle
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Whoa.
I’d be interested in what comes from the two phone calls you are going to make. And I sincerely hope your neighbor takes your advice and the guns and belongings go find a new place to live
Ugh re this: [The wife] doesn’t like this friend of mine anyway. She never really has. He is kind of a crazy wild guy.”
SO: he for whatever reason is now hiding the guns, and something is off about him. Maybe he is unhoused for now; maybe he’s been kicked out of his living situation.
I hope the police at least checked his record last night.
Why guns should be registered and insured.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: Representatives will sign the discharge petition in fits and halts until debt ceiling crunch time. That’s when the petition will get the requisite 218 signatures, or not. My understanding is that the intention is to amend the bill if and when passage is possible.
The amended bill is unlikely to be a clean debt ceiling raise. There will probably be some deal that gives Republican signers something, and that the White House still finds acceptable.
UncleEbeneezer
Amen! This is the whole point of the “First they came for…” quote that people love to cite so much.
Elizabelle
@Geminid: I am just sick of them getting something for their hostage-taking.
And they never pull this shit with a Republican president. Of which, I sincerely hope they have had their last.
I realize Biden will do the best he can and get the best deal possible.
May so much trouble be coming down upon Republicans and the criminals among them that the debt limit story becomes old news, very fast.
JWR
@Layer8Problem:
What’s surprising to me is that, at least on SoCal broadcast TV news, (we have ZERO Sinclair stations here), I’m not hearing much in the way of “Biden caves to McCarthy” stories, and yesterday afternoon I listened to a segment on Background Briefing with Ian Masters titled “Democrats Cave on a Clean Debt Ceiling Bill” With Thomas Kahn, and aside from sounding a bit like Chicken Little, Kahn doesn’t say anything like the title suggests, just more hand wringing. So I’m counting on Team Biden and the Dems pulling it off, and cleanly, too. And now it’s 7AM. Time to see what they’re saying today.
UncleEbeneezer
Transgender author, Julia Serano has an excellent piece titled Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth Is Neither New nor Experimental: A Timeline and Compilation of Studies.
What really jumped out to me is just how common-sense, considerate and small-c conservative the Gender Affirming approach is. It’s nothing new. It works. And it just plain makes sense.
Children often realize they are Transgender as early as seven years old, meaning by the time they can actually get HRT they’ve identified as Trans for NINE YEARS! Nobody is rushing into anything. Nobody is being pressured into it (more likely, the pressure is in the other direction).
UncleEbeneezer
Another Scott
@lowtechcyclist:
TheHill:
I haven’t checked C-Span to see if it’s happening.
Just a guess but I expect it to fail or be pushed off. It’s too far from the deadline for the issue to be resolved yet. More posturing and TV camera time is needed before anything is done.
But it’s good that Jeffries is pushing.
We’ll see!
Cheers,
Scott.
narya
@Dorothy A. Winsor: And Lawrence O’Donnell called out Adam Schiff’s desk when interviewing Schiff the other night–all I could think was “Balloon Juice got there first.”
@OzarkHillbilly: There’s an old tbogg piece–from his old blog, no less–about just this subject. I’ve shared it multiple times, including to gun owners I know.
narya
I know we (rightly) dunk on the FTFNYT a lot, and sooooo much of their coverage is terrible. Oddly enough, one exception is . . . their Vows section, of all things, where they routinely profile transgender and gender-non-conforming folks, using the correct pronouns, etc. I also remember when, many years ago, they started covering same-sex commitment ceremonies, and then marriages. For all the crap they publish, I also contend that this kind of normalization is an important part of the LOVE acronym of yesterday’s morning post.
Geminid
@Another Scott: I will be interested to see how many Democrats sign the discharge petition right away. I suspect that most if not all will sign on if the leadership team is urging them to. Those who are concerned about possible concessions could still withhold the votes if they find the amended version unnacceptable.
I doubt if any Republicans will sign the petition until the last minute.
Mike in NC
Republicans in North Carolina are pushing their own abortion nonsense as the party edges ever closer to the garbage heap of history.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊
rikyrah
Women like me said that Roe v Wade was on the line, and a vote for Hillary was a vote to preserve Roe.
We were called ‘ hysterical’, because the Court would never rule against a 50 year precedent.
Then came Dobbs.
Guess we weren’t exaggerating or hysterical after all.
We then told you that it wouldn’t stop at Dobbs. That the entire States Rights reasoning was bullshyt and the GOP wanted a NATIONAL ABORTION BAN.
It’s obvious. That’s why they went after the abortion drug. To deny women their rights even in states that support abortion rights. They went judge shopping, found a right-wing judge, who never should have ruled on the case, and got that ruling in Texas. The only reason that the Supreme Court slapped it down was because they couldn’t cleave the abortion drug from all the other drugs under the FDA’s Purview. And, to do it, would be to destroy Big Pharma.
They are rewriting things in the Red States to control the opportunity for the voters to decide for themselves about abortion – see Ohio. When abortion has directly been on the ballot – pro choice has won every single time, even in Red States like Kansas.
They do not care about the stories of women almost dying because of needed abortions from pregnancies gone wrong.
They are now trying to cook the books when it comes to ‘complications from abortions’, using anything to fudge the actual statistics.
The attack on abortion is only the beginning. This is about the control of women.
Hence the law in Idaho ‘preventing’ pregnant women from crossing state lines. That this harkens back to the FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT bothers them not.
That this is driving Ob-Gyn’s from Red States where now you have large swaths of certain states that contain NO OB-GYN’S. WHO WILL DELIVER THESE BABIES? WHO WILL GIVE PRE-NATAL CARE?
Of course this will mean that the Maternal Mortality Rate is going to go up.
Please understand that they are now pushing the bullshyt theme that Obesity causes Maternal Mortality, instead of not having access to adequate healthcare while pregnant. Watch them. They’ve gotten their marching order lies, and they are beginning to yell about ‘ Obesity and Maternal Mortality.’ Trying to cover up that their ill-conceived and ill-written laws have real life consequences, and unfortunately, dead mothers are part of those consequences.
They do not like women to have the freedom to live our lives freely.
They are coming for birth control.
They are coming for Affirmative Action (in case you don’t know, the biggest beneficiaries of AA are White Women).
They are coming for no-fault divorce. Making it difficult for women to leave marriages that they don’t want to be in.
They want women dependent on men. They want them out of the workplace. Take away their birth control, so that they can’t control their sexual autonomy. Eliminate the possibility of abortion, which forces women to be attached to men that they don’t want to be. The no exceptions of rape or incest. The fighting against getting rid of CHILD MARRIAGE. The disgusting defense of CHILD MARRIAGE from the GOP in these states. The disgusting justification of forcing CHILDREN to have babies resulting from rape or incest. Only to their rabid, ideological cohorts do they sound sane. To everyone else, they sound like a horror show. The laws being passed to prohibit ‘cohabitation’ by people who are not-related to one another.
The passing of the bill in Texas to allow religious people to be in schools instead of formally trained and licensed counselors. Counselors, who, BY LAW, are REQUIRED TO REPORT A STUDENT’S PHYSICAL OR SEXUAL ABUSE TO AUTHORITIES. These religious people ARE NOT. Where do you think that’s going to leave these vulnerable and preyed upon young teenaged girls?
Follow all the dots. This is about controlling women. This is about turning back the clock and stripping women of the freedom that they have won over decades of victories. I can’t tell you how upset it makes me to think that Peanut could live in a country with fewer freedoms than I did. It enrages me. And, yes, I talk to her all the time about it. And, about living her own life. Establishing herself first. Getting her education and career before she remotely even thinks about marriage and children. I tell her that if she decides against having children, that I fully support her CHOICE. But, that she better understand, that it’s all HER CHOICE. And, nobody else should decide for her what she wants to do with her body.
Layer8Problem
@JWR: I’m a little peeved at “Biden caving, or about to be caving, or maybe just looking like he’s caving” assertions, pre-declaring his disappointing us all, without any real backup. Bupalos was doing it the other day.
Personally I’ll leave the caving to the professionals, like OzarkHillbilly.
The Moar You Know
The news about Colorado Springs is great. I lived there for a while back in the early 2000s – even then it was not the hotbed of evangelicism that it was cracked up to be. Yeah, there were loonies. But not much more than we have in any given city in California.
I’m also glad because the first liberal city council member there had a guide dog (recently retired) raised by some good friends of mine. When she was sworn in politicos from all over the state showed up to get pics with her (not really, it was mostly the dog). He is really a charmer.
rikyrah
Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) tweeted at 9:30 PM on Tue, May 16, 2023:
A year after the Dobbs decision was leaked, it’s clear that extremist so-called leaders—as part of their national agenda—want a nationwide abortion ban.
We’re not having that. https://t.co/tnedicW0bM
(https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1658661140254056448?t=XyjGzWcNgFNo3H75pJjtDA&s=03)
rikyrah
LarryO had on a lefty yesterday, and he made the point that President Biden will probably be running on FREEDOM.
And, he thought that it was a good thing. And, that Democrats in general, should run on FREEDOM.
The FREEDOM to have body autonomy.
The FREEDOM to love who you want.
The FREEDOM to be who you are, if that includes gender affirming care.
The FREEDOM to exercise your RIGHT TO VOTE.
Democrats actually should make FREEDOM central to 2024.
2024
is about
Democracy vs. Fascism.
Needs to be said over and over.
narya
@rikyrah: Yes–all of this. Every last bit.
I have been saying this for 20 years. Of course I was told that I was being hysterical. You are 100% correct.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: Their policies really do sound completely insane to most people. But they maneuver to install them anyway. There does seem to be push back, but even if that’s successful, people suffer in the meantime.
Geminid
@rikyrah: Alaska Representative Mary Peltola’s campaign slogan was: “Fish, Family, Freedom.” She won, too.
Sanjeevs
Hmmm
https://www.wsj.com/articles/jeffrey-epstein-noam-chomsky-leon-botstein-bard-ce5beb9d?mod=hp_lead_pos2
J R in WV
@Sanjeevs:
I would naturally turn to a financial wizard / known pleaded guilty pedophile for help with my late wife’s financial situation. Only natural, right?
UncleEbeneezer
@rikyrah: I will never stop being mad at the people who received all the existential warnings you mentioned in 2016 and then went right back to arguing about Emailz, Goldman Sachs, The Crime Bill, The “Rigged Primary”/Evil DNC and why can’t we have a Real Progressive? etc.
rikyrah
Matt Murphy (@MattMurph24) tweeted at 6:45 AM on Wed, May 17, 2023:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs bill legalizing anti-LGBTQ+ medical discrimination https://t.co/vnEdiM544A
(https://twitter.com/MattMurph24/status/1658800844656058368?t=_OLa-KfSwvMViRiqzcNIBg&s=03)
lowtechcyclist
@Layer8Problem:
He’s not a professional caver (there are precious few of those), he’s just a very experienced amateur!
Sigh. I miss being underground.
Layer8Problem
@lowtechcyclist: I stand corrected! 😁
I’ve been in one, count ’em, one non-commercial cave, in the mud and the rocks and the underground streams with the carbide lamps and all, many years ago. Bracing. At this end of my life and after watching Thirteen Lives last year it’s kind of lost the glamour.
rikyrah
@UncleEbeneezer:
they will NEVER be forgiven.
NEVER.
StringOnAStick
@Soprano2:
That’s the authoritarian mindset, right there. I grew up with a father like this and he is still that way; any thought, person, action that he thinks is wrong will get shouted down/opposed until it stops, period.
Miss Bianca
@narya: Interesting!
@UncleEbeneezer:
Right there with you. I remember some FB friend giving me the line about “tell me why I ought to vote for HRC without mentioning the Supreme Court!” bullshit. I told her she was a privileged white idiot, basically. I was then told off for being so angry and hostile.
I unfriended her and a bunch of other people that year. Although if I ever meet her again in real space, I will ask her how that purity stance of hers is working out for her and the country.
Paul in KY
@Elizabelle: I hope that dude was getting some rent money for storing that shit! Also hope they get rid of it.
UncleEbeneezer
@Miss Bianca: Former BJ front-pager Elon James White was so mad about the Clinton Crime Bill that he just couldn’t bring himself to vote for Hillary. His TWiB co-hosts Imani Gandy and Dara M Wilson spent an excruciating hour of an episode practically screaming/crying at him about how stupid he was being, warning that it was their bodies that were on the line when Roe would be overturned. He refused to listen. Obviously Black Men like him are not the ones who really made the difference in 2016, but that same sentiment/attitude was persistent among a lot of White Progressives. I know several who ultimately did vote the right way but damn if they didn’t spend every waking minute leading up to 11/8 keeping every conversation on how Hillary was History’s Greatest Monster. We’ll never know how much difference that made, but in an election that came down to only 70K votes, it certainly didn’t help our chances.
Miss Bianca
@UncleEbeneezer: I know. I couldn’t believe how much that election revealed to me about people I thought I knew well and whose opinions about things had struck me as basically sound.
That and response to COVID really showed me who and what some people were.
Just completely showed their asses to me in ways I still wince at.
The Kropenhagen Interpretation
So if I decide it’s “immoral” to treat a wingnut based on the harm they do to society…
The vague nature of these laws are partly by design. It gives fascist fucks an excuse to deny people care but if it were applied as I suggested above, I’d probably be in some real shit.
Chris Johnson
@Sanjeevs: MORE OF THIS.
Chomsky is the Russian asset they said Bernie was. (and doubtless had waaaay too much influence on Bernie, so people smelling a rat were smelling things just fine)