While Steve was in the groomers yesterday I spent some time reading, and I also spent a good bit of time just sitting there stream of conciousness thinking, just floating from idea to idea about whatever pops in my head. One of the things I thought about was Chapell Roan, in particular when she was accepting her award and her hat fell off:
After some thought, I realized that she was talking to herself when she said her hat was falling off, and that’s ok. She’s gone through so much and is clearly a fragile person, she was saying that to herself so she didn’t lose her shit.
Chappell Roan had a very traumatic upbringing- she grew up lesbian in SW Missouri, an ugly place of bigotry and repression to the… well, I was going to say the gay community, but really it’s a pretty cruel and awful place to be anything but a white christian. It’s not much different from the kind of place that WV has become in the past few decades. Because of her talent she signed with Atlantic, got out of there, didn’t make enough money for Atlantic, so they dropped her and she ended up back in that hellhole we know as Missouri. She worked some gig jobs to keep working on her music, put in the ground work and grew her name by herself, and the rest is, as they say, history.
The reason I point this out is because the song that won for her was Pink Pony Club, a song about a woman leaving Tennesee, heading to California, and going to work at a gay strip club, and, for the first time in her life, feeling free and open to express herself as a gay person, without judgment or punishment or a lack of acceptance that is missing in so many parts of the country.
Roan has stated the Pink Pony Club is written about an actual bar, but she has also referred to it as basically her love letter to LA and California, but more accurately, it’s a metaphor. The Pink Pony Club is basically any place where our most at risk members of society are safe to exist. And not just exist, but thrive. It is very hard out there for young lgbtq folks- the nation is a very dark place for many of them, and they don’t all have Roan’s talents to get them the hell out, so there they are, stuck. Abused. Taunted. Unwanted. Unaccepted and even disowned by their family.
And again, the statistics bear out their misery:
In terms of school climate, “approximately 25 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual students and university employees have been harassed due to their sexual orientation, as well as a third of those who identify as transgender, according to the study and reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education.”[13][needs update] Research has found the presence of gay–straight alliances (GSAs) in schools is associated with decreased suicide attempts; in a study of LGBT youth, ages 13–22, 16.9% of youth who attended schools with GSAs attempted suicide versus 33.1% of students who attended schools without GSAs.[14]
“LGBT students are three times as likely as non-LGBT students to say that they do not feel safe at school (22% vs. 7%) and 90% of LGBT students (vs. 62% of non-LGBT teens) have been harassed or assaulted during the past year.”[15][unreliable medical source?]
An international study found that suicidal LGBT people showed important differences with suicidal heterosexuals, in a matched-pairs study. That study found suicidal LGBT people were more likely to communicate suicidal intentions, to search for new friends online, and to find more support online than did suicidal heterosexuals.[16]
The black transgender and gender non-conforming community has been found to face discrimination to a higher degree than the rest of the transgender community, which is due to the intersection of racism and transphobia.[17] Research has found that this community experiences a higher level of poverty, suicide attempts, and harassment, while the effects of HIV and being refused health care due to transphobia and/or racism are greater as well.[18][failed verification]
A survey by the National LGBTQ task force found that amongst the black respondents 49% reported having attempted suicide.[19] Additional findings were that this group reported that 26% are unemployed and 34% reported an annual income of less than $10,000 per year. 41% of respondents reported homelessness at some point in their lives, which is more than five times the rate of the general US population.[19] Also, the report revealed that the black transgender or gender non-conforming community reported 20.23% were living with HIV and that half of the respondents who attended school expressing a transgender identity or gender non-conformity reported facing harassment.[19] 27% of black transgender youth reported being physically assaulted, 15% were sexually assaulted and 21% left school due to these instances of harassment.
A more recent survey by The Trevor Project revealed that 21% of African American LGBT youth have attempted suicide throughout 2021. Amongst Native American youth, 31% of LGBT youth have attempted suicide, and amongst Latin American youth, 18% of survey respondents admitted they have attempted suicide in the past year.[20]
A 2022 study found that the use of gender-affirming hormone therapy in transgender and nonbinary youth was associated with a significant decrease in depression and suicidality.[21]
It’s fucking horrifying. And with transgender kids, it’s even worse:
Data indicate that 82% of transgender individuals have considered killing themselves and 40% have attempted suicide, with suicidality highest among transgender youth. Using minority stress theory and the interpersonal theory of suicide, this study aims to better understand suicide risk among transgender youth.
That’s an abstract from a study currently hosted at the NIH website. Who knows how long it will still be there?
I guess the point of this is on top of all the other things going on with this administration that is evil and awful and deplorable, they are rolling back what few protections our lgbtq community have. And they are not doing it because any of these protections were causing a problem. Not because it was too expensive. Not because they were getting special rights- they were only barely getting to enjoy the rights everyone else has. They aren’t doing it because they fucking care about women’s sports. For none of those reasons.
They’re doing it for sport. They’re doing it to be cruel. They’re doing it to codify their right to horrible fucking people. The cruelty, as always, is the point.
It’s fucking heartbreaking and I feel so fucking helpless.
War for Ukraine Day 1,077: Another Night of Drone Swarms
Bostondreams
Nancy Mace decided it was appropriate to use a slur for trans people in a hearing, multiple times. She is so bad.
Soprano2
One of my bartenders went to school with Chappel Roan. She said she was quiet but always had a great singing voice.
And yeah, SWMO is all that for anyone but a white Christian, although Springfield is slowly getting better. Still the headquarters of Assemblies of God, though.
eclare
@Bostondreams:
That was stunning. Even for a RWNJ.
Citizen Alan
I am just waiting to hear the screaming from all those MAGAts who were utterly terrified that a trans girl might share a locker room with their princess when the people they voted for gut Title IX and there are no more girls sports at all.
Tim C
https://www.aztypo.com/
Go help. Hold the line.
Fight Nazis
bbleh
They’re doing it for sport. They’re doing it to be cruel.
And they’re doing it because they’re bullies, and like all bullies they’re desperately insecure, and that insecurity leads them to single out and pick on identifiably different people because it’s easy to get approval from other people by doing that.
I feel so fucking helpless.
You can do a lot. First, personally support the people who are getting picked on (that REALLY means a lot!) And secondly, stand up publicly to the bullies — make the case out loud to THEIR audience that they’re being awful people. That (1) often resonates with the audience (many of whom — believe it or not — have the common sense to know you’re right, even if they don’t acknowledge it immediately), (2) reinforces your private support for the people getting picked on, and (3) often makes the bullies back off and lose face in the process. And yeah it risks a fight, but it’s a good fight, and most bullies are also cowards.
I got tired of putting up with routine WV racism and started calling it out — not belligerently but straightforwardly. And I got a lot of nasty expressions but rarely more than that. And I know damn well other people were listening.
SpaceUnit
Um yeah, I was born there. I escaped at an early age but still have family there. West Virginia didn’t become West Virginia just in the last few decades.
ETA: You just realized what it really was in the last couple of decades or so.
John Cole
@SpaceUnit: It’s worse.
LAC
@bbleh:
“I got tired of putting up with routine WV racism and started calling it out — not belligerently but straightforwardly. And I got a lot of nasty expressions but rarely more than that. And I know damn well other people were listening”
Thank you! The coddling and baby voice hand holding needs to stop.
Suzanne
I was unhappy with Chappell Roan’s “there’s problems on both sides” nonsense this summer. She finally came out and said she was voting for Harris after she got a lot of criticism for it.
John Cole
@Suzanne: she is a vocal ally of the trans community and Democrats really have not covered themselves with glory in that regard. Here or elsewhere, for that matter.
Downpuppy
We go to bed early in these parts, so we watched the Grammys on Paramount Monday & Tuesday. Really weird show, in good ways. The pop acts were like 1950 era dance extravaganzas, with Debbie Reynolds* & Marlene Dietrich*, hordes of flawless dancers and Sonny Bono* in a blue open jumpsuit doing flips off a grand piano and looking terribly embarrassed after performing a required crotch grab. Even a set that looked like Cab Calloway’s orchestra.
Talented people having fun. Hope it can continue.
*Not imitators, but if you saw it, you know.
Glory b
She talked about needing healthcare coverage after Atlantic dropped her, but I think she was still young enough to have coverage through her parents, as she is just now 26.
Along with being a “both sides” person, she might have a problem with honesty.
Glory b
@John Cole: How have Democrats failed you today?
I don’t recall any yelling LGBTQ slurs in the halls of Congress, so there’s that.
Chief Oshkosh
My niece is trans. It’s meant an enormous amount to her that all of her family, including the aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and their assorted spouses — the family outside the inner circle of mom, dad, and sibs — the family members that you sort of keep up with every few years at best — have all been welcoming and accepting. These folks are from KS, TX, and OK. She told me she was especially touched when some of those folks called or texted “to just check in” after the election, and then she was just blown away when dang near all of them reached out at some point during and after the LA fires (where she and wife and M-i-L live).
John, sometimes a phone call or a text message is about all you can do, and sometimes that’s what’s most needed.
Melancholy Jaques
@Citizen Alan:
I feel like that is what they want more than anything.
kissel
Chappell Roan is amazing and I’m so glad she had the chance to make this statement, and that you took the time to post it here. Also, I love that you gave background. I love Pink Pony Club and find it very emotional, where it’s made me cry sometimes, just from understanding the impact of her upbringing and the comfort this place gave her, and the conflict between them.
Gin & Tonic
My dear wife and I visited WV in Sep/Oct, as we had never been there, and I wanted to raft the Gauley while we were there. But what struck me is the juxtaposition between the professed history in the State capital of WV as the anti-slavery offshoot of VA, and the absolute opposite you see everywhere else.
And “economic anxiety” my entire ass – the highways we drove were chock full of $70k trucks hauling trailers with $30k+ worth of motorized toys. People are rolling in dough there.
But the scenery is gorgeous, and we found a truly first-rate French restaurant in Lewisburg, so it was a good trip overall. Not sure I’ll be back, though.
Soprano2
@Glory b: That’s if her parents had health insurance. Some people don’t have it thru their work. I don’t know how old they are. Maybe she didn’t know about that, lots of people don’t.
Melancholy Jaques
@John Cole:
There is a tendency among some devoted Democrats to overreact to anyone who says “both sides” – that’s no excuse for all the shit they gave her, just an attempt at an explanation.
RaflW
I heard from a person connected to the (semi-underground) support network that is helping trans and gender diverse people move from the bad states to the safer states that probably 225,000 people have moved in a short span of time (a few months, I’d think).
There are good people doing amazing work to help resettle these often traumatized and nearly all quite vulnerable people. A few places I know of that would gladly accept donations to help with the enormous monetary costs of this ongoing migration. PFund Foundation’s Transcend Project, and the Pink Haven Coalition.
I have personal connections to each of these, fully vouch for them, but also get nothing from this other than maybe I’ve helped move some money to projects that are getting funds to vulnerable people, now. I am confident there are other great places to donate money, volunteer, or even consider short term hosting.
(And people in bad states can help, underground railroad style, if they can be overnight waypoints. That requires vetting and training, but for anyone who thinks that could be a fit, consider it. I’ll potentially have more info in a few weeks when I’m next in person with an organizer.)
Baud
@Melancholy Jaques:
I think people should learn to criticize Democrats without saying both sides.
Every time people say both sides, fascism becomes more normalized.
Glory b
@Soprano2: Her mother is a veterinarian, her father is a nurse and healthcare office manager.
SpaceUnit
@Gin & Tonic:
Trust me, not everyone there is rolling in dough.
So did you get to raft the Gauley? I did it quite a number of years ago. That’s a crazy river.
Shalimar
@Soprano2: My sister unfortunately has coverage through her work. It is far worse than what she would get if she worked for a small company and could get her own coverage on the exchange.
Glory b
Bhaskar Sunkara, president of The Nation magazine, is mad at Jasmine Crockett for using the phrase “mediocre white boys.”
Baud
@Glory b:
Both sides attack Crockett.
Downpuppy
@Gin & Tonic: I had family in West Virginia as a kid, and went there a lot. Thought it might be a nice place to retire to and went on a visit a few years ago. Lots of beautiful stuff, some really poor towns, and the worst wine on the planet.
Had to pass.
Glory b
@Baud: Exactly.
If both sides are the same, now, both sides are fascists.
Baud
Blue State, via Reddit
Soprano2
@kissel: Some people think the name was inspired by The Pink Cadillac, which was a strip bar on the main drag here. It used to be a Shakey’s Pizza. It sat vacant for several years; it was torn down last year and now the lot is for sale. I have my doubts about that, because it wasn’t a gay club at all.
Melancholy Jaques
@Baud:
I agree with you, but I guess I’m less strict with non-political types.
Soprano2
@Glory b: Ok, then you’re right, she should know that. Hmmm…
WereBear
@Downpuppy: You haven’t had Amish wine, I’m guessing.
Their heart is not in it.
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
Speaking as part of the LGBTQ+ community, and watching Big Tech and Big Retail axe all their support in hopes of retaining some part of their public sector contracts, it’s thoroughly unnerving how some parts are only too ready to throw everyone around them under the bus for their thirty pieces of silver.
My employer – so far – remains committed. And I am in a queer-friendly community, and have good connections both for other work and for relocation should it become necessary. So I am fairly lucky.
What bothers me most is the willingness of so many people to throw civilisation away just because someone (someone thoroughly despicable and untrustworthy) told them their less-than-perfect existence wasn’t perfect because of Those Other People.
tobie
I’m have the Senate filibuster against Vought up on my screen. Whitehouse is up. The empty hall is depressing. Still, it’s more encouraging than some of the comments here tonight.
Here’s a link to CSpan:
https://www.c-span.org/event/us-senate/us-senate/430724
WTFGhost
Be kind and teach kindness.
Love and teach love.
Show compassion, and teach compassion.
That’s it – that’s all I got of will ever have. This burden is just too heavy to look at, much less think about shifting it. But somehow you need to teach that nastiness is uncool and gross. Do that, the good guys win. Fail that, (spreads hands helplessly).
Suzanne
@John Cole: She’s fine, she’s young. But we just criticized people last night for not being clear-eyed enough to see that the Dems are much less bad on important issues, so we can note the same for privileged pop stars.
AxelFoley
@Baud:
Exactly.
NotMax
@Bostondreams
Gonna modify an earlier comment.
Nancy Mace — the doyenne of dumbassery.
bluefoot
@RaflW: Wow, this is great. My young, trans, non-binary, non-white nibling has alluded to support networks but hasn’t been more specific. I wonder if this is the sort of thing they’ve been talking about. Since we live in different states, secure communication can be difficult, but they’ve said once we see each other in person, they’ll show me some of the things they’ve been doing. I gotta say, I’ve been so impressed with their fortitude in the midst of everything going on.
WTFGhost
Bullies aren’t insecure, necessarily. Now, hangers-on, and butt monkeys, *they* are insecure, and they join in the bullying.
But a bully is just someone who’s found that it works, and there are no consequences, or, none worth stopping for. I’m sorry if your parents told you the whole “bullies have a problem,” lie, but their problem is *moral*, not psychological.
Parents are *really* hard to raise right.
Agreed, but calling out has to be complete. In the 1970s, the n-word was banned, and *that* was the end of racism in America, according to every Republican.
NotMax
“Why is it that when political ammunition runs low, inevitably the rusty artillery of abuse is always wheeled into action?”
– Adlai Stevenson
.
tobie
Encouraging. The pressure put on OMB by Judge AliKhan has them now promising to restoring frozen federal funds:
I wish PsiFighter were here tonight. I know he’s been pretty down about lawsuits working. They may not. But this one seems to have had an effect. May the avalanche of lawsuits continue.
Glory b
@Suzanne: I said on here the other day that lots of people don’t want to see their Republican friends and relatives for who they really are and what they really believe.
I read that Chappell Roan came from a very comfortable if not wealthy family and that her uncle is a Republican elected official.
Maybe her “both sides” thoughts are a bit of that. It might be easier for her to think that her Republican family members aren’t really so bad if they’re no different than Democrats.
Lily
@RaflW: The Human Rights Campaign site:
https://www.hrc.org/resources/emergency-funds-for-relocating-families
zhena gogolia
@Glory b: 😄
jackmac
Good on Chappel Roan for (twice) escaping the ignorant shithole that is southwest Missouri. Roan deserves every bit of success she’s now enjoying. We’ve had to drive through that area a few times to get to our ultimate destination (Eureka Springs, Arkansas). My idea of hell is spending an eternity in a timeshare in Branson, Missouri with bad buffet food, has-been country stars as entertainment and daily attendance at a megachurch where the preacher screams about Demoncrats and anything else that isn’t white, male, Christian and MAGAt.
Jay
Screenshot of the memo at link
https://nitter.poast.org/kenklippenstein/status/1887223602329882923#m
Rapist, black out drunk, sexual abuser, wife beater Hegseth hasn’t wasted any time.
Suzanne
@Glory b: That’s probably true. There’s also a difference between bad motives (Republicans) and sometimes being ineffectual (Democrats)…. and if you are only looking at outcomes, that probably looks “the same”.
la caterina
@tobie: I’m watching Whitehouse too. I’m enjoying his photographic visual aids (the looters and the polluters!).
narya
Spoon emojis FTW (fed employees in response to Felon’s “fork in the road” crap).
Smiling Happy Guy (aka boatboy_srq)
@Jay: None of them have.
Leto
@Jay: red dot; red dot; red dot
🔴
VFX Lurker
Thank you for posting this. I make a small monthly donation to the Trevor Project, but I want to do more to help trans folks.
I’ve seen your nym on here for years, so your endorsement of these two efforts means a lot to me. I’m going to figure out what I can afford to donate to one or both of these places.
Geminid
@Glory b: Bhaskar Sunkara is president of the The Nation? That guy’s moving up. Sunkara used to run Jerkobin Magazine. I think he founded it
Ed. I’m mot surprissed Sunkara would take a shot at Rep. Crockett. She is building a reputation among Democrats, so he would want to cut her down to size.
tobie
@la caterina: Tim Kaine’s speech on what kind of manager would want to traumatize his employees (as Vought has pledged to do to federal workers) is powerful.
Matt McIrvin
@WTFGhost: I was gonna say. Yeah, at the schools I went to, the bullies were kind of like an organized crime syndicate, and the king bully at the top didn’t seem like a particularly insecure guy at all. He was on top of the world! But the subsidiary bullies who were jockeying for position were the ones more likely to pick on kids who were much weaker than themselves. I think their insecurity did make them more dangerous.
A lot of these guys, they’re bullies because their parents were bullies and taught them to bully. That was about the long and the short of it.
tobie
@tobie: Kaine now reading testimonies from federal workers in his state. This is so moving.
A Ghost to Most
Welcome to the occupation. Meet me at the book burning.
Have a blessed day in Gilead.
Baud
Credit where it’s due. I’ve seen a lot of Black History Month ads from Comcast and Paramount+.
kissel
@Glory b: not exactly sure what your problem is with her, but I think you are speculating. Also, it’s not the point of the article. But if you must know, it’s clear she is not a pawn of the Democratic party. That is not a bad thing, it makes her authentic.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin: Agreed. I’ve never liked the assertion that “bullies are insecure”. Everybody’s insecure.
Some people are mean because it makes them feel good to be mean.
Bill Arnold
@bluefoot:
Signal is good. (phone app, also a desktop version, but make sure computer security is good before using that).
It supports (end to end encrypted) voice calls. (voice/vdeo calls are peer to peer.)
Also, consider free protonmail accounts.
Baud
@kissel:
People don’t have to be strong Dems to be authentic, but the insinuation that people who are strong Dems are inauthentic is pretty insulting.
Glory b
Politico reports that Ro Khanna purposely missed the vote to subpoena Elon Musk, then lied and said he didn’t know anything about it, according to 3 Democrats that wished to remain anonymous.
Kayla Rudbek
@Melancholy Jaques: yeah, they want their daughters barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen
Glory b
@Baud: Yes, especially the insinuation that 90% of black people are just unwitting pawns, too stupid to know better.
Gin & Tonic
@SpaceUnit:
Yes, it was a lot of fun.
Baud
@Glory b:
Yeah, I’m done with insults being labeled as criticism.
Geminid
@Glory b: Ro Khanna didn’t miss that fundraising dinner Musk crony David Sacks threw for him.
Khanna likes to brag about how he doesn’t accept money from corporations. He’s pretty quiet when it comes to the money he takes from tech billionaires.
Lily
Tim Kaine has been reading story after story from individuals in Virginia talking about their fears for their work and lives. And how their supervisors etc. have no info to tell them what’s going on.
https://www.c-span.org/event/us-senate/us-senate/430724
Gin & Tonic
@Glory b:
I wouldn’t trust that dude any farther (further? I miss Amir) than I could throw him.
Redshift
@tobie:
Don’t let it get you down. Contrary to how it’s shown in the movies, this is what filibusters (and many/most congratulations speeches in general) have always looked like.
UncleEbeneezer
I adore Chappell Roan. Literally have a tee-shirt of hers arriving tomorrow. But her justifications for why she didn’t want to endorse Harris were pretty vague and incoherent BothSides™ shit. Sounded like every Nader voter in 2000, the Steiniacs in 2016 and sadly way too many in our coalition in 2024. Whatever, she’s young. The reality is Harris (and Biden) both promised to use the office of POTUS to keep expanding/protecting LGBTQ rights, Trump promised to roll them all back. It wasn’t even a remotely difficult one to figure out. Tire rims and anthrax are never “the same” as whatever Dems can promise.
Redshift
@Gin & Tonic:
WV has one of the highest percentages of people on Medicaid. I suspect what you saw was more income inequality than general wealth.
kindness
Is it really such a shock that big bruisin folk would try to beat up on the weakest and least powerful member of the group? What, you think they are going to pick on someone bigger and stronger than they are??? They’re infantile bullys. Of course they are going to go there.
Always punch the Nazi.
columbusqueen
OT, but I gotta ask: has Fetterman completely lost his mind?! He’s saying that US boots on the ground in Gaza is a great idea. WTF?
columbusqueen
@Geminid: So Khanna is a tech where? Screw him.
Steve Crickmore
Adam Serwer wrote the Atlantic article behind a paywall and narrated a short video six years ago, based on it. Trump Thrives on Cruelty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ShZGHmT2EQ
Since then, Trump has doubled down, taking this human but not humane impulse towards cruelty and elevated it to a political virtue, ensuring that his most committed supporters will never abandon him no matter what he does.
laura
@Glory b: Ro Khanna has been a big ole bag of shite since jump. I’m never, ever, ever forgetting how he pushed loyal, long serving, “authentic” Democratic Congressman Mike Honda out of his seat. He’s absolutely the pet of SV money men. I’m eagerly awaiting his comeuppance.
Here’s a quick splainer about Ro and Mike and who endorsed who: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mike-honda-ro-khanna-election-results_n_581a262ee4b0c43e6c1d7872
I miss Amir too GT.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
As a Canadian, I am trying to convince our government, which is in total flux right now, to consider asylum rights for American LGBTQAI fleeing the USA. I have to say, it’s not going well, since the current immigration minister can’t seem to be able to wrap his head around the fact that such a provision might be necessary. He just doesn’t believe it will come to that. How to change such a mind set is something that baffles me. I just don’t know what to do.
Plus, Canada is in a vulnerable position right now. The Starlink Snowflake, h/T Adam, has made it very clear that Canada is the next target. We know they want our water. They outright said as much. We know they want to change our government, ditto. It’s a very scary time. I feel like a coward just typing that, but I just want to tell the truth.
RaflW
@bluefoot: Obviously the two things I shared are meant to be public-facing as they try to raise funds. But yeah, I know little but I am lightly aware of good work happening with much higher levels of privacy and security.
Lily
Tammy Baldwin (Wisc) is filibustering now by describing Project 2025 and Vought’s stated intentions (abolish Dept of Education … )
These talks by the Senators are focused and informative. Transcript would be useful for calls, letters to Senators.
Everyone is mentioning community health centers that serve areas w little access and depend on federal $.
Avalune
I went to a SAPR training once. It was all I could do to sit still and not storm out. It was a fucking joke. The things said, the sarcasm from the trainers who couldn’t even pretend to give a shit for the training…insulted doesn’t begin to touch it. I’m getting irate thinking about it and it was at least a decade ago.
tobie
@Redshift: Thanks. I’m not down in a bad way. Tim Kaine had me in tears with the gut-wrenching stories he told of furloughed federal workers wondering how they will pay their rent or mortgage, get the healthcare they need for difficult pregnancies, etc. Kaine may not be your typical charismatic speaker, but he speaks from the heart and his speech tonight was among the most touching floor speeches I’ve heard in ages.
tobie
@Lily: True. She started slow but her testimonies are powerful and her defense of labor is strong.
John S.
@columbusqueen:
Fetterman is working hard to be the next Joe Manchin.
ETA: I see he continued his streak of voting for Trump nominees with Eric Turner for HUD. So far the only one he hasn’t voted for was Hegseth.
TurnItOffAndOnAgain
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom:
You’re not a coward. Shit’s scary.
RaflW
@Lily: Tammy is now calling out her GOP colleagues for abandoning their “strict Constitutionalist” positions by letting Musk et all just trash all sorts of laws. Good for her
Quibble: The Constitutional crisis is here. But she’s on the right track.
Gretchen
@Gin & Tonic: Do we know why we haven’t heard from Amir lately? I miss him too.
satby
@WTFGhost: This. And publicly be an ally. That means wear the rainbow shirts, fly the flags, put up the yard signs, correct people who make bigoted statements. Be visible as an ally, especially if you live in a less enlightened area. It may seem performative, but it makes so much difference when people see it. For each person loudly disapproving because I had transgender and LGTBQ+ signs up (at the farmers market), I got 2 or more quiet thank yous from people who were part of the community or who had family members who were. Seeing that support, even only a sign, was important because it said they weren’t alone.
satby
@Gretchen: No we don’t, but we fear that the heart condition that hospitalized him at least twice may have taken him.
Gretchen
OMG they showed a photo of Russell Vought’s wife while he’s testifying. She’s got the same long wavy hair that all the women in the Duggar cult have.
Lily
Today Murkowsky wrote the Senate switchboard has been receiving 1600 calls per minute.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Self professed, white progressive professionals that have flocked to urban settings over the last decade from some lily-white burb with “socially liberal/fiscally conservative parents who voted (R)” and push a lot of ultimately libertarian-financed policy bullshit are some of the most racially tone deaf, condescending people I know.
But hey, don’t criticize them because they’re in “the coalition” and that we should all know who the “real enemy” is. Tell that to the POC who are sorely impacted by their policy bullshit.
ArchTeryx
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom: I’d be shocked if Canada took U.S. refugees. Remember trying to get in during the Bush years, but their immigration test is very hard to pass, even for someone like me. Too old, too ill, no matter what skills I have.
That being said, you’re no coward. We’re a rogue state now and watching your once-friendly neighbor turn into a nation-sized meth lab has got to be not-nice.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@laura:
Ro is the “Tech Bros Democrat”, meaning new liberal clowns like Yglesias, Noah Smith and a host of Atlantic writers and self professed, entitled white progressives, love him.
He’s around to launder libertarian positions financed by people like Thiel only to cloak them in banal, liberal-sounding talking points in order to sell them to the Totebagger Radio and Atlantic Reader crowd.
Gretchen
@Lily: Saw that: compared to the usual 40/minute.
RaflW
@Lily: Saw that. 40X the normal call volume. I’ve called Sen RonJon’s office a few times, I hope others who have connections to Repub senators are, too.
We absolutely need to keep the pressure up on our Dems, especially our wobbly ones, but R’s — even the shittiest of them — should not escape our ire.
RaflW
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I suppose Noah Smith may self-identify as a liberal, but he’s a reactionary piece of shit. Oh, sorry, my religious tradition says that everyone has inherent worth and dignity. Smith is a reactionary, and his opinions are full of shit.
Jay
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom:
We had 16 illegal crossings of the Canadian Border, south to north. On guy who was sent to Secondary, did a runner, car chase, got trapped, pulled a gun and was killed in a shoot out.
WTF?
15, in three different parties illegally crossed the border, (Alberta, Sask), were detained, ( none dressed for winter) and are in Immigration Detention.
So the flood of refugees from the US and Criminals has started.
The process for a “proper” asylum claim is, show up at an official crossing point, ask for asylum. Congrats, unless you have a criminal record, you are now an official refugee with some support, until you asylum claim is heard.
Do not try to illegally cross into Canada in the winter, or spring, and it is a good way to die.
Persecution for being LBGTQ2S+ are grounds for asylum in Canadian Law, but one needs to “prove” their case. It’s a case by case determination, it is not a blanket other than under war conditions in their origin state.
So “bugging” the Minister of Immigration, (right now) is not the way to go.
Jay
@Gretchen:
Nobody knows. The last comments from Amir were about a year ago, that stick in my mind. He had gotten a new kitten to replace the love of his life, followed by a comment that the kitten was sick.
People who had his e-mail have attempted to contact him, but no response.
chrisanthemama
@Jay: He needs to celebrate his victory the only way he knows how, and that’s with a truly spectacular bender ending in wrapping his ride around a tree at 90 mph.
Jay
@ArchTeryx:
Immigration is a much different process than Asylum.
The last big wave of American Refugees was during the Vietnam War.
chrisanthemama
@John S.: More like Sinema in a hoodie, a shape-shifter nonpariel. I don’t think anyone ever expected that a democratic Senator from a blood-red state would act any differently than Manchin did. Sinema disappointed everyone who thought her political evolution might have meant that she was anything other than bought/paid for. $20, same as in town.
LeftCoastYankee
Back in the day after I’d moved to Portland Oregon there was a lot of handwringing in the local media about the “street kids”.
Slowly the realization (through a lot of community organizing) that a lot of them were fleeing small minded and unkind communities because of who they were became more widely known. The community and the city worked to provide programs to help.
Im sure it wasn’t perfect but it was better for some.
Soprano2
@jackmac: You have been to Branson, haven’t you? There is good food there, or so I’ve heard. Come see us in Springfield, it’s not so bad.
Darkrose
@Citizen Alan: I want a reporter to ask the “Protect women’s sports!” people which WNBA or PWHL teams they follow, and if they support efforts by the USWNT and WNBA to get pay equity with the men’s teams.
Quinerly
@Soprano2:
I actually saw Tony Orlando and Andy Williams in Branson in the ’90’s. My parents were visiting me in St. Louis from NC one Christmas. My mother and I drove down to Branson for a couple of nights. My dad had no interest and stayed at my home with his dog and my dog.
Sister Golden Bear
Thanks for highlighting all of this John.
I know you’re feeling helpless amid the onslaught but one concrete thing you could do is volunteer to help with one of the LGBTQ+ organizations in your area. We definitely need it.
Sister Golden Bear
@Bostondreams: Nothing makes a Republican happier than getting to say new slurs publicly.
Sister Golden Bear
One major reason — aside from social changes — there’s comparably few queer/trans people my age, compared to young queer/trans people,* is that we’re the only ones who survived.
*Youth ages 13 to 17 are almost 5x more likely to identify as transgender (1.4%) than adults ages 65 or older (0.3%) according to a 2022 study.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
@ArchTeryx: So true. Also, too, Canadian asylum & immigration procedures have been a shite show since ever & every attempt to “improve” it seems to make it worse .
janesays
@Soprano2: Her parents almost certainly have insurance, as her mother is veterinarian and her father is a registered nurse. That said, I don’t think her plea for record labels to provide healthcare coverage was really about her, but more about other young musicians who are still struggling to get by, who may or may not have access to healthcare coverage from their parents.
Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom
@Jay: Yeah, I saw video of illegal crossings on CBC. FFS , they never seen to be properly prepared. Getting arrested actually saves lives.
Thank you for the explanation. I guess I was confused. You are certainly right about not bugging the minister. (How embarrassing.🤦) There’s so much going on it’s hard to think straight.
BarcaChicago
@Glory b: THIS. JFC.
Jay
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom:
Immigration sucks, unless you have money. Naturalization sucks, unless you have money.
Asylum, just show up at an official Border Crossing, claim asylum, spend a couple of weeks in detention while your background is checked, get released if you don’t have a record and a plausible story, get released, a minimal welfare cheque, (same as all Canadians), tap into Refugee Services, get a free (of various quality) asylum lawyer, wait 2 years, (can’t work, but can volunteer when you start to go stir crazy) for your first hearing.
Jay
@Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom:
ETA, technically, detained, not arrested.
BarcaChicago
I am an avid fan of Kenny Walden aka 2rawtooreal on IG/Threads/etc and his take on Chappell Roan today had me cackling like a madwoman.
Yutsano
@Sister Golden Bear: I don’t know if it helps, but a friend of mine came out as a trans woman two years ago with a vengeance*. She’s 48 now.
*Not the one we discussed before. She’s much younger. And you should see her fully made up.
Sister Golden Bear
@Yutsano: Like a lot of us later in life transitioners, she’s making up for lost time. Good for her.
Darkrose
A couple weeks ago, I auditioned for and was accepted into the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus. No, I am not a gay man, but they accept anyone who sings TTBB, and I’m a Tenor 1. We’re rehearsing now for the Pride concert, called “Everybody Say Love!” and “Pink Pony Club” is one of the pieces we’ll be singing. I am an old lady (officially now!) so I wasn’t familiar with the song; reading this was awesome.
Darkrose
@RaflW: Thank you! I’ll be putting them on my rotating donation list, along with Trans Lifeline.
Tehanu
John, you continually inspire me. Thanks for writing and for having this place.
TBone
@tobie: thank you for that link so I could get my fix of Senator Whitehouse, my longtime crush. Been jonesing to see him do what he does so well again. The man just does it for me! He’s so put together. He’s LIT.
sab
@Darkrose: That is very exciting. I am so very jealous of people who can sing. I love music but my voice is tiny and wobbles.
Spanish Moss
Does anyone know of ways to offer temporary housing to families that need to go out-of-state for gender affirming care, or for LGBTQ youth kicked out of their homes, etc.? We are empty nesters and have unused bedrooms in our house. I have looked at so many sites and can easily find ways to donate money, volunteer for hotlines, etc., but I have yet to find a way to offer housing on a website.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@RaflW:
You are preaching to the choir. ;)
Rugosa
“not just exist, but thrive”
I’m a gardener so I well know the difference between a plant that’s thriving and one that’s just hanging on. The Right would have us all be that plant that’s hanging on in a spot with poor soil and limited water. Yeah, it’s a toughie and we admire its grit but we don’t get much fruit from it, either. Wouldn’t we prefer a society that helped everyone thrive, with enough of whatever nourishment suits them? We all would be richer and happier, and I don’t just mean we’d have more money. (although that might happen too) Think what we can do when that grit can be applied to more than just survival – basically, civilization happens.
brendancalling
Late to the party. What we’ve done is horrible and inhumane. My kid is never going to visit the USA again of the rest of her life. However, I will be visiting Canada frequently, and one day I probably won’t come back.
Miss Bianca
@Darkrose: They don’t. SOmeone here linked to a study that showed that the most anti-trans people also were least likely to approve of or support women’s sports in general.
These people want women – trans or cis – out of public life and away from any public arenas. Period.
terraformer
another key reason they’re doing it is for the same reason they’ve always done this shit:
to keep their mouth-breathing voters in a state of constant rage, and to distract everyone from what else they’re doing, which is siphoning our country’s wealth and expertise to their own pockets
first, it was welfare queens in Cadillacs, then it was gay marriage, now it’s LGBTQ – whatever it is, it’s always about creating a perception that “the other” is the cause of all our problems when, in fact – it’s them
Tarragon
That doesn’t appear to be true for (most) people crossing from the US.
https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/corporate/mandate/policies-operational-instructions-agreements/agreements/safe-third-country-agreement.html
kissel
@Baud: that wasn’t exactly what I said. I made the statement she was not a pawn of the Democratic party. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.
Paul in KY
@Glory b: I think she’s overrated. I saw her at 2024 Hangout fest and while a good set she did, at end I definitely wasn’t thinking “God! I just saw one of the great stars of the 21st Century, etc. etc”. She gets alot of milage out of her costumes, IMO.
Paul in KY
@Suzanne: True dat.
Paul in KY
@UncleEbeneezer: Probably was that she knows record/CD money from a MAGA douche spends just as well as money from a Dem.
Paul in KY
@satby: I do fear he has passed on.