The GOP Hates The Gays More Than They Love Children

The GOP battle cry has long ben, ‘The children! The children’ and they trot it out very heavily election. They want to protect the unborn children, well, at least until birth at which time they become irrelevant. Until this year when the GOP took up the QAnon theory that Democrats ‘groom’ children to be gay or to be given to pedophiles or, and this is an actual QAnon theory, to be eaten by high-ranking Democrats, like Obama, or Hollywood celebrities, like Tom Hanks.

And the  GOP turned their wrath on drag queens and the LGBTQ+ community, accusing us of sexualizing children; wingnuts protest Drag Queen Story Hours and some even shoot up LGBTQ+ nightclubs to prove their point. So, you’d think they would rally round a bill that would help victims of child sex abuse, right?

The bill, entitled Respect for Child Survivors Act, was developed with input from child welfare groups to address the mistreatment that child witnesses sometimes face during investigations of their own abuse. It would require the FBI to form multi-disciplinary teams to investigate child sex abuse cases in a way that ensures accountability and transparency without re-traumatizing victims and their families.

Sounds like a good way to protect children and save them from further abuse and while the bipartisan bill—which was introduced by GOP Senators John and Lindsey Graham , along with Democrat Senators Chris Coons and Amy Klobuchar—passed the House with 215 Democratic and 170 Republican votes, the No votes were all from the GOP:

Mo Brooks and Barry Moore—Alabama

Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar—Arizona

Rick Crawford—Arkansas

Tom McClintock—California

Lauren Boebert—Colorado

Byron Donalds and John Rutherford—Florida

Andrew Clyde, Jody Hice, Austin Scott, and Marjorie Taylor Greene—Georgia

James Comer and Thomas Massie—Kentucky

Clay Higgins—Louisiana

Matt Rosendale—Montana

Jeff Van Drew—New Jersey

Dan Bishop and Virginia Foxx—North Carolina

Scott Perry—Pennsylvania

Ralph Norman—South Carolina

Louie Gohmert, Ronny Jackson, Troy Nehls, Chip Roy, and Michael Cloud--Texas

Bob Good—Virginia

Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Louie Gohmert, Paul Gosar and Rick Crawford all oppose he expansion of LGBTQ+ civil rights and many have accused the LGBTQ+ community of sexualizing or “grooming” kids.

And yet they voted against this bill.

In June, Boebert accused queer-inclusive teachers of “grooming” kids with educational flashcards showing a pregnant man on one of the cards.

In November, Greene called gay Californian state Democratic Senator Scott Wiener a “communist groomer” for calling “groomer” an “anti-LGBTQ hate word.”

In October, Gohmert co-sponsored a bill called the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act” which would ban any entity that receives federal money from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity to children under the age of 10.

Crawford has consistently voted against LGBTQ+ civil rights.

It’s important to note these Republicans, who have spent the last year making so much noise about LGBTQ+ people “grooming” children, never speak as loudly against child sex abuse in their Christian churches, nor do they partner with any groups that actually oppose child abuse or child sex trafficking.

And now we know they aren’t even willing to vote for a bill to address child sex abuse that got broad bipartisan support.

That’s the rightwingnut faction of the GOP; they say they want to protect children but only if they can denigrate and humiliate and terrorize and threaten and perhaps even incite murder of LGBTQ+ Americans.

They don’t care about children.

They hate us.

Bobservations

So Carlos was telling me the story of Thais, who was in love with Venus and—it’s quite long and involved and this isn’t about that, so we’ll skip ahead—then he said:

“That’s when the opera started.”

Now, some of you may know that Carlos pronounces ‘opera’ like ‘oprah’ and I always get a giggle about that and it flusters him, but as he told the story, I said:

“Oprah was there? Oprah? What was Oprah doing?”

And without missing a beat, he says:

“She was giving away camels. You get a camel! And you get a camel!”

Sometimes he slays me.

Pete Buttigieg is simple, straightforward, common sense, with no hype, no bull shiz, no inflammatory speech. This man needs to be President one day soon.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed a bipartisan electoral count reform bill, giving the legislation a key boost over a similar bill the House passed. Both bills would prevent future fascist narcissistic presidents from trying to overturn election results through Congress.

The Electoral Count Reform and Presidential Transition Improvement Act would amend the Electoral Count Act of 1887 and reaffirm that the vice president has only a ministerial role at the joint session of Congress to count electoral votes, as well as raise the threshold necessary for members of Congress to object to a state’s electors.

Nice to see the GOP line up behind this since, you know, January 6 was a GOP thang, and one sure fire reason to stand behind this is that insurrectionist and Big Liar Ted Cruz is against it..

CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is not getting at least one vote that we know of … because her husband of twenty-seven years, Perry Greene, has filed for divorce. Marge Greene, adulterer, is famous for saying:

“Marriage is a wonderful thing and I’m a firm believer in it. Our society is formed by a husband and wife creating a family to nurture and protect. Together, Perry and I formed our family and raised three great kids. He gave me the best job title you can ever earn: Mom.”

Now he’s calling you Ex-. And before anyone thinks I’m being mean, remember Marjorie Taylor Greene attacks other people's marriages, like mine, calling hers the model.

And yet her husband calls the marriage "Irretrievably broken." Sorry. Not Sorry.

Look, I joke a lot, and I’m sarcastic a lot but I think I’m a good friend and here’s one example:

A friend called me and asked if I would loan him $1300 to help him pay rent. Those who know me, know that I’m always willing to help out friends & family but I told him to give me some time to think about it and I would call him back. Before I called him, though, his brother phoned to let me know that my friend was lying and that my friend needed the $1300 to bail his girlfriend out of jail so they could be together for her birthday. Well, I thought about it and decided to give my friend the money anyway because we all need help at times and as sarcastic as I am, I am kinda soft-hearted.

A couple of hours later I got a call from the police station. It was my friend, crying and screaming and asking why I gave him $1300 in counterfeit money.

I told him it was so he and his girlfriend could be under the same roof for her birthday.

Last week Ernesto Martin Herrera tried to serve Texas Attorney General with a subpoena for a federal court hearing in a lawsuit from nonprofits that want to help Texans pay for abortions out of state. When Herrera arrived at Paxton’s home he told a woman who identified herself as Paxton’s wife, Angela, that he needed to deliver legal documents to her husband.

She said Paxton was on the phone and unable to come to the door. Herrera said he'd wait, but an hour later Angela exited the house, got into a truck in the driveway, started it, opened the doors and then Paxton came running from the house, got into the car and she drove away.

Paxton then Tweeted:

“It’s clear that the media wants to drum up another controversy involving my work as Attorney General, so they’re attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family.”

A stranger who identified himself? And Paxton shows concern for his family by making his wife answer the door? By making his wife head out to the driveway and start up the getaway car and then he runs outside like a rat and jumps in?

This is the epitome of ReTHUGlicans.

I moved out of Florida to get away from hurricanes, and now it appears that Ian will be coming right over the top of Casa Bob y Carlos Friday night and into Saturday and Sunday.

The good news—is there ever good news with a hurricane—is that the storm should lessen significantly before we get it, and the projected rainfall totals for Camden aren’t so terrible.

But, seriously, Mama Nature, why?

Anthony Bowens is the first out gay wrestler to become an All-Elite Wrestling [AEW] champion, and man oh man is he a hunk of man-meat, but … Would You Hit It? Or Would You Let Him Hit You?

The Funny Papers

Kevin Siers, Joe Heller, Bruce MacKinnon, Mike Smith, Ed Hall, Mike Luckovich, Steve Sack, Dave Whamond, Michael de Adder, Steve Breen, Bill Bramhall, Darrin Bell, Jack Ohman, Drew Sheneman, Nick Anderson,

The Funny Papers

Deb Milbrath, Michael de Adder, Nick Anderson, Matt Wuerker, Jack Ohman, Mike Luckovich, Clay Bennett. Bill Bramhall, Mike Smith, Bill Day, Drew Sheneman, JD Crowe, Marc Murphy, Kevin Siers, RJ Matson

My Two Cents: The Call For Unity After Last Week's Shooting

Six years ago, Jared Lee Loughner, a lunatic with a gun—because this is America and lunatics can have guns—tried to kill Representative Gabby Giffords; he failed, but did manage to kill six other people.

Last Wednesday, James Hodgkinson, another lunatic with a gun—because ... America and guns—shot at several members of Congress who were playing baseball; Representative Steve Scalise was seriously injured, as were several others.

After each event both sides of Congress called for unity, though not for stricter gun laws—because ... America ... guns—and, well, it didn’t last long either time.

See, rather than unity, rather than trying to get along, rather than trying to keep Americans safe on the streets, in the mall, in the movie theaters, in the schools, on a baseball field, many in the Republican party, many on the Right, began talking about the “dangerous” rhetoric that led Hodgkinson to start shooting last week.

Conservatives were quick to point out that James Hodgkinson was :::gasp::: a liberal and so that is clearly why he began shooting; they reveled in the news that Hodgkinson posted about his hatred Republicans on social media; they smiled and talked about how he was a Bernie supporter, as though Bernie Sanders were somehow responsible for the fact that a man who’d been accused of domestic violence still had a gun, about how a man stood in his yard firing round after round into the sky until police arrived and told him to stop, but never had his gun taken from him. It wasn’t the weapon and the fact that this man had access to more than one gun and assault rifle, it was the fact that he was a liberal.

And yet after Gabby Giffords, a Democrat, was shot those same conservatives begged for the right to Free Speech, the right to dissent, the right to speak up, and yet now they seem to be on the verge of using this latest shooting as a means for stifling legitimate political dissent, of attacking any speech critical of President _____.

Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, a man who wouldn’t know the truth if he married it, watched it get cancer, then cheated on it and asked for a divorce, immediately claimed that the attack was part of a “pattern” of hostility from the Left toward the president; he ranted about Kathy Griffin’s moronic severed head stunt, and the fact that there’s a production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar that depicts a Caesar who looks like a _____ and who is stabbed to death in the play.

Yes, it’s Kathy Griffin and Shakespeare who caused this.

Even Little Donny Jr. took to Twitter to spew the same lunacy about the Shakespeare production, though he never raised his voice one single time when people called the Obama’s apes ... or sent emails about watermelons growing on the White House lawn, or when his own father pushed his racist birther agenda.

See, that’s okay, because it comes from the conservative side, the tribal hypocrites like Newt and the spoiled little boy sucking up to his distant daddy who likes his daughter better.

Naturally, Rush Limbaugh, clearly high on prescription meds, bleated that Hodgkinson was the “personification” of the “deranged base” of the Democratic Party and suggested that the media, federal and Congressional investigations of _____ and his administration were somehow to blame for this violence.

Yes, _____ has ties to Russia; members of his inner circle have ties to Russia; members of his family have ties to Russia; Russia hacked the election; _____ tried to halt the FBI investigation of the hack. But somehow, this is the Democrat’s fault.

Unity? Hardly. And the blood was even dry on the ball field yet.

But it isn’t just wingnuts like Gingrich and Limbaugh, or Little Donny Jr., it was many in the GOP, after calling for unity, who swiftly switched the topic toward “tamping down” rhetoric; you know, that anti-_____ rhetoric. Stop calling for his impeachment; stop saying he’s a Fake President because someone with a gun will come out and start shooting.

Funny, but I don’t think being concerned about a foreign entity interfering in an American election is dangerous; realizing that foreign entities interfered with our elections, and are great friends, allies and business partners with the President, members of his cabinet, members of family, is a real danger.

Rep. Rodney Davis, Republican from Illinois, the day of the shooting:

“We’ve got to ratchet down the rhetoric that we’ve seen, not only on social media, but in the media in our 24-hour news cycle. These are the things that have to stop. This is a result of political rhetorical terrorism.”

It’s terrorism; the go-to word the GOP uses to strike fear in their base.

Rep. Dave Brat, Republican from Virginia, criticized Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for saying, of _____:

"Has he kept his promises? No. F--- no."

But he hasn’t kept his promises. Has he? And since he hasn’t, shouldn’t we be allowed to be pissed off, say we’re pissed off, drop and f-bomb about it? Brat said:

“They’re free to attack his policy, but they should not be attacking him personally, or as a party and raising the verbage.”

But that is exactly what Gillibrand did when she questioned _____’s promises.

Rep. Jack Bergman, Michigan Republican, blamed the media for the shooting:

“I think the media is complicit if they keep inciting as opposed to informing. You need to make sure that you think twice about how your words and inflections and phrases might affect all the people who might see it.”

He told that to Fox News ... and I’ll just let that lie there.

But what should be done? Are these folks on the Right, um, right? Should the press step back and stop publishing stories about the congressional investigations into _____? Should the press debate the credibility gap between _____ and former FBI director James Comey? Should the investigations just stop because the idea of hacking, the idea of collusion, the idea that the president is guilty of obstruction of justice might anger some folks to the point of violence?

Before I go on ... a quick side-rant:

Yes, let’s stop all this and allow the crimes to happen, rather than realize that the main issue is guns, access to guns, and people like shooting victim Steve Scalise, who believe that even people who might have a mental illness have a right to own guns. And let’s tone down the rhetoric because it might give someone who’s a little bent the idea to take their legally purchased gun down to a ball field and open fire. Ban speech to save guns? Is that where this is headed?

And now I’ll return to the scheduled topic ... speech, free speech. Slate columnist Jack Shafer wrote this after the Giffords shooting six years ago:

"Any call to cool 'inflammatory' speech is a call to police all speech, and I can't think of anybody in government, politics, business, or the press that I would trust with that power."

And yet those on the Right want to give the man at the top—who has the loosest, most vicious tongue of all—the power to police speech. And if the idea that someone like Donald _____, who has said things like ...

“I don’t have a racist bone in my body.”

“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

“Jeb Bush has to like the Mexican Illegals because of his wife.”

“You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

“I cherish women. I want to help women. I’m going to be able to do things for women that no other candidate would be able to do.”

“Look at that face! Would anyone vote for [Carly Fiorina]? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president?!”

“I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.”

“Donald J. _____ is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on.”

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

“If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ’em, would you? Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell—I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.”

“The answer is that there has to be some form of punishment [for women who have abortions].”

“Many of the thugs that attacked the peaceful Trump supporters in San Jose were illegals. They burned the American flag and laughed at police.”

“[Judge Curiel] is a member of a club or society, very strongly pro-Mexican, which is all fine. But I say he’s got bias. … This judge has treated me very unfairly; he’s treated me in a hostile manner. And there’s something going on.”

“That could be a Mexican plane up there. They’re getting ready to attack.”

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment. By the way, and if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people—maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.”

“[Hillary Clinton]’s being so protected. She could walk into this arena right now and shoot somebody with 20,000 people watching, right smack in the middle of the heart and she wouldn’t be prosecuted, OK?”

“I would do stop-and-frisk. I think you have to. We did it in New York, it worked incredibly well and you have to be proactive and, you know, you really help people sort of change their mind automatically.”

“You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it, you can do anything. Grab them by the p***y, you can do anything.”

“This was locker room banter, a private conversation that took place many years ago. Bill Clinton has said far worse to me on the golf course—not even close. I apologize if anyone was offended.”

“And when [Hillary Clinton] walked in front of me, believe me, I wasn’t impressed.”

... should police speech doesn’t frighten you, nothing ever will.

Look, I agree with the idea of toning down the rhetoric, but demanding the truth when we are faced with the fact that Russia interfered with our election, is not rhetoric; it’s what We The People have a right to know.

And to try and silence those that are sharing the news, the news, not fake news, is a way to silence this country. And the Right seems to want to do that. I mean, how else do we explain the Republican desire to punish those who leak stories about collusion and corruption in the First Family, rather than investigate whether the leaks are true or not?

It is time to stop to flow of ignorance, like what a Kathy Griffin does just to get attention for herself, or what those who staged a Shakespeare play and dressed a character like the President, only to have him brutally stabbed in the piece. That kind of “talk” gets us nowhere; it feeds the base of _____ and the Rightwingnuts; it builds them up, it gets them out to vote, and we end up with election results that are stunning, to say the least.

So, yeah, stop the Hate Speech. There are enough other things this president has done, his family has done, his team has done, to ruin this country, so let’s focus on that.

Let’s talk about that.

At least on the one side, because I truly believe that the GOP’s Tribal Hypocrisy Mentality will never waver and they will cheer _____ while this country burns.

So we shouldn’t let them.

Resist.

ISBL Asshat of the Week: Republican Mike Lee

Mike Lee, the Republican Senator from Utah has decided that Michigan doesn’t need any help at all with their water crisis, thankyouverymuch, and so he is blocking a measure that would send $100 million federal dollars to the state even though both parties — yes, the GOP and the Democrats — agree on it and it’s already paid for.

“Michigan has an enormous budget surplus this year and a large rainy-day fund. Relief and repair efforts are already in the works. The people and policymakers of Michigan right now have all the government resources they need to fix the problem. … The only thing Congress is contributing to the Flint recovery is political grandstanding.” — Mike Lee, grandstanding politically, dontcha know

Yup, all sides agree that the money should go to Michigan, and all the money is there, and it does not increase federal spending but Mike Lee says:

“What’s really happening here is that Washington politicians are using the crisis in Flint as an excuse to funnel taxpayer money to their own home states, and trying to sneak it through the Senate without proper debate and amendment. I respectfully object.”

The part of this story that makes Mike Lee an asshat of epic proportions is that, back in 2011, when Utah had suffered damaging floods, Lee held out his hands for federal disaster relief:

"That money is there. It's been appropriated for disaster relief, and I see no reason why Utah ought not be entitled to receive such federal funds."

Yup, when his constituents suffer flood damage he wants the money to come right away, but when the people of Flint, Michigan have no drinkable water, and the children there are suffering long-term side effects for the poisoned waters, Mike Lee doesn’t see the need to spend a dime.

Asshat of the Week.

Oh, and he can f**k off, too.

Daily Kos

#TakeDownThatFlag ... And It May Just Happen

Forgive me if I’m feeling a bit proud of South Carolina, and its politicians today, but late yesterday we saw a little of what could be done, here and around this country, if both sides, Democrat and Republican, come together.

With bipartisan support from our state politicians, and our representatives in Washington, Governor Nikki Haley finally called for removal of the Confederate flag that flies over the State Capitol grounds. And while it's a little sad, a little disgusting, that nine people had to be gunned down before this issue became truly important, and truly worth fighting for, and truly worth discussing, but let’s stay positive.

“We are not going to allow this symbol to divide us any longer. The fact that people are choosing to use it as a sign of hate is something we cannot stand.” — Nikki Haley

It’s been fifteen years since the last time South Carolina lawmakers waged a serious fight over that flag; back then it was a decidedly partisan issue, with conservatives and Republicans defending the flag as a symbol of the state’s history, and waging a battle that saw the flag removed from atop the capitol but stationed atop a flagpole of capitol grounds. But yesterday Nikki Haley stood alongside fellow Republicans, and conservatives, Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, and Representative Mark Sanford, to finally say it’s time to move on.

“Today, we are here in a moment of unity in our state, without ill will, to say it’s time to move the flag from the Capitol grounds.”

Sure, Haley, Scott and Graham failed to take a side in the days following the shooting, most notably with Graham flip-flopping from “this is who we are” to the more sane response, that “in light of what has happened, that has to be revisited” because the suspect in the shooting — and I will not ever mention his name because he deserves no fame or notoriety here — is closely “associated with the flag.”

Of course, removing the flag isn’t as easy as having a group of politicians stand in a church and demand it; this year’s regular legislative session has ended, and though it will meet again tomorrow, the resolution authorizing that session limits it to a discussion of certain matters, and amending the resolution to add the flag to the agenda would require a two-thirds vote of both houses of the General Assembly. But Governor Haley said that if the General Assembly did not act soon, she would call it back into session yet again, specifically to address the flag question.

Still, as we saw today, and as we heard today, both sides seem clear: it’s time to take down that flag. And let’s hope that rational minds prevail; that our lawmakers fully understand that the Confederate flag may still be flown, anywhere in the state, by anyone who chooses, but it should no longer stand on state property.

It’s time.

photo via Newsweek

Bill Would Take Away Federal Funds From Schools That Allow 'Religious Freedom' Exceptions For Bullies

I have been saying that, while the march toward marriage equality is growing stronger every day — even with places like Alabama needing to be dragged kicking and screaming into it — the next big fight will be against the use of so-called “religious freedom” to discriminate against the LGBT community.

I mean, we’ve seen it with bakers, and florist and dressmakers, who cry foul when asked to serve a customer who is gay, saying the Baby Jeebus doesn’t want them baking or arranging or sewing for The Gays, so, while I hate to sound pessimistic, I think it’ll get worse before it gets better; but, to steal a Dan Savage phrased, it will get better.

In Washington yesterday, Democratic congressmen Jared Polis [Colorado] and Bobby Scott  [Virginia] were joined by Republican — yes, a Republican, and one of the few LGBT friendly one at that — co-sponsor, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [Florida], to introduce the Student Non-Discrimination Act [SNDA] which would protect LGBTQ students in public schools from discrimination based on so-called religious exemption; Senator Al Franken a Democrat from Minnesota introduced the same bill in the U.S. Senate.

If they can garner enough Republican support in this new congress — and we all know how the Republicans love to play the religion card, and how much they loathe the LGBT community — to get it passed, SNDA would establish a federal prohibition against discrimination in public schools based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity; public schools could no longer ignore reports of harassment or bullying and failure to comply could result in the loss of federal funding for the school. SNDA would also allow victims to sue the school, and school officials, for damages.

"Evidence shows that discrimination against LGBT students deprives them of equal educational opportunities by increasing their likelihood of skipping school, underperforming academically, and dropping out. School must be a place where all students feel welcome and safe to thrive." — Representative Bobby Scott

For Representative Polis, an openly gay man, SNDA has long been on his wish list, and now that Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has signed on, he hopes she’ll be able to persuade enough Republicans to at least get the

bill out of committee and to the floor for debate. 

"Every single child deserves a quality education that is free from discrimination and prepares them for college and a career. It’s simply unacceptable that in 2015, there are thousands of students who face bullying and harassment every day when they get to school simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity." — Representative Jared Polis

Representative Ros-Lehtinen told reporters she is committed to doing all she can to help pass SNDA:

"No student should face discrimination for any reason, including their sexual orientation or gender identity. If we aspire to a society where prejudices are a relic of the past then we must begin by preaching and living the virtues of tolerance at our educational institutions."

And, if this works out, if the Republicans finally come to the conclusion that allowing people to hide behind their religion as an excuse to bully, harass, tease, taunt, berate and beat any LGBTQ student, and send this bill to the White House, President Obama has indicated he will sign it. 

Here’s hoping the GOP does what’s right — and, yes, I know it’s a long shot — and we start protecting all students in all schools.

via NCRM