Vote. Vote Blue. And Here's Why, AGAIN!

It’s been a few weeks since we checked in on the GOP and their special brand of bigotry and ignorance, so let’s dive right in …

NORTH DAKOTA

The state GOP voted last week to raise their own meal reimbursements to $45 a day. This happened less than two weeks after that same state GOP blocked a bill to provide free school lunches to low-income students.

Tell me again how the GOP is pro-family or pro-children.

 TENNESSEE

GOP lawmakers have expelled two Democrat Representatives, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, from the House for taking part in a peaceful demonstration for gun reform that was staged in the aftermath of a Nashville school shooting that left six people dead. A third Democrat, Gloria Johnson, was barely saved from expulsion.

Of note, the two Democrats expelled were two Black men, while the white woman was saved.

FLORIDA

Ron DeSantis signed HB 543 into law this week that will allow Floridians to carry a concealed firearm without the need for a permit. People can now carry concealed firearms without going through the background screening and training that is currently required to have a concealed carry license.

More guns. Less control.

IDAHO

The state legislature has passed the nation’s first law that makes it illegal for minors to travel out-of-state to get an abortion without parental consent.

Idaho already has a near-total abortion ban in place but neighboring Washington and Oregon allow minors to get an abortion without their parent’s consent, so Idaho will restrict its residents from interstate travel for abortion access.

Why not just lock up all pregnant women until they give birth?

FLORIDA

A survey finds that among Florida’s incoming college freshmen, dissatisfaction with Governor Ron DeSantis’s education policies runs deep … deep enough in some cases to make them look for college opportunities in another state.

Intelligent.com surveyed over 1,000 Florida students, including 783 still in high school and 364 current undergrads and found that 91% of prospective college students disagree with the governor’s policies and that 1 in 8 graduating high school students won’t attend college in Florida due to education policy in the state.

Florida will become a ghost town save for the elderly and the fascists.

MISSOURI

The Missouri House has put forth new budget bills that would eliminate state funding for libraries across the state. The House Budget Committee has proposed to cut the entire $4.5 million budget slated for Missouri libraries last week after the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] filed a lawsuit to overturn a new Missouri law that bans “explicit sexual” images from all school materials, including library books. The law, passed last year, does not apply to written descriptions of sex or sexual acts; only photos, drawings, videos and other visual depictions are prohibited but librarians and other school officials face up to a year in jail or a $2,000 fine for violating the policy.

It might be easier just to ban all books.

MONTANA

Republicans in the state Legislature are trying to change the rules for next year’s Senate primary to make it easier to defeat Democrat Senator Jon Tester and win back the Senate majority.

A bill moving through the statehouse would change the structure of the election from the party primary system currently in place to a jungle primary in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party. The move would essentially box out Libertarian candidates who would likely vote Democrat ensuring a GOP victory.

If they can’t win fairly, they change the rules and cheat.

MISSOURI

State Attorney General Andrew Bailey has issued an emergency regulation regarding gender transition interventions on minors and launched a website to report allegations of malpractice at gender clinics in the state:

“It’s about protecting children for me. We’ve got to inject some sanity into this conversation. Gender is an objective reality defined by biology, in the same way that gravity is an objective reality. It is unhealthy to deny objective reality.”

He really only cares about cis gender children, to be fair. Trans kids are less than.

FLORIDA

As happens in fascist states, the rules are changed to enable the fascist to do as they please.

This week the Florida Senate scheduled a change via committee vote of the “Resign to Run” law.

This is certainly meant to allow Ron DeFascist to keep his job as governor should he fail in his attempt to take the White House in 2024.

ON THE UPSIDE …

SCOTUS

This week the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene in an ongoing case involving West Virginia’s law banning transgender girls from participating in girls’ sports teams at school. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito and the hopefully soon-to-be-impeached and removed from the bench Clarence Thomas dissented.

The court’s action came on its “shadow docket” so-called because decisions are made without full briefing or argument and decided with little or no explanation.

Some 19 states have enacted laws like West Virginia’s anti-transgender law but no appeals court has yet ruled on the question.

WISCONSIN

Last week voters gave control of the state’s highest court to liberals for the first time in 15 years after Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly in a race that served as a referendum on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The tide is changing in Wisconsin; let’s hope that trend keeps moving forward.

NEW JERSEY

Democrat Governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order No. 326 establishing New Jersey as a safe haven for gender-affirming health care by directing all state departments and agencies to protect all persons, including health care professionals and patients, against potential repercussions resulting from providing, receiving, assisting in providing or receiving, seeking, or traveling to New Jersey to obtain gender-affirming health care services.

“Across the nation, we are witnessing attacks led by certain states that seek to undermine the equality, dignity, and safety of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially transgender and non-binary youth. As leaders, our greatest responsibility is ensuring that every person we represent, regardless of their gender identity or gender expression, is entitled to respect, fairness, and freedom. We will continue to uphold these principles in New Jersey and support every person’s right to live freely and authentically by making our state a safe haven for those seeking or providing gender-affirming health care.”

Finally at least one safe haven for our trans brothers and sisters.

Pay attention … vote … speak up … vote … because if we don’t all stand together one day all of this country will be like Florida and Tennessee and Missouri and Idaho, and the GOP and the traitors come for us all.

Bobservations

Over breakfast, I told Carlos that Janet Jackson was starting a new tour, and that her announcement was this simple Instagram post: ‘Hi. It’s Janet. A new tour is coming.’ He looked at me like he was a dog who’d heard a whistle.

“You don’t know Janet Jackson, do you?”

“I do. She’s Michael’s sister.”

“Name one Janet Jackson song. Just one. I’ll wait.”

Needless to say I’m still waiting. Goddess love the fact that his pop culture knowledge is nil.

Kyrsten Sinema has left the Democrats and registered as an Independent surprising no one at all, except those who thought she’d run right to the Republican party.

The south portico of the White House was lit up in rainbow colors this week after President signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law.

Yet the march goes on …

Good news out of Louisiana … Democrat Davante Lewis defeated the incumbent three-term Public Service Commissioner and fellow Democrat Lambert Boissiere III to become … wait for it … the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to state office in Louisiana.

And it’s 2022.

Last week the Crook County Library in Oregon had a standing-room only crowd when it held a board meeting to discuss whether or not to segregate LGBTQ+-friendly children’s books into a separate section. The crowd overwhelmingly supported keeping the books where they are, and the board agreed in a 4-1 vote.

The march goes on …

Funny how no one noticed that the familiar Republican Party mascot pictured on the Patrick County GOP website hid KKK imagery in its negative space. It has since been replaced with the seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia but, yeah, sure, no one noticed.

Indiana Republicans drafted a censure letter to send to GOP Senator Todd Young because he voted in favor of passing the Respect For Marriage Act; in Indiana you are censured for voting against bigotry and racism.

Maybe they should use that KKK logo for their branch of the party.

The other day we had a rare Sunday morning work meeting and when I walked in I saw about ten co-workers gathered around the conference table and I said, loudly:

“Any of you bitches make coffee?”

One co-worker gasped, and said:

“Bob! My little girl is here.”

Feeling horrified, I asked:

“Well … did she make coffee?”

Cut to five minutes later when this same woman, in describing a certain client of ours, used the cute phrase “motherfucker” to describe him … in front of her child.

Note to self: bitch is bad, but motherfucker is fine.

While GMA3 co-anchors T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach have been temporarily pulled off air, viewers have been treated  to fill-ins for the adulterous pair … like new ABC hire DeMarco Morgan who may be gay, but that is neither here nor there … Would You Hit It?

It Couldn't Happen Here In America?

As I told Carlos over breakfast yesterday, I can find a showtune to fit every mood, occasion, or story, and after reading this particular news item, the song ‘Something Bad,’ from Wicked, instantly sprang to mind:

“Oh, Miss Elphaba, the things one hears these days

Dreadful things
I've heard of an Ox, a professor from Quox
No longer permitted to teach
Who has lost all powers of speech
And an owl in Munchkin Rock
A vicar with a thriving flock
Forbidden to preach
Now he only can screech
Only rumors, but still enough to give pause
To anyone with paws
Something bad is happening in Oz.”

But the something bad is happening in America …

Summer Boismier, a teacher in Norman, Oklahoma, has resigned her position after being reprimanded for placing the Brooklyn Libraries QR code in her classroom. That code allows people everywhere the ability to download and read the books banned in this country by our public school system. In addition to the QR code, Boismier placed butcher paper over her classroom bookshelves with the words "Books the state doesn't want you to read":

"I saw this as an opportunity for my kids who were seeing their stories hidden to skirt that directive. Nowhere in my directives did it say we can't put a QR code on a wall."

But a parent complained that Boismier was talking about politics in class :::gasp::: and she was reprimanded because Oklahoma's new law, House Bill 1775, says a teacher may not teach anything that makes a student feel uncomfortable on the basis of their race or sex. But Boismier was talking about books, and not even specific books, just banned books.

And in America today speaking of banned books can cause you to lose your job..

Wes Moody, a Norman Public School [NPS] spokesperson, said the issue did not center around the QR code, though he did not specify what the real issue was, though he claims Boismier made "personal political statements" and made a "political display" in the classroom. I imagine that was the "Books the state doesn't want you to read” sign  which is, in fact, the truth.

Enter State education secretary Ryan Walters, clearly a rightwingnut loon, who first said Boismier was fired—she was not—and then backtracked on that, but claimed that by sharing that QR code, Boismier provided pornographic material to her students. And for that lie, he wants her teaching certificate revoked, which the Department of Education says would be the first teaching certificate revocation of its kind in that state. But Ryan Walters wants to make sure that Summer Boismier cannot teach anywhere in this country because she gave her students access to book he deems unacceptable.

“There is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom. Ms. Boismier’s providing access to banned and pornographic material to students is unacceptable and we must ensure she doesn’t go to another district and do the same thing.”

Now, wait a moment; doesn’t that sound political, if Walters is suggesting only rightwing conservatives teach in public schools? In America is speech only free is it fits the narrow-minded narrative of conservatives?

And while Ryan Walters is a vile human being, even more disgusting is GOP state Senator Rob Standridge, co-author of HB 1775, who says Boismier should be criminally prosecuted for sharing the QR code because book sharing is a crime in America in 2022.

The district, in its statement about Boismier's resignation, said some colleagues shared her concerns about HB 1775:

"Like many educators the teacher has concerns regarding censorship and book removal by the Oklahoma state legislature. However, as has always been our expectation, we want our classrooms to be places where ALL students feel welcome."

How are ALL students welcomed if you remove books about LGBTQ+ American? How are young people of color made to feel welcome when history is scrubbed of the indignities their ancestors suffered?

Linda E. Johnson, president and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library, says the library will continue to support teachers like Summer Boismier:

"The democratic principles on which both our nation and public libraries were founded include the right of every individual to seek information from all points of view. Brooklyn Public Library stands firmly with Summer Boismier and all who champion free expression, intellectual freedom, and the right to read."

And on the upside, a small upside, Heather Hall, owner of Green Feather Book Company in Norman, Oklahoma is stepping up by giving away free T-shirts to NPS students with the QR code to the Brooklyn Public Library's Books Unbanned Project:

"A teacher should not be held responsible for anything at a public library, even if she was the one who made the library more accessible to the students."

Hall believes the shirts don't violate Oklahoma law because students, not teachers, will be wearing them, and NPS spokesperson Wes Moody agreed that, under the school district's dress code, students will be allowed to wear the T-shirts; and Hall added:

"I really hope [the shirts empower the] administration to be brave, to stand up for education, for public education, for the open and free exchange of ideas, and for the hard conversations. As parents, we always have to have the hard conversations, and for us, with the way public education has evolved, sometimes those conversations have to happen in public schools. and as long as they're respectful of all walks of life and all views, I think that it's important to allow kids to have these conversations, particularly around literature."

It couldn't happen here in Oz America

Yahoo  NPR  KOSU

Bobservations

Carlos is part of a group that works with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control [DHEC] and they are trying to promote healthcare and HIV testing for the Hispanic community throughout the state. Every year DHEC hosts a meeting of diverse groups to discuss HIV/AIDS, and this year, Carlos’ group, Orgullo y Salud [Pride and Health] will be featured. Carlos has been asked to speak at the convention and as he was telling me, he said:

“All these years on the sidelines and now I’m the star.”

“Sweetie, you aren’t the star, you’re a participant in a panel discussion.”

“Where I’m the star.”

“Where everyone gets a chance—”

“I’M.THE.STAR!!!!”

I’m gonna have to hire a team to maneuver his big fat head through the room that day.

Kay Ivey is your typical ReTHUGlican, suddenly finding her ”voice” after more than a year of not uttering a word.

The Brooklyn Public Library [BPL] is fighting back against book banning and censorship in the US by launching a program called Books UnBanned, that allows 13- to 21-year-olds to apply for a free library eCard, regardless of where they live.

The eCard, good for one year, provides access to 350,000 e-books, 200,000 audiobooks and 100 databases, according to BPL.

Cancel that, GOP.

Voter Fraud Mark Meadows has been removed from North Carolina’s voter rolls while the State Bureau of Investigation continues a probe into allegations that Meadows and his wife committed election fraud.

I personally think they need to be fined and stricken from voting in this country.

Marjorie Taylor Greene makes all kinds of excuses for the January 6 Insurrection … It was antifa … It was Black Lives Matter … It was the FBI … and she even voted  against the formation of the January 6 Commission, but her latest attempt to change the narrative is the most idiotic:

“The American people are fed up with this over-dramatization of a riot that happened here at the Capitol one time. They are sick and tired of January 6—it’s over, OK?”

She said this to a reporter and was so mad at the way he “twisted” her words that she posted video of what she actually said, which is exactly what the reporter said she told him.

There was only one insurrection, y’all, so let’s stop talking about it, investigating it, jailing the perpetrators and move on.

I've got another way to liven up a party; walk up to  someone you don’t know and say:

“I want you to know that I have no problem with you being here.”

And then walk away.

Now for some good news … Dancing With The Stars is leaving network TV and going over to Disney+ so it will now cost you $7.99 a month to host Tyra Banks make a fool of herself.

Seriously, will people pay to watch Banks look like a Dilophosaurus from Jurassic Park?

Arizona GOPQanon Congressman Paul Gosar was listed as a “special guest” at a white nationalist American Populist Union at an event on April 20, a favored date among Nazis and racists because it’s Hitler’s birthday. But Gosar’s campaign says he isn’t attending the event and doesn’t know how he was listed as a guest of honor.

Huh; funny then that Paul, white nationalist, promoted his scheduled appearance on social media.

The GOP thinks the public is as dumb as the GOP.

As if you’d need another reason to vote Democrat, last week Republicans in Congress objected to Democrat Senator Maggie Hassan’s bill to temporarily suspend the gas tax to lower the price of gasoline.

The GOP objected because they favor corporations over people and because they can continue the lie the President Biden is responsible for higher gas prices.

What’s this? Another Republican committing voter fraud like Mark Meadows?

Matt Mowers, a former Thing 45 administration official and candidate for Congress in New Hampshire, actually voted twice in the 2016 primary election.

Mowers cast an absentee ballot in New Hampshire’s 2016 primary, while serving as campaign director for Chris Christie, and four months later, when Christie’s campaign failed, Mowers cast another ballot in New Jersey.

The GOP is the party of voter fraud.

Michael Salvatore Sinatra is a beefy, hairy, openly gay male model who only wears underwear and jocks, which doesn’t really matter because the question is Would You Hit It?

The Library Should Stay Open!

On  March 7th, if you’ve got nothing to do around noon, why dontcha head on out to Missouri’s state capitol building and join a bunch of drag queens in protesting GOP state Representative Ben Baker’s proposed legislation to jail librarians who host the very popular Drag Queen Story Hour. Oh, and the librarians could also be imprisoned … imprisoned … if they allow young people to check out books on LGBTQ topics.

Seriously.

Luckily, as evidenced at Stonewall, Drag Queens do not back down from bullies, and are taking to Facebook to rally the troops and their allies to the protest:

“Queens, Kings & everything in between! It’s time we stand together at the Missouri State Capitol! Even if you don’t do drag, but support drag queen storytime—come support and rally with us! We will be heading to Jefferson City, MO in full drag to show senators & legislators that we aren’t the monsters here. That all we are doing is providing a space for learning and getting kids excited about reading. Knowledge is power!”

Baker denies that his legislation would ban LGBTQ+ books, but it does seek to move those kinds of book to a “restricted” area of the library; but Ben’s real target is the Drag Queens … reading stories to children:

“The main thing is, I want to be able to take my kids to a library and make sure they’re in a safe environment, and that they’re not gonna be exposed to something that is objectionable material. Unfortunately, there are some libraries in the state of Missouri that have done this. And that’s a problem. In some places … they’ve had these drag queen story hours and that’s something that I take objection to and I think a lot of parents do. That’s where in a public space, our kids could be exposed to something that’s age-inappropriate. That’s what I’m trying to tackle.”

Hey Ben? Quick. Tell me the last time you took your children to a library. Hell, tell me the first time you did it. And what is it about Drag Queens that isn’t “safe”? The big hair? The size twelve heels? The joy a Drag Queen brings? The fact that a group of people want to read to children?

It all sounds horrifying.

But, Ben, you relic of hate who clearly has nothing better to do to help the people of your state than prevent people from reading To children in a library, if you, or any of your followers, don’t want Drag Queens reading to your children, don’t take them.

It’s that simple.

If you're looking for a Drag Queen Story Time, head to their Facebook page HERE for information.

It's Not The Library, Just The Garage ... But It's Pretty Fantastic

Here in Smallville, we have a, well, small library; it’s a new building, but it’s located next to the old library, at the top, which now holds the Museum and Archives for our town, the Oldest Inland City in South Carolina, thankyouverymuch.

But, I'd move to Kansas City just to go to their library ... though this is just the garage …

It’s called the Community Bookshelf, and is basically a garage covered by a row of what appear to be 25-foot-tall books from some of the most noteworthy authors in literary history.

The Library asked the public for input on which books would be featured in the bookshelf, deciding on 22 classics, including J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, Charles Dickens’s "A Tale of Two Cities," Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and Ray Bradbury's controversial "Fahrenheit 451." The books are constructed out of Mylar and span an entire city block, disguising the staircases within the library's parking structure.

It’s just a garage, but it makes me wanna stop in and get a book, and so that’s a good thing.

Jessica Wilson Wants ‘Two Boys Kissing’ Banned From Shool Library

Perhaps I should have put all three of today’s posts under the singular heading of Tuesday Triptych of Too Stupid To Be Believed. First we had asshatted South Carolina politicians, and then we tossed in a homophobic nun on a speaking tour, and now this … more banning of books.

A high school in Warrenton, Virginia is once again considering a parent’s appeal to remove a book from the school’s library because it depicts two boys kissing on its cover. Oh yeah, the book is called “Two Boys Kissing.”

Written by David Levithan, “Two Boys Kissing” tells the story of two 17-year-old boys — a former couple — participating in a 32-hour kissing marathon in the hopes of setting a new Guinness World Record. The boys become a focal point in the lives of other teen boys who are dealing with their own long-term relationships, coming out, gender identity, while the kissing couple tries to figure out their own feelings for each other.

The book has previously survived a school committee review, but will now be subjected to a public hearing after one parent — Jessica Wilson — asked that the book be removed from the Fauquier County High School library. Wilson says it isn’t so much the content of the book — uh huh, I believe that —that she has a problem with, it’s that the cover art violates the school’s rules against public displays of affection.

“My first thought was that I was shocked. My second thought was, ‘Who purchased this book and why?’ This book just kind of felt snuck in the by library. I can’t imagine that there wasn’t another, more appropriate book they could have purchased that would have appealed to a wider audience.”—Jessica Wilson

Becca Isaac, the school’s librarian, says all book purchases follow strict school policies which state that the material should cover all “points of view on current and historical issues.” The policy also states that materials should not be removed because of “partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” And Isaac points to other books left on the shelves that show straight couples in a kissing embrace — which apparently also violate the school’s PDA rules — though Jessica Wilson has no problem with those books.

Hmmm, straight couples okay; gay couples no-so-much. Yeah, I think it’s pretty clear why Jessica Wilson has her Homo Hatin’ britches in a bunch.

Isaac says there are other books, with different subject matter, that seem to contradict Wilson’s illogical complaint:

“We have books that have guns on the cover and we don’t allow guns in school. We have books with drugs on the cover, it’s not the same kind of issue there…I’ve never had a formal complaint about a book.”

Isaac says this is the first time she’s seen a book go this far in the challenge process. While a school-based committee voted earlier this year not to remove the book, Wilson appealed the decision and the next step will be higher level committee appointed by Associate Superintendent Sandra Mitchell. That committee will interview Wilson and possibly other parents who are hiding their homophobia behind a school rule on PDAs, to either keep or ban the book, followed by a public hearing during which time anyone may speak to the committee; a finding from the committee would be immediately rendered.

Here’s the deal: Jessica Wilson has a problem with a book that shows two boys kissing; it’s that plain and simple, because she has no problems with straight couples kissing, or guns or drugs. And because of her homophobia, and her desire to remove any book she personally deems offensive from a public school library, she is advocating anti-LGBT sentiment.

She is saying that gay students are less than; gay students do not deserve the chance to read stories with which they might identify; gay students don’t count. She is sending a message to other students that gay students — even students perceived to be gay — have no place in society, no value in life.

That isn’t a parent, that’s a bully.

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Utah School Puts In Our Mothers' House Back On The Shelves

I'm a bookstore whore, but when I was a kid it was the neighborhood library I loved. The Fair Oaks Library sat on a hill, among the trees with giant picture windows and aisle after aisle of books. I remember going there as a kid and just getting lost among the titles, trying to find on that caught my interest.

I learned a lot about the world, and lots about myself, in books; what I liked, where I wanted to go, what I wanted to be. In books. But, if you can't get to the books, how would you ever know what the world is like, or where you might fit into it.

In Utah, last June, the Davis County School District caved to the complaints of 25 parents and took a book off the shelf. That book, In Our Mothers’ House by Patricia Polacco, was about a family with two moms. Now, the district didn't exactly banish the book, they simply removed it from the general population and held it behind the counter so you'd have to ask for it. That is, if you even know they had the book since it wasn't on a shelf any longer. And, to make it just that much harder to read it, students had to have a parental permission slip to read it.

Well, last November, the ACLU got involved and now, suddenly, the school has reversed course and put the book back on the shelf where it belongs. In fact, in response to the ACLU, the district’s assistant superintendent, Pamela Park, said the committee that had reviewed the situation actually had positive things to say about In Our Mothers’ House, including that it will help prevent bullying:

I have considered the written summary and recommendations of the District Reconsideration Committee. I agree with and support the Committee’s conclusions regarding the book as follows:

• “Removing the book completely is not a good option.”

• “We all know many non-traditional families” with students attending our schools.

• “It could help those children in same sex families see their family in a book.”

• “[T]his book teaches acceptance and tolerance.”

• “The book could help prevent bullying of kids from same sex families.”

• “It could be used by a family to discuss the issues . . .”

And this is in Utah.

Now, parents can still restrict what books their children check out from the library, but it doesn't prevent any student from reading this book, or any other book, in the library itself.

Imagine. You're a young kid, wondering if you're gay, wondering how to be gay, and what it means, and how it works, and can you be like anyone else, and you’re afraid to ask your parents about it. But you hear about a book, about a family with two moms, and, well, maybe, this book is about you. You fit in. You understand yourself. And how can that be wrong?

Kudos to the district for understanding that books like these help kids understand themselves better, and understand the world around them better. And that's the great thing about books.

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