Month: June 2023

Generalissimo DeSantis opens a new front

All the GOP presidential candidates (except for Donald Trump who apparently had some urgent hysterical posting and golfing to do) converged on Iowa last weekend for Sen. Joanie Ernst’s Roast and Ride gathering. They gave speeches in front of haystacks and wandered around in dad jeans pressing the white Republican flesh. Florida first lady Casey DeSantis sported a black leather jacket with the words “Where Woke Goes to Die” emblazoned on the back and Mike Pence donned a leather vest and rode around on a Harley trying desperately to imitate a regular guy. It was a magical time.

There were a lot of speeches but one stood out among all the rest:

DeSantis is pushing new frontiers in abusing the term "woke." Here's a video rundown: pic.twitter.com/NtHPVYx2Pr

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 4, 2023

“… we will fight the woke in education, we will fight the woke in corporations, we will fight the woke in the halls of congress, we will never ever surrender to the woke mob! “

As you can see, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is fashioning himself as a wartime leader, aping Winston Churchill’s most famous speech given June 4, 1940 after the miraculous rescue of tens of thousands of British troops at Dunkirk. The German military had overrun France and in just over a month, the bombing campaign known as the Battle of Britain began, killing more than 40,000 British civilians. You can see why DeSantis would think it appropriate to draw rhetorical parallels between Britain’s dire straits in 1940 to the threat American faces from “the woke.” In fact, our war is even more daunting since nobody can even define what or who the enemy actually is.

Even DeSantis, the undisputed Supreme Commander of the anti-woke army, couldn’t adequately explain it in terms that voters who aren’t tuned in to the far right fever swamp can grasp:

 It’s a form of cultural Marxism. It’s about putting merit and achievement behind identity politics, and it’s basically a war on the truth. And as that has infected institutions, and it has corrupted institutions. So, you’ve got to be willing to fight the woke, we’ve done that in Florida, and we proudly consider ourselves the state where woke goes to die.

He’s really got the common touch doesn’t he?

If you don’t know what woke means you almost certainly have no clue what “Cultural Marxism” is. The term has an ugly antisemitic, conspiracy theory pedigree with all kinds of kooky far right connections that’s finally made its way into the Republican mainstream. But to average Republicans he sounds like some pointy headed perfesser. If “woke” means commie, well, just come right out and say it! (Trump would…)

And anyway, isn’t it mostly about Dr Seuss and critical race theory and “tuck friendly” swimsuits and cat boxes in classrooms and whatever other phony culture war outrage they can drum up to keep the rubes stimulated? Yes, of course. The culture war rages on. But DeSantis has opened a new front that goes way beyond the outrage of the day.

He’s been cosplaying as a wartime leader for quite some time. Recall his notorious campaign ad from last year:

Top Gov… Dogfighting… Taking on the Corporate Media…

Rules of Engagement are as Follows:

⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tG7iMCAXvY

— Casey DeSantis (@CaseyDeSantis) August 23, 2022

In that ad he’s taking on the corporate media, which I assume falls under the definition of “the woke” as well. Then there was the infamous “And God made a fighter” ad” which seemed to imply that he is the second coming. (Never let it be said that his team is overly modest.)

But let’s remember that while DeSantis’ model, Winston Churchill, was fighting a foreign enemy that had rolled over Europe and was coming for him next, DeSantis has declared war on fellow Americans he simply believes have the wrong ideas. And he’s not being subtle about what he plans to do about it.

He has, of course, made clear that he will leave “woke ideology on the dustbin of history” but he has recently added another flourish that broadens his declaration beyond the nebulous “woke.”. On Memorial Day he did an interview on Fox News in front of a naval warship:

Desantis says Good Morning: “I will serve two terms, and I will be able to destroy leftism in this country.” pic.twitter.com/okqerKl7Gs

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) May 29, 2023

How do you suppose he plans to do that? How do you destroy an entire ideology? There certainly are historical attempts to look at, some of which Churchill was very familiar with. Certain countries in South America had some experience with attempting to “destroy leftism” as well. It has a name. It’s called “eliminationism.” It makes you wonder just how far DeSantis is prepared to go.

I’m not ready to say that he’s backing the wholesale arrest of “leftists” or that he plans to decree a a 1933 German-style enabling act but it’s not unreasonable to consider what kind of mechanisms he would use to fulfill his goals. We’ve seen what he has done in Florida, with book bans, speech bans, state intrusions on family, education, health, private business and more. His war on “the woke” has been aimed at racial minorities, LGBTQ citizens, immigrants, women and progressives. That is the “leftism” he aims to destroy.

While his speeches have been filled with this vague “fight the woke” rhetoric, we do have some idea of what he has in mind if he becomes president to “re-constitutionalize” the government. He plans to withdraw many benefits for federal employees and move their agencies out of Washington which will further his other goal of purging the civil service, and filling the jobs with right wing ideologues.

He wants to “clean out” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration, no doubt opening the door for the banning of abortion drugs and gender affirming hormones and the like. We can assume that his choices to head these agencies will be on par with his choice for Florida Surgeon General, an anti-vax doctor known to have altered scientific studies to fit his ideological agenda.

He’s pledged to fire the FBI director and clear out all employees who he believes aren’t devoted to “the truth” (and you know what that means.) He defends Trump against the “partisan” investigations and has indicated that he might pardon January 6 insurrectionists. He would almost certainly pardon Trump as well.

He seems to be thinking of adopting the modern authoritarian style of Hungary’s Viktor Orban who has skillfully used the power of the state to degrade and dismantle liberal institutions, including the media and higher education and created a political environment that assures his hold on power without having to resort to violence. But the American right is a bloodthirsty lot and Ron DeSantis is not a patient guy so it’s hard to know if he could resist a crackdown on what would be sure to be a massive resistance.

As we watch Trump and DeSantis start to go at it in earnest, it’s easy to get caught up in the theatrics and the spectacle. Both of them provide tons of fodder for late night comics and partisan punditry. But I cannot understand why people insist that DeSantis would be better than Trump because he would never obstruct the peaceful transfer of power or attempt a coup. I honestly don’t know why they believe that.

You may think his “war on the woke” is silly but if DeSantis has done nothing else, he’s shown that he is deadly serious about it. He believes he has to save the country from leftism. Is it so hard to imagine that he would usurp democracy to do it?

Salon

And a mockery of democracy

The massacre of pro-democracy supporters in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989 stays with me. I was out of town on business and saw the shocking reports in my hotel room. Maybe I remember because the next day I joined 6,000 Chinese students from across the Midwest in a protest in downtown Chicago.

Or maybe we all remember because of “Tank Man.“

34 years ago today: Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijingpic.twitter.com/jzS5m2Ibkg

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) June 4, 2023

"Going to march, Tiananmen Square."
"Why?"
"It's my duty."

Source: BBC#June4 #TiananmenSquareMassacre pic.twitter.com/cEf178Wxhh

— Nathan Law 羅冠聰 (@nathanlawkc) June 4, 2023

Anne Applebaum reminds Twitter that, far from China, Polish voters on the same day chose democracy in “partly-free elections that contributed to the fall of communism” (Associated Press):

In the election, Poles voted heavily for Solidarity candidates over communists in a clear sign that they wanted a change of power. That vote accelerated the fall of communism in Poland later in 1989, and fueled the wave of revolutions in eastern Europe over the following year or two.

34 years ago today, Poland voted for democracy. Today, hundreds of thousands and marching to keep it #WielkiMarsz pic.twitter.com/nJvFHKW0kI

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) June 4, 2023

“Poland showed to Europe and to the whole world that you can build a democracy without violence or bloodshed,” European Council leader Donald Tusk said during ceremonies in his hometown of Gdansk. Tusk was a Solidarity activist and served as Poland’s prime minister from 2007-2014.

After Jan. 6, 2021, Americans must worry whether they can keep their democracy without more violence and bloodshed.

Also on this day, but in 1940, the British completed the evacuation of over 300,000 troops from the beaches of Dunkirk:

Winston Churchill called the evacuation a “miracle of deliverance” but the entire Dunkirk failure a “colossal military disaster.” On 4 June, the last day of the evacuation, he made his famous “we shall fight on the beaches” speech to the House of Commons.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has already made Florida a mockery of democracy. Applebaum observes that while he campaigned for president in Iowa on Saturday, DeSantis made a mockery of Churchill’s famous “we shall fight on the beaches” speech to wage his culture war at home.

“[We] will wage war on the woke,” DeSantis said. “We will fight the woke in education; we will fight the woke in corporations; we will fight in the halls of Congress.”

Churchill, as parody https://t.co/WnBshMXL8x

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum) June 3, 2023

“Woke” is the new toy bone DeSantis has got in his teeth and won’t let go. He has no idea that “Stay woke” originated with Lead Belly in 1938, and the concept is even older.

Showing ’em how it’s done

“American carnage” was an unlikely inauguration theme. It had the merit of being memorable, even if it was “some weird shit.” And in unlikely ways prophetic. Just the sort of thing that appeals to radicalized Independent Charismatics.

So what is happening in Minnesota under DFL Gov. Tim Walz is easily lost in the “carnage” fallout, rightward lurch of red-state legislatures, revanchist backlash, and Beltway hostage-taking. E.J. Dionne wants to be sure that doesn’t happen. Is the “avalanche of progressive legislation” passed with a “two-vote Democratic majority in the Minnesota House and one-vote advantage in the state Senate” a “Minnesota Miracle”? Dionne cites a list from the MinnPost:

“Democrats codified abortion rights, paid family and medical leave, sick leave, transgender rights protections, drivers licenses for undocumented residents, restoration of voting rights for people when they are released from prison or jail, wider voting access, one-time rebates, a tax credit aimed at low-income parents with kids, and a $1 billion investment in affordable housing including for rental assistance.”

Reporters Peter Callaghan and Walker Orenstein are not done:

“Also adopted were background checks for private gun transfers and a red-flag warning system to take guns from people deemed by a judge to be a threat to themselves or others. DFL lawmakers banned conversion therapy for LGBTQ people, legalized recreational marijuana, expanded education funding, required a carbon-free electric grid by 2040, adopted a new reading curricula based on phonics, passed a massive $2.58 billion capital construction package and, at the insistence of Republicans, a $300 million emergency infusion of money to nursing homes.”

Dionne adds:

“I thought this would be a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and it should be viewed that way,” Walz told me. “And I’ve always said you don’t win elections to bank political capital. You win elections to burn the capital to improve lives.”

Use it or lose it.

One other lesson for states that want to emulate Minnesota: Keep in mind what Long called “the Wellstone Triangle,” a governing concept framed by U.S. Sen. Paul D. Wellstone.

Long explained: “You need good ideas. … You need elected politicians who are going to be supporting those ideas, and then you need outside organizing for elections and to support those votes.” All three are key to getting things done. In Minnesota, key players included unions, environmental groups and faith-based organizers in the appropriately named Isaiah organization. In the run-up to the session, the outside groups were brought into the task of crafting an agenda.

Democrats in the state are known as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party from their merger with a third party in the 1940s. True to the name, the party’s agenda combined social concerns such as abortion rights with what Long called “bread-and-butter, populist things that sell everywhere in the state.”

Whew! I’d swap that for the wrecking crew running my state. Likely David Pepper would say the same of Ohio where the GOP-led legislature is trying to roll back constituents’ right to modify their state constitution by citizen referendum. (People there want to guarantee abortion rights.)

I’m just watching SG-1 defeat the human and alien villains on PlutoTV  today while playing games on my phone.

I don’t want to think or write or move. Yet here I am. Writing. My thought last night was what I said on the Nicole Sandler show while talking about our mutual friend, the late great Joel Silberman. He taught progressive politicians to tell stories that illuminated their message.

There is good news in the world. US job numbers are great. The Economy was not destroyed by GOP, THIS TIME.

YET…. As Mrs. Spocko said, the relief that we feel when the GOP didn’t destroy the American and WORLD economy, doesn’t match the worry & anxiety that we have been feeling for weeks.

Celebrating the win is important. But also infuriating when we shouldn’t have been here. I get Biden talking about “My friends across the aisle” since his plan worked. The MSM LOVES that bipartisan stuff. But I really want those assholes on the right who brought us here to be stopped. I’d like them to be punished, but that’s not Biden. So let’s look at how to punish them in their role in the insurrection. Telling stories about victories is important for helping us feel good about our actions.

Anger is energy. Action is energizing. And Depression is real

I TOTALLY understand why the right stokes anger. It provides energy for them. I’ve used it in the past to fuel my action against RW media. Taking action can be energizing. And when it looks like all the anger you are feeling and the actions you are taking isn’t leading to stopping the right, NOR to getting justice for their horrific actions, the depression can get overwhelming.

The agents of destruction are still out there. They are still powerfully. They are still making money and getting resources and driving their grievance/ victim narrative.

I’m not just “documenting the atrocities” as Atrios likes to say. I try to help people with messages and actions. That includes the choir. Because getting the choir to sing together is important. Picking the right music that meets the moment is important. Are we singing about a funeral or celebrating new life at a wedding or baptism? Do we sing in Latin, that only the elite understand, or the people’s language?

I believe it’s my duty to stop the horrible people on the right and to help others to stop them. I can speak with authority because I HAVE HAD SUCCESS in the past fighting them, both with our narrative and financially. When I tell these stories it’s not about self aggrandizement, but because I want to help others to learn, and when we win, to inspire them. WE CAN DO THIS.

I told Nicole the story about how I worked with multiple religious groups, costing Michael Savage millions of dollars and dozens of advertisers. He sued one of them, CAIR, and lost.

I saw on Chris Hayes someone said Biden won’t gloat or do a victory lap after winning the Debt Ceiling crisis created by the GOP. Sure, that’s an appropriate solution, if you are A Responsible Adult like Biden.

BUT I want to CELEBRATE THE FEELING of defeating them. BIDEN got them to stop! Hurray!
Let’s not just move on to the next crisis.

As I said, it would be best if people on the right realized they are wrong and changed. But what if they don’t? What do we do with the ones who know what they are doing is wrong and they keep hurting us? We need to figure out the ways that they get it. Punishments come in many forms. Personally, I don’t want them to profit, we know they care about money above almost all else.

But money is only one reason they keep coming. They like to hurt others. They use the phrase, “Own the libs” and “Make liberals cry” because that is SATISFYING to them. I’m all about making Fascism less profitable, but it’s not the only thing. I don’t know what the pathology is that drives them, but we know that autocrats use that emotion to consolidate their power.

Right now Trump is psychologically exhausting us. He uses many methods to stay in the media, but also lawfare. Everything is always delayed. No victory feels complete. He turns financial judgements against him into fundraising opportunities. He sends a message that he never really loses. NYU prof Ruth Ben-Ghiat talked about this to Ali Velshi.

Right now I see the fight against RW media, Fascists & their promoters requires having a plan to show, and then stop, their use of threats of violence to get what they want. This fight involves how we define threats of violence and the actions we can take when we see it happening. People can and do pay a financial price for defaming others. People CAN and DO go to prison for threatening violence.

It has now been established people go to prison for planning and implementing an insurrection.

The Department of Justice has been sending “the boots” to prison. Elmer Stewart Rhodes just got 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy. Here he is with his prison issued orange eyepatch.

Now it’s time to send “The Suits” to prison. And tell the stories of our victories. And then we celebrate.
Cross posted to Spocko’s Brain

WTH went on down in Mar-a-Lago?

I’ve been getting confused about all the latest ins and outs of the Mar-a-lago case with the boxes going in and out and who took what when. So I asked on twitter and people kindly pointed me to this speculation based upon various reports:

THREAD: SPECULATION: This is what I think happened with the documents at Mar-a-Lago based on bits and pieces assembled from public reporting. THIS IS SPECULATION. 1/ 

May 11, 2022: The Office of Donald J. Trump is subpoenaed for all documents with classified markings. Trump asks his lawyer, Evan Corcoran, if there’s a way to defy the subpoena. Corcoran tells him there’s not and memorialized that conversation in detailed notes. 2/ 

Trump contacts his valet Walt nauta and tells him to move documents boxes from the storage area to his residence, and then Donald goes through the boxes and removes the classified documents he wants to keep. 3/ 

Trump then tells Corcoran to search the storage room. Walt Nauta unlocks the door for Corcoran and Corcoran searches, taking pool breaks at times, and tells Walt to wait outside. 4/ 

Corcoran finds 38 documents marked classified and puts them in a Redweld envelope and double tapes it, and tells Walt he’s done and to lock up. He asks is he should search anywhere else and is told NO. 5/ 

Walt then starts moving the boxes trump went through back into the storage room on June 2nd. His buddy Carlos sees him and offers to help. The replace the boxes and lock up the room. 6/ 

Corcoran calls up the DoJ and says “I searched. I have some stuff. Come on down tomorrow and get it.” DoJ sends Bratt and some others because Bratt has clearance. Corcoran asks Bobb to sign a letter saying they conducted a diligent search. 7/ 

Bobb says she’s not comfortable signing the letter unless he adds “to the best of my knowledge”, so Corcoran makes the edit and she signs it. DoJ shows up June 3rd and collects the envelope with the 38 classified documents and the letter. 8/ 

DoJ asks to see the storage room, and Corcoran lets them in, but doesn’t let them look through the boxes. (Was he told not to let them, or does he know there’s classified in them thar boxes?) Bratt notices the surveillance camera outside the storage room. 9/ 

The same day the DoJ is there, Walt and his friend Carlos pack some document boxes in an SUB headed to Bedminster for the summer. Perhaps that footage led to a subpoena of trump aides at Bedminster. 10/ 

On June 24th, DoJ subpoenas the Trump org for the surveillance footage from the camera outside the storage room. The same day, trump and Corcoran have a phone call about the subpoena, which DoJ knows about because of the crime fraud exception. 11/ 

DoJ sees Walt moving boxes on the video and asks him what the fuck. Walt lies to them, so they show him the footage and he admits it, and tells them Donald directed him to move the boxes. Then in July, DoJ subpoenas more footage from other places in Mar a Lago. 12/ 

At some point, Trump has his Save America PAC hire and pay for lawyers for Walt and Carlos. In July, Carlos calls the Mar-a-Lago IT guy and asks how long the footage is kept, and other questions about the cameras. Trump hires a lawyer for the IT guy, too. 13/ 

DoJ then subpoenas the software company for all the footage because there appear to be gaps or technical glitches in the tapes, and they subpoena the Calamaris who run security for the trump org. 14/ 

The surveillance footage provides probable cause that not all the documents were handed over, so they get a search warrant signed, head in, and find over 100 more documents in the storage area and the residence. 15/ 

Donald wants to know everything DoJ got during their search so in September, judge shops for Aileen Cannon and he sues to appoint a special master to 1. see what they have and 2. Delay the inevitable. As with all things, he loses. 16/ 

Meanwhile, the aides from Bedminster produce the audio about the Iran document from the July 2021 meeting, which maybe leads Jack Smith to subpoena LIV golf docs and real estate deals with Saudi Arabia and six other foreign countries. 17/ 

Jack notices that Vivek Ramaswamy’s firm is working with LIV and hands that off to the FARA unit, who force them to register as foreign agents for Saudi Arabia. 18/ 

That’s what I think happened based on public reporting. Again, this is speculation. END/ 

Reporting has people moving boxes in and out of the storage room on different days and the lawyers finding some documents and not others and I just lost the thread at some point. This seems like a plausible interpretation of the facts as we know them.

If Trump had the boxes moved and went through them and withheld certain documents after being told by his lawyer that he had to comply with the subpoena, he committed obstruction of justice. The question of whether he moved some other documents to Bedminster or showed them to people or held on to them for another reason remains to be seen. But it does appear that there were some shenanigans with those boxes which explains why Trump keeps insisting that he has a “perfect right” to do anything he wants. Even his lawyer made that argument on CNN this week:

Yikes

TPM’s Hunter Walker with a chilling tale that does not strike me as far fetched. There have been a number of attacks on power stations already:

The first chapter of the black-and-white PDF magazine begins with an ominous warning. Over four dense pages, the anonymous writers paint a picture of “an anti-tech revolution, beginning with the annihilation of the U.S. energy grid.”

“The horrific effects of a nationwide blackout cannot be understated. Hospitals would fail. … Financial collapse,” the magazine reads, continuing to detail traffic chaos, dwindling supplies of clean water and spreading disease before concluding that a successful attack targeting key points on the electrical grid would lead to “the collapse of the system … chaos, agony, and death”

The magazine was obtained by TPM in a chat group on the encrypted app Telegram dedicated to “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski. Along with the breathless depiction of a widespread blackout, it included a precise list of the locations of “THE MOST CRITICALLY IMPORTANT ELECTRIC SUBSTATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES.” 

This apocalyptic brand of extremist rhetoric — and the focus, specifically, on targeting substations — is part of a growing phenomenon that has captured the attention of both the far right and law enforcement. The trend has resulted in a dramatic rise in attacks that have left tens of thousands of people without power. Experts have attributed the wave to the digital spread of right-wing accelerationist ideology, which aims to hasten societal collapse, and materials like this magazine that encourage and provide instructions for targeting the grid. 

Participants in the Telegram chat where TPM obtained the magazine shared it on multiple occasions, along with Kaczynski’s writings, details on how he made his “boom packages,” bomb making manuals and plans to build homemade, untraceable “ghost guns.” They also hurled racial slurs and anti-gay rhetoric while talking about plans for staging attacks.

“I think you guys should start writing some manifesto papers but keep them hidden so no one will find them,” wrote one member of the chat in August 2022. “Then one day if you unexpectedly die, there will be some papers on what you believed in.”

A few days later, the member, whose avatar featured a glaring bald eagle, posted an even more specific vision naming a major provider of abortion care and reproductive health services. 

“If I were to do something (If society doesn’t start changing i might) I will take my time and plan carefully,” they wrote, adding, “There is a planned parenthood not too far away.” 

Due to the inflammatory and potentially dangerous nature of the content, TPM is not naming the magazine, the alias of its writers, or the chat group in which we obtained it. One of the members who posted the magazine said it had been “removed” from other sites and “marked as terrorism.” They noted that it “contains the addresses of those substations and how to deal with them” and encouraged other members of the chat to “download” it or keep it “somewhere you can access it.” 

Read on. The details are hair-raising.

This era is going to be remembered as the Time of Terrorism. Something snapped in our society — a revolt against modernism in most of these cases — and this is coming from all directions.

It’s a big state.

An offensive statement from an ignorant person.

This isn’t Texas or Florida. In the Golden State, our kids have the freedom to learn.

Congrats Mr. Komrosky you have our attention. Stay tuned. https://t.co/4HHLm3q57r

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 3, 2023

But they are a minority here, thankfully. But they can cause a lot of trouble in some of these small rural towns, just s they do in Texas:

An ugly scene played out at the Temecula Valley School Board meeting as they voted 3-2 to reject an elementary school social studies book that contained information about pioneering California gay rights figure Harvey Milk. The board’s president made a baseless accusation that Milk was a pedophile before voting to ban the book. 

“My question is, why even mention a pedophile?” said Board President Dr. Joseph Komrosky. 

Temecula’s emotionally charged meeting resembles many others from here in Southern California and across the country as communities demand school boards to limit discussions of race and sexual orientation. 

The battle over books has been an ongoing conflict in Republican-controlled states. California Gov. Gavin Newsom interjected himself into the fray last summer in a series of commercials that aired in Florida. Now, he’s taking that message directly to educators in the state through a letter directed to superintendents and school administrators. The warning — which was also penned by California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and Attorney General Rob Bonta — urged them to not take part in the removal of instructional materials. 

“Access to books — including books that reflect the diverse experiences and perspectives of Californians, and especially those that may challenge us to grapple with uncomfortable truths — is a profound freedom we all must protect and cultivate,” the letter read in part. 

The letter has garnered the support of some parents including Los Angeles Unified School District mom Jenna Schwartz, who helped create a group called Parents Supporting Teachers. 

” I think that our governor and the AG are looking at what’s happening in these red states and we can see the future,” said Schwartz. “We know what happens when you dilute education for children. They become uneducated adults. We can’t let that happen here.”

The letter cites more than 1400 book bans across the country as one of the reasons the state issued this warning to any district contemplating limiting issues that can be taught in schools. Newsom was also sharply critical of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after he signed into law legislation known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — which restricts instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity for students until eighth grade. 

“Talking about families is not a sexual conversation,” said Schwartz.  “Talking about two moms or two dads — or a diverse family, none of that is sexual.”

The issue of sexual orientation has become a flashpoint at Saticoy Elementary School, where a pride flag was recently burned. The school is also dealing with the fallout of a scheduled assembly where administrators planned to read a book that mentions same-sex couples. 

The issue has sparked debate about whether parents should dictate when their kids learn about potentially sensitive subjects. 

“Obviously, I think that children need to be taught about the birds and the bees and everything that goes beyond that, especially in the society that we have today,” said Jonathan Keller, president of the California Family Council. “There’s a lot of different issues that kids do need to learn, but I think parents should be the primary driving force behind their kids’ education when it comes to gender and sexuality.”

See? They’re just calling all gay people pedophiles now. It’s a thing.

Biden signed the debt ceiling bill today. Huzzah. Since there shouldn’t even be a debt ceiling it’s always a little bizarre to celebrate. But there was no default and Biden managed to let them extract as small a pound of flesh as we probably could have hope for.

He spoke from the Oval Office last night and patted himself on the back for his success in making bipartisan deals. It is rather surprising that he managed to get a few GOP senators on board for the infrastructure bill, CHIP act and gun safety. And apparently, the MAGA caucus is saving its energy for the more important Hunter Biden laptop investigation and layed out of this one. None of this actually indicates that the right wing has sobered up and found sanity. It’s obvious that it hasn’t.

Neither does it indicate that Biden has a magic touch for bipartisan legislation. All of this is Democratic Party driven and is largely successful because the left, understanding the threat of right wing power, is being a team player. But it is good for Biden’s presidential campaign.

His approval numbers are anemic to say the least, but that just seems to be the way it is for presidents in this sour, polarized era. In head to head match-ups with the Republicans it shows a close race with Biden usually coming out on top. Of course that’s meaningless this early. However, one thing that polling always shows is that people want elected leaders to “work together” and “compromise.” (And what they really mean is that they want their leaders to enact their preferred agenda by co-opting the other side.) That’s what Biden has done pretty well.

I don’t know if this argument will sell. This grouchy mood appears to be dragging on despite the material improvements in people’s lives perhaps because the right is getting more and more aggressively radical, which contributes to the sense of chaos and anarchy. But if the Democrats can just keep their heads and continue to methodically present themselves as the calm, competent party in contrast to the demonstrably batshit opposition, they should be able to get the turnout they need of both Democrats and Independents to win in 2024. They just need to make sure that this argument that Biden has gotten bipartisan cooperation is seen by his own voters as a Dark Brandon jiujisu move not a sell-out.

It’s not going to work

Well, it WAS a good place for them to live. It’s downright deadly for trans people right now. But the attacks on Pride show exactly what these people are up to.

The share of people worldwide who say their area is a good place for gay or lesbian people to live doubled from 25% to 50% over 10 years, Axios’ Alice Feng writes from a Gallup poll.

Zoom in: The countries with the highest percentage were Norway (92%), Sweden (91%) and the Netherlands (90%).

The U.S. ranks 15th with 80%.

Countries with the largest increases since 2012 were Nepal (+63 percentage points), India (+42) and Bangladesh (+35).

There is no putting this genie back in the bottle.

Wonder why?

Magadonian sounds more like a plump dinosaur than a macho Star Wars character, if that’s what Trump was going for. Pretty chunky. Probably has a “very, very large brain.”

“We are very smart.”

“Also, we call ourselves Magadonians.” https://t.co/VIhflDmIlZ

— Samuel Perry (@profsamperry) June 3, 2023

And very, very large on the other end.