January 21, 2023

Today is Josie's Freedom Day

When I went down to feed about 9:30 I left her kennel door open. She sat in her house until about 10:30, then came out and ate some breakfast and sauntered out the door. Meggie came out and has been out watching her enviously ever since.I can't see her in the back door cam so I'm assuming she's out somewhere exploring the back yard.

January 21, 2023

A New GOP Bill Could Fine You $1,500 For Not Misgendering Trans People

A Republican lawmaker in North Dakota introduced a bill that would fine people $1,500 if they refer to trans people using their correct pronouns, rather than the pronouns they were assigned at birth.

The rule would apply to organizations that receive state funding—which includes public schools. That means schools and teachers could be fined for using their trans colleagues’ or students’ pronouns.

‘Words used to reference an individual's sex, gender, gender identity, or gender expression, mean the individual's determined sex at birth, male or female,” states Senate Bill 2199. “Any person that violates this section must be assessed a fee of one thousand five hundred dollars.”

Republican state Sen. David Clemens introduced the bill, which has received basically zero support, according to local news station KFYR. In fact, the state’s senate judiciary committee recommended the bill shouldn’t pass, in part because it was poorly written and would be difficult to enforce. Still, the bill will move to the senate floor, and is a sign of just how emboldened many conservative lawmakers are getting in their crusades against trans and nonbinary people. In 2023, state governments have already tried to introduce some of the most draconian anti-trans bills yet, including an Oklahoma bill that would ban gender-affirming care for people under 26.

North Dakota is already the site of many proposed anti-trans bills, including bans on gender-affirming care and trans sports participation. SB 2199 is the latest example in a string of related proposed policies.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgyjbq/north-dakota-pronoun-republican-anti-trans-bill

You should look at this guy's picture on the article. The epitome of dumbass.

January 21, 2023

Tennessee to reject federal funding through CDC to prevent HIV

On Jan. 17, the Tennessee Department of Health sent a letter to programs and organizations that receive grants from the state telling them that the state would stop taking federal funding to help pay for HIV surveillance, testing and prevention.

The letter said that the state would stop taking a grant through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that provided federal funds so organizations across Tennessee could provide HIV-related services.

"These arrangements were made under prior administrations, and this administration is examing areas where it can decrease its reliance on federal funding and assume increased independence," the letter said. "The State has determined it is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the State to assume direct financial and managerial responsibility for these services."

They said the federal grant contracts that provided those funds would end of May 31, 2023. They said other state-funded initiatives to support HIV prevention and surveillance will be funded through the state's metro health departments, starting June 1, 2023.

"It's a slap in the face to all the progress that's been made over the last few decades," said Alec Lambert-Cunningham, a nurse. "Rejecting this funding is only going to have negative consequences and it is going to affect a very marginalized community in Tennesse, and it's very sad to see."

https://www.wbir.com/article/news/health/tennessee-department-of-health-says-governor-is-choosing-to-stop-federal-funding-for-hiv-prevention/51-f94b24a3-d939-460f-a109-a85dd24c9283

It's not like HIV only affects gay people, Gov. BillyBob.

January 19, 2023

DeSantis seeks transgender university students' health care information

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is asking state universities for the number and ages of their students who sought or received gender dysphoria treatment, including sex reassignment surgery and hormone prescriptions, according to a survey released Wednesday.

Why he’s conducting the survey wasn’t completely clear. DeSantis has been criticized by LGBTQ advocates for policies seen as discriminatory, including banning instruction on sexual and gender identity in early grades and making it easier for parents to remove books related to the topic in public schools.

“We can see cuts in funding for universities to treat students with this condition, and I think an all-out elimination of services is certainly on the table,” said House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell.

The survey was released the same day the university presidents voted to support DeSantis’ anti-woke agenda and to reject “the progressivist higher education indoctrination agenda” and committing to “removing all woke positions and ideologies by February 1, 2023,” according to a Department of Education news release.

The survey is being sent to the university board of trustee chairs by DeSantis’ budget director, Chris Spencer.

“Our office has learned that several state universities provide services to persons suffering from gender dysphoria,” Spencer wrote. “On behalf of the Governor, I hereby request that you respond to the enclosed inquiries related to such services.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/desantis-seeks-transgender-university-students-health-care-information-rcna66495

HIPAA, you fucking idiot!!!!!

January 19, 2023

In some states, an unpaid foster care bill could mean parents lose their kids forever

When Sylvia and Brandon Cunningham got out of jail in North Carolina several years ago, after serving months on drug charges, a judge laid out the steps they needed to take to get their children back from foster care.

After a balky start, they followed through. They got sober and stayed sober. They attended parenting classes and therapy. They got jobs. They showed up for weekly visits with their kids.

Eventually, a judge determined that the Cunninghams had shown they could be good parents and that their house — a tidy trailer at the end of a dirt road — was safe for their children.

But only three of their four children came home.

In 2021, the Supreme Court of North Carolina ruled that one of their sons — who was then 5 — was properly placed for adoption on the grounds that the Cunninghams had failed to reimburse the government for some of the cost of their child's foster care.

And in North Carolina, that's reason enough for a court to permanently take away your child.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/19/1148829974/foster-care-parental-rights-child-support

This is so wrong I can't even......

January 19, 2023

Foster care extension prepares TN young adults who 'age out' of system

Lawmakers recently passed legislation making extended foster care available to more youth in Tennessee.

This means that more young adults who ‘age out’ of the foster care system, usually at the age of 18, are now eligible for an extension of foster care services until they turn 21.

According to the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth, nationally 1-in-5 teens who age out of the foster care system at the age of 18 experience homelessness.

Statistics show that youth who are in foster care and stay in extended foster care were twice as likely to have completed their first year of college by 21 and had better odds of being employed.

Lucy Langley entered the foster care system when she was 16 years old.

Now, she is 20 years old and says she would not be where she is today without receiving an extension of foster care services.

https://www.wate.com/news/tennessee/foster-care-extension-prepares-tn-young-adults-who-age-out-of-system/

Tennessee has done something good. Thirty years ago I saw an Oprah show on this problem, and I called everywhere trying to find our if there was some way I could help kids aging out of foster care. The state of Tennesseen DCS actually told me "It wasn't a problem"!!!!!!!

January 18, 2023

Moving species emerges as last resort as climate warms

In a desperate effort to save a seabird species in Hawaii from rising ocean waters, scientists are moving chicks to a new island hundreds of miles away.

Moving species to save them — once considered taboo — is quickly gaining traction as climate change upends habitats. Similar relocations are being suggested for birds, lizards, butterflies and even flowers.

Concerns persist that the novel practice could cause unintended harm the same way invasive plants and animals have wreaked havoc on native species.

But for the Tristram’s storm petrels on northeastern Hawaii’s Tern Island, which is just 6 feet (1.8 meters) above sea level, the relocation of about 40 chicks to artificial burrows more than 500 miles (805 kilometers) away on Oahu could offer new hope. The species is considered vulnerable to extinction, and the goal is for the young petrels return to their new home when old enough to breed.

“Tern Island is washing away,” said biologist Eric VanderWerf of the nonprofit Pacific Rim Conservation. “Climate change is causing a greater need for this — for taking a species outside its known historical range.”

https://apnews.com/article/science-environmental-conservation-guam-climate-and-environment-lizards-1b4e2790b0f341bebd73fa431c1eefaa

January 18, 2023

The Case for Designating Wagner Group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization is Still Compelling

Earlier this year, we argued in Lawfare that the Secretary of State should use his authority under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) to designate Evgenii Prigozhin’s Wagner Group and its affiliates as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Since then, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) introduced the Holding Accountable Russian Mercenaries (HARM) Act in the 117th Congress (S.5164 and H.R.9381 respectively). The HARM Act would direct the Secretary of State to designate the Wagner Group as an FTO and has bi-partisan co-sponsorship. Though it was not able to make it to a floor for a vote before the conclusion of the 117th Congress, it is expected to be reintroduced in the 118th Congress.

On Dec. 2, 2022, the Secretary of State also designated the Wagner Group as an Entity of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 for its indiscriminate targeting and murder of members of minority religious groups in the Central African Republic. This was followed on Dec. 21, 2022 by a ruling from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), which amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) based on BIS’s determination that the Wagner Group is to be considered a Russian or Belarusian ‘military end user’ under § 744.21 of the EAR. This determination restricts the Wagner Group’s access to certain foreign-produced items (primarily but not exclusively weapons and munitions) that use U.S. technology.

While the IRFA designation and the Commerce Department’s actions are important steps, the need for effective tools to suppress the malign activities of the Wagner Group continues to grow. In the wake of Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine, some committed by the Wagner Group, there also have been calls to designate Russia itself as a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST). However, an FTO designation, rather than a State Sponsor of Terrorism (SST) designation, provides greater latitude for the U.S. and is thus the preferable option between the two. We maintain that designating the Wagner Group as an FTO continues to be necessary, and the HARM Act is the right way to achieve that outcome.

Since our original article was published, Prigozhin has given up all pretenses that the Wagner Group is a private company unaffiliated with the Russian state. Over the past several months, Wagner Group forces, with criminals recruited directly from Russia’s prisons, are reportedly fully integrated into Russia’s military operations in Ukraine. Reporting continues to tie Wagner Group members to regular violations of the Law of Armed Conflict and the human rights of innocent civilians worldwide.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/case-designating-wagner-group-foreign-terrorist-organization-still-compelling

January 18, 2023

Don't tell me that David Carrick's crimes were 'unbelievable'.The problem is victims aren't believed

Marina Hyde

In July 2021, a man pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard, which he had carried out while serving as a Metropolitan police officer. He had already pleaded guilty to her kidnap and rape. The then Met chief, Cressida Dick, stood on the steps of the Old Bailey and declared: “Everyone in policing feels betrayed.”

And yet, did they? That very same month – the same month – an allegation of rape was made against David Carrick. This allegation led to Carrick’s arrest. But that arrest, for alleged rape – alleged rape – did not even lead to Carrick’s suspension. It led only to his being put on restricted duties.

What are we to conclude from this? That there are so many allegations of rape made every month against Met officers that you honestly just can’t overreact to them all or you’d go mad? Or that the sense of “betrayal” supposedly felt by the Met did not run deep in the most basically meaningful way when it desperately needed to?

How was it possible, in that febrile climate of intense public dismay and anger, which everyone recalls, that the reddest of all flags was not raised when Carrick was accused of rape? How was it possible that, after the murder of Sarah Everard, Carrick was reassessed and judged fit to return to his work as an armed officer? Whatever the answer to those questions, that is what happened.

Scottish government to challenge Westminster decision to block gender recognition bill in court – as it happened
Read more
Forgive my wishful thinking, but you would think an elite police officer would have something called “a file”, which, when he was accused of an offence as serious as rape, would be “looked at”. In this basic scenario, his superiors would note that the officer in question had been the subject of nine previous serious complaints, eight of them involving women, stretching back almost two decades. They would then think “Hang on a minute …” But that is not what happened.

So now there are more questions. After Carrick’s guilty plea to offences that rank him as one of Britain’s worst sex offenders, “the Met is once again facing questions”, in the inadequate parlance of these things. It feels like we have long passed the point where every question the Met is facing begins with the words: “How on EARTH …”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/17/david-carricks-crimes-victims-police-officer

The bastards won't believe you. "He's a cop, he couldn't have done that!"

January 18, 2023

Don't tell me that David Carrick's crimes were 'unbelievable'.The problem is victims aren't believed

Marina Hyde

In July 2021, a man pleaded guilty to the murder of Sarah Everard, which he had carried out while serving as a Metropolitan police officer. He had already pleaded guilty to her kidnap and rape. The then Met chief, Cressida Dick, stood on the steps of the Old Bailey and declared: “Everyone in policing feels betrayed.”

And yet, did they? That very same month – the same month – an allegation of rape was made against David Carrick. This allegation led to Carrick’s arrest. But that arrest, for alleged rape – alleged rape – did not even lead to Carrick’s suspension. It led only to his being put on restricted duties.

What are we to conclude from this? That there are so many allegations of rape made every month against Met officers that you honestly just can’t overreact to them all or you’d go mad? Or that the sense of “betrayal” supposedly felt by the Met did not run deep in the most basically meaningful way when it desperately needed to?

How was it possible, in that febrile climate of intense public dismay and anger, which everyone recalls, that the reddest of all flags was not raised when Carrick was accused of rape? How was it possible that, after the murder of Sarah Everard, Carrick was reassessed and judged fit to return to his work as an armed officer? Whatever the answer to those questions, that is what happened.

Scottish government to challenge Westminster decision to block gender recognition bill in court – as it happened
Read more
Forgive my wishful thinking, but you would think an elite police officer would have something called “a file”, which, when he was accused of an offence as serious as rape, would be “looked at”. In this basic scenario, his superiors would note that the officer in question had been the subject of nine previous serious complaints, eight of them involving women, stretching back almost two decades. They would then think “Hang on a minute …” But that is not what happened.

So now there are more questions. After Carrick’s guilty plea to offences that rank him as one of Britain’s worst sex offenders, “the Met is once again facing questions”, in the inadequate parlance of these things. It feels like we have long passed the point where every question the Met is facing begins with the words: “How on EARTH …”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jan/17/david-carricks-crimes-victims-police-officer