Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalNonbinary students were crowned prom royalty. Then came the threats.
Dai’Sean Conley and Rosie Green couldn’t hear the booing last month as they were crowned prom king and queen. They were too wrapped up in crying, clapping and soaking in the screams from a largely supportive crowd of fellow high school seniors.
“I was so joyous,” Conley told The Washington Post.
But the boos were there, and foreshadowed what was to come.
After a weeks-long campaign, Conley and Green, who both identify as nonbinary, were elected prom queen and king, respectively, at Kettering Fairmont High School’s senior prom on April 22. Their coronation during the annual rite of passage has since erupted into controversy, violent threats and the arrest of a 42-year-old man accused of threatening all LGBTQ+ students at the high school in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.
It’s one of the most recent examples of how LGBTQ+ issues are roiling K-12 schools around the country. The controversy has reached into nearly every aspect of the education system, including curriculum, bathroom usage, extracurricular activities, book selection, classroom discussion topics, and, as in the case of Conley and Green, the students themselves.
https://wapo.st/41AClsS
This 42 year old dudebro probably doesn't even have kids in the school. He's just looking to make trouble.
Nonbinary students were crowned prom royalty. Then came the threats.
Dai’Sean Conley and Rosie Green couldn’t hear the booing last month as they were crowned prom king and queen. They were too wrapped up in crying, clapping and soaking in the screams from a largely supportive crowd of fellow high school seniors.
“I was so joyous,” Conley told The Washington Post.
But the boos were there, and foreshadowed what was to come.
After a weeks-long campaign, Conley and Green, who both identify as nonbinary, were elected prom queen and king, respectively, at Kettering Fairmont High School’s senior prom on April 22. Their coronation during the annual rite of passage has since erupted into controversy, violent threats and the arrest of a 42-year-old man accused of threatening all LGBTQ+ students at the high school in Kettering, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton.
It’s one of the most recent examples of how LGBTQ+ issues are roiling K-12 schools around the country. The controversy has reached into nearly every aspect of the education system, including curriculum, bathroom usage, extracurricular activities, book selection, classroom discussion topics, and, as in the case of Conley and Green, the students themselves.
https://wapo.st/41AClsS
This 42 year old dudebro probably doesn't even have kids in the school. He's just looking to make trouble.
A solution for some of our more reactionary states (maybe tongue in cheek? I dunno)
Yesterday in comments to an article about the odious Tommy Tuberville and his commentary on white nationalists in the military, I said, "Revoke Alabama statehood! I mean, look at their governess!" (I was equating Kay Ivey with characters like Fräulein Rottenmeier in Heidi and some other nasty literary governesses, not being sexist.) This was a comment on my comment. I think it has some merit. What do y'all think? Discuss amongst yourselves.
Hrmmm... reduction in status to a Territory, or a Military District, as a consequence of protracted demonstration of failure of self governance? It's not a bad idea.
We could adopt a "relegation" structure, like European soccer leagues. Can't hand in the big leagues? Well busy you down to the next league for "a rebuilding year", until you demonstrate that you're ready to advance back to the big kids table.
Though I think we should also allow franchise expansion - SoCal, for example - and mergers. I'm a big fan of Dakota United.
I'm still at a bit of a loss how all that might work for "Cascadia", or how to put East Oregon under proper adult supervision...
Now I personally, under this system, would be all for consolidating eastern Oregon with eastern Washington and Idaho as "Northern Desert Territory" or some such, and allowing western Oregon and Washington to remain as separate states or consolidate as "Cascadia"--their choice. Texas could also be divided into rebellious and reasonable parts.
This giant snapping turtle in the Chicago River is an internet sensation: Meet 'Chonk'
A massive snapping turtle nicknamed "Chonkasaurus" spotted by a Windy City resident sunbathing in the Chicago River is gaining internet popularity.
"Great to see this beast thriving here on what was once such a toxic river, but is slowly getting cleaned up & restored," Joey Santore, who shared video of Chonkasaurus on Twitter, wrote in the post. "Somebody planted a bunch of native plants up the river from here, too. I can only wonder this thing's been eating."
In his Wednesday post, Santore included hilarious commentary about the surprise sighting as he kayaked along the river and chatted with another person about the giant reptile.
"That's a massive turtle...look at that beast," Santore is heard saying in the post as the turtle rests on rocks. "Hey how ya doing guy? You look good, your healthy.
"You ever heard of liquid salad? That's a scene if there ever was one."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/05/11/chicago-giant-snapping-turtle-chonkasaurus/70208382007/
Lordy, there are PICTURES!
Russia Wants to Build a MAGA Colony for US Conservatives, Lawyer Claims
Plans are underway in Russia to build a settlement for conservative American and Canadian immigrants seeking to leave the West “for ideological reasons,” at least according to a Moscow-based immigration lawyer.
Timur Beslangurov, a partner in the law firm VISTA Immigration, claimed that construction would begin next year on a village in the Moscow region for about 200 families from North America, financed by the immigrants themselves.
“The reason is propaganda of radical values: Today they have 70 genders, and who knows what will come next,” he said in comments at a legal forum in St Petersburg, which were reported by Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency Thursday. No evidence has been provided publicly for the claims, and it’s not 100 percent clear what Beslangurov’s role in the reported project is.
VICE News contacted Beslangurov asking for further information on the reported project, and to speak with some of the hundreds of potential Western immigrants he said existed to help verify his claims, but he replied that he wasn’t able to provide further information “at this stage.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin has wooed Western right-wingers and conservatives by positioning himself as a staunch defender of a traditionalist, Christian European identity, resulting in pro-Russian narratives about the invasion of Ukraine becoming widespread in far-right and conspiracist networks.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgwdew/russia-maga-colony
Good. I would personally buy one (1) one-way ticket for anyone leaving for there.
The Proud Boys Targeted Me, and Then White 'Leftist' Dudes Accused Me of Making It Up
By Gwen Snyder
A drinking club.
That’s what the Proud Boys liked to call themselves. And for a long time, people were happy to believe them.
In Philadelphia, where I live, the Proud Boys were especially canny about preserving plausible deniability and maintaining that label. The local chapter’s president, Zachary Rehl—who was just last week convicted of seditious conspiracy and faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years—was a careful operator. He and his chapter did the best they could to shrug off accusations of violent fascism and especially white supremacy, superficially masking their racism as civic-minded support of police and the local Republican party. Their misogyny, though? There, they were an open book.
It was a reality they drove home for me in a very personal way in June 2019. At that point, I’d spent about seven months working with other antifascists to identify and hold accountable various members of the chapter, research that the Philly Proud Boys sought to put an end to. I was out of town the evening of June 29, 2019, when the better part of a dozen of them assembled to take their objections to my front door, showing up under the cover of darkness at almost midnight. They didn’t find me, but they did find my neighbor out smoking on the porch. They left a message with him: “Tell that fat bitch she’d better stop.”
When I got home, I packed a bag. I’d spend the next week in hiding at a friend’s house, unsure what sort of followthrough might come after that hinted threat. First, though, I called the cops. The responding officer wasn’t particularly impressed: “They’re probably trying to scare you,” he told me dismissively. His take was clear: I was a woman making too big a deal of this. I was overreacting, maybe even hysterical.
The online harassment worsened, its bleedings into my offline life intensified. There was the time the Proud Boys made fake posters to “warn” the community about my (nonexistent) status as a Megan’s Law offender, helpfully including my home address and photo in case some vigilante might want to take matters into his own hands. They made a point of staging a recruitment event at a bar around the corner from where I lived. They announced a rally in the park caddy-corner to my building, then showed up that day ostentatiously making repeat laps in front of my porch with a firearm visible, then greeted me by name when I recorded them.
https://jezebel.com/far-right-misogyny-proud-boys-1850425597
It gets worse. Much worse. There are incels on the left too.
Texas lesbian bar denied insurance for hosting drag shows, owner says
The owner of Houston’s only lesbian bar says her business is in jeopardy after it was denied insurance coverage, and she’s putting the blame, in part, on an anti-drag bill moving through the Texas Legislature.
“They outright denied us, the underwriters, because we host drag shows,” Julie Mabry, the owner of Pearl Bar, said in an interview with KPRC-TV, an NBC affiliate in Houston.
Mabry currently has insurance through December, but she decided to switch agents a few months ago and shop around for a new policy, she told KPRC. It was during this process that her agent received the denial email, which the agent then sent to Mabry.
“This is the first time I’ve ever gotten an email like that. I cried about this for about a week,” said Mabry, who told KPRC that drag shows were the first thing mentioned in the email, which outlined why the underwriter did not want to take on the risk of insuring her bar.
Mabry did not share additional details about the underwriter or the email, and she did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/texas-lesbian-bar-denied-insurance-hosting-drag-shows-owner-says-rcna83954
Texass, doing its hateful thing again
'This was violent': Wheelchair damage leaves traveler mostly stuck at home
Colleen Flanagan felt like she'd been attacked on her JetBlue flight when she found out her wheelchair was broken.
"If I was in front of a JetBlue executive I would take the opportunity to say that their company assaulted me," she said. "I really would express to them that this was violent."
Flanagan, 43, has osteogenesis imperfecta and identifies as a little person. She works as an outreach and engagement specialist for the Boston mayor's disability commission, and traveled to Washington, D.C., from Boston on April 17.
She said that when she arrived at Washington National Airport, a JetBlue employee informed her her wheelchair had been damaged in transit.
"They said it fell out of the cargo door; it looks like it," she said. "The joystick is completely demolished, the switches are not even there. The armrest is completely limp, I can’t figure out why. The metal frame for your backrest and other seating mechanisms is completely dented in. It doesn’t even power on."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2023/05/09/jetblue-damage-wheelchair-colleen-flanagan/70188526007/#gnt-rtk=ChMxNzc2ODIzNTc4NzY3NjMyMTI1EA0aI3JlY29tbWVuZGVfcmVjb21tZW5kZV8xNjY3OTE1MjMyNzE2IhNyZWNvbW1lbmRlZC1mb3IteW91KAA
There is no excuse for the near constant abuse of disabled passengers by air carriers, and the constant mishandling and destruction of their equipment. It's beyond appalling.
Lyrics of Dolly Parton rock lead single issue warning
The opening and closing chant of the lyrics of “World on Fire,” the new original single from Dolly Parton‘s upcoming “Rockstar” album, along with all the words she sings in between those lines spell a new rock anthem for modern times.
The iconic singer-songwriter, author, philanthropist, businesswoman and East Tennessee treasure is asking us, what are we going to do while we still have time to make changes?
The rock anthem opens (and closes) with the following lines:
“Liar, liar, the world’s on fire
What you gonna do when it all burns down?
Fire, fire, burnin’ higher
Still got time to turn it all around…”
Parton, 77, is releasing her first-ever rock album in November with 30 tracks featuring many legends from the genre. She had teased the planning of a rock album when she was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame early last year.
https://www.wate.com/news/all-about-dolly-parton/world-on-fire-lyrics-of-new-dolly-rock-anthem-spew-frustration-healing-with-kindness/
Love my girl Dolly! Get 'em, girl!
There's no 'right' way to be a rape survivor. There never will be.
Now that the civil trial against Donald Trump for rape has concluded, the jury has a decision to make. This is the first major case made possible by the Adult Survivors Act. The law – which allows survivors of sexual abuse to sue their abusers in civil court even if the attack happened decades ago – was a necessary correction to outdated statutes of limitations rooted in centuries-old notions about sexual violence.
It’s not surprising then that a defense attorney representing a man with more than a dozen allegations of sexual abuse would resort to some of the same age-old tactics to cast doubt on survivors.
Joe Tacopina, Donald Trump’s attorney, used these tactics in his shameful cross-examination of E. Jean Carroll. Carroll – who not only kept her cool, but used the cross-examination as an opportunity to correct the line of questioning – claims that Trump shoved her against the wall of a dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman nearly 30 years ago. She has said that she pushed back, but that he shoved her again before raping her, until she was able to knee him and break free.
Despite the determined fight Carroll put up, Tacopina harped on why she didn't scream for help, why she didn’t call the police, why she didn’t tell her family, and a host of other things she supposedly did incorrectly in the aftermath of the assault.
Here’s why the jury should ignore that.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2023/05/09/trump-civil-trial-e-jean-carroll-no-perfect-rape-victim/70196364007/
That damned Matthew Hale again. He's why women can't have things. F*ck him.
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Gender: Do not displayCurrent location: Virginia
Member since: Wed Jun 1, 2011, 07:34 PM
Number of posts: 9,999