NullTuples
NullTuples's JournalSenate blue slips take down another Biden nominee
Republicans dispel with the tradition whenever it's convenient for them. It's time Democrats do the same. It's literally only a tradition, a courtesy.
GOP Senator Blocks Biden Judicial Pick Over Transgender Rights...And George Soros
It looks like the tradition of requiring blue slips, that is, seeking approval for judicial nominees from home state senators, has claimed another victim. Remember Republicans under Donald Trump did away with the process in order to lard up the judiciary with far-right lifetime appointments. But Dems brought it back, and Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is committed to the process… despite the delay it is having on President Biden’s judicial picks.
The latest qualified candidate that may not see his judicial dreams come true thanks to the process is Scott Colom, a Mississippi prosecutor. Colom already has the support of Mississippi Republican senator Roger Wicker, but the state’s other GOP senator, Cindy Hyde-Smith, has reportedly informed the White House and the Senate Judiciary Committee she will not return his blue slip. In doing so, Hyde-Smith cited Colom’s “opposition to legislation to protect female athletes,” and links to George Soros.
https://abovethelaw.com/2023/04/gop-senator-blocks-judicial-pick-over-transgender-rights/
Amazon to shutter Book Depository, a UK-based online bookseller it acquired in 2011, on April 26
Amazon is set to shutter Book Depository, an online bookstore and competitor it acquired back in 2011.
The news comes hot on the heels of a swathe of cutbacks at the internet giant, with two separate rounds of layoffs impacting at least 27,000 people across various divisions including its highly profitable AWS cloud unit and, indeed, its devices and books businesses.
Founded out of Gloucester, the U.K., in 2004, Book Depository (initially called The Book Depository) was a small-scale competitor to Amazon’s online bookselling business, shipping books to readers in more than 100 countries. At the time of the acquisition, some feared that it signalled a tightening of Amazon’s “stranglehold” over the U.K.’s online book trade, a fear that may have had more than a little foundation. However, despite industry protests, the deal ultimately received regulatory approval, with the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) affirming at the time that Book Depository wasn’t a true competitor owing to its relative size.
In the intervening years, Amazon has done little to integrate Book Depository, from a branding perspective at least. Indeed, there has never been any visible indication on Book Depository’s website that it’s owned by Amazon, an approach that it has taken to other similar acquisitions it has made in the space such as Goodreads, a social reading platform it bought in 2013.
This is exactly how capitalism is intended to work. Larger companies gobble up competing smaller companies during economic boom times, then shut them down during economically less opportunistic times. In short, the idea of competition being good for consumers is very much kept constrained in order to maintain investor returns. At best, it can all too often be a short lived illusion.
Kid Rock posts video of himself angrily shooting an image of Dylan Mulvaney w/ his rifle
Go ahead; tell me right wing, pro-fascism influencers aren't trying to incite violence and real harm against people they've been told to hate.
cw for the autoplay video at the link: violence
"Kid Rock's Violent Reaction to Bud Light's Trans Partnership Goes Viral"
https://www.newsweek.com/kid-rock-reaction-bud-light-dylan-mulvaney-transgender-1792418
Something I read on Mastodon about Republicans...
Mark Lobbestael 🦆
@Mlobbes@mastodon.social
Apr 04, 2023, 07:41 ·
It was @JuliusGoat where I first saw someone write the simple but clear statement “The Republican Party is a hate group” and this is the moral clarity with which we need to view them at this point if we are to defeat them.
Try as you might if you are intellectually honest you’ll find it impossible to disagree with this statement if you simply watch what the GOP does each and every day. They exist for no purpose other than destruction.
#GOPDeathCult #Democracy
Majority of Dem, GOP & IND voters are against anti-LGBTQ legislation
"72% of Democrats, 65% of Independents, and 55% of Republicans think that there is 'too much legislation' aimed at limiting the rights of transgender and gay people in America" and that it is "excessive, political theater" designed to sow further division in the country and win partisan points.
"Writing on the poll's results, Data for Progress pollsters Erin Thomas, Grace Adcox, Lew Blank, and Isa Alomran argue in a blog post that the Democratic Party as a whole "should be doing more to advocate for queer and trans people" in the face of such relentless and widespread attacks by the GOP.
"Political leaders should not hesitate to call out Republicans on their manipulative political tactics," the trio writes. "Furthermore, they should use their platform to make the country more aware of queer people and queer issues."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/anti-trans-laws-as-political-theater
Write-up of poll results:
https://www.dataforprogress.org/blog/2023/3/31/democrats-need-to-be-stronger-advocates-for-trans-and-queer-people
Regarding that last statement, I see more and more Democratic Party leaders moving in that direction each week. President Biden has led the way on this since he was elected. It's a winning stance.
Trump-appointed federal judges pledge to boycott hiring Stanford students after campus protest
Federal Judges Say They Won't Hire Clerks From Stanford Law School
James Ho and Elizabeth Branch, who announced a clerkship boycott of Yale Law last year, are adding Stanford to the list"
"We will not hire any student who chooses to attend Stanford Law School in the future," Ho, who sits on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, said Saturday evening in a speech to the Texas Review of Law and Politics. The clerkship moratorium, like the one on Yale, will exempt current law students.
Fellow Trump appointee and Fifth Circuit (ie Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana) appellate judge Kyle Duncan was shouted down by hundreds of students when he spoke at the law school last month. Apparently 14 conservative judges have made this pledge.
I *think* we're supposed to feel bad for the conservative Stanford law students who were really hoping to clerk for one or the other of the two judges due to shared beliefs about America's future?
( A summary of the protest event the judges are having a tantrum over can be found here: https://stanforddaily.com/2023/03/12/president-law-school-dean-apologize-to-judge-kyle-duncan-for-disruption-to-his-speech/ )
From Mastodon, re: "Parents' Rights"
Not my work, I'm just repeating it here.
"Parents' Rights" and why it's bullshit
I've seen a lot of crap being put about on the idea of parents' rights. I want to reject this idea outright.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PARENTS' RIGHTS.
Parents do not have "rights" over their children. The children have rights; the parents have responsibilities to see that those rights are upheld.
In order for the parents to have rights, then necessarily the child does not have them. The only situation in which we have allowed one human to usurp another's rights was slavery; and I would argue children are not property.
If they're not property, then they're people, and if they're people, then they have rights. If they have rights, parents can't.
This is such a crucial distinction. The parents don't have a right to have their child educated; the child has a right to a good education. The parents don't have the right to participate in sport; the child does. And so on.
Once you reframe the idea like this, that children are human beings with their own rights, you see what a disingenous line of attack this is from the right wing.
Parents have an awesome responsibility: the care and management of the human rights of beings not able to assert them for themselves. But it must be clear that the rights belong to the children, and that they are being safeguarded, not owned, by the parents.
This simple conceptual shift shows that children should have full bodily autonomy, including their right to assert consent to being touched by anyone (think touch sensitivity), and including the right to present as the gender they want. The right to religion, or freedom from it if they want. The rights are theirs, and the parents should have no power to abrogate those rights without due care and consideration.
Yes, by the way, I am a parent, as well as a grandparent. I stand by this. My kids are not my property, never were.
What Trans Visibility looks like
Normally, a news headline search for 'transgender' returns results that are dominated by Republicans, Fox news and Conservative Christian websites saying vile things. It's not worth the emotional backlash unless there's a good reason.
Today was a little different. Thank you, to everyone who made a difference today!
Headline search results as of 11 PM Pacific Standard Time (there's more, I got tired of copy & pasting):
Portlanders celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility
Des Moines celebrates Transgender Day of Visibility.
Chicagoans Come Together to Celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility
Courage to stand: Sens. Schatz, Duckworth honor TDOV
Erie Celebrates Transgender Day of Visibility
Transgender Day of Visibility rallies held amid backlash
Bangor stands together in support of transgender rights
Omaha Central HS students hold walkout for Transgender Day of Visibility
Community gathers in Orlando for Transgender Day of Visibility
Transgender Day of Visibility rally held in Lakewood
Greenville: Rally held in downtown for transgender rights
LGBTQ community rallies in Lincoln on Transgender Day of Visibility
Crowds gather in Washington Square Park to celebrate Day of Visibility
Rally marking International Transgender Day of Visibility held in Billings
Kansas City marks International Transgender Day of Visibility
Transgender Day of Visibility observed across western Massachusetts
Demonstrators rally in New Haven for rights on International TDOV
Hundreds of Nebraskans rally at state capitol on Transgender Day of Visibility
Supporters gather on Tyler square for International Transgender Day of Visibility
Sen. Maria Cantwell statement on Transgender Day of Visibility
Rally held in Greenville in support of transgender community
Sacred Heart University students march in support of Transgender Day of Visibility
Fargo Transgender Visibility Rally draws in a crowd
Obama pays tribute on Transgender Day of Visibility
March in Grant Park calls for unity amid national threat to transgender rights
WA lawmakers stand with community on Transgender Day of Visibility
National Weather Service posts in support of transgender employees
Defiant transgender children, filled with love and rage, march on Kansas Statehouse
Ben Franklin High School students lead hundreds in protests against anti-LGBTQ bills
Cincinnati City Hall celebrates Transgender Day of Visibility
Penn State College community rallies for International Transgender Day of Visibility
People march in Naples for International Transgender Day of Visibility
Trans Pride flag raised over Connecticut state capitol for International Transgender Day of Visibility
March through downtown Tulsa brings light to transgender-rights advocacy
International Transgender Day of Visibility rally held in Downtown Wilmington
Transgender Day of Visibility Event in Eau Gallie
Sonoma County residents rally for transgender community on Day of Visibility
Maryland Celebrates International Transgender Day of Visibility
TikTokers raise over $1M for trans healthcare, gender-affirming surgeries for TDOV
LGBTQ+ youth and allies march in downtown Mooresville for trans rights
Las Vegas ‘March for Trans Lives’ protests proposed trans bills
Kansas transgender youths rally, oppose anti-LGBT bills
Mankato West students gather in support of Transgender Day of Visibility
Governor Jay Inslee comments on Transgender Day of Visibility
International Transgender Visibility Day at Wilkes University
Transgender Day of Visibility rally held at Minnesota State Capitol
Michiganders rally for acceptance on transgender day of visibility
Transgender Day of Visibility rally held in Utica
Pottsville Coffee shop celebrates Transgender Visibility Day
Rallies in Vermont to build support for transgender rights amid backlash
Allentown, Bethlehem hold flag-raising ceremonies to mark International Transgender Day of Visibility
Rally Held in New Haven for International Transgender Day of Visibility
Olean Marchers rally on Transgender Day of Visibility
Allegheny County community members come together to celebrate day of transgender visibility
Transgender visibility day celebrated in northern Ontario
Vermont youth rally at the statehouse for international transgender day of visibility
Rochester organizations celebrate Transgender Visibility Day
Central Ohio March for Queer and Trans Youth on Trans Day of Visibility
Rally at Allen County Courthouse supports transgender Hoosiers
Omaha Central students walk out on in support of transgender day of visibility
Demonstrators turn out in support of transgender people in Salina
Rally held in Utica in recognition of International Transgender Day of Visibility
Michigan State celebrates Transgender Day of Visibility
'Like a deep breath': Transgender Day of Visibility rally celebrates, supports Twin Cities trans youth
Transgender Day of Visibility rally in Washington, D.C.
Nebraska Democratic State Legislators are FIGHTING BACK!
This is so encouraging, it's the Democratic Party I've supported since before I was old enough to vote.
Nebraska GOP Tries To Stop Trans Filibuster, Dems File 742 Motions In Response
Nebraska's majority changed its long-standing rules around priority motions, attempting to kill a Democratic filibuster over trans rights. Democrats proceeded to file 742 motions to halt proceedings.
"On Tuesday, Republicans sought to end a Nebraska filibuster led by Sens. Cavanaugh and Hunt over anti-trans legislation. The focus of the filibuster is LB574, a bill that would require medical detransition for transgender youth and prohibit their medical care. Sen. Cavanaugh has gained national attention in recent weeks for effectively stalling the state's legislative process; no bills have been passed in Nebraska this year. She recently negotiated with GOP leadership to discuss the bill, cautioning that the filibuster would continue if the bill advanced. When it did, Democratic senators announced that a line had been crossed and the session was effectively over. In response, Republicans tried to terminate the filibuster by altering the rules, prompting Sen. Cavanaugh to assert that a filibuster would “flow like water.” Democratic Senators proceeded to file 742 motions on upcoming bills to be heard."
https://erininthemorn.substack.com/p/nebraska-gop-tries-to-stop-trans
(Erin is also the creator of the often updated map of anti-trans laws)
Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee let his domain registration lapse...
"...and is now in the "finding out" portion of f*cking around with a tech industry that is dominated by LGBTQIA+ people"
https://www.governorbilllee.com
(from Mastodon, https://tech.lgbt/@mstrmustache@kolektiva.social/110035539175478949 )
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