Category: News

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Judge Suspends DACA Program But Allows Dreamers To Stay In US

(stock image via Depositphotos)
From HuffPost:

A federal judge in Texas ruled Friday that the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program ― a policy that lets undocumented immigrants who were brought into the U.S. as minors stay in the country ― is illegal and must be suspended.

In his ruling, Judge Andrew Hanen ordered President Joe Biden’s administration to stop approving new DACA requests from such immigrants, referred to as “Dreamers,” once again upending the Obama-era policy Biden had just revived in January.

The decision by Hanen, an appointee of former President George W. Bush known for his harsh rulings on immigration matters, does not have any bearing on current DACA recipients, nor does it affect their ability to renew their DACA grants.

Hanen made a point of saying the presence of DACA recipients “contributes to a more competitive labor market, which makes it more difficult for legal residents of Texas to obtain work.” But in 2017, NPR fact-checked that idea and said it’s not true. Not only do DACA recipients tend to be well-educated, making the economy that much more productive, they also contribute to the U.S. as consumers. It’s important to remember that DACA recipients are young people who were brought to the U.S. as small children. They didn’t make a choice to break any laws. And the idea of deporting a 14-year-old to, say, Mexico, when they might have been brought here as a baby is ridiculous. Also – a Pew survey conducted last year showed almost three-quarters of respondents, including majorities of Democrats and Republicans, support finding a pathway to permanent legal status for Dreamers. Read more at HuffPost.

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News Round-Up: July 14, 2021

(image via Instagram)
Some news items you might have missed: • Just Because: InstaHunk Yes.Its.Andy (above) shares this calming scene. Follow him here. Can I just say I liked the colors? • JoeMyGod: Republican senators have issued a statement calling for the repeal of wearing masks on public transportation because it could ruin family vacations. • Deseret News: Family nurse practitioner Aaron Hartle (45-year-old former triathlete and father of five) decided he wasn’t in any hurry to get vaccinated against COVID-19, even though the virus killed one of his patients. In June, COVID-19 sent Hartle to the hospital for a week. Back at home, he remains on oxygen and tires easily as he talks about an ordeal that that didn’t need to happen.

• NBC News: Britney Spears was granted a request to hire her own attorney on Wednesday, a development that could mark a major shift in how her 13-year conservatorship case has been handled. • Raw Story: According to Michael Wolff’s new book Landslide, Jared Kushner would apparently ‘slow-walk’ Donald Trump’s temperamental orders in order to lower the immediate temperature precisely to the point where the president would not notice (due to his short attention span) and Jared would not be blamed. • LGBTQ Nation: Today is International Nonbinary People’s Day and Twitter is celebrating with an outpouring of heartfelt emotion. #InternationalNonbinaryDay is trending with thousands of tweets from supporters and enbies themselves.

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NJ Candidate For Gov Wants To End LGBTQ-Inclusive Curriculum

Republican candidate for New Jersey governor Jack Ciattarelli

Republican candidate for New Jersey governor Jack Ciattarelli
Jack Ciattarelli (image via Twitter)
Jack Ciattarelli, the Republican candidate for New Jersey Governor, promised potential supporters during a campaign appearance that if elected he would put a stop to the LGBTQ curriculum currently being taught in schools. Ciattarelli made the remarks while visiting a gun range on June 26. Video of the comments were released on Tuesday, July 13, by The Gothamist.

“I feel lucky [our kids] are in their 20s and I don’t have to be dealing with what you’re dealing with right now. You won’t have to deal with it when I’m governor, but we’re not teaching gender ID and sexual orientation to kindergarteners. We’re not teaching sodomy in sixth grade. And we’re going to roll back the LGBTQ curriculum. It goes too far.”

First, kindergarteners are not being “taught” sexual orientation. A law recently passed in the state, Assembly Bill 4454, “requires school districts to include instruction on diversity and inclusion” beginning this fall for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. A second law, Senate Bill 1569, requires instructional materials “that accurately portray political, economic, and social contributions of persons with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.” “Sodomy” is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “anal or oral copulation with a member of the same or opposite sex.” But, it’s often used as ‘code’ to equate LGBTQ people with deviancy. Ciattarelli was asked about his use of the word. The candidate said in a statement that it had “absolutely nothing to do with someone’s sexual orientation and the inference that it does is purposefully misleading.” He added, “Read my statement. It has to do with mature content being taught to young children. That is a parent’s job, not the school district’s.” I don’t think the Republican picked the word “sodomy” to reference all kinds of “mature content.” And I’m not alone.

Christian Fuscarino, executive director of Garden State Equality, told The Gothamist that Ciattarelli’s use of the word sounded as if he was “speaking in code or virtue-signaling to a very specific group of people.” “He goes on to say more bluntly that he wants to roll back some of the progress the LGTBQ community has made,” added Fuscarino. “We’ve seen enough of that at the federal level the last four years with the Trump administration.”

Ciattarelli’s opponent in November will be the current governor, Democrat Phil Murphy. Murphy, a longtime ally to the LGBTQ community, has received support and endorsements from several LGTBQ advocates and leaders in the Garden State.

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News Round-Up: July 13, 2021

Logo for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo

Logo for the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo Some news items you might have missed: • Instinct Magazine: A record 121 out athletes are set to compete in the Tokyo Olympics, more than doubling the number from the last Olympics in Rio. • Nevada Independent: As of Friday, Nevada (my state) had the fourth highest case rate in the nation per capita over the last seven days; for many days last week, it was first. The Delta variant was responsible for 54% of cases in June in Clark County (where I live) but only 38% are vaccinated. #ugh • OUT: A shirtless man, appropriately wearing a pink shirt wrapped around his head as a pitiful disguise, attempted to rip down a Pride flag, but the homeowners had anticipated such hateful actions and secured the flag with carabiners and screwing posts.

@leftovergainskid tries and fails to steal my pride flag#fail #pride #rainbow #getoffmylawn #ohnowyouwannawearamask♬ original sound – leftovergains

• PopCulture: Actor Jerry O’Connell is reportedly close to closing a deal to become the first-ever full-time male host of The Talk. O’Connell, who is a frequent guest host, would take over Sharon Osbourne’s seat, who left the show earlier this year amid scandal. • Tennessean: The average number of new cases per day in Tennessee has more than doubled in the past two weeks. But the state Department of Health has halted all vaccine outreach to kids – not just for COVID-19, but all diseases – amid pressure from GOP. • Out Music: Singer-songwriter Allison Ponthier recently shared her new single, “Hell Is A Crowded Room,” featuring crystal-clear vocals skimming along a gentle guitar. The  delicate track explores the social anxiety felt by introverts (like me) and learning to push through those challenges.

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Trump Trashes Supreme Court Justice In New Book

Donald Trump

Donald Trump (public domain)
In the new book – Landslide: The Final Days of the Trump Presidency – author Michael Wolff shares some surprisingly bitter remarks by ‘the former guy’ about Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. “There were so many others I could have appointed, and everyone wanted me to,” Donald Trump told Wolff in an interview for the book. From Axios:

“Where would he be without me? I saved his life. He wouldn’t even be in a law firm. Who would have had him? Nobody. Totally disgraced. Only I saved him.”

For Kavanaugh to not do Trump’s bidding on the matter of ultimate importance — overturning the election — was, in Trump’s mind, a betrayal of the highest order.

Wolff writes that Trump feels betrayed by all three justices he put on the court, including Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, but “reserved particular bile for Kavanaugh.”

Recalling the brutal confirmation fight, Trump said: “Practically every senator called me … and said, ‘Cut him loose, sir, cut him loose. He’s killing us, Kavanaugh.’ … I said, ‘I can’t do that.'”

“I had plenty of time to pick somebody else,” Trump continued. “I went through that thing and fought like hell for Kavanaugh — and I saved his life, and I saved his career. At great expense to myself … okay? I fought for that guy and kept him.”

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Texas Democrats Leaving State To Block Voting Restrictions Bill

Texas

Road sign reading Texas Democratic lawmakers in the state of Texas are reportedly leaving the state today in order to break the quorum required to pass new voting laws. The governor had called the special session into order primarily for the purpose of passing the legislation. From the Texas Tribune:

Upping the ante in both the legislative fight at home and the national debate over voting rights, most House Democrats are expected to board a flight out of Austin headed for the U.S. capital without a set return date.

At least 51 of the 67 Democratic representatives — the number needed to break quorum — were in the process of leaving, most arriving at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Monday to board a chartered flight.

The House is set to reconvene Tuesday morning, but the absent Democrats would mean there will not be enough members present to conduct business under House rules.

Texas Democrats are hoping to find some (any) leverage to force their way to the negotiating table as them say they’ve been shut out of drafting of the voting bill.

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Richard Branson Wore Pride Ribbon Into Space To Honor Pulse Victims

Billionaire Richard Branson wore a Pride ribbon into space to honor those killed in the dealy Pulse Nightclub shooting

Billionaire Richard Branson wore a Pride ribbon into space to honor those killed in the deadly Pulse Nightclub shooting
Richard Branson and the Pride ribbon he wore into space honoring the Pulse shooting victims
From The Advocate:

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson made history on July 11 by flying to the edge of space in his Virgin Galactic rocket plane, and he did it while proudly wearing a rainbow flag pin in memory of the Pulse Nightclub victims.

“Somebody who lost a loved one at the Orlando massacre asked if I would do that,” Branson told the Daily Mail. “We also have many, many friends who are gay and I know people who lost friends there.”

In the video below, Branson says in a voiceover, “My mission statement is to turn the dream of space travel into a reality – for my grandchildren, for your grandchildren, for everyone.” On the word ‘everyone’ the camera cuts to a shot of the Pride ribbon clearly making a statement.

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Gay Teacher Sues City Alleging Police Intimidation & Harassment

View of a police officer's hand on holstered gun

View of a police officer's hand on holstered gun
(image via Depositphotos)
A California teacher has filed a lawsuit against the city of Ceres, Ceres’s police department, officer Lorenzo Beltran, and several unnamed individuals in federal court. According to the teacher, David Cole, a school resource officer visited his home and harassed him after Cole had reported incidents of anti-gay bullying at his school. From the Modesto Bee:

David Cole made the accusations against school resource officer Lorenzo Beltran in a federal complaint, and last week told The Bee he struggles to feel safe after the incident two years ago. Cole added he has lost 75 pounds while dealing with insomnia and gastrointestinal issues from the distress.

The lawsuit claims Beltran and a plainclothes officer entered Cole’s gated community when school was closed for a holiday in February 2019 and ordered Cole to exit his home. Outside, Beltran allegedly questioned Cole about his reports of anti-gay student bullying, repeatedly gestured toward his gun and pressured the teacher to quit his job or go to the closed school with them.

Cole begged Beltran to leave, but the officer allegedly refused. The now 54-year-old teacher eventually ran into his home when his partner of 30 years opened the door after listening to the exchange, the lawsuit claims.

Ceres Unified School District paid Cole a $50,000 settlement in 2020 after firing him in 2019. The city maintains Beltran only visited Cole as a ‘welfare check’ at the request of the school saying Cole had missed scheduled meetings. Cole says he and his partner are now very concerned about their personal well-being when outside their home. “Now we’re scared to even be who we are,” Cole said. “That complete turnaround in my life to go from starting Rainbow Generation, the first queer club in the Central Valley at a school, to being terrified and not wanting the police to know it’s me or know that I’m gay. That’s where I’m at: just terrified of being outside in Ceres and at home.” Read the full details of the court case here.

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CNN’s Jim Acosta Compares Trump To Karens – ‘I Want To Talk To The Manager Of Twitter’

CNN’s Jim Acosta began a segment today showing clips of ‘the former guy,’ Donald Trump, hugging the American flag at past appearances at CPAC. “Now, the same man who gripped the Stars and Stripes won’t let go of something else: the idea that he’s still president,” said Acosta. Mediaite has the transcript:

“A couple of weeks ago I compared Trumps’ comeback tour to the circus, full of sideshow acts and clowns. I later got an email from an expert on the circus industry. This person pointed out that comparison actually was not fair.

“Because unlike the chaos of Trump world, a circus is carefully composed and organized. That’s a great point. Comparing Trump to a clown is most definitely an insult to clowns. He’s more like one of those mask-hating customers at the grocery store.

“You’ve seen them. A Karen, or whatever the name would be in Trump’s case. You can almost hear him saying, ‘I want to talk to the manager about the election, I want to talk to the manager of Twitter or Facebook.’”

This is truly spot-on. Watch below – the report includes video of Trump’s press events which are carefully staged to pretend to be ‘presidential’ instead of being held in front of a golf club.

(h/t JoeMyGod)

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Confederate Statue Removed In Charlottesville, Virginia

Statue of Robert E. Lee removed from its pedestal in Charlottesville, VA

Statue of Robert E. Lee removed from its pedestal in Charlottesville, VA
Statue of Robert E. Lee removed from its pedestal in Charlottesville, VA (screen capture)
Nearly four years after violence broke out at the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, the Robert E. Lee monument that helped spark the white supremacist event in Charlottesville, Virginia, was removed from its stone pedestal today. Spectators by the dozens lined the blocks surrounding the park. The Associated Press reports a cheer went up as the statue came down. Additionally, a statue of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was removed. Sources say the statues will be stored in a secure location until the City Council decides what to do with them. You’ll recall Heather Heyer, a peaceful counter-protester, was killed in the violence. At the time, Donald Trump garnered criticism by insisting there was “blame on both sides.”