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owlclawstudios · 16 days ago

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reject project 2025!!!!!

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

Last week, two anti-transgender provisions were quietly added to the National Defense Authorization Act in the Senate. These provisions were included in the “must-pass” budget bill with the help of Senator Joe Manchin, who cast the tie breaking vote to include the provisions in each instance. The bill was then recommended to the full Senate on a 22-3 vote, with many Senate Democrats voting to advance it despite the anti-trans provisions. When asked about the vote by a reporter from The Independent, Senator Manchin expressed confusion about his own vote but then doubled down, expressing support for federal restrictions not just on the military but on all gender-affirming care using funding bills, a major anti-LGBTQ+ Project 2025 policy.

The two provisions in question would use federal funding mechanisms to restrict transgender care for those in the military. One provision would bar the government from paying for transgender surgeries deemed medically necessary for transgender soldiers. Another provision would bar TRICARE, the insurance service for U.S. military service members, from covering any gender-affirming care for those under 18. Both provisions would significantly impact transgender service members and their families, as obtaining care can be difficult for those enrolled in the military without federal support.

Both provisions narrowly passed with a 13-12 vote. Many Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee, responsible for the bill, moved it forward despite its anti-trans amendments. Only Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jack Reed, alongside Republican Senator Tom Cotton, voted against it in the committee. By favorably reporting the bill out of committee, anti-transgender federal funding bans are closer to becoming law than in previous budget battles, where similar provisions were added to House bills but ultimately rejected by the Senate and President Biden.

[...] However, a spokesperson followed up not only defending the vote, but espousing a federal funding ban on all gender affirming care, stating, “Senator Manchin believes that Americans who want to serve our country and can meet the standards should have the chance to do so. However, taxpayer dollars should not be used to pay for any services or treatments that are associated with gender transition.”

[...] None of the anti-trans funding bans targeting health insurance, healthcare research, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Education, and more were passed in the budget showdown. These provisions ranged from sports bans to healthcare funding bans around the provision of gender-affirming care. One bill even aimed to defund children’s research hospitals if they provided gender-affirming care. The impacts of such bills would affect health insurance, hospital systems, and doctors providing transgender care nationwide.

These bills are key components of the anti-LGBTQ+ provisions found in Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation document outlining a new path for the United States. This document aims to empower the executive branch, remove reproductive healthcare rights, and target LGBTQ+ people nationwide. It seeks to institute an analogue to the Hyde Amendment targeting abortion providers, calling for an end to all “public moneys for transgender surgeries,” though many of the funding provisions in recent fights go even further, targeting all transgender care.

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV) has come out in support of bans of federal funding for all gender-affirming care, thereby spitting on the trans community.

#protect our rights #reject project 2025

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owlclawstudios · 16 days ago

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Project 2025 will kill you. Yes, you. Sections 11-15 (of 30)

So I've been reading Project 2025 so you don't have to, and I'm going to report on everything I find that is alarming, which is a lot. Part One can be found here. Part Two can be found here.

Section 11 - Department of Education

"Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated."

That's the first sentence in this whole section. I think that pretty much says it all.

All student loans and grants are to be moved to the private sector. Move education for military families to the Defense Department and for Washington D.C. to Congress. I imagine that also applies to protectorates like Guam and Puerto Rico but the document actually doesn't say.

Put all education funding under State Control. You should really ask a child living in Florida how that's working out. Reject Gender Identity and Racial studies. Eliminate executive orders in education. I remind you that integration was done by executive order.

Transfer all Native American education to the Bureau for Indian Affairs. Transfer all adult education programs to the Department of Labor. Privatize Student Aid.

Move all civil rights enforcement to the Department of Justice. Transfer all civil service employees to other agencies. Eliminate the understanding that Trans people even exist.

Eliminate any privacy regulations used to protect students from any form of abuse. Rescind all regulations in Equity in IDEA.

Eliminate all food programs for students. All of them.

Phase out income-based student loan repayment programs. Rescind all funding for the National Education Association. Consider "Critical Race Theory" to be racism.

Here's a crazy one that takes paragraphs to unravel: Allow parents of children over the age of 18 to sue to recover any monies spent on their education. Also, allow families to "opt out" of the education system entirely and for those that do give as a tax break the funding that would have been used to educate that child directly to the parents.

Allow states to opt out of any and all federal education programs. Eliminate Parent PLUS loans.

There is page after page of basically "end anything Obama or Biden did", but eventually it all boils down to that first sentence. Eliminate the Department of Education.

Section 12 - Department of Energy (and related commissions)

You would expect this whole document to be drill baby drill but in fact it starts with the repeal and elimination of the Biden Administration's Infrastructure Act - the single largest jobs creation bill in the last 75 years. That's followed with not only a dependence upon oil and natural gas but a declaration that the U.S. needs to be the best in the world in Science. Great for a country trying to eliminate the Department of Education.

Eliminate the office of Clean Energy, and the office of Grid Deployment. Yep, they don't want the government looking at the power grid.

Not only increase a reliance ("dominance") in oil and gas but nuclear power as well.

Lots of paragraphs on focusing on science, which again - see the section on the Department of Education. Lots of contradictions here. Increase the level of private sector disposal of nuclear waste. What could possibly go wrong?

Fund a rebuilding of the country's nuclear arsenal. New warheads and testing. Eliminate Carbon Capture programs and Carbon offsets. Pursue much more coal, including coal waste as fuel. Increase fossil fuels.

End the government's focus on green energy and renewables. Eliminate efficiency standards for appliances. In fact, they put this paragraph in the document twice on consecutive pages.

"End Grid planning and focus instead on reliability." I shit you not, that's a whole topic in here. Say goodbye to grid upgrades and hello to more Texas-style outages. They then spend several pages repeating everything I've already told you about.

Eliminate the Department of Energy's ability to make loans. Eliminate the Advanced Research Projects Agency. Looks like that better battery for your Tesla is going to have to wait.

Eliminate the Clean Energy Corps. Privatize the Energy Information Administration. Stop all funding for "climate reparations" - i.e. paying for the damage caused by oil production in underdeveloped nations.

Drill in Alaska (of course). Claim the Arctic Circle for the same purpose. Take an "America First" approach at the Office of Technology.

Accelerate cleanup of all "Superfund" sites (except for Hanford in Washington State - which is where the U.S. government has stored Plutonium Waste for many years) with a goal of completing all work by 2035. That sounds good on the surface but in most of these sites there is a reason that it needs to go slow: fast work actually makes the contamination WORSE and spreads it further. Eliminate some regulations specific to the Hanford site.

Get all active Nuclear Waste stored at Yucca Mountain already.

As long as we're talking about nuclear stuff again, let's make more nukes. Abandon the Test Ban Treaty. Divest certain programs at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore to refocus on nuclear energy and weaponry. Several pages are spent rehashing the need to get rid of renewables

Refocus transmission of electrical to the state level. I mean, why can't we all be Texas? Eliminate all questions about oil and gas pipelines to only consider the need for the fuels, not environmental or any other concerns.

Eliminate the guidance of "as low as reasonably possible" for nuclear exposure when considering renewing the licensing for existing nuclear power plants or building new ones.

Fuck, this was a nightmare to get through. but guess what's next?

Section 13 - Environmental Protection Agency

This whole section was written by Mandy M. Gunasekara, a former Chief of Staff at the EPA under the Trump Administration who in 2023 was kicked off the ballot in Mississippi when she ran for Public Service Commissioner - because she didn't live there.

Let's start that in the mission statement that it blames the lead poisoning crisis in Flint Michigan on The Obama Administration, which is so obviously incorrect that it boggle belief. It also states that every expansion of the EPA since 1972 is unnecessary.

Eliminate the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. Eliminate the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance. Eliminate the Office of Public Engagement and Environmental Education. "Relocate" the Office of Children’s Health Protection and the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization - although the document does say where to relocate these agencies to.

Review the grants program to ensure that taxpayer funds go to organizations focused on tangible environmental improvements free from political affiliation (there are no such groups).

This document goes on for more than 30 pages and makes the same faulty assumptions and rewrites historical data so often that it should be considered a work of fiction. But the key thing is unchanged: That everything that the EPA has done in terms of rulings and regulations since 1972 should be repealed.

Where I grew up you could see the air in 1972. It was grey. That's what they want to go back to.

Section 14 - Department of Heath and Human Services

This whole section was written by The Heritage Foundation. In the first two sentences it proclaims the COVID-19 Pandemic as over (which it isn't) and that life expectancy has decreased since the end of the Pandemic - which we do not yet know as the timing is too recent for statistical analysis. It's a lie.

No more abortions. Ever.

Prioritize families over everyone else. By the way, that's "traditional" families. Mother, father, children, church.

Remove the ability to declare emergencies and provide guidelines for outbreaks of diseases that contradict the political agenda of the administration. Move the recommendations of the CDC on how to treat anything into a separate political agency. The entire document assumes that the CDC is faulty and corrupt, and not that the people using the CDC to make policy are. This is also a lie.

Remove Generic drugs from Medicaid. Make Abortion pills a controlled substance, with the ultimate goal of making them illegal at the same degree as Meth and Cocaine.

Eliminate chickenpox, Hepatitis, and MMR vaccines that originate from studies and science from fetal tissue. That's all of them, by the way. Also, eliminate vaccine mandates of any kind - you know, the type that for a while eliminated chicken pox, small pox, the mumps, measles and so on and could have been used to eliminate COVID. I notice that all of these are on the rise in the US. Even motherfucking POLIO is back.

Eliminate all research that uses science from Fetal Tissue. Eliminate all science funding and research that involves the fluidity of human sexuality. There are men and there are women and they are born that way. Period.

Several paragraphs are about "Woke" policies, and they encourage an end to diversity in conferences and studies.

When it gets to the Medicare section there is paragraph after paragraph about the bureaucracy of Medicare and how much time doctors have to spend on paperwork. This is a common fallacy that has been around for decades - yes, there is paperwork and there is a lot of it, but it's still LESS PAPERWORK THAN REQUIRED BY PRIVATE INSURERS.

The truth is that bureaucratic waste in Medicaid is about 2%, where in the private industry it varies from 5% to 10%.

Eliminate the ability to negotiate drug prices under Medicare.

As for Medicaid, paragraph after paragraph is dedicated to the elimination of problems that don't actually exist, plus adding work requirements to eligibility and actually taking away from states the ability to make programs flexible - which seems like an oxymoron until you realize that most waivers for various programs under Medicaid are for Democratic Party controlled states that are allowed to use these funds to treat the LGBTAI+ community and allow for abortion access.

Under the Affordable Care Act there is an awful lot of focus on redesigning medical care into a Concierge Medicine approach, which most people would not be able to afford. The document calls this stronger health care (true) and more affordable (patently false). It would also eliminate all of the cost controls in the system. There is no language saying that they want to eliminate the ACA, but they certainly would render it useless.

Prohibit travel for Abortion care.

Defund Planned Parenthood, which as I like to tell people is NOT a chain of abortion clinics but is a chain of Doctor's Offices with an emphasis on women's care. Withdraw Medicaid funds from any state where abortion is legal.

Deny gender affirming care for anyone with Medicaid or Medicare. Again, men and women are the only two genders and they are determined at birth.

Rescind all COVID-19 Mask and Vaccination guidelines, and pay damages to anyone displaced (i.e. fired) for not following those guidelines.

Institute work requirements for all recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Most of the verbiage about the prevention of teenage pregnancies is to deter things that aren't happening. Adoptions should be funneled through religious organizations. Crazily enough, the document in the same paragraph also acknowledges that there are 4 times more children awaiting adoption than people who want them, although I believe the actual ratio is closer to 7 to 1.

Move the office of Refugee Settlement to the Department of Homeland Security. Looking back at that document, there is no indication that DHS actually wants this.

Allows for parents who do not have custody of their children to receive a child-tax credit anyway. It actually specifically calls out that it wants the ability to allow deadbeat dads to take the tax credit.

Encourage bad marriages to stay together as a requirement of government assistance. Allow faith-based organizations who distribute this aid to discriminate as they see fit. Implement a national campaign that is pro-father propaganda. You know, to keep marriages together. Think of the poor men.

Eliminate Head Start.

Criminalized Physician assisted suicide, which is legal in 10 states according to this document. Remove requirements that telemedicine be local to the patient. I should point out that this would eliminate the ability to recommend hospitalizations, as these doctors wouldn't have admitting privileges where the patients actually are.

Allow hospitals, doctors and physicians to not provide abortion related care of any kind because of religious beliefs, even in states where it is legal and protected.

No more funding for condoms. No more funding for "Morning-after" pills (which they call "the week after pills" in this section). Withdraw all support for gender affirming/transitioning guidance.

Stop teaching the medical procedures used in abortion care. I repeat, hinder the educational skills of every doctor in America.

The entire section on Indian Health Care (and why can't they ever use the phrase "Native Americans"?) is full of lies and I won't dignify them.

Sunset all HHS regulations, which Trump tried last time around.

More bullshit about violations of human rights that never happened (mostly involving twitter and Facebook). They don't want the department to push back against lies on social media.

More verbiage that the administration needs to be Pro-Life and anti-Trans care. This is like the fifth or sixth time in this document so far, making it one of the longer ones I've gone through. This is followed by a series of paragraphs that are mostly lies about the COVID Pandemic, complaining about things that never happened.

It's full of lies.

Restrict and/or rescind funding to any country that supports abortion care. Prohibit overseas personnel from providing care that is in contradiction with administration policy. That's right, overseas care is now a political decision.

The entire rest of the document - several pages - is about how the only civil rights violation in health care is that providers of care of certain religions are not allowed to discriminate in their health care decisions, and that such discrimination should be allowed.

To summarize: No abortions, no gender affirming care, no contraceptives, stay in abusive marriages, no good health care for poor people, let churches discriminate, and lie every third sentence (or more often).

Section 15 - Department Housing and Urban Development

Woohoo! This section was written by Dr. Ben Carson! This of course means it's the shortest section in the whole damn thing, clocking in at all of 14 pages, 4 of which are footnotes.

Also, unlike previous chapters, the first 4 pages are only about what the department does who what the department posts and responsibilities are, and has no policy directives save for the basic concept that the department needs an overhaul.

Replace all career officers with political appointees. Issue an executive order making the HUD Secretary a member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S, to counter the Chinese threat that they are buying to much real estate in the U.S. Seems highly reminiscent of the same language used against Japan in the 1980's.

Reverse all protections for LGBTQIA+ persons implemented under the Biden Administration. Reverse all property appraisals done under the Biden Administration, because you know they did them all wrong. Eliminate any programs that have any mention of Climate Change. Eliminate the use of special-purpose credit authorities. Eliminate the new Housing Supply Fund.

Non-citizens, even those households who are comprised of both citizens and non-citizens, are to be denied housing assistance. Anyone with mental issues or drug assistance issues need to be treated before considered for housing.

"Statutorily restricting eligibility for first-time homebuyers." That's the EXACT wording.

Finally, create an office of CFO for the department, who will do most of the work. Not bad for the laziest cabinet secretary in all history.

14 pages, only 6 of which are policy, all of which is designed to not actually do anything.

Next posting will cover the Department of the Interior, the Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Veteran Affairs.

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owlclawstudios · 16 days ago

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I don't usually post stuff like this, but this is a big one, please please please sign and send out if you can, or reblog. These people are trying to make the US a dictatorship.

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owlclawstudios · 16 days ago

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owlclawstudios · 16 days ago

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REJECT project 2025

VERY IMPORTANT

I don't often ask things like this, but anyone who sees this please sign this petition. This project is an extremely right wing movement that seeks to reject abortion as healthcare, eliminate affordable care acts coverage of emergency contraception, to infuse the american government with elements of christianity, it proposes criminalizing pornography, removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, terminating diversity, equality, dismantling organizations attempting to fix climate change, eliminating checks and balances in order to expand the control of the executive branch, and inclusion programs, aswell as affirmative action.

While this is HIGHLY UNLIKELY to be adopted into government at all, seeing as this is wildly against the constitution, it's better to be safe than sorry. Please sign and make sure this project doesn't ever even go into consideration.

#reject project 2025 #protect your rights #we stand together

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owlclawstudios · 16 days ago

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fuck trump and vance!!!

reject project 2025!!!!

protect your rights!!!!!

Unraveling the Extreme Rhetoric of J.D. Vance

In the political arena, words hold immense power, shaping narratives and influencing perspectives. J.D. Vance, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, has garnered attention for his controversial views, particularly on issues concerning women and societal transformation. This essay aims to dissect Vance's extreme rhetoric, unveiling the concerning implications it holds for the rights and well-being of women and the trajectory of our nation.

Women and Abusive Relationships

One of the most contentious statements made by Vance revolves around his stance on women staying in abusive relationships. In a resurfaced statement, he suggested that women should remain in such toxic environments for the sake of their children. This perspective not only dismisses the trauma and danger faced by victims of domestic violence but also perpetuates a dangerous narrative that normalizes abuse.

Domestic violence is a pervasive issue that affects individuals across all socioeconomic backgrounds, with women disproportionately bearing the brunt of its impact. Vance's rhetoric undermines the hard-fought battles for women's empowerment and autonomy, effectively trapping them in cycles of abuse under the guise of familial preservation.

Moreover, his stance contradicts overwhelming evidence that children raised in abusive households suffer long-lasting psychological and emotional scars, often perpetuating intergenerational cycles of violence. By advocating for women to remain in such environments, Vance disregards the well-being and safety of both women and children, prioritizing an outdated and harmful ideology over their fundamental human rights.

Project 2025: A Radical Agenda

Vance's acceptance of Project 2025, a far-right initiative aimed at radically transforming American society, raises further concerns. This project espouses an extremist ideology that seeks to impose a rigid, ultraconservative worldview on the nation, eroding the principles of diversity, inclusion, and individual liberties that form the bedrock of our democracy.

Project 2025's ambitious agenda includes dismantling existing social and political structures, promoting a narrow interpretation of traditional values, and curtailing the rights of marginalized communities. Vance's endorsement of such a radical endeavor not only alienates vast segments of the population but also threatens to undermine the hard-won progress made towards a more equitable and just society.

By aligning himself with this radical movement, Vance demonstrates a willingness to sacrifice the fundamental tenets of democracy in pursuit of an extreme ideological agenda. This approach not only risks polarizing the nation further but also jeopardizes the very fabric of our democratic institutions and the principles upon which our nation was founded.

Conclusion

J.D. Vance's extreme rhetoric on issues pertaining to women and his acceptance of Project 2025 raise grave concerns about his suitability for a position of leadership and influence. His views on women staying in abusive relationships perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes and endanger the well-being of countless individuals. Furthermore, his alignment with the radical agenda of Project 2025 threatens to undermine the principles of diversity, inclusion, and individual liberties that define our nation.

In a time when our society grapples with complex challenges, we need leaders who promote unity, compassion, and a commitment to upholding the fundamental rights of all citizens. Vance's extreme rhetoric and associations with fringe movements raise legitimate questions about his ability to represent and serve the best interests of the American people.

As citizens, we are responsible for critically evaluating the rhetoric and platforms of those seeking to lead our nation. We must reject ideologies that foster division, perpetuate harm, and undermine the very foundations upon which our democracy stands. Only through informed and responsible decision-making can we ensure that our nation remains a beacon of hope, justice, and equality for all.

#fuck trump #fuck vance #fuck maga #reject project 2025 #protect your rights #politics

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