#and all to inflame hatred to trans people

[carsonjonesfiance]

A sitting Congresswoman got a gay man arrested for shaking her hand. If you’re wondering what the state of the Republican Party is right now.

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

I've never been to a pride event and at this point I don't want to, because the queer community doesn't even support itself, and the amount of shit I've gotten from people for not knowing the latest terms and identities is exhausting. It makes me hate that I'm queer. I hate that saying being pan and poly leads to eyerolls. I hate that being gender fluid leads to fights over whether or not I'm trans. People just want to fight and be bullies.

Honestly go to a pride event (or a queer bookstore or cafe if that's more your style), it'll do you good to interact with more real-life queers and remember there's a reason we're together rather than apart and that the toxicity isn't all there is to it. Being online makes it too easy for people to inflame minor disagreements and conflicts into abuse and hatred.

[mausers]

I am a leftist Old and I was there for all of the above. Vulnerable people in the US and Palestine are going to suffer and die if Trump is in power, it's really just that simple. The abortion horror stories because he got to choose Supreme Court justices are already here. He decimated the CDC and destroyed the pandemic response, people are still getting sick, dying, and becoming disabled because of his lies and active misinformation. (No, Biden's no better, he's corporatist scum and an idiot besides, but it would matter if the CDC hadn't been broken when he got to it.) Trump actively incited his followers to insurrection and treason. THEY BROUGHT THE RACIST TRAITOR SLAVERY FLAG INTO THE FUCKING HEART OF OUR GOVERNMENT. They would install him as a dictator if they could, and they sure are trying. Even if they don't succeed, for the love of fuck please don't be complicit in allowing people to be elected whose stated aim is the destruction of democracy? If you live in a state where your vote for President just isn't going to matter, look into vote swapping. If you are in a state where it will, I'm begging you to just hold your nose and do it. Democrats do not move to the left when they lose elections. I'm gonna say that again: DEMOCRATS DO NOT MOVE TO THE LEFT WHEN THEY LOSE ELECTIONS. The only people who will be hurt if Trump wins are people who are only just hanging on as it is. He is going to help Israel, not stop them. He is going to actively inflame hatred against trans people from the world's biggest bully pulpit, emphasis on the bully. He's going to work to cut social programs people need to survive. He's going to slash international aid and hinder international cooperation and diplomacy. He's going to undo progress on climate change, and for the love of all that's sacred and good we can't lose an inch on that, there's no time. The system is so broken and everything is so disheartening, and fuck, believe me I get that on all levels. But it's just voting, voting is the absolute baseline of what we need to do. If you can provide mutual aid, be more involved in local government, protest, buy eSims or donate to humanitarian relief for the multiple genocides and refugee crises happening in the world right now, please do those things. They won't just help other people, they will give you hope. I truly believe looking after each other and rebuilding communities is the most important thing we can be doing right now. But we have to not let the would-be dictator, criminal, and traitor who is also every flavor of bigot seize power in the country. We need that as a baseline so that the other good stuff has any chance of happening and flourishing. I know it sucks to vote for someone you loathe, believe me, fuck, I know it so fucking well, but it's a two party system. One of them is going to win, and it can't be Trump or more people are going to die. In the US, in Palestine, and all over the world, real people's lights will go out and be gone from us forever. Vote for Biden and then fight him. Fight for an anticapitalist, anticolonial world where we love and take care of each other. Please. It's awful and I'm sorry, but I am begging you to do it anyway because the alternative is worse, it just really and truly is.

when i see people express sentiments like this, my thought is pretty much “who exactly are you trying to prove a point to?” the democrats? if trump gets elected, they’re going to be completely sidelined if not worse and will be entirely focused on trying to get back in power and i can tell you they will NOT be moving further left. netanyahu? it’s a BETTER outcome for him if trump wins since trump is SIGNIFICANTLY more pro-israel than biden has ever been. the people in gaza? they need a ceasefire which has been rejected by both the israel and the hamas sides multiple times and a trump win WILL NOT make that a stronger possibility.

[grenade-maid]

Been seeing a lot of insane posts from terfs recently about how dressing male children in female clothing is inherently traumatizing (no citation given ofc) or outright pedophilia because women's clothing is so deeply sexualized that putting a child in them is tantamount to putting them on display for sexual consumption. This often being premised on the idea that these imaginary children couldn't possibly be mature enough to make such a grave and horrifying decision, and therefore any desire to wear clothes of their desired gender presentation must be a plot by pedophilic trans cult indoctrinated parents. But as soon as transfem young people are ""old enough"" to be seeking out feminine clothing are treated as just straight up predatory misogynistic sex perverts who get off to the idea of emulating the expectations placed on women to be hypersexual sluts available for men's consumption. Cue, of course, the lurid detailed description of disgusting males putting on silk panties and masturbating to thoughts of men looking at them to illustrate this point and to prove how normal and well adjusted the writer is for posting sexual fantasies on a public forum to inspire hatred and disgust of minorities that face incredible amounts of sexual violence.

All of this is bad enough on its own. But it's also just so wildly out of touch with reality that it's incredible. Here's a handful of pictures of various teenage or preteen trans girls from widely publicly available photoshoots and documentaries. I can attest, having once been a teenage trans girl, and knowing a fair number of young trans girls from various queer community groups, school outreach, library stuff, etc, that these are pretty typical outfits.

A lot of terf hate-fantasies are premised on the idea that people are either forcing nine year olds into micro skirts tube tops, thongs, and fishnets, or older trans women are dressing exclusively in the same as a matter of daily wear to the grocery store where they will, it is implied or explicitly stated, basically try to expose themselves to as many people as possible for their sick twisted sexual gratification. And while they're at it, take up space in a women's shelter, join a women's basketball team so they can dominate everyone with their natural biological superiority, peep on girls in the bathroom, and steal some scholarships to women's colleges. All in a day's work.

But look at those pictures above, does that look anything even remotely like what terfs describe? Is there something just inherently disturbingly wildly sexual about an entirely pedestrian scoop neck shirt, bare shoulders, or a dress that comes, horror of horrors, a little above the knee? Do these look like predatory temptresses afflicted by terminal perversion trying to inflame the lust of men as part of a sick game to appropriate the struggle of trve wombyn? No, they don't, they look like entirely regular women you'd meet at school or the grocery store. Because that's who they are! Entirely regular women you'd meet at school or the grocery store! They just happen to be trans.

A lot of the fearmongering here stems from a fundamentally misanthropic view of sexuality. Even if a trans girl or a femboy or a crossdresser wants to wear short shorts and a tube top to the mall that's not a bad thing. Sex isn't a bad thing. Wanting to be sexy isn't a bad thing. But to terfs it is a bad thing even if a cis woman did that, because they view sex as fundamentally exploitive. But my break is over so I'll get into it another time. Peace.

[dendroica]

For now, Trump TV is a small operation, cheaply produced and disseminated through Facebook. But the creation of an official broadcast in which Trump mouthpieces repeat the Trumpian line is just one of several developments that suggest the Trump era has brought conservative media to its evolutionary endpoint: sheer propaganda, stripped even of the veneer of professional journalism that traditional Republican Party organs like Fox News (“Fair and Balanced”) have cultivated since the end of the Fairness Doctrine in 1987. It can be seen in the National Rifle Association’s new video channel, where the conservative provocateur Dana Loesch calls on followers to come together in a “clenched fist of truth” to defeat America’s liberal enemies. It can be seen in the growing Sinclair Broadcast Group, whose viewers are breathlessly updated about threats to the homeland through its “Terrorism Alert Desk.” And it can be seen in a constellation of right-wing websites—Breitbart, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, Townhall—that traffic in xenophobia, homophobia, racism, and social Darwinism. Most influentially, it is evident in the way the White House uses the bully pulpit and social media to make direct appeals to supporters who are not looking for a press release, but for a powerful person to voice their own prejudices and fears, their hatreds and ambitions. All of this has contributed to an environment that bears the hallmarks of a budding propaganda state, in which mass media is used to make nakedly emotional appeals to a perpetually inflamed electorate, and marginalized communities (immigrants, people of color, Muslims, trans people) are targeted as national scapegoats. There is not even a pretense of respecting fact, reason, and argument—there is only a fiction told over and over until it becomes real. The lie is not the goal. Rather, propagandists hope to create a world where lies no longer matter. And conservative propaganda has not been confined to the right-wing echo chamber. McEnany rose to prominence as a contributor to CNN. And a day after her Trump TV debut, she announced a new job, as the spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.

How Trump Is Creating a Propaganda State | New Republic

[bountyofbeads]

‘Stop the words of hate,’ rabbi urges leaders after synagogue massacre. Trump keeps tweeting.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/10/29/stop-words-hate-rabbi-urges-leaders-after-synagogue-massacre-trump-keeps-tweeting/

‘Stop the words of hate,’ rabbi urges leaders after synagogue massacre. Trump keeps tweeting.

By Tim Craig, Avi Selk, Shawn Boburg, Andrew Tran and Amy Wang

October 29 at 11:42 AM ET, Washington Post, Posted 10/29/2018

PITTSBURGH — At the end of a weekend that redefined concepts of religious hatred in the United States, a grieving Rabbi Jeffrey Myers directly linked Saturday’s massacre at his Tree of Life synagogue to the rhetoric of U.S. politicians.

“It starts with speech,” Myers said to loud applause at a Sunday-evening vigil attended by two U.S. senators. “It has to start with you as our leaders. My words are not intended as political fodder. I address all equally. Stop the words of hate.”

Two hours after the rabbi’s speech, President Trump absolved himself of responsibility and once again blamed others for the nation’s troubles.

“The Fake News is doing everything in their power to blame Republicans, Conservatives and me for the division and hatred that has been going on for so long in our Country,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Sunday night. “Actually, it is their Fake & Dishonest reporting which is causing problems far greater than they understand!”

The rest of the week will be marked by funerals for the 11 people killed inside Tree of Life, and very likely more debate over whether the aggressive political language that has defined Trump’s presidency had any role in fueling the gunman’s radicalization.

Robert Bowers, “onedingo,” and Trump

At the center of everything is Bowers: a 46-year-old truck driver with few apparent friends, and who left almost no impression on neighbors near his small apartment just outside Pittsburgh, which investigators finished searching Sunday.

A law enforcement source told The Washington Post on Monday that investigators recovered three handguns and two rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammunition after executing a search warrant at the residence. That’s in addition to at least four weapons recovered at the synagogue.

“We would have small talk, but he just seemed like a normal guy, and that is the scary part,” Bowers’s next-door neighbor Kerri Owens told The Post.

Bowers appears to have led another life under the online alias “onedingo,” posting on an uncensored social media platform called Gab that is an online haven for extremists.

Signing his posts with Bowers’s name, onedingo compared Jews to Satan and complained that Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement cannot succeed so long as Jews “infest” the country. He also posted slurs against women who had relationships with black men, repeatedly referenced nooses and hangings, and used the n-word nearly 20 times.

The White House press secretary has called Bowers “a coward who hated President Trump because @POTUS is such an unapologetic defender of the Jewish community and state of Israel.” The Gab posts suggest a feeling closer to disillusionment with the president, whose daughter converted to Judaism, but who is often accused of stoking anger, hatred and even anti-Semitism in his political rhetoric.

In February, onedingo posted a meme of a Monopoly Chance card with superimposed images of Trump dragging Hillary Clinton to jail.

In May, he wrote that he did “not vote for Trump nor own or ever even worn a maga hat.”

In October — as Trump was repeatedly tweeting about a caravan of refugees and migrants heading through Central America toward the U.S. border — onedingo began to complain about a Jewish group’s efforts to hold Shabbat dinners for refugees.

The group “likes to bring invaders that kill our people,” he wrote hours before the Pittsburgh massacre. “I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

The attack, the deadliest on Jews in U.S. history, targeted a synagogue that is an anchor of Pittsburgh’s large Jewish community, about a 25-minute drive from Bowers’s home. Police and FBI investigators say Bowers walked in during Saturday morning services with an AR-15 rifle and three Glock pistols, and spent the next 10 minutes or so gunning down any worshipers he came across.

Myers, the rabbi, said at Sunday’s vigil that he was praying with a dozen early worshipers when the gunman appeared at the door.

“I ran through the back of the sanctuary, up the stairs,” he told an NBC reporter afterward. “I went up into the choir loft. I heard him execute my congregants. I didn’t watch. I couldn’t watch it."

Police pursued Bowers in a running gun battle to the third floor the synagogue. When they captured him, according to a federal complaint, the quiet man who had left no impression on his neighbors ranted and raved like his online persona.

“They’re committing genocide to my people,” Bowers allegedly told police. “I just want to kill Jews.”

Hate speech

On Saturday, Trump said the massacre was an “evil Anti-Semitic attack” and “an assault on humanity.” But he has said little about Bowers, and shown little interest in joining a national debate about whether the country’s hostile political climate or loose gun regulations helped enable the attack.

Trump suggested Saturday that the synagogue should have had armed guards — as he has done after other mass shootings. Then he tweeted about a baseball game, called one of his political rivals a “crazed and stumbling lunatic,” and by Monday he was once again stoking fears about the migrant caravan, calling it “an invasion of our Country.”

In between, the president assured his followers that the “great anger in our Country” was the fault of “The Fake News Media, the true Enemy of the People.”

Democrats on Sunday said Trump’s incendiary attacks on rivals have created fertile ground for those inclined toward extremism.

So did Abraham Foxman, former director of the Anti-Defamation League, which recorded a massive spike in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2017 — the first year of Trump’s presidency.

"Trumpism legitimized the bigots to come out of the sewers and gave them a platform to play on,” Foxman told the Jerusalem Post. “He has said the right things on antisemitism this week. But he needs to change the rhetoric he uses to explain his policies, which gives millions of bigots a rationale for their bigotry.”

Since the shooting, more than 25,000 people have signed an open letter to Trump in support of 11 Jewish leaders who said the president would not be welcome in Pittsburgh until he denounced white nationalism.

Pittsburgh city Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, whose district includes the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, attended the Sunday night vigil and said she sensed not just overwhelming grief, but also weariness and, in some, a desire to turn anger into action.

“It was a more general frustration of, ‘When is this hateful rhetoric going to stop?’ and that [our discourse] seems to be further inflamed by elected leaders,” she said, without naming anyone in particular. “When will the hate end? When will we be able to come together as a country?”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment about the letter.During a television appearance Monday morning, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway responded to another request for the president to stay away from Pittsburgh from Lynette Lederman, the former president of Tree of Life synagogue, who has said she considers Trump a “purveyor of hate speech.”

“I know that she’s very grief stricken, I can imagine, and my heartfelt condolences go to her and everybody in that congregation regardless of politics,” Conway said on CNN. “Many people are welcoming the president to go there and to help heal.”

Funerals and court

Bowers was reportedly released from the hospital Monday after being shot by police before his capture. He is scheduled to appear in federal court before Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

He faces at least 23 state charges, including homicide, attempted homicide and aggravated assault against police officers. He faces an additional 29 federal charges accusing him of civil rights and hate crimes.Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania have begun the process of seeking the death penalty for Bowers, a Justice Department spokesperson said Sunday. The process is typically lengthy, involving input from relatives of the victims before the final decision is made by the attorney general.

Funerals for the 11 victims are also expected to begin this week, though it’s unclear whether the criminal investigation will delay them.

The dead included a 97-year-old woman, a husband and wife, and two brothers.

Selk, Boburg, Tran and Wang reported from Washington. Kayla Epstein in Pittsburgh and Mark Berman, Alice Crites, Sari Horwitz, Annie Gowen, Wesley Lowery, Julie Tate, John Wagner and Matt Zapotosky in Washington contributed to this report.

[weeklybreakdown-blog]

This Week: TPP, Mean Girls, Tensions in Lebanon, and Putin

Happy Tuesday, Homies! President Trump is wrapping up his nearly two-week visit to Asia. There’s plenty to unpack in what was and wasn’t said during the trip and on the sidelines. For one, it’s important enough to discuss that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is alive and kicking, Trump goes full-on “Mean Girl” for Kim Jong Un, Saudi Arabia might be inflaming tensions in the Middle East, and Putin continues to reign as the smartest man in the room. Got a friend who could benefit from this info? Share and promote this newsletter with your friends!  As always, Vicky, Colin, and I welcome any feedback you might have.

TPP Zombies Back to Life

Sticking to campaign pledges, Donald Trump promptly withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership back in January. Since then, U.S. allies in Asia have been left reeling from a massive blow to free-trade and a rules-based order led by the United States. The trade bloc would have enforced 21st century rules of the road on developing countries and help cement human rights, labor rules, and encouragement from the United States throughout the region.

Since Donald Trump killed the notion of the United States leading this agreement, Asia has been looking for the collective next step. Many wondered if this was the chance for China to lead with its own initiatives and dominate the region. However, Sunday night offered a glimmer of hope as trade representatives from 11 Pacific Rim countries,  “...have reached an agreement on a number of fundamental parts” for resurrecting TPP without U.S. participation.

The new potential agreement has many details that have to be reworked and revised now that the U.S. is no longer participating. However, the ‘Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership’ as it is now being called, has received endorsement from all participating countries on key principles such as, “unfair trade practices” and “market distorting subsidies.” Count this as a potential win for traditional business ethics and values once championed by the U.S. Hopefully the day will come when the United States returns to defending admirable goals such as these throughout the world. Stop Trying to Make "Fetch" Happen

Seems to be another weird day where Regina George, also known as the President of the United States, can’t just let it go. Kim Jong Un described the President as someone who is “begging for nuclear war” and a “destroyer.” These comments would normally not be taken lightly, but of course, that was when we used to live in reality and facts mattered.

Instead, the President responded with a sarcastically worded tweet, citing he would never call the North Korean leader “fat and short.” It seems that the most basic principles of leadership cannot be expected from Donald Trump. Instead, he is a person whose impulsivity and vanity cloud any kind of objective he attempts to grasp - leaving the American people exhausted and befuddled.

Can I Get a Lebanese PM in Here or What?

It’s been a long known secret that Iran and Saudi Arabia hate each other. I mean, truly and genuinely, loathe the other in a simmering cold-war style conflict between the Shia and Sunni domains. Add to the mix little Lebanon. The country is viewed with suspicions in Riyadh as a pivotal piece in the Shia crescent (an area of the Middle East under perceived Shia influence from Iran, northern Iraq, Syria, and into Lebanon).  

Well, the Lebanese Prime Minister went to visit the Kingdom on Friday, November 3rd and was immediately detained, denied access to his personal phone, and forced to resign his Ministership live on Saudi TV. Speculation points to Hariri not taking a more confrontational approach to Hezbollah, long a parasite to Lebanese politics.

Beyond the speculation that Saudi Arabia is holding Hariri against his will, Lebanese politics is at a crucial moment. The country finds itself dealing with a coalition government that is highly influenced by Hezbollah, and any chance at striking agreements in Beirut are threatened until the Prime Minister returns.

Saudi-skeptics see the Kingdom as trying to knock out Iran’s 'pawns' in the region. Whether by playing in the internal politics of a vulnerable country, or encouraging Iran or Hezbollah to make itself the aggressor as an excuse for action, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Salman is certainly upping the ante when it comes to Middle East politics this November. As we detailed last week, the arrest of several crown princes has been viewed as a powerful concentration of control with Salman’s meteoric rise. The rest of us are left to wonder where his brinkmanship will take the region next.

Putin on a Show

Donald Trump got to meet Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Vietnam this past weekend. When asked about the interference in the 2016 American election, Putin denied any involvement. “He said he didn't meddle, he said he didn't meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times.” Trump believes Putin is genuine on this.

Let’s be smart here. All 17 of America’s spy agencies agree that hackers with the full backing and support of the Russian Government (at Vladimir Putin’s direction) interfered in the American election in favor of one candidate. The fact that a sitting President of the United States would not believe his own intelligence agencies and instead takes the word for a KGB-trained autocrat is absurd. Trump expects us to forget, because forgetting is the first step in apathy. Apathy leads to distrust and hatred for the other, which lets this man continue being President. Do not for a second forget what the Russians did in 2016, what they are continuing to do, and what they will do to our elections in the years to come. What to Watch:

On Thursday, Tesla will unveil it’s electric semi-truck. It’s a huge chance to change the way food, goods, and services move around the United States and the world, so this is BIG news.

Continuing allegations against the embattled Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama, Roy Moore. More Republican Senators are un-endorsing him, and some polls show his Democratic challenger, Doug Jones, ahead. If the Democrats don’t put money on this horse, it’s their golden opportunity to lose.

Developing overnight was Jeff Session's placating Donald Trump to keep his job. Sessions, on thin ice since recusing himself from the Russia investigation, is apparently looking into appointing special counsel on the Clinton Foundation and the Obama-era Uranium One deal. Commence eye-roll since this is what happens when you get a conspiracy theorist-in-chief.