#topic: ted cruz

[xx-pr0p5-n-m4ur1c0n-xx]

This whole time I thought my white patients were just non verbal or something. But no they just dont talk to people of color. And when they do talk to me it's along the lines of "I don't like these foreigners blah blah blah" "these trans people this gay people that" like dude I'm wiping your ass, making sure you're comfortable, and making sure your meals are warm. Why tf won't you answer when I have basic questions like "do your wounds still hurt? What would you like to eat? If I pick you up like this, will you be in pain?" I don't even talk quiet either ik their asses are hard if hearing. But god forbid fuckin bid I talk to the janitor lady about how it's okay that she comes in and cleans the room in Spanish and we're speaking quietly, suddenly the patient has a whole speech to say.

[justmeinadaze]

Come hither children. Listen to mama!

I usually dont like to talk about politics not because of said topic but because of my PTSD I struggle to convey what I want to say properly. Add in that people get VERY passionate about the topic and start yelling and getting defensive which is triggering for me.

I just wanted to come here and say

Guys the numbers are SO close and that's scary. I know you may think "Ah it's ok. Kamala has this in the bag. Who would vote for crazy Trump?!" But youd be surprised!

I come from a state who continously puts Ted Cruz and Greg Abbott into office even after all the bullshit.

Please...vote! Your vote matters!

[qidynamics]

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

“That’s not a 501(c)(3) activity.”

A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump.

These previously unreported plans are the work of a group named Ziklag, a little-known charity whose donors have included some of the wealthiest conservative Christian families in the nation, including the billionaire Uihlein family, who made a fortune in office supplies, the Greens, who run Hobby Lobby, and the Wallers, who own the Jockey apparel corporation. Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups.

EXCERPTS:

“We are in a spiritual battle and locked in a terrible conflict with the powers of darkness,” says a strategy document that lays out Ziklag’s 30-year vision to “redirect the trajectory of American culture toward Christ by bringing back Biblical structure, order and truth to our Nation.”

Ziklag was the brainchild of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur named Ken Eldred. It emerged from a previous organization founded by Eldred called United In Purpose, which aimed to get more Christians active in the civic arena, according to Bill Dallas, the group’s former director. United In Purpose generated attention in June 2016 when it organized a major meeting between then-candidate Trump and hundreds of evangelical leaders.

After Trump was elected in 2016, Eldred had an idea, according to Dallas. “He says, ‘I want all the wealthy Christian people to come together,’” Dallas recalled in an interview. Eldred told Dallas that he wanted to create a donor network like the one created by Charles and David Koch but for Christians.

The group’s stature grew after Trump took office. Vice President Mike Pence appeared at a Ziklag event, as did former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, then-Rep. Mark Meadows and other members of Congress. In its private newsletter, Ziklag claims that a coalition of groups it assembled played “a hugely significant role in the selection, hearings and confirmation process” of Amy Coney Barrett for a Supreme Court seat in late 2020.

The Christian nationalism movement has a variety of aims and tenets, according to the Public Religion Research Institute: that the U.S. government “should declare America a Christian nation”; that American laws “should be based on Christian values”; that the U.S. will cease to exist as a nation if it “moves away from our Christian foundations”; that being Christian is essential to being American; and that God has “called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.”

The Seven Mountains theology embraces a different, less democratic approach to gaining power. “If the Moral Majority is about galvanizing the voters, the Seven Mountains is a revolutionary model: You need to conquer these mountains and let change flow down from the top,” said Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies and an expert on Christian nationalism. “It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

A driving force behind Ziklag’s efforts is Lance Wallnau, a prominent Christian evangelist and influencer based in Texas who is described by Ziklag as a “Seven Mountains visionary & advisor.” He was one of the earliest evangelical leaders to endorse Trump in 2015 and later published a book titled “God’s Chaos Candidate: Donald J. Trump and the American Unraveling.”

One key document says that “the biblical role of government is to promote good and punish evil” and that “the word of God and prayer play a significant role in policy decisions.”

Other internal Ziklag documents voice strong opposition to same-sex marriage and transgender rights. One reads: “transgender acceptance = Final sign before imminent collapse.”

A prominent conservative getting money from Ziklag is Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer and Trump ally who joined the January 2021 phone call when then-President Trump asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to flip Georgia in Trump’s favor.

Mitchell now leads a network of “election integrity” coalitions in swing states that have spent the last three years advocating for changes to voting rules and how elections are run. According to one internal newsletter, Ziklag was an early funder of Mitchell’s post-2020 “election integrity” activism, which voting-rights experts have criticized for stoking unfounded fears about voter fraud and seeking to unfairly remove people from voting rolls. In 2022, Ziklag donated $600,000 to the Conservative Partnership Institute, which in turn funds Mitchell’s election-integrity work. Internal Ziklag documents show that it provided funding to enable Mitchell to set up election integrity infrastructure in Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

EagleAI, which has claimed to use artificial intelligence to automate and speed up the process of challenging ineligible voters.

Now Mitchell is promoting a tool called EagleAI, which has claimed to use artificial intelligence to automate and speed up the process of challenging ineligible voters. EagleAI is already being used to mount mass challenges to the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters in competitive states, and, with Ziklag’s help, the group plans to ramp up those efforts.

According to an internal video, Ziklag plans to invest $800,000 in “EagleAI’s clean the rolls project,” which would be one of the largest known donations to the group.

Operation Checkmate

Ziklag lists two key objectives for Operation Checkmate: “Secure 10,640 additional unique votes in Arizona (mirroring the 2020 margin of 10,447 votes), and remove up to one million ineligible registrations and around 280,000 ineligible voters in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Wisconsin.”

In a recording of an internal Zoom call, Ziklag’s Mark Bourgeois stressed the electoral value of targeting Arizona. “I care about Maricopa County,” Bourgeois said at one point, referring to Arizona’s largest county, which Biden won four years ago. “That’s how we win.”

Targeting Transgender

Operation Watchtower

For Operation Watchtower, Wallnau explained in a members-only video that transgender policy was a “wedge issue” that could be decisive in turning out voters tired of hearing about Trump.

The left had won the battle over the “homosexual issue,” Wallnau said. “But on transgenderism, there’s a problem and they know it.” He continued: “They’re gonna wanna talk about Trump, Trump, Trump. … Meanwhile, if we talk about ‘It’s not about Trump. It’s about parents and their children, and the state is a threat,’” that could be the “target on the forehead of Goliath.”

As preacher and activist John Amanchukwu said at a Ziklag event, “We need a church that’s willing to do anything and everything to get to the point where we reclaim that which was stolen from us.”

“I am troubled about a tax-exempt charitable organization that’s set up and its main operation seems to be to get people to win office,” said Phil Hackney, a professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert on tax-exempt organizations.

“They’re planning an election effort,” said Marcus Owens, a tax lawyer at Loeb and Loeb and a former director of the IRS’ exempt organizations division. “That’s not a 501(c)(3) activity.”

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alanna Vagianos at HuffPost:

Many Republicans want you to believe that women are getting abortions in the eighth and ninth months of pregnancy simply because they can. The right-wing rhetoric has been used to criticize abortion rights supporters and Democrats for years. Even Donald Trump — who up until recently consistently dodged the topic of abortion — has started repeating the myth.

Democrats “support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month,” the GOP presidential nominee said last month. Democrats can “have [an abortion] in the seventh, eighth, ninth month, and they can kill the baby,” he said in another interview, adding that in some states “they can kill the baby after the baby is born.” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said this week that “there are late-term abortions and every single Democrat supported it.” (“Late-term abortion” is a popular right-wing talking point, but HuffPost is not using it because it’s medically inaccurate.) The belief that pregnant people use abortion like birth control is a well-worn boogeyman that the anti-choice movement has peddled for decades. Though rife with misinformation, the political strategy has been extremely successful, creating cultural stigma so deep around abortions later in pregnancy that many Democrats, including President Joe Biden, and even some pro-choice advocates, are uncomfortable discussing it.

But people do get abortions later in pregnancy — a phrase that generally reflects abortions at or after 21 weeks. Some are women with wanted pregnancies who get a fatal fetal diagnosis. Others are young people who don’t realize they’re pregnant or don’t have a safe way to get an abortion right away. Still, others experience something catastrophic and life-changing later in pregnancy — a partner becoming violent, their home burning down, a job loss — that will make it nearly impossible to safely raise a child. There’s also an increasing number of people pushed further into pregnancy because they experience barriers to care early on: their home state banned abortion forcing them to travel, or their immigration status makes it dangerous for them to seek health care, or they need to save up for the procedure because it’s not covered by insurance.

No one is getting an abortion in the second or third trimester because they woke up one day, months into being pregnant, and decided they didn’t want to be pregnant anymore. But the politically manufactured shame around later abortion care runs so deep that many Democrats believe it too, in part because of the power of these lies. Biden has centered his reelection campaign around restoring Roe v. Wade, and advocates are building policy around it too, protecting abortion care until viability or around 24 weeks — effectively ignoring those who will need care later in pregnancy.

“One of the mistakes we’ve made as a movement is to not talk about later care,” said Dr. Diane Horvath, an OB-GYN and abortion provider at Partners In Abortion Care, an abortion clinic in Maryland where 90% of her patients receive care in the second and third trimesters. “I think we thought we were protecting ourselves by being quiet about it,” she said. “But when you leave gaps in the narrative … anti-abortion folks have always been very happy to fill them in with things that are scary and incorrect, and really debase people who have abortions and debase people who provide them.” Most abortions do happen in the first trimester: Almost 93% of abortions reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2020 were done before the 13th week. Nearly 99% took place by the end of the 20th week. Somewhere around 1% of abortions occur at 21 weeks or later, and the subset of abortions in the third trimester (around 26 weeks) is even smaller.

[...]

Even under the best of circumstances, with a lot of privilege and resources, getting an abortion in the third trimester when Roe was still intact was extremely difficult. “The whole time we’re asking ourselves, ‘What would we have done if any of these pieces were not in place? What if we couldn’t have accessed that money quickly? What if we didn’t have IDs that allowed us to get on a plane? What if we didn’t read and speak English?’” recalled Christensen, who along with her husband founded the abortion strategy and advocacy group Patient Forward.

In 2020, 9% of people who accessed abortions had to travel out of their home state to receive care, according to The Guttmacher Institute. Three years later, after the Dobbs decision that repealed Roe, that number has doubled with around 20% of patients seeking care across state lines. (That number does not account for the increase in medication abortion by mail, a common access point for pregnant people in the first trimester post-Roe.) Horvath and Morgan Nuzzo, a certified nurse midwife, opened Partners in Abortion Care shortly after the Supreme Court repealed Roe v. Wade in the summer of 2022. The two met working at a Planned Parenthood clinic, but didn’t become close until Nuzzo was pregnant with her first child, and Horvath offered some hand-me-down baby clothes from her kids. Partners in Abortion Care in College Park, Maryland, is one of a small handful in the country that offer all-trimester abortion care. During the first year the clinic was opened, they saw patients from 40 different states and three countries.

Their clinic sees about 10 to 15 patients a week ― nearly all of whom are getting abortions after 20 weeks. The clinic caps the number of patients they see weekly because later care takes more time. Unlike early care, which can often be done using abortion pills, abortions in the second and third trimester are more complex. An abortion between 20 and 26 weeks is typically a two-day procedure, and past 26 weeks is a three-day procedure.

HuffPost explores the stigma of those who get an abortion post-fetal viability and how anti-abortion propaganda (such as falsely calling post-fetal viability abortions "late term abortions") plays a role in creating such stigmas.

Those who choose abortion in the later half of the 2nd or the 3rd trimester do so because of extenuating circumstances.

Post-fetal viability = anywhere after 21-25 weeks in gestational age.

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

You mention being interested in politics a few times so here's another boutique of "Jesus Christ, American Politics is awful"

So as we get closer and closer to the election, there have been more and more political ads but this year is a bit special given the stakes and the candidates. That being said, let me talk about the political ads. I am in Texas, so this will involve both American and Texas politics specifically.

I have not been able to go a week without seeing a NEW transphobic political ad from the right. I am seriously not kidding. Both Trump and Ted Cruz (current Texas senator) put up a new one every other week and made them specifically air during (american) football. It has gotten to the point that my house will only keep the TV unused if it's a new one, because they air all of the ads throughout the day and there are several games running a day as well. So every Monday, Thursday, and Sunday is nothing but transphobic ads.

You may now be thinking "How is this interesting, this is actually super depressing?" Well, the ads aren't working because there's too many of them and even a good portion of Republicans find them too mean spirited. Especially since a few ads have been found to just have non-conventionally attractive cis people in them!

Ted "Didn't understand what motherfucker meant and then thought it was about fucking your own mom and proceeded to ask if there were daughter fuckers" Cruz and Trump have overinflated transphobia. Not kidding.

I’m actually studying politics at the moment! Next year we have a segment on American politics, but our teachers keep saying how lucky we are to be studying the whole topic now because we’ve just had a British election, and now we’re going to see an American one too. We get back to classes when the election results come in, and we’re suspending two (back-to-back) lessons to watch and study it. Just because our teachers find it interesting, it’s not a curriculum thing. So thank you for the additional information.

But again on what I was saying a little while ago about ‘disliking Trump in the UK isn’t even a political stance’. A lot of people here are transphobic I won’t act like that’s not true, and I’m sure a lot of people Agee with a lot of things the republicans stand for. But their attitude is so off-putting that I’ve seen Tories (English right party) be vehemently anti-trump. I don’t think I’ve seen any brits (in my personal experiences) be pro-trump except for one guy who looked like this;

And bro was BULLIED for that. by our English teacher. Relentlessly.

Republicans attitudes towards everyone, including trans people, have been turning people off for YEARS. Trump has even accused the current British Government of interfering with the Election in favour of democrats and the government has gone ‘yeah so fucking what???’. And sure he has Nigel backing him, but Nigel is a cunt.

[casually-salad]

(tw s*icide but as in I'm reminding ppl of reasons to keep living! Still, if the topic is triggering don't feel the need to read or respond) Idk if you live in the US but if you do I hope you're okay! Normally I wouldn't get political @ you but shit is scary rn and I wanna make sure as many people as I can are okay. I'm scared shitless myself but all we can do is keep going. I just wanted to remind you and everyone that all other reasons to live are failing us, there's always one last resort: pure, unadulterated SPITE. Like hell am I dying before Mitch McConnell or Trump if I can help it! Ableists and queerphobes want us dead? As if we're gonna give them the fucking satisfaction! Basically, if all else fails, if nothing else, remember this one song that has got me through my toughest times: https://youtu.be/186FmQ4QZeY

I hope this provides any help at all to you and any followers!

thats really sweet, i wish i would've seen this sooner, not going to lie ive been on my breaking point constantly for the past couple months and i completely broke last night and did some things i shouldnt have... now im just trying to go day by day. i really really appreciate you reachin out cuz im a texan so weve got it doubly bad T-T can someone please kill ted cruz already i hate that guy. but yeah im gonna try to stay alive and hopefully the 20 million ballets that didnt get counted because of fake bomb threats, and the mail in ballets that got thrown away get recounted but in the mean time i hope we can all be here for eachother. <3

for anyone on here, please dont forget you can call the trevor project with this number: ( 1-866-488-7386 ) at any time, and if you want to chat online you can quickly exit from the site by hitting esc 3 times. on the website you can also text if youre scared to call like how i usually am haha: here

[shotofchinaco]

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) veered off topic at a gun violence hearing on Tuesday to ask why the Senate committee was not investigating liberal billionaire George Soros.

At a Judiciary Committee hearing, Cruz used the majority of his time to grandstand and attack Democrats.

[...]

"You know what?" he asked. "We're not having a hearing on the impact of Soros prosecutors releasing violent criminals from jail. We're not having a hearing on carjacking in Washington, D.C., because the Democrat city council lowered the penalty for carjacking, lowered the penalty for murder."

[screechingsandwichhologram]

do other countries have filibusters. like how in America a senator can just stand up there and talk about whatever the fuck they want (not even related to the topic) just to delay the vote. like when ted cruz read green eggs and ham

[nancydrewwouldnever]

Ok it's me again: The person who has never thought more than a second about Chris Evans. And I have a question.

What exactly do you mean by political engagement? And what happend about in regards to his image that caused this reaction from all of you.

Like I'm missing the biggest parts in this story and yet I'm entertained 💀

LOL, okay. First, thanks for coming back! Second, get ready for a wild ride.

So, back after the 2016 election of Trump, Chris Evans suddenly got very politically opinionated on Twitter. Some thought it was the effect of dating Jenny Slate, some thought he was just really pissed off about Trump. Either way, his new politically engaged tweets and snarky takes on Trump earned him a lot of new fans.

For some reason around 2017 he got the brainwave to start a political website that would help people be better informed voters. This website is called A Starting Point - ASP for short. The gist of the website is that politicians from both sides of the aisle give short insights into their takes on different topics/issues. So, he spent time originating this website with two partners between 2017-2020, and doing in person interviews with politicians between 2019-2020 for the website. It started getting him in hot water with fans, because he started being seen in photo ops with all kinds of people, including the likes of Ted Cruz and other icky Republicans.

In the interim, he also started reining in the political opinions on Twitter that people enjoyed. He became more cautious because of ASP, because of wanting engagement with both political parties. People started missing Political Chris.

Now, he's totally absent from Twitter, both politically and non-politically. Many people are unfollowing him there because they specifically now question his "woke" bonafides. They question if it was all just another PR rebrand that he's now tired of.

[beardedmrbean]

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday is considering for the first time on the topical question of whether tech companies are always immune from legal liability in disputes arising from problematic content posted by users.

The justices are hearing oral arguments in a case alleging that by recommending videos that spread violent Islamist ideology, YouTube bears some responsibility for the killing of Nohemi Gonzalez, an American college student, in the 2015 Paris attacks carried out by the Islamic State terrorist group.

At issue is whether there are limits to the liability shield for internet companies that Congress enacted in 1996 as part of the Communications Decency Act. The Supreme Court has never addressed the issue before, even as the power and influence of the internet have exploded.

The case, which tech companies warn could upend the internet as it currently operates, concerns whether Section 230 can be applied to situations in which platforms actively recommend content to users using algorithms.

The novel legal issue has given rise to some unusual cross-ideological alliances, with the Biden administration and some high-profile Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, having filed briefs backing at least some of the Gonzalez family’s legal arguments.

Liberal and conservative justices on Tuesday expressed skepticism and some confusion about the arguments being put forth by Gonzalez’s attorney, Eric Schnapper. Schnapper contended that some of what YouTube publishes in its recommendations, including thumbnails it creates, doesn't amount to third-party content protected under Section 230.

“I don’t understand how a neutral suggestion about something that you’ve expressed an interest in is aiding and abetting,” said Justice Clarence Thomas, who has criticized the statute's protections. "I just don't, I don't understand it. And I'm trying to get you to explain to us how something that is standard on YouTube for virtually anything that you have an interest in suddenly amounts to aiding and abetting because you're in the ISIS category."

Fellow conservative Justice Samuel Alito also expressed doubt about Schnapper's argument. "I'm afraid I'm completely confused by whatever argument you're making at the present time," he said.

Potential reform of Section 230 is one area in which President Joe Biden and some of his most ardent critics are in agreement, although they disagree on why and how it should be done.

Conservatives generally claim that companies are inappropriately censoring content, while liberals say social media companies are spreading dangerous right-wing rhetoric and not doing enough to stop it. Although the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, it is not clear how it will approach the issue.

Gonzalez, 23, was studying in France when she was killed while dining at a restaurant during the wave of terrorist attacks carried out by ISIS.

Her family alleges that Google-owned YouTube helped ISIS spread its message. The lawsuit targets YouTube’s use of algorithms to suggest videos for users based on content they have previously viewed. YouTube’s active role goes beyond the kind of conduct Congress intended to protect with Section 230, the family’s lawyers allege. 

The family filed the lawsuit in 2016 in federal court in Northern California and hopes to pursue claims that YouTube violated the Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows people to sue individuals or entities who “aid and abet” terrorist acts.

Citing Section 230, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit. That decision was upheld by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a June 2021 decision that also resolved similar cases families of other terrorist attack victims had brought against tech companies.

The Supreme Court's eventual ruling could have broad ramifications because recommendations are now the norm for online services, not just YouTube. Platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Twitter long ago began to rely on recommendation engines or algorithms to decide what people see most of the time, rather than emphasize chronological feeds.

Tuesday's argument is the first part of a social media company double-header at the high court. On Wednesday, the justices will hear a related appeal brought by Twitter about whether the company can be held liable under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The same appeals court that handled the Gonzalez case revived claims brought by relatives of Nawras Alassaf, a Jordanian citizen killed in a terrorist attack in Istanbul in 2017. The family accused Twitter, Google and Facebook of aiding and abetting the spread of militant Islamist ideology, which the companies deny. The question of Section 230 immunity has not yet been addressed in that case.

The Supreme Court has previously declined to take up cases about Section 230. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas has criticized it, citing tech giants’ market power and influence.

[ear-worthy]

Podcasts That Make Us Think: Why Do Some still Deny The Holocaust?

 What podcast made me think this week? It's Playing Anne Frank, a new podcast released on January 24. Using archival material and interviews with surviving cast and crew members, executive editor of the Jewish weekly publication, Forward, Adam Langer presents a story that’s never been told: the backstory of "The Diary of Anne Frank," the Pulitzer Prize-winning play and Oscar-winning film, and how this iconic work shapes those involved in performing it — including high school students putting the show on today.

The Diary of a Young Girl, also known as The Diary of Anne Frank, is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944, and Anne Frank died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945 at the age of 16.

The podcast is notable for its timing because January 27th was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is the 78th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. On this annual day of commemoration, we honor the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and millions of other victims of Nazism. We also promote the attributes of tolerance, collaboration, and empathy that helps to prevent future genocides.

While listening to the Playing Anne Frank podcast, I ask myself a frightening question. Could this horror happen again?  

Sadly, my answer is yes. 

Why do I feel that way?

First, because a recent study found that only 54 percent of the world's population has heard of the Holocaust. Ignorance, is, well, ignorance. Do you think many of the Russian people know of the atrocities committed by their army and soldiers in Ukraine? Of course, they don't. The masses are fed the line that Russia is saving Ukraine from genocide and, in a note of irony, Nazis.

Second, holocaust denialism is grown into a cottage industry, especially in the U.S. In another ironic twist, numerous studies show that present-day Germans accept and denounce the atrocities committed by the Nazis in their country. While, too many in the U.S. link the Holocaust in with the faked moon landing, JFK's assassination, 9/11, and deep state doomsday scenarios.

 Holocaust denial aims to cast doubt on the facts of the Holocaust as they pertain to its Jewish victims, and for years it percolated freely across Facebook. Even though such messages have been banned by Facebook since 2021 (what took them so long?), denialism still exists in the crevasses and effluent of the social media giant. 

Denial adherents claim that Jews fabricated evidence of their own genocide to gain sympathy, extract reparations from Germany and facilitate the allegedly illegal acquisition of Palestinian land for the creation of Israel. 

Why has Holocaust denialism grown in this country specifically? First, it doesn't help that the ex-president of the United States has dinner with a notorious holocaust denier, Nick Fuentes. Although Trump denied knowledge of the denier. Come on. Give the man credit. He cannot be that stupid. After all, he knew Fuentes from the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where hundreds of torch-bearing far-right demonstrators chanted "Jews will not replace us."

On Truth Social, owned by Trump, Holocaust denialism is a rich topic for discussion, festering on Telegram, an instant messaging site, and Gab, a social network – all known for their far-right user bases.

Trump has engaged is so many wild conspiracy theories that the truth is often obscured amid the mudslinging of wild accusations divorced from factual certitude. For example, Trump has suggested that the father of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas helped to assassinate President John F. Kennedy, and that Democrats funded the same migrant caravan traveling from Honduras to the U.S. that worried the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter.

Most Holocaust deniers want to wash away the stain of Nazism in an attempt to make Nazism an acceptable political alternative today. Many have present and past ties with hate groups and are trying to shed that image by masquerading themselves as seekers of historical truth, rather than merchants of bigotry. Holocaust denial is an important tool for anti-Semites, masquerading as a valiant search for the truth.

Second, the term “bothsidesism” has gained considerable momentum in the last few years. It describes the phenomenon of treating every opinion as equally valid, including falsehoods masquerading as objective fact. In October 2021, for example, educators in Southlake, Texas, were told if they had a book on the Holocaust in their classroom library, they would also have to have one that with an “opposing” perspective. In January 2022, Republican State Senator Scott Baldwin of Indiana said that educators “need to be impartial” while teaching students about Nazism.

In June 2022, at the American Library Association’s annual conference, author Nancy Pearl suggested that Holocaust denial books had a place in school libraries.

Other nations don't share that streak of Holocaust denialism. In 2018, Great Britain banned a prominent American Holocaust denier from entering the United Kingdom, according to a copy of correspondence from the interior ministry.

So where are we at? Seventy-eight years after U.S. soldiers found emaciated prisoners near death, mass graves, and a footprint of sadism not seen in the modern world?  

There's hope, and many will not forget. Will never forget. For example, writer Alexander Verbeek recently wrote an article in Medium about Holocaust Remembrance Day.

 In the article, he writes that, "The people who hid Anne Frank were breaking the law. The people who killed her were following the law."

Clearly, these Holocaust deniers need to be reminded of the tragedy of Anne Frank, her courage, and the inspiration we can draw from her ordeal.

In today's world with the January 6th insurrection, the attempt to overthrow the German government several months ago, and the recent attacks in Brazil, we need a reminder of how democracy protects us from the worst instincts of racial supremacists, extremists, and those who blame certain races and religions for their own woes.

Sadly, a conspiracy theory can provide comfort by identifying a convenient scapegoat and thereby making the world seem more straightforward and controllable. 

“People can assume that if these bad guys weren’t there, then everything would be fine,” says Australian cognitive scientist Stephen Lewandowsky in a recent piece. “Whereas if you don’t believe in a conspiracy theory, then you just have to say terrible things happen randomly.”

 At the end of his Medium article about the Holocaust, Verbeek writes: "Let me end with a quote from one of the other four letters that have been found, written by Zalman Gradowski, and found buried at an Auschwitz crematorium site":

"Dear finder of these notes, I have one request of you, which is, in fact, the practical objective for my writing … that my days of hell, that my hopeless tomorrow will find a purpose in the future."

Verbeek ends with: "He wrote so that his execution would find a purpose."

I think that we should never let Mr. Gradowski down.

[readingsquotes]

...But in the wake of deaths related to abortion access in the United States, leaders who support restricting the right have not called for any reforms.

..Leaders in Texas, which has the nation’s oldest abortion ban, have witnessed the consequences of such restrictions longer than those in any other state.

In lawsuits, court petitions and news stories, dozens of women have said they faced dangers when they were denied abortions starting in 2021. One suffered sepsis like Barnica, but survived after three days in intensive care. She lost part of her fallopian tube. Lawmakers have made small concessions to clarify two exceptions for medical emergencies, but even in those cases, doctors risk up to 99 years in prison and fines of $100,000; they can argue in court that their actions were not a crime, much like defendants can claim self-defense after being charged with murder.

Amid the deluge of evidence of the harm, including research suggesting Texas’ legislation has increased infant and maternal deaths, some of the ban’s most prominent supporters have muted their public enthusiasm for it. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who once championed the fall of Roe v. Wade and said, “Pregnancy is not a life-threatening illness,” is now avoiding the topic amid a battle to keep his seat. And Gov. Greg Abbott, who said early last year that “we promised we would protect the life of every child with a heartbeat, and we did,” has not made similar statements since.

Both declined to comment to ProPublica, as did state Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose commitment to the ban remains steadfast as he fights for access to the out-of-state medical records of women who travel for abortions. Earlier this month, as the nation grappled with the first reported, preventable deaths related to abortion access, Paxton celebrated a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that allowed Texas to ignore federal guidance requiring doctors to provide abortions that are needed to stabilize emergency patients.

“This is a major victory,” Paxton said.

...Abortion bans put doctors in an impossible position, she said, forcing them to decide whether to risk malpractice or a felony charge.

...

Texas has been on the forefront of fighting abortion access.

At the time of Barnica’s miscarriage in 2021, the Supreme Court had not yet overturned the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. But Texas lawmakers, intent on being the first to enact a ban with teeth, had already passed a harsh civil law using a novel legal strategy that circumvented Roe v. Wade: It prohibited doctors from performing an abortion after six weeks by giving members of the public incentives to sue doctors for $10,000 judgments. The bounty also applied to anyone who “aided and abetted” an abortion.

A year later, after the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling was handed down, an even stricter criminal law went into effect, threatening doctors with up to 99 years in prison and $100,000 in fines.

[dankusner]

Harris plans a rare Texas campaign stop

Friday rally intended to call attention to state’s abortion ban

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will interrupt her tour of battleground states Friday for a Houston rally intended to highlight the consequences of Texas’ near-total abortion ban.

Harris’ itinerary this week is heavy on stops in Georgia and swing states in the upper Midwest as she tries to reach undecided voters in areas key to the Nov. 5 election.

Texas is a frequent fund raising stop for candidates, but it is unusual — at least in recent cycles — to see big presidential campaign rallies in the state shortly before Election Day.

Polling indicates former President Donald Trump has a clear, albeit single-digit, advantage in Texas, which has not backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976.

The rally is likely less about making a last-minute play for the state and more about refocusing national attention on abortion, a topic where polling gives Democrats a distinct edge.

Allred to join in

Harris is set to be joined at the rally by U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, who is running against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Allred has endorsed Harris while trying to keep his distance from the presidential contest.

Instead, he has tried to make the race a referendum on Cruz and his support for tight abortion restrictions.

Allred has centered his campaign around a commitment to restoring abortion rights.

“What women in Texas are facing every day under Ted Cruz’s abortion ban is unacceptable,” Allred said in a statement Tuesday.

“By supporting an abortion ban that makes no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother, Ted Cruz has put women at risk.”

Allred said Texas women “deserve to have their voices heard” and he’s glad they will have a platform to tell their stories at the rally.

The Cruz campaign has sought to tie the Senate race to the presidential contest and jumped on news of the rally, repeating a statement the senator has used several times, including in their debate last week — “Colin Allred is Kamala Harris.”

Cruz held tele-rally

The Cruz campaign hosted a Monday night tele-rally with Trump intended to highlight the former president’s support for Cruz and cast Allred as a proxy for Harris.

Cruz said during the rally that Allred has backed Harris policies that are soft on illegal immigration and harmful to the state’s oil and gas industry.

Cruz described himself as Trump’s “strongest ally” by far in the U.S. Senate.

Trump also is coming to Texas on Friday, his son said.

Donald Trump, Jr. posted on Instagram that the former president will appear on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast.

Multiple news outlets reported Trump will record the interview Friday at Rogan’s studio in Austin.

Sharing Texas stories

During her Friday rally, Harris is expected to cast Texas as ground zero in the fight over abortion as she spotlights stories of Texas women with pregnancy complications who were denied care.

Democrats say Trump is responsible for tight abortion restrictions or outright bans in many states because he nominated three conservative Supreme Court justices who provided the margin for overturning Roe vs. Wade.

Texas is among 13 states that outlaw abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Abortion was a theme at the August Democratic National Convention, which featured Texans Kate Cox and Amanda Zurawski sharing stories of being denied medically necessary abortions. Zurawski and her husband spoke about how complications rendered her pregnancy nonviable but doctors would not perform an abortion.

Zurawski was hospitalized days later with an infection that nearly killed her and threatened her fertility.

Harris will be joined by Allred at Houston campaign rally

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will be in the Republican state of Texas 11 days before the Nov. 5 election and will be joined by Senate hopeful Colin Allred at a rally in Houston that will focus on the loss of reproductive freedom, a central issue in both candidates’ campaigns.

Friday’s event will be the first time Allred, a Democratic congressman from Dallas seeking to upset Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz, and the vice president have shared a stage in Texas in the 2024 election cycle.

Allred has so far been running a thread-the-needle campaign that seeks to keep the Democratic base in his tight grip, while not alienating independents and middleof- the-road Republicans who might not want to award Cruz six more years in the Senate.

“Allred has gone from an arm’s length handshake to a full-on embrace of the Harris campaign,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor.

“I think that’s because they’ve gone from persuasion to mobilization.”

Meanwhile, Politico reported Tuesday that former President Donald Trump will sit for an interview in Austin on Friday with podcaster Joe Rogan.

The report cited an unnamed source, but earlier this month the GOP nominee hinted that a one-on-one with Rogan was in the offing, and called the podcaster “a good guy.”

Polling in Texas since this summer, when Harris wrapped up the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, has shown the vice president closely trailing Trump and Allred nipping at Cruz’s heels.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have expended much of their time and financial resources in such must-win swing states as Pennsylvania and Michigan, largely ceding Texas to the GOP, which has won the state in every presidential election since 1980.

The Democrats’ rally Friday, at a Houston venue to be announced later, will be an opportunity to remind voters that Trump appointed the three U.S. Supreme Court justices who anchored the 2022 decision that ended the right to an abortion, which had been in place for 49 years under the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling.

And it’s a chance to highlight Cruz’s long-standing opposition to abortion rights and his expressed support for the high court’s decision to leave it to the individual states to set abortion law.

The Cruz campaign has been salivating at the opportunity to cast Allred as a Harris acolyte even as the former NFL player-turned-attorney has sought to shape his image as a rare member of Congress who’s willing to buck party leadership.

In an unsigned statement, the Cruz camp echoed a point the two-term Senate incumbent hammered during last week’s debate in Dallas: “Colin Allred is Kamala Harris.”

“They have spent the last four years working hand-in-hand against Texans and the American people with their radical policies, whether those be pushing to allow boys in girls’ sports, allowing dangerous illegal aliens to come into our country, or trying to destroy the oil and gas industry in Texas,” the statement said.

Allred, in a statement of his own, did not expressly mention his planned appearance at the Harris rally.

But he did embrace the rally’s chief theme.

“What women in Texas are facing every day under Ted Cruz’s abortion ban is unacceptable,” he said.

“By supporting an abortion ban that makes no exceptions for rape, incest or the life of the mother, Ted Cruz has put women at risk.”

Harris spoke to a teachers organization in Houston in July, shortly after harvesting the convention delegates needed to wrap up the nomination after Biden’s exit.

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff in September made a two-day, three-city visit to Texas that centered largely on fundraising.

Allred was not part of either visit.

While Allred is seeking to highlight the abortion issue to shave away votes from independents and moderate Republicans who believe that the Texas law is outside the mainstream consensus, Cruz on Tuesday was touting support from former state Sen. Eddie Lucio, a Brownsville Democrat who consistently bucked his party when it came to that issue.

In a statement, amplified by Cruz on social media, Lucio described the Republican as “staunchly pro-life.”

Rottinghaus said Houston is a sound strategic choice for a Harris-Allred event this late in the campaign.

Early voting in Texas began Monday and ends Nov. 1.

“The polling from Harris County has only got the Democrats up by 13,” he said.

“And that’s lower than it was in past cycles, and much lower than they need to be for Allred to win Texas.

“The Allred campaign needs to get its core Democratic coalition out, and Harris being here is one great way to do it.”

Matt Angle, a veteran Texas Democratic operative, said Allred and Harris are more in line with mainstream thinking on the abortion question than those who have championed the overturning of Roe.

He said that by coming to Houston, Harris can spread that message both in Texas and beyond, since presidential campaign events command national attention wherever they are held.

“It’s pretty good signal to people in Michigan that she’s willing to go down to Texas and tell (Republicans) that they’re absolutely wrong forcing a rape victim to carry a pregnancy to term, or forcing women to leave their states in order to get life-saving health care,” Angle said.

“That’s a good message in Houston, in Dallas, and in Detroit.”

[whereareroo]

LET’S FOCUS ON THE REAL ISSUES

WF THOUGHTS (10/19/24).

Stop reading right now and make a list. What are the top ten issues that you want addressed by the federal government, your state government, or your local government?

I bet you a donut that none of your lists included banning transgender athletes from sports competition.

There’s a reason that your lists wouldn’t include a sports ban for transgender athletes. It’s not a big deal. The issue has no impact on the lives of 99.9% of Americans.

Due to privacy issues, it’s difficult to estimate the number of transgender athletes in America. An expert who focuses on NCAA college sports estimates that, out of the total sum of 550,000 NCAA athletes, there are fewer than 100 transgender NCAA college athletes in America. Out of the millions and millions of kids that play school sports from grades K through 12, a transgender expert conducted a national survey and could only locate 5 transgender athletes. Let’s summarize the math. From kindergarten through college, there are probably fewer than 200 transgender athletes in all of America.

Despite the math, conservative Republican candidates for office are always harping about banning transgender athletes from sports. They act as if it’s the biggest public policy issue in America. Trump talks about it at almost every rally. In the very tight U. S. Senate race in Texas, Ted Cruz talks about it at every single rally. When Fox News interviewed Kamala Harris, it was the second question that they asked. All across America, the transgender ban is a talking point for Republicans seeking federal, state, and local offices.

Instead of focusing on a topic that involves fewer than 200 athletes, let me give you some other random statistics to think about:

** 38,000,000 Americans (11.5% of the population) live in poverty.

** 6,700,000 American families (5.25% of all families) live in substandard housing.

** 13,000,000 American kids (20% of the total) are malnourished.

** 2,200,000 American high school seniors (13% of the total) don’t graduate from high school every year.

** 11,200,000 American adults (44% of all adults) struggle to pay for health care.

** 18,000,000 American adults over the age of 75 (85% of that population) cannot afford the combined costs of housing and necessary medial care.

** 595,000 small businesses close each year, and 50% of all small businesses don’t last longer than 5 years.

** Don’t even get me started on the numbers related to gun violence. Based on the last four years, we now average 600 mass shootings every year. More than 50,000 Americans are killed by guns every year. Another 120,000 are injured.

Why are the Republicans talking about 200 athletes instead of talking about the big issues that impact millions and millions of Americans? That’s easy. It’s because they’re not interested in solving problems. They’re interested in creating problems and causing division. They’re interested in inflaming people.

I urge you to listen to the speeches given by Republican candidates for federal, state, and local offices. If they talk about transgender stuff, you have to have a tough talk with yourself. Is this candidate a serious leader, or are they just a flamethrower seeking to create division, anger, and hostility? There are so many serious issues facing America. Be very skeptical of candidates who harp about sports and transgender athletes. The flamethrower candidates think that voters are suckers, and they can persuade voters with inflammatory issues even if those issues have no impact on 99.9% of Americans. Don’t fall for it. Don’t be a sucker.

We should use our votes to remove flamethrower politicians from political life in America. We deserve so much better. We have the power to change politics and bring seriousness back to political campaigns. Do your part.

[bllsbailey]

Ted Cruz Leaves Colin Allred's Campaign in Shambles With Masterful Debate Performance

In a race too close for comfort, with everything on the line, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) delivered a masterful debate performance on Wednesday night. Facing off against Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), the current senator pummelled his opponent on issue after issue. Allred wasn't ready for primetime, contradicting himself at multiple points and walking right into numerous receipt-laden traps set by Cruz. 

Cruz came into the debate planning to expose Allred for the radical he is, not the moderate he claims to be. I think it's safe to say he succeeded.

CRUZ: He's said not a word about his own record. I have to admit that at the beginning of it, it reminded me of Kamala Harris in the debates answering everything, "Look, I was born in the middle class." It's some lines that sound nice that ignore his record. Let's just talk about his voting record. Again, you can go to allredfacts.com, you can see the actual votes. Four times, he has come out for men playing in women's sports and boys playing in girl's sports. He is a co-sponsor and he voted for a law called the Equality Act. The Equality Act mandated that boys be able to go into girl's bathrooms, locker rooms, and their changing rooms.  ALLRED: (mumbling) That's not true, that's not true CRUZ: He voted for it. That is his record. Number two, there was a bill, it was a very simple bill, it was narrowly defined. It was protecting women and girl's sports. He voted no. The only issue on that bill was whether biological boys should compete against our daughters. Congressman Allred was an NFL linebacker. It is not fair for a man to compete against women. The third time, he signed onto something called the Transgender Bill of Rights. The Transgender Bill of Rights explicitly, and he cosponsored it, mandated that boys compete against girls in sports. And just two weeks ago, Congressman Allred joined a hundred radical Democrats in demanding that our military allow drag shows on military bases, pay for soldiers to have sex changes using taxpayer money, and pay for children to be sterilized and have sex changes on military bases. Again, that's extreme. That's not Texas, but that's his voting record. 

While Allred has been bombarding the airwaves with ads claiming he's tough on the border and a social moderate, the truth is far different. As Cruz laid out with such precision, the congressman went to Washington and did what Democrats in Washington always do. He sponsored and voted for a variety of radical, far-left policies that make most people in Texas wince. 

Over and over, on the issue of transgenderism, Allred enthusiastically voted with his party and against protecting children. Far from the rebel he claims to be, the congressman has been a rubber stamp for the most extreme facets of the left-wing agenda. He can try to run from that record, but he can't hide from it. 

The pummelling just continued from there. On abortion, Cruz drew a sharp contrast, pointing out that Allred voted for federal legislation that would have legalized abortion until birth in every state. 

When the topic of antisemitism came up, Cruz again brought the receipts, pointing out that Allred has toed the Democrat line on Gaza and Hamas. The congressman, much like vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, also has a history of befriending and working with radical Islamists.

SEE: Tim Walz Caught in Scandal Involving a Muslim Cleric and Adolf Hitler

CRUZ: Congressman Allred invited a radical Imam in Dallas who called Zionists monsters and has compared them to Nazis. Congressman Allred calls them the best of North Texas. I don't support those who engage in antisemitic actions, and I will tell you, the funders of the antisemitic protests on college campuses are among Congressman Allred's biggest supporters. We need clarity, we need to draw a line, and as for me and my home, we will stand with Israel.

CRUZ: Right now, Kamala Harris & Colin Allred both want the votes of the anti-Semites on college campuses. I don't want their votes, and if they threaten Jewish students, they should be arrested, they should be prosecuted, they should be expelled, and if they are from another country, they should be deported.

Of course, the biggest liability for Allred is his opposition to Donald Trump's border policies. While the congressman has repeatedly claimed to be tough on the border, his comments and voting record when he wasn't running for the U.S. Senate paint a very different picture. 

CRUZ: In his entire answer, Congressman Allred makes zero reference to anything he's actually done in office. As Gromer Jeffers rightly noted in his question, Congressman Allred has said publicly that if you believe border security matters, he thinks you're a racist. He calls the border wall quote, "That racist border wall," and he has pledged to tear down that "racist border wall" personally, and he said quote, "We will not have that wall in this country."  And by the way, that's been his consistent voting record. He's voted against that wall not once, not twice, but three times. Every single time there's a serious measure to secure the border, Colin Allred votes no. Look, it's a pattern we've seen at the presidential level because it's what Kamala Harris does as well, and understand at home, Colin Allred is Kamala Harris. Their records are the same. I've served with both of them. They've voted in favor of open borders over and over and over again, and now they are desperately trying to hide that from the voters.  Now at the end, Congressman Allred said, "Well gosh, Cruz hasn't done anything on that," but let's talk about my record. When Donald Trump was president, I worked hand-in-hand with President Trump to secure the border and we achieved incredible success. We produced the lowest rate of illegal immigration in 40 years. That's what Joe Biden and Kamala Harris inherited. It's what Colin Allred inherited, and they deliberately broke it and opened the border, and Texas is paying the price.

Allred didn't go to Washington and buck his party to help solve the border crisis. Instead, all he mustered was a vote for a meaningless resolution. When it came to actual policy, the congressman was a rubber stamp for the Biden administration, whether that be his voting record or his rhetoric. 

In the end, Cruz took his opponent apart. Anyone who watched that debate should no longer be confused about who would be heading to the Senate if Allred were to win. At best, he'd become just another "yes man" for Chuck Schumer. At worst, if Kamala Harris were to win the presidency, he'd likely represent the decisive vote to enact her agenda. Texans need to choose wisely. This isn't the time to play around with yet another faux "moderate" Democrat who will be anything but once on the job.

[igettalk]

Video: Colin Allred Attacks Ted Cruz On Issues Of Texas Abortion Laws During Tuesday's Senate Debate

A lot of big issues that are important to Texas voters were raised during Tuesday's heated debate between Democratic Congressman Colin Allred and Republican Senator Ted Cruz. Allred didn't hold back when criticizing Cruz's record as they battled for the Texas Senate seat. Besides making headlines with some very sharp comments like calling Cruz's podcast "angertainment," Allred pointed out his opponent's support for the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which protected abortion rights for nearly 50 years. He questioned why Republicans like Cruz supported laws that made it harder for women to get abortions, even in difficult situations. Colin Allred stated, "You should look into the camera and speak to Kate Cox," a Texas woman who faced severe challenges because of strict abortion laws. He also mentioned Amanda Zurawski, who had complications during her pregnancy but was denied care. The Congressman urged Cruz to explain to Texas women, whom he wishes to represent at the U.S. Senate, why they sometimes have to leave the state for medical care. Ted Cruz didn't stand a chance in winning viewers on this topic and was mostly evasive about Texas's abortion ban, which does not allow exceptions for rape or incest. When the debate touched on the contentious issue of transgender rights, the Republican candidate, who has made this topic a central theme in his reelection campaign, accused Allred of supporting policies that allow boys to compete in girls' sports. He went further to claim that the Democratic candidate sought to use taxpayer funds for soldiers to have sex change operations and for children to get sterilized. https://twitter.com/OcrazioCornPop/status/1846355216897110124 In response, Allred firmly stated, "I don't support boys playing girls' sports..what I think is that folks should not be discriminated against." He argued that Cruz is using anti-transgender rhetoric to distract voters from more pressing issues, particularly those affecting women's health and rights. During last night's debate, which lasted nearly an hour, viewers were unhappy to hear about Cruz's controversial trip to Cancún, Mexico, in 2021, when many Texans were left without power due to a severe winter storm. Colin Allred seized on this vulnerability, repeatedly mentioning the incident as evidence of Ted Cruz's indifference toward his constituents at a time of crisis. Generally, both candidates displayed their debating skills well, with Cruz leveraging his extensive experience as a former solicitor general and senator. Allred, while less experienced in such formats, managed to keep pace with the former. Read the full article