From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Energize An Ally Tuesday
Heckuva job, Trump. By dropping guidelines for the protection of transgender students in our schools, you've prompted the Supreme Court to kick Virginia student Gavin Grimm's case back to the lower 4th Circuit court. As Zack Ford at Think Progress reports, the silver lining in yesterday's decision is that "The Fourth Circuit’s decision was based on judicial deference to the executive agencies, not whether Grimm had a fundamental right to be recognized for who he is. It’s possible that the next time such a case makes it to the Supreme Court, the justices will be faced with the direct question of whether transgender people deserve to have their gender identities respected under law." That'll be cold comfort, though, to trans kids who just had the door shut on them by their own government.
In recognition of the fight ahead, C&J has chosen to put the National Center for Transgender Equality in this week's Energize An Ally spotlight:
The National Center for Transgender Equality is the nation’s leading social justice advocacy organization winning life-saving change for transgender people.
NCTE was founded in 2003 by transgender activists who recognized the urgent need for policy change to advance transgender equality. With a committed board of directors, a volunteer staff of one, and donated office space, we set out to accomplish what no one had yet done: provide a powerful transgender advocacy presence in Washington, D.C. Today, NCTE has grown to a staff of 14 and works at the local, state, and federal level to change laws, policies and society.
Among the projects they coordinate are the Racial and Economic Justice Initiative that "ensures the perspectives and priorities of transgender people of color, and those who live in urban and rural poverty, are part of the national policy and advocacy agenda," and the Trans Legal Services Network that "helps ensure every transgender person can navigate the complicated name and gender change process and confidently address other legal issues they may face." As for yesterday's Supreme Court kickback, NCET says:
It is regrettable that the issue of equality for transgender Americans will not be heard by the highest court of the land. We are, however, confident that the Court of Appeals will again conclude---as most courts have---that gender discrimination laws like Title IX protect transgender students and forbid schools from singling them out.
[T]here is simply no reason for Gavin, or the hundreds of thousands of students like him, to be forced to make a ‘walk of shame’ to a separate facility every single day.
If you'd like to support the work of the NCTE with a tax-deductible donation, click on the donation link here. It's been amazing to see the outpouring of support for the trans community by, among others, major corporations (53 of which signed on to an amicus brief on behalf of Grimm). The resistance to that dumb HB2 law even got North Carolina's governor booted. So there's a heartening amount of progress along with the setbacks. But as long as Bannon-Trump-Pence are still parked behind the desk in the Oval Office, there will be no shortage of fights ahead.
P.S. For excellent updates on trans issues and developments, watch for posts by Kossack rserven, whose writing here over the years has been top-notch.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold...
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, March 7, 2017
Note: Time it takes for a Venus flytrap to close: 100 milliseconds. Approximate number of days it takes one to digest a trapped insect: 10. I'm noting these scientific facts in case the Trump White House scrubs them from the archives of scientific knowledge. ---Mgt.
-
By the Numbers:
Days 'til the Day Without A Woman rallies and marches: 1
Days 'til the 29th annual Ostrich Festival in Chandler, Arizona: 3
Percent of Democrats and Republicans, respectively, who believe a mix of global cultures is extremely or very important to American identity, according to a new AP-NORC poll: 65%, 35%
Amount by which Trump plans to cut funding to NOAA: 17%
Snowmobile deaths in Maine this winter: 9
Years since the last time Chicago had no snow on the ground in either January or February: 146
Number of attempts it took before Trump finally spelled "hereby" correctly in a tweet on Friday: 3
-
Puppy Pic of the Day: Ample warning has been given…
-
JEERS to same cruelty, different day. Oh joy. Steve Bannon and President Barf (see "Just one more" below) unveiled their latest anti-Muslim travel ban yesterday and it's ever so slightly more refined than the last turd that got tossed by the courts. This time around, Iraq is---Abracadabra!---no longer a threat to the Amerikaner Vaterland, so they're off the list, along with "legal permanent residents and people who have previously been issued visas." But, says Ilya Somin at The Washington Post, there's still plenty of awfulness and maybe even more unconstitutionality:
[T]he order still inflicts cruel harm on refugees and others, while creating little if any security benefit.
Most notably, the new order still cuts the total intake of refugees for fiscal year 2017 from 110,000 to 50,000. …[I]t consigns many thousands of refugees to misery and the risk of death without even a minimally plausible security rationale. The reduction applies to all refugees from anywhere in the world, regardless of whether there is any reason to think they might be security risks or not.
But the revised order remains vulnerable on the ground that its real purpose is religious discrimination against Muslims, which was the basis for the most recent trial court ruling against the initial order. Like the original order, the new one is still clearly an outgrowth of Trump’s advocacy of a “Muslim ban,” as admitted by Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani, who played a key role in drafting the first order.
In the immortal words of Trump himself: "See you in court!"
JEERS to taking your moronism national. Remember a year and a half ago when that mom in Texas noticed that her son's geography textbook referred to slaves as "workers" who were part of a "pattern of immigration"? McGraw-Hill backpedaled and made changes, and that was that. So leave it to our new Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (and Trump's designated African-American) Ben Carson to rip the scab off again in front of the whole damn country:
Ben Carson made a baffling claim that seemingly likened slaves to immigrants.
Calling the United States a “land of dreams and opportunity,” the newly confirmed housing and urban development secretary said, “There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less.” … It’s unclear what the retired neurosurgeon meant by the suggestion that immigrants came over on slave ships; however, the NAACP responded to Carson’s claim with a one-word response: “Immigrants???”
America's intellectual freefall continues.
JEERS to thuggish thuggery. On March 7, 1965---America's "Bloody Sunday"---a march by civil rights demonstrators---Congressman John Lewis among them---was broken up in Selma, Alabama when "state and local lawmen attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas." Or, as Jeff Sessions remembers it: when"state and local welcome wagons offered them tea and crumpets." History---so confusing.
CHEERS to shooting yourself with your own Bibi gun. Israeli prime minister and conservative saber-rattler Benjamin Netanyahu's days appear to be numbered, as an investigation into various charges moves toward its conclusion. But, of course, You-Know-Who had to bumble into the middle of it:
A phone call from U.S. President Donald Trump interrupted a police inquiry into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on Monday being questioned for a fourth time over suspicions of corruption.
If that call was staged, it was clumsy as hell. And probably worthless, because…
It is possible someone from his Likud party could replace Netanyahu without a new vote, but many analysts think it unlikely, predicting an election would have to be called for September or November, depending on developments. [...]
To analysts, the rumblings are clear and foreshadow change after 20 years of Netanyahu dominating the landscape.
"Active politicians and those on the benches waiting to enter, all of them have concluded that early elections are coming because of the investigation," Menachem Klein, a politics professor at Bar-Ilan University, told Reuters.
"They are starting to prepare themselves."
How do you prepare yourself for the absence of Netanyahu? I think step 1 is celebrate like hell.
CHEERS to Pa Bell. 141 years ago today, in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell received a patent---#174,465---for a communications device that has a diaphragm inside it. Bell called it the telephone. Republicans called it a slut.
-
Ten years ago in C&J: March 7, 2007
CHEERS to shrewd moves. See, by not paying his parking tickets, Barack Obama has just endeared himself to everyone from millionaire widows to rednecks with confederate flags on their trucks. Not to be outdone, Hillary promptly started ripping the tags off of mattresses.
-
And just one more…
CHEERS to mysteries solved. That hair. That swirling, whirling, non-human hair. Where have I seen it before? Finally, over the weekend I put two and two together when I saw this video of Trump huffing and puffing his way up the stairs of Air Force One:
There it is: Donald Trump has transplanted Barf hair:
And from this point on, I vow to respect the integrity of the office by referring to him as the President. President Barf.
Have a hair-raising Tuesday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
-
Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Americans are confused on Bill in Portland Maine’s kiddie pool, but support cutting Cheers and Jeers.
---The Guardian
-