Middleboro Review 2: Trump unveils cruel new plan to out-bigot DeSantis

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Trump unveils cruel new plan to out-bigot DeSantis

OD Action is now atAdvocacy!

Daily Dose of Democracy:

Trump unveils terrifying anti-trans plan
In a shameful attempt to out-radical his rival Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump released a video message in which he detailed his plan to ban federal promotion of gender transition for people of all ages, and to “establish that the only genders recognized by the United States government are male and female, and they are assigned at birth.” It's a dramatic escalation of the right-wing's current transphobic rhetoric, which is centered on portraying trans children as brainwashed victims of left-wing teachers and doctors, and vindicates trans activists who have been saying for years that the ultimate right-wing goal is for trans people to not exist at all. Gratuitous displays of heart-wrenching cruelty against vulnerable minorities are nothing new for Trump, but it signals a terrifying new front in the right-wing war against trans Americans and a greenlight for all the bigots in GOP legislatures to begin stripping even more freedoms away.

Take Action: Stop Oklahoma’s cruel anti-trans “Millstone Act!”

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Biden scores massive unexpected win
The president and the nation were treated to some unexpected huge news...that Republicans refused to acknowledge one bit.

Take Action: Tell Congress to stop scam PACs!

The 2022 midterms showed us how critical state-level organizing really is
Sister District: If just a few races had gone the other way, we could still be in control of Congress. It's imperative that we retake the House in 2024, and to do that we need to contest EVERY race in EVERY state. Will you chip in to help Sister District build the grassroots organization we need to elect progressives who will fight back against GOP extremism?

Matt Gaetz wants to make poor Americans work for their health care
The newly empowered Matt Gaetz, grasping firmly on the vice that contains Kevin McCarthy's testicles, is making the rounds in Congress to get his fellow Republicans to sign onto a debt ceiling scheme that would deny healthcare to people who cannot work for it. This morally bankrupt and wildly unpopular policy is trotted out every couple of years despite studies showing it doesn't actually get more people to work, since most people on Medicaid are pregnant women or children. Just another reminder that all the GOP has to offer the American people is needless cruelty and a demonstrated desire for the poor to literally die.

Take Action: Tell Biden to not let the GOP hold our country hostage with the debt ceiling!

Republicans have collective meltdown over Chinese balloon
En masse, the GOP predictably cried, screamed, threw up, then tried to raise money off the Chinese balloon that floated over the United States on Friday, overjoyed to have something new to have a hysterical freakout about to distract the nation from their complete lack of interest in actually governing.

Take Action: Tell Congress to punish Big Oil for price-gouging the public!

Insurrectionist GOP rep hands out AR-15 pins to his fellow Republican gun nuts
The GOP death cultists in Congress are now identifying themselves with AR-15 pins given out by Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde, replacing the GOP's traditional performative US flag pins with an icon honoring the weapon used to commit the worst massacres in American history. Clyde bragged that he was "triggering the libs," which is all the GOP caucus seems interested in doing these days. No word yet on how he feels about what the grieving families who lost their beloved children to these heinous weapons might think of this disgusting stunt.

US secures deal on Philippines bases to complete arc around China
The US has struck a deal with new Philippines President, and son of the country's murderous former tyrant, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., to build four new military bases in its former colony. The bases will complete a ring of US military bases surrounding the planet's most popular nation, which China — for some reason — views as an act of aggression. If you think being surrounded by state-of-the-art killing machines and the most overfunded military in the history of the world is provocative, have you heard of the balloon?

Republicans pull DISASTROUS stunt in the House
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Gross.

Reporters catch GOP reps saying Ilhan Omar removal was "stupidest vote in world"
Republicans Ken Buck of Colorado and Mike Simpson of Idaho were overheard making the comments, with both doing their best Captain Obvious impersonations and complaining that they were making Omar a "martyr" over what they called a retaliatory vote in response to Democrats removing demonstrably dangerous Republicans from committees in the last Congress. Yet they both voted with the rest of their spiteful party to oust Rep. Omar, essentially admitting that they're spineless hypocritical minions controlled by the extreme fringe of the GOP. As if there was any doubt.

ACLU sues CIA, DOJ, and NSA for records about warrantless spying on Americans
While the media obsesses over the possibility that China might be spying on the United States, the ACLU is demanding answers about the US intelligence community spying on its own citizens. The CIA, NSA, and DOJ have refused to respond to public records requests for information about Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act despite being legally required to hand over the information within 20 days. The ACLU argues that Section 702, supposedly a counterterrorism tool, is so broadly defined that targets of surveillance could include human rights defenders, journalists, whistleblowers, or business owners and is being used as a domestic surveillance tool for the FBI.

"Died suddenly" anti-vax conspiracy spreads on social media
The newest mutation of the COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theories promoted by right-wing propagandists purports that any sudden or unforeseen celebrity death is somehow a consequence of the vaccine, which is — of course — a grand conspiracy by the global elites to "depopulate the world" and usher in a new order of Marxism. That's right, a bunch of conservatives think Bill Gates engineered a global plot to kill Lisa Marie Presley because "socialism."

North Carolina Supreme Court signals it may roll back voting rights for thousands
A historic ruling that gave the right to vote back to thousands of disenfranchised North Carolinians is set to be overturned by a newly Republican state Supreme Court, which heard arguments in a case deciding whether people should have the right to vote while on probation or parole. It's another grim reminder of how much elections matter — the GOP picked up two more seats in the 2022 midterms, flipping the court and allowing it to assail rights that had only recently been secured.