#Utah State Legislature

[trinket-o-pawsum]

Utah my beloathed

[metanarrates]

less than two weeks after a law passed that bans transgender people in utah from using bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, an elected official is already inciting death threats against a child:

the girl in question (who is cisgender) is under police protection currently after a member of the STATE EDUCATION BOARD posted her photos on facebook and implied that the girl was trans. she took the photos down after learning that the girl was cis, but the damage had already been done. the student in question had already recieved a barrage of death threats.

the board member, natalie cline, has faced backlash and state legislature has already started discussion on how to impeach state board officials, but I find it important to reiterate that the girl she accused of being trans was in fact cisgender. I doubt the backlash would be quite so widespread if this wasn't a false accusation. this behavior is being normalized and encouraged by our bigoted state legislation.

we're going to see more of this kind of thing in the future, most likely. please keep your eyes on utah

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Year - 2023 Edition

Welcome to our special edition newsletter recapping the best news from the past year. I've picked one highlight from each month to give you a snapshot of 2023. No frills, just straightforward news that mattered. Let's relive the good stuff that made our year shine.

January - London: Girl with incurable cancer recovers after pioneering treatment

A girl’s incurable cancer has been cleared from her body after what scientists have described as the most sophisticated cell engineering to date.

2. February - Utah legislature unanimously passes ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy

The Utah State Legislature has unanimously approved a bill that enshrines into law a ban on LGBTQ conversion therapy.

3. March - First vaccine for honeybees could save billions

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the world’s first-ever vaccine intended to address the global decline of honeybees. It will help protect honeybees from American foulbrood, a contagious bacterial disease which can destroy entire colonies.

4. April - Fungi discovered that can eat plastic in just 140 days

Australian scientists have successfully used backyard mould to break down one of the world's most stubborn plastics — a discovery they hope could ease the burden of the global recycling crisis within years. 

5. May - Ocean Cleanup removes 200,000th kilogram of plastic from the Pacific Ocean

The Dutch offshore restoration project, Ocean Cleanup, says it has reached a milestone. The organization's plastic catching efforts have now fished more than 200,000 kilograms of plastic out of the Pacific Ocean, Ocean Cleanup said on Twitter.

6. June - U.S. judge blocks Florida ban on care for trans minors in narrow ruling, says ‘gender identity is real’

A federal judge temporarily blocked portions of a new Florida law that bans transgender minors from receiving puberty blockers, ruling Tuesday that the state has no rational basis for denying patients treatment.

7. July - World’s largest Phosphate deposit discovered in Norway

A massive underground deposit of high-grade phosphate rock in Norway, pitched as the world’s largest, is big enough to satisfy world demand for fertilisers, solar panels and electric car batteries over the next 50 years, according to the company exploiting the resource.

8. August - Successful room temperature ambient-pressure magnetic levitation of LK-99

If the claim by Sukbae Lee and Ji-Hoon Kim of South Korea’s Quantum Energy Research Centre holds up, the material could usher in all sorts of technological marvels, such as levitating vehicles and perfectly efficient electrical grids.

9. September - World’s 1st drug to regrow teeth enters clinical trials

The ability to regrow your own teeth could be just around the corner. A team of scientists, led by a Japanese pharmaceutical startup, are getting set to start human trials on a new drug that has successfully grown new teeth in animal test subjects.

10. October - Nobel Prize goes to scientists behind mRNA Covid vaccines

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to a pair of scientists who developed the technology that led to the mRNA Covid vaccines. Professors Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman will share the prize.

11. November - No cases of cancer caused by HPV in Norwegian 25-year olds, the first cohort to be mass vaccinated for HPV.

Last year there were zero cases of cervical cancer in the group that was vaccinated in 2009 against the HPV virus, which can cause the cancer in women.

12. December - President Biden announces he’s pardoning all convictions of federal marijuana possession

President Joe Biden announced Friday he's issuing a federal pardon to every American who has used marijuana in the past, including those who were never arrested or prosecuted.

------

And there you have it – a year's worth of uplifting news! I hope these positive stories brought a bit of joy to your inbox. As I wrap up this special edition, I want to thank all my supporters!

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[the-cimmerians]

Today, ProPublica reports on yet another big change that stands to solve a decades-long problem we first learned about back in 2016, closing a huge loophole that allowed states to divert federal antipoverty funds to governors’ pet projects, like promoting abstinence, holding “heathy marriage” classes that did nothing to prevent out-of-wedlock births, funding anti-abortion “clinics” to lie about abortion “risks,” sending middle-class kids to private colleges, and other schemes only tangentially related to helping poor kids. It’s the same loophole that Mississippi officials tried to drive a truck through to divert welfare funds to former sportsball man Brett Favre’s alma mater, for a volleyball palace. [ ]

The agency has proposed new rules — open for public comment until December 1 — aimed at nudging states to actually use TANF funds to give cash to needy parents, not fill budget holes or punish poor people.

One change will put an end to the scheme Utah used to substitute LDS church funds for welfare, by prohibiting states

from counting charitable giving by private organizations, such as churches and food banks, as “state” spending on welfare, a practice that has allowed legislatures to budget less for programs for low-income families while still claiming to meet federal minimums.

Another new rule will put the kibosh on using TANF to fund child protective services or foster care programs, which are not what TANF is supposed to be for, damn it.

And then there’s the simple matter of making sure that funds for needy families go to needy families, not to pet projects that have little to do with poverty:

The reforms would also redefine the term “needy” to refer only to families with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty line. Currently, some states spend TANF money on programs like college scholarships — or volleyball stadiums — that benefit more affluent people.

[amtrak-official]

We have one week till elections, despite being an Off Year we ahve some important things on the ballot, such as

The Virginia, Mississippi and New Jersey State Legislature elections

Congressional special elections in Virginia, Rhode Island and Utah

Kentucky and Mississippi Governorship

Abortion and weed Legalization in Ohio

The Cincinnati Railroad

Making Houston have a city government that treats the city fairly

Nationalizing the Maine Power Grid

Several Mayors and school boards are up for election

[beardedmrbean]

FRANKFORT – Potential mothers could claim child support during pregnancy under a new proposal before the Kentucky legislature.

House Bill 243, filed by Republican Reps. Amy Neighbors of Edmonton and Stephanie Dietz of Edgewood, would change Kentucky law to claim child support "at any time following conception."

The bill is designed to support pregnant mothers, Neighbors said.

"There are a lot of costs associated with a pregnancy and basically getting ready for baby," Neighbors said, pointing to car seats, other needed supplies and lost work time when a pregnant mother has to attend doctor appointments.

But abortion-rights advocates see the bill as part of an attempt to advance an anti-abortion agenda by laying the groundwork for fetal personhood under Kentucky law.

Bills based on the idea that a fetus is a person have been filed across the country after the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022.

Neighbors said her decision to introduce the bill was not directly influenced by Kentucky's ban on most abortions but rather by a desire to support women during pregnancy.

The measure also would allow paternity testing prior to birth, as long as it's safe to do so, Neighbors said.

The bill was sent to the Committee on Committees on Jan. 11. Neighbors said she believes HB 243 will have widespread support from House Republicans.

Critics see bill as attempt at fetal personhood

Abortion-rights advocates told The Courier Journal the measure is an attempt to cement into law the belief that life begins at conception.

Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, said the measure would create a "slippery slope" for pregnant people.

"What the bill would do would be to grant full personhood to an embryo from the moment of conception," Willner said. "These so-called personhood laws could result in a pregnant woman facing child abuse charges and even incarceration if she seeks treatment for drug or alcohol abuse.”

“The legislature should instead focus on bolstering actual support for pregnancy, such as ensuring insurance access, covering doula and midwifery services, and expanding mental health supports," Willner said.

"This bill is an underhanded attempt to advance an anti-abortion agenda and lay the groundwork for fetal personhood in state law by allowing people to seek child support for a fetus," said Tamarra Wieder, Kentucky state director for the Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates.

Wieder is also concerned the bill would open the door for surveillance of pregnant people because it would require the state to verify their eligibility for child support. She agreed with Willner that the legislature should focus on health care during pregnancy.

Planned Parenthood will ask its supporters to call legislators and express their opposition, Wieder said.

"We may actually be able to stop this because Kentuckians don't want more restrictions to abortion, and this is another abortion restriction that would be codified in law," Wieder said.

But when asked when asked about the comments from abortions-rights supporters, Neighbors said, "I can’t stress enough that my goal is to simply be supportive of mothers, children, and families."

National trend

The bill is the first Kentucky measure Willner has seen that creates a potential personhood definition for a fetus, she said.

But other states and Congress have considered, and in some cases adopted, similar bills around child support.

In 2021, Utah adopted a measure that requires fathers to pay 50% of the mother's pregnancy expenses. Indiana's legislature last year expanded the list of childbirth-related expenses fathers could be held responsible for paying, though the legislature stopped short of categorizing those payments as child support.

Georgia's abortion law applies the state's child support rules to any fetus "with a detectable heartbeat."

Washington Republicans have introduced bills similar to the current proposal in Kentucky. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Ashley Hinson, R-Iowa, in December introduced in their respective chambers the "Supporting Healthy Pregnancy Act," which would require biological fathers to pay child support for medical expenses during pregnancy.

"These bills are often introduced by folks who are pro-life or anti-abortion who believe that a fetus or unborn child is a rights-holding person," said Mary Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California-Davis. She is writing a book about the fetal personhood movement.

"The strategy behind them is to set a precedent that, you know, that life in the womb has rights essentially, which would obviously have extensions to abortion too," Ziegler said. "Essentially it would mean liberal abortion laws would be unconstitutional."

A separate Kentucky bill introduced by Sen. David Yates, D-Louisville, would add exceptions for rape, incest, maternal health, and lethal fetal anomalies to Kentucky's near-total ban on abortions. __________________

I thought this was what they wanted, people keep going after pro life people for fetal child support and now that it's on the docket they're mad for some reason.

[loveerran]

Utah Bathroom Ban

In an effort to protect women and children from a problem that does not exist, Utah legislators recently passed, and the governor recently signed into law, HB 257. Among other things, this bill defines criminal penalties for improper use of a binary, sex-designated (male or female) restroom in a government owned or controlled space that does not correspond to one's assigned sex:

"Going into a bathroom that is not consistent with your birth gender, or your birth sex, you are putting yourself at greater risk. I think that’s the best way for everybody to look at it and say, ‘How do I avoid risk? How do I avoid risk of arrest?'" - Senate sponsor of HB 257 Dan McCay

As a trans woman who has been out and about for 20 years, what I hear in this quote is very specifically: "We want you to be scared when you use a bathroom that doesn't align with your assigned sex at birth. You already know someone may report you just for being there and the criminal justice system is horrible for trans women, so maybe you'll think twice before trying to pee when out in public."

And it works. I am reminded I am different and should be scared of what will happen if the wrong person is having a bad day, reports me to the bathroom monitoring authorities, and some cop starts making choices that put me in a difficult or dangerous situation. Stories of abuses suffered by trans women in the system are legion.

But I don't think my situation is the real problem here. In practical terms, this bill means a trans kid can't use a school restroom that aligns with their gender identity and/or presentation. Instead, they have to develop a 'privacy plan' with the school and use separately designated facilities or a faculty restroom, etc. - reinforcing that they are 'other'. This is very dangerous and will create victims and we have actual data and studies to back up that assertion.

Let me restate: There is data demonstrating that bathroom restrictions hurt gender non-conforming kids, with a reported increase in the sexual assault rate of nearly 50% when bathroom restrictions of this type are in place.

My wife points out "I would be safer in a men's restroom than you. Most men will actually try to protect women, but that doesn't apply to trans women. Quite the opposite."

The sponsors of the bill could not name a single instance of trans kids being a problem in spaces aligned with their gender identity. Not one single incident for them to rely on. And they ignored evidence indicating there are actual harmful effects. This bill makes a small, marginalized group of people more likely to be victims of violence.

This issue was so important to the Utah legislature that they devoted a substantial portion of the 1st two weeks of the legislative session to HB 257, including significant changes after the public comment period passed.

When the bill went live on May 1, the Utah State Auditor's office began being flooded with false reporting (I love you all :)!). The Auditor's office responded by publishing what can only be described as a scathing indictment of the situation:

"the Office created the complaint form to comply with a statutory mandate – a role we did not request. Indeed, no auditor sets out to become a bathroom monitor... Like many in the public, we learned about our role under this bill shortly before the bill was rushed to final passage. I recognize that many Utahns feel trampled by an invasive and overly aggressive Legislature that too often fails to seek input from those most affected."

Thank you to everyone who continues to fight for us on this issue. There aren't enough of us to win this on our own. We need your help.

[reasonsforhope]

"Two years ago, the biggest battles in state legislatures were over voting rights. Democrats loudly — and sometimes literally — protested as Republicans passed new voting restrictions in states like Georgia, Florida and Texas. This year, attention has shifted to other hot-button issues, but the fight over the franchise has continued. Republicans have enacted dozens of laws this year that will make it harder for some people to vote in future elections. 

But this year, voting-rights advocates got some significant wins too: States — controlled by Democrats and Republicans — have enacted more than twice as many laws expanding voting rights as restricting them, although the most comprehensive voter-protection laws passed in blue states. In all, 39 states and Washington, D.C., have changed their election laws in some way this year...

Where voting rights were expanded in 2023 (so far)

Unlike two years ago, though, we’d argue that the bigger story of this year’s legislative sessions was all the ways states made it easier to vote. As of July 21, according to the Voting Rights Lab, [which runs an excellent and completely comprehensive tracker of election-related bills], 834 bills had been introduced so far this year expanding voting rights, and 64 had been enacted. What’s more, these laws are passing in states of all hues.

Democratic-controlled jurisdictions (Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Washington) enacted 33 of these new laws containing voting-rights expansions, but Republican-controlled states (Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming) were responsible for 23 of them. The remaining eight became law in states where the two parties share power (Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia).

That said, not all election laws are created equal, and the most comprehensive expansive laws passed in blue states. For example: 

New Mexico adopted a major voting-rights package that will automatically register New Mexicans to vote when they interact with the state’s Motor Vehicle Division, allow voters to request absentee ballots for all future elections without the need to reapply each time and restore the right to vote to felons who are on probation or parole. The law also allows Native Americans to register to vote and receive ballots at official tribal buildings and makes it easier for Native American officials to get polling places set up in pueblos and on tribal land.

Minnesota followed suit with a law also establishing automatic voter registration and a permanent absentee-voting list. The act allows 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote too. Meanwhile, a separate new law also reenfranchises felons on probation or parole.

Michigan enacted eight laws implementing a constitutional amendment expanding voting rights that voters approved last year. Most notably, the laws guarantee at least nine days of in-person early voting and allow counties to offer as many as 29. The bills also allow voters to fix mistakes on their absentee-ballot envelopes so that their ballot can still count, track the status of their ballot online, and use student, military and tribal IDs as proof of identification. 

Connecticut became the sixth state to enact a state-level voting-rights act, which bars municipalities from discriminating against minority groups in voting, requires them to provide language assistance to certain language minority groups and requires municipalities with a record of voter discrimination to get preclearance before changing their election laws. The Nutmeg State also approved 14 days of early voting and put a constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot that would legalize no-excuse absentee voting.

No matter its specific provisions, each of these election-law changes could impact how voters cast their ballots in future elections, including next year’s closely watched presidential race. There’s a good chance your state amended its election laws in some way this year, so make sure you double-check the latest rules in your state before the next time you vote."

-via FiveThirtyEight (via FutureCrunch), July 24, 2023

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

According to the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), nine states currently prohibit transgender individuals from using restrooms and facilities that align with their gender identity in government-owned buildings and/or educational institutions, including K-12 schools and colleges. If H.B. 257 is enacted, Utah would have one of the most extreme anti-transgender bathroom bans in the country and join Florida in being one of the least safe states for trans people in the U.S.

“I’m scared for every transgender person who has to choose between holding their bladder or potentially being seen as a criminal,” Rep. Sahara Hayes (D), the only openly LGBTQ member of the Utah legislature, said on Friday. “And I’m scared for my family. We have had multiple discussions about what our lives would look like if this should pass.”

[august-undergrounds]

Mormon Doctrine of Blood Atonement and the Law of Vengance

Blood Atonement: This part of Mormon doctrine has now been denied by church leaders and practitioners, and denounced as a lie spread by detractors of the church. However, many official church texts, mainly those created during Brigham Young's presidency, state this belief explicitly. It refers to the idea that, although Jesus Christ's blood has atoned for the sins of the world, there are certain crimes against God that not even Christ can redeem. In this instance, that person must have their blood shed upon the earth so that they may not be subject to eternal suffering in outer darkness as a son of perdition.

"... Brigham Young, taught that in a complete theocracy the Lord could require the voluntary shedding of a murder's blood - presumably by capital punishment - as part of the process for atonement of such grevious sin." (Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Daniel H Ludlow, Brigham Young University)

While this quote states that the sinner's blood must be shed voluntarily, it does not appear to be a requirement, as seen in the execution of John D. Lee folowing the Mountain Meadows Massacre, of which Brigham Young was quoted as saying during an interview:

[Correspondednt - "Do you belive in blood atonement?"

Brigham Young - "I do, and I belive that Lee has not half atoned for his great crime. The Saviour died for all the sins of the world by shedding his blood, and then I belive that he who sheds the blood of man wilfully, by man shall his blood be shed. In other words capital punishment of roffenses deserving death, according to the laws of the land"] (An Interview With Brigham Young, from Deseret News vol. 26 no. 16)

Other crimes against God that may call for blood atonement are apostasy (denying the church's truth), theft, and fornication, although sodomy and adultery are not included. It is important to note that this practice was intended to be instituted in a state run by the Mormon acting as the head of the government. Brigham Young was once close to this theocracy during the early days of the Mormon church in the Utah Territory. The pre-existing church heirarchy and leadership quickly assumed positions of power, with Brigham Young serving as the Utah Territory's first govenor, where he exerted incredibly influence over the people. In Young's ideal world, he could govern his church and prosecute those deserving of capital punishment through the arm of the law, thus implementing blood atonement.

Examples of this include the diary of John Doyle Lee, who was present for meetings between Brigham Young and The Council of Fifty (a group of religious leaders in a legislative body), as they drafted a plan for the State of Deseret (the proposed name for the modern day state of Utah). On March 3rd, 1849, Young was quoted as saying "...Suffering infernals, thieves, Murderers, Whoremongers & every other wicked curst to [exist?], through mercy to live amoung us, adding sin to sin, crime to crime, currupting the morals of the People when their Blood ought to floow [sic] to atone for their crimes. I want their cursed heads to be cut off that they may atone for their Sins, that mercy may have her claims upon them in the day of redemption."

Additionally, Brigham Young promoted decapitation to atone for the supposed sin of White Mormon men intermingling with Black people. He said, "If a man in an unguarded moment should commit such a transgression, if he would walk up and say cut off my head, and kill man woman and child it would do a great deal towards atoning for the sin. Would this be to curse them? no it would be a blessing to them. — it would do them good that they might be saved with their Bren. A man would shudder should they here us take about killing folk, but it is one of the greatest blessings to some to kill them, although the true principles of it are not understood" (Speech by Gov. Young in Joint Session of the Legislature, Feb 5th, 1852)

Both of these quotes mentioned above paint a clear picture of what Brigham Young was intending to do with the Utah territory. There are records of him doing so along with the Council of Fifty, which are recorded in John Doyle Lee's diary as discussing decapitating a man and how to "dispose of him privately". Although they eventually let this man live, decapitiation as a method of execution was instituted in Utah until 1888.

Another important part of the doctrine of blood atonement is it's relationship to the murder of Joseph Smith Jr, the first prophet and leader of the Mormon church, and his brother Hiram Smith, at Carthage Jail, Illinois. This assasination occured both because of political strife (Josph Smith was running for United States President, among lesser state-centric conflicts with authorities, mostly about polygamy) and a rejection of Mormonism by the people of Illinois. Following his death, Brigham Young was instated as the new prophet of the church, upon which he began teaching the idea that Joseph and Hiram's blood cried out against God for vengance. This sparked the institution of the oath of vengance, as part of the endowment ritual (one of the highest ceremonies preformed in Mormon temples, meant to give all members the key words, signs, tokens, and ordinances needed to return to God's kingdom).

Oath of Vengance: This was an addition to the Nauvoo endowment during a time where many church members yearned to avenge the murder of their most beloved leader and prophet. The original oath reads as follows: "You and each of you do covenant and promise that you will pray and never cease to pray to Almighty God to avenge the blood of the prophets upon this nation, and that you will teach the same to your children and to your children's children unto the third and fourth generation." While some members interpereted this as a prompt for prayer alone, others took it to mean a personal responsibility to kill those involved in the martyrdom, should the situation arise. This part of the endowment ceremony was taken out in 1927 during the intitiution of the church's Good Neighbor Policy. These are not to be confused with penalty oaths, which describe the participants agreement to being slit ear to ear, disemboweled, detounged, and have their hearts split open if they revealed the secrets of the church and their endowed vows to others. (may make an infopost on this one too)

Other notable supporters of blood atonement include Jedidiah M Grant, who wrote the statement below in the Deseret News on March 12 1854.

["It is their right to baptize a sinner to save him, and it is also their right to kill a sinner to save him, when he commits those crimes that can only be atoned for by shedding his blood. If the Lord God forgives sins by baptism, and there is another law that certain sins cannot be atoned for by baptism, but by the shedding of the blood of the sinner, query, whether the people of God be overreaching the mark, if they should execute the law to save such. They could do it sucinctly. We would not kill a man, of course, unless we killed to save him."] (Deseret News, vol. 4 no. 20)

It is important to mention that, although there is clear evidence of the doctrine being preached, the Mormon church made a firm stance that it had not actually practiced this doctrine yet, although it would do so soon towards covenant breakers. They also preached that current sinners who would likely need to atone by their own blood should repent as much as they could while alive, so that eventually their sins would not be so greivious as to require their deaths. Blood atonement was framed as an act of both mercy and love, rather than a deliberatly violent act. Two notable reported victims of blood atonement are Thomas Coleman, a Black man who was murderd by Mormons for his relationship with a white woman, and Rosmos Anderson, a Danish Mormon and willing participant who was sentenced for adultery. (I will make a seperate post about these individuals and other people killed).

Jedidiah M Grant was also quoted as saying the below quote during a sermon titled Rebuking Iniquity on September 21, 1856

["I say, that there are men and women that I would advise to go to the President immediately, and ask him to appoint a committee to attend to their case; and then let a place be selected, and let that committee shed their blood. We have those amongst us that are full of all manner of abominations, those who need to have thier blood shed, for water will not do, their sins are of too deep a dye."]

This doctrine continued to be defended by later prophets, such as John Taylor and Charles W Penrose. However, in a statement issued in 1889 by prophet Wilford Woodruf, the church denied their promotion of blood atonement, saying "We denounce as entirely untrue the allegation which has been made, that our church favors or believes in the killing of persons who leave the church or apostatize from its doctrines." (Manisfesto of the Presidency and Apostles, December 12, 1889) This denial was later restated by church figures like Bruce R McConkie, stating "If by blood atonement is meant the shedding of the blood of men to atone in some way for their own sins, the answer is No. We do not believe that it is necessary for men in this day to shed their own blood to receive a remission of sins." (Letter from Bruce R McConkie to Thomas B. McAfee)

Blood atonement continues to be denied by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, although it is still practiced by some splinter groups today. One final note is that the system for capital punishment in Utah involved the option for either death by hanging or death by firing squad. While hanging did not spill the sinner's blood upon the earth, therefore keeping the sinner from experiencing blood atonement, death by firing squad would, and as such, was presented as a valid option for those sentenced to death in Utah. However, it appears firing squads were less favored then decapitation, which would spill more blood. Death by firing squad was removed from Utah prison systems in 2004, and has now been replaced by lethal intravenous injection. This law was not applied retroactively however, allowing Ronnie Lee Gardener to choose death by firing squad in 2010, the last exectuion of its kind in both Utah and the United States. He cited his Mormon roots for this decision.

[metanarrates]

I haven't seen a lot of coverage in the news about this, but my state has just advanced legislation on a bill that would criminalize trans bathroom use in publicly owned buildings. this could mean up to 6 months in jail and up to $1000 in fees for those convicted.

most alarming aspects of this bill:

-"publicly owned buildings" include airports, schools, libraries, government offices, some hospitals, and most terrifyingly AND explicitly within the bill, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis facilities. transgender people, who are estimated to be almost 4 times more likely to be victims of violent crimes than cisgender people, could become criminalized in the very spaces they seek out to shelter from abuse.

-on that note, the bill potentially threatens federal funding of already-underfunded domestic violence and sexual assault facilities. to recieve federal grants, facilities are required to follow nondiscrimination laws. this law could place the facilities in danger of losing the grants they rely on. this is severely going to impact victims' abilities to access critically needed services.

-the bill legally defines "sex" in a way that has a lot of potential impact across state legislature. according to the bill’s text, HB 257 would legally define a female as “an individual whose biological reproductive system is of the general type that functions in a way that could produce ova,” and a male as “an individual whose biological reproductive system is of the general type that functions to fertilize the ova of a female.” this could effectively end the state's legal recognition of trans people.

-the bill demands that trans people who DO use bathrooms in publicly owned buildings must have undergone both gender reassignment surgery and have had their birth certificate changed. this has several issues, obviously, but the biggest one I want to highlight is that this opens the door to potential genital inspection by law enforcement if someone is accused of being transgender in a bathroom. in addition to any other indignities suffered by being harassed by cops when trying to use the restroom, it is completely possible for law enforcement to now demand to see whether someone's genitals are in compliance with these laws. it's an unconscionable and humiliating invasion of privacy.

-the bill requires trans students to develop a "privacy plan" with their school in order to arrange access to unisex spaces. if unisex bathrooms are unavailable, the student can be granted access to a sex-designated space “through staggered scheduling or another policy provision that provides for temporary private access.”

-the bill allows the state’s attorney general to impose a fine of up to $10,000 per day on local governments that don’t enforce the bill. in essence, any government that isn't sufficiently committed to enforcing these draconian laws may face massive fines until they have reached the attorney general's standard of enforcement.

this is one of the most unbelievably severe anti-trans laws that have ever been proposed in the united states. it would effectively ban trans people from participating in public life, harm nearly every single victim of domestic violence and sexual assault who seeks services in the state, enforce criminality on random trans people in bathrooms, and open every single person who could be potentially accused of being trans up to a wave of harassment and discrimination from both private citizens and law enforcement. I'm not being hyperbolic when I say that this law would literally force me and my transfemme fiancee to flee this state.

the law's been fast tracked to an insane degree through the legislature. similarly to the anti-dei bill currently making its way through, it's only been a week since it was introduced, and it's already passed the house, and is now up for vote in the senate. if it passes both sets of votes, the only thing left in its way is the governor's decision to veto.

please share this post. make as much noise as you can. if you live in utah, please call and email your district senator as soon as possible. it doesn't matter how late you see this. the bill is up for vote this week (1/23/24 at the time of writing) and we need to do whatever we physically can to protest its passing. we've already moved past the opportunity for public comment on the bill, but a few organizations have called for a rally at the capitol steps on thursday (1/25/24) at noon. if you are in the salt lake area or are able to make it there, please consider attending. wear a mask and bring a sign. we are stronger together.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Villarreal at LGBTQ Nation:

Over a dozen public school districts in Oklahoma have said they won’t comply with a recent directive requiring them to teach about the Bible and the Ten Commandments. The state’s anti-LGBTQ+ Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters issued the directive in June and has threatened to penalize “rogue” districts that refuse “immediate and strict compliance” to his demands.

The state’s largest districts–including Bixby, Broken Arrow, Caddo, Collinsville, Deer Creek, Jenks, Moore, Norman, Owasso, Piedmont, Stillwater, Tulsa, and Yukon–have all publicly said they won’t alter their curriculum to follow Walters’ directive because it may violate state laws. Walters’ office released a five-page guideline last week on how to incorporate the Bible into lessons in late July, The Oklahoman reported. Walters’ guidance said that school lessons in grades five-through-12 should focus on the Bible’s influence on history, literature, music, and other arts and culture. His guidance also requires every classroom to contain a physical copy of the book and copies of the Ten Commandments, the U.S. Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence, The Hill reported. The defiant school districts have said they won’t follow his order and will instead follow the current academic standards approved by the Oklahoma Legislature. Current state standards give schools the option to incorporate the Bible into their lessons, but it doesn’t require them to do so.

[...] Miller suspects Walters would like the issue to advance to the U.S. Supreme Court where the court’s 6-3 conservative majority might rule in his favor. Conservatives have admitted that Republican attempts to insert Christianity and censor LGBTQ+ content in classrooms is part of a larger plan to delegitimize public schools so that taxpayer funds may go to Christian and exclusionary private schools instead. In early April, Walters announced rules banning “pornographic material” and “sexualized content” from public school libraries, including 190 LGBTQ+ titles. The state attorney general invalidated that order as well. But while Walters and U.S. conservatives nationwide are eager to ban such “pornographic” books from schools, they seemingly don’t want that standard applied to the Bible.

The Bible — which isn’t an authoritative history text, as elucidated by Notre Dame University — contains stories of “incest, [masturbation], bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide,” one Utah parent reportedly noted in March. The book also contains passages supporting slavery and advocating for the murder of LGBTQ+ people and of women who have pre-marital sex. The Bible has a story about two daughters who get their dad drunk to have sex with him to become impregnated. The Bible also mentions a woman who fondly remembers her lover as having “the penis like a donkey and a flood of semen like a horse.” Walters, who wants to ban LGBTQ+ books but teach the Bible in public school history classes, has previously pushed the transphobic lie about schools providing litterboxes to students who identify as cats. He also referred to teachers’ unions as “terrorist organizations” and illegally tried to make rules banning LGBTQ+ books and transgender bathroom access in schools.

Oklahoma’s chief indoctrinator Ryan Walters told the state’s schools to teach the Bible. Many school districts are rightly refusing to obey his deranged separation of church and state-violating directive, and even AG Gentner Drummond isn’t buying it.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

It was a mundane, unanimously supported bill on liquor taxation that saw state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh take to the mic on the Nebraska Legislature floor last week. She offered her support, then spent the next three days discussing everything but the bill, including her favorite Girl Scout cookies, Omaha’s best doughnuts and the plot of the animated movie “Madagascar.”

She also spent that time railing against an unrelated bill that would outlaw gender-affirming therapies for those 18 and younger. It was the advancement of that bill out of committee that led Cavanaugh to promise three weeks ago to filibuster every bill that comes before the Legislature this year — even the ones she supports.

“If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone,” the Omaha married mother of three said. “I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”

True to her word, Cavanaugh has slowed the business of passing laws to a crawl by introducing amendment after amendment to every bill that makes it to the state Senate floor and taking up all eight debate hours allowed by the rules — even during the week she was suffering from strep throat. Wednesday marks the halfway point of this year’s 90-day session, and not a single bill will have passed thanks to Cavanaugh’s relentless filibustering.

Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler said a delay like this has happened only a couple of times in the past 10 years.

“But what is really uncommon is the lack of bills that have advanced,” Metzler said. “Usually, we’re a lot further along the line than we’re seeing now.”

In fact, only 26 bills have advanced from the first of three rounds of debate required to pass a bill in Nebraska. There would normally be two to three times that number by mid-March, Metzler said. In the last three weeks since Cavanaugh began her bill blockade, only three bills have advanced.

The Nebraska bill and another that would ban trans people from using bathrooms and locker rooms or playing on sports teams that don’t align with the gender listed on their birth certificates are among roughly 150 bills targeting transgender people that have been introduced in state legislatures this year. Bans on gender-affirming care for minors have already been enacted this year in some Republican-led states, including South Dakota and Utah, and Republican Governors in Tennessee and Mississippi are expected to sign similar bans into law. And Arkansas and Alabama have bans that were temporarily blocked by federal judges.

Cavanaugh’s effort has drawn the gratitude of the LGBTQ community, said Abbi Swatsworth, executive director of LGBTQ advocacy group OutNebraska. The organization has been encouraging members and others to inundate state lawmakers with calls and emails to support Cavanaugh’s effort and oppose bills targeting transgender people.

“We really see it as a heroic effort,” Swatsworth said of the filibuster. “It is extremely meaningful when an ally does more than pay lip service to allyship. She really is leading this charge.”

Both Cavanaugh and the conservative Omaha lawmaker who introduced the trans bill, state Sen. Kathleen Kauth, said they’re seeking to protect children. Cavanaugh cited a 2021 survey by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on suicide prevention efforts among LGBTQ youth, that found that 58% of transgender and nonbinary youth in Nebraska seriously considered suicide in the previous year, and more than 1 in 5 reported that they had attempted it.

“This is a bill that attacks trans children,” Cavanaugh said. “It is legislating hate. It is legislating meanness. The children of Nebraska deserve to have somebody stand up and fight for them.”

Kauth said she’s trying to protect children from undertaking gender-affirming treatments that they might later regret as adults. She has characterized treatments such as hormone therapy and gender reassignment surgery as medically unproven and potentially dangerous in the long term — although the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychiatric Association all support gender-affirming care for youths.

Cavanaugh and other lawmakers who support her filibuster effort “don’t want to acknowledge the support I have for this bill,” Kauth said.

“We should be allowed to debate this,” she said. “What this is doing is taking the ball and going home.”

Nebraska’s unique single-chamber Legislature is officially nonpartisan, but it is dominated by members who are registered Republicans. Although bills can win approval with a simple majority in the 49-seat body, it takes 33 votes to overcome a filibuster. The Legislature is currently made up of 32 registered Republicans and 17 registered Democrats, but the slim margin means that the defection of a single Democrat could allow Republicans to pass whatever laws they want.

Democrats have had some success in using filibusters, which burn valuable time from the session, delay votes on other issues and force lawmakers to work longer days. Last year, conservative lawmakers were unable to overcome Democratic filibusters to pass an abortion ban or a law that would have allowed people to carry concealed guns without a permit.

Cavanaugh said she has taken a page from the playbook of Ernie Chambers — a left-leaning former legislator from Omaha who was the longest-serving lawmaker in state history. He mastered the use of the filibuster to try to tank bills he opposed and force support for bills he backed.

“But I’m not aware of anyone carrying out a filibuster to this extent,” Cavanaugh said. “I know it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating for me. But there is a way to put an end to — just put a stop to this hateful bill.”

Chambers praised Cavanaugh’s “perseverance, gumption and stamina to fight as hard as she can using the rules” to stand up for the marginalized, adding, “I would be right there fighting with her if I were still there.”

Speaker John Arch has taken steps to try to speed the process, such as sometimes scheduling the Legislature to work through lunch to tick off another hour on the debate clock. And he noted that the Legislature will soon be moving to all-day debate once committee hearings on bills come to an end later this month.

But even with frustration growing over the hobbled process, the Republican speaker defended Cavanaugh’s use of the filibuster.

“The rules allow her to do this, and those rules are there to protect the voice of the minority,” Arch said. “We may find that we’re passing fewer bills, but the bills we do pass will be bigger bills we care about.”

Chambers said this is a sign that Cavanaugh’s efforts are working. Typically, the Speaker will step in and seek to postpone the bill causing the delay to allow more pressing legislation such as tax cuts or budget items to move forward.

“I think you’re going to start to see some of that happen,” Chambers said. “I think if (Cavanaugh) has the physical stamina, she can do it. I don’t think she shoots blanks.”

[contemplatingoutlander]

Putting chaplains in public school is the latest battle in culture wars

Here comes the American far-right "Christian Taliban," all set to indoctrinate a new generation of Americans into a warped, right-wing "Christianity."

Our Founders must be spinning in their graves.

Lawmakers in mostly conservative states are pushing a coordinated effort to bring chaplains into public schools, aided by a new, legislation-crafting network that aims to address policy issues “from a biblical world view” and by a consortium whose promotional materials say chaplains are a way to convert millions to Christianity. The bills have been introduced this legislative season in 14 states, inspired by Texas, which passed a law last year allowing school districts to hire chaplains or use them as volunteers for whatever role the local school board sees fit, including replacing trained counselors. Chaplain bills were approved by one legislative chamber in three states — Utah, Indiana and Louisiana — but died in Utah and Indiana. Bills are pending in nine states. One passed both houses of Florida’s legislature and is awaiting the governor’s signature. [color/emphasis added]

[See more under the cut.]

The bills are mushrooming in an era when the U.S. Supreme Court has expanded the rights of religious people and groups in the public square and weakened historic protections meant to keep the government from endorsing religion. In a 2022 case, Justice Neil M. Gorsuch referred to the “so-called separation of church and state.” Former president Donald Trump has edged close to a government-sanctioned religion by asserting in his campaign that immigrants who “don’t like our religion — which a lot of them don’t” would be barred from the country in a second term. “We are reclaiming religious freedom in this country,” said Jason Rapert, a former Arkansas state senator and the president of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, which he founded in 2019 to craft model legislation, according to the group’s site. Its mission is “to bring federal, state and local lawmakers together in support of clear biblical principles … to address major policy concerns from a biblical world view,” the site says. The group hosted House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) late last year at its gala at the Museum of the Bible in Washington. The chaplain bills, Rapert said, are part of an effort to empower “the values and principles of the founding fathers.” Critics who compare such efforts with theocracy, he said, are creating “a false flag, a boogeyman by radical left to demonize everyone of faith.” Rapert says he’ll push in the next round of chaplain bills to make the positions mandatory. Heather Weaver, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, called allowing chaplains into public schools “a constitutional time bomb.” “It definitely would be a much more direct route to promoting religion to students and evangelizing them than we’ve seen in the past.” she said. [color emphasis added]

[edited]

[stephensmithuk]

Thor Bridge

Most Holmes stories are "The Adventure of X". "The Problem of Thor Bridge", published in 1922 and forming part of the Case-book collection, is one of the exceptions. Others include "The Five Orange Pips", which is the full title.

This was originally published in two parts in The Strand, with a recap of the plot before the second part.

Cox & Co. was founded in 1758 as a military logistics company, getting money and other supplies to troops in India. Later Cox & Kings, the Indian company is now the process of liquidation after going bust in 2020, while the British arm is now a travel agent under the Abercrombie & Kent group.

The Family Herald was a weekly periodical that ran from 1843 to 1940.

The United States had 45 states in 1900; Utah had joined in 1896 and Oklahoma would be next in 1907. New Mexico and Arizona were the other two non-states at this time in the lower 48.

Senators were elected by state legislatures until 1912.

The city of Winchester is the county town of Hampshire and has been inhabited since before the Romans turned up. Traditionally seen as the capital of the old kingdom of Wessex - there was in fact no fixed capital, but it still was of major importance. Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles takes place in a fictionalised "Wintonchester".

Winchester today hosts a Crown Court that sits in session all year round. HM Prison Winchester, built between 1846 and 1850, is still an active prison, although today male only. One of its most notable inmates was serial killer Rosemary West, who was held there during her trial.

Claridge's is a famous five-star hotel in Mayfair, frequented by celebrities and royals.

At the time, the British definition of "billion" was a million million i.e. a modern trillion. A milliard was the term for a thousand million, but we now use the US definition.

Brazil had gained its independence in 1825, three years after declaring it. It had ousted its monarchy in 1889 and become a republic after a coup.

[conniejoworld]

Five states to decide measures regarding slavery and indentured servitude as criminal punishments

Five states to decide measures regarding slavery and indentured servitude as criminal punishments

Voters in five states—Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont—will decide constitutional amendments that would change language in their respective constitutions regarding slavery or indentured servitude as criminal punishments or as payment of debts.

The Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution—ratified in 1865—prohibits slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for those convicted of crimes. This means states can decide whether to allow or prohibit that exception.

Here’s a quick look at the five measures on the ballot this year:

Alabama: ratifies an updated and recompiled state constitution, legislators drafted following voter approval of Amendment 4 in 2020. This proposed recompilation repeals language that provides for involuntary servitude as a criminal punishment.

Louisiana: removes language that provides for slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishments and replaces it with language prohibiting the practice but with an exception that it “does not apply to the otherwise lawful administration of criminal justice.”

Oregon: repeals language provides for slavery or involuntary servitude as criminal punishments.

Tennessee: repeals language provides for slavery or involuntary servitude as criminal punishments.

Vermont: repeals language saying persons could be held as servants, slaves, or apprentices with their consent or “for the payments of debts, damages, fines, costs, or the like,” and adds language expressly forbidding slavery and indentured servitude in any form. 

These measures, all of which were placed on the ballot by their respective state legislatures, are part of a growing trend that began in 2018 when voters in Colorado approved Amendment A with 66% of the vote. Voters in Nebraska and Utah removed similar language from their constitutions in 2020. 

Keep reading 

THIS SHIT STILL EXISTS???