(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Welcome to Wednesday's Good News Roundup! [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-06-07 Good morning my fellow Genusies! And welcome to another Strange edition of the GNR. Grab a beverage, pull up a seat and let’s dig in. But first- Republicans, am I right? Seriously, what is their deal? In 2010 when the tea party rose to prominence (remember those assholes?), they used high taxes to justify their anger. Even though it was really about racism, of course, due to having a black POTUS, in public they claimed it was about taxes. But that worked. Everyone hates paying taxes! Yes, we want lower taxes! Ordinary people can get behind that. But seriously 2023 GOP? Today’s GOP is sounding more and more like the pastor in ‘Footloose’ or the angry mayor in “Pleasantville.” No ordinary American wants to go back to putting gay people back in the closet, or ban books like it’s Nazi Germany. People are sick and tired of guns being more important than their children’s lives. And they sure as shit don’t want women to lose control over their bodies. So knowing that their big play for 2024 is culture war issues? I say yes please. Bring it on. Now, if they were smart (and they are not) they would focus like a laser on the economy. They could get the GOP-loving MSM to repeat all their constant lies about ‘how awful the economy is’ and that would sink in with the average American, even though it’s a lie. But they won’t. So what do they have? Back to the old playbook of God, guns and gays. They want to party like it’s 1989. Or, more accurately, 1889. Great. Good luck with that. As far as keeping up the fight, endlessly, day after day, year after year, I offer you these words from the late great Bob Marley: Now, on to the news! Ugh. This fucking guy. At least the media isn’t letting up on what a nut job he’s become. Let’s clarify right out the gate that Musk has a First Amendment right to say what he wants, with some limited legal exceptions. And as the owner of Twitter, a private company, he has the final word on what speech is or isn’t allowed on Twitter. But because Musk is the leader of the platform and one of the richest, most influential people in the world, his actions have consequences, both tangible and symbolic. Moreover, Musk’s tweets serve as a hindrance to the very real challenges Twitter faces to win back more advertisers who have left the brand, in large part over concerns about Musk’s behavior. I have to apologize to Rick Perry and Scott Walker. I have frequently compared Ron DeSantis’ campaign to theirs, but actually it seems like it’s much worse. If that’s even possible. The company announced Thursday that it was scrapping plans for a $1 billion development in Orlando near Lake Nona Town Center that would have involved the creation of a new office complex, importing a division from California, and generating 2,000 new jobs. The move comes after DeSantis signed legislation that voided agreements allowing Disney to continue to develop its properties in Florida with relative independence, a law the company is now battling in court. It’s part of a long-running culture war feud that started last year when Disney publicly opposed DeSantis’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, which prevents teachers from talking about LGBTQ+ issues or people. Disney has claimed that DeSantis and his Republican allies have orchestrated a campaign of political retaliation, while the governor maintains that he’s merely ending the company’s long reign of operating in Florida with special privileges. More and more people are being told to avoid Flori-duh. Why would a state so dependent on tourism want to make it so that tourists are afraid to visit and go elsewhere? Go Ron! The Human Rights Campaign along with Equality Florida, which had already issued an advisory last month, posted an updated one for the LGBTQ community, citing Gov. Ron DeSantis' policies. In a news release, the two organizations warned LGBTQ people of the "risks associated with relocation or travel" to the Sunshine State because of six bills passed this Legislative session. While the advisory is not "a blanket recommendation against travel nor a call for boycott," it outlines the "devastating impacts" of multiple laws that are "hostile" to the LGBTQ community, minorities, and immigrants, the news release reads. The Human Rights Campaign said the advisory is to help individuals and their families make decisions as potential travelers or residents. So let’s see. He is pissing off Disney- the state’s largest employer- and making it so that tourists don't want to go there out of fear for their lives? Man, he is doing a hell of a job as governor! Speaking of pudding fingers, I know it’s old news, but I love reading about the shit show that was his presidential announcement. Man, that was glorious. Popular brands like Apple, Fossil, Reebok and others often dedicate huge resources during Pride Month to LGBTQ nonprofit organizations (among them, The Trevor Project, GLSEN and additional groups), which means you could be helping others gain access to valuable resources, too. Here are 36 places (including small and large businesses!) to consider shopping for Pride 2023, and which may help you uncover new ways to celebrate love, diversity and inclusivity during this joyful season. Not every corporation is cowering to the right’s new full assault on corporations who dare be LGBTQ+ friendly. There are some who still openly embrace the movement and are actually trying to do more. Florida teachers and community members packed a Hernando County School Board meeting amid national furor over an investigation into a fifth grade teacher who showed a Disney movie in her classroom. Jenna Barbee, a teacher at Winding Waters K-8, said Hernando County School Board member Shannon Rodriguez reported her to the Florida Department of Education for showing her students the 2022 movie "Strange World" – one of the first Disney films to have an openly LGBTQ character in a central role…. ..."You need to listen to us when we say that the rainbow in our classroom is not indoctrinating us, seeing two girls together in a Disney movie is not brainwashing us, and your policies are not protecting us from anything," another high school student said at the meeting. Like I said, Republicans are acting like being anti-gay is still a thing with a majority of Americans. It’s encouraging to see that even in Florida, people are starting to fight back against this anti-woke hysteria. Hey assholes, see story below: WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Seventy-one percent of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal, matching the high Gallup recorded in 2022. Public support for legally recognizing gay marriages has been consistently above 50% since the early 2010s. It was hard to picture what was more darkly funny: How the notoriously ill-tempered DeSantis was reacting, as Musk's failures stepped all over his big moment, or how quickly Donald Trump would race to Truth Social to gloat in his usual illiterate style about it. Of course, this was all very predictable. Anyone who has been following the news is well aware that Musk has spent the last year exposing the lie that was his "genius" reputation. When he's not blowing up rockets, he's blowing up Twitter, the social media company he dramatically overpaid for. That this would completely fall apart before DeSantis even had a chance to speak was overdetermined. The legal investigations against former President Donald Trump for his alleged attempt to interfere with the 2020 election results in Georgia are reportedly expanding to cover some actions in Washington, DC, and other states under Georgia’s broad Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute. The Georgia investigation is just one of three ongoing probes into Trump’s potentially criminal activities during his presidency. It focuses on the former president’s efforts to have Georgia officials dispute or alter the results of the state’s 2020 presidential vote, which narrowly favored President Joe Biden. The two other investigations, both overseen by federal special counsel Jack Smith, concern the alleged mishandling of classified documents at the end of Trump’s presidency and efforts in other states to falsely certify the 2020 election results in his favor. The trans youth prom wasn't just a celebration of pride and freedom, but also an act of defiance against the record-breaking slew of anti-LGBTQ rights in the United States. Since the beginning of the year, at least 490 bills targeting the LGBTQ community have been introduced in state legislatures across the country — almost double the 278 such bills introduced last year, according to recent data from the American Civil Liberties Union…. ..."With folks coming from all over the country, Trans Prom shows that the trans community is made up of people: people who have feelings, aspirations, who know how to party and enjoy themselves," Hobbes Chukumba, one of the event's trans youth organizers, told Insider. "Trans Prom is a chance to show the world that trans youth are youth who deserve to be treated with respect, support, and love." I think the right’s shockingly cruel attack on the trans community will go about as well as their attacks on gay marriage. But they are running out of things to scare people with. Well, this is interesting. "Air humidity is a vast, sustainable reservoir of energy that, unlike solar and wind, is continuously available," said the study, which was published recently in the journal Advanced Materials. “This is very exciting,” said Xiaomeng Liu, a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and the paper’s lead author. “We are opening up a wide door for harvesting clean electricity from thin air.” In fact, researchers say that nearly any material can be turned into a device that continuously harvests electricity from humidity in the air. Strippers from the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar in North Hollywood have unanimously won their union election, in a 17-0 vote, creating the first union of strippers in the United States in about a decade. The ballots were opened at 11 am PT today by the National Labor Relations Board in Los Angeles. The ballot reading, which was livestreamed via Zoom with no recording allowed, showed people in the room erupting in cheers and applause after results were read. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/7/2172186/-Welcome-to-Wednesday-s-Good-News-Roundup Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/