Tag: LGBTQ+

Armenia is pivoting to the West + More

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Twitter/X

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This claim that Azerbaijan is establishing itself under the autocractic influence of Russia explains most of the perception managing narrative presented via the media lately.

Armenia is pivoting to the West, it’s time for Europe to step up

Related:

‘Armenia is pivoting to the West. It’s time for Europe to step up’

For the past year, I have been working with and advising the Armenian government on their efforts to strengthen their democracy and promote peace in the South Caucasus. This is something I believe deeply in. That is why I launched the independent Friends of Armenia Network – a high-level group that includes former prime ministers, European commissioners, ministers, and sitting parliamentarians. In a report published on March 27, we proposed a detailed approach that the European Union should take to help make Armenia’s Western, democratic trajectory irreversible.

– Anders Fogh Rasmussen

Rasmussen Global: Anders Fogh Rasmussen launches high-level group to support democratic Armenia

Rasmussen’s Report: Deepening EU-Armenia relations: More Europe in Armenia

“Friends of Armenia” turned out to be crooks, schemers and chumps

Russia MFA: Friends of Armenia Network report objective is to tear Armenia from Russia, EAEU

USAID: U.S. Enhances Support For Armenia At The U.S.-EU High-Level Meeting

2002: Divided They Conquer: Armenian Ethnic Lobbies in the United States (Most are still active) – H/T: Penny2

David Villamar interviewed about Ecuador’s violent crime disaster

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Despite the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Ecuador’s violent crime problem is such an incredible disaster that it manages to attract international attention. Criminals have recently taken over live newscasts. Supporters of the rightwing governments that created the disaster (for example, The Economist) have declared Ecuador to be the deadliest country in the Americas. It’s difficult for Ecuador to get international news coverage. In recent years, it generally has to be something very bad (or sports-related).

David Villamar interviewed about Ecuador’s violent crime disaster

Related:

How Did Ecuador Spiral into This Nightmare? It Was the Neoliberal Dismantling of the State

Microsoft, X throw their weight behind KOSA, the controversial kids’ online safety bill

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
Think of the children!

Microsoft, X throw their weight behind KOSA, the controversial kids’ online safety bill

In spite of some revisions, the bill’s many critics have warned that KOSA would dangerously sanitize the internet, empower censorship and isolate young LGBTQ people in the process. Security, privacy and free press advocates have also called attention to the bill’s potential threat to encryption. The bill was revised last year in response to some criticisms, but many concerns persist.

Related:

Snap Breaks Under Pressure, Supports Dangerous KOSA Bill That Will Put Kids In Danger

Microsoft Joins In On The ‘Screw Over LGBTQ Kids’ Party By Supporting KOSA

However the claim that KOSA is “reasonable,” “impactful,” “tailored,” or “thoughtful” is just grade-A bullshit. The law is a total mess, and will do real harm to kids beyond just being obviously unconstitutional. As we’ve pointed out multiple times, GOP support for the bill is because they know it will be used to censor LGBTQ content. The GOP’s leading “think tank,” the Heritage Foundation has publicly supported the bill because they believe censoring LGBTQ content “is protecting kids.” Meanwhile, bill co-sponsor, Marsha Blackburn (whom Smith thanks above for her “leadership,”) has similarly admitted that Congress should pass KOSA to “protect minor children from the transgender in our culture.”

Wait, did Florida ban the dictionary? Why one county is pulling Merriam-Webster from shelves

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Wait, did Florida ban the dictionary? Why one county is pulling Merriam-Webster from shelves

Escambia County school officials told the Pensacola News Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network, that the more than 1,600 books are not banned and are being pulled from shelves temporarily while under review.

The books “have not been banned or removed from the school district; rather, they have simply been pulled for further review to ensure compliance with the new legislation,” Escambia County Public Schools spokesperson Cody Strother told the News Journal.

In an effort to comply with the law, the school district removed eight encyclopedias and five dictionaries from library shelves, according to PEN America, which is suing the school district for removing 10 books on race and LGBTQ issues last year. The group argues those book bans violate the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech.

Related (See notes on PEN America):

Read More »

Ecuador: Quasi Civil War

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Ecuador: Quasi Civil War

Los Choneros is tied to the Mexican drug Sinaloa Cartel and Los Lobos to Jalisco. Ecuador itself, together with Bolivia and Colombia, is part of the so-called cocaine triangle, which is the world’s largest producer of the drug. From Ecuador, it travels overland to Brazil and Peru and by sea to Mexico, European countries, and the African market.

…

Finally, and thirdly, another version of the reason for the current conflict outbreak is the activation of the CIA and their agents who want to destabilize the entire Andean region (after all, the situation in Peru and Chile is also complicated). Although it sounds like a conspiracy, given the skills of US intelligence agencies and their networks in Latin America, it should not be dismissed, but more attention should be paid to the activities of State Department agents who do not want to lose the region.

Interestingly, when I highlight and look up, ‘cocaine triangle’, Apple brings up the Wikipedia page for ‘CIA involvement in Contra cocaine trafficking’. 🤔

Related (Money & Front Organizations):

RT—Ecuador: 2 Days of Armed Violence, 14 Deaths, Several Kidnapped and Injured, Dozens Arrested (+Correa & Maduro)

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ACLU Wisconsin files records requests for banned books across school districts

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

ACLU Wisconsin files records requests for banned books across school districts

Menomonee Falls School District banned 33 titles. The same day the ACLU made its open records requests, Elkhorn Area School District received a request from a parent challenging 444 books, prompting the temporary removal and review of those titles.

Related:

ACLU of Wisconsin Files Open Record Requests with Six School Districts That Recently Banned Books

The letter to the school districts accompanying the requests notes that removing books from school libraries threatens the First Amendment rights of students and their families. The Supreme Court held over 40 years ago that “local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books.”

…

The largely forgotten book ban case that went up to the Supreme Court

Pressley Bill Would Classify Discriminatory Book Bans as Civil Rights Violations

Pressley Bill Would Classify Discriminatory Book Bans as Civil Rights Violations

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

The bill would also require public and school libraries to have a diverse book collection.

Pressley Bill Would Classify Discriminatory Book Bans as Civil Rights Violations

Parents should be able to have a say in their children’s education (although, they shouldn’t be astroturfed). The thing is, these articles are selective in revealing the money behind some of these groups. I’ve included links to a few, of the financials/partnerships, below the cut. I wasn’t able to find information on a couple of them, though. Another thing, PEN has ties to the CIA and the Congress for Cultural Freedom.

Related:

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What To Do When Racists Try To Hijack Your Religion / White supremacists are misappropriating Norse mythology / Norse Mythology and Nazi Propaganda

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)
University of Colorado Boulder

What To Do When Racists Try To Hijack Your Religion

Sorry, Nazis, you’re not going to Valhalla, when you die! You’ll be going to Hell! I hate when people co-opt stuff! FYI, I’m wearing the letters H and J, from the runic alphabet, and not because I’m racist!

Related:

White supremacists are misappropriating Norse mythology, says expert

Norse Mythology and Nazi Propaganda