Georgia HB 177: Family judges could include pets in protective orders from abuse

A proposed law in Georgia:

"Fear of losing the pets kept Heatherland in the relationship longer than they otherwise would have stayed, they said. But the General Assembly recently approved legislation that could have made it easier for Heatherland and others to leave abusive partners.

If Gov. Brian Kemp signs House Bill 177, people who’ve experienced domestic violence could ask judges to include family pets in temporary protective orders. The bill passed both chambers with overwhelming support.

House Public and Community Health Chairwoman Sharon Cooper, a Marietta Republican, said she sponsored the bill because it has become more common for abusers to threaten the pets as a way to keep victims from leaving. Abusers know how important pets have become, she said.

* * *

If HB 177 becomes law, it would create a space on the form to allow those petitioning for a temporary protective order to indicate they would like to include a pet. HB 177 would then allow a judge to determine plans for a pet when deciding to grant a temporary protective order. Judges would not be required to include a pet in their order."

— "Georgia judges could include family pets in domestic violence restraining orders under new bill: Victims sometimes stay in abusive relationships to remain with a beloved pet, advocates say." Maya T. Prabhu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 9, 2025

Learn about your options if you're seeking child custody with a concern about domestic abuse in Georgia.

Arkansas already allows a judge to give an abuser's pet to someone who seeks an order of protection.

Jesse Watters: Using a computer turns a man into a woman

So, you see, women who work in offices emit estrogen like a pheromone, and it's contagious to men, and they can catch it and turn into women.

But, you also see, people who take hormones for gender-affirming reasons do not succeed in affirming their gender if they're trans. Cross-sex only works if you're a man "sitting behind a screen all day" and suffering the undesired effects. It doesn't work if you want it to work and try to make it work.

This Fox News Host Just Dropped Another Mind-Boggling Take On Masculinity And It's Getting Weird: The Fox News host seems to have gender issues when he’s talking about gender issues. Ron Dicker, BuzzFeed, April 8, 2025

The tariffs are sanctions, but you still have to pay for them

Arthur Delaney reports for HuffPost:

“They didn’t actually calculate tariff rates + non-tariff barriers, as they say they did,” Surowiecki wrote. “Instead, for every country, they just took our trade deficit with that country and divided it by the country’s exports to us.”

In other words, the supposedly reciprocal tariffs, which are supposed to combat arbitrary foreign barriers to U.S. goods, are themselves based on an arbitrary formula.

White House Used 'Embarrassing' Formula To Come Up With Tariffs: Economists mocked the Trump administration's methods for calculating taxes on imports from abroad. Arthur Delaney, HuffPost, Apr 3, 2025

These tariffs are meant as sanctions.

They’re Not Tariffs, They’re Sanctions: Stop trying to place coherence on a policy that’s really just a mob boss breaking legs and asking for protection money. David Dayen | The American Prospect | April 3, 2025

Trump’s Tariffs Give Him a New Way to Dole Out Reward and Punishment: The president’s latest power grab will devastate America’s economy—and its democracy. Pama Levy| Mother Jones | April 3, 2025

But they're still taxes because you still have to pay for them.

We all share the same Earth, so when you sanction others, you sanction yourself.

Nothing makes sense:

"A significant number of Trump’s appointees come from finance, not manufacturing or technology. They didn’t make their money providing real services; they made it by buying during the dips and plundering every last crevice of American life. The last major recession, in 2008, was devastating for ordinary Americans and the petty bourgeoisie. For billionaires, it was the greatest wealth accumulation opportunity in thirty years. This time, there won’t be a moderate Democratic president in charge to check their worst impulses. This time, they’ll be fully in control, free to buy up as much of the economy as they want, a feeding frenzy without end.

This is why the billionaire class went all in on Trump. They know his proposed economic policies will lead to another recession. In fact, they’re banking on it."

— Anthony Reimer. Elon Musk's DOGE Is Following A Familiar — And Horrifying — Playbook. Bad Faith Times. April 9, 2025.

This isn't real! I know what I know! (like, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)

An anecdote:

"Mr. C, an elegant retired art dealer, was hospitalized overnight with a small stroke. The next morning, he felt well and was discharged. Within moments of returning home, he phoned my office in a panic. He was certain that his favorite antique desk had been replaced by a cheap Levitz reproduction. * * * "Yes, I admit that it is physically impossible that the desk has been replaced. But it has. You have to take my word for it. I know real when I see real, and this desk isn't real." He ran his hand along the grain, repeatedly fingering a couple of prominent wormholes. "It's funny," he said with a puzzled expression. "These are exact replicas of the holes in my desk. But they don't feel the least bit familiar. No," he announced emphatically, "someone must have replaced it." He then delivered the cognitive checkmate: "After all, I know what I know."
— Robert A. Burton. On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not. New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2008. pp. 16-17.

This anecdote reminded me of this story:

What We Fear From the ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. In 1954, it was a novel. Now it’s a handful of films. Still scary? (4 min read) Tucker Lieberman, The Shadow, Feb 2, 2021

They always planned Trump's installation. Our power lies in organizing.

"2023 was one of the worst years of my life. I had anticipatory grief for my father, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer that spring (this is mentioned briefly in the book, so I can mention it here, I suppose). I had anticipatory grief for my homeland, because officials do not let a seditionist run, unpunished, for president, unless the plan is reinstallation."
— "Someday, This Will Only Be a Memory" On my new book, and cold and warm comforts. Sarah Kendzior, Apr 1, 2025

Trump always plans to win before the die is cast. He plans to win arguments before going to court.

"I can sum up the Trump/Musk/Vance theory of power in five words: "We have power; you don't." Alternative version in six words: "we can do anything we want." They seem to believe that nothing is really connected to anything else and nothing should be. This is why they're hacking away at the US government and international alliances and good relationships with everything and everyone from the European Union to Canada and Mexico to a whole lot of the American people. They think they can go it alone.

* * *

These isolationists confuse coercion with power and cooperation with weakness, when in truth it is more or less the other way around. Coercion and violence are what you resort to when you have failed at convincing and allying and negotiating. Meanwhile our power lies in cooperation and connection, those of us who are still striving toward a more perfect union. We now must do it by opposing and obstructing the attempt to shatter and corrupt that union. We have power, and our power arises when we connect, when we join organizations like Indivisible (whose very name proclaims this truth), when we come together as civil society, when we act together to protect the vulnerable, to defend what we love."

— Rebecca Solnit, "No One Knows How This Will End (But I Do Not Think It Will End Well for Them)," Meditations in an Emergency, 16 Feb 2025

Solnit recommends these books:

Charlie Angus: 'We see Kristi Noem doing this really disgusting video'

In January 2025, Kristi Noem was confirmed as Homeland Security Secretary.

And in March, here we are:

"This video, posted by Kristi Noem, provoked in me a visceral reaction. I hesitate to post this image because as a student of Holocaust studies, I know how even gazing on images like this can further the dehumanization of prisoners subjected to these conditions. But I also know that those who have the power to do something also have the obligation not to look away.

The juxtaposition of Noem, with her hair and makeup done in the latest Republican style, with earrings dangling and sporting a (reportedly) $60,000 Rolex, against the backdrop of men seized and detained without due process..." (Kristin Du Mez, Mar 27, 2025)

On March 28, Canadian lawmaker Charlie Angus said Canadians are paying attention as they are "watching our nearest neighbor slip into totalitarianism." He said, reported by HuffPost:

“When we see people being pulled off the streets, when we see people at universities being grabbed, detained, rendered and kidnapped, and when we see Kristi Noem doing this really disgusting video in front of half-naked men in an overcrowded El Salvadoran prison cell...We’re looking at a nation that we don’t understand anymore and we don’t want to be like that nation and we’re thinking, ‘If we go down the road with this regime, we’re talking about the disappearance of the rule of law.’”

She shot her dog

My poem: Cricket’s Still Alive: Out of the gravel pit, up into the light. Tucker Lieberman, May 7, 2024

And this happened:

Georgia considering laws to deal with kids who make threats

Georgia is discussing this legislation now:

”After last year’s deadly shooting at Apalachee High School, lawmakers vowed to ensure students could learn safely and get mental health support as needed. The House passed House Bill 268, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Holt Persinger who represents Barrow County, 159-13. It would instruct schools to create a plan identifying the ability for threats to breach the buildings.

The Senate passed Senate Bill 17, which would require local school systems to implement a panic alert system to coordinate between first responders in the event of an emergency. Senators also passed Senate Bill 61, which addresses children who make “terroristic threats,” and Senate Bill 179, which would require schools to quickly communicate about disciplinary problems with transferring students.

House Bill 268 is more likely to move forward, and lawmakers have amended the language — namely removing a provision that would have required schools to develop a database with information about students who have made credible threats.

And two bills that deal with school zone cameras that automatically ticket drivers who are speeding have been resurrected for consideration. One would ban the cameras, while another would give motorists more warning before they reach them.”

— Trans Georgians, school safety bills await their fate as state legislative session draws to a close, Maya T. Prabhu and Michelle Baruchman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, March 31, 2025

A memoir on this topic

Suspect by Gina Tron