The organized anti-trans movement is propelled by extremists

If you're just noticing that organized transphobia is exterminationist and bad in other extremist ways, welcome.

"GOP operatives spent an astounding $222 million on anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ advertising in the 2024 cycle — more than on housing, immigration and the economy combined. Since Inauguration Day, the drumbeat of discriminatory actions and executive orders against trans Americans has made my heart race and kicked my anxiety into overdrive. The White House has refused to issue passports reflecting applicants’ gender identities, attacked providers of gender-affirming care, banned trans service members from the military, prevented schools from supporting students who transition, eliminated protections against spying on LGBTQ+ citizens, regulated bathroom use, benched trans kids from sports, transferred trans women into men’s prisons and targeted LGBTQ+ civil servants. It has also deleted references to trans and nonbinary people on government websites from the State Department and CDC to the Park Service’s page for the Stonewall National Monument."
— Ali Moss, "The Nazis Made A Horrifying Move In 1933. I'm Terrified Trump Is Now Doing The Exact Same Thing.: Until recently, the question remained theoretical. But it’s not an exaggeration to say that President Trump is running plays straight out of Hitler’s playbook." HuffPost, Mar 23, 2025

Zinnia Jones gave us some resources:

Read my essay too

Gay and Trans Freedom Is Everyone’s Freedom: Be who you are, choose your path, and let’s do it together. A big reason to support LGBTQ rights. Tucker Lieberman, Prism & Pen, Feb 22, 2024

March 2025 — climate news

Paris residents vote in favour of making 500 more streets pedestrian, Reuters, March 23, 2025

Signalgate!

Goldberg could be prosecuted, says Asha Rangappa, because "the Espionage Act makes no mention of “classified” information. It’s national defense information (NDI) which could cause harm to the U.S. if disclosed. Which it clearly was in this case, regardless of classification." Of course, "3 of the highest-ranking national security officials publicly stated none of it was officially classified," as someone else pointed out in a reply, which makes it a hard case to win.

‘Huge Screwup’: Republicans Give Group Chat Breach A Thumbs Down Emoji: "You got to know who you're sending your text to," one Republican advised after Pete Hegseth accidentally leaked classified information to a reporter. Igor Bobic, HuffPost, Mar 24, 2025

Atlantic Editor Names The 1 Thing He Struggled To Explain In Bombshell Group Chat Report: Jeffrey Goldberg reflected on the "most improbable" part of his reporting after he was inadvertently added to a group chat where Trump officials discussed war plans. Ben Blanchet, HuffPost, Mar 24, 2025

Dems Aghast After Trump Brass Accidentally Texted War Plans To Reporter: "Only one word for this: FUBAR," said Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.)., Ryan Grenoble, HuffPost, Mar 24, 2025

Warning over privacy of encrypted messages as Russia targets Signal Messenger: Russia is using phishing attacks to compromise encrypted Signal Messenger services used by targets in the Ukraine. Experts warn that other encrypted app users are at risk. Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly, 19 Feb 2025

Hillary Clinton Responds To Trump's Admin Using Signal To Discuss War Plans: Trump's administration included a journalist on a group text that discussed national security matters. Paige Skinner, HuffPost, Mar 24, 2025

Key things to know about the Senate hearing where top intel officials were grilled on group chat fallout. From CNN's Michael Williams, Hannah Rabinowitz, Ted Barrett, Alison Main Lauren Fox, Morgan Rimmer and Antoinette Radford. March 25, 2025

Reporter’s inclusion in Signal group chat was "of course not" appropriate, CIA director says. From CNN's Morgan Rimmer and Michael Williams, March 25, 2025

Mike Johnson Downplays Group Chat Leaks As 'Officials Doing Their Job,' Gets Torched On X. The House speaker told reporters Monday that Trump officials were merely "executing on a plan with precision," despite their messages going public. Marco Margaritoff, HuffPost, Mar 25, 2025

They were intentionally using Signal to avoid accountability for the discussion. If by chance any of them thought they were on Signal for other reasons, and they realized the discussion was not appropriate for Signal, they should have bowed out.

Under MAGA, there is no middle ground

With whom, on what point, would we negotiate? What (or whom) would we sacrifice, and what would we (those of us who remain) receive in return? Would we receive even a bit more time?

No middle ground:

"'There is no middle ground anymore,' an elderly woman said to what appeared to be her husband near the back of the crowd (Monday's gathering skewed older and female, with young men nowhere to be found unsurprisingly).

It was comments like these that differentiated this action with the rallies in the first months of the first Trump term. There was a (misplaced, deeply naive) sense that Trump was such an outlier, so out of touch with the electorate, that Democrats and even some elected Republicans would stymie his entire agenda. This Sorinkesque belief in the inevitability to bipartisanship was just enough to make folks believe there was a middle ground, a compromised path out of Trumpism. We tried that with Joe Biden and it failed spectacularly. There is, as the lady said, no middle ground. The only way out is through; what that looks like is up to your imagination and the doom that resides within you."

— Denny Carter, "Long Way From A Fire," Bad Faith Times, 18 Feb 2025

That "doom" story says:

"We are not “cooked,” nor are we “so fucking cooked," as so many BlueSky posters are wont to say. There is no point in declaring we're "cooked" beyond protecting oneself with layer after slimy, toxic layer of irony. I’ve done just that for too long. No one is better than me at shielding themselves with irony. I realize this sounds Trumpian but it's true. If irony-shielding were a profession, I would be the GOAT and no one would be close. I’m done with all that because there is no future with such an approach, and it’s exactly what the bad guys want us to do. Enough."

— Denny Carter, "Caring, Not Dooming, In 2025," Bad Faith Times, 24 Dec 2024

Trumpists call the anti-Tesla protests "terrorist" to take away donation platforms

Martina Fern, Senior Director of Development for American Atheists, writes in an email that the organization sent today:

"Elon Musk, who spent over a quarter of a billion dollars to help elect President Trump, expressed his support for federal investigations into fundraising platform ActBlue, claiming it’s part of a “left-wing NGO cabal” organizing protests of Tesla. He even called the protests “terrorist activity.”

Speaker Mike Johnson and several Republican lawmakers have been pushing for a congressional investigation into ActBlue since last December. More recently, the Treasury Secretary has been urged to look into the fundraising platform for “allegations of the provision of… payment processing for terror-linked organizations and nonprofits.” Senator Ted Cruz has also suggested ActBlue might be held criminally liable and has threatened another private tech company that provides services to nonprofits, Bonterra, with investigations."

Fern adds that the ActBlue and Bonterra platforms, both of which American Atheists uses, "are being threatened precisely because they provide the infrastructure necessary for nonprofit organizations like ours to operate." If Trump's orbit can say that one left-leaning cause is a "terrorist" cause, then they have a pretext to take down the large donation platforms that fund a broad spectrum of left-leaning causes.

One core political function of calling someone a terrorist is that, in the United States as well as other places, you can seek to have the government shut them down on the basis of you having called them that. I wrote: Why Was Palestinian Student Leader Mahmoud Khalil Detained?: The meaning of ‘shalom’ I know is ‘peace.’ A political arrest isn’t peaceful. Tucker Lieberman, Mar 12, 2025

Photo: Smug January 6er. So much winning.

Two trans songs on Instagram — enjoy!

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A post shared by 🅑 🅞 🅨 🅙 🅡. (@boyjrofficial)

Detention of Mahmoud Khalil

I wrote:
Tucker Lieberman, Why Was Palestinian Student Leader Mahmoud Khalil Detained? The meaning of ‘shalom’ I know is ‘peace.’ A political arrest isn’t peaceful. Medium, Mar 12, 2025

Here's follow-up info over the past week:

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The Disappearance of Mahmoud Khalil: Civil rights attorney Edward Ahmed Mitchell and journalist Meghnad Bose discuss the profound implications Khalil’s case raises for free speech and due process. The Intercept Briefing (📢 podcast), March 13 2025

Why Trump Is So Desperate to Keep Mahmoud Khalil in Louisiana: Government lawyers would be happy to avoid a legal precedent set in the case of Ravi Ragbir during the first Trump administration. Shawn Musgrave, The Intercept, March 14 2025

If pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli protests is considered a form of terrorism, then anti-Musk protests will be considered terrorism too. Trump has said so.

Scoop: State Dept. to use AI to revoke visas of foreign students who appear "pro-Hamas", Marc Caputo, Axios, Mar 6, 2025

Khalil Gibran Muhammad on LinkedIn: three federal agencies sent a letter to Columbia University that lays out conditions for future federal funds.

A Love Letter to the Student Movement Repression of the Palestine movement is now here, so what must be done? Four practical steps for the next phase. Carrie Zaremba, In These Times, March 17, 2025

"Hundreds of Jewish professors, scholars and students have signed a letter condemning the Trump administration for canceling $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University and threatening other universities."
— Matt Shuham, Hundreds Of Jewish Academics Condemn Trump Attacks On Universities: “The knock-on effects of this will be catastrophic,” one co-author told HuffPost. HuffPost, Mar 19, 2025

2,500 Jewish Academics Call Out Trump: Over 2,500 Jewish academics and students denounce Trump for cynical claims of antisemitism. Arturo Dominguez, Medium, March 20, 2025

Columbia University Caves After Threats From Trump Columbia University agreed to implement a suite of policy changes Friday, including overhauling its rules for protests. AP, HuffPost, Mar 21, 2025

Now this is happening

University Of Alabama Student Detained By Federal Immigration Agents. The Trump administration is continuing to target noncitizen university students. Marita Vlachou, HuffPost, Mar 27, 2025

We're in the hottest years on record

2023 Was One Of The Coldest Years Of The Rest Of Your Life Three global assessments confirm last year was by far the hottest in recorded history. “We’re frankly astonished,” one scientist said of the findings. Chris D'Angelo, HuffPost, Jan 12, 2024

The planet just saw its hottest day on record. Angela Fritz, CNN, July 23, 2024

This week’s record-breaking global temperatures are likely highest in ‘at least 100,000 years’, Angela Fritz and Laura Paddison, CNN, July 7, 2023

‘Exceptional’ warming: January temperatures 2.2 degrees higher than average in Europe, Laura Paddison, CNN, February 10, 2023

Last month was the hottest September ever, breaking last year’s record, Rob Picheta, CNN, October 7, 2020

Puppygirl hackers

U.S. Institute of Peace v. DOGE - hearing today

In 90 minutes, there will be a hearing. The toll-free call-in line is 833-990-9400 - Meeting ID 491822013.

Context:

"U.S. Institute Of Peace Sues Trump Administration Over Firings, DOGE Takeover. The lawsuit describes the lengths that institute staff resorted to, including calling the police, to keep DOGE staffers out." Thalia Beaty, AP, HuffPost, Mar 19, 2025

Abortion in Texas: Articles

Opinion Republicans’ hasty attacks on women show they were never pro-life Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post, July 17, 2022

Things to know about efforts to block people from crossing state lines for abortion Geoff Mulvihill | AP, Washington Post, November 10, 2023

Texas women who could not get abortions despite health risks take challenge to state's Supreme Court Paul J. Weber | AP, Washington Post, November 28, 2023

A pregnant Texas woman is asking a court to let her have an abortion under exceptions to state's ban Paul J. Weber | AP, Washington Post December 6, 2023

A pregnant Texas woman asked a court for permission to get an abortion, despite a ban. What's next?, Paul J. Weber | AP, Washington Post December 9, 2023

Texas woman who sought court permission for abortion leaves state for the procedure, attorneys say, Paul J. Weber and Jamie Stengle | AP December 11, 2023

What we know about the legal case of a Texas woman denied the right to an immediate abortion Geoff Mulvihill | AP, Washington Post, December 12, 2023

Opinion Think there’s an abortion exception for medical emergencies? Texas shows that’s a sham. By Ruth Marcus Associate editor, Washington Post, December 13, 2023

GOP candidates sidestep questions about Texas abortion case, Amy B Wang, Washington Post, Updated December 13, 2023

Some 2024 GOP hopefuls call for 'compassion' in Texas abortion case but don't say law should change, Meg Kinnard, Christine Fernando and Michelle L. Price | AP, Washington Post, December 13, 2023

What to know about abortion lawsuits being heard in US courts this week, Geoff Mulvihill | AP, December 14, 2023

AFTER ABORTION BAN, TEXAS TEEN BIRTH RATE RISES The increase reverses a 15-year trend. And unwanted pregnancies will rise, researchers predict. Lise Olsen, Texas Observer, January 30, 2024

A Texas Woman Died After The Hospital Said It Would Be A 'Crime' To Intervene In Her Miscarriage Josseli Barnica grieved the news as she lay in a Houston hospital bed on Sept. 3, 2021: The sibling she’d dreamt of giving her daughter would not survive this pregnancy. Cassandra Jaramillo and Kavitha Surana, ProPublica, Oct 30, 2024

A midwife was arrested and was called an abortionist: