Friday, June 29, 2023. Marianne Williamson emerges with an
authentic voice and a purpose, BLACK POWER MEDIA sits down with Conel
West, DeSantis versus DISNEY continues to go DISNEY's way, and much
more.
We're starting again with Marianne Williamson who is seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.
From the discussion above, picking up from yesterday:
@Maebe_A_Girl: Also, when you were talking about this idea that gay people are trying to 'groom' children, that is very offensive.
Marianne Williamson: Yeah.
@Maebe_A_Girl: My
daughter was born -- She has three gay men who are her godfathers and
it never would have occurred to me in a million years that they would be
anything other than fantastic godfathers to her. And they absolutely
were. One has now passed and the other two are very close to her and
they couldn't have been better. And they couldn't be better now as
godfather figures in her life -- in her life and important. What you
said is so true and I've had a lot of involvement with the gay community
-- mainly because of the AIDS crisis -- I've never felt that there was a
'reaching out.' This is not a proselytizing group, it's kind of like,
you do you.
Marianne Williamson:
And so why don't we do something and blame somebody? Say, "Hey, let's
actually look over there and let's talk about how these people are
trying to infiltrate our way of life and try to attack our children."
It's such an easy, easy way to get people riled up -- is when you bring
children into the matter because, of course, everyone wants to protect
children. LGBTQIA people want to protect children. And that's why we
are so outspoken about these issues -- because we, LGBTQIA adults, were
once LGBTQIA children and we remember what it was like to be ostracized,
to be othered and to be made to feel that we are not worthy because our
of our internal identities. And so I think the whole thing is a huge
distraction and there are so many things that we could talk about. And
the fact of the matter is what the GOP is saying that queer people are
trying to do to kids is simply false. You know, there are studies.
There are no -- LGBTQIA people in general are no more likely than cis
gender -- heterosexual people -- to be pedophiles, to be sexual
assaulters. But because of the fact that LGBTQIA people, a lot of it
[what we are] revolves around our sexual identities and our gender
identities, the GOP just easily distorts that into this idea of: "Oh,
this is all about sex. Why are you teaching our kids about sex?" And
the thing is, I don't want to teach your kids about sex. I don't even
want to talk to your kids. I just want your kids to know that they are
safe and they are loved regardless of whether they are straight, gay,
cisgender or transgender, whatever. We want to create a society where
everybody is welcomed and there is not this hierarchy of "Well I'm
better than you because I'm straight, I'm better than you because I'm
cis-gender." And that has historically been the battle that queer
people have had to fight. And so it's remarkable in many ways and I
think that now is the time that we really have to be outspoken about
these things in order to create a better life for the kids that are
growing up right now. I -- Again, I can't imagine what it's like to be a
middle-schooler or a high-schooler right now, seeing that there are
over half-a-thousand anti-LGBTQIA bills moving across the United
States. I don't know what that would do to my self-esteem as a
teenager. And it makes me really worried about -- about these kids.
I've never particularly thought of myself as a young person going into
politics. I got into politics out of necessity. And I started to look
around and I started to realize things are changing and not necessarily
for the better for particular communities and, in particular, the
LGBTQIA community. And my sort of a-ha moment, if you will, was the
Trump election in late 2016. When the Trump administration started in
early 2017, I felt that I needed to -- I felt that I needed to use my
platform as a drag performer and as a community figure to promote
LGBTQIA rights and to promote our inclusion. And so I started doing a
lot of parodies of folks in the Trump administration. I did a number of
parodies -- you know, Betsy DeVos, Kellyanne Conway, Malania Trump.
And part of the reason that I continue to do this throughout the Trump
administration was because I would do these performances which -- in my
mind -- they were satirical performances but they were also educational
to let you know what was happening. You're being entertained but also
you're learning that the administration is not necessarily -- Actually
not even not necessarily but just flat out not on our side. And I felt
that it was really important to draw people in. I think a lot of people
are turned off by -- just by the idea of politics. It can seem really
intimidating -- especially if you don't feel like you know everything
about politics. But here's the thing, everybody knows what they feel
inside is right or wrong.
Marianne Williamson: Right.
@Maebe_A_Girl: And
this is absolutely in my mind what politics is all about. I'm here,
you know, standing before you having this conversation and I'm running
for Congress because I need to let everybody know that I feel this is
what I think is right or wrong and if you agree with me vote for me, if
you don't agree with me, vote for somebody else. But I want to live in a
world where folks accept and tolerate everybody. Tolerance? I'm
really starting to really dislike that word because I don't want to just
be tolerated, I want to be fully integrated and celebrated, you know?
Marianne Williamson: It still implies judgement.
@Maebe_A_Girl: Like
"Well, okay, alright, we'll let you in the room. We'll let you in the
room but we're not going to let you have the microphone for very long."
And, here's the thing, Marianne, I host drag shows every single week. I
am best on the microphone. Give me the microphone because I will tell
you what I have to say. And what I have to say is that we deserve -- we
deserve equity and inclusion. And unfortunately, most of the parents
that actually were in the room had kids in the Glendale school district
and are in support of LGBTQIA inclusion. The school board is in support
of LGBTQIA inclusion. And again, this is all age appropriate. You
know, the way that you talk to second graders.
Marianne
Williamson: In a democracy, these are considered moderate positions.
What you were saying, though, I agree so much. If people -- People are
living so much on the edge. People are living just to survive. 70% of
Americans now report living with economic stress. So I agree with
everything you just said.
And we're stopping there.
Yesterday,
we noted the first half of the video and the plan was to note the
rest. I had some "[. . .]" in yesterday's and that wasn't me editing
anyone, it was skipping. I thought it might have been the connection
but I've streamed it again and it's edits. Which is fine, but it throws
off the last two minutes of the video because there are jump cuts and
it's harder to follow.
The full segment is now up at Marianne's YOUTUBE channel and we'll note that video.
So let's talk about what took place with that video: Marianne found her voice and found a reason to argue vote for her.
So
many claims that this person (man usually -- Marianne and Republican
Nikki Hayley are the only two women currently competing for a political
party's presidential nomination) or that is strong.
But
strength isn't being a bully which rules out all the GOP hopefuls
except for Chris Christie. Strength also isn't staying silent. Robert
F. Kennedy Jr. is not exhibiting strength when he refuses to stand up
for an attacked segment of our country.
It's a
segment, yes. And some can whine, "Such a small one!" It really
doesn't matter the size -- unless you're a size queen -- the issue is
are you going to defend those wrongly attacked?
If
you want our votes, we need to feel we can trust you, we need to feel
if we were wrongly attacked, you would stand up for us. That's how you
show true strength. You don't just chase a poll, you stand up and speak
out for freedoms and democracy.
If you can't do that, really what can you do?
Marianne
also gets that this segment issue is nonsense. We're not in the atomic
age. We've moved on. But did we learn anything? The atomic age was
about discovering via splitting things and breaking them up and
destroying them.
I see a lot of those types speaking right now and trying to convince you to support them.
Marianne
is getting at the reality that it's not the end. That is not the end.
If that's the end, everything is a broken toy. The point of addressing
the issues in this country is not to divide but to synthesize. And we
need to be able to address issues such as transphobia, such as racism . .
. The Mrs. Max Blumenthals don't get that you have to put it together,
you have to pull it together to address any issue. The Mrs. Max
Blumenthals think addressing the war on LGBTQ+ Americans is pulling the
focus -- honestly, what focus is there in the United States? -- and
detracting from other issues. No, it's not. These are interrelated
issues. How we look at one another is directly related to how we look
at others. When we let hate merchants divides us as Americans through
othering, we set the trap for them doing the same with foreign
countries.
Marianne is turning her campaign around. She's showing that she understands how complex and interrelated this all is.
That's bravery and that's inspiring.
Applause for Marianne.
Normally that's where we stop in the discussion. Not this time.
Now
we're going to talk about the fake asses and how they try to deceive
and pretend and all their fakery. On Twitter, this is the most
streamed video that Marianne has posted to Twitter. It also has
reactions. A lot. Many are positive and that's great. But we're going
to focus on the negative reactions because I
don't like liars and liars have been using the internet for hate
campaigns and getting away with it. Let's review the 'people' leaving
negative feedback to Marianne's discussion.
Serious Joint Avatar is just a transphobe and that's all we need to know there.
@ladywhateve
will not support Marianne now because of this video, she insists.
Liar. You were never
supporting her. You support Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and have done so for
weeks. It's not that hard to find out what you've been writing about
online. You're a liar who left a comment trying to make it appear that
you were with Marianne or on the fence but then this video! Liar, you
have Robert as your
background on Twitter. Lying trash. You're trying to Bud-Light
Marianne.
vic
proulx takes time out from his conspiracy theories to insist Marianne
is wasting time with this issue. Well don't waste your time, vic, I'm
sure there's some solar flare somewhere turning people into transmutants
with super powers and we all so need your expertise on that. P.S.
you're a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supporter and never planned on voting for
Marianne -- go away, liar.
HLY
SPRT took time away from doing racist Tweets to lament that this isn't a
"kitchen table issue." Clearly, judging by other Tweets, you're
another
Robert supporter and I hope you are joking with your fears that the
government will chemically castrate White people, I hope you're not that
racist and that much of a KKK freak. It may be time for
the media to start reporting on the mindset of Robert's supporters.
zombywoof
is a Tim Pool freak (right-winger) who is bothered that only a small
percent of the population in the US is trans. And only a small portion
is on death row. The most recent estimate is 2750. So I guess that
means we stop working on that issue as well? Idiot.
Emma
M Tenorio tells Marianne that she just lost her vote -- she's got to
protect her children. Hope Emma plans to protect them from lies
because, turns out, Marianne didn't lose Emma's vote, she didn't have
it. Emma's another crazy for Robert and the crazies do him no good.
KanefireX,
community members may remember, was a racist in the '00s and has now
resurfaced on Twitter where he still is but is a racist but also now a Michael Tracey
fan. He wants Marianne to know that transgender is all a Marxist
ploy. Thanks for taking time away from bleaching your white sheets to
share that, Kanefire X.
PoppingWeasels
wants a refund on his 2020 donation. For what she did this week.
Doesn't work that way but good thing you got behind RFK Jr, right? Three weeks
ago, wassn't it? Not planning to vote for her but wants people to think
this interview sent him reeling. Liar.
Please
grasp, this is what these con artists do. They pretend they're
customers of Target, for example, and are never ever going to Target
again because of a Pride display. They're liars. By the way, Emma
above also wants everyone to go to Target and f**k things up because of the
Pride display. She loves Robert. Robert, I'm seriously worried about
the sick f**ks you are attracting.
DoNotDivideUs
is anti-trans as his account listed makes clear and so does the other account from which
he posted another outcry Tweet about Marianne interviewing a
transgender person.
Again,
we focused on the crazies. They've been around for sometime. Liars
online who are part of an organized attack machine. They didn't always
attack. The first time the media ever encountered them was in 2008 when
THE NEW YORK TIMES took forever to grasp that the "thousands" of Barack
Obama supporters were actually about 150. It took the paper that long
to notice it -- we noticed it right away. Several of the multiple
posters had trouble keeping their identities straight and would get
confused as to what they had posted under which name. (To their credit,
a TIMES political reporter did e-mail to say "you were right" when they
figured out what was going on.) It's astroturf and it pretends to be a
movement. They're doing it online right now with the attacks on THE
LITTLE MERMAID and DISNEY+ (on those attacks, please read Stan's "Erin Johnson is a racist who writes for SCREEN RANT" and "THE LITTLE MERMAID has brought in twice as much money as what?").
They're trying to create the impression of a wave that's really not
there for them. It's a result of saps like Dana Milbank who saw the
2004 election as his own world of popularity and didn't grasp that he
was on a mailing list that was being worked. How dumb do you have to
be?
The junior Kennedy has his family's name but
lacks his ancestors' popularity and is perceived differently in the
public eye −in part for pushing anti-vaccine views that are at odds with
what government agencies and prominent public health experts say. More
diseases, like measles, can occur in communities with pockets of
unvaccinated people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
I've
seen you buddy up to Tucker Carlson, Glenneth Greenwald and Matt Taibbi
-- transphobes one and all. Your niece telling me you're not a
transphobe and that you do not hate LGBTQ+ people isn't enough. You
need to find your voice. You've been more than willing to meet with any
crazy in the world. It's time for you to find the voice to defend the
most targeted in the community. You're the one invoking your father --
and you should -- but he wouldn't be silent when a minority population
was targeted.
Some
of that, I would say, involves some private conversations. I think if
you appear on some public platforms with them, you offer them critiques
-- and again I think you're capacity to do this is greater than folks
like ours because of who you are. But you can engage people in what you
were term "loving critiques" on public platforms so that folks can be
clear about what your position is as you try to show people and win
people over to new positions without necessarily having a huge fight
that's good for television but doesn't move people over to certain
political positions. [. . .] But if you go to an event that's an event
to boost them and you only praise them then of course they're your
friend but again I think it diminishes your stature and who you are
because it looks like to the rest of us who are seeing it that you're
not offering critical love as you stated earlier about some of the
organizations and people that you care for but instead it feels as if
you're endorsing their platforms and who they are and their ideals
That's
Kamau Franklin offering some wise words to Cornel West (we'll include
the video in a moment) that equally apply to Robert.
Marianne's
running a real campaign. At present, Robert's not. That is reality.
And. Robert, if your scared that all the crazies will fall away if you defend
those in need of defending? You really aren't your father's son.
At
least the crazies are in front of Robert -- not inside him. Cornel's
got crazies all around him as well as inside him. A number of people
have rightly called Cornel a womanizer and expressed serious concerns
regarding what he will and won't do with regards to women. Keesha and I
are tracking his statements as a result. For example, since 'brother'
Cornel got into the race? His Tweets have noted "brothers" 13 times and
sisters only 5. And none together. There's a reason women are wary of
Cornel. He chooses his own words and this is on him. He's a wordsmith so his words especially matter.
We'll
come back to Twitter in a second. BLACK POWER MEDIA interviewed Cornel
this week -- their second interview since he announced he was running
to win the Green Party's presidential nomination -- which the Green
Party will decided in the summer of next year. Kamou's quote earlier is
from the video below.
The interview is noted at the top of yesterday's morning's THE REMIX MORNING SHOW below.
No
problem streaming THE REMIX MORNING SHOW, but I've only gotten through
parts of the episode with the interview in it. I have the same aversion
that I had when Bully Boy Bush would be on TV.
And
for those convinced Cornel is running a great campaign -- what world
are you living in -- let's note the Tweet that Cornel has pinned to the
top of his Twitter feed.
He's
not even The People's Party nominee now. In yesterday's REMIX (above)
it's rightly noted by Renee Johnston that his campaign website is out of
date and needs to be updated. Yes, and so does his Twitter feed.
Transgender
people have always existed. Some Native American tribes saw them as
healers. In terms of non-native Americans, it shouldn't be that
difficult for people to grasp the term "intersex" -- when people are
born with both sets of sex organs. We've noted this before and that,
for decades, parents would then choose whether or not a child would be a
boy or a girl. Julie Cohen is the director of EVERY BODY -- a
documentary we've noted here and in the community newsletters which
deals with intersex persons. David Oliver (USA TODAY) reports on the documentary (opens this Friday) and notes:
This early surgical intervention is still happening to kids, hence the need for more education. While the documentary certainly covers this trauma, it offers hope through the eyes of activists.
Everyone's
story is different. Some people's parents discover they are intersex
when they're born but others do not know until puberty or beyond. Roth
Weigel, for example, had internal testes and a vagina at birth. The
protocol was to remove the testes – effectively castrating her.
Intersex people are often told to keep quiet about their identities which
can make living their lives tricky, especially when it comes to dating
and sex. It's ultimately up to individuals whether they want to come out
and feel safe to do so.
Even
among progressive circles the word "intersex" leave many scratching
their heads. Cohen says: "I was a little floored by how many people just
in the dinner party conversations that you have ... including people
that are in the therapy world are like, 'Oh, yeah, intersex? What's that
again? Is that like trans or kind of like trans?' Come on people. Get it together!" (Granted, LGBTQ+ terminology has only become very mainstream the last decade or so.)
"There's a huge lack of information," Wall adds, "and there is ignorance, and there's also willful ignorance."
While the community is fighting for legislative change to protect intersex kids, they're also figuring out what intersex culture really looks like.
"There's enough time where trans people have been in community where there's trans culture.
You can talk in a similar language. Intersex people haven't been
together and healed enough to be able to understand what it means to be
in joyful community with each other," Gallo says.
It is past time for people to grow up and grasp the world we live in.
And
for the American Taliban to grasp how crazy they are and how crazy
people around the world are just like them. ALJAZEERA notes that there
was a rage in Baghdad yesterday with crazies running around screaming
(over a holy book burned in Sweden) which resulted in Moqtada's cult
screaming and burning LGBTQ flags. Crazy, sick people. First, they
can't mind their own business. They don't live in Sweden, it's nothing
to rage over. But that's the Taliban, even if you live in another
country, you must do what they say. Second, blame the LGBTQ+ because
you have to have a scapegoat apparently.
Chanell
Perez Ortiz, a 29-year-old Afro-Latina trans woman, was shot and killed
in Carolina, Puerto Rico over the weekend. She is at least the 13th
trans or gender-nonconforming person to be reported killed in the U.S.
this year, according to Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents.Also
known as Uvita, Ortiz was a cosmetologist who loved fashion, makeup,
and hair, according to her social media and an interview with her
stepmother by WAPA TV. According to Telemundo Puerto Rico,
Ortiz was shot to death early Sunday morning on the highway behind a
university in Carolina, just east of the capital city of San Juan, where
seven to eight bullet casings were identified at the scene. Although
media reports have misgendered and deadnamed her, Police Commissioner
Antonio López Figueroa said the murder was being investigated as a
transfemicide in a statement to Telemundo Puerto Rico.
“The
agents are working on the investigation process that will lead to
determining the true motive for death,” Figueroa told Telemundo. “As our
duty dictates in all cases of violent deaths, we will not stop working
until we clarify this death.”
This is
about people's lives. In ten years, when we're all the same page, I
don't want one of these jerks to be forgiven -- not on the right and
certainly not on the left. These jerks have mocked transgendered
people, they have fun of them. They have treated this as all a big
joke. And it's not a joke and it's not funny. I don't know which of
them is more worthy of our scorn -- the ones who are right wing hate
merchants and would have only found someone else to target if they
stepped back or the ones on the left who are mocking? And what do we
say about the 'great silent' on the left? YOUTUBERS and writers who
could be speaking out but stay silent -- because they're partners with a
YOUTUBER who makes fun of transgenders? Because they want to keep the
key to the clubhouse? The key to the clubhouse is especially motivating
the token women who got into the clubhouse and know that their
membership could be terminated at any point. So they stay silent and
support these toxic males and hope and pray that we don't catch to their
hypocrisy.
It’s
legislation that’s been closely watched by a self-described, life-long
conservative Republican and his transgender son, who said it’s not
external pressure, but an internal struggle.
“I
did it because I knew it was the right, next-best thing in my life and I
wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t fully something that my heart and my
mind and my spirit told me was the best thing for me,” said Ashton
Colby. “So absolutely no pressure. And I’m so happy I did transition.”
“Transgender
people, the folks that I’ve met, dear souls, young people trying to
figure it out, you know, deep crisis,” said Rick Colby, Ashton’s father.
“And a lot of times, it’s a spiritual crisis: ‘Who am I? Why am I
here?’ And they’re trying to figure it out, and to see this assault wave
of rhetoric against them…”
Rick
Colby has been a loyal Republican since Ronald Reagan was in the White
House, but he doesn’t recognize the party that’s expending so much time
and energy opposing trans rights.
Noted
transphobe and hate merchant Jonathan Turley, the bigot of GWU, has
lied repeatedly and has also commented on things he knows nothing
about. Why? He's a schill for Ron DeSantis and the right-wing,
American-Taliban section of the Republican Party. He really needs
DISNEY to fail due to his own personal obsessions. So he has lied and
lied again. He's ignored studios in real trouble -- PARAMOUNT+ -- in
his efforts to smear and attack DISNEY. How's that working out for him Shannon Power (NEWSWEEK) reports:
Despite DeSantis waging war on Disney however, the public appears to still have positive feelings toward the company.
In fact, nearly 50 percent of people surveyed in research for a Newsweek poll viewed Disney in a "favorable" or "very favorable" light.
A
total of 46 percent of those polled said they had positive feelings
about the company, with 20 percent saying they had a "very favorable"
view and 26 percent saying their view of Disney was "favorable."
That is in comparison to 13 percent who had an "unfavorable" view of the company.
The
poll which was carried out on June 25, found 11 percent of people had a
"very unfavorable" view of Disney while 24 percent were on the fence
with neither a "favorable nor unfavorable" opinion.
A further six percent of the respondents said they did not know what view they held of Disney.
The poll of popular opinion is not the only battle Disney is winning against DeSantis, its social media has also had a boost over the past month.
Disney gained 44,742 new Twitter followers
in the 30 days up to June 21, bringing its total to almost 10.3
million, according to the social media statistics website Social Blade.
It witnessed a further boost on Instagram,
where Disney gained 278,550 followers in the same amount of time.
Disney's official Instagram account now has 37,975,982 followers, making
it the 199th most followed account on the social media platform.
But
Disney claimed the second spot for the second year in a row — which
could be seen as somewhat surprising in light of the public clashes it
has had with Florida Gov. and Republican presidential hopeful Ron
DeSantis over its political views. Disney has opposed the state’s “Don’t
Say Gay” legislation, and DeSantis has responded with a number of oversight and other measures affecting Disney’s operations in Florida. This led Disney to sue DeSantis,
claiming the prospective Republican presidential candidate waged a
“relentless campaign to weaponize government power” against the company.
And Disney has also scrapped plans on a roughly $1 billion investment in a new corporate campus in Florida that would have relocated more than 2,000 employees.
We're going to wind down with a video.
Several
e-mails complaining about the above -- public e-mail, not the one for
community members. Are these drive-by e-mails or are people being
sincere?
I have no idea. But if you're expecting me to tsk-tsk Olayemi Olurin over the video, let me disappoint you.
First off, if I'd weighed in yesterday, my commentary might upset you more than her's did.
Secondly,
even if you don't agree with her, I hope you understand that she was
speaking honestly. We need to all listen to one another better.
Third, "It is not effective!" one person snaps in an e-mail. What is it supposed to be effecting?
It may just be an attempt to share and be received by others who feel the same.
This
is a serious topic and it has upset a lot of us. The Supreme Court is
out of control, precedents no longer matter, everything is on a whim and
the cabal works overtime to shred the rights of American people.
I'd say that's pretty good reason to be outraged.
If
you'll go back and listen and if you were sincerely someone who
supported Olayemi in the past, as eight of you insist, I hope you'll
understand what she's sharing and why.
And before we can ever move forward -- 'effective'ly -- we need to understand each other.
Again, I have no problem with what she said, sorry.
We
can all learn from it. Because no one owes you their vote. No one. A
vote belongs to an individual. The individual can use it however they
want. So it's wrong to assume that the Democratic Party is owed your
vote or any political party is owed your vote. It's also wrong to
assume that because, as women, some of us get this or that, that all
women -- or all White women -- get the same thing or feel the same way.
White women do not owe anyone their vote. Asian women do not owe
anyone their vote, etc, etc.
If you want to appeal to people you feel are missing the point, you need to make the case to them.
This was not the time for that. That's what we work on after we get off our chests what's bothering us.
You
can't get to that step without being honest about your reaction. Olay
was honest and I thank her for that and I celebrate her for that. The
anger she feels is echoed by so many of us, the Court becomes more
illegitimate with each passing day. The frustration is understandable.
I have no problem with what she said or with what she shared.
The following sites updated:
