Oh Boy It Never Ends: Some solid criticism of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON

RESERVATION DOGS' Devery Jacobs calls out Martin Scorsese's awful KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON:

“I don’t feel that these very real (Indigenous) people were shown honor or dignity in the horrific portrayal of their deaths,” she continued. “Contrarily, I believe that by showing more murdered Native women on screen, it normalizes the violence committed against us and further dehumanizes our people.”

[. . .]

“This is the issue when non-Native directors are given the liberty to tell our stories; they center the white perspective and focus on Native people’s pain,” Jacobs wrote, while later adding: “I would prefer to see a $200 million movie from an Osage filmmaker telling this history, any day of the week. I’m sorry, but Scorsese choosing to end on a shot of Ilonshka dances and drumming? It doesn’t absolve the film from painting Native folks as helpless victims without agency.”

Very good points. I didn't care for "KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON" either.

Ava and C.I.'s latest is "MEDIA: APPLE TV+ the MySpace of streamers" and they're looking at the streaming failure that is APPLE TV+ which fired Jon Stewart because they didn't want him criticizing China.

And speaking of THIRD, I'm noting the following in full:

10 shows we can't wait for the return of

1) THE CLEANING LADY (FOX)

2) WILL TRENT (ABC)

3) WOLF PACK (PARAMOUNT+) (There has to be a season two. This was one of the top ten most watched programs on any streamer when it posted weekly new episodes -- not top ten for PARAMOUNT+ but top ten for all streamers.)

4) NIGHT COURT (NBC)

5) REACHER (AMAZON)

6) THE NIGHT AGENT (NETFLIX)

7) RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE (MTV)

8) CITADEL (AMAZON)

9) THE LAST OF US (HBO)

10) ANN RICE'S MAYFAIR WITCHES (AMC)

There's got to be a second season of WOLF PACK.

Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, October 24, 2023. The Israeli government continues to the assault on Gaza while in the United States some people think they don't have to do their damn jobs -- that would include a judge who ran for the position well after marriage equality was the law of the land but thinks now that she doesn't have to follow the law. Despite being a judge. Despite being on the bench. She doesn't have to follow the law. That and much more.

Starting with the assault on Gaza, ALJAZEERA reports:

The emir of Qatar has called on the international community to restrain Israel in its fight against Hamas, saying Israeli forces should not be given a green light for unconditional killing in the besieged Gaza Strip.

In his opening speech at the Shura council’s annual session on Tuesday, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani also said the continuing war was a dangerous escalation that threatened the region.

“We are saying enough is enough,” he said. “It is untenable for Israel to be given an unconditional green light and free licence to kill, nor it is tenable to continue ignoring the reality of occupation, siege and settlement.”

And this is before the ground invasion of Gaza is truly underway. Owen Jones (GUARDIAN) points out:

If I knew then what I know now. For many of the guilty men and women who plunged Iraq into blood and chaos, this became something of a stock phrase. When, in 2004, the then Tory leader, Michael Howard, was asked if he would still have supported the British government’s motion backing the war – only 16 Conservative MPs rebelled a year earlier – he replied: “If I knew then what I know now, that would have caused a difficulty. I couldn’t have voted for that resolution.” “If I knew then what I know now, I would not have voted that way,” protested Hillary Clinton during her doomed first campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination. “If I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn’t have voted for it,” said Labour’s then deputy leader, Harriet Harman, a few weeks later.

Prepare yourself for the revival of this phrase. As the calamity of Israel’s onslaught against Gaza becomes apparent, those who cheered it on will panic about reputational damage and plead their earlier ignorance. Do not let them get away with it this time.

The claim was nonsense even in the context of the Iraq cataclysm. As the Chilcot inquiry later concluded, Blair was warned that an invasion “would increase the threat from al-Qaida” and other groups. As a result, the inquiry did “not agree that hindsight is required”, noting that everything from “internal strife in Iraq” to Iranian intervention to the rise of al-Qaida was “explicitly identified” before the war. Warnings of the disaster to come were not confined to private intelligence briefings to Blair. From the lack of weapons of mass destruction – as former foreign secretary Robin Cook detailed in his resignation speech – to violent strife to a boost for al-Qaida, the coming disaster was widely predicted in public. There was no shortage of evidence to justify the then-secretary general of the Arab League warning that the war would “open the gates of hell”.

[. . .]

Israel is dropping leaflets on northern Gaza warning that civilians who remain there may be considered an “accomplice in a terrorist organisation”, self-evidently arguing that non-combatants can be considered fair game. Leaving aside that southern Gaza is itself being bombed, contrary to Israeli claims that it’s a safe zone, and that many are unable to flee – not least the injured and infirm – this is a public confession of what could amount to future war crimes.

When the supposed relative “moderate” foreign minister, Eli Cohen, declares that Gaza’s territory will shrink thanks to Israeli annexation, he is simply stating a longstanding open Israeli commitment. After all, when Tzipi Hotovely, Israel’s ambassador to the UK, declares her support for Israel’s territory compromising the biblical territory of Judea and Samaria – that is, the annexation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip – she merely echoes Netanyahu’s promoting a map of “Greater Israel” before the UN.

From collective punishment – by depriving innocent people of water, food, energy and medicine – to indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas, there are no excuses. The UN is warning of “mass ethnic cleansing”, has denounced “crimes against humanity” and is even arguing that “there is a risk of genocide” against the Palestinians. A ground invasion has not even begun, but what will happen next is clear. So here is a prediction. As it is, just 3% of Britons say there “definitely should not be an immediate ceasefire”, the same proportion as those who believe the Earth is flat. As the atrocities mount, the public mood will be a mixture of horror and fury at those complicit in one of the great crimes of our time.

They should have to face reality and their responsibilities for the killings. But that group never does. That group, remember, includes Glenneth Greenwald who restyled himself -- after the Iraq War turned out as deadly as so many of us knew it would -- as an opponent and would spend years attacking anyone who pointed out that he was cheerleader for the Iraq War. He has blood on his hands. Chris Hedges never ever notes, "Hey, I'm the guy who lied on the front page of THE NEW YORK TIMES and falsely linked Iraq to 9/11 in October of 2001." They don't take accountability. They don't do admissions of guilt. They just lecture and hector everyone else while pretending that's not blood we see dripping from their hands.

Don't let anyone who pushes for violence and further attacks on the Palestinian people get away with covering up and denying their roles in this.

Helen Regan, Kareem El Damanhoury and Jomana Karadsheh (CNN) report, "Aid agencies are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza as doctors warn an Israeli blockade on fuel means many more vulnerable babies and wounded people in hospitals will soon die. One agency says at least 2,000 children in Gaza have been killed in the past few weeks." There is no denying what's going on and there's no excuse for cheering it on. Any who do are doing so with full knowledge of what's going on.

Brett Wilkins (COMMON DREAMS) notes:

A U.K.-based Palestinian journalist took a Sky News presenter to task during a weekend interview in which the 23-year-old Gaza native challenged the Western media's misleading framing, double standards, and lack of critical context during coverage of Israel's war on the Gazan people.

Yara Eid—who is from Gaza City but lives in Edinburgh—pushed back after the Sky newsreader said that "it has been two weeks since Hamas first launched its attack on Israel that saw 1,400 people killed," and "since then, Palestinian officials say more than 4,000 people have died in Gaza."

Eid noted that the presenter referred to the Israelis murdered by Palestinian militants as being "killed," while describing Gazans slain by Israeli bombs, missiles, and artillery as having "died."

"I think language is really important to use because, as a journalist, you have the moral responsibility to report on what's happening," she said.

"Palestinians don't just die, they get killed," Eid stressed. "They are actually being subjected to ethnic cleansing, to genocide for the last 75 years."

"And you also mentioned that this is a Hamas-Israel war. This is not it," she said. "And framing it as such is very misleading because it poses the thing that Israel is an equal power, but it's an occupying power and it has the responsibility of protecting all civilian lives and children in Gaza."

"You need, as a journalist, to report on what's happening and say it as it is," Eid asserted.

Eid shared that 30 members of her immediate family—including 17 children—were killed by Israeli occupation forces.

The young journalist also said her best friend, Ain Media photographer Ibrahim Mohammad Lafi, was shot dead by Israeli troops. He is one of at least 20 journalists and 35 United Nations personnel who have been killed by Israeli bombs or bullets since the start of the war.

Again, what's happening is happening in full view of the world. THE DAILY PRINCETON notes the following open letter by some members of Princeton's faculty and student body:

Dear President Eisgruber,

We write as bereaved members of the Princeton community — faculty, students, alumni, and staff — to express our unequivocal outrage over the tragic loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives during the past week as the region seems to careen uncontrollably towards an all-out regional conflagration. There is never any justification for the targeting of civilians, whether it be assaults on Israeli towns or the aerial bombardment and total siege of the Gaza Strip.

We firmly believe that the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a political one. The ongoing Israeli assault upon the Gaza Strip must be stopped. We call upon the leadership of the University as well as that of elected officials in New Jersey and Washington D.C. to do everything possible to bring an end to the targeting of civilians by the relentless bombing of hospitals, homes, roads, schools, universities, and infrastructures of survival in the Gaza Strip. The international community must force Israel, Hamas, and all parties to the conflict to adhere strictly to the letter of international law, first and foremost by putting an immediate and complete halt to the unchecked collective punishment currently being deployed against Palestinians in Gaza. The free flow of humanitarian assistance must be assured for the more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza who currently have no access to food, clean drinking water, fuel, electricity, and medical relief.

We write to voice our profound concern over the widespread dehumanization and erasure of Palestinian life in the United States and throughout the Western world, in the media, public discourse, and official governmental statements. This political environment constitutes a clear and present danger to Palestinians, while also serving to justify rising threats to and criminalization of free speech and academic freedom around the demand to end the occupation of the Palestinian territories. University students and student organizations who issue statements critical of Israeli policies or express solidarity with Palestinians are continuously subjected to harassment, intimidation, imperiled job prospects, and threats to their personal safety. We demand continuous and ironclad guarantees of the freedom of speech for our faculty but especially for our students, including concrete protections from harassment, intimidation, and discrimination. Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students have been attacked for their views, whether expressed or imputed, whether online or in the real world, but also on the basis of their identity alone, as we recently saw in the heartbreaking case of a six-year-old Palestinian-American child in Illinois being stabbed 26 times in his own home.

We welcome your statement of October 10 emphasizing that Princeton embraces both Israelis and Palestinians as part of its community, and that the situation is deeply distressing for us all. We appreciate the efforts made by the administration to reach out to Jewish community members as well as those with Israeli citizenship to check on their well-being. We find it unacceptable, however, that Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim students were not and have not been accorded a similar show of respect and care. We call upon the University administration to do everything in its power to ensure that all Princetonians are recognized and feel safe and seen in this moment of accelerating grief, horror, and outright danger.

This is an epochal moment in the history of the Middle East. “In the nation’s service and the service of humanity,” we affirm. We call upon the University administration to uphold the values that Princeton stands for. We serve the nation and serve humanity by collectively working for peace and justice.

This list is as of 4:30 PM on October 21, 2023. To view a full list of signatories, please see this continuously updated document. To sign the letter, please see this link.

On yesterday's DEMOCRACY NOW! one segment included Amy Goodman speaking with human rights attorney Raji Sourani whose home had just been bombed by the Israeli government.

AMY GOODMAN: We have just been joined on the phone by Raji Sourani, who put this message out after Israel bombed his home in Gaza City. He said, “By a miracle, I survived with my family. My house destroyed tonight by [an] Israeli bombing, at 8:25 p.m. The area I’m living in Gaza city Tal Al Hawa was subject to bombing for almost two hours by F16 rockets. I lived with my beloved wife and son the [longest two] hours and the most horrific time in my life, where the three of us sure we are not going to survive and we will surely die in any coming bomb. We hear the F16. We hear the rocket launched roaring and the explosion whom for 25 consecutive times thinking will take our life.”

Raji Sourani, we have just reached in Gaza. Can you hear us? Raji Sourani is the award-winning —

RAJI SOURANI: Yes, yes, yes, Amy.

AMY GOODMAN: — human rights lawyer —

RAJI SOURANI: I can hear you.

AMY GOODMAN: — and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza.

RAJI SOURANI: I do hear you very well.

AMY GOODMAN: Hi, Raji. We can hear you, as well. Can you tell us what happened? People all over the world expressing concern, as you are a renowned human rights attorney, with your family, not knowing what had happened. What happened?

RAJI SOURANI: I think the world should be worried about the crimes going on against Palestinian civilians, who are for the 18th consecutive day in the eye of the storm. They are the target. They are the target of the F-16s, of the cannons, of the gunships, day or night, 25 hours a day. They almost destroyed — they destroyed Gaza. I mean, it’s unbelievable, this army targeting only civilians and civilian targets — towers, houses, hospitals, churches, mosques, schools, shelter places, ambulances, nurses, doctors, journalists. This is the most political army — this is the most political army in the world. This is the mighty Israel, its might and power targeting civilians. They are doing war crimes, crimes against humanity, persecution for 2.4 million people for the last 18 days.

Unfortunately, this colonial, racist West supporting them by all ways and means. They are supporting them with money, with guns, with airplanes, with all what they need to do this crime. They are complicit by supporting them politically and militarily and politically. It’s shame this is happening in the 21st century, while these war crimes not secret enough. It’s projected live on air, and the entire world see it. And the ICC prosecutor, who issued warrants against Putin because he committed war crimes against civilians, because he invaded and made occupation to Ukraine, and here we have this prolonged military occupation, we have prolonged blockade, which is criminal, suffocated people here, we have five consecutive wars, and this is the sixth, and he is doing nothing. He is doing nothing except, you know, freezing the investigation of the war crimes committed by Israel and the Israeli army.

AMY GOODMAN: Raji, you’re talking about the —

RAJI SOURANI: Gaza in unprecedented crisis —

AMY GOODMAN: Raji, you’re talking about the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Karim Khan?

RAJI SOURANI: Yes, yes. He is complicit. He is selectively dealing with the Rome Statute, with the investigations, and he’s politically charging the International Criminal Court. Shame on him. He didn’t say one statement, since day one 'til this moment. He should be the backbone of the victims who are suffering in this part of the world. And he sees that, and he knows that, and he receives reports about that. And he's doing nothing.

So, U.S. and Mr. Biden — I’m saying to him — you are complicit. You are part of these crimes, because you are allowing, with your arms, civilians to be targeted and killed. We have almost 1,200 people for almost two weeks under the wreckage and under the destroyed houses, unable to be recovered. We have 57 families deleted, don’t exist anymore, because 20, 25, 30 of them have been killed in one second. We have churches targeted, and people died in it. We have mosques, people sheltered in it, and they were killed. Why you are allowing this to happen? Why you are seeing, watching, supporting Israel? Israel right of defense? Or it should be protecting civilians at the time of war. IHL, international humanitarian law, and human rights, Rome Statute, it’s there —

AMY GOODMAN: Raji —

RAJI SOURANI: — simply, Amy, to protect —

AMY GOODMAN: Raji —

RAJI SOURANI: — civilians at a time of war. And nobody is protecting us. We are the target of the Israeli army. They want to evict Gaza, and they create a new Nakba. They don’t want anybody in Gaza. They want us to leave. We are not leaving. We are the stones of the valley. We have been here since ever, and we will continue forever. We will not be part of the Israeli plan to evacuate Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Raji, if you can tell us what happened to your own family? When was your house bombed? And were you dug out from the rubble?

RAJI SOURANI: I’m living in Rimal area, Tal Al Hawa, the nicest place in Gaza. I have my own villa, and it’s nice, with very nice garden. It’s a two-story building. It’s me and my wife Amal and my son Basel. And we were, like everybody, I mean, you know, at our home, watching what’s going on. And out of the blue, the bombing began, began in our area — nothing special, nothing unique, nothing consist danger; otherwise, my sense will tell me, I mean, you know, I have to leave, or I will ask my wife and son, I mean, at least, to leave. But there is nothing, I mean, in that part. It’s entirely civilian, and I can tell — and I have always the reason, I mean, to say that.

And I have — the bombing began, and we thought, yes, I mean, this might be one bomb here or there. But it was very close. And the second, and then we began to realize and feel, you know, there is something big wrong happening, because sound getting closer, closer and closer. We were holding — I mean, we were not thinking or realizing that we are going to survive. That’s not easy. And I was thinking of a lot of things, I mean, my life, how I didn’t really, you know, leave like everybody leave. Should I leave, or should I stay? Why we move just in that place two minutes before the rocket of F-16, GBU-38, hit? And I felt the heat of the flame, and I saw the ball of fire. And every time, especially this one, I thought it’s our end. And this was last one, I mean, with the hit directly to my house, and the house was literally destroyed. Lucky enough, I just moved from the place where we are staying, upon the request of my son, to one tiny corridor inside the house. And if we were where we were, we are gone. We are gone.

So, we waited almost half an hour, unable to speak any words, unable to do anything. And we were really, I mean, a state of human shock. And I waited 'til, you know, there was some siren of ambulances remotely, and that means usually the bombing stopped, and they get the green light to come in. Then we began to climb our way out. But it was rather a mission impossible. And we were lucky, I mean, you know, to get out. And when we get out of the place, we just moved to my brother's house, which is like 800 meters away from the place we are staying. This happened on the 18th. But since then 'til today, I can assure you one thing, that the entire area is of Tal Al Hawa completely abolished almost. Two-thirds of it doesn't exist. This really beautiful area of Gaza doesn’t exist anymore.

So, we survived. We were lucky. But our neighbors, I mean, they lost 29 members, Habboush family, and others and others and others and others and others. We are collecting data. We are collecting information. This is unprecedented. I never, ever thought in my life civilians can be the target of war. They are not with Hamas.

Hamas insulted them, insulted their intelligence, insulted their military. We can understand that. In two hours, they were able to destroy the security wall, which America — which U.S. took it as the standard, and many other countries. And they destroyed it in 15 minutes, and they were able to enter. And they took over 11 military strongholds of Israel, and they killed and captured many of them. And they get back to them in Gaza, and we can understand why they are angry with them. And they took the headquarters of Gaza commandment of the Israeli military army, and they arrested generals, colonel and others, and they brought them, I mean, to Gaza. Israel has the right to be angry, absolutely angry, because Hamas showed their intelligence and their military capability means nothing, and they destroyed this illusion in two hours.

But why they are revenging from us? They should rebel from Hamas. Hamas still, I can assure you, functions like a Swiss watch in Gaza, and they are not affected. I can tell that. I can see that. We feel that. They are unable to minimize their power. They are unable to silence them. They are unable to locate where their soldiers are who were taken as prisoners of war. They are unable to do anything for them. That’s why they are revenging from us. This is the shame on the army. I mean, there is rules of engagement between the army, between the resistance movement and any army. But why civilians are the target? This is the big question. This is shame this is happening, I mean, to us. And I’m telling you —

AMY GOODMAN: Raji —

RAJI SOURANI: — the reason they wanted — yes.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to ask you — the leaflets that were dropped this weekend on Gaza, addressed to residents of Gaza, reading, “Urgent warning to the residents of Gaza: Your presence north of Wadi Gaza is putting your lives at risk. Anyone who chooses not to evacuate from the north of the Gaza Strip to the south of the Gaza Strip may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization.” These on leaflets. I don’t know if you saw these leaflets, but you have made a decision with your family not to move south. Can you respond to what they’re saying, that anyone who chooses not to evacuate may be identified as a partner in a terrorist organization?

RAJI SOURANI: We have been here since ever, and we will stay forever. And no power on Earth will take me from here. We are the stones of the valley. They have to understand that. And even if they destroy once and again houses on our heads, even if they took our life, we are not moving anymore. Simply, we suffered from the Nakba 75 years. They committed massacres. They killed thousands of Palestinians. They pushed us out. And now it’s time for us not to do that again, at least willingly. We cannot be part of Mr. Bibi’s plan to evacuate Gaza. He said it, from a written statement, in a press conference day one: Gazans should leave Gaza. Where to? Where to? If anybody should leave, people like Mr. Bibi, not us. Enough for the occupation. We want dignity, freedom, end of this belligerent, criminal occupation. Now people from south of Gaza began to come back to north in thousands, because there is no safe haven in Gaza, no safe place in Gaza. And we are not going to be a tool in the hands of racist, criminal, rightist Israeli prime minister. No way. We are not going to do that. We are going to stay in Gaza.

AMY GOODMAN: Raji Sourani, I want to thank you so much for taking this call, human rights attorney, director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights in Gaza, recipient of the Right Livelihood Award, as well as the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Please be safe. I know that it’s extremely difficult, with now the death toll at 5,000. Raji has chosen to stay in Gaza City near his home. People should go to our interviews with Raji over these last two weeks, of course, and beyond, before that. I also want to thank Jehad Abusalim, scholar and analyst from Gaza, executive director of The Jerusalem Fund. Thank you so much both for being with us.

Next up, “Do not use our death and our pain to bring death and pain of other people and other families.” The message of Noy Katsman about their brother Hayim, an Israeli peace activist killed in the Hamas attack. We’ll speak with Noy, as he says, “Not in my name. Not in my brother’s name.” Stay with us.

Turning to the United States . . .

Karen Danao (QUOTE AMBITION) reports on Nausicaa who decided last summer to see a doctor because she felt she was a trans woman in a male body. Instead, she found out she was born intersexed which cleared up a lot -- at 14 she was bothered by lumps in her chest and thought she had cancer. Now, she's able to see that was her breast developing and why. At the time, the doctor had told her that sometimes the body's hormones got confused. It also explained why she had a woman's hairline and a woman's hands.

No, idiots like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, life is not as simple as your simple and ignorant minds think it is. It's never that simple. And I pray that the hate you toss out comes right back at you 100 times greater.

Let's turn to another idiot, Dianne Hensley. She's a judge in Texas. Let's make clear, Texas elects their judges. Dianne, a very strange looking woman who has rough skin on her cheeks that looks like rug burns, chose to run for the office of judge. And some idiots elected her to that office. She now has a problem with that office as Debapriva Bhattacharya (MEAWW) explains:

Justice of the Peace Dianne Hensley has refused to perform wedding ceremonies for same- couples and decided to take her fight over religious beliefs to the state's Supreme Court.

The Texas Commission on Judicial Misconduct sanctioned Hensley in 2019 for conducting marriages exclusively between heterosexual couples. Shortly afterward, Hensley filed a lawsuit arguing that the commission punished her because of her faith, reported Daily Mail.

Idiot, you ran for public office. You have to perform your public duties as required by the government.

You know there was a mayor a few months back, in another state (not my state California or Whack Job Dianne's) who announced he wasn't going to sign the permit for a Pride parade due to his personal beliefs.

Hmm.

As the ride at Disney Land says, "It's a small world after all." I didn't know him. But . . . I did know his boyfriend. And conveyed that the closet case could stop grandstanding and sign the damn permit or I'd be happy to out and closet case who was using his office to harm the LGBTQ+ community.

I don't get where anyone thinks that they can run for elected office and then insist that they need to discriminate and break the law because of their religion.

November 8, 2022. That's when Dianne last ran for election.

2015. What's that? When the US Supreme Court decided OBERGEFELL -- the verdict that granted marriage equality.

Meaning?

Dianne knew the law before she was a judge and she knew the law after she was a judge.

A justice of the peace performs marriages. The law says marriage equality. If she didn't want to perform them, she shouldn't run for office. A justice of the peace is supposed to follow all the laws -- not pick and choose.

She chose to run and she needs to uphold the law. Anything other than renders her unfit for office and she needs to be removed from the bench.

Michael Signorile (THE SIGNORILE REPORT) notes:

On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court decided to take up the case of a Texas justice of the peace who was sanctioned because she refused to marry same-sex couples based on her religious beliefs—and she’s planning to take her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wait, you must be asking yourself, Haven’t we been here before?

Yep.

[. . .]

Fast forward to 2023, and that is not so clear anymore. The current Supreme Court—with Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, and Brett Kavanaugh, put on the court by Trump—has ruled in favor of blatant discrimination, all in the name of religious freedom. And Thomas and Alito may now have the chance to “fix” yet another “problem” they claim the court created.

The Waco, Texas, justice of the peace at the center of the current case, Dianne Hensley, refused to perform same-sex marriages in 2019 based on her religious beliefs as a Christian. She was formally sanctioned by the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct. She filed a lawsuit, arguing her rights were violated under the Texas Religious Restoration Freedom Act. The case was dismissed by a state district judge, and that decision was upheld upon appeal. Hensley then appealed to the very right-wing Texas Supreme Court, and it decided on Friday to take her case.

Hensley’s lawyers at the First Liberty Institute, a Christian nationalist law firm with ties to corrupt, viciously anti-LGBTQ Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, are using the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision last June in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, in which the court’s conservatives ruled that a Colorado web designer can’t be forced to serve same-sex couples seeking wedding websites based on her religious beliefs—even though no same-sex couple had actually sought the web designer’s services. Per the Texas Tribune:

Justin Butterfield, an attorney for Hensley at First Liberty Institute, has maintained throughout the lawsuit that religious liberty is Hensley’s right as a citizen.

Her rights as a private citizen do not trump her elected responsibilities and duties as a public servant. A judge who refuses to follow the law should not be on the bench. And this is a very slippery slope. Some people insist that their religion, for example, renders them opposed to the death penalty. So could a judge on a bench in the US refuse to follow the laws regarding the death penalty by citing 'religious freedom'? Hell no. Nor could he or she get away with saying, "God told me to rule innocent on this mass murderer so that's what I'm going to do." You do not get to break or ignore the laws when you're a judge. And if she can't comply with the law, she needs to take herself off the bench immediately.

In fact, since we're all supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law, she should resign. Her homophobia is the same as racism or sexism. If she can't treat all US citizens the same, she shouldn't be trusted to rule from the bench.

That also applies to pharmacists, by the way. J Lysikatos (WEALTHY LIVING) reports:

A transgender man in Kansas City has alleged that a pharmacist at the retail giant Costco refused to sell him insulin syringes, which did not require a prescription, upon learning he intended to use them for testosterone injections. This incident is the latest in a series involving pharmacists allegedly denying medical supplies to transgender patients.

Did the pharmacist skip the oath? There is an oath:

"I promise to devote myself to a lifetime of service to others through the profession of pharmacy. In fulfilling this vow: I will consider the welfare of humanity and relief of suffering my primary concerns. I will promote inclusion, embrace diversity, and advocate for justice to advance health equity.

The Supreme Court should never have sided with hate merchant and LIAR Lori Smith to begin with. Her case was made up and she's a proven liar who will probably rot in hell or some equivalent for pretending to be a Christian while lying to the Court. To pretend that she had a right to discriminate based on her religion was bad enough. But we're no longer talking some dingy idiot who fancies herself a wedding planner. We're talking about judges and medical professionals.

You don't want to sell insulin syringes to some people? Then quit. You took an oath and you're not following it. You need to be fired and fired immediately. I'm insulin dependent and I'm sure there's something about my life that hate merchants like Lorie Smith would attack me for. But if they're judges or they're medical professionals, they aren't allowed to use any prejudice to deny me my equal rights or my healthcare needs.

Mark Burns, a MAGA supporter and pastor, announced he’s opening a Christian military school despite fabricating details of his military experience.

During the 2016 presidential election, Burns was a fierce supporter of former President Donald Trump. He spoke at the RNC and was a dedicated surrogate for the former president.

Burns had claimed that he served in the Army Reserves but in 2016, it was revealed that Burns actually served in the South Carolina National Guard, Politico reported.

He had also claimed to be a graduate of North Greenville University, but the school confirmed he had only attended the institution for one semester, according to Politico.

Earlier this month, Burns announced plans to open the Burns Military Academy, writing in a Facebook post that the school’s mission is to provide “an affordable, pro-American education with a strong emphasis on biblical teachings.”

I'm sorry, I've read the article 3 times now and I'm not finding anything in it where he takes a moment to apologize for lying about his service. Second, "a strong emphasis on biblical teachings"? Googling tells me that "lying is generally considered a sin in Christianity." Did Mark Burns get a waiver on that? It would appear that instead of opening any type of school, he should be working on his beliefs with some member of the clergy because he clearly has failed the Lord and the Lord's teachings. Third, calling it "Burns Military Academy"? That's bearing false witness. It will have no connection at all to the US military. Confronted on that, noted liar Mark Burns insists "we are in the Army of the Lord." Well the kids may be, but I kind of think your past lying and your current lying would result in you getting kicked out of "the Army of the Lord." The liar insists that 'we' (he's royalty?) "believe in teaching our students good morals" -- apparently lying is a moral act.

I wouldn't know. I'm concerned with ethics, not morality.

The great comedy team of Nichols & May used to send up that nonsense. Elaine May would say, "It is a moral issue. And to me that's so much more interesting than a real issue."

Exactly.

Charlatans needs 'moral' issues to distract from their many failures at real issues. Case in point, Ronald DeSantis who has destroyed Florida as he has attacked the LGBTQ+ community, the African-American community, women who believe in using their brains and education itself. Lauren Lassabe Shepherd (TIME MAGAZINE) reports:

New College of Florida, the small liberal arts college historically ranked among U.S. News and World Report’s top 75 institutions, has fallen 24 places. Now it risks dropping out of the top-100 category entirely.

This double-digit tumble is due in part to Governor Ron DeSantis’ overhaul of the school to transform it into a decidedly right-wing institution—a “Hillsdale of the South,” in reference to the conservative college in Michigan. DeSantis appointed right-wing activists to the board of trustees, replaced the college’s president and other administrators with political allies who have no experience in higher education, and gutted one-third of the faculty along with the diversity and equity department. The board has even relocated students to hotels to accommodate incoming athletes’ use of campus living spaces.

This type of college takeover is a new, more sinister development in a longstanding conservative practice. The right has spent decades creating parallel and competing structures in areas including political news, social media, and even consumer goods. This time, instead of offering students a conservative alternative in higher education, DeSantis and his allies are gutting an existing institution from the inside.

And they hope this is just the beginning. The right-wing activists behind New College’s transformation are encouraging other governors and administrators to replicate their example, stressing that all public colleges can be “captured, restructured, and reformed” if conservative leaders embrace their model. This push will imperil students’ access to a comprehensive college education, especially in the liberal arts and social sciences where the right’s attacks are targeted.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If your a parent paying for your child's education at New College of Florida, I would immediately file a lawsuit against Ronald DeSantis. He has plunged the value of a diploma from that college. I paid for my kids' college. I paid for my college because my parents didn't like my major and just knew that if they told me, right before I started freshman year, that they'd only pay if I majored in what they wanted, that I'd fall in line. I never fall in line and I don't let anyone bully me. So I worked two and three jobs every semester. One semester I worked four jobs. (Don't cry, by junior year, the trust fund kicked in.) So if you're someone in the same boat I was and you're paying your own way, I would also immediately file a lawsuit against Ron DeSantis because you were paying for a college in the top 75 of all colleges in the nation. Thanks to Ronald DeSantis, however, you're no longer getting that. In fact, parents and students might want to get together and consider a class action lawsuit.

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