I don’t think the Old Testament is particularly anti-trans either. Most Republicans use the Bible as a way to launder their own hateful views, but I doubt if they’re even remotely religious at all.
I don’t think the Old Testament is particularly anti-trans either. Most Republicans use the Bible as a way to launder their own hateful views, but I doubt if they’re even remotely religious at all.
I wonder what kind of reaction you would get from a Republican Representative if you told one that Speaker Johnson is violating women’s spaces by making a rule that forces men to use the ladies restroom and that it makes you very uncomfortable.
I do worry that could backfire and they might just make a secondary rule punishing trans men, though…
I usually try to call my Representative and Senators during my commute. The only tricky part is remembering the bill numbers.
I have the distinct impression I’m going to have something to say to them every day over the next four years…
This is especially vile to announce on Transgender Day of Remembrance; but I have no doubt in my mind that it was intentional.
This feels like a move made with the explicit purpose of hurting people as much as possible. (“The cruelty is the point.”)
To my knowledge, there is no legal recourse for this, but I am not a lawyer, so I could be wrong…
I know it likely won’t do much, but I do recommend calling your representatives. I asked mine to issue a statement saying that they will not be party to enforcing this rule. I hope they issue such a statement of solidarity soon 🤞
To me, it feels like fear-mongering. If you don’t think trans people are dangerous, you won’t “need” a Republican to “protect” you from them.
The bathroom argument is especially silly when you recall that unisex bathrooms have existed for a long time, and all they require is better stalls than American bathrooms tend to offer. If protecting people in bathrooms was really a goal, they would just make walls that go to the floor legally required.
I doubt if most of the Republican politicians/ pundits even believe half the stuff they say about trans people. They are simply the target du jour, and Republicans will say anything they can think of to make you afraid of them.
I don’t think anyone could make the case that Rep. McBride is dangerous; but Republicans are fighting not to release the ethics report on Matt Gaetz before he is placed in a position of immense power, when it seems quite likely that he was directly harming women.
As you say, this is all about tormenting Rep. McBride (along with any other Trans women they are able to hurt at the same time).
The bill’s cruelty is precisely why I think it’s so important for every American to contact their representative (even Republican ones). It might not be enough to change a Republican Congressperson’s mind, but it’s good for them to know that the American people are not going to let Trans people be an easy target for them.
I encourage every American reading this article to call their district representative and let them know that you do not approve of this bill. It’s hateful and cruel; and I fear that if it passes, it will pave the way for similar, wider reaching, legislation.
I called my Representative earlier today and their intern was able to tell me the bill number: H.Res.1579. Knowing the number should hopefully make it easier to voice your disgust in this abhorrent bill.
While on the phone (or email) with your Representative, I encourage everyone to voice their displeasure with H.R.9495 as well. H.R.9495 will allow the executive branch to unilaterally declare non-profits as terrorist organizations and strip them of their non-profit status. This would functionally give the executive branch authority to end any non-profit that is engaging in activities they don’t approve of, which would likely result in the destruction of any non-profit engaging in harm reduction.
I encourage every American reading this article to call their district representative and let them know that you do not approve of this bill. It’s hateful and cruel; and I fear that if it passes, it will pave the way for similar, wider reaching, legislation.
I called my Representative earlier today and their intern was able to tell me the bill number: H.Res.1579. Knowing the number should hopefully make it easier to voice your disgust in this abhorrent bill.
While on the phone (or email) with your Representative, I encourage everyone to voice their displeasure with H.R.9495 as well. H.R.9495 will allow the executive branch to unilaterally declare non-profits as terrorist organizations and strip them of their non-profit status. This would functionally give the executive branch authority to end any non-profit that is engaging in activities they don’t approve of, which would likely result in the destruction of any non-profit engaging in harm reduction.
You are unfortunately correct. It looks like it went back up and it is being voted on today. This time it only needs a simple majority, which is would have gotten last time.
This means that calling your representative is even more important this time around.
Luckily, my understanding is this time it will need to pass through the House and the Senate; so hopefully we’ll have more of a shot to knock it out.
I don’t know the actual budget, but I think it probably cost much more than 1kUSD, though probably still less than real human work would cost.
It’s important to note that no shit could last more than a second or two because after that the generated video starts to much more noticably have errors. So at minimum you still need editors (plus the music needed to be composited, etc). Also, as the article notes, all the logos needed to be added in post as well because GenAI cannot reliably do text or logos. With that in mind, I’d guess there was probably a significant amount of “cleaning up” that had to be done in post as well.
With all that said and done, I’m sure the commercial was not exactly dirt cheap, but it WAS probably still cheaper than having dignity and paying humans.
What’s actually kind of wild, though, is a lot of these shots just look like bland stock imagery. And since they couldn’t have any cohesion between shots because of GenAI’s own limitations, the majority of these shots could have been replaced with stock footage and they probably would have only needed to CGI a few different shots…
In case anybody stumbles upon my comment later and is also looking for the answer: I had much better luck today calling their local offices (not the DC offices).
Oh, I just assumed that he still owed them more money since his assets needed to be liquidated. Either way, I hope he cannot get Infowar2 off the ground, though…
There are so many celebrities that turn out to be jerks in real life that I try not to put any on a pedestal (so if they turn out to be jerks later, I’m not disappointed).
Dolly Parton is one of the few celebrities that seem so genuine and cool that I can’t help but believe she’s truly a good person.
For H.R. 9495 I emailed my Representative because I was not feeling up to a phone call, but this morning I tried calling my Senators and neither picked up.
While I have no way of knowing if my email was ever read, if the call doesn’t connect, they will guaranteedly not get my message.
Does anyone have any tips on contacting your Congresspeople by phone (ie: best time to call, best office to call, etc)?
I was wondering about that. If he made Infowar2, wouldn’t the money from that just go back to the families from Sandy Hook? I would imagine they’ll be dogging his every step until the day he dies (maybe even after…)
I am absolutely tickled by the idea of The Onion buying an equally reputable news source out of what can only be read as contempt for Alex Jones.
I must also say the official announcement is quite funny as well.
If this falls through, though, I would be quite sad; as the implication is Alex Jones would get to stay on, then.
That is a great idea!
If your representatives are Republican, I’ve heard it’s a good idea to frame your complaint in the form of complaining about big government/ government overreach. I’m not sure if that would convince them, but I do think it’s the most likely way…
I posted about H.R. 9495 a couple of days ago and the danger it presented; and I thought it was important to share it got rejected too.
Going from almost unanimous support to 145 nays, is a pretty big swing. I would imagine a lot of it came from the fear of the next president abusing that power, but people contacting their Reps cannot be undersold here as well.
Over the next four years a lot of nasty bills are going to be floated, but please let this be a reminder that contacting your Congresspeople can help make a difference.
You can view the results of the vote here.
If your representative voted no, please contact them and let them know you appreciate it. I’ve heard that helps too.
If you aren’t sure who your representative is, you can find that here.
From my understanding, this was co-authored by a Democrat, so I’m not actually sure if it has other Democratic support. On its face, it sounds pretty staunchly authoritarian, so I would be surprised if it had widespread Democratic support. Having said that, I have no idea how enticing the hostage relief section is.
I would hope that this act would fail automatically, but as last week reminded us: you can’t count on rational decision-making. This is why I encourage everyone to contact their congressperson to make sure they know we expect a rational decision from them.
Some Representatives are making statements, though I’m not sure what it would take to have this officially dealt with.
Right now, the declaration is still pretty new; but I bet if you contacted some of the local LGBTQ+ orgs in your area, they might know of demonstrations that are being organized currently.