Republicans can't stop obsessing over kids' genitals
And Putin goes to war
Welcome to a premium Wednesday edition of Progressives Everywhere!
I usually send this newsletter out on Tuesday, but held this edition of the newsletter until today in anticipation of some important headlines and so that I could edit together some video you’ll want to watch.
There’s a lot to be angry about tonight, but there are also a few rays of hope in both some solid blue states and the swingiest of swing states.
Also: Putin just announced that he’s invading Ukraine and commenced the military operation. I hope that the Biden administration stands up for democracy in Ukraine — and then does so more aggressively here at home.
Heroes
Florida Reps. Carlos Smith and Michele Rayner: I was up very late watching a replay of the State House debate on amendments to the noxious “Don’t Say Gay” bill last night, a two-hour back-and-forth that was equal parts moving and nauseating. Democrats pleaded with Republicans to vote for a variety of amendments that would protect LGBTQ+ kids
There were a lot of standout moments, but this one, with friend of the newsletter Michele Rayner, stuck with me the most:
I captured the entire debate and uploaded it to our YouTube channel — it’s embedded a bit further down in this newsletter.
Wilco County School Board Member Eric Welch: I’m not one of those people that often convinces themselves that a viral video in which a competent person destroys some dopey conservative is going to move the political needle even a quarter of an inch, but damn if this one from a Tennessee school board meeting isn’t satisfying.
His fed-up tone is pitch-perfect, but more important are the statistics he’s sighting. According to a brand new CBS poll, a vast majority of Americans support teaching the truth about this country’s shameful racist history, even if it makes some white kids feel uncomfortable. An even broader majority of Americans are against banning books. It’d be nice if at some point a fringe freak show of angry white racists financed by right-wing dark money didn’t dictate the national political narrative the moment they start to hoot and holler.
Villains
Greg Abbott: Satisfied that voter suppression will win him re-election this year and eager to keep up with the most hateful fringe of his party as he looks toward 2024, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott just authorized his state’s Family and Protective Service department to investigate all trans kids and prosecute any parents that provide them gender-affirming health care as child abusers. Abbott’s order also urges citizens to report (and thus out) trans kids and their parents and makes teachers criminally liable for not doing so.
I’d say this is an unfathomable act of bigotry and malice by a politician, but it feels par for the rotten course that the Republicans have set over the past few years. They’ve redirected their hatred toward trans people, to devastating effect.
As always, Republicans feel comfortable unleashing this venom, and in fact believe there is incentive to do so, because they’ve enacted such deep gerrymanders and enacted so many draconian voter suppression laws that the only constituents they have to please are the most fringe far-right primary voters. Having a Supreme Court that will authorize it all certainly helps.
I’ve started a fund to support the LGBTQ+ communities in Florida, Texas, Arizona, Iowa, and other states where they are facing extreme persecution. You can donate here:
Eric Adams: Sadly, it’s not just Republicans that seem comfortable attacking queer people. New York’s awful new mayor continues to fill his administration with his awful friends. This time, Adams has hired three outspoken homophobes to a pair of key offices, the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships and the Office of Immigrant Affairs.
As the former Brooklyn Borough President, Adams basically runs the borough’s Democratic Party — which is now officially chaired by a QAnon fanatic.
Oh, and Adam wants to strip $615 million from homeless services while kicking them all off the subway.
Oklahoma: The legislature is in the midst of a full-blown assault on public schools with a new bill that would give every student a $3600 credit to pay for (very often dodgy) charter schools.
This is happening against the backdrop of a recent scandal in which the heads of Epic, a big charter school chain, were caught embezzling millions of dollars. I’m sure that won’t happen at any other for-profit charter school that begins receiving a firehose of state cash, though.
National: Rents are skyrocketing everywhere! Coincidentally, private equity companies are buying up single-family homes and shrinking the market everywhere!
Florida: Earlier this year, I reported on how the utility company Florida Power & Light systematically bought off politicians (and elections) in order to win favorable legislation. This year, the company is seeking to win a ban on residents selling excess power from their solar panels back to utilities, a wretched policy it’s justifying by saying that solar sales cost other customers money. It’s an abjectly false assertion, and as a Miami Herald investigation has revealed, it’s actually FPL that’s forcing some customers to pay extra to subsidize others.
On another note, here’s the full video of FPL’s favorite politicians showing zero humanity on the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Repulsive, right?
Oregon: The legislative session rumbles on in Salem, where a number of key progressive bills are making their way through the State House process.
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