The Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:
Florida arts and culture organizations, still struggling to recover after the COVID pandemic, took another unexpected financial hit when Gov. Ron DeSantis eliminated state funding for cultural programs.
DeSantis vetoed nearly $1 billion from the $116.5 billion state budget before signing it in Tampa on Wednesday, including nearly $90 million the legislature earmarked for 669 different arts and culture projects and for special line item programs.
It is the first time that no money will be allocated for arts and culture programs by the state.
Florida Politics reports:
“The veto of all cultural and museum grants from the budget is unprecedented,” said Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former Orlando Representative who was just elected to the Senate.
“The governor reviews every bill and appropriation that comes across his desk and uses his authority under the Florida Constitution to make veto decisions that are in the best interest of the State of Florida,” DeSantis’ Deputy Press Secretary Julia Friedland said, reissuing a statement given to media previously.
Read the full article.
Affected institutions include museums, community theater groups, performance venues, and the Orlando Philharmonic.
Earlier this month DeSantis boasted that Florida has a $17 billion budget surplus for the 2024-2025 year.
The post Ron DeSantis Vetoes All State Funding For The Arts appeared first on Joe.My.God..
Reuters reports:
Illinois Republican party chairman Don Tracy resigned on Wednesday, less than a month before next month’s Republican National Convention in neighboring Wisconsin, citing infighting with the party.
In his resignation letter, Tracy said he spent “too much time dealing with intra party power struggles and local intra party animosities,” the Chicago Tribune and local ABC affiliate reported.
“In better days, Illinois Republicans came together after tough intra party elections but now it seems that agreeing 80% of the time, as President Reagan said, is simply not enough for some who would rather fight each other than take on the Democrats,” he said in a statement.
Read the full article.
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Via press release from Sen. Tim Kaine:
Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) led the introduction of a Senate resolution that acknowledges and apologizes for the mistreatment of and discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) individuals who have served our nation in the uniformed services, as civil servants, or in the Foreign Service.
“LGBT civil servants, foreign service officers and servicemembers have made countless sacrifices and contributions to our country and national security. Despite this, our government has subjected them to decades of harassment, invasive investigations and wrongful termination because of who they are or who they love,” said Kaine.
“This Pride Month, I’m proud to lead this resolution alongside Senator Baldwin to reaffirm our commitment to righting our past wrongs and fighting for equality for all LGBT Americans.”
“Anyone who serves our country, whether they are in uniform or a civil servant, deserves to be treated with respect, fairness, and dignity, regardless of who they are or who they love,” said Baldwin. “I am proud to lead this effort to show our commitment to creating a more accepting, equal country that lives up to our nation’s ideals.”
The United States has a long, disturbing history of discrimination against servicemembers and other federal employees identifying as LGBT.
Beginning in the early 1940s and continuing through the 1990s, a period historians label the “Lavender Scare,” thousands of federal employees were discriminated against because of their sexuality.
At least 100,000 LGBT military service members were forced out of the Armed Forces between World War II and 2011, most recently due to the 1994-2011 ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy, which prohibited servicemembers from disclosing their sexual orientation.
In 2014, President Obama signed Executive Order 13672, officially prohibiting the federal government and federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
In 2023, the Department of Defense announced that it would undertake a proactive review of the service records of individuals discharged due to their sexual orientation to assess whether to grant them discharge upgrades.
While these are significant steps in the right direction, we still have more work to do to ameliorate the harm done by decades of discriminatory policies.
The senators have long fought for equal treatment and rights for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Last year, they introduced the Equality Act, historic, comprehensive legislation to protect Americans from discrimination based on their gender identity or sexual orientation.
In 2022, they helped pass the Respect for Marriage Act, which was signed into law to ensure that same-sex and interracial marriages are recognized by every state.
The resolution is also cosponsored by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), John Fetterman (D-PA), Patty Murray (D-WA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Bob Casey (D-PA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Edward Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Mark R. Warner (D-VA).
Read the full press release.
In 2021, gay US House reps David Cicilline and Mark Takano proposed a similar resolution (see below), but it went nowhere after being referred to several committees.
The post Senate Democrats Introduce Resolution Apologizing For Mistreatment Of LGBTQ Civil Servants, Servicemembers appeared first on Joe.My.God..
Mediaite reports:
The 45th president is evidently no fan of beer, bratwurst, and Brewers baseball. During a closed-door meeting with Republican Congressional leaders, former President Donald Trump trashed Milwaukee, the site of the looming Republican National Convention, as a “horrible city” — according to Punchbowl News’ Jake Sherman. If Milwaukee’s Journal-Sentinel had any sense of humor, their headline tomorrow morning would be “Trump to Milwaukee: DROP DEAD!”
Read the full article. Horrible, no doubt, because there’s no local Trump hotel or golf resort for cultist conventioneers to slavishly patronize.
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Politico reports:
Donald Trump makes his first visit to Capitol Hill since leaving the presidency Thursday morning, meeting with Republican lawmakers in what is being billed as a resolutely forward-looking session focused on a potential 2025 legislative agenda. In fact, Trump has bigger, more immediate legislative priorities.
He has been obsessed in recent weeks with harnessing the powers of Congress to fight on his own behalf and go to war against the Democrats he accuses of “weaponizing” the justice system against him. It’s a campaign he orchestrated in the days after his May 31 conviction on 34 felony counts in New York, starting with a phone call to the man he wanted to lead it: Speaker Mike Johnson.
Trump was still angry when he made the call, according to those who have heard accounts of it from Johnson, dropping frequent F-bombs as he spoke with the soft-spoken and pious GOP leader. “We have to overturn this,” Trump insisted.
Read the full article. There’s much more. No paywall. Last week GOP reps introduced a bill that would move Trump’s New York City case to federal court, meaning that Trump could pardon himself if elected.
The post Trump Pressures Johnson To Overturn His Conviction appeared first on Joe.My.God..
A man from upstate New York has chosen his own obituary to publicly come out as gay.
The Albany Times Union published the obituary for Col. Edward Thomas Ryan over the weekend.
Ryan was a retired Colonel with the 10th Brigade, located on South Lake Avenue, N.Y.C. and then a fireman in Rensselaer. He was a life member of the Vietnam Veterans of America.
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He received several medals and honors throughout his life. This included a Defense of Liberty Medal for “participation to the State following the attack on America, 11 September 2001.”
One of six siblings, Ryan had many nephews and nieces. He seemingly lived a life of service to his community and country. Sadly, it was also a life in which he carried a secret.
After his career details and list of achievements, Ryan asked for the following words to be included in his obituary:
I must tell you one more thing. I was Gay all my life: thru grade school, thru High School, thru College, thru Life. I was in a loving and caring relationship with Paul Cavagnaro of North Greenbush. He was the love of my life. We had 25 great years together. Paul died in 1994 from a medical Procedure gone wrong. I’ll be buried next to Paul. I’m sorry for not having the courage to come out as Gay. I was afraid of being ostracized: by Family, Friends, and Co-Workers. Seeing how people like me were treated, I just could not do it. Now that my secret is known, I’ll forever Rest in Peace.
In the comments section, many thanked Ryan for his service and expressed sorrow that he felt unable to live his life freely and openly.
“I am sorry you had to hide your true self from the world. Thank you for the service you gave this country and the heart you must’ve had. May you and Paul enjoy what lies in the next realm and ever after,” said one commentator.
His service to the community did not end in death. Ryan was enrolled in the Anatomical Gift Program at Albany Medical College. After these duties are completed, his burial will be in Kinderhook, NY.
Online, people have shared the obituary. Many have noted that his decision to keep his sexuality a secret from many of those closest to him is a reminder of why we have Pride Month.
Related
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Matlovich was forcibly discharged from the Air Force after he came out, but he fought for an honorable discharge and won.This 100-year-old veteran ‘Twink’ had “the best birthday ever,” as he deserves!
After fighting in the Battle of the Bulge and fighting “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”, the only thing this beloved vet needs to be fighting off is gift wrap.
Former Trump campaign attorney, convicted felon, and anti-LGBTQ+ extremist Jenna Elllis praised Colorado Republican Party chair and U.S. House candidate Dave Williams for his recent call for people to “burn all the Pride flags.”
“While the national Republican Party has largely embraced the LGBTQ agenda because they say they want to create a quote, unquote, ‘big tent,’ there still remains committed conservative Christians who are rejecting Pride Month because, let’s face it, we should as conservatives,” Ellis recently told Williams on the June 10 edition of Salem News Channel’s Jenna Ellis Tonight.
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Jenna Ellis referred to the Olympic gold medalists as “losers.” Twitter reminded Ellis that Rudy Giuliani once farted on her in public.
“Dave, I have to say I commend you strongly for standing up so firmly for what should be a position of the entire Republican Party. Why is it that there are so few Republicans that, in 2024, are unwilling to take this very clear stand against an evil agenda?” she continued.
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“I commend you for standing so strongly. And I wish that every conservative would have that same outlook that if we lose, it’s because we’ve lost the culture and politics is downstream from a culture, but we still need to stand firm regardless,” she added.
An email that Williams sent earlier this month said, “The month of June has arrived and, once again, the godless groomers in our society want to attack what is decent, holy, and righteous so they can ultimately harm our children…. These degenerates want to violate our children and their innocence.” A subsequent social media post on X from the Colorado Republican Party told followers, “Burn all the #pride flags this June.”
Ellis — who was convicted of a felony in October 2023 for aiding and abetting false statements to help former President Donald Trump try to overturn the results of the 2020 election — regularly makes anti-LGBTQ+ comments.
She has called Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, “sexual perverts” because they’re gay dads. Prior to that, she linked an article about the Stonewall Inn – the site of the most legendary LGBTQ+ protest in U.S. history – being made a national monument and wrote: “A national monument to our open embrace and celebration of sin.”
In case you or someone you know needs a little levity or pick-me-up today, might I suggest what might be the cutest thing that’s ever aired on television: a little girl named Joey and Kermit the Frog saying the alphabet.
Tags: alphabet · Sesame Street · TV · video
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