onthedarkside

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, called out a Texas white supremacist group as a "fed operation" on Sunday after she claimed the group was placed there "to create racism, white supremacy, and racial division." On Saturday, a small group gathered in downtown Centerville, Texas, and were heard chanting "white power" as well as other racially-charged and homophobic comments. According to Rusty Surette, an anchor for local news station KBTX who recorded the protest, the group was there because it was the 1-year anniversary since escaped inmate Gonzalo Lopez "killed five members of a white family." READ MORE https://www.newsweek.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-dismisses-white-supremacist-group-fed-operation-1804363?amp=1

Debate surrounding Florida’s new restrictions on gender-affirming care focused largely on transgender children. But a new law that Republican presidential candidate and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last month also made it difficult – even impossible – for many transgender adults to get treatment. Eli and Lucas, trans men who are a couple, followed the discussions in the Legislature, where Democrats warned that trans children would be more prone to suicide under a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and Republicans responded with misplaced tales of mutilated kids. READ MORE https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/floridas-ban-on-gender-affirming-care-for-minors-also-limits-access-for-trans-adults

The legal investigations against former President Donald Trump for his alleged attempt to interfere with the 2020 election results in Georgia are reportedly expanding to cover some actions in Washington, DC, and other states under Georgia’s broad Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute. The Georgia investigation is just one of three ongoing probes into Trump’s potentially criminal activities during his presidency. It focuses on the former president’s efforts to have Georgia officials dispute or alter the results of the state’s 2020 presidential vote, which narrowly favored President Joe Biden. READ MORE https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/6/4/23748503/georgia-trump-investigation-rico

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About 9% of adults across 30 countries around the world identify as LGBTQ, according to a new Ipsos poll. The survey released Thursday indicates Millennials and Gen Zers are more likely to identify as queer, bisexual, pansexual, omnisexual, or asexual than older generations. Respondents included more than 22,514 adults under the age of 75 in 30 countries who answered the survey online between February 17 and March 3. READ MORE https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/02/us/adults-identify-lgbtq-survey/index.html

The Texas legislature is currently considering a bill to heavily restrict the generation of wind and solar energy, University of Texas at Austin research scientist Joshua D. Rhodes revealed in a tweet. The bill in question is Texas SB 624, co-sponsored by Senators Lois Kolkhorst, Mayes Middleton, and Bryan Hughes. It establishes new permit requirements for affordable “renewable energy” — not for dirty energy sources, such as coal. If passed, it would take effect this September. READ MORE https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/texas-considers-new-bill-that-could-severely-limit-residents-use-of-solar-power-it-would-turn-all-of-texas-into-an-hoa/ar-AA1c3ZnK?li=BBnb7Kz

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Electric motoring is, in theory, a subject about which I should know something. My first university degree was in electrical and electronic engineering, with a subsequent master’s in control systems. Combine this, perhaps surprising, academic pathway with a lifelong passion for the motorcar, and you can see why I was drawn into an early adoption of electric vehicles. I bought my first electric hybrid 18 years ago and my first pure electric car nine years ago and (notwithstanding our poor electric charging infrastructure) have enjoyed my time with both very much. But increasingly, I feel a little duped. When you start to drill into the facts, electric motoring doesn’t seem to be quite the environmental panacea it is claimed to be. READ MORE https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/03/electric-vehicles-early-adopter-petrol-car-ev-environment-rowan-atkinson

Are most gun owners reckless and rage-filled? Probably not. But the data show that the gun lobby’s promulgated myth of the responsible gun owner is just that—a myth. An extraordinary number of gun owners are not responsible stewards of firearms and the assumption that they are informs public policy. Last year, in an opinion authored by Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court struck down New York’s 109-year-old gun law, which required gun owners seeking a concealed carry license to demonstrate “proper cause,” a special need for such permission. In its ruling, the 6-3 majority repeatedly referred to the rights of “law-abiding” and “responsible” citizens. READ MORE https://washingtonmonthly.com/2023/06/02/the-myth-of-the-responsible-gun-owner-an-american-nightmare-part-i/

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has changed her position on the public release of the tapes documenting the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, warning Friday that their release could “put the security of the Capitol at risk.” Greene said in an interview on the right-wing channel Real America’s Voice that releasing the video footage publicly would jeopardize the Capitol’s security and endanger those who were present at the Capitol grounds but did not enter the Capitol nor commit crimes. “And this is our real concern with the video tapes. If we released these video tapes just widely for the public — number one, we put the security of the Capitol at risk, because there’s over 1,700 video cameras,” she said. READ MORE https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4032484-greene-flips-on-public-release-of-jan-6-tapes-claims-it-could-put-the-security-of-the-capitol-at-risk/

Government investigators almost never obtain a clear lens into a lawyer’s private dealings with their clients, let alone with such a prominent one as Mr. Trump. A recording like the voice memo Mr. Corcoran made last year — during a long drive to a family event, according to two people briefed on the recording — is typically shielded by attorney-client or work-product privilege. But in March, a federal judge ordered Mr. Corcoran’s recorded recollections — now transcribed onto dozens of pages — to be given to the office of the special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the documents investigation. The decision by the judge, Beryl A. Howell, pierced the privilege that would have normally protected Mr. Corcoran’s musings about his interactions with Mr. Trump. READ MORE https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/03/us/politics/trump-lawyers-classified-documents-corcoran.html No paywall archive link

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee's first-in-the-nation law designed to place strict limits on drag shows is unconstitutional, a federal judge says. The law is both "unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad" and encouraged "discriminatory enforcement," according to the ruling late Friday by U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. "There is no question that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. But there is a difference between material that is 'obscene' in the vernacular, and material that is 'obscene' under the law," Parker said. READ MORE https://www.npr.org/2023/06/03/1179990709/tennessee-drag-show-law-ruling

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Former President Trump said Thursday that he doesn’t like the term “woke,” claiming that most people “can’t even define it.” “I don’t like the term ‘woke’ because I hear, ‘Woke, woke, woke.’ It’s just a term they use, half the people can’t even define it, they don’t know what it is,” Trump said at the Westside Conservative Breakfast in Urbandale, Iowa. The idea of “wokeness” has been a central theme in the career and campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump’s biggest competition in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. READ MORE https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4031584-trump-iowa-dislikes-term-woke/

ODESA, Ukraine—Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was now ready to launch a long-awaited counteroffensive but tempered a forecast of success with a warning: It could take some time and come at a heavy cost. “We strongly believe that we will succeed,” Zelensky said in an interview in this southern port city as his country’s military girded for what could be one of the war’s most consequential phases as it aims to retake territory occupied by Russia. “I don’t know how long it will take,” he told The Wall Street Journal. “To be honest, it can go a variety of ways, completely different. But we are going to do it, and we are ready.” READ MORE https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraines-zelensky-we-are-ready-for-counteroffensive-22f4f3f2 No paywall archive link

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Almighty Fail: Utah School District Bans the Bible In a spectacular self-own for book-banning crusaders, the holy scripture faced a challenge in December when a parent fed up with books being removed from school libraries raised hell via a request to review the Bible as “one of the most sex-ridden books around.” It comes after a Texas school district was forced to pull the Bible last year under a new book-banning policy introduced by conservative leaders. “Incest, onanism, bestiality, prostitution, genital mutilation, fellatio, dildos, rape, and even infanticide,” the Utah parent wrote in their request. “You’ll no doubt find that the Bible, under Utah Code Ann. § 76-10-1227, has ‘no serious values for minors’ because it’s pornographic by our new definition.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/almighty-fail-utahs-davis-school-district-bans-the-bible

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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Good Book is being treated like a bad book in Utah after a parent frustrated by efforts to ban materials from schools convinced a suburban district that some Bible verses were too vulgar or violent for younger children. And the Book of Mormon could be next. The 72,000-student Davis School District north of Salt Lake City removed the Bible from its elementary and middle schools while keeping it in high schools after a committee reviewed the scripture in response to a parental complaint. The district has removed other titles, including Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” and John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” following a 2022 state law requiring districts to include parents in decisions over what constitutes “sensitive material.” READ MORE https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/utah-district-bans-bible-elementary-middle-schools-due-99799647

Nearly two thirds of voters believe Brexit has contributed to runaway inflation and soaring food prices that have left the UK mired in a cost of living crisis, exclusive polling suggests. A majority (63 per cent) believe Brexit has had a negative impact on food prices in the supermarket and the broader cost of living (60 per cent), the BMG Research for i showed. A large number of Leave voters also believe leaving the EU has contributed to surging food costs (42 per cent), and the cost of living (36 per cent), although many also believe it has had no impact on supermarket prices (39 per cent) or inflation (43 per cent). READ MORE https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/brexit-blamed-rising-food-prices-voters-poll-2383242