Indeed. Here's a link to the associated article (if reading through the filing is too much) - here:
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of an employee of DFPS with a transgender child, her husband, and the teen herself. According to the complaint, this family has had an investigator already arrive at their house. The family has filed the lawsuit anonymously. Dr. Megan Mooney, a licensed psychologist who is considered a mandatory reporter under Texas law and cannot comply with the governor’s directive without harming her clients and violating her ethical obligations, is also a plaintiff in the suit.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 5:59 pm
by El Guapo
Horrendous.
I doubt it's of comfort to the families that will be impacted by this, but I can't think of a better way to increase public support for trans rights than the publicity that will come from jackbooted Texas thugs asking normal Texas families about their children's genitalia.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 6:02 pm
by Alefroth
There's your gazpacho police.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 10:02 pm
by malchior
I'm watching the SOTU and it looks like that several GOP leaders decided to snub the speech. The pettiness is off the charts.
Edit: I saw a few GOP mmebers including Ernst and Grassley run in just as Biden took the podium. I did hear that Rubio bowed out saying he couldn't schedule the mandatory COViD test...available in the Capitol.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2022 11:46 pm
by El Guapo
SOTU seemed fine. I missed the first ~ 30 minutes (including the Ukraine part), which I gather was the only part to generate sustained GOP applause (not shocking), I guess except for the "state of the union is strong" part. I will say that Biden doesn't seem that good at transitions - every time he switched topics, it was like 30 seconds before I realized that he was onto a new topic. Messed with the flow a bit. But whatever - he's no Obama in speeches, but it was good enough.
I was a bit confused about why his last line was "go get 'em" (if I heard it right). Go get who? Laws? Injustices? Russians?
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 12:08 am
by malchior
The go get them was confusing. The twitter elite were also pretty confused.
I agree the transitions were rough. It took me back to my debate days where I was told to take an extra beat or two when switching topics. Otherwise you risk running topics together. He didnt do that well at all. His speechwriter needed to smooth those transitions and he should have been coached a bit.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:16 am
by Kurth
Biden being Biden, both for good and ill. That's honestly about as good a SOTU speech as I expected we would get from him, though, and I thought the substance was mostly spot on.
I was also confused about the "Go get 'em" closing. Who??? I've read that it was an ad lib moment and should be interpreted kind of like a general rallying cry. Ok. I guess that makes sense. Sort of. But that's probably not the note his speech writer intended he end on.
One other thought: There were so many places in that speech where Biden got lost in his words and stumbled over what he wanted to say. I felt like at all of them, you could tell what he wanted to communicate, and I found myself wanting to finish his sentences for him. Not surprising since he's got such a serious stutter. I wonder whether Biden and his team wouldn't be better served by finding a way to spin Biden's stutter to his advantage. Every time the Fox crowd seizes on a moment of Biden stumbling over words and cries that it's a sign of a "mini stroke" or some such horse shit, wouldn't it be better to point to it instead as evidence of just how much Biden has achieved in overcoming a serious speech impediment? Setting the politics aside, it could also serve as an incredibly inspirational story for other people -- especially children -- suffering from a stutter.
I know it's not like this ground hasn't been covered before:
But it seems like it's not something that gets much traction, despite this reporting.
I feel that after a guy with a serious speech impediment gave a relatively decent SOTU speech, it's something that should get called out as an achievement. But instead of getting credit, he's going to get slammed by Fox for not being as eloquent as other pols or maybe for losing his mental faculties. Is that a winnable Comms fight that the Biden team is dropping the ball on?
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 8:42 am
by Zarathud
Biden could play up his “just an average guy” image and say he’s just a plain talker and not some TV salesman. But he won’t because he’s self-conscious.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 9:30 am
by YellowKing
Zarathud wrote:Biden could play up his “just an average guy” image and say he’s just a plain talker and not some TV salesman. But he won’t because he’s self-conscious.
The irony is that Republicans LOVE "plain talkers" like Bush and Trump. But when they're Democrats, it's a sign of cognitive decline.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 10:21 am
by Carpet_pissr
Kurth wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:16 am
But instead of getting credit, he's going to get slammed by Fox for not being as eloquent as other pols or maybe for losing his mental faculties. Is that a winnable Comms fight that the Biden team is dropping the ball on?
He would get slammed by Fox even had he delivered a Kennedy level “moon” speech, using MLK level orator skills.
Probably get dinged for being slick, or elitist or ‘smooth-talking’. But rest assured, he would get slammed.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 10:36 am
by YellowKing
The general mainstream press coverage seemed pretty positive, which made me feel a bit better. When the non-Fox outlets start turning on him, you know he's in trouble.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 10:40 am
by El Guapo
Do people not know about Biden's stutter? I know that got a lot of coverage during the 2020 democratic primary, at least.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 11:02 am
by malchior
El Guapo wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 10:40 am
Do people not know about Biden's stutter? I know that got a lot of coverage during the 2020 democratic primary, at least.
It often seems that many folks have swiss cheese memories.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:47 pm
by hepcat
Lauren Boebert and her twin Marjorie Taylor Green continue to be as horrible as they can.
Here, Boebert claims Biden was responsible for the deaths of 13 servicemen.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:50 pm
by El Guapo
hepcat wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 1:47 pm
Lauren Boebert and her twin Marjorie Taylor Green continue to be as horrible as they can.
Here, Boebert claims Biden was responsible for the deaths of 13 servicemen.
It's funny on the broadcast I heard the booing but didn't hear the outburst. I was like "are they booing him talking about his dead son??"
God we're boned politically.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:01 pm
by hepcat
Every mention of Boebert should immediately include the caveat "Who's husband exposed his penis to two women in a bowling alley".
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:03 pm
by malchior
hepcat wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:01 pm
Every mention of Boebert should immediately include the caveat "Who's husband exposed his penis to two women in a bowling alley".
And upon becoming a Congresswoman, he was hired by an energy company as a "consultant" being paid nearly $400K per year - guess they didn't care about the background checks on that one. While their restaurant was going bankrupt. Totally legit draining of the swamp.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:07 pm
by hepcat
You could do both. "Who's husband is a grifter who has shown his penis to women in a bowling alley".
It's just that I really want that penis display out there at every chance. It's comedy gold. I mean, was he trying to use it to flag down a pin boy? Was he using it to push the black bowling ball away from the white bowling balls in the ball return? Was he hoping someone would take pity on him and say he really did pick up that 7 10 split after all?
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:40 pm
by Blackhawk
hepcat wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:07 pm
You could do both. "Who's husband is a grifter who has shown his penis to women in a bowling alley".
It's just that I really want that penis display out there at every chance. It's comedy gold. I mean, was he trying to use it to flag down a pin boy? Was he using it to push the black bowling ball away from the white bowling balls in the ball return? Was he hoping someone would take pity on him and say he really did pick up that 7 10 split after all?
He'd heard there was a ball return and didn't want to miss out.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:50 pm
by Carpet_pissr
Is his name Jesus Quintana perhaps? Known sex offender. Frequents bowling alleys. Licks bowling balls suggestively before rolling.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:33 pm
by LawBeefaroni
hepcat wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:07 pm
You could do both. "Who's husband is a grifter who has shown his penis to women in a bowling alley".
It's just that I really want that penis display out there at every chance.
You have some work to do, dickpingate only makes the first page once in a search for "boebert husband". And it's towards the bottom. Which is probably where they like it.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:41 pm
by hepcat
Really? It shows up as the first result on my google search.
I just cannot stress how important associating a Boebert with penis wiggling in a bowling alley is for the state of our union.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:42 pm
by LawBeefaroni
hepcat wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:41 pm
Really? It shows up as the first result on my google search.
Use an incognito window. Previous results/searches influence the results otherwise.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:43 pm
by stimpy
Tell me you've never dropped trou and put your junk over that blower....
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 3:44 pm
by hepcat
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:24 pm
by El Guapo
hepcat wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 2:07 pm
It's just that I really want that penis display out there at every chance.
Just going to leave this here.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:26 pm
by hepcat
Meh, at least we're not talking about NAFTA.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:57 pm
by stimpy
hepcat wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:26 pm
Meh, at least we're not talking about NAFTA.
hepcat wrote: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:26 pm
Meh, at least we're not talking about NAFTA.
Do you mean NAMBLA?
That's the joke.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 4:59 pm
by hepcat
You're kind to call it a joke.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:02 pm
by Carpet_pissr
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:16 pm
by hepcat
The Boebert family prepares for date night.
Re: Political Randomness
Posted: Wed Mar 02, 2022 5:18 pm
by hepcat
Let's not forget the mound of crap that has been shaped into the form of a frustrated middle aged woman with a 7th grade education. I'm talking about the Greenester herself.