I'm sorry that these are starting to show up outside of North America.

I often see criticism of Ukraine lumped in with Russian justifications for invasion, in which case, the war is also warping your views.

providing Nazis with illegal cluster bombs

The US got heat from other supporters of Ukraine for that even. Russia is also using them. Further cause to support peace negotiations.

Especially because the actual reason Russia invaded wasn't over any concern about ethnic Russians in Ukraine (that's literally one of the oldest bullshit excuses for war) was to prevent NATO from being on it's borders, and now Finland and Sweden have joined, so Russia's already lost the geopolitical battle. All they're fighting for now is dirt.

Not sure what the angle of the article is (commenting before reading), but before we even get to the cost of individual services, I became disillusioned with streaming after Final Space was obliterated from existence for a tax write-off, and then hearing about what Disney pulled with Willow, and most recently the un-ordering of a whole second season of Star Trek Prodigy.

It's not a comparison, rather it's a further illustration that it's all about controlling what EVERYONE can or can't do. If anything, if I was a kid in this state, I'd be requesting a new nickname every week, every day, even.

Exactly. "Oh, this impacts kids who want to express some individuality rather than take the ABSOLUTE NAME that their PARENTS ASSIGNED THEM? Good."

They don't want kids going to school and broadening their horizons, they don't classrooms to be places where a kid can ask to be called "DJ" because they're really into hip hop, they want classrooms to be centers of indoctrination to create good little workers. A law that makes the public school experience worse is a win for them.

The Joke

You

I think this assumes that most teachers are otherwise fine and want to go along with it, and also only view themselves as there to transmit data, rather than as role models and sources of love and support for a child.

Moment of silence for all the weird little fans, nerds, and more who are gonna have their lives made worse by a law targeting trans people. Of course, if this law also ensnares neurodivergent kids, that's bonus points in their minds.

“It’s a stunning waste of time and resources for most parents, and it’s coupled with a group of policies that are openly hostile to transgender students and almost seems like the state wants them punished for being who they are,” Hammons said.

LGBTQ+ advocates have said a record number of bills were filed during the 2023 legislative session that they viewed as harmful to the LGBTQ community and specifically transgender youth.

God, I'm so tired of these naive-ass quotes and article tones that completely miss that yes, literally, that is the point. Like they're not literally calling trans people monsters while they debate these laws.

My thoughts exactly.

Sounds like a perfect opportunity for malicious compliance.

Absolutely. Anyone under 30-40 pretty much only knows the GOP as the party of "Obama is a MMUSL1M!1!!!", but like, it was the Nixon Administration that created the EPA. It's also difficult because much of the economic issues we've experienced from 2008 onwards are because of the Clinton Administration, so the "both parties are the same" argument can be pretty compelling. You could definitely make the argument that in the 90s, they were, but Beau of the Fifth Column on YouTube put it well:

You walk into a bar to find an ATM while on a road trip with your very visibly-queer friend. The bar is full of MAGA hats. Do you feel comfortable leaving your friend out front while you look for the ATM, and maybe take a leak? Now imagine the bar is full of "Vote Blue no Matter Who" shirts.