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Give A Damn. Part Two.

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A few years ago I started a blog called 365Things.org. The idea was to take current events and issues, and rather than just write about them — um, in a way I guess like many bloggers, including myself, often do these days — actually find small solutions to those issues, in order to, as I’m fond of saying, “make the world just a little bit better.”

The previous piece here, “Give A Damn. Part One,” a video by GiveADamn.org, featuring Elton John, Judith Light, Cynthia Nixon, and others discussing gay rights and marriage equality, reminded me of the following piece which I wrote a few years ago. I thought, being Good Friday, and given its title was, also, “Give A Damn,” I’d share it with you.

In reading it again, I realize I’m still guilty of some of the things I wrote in the piece. I still don’t listen enough, though I do try harder these days.

In reading the piece again, also, although it was written pre-Tea Party days, the argument does sound like theirs. While anyone who reads this blog or knows me knows how virulently anti-Tea Party I am, there is a valid argument in all of where America is right now: People just want to be heard.

Lastly, you may consider this a plea. Above all the rhetoric, above all the hate, above all the anger, above all else, we’re all “human.” Even dogs.

Give A Damn.

My dog ate through my wall. Seven months old. Cute as hell. I went to the diner for breakfast Saturday morning. An hour and a half later, I came home to a white-nosed black lab. The damage is pretty bad. I know he was just looking for attention. So I blame myself. I promised him I was going to take him for a run a few times a week. Good for both of us, really. I was going to start on Friday, but one thing led to another, and, well, tomorrow’s another day, right?

Well, Saturday was another day. Just not the one I had expected. So we went for a run. Almost twenty blocks, one way, from 44th Street down to 26th Street. We walked back. He’s a better runner than I am. (Do dogs have knees?)

On our way down, we passed that group of protesters chanting about China’s actions in Tibet. They have been protesting for months, in the same spot, on 43rd Street, along the West Side Highway, police on hand, an older Asian man yelling into a bullhorn, which hardly seemed necessary, as they are pretty loud anyway. Honestly, I am sympathetic to them and their cause, truly, but I found the noise, in a language I didn’t understand, irritating after a while. So I tuned them out.

On our walk back, though, they weren’t yelling “Stop China Now. Free Prisoners In Tibet.” They were all turned around, chanting, almost singing, in what felt immediately like a religious or ritualistic way. Text, my dog, and I stopped. I didn’t feel right about not respecting whatever ceremony was taking place.

But here’s the thing. The cops were there. Laughing, slumped over the metal-piping fence. As the ceremony came to a close, just a few minutes later, I looked at the police. Navy uniforms, some with bright yellow polo shirts, stamped “Community Affairs” on the back. So, I thought, these are representatives of New York’s Finest, charged with engaging the community? Simply put: They didn’t care enough. They didn’t give a damn. They weren’t sensitive enough to recognize the difference between a loud, albeit orderly protest, and a symbolic ceremony. To them, it was just another hour on the job. Their arrogance, their lack of respect and lack of interest in hearing the needs of others, was deafening.

I realized, this is how revolutions start. One group feels so passionately about an issue. And their representatives, their government, stands by, arrogant, disinterested, slumped over a fence.

And then I realized I was equally at fault. I hadn’t listened. I hadn’t cared enough. I hadn’t given a damn. And I had to pay the price. The signs had been there. His following me around the apartment. His desperate attempts to play with other dogs on the street. I knew my dog needed more exercise. More attention. More “father-son” time. But I ignored the immediacy of his need. I put our run off until the next day. I made his needs less important than they actually were. So he found another way to communicate his needs. He acted out. And got to eat some tasty sheetrock in the bargain. Sure, he had to face my disapproval when I got home. But in the mean time, he got to enjoy some fun.

So, today’s 365Things.org suggestion? Give A Damn. Listen to the needs of others, however faint they may be said. Look at the people you surround yourself with. Open yourself up. Make a change in how you go about your day. Hear them. Listen to what they’re really saying. Then, respond. Let them know that you give a damn.

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Ex-Florida GOP Chair’s Efforts to Recruit 3-Way Partners for Anti-LGBTQ Wife Revealed: Report

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May 16, 2024

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A stunning police report reveals how Christian Ziegler, the now-ousted Florida Republican Party chair, would head out to bars to scope out and recruit women as possible three-way sex partners for himself and his stridently anti-LGBTQ wife, Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler.

The disgraced Florida power couple’s ménage à trois sex scandal made national headlines after an accusation of rape against Christian Ziegler came from one of their three-way sexual partners, an allegation he denied. After an investigation no charges were filed.

Christian Ziegler lost his high-paying job as the Florida GOP chairman, but his wife Bridget has refused to resign from her elected position on a school board, as well as from her position on the state board that now oversees the Walt Disney World special district. Bridget Ziegler, who is seen as an architect of Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” law, reportedly is best friends with Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, and was appointed to the special district role by the Florida GOP governor.

The Sarasota Police Dept. report, according to the Florida Trident, “recounts how Christian Ziegler went ‘on the prowl’ in bars for women to bring home to Bridget, a Sarasota County School Board member who has backed a number of anti-LGBTQ measures at both the state and local level, for threesome encounters. While at the bars, Christian would surreptitiously photograph prospective women and text the photos to Bridget for approval, according to the report.”

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Some of the details are salacious.

“There were numerous text messages between Bridget and Christian where they are on the prowl for a female and Bridget is directing him to numerous different bars in search of a female that they are both interested in,” the report reads, according to The Trident. “During these conversations Christian is secretly taking photographs of women in the bars and sending them to Bridget asking her if she wants this one or that one. Bridget is telling him to pretend to take pictures of his beer, so they don’t see him taking pictures of them. She tells him ‘Don’t come home until your dick is wet.’”

The Zieglers are in court trying to block the release of the text messages and other media, alleging in a lawsuit against the Sarasota Police Dept. and the State Attorney’s Office that “release of those records would cause ‘great humiliation and harm to their individual reputations’ if released and therefore should be destroyed.”

“The suit specifically addresses the contents of Christian Ziegler’s cell phone, his social media accounts, web browsing history, and the video he made of the sexual encounter with the alleged rape victim,” the Trident reports.

Meanwhile, despite her own actions and after months of laying low, Bridget Ziegler is back on her anti-LGBTQ crusade.

“At last week’s school board meeting, Ziegler introduced a highly contentious resolution to ignore protections for LGBTQ students afforded by a new federal Title IX rule,” the Trident also reports. “The resolution, which followed a DeSantis legal challenge to Title IX at the state level, claims the new rule would cause ‘disastrous impacts to girls and women’s safety in restrooms, locker rooms, and sports.’ It passed by a 4-1 vote despite the fact it could lead to a federal investigation, expensive litigation, and the loss to the school district of roughly $50 million in federal funds.”

READ MORE: Trump Appears to Violate Gag Order After Judge Threatened ‘Incarceration’

 

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Trump Appears to Violate Gag Order After Judge Threatened ‘Incarceration’

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May 16, 2024

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Despite New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan explicitly warning Donald Trump last week that any future violations of his gag order could result in jail time, the ex-president appears to have done so directly on Thursday.

“A lead person from the DOJ is running the trial,” Trump claimed, obviously referring to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, as Law & Crime reports.

“So Biden’s office is running this trial. This trial is a scam and it’s a sham and it shouldn’t happen,” Trump told reporters outside the courtroom.

Judge Merchan’s gag order specifically prohibits trump from attacking anyone in District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, except for the D.A. himself.

“Colangelo, a lead prosecutor in the case, was criticized one day earlier by Trump ally Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, largely raising the same complaints that Trump repeated outside of court,” Law & Crime noted.

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The gag order explicitly states Trump is “directed to refrain from”:

“Making or directing others to make public statements about known or reasonably foreseeable witnesses concerning their potential participation in the investigation or in this criminal proceeding; Making or directing others to make public statements” about attorneys “in the case other than the District Attorney,” “members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or the family members of any counsel or staff member” or “any prospective juror or any juror in this criminal proceeding.”

Ten days ago Merchan wrote in his order: “Defendant is hereby put on notice that if appropriate and warranted, future violations of its lawful orders will be punishable by incarceration.”

Watch below or at this link.

 

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‘Ready to Start Another Insurrection’: Gaetz Support for Trump Echoes Proud Boys Order

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May 16, 2024

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House Republicans’ efforts to demonstrate unwavering support for Donald Trump as he stands trial in his election subversion, business records falsification, and “hush money” trial are growing, with GOP lawmakers showing up at trial and reading speeches reportedly written or edited by him that may violate the indicted ex-president’s gag order, and even pausing a House hearing so members can travel to the Manhattan Criminal Courts Building to appear behind Trump, literally and figuratively.

U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a self-professed “ultra-MAGA” lawmaker, came under fire Thursday after posting support for Trump in words that echo the ex-president’s direction to the far-right neo-fascist group the Proud Boys. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Proud Boys as an extremist hate group.

During the 2020 presidential debates, Donald Trump got into a heated exchange with moderator Chris Wallace and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Wallace asked Trump to condemn white supremacists, but the ask quickly became directed toward the Proud Boys, as this clip from Politico shows:

“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” quickly became a rallying cry for the Proud Boys, who went on to have leading roles in the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Four Proud Boys leaders were later convicted of seditious conspiracy, as the U.S. Dept. of Justice announced.

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On Thursday, Congressman Gaetz posted to his social media account a photo of him standing behind Trump at the courthouse, with these words: “Standing back and standing by, Mr. President.”

“Just seeing here that Matt Gaetz [made] an overt allusion to Donald Trump’s Sept. 2020 command to the Proud Boys here (some of whom are now in prison for taking that comment as a call to action on Jan. 6),” noted Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney.

Reuters’ Nathan Layne, remarking on Gaetz’s post, wrote: “Last year former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison. He had been convicted of seditious conspiracy for orchestrating the attack on the Capitol.”

Critics expressed concern and outrage.

“They’re ready to start another insurrection,” warned national security attorney Brad Moss.

Condé Nast Legal Affairs Editor Luke Zaleski observed, “The insurrection is coming from inside The House.”

Attorney Robert J. DeNault remarked, “Lead Proud Boy Matt Gaetz reminds us all that he will work with Donald Trump to employ violence and crime to hold onto power.”

Watch the video and read Gaetz’s post above or at this link.

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