Dean Clough

April 6, 2022

Portico Darwin: Born, Not Groomed

TODAY'S RAMBLINGS
As I get my feet back on the ground here in SF, today's post is short (OK, for me) but not on a sweet subject.

I lament the signing by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week of the infamous "Don't Say Gay" bill.  The bill prohibits teachers from discussing the sexuality or gender identity of children before the 4th grade.  The bill's formal title is "Parental Rights in Education".  The relevant text of the bill is at the link, an Associated Press fact check article on the matter.

Parental rights?  How about the rights of the teachers?  Show me a teacher interested in somehow indoctrinating (or grooming) a child toward a particular sexuality or gender and I'll show you someone that is not a teacher.  Teachers enter the field because they care about and want to improve the lives of children - all children.  What DeSantis ignores is that a percentage of children are born as non-heterosexual.  But now teachers have to alter their mission, because some group of morons can't differentiate between teachers comforting and supporting a particular child, vs. some kind of twisted vision that they're encouraging kids to be gay or trans?

And of course, it's not about the parents or the teachers, it is about the child.  That it's 2022 and it's some kind of newsflash that some kids are born gay is stunning.  I was hopeful the dawn of marriage equality in 2015 also signaled a general acceptance of LGBT kids as being what they are, and being welcome and not ostracized.

Now, at least in Florida?  Not so much.

And lastly, like so much else on the Republican agenda:  is this really a big problem in the first place?  In Florida or anywhere? 

It's almost like the Republicans want to distract attention away from their lack of policy ideas for things like climate change, wealth and justice inequality, gun violence, housing, education, and healthcare.  But they wouldn't do that, right?  They're completely rational, right?

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Sent from her Congressional Twitter account!  The mental gymnastics here are breathtaking, when you factor in Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's qualifications.  3 Republican Senators do the correct (and traditional) thing, yet a member of Congress spews this obscene and mendacious filth.  Is there a limit?  Any limit at all as to how far into the sewer Republicans will go?   

Maybe the teen advocate Matt Gaetz can add something to the conversation?

FROM THE UNWASHED MASSES
Nothing like an encouraging email from the now-matriarch of the Darwin family, my first cousin Lally Darwin Heinz Esq.  Along with a nice update on their winter sojourn in the Carolinas, Lally added:

 So sorry to hear about the encounter with Covid.  But how handy to seek health in the traditionally  restorative location in the Adirondacks! I hope the recovery is thorough and your experience with the disease is history.

Keep the thinking and the writing coming. Democracy needs you.

But what if I run out of things to say?

Not to be outdone on the travel front, the wanderer Arthur checked in from his own kind of road trip, sharing this photo.  Note the fine Japanese whiskey - this guy does it right:

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What is it like to stay in a small camper trailer like that, you ask?  Arthur, as always, gives us the straight dope:

Very comfortable for sleeping, but getting in and out is tough for a six footer.  The hitching, unhitching, etc. is pretty tricky.  I would like to try a conversion van some time for comparison.  Any type (of) camper has a number of systems to be dealt with which, take as long as setting up and taking down a tent, so it's not quite as convenient as I had thought.  It is pretty nice having your own bathroom and kitchen though.

DID SOMEONE SAY CONVERSION VAN?

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Thank you to any one that is reading this newsletter.

KLUF
I'll not just say gay, I'll fly it up the flagpole and rub your bigoted f'ing nose right in it.  If an LGBT person (or anyone) is not an asshole, why could anyone care who they love?  What would it matter to you?   

It is in that spirit I give you Queen and their incendiary live album "Rock Montreal".

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About Dean Clough