The absurdity and cruelty of the anti-transgender legislation

One of the interesting things about the increased acceptance of gays and lesbians has been the fact that as more of them have come out, people have been startled to discover that many of the people around them, their friends and relatives and co-workers, are gays and lesbians. Having known them for so long with no problems, it becomes harder to maintain their prejudices that they are different in any way other than in their sexual orientation, which has no impact on anyone else.
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Deliberately making it harder to vote

The efforts to make voting harder in the US tends to disproportionately affect poorer people who have less discretionary time and money to enable them to overcome the hurdles being placed on showing eligibility to vote. Although Republicans claim that this is to prevent voter fraud (something that is a negligible or even non-extent problem), that the real purpose of these efforts is to make voting harder for certain groups is pretty much beyond dispute.
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Challenging the Democratic party’s corporate allegiance

Florida congresswoman and Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an oligarch-friendly party hack who is adept at spouting faux-progressive rhetoric, is for the first time facing a strong primary challenge in her congressional district from a real progressive Tim Canova. His challenge has prompted an unusual action from president Obama, who normally does not get involved in primary races, and he endorsed her. But that seemed to have given a boost to Canova’s fundraising.
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The Colbert emoji

Anyone who has watched Stephen Colbert for any length of time will notice that he has a remarkably flexible face, capable of a wide range of expressions. He could have had a successful career as a mime, perish the thought. It turns out that one of his signature facial expressions has been turned into an emoji. He also describes the tortuous process that has to be followed to have a new emoji approved and provides a range of other expressions that they may wish to consider.
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