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‘Andy, that’s not true:’ Texas Republican mocked after admitting he doesn’t know what intersex is


Ryan Adamczeski- THEADVOCATE

(we do not elect the smartest people so what makes them electable? MA.)

Mon, April 14, 2025 at 2:59 PM CDT

3 min read

Texas House Democratic Caucus video discussing intersex education

A Republican representative in Texas is proving what LGBTQ+ advocates have been saying all along — conservatives don’t know a single thing about the queer community.

The state House of Representatives voted 118-26 to approve a $337 billion budget Friday morning, but not without first killing several amendments targeting LGBTQ+ and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. One such amendment, proposed by Republican Rep. Andy Hopper, aimed to eliminate state funding for the University of Texas at Austin over its LGBTQ+ and DEI programs and degree plans.

In debating the amendment, Democratic Rep. Lauren Ashley Simmons prodded Hopper until he made a stunning admission. The moment, which has since gone viral after being posted by the Human Rights Campaign and Texas Democrats, began with Simmons challenging Hopper after he stated “when you’re born, you have a set of chromosomes.”

“Are you speaking about biological sex? Or are you speaking about gender? ‘Cause one is scientific, one is a social construct,” Simmons said, adding, “‘Cause I have a follow up question after.”

“They’re one and the same, ma’am,” Hopper falsely asserted, grinning smugly.

“That’s not true, but moving on. So, in the same vein, what about intersex individuals?” Simmons questioned.

To which Hopper responded: “I don’t even know what that means, ma’am.”

The crowd in the room responded with a mix of surprise and laughter. When the noise died down, Simmons continued.

“You are not sure what intersex people are, if they exist or not, but you want to defund a program about something that you don’t understand,” she said. “That’s why I’m seeking clarification. … Then again, you haven’t yet answered my question about where intersex people fall into that equation?”

“Those intersex individuals are still XX or XY,” Hopper replied. “So, you can’t change that.”

The incorrect claim prompted Republican Rep. Valoree Swanson, the lead author of the state’s transgender sports ban who had been standing next to Hopper at the podium, to tug on his sleeve and say to him quietly — but loud enough for the microphone to pick up — “Andy, that’s not true.”

There are currently over 40 known intersex variations, according to the Intersex Society of North America, which can cause individuals to make more or less estrogen or testosterone than average, be more or less sensitive to those hormones, have different sizes and appearances of their genitals, and have variations in their X and Y sex chromosomes.

The most common intersex variations are due to differences in chromosomes, such as Klinefelter syndrome (XXY), Turner syndrome (X0), and triple X syndrome (XXX). About 2 in every 100 births have an intersex variation, according to multiple sources — around the same as the number of people with red hair.

Not all intersex people identify as LGBTQ+. They may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, female, male, both, or neither.

Simmons filed a point of order against Hopper, and after over an hour of debate, the House ultimately voted against the amendment.

Apparently, we did Forget.


There was a period between 2016-2020that defined this current administration. FFLOTUS is doing what he wanted to do in his previous stint as Leader? of America. His gross misunderstanding of leadership and vulnerability are now wreaking havoc here at home and in the world. His shortsightedness will cost us in the short run unless the seemingly cowardly Congress steps up. It appears that many of his supporters who work in Government jobs thought they were safe (until the (F)ELON approach to cost cutting came about. It is now too late to do very much except prepare for midterm elections where we could possibly turn the tide in Congress. We now have a semi authoritarian government. The primary purpose of this administration (or the Leader) is to ensure his tax cuts? are enforced with the brunt being borne by the least able to afford it. It should be clear to his supporters (those who voted for him) that they voted for him based on lies he told from 2016 on (as well as his lifetime of doing the same).

The “child “is now going after the same areas for revenge as outlined in the 30’s as Adolph rose in power on the back of his supporters. There was a mistaken idea that since “he” installed judges that they (judges) should rule in his favor in all cases and now has gotten a wakeup call in several instances whereby he immediately attacked them as “radical Left Lunatics”!

The time is now to assess your representative and decide if they are working for you!

It’s Interesting How Truth Social Moved to Sell Stock Right Before Trump’s Tariffs Were Announced


 

Victor Tangermann

Thu, April 3, 2025 at 1:47 PM CDT

3 min read

260

Just before announcing a major escalation in his tariff war on Wednesday evening — followed by a major stock market wipeout the following morning — president Donald Trump freed up the sale of his Truth Social shares.

As the Financial Times reports, Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) revealed that it was planning to sell more than 142 million shares in a late Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Most notably, the shares listed in the document include Trump’s 114-million-share stake, which is worth roughly $2.3 billion and held in a trust controlled by his son Donald Trump Jr. Other insiders, including a crypto exchange-traded fund, and 106,000 shares held by US attorney Pam Bondi were also included in the latest filing.

While the filing doesn’t guarantee any future sale of shares, investors weren’t exactly smitten with the optics. Shares plunged eight percent in light of the news, according to the FT, and are down over 45 percent this year amid Trump’s escalating trade war.

The timing of the SEC filing is certainly suspect. Trump’s “liberation day” tariff announcement on Wednesday triggered a major selloff, causing shares of multinational companies and stock futures to crater.

Trump also vowed in September that he wasn’t planning to sell any of his TMTG shares, which caused their value to spike temporarily at the time.

Now that the shares are up for grabs, the president has seemingly had a change of heart — or, perhaps, is getting cold feet now that the economy is feeling the brunt of his catastrophic economic policymaking. It’s also possible Trump was always planning to cash out and leave investors exposed.

Meanwhile, Trump Media released a statement on Wednesday, accusing “legacy media outlets” of “spreading a fake story suggesting that a TMTG filing today is paving the way for the Trump trust to sell its shares in TMTG.” The company said this week’s filing was “routine.”

Experts have long pointed out that if Trump were to sell, it could lead to TMTG spiraling.

It’s still unclear whether the company — which reported a staggering $400 million loss in 2024, while only netting a pitiful $3.6 million revenue — will realize the mass sale of millions of shares.

But even just the suggestion appears to have spooked investors.

“In this offering it says the Trump trust could sell shares — it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will,” Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein told ABC News. “It signals to the market that they could.”

“This leaves it up in the air if and when a share sale will happen,” he added.

In short, instead of building a viable business that generates meaningful revenue to reflect its valuation, TMTG still feels more like an enrichment scheme for Trump and his closest associates.

“Trump Media has been pretty unsuccessful at creating an operating business model, but they have been quite successful at selling their stock,” University of Florida finance professor Jay Ritter told ABC News.

Link To MAGA Protest


https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/ex-nfl-player-who-was-arrested-for-protesting-maga-plaque-speaks-out/vi-AA1zwDsK?ocid=socialshare&cvid=4b528a29322e403484efeef649c9ab81&ei=49

Analysis: Trump’s 13 biggest lies of his first month back in office


Story by Daniel Dale, CNN • 4h • 6 min read

President Donald Trump moved at a blistering pace in his first month back in the White House. He lied fast and furious, too.

In speeches, interviews, exchanges with reporters and posts on social media, the president filled his public statements not only with exaggerations but outright fabrications. As he did during his first presidency, Trump made false claims with a frequency and variety unmatched by any other elected official in Washington.

Here is our list of Trump’s 13 biggest lies since he was inaugurated on January 20. It was hard to choose.

The tale of the $50 million – no, make it $100 million – in condoms for Hamas: When press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced at her first official White House briefing that Trump had thwarted a plan to spend $50 million “to fund condoms in Gaza,” it was immediately clear the claim was highly dubious; the Trump administration had no evidence to substantiate it. But Trump not only repeated the $50 million figure the next day, he added an incendiary claim that the condoms were “for Hamas.” Then, days after it had become obvious the $50 million figure was pure fiction, he inflated it to “$100 million.”

This was another example of Trumpflation – the president’s years-old habit of making his inaccurate stories more and more inaccurate over time.

Blaming Ukraine for starting the war on Ukraine: Russia started the war in Ukraine when it invaded Ukraine in 2022. That is an obvious fact. But on Tuesday, when Trump dismissed Ukrainians’ complaints about their exclusion from US-Russia negotiations about ending the war, he falsely accused Ukraine of starting the war – saying, “You should’ve never started it. You could’ve made a deal.” Laughable Kremlin-style propaganda, this time from the president of the United States.

The (non-)uniqueness of birthright citizenship: Trump offered what might have sounded like a reasonable rationale for his attempt to get rid of birthright citizenship. The United States, he said, is the only country that has birthright citizenship.

Except that is not true, as CNN and other outlets pointed out when Trump made the same claim as president in 2018 and on various other occasions. Dozens of countries, including Canada and Mexico, also grant automatic citizenship to people born on their soil.

More up-is-down reversing of the reality of January 6: For years now, Trump has presented a version of the Capitol riot of January 6, 2021, that bears little resemblance to what actually happened. When he was asked in early February why he granted pardons to people who assaulted first responders, he said the people he pardoned were actually “assaulted by our government” and that “they didn’t assault.” This “they didn’t assault” claim was a brazen denial of the obvious truth, clear in video after video and trial after trial. The Justice Department has said more than 140 officers were assaulted on January 6, and that more than 170 people pleaded guilty to such assaults.

A gusher of deceit about California water policy: Amid disaster, more dishonesty. First, Trump linked the Los Angeles wildfires to California’s decision to use some of its water to protect a fish species in the northern part of the state – even though the two things have nothing to do with each other, as befuddled experts explained to anyone who would listen.

Then, after ordering the sudden release of billions of gallons of water from Central Valley reservoirs for no apparent good reason, Trump declared that some of this water was heading to Los Angeles – even though it wasn’t heading to Los Angeles and couldn’t go to Los Angeles.

The election lie he refused to let die: What can you even say about this one at this point? Trump’s win in the free and fair 2024 election did not convince him to abandon his endless lying about his defeat in the free and fair 2020 election. More than four years after his loss to Joe Biden, he repeated his “rigged” nonsense during at least three events on his 2025 inauguration day alone, then a bunch of times after that.

That fable about Olympic boxers, again: Trump, once a prominent promoter of lies about President Barack Obama’s birthplace, continued to demonstrate no hesitation lying about not only policy issues but also individual people. This time, to promote his push to try to get transgender athletes banned from the Olympics, he told his familiar story about how two gold medalists in women’s boxing at the Games in Paris last year were men who “transitioned.”

Wrong. As the International Olympic Committee repeatedly noted during the Olympics, when Trump and others made such claims, neither champion had transitioned; both were born as female and have always competed in women’s events. Even the discredited boxing authority that controversially disqualified the women from a 2023 competition, vaguely claiming a test had found they had unfair competitive advantages, did not allege they had transitioned.

The president’s fictionalized northern neighbor: Before taking office, Trump casually asserted that the Canadian people “like” his idea of Canada becoming the 51st US state. That was the opposite of the truth; the idea is hugely unpopular with the Canadian public. Then, after his inauguration, Trump continued to make stuff up about Canada – at one point posting on social media and then saying out loud that Canada prohibits US banks from doing business there. He added, “Can you believe that?” No doubt some Americans believe it, but it’s false.

Blasting Biden for a program launched under Trump: After the deadly January collision between a military helicopter and a passenger jet, Trump blamed Biden administration diversity initiatives at the Federal Aviation Administration without providing any evidence any FAA diversity policy had anything to do with the crash. He added in a fictional story about a frantic last-minute Biden push to hire people with significant disabilities as air traffic controllers, failing to explain that this FAA pilot program was actually a years-old initiative launched during his own administration in 2019.

Relentless deception about who pays tariffs: When Trump talked about the tariffs he imposed on Chinese imports in his first presidency, he spoke of how much money “from China” these tariffs generated for the US Treasury. When he talked about the additional tariffs he plans to impose on various other countries during his current presidency, he spoke of a need to “charge them.” At no point did he acknowledge that US importers, not foreign countries, are the ones who pay the actual tariff charges – or that study after study, including one from the federal government’s bipartisan trade commission, found that Americans ended up bearing almost the entire cost of his first-term tariffs on Chinese products.

A wild exaggeration of the increase in autism rates: Trump keeps flirting with, though not explicitly endorsing, the thoroughly debunked conspiracy theory that childhood vaccines cause autism – and in a social media post in early February, he inflated the extent of the increase in the known prevalence of autism over the last two decades. “20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34,” Trump wrote. “WOW! Something’s really wrong.” Aside from the fact that experts say the increase in autism diagnoses (to 1 in 36 children by age 8 in 2020) likely has to do with greater awareness of the symptoms and improved screening practices, public statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the known prevalence in 2004 was 1 in 125 children, not “1 in 10,000.” That’s a pretty big difference.

China’s (non-)operation of the Panama Canal: Much of Trump’s lying is ad-libbed. Some of it, however, is planned in advance. Some of it, however, is written into his prepared speeches. He said in his inaugural address in January: “Above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”

This would have been a good line if China was actually operating the Panama Canal. It isn’t; Panama is, though Trump could have raised legitimate questions about China’s influence in the area.

Trump’s invented dominance with “the youth vote”: Trump said some accurate things while touting his victory in the 2024 election, such as the fact that he swept all seven swing states. But in keeping with his longstanding practice of exaggerating even legitimate accomplishments, he also kept sprinkling in a claim that wasn’t even close to correct – an assertion that he won the youth vote “by 36 points.” In fact, exit polls show he lost the youth vote to then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Even if these polls were off, there’s no basis for the claim that he won the youth vote by 36.

    Debunking Myth #8: “Corporate tax cuts create jobs” BUNK! Robert Reich    


    Debunking Myth #8: “Corporate tax cuts create jobs” BUNK! Robert Reich      
Friends, I’m tired of hearing Republicans claim that we should reduce taxes on corporations because corporate tax cuts create jobs. It’s untrue. Also untrue are the repeated Republican assertions that tax increases on corporations, and regulations requiring corporations to better protect the health and safety of their consumers and workers and the environment, are “job killers.” Here’s the truth: Most American jobs are created by poor, working, and middle-class people whose increased spending on goods and services causes businesses to create more jobs. If most Americans don’t have enough purchasing power to buy the stuff businesses produce, businesses will lay workers off. If    Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more Debunking Myth #8: “Corporate tax cuts create jobs” BUNK! Robert Reich Jul 19           READ IN APP     (Please click on the above and see our video.)   Friends,   I’m tired of hearing Republicans claim that we should reduce taxes on corporations because corporate tax cuts create jobs. It’s untrue.   Also untrue are the repeated Republican assertions that tax increases on corporations, and regulations requiring corporations to better protect the health and safety of their consumers and workers and the environment, are “job killers.”   Here’s the truth: Most American jobs are created by poor, working, and middle-class people whose increased spending on goods and services causes businesses to create more jobs.   If most Americans don’t have enough purchasing power to buy the stuff businesses produce, businesses will lay workers off. If they have more purchasing power, businesses will add jobs.   In 1914, Ford boosted its workers’ wages. As a result, Ford employees — and the employees of other big firms who felt they had no choice but to raise their wages to compete in the job market with Ford — could afford to buy Model T Fords, enlarging the demand for Model T’s, thus creating more jobs at Ford (and at every other automaker).   The Great Crash of 1929 ushered in the Great Depression of the 1930s because people didn’t have enough money to buy the goods and services the economy could produce. Which caused a vicious cycle of fewer jobs and even less money in the pockets of average people.   The cycle ended only when the government stepped in through vast public spending on World War II.   So when you hear that corporations need tax cuts in order to create more jobs, or that tax increases on corporations or regulations on corporations are job killers, know that this is baloney.   The best way to create more jobs is to put more money into the pockets of more workers.   Which is why we need a higher minimum wage, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, and stronger unions that can bargain for higher wages. All these will increase demand for the goods and services businesses produce, thereby creating more jobs.   Remember, it’s working people who create jobs when they have enough money in their pockets to buy.they have more purchasing power, businesses will add jobs. In 1914, Ford boosted its workers’ wages. As a result, Ford employees — and the employees of other big firms who felt they had no choice but to raise their wages to compete in the job market with Ford — could afford to buy Model T Fords, enlarging the demand for Model T’s, thus creating more jobs at Ford (and at every other automaker). The Great Crash of 1929 ushered in the Great Depression of the 1930s because people didn’t have enough money to buy the goods and services the economy could produce. Which caused a vicious cycle of fewer jobs and even less money in the pockets of average people. The cycle ended only when the government stepped in through vast public spending on World War II. So when you hear that corporations need tax cuts in order to create more jobs, or that tax increases on corporations or regulations on corporations are job killers, know that this is baloney.  The best way to create more jobs is to put more money into the pockets of more workers. Which is why we need a higher minimum wage, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit, and stronger unions that can bargain for higher wages. All these will increase demand for the goods and services businesses produce, thereby creating more jobs. Remember, it’s working people who create jobs when they have enough money in their pockets to buy.

Riding on the coattails of Crap!


Apparently, the supporters of LOTUS have no idea of his inability to govern. ANY positive achievements during his administration were not products of his brain. He has however managed to turn rational people into a national mob who sole purpose is to attack anyone perceived as other no matter how long their American lineage is and what they have accomplished. Without the multinational makeup of the United States, there would be no United States. The hope for the future is to remove the less than qualified members of the Government from service by the vote and make the effort to install reasonable replacements instead of cohorts who should not be working in the Government. Only in a “free” country can an indicted person run for Leader of the country. The advantage for voters is that the misdeeds and their effects are readily available through many types of media (including the biased ones). I would suggest to voters: each candidate comes with some baggage, that being said the key is to unpack that baggage and sort the dirty laundry!!

Reverse Diarrhea?


It is apparent the former President DJT is a danger to America and its allies. We must believe that whatever DJT promises to do if elected no matter how outrageous, are his intentions and purpose. His presidency would be a culmination of all of the evils that currently exist among the dictatorial leaders he so much admires. There will be mass deportations (or attempts) for anyone perceived as other no matter their citizenship (born or naturalized). It is unfortunate that through a systematic and steady erosion of what history is taught or altered that many do not get the benefit of the true past 100 years of history. Our allies will remain as steadfast for us as we have been for them. Keep in mind that these allies have similar national issues as we now experience and with that comes the extreme actions we see in the middle east. We are at a turning point where we need to fully back or retreat from support of some of our allies who appear to be riding the Despot train much to the delight of prominent leaders whose sole objective is backwards looking and attempting to create the conditions that caused the second great war which destroyed countries and millions of lives. It is clear that many voters are undecided, uncommitted or not voting, my question to those folks is “Do you want the type of “non-government that DJT will give us since he is (supposedly) one of the 1%? His type of governing preceded the Great recession and ultimately the Second world war. The Authoritarian and despotic rulers rose to prominence and decided to attack other countries who disagreed with their politics. If you believe enough is enough then do not vote for DJT!!

Voting Made Simple!


Listening and watching a variety of news outlets who were speaking to a range of American voters, I was struck by the seemingly underinformed and single-issue voters who have their opinions without recognizing that whoever is the countries’ leader has less to do with parties than personalities. Some folks are not comfortable with a potential female woman of color, some have an issue with a Braggadocios con man. The prize in all of this is who controls Congress! It has been clear for many years that big money has more control of our government than many realize. WE were warned by President Eisenhower about this when he was in office. This is an excerpt:

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”

This means that the wealthy who have their own interests in mind will continue that line according to who the Titular head of the country is! In someone like DJT, they have a greedy self-serving person who caters to the 1% (who he is not part of and wants to be in spite of what he says). We must remember that many of our Congressional members are in the 1% and have no desire to hurt their own bottom line. If we do not dig deeper as voters, we are not serving ourselves and will continue to have a government (from top to bottom) which will serve us poorly. It is the practice in “politricks” to pander and misrepresent as it suits their personal agendas. Being informed on issues (old and new) makes for a informed voter. The choice has always been and will probably continue to be “lesser of two evils”!

Consequences!


Consequences result from all actions and spoken words. Since the advent of the “Newt Gingrich” era of politics word more than actions have been the primary source of agitation. Newt was a major influencer of using “certain words” to convey underlying meanings. He along with the “moral Majority” and other “noveau” groups took to airwaves and other media expressing many ideas that have become mainstream now. The Right” has long been advocates of Government over reach for their purposes while suppressing Government activities that benefit a majority of citizens. It would take a minimum of 3- 4 tomes to explain the ways our society has been changed (attacked) by the extremes of both hands (right and left), the tough part is teasing out the facts which has been left to us the readers and consumers of news and information. Key to information (factual information) is spread over many sources and it has been left to the reader (consumer) to collect and understand. Facts never change while the opposite of facts constantly shifts.