Of Metal to Roses, the world burns asunder

QUEER IS NOT A SLUR

We reclaimed it way back in the 1980's. It is the accepted term used in academia, in colleges and universities ALL OVER THE PLACE.

Bonus:

Last week, the Trump administration quietly released a sweeping new federal rule that would use funding threats to force institutions across the country to reject transgender people. The 400-page proposed regulation would codify the administration's anti-trans executive orders into binding federal policy, imposing a blanket prohibition on federal funds going toward "gender ideology"

The proposed rule, formally titled "Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance," rewrites the government-wide framework governing all federal grants across every agency. Among its most consequential provisions, it requires that before a federal grant recipient can receive money, the award must pass a "pre-issuance review" conducted by a political appointee—not a career expert or peer reviewer—to ensure it is "consistent with applicable law, Federal agency priorities, and the national interest." The regulation explicitly instructs these appointees to screen for "denial by the recipient of the sex binary in humans or the notion that sex is a chosen or mutable characteristic." [...] An institution that acknowledges transgender people exist—through its policies, its training, its healthcare, its bathroom access, its HR procedures, its name-change processes—could be deemed to "deny the sex binary" or to “support the notion that sex is mutable” and have its federal funding blocked.

This torches everything. And I do mean everything.

A very abbreviated list of its ramifications include (but are not limited to):

ending funding for ALL DEI related initiatives

allowing the government to terminate grants at any point for any reason

preventing researchers from publishing, going to conferences, and being part of academic societies

requiring that topics must support the president’s agenda.

What this means, and if anything I’m under selling it, is the death of science and research in America. It allows the government to restrict any topic they please at a whims notice, putting officials who have no background in the topic in charge of deciding funding continuity. It controls what gets researched and if/how researchers are allowed to share their discoveries. There are no books to burn if the government never allows them to be written. This is fascism plain and simple.

Public comments are not a vote, it is a chance for you to say "here is an issue with this law I think you need to address" and provide justification for legal challenges if it goes forward:

"Comments raise the bar that agencies have to meet when making a rule; “if an agency fails to adequately respond to significant, relevant comments in a final rule, members of the public may seek to challenge the rule in court on that basis and claim it could be struck down.ˮ"

Please call your representatives: VOTE NO on the FEDERAL BOOK BANNING BILLS HR 2616, HR 8705, and HR 7661!

Transcript below the cut.

But since you asked for recs I have to get my usual recs out since I want everyone to listen to this stuff, so BRELAND, Tanner Adell, Blanco Brown, Reyna Roberts, and Willie Jones are all black country artists that blend a lot of rap and hiphop influence into their music which creates a really great vibe(especially since the white country artists doing this are just not anywhere near as good at it someone please stop Morgan Wallen every single one of his songs sounds exactly the same ahhhhh).

I have to plug Brittney Spencer, Shaboozey, and Tiera Kennedy too but those two do much more pure country, country/rock, and country/pop, and ofc I'd be remiss not to mention Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter album which is just a celebration of country and adjacent generes and black music and fusion stuff it's crazy just listen to the whole thing.

I also reccomend the Pony Up remix of Texas Hold 'Em but I hit the link limit.

GUITAR LADY <3

i just want us to get out, of course our other 2 kids will come with me I just need money for a couple of taxis and a hotel room please

anything anything helps please

(Jewish) Pride Month Day 3: Ezra Furman

Ezra Furman is an American indie rock musician, singer and songwriter. She has released 7 solo albums, 3 solo EPs, 3 albums with her previous band, Ezra Furman and the Harpoons, and has worked on the soundtrack for the Netflix show "Sex Education". They are Jewish, bisexual, and a trans woman. Their queer and Jewish identities are central to their work. She was previously enrolled in rabbinical school but dropped out and stated she had decided to lead and empower Jewish people through art instead. Their unapologetic expression of queerness and Jewishness has made them an icon to queer Jews in the indie/alt rock scene.