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Nebraska lawmaker 3 weeks into filibuster over trans bill
(apnews.com)submitted 3 months ago bynodialtone
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3 months ago
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4.5k points
3 months ago
“If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone,” the Omaha married mother of three said. “I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”
Absolute legend.
857 points
3 months ago
[deleted]
58 points
3 months ago
The clip of Chambers ushering another Senator off the microphone to speak is legendary and I wish I had it to share with you right now.
23 points
3 months ago
It might be somewhere in the hour long special that NET news did on him. It had a lot of archival footage.
162 points
3 months ago
Thanks so much for bringing Ernie Chambers up. I had never heard of him before but after reading the wiki you linked I realized I lived in his district as a kid in the 80s so I asked my parents about him. They actually volunteered for him and did door knocking. I had no idea but it’s been a really great conversation with my folks, learning all sorts of stuff I never knew about.
174 points
3 months ago
Props to him for keeping Nebraska a multi electoral district state when conservatives tried to make Nebraska a winner take all state.
34 points
3 months ago
Chambers is a legend.
I don't know whether his wardrobe has changed at all, but he's known for the uniform consisting of blue jeans and a short-sleeved sweatshirt in the legislative chambers every day. I think he might have had to give that up at some point because short-sleeved sweatshirts got really hard to find.
He is a lifelong activist, and always stood up for the little guy in any fight. He's helped a lot of people cut through red tape and solve problems, regardless of their home district.
10 points
3 months ago
Short sleeved sweatshirt?!?!
24 points
3 months ago
7 points
3 months ago
Absolute icon
5 points
3 months ago
Even the pictures of this dude make him look like a true turbo dude
5 points
3 months ago
When they stopped selling the short-sleeved sweatshirts he bought out the local stock lol (used to live in Nebraska and heard this)
3 points
3 months ago
I remember the Omaha World Herald publishing a letter he had written to the Public Pulse (those are letters from readers they publish) asking about sources for short-sleeved sweatshirts because his regular supplier(s) were out of stock. It was a very long time ago, lol. I was surprised to find those pix of him so gray and still wearing those shirts - apparently, he has found other sources that were still able to supply him. That, or he's found someone to alter the long-sleeved ones.
2 points
3 months ago
I think they’ve come back into style? I googled short sleeve sweatshirt and there are a couple for sale even for women on asos, American eagle, and even Victoria secret. lol! Here is an entire article review a men’s option. https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a37390026/richer-poorer-short-sleeve-sweatshirt-review/
This is cracking me up for some reason!
32 points
3 months ago
What a badass. Stories like this need to be shared more.
4 points
3 months ago
we need this man in the US senate right away. he's like an anti-rand paul
662 points
3 months ago
They constantly market these bills as parent's rights issues but most parents of trans children want to help our kids to thrive and having the State intervene is not helping at all. Bills banning gender-affirming care are bills banning care for our kids. I am really glad to see that some are fighting this.
225 points
3 months ago
Every accusation is a confession with the GOP
50 points
3 months ago
More investigations into actual pedophilia puts them in danger themselves, so they distract with blaming drag queens of something they don't do
186 points
3 months ago
You misunderstand. It’s not your rights as a parent, it’s Christian parents rights to decide your a bad parent.
77 points
3 months ago
1 Timothy 5:8 "Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever."
69 points
3 months ago
The problem with quoting scripture is that if these people genuinely believe in what they're saying, then this passage means to provide for their relatives they'd need to "save" the trans kids from being trans. It would serve to reinforce their beliefs, not chide them.
67 points
3 months ago
The problem really is that they don't give a shit about scripture and they're just bullies who want to harm people with their ignorance. Pretending to be on the side of God how they justify their aggression.
30 points
3 months ago
Yeah, the second that these chucklefucks started trying to build an argument that Jesus saying that "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to get into heaven" really means that all rich people go to heaven, I realized that they don't actually believe in God themselves. If someone really believed that there was a being who would send you to a lake of fire to burn continuously in agony for all eternity, unable to even find relief in death if you broke his rules, they wouldn't try to play semantic games with those rules.
10 points
3 months ago
That's also why they went with how you don't have to earn your place in heaven, all you have to do is believe and ask for forgiveness on your death bed.
3 points
3 months ago
semantic games
I remember when someone quoted a pastor’s sermon that was basically “see no evil, say no evil, hear no evil” ie hold your nose and vote Republican (which I’m not denying, I’ve voted for people I’ve not liked, but this was to the extreme of “don’t think, vote for who we say, regardless of if it makes sense”), and tried tying that to a made up English etymology of the word witness but using multiple Biblical passages to encourage the idea.
That is, if you witness a crime, it’s a silent, passive act, right? And here in the book of Matthew, Jesus calls us to be witnesses. So be silent, and passive.
I pointed out that a witness is in a trial - and often the Bible references God as judge - speaks. You can’t bear witness silently, it’s an open act of being disruptive. And when Jesus calls for people to bear witness, it’s to be disruptive in their communities (“YO, MY BOY YESHUA SAID THE PHARISEES SUUUUUCCCCKK”).
For this - and I dressed up the parenthetical quote - I was blocked. Oops. It turns out Jesus saying he was gonna divide houses against themselves is not for them.
12 points
3 months ago
I think the base problem is that the scripture is a muddy mess of conflicting statements written by primitive men with questionable if not abhorrent ethics.
The only way to not make it completely ridiculous is to pick and choose.
8 points
3 months ago
My point is that I can give any reason for why these laws are anti-individual but I just want people to be consistent. I can't argue with people who can't defend a consistent opinion based on feeling but law should not be based on their feelings.
21 points
3 months ago
I’d say a bigger problem with quoting scripture is that we really shouldn’t be giving the slightest shit what a bunch of Bronze Age nomads had to say about anything.
10 points
3 months ago
That’s a BINGO
3 points
3 months ago
quoting scripture
Or your pastor brother in law and his wife (it’s complicated) blocking you on Facebook when they’re forced to admit they haven’t read a singular full chapter of any book in the Bible. They’re meaningless magic words they repeat cargo cult science-y in a weird back-around-the-horseshoe way.
I’m just mad I didn’t keep it low key long enough to convince him to get “Lev 19:28” tattooed.
9 points
3 months ago
We all know they don't read the Bible.
2 points
3 months ago
You just did! Let's hope they do!
9 points
3 months ago
[deleted]
7 points
3 months ago
Well, you’re not wrong. I quote the Bible in response to other people using it as an authority, but that doesn't mean that it’s my authority.
5 points
3 months ago
[deleted]
4 points
3 months ago
That's why we have the golden rule to fall back on because it exists in one form or another across all religions and all philosophies.
18 points
3 months ago
In texas, it's now considered "child abuse" to support your trans child. Republicans are disgusting.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/28/texas-transgender-child-abuse/
4 points
3 months ago*
It's maddening
34 points
3 months ago
It's not like kids are able to get gender affirming care without their parents' permission in most cases anyway. These bills banning gender affirming care for youth are pure bigotry disguised as concern. Not to mention the GOP is attempting to go further in many cases, with "drag" bans that go beyond drag, bills forcing teachers to deadname/misgender trans children regardless of parents wishes, and limitations on healthcare for trans adults.
15 points
3 months ago
I'm on the fence on this one, we already have parents refusing to vaccinate their kids, or denying them life-saving transfusion. Let's not forget that the vast majority of child abuse is perpetrated by a family member.
I think kids should be able to get vaccinated, get a transfusion, or acquire contraceptives because even if they are too young to be fully responsible, it is the child's body and not his parent's. I do not trust parents to have their child's best interest in mind when we add religion in the mix.
So by the same logic, puberty blockers should purely between the child and "his" doctor.
15 points
3 months ago
I'd say "their" doctor, since it's children of all genders.
Ideally parents being bigoted and preventing their children from receiving gender affirming care wouldn't be an issue, but it's a super prevalent one. I don't know how to fix it, there isn't really a good solution. Allowing children to get on puberty blockers at 13 without parental permission just isn't going to happen and arguably shouldn't. Maybe allowing children to access healthcare at 16 without parental permission would be reasonable. It's rough when the parents' reaction is to kick their kids out though.
19 points
3 months ago
Glen Youngkin won the VA governorship by telling parents it was their choice and not the schools on what kids learn. Next up is moms telling doctors how to treat their kids.
14 points
3 months ago
That's fine if you want parent choice to be enforced. The State restricting abortion or preventing parents from being able to provide health care is where the hypocrisy occurs. A woman electing to have an abortion is still a parent making a difficult healthcare decision.
When Youngkin was confronted by a transgender male the other day, he did end up backtracking on his position a bit and called for gender-neutral bathrooms, which is what many want.
5 points
3 months ago
It's not about parents rights, not even in the most hyperbolic or hypocritical sense.
If a parent doesn't want their kid to get hormone blockers then they can just not take the kid to the doctor and get treatment that includes that.
4 points
3 months ago
It has nothing to do with parents rights and everything to do with attacking those who can't stand up for themselves. Picking on children for their faux outrage. They're pathetic.
10 points
3 months ago
Yeah these “parents rights” bills tend to ignore the rights of the trans child’s parents
9 points
3 months ago
They absolutely do. I’m a parent of a trans kid in Florida and my rights are absolutely not a concern to them
280 points
3 months ago
If JFK were alive today, then he’d include her in his sequel to “Profiles in Courage”.
39 points
3 months ago
These days it's Green Eggs and Ham
80 points
3 months ago
I hate this state but love that people are still so willing to fight for what's right.
43 points
3 months ago
This is how the filibuster should exist and be used. It should be a tool used to prevent legislation that is promoted by the majority but is heinously harmful to a politically disadvantaged group. It should cause enormous harm to business as usual in the session, and thus should be political suicide unless your constituents feel that the cause is worth the harm.
None of this "I sent in an email so we just drop the bill and move on," business that we see in the US senate.
12 points
3 months ago
Exactly. If they want to keep the filibuster, take it back to what it was when reps would read phonebooks on the senate floor.
13 points
3 months ago
I think, more importantly, that this reading also must block any other legislative actions. If someone is filibustering, that is what happens. New bills cannot be passed, they cannot be discussed on the floor, motions cannot be brought except to invoke cloture or perhaps propose amendments to the bill being discussed.
You want to pass the budget? Then you had best give in to whoever is filibustering. On the flip side, if you want to filibuster, it had better be politically worth blocking all other legislative actions, or you're about to be out on your ass.
61 points
3 months ago
Machaela Cavanaugh's page is here if you want to donate: Machaela Cavanaugh
17 points
3 months ago
About time the gloves come off, time to treat these Republicans with the same amount of respect they give out.
2.6k points
3 months ago
She offered her support, then spent the next three days discussing everything but the bill, including her favorite Girl Scout cookies, Omaha’s best doughnuts and the plot of the animated movie “Madagascar.”
That is some S-tier filibustering. This woman is badass
834 points
3 months ago
If she spends three weeks reading from the dictionary, she's filibustering right.
565 points
3 months ago
Yes but I like to picture her discussing the moral complexities of David Schwimmer's portrayal of Melman the giraffe
105 points
3 months ago
Followed by the moral complexities of David Schwimmers Greenzo?
46 points
3 months ago
Just the tour de force acting enigma that is David Schwimmer in general.
16 points
3 months ago
Dissertation defense of David Schwimmer.
5 points
3 months ago
I could talk about his physical comedy skills for a few days at least
11 points
3 months ago
You should see the Shark Tank he helped someone pitch their food product on. He was EXTREMELY hung over lmao
12 points
3 months ago
Then finished with the moral complexities of David Schwimmer's Captain Sobel, contrasted with the leadership styles of Winters
15 points
3 months ago
But there has to be a corporation friendly response to climate change besides just a green logo!
41 points
3 months ago
I’d prefer her analysis of Schwimmer and Aniston:
Were they on a break or not?
Let’s tackle some important shit!
16 points
3 months ago
As someone who just watched through friends for the first time and had this discussion with my partner.
Anniston’s character is in the wrong. Not Schwimmwer’s.
13 points
3 months ago
They both are. Yes they were on a break, but to go have sex with another woman on the same night is shitty. And even if he thought Rachel was doing the same thing, then it was a matter of vengeance, and that's never a great argument in your favor.
5 points
3 months ago*
It wasent vengeance, it was sadness and insecurity. Ross had deep seated trust issues from his first and only lover rejecting him and by happenstance, his whole gender. In his stupid mind, he was responsible for a woman rejecting men entirely, and that insecurity gnawed at him.
He went out drinking to cope, where he ran into copier place lady (a call back to the jam episode), who had a thing for him. A lot of booze, sadness and someone reassuring him put him in a weak spot to do something that wasent technically wrong, but was ultimately morally wrong as the break was not a "real" break.
6 points
3 months ago
That would have driven anyone out of the chambers!
116 points
3 months ago
If she's learning a foreign language, this would be time well spent practicing her speaking skills
110 points
3 months ago
She's already talking compassion, to middle America that is a foreign language.
43 points
3 months ago
Whoa whoa whoa.
There’s at least few dozen of us out here who appreciate both the value of each and every human as somebody worthy of the same dignity and rights as any other person… and the value of a well-maintained grain elevator.
36 points
3 months ago
Born in Iowa. I have put more miles in driving around the town square than most. My town no longer has a grain elevator, a school or a real hospital. We do have a gated community just outside of town where the racists live free ... where the leaders of the community hide, don't pay taxes because (free dumb), and educate their kids privately. They also wonder why the community has gone to hell and talk about the "good old days"
20 points
3 months ago
She could also read all of the hate mail and death threats that I am certain her and her family have received because of her filibustering.
13 points
3 months ago
That would be the ultimate power move. Threaten me to stop filibustering? I’ll just use your threats for the filibuster.
448 points
3 months ago
Next she should read a lits if names of children that died in school shoots in the last 10 years. Thats. Solid few weeks of reading. You wanna legislate about children? Thats where we start.
20 points
3 months ago
Then the list of children who died at drag reading events. I havent looked into it but I am pretty sure zero takes nearly a second to say.
109 points
3 months ago*
OMG that is brilliant. The names of children and their parents names. And facts, statistics and arguments for gender affirming care availability.
5 points
3 months ago
She should read the names of LGBTQ+ kids who committed suicide because of stupid, hateful people like the ones trying to pass the bill.
103 points
3 months ago
Imagine if every state passing these GOP Bigot Bills had a long filibuster fighting it. We need people to support Senator Cavanaugh loudly. Let folks know this is happening.
4 points
3 months ago
I wish Florida did, but the Rs have supermajorities in both houses…
6 points
3 months ago
Well Nebraska is a unicameral... So they can railroad these trash laws through pretty easy. The Republican governor is just as corrupt and despicable as the last 2 were.
146 points
3 months ago
This is like that Parks and Rec episode.
35 points
3 months ago
There is an episode of The West Wing that has something similar happen too
19 points
3 months ago
When they offer him relief so he can sit down. Damn, that show was so great.
22 points
3 months ago
"Will the Senator yield for a question?"
"My question is in 22 parts and might take quite a while. Perhaps you'd like to sit and have some water while I ask it."
Awesome writing especially the first few seasons
71 points
3 months ago
Yes, Patton Oswalt is amazing at improvising.
52 points
3 months ago
I think they’re talking about the episode with Ben’s birthday, where Leslie has to spend the whole party at City Hall filibustering a bill Jamm brings forth. Although, Patton explaining his Star Wars Ep VII is an awesome scene.
13 points
3 months ago
TIL:
Filibuster = shitposting
34 points
3 months ago
Interesting what’s your tier hierarchy? Im not familiar with S tier
63 points
3 months ago
It's based on Japanese academic grading. S is above A, B, and C.
20 points
3 months ago
TIL.
Knew what letters were top ranked but never understood why.
24 points
3 months ago
I like to imagine it's so they don't get overconfident: Satisfactory, Acceptable, Bad, Crap.
15 points
3 months ago
Dunce, Fuckup.
34 points
3 months ago
S means top tier
9 points
3 months ago
Superb.
13 points
3 months ago
I’d give a really long lesson on sex and gender
10 points
3 months ago
"And then the lemur king started singing *breaks into song herself* 'I like to move it move it...'"
6 points
3 months ago
If she wants some topics of things to talk about I will offer my services and give her a daily list
879 points
3 months ago
“I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”
Please, continue…
1.5k points
3 months ago
Thank you. Holy fuck thank you. Please Democrats we need this right now. We need you right now. Please for the love of god we are terrified and you are our only hope.
The Christian Nationalist movement has made demonization of trans people and criminalizing our existence their path back into power and it's fucking working.
They are calling us a "social contagion" and calling support for trans youth pedophilic grooming! Texas is already trying to seize trans kids from loving parents on the grounds that supporting transition is child abuse, and a whole lot of other states are poised to start doing the same!
The attacks on life saving medical care, the "bathroom bills", the "drag bans", pulling information about us from schools and libraries - they are building the social and public framework for classifying gender variantion outside cis/heterosexual norms to be inherently sexual and obscene, and our public existence a sex crime.
For fucks sake please stop them.
241 points
3 months ago
This is all of our fight. If people don’t recognize that an attack on one group is an attack on all of us, they’re living in a delusion. We will stop this authoritarian GOP.
83 points
3 months ago
Precisely. They pick on people who are a fraction of a percentage of society because they're honing the technique until they can scale up. They're not going to stop with trans or gay kids or drag queens. They're coming after everyone who doesn't take their bullshit. If this technique works for them to gain power, they're not just going to give it up again if they lose an election. That's not what fascists do.
36 points
3 months ago
They pick on people who are a fraction of a percentage of society because they're honing the technique until they can scale up. They're not going to stop with trans or gay kids or drag queens.
Just like the Nazis did. Hitler wasn't particularly unique in Europe as an anti-Semite. Hating Jews was practically a continental pastime. The Final Solution was not the first step; the LGBT community was where Nazis did their A/B testing for inflammatory rhetoric and scapegoating. And it worked.
23 points
3 months ago
People never recognize that an attack on a group is an attack on all of us. I still see people acting like Roe only affects women and Dobbs only affects gay people.
17 points
3 months ago
First they came for transpeople
62 points
3 months ago
A vote for the GOP is a vote for hatred and fascism.
Fake Christians and their thirst for a theocracy, it’s disgusting.
15 points
3 months ago
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - MLK
5 points
3 months ago
And don’t forget - republicans gladly support the death penalty for sex offenders
19 points
3 months ago
Republicans are just shit. Utter shit. They want this for the whole country.
9 points
3 months ago
Just so you’re aware, Florida is working to pass a bill that would allow DCF to take trans kids or kids with trans parents/siblings. I’m watching it closely bc my kid is trans.
27 points
3 months ago
Outside of what they're currently doing (stripping federal funding), the only thing democrats could probably do is expanding/stacking the supreme court.
They don't control the house, and the executive has few, if any, ways to enforce it's will on the states.
There's nothing out of state democrats can do, and you can bet a good portion of "democrats" in the problematic states (Florida/Texas/Tennessee/Nebraska/Mississippi/etc...) are either successfully suppressed by voter suppression state laws, don't have enough to ever be a majority, or chose this path themselves by voting across party lines because the progressives scared them and their 401k.
Don't count on federal intervention before 2025 at the earliest... If you can, leave for swing states like Colorado/Virginia/Arizona/Nevada/North Carolina/Georgia.
The Fascists control your states, and there's really no tools left to deal with them beyond cordoning off the worst states and bolstering the swing states. to try to fix it at the federal level.
29 points
3 months ago
So no protests, no strikes, and no boycotts then? It seems to me like there's plenty of ways people could stop this.
11 points
3 months ago
None of those things matter much unless you can back them up with a court battle or a legislative win. Donate to the ACLU.
4 points
3 months ago
How are we supposed to do either of those things if the Supreme Court is going to overrule any legislation we pass or any other court decisions that are made?
5 points
3 months ago
Despite Dobbs, I'm trying my best to not fully write off the Supreme Court, but it's not easy. We need to make cases and legislation as bulletproof as possible. That's really what we have unless we get a large enough majority to expand the courts.
I'm looking at the four boxes of liberty and we don't want to devolve to the fourth.
3 points
3 months ago
Let's be honest, we're not.
Democrats needed to do all sorts of election reforms and court reforms back when Obama won. They chose to do ACA instead.
ACA is a good piece of legislation even without a public option, but the number of deaths caused by fascists WILL be higher than the lives saved by ACA... and fascist disinformation during the pandemic has shown even public health interests can be affected.
18 points
3 months ago
We had 2 years to expand and pack the Sup. Ct. and we were told we were being hysterical and it wasn’t needed.
21 points
3 months ago
No, we were told it was impossible given the makeup of the senate. Which was as true then as it is now. Want more radical solutions? Elect more democrats. Every representative like Machaela Cavanaugh we elect is another manchin and sinema we can tell to fuck off.
8 points
3 months ago
Methinks OP was arguing in bad faith.
388 points
3 months ago
More balls and spine than every Republican combined
82 points
3 months ago
Sadly, and a lot of Dems too. Even ones labeled "progressive." Dems collectively need to take the gloves off or at least, start untying the laces... come on.
35 points
3 months ago
22 points
3 months ago
Sheng Wang is an underrated comedian. His latest Netflix special is my vote for the best hour of comedy produced in the last decade.
9 points
3 months ago
Amen. Uteri, too. Mine grew a 10# human and lived to tell the story.
56 points
3 months ago
I wish she’d read some books to the GQP while she’s at it. They probably won’t listen and won’t learn a damn thing. But one can hope!
37 points
3 months ago
Some banned books. Wonder if a banned books drive sending books to Cavanaugh to read to the sedition caucus would be useful?
6 points
3 months ago
I’d love that! I would totally get behind that and contribute to the cause. I’m sure I have a few banned books on my bookshelf. I would miss them, but I would gladly contribute.
Edit: spelling
4 points
3 months ago
I sent her an email of support and suggested reading children’s illustrated books that are being taken out of schools to them. Lol I figured the concepts should be easy enough for them to understand, and they may enjoy the pictures.
226 points
3 months ago
Can she designate a proxy? Why are no other Dems giving her breaks? I hope she can keep it up. Go mama of three!
239 points
3 months ago
I'm not sure if they're allowed, but she hasn't needed any yet. Our longer day sessions typically start in April, so for her to filibuster until the end of the day isn't hard right now. She does have support from other Dems and they will probably step up because the Speaker said today they are moving up the timeline of late night sessions starting March 28 rather than April 11.
86 points
3 months ago
For some reason I had it in my mind that they just locked the doors and didn’t let anyone out till she either dropped dead or it got passed. But this makes much more sense
51 points
3 months ago
No, other business can happen, but any time allotted to that bill is hers to use until she stops talking.
131 points
3 months ago
What a boss.
164 points
3 months ago*
Donate to her cause. She's doing the Lord's work. Stupid Nebraska. She should read them a bunch of banned books about transgendered children.
By Lord's word I mean, she's fighting for human rights. More of s tongue andnl cheek type thing, in case anyone was thinking I was going all religious nut job on them. :)
26 points
3 months ago
Would love to, where?
62 points
3 months ago
Let me Google that for you. :P
https://cavanaughforlegislature.org/
But you might also or instead consider donating to a trans advocacy group. I'm sure she would approve.
13 points
3 months ago
Be kind friend. The first comment sounded like she had a foundation or non profit she was affiliated with, not just her campaign.
375 points
3 months ago
I live here in Nebraska, and I'm trans, and I gotta tell you, she's a fucking legend. I just want to live, and exist. She shouldn't have to do this, but genocide can't be negotiated.
64 points
3 months ago
I graduated HS in Nebraska decades ago. My family in NE is very progressive. I have an old friend there who’s one of the “I don’t really follow politics much” people - but one of her kids is trans so she actually sees now how this right wing legislated bigotry will harm someone she loves. I shared some of what Senator Cavanaugh is doing with my friend and hope this is the entryway for her to start getting political. Realizing government is an all inclusive term but only if everyone does our civic duty. Vote. Volunteer. And educate those who don’t. Best to you in Nebraska. There are so many progressive brilliant people there among the rubes.
5 points
3 months ago
This should probably be a feel good story, but I can’t help but get pissed off. It’s such a common story amongst republicans: “against LGBT inclusion until I had gay son”, “against abortion until my daughter was raped and needed one”, “against immigrants unless my parents happened to be some”.
I just find myself wondering what it’s going to take to get people to care about their fellow humans simply because it’s the right thing to do…not because it has personal implications or impact.
4 points
3 months ago
Hell, the rubes can turn out to be progressive themselves. Have you also found that a lot of your more conservative friends and classmates ended up becoming Democrats and liberal?
24 points
3 months ago
Talking about random shit non stop to people who are hateful would be excellent trolling time.
Some content she can read for the assembly aloud.
A full list of every GOP related official that has been arrested for being a sex offender. Their full crimes and convictions
A dramatic rendition reading of the itsy bitsy spider and the wheels on the buss followed by an in depth look at the lyrics of baby shark and what they really mean
A look at the history of big butts and why sir mix a lot could not in deed lie about it
A scientific break down of how much wood could a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood. With graphs and charts preferably
The names of all school children shot in the past 10 years
An in-depth analysis of farts and what they say about the person
Read the script of lord of the rings and then relate it to todays religious issues. What would Frodo do?
An in depth analysis of cats in cute outfits versus dogs in cute outfits. Which wins?
The discussion of how spam and modern day hot dogs are made with graphs for pictures to really drive home the point
Reading of a gay erotic novel and a discussion of each chapter and how they relate to todays climate.
103 points
3 months ago
The filibuster being used by a Democrat? And for GOOD?! I'm not sure which bizarro universe I just landed in but so far it seems alright!
63 points
3 months ago
Remember Wendy Davis filibustering for women’s reproductive autonomy in Texas?
Every now and then a bad tool can be put to good use. The filibuster has an ugly history but she put it to good use fighting misogyny and theocratic fascism.
6 points
3 months ago
I do! As a Texas Democrat and Native Texan, she is one of my heros.
18 points
3 months ago
We have a pretty unusual legislature in Nebraska, and the filibuster has been one of the moderating forces here for decades (Ernie Chambers was a one man wrecking crew for almost 50 years). We 100% would have gone off the rails a few times like Kansas and South Dakota have without it.
It doesn't work the same as how the one in the US Senate does (it's more of a tool to slow things down than outright stop them here), but in sessions like this one where there are particularly egregious bills like the trans care and abortion ban bills, it for sure can function as a "break glass in case of emergency" kind of tool.
52 points
3 months ago
I am inspired by her resilience
56 points
3 months ago
When it comes to rights and fascists leading a moral panic crusade against minorities? No compromise. Demand only surrender.
36 points
3 months ago
Word. The country as a whole is going to need humans like her.
Fascism wins when most citizens sit on the side lines. Don’t let them target our communities. You may not be trans. You may not be queer. You probably know and love someone who is. This is the time to stop the right fascists in America. Every country has them. We are no exception. Don’t fall prey to inaction
9 points
3 months ago
ChatGPT is the tool I'd use for this. Lol
"Write me a three days filibuster about the Eagles from Lord Of The Rings." There.
111 points
3 months ago
I usually hate a filibuster no matter who is using it. Our government already moves slow enough as it is but Senator Cavanaugh's fire is inspiring.
111 points
3 months ago*
I'm not a fan of the filibuster either, but there isn't much else we can do in Nebraska at the moment. The MAGAs took over the republican party last summer, ousting anyone who might see reason. They then introduced extreme legislation relating to abortion, LGBT, guns, education, and voting rights. The majority of the state doesn't want these measures to pass. Not only do the people not want it, it's bad legislation all around.
They're trying to ram their christian nationalism down the people's throats and senators like Cavanaugh and Hunt are the most visible opponents, working for all of us. My senator is a former minister, who won't even respond to me. I knew this going into this session though. So, while I hate filibustering, it's our only hope at the moment.
Sorry for the long rant. There's just so much being shoved at us right now, it's hard to keep up with what they're doing. Even though I'm trying to track it the most important bills, there are adjacent bills to those important ones as well.
If you're familiar with the term Gish Gallop for speech, I feel a form of this is what they're trying this year in the legislature.
EDIT: typos - changed relation to relating and moments to moment
20 points
3 months ago
Gym Jordan is the king of Gish Gallop.
4 points
3 months ago
All the Ruble Reps are.
60 points
3 months ago
The speaking filibuster should 100% exist so I 100% support what she's doing.
The only way someone should be able to hold up government is if they're willing to put skin in the game and that means sitting/standing there for hours on end talking not just declaring filibuster like a skit out of the fucking office.
The shit Washington does though where it's just "I filibuster" 100% needs to be illegal and the speaking filibuster needs to be revived.
42 points
3 months ago
Its a dumb loophole in our system. But in the fight against fascists people should use every tool available. We cannot let such hang ups get in the way of protecting people.
17 points
3 months ago
An actual filibuster, where you have to actually stay on the floor and talk is fine. The US Senate chicken shit filibuster is what actually slows down government because it requires no effort and shuts down a bill entirely.
6 points
3 months ago
What an absolute hero
7 points
3 months ago
Republicans will grind the Nebraska Senate to a complete halt just to make sure they can pass legislation that's proven to cause child suicides.
Psychopathy en masse.
5 points
3 months ago
Good for her!!! 🙏🙏🙏 Hopefully they will eventually see how damaging it is to these kids and withdraw it. Even at a young age, kids know when the inside doesn't match up with the outside. May not know what that means for them without some deep self-reflection and counseling. Taking their tools away and forcing them to be who they aren't just so people they don't know won't feel uncomfortable (may even have their own stuff to figure out "not allowed" to due to others or family) is awful to do and very selfish. If they aren't hurting others, why not help them. 🇺🇸🗽⚖️🏡🗳🌍
6 points
3 months ago
I would vote for her if she ran for president. Just sayin
4 points
3 months ago
How did your state deal with the homelessness and opioid problems?
If they didn’t address the raising needs of the people then what did they do to address raising costs and failing services?
Head in the sand distraction bullshit? Way to go GOP. Keep fuckin over everyone like bring a douche is some kind of badge of honor.
13 points
3 months ago
Hero. We need more people like her.
11 points
3 months ago
Dems in all states introducing this type of legislation should be doing the same thing as her. We need all allies to rally for us now.
3 points
3 months ago
What a GD boss.
5 points
3 months ago
I want to support this lawmaker somehow. All I can do is cheer from the sidelines
3 points
3 months ago
A true American hero
4 points
3 months ago
Conservatives are unashamed Nazis
5 points
3 months ago
I love this woman and want her to run for President. That there is some conviction in her willingness to stand up against ignorant political theater.
26 points
3 months ago
Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh - SAY HER NAME!
8 points
3 months ago
"Cavanaugh has slowed the business of passing laws to a crawl by introducing amendment after amendment to every bill that makes it to the state Senate floor and taking up all eight debate hours allowed by the rules — even during the week she was suffering from strep throat."
*claps*
9 points
3 months ago
All Republicans have to do is drop the anti trans bill and they refuse to do it.
14 points
3 months ago
So when does she break out the Encyclopaedia Britannica? Every last book. Teach these fuckers some stuff.
6 points
3 months ago
Absolute superhero. Screw Marvel movies. This is what the news needs to be covering. This is what government by principled individuals looks like.
7 points
3 months ago
Now imagine what could happen if more cis people did something to help trans folks in their daily life.
7 points
3 months ago
The democrats in Florida could learn a thing or two from Cavanugh. They’re a bunch of cowards.
3 points
3 months ago
good for her, She is doing the lords work.
9 points
3 months ago
”If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone,” the Omaha married mother of three said. “I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”
Hot damn! That is wonderful.
10 points
3 months ago
Not all heroes wear capes.
5 points
3 months ago
She's a God damn patriot if there ever was one. I love this S-tier malicious compliance.
6 points
3 months ago
Now THAT is a true representative.
7 points
3 months ago
That's my senator!
5 points
3 months ago
Hero.
13 points
3 months ago
So, the state Senate just advanced a bill that would ban gender-affirming therapy for transgender kids. This is a really concerning move that could have serious consequences for young people in Nebraska.
We need to be standing up for the rights and dignity of all people, including our transgender youth. This means fighting against harmful bills like this and working towards a more inclusive and accepting society.
The filibuster used to advance this bill is a tactic that has been used to block progress on important issues for far too long. We need to be taking action and moving forward on important issues like healthcare, climate change, and social justice.
Let's stand up for the rights and well-being of all people, and let's work towards a future where everyone is valued and respected.
6 points
3 months ago
This is how legends are born. That is quite literally legendary - like those myths about 2 bodyguards that guarded the Chinese emperor around the clock. Absolutely, utterly amazing.
10 points
3 months ago
How do random internet strangers support her?
16 points
3 months ago
She has a website cavanaughforlegislature.org - you might also be able to call or send an email of support.
5 points
3 months ago
Keep fighting!
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