pinkdrunkenelephants

Seven Republican state attorneys general are warning Target that its recently launched Pride campaign, which included "tuck-friendly" swimsuits, may be in violation of child-protection laws.

Okay, so today I am at the zoo getting drunk and ogling animals, and after a long chat with one of the zookeepers, I am now forced to ask this question.

Like, climate collapse is a real thing that will render most species extinct, and most conservation efforts are focused on, well, conserving what we have. But I don't know of any effort to preserve samples of animal DNA, be it blood, gametes or whatever, so that if a species does go extinct, it could in the future, in principle, be revived.

So are there any zookeepers, biologists or other knowledgeable people in the house who could explain this? It seems like a serious overlooked gap in species preservation that needs to be closed sooner rather than later.

More than 6,000 United Methodist congregations — a fifth of the U.S. total — have now received permission to leave the denomination amid a schism over theology and the role of LGBTQ people in the nation’s second-largest Protestant denomination.

Those figures emerge following the close of regular meetings in June for the denomination’s regional bodies, known as annual conferences. The departures began with a trickle in 2019 — when the church created a four-year window of opportunity for U.S. congregations to depart over LGBTQ-related issues — and cascaded to its highest level this year.

Church law forbids the marriage or ordination of “self-avowed, practicing homosexuals,” but many conservatives have chosen to leave amid a growing defiance of those bans in many U.S. churches and conferences.

Republican senators are looking for a way to avoid the political hit they took on abortion rights in the 2022 midterm election, when they suffered a net loss of one seat, as Senate Democrats ramp up to make it a top issue in 2024.

Republicans think they have a great opportunity to recapture the Senate next year, as Democrats must defend 23 seats, including vulnerable incumbents in Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Senate Republicans only have 10 seats up for reelection and no vulnerable incumbents to worry about.

But Senate Republican strategists warn their hopes of winning back the majority in 2024 could be derailed by the abortion debate, as they believe happened last year.

Republican senators are looking for a way to avoid the political hit they took on abortion rights in the 2022 midterm election, when they suffered a net loss of one seat, as Senate Democrats ramp up to make it a top issue in 2024.

Republicans think they have a great opportunity to recapture the Senate next year, as Democrats must defend 23 seats, including vulnerable incumbents in Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Senate Republicans only have 10 seats up for reelection and no vulnerable incumbents to worry about.

But Senate Republican strategists warn their hopes of winning back the majority in 2024 could be derailed by the abortion debate, as they believe happened last year.

Major Republican donors to the Arizona and Michigan Republican Parties, who have each donated tens of thousands of dollars to the parties over the last six years, have ceased supplying funding because of Republican leaders' attempts to overturn 2020 election results, their support of losing candidates who tout Trump's election conspiracy theories and what they consider extreme views on issues like abortion, six benefactors told Reuters. "I question whether the state party has the necessary expertise to spend the money well," real estate mogul Ron Weiser, one of the Michigan party's biggest donors and a former chair of the party, told the outlet.

Despite Republicans' efforts to ramp up support in order to win back the battleground states that could determine whether they regain political power in the 2024 election, Arizona and Michigan's parties have been bleeding money in recent years, according to the outlet's review of financial filings and interviews with the donors and three election campaign experts. Arizona's Republican Party on March 31 had less than $50,000 in cash reserves in its state and federal bank accounts to spend on overhead expenses, compared to the $770,000 it had at the same point four years ago. And as of March 31, the total in the Michigan party's federal account amounted to $116,000, down from the nearly $867,000 it had two years ago. "They are effectively broke, and I don't see the clouds parting and the sun coming out on their fundraising abilities," Jason Roe, the former head of the Michigan GOP, told the outlet.

Major Republican donors to the Arizona and Michigan Republican Parties, who have each donated tens of thousands of dollars to the parties over the last six years, have ceased supplying funding because of Republican leaders' attempts to overturn 2020 election results, their support of losing candidates who tout Trump's election conspiracy theories and what they consider extreme views on issues like abortion, six benefactors told Reuters. "I question whether the state party has the necessary expertise to spend the money well," real estate mogul Ron Weiser, one of the Michigan party's biggest donors and a former chair of the party, told the outlet.

Despite Republicans' efforts to ramp up support in order to win back the battleground states that could determine whether they regain political power in the 2024 election, Arizona and Michigan's parties have been bleeding money in recent years, according to the outlet's review of financial filings and interviews with the donors and three election campaign experts. Arizona's Republican Party on March 31 had less than $50,000 in cash reserves in its state and federal bank accounts to spend on overhead expenses, compared to the $770,000 it had at the same point four years ago. And as of March 31, the total in the Michigan party's federal account amounted to $116,000, down from the nearly $867,000 it had two years ago. "They are effectively broke, and I don't see the clouds parting and the sun coming out on their fundraising abilities," Jason Roe, the former head of the Michigan GOP, told the outlet.

MIAMI - Florida's so-called "toughest in the nation" immigration law takes effect July 1st, and there's concern it could cause a major agriculture and construction labor shortage.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Florida already has 53 available workers for every 100 open jobs, landing the state in the "more severe" category of labor shortage.

...The approval drew an outcry from members of the “First Wives Advocacy Group,” a coalition of mostly older women who receive permanent alimony and who assert that their lives will be upended without the payments.

“On behalf of the thousands of women who our group represents, we are very disappointed in the governor’s decision to sign the alimony-reform bill. We believe by signing it, he has put older women in a situation which will cause financial devastation. The so-called party of ‘family values’ has just contributed to erosion of the institution of marriage in Florida,” Jan Killilea, a 63-year-old Boca Raton woman who founded the group a decade ago, told The News Service of Florida in a text message Friday.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/963879

Bigoted fascist called out by slightly less bigoted fascists for bigoted behavior.