As Texas swelters, local rules requiring water breaks for construction workers will soon be nullified

Gov. Greg Abbott approved this week a law that will eliminate city and county ordinances like Austin and Dallas’ mandated water breaks. Texa

The Texas Tribune|Francisco Uranga and Erin Douglas

In a week when parts of the state are getting triple-digit temperatures and weather officials urge Texans to stay cool and hydrated, Gov. Greg Abbott gave final approval to a law that will eliminate local rules mandating water breaks for construction workers.

House Bill 2127 was passed by the Texas Legislature during this year’s regular legislative session. Abbott signed it Tuesday. It will go into effect on Sept. 1.

Supporters of the law have said it will eliminate a patchwork of local ordinances across the state that bog down businesses. The law’s scope is broad but ordinances that establish minimum breaks in the workplace are one of the explicit targets. The law will nullify ordinances enacted by Austin in 2010 and Dallas in 2015 that established 10-minute breaks every four hours so that construction workers can drink water and protect themselves from the sun. It also prevents other cities from passing such rules in the future. San Antonio has been considering a similar ordinance.

Texas is the state where the most workers die from high temperatures, government data shows. At least 42 workers died in Texas between 2011 and 2021 from environmental heat exposure, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Workers’ unions claim this data doesn’t fully reflect the magnitude of the problem because heat-related deaths are often recorded under a different primary cause of injury.

This problem particularly affects Latinos because they represent six out of every 10 construction workers, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Unions expect heat-related deaths to go up if mandated water breaks go away.

“Construction is a deadly industry. Whatever the minimum protection is, it can save a life. We are talking about a human right,” said Ana Gonzalez, deputy director of policy and politics at the Texas AFL-CIO. “We will see more deaths, especially in Texas’ high temperatures.”

The National Weather Service is forecasting highs over 100 degrees in several Texas cities for at least the next seven days.

Heat waves are extreme weather events, often more dangerous than tornadoes, severe thunderstorms or floods. High temperatures kill people, and not just in the workplace. Last year, there were 279 heat-related deaths in Texas, based on data analysis by The Texas Tribune.

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Jon Stewart Gives Trump-Defending GOP Governor A Blistering Legal Fact-Check

There really is a two-tiered justice system, Stewart argued, and Trump is "in the tier where you get the platinum arraignment package."

HuffPost

Jon Stewart pointed out where former President Donald Trump is in a “two-tiered justice system” after Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) shared his take on the 37-count federal indictment of Trump last week.

Youngkin, in the wake of the indictment connected to Trump’s handling of classified documents, wrote on Twitter that such a system led to selective prosecution of some people while “others are not” prosecuted, claiming that parents in Virginia have also been the target of “politically motivated actions.”

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Other Republicans have offered similar arguments of selective prosecution including 2024 Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President and 2024 candidate Mike Pence and Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) following the indictment.

“The Problem with Jon Stewart” host retweeted a clip from his show’s account that noted he agrees with the idea of a “two-tiered justice system” before schooling the Republican Governor on Trump’s place within it.

“Trump has used privilege and wealth to protect himself from legal accountability at every turn,” said Stewart in a clip initially shared in April following the arraignment of Trump on charges linked to hush money payments.

“He has lived his entire adult life in the space twixt, illegal and unethical. He’s in the tier where you get the platinum arraignment package – no cuffs, no mugshot, all-you-can-eat fingerprint ink.”

Stewart went on to question if regular people surround themselves with a “meat shield of henchmen to go to prison in their place,” a nod to Trump associates sentenced to time in prison.

The former “Daily Show” host later analyzed the New York State attorney general’s civil lawsuit against Trump’s now-defunct charitable organization, a lawsuit he was ordered to settle for $2 million.

“Yes. It’s all selective prosecution and when you’re in the good tier, you can do whatever you want and you’re probably going to be fine,” said Stewart.

“In fact, you might even be elected president – twice.”

Biden says US is at ‘tipping point’ on gun control

Mr Biden has called for a renewed ban on assault weapons but such a measure is unlikely to be enacted by Congress

The Independent

Despite the lack of sufficient support in Congress to pass a new assault weapons ban, President Joe Biden on Friday said the US has “reached a tipping point” in the fight to strengthen America’s gun laws, due to the activism of the gun violence prevention movement that has gathered increasing strength in recent years.

Mr. Biden, who was delivering remarks at the National Safer Communities Summit in Hartford, Connecticut, at the invitation of Senator Chris Murphy and a coalition of gun safety groups including Everytown, Moms Demand Action and Giffords, recounted some of the more than 20 executive actions his administration has taken to stem the tide of mass shootings since he took office. He said those politicians who claim to be concerned about crime should realise that crime can’t be tackled without dealing with gun violence.

“It’s a simple proposition,” he said.

The President also lamented how since 2020, firearms have been the leading cause of death for children in the United States — more than automobile accidents or cancer.

He recalled how the assault weapons ban he wrote into the 1994 crime bill enacted under then-President Bill Clinton cut mass shootings “significantly” only to see their number triple when Mr. Clinton’s successor, George W. Bush, allowed the ban to expire with the aid of a Republican Congress, allowing military-style rifles and high-capacity magazines to “come back into vogue.”

Mr. Biden also called for a repeal of the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which immunises gun manufacturers from lawsuits filed by gun violence victims, and for the enactment of universal background checks before anyone can purchase high-powered rifles, many of which are modelled off of those issued to American soldiers, as well as safe storage requirements for such weapons.

“The United States of America has the finest fighting force in the history of the world [and] provides … service members with the most lethal weapons on Earth. We also require them to receive significant training before they’re allowed to use them. We require extensive background checks and mental health assessment that before they can … use them [and] require them to lock them up or store the weapon responsibly,” he said.

“Every gun owner should be required to have the same requirements held to him or her,” he added.

The President also hailed Governors who have taken action to strengthen state gun laws, including Connecticut’s Ned Lamont, who recently signed more than 12 separate bills to strengthen his state’s firearm regulations, and praised state governments in Illinois and Washington for passing assault weapon and ghost gun bans, as well as the 21 states that have enacted so-called “red flag” laws to allow courts to temporarily disarm people who are determined to pose a risk to the community by a judge.

Though chances of a federal assault weapons ban making it to his desk are slim to none given the composition of Congress, Mr. Biden promised the gun safety advocates that he will “never stop fighting.”

“We will ban assault weapons in this country … we will hold gun makers liable, we will beat the gun industry,” he said.

“DOJ really had no choice”: Experts say non-lawyer Tom Fitton’s advice horribly backfired on Trump

Trump could have avoided charges if he listened to his lawyers. He trusted Judicial Watch activist instead.

Salon

Former President Donald Trump, who is charged with stashing national security secrets at Mar-a-Lago and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them, relied on advice from the leader of the conservative organization Judicial Watch, who convinced Trump that he had the legal right to retain the documents and encouraged him to fight against the Justice Department, The Washington Post reported.

Trump's lawyers repeatedly urged him to return the document remaining at his residence but the former president instead turned to Tom Fitton, who doesn't have a law degree but has remained vocal about Trump having the right to keep the documents he took with him at the end of his presidency.

"If Trump had simply given these documents back, when he was first asked, there would have been no jury subpoena, there would have been no search warrant, and there would have been no criminal charges," former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor, told Salon. "In fact, in each of those steps of the investigation, if Trump had returned the documents, there likely would not have been a criminal prosecution."

Fitton reportedly argued that the records belonged to Trump, pointing to a 2012 court case involving his organization which he claimed granted the former President the authority to exercise control over the records from his own term in office.

Trump has echoed his claims referring to a ruling in which the judge said it was okay for President Bill Clinton to keep audiotapes of his conversations with historian Taylor Branch during Clinton's White House tenure.

"Under the Presidential Records Act — which is civil, not criminal — I had every right to have these documents," Trump said in a speech Tuesday night. "The crucial legal precedent is laid out in the most important case ever on this subject, known as the Clinton socks case."

But the key difference between the two comparisons is that Clinton's recordings were from his own interviews with a journalist and not presidential records like Trump's, legal experts say.

"The Presidential Records Act distinguishes between 'presidential records' and 'personal records' and required President Trump to preserve White House documents because those are the property of the U.S government," Temidayo Aganga-Williams, partner at Selendy Gay Elsberg and former senior investigative counsel for the House Jan. 6 committee, told Salon.

Trump welcomed transgender women in his Miss Universe pageant years before he started campaigning on excluding them from women's sports

Trump took credit for reversing the Miss Universe ban on transgender women in 2012, welcoming the participation of trans woman Jenna Talacko

Business Insider|Kelsey Vlamis

Former President Donald Trump has become an outspoken critic of transgender women competing in women's sports, frequently discussing the topic at his rallies, but in the past welcomed them in the beauty pageant he ran.

CNN's Andrew Kaczynski resurfaced Trump's stance on trans women competing in the Miss Universe pageant, which he owned from 1996 to 2015. Trump gave several TV and radio interviews in 2012 in which he celebrated the participation of Jenna Talackova, a 23-year-old transgender woman, for partaking in a pageant in Canada, CNN reported.

Several news reports from April 2012 credit Trump specifically with reversing the pageant's ban on transgender women. Trump told CNN at the time he and the Miss Universe Organization had decided to reverse the ban even before they'd heard that Talackova had enlisted women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred to help her challenge it.

Michael Cohen, then Trump's personal lawyer, told E! News that Trump and the organization made the "fair and just decision" to allow Talackova to compete in the Miss Universe 2012 Canada pageant.

"Pageant rules have been modernized to ensure this type of issue does not occur again," Cohen said, adding: "We hope Jenna will now turn her focus to preparing for the upcoming competition. Like all the contestants, Mr. Trump wishes Jenna the best of luck in her quest for the crown."

Trump even praised comments made on stage in 2012 by Miss USA Olivia Culpo in response to a question about trans women competing in the pageant.

"I do think that that would be fair, but I can understand that people would be a little apprehensive to take that road because there is a tradition of natural-born women," Culpo said. "But today where there are so many surgeries and so many people out there who have a need to change for a happier life, I do accept that because I believe it's a free country."

In a June 2012 appearance on Fox News, Trump said Culpo "gave a great answer," CNN reported.

Alleged Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira indicted by federal grand jury

Jack Teixeira, the former Air National Guardsman accused of leaking Pentagon documents, originally faced charges stemming from a criminal co

cbsnews.com

Alleged Pentagon leaker and former Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira was indicted by a federal grand jury in Massachusetts on Thursday, charged with six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information.

Investigators said in court documents that the 21-year-old Teixeira used his position as a systems administrator in the 102nd Intelligence Wing in the Massachusetts Air National Guard to obtain and then illegally disseminate classified military information to members of an online messaging platform. Since July 2021, Teixeira held a TOP SECRET/SCI security clearance, the indictment said, and received training on the proper handling of classified information.

Teixeira was arrested in April and charged via criminal complaint after dozens of classified documents — including many reviewed by CBS News — were discovered in a Discord group, an invitation-only forum where members can post anonymously. Those records were later widely shared online.

Teixeira pleaded not guilty to the charges on the criminal complaint earlier this year, but has yet to be arraigned on the newly unsealed indictment.

The indictment revealed he allegedly retained and transmitted classified documents including information "regarding the compromise by a foreign adversary" that was marked top secret, material related to the provision of equipment to Ukraine, and "a government document discussing a plot by a foreign adversary to target United States forces abroad." That document allegedly included specific information about where and how the attack on U.S. forces would occur.

The FBI on Thursday arrested a businessman at the center of the scandal that led to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s historic impeachment, a move that came amid new questions about the men’s dealings raised by financial records the Republican’s lawyers made public to try to clear him of bribery allegations.

Nate Paul, 36, was taken into custody by federal agents and booked into an Austin jail in the afternoon, according to Travis County Sheriff’s Office records. It was not immediately clear what charges led to his arrest, but the records showed he was being held on a federal detainer for a felony.

Paul’s arrest followed a yearslong federal investigation into the Austin real estate developer — a probe that Paxton involved his office in, setting off a chain of events that ultimately led to his impeachment last month.

Lawyers for Paul did not immediately respond to requests for comment. One of Paxton’s defense attorneys, Dan Cogdell, said he had no additional information on the arrest. The FBI declined to comment, and a spokesman for federal prosecutors in West Texas did not respond to inquiries.

FBI agents examining Paul’s troubled real estate empire searched his Austin offices and palatial home in 2019. The next year, eight of Paxton’s top deputies reported the attorney general to the FBI on allegations of bribery and abusing his office to help Paul, including by hiring an outside lawyer to examine the developer’s claims of wrongdoing by federal agents.

The allegations by Paxton’s staff prompted an FBI investigation, which remains ongoing, and are central to articles of impeachment overwhelmingly approved by the GOP-led state House of Representatives.

Pro-Trump pastor suggests Christians should be suicide bombers

The pastor said he would give his life for the Gospels and urged Christians to do the same.

Newsweek

A Christian pastor who supports Donald Trump recently delivered a sermon urging Christians to strengthen their passion and suggested they should be willing to die for their faith.

Regeneration Nashville Pastor Kent Christmas has often spoken favorably of Trump, who is running his third presidential campaign and is the clear front-runner among a crowded field of GOP candidates. In last Sunday's sermon at his Pentecostal church in Tennessee, Christmas said the Muslim faith has become so successful because its followers are "willing to die for their beliefs."

The video was first reported by watchdog group Right Wing Watch, which tweeted the clip on Tuesday.

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In it, Christmas is seen preaching vehemently as he paces the stage.

"You want to know why the Muslim faith has had its advancements? It's because the Muslims were willing to die for their beliefs. They were willing to strap bombs to their chest," he said.

Christmas then asked God to give the Christian faith some men and women with passion in their spirit who are willing to "lay down [their] life for the Gospel."

Newsweek reached out to Regeneration Nashville by email for comment.

This County Chose an Election Denier, 9/11 Truther, and QAnon Conspiracist to Run Its Elections

The new county auditor’s belief in baseless conspiracy theories was not secret or hidden.

vice.com

A man with no experience running elections and who believes the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump, the 9/11 attack was faked, and QAnon is real has been chosen by a county in Iowa to oversee its elections, including the critical 2024 presidential election.

Republican Dan Crenshaw Says Gender-Affirming Care Ban Is ‘The Hill We Will Die On’

Republicans have gone all in on getting the government involved in parents’ decisions about their children.

Advocate.com

U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican from Texas, on Wednesday hotly debated a witness about what he called the “elephant in the room” during a hearing about federal funds for pediatricians’ education. Whereas the House Committee on Energy and Commerce typically stays within the lanes of science, in this hearing it devolved into the right-wing culture war on transgender people, Democrats noted.

Crenshaw questioned Yale School of Medicine assistant professor Meredithe McNamara, a pediatrician with expertise in gender-affirming medicine, about his new proposal to remove federal funding from training hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to minors, such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, or surgery.

The Children’s Hospitals Graduate Medical Education program funding is reauthorized every five years, and 58 hospitals receive it, training most pediatricians. Since 1999, it has been reauthorized five times.

“This is the issue of our time,” Crenshaw said, parroting anti-trans right-wing talking points.

“This is my bill, and what it does it withholds funding from these hospitals if they engage in what they call gender-affirmation therapy,” he said. “These physical changes to a child’s physiology, permanently disfiguring them through either puberty blockers or even surgical modifications.”

Gender-affirming surgeries are not performed on children.

He added, “It is indeed compassionate to stop kids from being permanently physically altered based on little to no evidence that it will improve their underlying mental condition.”

All major credible medical associations have endorsed gender-affirming care as science and evidence-based, proven essential medical treatment for people suffering from gender dysphoria.

“This is the hill we’re going to die on,” Crenshaw said.

“This is taxpayer money, and when 70% of taxpayers opposed these barbaric treatments on minors, then taxpayers should not fund it,” he asserted.

Republicans Declare Banning Universal Free School Meals a 2024 Priority

As states across the country move to make sure students are well fed, Republicans have announced their intention to fight back.

The New Republic|Prem Thakker

By Prem Thakker

States across the country are moving to provide universal free school meals to all our children. Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to stop them from doing just that.

The Republican Study Committee (of which some three-quarters of House Republicans are members) on Wednesday released its desired 2024 budget, in which the party boldly declares its priority to eliminate the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, from the School Lunch Program. Why? Because “CEP allows certain schools to provide free school lunches regardless of the individual eligibility of each student.”

The horror.

Of note is that the CEP is not even something every school participates in; it is a meal service program reserved for qualifying schools and districts in low-income areas. The program enables schools that predominantly serve children from low-income backgrounds to offer all students free breakfast and lunch, instead of means-testing them and having to manage collecting applications on an individual basis. As with many universal-oriented programs, it is more practically efficient and, as a bonus, lifts all boats. This is what Republicans are looking to eliminate.

It’s the kind of provision that many would want every school to participate in. Why not guarantee all our children are well fed as they learn and think about our world and their place in it, after all?

But indeed, as California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, and as of this week, Vermont, all move to provide universal free school meals in one form or another—and at least another 21 states consider similar moves—Republicans are trying to whittle down avenues to accomplish that goal.

Along with trying to stop schools from giving all their students free meals, the proposed 2024 Republican budget includes efforts to:

• cut Social Security and Medicare • make Trump’s tax cuts for the top 1% permanent • impose work requirements on “all federal benefit programs,” like food stamps and Medicare • extend work requirements on those aged 55–64 • bring back all of twice-impeached and twice-arrested former President Donald Trump’s deregulations, including the weakening of environmental protection.

And that’s just a taste of their hopes and dreams. But don’t mistake it all as just wish-casting: “The RSC Budget is more than just a financial statement. It is a statement of priorities,” the party assures in the document.

Warren, Jayapal Introduce Bill to Bind Supreme Court to Code of Ethics, Crack Down on Gifts and Trips

Their new bill would place a cap on the value of gifts that Supreme Court justices are allowed to receive.

Truthout|Sharon Zhang

Amid numerous scandals that have revealed the deep corruption on the Supreme Court bench, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) have reintroduced a bill seeking to reverse the relative impunity that Supreme Court Justices enjoy and enact a set of binding ethical rules.

The Judicial Ethics and Anti-Corruption Act would ensure that, like every other federal court in the nation, the Supreme Court is legally bound to a code of ethics — a provision that has become a rallying call for Democrats and progressives in recent years.

Under the bill, the monetary value of gifts that Supreme Court justices are allowed to receive would be capped, and oversight for justices attending privately funded events would be increased. This is especially germane to the controversy around Justice Clarence Thomas, who commentators and legal experts have said has repeatedly broken disclosure laws, but who seems to be facing no legal consequences with zero apparent will to curb this sort of corruption from Chief Justice John Roberts.

The bill would also create a number of other boundaries, like banning federal judges from owning individual stocks, creating more transparency in Supreme Court Justices’ recusal decisions, and making it easier for Supreme Court Justices to face public complaints or be impeached.

“It’s simple: A system without basic ethics is a corrupt system,” Jayapal said in a statement. “Public trust in the Supreme Court is at record lows, and it’s not difficult to understand why. As the country’s highest Court is plagued by scandal after scandal, it’s clear that we can no longer stand by as judges and Justices take advantage of their position to build wealth and power at the expense of our country. We deserve an impartial Court that isn’t beholden to special interests and personal agendas.”

The bill, which Warren and Jayapal first introduced last year, has been cosponsored by seven Senators, including Senators Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), and 35 House Representatives, including progressives like Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan).

Tlaib said that the legislation is needed because Supreme Court Justices are out of control and “unhinged.”

“It’s outrageous that the Supreme Court is the only court in the nation not subject to a binding code of conduct,” said Tlaib. “As a result, the Supreme Court’s mounting ethics scandals are rapidly eroding its legitimacy, and the Court is in urgent need of anti-corruption reform. This far-right, unhinged Supreme Court has secretly been accepting lavish trips and payments from billionaire Republican megadonors while stripping away our rights and legislating from the bench.”

The legislation was unveiled alongside polling from Data for Progress finding broad support for the bill. A whopping 90% of voters support binding the Supreme Court to a code of ethics, the polling found, while 73% of respondents said they believe that the Supreme Court needs to be subject to more oversight in general. Meanwhile, a majority of 57% believe that Supreme Court Justices should not be allowed to own stocks that would pose a potential conflict of interest.

Did Kentucky congressman threaten to reveal national secrets on C-SPAN?

Massie believes a clause in the U.S. Constitution enables him to read top secret information on live TV.

The Courier-Journal

This story has been clarified to reflect that U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie said in the tweet that he believes he can read top secret information on the floor of Congress. There was no indication that he plans to read any such information.

U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie said on Twitter that he could reveal national secrets by reading them aloud in Congress.

Massie, a Kentucky Republican who tends to embrace Tea Party and Libertarian ideals, believes a clause in the U.S. Constitution enables him to read top secret information included in documents involved in former President Donald Trump's latest indictment tied to his handling of classified information aloud in committee hearings, which are broadcast live on C-SPAN.

"For what it’s worth, under the Constitution, no member of Congress can be prosecuted for reading aloud on the floor any of the documents Trump allegedly has copies of," Massie tweeted Monday.

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As of Wednesday afternoon, Massie has not acted on his reading of the law by revealing top secret information.

Massie, who represents Kentucky's 4th Congressional District, has accused President Joe Biden's administration of weaponizing government with Trump's indictment. Biden has said he's never pressured the Department of Justice in the case and has not and will not speak with Attorney General Merrick Garland about it.

Sanders Introduces Bill to Make Community College Free by Taxing Wall Street

The College for All Act would be paid for by a tax on Wall Street transactions.

Truthout|Sharon Zhang

On Wednesday, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) reintroduced a proposal to make higher education free at public schools for most Americans — and pay for it by taxing Wall Street.

The College for All Act of 2023 would massively change the higher education landscape in the U.S., taking a step toward Sanders’s long-standing goal of making public college free for all. It would make community college and public vocational schools tuition-free for all students, while making any public college and university free for students from single-parent households making less than $125,000 or couples making less than $250,000 — or, the vast majority of families in the U.S.

The bill would increase federal funding to make tuition free for most students at universities that serve non-white groups, such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). It would also double the maximum award to Pell Grant recipients at public or nonprofit private colleges from $7,395 to $14,790.

If passed, the lawmakers say their bill would be the biggest expansion of access to higher education since 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Higher Education Act, a bill that would massively increase access to college in the ensuing decades. The proposal would not only increase college access, but also help to tackle the student debt crisis.

President Joe Biden told an audience of conservation and environmental groups Wednesday that their work has never been more important at a time when they are battling the greatest threat facing future generations.

Speaking at the annual Capital Dinner of the League of Conservation Voters, Biden told the supportive audience there are “a lot of threats to our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren” but climate change “is the only truly existential threat.”

He said the audience members and his administration had done good work in combatting the threat but everyone needed to “finish the job.”

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were endorsed by four environmental and conservation groups at the dinner: the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund, NextGen PAC, NRDC Action Fund and the Sierra Club. Speakers for the organizations praised the Biden-Harris team as the administration that has done the most to combat climate change.

In earlier comments, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was honored by the League with its lifetime achievement award, told the audience they were fighting for democracy with their environmental efforts.

“What you have done is the highest of patriotism, democracy in action. The story of America is the story of everyday Americans coming together, making your collective voices heard.”

Biden touted a number of the administration’s accomplishments, including the Inflation Reduction Act and its $375 billion for clean energy, the biggest climate law in history. He elicited cheers from the crowd as he ran through areas that have been designated as protected during his administration, as well as when he talked about the executive order he signed in April targeting investments to disadvantaged communities dealing with pollution.

Despite the endorsement and list of achievements and no visible protests at the dinner, recent steps the administration has taken have given the President a more mixed legacy and brought him under criticism by environmentalists and Democrats, although that was not evident at the event. Those decisions include the administration’s approval of the Willow project, a large-scale oil drilling project in Alaska, and the inclusion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia in the must-pass debt limit package the President negotiated with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Pete Buttigieg Can’t Reach Ron DeSantis to Talk Florida Transportation Projects: Report

The Florida governor appears more concerned with targeting the LGBTQ+ community than fixing the state’s transportation problems.

Advocate.com

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is a favorite target of the right. Conservatives appear to have difficulty handling the most senior gay official in the U.S. government with a husband, Chasten, and children. The Buttigieg kids, Penelope and Gus, have been in the world for over two years, and Republican voters remain obsessed with their parents.

Throughout it all, Buttigieg faced political attacks from those on the right who otherwise praised “strong family values.”

It is, therefore, no surprise that Buttigieg is keenly aware of the realities LGBTQ+ people face in 2023 as conservatives attack the community and LGBTQ+ people from American society through targeted legislation intended to limit discussion of sexual orientation, gender identity, and books, as well as eliminate essential health care for transgender people.

“I think it’s gotten worse,” Buttigieg told Time during a recent interview. “I think we’re actually in an exceptionally ugly moment in terms of some figures deciding that there’s utility, political utility, in targeting trans people and LGBTQ people more generally,” before pointing to Republicans who voted against last year’s Respect For Marriage Act, which provides some protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. The bill, which received overwhelming support from Democrats, was opposed by 36 Republican senators and 169 Republican representatives.

“I mean, look how many people voted against marriage equality—which should have been an easy one—just as recently as a few months ago. And so I think it’s a reminder that none of what’s been gained is really locked in.”

Gallup reports that more than 71% of Americans favor marriage equality.

In light of the recent ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, Buttigieg warns that a Supreme Court decision also ushered in marriage equality, and the Justices have proved themselves capable of overturning established precedent.

“I don’t think anything is safe. I mean, Roe fell, and that was the law of the land for longer than I’ve been alive. Nothing is safe. Especially right now,” Buttigieg said.

Currently, LGBTQ+ rights in this country face a terrifying reality. Far-right provocateurs and lawmakers have moved on to identity politics after the court's decision.

These policies do not help Republicans win over middle-class voters, despite the praise of hard-right lawmakers. While Buttigieg acknowledges the privileges he enjoys, he believes this approach will fail.

“The situation of an upper-middle-class, married white gay dude is not the same as a trans kid in Texas or any number of LGBTQ people of color trying to survive right now,” he said. “They see political value in this. I see not only distraction but a very real harm that’s being done. And that’s gonna persist until they figure out that it is not rewarding politically for them.”

One of the GOP candidates for president in 2024 has gone all in on hatred of LGBTQ+ people. As Florida’s Governor, Ron DeSantis has unapologetically targeted queer people in his state, and it appears that that disdain extends to his professional interactions with Buttigieg.

One example is a proposed rail line connecting Miami to Tampa via a station near Disney World near Orlando. Federal infrastructure dollars could be a big boon to the state. As a result of its dispute with DeSantis, the company canceled an expansion of $1 billion and the construction of a station at Disney Springs.

According to Time, the train will instead head to the Orange County Convention Center in central Florida, but the longer it lingers, the less likely a Washington cash infusion will be.

Despite his best efforts, Buttigieg said he has yet to speak with DeSantis about transportation issues. Buttigieg noted that he has called DeSantis but has yet to talk to him.

“I’ve never heard from this Governor, and it’s not because I’ve never called him. We’ve never spoken. What I will say is we’ve done a lot of good work with the Florida Department of Transportation,” Buttigieg said. “We try to work around and through all that to just get stuff done. A huge amount of energy and effort is being wasted in these dumb fights. And that’s really unfortunate. It’s policy waste in order to achieve political benefit or perceived political benefit.”

Buttigieg added, “He’s more worried about Bud Light or Disney or whatever.”