How many scandals will it take for DOJ to investigate Clarence Thomas?

BY SVANTE MYRICK, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 04/24/23 

THE HILL

Activists join outcry following recent reports revealing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ ethics breaches during a press conference organized by the Center for Popular Democracy Action at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 in Washington.

 (Eric Kayne/AP Images for Center for Popular Democracy Action)


Let’s get this straight: If a state legislator accepts so much as a sandwich, they must disclose it. I know; I served in local government for 14 years.

So it’s been very difficult to understand how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has gotten away with accepting free trips on superyachts and private jets belonging to a billionaire, Harlan Crow, not to mention a sweetheart real estate deal with that same billionaire, without disclosing them. For years.


Nevertheless, that is apparently what happened. And now that it’s all come to light, the party should be over for Thomas. I say should because while there is a lot of talk about accountability, it’s been less clear how that will come to pass. Thomas has resisted calls to resign. Impeachment seems highly unlikely given the Republican leadership of the House. Senate hearings may happen, and that’s a positive step.

Fortunately, there are also other options, including one very good one with solid legal underpinnings: a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation under federal statutes that require disclosure of the kind of perks Thomas has enjoyed, and also authorize penalties for violators.

The DOJ should investigate Thomas’s unethical and possibly illegal violations without delay.

Many analysts have pointed out that federal ethics law, which applies to federal officials in all three branches, including Supreme Court justices, has long required disclosure of gifts on a form that must be submitted every year. Congress enacted the statute after Watergate to help safeguard against ethical violations by federal officials. The law defines “gift” as the receipt of money or “anything of value,” including “overnight lodging.”

So far, so good. But the real kicker, in this case, is a part of that federal statute, 5 U.S. Code 13101, 13104, and 13106(a), that authorizes the Justice Department to pursue both civil penalties and criminal fines from government officials who fail to report gifts as required.

The fines are not large. But even more important than the cash penalty would be the significance of a finding of guilt by the Department of Justice. There would be enormous pressure for a Supreme Court justice to step aside or be removed if that person were found guilty of a crime while in office. It took far less than that for Justice Abe Fortas to step down back in 1969 amid allegations of financial impropriety.

Thomas has claimed that luxury trips and stays he enjoyed for free were “personal hospitality” not subject to reporting requirements. This strains credulity. Even if some of the food and fun could be explained away as an exception to reporting rules, certain other perks cannot. Free use of Crow’s private jet for Thomas’s personal travel is one example; all you have to do is read the reporting requirements to see that they clearly do not include this kind of free transportation in the “personal hospitality” exception.

As for the real estate deal, Thomas has belatedly announced he will look at updating his disclosure forms. That’s … fine.

As unsavory as all this is, it’s also not out of character. Thomas and his wife have been at the center of all kinds of ethics scandals for years. It has gotten very disheartening, even disgusting, to watch the never-ending Thomas carnival of corruption bring shame on the Supreme Court. It’s time for it to stop.

There is a larger conversation to be had about how badly we need an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court to prevent any number of possible transgressions by justices now and in the future. And there is a growing call to expand the court to recapture public trust and counteract what it has become: an institution with a reactionary majority created by unethical and even outright corrupt means. That too is a larger conversation. A word of caution before AI becomes standard in health careCan Trump hide from abortion?

But for now, there is a clear path to holding Clarence Thomas accountable. His actions are unquestionably inappropriate, and the Justice Department has the grounds and the legal authority to investigate and determine whether they are inarguably illegal. It should use that power as it was intended.

And if Thomas is guilty, DOJ should throw the book at him.


 Svante Myrick is the president of People For the American Way. Previously, he served as the organization’s executive director and led campaigns focused on transforming public safety, racial equity, voting rights and empowering young elected officials. Myrick garnered national attention as the youngest-ever mayor in New York State history.   

Who Else Has Harlan Crow Given Money To?

Crow and his wife have poured millions into shaping state and federal politics over the past three decades.

BY SHIRIN ALI

APRIL 23, 2023
 

Photo illustration by Slate. 

Photos by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images, Alex Wong/Getty Images, and Tom Williams/Pool/Getty Images.

Real estate mogul Harlan Crow has been in the national spotlight lately over his penchant for giving extravagant (undisclosed!) gifts to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas: private jet trips, mega yacht excursions and a $19,000 bible, to name just a few. He also spent $133,363 to buy several properties from Thomas—including the home the justice’s mother still lives in. Crow, and groups linked with him, often have cases before the court, and Thomas has ruled in their favor. As Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern wrote, this sure seems like a case of “classic quid pro quo (or perhaps quid pro Crow) corruption.”

Though most of us probably didn’t even know Crow existed until recently, the 73-year-old Texan has been pouring his wealth into influencing American politics since the 1990s. Transparency group OpenSecrets identified $14.7 million that Crow and his wife Kathy have contributed to state and federal candidates, committees and parties over the past three decades.

In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Crow said he considers himself a “center-right Republican” that believes in bipartisanship and a good debate—though Republicans have received the majority of his money. (On the other side of the aisle, he’s donated to conservative Democrats, like the group that ended up killing the Build Back Better Act).

The New Republic reported that, between 2019 to 2021, Crow donated over $130,000 to No Labels—a third party group that claims to promote a more moderate alternative to the two major political parties, but who critics say basically just exists to get Donald Trump elected in 2024 by taking votes away from President Joe Biden.

Crow appears not to be especially keen on Donald Trump, though—he donated $100,000 to the Our Principles PAC back in 2016, a group created specifically to prevent Trump from being elected.

The National Republican Congressional Committee also reported receiving over $1.4 million from the Crows since 1990, and Crow donated another $500,000 to Liberty Central, a conservative activist group founded by Ginni Thomas—yes, we’re talking about Justice Thomas’ wife. He’s also given generously to Senate Judiciary Republicans, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, John Cornyn and Marsha Blackburn. (That’s the same committee that would be responsible for holding hearings about Thomas and Crow’s dealings).

So, Is Clarence Thomas at Real Risk Here? Absolutely.

Crow has also dabbled in local politics, particularly in the state of Utah. He has donated over $35,000 to both Republican and Democratic candidates and committees there since 1994. Almost half of Crow’s Utah-specific donations went to Republican Sen. Mike Lee, who got around $8,000 from Crow in his first reelection campaign in 2016 and another $8,700 in his 2022 race against Evan McMullin. Crow also gave Sen. Mitt Romney’s campaign a boost in 2012, when he donated $2.3 million to super PACs that supported the senator’s presidential bid.

But politics isn’t the only area Crow is interested in, as the billionaire appears to have an…eclectic mix of hobbies. He recently spent $25 million on a pet project in his hometown of Dallas—a 228-foot bell tower called Campanile. Crow considers it a gift to the city and hopes it will bring an Old World-style ambiance to Dallas. Alongside architecture, Crow also invests in artwork and even has two paintings by Adolf Hilter…along with a signed copy of Mein Kampf and Nazi medallions. (Crow defended his controversial collection in 2014, saying it was not a celebration of repressive regimes but an effort “to preserve that as a part of our history.”)

He also created a “garden of evil” in his backyard, complete with statues of fallen communist leaders, including Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin, Fidel Castro and Karl Marx.

Many of the GOP lawmakers that have benefitted from Crow’s wealth have been quick to defend his, um, questionable taste. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, whose 2018 re-election campaign got $75,000 in outside political spending from Crow, claimed he simply hadn’t seen the billionaire’s Hitler paintings himself and therefore couldn’t confirm if they did in fact exist. “I have no idea,” Cruz told Insider. “His library is an extensive museum.”

How can we ignore gun violence and COVID deaths? Self-interest rules America

BY JOHN FARMER JR., OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - THE HILL

04/23/23 

AP Photo/George Walker IV
Covenant School student Alex Eissinger-Hansen holds her mother’s leg during a demonstration for gun control legislation on April 18, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. Participants created a human chain spreading from Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, where victims of The Covenant School shooting were taken on March 27, to the Tennessee State Capitol.

Over the past few weeks, the American public has been exposed to any number of measures of the nation’s well-being. Inflation, we are told, is down to 5 percent; job opportunities are growing; our gross domestic product (GDP) will be whatever those imaginary numbers say. As New America has pointed out, “[O]ur dominant reporting on GDP, unemployment, and inflation fails to capture an integral view of well-being, one that might consider factors like access to care or the impacts of climate change. … When policymaking is based on the wrong metrics, we ignore vital factors that influence well-being.”

There are, of course, many ways to assess well-being. In my view, however, any assessment of well-being in America cannot ignore two uniquely American phenomena: the deaths of our children by gun violence and the deaths of our elderly from COVID. Why?

It’s not a new idea that the well-being of a society is seen most clearly in the care it shows or doesn’t show for its most vulnerable members. As Hubert Humphrey put it years ago, “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children, those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly, those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.”

In leaving the most vulnerable among us unprotected against gunfire and the pandemic, our politics is laid bare for what it has become: the expression in politics of a larger culture of extravagant self-absorption.

The recent shooting deaths of three children in a school in Nashville, Tenn., and four (with over 20 wounded) at a “sweet 16” birthday party in Alabama, underscore a grim reality that exists only in America among comparably developed nations: the leading cause of death for children under 20 is not disease, or malnutrition, or accidents; it is gunshot wounds.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, firearms take the lives of 5.6 out of every 100,000 American children between ages 3 and 18. No other developed nation is even close. Canada comes closest, with 0.8 children lost to gunfire out of 100,000 children. American children accounted for 97 percent of the gunfire deaths in Kaiser’s multinational study.

Our record on COVID response is similarly dismal. Ranked first among 177 nations in our capacity to respond to a pandemic in November 2019, on the eve of the pandemic, the United States ranks last among wealthy nations and close to last among all nations in our infection and fatality rates.

Why have we fared so much worse than other seemingly less-well-prepared nations? One is tempted to point to factors such as our failure to test comprehensively as the cause of our nation’s great failure. When it became apparent in the early months of COVID that the virus was being spread by people exhibiting no symptoms, the only way to protect the most vulnerable among us was — and remains — to test regularly and universally, so that we could chart the progress of the pandemic, isolate the infections, and slow if not stop their spread. Instead, we have chosen from the earliest days to fly blind. Universal testing was never adopted, and the administration’s decision in early 2022 to track only hospitalizations ensured that we will never know the extent of the virus’s spread through the population.

Universal testing? Really? Honestly, who are we kidding? Any effort to institute universal testing would have engendered ideological outrage that would have made the anti-masking, anti-distancing, anti-vaxxing messaging seem tame by comparison. The government would have been likened to “Communist China”; any effort to track the virus in real time to control its spread would have been taken as a pretext for unprecedented surveillance on average Americans. The government’s true agenda, we would have been told, is not controlling COVID but controlling “We, the people.”

So, we haven’t tested. Nor have we committed as a nation to masking or distancing or, for that matter, to vaccination. After half-hearted efforts in these directions, we instead have chosen essentially to pretend the virus no longer threatens us — and for 84 percent of us we are largely right. The 250-300 people more than expected from the pre-COVID years who still die every day from COVID are drawn largely from the other 16 percent of our population: our elderly. Their passing is dismissed because, well, they were going to die of something eventually anyway. They comprise 90 percent of our globally high death rate at this point. Only in America.

We have failed to protect our children from gunfire and our elderly from the pandemic because our responses to both have been grounded not in an exploration of the most effective, practical measures to protect our most vulnerable populations but in an ideology of self-absorption. What matters is “what I want,” not “what you, my neighbor, may need.” Our core first principle — leave me alone to do what I want — insulates our views from any interrogation by the realities of gunfire or disease. It is individualism in its most decadent form. It is freedom deformed by relentless and myopic self-interest.

It is also — emerging Supreme Court dogma notwithstanding — contrary to the attitude of the Framers of our Constitution and to the structure and spirit of the documents and amendments they adopted. Our Constitution is structured to require compromise; in its absence, the structure, with its various checks and balances, is a prescription for paralysis. Without pragmatism, our system is structured to fail. The touchstone of our Bill of Rights, moreover, is not the assertion of absolute rights against the feared slippery slope of their erosion but reasonableness, which requires a calibration of the extent of governmental interference against the severity of the threats we face. Yet that weighing of the reasonableness of government action against the threats to the public is precisely what the ideological response to mass shootings and COVID — and, for that matter, every issue — forecloses.

Our problem, in other words, is cultural, the product of years of relentless commercial speech as our dominant cultural influence. And the only antidote with a chance to work is awareness that in hardening our attitudes into ideologies, our commercial culture has polluted our politics and caused us to lose our way.

John Farmer Jr. is director of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney, counsel to the governor of New Jersey, New Jersey attorney general, senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, dean of Rutgers Law School, and executive vice president and general counsel of Rutgers University.

Health care access for trans youth is crumbling — and not just in red states

The impact of gender-affirming care bans — inflamed by the rhetoric on the right about “child grooming” — is rippling beyond Republican-controlled states.




Attendees are pictured before a rally promoting legislation banning gender-affirming health care for minors at the Missouri Statehouse. The state Attorney General's emergency regulation requiring transgender youth and adults complete a long checklist before receiving gender-affirming care will take effect this week. | Charlie Riedel/AP Photo


By MEGAN MESSERLY
04/23/2023 

Boston Children’s Hospital has received several bomb threats.

The gender clinic at Seattle Children’s Hospital has installed panic buttons and hired a full-time security guard.

Doctors who treat transgender children are receiving death threats, debating whether to buy guns, scouring the internet to see if they’ve been doxxed and trying to get their addresses removed from property records.

The impact of gender-affirming care bans — inflamed by the rhetoric on the right about “child grooming” — is rippling beyond Republican-controlled states, making it harder everywhere for transgender youth to receive care and physicians to provide it, eight doctors who provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth told POLITICO. The Human Rights Campaign and the Southern Poverty Law Center, which have been tracking attacks against doctors, report similar findings.

Even in states without bans, providers said death threats, harassment, fears of litigation and, in some cases, a lack of support from institutions have created a chilling effect that undermines their ability to provide care.

“I got an email telling me that I’m evil, I’m foolish, my work is opposing God, that I harm children, that I’m going to hell, and that I should die,” said Meredithe McNamara, an assistant professor of pediatrics who specializes in adolescent medicine at Yale University. “The threats, the harassment, the constant fear of, ‘Did I say that right? Is that OK? Should I have said that differently? Did I present my position in a public space as effectively as possible, and also did I say anything that is going to get my family targeted in some way?’”

Physicians in states where gender-affirming care remains legal said they now spend significant chunks of patient visits either batting down misinformation from parents or talking through kids’ mental health concerns related to the new laws. The bans outlawing therapies in nearly a third of the country threaten to overwhelm clinics in blue states, like Minnesota, that already have waiting lists of anywhere from several months to more than a year and have left red-state providers grappling with how to care for their young transgender patients under the bans.

“We think about this affecting kids who live in [ban] states, but it’s affecting kids everywhere and it’s affecting care everywhere,” said Angela Kade Goepferd, medical director of the Gender Health Program at Children’s Minnesota. “It affects the families in the states where care is banned, and it affects the families in the states where the care is not.”’

And the bans keep coming: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum on Wednesday signed a law banning gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Nebraska lawmakers are poised to enact a similar ban after legislation passed a second round of debate earlier this month. Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s emergency regulation requiring transgender youth and adults complete a long checklist before receiving gender-affirming care is scheduled to take effect this week. And Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte is expected to soon sign a ban after legislators adopted his proposed amendments last week over the pleas of their transgender colleague.

“I’ve sat down and met with transgender youth and adults. I understand their struggles are real, and my heart goes out to them. I firmly believe that, as with all of God’s children, Montanans who struggle with their gender identity deserve love, compassion, and respect,” Gianforte wrote in a letter to Montana’s Republican legislative leadership last week. But, he argued, it is “right and appropriate” to restrict access to hormones and surgery to adults.

Gianforte and other conservatives argue that kids aren’t mature enough to make serious, life-altering medical decisions, even with parental consent, and have expressed concerns about the long-term outcomes of such interventions.


While some doctors, especially those early in their careers, said the bans have inspired them to work harder and continue providing this kind of care, others who are older said they have considered quitting or retiring early — though they acknowledge doing so would make it even harder for their patients to receive care. There are an estimated 300,000 transgender youth in the U.S. and about 60 comprehensive gender clinics for children and adolescents, though care can also be provided outside of those settings, according to the Human Rights Campaign and the Williams Institute, a think tank that researches sexual orientation and gender identity law at the UCLA School of Law.

The pediatricians told POLITICO that part of their ethos is being an advocate for children, but the threats have left them worried about their personal safety, and the safety of their families, patients and hospitals. Four of the doctors interviewed were granted anonymity because of fears about threats to their safety, their clinic, their patients or their own family, or because they were not authorized to speak by their institution, in some cases because of the threats.

But some of the doctors said they feel that by staying quiet they are protecting their institution’s safety but letting down their patients.

“I know many of my colleagues feel like when we’re doing what they need us to do for our protection and our institution’s protection, many of us also feel like we’re letting the community who needs us the most down,” a blue state pediatrician said.

Those willing to speak on the record said they were doing so either because they had no family, had talked through the possible risks with their spouses and children, or because they felt protected and supported to speak publicly by their hospital or clinic.

“As our legislature also votes to advance constitutional carry, and as AR-15s are incredibly easy to get, there’s a non-zero chance somebody might kill me, and I know that. I don’t like it. At least I would die standing up for my values, but I’ve had to make peace with that,” said Alex Dworak, associate medical director of family medicine at OneWorld and assistant professor of family medicine at University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Targeting physicians is not new: The ’70s and ’80s saw a wave of attacks against abortion clinics, including 110 cases of arson, firebombing or bombing. Three people were killed inside a Colorado Planned Parenthood in 2015. And just last year, an under-construction abortion clinic in Casper, Wyo. was set on fire.

While Arkansas was the first state to enact a gender-affirming care ban in 2021 — after the legislature overrode then-Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto — doctors told POLITICO that the threats didn’t begin in earnest until the following year when Boston Children’s was targeted on social media and received several bomb threats over the summer and fall.

In 2023, those threats have continued as more red states approve bans as part of a broader agenda that includes preventing transgender people from participating in sports or using bathrooms in accordance with their gender identity and restricting access to drag shows.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate speech, 24 hospitals and clinics that provide gender-affirming care to transgender youth have been targeted on social media over the last year, resulting in bomb threats, death threats to medical staff and temporary suspensions of services. And the Human Rights Campaign said the attacks have steadily increased.

Ads targeting transgender kids flood swing states

“We launched our gender health program at Children’s Minnesota in 2019 — the front page of our Star Tribune here in Minneapolis — and barely a peep,” Goepferd said. “We have really been, up until recently, able to provide good, high-quality care in a way that we would all want to, regardless of what speciality in pediatrics we were in.”

Every major medical association, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, supports the use of gender-affirming care to treat transgender people with gender dysphoria, or the feelings of discomfort or distress some transgender people experience when their bodies don’t align with their gender identity. For transgender youth, that typically includes social support, mental health help, puberty blockers, hormone therapy and, very rarely, gender-affirming surgery.

Those who oppose gender-affirming care argue that kids should wait until they are adults to make the decision to take hormones or undergo surgery, and that the science around such treatments is unsettled.

“Children suffering discomfort with their sex are best served by compassionate mental health care that enables them to live comfortably in their bodies and with their true identities as male or female,” Matt Sharp, senior counsel and director of the Center for Legislative Advocacy at the conservative legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom, which has helped conservative lawmakers draft trans-focused bills, said in a statement. He added that the organization will “continue to protect children from harmful, irreversible, and unnecessary medical procedures.”

The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association have released statements, published op-eds and documents in support of gender-affirming care and provided coaching and technical assistance to state-level affiliates that they say are closer to the legislative process and better suited to testifying at hearings. But several providers said they need more support.

“Right now, individual providers show up in public spaces and we feel like we get seen as lone actors, and that we don’t have the backing of large credible institutions, and that’s a really scary reality,” McNamara said. “It’s no longer like, so-and-so who speaks for the American Medical Association says this. It’s this person who you’ve never heard of is here — and it makes us much easier to target.”

Jack Resneck Jr., president of the American Medical Association, said that the association “stands in vehement opposition to governmental attempts to criminalize or otherwise impede on clinical decision-making.” Resneck added that the AMA has worked with state medical associations to oppose gender-affirming care bans since legislation first emerged in 2020 and has also been involved in legal challenges.

Mark Del Monte, the American Academy of Pediatrics’ chief executive officer and executive vice president, called gender-affirming care “vital to the health and wellbeing of our gender-diverse patients.”

Doctors in blue states also said they are happy to see legislatures enact so-called shield laws protecting access to gender-affirming care — as California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington have done — but some worry those policies will not hold up in court.

These doctors said they’re also worried about whether they will have the capacity to provide care to out-of-state patients given that most have waitlists that are several months long.

“It makes me worried about how we can adequately meet the needs of patients and families both here in Washington who have been on our waiting list for many months, but also so many patients and families that are uprooting their lives to be able to continue care,” said Gina Sequeira, co-director of Seattle Children’s Gender Clinic.

Broadly, the doctors worry about the future practice of gender-affirming care. They say that not only is the chilling effect from the bans stymieing research and collaboration, but also they fear that it will dissuade future doctors from going into an already small field and prevent doctors from receiving training.

“I am hopeful that I can be a quiet country doc and not have this be a part of my life. That is my hope, that this is not forever,” a red state pediatrician said. “But it’s hard to see that. It’s hard to see that future.”

THIS IS WHAT GETS TRANS PEOPLE KILLED
A FLORIDA LEGISLATOR APOLOGIZED FOR CALLING TRANSGENDER PEOPLE “DEMONS” AND “MUTANTS”
Booker Jones

April 11, 2023

Facebook/Webster Barnaby

A Florida Republican legislator apologized after calling transgender people “demons” and “mutants.”

According to several reports, during a legislative hearing on Webster Barnaby expressed his rage against transgender people. During Barnaby’s outburst, he was championing the Safety in Private Spaces Act, a bill that would punish people for using restrooms that don’t match their biological sex.

According to NBC, Barnaby, who is a conservative Christian, defended the Safety in Private Spaces Act, and said he was “not on the fence” about the bill.

“We have people that live among us today on planet Earth that are happy to display themselves as if they were mutants from another planet. This is the planet Earth with God-created men, male, and women, female,” Barnaby said, according to NBC.

“That’s right, I called you demons and imps who come and parade before us and pretend that you are part of this world,” Barnaby said of transgender people, cited by NBC.

The Florida Republican later apologized.

“I would like to apologize to the trans community for referring to you as demons,” Barnaby said.

The Washington Post reported that anti-transgender laws are on the rise.

“There are bills aimed at preventing trans girls and women from playing on female sports teams, laws barring trans youth from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity and restrictions on gender-affirming medical care,” according to The Post.

The Post added: “Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a directive requiring child welfare agents to investigate gender-affirming medical procedures as child abuse — an order that could strip trans children away from their families. Advocates and families are challenging the directive in court and a federal judge partially blocked it. In September, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin unveiled new guidelines that would make it more difficult for trans youth to change their names and pronouns at school, and that prevents them from using school facilities and participating in youth programs that align with their gender identity.”

CRIME

Koko Da Doll, Trans Woman and Star of ‘Kokomo City’ Documentary, Killed in Atlanta

Koko was 35.

ALEX COOPER
APRIL 23 2023 

Koko Da Doll, one of the stars of the documentary Kokomo City, was found dead in Atlanta on Tuesday. She was 35.

Koko, whose non-performance name was Rasheeda Williams, starred in the Sundance Film Festival documentary Kokomo City along with Daniella Carter, Liyah Mitchell and Dominique Silve. The film was the directorial debut of Grammy-nominated producer D. Smith. The documentary depicts the lives of several Black transgender sex workers who live in Atlanta and New York City. It has been lauded for its realistic depiction of the various ways the women navigate their identities and their work.

Atlanta Police found Koko with a gunshot wound around 11 p.m. Tuesday night at a shopping center. Authorities announced her dead at the scene.

“Upon arrival, officers located a female victim with an apparent gunshot wound. She was not alert, conscious or breathing, and pronounced deceased on scene,” police said in a statement. “Homicide investigators responded to the scene and are working to determine the circumstances surrounding the incident.”

While police haven’t identified Koko as the victim of the fatal shooting, several cast members of Kokomo City and Smith have taken to social media to confirm it was Koko.

“Rasheeda, aka Koko Da Doll, was the latest victim of violence against Black transgender women,” Smith, who is also a Black transgender woman, wrote. “It’s extremely difficult to process Koko’s passing, but as a team we are more encouraged now than ever to inspire the world with her story.”

Besides the film, Koko was also a rapper.

"I will be the reason there's more opportunities and doors opening for transgender girls," Koko wrote on Instagram. "What you've done here for me is going to save a lot of lives."



"I created Kokomo City because I wanted to show the fun, humanized, natural side of Black trans women. I wanted to create images that didn’t show the trauma or the statistics of murder of Transgender lives. I wanted to create something fresh and inspiring. I did that. We did that! But here we are again," Smith wrote in her tribute to Koko. "[Koko] will inspire generations to come and will never be forgotten.”

Kokomo City won the NEXT Audience and Innovator awards at Sundance. The film was acquired by Magnolia Pictures and will hit theaters later this year.

Koko’s co-star Carter wrote on Instagram, "Never thought I'd lose you, but here I am, standing alone without you by my side. We're sisters for life, we promised, but now you're gone. I don't know what to do without you. I'm going crazy, I'm trying to hold on to keep strong, but it just doesn't feel right. I'm waiting here, my arms wide open, tears running down my face, ready for you to return even if it takes forever, my sister. I will truly miss you, sis."





“Williams should be alive today,” LGBTQ+ media advocacy group GLAAD wrote on its website. “All transgender people deserve to live in safety and acceptance, beloved by their families, communities, and able to contribute to a world where all are more free.”

A GoFund Me to help Koko’s family with funeral costs has raised more than $13,000 at the time of publication.

Koko is the third transgender woman to be the victim of violent crimes in Atlanta this year. Another trans woman, Ashley Burton, was killed earlier this month.

Authorities wrote on Twitter, “The Atlanta Police Department(APD) is actively investigating three violent crimes involving transgender women this year. While these individual incidents are unrelated, we are very aware of the epidemic-level violence black and brown transgender women face in America.”



Koko is at least the tenth trans, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming person to die by violence in the U.S. this year. There are likely many more victims, as some are deadnamed or misgendered by police and media, or their deaths not reported at all.

Column: Sorry, San Francisco isn’t the criminal hellhole the far right claims it is


SAN FRANCISCO –

The first time Kenshi Westover entered AsiaSF, an iconic transgender cabaret in the city’s gritty South of Market neighborhood, it was as a withdrawn gay Mormon visiting from Utah.

That was 20 years ago, and Westover (who uses she/they pronouns) recalls being stunned by the performers strutting down an elevated catwalk behind the bar, impossibly high heels, dangerously low-cut dresses, the mood ebullient.

“These are my power animals,” Westover thought. “And I will be part of this world.”

Kenshi Westover, who came to San Francisco two decades ago as a secretly gay Mormon from Utah, says San Francisco “is a safe sandbox that allows a person to play without fear. I think it saved my life.”

(Kenshi Westover)

I met Westover Sunday night as AsiaSF celebrated its 25th anniversary, in a room crowded with drag queens, politicians in suits, and even a few Stanford students. Wearing a beaded Art Deco dress with dangling earrings and slicked-back hair, Westover, who describes himself as gender-nonconforming, was part of a vibrant community that says more about San Francisco than the alarming tales of the city’s demise come to be to define its reputation nationally.

For years, the far-right outrage machine has focused on San Francisco as a “hell hole” that embodies everything wrong with the Democratic leadership. They were supported by a small but vocal cadre of local social media Influencers who made their brand bash San Francisco’s public health and safety policies. They focus almost exclusively on drugs and crime, which fits in perfectly with the right-wing propaganda that is fomenting paranoia and panic in different parts of the country.

If you’re wondering why I don’t include the usually obligatory sample posts from these influencers, it’s because I don’t feel the need to add more oxygen to this false narrative. But their new king appears to be Elon Musk, who recently tweeted: “Violent crimes in SF are appalling‘, despite the fact that, with the exception of robbery, rates for violent crimes such as murder and rape have so far remained at last year’s levels or are declining.

Many of these proselytizers protest that they are not conservative, and most would not dare to raise other issues energizing the right, such as the wars on transgender people and abortion. But they have a symbiotic relationship with far-right media outlets (think Fox News) over crime and drugs.

In another California city, maybe Sacramento or even Los Angeles, their venom would be the stuff of Nextdoor posts. But because San Francisco is a right-wing target, these local voices have amassed power by providing so-called proof that this city, like other Democratic strongholds, is in perpetual chaos.

They post countless videos online of what I consider exploitative porn with moral outrage – clips of penniless people using drugs, sprawled on sidewalks, incoherent and lost. Few of these appear to have been filmed with the subject’s consent, but all are meant to convey to the good people of Iowa and Idaho just how bad life under “left” leadership can be.

Of course, this tale is not new.

In 2015, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump called out on San Francisco and its city-of-sanctuary policy following the horrific killing of resident Kathryn Steinle, who was shot by an undocumented immigrant with an extensive criminal record and a history of deportations. The shooter, Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, was acquitted of murder after a jury ruled he found the gun under a bench and accidentally fired it. The gun belonged to a ranger with the Bureau of Land Management and had been stolen from his vehicle a week earlier.

But with the success of Trump’s political assault on the hearts and minds of anti-immigration Republicans, the accumulation of exploitative suffering has continued, culminating recently in the aftermath of the assassination of tech entrepreneur Bob Lee.

Lee was stabbed to death in the early hours of April 4 in an upscale downtown neighborhood. The next morning, right-wing social media drowned in city condemnations that assumed Lee had been attacked indiscriminately — the unspoken implication that the attacker was likely a homeless drug user. Lee’s death quickly became the latest evidence of how violent San Francisco has become despite its persistently low murder rate.

Police eventually arrested an acquaintance of Lee’s for the murder, suggesting the attack may have been motivated by an argument involving the suspect’s sister. Not a random murder at all, but that didn’t stop these complainants. After the arrest, a frequent social media poster suggested that it didn’t matter who did it because any type of killing proved how dangerous San Francisco was.

When Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced multi-agency action, including the California National Guard, to attack major drug dealers in San Francisco, another of those agitators declared “victory,” falsely claiming that soldiers would be on the streets because the situation was so dire . CalGuard offers help with backroom intelligence gathering. There will be no tanks.

Of course, San Francisco has problems. Not small. There’s a tech bust that’s emptying expensive office towers, similar to the dot-com bubble around the same time AsiaSF first opened.

There is also an addiction crisis that has led to unacceptable levels of property crime, areas of the city where drugs are openly sold and consumed, and stolen goods are offered for sale in street markets. As in so many other places – urban, suburban, and rural – fentanyl has become the drug of choice, leading to skyrocketing overdose rates. So far this year, 200 people have died from a fentanyl overdose in the city, compared to 142 deaths in the same period last year.

And anti-Asian hate crimes, largely unrelated to the addiction crisis, have rightfully fueled fury — they rose 167% nationwide between 2020 and 2021, according to FBI data, far exceeding increases for any other group. In San Francisco, among other brazen attacks, these included an Asian man who died after being pushed into the street, a man who threw a brick at elderly Asians in a park, and an elderly woman who was attacked by four youths in her Age was robbed and beaten living center.

Anti-Asian hate crimes appear to be declining this year, but Asian communities have become more vocal and political in their calls for better policing of the city — calls that have sometimes been confused with the far-right talking points, but have very different perspectives.

A recent city survey found that all residents, regardless of ethnicity, feel less safe than they did before the pandemic.

Only 36% of respondents said they felt safe or very safe walking alone in their neighborhood at night. In 2019, 53% said they felt safe at night.

Despite this drop, the overall residents’ sense of security score came in at a C+, which isn’t great, but it’s not a failure from hell either.

That said, don’t believe the hype you read about San Francisco on the internet.

“The real San Francisco is AsiaSF. It’s the cherry blossom parade. It’s Easter with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in Dolores Park,” Sen. Scott Wiener told me as we stepped out of the club to chat. For those who don’t know, the sisters are a collective of activist queer and transgender nuns who have been around since Jimmy Carter was in the Oval Office. You like to roller skate.

“This is a place with a soul that can’t be smothered,” said Bette McKenzie, a former public relations executive who helped conceptualize one of the West Coast’s largest AIDS fundraisers, as we listened to the pounding music inside of the club roared .

“Despite all the babble you hear from the right-wing media, San Francisco is a beacon of hope for so many people,” Larry Hashbarger told me. He is one of the owners of AsiaSF.

He arrived in San Francisco from Boulder, Colorado in 1977, a “young gay man who wasn’t quite ready for the scene.” At 71, he’s the scene, working the space in a black iridescent suit styled after a painting by Keith Haring.

When AsiaSF opened, “the word transgender wasn’t even in our vocabulary,” Hashbarger told me.

But everyone wanted to come anyway. “The Matrons of Pacific Heights would bring their Dom Perignon.”

He estimates that a million people have come through the doors since then. Mayor London Breed stopped by on Friday, he said. Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a San Francisco resident, sent a proclamation “in recognition of outstanding and invaluable service to the community.” Even State Treasurer Fiona Ma was there with her brother on Sunday.

“Everyone becomes who they are and celebrates who they are. No matter who you are, you have to find your truth and live your truth,” Hashbarger said.

And that is San Francisco’s enduring strength. People go to New York and Los Angeles in search of fame and fortune. People come to San Francisco in search of themselves—in search of freedom and authenticity.

Those who find their own identity and tribes are the real powers in this city, building communities with vigor and endurance. Just look at who’s getting elected, from Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold office in California, to Wiener, who champions a progressive agenda that has vilified him from the right.

For a small minority, their truth is always born of wickedness and privilege. And that minority will have its power as democracy demands, especially in this perverse American timeline where the push toward authoritarianism requires hatred and fear to justify itself. That, Wiener said, is a “challenge” that San Francisco has always mastered and will always master.

For the majority of San Francisco, the peddlers of outrage are a sideshow, a pale whisper against the power of the real show at places like AsiaSF.

Decades ago, Westover, the withdrawn Mormon, stood up a 20-foot ladder contemplating suicide — jumping to see if that could quiet the noise and pain. They were 23. Their parents had rejected them, and being gay or transgender or something else seemed terrifying. Seeing the cast of AsiaSF gave Westover the courage to define himself.

On Sunday night, I saw Westover as a beautiful person, fully committed to who he is, surrounded by a found family.

“This city is a safe sandbox that allows a person to play without fear,” Westover told me. “I think it saved my life.”

They’re not the only ones who saved San Francisco, and they won’t be the last.

That’s the beauty of this city, and no scare tactics will change that.

Source : www.latimes.com

RIP DAME EDNA EVERIDGE 1934-2023

Sir Peter Jackson mourns death of The Hobbit's Great Goblin, Barry Humphries

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Barry Humphries as the Great Goblin. Photo: AFP / Warner Bros

Sir Peter Jackson says the world is a "poorer place" without Barry Humphries, the iconic Australian performer who died this weekend, aged 89.

Humphries was best-known for his character Dame Edna Everage, whom he inhabited on stage and screen for more than 60 years.

But his work with Sir Peter saw him taking on a much less glamorous role - that of The Hobbit's Great Goblin.

"It was our honour to count Barry as a friend and a colleague," Sir Peter wrote on social media on Sunday, a day after Humphries' passing.

"We were overjoyed when he agreed to play the Great Goblin in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - not one of his most glamorous roles, but one which he tackled with enthusiasm and disarming authenticity."

Photo: Supplied / Facebook

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was the first in the Hobbit trilogy, released in 2012.

While it had mixed reviews, Humphries' performance - voice and via motion capture - was warmly received, many reviewers comparing the grotesque villain to Star Wars' Jabba the Hutt.

Celebrities from Australia and around the world mourned Humphries on social media, including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called him a "great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind".

Australian comedian, actor and author Barry Humphries, dressed as his alter ego, Dame Edna Everage, at a press conference in Sydney on 5 July, 2012. Photo: AFP / Pool / Greg Wood

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Humphries a "a comic genius who used his exuberant alter egos, Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, to say the otherwise unsayable".

"To say Barry was beloved is an understatement," added Sir Peter.

"His ability to spread laughter, whilst making astute and telling observations, was unrivalled. Barry always had a twinkle in his eye - undoubtedly because his marvellous mind was up to some kind of mischief.

"He was truly a scholar, a gentleman and one glorious Dame. We will miss you, Barry.

Comedian Barry Humphries and his wife Lizzie Spender pose for a photograph as they arrive at St Bride's church for a service to celebrate the wedding between media Mogul Rupert Murdoch and former supermodel Jerry Hall which took place on Friday, in London, Britain March 5, 2016. 

REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, presents Barry Humphries the Wizard of Oz award for his fictional character Sir Les Patterson at the Oldie Of The Year Awards 2021 at The Savoy Hotel in London, Britain, October 19, 2021. 

Chris Jackson/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

 Barry Humphries accepts the Wizard of Oz award for his fictional character Sir Les Patterson at the Oldie Of The Year Awards 2021 at The Savoy Hotel in London, Britain, October 19, 2021. 

Chris Jackson/Pool via REUTERS

'One of a Kind': Australians Pay Tribute to 'Icon' Barry Humphries

Sunday, 23 April, 2023 -

Australia's Barry Humphries poses after receiving his Most Excellent Order of the British Empire from the Queen at Buckingham Palace, London October 10, 2007. 

REUTERS/Steve Parsons/Pool/

Asharq Al-Awsat

Australians have paid tribute to Barry Humphries, the comedian best known for his character Dame Edna Everage, as both a "one-of-a-kind" entertainer and a charming and intelligent man.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Humphries died on Saturday at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, where he had been treated for various health issues. Humphries was 89, said Reuters.

Humphries, born and raised in Melbourne, rose to fame in Britain in the 1970s playing a host of Australian caricatures including Dame Edna, repulsive drunk diplomat Les Patterson and Sandy Stone, a decrepit rambling senior.

St Vincent’s Hospital chaplain Martin Maunsell said he met Humphries when the comedian was being treated for a fall, describing him as "charming" and "intelligent".

“He was one of a kind,” Maunsell said. “I don’t think we’ll ever see someone like him ever again in Australia.”

In the beachside suburb of Coogee, Sydney resident Dani Kersh said Humphries was like a "complete ray of sunshine".

"He provided a good dose of comedy and humor and entertainment across Australia. What a legend,” Kersh said.

Another Sydneysider, Lucy Bloom, said it felt like the character of Dame Edna would never come to an end.

“Dame Edna is a character you expect to live forever, so I was really, really shocked to see that we would have no more Dame Edna," Bloom said "I met her in 2015 in San Francisco and will never forget.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese led the local tributes following Humphries' death, calling him a "great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind".

"Barry Humphries entertained us through a galaxy of personas, from Dame Edna to Sandy Stone. But the brightest star in that galaxy was always Barry," Albanese wrote on Twitter.

Lizzo brings drag queens on stage, protesting Tennessee law

“Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers and celebrate our differences?” said Lizzo.

By The Associated Press | Apr. 23, 2023

FILE – Lizzo arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. In a concert Friday, April 21, 2023 in Knoxville, Tenn., Lizzo filled the stage with drag queens in a glittery protest against the state’s legislation designed to restrict drag performances in public. 

(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Story at a glanceWhile performing at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Lizzo brought out a number of drag performers, including Aquaria, Kandy Muse, Asia O’Hara and Vanessa Vanji.In February, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation against “adult cabaret” in public or in front of minors.A federal judge temporarily blocked the law in late March, saying it was too vaguely written.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — In a concert Friday night in Knoxville, Tennessee, Lizzo filled the stage with drag queens in a glittery protest against the state’s legislation designed to restrict drag performances in public.

While performing at Thompson-Boling Arena, the Grammy-winning “Juice” singer brought out a number of drag performers, including Aquaria, Kandy Muse, Asia O’Hara and Vanessa Vanji. On Saturday, Lizzo posted videos on Instagram from the show, including comments to the crowd that referenced the pending law.

In February, Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed the legislation against “adult cabaret” in public or in front of minors. A federal judge temporarily blocked the law in late March, saying it was too vaguely written. Civil rights groups have criticized the law as a violation of free speech.
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The Tennessee law is part of a wider Republican effort to restrict drag shows and other LGBTQ+ public gatherings.

“In light of recent and tragic events and current events, I was told by people on the internet, ‘Cancel your shows in Tennessee,’ ‘Don’t go to Tennessee,’” Lizzo said during the Friday concert. “Their reason was valid, but why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most?”

“Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers and celebrate our differences?” added Lizzo.

Lizzo Shines With Drag Performers Onstage In Powerful Moment At Tennessee Show

"Why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most?" asked Lizzo during her Knoxville concert on Friday.

By Ben Blanchet
Apr 23, 2023

Lizzo vowed to “celebrate our differences” and highlight drag performers on Friday as she invited a number of entertainers onstage following the passage of Tennessee’s drag ban this year.

The “About Damn Time” singer told a crowd at Knoxville’s Thompson-Boling Arena that it was important for her to perform despite the anti-drag law that would make it “an offense for a person who engages in an adult cabaret performance” in public or in a place with a minor present, Deadline reported. The law has since been temporarily blocked by a federal judge in the state.

Some 469 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in the U.S. this year, according to a legislation tracker from the American Civil Liberties Union.

“In light of recent and tragic events and current events, I was told by people on the internet, ‘Cancel your shows in Tennessee,’ ‘Don’t go to Tennessee,’” Lizzo said.

“Their reason was valid, but why would I not come to the people who need to hear this message the most? The people who need to feel this release the most? Why would I not create a safe space in Tennessee where we can celebrate drag entertainers and celebrate our differences and celebrate fat Black women?”

She emphasized her commitment to performing at Friday’s show.

“I hope that I can help you in any way because you have helped me so, so much, you don’t even understand,” Lizzo said to the Knoxville crowd.

“What people in Tennessee are doing is giving hope, so thank you so much for standing up for your rights, protecting each other and holding the people accountable who should be protecting us,” she continued.

Lizzo has celebrated drag performers in the past, serving twice as a guest judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and recording a music video to her song “Juice” along with a number of the show’s past participants.

On Friday, the singer invited several drag performers — including “Drag Race” stars — to join her on stage. Asia O’Hara, Kandy Muse, Vanessa Vanjie and Aquaria were among the performers, Deadline noted

Phoenix Indian Center Celebrates 3rd Annual Two-Spirit Powwow


(photo by Darren Thompson)BY DARREN THOMPSON APRIL 17, 2023

PHOENIX — This past weekend, the Phoenix Indian Center hosted an annual powwow that welcomes and celebrates its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and two-spirit (LGBTQ2S) relatives in a movement that has been growing throughout Indian Country.

The 3rd Annual Two-Spirit Powwow celebrated with 60 registered dancers and six drums representing various tribes from all over Indian Country.

Prior to European colonization, many Indigenous communities acknowledged five genders: male, female, two-spirit males, two-spirit females, and transgendered. Two-spirit is a term generally and exclusively used by American Indian people and communities that define a male or female as having two genders—male and female simultaneously.

“In many different tribes, many Two-Spirit community members are very important and vital, and because we’re in an urban center, we’re not necessarily around our ancestral homelands,” Phoenix Indian Center’s Chief Executive Officer Jolyana Begay-Kroupa told Native News Online. “In many instances, our teachings become lost over time. This powwow is really about organizing a way to come back together, support and celebrate our brothers and sisters who are in the LGTBQ2S community.”

The Phoenix Indian Center has been organizing the powwow since 2021, when it was held virtually and has remained committed to supporting the LGBTQ2S community ever since. Founded in 1947, the Phoenix Indian Center is the oldest urban American Indian Center in the United States.

Last weekend’s Two-Spirit Powwow was co-organized by Mesa Community College and the South Mountain Community College and drew the largest crowd the event has seen so far. The powwow included more than two dozen art vendors, food vendors, and booths for people to sign up for information from the Phoenix Indian Center, Native Health, or how to become allies for the LGBTQ2s community.

“This was a great turnout today, lots of smiling faces,” Begay-Kroupa said of the powwow.

Monique “Muffie” Mousseau drove down from Rapid City, S.D., to attend the powwow to support both her partner, Felipa De Leon, as one of the head dancers and the Phoenix Indian Center.

“They supported us when Felipa and I were having a difficult time,” Mousseau said in an interview with Native News Online.

Mousseau and De Leon were married with seven other couples at the National Gay Marriage Celebration in 2015 at the Mount Rushmore National Monument in the Black Hills of South Dakota. When the couple discovered same-sex remained illegal on the Pine Ridge Reservation where they grew up, they petitioned for a change in the reservations law — which they achieved in 2019 when the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council passed a same-sex marriage ordinance in a 12–3 vote.

Mousseau and De Leon went on to start Uniting Resilience, an organization that advocates for other Indigenous communities to establish laws of protection and rights for marriage equality.

They help organize an annual two-spirit powwow in Sioux Falls.

Tony Duncan, award-winning hoop dancer and Native American flute player, attended the event with his family to support his brother, who was one of the head dancers of the powwow.

“We came as a family to support my brother, Kyle,” Tony Duncan told Native News Online. “It’s great to see everyone here.”