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The entire LGBTQ community has faced two years of unprecedented legislative attacks, the majority of which have focused on trans people. Transphobes have placed a particular target on trans students in public schools. And right now, only eight people in the U.S. that serve on school boards identify as trans or nonbinary, showcasing a drastic lack of representation. Without proper representation, trans peoples existence is under threat from exclusionary politicians and alt-right bigots.

The harmful narrative surrounding the trans community reignited with bathroom bills banning trans kids from using the bathroom of their choice and has evolved into banning trans kids from school sports or banning gender-affirming healthcare. Many state legislatures have been working to ban trans students from playing on sports teams, exacerbating a nonexistent problem into a firestorm of online and in-person fury. Now, the discourse perpetuated by extremists is that men purposefully change their gender to merely win in competitive sports, completely erasing the legitimacy of the trans community.

On the flipside, this rise in hate speech was the reason so many LGBTQ school board members chose to run for office. LGBTQ Victory Institute conducted a survey of out LGBTQ school board members across the United States (read the full report here) and 62% of respondents stated that their primary motivation to run was to support LGBTQ students. Karl Frisch, a school board member in Fairfax County, Virginia, is a prime example of an LGBTQ school board member fighting for equality and for student safety.

Fortunately, there are out trans state officials around the country who use their platform every day to call out anti-trans legislators. Delaware state Senator Sarah McBride, who made history as the first out trans state Senator elected in U.S. history, doubled down against anti-trans legislators banning trans students from school sports.

Kansas state Representative Stephanie Byers speaks out against bigotry that trans youth face in states like Florida, Pennsylvania and Kansas while some of her coworkers in the legislature making transphobic comments and spreading hate. So many trans legislators are working twice as hard to secure equality for all LGBTQ community members but especially trans kids who are vulnerable in this political climate.

Its more important than ever to pay attention to state legislative and school board actions. For years, anti-LGBTQ conservatives have perfected their damaging anti-LGBTQ parental rights rhetoric in school board races to shove anti-equality policymakers in positions of power and spread baseless homophobic dog whistles. This issue is not going to magically disappear. Around 51% of respondents to the LGBTQ school board survey mentioned earlier said that they had been the target of anti-LGBTQ verbal attacks during their tenure and that number is inevitably bound to rise. Even though LGBTQ acceptance is at an all-time high, LGBTQ bigotry and prejudice skyrocketed since it is now accepted as legitimate political discourse.

Trans people do not exist to win in sports competitions or to terrorize people in bathrooms. Trans people deserve to live safe, happy lives and do not deserve to be used as political scare tactics. So when trans rights are stripped at the hands of right-wing, anti-equality bigots, you bet you will see trans people once again protesting in the streets, showing up to the ballot box and leading the charge to stop these horrific bills. But change is up to all of us and we have to show up for them as well.

To learn more about our trans, NB or GNC elected officials, check out the Out for America map here.

Originally posted here:
Standing Against Transphobia: On School Boards & in the State Houses - LGBTQ Victory Institute

Aphotograph of two women walking topless, along with the claim that the image showed a young Hillary Clinton and her LGBT roommate of fouryears was recirculatedon the internet in October 2016:

Its not entirely clearwhich of the women is supposed to be Hillary Clinton and which is supposed to be her former roommate, but neither bears more than a passing resemblance to a young Hillary Rodham:

The imagewas taken near San Francisco State College in California, across the country from Wellesley College in Massachusetts (where Clinton attended).

Gene Anthonytook the photograph in 1966:

Its unclear why a toplessphotograph of the Democratic presidential nominee would only surfacefifty years later,in October 2016. During her time at Wellesley, Clinton was head of the Young Republicans Club and an intern in D.C., andit is unlikely that she would have taken the time to flyto San Francisco with her roommate for a stroll around the block with her top off.

Actual photographs of Clinton during her college years do exist; however, the image displayed hereis not one of them.

Read the rest here:
Hillary Clinton Went Topless in the 1960s? | Snopes.com

[Editors note: Quantum Computing Will Be Bigger Than the Discovery of Fire! was previously published in June 2022. It has since been updated to include the most relevant information available.]

Its commonly appreciated that the discovery of fire was the most profound revolution in human history. And yesterday, I read that a major director at Bank of America (BAC) thinks a technology that hardly anyone is talking about these days could be more critical for humankind than fire!

Thats about as bold of a claim as you could make when it comes to technological megatrends. If true, this tech could be the most promising and lucrative investment opportunity of anyones lifetime.

The directors name? Haim Israel, head of global thematic investing research at BofA.

In his words, this technology could create a revolution for humanity bigger than fire, bigger than the wheel.

What on Earth is Mr. Israel talking about?

Two words: Quantum Computing.

Ill start by saying that the underlying physics of this breakthrough quantum mechanics is highly complex. It would likely require over 500 pages to fully understand.

But, alas, heres my best job at making a Cliffs Notes version in 500 words instead.

For centuries, scientists have developed, tested, and validated the laws of the physical world, known as classical mechanics. These scientifically explain how and why things work, where they come from, so on and so forth.

But in 1897, J.J. Thomson discovered the electron. And he unveiled a new, subatomic world of super-small things that didnt obey the laws of classical mechanics at all. Instead, they obeyed their own set of rules, which have since become known as quantum mechanics.

The rules of quantum mechanics differ from that of classical mechanics in two very weird, almost-magical ways.

First, in classical mechanics, objects are in one place at one time. You are either at the store or at home, not both.

But in quantum mechanics, subatomic particles can theoretically exist in multiple places at once before theyre observed. A single subatomic particle can exist in point A and point B at the same time until we observe it. And at that point, it only exists at either point A or point B.

So, the true location of a subatomic particle is some combination of all its possible positions.

This is called quantum superposition.

Second, in classical mechanics, objects can only work with things that are also real. You cant use an imaginary friend to help move the couch. You need a real friend instead.

But in quantum mechanics, all those probabilistic states of subatomic particles are not independent. Theyre entangled. That is, if we know something about the probabilistic positioning of one subatomic particle, then we know something about the probabilistic positioning of another. That means these already super-complex particles can actually work together to create a super-complex ecosystem.

This is called quantum entanglement.

So, in short, subatomic particles can theoretically have multiple probabilistic states at once. And all those probabilistic states can work together again, all at once to accomplish some task.

Pretty wild, right?

It goes against everything classical mechanics had taught us about the world. It goes against common sense. But its true. Its real. And, now, for the first time ever, we are leaning how to harness this unique phenomenon to change everything about everything

This is why Mr. Israel is so excited about quantum computing. Its why he thinks it could be more revolutionary than the discovery of fire or the invention of the wheel.

I couldnt agree more.

Mark my words. Over the next few years, everything will change because of quantum mechanics. And some investors are going to make a lot of money.

The study of quantum theory has led to huge advancements over the past century. Thats especially true over the past decade. Scientists at leading tech companies have started to figure out how to harness the power of quantum mechanics to make a new generation of super quantum computers. And theyre infinitely faster and more powerful than even todays fastest supercomputers.

In Mr. Israels own words: By the end of this decade, the amount of calculations that we can make [on a quantum computer] will be more than the atoms in the visible universe.

Again, the physics behind quantum computers is highly complex. But once again, heres my Cliffs Notes version.

Todays computers are built on top of the laws of classical mechanics. That is, they store information on what are called bits, which can store data binarily as either 1 or 0.

But what if you could turn those classical bits into quantum bits qubits to leverage superpositioning to be both 1 and 0 stores at once?

Further, what if you could leverage entanglement and have all multi-state qubits work together to solve computationally taxing problems?

Theoretically, youd create a machine with so much computational power that it would make todays most advanced supercomputers seem ancient.

Thats exactly whats happening today.

Google has built a quantum computer thats about 158 million times faster than the worlds fastest supercomputer.

Thats not hyperbole. Thats a real number.

Imagine the possibilities behind a new set of quantum computers 158 million times faster than even todays fastest computers

Wed finally have the level of AI that you see in movies. The biggest limitation to AI today is the robustness of machine learning algorithms, which are constrained by supercomputing capacity. Expand that capacity, and you get infinitely improved machine learning algos and infinitely smarter AI.

We could eradicate disease. We already have tools like gene editing. But its effectiveness relies of the robustness of the underlying computing capacity to identify, target, insert, cut, and repair genes. Insert quantum computing capacity, and all that happens without error in seconds allowing us to fix anything about anyone.

We could finally have that million-mile EV. We can only improve batteries if we can test them. And we can only test them in the real world so much. Therefore, the key to unlocking a million-mile battery is through simulation. And the quickness and effectiveness of simulations rest upon the robustness of underlying computing capacity. Make that capacity 158 million times bigger, and cellular simulation will happen 158 million times faster.

The economic opportunities here are truly endless.

One issue I have with emerging technological breakthroughs is that theyre usually focused on solving tomorrows problems. And we need tools to solve todays problems.

But quantum computing doesnt have that focus. Instead, it could prove mission-critical in helping us solve todays problems.

Lets revisit the making of a million-mile EV.

Were amid a global energy crisis defined by soaring oil prices. As a result, were all paying $5-plus per gallon for gas. Thats unreal. And its hurting everyone.

Of course, the ultimate fix is for everyone to buy electric vehicles. But EVs are technologically limited today. On average, they max out at about 250 miles of driving range. And theyre also pretty expensive.

Quantum computing could change that. It could allow us to create a million-mile EV rather soon. And through material simulation and battery optimization modeling, itd also dramatically reduce the costs of EV manufacturing.

In other words, with the help of quantum computing, we could be just years away from $15,000 EVs that can drive up to 1,000 miles on a single charge.

Indeed, auto makers like Hyundai (HYMTF) and Volkswagen (VWAGY) are already using quantum computers to make next-gen high-performance, low-cost EVs. These are EVs that actually drive as far as your gas car and cost less than it, too!

And those are the vehicles that will change the world, not todays $70,000 Teslas or $100,000-plus Lucid (LCID) cars. The EVs that will change the world will drive 1,000-plus miles and cost less than $15,000.

Quantum computing is the key to making those EVs.

Alas, I repeat: Quantum computing isnt a science-fiction project that will help the world in 10 years. Its a breakthrough technology that can help solve the worlds problems today!

And the most pertinent application? Electric vehicles.

Quantum computing is the most underrated, most transformational technological breakthrough since the internet.

In fact, it may be bigger than the internet. As Mr. Israel said, it may bigger than the discovery of fire itself.

The first tangible, value-additive application of quantum computing technology electric vehicles.

We truly believe that quantum computing will meaningfully accelerate the EV Revolution. Over the next few years, it will help to develop new EVs that last forever and cost next to nothing.

Forget Tesla. Focus on the next wave of EV makers that will make these quantum-enabled cars.

Believe it or not, one of those companies is Apple (AAPL).

Yep. You read that right. The worlds largest company is reportedly preparing to launch an electric vehicle very soon. Given its expertise in creating home-run-hit hardware products, we think Apples EV will drive us into an electric future.

And guess what? We found a $3 stock that we believe will become the exclusive supplier of the Apple cars most important technology.

According to our numbers, it could soar 40X from current levels.

Not 10X, 20X, or 30X 40X a potential investment that turns every $10,000 into $400,000.

Needless to say, its an opportunity that you need to hear about today.

On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.

Excerpt from:
Quantum Computing Will Be Bigger Than the Discovery of Fire! - InvestorPlace

NEW DELHI: India is witnessing a boom in deeptech startups in niche areas like cybersecurity, quantum computing, AI and semiconductor, and the country is now home to more than 3, 000 such startups that raised $2.7 billion in 2021 -- a 1.6 times growth over 2020 -- a new Nasscom report said on Monday.

The country added over 210 deeptech startups in 2021 alone, and Bengaluru and Delhi-NCR are leading them in the country, according to a Nasscom-Zinnov report.

"The Indian deeptech ecosystem has also fortified the job creation with over 4, 000 people being employed across 14 potential deeptech unicorns and is expected to increase by 2X in headcount by 2026, " said Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom.

The country is now home to 500 inventive deeptech startups, creating workforce across technologies such as drones, robotics, 3D printing and AI -- with the potential to develop new intellectual properties backed by scientific advances and fundamental research.

The deeptech ecosystem has grown at a staggering rate of 53 per cent CAGR in the last 10 years, growing at par with the Indian tech startups.

Nearly 70-75 per cent deeptech startups have at least 15 per cent of their workforce skilled in deep technologies, the report mentioned.

"Strategic partnership with the government, academia, global investors, streamlined corporate collaboration and dedicated test-bed programmes can create a massive impact on India's deeptech story, " said Ghosh.

Although in a nascent stage compared to the US, Europe, Israel and China, the Indian deeptech ecosystem is expanding fast.

The industry is witnessing more start-ups emerging to solve global mega challenges of clean tech, zero hunger, smart cities and climate actions, the report said.

In 2021, over 270 unique startups raised $2.7 billion across 319 deals, with AI and big data and analytics being the top technologies raising equity investments.

The seed stage startups have witnessed a 2.3 times growth in equity investments in 2021, as compared to 2020, raising a total of $186 million funding in 2021.

Among verticals, supply chain management (SCM) and logistics were the most funded sectors in 2021, with deeptech startups raising funding across use cases like drone delivery, autonomous delivery bots, cold chain monitoring and fleet management, the report noted.

Read the rest here:
India now home to 3K deeptech startups that raised $2.7bn in 2021 - Punjab News Express

A federal judge invoked Stranger Things, Immanuel Kant, and Friedrich Nietzsche in dismantling the states defense of Gov. Ron DeSantis Stop Woke Act, declaring the effort to constrain workplace sensitivity training violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment.

In a 44-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee ruled that the law formally, the Individual Freedom Act, or IFA amounts to an attempt by the state of Florida to impose its preferred positions about the existence of systemic racism and sexism on the workplace and public schools.

DeSantis signed the measure in April.

Floridas legislators may well find plaintiffs speech repugnant. But under our constitutional scheme, the remedy for repugnant speech is more speech, not enforced silence. Indeed, it is the purpose of the First Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, Walker wrote.

If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case. But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents. Because, without justification, the IFA attacks ideas, not conduct, plaintiffs are substantially likely to succeed on the merits of this lawsuit.

The judge also ruled, in an opinion handed down on Thursday, that the law is impermissably vague under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because its definitions of whats objectionable are too vague, even unintelligible.

Walker ruled in a complaint filed by Honeyfund.com Inc., a technology company in Clearwater with 16 employees, and Team Primo, a Black-owned Ben & Jerrys franchisee in Clearwater Beach and Tampa, that wanted to conduct sensitivity training, and by a consultant who conducts the training.

The named defendants were DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody, and members of the Florida Commission on Human Relations who would enforce the law, although the injunction doesnt apply to the governor because he doesnt directly enforce the law.

The decision doesnt discuss the laws application to schools, since the plaintiffs didnt raise that matter.

Walker noted that this was not the first DeSantis initiative blocked on First Amendment grounds, citing as one example the governors bid to punish technology and social media companies.

Nikki Fried, Floridas agriculture commissioner and candidate for Democratic nomination for governor, praised the ruling in a tweet.

Freedom from uncomfortable truths is not freedom its ignorance. Limiting speech of businesses and educators is not freedom its censorship. Attacking diversity is not freedom its oppression. I welcome Judge Walkers ruling in defense of freedom of speech in our state.

Thats where the science fiction show comes in.

In the popular television series Stranger Things, the upside down describes a parallel dimension containing a distorted version of our world. Recently, Florida has seemed like a First Amendment upside down. Normally, the First Amendment bars the state from burdening speech, while private actors may burden speech freely. But in Florida, the First Amendment apparently bars private actors from burdening speech, while the state may burden speech freely, Walker wrote.

Now, like the heroine in Stranger Things, this court is once again asked to pull Florida back from the upside down.

The law, referred to in the ruling by its initials, IFA, bars employers from conducting workplace trainings that allegedly promulgate eight disfavored concepts. For example, that:

Walker concluded that, in addition to its constitutional flaws, the measure violates the Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992, patterned under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both ban employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status.

In the end, defendants suggest that there is nothing to see here. They say the IFA does nothing more than ban race discrimination in employment. But to compare the diversity trainings plaintiffs wish to hold to true hostile work environments rings hollow. Worse still, it trivializes the freedom protected by Title VII and the FCRA to suggest that the two are the same, he wrote.

Walker rejected the states argument that the law restricts conduct, not speech that is, forcing employees to attend training sessions. He reasoned that the law forbids only mandatory attendance at trainings endorsing the viewpoints that the law deems unacceptable employers could require workers to read a book complaining about woke culture, for example, but not endorsing critical race theory.

Worse still, a nonprofit corporation devoted to promoting the idea that white privilege exists could not hold a required meeting at which it endorses the concept of white privilege. But a nonprofit holding the opposite view could freely hold meetings criticizing the concept of white privilege, Walker wrote.

The bottom line is that the only way to determine whether the IFA bars a mandatory activity is to look to the viewpoint expressed at that activity to look at speech. Plainly, the IFA regulates speech, he continued.

He elaborated in a footnote:

The plaintiff companies intend the trainings to send a message about their values. And people would understand as much. Plaintiff companies incur significant costs to hold these trainings, not just the cost of paying someone to conduct them but also the cost in lost productivity from every employee halting work and attending. Given the high financial cost of holding a mandatory training, it is very likely that outsiders would interpret holding such trainings as sending a message about the companys priorities.

Walker rejected the states argument that Title VII, the federal law banning workplace discrimination with respect to compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, might pose an unconstitutional restriction on speech.

That prohibition on conduct includes a bar on requiring people to work in a discriminatorily hostile or abusive environment. In turn, to be sure, it can be mostly speech that creates this environment, but only when such speech is both objectively and subjectively offensive and when it is sufficiently severe or pervasive, Walker wrote.

He cited the example of a white worker dressing in a gorilla suit to mock Black employees the day before Juneteenth. (It happened.)

The IFA is the inverse. It targets speech endorsing any of eight concepts and only incidentally burdens conduct. Even the slightest endorsement of any of the eight concepts at any required employment activity violates the statute; the IFA requires no evidence that the statement be even subjectively offensive. Nor does the IFA require that the statement create a severely or pervasively hostile work environment. Thus, the IFA, by design, provides no shelter for core protected speech.

The state claimed the authority to prevent employers from foisting speech that the state finds repugnant on a captive audience of employees.

Walker respinded: Not so. The First Amendment does not give the state license to censor speech because it finds it repugnant, no matter how captive the audience.

And even assuming the IFA serves a compelling government interest like prohibiting discrimination it is not narrowly tailored. In large part, this is because the FCRA already prohibited much of what defendants claim the IFA aims to prohibit. For example, a diversity and inclusion training could be so offensive, and so hostile to white employees, that it could create a hostile work environment. That is already illegal as both parties acknowledge.

Many people would object to the concept that members of one race, color, sex, or national origin are morally superior to members of another race, color, sex, or national origin, Walker noted.

Of course, the IFA bans much more: such as suggesting that white privilege exists or that people should consider another persons race or sex when interacting with them . In other words, even assuming some concepts are proscribable which they are not the IFA still prohibits the endorsement of many widely-accepted ideas, he wrote.

In sum, the IFA sweeps up an enormous amount of protected speech to ban a sliver of offensive conduct that exists somewhere between the trainings plaintiffs wish to hold and what the FCRA already bars. It is, to borrow a phrase from defense counsel, self-evident. The IFA is not narrowly tailored. And so, the IFA violates the First Amendment.

The state argued it would be OK under the law to discuss critical race theory as an objective concept without endorsing it. (This is where Kant and Nietzsche come in, via a footnote.) But, as a practical matter, an employers discussion of these concepts no matter how objective it may be will invariably lend credence to them, Walker responded.

The IFA is designed to exorcise these viewpoints out of the marketplace of ideas Gov. DeSantis went so far as to call it the STOP WOKE Act at a press conference with children waving anti-critical race theory signs. It thus comes as no surprise that permissible discussion of these concepts turns on objectivity an inherently vague term that fails to give the person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, Walker wrote.

Accordingly, as this objectivity standard commands the entire statute, the IFA is impermissibly vague in violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Read the rest here:
DeSantis loses another First Amendment fight, this one over 'Stop Woke Act' - Florida Phoenix