02-18-2016, 08:20 AM
Hate to get political, but it appears legislators in my home state of South Dakota refuse to believe that transgender people exist. They have this bill called HB 1008, which essentially forces transgender people to use bathrooms that that coincide with their biological sex, or they can be accomodated with a separate "gender neutral" bathroom in another area. This has discrimination written all over it, and it's headed to the governors desk. He hasn't signed or vetoed the bill, but he is set to visit with transgender advocates tomorrow. Hopefully this will encourage our governor to veto the bill. If he doesn't veto HB1008, then our state will become the laughing stock of the USA and we will no doubt face a tourism boycott that will cut into our states financial well being. Opponents of the bill have already taken over a popular SD tourism hashtag to voice their concerns as well. Oh, and we also risk losing federal education funding from the government if the bill is signed into law. 
In other news, the FBI really wants Apple to build a backdoor into the San Bernandino shooters iPhone so they can see if the assailants were linked to ISIL. Apple responded by releasing a statement on their website refusing to cooperate with the FBI. It appears the two could be headed to court next. While I understand where the FBI is coming from, trying to force Apple into building a backdoor program isn't right since someone could use that software for more nefarious purposes. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/">http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/</a><!-- m -->

In other news, the FBI really wants Apple to build a backdoor into the San Bernandino shooters iPhone so they can see if the assailants were linked to ISIL. Apple responded by releasing a statement on their website refusing to cooperate with the FBI. It appears the two could be headed to court next. While I understand where the FBI is coming from, trying to force Apple into building a backdoor program isn't right since someone could use that software for more nefarious purposes. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/">http://www.apple.com/customer-letter/</a><!-- m -->
I love foxes, especially the one in my avatar.