Good morning and happy hump day! Welcome to The Movement from NOTICE News, where we envision a world that’s driven by human decency, compassion and love—not corporate greed and growth. We’re news for the people, not the profit. 🌹

In today’s newsletter:

• Oklahoma passed an anti-trans school bathroom bill, and a student is now dead

• How Joe Biden’s support for Israel may impact the electoral college

• Latest news and stories the algorithm may be keeping out of your feed

• And good news: Beyoncé makes history, AGAIN

⏱️ Estimated read time: 4.6 minutes.

Outrage after bullied trans teen dies after fight in high school bathroom 

Outrage is growing over the death of a bullied, non-binary Oklahoma teenager after a fight in a high school bathroom. Nex Benedict’s mother told the gut-wrenching story to the Independent. She says the 16 year old was knocked to the ground during a fight with three older girls on February 6, hitting their head on the floor. Nex was suspended and, the next day, collapsed at home. They died later that day at the hospital.

Nex’s mom said the bullying started “in earnest” two years ago, after the state’s Republican Governor Kevin Stitt signed into law a requirement that public school students use bathrooms that matched the sex listed on their birth certificates. Stitt has decried what he calls “out-of-control gender ideology,” and also passed legislation to make providing gender-affirming care a felony crime. Meanwhile, Oklahoma languishes as the 10th poorest state in the country, with some 1.5 million people—38% of the population—living in poverty.

Going even further, Oklahoma’s superintendent of schools put ‘Libs of TikTok’ founder and vile transphobe Chaya Raichik on a state library advisory committee earlier this year. Nex’s mom says a teacher the teen greatly admired resigned in 2022 after they were featured in one of Raichik’s posts.

Nex’s tragic death comes in the middle of what experts call an epidemic of violence against transgender people. In 2023, as Republicans ratcheted up trans-panic rhetoric and legislative persecution, at least 32 transgender and gender-expansive people were murdered. 84% of those were people of color; 50% were Black women. The violence is more than physical: the mental health effects on young people of such transphobic hatred being encoded into law is also well documented.

So, what next? LGBTQ+ groups have called Nex’s death a “hate crime.” The Independent reports the police are interviewing school staff and students and would be submitting their investigation to the Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution review. A spokesperson for the police department said “all charges will be on the table” once a cause of death was confirmed.

Rest in power Nex. We hope all those responsible for your tragic death face justice.

Biden’s unflinching support of Israel may cost us our democracy

There’s growing concern that President Biden’s unflinching support of Israel’s genocide in Gaza may cost him the election, and with it, our democracy. That’s because a crucial must-win battleground state for Biden, Michigan, is home to some 200,000 Arab American voters. And they are pissed—urging voters in next week’s Democratic primary to vote “uncommitted” instead of for the President.

What’s at stake: Biden cannot afford to lose any voters in his fragile coalition from 2020: he won the state by just 155,000 votes. If Biden loses Michigan, Trump would only have to win two of the remaining five battleground states (Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, and Georgia) to reclaim the presidency. 

The disdain runs deep. “We found [Trump] distasteful,” one Arab-American activist told The Hill. “The previous president prevented our family and our friends and our colleagues from entering the country. But Mr. Biden killed them.” 

Another activist from Deerborn told USA Today, “People feel not a vague sense of betrayal. People feel a deep sense of betrayal, a bone-deep sense of betrayal.”

As of this morning, Israel has killed over 29,000 people in Gaza while displacing 1.9 million people and destroying some half of all buildings. Despite the international outcry, Biden has pushed Congress to give the genocidal effort some $14 billion more of our tax money. 

➡️ Question of the Day

New polling out this week suggests the U.S. public now deeply mistrusts the Supreme Court. That said, is it time for Biden to pack the court?

Yesterday’s Results: In the interest of fairness, yesterday we asked who is the worst modern Democratic president. This was much closer than our Republican poll.

Our friend Dennis voted Clinton and said: “He had so much promise and squandered it by his inability to keep his d#%k in his pants. Not to mention Don’t ask Don’t tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. That said he was a hell of lot better than any recent Republican!”

While Val voted from Obama: “Inspirational figure but he was not able to translate that into concrete action. Blocked by Senate Repubs of course, but he should have taken his case to the people and used the bully pulpit.”

The outrage over Biden was voiced by Claire: “No matter what, Genocide Joe’s support for Netanyahu is unforgivable.”

🗞️ Also making news…

Here are some stories the algorithms may have kept out of your feed this week.

On Trump…

• New York Attorney General Letitia James says she may seize Trump's assets if he can't pay his $354 million fine.

• Donald Trump again compared his criminal indictments to imprisonment and death of Putin’s top rival, Alexei Navalny.

On Biden…

• Despite blow from Supreme Court, Biden has still been able to cancel nearly $138 billion in student loan debt so far.

• A conservative group has quietly launched an effort to drive Black voters away from Biden using this issue.

• CNN’s lead media reporter breaks down how Fox News' wall-to-wall coverage of Hunter Biden is actually propaganda.

On the “corrupt” Supreme Court…

• Homophobic Justice Samuel Alito renewed criticism of the landmark ruling on same-sex marriage.

• Court allows 'race neutral' Virginia high school admissions policy that bolsters diversity to stand.

What the algorithm is keeping from you…

• A child dies every two hours in this refugee camp in Sudan, where war has displaced 8 million people (about the entire population of Washington state).

• Progressive Democrats say Capital One’s proposed purchase of Discover is bad for consumers.

• Russia has accused a Russian-American ballerina of treason—after she donated $51 to a Ukraine charity.

Good News: Beyoncé makes history yet again

This is going to make some (racist) people very mad. Beyoncé just made history… again. This time as the first Black woman to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart with her new single “Texas Hold Em.” This despite at least one country music radio station refusing to play the song, prompting critics to call the move blatant racism and discrimination. The station eventually relented.

She also becomes the first woman to have topped both the Hot Country and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts since the lists began in 1958, in addition to a number of other firsts. Now—where are the visuals?

Something we missed? Have a comment?

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