Nikki Haley Has No Clue

 

Nikki Haley discussing trans girls in kids sports: "How are we supposed to get our girls used to the fact that biological boys are in their locker room. And then we wonder why a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year." pic.twitter.com/rA2lD06yVe

— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) June 5, 2023

Is it the trans girls in the very rare locker room that are causing the suicidality of cis girls in general? How can this be? Trans people are less than one percent of the population. What the fuck?  You know what made me feel shitty and not want to be alive and want to cut school all the time as a teen--being weird and bullied by other cis girls. I didn't know a single trans kid. 

Nikki Haley is not a serious person. Oh she's ambitious, but she isn't serious. Or she would be capable of taking serious positions. She had a serious position on Trump the racist. And then she threw it away. 

The fucking last nerve of this inept dumbass to pretend she didn't mean "align with Russia" against Iran, when, if you are dumb enough not to know how Russia, Syira, Iran work, having been exposed to foreign policy (except in a very dumb way) in the Trump Administration because she is too mushy to punch up, but is exactly down to clown in this attack on trans kids--whose suicidality clearly and truly eclipses their peers, isn't a political failing. It's a human one. These are the people whose human rights she feels fine optioning away for her outsider 1-3% shot, not at the general election, but the fucking GOP primary. 

Let me clue Haley in--teen girl suicidality has a lot to do with our bodies. We're not curvy. We're too curvy. We've got bad skin. Boys don't want us. Boys do want us, but it's a whole lot to deal with. Other girls are mean. Being in school is not a choice and there are no selective vacation days. You've got cutting or actually being sick to not do this mandatory-ass shit. All our clothes are, however carefully selected, not in style and are very dumb, because we are not making having really cool clothes money at the babysitting/fast food/grocery bagging thing. We have periods and gym class and would really rather not. Also someone might be abusing us sexually, an adult, and we can't even say shit about it. 

Yeah, He's Pretty Much on the Nose

 

our dive into the social media accounts of Allen, TX killer Mauricio Garcia. online, Garcia shared content from far-right extremists. he also signed up for a major incel forum before the attack. me with @MichaelEHayden, @MeganSquire0, and rachel janik. https://t.co/efjAEXQtz5

— hannah gais (@hannahgais) May 9, 2023

So, like, this is me being on Twitter instead of having a healthy middle-aged lady social life, but I notice that Andy Ngo and folks of that nature like the proprietor of the Twitter bar where I hang out and drink and poast think that Garcia's bio is a little too on the nose. Like in "total false flag exactly proving all the shitlib points" kinds of on the nose. I don't know. I'm just saying, the SOB's massive Nazi tattoos really feel like a weird degree of commitment to a bit if the guy wasn't a whole Nazi admirer. 

I'm going with--this guy is a whole ass Nazi. Yep, also entirely buying the incel angle and the Libs of TikTok and Tim Pool follows. Not sure what the problem is--so, just asking questions:

Are the deplorables mad that a person who expresses admiration for Dr. Mengele is a mass killer because I have some seriously bad news for them about Dr. Mengele?

Are they mad he makes their movement look bad as in now we know what their movement is?

Were they kind of hoping it was supposed to be a mass murder attributable to a POC and therefore one they could pin on libs?

Are we supposed to believe Libs of TikTok, and for that matter, cats like Walsh and Knowles, aren't encouraging stochastic terrorism when people like this exist, who are willing to do horrific shit because of what they sopped up online? How much exposure, clicks and likes and homicidal-oriented followers, should equal legal exposure?

Remember when MTG thought Texiera was a whistleblower and not a whole ass Nazi also too? Why is she always up for defending Nazis? Inquiring minds want to know. 

I wish right wingers wouldn't leap to their own defense so quickly before they tried to figure out why their side keeps being these guys. 

UPDATE: You know, this is the kind of guy who was at the 1/6 insurrection.  I mean, this was the kind of guy.  Aaaaanndd the type of girl.

Are we still confused by what we are dealing with? 

The Gaga Saga of Scott Adams, MAGA

 

The funny thing about Scott Adams is, he had a really good thing--he did satire about office politics and stuff that was mostly unstupid. Managers that didn't understand the technology or the mission, and rules that were made for the institution, not the individual workers, were very relatable, and made for a cool syndicated cartoon berth that also generated dollars from swag like mugs and calendars--the kind of things worker bees had in their cubicles. 

And he also got to write books about other stuff--like how he thought Donald Trump was a winner--and that's not a big deal. People can have their politics after all--big, free country. No one cancelled him for being a Trump fan. It's cynical to say Trump wins because facts don't matter to him and then like him for that very reason, but whatever. 

Scott Adams defended Trump regarding his apparent support for the white supremacists in Charlottesville, by claiming he never really said the thing everyone absolutely understands him to have said. Didn't get cancelled for that, though. 

He also was full of shit when he said that, because he also was mad at Trump for continuing to say it. 

This particular kind of thing is called "right-fighting". He'd rather people concede that he is right than actually get right. 

How to Interview a Bigot

 

Jon interviewed Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas Attorney General, about why her state banned gender-affirming care for minors - ignoring the guidelines of major medical organizations and taking the decision out of parents’ hands. Watch the full interview on @AppleTVPlus pic.twitter.com/4SoH3orWa6

— The Problem With Jon Stewart (@TheProblem) October 7, 2022

You challenge their bullshit. It's that simple. You do not let them push a completely fake narrative without challenging it. Every actual journalist needs to take note that this is completely a thing you can do. Know enough about the topic to understand when you are hearing bullshit, and then when you hear it, call it out. The point of journalism isn't airing a side without facts or creating a false equivalency--at some level it has to be about respecting the truth, the facts, the Big Picture, or you are just creating an unchecked forum for actual trash people to unloose their trash opinions in.

Are You Being Martyred?

 

I have noticed a funny old thing about the Christian right in the US--even when they have been extraordinarily catered to and cosseted, they will still cry "Martyrdom!" when any resistance to their domineering world view exists. They claimed other people getting gay-married somehow violated their rights. Yeah--and that thought persisted.  And I think they feel exactly the same thing about the claim of people who are not the "right kind" of Christian or maybe not any sort of Christian at all (like, for example, Jewish people) who maintain that abortion should still be a right for people who have no religious barrier to receiving or providing that care. 

How dare you punish real Christians by not following their precepts and thus showing disrespect for their insights into the One True Religion? We've come a long way from Christians being pitched into the Coliseum to confront hungry lions, but you can't stop these whiny folks from vociferously complaining that they are being faced with the worst of martyrdoms--being ignored!

I guess I'm just being hypercritical of things like this New York Post piece where a Christian complains bitterly of being--criticized for being a bigot. She calls it a "punishment" for being a Christian when she doesn't quite seem to grasp is that claiming one is a Christian doesn't actually make you a great person, especially when your "problem" is being exposed to the reality that other people exist. Bisexual people exist in real life, so they can exist in fictional material as well--it isn't harmful. Religious minorities exist who don't need to be coerced into group Christian prayer--the Supreme Court is actually badly wrong and historically off with this decision (it's been a dumb year for the Court, because some of these characters don't belong here). 

It isn't a martyrdom for someone to acknowledge that people who are not like themselves even exist. Coexisting with people who think you are wrong about something isn't an attack on your religion. If she wants to set herself among the saints, she should be made of sterner stuff. 

Am I My Brother's Keeper?

 

Ingraham: Is it really our responsibility to welcome thousands of refugees from Afghanistan? pic.twitter.com/Sopvx4RJ0H

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 17, 2021

Well, Laura Ingraham's Fatherland figure, Donald Trump, certainly didn't think so, but there is a certain idea of reciprocity many civilized people would observe in regards to people who have risked their lives alongside of your people for a purpose--especially when the purpose (whatever kind of nation-building we were lying to ourselves and others about) never did come to fruition and these quite decent and extensively vetted people are in some deep shit.

I don't know what she thinks it would cost us. The dilution of our cultural purity, perhaps, for whatever value that's supposed to have. I have looked at the cultural value of Laura Ingraham, and found it disturbingly lacking. I would go so far as to say that Ingraham is lacking in the Judeo-Christian values she alleges to believe in, when the traditions that would have humanity's first murderer ask "Am I my brother's keeper?" are answered again and again with, "Love one another", "Treat the stranger among you like a citizen", "Love your enemies and bless them that curse you." 

All I know is, these people tangibly have done more to try and fix a deadly situation with their whole asses on the line, that Ingraham has done within her safe and well-paid sinecure--in fact, she's advocated for things that would worsen a slow-rolling pandemic negligent genocide. 

So what I'm saying is, for what it's worth, I would be less concerned about refugees from Afghanistan living in my neighborhood than a bigot who probably would consider my mixed urban neighborhood a slum in comparison to her experience. I know I place my faith in humankind as a humanist. I think her flavor of bigotry makes things worse, denies the common thread among people, hardens our hearts, makes it more difficult to connect and communicate. 

Of course you are your brother's keeper. And you are blessed to have him. Just as we're all cursed with one another on this heating rock, this triumph of the bacterial, this monument to entropy. You don't have to like doing someone else a fucking solid. But you'd want one yourself if things were on the other foot, right? So you do. You mask up, or greet a stranger with kindness, or just try for a whole minute not to be a hatemonger, which Ingraham has made her stock in trade. 

Is there a reason I should be this sister's keeper? All I have is my words, but she'd deny them. She could dine at my table, but never feel nourished. I could offer her water, but it would be salty to her. But it's only human to offer.  I can't be her keeper. I can only say she is wrong. And maybe some day she'd fix herself were she so inclined. 

But I doubt it. 

Malice Towards All?

Everybody, even Trump's biggest fans, knows he surely does have an enemies' list. It likely includes both Democrats and Republicans whose lack of faith he found disturbing.  I've noted that Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tweeted out a supposedly humorous media-based one. But then there's the thirteen, or was it seventeen, or maybe nineteen, Angry Democrats that worked with Robert Mueller--those people, right? But what about the Muslim people he said he would ban from the US, and then did? And the migrants from South and Central America? And his political opponents, whoever they happen to be, who are subject to bratty name-calling and venomous treatment? He fights with even the dead, like the late Senator John McCain and First Lady Barbara Bush. 

Trump is the president of malice towards all. If you can remember back to the 2016 campaign, Trump offered to pay the legal bill for anyone who popped a protester.  

He was proud of a congressional candidate who assaulted a reporter. He encouraged a little bit of police brutality. 

One of the astonishing things he said recently was that US troops at the border couldn't get rough, almost as if he very much would like "someone" to. Like the "Second Amendment people" he wished would do something about his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton?

At roundtable in Texas, President Trump laments that US troops at the border can't get "a little rough," because "everybody would go crazy ... can’t act like they would normally act -- or like, let’s say, another military from another country would act." pic.twitter.com/q1TPW24Csa

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 10, 2019

Or consider another recent story, that Trump told CBP Commissioner McAleenen that he would pardon him for illegally shutting down the border to block even asylum seekers.

It's very much like Trump doesn't care to let a little thing like "the rule of law" to get in the way of people doing in his long list of opposition targets because...his sheer egotistic grandiosity, or something like that.

It seems, and has seemed, quite a lot like incitement to stochastic terrorism to me, and it also seems like such regarding Trump's wildly inappropriate Tweet mischaracterizing something Rep. Ilhan Omar said to equate her with terrorism, just because she is a Muslim WOC sticking up for Muslim people's rights.  She proposed the daring idea that not all Muslim people were to blame for the 9/11 attacks, and yet all felt their rights jeopardized. Which is actually true. Which is actually a shame, and something we should take seriously. And yet, she was characterized as not being patriotic enough because she was alleged not to have made the proper obsequies to the fallen?

Given Trump's beyond wretched and self-aggrandizing responses to the tragedy of that day, he's hardly one to address what an appropriate response even should be. He is only being malicious here,  towards a woman of color who as a Congresswoman, has some ability to hold his administration and it's racism and religious bigotry to account.

She is by no means the person in the wrong here. It is Trump, following his malicious and un-presidential course, who is in the wrong. He has operated always from malice.  He is very un-Lincoln-like in this regard.

Actually, I would say he is a racist douchenozzle. I stand with Ilhan Omar. She deserves none of this negative attention for sticking up for those who are denied rights, altogether wrongly. She is the one without malice, here.

Trump knows nothing but malice, and I could pity him for the narrowness and uncharitability  this has given to his worldview.

The House Anti-Hate Bill...Was Good?

There was some reason to consider the Anti-Hate bill as somewhat reactionary--as in, it was a reaction to D.-MN Rep. Ilhan Omar once again running a bit afoul of what is considered correct language with respects to use of anti-Semitic tropes, but it was written not with this Representative only in mind, or with anti-Semitism only in mind, but as a general resolution broadly condemning hate, which seemed quite appropriate:

How does a deliberative body serve the needs and interests of a diverse nation, where hate language proliferates even amongst them?

It was overwhelmingly passed, with all Democrats voting in the affirmative, with 23 Republicans voting "nay" and Rep. Steve King only voting "present". It did not single out Rep. Omar, nor did it single out anti-Semitism only. But the voting found 23 Republicans who were not interested in supporting this anti-hate bill.

Interesting.

Now, I have tried to hold Rep. Omar's history in perspective, in that I don't want to unfairly judge what she has said and I do recognize her perspective is different. And if a white gentile woman's advice means anything, I could counsel that she refrain from comment regarding Israel right now and listen to how others speak about it for the time being, and especially what Jewish people have to say, because allyship begins with not always leading with one's own views--but I'm sure she is getting all kinds of advice, counsel, warning, and sadly, outright threats. I'm also not interested in the tears of my fellow white privileged gentile lady, Meghan McCain. Rep. Omar is not advancing the George Soros slur that influenced the vicious bigot that killed 11 people in Squirrel Hill or endangering the nation of Israel by her words.  She is talking about lobbying on behalf of an actual country called Israel that has interests apart from US interests which need not get an immediate sign-off from US representatives when we also have stakes to consider. That is not dangerous--it's just pragmatic.

The Massacre of Innocents

They never rose up. The dead of the Shoah will never rise again, and are remembered because their lives were disrupted by a great evil that cut off their existence. Their world was abruptly ended. They  at one time could not find livelihoods. They could not own property. They could live in some places--and then? They could not live at all. These people who were slowly erased from time, need to be understood as the victims of lies and propaganda that annihilated their humanity and then took their physical bodies. They were victims of lying. They were the victims of religious bigotry. Mike Pence, I believe, has a justification for why some humans should not live or be served by businesses for religious reasons. His pious claims are full of bullshit.

Zionism gave a homeland to other Jewish people--but it did not make the victims of the Shoah rise again. Nothing will. This is the wretchedness, the horror, of Vernichtung, the destruction or attempted destruction, the genocide, against the Jewish people enacted by the race-selective policies of the German nation. The dead rose from no ashes. They stayed as memories and were maybe remembered in the naming of babies, and as grainy photos, and in the stories of old people with tattoos on their arms and the dignity of remembered sorrow haunting their lives. 

The race and sexual-orientation biases of a very particular strain of conservatism remind us of how near we always are to the horrors that the Nazis promised. Pence is the wrong one to try and tell us #Neveragain when he himself is a reminder that discrimination is everywhere, and eliminationism is happening right now. 

The Necessity Of?

I could read Ross Douthat's argument in favor of a hardcore anti-immigration asshole who has  regularly bagged on, for some reason, janitors, in his life, and try to fit it into the kind of teleology where one doesn't grasp health except as an absence of sickness, or peace except as an absence of war, but I actually did not click that link and read things that posit why we need to listen to people who are shamelessly unsympathetic and possibly incapable of sympathy to others because I feel that policy should actually be negotiated by people who are not guaranteed to be operating in bad faith because of their ideology but people who acknowledge that people who are different from themselves are, first last and always, actually people. 

I do not find people who are openly dismissive of others because of bigotry necessary to a conversation, and in fact see where they are the source of intractable harm. I also see the irony in writing off assorted people as intractable racists or intolerant alt-rightists as being a form of exclusion--and I do not give a shit. They have, having already come to the table with an agenda of other-exclusion, started it, writing themselves off. 

Writing Stephen Miller in as "necessary" seems to admit that intolerance and fear and justifications of hatred for others has an importance. They are important to the conversation, but as things to counter, not to embrace. Hard pass.

Trump Gave an Important National Security Speech Yesterday

The transcript is here.  For one thing, Trump absolutely took the time to congratulate himself on having a national security strategy, even if he did not read everything he endorses.  He might be a little confused about what the actual popular majority of Americans voted for, but he is clear on one thing--the last couple folks to do his job definitely screwed it up. 

Nation-building--he isn't about that thing. Nope--he will lay waste to countries with terrorists and those people who were terrorist-adjacent can go screw. (I'm not sure this is an adequate extremism-prevention plan but...) He describes unclear missions--I wonder if his thoughts about these are not like the failed raid in Yemen and the debacle in Niger? He doesn't like tinelines for exit in areas our military currently operates--he is comfortable with indefinite missions.

He repeats his NATO lie about our allies "paying their fair share". He describes the Iran nuclear deal as "disastrous", although I don't know that any disaster has actually occurred. He fails to understand how pulling out of the climate and certain economic deals actually weakens our hand because the US word is not assumed to be as good as it once was, because there is no continuity.

He says he will defend the homeland like no one ever--fuck him.  He says he'll secure the borders, but is he going to up Coast Guard interdiction and inspection? Will he use the government to protect us from harmful imported goods? Probably not. His boasts about deregulation leave us less domestically safe, and his tax cuts aren't compatible with paying for renewed infrastructure.

He takes the time to give a couple paragraphs to espouse his bigotry against immigrants, implying they are the true source of terrorism in this country and more dangerous than our homegrown variety (not by several lengths, no). He congratulates himself for the success in beating back ISIS by continuing Obama's strategy. He congratulates himself on his containment strategy for North Korea, which has done nothing to actually abate their belligerence. 

Aaaaand, long-time readers already know I think Trump is to foreign policy what the vacuum of space is to aerobic health and well-being. So above is a picture of Trump sipping water from a tumbler clenched in two hands because he does not want to get water on his very long tie because his hands are probably shaky. This isn't entirely his crowd. And this isn't entirely his material. But this is his presidency--entirely. 

I'm Not Saying Roy Moore's Attorney is a Scoundrel, But...

Roy Moore's Attny. Trenton Garmon suggests Ali Velshi's "background" would help him understand why Moore would date underage women — @AliVelshi is from Canada pic.twitter.com/e061tiz9Nx

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 15, 2017

I think the amazing thing about this is I'm trying to imagine the POV of a person who thinks it is OK to reference someone's apparent nationality of origin to presuppose they are capable of understanding the moral relativity of perving on underage girls, because, you know. Like arranged child marriages n' shit. It is possible this individual has really failed to ever leave the bubble of his own culture this hard? I almost want to see how this spectacular televised bigot-fail even made it into production from a somewhat-educated individual's head, and I just can't.

Look, deep down, I try to not be the liberal coastal elitist queer working-class anti-racist commuter-college BA having atheist that red state folk might have difficulty understanding. And yet, such is my life. I get I'm not accessible on all levels to all readers. 

But this guy is amazeballs opaque to me. Here's an actual site his lawfirm owns-- botchedabortionlawyer.com. It's different. He claims to care about female-bodied people's abortion experiences and admits that the harm from the procedure is rare, but is stating:

If you, a friend or loved one has been the victim of a botched abortion, we are here to help. Our firm has extensive experience in preparing and litigating cases on behalf of injured victims. We will evaluate your claim free of charge and there will be no fee unless we collect compensation on your behalf.

Often times the mother who consented to the abortion is not even aware that her unborn child may have had a heartbeat, could feel pain or even had brainwave activity at the time the doctor ended the child’s life. Despite many state’s requiring a sonogram be done and/or a waiting period complied with, often times the abortion clinic staff and medical doctor are more concerned with performing the abortion rather than informing the mother or ensuring that the conditions are sanitary and to the appropriate standard of care. Others viewed sonogram pictures of their child which were nearly unreadable and others were subject to unsanitary conditions such as unclean rooms following prior procedures, often times against numerous state law.

Look at this. "State's" with an unnecessary apostrophe, and "numerous state law" not being plural? How do people alleging to be professionals at law, making their living from words, not try harder at advertising themselves as familiar with the language they are supposedly arguing cases in? It seems like the specificity of the URL "botched abortion lawyer" indicates that they have a specialty in weird and rare Kermit Gosnell-like conditions, but these are in fact exactly that. Weird and rare. Also, I have to wonder about the "heartbeat" and "sonogram" language, because I do not believe that any woman has ever not known what she wanted an abortion for, or failed to understand what that fetus was, or would be persuaded that the presence of a heartbeat or a picture of the fetus would necessarily be more than an annoyance. This is the fake abortion clinic level of concern about women's choice and health.

So--he's defending a person alleged to have sexually harassed or assaulted six or so people as a person who would sort of whaambulance-chase mostly non-existent abortion regretters? Yeah, this is the right guy, alright. I do not understand how this is the attorney of someone trying to establish they have their shit sufficiently together to be a US Senator.

Sometimes They Show Themselves in all Their Glory

I guess most of us who are not giant Trump-Heads are already a little past General Kelly idealism and have careened into Kelly-cynicism: the dude is just as bad as any of the White House  Kool-Aid-itariat, maybe worse because he could have been so much more. But I think the interview that Trump's Chief of Staff just gave pretty much reveals all you need to know--

He's Trump's guy. You could look for anything else in him, but damned if you'll see it. For one thing, he strongly defended a man who would be comfortable seeing black people in this country have a permanent "compromised" second-class citizenship. And for another, he defended Confederate General Robert E. Lee. (The joke is obviously not funny--Trump, a New Yorker, has been obvious in what he means by discussing "our heritage" when talking about the statues of Confederate generals, and it does not mean the heritage of a location at all--but a certain "spirit".) Although he lied in his recollection of Rep. Frederica Wilson's speech regarding the naming of an FBI building for two fallen officers, he sees no truth about her character that he needs to respect. 

He'll spread conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton like margarine on toast, just to get his boss over this little episode of possible light treason, so that the Trump Administration can keep deporting dangerous foreign folks.

I don't know what more Kelly could have been. Sometimes, you just have to look at a person, and let them show themselves.  

Labor Day: DACA Protects Working People

I'm going to make this Labor Day post about the possible undoing of DACA, which is probably going to be announced tomorrow by AG Jeff Sessions, because why not? Trump wants to curry favor with his base, but also wants plausible deniability because he thinks he can "onboard" moderates--also he will dump this in the lap of Congress. Eh? His people might call it politics, I would call it cowardly.

I would also call it, not merely cruel or stupid, because his base doesn't care what I think is cruel or stupid, but very bad business. Deporting these young people who have made their lives here is a waste of investment, talent, learned skills, education, and a complete failure not merely of compassion, but imagination. Losing these fine people will cost our economy, not add to it. The zero-sum logistics of anti-DACA debaters is the worst of sheer nonsense--DACA recipients aren't "stealing jobs from American workers". For one thing, except for not being born here, they are raised as Americans. And for another, how is anyone stealing a job on American soil from a worthy American? Because if you apply for a job, interview for it, ace it, turn up, clock in, and then work that job, you are just doing your own job. That job did not belong to someone else. It is the job of the person doing it.

My sympathy for people who worry about competition from immigrants like no one else in the world ever competes in a job market is limited.

But DACA recipients are doing truly patriotic work--as US military personnel.  They are sometimes even heroes.  Sometimes even the saddest kind of hero--the lost. In troubled times, we need all hands on deck,  not discrimination, recriminations, bigotry and abuse. Business leaders know the value of these workers.

I believe it is only right that these people, brought here through no fault of their own, acculturated and educated here, and having so much promise, be permitted to continue to contribute to our society. If Trump thinks otherwise, I will chalk this up to his bad business sense and also spinelessness in the dance with the devil that brought him to the White House.  He is being dipped, and very low at that.

Trump's Twitter Trans Military Ban

Wednesday morning, President Trump announced a bit of a policy shake-up over Twitter:

which was actually shocking--especially to the Pentagon, which had no idea this was coming. And it appears that this particular decision came because of a peculiar misconception about what Trump needed to get his wall on the Mexican border funded. But like so many things in TrumpWorld, it's based on misconceptions all the way down!

The thing of it is, transgender folks have been and are serving in the US military without causing any burden or disruption at all.  They are patriots and dedicated, professional, trained soldiers and solid respectable and worthwhile human beings. And they have put their skin on the line in a way President Trump had avoided.

What Donald Trump might not even know is that trans people are twice as likely to serve in the armed forces as cis people. That their health concerns don't drive up costs comparative to other soldiers. And that calling the presence of trans military members "disruptive" is nothing compared to the disruption of his rash decision.

Trump has never been a friend to the LGBTQ population--we are convenient as votes or scapegoats depending upon his political needs. His dishonesty and bigotry, and his outsourcing his principles to the likes of Bannon and Pence, should not be rewarded. This is one of those occasions where his combination of ignorance, indifference to othered peoples, and general incompetence, needs to be called out.  I am pleased to note that Sens. John McCain, Joni Ernst, and Orrin Hatch, not a one of them liberals, have joined the criticism of this foolish appeal to the worst of the Xtian right.

We--as Americans, and including our military--are stronger together, not divided for political reasons. Shame on Trump for this stupid, arbitrary, and pathetically political-grasping decision. Genuine US military heroes who care about this country and have put their bodies on the line deserve our respect and concern! I take up space with trans US servicepeople. His political needs shouldn't affect their reality as sometimes marginalized people serving this country with dignity and honor.

The Land of Confusion

Things are different in Trump's America, especially for travelers. It looks like ICE and CPB alike are feeling newly empowered, although what they are supposed to be doing differently under the Trump Administration is still a bit blurry--but here are some things that simply don't seem alright at all that have happened lately:

Border Patrol Agents Stop Domestic Travelers at New York Airport  Now, CPB can explain that they were working with ICE to try to locate an individual asked to leave the country, but somehow, this sure looked to people caught up in it rather like they were being asked to sort out whether their "papers were in order". The law cited referred to persons or items arriving from outside the US--but this was a domestic flight. This really feels twisted, to me.

Deported With A Valid U.S. Visa, Jordanian Says Message Is 'You're Not Welcome'  This is not a good message to give to the world.

British Muslim teacher denied entry to US on school trip The last I checked, the UK is not part of the seven countries from which entry was supposed to be stopped, and this individual was not even a dual-citizenship holder. The only suspect thing was religion.  This is bigotry.

Australian children's author Mem Fox detained by US border control: 'I sobbed like a baby'  I have no explanation at all for why border control agents are harassing Australian children's authors. Had that call between Turnbull and Trump really been so rugged?

U.S. Nearly Deports French WWII Scholar en Route to Texas Symposium  I believe we could learn a lot from Henry Rousso, and see no reason why this scholar was suspect--except for being born in Egypt. Which accounts for what, exactly?

Muhammad Ali's son reportedly detained under Trump's travel ban: 'Where did you get your name from? Are you Muslim?'  This one is particularly shocking to me--the obvious answer to "Where did you get your name from?" when your name is "Muhammed Ali, Jr." is "My father," and this man's father was the most well-recognized American sports figure of all time! Also, this is someone who was born in Philadelphia and had a US passport--just like me! Except I'm a strawberry blonde with blue eyes and a last name that's is clearly ethnically Italian--stereotypically Catholic. This is racism.

Maybe things like these happened before and no one really concentrated on them because there wasn't the unifying stupidity of the Trump Administration's anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant intent. Given horrible stories we've had about TSA before Trump, I sort of wonder how TSA also might change for travelers. I'm headed for Italy in July with my citizen spouse and non-citizen, alien resident MIL.

I hope we are allowed back in.

When You Feel Anger and Despair

There have been anti-Trump protests across the country, and I get what they are trying to say: This is not the president they wanted. This isn't the person who will make them feel safe, and this is not the person who they feel will competently navigate the broad social, political, and science-related issues that we need a president to do.  They feel like the Trump Administration, as it is already beginning to take form, is dangerous and bigoted against swaths of the American landscape and will do so much harm.

And I agree. I've been talking about this on this blog for some time--this is not a good path for a diverse and civil society. You can knock down some claims about the wave of racist, anti-immigrant and specifically anti-Muslim acts, but I think the totality of the reports creates a picture that points to a bit more going on than some folks just dramatically performing a kind of racial Munchausen's Syndrome--there are people who have taken this election to actually be a referendum on whether or not they can stop being a shy resentful caterpillar, and can now be the blatant racist or homophobic butterfly they always wanted to be.

The result of knowing this hate is real? For one thing, suicide hotline activity went way up. People aren't making these calls for shits and grins--they are hurting, and thinking they don't want this reality. And they think about not living in it.

And that sucks, and I hope as a society we can reject that kind of hatred that fosters despair, and wherever possible, show solidarity with the marginalized who belong here and are valued and should not be disrespected or made to feel helpless, alone, or like this is the end. Here's me feeling my privilege--if I see something, you bet I'm going to say something, and we will just see if an educated middle-aged white lady can take up space for the people I love by slinging my identity in the face of hate--What language are you going to use, son?  What society do you want to live in, my brother? I haven't gotten to this stage of forty-ish feminist battle-axedness without learning how to stare down an asshole, and I will. I take up space, and believe me, the space I take up is huge. Big league. (For the benefit of Ann Coulter: And you are welcome. I'd take up space for you if I thought you stood for a damn thing worth me, my fat space, and I.)

I have anger, too. Paradoxically, I feel anger against people who look just like me and have my lived experiences, and just couldn't get it up to vote for Hillary Clinton. They "couldn't bring themselves to vote for her". Seriously? They couldn't bring themselves to face her baggage or consider her actual policies versus an actual white supremacist endorsed by the Klan? Seriously? They could have brought themselves to vote for her, and a friend, and an elderly relative--but chose not to. This guy said Mexicans were rapists--he isn't talking, when he speaks about immigrants, as if some are good and some not. He is using loaded language to smear them all. He selected a running mate who is virulently anti-gay. He suggested that women who choose abortion should be punished, and selected a running mate who had a woman who miscarried jailed. Where is the thing Hillary Clinton ever did, that is the equal to the enormity of what a Trump presidency portends? He is in favor of torture, FFS! He is planning to do actual war crimes. Because he just doesn't understand why anyone shouldn't.

I feel the anger, too. I had even a little despair, because the results of this campaign told me a lot about who votes and why and I am so fucking mad about the senseless shits who can't even schlep out to vote, ok? For the love of anything--but especially the planet you live on, read a fucking newspaper, figure out how to register and for most of you where voter suppression isn't a big thing, do that accessible to the halls of power thing, doofuses! Also--let's get really more pissed than we already are about voter suppression, you guys. Because what went down in Wisconsin or North Carolina or wherever things turned on a hair-thin margin, that might have been made up by people turned away from voting by not having adequate credentials (despite being really legitimate voters) or not having the time to stand and do the necessary? Made a terrible difference.

If you are feeling anger and despair--I am here with you. I am mad as hell and have been close to crying at times for the reality my LGBTQA and immigrant and POC and Muslim friends have faced with this election for themselves and their families. But I will stay here. I will stay here for you and me and people I don't even know yet. And we together are a wall against the stupid. Let's fight the stupid together and make sure it doesn't win. And hate will have no dominion.

We will be stronger together. It's the only way we can.

I Think Mark Kirk is Done, Right?

I thought Rep. Tammy Duckworth might win by thismuch given the kind of year it has been and because she has been fortunate in opponents. After all, she won her House seat in a contest against musket-grabbing Joe Walsh, whose best shot was "she buys clothes". (The actual hell?) And now she is facing Senator Mark "who actually likened President Obama to a drug dealer" Kirk, who just basically performed the dumbest possible self-own imaginable in a debate at the University of Illinois.

What she said: "There's been members of my family serving on my father's side since the American Revolution."

His comeback: "I had forgotten your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington."

She carefully said her father's side. She is a Daughter of the Revolution, and a veteran. She herself was wounded in combat. Mark Kirk probably should have known better than to challenge her known personal story.

But he basically just snapped and went "foreigner!" at her. That is really gross and not at all acceptable. I think he should lose by rather a lot now.

(Although I am reminded of what happened to Sen. Max Cleland. But 2002 feels like a very different time, somehow.)

UPDATE: hey, Mark Kirk's shop came out with a statement about his screw-up:

Yeah--consistent except that last bit. Also points deducted for continuing cheap shots. CYA grade? I give it a C-minus. (But you needed to bring your "A-game", Linus.)

Distilled Essence of Trump

The title here is a bit harsh, but not inaccurate. The Trump campaign's first ad says pretty much all the things Donald Trump has already been saying, even if they are kind of absurd. I think that's probably the point. Things like "cut the head off of ISIS and take their oil" sound great until you realize the this isn't ISIS' oil--they seized it from Iraq and Syria and it should go back to whoever it belonged to. A wall is nice, but won't stop people coming by boat or plane. Banning Muslims from immigrating is just...un-American.

But other than that...it should be very effective for people who like that sort of thing.

The World Actually Hears US Politicians, Mr. Trump

An al-Qaeda affiliate has now woven clips of Donald Trump's rant against Muslims with a narrative about anti-black police brutality because why wouldn't they? It's wrong to assume that just because one's selected audience is (white) Americana that anyone else with a television or internet access can't hear you.

This video wasn't made because Hillary Clinton, for example, suggested someone should make it--it was made because Trump's statements always were exactly what Islamic extremists want to depict the US as.

America--united, is great. America divided by bigotry, is weakened.