This Crazy World

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Vladimir Putin has offered to mediate the Israel-Iran war.

That's like Donald Trump offering to preside over a rape trial.

June 19

 

This Week's Quote

Image by Mark Thomas from Pixabay

By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims. In sadness, I dissent.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who read her dissent aloud from the bench today

Source:  The Hill

Dig It

Image:  Facebook

Erik Shoji, the captain of the U.S. men's national volleyball team, posted a video on social media a few days ago. The 35-year-old libero sat down and said, "I am here to tell the world today that I am queer."

And I'm here to applaud him.

Also, I want to emphasize that just because the libero wears a jersey that's a different color from the rest of his team, doesn't mean all liberos are gay. But you can continue to hope.

Signing Off

I promise this is my last post regarding protest signs.

Until the next protest.

First, I wrote on the day of the "No Kings" demonstrations that I'd spied a slogan outside Seattle that I assumed was homegrown. It turns out "The only kings we want are salmon" was a protest theme in Alaska. So official—o-fish-el?—credit goes to residents of The Last Frontier.

Second, when my sister Kim and her kids protested in Bellingham, Wash., she carried a two-sided sign. With "USA:  Rejecting Kings Since 1776," she resisted Trump. On the other side, as the picture shows, she saluted Pride Month. When a straight family member does that, I feel supported.

A sign that both protests and uplifts? The way Kim multitasks is downright scary.

American Sign Language

Image:  Facebook

I've been at this protesting thing long enough to know that people share sign ideas online. So if you see a witticism on a sign in a Poughkeepsie protest, you'll see it again in news reports from Detroit, Little Rock, and Billings.

Today, as I joined hundreds of folks in a bedroom community outside Seattle for a "No Kings" protest, I noticed a woman holding a sign that I'm guessing is actually unique to the Pacific Northwest. It read "The only kings we want are salmon."

Royalty