Sound Advice

 

Santos Sentenced

Image:  Wikipedia

The only human being who lies more than Donald Trump was sentenced today to over seven years in prison. George Santos, who pleaded guilty last summer to federal wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, will begin his stretch in July.

Gucci, Ferragamo, and Burberry may be sorry to see him go, but the rest of us are not.

The openly gay New York Republican served less than a year in Congress, becoming just the sixth member of the House in history to be booted by his colleagues. He got to Washington thanks to a resume that was more fictitious than the Hitler Diaries.

I'll always remember the images of Santos chumming in the House chamber with Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, and Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Four Hosers of the Apocalypse.

His defense lawyer had asked for a sentence of two years, saying Santos had been bullied his whole life. Believing "that the world would not accept him for who he was," Santos created an alternate persona. His lawyer also claimed, "Deep down, he is warm, kind, caring, and thoughtful."

So deep down. So, so, so deep.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Remember, when they try to blow smoke up your ass, it means a new Secretary of Defense has been chosen.

Charlotte Clymer

Source: X

President Petulant's Easter Sentiments

 

For the Record

Image:  Facebook

It should be clearly understood that meeting with the American vice president did not kill Pope Francis.

Praying "Lord, take me now" is how EVERYBODY reacts to meeting with JD Vance.

Terrifying

 

Copycat

Image by Attila Pergel from Pixabay

For just a moment, let's stop ruminating over all the craziness Donald Trump has inflicted. It's time for a change.

Instead, let's start ruminating over the craziness inflicted by a Trump Mini-Me. I didn't say it would be a big change.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been leading his country away from democracy for years. The autocrat's party is down in the polls, and with elections upcoming, he's thrown his right-wing base some red meat:  us.

The Hungarian parliament this week passed a constitutional amendment allowing the government to ban public events by LGBTQ communities. In other words, kiss Budapest Pride goodbye.

Orbán's government, you see, wants to protect children from "woke ideology" and "gender madness." Also, the new amendment states there are two sexes, male and female, thereby establishing constitutional grounds for denying the existence of transgender and intersex people.

All that sound familiar? The truth is we can't really get away from Trump—his particular brand of bigotry has been exported to Europe.

And he didn't even slap a tariff on it.

Bewildered

 

This Week's Quote

Image by Nina Garman from Pixabay

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Trump administration failed to take "one extra step of paperwork" before it mistakenly deported a Maryland man, adding that nonetheless Kilmar Abrego Garcia is "not coming back to our country."

Rebecca Beitsch

Source:  The Hill

Musing

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I found myself idly wondering this morning whether AI would be a better president than Donald Trump.

The issue, of course, is the lack of a soul.

And then there's AI.

For the Easter Table

 

Centennial Pride

Image:  Facebook

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed a law this week ensuring that even if the Supreme Court reverses its Obergefell decision, marriage equality will still be legal in the Centennial State.

Polis, a Democrat and an out gay man, is himself in a same-sex marriage. It's only natural he wants to guarantee every LGBTQ Coloradan has the same opportunity he did to watch Aunt Bertha sprain her back doing the Chicken Dance.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Wikipedia

I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.

Will Rogers

Source:  BrainyQuote

Ditto, Sister

 

Not Much Fun

Image:  Pixabay

I received an email inviting me to install a game:  "Embark on a doomsday survival saga in the dystopian wasteland of Zombie Waves, where waves of relentless undead zombies are a constant threat."

That doesn't sound like fantasy. That sounds like the administration.

Yes, I Protested Today

 

                                                            Image:  Maggie Mcelroy-jackson

I participated in the "Hands Off" rally in Edmonds, Wash., this afternoon. I've been waiting for an opportunity to express this particular opinion.

Tariff Titters

Image:  Facebook

You know about the sweeping tariffs Donald Trump imposed on much of the world this week, and you've probably also seen and heard the jokes about two tiny Antarctic islands landing on Trump's hit list.

The Heard and McDonald Islands are inhabited only by penguins, seals, and seabirds. There are no people or buildings. Yet according to World Bank data, the U.S. imported $1.4 million worth of goods from those islands in 2022.

I assume the people behind the facts and figures at the World Bank and the Trump administration are blunderers. If not, those penguins and seals work like Trojans.

Mission Statement

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

Even if Elon lost decisively in Wisconsin, he’s still our president.

Paul Rudnick

Source: X

Silence Isn't Golden

Image:  Wikipedia

If you're a gay man who hasn't been moved to fury by all the bigoted, illegal, and asinine actions Donald Trump has taken, perhaps this will do the trick.

Thanks to Trump's anti-DEI crusade, last month the Department of Defense removed a webpage honoring Bea Arthur's service in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve during World War II.

Yes, the DOD stomped on a Golden Girl. Is it clear to you now that nothing is sacred?

The DOD eventually restored the page, but I trust this affront to an LGBTQ icon has shaken you to the core. Now get out there and do what Dorothy would do.

TDOV 2025!

 

Saw This Near Seattle Today

 

Off-Color

Image by lillen from Pixabay

Utah has become the first state in the nation to ban Pride flags from all public schools and all government property.

Idaho has a new flag law, too, but it applies only to schools. If a red state gets outpaced in its bigotry, does it become green with envy?

May the Farce Be With You

 

There Go the Clydesdales

Image:  Facebook

Anheuser-Busch, headquartered in St. Louis, has been a major supporter of that city's Pride celebrations for 30 years.

Apparently that was long enough. Pride St. Louis announced this week that the brewer has declined to renew its sponsorship.

Funny. Decades ago alcohol companies were among the first to support Prides around the nation. They wanted queer people to drink more—as if such a thing was possible.

Now, in this political climate, Anheuser-Busch is cutting and running. It seems to me, Pride St. Louis, that after a 30-year relationship, you're due alimony.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

The Atlantic on Wednesday released the entire Signal chat among senior national security officials, showing that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided the exact timings of warplane launches and when bombs would drop — before the men and women flying those attacks against Yemen’s Houthis this month on behalf of the United States were airborne.

Tara Copp

Source:  The Associated Press

Agreed

 

War Whoops

Image by G.C. from Pixabay

It's come to light that recently top Trump officials, when discussing details of imminent plans to attack Houthi rebels in Yemen, included a journalist in their Signal group chat.

But her emails.

The Challenge

 

Trying to Figure It Out

Image by Christian Dorn from Pixabay

Five Republican state senators in Minnesota sponsored a bill earlier this week labeling Trump Derangement Syndrome as a mental illness. Hours later, one of the five was arrested for soliciting a minor.

Sen. Justin Eichorn, a 40-year-old married man with four children, thought he was meeting a 17-year-old girl for paid sex, but it was the cops who awaited him.

Help me here. I'm really trying to understand.

Do you think Eichorn's snarky attempt to own the libs gave him a hard-on that wouldn't quit? Did it make him feel invincible? Superior? Above the law? Like a frat boy again?

Or does he know he has issues and he backed the bill so he could deflect by accusing others of having issues? 

Or is he just another hypocrite in the long line of family-values types who have the moral fiber of a jelly bean?

Just Maybe

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Pixabay

"Plaintiffs face a violation of their constitutional rights, which constitutes irreparable harm. Indeed, the cruel irony is that thousands of transgender servicemembers have sacrificed — some risking their lives — to ensure for others the very equal protection rights the Military Ban seeks to deny them," Reyes wrote, adding that "avoiding constitutional violations is always in the public interest."

Reporter Casey Parks on Judge Ana C. Reyes' decision blocking the Trump administration from banning transgender troops

Source:  The Washington Post

Homecoming

Image by Alana Jordan from Pixabay

Over the weekend, a friend of mine here in Seattle returned home to a small city in Missouri for a family event.

She texted upon arrival, apoplectic that there was a "Trump Store" in town.

If she were staying longer, I'd mail her a care package of sage smudge sticks, The Nation, and Trump toilet paper.

Plain Perplexed

 

Poor Little Lamb

Image:  Facebook

In a campaign-like speech that broke all norms at the Justice Department yesterday, Donald Trump made it plain:  He's the most innocent victim since Anne Frank.

Expert Advice

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

At the Justice Department today, Donald Trump will give a law-and-order speech.

I assume his message will be how to wiggle out of both.

Affirmative

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

There were howls of protest and denial from the GOP any time we pointed out that Republicans want to cut Social Security.

Now the most powerful official in the White House goes on TV and calls it "the big one to eliminate."

Pete Buttigieg

Source: X

Pushers

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

As if we don't have enough to worry about these days from Trump and Vance and Musk, there's now another obvious threat to our national well-being.

Shamelessly loitering in front of grocery stores all across America, these brazen dealers wear green sashes and bring extra muscle along, more commonly known as their parents.

They traffic Thin Mints and Samoas, and few can say no to them, even though they stand four feet six inches tall.

The Time of Year

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

 

The U.S. sprang forward last night. To 1948.

International Women's Day 2025

 

Beat Me to It

Image:  Wikipedia

Get this.

In its efforts to purge DEI content lickety-split, the Defense Department has flagged over 26,000 images for deletion across every military branch. Women and minorities are the main targets of the directive to obliterate photos and online posts that highlight diversity efforts.

Here's the incredible bit. The AP reports that some photos seem to have been flagged because their file included the word "gay." The result? An image of the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan, is on the chopping block.

If I'd had a little more time, I would've predicted this as the slapstick outcome of the DEI witch hunt. I would've been kidding.

But Pete Hegseth has his people working so hard on this mission-critical task that they made the farce real before I could make it a joke. And I resent that.

The Little Lady

 

This Week's Quote

Image by heblo from Pixabay

During his painfully long remarks before a joint session of Congress, Trump peddled so many brazen falsehoods that it was difficult to keep up with them all.

Steve Benen

Source:  MSNBC

Cisgender Identity Crisis

 

Guess I Wasn't Really Awake

Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay

This morning I received an email from eBay whose subject line read "Your closet is calling, Leslie."

It turned out the company wants me to buy clothes. But it's a sign of the times that I first thought eBay was sending emergency instructions to queer people.

The "Meeting"

Image:  Facebook

Ukrainians have spent three terrifying and bloody years holding off invading Russian forces.

Still, I wouldn't be surprised if some war-weary Ukrainians are clamoring today to open a second front:  against us. That's one possible result of  their president's humiliation in the Oval Office yesterday by a pair of tag-team wrestlers, Donald "The Impotent" Trump and Lambykins Vance.

Boycott

Image:  Facebook

I plan to participate in tomorrow's "economic blackout," meaning for 24 hours I won't spend any money.

Of course, that's not so hard when you have nothing to spend.

This Week's Quote

Image by muqadas Muqadas from Pixabay

Sure, because putting his face on a piece of currency nobody will ever use will definitely fill the black hole of need that exists where his soul should be.

Mary L. Trump on the proposal to put her uncle's face on a $250 bill

Source: X

Been There