Most Devoted of Servants

Image:  Facebook

Talk about ingratitude.

As attorney general, Pam Bondi weaponized the Justice Department to open investigations into Donald Trump's enemies; she tried to stonewall the Epstein files; she shrilly sang Trump's praises at every opportunity; she even hung a banner with Trump's face outside the Justice Department building.

All that playing fast and loose with ethics and the law on behalf of that man, and today Trump fires her.

Oh Pam, it doesn't matter that you were true blue. Trump is always true poo.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

After discovering that her husband visits fetish sites and dresses up as a busty woman, Kristi Noem has asked for "privacy, and thoughts and prayers." I'm sending prayers and tube tops.

Paul Rudnick

Source:  X

Full-Court Press

Image:  Facebook

On this Transgender Day of Visibility, the Supreme Court decided free speech trumps queer kids' right to be themselves.

The justices sided 8-1 with a Christian counselor who claimed Colorado's law banning conversion therapy violated her First Amendment right to tell gay and trans youth that they're going to spend eternity in the fires of hell. (Okay, I presume she didn't put it that way.)

This means that the bans on conversion therapy enacted by bunches of states are up in the air. So brace yourself for the return of "Christian" therapy aimed at changing teens' sexual orientation or gender identity. To be followed by guilt, depression, and suicidal ideation.

On the upside, we all know of cases where a gay kid goes to conversion camp and meets his first boyfriend.

That Tracks

 

Harumph

Image:  Facebook

I've now participated in all three No Kings protests, but I haven't received a penny in payment.

I intend to report George Soros to the Department of Labor.

He's Not Our Fault!

Image:  Facebook

The constant stream of verbal malarkey that comes out of Donald Trump's mouth included this gem yesterday: "I did very well with the gay vote."

Trump won about 12 percent of the LGBTQ vote in 2024, with Kamala Harris capturing about 86 percent.

If he thinks that's doing well, I've got a strait by the name of Hormuz to sell him.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

After missing its recruitment goals, the U.S. Army is now raising its max enlistment age to 42 and removing its waiver requirement for a single marijuana possession.

Gosh... if only thousands of highly qualified trans soldiers hadn't been kicked out last year for no good reason.

Charlotte Clymer

Source: X

Florida Flip

Image:  Facebook

Today in Florida, a Democrat defeated a Trump-backed Republican in the race for the open District 87 state House seat. District 87 happens to include . . . Mar-a-Lago.

Feel free to bask in the moment.

I'm not so optimistic as to say the flipping of this seat is a harbinger of things to come, but I sure am digging the symbolism.

By the way, for all his carping on the subject, Trump voted by mail. And probably always will, until they put a polling place on a golf course.

The Whole Shed Shimmies

 

Processing Chavez

Image:  Facebook

I've waited a couple of days to let the news about César Chavez sink in. I hoped giving myself that time would allow me to come up with an incisive comment.

It hasn't.

Apparently I'm on the emotional slow train, only just moving from shock to deep disappointment. With stops at anger along the way.

It's one thing when a social-justice hero is revealed to have had feet of clay. Think MLK's many infidelities. It's another thing when the icon is revealed to have been a serial rapist.

What do we progressive types do with this news? Wallow in sadness? Work to separate the man from his accomplishments? Become even more cynical?

I admit I've had overwrought thoughts like, "Men just can't be trusted, and for the sake of girls, women, and the planet, should all be confined to Oklahoma."

But even this lesbian needs men, as friends and relatives and to balance my existence. Besides, my straight women friends couldn't live without men—although more and more sound willing to try.

So far what I've taken from the revelations about Chavez is an abiding respect for his accusers. That the two women he groomed as girls have come forward despite enormous cultural pressure is beyond brave.

And Dolores Huerta, telling her ghastly truth at the age of 95, keeping the secrets all these years so the farmworker movement wouldn't be wounded. That's heroic, tragic, and so female.

If it should turn out that Huerta likes to strangle kittens in her free time, don't tell me. I can't take it.

On the Dog Low

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

The only thing prohibiting transit in the strait right now is Iran shooting at shipping. It is open for transit should Iran not do that.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth

Source:  ABC News

Phantom Support

Image:  Facebook

Twice yesterday Donald Trump claimed he talked to one of his predecessors about the Iran war, and the former president told him, "I wish I did what you did."

However, aides to George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama said no conversations took place, and Joe Biden has also been ruled out, reports NBC News, exhausting the pool of living former presidents.

So either Trump—gasp—lied, or he meant he talked to himself, since he's also a former president, and received hearty approval.

I suppose there's a third possibility, that he's in nightly contact with Rutherford B. Hayes, but let's not make things worse than they already are.

Timeline

 

The Basics

Image:  Pixabay

After church today, I decided I needed to stop for some groceries. And by "groceries," I mean Girl Scout cookies.

If you think mama's going to get through the next months of Trump and war and Trump without Thin Mints, you're desperately mistaken.

The News We Need

Image:  Facebook

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has established the first Mayor's Office for LGBTQIA+ Affairs. He put Taylor Brown in charge of it, making her the first openly transgender person to lead a NYC office.

"She's gonna make sure that everybody gonna be somebody," said Rosetta Ferguson, Brown's grandmother.

Can't type anymore. Got something in my eye.

Better Than the Florsheims Trump's Been Doling Out?

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

If you want policy to change, if you want this White House to take care of you, actually it’s surprisingly easy. Any one of you ought to try this: Take a million dollars, donate it to the ballroom that they’re building in the East Wing. Take another million dollars; I assume we all have a couple more lying around, right? Put it in the fund for that crypto company. Take another million dollars. Last time I checked, that is the entrance fee, not the membership, but just the initiation fee for a membership at Mar-a-Lago. And that’s all you’ve got to do to start getting your calls returned by this White House.

Pete Buttigieg

Source:  LGBTQ Nation

The 2026 Notion of a Silver Lining

 

So Much Winning

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I had to put gas in my Prius this morning.

It cost more than the Prius.

A Clown Show

Image:  Facebook

We all know Donald Trump chose the best and the brightest for his Cabinet—not. He chose the most loyal, sycophantic houseplants he could find.

On Thursday Trump fired his embattled DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and I have an idea who could be next.

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer has, like Noem, been in her job not much over a year, but she's displayed a real talent for messing up. For starters, she and top aides are being investigated for allegedly using taxpayers funds for personal travel.

Also, the married Chavez-DeRemer is said to have had an affair with a member of her security detail. Furthermore, at least two female Labor employees have accused her husband of touching them inappropriately.

If Labor Secretary Bozo is fired, it won't be for any of that. It'll be due to yesterday's gruesome jobs report, and the fact that Trump needs someone to blame, because heaven knows he never makes a mistake.

I trust the Cabinet secretaries understand that loyalty is a one-way street with Trump, and they're all as expendable as his wives and condiments.

Of Course It Is

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Wikipedia

This is not the kind of insider knowledge most people have access to, but my grandfather, Fred Trump, Sr., was not born in Germany; he was born in the Bronx, NY, and grew up in Woodhaven, Queens--something you'd think his favorite son would know.

Mary L. Trump

Source:  X

Our Dear Leader

Image:  Facebook

I spotted this headline from a magazine:  "Trump Is in Way Over His Head in Iran."

Please. Trump is in way over his head in Chuck E. Cheese.

Why, Exactly?

Image:  Facebook

Why is the U.S. bombing Iran?

By way of justification, Donald Trump claimed Iran was building nuclear missiles that could "soon" reach the U.S., an assessment his own government contradicted. He also indicated he wants regime change, which he said he'd never pursue with American lives.

Other potential explanations being bandied about include this is Trump's method of distracting from the Epstein files; Iran has so much oil; we're doing the bidding of Israel; he wants to create a crisis so he can declare a national emergency.

Since the reasons are unclear, I'll throw in another possibility. As a lame duck president and with his poll numbers shrinking, Trump is done seeking Americans' approval, and wants to reshape the Middle East permanently into the countries of Israel, United Donald Junior, Eric Emirates, Ivankastine, Tiffany Arabia, and Bahrain Barron.

The Trump Truth

Image:  Facebook

On the night he was re-elected president, Donald Trump told supporters he was "not going to start a war, I'm going to stop wars."

That was about 16 months ago. Since then, the "peace president" has launched military operations across three continents, culminating now in trying to bomb Iran into regime change.

Trump has turned out to be more interventionist than Ann Landers.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

The president, ever mindful of records that allow him to say he was the first, the best or had done the most, succeeded clearly on one thing: he beat his own record for the longest, clocking in at just under 1 hour, 48 minutes.

Steven Sloan on last night's State of the Union address

Source:  Associated Press

Poor Straight Women

 

Full Speed Ahead

Image:  Pixabay

Donald Trump said yesterday that he's sending a hospital boat to Greenland, the Danish territory he's so hot to acquire. Apparently it's escaped his notice that Greenland and Denmark have free, nationalized health care systems.

But we don't. Many Americans, myself included, can't get adequate medical care owing to the appalling costs.

The solution to my problem is obvious. Since fixing the American health care system is a non-starter, it's up to me to alert The Donald that my apartment sits on top of rare earth mineral resources.

Before you know it, I'll have health care, a seat on the Kennedy Center board, and a pardon for a crime I haven't committed yet.

Can't Argue With Either

 

Credit to David Hayward, aka the Naked Pastor

Captain Impressive

Image:  Facebook

In the span of 48 hours, U.S. women's hockey team captain Hilary Knight successfully proposed to her girlfriend, and scored the equalizer goal in the panicky last minutes of the gold-medal game, paving the way for the American win. Knight's clutch goal also made her the all-time U.S. leader in Olympic goals and points

In the last 48 hours, I've stubbed my toe twice.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Wikipedia

For a long time, I thought:  I can’t be disabled and gay. I’d never seen a gay disabled person. I thought:  I can’t tick two boxes. It takes me that long to tick one.

Rosie Jones

Source:  Big Issue

Bringing Back the Town Crier

 

Some Things Never Change

Image:  Wikipedia

I receive a daily email about historical tidbits, and today's concerned the Roman Emperor Nero. In the year 67 CE, Nero participated in the Olympic Games, and was declared the winner of every event he entered, both athletic and artistic.

On this Presidents Day, does he remind you of anyone?

Public Service Announcement

 

Flag Flap

Image:  Gay City News

It was Gay City News that alerted the world a few days ago that the Trump administration had removed the large Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument.

Now GCN is reporting the flag has returned—thanks to a healthy dose of Stonewall-like defiance.

The removal of the rainbow flag, which had been installed during the Biden administration, provoked angry responses from lots of New York politicians. Some of them pledged to re-raise a flag yesterday afternoon.

They brought a Pride flag on a thin plastic flagpole and placed it next to the flagpole where the original flag had flown. The elected officials "walked away, leaving the audience groaning in disappointment."

Then several activists took it upon themselves to install a rainbow flag on the actual flagpole. It even landed a few inches above the American flag.

So, what happens now? Will these activists who channeled the spirit of Stonewall be arrested? 

Will Trump use this as an excuse to invade New York City? Bulldoze Greenwich Village, call it New Greenland, and install Barron as potentate?

If Trump and his minions do choose to escalate the situation, I foresee not just another round of Stonewall Riots, but potentially another 1776. The fight against authoritarianism has to start somewhere, and wouldn't it just make sense in 2026 that queer people would lead? 

After all, we've only recently been freed. Returning to the closet has all the appeal of being forced to watch "Melania."

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

First of all I'd like to say I'm proud to be here to represent Team USA and to represent our country. But we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention what's going on in Minnesota, and what a tough time it's been for everybody. This stuff is happening right, right around where we live, and what's happening in Minnesota is wrong. There's no shades of gray. It's clear.

Rich Ruohonen, Olympic curler, lawyer, and at 54 the oldest athlete ever to represent the U.S. at a Winter Games

Source:  YouTube

There Goes the Freak Flag

Image:  Wikipedia

President Obama designated the Stonewall National Monument in 2016, the first national monument dedicated to LGBTQ history. In the decade since, Pride flags have always flown at the famed Greenwich Village site.

Until yesterday.

The National Park Service took down the rainbow flag, and said today that it's only following recently issued Interior Department rules that reduce the flags that can be flown.

The park that celebrates the origin of Pride is forbidden from flying the Pride flag.

Beam me up, Scotty. I'd rather risk my molecules getting stuck in an eternal transporter malfunction than spend another minute in Donald Trump's United States of Cruelty.

This is just the administration's latest attack on the monument. A year ago, as part of the efforts to erase transgender people from federal websites, all references to trans and queer people on the monument's webpage disappeared.

The webpage memorializing the spot where trans women and drag queens fought back against police now refers only to "LGB" people. I was incensed then that the other initials were amputated, and the administration's latest move has made me even incensed-ier.

I'm even making up words.

If this pattern of rewriting history and contradicting reality continues, the "LGB" might well disappear. Stonewall will be turned on its head and become a monument to the need to let police terrorize any group the majority fears.

And they should wear masks while doing it, since police look so darn fetching in them.

NFL=DEI (!)

 

Who of us had corporate sports leading the way on our 2026 Bingo cards?

The Big Game

Image:  Facebook

I grew up in New England, and I live in Seattle. But I'm not torn about who I want to win today's Super Bowl: Bad Bunny.

That Video

Image by kalhh from Pixabay

Last night Donald Trump posted a video promoting conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. The end of the video depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.

When asked why Trump felt the need to share this video, his mouthpiece Karoline Leavitt wrote, "Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public." Hours later the video was deleted.

In the midst of Black History Month, the American president decided to share a glaringly racist trope with his over 11 million online followers.

I hope this was a sign of desperation. That as his poll numbers decline and the midterms loom, Trump aimed to inspire his base with a gift of overt racism.

Next he'll be offering up a night with Melania in the Lincoln Bedroom.

Understandable, Then Hysterical

 

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

This president is a joke. The guy is so insecure that he has to put his name on the center, and then when audiences and artists revolt, he closes it. How pathetic.

Sen. Tim Kaine

Source:  Threads

Aghast From the Past

Image:  Wikipedia

As a fan of old cartoons, I often find myself watching the cable channels that revolve around nostalgia. That's how I caught an ad the other day that shocked me like I was Daffy Duck grabbing a power line.

It was an ad for CarShield, a company that provides "vehicle protection plans," and whose spokesperson is usually rapper and actor Ice-T. But this time the hawker was Michele Bachmann.

Yes, that Michele Bachmann, the conservative Christian politician from Minnesota who many of us remember as a well-coiffed thorn in queer sides. She claimed nutty things, like gay people wanted to abolish age of consent laws so adults could "prey on little children sexually."

All the while she was married to a man who struck many of us as being gayer than a night on Fire Island.

Bachmann, a Tea Partier, took her anti-queer, anti-abortion act national when she mounted a short-lived run for the 2012 presidency. She retired from Congress a few years later, and I don't recall hearing a thing about, or from, her since.

Then she shows up in 2026 shilling on TV for CarShield, a company that has been in deep trouble for deceptive advertising. Considering Bachmann and her husband ran a Christian counseling center that practiced conversion therapy despite their denials, I'd say she's perfectly suited to her new gig.

Hey, it's not everyone who can lie with a beatific smile and get paid for it. Thank God.

Feb. 2

 

A Reason to Welcome February

 

Shutdown

Image:  Facebook

In response to the ICE atrocities in Minneapolis, it's "National Shutdown" day. Activists want us to ditch school and work and not spend money on Jan. 30.

The citizens of Minneapolis pulled that off beautifully a week ago, but I fear there hasn't been enough time to mount a paralyzing nationwide strike.

Still, I'm in. I was supposed to do a happy hour with a couple of friends at one of Seattle's waterside restaurants today, but I let them know why I can't, in good conscience, be there. To acknowledge those killed in Minneapolis (and Chicago and Los Angeles), I can certainly forego shellfish and wine.

Not a sacrifice of heroic proportions. Giving up the chance to gossip, though, that was a little harder.

Alert The Hague

 

Gross

Image:  Facebook

Donald Trump is holding a televised cabinet meeting today.

You know what that means:  More fawning than a deer birthing season.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

The snow is coming down heavily across our city, and I can think of no better excuse for New Yorkers to stay home, take a long nap, or take advantage of our public library’s offer of free access to Heated Rivalry on e-book or audiobook for anyone with a library card.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a snowstorm press conference

Source:  Gay City News