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.
 |
| Image: Facebook |
 |
| 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.
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.
 |
| Image: Wikipedia |
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?
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."
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
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.
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.
 |
| 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.
 |
| Image: Facebook |
 |
| 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.
