In normal times, in a normal Federal Communications Commission, Anna M. Gomez’s job might be described as wonky. But now is not that time.

“A large part of my role is to call out this administration’s abuses of the First Amendment, particularly when it chooses to weaponize the FCC in trying to shut down any voices that it doesn’t like,” said Gomez. “And we see this constantly, there is a constant infringement on the free press and on the First Amendment and on the rights of viewers and listeners to see and hear what they want to see.”

Gomez is the sole Democrat on the commission. Her term is set to end on June 30. Normally, there would be five commissioners at the FCC, but right now, there are only three. Two resigned last year, and the Trump administration has not nominated their replacements. Gomez is on a First Amendment tour of sorts—telling Americans that the actions of the FCC chair, Brendan Carr, are egregious. Disney seems to agree. Unlike other media companies, it’s lawyered up to fight against the FCC’s latest demands.

On a recent episode of What Next: TBD, host Lizzie O’Leary spoke to Gomez about the FCC and why ABC isn’t folding like CBS did. This transcript has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Lizzie O’Leary: How do broadcast affiliates work?

Anna M. Gomez: Although Disney owns and operates only eight stations nationwide, there are hundreds of ABC affiliates because there are hundreds of markets all over this country. They are owned independently by other broadcasters. Some of those broadcasters are quite large, and some of them are very small.

The FCC manufactured a complaint against a Disney station in Texas that carried The View. And although multiple ABC stations carried that particular program, it had the Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico on it.

There were tons of other ABC affiliates that also could have had this complaint lodged against them. But the FCC went to the nonowned affiliates in the market and said to them: “We want you to file with us, and we’re not going to hold it against you because of this alleged violation.” They didn’t go to Disney.

The FCC then used the fact that other affiliates filed as a reason to initiate this investigation against the one Disney-owned station. That to me is a setup. Some would call that entrapment. It’s where the FCC manufactures an issue and coordinates with the other stations so that only the Disney-owned station is the outlier. And this is why it is so egregious what this FCC is doing, because it is clearly targeting Disney in retaliation for its viewpoints.

How is that legal?

It’s not. It’s absolutely unlawful. Not only is it unlawful, it is also unconstitutional. The FCC is challenging the First Amendment rights of the broadcasters, the talent, the press, through all of these actions. We are explicitly prohibited from censoring broadcasters, but this is censorship.

This feels like a shakedown. This feels like the emperor doesn’t like these comedians, whether it’s Jimmy Kimmel or Joy Behar, and if you don’t do something, we’re going to take away your affiliate licenses. Is that a fair reading?

Absolutely. This administration cannot tolerate anything that is critical of it, that doesn’t mention its worldview. And it is weaponizing any tool in its toolbox, whether it’s the FCC, the Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Defense, in order to go after the press and to go after the media.

It is clear that this is absolute harassment in order to get Disney to capitulate. The good news is that Disney is not capitulating. It has actually shown courage. It has decided to stand up for its First Amendment rights and to push back. And if this gets carried out to its conclusion, and by that I mean it goes to court, the FCC will lose.

Is Disney finding a spine, or can Disney read a poll?

Disney has, in fact, found its spine. Part of that, of course, is that we saw Disney capitulate very early on when it settled the case against ABC because of the George Stephanopoulos interview. And legal scholars said there is no basis for this case, but it went ahead and settled it. And that opened the door to all of these future actions against the media. I think what Disney learned is that capitulation doesn’t buy you protection; it might buy you some time, but they will keep coming back and coming back for more because what they demand is absolute allegiance to this administration and nothing else.

I’m curious about where this impacts TV. How much of this campaign is about pressuring tech platforms?

There’s an absolute campaign by this administration to censor and control any media outlet using whatever levers it has at its power. Look at social media. The Federal Trade Commission used the fact that there were two ad agencies merging to force them to carry ads on Twitter, which they had stopped doing because of some of the content that they found to be harmful to their clients’ interests. And that is forced speech. That is a First Amendment violation.

I do believe that this administration is sending a signal. We have seen media companies win time and time again against this administration when they go to court. But litigation and regulatory investigations are costly, and a lot of companies, corporate parents, make the decision that it is actually less painful to settle and to capitulate than it is to fight. So the process is the point, the pain is the point, the threat is the point. They don’t want this to be carried out to its fruition. They want it to just force the companies enough pain so that they will capitulate. Now, I think this is a signal to every part of the media that they would do this to them, whether it’s to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, universities, law firms, or broadcasters. They will go after anyone who speaks out against them.

Real But Not Real-

Friend of Playtime Barry, from Another Spectrum, intro’d me to this blog I’m reblogging today. Thanks to both!

How can something seem true, look true, feel true — but still not be quite true?

Somebody Did It-No One Has To Walk Alone ! 🏳‍🌈

An Archive of Queer Catholic Histories Didn’t Exist. So I Made One

By Emma Cieslik

When I was coming out of the closet, I was looking for someone—anyone—to share about their experience of coming out as a queer woman raised Catholic.

Any stories I found about reconciling queerness and Catholicism came from the perspective of gay white men. I could not find any accounts of Catholic women, nor could I find stories about deconstructing purity culture as a queer Catholic. But I knew—or rather, had faith—that I couldn’t be alone. So in 2021, I reached out to Bernie Schlager, executive director of the Center for LGBTQ & Gender Studies in Religion at the Pacific School of Religion, and asked if there were any archives, projects, or books that shared my own experience.

Schlager confirmed my suspicions: No such archives existed. But he invited me to begin the work of making an archive. I jumped at the suggestion. After all, I felt a need to find and hear other people’s stories, and I also had the skill set to conduct these interviews, having worked on oral history projects in the past. Maybe it was my calling to create an archive of queer and trans people grappling with their identity and how it related to Catholicism.

In 2022, I founded the Queer and Catholic Oral History Project. The purpose of this project is to record stories of queer and trans people who have some connection to Catholicism—whether they were born into it, converted to it, left it, or returned to it. So far, I’ve recorded over 100 interviews with LGBTQ+ clergy and laypeople who are proud to let the Catholic Church know that they exist, even if the church continues to bar them from being full members of the faith.

And as I’ve discovered, I am not alone in searching for queer Catholic stories as a way to find and affirm my place within this tradition.

As Justin Telthorst, a gay Catholic man who runs the LGBTQ+ Catholic ministry Empty Chairs, shared with me after his interview, many people reached out to him seeking stories of LGBTQ+ Catholics, but he didn’t know where to direct them until he learned about my project.

They’re not alone. Philip Calabro, a gender-fluid Catholic drag queen and employee of PFLAG, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, explained his own search for representation in his interview: “One thing I find myself doing pretty consistently is looking for other queer Catholics who are existing as queer Catholics because I want to know how they do it,” Calabro said. “Because I know it is possible. I can feel it.”

Like me, Calabro had faith that we were not the only ones navigating these identities. And what I will say after working on this project for five years is that learning how other people hold these two identities together only strengthens my belief in the importance of recording our histories and the transformative power of an all-inclusive gospel.

Often, anti-LGBTQ+ Christians claim that queer and trans people did not exist before the 20th century, or that modern LGBTQ+ inclusion or theology is shallow because it is rooted in cultural trends rather than the deep wells of the Christian tradition. But it’s less a matter of us not existing, or of there being no evidence that we have always been part of religious communities, than of certain terms only coming into use as society’s understanding of gender and sexuality expanded.

Sister Eva Lynn Goode, a nonbinary and Catholic Sister of Perpetual Indulgence, shared the following with me in their interview: “I come from a long line of queer people in church history, and I am blessed to continue that tradition.” They are not wrong. As I dig into contemporary queer Catholic histories, I’ve learned that there are many saints throughout church history whom people today consider queer and trans. These saints are recognized by the institutional church, but their queerness is not. Although they would not have known or claimed these terms, modern queer historians identify these saints as queer and trans ancestors who lit the way for LGBTQ+ people living today.

Perhaps the best example is queer Catholic author, teacher, and medievalist A.W. Strouse, who believes that their queerness cannot be separated from their spirituality. In fact, as they shared in their interview, being queer is a spiritual vocation.

“I don’t really see them as being distinct,” Strouse explained. “I think that being queer just saturates everything, and being a believer also saturates everything. And I know many people would find this sacrilegious, but I think that being gay for me is a spiritual vocation. I think that it’s my mission to love other queer people. And I mean, talk about loving your neighbor. If there’s anyone more destitute and in need, it is other queer people.”

LGBTQ+ Catholic lay minister and lawyer Yunuen Trujillo agreed that her visibility is an urgent testament to and a call to return to the gospel teachings of love and inclusion in her interview. “I think God made me an LGBTQ person for a reason, and I think that reason was to call the church back to its roots and to be able to show the church that we’re not supposed to be a church of power and dominance and exclusion, but we’re supposed to be a church of love and care,” she explained. “I think they fit perfectly, even though the church might not agree.”

For some people, their faith is only deepened by their identities. As they came to understand themselves more fully, they grew spiritually. In finding queer and trans spiritual ancestries, they realize and affirm the divinity and dignity in themselves—and connect more deeply with Catholicism.

In her interview, Madeline Marlett, a trans Catholic woman and board member of the LGBTQ+ Catholic organization DignityUSA, explained that she returned to the faith after stepping away from the church for a period of time. “It wasn’t until part of the way through transitioning that I felt like I wanted to reconnect with my faith,” she explained, “so that kind of brought me back into Catholic spaces, helped me find dignity.”

It’s one of the reasons many queer and trans Catholics I speak to are often very literate in church dogma and the catechism. After fighting against bigoted members of the church to live how they want and love whomever they want, they have a fuller understanding of gospel teachings and Catholic theologies of the body.

For transmasculine Catholic artist Elliott Barnhill, who creates icons of queer saints online, learning about the fields of queer theology and queer biblical studies was critical. “It’s really important for me in my coming out experience, my own acceptance of Catholicness in myself,” he said in his interview. “I have a very strong interest in the way that this fits together, that queer lives and deaths can be found in Catholic history and the way that echoes back to the present day. I believe that this history is a form of good news, and is a form of Gospel.”

It’s important to note that not all of the people I interviewed are still Catholic or align themselves with the Roman Catholic Church. The project is a testament to the diverse experiences of many queer and trans people raised in Catholic homes, communities, and cultures.

Documenting our queer religious histories and educating the Catholic church about its queer members is, on the one hand, a way to resist the homophobia in our tradition and, on the other hand, a way to honor the LGBTQ+ ancestors and contemporaries who have and are charting pathways forward inside and outside of the church. Their testimony brings attention to the harm that the church has caused, but it also brings attention to the fact that there are people committed to the church even if it rarely loves them back. For those who choose to stay, they live the gospel truth just by showing up as themselves.

Ultimately, my hope is that the Queer and Catholic Oral History Project will offer future queer Catholics what I didn’t have when I was coming out: an archive of stories to remind queer Catholics that we can change things and that we have always and will always exist.

Emma Cieslik

2 For Science On Tuesday

New solar desalination breakthrough makes fresh water without toxic brine

This sunlight-powered desalination breakthrough turns seawater into fresh water while harvesting valuable minerals.

Date: May 31, 2026

Source:University of Rochester

Summary: Scientists have developed a solar desalination system that turns seawater into drinking water without creating environmentally damaging brine. Special laser-textured metal panels use sunlight to evaporate water while automatically moving salt deposits away from the working surface, preventing clogging. The process was successfully tested with water from three oceans and can recover nearly all salts as solids. Those leftover materials could even become a source of valuable lithium for batteries.

‘This is a tragedy’: swimming snakes open new front in battle with Balearic lizards

Sam Jones in Madrid

Irrefutable proof of what Spanish researchers and wildlife experts had long suspected, and long feared, finally presented itself in the form of a grainy video that was shot on a minuscule island in the Balearics in April 2024.

Ribboning its way through the turquoise waters that separate the east coast of Ibiza from the islet of Santa Eulària 450 metres away, came a pale and solitary horseshoe whip snake in search of new territory and fresh sustenance.

The arrival of the snake on Santa Eulària, recorded by a local wildlife ranger, confirmed that the insatiable invader from the Spanish mainland – which has almost wiped out Ibiza’s endemic population of dazzlingly coloured wall lizards – had opened up a new front.

“There’d been increasing anecdotal evidence from fishermen and tourists who’d seen the snakes swimming, so we’d thought it was happening very often,” said Oriol Lapiedra, a biologist at the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (Creaf) in Catalonia. “But this was the first proper [evidence] we’d had of a snake swimming from Ibiza to the islet.”

The horseshoe whip snake, a non-venomous reptile found across southern and eastern Spain, has become an existential threat to the lizards since it began appearing on the island two decades ago.

Its rapid colonisation has been attributed to the fashion among wealthy property owners in Ibiza for importing ancient olive trees from mainland Spain to adorn the grounds of their homes. Unbeknown to them, however, the trees – replete with their nooks and hollows – have provided ideal travel berths for hibernating snakes and snake eggs. (snip-MORE)

2 Video Shorts From Jessica, + A Short From Ronny Chieng

Clay Jones, Open Windows, & A PRIDE Greeting from We Rate Dogs

Trump is bored with his war

Thousands killed and billions of taxpayer dollars for Trump’s Iran quagmire

Ann Telnaes

Trump also says he “couldn’t care less” if negotiations break down with Iran.

Murder, She Wrote

Scott Pelley said that Bari Weiss is murdering 60 Minutes

Clay Jones

Getting rid of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to appease Donald Trump isn’t the only poke in the eye of CBS by Paramount Skydance.

Bari Weiss, the network’s editor in chief, appointed by Paramount Skydance CEO and Trump ally David Ellison, has been accused by Scott Pelley of murdering 60 Minutes.

Ellison really wants to be on good terms with regulators in the Trump administration. He was at the inauguration, has attended UFC fights with Trump, and even hosted an invite-only Washington DC party for him.

Tech journalist and filmmaker Nick Bilton is the new executive producer of 60 Minutes, who was appointed last week after the firing of former producer Tanya Simon and her deputy, along with correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. Bilton held a morning meeting in Midtown Manhattan, which was a formal introduction to the staff of 60 Minutes, where he was told by Pelley that he had “slender” qualifications for the job and that Beri Weiss was “murdering” 60 Minutes.

A recording of the meeting was obtained by The New York Times. (snip-MORE)

WeRateDogs 1 day ago

This is Bodie. His presence indicates the beginning of Pride Month. May his whimsy and steadfastness bring joy and confidence to all. 14/10 the parade starts right behind him 🌈🐾

Your Josh Day, Next Day-

Just A Quick Funny One-

What I hope is yet another example of #ETTD though not literally dies in these two cases; we have several Republicans running for Governor this time. (We do have Dems running as well, and yes, each of them will be fine governors, so we’ll see what the primary brings in a couple of months. Anyway.) Jeff Colyer was Sam Brownback’s Lt. Gov. back in those days; when Trump 1.0 poached Brownback, Colyer of course was governor for a bit. He basically simply kept things on an even keel. He seems, apart from being Republican, to be a decent person. He’s been running campaign ads for a couple of months, showing him with POTUS, showing himself and POTUS while POTUS proclaimed him a fantastic governor, blah, blah, blah. I kept hoping for #ETTD for that campaign, and it has happened. The headline just below is the link to the story, which you’re welcome to read if you care to. It’s less important than many other things, but there it is.

Former Republican Gov. Jeff Colyer drops out of Kansas gubernatorial race

Seven GOP candidates file to compete in August gubernatorial primary

By:Tim Carpenter–

So the funny part: on the 5:00 news last night, I had the closed caption on while I was doing my 5:00 steps; it was noisy in the room. The closed caption reported that “Jeb” Colyer had dropped out of the race, due to POTUS endorsing another candidate. It was only a minute or less report, with “Jeb” Colyer mentioned a few times. It reminded me of when Jeb Bush was running for president along with others including the current POTUS, and POTUS kept needling Jeb! about being low energy and no ideas.

Just a giggle I thought I’d share. Also yet another example of POTUS kicking the very people who’ve helped him, encouraged and boosted him, and kissed his behind. We should really tell our Republican electeds to stop that, as POTUS has no loyalty to anyone whosoever.

How’re the midterms looking in your states?

The Rainbow Flag & Gilbert Baker Day

(Gilbert Baker Day was yesterday, but PRIDE month is all month. I’m not sure I recall ever learning Gilbert Baker’s name before this morning. Also, I’m really gonna miss Gov. Kelly after her term ends, even if we manage to elect another Dem.)

As Pride Month dawns, Kansas governor helps celebrate rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker

Clay Wirestone

Kansas residents and activists gathered with Gov. Laura Kelly last week for her signing of a proclamation honoring rainbow flag creator Gilbert Baker. (Photo from Kansas governor’s office)

Happy Gilbert Baker Day!

Thanks to a proclamation from Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly signed Friday, we can celebrate the life and work of Parsons native Baker this June 2. He created a piece of American iconography that has spread across the globe and into the hearts of those who care for their gay neighbors: the rainbow pride flag.

Kelly Wall, a board member of PFLAG Lawrence, requested the day after reading about Baker in an authoritative piece by founding Kansas Reflector opinion editor C.J. Janovy. (You can also read Janovy’s work in the new anthology “Kansas Matters: Twenty-First-Century Writers on the Sunflower State.”)

Lauren Shepard of Parsons was on hand at the Statehouse to watch Kelly sign. She had just graduated from Pittsburg State University with a master’s degree. According to her, efforts to honor Baker locally ran into static.

“Ultimately, the town, the city commission ended up tabling the idea, so we pivoted and got together and started a Gilbert Baker Memorial Scholarship through the Parsons High School, where he graduated,” she told me. “So now every year we select a student that’s active in their OAQ, which is like a gay-straight alliance, it’s a student organization there at the high school.”

Wall was out of the state Friday, but a group assembled by her showed up to honor Baker. It included Shepard, several Lawrence activists and state Sen. Marci Francisco. I tagged along and noted that multiple groups had gathered on the second floor of the Statehouse for their own proclamation time with Kelly. One was promoting an “Asteroid Day.”

Inside the governor’s ceremonial office, group members realized that no one had actually brought a rainbow flag — the symbol for Pride Month and LGBTQ+ rights more generally.

No worries, Kelly told them.

She retreated into her actual office and returned bearing a rainbow flag coaster and a copy of Janovy’s book, “No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas,” which features rainbow stripes on the cover.

Crisis averted, the group took pictures with Kelly, the proclamation and the props. That was that.

No one on hand missed the broader implications. Baker had turned his back on his Kansas background, living in San Francisco and New York City. He had finally agreed to return to Parsons, Janovy writes, for a key to the city and film festival in 2017. A month before the events, Baker died at the too-young age of 65.

“It allows us to recognize one of our own who created an emblem that allows us to recognize all of LGBTQ across the country and across the world,” said Rachel Reed of Lawrence. “And it’s very, very important.”

Janis Guyot serves as president of Lawrence PFLAG and stood in for Wall at the signing. Afterward, she held the proclamation certificate as others in the group swirled around to take a look.

“I’m really happy that there’s something to celebrate for the LGBTQ world right now,” Guyot told me. “It’s tough time for all of them.”

Since Baker’s untimely death, we’ve seen a public push and pull over gay rights. Transgender folks — members of the movement from the beginning, whether they were identified as such or not — have been systematically excluded and discriminated against. The Kansas Legislature has repeatedly passed hateful laws.

Who knows what Baker might say about this recent turmoil. Given that he went by the drag name “Busty Ross,” I imagine he would bring an irreverent sense of humor along with his passion for making the world a better place.

Hopefully, he would say progress hasn’t stopped, and it won’t stop, regardless of small minds and even smaller hearts.

In an oral history from 2008, Baker suggested as much: “I do know that time is on our side and that the young people generation, and more importantly my generation, we have fought hard, and we have — we’ve worked on our parents, we have our own children, and we’re moving society forward. So I think we’re going to be all right. I mean, it may take a little more fight and a little more work than people want, but we’ll get there.”

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.