(Normally, I hold with the idea of not giving a candidate’s opposition name-advertising, but it is a strategy that can work if one of our own candidates are getting dragged through the mud. Platner’s not the first. Keep it short, sweet, and truthful, like this.)
Author: ali redford
I love dogs and people. I want living creatures to thrive. I love to cook, and share the food, but ya gotta get in line in front of the dog, and greatest good luck with that!
Representation In Movies; PRIDE Redux
Reblog For PRIDE, & No Kings
Clay Jones, Open Windows
Trump nominates Todd Blanche as Attorney General of the United States
Retaliation and revenge will be Blanche’s main job
Pratts All, Folks
After reality TV star and “Crystal Daddy” Spencer Pratt’s home burned down in the Pacific Palisades fire last year, he sued the city of Los Angeles and the state of California. He traveled to Washington DC to meet with then-attorney general Pam Bondi to investigate LA Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom. One year to the date of the fire, he declared his candidacy to become mayor of Los Angeles.
For some reason, a guy who went broke twice from buying crystals believes he can manage a city with a $15 billion budget. But then again, Donald Trump is president, and he bankrupted casinos…and then added $17 trillion to our national debt.
Pratt is a Republican, and he was endorsed by Donald Trump, though the race was non-partisan. In addition to Pratt and Mayor Bass, there were 12 other candidates, including Nithya Raman. (snip-MORE)
MAGA Jinx
Everything Trump touches dies
Donald Trump went to Madison Square Garden to attend game three of the NBA finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks, and just as my Saturday cartoon predicted, Trump fell asleep.
Trump falling asleep during the game proves that he didn’t really care about it. Trump did not go to the game because he loves the Knicks or New York City. Trump just wanted to steal the spotlight, even if it inconvenienced an entire city, shut down Midtown Manhattan, canceled watch parties outside MSG, and put vendors out of business for a night. Those in attendance had to get to the game at least two hours beforehand because of the security issues. The most important thing to Donald Trump is that Donald Trump got a headline. He also got a lot of boos. (snip-MORE)
Good Sense From Barry As We Put One Foot In Front Of The Other:
Chris Geidner Regarding DOJ Subpoenae For Gender-Affirming Care Patients:
Arguing that DOJ’s trans care subpoenas have no precedent, challengers on both coasts push back
A pair of hearings on Tuesday highlighted the extreme nature of DOJ’s requests — and the speed with which DOJ has moved to try and get the invasive patient data in recent weeks.
The Trump administration’s actions aimed at making it more difficult for transgender minors to receive gender-affirming medical care regardless of state policies allowing or even protecting such care are facing strong pushback. And while the Justice Department has described a “nationwide” investigation into the care, it was those challenging DOJ who prompted hearings on both coasts on Tuesday.
The Justice Department’s efforts to obtain information about patients who received gender-affirming medical care by way of administrative subpoenas and, more recently, grand jury subpoenas are extreme — and lawyers say, unprecedented.
The pair of hearings Tuesday highlighted the extreme nature of DOJ’s requests — and the speed with which DOJ has moved to try and get the invasive patient data in recent weeks after nearly a year since the first requests went out in July 2025.
The administrative subpoenas have been blocked when challenged, leading a set of patients to seek a class-action order quashing the patient-specific requests in all of the administrative subpoenas.
At 10:00 a.m. ET Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin held a hearing related to that request at the Edward A. Garmatz U.S. District Courthouse in Baltimore.
Rubin, a Biden appointee, was one of the judges who had previously quashed the patient-specific requests, as to those who moved to quash the administrative subpoena issued to Children’s National Hospital (headquartered in D.C. but with locations in Maryland as well), finding that the “Subpoena lacks a legitimate purpose.“
The bulk of Rubin’s questions to Rachel Berg from the National Center for LGBTQ Rights on Tuesday related to whether Rubin could certify a class in a motion to quash an administrative subpoena and, if not, how far relief could go.
Ultimately, Berg acknowledged that, if Rubin did not certify a class, relief could only reach those with a connection to Maryland. In their filing, they had noted that “[a]t least two Movants currently reside in Maryland and four families received services from Children’s National Hospital in Maryland.“
That would, however, not accomplish what the litigation is seeking to do — stop DOJ from getting any of the patient-specific information in response to any of the administrative subpoenas. As such, if Rubin denies this request, there likely would be a further effort to accomplish that goal.
At the same time, Rubin pushed DOJ’s Scott Dahlquist on the opposite side nearly as strongly as she’d pushed Berg. When he insisted that the patients were seeking “sweeping, nationwide” relief, Rubin asked how that’s different from any class-action litigation. Dahlqust’s response was, essentially, that you can’t get class relief for an administrative subpoena.
On rebuttal, though, Berg responded that, though the patients’ request to the court might be without a perfect match from past litigation, the reason that is so is because there is no precedent for the Justice Department’s actions here.
Although it is not clear how Rubin will rule, the relevance of the administrative subpoena fight could be taking on less importance in short order. As Law Dork has covered in depth, DOJ’s apparent move to grand jury subpoenas issued in the Northern District of Texas in May is reaching a head — with at least two grand jury subpoenas having initially had a return date of Wednesday, June 10.
Over the past week, patients of Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford have made efforts to block the grand jury subpoena issued to Packard. After a first attempt to block Packard from turning over the information — in a lawsuit filed only against Packard — was rejected over the weekend, the patients filed an expanded lawsuit on Monday. In that, they added the Justice Department and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as defendants and asking for class-action relief for all who received gender-affirming medical care as minors in California and, specifically, Packard patients (similar to litigation in New York City). They also filed a request for a temporary restraining order barring DOJ from receiving patient-specific information, given the forthcoming return-date deadline.
At 10:00 a.m. PT Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Casey Pitts held a conference related to that request. Pitts was presiding over the remote hearing from his courtroom at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in San Jose.
The hearing before Pitts, another Biden appointee, ultimately, was less adversarial — for now — than the Baltimore hearing.
Late Monday, Pitts had issued a temporary order blocking Packard from turning over any more documents to the government and blocking DOJ from taking any further action to enforce any grand jury subpoenas that would affect the would-be class here while he considered the matter.
Everyone, more or less, was OK with keeping that status while taking up the TRO request on a slightly less rushed timeline.
Although it took a few minutes at the status conference for everyone to agree that everyone was on the same page, ultimately John Wollman, the assistant U.S. attorney from the Northern District of California representing the government at the hearing, while not acknowledging any grand jury subpoena, agreed to push back any Packard subpoena response date to June 25 to allow time for briefing and arguments on the patients’ request.
Although the parties need to submit a briefing schedule to Pitts for how to proceed, the outcome is similar to that reached temporarily as to the grand jury subpoena challenge in New York City, where the next hearing is set for June 22.
In short, the grand jury subpoenas that are known to have been challenged are on hold for now by agreement of the government while the litigation is considered.
Despite that, though, the return date was June 10 on both published grand jury subpoenas, so it is possible that others are out there that have not been challenged and will lead to productions on Wednesday. (Of course, it is also possible there are other challenges that have just flown under the radar.)
Regardless, and as NCLR’s Berg detailed Tuesday in Baltimore, this is an unprecedented, multi-pronged attack on a small handful of children. What’s more, given the way DOJ is going about this, they and their families might not even know that their records might be turned over to the government — or if their provider has even been subpoenaed.
Law Dork will continue to cover this story. If you know about any previously unreported subpoenas, other related DOJ efforts, or other challenges to those efforts, please reach out. Chris Geidner is available on Signal at crg.32 for more secure communications.
For PRIDE: Accomplished Yet Obscure Queer People In History
I first read about Bayard Rustin in “The Nation” in the late 1990s. His story was both sad and inspirational. Here is some background on an unrecognized star (not that article I read years ago, I’m sorry. I have no access.)
Bayard Rustin
(1912–1987)
Bayard Rustin (1912–1987) was a human rights activist known for his work during the Civil Rights Movement
Rustin was a key organizer of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and was one of Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest advisors, especially on techniques of nonviolent resistance. Rustin was extremely active in the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and helped to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
Early in his career, he was arrested for “moral cause” which led to his outing to the public. However, once outed, Rustin was completely open about his sexuality and was never ashamed. Criticism and discrimination over his sexuality led Rustin to have a more background role in the Civil Rights Movement. He never wanted his sexuality to have a negative effect on the Movement, which is often the reason that Rustin’s efforts are not widely known. (snip-MORE)
Bayard Rustin: A Gay Man in the Civil Rights Movement.
Bayard Rustin was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights.
2HKJNR6 Bayard Rustin (1912-1987), American civil rights activist, attending Walter Reuther Press Conference, Warren K. Leffler, US News & World Report Magazine Collection, March 17, 1965
Bayard Rustin was an unsung hero whose indomitable spirit and relentless dedication carved a pivotal path in the American civil rights movement. Despite the shadows cast by prejudice and political adversity, Rustin’s life radiated with a fervent commitment to justice, equality, and nonviolence. His story is one of courage, resilience, and unwavering passion for the principles he held dear.
A Foundation of Activism
Born on March 17, 1912, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Rustin was nurtured in a household steeped in activism and moral conviction. Raised by his Quaker grandparents, particularly his grandmother, Julia Rustin, a dedicated member of the NAACP, he absorbed the values of equality and social justice from an early age. This upbringing ignited a spark within him that would blaze throughout his lifetime.
Rustin’s early education at Wilberforce University and Cheyney State Teachers College further fueled his activist spirit. Though he did not complete his degree, these institutions were fertile ground for his burgeoning political consciousness. His move to Harlem in 1936 immersed him in the heart of African-American culture and political activism, setting the stage for his life’s work.
The Power of Nonviolence
Rustin’s commitment to nonviolence was both a strategic choice and a deeply held belief. His association with the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FOR), a pacifist organisation, was pivotal. Under the mentorship of A. J. Muste, Rustin honed his skills in civil disobedience and nonviolent resistance, becoming a leading voice in the fight against racial injustice.
In 1947, Rustin co-organised the Journey of Reconciliation, a courageous precursor to the Freedom Rides of the 1960s. This daring initiative aimed to dismantle segregation on interstate buses through direct action. Facing arrests and brutality, Rustin’s unwavering resolve demonstrated the transformative power of nonviolent protest and set a powerful precedent for future civil rights campaigns.
A Strategic Visionary
Rustin’s encounter with Martin Luther King Jr. during the Montgomery Bus Boycott marked a turning point in the civil rights movement. Recognising King’s potential, Rustin became a crucial advisor, infusing the movement with his vast experience and strategic acumen. His efforts were instrumental in the formation of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, strengthening the infrastructure of the civil rights struggle.
Rustin’s strategic brilliance shone through his emphasis on Gandhian principles of nonviolence. He played a key role in guiding King towards these philosophies, ensuring that nonviolent resistance remained at the heart of the movement. Rustin’s behind-the-scenes influence was a driving force that propelled the civil rights movement forward, even amidst escalating tensions and opposition.
The March on Washington (snip-MORE)
And from Quakers In Action,
Bayard Rustin
1912-1987
Bayard Rustin was a black Civil Rights activist, a close associate of Martin Luther King, and an advocate of gay and lesbian rights, and a Quaker.
Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania and was brought up by his grandmother, who had been raised as a Quaker. He himself became a Quaker in 1936, shortly before moving to New York where he lived most of his adult life. He was a pacifist and a primary influence in bringing non-violent resistance into the American Civil Rights Movement, much inspired by Gandhi’s approach in India.
In 1941, he joined the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation. He protested against segregation within the armed forces, and worked with the American Friends Service Committee to protect the property of interned Japanese Americans.
Despite his membership of the Society of Friends (one of the so-called ‘Historic Peace Churches’), Rustin was jailed in 1944 for his conscientious objection to cooperating with the draft. While in jail, he organised protests against segregated seating in the dining hall. In a letter to the prison warden, he wrote:
Both morally and practically, segregation is to me a basic injustice. Since I believe it to be so, I must attempt to remove it. There are three ways in which one can deal with an injustice. (a) One can accept it without protest. (b) On can seek to avoid it. (c) One can resist the injustice non-violently. To accept it is to perpetuate it.
After the War, he took part in the Journey of Reconciliation across four southern States, to protest against illegal segregation in inter-state travel. He was arrested, along with his fellow protestors, several times in the course of the journey and in North Carolina was sentenced to thirty days on a chain gang. The protest became a model for future ‘Freedom Rides’.
In 1956, he was asked to advise Martin Luther King on the application of non-violent resistance to the boycott of public transport in Montgomery, Alabama. In August 1963, Rustin had the mammoth task of organising the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom – a rally attended by twenty thousand people that culminated in King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. In 1968, shortly before King’s assassination, he drafted the ‘Economic Bill of Rights’ which called for – among other things – a meaningful job and a living wage for people of all colours.
Rustin’s concern for Human Rights was never confined to black Americans. In the 1940s and 50s, He supported independence movements in India, Ghana and Nigeria. In the 1970s and 1980s, Rustin became an election and human rights observer in countries like Chile, El Salvador, Grenada, Haiti, Poland, and Zimbabwe. As Vice Chairman of the International Rescue Committee he participated in the international March for Survival on the Thai-Cambodian border and helped raise awareness of the plight of the Vietnamese boat people. He was Co-Chairman of the Citizens Commission on Indochinese Refugees and helped found the National Emergency Coalition for Haitian Refugees.
Rustin was an openly gay man who had once been arrested for public indecency at a time when homosexuality was illegal in all US states. This fact was used against him more than once and contributed to his relatively low profile in the Civil Rights movement. However, in the 1970s and 80s he wrote a number of essays which drew parallels between the black civil rights movement and the gay liberation movement. In 1986, Rustin wrote:
Today, blacks are no longer the litmus paper or the barometer of social change. Blacks are in every segment of society and there are laws that help to protect them from racial discrimination… It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change… The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.
Rustin fell ill during a human rights expedition to Haiti in 1987 and died shortly after from a perforated appendix.
His life was documented in the film Brother Outsider.
His collected writings were published in A Time On Two Crosses.
Your Josh Day Next Day!
Weekly Skews With Trae
To PRIDE!
4 Million Proud
And we aren’t backing down.
The Human Rights Campaign has reached a historic high of 4 million members and supporters thanks to people like you. With our rights and freedoms under attack, our job at this moment is not simply to defend ourselves. We must rewrite what it means to be free in America. Because freedom must belong to all of us.
So this Pride Month, as we head into marking this country’s 250th birthday, the LGBTQ+ community and allies are showing up loud and proud — we’re reclaiming this country and its freedoms as our own. We say with our full chest: Pride is Patriotism.
Pride is Powerful
Real change doesn’t come from the top down — it rises from the streets, from our communities, and from people like you. With 4 million voices already united under the Human Rights Campaign, this movement is fierce, fearless, and growing. Together, we can ensure that our voices are heard and our rights are protected.
Trans Military Heroes with Historic Retirement Ceremony
Winter 2026 • Jonathan Lovitz He/Him
At a military retirement ceremony unlike any other in modern American history, five transgender service members stood before their families, colleagues and country to mark the end of careers defined by excellence, leadership and sacrifice. They were not retiring because they failed to meet the standard. They were retiring because the standard was changed to exclude them.
“Trans servicemembers … are the frontline canaries in the coal mine of our democracy as to who can be seen as not just American, but among the best that America has to offer,” said Shawn Skelly, former assistant secretary of Defense for Readiness and member of HRC’s Board of Directors.
In addition to providing the official welcome on behalf of the HRC Foundation, Cmdr. Skelly provided a powerful keynote during the morning session and panel focused on military benefits and the future of service for our communities.
HRC’s Equality Center proudly hosted this event on Jan. 8, 2026, to officially retire Col. Bree Fram, Cmdr. Blake Dremann, Lt. Col. Erin Krizek, Chief Petty Officer Jaida McGuire and Sgt. 1st Class Cathrine Schmid. Together, they represent more than a century of service across the Armed Forces. These heroes were also a proxy for the countless more whose stories we have not yet heard but whose service has helped shape a safer, stronger more honorable military and nation.
Photo Credit: Laura Hatcher Photography
“This ceremony is unprecedented,” said retired Maj. Gen. Tammy Smith, who served as master of ceremonies. “Not because their careers fell short in any way, but because they shined so brightly in a military that cast them aside as unworthy.”
As former Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall observed, what stood out to him was “how similar these read to those of all other retirees, and to others still serving.”
The difference, he noted, is that this group was not allowed to continue wearing the uniform. “It is a huge injustice, and an enormous loss to our nation.”
The ceremony was presided over by retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, whose remarks were as direct as his reputation for leadership.
“This isn’t complicated,” McChrystal said. “We’ve got to leverage every bit of talent that this nation has.” Excluding people who meet every standard weakens readiness and undermines the values the military is meant to defend, he said. (snip-MORE; each retiree gets to share, too)
Scottie's Playtime 