McDonald’s is the latest company to roll back diversity goals

https://apnews.com/article/mcdonalds-diversity-dei-goals-845d94cd46511341a43e98e057b0fa8e

Please notice the part of the story that talks about Robby Starbuck, if you don’t know of him clicking on his blue highlighted name leads to another story of how he coerced John Deere. McDonald’s claims they are doing this because of the SCOTUS actions on school admissions, but sorry they are not colleges or universities. They are a private business and have the right to set their own no discrimination goals and policies. By blaming the court ruling they are trying to divert attention from the real reason.

Back to Robby Starbuck, This sub human pond scum is winning because he uses threats of hurting the profit of these companies. Now maybe the shareholders are predetermined to be racist bigots. But if we want this coercion to stop, we must be as loud, willing to band together, and use our money even when it hurts. So far only one company has stood against him and Stephen Miller’s white power legal company. We must rise up as we once did, make the haters ashamed again like we did over 1970s to 1990s. We can retire meekly to our self-imposed prisons of our homes and acting straight or cis, but that will only encourage them. This is how it went down in Russia and the Russian controlled influenced nations. The maga cultist and fundamentalist Christian bigots are following the Putin playbook in lockstep. We have to show them the playbook won’t work here. And trust me it is easier to do now than in a future where they have removed all sign of the LGBTQ+ people from society. Hugs

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A McDonald’s restaurant stands in Albany, Ore., April 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

Updated 6:55 PM EST, January 6, 2025

Four years after launching a push for more diversity in its ranks, McDonald’s is ending some of its diversity practices, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision that outlawed affirmative action in college admissions.

McDonald’s is the latest big company to shift its tactics in the wake of the 2023 ruling and a conservative backlash against diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Walmart, John Deere, Harley-Davidson and others rolled back their DEI initiatives last year.

McDonald’s said Monday it will retire specific goals for achieving diversity at senior leadership levels. It also intends to end a program that encourages its suppliers to develop diversity training and to increase the number of minority group members represented within their own leadership ranks.

McDonald’s said it will also pause “external surveys.” The burger giant didn’t elaborate, but several other companies, including Lowe’s and Ford Motor Co., suspended their participation in an annual survey by the Human Rights Campaign that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees.

McDonald’s, which has its headquarters in Chicago, rolled out a series of diversity initiatives in 2021 after a spate of sexual harassment lawsuits filed by employees and a lawsuit alleging discrimination brought by a group of Black former McDonald’s franchise owners

“As a world-leading brand that considers inclusion one of our core values, we will accept nothing less than real, measurable progress in our efforts to lead with empathy, treat people with dignity and respect, and seek out diverse points of view to drive better decision-making,” McDonald’s Chairman and CEO Chris Kempczinski wrote in a LinkedIn post at the time.

But McDonald’s said Monday that the “shifting legal landscape” after the Supreme Court decision and the actions of other corporations caused it to take a hard look at its own policies.

A shifting political landscape may also have played a role. President-elect Donald Trump is a vocal opponent of diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Trump tapped Stephen Miller, a former adviser who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies,as his incoming deputy chief of policy.

Vice President-elect JD Vance introduced a bill in the Senate last summer to end such programs in the federal government.

Robby Starbuck, a conservative political commentator who has threatened consumer boycotts of prominent consumer brands that don’t retreat from their diversity programs, said Monday on X that he recently told McDonald’s he would be doing a story on its “woke policies.”

McDonald’s said it had been considering updates to its policies for several months and planned to time the announcement to the start of this year.

In an open letter to employees and franchisees, McDonald’s senior leadership team said it remains committed to inclusion and believes a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage. The company said 30% of its U.S. leaders are members of underrepresented groups, up from 29% in 2021. McDonald’s previously committed to reaching 35% by the end of this year.

McDonald’s said it has achieved one of the goals it announced in 2021: gender pay equity at all levels of the company. It also said it met three years early a goal of having 25% of total supplier spending go to diverse-owned businesses.

McDonald’s said it would continue to support efforts that ensure a diverse base of employees, suppliers and franchisees, but its diversity team will now be referred to as the Global Inclusion Team. The company said it would also continue to report its demographic information.

The McDonald’s Hispanic Owner-Operators Association said it had no comment on the policy change Monday. A message seeking comment was left with the National Black McDonald’s Operators Association.

DEE-ANN DURBIN

Durbin is an Associated Press business writer focusing on the food and beverage industry. She has also covered the auto industry and state and national politics in her nearly 30-year career with the AP.

Conservative Boycott of Small LGBTQ Business Backfires BADLY

A small conservative group in Lancaster, Ohio targeted local businesses and institutions that were LGBTQ+ friendly in response to an annual family-friendly pride event that held an outdoor drag show. When the group failed to get the city to penalize drag performers—and ban drag altogether—they then circulated a boycott list. Local business owners, however, were not harmed by the boycott. In fact, they saw a major influx in traffic after people drove from out of town to support the businesses after seeing them on the anti-LGBTQ+ boycott list.

J.K. Rowling Transvestigates ANOTHER African Cis Woman

Another cis woman from Africa has become the target of a transvestigation from Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling. This time it’s Barbra Banda, a Zambian soccer star who was voted BBC’s footballer of the year. J.K. Rowling insinuated that Banda was a trans woman and that her award was offensive to all women. This comes after she spearheaded a global cyberbullying campaign against Imane Khelif, an Algerian gold medalist who competed in the Paris Olympics.

Ben Shapiro Gets HUMILIATED By His Own Idol In Live Interview | Hasanabi reacts

I like that in this video Ben Shapiro tries his uninformed anti-trans ideas on Neil deGrasse Tyson. He learns the hard way between bullying a student and talking on a profession who understands and knows science. Not only does Tyson turn Shapiro’s anti-trans people in sports completely around on him, he asks Shapiro why the issue even matters to him. Trans people are no threat and are not in large numbers so why is Ben beating that fear drum. It is wonderful. Hugs

Cenk Uygur NEGATIVE Opinion Segment Casts Trans-Activism in NEGATIVE Light AGAIN!

This is a video from the Letterhack. I like the host’s clam informative delivery. I don’t know how anyone who watches Play Time feel about Cenk and Anna, but I do know how I feel. When this situation first erupted and Anna went ballistic on something that was only used on select medical forms and when criticized about it Cenk acted like a teen boy defending his hot girlfriend and went way over board defending her against anyone even vaguely critical and making threats claiming things that were said that never were. But here is the thing that because they refused to accept any criticism of that they claimed, they were supported by republicans and championed the cause republicans would use to win. From there Cenk and Anna branched into bashing Biden while claiming that crime was soaring echoing the right wing media talking point about crime and homelessness. Cenk then went so far as to attack trans supporters and advocates while trying to cozy up to republicans like tRump. I left TYT when Cenk said that the only way to win nation elections was to drop support for the T in LGBTQ+. He was so adamant in that, just throw them under the bus and when we win we can go back and get them. Yet the years that Cenk was pushing this all the republicans trying to run on trans hate lost. They lost by huge margins. But Cenk and Anna never admitted they were wrong using the time to go further right on other republican issues like housing the unhoused and finding ways to deal with crime. They ignored the real reasons for these problems adopting a hard right republican view of the issues. Anyone who disagreed with them was attacked vigorously.

So here is a video and I am not sure at what point in the saga this was videoed at. All I know is Cenk, Anna, and most of TYT has lost the mantel of “Home of the Progressives” and taken on a more smarmy look. Look this is an important video on supporting the trans community and not on attacking Cenk. But we can not let anyone on the left claim to be the home of the progressive left and then give the haters room to attack trans people. Trans rights, trans people, are far more important today than maybe they ever had been. But if you know your history, congratulation you survived the educational purges, then you know that the Stonewall riots where the LGBTQ+ rose to defend themselves and their rights wouldn’t have happened without the valiant drag queens and trans people who used their high heels as weapons to defend the rights of all the LGBTQ+. We need to keep that in mind knowing we still and will always need them and their courage. Hugs

Cenk Uygur continues to use anti-activist rhetoric when discussing Trans-Rights in dehumanizing ways while neglecting to include facts in his wild opinions about gender affirming care for minors.

Man Sues Employer After Being Fired For Repeatedly Posting Anti-LGBTQ Bible Verses On Company’s System

Man Sues Employer After Being Fired For Repeatedly Posting Anti-LGBTQ Bible Verses On Company’s System

This person was not fired for his religious beliefs. He was fired for pushing his beliefs on others and doing something at work on work property that their employer told them not to do. How many of us get to disregard the orders of our bosses and when fired claim it was because of ours religious beliefs?

But this is entirely about getting the case to the SCOTUS to move the US a little closer to making Christianity the official religion of the country, and cementing into law that Christians do not have to follow the non-discrimination laws due to being Christians, so above such laws. It is about making Christians above any law or rule because of … god, because you can make the bible say anything you desire. It is about making it legal for Christians to push their religious beliefs on coworkers while insulting and refusing to work with those they claim their god dislikes. And forcing the employer to make special concessions to them again based on what they claim their holy book says and it is only their holy book that counts. Hugs.

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January 3, 2025 Christianists, LGBT News

Law.com reports:

Eli Lilly & Co. has been hit with a suit claiming it fired a New Jersey drug sales representative for holding a biblically based view on sexual morality. In a case that pits an employee’s right to religious expression against the company’s support of its LGBTQ+ workers, plaintiff Jonathan Samaniego claims he was terminated based on his religious views, in violation of Title VII and New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination.

In Samaniego v. Eli Lilly & Co., the plaintiff began posting scripture passages during a discussion of Pride Month on the company’s in-house employee communication system, Yammer.

On June 14, 2024, Samaniego’s manager, Jacqueline Porter, posted a lengthy message about Pride Month on Yammer, according to the lawsuit. According to Samaniego’s suit, the plaintiff prayed about how to respond to Porter’s Pride Month posting, then made his own post to Yammer from the book of Leviticus, which said, “You shall not sleep with a male as a with a woman. It is an abomination.”

Read the full article.

According to the report, Samaniego was called into HR and told to refrain from such future postings on the company’s system.

However, days later he reportedly posted anti-gay bible verses again, including this from Corinthians: “Do you know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

After refusing to sign a directive agreeing to stop the postings, he was then terminated, per the report.

Samaniego is being represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation, which appeared here in 2022 when they sued to block LGBTQ-related questions from the US Census.

The group first appeared on JMG in 2010 when they sued then-California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in an attempt to force him to defend Proposition 8 in federal court.

In 2012, they attempted to force a California state referendum that would have banned mentioning LGBTQ figures in history lessons.

Also in 2012, they attempted to sanction DOJ attorneys for opposing the Defense of Marriage Act.

The group has repeatedly sued to overturn state bans on ex-gay torture, claiming that 80% of ex-gay “conversions” are successful.

In 2019 they sued California to end sexual education and HIV prevention instructions in public schools.

The Pacific Justice Institute, their parent organization, was named a hate group by the SPLC in 2014.

Since the advent of the pandemic, the group has also filed multiple lawsuits against COVID protocols and vaccine mandates.

Ann Kah16 hours ago

“…fired …for holding a biblically based view on sexual morality…”

No, you have the right to hold any view you choose. You were fired for spreading it around on company media, which you mistakenly thought was a pulpit. Your religious beliefs are YOUR beliefs, just yours.

Stoned and loving it 17 hours ago

you have every right to wallow in your own ignorance. you have no right to fling your wallow shit at others. mind your own damn business.

Chris H.17 hours ago

Company property. No different than spray painting bible quotes on a building.

FireCrown-No Kings in the USA!17 hours ago edited

The right to freedom of speech and to religious practice is not an entitlement to use your employer’s systems to spread your personal views.

He should lose, but I have no faith in SCOTUS. (If it reaches them and they take it up, which isn’t guaranteed.)

Jean-Marc Canada – ✓ᵛᵉʳᶦᶠᶦᵉᵈ17 hours ago

Dear Religious Fucknut,

The company has a right to its policies, seriously, it’s right there in virtually every employee handbook of the majority of companies. You used company property to push your cult bullshit, thus committing acts of discrimination, they warned you and you chose to violate the policy again.

Also, this is in no way a Title VII violation of your rights as you had been told, via the company, that you were violating their employee guidelines and non-discrimination policy that they set. The irony of you suing for doing what you claim they did to you is hilarious. This should be laughed out of court, but in present day USA, anything religious takes priority, even over other human rights.

Ridiculous nonsense

Gay couple brought to tears as Japanese court rules marriage equality ban unconstitutional

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/12/gay-couple-brought-to-tears-as-japanese-court-rules-marriage-equality-ban-unconstitutional/

As other countries with much smaller fundamentalist Christian influence over the government are working steadily towards equality and full legal rights of the LGBTQ+ communities the US is falling backwards in a regressive retreat of minority rights. Again for some reason driven by fundamentalist Christian religious groups who create problems that never existed and use lies to promote disinformation creating hate towards the minorities they target. You ask why the republicans have partnered with these fundamentalist Christians? Because both groups seen the lost of group power over society they banded together to force society back to a time and culture when they did have majority power. It comes down to power over others, and control of society. I did not think that Christians believed in that. At least I know Rev. Ed Trevors doesn’t. But for far too many tradition, what was done by my grandparents, done by my parents, should be done by me also. That is wrong because time, cultures, and the understandings change. Hugs.

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One of the same-sex partners uncontrollably cried as the judge read the ruling.

By Daniel Villarreal Friday, December 13, 2024

2017 MAY 08. TOKYO JAPAN. LGBT rainbow flag covered on back of a man

The Fukuoka High Court of Japan has become the third of Japan’s eight high courts to rule that the government’s policy against same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. However, the court upheld a lower court ruling that dismissed three same-sex couples who had sought 1 million yen ($6,540) each for being denied their constitutional rights to gender and legal equality, individual dignity, and the pursuit of happiness.

The couples, who live in the southwestern cities of Fukuoka and Kumamoto, had their damage claims dismissed by the Fukuoka District Court in 2023 after the court ruled that the government wasn’t obliged to compensate them or legalize marriage equality legislation despite being in “state of unconstitutionality,” The Mainichi reported.

Related:

Historic Japan court ruling allows trans woman to change gender without surgery

Trans people just scored an important win for bodily autonomy and freedom.

High Court Judge Takeshi Okada ruled that civil laws forbidding same-sex marriages violate the nation’s constitution, saying, “There is no longer any reason to not legally recognize marriage between same-sex couples.” However, he noted that any change in national marriage laws must be decided by Japan’s legislature, known as the National Diet.

As the judge read his ruling, a 35-year-old plaintiff identified in the media as Kosuke couldn’t stop crying. Despite this, his 37-year-old partner Masahiro said “[the judge] understood our suffering, and I felt very reassured.”

Opponents of marriage equality in Japan have noted that Article 24 of the Japanese constitution specifically states, “Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis.”

However, marriage equality advocates have also pointed out that the constitution’s other articles state, “The people shall not be prevented from enjoying any of the fundamental human rights,” and, “All of the people are equal under the law and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.”

Regardless, in October the Tokyo High Court ruled similarly, echoing another one made by the Sapporo High Court in March, which said that limiting marriage to couples of the opposite sex is “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory.” Despite the rulings, the country’s judiciary doesn’t have the power to overturn existing civil marriage codes.

Marriage equality has divided the country’s court system in opposing rulings over several years. Meanwhile, Japan’s conservative government lags behind increasingly supportive public opinion. Seventy percent of the Japanese public supports marriage equality, but it faces opposition from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The party lost its parliamentary majority in last Sunday’s election and will likely have to compromise on more liberal policies pushed by the opposition parties, like marriage equality, the aforementioned publication noted.

Right now, Japan doesn’t offer national LGBTQ+ non-discrimination protections or same-sex marriage. As a result, LGBTQ+ people in Japan often face inequities in employment, housing, education, and health care.

More than 200 Japanese municipalities offer some form of recognition for same-sex couples. Such recognition can help same-sex couples rent apartments together, visit each other in city hospitals, and receive other services that married heterosexual couples enjoy.

Though several jurisdictions offer “partnership certificates,” they’re entirely symbolic and don’t offer federal benefits given to married heterosexual couples.

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups have pushed for a national bill that would enshrine equal civil rights and non-discrimination protections into law. However, the conservative party of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida helped defeat the effort in the lead-up to the 2021 Olympic Summer Games.

Japan remains the only country in the G7, a political and economic forum of seven of the world’s most advanced economies, that has not legalized marriage equality. Currently, the only Asian countries that have legalized same-sex marriage are Taiwan, Nepal, and Thailand.

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Young LGBTQ+ people advise each other on how to survive challenging times

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/12/young-lgbtq-people-advise-each-other-on-how-to-survive-challenging-times/

“Just look for the people who love you no matter what.”

By Daniel Villarreal Wednesday, December 11, 2024

With a record number of social and political stressors facing young LGBTQ+ people, the Trevor Project has released a collection of advice given by young queers to their peers.

The responses were taken from the organization’s 2024 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People which made the following open-ended request to respondents (who were between the ages of 13 and 24): “We would love for you to share a message of advice or encouragement to other young people in the LGBTQ community.”

Related:

Pro-LGBTQ+ laws boost queer people’s mental health

“I walk around my city, and I see businesses that have gay pride flags and pride flags in their windows,” one gay man said.

One respondent wrote, “Finding a sense of community helps so much, whether it’s online or in person. Just find a place where you can ask questions and read about other people’s experiences.”

Another stressed the importance of envisioning a better future and doing what one can to cultivate community support now.

“Find your group and work towards where you wanna be in life and you’ll make it there,” one wrote, as other offered encouraging words like, “Keep pushing,” “Keep going for another day,” “Just keep going, please,” and “Please keep strong.”

Another urged resilience and perseverance. “Be yourself always,” they wrote. “You may lose connections along the way but trust, there’s someone out there who will love you.” Another respondent agreed, writing, “Just look for the people who love you no matter what.”

Others urged self-compassion and patience as young people figure out their identities. One such message said, “Don’t rush finding your identity. Take your time to explore, and don’t be afraid to take up labels if they feel right at the time.”

Some respondents suggested repeating self-affirmations like the following:

I love you.

I believe in you.

You got this.

You are so strong and you are deserving of love always.

“Wake up everyday, and tell yourself you love yourself — until, one day, you believe it,” one young person wrote.

Other respondents acknowledged the adversity faced by young LGBTQ+ people, whether in politics or unaccepting homes.

“[It’s] very easy to think that the entire world [despises] you for who you are when your home environment conveys that,” one wrote. “You might not feel safe and happy now,” another wrote, “but hopefully, there will come a day when you find your home.”

“Don’t let the people around you tell you that you can’t love who you want and feel what you want to feel,” one respondent wrote.

Another added, “I know things look down right now and it’s hard to see past the hate that’s being spread but it always helps to remember that most people don’t hate us and that there are tons of us out there that are willing to help.”

“We’ve always been here. And we always will be,” another wrote. “They cannot erase us.”

Other respondents advised doing things to lessen negativity.

“Ignore the Idiots and cut people off if [you] have too [sic]. Life is too short to care what people think about you and they don’t even have to live your life and experience the things you do.”

In the same vein, another respondent replied, “Don’t let the people around you tell you that you can’t love who you want and feel what you want to feel.”

“Peer support is associated with lower levels of emotional and behavioral distress among LGBTQ+ young people,” the Trevor Project wrote. “However, not all LGBTQ+ young people have consistent access to peer support, especially LGBTQ+ young people who hold multiple marginalized identities.”

As such “hearing words of encouragement and advice from fellow LGBTQ+ young people has never been more needed,” the group added.

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This government just took a major step towards banning anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2024/12/this-government-just-took-a-major-step-towards-banning-anti-lgbtq-hate-speech/

We in the US need to have the same hope and constant drive as the LGBTQ+ in Poland. See their government is anti-LGBTQ+ and the leader calls them “evil”. But they did not give up and kept working to change the hearts and minds of the people. And it is working. We need to do the same. Hugs.

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The proposed legislation still has a long way to go, but advocates are optimistic.

By Mira Lazine Monday, December 2, 2024

June 10, 2018: Warsaw’s LGBTQ pride equality march

Poland made a landmark move for LGBTQ+ rights after it banned hate speech against sexual orientation and gender in a new set of regulations.

Currently, the country’s laws prohibit hate speech on the basis of race, religion, and ethnicity. “These provisions do not provide sufficient protection for all minority groups who are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, prejudice and violence,” the national justice ministry said.

Related:

Polish state TV anchor issues extraordinary on-air public apology to LGBTQ+ people

After years of government persecution, the move was unprecedented.

“The new regulations aim to more fully implement the constitutional prohibition of discrimination and to meet international recommendations on standards of protection against hate speech and hate crimes,” the ministry added.

The United Nations Human Rights Council has previously criticized the country’s lack of hate crime protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk approved the new legislation. It now moves on to Parliament. If Parliament passes it, President Andrzej Duda will have the option to sign it into law or pass it. He has previously stated that he believes LGBTQ+ individuals are “evil.”

However, Duda’s final presidential term ends next year, and the ruling party hopes they can get someone to replace him in time to sign the legislation into law.

Bart Straszewski, an LGBTQ+ activist in Poland, told PinkNews, “I felt like a second-category citizen, and we were treated like second-category citizens. The government is telling you that you don’t deserve equal rights, that you are not creating families, and that you are an agent of the West trying to fight family values or tradition.

“The atmosphere was hostile. We felt that they didn’t want us here, but we still were here, we still were fighting for our country because we are part of it,” Straszewski added.

Poland previously has not been friendly to LGBTQ+ rights. During the Law and Justice (PiS) party’s time in power, the country became one of the most viciously anti-LGBTQ+ countries in Europe. Cities designated themselves “LGBT-free” zones and government-run media outlets regularly demonized and spread lies about the queer community. Gay reporters were fired from publications as part of the national purge.

However, advocates have been working tirelessly to grant protections for LGBTQ+ individuals. A TV anchor apologized this year for his past anti-LGBTQ+ statements and came out in support of the community. Activists also rejoiced when the Polish Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is not illegal, per Poland’s Constitution.

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Discover more

Representation: People who received Presidential Citizens Medals Today

They won’t get nearly the jabber that Liz Cheney’s and Bennie Thompson’s medals are getting, and all are good people. I emboldened a bit especially pertinent to this blog.

Biden Giving Liz Cheney A Fancy Medal Today, So That’ll Make Trump’s Butt Itch by Rebecca Schoenkopf

Every 2024 Presidential Citizens Medal winner is a better human than the bastard who’s about to be president again. Read on Substack

The first time Donald Trump was president, one of the ways he absolutely beclowned the office and rendered it meaningless was who he’d pick to give the Presidential Medal of Freedom and other similar honors.

Historically, such awards went to people who had done something important. Under Trump 1.0, it was more like “Here is the presidential medal of excellence in giving me money!” It went to Miriam Adelson, AKA one of Trump’s big bucks no whammies donors. (That’s the one where he got in trouble recently for saying Adelson’s award was better than Medal of Honor winners, AKA the military’s highest honor.)

Trump gave the Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh, before that guy waddled off to hell. He gave it to Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan, for excellence in doing congressional coverups for Trump or something.

We are sure Trump 2.0 will make those recipients look like American patriots.

The Presidential Citizens Medal is the award just below the Medal of Freedom, and Trump didn’t seem to give much of a shit about it during his first term. He awarded it in 2019 to a 9/11 first responder, posthumously. But that appears to be it. The award is given to someone “who has performed exemplary deeds or services for his or her country or fellow citizens,” so you can see why it might not get Trump very excited.

President Joe Biden is big on giving it, though. In 2023, he gave it to people like Capitol Police officers Michael Fanone and Aquilino Gonell, who protected Congress during the terrorist attack Trump’s supporters committed on January 6, 2021. (He awarded it posthumously to former Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died after he was assaulted by Trump supporters at the Capitol that day.) Also to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the Georgia election workers Rudy Giuliani owes all his money to, for repeatedly lying about and defaming them.

In all, he gave it to 12 people who in various ways defended American democracy from Trump’s attacks in 2020.

Now, today, Biden is giving another set of 20 of these medals for 2024, and damn, they are just more people Donald Trump could never ever fucking be, not in a million years, not if he went to the Emerald City and grabbed the Wizard by the pussy and begged him for a soul, or for integrity, or decency, or goodness. (In this mental image Elon is in drag as Dorothy, obviously.)

Liz Cheney is getting one for her work on the House January 6 Select Committee, and all the ways she’s stood up to defend democracy the last couple years, so that’ll piss Trump the fuck off.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, who co-chaired the January 6 Committee with Cheney, will also receive the medal.

We are sure Trump will have some sort of hallucinatory conniption about how they deleted all the evidence that TOTALLY EXONERATES him, because once Trump gets an incorrect conspiracy theory mangled up inside that big ugly head of his, he never gets free of it.

On top of those types of folks, there’s Mary Bonauto, who argued Obergefell v. Hodges, AKA the marriage equality case, before the Supreme Court. Plus Evan Wolfson, perhaps the single most important activist over the decades of that fight.

You can check out the whole list here. On top of a number of former politicians like Bill Bradley and Chris Dodd, it’s full of people with bios that read like that of Diane Carlson Evans, who “founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation to ensure female service members received the recognition they deserve.” Plus civil rights leaders and more women’s rights leaders, and so on and so forth.

And this posthumous award, which seems to contain a pre-emptive rebuke for the incoming Hitler wannabe administration:

Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi

In a shameful chapter in our Nation’s history, Mitsuye Endo was incarcerated alongside more than 120,000 Japanese Americans. Undaunted, she challenged the injustice and reached the Supreme Court. Her resolve allowed thousands of Japanese Americans to return home and rebuild their lives, reminding us that we are a Nation that stands for freedom for all.

The entire list is a rebuke of Trump, really. American heroes, all.

But yeah, the Liz Cheney part is the part that’s gonna stick up Trump’s ass and give him sideways bowel movements. Bet those sting REAL bad. (snip-comments on the page)