We’re approaching the third Trans Rights Readathon! It’s an annual call to action that coincides with Trans Day of Visibility on March 31st, and it aims to uplift, amplify, and support trans, nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, and Two-Spirit authors. It takes place from March 21st through the 31st, and this year, there are five core prompts to complete, as well as a list of bonus prompts.
The five core prompts for the 2025 Trans Rights Readathon are Transmasc and Trans Man Rep; Transfemme and Trans Woman Rep; Nonbinary, Agender, Genderqueer, and Other Gender Expansive Rep; Intersectional Trans+ Rep Outside Your Own Experience; and 2Spirit, Indigiqueer and Indigenous Gender Expansive Rep.
If you’d like some recommendations for these prompts, as well as the many bonus prompts, you can find the reading challenge on Storygraph, where users have added suggestions for each. Just be sure to vet these, since anyone can add a title.
The Storygraph description also adds more context to the reading challenge, including making sure not to out authors or interrogate authors about their gender identity: “If information isn’t available in an author’s bio, social media, or on their website, they don’t owe it to you. In an era when people’s identities are being used to target them, please be mindful that we want to CELEBRATE these stories and support authors while keeping each other safe.”
Each prompt also has more information, including that books in the 2Spirit, Indigiqueer, and Indigenous Gender Expansive Rep category may not be trans, so to be mindful about language when discussing these books: “2Spirit, Indigiqueer, and other non-Western Third Genders exist outside of Western concepts of gender and sexuality, and an author who identifies as 2S may not identify as trans.”
Another great resource for the challenge is the Trans Rights Readathon Instagram. They have posts about the readathon itself, including how to participate: by reading trans books, reviewing and discussing them online (using the tags TransRightsReadathon and #TRR2025), and monetarily supporting the trans community (including donating to mutual aid funds).
They also have posts recommending books for each of the prompts. These are vetted by the organizers, so they’re more reliable than the Storygraph suggestions.
Leading up to and during the readathon, I’ll be sharing trans book recommendations. Let me know in the comments if there’s anything in particular you’d like suggestions for!
As a bonus for All Access members, below is a list of 27 new LGBTQ books out this week.
Exclusive content for All Access members continues below. Become a member for $6 a month or $60 a year to get community features and access to exclusive content across all 20+ Book Riot newsletters.
so, obviously, NSFW, for blue language (I tried to put space in, but the preview showed it didn’t work.) Enjoy when you can; resistance is happening everywhere! -A.
let’s all watch some MAGA shithead get bounced from a bar by Jeff Tiedrich
“I’m not fucking around. get out of my bar right now.” Read on Substack
everything sucks right now, so let’s put the focus on our hero of the day. sit back and enjoy the shit out of this bartender eighty-sixing some Trumpist fuckwad.
bartender: “get out of the bar.” MAGA: “why?” bartender: “because you’re a Trump supporter.” MAGA: “I know, but don’t you guys want our money?” bartender: “no, actually, we don’t. get out of my bar right now. [picks up baseball bat] I’m not fucking around. get out of my bar right now.” MAGA: “are you serious? bartender: “I’m dead serious. out.” MAGA: “because I’m wearing a Trump hat.” bartender: “yes.” MAGA: “that’s wild.” bartender: “I don’t care. get out.” second bartender: “we can call the police, or you can just leave.” MAGA: “you know this is, like, discrimination, right?” bartender: “boo hoo. boo fucking hoo. get out of my bar.”
fuck yeah. that was satisfying. boo fucking hoo, indeed. here’s your binky, MAGA. now take a hike.
here’s the backstory.
the MAGA asshole who got bounced — and is now whining to the press about it — wants you to believe that she was some innocent victim who wandered into a random bar and met up with some surly bartender.
that’s not the case at all. the cultist — and her friends — showed up to cause trouble, and they got what was coming to them.
the bar in question is the Chatterbox Jazz Club in Indianapolis. the joint is LGBTQ+ inclusive, and much of the staff is trans.
it’s possible that Fuckface von Maga and her fuckface friends didn’t even know any of that when they showed up to make a scene. maybe they were just offended by the pride flag hanging outside the bar, and decided that it was their divine mission to stir up shit.
here’s David Andrichik, the bar’s owner, to explain.
“We were set up. This was a plan to do something like this. We don’t believe the people that came in to instigate even knew what Chatterbox was, but they came in because of our pride flag,” which is displayed outside the jazz bar.
premeditated or not, these MAGA shitstains stepped inside the Chatterbox and immediately cranked the asshole dial way past eleven. they shouted. they got abusive and confrontational. they deliberately misgendered the bartender. and they got tossed the fuck out.
and then, they came back in and recorded the clip you saw at top of this post — and went whining to the media about it.
look at us, we’re the real victims here! they hated us for our hats! so unfair! come see the violence inherent in the system!
like their beloved Dear Leader, the cultists always imagine they’re the real victims — everything is unfair, and everything is rigged against them.
all we wanted was to hang out. the bartender was so mean to us.
MAGA, you are cordially invited to fuck straight off with your divisive hate. could you just fucking well leave people alone? they just want to live their lives in peace. next time you see a pride flag, just walk on by. the Earth won’t fall off its axis. I promise.
cultists, can we talk? you’re getting played by the ruling class, and you don’t even realize it. you’re being distracted from the real enemy.
‘keep the people ignorant and fighting each other, and they won’t notice the plutocrats picking their pockets’ is right on page one of the oligarch’s playbook.
and please shut the fuck up already about how unfairly you got treated. you acted like an asshole and you got treated like one.
you fucked around, and you found out. enjoy the tiniest of violins.
On Friday, March 14th, a group of individuals visited Chatterbox and intentionally misgendered and harassed a Chatterbox employee, resulting in them being asked to leave by our staff. They then continued verbally assaulting our patrons and staff, threatened our establishment, and returned to record a video which has now been posted on multiple social media platforms.
The Chatterbox is home to a diverse group of staff and patrons. We do not tolerate dehumanizing or disrespectful language or symbolism in our establishment. We have a right, by law, to refuse service to anyone who disrupts our business. We look forward to continue being a home for people who love music and appreciate our community.
I was at a shitty crustpunk bar once getting an after-work beer. One of those shitholes where the bartenders clearly hate you. So the bartender and I were ignoring one another when someone sits next to me and he immediately says, “no. get out.”
And the dude next to me says, “hey i’m not doing anything, i’m a paying customer.” and the bartender reaches under the counter for a bat or something and says, “out. now.” and the dude leaves, kind of yelling. And he was dressed in a punk uniform, I noticed
Anyway, I asked what that was about and the bartender was like, “you didn’t see his vest but it was all nazi shit. Iron crosses and stuff. You get to recognize them.” And i was like, oh ok and he continues.
“you have to nip it in the bud immediately. These guys come in and it’s always a nice, polite one. And you serve them because you don’t want to cause a scene. And then they become a regular and after awhile they bring a friend. And that dude is cool too.”
“And then THEY bring friends and the friends bring friends and they stop being cool and then you realize, oh shit, this is a Nazi bar now. And it’s too late because they’re entrenched and if you try to kick them out, they cause a PROBLEM. So you have to shut them down.”
of course, what happened at the Chatterbox isn’t totally analogous — Fuckface von MAGA and her friends weren’t polite, and they certainly weren’t there to infiltrate — but the lesson is the same: you have to nip that shit in the bud. zero tolerance for Nazi assholes.
fuck around and find out is in short supply right now. let’s celebrate when it happens.
if you find yourself in Indianapolis, stop by the Chatterbox and show them your support.
here’s your daily reminder that I can be found on Blue Sky at this link.
this is going to be my closing message for the foreseeable future:
practice self-care. do what you need to do to keep sane. if that means you need to disengage with my daily posts for a while, I get it. this community of ours will still be here when you return.
to all the people who have signed on in the days since the election, welcome aboard. settle in as we all try to deal with the shitfuckery that’s ahead of us.
we are all in this together, and we are all here for each other.
“I stopped breathing and my heart skipped. My pants were down around my ankles, and no one else was within earshot.”
By Rey Katz Mar 11, 2025, 08:25 AM EDT Updated Mar 11, 2025
The author hiking just outside Yosemite National Park in July 2024, after cutting their hair short, holding their pink hat.
“Hello? Are you a male or female in there?” a rumbling voice called into the women’s restroom. A man’s boots stepped across the threshold, clunking on the tile floor, as I sat alone in the stall closest to the door.
I stopped breathing and my heart skipped. My pants were down around my ankles, and no one else was within earshot.
My hands went to where my freshly shorn curls used to be — fingers twining into my 2 remaining inches of hair — and I wondered if I had made a mistake. I had been using women’s restrooms my entire life, from when I had long braided pigtails and my mom taught me to lay down two layers of toilet paper on the seat, to my road trip around California as a white, skinny, short, nonbinary person in my early 30s.
***
My partner and I were on an adventure. We had sublet our apartment and were camping in a van for the summer. We slept every night on a memory foam mattress in the van and cooked most of our meals outdoors on a propane stove. Immersed in nature, at a distance from society and community, I could recognize my true self more clearly, and I took the opportunity to explore a more masculine appearance.
I don’t have much experience with people thinking I might be a man. Growing up, people always assumed I was a girl. I still can’t cut my hair without shame, hearing women’s voices in my head: “Oh, but your hair is so lovely, you should keep it long.” It’s as if I hurt my community every time I do it.
Despite the shame, I had cut my hair earlier that week, camped alongside a beautiful, remote river. I trimmed a couple of inches off to give myself the 2-inch-long “men’s” cut I usually give my partner. He is supportive of whatever hair length I want for myself. I squinted into a little travel mirror and lopped off chunks, feeling bits of hair drift down my bare shoulders. Finished with the trim, I dove into the brown river water and scrubbed my scalp with my fingers. I floated in the sun, naked and unjudged by the birds watching me from the trees.
I didn’t feel judged for my haircut until we traveled back into town. While I was washing my face at the sink in a restroom, someone peeked in and then left. I put my glasses back on and walked out. A woman with long hair was standing outside, uncertain, wearing a long skirt. As she turned to face me, I said hello.
“Is this the women’s room?” she asked.
“Yes,” I answered curtly, forced a smile, and walked away quickly, past the word “Women” in 6-inch green painted letters on the wooden wall of the building.
I guess I had been gendered as too-butch-to-be-in-the-women’s-room. Affirming? Slightly. But it was a preview to an unsolvable problem. If I’m not supposed to be in the women’s room, but I also can’t use the men’s, how can I use the bathroom?
***
My partner and I found a lovely city park with a picnic area and gazebo to eat breakfast in after camping on National Forest land nearby. After a mug of coffee, I visited the public restroom. I didn’t expect a stranger to yell at me through the flimsy stall door.
“Hello? Are you a male or female?”
I was the only person using the restroom — the kids who had been in there a minute ago had left. I felt this man’s eyes on my sneakers and blue hiking pants under the stall. I was scared this harassment could escalate if I didn’t say something to diffuse the situation. I gulped and called back, “Hello?”
“Oh, you’re a female. My bad.” He sounded reassured by my quavering voice. I heard his footsteps leaving the room. My heart raced as I fumbled with toilet paper, fingers shaking. I felt nauseated.
My voice had immediately identified me as the “female” I didn’t feel myself to be — and all it took was two syllables. But my “female” voice had also saved me from further harassment. Would that man have dragged me out of the stall if I sounded “like a man” or remained quiet? Would he have looked under the stall? Would he have tried to check what was between my legs while my pants were down? Did he have any idea how much of a violation these real and imagined threats were to me?
And why was a man even in the women’s room, questioning me? Did a kid’s mother report me to her husband for looking too much like a man in the women’s room? Perhaps they were alarmed that I, with my short hair, had been in the restroom with their young kids. I felt physically ill at the troubling thought that someone would assume I would do anything harmful to children. I hadn’t said anything, made eye contact with anyone or done anything other than sit quietly in the stall in the room that matches my assigned sex at birth.
I felt bad for looking masculine to make myself more comfortable, because I didn’t want to make anyone else uncomfortable. Some part of me longed to return to my habit of looking more like a woman, but I also felt sick from not feeling right in my body.
The author sitting beside a mountain stream in August 2024, wearing the same hat, jacket, pants and shoes they had on during the bathroom incident earlier that day.
I can empathize with these strangers viewing me and my body as a threat because I have also viewed my body as a threat. I have been unhappy with the shape of my body, my appearance in the mirror and the tone of my voice. And to have that thrown back in my face in such a vulnerable moment — pants down, defenseless, forced by my body’s very personal needs to be in this gendered room — hit close to home.
It did not occur to me to call the police, because the last thing I needed was to wait around for law enforcement to judge my qualifications to use a bathroom and give a police report about someone I hadn’t actually seen. Instead, I texted a friend — a woman with short hair — to tell her my story of being harassed in the bathroom and share how uncomfortable that made me. She responded that women have screamed after seeing her in the restroom, and she’d had security called on her. My experience seemed mild by comparison. I appreciated her perspective.
For the next several days, I felt intensely conflicted and full of gender dysphoria. I was tense and nervous using public restrooms. I wore my pink hat, forced a big smile and strode in confidently, femininely, trying to look like the kind of woman no one would object to. But I’m not a woman. I came out as a transmasculine, nonbinary person in my late 20s — a person who feels more like a boy than a girl on the inside. A person whose anxiety and depression eased once I no longer had to hide who I am.
I have to choose between a women’s or men’s restroom in most public spaces, as unisex bathrooms are uncommon. Laws restricting bathroom access, which are becoming more prevalent in the United States, attempt to define sex based on whether an individual can produce eggs or sperm. In practice, people look at your body shape, clothes and hair and make an assumption about which restroom you should use. Most people assume I would use the women’s room, so that’s what I continue to use. Trans women often have harder choices. Anyone who pushes back on my use of the women’s room suspects that I am a trans woman. They correctly identify me as trans, but in the incorrect direction.
Trans women are the target of these “bathroom bills” and may encounter harassment and violence in either restroom. Being legally required to use the “wrong” restroom can out people as trans, which can be dangerous for them.
Trans women may need to go more frequently on average. One of the most common testosterone blockers, spironolactone, is a diuretic which means you need to pee often while taking it. The constant stress of navigating public spaces as a trans person with a filling bladder is incredibly — literally — painful.
At the park the day of the bathroom incident in August 2024, the author was wearing a hat, glasses and a fleece jacket.
***
A couple of weeks later, my partner and I returned to the same city park. After relaxing at the picnic tables, I walked over to the bathroom. A new porcelain toilet sat whimsically outside the building, prepped for installation. Uh oh, I thought, rounding the corner to see a plumber with a pickup truck. A “closed for cleaning” sign was braced across the door of the women’s restroom.
The plumber, burly, with a beard, glanced at me and asked, “You need to use the restroom?” gesturing to the men’s door. I nodded, but looked back to peer past the closed sign into the women’s room.
“Oh, you want to use that one?” he asked, squinting at me. It was a cold morning. I was bundled up in a knit cap and two layered jackets. Looking at me, the plumber honestly seemed to think I was heading for the men’s. I shrugged and took what I hoped was a few casual steps toward the men’s room.
“Use the toilet in the last stall,” he prompted me. Perhaps the other plumbing hadn’t been hooked up yet.
“All right, thanks,” I said, pitching my voice down, trying to sound like I’d meant to go in the men’s room all along.
I used the toilet in the empty men’s room to pee, washed my hands, walked out, nodded to the plumber and walked off. I felt rattled but also surprisingly comfortable. Someone had told me that I could use that bathroom, that stall, and I felt validated in doing the right thing. It was the opposite of being questioned for being in the women’s room. I hadn’t made anyone else uncomfortable by existing. Was that a success? Is not making anyone uncomfortable except myself a healthy baseline?
***
Although that experience felt validating, using the “wrong” bathroom can have very real consequences. In California, I didn’t face legal consequences for using a men’s bathroom. If I had instead been in Florida and refused to leave the men’s bathroom if asked, I could have been charged with criminal trespass, likely a first-degree misdemeanor, which carries a prison term of up to one year or a $1,000 fine.
Proponents of “bathroom bills” claim they protect children from predators, but assaulting children in restrooms (or anywhere else) is already illegal. A bathroom law doesn’t physically prevent male abusers already willing to break the law from stepping into women’s spaces. However, these laws can prevent trans women from comfortably and legally using any public bathroom, including restrooms in their workplace.
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace introduced the Protecting Women’s Private Spaces Act in November 2024. If enacted, this law would prohibit transgender individuals from using restrooms that align with their gender identity on federal property, specifically targeting U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride, the first openly transgender member of Congress, who would no longer be allowed to use the women’s bathroom at her workplace in the Capitol.
The author relaxing in a camp chair behind the van, with short hair and wearing masculine clothes, in September 2024.
I am lucky I don’t work in a place where I can’t use the bathroom, but navigating my gender identity is still a constant struggle — not solely with myself, but with everyone I interact with. I have to justify my gender expression to strangers and negotiate with them, whether or not our interactions are negative or positive. So why do I subject myself to this frustration? Because it would hurt more to hide myself every moment of every day.
Finding more authentic ways to express myself feels like a weight that I wasn’t aware of has been lifted off my chest, and suddenly, I can breathe deeply, newly grounded in the reality of my body. Swimming in the river after I cut my hair, I felt distantly afraid but excited about what was to come. I felt grateful I took this step toward my true self.
Rey Katz is a nonbinary writer, MIT alum, small-business owner, and black belt in Kokikai Aikido. They are working on a memoir about coming of age as a nonbinary martial artist. Check out their relatable true stories at Amplify Respect and small biz services at reykatz.com.
Canada is furious at tRump for the bullying treatment they are receiving. But Canada is not a small country that tRump can bully with impunity. The border is a treaty. tRump has no legal authority to violate it, especially for his personal gain. Ask yourself why tRump and crew want Canada to be only one state? It is made up of thirteen administrative divisions: ten provinces and three territories. Why not bring all of them in to one big country. Because that would wipe out the republicans, they wouldn’t win elections. Canada is far more progressive than the US. But again why does tRump want Canada. Because they have a much higher standard of living, longer life expectancies, the government works much better for the people than in the US. It would stop people in the US from pointing to the north and saying … “see they understand how to do it, why can’t we”. Now tRump is on to something great he is just too stupid to realize it. I would love to see the three major countries in the Americas join as one state, with equality and inclusion of all. Something like the EU but closer. Eventually it could include the lesser nations. Think of the ways these countries could help build a better future for all if it could be one country. But tRump doesn’t want Mexico because those people are mostly brown in his mind, Canada is white in his mind. He should have watched more Star Trek. Hugs
Stop the testing tRump demanded during his first term. If we don’t admit the bad thing exists we can pretend it doesn’t hurt us. Right. Tell that to every frightened child. The free tests are very important to people on a limited budget and it is a way to keep co-workers safe. If these people can test themselves before they go to work then they might not spread what they have to their friends, family, and fellow workers. In the story after this one is about a pregnant Texas woman unvaccinated who had measles and never told the hospital staff when she went in to deliver her baby. She exposed every one of the newborns there, she exposed all the woman who gave birth, their families and the staff. All of them should sue her if any of the newborns have issues or die. These people are so stupid. The US used to have massive infant / child mortality over measles. If it did not kill you, like covid it can leave lasting organ damage. It will make the other newborns getting their vaccinations in question. Selfish people who have not lived through the horrifying consequences of these preventable diseases, so they ignore history and science. How many children need to needlessly suffer for them to wake up? Hugs
The Governor and Lt Governor have referenced “measles’ on their Twitter 0 times. Dan Patrick has however posted about renaming the New York Strip the Texas strip, served with Gulf of America shrimp, 5 times”.
I love how people who never served in any branch of the military feel they know all about what it takes to do so. I love that people who claim to honor the Vet’s and then cut all funding that would actually help veterans and military people. It is like the pro-life crowd that claims they need to erase the LGBTQ+ people from society to protect the children then slashing all funds for feeding and caring for those very same children. Hugs
Study after study has been done by both serious military leaders and hate groups. It doesn’t matter who does a serious study of LGBTQ+ people in the military as they all show that LGBTQ+ are great assets for the military that increase military effectiveness. I have often told the story of how my sub unit begged me to reenlist when I was saying good by the site went down and I was the one that got us back on the bird. But the new company commandeer was a homophobe Christian and he told me he would destroy me if I reenlisted. The unit lost a grand technician with a great future in the military due to bigotry. Compare the personal life of Pete Buttigieg a gay man who was in the military, seen action in Afghanistan and is in a stable same sex marriage with children to the life of the new straight cis Christian Nationalist Pete Hegseth. Hegseth often called kegseth by late night TV hosts, has married and devoiced several times currently on his third marriage, he has been married three times, his first wife, who he admitted to cheating on five times, is Meredith Schwarz. He is also stepdad to Rauchet’s three children so Trump’s appointee for Secretary of Defense has four biological children and is stepdad to three. He is credibly accused of being a drunken jerk who harasses women, has committed domestic violence on one of his wives. Really a moral guy compared to the gay guy though right because he has the right religion and is straight cis. Hugs.
Read the full article. The Washington Times is a far-right outlet founded and owned by the Unification Church – which is better known as the Moonies. Surely homocons Scott Bessent and Richard Grenell are thrilled with a no-gays symbol.
My but all those pesky freedoms in the constitution being thrown away as fast as possible. Freedom to protest the goverenment, the freedom of the press. You know the very things keeping the government in check. Look the democrats said the project 2025 was designed to destroy democarcy and install a authoritarian dictatorship such as Russia or Hungry. Wake up and act because tRump / republicans want to make it illegal to do anything that is not supportive of the cult leader. Think about what is being protected in the stories below, it is the profits of the wealthy and the ability of the cult leader to simply ignore any law or normal decency that displeases him. Hugs.
I’ll be reposting this on many stories I’m sure… “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
The setting was part of an effort to emphasize the power of the institution Mr. Trump controls through loyal and compliant appointees.
CNN’s Jake Tapper just noted on-air that in the same breath in which Trump raged about a “weaponized” justice system, he vowed to himself weaponize that same system against reporters and outlets that serve up anything other than lavish praise.
Think about this :
A convicted felon lectures the Dept. of Justice on what should or should not be ‘allowed’, – having just pardoned over a hundred other convicted felons.
Alice in Wonderland would be embarrassed.
All this is carefully planned and orchestrated.
Everything Trump is doing almost exactly mirrors what Orban did to take control in Hungary. In fact, it’s uncanny how similar the takeover is.
If you want to see what Trump does next, look to Hungary.
tRump has a problem. First he promised he could solve this before being sworn in to office. Now he talked tough and attacked Ukrainian leader Zelenskyy while saying he would hold Putin to the agreement with the strongest sanctions / efforts. Yet when Ukraine agreed to a cease fire and Russia did not … where was tRump’s big tough talk. He back tracked and demanded that Ukraine give in more. Now when Putin simply used the pause to attack and take over a large part of the region in the fighting, tRump is silent on his promises to make Putin agree to the cease fire. In fact again he attacks Zelenskyy as the real problem and the other countries supporting Ukraine. He guys if you just stop supporting Ukraine and agree with the US / Russia we can stop this war right way. He will not and never can say a bad thing about his boss Putin, he has been compromised and is desperate to change reality. Hugs
Along with the above, those that claim tRump is not a racist simply never worked with / for him and don’t watch what he says about people. Remember that he wants only white South Africans to be able to come to the US on a fast track, he wanted to annex Canada but not Mexico who he has accused of sending the US rapists and murders, he asked in a meeting why we can’t get more European white people to move to the US. His company was sued by the US government which won the case for not allowing black people to move into his apartment buildings. Any claim tRump is not a bigot or racist denies reality. In tRump’s mind and many of his racist white supremacist whites must always be in charge over those not white. Hugs
with Mr. Trump having accused Mr. Ramaphosa’s government of discriminating against South Africa’s white minority
Trump had already issued an executive order last month cutting all funding to South Africa over some of its domestic and foreign policies. The order criticized the Black-led South African government on multiple fronts, saying it is pursuing anti-white policies at home and supporting “bad actors” in the world like the Palestinian militant group Hamas and Iran.
How long before Trump calls for invading South Africa? Rather obviously, this was done as a favor to Elon Musk, who is wildly unpopular in his home country.
Read the full article. That Trump’s so-called antisemitism czar is merrily retweeting notorious anti-Semites is classically Trumpian. Terrell last appeared here in January when he declared that Los Angeles’s “DEI firefighters have no intention of putting out those wildfires.” Yesterday Terrell called for a new federal commission on “anti-white bias.”
Again look at what these countries have in common. Being not white is OK if you are wealthy but if you are not, being not white is a ban from tRumpstaia. Hugs
In those cases, affluent business travelers might be allowed to enter, but not people traveling on immigrant or tourist visas. Citizens on that list would also be subjected to mandatory in-person interviews in order to receive a visa. It included Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan.
This one is so clear. The criminal is demanding his crime files never be released. Why? If he was as innocent as he claims he is why not release the files for the public to see? Because he was guilty as hell and this judge was compromised and working with the tRump team to do everything possible to stall the case until possibly he could be reelected making the charges go way. He was guilty. Look the facts are clear, he had the files, he was asked to return them, he refused, then told the government he did not have anymore, the government went into his domicile and found he did have them. What never came out was why he wanted so badly to have these files that was reported he picked himself and why he was desperate to hold on to them. Everything I have written is fact! It is reality! So apparently there is so much more in those files that tRump is terrified will come out. Why? again if he is innocent then let the files show it. But he hides and wants the files hidden and destroyed. Hugs
Trump posted an article to his Truth Social account this weekend featuring a deeply troubling image: a pink triangle—the Nazi-era symbol used to identify and persecute gay men in concentration camps—covered with a red prohibited sign. Historically, the LGBTQ+ rights movement reclaimed the pink triangle as a symbol of resistance, pride, and remembrance.
Trump
Truth Social
The article itself titled, “Army recruitment ads look quite different under Trump,” published by the Washington Times praises Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for refocusing the military on “lethality” and reversing Biden-era policies that embraced diversity, including ads featuring LGBTQ+ soldiers.
Holocaust Museum Exhibit of Nazi concentration camp badges
Max, Wikipedia Commons
The image, placed in the context of military recruitment, strongly suggests a rejection of LGBTQ+ service members, at least in the terms of recruitment, under Trump’s leadership.
Military ads recruitment illustration
Washington Times
Trump’s choice to amplify such an image is particularly alarming given Hegseth’s past statements.
Prisoners wearing triangles in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany, December 19, 1938
Heinrich Hoffman Collection / NARA
He has long opposed LGBTQ+ inclusion in the military, previously criticizing the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Pete Hegseth Lamented Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Change, Women in the Military
Now, under his leadership, Trump appears to be reinforcing the idea that LGBTQ+ individuals are unwelcome in the armed forces—not just through policy but through amplifying symbolic messaging with disturbing historical roots.
Pete Hegseth Campaigned to “Uphold Traditional Marriage” During 2012 Senate Run
Trump’s amplification of a Nazi-era symbol to promote this shift sends a message signaling a return to exclusionary policies that many believed were left in the past.
Michael Knowles, The Daily Wire commentator who called for “transgenderism to be eradicated” from public life at CPAC last month, reportedly starred in a student film as a queer character and dressed in drag in previous years.
The Daily Dot reported on Monday that when Knowles was in college at Yale University in 2012, he starred in a student film entitled The House of Shades. In the film, which runs just over 15 minutes, Knowles plays a queer man who seduces another young man at a nightclub he belongs to.
Near the end of the film, which is available on YouTube, Knowles’ character confesses that he has feelings for the man. A friend advises him not to get caught up on him. The unearthing of Knowles’ portrayal in the film comes after the same outlet reported that he had dressed in drag on at least two occasions in 2016 in a racist portrayal of Sen Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Ordinarily, Knowles’ performance in the student film would be unremarkable. But the Daily Wire pundit has aggressively argued in recent years for the upholding of traditional gender roles and strictly heteropatriarchal sexual mores, calling gay marriage “the most radical political shift our civilization has ever embraced” and attacking drag shows.
Knowles defended himself from charges of hypocrisy in a tweet on Friday. (snip-MORE he’s an arrogant little human, and hypocritical.)
Explaining the House’s funding bill. It has something to do with John Travolta and Nicolas Cage wearing each other’s faces. House Democrats actually all voted (except one schmuck) against it, and then they yelled at the Senate like so:
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): “It [the bill] is not something we could ever support. House Democrats will not be complicit in the Republican effort to hurt the American people.”
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), ranking Appropriations Committee member: “This is Republican leadership handing over the keys of the government, and a blank check to Elon Musk and to President Trump.”
Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA): “It [Senate Democratic votes] would be a capitulation to the Trump style of democracy, which is the movement of democracy to dictatorship.”
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY): “If the government shuts down with a Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican president, it will be solely because the Republicans have moved forward with a terrible, partisan, take-it-or-leave-it bill.”
What did the Senate do? Presumably I will find out before I finish writing this tabs! (The Fucking News)
What the Senate did, if they ever fucking vote on it before I turn this goddamn laptop and go to bed, goes here!
Trump’s economic excuses: stupid and lying! (Paul Krugman)
The FBI is demanding Citibank freeze accounts for Habitat for Humanity, United Way, New York state tax department, and a bunch of statewide climate investment banks, like for instance Michigan Saves. So that’s are you fucking kidding me! (Citibank filing)
Child genital exams without a parent’s consent, West Virginia? “It also says that all intersex people are ‘either male or female’ but does not give a basis for assigning a sex to them.” Oh, word? Word. (LGBTQ Nation)
Six federal agencies are investigating the two trans girl athletes in Maine. (Pro Publica)
I have not even a single clue what this means or how it would work, but the Department of Housing and Urban Development wants to crypto … ??? (Pro Publica)
Tesla owners, Polestar will give you $20,000 to not be a Tesla owner anymore. (Polestar)
Faine Greenwood went to Canada’s Gaspe Peninsula and would like to show us all the pictures. We are all super fucking sorry about all this, Canada! (Little Flying Robots)
That’s right I’m still hounding you to buy the pizzas. Detroit Public Schools is working on the assumption we’ll have budget cuts next year of between $30 and $80 million for just our district. You help me fund the girls’ Detroit public elementary school, and I help you eat delicious fucking pizza, mailed right to your door. Buy the fucking pizzas everybody. They’ll FedEx em right to your door. Pizzas. (Pizzas.) This motherfucking pizza ad will be up all month. (snip)
