As I have posted before on this subject this is an attempt to push a fundamentalist Christianity on the entire rest of the public. It is an attempt to enshrine Christian nationalism and the doctrines of one sect into the laws we all must live by. The people doing these attacks want to make any and all LGBTQ+ content seem dangerous and harmful which would require warning labels. It is about demonizing the way other people live because the hyper religous don’t like it. The Christians are free to live as they wish and think as they want but they can not be allowed to oppress and require everyone to live as they do. They are a minority and the polls show the majority of the public doesn’t share these haters belief that LGBTQ+ people are dangerous or bad. The majority of people are live the way they want to and let others live the ways they want to. Republicans keep using attacks on trans and gay marriage to distract from real issues, to enrage their base to excite them to vote, and to demonize a minority group so that the status quo can go back to the 1950s cis straight white male hierarchy. Hugs
Some GOP lawmakers are attempting to rebrand June, which has been nationally recognized as Pride Month, as “Nuclear Family Month” in some states. GLAAD CEO & President Sarah Kate Ellis joins Laura Barrón-López to share her thoughts on this and a new poll around support for LGBTQIA+ communities.
maga influencer Riley Gaines sparked controversy after a behind-the-scenes video of her practicing a spot for Patriot Mobile and repeatedly asking what conservative talking points she should hit went viral.
Fifth place collegiate swimmer turned anti-trans activist turned MAGA trad-wife influencer Riley Gaines is drawing new backlash and mockery online after requiring her sponsor, Patriot Mobile, to tell her what she “feels very passionately about” in a recently leaked behind-the-scenes video from an ad campaign video shoot.
In the clip, Gaines asks what the MAGA brand Patriot Mobile wants her to say, asking what the “pillars” of her beliefs are and counting on her fingers as she repeats them. An offscreen company representative can barely be heard answering her questions.
The pillars listed include the First Amendment, Second Amendment, reproductive freedom is bad, and something about veterans. Gaines then does a quick take before stopping again and asking how exactly to state the beliefs Patriot Mobile told her to have.
The clip quickly went viral across social media.
You can watch the clip here on multiple platforms:
(snip-above is YouTube; there are BlueSky and other social posts embedded on this story’s page, linked in the title above. The posts are hilarious, as one would infer. Enjoy!)
Gaines was once the darling of the MAGAsphere, garnering invitations to the White House, CPAC, and MAGA rallies, but has lost some of her shine. She’s since even drawn criticism from MAGA Republican President Donald Trump and ridicule from both the right and left.
An ad campaign for anti-trans clothing line XX-XY Athletics drew widespread mockery instead of the sympathy it was aiming for. The brand, who made transphobia their brand—literally—released an ad on X featuring Gaines claiming she had been “silenced” by trans rights activists.
With her single focus of anti-trans bigotry and hatred no longer paying off like it had in the past, Gaines has tried to branch out to embrace other MAGA core values, but with very limited success.
Since it’s a new angle for her, no wonder she needs to be told what it is she now believes.(snip-end)
Today, this cartoon was challenged on Facebook by a couple of MAGAts.
One wrote, “One would think with the superior ‘intelligence’ of liberals, they could do a little better job at convincing the masses they’re right than grade school cartoons and hyperventilated delusions…….”
The other argued, “More dumbass dumbocrap shit.” Thank God, Donald Trump told him there’s a B in dumb.
The Trump regime and Iran have a peace deal to have a peace deal in 60 days. Donald Trump said that he digitally signed the deal on Sunday in Washington, and today, an administration official said Trump signed it in Versailles on Wednesday. We are not sure if Donald Trump signed it twice, or if he lied about signing it on Sunday, or what. Later, Trump said that he had signed it in Versailles. This regime that can’t even clean a swimming pool has not been straight about anything. Wasn’t this supposed to be the most transparent administration in American history?
Did they or did they not take Trump’s name off the Kennedy Center last Saturday? The Kennedy Center says they have, but we can’t be sure because the tarp is still in front of it.
It wasn’t until today that anonymous US officials read the language of the memorandum on ending the war to journalists after days of secrecy. The Trump regime blamed Iran for the secrecy, saying that’s how they wanted it. Who’s calling the shots here?
The terms of the agreement would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, outline a $300 billon plan for Iran’s reconstruction, and lift restrictions on the country’s oil exports. It kicks the can down the road on Iran giving up its nuclear material. It calls for Israel to end its attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon, despite the fact that Israel is not a party to the MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding.
The MOU is a 60-day extension of the ceasefire. It outlines that Iran and Oman will manage the Strait of Hormuz and that there will not be a toll for ships to pass through during the 60-day ceasefire. There’s no mention of there not being any tolls in the future.
This agreement is different from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated by President Obama, which Trump ended, which eventually led to this war. The JCPOA was broad in detail and was working in preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, while Trump’s Iran deal is about as vague as that peace treaty he signed with North Korea several years ago.
As you may recall, the so-called peace treaty with North Korea didn’t obligate North Korea to do anything. And this so-called peace deal with Iran achieves none of the goals that Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth laid out at the start of the war. But remember, Donald Trump is the greatest negotiator in the world.
This deal does not accomplish regime change in Iran. It doesn’t end their missile program. It does not end the persecution of its people. And Iran does not surrender unconditionally. What it really does for Donald Trump is that it gives him an out from this war, so maybe he can focus on his next conquest, Cuba.
Iran walks away from this conflict with more power and more money. The United States walks away with nothing it set out to do, and after spending billions of dollars.
Senator Bill Cassidy said, “Reagan is rolling over in his grave. Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive,” Cassidy said, “Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped.”
Cassidy found his spine after losing his primary reelection bid after Trump endorsed his challenger, and is now free to openly criticize Donald Trump. “This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” he said.
Senator Ted Cruz, who doesn’t even have a spine, said, “Giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president, unfortunately, is receiving bad advice.”
He also said, “Setting up Iran to be in charge of the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity and to charge tolls is not in America’s interest. In my view, the Ayatollah should not reap a single penny from the free transit of the seas.”
What does it tell you when even Republicans are not happy with this deal?
Creative note: Right after I finish the lettering in this cartoon, news broke that some anonymous administration officials had read details of the agreement to reporters. So I almost shelved this. But after talking to Laura and another friend, they convinced me that I should still go with this, so I did. But while building up to that decision, I wrote two more ideas that I like, and I plan to do them over the next couple of days.
In the latest round of primary elections, voters in four states chose candidates for the November general elections, and something something national consequences, something something Donald Trump’s continued clammy grip on the Republican Party, yadda yadda. Primaries were held Tuesday in Maine, South Carolina, Nevada, and North Dakota. And in California, vote counting in last week’s primary for governor was complete enough that Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, secured the second spot in the at-large gubernatorial primary, so it’ll be him and Democrat Xavier Becerra facing each other in November. Funny how Democrats somehow only frauded up the LA mayor’s race, while the very same vote count process put Hilton on the ballot.
One might even think the cries of fraud were complete bullshit!
(snip-we know about Maine. Lets get Dems elected to our legislature!! Click through if you wish to read it, though.)
South Carolina: Nancy Mace Out, Lindsey Graham Persists Like A Bad Odor
In the Palmetto State, Rep. James Clyburn (D) easily won his primary and is likely to hold the seat, for an 18th term in the House. Clyburn benefited from the Republican-dominated state Lege’s decision to not join the rest of the former Confederacy in redrawing every last majority-Black congressional district out of existence this year.
But before you get carried away and accuse South Carolina Republicans of having a fit of decency or ethics, several top Goopers in the Lege said last month they opposed redistricting because early voting was already underway for this very primary. Still, that’s better than Louisiana,slightly, in the voting rights race to the bottom. For this year.
The really big outcome from South Carolina was that Rep. Nancy Mace, of the House Republican Batshit Awful Caucus, finished fifth — dead last — in the state’s gubernatorial primary. After this year, she’s both out of Congress and maybe even out of elected office forever, though here we note that the evil baddies in slasher flicks never seem to stay dead, either.
True to hateful bigoted form, Mace was an asshole right up to the final days of the primary, pandering to xenophobes by introducing a constitutional amendment that would ban naturalized citizens from serving in Congress, serving as federal judges, or serving in any position requiring Senate confirmation. She insisted that three of her Democratic colleagues in the House — Reps. Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Shri Thanedar (Michigan), and Pramila Jayapal (Washington) — are “all making clear every single day their loyalty is not to America.” Jesus, what a vile person.
Trump’s endorsed GOP candidate in the governor’s primary, Lt. Gov. Pamela “not Nancy Mace” Evette, wasn’t able to get enough votes to secure the nomination outright, and will go up against state Attorney General Alan Wilson in a runoff on June 23. Mace endorsed Wilson, probably out of spite, although last year she had attacked Wilson, baselessly claiming he was protecting defendants accused of child sex abuse.
“Pamela Evette is NOT ENDORSED by DONALD TRUMP,” Mace wrote, incorrectly. “Do not believe her LIES.” Mace posted an AI-generated image of herself posing with Trump.
Oh, and speaking of assholes, Lindsey Graham easily fended off a primary challenge from self-funded business guy Mark Lynch, clearing the 50-percent threshold to avoid a runoff with 56 percent of the primary vote. Trump had unironically warned that it’d be a “DISASTER for the Republican Party” if Lynch won, which, hmmm, sounds vaguely familiar to something we heard a decade ago … what was that?
(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.)
As I have written about before this is simply a move by Christian nationalists in the military and government to force everyone to conform to their religious beliefs and desires. This is again to return to the 1950s when it was normal for Christianity to seem like the dominant religion of the majority of people in the country. The reasons stated make so sense for the purpose claimed as Belle points out. This is a minority fundamentalist / evangelical believers trying to force their rule and beliefs onto the majority. Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 