Monday, October 30, 2017

Think Progress - Trump's trans ban blocked due to his incompetence & laziness

Incompetent Trump gets burned by a federal judge.

By now you know that a federal judge suspended Trump's executive order banning transgender men and women serving in the military.  The details will filter out and I'm sure the anti-LGBTQ industry will have its (false) spin on the situation.

But for my money, I love the post by Ian Millhiser of Think Progress, who pulls no punches, particularly with the headline  A court blocked Trump’s transgender military ban because Trump is lazy and incompetent 

Before most presidents announce a significant policy change, they spend some time studying the problem. They consult with outside experts and various stakeholders concerned about the issue. They seek the input of senior advisers, who themselves seek input from a team of researchers and policy experts. 
Donald Trump, by contrast, is more inclined to simply announce a major policy shift on Twitter. 
This lack of concern with the intricacies of policymaking bit Trump hard on Monday.

. . . Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly’s opinion is significant for several reasons, including the fact that it holds that courts should treat all government discrimination against transgender individuals with a great deal of skepticism. One of Judge Kollar-Kotelly’s most significant conclusions, however, is that she does not owe much deference to Trump’s judgment thanks to the slipshod way that Trump decided to implement the ban.
. . .In reaching this decision, Judge Kollar-Kotelly notes that she may have reached a different outcome if Trump had followed a more ordinary process before announcing his new policy. If Trump had bothered to study the question in a serious way “and then decided that banning all transgender individuals from serving in the military was beneficial to the various military objectives cited, this would be a different case. But as discussed above, that is not the case before the Court.” Rather “it appears that the rights of a class of individuals were summarily and abruptly revoked for reasons contrary to the only then-available studies.”


Millhiser goes on to break down just how shoddy Trump's defense for his executive order was and links his loss in court today to the losses he suffered regarding his Muslim ban, specifically with this savage closing sentence:

In the age of Trump, liberty’s greatest shield is Trump’s goonish ineptitude.

'Kevin Spacey accused of deflection in coming out as gay after claim he sexually harassed 14-year-old' & other Mon. midday news briefs

Media Skewered For Focus On Kevin Spacey Coming Out Rather Than Harassment  

Furious, Many Accuse Kevin Spacey of Coming Out as Gay to Deflect From Accusation of Underage Sexual Assault by Anthony Rapp

How Kevin Spacey tried to get everyone to ignore his alleged advances on a 14-year-old

If not for the indictments and guilty pleas from the Trump campaign and administration today, the news that Kevin Spacey finally came out in the midst of charges that he sexually harassed an actor when said actor was 14-years-old would be THE mega news of the day. But still, allow me to convey a message to Spacey:

 Dear Kevin Spacey, 

No! No! No! Oh HEEELLLLL NO! 

Yours truly, 

the Gay Mafia

 In other news: 

Phil Robertson Suggests Listening To BeyoncĂ© Will Give You An STD - Bigotry makes one SOOOO stupid! 

Louisiana man sues sheriff’s office for HIV discrimination - A form of discrimination we really need to talk about. 

Lambda Legal to High Court: Religious License to Discriminate Harms LGBT People from Cradle to Grave - PREACH!!!!

Trump supporter makes fool of himself in attempt to 'expose LGBTQ agenda'

Editor's note -All of the anger should be directed at anyone who exploits the Kevin Spacey situation to conflate being gay with pedophilia. The Kevin Spacey incident doesn't mean that being gay is conflated with pedophilia any more than the Weinstein incident and several incidents regarding other heterosexual men becoming known mean that all heterosexual men are dogs and rapists. That's all I'm going to say for now because the majority of folks should know better. I say "for now" because unfortunately some folks don't know better. Don't even try to exploit this, Family Research Council, etc.

Arthur Christopher Schaper is not known to many, but those who do know him regard him as a nuisance. The Los Angeles Times calls him " . . .the Trump backer leading the resistance to the resistance in California" 

 Schaper, a 36-year-old unemployed Torrance resident and blogger, usually shows up at public meetings in his red Make America Great Again cap, wearing a Trump flag as a cape. He records his escapades on cellphone video, narrating in real time as he trolls in real life. Schaper's style — which includes showing up to Waters' office with a sign reading, "Maxine Waters Go to Hell" — caused the Republican Party of Los Angeles County to pull the charter from the Beach Cities Republicans club of which he is president. 

 And that's not his only endeavor:

 Schaper is involved with numerous right-wing groups, including MassResistance, an anti-LGBTQ organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled a hate group. He said financial support from MassResistance helps fund his activism. 

 Hence the video below of him showing the "outrageous" things a children's library is doing to celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month." This video was shot by Schaper in June can in fact be called outrageous but for its banality and basic stupidity. Come on, guy! Where's the beef?