What LGBT Americans Need to Brace for Under Trump

Some in the news media have tried to depict Donald Trump, a/k/a Der Fuhrer, as the most gay-friendly Republican president-elect in history. Nothing could be more untrue.  First, the comparison sets an extremely low bar.  Remeber Ronald Reagan who did nothing to assist long time friend Rock Hudson as he was dying of AIDS?  The there was "Chimperator" George W. Bush who used anti-gay animus to rally the Christofascists to return him to the White House in 2004.  More importantly, the ridiculous statement ignores two things: (i) Trump's pick of the hysterically anti-gay Mike Pence as his running mate, and (ii) Trump's pact with the Christofascists last June which he is fulfilling by nomination for the most part extreme homophobes to his cabinet.  "Friends" who voted for Trump/Pence conveniently ignore these points and feign shock that members of the LGBT community are fearful for the future.  A piece in Keen News Source lays out what LGBT Americans may face during Der Fuhrer's first 100 days.  Here are highlights:

No matter what Trump might do as president to signal his unique level of comfort with LGBT people compared to his Republican conservative base, the departure of President Obama, indisputably the most pro-gay president in history, will stand in stark contrast to what many LGBT people fear will become an inevitable string of disappointing inactions (at best) and hostile attacks (at worst).

And the hopes for a better tomorrow for LGBT people –hopes that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton made abundantly clear she supported – are replaced now with the uneasy feeling that anti-LGBT legislation will breeze through a Republican-dominated Congress and be signed as part of some “deal” President Trump might feel compelled to make to demonstrate his solidarity with his rabid right base and a certain admired foreign leader.

So, what exactly should the LGBT community be braced to see? Here’s a look at the most likely events in Trump’s first 100 days:

The Executive Branch:Contractor discrimination: President Obama signed an executive order in July 2014 that prohibits contractors doing business with the federal government from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It also added gender identity to a previously existing Executive Order 13087 that prohibits discrimination against federal employees based on sexual orientation. Trump could rescind both executive orders . . . .

Hospital Memorandum: President Obama issued a memorandum April 15, 2010, calling for an end to discrimination against LGBT people by hospital visitation policies that limit visitors to immediate family members. The directive applies to hospitals receiving federal funds through Medicare and Medicaid. Many same-sex couples now have the benefit of marriage to protect those visitation rights, but not all same-sex couples with close, long-term relationships do.

Education discrimination: In May 2016, the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice issued a “Dear Colleague” letter advising schools that discrimination against transgender students violates a federal law against sex discrimination. The Trump administration could issue a new letter with its own interpretation of the reach of Title IX. And Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, was a leading supporter of a 2004 ballot campaign against marriage equality in Michigan, and her family has given millions to anti-LGBT causes and groups.

Health discrimination: In May last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued regulations stating that the Affordable Care Act’s prohibition on sex discrimination in health coverage and care includes a prohibition on discrimination based on gender identity. The Trump HHS could issue its own interpretation of the ACA’s sex discrimination. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of HHS, Tom Price, has a long history of hostility toward the LGBT community. Plus Trump has already made clear that he would like to repeal the ACA.

The Republican-led Congress:Nullifying executive orders: Even if President Trump chooses not to rescind any of President Obama’s executive orders or memoranda, Congress could pass legislation to nullify any or all of them, and one Trump ally, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, predicted last month that Trump would rescind 70 percent of President Obama’s executive orders. So a Trump veto on such action by Congress seems unlikely.

First Amendment Defense Act: This bill was introduced to Congress shortly before the Supreme Court’s ruling that said state bans on marriage for same-sex couples are unconstitutional. The FADA is part of the effort to circumvent laws that prohibit discrimination against same-sex couples. It would allow a person or business discriminating against LGBT people to defend themselves by claiming the discrimination is an exercise of the person or business’s religious beliefs.

Johnson Amendment repeal: The Johnson Amendment is a law that ensures taxpayer money is not used to subsidize partisan political activity. Trump has said he wants the Johnson Amendment repealed because it prevents clergy from speaking about politics from the pulpit. A bill to repeal the Johnson Amendment was introduced January 3.

In the courts:The Supreme Court nominee: The most long-standing influence Trump could have on the LGBT community is through his choice or choices to fill U.S. Supreme Court seats. He released lists of potential nominees last year, and they all look decidedly conservative and some have a history of hostility toward equal rights for LGBT people. He will almost certainly announce his first choice within the first 100 days, to fill the seat vacated by the death of right-wing Justice Antonin Scalia last February. Replacing one right-wing justice with another right-wing justice may not tip the court’s balance, but it will re-establishes a necessary four-vote bloc needed to accept conservative appeals for review. And a second Trump opportunity to nominate a justice will almost certainly bend the arc of the moral universe at the high court away from justice for the LGBT community.

The North Carolina challenge: Under the Obama administration, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law HB2. . . . If confirmed by the Senate, it seems likely Sessions, with the support of Trump, will withdraw the U.S.’s lawsuit against the North Carolina law. It also seems likely the Trump DOJ will weigh in on the side of North Carolina should the Supreme Court eventually review the constitutionality of HB2 as other lawsuits against it continue. And similar bills are now proceeding through the Texas and Virginia legislatures.

The Title IX showdown: In the spring, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case, Gloucester v. Grimm, to decide whether Title IX’s prohibition on sex discrimination in schools should be read to include a prohibition on gender identity discrimination. Under the Obama administration, the Department of Justice supported the transgender student’s claim . . . . Under the Trump administration, a DOJ led by Sessions will almost certainly take sides with the Gloucester school district.

The Trump/Pence regime will likely be a continuing nightmare for LGBT Americans.  As for my "friends" who voted for this, they should not be surprised that I no longer trust them and will never feel the same level of friendship or affection for them.  True friends do not vote for those who seek to ruin your life and open the door to discrimination against.  The "I did not know" excuse gets nowhere with me.  15 minutes on the Internet would have revealed all of this.  I will not forgive such "friends" for the abject laziness.  

Friday Morning Male Beauty - Pt 1

Tillerson Won't Say Whether "Gay Rights are Human Rights"

First we had Attorney General nominee Jeff Sessions denying that LGBT Americans face discrimination.  Now, during his confirmation hearings, Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State nominee, won't admit that gay rights are human rights.  Yet "friends" who voted for Trump continue to be baffled as to why I remain upset with them and find being around them difficult. I truly wish that these individuals had to walk in the shoes of typical LGBT citizens who fear firing daily and other sorts of discrimination so that they could get their heads out of their asses.  Here are highlights from the Washington Blade:

President-elect Trump’s nominee for secretary of state on Wednesday declined to specifically say whether “gay rights are human rights.”

“American values don’t accommodate violence or discrimination against anyone,” said former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson in response to a question U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) asked during his confirmation hearing that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held.

Coons also asked Tillerson whether he believes the promotion of gay rights is “a piece of our human rights advocacy and agenda around the world.”

Tillerson did not specifically mention lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people.

Coons noted in his question that he previously met with a woman from Zimbabwe who received asylum in the U.S. because she was tortured “for who she was.” He also told Tillerson, who was a member of the Boy Scouts of America’s executive board when it voted to allow openly gay scouts into the organization in 2013, that he was “encouraged by his tough leadership moment.”

The promotion of LGBT and intersex rights abroad has been a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy during President Obama’s second term.

Tillerson on Wednesday did not say whether the Trump administration would continue the Obama administration’s policy. It also remains unclear whether the position of special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBT and intersex rights will remain at the State Department.

Thursday Morning Male Beauty - Pt 2

James Comey is Running Out of Excuses

Comey - Trump and Putin's accomplice?

If Donald Trump did collaborate with Vladimir Putin to steal the 2016 presidential election, it increasingly looks like they had an accomplice" FBI director James Comey who broke long time precedent and floated a letter against Hillary Clinton just eleven days before  election day.  The letter turned out to have no basis - something likely known by Comey.  Meanwhile he was sitting on explosive information about Trump's possible collusion with Putin and the likelihood that Putin had information with which to blackmail Trump once he was in office.  If Comey wasn't an actual Russian agent, he surely gave a major assist to Putin plans to put his puppet in the White House.  As a column in the Washington Post notes, Comey is about of excuses for his actions harming Clinton while protecting Trump.  Here are column highlights:

The rash of stories on Donald Trump and Russia published Tuesday leave many questions unanswered. The allegations, as sensational as some are and as damning as others are, are just that: allegations. Intelligence agencies (not to mention countless news outlets) have sought to verify them for months now, with little or no success. Though it might be nice to imagine Trump’s presidency collapsing before it’s even begun, the fact remains that we know little more now than we did last week about Trump’s ties to Russia and whether Vladimir Putin’s government has compromising information on the president-elect. There is one thing we do know, though: FBI Director James Comey’s intervention in the election last October — controversial at the time — looks completely indefensible now.

A few hours before the explosive CNN and BuzzFeed reports landed on Tuesday, Comey was at a Senate intelligence committee hearing on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) asked the director whether the FBI has “investigated these reported relationships [between the Trump campaign and Russia]?” Comey replied, “I would never comment on investigations … in an open forum like this.” When Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) pressed Comey on the same question later in the hearing, he repeated that “especially in a public forum, we never confirm or deny a pending investigation.” (King dryly replied, “The irony of your making that statement here, I cannot avoid.”)

So Comey understands that the FBI weighing in publicly on open investigations, when charges are still being proved, is unwise. Doing so puts those being investigated at the mercy of innuendo and rumor. Yet Comey ditched this rule when he notified Congress 11 days before the election that the FBI was looking into whether there were previously unrevealed emails from Hillary Clinton on a laptop belonging to her aide’s estranged husband. (It should also be noted that this followed months of anti-Clinton leaks from Rudy Giuliani’s friends in the FBI’s New York field office.)

Worse, the search warrant for the emails unsealed in December shows that, as The Post reported at the time, investigators “had no new evidence of actual wrongdoing” on Clinton’s part. Meanwhile, the Guardian reported Tuesday that the FBI thought the allegations of ties between Trump’s campaign and Russia credible enough that they sought a wiretap on four members of Trump’s team.

[W]hile Comey stayed silent about new accusations against Trump, he piped up about a big nothing-burger against Clinton.

Despite a second letter later clearing Clinton (again) of wrongdoing, the blow Comey’s letter struck against Clinton’s poll numbers is obvious, . . .

Comey’s behavior remains inexcusable. It is a shocking and disturbing double standard: staying silent on allegations against one candidate despite reams of new information, while reviving allegations against another candidate despite absolutely no new information.

It is unlikely that a Trump administration will punish Comey for this mistake. History, however, will not judge him so kindly.

BBC: Second Source Backs up Trump Russia Dossier

While Donald Trump, a/k/a Der Fuhrer and his sycophants and paid liars continue to whine that the dossiers released detailing Trump's ties to Russia and the blackmail information Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has on Trump is "fake news," the British Broadcasting Corporation ("BBC" says it has a second source that backs up the information released by CNN and BuzzFeed.   That is what The Week is reporting no doubt to the growing dismay of the non-brain dead Trump voters who may be starting to realize that they were conned by a possible traitor and his inner circle.  Suffice it to say, the U.S. intelligence agencies need to shift into high gear and verify the claims against Trump and, once verified, Trump and other participants needs to be indicted and prosecuted. Here are highlights from the story in The Week:

BBC correspondent Paul Wood came forward Wednesday to reveal that there are multiple intelligence sources alleging Russia is in possession of potentially embarrassing or compromising material regarding President-elect Donald Trump. Formerly, only a single source was known to have been aware of the alleged material.

"I saw the report, compiled by the former British intelligence officer, back in October," Wood said. "He is not, and this is the crucial thing, the only source for this.” The Wall Street Journal alleges the British source is Christopher Steele, a director of the London-based Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd.

A member of the U.S. intelligence community also told Wood that "at least one East European intelligence service was aware 'that the Russians had kompromat or compromising material on Mr. Trump,'" Raw Story reports. Wood said that he "got a message back" from the U.S. intelligence community member and that there is reportedly "more than one tape, not just video, but audio as well, on more than one date, in more than one place, in both Moscow and St. Petersburg."

BuzzFeed News has been heavily criticized for publishing the unsubstantiated intelligence in full Tuesday night, which alleges collusion between Trump and Russia as well as the existence of a tape that would be embarrassing for Trump were it to be released. CNN carried similar, but less detailed, allegations. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday denied the reports and called them "an absolute fiction" and "a total bluff." Trump has called the reports "fake news" and dismissed all that has been alleged. .   

The number one priority of patriotic Americans must be to expose all of the information and either keep Trump from taking office or set the stage for his criminal prosecution as soon as possible. 

Thursday Morning Male Beauty - Pt 1

Wednesday Morning Male Beauty - Pt 2

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Trump Lies In Response to Russian Allegations

Throughout the presidential campaign fact checkers found that Donald Trump lied some 76% of the time.  Not that it seemed to matter to his low information, racists and bigotry motivated base of support. Now, confronted with information that Russia has potentially salacious blackmail information on Trump or even worse that Trump and/or his staff may be guilty of treason, Der Fuhrer does what he always does and says it is all "Fake News."   One can only hope that this time the news media and allied foreign intelligence services will ignore Trumps lies and go for the jugular and take the man down.  I find Mike Pence very frightening, but he might be a safer alternative in some ways than the narcissistic, megalomaniac Trump.  A piece in Politico looks at the growing firestorm that I hope consumes Trump and ends his presidency in its infancy.  If Pence is implicated, it would be all the sweeter as the GOP becomes the party of treason.  Here are article highlights:

Ten days before he’s sworn in as president, Donald Trump is facing a potential crisis amid reports that U.S. intelligence officials delivered a report to the president-elect last week outlining allegations that Russia could have compromising information about him.

Although the details of these revelations remain murky and unverified, their publication Tuesday night, on the eve of Trump’s first news conference since July, is upsetting any post-election honeymoon and forcing him to confront what is, at best, an uncomfortable public relations fiasco and potentially a new geopolitical pressure point that could cast a shadow on his incoming administration.

“FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT,” Trump tweeted at 8:19 p.m. Tuesday, more than two hours after the first reports began to surface.

On Tuesday evening, multiple reports attributed to anonymous sources contended that the nation’s four top intelligence chiefs informed President Barack Obama and Trump of allegations that Russia had collected compromising and tawdry personal information about the president-elect.

After the first report surfaced, BuzzFeed published the longer, unverified document that formed the basis of the two-page synopsis to the official report, which had been classified, that details the kompromat — a Russian term for compromising material — in graphic terms.

Trump, who survived a devastating scandal a month before the election after a tape surfaced of him bragging about his celebrity enabling him to get away with grabbing women's genitals, has had remarkable success pushing past controversies that would have sunk more conventional politicians and in counterpunching his adversaries.

But this situation is different — he's battling the nation's intelligence officers, not rival politicians. Now, it's not his campaign in turmoil but a nascent administration less than two weeks from inheriting the White House. And the stakes go beyond politics. With a matter of national security and geopolitical importance, Trump's uncanny ability to will his own, preferred alternative reality into being may meet its limits.

“I have no idea with Trump. You used to be able to say, ‘I think I know how this ends.’ But there's no way to know now,” said Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist.

Neera Tanden, a longtime Clinton ally and the president of the Center for American Progress, said Tuesday evening the new allegations should be fully investigated.

“The intelligence dossier presents profoundly disturbing allegations; ones that should shake every American to the core,” she said in a statement.

The new allegations will provide fodder for critics hoping to block Trump’s planned realignment with Russia. The critics fear Trump could grant Moscow a freer hand in Syria, recognize Putin’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea, lift U.S. sanctions, and even call for a reduced NATO presence in Eastern Europe.

At a minimum, they are likely to make for uncomfortable moments at Wednesday’s confirmation hearing for Trump’s nominee to be secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. Several Russia hawks from both parties on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee were already primed to grill Tillerson on his own relationship with Putin — with whom he struck massive energy deals as CEO of ExxonMobil — as well as Trump’s plans for U.S.-Russia policy.

While Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, was grinding through the first day of a long confirmation hearing, lawmakers in another hearing room were questioning Comey. Asked by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) if his agency was currently investigating any possible contact between Trump’s campaign and Russian officials, Comey demurred, saying he couldn’t comment on the nature of any current investigations.

Hours later, the reports detailing the addendum to the official report revealed allegations of an ongoing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government. 

Again, I hope the irresponsible press will this time smell blood in the water and go on a feeding frenzy that ultimately takes Trump down - and hopefully Pence with him.  

Did the Trump Campaign Coordinated with Russia to Steal the Presidency?

As yesterday's final post indicated, there appears to be growing evidence that while Republican elected officials at all levels were prostituting themselves to Donald Trump and his basket of deplorables base, at Vladimir Putin personal direction Russia was compiling it blackmail dossier to use against Trump once he was elected with Russian intervention.  But even worse, there is growing concern that the Trump campaign - and perhaps Trump himself - coordinated with Russian efforts to throw the election to Trump and undermine American democracy itself.  A piece in Politico looks at the reality of what some members of Congress are reluctantly in some case beginning to have to face.  Here are highlights:

Members of Congress made clear Tuesday they're increasingly willing to broach a taboo topic: possible coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

Their emboldened approach comes amid a bombshell CNN report that intelligence officials last week presented Trump with alleged claims by Russian operatives that they have compromising information on the president-elect. According to CNN, Trump was also presented with allegations there was an "exchange of information" during the campaign between his surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government.

Trump responded Tuesday night with an emphatic all-caps tweet: "FAKE NEWS - A TOTAL POLITICAL WITCH HUNT!"

The subject is one lawmakers have largely avoided discussing since the presidential election, even as anti-Trump advocacy groups have sounded alarm bells about the president-elect.

But that changed Tuesday, during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's meddling in November's election.

The hearing followed Friday's release of an unclassified version of an intelligence community investigation into Russia's interference in the election, which said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence operation to undermine Hillary Clinton and help Trump.

During the intelligence hearing, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) noted the extensive ties between Trump advisers and the Russian government and pointed to an interview shortly after the election in which a top Russian diplomat said his government had had "contacts" with the Trump campaign.

Wyden then asked FBI Director James Comey, "Has the FBI investigated these reported relationships, and, if so, what are the agency's findings?"

Comey refused to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation, saying he could not comment publicly about such matters. His response raised some eyebrows among Democrats and led to a biting response from Sen. Angus King (I-Maine): "The irony of your making that statement here, I cannot avoid, but I'll move on."

During his exchange with Comey, Wyden urged the FBI director to provide an unclassified answer to his question before Inauguration Day, saying the American people "have a right to know" whether the FBI is investigating possible ties between the Trump team and Russia.  "If it doesn't happen before January 20th," Wyden said, "I'm not sure it's going to happen."

And the intelligence panel's ranking member, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), said the committee's ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the presidential election should look specifically at possible coordination between the presidential campaigns and the Russian government.

"In my view, our committee investigation should focus on three broad areas," he said, before listing them: "The Russian hacking and release of stolen information; Russia's use of state-owned media and other means to amplify real and fake news to further their goal; and contact between the Russian government and its agents, and associates of any campaign and candidate."

On Sunday, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham also discussed the possibility of an investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, suggesting that a probe might already be underway. . . . Graham said he does not know whether there's an active FBI investigation but made clear he wants a congressional investigation into every aspect of Russia's election meddling.

Since the election, lawmakers have largely sought to avoid making statements that would appear to question Trump’s legitimacy.

But during the campaign, then-Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a letter to Comey, "it has become clear that you possess explosive information about close ties and coordination between Donald Trump, his top advisors, and the Russian government," urging Comey to make the information public.

Now, some anti-Trump groups are seeking to raise awareness about the Trump camp's ties to Russia.

"Whether Trump's pandering to Putin is a result of Trump's potential ties to Russian investors, impending business deals, or simply gratitude for Russia's hacking on his behalf — it's clear that Trump for some reason feels beholden to Putin," said the group's president, Jessica Mackler. "It's a disgrace that Republicans are capitulating to Trump and standing by Trump's attacks on the U.S. intelligence community and defense of Putin."

Until it is definitively proven otherwise, I will continue to believe that at best Trump is selling out America due to blackmail pressure from  Vladimir Putin.  Worse case, Trump could well be a full blown traitor.  If the later is true, I hope he is exposed, tried for treason and sentence accordingly.