Liz, thank you for the update on the Maine scandal created by Drumpf and his vicious minions and the slap down issued by the court. Who would withhold funding to feed 172,000 of Maine's children as leverage to force Governor Janet Mills to violate the state's constitution that legally supports trans rights? The heartless assholes who populate every corner of the current regime/junta, that's who. The GOP is always looking for its latest "villain" to whip up the basest of the base. The focus is now on trans people who want to play sports based on gender identity. According to Maine statistics, there are only 2 trans athletes competing in high school girls' sports out of tens of thousands statewide. The NCAA reports that out of 510,000 athletes there are less than 10 who publicly identify as trans. All of this mishigas over a virtually non-existent problem just goes to show you how deranged and cruel these lunatics truly are.
It was good (as ever) to get further information about just how nasty and petty the anti-trans bigotry of the Trump administration is. But interfering with poor kids getting to eat cheap (free?) lunches marches things from bad to absolutely contemptible.
That said I do think whether or not trans kids get to play sport with their preferred gender is not a hill worht dying on. It's small, indeed tiny, potatos next to criminalizing gender affirming care.
Criminalizing "gender-affirming care" isn't the answer, but it is worth noting that the medical and psychological professionals behind it once upon a time thought that women who wanted equal rights with men were abnormal or wanted to be men, and that homosexuality and bisexuality were disorders. Maybe when we manage to get our aspiring democracy back on the right track, we can take a closer look at what's going on here.
My feeling is that the USA is a mature democracy that has gone rancid or been overtaken by a malignant tumour rather than an 'aspiring" one Susanna. I also feel the misdeeds of past medical and psychological professionals are the concerns of historians when we have a crisis (perhaps a worsening one) in the here and now!
Slavery wasn’t abolished till after the Civil War; a case can be made that it never entirely went away. Women didn’t get the vote until 1920; white women were the main beneficiaries of the 19th Amendment. Native peoples didn’t become citizens till the 1920s. Japanese Americans who had committed no crime were interned during WW2. African Americans didn’t get full civil rights and voting rights till the mid-1960s — and the backlash has never stopped. Neither, fortunately, has the struggle of people of color and women in general for full civil rights. This is what I meant by “aspiring.” I guess some privileged white men might think it’s been all downhill since, say, 1787, but many of us disagree.
And we are talking about 2 kids playing sports in the entire state. No one seemed to have an issue with it at the time--until Laura Libby, an self righteous busybody state rep from Auburn, took photos and published them online, doxxing the poor kid. This is a distraction; a tempest in a teacup, considering everything else going on.
Yes it was a tempest in a teacup, T.L, Mills but the analogy breaks down given that serious damage was done by this tempest for all the pettiness of the original point. But yeah, not all metaphors are 100% accurate.
It's heartening to read accounts like the above that can report the good guys occasionally do win battles with this poisonous administration. But battles are not wars and it is near certain Trump's team will find other avenues to assail Maine.
Kudos to Maine. Kudos to Janet Mills. This is more good news! Not all of the children on the planet have to starve just because Trump does not give a damn, because Governor Janet Mills does. She also cares about Trans people, and has not wavered like other Dems seem to want to do. She is doing her job. Wish Republicans knew how to do that. Perhaps they should call her and offer her a large portion of their taxpayer paid salaries to learn.
DOGE should reduce it's so-called, imaginary "savings" by the cost of DOJ attorney working on these ridiculous legal actions by Trump, as well as the cost of the judges, the clerks and the courts. At what point does DOJ just run out of attorneys, what with all the attorneys quitting and being fired. What a complete waste of taxpayer dollars all to placate a malignant narcissist.
When people stand up to trump it eats away at his narcissistic belief in his invincibility. He is an extremely mentally unstable individual and I think it probable that the more people confront him openly and publicly the more he will start to crack. Mark Carney did it masterfully in his WH presser forcing trump to cut the meeting short. Terry Moran did some damage too. Trump psyche is weak and getter weaker. More reporters and leaders need to break through with the truth.
Liz, thank you for the update on the Maine scandal created by Drumpf and his vicious minions and the slap down issued by the court. Who would withhold funding to feed 172,000 of Maine's children as leverage to force Governor Janet Mills to violate the state's constitution that legally supports trans rights? The heartless assholes who populate every corner of the current regime/junta, that's who. The GOP is always looking for its latest "villain" to whip up the basest of the base. The focus is now on trans people who want to play sports based on gender identity. According to Maine statistics, there are only 2 trans athletes competing in high school girls' sports out of tens of thousands statewide. The NCAA reports that out of 510,000 athletes there are less than 10 who publicly identify as trans. All of this mishigas over a virtually non-existent problem just goes to show you how deranged and cruel these lunatics truly are.
It was good (as ever) to get further information about just how nasty and petty the anti-trans bigotry of the Trump administration is. But interfering with poor kids getting to eat cheap (free?) lunches marches things from bad to absolutely contemptible.
That said I do think whether or not trans kids get to play sport with their preferred gender is not a hill worht dying on. It's small, indeed tiny, potatos next to criminalizing gender affirming care.
Criminalizing "gender-affirming care" isn't the answer, but it is worth noting that the medical and psychological professionals behind it once upon a time thought that women who wanted equal rights with men were abnormal or wanted to be men, and that homosexuality and bisexuality were disorders. Maybe when we manage to get our aspiring democracy back on the right track, we can take a closer look at what's going on here.
My feeling is that the USA is a mature democracy that has gone rancid or been overtaken by a malignant tumour rather than an 'aspiring" one Susanna. I also feel the misdeeds of past medical and psychological professionals are the concerns of historians when we have a crisis (perhaps a worsening one) in the here and now!
Slavery wasn’t abolished till after the Civil War; a case can be made that it never entirely went away. Women didn’t get the vote until 1920; white women were the main beneficiaries of the 19th Amendment. Native peoples didn’t become citizens till the 1920s. Japanese Americans who had committed no crime were interned during WW2. African Americans didn’t get full civil rights and voting rights till the mid-1960s — and the backlash has never stopped. Neither, fortunately, has the struggle of people of color and women in general for full civil rights. This is what I meant by “aspiring.” I guess some privileged white men might think it’s been all downhill since, say, 1787, but many of us disagree.
Trump is not mature, and neither are any of his sycophants. We the people need to be to offset that.
And we are talking about 2 kids playing sports in the entire state. No one seemed to have an issue with it at the time--until Laura Libby, an self righteous busybody state rep from Auburn, took photos and published them online, doxxing the poor kid. This is a distraction; a tempest in a teacup, considering everything else going on.
Yes it was a tempest in a teacup, T.L, Mills but the analogy breaks down given that serious damage was done by this tempest for all the pettiness of the original point. But yeah, not all metaphors are 100% accurate.
Very true, sir. And this matter has done and continues to do tremendous damage to the lives of transgender kids and adults.
It's heartening to read accounts like the above that can report the good guys occasionally do win battles with this poisonous administration. But battles are not wars and it is near certain Trump's team will find other avenues to assail Maine.
Scott Bessent is Treasury Secretary, not Commerce. Did DT misidentify his own treasury secretary?
That was an error in the piece. I have fixed. Thanks for pointing it out.
Kudos to Maine. Kudos to Janet Mills. This is more good news! Not all of the children on the planet have to starve just because Trump does not give a damn, because Governor Janet Mills does. She also cares about Trans people, and has not wavered like other Dems seem to want to do. She is doing her job. Wish Republicans knew how to do that. Perhaps they should call her and offer her a large portion of their taxpayer paid salaries to learn.
If MAGA Maine is so worried about trans kids, wait till they find out that some U.S. citizens have skin colors other than white
DOGE should reduce it's so-called, imaginary "savings" by the cost of DOJ attorney working on these ridiculous legal actions by Trump, as well as the cost of the judges, the clerks and the courts. At what point does DOJ just run out of attorneys, what with all the attorneys quitting and being fired. What a complete waste of taxpayer dollars all to placate a malignant narcissist.
When people stand up to trump it eats away at his narcissistic belief in his invincibility. He is an extremely mentally unstable individual and I think it probable that the more people confront him openly and publicly the more he will start to crack. Mark Carney did it masterfully in his WH presser forcing trump to cut the meeting short. Terry Moran did some damage too. Trump psyche is weak and getter weaker. More reporters and leaders need to break through with the truth.
Did Maine win, or is the case just making its way through the usual court process? I ask because of the comment about slow-walking. Thanks.
Glad to hear that Governor Mills has triumphed over the illegal retaliatory withholding of federal funds by the Trump regime. Thanks for this report.
I do love Sec. Dudek’s comment on “petulance” … how can irony not triumph without pots calling kettles black?
Bless you