Celebrate Pride Month: No Kings, but bring on the queens!

It's June, and it's Pride Month in the United States, and there will also be Pride celebrations and observations across the globe on various days of the month.

And, as usual, large swaths of folks are deeply and chronically offended by all of that. To give but one example, the notorious Heritage Foundation, perpetrator of Project 2025, published a screed in 2022 by a Dr. Jay Richards, Director of the DeVos (familiar name, yes?) Center for Life, Religion, and the Family. Dr. Richards foamed at the mouth about drag queens reading books to kids, to which he pointed as clear evidence that the LGBTQ+ movement had officially dedicated itself to sexualizing our precious children, meaning that Pride Month had, in his opinion, truly jumped the shark. (The very premise of jumping the shark was flawed, because Pride Month had never been anything to celebrate in the eyes of the religious and political right.)

Of course Richards and the Heritage Foundation were and are far from the only members of the American Reichosphere to be so profoundly aggrieved by men in wigs and makeup sharing literature with the littles. They're all still bitching about it to this very day.

It's not just the bogus fears about victimization of the kiddos; the Reich is offended by Pride Month on general principle. Just a couple of days ago the New England Patriots got blowback for posting a simple Pride celebration message online. And due to pressure from the Trump "administration" and the Turd Reich at large, numerous big brands in America have seriously pulled back from their own Pride celebrations. That's how intimidation (and fascism) work. I could go on and on, but examples of Reich-ous indignation over Pride are all over the Interwebs.

Not that any of this comes as any surprise, for the Pride party poopers are the very same ones who also righteously rail against Black History Month, Women's History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and any month or week or day or other period of time set aside to acknowledge any marginalized population. Anything that even remotely hints of diversity/equity/inclusion, or DEI, sets them off.

DUI is A-okay, though! And DonOld Trump's most notorious DUI hire, Offense Secretary Plastered Pete Kegsbreath, has chosen to kick off Pride Month by demanding that a Navy ship named after the slain gay rights icon and Navy veteran Harvey Milk be renamed. From Military.com:

A defense official confirmed that the Navy was making preparations to strip the ship of its name but noted that Navy Secretary John Phelan was ordered to do so by Hegseth. The official also said that the timing of the announcement -- occurring during Pride month -- was intentional.

But it's all in the service of a very noble cause, according to the official Navy narrative.

...the memo reviewed by Military.com noted that the renaming was being done so that there is "alignment with president and SECDEF objectives and SECNAV priorities of reestablishing the warrior culture," apparently referencing President Donald Trump, Hegseth and Phelan.

Besides, in the interests of being an equal opportunity hatriot, the Kegster is also apparently nudging SECNAV to rename several other ships that currently honor various people of color, women, and civil rights heroes. So it's all perfectly all right; they're not just picking on the dead queer guy.

"Why isn't there a Straight Pride Month? It's not fair!"
Whenever the official celebration of any marginalized or minority group rolls around, the Righteously Offended step up and proclaim that in the interests of fairness and equality there should also be an official celebration of the parallel non-marginalized or majority population. Pride Month, which of course honors the LGBTQ+ population, is no different, and from various parts of the Reichosphere we are hearing, once again, the customary loud whines that there is no Straight Pride Month. Somebody call the waaaaaahmbulance!

For those who really are too dense to get it, USA Today on June 2, 2025 offers a simple explanation, one of numerous analyses that can be found all over the Internet.

For the second year in a row, a bar in Ohio is offering deals for "Heterosexual Awesomeness Month," and lawmakers from the state have proposed a "natural family month" that explicitly excludes LGBTQ+ families and celebrates only families led by straight men with children. Utah passed a bill to become the first state to ban Pride flags from flying on any government property, though Nazi flags were allowed, and Idaho passed a similar one.

More than 500 bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community have been proposed in 2025 alone, about 2 in 5 corporations are decreasing recognition of Pride Month out of fear of retaliation from the Trump administration and hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community, especially transgender people, are on the rise...

The article quotes a journalist and non-profit organization founder who patiently explains that marginalized groups such as LGBTQ+ have been systematically written out of history, excluded, and made invisible. The vast majority of people in the U.S. identify as heterosexual, and their norms are widely reflected in mainstream media. The majority don't need a special day or month; every month is already by default "their" month anyway.

Pride Month is becoming more important than ever as the LGBTQ+ population faces increasing threats to their health and safety and their very lives under Trump 2.0. It's worse in some states than in others, but pretty bad all across this great land of ours.

Globally it's getting worse as well due to the rise of reich-wing authoritarianism.

What's truly offensive is the Tangerine Toddler's birthday parade
By now nearly everyone has heard of a planned fascist military parade through the streets of the Capital on June 14, ostensibly to celebrate the US Army's 250th birthday and possibly Flag Day, but also coincidentally falling on Mango Mussolini's 79th b.d. From MSN, June 4, 2025:

Of course, plenty of people aren't buying the notion that this isn't actually meant to be a birthday bash to match Trump's blockbuster ego. While appearing on "Steve Bannon's War Room" podcast, former Fox News host and current U.S. Ambassador and Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley explained, "June 14 is a special day. Of course, it's the president's birthday, so I'm sure the crowd will break out into a 'Happy Birthday.' Providential. And it's also Flag Day, Steve. So, meant to be. Hand of God, Hand of God, for sure." She added that tickets are free on the America250.org website.

A major military parade on the president's birthday, during which the crowd sings "Happy Birthday" as tanks roll by, destroying the streets of the Capitol, has some sinister optics. Still, according to Crowley, "it means a lot to the president." 

"Sinister optics" doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. Heck, even the Baptists know it's a very, very bad idea. An April 14, 2025 opinion piece on Baptist News Global site counted the ways. Among the 20 reasons listed:

4. Authoritarian optics. This would mirror regimes like North Korea, Russia and China, not democracies.
6. Veterans want support, not spectacle. Many vets say they’d rather see improved VA services than pageantry.
7. Politicizing the armed forces. Such an event risks eroding the military’s apolitical stance.
15. Trump’s record of disrespecting the military. Trump infamously referred to fallen U.S. soldiers as “suckers” and “losers” — raising moral concerns about parading troops in his honor. Additionally, he did not serve.
20. No modern president ever has done this for himself. Even Ronald Reagan, a fervent military supporter, never organized such a display. The last major military parade (1991) honored the Gulf War victory, not a birthday.

But the show, and the snow, will no doubt go on.

Fortunately the Resistance is really doubling and tripling down on this one, planning many dozens of "No Kings" demonstrations in cites and towns across the USA on June 14 (follow the link in this sentence to find a demonstration near you). There are even several events planned for my neck of the backward woods, East Texas. That's how pissed off people are getting.

And here's a little song to celebrate their pissed-off-ness. There ain't no kings in the USA!

But there are plenty of gays, like the adorable Randy Rainbow. And there are plenty of other non-heterosexual, non-binary, non CIS-gender folks whose rights matter every bit as much as those of the majority.

So this month, let's celebrate love and laughter -- nonviolently, of course! -- in hopes that those celebrations overshadow the hate and the fascism and even the Big Birthday parade.

Related on this Whirled:
June 2015 -- Love wins, but hate is still throwing tantrums over there in the corner: A celebration of the June 26, 2015 decision by SCOTUS to legalize same-sex marriage across the country. Clearly it's a right that couldn't be taken for granted back then, and is in serious danger now.

Before you leave...
While money cannot make some personal nightmares go away, it can make them far easier to bear. With my husband Ron's passing, I have experienced significant income loss and am scrambling to find more work, but in an industry increasingly being taken over by AI, it has been a challenge. Now more than ever, donations are urgently needed and profoundly appreciated. Here are some ways to do it:

• New: Venmo -- username @Connie-Schmidt-42. Here is a direct link to the Venmo page.
• New: PayPal -- Here is a direct link to my PayPal page.
• Old but still good: You can click on the "Donate" icon that currently appears on the right-hand side of every page of this blog on the Web version. There's also a donation link at the end of many of my older blog posts. In the case of both the icon and the links on the older posts, as well as the link in this sentence, this is also a PayPal link, but it references the email account RevRon -- which is cool, because it all ultimately goes to the same place.

NOTE: If you are donating by PayPal, please specify that your contribution is for "friends and family," which will waive PayPal's substantial transaction fee.

Whether you can donate or not, thank you for visiting this Whirled.

The worst year of our lives. At least of mine.

I don’t want to remember 2024. I want it to be over. There’s a decent chance 2025 will be worse, but we have nothing to gain by clinging to its predecessor. Let midnight come, then let’s get on with it.
~ Timothy Noah, New Republic, December 31, 2024

Oh, my fu--ing god, good riddance to 2024, which has been, as far as I'm concerned, the worst year in recent memory for America (including for basic American decency), as well as for world democracy -- in addition to being the worst year ever for me personally. For me this has been a year of profound losses, some of which I am not yet ready to write about publicly. Suffice it to say for now that for the first time in my life, I feel like a... survivor. Because that is what I am.

Still, I'm old enough to know that the end of one year and the beginning of a new one does not automatically mean a fresh new beginning. As I noted in a Christmas Eve post I wrote seven years ago, with the exception of mayhem committed by bad actors who plan their atrocities around holidays or other special dates, the shit that happens has absolutely no regard for the calendar. Moreover, 2024's exit brings us that much closer to the second coronation of King DonOld, so there's that.

Still...I haven't given up, and I have no intention of doing so. Regarding the collective malaise, we resisted eight years ago and are simply going to have to resist harder this time around. There are still causes and people worth fighting for, and we gotta do it.

As for my personal dramas, I am stumbling through them the best I can, my dark path brightened immeasurably by the support of dear friends. Y'all know who you are.

For now, I'm signing off until next year, which for me is just a few hours away, and depending upon where you are on the planet, it may already be next year for you. I hope 2025 is as good a year as possible for you. I even dare to hope that those of us who are facing the new year with trepidation actually experience some pleasant surprises for a change. Hey, it could happen.

So as Timothy Noah at New Republic said in his eulogy for 2024, "Let midnight come, then let’s get on with it."

Thank you for visiting my Whirled, and I'll see you again soon.

Before you leave...
While money cannot make some personal nightmares go away, it can make them far easier to bear. Now more than ever, donations are urgently needed and profoundly appreciated. Here are some ways to do it:

• New: Venmo -- username @Connie-Schmidt-42. Here is a direct link to the Venmo page.
• New: PayPal -- Here is a direct link to my PayPal page.
• Old but still good: You can click on the "Donate" icon that currently appears on the right-hand side of every page of this blog on the Web version. There's also a donation link at the end of many of my older blog posts. In the case of both the icon and the links on the older posts, as well as the link in this sentence, this is also a PayPal link, but it references the email account of my husband, RevRon -- which is cool, because it all ultimately goes to the same place.

NOTE: If you are donating by PayPal, please specify that your contribution is a gift, which it is (as opposed to a conventional purchase, for which PayPal deducts a percentage for their fee).

Whether you can donate or not, thank you for visiting this Whirled.

Even darker: it's deja screw all over again, but even worse than last time

 Congratulations, Trump voters. I'm very much afraid that this is what awaits most of you, and unfortunately most of the rest of us too:

(If the embedded video doesn't play, here's a direct link. )

And yes, I know I cited this very video in my Election Day post on November 5. But it bears citing again, just because.

* * * * *

One of my Whirled posts in the early daze following the disastrous 2016 US presidential election was titled, "You want it darker." That was a reference to the title, and title song, of a then-new collection by Canadian songwriter/singer/poet/novelist/artist Leonard Cohen, who had passed away just one day before the aforementioned disastrous election. Having been a lifelong Cohen fan, I was as devastated by the revelation of his death as I was by the news that Mango Mussolini had won, and I wrote at length about both events a few days after the "Darker" post.

Well, Leonard, things have just become even darker. Trump won. As CNN summed it up:

The former president will return to the White House in a moment of historic consequence for American democracy. He’ll head back to to the nation’s highest office four years after losing the 2020 election, attempting to overturn the results, facing two presidential impeachments, a criminal conviction and many other criminal charges.

Yes, and now we get to see just how far into fascism this country will really descend. It doesn't look pretty. We were screwed in 2016, but it looks as if we're even screwed-er now.

But we're not storming the Capitol, and Vice President Kamala Harris has delivered her gracious concession speech. It's a speech that's far more hopeful than I feel right now, but maybe I'll catch up to her optimism at some point.

It's not that none of us saw this coming. After 2016, and then eight long years of hearing Trump's increasingly unhinged rhetoric that still didn't seem to alienate his cult followers but only made them love him more, we always knew that another Trump victory was a distinct possibility. Yet it was still a shock.

Journalist Jonathan M. Katz wrote in a "morning after" piece for The Racket:

The thing I knew most of all, the thing that is the most embarrassing to confront in the cold light of this unnervingly hot November day, was the lesson that decades of imperialist violence and dehumanization abroad comes home, sure as the sun, in the form of fascism. I wrote a whole book about it, a book that is still very much in print. For years I was bellowing at anyone who would listen: No, we are not immune. Yes, it can happen here. There were many off-ramps we could have taken. I wanted to believe, even still, at this late date, that somehow a loud enough series of warnings — from the former president’s former staffers, from the former president on the campaign trail himself — would spur enough people in enough states into action. What I did not know, and what I should have known, is that these warnings wouldn’t be enough. We will know soon enough if the critical margin who meandered into his camp, and those who did not go to the polls, understood what they voted for and will like it once they see it in action. But for now, it was not a dealbreaker, and that was enough.

You can lead voters to the truth, but you can't make them think. Especially if they're devoted cult members, so blinded by the orange that they can't see the multiple shimmering colors of that truth.

I know that it wasn't just the hardcore cultists who pushed Cantaloupe Caligula past the finish line. Other voters were sucked in by his erratic messaging and relentless fearmongering, many if not most of them no doubt driven by the same cognitive biases that I discussed on my previous post (here's that link again): negativity bias ("awfulizing" the current administration, the state of the economy, etc.); and euphoric recall (forgetting how genuinely awful the first Trump administration was).

Some have suggested that a combination of irregularities in tallying the votes, various forms of voter suppression, and foreign interference were the real causes of Harris' defeat. If there's even a remote possibility that any of these things occurred, or there's any doubt about the results, I would expect legal challenges and recounts.

For now, I'm going to take Trump's "victory" at face value, even though it casts a horrendous light on the faces of millions of American voters. Is this really "who we are" as a country? Jordan Zakarin, writing for Progress Report, says we might as well own up to it.

Americans knew Donald Trump, were fully aware of his mendacious personality and mental instability, the hateful crew of ideological madmen who accompany him, and had a clear idea of what he'd do in office. And they chose to make him president again, anyway.

It’s a painful thing to admit, but this is just who we are as a country, at least right now. A majority of voters experienced all four excruciating years of Trump’s presidency — the scandal and corruption, mass pandemic deaths, the elevation of three vicious Supreme Court justices, and an actual attempt to overthrow the government — and either enjoyed the depravity or did not see it as a dealbreaker when they chose a new president.

But in a thoughtful piece on Meidas News, Ron Filipkowski suggested that it wasn't just the Trump voters who are to blame, and he offered a list of the major mistakes and missteps by Biden, Harris, and the Democrats that helped lead to the unfortunate election results. Several of these blunders were in essence messaging failures; numerous opportunities were missed to adequately counter the attacks and outrageous lies by Trump and the republicans. It's a list well worth perusing.

Like Harris, however, Filipkowski refuses to give up hope, viewing the devastating loss as an opportunity to revive the Democratic Party. After all, as the sub-head in the article says, we do have the talent to win, and win big.

The Trump presidency will likely be a complete disaster for the country if he is able to implement even 10% of what he has proposed. The people he plans on bringing in to the government are arguably even worse tha[n] he is in many respects. I believe this second Trump Admin will seek to radically transform our institutions, alliances overseas, budget and tax code, economy, environmental regulations, health care, the food supply, separation of church and state, along with all the usual drama that surrounds Trump and his minions.

While all of that is bad for the country, so much so that many of us have dedicated our lives over the last 5 years trying to prevent it, it will also provide an opening for Democrats to reposition themselves to take back the presidency, House and Senate in 2028.

But we can only do that if we stick together, remain united while hashing out differences in good faith, and broaden our coalition. Americans will be hungry for a change after four more years of MAGA and Trump toxicity, and we have to be a party that appeals to them for reasons other than the fact that we aren't them.

It won't be easy, but it's doable, provided of course that dissenters don't all get thrown in jail by the Mango Mussolini regime before they can accomplish anything.

Jonathan Katz, whose "morning after" post I quoted above, concluded his post with this:

The main thing I’m keeping in mind is that this is the same country it was yesterday. We are just now seeing it in a new light. Tens of millions invited this future in, yes, but ten of millions more tried to choose a different path. We may be more constrained in making them now. But there will still be many more choices to come.

Let us hope. I'm grieving now, but as I said eight years ago, I am definitely not giving up. And as I also said eight years ago, I don't want you to give up either.

Before you leave...
All politics aside, this has been, for several reasons, a nightmare of a year for me personally. Money, alas, cannot make the nightmare go away, but it can make it far easier to bear. Now more than ever, donations are urgently needed and profoundly appreciated. Here are some ways to do it:

• New: Venmo -- username @Connie-Schmidt-42. Here is a direct link to the Venmo page.
• New: PayPal -- Here is a direct link to my PayPal page.
• Old but still good: You can click on the "Donate" icon that currently appears on the right-hand side of every page of this blog on the Web version. There's also a donation link at the end of many of my older blog posts. In the case of both the icon and the links on the older posts, as well as the link in this sentence, this is also a PayPal link, but it references the email account of my husband, RevRon -- which is cool, because it all ultimately goes to the same place.

NOTE: If you are donating by PayPal, please specify that your contribution is a gift, which it is (as opposed to a conventional purchase, for which PayPal deducts a percentage for their fee).

Whether you can donate or not, thank you for visiting this Whirled.

Fifteen years after Sedona "sweat lodge" deaths, McSpirituality guru and Trumpanzee James Arthur Ray is still hustling and lying (and his victims are still dead)

 

Today, October 8, 2024, is the 15th anniversary of the day that sociopathic New-Wage/McSpirituality guru/cult leader James Arthur Ray killed two of his followers: Kirby Brown and James Shore, and set in motion the death, nine days later, of a third follower, Liz Neuman.

The instrument of their deaths was a fake and utterly reckless "sweat lodge" ceremony in Sedona, Arizona. Dozens of other participants were also injured and emotionally traumatized. The phony sweat lodge had been the "final challenge" at Ray's pricey "Spiritual Warrior" workshop, and unfortunately for three good people, it really was final.

Ray, who had shot to fame following his appearance in the simplistic and crassly materialistic New-Wage moviemercial The Secret, was convicted of negligent homicide for the three deaths in Sedona -- and consequently served less than two years in an Arizona state prison -- but he was never criminally charged in the death of yet another follower, Colleen Conaway, at a San Diego Ray event a couple of months before Sedona.

For Ray, the daze of the four- and five-figure live events such as Spiritual Warrior would seem to be over, and that's a good thing. His homicide creds are right there at the top of the page on Google search results along with the promotional stuff, and although he has been struggling mightily to make a comeback since his release from prison in July of 2013, framing the whole Sedona thing as a terrible trial and tribulation for him, his audience -- both live and online -- has shriveled like the balls of a long-time steroid user.

Though his base of followers remains as shrunken as his nads, Ray keeps on keeping on with his various shticks, because it's all he knows how to do. These days he spends a lot of time on Xitter alternating between spouting Bible verses like the man-o-God he wants you to think he is, and stumping for the American fascist movement popularly known as MAGA, kissing up shamelessly to the Mango Mussolini.

Naturally, much of Ray's MAGAt efforts center around demonizing the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, an angle I wrote about here back in August. He hasn't let up on his attacks on VP Harris, continually reposting highly edited videos and anti-Kamala memes that paint her as the destroyer of American democracy and an evil manipulator. If you know anything about Ray it should be clear that there's a lot of projection in those tweets and re-tweets, and a mercenary angle as well. As I wrote on my August post, in the context of Ray tweeting that Harris is evil and an abuser of power:

Well, I must say that Ray is a fine one to talk about "evil." Obviously he's projecting again. In any case it should come as no surprise that he is an ardent Trump supporter who is perfectly willing to paint Madame Vice President as an evil, dangerous, power-crazed demon, while totally overlooking Mango Mussolini's lies, felonies, authoritarian obsessions, and total lack of moral compass.

Ray, like his serial-scammer colleague Kevin Trudeau, is just another sorry illustration of the marriage-made-in-hell between Scamworld and reich-wing politix. Grifters are attracted to reich-wing/republican philosophies and policies, and I've been saying for years that this is due in large part to the reich's traditional disdain for consumer protection laws and regulations, the very tools that, apart from education, are necessary to protect the rest of us from the crooks.

Even as he has no room to talk about evil, Ray has zero standing in any discussion about the abuse of power. For years he abused his power over his followers, resulting in numerous injuries and at least four deaths of said followers.

I will repeat what I wrote on last year's Death Lodge anniversary post: as long as he continues to try to claw his way back to the top of an industry that has more than its share of sociopaths and predators, I feel duty-bound to post periodic reminders of why you should not listen to James Arthur Ray. In addition to being a MAGA social media warrior, he is still playing his dual role of faux-hero and martyr -- and most of all, still refusing to take any blame for the deaths and injuries of his faithful followers. And the people he killed are still dead.

Never forget.

Related on this Whirled

• October 2010: Musings on a tragedy and its meanings.
  I published this on the one-year anniversary of the infamous "sweat lodge," framing my musings around a review of Connie Joy's Tragedy in Sedona: My Life in James Arthur Ray's Inner Circle. That's another one you need to read.
• April 2019: From drawn-and-quartered martyr to "Crisis Coach": James Arthur Ray's newest desperate gimmick
  This is just one of numerous posts about Ray's arrogant yet pathetic attempts to reestablish himself as a selfish-help superstar. In this one we focus on Ray's efforts to brand himself as a "Crisis Coach."
• August 2020: Whiny babies of Scamworld
  Of the three "whiny babies" I wrote about in this post, James Arthur Ray is the worst, because even after being directly responsible for the deaths of four people at his events, and directly responsible for the physical and emotional injuries of countless others, he continues to paint himself as the real victim.
• October 2022: 13 years after James Arthur Ray's deadly sweat lodge, cults are still a danger
  This post, published last year on the Death Lodge anniversary, was a tale of two Virginias, one despicable one (that would be the infamous Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, insurrectionist extraordinaire, who was once a member of a selfish-help cult), and one admirable one: Virginia Brown, mother of one of James Arthur Ray's death lodge victims, Kirby Brown. One of the ways that Kirby Brown's family chose was to found a nonprofit organization, SEEK Safely to help educate the public, hold self-help leaders accountable, and hopefully avoid more deaths and injuries at the hands of reckless gurus. Even if you don't read my post, I urge you to visit the SEEK Safely site, which is continually expanding. You will find a wealth of useful information, as well as opportunities to get involved if you're so inclined.*
  October 2023: Fourteen years after Sedona "sweat lodge" deaths, James Arthur Ray, now a full-on reich-wing conspiranoid, is still hustling and whining (and his victims are still dead)
  Published on last year's Death Lodge anniversary, this is the first post where I discussed at length Ray's new-ish alliance with reich-wing conspiranoids and conspicuous contrarians.

* Currently on the SEEK Safely site:
Join us for SEEK Week, October 7-11. Streaming Live each night at 8pm ET on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

Before you leave...
This has been, through what is no apparent fault of her own (excluding, perhaps karmic matters that are quite beyond her ability to comprehend), a nightmare of a year for the ruler of this Whirled. Money, alas, cannot make the nightmare go away, but it can make it easier to bear. Now more than ever, donations are urgently needed and profoundly appreciated. Here are some ways to do it:

• New: Venmo -- username @Connie-Schmidt-42. Here is a direct link to the Venmo page.
  New: PayPal -- Here is a direct link to Cosmic Connie's PayPal page.
  Old but still good: You can click on the "Donate" icon that currently appears on the right-hand side of every page of this blog on the Web version. There's also a donation link at the end of many of my older blog posts. In the case of both the icon and the links on the older posts, this is also a PayPal link, but it references the email account of Cosmic Connie's husband, RevRon -- which is cool, because it all ultimately goes to the same place.

NOTE: If you are donating by PayPal, please specify that your contribution is a gift, which it is (as opposed to a conventional purchase, for which PayPal deducts a percentage for their fee).

Whether you can donate or not, thank you for visiting this Whirled.

Cheeto Jeezus invites American women to accept Him as their personal savior

 

In an all-caps midnight rant on his failing social media platform, Truth [sic] Social, #NeverWasMyPresident DonOld John Trump promised a MAGAnificent paradise to the women of America should he be reinstalled in the Oval Office:

WOMEN ARE POORER THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO, ARE LESS HEALTHY THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO, ARE LESS SAFE ON THE STREETS THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO, ARE MORE DEPRESSED AND UNHAPPY THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO, AND ARE LESS OPTIMISTIC AND CONFIDENT IN THE FUTURE THAN THEY WERE FOUR YEARS AGO! I WILL FIX ALL OF THAT, AND FAST, AND AT LONG LAST THIS NATIONAL NIGHTMARE WILL BE OVER. WOMEN WILL BE HAPPY, HEALTHY, CONFIDENT AND FREE! YOU WILL NO LONGER BE THINKING ABOUT ABORTION, BECAUSE IT IS NOW WHERE IT ALWAYS HAD TO BE, WITH THE STATES, AND A VOTE OF THE PEOPLE -- AND WITH POWERFUL EXCEPTIONS, LIKE THOSE THAT RONALD REAGAN INSISTED ON, FOR RAPE, INCEST, AND THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER -- BUT NOT ALLOWING FOR DEMOCRAT DEMANDED LATE TERM ABORTION IN THE 7TH, 8TH, OR 9TH MONTH, OR EVEN EXECUTION OF A BABY AFTER BIRTH. I WILL PROTECT WOMEN AT A LEVEL NEVER SEEN BEFORE. THEY WILL FINALLY BE HEALTHY, HOPEFUL, SAFE, AND SECURE. THEIR LIVES WILL BE HAPPY, BEAUTIFUL, AND GREAT AGAIN!

And all that we gals have to do to gain this paradise is to accept DonOld as our personal savior and vote for him in November.

I'll pass, thank you. I'm voting for Kamala and Tim.

Trump repeated his now-infamous Untruth Antisocial message nearly verbatim at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina on Saturday afternoon, September 21, 2024. Apparently it's going to become part of his campaign shtick now. Good luck with that, you mango misogynist. Your support among women is sagging even more than your... wherevers.

Its not just the lies; it's the creepiness
Put aside for a moment the blatant and oft-repeated lies in DonOld's message about Democrats "demanding" late term abortions and infanticide. Those claims are so ridiculous that only the truly stupid truly believe them. (But remember, the truly stupid can and do vote too, so we have to outvote them.)

Let's visit instead the outrageous whopper that abortion is "now where it always had to be -- with the states, and a vote of the people -- and with powerful exceptions...for rape, incest, and the life of the mother..." There are so many lies packed into that one sentence that it's going to take far more than one sentence to unpack them.

1. "Vote of the people?" If you're talking about states with abortion bans or draconian restrictions, that's bullshit. For example, the states that had "trigger laws" to activate immediate abortion bans upon the overturning of Roe didn't hold referendums. There was no "vote of the people." The rethuglican legislatures of the states in question passed those laws and bans without input from voters. On the other hand, in the time since Roe was overturned there have been cases where "the people" have had a say when they were allowed to do so -- and even in red states they have voted for codification of reproductive freedom. Since the demise of Roe, the voters in several states have handed sweeping victories to abortion-rights supporters. And abortion rights will be on the state ballots in 10 states this November.
   
   In states like my home state of Texas, however, the abortion issue never seems to get on the ballots, so "the people" here really don't have a say. (It should come as no surprise that Texas was one of those "trigger law" states.) The truth is that the majority of voters in every state, red or blue, support abortion rights that go beyond those "powerful exceptions" Trump mentioned (see next item) -- but the rethuglican-dominated political "leaders" stubbornly ignore this fact even though it has cost them politically.
   
   Furthermore, the Christofascists who surround and support Trump, most notably the architects of the infamous Project 2025, are salivating over the prospect of new federal restrictions on abortion and other reproductive rights, in effect creating a national abortion ban (and possibly a national contraceptive ban). And Trump, who has made lame efforts to distance himself from Project 2025, has not actually said he would veto such bans were they to come across his desk. So much for "leaving it to the states!"
   
   
2. "Powerful exceptions?" That's rich. In several red states -- such as Texas -- rape and incest exceptions to the abortion bans are not allowed. If you want the sordid details, here is an interactive map from the Guttmacher Institute that shows the abortion policies of every state in the union. Appropriately enough, the states with the greatest restrictions are color-coded a deep orange.
   
   Moreover, "the life of the mother" is clearly a secondary or even tertiary consideration in states such as Texas, where the primary consideration is whether the medical care provider and/or the medical facility could be criminally prosecuted for providing desperately needed care for a woman in crisis, even if she's bleeding out. Consider the story of Ryan Hamilton and his wife, to name just one horrifying example. Also consider the fact that pregnancy-related deaths rose by a whopping 56% in Texas after the state's 2021 abortion ban (which predated the overturning of Roe). Texas' maternal mortality rate far outstripped the 11% nationwide average in the same time period. Pro-life, my ass.
   
   
3. A related lie re Roe that Trump has spewed repeatedly on social media and during public appearances is that "everyone" always wanted Roe to be overturned. He made the mistake of repeating that utter codswallop during the September 10, 2024 presidential debate, and Madam Vice President (who, contrary to Trump's later boasts, absolutely wiped the floor with him that evening) addressed the lie in no uncertain terms with some true-to-life examples of people who definitely did NOT want Roe to go away. And earlier this year (April 2024), Factcheck.org addressed Trump's absurdly false claim that "all legal scholars, on both sides, wanted and in fact demanded [that Roe v. Wade] be ended."

The lies are bad enough, but Trump's extravagant all-caps pledge goes far beyond mere lies (which, after all, we're accustomed to from him): his promise to "protect women at a level never seen before" is downright creepy, given his long and sordid history with, and his general contempt for, females. A September 22, 2024 piece on the Mother Jones site said it very well:

All this is a bit rich coming from a man who was found liable for sexual assault; caught on tape bragging about committing sexual assault; found guilty of 34 felony counts for falsifying business records to hide that he paid off a porn star with whom he allegedly had sex while his wife, Melania, was tending to their four-month-old son; and who has a known history of making misogynistic attacks on women he finds threatening. And as for Trump’s claim that women will “no longer be thinking about abortion” if he’s reelected? That’s unlikely, given that he could very well enact a federal abortion ban, and given that abortion bans nationwide have unleashed a health care apocalypse and put vulnerable women in even greater danger.

Niece Mary Trump had a more concise response: "So says the rapist."

Yeah, creepy.

Matter of fact, I haven't been so creeped out since one of this little blog's most disgusting, sociopathic, (allegedly) predatory subjects, fake-doc/cancer quack/fascist/conspiranoid peddler Leonard Coldwell, announced back in 2013, via his former partner Peter Wink, that he and Wink were launching a personal "coaching" program to help women get out of physically or mentally abusive relationships. Talk about the spider and the fly... Yeeesh! Well, Trump's pledge to the women of America is, on a much larger and more dangerous scale, also a spider-and-fly situation. Or maybe an Independence Day alien-welcoming-party situation.

DonOld's pledge to American womanhood is also straight out of Margaret Atwood's famous dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale. In the fictional Gilead, they were all about "protecting" women, who were no longer allowed any agency whatsoever, and were even forbidden from reading.

If DonOld's powerful infrastructure of Christofascist allies have their way, we'll have worse than Gilead in these here United States. We'll have a Fourth Reich, bent on molding its own version of the New Woman.

As for Trump's claims that women are poorer and sicker and less safe and altogether more depressed and unhappy than they were under his reign of glory, here's a big reality check.

In MAGA land, bitches and ballots are a deadly mix
The real truth is that neither DonOld Trump, nor rethuglican "leaders" in general, nor for that matter the MAGA base of whiny white males, want women to have much or any agency at all. Certainly it seems that in light of the swelling tide of pissed-off women (many of whom Mango Man and the Whiny Whites have declared to be out-and-out bitches -- and worse), they don't want women voting -- even if they don't come right out and say so. After all, most women tend to vote Democratic.

One of many current rethuglican strategies to suppress the female vote (and the votes of other groups more likely to vote Democratic) is the SAVE Act. A September 19 piece on the New Republic site by journalist and talk show host Thom Hartmann outlines the ways in which this proposed bill targets women. The alleged purpose of the SAVE Act is to prevent "illegals" from voting, but only fools are fooled by that.

...House Speaker Mike Johnson and former President Donald Trump were pushing the Safeguard American Eligibility, or SAVE, Act, demanding it be part of must-pass legislation to fund the federal government for another year (the funding runs out at the end of this month, and then the shutdown begins).

Trump, on his failing social media site, ranted Tuesday that Republicans must get “every ounce” of the SAVE Act passed or shut down the government “in any way, shape, or form.” He said it was necessary because Democrats are “registering Illegal Voters by the TENS OF THOUSANDS, as we speak,” adding the vicious lie that “they will be voting in the 2024 Presidential Election.”

Hartmann explains why mass voting by illegal migrants is not and never has been a thing in the United States, and then zeroes in on the reasons that so many female US citizens would be harmed by the SAVE Act.

The SAVE Act is a proposed federal law, so, first off, it would put a future president (say, Trump) in charge of enforcing it, taking that power away from the states. Millions of voter registrations in any states the president decides are problematic could be removed until those voters “cure” their registrations, and state authorities would have no say in it.

And what will the law require citizens who want to vote do? Lacking a passport or other proof of citizenship with their married names, they must produce both a birth certificate (with the seal of the state where it was issued; no copies allowed) and a current form of identification—both with the exact same name on them. That could instantly disqualify about 90 percent of all married women without passports or other proof that matches their birth certificates or proof of a legal name change.

For women in that situation, they can still register to vote if they can prove that they went to court to change their name when they got married, but most women just start using their new married name without ever going through all those formalities (although a few states recognize marriage as a legal name change).

Hartmann goes on to cite a a 2014 report, issued by the National Organization for Women (NOW), that explains the ways in which strict voter ID laws, which are almost exclusively sponsored and supported by republicans, result in voter suppression of several groups, including women. Though more than ten years old, the NOW report is still pertinent today.

Voter ID laws have a disproportionately negative effect on women. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, one third of all women have citizenship documents that do not identically match their current names primarily because of name changes at marriage.  Roughly 90 percent of women who marry adopt their husband’s last name.  That means that roughly 90 percent of married female voters have a different name on their ID than the one on their birth certificate.  An estimated 34 percent of women could be turned away from the polls unless they have precisely the right documents...

...A related problem is that the U.S. Patriot Act requires women’s names on certain official government documents to be the same.  Thanks to the Department of Homeland Security and the ever-tightening regulations on identification requirements, today a woman with a hyphenated name on one form of ID and just a maiden name on another is grounds for suspicion.  Patriot Act guidelines specifically require identical forms of identification, which for many women, imposes a significant challenge.

I can't emphasize strongly enough how deeply hypocritical this is, considering the facxt that traditionally, rethuglicans are all for "small government" and "letting the states decide." As I've noted previously on this blog, and as I indicated above regarding reproductive rights, they're for small government and states' rights, unless massive government overreach serves their authoritarian, Christofascist agendas.

I know I'm over-stating the obvious again, as I so often do on this Whirled, but... DonOld Trump does not have anyone's best interests at heart except his own and those of his closest allies. He certainly does not have the best interests of women at heart, despite the fact that he still has a devoted following of females, from the scary-looking blond blowfish-mouthed hangers-on who pose with him at Mar-a-Lago to the overstuffed, proudly ignorant Trump-merch-clad loudmouths at his rallies. Cheeto Jeezus isn't going to save them, and he's not going to save you and me, and he's not going to save the country, and he is a serious danger to democracy not only in the United States but all over the globe.

So please, please, please, if you're eligible to vote in the November election, register if you haven't already, and Vote Blue from the top on down the ballot.

Before you leave...
This has been, through what is no apparent fault of her own (excluding, perhaps karmic matters that are quite beyond her ability to comprehend), a nightmare of a year for the ruler of this Whirled. Money, alas, cannot make the nightmare go away, but it can make it easier to bear. Now more than ever, donations are urgently needed and profoundly appreciated. Here are some ways to do it:

• New: Venmo -- username @Connie-Schmidt-42. Here is a direct link to the Venmo page.
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