Courts And Kids Block GOP Efforts To Sh*t On Trans People
Gen Z for the win!
These are dark, dark days for the LGBTQ+ community, with the GOP flailing around for a culture war wedge issue, and deciding they'll just call everyone a pedophile and roll the dice. But even as it's all going to shit, there are some bright spots.
On Friday, US District Judge Liles Burke, a Trump appointee, enjoined most of the Alabama Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, which sought to criminalize gender-affirming healthcare for minors.
"The Act prevents Parent Plaintiffs from choosing that course of treatment for their children by criminalizing the use of transitioning medications to treat gender dysphoria in minors, even at the independent recommendation of a licensed pediatrician," Judge Liles wrote, finding that the law likely infringed on the due process rights of parents and their children.
"Defendants produce no credible evidence to show that transitioning medications are 'experimental.' While Defendants offer some evidence that transitioning medications pose certain risks, the uncontradicted record evidence is that at least twenty-two major medical associations in the United States endorse transitioning medications as well-established, evidence-based treatments for gender dysphoria in minors," he added later, noting that parents have used puberty-blockers for decades to delay puberty for reasons such as giving their kids an extra few inches of height, so the state's argument that these drugs are dangerous was simply nonsense on its face.
And furthermore, according the Supreme Court's holding in Bostock v. Clayton County, discrimination against transgender people is by definition discrimination on the basis of sex, and denying medical treatment to kids simply because they are transgender is thus illegal under the Equal Protection Clause. If parents can greenlight breast implants for a 17-year-old cisgender girl, they can do it for transgender girl, too.
"Finally, nothing in the record shows that medical providers are pushing transitioning medications on minors. Accordingly, the States’ proffered justifications are hypothesized, not exceedingly persuasive," the court concluded, scoffing at the state's preposterous claim that someone, somewhere, with an agenda was pushing (not to say grooming) kids to transition.
Unfortunately, the court allowed the provisions of the law forcing teachers to out students to their parents to go into effect. Which is gross and terrible. But this is a Trump appointee in Alabama, so thank God for small victories.
Similarly, in Texas, GOP Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton were dealt a loss on Friday, which they spun as a win, of course. After the state failed to pass a law similar to Alabama's, Paxton issued an Advisory Opinion saying gender-affirming healthcare caused sterilization and mutilation, and defining it as child abuse when provided to minors. Then Abbott followed up with his own letter ordering state agencies, particularly the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, to investigate families and medical care providers of gender-affirming care for child abuse.
A DFPS employee with a transgender child who faced investigation sued, and the trial court granted an emergency injunction statewide. On Friday, the Texas Supreme Court voided the statewide injunction, which sounds BAD — and that's what Paxton would like you to think. But in reality the court said an injunction was inappropriate because Paxton and Abbott never had the authority to unilaterally rewrite the law and order DFPS to enforce it. The plaintiffs in this case still get their injunction, and, although the court found that a statewide injunction was not appropriate on an emergency basis, presumably any Texas family facing an investigation will also be able to get an injunction.
And to round out the "it could be worse" news, Wyoming GOP Senator Cynthia Lummis delivered what she thought would be an easy applause line at the University of Wyoming's commencement over the week, but it didn't land as she expected.
“There are those in government who believe not that the creator endowed us with inalienable rights … but that government created those rights,” Lummis said. “And the government should redefine those rights, including our rights to freedom of speech, religion, property, assembly and to keep and bear arms. Even fundamental scientific truths — such as the existence of two sexes, male and female — are subject to challenge these days.”
After which there was a "25-second pause [with] audible booing and jeering — along with sporadic applause," according the Oil City News, as the newly-minted graduates expressed their displeasure at her using their commencement to shit on trans people.
"My reference to the existence of two sexes was intended to highlight the times in which we find ourselves, times in which the metric of biological sex is under debate with potential implications for the shared Wyoming value of equality,” Lummis said later. “I share the fundamental belief that women and men are equal, but also acknowledge that there are biological differences and circumstances in which these differences need to be recognized. That being said, it was never my intention to make anyone feel un-welcomed or disrespected, and for that I apologize."
What. Ever. Lady.
The point is, the kids are good. And they are loud. And they will win in the end.
[Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall, Docket via Court Listener / Above the Law / Oil City News]
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Devin Nunes Pretty Sure Trump Won't Dump Him Once Elon Musk Wrecks Twitter. He's Fine. Totally Fine.
Think positive, little cowpoke!
The news that Elon Musk will let Donald Trump back on Twitter if and when he actually buys the platform has hit Devin Nunes hard. The former congressman-turned-CEO of Trump's Truth Social platform was already crying in his feed about the failure of the MAGA social media venture to topple its bigger rivals. And it had to chap his udders that Trump spent months refusing to post on his own site because “He wants it to be a hit first.”
Last week, Nunes released what SFGate called a "stream of cope" to Fox News's Martha MacCallum on the news that his boss might be getting back together with his one true love.
"Look, we’re very supportive of what Elon is saying," Nunes said. "The question is, will he accomplish what he’s saying, dealing with all the employees, dealing with all the algorithms. But the goal has been for us, for President Trump, is to give the American people their voice back, and open the internet back up, and that's what we're trying to create.
"I would just add, though, I think there's an important point that's lost on people: Truth Social is wide open right now in the Apple app store, and you don’t have to ask anyone’s opinion. There’s no big tech tyrant that can cancel you, you don’t have to go to a billionaire to ask permission. You’re let on: Democrat, Republican, whoever you are. And we’re not going to censor you for political speech, so we are accomplishing what the mission of our company is, which is to get this internet open back up, and we're glad that Elon is saying the right things. Let's see if he backs that up."
It's not yet in the Google store, because it's still a janky piece of crap. And while "there's no big tech tyrant that can cancel you" on Truth Social, there does appear to be someone there banning accounts for such thought crimes as making fun of Devin Nunes.
Nunes was back Sunday to whine to his good buddy Maria Bartiromo and call Twitter "a ghost town" again.
“I think you even said on your business show about a month ago that it's a house of cards. So for them to say they only have 5% that are bots and fake accounts, I think it's closer that they may only have 5% that are actually real people and real accounts," he said, referring to a bizarre theory floated by Musk over the weekend that "over 90% of daily active users" on Twitter might be bots.
(As of this writing, the tech CEO's pinned tweet is instructions on how to get a chronological Twitter feed, rather than curated via algorithm, and he just tweeted a poop emoji at Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal. So this is fine.)
But Devin got some good news in an SEC filing by Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), in preparation for its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group, Trump's media juggernaut that is theoretically going to put Amazon, Netflix, and YouTube out business, and which is the parent company of Truth Social. The document contains a clause labeled the “DJT/TMTG Social Media 6-Hour Exclusive," under which Trump has theoretically agreed not to cross-post the same content to Truth Social and Twitter at the same time, effectively giving Truth a six-hour exclusive on Trump's live tweets of "Fox & Friends."
Of course, he could simply change the phrasing slightly and get around the prohibition. (For instance, "You're fired, Devin!" could become "Devin Nunes is no longer an Employee of TMTG. Sad!") Or he could take advantage of the caveat allowing him to "post social media communications from his personal profile that specifically relates to political messaging, political fundraising or get-out-the-vote efforts at any time on any Non-TMTG social media platforms." After all, "political messaging" is kind of a broad catch-all for a guy who'll be running for president. Or he could just post the content directly to Twitter and bypass Truth altogether, LOL.
The filing is pretty funny, not least because of all the ways it contorts itself to disclose that the company plans to accommodate Trump and his proclivity to break shit, so the SEC can't say potential investors weren't warned.
Gallant corporate owners are expected not to tarnish the company brand. With Goofus, the bad behavior is pretty much baked in.
TMTG has entered into a license agreement with President Trump wherein neither the personal nor political conduct of President Trump, even if such conduct could negatively reflect on TMTG’s reputation or brand or be considered offensive, dishonest, illegal, immoral, or unethical, or otherwise harmful to TMTG’s brand or reputation, shall be considered a breach of the license agreement. TMTG expressly acknowledges the controversial nature of being associated with President Trump and the possibility of any associated controversies affecting TMTG adversely.
Meanwhile, in a section captioned "Risks Related to our Chairman President Donald J. Trump," TMTG's legal team has tried to cover all the ways shit could go sideways with Trump's manic hands on the rudder. Noting that many people have "adverse reactions to publicity relating to President Trump," the filing admits that "according to The Hill, only 30% of people surveyed would use a social media site associated with President Trump." On the flipside, there's a distinct downside to tying your entire brand to a septuagenarian who thinks exercise other than golf depletes the body like a battery.
Here's the section on Trump's "numerous lawsuits and other matters that could damage his reputation, cause him to be distracted from the business or could force him to resign from TMTG’s board of directors":
Also he tends to go bankrupt a lot and, hey, did they mention they can't terminate their relationship with him because "neither the personal nor political conduct of President Trump, even if such conduct could negatively reflect on TMTG’s reputation or brand or be considered offensive, dishonest, illegal, immoral, or unethical, or otherwise harmful to TMTG’s brand or reputation, shall be considered a breach of the license agreement"?
Oh wait, they did.
On the plus side, Devin's making $750,000 per year, plus a bonus if he hits his mark (hahahaha), and he gets to work with his old pal Kash Patel, who is also a director. So that's a bit of a sweetener for this massive cow pie.
[SFGate / Fox News / Newsmax / TMTG S-4]
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Grand Jury Investigating How Trump Came To Steal All Those Classified Documents
LOCK HIM UP!
Big mazel tov to the stable genius on netting himself a brand spanking new grand jury investigation into his improper handling of classified documents. We always knew you had it in ya, big guy!
In February, the National Archives retrieved 15 boxes of documents and mementos Trump had improperly made off with after voters yeeted him into the Sunshine State. Among the purloined items was a "love letter" from North Korea's Kim Jong Un and a section of Trump's Fuck You Mexico Wall. But it turned out the boxes contained more than Trump's My Favorite Dictators scrapbook and souvenirs of his greatest boondoggles. In fact there were both classified and top secret items in there, too, and so the Republicans immediately called for Trump to be sent to email jail for all eternity.
Haha, we are very silly on Fridays. Republicans shrugged it off and went back to shrieking about whatever daily outrage they were feeding to the rubes back in February. Was it Mr. Potato Head's vagina? Dr. Seuss doing racisms to the First Amendment? Oh, right, they were busy unpersoning Liz Cheney. Fun times!
Congressional Democrats were not about to let the matter go, however, and in response to a query from House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn Maloney, National Archivist David Ferriero sent a letter confirming that "NARA has identified items marked as classified national security information within the boxes."
"Because NARA identified classified information in the boxes, NARA staff has been in communication with the Department of Justice," he continued.
Naturally Trump showed his usual discretion, yammering that "The National Archives did not 'find' anything, they were given, upon request, Presidential Records in an ordinary and routine process to ensure the preservation of my legacy and in accordance with the Presidential Records Act," he blarped, as if it was "ordinary and routine" for government officials to just take classified stuff with them when they get you're fired.
Then he threatened the media for airing his dirty laundry: "Instead of focusing on America, the media just wants to talk about their plan to 'get' Trump. The people won’t stand for it any longer!"
Cool!
Which brings us to yesterday when it emerged that there's a grand jury in DC investigating how those classified documents made their way to the former president's trash palace, and if any crimes were committed. The New York Times was first with the scoop, because, say what you will about Maggie Haberman — and God knows we at Wonkette have — but she and Mike Schmidt get results. The story was immediately confirmed by the Washington Post, which provided important context as always, and CNN, which ... well, someone has to come in third place, right?
Apparently prosecutors subpoenaed the National Archives for the retrieved documents and have requested interviews of White House staff in an attempt to figure out who packed the boxes in the White House's residential quarters, and how their contents were selected.
This week the Post published an interview with Ferriero, who retired as National Archivist on April 30:
Regarding the material Trump took to Florida, Ferriero said he was told by the White House Office of Records Management about a group of boxes in the White House residence that should go to the Archives.
“As we were moving materials from the White House just before the inauguration, those boxes hadn’t shown up yet,” he said.
“I can remember watching the Trumps leaving the White House and getting off in the helicopter that day, and someone carrying a white banker box, and saying to myself, ‘What the hell’s in that box?’” he said.
And that was the genesis of the investigation. If you see something, say something!
“It’s important to me, that this administration replace me,” Ferriero told the Post of his decision to leave now. “I’m concerned about what’s going to happen in 2024. I don’t want it left to … the unknowns of the presidential election.”
BREAKING: Your Wonkette to retire in 2024 so Joe Biden can replace us! This decision is far too risky to be left to the whims of some guy in a diner in Pennsylvania!
Just kidding, we'll be here. And we're delighted to see that Merrick Garland can investigate the previous administration when he puts his mind to it. Now about those one million other crimes we wrote about for four straight years ...
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FAFO: Jan. 6 Committee Drops Subpoenas On McCarthy, Jordan, Brooks, Biggs, And Perry
Go ahead and defy the subpoenas. They'll still put all your shit out there in public anyway.
The January 6 Select Committee came out swinging today with subpoenas for five Republican congressmen. If House Leader Kevin McCarthy and Reps. Scott Perry, Jim Jordan, Andy Biggs, and Mo Brooks don't want to talk voluntarily about their role in the events leading up to the Capitol riot, then let them stand for the precedent that members of Congress can defy a subpoena from their own branch of government. That should come in handy next year when all congressional business will be focused on Hunter Biden Laptopghazi, The Biglyest Political Scandal In History™.
Your Wonkette is under no illusion that these filthy treason weasels are about to go under oath — we might have been born on a Tuesday, but it wasn't last Tuesday. But the subpoenas still matter, if only because they're functionally a trailer for next month's live hearings, and a promise that these assholes and their efforts to undermine American democracy are going to play a starring role.
The letter to McCarthy sent in January requesting a voluntary interview is the longest and has the biggest "Tell Cersei, I want her to know it was me." vibe — presumably because Liz Cheney knows damn well that none of her fellow Republicans save Adam Kinzinger have a shred of integrity, and she wanted her former leadership colleague to know she wasn't going to pull any punches when they inevitably told the Committee to get bent.
The letter quotes McCarthy saying on January 13, 2021, "The President bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate actions by President Trump: Accept his share of responsibility."
It also notes that McCarthy's conversations with Trump during and after the attack have been widely reported in the media, including the minority leader's demand that the then-president call off his supporters, only to be told, "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."
"The Select Committee has tremendous respect for the prerogatives of Congress and the privacy of its Members. At the same time, we have a solemn responsibility to investigate fully the facts and circumstances of these events," the letter intones somberly, before reminding McCarthy that he himself told his local paper that, “I don’t really have anything to add. I have been very public, but I wouldn’t hide from anything….”
McCarthy said months ago that he would not cooperate with what he views as a partisan witch hunt, so the cover letter for the subpoena issued this week is much briefer, just three terse paragraphs concluding that "The Select Committee believes that you have information that is important to its investigation. Unfortunately you have declined voluntary cooperation, and we are left with no choice but to issue you this subpoena."
As for Pennsylvania's Scott Perry, the statement put out by Committee Chair Bennie Thompson today alleges that he was "directly involved with efforts to corrupt the Department of Justice and install Jeffrey Clark as acting Attorney General. In addition, Mr. Perry had various communications with the White House about a number of matters relevant to the Select Committee’s investigation, including allegations that Dominion voting machines had been corrupted."
Safe bet that's a reference to testimony by Mark Meadows's former assistant Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified that Perry knew in advance that the "peaceful" rally goers on the Ellipse were going to head to the Capitol after the president and his goons spent hours winding them up.
The letters to Biggs and Brooks, both of which went out last week and are just being made public today, contain some very specific and pointed references to information the Committee has already collected on the congressmen.
The Committee cites evidence that Biggs pushed the nonsensical legal theory that Vice President Mike Pence had the unilateral authority to reject electoral votes, and participated in planning the rally, a fact referenced by wingnut ring leader Ali Alexander in a video he posted online. As Biggs is no doubt aware, Alexander not only testified before the Committee, but also received a grand jury subpoena, indicating that the Justice Department is conducting its own inquiry into the events of January 6.
"We have information regarding your efforts to persuade state legislators and officials that the 2020 election was stolen and/or to seek assistance from those individuals in President Trump’s efforts to overturn the election," the letter adds, before warning ominously that, "Certain communications that you had with Mark Meadows relate to this topic."
It concludes with a reference to efforts to secure pardons for those involved in fomenting the Capitol Riot:
Finally, recent information from former White House personnel has identified an effort by certain House Republicans after January 6th to seek a presidential pardon for activities taken in connection with President Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Your name was identified as a potential participant in that effort. We would like to understand all the details of the request for a pardon, more specific reasons why a pardon was sought, and the scope of the proposed pardon.
As for Brooks, who was recently un-endorsed by Donald Trump in the Alabama Senate race, the Committee appears to be offering him a chance at revenge. Although Brooks spoke at the pre-riot rally and was an aggressive advocate of the Big Lie about a stolen election, he recently put a little daylight between himself and the former president's obsessive efforts to get back in the White House by hook or by crook. (Mostly by crook, TBH.)
President Trump asked me to rescind the 2020 elections, immediately remove Joe Biden from the White House, immediately put President Trump back in the White House, and hold a new special election for the presidency. As a lawyer, I’ve repeatedly advised President Trump that January 6 was the final election contest verdict and neither the U.S. Constitution nor the U.S. Code permit what President Trump asks. Period.
Is Brooks dumb and/or desperate enough to turn on his former hero? Probably not, although we are talking about someone who was rejected by his own constituents in favor of a guy who was accused of touching teenagers, so it's probably worth a shot.
Get ready for Hot Committee Summer, kids. These hearings are gonna be LIT.
OPEN THREAD!
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