June 15, 2020: U.S. Supreme Court Rules in Favor of LGBTQ RIghts

 

6/15/20: The big news for the day: The Supreme Court, ruling 6-3, decides employers cannot discriminate against gays, lesbians, and transgender individuals, on account of sexual orientation. The opinion is written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, President Trump’s first pick to fill a seat on the high court.

 

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Trump clobbered by book, U.S. Supreme Court.

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Naturally, right-wingers are outraged. This comment from pundit Michael Knowles is typical: 

Neil Gorsuch has redefined the most fundamental aspect of our nature from the bench of the highest court in the land. No ruling he might make in the future could counteract that radicalism. Conservatives will count him among the worst jurists in the history of the United States.

 

My god, “the most fundamental aspect of our nature” has been redefined!!! People in the LGBTQ community can now have…jobs. 

Suddenly, I’m feeling kind of gay.

Flags for various LGBTQ groups.

 

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THE NARCISSIST-IN-CHIEF is threatening former National Security Advisor John Bolton if he publishes his book, due out June 23. Bolton, his old boss warned, would have a “very strong criminal problem” [emphasis added] if he goes ahead with the release of The Room Where It Happened. 

“I will consider every conversation with me as president to be highly classified,” a nervous Trump has made clear. For example, did Trump say he was holding up aid to Ukraine until they dug up dirt on Joe Biden? Classified. 

Did Trump tell Bolton he had Rice Krispies for breakfast? Classified. 

In fact, conversations about anything would be classified. Golf? Trump’s weight? Did Trump say Kim Jong-un looked like a Munchkin? Or say he’d like to bang another porn star? Or he didn’t care if the Saudis cut up Jamaal Khashoggi in little pieces, so long as he got reelected in November? 

All classified.

 

“If he wrote a book and if the book gets out,” Trump said, “he’s broken the law and I would think you would have criminal problems. I hope so. If this guy is writing things about conversations or about anything – and maybe he is not telling the truth. He’s been known not to tell the truth, a lot….” 

Trump trailed off. 

So, add Bolton to the list of people Trump hired, who, according to Trump, turned out to be liars.

 

According to early reports, Bolton will claim that nothing mattered to this president, except “getting reelected.”  

 

“I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure,” Bolton will say, “that wasn’t driven by reelection calculations.”

 

Bolton will describe “chaos in the White House” and focus on Trump’s “inconsistent, scattershot decision-making process.” He will argue that Democrats botched the impeachment hearings by focusing only on Trump’s questionable dealings regarding Ukraine.

 

He is prepared to argue that Trump’s foreign policy decisions were always driven by questionable motivations.

 

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Anyone need hydroxychloroquine? We’ve got plenty! 

IF YOU MISSED this story, your U.S. government – which is now piling up record deficits – is now the proud owner of 63 million doses of a drug normally used to fight malaria. (See: 6/10/20.) 

Do we need to fight malaria in this country? 

We do not. 

This drug, hydroxychloroquine, was touted by the president as a “game changer” in the battle against Covid-19 (see: 6/5/20). Trump started taking the drug, himself, touted its virtues, said he felt like a champ, and ordered federal agencies to start stockpiling it as part of his half-baked plan to address a national health crisis he said was never coming. Taxpayer dollars were flushed down the toilet.

 

The FDA has revoked its emergency approval of the use of hydroxychloroquine and a related variation, chloroquine, for treatment of coronavirus. Not only did Food and Drug Agency scientists determine that the drug was ineffective. They warned, “Additionally, in light of ongoing serious cardiac adverse events and other serious side effects, the known and potential benefits of CQ and HCQ no longer outweigh the known and potential risks for the authorized use.” 

France, Germany, and Belgium had already halted use in May. Many U.S. hospitals had excess supplies on hand, and doctors had no desire to prescribe them. British scientists, earlier this month, ended a trial, calling the drugs “useless” in treating the coronavirus. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (who knew) also announced support for the FDA ban. 

But Trump still believes in the magic properties of the drug. Because he took it, and look at him. 

If he needs another dose, he’s got 63 million, close at hand.