"Joy and pleasure are as real as pain and sorrow and one must learn what they have to teach. . . ." -- Sean Russell, from Gatherer of Clouds

"If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right." -- Helyn D. Goldenberg

"I love you and I'm not afraid." -- Evanescence, "My Last Breath"

“If I hear ‘not allowed’ much oftener,” said Sam, “I’m going to get angry.” -- J.R.R. Tolkien, from Lord of the Rings

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Today in Business as Usual (Update)

So, to no one's surprise, Trump pardoned Joe Arpaio. (And what kind of name is that? Doesn't sound American to me.) The responses haven't been kind, as you can see at the link, but I like Maxine Waters' reaction:



She's absolutely right -- Trump's white supremacist sympathies (which, with the eager cooperation of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, he's making official government policy) and racism are well documented. This is just one more example to add to the list.upd

Update: Digby has a post of tweets from Arizona New Times documenting some of Arpaio's history. It's pretty appalling.

And as if that weren't enough, Macho Man actually signed a memo on "Military Service by Transgender Individuals" -- his sop to the anti-LGBT hate groups, who love him. (Please don't tell me it's because they think he's one of them -- they know better. But he's useful.)

An example of the bullshit that forms the basis of his "policy":

In my judgment, the previous Administration failed to identify a sufficient basis to conclude that terminating the Departments' longstanding policy and practice would not hinder military effectiveness and lethality, disrupt unit cohesion, or tax military resources, and there remain meaningful concerns that further study is needed to ensure that continued implementation of last year's policy change would not have those negative effects.

As the article points out, this is just rehash of Elaine Donnelley's "arguments" against repeal of DADT. (Remember Elaine Donnelley? The only person ever to be laughed at while testifying before a congressional committee.) The rest is portentous boilerplate.

OutServe-SLDN and Lambda Legal are preparing to sue.

Note: this all happened Friday evening, the traditional time for presidents to pull shit they don't want anyone to notice. And it's just icing on the cake that Harvey was dominating the news.

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