A Recommendation

If you haven't already, add Digby's Hullabaloo to your daily reading list -- some of the best commentary going.

Just today, for example, in addition to Dennis Hartley's Earth Day piece noted in the previous post, Digby has posts on Rod Rosenstein and what he's facing at the hands of Trump and his minions, the pernicious influence of Facebook, Trump's reaction to real news, Mike Pompeo's military record (oops!), and much more.

Antidote: Parker Curry

You may have seen a news story on Parker Curry, the little girl whose mom took her to the National Portrait Gallery to see Michelle Obama's official portrait.

Hey @MichelleObama! Parker, the little girl who loves your portrait, has an important message for you and we promised her we'd deliver it! 👸🏾 pic.twitter.com/m60f6zhLkc

— AM to DM by BuzzFeed News (@AM2DM) March 5, 2018

Michelle got the message and responded as one might expect:

Parker, I'm so glad I had the chance to meet you today (and for the dance party)! Keep on dreaming big for yourself...and maybe one day I'll proudly look up at a portrait of you! pic.twitter.com/faUVTsYWun

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) March 6, 2018

Via Balloon Juice.

Compare and Contrast: World AIDS Day, Here and There

Our "President" actually made an announcement:

In a signed statement on the White House website, President Trump has said: “Today, on World AIDS Day, we honor those who have lost their lives to AIDS, we celebrate the remarkable progress we have made in combatting this disease, and we reaffirm our ongoing commitment to end AIDS as a public health threat.” 

Trump continued: “Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, more than 76 million people around the world have become infected with HIV and 35 million have died from AIDS.

“As of 2014, 1.1 million people in the United States are living with HIV. On this day, we pray for all those living with HIV, and those who have lost loved ones to AIDS

This statement stands in comparison to President Obama’s final World AIDS Day address where he urged then President-elect Trump to maintain HIV/AIDS prevention work and highlighted the impact of HIV on the LGBT+ community.

It's worth noting the Trump administration's attitude toward the LGBT community, as reflected in its policy moves:

Since election day, Trump has removed rights for trans kids, banned trans soldiers from the military, appointed an anti-LGBT Supreme Court justice, endorsed a Republican who wants to make homosexuality illegal, hired an Army Secretary who says trans people are diseased, proposed slashing HIV AIDS funding, signed an order permitting anti-LGBT discrimination at work, removed opposition to North Carolina’s anti-trans bathroom bill, addressed a recognised hate group gathering and refused to acknowledge LGBT History Month.

The comparison with Obama is going to annoy him enough, especially since it seems to hit a very sensitive spot -- why else devote so much effort to undoing everything the Obama administration did? But contrast his proclamation with this:

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended a World AIDS Day event today in their first joint royal engagement.

The newly-engaged royal couple travelled to Nottingham to attend the #SeeRed event, which was organised by HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust. 

The pair were photographed sporting red World AIDS Day ribbons as they spoke to the crowd.

Prince Harry said: “We mustn’t be complacent. We’ve got everything here: all the equipment, all the testing ability.

"We owe it to this generation to be able to eradicate this once and for all.”

The Prince, a passionate advocate on HIV/AIDS issues, spoke to people living with HIV as well as sexual health campaigners.

Andrew Bates, a gay man living with HIV who met the Prince at the launch of HIV testing week last month, was able to he spoke to the Prince about coming out.

(That garbled bit is theirs, not mine.)

The contrast is staggering. I mean, can you imagine Donald Trump actually shaking hands with someone who's HIV+?

I guess this only points up the fact that real leaders care about people. Donald Trump doesn't.

Today's Must-Read: Doing It Right

An illuminating article on parents dealing with a transgender child and doing the right thing -- and working very hard to figure out what that is:

It was early still, not much past 6 a.m., and James Kaplan was already dressed for the first day of third grade. The night before, his mom, Sara, pulled out the iron and he helped press the wrinkles out of his light blue polo. “My first time ironing,” he said. For the past month, he’d been pushing his parents to let him wear a suit to school. James, whose ninth birthday was a couple of months away, thought it was a sharp look.

But after some back and forth, they’d settled on the polo, khaki cargo shorts and the dark blue chambray tie that Sara was now fitting over his head. Charley, James’ 4-year-old brother, still in his pajamas, pointed at him. “Handsome, James. Handsome.” James collapsed on the couch, staring through the windows at the brightening September sky.

“How you feelin’?” James’ dad, Ben, called from the kitchen. “Nervous,” James said. “But excited.”

He wasn’t just thinking about his first day of third grade. He was thinking about the beginning of his first full school year as James.

Some eight months before, James had told his parents his “inner person was a boy.” The round-cheeked 8-year-old they’d always thought was their daughter was actually their son. It was something he’d been trying to tell them — something he’d been trying to understand for himself — for more than a year.

Sara and Ben considered themselves progressive, but they didn’t know the first thing about raising a transgender child. In the days that followed, they would talk to family, to friends and to their couples therapist. They would take James shopping for “boy clothes” and to get a “boy haircut.”

They had to get to know their first-born all over again. They loved him as they always had, but there was this sense that maybe they didn’t really know him. And, if they were being honest, he was different — lighter and smiling and more open.

The article goes into some depth, but it's a fascinating read. Do it.

The Notre Dame Walkout: Compare and Contrast

You've no doubt read about the 150 or so graduating students at Notre Dame University who walked out of Mike Pence's commencement address. The reactions, as one might expect, have been many and varied.

South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg, I think, got it right:

“What I appreciate about it is it’s clear that the students want to express their commitment to tolerance and the values that they believe a Catholic University ought to uphold, and that this administration is not compatible with those values,” Buttigieg said. “And at the same time, I think they found a very respectful way to do it.”

Buttigieg added he does “respect the office of the vice presidency, too,” and each student should make his or her own decision on the walkout, but the way demonstrators chose to protest was an appropriate to speak out against the Trump administration.

“You go to a university in order to form your conscience and they’re expressing their conscience in a way that I really respect and admire,” Buttigieg said.

Wha's especially important to note is Buttigieg's emphasis on conscience, given the way that concept is waved like a flag to justify the petty bigotry of so-called "Christians."

Speaking of which, here's has-been-before-he-was-anybody Franklin Graham's reaction:

"The New York Times," Graham continues, "says many of those who walked out were wearing their LGBT rainbow or flag pins in protest. To get up and walk out on the Vice President of the United States of America, who was gracious enough to come speak at their graduation, that’s just insolent! Maybe they need to take another class before they graduate—one on civility and respect. What do you think?"

. . .

"This country is so fortunate to have a Vice President like Mike Pence. He’s a great man and a strong leader who isn’t afraid to speak the truth. I thank God for him."

The emphasis on respect for authority is striking, especially when contrasted to Buttigieg's comments about conscience. But then, that's what Graham's brand of "Christianity" is all about: servility.

(Oh, and do remember that that "strong leader" almost lost his cookies trying to backtrack on Indiana's anti-trans, anti-gay "religious freedom" bill.)

About Diversity

The sort of fun thing (well, I think it's fun) that we may soon lose: I just got a notice from Medicare for a claim that was submitted last year. The fun part is that they include a notice about calling for information if you have questions. The notice is printed in (alphabetical order): Arabic, Armenian, Farsi, French, German, Haitian Creole, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.

Oh, yeah -- and English.

Where but America?

There Is an Alternative

Justin Trudeau seems to have a rational take on how to deal with the eroding middle class, refugees, climate change, and pretty much everything else:

Last year, at a time when Trump was being described as a long shot for president and the threat of Brexit seemed a distant possibility, Trudeau, 44, swept to a majority government on an ambitious platform that included addressing growing inequality and creating real change for the country’s middle class.

One year on, what has emerged is a government that seems to go against the political tide around the world; open to trade, immigration and diversity and led by a social media star whose views on feminism, Syrian refugees and LGBT rights have provoked delight among progressives.

But as he enters his second year in power, Trudeau – a former high school teacher and snowboarding instructor – is under pressure to show the world that his government has found an alternative means of tackling the concerns of those who feel they’ve been left behind.

He cited the signing of Ceta – the free trade deal between the EU and Canada – and a hotly contested decision to approve two pipelines as examples of this approach.

“We were able to sign free trade agreement with Europe at a time when people tend to be closing off,” he said. “We’re actually able to approve pipelines at a time when everyone wants protection of the environment. We’re being able to show that we get people’s fears and there are constructive ways of allaying them – and not just ways to lash out and give a big kick to the system.”

What a refreshing dose of rationality.

Today's Must-Read

"How to Talk to Your Kids About Bernie Sanders," by Kimberly Harrington.

And I really don't have anything to add.

This Is The Way Professionals Do It

You've no doubt heard about the security breach at the White House over the weekend, when a man jumped the fence and made it to the front foyer before he was intercepted by the Secret Service.

The Secret Service on Saturday launched a security review to learn how a man carrying a knife was able to get inside the front door of the White House on Friday night after jumping a fence and sprinting more than 70 yards across the North Lawn — the first time that has ever happened.

Within seconds, the man who his public defender said served three tours in Iraq — and relatives said served as a sniper — got to the front double doors of the North Portico, turned the brass knob and stepped inside the vestibule. There he was grabbed and subdued by an officer standing post inside the door. He had a folding knife with a 2 1 / 2-inch serrated blade.

I'm not going to address the possible lapses on the part of the Secret Service -- they'll take care of that. I just want to point out one thing: the man, whose name is Omar J. Gonzales, Jr., and who served 18 years in the armed forces, was not shot. Get that? Nobody shot him, because they didn't have to. And Secret Service agents are trained when to shoot and when not to shoot, and have to be aware of possible consequences -- like stray bullets, bullets passing through the target and hitting someone else, and the like.

Of course, if this guy had been a black teenager walking down the street someplace. . . .