Bobservations

White House communications aide Kelly “He’s dying anyway” Sadler no longer works there.

No one knows if she quit or was asked to leave, but she’s gone … over a month after her idiotic, insensitive, stupid, typical of a _____ White House statement.

Bye Felicia.

The Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] paid $1,560 for 12 customized silver fountain pens for Administrator Scott Pruitt, according to internal emails.

Pruitt has already spent $43,000 his get Smart soundproof booth, $9,600 in office décor, thousands on first-class travel, and $3.5 million on round-the-clock security.

Pruitt is the swamp _____ promised to drain.

Update: One of the last things Missouri Governor Eric Greitens, a Republican Family Values man, because, of course, did before resigning last week was to sign a bill to outlaw blackmailing a person with private sexual photos.

Greitens himself is accused of taking nonconsensual photos of a woman during a sexual encounter and threatening to blackmail her with them.

Seriously. You cannot make this shiz up.

A friend posted a meme to Facebook that said:

I made the mistake of wearing red to a Target store this week. Long story short, I’m covering for Debbie on Saturday.

Cracked me up, and so I told Carlos about it and he said:

“Who’s Debbie?”

Kills me.

Okay, Cake Ruling … SCOTUS ruled 7-2 in favor of anti-gay baker Jack Phillips in Masterpiece Cakeshop vs. Colorado Civil Rights Commission case. Here’s the breakdown:

First, at the end of the day, a gay couple—Charlie Craig and Dave Mullens—were discriminated against simply for being gay.

Second, since the Court sided with the Hate Baker and allowed him to deny service to a gay couple, it may make gay people, gay couples, less likely to press for their rights if they fell discriminated against.

Third, the opinion includes troubling conclusions. The Court found that statements from Commissioners on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission evidenced so much anti-religious bias that they denied the Hate Baker a fair, impartial hearing. But those statements don’t really evidence bias.

But according to Towleroad, this is the most damning result. When the Commissioner in Colorado claimed that:

“Freedom of religion and religion has been used to justify all kinds of discrimination throughout history, whether it be slavery, whether it be the Holocaust, whether it be—I mean, we—we can list hundreds of situations where freedom of religion has been used to justify discrimination. And to me it is one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use to—to use their religion to hurt others.”

And SCOTUS responded:

“To describe a man’s faith as ‘one of the most despicable pieces of rhetoric that people can use’ is to disparage his religion in at least two distinct ways: by describing it as despicable, and also by characterizing it as merely rhetorical—something insubstantial and even insincere.”

I guess SCOTUS can’t read, because the Commissioner’s comment called out using religion as a pretext for discrimination. And besides, the Commissioner was right: Christianity justified the Holocaust … religion was used to justify slavery … Religion was used to justify Jim Crow, apartheid, and laws against interracial marriage.

Masterpiece Cakeshop is neither a huge triumph for bigotry nor a devastating loss for equality … All nondiscrimination laws protecting LGBTQ people are still in effect and the Court did not grant business a broad right to discriminate.

The SCOTUS decision applies only to this case, but we still need to be vigilant and we still need to fight.

Sadly, the march goes on …

And here’s proof … in a Facebook comment, Michael Clark, a Republican, because, of course, South Dakota Representative announced this week that businesses should be able to turn away customers based on race:

“He should have the opportunity to run his business the way he wants. If he wants to turn away people of color, then that(‘s) his choice.”

Clark celebrated the Masterpiece decision as a “win for freedom of speech and freedom of religion” and he believes any business owner can turn away any customer for any reason just because he feels that way.

Clark is running unopposed for reelection.

Did you see _____ at his patriotic celebration yesterday? Did you notice that the king of all patriots, the most patriotic man in the world, doesn’t know the words to the National Anthem or God Bless America?

PS This guy … taking a knee at the staged event is giving me everything.

PPS Lebron and Steph Curry have said that no matter who wins the NBA Championship, no one is going to the White House.

Remember Zach Wahls, the then-19-year-old University of Iowa engineering student, who stood before the Iowa House of Representatives and gave an impassioned speech defending his two lesbian mothers?

The now- 26-year-old Wahls won the Democratic nomination for Iowa Senate District 37 with 60% of the vote; his nearest competitor got just 34%. And he looks like a sure thing to win in November.

Congrats, and good luck, Zach!

In New Jersey, out lesbian Julia Fahl defeated Mayor David DelVecchio, in office for 27 years, to become the new mayor of Lambertville.

In Alabama, gay former Marine Neil Rafferty is headed for a runoff in the race for the District 54 seat to replace Patricia Todd in the Alabama State Legislature. Candidates need more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

And, in San Francisco, openly gay former state senator Mark Leno pulled into first place early Wednesday morning in the mayor’s race after ranked-choice voting put him ahead of London Breed.

After all the ranked-choice votes were sorted, Leno had 50.42 % to Breed’s 49.58 %. No matter who wins, it will be a first for San Francisco: Leno would be the first openly gay mayor, and Breed would be the first African American woman to hold the job.

Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón is a Spanish politician and the country’s new Prime Minister. First Justin in Canada and now Pedro in Spain. 

Is this the coming of hot leaders around the world because I’ll cover that story?