Wisconsin man who showed up to support an anti-trans bill does something amazing by David Hudson

The state where I was born and raised is as down-the-middle politically as they come, but its state legislature has been commandeered for year by Republicans who gerrymandered their way into impervious majorities. That has changed somewhat in recent years, and the right-wingers are responding to the erosion of their unearned dominance by strengthening their embrace of the hateful policies that gin up the outrage of their base, including those that heartlessly target trans individuals. In a hearing for one of those cruel bills, a Wisconsin resident named Larry was evidently invited specifically by the state’s Republicans to come and testify in favor of its enactment. Instead, he listened to the words of trans individuals who spoke before him and changed his mind completely. It’s a good reminder that most people are fundamentally decent and their perceptions have been skewed by deliberately misleading propaganda from the right. David Hudson wrote this piece on the power of Larry for Queerty.

The Right’s Trump Derangement Syndrome by Michelle Goldberg

In an act of supreme defensiveness, the worst people on the right end of the political spectrum coined a term that implied mania on the part of that anyone who raised legitimate concerns about the transparent ineptitude and eager amorality of the GOP’s standard bearer. Writing for The New York Times, Michelle Goldberg soundly argues that the quasi-clinical term in question is better applied to the current U.S. president’s supporters and defenders. They are constantly describing a version of this weak, moronic man that simply doesn’t exist.

Small Farms and Food Banks are Caught Off Guard by Spending Cuts by Julie Creswell and Linda Qiu

Julie Creswell and Linda Qiu report on the devastating ramifications of the haphazard and poorly communicated cuts to federal programs that benefit small farms and hungry people in the U.S. This article is an object lesson in why the moves being made by the current presidential administration shouldn’t be treated like anything other that the reckless flailing of ignorant chaos agents. Cutting off funding that bolsters internal supply chains and provides organically grown vegetables to citizens is an act that runs in direct opposition to purported principles of lessening reliance on imports and improving public health. The miscreants in charge simply don’t know what they’re doing, and it’s well past time for the broader news media to call that out more directly. This article is published by The New York Times.