#also holy shit it's been a while since i last posted alex and john

[aimmyarrowshigh]

aheavenlyrush replied to your post “I’ve been on tumblr since 2012 and I was even a John Green fan for a...”

i checked and it happened in 2015

aheavenlyrush replied to your post “I’ve been on tumblr since 2012 and I was even a John Green fan for a...”

i saw that jg post on my feed and i had no energy to comment on it but truly when i saw that you had i felt such relief!! i remember making that one post about stiefvater defending him and telling teenage girls to be quiet and the response to it still fucking haunts me i swear

Oy, was it really that recently? The last three years have taken 900 years. And yeah... Maggie Stiefvater’s post about it was a Really Bad Look, and iirc that was the environment that spawned the beginning of the batshit “Keep YA Kind”* concern-trolling thing (yep, also 2015) that was mainly used to silence girls and women and people of color whenever the four white cishet men in YA fucked up between 2015 and 2018, when it finally publicly came out that most of them were, yk, fucking up because they’re legitimately horrible people and maybe the people calling them out should have been taken seriously.

* The other notable “why the fuck is this happening???? why is HE the one getting the sympathy here?????” events from “Keep YA Kind,” which, listen, I would bet you anything that it was very very nearly called “Keep Kidlit Kind” until the only person involved with 1/4 of a braincell managed to realize the acronym on their Twitter handle looked REALL BAD:

Andrew Smith, a straight white adult man, says out loud with his human adult man mouth, that he knows he can’t write female characters well and relies on fetishization and stereotypes because he never really met a girl until his daughter (??? SO WHAT IS YOUR WIFE, ANDREW? CHOPPED LIVER?) and, being as that is Bullshit and also his books were also being lauded as though they were Infinite fucking Jest Jr. even though the interview in question was for a book in which mutant grasshoppers take over the earth and a teenage boy gets trapped in a bunker with a teenage girl who eventually has to git to birthin’ babies she doesn’t want and isn’t medically prepared to have safely For The Good Of Humanity, he’s called out.

He’s called out mostly on a technical, writing level at first, even! Like, “Here’s how to write a female character: you write a fully considered, well-rounded character. They’re a girl.” And Andrew Smith FLIPS HIS SHIT, does some op-ed about how his mother used to beat him so he can’t see girls as people, and makes his twitter private. The “Keep YA Kind” sycophants support him HARD.

And then this happens to pop up on a mysterious Twitter that just HAPPENS to start while HIS twitter’s offline...

NOTE: Jay Asher, author of 13 Reasons Why, was literally dropped from his publisher and SCWBI for being a sexual predator. So like, I don’t think he was bullied, I think his predation was being remarked upon. Like, idk, maybe that he was being called creepy or sth idk idk idk

And then when A.S. decided to unsockpuppet to promote his next book, The Alex Crow, which is about mutant crows and a bunker or whatever:

The “asshole” in specific that Andrew Smith was calling an asshole was delightful human being and fellow author Kate Messner, who, coincidentally, was one of the victims to come out against Lemony Snicket’s sexual harrassment, so she’s had a BULLSHIT time just trying to do her JOB of being an author while female.

Which leads to Tommy Wallach! All-around fucknut! Whose major interest seems to be being That Guy In Philosophy 101 Who Always Has To Be Devil’s Advocate, Even Though No One Asked, and has a deeply vested interest in making sure that teenage girl readers -- who are his target audience, because he chose to write YA, as an adult man who made a choice in what he wrote and chose to make it YA, and not, like, any of the hundreds of genres that AREN’T largely written about and for teenage girls, yk -- know that teenage girls are Dumb. Victoria Schwab actually wrote an essay for YA Books Central about the incessant problem that IS/WAS Tommy Wallach called “We Need To Talk About Tommy” back in -- you guessed it! -- 2016, but it’s offline now and I’m not going to go Wayback it rn.

I’m just going to copypasta YAinterrobang’s Wallach timeline because he’s exhausting, he reminds me of undergrad.

Wallach’s continual pattern of behavior is worth discussing, especially in the context of sexism in YA and the continual marginalization of “diverse” voices in the community despite the efforts of the We Need Diverse Books movement.

Wallach’s problematic behavior runs back over a year, starting with a defense of Andrew Smith where he ignores the opinions of author and advocate Tessa Gratton in favor of a dictionary definition of sexism. (Andrew Smith’s behavior and the fallout around his statements have, of course, already been documented on YA Interrobang in “The Curious Case of Andrew Smith, Twitter & sexism.”) Wallach postures that women are inherently “other” from men, accuses Gratton of “gin[ning]up the controversy” and explains that he is a feminist because he was “raised by a single working mother and she’s still my best friend in the world.”

[View Wallach’s defense of Smith and attack on Gratton as a .pdf.]

Fast forward to later that year. Author Justina Ireland takes to Twitter to discuss a book where she feels the black character is self-hating. Ireland, being black herself, is asked about the book in question; she says that it’s Wallach’s debut novel We All Looked Up. Though Wallach is not tagged, he swoops into the conversation and demands Ireland provide proof that his character Anita is self-hating before claiming that author Dhonielle Clayton, who is also black, is friends with him and “engaged” with him on the issues in the book.

Clayton later stated publicly that she had not done any sensitivity reading on We All Looked Up.

What brought Wallach’s behavior to the attention of the YA world as a whole came this past November in the wake of the horrifying terrorist attacks in Paris. When the hashtag #prayforparis went viral, Wallach responded with multiple social media posts and a blog post about how atheism was the only belief that could make the world a better place. (Though Wallach argues that it is not, in fact, a belief: “The fact that we have a word for it makes it seem like it’s equivalent to other belief systems, but it’s not. The absence of something is not equivalent to the thing itself.”)

[View Wallach’s comments on atheism as a .pdf.]

After Wallach Tweeted that he was a “a rabid atheist, and the world would be a better place if more folk were” – a Tweet he subsequently deleted before deleting his account in its entirety – he doubled down in a block post that outlined all the way religions failed and all the reasons atheism was awesome.

Those who tried to explain to him why this behavior was – to say the least – problematic found themselves quickly blocked or shut down; at once point, Wallach tried to explain anti-Semitism to Jewish author Hannah Moskowitz before claiming that “if [her]parents are atheists and [his]dad is Jewish, [he’s] as much Jewish as [her].”

(For those wondering, Wallach blocked me during this incident despite being friendly with me and having taken my advice previously; while he did believe me in regards to his behavior towards Justina Ireland, which you can see in Tweets above, my snarky comment to him about “the only good people are the people who are exactly like me” was, apparently, too much for him to take. As Wallach’s account has since been deleted and I purged my social media account in January, that interaction is no longer publicly available.)

Take this behavior in comparison to author LJ Silverman, who recently received a sea of anti-Semitic hate mail – including crude manipulated images of her in an oven – for Tweeting that she was worried about the upcoming election in the context of history. Wallach painted himself to be the victim, somebody “attacked” for insulting all of the religious folks in the YA community, while Silverman, who simply shared a worry plaguing her, became a victim of virulent trolls.

While Wallach deleted his social media accounts after this, there were no public consequences to his actions despite ill-will from the YA community at large. If another member of the YA community had spoken out – one of our Catholic or Islamic or Jewish or Mormon authors, for instance – the backlash would have been substantially worse, possibly career-ruining.

Wallach’s career, however, was not ruined; he recently landed a six-figure deal for a book trilogy centered around a “holy war.”

And thus, we return to Wallach’s dismissive comments on suicide – which, it turned out, were neither new or original. In a blog post deleted after it came to light during this discussion, Wallach rated “the top ten literary suicides (organized by emo-ness)” which included all of the characters of HBO’s Girls – “It’s really just a fantasy of mine.” – and, ranking at number one, Sylvia Plath – who is not a character but a real person who suffered from depression before taking her own life at a young age.

[View Wallach’s post on suicide as a .pdf.]

“I’m only going to talk about the fact that a successful YA author found it appropriate to glorify, romanticize, and mock what for many of his readers is among the highest causes of death,” wrote Schwab in her “We Need To Talk About Tommy” post. “That this author could be so very careless and flippant and insensitive about such a very serious issue is abhorrent. That two years after penning this post he still sees suicide as something to be made light of, to be used as a marketing tool.”

Simon & Schuster made no public comment about any of Wallach’s comments. His career, save for making enemies of some fellow authors, seems relatively unscathed by his callous actions.

Anyway, the moral of the story is, like, if you wanna read books by straight white dudes, go for it, but check them out from the library. Spend your book-buying money on books by women, nonbinary/other folks, and dudes who aren’t straight and/or white. Straight white men, PARTICULARLY in categories of literature that are largely targeted towards girls and women, and largely written by girls and women -- but published, edited, and marketed by other straight white men -- are lauded FAR above what they’re actually worth, as like, storytellers or human people go.

The Glass Escalator is a one-way trip to wonderland, but YA is a skyscraper that was built by women and I PROMISE you, whatever book by one of these dudes you’re considering reading, there’s a better version by a woman and/or person of color on the shelves nearby that just didn’t get 1/10th of the marketing money.

And of course there should be an effort to be kind on social media, but “keep YA kind”... to whom? To the people who were being silenced when they were pointing out legitimate problems with the behaviors of men in social power? (And one of whom, in the case of Jay Asher, was LITERALLY DANGEROUS BC HE IS A SEXUAL PREDATOR.) Like, really? There had to be a hashtag campaign to silence dozens of people with legitimate, not-bullying-just-pointing-out-problems-that-are-problems-with-stuff-you-did-dude problems, to make social media feel more comfortable for four middle-aged straight white men?

As though the outside world isn’t comfortable enough for middle-aged straight white men????

#asks #aheavenlyrush

[flauntpage]

John Boruk Wrote a Post Comparing the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Donald Trump, and it was Not Well-Received

John Boruk is a conservative, but you already knew that.

The former NBC Sports Philadelphia anchor and Flyers reporter has previously tweeted about topics such as Colin Kaepernick, and why he wouldn’t let his son wear the color pink, the latter take resulting in a public apology.

I personally don’t care about the guy’s political views, but left wing Twitter does, and Boruk got “ratioed” for this tweet and Facebook post, which compared the United States Women’s National Team to President Donald Trump:

They were bold They were brash. At times, controversial and offensive, but they were also unapologetic throughout.

How the @USWNT took a page out of the @realDonaldTrump playbook in winning the World Cup https://t.co/SOokrN1V7W#USWNT #OneTeamOneNation

— John Boruk (@johnborukNBCS) July 7, 2019

Hmm…

It’s an interesting premise. The U.S. women pretty much loathe Donald Trump. Donald Trump loathes them. However, are they actually alike?

“Holy shit what an awful take. Delete this,” wrote Twitter user @williamzabka42. “This is one of the dumbest things I’ve read in a while,” said Parker Molloy of Media Matters.

John in PA chimed in:

Oh, please. They don’t lie, associate with criminals, kiss dictators’ a$$es, declare bankruptcy or solicit foreign help. They won with skill, hard work and team effort. Those are not Trump qualities.

— Johninpa (@JWH100) July 8, 2019

Right then, let’s take a look at the Facebook post and decide for ourselves. Writes Boruk, after the jump:

THE US WOMEN’S SOCCER TEAM WAS VERY TRiUMPhant IN WINNING THE WORLD CUP

They were brash.

They were emboldened.

And they brought a certain American bravado into this year’s tournament in their quest to become the first US team to win back-to-back World Cup titles.

The French air was filled with American arrogance, and whether they approve of the comparison or not, it was very Trumpian in nature. It was the same style and manner in which the 45th President of the United States has navigated his way through his affairs in the White House.

Ok, you have my attention. Let’s take a look at the next part:

The women didn’t tiptoe their way onto the World Cup stage, but rather trounced all over Thailand as if they had picked grapes off the Bordeaux vine and stomping out the seeds – turning the Thailand team into their own fine wine, a 13-0 demolition, where the sweet taste of the most lopsided loss in women’s World Cup history was met with criticism.

Why? Because there’s a certain feeling that we have to apologize for flexing our muscle when the rest of the world is watching.

https://twitter.com/TaylorTwellm…/status/1138551898259243008

“This was disgraceful for the United States,” said former Canadian national player Clare Rustad. To which one could reply, “Then how would you have described Canada’s 18-0 ice hockey win over Slovakia in the 2010 Winter Games?”

Yes, how quickly they forget.

Of course, the USWNT made no apologies, nor should they. They gave Thailand everything they had. It would have been a slap in the face if they had half-assed their way to victory.

It was reminiscent of when the 1992 Dream Team chased Angola into Olympic oblivion, winning by 68 points, a game in which Charles Barkley elbowed an opposing player and was unapologetic in doing so. � Perhaps Barkley’s antics were unwarranted as the US team was labeled as ‘bullies’, but it was a reminder then as it is now that we expect athletes to act and behave in a certain way all the time. American supremacy is under attack even in America.

Still, the competitiveness and emotion have a tendency to dictate otherwise.

So Boruk is basically saying that the USWNT showed “American exceptionalism” in the way they beat the stuffing out of Thailand. He uses the word supremacy, but it’s the same thing. Variances of the phrase have been used ad nauseam in the corny political argument over whether America is the best country in the world or whatever.

I do agree when he says that the Dream Team and the U.S. women have nothing to apologize for. They talked some shit and backed it up on the field. They kept their foot on the pedal and didn’t let up, not for “sportsmanship” or any other contrived reasons. I was honestly most impressed with the way they talked a big game and then followed through in their performances – which they did under enormous amounts of pressure by the way – which ultimately solidified their uber-elite status on Sunday afternoon. It was the ultimate example of talking the talk and then walking the walk, which is very American, in my mind.

The thing that bugged me and others was not goals 11, 12, or 13 against Thailand, it was the way they celebrated those extra goals, as if it was even a challenge. That rang a bit hollow for me, since this was a team that had, indeed, been there before but was acting like they hadn’t been.

Anyway, I digress.

Here’s the rest of Boruk’s post:

Then there was outrage over Alex Morgan’s ‘tea cup’ celebration in a 2-1 victory over England in which she trolled the Brits with her celebration coming off the eventual game-winning goal.

Moments like these come once-in-a-lifetime, and will be talked about for years to come.

Morgan said, “I feel that there is some sort of double standard for females in sports.”

“Wah, wah, wah. It’s like, we’re at the World Cup. What do you want us to do?” Rapinoe said Wednesday in response to criticism, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Rachel Bachmann. “We work hard, we like to play hard.”

And perhaps they’re both right. Collectively, maybe we don’t expect women to bring a level of braggadocio to competition.

But it was refreshing.

This is the World Cup – like the Olympics – an event that comes around once every four years. The hours, days and weeks spent training and practicing for this moment are countless. If there was ever an occasion to “whip it out” so to speak and be less “lady like”, this was the moment in life to do so.

Thankfully, they left their political correctness and mlld-mannered (sic) behavior behind once they landed at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris last month.

They were the team the world was shooting for coming into the tournament, and they took everyone’s best shot. In fact, they’ve taken the media’s best shots for the past 20 years ever since Brandi Chastain whipped off her jersey to reveal her sports bra at the 1999 Women’s World Cup.

This was America’s team regardless of Megan Rapinoe’s ill-timed comments regarding a visit to the White House.

Collectively, they may be taking a stance against the POTUS, but everything about their performance in France seemed to come right out of Donald Trump’s playbook.

It’s an interesting column.

Of course Boruk got blasted into the high heavens by people who were appalled that he would ever consider comparing the U.S. women to a president that they revile. Then, on the other side, you have pro-Trump conservatives who hate the U.S. women because they think Megan Rapinoe is a loudmouth Kaepernick clone, because they won’t go to the White House, and because they have LGBT players and blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda. So I get what Boruk was trying to say here, but I think he probably just pissed off everybody instead. If he had left Trump out of it and just said, “this World Cup win was very American” or whatever, it would have resonated.

Unfortunately he was inundated with comments like this, from “Bomark Padgett” –

I personally believe that’s a little harsh, to invite somebody to eat your feces. But you tell me – good column? Bad column? Good points? Bad points?

At Crossing Broad, we report the facts in a fair and balanced way, then our readers can make informed decisions. And sometimes we use satire.

The post John Boruk Wrote a Post Comparing the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Donald Trump, and it was Not Well-Received appeared first on Crossing Broad.

John Boruk Wrote a Post Comparing the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team to Donald Trump, and it was Not Well-Received published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

[liberty-has-died]

HomosexualsAreReprobates-Homosexuality IS offensive. It does not belong on a general public website, especially one where children might utilize for research for school

HomosexualsAreReprobates-TRUMP = POTUS

HomosexualsAreReprobates-Trump removed it and put it where it belongs..... On the CDC webpage

Gabriel Hernandez-They preach equality yet want to be singled out every chance possible. Confused?

Gabriel Hernandez-There will be substance in this country post-Obama J-on-You know, gay people, Mr Trump knows where you live and he is gonna blow up your tyres.

David-These are the groups of individuals that are the most infected with the HIV / AIDS virus , WORLDWIDE . 1. Homosexuals 2. Bisexual Males 3. Male Homosexual Prostitutes 4. Illegal IV Drug Addicts 5. Those that have sex with the above It seems that immoral and self destructive acts are the cause

David-It's ironic that the typical Homosexual is slim / skinny . And that the feminine acting one . Has all body hair removed from the neck down . In some perverted way , thinking this mimics a " female " body . While the other acts " straight " or masculine . If their relationships were so legitimate . Why on earth do they mimic , Heterosexuals ?

David-These are painful medical conditions associated with repeated and forceful , sodomy . They are Hemorrhoids , Anal Fissures and Anorectal Trauma .

David-GOOGLE SEARCH - 7 Scientific Facts about Homosexuality and it's adverse effects on Society - Homosexual Deception - Enteric Diseases of Homosexuals - Homosexuals and Their Diseases 

David-If being a Homosexual , Lesbian , Bisexual or Transsexual was normal . You wouldn't have to proclaim to anyone , that you were one . As well , you wouldn't hide the fact from anyone , that you are one 

David-GOOGLE SEARCH - The Homosexual Lifestyle - The Diseases of Homosexuals - Male Homosexual Practices .

David-" GAY " is a EUPHEMISM - 1. The use of a word or phase that is less expressive or direct , but considered less distasteful , less offensive , etc., than another .As to deceive , fool or otherwise " pull the wool over our eyes " HOMOSEXUALITY is not normal , but abnormal and most importantly , IMMORAL !

David-Lesbians , Homosexuals , Bisexuals and Transsexuals . Are just as immoral as thieves , liars , cheaters and those that commit incest and #$%$

kimberly-I guess this idiotic writer is either too stupid to realize that the previous page was designed specifically for president Obama and his accomplishments; thus "HIS" web page was archived, or he hasn't cleaned the #$%$ out of his pants yet, now that Obama has vacated the premises, and he is scared and in denial. I suspect a little of both.

gloc-Maybe he will open a site for all the so called religious people who want to FORCE their RELIGIOUS AGENDA on everyone to post and shame all those who have been DIVORCED as the morally sick, family destroying,child hurting sinful people since the Bible which they all claim was written by God himself not MAN says they should be stoned to death because it is the same as Adultery. Oh I forgot he is one of those people who did not live by their religious belief of what the bible said. Just how many of those religious bible pounding people have read it or maybe 1 or 2% probably less live by it. They PICK AND CHOOSE are or Born again so they can claim to be Christians, if all were truly religious we would not have hundreds of different religion just one. So can anyone tell me which church or religion will your new leader make the National Church of America and what will he make all the other religions do hide their TRUE life in the closet as to not offend the TRUE CHURCH. America no longer the land of the free and no longer dose every vote count, we know almost 3 million were thrown in the trash, sorry 50% + the almost 3 million. America no longer Great but co-ran with the aid of mother Russia and the appointed Trump. With hope America can survive Trump and the Religious Agenda's that will be forced on all Americans.

GEORGE-I am so happy that "MY PRESIDENT THE HONORABLE DONALD TRUMP"has spoken for the 95% of American people.God Bless and Peace be with you!

kimberly-I thought those on the LGBT community wanted equality? That's exactly what they just got.

novus_ordo-More SICK news [email protected]/LGBT

novus_ordo-The LGBT page moves under: [email protected]/LGBT

LouieLouie-why should there be a webpage for LGBTQs and none for straights? people are people regardless of how special they think they may be and there must not be any preferential treatments

Gloria-About time.

Gus-That's a good start President Fart, Well done.

linda-Now back to marriage is between a man and a woman.

Bobby G-Good, they are freaks anyway.

foreverlivingfree-t's about time.....thank you...

Kathy-This was done by Obama's administration NOT Trump's. This is protocol for all outgoing presidents. Yahoo news creating drama?? No!! Eye roll.....

Jerry--Awesome! It has no place on a government website

GordonFreeman1960-"LGBT youth who may be facing discrimination and contemplating suicide." That is not a problem that requires Federal action or Presidential attention. There are many other problems we face that are much more important.

lewis-I saw this photo of this disgusting man back during the campaign. He is holding the pride flag upside down

Harrison-The Bible states clearly that men shouldn't lay with men. Oh wait, it also says you should sell all you own and give the proceeds to the poor and you should be stoned to death for working on the Sabbath. Thank God we have a good Christian like VP Pence to tell us which injunctions to ignore and which to obey.

GordonFreeman1960-Yay! Glad to see Trump is doing what needs to be done. Made my day.

Rosco-Did he also turn off the rainbow flood lights on the W H ????

Phillip Mooney-This homophobic administration has already started its drive against the gay community and it's only been two days. He doesn't want to include all of the Americans; he wants to divide us all! Well I don't think he or his party are going to last long if they keep up this hate.

John-YES we Can!!!

gary-They will have to change out the rainbow flag for a blue flag because they singin the blues.

Harold-And now the assault on equal rights begin with the power of the rupubliNUTs in control.

Funkmaster23-Memo to Libt@rds. Obama is gone. He is not the designer of Trump's White House website. Trump feels that jobs, bad trade deals, and paying for illegal alien pos's is more important than men using the wrong restroom!

YAHOO! is libretarded SHIT!!-I was BORN thinking that #$%$ is wrong. Can you comprehend that one, gays?

KEVIN-If we're really all Americans in a "melting pot," there is no need to spoon out the individual components. Most adults respect other adults and we don't need to confer "special" rights on anyone in this great nation. They are given by God and decency, not the iron fist of a hypocritical and self serving "government" bureaucrat...

Carol-I read in another article that Obama took the site down before he left the WH. He also took down the global warming site. It's so difficult, now, to know who or what to believe.

Adolfo-Yes, I hope Trump makes the White House Holy again!!!!!!!

Ken-Why don't some of you people ask for forgiveness? You people suggest that something is shoved down your throats unless its something you agree with. You are always concerned about your rights but everyone else's rights be damned. Why are you looking at a LGBT page anyway? Silly season I guess. Get a life, get of the blogs, and gain some tolerance. After all, the LGBT community has to tolerate YOU.

Harry-that is so good! President Trump way to go.

skiller-Trump haters especially celebrities do not have enough IQ.

Sheryl C-So where is proof of his inclusiveness? Trump claimed to be a man for all americans so far the only ones I see him making happy are male white christians.

None-The freak show is over?

A K-Thank you. These behaviors are chosen and regardless of what is said, evidence shows an outlier of HIV/AIDS, STI's, Rectal/renal cancer, drug/alcohol usage, depressiveness and suicide compared to the general population. These folks who choose these behaviors need understanding and help. Check HRC for their own stats

Sheryl C-Oh course out crawls all the homophobes but that was not the only page to go. So was civil rights. In you have forgotten women of all colors including your white women protested yesterday. Their rights are on the line to. They don't want to back the dark ages where they had no right to decide what to do with their bodies, or who they got to marry, or when they married or what age they married. They don't want their right to vote gone. Let's face it that is what you trump voters want. You don't want to just roll back the clock 40 years you want to roll it back a 100 years. For all your yelling about the muslims most of you sick right wing trump jerks are jealous and want what they have. So people it is time to stand against them unless of course you want to go back to living in the dark ages

Darrell--Why are you surprised? Did you forget the Republican agenda?

Alex-It looks like the threat of the LGBT mudslide is coming to a halt. America will be great again!

Leo-A government page isn't the place for it. The same for religion.

Bubba-Time to redecorate the closet gay boy!

Sheryl C-That was not the only page that was removed so was the civil rights one. Like i keep warning people you can only push people so long before they start pushing back. You are already seeing the pushing back with the protests and the people protesting are NOT just black as much you would like to believe, they are white women, blacks, mexicans, LGBTS, muslims, basically anyone who is not male and white. You trump voters keep forgetting that Trump lost the popular vote. White women who protested yesterday live everywhere guys. Enjoy sleeping on the couch guys.

Jetlag--I couldn't care less who you sleep with, but quit waving that thing in my face!

Richard-Let the REVOLUTION begin.Women, minorities, gays buy shotguns now and get ready for the next CIVIL war. We will never go backwards, live free or DIE.Time to fight

WhitePeopleAreEvil- I wonder what those LGTBQ that voted for this idiot thinks now?

spike-whine whine is all they ever do . It really does get old when the lgbt feel like they should have more rights than I do.

Mike-Time to get back in the closet.

Aaron-The web site is cleared at the beginning of each administration. Why would a story talking about what Obama did be left on a site that now revolves around Trump. The author is just trying to start trouble

cavemanwhoever-Very few voted for Trump...the ones that did are smart enough to vote their pocketbook and security, not their genitalia. The rest? Trump doesn't owe them a blessed thing, just as he owes NO democrat or NeverTrumper a thing.

Jason-Why don't they move to Saudi Arabia.......or any Muslim country where they will be "welcomed".....

Jason-Fringe minority.....don't need them and Trump proved.

Wolverine7-The homosexual sodomy lobby had a good run. Now its game over forever

Hoon H.-"LGBT" The farce of it all...if it were only one letter it wouldn't confirm "choice" and dispel the "born that way" hoax.

lindley-LMAO......all the guys freaking out about LGBT, are here defending their silliness.

Ramses S-.So it was removed. Big deal. It was just there to look good anyway. And it certainly doesn't mean gay people are going anywhere. smh

Hoon H.-So what? Sexuality is not a pressing issue in 2017!

NE Philly-Man Yahoo is working this story every which way it can. Every administration redose the web page.

Damago-From reading the comments it's good in a way. If your religious beliefs don't practice or celebrate homosexuality then the law should not MAKE you do it. Gay people need to eat if they go to a restaurant or need medical attention at a hospital and they're being turned away because they're gay then that's violating HUMAN RIGHTS not gay rights. I have a problem with them using the ACLU to force businesses to make gay wedding cakes or take pictures that they shouldn't have to. If it is THAT serious have other businesses that are open to doing things like that. For one business that does not promote homosexuality, then allow a business that does. How does it look asking a Muslim or Christian faith practicing business to do what everyone else is doing? That's a form of imperialism. But it's America. The United States is good for forcing their ways on others especially since we do it to ourselves. That's why individuality is extinct.

Rich-And the libs will cry over this.

Tommy--Praise God!

jack-The Yahoo News seems to out of touch with the will and thoughts of the people of this Nation, and This story is one more example of that... Yahoo should read the first couple of Hundred comments here, and learn...

Jonathan-Waste of webspace. LGBTQIA stil have equal protection ... Obama only cared about votes... he didnt care when you guys got shot up by a Muslim. He blamed the USA for Muslims AGAIN.... he blamed you for being gay and living freely in America. Don't you understand this?

jack-trump is doing just what he said he would do, and the people who elected him are happy about that, all sixty million Strong..

endersgame-ust the start of a repressive party taking power and will do just like they have when they have taken over southern states, they will make it harder for minorities to vote, they will make it harder for reproductive rights of women and they will do a lot of this by promoting religious rights so that they may discriminate due to the deeply held reliogus beliefs.

Don'T Be Manipulated-FAKE NEWS. PRES. TRUMP SUPPORTS LGBT, AND WE WEREN'T HAPPY ABOUT IT BUT WILLING TO GO ON...THAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE VIOLENT DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS. REPUBLICANS DON'T BLOW THINGS,UP DESTROY BUSINESS,KILL COPS,HURT PEOPLE FOR FUN...BLM IS THE NEW #$%$ GROUP !! WATCH OUT FOR THEM.

gojumpinthelake-DRAIN THE SWAMP....SEND EM SCATTERING...WHATEVER THEY ARE PRAISE GOD JEHOVA

david-Good, that make room for a useful page to be added! Jerry H-GOOD !!!!!

charles d-This is one of the many reasons that Obams and Michelle were so devastated when Hills was defeated. They lost hope, but 64 million found renewed hope.

The Obams Michelle agenda is going into the trash, as it is was obscene, rude, condescending to many normal, heterosexual Americans.

leah-Every time we get a new President the old pages get archived and removed. Per the article trump considers the supreme court ruling on gay marriage to have put an end to the issue. Of he no longer sees it as an issue there is no reason to immediately start up a new page about it. That doesn't mean he has anything against the LGBT community. It just means he has a different focus than our last president

James--The percentage of the population that isn't gay, doesn't run around, waving their arms in the air, screaming that they're heterosexual. Knock it off already. Sticksnstones-New Presidents always take down former Presidents web sites, stop trying to make something out of nothing. Odumbo did the same thing when he took over

matt-Judging by the comments here It is clear that the fight for LGBT equality is far from over. The BIGOTS commenting here and the ones in Washington could take back our rights just as quickly as they were given. So we must still stand tall despite what people like you say or think.

Pooter-It amazes me how many people are pretending to be Christian in this thread. Look to the plank, and forget the judgment you're spouting. Vince-Well done. Now deal with AIPAC / ISRAEL / GOLDMAN SACHS kind, to take your country 'BACK' from them.

Crusader1211-That flag use to be a beautiful symbol of peace and love from God to mankind. Now it represents militant hate mongers who want to push an agenda down everyone's throats whether or not you agree with them. I own Pavilion Resorts-Gay guy's know now " exactly " what to do to protect themselves. The more beds you hop over and play in , the more your chances are that when you hop out of it , you'll be all full of disease. Then when you are diagnosed you know then exactly what all you did wrong and intentionally ignored prior. Now, There you have it !

charles d-Thank God only a pervert President would have it there in the first place!!!

Brain_Salad-Now here's some good common sense. An LGBT page. Why? What do they need protection from? Stupid liberals fail to realize that by fabricating an issue that never before existed they actually created a real problem in which people who never thought about it now are. The potential now exists for a situation inside or outside a Target or McDonald's bathroom - and it has already happened a number of times. It's almost like planting a post-hypnotic suggestion in someone's brain that gets called into action when triggered by the correct stimulus. Also, Trump said the precisely correct thing when he referenced that Supreme Court decision guaranteeing the fundamental right of marriage for gay couples. What more is needed? LGBTs are unnecessarily alarmed to think they're going to get stripped of some rights that were granted to them. Nothing ever reallly was! In fact, this action is actually doing them a favor so they can go about their business of living a normal life like everyone else. Like everyone before did in the past.

Timuel K-They shouldn't need their own special page for their rights because they should have the same rights as everyone else. So this should looked at as a good thing.

laimutis-Good job, there's no place for trash of society

CoinSurfer1-It has not taken long and America is already starting to be great again!

Wise Old Man-2 months ago-OK FOOLS! This is just the beginning of the "NEW WORLD ORDER"! Hail to the chief. The despicable one is feeding the egregious Republicans what they want

Jad-If people would just check the facts before making these statements and getting upset they would see that EVERYTHING from the previous administration was moved to the previous presidents account. Our new administration gets to post whatever they think should be there. He has only been in office for two days and pretty busy. i would imagine he hasn't had much time to post yet.

Paula-Thankfully, that page is gone. Government should focus on issues that are much more important and applicable to all, including the basic rights afforded ALL Americans under our Constitution.....not special privileges for a select few

John-Good!

Hairy Reed-t's about time we stop this "PC" madness..

Steve-To every issue there is an up, and a down side. Take abortion. While the repeal of Roe VS Wade would be a victory for the religious right and a financial relief to the majority of Americans who are forced to pay for something they don't believe in it also would prevent the aborting of millions of leftists.

Beige Almighty-LGBT got the right to marry, now let's focus on getting people jobs

Steve-Could be that the administration is finally going to focus on things that affect the majority of Americans instead of the fringe that has been used to gain political power. I am hoping that the colored lights that were used on the Whitehouse to insult the majority of the American people have been restored to normal. Or is that "racist"?

Rob-Leftist bullshirt! Minutes after Trump took the oath of office the White House website was completely emptied - all of it. For the leftists to proclaim that specific parts were removed is grossly dishonest. All of it was removed = to allow the new President's web team to start building the website. There is absolutely nothing nefarious in that process - it is, in fact, exactly what Obama's web team did 8 years ago.

Mark-the LGBT population has only begun to finally achieve equal rights over the past decade and now the hate really turns on us... I have listened to negativity all my life from right wing straight people .. you are the haters.. and YOUR hate has created whatever ire the LGBT community might have toward you.. though our fight has been a peaceful one.

Walter-Well, reading down the comments, it is obvious some sanctimonious, ostentatiously pious so-called Christians have taken it upon themselves to voice their views. It makes me wonder if they happen to be from Topeka and attend Westboro Baptist Cult.

Jeryco Brick-Thank god. Sick sick people.

Repairman Dave-2 months ago-I am sick of the heterophobes!!!!

Kenobi-They always complain about wanting equal rights, but what they are really wanting is SPECIAL rights.

TUCO-GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD, the 15 Minutes of Fame for the DEFECTS is way past its Expiration Date ! Normal Mainstream Americans are just SICK & TIRED of homosexuals an the Alphabet Soup of Critters they attract !

[flauntpage]

Blue Jays Mailbag: Bullpen Depth, Gibbons' Slow-Starting Teams, and Trade Chips

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports Canada.

Andrew Stoeten answers your questions in our Blue Jays Mailbag, which runs weekly at VICE Sports. You can send him questions at [email protected] , and follow him on Twitter.

The Blue Jays season just keeps on going. Five more months of this! Oh joy!

But on the field they've actually started treading water enough that fans can seriously contemplate a red-hot run putting their Blue Jays back in contention at some point—meaning the club's recent roster fluctuations aren't mere rearrangements of the deck chairs on the Titanic quite yet. Even if they sometimes have felt that way.

So let's do it to it and take some questions about the bullpen! *COUGH*

And if you have a Blue Jays question you'd like me to tackle for next week, be sure to send it to [email protected]. As always, I have not read any of Griff's answers...

Hi Andrew, With the Jays injuries to their pitchers and him doing great in Buffalo and a solid ST until the horrific injury from the line drive, why hasn't TJ House gotten a shot in the show yet? Rian

Uh... I hope you're not asking this about T.J. House as though you think seeing him take the ball for the Blue Jays would be a good thing. It wouldn't. But I get why there might be a little confusion over this, because you're not wrong that House has looked good so far. He's struck out more batters in his brief spell in Buffalo so far than he has at any level for several years (25.2%, compared to 14.6% in 2016 in 72.2 Triple-A innings in the Cleveland organization), and producing a groundball rate over 50%, which has added up to a tidy 1.24 ERA on the season.

The thing is, it's not necessarily just performance that has to be considered. Especially when we're talking about Triple-A performance, which can be misleading at the best of times. (Remember when Randy Wolf sparkled for 23 starts for the Bisons in 2015, bristled about not getting a call-up, and eventually was sent to the Tigers, for whom he made seven starts, posting a 6.23 ERA, and then called it a career?) Still, maybe House had as good a case to get the call as Mat Latos or Casey Lawrence did, but the Jays said at the time that pair was first called up that they were looking for right-handers to face the right-handed-heavy Angels lineup. And House, of course, is a lefty.

There may have also been some kind of handshake deal with Latos, promising him the first available spot start in exchange for not opting out of his contract when he didn't make the club out of spring training. We have no idea if this was the case, but it's at least plausible, and a thing that teams sometimes do.

Has it really come to wanting T.J. House called up? Yes, yes, it has. Photo by Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports

The other thing is that Lawrence has minor league options remaining, while House doesn't. If the idea was to bring someone up for only a start or two, perhaps the club felt it made more sense to use the guy they wouldn't have to sneak through waivers just to keep in the organization. (Though they've since designated Lawrence for assignment in order to bring up catcher Mike Ohlman in the wake of Russell Martin's recent shoulder injury).

Because House is the kind of guy the Jays might actually like to keep. The front office knows him well from the Cleveland days, and he started 18 games for them in 2014. That stint makes up the bulk of his big league résumé, and it's not a terrible one: 89 strikeouts in 117.2 innings, a 59.7% groundball rate, and 2.6 walks per nine innings—numbers spoiled somewhat by a higher-than-average home run rate.

Serviceable is the word. And while that's maybe exactly the kind of guy you'd expect the club to turn to, I don't think it's unreasonable that they chose to not imperil their already thin depth and go with Lawrence and Latos for a couple early starts, especially given the handedness issue relating to facing the Angels.

Hey, and good news, T.J. House fans, with the way Blue Jays pitchers have been dropping like flies, he may still get his chance! Though for now all eyes are on Joe Biagini, who had an excellent first start for the club on Sunday, and someone BP Toronto noted over the winter, maybe should have been a starter all along.

Speaking of...

---

Bullpen plans for Gibby w/o his only reliable reliever now (Biagini). In case it wasn't painfully obvious.

@TheRealTayls17

Call me crazy, but I'm actually pretty comfortable with Danny Barnes, Ryan Tepera, Joe Smith, and Dominic Leone bridging the gap between whoever the hell the Jays are starting and closer Roberto Osuna. (For anyone wondering where Jason Grilli's name is here, have you not been watching?)

Barnes has produced very good strikeout totals in the minors, and has limited walks and—despite having fly ball tendencies—home runs. His fastball isn't huge in terms of velocity (he sits in the low 90s), but it generates swing and miss, especially paired with a nice changeup. The ZiPS projection system has Barnes as being worth nearly 1 WAR for the rest of the season, which is based in part on his excellent minor league numbers, but a growing (if still minuscule) sample of big league success, too. So far this year he's allowed just three hits and two walks in nine innings of work. Keep riding him, I say!

Tepera has been up and down between Buffalo and Toronto a bunch over the last few years, so fans know him fairly well. He lives on his heat (94-95), throwing a four-seamer, cutter, and sinker, with little offspeed or breaking stuff mixed in. He hasn't been a dominant reliever, and has tended a little too much toward issuing walks—including 9 in 17.2 innings this season—but I don't think it kills you to give him some higher-leverage opportunities than he's seen.

Leone's results haven't been great so far with the Jays, but the peripherals look pretty good. He's another somewhat hard thrower (93-94), has a good cutter and a slider he could maybe use more of (Brooks Baseball notes that his fourseamer "is basically never swung at and missed compared to other pitchers' fourseamers, results in more flyballs compared to other pitchers' fourseamers, has essentially average velo and has some added backspin"). The 4.73 ERA doesn't look great, but 16 strikeouts in 13.1 innings is something to work with, and the 5 walks (one intentional) work, too. Again, not a dominant guy, but a guy who'll do fine enough most times to get some looks in higher-leverage situations.

Smith, the sidearmer, has been quite good so far, gives clubs a different look, has over 650 games of big league experience, and a spell closing for the Angels in 2014. He's going to look like trash if his pitches frisbee into the middle of the plate, but when he's on it's a thing of beauty.

There's also Grilli, once he finds himself (which we all, y'know, hope he will), the newly-acquired Neil Ramirez (who looks somewhat like a poor man's Grilli—the good version, that is), and whoever else might come up from Buffalo.

So the bullpen might be OK, minus Grilli? Photo by Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

So... yes. The bullpen is in flux. This, I think, was always to be expected, even if the sudden loss of Biagini to the rotation, and the less-than-sudden shittiness of Grilli, has thrown a wrench into whatever vague plans were there. John Gibbons is probably going to get heat for it whenever he makes the "wrong call" and a game ends up going sideways. And with guys who look more like middle relievers than late-inning ones being asked to pick up a lot of slack, it's definitely going to happen. But the thing is, even the best of relievers blow games, and these guys here now have a chance to really grab an opportunity and turn themselves into the next Biagini. It could work!

At the very least, it'll be OK. And if the offence ever starts not being completely useless, we might not even notice so much, anyway.

---

Hello, I recently read a stat that since 2013 (the year Gibbons was rehired) the Blue Jays have the MLB's worst record in April. While I detest the 'fire Gibbons' refrain whenever the team plays poorly, I can't help but feel that it is a legitimate criticism of Gibbons and the coaching staff for not doing the right things during spring training to adequately prepare the team to start the season well.

How much responsibility should the coaching staff shoulder for slow starts? Or is it primarily a matter of the type of roster assembled?

Would appreciate your thoughts on this.

Josh

Holy shit. Speaking of John Gibbons taking heat!

But, to be fair, this is actually quite a reasonable way to frame a question that's hard to ask without sounding like you're unduly shitting on the manager. Which is mostly because asking it at all means unduly shitting on the manager.

What are these magical "right things during spring training to adequately prepare the team to start the season well"? And if John Gibbons doesn't know them, why isn't he being steered toward them by Ross Atkins, or Mark Shapiro, or DeMarlo Hale, or Luis Rivera, or Tim Leiper, or Alex Anthopoulos, or Tony LaCava, or Jose Bautista, or Mark Buehrle, or J.P. Ricciardi, or anyone he worked with as the bench coach for the Royals, or the Jays' new high performance department, or the '86 Mets team he played for, or any of the countless other people with vast experience in the game that he's been surrounded by over the years?

Y'know????

I'm not saying that we should just wave this stuff away and pretend it doesn't exist—you're not wrong that slow starts have been a hallmark of some of Gibbons' teams—but this idea that, in the absence of anything else to point to, the manager must be to blame simply doesn't make any sense. I'd be happy to hear some reasoning for it beyond "well he was there and he was the manager, so it's ultimately on him." But what might such reasoning even look like? Is he doing anything differently than any other manager in any other organization? If yes, sure, we should look at it. But if he was, and it seemed possible that it was impacting the team's starts so significantly, my suspicion is that one of the huge number of knowledgeable and successful people who've been in his sphere along the way would have noticed—and if they did notice and try to correct him and he wasn't receptive, then that should have been noticed.

Until you show me something concrete that he does that might explain this, the best explanation is, unfortunately, "shit happens." I know it's not very satisfying to not be able to have someone to point a finger at, but shit happens.

---

How much money for real grass and drainage? Would trading JD, JB, Stroman, Sanchez and Morales for cash cover that amount? @StephenDame

I know you're being facetious, but I've seen a few people try to make this kind of a direct connection between a player's salary and the coming renovations at the Rogers Centre, and I really don't think we need to be so scared of that.

I can't claim to know exactly how it's all going to work, but the hundreds of millions of dollars poured into extending the Rogers Centre's life won't be taken directly from the Blue Jays' payroll. Some of it might be! Don't get me wrong, I don't have a whole lot of trust in the company that may have intentionally devalued their own team for years just so they could get a sweetheart deal on the building—which they bought for just $25 million in 2004. But there have been some rather major projects over the last couple of years—a massive upgrade to the roof and the installation of the dirt infield being key among them—and the payroll has been healthier than ever.

Unfortunately, the future upgrades I'm talking about very likely don't include retrofitting the building to have a full grass field—the cost of which seems like it will ultimately prove prohibitive. Hey, but at least we got to swallow that sweet false hope for a few years, eh? Thanks, Beeston!

---

IF the jays do end up as sellers come trade deadline who do you think is most likely to be moved and what kind of haul could they get for them? Rian

I think you could probably figure this out on your own, to be perfectly honest, Rian. If they're out of it, they'll certainly move guys who will be free agents once the season ends, which means Bautista, Estrada, and Liriano.

Grilli and Barney will be free agents, too, but whatever the Jays might be able to get for those two as rental players isn't going to be much of a haul. They might nab some interesting depth pieces—the Blue Jays gave up shortstop Dawel Lugo for Cliff Pennington in an August 2015 deal, and Lugo has had a couple very good seasons with the bat since, and ended up the Diamondbacks' tenth best prospect this winter, per Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs—but nothing that's going to turn the franchise around any time soon.

Unfortunately, there's probably not going to be any kind of massive haul for the big three, either. More than the other two, Bautista's value will depend on his performance heading into the end of July. If he gets right and teams aren't scared off by his reputation, I still don't see him netting much more than Carlos Beltran did for the Yankees last year. That package, if you don't recall, was pretty underwhelming: a couple of arms that look like they're probably relievers, and Dillon Tate, who was the fourth overall pick in 2015, but whose stock dropped massively post-draft. Keith Law had him as the Yankees' 14th best prospect this winter at ESPN.com, calling him a future reliever as well, so...

The market could play out differently for the Jays and Bautista this summer, if that's what it comes to, but I think two months of Beltran is a pretty good baseline, and it's not going to get anybody terribly excited.

As for Estrada, the dream is something like the Jays gave up for two months of David Price in 2015. But, as much as Blue Jays fans may love their AceStrada, I don't think he has nearly the same cachet. He almost certainly isn't going to get back what the Reds did when they moved Johnny Cueto to the Royals, either, but maybe the Jays could get something of a similar shape. That package was centred around Brandon Finnegan—a still-improving young arm who was able to start 30 times for Cincinnati in 2016—and also featured a couple other pitchers (John Lamb, Cody Reed) that were ready to step into the big leagues and be bad, one as a back-end starter and the other as a reliever.

Estrada has been rock solid and has the best strikeout rate of his career. Photo by Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Liriano will be worth even less, one would imagine. And with the pitching market expected to be rather robust in terms of supply, it's not impossible that both will be worth quite a bit less.

Isn't this fun?

Hey, but there's always the chance that the Jays can package a couple of these guys and get something better than what they might bring back as individuals. At last year's deadline the A's sent rental players Josh Reddick and Rich Hill to the Dodgers for a trio of interesting arms: Jharel Cotton, who has struggled out of the gate in Oakland's rotation, but made five very good starts at the end of last season; Grant Holmes, a big, hard-throwing prototypical A's starter whom Law suggests they may have bought low on; and upper-90s throwing relief prospect Frankie Montas.

Useful pieces, in other words. Pieces that, at least in these cases, were at least able to step in and contribute the next year—which could be especially useful for the Jays. Good players, but guys with flaws—with limited ceilings or still steep learning curves—and not quite the kinds of mega-prospects we've seen moved in the last year for studs with years of control remaining, like Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, Andrew Miller, Aroldis Chapman, or even Drew Pomeranz.

Of course, the Jays have a guy who could net prospects from out of that higher tier, but they'd essentially be saying goodbye to both 2017 and 2018 if they were to move Josh Donaldson, and it's still a little too hard to envision them having the stomach for that.

Blue Jays Mailbag: Bullpen Depth, Gibbons' Slow-Starting Teams, and Trade Chips published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv