If you believe the story -- and why should we, frankly -- Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were shocked to read about daddy's Twitter-announced transgender military ban. If they really had no idea that this was going down, then we MUST once and for all resist any and all psyche-soothing hopeful thinking that these kids have any influence on America's president.

In addition to this Trump tweet that transgender individuals will not be serving in the military in the future, I wonder if Miss Ivanka actually understands that the Trump Administration has birth control in its crosshairs. It's not only Planned Parenthood. It's birth control, 70-years after the US Supreme Court declared it legal and a right of American women.

Oh, and the Jeff Sessions' justice department made a landmark decision last week to intervene -- uninvited -- into a private employment lawsuit, arguing that the ban on sex discrimination in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not protect workers based on their sexual orientation.

In One Day, Trump Administration Lands 3 Punches Against Gay Rights New York Times

Hillary Clinton, as Seen Through a Chinese Prism New York Times

What a refreshing article about Hillary Clinton. No bloody emails. No trust issues. We have a serious article on Hillary and the attitudes of the Chinese hierarchy towards her. They apparently aren't any more thrilled than the BernieBots, but at least it's a change of script.

"Hillary Clinton is blunt, negative on China, friendly toward homosexuals, and female — all reasons some Chinese give for not wanting to see her as the next president of the United States.

She is highly qualified, visionary, caring, and will support women and children and development around the world – reasons others give for wanting her to win the November election.

As China looks ahead to a new American administration, opinions on the front-running Mrs. Clinton veer from admiration, mostly among women and civil libertarians, to distaste, mostly among male policy makers and an often nationalistic public.

Understanding Hillary

Why the Clinton America Sees Isn't the Clinton Colleagues Know: Why We Keep Missing Hillary Clinton's Greatest Strength VOX

Ezra Klein does a terrific job of laying-out one of the singular differences, generally, between the way male and female politicians campaign and govern. As he notes, men talk more; women listen more and seek to build relationships (or in politics, coalitions - as Hillary has done her entire career). Yet, in spite of how important and useful it is in politics to listen, this skill set isn't one that is rewarded. And why is that? Ezra has some thoughts on this, as well as insight into the ways this mostly female view of leading may be exactly what is needed in our current divided country. From our perspective, this signals a revolutionary shift in our politics, toward the so-called female skills: listening and relationship/coalition-building, both of which Hillary excels in. ~ Laura

Modern presidential campaigns are built to reward people who are really, really good at talking. So imagine what a campaign feels like if you’re not entirely natural in front of big crowds. Imagine that you are constantly compared to your husband, one of the greatest campaign orators of all time; that you’ve been burned again and again after saying the wrong thing in public; that you’ve been told, for decades, that you come across as calculated and inauthentic on the stump. What would you do?

(...)

Let’s stop and state the obvious: There are gender dynamics at play here.

We ran a lot of elections in the United States before we let women vote in them. You do not need to assert any grand patriarchal conspiracy to suggest that a process developed by men, dominated by men, and, until relatively late in American life, limited to men might subtly favor traits that are particularly prevalent in men.

Talking over listening, perhaps.

(...)

Talking is a way of changing your status: If you make a great point, or set the terms of the discussion, you win the conversation. Listening, on the other hand, is a way of establishing rapport, of bringing people closer together; showing you’ve heard what’s been said so far may not win you the conversation, but it does win you allies. And winning allies is how Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination.

Gays Powering Up As Elected Officials

Gay Political Power Reaching Record as US Attitudes Shift Bloomberg Politics

"Now, according to Maloney (Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, the first openly gay congressman chosen by New Yorkers in 2012), the biggest priority is electing more Democrats and gay politicians to win support for a sweeping federal law, the Equality Act, that would give LGBT residents in the U.S. the same civil protections afforded for race, age and religion.

“It’s very clearly shifted from an outside game to an inside game,” said Jeff Trammell, a Washington lobbyist, who has been active in political campaigns stretching back to Al Gore’s 2000 presidential run. “We have definitely reached a tipping point within the Democratic party. Acceptance has changed so much faster than expected. We’re in bit of a sorting out process.”

Trammell, who was married to his longtime partner in 2013 by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, estimates that as many as 20 percent of his fellow fundraisers for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are members of the LGBT community. An increasing number of key campaign personnel, including the treasurer of the Democratic National Committee, Andrew Tobias, are also openly gay."