Random Musings

I know it’s Flori-duh, but, seriously, what is wrong with the politicians down there?

Joshua Black, a GOP candidate for the Florida House, posted a little something to his Twitter account calling for Barack Obama, the President of the United Sates, to be hanged.

Oh, but he did.

And it generated a lot of buzz, from reTweets, angry response Tweets, a lot of new Twitter followers, an article in the Tampa Bay Times, a call from Anderson Cooper's guest booker, TV interviews and, most importantly, a little visit from some folks I like to call the Secret Service.

Black says that Secret Service representatives were waiting for him at his house while he taped a TV interview, but he insists his Tweet was not a threat, and that saying ‘I’m past impeachment. It's time to arrest and hang him high’ was just his way of expressing outrage over the president killing U.S. citizens with drone attacks and without due process.

At the request of county chairman Michael Guju, Black resigned from the Pinellas County Republican Executive Committee, but dismissed the idea suggested by Florida Governor Rick Scott that he withdraw  his candidacy to represent families of Pinellas County.

"I do not take orders from the governor, I'm staying in the race."

I wonder what he’ll do when he loses.

I’d like to ask y’all — or at least those of you who do it — to stop LOLing.

Seriously. Stop with the Tweets and the Facebook updates and the blog comments where you feel the need to LOL.

I seriously don’t believe that anyone who LOLs is actually Laughing Out Loud at that moment.

It’s on in Russia.

Pavel Lebedev, a protester of Russia’s anti-gay laws, was arrested in Voronezh as the Olympic torchbearer made his way through the city because he ran into the road waving a rainbow flag. Lebedev was taken to the police station "to clarify the circumstances of the incident." Lebedev, a longtime activist against Russia's anti-gay law, who attempted to marry in St. Petersburg last June, may be fined for "violating public order".

Like I said, it’s on.

So, Phil Robertson, that dick from Duck Dynasty, spewed his racist, homophobic venom and folks got outraged by what he said, A&E suspended his show, and then the right backed him up and A&E backed down and then, when the new shows began airing last week they received the lowest number of viewers in its history.

Snap.

The premiere of Duck Dynasty season 5 had 8.5 million viewers, which is kinda huge for a cable show, but down nearly 30% from its record-setting fourth season debut.

The people have spoken by changing the channel.

Good news!

Houston Mayor Annise Parker and her partner of twenty-three years, First Lady Kathy Hubbard, were married last week in Palm Springs.

 “This is a very happy day for us. We have had to wait a very long time to formalize our commitment to each other. Kathy has been by my side for more than two decades, helping to raise a family, nurture my political career and all of the other ups and down and life events that come with a committed relationship. She is the love of my life and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life married to her.”—Annise Parker

Congratulations!

Goldie Hawn is an idiot.

She met the president of Nigeria, who signed a law making the fact that you're gay a crime, and where people are asking to stone The Gays to death, and called him “wonderful”.

Indeed.

You gotta hand it to One Million Moms [OMM]. They protest everything from JC Penney to the Rose Parade to TV shows, and their protests are paying off.

See, the OMM — and really there are about 45,000 of them — recently began protesting the ABC Family show The Fosters, which features a biracial lesbian couple with a household of foster children.

And as a result of their protest, at least according to the people behind The Fosters, that criticism helped the show get off to its strongest start yet when its second season premiered last week.

"A stamp of disapproval from One Million Moms is like a critic’s pick. I'm incredibly grateful for their attention."— Peter Paige, executive producer of the show along with Jennifer Lopez

So, thanks for badmouthing the show, OMM; it helped draw viewers in.

Speaking of TV, we have officially given up on CBS’ new show Intelligence. I started watching the show because it starred dreamy  beefy hot Josh Holloway, but that wasn’t enough to sustain my interest, sadly.

So, I’ll stick with Episodes, on Showtime, and it recent addition of Chris Diamantopoulos as the clinically insane, though terribly hot TV executive; and with PBS’ Sherlock, though not because of the Cumberbatch but because of the cute as a button Martin Freeman. And, I’ll be checking out Starz’ new pirate show, Black Sails simply because of the hothothot pirate Toby Stephens.

I’m shallow like that.

The NRA tends to stay silent in the immediate aftermath of a high-profile shooting incident because, well, what can you say about people being gunned down in colleges and movie theaters that makes any sense at all. But, the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday was a different story; that day called for an NRAS statement.

The NRA enlisted the help of black “commentator” Colion Noir to deliver a video message about how much King loved guns. Noir shifts his message to gun control, pointing out the fact that he was granted a concealed handgun license, while historical record shows that King applied for one and was denied. And then he says some nonsense about how King, even though he “surrounded himself with people with guns” it didn’t stop him from being gunned down by James Earl Ray.

Of course, Noir doesn’t explain how King, if he had been granted a permit to carry a gin, would have survived the shot.

Asshat.

Both California and New Jersey have passed legislation banning gay conversion therapy for minors and it looks like similar legislation is being presented in Virginia.

Delegate Patrick Hope, a Democrat, introduced legislation that would ban so-called “reparative therapies” but also said his ban would not affect religious counseling that does not involve licensed therapists or adults who seek out the therapy on their own. It would bar professional therapists from practicing conversion therapy, which the American Psychiatric Association opposes, on children younger than 18.

Similar bills have been introduced or are forthcoming in Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.

And speaking of Virginia, its GOP anti-gay former Governor Bob McDonnell has been charged with accepting illegal gifts from a local businessman; his wife Maureen was also charged.

Authorities allege that for nearly two years, the McDonnell’s hit up executive Jonnie Williams Sr. again and again, lodging near constant requests for large loans, clothes, trips, golf accessories and private plane rides.

In exchange, authorities allege, the McDonnell’s worked in concert to lend the prestige of the governorship to Williams’ struggling company, a small former cigarette manufacturer that now sells dietary supplements. They said the first couple arranged access for the CEO to top state officials, allowed the historic governor’s mansion to be used for a launch party for his company’s new non-FDA approved pill and attended events designed to boost the company’s prestige with university scientists who might research the company’s product.

The McDonnell’s face 14 felony counts including wire fraud and lying to a financial institution and Maureen McDonnell is additionally charged with obstruction of justice. Naturally McDonnell issued a statement of his innocence:

 “My fellow Virginians, earlier today federal prosecutors notified my attorneys that they have filed criminal charges against me and my wife Maureen, alleging that we violated federal law by accepting gifts and loans from Jonnie Williams, the former CEO of Star Scientific. I deeply regret accepting legal gifts and loans from Mr. Williams, all of which have been repaid with interest, and I have apologized for my poor judgment for which I take full responsibility. However, I repeat emphatically that I did nothing illegal for Mr. Williams in exchange for what I believed was his personal generosity and friendship.”

He wants off because, while he admits to accepting the illegal gifts, he paid them back once people began investigating.

It’s like the time I robbed a bank, and as the police were coming to arrest me, I gave the money back.

Yeah, that didn’t work either.

More from Virginia? And good news?

Well, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has announced that the state's gay marriage ban is unconstitutional and says he will not defend it in court.

"After a thorough legal review of the matter, Attorney General Herring has concluded that Virginia's current ban is in violation of the U.S. constitution and he will not defend it."—Spokesman Michael Kelly

Herring, who campaigned in part on marriage equality, is planning to a file a brief this week with the federal in Norfolk, where one of the lawsuits is being heard, as notification of the state's change in position in the case.

There are currently two federal marriage equality cases in Virginia; the American Foundation of Equal Rights [AFER] and Ted Olson and David Boies have taken the lead of one case; the other is being handled by Lambda Legal and the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU].

Thanks Mr. Herring, for standing on the side of equality.