Why Is It ...

… that I can’t recognize letters under a certain font size, but I can spot an idiot at fifty yards?

… that some people think that if I loved them once I will always love them? I’m not Whitney Houston.

… that speaking my mind is easy, but speaking it tactfully is sometimes hard?

… that as I get older I tell people my body is a temple? Cuz it’s ancient and crumbling and probably cursed or haunted.

… that whenever anyone tries to explain the rules of a card game I literally black out?

… that I give advice but always end it with “I don’t know though”? Cuz if my advice ruins your life it isn’t my fault. I said, “I don’t know!”

… that I start nearly every phone call with “My phone’s about to die? So  I can hang up on you when I get bored.

… that as I get older my friend circle becomes more of a dot?

… that people text me these idiotic abbreviations like “GM” and don’t get it when I respond, “Well, General Motors” to you, too?

… that my best method of multi-tasking is to listen, ignore and then forget all at the same time?

… that lately I’ve been turning off the news and watching serial killer documentaries just to relax?

Ruminations On A Month Away ...

First up, the header up there is the family of deer that visited my father’s house every afternoon to eat apples, both on the ground and from the tree. You could actually get quite close to them, though they watched you carefully, and were so graceful and peaceful. It was a nice way to spend the mornings, waiting for their arrival.

I was happy to be able to go out to Oregon and help my Dad before, during and after surgery. I was happy that my boss, when I walked up to him and asked for five weeks off—starting in two weeks—simply said, ‘Do what you need to do. We’ll be waiting for you when you get back.’

That said … I went all Seinfeld while I was gone. I calculated how many hours I slept each night and then took that number of days off my stay. Ten days? That’s eighty hours of sleep. And that 3 days and eight hours, so really, it’s just six days.

The hospital where Dad had his surgery was more like a high-end hotel. I mean, there was a lady playing a grand piano in the lobby and there was an actual restaurant—not a cafeteria—in the place. Even the rooms had views, and except for the medical equipment, I might have checked in for a stay myself.

This is ‘The New Ankle.’ In the right image, those screws are from when he broke the ankle about eight years back; the new ankle is where they drilled a hole in the bone and inserted the new ankle, with a bottom piece screwed into his foot. All I can see when I look at this is ‘Ouch.’

Oh … and his doctor was adorable. So much so that I almost asked for an ankle replacement myself. Or, at the very least, a consultation.

I’ve had it with “thoughts and prayers” and am ready for substantive gun laws. Anyone … anyone … who thinks it should be okay to own a weapon that killed 9 people in 30 seconds should be notched under the Red Flag laws because they are too insane to own a firearm.

I’m glad there’s a discernible shift between black and brown mass murderers being terrorist, while white mass murderers are called insane. Shooting up a church, a movie theater, a Walmart, a bar, a mosque, a synagogue is all terror, no matter the color of the shooter.

While I loved helping my dad out, there was that moment, or moments, when I was over it. Most notably the day we were leaving a doctor’s appointment and he had so annoyed me that while I was pushing him in his wheelchair down a ramp, I suddenly envisioned myself as Baby Jane Hudson pushing sister Blanche down a flight of stairs. What can I say …?

I had to return a pair of crutches my father had ordered to a medical supply company because they were too tall for him; he used to be over six feet tall, and now he’s 5’11”. I took the pair back and asked for another size, which they didn’t have, but could order. By the time I returned to my Dad’s house, they’d called to say they had the crutches, so I picked them up the next day. But the crutches were not going to work getting my father up the stairs, so I had to return this other pair, too. As I explained to the women at the medical supply company, I was my usual polite self, causing one of the women to ask where I lived. I said, “South Carolina” and one woman looked at the other and said, “It figures. That’s why he’s so polite.” I laughed, and then explained that I was so polite because my mother was Southern, and my father was military.

I’m over racists in the White House and anyone …anyone … who stands with him. If you like _____ because you got a tax break but can turn a blind eye, and deaf ear, to his hate speech, then, yeah, in my mind you’re a racist too, because you’re selling out black and brown people, not to mention kids in cages, for a few more coins in your bank account.

On that note, Anthony Scaramucci? Your Fifteen Minutes were up on Day Eleven when you got fired from the White House and ran to Celebrity Big Brother. If you expect me to buy that you loathe _____ now, I don’t. You’re just searching for a way to get you mug on TV. Go.The fuck.Away.

My dad is an avid news watcher and so I watched, too, as he recorded all the news shows he liked and watched them while recovering. Now, he was interested in the news, while I was interested in the Hot Mens reporting the news, like … clockwise from the top right … Jeremy Diamond Craig Melvin, Jacob Soboroff, Phil Mattingly, Andrew Scholes, and Alex Marquardt.

And then, in the wake of the El Paso shooting was Hot Texas Congressman Cesar Blanco. Hot, and compassionate, and passionate about doing something about guns in America and racists in the White House.

Finally, Carlos. I don’t think I’ve ever missed someone so much in my life. We’ve taken time away from each other, whether for work, or family business and the other couldn’t get away, but  31 days was quite the long stretch. And we had a very nice reunion, steamy, you might say, and spent about five days together, just us; perfection. 

I’ve never been so happy to see someone in my life, well, except for maybe Tuxedo who came running to the door when we got home and leaped to the back of a chair so I could pick him up and give him smooches. As is his way, Carlos didn't want his picture up, so you'll have to make do with Tucky.

Lastly, the things we've seen and heard this last month? You all have a choice to make next year if we want to make a change from being the country that forces other countries to tell their citizens not to visit because we have a gun problem, or being the country that fixes it.

And that was my month, more or less …

A New Job????

Last night, while watching CNN, and listening to the discussion of how White House Asshat Kelly Sadler said, of John McCain's opposition to _____'s nominee for CIA director, Gina Haspel:

“It doesn’t matter, he’s dying anyway.” 

And listening to some GOP tool bloviate about how both sides say derisive things, I shouted at the TV:

"Get the f**k outta here."

And then I announced that i would be petitioning CNN to give me my own show, Get The F**k Outta Here with Bob, and it would go something like thing:

Bob: Good evening, tonight we have Minister of Propaganda Kellyanne Conway. Welcome!

Kellyanne Conway: Thanks so--

Bob: Get the f**k outta here! Next up, White House Liar Secretary, Sarah Sanders. Welcome Sarah!

Sarah Sanders: I'm so happy to be--

Bob: Liar! Get the f**k outta here.

I think I might have a hit on my hands. 

Random Musings

This is one of those weeks ... yesterday marked the third anniversary of my sister’s passing from lung cancer, and then tomorrow will mark the ten year anniversary of my mother’s passing from lung cancer.

Not a day goes by ...

The Grammy’s. It was an Adele v Beyoncé showdown and, well, the best woman won when Adele beat Beyoncé in every category ... and onstage.

As usual, Adele sings and Beyoncé “performs.”

The singer was fabulous, even when she flubbed a lyric in the George Michael tribute and asked to start over. The performer did some kind of bizarre sing-talk song and then tilted back in a chair. WTF does that even mean? Oh, she didn’t care because she is an artiste!

Sidenote: when Adele won the last two awards she stood onstage and said Beyoncé should have won because her album, and song, were Adele’s favorites. That was sweet ... now, picture it going the other way with Beyoncé winning; does anyone think she’d say Adele should have won?

I know, right?

And speaking of the Grammys ... Celine Dion hijacked the presentation of an award to talk about herself, and her late husband, and a Grammy she won eighteen years ago.

Sit down, Celine, please.

Oops ... more retailers are Dumping _____.

Both Kmart and Sears have dropped Hair Furor’s crappy, made in China, merchandise, again citing poor sales.

The statement from Sears says it all:

“As part of the company’s initiative to optimize its online product assortment, we constantly refine that assortment to focus on our most profitable items. Amid that streamlining effort, 31 Trump Home items were among the items removed online this week. Products from the line are still offered online via third-party Marketplace vendors.”

The #GrabYourWallet movement is claiming this as another victory—in addition to having Ivanka’s made in China crap removed from Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus last week.

The drop in sales of all _____ merchandise, from father and daughter, is the result of the majority of Americans who are disgusted and repelled by anything bearing that name.

Good.

So, we recently saw Hidden Figures, about the group off African-American women who helped get our astronauts into space and onto the Moon. Great movie, great performances and a couple of Hot Men ...

Aldis Hodge played Levi Jackson and he is just fine, while Glen Powell, who had played a nerdy perv on Scream Queens, was John Glenn in the film.

And last week, Mistress Maddie pointed me in the direction of the actor who played Prince Albert on PBS’ Victoria ... Tom Hughes.

I saw this at Biki’s place today—reposted from JoeMyGod—and thought I’d share it, too:

Some people are saying that we should give Donald Trump a chance, that we should "work together" with him because he won the election and he is "everyone's president." This is my response:

•I will not forget how badly he and so many others treated former President Barack Obama for 8 years...

•I will not "work together" to build a wall.

•I will not "work together" to persecute Muslims.

•I will not "work together" to shut out refugees from countries where we destabilized their governments, no matter how bad they might have been, so that we could have something more agreeable to our oligarchy.

•I will not "work together" to lower taxes on the 1%.

•I will not "work together" to increase taxes on the middle class and poor.

•I will not "work together" to help Trump use the Presidency to line his pockets and those of his cronies.

•I will not "work together" to weaken and demolish environmental protection.

•I will not "work together" to sell American lands to companies which then despoil those lands.

•I will not "work together" to enable the killing in any way of whole species of animals just because they are predators, or inconvenient for a few, or because some people want to get their thrills killing them.

•I will not "work together" to remove civil rights from anyone.

•I will not "work together" to waste trillions more on our military when we already have the strongest in the world.

•I will not "work together" to alienate countries that have been our allies for as long as I have been alive.

•I will not "work together" to slash funding for education.

•I will not "work together" to take basic assistance from people who are at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.

•I will not "work together" to allow torture and "black op" prison sites.

•I will not "work together" to "take their oil."

•I will not "work together" to get rid of common sense regulations on guns.

•I will not "work together" to eliminate the minimum wage.

•I will not "work together" to support so-called "Right To Work" laws, or undermine, weaken or destroy Unions in any way.

•I will not "work together" to suppress scientific research, be it on climate change, fracking, or any other issue where a majority of scientists agree that Trump and his supporters are wrong on the facts.

•I will not "work together" to criminalize abortion or restrict health care for women.

•I will not "work together" to increase the number of nations that have nuclear weapons.

•I will not "work together" to put even more "big money" into politics.

•I will not "work together" to violate the Geneva Convention.

•I will not "work together" to give the Ku Klux Klan, the Nazi Party and white supremacists a seat at the table, or to normalize their hatred.

•I will not "work together" to deny health care to people who need it.

•I will not "work together" to increase the profits of the insurance companies.

•I will not "work together" to deny medical coverage to people on the basis of an alleged or actual "pre-existing condition."

•I will not "work together" to increase voter suppression.

•I will not "work together" to normalize tyranny.

•I will not "work together" with anyone who is, or admires, tyrants and dictators.

•I will not "work together" with Donald Trump or anyone who supports him, because I will not allow one man to feed upon the fears of the populace, blaming minorities for their condition or their inability to thrive.

This is the line, and I am drawing it.

•I will stand for honesty, love, respect for all living beings, and for the beating heart that is the center of Life itself.

•I will use my voice and my hands, to reach out to the uninformed, and to anyone who will LISTEN for what's really so dangerous about Donald Trump, his friends and the Big Lie they spin to the world:

That "winning", "being great again", "rich" or even "beautiful" is anything more than nothing... When others are sacrificed to glorify its existence.

#RESIST

~Mike Harnisch

Well, it looks like _____’s Minister of Propaganda, Kellyanne Conway, is being bounced off at least one news show.

Mika Brzezinski of Morning Joe revealed that Kellyanne Conway often times texts directly to schedule an interview hit. But after what Brzezinski calls a never-ending cascade of “fake news, [and] information that is not true” she’s done with Conway:

“I know for a fact she tries to book herself on this show; I won’t do it. Every time I’ve ever seen her on television, something’s askew, off, or incorrect. I will say: Kellyanne Conway does not need to text our show, just as long as I’m on it because it’s not happening here. And again, I don’t even think she’s saying things she knows to be untrue, she’s just saying things just to get in front of a TV set and prove her relevance because behind the scenes, she’s not in these meetings. She’s not credible anymore.”

Kellyanne Conway is like a _____ product ... no one wants her any longer.

Now, I’m not saying this is the fault of Betsy DeVos, the new head of the US Education Department, but it is quite telling that this happened just after she was confirmed.

At 8:45 on Sunday morning, the department’s sent out this Tweet:

The man’s name is W.E.B. Du Bois.

And, to make matters worse, the department then tried to apologize for it ...

... and misspelled the word “apologies.”

Again, this from the Department of Education ... but, to be fair, it’s a _____ Department of Education.

Random Musings

Another year and another Cinco de Never survived.

It was a nice party — good friends, both old and new — with great food and plenty of alcohol — margaritas, sangria, cerveza, wine and an open bar — to satisfy anyone.

We served chips and my Aunt Norma’s Salsa—which is so easy to make and is always a hit—and guacamole; we had Roasted Lime Chipotle Peanuts to nibble on and Chorizo-stuffed Sopes — little masa boats topped with cheese and cilantro. For dinner, we offered homemade Tamales stuffed with Pork, along with Carlos’ Pasilla Pepper Salsa; we had Shrimp Ceviche with Capers, Green Olives and Avocado; Pinto Bean and Corn Salad; Cilantro Lime Rice and Refried Beans.

The weather was kind of iffy, but the rain stayed away until well after the last guests left, at which time Carlos and I cleaned up the house and then collapsed, vowing not to do this again and yet already making changes to the menu for next year.

It’s just 360 days away … time to get moving.

So, over there to Ghana, where violence and harassment of gays and lesbians is way up, a Muslim cleric has announced that he believes he has a new reason to hate The Gays.

Mallam Abass Mahmud, said “Allah gets annoyed when males engage in sexual encounter and such disgusting encounter causes earthquake.”

Yes, The Gay Sex causes earthquakes. And, well, I have felt the earth move a time or two hundred so maybe there’s some truth to his statement?

In Arkansas, Mitchell McCoy is a reporter for both KARK and FOX16 News. Not a big deal, except for the note he received from a viewer:

“Dear Mitch,

I watched KARK before you joined and it was a reputable broad cast until now. I have been holding back for months but I can’t stand your gayness. You are on television every night and our children should not be watching people like you. You are a disgrace to Arkansas and I will be asking your boss to take you off. Do not be offended but society is not ready for gay men reading news.

Sincerely, kark Channel 4 fan”

McCoy shared the note to his Twitter feed with this response:

“I get many emails but this tops it. I’ve dreamt of being a reporter since I was 9 and I won’t stop on your behalf. With that said, no matter who you are or what you believe in – dream loudly and don’t let anyone get in your way. The minute you stop…is the minute you stop being who you are. It’s not worth it.

#DreamOn #StepUpStopBullying“

Hats off to Mitchell McCoy for gay-reading the news … whatever that means!

Okay, I will confess that Dutch actor Michiel Huisman has been a Random Musings Hottie before when he appeared early in the series run of Nashville. But over the weekend, whilst channel surfing, I came across a film called The Age of Adeline which co-starred Huisman.

He is all kinds of dreamy but when he appeared onscreen, fresh from a shower, wrapped in a towel, I felt he just oozed sexiness.

It took Carlos about ten minutes to get me to stop licking the TV screen. Just sayin’.

Ali Chaney, a thirteen-year-old Texas student was sent home by her school for wearing a t-shirt that read:

“Some people are gay. Get over it.”

Ali was told by school administrators that her shirt was “disruptive” to other students and when she refused to change into a school-provided shirt, she was sent home. Her mother, Cassie Watson, said Ali called her crying because she felt school leaders were discriminating against her for being gay:

“I would never, ever have expected it from the administration. I would think that the administration would be the first ones there to support her.”

They should support her, but then again, this is Texas and, well, they hate The Gays.

District Spokeswoman Wendy Sledd released this statement:

“Our purpose at CCISD is to educate children, first and foremost. According to CCISD’s dress code in the student handbook and code of conduct, clothing that is disruptive to the learning environment based on reactions by other students is prohibited. The student was offered a school shirt to wear and declined.”

I guess if other students don’t like your clothes, you have to change; not the students with the tiny bigoted minds. And Ali did point out that one student wore a shirt that said President Obama is a communist Muslim and he was not forced to change.

But again … Texas.

Victor Gutiérrez, member of the Spanish water polo team, and an Olympic hopeful, has come out as gay:

 “I’m out of the closet in my environment. My family knows I’m gay, my friends too. And I’m living in such a positive way with my sexuality that I felt a responsibility to share it with others.”

And one reason Gutiérrez chose to come out now is because of a rise in gay bashings in Spain:

“There have been more than 70 homophobic attacks in Madrid so far this year. It is a reality that we live in. And there are almost no athletes who are out of the closet. But in my experience, people have changed. As an athlete, my experience has been absolutely positive.”

The best part of all is that Victor says he didn’t sit his teammates down and tell them he was gay; he simply introduced them to his boyfriend like anybody else would.

“I never sat down with the president of my club, the coach or teammates. In the end, it is my life and I do what I want. I hope my coming out serves to break a taboo within the sport. You have to be judged not by your sexuality but by your sporting merit.”

Welcome out, Victor, and please accept as our gift the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven and a copy of The Gay Agenda. The toaster oven is perfect for warming your Empanadas!

And for those of you who don’t know, an empanada is a beef turnover so get your minds out of the gutter!

Last month Time ran a story about the fight over transgender persons suing the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. It was a good article, but …

Time used the rainbow flag on the cover to promote their article and some people — I was one — were annoyed that they used that flag and not the one that represents transgender pride. I mean, the rainbow flag is widely considered representative of the LGBT community but there is a separate flag solely for the trans community.

Luckily, Rachel Sharp, an author from New York, re-created Time’s front cover with the right flag, the transgender flag:

Zaevion Dobson Is Dead ... Why Aren't We Hearing About It?

Most mornings, Carlos and I have breakfast while watching Good Morning America … or one of those shows … on the tiny flatscreen atop the refrigerator.

Yesterday, the big story was Steve Harvey naming the wrong winner of the Miss Universe pageant. It was good for a giggle; it was good for some jokes on Facebook and Twitter. That was it.

But this morning the story was still there, along with a list of conspiracy theories as to how, and why, Harvey had misread the card with the winner’s name on it. It was all so shocking …

Shocking, to me, because this was still “news.” I mean, it seems we go from one day talking about downed jets and mass shootings and terrorist plots blowhard politicians to a two day news cycle about an error in a beauty contest?

As I sat at the table railing about that to Carlos, I asked about the news story we hadn’t heard this week, on any news channel that I had seen … the story of Zaevion Dobson.

Don’t know who he is? Well, that’s because Miss Colombia, and the entire country it seems, rate the top of the news list in America.

Zaevion Dobson was … was, so you know where this is headed … a high school football player from Knoxville who was killed last week in yet another random shooting spree in this country.

Zaevion Dobson was fifteen. Zaevion Dobson died because, as three men with ties to gangs, began shooting at schoolchildren last week, children out celebrating the upcoming holiday, Zaevion Dobson jumped on top of three girls to save them from being shot and he died in the process.

But by all means, let’s ask Perez Hilton what he thinks about MissUniverseGate.

One little girl, probably talking to her friends one minute about what she wanted for Christmas, suddenly found herself underneath Zaevion Dobson as the bullets flew. And, when it was all over, Zaevion Dobson was dead. Now Zaevion’s mother, Zenobia Dobson, will bury her son the day after Christmas.

And where’s the outrage? Sure, we have a lot going on this country; a woman’s crown was removed after two minutes because of an error, but where’s the outrage?

No one is talking. Is it because Zaevion Dobson is just another dead black kid, murdered as a result of gun violence? Or, is it because we are now so desensitized to murder in the streets that we just cannot be bothered to talk, or even care, about it?

And I have yet to hear one single political candidate for the presidency, on either side, mention Zaevion Dobson‘s name perhaps because his murder wasn’t an act of terror and so there are no poll points to be gained.

But try telling Zenobia Dobson that it wasn’t a terrorist who murdered her boy. Ask her where the terrorists live and she might say ‘Around the corner.’ Ask her what she would want this Christmas and you know she’d say she wants her son back, alive and safe, and tearing open a Christmas gift this Friday morning

But we don’t care about the Zaevion Dobsons of the world because a beauty queen lost her crown.

Ain’t that America?

Zaevion Dobson died saving the lives of three friends.

Zaevion Dobson has his whole life ahead of him.

Zaevion Dobson deserves to be talked about.

Something needs to be done.

Slate

Random Musings

I found this odd and stupid and Republican, but it appears that guns are strictly forbidden at the site of tonight’s GOP debate due to a request made by Fox news and the Republican National Committee … two NRA-loving groups who believe that people should be allowed to carry guns into stores, bars, churches, schools and movie theaters, but just not anywhere near Republicans or Fox News.

The hypocrisy is not lost on me.

Mike Huckabee said that allowing transgender people to serve in the military will turn it into a “social club” because trans people who enlist, train, go through boot camp, and are sent overseas to areas of unrest and turmoil are only doing it so that can have a cocktail and meet someone cute.

[photo source]

Last week, possibly in light of the murder of Cecil the lion, the Empire State Building, known for its stunning light displays, lit up with a digital display if the world’s endangered species.

The display, conceived by “The Cove” filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, showed a looping reel of endangered animals over a 33-floor span of the southern face of the building, with some 160 species in all shown.

"We're set to lose half the species on the planet by the end of the century." — Louie Psihoyos

At one point an image of Cecil — seen above — was shown.

Think about that; think about how man is supposed to be the intelligent ones on the planet and yet we are killing every other living thing, including ourselves.

Not so smart after all.

And, speaking of cats ... the other morning, ready to leave for work, I walked into the bedroom to make the bed and saw that.

I backed out slowly … and made the bed when I got home from work that night.

It’s not that the cats rule our house it’s just that meow meow meow meow rule. Uh oh.

Sidenote: my dear friend Laura saw this picture when I posted it to Facebook and saw that piece of pillow sticking out from the pillow case and asked if it was some kind of corncob-shaped sex toy or something.

It isn't; we don't leave those out on the bed for the cats ... not any more.

I am so tired of the way newspeople exaggerate on TV, like the other morning on Good Morning America when George Stephanopoulos talked about the massive … massive, his word … outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in New York City.

Eighty-six reported cases, and eight people dead, in a city of 8,491,079 people.

Massive, George? I think not. You’re supposed to be a trusted journalist, use your words … choose your words … carefully.

In hottie TV news former Glee and Hedwig and the Angry Inch star, Darren Criss will be joining the cast of American Horror Story: Hotel next season.

It’s getting hot up in there.

[1, 2, 3]

Mike Huckabee wants to be president and seems to think a lot of people want him to be president. But then, please to explain how almost all the money raised by the super PAC supporting his campaign has come from one donor, Huckabee's apparent 'sugar daddy' Ronald Cameron, CEO of the agribusiness behemoth Mountaire. Cameron has given $3 million to the Huckabee super PAC which has raised just $3,604,855.94.

So, is it just one guy who really wants Crazy in the White House?

[photo source]

But first an explanation …

A man attended a Scott Walker rally carrying a handmade ‘Scott Walker for President’ sign and so naturally Scott walker took a photo with the man, who, just before the snap, turned his sign around to reveal his true message: a check written by the Koch Brothers to buy the White House for Scott Walker.

Don’t be fooled by the likes of Walker and the Koch’s.