Bobservations

I wasn’t really into the Royal Wedding for a variety of reasons …

Pomp and Circumstance ain’t my thang.

It started way too early.

And, perhaps, most importantly … Bitch stole my man.

Now, I love Carlos to death, but I was kinda hoping I would be the Duchess of Sussex, with my Hot Prince Ginger at my side, though, to be completely honest, I’d have named myself the Duchess of SucksIt, cuz, you know.

But …Carlos could not get enough of it. He’d say he wasn’t really interested, but every chance he got he was glued to a TV watching it, and then watching the summary of it, and then the recap of it, and then the highlights of it.

But, you know, he wasn’t really interested.

Poor racist ranting New York lawyer Aaron Schlossberg. You know, the hate-spewing asshat caught on a cell phone video threatening to call ICE on restaurant workers for speaking Spanish:

“My next call is to ICE to have each one of them kicked out of my country. If they have the balls to come here and live off my money—I pay for their welfare, I pay for their ability to live here. The least they can do is speak English in what my country.”

Well, with his world crumbling down around him Aaron Schlossberg has apologized for being a racist ass:

“To the people I insulted, I apologize, seeing myself online opened my eyes — the manner in which I expressed myself is unacceptable and is not the person I am. I see my words and actions hurt people, and for that I am deeply sorry.

While people should be able to express themselves freely, they should do so calmly and respectfully. What the video did not convey is the real me, I am not racist. One of the reasons I moved to New York is precisely because of the remarkable diversity offered in this wonderful city.

I love this country and this city, in part because of immigrants and the diversity of cultures immigrants bring to this country. Again, my sincerest apologies to anyone and everyone I hurt.”

Um, Aaron, you are a racist; you spewed racist venom and were perfectly fine with it until your words were held against you and the only way out was to apologize.

Oh, and this isn’t your country, it’s our country.

Good trans news … a federal court has denied the Gloucester County School Board’s motion to dismiss a case brought by former student Gavin Grimm, holding that Title IX and the Constitution protect transgender students from being excluded from the common restrooms that align with their gender identity:

“The district court’s ruling vindicates what Gavin has been saying from the beginning. Federal law protects Gavin and other students who are transgender from being stigmatized and excluded from using the same common restrooms that other boys and girls use. These sorts of discriminatory policies do nothing to protect privacy and only serve to harm and humiliate transgender students.”

Gavin Grimm, above, had this reaction:

“I feel an incredible sense of relief. After fighting this policy since I was 15 years old, I finally have a court decision saying that what the Gloucester County School Board did to me was wrong and it was against the law. I was determined not to give up because I didn’t want any other student to have to suffer the same experience that I had to go through.”

The march goes on …

Another day, another Republican with an idiotic idea…

First came the ‘Don’t throw rocks in the ocean or else the seas will rise” asshattery. And that was followed by the “Too many doors in school kill students’ asshattery, and that was followed by the ‘Let’s not allow students wo wear trench coats to school” nonsense.

And now this, from Republican Congresswoman Diane Black of Tennessee who wants to crowdfund the proposed border wall the president repeatedly claimed Mexico would pay for.

Now we’re gonna GoFundMe the wall? Bitch, please. Black introduced legislation to establish a fund that allows Americans to donate to build the wall, which the _____ administration has estimated will cost around $20 billion. And she’ll give y’all the added perk of having your name, if you donate, put on a plaque on the wall:

“My husband and I are willing to write the first check to say, ‘we as Americans want to do what the president has said — we want to fund that wall.”

Black, who is running to be the next governor of Tennessee—seriously, Tennessee? —was asked about what happened to Mexico paying for the wall.

“Well, I would like for Mexico to pay for that and I’m not close enough to the administration to see what pressure they are putting on them.”

Diane? Take a seat you fool and pay attention: Mexico will not pay for a wall; a wall will not stop illegal immigration; American citizens who are stuck with the GOP Tax Scam, are not gonna throw more coins at the government for some stupid wall. Even with a goddamned plaque on it.

Sit.Down.

If you had any doubt that Fox News is the NRA news network, this might change your mind …

On the day of the shooting last week in Santa Fe, Texas, Fox Hack Tucker Carlson spent exactly 17 seconds … seconds … of his hour long show on the shooting.

The rest of the time he talked about robots, diapers and the royal wedding. 

‘Nuff said.

Someone needs to teach the Publix bakery … at least the one in Charleston … a little something about the English Language.

Cara Koscinski ordered a cake online from Publix for her son’s graduation from a “Christian-based home-schooling program” and wanted the words Summa Cum Laude iced onto it.

She then received an alert …an actual alert … from Publix saying the store won’t write “profanity” on their cakes. But she ordered it anyway and when it arrived it was, well cum-less, so Cara naturally took it to Facebook:

“Ok. I didn’t want to post but I cannot resist. I ordered Jacob’s graduation cake from Publix. A $70 cake!! He earned a 4.79 GPA. Publix refused to write the words Summa Cum Laude because I was using ‘profanity!’ They put three dashes instead of the word!

How utterly ridiculous and I will be speaking to a manager for a refund. Shame on you Publix for turning an innocent Latin phrase into a total embarrassment for having to explain to my son and others (including my 70-year-old mother) about this joke of a cake.”

Publix has apologized to Cara and removed the word “cum” from their banned list.

Ooh, now I have a cake to order.

The NRA has a new enemy … Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Dick’s was one company that announced it would be doing its part to decrease gun violence by refusing to sell “assault-style rifles” in its stores. They this announcement back in February, and now they have gone even further: the unsold rifles will not be returned to manufacturers — they will be destroyed instead:

“We are in the process of destroying all firearms and accessories that are no longer for sale as a result of our February 28th policy change… We are destroying the firearms in accordance with federal guidelines and regulations.”

And now the NRA is throwing a _____-sized tantrum, taking to Twitter to blast the company’s “business model”, which is a far more responsible response than anything the NRA has ever done after a mass shooting:

“@Dicks decision isn’t focusing on the actual problem, what it is doing is punishing law-abiding citizens. What a waste, and what a strange business model.”

I say, “What a great thing.” The NRA is not the least bit concerned with guns, gun control, responsible gun legislation, they are all about making money from selling guns.

Fuck ‘em.

This is still making me giggle … last Saturday _____ Tweeted out a Welcome home to his wife after her mystery hospital stay and, well, y’all know what happened:

“Great to have our incredible First Lady back home in the White House. Melanie is feeling and doing really well. Thank you for all of your prayers and best wishes.”

Melanie! As if she needed one more reason to loathe that Fat Bastard of a husband of hers. The tweet was quickly deleted and replaced with a new tweet with her name—in case you forgot, it’s Melania—spelled correctly.

But, maybe there was a good reason for Melanie… apparently some staffers actually compose Tweets for _____ to send out because he’s busy with his bath, or his Big Mac, or his hookers and porn stars, and so, in order to simulate the cadence and his speech, they often purposefully misspell words and forget punctuation. They overuse the exclamation point! They CAPITALIZE words for no reason.

They, you know, “dumb it down” so you’ll know it’s the president Tweeting.

Even though it looks like the summit between the Two Bad hair Dudes, _____ and Un, may not happen, that didn’t stop the White House from issuing a commemorative coin.

Why? Well, the White House is a hot mess, _____ is a foreign policy moron—think embassy in Jerusalem and dead children, while Ivanka smiled and took selfies—and think that his team feels he needs a win.

So, make a coin for an event that has not yet happened, and may never happen.

Justin Clynes. Hot male model; totally swoonworthy. There is nothing left to say except, Enjoy!

Is Publix Anti-LGBT or Just Cheap?

When we lived in Florida Publix was our go-to supermarket; when we moved to South Carolina, we still shopped Publix, even though it was a thirty-minute drive one way to do so. Eventually, that got old, and we began shopping in town at a Food Lion and now I’m kinda glad about that.

It seems that Publix has chosen to deny its nearly 200,000 employees health insurance coverage for pre-exposure prophylaxis [PrEP], a medication that is highly effective at preventing HIV. To be fair, no one seems to know if Publix refusal to cover PrEP through their insurance program is just to save a few bucks, or if their refusal is some sort of cockeyed faith-based hate, but either way it's not a good look for the supermarket chain.

This all began when David Holland, a doctor serving as director of the Fulton County PrEP clinic in Atlanta, was unable to get a Publix employee PrEP through the company’s health insurance. He called the insurance provider directly and discovered that the refusal came from the employer, not the insurance provider; Publix does not want PrEP covered under their insurance program.

When Publix headquarters was asked about it, they released a statement saying their “generous medical and prescription coverage” covered “numerous medications … used in the treatment of HIV,” adding, “There are some medications that have coverage limitations or require prior authorization.”

Maybe so, maybe not; two things come to mind, the first of which is that Publix is a billion-dollar corporation and they could provide access to PrEP through their insurance if they wanted to do so; and secondly, providing just one PrEP prescription to an HIV-negative employee is far cheaper than providing a lifetime of medications and healthcare to an HIV-positive employee.

I mean, it doesn’t get simpler.

But Publix is a ultra-conservative company that has made donations to anti-LGBT GOP political candidates, funded campaigns against legalized cannabis and has a score pf Zero on the Human Rights Campaign’s analysis of workplace fairness, in addition to being accused of multiple instances firing openly gay employees.

I guess the idea that they refuse to cover PrEP expenses in their health insurance is just part of the way they do business … the business of discriminating against the LGBT community.

Hornet

Random Musings

This past weekend I was a little under the weather, so naturally I turned to my PBS Saturday afternoon shows — and some chicken soup — to feel better. A little Martha Stewart’s Cooking School, Martha Stewart Bakes, Ming, This Old House, and some show about a woman who redesigned a kitchen — I forget the name … I was sick — who used an old silver tray and some chalkboard paint to turn the tray into a kind of message center, or a menu for dinner parties. I liked the idea, but as I was watching Carlos wandered through the room and asked what the woman was doing.

Bob: “She’s putting chalkboard paint on a tray.”

Carlos: “She’s making a Chocolate Omelet?”

Feel my pain. Chocolate omelet?

Even with BridgeGate and a new federal investigation into misappropriation of Hurricane Sandy relief funds, New Jersey Governor, and fathead, Chris Christie has kept up his anti-LGBT fight.

Earlier this week, he vetoed a bill that would have allowed transgender citizens the right to change their names on their birth certificates. The bill was approved by the state Assembly in June by a vote of 43-27 and by the state Senate in December by a vote of 21-11. Christie's veto is "absolute", which means that a 2/3 majority in both chambers — 27 votes in the Senate; 54 votes in the  Assembly — is now required to override and those votes aren’t there. Yet.

But please, people of America, and especially the LGBT community, remember this latest anti-gay move of Chris Christie’s should he survive scandal after scandal and run for president in 2016.

He is not the President for our community.

It appears that the Publix grocery store chain is being accused — by some of its own employees no less — of discriminating against its gay employees. Now, of course Publix denies the allegations, but then there’s this:

In September 2012, Broward County's Human Rights Board ruled that Publix had wrongly fired a cake decorator because he's gay and awarding him $100,000.

According to his complaint, Richard Glisson worked at several Publix stores in Broward County for ten years. Then, in February 2010, another employee was caught stealing gift cards and money from the store, and while being interviewed by a Publix "loss prevention specialist," that thief, er, employee, started spilling the beans on other less-than-desirable employees. And one of those was Glisson, whom this thief, er, employee says had given him Publix cookies and, gasp, one time, a red-velvet cake bar.

When interviewed, Glisson admitted to giving his co-worker the cake bar but pointed out that it was a cake bar that Publix no longer sold, and therefore couldn't sell. Under Publix policy, he argued, employees are encouraged to sample such items to better assist customers.

Still, he was fired. But then other employees came forward to say they took food and drinks without paying for them and merely got off with a warning; and they noted that Glisson's "consistently" arrived late to work and allowed a little girl to work in the bakery, but was only demoted. So, aftre being axed, Glisson sued, and the Broward County Human Rights Board found that:

"The record shows that [District Manager David] Thoman, and by extension Publix, treated similarly situated non-homosexual employees in a more favorable fashion. The record also supports the conclusion that Mr. Thoman's stated reason for terminating Mr. Glisson was a pretext for impermissible discrimination. …  [We] are left with only one logical conclusion: that the real motivating factor behind Mr. Glisson's termination was impermissible discrimination based upon his sexual orientation."

Publix is appealing the decision.

I like Publix, but if this evidence is true, that straight employees committing the same bad acts as gay employees receive more favorable treatment, then Publix will find itself facing more lawsuits.

Okay so it’s no stretch to say that Bryan Fischer, the Director of Issues Analysis — let’s take a giggle break on that job title — for the American Family Association, is a complete moron. I mean, he makes Pat Robertson make sense.

But Fischer’s latest thought is to head on back to Colonial Times, when life was sweet and only property owners could vote.

Oh, and in Colonial Times, property owners could also only be white men.

Bryan Fischer, so stupid he’s funny.

Sean Maloney, the US Congressman from New York, is getting married. His partner of twenty-one years, Randy Florke, proposed on Christmas day.

Isn’t that sweet, especially when hearing Maloney say this:

“[I]t’s interesting when you’ve been in love with someone for 21 years and your country finally catches up to you.”

The couple said the engagement has been a long time coming, but was pushed ahead by the desire of their children — Jesus, Daley and Essie — to see their dads marry:

“[Our] youngest had asked for this in a note to Santa Claus, which was a complete coincidence, and so it was a pretty emotional experience all around.”

Yes, a little girl asked Santa to let her dads marry. The times are a’changing, and it’s a good thing.

Congratulations to the happy couple, and the happier family.

Well, it looks like big changes for 'Glee'.

The Fox show is moving entirely to New York City for the remainder of the season and the next, which will be the show’s last. The move had been rumored for a few months, but this marks the first confirmation from the network.

And, of course there will be a cast shake-up. I mean, what about those Glee kids still in school? Mister Shue? Sue? Please don’t tell me they’ll move SueShue to La Grande Apple that would be quite the Shark Jump.

Fox Entertainment Chairman Kevin Reilly:

“[It] would be ridiculous that everybody moves to New York. There will be some that will graduate and move on and they’ll arc back in when we do special episodes. They’ll always be a part of it… But for this season, there will be a graduation, several of the cast members will move on and a few others will go to New York.”

There had been a long-standing rumor that the show would move Kurt Hummel, played by Chris Colfer, to Russia, though there is no decision on that, except by me who thinks it’s just about the dumbest idea ever.

Speaking of TV, and some of my favorites, Being Human is back, and bringing with it the beautiful vampire Aiden, played by the oozingly sexy Sam Witwer.

I’m a sucker — see what I did there — for a hot vampire.

It’s a good fun show — a vampire, a werewolf and a ghost become roommates — with some definite eye candy.

And we're done with The Blacklist. As much as I like James Spader, the implausibilty of each episode, along with the apparent superhuman abilities of some of the FBI men and the apparent stupidty of others, we've just lost interest.

Up there in Minneapolis Representative Susan Allen, a Democrat of course, has introduced a bill that would prohibit licensed therapists from trying to turn gay youth straight.

I guess Miss Marcus Bachmann, Michele’s, er, husband, will have to find a new line of work.

And quickly since her wife is leaving politics.

We all know that The Gays get blamed for everything from earthquakes to hurricanes to Lady Gaga, but did you know that we are taking the hit for the Polar Vortex. I mean, we’re accepting the blame before Pat Robertson blames us, and here’s how we caused it — according to The Advocate:

1. We Can Be Boy Scouts
On January 1, the Boy Scouts of America began officially allowing openly gay youth and it seemed like there wasn't much backlash until this Polar Vortex showed up in protest. Mother Nature must be a fan of Texas governor (and former Eagle Scout) Rick Perry, who bellowed the loudest in protest of this new policy. It'll be a sunny 70 degrees in Austin this weekend. 

2. We Got Robin Roberts
The wind chill factor in New York City has been in the negative numbers for the past two days. Coincidentally, Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts has "never been happier or healthier than I am right now." Over the holidays, Roberts officially acknowledged her longtime relationship with girlfriend, Amber Laign, on Facebook. After returning from the holiday break two days ago, Roberts spoke openly about their relationship on the air and even showed a photograph of the couple at a family wedding.

 3. The Former Governor of Montana Slammed the GOP in Our Defense
Poor Montana. Even though the state has a ban on gay marriage, it hasn't escaped the grips of the Polar Vortex. Perhaps Montana must suffer because former governor Brian Schweitzer slammed the Republican Party and its "family values" in a recent interview. Schweitzer, expected to run against Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primaries, is a supporter of Marriage Equality. Bundle up, Montana. It doesn't look like the winters will be getting any warmer.

 4. Clay Aiken Is Considering a Run for Congress
Game over, North Carolina. 

5. Forget Everything Else: This Is What Caused the Polar Vortex
Thank a lot, James Franco. You alone are pretty much to blame for the horrible conditions in most of America. Being in touch with your queer side isn't enough to cripple the country with ice and snow, but your latest docufiction film, Interior. Leather Bar., which examines heterosexual discomfort with and acceptance of gay sex, is causing a global warming steamfest. The film has been touring the world for months now, giving Mother Nature just enough time to brew the perfect storm.

You're Next, Los Angeles. Put on a sweater, L.A. A gay couple just got married on a giant wedding cake float in the Rose Parade. You can kiss that 70-degree weather goodbye.

So, there’s this woman, Lady Theresa Thombs — and yes, that is her real name  — who is the Republican candidate for the Texas State Board of Education. Naturally, as a Republican, and a Texas Republican, she fights against the ideas of evolution, rails against ’socialist higher education,’ and Devil Worshipers, and took to Facebook to announce her ‘Straight Pride.’

When several commenters mocked her post, Thombs responded that she doesn’t hate gay people and only thinks that gay people are sinners, just like murderers:

“We are not bigoted or hateful. Jesus said to love the sinner but hate the sin. God gives you free will to do what you want. But murder is a sin, but even a murderer is loved and forgiven if he asked to be. We both have the right to believe the way we choose is all that I am saying.” 

I know, it’s Texas, but still …. Being gay is like being a murderer. And this from a woman running for the Board of Education.

I think she’s more Bored of Education.