Tuesday Thought #1

Tuesday Thought #3

Bobservations

I don’t really have a Carlos story this week, though I will say that I got him up early on a Sunday and we hit CostCo before the church crowd. That was the good news; the bad news is that “The Tasters” weren’t set up that early and Carlos couldn’t graze his way through the store.

The bestest news? We were in and out of CostCo in under twenty-five minutes—spending $368 … or $14.72 a minute—and that might have been a new World record.

As I said the other day, I didn’t watch that show, but I did see the Invention of the Fuck You Clap—as dubbed by Patton Oswalt—by Nancy Pelosi.

It made my day. But even better was Pelosi’s daughter’s explanation of the clap:

“Oh yes that clap took me back to the teen years. She knows. And she knows that you know. And frankly she’s disappointed that you thought this would work. But here’s a clap.”

And a clap back!

Sometimes heroes come in unexpected packages … like 10-year-old Cub Scout, Liam Holmes who made waves in his home town of Durham, North Carolina by taking a knee during the pledge of allegiance at a city council meeting:

“What I did was took a knee against racial discrimination, which is basically when people are mean to other people of different colors.”

And while some were angry that the boy taking a stand by taking a knee, both his father, Scott, and Durham Mayor, Steve Schewel, praised the boy:

“To the scout that expressed his conscience by kneeling, we will say we endorse and appreciate all expressions of conscience in Durham City Council.”

Liam isn’t concerned about those who disagree with his stance, and says he plans to kneel again in the future.

Funny, when the kids get it and the adults don’t, eh?

Ooh, I’m getting hot up in here … Gus Kenworthy is joining the cast of Season 9 of American Horror Story. AHS creator Ryan Murphy:

“That special moment when you realize you have an Olympic medal AND he will be playing Emma Roberts’ boyfriend on “American Horror Story” Season 9.”

Kenworthy responded on his own account:

“I guess the cat’s out of the bag … I’m  So  F**king  Shook  ILYSM [I love you so much] @mrrpmurphy ”

Gus will be a hot addition to the cast and, well, he does like to take his clothes off.

Melanie invited a little boy who shares her same last name to the Propaganda Speech the other night because the child is bullied over his name. But little Joshua Trump was unimpressed, as he fell asleep about halfway through the tossed salad of a speech.

Funny, though, that Melanie brings a bullied boy to a speech given by the biggest bully in the world.

PS Melanie doesn’t look happy …or the Botox is still that fresh.

In addition, this year marks the centenary anniversary of Congress submitting the 19th amendment—giving women the right to vote—for ratification by the states. Now, the 19th didn’t get added to the Constitution until 1920, so next year will be the big year, but … a great many Democratic women wore white to the Propaganda Speech.

Sadly, because the only white they wear is probably hoods and sheets, Melanie and Ivanka both wore black.

Note, however, that Tiffany wore white, which is why Daddy rarely speaks of her.

Maroon 5’s Adam Levine—or as I call it Moron 5—went shirtless at the Super Bowl yesterday in a thirsty attempt to use his nipples to get some attention for what was called the worst half-time show ever, viewers were quick to draw comparisons to Janet’s single nipple and the brouhaha that ensued.

Michael Powell, the Chair of the Federal Communications Commission [FCC], was called before the Senate to discuss the nipple; NFL Vice President Joe Browne said that his organization was “extremely disappointed” in the nipple; then-First Lady Laura Bush said children shouldn’t be subjected to seeing the nipple; CBS was fined $550,000 by the FCC, although a court later overturned that fine; and Janet apologized for the nipple … though Justin Timberlake did not.

Different rules for men, apparently.

PS The Chipotle bag wore it better.

The Sheridan School, a K-8 in Northwest  Washington, DC, recently sent a letter home to parents saying that its students will no longer be playing sports at Immanuel Christian, the school where second lady Karen “Mother” Pence teaches because of its anti-LGBTQ policies because some of its students felt unsafe visiting the other school:

“As  we talked more, we understood that some students did not feel safe entering a school that bans LGBTQ parents, students or even families that support LGBTQ rights. Forcing our children to choose between an environment in which they feel unsafe or staying home was not an option. So we decided that we would invite ICS to play all of the games at Sheridan. Since ICS declined our offer to host, we will only play our home games and will not go to ICS to play.”

Loverly!

And finally … steaming hot 23-year-old French model and fitness trainer Killian Belliard.

Killian studied Law but never really practiced, choosing instead to take off his shirt, among other articles of clothing, asleep with men, shop in the nude, and treat us to his body.

“Merci beaucoup, homme chaud. Puis-je vous emmener au lit et faire l'amour avec vous. Mes lombes sont en feu.”

Just sayin’ … er, Juste en disant.

Bobservations

Today is my Mother's birthday. She would have been 81 if...........
I remember many things about my Mom.
The Mom who baked things for school.
The Mom who made the best Clam Chowder on rainy winter days.
The Mom who painted.
The Mom who laughed.
The Mom who loved you no matter what.
The Mom who, as soon as Carlos and I moved in together, would introduce him as her son-in-law.
The Mom who was married to my Dad for over 50 years.
The Mom who was a Nurse.
The Mom who loved to travel.
The Mom who taught me to love books.
I love my Mom.
I miss my Mom.

So, y’all know Carlos plays trumpet in our local community band …and if you don’t know, where the hell have you been??!! At any rate, the other night, while he was at rehearsal, he called to let me know he had a ride home, and then said:

“You’ll never guess what happened at rehearsal! Something bad.”

“You farted during a lull in the score?”

“No!”

“You crapped your pants because you blew the trumpet too hard?”

“NO!!”

“Oh my god, you sang? Please tell me you didn’t sing.”

“NOOOOOO!!! Worse than that!”

“You.Danced. Dear god, you danced? Honey. You can’t dance!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

“I have no idea ….”

“A snake came in the room ...”

“Oh, so you screamed like a girl and jumped onto your chair, farted, crapped your pants, sang for help and them danced out the door?”

“I don’t like you.”

But he does.

This week ______ spoke at the UN and was high-larious. Seriously, the UN erupted in laughter when Hair Furor claimed his administration is the most successful administration in history. The UN laughed; the world laughed in his face. And he said:

"I didn't expect that reaction, but that's OK."

But, as he does, he is now spinning it that he meant the statement as a joke and wanted them to laugh:

“Well, that was meant to get some laughter."

He says they were laughing with him, but they, and the rest of the world, were laughing at him. Asshat.

In Good News, this week the New York Yankees, under pressure for being the Major League team without an LGBTQ pride night, made a commitment to the LGBTQ community by creating a scholarship to honor the gay rights movement at Stonewall 50 years ago.

The Yankees-Stonewall Scholars Initiative will honor New York City graduates from the public-school system in all five boroughs and five $10,000 scholarships will be given out.

Good on them.

PS Next season the Yankees will have a Pride night.

The march goes on!

In Pig news, and, no, it’s not about Kavanaugh … Jason Miller, a former aide to _____, announced that he will leave his role as CNN political commentator following an accusation that he administered an “abortion pill” to a woman, without her knowledge or consent, he impregnated during an affair.

Miller said that the allegation is not true but, c’mon, his boss is a sexual predator and many of the people on his staff and his nominees for high positions in government are sexual predators, so is it such a stretch to think Miller would do something like this?

No.

In my hometown of Sacramento, California this week local veterans took a knee to show solidarity with the athletes who have been kneeling during the national anthem to protest racism and police brutality at a city council meeting.

One veteran, John Rieger, from the Sacramento chapter of Veterans For Peace, said:

"We've served our country, we didn't serve it to support racism, we didn't serve it to support police brutality, these are things that are un-American."

I say Bravo. And thank you for your service, and your continued service to making this country less hate-filled.

And perhaps this is why they kneel, too … Jamal Speaks plays football for Ballou High School until he was removed for residency issues.

Yes, Jamal Speaks is currently homeless; his father is deceased, and his mother is no longer present in his life. And he is fighting to stay on the team after Principal Willie Jackson blocked him from playing during a game because he’s homeless and cannot prove residency.

Speaks was set to participate in a game between Ballou and Anacostia High School, but Jackson stopped him from playing and even threatened to the team’s coach Minoso Rodgers if he allowed the teen to play. His teammates stalled the game by 45 minutes and petitioned the principal’s decision but Speaks was unfortunately benched.

Even worse? Football recruiters from Temple University were at that game to watch Speaks play, but the student was forbidden to do so.

Jackson claimed he prevented Speaks from playing because the District of Columbia Interscholastic Athletic Association [DCIAA] ruled Speaks ineligible in August.

“I worked so hard on and off the field. Have a good GPA, work in the classroom and outside of school. … I’m homeless, so me just trying to stay in the area to get back and forth from school, it’s already tough.”—Jamal Speaks

District of Columbia Public Schools officials said they’re working with the District of Columbia State Athletic Association to resolve the incident. In the meantime, a fine athlete, and a good student, may miss the opportunity to go to college because he’s homeless.

Ain’t that America?

A vandal attempted to deface the sign in front of the Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, but the congregation got the last word.

Church employees arrived to work on Monday to find someone had spray-painted the words “gay pastor” in large, black letters on the church’s roadside sign. The Reverend Andy Oliver, the church’s pastor said:

“Of course we were disappointed that someone chose to do that, but we saw this as an opportunity to turn what was intended to be hateful words into something beautiful. We decided to leave the spray paint up, because we wanted to surround it with love.”

And so, instead of removing the graffiti, the congregation surrounded it with colorful hearts and the phrase “Love Always Wins!”

Cuz it does.

Nordstrom is the latest Bad Taste Winner, after selling a $530 pair of sneakers which are artfully scuffed and look like they’re being held together with a piece of tape. 

Shoppers are “outraged” that the retailer is apparently glamorizing poverty and they aren’t the only retailer doing so; the shoes, an Italian brand, Golden Goose Deluxe Brand, are also sold at Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman.

Shoes designed to make you look poor but cost more than a car payment.

That’s where we’re headed?

The Indiana chapter of The Satanic Temple was accepted into the state’s Adopt-a-Highway program two months ago, having since—much to the distress of locals—completed two clean-up events for their town’s roads. But not everyone is happy … like Jill Konija, whose property is directly next to one of the Zionsville Adopt-a-Highway signs reading “Satanic Temple Indiana Chapter.”

“It’s like advertising a satanic church in front of our home. We raised our sons here.”—Jill Konija

Damien Blackmoor, the head of the Satanic Temple Indiana Chapter, said that the group would be doing the acts of altruism regardless of whether or not they got a sign:

“We would do it even without the sign. It’s not about the attention, it’s about doing something good, and we like to show people that we’re doing that good.”

Who knew Satanists were into beautification?

In Great News …this week Dallas Police Chief Renee Hall fired Officer Amber Guyger, three weeks after Guyger shot and killed Botham Jean in his apartment after mistaking it for her own.

Good.Bye. Now, howsabout some prison time?

And speaking of prison time ... serial sexual predator Bill Cosby was taken away in cuffs this week after being sentenced 3-10 years for being a perv.

His ambulance chasers are set to appeal, but Bill will have to register as a sexual predator for the rest of his days.

Good. Now, if we could just get Kavanaugh behind bars.

I was bored one night and watched a movie …which clearly had a budget of about ten dollars and a case of Bud Light … called The Other Side. It was boring and dumb and oh so predictable but, shallow me, it also starred one Brad James; smoking hot.

I also caught the reboot of Flatliners …what the hell was Ellen Page doing in it …and spotted Hot Ginger James Norton. I’m trying to come up with some double entendre about he and I flatlining but it escapes me just now.

Lastly, a good film, Rebel in the Rye, about the life of JD Salinger. Very interesting life he lived, before writing Catcher in the Rye. And Nicholas Hoult, who played JD is quite the stunner, though having him play Salinger as a college student all the way through being an older man seemed a bit odd because I didn’t buy him as older JD. Still, he was easy on the eyes …

Just sayin’.

The Funny Papers

Darrin Bell, Michael de Adder, Andy Marlette, Marc Murphy, Kevin Siers, Clay Bennett, Marian Kamensky, David Horsey, Michael Ramirez

Tuesday Thought #4

Tuesday Thought #3

Why We Kneel: John Crawford III

In 2014, John Crawford III was at an Ohio Wal-Mart, buying whatever one buys at that store, when he happened upon a pellet gun.

On surveillance video, Crawford is seen holding the gun, which was not packaged, while talking on his cell phone, allegedly to the mother of his two children; perhaps was asking if he could buy it …

At the same time, another man, Ronald Ritchie, was on his cellphone, calling 911 to say that that there “was a gentleman walking around with a gun in the store” and that “he’s like pointing it at people” and “waving it back and forth.”

The video shows Crawford continuing through the store, looking at this and that, and appearing to still be on his phone. The gun is pointed at the ground and several people pass him by, seemingly unconcerned.

Then, police enter the frame to his side and Crawford turns his head, falls to the ground, scrambles in the other direction, then turns back around before ultimately falling again to the ground.

It’s unclear whether he dropped the gun before being shot or after. What is sure is that he was killed for being a black man in a Wal-Mart with a BB gun.

Now, I get it that he was a man with a gun, I get it that police officers have to be cautious, and  I get it that they were responding to a call from Ronald Ritchie saying Crawford was waving the gun around and pointing it at people.

The trouble is, once the surveillance footage was released, Ronald Ritchie changed his story and said Crawford never pointed the gun at anybody.

Too late, though, because James Crawford III was shot to death, because a white man feared the image of a black man with a gun; and police officers didn’t take two seconds to ascertain what kind of gun Crawford had and what he was doing with it.

And, to be clear, I know, I know, that, had it been me, or any other white guy, this would have ended quite differently.

Still, there was a trial, like there was a trial in the Emmett Till murder. After a grand jury watched hours of video, listened to audio recording and heard the testimony from 18 witnesses, they decided, after three days. that the officers were justified in the shooting.

Ronald Ritchie is 2018’s Carolyn Bryant and James Crawford III is 2018’s Emmett Till.

Two black men were murdered after being wrongfully accused by white people.

It isn’t over; I don’t know if it will ever be over, but I do know that we all need to speak up when we see racists in action, when we hear racists in action, when we realize that a racist is sitting in the Oval Office.

Why We Kneel: Emmett Till, 1955 and 2018

Most of you know the story of Emmett Till, but bear with me …

Emmett Till was born and raised in Chicago, but in the summer of 1955, when he was just fourteen, Emmett went to visit relatives in Mississippi. One day he went into to town, to a grocery store, and spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, the wife of the white owner of the store. There has been some dispute over what occurred inside the store; some say Till was flirting with Bryant, and perhaps even whistled at Bryant.

But we do know that Carolyn Bryant told her husband, and a jury, Emmett Till made physical and verbal advances toward her, though, decades later Carolyn Bryant admitted she’d lied about a great deal of what had happened, especially when she’d said Emmett Till grabbed her waist and uttered obscenities.

But by then it was far too late.

Several nights after the store incident, after Carolyn Bryant lied to her husband Roy about Till, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam went armed to Till's great-uncle's house and took Emmett Till by force.

They took him away and beat him and mutilated him before shooting him in the head and tying a heavy cotton gin fan around his neck, sinking his body in the Tallahatchie River.

Three days later, Till's body was discovered.

His body was returned to Chicago where his mother insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket, so the world could see her son’s bloated, mutilated body. That image, and I will not show it here because it’s far too gruesome, sparked the Civil Rights movement.

A few months later, in September 1955, after a nineteen-day trial and an hour of jury deliberations, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam were acquitted by an all-white jury of Till's kidnapping and murder. And then, in 1956, in an interview with Look magazine, and protected against double jeopardy, both men publicly admitted that they had murdered Emmett Till.

After Milam and Bryant were acquitted, they initially remained in Mississippi, but were boycotted, threatened, attacked, and humiliated by locals. Milam died in 1980 at the age of 61, and Bryant died in 1994 at the age of 63. Bryant expressed no remorse for his crime and in fact said:

"Emmett Till is dead. I don't know why he just can't stay dead."

Here’s why … In 2007, fifty-two years after Emmett Till was murdered, historical markers to be erected at locations related to his death—at the river where his body was found and at the spot where Bryant’s store once stood.

But the sign at the river has been replaced three times; the first was stolen in 2007, the second was destroyed by gunfire in 2016; the third sign also has a bullet hole in it.

That’s why people kneel during the anthem; sixty-three years after Emmett Till was murdered because a white woman lied to a jury, his life, his death, are being assaulted.

This is not just an old story, stick around ….

Washington Post

Tuesday Thought #1