Hate, Alive and Well In 2021

I … well, I was going to say ‘hate’, but my grandmother used to get on me for  saying it, and so I began using loathe with every fiber of my being—See? That sounds better; so, I loathe, with every fiber of my being, organized religion.

I have always thought its main purpose was to ‘us’ and ‘them’ the world; set ‘us’ apart, and supposedly above, ‘them’.

I’ve told this story before, but it bears repeating: when we first moved to Camden and began meeting people, we got all sorts of questions: Where are you from? Where will you work? Where do you worship?

Screeching halt. Worship? I wasn’t expecting that, and because I tend to speak my mind, shoot from the hip, talk first and think later, I’d say I wasn’t much of an organized worshipper.

Well then, they’d invariably ask, how do you talk to God? And, again, not thinking, perhaps, I’d say that, if you believed in that sort of thing, isn’t God everywhere, and if He, and sometimes I’d say She just to mess with folks, is everywhere, why do I need to sit in a church and worship? I could talk to Him or Her anywhere at any time.

That was almost always met with silence, followed by, ‘Well, have a nice day.’

So why talk about his, again, today? It seems the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee voted this week to expel two churches for being LGBTQ-inclusive.

Yes, both the Towne View Baptist Church in Kennesaw, Georgia, and St. Matthews Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky have “been removed from the convention [because they] affirm homosexual behavior. 

Those two churches; they like The Gays; they think God likes The Gays. And so, they’re out.

In 2021.

You know, I don’t know much about organized religion, but even as a child, going to church with my parents, we learned that God loves everybody.

And then I learned that it’s just the bigots that run the churches that hate.

Tuesday Thought #3

 

Tuesday Thought #2

 

Tuesday Thought #1

 

This Bitch: #FledCruz

Seriously. Ted Cruz, who went on vacation to Mexico because it was too cold in Texas, and too many people were dying or freezing or going hungry, is now trying to use the so-called Cancel Culture Lie as a money grab.

Nope, Rafael, it's not cancel, it's accountability. Something you clearly know nothing about.

We're Gonna Need a Lot More Toaster Ovens

This week in Germany 185 actors staged a mass coming out in a public statement of visibility in order to inspire more diversity in the entertainment industry. In a statement the actors said:

“We’re here and there are a whole lot of us! We are actors who identify as lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, inter and non-binary, amongst many other things.

Until now, we haven’t been able to be open about our private lives without fearing professional consequences. All too often, many of us have been cautioned – be it by managers, casting agents, colleagues, producers, editors, directors, etc. – to keep quiet about our sexual orientations and gender identities to avoid jeopardizing our careers. We are putting an end to this – once and for all!

Until now, we’ve been told that if we revealed certain facets of our identities, namely our sexual and gender identities, we would suddenly lose the ability to portray certain characters and relationships. As if the knowledge of who we are in our private lives would somehow invalidate our ability to convincingly embody roles for the audience. Nothing could be further from the truth.

We are actors. We don’t have to be the characters we portray. We act as if – that is the very quintessence of our job. We play wives and fathers, lovers and politicians, heroes and creeps. And often enough, characters whose ideas we’d never agree with. That’s why we can play murderers without having murdered anyone. We can save lives without having studied medicine. We can play people with sexual identities different from the ones we live out.

And, by the way, this is something we’ve been doing for a very long time, the entire time, in fact, because it is the nature of our profession.”

Bravo to all those who stepped forward and came out, and let’s see this happen all over the world.

DW

The Funny Papers

Steve Sack, Bill Bramhall, RJ Matson, David Horsey, Rick McKee, Deb Milbrath, Nick Anderson, Drew Sheneman, Dave Whamond, Michael de Adder, Mike Luckovich, Marc Murphy, Ed Hall,

I Ain't One To Gossip But ...

So, everybody’s climbing aboard the Save Britney bandwagon in the wake of The New York Times Presents Framing Britney stories of her father controlling her and her money. And one of the biggest worms crawling from the ooze to cough up some words on BritBrit is former love, Justin Timberlake.

Of course, JT waited about twenty years, and until he had a movie to promote, before saying a word about the not so nice things he said about Britney … he outed her for not being a virgin, for one. And also, as like every time he has something to promote, Timberlake does a mea culpa lap around ripping off Janet’s Jackson’s shirt, baring her breast, during a Superbowl Halftime show. Back then he played the coy innocent boy while Janet was dragged for it.

And so …because he has a new movie coming out … JT took to social media to read a prepared statement:

“I’ve seen messages, tags, comments, and concerns and I want to respond. I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right. I understand that I fell short in these moments, and others, and benefited from a system that condones misogyny and racism.

I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually because I care for and respect these women and I know I failed.

I also compelled to respond, in part, because everyone involved deserves better and most importantly because this is a larger conversation that I wholeheartedly want to be part of and learn from …”

Wow, that is a full-on word salad that reeks of insincerity, though I was waiting for the “I have a new film opening this month, please go see it.”

Nicely done, JT, drag these women again while getting some free publicity for your latest film.

photo

When you’re a very rich person, and crazily enough, “comedian” Kevin Hart is, you pay people to do the most mundane things for which you have little to no time. And Kevin cannot shop, so he pays someone to do his shopping. But problems can arise when you give someone access to your coins, and now comes word that Kevin’s personal shopper, Dylan Syer, was ALLEGEDLY shoplifting about a million bucks from him, and this week Syer was in a New York City courtroom facing 9 counts, including grand larceny.

Apparently Dylan gained Kevin’s trust in 2015 and began buying expensive items for him, on his behalf. All the purchases were legitimate, and Kevin’s credit card was used to make the purchases. With access to Kevin’s credit card, Dylan ALLEGEDLY began transferring money from Kevin’s card into his personal bank account, and then began blowing through the money like a Lindsay Lohan coke binge, spending hundreds of thousands of Kevin’s hard-earned one-trick-pony dollars on expensive jewelry, watches, art, collectibles, designer handbags, and leather goods.

The grand total was roughly $1.2 million; all in the span of two years.

Yikes. The DA is trying to seize all the items Syer ALLEGEDLY bought with stolen coins, but that might prove difficult since Syer was given access to the card, so the company never called Hart to ask him about his sudden interest in  high-end designer handbags.

And it took him over two years to even notice the $1.2 million dollars charged to his card. Not quite the sharpest little tool … in the shed.

photo

I don’t really pay close attention to The Bachelor and Bachelorette franchises because it seems like a group of whores, male and female, vying for the one john, male or female, but I will try and explain it.

The story begins with Rachael Kirkconnell, a contestant on The Bachelor, who, back in 2018, attended an “Old South” themed party on an old plantation which caused peopleto think she was racist.  Now, going to an antebellum party doesn’t make someone racist but then people began digging into her social media and found a slew of Confederate flags, QAnon conspiracies and some racist crap.

Then spurred another former Bachelorette, Rachel Lindsay—the first Black Bachelorette—to ask the show’s host Chris Harrison about the controversy and he really stepped in it and has since “stepped away” from the show. See, Harrison basically dismissed Rachael Kirkconnell’s highly-racist past as nothing and then called out the “woke police” because people calling out racism are wrong:

“Well, Rachel, is it a good look in 2018, or is it not a good look in 2021? Because there’s a big difference. Where is this lens we’re holding up and was this lens available, and were we all looking through it in 2018?”

Wow, he seemed to suggest that racism in 2018 is okay because it was soooo long ago. Perhaps rather than stepping away, Harrison should have been shoved away. And he followed that up with the I Need To Save My Job apology:

“I have spent the last few days listening to the pain my words have caused, and I am deeply remorseful. My ignorance did damage to my friends, colleagues and strangers alike. I have no one to blame but myself for what I said and the way I spoke. I set standards for myself, and have to meet them. I feel that with every fiber of my being. Now just as I taught my children to stand up, and to own their actions, I will do the same. By excusing historical racism, I defended it. I invoked the term ‘woke police,’ which is unacceptable. I am ashamed over how uninformed I was. I was so wrong. To the Black community, to the BIPOC community: I am so sorry. My words were harmful. I am listening, and I truly apologize for my ignorance and any pain it caused you. “I want to give my heartfelt thanks to the people from these communities who I’ve had enlightening conversations with over the past few days, and I am so grateful to those who have reached out to help me on my path to anti-racism.”

That’s a lot of words for something that could have gone like this:

“I said some stupid ass shit. I’m sorry for being an addle-brained tool I will now walk away until I really truly learn that racism in 2021 is as wrong as racism in 2018 … or 1963 … or 1931 … or 1856 … or 1776 … or ….”

Now go.

photo

Lord, One Percent problems.

Salma Hayek is married to François-Henri Pinault, a French billionaire who made his billions by being the spawn of a French billionaire; he inherited Daddy’s company, Kering, which owns luxury brands like Gucci, Yves Saint Lauren, and Balenciaga.

Salma and François-Henri have been married since 2009, and, during an appearance on Dax Shepard’s podcast, Armchair Expert, she said she doesn’t care that some people think she married him for his $43.4. billion:

“You know the thing is that in pictures you cannot begin to guess the magic in him. He’s made me become a much better person, and grow in such a good, healthy way. And, you know, when I married him, everybody said, ‘Oh, it’s arranged marriage, she married him for the money.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, whatever, bitch. Think what you want.’ 15 years together, and we are strong in love. And I don’t even get offended, I’m like, yeah, whatever.”

Salma has said she believes there’s discrimination against rich men and that not all of them are bad, materialistic, or people undeserving of their wealth.

Dear goddess, is she suggesting that rich people have harder lives than poor people? I don’ t think Salma married him because he’s rich, but he might have married her for those breasts, and not for her brains because, again, she’s an idiot who believes we should pity the rich.

photo

GOOP is at it again, y’all. A year, a full year, into the pandemic, and Gwyneth Paltrow has revealed she had COVID-19 very early on:“A little background:

"I had COVID-19 early on, and it left me with some long-tail fatigue and brain fog. In January, I had some tests done that showed really high levels of inflammation in my body. So I turned to one of the smartest experts I know in this space, the functional medicine practitioner Dr. Will Cole. After he saw all my labs, he explained that this was a case where the road to healing was going to be longer than usual.”

As she does with everything, Paltrow sold, er, told her story in a blog post on GOOP, and then turned that revelation into a money beg about how she came upon her latest regimen after COVID left her with some long-lasting symptoms,

Gwyneth’s personal routine involves fasting until 11:00 AM every day, eating a “keto and plant-based but flexible” diet—I guess that means not keto and plant based all the time, which would make it just regular eating—and  supplements which are for sale, where else, on GOOP. Oh, and she’s also doing “an infrared sauna … in service of healing.” 

Infrared sauna? This is it:

Is it just me or does that look like a $500.00 ginormous heating pad? Oh, and in case you fall for it, it’s “non-returnable?” 

So many people making money off the pandemic but they’re selling things we need like masks and hand sanitizers. Gwyneth wants y’all to buy a heating pad.

Next up, a candle that smells like your vagina on COVID-19.

photo 1  photo 2

I Didn't Say It ...

David Cicilline, Rhode Island Congressman, and Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, both Democrats, reintroduced the Equality Act, which guarantees explicit, permanent protections for LGBTQ +people under existing civil rights laws; Cicilline said:

“In 2021, every American should be treated with respect and dignity. Yet, in most states, LGBTQ people can be discriminated against because of who they are, or who they love. It is past time for that to change. I’m proud to introduce the Equality Act today, and I look forward to continuing to work with Senator Merkley to get this bill signed into law.”

And Merkley added:

“All of us go to work and school, go home, and go shopping, and none of us should have to keep our families hidden or pretend to be someone we’re not to do those things. But in 29 states, Americans can still be evicted, be thrown out of a restaurant, or be denied a loan because of who they are or whom they love. We all love the vision of America as a land of freedom and equality, but are we willing to take the steps to make that vision closer to reality? Let’s make 2021 the year the Equality Act crosses the finish line and is signed into law by President Biden.”

Seriously, it’s 2021 and we’re still fighting for simple equality?

photo 1    photo 2

Hig Roberts, a two-time national champion in Alpine skiing, coming out as gay:

“Not being able to be who I am and not be able to be openly gay as a professional athlete was truly hindering my performance. I just woke up one morning and I said, ‘Enough is enough.’ I love this sport more than anything—I’m so lucky and privileged to be doing this—but I can’t go on another day not trying to achieve the person that I am meant to be. Which I think for each and every one of us, one of those main goals needs to be happiness and authenticity. It’s part of me and I’m proud of it, and I’m ready to be happy.”

Welcome out, Hig, and please accept as our gift from HOMO HQ the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven and your own copy of the Gay Agenda.

Welcome out.

photo

Jeff Flake, former Arizona Republican who quit because of the former president, saying IMPOTUS should have been convicted:

“My fellow Republicans, to make our way back from this four-year detour will require a dose of honest self-reflection. We were once the conservative party. Our party chose to vacate any claim to that mantle when we gave ourselves over to a reality TV figure whose commitment to anything other than his own self-interest has always been hard to discern. He cared so little about anyone or anything other than himself that we now know that he couldn’t even be stirred to defend his own Vice President when his life was in danger. We didn’t convict him. We should have, but we didn’t. Let’s not compound the grievous injury to the country and our party by continuing to embrace him.”

Perhaps you shouldn’t have run when the going got tough, sir. Perhaps you should have grown a spine, stood up to the former president and the sycophants in the party, instead of quitting.

Your words have no meaning.

photo

Bill Cassidy, Louisiana GOP Senator, on why he voted to impeach, and on being censured by the state’s GOP leadership:

“It was clear that he wished lawmakers be intimidated. And even after he knew there was violence taking place, he continued to basically sanction the mob being there. And not until later did he ask them to leave. All of that points to a motive and a method, and that is wrong. He should be held accountable. That’s the trust that I have from the people who elected me, and I’m very confident that as time passes people will move to that position. I was elected to uphold an oath to support and defend the Constitution. The majority of the people in Louisiana want that to be the case. And I have respected that trust. I have voted to support and defend the Constitution. Rather than defending the Constitution, [the former president] was actively subverting the peaceful transfer of power, which is a bedrock principle of the Constitution. I voted to convict [the former president] because he is guilty. That’s what the facts demand. I have no illusions that this is a popular decision. I made this decision because Americans should not be fed lies about ‘massive election fraud.’ Police should not be left to the mercy of a mob. Mobs should not be inflamed to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. I took an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and I take that oath seriously. This was, is, and will remain my commitment to you.”

This is how you put the country over the party and its racist, insurrection inciting criminal boss. And for the party to censure him for having balls, a spine, and an opinion to do the right thing, shows exactly who the GOP, er, GQP works.

photo

Sean Duffy, Fox News contributor and former US Congressman, laying blame for the insurrection at the wrong feet:

“If you dig too deep, I don’t think Democrats wanted to see what we were going to find. What did Nancy Pelosi know? When did she know it? If she knew that there was attack on Capitol, why didn’t she secure it earlier? Why didn’t she bring in the National Guard? What did Mitch McConnell know? What did AOC know? They don’t want to look there, Pete. They want to keep the focus on [the former president], not on what they didn’t do to protect the Capitol.”

Funny, how this former asshat doesn’t realize the job was to protect the Capital from your leader? There’s a reason you’re a former Congressman you conspiracy theory spreading QAnon loon.

You’re dumb.

photo

Bobservations

The other day Carlos was meandering through the house muttering to himself, and I, as a concerned and loving husband asked:

“What the hell is the matter?”

All love. And he replies:

“Nothing. Just doing my chores to earn my keep.”

“Your ‘keep’?”

“Yes, I clean the bathroom and then I am entitled to a meal.”

“Oh, you get a meal, do you? Did you forget I’m going to be gone tonight for work, and you’d be cooking your own dinner?”

And the howler monkey appeared:

“WHAT??!!?? I have to clean the bathroom AND make my own dinner?”

“Yes, and then clean the kitchen when you’re done.”

The muttering continued until I left.

Clearly when a cat gets the idea of Separation of Church and State, people will understand it, too? Oh, who am I kidding.

On January 28, Fifty Bandz, a 21-year-old Black transgender woman, was shot to death in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her death is at least the fifth violent death of a transgender person in the first month of 2021.

When does this end; when do our trans brothers and sisters feel safe being themselves in America? When?

In the Are There NO New Ideas file comes the story that The Woodsman director Nicole Kassell is set direct a reboot of The Wizard of Oz for New Line cinema.

I guess that film classic that has been around for over eighty years isn’t good enough.

So, y’all know that Armie Hammer has been stripped of the very prestigious Husband-In-My-Head honor for his creepy cannibalism, skin carving, abusive sexual hijinks. But, as luck would have it, I found another Hammer. Matt Hammer.

Matt Hammer and his, well, they say she’s his wife, have a new home improvement show on HGTV called The Hammer Family, and I caught a glimpse of Matt’s smile, his beautiful bald melon, the guns in his tight T-shirt and an ass you could bounce a quarter off.

Yeah, I may be sending a new trophy out.

Congressman John Fillmore (Q-AZ) introduced a bill last week, which seeks to limit gender options on Arizona state identification documents to only male and female. In defending his Hate Bill, Fillmore spewed this nonsense:

“I don’t believe we, as a society, should have all of the different binaries identified. What’s going to happen when someday someone wakes up and they want to go to a far extreme and identify as a chicken or something, for crying out loud. Where do we draw the line?”

Smacks of that whole anti-marriage equality chestnut about  how, if we allow The Gays to marry, people will marry their cars or their children and …whatever. Same idiot nonsense, for a new idiot argument.

In other nonsense news, an ALLEGED literacy program in Utah’s Murry school district helps to bring in inclusive books into the classroom. While most of the books at the elementary level deal with race and ethnicity, a boy asked his teacher to read Call Me Max by trans author Kyle Lukoff, a book about a trans boy who wants to go by a name other than his birth name.

After the teacher read the book, bought from home by the student, parents began to complain and now the entire literacy program has come to a halt so the district can “reevaluate” each book in the program.

Again, the book the teacher read was not part of the program but brought in by a student.

I guess Utah only cares about cis literature.

GOP Senator Mitt Romney, coming off his vote to impeach the former president and being seen as a more moderate Republican, has taken a step back into the party.

This week Romney said he will oppose the Equality Act—which expands the prohibition on anti-LGBTQ discrimination—because he worries about its impact on people of faith.

Basically, he wants to keep the God Hates Fags contingent happy at the cost of equality for LGBTQ+ Americans.

Welcome back to the party of ignorance and hate Mittsy. Now …fuck all the way off.

Rush Limbaugh died yesterday and, well, since I was taught that if I can’t say anything nice about someone say nothing at all I will say this about Rush

 

 

 

But, since I also love a good bitchy quote, I will paraphrase what Bette Davis said about the death of Joan Crawford, to fit Limbaugh:

"You should never say bad things about the dead, only good… Rush Limbaugh is dead. Good.”

Thanks Bette.

I need some man now, and so I’ll stop and gawk at model Milan Petruska.

He is all kinds of dreamy, form the baby blues to the pillow lips to that lithe body.

I feel better now.

Architecture Wednesday: Hidden Lake House

Looks old, but it’s not. This amazing, rustic, waterside, almost floating, home in Santa Fe, Tennessee, is perfection.

The 3,400 square foot home offers the perfect escape from everyday life, by taking you into the woods, alongside a lake, and then, yes, on top of the lake. The home consists of four distinct living areas connected by a footbridge; including one space—a kind of dining and family room—suspended over the water. This dwelling is complete with private access to the lake, an outdoor seating area, fire pit, and a swimming pool.

I don’t know much more about it than that, except I want it … all of it.

One Kind Design