I Didn't Say It ....

Mike Huckabee, future failed presidential candidate and wingnut, on Kentucky Kounty Klerk—thanks to Beth at Nutwood Junction for that—Kim Davis’ religious hypocrisy:

“I spoke with Kim Davis this morning to offer my prayers and support. I let her know how proud I am of her for not abandoning her religious convictions and standing strong for religious liberty. She is showing more courage and humility than just about any federal office holder in Washington. Kim is asking the perfect question: ‘Under what law am I authorized to issue homosexual couples a marriage license?’ That simple question is giving many in Congress a civics lesson that they never got in grade school. The Supreme Court cannot and did not make a law. They only made a ruling on a law. Congress makes the laws. Because Congress has made no law allowing for same-sex marriage, Kim does not have the constitutional authority to issue a marriage license to homosexual couples.”

Um, Mike, you idiot? Kim’s job is to issue marriage licenses and nowhere in her job description—an elected position which means she should be serving everyone equally—does it say she can discriminate.

It’s simple, Mike, and because you don’t get it, means you will not now or ever be a president of this country.

[photo source]

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican Senator and future failed presidential candidate, on Kim Davis:

“The rule of law is the rule of law. We are a rule of law nation. I appreciate her conviction, I support traditional marriage, but she’s accepted a job in which she has to apply the law to everyone.”

Bully for Miss Lindsey, who is saying this because maybe she’s faunally found Mister Right and he lives in Kentucky and wants to marry Miss Lindsey … or … he’s aware of how the country has changed and he’s just a pandering politician looking for votes.

[photo source]

Dan Savage, LGBT activist and advocate, on Kim Davis:

“This is a woman who’s been divorced three times and married four times, [who] gave birth to twins five months after divorcing her first husband, (and) they were fathered by her third husband but adopted by her second husband [and] She’s now onto her fourth husband. Jesus Christ himself in scripture condemned divorce, called it adultery and forbids it. Jesus Christ himself in scripture says not one word about same-sex marriage. She’s not being asked to perform a sacrament, she is tasked with ascertaining that the people in front of her, the couple in front of her, have a legal right to get married and to provide them with that license. She is not a minister. She actually thinks she works for God there in the county courthouse, when she actually works for Caesar — and someone needs to acquaint her with that fact.”

Word.

[photo source]

Mama Grizzly Bore™, on [t]Rump and, maybe, how she's like to be his Veep:

“Man he is just getting crucified out there just for telling the truth. He’s doing a good job of that and he’s shaking it up the way it should be, and he’s leading other candidates and having to talk about the issues that average Joe Six-Pack American wants to hear and wants to talk about. I’m certainly all about this ABC thing — Anybody But Clinton! We’ve had seven or eight years of a liberal policy that’s turning us into a socialist nation and that’s not what our founders have intended for us. If we were to elect someone who’s been part of the problem creating the socialism, really there is no hope. The skids are greased for her, I think the media is kind of playing this game, where they’re clobbering her a little today, you know they’re trying to hold her accountable, do that when she does though jump over this latest hump, which is this scandal with the emails, the media can say, ‘Hey, see, we were fair.’”

I wonder what kind of dressing Mama Grizzly Bore™ suggest for this word salad because if she thinks Donald [t]Rump is dumb enough to choose her as his Veep, when she’s one of the reasons Gramps McCain lost in ’08, she has definitely crossed over to Crazy.

[photo source]

Chris Christie, New Jersey Republican governor and future failed presidential candidate, offering up his solution to undocumented immigrants:

“At any moment, FedEx can tell you where that package is. It’s on the truck. It’s at the station. It’s on the airplane. Yet we let people come to this country with visas, and the minute they come in, we lose track of them. We need to have a system that tracks you from the moment you come in.”

Yeah, he wants to put tracking numbers on people, or microchip them like dogs.

Isn’t this kinda similar to tattooed numbers on the arms of Jews in Nazi Germany?

[photo source] 

Random Musings

Some good, and some great, American Horror Story news … creator Ryan Murphy teased a couple of new items for upcoming seasons.

One: My favorite; Jessica Lange, who said she was done with the show after Freak Show, just might be returning after she finishes her run in a play on Broadway.

Two: Next season might see two AHS stories, one in fall and one in spring.

Double the horror and Lange coming back? Oh.Yeah.

In other great horror TV show news … the great Patti LuPone has joined the Showtime fright-fest, Penny Dreadful, full-time.

I.Love.La.LuPone. Just don’t bring a cell phone around her.

[photo source]

Having Mama Grizzly Bore™ interview Donald [t]Rump for the conservative One America News network — all five of its outlets — is akin to sending a first grader to interview Obama about the Iran deal … except the first grader would have had better questions.

In Hot Men news, we’ve begun watching Public Morals on USA, which is about the Vice Squad units in New York City in the 1960s.

Oh, and Hot Men, too, like Neal McDonough, who plays killer Rusty Patton. Dreamy-eyed murderer … yeah, I can forgive the murderer part, I guess,

Austin Stowell plays Sean O’Bannon, the typical Hot Cop with a Heart of Gold, while Aaron Dean Eisenberg is another cop who could cuff me.

Just sayin’.

[Neal, Austin, Aaron]

Kanye West was awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs last weekend and threatened us with running for president in 2020.

Ladies and gentlemen, your First Lady, and former porn star, Kim Kardastrophe-West.

[photo source] 

Obama has renamed Mt. McKinley Mt. Denali?

Um, no, he just changed the name back, m’kay?

And Denali isn’t some Kenyan word, nor is it an insult to McKinley—who is from Ohio and never once set foot in Alaska. M’kay?

So, it was same-sex couple David Moore and David Ermold who gave us Kentucky Kounty Klerk — thanks to Beth at Nutwood Junction for that — Kim Davis when they applied for a marriage license and she refused.

And so they went back and back, armed with a video camera and each time they were denied because Kim says God blah blah blah.

This week, even after being ordered by the courts to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Kim again refused to grant David Moore and David Ermold one, saying:

"I’m willing to face my consequences as you all will face your consequences when it comes time for judgment."

Your consequences is that you will be a four-time married, three-timed divorced adulterer looking for a job, while Moore and Ermold were get married — having been together twenty-seven years — and being happy.

That works for me.

UPDATE: Kim has been jailed for contempt ... cuz she's contemptible.

Anthony Horowitz, the author of a new James Bond novel, announced this week that actor Idris Elba was not right for the part of James Bond if and when Daniel Craig leaves the role. Horowitz said, ahem:

“Idris Elba is a terrific actor, but I can think of other black actors who would do it better. For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a color issue. I think he is probably a bit too ‘street’ for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah.” 

Too street? WTF does that even mean? And, remember, folks said Craig was too rough to be Bond, too; and too short. And when people went nuts at Horowitz’s lunacy, he quickly apologized:

“I was asked in my interview if Idris Elba would make a good James Bond. In the article I expressed the opinion that to my mind Adrian Lester would be a better choice but I’m a writer not a casting director so what do I know? Clumsily, I chose the word ‘street’ as Elba’s gritty portrayal of DCI John Luther was in my mind but I admit it was a poor choice of word. I am mortified to have caused offence.”

Idris took the high road in the kerfuffle, though with a hint of snark when he posted this to Instagram:

“Always Keep Smiling!! It takes no energy and never hurts! Learned that from the Street!!”

Hot.Suave.Funny.Hot. He is Bond.

[photo source]

Josh Duggar boarded a private plane last week and flew to Illinois where he ALLEGEDLY entered rehab for being, I forget, child molester, adulterer, porn addict, religious wingnut, or hypocrite.

The faith-based rehab — called Reformers Unanimous — is a hyper-Christian rehab that involves lots of Bible study and manual labor and absolutely NO therapy. 

Oh, and Josh isn’t even there? Josh has not shown up to one single mandatory meeting or church service, so it appears that Josh is once again the “biggest hypocrite ever.”

And even his sister-in-law, has taken to Facebook to basically call him out for being a pedophile and an adulterer. And ruining the family's attempts to make money off being holier than thou without ever actually working a single day in their lives.

Yeah, Josh is the problem.

[photo source]

I love Cate Blanchett.

I love Lucy.

But Cate as Lucy in an upcoming film? I’m wondering about that.

[photo source]

#DoYourJob: Jesse Rau Won't Drive A Rainbow Bus

Down here in "Amurica," we have our Bigot Bakers and Bigot Photographers and Bigot County Clerks who refuse to do their jobs because … The Gays. But this isn’t just an American thing … it’s spreading across the border into Canada.

Maybe Scott Walker was right about building a fence between Canada and the Us ... but use it to keep America's crazy out of Canada?

Anyway ... Jesse Rau, a Calgary Transit driver, has ignited controversy over his refusal to do his job, which is to drive a bus, because during Calgary’s Pride Festival the buses have been painted rainbow colors and he thinks that infringes on his religious freedom.

Seriously? Maybe he should head to Kentucky and drive Kim Davis to and from work in a bigot bus.

"I feel like people at Calgary Transit are now against me because I stand firmly for my Christian faith and won't compromise my values."

Um, no Jesse, Calgary Transit simply wants you to do your job … drive the bus. And be truthful, because, according to city manager Jeff Fielding, Jesse Rau has not contacted him, or anyone at his job, to say he doesn’t want to drive the bus and why he doesn’t want to drive it.

So, Jesse, this is all about you getting your Fifteen Minutes of Bigot Fame, and since it’s just about over, why don’t you quit, and find yourself a nice little Christian bus to drive because, let me make this perfectly queer, Jesse: driving a bus painted with a rainbow flag, or flying a rainbow flag, or painted with a pink triangle, or emblazoned with the words Gay Pride has absolutely nothing to do with your faith.

Keep your faith; keep your head in the sand. Look for a new job, and then do it.

Since you can’t do this one.

Huffington Post

A Church Responds To Vandals With An LGBT Rainbow

Last month, up there in North Carolina, at the Wedgewood Church in Charlotte, someone spray-painted the front doors with the words:

Fags are Pedos.

Now, I don’t speak bigot, but I think they meant to say Homosexuals are pedophiles. Perhaps, as is the case with most homophobes, spelling doesn’t come easy, hence … pedos.

Still, it was a shock for parishioners at the church, known for its progressive views on religion; in fact, they even go so far as to post on their website that Wedgewood is a :::gasp::: “liberal” church, and brag that they actively opposed North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage, and believe that respecting LGBT people, members of other religions, and atheists as a “core beliefs.”  In fact, leaders added the phrase “LGBT Equality” to the church sign this summer, which no doubt lead to the graffiti.

“As a pastor I thought about all of the stories of rejection I’ve heard [from LGBT people] over the years.  That vandalism was a symbol of all of that negative stuff.” — Chris Ayers, the church’s pastor

And while Ayers called the incident “heart-piercing,” he and the members simply moved on as best they could, and set about to paint over the offensive, illiterate graffiti … with a rainbow flag.

“We didn’t want the focus to be on the damage to our church property, but on the damage that has been done to LGBT Christians through systematic abuse from so many — and, sadly, from so many denominations and Christians.”

Chris Ayers believes this new door means that “one’s sexual orientation and gender identity are not sins, but blessings from God [and] a celebration of the courage of LGBT people over the years to enable the progress that has been made recently. ... And, finally, it’s an example of positive, non-hateful response to homophobic people.”

The march goes on, and the folks at Wedgwood Church, lead by Pastor Ayers, are lighting the way …

Think Progress

Architecture Wednesday: Tribeca Loft Reno

What do you do with a 130-year-old soap factory? Well, if you have the money, and you’re in La Grande Apple, you take that space and make it into a fabulous home.

So now, the top floor and the roof of that old warehouse are living life anew as a warm and welcoming residence with an expansive entertaining area, what looks almost like a floating greenhouse, and a huge rooftop terrace with views to die for.

The residence is part of the old warehouse mezzanine, with a sunken interior court and a retractable glass roof that connects to the planted green roof garden above.

It’s hip and funky and retro and industrial and green and view-worthy and fabulous.

HomeDSGN

Today In Stoopid: Pete Sessions and Roger Hunt

Wow, there’s something in the GOP water that spurs on lunacy and wild conspiracy theories … like the one recently put forward by Texas — yeah, I know … crazy — Republican — yeah, I know … crazier — Congressman Pete Sessions who claims that the Boy Scouts of America’s [BSA} recent decision to allow openly gay troop leaders is the result of anti-discrimination laws that are “designed” to take down the organization.

Yes, we fought against discrimination in the BSA so we could take down the BSA, y’all; we’re that powerful.

In a recent interview, Sessions said he disagreed with the BSA decision and that, as a former Eagle Scout who is “deeply involved” with the scout5s, claims, without one stitch of proof mind, because there isn’t any, not that that matters to a republican from Texas, that the decision was prompted by “outside factors” that are “trying to literally ruin the Boy Scouts of America over something they don’t understand.”

The Gays did it to ruin scouting, not, you know, to be able to be who they are and be a scout. But then Sessions dives deeper into the GOP Crazy Pond and says that all anti-discrimination laws — and I’m assuming he means just the ones that apply to The Gays — are designed to take down the scouts. 

Of course, because he’s a loon, Sessions has no response to the fact that not one single anti-discrimination law prompted the BSA to make this historic change, nor can he explain why, if some states began implementing non-discrimination laws back in the 1990s it took the BSA twenty-five years to make the change.

In fact, back in 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the BSA was “allowed” to discriminate against openly gay troop leaders since the BSA was a private organization and therefore could make its own membership rules.

So, Congressman Sessions, take off the Tin Foil hat and listen up: the BSA policy shift came about because a great many sponsors of the group threatened to end their funding over the anti-gay policies of the Boy Scouts and had nothing whatsoever to do with any law.

Now, Congressman, sit down, sip some Sweet Tea and keep quiet until the Mother Planet calls you home ….

And maybe you can swap stories with South Dakota Republican legislator Roger Hunt who has proposed legislation in that state that would require physical examination of a transgender athletes genitals before they be allowed to compete in high school sports.

Uh huh.

Hunt — who has clearly never had an education beyond the sixth grade, nor read anything on gender and gender identity and transgender studies — says that gender begins at conception and so only birth certificates and visual inspections should be used to determine a student’s gender identity.

And so Roger Hunt — who doesn’t want South Dakota to succumb to what he dubs “East [and]West Coast culture” — drafted his idiotic and offensive legislation in response to the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s [SDHSAA]rational decision to make its policies inclusive to trans athletes last year.

The current policy allows for parents to notify the school of their child’s gender identity if it differs from what is listed on the child’s birth certificate or school registration records and it allows for written verification from a health care professional to attest to the child’s consistent gender identification and expression. Once a decision is made based on the available records and statements, trans students can participate in sports according to their gender identity for the rest of their high school career. The policy also provides guidance for correct pronoun use and access to locker rooms and bathrooms.

Rational, like I said.

Of course, being a Republican and being from South Dakota, Hunt isn’t the first legislator to act the fool. Another Republican state legislator, Jim Bolin, said the SDHSAA “decided to essentially question the validity of birth documents in the state of South Dakota,” and introduced a bill that would make the policy void. It also required that sexual identity would only be determined by birth certificates.

Again, because he’s never educated himself on gender issues.

South Dakota legislators tried twice to overturn the policy — it passed the House, but failed in the Senate — and the SDHSAA says they will take another look at the policy during a meeting next week, and so some in the statehouse want to wait and see what happens there before trying, again, to push through Hunt’s offensive legislation.

Luckily, though, Hunt’s proposal might be against federal law, which says that trans students are protected by Title IX in single-sex extracurricular activities, so maybe this kind of hateful, and backwards, and backwoods, legislation may never pass at all.

Let’s hope so … and let’s hope that these two lunatics are voted out of office in their respective states as soon as possible.

Pete Sessions source

Roger Hunt source

Lauren Brown Spoke Out And Changed A Catholic School Forever

So, Lauren Brown is a Lesbian … and a teacher. And she recently applied for a teaching position at St. Mary’s Catholic prep school in Portland, Oregon, and thought it would be the best job ever.

“I honestly visualized my entire life there during my interview.”

Of course, then she told the school officials — who had said they were “so excited that [she] will be a part of this legacy” — that she was gay, and she asked what might happen if she ever married, a woman, presumably. That’s when she was asked to come in for a second meeting and the school rescinded their offer of employment, gave her a severance package of one year’s salary and told her to get lost … oh, and to keep silent on the matter. 

The letter also asked that Brown agree not to sue and to not “disclose such terms” to anyone except family members, attorneys, and accountants and then composed this Facebook message for her own page with a little heart emoji included, saying she would not be teaching at St. Mary’s:

 “Friends, I want to let you all know that I will no longer be at St. Mary’s in the fall. Please message me if you know of any jobs available ♥."

Of course, as Catholics are apt to do, the school explained that because she said that she might one day, some day, marry, she would be in conflict with the hateful teachings of the Church — though not of Jesus or God who never had a complaint about same-sex marriage — and she had to go, and go in silence.

Sadly, Lauren Brown was not going quietly.

“To sign a contract that’s going to affect the rest of my life, and my passion for advocating for LGBT youth and LGBT people — there’s no way I could sign that. I could never live with myself."

And the news traveled far and fast. Students and alumni got wind of the decision and began protesting the decision to deny Lauren Brown a teaching job and then a weird thing happened: school officials switched their position, and announced via Facebook that they had voted unanimously to alter the school’s hiring policies to allow for LGBT employees:

“Effective immediately, St. Mary’s has added sexual orientation to its equal employment opportunity policy. St. Mary’s is a diverse community that welcomes and includes gay and lesbian students, faculty, alumnae, parents and friends, including those that are married.”

That’s the good news, the great news, the OMG WTF is going on at St. Mary’s news, but there is bad news, because shortly before changing their stance to allow gay and lesbians the chance to teach at their school the position for which Brown was hired was given to someone else.

But, Lauren brown isn’t angry; in fact, she’s overjoyed:

"The students, parents, and alumni of St. Mary’s Academy should be so proud today. This success shows that together we really can move mountains."

And the students, parents and alumni of St. Mary’s should also be grateful that Lauren Brown was not going to take that severance package and simply walk away, Speaking up for herself, and speaking out for herself, she changed that school, that Catholic school, and while she may not ever teach there, she will be remembered every single time an LGBT applicant settles down for an interview at St. Mary’s.

NCRM

ISBL Asshat of the Week: Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers is your typical Republican who doesn’t want to help anyone, he wants them removed from sight.

At the mayor’s request, Colorado Springs city officials are working on an ordinance to ban people from sitting or lying on sidewalks, planters or anywhere else not specifically designed to be sat upon in downtown Colorado Springs and in Old Colorado City.

"I don't see this as a civil rights or human rights issue. No one ought to be able to lie on the sidewalk. We ought to make our sidewalks safe for passage so people don't feel obstructed or harassed. I just don't see that it's anti-homeless to say you can't lie or sit on sidewalks." — John Suthers

So, I’m guessing he’ll have police out in force to move people along who shouldn’t be sitting where there isn’t a chair, or lying down where there isn’t a clearly designated Please Lie Down Here sign. Of course, it might be just as easy to create places for people to sit, but sit it’s mostly homeless folks sitting there, why not just get rid of them and make the “rest of us” feel safer knowing that we don’t have to see homelessness and therefore don’t have to deal with it.

And, of course, keep in mind that may homeless are LGBTQ youth kicked out of their homes for being LGBTQ, so this is just a way to rid the streets of anyone who is heterosexual, I guess. And let’s not also forget that many homeless are vets, who returned from fighting overseas suffering from PTSD and cannot get adequate medical care — don’t get me started on that VA mess — and therefore have to live in the streets; move along, soldier.

And what makes this even mode disgusting, is that Suthers has made no effort to see about housing the homeless, finding them a place where they can sit down, or even lie down; he just wants them gone.

And there is evidence, even in Colorado, that it’s actually cheaper to house the homeless than to shoo them off the streets. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless estimates that state taxpayers spend $43,240 per homeless individual — and 2012 estimates say there are 17,000 homeless people in the state — each year on everything from emergency health care to legal issues. But, if the state of Colorado were to provide places for the homeless to gather and sit and even sleep, the cost drops to just $16,813 per person, less than half the cost of leaving them on the streets.

But, Mayor John Suthers doesn’t care about that, possibly because homeless people don’t vote so they mean nothing to him.

Colorado Springs Mayor, and Republican, of course, John Suthers: the ISBL asshat of the Week.

Daily Kos

Sam Stanley Comes Out

Sam Stanley, the England Sevens rugby player, has come out as gay, making him the first English rugby union professional to come out. His coming out comes a few weeks after Keegan Hirst came out, making him the first British rugby league professional to come out.

Rugby players are comin’ out, y’all.

Stanley, just twenty-three — and hot … sorry, I’m shallow like that — says he once considered  suicide over coming out because he was scared telling the truth would ruin his rugby career.

“I was standing on a bridge about four or five years ago, overlooking a motorway in Essex. However, looking back, the idea that I would jump was ridiculous but it was as if I was thinking that I could get rid of the pain in one go. You are so worried about what people will think and I thought I couldn’t be a macho rugby player the way I was, and there was nothing else I wanted to do with my life.”

Stanley’s decision to come out comes nearly six years after the former Wales captain Gareth Thomas revealed he is gay.

As I've said, it only takes one person to light the path for others to follow, so Welcome Out, Sam, and please accept as our gift to you, the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven, perfect for toasting crumpets for tea, and a copy of The Gay Agenda.

Welcome out, and thanks for adding more light to the path for others to follow your lead.

The Guardian

In Alabama If You Complain About Racism You Get Punished

I’m funny. Seriously. I’m hilarious. And, while I admit that I have been known to take a joke too far —, hey, I never said I was smart — I do know what’s really funny and what’s really not.

Unfortunately, Brian McCracken and his friend Brian McDowell don’t know from funny, but apparently are great friends with Stupid and Racist.

At a practice for the Boaz youth cheerleaders, McCracken, the team's assistant vice president, and his friend McDowell showed up wearing shirts that read: “The original boys in the hood” — with a picture of a burning cross and a KKK member — and one that said “White Pride”.

And one person, former volunteer cheerleading coach Kayleigh Tipton was not amused:

"It's awful. I mean, I don't stand for it; I don't want my kids around it. No one I know wants their kids around anything like that."

And so, because she was offended by Stupid and Racist she did what one might expect; she complained to the North Alabama Youth Football and Cheerleading League, and that’s when its Commissioner, Kenny Jones, took action.

He officially barred all such items of apparel from all NAYF events, and then he banned Kayleigh Tipton from returning as a volunteer though he wants y’all to know it had “nothing” to do with her voicing her concerns:

"There was some parent concerns of some drama that was going on so we had to go in, evaluate, do our diligence and see what actions were necessary.”

Let me get this queer; two men show up to a practice in Stupid and Racist shirts, and a woman complains. Then the legume says no one will be allowed to wear such shirts any more, and the woman is also asked to leave because of the “drama”?

Maybe the league should have told those parents — who probably, I think, have their own Stupid and Racist shirts at home in their closets next to their hooded sheets — that they cannot attend the practices or the games.

Seriously, I know it’s Alabama and all, but since when does complaining about racists shirts gets one banned from being a volunteer?

Daily Kos