Bobservations

I’ve told y’all before about the woman from the Catholic Church who sometimes gives Carlos rides to interpretations if I’m working. Well, he and this woman, who I have dubbed his CarWife, have also started going for walks every so often when I’m at work and recently, another woman from the church has joined them. So, Tuesday morning over breakfast they began texting Carlos about walking on Wednesday or Thursday and he responded that he was open to it and then … these two women began texting so furiously in a text chain to one another and to Carlos that I thought I was sitting at a slot machine in Vegas during a huge payout!!

I’m glad he’s got some friends and gets out of the house while I’m working—most of his translations lately have been via phone or Zoom—but they need to simplify their texts!

Here’s a Tale of Tuxedo from January 2010 entitled, Thank You Nora!

One of my oldest, dearest friends, Nora, has a dog named Cotton that she loves like it was, well, anything but a dog. I get pictures of the dog, cards from the dog, calendars of the dog. You'd think it was a cat. Anyway, this year, for my birthday—and before you ask I am somewhere between forty and death—my old old OLD friend Nora sent me a stuffed toy dog that looks ::::gulp:::: just like her dog Cotton. 

Along with a picture of Cotton wishing me Happy Birthday.

So, naturally, I had to show her what a gorgeous animal like Tuxedo: The Most Beautiful Cat EVER!!! with a Thank You "card" looks like.

Thanks Nora, the cats love their new playtoy!!!

I have been having the best time with Hunter Biden on social media taking on the haters like he has zero fucks to give/ So here are a few things he’s posted of late, and responses to some people who have come for him or his family.

After a guy named Aaron Jones Tweeted that Hunter’s “whole family is a disgrace” Hunter replied:

“I see your profile picture. That’s Johnny Cash. My hero too. Arrested seven times. Smuggled 668 amphetamines across the Mexican border in 1965. Took every drug there was and drank like I did. Cheated on his first wife. Slept with more women than I ever did. Hit bottom in a cave in Tennessee in 1968 trying to crawl off and die. He spent the rest of his life singing for prisoners and addicts and the people the country threw away because he knew he was one of them.

That was the howl point of the Man in Black. He wore it for the poor and the beaten down. He wore it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime. He wore it for the ones who never heard of Jesus. He wore it for the addicted and the dying. He wore it as a standing witness that no one is past saving.

You picked his picture. You did not pick the message. Try listening to the words.”

Then a guy named Stefan Smith took on Hunter’s parents, claiming they were broker because no big offers came after Joe left the White House so they had to write books to settle scores, and Hunter replied:

“You caught them. Mom and Dad were going to sell bibles and cell phones, golden sneakers and NFTs, Chinese watches and cologne but wouldn’t you know someone beat them to the punch. They were left with only one choice: write two books like every former First Lady and President has done in modern history.”

And just to make it clear, Hunter posted this:

“So let me get this straight.

Jake Tapper is focused on attacking my Mom.

Jared and Ivanka are building a privte island paradise on Albanian protected land.

Don Jr married the daughter of Epstein’s banker, and a startup his fund backs just got a record $620M Pentagon loan.

Eric is taking an Israeli drone company public for $1.5B in the middle of a war with Iran that nobody wanted.

And I know: “What about the paintings Hunter?”

Please.”

And then he posted this:

“Things most Americans agree on:

Groceries cost too much.

Tariffs suck and make no sense.

Congress and Presidents shouldn't trade stocks.

The debt is a mess.

The border should be secure, but legal immigration is good.

Endless wars are stupid, especially ones that nobody wants and have never been explained.

Americans are exhausted.

Al is like my new best friend that also might be trying to take my job, my ability to think for myself, and my humanity in the process. Yo like love you, but WTF, but l still love you.

Diversity is actually awesome! The opposite is boring AF.

Canadians are super fucking cool.

Mexicans are chill.

Putin isn't a good guy looking out for America's best interest.

Rocky IV and Miracle are great movies.

Good neighbors are a blessing.

Freedom of religion and coexistence without having to blow each other up is probably a good idea.

We all question, are we alone in the universe?

We all fuck up along the way.

Epstein didn't hang himself.

The Trumps and Epstein were best friends for decades. It's like Bert trying to tell us Ernie was just an acquaintance in the same social scene on Sesame Street back in the day.

The Cowboys suck. Go Birds!

Things we're told to fight about:

Me.

Laptop.

Vaccines.

Transgenders in sports.

Pronouns.

That's the joke.

-Hunter Biden”

Hunter is the weapon the Democrats need to learn from as they take on the criminal in the White House and the criminals in the GOP.

And since we mentioned Jared and Ivanka’s “private island,” here’s an update I read on Bluesky:

“Albania has frozen the assets of the Trump/Kushner/Qatari project now under a corruption investigation by Albanias SPAK (Struktura e Posaçme Kundër Korrupsionit dhe Krimit të Organizuar) Albania’s independent anti-corruption and organized crime prosecution office.

Poor Ivanka was working so hard on a color pallet and Pinterest Page “Island Submarine Base, Coachella, Fashion Week, Supervillain Lair,” all that work on hold. Looks like she’ll have to go back to doing Marie Antoinette cosplay and posting selfies of her living her best life. Jared has no doubt returned to his basement to pull the wings off butterflies.”

Snap.

And speaking of pigs, Georgia Superior Court Judge William McClain sentenced Jose Torres and Kayla Norton to 20 years and 15 years in prison for shouting racial slurs and threatening black adults and children at a child's birthday party in 2015.

Torres and Norton were members of a group of Confederate flag supporters, many of whom belonged to the group known as Respect the Flag. For two days, this group of bigots drove around in pickups waving Confederate flags and shouting slurs at black families in counties outside Atlanta.

In Douglasville, these morons yelled racial slurs at the birthday party's attendees as they drove by; Torres threatened to kill the people at the party with a shotgun Norton had loaded and retrieved from his truck.

The couple faces probation after serving their prison time and are both banished from Douglas County.

Both Torres and Norton broke down in tears at their sentencing.

Sorry, not sorry. Enjoy prison and I hope you serve all of your time.

Now I need some Matheus Riehl to cleanse my palate … Matheus is a professional Brazilian male model, smolderingly hot and so, Would You Hit It?

Architecture Wednesday: Little Woods Church

Built in 1902, the church has been thoughtfully restored to preserve its original charm, then sensitively extended to create beautiful new modern bedrooms and a bathroom, all while honoring the building’s historic form.

Set on one-third of an acre and surrounded by open farmland, Little Woods enjoys sweeping rural views and breathtaking sunrises to the east. The main church building forms the heart of the home, an open-plan living space that brings together a custom 360-degree rotating fireplace, dining area, and a fully equipped kitchen with stone countertops. Gothic arched windows frame glimpses of the surrounding landscape, while French doors open onto a deck and brick fire pit surrounded by the towering pine and cypress trees.

The bathroom offers the best of both worlds—old-world charm and a contemporary floor-to-ceiling window that captures the view beyond. This serene space features a classic claw-foot bath, a rainhead shower, and beautifully textured limestone tiles.

Ascending the steps to the master bedroom, you move seamlessly from old to new. A thoughtfully designed architectural extension introduces warmth and richness, creating calm, cozy spaces that open to two beautiful yet contrasting outlooks. Deep brown long-pile wool carpet, spotted gum paneling, soft lighting, natural-fiber bedding, and discreetly hidden storage come together to form a space designed for rest, immersion, and renewal. Adjacent to the bedroom is a small desk and study nook, along with a dedicated reading or retreat room which has views of the back yard.

As always click to emBIGGERate …

The Spaces

Meme Dump ... Happy Pride

Happy Pride: Sir Lady Java

In the Los Angeles club scene of the 1960s, Sir Lady Java—a dancer, comedian and drag queen—was a two-shows-a-night fixture. But two shows a night wasn’t all she did; Java—who passed away in 2024—was not just a performer, but also a pioneering activist—even though her work for the LGBTQ+ community and laws that restricted drag performance is not always taught as a part of LGBTQ+ history much less American history.

As a Black gender non-conforming woman, Java was at the intersection of discriminatory policing targeting both Black and brown communities and queer communities in 1960s Los Angeles and across America in cities like San Francisco and Chicago and St. Louis that welcomed diversity.

Born in 1940, Java moved from New Orleans to Los Angeles as a child with her family, and transitioned at a young age with the help, support and love of her mother. After graduating high school, Java became part of the vibrant Black performance art scene in L.A. and took on stand-up comedy and go-go dancing gigs at nightclubs across the city. But while she was taking the nightlife scene by storm and was featured in magazines like Jet, Ebony and Sepia, she was also the focus of increasing surveillance from the LAPD.

First introduced in 1958, the notorious Rule #9 of the local municipal code dictated that no bar owner could employ anyone who performed as the opposite sex to the one they were assigned at birth. For Java, the consequences of that law reached fever pitch during a run of performances in October 1967 at the Redd Foxx, a Black-owned nightclub which catered to a wide audience—the club was took the stage name of its owner, comedian and actor John Elroy Sanford.

Now, Sanford applied for a permit that would enable Java to perform, but the LAPD denied the permit, mentioning “female impersonators” which is how Java referred to herself. But her decision to live openly as a woman at that time is part of what made her trailblazing and her use of the phrase “female impersonator” encapsulated a variety of identities that today we might think of as transgender woman or cross-dresser.

After the permit was refused, Java held a protest arguing for her right to work, and the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] backed her efforts to try to overturn Rule #9 but California’s state supreme court wouldn’t hear the suit; due to the way Rule #9 was framed, the plaintiff had to be a bar owner rather than a performer, and the ACLU couldn’t find a bar owner willing to see the lawsuit through.

And while Java’s case was unsuccessful in court, her protest did raise awareness and visibility, and two years later, the rule was overturned via a separate lawsuit. In many ways, those challenges have continued to the present day. It was only in 2021 that the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling protecting LGBTQ+ employees from discrimination and yet that same year we saw a number of bills rolling back transgender rights across the United States, largely targeting transgender youth access to healthcare and participation in sports.

And today we continue to face an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ+ policies and bad-faith legislation, especially toward our trans brothers and sisters. We must remember that the rights and spaces we have today are the result of decades of struggle and resilience by people like Sir Lady Java.

There’s a couple of old sayings about history that if we don’t learn from it, we are doomed to repeat it, and another that says history doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme. While we’ve made strides in codifying LGBTQIA+ rights, many of the issues Lady Java fought against—discrimination, erasure, and marginalization—are still with us as the federal government seeks to strip transgender and gender nonconforming people of legal recognition and protection.

Our history is important, especially in a society that does not see our history and culture as worth teaching. We need to remember, and speak about, our Black queer and trans elders who fought so that we could have the rights and visibility we do today. Their stories are not “old stories”—they’re a battle plan for the future—as we face the butchering of transgender legal protections.

We must look back at the courage of people like [from left to right] Sir Lady Java, Stormé Delarverie, a biracial, lesbian drag king, and Marsha P. Johnson, a key figure in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, and advocate for unhoused and transgender youth.

We need to know where we come from so we can fight to be where we want to be, where we have a right to be.

The Funny Papers

Daniel Boris, Bill Bramhall, Gary Huck, Michael de Adder, Christopher Shields, Clay Bennett, Frank Mariani, RJ Matson, Adam Zyglis, Pedro X Molina, Nick Anderson, Max Espinoza