Tuesday Thought #3

Tuesday Thought #2

Tuesday Thought #1

Ignore The Deflection and Remember The Facts

Lots to get through today, and it’s only Monday … but don’t get caught up in the news that he retweeted a story about Mark and Patricia McCloskey, AKA Karen and Ken, AKA Blobby* and Clod, a wealthy white couple in St. Louis’s Central West End gated community who came out of their home armed with weapons because a group Black Lives Matter protesters were marching toward Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house on Sunday night.

Krewson, in a Facebook Live news conference, read the names and street addresses of protesters who are calling on the city to defund the police department.

They’re all vile human beings, but the real issue is at the top of the dung heap.

And … don’t get caught up in the news that he retweeted—and then deleted—a two-minute video that featured one of his Florida MAGAts yelling “White power! White power!” at The Villages retirement community outside of Orlando.

We know he’s a racist. His own mouthpiece Sarah-leigh Spicer Huckleberry McEnany claims he didn’t hear the shouted racist words but that he stands with “the people of The Villages” and “stands with his supporters who are oftentimes demonized.”

Stands with racists. Remember that.

Do take a moment to remember that that today the Supreme Court dealt another blow to _____ when it ruled 5-4 against a Louisiana abortion law, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with liberals. Roberts may suffer the wrath of _____ but he’s following the law of this country which says abortion is legal.

Remember that victory and vote Blue in November so, among many other things, a woman’s right to choose what she does with her own body, isn’t once again put into the hands of old white men.

And, above all, remember that, while _____ bungled the COVID-19 response and 125,000 Americans have died, that he also was briefed on the fact that Russia was paying members of the Taliban to murder our soldiers in Afghanistan and he did nothing about it.

He’s a racist and a murderer.

Remember.

*No offense to fellow blogger Blobby

ISBL Asshat of the Week: Guy Phillips

Guy Phillips, a city councilman in Scottsdale, Arizona, has apologized for being an ignorant asshat after yelling “I can’t breathe” before removing his mask during a speech at an anti-mask rally.

Yes, he did. I.Can’t.Breathe.

Guy Phillips, ignorant, perhaps racist, asshat, helped organize the “Unmask Us” protest after Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane ordered residents to wear face coverings in public amid rising COVID-19 rates.

Arizona is having their worst numbers since the pandemic began, but by all means, Guy, use the last words of a man murdered by a police officer as your rallying cry. A cry he is now trying to apologize for:

“I did not mean any disrespect and there was no connection. I am sorry about a comment I made today that was the same comment Mr. Floyd had made. He didn’t deserve what happened to him and I by no means was trying to make light of it by saying I cant breathe in a mask. Please accept my sincerest apology and that goes out to anyone who became offended.”

You’d have to be living under an Ignorant Asshat Rock not to know that saying ‘I can’t breathe’ would conjure up images of George Floyd, and to suggest that your wearing a mask to help protect other people from catching a virus that has killed 125,000 Americans is anywhere near the same as George Floyd’s dying declaration is typical GOP cluelessness and asshattery.

PS Last in March, Guy Phillips apologized after sharing a Facebook post that said COVID-19 stands for “Chinese Originated Viral Infectious Disease.”

Racist then, racist now.

Guy Phillips; ISBL Asshat of the Week.

The Funny Papers

JD Crowe, Chris Britt, Darrin Bell, Mike Thompson, Nate Beeler, Jack Ohman, Rick McKee, Deb Milbrath, Mike Luckovich, Kevin Siers, Nick Anderson, Ed Hall, Michael de Adder

Fifty-One Years Ago, Today

It was fifty-one years ago today … a lifetime to some of us, a minute to others … but it marked a turning point for the LGBTQ+ community. It marked one of the first, and definitely the loudest, times that gay men and women, trans women of color, gender nonconforming people, stood up en masse and said:

“No. We will not be treated like this any longer!”

The weekend of June 27-29, 1969 began what is considered to be the modern-day LGBTQ+ movement. Oh sure, there were gay and lesbian activists before that weekend, but the confrontation between police and demonstrators at the Stonewall Inn in New York City lit a fire in the hearts of the LGBTQ+ community like it had never been done before.

We had finally had enough with being less than.

And like any good story, there is controversy surrounding the Stonewall Riots; there are arguments and differences over what happened, over how it started, over how it ended. But the main thing we need all remember is that it did happen, and it should continue to be a rallying cry for the LGBTQ+ community to be considered equal in the eyes of America.

On Friday, June 27, 1969 the world was still mourning the death of Judy Garland a week earlier. Could it be that the death of one of the most famous gay icons was what sparked the fire of the modern-day LGBTQ+ Rights Movement?

There are many people who have speculated that Garland's death did push the gay community into the streets of New York City that night, but it was also hot, and some folks say it was the heat that spurred the fight.

I think maybe it was both Garland's death and the hot summer night; or maybe it was just that our brothers and sisters had finally had enough of being told what to do, what not to do, and how to live our lives. Whatever the reason, it was enough; finally, enough.

In the early morning hours of June 28, police officers raided the Stonewall Inn, a small bar on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. Stonewall, like other predominantly gay bars in the city was routinely raided by the police, and, typically, the more “deviant” patrons—the drag queens and the butch lesbians, especially if they were People of Color—were the ones who were arrested and taken away, while white, male customers looked on or quietly disappeared into the night.

On this night, the charge at the Stonewall was the illegal sale of alcohol. The raid began as they always did: plainclothes and uniformed police officers entered the bar, arrested the employees, and then began ejecting the customers one by one into the street. For some reason, however, the crowd that had gathered outside the Stonewall, a somewhat campy and festive crowd, began to cheer as the patrons were pushed out of the bar.

But soon the mood changed; it was Judy Garland's death, or the summer heat, or the fact that the summer of 1969 was a particularly busy one for police raids on gay bars … or maybe it was seeing drag queens and lesbians being pushed and shoved and kicked into paddy wagons.

Whatever it was, the on-lookers lost their patience. No one really knows who threw the first punch; some say it was a drag queen, some say it was a rather butch-looking lesbian, but someone defied the police that night … someone had finally had enough.

The crowd—well over a hundred people by now—suddenly exploded; people began hurling coins at police officers, and then moved on to rocks and bottles, whatever they could grab. The police, at first stunned that the normally docile and shamed-into-submission homosexuals would react in such a fashion, soon began beating the crowds with nightsticks, but this group was too sad and too hot and too angry to be pushed down again, and police officers were forced to take refuge inside the Stonewall.

As news spread throughout Greenwich Village the crowd grew ever larger; many residents, some gay, some not, raced down to the Stonewall Inn to join the fight. Lighter fluid was squirted inside the bar and someone tried to light it; others grabbed a downed parking meter and used it as a battering ram against the front of the Stonewall; someone began chanting:

"Gay Power!"

And then the riot-control police unit arrived to rescue the trapped officers and break up the demonstration; it took them over an hour to disperse the crowd and, in an effort to taunt their attackers, a group of drag queens began to sing at the top of their lungs:

We are the Stonewall girls

We wear our hair in curls

We wear no underwear

We show our pubic hair

We wear our dungarees

Above our nelly knees!

That first Stonewall Riot ended in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 28, but the fight was far from over. That night a second riot broke out and the crowd now numbered in the thousands, filling the streets in the name of LGBTQ+ Pride. They marched to the Stonewall Inn and waited for the police to arrive, which they did, in the early morning of Sunday, June 29. The crowds fought, rioted, screamed and chanted, and the police squads worked to arrest who they could and send the others home.

For over a week, though in smaller numbers, protests and demonstrations continued in Greenwich Village. There was finally a sense in the LGBTQ+ community of what could be accomplished if we banded together, if we came out, if we were seen, if we were heard.

Being angry created a new day, and a month after the riots, the Gay Liberation Front [GLF] was formed. Radical and leftist, the GLF was one of many politically focused lesbian and gay organizations formed in the days and weeks following the riots. The number of lesbian and gay publications skyrocketed as well, which led to an even greater sense of community across the country and the world. We were no longer marginalized in society; we were out; we were proud; we weren’t going to sit by and watch our brothers and sisters be treated as less than any longer.

Since that weekend, marches have taken place in New York City—and all over the world—every year on the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. In June 1994, hundreds of thousands of people converged in Greenwich Village to celebrate Stonewall's 25th anniversary and in 1999 the United States government proclaimed the Stonewall Inn a national historic site. The following year, the status of the Stonewall was improved to "historic landmark," a designation held by only a small percentage of historical sites.

For the LGBTQ+ Stonewall is our Plymouth Rock. It's where the gay community landed and came together and began the march toward equality. Stonewall was our first glimpse of a new world where we weren't alone, we weren't all that different, where we belonged.

It makes no difference how it started; the death of an icon; the summer heat; a sense of frustration. It makes no difference who started it; drag queens or lesbians; coin tossers or rock throwers. The difference is that it happened.

Fifty-one years ago, today.

Still, the march, and the fight goes on; we’ve seen so many changes in these last decades; equality; marriage; non-discrimination laws; the recent SCOTUS ruling to protect LGBTQ+ workers. But we’ve also seen hatred; we’ve seen our trans sisters neaten and murdered at an astounding rate; we’ve seen a White House seek to erase us from view; we’ve seen our brothers and sisters gunned down in another nightclub.

And so, we’ll pick up again, and we’ll continue to fight against that hatred, and we’ll continue to stand with, and for, our community, and let everyone know that we are here, and we are queer.

Get used to it.

I Didn't Say It ...

Bubba Wallace, who fought to have the Confederate flag removed from NASCAR, on finding a noose hanging in his garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway:

“Today’s despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism. … Together our sport has made a commitment to driving real change and championing a community that is accepting and welcoming of everyone. Nothing is more important and we will not be deterred by the reprehensible actions of those who seek to spread hate. As my mother told me today, ‘They are just trying to scare you.’ This will not break me, I will not give in nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in. … There is only [one] driver from an African American background at the top level of our sport. I am the [one]. You're not gonna stop hearing about ‘the black driver’ for years. Embrace it, accept it and enjoy the journey.”

Stand strong, Bubba, and we’ll stand with you.

PS The FBI’s noticeably short investigation says the noose has been in that garage long before it ever became Bubba’s garage. But, you know, that’s still a sick thing to do …

Oh, and because I’m shallow, let me just say that Bubba really revs my engine.

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Rudy Giuliani, on the Black Lives Matter movement:

“This is an orchestrated effort—it is no longer a protest about Mr. Floyd. That ended a long time ago. This is an anarchist—organized anarchists, supported with a lot of money. We had outbreaks in about 30 cities over the weekend. There were well over 100 people wounded with guns and 25 Americans killed over the weekend. That didn’t happen accidentally … That’s part of a plan and we better wake up to it and we better stop being silly. People who say they are favorable to Black Lives Matter—Black Lives Matter wants to come and take your house away from you. They want to take your property away from you.”

I knew he was old school, but an old school racist peddling the lie that the big black man is coming for your [a white person’s] home?

Note to Rudy, the Black Lives Matter movement started long before George Floyd and will go on long after George Floyd, and Rayshard Brooks, and Breonna Taylor, until something is done about police shooting black people at a far higher rate than white people.

Cuz that looks like racism.

And you sound like a racist.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger, former California GOP governor, on wearing masks:

“This is 100% the right move. This will help us beat this terrible virus. The science is unanimous - if we all wear masks, we slow down the spread and can reopen safely. It’s not a political issue. Anyone making it a political issue is an absolute moron who can’t read.”

Huh, wonder what moron he’s taking about.

I kid; I know.

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Susan Rice, former National Security Advisor, on being a possible Biden VP pick and wanting _____ and his supporters enablers co-conspirators in the Senate are voted out of office:

“I think it’s important to reflect on what senator Klobuchar said. First of all, she ran an impressive campaign. I have great respect for her. what she said last night was extraordinarily gracious and I think perceptive about the mood of the country. She also emphasized the importance of the role she has to play right now in helping be part of the healing in Minnesota.  But what’s important about what senator Klobuchar said and did is that she made clear that this election and whoever Joe Biden chooses among many very talented candidates, is about getting Joe Biden in the White House. Somebody who can heal and unify the nation and remove Donald _____ and consign him and those who supported him in the senate to the trash heap of history.” 

Yes, please.

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Thomas Beattie, a British former pro footballer, has come out as gay:

“I’m able to say it out loud now for everyone to hear: My name is Thomas Beattie. I’m a brother, son, friend, former professional footballer, entrepreneur and annoyingly competitive lad. I’m a lot of things, and one of them is gay. Being gay and having a career in football never felt like an option. Society told me my masculinity was linked to my sexuality—something we of course know is a false assumption—but I felt as if I couldn’t be a footballer and accept who I was. Everything around me suggested these two worlds were pure enemies, and I had to sacrifice one in order to survive. It doesn’t feel that way in other industries. In music, we love Freddie Mercury and Elton John. It’s accepted in film. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is gay, and these things are all OK. But in football, there’s still fear a gay teammate might disrupt the team environment. Sometimes it’s brushed away, like homophobia isn’t an issue in football anymore. Obviously that’s not true …”

Well, welcome out Thomas. And please accept as our gift from HOMO HQ, the obligatory Coming Out Toaster Oven™ and a copy of the Gay Agenda.

And if you ever get across the pond, there’s also room for beefcake at Casa Bob y Carlos.

And, again, because I'm shallow, maybe Bubba and Thomas and I could go for a ride and play with some balls.Just sayin’.

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Michael Elizabeth Pence, refusing to utter the phrase “Black lives matter” during an interview on Juneteenth:

“Let me just say that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy. We celebrate the fact that from the founding of this nation, we cherish the ideal that all, all of us are created equal and endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights. And so, all lives matter in a very real sense.”

Fuck off, Elizabeth. You’d be the kind of asshat who, when people began singing Happy Birthday at a friend’s party, would stand up and shriek, ‘I have a birthday, too.’

Racists will never get it.

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John Bolton, the former national security advisor, who stood by _____, carried his water, even though he thought him unfit for office, but waited to tell his story when he could make money off of it, on _____ and the 2020 election:

“I don’t think he should be president. I don’t think he’s fit for office. I don’t think he has the competence to carry out the job. I don’t think he’s a conservative Republican. I’m not going to vote for him in November. I’m certainly not going to vote for Joe Biden either. I’m going to figure out a conservative Republican to write in.”

Which is just like voting for _____, you traitorous fuck.

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Racist Karen, AKA Kathy Jenkins, Tries To Take Us For A Spin

Earlier today I posted about a Missouri woman who went to a Black Lives Matter protest outside a Dixie Outfitters, whose owner is ALLEGEDLY affiliated with the KKK. While there, and cradling a Confederate flag she shouted to the BLM group:

“I will teach my grandkids to hate you all! I will teach them to hate all you people. KKK belief.”

Well, that woman is Karen Jenkins who became a viral sensation when a video of her hatred stormed the internet. And it took a nanosecond for someone to identify her and then perhaps another second for that storm to rain down on her.

Kathy says she’s been locked out of Facebook—shoot, how will she know when the next Klan Wives meeting is—and fired from her job—poor racist doesn’t work for a KKK company?—and says she’s been the target of a few threats and even her friends are being threatened. Now, that’s not cool; threats are not cool. But, as for the rest, I’m so sorry, but I’m not sorry. You got what you deserved Kathy.

Sadly, though, Kathy Jenkins is not finished, and is saying the whole thing was a mistake, and taken wrong and she didn’t mean what she said and … and … and … racist needs an excuse.

In that video, Kathy Jenkins is in the bed of a pickup truck holding, and dancing with, a Confederate flag, but Kathy says the video doesn’t show the whole thing. No sir, she says before someone started recording her, she was … wait for it … it’s rich … racist thinks we’re all stupid … she says she was “chanting Black Lives Matter.”

While waving a Confederate flag? Bitch, please.

Kathy Jenkins says she was only at the Dixie Outfitters to watch the BLM protest because she’d never been to one and just wanted to see it. But, then again, the Confederate flag, Kathy? Have you never seen one of those before, so you just wanted to hug it and dance with it?

It gets better; Kathy Jenkins says she was standing in the back of a truck that belonged to someone she did not know, and that someone she did not know handed her a Confederate flag, and that she doesn’t fully know what it represents but thought it was a symbol of … wait for it … it’s rich … racist thinks we’re all stupid … a symbol of unity.

Bitch. Please!

And she says she only spewed her Hate Speech when BLM people from the other side of the street approached her, and she lost her temper:

“I hadn’t said anything until they came into my face … it’s like I blacked out. I don’t even remember saying half the stuff that I said.”

Hate, Kathy, it was hate.

“I wasn’t saying I’m KKK or for the KKK. I was mocking them because I don’t like being called a racist.”

Now, why would anyone think a woman standing in the back of a truck in front of a business owned by a KKK supporter and holding the Confederate flag was racist?

But since that story didn’t go over to well, and she’s probably desperate to get back on Facebook, she’s apologizing and vowing to never hold another Confederate flag again, as God is her witness:

“As many of you know I am Kathy. I just wanted to start with saying that I am truly deeply sorry for what I said. This isn’t who I am as a person. I obviously cannot take back what I said. I can only learn from this. I want to make it clear. I am not teaching my children or grandchildren to hate anyone. No one. Ever. I’ve always taught them to respect and love anyone no matter the race. I’ve always taught them to treat people with the same respect as they would want to be treated. My words and actions have been a learning experience. Not only did I learn from this, but I hope this message helps others that they cannot take back what they have said. Again I am so so sorry because that is not who I am.  I would never ever want to see anyone hurt and I don’t care who they are.”

Sorry Kathy, I’m not buying it. You didn’t know what a BLM protest was about, but you stood with Klan members and Confederate flag waving haters?

You thought the Confederate flag was a symbol of unity, but unless you had you hood on backwards and couldn’t see, then you’re just another racist who got caught and is trying to lie your way out of it. But, please note, Kathy is also wearing a Make America Great Again cap; just sayin’.You know, cuz some of them are very nice people, as _____ says.

You say you spewed hate because you didn’t know what you were saying, but, Kathy, if you didn’t feel that hatred in your heart, you never would have let those words leave your mouth.

You’re a racist Kathy. Own it.

Bobservations

I think Carlos may becoming … this is hard to say … he’s turning into a MAGAt. I fear my only solution is divorce.

It all started when I had been working in the yard and came back into the house, complaining of the little bugs that were attacking me. Then I began noticing their little bites on me, and the itch that came with them, and the scratching that seemed to spread to bites. I told Carlos I was getting some anti-itch ointment … hehe, ointment … and he said …

“Just.Use.Bleach.”

He’s _____ian! He’s _____ian!!!

It’s hard remembering which day of the week it is, or even, sometimes, which month. Tuxedo feels your pain …

How is the confederate flag part of his heritage? He was born in Queens, New York, not in the Confederate States of America. And even if he had been, he’d have complained of bone spurs to get out of that war, too.

At his Tulsa Hate Fest last week, one of his few followers said this to the media, while not wearing a mask:

“We had a friend who died from Covid, and his son was on a ventilator, he almost died. So we know it’s real, but then at the same time you don’t know what the facts are, you feel like maybe one side plays it one way and the other side plays it another.”

The facts, you dumbass, are that your friend died, and his son may die, too, but you don’t believe what is in front of your face, but choose to follow an idiot and a liar and a racist.

I’m a cynic, and I don’t care for Beyoncé so … sue me … but last week when Bey “gifted” fans with ‘Black Parade’, a special single released on Juneteenth, I couldn’t help but think she was out to make coins off the day. Cuz I didn’t hear a word about donating the funds to charity.

A couple of _____ lies … he admitted that if he cannot stop mail-in voting, he won’t be re-elected, and as I reminded him on Twitter:

He votes by mail. Junior votes by mail. Eric has someone show him how to vote by mail. Ivanka votes by mail. Melanie checks the mail to see if her check cleared.

Later in the week, speaking to Fox News lapdog Sean Hannity, about that video of Derek Chauvin murdering George Floyd, he admitted he couldn’t watch it. Not because it was sickening and disgusting, but because “it was over eight minutes, and who could watch that?"

He doesn’t have eight minutes for it.

This week _____ spoke at the Dream City Church in Phoenix because Arizona is poised to go Blue for the first time in 37 years. But that’s not about that … it’s about the “pastors” of the church telling their congregants that it’s okay to attend the rally because they invented an air purifier that kills COVID-19.

Yes, they did; but they have no plans to market their amazing new invention to anyone, it was just used to let a racist speak in front of a crowd.

Oh, and a crowd who cheered when the Racist-In-Chief once again called C OVID-19 the ‘Kung Flu.’

Christians. Cheering racism. In a church. God is watching and She is not happy.

Speaking of racism, Black Lives Matter protesters and Confederate flag loving loons faced off in Branson, Missouri, outside Dixie Outfitters because of the store owner’s affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan. One racist, that ugly bitch up there, Karen Jenkins, proudly shrieked at the BLM protestors:

“I will teach my grandkids to hate you all! I will teach them to hate all you people.”

Ugly words from an ugly person.

Novak Djokovic, the world’s #1 tennis player came out as an anti-vaxxer and a COVID-19 denier in April. Last week, he hosted an exhibition tournament in Croatia that flouted all social distancing and mask rules and even included a party in a packed nightclub.

This week Novak Djokovic tested positive for the virus.

Too bad there’s no cure for ignorance, well, except education.

I don’t like Walmart; I don’t shop at Walmart. But… this week Walmart took a stand that I like. Walmart spokesperson Anne Hatfield announced that the store will no longer sell the Mississippi state flag because it features a Confederate emblem:

“We believe it’s the right thing to do, and is consistent with Walmart’s position to not sell merchandise with the confederate flag from stores and online sites, as part of our commitment to provide a welcoming and inclusive experience for all of our customers in the communities we serve.”

How, if only Walmart would pay their employees a living wage.

Brett Hankison, one of three Louisville police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor while executing a no-knock search warrant broke and shooting her 8 times has been fired.

One down, two to go; plus, lets fire whoever was in charge that night and allowed this to happen.

Over the weekend I watched A Million Little Things, based on a book by James Frey. It was ALLEGEDLY the story of his time in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction. Several years ago, it was chosen as an Oprah Book Club selection until it was revealed that, while Frey was in rehab, it wasn’t an autobiographical story as he’d pitched, but was a great deal of fiction. I remember Oprah taking Frey to task on her show for duping her …perhaps he gave her the book with a doughnut to trick her, I dunno.

Anyway, the movie; pretty harrowing depiction of drug use and rehab, but it starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson as James Frey. I thought he was quite good in the film, and it didn’t hurt that he was, even with a banged-up face, kinda hot, and that he appeared fully nude, and in spectacular glory, in several scenes.

Seriously. Spectacular!