I Didn't Say It ...

Barack Obama, my president, on the latest shooting of an unarmed Black man during a routine traffic stop:

“Our hearts are heavy over yet another shooting of a Black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of police. It’s important to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but this is also a reminder of just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country. The fact that this could happen even as the city of Minneapolis is going through the trial of Derek Chauvin and reliving the heart-wrenching murder of George Floyd indicates not just how important it is to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but also just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country. Michelle and I grieve alongside the Wright family for their loss. We empathize with the pain that Black mothers, fathers, and children are feeling after yet another senseless tragedy. And we will continue to work with all fair-minded Americans to confront historical inequities and bring about nationwide changes that are so long overdue.”

I know people are using Defund the Police, meaning allocate some of the money spent on body armor and weaponry towards the community for programs that lift people up, but we really need police reform, and punishments for officers who so recklessly murder our brothers and sisters, in the human race, of color.

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Nicolle Wallace, MSNBC, saying GQPers are terrified of any kind of voting that they can’t rig:

“In Texas, lawmakers have advanced a bill that would impose … criminal penalties for errors during the election process such as making it a felony for an official to give a voter an absentee ballot application or solicit the submission of an application if the voter does not request it at first. Republicans are terrified of absentee voting, of early voting, of drive-thru voting, of same-day registration, any kind of voting that they can’t rig. It really is that simple. Republicans can talk about voter fraud and [the twice-impeached, one-term loser]‘s big lie, but what they are trying to do is rig future elections so that a result like 2020 can’t happen again. It is telling that the lesson that Republicans took away from 2020 wasn’t that they may need different candidates or policies, but that they had to stop people from voting.”

Listen to the words of the GQP and their leadership: the more people that vote, the more Republicans will lose. That is the only reason they’re doing this, to cheat and steal elections.

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Jen Psaki, White House Press Secretary, answering Fox News’s Peter Doocy’s question about the All-Star Game being moved to Colorado in the wake of Georgia’s voter suppression laws:

“Well, let me just refute the first point you made … on Colorado. Colorado allows you to register on election day. Colorado has voting by mail where they send to 100% of people in the state who are eligible. Applications to vote by mail. 94% of people in Colorado voted by mail in the 2020 election. And they also allow for a range of materials to provide even if they vote on election day with a limited number of people to vote on election day.”

Keep in mind, the Georgia legislation is built on The Big Lie.  There was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election as Georgia’s top GOP election officials have acknowledged repeatedly in interviews.

What there was, was record turnout which scares the GQP because, again, the more people who vote, the more Democrats are elected.

But you go ahead Fox and spread another lie.

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Kim Reynolds, Iowa GQP governor, declining a request by the Department of Health and Human Services to take in immigrant children being held at the U.S. border with Mexico:

“We will not do that. We do not have the facilities. We are not set up to do that. This is not our problem; this is the president’s problem. He’s the one who opened the borders. He needs to be responsible for this and he needs to stop it. So, at this point, no.”

Lovely member of the party of Family Values. But then the children are brown and don’t speak English so, you know, why offer any help.

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Colton Underwood, former NFL player who has appeared on several Bachelor series, coming out as gay to Robin Roberts on GMA:

"I learned in the Bible that gay is a sin. [And] I’ve hated myself for a long time … There was a moment in L.A. that I woke up and I didn't think I was gonna wake up. I didn't have the intentions of waking up. I would have rather died than say, 'I'm gay,' and I think that was sort of my wakeup call. Take back control. … I've ran from myself for a long time. I've hated myself for a long time, and I'm gay. And I came to terms with that earlier this year and I've been processing it. I think the next step in all of this is letting people know. I'm still nervous but, yeah, it's been a journey for sure. I'm emotional in such a good, happy, positive way. I'm the happiest and healthiest I've ever been in my life and that means the world to me. I got to a place in my personal life that was dark and bad and I can list a bunch of different things, but they'd all be excuses. I think overall the reason why now is because I got to a place where I didn't think I was ever going to share this. I remember praying to God the morning I found out I was the Bachelor and thanking him for making me straight. I remember that vividly, saying, 'Finally, you're letting me be straight. Finally, you’re giving me a wife, a fiancée, that I’m gonna have the kids, gonna have the house.' ‘But’ I do think I could have handled it better. I just wish I wouldn't have dragged people into my own mess of figuring out who I was. I genuinely mean that. But I also at the same time, I can sit here and say, 'I'm sorry' to all those women. I can also sit here and say, 'Thank you,' because without them and without The Bachelor franchise, I don't know that this would have ever came out. But if I had to go back and give anybody advice, I mean, you're gonna get through it is what I would tell myself. Keep fighting for you. Keep choosing you every morning. And when the time's ready or when the time's right and you're ready, do it on your own time. I'm still the same Colton everybody met on TV. I'm still the same Colton to my friends and my family, I just happen to be able to share with people now all of me. And I am proud of that, you know? I am proud to be gay.”

Church and sports. Two groups that do not welcome LGBTQ+ people; two groups that ridicule and demean LGBTQ+ people.

How many times do we have to hear that a gay man or woman, not to mention trans person, has contemplated suicide because of the Bible or a teammate?

It’s enough. This man went on TV to “win” a wife to prove to himself that he wasn’t gay and could be “all right,” when he should have known he was all right to begin with.

Welcome out, Colton.

PS Now I hear Colton is turning his coming out into a reality show for Netflix. I guess staying in the closet with no job prospects or coming out and getting back on TV for the coins may have helped in his decision to come out. Or that’s just the cynic in me.

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