Tuesday, November 30, 2021

That Bitch: Mark Robinson

Up in North Carolina, the state’s GOP  Lt. Governor, Mark Robinson, has never hidden his hatred for LGBTQ+ people, but he recently spoke at a church … yes, a church … in Winston-Salem where questioned the “purpose” of being gay, said straight couples are “superior” to gay couples, because they can reproduce, and said he didn’t want to explain to his grandchildren why two men are kissing if they see that on television.

Oh, the children! Protect the children from gay men kissing, but not from a hate-spewing public official.

In his little speech, compared being gay to “what the cows leave behind” as well as maggots and flies, who he said all serve a purpose in God’s creation:

“If homosexuality is of God, what purpose does it serve? What does it make? What does it create? It creates nothing,”

Well, this is as good a time as any to post one of my favorite quotes, which comes from a 1999 Letter to the Editor of the Sacramento Bee in which Preston Reese wrote:

“Is homosexuality a ‘soul-deadening’ perversion? Let’s try an experiment:

I’m going to rip out the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling; burn Handel’s Messiah; slash the Mona Lisa; bury Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass;’ incinerate every Tchaikovsky score; torch every Greta Garbo film; ban every Bessie Smith song; and grind every Marlene Dietrich performance to dust.

Then we can evaluate what kind of ‘soul-deadening’ world we would live in without gay people.”

It is of note that Mark Robinson is a Black man, who probably grew up hearing he was less than because of his skin color, that perhaps he is akin to what “cows leave behind,” or is at least the child or grandchild of someone who was treated like shit for being themselves.

He calls himself a man of God but if this speech is the speech of God, then we don’t need God, or even god. It is also worth noting that Mark Robinson says that as a n elected official it is his job to protect all people, even LGBTQ+ people, but in a church he can stand before the congregation and call us less than shit.

You might also like to know that Mark Robinson hopes to run for governor of North Carolina in 20224, and while separating Church from State in his sermon, he also inflation, gas prices, Afghanistan, and President Joe Biden’s abilities.

Then he said this:

“Ain’t but two genders—male and female. Two. There are two genders, male and female. I don’t care how much you cut yourself up, drug yourself up and dress yourself up, you still either one of two things—you either a man or a woman. You might be a cut up, dressed up, drugged up ugly man or woman, but you still a man or a woman, and I don’t care who doesn’t like it.”

Hate Speech, in a sermon in a church by a publicly elected official. Hate. And it’s words like that that end up with our trans sisters dead in the streets, our LGBTQ+ family beaten and murdered because, to Mark Robinson, we ain’t worth shit.

Lastly, if Mark Robinson thinks only superior people can reproduce, he might need to take a look at himself and his lineage that produced such ignorance and hate masked as faith; he need only ask about women who cannot bear children but get married; men who cannot father a child but get married. Are they inferior?

They are to That Bitch, Mark Robinson.

This Bitch: JK Rowling

Oh sure, she gave us the Harry Potter books, filled with people who are different, but JK Rowling is still a transphobic bigot.

Last month, on the Transgender Day of Remembrance, comedian Holly Stars, actor Georgia Frost, and drag performer Richard Energy, all trans activists, protested outside Rowling’s home carrying signs that read:

“Trans liberation now! "

“Don’t be a cissy!"

“Trans rights are human rights!” 

They were responding to Rowling’s long history of transphobia, where she has repeatedly attacked the validity of trans identities, portrayed trans women as threats to cis women’s safety, promoted conversion therapy for trans people, and even promoted vile merchandise with anti-transgender messages.

And how did Rowling respond? She took to Twitter to claim that her address was visible in a photo that Stars, Frost and Energy posted online, and said she had called the police, though it is unclear what crime was committed.

Then Rowling, who claims to be against people being “hounded on social media” a posted the names of the three activists on her Twitter, comparing their protest to rape threats and asked her 14 million Flying Monkey followers on Twitter to attack them.

She’s a vile disgusting hate-filled human being who ought to stick to writing fantasy about people being equal whether wizards or muggles, or half-bloods because, in the real world, she is hate. She perpetuates hate against trans people, especially transwomen who are routinely murdered simply because they are trans.

That ain’t fantasy, y’all, that’s fact!


Monday, November 29, 2021

You Can’t Fix Stupid ... A Post in Three Parts

Mondays are the worst and when you throw in special does of Stupid from around the world, it makes it all the harder to crawl out of bed in the morning. But here we go …

Part 1: Fox News host Dagen McDowell “wouldn’t bang” Beto O’Rourke—and I imagine this pleases him no end—the Democrat running for governor of Texas but she can explain the popularity of Pete Davidson, saying he’s funny.

Yes, a political pundit whittles down a candidate’s likability to whether or not she would have sex with him; and that makes me wonder how McDowell would feel about a man saying a female politician isn’t “bangable” in his eyes.

And if this doesn’t make McDowell seem like one of the dumbest people on the planet, she also swears that Fox News isn’t “playing down” the Capitol riot and says all Americans “have healthcare."

She dumb.

Part 2: Across the pond, over there to the England, Nick Fletcher, a Conservative MP, opened an International Men’s Day debate by suggesting that replacing traditionally male characters with women drives men to commit crimes.

Oh, but he did. Fletcher said that society needs to find a way to celebrate masculinity rather than “continually vilify” it:

“One only needs to look at the discussions around who will play the next James Bond. And it’s not just James Bond. In recent years we have seen Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Luke Skywalker, the Equalizer, all replaced by women. Is it any wonder we are seeing so many young men committing crimes?”

Yes, he blames Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Johnson, and Doctor Who star Jodie Whittaker   for men becoming criminals.

Part 3: According to Fox & Friends, South Africa, the World Health Organization [WHO], the Democratic Party, and the Biden administration are all part of a massive conspiracy to keep Democrats in power by routinely introducing new variants of the Coronavirus.

Rachel Campos-Duffy, who never met an idiotic thought she didn’t want to share, says:

“[Biden] has said we can’t fix the supply chain problem until the pandemic is over, until Covid is over.”

Her co-host, Will Cain, never one to be out-dumbed, mumbled:

“Always a new variant.”

And then Pete Hegseth, not wanting to be left out of The Crazy, added:

“You can count on a variant about every October, every two years.”

Yes, these Three Stooges think the Democrats, in cahoots with an entire country and WHO will “invent” new variants before elections to gain an advantage.

But they forget the Democrats weren’t in power last year, that there has only been one October since the pandemic started, and that their own network tried to make COVID a political point for Thing 45, except he killed 500,000 Americans with his incompetence, which is why Biden won the White House.

But yes, by all means play this card.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

I Ain't One To Gossip But ...

File this under: Not Buying It.

Apparently acting driftwood, Kristen Stewart is getting “Oscar buzz” for her performance as Princess Diana in Spencer, but she wants y’all to know she does not “give a shit” about winning an Oscar and added:

“I do not want to seem like an ass, but it’s so embarrassing and so tiring. It is highly political. You have to go talk to people. You feel like you’re a diplomat.”

Funny, though, that Stewart did a Q&A with Academy members after a screening of Spencer.

Yeah, she doesn’t want an Oscar, but, you know, just in case, sign her up to talk to Academy members.

photo

Well, this had me confused … Tori Spelling, who has a plastic surgeon on speed dial, recently revealed that she’s having breast implant removal surgery.

I mean, I thought Tori and boobs and removed and assumed that meant she was divorcing Dean McDermott. I mean, he’s such a boob, right?

Still, I wonder why it’s taken Tori so long to get her implants removed, and then I realized that with her history of not paying her bills, the surgeon probably demanded she have a credit card on file.

PS Seeing that picture, I wonder if she had the implants moved to her lips.

photo

I guess Chrissy Teigen’s trying to make she isn’t outdone by the likes of Tori Spelling because this week Teigen, the most bored housewife, revealed she had an eyebrow transplant.

See, Chrissy wanted fuller brows and so she had the transplant, revealing it on Instagram because that’s where she lives:

“I never wear makeup if I can avoid it … [hold for laughter] … so I was so excited for this eyebrow transplant surgery. A little dark from the pencil but its [sic] so cool to have brows again.”

They took hair from the back of Chrissy’s head and shoved them into her face.

Now all she has to worry about if that bald spot on the back of her melon.

photo

While we wait for the criminal justice system to do something about serial sexual predator and Kevin Spacey, at least the powers-that-be on his old show, House of Cards, have stepped up to punish the perv.

It was announced that Spacey and two of his companies, M. Profitt Productions and Trigger Street Productions, must pay $31 million to the production company behind House of Cards for violating their sexual harassment policy in a judgement that comes after two years of arbitration between Spacey and MRC, the production company.

This is all the result of a 2017 CNN report which detailed that Spacey—star and an executive producer of House of Cards—had created a “toxic” environment by making crude comments and engaging in non-consensual touching of young male staffers, citing eight production sources. Spacey was immediately suspended pending an internal investigation and then fired from the show. And now he has to scrape together 31 million coins.

Good.

photo

You don’t mess with Adele and her music.

Rumor Has It … see what I did there … that Adele’s newest song, “Go Easy On Me,” was Spotify’s most-listened-to track in a single day. And while that made the star happy, the idea that you can listen to her new album 30 on shuffle, didn’t sit well with her, and so Adele Tweeted:

“We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening.”

And quicker than you can say Rollin’ in the Deep the “shuffle” icon no longer appears within the larger “play” icon as it usually does during Album View on Spotify, who Tweeted back to Adele:

“Anything for you.”

To be fair, premium users can still access the shuffling function through the individual track list view … until Adele reads this.

photo

Friday, November 26, 2021

I Didn't Say It

Harry Dunn, a US Capitol Police Officer, on how the Right hailing the Kenosha Murderer—I don’t say his name—as "hero" while mocking those who defended the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection:

"Kinda disheartening to see how some prominent people, prop [Kenosha Murderer] as a hero, yet the brave men and women who fought and defended the Capitol on 1/6 have to continue to fight just for the TRUTH to be told about that day. I have been called every name in the book since my testimony; a political pawn, a sellout, a fake cop, a disgrace to the badge, Pelosi puppet, hell even a local Police Union put out a statement attacking me while I was running for Chairman of our Police Union. It’s sad to see some of the same people who said these things, praise [the Kenosha Murderer]  or just remain silent. [Fox News host Laura Ingraham] gave Sgt. Gonell, Michael Fanone and myself actor awards for showing emotion during our testimony.... But [the Kenosha Murderer] ??? #HypocrisyReeks"

Yes, an American political party, the so-called Party of Law Order, denigrates the men and women who protected them during an insurrection, calling them crisis actors, and then turn around and hail the Kenosha Murderer a hero because someone threw a plastic bag at him and he killed them.

Say it with me: Fuck the GOP.

photo

Lara _____, on Fox News, proving that her husband Eric might not be the dumbest member of That Family:

“[The Democrats] have told us from the beginning that they want to fundamentally transform America. Well, how do you that? You have to change America from the inside-out. You have to take away our traditions. So it might seem a little funny and a little ridiculous. ‘Oh, don’t have a turkey, then people won’t come over.’ Last year, remember, they didn’t want us to get together, so I guess we’re lucky they’re letting us have Thanksgiving this year. And really, the core of this, they want to divide Americans up. They don’t want us to have any common ground. They don’t want us to have any shared traditions like Thanksgiving. A lot of places last month actually did away with Halloween because they wanted to be inclusive of the people that didn’t celebrate Halloween. It all goes to fundamentally transforming this country, and the way you do that is you make sure that we have no commonality whatsoever, no traditions as Americans whatsoever. You start chipping away at that, and they don’t care that Thanksgiving costs a lot more.”

Once again a Fox News hack is rewriting history because, last year, when we didn’t have Thanksgiving, it was because of a Republican President’s mishandling of a pandemic that killed over 700,000 people.

photo

Bryan Tyler Cohen, pointing out a huge difference between our two parties”

Today Democrats are celebrating making insulin and childcare more affordable. Republicans are celebrating a vigilante who posed as a medic while killing two people walking free.”

Again, one party wants to help Americans while the other wants to praise a murderer.

photo

Laura Ingraham, Fox “News,” showing her true, all-white, colors in a rant about Vice President Kamala Harris:

“She is completely incapable of stepping in to take over as commander-in-chief, should Biden be incapacitated. She has problems delivering simple remarks. Because, I’m sorry, she knows nothing except how to play the race card to get ahead. It’s always a diversity thing. How about merit? How about that for a change? Well, it turns out that selecting a VP based solely on diversity criteria and not objective merit is not only stupid, it’s really dangerous. There is literally no situation, no problem that the White House can turn over to her to handle in the place of the president. Like, remember she was supposed to handle the border, remember that? Well, America’s border is now overrun with drugs, illegals, and sex traffickers. Nice job, Kamala. If her goal was to pump up our enemies and demoralize our own people, then she should be excited.”

I guess Laura was too busy channeling her inner Eva Braun to see Kamala Harris’ merits as the First female, and person of color, to be the Vice President, her years spent as the Attorney General of California, as a US Senator.

Or Laura is just another racist Fox News talking head throwing a hissy because Kamala isn’t white.

photo

Amit Mehta, a US Federal Judge, pointing the finger of blame at Thing 45 as he sentenced Capitol rioter John Lolos:

“People like Mr. Lolos were told lies, were told falsehoods, were told the election was stolen when it was not. Regrettably, people like Mr. Lolos who were told those lies took it to heart. And they are the ones paying the consequences. Those who created the conditions that lead to Mr. Lolos’ conduct have in no meaningful measure been held accountable. You were a pawn. You were a pawn in the game played by people who know better.”

I agree, except about that ‘people who know better’ part. Thing 45is a sociopath and he does not know netter because he knows next to nothing.

I also disagree with the sentence; Mehta gave Lolo 14 days in jail and fine of $500.00 in restitution for his part in the attack.

photo

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Thank.Full.

I first posted a version of this back in Ott-Eight, a few days after I started this here blog thing, and have edited it, as need be, and reposted it every year, to remind me of where I was then, what I thought then, and what I wanted out of life. And every year as I repost it, I realize that the more things change the more they stay the same.

Now, not to brag, but I've been told that I am an extremely polite person. I was raised on Please and Thank You, Yes Ma'am, No Sir, and I still act that way today.

True story: I was selected for jury duty when we lived in Miami and when it was my turn to be questioned, I stood up in the very narrow aisle and put my hands behind my back. As I was questioned, I replied Yes sir and No Sir. The judge stopped and smiled.

"Are you in the military?" he asked.

"No, sir" I said. "I was raised by a military man and a Southern woman."

True story: A few years before that, while living in California, I was in a grocery store buying a birthday cake for a co-worker. I asked if I may please order a cake. May I please have a name iced onto it? I pleased and thank you'd my way through the entire process and finally as the girl was leaving to finish my order, she turned and said, “I think you are the politest person I've ever waited on."

I smiled and said, "Could you just shut up, please, and ice my damn cake!"

When all else fails slip into sarcasm. That's my motto, and I’m thankful for that, too, but I digress.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, probably because there are no gifts involved, except for the gift of time; time spent with loved ones and friends; the gift of thanks. A day of thanks; a truly American holiday, like 4th of July, but one we celebrate not with picnics and beer, firecrackers and sparklers, but with a meal shared with friends and family, and pets, always the pets.

I have so much to be thankful for again this year. Yes, the usual family and friends and health and happiness, blah blah blah, everyone says that, but this year, another year in the Age Of COVID, good health is a great thing. I am thankful that Carlos and I are fine; we have been pricked and are about to get boostered; our families are healthy, well, except for my Thing 45 loving brother who called COVID a hoax, even after he and his whole family tested positive for it.

I am thankful to this link around the world I have found with bloggers, where I find people very different from myself, and people very much like myself, and we all co-exist peacefully. I am grateful to our Anne Marie and her love for F-bombs and disdain for ABBA, something we shared. I miss her wit and sarcasm and musical Saturdays, but I am thankful for having have them.

I am thankful for having known my Tia Gloria; she’s just left us, but still holds court in our hearts and I am thankful for that.

And I am thankful, as well as hopeful, that even though America is still mired in hate and division, us versus them, and criminality, there are still spots of decency and inclusion and hope. Sure, it’s still a bit dark here, but we are all becoming more aware that if we want change we must make change. I am thankful that we live in a country where we have that freedom.

As a gay man I know all too well that … cue PSA music … It Gets Better.

Twenty-one years ago, when we began this ride, Carlos and I couldn’t be legally married anywhere in America, and here we are now, married for seven years … in South Carolina of all places. I am thankful for that every day.

Sure, we’re still hearing the Hate Speech and hate-filled actions of some people, but one thing they can never do is take away my marriage; Carlos and I are husband and husband and that’s how it will stay. That bell cannot be unrung, no matter who says what. No matter who sits on the Supreme Court.

Trust. And be thankful.

I am thankful for the years I had with my sister—I miss her every single day—because of the things she taught me and continues to teach me. I am grateful to her four daughters, all of whom she raised so well that when Carlos and I told them we were getting married, they all responded, “Now he really is our Uncle.”

I am thankful for my Dad. He didn’t ask for a gay son, but he got one; he didn’t know what to do with a gay son, but he did the best he could. And, when the time came to marry Carlos, it made my Dad’s day that he could be there. I wish every gay person could have a Dad like mine, who sees that change is good, and sees that not everyone is alike—even in your own family—but who loves you just the same.

I am thankful to my Mom, especially today. Thanksgiving was her holiday; cooking for her family was my mother’s greatest joy and a great gift to all of us. I am thankful that I can keep that tradition alive and can see my Mom in myself as Carlos and I cook dinner for ourselves, and, in other years, friends. I am thankful for her kindness, even to those who were unkind to her; I am grateful for her laughter, which I can still hear in my head, and the way she would say, ‘Bye bye, sweetie, I love you,’ as we ended a phone call.

I am thankful for icy cold mornings and clear blue skies … colored leaves falling. I am thankful for small dogs and cats because, well, I'm bigger than them and I will always beat them ... just channeling a little Joan Crawford and Christina at the pool.

I am thankful for Carlos. Every.Single.Day. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about how lucky I am to have him; even the days when he makes me insane … more insane. I realize I’d rather be driven nuts by him for a moment than not to have him in my life at all. I am thankful for the smirk he gives me; I am thankful for the look of horror on his face when I bust out a showtune; I am just plain thankful. I don’t know where I’d be, or who I’d be, if I hadn’t met him all those years ago.

I am thankful for music and pets and soft blankets and breathing and speaking, and having a voice to use, and use often. I realize we are still facing a tough time in this country; we are still facing division; we are still seeing our Black and Brown brothers and sisters killed by police, and self-entitled crybaby vigilantes; we are still seeing our trans brothers and sisters murdered; we still see hate; we are seeing hatred towards refugees fleeing their homeland to come to a country built by immigrants and slaves.

But I remain hopeful, hope filled, and thankful, that this country, most of this country, will once again stand against that hate and divisiveness; I am thankful that we will stand for one another and not against one another; that we will stand up to those who hate; speak out against those who use fear to intimidate others; resist those who are untruthful. I am thankful that more and more people are standing up for those who may not feel like anyone would ever stand for them.

I am thankful for that … and thinking being feeling loving breathing laughing crying living and speaking.

For Life … and all it encompasses.

To Life.

Thanks.

Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Architecture Wednesday: Bones House

In Australia, Fibro cottages date back to the 1920s and are the iconic Aussie Beach Shack. But what happens when they get a little too old and too worn out? Reinvention; which leads us to Bones House, a completely transformed, and updated, and, of course enlarged, Fibro cottage.

The name Bones House is derived from the fibro “cartilage” that the contemporary timber additions wrap around like muscle and skin. Much of the house’s original footprint has been reused, in an attempt to maintain character, even though the house has been completely re-imagined. Still, Bones House is more renovation than replacement with over half of the original dwelling’s roof saved and repurposed to create a raked roof. The new high ceilings allowed the architect to utilize highlight glazing to improve the house’s ventilation.

The open-plan kitchen and dining area serves as the heart of the home, which spills out onto a deck. The interior and exterior spaces are divided by bifold doors, that do away with the feeling of disconnection a wall would create between the indoors and out. The use of timber in both spaces also ensures the transition between inside and outside is seamless. There are three guest bedrooms and a beautiful primary bedroom facing the ocean.

In fact, timber is the defining feature of Bones House; timber is used on the ceiling and floors, as doors and as storage. But cavity masonry walls control the home’s climate all year round, and are left purposely exposed to further the robust textures already seen within the home. 

And so what once was a humble beach shack, or cottage, is now a modern, open, elegant way to spend your holiday at the beach.

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Good News: Kassidy Peters Gives Up Job Her Mommy Got For Her

Kassidy Peters, the daughter of South Dakota ReTHUGlican Governor Kristi Noem will relinquish her real estate appraiser license and leave the industry by the end of the year because … too many people are questioning how she got her license.

You see, in early 2020 Kassidy Peters applied for an appraiser license and was denied. Then, in June 2020,Kassidy’s mommy, Kristi Noem, took Kassidy to a private meeting with Sherry Bren, who leads the state’s appraiser certification program, and South Dakota Labor Secretary Marcia Hultman, and lo and behold, suddenly Kassidy was licensed. The following week, Hultman asked for Sherry Bren’s resignation.

Nothing to see here, and though no one knows what transpired at that July 2020 meeting, Kristi Noem swears her goal was only to make the process of obtaining n appraiser’s license more equitable, and added:

“I never once asked for special treatment for Kassidy. She is my daughter and I’m proud of her. I raised her to accomplish things on her own.”

Well, except Kassidy didn’t accomplish it on her own; she accomplished it when mommy had a meeting, and Kristi Noem never once called the process of obtaining an appraiser’s license inequitable until her daughter was denied.

If it smells like a typical lying, cheating, bullying ReTHUGlican helping the self-entitled demon spawn of their loins, then that’s what it is, so, Kassidy, hon, save you righteous indignation for the people who buy your story.

Rational people do not.

Good luck in the job hunt, but keep mommy out of the process this time?

Monday, November 22, 2021

Good News: Barronelle Stutzman's Hate Cost her $5,000 and Her Job

I have been blogging about Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Washington, for years now, and I’m hoping this will be the last time.

Back story: Barronelle had a gay coulee, Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, who used her business for a decade, buying flowers for their birthdays, for their anniversary, for holidays, for condolences, and, well, just because. And when marriage equality came to Washington state, Ingersoll and Freed went to Arlene’s Flowers to order for their wedding, and that’s when Barronelle told them that her religion forbid her from selling flowers to gay men for their wedding.

And thus the lawsuits began; Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed sued for discrimination based on sexual orientation, and Barronelle Stutzman whined about the Baby Jeebus telling her not to sell flowers to The Gays … well, sell to them for everything but their wedding. The case went back and forth and round and round and now, it finally looks like it’s over, eight years after it started.

A settlement agreement has been secured between the anti-LGBTQ+ Alliance Defending Freedom and the ACLU which finally ends that lawsuit brought against Stutzman without forcing her to act against her religious beliefs or to pay potentially ruinous attorneys’ fees—a threat she has endured for years.

But all is not golden for Stutzman; she will retire from the business she owns—meaning her bigotry is no longer on display—and she will withdraw a pending petition for rehearing at the Supreme Court –her case was heard once and she lost because … hate—and she must pau Ingersoll and she must pay Ingersoll and Freed $5,000.

Not a lot of money but, just think, if Barronelle Stutzman hadn’t been such a hate-filled bigot, she might have made a few thousand dollars for Ingersoll and Freed for their wedding, and then continued to make more from them over these last eight years, but, instead, she has to cough up the coins.

Let me say it as simply as I can for people like Barronelle Stutzman: if a gay couple asks you to bake a cake, or make a dress, or take some photos, or rent them a venue, for their wedding there are not asking you to take part in their event. They are simply making a business transaction. It only becomes an issue when y’all whip out your Bibles, which, if you read carefully, says nothing about denying services to gay couples who wish to marry.

You read the Bible wrong and spewed hate, and in the long run, you lost.

Good.

Bye.

Barronelle Stutzman Gets Busted!

UPDATE: Judge Rules Against Florist Who Refused Service To Gay Couple

An Open Letter To Barronelle Stutzman

I Didn't Say It ....

Barronelle Stutzman Is Still Whining And Lying

Bobservations