Random Musings

Well, we have gotten extra ice — in case the power goes out and I need to keep my margaritas frozen — and extra water — in case, you know, I need to make a scotch-and-water — and have plenty of food on-hand, in case Hurricane Matthew goes all crazy on us.

We have candles and we have gas in the cars — in case, you know, we wanna have candle parties in the cars while we drive around .. what? — and I’m hoping that since we are prepared the storm will trick us all and move out to sea before causing too much of a fuss.

So, last week I talked about “Co-worker” who let it spill that she’s a [t]Rump-supporting racist — in response to why so many more black men than white men are being killed by police she said it’s “because white people don’t act like that” — and this week she let loose the stupid again.

I overheard her telling a group of co-workers that she likes [t]Rump because he says what everyone is thinking but is afraid to say — and yes, that’s a direct quote from Fox News. She went on to explain that everyone thinks Rosie O’Donnell is a “fat pig” and only [t]Rump says it out loud.

I tried to walk away, I did, but instead, I walked into the fray and said, “But does anyone want a president who resorts to name-calling? I mean, didn’t we all — or at least most of us — learn to stop the name-calling when we were younger? I mean, should we all be calling overweight people fat pigs to their faces?”

I looked straight at Racist Co-Worker who, to put it kindly, has weight issues of her own, and wondered, silently to myself,  if she’d be cool if people called her a “Fat pig.”

Hotties getting Married!

Last week Broadway stars Kyle Dean Massey and Taylor Frey got hitched on October 1in Palm Springs.

The actors are both veterans of the Broadway stage. Kyle has starred in Pippin, Wicked, Next to Normal, and Xanadu, and on television as a gay musician in Nashville, while Taylor was in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Finian’s Rainbow; he also has a new film coming out called Summertime.

Congrats to the happy hot couple!

In other happy wedding news ….

Last week the LGBT activist-icon-hero, Edith Windsor, best known for her historic marriage equality case, in which she sought to be legally recognized as her late wife’s widow and ended up taking down the Defense of Marriage Act [DOMA], married Judith Kasen in New York in a simple courthouse ceremony with a single witness.

Before Edith met Judith, she thought she’d stay single:

“I had no sense that anyone wanted anything from me except pictures. I was empty and then this woman walked into my life. I didn’t think it would happen again and it did. She is it.”

Congratulations to another happy couple, though if [t]Rump wins we might miss them, as they have said they may move to Barcelona for four years if the bigot wins in November.

So, the GOP debate … Mike Pence. Oy. A man who uses his so-called Christian  faith as a weapon against the laws in this country might be just a heartbeat away from the presidency; or, in the case of a [t]Rump win, he might just be a quitter’s change of heartbeat away.

At any rate, what I found funny about the debate was the GOP announcing Pence’s decisive victory over Tim Kaine … nearly ninety-minutes before the debate started.

Talk about premature ejaculation.

And speaking of the Presidential race, howsabout that Gary Johnson? First, he didn’t know what Aleppo was, and then he couldn’t name a single world leader he admires and now this …

Johnson, the Libertarian running for president, says he is the best candidate because he doesn't know what countries are where or what leaders run which countries. He says that extreme lack of knowledge, i.e. stupidity, would keep America from entering foreign conflicts:

“The fact that somebody can dot the i's and cross the t's on a foreign leader or a geographic location then allows them to put our military in harm’s ways.”

And then he blamed the i-dotting and t-crossing for soldiers with PTSD.

And here I thought [t]Rump was the biggest tool in this race. Okay, he is the biggest tool, but Gary Johnson is right there, too.

I love stories about time travel so I was intrigued by the new show Timeless that started this week.

It’s popcorn TV but that’s okay; I could use some light-hearted stuff on the tube, especially given that it stars Chad Rook — looking kinda sexy vampire in that first photo — and All-American hottie Matt Lanter — far left.

In the center is James Carpinello, who plays a good guy doctor, but son of a bad guy, on Gotham. Oy, the dimples and the baby blues.

Once again a newspaper has endorsed Hillary Clinton after decades and decades of being pro-GOP.

This week The Atlantic, who crossed party lines back in 1860 when they endorsed Lincoln, and then crossed them again almost a hundred years later when giving the nod to LBJ, has crossed party lines again 52 years later by saying they’re Team Hillary:

“Today, our position is similar to the one in which The Atlantic’s editors found themselves in 1964. We are impressed by many of the qualities of the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, even as we are exasperated by others, but we are mainly concerned with the Republican Party’s nominee, Donald J. Trump, who might be the most ostentatiously unqualified major-party candidate in the 227-year history of the American presidency.

Hillary Rodham Clinton has more than earned, through her service to the country as first lady, as a senator from New York, and as secretary of state, the right to be taken seriously as a White House contender. She has flaws (some legitimately troubling, some exaggerated by her opponents), but she is among the most prepared candidates ever to seek the presidency.

…

Donald Trump, on the other hand, has no record of public service and no qualifications for public office. His affect is that of an infomercial huckster; he traffics in conspiracy theories and racist invective; he is appallingly sexist; he is erratic, secretive, and xenophobic; he expresses admiration for authoritarian rulers, and evinces authoritarian tendencies himself. He is easily goaded, a poor quality for someone seeking control of America’s nuclear arsenal. He is an enemy of fact-based discourse; he is ignorant of, and indifferent to, the Constitution; he appears not to read.”

I’m still waiting for a liberal media site to endorse [t]Rump, or even one Democrat to endorse him, but it seems like most folks, on both sides, are feeling that [t]Rump would be a d-i-saster.

Finally, in Heinous Pig Pandering News, The [t]Rump has done it again … he actually asked terminally ill people to hang on until election day so they can vote for him!

Oh, but he did; at a rally in Henderson, Nevada [t]Rump said:

"I don’t care how sick you are. I don’t care if you just came back from the doctor and he gave you the worst possible prognosis, meaning it’s over. You won’t be around in two weeks. Doesn’t matter. Hang out till November 8. Get out and vote. And then, all we’re gonna say is, ‘We love you and we will remember you always.’ Get out and vote.”

Dear god, can he sink any lower?

The Funny Papers

Jim Morin, Nate Beeler, Mike Smith, John Cole, Darrin Bell, David Horsey, Nick Anderson, Adam Zyglis, Bill Day, Drew Sheneman

I Didn't Say It........

Dan Savage, on the video of a young boy telling Michele Bachmann, "My mommy is gay and she doesn't need to be fixed:
"As a gay parent I'm really not comfortable with this. Even if that eight-year-old kid wanted to do it, even if confronting Michele Bachmann was the kid's idea, even if the kid was excited about being in a YouTube video, this just isn't cool. The enemies of LGBT equality use small children as props in their misleading commercials and at their hate rallies all the time. It's a credit to our side that this sort of thing—a gay parent pushing a child into the face of a hater like Bachmann—is so rare that this video shocks the conscience."


I tend to agree with Dan on this one, even though i posted the video.
But, more shocking than whether or not Elijah's parents coerced him into saying what he said, was Bachmann's reaction upon hearing it.
If you ever needed to see a so-called 'christian' acting less than Christ-like, that's it.

Gary Johnson, former New Mexico governor and barely mentioned GOP candidate for president, coming out for marriage equality:

"As a believer in individual freedom and keeping government out of personal lives, I simply cannot find a legitimate justification for federal laws, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, which ‘define’ marriage. That definition should be left to religions and individuals – not government. Government’s role when it comes to marriage is one of granting benefits and rights to couples who choose to enter into a marriage ‘contract’. As I have examined this issue, consulted with folks on all sides, and viewed it through the lens of individual freedom and equal rights, it has become clear to me that denying those rights and benefits to gay couples is discrimination, plain and simple....Today, I believe we have arrived at a point in history where more and more Americans are viewing it as a question of liberty and freedom. That evolution is important, and the time has come for us to align our marriage laws with the notion that every individual should be treated equally.”


It's a shame that he gets virtually no press, because he proves that not all Republicans are narrow-mined gasbags.
Most. Not all.

Damiano Tommasi, Italian Players Union president tells footballers to stay in the closet:
“It’s to be discouraged. The fact of being identified or singled out as ‘the one who is’, regardless of your profession, whether journalist, footballer or politician, I don’t think it would be an advisable path to take. Homosexuality is still a taboo in football in the sense that there is a different kind of cohabitation to other professions. Expressing your personal sexuality is difficult in every professional environment and even more so for a footballer who shares a changing room with his team-mates, and hence also his intimacy with others. In our world it could cause embarrassment."


Wrong.
Lying and hiding is never good in any profession.
Lying and hiding means you're ashamed of something, and being gay is nothing to be ashamed of.

Jim Davis, Republican senator from North Carolina, joining other state Republicans in dialing back their support of a proposed same-sex marriage ban amendment:

"I have a lot of libertarian in me. I believe firmly, passionately that a marriage should be defined as being between one man and one woman. But I also believe with all my heart that in a free America people who choose to live a different lifestyle should have a legal right to do so. Just don’t call it marriage. [This amendment will] restrict their freedoms a little beyond my comfort zone."


Nice to hear, though I completely, utterly, 100% disagree with his call for describing same-sex marriages as something other than marriage.
That's less than, it's different, it's separate but equal.
And it doesn't work.

Rick Perry, pandering to former Herman Cain supporters:
"I believe America’s best days are ahead of us if we return to our constitutional roots. I believe this nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values. But you don’t have to go to church every Sunday to know something is wrong in America where gays can openly serve in the military but our children can’t pray in school. If we are truly going to change Washington, it will take a real outsider. I will be a president who is not afraid to step on some toes to give the American people the true change they desire after three years of damage done by the Obama Administration. I ask for your support, and I ask for your help in making Washington less consequential in our lives."


You can believe what ever you want, you delusional moron, but this country was not founded on religion.
Um, if it was meant to be a completely totally Judeo-Christian country, we would have shut our borders a long time ago to anyone who does not share our faith.
Try running for dogcatcher, it's still out of your realm of talents, but you have a better shot at it.
Ass.Hat.

Maureen Dowd, on Newt Gingrich:
"Newt Gingrich's mind is in love with itself. It has persuaded itself that it is brilliant when it is merely promiscuous. This is not a serious mind. Gingrich is not, to put it mildly, a systematic thinker. His mind is a jumble, an amateurish mess lacking impulse control. He plays air guitar with ideas, producing air ideas. He ejaculates concepts, notions and theories that are as inconsistent as his behavior. He didn’t get whiplash being a serial adulterer while impeaching another serial adulterer, a lobbyist for Freddie Mac while attacking Freddie Mac, a self-professed fiscal conservative with a whopping Tiffany’s credit line, and an anti-Communist Army brat who supported the Vietnam War but dodged it."


Word.

Richard Branson, Virgin CEO, on the bill pending in Nigeria that would imprison gay people and those who support them: 

"Too sad to comprehend that Nigeria are passing a law in this day and age to put gay people in prison just for being gay. The Prohibition of Same-Sex Marriage Bill passed through Nigeria’s Senate unopposed last week. It means gay couples entering into either marriage or cohabitation will be jailed for up to 14 years. Even people "witnessing" or "abetting" gay relationships could be punished under this sad, repressive and cruel law. Like everyone else in society, gay people have an enormous amount to offer and Nigeria should embrace them not prosecute them. All of us with influence in Nigeria must do what we can to stop this cruel law. I would urge educated Nigerians all over the world to do what they can to help fight this discrimination."


You have to stand up for equality, because, if you don't,. one day, they might come for you.

Kristin Chenoweth, on gay adoption:
“I have so many gay friends who’ve adopted kids. I think the worry is that their kids will be gay too. And if they’re gay, so what? That fear just shows the ignorance of the overall view of homosexuality and adoption. I swear, if I had two dads or two moms when I was growing up, I’d still be the same person. Probably still not being able to commit!”


As the gay son of two straight parents, I always giggle when people say gay parents will make they're children gay.
It don't work like that, y'all.

I Didn't Say It.....

NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin on marriage equality and the black community:

"I don’t see how any African-American with any inkling of history can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life," says Irvin. "When we start talking about equality and everybody being treated equally, I don’t want to know an African-American who will say everybody doesn’t deserve equality.”

Equality is equality.
And anyone who has ever felt the sting of injustice, of being treated differently because of who you are, should stand up and fight for the rights of those who are being held down.
Nice to see another athlete, and a Black man, speak up about equality for all.
Sally Kern, on making homosexuality illegal:
"For years, gay activity, gay behavior was outlawed...I would rather it be back in the closet the way it used to be. The reasons they had law against it was because of the consequences that gay activity has...The way it used to be, people did it and it was secret it was in their bedroom and the rest of the world didn't know about it. Today they're pushing it. It's in your face...The more you put deviant sexual behavior in front of children, the more they engage in it."
You know what behavior needs to be put in a closet, Sal?
Hatred. Bigotry. Using God as a weapon.
Gay people aren't pushing what we do in the bedroom, which, like what you do in the bedroom--excuse my I vomit a little in my mouth--is no ones business.
And you can't make people gay, Sally, no matter how much you try and tell people that. You can't make people gay, and you can't make them ex-gay.
Ask your son.
Sally Kern [again!] writing a letter of support to New York bigot and homophobe, Ruben Diaz:
“Sen. Diaz, you are in my prayers. Three years ago I was the target of the homosexuals because of statements I made regarding the dangers of the homosexual agenda. So I know what you are going through. Continue to stand strong on God’s Word. What the homosexuals mean for evil toward you, God will use for His glory, your good, and the benefit of others. God bless you and your family.”

She was a "target" because she called gay people a bigger threat than terrorists, and if you want to compare us to terrorists, or murderers, or pedophiles, we will target you for your bigotry and ignorance and homophobia and downright stupidity.
Now, be gone, Sally, before someone drops a house on you.
Laura Fortusky, town clerk of Barker, New York, announcing her resignation rather than issue same-sex marriage licenses:

"The Bible clearly teaches that God created marriage between male and female as a divine gift that preserves families and cultures. Since I love and follow Him, I cannot put my signature on something that is against God. Deuteronomy 10:12 says, 'What does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.’ I would be compromising my moral conscience if I participated in the licensing procedure. Therefore, I will be resigning as of July 21. I wanted you to know my position as I understand the marriage law goes into effect on July 24."

Sweetie, when God writes your paycheck you can do God's bidding.
When New York pays you, you do what the laws of New York state.
Or pound the pavement looking for work.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, in a letter sent to town and city clerks in her jurisdiction:

"Recently, a local clerk in upstate New York made headlines when she said she would not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The Marriage Equality Act provides that an application for a marriage license cannot be denied on the grounds that the applicant parties are of the same sex and the law affords no discretion to public officials charged with granting marriage licenses. Therefore, any such refusal may be subject to criminal prosecution. The religious exemptions in the Marriage Equality Act are inapplicable to town and city clerks serving in their license-granting roles, and a public official’s intentional refusal to issue marriage licenses to qualified same-sex couples may constitute Official Misconduct, a Class A misdemeanor defined in section 195.00 of the New York State Penal Law."

Perfect example of Separation Of Church and Sate.
This clerk can believe whatever she wants, worship however she wants,m but she cannot inflict her personal views on anyone else, and the expect the state of New York top pay her for it.
Hopefully, Jesus will find her a new job, or hold her hand in the unemployment line.

A spokesman for California governor, Jerry Brown, on the idea of separating California into two states:

"It's a supremely ridiculous waste of everybody's time. If you want to live in a Republican state with very conservative right-wing laws, then there's a place called Arizona.''

It's funny......cuz it's true.
I remember back when I was a little California kid, that this "splitting" of California was being talked about.
Back then San Francisco would have been part of Southern California because back then it was all about the small towns of the north wanting to be separate from the big cities.
Now it's about Conservatives and Liberals.
Didn't work then, won't work now.

GOP presidential candidate Gary Johnson, on that Iowa anti-gay pledge:

"While the Family Leader pledge covers just about every other so-called virtue they can think of, the one that is conspicuously missing is tolerance. In one concise document, they manage to condemn gays, single parents, single individuals, divorcees, Muslims, gays in the military, unmarried couples, women who choose to have abortions, and everyone else who doesn’t fit in a Norman Rockwell painting. The Republican Party cannot afford to have a Presidential candidate who condones intolerance, bigotry and the denial of liberty to the citizens of this country. If we nominate such a candidate, we will never capture the White House in 2012. If candidates who sign this pledge somehow think they are scoring some points with some core constituency of the Republican Party, they are doing so at the peril of writing off the vast majority of Americans who want no part of this."

Johnson is so right here.
As this ultra-conservative faction of the GOP continues to demean everyone who isn't white, Christian, male and Republican, they will distance themselves from the rest of society, until they are no more than an incessant, irritating chatter in the background that most people will choose to ignore.

Michael Reagan, the former president's oldest son, on California's pending law requiring that notable LGBT historical figures be included in state textbooks:

"It will prove instructive to see how the state's lawmakers go about the job of implementing this absurd legislation. Will they, for example, rule that textbooks must describe what the state classifies as acceptable behavior? Or exactly how? Should the state require textbooks used in its schools to provide play-by-play descriptions of the behavior they sanction? Just where does this stop? Should not the 'contributions' of convicted thieves be celebrated? Or those of serial killers? Or embezzlers? The matter of the content of school textbooks has long been a controversial subject, but until now it has never reached the point where specific parts of the population are singled out for preferential treatment, especially when the segment of the population is distinguished solely by their sexual preferences."

First off, you douchebag, it's not a 'preference' it's an orientation.
It works like this: I'd prefer you shut your illiterate yap. My sexual orientation is gay.
Now, how is it absurd to teach anyone about the contributions that the gay community has made to the world in every single facet of life, from politics and art, to sports?
And please explain how you compare gay men and women to serial killers, you moronic fuck.

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, on terminating state foster care contracts with Catholic Charities because of their refusal to accept civil union law:

“They made a choice. They have a law in Illinois. It’s the civil unions law. I signed it into law. We’re not going back. Any organization that decides that because of the civil unions law that they won’t participate voluntarily in a program, that’s their choice.”

Bravo, Governor Quinn, for not goosestepping with the Catholic Church and their bigotry.

Bravo, for putting the needs of children, and the rights of all men and women of Illinois, above the bigotry of the Catholic Church.

Bravo!