Bobservations

One last Consuelo story … for now.

Once we got the little bitch our darling girl into the house, and into the guest room, and I was trying to get her out of the cage, Carlos said:

“Wait. Are we sure that’s her?”

Seriously. And if she ever gets out again, I now know I’ll just have to throw a dish towel on the floor by her food dish and he’ll think she’s still in the house.

Here’s a story I’d never heard …

Shortly after Rosa Parks defied segregation laws and sparked the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott, she left the South for Detroit. In 1994 Rosa Parks was robbed and assaulted in her home at the age of 81. Damon Keith, a Detroit native and civil rights activist, helped Rosa Parks find a new, safer apartment in the city, and that’s when the amazingly sweet happened.

Mike Ilitch, the Little Caesars founder and Detroit Tigers owner who died last week, read the story in the newspaper and called Damon Keith and made an offer: he would pay for Rosa Parks' housing indefinitely, which he did from 1994 until the icon passed in 2005.

RIP Mr. Ilitch and say Hello to Rosa.

The nativity scene at Claremont United Methodist Church depicts Jesus, Mary and Joseph as refugees held in separate cages topped with barbed wire. The baby Jesus is wrapped in a silver foil blanket. Lead Pastor Karen Clark Ristine:

"We thought about the most famous refugee family in the world, the family of Jesus.  In the Claremont United Methodist Church nativity scene this Christmas, the Holy Family takes the place of the thousands of nameless families separated at our borders. Imagine Joseph and Mary separated at the border and Jesus no older than two taken from his mother and placed behind the fences of a Border Patrol detention center as more than 5,500 children have been the past three years."

Imagine that Deplorables? If Jesus, Mary and Joseph came to our borders today, you’d cheer as they were separated and jailed.

This weekend is the Kennedy Center Honors, honoring Earth, Wind & Fire, Sally Field, Linda Ronstadt, Sesame Street, and Michael Tilson Thomas. But before the show, the State Dept. held a  dinner for the honorees and Mike Pompeo, introducing Linda Ronstadt, paraphrased one of her biggest hits and asked when he would be “loved”.

When Linda Ronstadt got up to receive her award, she looked Pompeo dead in the eyes and said:

“Maybe when you stop enabling Donald _____”.

Icon. Hero. Deserves very honor.

Matt Gay, kicker for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has been bullied his whole life because of his last name.

Now his nieces and nephews suffer the same, because … 2019 and people are still asshats. So, Matt has taken up the cause of anti-bullying and will wear special cleats to Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts:

“It’s so easy to hide behind a phone and say whatever you want. … I think it’s pure coward-ism for those who do it and there’s no place for it in this world. I got bullied and teased all the time for my last name and things like that. Luckily, I was stronger willed than they were and overcome it. There’s a lot of kids that get bullied in this world and have no way to stand up for themselves. Some of the messages I receive, it’s almost like people forget you’re an actual human being.”

Good on Matt because not only is the bullying ridiculous and must stop, the idea that calling someone gay is an insult has also got to go.

A new holiday ad for the H&M clothing chain features gay and lesbian love alongside straight couples in an ad entitled “Moments in Between”—that is the moments during the holiday season that come between the big events like Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

Set to Judy Garland’s performance of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” many of the scenes shown aren’t romantic, and most aren’t LGBTQ. But there are two queer moments where two women are kissing under the mistletoe, and two young men kiss on a stairway.

Cute, right? Well, H&M is being forced to delete hateful comments about LGBTQ people under the post:

“We have a strong belief in love being for all and would like everyone to keep a friendly tone. Therefore comments that are extremely hurtful and not in line with our well-rooted values about equality have been removed.”

The comments are removed, but not the scenes of two same-sex couples sharing a kiss.

Take that!

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist, has been selected as TIME’s 2019 ‘Person of the Year’, making her the youngest person ever bestowed with their honor.

Before 2019, the previous individual to hold the record for youngest Person of the Year was the first Person of the Year in TIME’s history: 25-year-old Charles Lindbergh, back in 1927.

Congratulations to a most deserving honoree.

Adrien France.

Yes; he’s French; I’m dreaming of that accent now. And then there’s that whole loves-to-model-in-his-underwear thing. He works the curly hair, works the sleek hair, works the 70s porn star look.

Just sayin’.

Bobservations

Making America Great Again requires cutting Utah national parks down by about 90% and opening them up to drilling and mining. Well, it makes America great again for big business and corporations but not for people and the environment.

Carlos and I went to the movies on Sunday—Three Billboards—and he used his cane to help him navigate the streets. Inside the theater, though, we got all kinds of strange looks from people who saw us and wondered why a blind guy with a cane was at the movies. We both got a laugh out of that one.

Apparently, the Fat Bastard spoke about the Wedding Cake Supreme Court case and suggested that bakers put signs in their windows saying, 'We Don't Bake Cakes for Gay Weddings.' And thought that sounded so familiar but where have I heard ….’No colored people at the counter.’

Along that same note, if baking a cake for a same-sex wedding is endorsing homosexuality, then wouldn't voting for a pedophile be endorsing pedophilia?

And on that note, _____ foe, Arizona GOP Senator Jeff Flake donated $100 to Democratic nominee Doug Jones’s campaign for Senate in Alabama, and in the memo line of the check wrote, “Country over Party.” Too bad the rest of the GOP doesn’t feel the same.

In hysteria spreading news, Sean Hannity appeared on Breitbart’s SiriusXM radio show where he and Steve Bannon agreed that they both might end up in prison if Obama’s double-super-secret deep state forces get their way. If only ….

The Silence Breakers are TIME's Person of the Year 2017 … the Fat Bastard came in second, which means, again, he lost the popular vote to a woman. The only thing that could be better than The Silence Breakers being Person of the Year this year is the people who finally bring down the entire Trump administration being recognized next year.

White Supremacist, and FOTHFB—Friend of the Fat Bastard—campaigned for Roy Moore last night and chastised Mitt Romney, who criticized Moore, for not going to Vietnam instead of doing his Mormon missionary work. Funny, because Bannon said not one word about Bone Spur Boy.

At the dentist this morning the hygienist wanted to tell me all about her busy holiday season while she had her hands and her tools in my mouth. I couldn’t even ‘Uh huh’ or ‘Huh uh,’ I could only ‘Ack.’

Burning Bridges ... And Pissing Off JLo

Luckily I have a boss who knows that I’m a dick with a smart mouth and that I do love my job because sometimes the things I say could get me fired ... like the time my boss was in a mood and was ranting about his employees and saying things like,

“I wish … yada yada yada.”

And I replied,

“You know what I wish? I wish I had a time machine so I could go back to the day you offered me this job and say, ‘F**k you.”

And, before you ask, he laughed , and, yes, I am still employed. But I’ve always wondered about the way to quit a job … to burn those bridges … scorch that earth … leave nothing but ruin in your rear-view mirror and know there isn’t a chance in Hell you’ll be hired back or get any kind of reference anywhere.

Case in point: Sara Hammel.

I don’t know this woman but I’m thinking a job as a hostess at Red Lobster will be the only job she can get now … especially when JLo puts a hit out on her.

See, Hammel, a longtime People writer, quit the magazine recently, but not before writing a Scorched Earth Resignation Letter to editorial director Jess Cagle and other top editors:

Dear People Magazine,

I quit.

It’s not me, it’s you. It’s been a wildly dysfunctional 14 years, and you’re an entirely different magazine than when we first got together. I swear half the current staff doesn’t know my name, despite my contribution to something like fifteen hundred stories in your celebrity annals, so here’s a refresher: I worked inside your London, Los Angeles and New York bureaus, covered breaking news in nine countries, and dealt with too many celebrities to remember.

Sara sounds like she has issues with people not remembering her.

My first celebrity assignment for you was Spice Girl Geri Halliwell in 2002. My last was Robert De Niro in April 2016. In between, there were memorable encounters galore, including making the gorgeous and empathic Mariska Hargitay ugly-cry (turns out she cries at like every charity-related event, phew), enduring an Oscar winner’s public bullying over an intimate dinner…

Sadly, she fails to name the bully.

… facing a personal crisis at Tom Cruise’s wedding in Rome, getting basically, kind of spat on by a snotty J. Lo (okay, it was like a very wet pffttt in my general direction, really obnoxious) …

 JLoogy?

… having fun with endless lower-key celebs like Rosario Dawson and Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Douglas, observing just how stiff and awkward George Clooney is around kids, insulting Sheryl Crow’s baby, and getting groped/harrassed by an A-list [omitted] performer in New York and Paris (that’s not to be flip—it was violating as hell. I’m still pissed I didn’t jab him in the balls with my pen).

I want names!

… This is just what the entitled stars and their bat—t crazy publicists put me and many other talented, hard-working reporters through. You people, as it turns out, are worse. Stupidly, we expect loyalty and support from you after years of service. We are naïve. Despite your nicey nice, glossy and chirpy veneer, some of us think of you more as the Leo DiCaprio of magazines, using up every beautiful model that crosses your path (“beautiful model”= “award-winning journalist” in this scenario), discarding them, and pretending you leave no wake behind you.

Like I said, hostess at Red Lobster.

I’m oddly surprised my tenure here is ending not with explosive hatred stoked by a cold dismissal from an insensate behemoth (i.e. you)  — a fate I watched ashen-faced friends and colleagues endure before my eyes during the Los Angeles bureau’s 2008 culling  — but with a slow fade-out and a final venting of my gossip-weary spleen.

Then again, that’s why I’m happy being freelance. I’ve survived something like eight rounds of layoffs where talented colleagues were bitch-slapped into oblivion and, I hope, will never give their nights, weekends, relationships and sanity again to keep up with an email chain about whether Jennifer Aniston is pregnant at 47 because of those tummy photos and what kind of mom will she be, when really she just had an extra burrito at lunch; but oh, wait, the rep says it’s just a rumor so there’s no story this week after all.

Someone needs to settle herself.

I will say, what happens after that is that my debut teen mystery, the one I spent my adult life making into a reality, but which, despite the schlock regularly featured in its pages and online, People decided to ignore — more to the point, they ignored me entirely — even after I toiled away for them for 14 years. They wouldn’t even give me a digital post that I wrote, sourced, and agreed to remove the name of my book from (LOL). That book is called The Underdogs.

Ah, so therein lies the rub. Sara wrote a book and expected People magazine to promote it for her and when they didn’t, well, she began the venom-spew.

I’ll leave you with the kicker:

As I was crafting this letter, a Tweet came through from one of your top editors, Kate Coyne, crowing about her full-page People feature promoting her brand-new book, accompanied by a colorful screenshot. “Don’t ask how, but I got in touch with someone at @people—now I’m in the new issue. So grateful!”

You should be, Kate. Enjoy it while it lasts.

And now we’ve come full-circle. Another People employee did get her work promoted in the magazine, but Sara did not. I’m guessing green, while Sara’s color, is not a good look on her.

Hammel has a memoir out … on Kindle, perhaps because no respectable publishing house would touch her … called “Red Carpet Regret: Confessions of a Cynical Celebrity Journalist.”

On the other side, People is holding its head up high … I now, People magazine is trying to act all dignified, and a spokeswoman said:

“We don’t comment on personnel matters.”

No, but they do slyly destroy those to trash the Goliath. Or maybe send JLo and Clooney out to tag-team Sara Hammel into nothingness.

Random Musings

Another year and another Cinco de Never survived.

It was a nice party — good friends, both old and new — with great food and plenty of alcohol — margaritas, sangria, cerveza, wine and an open bar — to satisfy anyone.

We served chips and my Aunt Norma’s Salsa—which is so easy to make and is always a hit—and guacamole; we had Roasted Lime Chipotle Peanuts to nibble on and Chorizo-stuffed Sopes — little masa boats topped with cheese and cilantro. For dinner, we offered homemade Tamales stuffed with Pork, along with Carlos’ Pasilla Pepper Salsa; we had Shrimp Ceviche with Capers, Green Olives and Avocado; Pinto Bean and Corn Salad; Cilantro Lime Rice and Refried Beans.

The weather was kind of iffy, but the rain stayed away until well after the last guests left, at which time Carlos and I cleaned up the house and then collapsed, vowing not to do this again and yet already making changes to the menu for next year.

It’s just 360 days away … time to get moving.

So, over there to Ghana, where violence and harassment of gays and lesbians is way up, a Muslim cleric has announced that he believes he has a new reason to hate The Gays.

Mallam Abass Mahmud, said “Allah gets annoyed when males engage in sexual encounter and such disgusting encounter causes earthquake.”

Yes, The Gay Sex causes earthquakes. And, well, I have felt the earth move a time or two hundred so maybe there’s some truth to his statement?

In Arkansas, Mitchell McCoy is a reporter for both KARK and FOX16 News. Not a big deal, except for the note he received from a viewer:

“Dear Mitch,

I watched KARK before you joined and it was a reputable broad cast until now. I have been holding back for months but I can’t stand your gayness. You are on television every night and our children should not be watching people like you. You are a disgrace to Arkansas and I will be asking your boss to take you off. Do not be offended but society is not ready for gay men reading news.

Sincerely, kark Channel 4 fan”

McCoy shared the note to his Twitter feed with this response:

“I get many emails but this tops it. I’ve dreamt of being a reporter since I was 9 and I won’t stop on your behalf. With that said, no matter who you are or what you believe in – dream loudly and don’t let anyone get in your way. The minute you stop…is the minute you stop being who you are. It’s not worth it.

#DreamOn #StepUpStopBullying“

Hats off to Mitchell McCoy for gay-reading the news … whatever that means!

Okay, I will confess that Dutch actor Michiel Huisman has been a Random Musings Hottie before when he appeared early in the series run of Nashville. But over the weekend, whilst channel surfing, I came across a film called The Age of Adeline which co-starred Huisman.

He is all kinds of dreamy but when he appeared onscreen, fresh from a shower, wrapped in a towel, I felt he just oozed sexiness.

It took Carlos about ten minutes to get me to stop licking the TV screen. Just sayin’.

Ali Chaney, a thirteen-year-old Texas student was sent home by her school for wearing a t-shirt that read:

“Some people are gay. Get over it.”

Ali was told by school administrators that her shirt was “disruptive” to other students and when she refused to change into a school-provided shirt, she was sent home. Her mother, Cassie Watson, said Ali called her crying because she felt school leaders were discriminating against her for being gay:

“I would never, ever have expected it from the administration. I would think that the administration would be the first ones there to support her.”

They should support her, but then again, this is Texas and, well, they hate The Gays.

District Spokeswoman Wendy Sledd released this statement:

“Our purpose at CCISD is to educate children, first and foremost. According to CCISD’s dress code in the student handbook and code of conduct, clothing that is disruptive to the learning environment based on reactions by other students is prohibited. The student was offered a school shirt to wear and declined.”

I guess if other students don’t like your clothes, you have to change; not the students with the tiny bigoted minds. And Ali did point out that one student wore a shirt that said President Obama is a communist Muslim and he was not forced to change.

But again … Texas.

Victor Gutiérrez, member of the Spanish water polo team, and an Olympic hopeful, has come out as gay:

 “I’m out of the closet in my environment. My family knows I’m gay, my friends too. And I’m living in such a positive way with my sexuality that I felt a responsibility to share it with others.”

And one reason Gutiérrez chose to come out now is because of a rise in gay bashings in Spain:

“There have been more than 70 homophobic attacks in Madrid so far this year. It is a reality that we live in. And there are almost no athletes who are out of the closet. But in my experience, people have changed. As an athlete, my experience has been absolutely positive.”

The best part of all is that Victor says he didn’t sit his teammates down and tell them he was gay; he simply introduced them to his boyfriend like anybody else would.

“I never sat down with the president of my club, the coach or teammates. In the end, it is my life and I do what I want. I hope my coming out serves to break a taboo within the sport. You have to be judged not by your sexuality but by your sporting merit.”

Welcome out, Victor, and please accept as our gift the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven and a copy of The Gay Agenda. The toaster oven is perfect for warming your Empanadas!

And for those of you who don’t know, an empanada is a beef turnover so get your minds out of the gutter!

Last month Time ran a story about the fight over transgender persons suing the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity. It was a good article, but …

Time used the rainbow flag on the cover to promote their article and some people — I was one — were annoyed that they used that flag and not the one that represents transgender pride. I mean, the rainbow flag is widely considered representative of the LGBT community but there is a separate flag solely for the trans community.

Luckily, Rachel Sharp, an author from New York, re-created Time’s front cover with the right flag, the transgender flag:

Minute Rant: Husband of Deceased 9/11 Hero Returns his Wife's Woman of The Year Award After Caitlyn Jenner Is Given The Same Prize

Back on September 11, 2001, NYPD officer Moira Smith died while helping people evacuate Tower Two, and she was posthumously honored by Glamour magazine as its Woman of the Year.

This year, her husband, James Smith — also a police officer in New York — is returning her award because this year Glamour magazine has named Caitlyn Jenner its Woman of the Year. In a letter posted to Facebook, Smith said the award to Jenner was a ‘slap in the face’ to the memory of his wife that a man was given the award':

“Was there no woman in America, or the rest of the world, more deserving than this man? At a time when we have women in the armed forces fighting and dying for our country, heroic doctors fighting deadly diseases, women police officers and firefighters putting their lives on the line for total strangers, brave women overcoming life-threatening diseases…the list of possibilities goes in…is this the best you could do?”

I feel sorry for this man, James Smith, because he’s lost; while his wife did indeed save countless lives in the towers that day, he has no idea how many lives Caitlyn Jenner has saved, will save; how many people might not swallow those pills, pull that trigger, jump in front of that car, because Caitlyn Jenner has stepped forward with her story of her struggles with a transgender identity. She has shown that you can live your truth, and I imagine there are many people following in her footsteps today that might have chosen a different path, with a much sadder outcome, had it not been for her. And for Smith to reiterate that hateful idea that Caitlyn Jenner is a man is more of a disservice to his wife’s memory than anything else.

“There was a French activist and writer, Simone de Beauvoir, who said, “You are not born woman. You become one. Words I live by.” — Caitlyn Jenner, in her acceptance speech receiving the Transgender Champion award at this year’s Glamour Women of the Year

For their part, Glamour magazine released a statement saying they were “proud to honor [Smith’s] wife… in 2001, and we stand by our decision to honor Caitlyn Jenner.”

Both women rescued people; one from a terrorist attack, and the other from people like James Smith who make them feel as though they don’t belong.

Gay Star News

Random Musings

American Horror Story: Hotel ...

I am loving Liz Taylor, though part of her story — as it related to hunky Finn Wittrock — broke my heart last night.

Finn Wittrock … at least we know no one ever really dies.

Cheyenne Jackson. Good lord; a thing of beauty and a joy forever.

And um, yeah, the trip back to Murder House from Season One and the birth … birth? … of Bartholomew.

And … American Horror Story has been picked up for a 6th season, and it looks like Lady Gaga might return.

I would prefer Jessica Lange, but Gaga has been surprising me this season, playing a bloodsucking version of herself, that is.

Show of hands, who saw this coming besides me?

A new Gallup poll finds a dramatic increase in the number of married LGBT couples post-SCOTUS ruling. There are now approximately 972,000 Americans in a same-sex marriage, up from about 780,000 before the ruling.

We fought for marriage and we’re doing it …

So, Starz has a new show about a ballet company, but the kicker is that they are actually using professional ballet dancers in the show. So, none of that creative cutting and editing to make it look like a non-dancer is doing all the work.

And, as happens with ballet, there are some heartthrobs, like …

Ben Daniels [top left] , who plays the gay choreographer, Paul Grayson; he’s kinda sexy in a bitchy arrogant egomaniacal sort of way. And then we have Sascha Radetsky [right] and Clifton Duncan [bottom left] , as Ross and Reggie respectively, two actual ballet hunks.

Men in tights. Yes, please.

Speaking of LGBT rights and the march, President Barack Obama is the first sitting President to pose for the cover of a gay magazine by appearing on Out Magazine as the Ally Of The Year.

Bravo, Mister President.

So, man buns are ALLEGEDLY the new ‘it’ thing for metrosexuals everywhere — unless we count the growing trend of man braids — but, what if you’re a man that doesn’t have enough hair to go all trendy and hipster?

Try a clip-on man bun. Seriously. I just died a little.

Adele 'Hello' live ... because I am obsessed with all things Adele ... sue me.

Is this what presidential candidates do?

Jeb No-Last-Name, says that, if given the opportunity, he would go back in time to kill Baby Adolf Hitler in his crib?

“Hell yeah, I would! You gotta step up, man.”

Seriously. Take a seat, Jeb.

Meanwhile, [t]Rump is saying that, if he’s elected, we will all be saying ‘Merry Christmas’ and Starbucks will make a caramel latter in an effing Christmas cup.

And Ben Carson is wondering that, since the pyramids were used for grain storage, if the Parthenon was a stable for unicorns. And then he stabbed someone.

As for future failed presidential candidate, and certifiable loon, Ted Cruz, he thinks anyone who “doesn’t begin every day on his knees isn’t fit to be commander-in-chief.”

Well, I guess I am fit to be President then.

Just sayin’.

Is It Hot In Here ... Or Is It Charlie Hunnam?

Charlie Hunnam photographed on the set of a King Arthur reboot in England for Entertainment Weekly. Smoldering.

Paper Put A Filthy Animal On Its Cover ....

Oh, and there's a pig, too.
C'mon, you were thinkin' it, too!

Random Musings

We have certain rules in our house:

1] I take care of what goes into the cats and Carlos talks care of what comes out of them—no matter which end.

2] Carlos kills the bugs. Now, I will kill a bug if Carlos isn’t around, but if he’s home, well, I call on him.

Now, apparently, I am in charge of snakes. The other night, after dinner, Carlos took Ozzo out to the backyard. I was in the living room when I heard him say, loudly, ‘Bob.’

‘What?’

‘There’s a snake out here.’

I go out onto the deck and look down at Carlos standing on the lawn and pointing about a hundred feet away from where he saw a foot-long snake—although I think it was smaller because Carlos tends to exaggerate snake size, ifyougetmymeaning.

He wanted me to get a shovel and scour our 1-acre-plus lot at night for a small snake and kill it. I refused, and simply suggested he come inside and let it go, but his fear, albeit real, was trending toward the irrational.

‘There might be hundreds out there.’

‘What if they come in the house?’

‘We have to move.’

Luckily I didn’t have that shovel or ….

Down here in South Carolina, where it’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity, some folks, most folks, just love Senator Lindsey-Not-Gay-Graham.

But, the GOP senator is facing a tough primary from a number of Republican challengers who believe he is too 'liberal' … Let that sink in … and one in particular, Nancy Mace, has taken to ‘gay baiting’ the 58-year-old lifelong confirmed bachelor.

Mace has called Lindsey a ‘Nancy Boy’ in a recent Tweet, which she then attempted to delete but, being from South Carolina, was too dumb to realize that once a tweet is sent out it is out there for the public.

But don’t worry about Miss Lindsey. She apparently has some $6 million in the bank and a comfortable lead, but that don’t stop folks from a’talkin’ ‘bout her.

So Beyoncé got her hair cut.

That’s news? 

Apparently it is these days, though, I think, the story shouldn’t have been that she got her hair cut but that she had her weave removed.

The International Olympic Committee [IOC] has a long-standing rule about political demonstrations and they have confirmed that they will likely enforce that rule at Sochi should any pro-gay protests be made by the athletes. 

Under rule 50 of the IOC’s charter: ‘No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.’ The penalty for violating Rule 50 can be "disqualification or withdrawal of the accreditation of the person concerned without appeal."

Yup. If you say ‘gay’ in Russia, you could be jailed, and if you say ‘gay’ and the IOC gets wind of it, they will disqualify you and strip you of your medals.

It’s good to be gay, no?

I am in love with Downton Abbey, though I was heartbroken when the dreamy Matthew Crawley was suddenly killed last year. 

So, this year, in an effort to mend my wounds, it seems the producers have lined up some serious Man Candy for my amusement; from top to bottom: 

Julian Ovenden plays aristocrat Charles Blake, while Gary Carr is set to play American jazz singer Jack Ross, and Tom Cullen plays Lord Anthony Ginningham.

Like I said: Man.Candy.

After the demise of DOMA we are learning all the ways in which those same-sex couples will be affected by the changes.

One, well, I don’t like it, is that new policy guidelines established by the Social Security Administration will limit benefits to only those same-sex couples who live in states with marriage equality. 

So, those of us who marry, legally, yet live in a state that does not yet offer full equality, will not be entitled to Social Security Benefits.

But, in response to the DOMA death, a majority of federal agencies — such as the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Personnel Management — have chosen to look to the laws of the state in which a couple was married as opposed to the state of the couple's residence in order to determine marital status.

So…the march goes on.

Last week the winner of Food Network Star was announced after an hour-long clip-show; I felt no need to recap that.

The winner was milquetoast Damaris Phillips. She was the most mainstream of the three finalists, and one destined to be groomed to take Paula Deen’s place but ….

The Food Network aired the results show at midnight, Eastern Time, which says to me, even they aren’t that thrilled by the outcome.

Ten weeks of trials and challenges and the news comes out in the middle of the night.

Things have gotten so bad out there in San Diego for Mayor, and :::cough cough::: ALLEGED sexual harasser Bob Filner that several business in the downtown area have posted signs in their windows saying the mayor is not welcome in there establishments.

The latest business to follow suit: Hooters.

And that is no joke. In a statement posted on Twitter, the company said restaurant acted on its own: "Our Hooters Girls in San Diego have spoken. Not a corporate gig, but we support our girls."

Hands off, Mayor.

Oh, and you Obama Haters?

Yeah, the government has reported a $97.6 billion deficit for July but noted that the country remains on track to post its lowest annual budget gap in five years.

July's figure raise the deficit to $607.4 billion, but that is 37.6% below the $973.8 billion deficit for the first 10 months of the 2012 budget year.

The Congressional Budget Office [CBO] forecasts the annual deficit will be $670 billion when the budget year ends September 30, far below last year's $1.09 trillion. It would mark the first year that the gap between spending and revenue has been below $1 trillion since 2008, AKA the W Years.

Snap. Oh, and shut up.

Ebony magazine created a series of covers following the Not Guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trail and lotsa conservatives were all up in arms about it, threatening to boycott the magazine and cancel subscriptions.

Ebony magazine was nonplussed: