They're Everywhere ... Monday March 14, 2022

These really are the easiest posts to compile, because, literally, they're everywhere ... but that's what makes it so frightening.

MISSOURI

GOP state Representative Brian Seitz has introduced a bill that would ban the termination of ectopic pregnancies.

An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the uterus, most often in the fallopian tube, and can be life-threatening for the mother if left untreated; in addition, the fetus cannot survive to be carried to term.

But Seitz’s bill, if passed into law, would make performing, inducing or attempting to perform or induce an abortion for such a pregnancy a class A felony carrying a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Woman of Missouri, is this what you want? A man telling you what to do with your body when he clearly has no idea what he’s talking about?

CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE.

FLORIDA

The GOP-controlled Florida Senate approved legislation—dubbed the ‘Stop Woke Act—to limit how workplaces and schools teach race and identity. The measure prohibits trainings that cause someone to feel guilty or ashamed about the past collective actions of their race or sex, and its passage clears the way for Governor Ron DeathSantis to sign one of his top legislative priorities into law.

Stop Woke is also known as The White Fragility Act on this here blog.

MARYLAND

GOP US Senator Ted Cruz visited the “People’s Convoy” in Maryland last week, even riding in the lead vehicle and waving to protesters.

I mean, other than running off to Cancun last year when Texas got too cold for Rafael, is there any other way to show that he has the tiniest dick in Congress than by climbing abroad a big rig and waving like a QAnon puppet.

Texas, really?

GEORGIA

Days before a key legislative deadline, Georgia’s GOP state senators have proposed their own ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill to deter teachers from discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom.

While the bill stands little chance of passing this late in the legislative session, it does show how bigotry and hatred are working their way around the nation.

Still a note to the GOP asshats: you may stop people from saying Gay, but you will never stop people from being Gay.

IDAHO

The Idaho House of Representatives passed a bill that could lead to librarians being prosecuted for checking out materials that are deemed harmful to minors. If this bill—ironically, it is House Bill 666—passes into law, it would remove an exemption that protects libraries, schools, museums, colleges and universities and their employees for “disseminating material that is harmful to minors.”

GOP state Representative Gayann DeMordaunt sponsored the bill and said it is necessary to protect children from what she described as pornography and obscene material she said has seen making its way into libraries where children can access it.

Idaho needs a Don’t Say Gayann bill.

ALABAMA

GOP Governor Kay Ivey has signed a bill that eliminates the requirement of a state permit to carry a concealed handgun.

Yep, no permit required; anyone can carry a gun, anywhere, anytime, ever. Ivey says:

“Unlike states who are doing everything in their power to make it harder for law abiding citizens, Alabama is reaffirming our commitment to defending our Second Amendment rights. I have always stood up for the rights of law abiding gunowners, and I am proud to do that again today."

I guess by ‘law abiding citizens ‘ she means the ones that shoot up schools and churches and Walmart and movie theaters.

Of note: you need a license to drive a car but a gun? Not so much.

TEXAS

Ed Young, the pastor of the multi-site Fellowship Church in Texas, said in a sermon Sunday there are levels of hierarchy in Heaven and warned Christians who do not use their spiritual gifts to serve God’s kingdom will not be elevated to a higher position when they die.

In other words., make sure you give a bunch of money to Ed Young ort else God will smite you.

Fucking Faux Christian.

FLORIDA

Negotiations between the state Senate and House of Representatives, both controlled by the GOP, broke down, with the two sides unable to agree on a bill that would require inspections of aging condo buildings and mandate that condo boards conduct studies to determine how much they need to set aside for repairs.

Florida Republicans did manage to find the time to create new laws attacking LGBTQ+ citizens, voting rights, women, and educators, but “ran out of time” to stop fatal building collapses.

That’s Flori-duh in a nutshell.

TENNESSEE

Republicans in the Tennessee Senate voted to confirm Jordan Mollenhour,  Governor Bill Lee‘s nominee to the State Board of Education, despite Mollenhour being involved in a lawsuit related to his online ammunition business, Lucky Gunner, selling ammunition to a 17-year-old who shot and killed ten people and wounding another 13 at a Texas high school in 2018. The company was also sued for selling over 4,000 rounds of ammo to the man who fatally shot 12 people at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012.

Jeff Yarbro, the Democratic Minority Leader of the Tennessee Senate said:

“There are nearly 7 million people in Tennessee surely to God the governor could have found one state board of education nominee who’s not in ongoing litigation about illegally selling ammunition used in a deadly school shooting.”

Mollenhour, who currently represents one district on the Education Board, sailed through his confirmation hearing: 26 of 27 Republicans voted to confirm. One abstained. All six Democrats voted against. The Tennessee House also has to confirm Mollenhour. The vote is scheduled for today.

IDAHO

The Idaho House of Representatives passed legislation to make it a crime punishable by life in prison for a parent to seek out gender-affirming health care for their transgender child.

GOP Representative Bruce Skaug says his bill is necessary because minors are too young to make life-altering decisions about their bodies.

The bill cleared the Idaho House by a vote of 55-13, and now heads to the Senate, where Republicans hold a 28-to-7 majority over Democrats.

Putting parents in jail for life because they love and accept their trans children.

Fuck off Idaho.

Get educated and save yourselves from The Stupids.

And CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE!

Architecture Wednesday: Midcentury Summer House

While this may look like a 21st century take on a midcentury modern home, this is actually a preservation and renovation of a home built in 1962 on Gibson Island in Maryland.

The home was designed by noted midcentury architect, Ulrich Franzen, a disciple of I.M. Pei—who designed homes at the beginning of his career but is also noted for designing the glass pyramid outside the Louvre as well as the Rock’n’roll Hall of Fame in Cincinnati.

The Franzen home boasts a thin roofline and eight columns of weathering steel made from the original owner’s employer, Bethlehem Steel Corporation. This robust frame allows for a lack of load bearing exterior and interior walls so that Franzen could incorporate a continuous band of glass that runs along the entire perimeter.

When searching for a summer retreat, the current owners discovered the home along a wooded inland lot at the island’s highest point above the convergence of the Chesapeake Bay and the Magothy River. Over the years, the home underwent several renovations creating a group of closed spaces that did not take advantage of the views, and the new owners hired Rill Architects, who returned the house to its original walls of glass glory.

The existing steel beams, glass walls and stone designed by Franzen were maintained while further opening the interior to accentuate the wooded property's natural beauty. Aside from the bedrooms and bathrooms, which are shielded by an interior front stone wall, Rill Architects turned the entire floor plan into an open layout, providing a perfect setting for the home's minimalist design.

The first-floor master bedroom was reoriented to take advantage of the view from the windows above a stone wall, while two first-level bathrooms were renovated, and the kitchen was given a complete overhaul, while paying homage to Franzen and his aesthetic.

A new open staircase in the foyer replaced an existing elevator to the lower level and the indoor pool was removed—a new pool was built outside—to create a guest bedroom and bath, and home office with access to a semi-private patio. In addition, the rear of the lower level was opened to the outdoors as well.

It's an update and a redo and a renovation that still pays tribute to the original design and ideas from 1962.

Dwell

It Gets Worse: A Family Is Kicked Out Of A Church While Black

In what is surely a sign that having a racist in the White House has created an environment of extreme racism and intolerance in this country, we have been witness to an eight-year-old black girl who had the police called on her because she was ::: gasp::: selling water; we saw three black teenagers kicked out of a community pool by a white woman because they, ahem, “didn’t belong.” We watched a white woman call police on a black family because they were having a barbecue and just last week a young black boy had police called on him because he accidentally mowed the grass on someone else’s lawn and a woman who was harassed by a white man because he didn’t believe she had a right to be at a community pool.

Oh, and then yesterday I saw a video of a man, a drunken white man, shrieking at a woman because she was wearing a t-shirt that read: Puerto Rico.

Seriously. This is America under _____, and it’s only gonna get worse until we do something about it … on election day.

But, will it get worse than this?

At St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Charlotte Hall, Maryland, “Pastor"—and it deserves to be placed in quotes—Michael Briese became so infuriated during the funeral of Agnes Hicks, a black woman, that he kicked the entire funeral party, and the deceased, out of the church.

Apparently, an attendee accidentally knocked over the church’s “sacred golden cup” and Briese lost it:

“There will be no funeral, no repast, everyone get the hell out of my church.”

My church. Briese then ordered the family to remove the body of Agnes Hicks from the church, where she’d requested to be laid to rest because she’d been baptized there half a century earlier.

Shanice Chisely, the daughter of Agnes Hickes:

“[Briese] disrespected our family, he disrespected my mother. He called my mother ‘a thing.’ He said, ‘get this thing out of my church! Everyone get the hell out of my church!’ It was very sad. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

But, of course, it got worse, because then “Pastor” Briese called the police on the family because, you know, black. When police arrived, however, they determined, as would anyone with a brain and without the racism gene, that the family had done nothing wrong and escorted them to a funeral home in a different county, where another pastor finished the service.

When the story broke, the Archdiocese of Washington issued an apology to the family:

“What occurred at St. Mary’s Parish this morning does not reflect the Catholic Church’s fundamental calling to respect and uplift the God-given dignity of every person nor does that incident represent the pastoral approach the priests of the Archdiocese of Washington commit to undertake every day in their ministry.”

But what will they do? They claimed to take “the matter seriously,” and claimed that the incident was “still under review” but this is a church that turns a blind eye to priests raping children, so I’m sure this is nothing, and nothing will be done.

In the Age of _____, this is just business as usual. This is a country where, when you feel uncomfortable because someone is speaking Spanish near you, when you are worried because two black men are sitting in Starbucks, when you are scared because a black woman is sleeping in her dorm’s common room, you use the police to make you feel better … about being a racist, close-minded, intolerant, bigoted fuck-monkey.

WokeSloth

Architecture Wednesday: Mid-Century Reno That Keeps Things Simple

I will admit that nearly all of the homes I feature in Architecture Wednesday, most are rather large; it’s not that I love a huge house, I just love what people do with a large space.

And then along comes this home in Maryland; a mid-century modern home that was remodeled from its original 847 square feet to roughly 1700 square.

Yes, that number is right. It’s not a huge house, but man does it feel spacious. Mainly because the clients wanted simple and open and lass and views from everywhere into the wooded hillside lot.

So, it looks like a lot of house, but it’s not … it’s just right.

HomeDSGN

#SayHerName ... Zella Ziona ... Another Transwoman Killed Because of Hate

And another one …

Zella Ziona, just twenty-one-years old, was shot multiple times in the head in an alley in Gaithersburg, Maryland last week; another transgender woman murdered in America.

Witnesses say a group of four or five teenagers surrounded Zion and an argument ensued, during which one of the teenagers pulled a gun because, again, America, we love guns, and shot Ziona in the head; she was pronounced dead at the hospital a few hours later.

Authorities have one suspect under arrest; Rico Hector Leblond, twenty, of Germantown, has been charged in connection with the murder.

And this time, unlike other cases of transwomen being surrounded by gangs of men and murdered in the streets of this country, Montgomery county police captain, Paul Starks, says the attack was not “random,” which may mean that they will investigate this as a Hate Crime.  Maryland is one of just 16 states with hate-crime legislation that protects residents on the basis of their actual or perceived gender identity.

For the record, Zella Ziona is the 22nd transgender, or gender non-conforming, person to have been murdered in this country this year, making this year even deadlier of our LGBTQ brothers and especially our sisters. Add to that the fact that trans women of color — like Zella Ziona — are far more likely to be beaten and attacked and murdered than other trans women, and we kind of have an epidemic on our hands.

Say her name, Zella Ziona, and don’t let this story go untold. This has to stop … these crimes have to be investigated and charged and tried as Hate Crimes.

It’s enough.

Gawker

Marriage Equality Inches South ....

Earlier today a federal appeals court panel in Virginia became the second one this summer to strike down a state ban against same-sex marriage, making it more likely that the Supreme Court will settle the issue as early as next year.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond ruled 2-1 that gay men and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry that is paramount to state marriage laws:

"We recognize that same-sex marriage makes some people deeply uncomfortable. However, inertia and apprehension are not legitimate bases for denying same-sex couples due process and equal protection of the laws."—Judge Henry Floyd

The circuit court has jurisdiction over Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina [emphasis mine]. The panel's decision will not take effect for at least 21 days while circuit clerks defending the state's ban decide whether to appeal to the full appellate court or the Supreme Court.

It’s getting closer, y’all!

UPDATE:
The latest news is that the Attorney General of North Carolina has now said he will no longer defend that state's marriage ban in light of the Virginia ruling!

UPDATE # 2
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson  says South Carolina’s gay marriage ban remains intact and he sees no need to change course because the U.S. Supreme Court will likely make the final decision about gay marriage.

South Carolina ... and Alan Wilson ... you disappoint me.

via USA Today

Maryland Delegate Arrested For Drunk Boating Driving

Maryland lawmaker Don Dwyer has done it again, y’all.

Last summer he was cited for drunk boating, after he and a, ahem, male companion, crashed Dwyer’s boat into another boat, injuring four children; Dwyer pleaded guilty to the charges and appealed a 30-day jail sentence. He is scheduled to be resentenced in that case in October. See post HERE.

Lotsa folks said Dwyer should have resigned, but he refused, and now he’s gone and done it again, only this time on a highway and not a waterway.

See last week, Dwyer was charged with drunk driving after a police officer saw his car swerving across the road at least four times while driving 70 mph in a 55 mph zone. After he was pulled over, Dwyer told the officer he was coming from Baltimore, where he had had the requisite “two beers”; the officer said Dwyer had glassy red eyes and smelled of alcohol, so he tested the politician. Dwyer struggled with the coordination and balance tests and was subsequently arrested. Again.

At the police station Dwyer refused a breathalyzer test, and was taken before a judge who released this twice-charged drunk on his own recognizance. Dwyer was charged with infractions that included driving while impaired by alcohol, reckless driving and displaying expired tags.

Maryland Delegate Nicholaus Kipke, the House minority leader, issued a statement with fellow Republican and House Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga saying they were "grateful that the police were able to intervene before anyone was harmed. We urge Delegate Dwyer to seek treatment immediately."

House Speaker, and a Democrat, Michael Busch criticized Dwyer for his "conduct and indiscretion" but said the arrest does not alter his status as a member of the General Assembly.

Not even a second arrest for the same type of offense.

Busch, in fact, said, "Delegate Dwyer's future in the legislature will be decided by his own conscience as he considers whether he can effectively represent his constituents or, ultimately, by the voters of District 31."

Leaving it all up to Dwyer’s conscience, which he apparently does not have, or the voters.

Naturally, Dwyer is not commenting on his latest brush with the law and his need to drink and operate boats and cars, and even his attorney, who knows a losing battle when he represents one, won’t talk.

But, here’s the part I don’t get: after his boating accident, many suggested Dwyer resign and he refused and even said he would run for reelection. Now, those same folks are asking him to resign again, but it seems like he won’t, and he is even required to resign. This latest drunken-driving charge is considered a misdemeanor and, even if convicted, Dwyer would not be required to resign.

Yes, folks, our lawmakers whom we elect to represent us in government, and then who break the law at least twice that we know about—with their first time resulting in injured children—gets to keep his job even if he’s convicted a second time of driving a vehicle while drunk off his ass.

Maryland, do you really want this man representing you in any way shape or form? Will you want him if he drinks and rives again and kills someone?

source

John Arthur and Jim Obergefell: A Wish Fulfilled

There is a group called Crossroads Hospice that offers unique gifts for the dying: the gift of a perfect day, to do something they’ve always dreamed of. One man asked to ride an Indian motorcycle for his 100th birthday; an extended family went on a bus tour to view Christmas lights; a woman flew to Florida to stick her feet in the sand one last time, then died three hours after she came home.

John Arthur, another patient of Crossroads, hadn’t yet thought of a wish until June 26, the day the US Supreme Court struck down portions of DOMA. He watched the news from his hospital bed in his home, and he decided that his wish would be to marry his partner of 20 years, Jim Obergefell.

Trouble was, John and Jim live in Ohio, where marriage equality is yet to be; the couple couldn’t marry at home. And the idea of traveling to a state where they could marry was almost a non-thought because Arthur is bedridden with ALS, a progressive neurological disease that robs patients of their ability to walk, talk and eventually breathe.

But as he watched TV that historic day, John and Jim started working their phones and their email and their social media accounts to find a way to get this done. New York was the closest place they could go, but they would both have to travel there to get the license, then return home, and travel back again once they could marry.

New York was out.  And California and Washington, along with Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire, were too far. But Maryland; Maryland required only one partner to come for the license and then wait just 48-hours before a couple could marry. And it was just an hour and 10-minute flight.

But then the cost of the trip became an issue. Since John is bedridden—he hasn’t left his home since March—he would need a medical transport plane that could accommodate a stretcher. Hospice could cover some costs, like the ambulance ride to the airport, but it wouldn’t cover the $12,000 price-tag of renting a medical transport plane.

Jim Obergefell asked their friends if they had any connections, and suddenly donations began arriving in the mail from relatives, friends, former co-workers, even someone in Ireland they’d met on a cruise. The donations covered enough of the cost to make the trip possible, and Jim Obergefell flew to Baltimore on Tuesday, obtained the marriage license and flew back a few hours later.

On Thursday John Arthur and Jim Obergefell boarded a Lear jet at Lunken Airport with a nurse, two pilots trained in emergency medicine, and Arthur’s aunt, Paulette Roberts, who’d been ordained to perform weddings with the hope that she’d someday get to do theirs:

“When I obtained ordination and license to marry people, I called my nephew John and told him I would go anywhere, anytime to officiate at his and Jim’s marriage. He and Jim both said no. They were married to each other in their eyes, but that they would not take part in a wedding ceremony until the law of the land declared they were equal to other couples.”

And that Thursday morning, the plane landed in Baltimore and parked just off the runway; the pilots disembarked. Then, in the cabin of that plane, with Jim seated beside John’s stretcher, Paulette Roberts began to speak. Crying, Jim Obergefell then spoke; he and John exchanged rings and Paulette pronounced them husband and husband.

Jim leaned over John and kissed him.

It was just about seven minutes, start to finish, and then the pilots were back on board and Jim and John headed home to Ohio, with matching rings on their fingers and a wish fulfilled; they were finally married after 20 years, six months and 11 days together.

“I’m overjoyed. I’m very proud to be an American and be able to openly share my love for the record. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world.”—John Arthur

One day, some day soon, I wish all Americans, in every state, could feel like John Arthur felt last Thursday.

For more of the story go HERE

In Maryland, Martin O'Malley Signs Death Penalty Repeal

First off, I think he’s kinda hot. There, I said it. I’m shallow like that. But, secondly, he signed into law Maryland’s same-sex marriage law, so he’s hot and an LGBT ally. But now, Maryland Governor, Martin O’Malley has abolished the death penalty in his state, making Maryland the second state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to abolish the death penalty in nearly 50 years, alongside West Virginia. Maryland is now the 18th state to abolish the death penalty; Delaware also made a push to repeal it this year, but the bill has stalled.

"I don't know exactly what the timing is, but over the longer arc of history I think you'll see more and more states repeal the death penalty. It's wasteful. It's ineffective. It doesn't work to reduce violent crime."—Governor O’Malley

Here’s the deal, well, my deal on the death penalty. What good does it serve? Does it stop murderers and violent criminals? Does it miraculously bring the victims of violent crime back to life? Does it provide closure?

That last one, I’m not so sure about, but I do know that if murder is illegal—and it is—then how is state sanctioned murder acceptable? Murder is murder. And let’s not even raise the issue of anyone being put to death, only to discover, years later, that they were innocent of the crime. Think that doesn’t happen? Well, Kirk Bloodsworth, a Maryland man was the first person in the U.S. freed because of DNA evidence after a conviction in a death penalty case proved his innocence. He is alive and attended the O’Malley news conference.

For me, the death penalty is barbaric. It serves no purpose, it is not a deterrent, and it costs more money than convicting violent criminals and sentencing them to life without parole. There aren’t years and years of appeals, which cost the taxpayers’ money. The criminal is put away, for good. For good.

For me, putting a man, or woman, to death isn’t punishment; they’re dead, they don’t know anything, or feel anything. But, if you take that criminal and lock them up until the day they die, and they sit in prison day after day, year after year, thinking, and reliving, the reasons why they’re behind bars, that’s punishment. Oh, and before you say that these violent criminals have no remorse, I say, So what? They’re still locked up; their lives, as they knew them, are over.

I can go on and on about why I think this way, but the one person who said it better than me is the best person to quote now.

We all remember that Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson murdered Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in 1998. But, what some may not know is that Matthew’s father, Dennis Shepard, spoke at Aaron McKinney’s sentencing hearing [Henderson, at the time, had already pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life without parole.] With the agreement of Judy and Dennis Shepard, Henderson and McKinney will spend the rest of their lives behind bars. In a statement read to the court, Dennis Shepard said that the sentence means:

“I would like nothing better than to see you die, Mr. McKinney.

However, this is the time to begin the healing process. To show mercy to someone who refused to show any mercy. To use this as the first step in my own closure about losing Matt.

Mr. McKinney, I am not doing this because of your family. I am definitely not doing this because of the crass and unwarranted pressures put on by the religious community. If anything, that hardens my resolve to see you die.

Mr. McKinney, I’m going to grant you life, as hard as that is for me to do, because of Matthew. Every time you celebrate Christmas, a birthday, or the Fourth of July, remember that Matt isn’t.

Every time that you wake up in that prison cell, remember that you had the opportunity and the ability to stop your actions that night. Every time that you see your cell mate, remember that you had a choice, and now you are living that choice.

You robbed me of something very precious, and I will never forgive you for that.

Mr. McKinney, I give you life in the memory of one who no longer lives. May you have a long life, and may you thank Matthew every day for it.”

That, to me, says it all. And so, today, I’d like to thank Governor O’Malley for his efforts to abolish the death penalty in one more state.

source

Architecture Wednesday: The Edgemoor Residence

So, after last week's lush house in Thailand, I decided I needed a little something more suburban, and I stumbled upon the Edgemoor Residence, located in a post-war neighborhood of Bethesda, Maryland. The designer sought to create a home that satisfies modern tastes without clashing with its, um, older neighbors.
And I think it looks like the best of both worlds.
The original corner-lot house was torn down to its foundation and first floor deck, and then rebuilt on the existing foundation walls. The gable roof forms mimic the more traditional houses within the neighborhood.
The house combines the idea of an old stone cottage, with a more modern facade and enormous windows. The cast limestone brise-soleil, a sun-shading structure, recalls the scale of front porches found on the nearby houses and marks the axis of the entry, which acts as both a gallery--running the length of the house--and a way to divide the home into the kitchen-dining room along one side, and the guest room-family room on the other.
volume; the entry ends at the double-height master suite volume. A stairway overlooking the family room leads up to a catwalk between the guest rooms and a bridge to the media room.
The Edgemoor Residence really does create a bridge between the old homes in the neighborhood and the new homes to come, both inside and out.
It's suburban, but it ain't your Mama's house.

source