I Didn't Say It ... The Chauvin Verdict

President Joe Biden:

“Today, a jury in Minnesota found former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all counts in the murder of George Floyd last May. It was a murder in the full light of day, and it ripped the blinders off for the whole world to see the systemic racism … that is a stain our nation’s soul; the knee on the neck of justice for Black Americans; the profound fear and trauma, the pain, the exhaustion that Black and brown Americans experience every single day. The murder of George Floyd launched a summer of protest we hadn’t seen since the Civil Rights era in the ‘60s — protests that unified people of every race and generation in peace and with purpose to say, ‘Enough.  Enough.  Enough of the senseless killings.’ Today’s verdict is a step forward [but] let’s also be clear that such a verdict is also much too rare.  … But it is not enough.  We can’t stop here. In order to deliver real change and reform, we can, and we must do more to reduce the likelihood that tragedies like this will ever happen and occur again; to ensure that Black and brown people or anyone—so they don’t fear the interactions with law enforcement, that they don’t have to wake up knowing that they can lose their very life in the course of just living their life.  They don’t have to worry about whether their sons or daughters will come home after a grocery store run or just walking down the street or driving their car or playing in the park or just sleeping at home.  … The guilty verdict does not bring back George.  But through the family’s pain, they are finding purpose so George’s legacy will not be just about his death, but about what we must do in his memory. … This is the time for this country to come together, to unite as Americans.  There can never be any safe harbor for hate in America. … [We] can’t leave this moment or look away, thinking our work is done.  We have to look at it … as we did for those 9 minutes and 29 seconds.  We have to listen.  ‘I can’t breathe.  I can’t breathe.’  Those were George Floyd’s last words.  We can’t let those words die with him.  We have to keep hearing those words. We must not turn away.  We can’t turn away.  We have a chance to begin to change the trajectory in this country.  It’s my hope and prayer that we live up to the legacy. May God bless you.  And may God bless the — George Floyd and his family.”

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Raphael Warnock, Georgia’s Democrat Senator:

"The reason why we've all been waiting with bated breath for this verdict is we've seen the opposite outcome so many times, and we have yet to put forward the kind of legislation that will create a different outcome, so we must do our job in this chamber."

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Chuck Schumer, New York’s Democrat senator and Senate Majority Leader:

"This guilty verdict serves as an official proclamation of what so many of us have known for nearly a year: George Floyd was murdered by an officer who was sworn to protect and serve."

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York’s Democrat Representative:

"This isn't justice. I … don't want this to be framed as the system working. Because it's not working. And that's what creates a lot of complexity in this moment. It's really important that this verdict is not used as a replacement for policy change."

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Nancy Pelosi, California’s Democrat Representative and House Speaker:

"We all saw it on TV. We saw it happen. And thank God the jury validated what we saw. So again, thank you George Floyd for sacrificing your life for justice. Your name will always be synonymous with justice, and now we have to make sure justice prevails in the sentencing."

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Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s Independent Senator:

"The jury's verdict delivers accountability for Derek Chauvin, but not justice for George Floyd. Real justice for him and too many others can only happen when we build a nation that fundamentally respects the human dignity of every person."

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Van Jones, CNN commentator:

"More cops can speak up. More police chiefs can speak up. And more people can do the right thing in these situations. In January and February of 2020 if you had asked the average white person, is police brutality a big deal, is anti-racism a big deal, some would have said yes, some would have said no [but] because of that young woman [Darnella Frazier] and because of the video, 20 million white Americans marched … millions. There were Black Lives Matter marches in Idaho, where there’s no Black people. That gives you a sense of how humanity’s heart was touched. That shouldn’t just happen in the streets when we’re marching. There’s so many opportunities for us to do better. Listen, the empathy gap that we’re seeing throughout our politics can start to close a little bit. It's important to understand … the police chief fired the guy and testified against him. There were people throughout the profession of law enforcement who came forward and did the right thing for once, and they all still have their jobs. More cops can speak up. More police chiefs can speak up. And more people can do the right thing in these situations."

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Kamala Harris, Vice President:

“This verdict is but a piece of it. And it will not heal the pain that existed for generations, that has existed for generations among people who have experienced and first-hand witnessed what now a broader public is seeing because of smartphones and the ubiquity of our ability to videotape in real time what is happening in front of our faces. And that is the reality of it. That’s why Congress needs to act. And that’s why they should pass the George Floyd Justice In Policing Act.”

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Maxine Waters, California’s Democrat Representative:

"You know, someone said it better than me: I'm not celebrating, I'm relieved." 

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I Didn't Say It ...

Jair Bolsonaro, President of Brazil, proving he’s the world’s biggest asshat in a recent speech on the pandemic:

“All anyone talks about these days is the pandemic. We need to stop that. I regret the deaths. I really do. But we’re all going to die someday. There’s no use fleeing reality. We have to stop being a country of fags. We have to face up to it and fight. I hate this faggot stuff.”

Bolsonaro, like his BFF _____, has consistently downplayed the virus that has killed 163,000 people in Brazil, and so, clearly, calling people concerned with the pandemic “fags” is the right choice.

Asshat.

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John Oliver, Last Week Tonight host, on the celebrations after the election results:

“This was clearly a very long, very tense week although thankfully it all felt worth it due to how it ended. There was a mood here that can only be described as a reverse 9/11, because it combined complete euphoria, an abiding disgust for Rudy Giuliani, and this time, people were actually dancing on the rooftops in New Jersey. It was a really good day. Never forget.”

On 9/11 _____said Muslims were dancing in Jersey, but all of Jersey, and Manhattan, and much of the world, was dancing on 11/7.

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Neil Cavuto, FOX News host, cutting away from Kayleigh McEnaney, AKA Bullshit Barbie, after she repeated, without evidence, _____’s lies about illegal voting:

“Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. She’s charging the other side is welcoming fraud and welcoming illegal voting. Unless she has more details to back that up, I can’t in good countenance continue showing you this. I want to make sure that maybe they do have something to back that up. But that is an explosive charge to make that the other side is effectively rigging and cheating. If she does bring proof of that of course we will take you back.”

Nice to see a Fox host not pandering to the _____ lying machine.

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Tucker Carlson, Fox News host and ______’s bitch, scolded Cavuto and Fox News, for cutting away from Bullshit Barbie:

“In a democracy, you cannot ignore honest questions from citizens. You’re not allowed. You can’t dismiss them out of hand as crazy or immoral for asking. You can’t just cut away from coverage you don’t like. You can’t simply tell people to accept an outcome because force doesn’t work in a democracy. That’s dictatorship.”

You can, Fucker, when there is no proof of fraud. Just because you say it doesn’t make it true, in fact, it more than likely makes it a lie.

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Jason Chaffetz, Fox News commentator and former GOP Congressman, pissy because Joe didn’t mention _____ in his speech:

“There is not a single state in the United States that has certified their election yet. So you know, you can have a crying Stephen Colbert putting on an act — because he is an actor — saying he was just so saddened by this, but I never saw them crying about Donald _____. Donald _____, when he won, his victory speech, first he did was thank and honor Hillary Clinton. Joe Biden in his speech last night never even mentioned Donald _____ directly. Did not thank him for his service. Did not honor Donald Trump and all the success he had in this country. He didn’t even do that. And so, you know, carts before the horse here. You have got to go through. The president has legal avenues.”

What service? When he lied and dodged the draft? What success? When he had the taxpayers pay out $144,000,000 for him to golf?

Fuck all the way off.

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Charles Payne, Fox Business host, saying we all should thank _____ for Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine:

“I am finding the timing curious. It’s frustrating. What I thought was intriguing is on the Biden website, it says ‘Operation Warp Speed lacks a strategy to see its mission through and gain the trust of Americans.’ Well, I wonder what they’re going to say today? Are they going to tell people not to take this vaccine that Pfizer is saying 90% effective? Are they going to say wait? I mean this is absolutely remarkable stuff. Credit where credit is due; President _____, he really did push hard on this. Who knows, if it came a week earlier it might have changed the outcome, but it is great news for all Americans.”

Two things asshat: even if the news came out last week, _____ is responsible for the deaths of 230,000+ Americans.

And secondly, Pfizer noted that not only did they take any federal money for their vaccine, they were never part of Operation Warp Speed.

So, to sum it up: Charles Payne is a lying moron.

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Van Jones, CNN commentator, tearing up talking about Biden’s win:

"This is vindication for a lot of people who have really suffered. You know, 'I can't breathe?' that wasn't just George Floyd. That was how a lot of people have felt. They couldn't breathe. Every day you are waking up, and you are getting these tweets, and you don't know. And you go into the store, and people who have been afraid to show their racism are getting nastier and nastier to you. And you are worried about your kids. And you are worried about your sister. Can she go to Walmart and get back into her car without somebody saying something to her. And you spent so much of your life energy just trying to hold it together. The character of the country matters. Being a good man matters. I want my sons to look at this. It is easy to do it the cheap way and get away with stuff. It comes back around. And it is a good thing for this country."

It make take us a long time to get to even being close to what it was like pre-_____, and let’s be clear, that wasn’t perfect by a country mile, but at least we’re moving in the right direction.

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I Didn't Say It ...

Andrew Cuomo, New York Governor, on Senate Majority Leader Moscow Mitch McConnell’s recent comments opposing so-called “blue state bailouts”:

“What he’s saying is that if you look at the states that have coronavirus problems, they tend to be Democratic states—New York, California, Michigan, Illinois, they are Democrat states. How ugly a thought? I mean, just think of what he’s saying. People died. Fifteen thousand people died in New York, but they were predominantly Democrats, so why should we help them? I mean, for crying out loud, if there was ever a time for you to put aside your pettiness and your partisanship, and this political lens that you see the world through—Democrat and Republican, and we help Republicans but we don’t help Democrats. That’s not who we are. It’s just not who we are as a people. If there was ever a time for humanity and decency, now is the time. And if there was ever a time for you to stop your obsessive political bias, and anger—which is what it’s morphed into, it’s just a political anger—now is the time. And you want to politically divide this nation now, with all that’s going on? How irresponsible and how reckless.”

That’s Bitch McConnell in a nutshell. A partisan hack who doesn’t care if a Democrat dies because that only helps him move his hate-fueled agenda forward.

Mitch McConnell can politely fuck off.

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J. August Richards, actor from Angel and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., coming out as gay:

“One of the things that I find is so fascinating about Oliver his character on Council of Dads who is gay] is that we have never had anybody like him on network television. He’s a black, gay professional married to another man who is also a black, gay professional. This has never happened before on television … with a daughter. If I think about why I even got involved in this industry it was really to combat oppression, to also, I knew how I was affected by the people of color I saw on television or that I didn’t see on television. So this being a married gay man with a family I realized that on television I don’t take anything I do lightly and you have an opportunity to put an image into millions of homes and I wanted that image to be honest and I wanted it to be correct. So honestly, it required me to show up fully in a way that I don’t always when I’m working. I knew that I could not portray this gay man honestly without letting you all know that I was a gay man myself. I’ve never done that with the people that I worked with. … I knew how important it is to other people out there like me, who would need to see that role model.”

Welcome out, J. August, and thanks for being a role model for the Black community as an openly gay man.

Also, please accept our gift from, HOMO HQ, the Official Coming Out Toaster Oven™ and a copy of The Gay Agenda. You’re making a difference on TV and in the lives of not-yet-out men, and women, everywhere.

Welcome out.

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Van Jones, CNN political commentator, on the decision by some states to ease stay-at-home restrictions and open businesses:

"I think it's incredibly reckless. And, you know, signing these orders is signing a death certificate for many, many, many people who do not need to die and who will. I mean, it's just the bottom line. You're talking about states where they haven't even flattened the curve. It's a death sentence for communities of color that are on the frontlines of this thing already and have the least ability to deal with it. [We] need to be rushing masks, rushing tests, rushing respirators and ventilators to communities of color, because that's where the pain is. This is playing the data card. The data shows that, you know, these are the frontline communities in this fight. From the grocery stores to the hospitals people who live in communities of color need help."

Huh. Communities of color are the hardest hit and most vulnerable—as well as the elderly—and the GOP governors want to reopen?

Sounds kinda racist, don’t it?

PS Van Jones is hot. Just sayin’.

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Kelly Loeffler, Georgia’s GOP Senator, and the wealthiest member of Congress, dismissing the accusations of inside trading—she sold millions worth of stock after a private briefing about the impending pandemic—as a “socialist attack.”

“This is a political attack that is designed to distract from the issue at hand and to use this outbreak to play politics. We have addressed this and taken extraordinary measures to make sure we can’t be attacked for our success. This gets at the very heart of why I came to Washington, to defend free enterprise, to defend capitalism, and this is a socialist attack. We have taken extraordinary measures and I am focused solely on working for Georgians. I’ve been doing that seven days a week around the clock, and it’s my honor to be here and serve, and that’s why I stepped out of the private sector.”

After initially dumping shares in companies that plummeted in value, Loeffler and her husband, who chairs the New York Stock Exchange, invested heavily in a medical supply company.

Coincidence? I think not. Now, Loeffler faces a special election in November to retain her seat, and a pro-_____ Super PAC is supporting one of her GOP challengers; there are several Democrats in the race, which could decide which party controls the Senate.

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Steve Schmidt, GOP strategist, on The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, truth-telling about _____'s reelection prospects:

"We have tens of thousands of Americans who will lose lives they didn't have to. We see an economic collapse that didn't have to be. And we see every indication things will continue to get worse because of the ineptitude of the response. And that's the president's legacy heading into the reelection. He is the greatest disaster in the modern history of the country made worse by the ineptitudes, inefficiency, and confidence of the executive response."

Schmidt was not shy it placing the blame for the deaths of thousands of Americans on President Donald Trump. His callous disregard compounds the need to get rid of this unqualified poser.

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Lance Bass, now openly gay, on the time a bandmate asked him about his orientation:

“It was a big day for me because it was the first day someone asked me if I was gay. Chris Kirkpatrick sat me down and said, ‘Hey dude, are you gay?’ No one had ever asked me that. I was super in the closet and way too young to even know or care what was happening. But I remember getting so freaked out on that set because he caught me so off guard. I’m sure at that point people were wondering—so why don’t you have a girlfriend? It was very blunt. It scared me. I said, ‘No, what are you talking about?’ I wasn’t even telling myself. I definitely wasn’t gonna tell Chris.”

I think most of us have had someone ask if we’re gay, before we were ready to come out, proving it needs to be done when you’re ready, and ready to live openly and out loud.

Today, Bass is an LGBTQ advocate and happily married to actor Michael Turchin; the two recently lost a baby eight weeks into a pregnancy. It was their ninth try at conceiving a baby through IVF and they say they will try again.

I hope it works for them.

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I Didn't Say It ....

John Barrowman turned this week, and launched a new T-shirt campaign supporting transgender equality:

“Our transgender friends and family need our help and support as a lot of decisions are going to be made on their behalf that don’t take their needs and rights into consideration. Most of us have the luxury of being who we are and living our truth. We must stand in solidarity with those who are not as lucky… Let’s show our support for our transgender family because it was never about bathrooms.”

We all know it’s about fear and transphobia and ignorance.

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Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] Administrator, on whether or not carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to climate change:

"I think that measuring with precision human activity on the climate is something very challenging to do and there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact, so no, I would not agree that it's a primary contributor to the global warming that we see."

I mean, we’ve been hearing for decades about pollution, ozone layers, global warming, automobile emissions, factory emissions, and this tool is in denial because, to be enlightened would mean his and _____’s buddies would make a few less coins doing their business.

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Brian Schatz, Democratic Senator from Hawaii, responding to Pruitt:

"Anyone who denies over a century's worth of established science and basic facts is unqualified to be the administrator of the EPA. Now more than ever, the Senate needs to stand up to Scott Pruitt and his dangerous views."

No amount of corporate wealth will save the planet when asshats like Pruitt are in charge.

Resist.

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Charlie Hunnam, on what he does to keep his body in shape for his movies:

“I’m interested in having a high fitness level across the board. Running, swimming, jumping rope, hiking, jiu-jitsu—I try to do it all. I also try to make love as often as I can. That’s an important part of fitness.”

If I can ever be of service, Charlie, call me. I’d enjoy the workout myself.

Just sayin’.

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Van Jones, news commentator, on _____ driving liberals insane:

“I mean that there are two ways that Trump can be normalized. One is for us just to get used to him saying crazy things, lying, and attacking people, and that’s a big danger. There’s a more insidious danger, which is a danger of his becoming normalized at an emotional and social level. He is completely fear driven, he is completely polarizing, he is completely caught up in his own drama, and I’m starting to see liberals act the same way. We’re almost trying to fight polarization with polarization at this point, and I’m afraid that we’re feeding what we’re fighting. .... There’s always a danger that you become the thing that you’re fighting. We could absolutely oppose all of his policies and his crazy personality, but, at the end of the day, we’re trying to assemble a governing majority. You can take your eyes off that prize. ...  I’m focused on trying to figure out how do we fight him but do so in a way that leaves a bridge open to definitely motivating more liberals, but also, understanding and converting more people who are right now in the Trump camp.”

He's right; we need to focus on the bigger picture than rant and rave at idiotic deflections that _____ uses. And we need to work, work, to find people who will do in office what we need and want them to do. And if someone isn't working for We The People either Red or Blue, Vote Them Out.
PS Van Jones is hot. Just sayin'.

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I Didn't Say It ...

Lena Dunham, recounting a trip to Planned Parenthood and how one woman asked her to share her experience with abortion:

“I sort of jumped. ‘I haven’t had an abortion,’ I told her. I wanted to make it really clear to her that, as much as I was going out and fighting for other women’s options, I myself had never had an abortion. And I realized then that even I was carrying within myself stigma around this issue. Even I, the woman who cares as much as anybody about a woman’s right to choose, felt that it was important that people know that I was unblemished in this department. Now I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.”

Um, Lena, abortion isn’t an easy decision for any woman to make, hence the great divide over the issue, but for you to suggest you feel bad because you never had that choice to make is the height of stupidity and downplays the struggle every woman goes through when, or if, they make that choice.

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Michael Hayden, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, on calling _____ Russia’s “useful idiot”:

“Since I wrote that five weeks ago, the [_____] campaign has still refused to utter any criticism of Vladimir Putin, and then reject[ed] the high confidence judgment of a pretty good intelligence community. So, if anything, that’s been reinforced.  I’m trying to be both respectful and understanding here, but my ‘polezni durak’ — useful fool, useful idiot — description, as I said at the end of my article, is actually the most benign explanation I can come up with.”

I prefer to think of _____ as Putin's bitch, because you know that's how Putin feels.

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Van Jones, on Donald ____ not condemning Russia’s interference in the election:

“This is baffling to anybody with a functioning brain stem. We have to be honest about this. Yes, other presidents tried to say nice things about the Russians … not in the face of an active attack on the country. Cyber war is real war, so you have an active attack on our country, and you have the president-elect who cannot find it in himself to say ‘this is wrong, and it needs to stop.' Listen. He can respond personally to an attack. He can respond as a partisan to an attack. But he can’t respond as a patriot to an attack? This is an attack on our country. I just think that everyone is sitting here trying to pretend that this is normal. This is not normal. This is dangerous.”

He’ll never say anything bad about Russia lest Putin take away the presidency.

Yeah, it’s true.

PS Van Jones is hot ... and smart ... and hot.

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President-elect _____ on the terrorist attack at the market in Germany and Muslims:

“Hey, you’ve known my plans all along and it’s, they’ve proven to be right. 100 percent correct. What’s happening is disgraceful.”

Yup, he sounds ready to start a Muslim registry and I am ready to sign it.

I am Muslim.

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Seth Meyers, on _____’s presidency and its effect on climate change:

“Obviously his statements on climate change have not been promising, like his infamous claim that ‘the concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese…,’ as opposed to Trump who was created by and for Russians.”

Snap.

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I Didn't Say It ...

John Lewis, Civil rights icon and Democratic congressman from Georgia, on the sit-in he staged on the house floor to demand action on gun control:

“We can no longer wait. We can no longer be patient … Sometimes you have to do something out of the ordinary. Sometimes you have to make way out of no way. We have been too quiet for too long. There comes a time when you have to say something, when you have to make a little noise. When you have to move your feet…Now is the time to get in the way. We will be silent no more. The time for silence is over.”

No more moments of silence for the dead.

No more prayers for the dead.

The dead demand that we do something to stop the violence.

Bravo, Representative Lewis, bravo!

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Van Jones, commentator and political activist, on [t]Rump's call for “racial profiling” of Muslim Americans:

“I just think it’s really interesting that we’re talking about racially profiling in the context of mass shootings [because] the vast majority of the people who are doing the mass shootings in America aren’t Muslims at all. You are seven times more likely to be killed by a right wing extremist — a racist or an anti-government nutjob — seven times more likely than a Muslim, [but] if I came on TV and said let’s start racially profiling white men, let’s start racially profiling young, white men who are loners with bowl haircuts, people would think, ‘Wow, that’s a pretty unfortunate conclusion for you to come to.’ If a Christian shoots somebody, we don’t say a Christian shot them. But if a Muslim shoots somebody, we say a Muslim shot them. I think that’s starting to muddy the waters.”

Finally, someone said it. Look at all of the mass shootings in this country and see all the white men who perpetrated them. Shouldn’t we be profiling white men, too?

Sidenote: gosh, Van Jones is hot … I’m shallow like that.

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Chris Murphy, Democratic Senator from Connecticut, on the failure of those four gun bills this week in the Senate:

"I'm mortified by today's vote, but I'm not surprised by it. We learned in the months after Sandy Hook that the NRA has a vice-like grip on this place. Even when 90% of the American public wants change." 

And even when We The People demand change, the GOP refuses to budge because of the NRA and its deep pockets.

Vote.Them.Out.

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Corey Johnson, New York City Councilman, destroying Chris Barron, founder of the gay conservative group GOProud, and his assertion that The Gays will vote for The Rump:

“I think it’s funny that just because [Trump said] the four letters LGBT that [he is] somehow the champion of the LGBT community. He met today in New York with a thousand evangelical leaders — a who’s who of the gay right — people who have made a professional career of demonizing and denigrating gay people. Donald Trump is against marriage equality, Donald Trump says he wants to remake the Supreme court and make it even more conservative. Donald Trump has never been there for the gay community — he is a megalomaniacal, arrogant crazy person.”

Yeah. What he said!

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Frank Ocean, on the Orlando shooting:

"I read in the paper that my brothers are being thrown from rooftops blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs for violating sharia law. I heard the crowds stone these fallen men if they move after they hit the ground. 

I heard it’s in the name of God. I heard my pastor speak for God too, quoting scripture from his book. Words like abomination popped off my skin like hot grease as he went on to describe a lake of fire that God wanted me in. 

I heard on the news that the aftermath of a hate crime left piles of bodies on a dance floor this month. I heard the gunman feigned dead among all the people he killed. I heard the news say he was one of us. 

I was six years old when I heard my dad call our transgender waitress a faggot as he dragged me out a neighborhood diner saying we wouldn’t be served because she was dirty. That was the last afternoon I saw my father and the first time I heard that word, I think, although it wouldn’t shock me if it wasn’t. 

Many hate us and wish we didn’t exist. Many are annoyed by our wanting to be married like everyone else or use the correct restroom like everyone else. 

Many don’t see anything wrong with passing down the same old values that send thousands of kids into suicidal depression each year. 

So we say pride and we express love for who and what we are. Because who else will in earnest? I daydream on the idea that maybe all this barbarism and all these transgressions against ourselves is an equal and opposite reaction to something better happening in this world, some great swelling wave of openness and wakefulness out here. 

Reality by comparison looks grey, as in neither black nor white but also bleak. 

We are all God’s children, I heard."

Tears. Just tears.

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