Really? Really.

Sometimes things make you wonder what in the actual hell are some people thinking, and doing, and saying …

Out there in Washington, despite having disavowed White nationalism last spring when one of its adherents endorsed him, Republican Joe Kent, a US House candidate decided it would be smart to give an interview to a Nazi sympathizer and White nationalist in which he touted his support for far-right figures like Anti-Semite Marjorie Taylor Green and White Supremacist supporter Paul Gosar and praised MAGAt policies.

Okay, people in Washington's 3rd Congressional District, take him at his word: he supports Nazis, White Supremacists and Anti-Semites; is that who you want in your state Congress?

QAnon nutbag DeAnna Lorraine also spoke with a Christian nationalist—I call them Nationalist Christians because then you can call them what they really are: Nat C’s—Laura Witzke and said this:

“We understand that the deep state, they have weather manipulation technology. They have DARPA [Defense Advanced research Projects Agency]. They know how to manipulate and create big storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, climate change, etc. And these huge hurricanes always seem to target red states, red districts. And always at a convenient time, right before elections or in this case possibly because Ron DeSantis has been stepping out a line a lot and challenging, fighting the deep state.”

Yes, the Democrats and the deep state are so powerful that they can send hurricanes to Florida because they don’t like Ron DeSantis; except we all know DeSantis is fucking Florida all on his own.

In Congress twelve GOP senators, most of whom are on the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray to justify the show of force that accompanied the arrest of Mark Houck.

Houck, president of The King’s Men, a Catholic ministry created to “unite and build up" men, has twice assaulted a man because he was a volunteer reproductive health care clinic escort.

Houck is said to be pro-life except when he is shoving women’s rights advocates to the ground, and the GOP doesn’t think he deserved to be arrested because it happened in front of his children.

Maybe he shouldn’t have assaulted anyone, eh?

In Colorado, the GOP candidate for governor, Heidi Ganahl, is trotting out the Furries Conspiracy again, saying students in Colorado schools are self-identifying as animals:

“Not many people know that we have furries in Colorado schools…kids identifying as cats. It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but it’s happening all over Colorado and schools are tolerating it. It’s insane.”

Except for the fact that one school district she called out, Jeffco Public Schools, released a statement:

“There is absolutely no truth to this claim. There are no litter boxes in our buildings and students are not allowed to come to school in costume. There are no furries or students identifying as such during the school day.”

But hey, if it gets you elected the GOP will try anything.

Down in Florida, GOP Senators Marco Rubio and Rick Scott sent a joint letter to the Senate Appropriations Committee chairs to secure funding “provide much needed assistance to Florida” in the wake of Hurricane Ian. Good, except that when the bill was voted on, Rick Scott voted 'No' and Little Marco didn't even show up to vote.

Meanwhile, in the House the vote to offer assistance was approved by a vote of 230 to 201, with Republicans overwhelmingly opposing the measure; and every single Florida Republican House member voted against it.

The GOP in Congress doesn’t even care about their own constituents in the aftermath of a devastating hurricane.

And, then again in Florida, a second-grader was expelled from Victory Christian Academy, a Christian day school, because her parents refused to take a picture of her in a bathtub.

School officials at Victory Christian Academy told the girl’s parents that the picture was part of a homework assignment that included instructions to “send picture of you doing reading homework in bathtub,” and since they didn’t comply. the child would be subject to “an administration withdraw.”

Let that sink in, a Christian wants parents to take a photo of their child in a bathtub and send it to the school … for what? I mean, I keep reading about these pastors and ministers and reverends and priests molesting children and now this school wants bath time photos.

Who’s doing the grooming?

After news reports exposed the bathtub homework and fallout, Victory Christian removed the assignment from the school’s second grade curriculum.

Go figure.

The Bad and Some Good ... Monday May 9, 2022

These really are the easiest posts to compile because there are dumb people everywhere and in the wake of that SCOTUS leak, it’s even scarier, especially given the shortage of Good News … so here goes:

BAD

LOUISIANA

A newly proposed bill would charge women with crimes in the cases of miscarriage or in fertility treatments like IVF. Attorney Gwyneth O’Neill explains the cruel bill: 

“This makes embryos people … Freezing an embryo would become a battery. Disposal of an embryo… would be a negligent homicide.”

Seriously.

WASHINGTON DC

We are learning that while Thing 45 was in office, he asked Mark Esper, his Secretary of Defense, about launching missiles into Mexico to “destroy the drug labs” and cartels while keeping US involvement secret.

Perhaps Thing 45 could have asked Junior where he gets his drugs and just dropped bombs on American drug labs.

INDIANA

Andrew Wilhoite, who is accused of murdering his wife in March and dumping her body in a creek, and in jail awaiting trial, has secured a spot as one of three Republican candidates in the race for a seat on the Clinton Township Board.

I cannot make this shiz up.

IDAHO

Janice McGeachin, Idaho’s GOP Lieutenant Governor, running against Governor Brad Little in the GOP primary, held a campaign rally featuring radical right-wing commentator Michelle Malkin, election conspiracy theorist Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers, and extremist broadcaster Stew Peters, all of whom addressed the white nationalist America First Political Action Conference in February, as did McGeachin.

Seriously Idaho?

KANSAS

Johnson County city HAS unanimously voted to ban a living arrangement aimed at helping tenants decrease the amount of rent they pay.

The new ordinance defines a co-living group as a group of at least four unrelated adults living together in a dwelling unit; the ordinance states that if one adult is unrelated to another adult, then the entire group will be classified as unrelated.

They’re coming for The Golden Girls, y’all.

FLORIDA

While Governor Ron DeSantis vilified the Disney as “dishonest” and hypocritical and pushed to strip it of a special tax status and punish its leaders for challenging his policies, he and most Republicans in Florida will not be returning the hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash they received from the entertainment giant.

Hypocrites, they are.

PENNSYLVANIA

GOP Senate candidate and Muslim Mehmet Oz’s campaign blasted a primary rival for “pathetic and xenophobic” attacks against him while in the exact same statement he bragged that Thing 45 endorsed him.

The same Thing 45 that pushed pathetic and xenophobic Muslim bans.

TENNESSEE

The state will soon strictly regulate the dispensing of abortion pills and impose harsh penalties on doctors who violate them, under legislation recently signed into law by GOP Governor Bill Lee.

Once enacted, a medical clinician will be required to be physically present when abortion pills are administered to a patient even though federal regulations now allow mail delivery nationwide.

ARIZONA

If, as people think, the Supreme Court overturns women’s constitutional right to abortion, Blake Masters, an Arizona GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, thinks judges should also take aim at the right to buy and use contraception.

Just for women, I think; condoms should still be legal.

TEXAS

GOP State Representative Briscoe Cain says he’ll propose legislation barring local governments from doing business with any company that provides travel benefits for employees seeking abortions like …

GOOD

TEXAS

Texas GOP State Representative Briscoe Cain is gunning for Tesla, which officially moved its corporate headquarters last year from Silicon Valley to Texas, after the company said it would cover “travel and lodging support for those who may need to seek healthcare services that are unavailable in their home state” such as abortions.

Tesla may become the Disney of Texas.

WAaHINGTON

The Liberty Lake City Council voted 4-2 to not force the local public library to remove a popular, award-winning LGBTQ book, “Gender Queer” from its shelves after Erin Zasada tried for the second time to get the book banned.

Zasada filled out a form asking if she’d read the book and she checked. ‘No.’ and also said:

“I don’t believe in banning books, period. I don’t believe in that at all. This is not a First Amendment issue. This is not an attack on an LGBTQ group, this is a fight against sexually explicit content directly aimed at minors.”

Before she files another report to remove a book from the public library—a book that is shelved in the Adult Section—she ought to read up on book banning and see that it’s exactly what she’s trying to do.

As I said, not a lot of good this week but that means We The People have to make the Good News happen by speaking up and standing up and shouting out and voting to remove those people from office who are out to harm women in their quest to take this country backwards.,

CAST A GODDAMNED VOTE!

Architecture Wednesday: Suncrest

Another home on the water, though this one, Suncrest, is an idyllic retreat on Orcas Island.

This 3,000-square-foot residence sits on a 26-acre site comprised of a mature Douglas fir and Pacific madrone forest, with rock outcroppings and several small ponds. Since the clients wanted a home that minimized site impacts—and utilized their favorite materials like wood and concrete—the home was positioned where the forest gives way to a rocky clearing with views to the Salish Sea, a waterway straddling the United States and Canada. In addition, the home was carefully situated to require a minimum of tree removal and to allow every room in the long, narrow footprint of the home a view of the sea and forest.

The material palette of the home was chosen to harmonize with the colors and textures of the natural surroundings and consists of wood from the forest—Douglas fir and madrone—along with concrete, zinc, steel and glass.

It seems quite simple, simple style, simple materials, and yet the exteriors are fantastic. I love the gentle curve of the home, it’s narrow, basically one room wide, nature, it’s respect for the land and the forest.

I could live quite nicely there.

Click to emBIGGERate ...

Amazing Architecture

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good.

Bye.

Barronelle Stutzman Gets Busted!

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

An Open Letter To Barronelle Stutzman

I Didn't Say It ....

Barronelle Stutzman Is Still Whining And Lying

Bobservations

Architecture Wednesday: North Beach Residence

I love a good beach getaway, and I love a good beach getaway in a home that’s environmentally friendly, which is why we’re stopping at the North Beach Residence, on Orcas Island, the largest of the San Juan Islands off the Washington coast. 

While the 2,400-square-foot house is sited on a northwesterly oriented beach, facing the Strait of Georgia, to take advantage of the views, the property is also home to second-growth Douglas firs, a beech grove and a grassy meadow with good solar exposure. 

This single-story somewhat narrow home is set among mature fir trees, has walls of glass along both sides, one open to the beach and the other to an upland meadow. Steel columns minimize the visible structure from the interior, with metal-clad walls on the exterior. Flood-plain and archeological conditions necessitated a design approach that elevated the living areas while letting the building rest lightly on the land.

In addition, the roof is vegetated, filtering rainwater that is then collected and stored in tanks near the garage for irrigation. Potable hot water and hydronic heating are aided by solar collectors on the roof while photovoltaic panels above the vegetable garden provide supplemental electricity. And, while the home is intended to be used from May through October, these water and energy collecting systems completely zero out electricity use for the entire year.

But it’s also pretty and open and sleek and modern and white, with the primary bedroom at one end of the home and two other bedrooms at the opposite end. In between is the great room with a cozy living area anchored by a fireplace and bookshelves, a dining space, and an open kitchen, with an enormous pantry just behind it.

It's a nice space to get away from it all and relax in the beauty of the woods, the meadow and the beach while knowing that you are being especially green.

As always, click to enBIGGERate ...

One Kind Design

Architecture Wednesday: Useless Bay

I’m guessing by the name of this location, when you get there, you just do nothing, and if that means living in this little house by the water, I’m fine with useless.

This home sits on the aforementioned Useless Bay at the southern end of Whidbey Island, Washington; the bay got its name due to frequent inclement weather. The area where the house is sited in on a 100-year old manmade spit that creates a separation between the open waters of Puget Sound and a freshwater wetland for wildlife.

This was the site of an old family cabin passed through generations, and when it because useless—see what I did there—the two older structures were replaced with one larger, more durable structure for family gatherings.

Pretty, yes, but living here, or even just visiting on vacation, presents some significant challenges. The harbor is completely unsheltered from prevailing winds from the Southwest, while high waters from winter storms can flood homes with corrosive saltwater. All that means is that FEMA requires newly built homes in Useless Bay to meet the highest set of flood-resistance requirements.

So this home was elevated on concrete piers that enable floodwaters to pass below the dwelling. Not a minor undertaking as it required sinking roughly 50 lengths of galvanized 8’ pipe up to 55 feet into the ground, and then pour concrete around those pipes to create reinforce pipe pilings. This style of foundation will create a strong anchor into the earth and ensures the structure will not settle or slump.

But this is a home for a family, and an extended family, so it’s a house designed to handle them all. The central great room is flanked by a pair of fireplaces with the idea that the furniture can be moved seasonally to take advantage of light and views.

The kitchen is set to one side of the great room, facing the expansive glass and the views beyond, while identical bedrooms are located at either end of the home.

It doesn’t sound useless at all.

 One Kind Design