These Bitches ...

Once again the GOP Bitches are stepping in it and dragging it across the floor to stink up the place …

Under the direction of Governor Gogo Boots Ron DeSantis, the Florida Department of Children and Families [DCF] sent a cease-and-desist letter to Orlando Sentinel reporter Jeffrey Schweers who has been digging into the Hope Florida scandal and printing scoops regarding the embattled charity backed by Ronnie and his wife Casey.

Hope Florida has been under fire this year following the revelation that the state gave $10 million from a Medicaid settlement to the charity and that some of the money was funneled to help DeSantis fight last year’s ballot initiative to legalize marijuana.

Grifters gonna grift; keep digging the dirt.

House Speaker Little Mike Johnson told Fox News that Democrats pushing for ICE agents to unmask themselves are the same “people who mandated mask wearing for years in America” during the coronavirus pandemic:

“From the people who mandated mask wearing for years in America. It’s absurd. They need to back off of ICE and respect our agents and stop protesting against them.”

Um, Mikey, you fucking faux Christian, masks during COVID protected people from a virus that killed a million Americans. Masks on the faces on ICE Gestapo only protects the men and women who are rounding up women and children and sending them to camps.

Fuck off, little man.

Georgia Representative Mike Collins—who may run for U.S. Senate—said he wants to make it “more advantageous” for people to “get off of Medicaid, get off of Social Security.”

This comes after Collins voted for the GOP budget bill that could leave 750,000 Georgians uninsured, would increase the deficit by $2.4 trillion and rip away health care from 10.9 million Americans.

Mike Collins is clearly one of the many Republicans who never read the bill.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox sort of acknowledged June as Pride Month but again failed to mention the LGBTQ+ community. Cox did not call on Utahns to celebrate Pride nor did he say if he planned to celebrate himself but said he would spend the month "reflecting on the values that bring us together here in Utah—service, respect, and love for our neighbor."

Cox is a hypocrite; in 2022, he vetoed a statewide ban on trans students in high school sports, joined teenagers on the Capitol floor for a sit-in to protest conversion therapy, and wept in viral footage at a vigil following the 2016 shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub.

But last year, lying anti-LGBTQ+ Spencer Cox signed a statewide ban on gender-affirming health care for trans minors describing it as "genital mutilation." He also shared social media post that falsely claimed lied that Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif was not a woman.

This year Cox did not sign or veto the state's new ban on pride flags in government buildings, so it took effect last month.

Homophobic lying Bitch.

In West Virginia women who miscarry should be prepared to face potential criminal charges Raleigh County Prosecuting Attorney Tom Truman warned last week.

While Truman says he would not take any such action, a number of other prosecuting attorneys in West Virginia have discussed their willingness to charge women who miscarry and dispose of their own fetal remains as murderers.

Off is the direction in which these Bitches should fuck.

Vote Blue. Here's Another Slew of Reasons Why

Here we are again, with a wee taste of the lunacy, racism, criminality, and bigotry and hate inside the GOP and it’s going around the country …

LOUISIANA

A newly proposed GOP bill would categorize mifepristone and misoprostol—the drugs used to induce an abortion—as controlled dangerous substances, threatening incarceration and fines if an individual possesses the pills without a valid prescription or outside of professional practice.

Legislators in Baton Rouge added the provision as a last-minute amendment to a Senate bill that would criminalize an abortion if someone gives a pregnant woman the pills without her consent, a scenario of “coerced criminal abortion.”

GEORGIA

The state’s  Republican Party has removed Brian Pritchard, its first vice chairman, after an administrative law judge found he voted illegally nine times after moving to the state.

Every accusation by a Republican is an admission.

WEST VIRGINIA

Leading up to last week’s primary, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, Chris Miller and Moore Capito, three of the GOP candidates for governor have been trying to outdo each other in proving their opposition to transgender rights.

The three transphobic bigots have been accusing each other of harboring transgender sympathies while touting their own efforts to restrict LGBTQ rights.

Bragging about who hates trans people more; that’s the GOP.

WASHINGTON DC

The House has passed a bill making it more difficult for the Energy Department to enact energy efficiency rules for household appliances; the vote was 212-195.

You know the GOP thinks anything related to better energy efficiency is a slippery slope to a Green New Deal and they won’t have it … until the planet starts to die and they start screaming.

NEW YORK

A measure that would codify abortion rights in the New York constitution, as well as other equal rights, was tossed off the ballot last week by a conservative judge in upstate Livingston County rejected the measure in a court ruling, questioning the legality of the ballot question.

Well, maybe abortion rights won’t be “officially” on the ballot, but the GOP’s attempt to deny a vote certainly will be.

CASTA  GODDAMNED VOTE, New York!

OHIO

In 2015, Ohio GOP Senate candidate Bernie Moreno used taxpayer dollars to shut down local roads so he could take a joy ride in an Aston Martin car that he purchased for $2.3 million.

Video shows at least three police cars blocking traffic in North Olmsted so Moreno could privately use the roads in his luxury Aston Martin Vulcan, which his dealership would later list for $3.4 million.

In a separate video from 2016, Moreno admits that he had the vehicle shipped to the United States in parts to avoid Environmental Protection Agency emissions restrictions on foreign vehicle imports.

The rules don’t apply to the GOP, apparently.

ARIZONA

State Senator Anthony Kern is no longer allowed to access legislative broadcast equipment after the Arizona Mirror reported on May 3 that he used the Senate’s broadcast studio to appear on a far-right talk show last week with a host who has declared Adolf Hitler a “hero.”

Kern appeared on ”The Stew Peters Show” to discuss a Drag Story Hour that was hosted the day before in a basement meeting room in the Arizona House and Kern joined the show live on video from the Arizona Senate studio.

Peters praised Kern and made the false claim that the drag event in the House included children—none were present—calling the drag king that spoke to the small group a “mentally ill satanic pedophile.” The event did not include children.

WASHINGTON DC

The House Judiciary Committee plans to prepare a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over the audio of President Joe Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur.

The DOJ provided the committees conducting the impeachment inquiry into Biden a full transcript of his interview and said Republicans haven’t explained why the audio is necessary, accusing them of seeking investigative material to “serve political purposes that should have no role in the treatment of law enforcement files.”

It's all a show for the House GOP who have accomplished nothing for We The People in the last two years.

FLORIDA

The state will eliminate climate change as a priority in making energy policy decisions, despite the threats it faces from powerful hurricanes, extreme heat and worsening toxic algae blooms.

GOP Governor Ron De GogoBoots signed the legislation, which is set to go into effect on July 1. The measure also removes most references to climate change in state law, bans offshore wind turbines in state waters and weakens regulations on natural gas pipelines.

Of note, the state is experiencing some of the highest temperatures ever recorded there—it was 107 in Miami this weekend—and South Beach streets flood almost daily with high tides.

But the words “Climate Change” cannot be said.

Also In Florida … the Governor has declared that there will be no Pride Month Rainbow lights on bridges.

Bridges across Florida, including the Sunshine Skyway and Ringling Causeway, will not gleam in rainbow colors this June in celebration of LGBTQ Pride Month but instead plans are in place to adorn Florida bridges in red, white and blue lighting between May 27 and September 2 as a part of the 2024 Florida Freedom Summer effort.

Florida Freedom does not apply to the LGBTQ+ community in Ronnie’s mind.

GOOD NEWS

WASHINGTON DC

After House Speaker, and Christian Nationalist, Mike Johnson’s appearance at Hair Furor’s criminal trial Democrats are saying the next time his own party comes for him and tries to remove him from office, the only assistance he’ll get from Democrats is when they help him pack.

Johnson called the legal proceedings a “sham of a trial,” adding:

“They are doing this intentionally to keep him here and keep him off of the campaign trail. And I think everybody in the country can see that for what it is.”

No, Mike, only the goose-stepping, Party Over Country GOP can see that kind of crazy.

ALABAMA

A bill that would have expanded the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law died on the final day of the 2024 regular session.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Mack Butler would have extended Alabama’s prohibition on discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten to fifth grade to kindergarten to eighth grade. It also would have banned flags or other insignia indicating gender identity or sexual orientation.

Butler vows to bring the bill back next year saying he has not met any parents who want the topics discussed in schools and claimed that “there is a move across this nation to sexualize our children.”

And that’s just a small taste of GOP lunacy ... anti-women’s rights, voter fraud, anti-transgender hate, climate change deniers, anti-abortion rights, self-entitled one percenters, anti-drag but pro-Hitler, Hair Furor minions, anti-LGBTQ+ Pride, and more.

So what do we do if we want more Good News? We ...

Do Not Come For the Divine Miss M

Last month, Bette Midler called out ALLEGED Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin in a tweet that also badmouthed West Virginia:

“What Joe Manchin, who represents a population smaller than Brooklyn, has done to the rest of America, who wants to move forward, not backward, like his state, is horrible. He sold us out. He wants us all to be just like his state, West Virginia. Poor, illiterate and strung out.”

Now, there was a backlash because, clearly, not everyone in West Virginia is a low-income addle-brained meth head and so Midler went back to Twitter to apologize, and also take on Manchin again:

“I apologize to the good people of [West Virginia] for my last outburst. I’m just seeing red;  Joe Manchin and his whole family are a criminal enterprise. Is he really the best WV has to offer its own citizens? Surely there’s someone there who has the state’s interests at heart, not his own!”

Well, this week, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice gave his State of the State speech and went after Midler himself. He held up his bulldog Babydog—seriously, this is what a grown man calls his dog—turned her rear end to the cameras and said:

“Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there, ‘kiss her hiney.’”

Oh snap … except Bette Midler has zero fucks to give either Manchin or Justice; she retweeted a picture of the stunt with the caption:

“Here we can see a dog’s asshole. Right next to it is the butt of Jim Justice’s dog.”

And then to prove her point, she Tweeted this:

“BTW, here are the state rankings of all the areas and agencies for which the so-called ‘Governor’ of [West Virginia], Jim Justice, is responsible. Judging from these rankings, I’d say his dog’s ass would make a better Governor than him!”

Do not come for Midler unless she sends for you.

Monday Chuckle: A Bigot Gets Owned

MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle is the kind of news channel host that I love and would like to see more of because she isn’t about to let fools just talk and not hold them accountable.

Case in point: West Virginia Governor, and Republican, because, of course, Jim Justice, who just signed a bill to ban transgender girls from school sports. Ruhle wanted him to explain his reasoning.

But he couldn’t answer, and so she kept at him, demanding to know why. With all that is going on in this country right now, passing an anti-transgender bill was so important. She had Justice—dear goddess if anyone is inappropriately named, it’s this guy--stumbling and mumbling, that, by the end of the segment, Justice was barely coherent, and could only mutter that there are only “12 kids maybe in our state that are transgender-type kids.”

“Can you name one example of a transgender child trying to gain an unfair competitive advantage at a school there in West Virginia?”

“Well… well Stephanie, I don’t have that experience exactly to myself right now, but I will tell you this—”

“Not yourself. Your state, sir. Can you give me one example of a transgender child trying to get an unfair advantage? Just one in your state.”

“No, I can’t really tell you one, but I can tell  you this Stephanie—”

“But, sir, you have no examples of this happening. Why would you take your time to do this?”

Then Ruhle dragged the state of West Virginia, pointing out that it’s ranked “45th in education, 47th in health care, 48th on the economy, and 50th in infrastructure.”

“If you cannot name one single example for me of a child doing this, why would you make this a priority? I just named four things that would seem to me like a much bigger priority.”

“Well Stephanie, I didn’t make it a priority.”

“You signed it!”

And then Justice brought up Title IX to defend his position when that’s the exact same law that President Biden cited to back up the administration’s position that discrimination against LGBTQ+ people in education—including school sports –is already illegal.

“I think we only have 12 kids maybe in our state that are transgender-type kids, for cryin’ out loud, Stephanie!”

“Please come back when … you can show me evidence that those young women are being disadvantaged in your state.”

“We all know what an absolute advantage boys would have playing against girls….”

Of course, the law isn’t about boys playing girls’ sports, it’s about banning some girls—who are transgender—from playing girls’ sports.  Justice tried to talk about why he, as a girls’ basketball coach, thinks it would be bad for boys to pretend to be trans in order to participate in girls’ sports.

Seriously, West Virginia. You live in one of the most disadvantaged states in this country but you elected a man who does this, and then cannot even back up his argument with facts …because there are no facts?

The ACLU has already said that it will sue West Virginia over the law, and if that happens, West Virginia should probably not have Justice testify.

LGBTQ Nation

Student Told To "Prove" He Was A Boy

Last year, right after Thanksgiving, members of the Liberty High School band from Clarksburg, West Virginia, were told to go use the restroom before departing on a bus trip. When Michael Critchfield, a sophomore, went to use the boy’s restroom, he was followed into the room by the assistant principal, Lee Livengood.

Livengood stood and waited for Michael to exit the restroom stall, asking what he was doing in there. Critchfield, who is transgender, says the assistant principal told him he “shouldn’t be in there because I am not a guy, and I told him I am a boy, I identify with this bathroom, and it is my legal right to use this restroom."

As if that were not shocking enough, what happened next is chilling. Critchfield said Livengood continued to harass and intimidate him, ultimately challenging him to use a urinal to prove that he was a boy

“Come out here and use the urinal. If you can’t use this urinal, then you shouldn’t be in here. What if [another] student said you were checking them out in here?’ ”

According to Michael, Livengood then blocked the doorway so he couldn’t leave the bathroom:

“If I tried to get out through the doorway he was in front of, he could’ve said that I hit him or something and got me in more trouble. I was barricaded in the bathroom for three or four minutes, and then a band mom was coming down complaining that they could hear Mr. Livengood yelling at me in the bathroom from the cafeteria, from the hallways, and some could hear it from the band room so she came down to see what was wrong.”

Livengood then told Michael:

“Not going to lie. You freak me out.”

This was said in front of students, and a trip chaperone, gathering outside the bathroom because of the shouting.

Three weeks … three weeks … after Livengood harassed and intimidated the student, he was suspended …for four days … because as Harrison County Superintendent Dr. Mark Manchin said:

“I don’t think more needs to be done.”

Manchin said that, "right now I do not believe the necessity of any additional policies or any protections for any students that we do not already have." He also claimed that since only Michael Critchfield and Lee Livengood were in the bathroom it was a case of he said/he said; apparently Manchin forgot about the crowd who heard Livengood tell Critchfield that he was freaked out by a transgender student.

I’m guessing Dr. Mark Manchin  doesn’t want to protect students from being barricaded and harassed in bathrooms by members of the faculty; and if that’s the case, I wonder how he’d react if it was a group of students holding Michael Critchfield hostage?

No need for extra protections there, eh?

Luckily, the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU] got involved and …

Last week the county school board voted to not renew Lee Livengood's contract.

Bye Felicia.

NCRM

Architecture Wednesday: Ridge House

I love this house, located in the mountains of West Virginia, because of its simple design and because of its breathtaking views of the mountains and the river in the distance.

The owner asked for a cabin in which the environment could be ever-so-present. This resulted in large glass walls and a house angled on the property simply to take advantage of those views with terraces from where you can enjoy the sun setting beyond the horizon.

The interior is kept simple, yet inviting, without what the owner dubbed “unnecessary luxuries”, since the most luxurious thing about the house is where it sits and what can be seen from inside or out.

And I love that.

HomeDSGN

West Virginia High Court Rules Gay Bashing Is Not Hate

Well, the West Virginia State Supreme Court has just made it easier to beat up gay people ...

Last week, in a 3-2 opinion, the West Virginia Supreme’s upheld a lower court decision that dismissed the Hate Crime charges against former Marshall University football player Steward Butler.

If you recall, in April 2015, in Huntington, West Virginia, gay couple Zackary Johnson and Casey Williams, were walking down a street when Casey pulled Zackary in for a quick kiss.

At that moment, Butler happened to be riding by in a car with friends and became so enraged at the sight of two men kissing that he leapt from the automobile and began shouting anti-gay slurs at Johnson and Williams before punching both men in the head.

Butler, left, claimed the confrontation was in self-defense, though it’s unclear how he was defending himself against two men kissing … unless he wanted to kiss one of them?

Perhaps he’s one of those self-loathing closeted homosexuals and when he saw two men, in love, kissing on the street, he couldn’t stand to see them doing what he could not, so he jumped from a moving car to tell them how much he hated them for kissing … with his fists.

And in West Virginia, that is not Hate.

Butler was charged with battery and later for violating their civil rights; current West Virginia law prohibits civil rights violations based on race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, political affiliation or sex.

In arguments before the Court last month, Assistant Prosecutor Lauren Plymale said Cabell County Circuit Judge Paul Farrell was wrong when he dismissed the charges against Butler saying state law does not include sexual orientation as a protective class under the hate crimes statute; she argued the word sex meant sexual orientation.

But in the Supreme’s decision, authored authored by Chief Justice Allen Loughry, the Court said the word “sex” is undefined in the code and must be considered under its common and ordinary meaning.

Oh, there we go again with “common and ordinary” meaning; just another way to dismiss gay folks as less than.

In addition to the word play, the Court’s opinion said it also “cannot be ignored” that, since the Hate Crimes statute was passed in West Virginia back 1987, House and Senate members have refused to include “sexual orientation” as a protective class on at least 26 occasions.

You know, because, again, we are less than. And as such if we stop to kiss our boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, on any street in West Virginia and some homophobic asshat decides that the sight of such a thing turns his stomach, he can leap from a moving car and use his fists to express himself.

So, let me see if I can boil this all down to “common and ordinary” meaning for the West Virginia State Supreme Court: if Steward Butler had jumped from a car to beat up a straight couple on a street corner for no reason other than a public display of affection [PDA], that could be considered a hateful thing to do, but if Butler jumps from a car to bash two gay men for the same PDA that’s hate.

Common, ordinary hate; and you’ve just given it a pass.

Metro News

Barred From Owning A Gun, William Pulliam Shot James Means Dead In The Street

William Ronald Pulliam was arrested in Charleston, West Virginia last week after shooting unarmed 15-year-old James Harvey Means twice in the abdomen with a .380 caliber revolver; well, he was arrested right after he committed the murder. First he grabbed a bite to eat and then stopped in to visit a female friend.

But, when he was finally arrested, Pulliam showed no remorse for his crime, saying:

“The way I look at it, that’s another piece of trash off the street.”

Pulliam readily admitted to the murder and told police the gun was left at his friend’s home. Charleston police asked federal authorities to determine if the killing meets the definition of a Hate Crime since Pulliam is white and Means was black.

Apparently Pulliam and Means had a confrontation outside a Dollar General store where, witnesses say, the two exchanged words after physically bumping into one another on the sidewalk. It seemed to have ended there for a moment, because Pulliam went into the store and Means met up with friends at the home of a friend’s grandmother.

When Pulliam left the store, he walked past the house where Means and his friends had gathered, and the two began arguing again. When Means crossed the street to approach Pulliam, he took out his gun and shot Means twice. James Means died shortly after arriving at Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital.

A witness to the shooting—13-year-old James Cooper—also had run-ins with William Pulliam because the older man would pick on Cooper’s younger brother.

“One time I went over there to talk to him about it, I said, ‘You’ve got to quit picking on my little brother, that doesn’t look right.’ He said, ‘Get the [expletive] off my property.’ He said I need to go on with my nappy Latino self. He’s just a real bad guy.”—James Cooper

William Pulliam was arraigned on the murder charge last week, appearing cool and calm during the proceedings. But he was startled by the idea that he would have to remain in jail for now; the possibility of him being released on bond won’t come before his preliminary  this Thursday:

“Don’t I get to say anything? I’ll lose my job and everything unless I can get out of here.”

Huh, maybe he should have thought about that before, I don’t know, murdering a man in cold blood.

But violence is nothing new for William Pulliam; he pleaded no contest to a charge of domestic battery in 2013 after striking his pregnant daughter in the face, kicking her in the stomach and shoving his wife to the ground.

Those charges meant that William Pulliam was banned from ever owning a gun again ... except, of course, here in the United States of Guns.

Gazette Mail

Pamela Ramsey Taylor Showed Her True Colors A Few Months Too Soon

Pity poor Pamela Ramsey Taylor. Had she waited just a couple of more months to whip out her racism she might still have a job.

But Taylor, an employee of the Clay Development Corporation in West Virginia, chose to refer to First Lady Michelle Obama as an “ape in heels” in a Facebook post and for that she’s now walking the unemployment line. I feel so bad ... not.

The mayor of Clay, Beverly Whaling was criticized for commenting on Taylor’s post:

“Just made my day Pam.”

A spokesperson for Clay Development Corporation said Taylor had been removed from her post, but refused to comment further, and neither racist asshat, Taylor or Whaling, was commenting further and their Facebook pages have been deleted.

Good riddance.

While the Clay Development Corporation is not affiliated with the city of Clay, West Virginia state code says a municipal officer can be removed from office if he or she has participated in official misconduct, neglect of duty or incompetence. Taylor seems guilty of all three, and toss in some ignorance, racism, sand stupidity for good measure.

An online petition ... HERE ... calling for both women to be ousted for the racist post and the comment was started over the weekend and NEARLY 200,000 people have signed on; interestingly enough, the town of Clay has a population of just 648.

Let me make this queer: if you don’t like Michelle Obama because you think she’s a terrible First Lady, you have my support in saying that. But when you trot out your bigotry and hatred and downright asshattedness and say the kinds of thins Taylor said, you needed to be fired from your job.

Plain and simple. Sadly, I believe that had Taylor waited until the new administration came into office, she’d have survived with her job intact.

That’s the America we are looking at.

Oh, and before I forget, shortly before Pamela Ramsey Taylor was booted from her job she tried, like more ignorant racists, to walk back her comments by taking to social media again:

“To Whom It May Concern,

I would like to address a Facebook on my personal page from earlier today. I had posted a personal opinion of the current First Lady of the President of the United States which has been misconstrued as racist."

Not misconstrued; for centuries racists have been referring to black people as apes; it’s the textbook example of racism, you ignorant tool.

“I would like to apologize to any one individual that took offense to my post; that was not my intent. I am in no way, shape or form, a racist, bigot or chauvinist. My post, be it may interpreted as racist (though NO WAY INTENDED TO BE), was referring to my personal opinion of the attractiveness, not the color of one’s skin.  For those that feel that was inappropriate and racist, skin color was the furthest thing from my mind.”

Except ... you wouldn’t call a white person an ape if you wanted to talk about how unattractive they were; you’d simply call them ugly ... as ugly, both inside her heart and soul, and outside, as Pamela Ramsey Taylor?

“I have since removed the post, recognizing my error in judgment and how it can be considered insensitive. Unfortunately, there are individuals that want to continue to exploit and inflame this situation by continuing to repost and share it. I would like to respectfully and humbly request that you please refrain from sharing or posting the post I am referring to, not on my behalf, but on behalf of my family, and friends due to the fact that this may cause undue duress."

Nope, Pamela, when racism rears its ugly, and in your case, extraordinarily ugly, face and words, you don’t ignore it, you call it out, you point it out; you shame it.

“I, however, am entitled to my own opinion as afforded under the constitution [sic] of the United States; as well as every citizen of this country. Once again I ap0ologize for any hurt my post may have caused; but firmly stand behind YOUR RIGHT as a citizen of the United States of America  to state YOUR opinion (even as possibly offensive and hurtful as I may find it) about me and my personal observations.”

Yes, Pamela Ramsey Taylor, you are entitled to your opinion, you are entitled to be a racist; and I am entitled to tell as many people as I choose, through word of mouth and word of blog, about how disgusting and despicable and filled with hate I think you are; my RIGHT.

Now, get yourself to the unemployment line ... bitch. And take Beverly, too, because she resigned her post as mayor because she's a disgrace to the office and to her city and to her state and to her country and to the world.

Charleston Gazette-Mail