Hey Arkansas? F%k All The Way Off

Arkansas politicians, well, to be fair, Arkansas GQP anti-LGBTQ+, transphobic politicians, are continuing their war on our trans brothers and sisters because … ignorance, hate, fear, stupidity.

Last week the Arkansas Legislature passed House Bill 1749, which would prohibit hormone treatments, puberty blockers and transition-related surgeries for transgender minors, and for a hot minute it looked like the bill would fail when Governor  Asa Hutchinson vetoed it, but then the GQP-controlled legislature overrode the veto.

Now before you congratulate Hutchinson for being an ally, he also said that while he did not like the bill, he didn’t believe anyone under eighteen should be allowed to have gender reassignment surgery, so, yeah, not a friend.

And now it appears the GQP feels emboldened to continue their war on trans Americans, because they also passed a bill that says teachers would not be required to address students by a name or pronoun inconsistent with the student's biological sex.

The House's 62-21 vote—mostly along party lines—sends the measure to the Senate. Two lawmakers voted present, and 14 didn't vote; fourteen sat on their hands. But, in a surprise move, two Republicans, Frances Cavenaugh and Jeff Wardlaw, voted no.

So, there are some in the party who see this bill for what it is: hate.

It all began when GQP Representative Mary Bentley, who sponsored the bill, claimed some teachers had raised concerns to her about students who have changed their name or pronoun several times in a year, or use three different names in as many classrooms, and fear that they'll be sued for not addressing the child by their preferred name or pronoun:

"It's not compelling anyone's speech. It's not prohibiting anyone's speech. It's helping those professors and teachers in our schools that do not want to be sued for not using a certain person's pronoun.”

Really, Mary? I remember being in school, and on the first day being addressed as Robert, and telling my teachers to call me Bob; it’s not hard to call people by their names, and really not so hard to learn a person’s pronouns. And it’s not so hard to remember he/him, she/her, or they/them.

Democratic lawmaker, the aptly named Fred Love says that intentionally not referring to someone by what they want to be called is "one of the most disrespectful things that you can do:

"That's one of the simplest decencies that we can give someone. ... That's not hard. That's not difficult. That's just a bit of decency and a bit of respect and I think that's what we need to do."

But then GQP Representative Mark Lowery told a story about a "male student who wanted to be called by a female name" and was referred to that way by teachers, even though the student’s parents would only address the student by the birth name. That’s tough; but even Lowery admits that this new Hate Bill does “not specifically address the example I'm giving you.”

So, let’s go back to Mary Bentley, who pulled out that old chestnut about students changing their name between classes or asking to be identified as an animal:

"We have a real issue in our state, and I need our districts to take a look at this and do more than this bill does. This bill is just a first step to help protect our teachers but when we have students in school now that don't identify as a boy or a girl but as a cat, as a furry, we have issues."

Hey Mary, you bigoted fool please give one example of a student asking to be identified as an animal. I’ll wait.

That’s what I thought. Oh, and to make one thing clear, this isn’t about teachers being sued for misnaming or misgendering any student anywhere, anytime, ever, because, even in Arkansas, no teacher has ever been sued for that,

This bill is intended to make transgender, non-binary, gender fluid students, less than, because politicians cannot wrap their heads around the idea.

My name’s Bob. My pronouns are he/him, and I identify as male, gay male,

That’s not so hard to remember and doing that for our trans brothers and sisters goes a long way toward making everyone at least feel equal.

Arkansas Online

Tuesday Thought #5

Tuesday Thought #4

 

Tuesday Thought #3

Tuesday Thought #2

Tuesday Thought #1

 

That's So White

On March 16, a few months after Lt. Caron Nazario was being stopped at gun point, pepper sprayed, drag from his car and pushed to the ground because two police officers couldn’t see his new car tags in his rea window, Kansas Highway Patrol Officer Austin Shepley was patrolling the streets of Topeka when he spotted a vehicle driving the wrong way down the street. He pursued the car, with speeds reaching upwards of ninety miles per hour, and Shepley because concerned about innocent people being injured or hurt. So he used a TVI—a Tactical Vehicle Intervention—to stop the car. The driver nearly hit the center barrier wall before coming to a complete stop.

Shepley exited his patrol car, drew his pistol and gave the driver commands to shut the SUV off; the driver did not respond. Two Topeka Police officers then arrived on scene to assist, and one noted that he could smell the odor of alcohol coming from inside the vehicle , and that the driver “looked back at me with a confused, frightened, blank stare. He was not registering my commands or responding to them.”

The driver allegedly tried to pull away from officers as they attempted to remove him from the vehicle and they noted that “his eyes were watery, droopy, and he had bloodshot eyes.” Officer Shepley says he could not understand the man as he was “mumbling words with slurred speech.” Shepley read the man his Miranda rights and the man said “No.” when asked if he wanted to speak with the officer at that time, though he did say that this whole thing was:

“All for going the wrong way.”

And then he, refusing a breathalyzer test because he didn’t “feel the need to do so,” called the “donut boy”. His mood changed, however, a judge signed a search warrant for a blood sample—which showed his BAC at ,17, three-times the legal limit—and the man became “slightly aggressive in his tone” and “looked [Shepley] up and down stating he played state sports competitively in high school” and he could “take me”.

This man, driving drunk driving down the wrong side of the street at over ninety miles per hour was arrested and taken into custody without a shot fired, without being grabbed and pushed to the ground, without being pepper sprayed.

But then he was Kansas GQP state Senator Gene Suellentrop.

UPDATE: Kansas Republicans removed Gene Suellentrop out of office.

Even AFTER George Floyd, This Is STILL Happening In America

On December 5,2020, U.S. Army Lt. Caron Nazario, who is Black and Latino, was driving his brand-new Chevy Tahoe when he got the police lights in the rearview mirror. He was in uniform at the time of the stop.

Knowing what could happen to People of Color during even routine police stops, Nazario did not immediately pull over. But he did put on his emergency lights, and continued on driving, under the speed limit, for about a minute-and-a-half, until he could  safely park in a well-lit gas station parking lot.

At the gas station, Windsor Police Officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker pulled their guns on Nazario for the crime of driving without license plates even though a new vehicle tag was clearly visible in Lt. Nazario's rear window.

Lt. Nazario says he followed police commands to keep his hands outside the vehicle, but says officers became agitated when he asked why he was being stopped, as is his right. That’s when Gutierrez says—and he is heard on police body cams:

"What's going on? You're fixin' to ride the lightning, son?"

Nazario's attorney Jonathan Arthur says, in Nazario’s lawsuit, that ‘ride the lightning’ is a colloquial expression for an execution, originating from glib reference to execution by the electric chair”. And while Virginia recently outlawed capital punishment, the state has executed prisoners via the electric chair for more than a century.

Nazario is heard telling the officers that he was “honestly afraid to get out” of his SUV, and Officer Gutierrez replies:

“Yeah, you should be!”

The officers then pepper sprayed Nazario multiple times, "causing him substantial and immediate pain," damaged Nazario’s new car, and choked his dog, who was crated in the rear of the vehicle.

Gutierrez responded with knee-strikes to Lt. Nazario's legs to force an already compliant and blinded Lt. Nazario down on his face ostensibly to handcuff him. And while he was on the ground, and in tears, Gutierrez and Crocker continued to strike him. They also warned him not to complain about their treatment of him, and threatened to criminally charge him; if, however, Nazario, according to , the lawsuit, would "chill and let this go," then no charges would be filed.

Lt. Caron Nazario was not criminally charged or cited for any traffic violation.

Huh. I guess there is no law on the books about Black Men Driving New Cars in Windsor, Virginia.

A town manager says Officers Joe Gutierrez and Daniel Crocker still work for the police department.

See the video at NBC News and ask yourselves, if you are a white person, if you would have been treated the same; if you would have felt safe getting out of the car; if police officers would have pulled guns on you; if you’d have heard the officer joke about the electric chair; if you’d have been told you have good reason to be afraid; if you’d have been pepper sprayed, grabbed and thrown to the ground because there were no license plates on your car.

If you were white …

UPDATE: Officer Joe Gutierrez has been fired from the Windsor Police Department. Daniel Crocker, however, still has his job.

The Funny Papers

Bill Bramhall, David Horsey, Ed Wexler, RJ Matson, Nick Anderson, Darrin Bell, Kevin Siers, Steve Benson, Ann Telnaes, Dave Whamond, Marc Murphy, Michael de Adder, Jack Ohman, Ed Hall, Mike Luckovich, 

I Ain't One To Gossip But ...

It looks like former Husband-in-My-head Armie Hammer’s film career is now officially over.

Word comes that, after been dropped by his talent agency, WME, and his publicist, after being replaced by Josh Duhamel in Shotgun Wedding, after having his offer rescinded by producers of The Offer, and with the already finished Death on The Nile perhaps never being released, he was “let go” from a movie called Billion Dollar Spy—the last remaining film on Hammer’s slate.

And it gets worse … earlier this month it was revealed that the LAPD is investigating Hammer for sexual assault stemming from an accusation of “violent rape and physical abuse” by a woman known only as Effie, who is thought to be the person behind the Instagram account  that began Armie’s fall from  grace.

And again, while you might wanna give him some benefit of the doubt about all these accusations, remember he has never denied them, but has only complained only about being kink-shamed … right out of a film career.

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Tori Spelling has built a very lucrative career off having kids and not paying her credit card bills, so it’s not surprising that the very thirsty for attention Spelling did something stupid last week.

On April 1—which is, in Tori’s world Act A Fool Day AKA every day—she posted a photo to Instagram of herself with an obvious “baby bump” along with the caption “No. 6” implying she is pregnant once again:

Kind of a stupid joke, and in any way you slice it, not really funny, because a mother who can’t pay her credit card bills should think long and hard before having a sixth child, and to joke about being pregnant is kind of offensive to women who cannot conceive. So, Instagram lashed back at Spelling for being dense, though Tori is so dense that she says the post isn’t her fault …

“Every week, magazine and press outlets ask if I’m pregnant. To set the record straight, I am not. The fact is, after my fifth baby, my body did not bounce back like it had before. That’s when the constant questions of “yet another” pregnancy first began. Unless you’re in the public eye, it is hard to understand what it feels like to be body shamed so publicly. I feel like I have to constantly defend my body when instead, I should be honoring it for the miracle of life it gave me five times. I know pregnancy is an extreme blessing. And I would never intentionally poke fun at losing a child or not being able to carry one. I myself have miscarried. My post was to simply turn the tables for once on the press. They constantly create wild and often hurtful stories about me, my body and my family. For those of you who are hurt, I hear you, I love you. I welcome your stories and I will try my best to be there to support you. Please accept this as a virtual hug to my entire community.”

What a load of bull shit. It’s the media’s fault? The media often body shamed her as looking pregnant because she didn’t lose her body weight as fast as she had before so she posts a picture of herself looking pregnant, or overweight, and claims she’s pregnant? Nice try, Tori. You posted the photo. You called it No. 6. You did this.

The shame isn’t on your body it’s on your lack of having a fully functioning brain and being so desperate for attention you can’t stop to think how idiotic and ridiculous and rude and offensive you are.

Now, just go pay your bills and leave the world alone.

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Khloé Kardastrophe has served so many different looks over the years, from new hair, new eyes, new chin, new nose; she’s gone from looking like a Khloé to a Beyonce to Jessica Alba using fillers, filters, and whatever Black Magic Photoshop she can find. But one thing she will not tolerate, nor will any member of That Klan, is an actual, unretouched photo … which may explain why she’s channeling her inner Beyonce—remember when she tried to scrub the internet of her Superbowl Ugly Performance Face—to rid the internet of this recent photo:

[Love to show it to you, but the Kardastrophes cried ‘Copyright Infringement’ and the picture is now gone]

Rumor has it the photo—which is an authentic photo taken in what looks like the backyard of That Woman’s home—was never meant to be shared outside The Klan, but it begs the question why would you share it inside The Klan, who sell themselves every day for social media clicks? But one person did share it and has ALLEGEDLY been threatened with legal action for posting it, except that person ALLEGEDLY got the photo from Khloé’s grandmother, Mary Jo “MJ” Shannon.

So, what does Khloé do? She immediately posts this posed, edited, filtered photo on the web to try and diminish the response to the first pic:

But here’s another thing: Tracy Romulus, chief marketing officer for KKW Brands, says that while the photo of Khloé is real, and she looks beautiful in it, it was taken without permission by mistake by an assistant, and so it must be taken down. Sounds to me like an awful lot of effort for a photo everyone agrees is real, and shows Khloé looking so, um, beautiful.

But then because, of course, the Kardastrophe’s know that any publicity is good publicity, and so they will keep the story going, Khloé Kardastrophe, herself, has a few words something wrote for her to say about all this:

“In truth, the pressure, constant ridicule and judgment my entire life to be perfect and to meet other’s standards of how I should look has been too much to bear. ‘Khloé is the fat sister.’ ‘Khloé is the ugly sister.’ ‘Her dad must not be her real dad because she looks so different.’ ‘The only way she could have lost that weight must have been from surgery.' You never quite get used to being judged and pulled apart and told how unattractive one is, but I will say if you hear anything enough then you will start to believe it. This is how I have been conditioned to feel, that I am not beautiful enough just being me.”

Um, that’s a nice word salad, except we already know that everyone in the family says she looks beautiful in the picture, and no one who saw the picture said “fat” or “ugly” or “her dad isn’t her dad,” they simply said, “once again Khloé doesn’t look anything like Khloé.”:

But that retouched, filtered, Photoshopped one looks exactly like Khloé … wants you to believe she looks.

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And now, for some hot beefy ass … Christopher Meloni’s very nice posterior was recently seen in Brooklyn as he filmed scenes for his new show, Law & Order: Organized Crime. And everyone knows that a Meloni melon is always a pleasure to see, though they are few and far between. But this one was captured while Meloni was doing some kind of stretching move and his pants strained to keep his cakes in check:

And the photo caused such a stir on Twitter, that even one Christopher Meloni was compelled to offer an explanation:

I love that he has fun with this, almost as much I love looking at his gorgeous backside.

Just sayin’.

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I Didn't Say It ...

Ronen Rubinstein, actor on Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star, coming out as bisexual, and says playing a gay character on the show, helped him come out:

“I fully identify as bisexual. I literally just got goosebumps saying that. It feels so good to talk about it, it feels so good to finally be comfortable with it … The biggest thing for me is where I come from, it’s like people like me and people who have identified as bisexual or gay or as any part of the community, you’re just not welcomed. It’s as brutally honest as that. It’s either you faced insane amounts of profanity, like the F-word was thrown around all the time or you would get your ass kicked if you were gay. [Jessica Parker Kennedy, Rubinstein’s girlfriend] is actually one of the first people that sort of respectfully called me out on it. She’s like, ‘Is there something we need to talk about?’ And I said, ‘Maybe.’ She definitely encouraged me to be vocal about it, just to live my truth. She’s like, ‘I love you for who you are, your full self and people will love you for who you are and your full self.’ I want people to know that they’re not alone and it’s definitely okay. Trust me, I know that it is not easy. My path has not been easy at all, but it’s just one more thing that I can share with people to help them and let them know that I’m here for them.”

Welcome out, Ronen, and know that your journey will help someone else take that first step. Every time a member of the LGBTQ+ community out, it creates a path for others.

Thank you.

PS Is he adorable, or what?

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Kayleigh McEnany, AKA Bullshit Barbie and Thing #45’s Press Liar, in her new job at Fox News, appearing on Hannity on Fox news, to lie:

“It’s just really important to point out that the standard is so high to hold any of these news organizations accountable. You have to prove intentional malice. It is extremely hard to prove. It’s why 60 Minutes—it’s why the left, MSNBC, CNN, they get away with murder each and every day. They can say whatever they want because you can’t hold them accountable. It’s a travesty.”

This from the same news channel where Fucker Carlos said no one attacked the Capitol, they simply walked into their building.

Nice to see Kayleigh is as full of shit as ever.

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Pete Buttigieg, on Fox News, talking about Infrastructure Week and those who don’t seem to know what that means:

"I heard the governor of South Dakota recently saying, 'this isn't infrastructure—it’s got money for pipes.' Well, we believe that pipes are infrastructure, because you need water to live. And too many families now live with the threat of lead poisoning."

Sadly, the Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem, is a GQPer, so Pete will need crayons and gold stars to make her understand that infrastructure isn’t just roads and bridges.

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S.E. Cupp, Political commentator, on the continuing threat from supports of Thing #45:

“I’m here for a post-MAGA America, one that resides permanently within a history book and not in a newspaper, but we don’t yet live in that America. I’m sad to say [the twice-impeached, one-term loser] is not ‘irrelevant’—the ‘nightmare’ is not over. For one, he’s trying to influence the 2022 midterms, and is likely to play a significant role in Republican efforts to win back Congress. Considering Biden’s substantial and fragile agenda, that seems, er, important. Likewise, [the twice-impeached, one-term loser] may very well run for president again in 2024. And if you want to know what it looks like when the media doesn’t take a presidential run seriously, see the early months of 2016 and the eventual result. Believe me, no one wants to be past [the twice-impeached, one-term loser]-ism more than I do. We can plug our ears, cover our eyes, and will him to go away. But the reality is, [the twice-impeached, one-term loser]  is still a big problem for America—and yes, a problem worth covering.”

Notice that many of Thing #45’s faithful lapdogs are now working as “news” people over on Fox, helping the former guy keep his lies and hate in the public.

Stay vigilant. Speak up. And, say it with me: CAST A GODDMANED VOTE.

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John Autry, Democratic state representative from North Carolina politician, criticizing legislation that targets transgender children like his granddaughter:

"For me, it's a personal issue. I have family members that are in the LGBTQ community, including a grandchild that identifies as female and is transitioning. I would do anything to protect any of my children and my grandchildren and that is one of the reasons I am so supportive with these measures here today. You know, a transgender girl is not a boy, and the emails that I am receiving portraying that there is some conspiracy of transgender youth to assume an identity that they were not born with to cheat at sports is just ludicrous and I can't find the words that can express my, I guess, disgust, is one of them. Aside from the basic dehumanization of [my granddaughter] by such measures, it's hurtful. They're hurting people. And they're hurting my children and they're hurting my grandchildren. And I will not stand for that. The ones that are really troubling are the ones that take the position that these children are perpetuating a concerted fraud to present themselves as transgender just to cheat at sports … No one is coming after your granddaughter's track medal.”

This is what common sense and tolerance and understanding that people are different sounds like.

Of course, he’s a Democrat and doesn’t legislate in fear.

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Bobservations

Over the weekend, we traveled out to DSW for new shoes. I needed some new summery kicks—that’s them below; cute, no?—and Carlos wanted a pair of boots for working in the yard. As I wandered the aisles, I came upon a small selection of … Gird your loins Maddie … Croc slippers. Carlos loves his Croc slippers but the fleece lining on his old pair have disintegrated and he can’t find replacements. So, being the good husband, no matter how much I detest Crocs—and, as a reminder, Carlos is not allowed off our property in said Crocs—I told him about the Croc slippers and he raced back to the display and scoured the boxes:

“They don’t have my size.”

I pointed to a :::gasp::: Camouflage pair.

“Well, did you check the sizes on these?”

“Camouflage? Do you think I’m some kinda camouflage Croc wearing hillbilly?”

“Oh, honey, no. You’re a regular Croc wearing hillbilly.”

Sadly—or, in my case, happily—they did not have his size, so we dodged a Croc bullet.

You can start reading again, Maddie!

Tuxedo has a big FU for all the GQPers who are telling corporations to stay out of politics while taking donations from corporations and also while being big ass hypocrites. Tuxedo don’t suffer no fools.

You see, the GQP has ranted about so-called Cancel Culture forever, and yet now they want you to break your Keurig, burn your Nikes, turn off CNN, stop watching baseball or football or basketball or NASCAR, don’t shop at Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Nordstrom, or Macy’s, don’t drink Coke, or Starbucks, don’t watch HBO or Netflix and don’t eat Oreos.

The Party of Hypocrisy at work.

Over Easter weekend some people on the right freaked all the way out because Dr. Jill Biden wore fishnets in public.

This is the same group of people who had nothing to say about seeing Melanie's vagina.

Carry on.

Ramsey Solutions, owned by Christian nutjob and radio host Dave Ramsey, is no longer one of the best places to work in America after Inc. magazine dropped them from its 2020 “Best Workplaces” list after the company was sued by a former employee, Caitlin O’Conner, for discrimination.

O’Connor was fired after applying for family leave because she was pregnant. In court documents, Ramsey said O’Connor, who is not married, was fired for having premarital sex, which violated the company’s “righteous living” policy.

Clearly Dave Ramsey is a fucking loon. He is a religious wingnut and rabid anti-masker and is suing a Florida hotel, claiming they cost him millions because he canceled a convention there over their mask policy.

Now, I need someone to look into Dave Ramsey, because anyone who spends so much time worrying if his employees are having pre-marital sex probably has a closet filled with skeletons.

I have a friend who owns guns, but in the wake of the recent shootings, thought better of being what I would call “over armed.” He decided to sell his guns back to the government, but after a thorough background check, he realized the buyer has a history of violence and is mentally unstable and has opted to have the weapons destroyed. [/sarcasm font]

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, who rescinded the state’s mask mandate weeks after taking office, has tested positive for COVID-19.

Sorry, asshat, not sorry.

It’s not clear how he contracted the virus or if he has infected others, but six members of the state legislature have also tested positive since January.

Greg Gianforte; Superspreader.

Isn’t it ironic … while serving in the Florida Legislature, Matt Gaetz opposed a bill meant to stop people from sharing sexually explicit images of their ex-lovers? Matt Gaetz believed that recipients of those images had a right to share them. And now we know why he opposed the bill. So he could open his phone in the US Congress and show naked pictures of his ALLEGED conquests.

Former state Representative, and Republican, Tom Goodson, who sponsored legislation to outlaw this “revenge porn” and says:

“Matt was absolutely against it. He thought the picture was his to do with what he wanted. He thought that any picture was his to use as he wanted to, as an expression of his rights.”

Pigs gonna pig.

Rumor has it that Caitlyn Jenner might run, for governor of California, and is being assisted by Caroline Wren, a longtime GQP fundraiser, she met through her work with the American Unity Fund, a GQP nonprofit focused on LGBT issues, but …

Carolina Wren previously worked at [_____] Victory, a joint fundraising committee for the twice impeached, one term loser’s failed 2020 campaign. Wren more importantly, helped organize the rally he addressed immediately before the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.

That’s all you need to know about Wren and Jenner.

Jake Moyle. Actor and dancer, who has appeared in everything from Rocketman to Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again to Mary Poppins Returns.

He’s not what you might call classically handsome, but there’s something in the smile and the hair and the body. Had I known he was shaking his groove thing in Mamma Mia or Poppins I might have gone to see them.