Bobservations

Another tale of Carlos and Siri … the other night I was leaving work, and I texted Carlos:

“Leaving soon.”

He responded:

“OK, dinner is ready.”

“Okurrrrr.”

“OK, dinner is ready.”

“Um, you said that twice.”

“I think Siri is getting snippy with me.”

“He probably was.”

Now I have to contend with Carlos and Snippy Siri. Oy.

Once again, Tuxedo has been slogging through my Twitter feed and struck Comedy Gold!

Always remember to tip your bartender, especially if you’re going to commit arson later that night.

A tourist made a big impression in a Key West bar by running up a New Year’s Eve bar tab without leaving a tip. See, after that tourist left the bar a webcam showed him, and a couple of other vandals, set fire to a Christmas tree which also damaged Key West’s landmark buoy marking the southernmost point in the United States to the tune of $5,000.

When the video hit the news, the bartenders the tourist stiffed recognized him and informed police.

Always tip.

I got a new hat for winter but it doesn’t go with anything I own so I choose to wear it  that way.

I have a birthday coming up, and this week that little chocolate gift arrived from one of my besties, Laura, from California.

For some reason, and neither of us remembers why, I call her Nora … so, Thanks again Nora!

Emily Hernandez from Missouri has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for entering the Capitol on January 6. Hernandez was one of the morons who posed for pictures with objects stolen from the offices of members of Congress—well, not the ones who helped plan the insurrection—and was seen holding a fragment of a sign from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. She faces a maximum one year in prison and $100,000 fine.

And then there’s her drunk driving arrest; Hernandez was driving west in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 44 when she crashed into a car heading east. Victoria Wilson, a passenger in the car, was killed, and her husband Ryan, who was driving, was seriously injured and taken to a hospital.

In the words of MAGATs everywhere: Lock. Her. Up.

The Texas Republican Party put out an odd message on Twitter that immediately sparked a wave of criticism because it said:

“If you can wait in line for a covid test, you can wait in line to vote.”

The Texas GOP employees behind the account took note of the fast reaction to the tweet and followed up with two replies, both ignorant and clueless and rude:

“Wow, this made the pronouns in bio people big mad.”

“Masks are dumb.”

The Texas GOP has chosen to run on the very populist platform of “you should wait on long lines for everything.”

Texas, where everything is bigger, and more ignorant.

The other day as I was walking out of the Goodwill store, I noticed a woman crying because she’d just lost $200. So I gave her $40 of the $200 I’d just found.

When God blesses you, you need to bless others.

Kilian Izaak Zeugin, who simply goes by Killian Izaak, is a Swiss-Spanish model and begs the question: Would you hit it?

Architecture Wednesday: Casa Huolpoch

I am all about retiring to Merida, Mexico when the time comes, though I still need to convince Carlos, and when I do I want something like Casa Huolpoch.

Casa Huolpoch is an old Yucatecan house from the end of the 1900s that gets its name from a snake that regularly “visited” the property's ruins—this snake reference might make Carlos refuse this home outright. Behind its colonial facade, the house has four bedrooms and a studio apartment in 3400 square feet—this also might be a bit too large for Carlos.

In the entry hall, living area, you find an old cast iron lamp hanging from the original metal beams that together with the white wooden beams embellish the high ceilings of the residence. The living room aso features a gray pasta tile “carpet”—pasta tiles are made in molds into which bits of colored cement paste are poured after which a solid-colored cement is poured as backing—surrounded by an antique white floor border that joins the kitchen and dining room through three old colonial doors that were found on-site and reused, preserving their character and its historical value.

Next up is the kitchen and dining area, with pasta tile and white quartz, has a reinterpretation of the old Yucatecan hoods above the stove. The dining room is connected to the terrace through a sliding glass door, generating a feeling of indoor-outdoor living, with a pool just beyond the covered terrace.

The chukum pool—chukum is a resin obtained from the bark of the chukum tree that is blended with fine cement creating a salmon colored for the pool—sits in a central courtyard surrounded by the stone remains of an old colonial structure, where you find an outdoor eating area and outdoor kitchen. Follow the meandering stairs from the pool deck to the second floor and the guest bedrooms, while the primary suite is located on the first floor, with views from the bed through the yard and cross the pool.

Casa Huolpoch is that perfect blend of historical Yucatecan colonial architecture and modern design.

If it just wasn’t named after a snake …

Click to emBIGGERate ...

Dwell

Bad Companies, Part 1

A year has passed since the deadly insurrection on the U.S. Capitol and in the aftermath of the insurrection a great many corporations promised to defend democracy. By the end of that week, nearly every major company in the US and dozens committed to cutting off the lawmakers involved.  

Sounded nice on papers but the facts are quite different. By the end of 2021, corporations and trade groups still donated over $8.1 million to the 147 members of the Sedition Caucus ¹—the members of Congress who validated dangerous myths of voter fraud by objecting to election certification.  

I’m going to share those companies with you …

Altria Group 

After the attack, Altria spokesperson Steve Callahan said:

“Altria strongly condemns the violence that occurred at the U.S. Capitol. January 6 was a dark day in American history, and we look forward to the peaceful transition of power that will occur on January 20.”

Altria condemned the insurrection, openly opposed voter suppression legislation, and announced a suspension to its political donations after January 6 so the company could review its contribution criteria.  

Trouble is, those were just words, and in 2021, Altria spent at least $84,500 on campaign contributions to those Republicans who voted against certifying the 2020 election results, and donated to the governors of Georgia and Texas who signed voting restrictions into law. 

Boeing 

On January 14, 2021, eight days after the attack, Boeing released a statement:

“Boeing strongly condemns the violence, lawlessness and destruction that took place in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Given the current environment, we are not making political contributions at this time.” 

Boeing then spent the rest of the years donating a total of $190,000 to Congress’ Sedition Caucus, AKA the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the election results. 

Chevron 

On January 6—the day of the attack—Chevron posted to Twitter:

“We call for the peaceful transition of the U.S. government. The violence in Washington, D.C. tarnishes a two-century tradition of respect for the rule of law. We look forward to engaging with President-Elect Biden and his administration to move the nation forward.” 

By May, that commitment was irrelevant, after Chevron donated $62,500  to the Sedition Caucus; Chevron has also donated to Texas’ governor and attorney general, who helped spread the Big Lie and restrict ballot access. 

More to come …

Accountable US

What's This?

A Republican who isn’t Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger standing up to The Big Lie?

Yup, South Dakota’s GOP Senator, Mike Rounds,  was on ABC's "This Week" over the weekend and called Thing 45’s Big Lie a, well, big lie, and adding that “the election was fair":

"As a part of our due diligence, we looked at over 60 different accusations made in multiple states. While there were some irregularities, there were none of the irregularities which would have risen to the point where they would have changed the vote outcome in a single state. The election was fair, as fair as we've seen. We simply did not win the election, as Republicans, for the presidency."

Rounds added that the GOP should focus on "what it's going to take to win the presidency. If we simply look back and tell our people, ‘Don't vote because there's cheating going on,’ then we're going to put ourselves in a huge disadvantage."

Best of all, Rounds was asked if he would support prosecution of Thing 45 if he’s found to be complicit in the January 6 insurrection, and he said that was the Justice Department's call, but, he also noted,  that the "shield of the presidency does not exist for someone who is a former president."

Smack.

Of course, being a Republican, he also showed his true colors saying he would not rule out supporting Thing 45 if he ran for president in 2024.

Let’s see …. He agrees that Thing 45 pushed a Big Lie about the election, and he believes the election was fair and the outcome true, and believes that Thing 45 may be prosecuted and cannot use Executive Privilege as a defense BUT … he might support the Big Lie pushing traitor in 2024.

Oh Mike, you almost went full Liz Cheney, and then you dropped back into the GOP party over country stance.

For his part, of course, Thing 45 released a statement slamming Rounds for going "woke" saying:

"Is he crazy or just stupid?"

Um, that would be a question for you , asshat.

Be Like Chasten

A lot of us in the LGBTQ+ community have been subjected to slurs and name-calling, and a lot of us have turned the other cheek, thinking it would do no real good to call out the homophobes and haters.

But times have changed with social media, and the idea that homophobes and bigos and haters can call you names from the comfort of their own mother’s basement, and some of us still choose to do nothing.

Enter Chasten Buttigieg. A homophobic troll left an insulting comment on a photo of Chasten and his family, and Chasten didn’t let him get away with it.

Last week, Chasten posted that photo with his husband and Secretary of Transportation, Pete Buttigieg, and their twins, Penelope Rose and Joseph August, at the White House, posting:

“2021 brought with it many challenges, but it also gave us a lot to be grateful for. Happy New Year, friends. Here’s to a peaceful and joyful 2022!”

Most people who commented loved the photo of the happy family, but some didn’t and one, Andre Kravchenko, left a nasty comment:

“Someone actually gave these [censored] kids??? Holy [censored].”

Note: Chasten, who posted a screenshot of the censored comment—though I imagine we all know what words were used—wrote:

“In the year 2022, you’d think these people would be wise enough to post their homophobia from an alt account, not one easily connected to their job. Rather embarrassing for @americanhomes4rent, a company that claims to be an equal housing provider and one that’s ‘building a culture of inclusion and belonging.’ I worry for your tenants.”

And that sent Buttigieg supporters posting comments on posts by American Homes 4 Rent calling out their homophobic employee, which prompted the company to issue a statement emphasizing its commitment to diversity and inclusion and clarifying that despite what it said on Kravchenko’s LinkedIn profile, he has not worked for the company for over five years.

Kravchenko was actually employed by Seattle company Skyline Properties, who at first issued a statement that Chasten did not approve of:

“To all who are posting, Skyline could not possibly know what 1,200 of our independent contractors could be doing at any given moment. There is no way on gods green earth that you, me air [sic] anyone else could know in advance what someone might think or post. Now that I am aware of the post I will have a conversation with the broker. Thank our for letting me know.”

Oh, do not come for Chasten Buttigieg like that: he posted the comment and said:

“This defensive response tells us exactly how that ‘conversation’ is going to go.”

After that the Skyline Instagram account released a more official statement:

“After spending time to properly review the comments made by this individual, we have found that this was not some fluke, mistake, or hacking situation, and have promptly FIRED him from Skyline Properties. That being said, we would like to sincerely apologize to the Buttigieg family and the LGBTQ+ community for any harm that came from the bigotry of this individual. We do not tolerate ANY hate speech of any kind, nor do we have a place for ANY brokers who participate in such hateful behaviors. We must be as clear as possible when we say we have zero tolerance towards this behavior.”

And that’s how you stand up to bigots and their hate speech. Anyone can feel however they choose about the LGBTQ+ community, or People of Color, or Jews or Muslims, or … whomever. But when you post that kind of hate-filled speech, there will be consequences.

Speech is free, but the consequences can cost.

The Funny Papers

Nick Anderson, Adam Zyglis, Bill Bramhall, Clay Bennett, Christopher Weyant, Matt Wuerker, John Branch, Steve Benson, Drew Sheneman, Mike Luckovich, RJ Matson, Deb Milbrath, Michael de Adder, Monte Wolverton, David Fitzsimmons,

I Ain't One To Gossip But ...

As I mentioned in Bobservations Andy Cohen was a drunken raging mess on CNN’s New Year’s Eve show and spouting off about how Journey is ‘fake’ Journey without Steve Perry, and how Bill de Blasio is a terrible mayor, and how he loathes Ryan Seacrest.

Now, sober Andy “really” regrets slamming Seacrest and his New Year’s Eve viewers and ABC, though maybe that’s just the sober talking and the realization that the man he insulted is his BFF, Kelly Ripa’s, cohost on their morning show. A source explains the regret like this:

“Kelly likes Andy, but she adores Ryan. Andy is her friend, but Ryan is her work husband, he is family … What makes matters worse is that Kelly works for ABC. She is very loyal … [and] … calling ABC viewers ‘losers’ [as Cohen did] isn’t cool. One thing is for sure, it’s going to be very difficult to ever ask Andy to fill in on ABC next to Kelly the next time Ryan is off.”

And that’s where the truth comes out. Andy Cohen is jealous that Ryan is on the show with Kelly because Cohen desperately wanted that seat and didn’t get it, and after shot after shot after shot of tequila Cohen spewed his venom.

Um, Andy, you’ll never get the job now, and most likely will never be asked back on the show, unless Kelly and Ryan has an Andy Cohen Raging Drunk Mess Mea Culpa episode.

photo

Kim Kardastrophe, while she has no discernible talent, is quite adept at keeping her name in the media … either by dating serial dater Pete Davidson, who has dated Ariana Grande, actors Kate Beckinsale, Margaret Qualley, Kaia Gerber, and perhaps Miley Cyrus, among others … or this:

The ex-Missus West watched the new Spiderman film, No Way Home, in her home theater and then took to Instagram to post a series of spoilers about the film because, again, fame seeking whore.

Even more desperate is that Kardastrophe took photos of the screen and shared them to Instagram, revealing to her 273 million followers that … I will not tell you what she revealed, sparing those of you who haven’t seen it, or those of you, like me, who will watch it when it comes to TV and there’s nothing better on.

Kimmy soon realized what a fool she was and thought she could just hit delete, like she does to her marriages, and it would be like it never happened, except it did and social media followers were livid:

“I don’t even **king follow Kim kardashian and the one moment I decide to watch her stories on instagram she post literally THEE whole spoiler of spider man. I’ve never hated someone so much.”

“Nothing says privilege like getting a movie in your own private theatre and spoiling it for those of us who are trying to stay home and safe!”

I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: Kim Kardastrophe and the whole Kardastrophe Klan, ruin everything.

photo 1   photo 2

Of course, as thirsty for attention as Kim Kardastrophe is, no one is as thirsty for Kim Kardastrophe as one Kanye West. West has been begging Kimmy to take him back—even though he has been dating a series of women—and even went on a Kimmy Please Come Home rant while handing meals with the LA Mission on Thanksgiving because homeless people need to hear a multi-millionaire whine that his multi-millionaire wife is done with their marriage,

So, what does Kanye do now? He …wait for it, it’s so stalker-ish … bought a Hidden Hills estate right  across the street from Kim Kardastrophe’s Kastle. And he had the money to do so, because it was just last year that Kimmy paid Kanye $23 million to buy him out of the house.

And now they’re neighbors. Creepshow.

photo

I know you’ve heard that former Sex and the City co-star, former The Equalizer co-star, and former And Just Like That co-star, Chris Noth, has been having a rough end of 2021. Two women have come forward ALLEGING they were raped by Noth in 2004 and 2005, followed by Zoe Lister-Jones says Noth was drunk and creepy with her when she appeared on Law & Order, and a third woman ALLEGES Noth sexually assaulted her in 2010.

In the wake of the ALLEGATIONS, Noth finds himself out of work, though to be fair, And Just Like That killed him off before the story broke. And, after his character died on AJLT, while working out on a Peloton machine, Noth scored an ad campaign with the company, but that’s gone, too, as is his contract with talent agency, A3 Artists. The icing on the cake is that Noth’s SATC/AJLT former co-stars released a statement about the ALLEGATIONS:

"We are deeply saddened to hear the allegations against Chris Noth. We support the women who have come forward and shared their painful experiences. We know it must be a very difficult thing to do and we commend them for it."

They’re sad to hear about the allegations … they support the women … standard issue, until you find out SJP blew a gasket over the whole mess and is said to be livid about the story. Oh, not because Noth was ALLEGEDLY rape-y and sexually inappropriate with several women but because the ALLEGATIONS hurt SJP’s legacy as Carrie Bradshaw. Seriously. An insider, and it’s no doubt SJP’s BFF and henchman, the aforementioned raging drunk  Andy Cohen, who also attacked Kim Cattrall for refusing to do any more shows with SJP, says:

“She is fiercely protective of Carrie Bradshaw and livid that she and everyone else at the show has been put into this position. It is not about the money, but her legacy. Carrie was all about helping women and now, under her watch, women are saying that they have been hurt. She takes the power of being Carrie Bradshaw very seriously. With great power comes great responsibility and although SJP knows this is about him, not her, she feels like she has let everyone down.”

Let that sink in … ‘SJP knows this is about him, not her’ but she makes it about her.

For whom do I feel bad? The women who ALLEGE they were sexually assaulted by Chris Noth, or SJP?

Take a seat, Karen, or maybe it’s something else … It appears that perhaps And Just Like That will be a one-off and SJP has to blame someone and since Cattrall isn’t around, she’s ALLEGING positioning the blame to fall on Chris Noth for ruining her show.

photo

More Kimmy … Kim Kardastrophe has unfollowed Miley Cyrus on Instagram following the singer’s live New Year’s Eve special with Kim’s current for-media-only boyfriend, Pete Davidson, after it was revealed that Cyrus went to Davidson’s condo after their “Tonight Show” appearance … the same condo Kimmy was seen sneaking out of just last month.

The unfollowing on Instagram is the celebrity equivalent of two women taking off their hoops in an alley behind the club because one woman looked at the other’s boyfriend.

Of note … Kim is a 41-year-old woman and Miley is twelve years younger.

Grown assed woman.

photo

Nice news … it seems that Keanu Reeves donated a portion of his earnings from the original The Matrix movie to cancer research. Reeves  was paid some $10 million upfront for the 1999 film and earned another $35 million when the movie became a box office blockbuster, but … he donated 70% of the money—a whopping $31.5 million—to leukemia research.

Reeves’ younger sister, Kim, had been battling the disease for eight years at the time he made the donation, though she entered remission in 2001. And Keanu didn’t stop there … he also set up a nonprofit to raise money for research:

“I have a private foundation that’s been running for five or six years, and it helps aid a couple of children’s hospitals and cancer research. I don’t like to attach my name to it, I just let the foundation do what it does.”

And he does what he does, and all of these other folks should take a lesson.

photo