Starting Monday Off With A Laugh ... And By 'Laugh,' I Mean Fox News

The good folks … how’s that for high-larity … over there at Fox News thought it would be fun to ask the Twitter-sphere to celebrate the demise of 2014 by #hashtagging what they were “:over” for the New Year.

As usual, Twitter responded by taking down Fox News after that dim-bulb-blonde-who-couldn’t-keep-a-job-at-The-View Tweeted that she was “over attacks on Christianity.”

I’m still trying to figure out who’s attacking Christianity, unless it’s people simply asking Christians to leave their religion out of there publicly run businesses, but I digress.

Here’s what some of the Twitterers told Fox:

via NCRM

Random Musings

This week Carlos and I attended the celebration of Mexican Independence — it’s September 15th, y’all, not Cinco de Mayo … that’s a whole other celebration — at CAM, the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event was sponsored by the Mexican Consulate in Raleigh — Carlos has worked with them here in South Carolina so that’s how we came to be invited — and was hosted by the Consul General of Mexico in Raleigh, North Carolina, Javier Diaz de Leon, whom we both met.

It was a fun night … great mariachi music and great dancers, along with some fabulous food and killer margaritas … I do love me a good tequila drink, you know. But this is more a Carlos story so let’s go with that …

We’d never been to Raleigh, so I Google Mapped it, with directions to our hotel. As we entered downtown Raleigh, Carlos began reading the directions to the hotel and he said, Continue straight and turn left on West Ln.

I continued on, and on, and on, and right on out of the downtown area and never saw West Lane so we turned back and headed downtown again. I said to Carlos, Now, I’ll turn right on West Lane, right?

He agreed. We stopped at a traffic light and Carlos said, This is it!

I pushed him out of the car. We were looking for W. Lane Street, not West Lane. Oy. We really are Lucy and Ricky only this time he was Lucy!

Ken Ham, the head of the new Creation Museum, will lead a conference for a group that advocates for a new Christian America to be carved out of the southern states.

Yes, he wants the southern states to secede from the United States and form their own Christian nation where only Christians can become citizens.

I guess he forgot what happened the last time the South decided to pull away.

Asshat.

Comedian and actress and gay icon and all-around fabulousness that is Lily Tomlin will be one of 5 recipients of this year's Kennedy Center Honors, making her the very first out lesbian to receive the award.

 Lily, and fellow openly gay comedian Ellen DeGeneres, have both received another Kennedy Center award, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, but this is a first for the Kennedy Center Honors.

Way to go Lily. And well deserved.

Speaking of fabulously gay and well-deserved, Neil Patrick Harris and his longtime partner David Burtka were married earlier this month in Italy.

NPH Tweeted:

“Guess what? @DavidBurtka and I got married over the weekend. In Italy. Yup, we put the ‘n’ and ‘d’ in ‘husband’.

They have been together for over ten years and have two children together, making for a very happy family wedding.

Eighty Utah state legislators have filed an amicus brief in which they warn the Supreme Court that upholding the Tenth Circuit's ruling on same-sex marriage will lead to the legalization of polygamous and incestuous marriages. 

Siddown. That’s an argument no one truly believes any more.

Thomas Guerra, a 29-year-old man who is accused of knowingly exposing an ex-boyfriend and potentially dozens of other men to HIV has been ordered by a judge to no longer use Internet dating sites.

Um, like that’ll stop him.

A criminal complaint against Guerra lists one alleged victim, and city attorney's say the investigation is continuing and more victims may be added. Guerra has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge, which carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail. However, his alleged victim is hopeful that additional text message records could prompt prosecutors to upgrade the case to a felony, punishable with up to eight years in prison.

I think that’s best.

Down there in Mississippi, Starkville mayor Parker Wiseman has announced that his city will begin offering domestic partner benefits for its LGBT city employees—a first for the state.

In Mississippi, y’all.

The measure was unanimously approved by the Starkville Board of Aldermen. Back in January, Starkville became the first city in Mississippi to officially recognize the dignity of its LGBT citizens.

The march goes on, in even the smallest of towns …

So, last year, a woman accused Cee Lo Green of drugging her with ecstasy and then raping her while she was barely conscious or completely unconscious; she remembers having a drink with him and then waking up naked in his bed.

First thing: ick.

But the DA did not believe there was enough evidence to bring sexual assault or rape charges against Green so those charges never happened. But last week Cee Lo pled “no contest” to the drug charge and agreed to perform 360 hours of community service and attend 52 AA meetings with a private therapist. He’s also on probation for three years.

And since he thinks he got off he decided to take to Twitter to talk about rape … uh huh … you know this won’t go well.  The tweets included these musings:

“Women who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!”

“If someone is passed out they’re not even WITH you consciously! so WITH implies consent.”

“When someone brakes on a home there is broken glass"

"Where is your plausible proof anyone was raped?”

The shiz hit the fan and splattered all over Cee Lo’s fat, drugging women’s face and he deleted all the Tweets, though not before several news outlets screen-grabbed them for posterity. And then he issued this response:

 “I sincerely apologize for my comments being taken so far out of context. I only intended on a healthy exchange to help heal those who love me from the pain I had already caused from this. Please forgive me as it was your support that got me thru this to begin with. I’d never condone the harm of any women. Thank you.”

Sit down, Cee Lo. You’re a rapist who got off on a technicality, that’s who you are, and instead of trying to help those “who love you” to heal, why not try helping the woman you forced your fat ass on to heal.

Then, go away, for good.

The Family Foundation, an anti-gay Christian group, has begun a planned 40-day ‘fast’ to oppose same-sex marriage in order to influence the US Supreme Court into rejecting same-sex marriage when it hears the first of a series of appeals cases in October.

However, they later quietly clarified that members don’t actually have to give up any food at all to take part in the ‘fast’ saying:

“We are asking the entire Body of Christ to join us for this feast – giving up physical food isn’t necessary – but feeding on the spiritual food provided is vital.”

So, the group that is opposed to what they call redefining marriage has decided to redefine what it means to fast?

Siddown. With Cee Lo.

Carlos and I started watching Outlander on Starz last weekend. I thought it was some kind of sci-fi time traveling thing, but it turned out to be some kind of love story time traveling thing.

But it’s beautiful to watch, and reminds me a great deal of something you’d see on Masterpiece Theater, or the BBC, but with nekkid people … though not the Cloud kinda nekkid.

And two men who’ve appeared shirtless, and pants-less even, are Tobias Menzies and Sam Heughan. With accents, too, and y’all know how much I loves me a man with an accent!

Why all the fuss over people reclining their seats on airlines? Three times in the last two weeks airlines have been diverted and forced to land because some got their knees knocked.

Seriously? I have a plan to stop this foolishness: charge those unruly dumbasses for the fees and fuel it costs to reroute an airplane to a different airport, and then allow every single other passenger on the plane to file a lawsuit to have their flight paid for by the asshats who don’t like to be crowded.

Maybe then this nonsense will stop.

Mike Weston: Another Police Officer Not Helping In Ferguson

Mike Weston is a sergeant on the Velda City police force, and like Dan Page — see post from earlier today — he, too, was sent to Ferguson, Missouri to keep the peace and maintain order after Darren Wilson murdered Michael Brown.

He, too, is blight on the police force. And he, too, took to social media to voice his own personal brand of racism, bigotry and stupidity — which is his right, I guess. He complained that the “libs” were lying about what happened in Ferguson; he insulted Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson's approach to community policing; and, for a grand finale, he threatened to physically assault visiting U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

After a group of people in Ferguson were gassed in their own backyards, Weston took to Twitter to explain that it was because gunshots had been fired from that location. The only problem with his fable, was that a news reporter was in the yard where the people were gassed and the entire incident — with no gunshots being fired anywhere, at all — was caught on tape.

So, Mike Weston lied. And then he tried to walk it back, admitting that he wasn’t even in the area at the time:

"I wasn't spreading misinformation. There were shots being fired some yards, maybe not this particular one."

I guess it’s okay to gas one yard, if you hear gunshots coming from another yard?

Weston also made a point of slamming Missouri Highway Patrol Capt. Ron Johnson, calling Johnson’s interactions with protestors — walking with them to keep the peace — a kind of "Hug a Thug" celebration. He then Tweeted this picture of Johnson, accusing him of reverse racism:

He  also took it upon himself to Tweet photos of Mike Brown, the teenager shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson, participating in a strong arm robbery:

Mike Weston's "opinion" of the Michael brown's autopsy:

But he outdid himself with his tweet about Attorney General's visit to Ferguson when he said he wanted to meet Holder to, well, here it is:

Weston has since deleted his Twitter account because he’s a lying, racist asshat … IMO.

Here’s the deal: Michael Brown may have been involved in a robbery, and he may not have been involved; we’ll never know because he was gunned down, unarmed, in the street.

But, what we do know is that several police officers involved in Ferguson, both before and after the shooting — Darren Wilson, Dan Page, and Mike Weston — seem to have issues with the black community.

This is not who should be policing us. If your job is to protect and serve, then protect and serve. Keep your own personal politics and racist viewpoints out of it, and if you cannot do that, then people like these three men should have never been allowed to become law enforcement officers; and, if they somehow slipped through the cracks, as soon as they’ve shown their true selves, they should be removed from duty; permanently.

This is not what police officers should be doing.

via NCRM

Weston Tweets via RFT

Random Musings

A few weeks back I saw a commercial for a mattress company saying you should replace your mattress every eight years or so. Carlos asked how long we’d had our mattress and I said, shocked, “I brought it with me from California …”

“How old is it?”

“Fourteen years … plus, maybe eight?”

Twenty-two years old! Oh for the love of the Baby Jeebus! So, we were out that next weekend looking for a new mattress and a new bed as well. And the first place we stopped we found one we liked; and we tried out mattresses, playing Goldilocks … This one is too hard … This one is too soft … This one is just right … and found one of those we wanted. So, we talked to a salesman and got a quote for the whole shebang.

A little high but … Then Carlos wanted to try another place … Rooms-To-Go … and though I loathe their furniture, off we went.

As we entered the store, the salesman bull chute opened and a bell rang and out came Sharon to lasso us into a sale.

“We’re just looking,” I said.

“For what?”

“Furniture.”

That stopped her, and she let us wander off with the obligatory, My name is Sharon, let me know if I can help you.

We wandered through the store looking at hideous bed after hideous bed; I rapped them each with a knuckle and called out “Plastic” to express my dismay at the particle-board furniture RTG sells. But, there at the back, was this beautiful Mission style King bed — a king bed for queens, oh the irony — and when I rapped on it with my knuckle …. Solid wood!

How in the hell did that get in this store. I looked around for Sharon, who’d been tracking us through the store like Mama Grizzly Bore™ hunting for relevance, hiding behind hideous armoires and plastic dining room tables and we talked bed. Of course she tried to get us to buy the whole set, but I shot that down … We don’t want the all-matchy room, thank you.

Next up was the mattress, so we walked the store with Sharon and tried the beds; too soft; way too soft; wait, this is good. Firm, but comfy. We both lay down on the bed and tried to out, feeling this was the one.

So, we got it; the bed and the mattress and box springs. It was to be delivered tomorrow, but Sharon said she could Express Deliver it on Monday if someone would home to accept it. Well, I’m home on Mondays so we went Express and were told to expect the bed sometime between 7AM and 10PM … seriously? The cable guy is clearer about when he’s coming.

But I was home, and the new bed arrived at 4PM, and was set up, and then given the Tuxedo seal of approval; he took one look at it, jumped up, and began rolling all over it, purring.

Tuxedo likee. Bob likee.

Carlos? Tuesday morning he said it was too hard and could we send it back.

I said, sweetly, as I do, at times, “We could … but they’ll charge for that, and then charge for a new mattress and charge for delivery and charge for being annoying.”

“It’s too hard.”

I said, sweetly gritting my teeth, “Maybe you should sleep on it more than 7 hours? I mean, we slept on lumpy, dumpy, ancient for fourteen years, Give this one more than one night …”

Oy. The bed stays.

I always thought judges were supposed to be impartial; apolitical.

Not so of Judge Sandra McLaughlin, a Kentucky judge, who belittled a man for wearing an Obama t-shirt in court. It seems the man, Darryl Broaddus, in court on drug charges, wore a shirt featuring President Barack Obama’s face. The shirt read ‘Let’s Do It Again,’ a reference to Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and his attire didn’t suit McLaughlin who said on video that the shirt wasn’t helping Broaddus in her courtroom.

“He’s lucky to get out of here alive,” McLaughlin said; and twice she said his shirt was “not helping” his cause.

 “Did you see his t-shirt? Barack Obama, ‘Let’s Do It Again.’ That was a double whammy.”

No wonder that McLaughlin is the lowest-rated judge in Jefferson County “by a wide margin,” according to the Louisville Bar Association.

For example, last October, McLaughlin accused defendant Wesley Taylor of being “up here selling dope to little children.” That was false; he was not accused of selling drugs to anyone. And when burglary and drug defendant Ronnie Gravel appeared in court a week later, McLaughlin said: “He still needs to burglarize so he can maintain his drug habit. So everyone feels good and safe with him out in the public.”

Not only had Gravel not been convicted of either charge, the case was later dismissed.

Seriously, Kentucky, this is the best you can do?

A petition to repeal Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance [HERO] prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations has failed to gather the necessary signatures to appear on November's ballot.

Bam!

The petition needed at least 17,269 valid signatures from registered Houston voters to put a repeal of the ordinance before voters in November and it fell short.

But, opponents of HERO claimed they had over 30,000 valid signatures when they submitted the petition last month, though a review showed just 16,500 were actually valid.

And so now, rather than go out and collect the right number of valid signature, opponents have vowed to take the city to court.

Howsabout just doing it right the first time? If not, then just sit down and think about working against equality.

So … three TV hotties this week:

Goran Visnjic, who plays Halle Berry’s husband on Extant … and then Sergio Harford, who plays Halle Berry’s dead boyfriend who may have gotten her pregnant in space … after he died.

Then throw in Chad Carroll of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing Miami. Sure, he’s kind of a big galoot, but he likes taking his clothes off and getting couple’s massages with an openly gay realtor.

Hot.

Last week Facebook crashed for millions of users in the US and folks went cray cray.

And even though Facebook’s developer page immediately responded to the outage, and a #FacebookDown hashtag, people went nuts … at least in Los Angeles.

Several locals called a 9-1-1- emergency into the LA Sheriff’s Department, where Sgt. Burton Brink responded to their “emergency” of not being able to post cat pictures or tell folks what they had for lunch.

True story.

I prayed this wasn’t true but …

Mary’s Gourmet Diner in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is offering a 15% "praying in public" discount to diners who openly pray before a meal. Owner Mary Haglund says she has been offering the rebate for four years, and it is not aligned with any singular religious affiliation, hasn't been advertised and is offered per the discretion of the waitstaff.

“[W]hen I see someone in a restaurant honoring their gratefulness at my table … it touches my heart. It’s just a moment or faithfulness about the plate of food. It’s not even a policy — it’s [something] we only do when we’re moved to do it.”—Mary Haglund

But the praying in public discount gained attention this week after a Christian radio station posted a photo of a customer's receipt to its Facebook page. After the receipt went viral on Facebook, Haglund dialed back the discount rules because, well, she isn’t quite so fond of prayers if it starts costing her money.

I decided I’d prefer a 100% discount at Mary’s Gourmet Diner and I can get it by never eating in an establishment like that.

What’s this? Target? What?

It seems that, after 2012’s year of being a gay-hating corporate giant, Target has filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs in same-sex marriage lawsuits against the states of Wisconsin and Indiana.

I may have to rethink my Target boycott.

So, yesterday was the biog marriage equality court case heard by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, where the cases from Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee were heard by two judges appointed by President George W. Bush and one by President Bill Clinton.

Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, one of the Bush appointees and a likely swing vote among the three, apparently asked why gay rights advocates wanted to use the courts to hasten an outcome they were gradually winning through elections and changes in attitude:

“I’d have thought the best way to get respect and dignity is through the democratic process.”

And here I always thought it unfair to let the majority vote on the civil rights of the minority.

What’s with these judges?