Bobservations

Tuxedo has a thing where he wants to go outside and have us carry him around the yard and when he wants that, he howls. And this morning, I hear him howling at Carlos to go out, and Carlos argues back, and I’m thinking:

“You’re not going to win, sweetie pie.”

Tuxedo howls; Carlos says ‘No.’ Tuxedo howls; Carlos shouts ‘No!; Tuxedo howls; Carlos shrieks ‘Noooooo!’

And then I hear:

“Oh my god, your paws are so cold! Why are your paws so cold? Come into the bathroom and rest on the bathmat while I take a shower. It’s warm in there. And when I get done, I’ll take you outside.”

Tuxedo always wins.

For Tuxedo, the hypocrisy of the GQP smells a lot like what’s found in a cat litter box.

Prevea Health and Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers are ending their partnership after Rodgers lied about getting the vaccine and then tested positive for COVID, with Prevea saying:

“Prevea Health remains deeply committed to protecting its patients, staff, providers and communities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes encouraging and helping all eligible populations to become vaccinated.”

Rodgers also got a smackdown from the NFL after h lied, again, when he said an NFL doctor told him “it would be impossible for a vaccinated person to catch or spread COVID.” Rodgers says he doesn’t remember that doctor’s name. and so the NFL came for him, too:

“No doctor from the league or the joint NFL-NFLPA infectious disease consultants communicated with the player. If they had, they certainly would have never said anything like that.”

Aaron Rodgers is a liar, who endangered his teammates with his lies. Simple.

This week it was announced that evangelical leader crackpot Franklin Graham was scheduled for a very serious heart operation. My first thought was they were planning to install one, but this is better.

Graham had surgery after developing constrictive pericarditis, which causes inflammation and hardening of the sac surrounding the heart.

Yes, his heart has hardened. Seriously you can’t make this shiz up.

Elaine Chao, the Demon Wife of Mitch McTurtle, is the daughter of a Chinese Shipping magnate. She’s never worked a day in her life until she was appointed to a position in the Thing 45 White House as Transportation Secretary, but now she’s telling American workers it's their 'patriotic duty' to take whatever jobs are offered to them.

Note she never says employers have a patriotic duty to pay their workers a living wage because Chao is a complicit bitch.

Ingo Rademacher, a regular on “General Hospital” for the last 25 years, has been kicked to the curb for refusing to comply with the production’s vaccine mandate.

#ByeFelicia

Who saw this coming … the most diverse City Council in the entire country has just seven members and is in the last place I would ever think it would be.

For the first time, most of the members—four of the seven—are racial and ethnic minorities., and also for the first time, a majority—again four—are openly LGBTQ.

And that City Council is in … wait for it … it boggles the mind … Salt Lake City, Utah.

In writing his book Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show,, ABC News’ Jonathan Karl saw photos of Michael Elizabeth Pence in hiding on January 6 but he wasn’t permitted to publish them in his book because the Pence team refused to give them to him.

Karl does day that one photo shows Pence in hiding and reading a Tweet from Thing 45 attacking him:

“It kind of looks like Pence is grimacing, but you can never really tell.”

Cuz Michael Elizabeth Pence is always grimacing.

Also in LGBTQ+ news, the Navy christened its latest ship, a replenishment oiler named after slain civil rights leader, and one of my personal heroes, Harvey Milk, who served in the Navy during the Korean War and then became the first openly gay elected official in California when he was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977.

The USNS Harvey Milk is the second ship in the Navy’s John Lewis class of fleet replenishment oilers, all of which will be named after notable civil rights leaders and activists. 

Jhonatan Mujica, a model from Donostia-San Sebastián Spain, is a single, smoldering man who now lives in London.

Would you hit it? Yes or No.

Stories of Pride: Utah High School Won't Stand For Homophobia

A video posted to Snapchat last week shows an unidentified person setting fire to an LGBTQ Pride flag as onlookers laugh, and a voice is heard saying:

“All gays die.”

And now two football players at Kearns High School in Salt Lake City—one who posted the original video and one who reposted it—have been suspended indefinitely from the team.

Kearns High School football Coach Matt Rickards says the incident has “embarrassed and humiliated” him and his team:

“We have one rule in our program, and that is not to embarrass yourself, your family or your team. That rule was broken. There’s got to be consequences for that. Our number one goal is to build men of character, integrity, be responsible, have empathy for others and serve the community for good. That’s our number one objective.”

I will say I was stunned to hear this coming out of Utah, which isn’t the most LGBTQ-friendly place in America; and I was equally stunned that a football coach would react the way Rickards did. But if you don’t punish the hate now, it will only fester and grow, and maybe cutting these two young men from the team will send a message that homophobia is unnacceptbble.

The Granite School District is investigating the incident and says it’s possible that both the student who posted the video and the one who reposted it could face community service or suspension from the school.

Good on the school, good on the district, and especially good on Coach Rickards for trying to make decent human beings out of his players. I imagine his players, those who posted the video and those who may have watched, feel horrible that they have disappointed their coach.

Not to mention their school and their families.

LGBTQ Nation

Officer Jeff Payne Assaulted and Arrested Nurse Alex Wubbels For Doing Her Job

This is what will happen in America now that _____ has vowed to arm police with military-style weapons and, perhaps, military-style tactics.

Alex Wubbels is the head nurse at the University of Utah Hospital’s burn unit and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone, patient, employer, friend, who says she is anything but professional at work. And yet, apparently, her professionalism is what caused her to be arrested earlier this month after she told a Salt Lake City police detective that he wasn’t allowed to draw blood from a badly injured patient.

Here’s how this went down ...

It all started when a suspect sped away from police in a pickup truck after smashing head-on into a truck driver; medics sedated the truck driver, who was severely burned, and took him to the University of Utah Hospital where he was in a coma. Jeff Payne, a trained police phlebotomist, was sent to collect blood from the truck driver and to check for illicit substances, to reportedly to protect the trucker, who was not suspected of a crime. Payne asked Alex Wubbels to draw the blood and she refused because he had no warrant, because the patient was unconscious, and because the patient had not given consent.

A group of hospital officials, security guards and nurses watch as Payne stands in a doorway waiting as hospital officials talk on the phone. A fellow officer asks Payne why they don’t “just write a search warrant” and Payne responds that they “don’t have PC [probable cause].” But then he adds that he’ll arrest Wubbels if she doesn’t allow him to draw blood.

After several minutes, Wubbels shows Payne a printout of the hospital’s policy on obtaining blood samples from patients, and, with her supervisor on speakerphone, she calmly tells them they can’t proceed unless they have a warrant or patient consent, or if the patient is under arrest:

“The patient can’t consent, he’s told me repeatedly that he doesn’t have a warrant, and the patient is not under arrest, so I’m just trying to do what I’m supposed to do, that’s all.”

Payne replies:

“So I take it without those in place, I’m not going to get blood.”

Wubbels’ supervisor can be heard on the phone asking:

“Why are you blaming the messenger?”

“She’s the one that has told me no.”

And that’s when the supervisor warns Payne that he’s about to make a mistake and Payne seems to lose it. He walks toward Wubbels and tries to knock the phone from her hand:

“We’re done here.”

Payne grabs Wubbels by the arms and shoves her through the automatic doors outside the building and Wubbels can be heard screaming:

“Help! Help me! Stop! You’re assaulting me! Stop! I’ve done nothing wrong! This is crazy!”

Payne presses her against a wall, pulls her arms behind her back and handcuffs her. Then he removes her from the hospital and puts her in his car where another officer tells her she should have allowed Payne to collect the blood; he says she obstructed justice—which is a lie—and prevented Payne from doing his job.

Police state. America under _____.

Sam Gill, the Salt Lake County District Attorney, wants a criminal investigation into the incident, while Salt Lake Police Chief Mike Brown and Mayor Jackie Biskupski have apologized to Wubbels, with Biskupski saying:

“I extend a personal apology to Ms. Wubbels for what she has been through for simply doing her job.”

The mayor and Alex Wubbels are right; she was only doing her job and, unlike the police officer, Jeff Payne, she was following the law. The U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly ruled that blood can only be drawn from patients for probable cause, and with a warrant.

Salt Lake police spokesman Sgt. Brandon Shearer initially announced that Payne remained on active duty, but late last week it was learned that Jeff Payne and another unnamed officer had been placed on administrative leave. Wubbels, who was not criminally charged, and why would she as the victim of an assault by a police officer, has not ruled out legal action.

“I just feel betrayed, I feel angry, I feel a lot of things and I’m still confused. I want to see people do the right thing first and I want to see this be a civil discourse. If that’s not something that’s going to happen and there is refusal to acknowledge the need for growth and the need for re-education, then we will likely be forced to take that type of step. But people need to know that this is out there.”

And we need that civil discourse, especially in light of _____’s promise to arm local police with grenade launchers and military vehicles. I mean, imagine what Jeff Payne might have tried if he’d been heavily armed ...

Washington Post

Architecture Wednesday: Hillsden House

So … Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday, though I think, this year, I need this house in Utah to make it truly wonderful.

While a modern take on a farmhouse-style, I love the minimalist interiors; I love the library because it screams red wine and a good book. I love a fireplace in the master bedroom ... a soaking tub for that after dinner bath ... the courtyard and the backyard and the trees and the indoor outdoor kitchen area.

The snow might make it hard to go in-and-out on Thanksgiving, but it sure would signal ‘holiday.’

Lloyd Architects

Random Musings

I don’t go to Wal-Mart … Let me clarify, I rarely go to Wal-Mart because I loathe that store intensely. But, when I have to go, because I really need something cheap and on the fly, I go in the midday when I can get in and get my stuff, self-check-out, and be back in the car in minutes because I loathe that store.

I was in there this week, rushing in and out, and silently saying to myself some awful things about the toothless-cousin-f**king-rednecks-in-pajamas up and down each and every aisle when I realized, I was thinking these things to myself, I was muttering them to myself.

And that maybe some of these toothless-cousin-f**king-rednecks-in-pajamas were looking at me, in a baseball cap low on my head, sunglasses and nondescript clothing, and muttering to themselves about that crazy guy talking  to himself in Wal-Mart.

Oy.

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In a Can-He-Seriously-Think-He’s-Presidential, “Doctor” Ben Carson has announced that he believes the pyramids were built by Joseph to store grain.

Oh, and he doesn't believe in evolution either.

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In better political news, out there to Salt Lake City the people have elected Jackie Biskupski as their mayor, making her Utah’s first openly gay mayor and only the second female top executive in the capital city.

Mother-effing Utah, y’all.

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I love Kelly Clarkson, and have ever since her first appearance on American Idol—back when that show was actually relevant—because she proved week after week she can sing anything.

And in her career that followed she has continued to do that, singing every genre of music—and being nominated for rock performances, pop performances and even country performances—and now she’s taken on Broadway.

Josh Groban—I can take him or leave him … mostly leave him—will be having a special on PBS next month where he sings various tunes from the Great white Way, and invited Kelly Clarkson to sing from Phantom of the Opera.
 

And she nails it … like I knew she would.

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Not a lot of new hotties on the TV airwaves this week—though I did love seeing totes adorbs Darren Criss being … SPOILER ALERT … murdered on AHS: Hotel.

But there is one cutie that I noticed on Madam Secretary this week: Chris Petrovski as Dimitri Petrov, double agent.

Sexy, with an accent? You know I love that.

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So, Saturday Night Live will have [t]Rump as guest host this week, making it basically as ninety-minute ad for his campaign.

Yawn.

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So Serena Williams was eating in a  restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown, when a man nonchalantly strolled by her table and scooped up her cell phone.

Serena, not to be messed with, gave chase, and found the man and asked if he’d mistakenly picked up her phone.

At first he denied it but then he said he had and gave it back to her.

But, gosh, Serena, why? Why take to Facebook and call yourself a hero for standing up for yourself? You asked a guy on the street if he had your phone; you didn’t save a baby from oncoming traffic.

Hero? Schmero.

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The week The Advocate named The Supremes their “People of the Year” and I was so pleased for Diana … oh, oh, the Supremes, as in the Supreme Court Justices.

And, as the tagline said:

“Yes, the whole Supreme Court. Including Scalia.”

Well, I guess these Supremes deserved it …. Too.

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Good News Friday: Straight Mormons March In Utah's Gay Pride Parade

It seems everyone has an opinion on Mormons these days, but not all Mormons are Mittsy Romney and not all Mormons are Donny Osmond and not all Mormons liked the idea that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [LDS] funded hate in California a few years back.

No, not all Mormons are like that. Some understand that equality is a civil right and everyone deserves it.

In fact, some Mormons--three hundred, to be exact-- believe that so strongly that they actually took part in Salt Lake City's Gay Pride Parade this year, to show their support for the LGBT community, and to show us that not all Mormons are what many people perceive them to be.

The group, Mormons Building Bridges, said they marched in the parade to send a message of love to the state’s LGBT community, a message they believe is compatible with their faith.

Emily Vandyke's 'evolution had been a long time struggle for her: "I haven’t recognized them as equals. They have been invisible to me."

But she changed all that as she marched in the parade, carrying a sign with the words from an LDS children’s song: "I’ll walk with you, I’ll talk with you. That’s how I’ll show my love for you."

And in the midst of the parade, she embraced a tall woman weeping at the edge of the crowd who said, "Thank you."

Thank you.

Pride Parade Grand Marshal Dustin Lance Black tweeted: "In tears. Over 300 straight, active Mormons showed up to march with me at the Utah Pride parade in support of LGBT people."

Mormons Building Bridges followed behind Black in the parade. The men wore suits and ties, little girls wore white dresses, providing a sharp contrast to the pounding music and dancers behind them, but the crowd clapped and shouted their approval for those folks in their Sunday best. 

Erika Munson, a mother of five, started the group only a few weeks ago to show her support for the LGBT community and to encourage members of her religion to do the same in a public way.

Holly Nelson, a lesbian who lives in Murray, had tears in their eyes as the Mormons walked past: "I think it’s amazing. It’s been so hard to be in Utah knowing the Mormon Church is against the gay community."

Seeing the Mormons Building Bridges group, which had three times as many participants as anticipated, made her feel as though she isn’t judged by every single Mormon, and the church, in Utah. 

Still, some marchers in the parade still feel the sting of being gay and Mormon.  Carolyn Ball, a 48-year-old lesbian from West Jordan, was excommunicated in 2000: "I lost everything I loved because I came out."

This must have been a great day for here, to feel that kind of acceptance coming from some members of LDS.

The marching Mormons included fathers carrying children on their shoulders and mothers pushing strollers, some of whom said they wanted to expose their families to this experience. Nevin Munson, a thirteen-year-old boy, carried a sign as he walked that said "Love thy neighbor as thyself."

"I’m very saddened by the amount of hate in the world," Nelson said. "I don’t believe in that — they’re humans."

Another man, walking with the group, remembered the rash of suicides in Mapleton, Utah, as he was growing up: "There have been too many LDS deaths," said Adam Ford. "No doctrine is more important than God’s children."

Erika Munson, the Building Bridges founder, reveled in the success of the event, and hopes this isn't a one-time march, and is just the beginning of a grass roots movement.

"We want to inspire other Mormons at the local level to do things for their LGBT brothers and sisters," she said."What can you do in your area?"

See, while some in the church fund hate, while some in the church want to remove those who are openly gay from their ranks, many in LDS have evolved. Many understand that, no matter what god you believe in, or don’t believe in, all people deserve equality.

source

Well, A Kiss Really Is Just A Kiss

Up in Mormon country, Salt Lake City Prosecutor Sim Gill has opted out of prosecuting a gay couple cited for trespassing after they shared a kiss on the plaza. The Mormon Church has owned the plaza for about ten years, having purchased it from the city , and wanted it to be an inviting, beautiful space for all to enjoy.

That, however, is the problem.

"The two individuals believed--albeit mistakenly--that they had the right to be there," Gill said. "Fairness requires that either that property be not open to the public or you condition that [openness] in a way that the person who comes on understands that it is private property."

In other words, Mormon Church, post a sign calling the plaza private property and then, only then, can you regulate behavior.

Gill said his decision not to prosecute this particular case "should not be viewed as limiting" the ability of the church to enforce its private-property rights on the plaza in the future. "Going forward," he said, "working toward clarity [on the plaza] serves everyone's interests in this community."

Gill also cites the lack of signs on the plaza that indicate visitors are entering private property "at will," meaning they can be ejected at any time for any reason. Gates around the plaza, akin to those encircling the Salt Lake Mormon Temple next door, would make the plaza's private nature more clear, Gill acknowledged. But he did not recommend any specific solutions.

The Mormon Church did not respond to questions about whether it will alter access to the plaza or change the way it advertises rules on the property, commenting only on the city's decision to drop the trespassing charges.

"While we feel the city had the necessary elements available for prosecution in this matter," spokeswoman Kim Farah said via e-mail, "the decision on whether to move forward or not rests with the city prosecutor."

Simply put, the church is not happy the case was dismissed.

What goes around.......

Kissed Off In Salt Lake City

You gotta love the gay community.

We dress fabulously. And we act fast; along with some help from our straight allies.

After the 'detention of Derek Jones and Matt Aune for kissing in the Mormon Church's Main Street Plaza, a Kiss-In was held.

I would have called it a Kiss-Off.

Isabelle Warnas smiled, her lips bright red, as she planted a big kiss on her husband's cheek. She said she's done this often on the LDS property and never been bothered by anyone for doing so.

Ah, Isabelle, you're straight,m and the Mormon Church has no problem with you.

Isabelle and her hubby were just one of hundreds of couples, gay and straight, who gathered Monday morning near Main Street Plaza to show support for Derek Jones and Matthew Aune. The two men say they were detained by Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints security guards after one man had kissed the other on the cheek Thursday. They had argued with the guards and were later cited for trespassing.

"My husband and I cannot understand the discrimination," Warnas said. "This is not right."

Several LDS Church security guards goosestepped along the perimeter, watching, and turning away protestors who dared to cross the plaza. You know, you don't want the gays touching your property and all.

"They were asked repeatedly not to come onto the property, and they chose to do so anyway," said LDS church spokeswoman Kim Farah, who also said, in a prepared statement:. "We are glad they come ... . We do ask that certain guidelines be kept on church property, including that no demonstrations are allowed here."

Especially of the gay and gay-friendly variety.

The protest seemed to converge on two p0ints: anger over Mormon support of Prop H8, and the frustration over the city's sale of the plaza to the Mormon church some ten years ago.

"A lot of people feel disrespected, feel less than fully human because of church policies toward gay and lesbian people, and that's got to stop," said Salt Lake City Councilman Luke Garrott, who represents the downtown district. The sale 0of the plaza to the church allowed the church to ban objectionable activities like protesting, sunbathing, two men kissing.

Nice work, people of Salt Lake City.

Stand up against the hate.

Salt Lake City Can Kiss My Ass, Too

It was a lovely night in Salt Lake City when Derek Jones and his boyfriend, Matt, decided to take a walk. It turned ugly, however, when they wandered onto the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's Main Street Plaza. The men were holding hands and then shared a kiss. Church security detained the two men and called the police, who arrived on scene and asked the two men to leave. When they refused, Derek and Matt were arrested for trespassing.

"We were called at about 10:25 p.m. by LDS security to come over to their property where two males were in custody for refusing to leave the property," explained Salt Lake police Sgt. Robin Snyder said. The couple was cited for trespassing, Snyder says, because "a property owner has the right to ask someone to leave their property. If they do not leave that property, then they have violated an ordinance, a Salt Lake City ordinance, which is trespassing. So, the police became involved."

The Mormon Church released a statement saying the couple was "asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior just as any other couple would have been. They became argumentative and used profanity and refused to leave the property. They were arrested and then given a citation for criminal trespass by SLPD."

But Derek Jones paints a different picture. In a blog, he says: "This especially irked the both of us because having walked through on a frequent basis (we often walk to work through there) and every time I have been through there are either marriage ceremonies going on, young Mormon couples cuddling in front the fountain, hugging, holding hands, etc.

"Matt then tried to get them to admit they were singling us out because they just didn't approve of ‘gay' public displays of affection, baiting them into revealing their bigotry."

Matt. You don't need to bait them to show their hatred. They funded hate in California and have been lying about it ever since. And this 'church' is so filled with homophobia that they even kick out their own members who dare to be gay.