That's Matteo Lane's new comedy special. It's hilarious. I hope you stream it. It's already at over 330,000 streams. Netflix needs to get him a special quick. Then again, with 330,000 streams in less than one week, what does he need Netflix for?
It's very funny. Cedric and I laughed very hard throughout.
At a Monday press conference the victims were identified: Kelly
Loving, who just turned 40 and was "like a trans mom" to friends;
Ashley Paugh, a straight 35-year-old mother who worked to find homes for
foster children; Raymond Green Vance, 22, who was at the club for the
first time to celebrate a birthday with his girlfriend and her family;
Derrick Rump, 38, a "lively, loving" bartender and performer at the club
who "made it what it was"; and Daniel Davis Aston, 28, a trans
bartender and performer who'd just completed his medical transition and
was, said his mother Sabrina, "the happiest he had ever been." Growing up, she recalled,
Daniel told her at age four he was a boy and wouldn't wear girls'
clothes: "Those are our children - we don't care how they dress or what
they identify as. It doesn't harm anybody." After he began living as a
trans man in such hateful political times, she "always worried" about
him. "It's just unbelievable. He had so much more life to give," she
said. "I didn't want to be part of this, the losing a child club." In a
dark twist, he and the others were murdered minutes before Transgender
Day of Remembrance, which honors the memory of trans people killed in anti-transgender violence." Club Q had planned to mark it; instead, people gathered at inter-faith events to denounce "theologies of hate" and ensure "our arms could be as wide as possible to embrace a community that's hurting."
Eerily
echoing other massacres, from Columbine to Pulse to Uvalde, a makeshift
memorial went up Sunday outside Club Q - flowers, candles, a plaintive
sign for "Love Over Hate." (Maybe.) Police who'd arrived
the night before praised the "incredible act of heroism" that ended a
shooting that could have been even worse. For that, they can thank
Richard Fierro, a 45-year-old brewery owner and veteran of four Army
deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan who was there celebrating a birthday
with his wife and daughter; when he saw the flash of gunfire, he
instinctively "went into combat mode." Charging through
the panicked crowd, he tackled the gunman, who he said weighed over 300
pounds, yanked a handgun away from him, and started beating him with
his own gun while yelling for other patrons to help. A man shoved the
shooter's AR-15 - another one! - away, a drag performer stomped on
the gunman with her high heels, and Fierro kept pummeling as he and the
gunman screamed curses at each other; he was so bloody police at first
arrested him. Fierro was a major with two Bronze Stars when he left the
Army in 2013: "I was done with war." He "never thought I'd have to deal
with that kind of violence at home, (but) everybody in that building
experienced combat that night...they were forced to." His wife's two
best friends were shot; his daughter, who broke her knee running for cover, lost her longtime boyfriend, Raymond Green Vance.
The
gunman, identified as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, remains
hospitalized; he has been charged with five counts of first-degree
murder and five counts of a bias-motivated crime. He is the grandson of former mayor and outgoing
California GOP state assembly Randy Voepel, who was almost expelled by
colleagues after he praised the Jan. 6 attack with, "This is Lexington
and Concord. First shots fired against tyranny." Aldrich's mother Laura
Voepel praised her father online: "You work hard to improve our lives." In 2021, she also called police to report
her son was threatening her with a homemade bomb and multiple weapons;
after he refused to surrender, a tactical support unit evacuated nearby
homes, a crisis negotiator was called in, and a standoff ensued. Aldrich was eventually arrested and charged with
five felonies, including felony menacing and kidnapping, but charges
were inexplicably never filed, thus allowing him to evade Colorado's Red
Flag law and buy a shiny new AR-15, because America. Aldrich was living
with his grandparents at the time, said a former landlady who recalled
his "aggressive side," but he'd visit his mother to watch movies with
her when not threatening to bomb her. She in turn often went online asking church
members for help for her son: Does anyone have a fan to donate to him?
Can anyone recommend a trauma/PTSD therapist? And in May, saying "he's
made huge life changes," did anyone know a private boxing coach? "He's
6'6" tall," she wrote, "and hits like a freight train."
Nervously
careful law enforcement officials have said the mass shooting at a gay
nighclub is being investigated "through the lens of a hate crime." Ya
think? You mean it might be connected to a right wing that
deems every queer person and half the country's Democrats "groomers," or
to a rise in rabid anti-gay, trans and drag show rhetoric, or to
hundreds of state bills curbing the rights of "others," or to emboldened
fascists proclaiming who should or should not exist? Or to bellicose
Proud Boys disrupting
peaceful Drag Story Hours in t-shirts that say, "Kill Your Local
Pedophile"? Or to a Florida GOPer proposing to charge with a felony and
terminate the parental rights of any adult who "brings a child to these
perverted sex shows"? Or to the hate-mongering
and bomb threats against hospitals offering health care - aka
"castration" - to trans kids? Or to Herschel Walker, a day or so after
the shooting, still running a trans-phobic ad with a young Aryan college swimmer whining
"a man won a title that belonged to a woman, and Sen. Warnock voted to
let it happen." Or to, let's not forget, Tucker Carlson, who accuses
trans-supportive schools of "sex crimes," declares "no parent should
put up with this for one second," and tells viewers their "moral duty"
is to dole out "instant justice...no matter what the law says. "This is
an attack on your children," he intones, "and you should fight back." On
Twitter: "This language will get people killed." And so it has.
Finally,
there's Colorado's gun-toting, queer-bashing, deeply hateful Lauren
Boebert, who had "the f**king audacity" to fake-grieve the "absolutely
awful" shooting and declare, "The victims & their families are in my
prayers." Wait. Is this the same Boebert who's ceaselessly trafficked
in anti-LGBTQ hysteria? Who's attacked the left as pedophiles and "sick, demented groomers," warned drag
queens to "stay away from our children," equated LGBTQ-inclusive flash
cards with "indoctrination," charged a kid-friendly drag show was
guarded by masked Antifa guards with AR-15s - "Remember, they only want
YOUR guns. They want to use theirs to protect their depravity" - and
urged, "Take your children to CHURCH not drag bars," though God knows
how many children have been molested in church; in drag bars, evidently
zero. The furious response:"This is on you...You are to blame...LGBTQ
people like me are less safe in this country because (of) people like
you...Conservative identiy politics puts homicidal jerkoffs into
motion...You are the hate that leads to violence." And from one woman,
when Boebert tried to make it about generic crime - "This lawless
violence needs to end" - "Good gosh she's an awful thing." Ditto, said
AOC, who called out the hypocrisy: "You don’t get to 'thoughts and prayers' your way out of this. Look inward and change." And change your grotesque Christmas cards - same to the other MAGA freaks -with your four spawn clutching AR-15s. Fred Guttenberg: "This is what grooming looks like."
When
Lauren Boebert starts using the term "grooming,'' press outlets need to
note in every story that her husband Jayson is a groomer who was
arrested for exposing himself to young females and who entered a plea of
guilty.
These are facts.
Her
lunatic assessment that drag queens, transgender persons or gay people
are grooming anyone need to be confronted because the only known groomer
in Colorado Springs is her husband Jayson Boebert. So if she wants to
talk about groomers, the media should help her out by pointing to
Jayson.
She lives with a groomer. That's why it's always on her mind.
And
when she lies that he's innocent, the press needs to note that he
entered a plea of guilty, that he was convicted and that he had to serve
two years probation. Again, these are facts.
She married a groomer.
Stop
letting her smear innocent people while she lies to cover up her
groomer husband and insists that his arrest never happened and he was
innocent and blah blah. Shove the truth down her hypocritical throat.
Alastair and Zachary Patton-Garcia broadcast on their YOUTUBE channel and cover a variety of topics.
At
the end of the video above, Alastair and Zachary touch on the Colorado
Springs attack. They make many solid points. Alastair notes that this
grooming nonsense is an attempt to other the community. And he is
correct and I want to make two points here.
Whether
you choose to recognize it or not, there is a war in this country
against the LGBTQ+ community. It is an ongoing war that's lasted
decades. In the 70s, the freak show was Anita Bryant. Lauren
apparently wants to be the 21st century Anita Bryant.
Not only is silence not an option in this war, inaction isn't an option either.
There
are members of the LGBTQ+ community who wanted to see BROS and didn't
go to the theater because they were frightened of what might happen.
They waited for digital (BLURAY in stores now). That's why straight
allies needed to step up.
Comedy isn't for
everyone. And no one has to see a movie. But if you had the money to
go to the movies when BROS was in theaters and you saw something else,
you weren't a good straight ally. If when Billy Eichner was getting
attacked, you didn't defend him, you weren't a good straight ally.
A
group of homophobes hated the film before it came out because of a
statement one character made in the trailer (and they didn't even get
her line right). Oh, it's making fun of straight people!!!!
If
it had, after the years and years of jokes and 'jokes' about the LGBTQ+
community, fine. Handle one movie and pretend that gives you an idea
of all the TV episodes and all the films over the years that the
community had to deal with.
But that's not the film Billy co-wrote.
The
film he co-wrote made fun of everyone. It made fun of straight people,
it made fun of gay people, it made fun of trans people, it made fun of
bi-people, it made fun of ageists and this and that and it made fun of
celebrity (Debra Messing deserves so much praise for her scenes in the
movie). There was no sacred cow.
And all the
people whining about ''woke'' -- many of whom trashed BROS -- missed the
whole point that Billy's character Bobby has to live with that, has to
work with that, and it's one of the things he learns (tolerance) and
it's something all the ones griping about ''woke'' should have been able
to relate to.
The film is pro- humanity. It's
not anti-straight. It is the straight couple, two of Bobby's friends,
who are most supportive and encouraging that he date and then get back
together with Aaron.
We've covered it here --
and I'll get to that point in a moment -- and Ava and I've covered it
repeatedly at THIRD -- most recently with "BROS: An American Film Classic (Ava and C.I.)" -- and it seems like people are being willfully blind to what took place.
We
let up a little last week on BROS coverage because other things came up
(and I'm also recovering from another eye surgery) but we've covered
since the beginning and that means see what people are saying.
The homophobia has been off the charts.
I'm
bothered by it and it's not directed at me. It's directed at Billy
mainly and I have no criticism of him over how he's handled himself. I
don't think I could have been as reserved as he was.
It's disgusting when you read these homophobic rants on Twitter.
It's
even more hurtful when you see a certain group of uneducated Twinks on
Twitter who feel the need to trash BROS in order to praise the very sad
and very bad rip-off of Jane Austen that is FIRE ISLAND. Underfed of
body and of mind, these Twinks keep insisting that FIRE ISLAND is better
because it's more diverse. I'm not remembering an African-American
character. I know there's only one women in the cast. I think some
people look in the mirror, see only themselves and make that their
measure of diversity.
Equally hurtful is the
attacks on the film and Billy coming from gay conservatives -- but when
you're let in on a pass, you know you have to attack the designated
targets.
ADDED:
Drive-by
e-mails say, "The shooter's gay!" I've not seen that in anything but
e-mails since the snapshot went up. What I saw before the snapshot went
up? The shooter allegedly uses non-binary pronouns. If the shooter
does use those -- are they used for real? I have no idea.
But
as I noted about the gay conservatives on Twitter attacking BROS above,
buy a clue, in a climate of hate others will tag along.
That's
what's so frustrating about Glenn Greenwald -- have you never seen my
critique of him? I know his type. I am not shocked but I am offended
frequently when he mouths garbage like Clarence Thomas is a good
person. No, he's not. Good people do not try to destroy others. Good
people don't harass Anita Hill.
Glenn
is the gay conservative who hit the campuses at a time when he could
slowly ease out about being gay and his right-wing friends would sort of
accept him. Sort of -- ask David Brock what sort of acceptance is.
That's why David turned to the left.
So
Glenn learned to make all the meek comments that he makes and learned
to take any insult or hit because it proves (in his mind) he's tough and
sneers at everything. That's b.s. And he needs to lose that attitude
because it's not helping his husband or their children. He feels no
need to help the LGBTQ+ community -- which is how he ends up on TV,
after DOBBS, blathering on about how good Clarry Thomas allegedly is.
Good people do not work to overturn progress. Good people are not bigots.
So
the shooter may be non-binary. May not be. Shooter lives in a society
where bullies -- Marjorie Greene who can't keep a husband, Lauren Bo-bo
who married a groomer -- scapegoat others. Shooter most likely
internalizes that hatred.
Like
the gay conservatives on Twitter who make a point to attack Billy
Eichner and BROS. They think it makes them look tough and that by
attacking the 'soft,' they (like Glenn thinks) will be accepted.
Ask David Brock how that worked out because it never works out.
You
can try your best but you're never going to be who they want. You can
parrot every one of their talking points but you can't change who you
are and they don't accept who you are.
Clarry's concurring opinion in DOBBS should have made that clear to everyone.
Clarry's
as disgusting as Candace Cameron Bure. They act like they accept you
-- Candace even lies that she loves you -- but they don't. All along
Thomas has been waiting to gut due process. All along Candace has been
waiting for a homophobic outlet to open up.
Saager and Krystal had a segment this week. And it grated on me when Saager was presenting it.
I don't think we let the homophobes grab religion.
There
are many religious people in this country. There are many who are
LGBTQ+ and that can be hard on them because of historic discrimination
and historic violence. I don't think we make it harder on them by
identifying these homophobes as the religious -- which is how Saagar set
it up -- the religious against the gays.
He
did that because he was tying in some other issues and I grasped that.
But it just grated on me because this isn't abstract for me. It's not
like I'm watching WILL & GRACE (a great show) and saying, "There are
some gay people, that's what they look like!" I have many friends and,
again, when it comes to religion, the most common gay couple I know is
one where one is deeply religious and the other isn't (like many
straight couples).
People like Clarry are not good people.
Glenn
can pretend all he wants but he's never going to fit in with the crowd
because at the end of the day they are laughing about what he does in
bed behind his back.
Again,
The Three Hags of Apocalypse were happy to pretend to be David's friend
but they weren't. I have many negative critiques of David Brock but,
to his credit, he didn't play a fool for life, he was able to learn.
Whatever Shooter is, the targets were marked by the bullies and the shooter played along with what was declared acceptable.
The right attacked BROS and ran with the attack.
Before
the film came out, I stated it was not going to make the box office
prediction and I explained why -- it wasn't playing enough. Opening
weekend, some theaters were only showing it once or twice a day. It was
the same length as SMILE but, around the country, you had SMILE being
shown in a theater six times a day and BROS twice. It was never going
to be able to make the same amount of money.
And
when it didn't make that same amount of money, the right wing started
using it as proof that the country was sick of LGBTQ+.
That's part of the attack that took place, the physical attack in Colorado Springs.
That
idiot Josiah and others on YOUTUBE and their preaching that BROS had
gone too far and that it was time for the straight people to rise up.
I'm sorry, I'm not here to make you feel better.
These attacks on the film are part of larger attacks and that's why it was important for straight allies to turn out for BROS.
We largely didn't.
And Billy was right in his initial comment that was treated like a herasy.
We
need to support one another. As I've noted over and over, the LGBTQ+
community has decried the overturning of ROE, they have spoken against
it, they have shown support.
We need to start
showing more support for them. It can't just be our wiping away a few
tears at the next tragedy. We need to be true allies.
Second
point, this a private conversation in a public square. We already
built this online community. So it's surprising when outsiders think
they can dictate or intimate.
A number of
drive-bys have been bothered by the coverage of BROS here. One of the
e-mails that made Shirley laugh (Martha and Shirley read the bulk of the
e-mails to the public e-mail account) was the one that insisted we'd
gone "gay, gay, gay!" A three-gay rating in fact. And the e-mailer
wanted it known that there were other issues.
There
are other issues. And there are over 100 posts that go up here each
week. If all you're seeing is gay that might go to your own bias and
discomfort.
This site is pro-choice. And we
came into it that way and shortly after we started the Democratic Party
tried to sell about abortion -- and we got attacked by various bloggers
for not going along -- bloggers supposedly on the left.
That didn't make me change our stance.
Your discomfort with the LGBTQ+ won't make me change our stance.
I do get it though.
As I see what REVOLUTIONARY BLACKOUT and BREAKING POINTS and THE HILL and Jimmy Dore and others cover, I get it.
You
could watch six months of those programs and never once know a gay
person existed in the US. I get it. It must, by contrast, be very in
your face to come to this site. Good. That's why we're still here.
We posted Matteo Lane's new comedy special yesterday but I also want to include it in a snapshot.
We
can't go back in time. But if you like comedy, you can stream the
above comedy special Matteo's done and you can show some support and
it's not even going to cost you the way a ticket would. We need to be
better allies.
Abbas Hashem fixed
his worried gaze on the horizon — the day was almost gone and still,
there was no sign of the last of his water buffaloes. He knows that when
his animals don’t come back from roaming the marshes of this part of
Iraq, they must be dead.
The
dry earth is cracked beneath his feet and thick layers of salt coat
shriveled reeds in the Chibayish wetlands amid this year’s dire
shortages in fresh water flows from the Tigris River.
Hashem
already lost five buffaloes from his herd of 20 since May, weakened
with hunger and poisoned by the salty water seeping into the low-lying
marshes. Other buffalo herders in the area say their animals have died
too, or produce milk that’s unfit to sell.
“This place used to be full of life,” he said. “Now it’s a desert, a graveyard.”
Iraq is battling several years of drought, the governments of both Iran
and Turkey are blocking the flow of the two big rivers running through
Iraq (the Tigris and the Eurphates), everyone is expected to be effected
by climate change; however, Iraq has been named the fifth most
vulnerable country in the world. Dust storms are increasing in
frequency and in force. Speaking to the United Nations at the start of October, the
US Deputy Rep to the UN, Ambassador Richard Mills, noted that climate
change was one of the challenges Iraq is facing, "Complicated challenges
face the next government – including passing a
budget, developing oil and gas legislation that is acceptable to the
Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government, improving the
provision of electricity, combatting climate change, promoting private
sector development and job growth, and increasing women’s participation
in the workforce." Last month, the International Organization for Migration pointed out, "Displaced families are likely to be among the most vulnerable to
climatic and environmental changes that can impact livelihoods, food
security and social cohesion. Sustainable return and rein-tegration can
be determined by many factors but the role of climatic change and
environmental degradation in return dynamics is insufficiently
understood."
Iraq
must take quick action to combat climate change as its affects would
make it one of the most water scarce countries in the world, the UK’s
ambassador to the country told The National.
Iraq
is the fifth most vulnerable country to climate breakdown, impacted by
high temperatures, droughts and frequent dust storms, presenting a
serious threat to the public’s livelihood, according to the UN.
“There
are a range of challenges for Iraq, reduced rainfall, desertification
and increased droughts. There’s a wider list of things that needs to
happen for Iraq to curb climate change,” Mark Bryson-Richardson told The National.
He
said the new government in Baghdad must focus on water management as a
“real priority” to improve its usage and prepare for and manage
droughts.
“It’s
going to be a challenging journey, Iraq will be one of the most water
scarce countries in the world in the coming years,” Mr Richardson said
during a visit to the UAE this week,
The diplomat’s comments come as world leaders gather for the UN climate summit in Egypt this week.
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