Alright. First up, here’s the roundup of Superbowl commercials. I loved the ones from GM, Paramount+ (even if we don’t need yet another streaming service), Bud Light lemons, Fivr, Klarna (just because Maya Rudoulph) and of course, the beautiful, beautiful, Michael B. Jordan for Alexa:
Clue, which had at one point been adapted into a comic series, is not becoming an animated show. We’ll have to see how this goes.
In politics, the GOP is spending its time, across the country, trying to restrict voting. Because that’s the only way they win (but they are very, very good at this, and this is a huge threat).
In exciting news, John Fetterman is running for Senate!
And lastly today, a new preview for The Nevers, which looks like a neat Victorian era Magicians, kind of. I’m excited for it!
A video showing the evolution of the world’s tallest buildings:
Has your mail been slower lately? It’s not your imagination, the new Postmaster General admitted he’s slowing it down. It’s all an effort to discredit voting by mail, BTW.
Back to federal again, Biden vows to allow the military to display pride flags again. With their new ban on Confederate flags (you know, the traitors that killed members of our military), it also banned pride flags (you know, currently serving members of our military).
And some local bad news, protesters at a Pro Police Rally decided to chant about killing queer people. Because no where is actually really safe, sadly.
Okay, some good news. AOC delivered an amazing rebuttal to the lawmaker who insulted her and gave a fake apology. Worth a watch!
Alright, catching up on a bit of a backlog in addition to some current items, but let’s see what we have today. First up, a favorite web comic/series, Surviving the World is returning with classic reposts! Here’s where he ended it. Class Dismissed.
Science news you can use: don’t drink your whiskey ‘neat’:
The United Methodist Church is splitting over gay issues. As someone who has come out of that on the other side, hey welcome, it’s a bumpy ride. Sorry you have to do this, it’s painful.
This fight (is still going on all across the country) happened in September in Arizona. Their GOP governor said they don’t need to extend non-discrimination protections to gay people, and their supreme court said businesses can deny service to gay people. The fight continues, and is seemingly never ending.
I wrote earlier about my displeasure at Marvel (and Star Wars) for LGBT erasure. The upcoming film, The Eternals, will, for the first time, feature a gay superhero (and kiss). Yes, it’s progress. Should it have taken 11 years? No.
In other movie news, the trailer for the new Wes Anderson film looks amazing:
The Catholic bishops in Texas have blasted their governor (who is Catholic)over his rule to not accept refugees. I’m highly, highly critical of the Catholic Church, so I have to give them points when it’s appropriate. Good for them.
Disney is announcing more details of their immersive Star Wars hotel for their resorts, and it looks amazing and I can’t wait to go!
Google pretty much hit it out of the park with their Superbowl ad:
Alright, let’s see what we have today, it’s a fairly short update.
First up, what we witnessed on Friday, while showing the absolute strength, resolution and power of women and sexual abuse survivors, was, all-in-all, one of the most heinous things concocted by the Republicans in the 242 year history of this country, and that is saying something. Don’t forget to take some time for yourself and self-care, and if you need help, reach out.
In June, SCOTUS ruled on the Masterpiece case, handing down a ‘narrow’ ruling. Basically, they said that how Colorado handled the legal case was in appropriate.
This is still very troubling, and will for sure just open the door and be the first shot across the bow, as it may, The latest tactic against equal rights is the so-called ‘religious liberty’ argument, as we’ve seen with racist house elf Jeff Sessions even putting together a religious liberty commission, specifically to stamp out queer rights. At the end of the day, this ruling, while narrow, still means that two men were denied service because they’re gay. But there are larger implications; the court, incorrectly, said that a lawyer for the men was critical of religion, when instead he was critical of what religion was being used to justify (as well as it’s use to justify slavery, segregation and more):
If saying something true, yet critical about religion as an institution is an example of expressing hostility toward religion, then is every comment critical of religion evidence of bias? Are we never allowed to say anything negative about the harms that can be wrought by fundamentalism? It’s now hard to imagine the forces of equality getting a fair hearing if no one can say anything negative about the forces of bigotry when they use religion to justify their hatred.
We will see more of these, and honestly, I think we are lucky that a larger ruling was prevented due to the technicalities of the legal system. With a conservative court, without Kennedy, it will only be a matter of time when non-discrimination ordinances are a thing of the past. As it stands right now, doctors are allowed to refuse to treat patients (for anything, including emergency services) if it conflicts with their ‘deeply held religious beliefs,’ which is why, on all of my race bibs in the emergency information, I have to specify to not be taken to Mercy, the local Catholic hospital. I have to play the odds, and hope if the worst were to happen and I was already unable to speak for myself, that I could actually get the medical help I need.
There’s new Firefly comics coming out! This time, a new studio, Boom!, who did the Munchkin comics, will be publishing them.
I’ll be writing at length about the MasterpieceSCOTUS decision, but of course, a member of the South Dakota GOP has said that because of that case, businesses can discriminate based on race.
Students from Majory Stoneman Douglas performed a song from RENT at the Tony’s:
I’ll be talking about the Supreme Court decision in Masterpiece Cake in a later post, but this executive order from May is also really, really dangerous. We’re quickly moving into a world where the few rights I have are being superseded by the ability for people to use their bigoted “religious views” to discriminate against me. And yes, even if you’re using religion, it’s still bigoted.
Alright, that’s it for now, sorry for all the depressing things, but sometimes, that’s just what the world deals you. I’ll be back with more soon!
Alright, big update today, let’s see what we have.
So in outrageously offending news, the defense in the PA marriage equality trial are seeking the complete sexual history of those challenging the ban. So no matter how bad your day has been, at least the state isn’t asking for all the details of your sex life to continue denying you your rights. Sigh.
Want to see what it’s like to go ski jumping? Of course you do:
The divorce rate of evangelicals is higher than the general population. But even if you’re not and evangelical, if you live in a heavily-populated area, you have a bigger risk of getting divorced.
The rumor was that AHS was going to be subtitled “Circus” next season, but maybe not?
Remember the 14th Amendment? The one that says we all should have equal rights? Well, the OK attorney general says that it doesn’t apply to gay people.
If you haven’t seen the new Duracell commercial, you should:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2HD57z4F8E
As a reminder, when you operate a business, you can’t discriminate against a population. If you set out a sign saying you would not serve African Americans, it’s the same as saying you won’t serve gays. Not a hard concept (except when legal loopholes get involved). Or you can Arizona which is trying to make it legal to discriminate against the LGBT community because of religion.
I love the Muppets, even if they did get snubbed at the Golden Globes:
A great clip from Louisiana where a trans woman dared a bigoted city council member to put his money where his mouth was and stone her to death. He recalled his bill moments later.
Personally, as a matter of style, I don’t use the Oxford comma, but I’m always of the camp that whichever style you choose, you be consistent with it. And XKCD covered it here.
That’s it for now, but I’ll be back with more soon, Happy Thanksgiving!
The commissioner of the NBA slams the Olympics for their handling of the Russia LGBT laws. And speaking of, Brian Brown, head of NOM, worked with Russia lawmakers to draft the legislation working its way through the Duma to forcibly take children from LGBT adults.
And lastly about Russia, a music video about the torture of the Russian church:
Just like you can’t open a business and refuse to serve the Irish, or women, or Jews, you can’t flat our refuse to serve the LGBT community. Unless the Republican party gets it way, of course.
