This Week's Quote

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Ahhh... it's time for my favorite autumn tradition.

Rightwing outlets screaming about migration caravans traveling up from Mexico just two weeks before an election.

Charlotte Clymer

Source:  X

Ta-Ta

Image:  Facebook

Over the last few days in LGBTQ circles, the word "schadenfreude" has cropped up. It means feeling joy at the pain of someone else. It's a German word, but it's pronounced "Milo Yiannopoulos."

Yes, the far-right British provocateur, an enthusiastic supporter of Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, was arrested by ICE on Thursday and deported to the U.K. on Friday.

This is top-notch irony, and a fitting end for a fella whose obvious need to be the center of attention caused boatloads of pain.

Yiannopoulos, with all the obnoxiousness he could muster as a writer and speaker, mocked feminism, Islam, transgender rights, and was banned from Facebook and Twitter. All while being openly gay. With his peroxided locks and earrings, he staked out far-right territory that made the Log Cabin Republicans look like Jane Fonda.

In 2017 Yiannopoulos married his boyfriend. In 2021 he declared he was no longer gay and his husband had been "demoted to housemate."

Britain, this ball of sunshine is yours again. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle returned to live in England the day before Yiannopoulos was arrested. I assume you wanted them back. Just think of Milo as the accompanying booby prize.

The Cat's Meow

Image:  Facebook

At the Tony Awards on Sunday, Qween Jean captured the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, and that made her the first ever openly transgender Tony winner.

Reading about her triumph, I realized Jean is every single thing the Trump administration hates. The show she worked on, "Cats: The Jellicle Ball," draws from ballroom culture. Jean is also an activist, having founded an outreach organization called Black Trans Liberation. And, she was born in Haiti.

A Black, transgender, activist, immigrant theater artist. I guess a celebratory Big Mac at the White House is out of the question.

24/7 Reality

Image by BedexpStock from Pixabay

Last night I was driving home around 10 and brooding over the fact that I'd just watched my Seattle Storm, in a game at Climate Pledge Arena, pull defeat from the jaws of victory.

Suddenly I saw multiple flashing lights ahead on the other side of the road. I drove by carefully, as there was nobody directing traffic. Only a mile later did it dawn on me that I'd probably just driven past an ICE raid on a home.

The pieces fell into place:  the one helmeted "cop" I saw didn't look worried, and if this had been a crime scene, I wouldn't have been allowed to get so close.

I realized I was distressingly slow on the uptake because I don't have to live in terror over ICE coming to kidnap me. That display of American ugliness isn't part of my daily or nightly reality. Other displays are, but not the ICE follies.

Unless Trump and his parasites decide to start deporting everyone born in New Jersey.

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

First of all I'd like to say I'm proud to be here to represent Team USA and to represent our country. But we'd be remiss if we didn't at least mention what's going on in Minnesota, and what a tough time it's been for everybody. This stuff is happening right, right around where we live, and what's happening in Minnesota is wrong. There's no shades of gray. It's clear.

Rich Ruohonen, Olympic curler, lawyer, and at 54 the oldest athlete ever to represent the U.S. at a Winter Games

Source:  YouTube

Shutdown

Image:  Facebook

In response to the ICE atrocities in Minneapolis, it's "National Shutdown" day. Activists want us to ditch school and work and not spend money on Jan. 30.

The citizens of Minneapolis pulled that off beautifully a week ago, but I fear there hasn't been enough time to mount a paralyzing nationwide strike.

Still, I'm in. I was supposed to do a happy hour with a couple of friends at one of Seattle's waterside restaurants today, but I let them know why I can't, in good conscience, be there. To acknowledge those killed in Minneapolis (and Chicago and Los Angeles), I can certainly forego shellfish and wine.

Not a sacrifice of heroic proportions. Giving up the chance to gossip, though, that was a little harder.

The Helmet Hides the Nazi 'Do

 

Norman Rockwell Now

This Week's Quote

Image:  Facebook

FACT CHECK: Trump’s only in America because his grandfather got kicked out of Germany for dodging military service. He begged the Bavarian government to let him stay, they said no, and he packed his bags for the U.S. The whole Trump dynasty started with a deportation notice.

Alex Cole

Source:  X