Brett Eldredge - Mr. Christmas

Chemical Romance

 

The Confession of an Altar Boy

An oldie for sure-- but a classic!

Little Joey the altar boy enters the confessional.  "Bless me Father, for I have sinned. I have been with a loose girl."
The priest asks, "Is that you, little Richie Sumner?"
"Yes, Father, it is."
"And who was the girl you were with?"
"I can't tell you, Father, I don't want to ruin her reputation."

"Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later so you may as well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?"
"I cannot say."
"Was it Teresa Mazzarelli?"
"I'll never tell."
"Was it Nina Capelli?!"
"I'm sorry, but I cannot name her."
"Was it Cathy Piriano?"
"My lips are sealed."
"Was it Rosa DiAngelo, then?"
"Please, Father, I cannot tell you."

The priest sighs in frustration. "You're very tight lipped, and I admire that. But you've sinned and you need to atone. You are banned from being an altar boy for 4 months. Now you go and behave yourself."

Joey walks back to his pew, where his friend Franco slides over and whispers furtively, "So what did you get?"

"Four months vacation and five good leads!"

 

Oh, the Creativity of Kids!

What happens when you entrust elementary school children with naming massive pieces of snow removal equipment?  A blizzard of cute, creative ideas sure to give weary plow drivers a chuckle.

The Vermont Agency of Transportation invited kids across the state to come up with unique monikers for some of the department’s fleet of snowplows that will be hitting the roads this winter.  When the chosen names were revealed for “Vermont Plow Day”,  hilarity ensued.  Among the many winners (notice the definite Star Wars theme):

• Yo Bro, No Snow
• Baby Snowda
  
• Snow Day Dream Crusher
• William Scrape-speare
• Ice Will Pay the Price
• Darth Blader
• Edgar Allen Snow
• Luke Snow Walker
• Blizzard Bessy
• Powder Pusher
  
• Plowy McPlowface
• Jennifer Snowpez
• Obi-Wan KenSNOWbi

“We had a lot of creative naming,” said Todd Law, deputy division director of the agency’s district maintenance and fleet division. “It was absolutely amazing.”

Time Magazine Sinking Slowly into Irrelevance

Elon Musk, a man reportedly worth more than $300 billion dollars—almost all of which was gained during the pandemic—has been named Time magazine’s “Person of the Year.”  Sen. Elizabeth Warren responded to the announcement by writing, “Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.”

For at least the last six years (as Musk became one of the two richest people in the world) he has paid somewhere around 3.27% in true taxes. That’s about .00327 cents on every one of his billions of dollars. Since 2018 (as his wealth has skyrocketed) Musk has probably not paid anything at all in income tax. In October, Musk’s Tesla was ordered to pay out nearly $137 million to a Black employee who sued the company for cartoonishly racial discrimination. Musk’s proclivity to  tweet out unremarkable and predictable thoughts from time to time has led to embarrassing public relations issues—like Tesla being found guilty of union-busting by the National Labor Relations Board. 

And while most people with sociopathic levels of wealth and power will at least donate some of their money (even organized crime bosses hand out turkeys at Thanksgiving, after all) Elon Musk's charitable donations have been paltry, if not nonexistent.

According to the Boston Globe, the TIME article defends its choice of Musk, writing: “Few individuals have had more influence than Musk on life on Earth, and potentially life off Earth, too. He sees his mission as solving the globe’s most intractable challenges, along the way disrupting multiple industries.”  The problem is that Musk has had little practical influence on most people on Earth, and hasn't really solved any of the globe's challenges or disrupted anything (outside the SEC, that is). 

Musk made some money from a software company he created, got richer from early digital money transferring, and then got a big payout when he was pushed out of PayPal. At that point he took a gamble by  investing in Tesla, Inc (which was founded by two other guys). Musk didn't come up with any original or innovative ideas-- he simply showed up with lots of money. The “disruption” was having the capital and willingness to invest in a cleaner kind of car.  He was later sued by the SEC for inappropriate tweeting and has been responsible for misleading public comments about COVID.

Musk recently told the Wall Street Journal that he wanted to get rid of the electric vehicle subsidies that created his astronomical wealth in the first place. This is a guy whose wealth was funded (in no small part) by literal billions of dollars in government subsidies.  Like any true “libertarian,” Musk is a self-absorbed hypocrite who only believes in a government that works for Elon Musk, and Elon Musk alone.

The kind of  hypocrisy is to be expected from a privileged jerk engaged in a dick-measuring space race against Jeff Bezos. Musk, like all billionaires, is proof of how much of a failure our current economic and government system is for the overwhelming majority of human beings.

Unsurprisingly, Time magazine's Twitter announcement of Musk as Person of the Year was utterly ratioed.  A small example:

 

Santa May Have Missed a Few Houses This Year

Enjoy Your Christmas However You Can

Mariah Carey - Fall in Love at Christmas

Another COVID Christmas

 

Santa vs. UFO's

Christmas Miracle

 

Missing the Old Office Xmas Parties?

Santa's Message to Anti-Vaxxers

Xmas Cookie for Family Get-Togethers

Gary Barlow - Sleigh Ride

The Word is Getting Out Over Tulum, Mexico

Back in October, I wrote a long post describing how Tulum, Mexico has gone completely down the tubes.  The Mexican government is loathe to publicize any bad news about its tourism sector-- but now the Mexican media is beginning to lift the veil on its dirty little secret.  Between January and September 2021, the town registered 65 murders, an 80.5% increase over the same period last year when just 36 murders took place, according to statistics from the National Security System.

And the violence has only continued. On October 20, two foreign tourists, a travel blogger from India and a German citizen were shot dead at a restaurant in Tulum, caught in the crossfire of a shootout between gangs. Three other tourists were injured.  This year has also seen attacks claim the lives of nationals from Spain, Uruguay and Belize.  And now local businesses are highly concerned that the violence is driving away tourism. In October, the German government issued a travel advisory warning about visiting Tulum, although this was later retracted.

Criminal groups are being attracted to the drug trafficking and extortion possibilities offered by this tourist hotspot.  According to David Ortiz Mena, president of the Tulum Hotels Association, large raves and dance parties have led to an increase in demand for drugs, which have attracted organized crime.

While the world shut down during the pandemic, Tulum became known for continuing to hold raves and music festivals-- which was accompanied by a rise in demand for drugs.  Extortion attempts on hotels, restaurants and visitors have also increased. “Hotel owners are alarmed because their clients, tourists, are being threatened by the bad guys. And when they demand attention from authorities, they don’t get a response,” Juan Noriega Granados, another member of the Tulum Hotels Association, told the press.

The situation has grown so dire that security forces have had to be sent in. 450 federal troops were sent to Tulum in late October, among other security strategies, following the murder of the two tourists.  While a number of criminal groups, including national-level threats such as the Zetas Vieja Escuela cartel and local gangs such as the Bonfil, have long operated in Tulum, the arrival of the Jalisco Cartel New Generation has been blamed for an escalation in violence.

Next Up for Londoners: Sharks With Fricking' Lasers

It seems that London's famous river is much more exciting than we thought. Seahorses, eels, seals -- In addition to the expected fish, seahorses and eels, the River Thames has been discovered to have venomous sharks. Yikes!

A survey by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) revealed "positive news" for wildlife, and ecosystem recovery, the society recently announced.   Surprising creatures, like sharks including tope, starry smooth-hound and spurdog -- a slender fish measuring some 23 inches and covered in venomous spines -- have been found.  Spurdogs can be found in deep water, and the spines in front of the shark's two dorsal fins secrete a venom that can cause pain and swelling in humans. 

 

Tope shark, which feed on fish and crustaceans and can reach 6 feet and up to 106 pounds, have never launched an unprovoked attack on humans, according to the UK's Wildlife Trusts.  Meanwhile, the starry smooth-hound, which can reach up to 4 feet and 25 pounds, mostly eats crustaceans, shellfish and mollusks.

 

The survey also showed that climate change has increased the Thames' temperature by 0.2⁰C a year on average, ZSL said, warning that this "paints a worrying picture" when combined with sea level rises.

Water levels have been increasing since monitoring began in 1911 in the tidal section of the Thames, rising at some points by 0.17 inch a year on average since 1990.  "As water temperature and sea levels continue to rise above historic baselines, the estuary's wildlife will be particularly impacted, through changes to species' lifecycles and ranges," ZSL warned in a statement.

 

 

GOP Snowflakes

Can't Beat Pete for an Unusual Christmas Gift

"Stand up" comedian Pete Davidson is soon to become an obsession with horny women nationwide.  Adult entertainment website CamSoda, will be releasing a sex toy inspired by the 27-year-old comedian, adorned with colorful tats.

The Davidson dildo “will help girls get off to the latest and greatest (and supposedly biggest, wink wink) celebrity heartthrob.” CamSoda announced.  “Pete doesn’t have to be locked down with just Kim. We can all share a piece of the SNL stud and get to know him more intimately,” CamSoda Vice President Daryn Parker eloquently added.

In case you thought it couldn’t get any more bizarre, the phallic prosthetic offers synchronized sessions with Saturday Night Live. When Pete makes an appearance on the NBC comedy show, the sex toy will start “gyrating accordingly.”

“As Pete graces people’s television screens on Saturday Night Live - and is permanently plastered across their timelines on Instagram with girls fawning over him - they can sync their smart dildos (aka teledildonics) to his appearances on SNL,” they added.

From Kate Beckinsale, Maid star Margaret Qualley, Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor, model Kaia Gerber and most recently Kim Kardashian, Pete has been linked to many A-listers over the years.  He was famously engaged to Ariana Grande for a few months back in 2018 – who could have been responsible for fueling a few rumors about his manhood.

On Twitter, Ariana responded to a fan who asked her how “long” Pete Davidson was, in reference to a song interlude.  “Like 10 inches? … oh fuck … I mean … like a lil over a minute,” she replied in a now-deleted reply.

Pete later addressed the comments during a stand-up set. “I don’t like that she talked all that shit for my penis,” he said. “Why would she tell everyone that I have a huge penis?  So that every girl who sees my dick for the rest of my life is disappointed,” he joked.

 

The Feline Mind

Before We Can Learn From History, We Must Acknowlege It

Armed white rioters burn down the Daily Record

The Wilmington Massacre (to date) is the only successful coup d’etat to unfold on American soil--  an estimated 300 Black Americans were murdered by white supremacists.  The mass murder is a poignant reminder that white nationalism remains a deadly scourge that directly undermines democracy, decency, and liberty in the U.S.

In North Carolina in 1898, the political strategy for white supremacists of the era was to “redeem North Carolina from Negro domination,” a racist belief widely upheld by party officials and spread by the men they chose to deliver their propaganda.

One of those men was Alfred Moore Waddell, a Confederate colonel and avowed white supremacist who once served as the U.S. representative for North Carolina.

To disrupt a local government committed to biracialism, Waddell and others mobilized whites, held rallies, and led militias of “Red Shirts,” who, as the Zinn Education Project points out, were “basically ruffians on horseback” echoing the Ku Klux Klan.  As the election neared in Wilmington that November, Waddell made open threats in his speeches.

“We will never surrender to a ragged raffle of Negroes, even if we have to choke the nearby Cape Fear river with carcasses,” he said in his intimidation campaign aimed at keeping Black Americans from the polls.  During his speech, Red Shirts had taken off on horseback through the region, disrupting Black church services and instilling terror.

“The White Supremacists used an editorial by Alex Manly, the editor of Wilmington’s Black newspaper the Daily Record to stir a firestorm at the time of the elections,” the Zinn Education Project critically points out in its recounting of the day.  The editorial by Manly was a scathing criticism of a public speech from a local white woman who advocated for lynching as a means to protect white women from black men.

Waddell and his armed mob kicked off his coup by assembling with 2,000 men at the Black-run Daily Record.  In retaliation for Manly’s editorial, they busted up the establishment, vandalized Manly’s presses, and burned the whole building to the ground.  

It was, as Adrienne LaFrance and Vann Newkirk II wrote for The Atlantic in 2017, “just the beginning of an assault” which by evening, led to the murder of dozens upon dozens of Black people. The attack destroyed lives and livelihoods, upended a thriving community, forced Black Americans to flee or be banished, and only ended with a gun held to Mayor Wright’s head by Waddell.  The aging Confederate colonel installed himself as mayor and by brute force, had ejected White from his post.

Last month, two Black men killed by the white mob in 1898, Joshua Halsey and Samuel McFarland, finally received proper funerals. As noted by the NYT, the insurrection of 1898 “laid the foundation for the Jim Crow laws and voter disenfranchisement that followed in North Carolina.” For years, Black residents of Wilmington were wrongly portrayed as “gun toting instigators” and much work has been done to see the record corrected.  

The great grandson of one of the Wilmington Massacre’s victims, Joshua Halsey, perhaps summed it up best as he reflected on the need for reconciliation of an ugly past that, incidentally, still has ties to the present.  “The town needs closure,” Hesketh Brown Jr. said.  “And the truth helps bring closure if we accept the truth.”

 

Norah Jones - Christmas Calling

Gang Violence Surging in Ecuadorian Prisons

At least 68 prisoners were killed at an Ecuadorean prison where more than a hundred inmates died in ongoing clashes between rival gangs that had begun back in September.  The riot occurred at the Litoral Penitentiary in the city of Guayaquil, where police tactical units found guns and explosives.  Nearly 300 inmates have died so far this year in the country's prisons-- the latest surge in gang-related violence was the worst in Ecuador's history.  Ecuador's prisons are currently accommodating about 9,000 more prisoners than they were designed to hold, officials say.  The Litoral Penitentiary was designed for 5,300 inmates but currently holds 8,500.

At the time, inmates from one wing of the prison crawled through a hole to gain access to a different wing, where they attacked rival gang members. Hundreds of officers and army soldiers were deployed to regain control of the complex.  The deadly fight, which saw some inmates decapitated, drew attention to the growing influence in Ecuador of transnational crime gangs such as the Mexico-based Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso insisted that his government was regaining control not only of the prisons but also of areas of Ecuador where drug traffickers had gained a foothold.  He accused previous governments of being "passive" about drug trafficking but warned that rising drug use in the country would take "more than a decade" to tackle.  He also said Ecuador would need international support from neighboring Colombia, the U.S. and the EU to strengthen its armed forces and police to combat the growing influence of crime gangs.

 

Chatty Katty

GOP's Secret Culture War

A Kansas school district is pulling 29 books out of its school libraries based on a single parent complaint, and to the surprise of no one, the books are overwhelmingly by authors of color and women authors and LGBTQ authors. At least it’s not as many books as appeared on one Texas state legislator's 16-page list.

In the Goddard, Kansas school district, after a parent complained about language in Angie Thomas’ critically acclaimed young adult novel, The Hate U Give, he went on to submit a list of other books he was concerned about, and the district pulled them all from circulation while it debates whether to get rid of them permanently.  “At this time, the district is not in a position to know if the books contained on this list meet our educational goals or not,” Julie Cannizzo, Goddard’s assistant superintendent for academic affairs, wrote in an email to principals and librarians. “Additionally, we need to gain a better understanding of the processes utilized to select books for our school libraries.”

The Hate U Give is a novel about the aftermath of the police killing of a Black teenager. It was a well-reviewed, massive young adult bestseller and it made the National Book Awards long list for young adult literature. Other entries being singled out for exclusion are the following:

• Fences, the August Wilson play that won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. 
• Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which won the 2007 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and was included among the 2008 American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults, among other honors.
• All Boys Aren't Blue, an essay collection by journalist and LGBTQIA activist George Johnson that was included on best books of 2020 list by the New York Public Library
• The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood, a classic that makes frequent appearances on Advanced Placement exams.
• The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison, which the College Board actually uses as an example for AP exam preparation.

Many of the books are also on the American Library Association’s list of most-challenged books. Because this kind of objection is all too common from parents who want their kids to live in a white, straight, male-dominated world in which none of those things are questioned and no one has to confront, even through reading fiction, the horrors that this country has visited on people who do not fit that mold.  

This story is very similar to the theme of Virginia Republican Glenn Youngkin’s gubernatorial campaign ad featuring a parent upset that her high school-age son had been assigned a book containing “the most explicit material you can imagine,” a book that the commercial failed to reveal was Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Beloved.  This assault on open-mindedness is the core of the entire Republican campaign against “critical race theory” in schools, by which they mean not critical race theory but the teaching of things like children’s books about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ruby Bridges. 

The media is failing to call out what this really is-- a viciously racist, homophobic, transphobic, and sexist campaign.  Republicans are waging an ideological war against public education and against any nuanced non-white view of history.   This is a defensive, reactionary fight against having their kids see people who are not like them as fully human, against having their kids learn that the history of the U.S. includes some very bad stuff (and not just in the distant past, either) and maybe possibly coming out with higher expectations or aspirations. 

 

Snake vs. Snake

In nightmarish news, a man’s penis began to rot after he was attacked by a cobra while sitting on the loo.

The 47-year-old Dutch man was on safari in South Africa when he ended up having to undergo reconstructive surgery on his penis because the snake which was chilling in the toilet, bit him on the pecker, causing him to suffer from scrotal necrosis (infection of the scrotum).

According to the medical journal Urology Case Reports, the man had to wait three hours before he was flown by helicopter to the nearest trauma center some 220 miles away.  “His penis and scrotum were noted to be swollen, deep purple in color, and painful on hospital admission. Scrotal necrosis was diagnosed, and he received multiple doses of a non-specific snake venom antiserum and broad-spectrum antibiotics,” it said.

The man reported vomiting and a burning sensation as well as pain that shot up from his groin into the abdomen and upper chest.  He also needed hemodialysis because of acute kidney injury before he had reconstructive surgery to fix his penis. The man spent nine days in hospital before returning to Holland.

A plastic surgeon used dead tissue and a graft from his groin to restore his penis to normal. The man made a full recovery.  And we thought encountering a lion or getting sunburn was the most dangerous thing that could happen on safari.

 

Gynecologist Refuses to Perform Hysterectomy For Ridiculous Reason

A woman took to Twitter to share a shocking experience with her gynecologist that delegitimized her sexuality.

Twitter user @RachChamp_ expressed her frustration on the platform after claiming a medical professional refused giving her a hysterectomy in case she separates from her wife in the future and decides she wants kids with a man.  “Can’t believe that today a gynecologist told me that a hysterectomy wouldn’t be considered as an option for my debilitating period pain on the off chance that I divorce my wife, my sexual orientation changes, I meet a man and decide I want children,” Rachel wrote. 

Rachel gave further context in a follow up tweet, “It’s worth adding that I’m 27 and I’ve had severe pain since I first got my period when I was 10.  I’ve had two surgeries, tried three different contraceptive pills, the mirena coil, and have tried every combination of painkillers. Nothing has helped.”

Not only is this experience extremely frustrating to read, but it also reinforces the idea that a woman’s body serves—above all else—as a means to have kids. There’s plenty of women who never want children. Not to mention, there’s tons of options for those that do want kids that doesn’t involve them being pregnant.

In the replies, many Twitter users shared their own infuriating past experience with their doctor.  “It’s ridiculous. My friend wanted tubes tied after her SEVENTH kid. Not allowed because at age 31 she is too young and might want more. SEVEN,” wrote one user.

Others used Rachel’s story to advocate for women receiving better, less intrusive, medical treatment.  “We shouldn't have to fight for medical care, if a hysterectomy is an effective treatment for a medical condition then all doctors should need is your consent. It's almost like they think women don't understand what it is! Why do we need anyone else's consent for needed treatment.”

In response to one of many Twitter replies, the original poster’s wife chimed to share her own thoughts.  “The annoying thing is I’m her wife and I have perfectly working everything, so surely if we wanted kids we could just… use mine?!”

 

Office of Special Counsel Concludes that Over a Dozen Senior Trump Officials Violated the Hatch Act

In the midst of the various investigation of Trump in New York state, as well as Manhattan and Westchester County, there is now news of  the federal investigation op into how the Trump White House committed numerous violations of the Hatch Act.

WaPo now reports that “at least” 13 senior Trump officials have been found to violate the Hatch Act, illegally mixing campaign and government events. This wasn’t just a matter of Trump telling people to disregard the Act-- it was, according to the report: “what appeared to be a taxpayer-funded campaign apparatus within the upper echelons of the executive branch.”  The list of Hatch Act violators includes Mike Pompeo, Chad Wolfe, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette, Kellyanne Conway, White House director of strategic communications Alyssa Farah, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, Jared Kushner, Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany,White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Stephen Miller, Deputy White House press secretary Brian Morgenstern, Vice Presidential chief of staff Marc Short, and National security adviser Robert C. O’Brien.

Trump didn’t just mix campaign events with government events. He turned the government into a virtual campaign outpost. 

Kelly Clarkson -Merry Christmas (To the One I Used to Know)

Anti-mask Duo Show Police Video of Their Assault on a Shop Owner and are Arrested on the Spot

In August, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown reinstated the state’s indoor mask mandate amid the surge of the COVID-19 delta variant. So far, Oregon has done a pretty good job of mitigating COVID-19, ranking 46th in the nation in COVID-19 deaths per capita. That's in part due to the mask requirements and the buy-in of the state’s residents, at least in heavily Democratic municipalities like Eugene, Portland, and Salem. 

But never underestimate the power of small-minded dolts like Ricki Collin and Amy Hall-- two Portland, Oregon anti-maskers, who were arrested after Hall engaged in an old-fashioned donnybrook with the owner of a local cookie store.  The doofy duo are known for going around harassing business owners for following the law and requiring customers to wear masks.  As you can see from the video, these two walked into the Crumb Together bakery in Eugene, Oregon, with their camera rolling, clearly ready to rumble over mask requirements.  But the dumbfuckery doesn't end there.

W.A.P. (Weirdly Accurate Provocateur)

Rapper Cardi became an iconic member back in the Vine days of 2014 for her famous saying “A hoe never gets cold” – and this actually turns out to be true, according to science.

TikTok user Roxanne N. Felig has shed some light on the scientific study that back’s up the hitmaker’s quote – that hoes (or women who self-objectify) never get cold.

The scientific study titled; “When looking ‘hot’ means not feeling cold: Evidence that self-objectification inhibits feelings of being cold,” was published by the British Journal of Social Psychology.

“This study tested self-objectification as a mechanism responsible for the muted awareness of bodily sensation demonstrated by Geordie girls and canonized by a quote from the iconic rapper Cardi B — ‘a ho never gets cold,’” read the report.

This means that a person viewing themselves as an object instead of a human (self-objectification) was researched to see if this had any relation to feeling cold.

Felig, one of the study’s writers, summarized what the key findings in the “Cardi B study” were and the methodology of the research.  “It seems what Cardi was saying that she was too focused on how she looked and what she was wearing to feel cold,” the TikToker said.

The social psychology graduate student added that the rapper’s quote “aligns perfectly” with the main theoretical perspective she uses to conduct her research - objectification theory.  “Objectification theory posits that when women take an outsider’s perspective of their body - so when women are highly focused on how they appear externally - it reduces the amount of cognitive resources they have available to appraise their internal states.”

So basically, when women are self-objectifying they’re less aware of things such as how hungry they are and how their heart beats, Felig noted.

Instead of interviewing study participants in a lab setting, the researchers carried out the interviews in “a busy part of town known for its nightlife” and “surveyed women who are waiting in line outside of clubs on very cold nights.”  Felig noted the research took place in Florida, where the average low temperature is in the 60s - but the nights they interviewed participants, the weather was particularly cold, and was recorded to be in the 40s and 50s.

Questions put to the participants included how much they think about their physical appearance compared to how they feel on a day-to-day basis.  They were also asked how intoxicated they felt, how many drinks they had and had a photo taken of their outfits, with their faces hidden to remain anonymous. This was so researchers could code for how much skin was exposed.

In conclusion, the researcher’s prediction –and Cardi B’s saying – was “fully supported” by their evidence.  Women with high self-objectification wouldn’t feel the cold, no matter how much skin was exposed.  “There is literally no relationship, the relationship was non-significant, between their amount of skin exposure and how cold they felt,” Felig concluded.

“So it can be inferred that they’re too preoccupied with thinking about their external appearance to think about their internal sensations.”  Whoever said that Cardi B wasn't ahead of her time?

 

Boris Johnson Continues to Show What a Moron He Is

UK Prime Minister (and buffoon) Boris Johnson has triggered huge backlash after refusing to wear a mask while touring a hospital.

Many people were angry at the Prime Minister for not following NHS rules and putting patients at risk during his visit while the staff that accompanied him at Hexham General Hospital followed protocols and wore masks. There were also accusations that he was even told to wear a mask three times.  Johnson's  official spokesperson said at the time that he had followed all rules-- total rubbish to anyone with half a brain.  

The latest controversy emerged less than a week after Johnson faced a backlash for not wearing a face mask while sitting next to 95-year-old David Attenborough at the Cop26 climate summit.

As COVID cases in the British parliament are on the rise, Johnson has also refused to commit to wearing a mask in the Commons.  Even his own Health Minister, Sajid Javid, said afterwards that public figures should “set an example”.

Johnson has stirred up controversy by not wearing a face covering in various crowded settings in recent months, including in the Commons and in small rooms with his ministers. He has repeatedly refused to make masks mandatory as well.

 

Eric Clapton Now a Raving Anti-Vaxxer

Robert Cray was stunned when he first heard "Stand and Deliver."  Eric Clapton, his onetime musical hero, who became a mentor and friend, had released his first protest song in 56 years of recording. Only it wasn’t about George Floyd or global warming. Clapton’s mid-tempo shuffle, a collaboration with Van Morrison, went full anti-lockdown, taking aim at the government for trying to control a global pandemic by temporarily shuttering restaurants, gyms and concert halls. 

What grabbed Cray’s attention were the lyrics: "Do you wanna be a free man / Or do you wanna be a slave? / Do you wanna wear these chains / Until you’re lying in the grave?"

Cray — one of the great blues guitarists of his generation, a five-time Grammy winner and Black man born in segregated Georgia — emailed Clapton immediately. Was the 76-year-old guitar great comfortable singing those words, which compared the lockdown to slavery?   Clapton's response didn't satisfy Cray, nor did their next email exchange. Then Cray stopped replying altogether. The next time he wrote was weeks later to politely inform Clapton that he couldn’t, in good conscience, open for him as planned on an upcoming tour. 

Cray watched as Clapton released two more lockdown songs, conducted a lengthy interview with vaccine skeptics, and pledged to perform only where fans would not be required to be vaccinated, or, as Clapton said in a statement, not “where there is a discriminated audience present.”

After a September show in Austin, Clapton posed backstage with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Abbott had recently signed the country’s most restrictive abortion law and a Republican-backed measure to limit who can vote in the state. Like that, a 35-year friendship between Cray and Clapton was over.

Many of Clapton’s friends and fans seem to be having a similar falling out over Clapton's behavior.  It’s unclear how much Clapton cares about the criticism, as he has been turning down interview requests from Rolling Stone, Wapo, and others.  

There are reports that Clapton was vaccinated earlier this year, but yet he has been critical of government directives.  Friends tried to attribute his anti-vax views to a lifelong fear of needles. As a heroin addict in the early 1970s, he was known to only snort the drug.  What a bullshit excuse.

Critics say that Clapton is more than one man sharing his opinion. He’s a massive public figure with considerable influence.  “He could be helping us in finishing off this pandemic, especially with a vulnerable population,” says Joshua Barocas, an associate professor of medicine with an expertise in infectious diseases at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We’re looking at millions and millions of people worldwide. He could be a global ambassador, and instead he’s chosen the pro-covid, anti-public-health route.” 

Clapton's anti-lockdown campaign has unquestionably damaged his reputation. 24 Stone magazine, which had featured him eight times on its cover in largely glowing terms in the past, produced a searing attack that not only called him out for his pandemic behavior, but spotlighted a 45-year-old incident that remains an inescapable bruise on his career.  

COVID Variants Are Still Out There-- Get the Jab!

Back in July, I gave you a rundown on the list of known variants of the coronavirus.  Now, we have additional variants to report and some updates on the existing variants:

Alpha Variant (aka, the U.K. variant): originally a highly transmissible variant, with a higher chance of hospitalization/death than the "wild"version.  In North America, it has been largely overtaken by Delta.  Still a variant of concern.

Beta variant (aka, the South African variant): Source of the second wave in South Africa, but not as transmissible as Alpha.  Some versions of the vaccines may not be as effective against Beta.  Still a variant of concern.

Gamma variant (aka, the Brazil variant): more likely to infect younger people, and more likely to result in reinfections.  Some of the vaccines are less effective against Gamma.  Still a variant of concern.

Delta variant (aka, the India variant): Still the dominant source of infections in the U.S.

Epsilon variant (aka, the California variant): out-competed by the more transmissible Alpha, and no longer a variant of interest.

Zeta variant (aka, the Rio de Janeiro variant): no longer a variant of concern/interest

Eta variant (aka, the Nigerian variant): still unknown if more transmissible or if it causes more severe disease.  Vaccines still appear to be effective against it.  Appears to have been out-competed by the Alpha and Delta variants-- no longer a variant of concern/interest.

Theta variant (aka, the Philippine variant): no longer a variant of concern

Iota variant (aka, the New York city variant): out-competed by the more transmissible Alpha and Delta variants-- no longer a variant of concern/interest.

Kappa variant (aka, the Indian variant): believed to be more transmissible than Delta, but unknown whether it causes more severe disease.  Vaccines still appear to be effective against it, and is no longer a variant of concern/interest.

Lambda variant (aka, the Peruvian variant): "downgraded" to a variant of interest

Mu variant (aka, the Colombia variant):  is likely more transmissible, but unknown if causes more severe disease. Vaccines still appear to be effective against it.  Continues to be a variant of interest.

Omicron variant (aka, the second South African variant): newly designated as a variant of concern, it is known to have a large number of mutations that could increase transmissibility or resistance to existing vaccines.

Note: The World Health Organization skipped Nu to avoid confusion with the word “new”. They also skipped Xi in an effort to avoid antagonizing China and its leader Xi Jinping.

The bottom line is still the same:  Get the vaccine.  YOU DIDN'T GO TO MED SCHOOL AND YOU DON'T KNOW BETTER THAN A REAL DOCTOR.  IGNORE WHATEVER YOU HEARD ON FOX, OAN, OR FACEBOOK-- GET THE FUCKING VACCINE!  As long as this virus continues to live on (even if it doesn't cause you to get sick), it can mutate to become a more dangerous version.  

 

China Has Released Canadians Held on Trumped-up Espionage Charges

A Chinese tech executive wanted on fraud charges in the U.S. was coincidentally released by Canada mere hours after China freed two Canadians who were being held on bogus espionage charges.  In September, Huawei's Meng Wanzhou arrived in Shenzhen, hours after two Canadians held three years  by China had been allowed to return home.

China had accused Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig of espionage, but denied detaining them was in retaliation for Meng's arrest by Canadian authorities.   Meng had previously confessed to lying to U.S. investigators about Huawei's business dealings in Iran.  She has been under house arrest in Canada while fighting extradition to the United States.  She was initially arrested in the Vancouver airport on December 1, 2018.

Within a week of Meng's arrest, China retaliated by arresting Spavor and Kovrig on "espionage" charges.  Spavor is a founding member of an organization that facilitates international business and cultural ties with North Korea.  Kovrig is a former diplomat employed by International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank.  Spavor and Kovrig have maintained their innocence throughout, and they have been widely seen as being used by China as political bargaining chips.

China had earlier insisted that her case was not related to the sudden arrest of Spavor and Kovrig-- but China's decision to free them after Meng's release shows that pretense has been abandoned.   The Canadian judge overseeing Meng's case ordered her release after she reached a deal with U.S. prosecutors over fraud charges against her.  Meng still faces fraud charges on allegations that she misled banks into processing transactions for Huawei that broke U.S. sanctions against Iran. As part of a deferred prosecution agreement, Meng also admitted to misleading HSBC about Huawei's relationship with Skycom, a Hong-Kong based company that operated in Iran.

Meng is the elder daughter of Ren Zhengfei, who set up Huawei in 1987. He also served in the Chinese army for nine years, until 1983, and is a member of the Chinese Communist Party.  Huawei itself is now the largest telecom equipment maker in the world.  It has faced accusations that Chinese authorities could use its equipment for espionage.  In 2019, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Huawei and placed it on an export blacklist, cutting it off from key technologies.  The UK, Sweden, Australia and Japan have also banned Huawei, while other countries including France and India have adopted measures stopping short of an outright ban.

 

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - It Don’t Bother Me

Happy Turkey Day!

Artificial Intelligence Bot Became Racist Learning From Humans

Launched last month by the Allen Institute for AI, Ask Delphi is a piece of software that has been trained to ‘ethically’ respond to people’s questions. It allows users to ask a question, or simply input a word, and Delphi will respond – for example, “Can I wear pajamas to a funeral?” to which the bot responds with, “It’s inappropriate.”

The software has trawled the internet to acquire people’s ethical judgements through crowdsourcing platform Mechanical Turk, which have notably compiled 1.7 million examples, according to Dazed.

“Delphi is learning moral judgments from people who are carefully qualified on MTurk. Only the situations used in questions are harvested from Reddit, as it is a great source of ethically questionable situations,” the creators wrote online.

However, it appears as though the data has ended up warping the bot’s definition of what is right and what is wrong.  It has since picked up some problematic traits from humans – and turned racist and homophobic. When one person entered, “Being a white man Vs being a black woman”, the bot responded, “Being a white man is more morally acceptable than being a black woman.”  Delphi also stated that “Being straight is more morally acceptable than being gay”, before likening abortions to “murder.” 

The Allen Institute for AI has responded to bot’s judgements writing: “Today’s society is unequal and biased. This is a common issue with AI systems, as many scholars have argued, because AI systems are trained on historical or present data and have no way of shaping the future of society, only humans can.  What AI systems like Delphi can do, however, is learn about what is currently wrong, socially unacceptable, or biased, and be used in conjunction with other, more problematic, AI systems (to) help avoid that problematic content.”

You can test it out yourself here.

 

Keeping it Real

Integrate My Natural Log, Baby

A Taiwanese math professor has been uploading videos of himself on Pornhub solving arithmetic equations.  Obviously, the content is a striking difference to the adult videos that live on the website.

The professor in question, Chang Hsu, reportedly goes by the username "changhsumath666"— and he has garnered 6,900 subscribers.  As of now, he is ranked 685 on the platform in terms of popularity, which is extremely impressive given that none of his clips are filmed nude.

Instead, Chang has swapped the usual PornHub birthday suit for a hoodie, and can be seen standing in front of a green blackboard teaching. He’s uploaded 226 videos onto the site with the videos typically lasting around 40 minutes, ensuring his viewers get the full math lesson experience.  His tagline on the platform is "Play Hard, Study Hard” - and the creator has received over 1.9 million views with his videos.

While speaking to Focus Taiwan, Chang revealed that he started sharing videos on Pornhub last May and that his approach to the unique marketing strategy was making "special things in special places."  His methods has proved to be effective as he told the outlet that the people who have seen his free content on the site have resulted in paying customers for his courses.

"The online-teaching market is highly competitive, and I can now attract 1,000 students each year, compared with an average of a few hundred for a calculus tutor," Chang said.  "I asked myself where to find my target students, say college boys, and the answer popped out: adult video platforms,” he added.

Adulting Can Be a Challenge

Bitcoin Mining Proves to Be a Noise Nuisance

The city of Sherbrooke, Quebec got a big revenue lift when it welcomed Bitfarms, a company that makes cryptocurrencies.  Toronto-based Bitfarms makes money by using high-powered computers to generate bitcoins, a digital currency.  The powerful computers must be cooled by an array of fans.  The 500 people who live near the company’s computer center got something else: an inescapable drone that is driving many of them crazy.  “It’s comparable to torture,” said Paul Gingues, a Sherbrooke city councilor who has heard the noise and received complaints from constituents.

Their whirring noise generated by the massive computer arrays at these bitcoin farms has left nearby residents at these cryptocurrency operations in Quebec, Georgia, Montana and other places agitated and frazzled. Some compare it to a giant dentist’s drill, others to a fleet of helicopters taking off in their backyards.  The mining companies say they are putting in quieter equipment and working on adding sound barriers around the plants.

“I wear earplugs inside my own house,” said  74-year-old Annette Tiveron,  after a facility owned by Canadian bitcoin company Blockstream opened in her town of Adel, Georgia. She can no longer sit on her porch. The noise sounds like 1,000 hair dryers blowing in unison, she said. 

Tiveron can see the Blockstream facility from her house. She has measured the sound levels with a sound meter at more than 70 decibels from her front porch, as loud as a vacuum cleaner. Indoors, sound levels measured more than 53 decibels, as loud as a dishwasher.  “I was sleeping in the farthest room from the noise and it woke me up,” she said. The noise has persisted despite the layers of insulation, including sheet rock, soundproof boards and batting, that she and her husband, Roland, have put up at a cost of $7,000.

Blockstream has hired an engineering firm to get accurate sound readings and plans to build a 15-foot-high berm to dampen the sound before it reaches the Tiverons’ property, said Blockstream's head of mining, Chris Cook.  Blockstream’s facility is located in an industrial zone in Adel that includes a chicken-feed mill and a plant that makes industrial gases such as nitrogen and oxygen. “It’s barely audible,” said Cook, who works at the facility. “Crickets are significantly louder.”

Victoria Meredith, a former U.S. Air Force physician who is now a Franciscan nun, disagreed with that characterization. She is the steward of the Shaman Wood Sanctuary, a 180-acre nature preserve with oak, pine and persimmon trees neighboring the bitcoin mine.  “There are times when I am on a lawn mower with earplugs in and I can hear the roar of that thing over that other noise,” said Dr. Meredith, who is collecting signatures from the local community to document complaints about Blockstream’s mine.

Cultural Public Service Notice

Taylor Swift is known for her song-writing skills that pull at the heartstrings of anyone who has experienced love and heartbreak.  The 31-year-old singer is particularly known for drawing on her past relationships to inspire her song-writing.  For anyone who is over 40, I thought it might be helpful to share a list of men who have reported to have dated Taylor over the years.

Joe Jonas (July to October, 2008) - Swift and Jonas met as teens but things soon turned sour as he according to Swift, he broke up with her in a 25-second phone call.  Her song "Mr. Perfectly Fine" is one supposedly about Jonas.

Lucas Till (March to April, 2009) - Till and Swift met when Till starred in Hannah Montana: The Movie on Disney Channel.  Soon after, he played the love interest in one of Swift’s most popular music videos, ‘You Belong with Me’ and their relationship then allegedly moved off-screen.

Taylor Lautner (August to December, 2009) - The duo are thought to have met on the set on the set of the film Valentines Day, where they played an on-screen couple. Then, their real-life relationship continued and developed off-screen. The Twilight actor is the supposed subject of the apologetic song ‘Back to December’, where she sings “I miss your tanned skin, your sweet smile,” and “I’d go back in time and change it, but I can’t.”  The song is thought to be an apology to Lautner for ending their relationship – funnily dubbed "Taylor squared." 

John Mayer (December 2009 to February 2010) - Swift’s relationship with Mayer began when they collaborated on a song called "Half of My Heart."  Things quickly turned sour between the pair, who had a 13-year age gap, causing Swift to write an emotional break-up song called ‘Dear John’ with the lyrics: "Don’t you think nineteen is too young to be played by your dark twisted games, when I loved you so?"

Jake Gyllenhaal (October 2010 to January 2011) -  The pair dated after meeting at an episode of Saturday Night Live when she was aged around 21, and he was 30. The relationship hit headlines again as Swift re-released her album Red, which features a ten-minute version of the song ‘All Too Well’ which is widely-believed to be about Swift’s relationship with Gyllenhaal.  She sings: “You said if we had been closer in age maybe it would have been fine, and that made me want to die” and “I’ll get older, but your lovers stay my age”.

Adam Young (2011) - Her brief relationship with the Owl City singer is thought to have left a lasting impression on Swift.  Their relationship inspired Swift to write one of her fan-favorite song titled "Enchanted."  The following Valentine’s Day, Young released a cover of the song, with the lyrics: “Taylor, I was so enchanted to meet you too” and “Taylor, I was so in love with you.” Awkwardly, she never publicly responded.

Connor Kennedy (July to October, 2012) - In 2012, Swift had a short relationship with the nephew of late American president, John F. Kennedy. The pair were spotted together on beach dates and at his family’s luxurious estate throughout that summer.  The singer also reportedly bought a multi-million dollar house in Massachusetts to be closer to Kennedy.  Kennedy is thought to be the inspiration behind Swift’s song, ‘Begin Again’.

Harry Styles (December 2012 to January 2013) - Perhaps one of Swift’s most famous romances, the singer dated Styles for a picture-filled few months between 2012 and 2013. The musical pair shared wintry strolls in New York’s Central Park, kissed in Times Square on New Years Eve and supposedly wore matching airplane necklaces throughout their short relationship.  Her songs titled ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ and ‘Style’ are both thought to be about the One Direction star.

 Calvin Harris (March 2015 to June 2016) - Her relationship with the Scottish DJ was the longest Swift had experienced in the public eye yet – even reaching their one-year anniversary.  Things took a turn for the worst as Swift was spotted with actor Tom Hiddleston very soon after their breakup and came out as the co-writer for Harris’ hit song ‘This is What You Came For’ with Rihanna.  Harris took to Twitter in a rant against Swift, which he said he later regretted.

Tom Hiddleston (June to September, 2016) - Swift and Hiddleston are thought to have first met at the 2016 Met Gala, around the time of her breakup with Harris.  Within days, the pair – dubbed Hiddleswift – were spotted on a Rhode Island beach kissing and cuddling, and were soon jetting to Australia and Italy together.  Swift even traveled to England to meet the actor’s family.  At Swift’s annual 4^th July party, Hiddleston was also spotted wearing an ‘I , but just months later, the couple called it quits.  Hiddleston is said to be the inspiration behind Swift’s song ‘Getaway Car’.

Joe Alwyn (2017 to now) - Swift is currently dating English actor Joe Alwyn.  The couple have been together since 2017, and have a very private relationship.  Her songs, ‘Gorgeous’ and ‘Lover’, among others on her recent albums are all thought to be inspired by the actor.  Alwyn even co-wrote a song with Swift for her album Evermore, called ‘Champagne Problems’. 

Now that we're all caught up with Swift's love life, I guess the world can get back to less important things. . . 

 

Diana Ross - I Still Believe

Pussy Swap

A man has described how he swapped his wife's cat six years ago without her realizing.  Writing on Reddit, the man said he committed the act of subterfuge because the original cat was “aggressive”, but he has since felt pretty guilty about the situation.

Six years ago, i swapped my then-girlfriend now-wife's cat with a more well-behaved lookalike.

She had an all black cat that was extremely aggressive. It scratched everyone, hissed at everyone, and didn't use its litter box half the time. My wife insisted she could get it to behave better. One week she went out of town to visit her family and I was supposed to go to her apartment and feed it.

The first night I went over, it scratched the shit out of my arm. I joked to the cat that it's not special and I'll replace it if it scratches again. The joke stuck with me until I had thought about it enough that it wasn't a joke. The next morning I went to the local animal shelter. Found an identical cat who was already litterbox trained and acclimated to people, but was a little skiddish (it's old owner died of a heart attack and the animal shelter people said they think that's why it was skiddish). But overall, it was a lot friendlier and better behaved, and the skiddishness would help it resemble the original cat.

So I adopted it, took it to my wife's apartment, settled it in, then drove her original cat to an animal shelter a town over (I was paranoid my wife would find out if I took it to a local one).

It's been 6 years since then. We got married 4 years ago. We still have the swapped cat. It answers to the original cat's name. My wife knows nothing. She loves this cat and brags about how much better behaved it is. Everytime I see it, I feel like a total piece of shit.

Edit: For the people saying the other cat was likely euthanized by the shelter, I just double-checked and the shelter I dropped it off at was and still is a no-kill shelter.

Reacting to the story, people thought his behavior was pretty bad.  One person said: “You don’t get to give away someone’s pet to a shelter, without informing them”.  Another commented: “This is some Seinfeld tier shenanigans right here.”  And a third said: “I would absolutely be considering divorce if I ever found this out.”  If he wants to stay married then, let’s just hope he doesn’t let the cat out of the bag.

 

Happy Hump Day

Phony Controversy Over Critical Race Theory Wreaking Havoc Across the Nation

The first black principal of Colleyville Heritage High School in Grapevine, Texas, has lost his job after a months-long battle with the school board, which accused him of teaching and promoting critical race theory (CRT) in his school.

Just a month after Dr. James Whitfield wrote a letter decrying the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, saying systemic racism was “alive and well” and that “education is the key to stomping out ignorance, hate, and systemic racism,” Stetson Clark, a former school board candidate at Grapevine-Colleyville High School, called for the principal’s firing.   “He is encouraging the disruption and destruction of our district,” Clark said, July 26, 2020, according to the Texas Tribune.

Whitfield received a disciplinary letter from the district a few weeks later and was placed on administrative leave soon after that. In late July, the board then recommended a proposal not to renew Whitfield's contract for the 2022-2023 school year. 

In addition to Whitfield’s email condemning the deaths of Black folk, the mostly white Texas community, had issues with the fact that Whitfield has a white wife and his participation on a district-approved panel about diverse differences. 

Beware the Swifties

Biden Butt Burping Bigwigs

President Joe Biden reportedly ‘broke wind’ in front of Camilla Parker Bowles at the climate summit and she ‘hasn’t stopped talking about’ the incident since.

The incident – which allegedly occurred during a reception at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery-- made the Duchess blush, with one source saying: “It was long and loud and impossible to ignore”.   “Camilla hasn’t stopped talking about it,” they added.  To be fair, one of the stated goals of the climate summit was to cut methane gases.

Whether the reports are true or a load of hot air, it wouldn’t be the first time that Biden has been accused of letting it rip during a political engagement.

In May 2020, rumors floated around that the former vice president broke wind during a live-streamed discussion with Tom Wolf, the governor of Pennsylvania. The speculation occurred after a ripping sound could be heard as Biden leant back in his chair.  Wolf’s spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from BuzzFeed News at the time, while a Biden aid told them that they were “glad you’re putting resources into this important story”.

 

Florida Professors Banned From Testifying Against Florda Anti-Voting Law

The decision by the University of Florida (UF) to muzzle three professors from testifying against a new state law restricting people from their constitutional right to vote has exploded into a political and public relations battle. 

In a case challenging Senate Bill 90, UF political science professors Daniel Smith, Michael McDonald, and Sharon Austin were notified via email that their request to serve as experts was denied. Now, according to reporting by The New York Times, five more professors have come forward about being banned from testifying.

The body that sets the accreditation for the university opened an inquiry to determine whether banning the faculty was in legal conflict with the “academic freedom” and “undue political influence” standards of the school, Miami Herald reported.  In reaction to the accreditation threat, the university’s president ordered a review of the decision to ban the professors from testifying.

“The University of Florida stands firmly behind its commitment to uphold our most sacred right as Americans, the right to free speech, and to faculty members’ right to academic freedom,” UF said in a statement. “Nothing is more fundamental to our existence as an institution.”

Since the start of all of this controversy, all roads have conspicuously led to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who of course denies any involvement.   "This is an internal U.F. issue and not the sort of thing that the executive branch would be involved in,” Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ spokeswoman told the Times. “Governor DeSantis has always championed free speech, open inquiry and viewpoint diversity on college and university campuses.” 

It seems awfully suspicious that the one professor in Florida allowed to testify is one who chose to defend the state's oppressive and racist voting law, doesn't it?  Florida International University professor Dairo Moreno was allowed to testify as an expert witness in defense of every GOP-drawn redistricting map since 1994, according to the Tampa Bay Times. 

My Morning Jacket - Love, Love, Love

A Real Fear of Playing in Qatar

Australian soccer player Josh Cavallo, who came out as gay last month, has revealed he would be scared to play at the upcoming World Cup in Qatar because of the country's criminalization of homosexuality.

The 21-year-old, who plays for Adelaide United in Australia's A-League, is the only known gay footballer playing in a top-flight men's league.  His announcement last month won plaudits from around the world, including from legendary Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres.

But the midfielder -- who has played for Australia at the under-20 level but has yet to be called up for the senior side -- indicated he was not sure what he would do if he were selected to play at the 2022 World Cup.  "I read something along the lines of that [they] give the death penalty for gay people in Qatar, so it's something I'm very scared [of] and wouldn't really want to go to Qatar for that," he told the Guardian's Today in Focus podcast.

"And that saddens me. At the end of the day the World Cup is in Qatar and one of the greatest achievements as a professional footballer is to play for your country, and to know that this is in a country that doesn't support gay people and puts us at risk of our own life, that does scare me and makes me re-evaluate -- is my life more important than doing something really good in my career?"

Since being selected as host in 2010, Qatar has faced searing criticism for its treatment of LGBT people, as well as its record on women's rights and labor issues.  Last year a report from the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) said sources indicated the death penalty could potentially be used as punishment for consensual homosexual sex in Qatar.

The chief executive of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, Nasser al-Khater, said in 2019 that "any fan, of any gender, (sexual) orientation, religion, race (should) rest assured that Qatar is one of the most safe countries in the world -- and they'll all be welcome here".  However, he stressed that "public displays of affection are frowned upon, it's not part of our culture -- but that goes across the board to everybody".  The last World Cup was held in Russia, where queer activism was severely restricted under a 2013 "gay propaganda" law forbidding the promotion of "non-traditional sexual relationships" to minors.

Despite football's immense popularity worldwide only a few male footballers have ever come out as gay, mostly after retirement to avoid the prospect of taunts from the terraces.  The first professional player to come out while still playing was Britain's Justin Fashanu in 1990, but he never found acceptance in the game and hung himself in 1998.

 

Spicy Thoughts

 

Travis Scott Had a History of Encouring Fans to Rush the Stage

In an Instagram post after the Astroworld tragedy, Travis Scott lamented: "Can't imagine anything like this ever happening . . ."   Well, that certainly seems to be a lie. 

The controversial rapper has twice been convicted for encouraging fans to jump security barriers and rush the stage at previous concerts.  There are at least two prior incidents where crowds stampeded towards Scott at performances at Lollapalooza in Chicago in 2015 and at an outdoor venue in Arkansas in 2017. Both incidents resulted in misdemeanor convictions for Scott.  

According to witness accounts, a number of festival attendees at the Astroworld concert struggled to breathe as the crowd began to compress toward the stage during Scott's performance.  By the time Live Nation finally decided to end the performance, 23 people required hospitalization, 11 were in cardiac arrest, and more than 300 had to be treated at a field hospital on site.  During the concert, audience members repeatedly shouted, "Stop the show!" to no avail as people collapsed and got trampled on the festival floor.  Houston's police chief has revealed he visited Scott in his trailer to discuss crowd control just hours before he took to the stage.  Officials knew that fans of the rapper were raucous after the Astroworld Festival resulted in a stampede that sent three people to the hospital two years earlier.  Police Chief Troy Finner told the megastar that he was concerned about the crowd, according to the New York Times.

During the concert, Scott acknowledged several times that people in the crowd were in distress or passed out-- on one occasion, actually acknowledging that a fan needed an ambulance.   Scott halted the performance at least once, calling for security to help distressed fans in the front row.    Scott's girlfriend Kylie Jenner, who attended the event, was blasted online for callously posting a clip of an ambulance tending to the injured and dead as the chaos unfolded. 

A fan who was paralyzed after falling from a balcony during a Scott concert in 2017 has blasted the singer for putting fans' safety at risk.  Kyle Green, a 27-year-old who was injured at Scott's April 2017 concert at Terminal 5 in New York City, said he was forced over the edge of a balcony at the venue, which he called 'severely crowded.' He broke several bones and vertebrae and can only walk with a significant disability.  "He’s even more incensed by the fact that it could have been avoided had Travis learned his lesson in the past and changed his attitude about inciting people to behave in such a reckless manner," Green's lawyer told Rolling Stone magazine.  But Scott knew his reckless behavior was endangering his fans . . .

Aaron Rodgers Is A Big Fat Fucking Liar

Following a positive test for COVID-19, Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers was placed on the COVID-19 reserve list last week.  He will miss at least 10 days per the league's COVID-19 policies for unvaccinated players.  Despite answering during the preseason "Yeah, I'm immunized" when asked if he had been vaccinated, he hadn't actually received a vaccination.  Instead, he had received homeopathic treatment from his personal doctor. While unvaccinated, he committed multiple violations of NFL COVID-19 protocols for unvaccinated players, including attending parties with teammates while not using PPE and appearing unmasked at multiple post-game press conferences.

Rodgers is not entitled to freewheel on this matter.  If someone wants to go unvaxxed, that person better own up to it — and damn well be vigilant to avoid spreading it and protect others.  Rodgers is a supposed leader, a player who takes up an ungodly amount of salary space on the roster, and one who audibly sulked over the Packers’ decision to draft his possible successor Jordan Love.  He has put his team in a terrible position and risked losing home field advantage in the playoffs if he is out for more than a game (or proves to be a lasting distraction during the remainder of the season).

Rodgers was reportedly “furious” that his lies were outed.  Sounding an awful lot like an emo twit with a sinus infection, Rodgers later torched his entire reputation with a low-energy, yet highly deranged interview with Pat McAfee on his radio show.

Who did Aaron consult about vaccines? Joe Rogan, of course. What did he rely upon? His own manly immune system. What remedy did he used? Ivermectin (didn't know he had a case of worms in addition to COVID).  What did he rebuke? Politics and "wokeism."  Whom did he appropriate? The struggles of women and Black people.

The struggles of women having control of their bodies?  That's right-- because Aaron is suddenly a big proponent of "My body, my choice."  He doesn't want to have to know how it feels to be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, give birth, and raise a child you didn't want, which is apparently how he would feel if he got the COVID vaccine.

The struggles of Black people?  Cause Rodgers can now definitely relate to Martin Luther King, Jr., who was jailed, beaten, spit upon, discriminated against, and ultimately assassinated.  This white man of privilege is definitely taking the exact same risks as when King helped end segregation and oppression of an entire race. How brave you are, Aaron Rodgers!

Rodgers said that he did his own research during the off season, and that he was worried about the vaccine causing sterility.  What research says that?  Not a single research study! Rodgers claims he couldn't take the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines because he's allergic to one of the ingredients in them.  OK, Aaron- which ingredient?  If you did your "research" then you should be able to tell us which one.  The reality is that you are a LIAR.

And now there are reports that Rodgers is losing endorsements as a result of his arrogance and douchebaggery.   Don't forget that Joe Rogan, in a fleeting moment of clarity, once called himself a “fucking moron” for espousing anti-vax views. So I guess that makes Aaron Rodgers a fucking moron too.