Anti-Milk Protesters Were (Briefly) Scary, Still Dumb, Still Ineffectual

Jill Biden wrestling an anti-dairy protester away from her
husband, Joe Biden

A little highlight of the Super Tuesday primary last week was the noisy but very dumb anti-dairy direct action protesters that scared Joe Biden and the people surrounding him during a rally Tuesday evening.

A couple of idiots, identified as Sarah Segal and Ashley Froud from some outfit called Direct Action Everywhere yelling "Let Dairy Die!" ran toward Biden.  His wife, Jill Biden, demonstrating that she is a Philadelphia badass, physically blocked one of them.

The whole thing led to a now-iconic photograph of Jill Biden, teeth clenched, grabbing the protester's arms and wrestling her away from her husband.  Jill Biden, and Biden aide Symone Sanders, who forcefully and physically drove the anti-diary nuts away,  were the only ones who came out looking good from this.

According to Time Magazine:

"'The protest was intended to draw attention to the inherent violence of the dairy industry,' a spokesperson for Direct Action Everywhere tells Time over Twitter DM. 'We targeted Biden's rally because the Biden campaign has prominently featured appearances by former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, who now receives a million-dollar salary as CEO and President of the U.S Dairy Export Council.'"

It seems like Direct Action Everywhere is into these dumb stunts.  The anti-dairy protesters have interrupted  Elizabeth Warren events in the past.  And they made a splash at a Bernie Sanders rally earlier this year.

According to The Hill,  three topless women crashed the stage in February at a Nevada Bernie Sanders rally with the words, "let dairy die" painted on their chest. Another (clothed) protester, wrestled the mic from Sanders and declared, "Bernie, I'm your biggest supporter and I'm here to ask you to stop propping up the dairy industry and stop propping up animal agriculture,"

I really can't stand Direct Action Everywhere for lots of reasons, as you've probably figured out by now.  They emphasize they are nonviolent and I'm certain the demonstrators had no intention of harming Biden, Sanders and Warren.

But their protests come perilously close to violence, which paints Direct Action Everywhere as hypocrites.  Forcefully grabbing a mic from Sanders was vaguely violent, as was charging toward Biden on Super Tuesday. With all the nutcases running around out there, I'm sure Sanders, Biden and the people around them were briefly scared.

The Biden incident looked especially frightening to me.  Meanwhile, Direct Action Everywhere's Facebook states that they ".....ask folks who come into our spaces to be nonviolent in not only action, but tone and word."

They didn't make it to that standard at the Biden rally, did they?

One of the Biden protesters, Ashley Froud, told the Los Angeles Times she heard Jill Biden scream during the incident. (Who can blame her?)

"When you're so passionate and driven to do something, you don't even think about it. You just do it," Froud said.

By that logic, when somebody says, "I'm so mad at Bill I could kill him," they should just go ahead and kill Bill?

Froud told the Los Angeles Times how full of herself she is that everybody is talking about her message. "Looking at that photograph, I feel proud that I was able to deliver that message....If I could have done it another way that would have gained this much attraction, I would have, because I don't want to make people feel like they're in any fear. But it's hard to make people listen to these issues that matter."

It's hard to get the message out so you did this stupid stunt. Yes, a lot more people are now aware of your cause, but now, at least as many people won't take you seriously.

I'm pretty sure there are serious abuses in the dairy industry, at least in the big factory farm type operations. (I'm more familiar with the small farm operations here in Vermont, and it doesn't seem like there's a lot of animal abuse on those little dairy farms).

What Froud and her cohorts are failing to do is telling us why we should care, which is how you get people on board with your cause. People don't like animal abuse.  They don't like agribusiness cutting corners on safety. They want to know that what they're eating and drinking comes from good, ethical sources.

Instead, these demonstrators were just acting stupid. That doesn't inspire me to take their argument seriously, that's for sure.

Florida Teens Giving Me A (Slight) Glimmer Of Hope

Articulate teenagers like Cameron Kasky are trying - and
might succeed - at doing bribed, stupid and dumb politicians
won't do: Create sensible gun laws that don't
violate the Second Amendment 

Teenagers across America, particularly in Florida, have been embarrassing the rest of us this past week, and I couldn't be more delighted that they're doing so.

As you sadly know too well, we had another mass shooting last week, taking the lives of 17 high school students and teachers in Florida.

As always in these cases, which now seem to happen every day, the people who are supposed to be the adults in the room, especially many politicians, fail us.

They're supposed to lead us, but instead offer empty thoughts and prayers, clutch their pearls over people with mental illness, and above all, quake in fear over angering the National Rifle Association.

The NRA has long since decided that their ability to provide - and make plenty of money - from making sure everybody has unfettered access to any kind of weapon is worth a few dozen people getting killed in mass shootings every year.

After the Parkland, Florida mass shooting, teenagers in Florida are having none of it. The dignified rage, the logic and the resolve of these kids are putting us all to shame.

Current politicians will continue to kowtow to the NRA and nothing will immediately change. The millions of dollars politicians get from the NRA will grease the wheels to Capital Hill, with a gentle additional push from timid voters. Want an AR-15 to shoot up a school, concert or church? Knock yourself out!

For now.

These kids not only those in Florida, but the ones that are now part of a groundswell nationwide, will soon be old enough to vote. They've taken an activist cue from older people who are resisting the Trump administration, the Nazis, the white supremacists that seem to be gaining strength in this country.

The resistance from high school students in particular gives me a glimmer of hope that these teenagers will change things.

Their anger is building. And their message is getting more powerful. There's lots of examples.

Parkland student Cameron Kasky, interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper, didn't mince words. Kasky did heap deserved praise on teachers, staff and first responders, but has no patience for the thoughts and prayers crowd.

"Everything I've heard where we can't do anything and it's out of our hands and it's inevitable, I think that's a façade that the GOP is putting up."

Kasky pressed on: "After every shooting, the NRA sends a memo saying 'send your thoughts and prayers.' This is the only country where this kind of thing happens. I've heard from other people, and they don't have gun drills. We had to prepare extensively at Stoneman Douglas. This something that can be stopped and will be stopped.

"There is a segment of this society that will shrug this off and send your thoughts and prayers but march for hours over a rainbow wedding cake."

That last line crystalizes the hypocrisy in the GOP more than anything. (By the way, the entire Kasky/Cooper interview is definitely worth the watch. 

As Wired notes, teenagers are more savvy at social media, and media in general, and know how to fight back against lies, gaslighting and self-puffery.  These students, amid the shock and terror of the attack, literally began to fight back against the NRA and their politician patsys as the rampage was ongoing.

David Hogg, a Parkland senior and reporter for the school's paper, interviewed students barricaded in a culinary classroom during the shooting. "No amount of money should make it more easy to get accessibility to guns," one frightened student told Hogg in that room.

Many of the students are wonderfully through with respecting some of their elders. But only the elders that are failing them.  The teens, gloriously, are not afraid to be blunt.

Professional idiot and, I guess, right wing pundit Tomi Lahren spewed the usual talking points, saying liberals and morons and the mentally whacked out are to blame for Parkland, not guns.

This prompted one student to respond on Twitter: "A gun has killed 17 of my fellow classmates. A gun has traumatized my friends. My entire school, traumatizes from this tragedy. This could have been prevented. Please stfu  tomi."

Yeah, Tomi, probably best to listen to that student. I would, if I were in your shoes.

Here's another Twitter post from a Parkland student named Sarah Chad:

"I don't want your condolences you fucking piece of shit, my friends and teachers were shot. Multiple of my fellow classmates are dead. Do something instead of sending prayers. Prayers won't fix this. But gun control will prevent it from happening again."

As if you need more, a teen at the school was quoted as follows:  “I’m not a Russian computer, so I can’t vote but will push elected officials on gun control."

High school students across the nation are planning a walkout from their classes sometimes in March to demand changes to gun laws. They all know that almost nobody wants to repeal the Second Amendment. Most of the students don't want that.

But every Constitutional right has its responsibilities as well. You can't just do whatever you want, including mass murder. These teenagers understand this, because it's common sense.

Too bad the NRA and their puppet politicians don't understand this. Or pretend not to. The activism of teenagers across the United States give me a glimmer of hope that this will one day change.

World's Biggest Anti-Take A Kneel Guy A Hit On Social Media

Talk about insincerity!

A little hypocritical maybe?

The photo in this post went viral this week. It shows a guy at the NFL New England Patriots vs. New York Jets game wearing a "I Stand For the National Anthem" shirt.

As you can see, though, he decided to take a break and sit down, using the American flag as a picnic blanket for his fat butt.

The fact that he's drinking beer out of a straw is a nice touch, too, but that's besides the point.

So let's see if I've got this straight: If a black NFL player kneels during the National Anthem to protest police brutality against African Americans, that's totally disrespectful. If a white guy gets tired walking around with his warm, flat beer, he can use the American flag to sit on to keep his butt comfortable.

Got it.

Sportscaster Dale Hansen's Comments On NFL "Take The Knee" Is Required Watching

WFAA sportscaster Dale Hansen just gave us an epic
takedown of Trump and his NFL protest nonsense.

There's a great sportscaster at television station WFAA in Dallas named Dale Hansen who's been there forever.  

The man is awesome. I first wrote about him in this here blog thingy back in 2014, when he came to the defense of Michael Sam, an NFL draft pick who was openly gay, something that would hurt his chances of become an NFL player

Hansen shredded the anti-gay bigots who would keep Sam out of the NFL spectacularly.

Hansen has done a lot of other great commentaries over the years, but this time, his words are required reading, or at least the video of him delivering those words are required watching. That video is at the bottom of this post. You HAVE to watch it.

This time, Hansen takes on Trump's appalling criticism of NFL players who kneel during the national anthem to protest violence against African Americans.

Here's just on excerpt, which gives you a taste of what you will watch:

"It has not gone unnoticed that Trump has spoken out against the Mexicans who want to come to America for a better life, against the Muslims, and now the black athlete. But he says nothing for days about the white men who marched under a Nazi flag in Charlottesville, except to remind us there were good people there. '

And when he finally tried to say the right thing, not one of them was called an S.O.B. or should be fired. We have white men in America who wave the Nazi flag and the Confederate flag and he's concerned about taking a knee because it disrespects this flag. We use that flag to sell mattresses and beer. We wear it as a swimsuit. We wrap our bald heads in a flag bandana and stick it in our pants, because we disrespect the flag every day."

Here's the video:

Straight Dutch Men Have Perfect Response To A Homophobic Attack; Gay Putin Banned

Many straight men in the
Netherlands are holding hands
lately to protest a recent
homophobic attack on a gay couple

A week ago, a married gay couple were brutally attacked in Arnhem, a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands.

Apparently, the five horrible homophobic teenagers that attacked the couple couldn't stand the fact that the two men had been holding hands as they walked down a sidewalk, something that many, many married couples do routinely.

The teens are in a heap of trouble, of course, and most people in the Netherlands were horrified by the attack.

According to the Guardian, a journalist named Barbara Barend had a great idea to show solidarity to the couple who had been attacked. She tweeted a all for "all men (straight and gay) please to just walk hand in hand."

So, lots of men in the Netherlands are doing just that.  For instance, Button-down Alexander Pechtold, of the Democrats D66 party, showed up at a government meeting the other holding hands with his finance spokesman Wouter Koolmees the other day.

Very straight and macho looking Dutch military personnel posted photos of themselves on social media holding hands with other men. Male workers at Dutch embassies around the world also posted photos of themselves holding hands in solidarity.

Holding hands is just symbolic, of course, and, won't in itself get rid of homophobic violence. But it does put the world on notice, that we're not going to tolerate it. Anything helps.

Meanwhile, in much more homophobic Russia, authorities have banned the meme of Vladimir Putin as a "gay clown" whatever that is.

Vladimir Putin hates this meme of him, so don't share
it with anybody! Wouldn't want to offend him! 

It probably refers to a popular meme that shows Putin with lots of makeup, long eyelashes and bright red lipstick.

The Russian government has tried to depict Putin as super macho, like that famous image of Putin, shirtless, riding a horse, which to me is the gayest depiction of Putin I've ever seen.

Of course, the rest of the world is laughing at Putin being so insecure there can't be gayish images of him.

True, the Russian government is hostile and violent toward gay people, but one tool to fight that is mockery.

Sorry, with all of Putin's evilness, a good response is to laugh at that jerk.

And we might as well let Stephen Colbert pile on:

Anti- Ryan Lochte Protest At DWTS Has To Be Stupidest Demonstration Yet

Two idiots under arrest for storming the stage at
"Dancing With The Stars" because Ryan Lochte was there.

I have to say I have absolutely no sympathy, no allegiance to those dopey people who rushed the stage to protest, of all things, Ryan Lochte performing on the show "Dancing With The Stars."

I'm not a fan of Lochte, either, believe me. But that incident on "Dancing With the Stars" that filled the airwaves with fluff and nonsense Tuesday was the dumbest thing ever.

The Lochte DWTS incident seemed to be the most important thing that happened this week, judging from the wall-to-wall coverage on TV and radio.

In case you somehow missed it (lucky you!)  here's the recap:

Lochte, fresh from getting suspended from the U.S. Swim Team for lying about being mugged at a Rio gas station during the Olympics, is on Dancing With the Stars, which had its season debut Monday.

Two men, Sam Sotoodeh, 59, and Barzeen Soroudi, 25, stormed the stage as Lochte finished his dance performance. According to TMZ, the two, having been bailed out of jail after the incident and still wearing their "No Lochte" shirts said they did it because Lochte embarrassed Americans with his Rio antics.

Really? Of all the crises affecting, or might affect America, Lochte is the biggest? Lochte is just a frat boy type doofus who needs to grow up. I seriously don't think he will end up being the downfall of the Republic.

No, this was a publicity stunt by these so-called anti-Lochte protesters, and I guess I'm complicit in their desire for their 15 minutes. . Sotoodeh and Soroudi clearly just wanted to get their names and faces on TV, and they got it.

They mighty also have been lookin for an opportunity to make money on a lawsuit. They had to know DWTS security would tackle them when they rushed the stage and those security guards obliged. (I would have, too.)

Lochte lost sponsorships and a position on the U.S. Swim Team for awhile. He deserved the punishment. However, let's now see if he finally grows up and stops being a man-child.

It's probably time for Sotoodeh and Soroudi to finally grow up, too.

For what it's worth,  here's a video of the incident from "Entertainment Tonight."

This Week's Idiot Wants Everyone To Bring Loaded Guns To Quran-Destroying Ceremony

This moron wants people to bring loaded
guns to his stupid anti-Muslim rally
in Georgia next week. 

Every week or so, the nation gets a new National Village Idiot who somehow manages to top the previous week's National Village Idiot.

Meet Jim Stachowiak. 

His bright idea is to hold a rally in Atlanta next Monday during which he will shred a Quran and a picture of the Prophet Muhammad, which of course is among the most offensive things you can do against the Muslim religion.

Oh, and Stachowiak is encouraging everybody who comes to his hate rally to bring a loaded gun.

What could possibly go wrong?

Stachowiak who is - Surprise! - a Donald Trump supporter, says he has to do this because Muslims are an invading army taking over the nation. I missed that tidbit in the news, but what do I know.

This fun-filled rally will also feature desecrations of copies of photographs of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Who as we all know are secret Muslims plotting to destroy our country. Or something.

My theory is Stachowiak is a double agent for ISIS. What better way to recruit potential new terrorists by holding an event like this? Is Stachowiak a secret Muslim terrorist himself?

Doubt it. Just askin'. Looking for explanations for his stupidity, I guess.

Stachowiak's Idiot's Fair is going to be held in front of the Georgia State Capitol. Public safety officials in Georgia seem less than thrilled by Stachowiak's plans.

"The Georgia Department of Public Safety and the Georgia Building Authority anticipate a non-permitted, anti-Islamic protest on the sidewalks of the Georgia State Capitol....You are hereby notified that protest organizers have encourage their participants to carry loaded long guns," said Georgia Capitol Police Director Lewis G. Young, who clearly doesn't want anybody to show up at Stachowiak's little gathering.

Who can blame Young?

As lovely as Georgia is, it's probably best to stay as far away as possible from their State Capitol next week.

Of course everyone, including Stachowiak has every right to free speech in the United States. Even exceptionally stupid free speech.  So let him have his little rally.

But he clearly wants to cause trouble. Let's not play into this guy's hands.

The Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is urging local Muslims to ignore the rally so as not to give Stachowiak and his minions free publicity regarding their message of hate.

Which makes sense. And I'm kinda giving him free publicity here. Georgia Muslims are right to avoid this guy, but it also behooves us to expose idiots like Stachowiak to public scrutiny and ridicule.

One of the best ways to knock back a bully and a jerk is through mocking and jeers, so have at it

Neo-Nazis Get The Music They Deserve

South Carolina Police Officer Leroy Smith, who is blakc
helps a white supremicist who was overcome
by the summer heat during the stupid racists'
pro-Confederate flag march in South Carolina
last week. Photo by Rob Godfrey/AP  

The National Socialist Party, a bunch of stupid neo-Nazis that hate Jews in particular but pretty much anyone who isn't white, had a big march in South Carolina last weekend in support of the Confederate flag.

It didn't go well.

At least for the National Socialist Party anyway. Counterprotests seemed to have a grand old time.

The group really looked as dumb as they were, and a bunch of people were on hand to give these wackos the derision they deserve.

The National Socialist Party's message was undercut in several ways, including via a viral photo by Rob Godfrey of the AP of a black cop helping one of these nutjobs who had been overcome by the intense summer heat in South Carolina.

The best part of the march came from a guy named Matt Buck, who decided the National Socialist Party pro-Confederate flag march could be improved upon by some musical accompanyment.

So be brought his sousaphone (kind of like a tuba) to the party and, in the viral video you'll see below, really managed to make the march worth attending.

Like many in the crowd of onlookers, and the nation as a whole, Buck is totally unimpressed with the National Socialist Party, and wanted to send them a message.

"I didn't really know how to show my opposition, so that was my way of doing it," Buck said, according to the Charleston City Paper. 

It seems like Buck put some thought into his musical selection. He started with the song Stewie from "Family Guy" plays when he's hired to follow overweight people around with a tuba.

Then Buck switched over to Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries."  He told the Charleston City Paper he did so because it reminded him of the Nazi car chase scene from "The Blues Brothers."

So thank you, Matt Buck, for wise song choices for last weekend's event!

Here's the video.

Awesome Little Girl Reacts Perfectly To Annoying Street Preacher

Zea, left, is non-plussed by weied street preachers
promoting homophobia in Columbus, Ohio.
Photo by Mara Gruber.  

In Columbus, Ohio, a self-absorbed, incredibly annoying street "preacher" confronted a little girl named Zea who was holding a rainbow flag.

Zea was among a throng of people celebrating Friday's Supreme Court decision that legalized same sex marriage across the nation.

The street preacher wasn't very enthusiastic about the Supreme Court decision. Oh well.

In a video showing the confrontation,  Zea at first looks a little stunned and afraid of the idiot yelling in her face. Really. Wouldn't you? I would.

Anyway, another adult enters the picture and gives Zea a high five, just to reassure her that everybody's got her back and it's OK.

Soon, Zea is high fiving  EVERYONE and pointedly annoying the idiot yelling nearby. She doesn't give a whit about what the moron is saying

Well, played, Zea!

Watch the brief video (H/T Gawker)

Seems Like The Most Appropriate Day For This Song

I think I'll let Tracy Chapman unwittingly guest blog here today, since it's an entirely appropriate day for this. And so are the current times in general:

Facebook Post Turns Misunderstanding Into Ridiculous False Outrage

Demonstrators at a Michigan gas station
inadvertently protesting an incident that didn't happen.  

We have a little bit of a parable from Michigan today.

People are up and arms and protesting a gas station because someone on Facebook said the store clerk, of Middle Eastern descent, would not sell gasoline to an American serviceman.

Such an incident would of course be an outrage. How dare anyone disrespect someone who has risked his or her life and served our country! I'd be pissed, too.

The only problem is, the gas station didn't refuse to sell gas to our military guy.

It all started with a Facebook post from the military guy's wife, according to the web site MLive

It read as follows. (The Flint Journal had to file a Freedom of Information Act demand to police to get it. The Facebook post had been deleted.)

"Jason had to report to army reserves yesterday, on his way home he stopped to get gas, a drink and some jerky. When he went into the gas station, and got to the counter, the Arabic man looked at Jason, then his uniformand told him 'we don't serve gas here.'"

It turns out the clerk would have loved to sell the military guy gasoline. But he wanted Premium gas, and the station was pretty much out of it. So no sale, since the gas didn't exist, at least not at this particular business.

The owner said there was probably a misunderstanding. The clerk speaks with an accent, and the clerk and the would-be customer probably didn't understand each other. So the story morphed into an account of one of these Evil Muslims disrespecting America. Or something.

Snopes.com says Jason's wife said in a subsequent post that she wanted the original one deleted to the television station to where she posted it, that she didn't get the full story from her husband, and it turned out they were just out of Premium.

But once you start something on the Internet, however unintentionally, it's next to impossible to get rid of it. Especially when people have an agenda. To eradicate those Evil Muslims. Or something.

So the misinformation spread like wildfire on the Web, and drowned out any attempts at spreading accurate information about what happened.

Some of the reaction was just incredibly violent. Someone on Facebook suggested burning the gas station to the ground.  Guys with guns (all the better to advocate for open carry) protested at the gas station. The people who owned it and work there are understandably afraid.

And people are digging in, refusing to believe there was a misunderstanding. On the MLive page, a typical comment was like this one:

"I'm not buying that excuse. This store owner has bit off more than he could chew... and this was the best he could come up with. My opinion."

A lot of people also were outraged, OUTRAGED at the store clerk's English skills.  You know. Those Evil Muslims. Or something.

They're demanding he learn English. Actually the clerk does speak English, but it's tough to lose your accent even years after moving from your home country.

Frankly, had the gas station clerk or owner been white, not Middle Eastern, this probably would not have gotten so out of control. But it fits the narrative of some people, who believe all Muslims are terrorists and out to get America.

Yes, some Muslims ARE terrorists and out to get America. (See: Third beheading by Islamic extremists yesterday)

Just like some Christians want to kill the gays, subjugate woman and establish a theocracy. But most Christians are totally reasonable. And so are most Muslims.

But that doesn't matter. A misunderstanding fit the narrative. You know. Evil Muslims. Or something. So a stupid moment of communications failure that could happen to anyone turns life miserable for the owners of a gas station.

And a woman who momentarily didn't get what her husband was saying, which again, could happen to anyone, feels terrible that this is happening. And no matter how she, the media, the gas station owners and everyone else try to set the record straight, the original, incorrect narrative thrives.

Because of the Evil Muslims. Or something.

    

One Restaurant Owner's Response To Minimum Wage Increase: Screw The Waitstaff

One restaurant chain's solution
to a minimum wage increase?
Stiff the waitstaff.  

Out in Minnesota, they've just increased the minimum wage to $8 an hour.  That's a good thing. Minimum wages have scarcely gone up over the past decade, and why should workers live in poverty?

And why should we taxpayers pay for their public assistance when their employers should be paying them, not us?

However, some business owners, especially some people who operate restaurants, are not thrilled by this.

Of course, they're passing along the added cost to consumers, which is what a business owner normally does when expenses go up.

The worst response to the price increase came from the owner of a chain of eight Minneapolis-area restaurants who will put a fee on credit card payments by customers that would deduct about 2 percent of a server's tip.

I know that's not much, but imagine what it's doing for morale. Hey the waitstaff gets a government mandated pay raise? Let's just take it away by imposing this fee and essentially deducting your pay.

As Consumerist notes, this is all perfectly legal, but I wouldn't want to work for the loser who decided to do this.  Probably good wait staff will seek employment elsewhere, leaving the incompetent ones at this chain of restaurants. I wouldn't want to eat there.

Another restaurant is  being criticized for putting a "minimum wage fee" on the bottom of each bill a customer gets.

Yeah, it reflects a bit of a pissy attitude. He could have just increased the price of some of the restaurant's offerings a little bit. But, again, he's just passing the added cost on to the consumer, and making them aware of why there is a price increase.

It's certainly not as bad as taking away a little bit of the wait staff's tips because you're pissed off at the government for increasing the minimum wage.

However, I would have just upped the price of entrees and put a sign in the restaurant or in the menu explaining why.

Maybe some customers would be happy to see their waiter getting paid enough to live on.

Westboro Baptist Church Founder's Death Brings Out Class Acts

You probably heard that Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church died last week.  

Counter-protesters to the Westboro Baptist Church
offer a message of sympathy to the "religious" cult
 over the weekend.  

You probably also know the hideous group from their "God Hates Fags" signs and whatnot as they do their noisy, loathesome protests at military funeral, rock concerts, memorial services for gay people, where ever they can spread their, um, whatever you call it.

Their hate hurt, no doubt. But ultimately, nobody ever takes this group seriously, and the fun ways people have found to mock them are truly inspired, and always good for a laugh.

A lot of people have pointed out that Westboro has actually helped to advance the gay rights movement, because, fairly or not, it makes gay rights opponents look backwards, and a little hateful and a little dumb.

Plus the counterprotests tend to bring people together in solidarity.

I'm not dancing on Fred Phelps' grave, but I'm afraid I haven't been nearly as classy as some people in responding to his death, as you can tell by reading this blog post.

But I have to congratulate the classy ones, who show us how it's done.

Exhibit A is Judy Shepard.

Fred Phelps and Westboro first came to prominence when they protested at the funeral of Judy and Dennis Shepard's son's 1998 funeral in Wyoming.  The son, Matthew Shepard, was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime.

Judy Shepard was asked to comment on Phelps' passing last week. This is her perfect response:  "Regarding the passing of Fred helps, Dennis and I know how solemn these moments are for anyone who loses a loved one......Out of respect for all people and our desire to erase hate, we've decided not to comment further."

In Kansas City, Westboro held its first protest since Phelps' death outside a concert by the singer Lorde, said television station KSHB. 

As usual, a group of counter-protesters showed up. And in keeping with the classy response to the sad "religious" cult, the counter protesters held a big banner and aimed it in Westboro's direction. The banner said "Sorry For Your Loss."

The biggest loss for the Westboro group, and maybe our gain, is the fact they've drowned themselves in hate, which somehow transferred some measure of love to other groups.

The response by Westboro to the "Sorry For Your Loss" banner demonstrates how badly the sad group has lost touch with humanity.

Looking over at that Sorry For Your Loss banner, Westboro member Steve Drain said,  "I don't even know what they're saying."

Canadian Group Has Awesome Olympics Ad Protesting Russians' Hate of Gays

Much has been made of the horrible, hideous attacks on gay people in Russia from the top levels of government on down to many people on the street. 

A still from "Luge" a Canadian group's ad
protesting anti-gay idiocy in Russia.  

The government goes after them, vigilante groups brutally attack gay people there. Disgusting beyond belief.

A silver lining to all this is that the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia are shining a spotlight on these abuses. I don't know if it will force any changes, but there is pressure on the government and the people of Russia to back off.

Sometimes, the best forms of protest involve humor, and a group called the Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion put together an AWESOME 30-second, Olympic themed ad calling the homophobic Russians out.

Here's the video, Enjoy:

Did Somebody Put Stupid/Crazy Pills In Washington DC's Water?

It's official. Some terrorist put some horrible substance in Washington DC's water, which made everybody go crazy and off the deep end.

Michelle Bachmann never fails to disappoint
with her craziness  

We had the tragic and definitely unfunny incidents in which the woman in the car with the toddler thought she was being monitored, caused that chase and was shot to death by Capitol Police.

This was followed a couple days later by that guy who mysteriously burned himself to death on the Mall.

Then, this week, people are saying the most amazing things.

We have the ever reliable Michelle Bachmann, who added to her usual cannard about how Obama is funding terrorists

But she's changed her tune! She's no longer upset about that! Because it's a good sign.

It's a sign of the End Times!  According to Right Wing Watch she said this:

"This happened and as of today the United States is willingly, knowingly, intentionally sending arms to terrorists, now what this says to me. I'm a believer in Jesus Christ, as I look at the End Times scripture, this says to me that the leaf is on the fig tree and we are to understand the sign of the times, which is your ministry, we are to understand where we are in God's end times history.

I'd settle for the End Times to Bachmann's Reign Of Error in Washington, but you can't have everything.

Meanwhile, a group of truckers have come up with a remarkable plan for later this week.  According to U.S. News and World Report, the truckers, to protest what they say is Washington trashing the Constitution, will slow traffic in DC, then put handcuffs on members of Congress and President Obama and make citizens arrests for treason, says Earl Conlon, a Georgia trucker who is handling logistics for this whole plan.

I'm almost disappointed a truckers group
won't try to arrest Obama, Congress during
a planned protest this weekend.  

What can possible go wrong with that plan?

Well, for one, not all of the group, Truckers Ride For the Constitution, are on board with this.

On the Truckers Ride for the Constitution Facebook page, it turns out that Conlon was not authorized to be spokesman.

Contrary to what Conlon might have said, the Truckers Ride for the Constitution people say now they will NOT try to arrest Obama or members of Congress.

In a way, I'm disappointed by this sudden little dose of sanity,  because the drama would have been a nice diversion.

Love the logo for the group, by the way. A hot babe in a blue dress standing in front of a big, manly truck. Cool!

I'm all for the trucker protest, as long as they don't play that hideous trucker CB radio song from the 1970s "Convoy." Makes me throw up every time.

Judging from the Truckers' Facebook page, most people in their ranks are relieved. They want to make their voices heard, which is good, but they don't want to be regarded as kooks, which is also good.

However, there's a few in every crowd. commenters on the Facebook page want action and some  arrests. Somebody named Cody Updegrave wrote of the arrest idea:

"Unlawful you say? How about the citizens who are being drug (sic) from their homes because the government want their land...or the countless Americans who have been stripped of their 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th amendment rights. FUCK THE LAW...it's time to take back our country."

 Um, from who? The people you elected.

It must be something in the water.

First Amendment Follies Flummux Fiery Fanatic

One of the joys of living in this country is the First Amendment.

Really. The amendment pretty much gives the right to say what we want, when we want, how we want.

That doesn't necessarily mean having our say turns out well.

Ask Michael Leisner. He was not happy with General Mills, makers of cereals like Cheerios. The conglomerate's PR people have said the company opposes an upcoming Minnesota initiative that would ban gay marriage.

Leisner wants gay marriage banned, and he's unhappy with General Mills for disagreeing with him. So he showed up at General Mills headquarters to express his displeasure. It had to be dramatic, to get people's attention. And dramatic it was.

In protest he decided to burn a box of Honey Nut Cheerios. As you can see in the video below, things didn't go so well for poor Leisner. It was the start of a very bad week for him.



The video pretty much has the nation laughing at poor Leisner. The video, shot by his friends, went up on YouTube. He soon arranged it so you couldn't copy it into another Web page, like I did here, but it was too late. The version I have posted is somebody's copy, that does let me show the world the guy's clumsiness with fire.

Apparently, some of the people at an outfit called Greater Midwest Properties saw the video, too. Leisner was a real estate agent for them, but apparently he's been fired. Greater Midwest Properties says it doesn't condone the destruction of property. Even if the destruction isn't that bad.

This proves the perils of exercising your First Amendment rights. Exercising those rights means the government can't punish you for criticizing its leaders or its policies. However, there still can be consequences from other sources.

As Leisner learned, your employer has free speech rights, too. If it disagrees with your free speech, or the way you express them, you can become unemployed. That's been in the news a lot lately.

A guy in Tuscson, Adam Smith, decided recently to mercilessly berate the person at a Chick Fil A drive through window because he was mad at the chicken chain because its owner gives lots of cash to anti-gay organizations.

Smith seems to have picked on the person at the drive through because the person at a drive through window at a large fast food restaurant chain can change the mind of the head of the company, apparently. Ooookay.....

Smith was the CFO of Vante Inc. but his bosses saw the video and canned him. Smith posted a another video on YouTube apologizing but it was wayyyy to late for that.

All this is a lesson: Say what you want, but do it politely, please, without drama. Doing so could keep the unemployment rate down. Especially yours.

Good People of the Week Awards

Yesterday,   I posted something on a corporation being totally abusive and awful.

So, as a counterweight, I'll feature some people who popped up in the news last week who took on a much more positive tack.

Texas A&M alumni and students block a potential
Westboro Baptist Church protest at a funeral. 

First we go to Texas A&M, where an alum, a soldier, Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale, who was killed at a Fort Bragg training exercise.

As they often do the vile Westboro Baptist Church threatened to picket the soldier's funeral, to yell things like God Hates Fags and similar lovely sentiments. They often go to soldiers' funerals because the wackos of Westboro think that's the right thing to do.

Anyway, students and alums at Texas A&M quite reasonably thought that Tisdale's family should not be subject to Westboro's abuse during the funeral.

So, an "Aggie" Ryan Slezia decided to gather up people from Texas A&M to form a "human wall" to block Wicked Westboro. The 650 people or so who showed up wore purple shirts, the school colors so that the funeral could go on in peace.

It turns out Westboro didn't show up. They often say they are going to, but wimp out. Which is a good thing.

Next, we find a man who finds seeks out purple hearts for sale. But not to collect them for himself. Zachariak Fike, who at last report was a member of the Vermont National Guard, finds them in antique stores and auction sites, and tries to find the owners of the Purple Hearts and their families.

Fike already has a Purple Heart of his own, having been injured in Afghanistan in 2010. So far, he says his record for returning the medals if 5 for 5.

So I complain about lousy people yes, but there's a lot of good ones out there, too.