That's Chase Rice. "Bench Seat" is from his new album I HATE COWBOYS AND ALL DOGS GO TO HELL -- which I praised here. It's a great album.
I like Brad Paisley and he was probably the first country
artist considered 'new' back when I first praised him here. He's very
talented and you can consider me a fan. But . . . AP reports:
A
year ago, country star Brad Paisley watched the news on television as
Russian troops invaded Ukraine and, like many people around the world,
he felt helpless at the images of people fleeing their homes.
“The world felt like it was in a new place that it hadn’t been in decades," the three-time Grammy winner recalls.
That
is garbage and deeply disappointing. He can do a song for the people
of Ukraine. No problem with that at all. But to the leader? Stop
sucking the penis of the powerful. Honestly. I thought Brad was more
of a man than to worship some leader. That's without factoring in
Zelensyy's very troubling history. I don't care if it was Macron or
Trudeau or whomever. Celebrate the people 100%. Let's stop treating
leaders as though they're heroes -- especially when their actions aren't
heroic.
That leaves a
very bad taste in my mouth. I really was not surprised when I learned
that Brad had done a song for the people of Urkaine. I was going to
hunt down the video and highlight it here. I thought, "That is so great
that he's showing support for them." And I Google for the video and
the AP story pops up at the top of the search.
So
no. No video getting posted here. I don't like encouraging people to
worship human leaders as though they're God. Don't approve of it, won't
co-sign on it.
Remember,
I'm trying to do another album review for Sunday. It'll be Diana Ross
SURRENDER which AMAZON was supposed to deliver January 27th but only
just now arrived on Tuesday.
Starting
with the war on the LGBTQ+ community, let's note this report from QUEER
NEWS TONIGHT on the over 120 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in January by
Republican politicians across the country. Over 120.
Critics have long argued that theTimes is
falling short in its LGTBQ+ coverage, particularly of trans kids, but
the debate around the publication’s standards exploded into public view
last week.
Thousands of Times contributors signed onto an open letter, organized by the Freelance Solidarity Project and
delivered to leadership on 15 February, which voiced “serious concerns
about editorial bias in the newspaper’s reporting on transgender,
nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people.”
The
letter accused the storied paper of violating its own ethical standards
around neutrality by treating “gender diversity with an eerily familiar
mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language, while
publishing reporting on trans children that omits relevant information
about its sources.”
The
letter pointed to a recent article referring to a person seeking
gender-affirming healthcare with the term “patient zero,” and another
instance where a source’s affiliation with an anti-trans hate groups
wasn’t mentioned.
The document noted with dismay that coverage by The New York Times has
been cited by various GOP officials who are waging attacks on trans
youth in court and in legislatures across the country; it argued that
the Times was fueling a similar media-political feedback loop
that saw previous generations demonise those with HIV/Aids and those who
were gay.
You
may remember the great Glenneth Greenwald snickering and pooh-pahing
the letter. It's because he doesn't know journalism. He had some legal
training -- not good legal training -- though I do love the story from
those years about how he went on a transphobic rant when a group of
friend proposed they see PARIS IS BURNING, it's so very Glenneth -- but
he's had no journalistic training at all and he doesn't understand what
it's about to this day.
It's
no surprise that Glenneth would join NYT in endorsing the attacks,
that's how he made his pathetic name, after all, by joining NYT's war on
Iraq. That is his history.
You'd think by now he'd put some effort into being a decent human being but you would be wrong.
And he runs with others who are, at best, disappointing.
Max
Blumenthal is disgusting.
He attacked Jaqueline Luqman on Jimmy Dore's YOUTUBE program -- with Aaron Mate nodding along. He lied about her.
BLACK POWER MEDIA called his lies out.
He lies about her.
He attacks Jaqueline Luqman with lies and then we see his followers
throughout the thread -- a bunch of White racists and Indian
racists attacking her for her race. And no one's supposed to notice
that?
Let's pretend that at least one or two of Max's fans honestly do not get it and let's try to walk them through slowly.
If
someone is racist, they aren't your friend. It's not a
can't-we-work-together-in-Congress Dem and Rep issue. This is someone
signing up for your destruction. No, you cannot ask African-Americans
to just try to get along with racists. Do racists stay racist their
whole lives. No. People can learn and they can grow. But it's not the
responsibility of an African-American to educate a White racist (or one
from India). Nor should anyone dismiss concerns of violence.
African-Americans have very good reasons -- historical -- for not
electing to mix with racists. You're too entitled and privileged if you
can't see that on your own.
And asking them to 'work together'?
How very Phyllis George of you, Max, how very Phyllis George.
Before
Gayle King put CBS THIS MORNING on the map, the show was a joke for
decades. Never so much as when Phyllis George had her infamous moment.
Gary Dotson had just been released from prison after the woman who said
he raped her, Cathy Webb, admitted she lied. CBS just knew the thing
to do was have them both on the program at the same time. At the end of
the segment, Phyllis suggested, "How about a hug?" (CRAPAPEDIA is yet
again wrong, she did not ask them to "hug it out" -- she did not use
those words, nor would anyone have in 1985 -- so CRAPAPEDIA needs to
take them out of quotes. I would love it if I didn't have to dictate
and anticipate e-mails at the same time. But I did say, "Stop, look up
Phyllis George on CRAPAPEDIA and tell me if they quote her." They did.
They have it wrong. Refer to Tom Shales, WASHINGTON POST report in real time --
May of 85 -- and if the link for it isn't there when this goes up, give
me an hour or two -- we're doing Zooms -- and I'll have put it in
myself.)
That's
what Max basically wants, an African-American to give a racist a hug
and then come work with him and the racists on his issue.
That is disrespectful and its ignorant.
And
how dare you ask the oppressed to make nice with their oppressor. On
the face of it, Max should have realized how stupid this was.
Max
and his ilk whine about both-side-ism all the time. What's more
both-side-ist than asking someone targeted with racism to work with a
racist. Civil rights and racism are not two equal views.
Max chose to go with racists and transphobes and that's, sorry, because he is both.
That's
why Anya Panya can't stop mocking trans persons online at her Twitter
account. It's why Max can't recognize that African-Americans are not
his minions. Just because he wants -- he says -- to avoid a nuclear war,
doesn't mean they give up their own agency and their own beliefs to toe his
line. But when you don't see a person as a person due to their race,
when you think you own their actions -- and, indeed, think you own them,
that's racism. Racism is also evident in Max's response to Jacqueline.
He attacks her because she won't do what he wants, he attacks her with
lies and tries to ignite his White (and Indian) mob against her. Max,
you're doing everything but disclosing her address as you hand out white
sheets.
It is not a good look for you.
Once
upon a time, Max, you were a very cute little boy who had the widest
smile and the biggest heart. If you've let the world beat that out of
you, that makes me want to cry. That's who I saw for years now when
others picked on or attacked you and why I rushed to your defense over
and over. You are so much better than your current behavior indicates. You owe it to who you were
to take a look at how you're behaving right now.
Michael
Anderson: I was bartending that evening when the attack began. I felt
more terrified than I ever have before. I ran for my life that night
and hid -- praying and hoping the violence would end. When I stared
down the barrel of that gun, I realized I stood no chance against a
weapon of that power, magazine capacity, and seemingly automatic firing
rate. While I prepared for my life to end in that moment, I prayed. I
panicked. And I prayed some more. God must have heard my prayers
because two brave men stopped the shooter moments before he would have
inevitably found me. I saw my friend lying on the floor, bleeding out,
knowing there was little to no chance of surviving the bullet wound. I
had to tell him goodbye while I continued to fear for my life, not
knowing if the attack was truly over.
The
shooting also left twenty-five people injured. We'll quote former US
House Rep Carolyn Maloney from a US House Oversight Committee press
release on that hearing:
“Last month, a person with
an AR-15-style assault rifle entered Club Q—a nightclub that served as a
haven for LGBTQI+ people in the Colorado Springs community—and opened
fire on unsuspecting bar patrons and staff. The attacker’s depravity
robbed us of five innocent lives—Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance,
Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Derrick Rump,” said Chairwoman Maloney
in her opening statement.
“Let us honor them by recommitting to the bold action necessary to
ensure that every person in the United States can experience the freedom
to live authentically and safely—regardless of who they love or how
they identify.”
The great Glenneth, of course, rushed forward to insist that the shooter being non-binary meant that it wasn't homophobia.
It was shocking because you'd think if anyone would be an expert on internalized homophobia, it would be Glenneth.
As
we noted then, it was very likely that the shooter was dealing with
issues of homophobia -- whether the shooter was non-binary or not.
Detective Rebecca Joines testiftied that Aldrich ran a neo-Nazi
website that featured a white supremacist training video glorifying mass
shootings, posted an image of a Pride parade with a rifle scope trained
on it, and used anti-LGBTQ+ and racist slurs
while gaming. Joines said that while those who knew Aldrich were
unaware that they identified as nonbinary, Aldrich had told them that
their mother, Laura Voepel, was nonbinary and had taken them to gay
bars. Aldrich’s defense showed a photo of Aldrich and Voepel at Club Q
taken in August 2021.
We'll wind down with this from the one and only Jody Watley, the legend, the trend setter, the
show stopper, the dance queen, the fashionista, the all around wonderful
person, will be hosting her own program starting next month. Reposting
from Jody's site:
“Check out Jody Watley! She
is out here making boss moves. For instance, in celebration of Women’s
History Month, the musical icon will host a new monthly 2-hour show
exclusively on SiriusXM’s The Groove. The first guest will be Emmy
winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph.
