in the news

An ex-gay org is announcing July 2013 as Ex-Gay Pride Month and they're asking President Obama to issue a proclamation.

No, it's not an April Fools joke.

Our America With Lisa Ling, a documentary series on the OWN Network, begins its forth season with another show on ex-gays. Last time she did a segment on christian ex-gays, this blogger called the program,I called the program one of the worst cases of irresponsible journalism I've seen.  Will this show be any different now that a bunch of so called ex-gay surivivors confront Alan Chambers?

Somehow I doubt it.

Still no decisions by the Supreme Court on DOMA and Prop 8.  Since everyone else is second guessing what will happen, my guess is SCOTUS will not rule DOMA unconstitutional, and will declare it a states matter and or rule it's something Congress will have to repeal.

As for Prop 8, I believe the Court will reject the Prop 8 appeal by Boise and Olson and affirm a lower court decision.

The man accused of shooting Mark Carson last month in New York City appeared in court today and pleaded not guilty.

• http://manhattan.ny1.com/content/top_stories/184024/not-guilty-plea-in-deadly-village-bias-attack

Netroots Nation, the annual political convention for so called American progressive political activists, is taking place this week. This year, its being held in San Diego, California. As with previous events, Netroots Nation 2013 will include 80 panels, 40 training sessions, inspiring keynotes, film screenings and other engaging sessions designed to educate, stimulate and inspire the nation’s next generation of progressive leaders, or so they say.

I don't support this event.  For starters, it's unaffordable for many people, and although one can apply for a scholarship, there's alot of favoritism involved.  Besides, and I'm referring to the LGBT portion of this event, activists and bloggers never really learn anything. Many who've been to Netroots, often leave with a sense of feeling jaded.

pam's house blend to close down july 1. why wait?

Pam Spaulding announced today/Sunday 16, she is closing her long running site, Pam's House Blend.

All good things must come to an end, even after numerous awards and accolades, it’s time to acknowledge that I cannot continue to run on fumes alone. The Blend could continue limping along, but my health and well-being come first; over the last few years burning the candle at both ends with a full-time offline job and PHB. It has taken a severe toll — most readers have learned that I am dealing with chronic pain conditions — fibromylagia, and in the last couple of years, aggressive rheumatoid arthritis.Read more: 

http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2013/06/16/goodbye-pams-house-blend-after-nine-years-closing-the-coffeehouse-july-1/

I say, why wait?

Ever since 2008 when she decided to turn Pam's House Blend into a community blogging site, and let that bipolar tranny who had himself castrated and somehow coerced the government into changing her gender from male to female run the site, Pam's House Blend has been nothing more than an online festering sewer of negativity and hostility.

She and others there imagined themselves as  "citizen journalists"  One, Lurleen went undercover working for an anti-gay org in Washington. Autumn Sandeen went to cover the Angie Zapata trial in Colorado. Both incidents turned out to be huge disasters.

But they were nothing compared to the copyright lawsuit filed against Pam's House Blend.

That's because Pam, in her infinite wisdom, didn't study up on copyright law and how it applies to journalists.

How bad was this lawsuit? She sought advice from a NAMBLA conspiracy loon and as part of some agreement, she moved her website over to FireDogLake where she turned into chronic illness addict.

It's unfortunate that Pam has taken so long to realize this was a decision she should have made a long time ago. 

Unfortunately, while Pam's House Blend may be closing, Pam Spaulding will still be blogging, only at a different place, where she will continue to regale us all where he daily or weekly updates about her bowel movements.

I have a suggestion Pam (actually, someone else suggested): You should call your new blog, The Daily Drip.

As for her "baristas" if Jane Hamsher had any integrity, now would be a good time for her to bid Autumn, Lurleen, and Alvin adieu, and call for the pool boy.

Get it? Get It? Pool boy, Firedoglake, pool boy?

Tough crowd.

details released on what really happened at the 2009 tel aviv gay centre shooting

On June 11, a court in Israel removed a gag order on the  motive for the 2009 shooting that occurred at the Bar Noar gay youth center in Tel Aviv that resulted in the deaths of two people and injuries to at least fifteen others.

Following a police investigation lasting nearly four years, police announced four suspects were arrested, one of them an LGBT activist. Their arrests were announced on June 5, 2013. 

According to reports, a few months before the killings, one of the suspects, then 15 years old, came to Barnoar struggling with his sexual identity. There he met with Shaul Ganon, the fourth person to be arrested in the case.

Mr. Ganon is a well known activist in Israel, so I’ve read, and  one of the founders of the Bar Noar center. He was working as the manager of the center on the night of the shooting, but was not present at the center when the shooting took place.

Hagai Felician, the teenager's relative, became aware that the teen had been seen a few times at Barnoar, and asked him what he was doing there. The teenager confirmed he had been going there, but that he was raped by the senior figure at the club. Felician allegedly decided to take matters into his own hands, and together with another suspect, Tarlan Hankishayev, and the state’s witness, plotted to harm the activist. On the day of the shooting, Felician allegedly came to Barnoar looking for the activist. Unable to find him, Felician “lost it” and shot those present.

Of the four suspects arrested, in addition to Ganon, two are the brothers of the alleged victim, and the fourth is the gunman, hired by the brothers as the hit man.  The latter reputedly has an organized crime background.

Police are reportedly hoping to enlist Ganon, who has been placed under house arrest, as a state’s witness against Felician. If he admits to sexual assault, his testimony could provide evidence of a clear motive in the crime.

ngblog has chosen to identify Shaul Ganon. Unlike some other bloggers, it doesn’t make sense to keep pretending this killing wasn’t a gay on gay crime. He’s already been outed by the print and television news media and he’s been speaking to the press.

holding a protest in boehner's office doesn't change things.

Calling on the House speaker to hold a vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban LGBT discrimination in employment, eight individuals associated with GetEqual were arrested Thursday outside House Speaker John Boehner’s office as part of a protest demanding the speaker hold a floor vote on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would ban anti-LGBT job discrimination.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/eight-get-equal-activists-arrested-during-sit-in-at-speaker

File the above under damage control over Michelle Obama.

Let's be honest, however: When it comes to our full rights as individuals, it's all hands on deck.

So while it appears that GetEqual won't shake the stigma of being a bunch of obnoxious, misguided activists, I would like to go on record and say (or write as the case may be) that in practice, what GetEqual is doing is highly commendable, however, in practice, it sucks.

I hate to break the news to everyone, but [then Presidential candidate] Barack Obama did not exactly promise an executive order on ENDA.  What he did was answer a questionnaire in 2008 which featured questions about ENDA, and he answered yes.

How did a typewritten "yes" translate to an unanswered campaign promise?  That's a good question which unfortunately there's no answer for.

Or maybe there is and no wants to hear it or read about it.

Hey people, I've been dealing with LGBT activists and bloggers since I started blogging in 2004 and have been in a virtual tug of war because of them since 2007 over a personal matter no one had any business politicizing but did anyway because of things like this.

And if I'm wrong, then precisely one hour after this goes to post and hits the social media streams, I expect GETEQUAL and every single person whose done me wrong to call me on Skype or Hangout and apologize personally for fucking things up.

In the meantime, I stand by what I've said and written and dozen times before: The reality is we need ENDA, not an Executive Order.

What part of this don't you understand?

Borough President Diaz, Bronx LGBTQ Center on Anti-LGBTQ Crime Spike

my dell mini lives again!

I haven't opened [my] Dell Mini 9 netbook since I installed Ubuntu Netbook Edition back in 2010; That's mostly because after installing it, someone, not me, got careless, dropped the netbook and damaged the screen.

I never bothered to have the laptop screen repaired because it's just too costly.

But now that I got a Chromebook, and no, I didn't use my Gay Pride Visa to buy it - I've had a renewed interest in the Dell Mini 9 again.

Some of you might be asking why bother if I already have a laptop (Dell Inspiron 1545) and Chromebook?

That's a good question; I'm glad I asked it: Someone here signed up for GMail and Facebook, they want visit some websites they see mentioned on the morning shows, but they don't have a PC, Mac, Chromebook, iPad, or tablet device, and they're in no hurry to get one of those.

I suppose I could lend them my Chromebook but the Mini serves as a reminder why I won't.

And I want nothing to do with Facebook.

Unfortunately, because the Dell Mini 9 never came with a CD Drive, the only option is installing from USB. And how does that with a broken laptop screen?

Connect the netbook to the TV with a VGA cable, that's how.

With that issue resolved, sort of, now it was a matter of upgrading Ubuntu or installing Dell Chromium OS. Unfortunately,I encountered a few technical headaches: There was not enough space on the hard drive to upgrade to the most recent version of Ubuntu, 12.4, and even though I've read other bloggers describe how they installed Dell Chromium OS on their Mini's, it simply wasn't happening for me.

I was able to to install JoilCloud OS via USB however.

For those wondering again, JoliCloud is a Ubuntu/Linux OS developed by a company of the same name, optimized for Netbooks or an old laptop. Based on the cloud, Jolicloud connects one to all of their favorite online apps, social media, videos, photos and files from any device in the world.

Ironically, I tried installing Jolicloud on a Dell Inspiron 600M, but as is often the case with installing Ubuntu/Linux OS' on laptops made before 2010, there were issues with connectivity and lag and it just wasn't worth the aggravation.

I didn't have any problem with installation via USB. And the WiFi worked!

As for a review, for the person who wants to use it to check their Facebook once or twice a day, or week, do email, or check out a YouTube video that's gone viral, JoliCloud is great! If they do want more online, they'll have to stop being stubborn and get that damn iPad already.

Or just get a Chromebook.

Just saying.

Update, June 15: Yesterday, I used the Dell Mini to watch a Google+ Hangout with Dan Savage and John Aravosis and the experience was just awful.  I posted video of how it looked on my Google+ page.  As I wrote there, at first, the screen froze and there was terrible lag.   But toward the end of the Hangout, things began to improve a little.

I also learned I didn't have the Google talk plug in installed and trying to figure out how to install it was a pain in the ass.  Whoever said or wrote Linux is the better OS is a sadist.

As far as getting the laptop screen replaced or fixed, a local guy is charging $130. One can go on Amazon or eBay and buy a used or refurbished laptop for the same price.  Or, they just break open that cookie jar and get an Acer Chromebook.

Reminding myself that this is a gay activist blog, the big gay news this week is that we're all on Supreme Court watch.  Other than that, there hasn't been much happening. The usual suspects are doing their usual anti-gay thing, but unlike some others, I don't feel like playing that fainting couch game they play.

There's no point in blogging again about Mark Regenerus, and I don't particular give a shit about who sang on The Voice or what Ellen did on her show.

As for that whistleblower everyone's talking and reading about, David Letterman said it best:

"He said he didn't want to live in a society where the government monitors its people. Then he fled to China."

And Glenn Greenwald?

He brings new meaning to self aggrandizing.

Chromebook

I bought a Chromebook!

A few days ago, my old laptop died, and rather than wait, and wait, and wait again for Microsoft to decide on what they plan to do with Windows 8 and buy one, I decided to get a Chromebook instead.

I'll spare everyone an obligatory review because all the other ones are spot on, nor will I do an unboxing video as there are enough of those on YouTube, however, I will say or write that if there's a criticism to be had, it would be getting used to a smaller keyboard. Perhaps a PC manufacturer will consider a 15.6" Chromebook?

(See Update 2 below)

Nonetheless, I'm sure there will be Google haters who will hate on the Chromebook, much the same way they do already about GMail, YouTube, Blogger, and Google+.

I know some of these people, they read this blog while pretending they don't, and in anticipation of having them ask, let me say or write to them you all suck at Windows, period, so don't bother asking me about Skype, iTunes or using other Windows programs because I already know you don't use any of them.

(For the rest of you, the answer is of course, no, but the Chromebooks were never meant to replace PCs and Macs; at least not yet.)

Update: There are versions of Chromium OS out there that one can install on their laptop which give the look and feel of a Chrome OS. I recently learned Dell has a version of Chromium OS that works on certain laptops including their Dell Mini's and the Inspiron 1545. I so happen to have a Dell Mini 9 laying around, unfortunately, the screen is broken, and at this point, it's not worth the cost of having it repaired. 

And before anyone asks, yes, I can still connect it to my TV via VGA, and yes, I did try to install Dell's Chromium OS via USB.  Unfortunately, I still can't see the Dell logo and boot menu.

Update 2: Or maybe I should have considered the HP Pavilion 14 instead?

Update 3: About installing Dell's Chromium OS on the Dell Mini 9, I managed somehow to view the boot options after some trial and errorr; But then all I see or get is a white screen.