Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Quick Hits: Volume CXXVIII

- The story of the gay pastor in Austin, TX claiming to have received a cake with the inscription "Love Wins, F-g" never quite passed the proverbial smell test. Whole Foods, the store which sold the cake in question, vehemently denied one of their employees defaced it and even presented video surveillance as evidence the pastor's claim was a hoax. In addition, the pastor in question was said to have been enduring financial troubles, thus the lawsuit he filed against Whole Foods was conveniently timed.

Sure enough, the pastor's lawsuit has been dropped

The Austin pastor, who claimed he bought a cake with a homophobic slur written on it, is now dropping his lawsuit against Whole Foods.

It’s been almost a month since an emotional Jordan Brown called a news conference at the Kaplan Law Firm to announce a lawsuit against the food chain. Brown said he ordered a cake with the words, “Love Wins” on it, but when he opened it, Brown claimed a homophobic word was added on top.

In a statement issued Monday Brown admitted: "The company did nothing wrong. I was wrong to pursue this matter and use the media to perpetuate this story."

Upon Brown choosing to sue Whole Foods initially, the company chose to counter sue almost immediately. However, in light of the latest developments, Whole Foods is also abandoning its suit.

In a statement issued Monday, Whole Foods spokesperson Rachel Malish said: "We're very pleased that the truth has come to light. Given Mr. Brown's apology and public admission that his story was a complete fabrication, we see no reason to move forward with our counter suit to defend the integrity of our brand and team members."

Business must really be bad for the "Gay-stappo" these days if they feel the need to fabricate evidence to show how the LGBT community is still allegedly being oppressed.


- With Republican Congressman John Kline not seeking reelection in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District, the MNGOP is looking for a candidate to oppose Democrat Angie Craig.

Recently the CD2 Republicans voted to endorse former talk show host Jason Lewis, who defeated perpetual candidate David Gerson after several ballots. Two other GOP candidates, businesswoman Darlene Miller and former state Senator John Howe, received little to no votes for endorsement on the first ballot before choosing to withdraw from the process. Miller has said from the outset she would not abide by the party endorsement anyway and thus go straight to the GOP primary this summer. Howe was noncommittal....until Monday.

On Monday, John Howe announced he is running in the primary.

KSTP's Tom Hauser was the first to break the news last week.

Howe was mayor of Red Wing and a former state senator.

"I believe I am the most electable conservative candidate," Howe said. "I guarantee you no one is going to work harder. My experience as mayor helped me be a better senator, and being senator is going to help me be a better congressman."

Howe had dropped out early on during the recent district endorsement convention.

So in retrospect, the only purpose served by enduring several hours (and going through multiple ballots) at the endorsing convention was to eliminate just one of the four candidates (Gerson, who said he would abide by the party endorsement).

Come to think of it, ousting the preferred candidate of the Ron Paul cabal may well have been worth the arduous process.


- A relatively new phrase has been introduced recently into the American lexicon - "Cultural appropriation."

I took to Wikipedia to gain a little more insight into this phenomenon.

(T)he adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of a different culture. Cultural appropriation is seen by some as controversial, notably when elements of a minority culture are used by members of the cultural majority; this is seen as wrongfully oppressing the minority culture or stripping it of its group identity and intellectual property rights.

One of the more newsworthy instances of "cultural appropriation" was a Caucasian male student being assaulted by a black student because he was donning dreadlocks.

To me the concept of "cultural appropriation" is yet another ginned up, phony controversy in an effort to validate the existence of thumb-sucking "Social Justice Warriors."

Recently in an interview with Salon, Daryl Hall, one half of perhaps the most successful pop duo ever in Hall and Oates, swiftly dismissed this idiotic concept.

In an interview with Salon, Hall was asked for his thoughts on “cultural appropriation” — the notion that “white people should not appropriate the culture of ethnic and racial minorities” — and he pulled no punches:

“Are you trying to say that I don’t own the style of music that I grew up with and sing? I grew up with this music. It is not about being black or white. That is the most naïve attitude I’ve ever heard in my life. That is so far in the past, I hope, for everyone’s sake. It isn’t even an issue to discuss. The music that you listened to when you grew up is your music. It has nothing to do with ‘cultural appropriation.’”

When the interviewer agreed, Hall dropped another bomb: ”I’m glad that you do, because anyone who says that should shut the f*** up.”

Hall went on to ask about the source of such critiques, and the interviewer replied that much of it comes from academia.

“Well, then they should go back to school,” Hall shot back. “Academia? Now, there’s a hotbed of idiocy.”

As for culture in general, Hall declared: “We live in America. That’s our entire culture. Our culture is a blend. It isn’t split up into groups. Anyone who says otherwise is a fool – worse than a fool – a dangerous fool.”



via GIPHY


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