Did You Have YOUR Morning Cup of Outrage Today?

My entire life I have been a "morning person". What do I mean by that? Well...pretty much my entire life my body has naturally woken up between 3:30 and 4:30 am. The only exception is if I am stone dead tired from being super busy for a prolonged period of time OR if I'm sick. I was born early in the morning, so maybe that has something to do with it. Whatever the reason is, I'm awake at that time.

Years ago I used to jump out of bed and start putzing around but after living under the prisonesque conditions at The Cotton Mill Studios in Oakland, I learned how to linger in bed; otherwise my craky nasty neighbors would bitch to the manager about my footfalls. Seriously, it got to the point where I almost had a panic attack if I woke up and had to go to the bathroom before the 7AM "curfew". I might sound like a broken record, but I have never before or after lived in a community with such entitled, cranky, and aggressively cruel people. It was sick-os in THAT building that drugged and assaulted me on more than one occassion. But all that aside, now in the morning I cruise my phone looking for interesting news stories or cute critter videos or pleasant music while cuddling with Brody and Sassy until Omar is done getting ready for work and gets on his way. It's just easier for me to stay out of his way, and sometimes I read or see some interesting stuff. I also see a lot of trite and/or down-right repulsive stuff too. This morning was no exception. There were a number of things I observed on the interwebs that I took notice of. First I must mention there is no shortage of vapid bratty coockie-cutter pop-singers with utterly repulsive content. But that's not new, just a continued waste of resources. What WAS new (to me) this morning is the new ad platform/formats on YouTube. It blows my mind. I got complaints about some of my video content being mature...but now they have ads for prostitution and escort services all over YouTube...at least as of this morning. There was one in particular with an image of a woman's butt in your face with a caption saying something like "find 18+ girls now". Uh-muh-Gawd. It left me wondering just what was so offensive about my content while THAT's OK. Come on YouTube. Get OVER yourselves! 

After finding pretty much nothing but garbage on the Tubes of You I switched over to look at the news feed on my Google Chrome homepage. There was a bunch of crap as usual, but sometimes it's interesting to see just what kind of crap and in what combination and context it is being served. Four articles in particular caught my eye:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/world/europe/pope-married-priests.html" target="_blank">Pope Francis Sets Aside Proposal on Married Priests

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/12/rose-mcgowan-natalie-portman-oscars-dress-protest-female-directors" target="_blank">Rose McGowan: Natalie Portman's Oscars dress protest 'deeply offensive'

https://www.npr.org/2020/02/12/805237120/ghost-dna-in-west-africans-complicates-story-of-human-origins" target="_blank">'Ghost' DNA In West Africans Complicates Story Of Human Origins

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/shannen-doherty-struggling-stage-iv-cancer-diagnosis-150511170.html" target="_blank">Shannen Doherty: 'To say that I'm struggling' with stage IV cancer diagnosis 'is mild'

OK. I just gotta say some stuff about these things, staring with His Popie-ness. What a jerk. There are already a number of places, as the article outlines, where the Vatican has looked the other way on married priests. So, why not in the Amazon too? I'll tell ya why... The article diplomatically referred to His Popie-ness' reasoning as concern over what is viewed by many as "pagan" traditions. At least that is the resoning that was evidently offered by Vatican officials and "conservative" Catholics. But the article also pointed out incongruous comments made by the Pope himself over the past couple years supporting the inclusion of Indigenous practices and symbols of fertility and cultural respect for women. So, no, it's not REALLY about "pagan practice". What's it about then? What else...THE GAYS! There is a much deeper and wide spread acceptance of same sex relationship in many Indigenous cultures, particularly those from the Western Hemisphere. I'm sure the Vatican is just terrified of having to actually tell gay priests they are still considered a sinnful abomination by the Holy See, and it is just this type of oppression that fans the flames of flamers to single out and harass people such as myself who don't belong to either of THOSE teams. After the exploitation of Gays I observed in the Diocese of Oakland and other California Diocese, I truly have no desire to break bread with just anyone. And before any LGBTQs get up in arms and want to pat me on the back, I think you should know that some of the most egregeous exploiters I observed were LGBTQ lay persons who allowed themselves to be exploited for vanity's sake in the Mass. Trust me when I say neither side has clean hands. The Pope's actions, or in action, as the case may be here, is more of an affront and continued attack on Indigenous culture than the Rainbow Alphabet Club. The Vatican has also been a large driving force in the attack on Indigenous culture through the coersion of the United Nations anti-tobacco campaign to demonize the tobacco plant, a plant that has been considered and used in sacred right and ritual of Indigenous cultures the Globe over, as opposed to the wealthy and dubious globally pervasive Tobacco Industry. The article seems more obsessed with continuing to create political division between what the author calls "liberal" and "conservative" Catholics than actually attempting to understand the underlying motivations and impetus of His Popie-ness. It makes me wonder just what Frank is giving up for Lent this year. Moving on...

Rose McGowan and Natalie Portman both need new stylists. I mean...I'd really like bitches like Ms. McGowan to STFU with their me too bullshit. This shit has gotten so deep I find myself needing to wear waders whenever I engage the media and the outcome of the "Me too-ers". I'm sure Harvey Wall-banger is a sleaze, and I'm sure he's just one of many. I'm also sure that I did not get a whole bunch of jobs and parts because I refused to play the hotel room bullshit game to begin with. I'm not blaming ANYONE but perpatrators for assaults, AND what ADULT goes on ANY interview in a hotel room and doesn't have an idea of what is going to be "expected" for employment? She may be broke now, but Ms. McGowan and MANY MANY other adult Hollywood ladies (and fellas) weren't complaining so long as they were being paid millions. AND! Ms. Portman isn't any braver for wearing her dress than Ms. McGowan was for taking hers off. It's about money, not self respect or the wellbeing of any individual or respect for survivors or other Artists. So long as the Intellectual Property of people such as myself is stolen and exploited by The Industry, no one will change my mind on that. Her name may be Rose, but her shit still sinks...and before I get to the article about the DNA, I wonder if Ms. McGowan has taken time to reach out to Ms. Doherty in her time of struggle? I wish cancer of no type on anyone. Lord knows cancer has squeezed much joy from my life, but at the same time I'm sick of seeing cancer used as a media attention getting platform. I don't know Ms. Doherty, and I wish her recovery or a peaceful transition...but her story is no more compelling than ANY other cancer story out there, and there are a lot, and the majority of people dealing with it don't have a fraction of a fraction of the resources that Ms. Doherty or any other screen star or athlete or media mogul has had in a year of work. Enough already! Everyone knows cancer sucks. I don't care about any celebrity's court case or insurance scam. Do you? Maybe Rose and Shannen can pool thier remaining resources and be roomies. Ms. Portman can host a clothing swap and the three of them can trade designer frocks...the designs of which were most likely knocked off from some independant designer who can't get their line off the ground because of the unsustainable and crookedpractices of the fashion industry.

FINALLY...DNA! Uh-muh-Gawd. Are you serious? Black people from Africa have mystery DNA that isn't black?! Uh-muh-Gawd! So we're all just a bunch of mixed up homos running around with differnt complexions after all? Maybe they're mixed with aliens.  Maybe someone should test Harry's DNA and find out if he's really a "Royal". Maybe the West Africans in the study from the article are all related to Harry. I wonder if GS would find him quite as compelling and lucrative if that were the case.

Well...that's it for today. I have dinner to get started and I still haven't gotten a chance to paint today. Must be becasue Omar got up late and didn't make the coffee. Instead of coffee I had me a steamin' cup of outrage this morning.