TransGriot 2017 NFL Picks - Week 2

While my Texans failed in their opening week mission of beating the Jaguars, I didn't in my quest to threepeat as TransGriot NFL prognostication champion.

Thanks to sweeping both NFL Monday night games, I not only finished above .500 for this opening week, but won Week 1.

Now we get into the second week of the season that starts with the Texans trying to overcome their sorry performance on Thursday Night Football against another team that stunk in their home opener in the Cincinnati Bengals

I also have one other thing to say about the Texans horrid performance against the Jaguars in which they gave up 10 sacks:  Call Duane Brown's agent and pay him!

And it looks like DeShaun Watson will be the starter for this Thursday night game, just hope the Texans line can give him some time to throw the ball.

Well, let's get to this week's NFL picks. 16 teams playing this week after the Bucs and Dolphins came off their unexpected Hurricane Irma bye    Mike's Week 2 picks are here.

Team I'm picking to win in bold print with the home  team in CAPS

Week 1 Results                                                                 2017 NFL Season Record
TransGriot    10-5                                                              TransGriot    10-5
Mike               9-6                                                              Mike               9-6


Thursday Night Game
Texans over BENGALS

Sunday Early Games
PANTHERS over Bills
STEELERS over Vikings
Patriots over SAINTS
CHIEFS over Eagles
BUCCANEERS over Bears
Cardinals over COLTS
RAVENS over Browns
Titans over JAGUARS

Sunday Afternoon Games
RAIDERS over Jets
Dolphins over CHARGERS
Cowboys over BRONCOS
SEAHAWKS over 49ers
RAMS over Washington

Sunday Night Game
Packers over FALCONS

Monday Night Game
GIANTS over Lions

Jemele Hill Spoke Truth To Power, and I Stand With Her

One of the things I'm really sick of with this Trump misadministration is their War on Journalism.

I've especially not been happy about WH Minister of Disinformation Sarah Huckabee Sanders attacking Black female journalists

First it was Sanders attacking veteran White House correspondent April D. Ryan, and now this attack on ESPN's Jemele Hill.

Hill on Monday said the obvious to everyone who was paying attention while expressing her First Amendment rights on Twitter.

She called 45 during a tweet storm what he has demonstrated himself to be,  a white supremacist that surrounds himself with white supremacists and said he was the worst POTUS of her lifetime.

Hey, she;s not wrong..

For those of you who have a problem with HIll's comment, does Steve Bannon ring a bell?  Sebastian Gorka? Jefferson Beauregard Sessions? Nazis carrying tiki torches in Charlottesville that Trump called 'good people'?  David Duke calling Trump 'one of them'?

Of course, all the white supremacist hit dogs are hollering and mad because a Black woman (as usual) spoke truth to power.  ESPN caved and tweeted out an apology for her speaking the truth about Twittolini, and of course Sanders used her White House propaganda rally today to call for Jemele Hill to be fired from her ESPN gig,

Really?  The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) quickly posted this comment defending Hill

Jemele Hill is an award-winning, veteran journalist who has distinguished herself for having insightful opinions and perspectives on a variety of topics. Having been successful along those lines for 20 years, she has been able to connect with viewers on ESPN as well as on various social media platforms. That withstanding, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) supports Hill's First Amendment rights on all matters of discussion, within and outside the world of sports, as they do not impinge on her duties as a host and commentator.

Black activists and media celebrities also have taken to Twitter and other outlets to stand with Hill

And so do I. I'm waiting to see if these white fauxminists will stand with her, or prove once again that solidarity is for white women only.

You do know ESPN by issuing that apology and leaving this sister hanging, you are cosigning the very white supremacy that Jemele called out?

I'm also tired of the racists and sexist abuse Hill regularly gets online that ESPN cowardly hasn't done jack about, but feels compelled in this case to issue an apology for her on point comments.

Jemele Hill is a shero who spoke truth to power.   She should be applauded for doing so, not reviled.

 

Shut Up Fool Awards- Irma's Tearing Stuff Up Edition

Having recently gotten through a hurricane strike of my own in Harvey wreaking havoc on Houston and the upper Texas coastline, my heart and prayers go out to the people in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Florida Atlantic coast who are either getting whacked by Irma's Cat 5 self or about to by this weekend.

But it's Friday, and it's time to whack stupidity, blow away hypocrisy, and just say no to what the hell idiocy.   It's time for this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool Awards.

Honorable mention number one is just pick a Trump Administration outrage or fool within it, starting with 45 himself.

Honorable mention number two is Maria Sharapova, who has been flapping her gums about Serena while she's busy handling her mommy business claiming she's responsible for making Serena the Greatest of All TIme.  

Really?  You're 2-19 lifetime against Serena and you couldn't beat her even on steroids, so shut your azz up comrade and have several seats

Honorable mention number three is all The Berners who still believe the Dem primary was 'rigged' and that Bernie would have beaten Trump in a general election.

You peeps repeating the lie you heard on RussiaLeaks is not only disrespectful to the Black Democrats who voted in large numbers for Clinton, it's racist, too.  News flash, Black voters ain't feeling Bernie Sanders, and the negative feelings we have for your Lord and Political Saviour have only gotten more intense since November 2016

And Sanders couldn't even beat Clinton, who you also claim was a 'poor candidate'.  Yeah, she was such an awful candidate she faced unprecedented sexism and misogyny, a media spreading smears about her, Russian interference, Stein and Johnson pulling voters from her and she still nearly won the presidency  

Honorable mention number four is Doctor Who writer Gareth Roberts (no relation to me, thank God) , who let his transphobic flag fly earlier this week and tried to hold up being gay as a shield against his transphobic tirade.

Not today, transphobic Satan.   Hope some Daleks cart your azz off to deep space to exterminate your transphobic tendencies

Honorable mention number five is Philadelphia Police Officer's Union President John McNesby, who parted his lips to call Black Lives Matter ' a pack of animals' during a 'Blue Lives matter' rally but defended an officer wearing a Nazi tattoo.

Racist much?   And you wonder why we sometimes in the Black community spell cop with three K's and have the negative reactions we do to the police.

This week's TransGriot Shut Up Fool Winner is Susan Sarandon.  

This fool and limousine driving Green Tea Party revolutionary had the nerve to tweet support to the DREAMers after 45 revoked DACA, and decry it as a terrible decision.  

Well the terrible decision you made in supporting Jill "I dine with Vladimir Putin' Stein who had zero chance of winning the presidency greased the skids for the DACA repeal.

The Twitterverse justifiably dragged her azz and called her out for her WTF level idiocy

BTW, how's 'The Revolution' going?  The one that you claimed would happen in 2000 when you supported Ralph Nader?

You've been loud and wrong for 16 years, so sit your clueless azz down and shut up fool!

TransGriot 2017 NFL Picks- Week 1

It's that time of the year in which once again, I do battle with Mike Watts to see who will emerge victorious at the end of the NFL regular season as the TransGriot NFL Prognostication Champion!

That was moi last year, and the noteworthy things about my 2016 NFL prognostication title run was that for the first time ever I did so WITHOUT a losing week.  It was also the first time in the history of this blog and our NFL prognostication competition there was a repeat champion.

So can I threepeat?  I'm sure going to try.  And the road to the threepeat starts today.

Eli is sitting this season out still battling cancer, but does like the Seahawks to make the Super Bowl

Speaking of threepeats, my fave NFL ballers will be trying to win a third straight AFC South title, and win more than nine games while doing so.   That will be helped immensely with JJ Watt's return to the Texans defensive lineup, and better quarterback play from either Tom Savage or rookie Deshaun Watson.

Week 1 of a new season is always a crapshoot.   Every team has had lineup changes, and you won't have a clear idea until Week 4 how much those changes impacted the team.

And you don't know what 2016 NFL season playoff team will crash and burn in 2017, or what team that the pundits picked to suck will surprise everyone.

We also start this 2017 NFL season with another franchise moving to a new city.  The Chargers are that team this year, moving back up I-5 from San Diego to the city where they were founded and played one AFL season in 1960 in Los Angeles.

Rules of the prognostication contest are the same.  MIke Watts and I are just simply picking the winners of this week's NFL games and not using a spread.   Our picks will be posted no later than 15 minutes before kickoff of the first NFL game on Thursday

Person with the best record at the end of NFL Week 17, 256 games from now will be the champ and have bragging rights until next season.

Here's Mike's Week 1 picks.   My goal this week is to simply be above .500 and get this 2017 NFL campaign to a threepeat off to a good start.

And now, let's get to my NFL Week 1 picks.  Home team in CAPS, team I'm selecting to win will be in bold print.

Final 2016 NFL Season

*TransGriot  170-84-2
Mike             163-91-2
Eli                  ---

Thursday Night Game
PATRIOTS over Chiefs

Sunday Early Games
TEXANS over Jaguars
Eagles over WASHINGTON
BILLS over Jets
Raiders over TITANS
DOLPHINS over Buccaneers
LIONS over Cardinals
Falcons over BEARS
BENGALS over Ravens
Steelers over BROWNS

Sunday Afternoon Games 
Colts over RAMS
Seahawks over PACKERS
Panthers over 49ERS

Sunday Night Game 
COWBOYS over Giants

Monday Night Games
VIKINGS over Saints
BRONCOS over Chargers

Spelman Will Finally Admit Trans Women!

In the wake of what happened to Calliope Wong at Smith College when she attempted to enroll at that school, I asked the question back in 2013 on the blog when Spelman would admit trans women, and if they did, how would they handle the situation Smith fumbled badly at the time if a qualified Black trans feminine identified student wished to enroll there?

Now I have a definitive answer to that question.  Spelman would enroll that trans feminine student, and they will start doing so during the fall semester of the 2018-19 school year.

Spelman is the elite women's college in HBCU academia, and I believed back in 2013 it would inevitably come to the decision to open their doors to trans women who in the words of President Mary Schmidt Campbell, 'consistently live and self-identify as women, regardless of their gender assignment at birth.'

So what that means is if my trans nieces Trinity and Ellie wish to consider attending Spelman, they have the option when it's time to choose a college and have the grades to do so, can add that school to their collegiate wish list.

According to a letter from President Campbell released to Spelman students, Spelman has had a task force composed of students, faculty, staff, trustees and alumnae have been discussing the issue since last semester.

As for those of you asking how this policy impacts trans men, as a women's college dedicated to serving high-achieving Black women,  it doesn't not admit folks who consistently live and self identify as male as Spelman students.

The exception to this is if a trans masculine person transitions AFTER they have been accepted and enrolled at Spelman as a female student.  They will be allowed to continue pursuing their degree on campus and graduate from Spelman.

President Campbell in the letter also called for an implementation committee to be empaneled to consider how the new admissions policy will affect the Spelman campus community.

As you probably guessed, the transphobic Hateraid already started flowing from the ignorant corners of the Black gossip blogosphere, but the decision is being met elsewhere with generally positive commentary.

And so happy that Spelman has joined Bennett College, the other HBCU dedicated to educating Black women,  in opening their doors to qualified trans feminine students.

BTWI Statement Concerning The Kashmire Redd Murder

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


September 6, 2017

Contact Monica Roberts BTWI Media Chair
Carmarion D Anderson BTWI Founding  National Director
855-255-8636 EXT 11
media@blacktranswomen.org

We have lost 17 trans women of color to anti-trans violence in 2017, and today it saddens us as an organization to announce that an 18th person and our first trans masculine person has died due to the plague of anti-trans violence visited upon our community.

He is 28 year old Kashmire Nazer Redd of Gates, New York.  

We at Black Transwomen Inc, our brother organization Black Transmen, Inc. The Black Trans International Pageantry System and Black Trans Advocacy express our deepest condolences to Kashmire Redd's family and all who loved him.

He received multiple stab wounds during a domestic dispute with his partner in their apartment in the early morning hours on Monday.   Redd stumbled out of the apartment, collapsed and was alive when Gates PD arrived on the scene at 4:30 AM EDT, but succumbed to his wounds after being taken to Strong Memorial Hospital.

Redd is the 15th Black transperson we have lost to anti trans violence.  What also continues to sadden us is that 15 of the 18 people we have lost in 2017 are under age 40, and 17 of the 18 have been trans women of color.

40 year old Doris Carrasquillo has been arrested and charged with second degree murder in this case, and is currently being held without bail in the Monroe County Jail. We at BTWI, BTMI, BTIPS and BTA pray that justice will be expeditiously served in this case

Rest in power and peace, Kashmire.

Number 18 - Rest In Power Kashmire Redd

Knew it was just a matter of time before we lost another trans person to anti-trans violence, and sad to point out that we have lost out 18th trans person and first trans masculine one of 2017.

28 year old Kashmire Nazer Redd was stabbed multiple times in the upper chest area in the early morning hours Monday morning during a domestic dispute by his partner in Gates, New York.    Redd stumbled out of the apartment on Cocchia Crescent and collapsed on the front lawn.

Gates PD arrived on the scene at 4:30 AM EDT and Redd was still alive when they arrived.  He was taken to Strong Memorial Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

His partner, 40 year old Doris Carrasquillo was arrested and has been charged with second degree murder in this case.  She has pleaded not guilty, and is being held in the Monroe County Jail without bail.

Redd is the 18th trans person killed in 2017, and sadly the first trans masculine one.   Once again he fits the ongoing pattern of trans people under age 30 dying due to anti-trans violence, and the 15th African American trans person who has been murdered this year..

I ask the question once again.   When will our Black trans lives matter to you, Black America?

As per usual, I will be tracking this case until justice is served.   If there is a memorial service, I'll pass that information on as soon as I receive it

Rest in power and peace, Kashmire.   We won't rest until justice has been served in your case.

2017 Williams Watch- Aunt Venus Is In The US Open Semis!

Venus Williams became an aunt on September 1 when Little Sis gave birth to a 6 pound 13 oz girl who is probably ranked in the Top 100 of the ATP women's tennis ranks.

And yeah, rest of women's tennis tour, she and her child will be at the 2018 Australian Open

Meanwhile Aunt Venus is upholding the Williams family name at Flushing Meadow and now playing a second week of tennis at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

After 9th seeded Big Sis dispatched Maria Sakkari of Greece in straight sets 6-3, 6-1, she faced a tougher task in the fourth round as she took on Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.  It took her three sets, but she survived and advanced to the quarterfinals by a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 count.

That  win earned her a quarterfinal matchup with the Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova, who was fresh off upsetting 2017 Wimbledon champ Garbine Muguruza in straight sets.

This was another three set battle for Venus. and that third set was decided in a tiebreaker.  It went Big Sis' way 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2) to punch her ticket to her third Grand Slam semifinal this season.

Her opponent will be fellow American Sloane Stephens, who also survived a three set match that was decided on a third set tie breaker against Latvia's Anastasija Sevastova.

Can Aunt Venus make it to her third Grand Slam final and her first US Open final since 2002?

And more importantly, can she finally break through and win a Grand Slam title this year?  

Sure hope so.      

It's Not Necessary For POC's To Say 'Not All White People Are Racist'...

When we as non white people are discussing the very real ways we have been negatively impacted by racism.

We non white peeps are well aware of that 'not all white people' point and have that in the back of our minds as a given before we even start trying to have that race conversation.

Saying 'Not all white people are racist' becomes a problem when we are trying to have that grown folks conversation about race and racism in mixed company, and you as a white person will with regularity defensively drop that comment in there or deliberately do so in an attempt to derail the conversation.

And we can't fix the racism problem in the US if we can't have an intelligent conversation about it.

Please don't even get me started about that BS Webster's Dictionary definition of racism that is not based on reality and damned sure wasn't written by a person of color who has been negatively impacted by it.

And you white peeps don't use a dictionary when you're debating other topics, so why is it that when race and racism is the issue and the discussion is happening in racially mixed company, the POC eyeroll inducing next thing that happens is that the dictionary definition of racism gets deployed by that white person or badly misquoted?

FYI, If you deploy it in the midst of a grown folks convo about race, it's akin to Godwin's Law.  You have automatically lost, and on top of that have shown yourself in the eyes of the person's of color in that race discussion to be clueless about racism.

Just so we're clear about what racism is, I'm using this Sociology 101 definition of it.

Racism is bigotry and prejudice PLUS systemic power and population numbers used by a majority group to retard, roll back or eviscerate the societal progress of a minority group.

An example of what I'm talking about would be the voter ID laws passed by Republicans to keep Black and Latinx people from voting.

So when non white people say that we cannot be racist, they are correct in that statement.  Non white people can be bigoted and prejudiced, but we do not exist (at least until 2040) with the population numbers to consistently turn our bigotry and prejudice into societal policy.

Because of your white skin and sitting at the top of the societal totem pole for centuries and majority population numbers, you have accumulated privileges above and beyond what a person of color has

That is also true in TBLGQ world that we have racist white peeps in our ranks.

And yes, there are racist white people who wear Brooks Brothers suits and Jimmy Choo pumps. They aren't carrying tiki torches, Confederate flags or giving Nazi salutes in public, but they are far more dangerous to non-white people because they wear police badges, sit on judicial benches or have the power to write legislation at the local state and federal level.

Or are sitting in the Trump administration as policy advisors.

And nope, haven't forgotten about the 53% of white women who voted for Trump last November, or who like Tomi Lahren and Megyn Kelly open their lipstick coated lips and get paid mad loot to spew racist crap out of them on national TV networks like FOX Noise.

Just because you are dating, married to or having sexual relations with a non-white person doesn't mean you get to hold your partner up as a human shield to attempt to absolve you of some racist crap you may have done or said.
  
That's reality that elements of you in the white community are unrepentant racists.  Any non white person talking about that reality and how it affects them personally, or the salient point backed up with numerous tiki torch bearing examples that far too many of your white skinfolk are gleefully racist is NOT racism, and y'all need to chill with that conservabullshyt.

So the next time a person of color starts taking about racism, know this salient point before you dive in to comment white peeps.

We non white folks are already aware of the fact before we even open our mouths to intelligently critique whiteness and white supremacy that some of y'all white folks are doing the work to dismantle white supremacy in your own lives, and we applaud you for that.  We just need y'all to get your misguided cousins and have those hard conversations with them.

We also don't need you saying 'Not all white people are racist' in a mixed company conversation that we need to have in the public sphere and on social media about how bad racism is and how it negatively impacts our POC lives  .

BLM Houston Is Handling Its Harvey Business

One of the things that pissed me off was seeing that fake news story from a right wing website that falsely tried to claim that BLM was blocking a military rescue convoy with supplies headed to Houston.

It was a blatant lie that was easily debunked.  What it did do was motivate me to write this post telling the real story about what BLM Houston is doing in the wake of the passage of Harvey to help the people of Houston and southeast Texas affected by the storm.

It was needed and necessary for me to do especially in light of the fact that I know several members of BLM Houston's leadership including its founder Ashton Woods and Kandice Webber.  I also met in Denver during Creating Change 2015 the founders of BLM national in Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Khan-Cullors.

I have witnessed firsthand what the peeps at BLM Houston have been doing for our Houston community before and since Harvey moved out of the area

For starters, BLM Houston member Brandon Mack is collecting school supplies for people who need them once the area schools restart.  Some of the local school districts had already started classes for the 2017-18 school year when Harvey struck while HISD was scheduled to start classes on August 28.

What is needed are pencils, white copy paper, spiral notebooks, notebook paper, post-it notes, clear backpacks, and binders.  Those school supply donations will be accepted through the end of September. 

BLM Houston is helping coordinate the clean up of people's flooded homes in northeast Houston, and has another Day of Action cleanup event scheduled for September 9.

BLM Houston has also been shopping for and accepting donations of supplies to distribute to people in need.

They are helping first responders and military personnel in town to help Houston recover from the floods.

In short, BLM Houston has been handling its Harvey business, and have been front and center in the efforts to help our people recover from this historic storm.

But you aren't hearing that from local or national media, or the right wing websites invested in spreading hatred of and disinformation about BLM.

If you are interested in helping BLM this weekend, their Houston Day of Action cleanup event they have scheduled will run from 10 AM-7 PM, and the gathering address will be the Fiesta at 9419 Mesa Rd in northeast Houston.
 
BLM Houston will provide the masks, cleaning supplies, gloves, goggles and tools for this event.  All they need is for you to show up to volunteer for it in jeans and closed toe shoes.

Thanks BLM Houston for doing your part at the grassroots level to help our community recover from Harvey.
 

What's The Texas Trans Community Doing In Harvey's Wake?

Plenty!

It's also ironic in the wake of a legislative session in which the Republican controlled Texas government tried to push fear and hatred of transgender people in the regular session and spent $800,000 of our tax money during the Special Oppression Session to mess with Texas trans people for their own political gain.

But when Harvey hit the upper Texas coast, it has been the Texas trans community who has also stepped up to not only organize efforts to help our own people, but people outside of it.

Hannah Simpson has been in Austin helping to coordinate Red Cross efforts there.   She has been reading stories to the kids there.  She's built a database to help with client management in the shelter, is working to help coordinate the volunteer scheduling and routing at the Austin command center and just doing what she can to help the place run smoother.

And nobody cares that she's using the women's bathroom when she has to pee.  It's past time to stop wasting valuable Texas legislative time aiming discrimination efforts at us.

Political rant moment over, back to the post.

Meanwhile here in Houston my fab sis Nikki Araguz Loyd and her husband Will went out during the deluge on their jet skis in their northeast area part of the city to help people caught in the floodwaters during Harvey.   They  ended up rescuing this 82 year old woman during one of their jet ski rescue runs.

Ana Andrea Molina and the Organizacion Latina de Trans in Texas (OLTT) despite losing a computer to a roof leak (since generously replaced) caused by the storm at Casa Ana Andrea, is standing by with up to six beds to shelter trans people made homeless by Harvey.

They are also pitching in to help where they can to help our trans community and other quicly recover from the storm.

One of my homegirls who is a pilot and operations director for a charter airline, has made flights along with her charter airline's pilots chock full of medical supplies to bring back here to Houston.   One of those medical supply flights was to Hobby Airport, which was closed at the time and she was told by the tower to 'land at her own risk'.  She landed the plane safely along with the supplies.

Other trans Houstonians and trans Texans are in unsung ways helping clean storm damage at other people's homes, volunteering at local shelters, coordinating aid and relief efforts, raising money and simply doing their part as fellow Houstonians and Texans do to pitch in and help people recover from this storm.

And that's before I even mention the countless trans folks around the country who are doing things in their area to help their Texas trans, bi and SGL fam in their hour of need.

Harvey is giving us the golden opportunity to prove that trans Texans are an undeniable part of the fabric of the Texas community.

We are eagerly rolling up our sleeves and seizing this opportunity to do so by handling our business and helping our fellow Texans.

Karma Kicks UT In The Behind

While rolling up to Austin along 290 yesterday for the SB 4 rally that Ana Andrea Molina was speaking at,  noted a lot of cars with burnt orange clad passengers and UT bumper stickers headed in the same direction.

That's when it hit me that 23rd ranked UT's season opener was happening with Maryland under their new head coach they stole from us at UH, kept us out of the Big XII and fired Charlie Strong after three seasons to make room for Tom Herman.

Anticipation was high because Herman in his short time at UH went 22-4, won a championship in the American in his first season (13-1) on the UH campus, beat top five ranked teams such as Oklahoma, Louisville and Florida State in the Peach Bowl and returned the swagger to UH football that we had when I was going there in the early 80's.

With the H-Town Takeover in full effect, UH became once again a serious and cool recruiting destination for local high school talent considering where to play college football.

They also underscored their renewed commitment to keeping our best players in the 713 by recruiting Ed Oliver, a marvelous defensive tackle that was coveted by Power 5 schools like Alabama who people were shocked when he signed to play and stay here.  

Oliver has become a nightmare for offensive lines across the AAC and the college football landscape.

So anticipation was high with the Longhorn fanbase that Herman and his coaching staff that included former UH defensive coordinator and interim head coach Todd Orlando would bring that success to Forty Acres.

Well, Herman's debut game in front of the Longhorn faithful at DKR-Memorial Stadium didn't go so well.   The Longhorns shockingly lost 51-41 to an underdog Maryland team at home that was picked in the preseason to finish sixth in their Big 10 East division.

Guess it's gonna take longer to fix UT's problems than they thought, huh?  The arrogant and impatient UT fan base was throwing stuff on the DKR-Memorial Stadium field after the game.

FYI Longhorn fans, Charlie Strong won his debut game yesterday at USF 31-17.

As a Cougar alum, I laughed all the way back to Houston when I heard the news.   Serves them right for screwing Charlie Strong the way they did.   At least he never lost a home opener while he was UT's coach.   And yeah, my dislike of everything burnt orange runs back to when we were members of the dearly departed Southwest Conference and I was walking UH's campus.

One of the other things that Herman and others (Kevin Sumlin) who have used UH to get Power 5 head coaching jobs elsewhere tend to forget is that UH sits in the middle of the most talent rich area for Texas high school football talent in the Houston metro area.  

UH is also a school with a chip on its shoulder.  We have always been condescendingly looked down upon by the UT's of the world.   We were supposed to be part of the Big XII during its 1996 formation but were screwed out of it.  

Being dissed by the Big XII last year only increased the size of that chip on UH's shoulder.

That chip on their shoulder attitude also filters down to the folks who eventually come to UH to play football there.  UH gets the kids who were overlooked by the Big XII and SEC schools who want to prove they are as good as those 4 and 5 star recruits that go to UT, Texas A&M and other Big XII and SEC schools who are part of the entitled football elite.

It's why Herman was able to go 13-1 in his first season and were in the running last year for a spot in the College Football Championship before injuries and a three game losing streak dropped us from being ranked number 6 in the nation to out of the polls.  

We do have talent here at UH.   If we could keep a quality coach as long as we did Bill Yeoman it would be able to sustain that success  It's probably why every time UH finds that coach the Power 5 schools steal him.

It's probably why the Big XII is 'scurred' to make us members because they know a UH that is a member of a Power 5 conference will be instantly competitive and the non-Texas Big XII schools are afraid they will never have a shot at recruiting Houston area talent if we are.

Ask Oklahoma about that.   I repeat, the UH player has a chip on his shoulder, is hungry for success and will work harder to beat the so called elite Power 5 player at Texas or A&M who because they play in the Big XII or SEC assume they are better than someone who plays in a 'lesser conference'.

And you can't replicate that 'us against the collegiate football world' mentality you have at UH and took advantage of to get your Power 5 conference school job with the phat contract.   It will be interesting to see if Herman can do so after becoming the first coach since John Mackovic to lose his UT debut game.

But until then. I'm going to enjoy watching karma kick UT in its burnt orange behind.

Happy 40th Birthday Fran Watson!

Couldn't let today pass without wishing Fran Watson a very happy 40th birthday.

Y'all know I have much love for my trailblazing sis, who has weathered much adversity in her life and overcome it to blaze trails, get happily married to her spouse Kim and make history.

She is a much loved figure in our Houston advocate community, and someone who I admire and look up to as a role model.

Fran is not only a kick butt attorney, but was elected as the first African-American female president of the Houston GLBT Caucus.   She became only the second African American female Houston Pride Parade Grand Marshal last year, and spends some of her precious free time sitting on the boards of several organizations in our Houston area community.

Now she is taking on another challenge by running for the Texas Senate and taking on Republican incumbent senator Joan Huffman.

If she wins next November, she would become only the second ever Black woman in Texas history elected to the Texas Senate and the first since the legendary Barbara Jordan successfully did so in 1967.

So looking forward to seeing if that history gets made with the help of the SD 17 voters .  But in the meantime, happy milestone birthday Fran!

Can't wait to see what else you accomplish in your amazing life!

British Trans DJ Is The Face Of New L'Oreal Campaign

As the right wing continues to fan the flames of anti-trans hatred, we just keep blazing trails and handling our business.

Meet British model DJ and activist Munroe Bergdorf.   The 30 year old girl like us  is breaking ground as the first out trans woman to appear in a L'Oreal Paris campaign in the UK.

The beauty brand is adding five new faces to their #allworthit campaign for their True Match Foundation, that matches 98% of the UK's skin tones.

And Bergdorf is excited about the opportunity to do so.

"If I can't relate to anybody that's in the media that's transgender, then hopefully someone can relate to me," she explains in the commercial. "I definitely set out to empower girls like me. I think that our history definitely wasn't being told. Not that many people know that it was trans women of color that fought for gay rights that started the Stonewall riots, which eventually led to the gay rights movement."

You can check out the commercial here.




TransGriot Update: I woke up a few hours later to find out that due to fragile white tears grousing from right wingers stoked by the Daily Mail tabloid L'Oreal Paris yanked her contract.

Very interesting to note that a gay white male can make a blatantly racist comment but still keep his contract, but a Black trans woman telling the truth about racism is grounds to yank hers and prove the point she made about racism in the first place.  .


 

2017 Williams Watch- The US Open's Starting!

While I was busy dealing with Hurricane.TS Harvey dropping way too much rain on my hometown, the 137th annual US Open kicked off at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, NY on August 28.

It's the last Grand Slam of the 2017 tennis season and the last one a pregnant Serena Williams will miss since she's due to give birth to her first child in September.  In bad news for the rest of the women's tennis tour and good news for all who love her, she's planning to return to the tennis tour in January 2018 for the Australian Open.

It's also the first Grand Slam tournament that Maria Sharapova is able to play in since coming off her suspension after the 2016 Australian Open for violation of the anti-doping policy.

One of the favorites in this year's US Open to no one's surprise is Venus Williams.  She's appeared in the Australian and Wimbledon finals this year and if she makes it to and wins the US Open, she will reclaim the world number one ranking for the first time since July 2002

The door has been opened for Big Sis to reclaim the number one ranking thanks to 2016 defending US Open champ Angelique Kerber getting upset in the first round in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 by Japan's Naomi Osaka along with Simona Halep's loss to Sharapova.

The sixth seeded Kerber wasn't the only big name that fell in the US Open women's tournament's first round.  Number 7 seeded Johanna Konta, number 2 seed Simona Halep, number 14 seeded Kristina Mladenovic, number 19 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 21st seeded Ana Konjuh, 24th seeded Kiki Bertens, 26 seeded Anett Kontaveit, 28 seeded Lesia Tsurenko and 32 seeded Lauren Davis all fell in the opening round

Meanwhile, ninth seeded Big Sis is handling her tennis business so far   It took her three sets, but survived her opening round match against Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 to move on to the second round against Oceane Dodin of France.

Venus beat Dodin in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 to advance to her third round match against Greece's Maria Sakkari.  

The winner of this match will face in the fourth round the winner of the clash between Ekaterina Makarova and Carla Suarez Navarro.

Will Venus finally claim a Grand Slam title this year?   We'll just have to wait and see.