2012 Williams Watch- Serena's In The Semis

The 'Williams'-don Ladies Singles tournament is rapidly heading to its conclusion this weekend and my favorite tennis playing sibling is still in the mix for her fifth title and 14th career Grand Slam one.

Her quarterfinal opponent wasn't going to be an easy one.  Sixth seeded Little Sis was facing fourth seeded and defending Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in a matchup of the last two ladies singles champions.

And per Serena's pattern in this 2012 tournament, she got off to another first set fast start by winning it in 30 minutes but ending up in a second set battle that took 54 minutes to finish.  

She trailed Kvitova 5-4 in that second set and had to save a set point to even it at 5 all, then broke Kvitova in the next game to take a 6-5 lead, then closed out the match with three of her 13 aces and a service winner to for the 6-3, 7-5 straight set victory to punch her ticket to the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time since she won her fourth title in 2010. 

Ironically on her way to that 2010 title she knocked off Kvitova in the Wimbledon quarterfinals and let's hope it has the same result.   Her semifinal opponent will be second seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus

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Happy 236th Birthday USA!

Happy birthday USA!   Once again on my nation's 236th birthday I find myself asking the question I borrowed from the first 'Tuskegee Airmen movie. 

How do I feel about my country?   How does my country feel about me?   

While my feelings about my country sometimes approach the level that Frederick Douglass expressed when he delivered this 1852 speech,  I find myself on this Independence Day in a melancholy mood.

As I anticipate watching the red, white and blue fireworks light up the night sky above Eleanor Tinsley Park later this evening and see the endless shows reminding of our nation's birthday,  I'm nervous about the critical presidential election we have just 124 days away.  

I wonder about the future of our nation in light of the conservafools who are willing to destroy it just to make one Black man and his family move from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.   I worry about the conservavoters stupid or racist enough to vote against their own economic interests like they have done for 150 years just to put another rich boy who looks like them with unresolved daddy issues in who will rubber stamp their 1% plutocratic agenda unlike the 'uppity' Black POTUS.

We are just three days from hosting the 103rd annual NAACP convention in my beloved hometown.  But I wonder will there be another LGBT town hall meeting and if it's held, will there actually be a trans person on the panel this time or will it be a trans free event like last year?

But it's not all bad I'm pondering on this day.  I'm noting that trans human rights in my nation, like everywhere else in the world has been on a positive upward trend.  We are having not only more positive feedback and discussion about trans issues, I'm happy on this day to see more #girlslikeus standing up, being out and proud and helping to facilitate those trans human rights discussions in our various communities.       

The Affordable Care Act has been upheld by the SCOTUS and the economy is doing a slow recovery from the Great Recession despite Massive Resistance 2.0 from the Republifools.   And yes, NFL traning camps start opening in a few weeks along with the opening ceremonies of the London Olympic Games on the 27th.

While there's a lot of things that concern me about my country, there also a few things it does do right to the point that we sill have people still wanting to come here.  Like any other American who resides inside or outside of its borders or are in our nation's military defending it, I want it to be the best country it can be and I want to have a say in how it gets to that point.  

And for the sake of my nieces, I need to fight just as hard for my vision of America as the conservafools do for theirs.  And hear me conservafools, just because I won't fight dirty like you have done for the last 40 years doesn't mean I as a liberal won't stand up to y'all and fight like hell to make my vision of a fair America that works for everybody come to fruition.  .My nieces deserve to grow up and have that type of America I enjoyed around when they hit adulthood

Happy birthday USA!    May you have many more to come.

Rep.Gutierrez 'Pick Out The Immgrant' Speech

Love this 'Pick Out The Immigrant' speech by Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) that he recently gave on the House floor while eviscerating the Arizona SB 1070 'Your Papers Please' law that was gutted by the SCOTUS last week.

Here's the video for it.

It's The USA's 236th Birthday...Who's Jealous Of Whom?

Renee had a little too much Canadian Club or was on an intense sugar high when she wrote that Canada Day post extolling the virtues of her home and native land.

Excuse me while I lick the BBQ sauce off my fingers in preparation for denouncing you properly.  And by the way, can't stand beer, no matter who brews it. 

The United States of America is 236 years old today.  It doesn't have to be jealous of any nation, much less our youngling 145 year old next door neighbor we share that long border with.  I wouldn't even start bragging about the War of 1812 since our former colonial overlords Britain did most of the fighting and paying for it.  

May I point out your hometown of Toronto (then known as York) was captured on April 27, 1812 by US troops and the Upper Canada parliament building and library located there were subsequently burned. 

The Niagara region was an invasion route in that war and Fort George and Niagara-on-the-Lake (then known as Newark) got captured and burned as  well.   By 1813 the US had control of Lake Erie and was threatening to cut off Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River, so I hardly call that an azz kicking.  The War of 1812 is regarded by many historians as a draw, but I can understand why you Canadians have a soft spot for it..

If you're going to selectively attempt to take credit for the British burning of Washington DC in 1814 then you get to take credit for the loss future president Andrew Jackson handed the Brits at the Battle of New Orleans. 

Canadian bacon is still ham, Vermont and New Hampshire produce great maple syrup as well, and I like my fries with bacon bits, cheese and occasionally chili.  But barbecue is still the all-American food besides the hamburger we're famous for.

As I pointed out in last year's post, there's no comparison between the Canada goose and the eagle.  Our national symbol will not only majestically poop on you but kick your behind if you have the misfortune of getting in the way of its razor sharp talons when it's diving on you..

You can stop guzzling that Canadian red hateraid from three liter sized bottles.  Can't help it that many of your singers (Tamia, Deborah Cox, Bobby and the Vancouvers, Vanity, Drake) take their musical talents south of the border    .

And about that comment about our national anthem:



And yes, noticed that you were quiet about 'your game' in which you can't even hold the men's or women's International Ice Hockey Federation tournament titles in it.   May I remind you that the 2012 men's IIHF world champs are the Russians, and our USA women felt sorry for y'all this year after holding the IIHF women's title for three straight years.  We'll have fun taking it back from y'all when y'all host the 2013 tournament in Ottawa.   Oh yeah, you can bet your loonies the Russians and us are coming for those Olympic medals in 2014.

Speaking of something else you're quiet about to the point you're trying to trade the Sweater Vest for a pint of beer,. there's no comparison between our national leaders. 

President Barack H. Obama, his lovely wife Michelle our First lady, and the First Daughters are not only smart and talented people, but look so good representing the USA at international events.

We're proud to have him sitting in the Oval Office fighting for us and I hope we get to enjoy him and the First Family living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for another four years. 

Now as for those trades.  Y'all can keep Alberta.   We have enough problems with our own conservafools that we need to rein in now.  Besides, I gave you Canadians a birthday present by pointing out to our conservaidiots y'all didn't want them desecrating your country. 

You can thank me later with Timmy's when I make it to your side of the border.

On that note back to me chowing down on my BBQ while I wait for the fireworks show to commence later this evening at Eleanor Tinsley Park.  .

Another Unexpected Honor

There are days that happen in which you receive a blessing that you have absolutely no clue is coming your way.

I was just alerted moments ago that I have received a 2012 G.M.A.D. Black Pride Heritage Award in the Literary Excellence category.   The awards will be given out in a ceremony that will take place August 15 at the Schomburg Center for Research In Black Culture in New York

I also note that Tona Brown was given the 2012 Marsha P. Johnson Award by G.M.A.D. as well.   Congratulations sis!

Wow.   I'm honored that this has happened.for me.   All I wanted to do when I started TransGriot six years ago was ensure that the voices of African-American transpeople were not only represented in the blogosphere, point out we Black transpeople are part of the kente cloth fabric of our community, transpeople exist across the African Diaspora and on the second largest continent on the planet . 

I also sought to obliterate the negative perceptions and ignorance that were being put out there about us and tell it like it T-I-S is about the issues that affected African-American transpeople and other trans people of color.

I also wanted to write a quality blog, document our history and talk about many of the issues inside and outside our community as I saw them.   Six years and almost 4 million hits later this blog has grown to be an internationally read one and I'm regarded as one of the national leaders in this community.

So thank you G.M.A.D. for the Literary Excellence Award. 

New Zealand Considering Trans Passport Policy Change

New Zealand is considering making some policy changes that would make it easier for trans Kiwis to not only get passports that reflect their gender presentation but also avoid being discriminated against when they travel internationally.

The New Zealand Passport Office is considering following in Argentina's groundbreaking footsteps and allowing transpeople to change the gender code on their passports without medical declarations or court papers

Currently transpeople can get an X code on your Kiwi passports.   You can only change the F or M gender code after a Family Court declaration that allows you to change the birth certificate.

That declaration happens only if the person has medical evidence showing that they are in transition from one gender to another, such as undergoing hormone replacement therapy, or has had gender reassignment surgery.

It decided to look into the policy change after being approached by the New Zealand trans community about the feasibility of doing so.

The New Zealand Human Rights Commission supports the change, with some members of the trans community wanting gender codes to be eliminated from the passports period.

As of this moment any changes to the passport policy wouldn't take effect until September .   
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2012 Williams Watch-Serena To 'Williams'-don Quarterfinals

If she's going to win her first Grand Slam title in two years, this may be her big opportunity to get it despite her father's concerns she's expending too much energy in the last two rounds. . 

The draw is setting up perfectly for Serena Williams as many of the big names like Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters, Li Na and Sam Stosur have already fallen victim to the upset bug  

Sixth seeded Serena survived an upset bid by China's Jie Zheng thanks to unleashing a Wimbledon record 23 aces onslaught to advance in a 2 hour and 28 minute three set marathon match and entered the fourth round of the 2012 Wimbledon Ladies Singles tournament against Kazakhstan's Yaroslava Shvedova

It took her three sets on Court 2, but she survived 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 to advance to the quarterfinals  .   

Once again Little Sis got off to a blazing start as she took only 26 minutes to complete the first set.   But in Shvedova she was facing a tall player that can hit just as hard as she could and she sent that message in the second set that took 34 minutes to play and even the match.   

Serena fought back in the closely contested deciding set that took 54 minutes to play and earned Little Sis a quarterfinal Centre Court matchup with defending Wimbledon champion and fourth seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

Should be fun to watch at 9 AM CDT.  

NY Latina Trans Activist Starts LBCF Community Fund

As I've stated more than a few times on this blog over the last now six years and Amnesty International has cosigned on that point, Officer Friendly ain't exactly friendly at times to the trans community, and especially trans people of color. 

There have been more than a few times these negative interactions have turned into highly publicized court cases.

My trans sisters in New York are dealing with the disproportionate fallout of the odious NYPD 'stop and frisk' policies   Because the po-po's assume they are sex workers, if during one of those stops the transperson in question has more than three condoms on them, according to local activist that transperson can find themselves arrested for prostitution

Interesting story about long time New York trans activist Lorena Borjas, who started the Lorena Borjas Community Fund.  

The LBCF provides legal assistance and funding to pay bail for low income and immigrant members of the Queens community in which she has resided for over 25 years.

Gabby Douglas Makes US Olympic Gymnastics Team

While I was flipping through the cable channels last night discovered there were two African-American gymnasts competing for spots on the US Olympic Gymnastics team.  One of them was 16 year old Gabrielle Douglas of Virginia Beach, VA  and the other was Elizabeth Price of Coopersburg, PA.  

I ended up watching the rest of the trials from the point I stumbled upon it because Gabrielle was leading the Olympic trails competition with two rotations to go over Jordyn Wieber, the current world champion.  

Douglas has been compared in gymnastics circles to Olympian Dominique Dawes, who was the first African American to not only make a US Olympics gymnastic team but won an individual gymnastics gold medal in floor exercise and a team gold as part of the 'Magnificent Seven' at the 1996 Atlanta Games. 

Douglas won gold at last year's Pan Am Games and hopes to make history by repeat the feat in London.   She eventually won one of the two automatic spots on the team by holding on to her lead over Wieber.   Elizabeth Price made the team as a replacement athlete as well.

It also gives me a heads up on another event and athlete I'll be keeping my eyes on when the London Games get started on July 27. 

The Joseline Hernandez Transmisogyny Op-Ed Got Published!

I've been griping about the out of control transphobia in the Black gossip blogosphere lately that has found a new target around VH1's Love and Hip Hop Atlanta's Joseline Hernandez.

I penned an op-ed piece that was published at Loop 21.com  over the weekend entitled The Transmisogyny Aimed At Joseline Hernandez Is An Outrage.

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One thing that bothers me as a proud, African descended transwoman is the ongoing sexist attacks aimed at women of color.

Women come in all shapes, sizes, skin tones and body configurations, but women of color have had to deal with a centuries old ‘vanillacentric’ beauty standard that was not created with them or their bodies in mind and uplifts white women as the ultimate templates for femininity while negatively impacting women of color.

Because of that beauty standard, far too often black women get ‘that’s a man’ or ‘ugly’ shade hurled at them. You only need look at Satoshi’s Kanazawa’s May 2011 Psychology Today ‘Why Are Black Women Ugly’ article as an in-your-face example of the ‘unwoman’ meme gone pseudo-scientific. One of Kanazawa’s assertions in the article was black women were ‘more manly’ due to extra testosterone in their systems.  Thankfully, the article was taken down after it generated a worldwide firestorm of criticism and outrage. 

As the Williams sisters, Fantasia, Ciara, Wendy Williams, Grace Jones, Brittney Griner and Caster Semenya can tell you, women who are deemed to have a non-standard feminine presentation, larger-than-life personality, a thin, athletic frame, are 5’7” or taller, wear a double digit shoe size or have a combination of physical traits that are deemed to be more apropos to the masculine gender have ‘that’s a man’ derision hurled at them. Even the late Donna Summer battled rumors in 1978 that she was a transsexual despite being the mother of two children.

Flinging the 'you're a transwoman' accusation at a ciswoman has sadly become the weaponized insult of choice by men and women when they wish to disparage any woman they don’t like. 

[ALSO READ: A Transgendered Woman On Love And Hip-Hop]

We’ve had an off the charts epidemic of transphobia breaking out in the black gossip blogosphere for several years. While much of it has been aimed at Ciara and Wendy Williams, the latest target in the transphobes sights is Joseline Hernandez of the VH1 reality television show "Love And Hip-Hop Atlanta."
Because Joseline has some traits that are deemed by the Black Blogosphere Femininity Police as belonging to the opposite gender, she has been savaged by rumors that she is a transwoman. She overreacted to those rumors by tweeting a frontal nude photo of herself that showed her female genitalia backed up by a tweet proclaiming she was ‘100% female.’

Transmisogny is gleefully trafficked by the editors of the blogs and runs amok in their comment threads. In one post by Bossip, they used the derogatory anti-trans slur word ‘shim’ in a post about Ms. Hernandez before it was changed.

Some of the transphobic ignorance displayed in the black gossip blogosphere aimed at Ms. Hernandez is fed by stereotypical and false assertions on what a transwoman looks like. It also has its roots in loud and wrong transphobic writings penned by a depressing long list of radical feminists for four decades such as Janice Raymond, Germaine Greer, the late Mary Daly, Sheila Jeffreys and Julie Bindel.

It hasn't helped that since trans people began a renewed push in the mid-90s to gain trans human rights coverage, right-wing fundamentalist Christians, including some right-wing gay and lesbian fundamentalists have engaged in anti-trans bigotry and tactics to stop this coverage.

The white trans community has had a plethora of sympathetic popular culture trans characters on shows such as All In The Family, Ally McBeal, The L Word, Ugly Betty, Dirty Sexy Money and the movie Transamerica. The last time a Black transwoman was portrayed on screen without being cast as a sex worker, drag queen or a murder victim was The Jeffersons ‘Edith Stokes’ in 1977, Sheryl Lee Ralph's ‘Claire’ in Showtime's Barbershop the Series and Tyra Banks' ‘Roni’ on the show All of Us. 

[ALSO READ: Public Perception Of Trans Women Of Color]

Because the trans narrative has predominately been a white, upper, middle class one, far too often the people tapped to speak for the trans community on panels and talk shows, do the activism, or write articles for the trans community have been in that demographic. The invisibility of trans people of color in the media and LGBT movement resulting from that dynamic has led to a perception that transsexuality is a ‘white thang’ or trans people don’t exist in our communities.

Thanks to the rise of the trans blogosphere and Afrocentric blogs such as TransGriot, supportive trans allies and bloggers such as Womanist Musings and What Tami Said, increasing trans activism, ally organizations such as GLAAD, out and proud transwomen such as Janet Mock, Laverne Cox, Valerie Spencer, Angelica Ross and Tona Brown, a tradition of Black trans activism that began in Philadelphia with the 1965 Dewey’s Lunch Counter Sit-In and the 1969 Stonewall Riots, we have begun to push back against the lies, negativity and outright distortions about who and what a transwoman is.

Our media outlets and legacy organizations such as the NAACP, the National Black Justice Coalition, and new ones like the Trans People of Color Coalition are beginning to facilitate the badly needed discussions inside and outside our community about transwomen and how we fit into the kente cloth fabric of it.

It’s a necessary conversation we need to have if we are going to stop the trans misogyny aimed at transwomen.

NAACP Convention Starts In Houston Saturday

The NAACP's 103rd annual convention will start in my beloved hometown at the George R. Brown Convention center on Saturday and run through July 12. 

It will have the theme of NAACP; Your Power, Your decision- VOTE in light of all the GOP sponsored voter suppression laws that have popped up like kudzu all over the country in advance of this critical .election. 

Mitt version 2012 will be here to speak to the assembled convention delegates along with Mayor Annise Parker, and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.  I presume President Obama will be in the house to speak as well, but it hasn't been announced yet whether he will be here in person or through satellite link.  .

One of the things I'm also interested in observing as this 103rd convention takes place in Houston is if another NAACP LGBT town hall meeting happens during this event.   If it does, will Julian Bond keep his promise to ensure that a transperson would be part of the panel they assemble for it in the wake of the trans community's erasure from last year's Los Angeles NAACP convention's LG(bt) panel discussion. .

We'll see what transpires at the George R. Brown Convention Center starting July 7.

Canadian Women B-Ballers Headed To London!

It's next stop London for the Canadian women's basketball team.

Two days after being upset by Croatia in the quarterfinals, they had to do it the hard way and on Canada Day no less, but for the first time since 2000 the Canadian women's basketball team will be taking part in the women's Olympic basketball tournament.

They knocked off Argentina 58-41 yesterday to get to today's final.  Courtney Pilypaitis scored 21 points and handed out six assists in the 71-63 win over Japan to clinch the final berth available in the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Ankara, Turkey.

The Canadians shot 48% for the game and lit it up from three point range, knocking down 9 of 19 attempts from behind the arc.

They get to savor their win for a few days and contemplate what life will be like in the Olympic Village before preparing for tough Group B Olympic competition that will include games with 2008 silver medalists Australia, Brazil, 2008 bronze medalists Russia,  2010 FIBA Women's World Championship runner-up Czech Republic and host nation Great Britain.   

TS Separatist Chickens Out Of Debate Wih Cristan

If you believe strongly that your ideas are superior to someone else's, you should have no problem standing up in any venue to calmly and rationally debate someone with opposing points of view in the glaring light of public scrutiny.

But as radfems and their TS separatist auxiliaries routinely prove, they are incapable of doing that for multiple reasons.

They know deep down in their vanillacentric souls their positions are not only unpopular, they are on the wrong side of the moral arc of the universe and won't stand up to intense examination.

So they do what any group that's stuck defending a position based on a quicksand like foundation and a series of loud and wrong talking points does.  

They employ 'fear and smear' demonize the opponent tactics.   They use electronic brownshirt tactics worthy of the most seasoned conservative Republican operative.  They comment swarm opponents blogposts.  They lie, shout down and attempt to intimidate anyone who calls their azzes out.  They try to silence anyone who has irrefutable evidence that deconstructs and demolishes their erroneous, loud and wrong talking points they base their whole worldview on. 

And they refuse to debate them.

Like any vanillacentric group with privilege finding themselves being challenged by the marginalized one they terrorize and oppress on a regular basis, they try to flip the script and laughingly claim victim status. 

Cristan Williams has been hard at work along with others in the reality based trans community confronting the lies and compiling the research that has blown up many of the TS separatist talking points they've been pimping from their closed corners of the Net.

When they accused her of making it all up, she challenged their spokesmodels to debate her.

Lisa McDonald stepped up and accepted that challenge, but as we in rational trans world suspected would happen eventually weaseled out of the debate that was scheduled for last month. . I'll let Cristan tell you the rest of the story.

This is all I have to say about it to the TS separatist side.

TransGriot Update:  I struck a nerve in TS sep world with this post.  Lisa sent Cristan a note threatening 'legal action'.  It only shows the depth of Lisa's cluelessness and still doesn't detract from the fact Lisa backed out of a debate she proposed.   And after personally watching Cristan eviscerate our local Reicher Dave Welch on Fox26, I can say with reasonable certainty had Lisa honored her commitment, Cristan would have pwned her too. 
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An 'In The Life' Conversation With Janet And Isis

In The Life recently had two of my sisters in Janet Mock and Isis King get together to have a conversation about the perceptions of #GirlsLikeUs in the media

UH's Last Season In C-USA And Robertson Stadium

One year from now the University of Houston will join the Big East Conference in all sports, but until then we'll be spending the 2012 season as a member of Conference USA for the final time.

The University of Houston has been a charter member of C-USA since the league was founded in 1995 but with the changing college conference landscape and UH campus leadership under president and chancellor Renu Khator pushing UH to be a Tier One institution in academics and its athletic programs, (and the Big 12 being 'scurred' to invite UH to join the conference) the move is being made the join the Big East in 2013.

Something else this will be is the final football season for Robertson Stadium.  The stadium was built in 1941 as an HISD high school football venue named Jeppesen Stadium and has a lot of history attached to it.   It hosted the Yates-Wheatley Thanksgiving Day game when both schools were in the old PVIL, Houston Oilers games in the early 60's, some Texas Southern University and HISD gridiron clashes and served as the home of the Houston Dynamo when thy moved here from San Jose until their new downtown stadium opened in May. 

It was bought by the University of Houston in the late 70's and renamed Robertson Stadium to provide an on campus facility for UH football games and was expanded in the 1990's to its current 32,000 seat capacity.

Once the final UH football game is concluded in December, demolition of Robertson will begin in order to clear room for the brand new 40,000 seat football stadium expandable to 50,000 to be erected on that spot of the campus and completed by September 2014. 

One cool thing is that the METRORail Southeast light rail line is currently being constructed on the Scott Street side of the new stadium and will be completed in late 2013-early 2014 which will make it easier to get there on Cougar game days if you don't feel like driving.  

But while I'm happy my alma mater is finally getting to work on that long talked about new on campus stadium and also renovating the Hofheinz Pavilion basketball arena across the street in the process, the one thing I'm sad about is that Robertson Stadium and the history attached to is going to be lost to the wrecking ball

But I'm also looking forward to seeing what happens in this final season of C-USA competition and how we fare in the Big East in 2013.


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Happy 145th Birthday, Canada!

Today is Canada Day and I wanted to take a moment to wish all my TransGriot readers north of the 49th parallel a happy one.

Canada Day celebrates our northern neighbors birthday.   Specifically it commemorates the uniting of three colonies, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada (which split into the provinces of Ontario and Quebec) and creating a four province federation under the British North America Act in 1867.

The July 1 date is considered Canada's birthday, and that means it's a holiday weekend in the Great White North. I presume my homegirl in Niagara Falls will be marking the auspicious occasion of her nation's birth by indulging in a few Timmy's Ice Capp's or maybe some adult beverages.  

And yeah Renee, I'm waiting to see what Canada Day smack you write this year because you know the retaliatory post will be coming three days from now.

And don't overdo it on the ketchup flavored potato chips.

I suspect when the fireworks and parades happen to celebrate their nation's 145th birthday, trans Canadians, especially in Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario will be singing 'O Canada' a little louder and be standing a little taller this year because of the positive direction that trans human rights have taken in their home and  native land. 

Happy Birthday, Canada!

2012 Williams Watch-Serena Survives Upset Bid

There were probably more than a few people around the world who presumed that Serena Williams would breeze by her third round opponent Jie Zheng of China when they stepped onto Centre Court to play their match. 

But Zheng had other ideas about that.  Zheng only made 17 unforced errors in the entire match and got an early Christmas present in the first set tie breaker when every point she scored in it was courtesy of Serena's errors. 

Two hours and 28 minutes later it took Little Sis hitting a Wimbledon record 23 aces, not dropping a service game in the entire match and every ounce of determination, experience and skill she could muster to outlast Zheng in a 6-7 (5-7) 6-2, 9-7 marathon match to get herself to the fourth round of the ladies single tournament at Wimbledon.

Serena can exhale for a moment and prepare herself for her fourth round opponent, Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan

Canada Women B-Ballers Still Alive For Olympic Berth

It's probably not the way they envisioned spending Canada Day, but they will be glad to take the court tomorrow with a final chance to dribble their way into the London Olympic women's basketball tournament. 

After a tough quarterfinal 59-56 loss to Croatia that dropped them into the win or go home knockout semifinal games today, Canada defeated Argentina 58-41 today to reach the final game at the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament being contested in Ankara, Turkey.

Their opponent will be Japan, who knocked off their fellow FIBA Asian Zone rival Korea 79-51 to advance to tomorrow's pressure packed game for the final Olympic women's basketball berth.

Good luck ladies and don't sleep on Japan.   If you do your next chance to play basketball on the Olympic stage won't occur until 2016 in Rio.

The Canadians Don't Want You Conservafools In Their Country, Either

Sorry to kill your buzz as y'all prepare to celebrate your 145th birthday on the other side of the 49th parallel, but as a good neighbor to all my loyal TransGriot readers on the other side of the long border we share, I thought I should advise you that some of our Ugly Conservafool Americans have expressed a desire to live on your side of the border because of their foaming at the mouth racist hatred of President Obama.

As much as I would love for them to bounce and never come back, I can't in good conscience let that happen with at least giving y'all a heads up.

Since y'all are busy celebrating Canada Day weekend, as a birthday gift to your nation I'll take it upon myself to talk to our conservafools American to American and point out why US conservafools should reconsider their hasty ramblings and empty threats to move to Canada. 


Okay conservafools, let's chit chat for a moment shall we?   Before we get started, there is no industrialized nation or continent in the world that you can to go to escape a government run health care system except sub Saharan African ones, and even they are trying to get to single payer health care as expeditiously as possible
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Now y'all have been in sore loser freak out mode ever since the SCOTUS ruling on the Affordable Care Act Thursday surprisingly went against y'all.   Here's just a sample of the tweets y'all composed that we 'libruls' have been hysterically laughing at the wake of your loss.

I don't know why you peeps arrogantly think the Canadians want you to live in their country.  They have their own conservawingers in Alberta and Little Alberta (Saskatchewan) to deal with and damned sure don't want y'all stomping around Banff National Park or smoking up their high quality BC weed.

And hello, if you want to leave the USA because of 'socialized medicine', guess what the medical system is based on in the Great White North?  

If you said socialized medicine, congratulations, you're smarter than the average non hooked on phonics conservafool.  Even your NRA poster girl Caribou Barbie has snuck across the border from Alaska to partake of their high quality socialized medical care that results in Canadians having longer life spans than us exceptional Americans.

You conservapeeps are stuck in your conservamedia echo chamber you'll have to give up once you step across the 49th parallel.  But before you do so, you have to pay all the taxes you owe Uncle Sam before.you leave.  Assuming you meet the requirements for emigration to your proposed new home and native land, you'll quickly discover that Canadians live in a different and reality based world

They don't allow unchecked hate speech or have a network that broadcasts 24 hour conservalies.  Their gun laws are stiffer, and oh yeah, Canada has allowed since 2003 gay marriage, respects a woman's right to choose and has strong, powerful politically active unions.   You'll have to get used to a Canadian Armed Forces that allows transpeople to openly serve in it, and speaking of transpeople, human rights for trans Canadians is starting to make serious progress in the Great White North thanks to the New Democratic Party and fair minded Canadians realizing it's time to do so.

The national pastime is hockey and televised on Hockey Night In Canada.  Football is CFL football, played with three downs, 12 men and on a 65 by 110 yard field with 20 yard end zones and a championship game called the Grey Cup.     .

Your homeschooled kids will no longer be taught Flintstones science, they'll be taught facts based  science in schools that are ranked in the top five in the world in math and science education in addition to a longer school year that ends in late June.  

There's also something y'all hated on called the metric system that is in widespread use north of the border that you and your conservakids will have to get adjusted to.  You'll watch a smiling weatherperson telling you it's going to be a hot 37 degrees in Calgary.  Your speed limits are posted in km/h, distances between cities will be measured in kilometers and you'11 be buying gas for that trip in liters.  . 

Since many of you conservafools have a demonstrated spelling problem, they also use Her Royal Majesty's English north of the 49th parallel as well.

Oh yeah, since you conservapeeps love hating on France, I would suggest you don't move to or visit Quebec where the French language and culture are dominant to the point where the road signs are printed in that language and Francophone Quebeckers are fiercely protective of that French heritage as well.

And yes, Canada is a bilingual country. 

The Sweater Vest and his Conservatives have a majority government now, but his conservafool policies y'all love are pissing off the Canadian electorate to the point that by the time you experience your first Canadian election in 2015 you may be facing the prospect of gasp, you ran from the federal center-left policies of President Obama to the federal center-left policies of the New Democratic Party if the chatter coming out of the Canadian pundit class is correct and another Orange Crush wave to throw the Conservative bums out is building..

FYI, if you move to Ontario, they just passed an anti-bullying law that applies to all schools in the province including the Catholic ones and an anti-trans discrimination one.   If you visit Toronto, it's a world class city with a multicultural population that has people there who look like me.   Nova Scotia has a lot of people there who look like me as well.


And if you're bitching about paying taxes now, wait until you discover on April 30 that Canadians shell out much more of their loonies in taxes to pay for that socialist infrastructure. 

But you will get to eat at Timmy's more often, celebrate Thanksgiving in October, be healthier and drink better beer.

Hell, maybe I should consider moving there, but only after President Obama wins his second term. 

AG Holder Comments On GOP Witch Hunt Vote

The Fast and Furious conservascandal contempt vote took place on the conservafool controlled House Thursday afternoon after more than 100 Democrats walked out in protest.  

Here's Attorney General Eric Holder's statement concerning the sham vote pursued by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and conservafriends.

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“Today’s vote is the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided – and politically motivated – investigation during an election year.   By advancing it over the past year and a half, Congressman Issa and others have focused on politics over public safety.   Instead of trying to correct the problems that led to a series of flawed law enforcement operations, and instead of helping us find ways to better protect the brave law enforcement officers, like Agent Brian Terry, who keep us safe – they have led us to this unnecessary and unwarranted outcome.

 

“During this time, the men and women of the Department of Justice – and I – have remained focused on what should and must be our government’s top priority: protecting the American people.

 

“When concerns about Operation Fast and Furious first came to light, I took action – and ordered an independent investigation into what happened.   We learned that the flawed tactics used in this operation began in the previous administration – but I made sure that they ended under this one.   I also made sure that agents and prosecutors around the country knew that such tactics must never be used again.   I put in place new policies, new safeguards, and new leadership to make certain of this – and took extraordinary steps to facilitate robust congressional oversight.   Let me be very clear – that was my response to Operation Fast and Furious.   Any suggestion to the contrary simply ignores the facts.

 

“I had hoped that Congressional leaders would be good-faith partners in this work.   Some have.   Others, however, have devoted their time and attention to making reckless charges – unsupported by fact – and to advancing truly absurd conspiracy theories.   Unfortunately, these same members of Congress were nowhere to be found when the Justice Department and others invited them to help look for real solutions to the terrible problem of violence on both sides of our Southwest Border.   That’s tragic, and it’s irresponsible.  The problem of drugs and weapons trafficking across this border is a real and significant public safety threat – and it deserves the attention of every leader in Washington.

 

“In the face of these and other challenges, the Justice Department has continued to move forward in fulfilling its critical law enforcement responsibilities. Whether it is with regard to prosecuting financial and health care fraud, achieving a record mortgage settlement, taking aggressive action in protecting the most vulnerable among us, or challenging proposed voting changes and redistricting maps that could disenfranchise millions of voters – this Department of Justice has not been afraid to act.

 

“Some of these enforcement decisions were not politically popular and help to explain the action taken today by the House.   As Attorney General, I do not look to do that which is politically expedient – on behalf of the American people whom I am privileged to serve, I seek justice.  

 

“In recent weeks, the Justice Department secured its seventh conviction in the most serious terrorist plot our nation has faced since 9/11.   And just two days ago, the Department awarded more than $100 million in grants to save or create law enforcement jobs, including more than 600 jobs for recent veterans.  

 

“This is the kind of work that leaders in Washington should be striving together to advance.   At a time when so many Americans are in need of our help, I refuse to be deterred from it.   And I will not let election-year politics and gamesmanship stand in the way of continued progress.  

 

“Today’s vote may make for good political theater in the minds of some, but it is – at base – both a crass effort and a grave disservice to the American people.   They expect – and deserve – far better.

 

“As a result of the action taken today by the House, an unnecessary court conflict will ensue.   My efforts to resolve this matter short of such a battle were rebuffed by Congressman Issa and his supporters.  It’s clear that they were not interested in bringing an end to this dispute or obtaining the information they claimed to seek.  Ultimately, their goal was the vote that – with the help of special interests – they now have engineered.

 

“Whatever the path that this matter will now follow, it will not distract me or the men and women of the Department of Justice from the important tasks that are our responsibility.   A great deal of work for the American people remains to be done – I’m getting back to it.   I suggest that those who orchestrated today’s vote do the same."