Shut Up Fool Awards-NFL Kickoff Weekend Edition

The 2014 NFL season kicked off last night with the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks opening at home.   After unveiling their championship banner, they subsequently opened up a can of whoop azz on the Green Bay Packers 36-16. 

The scary part for the rest of the NFL is Seattle's offense with a healthy Percy Harvin looks even more dangerous and their defense is even more imposing when the opposition doesn't even attempt to throw a pass in All-pro cornerback Richard Sherman's direction

Speaking of shutdown corners, it's Friday, and it's time for the usual Friday 'bidness' of blitzing ignorance, sacking stupidity, and shutting down head scratching hypocrisy.

Let's get started with this week's edition of the TransGriot Shut Up Fool awards.

Honorable mention number one goes to Attorney Gen. Greg Abbott (R-TX) for pulling out of a governor's debate with Wendy Davis.   What's wrong Greg?  'Scurred' she's going to beat the crap out of you?  Or is your pulling out related to the fact you don't want to explain all the problematic issues of your 11 year tenure as AG in front of the entire Lone Star State?   
 
Honorable mention number two is a group award for FOX Noise fembot Anna Kooiman, Anne-Marie Murrell, Dr. Gina Loudon and Morgan Brittany for this feminism bashing Fox & Friends segment about What (GOP voting) Women Really Want   



Yep, looks like they visited the Stepford Salon and had the GOP cranium rinse before going on air.  

Honorable mention number three is Phyllis Schafly.  She crawled out of her crypt to utter the asinine statement that women can avoid rape by focusing on marriage and not careers. 

And had you taken your own unsolicited advice and focused on your marriage, Ms Schafly, the ERA would be part of the US Constitution and our country would be a much better more progressive place to live.

Honorable mention number four is conservanegro columnist Walter Williams.   He earned an Uncle Ruckus Award for writing a jacked up column comparing gay people to smokers and suggested they should pay more for life insurance..

I pity the George Mason University students forced to take his economic class

Honorable mention number five is Duck Suck Dynasty's Phil Robertson, who claimed he was as much a homophobe as Jesus was.

Oh really?  That's news to Biblical scholars.  You're actually a raving homophobe because Jesus had NOTHING to say about the subject of homosexuality, while it seems as though every time you part your lips, something homophobic and racist comes out of it.

Honorable mention number six is Rafael Cruz.  The Father of the junior senator from Alberta let something else racist fly out of his mouth in stating 'the average black' is just too stupid to understand that the minimum wage is a Very Bad Thing. 



Naw Rafael, the 'average Black' is way too smart to fall for your conservative bull feces.  It's why we ain't voting for anything with an 'R' behind their name (including your son) unless it benefits our community a la Mississippi and  the strategic votes cast last July for Thad Cochran to help him win a GOP runoff battle with a neo-Confederate teabagger. 

This week's Shut Up fool winner is Cee Lo Green..  He let some asinine tweets fly on Twitter concerning rape in the wake of a court case, and that giant sucking sound you hear is his career imploding.   



Green pleaded no contest recently to one felony count of giving a woman the drug Ecstasy at a dinner in 2012.  He was also accused by the woman in question of sexually assaulting her, but prosecutors concluded at an October 2013 hearing there was insufficient evidence for a charge.

Green then tweeted this on August 31: 

"If someone is passed out they're not even WITH you consciously! so WITH Implies consent," he tweeted in a post that's since been deleted but was preserved by a Twitter user. "Women who have really been raped REMEMBER!!!"

He deleted the tweets and attempted to apologize, but the damage has been done.  His TBS reality show, The Good Life.was canceled and he was dropped from a September 20 United States Navy-sponsored concert in Washington, D.C. 

Better set aside some cash to find a good publicist to clean this mess up. 

And oh yeah, Cee Lo Green, shut up fool! 

Another Statistic

TransGriot Note:  From time to time I like posting my own creative writing on the blog since I talk about so many serious subjects here.  This post is the first time I've featured someone else's creative writing on TransGriot, and it's one of my longtime readers in Ace Ramirez.    I liked his poem and felt it needed to be shared with the world.  

And now, here's Ace's poem

Another Statistic

There's a fire burning right outside my door
I can feel its heartbeat rattling the floor
Every time I leave, I'm scared of what's in store
Makes me wonder what's the point of living for

I could turn a blind eye, maybe I won't see
All the hate-filled stares that are watching me
I could catch a bullet if moved suddenly
Or detained & tasered, if I get lucky


Can you hear the striking of the mission bell?
That heralds the right to send me straight to hell
When or where it comes from I can never tell
Drinking deeply from the poison in the well


I'm a demon even if I am a saint
To protect myself, my image it would taint
Seen as a thug even if my dress is quaint
In my death, the ugly picture they would paint

Is it so wrong for me to sing the blues? 
Is it my fault for poring over all the news? 
If I ignore the violence will I change my views? 
Can I forget the threat of this unjust abuse? 

I can pretend I'm fine, business casual 
I could resume my life, all as usual 
Just shut up and ride, my fear irrational 
Or stand up & fight, perceived as animal 

The answer is unclear, what can turn the tide? 
Would it be easier for you if I lied?
And said I'm safe because of where I reside.
Too bad. I'm black. Hence I am terrified.

ALR 8/30/2014

Save The Sexual Minorities Archives House

As you long time readers of TransGriot are aware of, one of the missions of this blog is to talk about our history as transpeople.

One of the people I met back in 2008 when I spoke at a trans rally in Northampton, MA was transman Bet Power, who is the curator of the Sexual Minorities Archives in that city. 

The Sexual Minorities Archives was founded in 1974 with the name New Alexandria Library for Lesbian Women and houses one of the oldest and largest collections of LGBTQI literature, history, and art in the United States.  

When Bet Power inherited the archive in 1992, he expanded its scope to LGBTQI, and changed the name.

Since then Bet as the curator for the SMA has been adding to the collection.  He is now working to add the Leslie Feinberg Library to it.   The Leslie Feinberg Library contains 1000 books, photos, and a transcript of interview with Sylvia Rivera, the mother of the trans rights movement

The Archives House is home to nearly 10,000 books, over 900 periodicals sets, comprehensive subject file materials on LGBTQ life, multimedia, art works, and rare LGBTQ historic materials. Each year, 300 to 500 people visit the SMA to browse, conduct research, volunteer their time, work as student interns, or attend support group meetings.    The SMA received a grant from UMass this summer to digitize the collection..

It also serves as Bet's home, and Bet was recently informed that the landlord wants to sell it.   The landlord did give Bet the first option to buy it, but because he has a rare medical condition, he is on SSDI and can't afford to purchase the house on his own despite qualifying for a NACA mortgage.

Unless he can raise the $20,000 needed by November 15, the home will be sold to another buyer and the SMA (and Bet) will be forced to move.

Bet has raised $12,384 so far, but still needs your help to reach the goal.  So if you can, please help toward saving the SMA archive and our LGBT history.  Only $7,616 is needed to hit the target, and any amount you can give is deeply appreciated and will get Bet closer to being able to purchase the home to house the archives there.

If you need further information:

July 31 interview on New England Public Radio.

Sexual Minorities Archives
Sexual Minorities Educational Foundation, Inc. 
Northampton, MA 


Sexual Minorities Educational Foundation, Inc.
P.O. Box 1023
Northampton, MA 01061-1023
Phone: 413-584-7616

The Sexual Minorities Education Foundation, Inc as August 11, 2014 has received its 501c3 non-profit status from the IRS, so that means any donations to SMEF are tax deductible.

TransGriot 2014 NFL Picks-Week 1

The 2014 NFL season kicks off tonight, and after a horrible (for me) 2013 season on two levels I get to once again match football wits with 2013 NFL prognostication champ Eli Blake and Mike Watts and attempt to bring the title back to Texas.

After running away with it most of the season, Mr. Blake survived a furious late season 23-9 finishing kick by Mr. Watts to take the title to Arizona and win by three games.   Eli also got to watch his Seahawks finally claim that elusive Super Bowl title with a win over Mike Watts' adopted Denver Broncos squad.

2013 is history I definitely want to put in the rear view mirror.   The Texans putrid 2-14 season resulted in Gary Kubiak's firing, a new coaching staff under Bill O'Brien and number one overall draft pick Jadeveon Clowney about to play his first NFL game in a Texans uniform.   

Can they go from worst to first in the AFC South this season like the Colts did?    We'll see.

The rules are the same as last year.  Eli, Mike and I pick the winners of that week's NFL games, no spread.  Picks and changes of picks have to be posted no later than 10 minutes before scheduled kickoff time of Thursday's (or Saturday and Sunday) early games.  If you fail to select a winner for a game, that's considered a loss for tabulation purposes. Tie games get recorded as a tie on our season records regardless of team we selected.  Person with the best record at the end of the NFL regular season gets prognostication title and bragging rights until next season.

So let me get started with my picks for Week 1 of the 2014 NFL season.   Sixteen games, and it's always the most volatile week because you really don't have much to go on in terms of just how well these teams will play when the games start counting after four weeks of preseason games.

I want to get off to a good start and lay the foundation.  This week and the next four weeks of the 2014 NFL season will reveal which teams are contenders and which teams are pretenders fighting for the first pick of the 2015 NFL Draft next May. 

Team I'm selecting will be in underlined bold print.  And this year, I'm just listing the cities and not the nicknames so I can avoid writing the racist Washington NFL squad nickname they need to change ASAP. 

Mike and Eli's picks are here.

2013 Season Record
TransGriot      144-111-1
Eli                  163-92-1
Mike              160-95-1

Thursday Night Game
Seattle over Green Bay

Sunday Early Games
New Orleans over Atlanta
Cincinnati over Baltimore
Chicago over Buffalo
Houston over Washington
Kansas City over Tennessee
New England over Miami
New York Jets over Oakland
Philadelphia over Jacksonville
Pittsburgh over Cleveland
St Louis over Minnesota

Sunday Afternoon Games
San Francisco over Dallas
Carolina over Tampa Bay

Sunday Night Game
Denver over Indianapolis

Monday Night Games
Detroit over New York Giants
Arizona over San Diego
   

Mississippi Silicone Pumper Tracey Lynn Garner Gets Life

Been keeping an eye on the Tracey Lynn Garner silicone pumping case in Mississippi that resulted in the death of 37 year old Karima Gordon of the ATL.  

When I last checked in Natasha Stewart was getting a total of 15 years in jail back in February for accepting $200 from Gordon for a referral for the pumping procedure and falsely claiming Garner was a nurse.

After two trial date resets, the 54 year old Garner finally faced the judicial music. After a trial last week in Hinds County Circuit Court, was convicted August 29 of depraved heart murder for the death of Gordon and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

She was sentenced Tuesday by Judge Winston Kidd to five years for the wire fraud charge and life imprisonment for the murder of Gordon.   Garner is still facing charges for the 2010 death by pumping of Marilyn Hale of Selma, AL. 

The trial date in the Hale case has not been set as of this writing, and will keep you TransGriot readers posted on what transpires in that case.  

Gender Nonconforming Teen Sues SC DMV

You may have heard about the incident back in March in which Chase Culpepper was forced to take off the makeup he was wearing and 'look more like a boy' before officials at a South Carolina DMV office would take a driver's license photo.

16 year old Chase identifies as male and answers to male pronouns, but wears feminine or androgynous attire and makeup in his everyday life.

Chase was informed by DMV officials at the Anderson, SC office near where he lives that wearing the makeup constituted a 'prohibited disguise' and refused to take his picture for his drivers license despite his mother pointing out this is how Chase appears in his everyday life.

The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday that alleges the DMV violated Chase's free speech rights in violation of state and federal constitutions.

“My clothing and makeup reflect who I am,” Chase said.  “The Department of Motor Vehicles should not have forced me to remove my makeup simply because my appearance does not match what they think a boy should look like. I just want the freedom to be who I am without the DMV telling me that I’m somehow not good enough.”

The suit was brought by Chase’s mother Teresa Culpepper on his behalf as a minor.  It asks the court to rule that denying Chase the freedom to wear his everyday makeup in his license photo constitutes sex discrimination and violates his right to free speech and expression under the United States Constitution. It also seeks a ruling under the U.S. and South Carolina Constitutions that the DMV’s photo policy is unconstitutionally vague, too broad, and lets DMV employees arbitrarily decide how a driver's license applicant should look, without regard for the rights of the people they are supposed to serve.

For you legal junkies, the suit is Teresa Culpepper v. Kevin A. Shwedo, et al, and is pending in the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, Columbia Division

Let's hope that the TLDEF lawsuit is successful

More 2014 Honor 41 Trans Videos

There were nine trans people named to the 2014 edition of the Honor 41 list honoring the contributions of LGBT Latinos.  As their videos get released, I'll be posting them to TransGriot.

I've already posted Ruby Corado's video, and now I'll post the latest ones to be released in the persons of Luis Gutierrez-Mock and Brenda Del Rio Gonzales

Luis



Brenda (in Spanish)

2014 FIBA World Cup Watch-Just Winning, Baby!

The 2014 FIBA World Cup started while I was chilling in Louisville, and I got the opportunity when I wasn't running around hanging out with various peeps to watch Team USA take on Group C in Bilbao.

This version of Team USA is the youngest one (average age 24) we have sent to FIBA competition since we started using NBA ballers to handle our international basketball business.  

The first game for Team USA on August 30 was against Finland, and it was the first time since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics that we'd played the Wolfpack in an international basketball game.  

Team USA made short work of Finland by shooting 59% from the field, holding them to 0-17 shooting and a pair of free throws in the second period while rolling to a 60-18 halftime lead.  

They blew them out of the Barakaldo Arena 114-55 for their 55th straight win in FIBA competition and their first one in group C play.   

The next day was the 2010 FIBA final rematch against Turkey, and it wasn't the walk in the park that the Finland game was.   Turkey slowed the game down to their pace, dared the USA shooters to hit three pointers (only one of those 9 first half three point attempts went in), clogged up the lanes with Omer Asik and fouled USA players to prevent fast break baskets when Turkey turned it over.  Thanks to 37%  first half shooting, sloppy ball handling and subpar defense, Team USA found itself trailing 40-35 at the half.

Coach K implemented the full court pressure defense to start the second half, and that got Team USA's fast break offense jumpstarted.



They trailed Turkey through much of the third quarter and tied at 59 with 3:10 left before they woke up,  fixed the turnover issues and the dynamic duo of Kenneth Faried and Anthony Davis asserted themselves.   Faried led all scorers with 22 points with Davis scoring all 19 of his in the second half as Team USA used a 7-1 third quarter closing burst for a 66-60 lead.   The fourth quarter opening 10-0 run helped put the game away and powered Team USA to a hard fought 98-77 win and a 2-0 record in Group C play.

After getting Labor Day off, Team USA resumed its quest for a FIBA title repeat by facing the Tall Blacks of New Zealand yesterday.  

New Zealand brought their rugby tradition of doing the haka dance to Barakaldo Arena before they played Team USA.   After the Tall Blacks showed off their haka dance moves, Team USA proceeded to dance all over New Zealand 98-71.    

It was Faried and Davis doing the damage once again, with Davis scoring a game high 21 points and Faried contributing a double double with 15 points and 11 rebounds to keep Team USA unbeaten in Group C play at 3-0 before they face the 2-1 Dominican Republic at 3:30 EDT. 

So far so good in Spain so far.  

TransGriot Update:  After another slow start, Team USA woke up to run away with a 106-71 win over the Dominican Republic and clinch the top spot in Group C.   They play their final group game tomorrow against Ukraine before they head to Barcelona to begin knockout round play against the 4th place team in Group D. 

Interesting SCC 2014 Starts Today

When this year's edition of the Southern Comfort Conference kicks off in suburban Atlanta today, it's going to be noteworthy for several reasons.  

In addition to the news that HRC President Chad Griffin will be one of the keynote speakers for it on Friday, it's noteworthy for the bombshell news that this will be the last one in the Atlanta metro area for a while.

It's also noteworthy that once again, the SCC organizers failed to reach out to ATL transpeople of color leaders, but what else is new?

Southern Comfort, which has been held and was born in Atlanta in 1991 and was featured in the 2001 documentary of the same name about the life of transman Robert Eads, is rumored to be heading to Fort Lauderdale, FL  for three years starting in 2015.

All eyes in Trans World will be turned in the direction of the ATL from today until September 7 for the developments and news that come out of it 

Mt Holyoke College Is Officially Trans Friendly

Mills College on September 1 became the first women's college to officially enact policies welcoming transfeminine students to enroll on their campus, and I know a transfeminine Mills College alum and longtime TransGriot reader who is exceedingly happy about that development. 

I had the pleasure of being on the Bryn Mawr campus a few years ago for a speaking engagement, and said to one of the deans at dinner before I departed for Louisville it was a matter of time when, not if you were going to see transfeminine students seeking to enroll and become students at traditional women's colleges. 

I pointed out that with transkids transitioning as early as age 4, today's transkids will become tomorrow's transteens looking for a college to attend.  I pointed out if the Seven Sisters colleges wanted to tap into that pool of college students, earn their loyalty and their parents tuition money, they better deal with the reality that transfeminine women exist and may possibly wish to attend a women's college.  If they didn't want to or refused to do th work necessary to attract them, those trans feminine students would attend other schools that are willing to do so.

I suggested Seven Sisters colleges like Bryn Mawr work on including gender identity in their non-discrimination statements and crafting trans friendly policies to make that inevitable day as seamless as possible instead of having those policies forced on them via court decisions they will lose..

Smith College has gained the righteous ire of transpeople for the jacked of treatment of Calliope Wong and other transfeminine applicants as they have hypocritically allowed transmasculine students who transitioned after they started school on that campus to complete their degrees.

One of the Seven Sisters colleges has decided to follow the lead of Mills College and clarify their policy on admittance and enrollment of trans students 

This is a welcomed and much needed development, and it will be interesting to see now that a Seven Sisters college has done so, will the others like Smith, who have been hostile to transfeminine students enrolling, finally do so.  

Heading Back To Texas

After spending a wonderful few days in Louisville with friends and adopted family for the first time since I moved away from here, it's time to head back to my life in Houston.

As much as I love H-town and I'm a proud Texan, I'll admit that overall, the nearly nine years I spent in Louisville were enjoyable.

I grew to like the city, and those years were important to my development as a person and an activist.

And TransGriot was born here

It was wonderful getting the chance to see many of the people that became my friends and adopted family up here despite it being a holiday weekend.  For those of you I missed, I'll catch y'all next time.

Just hope it won't take me four years to come back

Happy Labor Day 2014!

Happy Labor Day people!   Hope it's a good one for you whether you are celebrating it from the cozy confines of your backward around the barbecue pit or enjoying it from some vacation spot of  significance to you like I am.

In the United States and Canada, this is a day to celebrate workers.  But what I have not been happy about as someone who grew up in a union household is seeing the conservafool assault on union and people foolishly believing the right wing propaganda that unions are evil.

People not getting a living wage and having to get public assistance while corporations make obscene profits is what is evil.   It's past time the minimum wage was raised in the US from the pathetic $7.25 it sits at right now.

For those of you who are engaged in searching for work, may those job searches be swiftly successful and you find employment that allows you to grow with the company.

For you entrepreneurs out there, may your businesses continue to grow and be successful    Speaking of  successful, may we continue to have success passing gender identity inclusive non-discrimination laws that will lead to increased employment for talented trans people.

And since we are rapidly approaching another crucial midterm election November 4, one of the questions you need to be asking your state and federal legislative candidates is where they stand on raising the minimum wage, passing legislation to eviscerate Citizens United and that bull feces corporatist assertion that corporations are people.

Yeah, I'll believe that crap when Texas executes one.

Happy Labor Day people!

Moni's Vacation Musing

There are just times when I just get into deep introspective mode, and it can happen for me at any time.    I do enjoy engaging in what Dr. King called 'hard, solid thinking' .

One of those times I get to do that is when I'm traveling or on vacation like I am right now.

So what am I musing about?   Much of it has been centered on the fact I'm now 20 years into transition and my ongoing evolution as Moni.   There are times I count my blessings like friends and family who love me and the people I have encountered due to the activist portion of my life that do have much respect for me, what I do and more importantly what I stand for.

I think about the fact those friends, extended family and brothers and sisters in the human rights struggle extend around the world.

I think about the amazing progress that has been made in getting the public to see the humanity of trans people and especially trans people of color, but realize that we have much work to accomplish on that front.

I think about what I can do to continue striving toward my goal of being a quality Black woman and being the best person I can be.

And as a leader in this community, I do think about because I'm a Kennedy baby what kind of legacy I will leave for the people who follow in my footsteps.  Am I doing my utmost to be the best 'possibility model' I can be?

I have the rest of today, tomorrow, and the plane rides home to ponder those questions and whatever other queries pop up in my mind.

Happy Milestone Birthday, Caroline!

Today is the milestone 60th birthday of model, trans advocate and Bond Girl Caroline Cossey who was born on this date in the UK in 1954.

She was one of the more well known trans women of the 80's and 90's and has a variant of the intersex condition Klinefelter's Syndrome in which instead of the XXY pattern that many people with the condition usually have, she was born XXXY.

Cossey broke ground as a fashion model under her stage name Tula, authored two autobiographical books published in 1982 and 1991, was a Bond Girl in the 1981 film For Your Eyes Only, and a September 1991 Playboy magazine centerfold.  

She also fought for trans marriage rights in Great Britain.   She won her European Court of Human Rights.case in 1989 and lost it on British government appeal in September 1990.

Since 1992 she has been married and living in the ATL metro area with her husband David Finch.

Happy milestone birthday to one of our transfeminine pioneers who helped push the knowledge envelope abut us during the 80's and 90's.   May you have many more.  

Shut Up Fool Awards- Moni's Back In Da Ville Edition

Yep, it's true.  I'm back inside Jefferson County visiting Da Ville for the first time since I left 4 years ago to move back home to Texas .

And yeah, this is also a pleasure trip.  Not up here for a conference, panel discussion or speaking engagement (yet) but just chilling. 

It's been wonderful so far to see many of my friends here and I'm trying to catch up with as many folks here inside I-265 until I leave to return back to Texas Tuesday

And before I do that, a trip to Impellizzeri's Pizza is a must. 

But today is also Friday, and y'all know what that means.  It;s time to handle our usual Friday 'bidness' of exposing what fool, fools or group of fools I just had to take time out of my whirlwind trip up here to Bluegrass country to call out.

Honorable mention number one is a joint award for ESPN and reporter Josina Anderson for that fracked up homophobic 'report' focusing on Michael Sam and the shower.    They apologzied for it, but WTF were y'all thinking?

Honorable mention number two goes to Dallas PD Assistant chief Malik Aziz for parting his lips on FOX Noise to say that police departments aren't overmilitarized and the solution to negating that perception is painting the tanks blue.

Seriously?  You need to have several seats at Jerryworld for saying something that stupid.

Honorable mention number three is CNN host Ana Cabrera, who was upset that in the 6.1 quake that struck the Napa, CA area, she was heartbroken over the hundreds of broken wine bottles?

And that sums up in a nutshell why CNN's ratings are plummeting.

Honorable mention number four is Craig James.   The failed Texas US Senate candidate probably slept through his history classes at Stratford HS and SMU because he parted his lips on behalf of his new employers in the Family Fascism Research Council demanding judges rule by 'Biblical law'.

Christopimping ain't easy, huh Craig?

Honorable mention number five goes to Pat Robertson, for his double dip of stupidity.   First he tried to claim that single motherhood leads to male kids becoming gay, and then on the 666 700 Club opened his mouth to say Robin Williams killed himself because he was a heathen who didn't worship Jesus.

I need a full post to properly eviscerate this faith-based fool

Honorable mention number six goes to Gov. Rick Perry, (R-TX).   Gov Goodhair continues to let his mouth overload his anus in this developing scandal that has resulted in two abuse of power federal  indictments for him.   He thinks Texas taxpayers should have picked up his legal tab for the trouble he got himself in, but is now paying for his legal team out of his campaign fund because people 'complained about it.

Folks, if you're wondring why we Texans never elected an Aggie governor until Perry, now you know.  

This week's Shut Up Fool winner is hate preacher Michael V. Williams.   He believes that a constitutional amendment should be passed that mandates that homosexuality should be a felony crime punishable by a sentence of 10 years hard labor.

And y'all thought I was being alarmist when I stated a while back the wet dream of the Christofascists was to pass versions of the anti-gay laws enacted in Uganda, Nigeria and Russia here.

Michael V Williams, shut up fool


 

Moni's Back In Da Ville!

Yep people, if you wanted to know what my double secret destination was this time, it is Louisville. 

I'm in Jefferson County for the first time since I pointed the moving van south on I-65 toward Nashville on May 8, 2010 with the final destination being Houston.

Dawn wanted to keep it a surprise, and y'all know how well I can keep my lip zipped when it comes to keeping stuff radio silent. 

Anyway, I'm here through Labor Day weekend  and looking forward to not only destroying some Impelizzeri's pizza, but seeing as many peeps as I can before I head back home Tuesday. 

2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup Starts Saturday

The tournament has been rebranded and the next one won't be played until 2019 so it doesn't conflict with the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, but the FIBA Basketball World Cup tips off Saturday and runs through September 14. .

Many basketball fans in the USA don't consider it as important as the Olympics, but for the rest of the planet and the 23 other nations playing in it, this FIBA Basketball World Cup is a BFD. 

And yeah, USA b-ball fans, you need to be paying attention, because the winner of this FIBA tournament and the women's FIBA one that gets started September 27 in Turkey gets an automatic bid to the 2016 Rio Olympic basketball tournament. 

So if our star spangled men's b-ballers want to be dribbling Molten basketballs on the Rio Olympic Arena courts in two years and avoid playing in the FIBA Tournament of the Americas to qualify for the Olympics, failure to win this tournament in Spain is not an option.

The 2014 (and 2016 Olympic) Team USA squad will once again be coached by Mike Krzyzewski, who has a 64-1 record in FIBA internatioanl play. 

And despite Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and Blake Griffin pulling out and Paul George's horrific injury during Team USA training camp that will sideline him for this tournament and the 2014-15 NBA season, you international peeps better not sleep on this squad we are sending to defend our FIBA men's title.. 

In addition to my Houston Rockets homie James Harden, the 2014 Team USA FIBA World Cup squad includes DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento); Stephen Curry (Golden State); Anthony Davis (New Orleans); DeMar DeRozan (Toronto); Andre Drummond (Detroit); Kenneth Faried (Denver); Rudy Gay (Sacramento);  Kyrie Irving (Cleveland); Mason Plumlee (Brooklyn); Derrick Rose (Chicago) and Klay Thompson (Golden State).

This 2014 squad is also attempting to do something a USA men's squad has never done in the history of this tournament, and that's repeat as FIBA World Cup tourney champions. 

But there are several teams that want to make sure we don't end up playing in the championship game in Madrid, starting with the host Spaniards.   They are still smarting from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic final losses pinned on them by the USA ballers and being upset in the 2010 FIBA tournament knockout round by Serbia. The Gasol brothers, Serge Ibaka and company are determined to not let it happen on home soil.

The Lithuanians are always dangerous, along with the Brazilians, the Argentinians even without Manu Ginobili and Greece.  If you're laughing about Greece, ask Coach K or LeBron James about that.  They are the team in the 2006 FIBA world semis in Japan that handed Coach K his lone FIBA b-ball loss.

Team USA is in Group C in Bilbao's Barakaldo Arena, and start FIBA Worlds play August 30 against Finland.  The next day they get a 2010 FIBA finals rematch against Turkey before they get a day off.  The USA ballers resume group play on September 2 against New Zealand, play the Dominican Republic on September 3 before completing pool play on September 4 against Ukraine.  

Pretty much a winnable group for Team USA while the Spaniards are slugging it out in the Group A 'Group of Death' in Granada with France, Serbia, Brazil, Egypt and Iran.  

Should be fun to see how this plays out over the next few weeks.

Air Marshal Taking Mystery Trip

The Air Marshal is taking a flight again, and this time it's for a pleasure trip to a double secret destination. 

I'll have to connect through Chicago Midway to get there, and hopefully I won't have the drama I had when I flew through there earlier this month.

I'll be getting to my destination in the Eastern time zone around 12:55 PM assuming everything is on schedule.

This trip is happening because not only do i need to get out of H-town or a few days, I had a voucher in my possession I needed to use and complete travel for by mid September before it expired, and I wasn't letting a $525 one go to waste. 

My host asked me to keep the destination a secret so when I started showing up at places after I arrive in that final destination, It'll be a surprise at least until the word gets out on social media I'm there..

But looking forward to going there.  See y'all in a few hours mystery city denizens.

DART Orange Line To DFW Opens

As you TransGriot readers know, I'm an unabashed mass transit supporter, especially when that transit system in question contains a rail component.

Normally as a proud Houstonian, I'm usually hating on anything Dallas related with a passion, but for once you're going to see me write something that praises Dallas. 

And naw, hell ain't freezing over and we aren't experiencing blizzard conditions in H-town right now . 
While former congresscritter Tom Delay, Rep. John Culberson (R-TX), and the Harris County Republican Party have been fighting METRO tooth and nail to keep them from getting the federal funding to build light rail here in Houston,  DART has been gleefully taking the federal money METRO hasn't been able to and began getting busy assembling the largest light-rail network in the United States with 90 miles (137 km) of track, a commuter rail line that terminates in Denton, TX with another rail line to Ft Worth .

As a matter of fact, to build the initial 7.5 mile segment of the METRORail Red Line that opened ten years ago, METRO had to use its own money to do so


I finally got a chance to ride the DART Orange and Red Line trains during the recent Black Trans Advocacy Conference back in late April and May.   The Doubletree Campbell Center hotel that hosts BTAC is near the Lovers Lane station on the northern end of the Orange and Red Lines.  

When I get off the Megabus from H-town at the DART East Olive Street transit center downtown, I'm a short two block walk from the St. Paul and Pearl Arts Stations.   Those stations are on that Bryan Avenue-Pacific St corridor in which all four DART light rail lines currently converge in their run through downtown Dallas.

Even better, the St Paul station has a 7-Eleven nearby so I can get my Slurpee fix before I shell out the $2.50 for my northbound DART train ticket to Lovers Lane.        

I was well aware of DART's Orange Line being extended toward DFW Airport through Irving.  Construction had started on the DFW Airport station that was scheduled to open in November.  

In my conversations with this year's BTAC attendees, they lamented the fact it wasn't open, and were hopeful that when they returned to Dallas for the 2015 edition of the conference, the DART light rail line would be open for revenue service from DFW.    

Well peeps, you got your wish.  The extension and the DFW Airport Station in Terminal A was finally completed four months early and under budget.   It opened for revenue service on August 18.  

That's great news for all the peeps who travel to Dallas to attend conferences.  It also makes me hopeful that with our own METRORail Purple Line being just 5.5 miles from its current Palm Center termination point to Hobby Airport, funding can be found (hint hint) to extend it and connect at least one of our airports to the rail system like Dallas has done for DFW. 

But nice to know that the next time I fly into DFW, I can take the train into downtown and anywhere else along the DART Rail network .

Ricky Smiley Morning Show Transphobia

The war against media transphobia aimed at trans women of color seems like it's a never ending one.    Here's a FB commentary from TransGriot reader Sasha concerning the transphobic comments she heard aimed at Laverne Cox during one of the Rickey Smiley Morning Show segments yesterday.

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Last night my sisters and I were watching Dish Nation/Rickey Smiley Morning Show. Laverne Cox was declared as one of the Emmy show's  best dressed women which I though was AMAZING...until one of the hosts yells "that's a man!"and they slightly go into the infamous shock factor, making her identity the center of a joke.

Gary and one of the shows guests, a cis woman of color, then came to Laverne's defense by stating her accomplishment and how major it is for the Transgender community. The young lady also corrected the misgendering and made sure she addressed the Laverne as a WOMAN.

I've been listening to Rickey Smiley Morning Show for YEARS, I'm a fan of the show but I think it's time to call the RSMS out on their consistent ignorance and insensitivity towards the trans community.

This is NOT the first time I've encountered this type of madness from them. Not too long ago they were throwing shade towards Cee Lo after his affair with a transwoman. Not to mention the jokes that very often seem to revolve around #GirlsLikeUs.
We need to hold them accountable.  It is not the guest's job to educate them LIVE on the radio about transgender terminology. As much as they talk and joke about us, they should be well informed on the issue. Rickey Smiley has a huge platform in the black community and instead of all the shade, he could be using that platform for the good of ALL as well as being held accountable for repetitive transphobia.

It's time to call them out!

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I agree, Sasha . GLAAD and NGLJA Rapid Response team, it's time to handle your media business.