Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin won't retire, police called to Duggar home, I respond to The Catholic League

The Flash is currently casting for Wendy, who will be Barry's love interest for the second season of the show. She's basically to be his Felicity, super smart, and a cop. So I read this as they're finally getting a second forensic scientist on the force, which makes a ton of sense. And Barry is going to need a Felicity if Caitlin goes bad as Killer Frost. But Barry is probably really bad at love. Wouldn't his super speed get in the way of his bedroom performance?

In Mondays' Meme I referred to Bill Donahue of The Catholic League's "gross misunderstanding of apartheid" when talking about the Christian persecution complex. On Tuesday we got an email from  Don Lauer, Senior Policy Analyst for the Catholic League demanding a better explanation. First up, nobody is more shocked than me that there's a second employee at The Catholic League. I always thought it was Donahue and a fax machine. But let's try this: Apartheid was a horrible, systematic oppression of people of color (not just native South Africans) with roots in Dutch Colonialism, carried on when the British took over. It was an outgrowth indentured servitude which was an outgrowth of slavery codified into law conforming to British abolition of slavery. It was a system put in place when a civilization of superior technology and weaponry took over a culture and subjugated it. The fact that it was a few holding the many hostage has nothing to do with the rise of gay rights and liberals who want a modern Western country to stop oppressing a minority. That minority isn't trying to subjugate the Christian majority. It's trying to tell them that they don't get to open the presents at other people's birthday parties anymore. They don't get to always have the last slice of cake. What little secularism that exists in the U.S. isn't trying to oppress Christians, it's just asking them to play by the rules that everybody else plays by. Comparing marriage equality and a couple of bakers to 400 years of unnamed bloody oppression and 43 years of official apartheid is extraordinarily insulting to the people who were imprisoned or killed under apartheid. And let's be honest, the Catholic Church's record on apartheid was... uneven at best.

In keeping with a theme of Catholics with a persecution complex combined with a God complex, Rick Santorum says that if elected president (I can't type that without laughing), he wouldn't enforce a ruling for marriage equality, because it violates the First Amendment and establishes a religion. "When the United States government comes in and says this is what you are going to believe, this is how you're going to practice your faith, this is a new religion. This violates, in my opinion, the Establishment Clause in the Constitution that says that Congress shall make no law with respect to an establishment of religion. If the government goes around and tells churches what they have to believe in and what their doctrine is, that is something that is a violation of the First Amendment."

Caitlyn Jenner made her first public appearance since the Vanity Fair cover by visiting the Los Angeles LGBT Center and meeting with some of their youth members. “They were really excited to meet her. Caitlyn was really friendly and even referenced Miley Cyrus’ visit to the Center [in January]. She also brought some clothes for them.”

The Lower House in Italy has approved their first civil unions resolution. While not a law, the resolution commits the government to coming up with recognition for same-sex couples as well as adoption rights. Greece has also declared a plan to enact civil partnership laws.

Meanwhile, Michigan has sent three ant-gay adoption bills to the Republican governor's desk, which would allow for state funded, privately managed adoption agencies to discriminate on religous grounds. Despite his party affiliation, it's unclear if the governor will sign the bills or not.

And in a weird twist, the Republican controlled House has passed a HUD bill that would require contractors on housing projects to have nondiscrimination policies. Ironically, the bill is likely to be vetoed by President Obama for freezing and cutting funding for programs that help the nation's poor.

If you have a clown fetish, I won't judge you. But I will point you to Sugar Weasal, the nation's first clown escort. He does a lot of parties and club openings, including gay ones, but when it comes to services for the bedroom, he's only for the ladies. “I’ll do gay clubs or bar openings but I don’t have male clients. I’m not homophobic but my junk doesn’t work that way. Guess I’m just a ladies’ man.”

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has announced as part of the Pentagon Pride celebration that the U.S. Armed Forces have finished updating their regulations and will protect sexual orientation just like they do race, religion and gender under the department's equal opportunity policy.

Mike Huckabee of course says updating the EEO policies, President Obama is prioritizing gays over defeating ISIS. “The fact that President Obama invests more in strategies to celebrate LGBT pride month for our military than military strategies to defeat radical Islam proves this Administration has a massive, mind-numbing prioritization problem. The United States military is not a social experiment. We should not exploit our soldiers to promote Obama's political agenda or progressive pet projects.”

Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin say they have no plans to retire. Fonda says “Retirement? No. It’s a foreign concept to me. I might not be able to continue acting at some point, but then I can write or produce. There are any number of things I could do. I get so much from my work, and I continually try to improve.”

The County Clerk in Dallas says that he's making plans for a marriage equality ruling from the Supreme Court. “When the Supreme Court issues its opinion, I will immediately meet with counsel to make sure we understand the opinion. Since I feel that it will [be] in the positive, I will be ready to issue license[s]. I’ve already sent a briefing over to our commissioner’s court regarding overtime pay for my staff as well as addressed the need to have security not lock the building at its normal 5:00/5:30 scheduled time.”

InTouch, which seems to have staked out the Duggars lives, says that Arkansas Department of Human Services attempted to access the Duggar home last month to check on the welfare of a child and were denied entry, and summoned the police.

14 years after Portugal decriminalized all drug use and decided to focus on treatment as a disease and not a crime, now they have the second lowest overdose rate of any nation in Europe. Prior to decriminalization, they were in the middle of a heroin epidemic. "In the United States, 90% of the money spent on drug policy goes to policing and punishment, with 10% going to treatment and prevention. In Portugal, the ratio is the exact opposite."

One of you was kind enough to point out this article that says that people who post gym selfies may have psychological problems. "Brunel University did a study on people who take selfies and found that people who brag about fitness are usually narcissistic. People like this usually just want attention on their social media sites. They want to boost their ego by getting comments and likes on their photos."

The boys from Oxford's Out of the Blue acapella group have decided to make "Lady Marmalade" their next single for charity benefiting Helen & Douglas House, the first hospice for children. It's on point, and not just for the location filming. The boys are sassy and the voices big. I guess I'm lost in a cultural reference for why the one was reading "Imagining The Homosexual" at :14 seconds, but I'm sure someone will slap me with the reason in the comments.

After watching this I'm convinced the #hatchkids are slightly more advanced that the average child. Showing them pictures of Olympian Bruce Jenner and present day Caitlyn Jenner gave them only a moment's pause. Maybe they can teach a sensitivity class at Fox New?

Utah's Senator Mike Lee is sponsoring a federal License To Discriminate bill that would allow churches to do just about anything in the name of religion, because he fears that if marriage equality comes nationwide, the government will force churches to comply or they'll have to close. I think the funniest part is at the end where he talks about the fact that churches are tax exempt because they don't make a profit but do so much more social good. Most of the "social good" they do like adoption services they do with taxpayer grants, so they get to double dip.

My Disney vacations never looked as good as this. I guess it pays to star on one of their shows

But did he ever open his presents? Tom kept complaining on Twitter than Dustin wouldn't open his presents, Dustin complained there were too many. I just wondered why they were wrapped in plain brown paper like old supermarket bags

It's about time you were on the red carpet for a blockbuster again

The trick is in the thighs, Ryan. Just squeeze tightly

Thankfully the doctor just restricted him from playing soccer for his knee, and not doing crunches for his abs

BOOM! I get to play again! pic.twitter.com/OlHa4t72cC

— Gregg Sulkin (@greggsulkin) June 9, 2015

Excellent comeback for the ladies. And drag queens.

I bet you think this song is about you pic.twitter.com/tKsmfGNlI0 — Katie Cassidy (@MzKatieCassidy) June 10, 2015

Matty received a lot of love from his dog yesterday morning

Before kiss... pic.twitter.com/iBKB5fEDBP

— Matthew Mitcham (@matthew_mitcham) June 10, 2015

Cute and he loves puppies

Found this little guy on the streets of Toronto. So flipping cute. #couldnothelpmyself http://t.co/GHBmorgsxY pic.twitter.com/r8B4DrxStG — Scott Eastwood (@ScottEastwood) June 10, 2015

Oddly, not nearly as insufferable as a real episode of House Hunters

Filming an episode for HGTV House Hunters. Did not like the indoor outdoor flow or the cro… http://t.co/IoTA20jLps pic.twitter.com/SEipaMaYEd

— Blake Skjellerup (@BlakeSkjellerup) June 10, 2015

This guy really gets the most out of life

The End

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