Jane Raybould kicks off Senate campaign at family store that viciously mocked LGBTs 40 years ago

In June of 1977, Miami voters, led by singer and former Miss Oklahoma Anita Bryant, repealed the city's gay antidiscrimination ordinance, prompting a nationwide boycott of Florida citrus and Bryant's subsequent dismissal as the Florida Citrus Commission's commercial spokesman.
     At the time, Senate candidate Jane Raybould's father owned Russ's Market, at 17th & Washington in Lincoln, which was then called B&R IGA. That's where, tomorrow, she will kick off her Senate campaign to unseat Deb Fischer. (The "R" in B&R stands for Russ.)
     AKSARBENT lived in Lincoln then, and was appalled at the Raybould store's nasty, publicly-displayed signage ridiculing gay people with the crudest possible stereotypes.
     In fact, we were so disgusted that we took the photo below with our Minolta SRT-202 on Tri-X film and never shopped at a B&R store again. (The photo may have been taken in the early months of 1978 when sales on grapefruit would have been in fuller swing, as was Bryant's antigay traveling Jihaad, which went on the road to other cities.)
     Jane Raybould would have been about 18 or 19 at the time and perhaps already working in the family business. Hope she didn't draw the sign herself.

Separated at birth? 2018 NE Senate candidates Deb Fischer (left) and Jane Raybould.

      Regardless, we hope the family's attitudes toward LGBTs have evolved since then, as, according to its website, B&R Stores now owns

...18 stores located in seven cities across Nebraska and Iowa and employs more than 2,000 people, nearly 1,000 of which are employee owners. B&R Stores, Inc., is committed to being an active partner with each of the communities it serves in an effort to enhance the lives of both its customers and employees.

     Perhaps, during Saturday's kickoff, Jane Raybould will be good enough to produce a printed employment application for her family's grocery chain, so that Nebraska's 50,000 LGBTs can see, in black and white, what her family business's policy is now, in respect of hiring LGBTs.
     B&R's online application (retrieved yesterday) contained no information whatsoever regarding its discrimination policy.

Above: B&R IGA's grapefruit sale signage packed nearly every gay stereotype you can think of into one nasty caricature. Pompadour? Check. Platform shoes? Check. Ridiculous nails? Check. Earring? Check. Puffy, ruffled lace sleeves? Check. Plus, a pig's nose.
     And in case all that didn't sufficiently impart the Raybould family's demeaning message, the "fruit" part of grapefruit was underlined twice.
     When are homophobic enterprises going to realize that minorities never forget gratuitous attacks — even after 40 years?
     By the way, kids: 1978 wasn't really the dark ages in respect of the gay civil rights movement. We remember that guests on the Tonight Show then, regularly trashed Anita Bryant's bigotry, as did SNL. Guess the Raybould family business didn't get the memo.

Photos: Yesterday's Omaha USATriathlon sprint

A lot of Omaha Church Ladies weren't in church Sunday morning... Click on photos to enlarge. If you reuse these pics for publication, credit @AKSARBENT unless the photo already has a credit.

Photos: 2017 USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships

Yesterday, the triathalon was held in Carter Lake, Iowa, (currently on the Nebraska side of the Missouri pending any further changes in course of that waterway.).
     Today, the organization's mini-triathalon, the sprint, was held. Photos of that are in a separate post.
     Here are a few AKSARBENT pictures taken Saturday:

It's communist Russia-China solidarity, ok? No homo!

Unleashed to twitter by @dubsteppenwolf, who is a fine researcher...

AKSARBENT humbly suggests a solution to Nebraska's state flag problem

Today the New York Times looked at efforts to replace Nebraska's flag, so lackluster that it flew for several days outside the state Capitol in Lincoln upside down (while the Unicameral was in session) before anyone noticed. Like many state flags, it has a terrible design:

     Mr. Hartvigsen’s organization suggests principles for successful flag design: simple concepts, a distinct look, bold colors and no words.

     Nebraska’s banner violates nearly all of them.

     “It’s a flag that would be easy to fly upside down with nobody noticing,” Mr. Hartvigsen said.

     Redesigning state logos is fraught with danger:

Last year, a new license plate design was tweaked after critics said it was historically inaccurate and sexually suggestive.

     AKSARBENT covered that imbroglio here and OmahaLive! mocked it twice:





     Nebraska's flag, created in 1925, is simply the state seal superimposed on a blue banner, and therein lies the problem.
     You can't have an improved state flag without an improved state seal!
      AKSARBENT sensibly suggests a state seal that is more like one of the following, although our ideal state flag would feature two baked cowboys bathing in a stock tank from which a cow and horse were drinking, with a whooping crane perched on the cow, and a windmill pump in the background on one side with a wind turbine on the other (old and new, get it?) and the Nebraska state Capitol in the background, tilting slightly to the right like on that painting which used to hang in P.O. Pears in Lincoln.

Donald Trump is still driving his golf cart on the greens

The last time evidence of Trump's lack of golf etiquette surfaced on social media, it was in the form of a twitter video showing him driving his cart off a green. His idiotically indulgent supporters excused their buffoon with variations of "It's his course, he can do what he wants."
     Um, no. Not when he's charging members hefty club dues and guests similarly hefty greens fees and they expect not to have to put past turf tire tracks.

Inspector Clouseau, Walmart is on line 3

The picture is not photoshopped, as what it depicts in Walmart's Evansville, Indiana store has already brought a twitter apology from the big box chain. We think it's a brilliant inside job by a PR saboteur who is way smarter than you would expect most Walmart employees to be.

Holy shit, WalMart. pic.twitter.com/FiMdAms0c3

— jordan 🌹🌹 (@JordanUhl) August 9, 2017

IA GOP hits Dem with nasty anti-trans ads, then loses by 10 points in House district Trump won by 22

In a Southeast Iowa special House election to replace Curt Hanson, who died in office, the IA GOP targeted  Democratic veterinarian Phil Miller of Fairfield with nasty attack ads scapegoating transgender kids.
     Result: Miller beat Republican farmer Travis Harri, of Davis County, by ten points (55-45%), in a swing district that Donald Trump won in November by 22 points.

     From Iowa Starting Line:
     Republicans ran an intensely negative campaign on TV, attacking Miller for his vote on the Fairfield School Board to keep a policy on transgender bathrooms in place. The ordeal was a huge local controversy in Fairfield for most of 2016, and Republicans whipped up the anti-transgender sentiment despite a recent transgender teen’s suicide in June.
     ...Miller won a massive victory in Jefferson County, where the controversy burned the hottest, racking up a margin far larger than Hanson’s there in 2009.

The results by county:

	Miller	Harris
Jefferson	2,792	1,200
Davis	617	1,093
Van Buren	612	1,031
	4,021	3,324

Omaha accident of the week: Ferrari 458

A 2015 Ferrari 458 cost $298,000 new, although the one pictured in this post is undoubtedly worth considerably less than that due to wear and, especially, tear. A neighbor says the driver also has a black-on-black Lamborghini, so apparently he is not without wheels.

What Glen Campbell said when Frank Sinatra called him a fag guitarist

Here's how Campbell recalled their first meeting at Sinatra's Strangers in the Night session

     Despite this, Campbell thought Sinatra was friendly; when they were playing golf at a Bob Hope Classic, Old Blue Eyes offered to let Campbell stay at one of the houses he wasn't currently using.
     Campbell liked session playing better than being a star:



     Here's Campbell talking to the booth during his session work on the Beach Boys hit, Dance, Dance, Dance:



     And if the above didn't impress you with Campbell's guitar wizardry, try this:

That Luvs gay dads haircut ad

Protor and Gamble does it again. What do they care? Fundamentalists already hate the company.(Via Queerty.)

Reviewer: Lumix GH5 autofocus is like a Tesla autopilot that drives you off a cliff

"This camera has more than autofocus problems. It has ADD."
(Unless you have 20 minutes, skip to 9:49 in the video below.)



The GH5 is a fabulous camera, (this from a Nikon and Sony owner) and the autofocus problem can probably be fixed with a software update. Panasonic is well aware of the problem.



Here's a workaround until Panasonic remedies the situation:



IphoneDo reluctantly sent his GH5 back and bought a Sony a6500, which he even more hilariously reviewed below:

NU has designed a free, prosthetic, 3d-printed hand for kids who need one. 52,000 downloads. Cost to print: about $50

From KIOS's Deborah (Van Fleet) Newcombe:

    A group of researchers from four University of Nebraska campuses has received a two-year grant to collaborate on the Next Generation 3D printer prostheses for children.
     ...The grant’s lead investigator, Dr. Jorge Zuniga, an assistant professor of biomechanics at UNO, says up to 58% of children missing a hand or upper limb are not fitted for a prosthetic device, or they get one and reject it.
     In response to this need, Zuniga developed the Cyborg Beast, an open-source 3D prosthetic hand, which can be constructed for about $50.00 and has been downloaded over 52,000 times.
     ...These devices are made out of plastic, so they are very light. So they don’t require -- like a prosthetic arm -- doesn’t require a harness. We figured out if you make a device that they can put on themselves, they will be more likely to use it.”
     Zuniga says one of the goals for this grant is to develop electronic, switch-activated versions of their prostheses...

Twitter verdict on "sublime" green Ram 1500 truck

New gay feature Call Me By Your Name getting stellar reviews

Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name is getting buzz and reviews as enthusiastic before its release as last year's Best Picture, Moonlight, did before its release. The film wowed viewers at Sundance last winter. Professional critics whose reviews have been posted on Rotten Tomatoes have been rhapsodic. The film is adapted from André Aciman's acclaimed 2007 novel. From USA Today:

     ...The '80s-set drama chronicles the passionate, secret romance between 17-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) —  son of a celebrated professor (Michael Stuhlbarg) — and 24-year-old scholar Oliver (Armie Hammer), who comes to study Greco-Roman culture and live with Elio's family for the summer.

     Sundance: Kumail Nanjiani on his breakout 'Big Sick' and Trump-era comedy

Call Me is the final chapter of Guadagnino's so-called "Desire" trilogy, after 2009's Oscar-nominated I Am Love and last year's A Bigger Splash (both of which starred Tilda Swinton).

Bonus: LA-based comedian Brian Jordan Alvarez, whose web series, The Gay and Wondrous Life of Caleb Gallo was as hilarious as it was well-acted, finally got his feature, Everything is Free made. Trailer below.

50 employees of WI firm agree to chip implants by employer

Maybe they should read the American Veterinary Medical Association's survey of alleged links between cancer and RFID chips in pets.

R.I.P. Costco cofounder and Chairman Jeff Brotman

In Nebraska, not everyone is enthralled with Costco.