(screen capture via Fox13Now)
(screen capture)
Utah: Pride Flag Thief Apologizes With New Flag & Note
News Round-Up: February 5, 2021
Remember him? (via 2016 Super Bowl)
(cover image via Hot Spots Magazine)
BREAKING: Actor Christopher Plummer has died aged 91.
The Oscar Winner and Sound Of Music star passed away peacefully at his home in Connecticut. More: https://t.co/g5ReGMj0eW pic.twitter.com/cSmEsG81OO — Sky News (@SkyNews) February 5, 2021
Senate & House Approve COVID Stimulus Blueprint
Vice President Kamala Harris (screen capture)
The House gave final approval on Friday to a budget blueprint that included President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus plan, advancing it over unanimous Republican opposition as Democrats pressed forward with plans to begin drafting the aid package next week and speed it through the House by the end of the month.
Senate leaders could begin working on their own bill in hopes of delivering a final package to Mr. Biden’s desk before supplemental unemployment benefits are set to expire in mid-March.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, cited poll numbers showing bipartisan support among American voters for the plan, brushing aside criticism the White House was sacrificing bipartisan solidarity for partisan celerity.
“He didn’t run on a promise to unite the Democratic and Republican Party into one party in Washington,” she said in her Friday briefing at the White House.
While the budget reconciliation approach will allow Democrats to pass the legislation without Republican votes, Biden has signaled he is open to some adjustments to the legislation including targeting direct payments of $1,400 to lower income and middle income Americans. The Senate also agreed to a proposal prohibiting an increase in the minimum wage during the pandemic. Biden’s plan hoped to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025.
After an all-night session, Vice President Kamala Harris breaks a tie at 5:30 a.m., approving the Senate budget resolution by a 51-50 vote and paving the way for Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package to pass without Republican votes next month.pic.twitter.com/9dGoaYZD9a
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 5, 2021
Biden Issues Memo Aimed At Protecting LGBTQ Rights Abroad
President Joe Biden
“All human beings should be treated with respect and dignity and should be able to live without fear no matter who they are or whom they love. Around the globe, including here at home, brave lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) activists are fighting for equal protection under the law, freedom from violence, and recognition of their fundamental human rights.
“The United States belongs at the forefront of this struggle — speaking out and standing strong for our most dearly held values. It shall be the policy of the United States to pursue an end to violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or sex characteristics, and to lead by the power of our example in the cause of advancing the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons around the world.
“Through this memorandum, I am directing all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that United States diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons.”
The memorandum goes on to list specific actions to be taken abroad: 1. Combating Criminalization of LGBTQI+ Status or Conduct Abroad. 2. Protecting Vulnerable LGBTQI+ Refugees and Asylum Seekers. 3. Foreign Assistance to Protect Human Rights and Advance Nondiscrimination. 4. Swift and Meaningful United States Responses to Human Rights Abuses of LGBTQI+ Persons Abroad. 5. Building Coalitions of Like-Minded Nations and Engaging International Organizations in the Fight Against LGBTQI+ Discrimination. 6. Rescinding Inconsistent Policies and Reporting on Progress. During the presidential campaign, Biden made promoting and protecting LGBTQ rights abroad a key issue in his LGBTQ platform. Read the full memorandum at WhiteHouse.gov.
President Biden issues a historic memorandum committing the US to promote LGBTQ rights on the international stage. https://t.co/BMkfxEwCcM
— NBC Out (@NBCOUT) February 5, 2021
Former WWE Star Comes Out As Transgender Woman
Gabbi Alon Tuft (image via Instagram)A former WWE wrestling star, who performed under the stage name ‘Tyler Reks,’ has come out as transgender. This is Gabbi Alon Tuft.
She shared the news with fans in a social media post on Thursday writing, “This is me. Unashamed, unabashedly me. This is the side of me that has hidden in the shadows, afraid and fearful of what the world would think; afraid of what my family, friends, and followers would say or do.”
“I am no longer afraid and I am no longer fearful,” she adds. “I can now say with confidence, that I love myself for WHO I am.”
“However,” she said, “the day I stopped caring about what other people thought, was the day I truly became limitless and allowed my authentic self to come into the light.”
From 2008 to 2014, Tuft was cheered by fans battling opponents in matches on major professional platforms including Raw, Smackdown and Wrestlemania.
Tuft finally retired in 2014 in order to spend more time with her wife Priscilla and their daughter. Since then, she and Priscilla created a fitness company, Body Spartan, which aims to “positively transform the body, mind and spirit of men and women through targeted video workouts, nutritional programs and motivational sessions.”
While that was the public side of Tuft’s life, privately she had been keeping a secret since childhood.
In an interview with EXTRA’s Billy Bush, she shared, “When I was 10… when my parents weren’t home, I would sneak into my mom’s closet and try out her clothes and it just felt right. But I suppressed it my whole life, just because of society, knowing that people didn’t accept it. So I pushed it down as far as I could.”
Tuft teased the announcement for several days on her Instagram account in a countdown featuring playing cards and photos of friends and family.
After calling the previous eight months “some of the darkest” of her life, Tuft thanked fans and social media followers today for “the incredible outpouring of support.”
“As I walked to my neighbor’s house yesterday, and for the first time since I began my transition, instead of walking with my head down in fear – I held it high, my fingers were no longer clenched and hiding my nails, and my hair was no longer hiding my face,” she wrote. “You have reaffirmed what I already knew, which is that we as humans truly are beings of love and light.”
The world of professional wrestling has seen very little in regard to performers coming out. In 2017, Anthony Bowens came out first as bisexual, and then as gay in 2019.
Ohio ‘Karen’ Gives Quite The Performance
Ohio Karen really thought she was proving a point (she wasn’t)
News Round-Up: February 4, 2021
Out singer/songwriter John Duff (via Instagram)
Joe Manganiello covers L’Official Fashion Book Hommes Australia (photo: Mike Ruiz)
Police Break Up Late Night 81-Person Orgy
(stock photo via Pexels/Maurício Mascaro )French police were called last Friday after neighbors complained about noise that seemed to come from a late night party.
Around 9 pm, the officers arrived at a warehouse in Collegien, around 20 miles from the centre of Paris. They found about 11 people hanging out in the car park.
At 11 pm, after gaining legal entry into the warehouse, police officers discovered a rave/orgy with 81 participants complete with sound and lighting equipment.
The Independent reports the participants were each fined 135 Euros ($161 US) for being in breach of the current coronavirus curfew in effect. France currently restricts outside movement from 6 pm to 6 am.
Police reports also indicated there were “problems with masks and social distancing” as well. Some party-goers were also detained for questioning.
This is just the latest example of folks growing fatigued of COVID lockdown rules as the pandemic enters its second year.
Last December, Belgian police were called to a house party near a COVID clinic where a 52-person orgy was in full swing.
Anti-LGBTQ Hungarian lawmaker Jozsef Szajer was among those arrested and quickly resigned from his position.
While health concerns during a pandemic are definitely a serious issue, folks on the Twitterverse tried to find some humor in the moment.
Damn, busted for going over France’s well-known “80 persons or under” orgy rule. https://t.co/kaW7NYP42f
— Clifford Asness (@CliffordAsness) February 4, 2021
Unprecedented times call for unprecedented orgies.
I assume. — J von Winter (@theonlyJaReW) February 4, 2021
You can only call it orgy if it’s from the orgy region of France. Otherwise, it’s sparkling group sex.
— Brian Fulton (@fulton4montice1) February 4, 2021
I can’t stop thinking abt the 81 person orgy in Paris, and how I don’t know 81 people in real life that I even want to talk to
— Fakakta South (@FakaktaSouth) February 4, 2021
I’m not much of an orgy man myself but it’s always nice to get invites, you know?
— Prince Vogelfrei (@PrinceVogel) February 4, 2021
My favorite part was when they said some of them weren’t social distancing. AT AN ORGY?
— Bill (@sinclairaz1) February 4, 2021
Terrible behavior in a pandemic, of course, but it’s better than catching it because you got sneezed on at Home Depot https://t.co/7YKUsPNWB6
— Jason Isbell (@JasonIsbell) February 4, 2021
QAnon Rep. Greene Removed From Committee Assignments
In a bipartisan vote of 230-199, QAnon-related Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has been removed from her committee assignments by the House of Representatives. Eleven Republicans voted for her removal. From the New York Times:
The House on Thursday took the extraordinary step of ousting a lawmaker from two congressional committees, exiling Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia for endorsing the executions of Democrats and spreading dangerous and bigoted misinformation even as her fellow Republicans rallied around her.
In a move without precedent in the modern Congress, the House voted 230 to 199— over near-unanimous Republican opposition — to remove Ms. Greene from the Education and Budget Committees.
The move effectively stripped Ms. Greene of her influence in Congress by banishing her from committees critical to advancing legislation and conducting oversight.
Greene’s past statements include saying the Parkland and Sandy Hook school shootings “false flag” staged events, calling 9/11 an inside job, claiming the California wildfires were started by Jewish lasers shot from space, and showing support for executing Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in social media posts. It’s worth noting that the Republican caucus met last night and could have chosen to handle the issue within their own party, but instead did nothing. That cowardice left the matter in the hands of the full House.
House votes 230-199 to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments.
11 Republicans vote yes:
Carlos Gimenez
Mark Jacobs
John Katko
Young Kim
Adam Kinzinger
Nicole Malliotakis
Maria Elvira Salazar
Mario Diaz-Balart
Chris Smith
Fred Upton
Brian Fitzpatrick pic.twitter.com/GWb64PTmPh— The Recount (@therecount) February 4, 2021
Trump Resigns From Actors’ Union: ‘I’m Proud Of My Work On Home Alone 2’
Facing being expelled from the actors’ union SAG-AFTRA for inciting the invasion of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6, former reality TV host Donald Trump has resigned from the organization. From USA Today:
“I write to you today regarding the so-called Disciplinary Committee hearing aimed at revoking my union membership. Who cares!” Trump begins his letter, alluding to the SAG-AFTRA board meeting to discuss revoking his membership card.
He continued: “While I’m not familiar with your work, I’m very proud of my work on movies such as Home Alone 2, Zoolander and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps; and television shows including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saturday Night Live, and of course, one of the most successful shows in television history, The Apprentice – to name just a few.”
On Jan. 19, the Screen Actors Guild said that the SAG-AFTRA board voted “overwhelmingly” that there is probable cause that Trump violated its guidelines for membership. The charges, the guild said, are for Trump’s role in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, “and in sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.”
