Financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was found in his Manhattan jail cell with marks on his neck this week, a law enforcement source and a source familiar with the incident said Thursday.
It is not clear to jail officials if the injuries, incurred Tuesday, were self-inflicted or the result of an assault, the law enforcement source said.
Epstein is awaiting trial at Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York. He is charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking. He has pleaded not guilty.
The 66-year-old allegedly paid girls as young as 14 to have sex with him at his Upper East Side home and his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005. Federal prosecutors say he used employees and associates to lure the girls to his residences and then paid some of his victims to recruit other girls for him to abuse.
UPDATE 2: After delaying for hours (days really) and facing impeachment proceedings, Gov. Rosselló resigned late Wednesday night. He will officially leave office August 2.
The Governor of Puerto Rico has resigned. The people of Puerto Rico have been heard. pic.twitter.com/B9leUQOmdM
UPDATE 1: According to CBS News reporter David Begnaud, Gov. Rosselló had privately agreed to resign his office but reneged. So, now Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives plans to begin impeachment proceedings.
BREAKING: Puerto Rico’s Governor had apparently agreed to resign today, but broke his word that he gave to legislators, so now the Speaker of the House of Representatives will make good on his word to impeach the Governor.https://t.co/n4lCUZdm4G
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to resign Wednesday after more than a week of protests that rocked the island’s capital city, a source familiar with the situation told CNN.
Thousands have jammed the streets of San Juan calling for the governor’s resignation after Puerto Rico’s Center for Investigative Journalism published a series of group messages between the governor and his inner circle that included homophobic and misogynistic language and jokes about Hurricane Maria victims.
The person expected to take Rosselló’s place is Puerto Rico Secretary of Justice Wanda Vazquez.
The news comes a day after Rosselló’s chief of staff submitted his resignation, effective July 31.
Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló is expected to resign today after more than a week of protests that rocked the island’s capital city, a source familiar with the situation tells CNN. https://t.co/Qg89SkqioFpic.twitter.com/fkjLhAZtpp
Just days ago, Rosselló announced he would remain in office, but would not seek reelection in 2020. He also agreed to resign from his position as president of the new Progressive Party.
• InstaHunks: Woofy Diego Lozano (above) reminds me how many InstaHunks I follow in Spain. Which I guess explains why I’m headed back there in August 😉
• The Economist: In a new poll conducted by YouGov, former Vice President Joe Biden has a 7 point lead over Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) 25/18 respectively. In third place, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) garnered 13 percent support.
• GQ: Asked about “gay rumors,” NFL star Odell Beckham Jr. says he “wasn’t offended,” adding, “I have no problem with anyone’s sexual orientation. Love is Love.”
• Twitter: Not to be weird or anything, but is that the ‘white power’ hand signal Trump is making?
• Billboard: Out rapper Lil Nas X has tied the record (16 weeks) for the most weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The other record holders are Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men’s “One Sweet Day,” and Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber’s “Despacito.” He also scored 8 MTV Music Video Award nominations today including ‘Video of the Year.’
• USA Today: A New Jersey school board member, Daniel Leonard, may face an ethics inquiry over social media posts that include violent comments regarding Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan). One post read, “My life would be complete if she/they die,” across a photo of Tlaib. Leonard was, unsurprisingly, charged in a road rage incident last week where he crashed into a tree while chasing another motorist.
• Out Music: Openly pansexual artist Madison Malone releases this sweet mid-tempo groove, “Quiet Down.” The music video features a wide, diverse universe of folks sharing their thoughts on what “love is.”
The Wisconsin native has performed at some of the world’s largest music festivals including SXSW and SUMMERFEST, where she was voted ‘Favorite Emerging Artist.’ Find out more at her official website here.
Pharmaceutical company MSD has announced early, but promising, news regarding the first round of testing on humans for its PrEP implant, known as Islatravir, which could prevent HIV infection for up to a year.
The news was shared at the 10th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science in Mexico City. The biennial conference is considered the world’s most influential meeting on HIV research and its applications.
Currently, PrEP is available as a daily oral medication. But researchers project the new implant will effectively deliver a slow, steady stream of anti-HIV meds for up to one year.
The implant would be placed under the skin of a patient’s arm. For those patients who find difficulty in adhering to a once-a-day dose, the new implant could represent a major benefit.
Additionally, a once-a-year choice would offer a more discreet option for patients who are concerned about the stigma of being on PrEP.
“Islatravir could be a game-changer for HIV prevention,” said Matthew Hodson, director of British HIV awareness group NAM. “PrEP is already extraordinarily effective at preventing HIV.”
The CDC reports that among men who have sex with men, taking PrEP daily or consistently (at least 4 times per week), reduces the risk of acquiring HIV by about 99 percent.
Hodson added, “I’m enthusiastic about Islatravir’s potential to make it easier for people to go on PrEP, and maintain levels of drug in the body necessary to provide protection for a year, without additional dosing.”
IAS President Anton Pozniak concurred, saying an implant offers “a promising solution to those who face challenges adhering to a daily PrEP regimen.”
Newly-elected UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson told the people of Britain in his first official speech that his country will – “do or die” – definitely leave the European Union by October 31.
Johnson, who has been hailed by U.S. President Donald Trump as Britain’s Trump, is sending the strongest message yet to the EU that he will be taking a distinctly tougher approach to negotiating the Brexit divorce deal.
He enters Downing Street at one of the most perilous junctures in post-World War Two British history – the United Kingdom is divided over Brexit and weakened by the three-year political crisis that has gripped it since the 2016 referendum.
“We are going to fulfill the repeated promises of parliament to the people and come out of the EU on October 31, no ifs or buts,” Johnson, 55, said after arriving at his new residence, No.10 Downing Street.
“We can do a deal without checks at the Irish border,” Johnson said, watched by his girlfriend Carrie Symonds and his staff. “It is of course vital at the same time that we prepare for the remote possibility that Brussels refuses any further to negotiate and we are forced to come out with no deal.”
One of Britain’s most prominent Brexit campaigners, Johnson has repeatedly pledged to leave the EU by Oct. 31 – “do or die” – and to inject a new optimism and energy into the divorce, which he argues will bring a host of opportunities.
Artie O’Daly drops the latest installment of his ‘Bad Boy’ video series, and this time we get not one, but two ‘Bad Boys’ making trouble for Daddy Scott.
It’s Friday night and Scott (O’Daly) is prepping for the arrival of a date (not a hookup!) when Bad Boy Jim (Drew Bradley) seemingly appears out of nowhere with Chinese food scaring the bejesus out of Scott making him spill red wine on himself.
“How did you get in here?” asks Scott.
“The same way I get into anyone’s apartment – I walk in behind you, mimicked your every move and then waited in the corner until I wanted to be seen,” Jim casually admits.
Okay…
No time for Chinese food, though, cause Scott has to find something to wear.
After checking for dead people outside, Jim scampers off to find some clothes for Scott.
Artie O’Daly
Problem solved! Except, after locking the door behind Jim, BJ (Braden Davis) appears out of nowhere.
How do these guys get in?
“Same way I get into any apartment – stole your keys, made a copy, now I watch you sleep every now and then,” shares BJ.
Turns out he’s also installed surveillance cameras to keep tabs on Scott as well – nothing strange about that, right?
It seems cousins BJ and Jim have serious jealousy issues including over the attention of ‘Daddy Scott.’
The arguing escalates between the ‘Bad Boys’ and we eventually get to some shirtless wrestling to determine who gets ownership of ‘Daddy Scott.’ Jim might have the edge here considering his time spent on the stripper circuit.
Bad boys behaving badly
Clothes come off, Scott’s cute date (Doug Rogers) appears, and, well, hit play below to see how it turns out.
Props to O’Daly for his consistently off-kilter dialogue that keeps the ‘Bad Boys’ so quirky and entertaining.
I’ve previously featured O’Daly’s ‘Bad Boys’ here, here, here and here.
Very fatiguing to watch the ongoing testimony by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, but there has been one point made that will discussed for days.
After Donald Trump has repeated the reality he wants to see – that he was found ‘completely’ innocent by the investigation and that there was ‘total exoneration – Mueller was directly asked if his report ‘completely exonerated’ the president.
Mueller’s answer: “No.”
Here’s the clip everyone will be playing.
Here’s the moment that will get played over and over:
Nadler: “Did you actually totally exonerate the president?”
Rep. Lieu: "The reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of OLC opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president. Correct?"
I’ll add that, due to a five-minute time frame allotted for each member of the committee, everyone is speaking very, very quickly. Members of Congress are trying to cite very specific pages and quotes from hundreds of pages of Mueller’s report and asking, “Is that correct?”
In that every word Mueller utters is going to parsed over and over, and that Mueller knows he’s under oath, he’s clearly trying to stay within the boundaries with which he’s allowed to speak to and be as accurate as possible.
I’m younger than Mueller by decades and having a hard time keeping up with how fast some questions are being posed.
In advance of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony this morning, Donald Trump had a Twitter meltdown complaining, yet again, about his often-referenced ‘witch hunt.’
The Donald has said he doesn’t intend to watch the testimony…
Sure, Donald.
So Robert Mueller has now asked for his long time Never Trumper lawyer to sit beside him and help with answers. What’s this all about? His lawyer represented the “basement server guy” who got off free in the Crooked Hillary case. This should NOT be allowed. Rigged Witch Hunt!
So Democrats and others can illegally fabricate a crime, try pinning it on a very innocent President, and when he fights back against this illegal and treasonous attack on our Country, they call It Obstruction? Wrong! Why didn’t Robert Mueller investigate the investigators?
It was NEVER agreed that Robert Mueller could use one of his many Democrat Never Trumper lawyers to sit next to him and help him with his answers. This was specifically NOT agreed to, and I would NEVER have agreed to it. The Greatest Witch Hunt in U.S. history, by far!
• Mayor Pete Buttigieg did an interview with a country music radio show, but the radio network refused to air the interview. Link to Blair Garner’s interview here.
• Pop star Ricky Martin has joined hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans in protests calling for the resignation of the island territory’s governor
• Organizers of the upcoming Straight Pride Parade got more cease and desist letters after illegally insinuating major corporations were sponsors
• Oscar-winning queer-themed film, Moonlight, was named the best film of the 2010 decade by Indiewire.
All that and more in this episode of The Randy Report.
An anonymous Twitter account, which claimed to be run by a champion athlete planning to come out soon, has bailed and deleted his account.
For weeks, the Twitter user told the world they were a gay English Football League player who had just come out their family. Subsequent tweets shared the progress of meetings with the player’s coaches and management.
“I’m a professional footballer, playing for a club in the @SkyBetChamp. I will be revealing my identity soon, but I am a proud gay man, hoping to break the mould. I am under the age of 23, and today I came out to my family. Soon, I will come out publicly. … Today I came out to my family. I have hid my sexuality for far too long. My family responded amazingly well, and other than a few close friends, they were the first to know.”
On July 15, the Twitter user wrote that he had come out to his football club and was planning on coming out to the world “prior to the start of the new season.”
“I am thinking of those involved in professional football who are similarly positioned,” the poster added. “My hope is that they can take comfort and hope from such disclosure and can feel suitably empowered to, if desirable, reach the same decision.”
The user had previously announced they would be publicly coming out tomorrow, July 24.
There’s no proof the person running the account was an actual athlete.
Earlier today, all the tweets on the account had disappeared and in their place were two tweets.
The first read, “I thought I was was stronger. I was wrong.”
The second added, “I’m not strong enough to do this.”
The tweets ended with, “This isn’t a hoax. I wouldn’t do that.”
