CNN’s Jim Acosta began a segment today showing clips of ‘the former guy,’ Donald Trump, hugging the American flag at past appearances at CPAC. “Now, the same man who gripped the Stars and Stripes won’t let go of something else: the idea that he’s still president,” said Acosta. Mediaite has the transcript:
“A couple of weeks ago I compared Trumps’ comeback tour to the circus, full of sideshow acts and clowns. I later got an email from an expert on the circus industry. This person pointed out that comparison actually was not fair.
“Because unlike the chaos of Trump world, a circus is carefully composed and organized. That’s a great point. Comparing Trump to a clown is most definitely an insult to clowns. He’s more like one of those mask-hating customers at the grocery store.
“You’ve seen them. A Karen, or whatever the name would be in Trump’s case. You can almost hear him saying, ‘I want to talk to the manager about the election, I want to talk to the manager of Twitter or Facebook.’”
This is truly spot-on. Watch below – the report includes video of Trump’s press events which are carefully staged to pretend to be ‘presidential’ instead of being held in front of a golf club.
Statue of Robert E. Lee removed from its pedestal in Charlottesville, VA (screen capture) Nearly four years after violence broke out at the infamous “Unite the Right” rally in 2017, the Robert E. Lee monument that helped spark the white supremacist event in Charlottesville, Virginia, was removed from its stone pedestal today. Spectators by the dozens lined the blocks surrounding the park. The Associated Press reports a cheer went up as the statue came down. Additionally, a statue of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was removed. Sources say the statues will be stored in a secure location until the City Council decides what to do with them. You’ll recall Heather Heyer, a peaceful counter-protester, was killed in the violence. At the time, Donald Trump garnered criticism by insisting there was “blame on both sides.”
And there it goes: Charlottesville VA’s Robert E. Lee statue has been removed. pic.twitter.com/qI4xhnIqJ3
Work began today to remove statues of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson, nearly 4 years after the violent “Unite the Right” rally of Trump’s “very fine people”—one of whom killed Heather Heyer, a peaceful counterprotester. https://t.co/6j7rmHs2GH
— Dena Grayson, MD, PhD (@DrDenaGrayson) July 10, 2021
(screen capture via NBC News) Some news items you might have missed: • NBC News: Hospitalized unvaccinated patients are “shocked” that Covid-19 truly exists and that it can make people very sick and even kill them. “A comment they make all the time is that they wish that they knew they were going to end up in the hospital this sick and they would have made a different choice and got the vaccine.” • NJ.com: José Tobias Carranza Serrano, 18, confessed to assaulting and robbing a 37-year-old intellectually disabled man on June 23 because he believed the man to be gay. The assault has left the victim still clinging to life where he is still intubated. In his confession, Serrano reportedly showed no remorse. • ABC News: The Michigan elections bureau has determined that organizers of a ballot drive to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people failed to collect the roughly 340,000 needed. But Fair and Equal Michigan, which spent $2.9 million on the effort, says the Bureau of Elections threw out thousands of signatures that are valid. The group plans to file a lawsuit.
— Michigan Advance (@MichiganAdvance) July 9, 2021
• Washington Blade: A federal judge today blocked a new law in Tennessee that required businesses and other entities that allow transgender people to use the public restroom that matches their gender to post a government-prescribed warning sign. • Washington Post: President Biden on Friday fired Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul, a holdover from the Trump administration who had alienated crucial Democratic constituencies with policies designed to clamp down benefits and an uncompromising anti-union stance. • Next Shark: Out Filipino American influencer Bretman Rock (People’s Choice Awards Beauty Influencer of the Year in 2019) graced the cover of Teen Vogue’s July issue. The social media star has over 17 million followers on Instagram, 12.1 million followers on TikTok and 8.71 million subscribers on YouTube. https://www.instagram.com/p/CRCVsqRlSHQ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Zaila Avant-garde (image via Scripps National Spelling Bee) A jubilant Zaila Avant-garde won the 2021 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night, becoming the bee’s first African American champion in its 96-year history. The 14-year-old from New Orleans is also the first winner of the competition from Lousiana. First Lady Dr. Jill Biden was in the house to cheer the finalists on.
Avant-garde spelled “murraya” correctly to win the competition, after conquering words such as “retene,” “ancistroid” and “depreter” over multiple rounds. Upon her win, Avant-garde, who is also a talented basketball player with three Guinness World Records in dribbling, jumped up and down and let out an excited shout as confetti rained down on the stage.
The teen said Friday that “it felt really good to be a winner” after she had been practicing for two years. Avant-garde, who had finished tied for 370th place in the 2019 competition, credited the win to her tutors and “a bit of luck.” She told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she hopes her historic win will inspire other young Black people in the United States to excel at spelling.
Chaitra Thummala, a 12-year-old from San Francisco, and Bhavana Madini, a 13-year-old from New York City, came in second and third place, respectively. Jody-Anne Maxwell of Jamaica, who won the bee in 1998, was the competition’s first Black champion.
Three Guinness World Records and now the national spelling bee champ! Congrats, Zaila—your hard work is paying off. We’re all proud of you. https://t.co/UaYoRMGirZ
Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud (image via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • Instinct Magazine: Swedish couple Edward Gal and Hans Peter Minderhoud (above) will be representing the Netherlands at the Olympics in dressage – a type of horse riding that tests the teamwork and power of a rider with their horse. Together they won a team bronze medal at the 2014 World Championships, and each have an Olympic medal: silver for Minderhoud in 2008 and bronze for Gal in 2012. • The Gaily Grind: Caitlyn Jenner, whose net worth is estimated to be roughly $100 million, wants to deal with California’s population of more than 60,000 homeless people by moving them to “big open fields.” • The Guardian: Organizers of the Miss Mexico 2021 pageant pushed ahead in spite of a Covid-19 outbreak that infected almost half the contestants. At least 15 of the 32 contestants in the pageant tested positive for coronavirus as well as a pageant staff member.
Miss Mexico 2021 organisers press ahead with pageant despite Covid surge among contestants – (and intentionally expose Tarahumara community) https://t.co/hQP66Y4ZGQ
• Washington Post: Michael Avenatti — who made headlines representing an adult-film actress who claimed an affair with Donald Trump before he was president — was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Thursday, after being convicted for trying to extort Nike Inc. He faced up to 11 years in jail. • Pink News: A New Jersey appeal court has upheld a massive $3.5 million fine against a conversion therapy practice, which was shut down after former patients alleged widespread abuse. • CNN: Researchers estimate that there would have been about 279,000 additional deaths due to Covid-19 — about 46% more than there were — and as many as 1.25 million additional hospitalizations if there had been no vaccinations. • ABC News: Pfizer will seek U.S. authorization for a third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine. Data from the company’s booster study suggests people’s antibody levels jump five- to 10-fold after a third dose.
Donald Trump On Wednesday, Donald Trump sued Twitter, Facebook and Google for banning him from certain websites, claiming they violated his First Amendment rights. According to the Washington Post, the suits allege “that the companies violated Trump’s First Amendment rights in suspending his accounts and argues that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which is owned by Google, no longer should be considered private companies but ‘a state actor’ whose actions are constrained by First Amendment restrictions on government limitations on free speech.” Legal experts were quick to point out the U.S. Constitution is clear that the First Amendment constrains only government actions, not those of private companies. The First Amendment reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Bolding is mine. You’ll also notice nowhere in the Constitution is it stated there is a constitutional right to Facebook. Or Twitter. Or YouTube. In an interview with Bill O’Reilly, Trump was told he would have to give a deposition for the legal action to which the Donald said he’d love to talk about the lawsuit, the election and any little thing. But legal pundits say the lawsuit lays its own trap for Trump as he would have to answer many, many, many questions under oath. Keith Olbermann tweeted, “This is the dumbest thing Trump has ever done. It’s wonderful. I remind you from personal experience that when you sue somebody you have to give a multi-day deposition on anything relevant to the topic…in this case, like your role inspiring the 1/6 Coup.”
This is the dumbest thing Trump has ever done. It’s wonderful. I remind you from personal experience that when you sue somebody you have to give a multi-day deposition on anything relevant to the topic…in this case, like your role inspiring the 1/6 Coup https://t.co/oUGBrWdgmN
Former White House counsel John Dean retweeted adding, “This should be a nationally televised deposition…. Please schedule it next week. Don’t move to dismiss, which would be the normal move. Make him deal with the trap he created for himself. He will lose on the merits!”
This should be a nationally televised deposition…. Please schedule it next week. Don’t move to dismiss, which would be the normal move. Make him deal with the trap he created for himself. He will lose on the merits! https://t.co/fg46WsEXKV
He knows. This case will never reach the stage of depositions. He will fundraise off of the rubes as much as possible, try to bully the corps into settlements, then slither away as usual. BTW, I don't believe any of the corps will pay him anything to settle.
Governor Mike DeWine (R) of Ohio has signed a bill that allows medical providers to refuse care to LGBTQ patients if they have an objection based on “religious” grounds. The new language was apparently buried in last-minute amendments to the state’s two-year budget bill, which DeWine signed into law on June 30. Governor DeWine had the opportunity to line-item veto the language while signing the rest of the budget into law and refused to do so. The new law allows any medical provider – from doctors and nurses to researchers, lab techs and insurance companies – “the freedom to decline to perform, participate in, or pay for any health care service which violates the practitioner’s, institution’s, or payer’s conscience as informed by the moral, ethical, or religious beliefs.” Local advocates warn this rule legalizes discrimination against LGBTQ patients as well as members of other marginalized groups like drug addicts or people living with HIV or sexually transmitted diseases.
Yesterday @GovMikeDewine approved a state budget that includes language allowing medical providers to deny care to LGBTQ people.
Health care is a right. This new law is bad for Ohio, bad for Ohioans, bad for doctors and bad for medicine.
Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David in a statement, “Today governor DeWine enshrined LGBTQ discrimination into law, threatening the medical well being of more than 380,000 LGBTQ people in Ohio, one of the largest LGBTQ populations anywhere in the country.” “Medical practitioners in Ohio can deny care or coverage for basic, medically-necessary, and potentially life-saving care to LGBTQ people simply because of who they are,” added David. DeWine insisted the conscience clause will change very little, and claimed that no one in Ohio will be discriminated against. “This simply puts in statute what the practice has been anyways,” he said. “Let’s say the doctor is against abortion, the doctor is not doing abortion. If there’s other things that maybe a doctor has a conscience problem with, it gets worked out, somebody else does those things.” Dr. Todd Kepler, southwest medical director of Equitas Health, a nonprofit health care system serving LGBTQ patients in the Midwest, told Cincinnati ABC News affiliate WCPO the ”widely broad” language in the new rule will exacerbate existing barriers to care for many marginalized groups, like drug addicts, people living with HIV, and the LGBT+ community. “Say I happen to be a gay patient and I wanted to see a provider in my town, and there weren’t really any other providers in town,” said Kepler. “But they find that morally unacceptable, they could turn me away.” “And the language is so broad that that could even be done at an institutional level. So, if you have a hospital that perhaps has an affiliation with a religious institution, and again, that happens to be the only institution in town, theoretically they could turn that patient away for health care.”
There will be no spectators in the stands at the Summer Olympics after a surge of COVID-19 led Japan to declare a state of emergency. Via Axios:
It’s another huge blow to the spectacle and finances of the delayed and scaled-back Olympics, just two weeks ahead of the opening ceremony.
Organizers had planned to allow venues to be filled up to 50% capacity, with a maximum of 10,000 Japanese spectators and no overseas fans. A surge in COVID-19 cases and the low rate of vaccinations forced them to reconsider.
Tokyo’s fourth coronavirus state of emergency will run from this Monday, July 12 until Aug. 22, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said. Bars and restaurants will be requested to suspend alcohol sales under the measures.
According to ESPN, Tokyo reported 920 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday – the highest total since 1,010 were reported on May 13. The Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo are schedueld to begin on July 23.
A pic I snapped during a performance of Uncensored the Show in Las Vegas Some news items you might have missed: • Uncensored The Show: I hope everyone’s Hump Day was as fab as the woman above attending Uncensored the Show here in Las Vegas. Continue reading “News Round-Up: July 7, 2021”
Michael Henry is ready for a ‘HOT HOMO SUMMER’ Funny man Michael Henry has released the first episode of his new mini-series, “HOT HOMO SUMMER.” And yes, the all-caps is on purpose… Emerging from over a year of pandemic-mania, Henry is single and uber-ready to mingle armed with his COVID vaccination and a fresh trim of the body fur. Check out the six-minute Episode 1 below.
CNN’s Jim Acosta began a segment today showing clips of ‘the former guy,’ Donald Trump, hugging the American flag at past appearances at CPAC. “Now, the same man who gripped the Stars and Stripes won’t let go of something else: the idea that he’s still president,” said Acosta. Mediaite has the transcript: 
